Sometimes you get a sense of the preacher’s excitement from the very first sentence of his sermon. It is the case here, as Spurgeon bubbles over from the opening line! With such a verse and theme before him, Spurgeon feels his utter inadequacy to express all that is contained in the exceeding riches of God’s grace in Christ Jesus. But, confident that others could preach the gospel better, but could never preach a better gospel, he gives us his best…and what a delight it is! Overflowing with spiritual excitement, his first point really frames the substance along the lines of the text. It is in the second point that his soul begins to soar, telling us that this exceedingly rich grace in Christ is above all limit, observation, and expression, above all our ways of action, our understanding, and all our sins. It is greater than God’s promises, greater than anything we have yet received. It is above all measure! What an incitement to come and trust in the Christ through whom all blessings flow! Finally, Spurgeon sets out to illustrate his text just a little more, trying to add a last few strands of thought concerning the patience, the freeness, the effectiveness of divine grace, and its beautiful endurance, carrying us in to eternity future as we wonder how we shall ever be able to tell not just what we now know, but all that we do not now know, as it is unfolded in ages to come.

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Spurgeon says that this text overpowers him: “It is a gem of priceless value.” Even before he gets to the formal substance of his sermon, his unusually long introduction has turned that gem in the light so that its facets begin to reflect something of the goodness of God, and set us up for the main elements of his address. In fact, he effectively gives us a couple of mini-sermons before he gets to the sermon proper! When he eventually begins to work through five particulars to which he wants to draw our attention, he first considers blessings in their fullness—God as our sun. Then there are blessings in their counterpoise—that God is also a shield. Developing that thought, he then turns us to blessings in their order. Building on that, we have blessings in development and in maturity. Finally, there are blessings in their universality. The sermon is less one of sequence and more one of layering, thought laid upon thought, and insight upon insight, giving us a rich and sweet feast for those who walk uprightly, and closing with urgent entreaties to enjoy and expect the good things that the Lord has laid up for his people.

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This is a sermon full of life and strength preached by a man full of sickness and weakness. The introduction surveys all the key facts contained in the text, giving us the scope of the whole, and then the preacher zeroes in on the reality of the resurrection, unpacking it in its bearing upon other great truths, its bearing on the gospel itself, and its bearing upon us. The sermon is packed full of theology and of Scripture, as Spurgeon uses the opportunity to join the dots for us, connecting the resurrection of Jesus to various other doctrines, demonstrating how it lies at the very heart of all our gospel hope and joy, and then pressing it home in terms of personal expectation and confidence: we must remember this! His last words are a stirring call to grasp that this risen Jesus is ruling still, and that—whatever may be the eulogies, mournful or mocking, pronounced over the religion of Christ—the Saviour who lives and reigns has obtained and must obtain the victory, and we with him. It is a fine sermon for a sick man to preach, no doubt full of comfort to himself, and so flowing forth from his heart to comfort others also.

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This sermon cuts deeply in order to probe carefully. It is Spurgeon in typically and painfully sober mode. The sermon puts to each hearer the question which Christ asked of his disciples at a season of mass desertion: “Will you also go away?” Searching deeply into our hearts, Spurgeon first asks why Christ asked this question of his twelve disciples, looking at the defections which were taking place. Then he takes the question itself, and this is perhaps the most painful element of the sermon, as Spurgeon points out the contagion of desertion, and how it would cut through the twelve themselves, and the importance of a thoughtful and voluntary attachment to Christ himself. After the wound, the balm: our preacher then considers the three elements of Peter’s answer, an answer which we ourselves should give to our divine Leader. So he concludes with the heartfelt plea, “By thy faithfulness, O Lord, keep us faithful!” Is Spurgeon being harsh or hard? Is he trying to unsettle the faithful? Is he deliberately assaulting faith? No, here is a true-hearted minister in difficult times bringing needful warnings to the souls of his congregation, not carelessly undermining but deliberately probing to ensure that we have a good foundation.

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In the aftermath of a particular effort on the part of the Tabernacle congregation, Spurgeon calls on the people to consider the spirit in which they have gone about their business: was their service acceptable to God? He is concerned more with the inward disposition of the heart than with any outward activity, energy, or generosity. So he asks whether our service has been rendered out of a sense of our immeasurable obligation to the Lord. Furthermore, has our service been offered up in the power of divine grace, rather than human nature, even at its best? Have we worked with reverence, a holy shame of face, aware of our own personal sins and the failings of what we bring to the Lord? Have we also come in the spirit of holy cheerfulness, with a godly fear? Finally, are we cultivating a profound sense of the divine holiness, a sense of God as a consuming fire? His point is that, whatever service has been rendered to the Lord, if we take credit to ourselves then we are robbing the altar of God. His closing plea would suit any one of us, as we look back upon whatever we have brought to God in recent days: “Let us bring the sacrifices of the last week to him, with repentance for every fault, humbly pleading that of his grace he will accept it, and earnestly desiring that all we have done may redound to his glory through Jesus Christ his Son, to whom be honour, world without end.”

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This is a shorter sermon, preached on a Thursday evening, and in it Spurgeon contrasts and compares two texts, each speaking of something good. The first is, perhaps, more surprising: it is good when we are afflicted. The second might make more obvious sense to us: it is good to draw near to God. The first is good when it does not sour the sufferer, but forms, spurs, stirs, sanctifies, and instructs the child of God who is afflicted. The second is good because we feel God near us, are moved to greater trust, and out of it we are able to bear good witness to the works of the Almighty. Do we feel the virtues of both sanctified affliction from the Lord and sweet communion with the Lord? Are we prepared to call both of these good? Are we truly thankful for any afflictions God grants for his holy purposes, and for any closeness which he bestows upon us? These are the questions and comforts with which the preacher leaves his congregation.

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This sermon unfolds gradually but surely. We do not know exactly where the preacher will take us, but he is evidently following a planned route, and so we are content to take each development of his theme as he introduces us to it. Considering the fundamental truth that without Christ no Christian can do anything of any spiritual value, Spurgeon first of all considers our Lord’s assertion as an aspiration of hope. Then he feels it as a shudder of fear. It presses upon him and us next as a vision of failure. Then we hear it as a voice of wisdom. Finally, it rings out as a song of content. In this way, the same statement is made of various use to those who are or profess to be followers of the Lamb, and each comes in its turn. Even the sequence is interesting: hope comes first, then warning, then instruction, then comfort and joy, so that we are pointed in the right direction, cautioned with regard to the prospect, but then encouraged concerning the final outcome. There is a great deal of discernment, then, not only in the substance of the sermon but in its arrangement, as we walk away impressed with the need for a known and felt union with our Lord Jesus if we are to be fruitful in his service.

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Love labours. In doing so, it overcomes a multitude of difficulties. It triumphs over those difficulties in a way which demonstrates the heavenly source of its energies. Spurgeon actually begins the sermon with a meditation on the Holy Spirit as the only one who can work true Christian love in the heart of sinners like us. Christian love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. It contends with and overcomes self, other people, the world, and hell. The middle section on the triumphs of love is quite splendid. In each case Spurgeon shows what is the bearing, believing, hoping, and enduring power of love, applying the principle to our dealings both with believers and unbelievers, and then pointing us to Christ Jesus as the enduring example and demonstration of that aspect of love. It is a powerful and probing part of the sermon. The last section is much shorter, but can afford to be, as the preacher is really just tying off the threads which he laid in his introduction, and which have run throughout the sermon as a whole. As an example of sermonic construction, including adaptation in the act of preaching, it is most helpful. But it is more than a model for preaching; it is a call to loving living, and one that is convicting and compelling and comforting.

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Though Spurgeon typically preaches from fairly brief texts, he occasionally takes longer sections, and sometimes—as on this occasion—hangs his thoughts on a single phrase. This is not an easy mode of preaching, as it can lead to strained exegesis, shallow substance, or repetitive or tortured structure. While it helps that the phrase in question is the loaded one, “through faith,” Spurgeon also avoids these traps by setting his phrase in its context, connecting grace and faith. He then proceeds in a manner both systematic and pastoral, drawing on his rich theological heritage and his concern for troubled men and women. First he asks what faith is, and gives some standard answers in a lively fashion. In particular, he weaves in a number of illustrations to take account of the heat and heaviness of the morning in which he preaches, a good example of a preacher responding to his circumstances. Next Spurgeon answers the question why faith is selected as the channel of salvation. Finally, he asks how we can obtain and increase our faith, closing his sermon with some very down-to-earth counsels. This is, then, a sermon in which theological care and practical counsel is closely bound throughout, all intended to bring sinners to the Saviour and assure them of their security in him.

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While Spurgeon usually preaches on single texts he does not invariably preach isolated sermons. On Sunday 5th June, 1881, he preached from 1 Corinthians 3:6–9 about God’s co-labourers. On Sunday 12th June he took up the same theme of labourers on God’s farm, this time from Mark 4:26–29, explicitly linking the two sermons together. If the first sermon showed how far human agency is required in the work of the gospel, and how dependent all results are upon the Lord, the second sermon emphasises how far a holy labourer can go, and how far he cannot go: “the measure and limit of human instrumentality in the kingdom of grace.” As so often, Spurgeon’s structure is fairly simple and repetitive: what we can and cannot do, what we can and cannot know, what we may and may not expect if we work for God, and what sleep workers may and may not take. It is an intensely practical sermon of particular encouragement and instruction to Christian workers—and which Christian ought not also to be a worker on God’s farm?

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