Intro to the Sermon of the Week: “Grace Abounding”

By / Mar 9

Have you ever tried to comprehend the depth of God’s grace? The wellspring of grace is infinite, and through Christ, all are welcome to come and drink. In the 1866 sermon “Grace Abounding,” Spurgeon invites us to savor God’s abundant grace. Using vivid illustrations, Spurgeon tilts the gem that is the Lord’s grace, allowing light to reflect off its many facets.

Enter the law of God. Spurgeon points to its condemning power as evidence for God’s unconditional grace. God gave the law not only to limit sin but to highlight man’s depravity. Like a spotlight, the law shines on our sin, exposing how far we fall from the righteousness of the Lord. Thanks be to God that His grace covers such a great divide. “The work of the law upon the enlightened conscience is a very healthy operation; it is like a sharp needle that goes through the soul, but it draws the golden thread of mercy after it; or like the sharp plough which breaks up the ground, and prepares it for the seed which in due time shall bring forth the harvest to God’s praise and glory.”

But to find the greatest illustration of God’s grace, we need not look any further than the cross. There, knowing the full weight of the world’s sins, God poured out His wrath not on the world, but on His one and only Son. Jesus died for us “while we were still sinners” (Rom 5:8, ESV) and made a way of salvation so that all who believe in Him can have eternal life. Who can describe the treasures of grace? “Oh, for an angel’s tongue to tell out the wondrous mystery! My poor lips are quite unequal to this tremendous task; it is vain for me to attempt to describe the grace that so gloriously abounded in our Lord upon the cross […]”

Excerpt:

Sin did us untold damage, but grace has given us more than sin ever took away. Sin robbed us of silver, but grace has given us gold. Sin slew this body of flesh, but grace has given us a spiritual body which shall live for ever. Sin threw us down among the masses of this fallen race but grace has lifted us up, and set us among the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Yes, beloved, “now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” Verily, “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.”

Read the rest of the sermon here.



Intro to the Sermon of the Week: “Portraits of Christ”

By / Mar 2

Have you ever felt discouraged about your progress in the Christian life? Have thoughts like, “I’ll never be as godly as I ought to be,” obscured your outlook? Maybe you aren’t seeing success in your struggle with sin or making headway toward holiness. In this 1861 sermon, Charles Spurgeon encourages the church to hold on to the truth that, despite discouraging setbacks, all believers will be transformed into the image of Christ.

Why is such a transformation necessary in the first place? Although we were created in the image of God, the events of Eden disfigured that image. Only Jesus can restore what was lost. “[Christ] re-makes us,” Spurgeon reminds. “[He] takes away the sinful, rebellious visage which [Adam] bore when he was expelled from the garden, re-stamps God’s own face on us, and makes us in the image of the Most High again.”

But is it really possible to be conformed to Christ’s image? Many of us have felt suffocated by our own slow progress. On the road to sanctification, we face daunting hindrances. Our own stubborn hearts, the broken world around us, and the sheer loftiness of the goal can make it seem unattainable. But, as Spurgeon encourages us, conformity to Christ is possible. How? Because it is God’s work and not ours. “[W]hen God decrees a thing,” says Spurgeon, “what is to stand in his way?”

Excerpt:

[…] if you as believers will look much at Christ, you will grow like him; you shall be transformed from glory to glory as by the image of the Lord. I look at you, I do not grow like you; you look at me, and grow not like me. You look at Christ – Christ looks at you – he is photographed on you by his own power of light [….] Go again and look at Christ. Go and weep because you are not like him. Go and bow before him with adoration. Go and strain upwards to that great height. In doing so your very failures are successes; your fears are proofs that you are beginning to be like him.

Read the rest of the sermon here.



Introduction to the Sermon of the Week: “Immeasurable Love”

By / Feb 23

What was the first verse you ever memorized? Many of us were taught to memorize John 3:16 when we were children, and for good reason! This verse encapsulates the heart of the gospel and God’s unfathomable love for the world. There is no display of love greater than this: that God sent his only Son into the world to save sinners through Christ’s death and resurrection.

In 1885, Spurgeon examines the depths of John 3:16 in a sermon titled “Immeasurable Love”. As he explains, we will never grow beyond our need for the essential truths found in this verse. “Come, ye aged saints,” he says, “be children again; and you that have long known your Lord, take up your first spelling-book, and go over your ABC again, by learning that God so loved the world, that he gave his Son to die, that man might live through him.” Who among us – even the most mature of Christians – can fully mine the depths of the gospel?

God gave His Son. This was done willingly and abundantly, without coercion or reluctance. He offered what was closest to Him, His only Son, to redeem the world. Can anyone fathom the magnitude of God’s love that He displayed through His Son? “That love which spares nothing, but spends itself to help and bless its object, is love indeed, and not the mere name of it.” Christ is the greatest expression of God’s love for us.

And now, this great love is available to all if they repent and put their faith in Christ, trusting in His saving gift. Not only is this love given freely to all who believe, but there is no fear that it will ever run dry or His promise of redemption will ever be retracted. His love has no end and is forever for his children. “As long as there is a God, the believer shall not only exist, but live. As long as there is a heaven, you shall enjoy it; as long as there is a Christ, you shall live in his love; and as long as there is an eternity, you shall continue to fill it with delight.” 

Excerpt:

Throughout the ages the great Father stood to his gift. He looked upon his Only Begotten as man’s hope, the inheritance of the chosen seed, who in him would possess all things. Every sacrifice was God’s renewal of his gift of grace, a reassurance that he had bestowed the gift, and would never draw back therefrom. The whole system of types under the law betokened that in the fulness of time the Lord would in very deed give up his Son, to be born of a woman, to bear the iniquities of his people, and to die the death in their behalf. I greatly admire this pertinacity of love; for many a man in a moment of generous excitement can perform a supreme act of benevolence, and yet could not bear to look at it calmly, and consider it from year to year; the slow fire of anticipation would have been unbearable. […] Yet the Lord God spared not his own Son, but freely delivered him up for us all, doing it in his heart from age to age. Herein is love: love which many waters could not quench: love eternal, inconceivable, infinite!

Read the rest of the sermon here.



Intro to the Sermon of the Week: “The Gospel of the Glory of Christ”

By / Feb 18

What is so glorious about the gospel? What was it about the Good News that so enraptured men like Charles Spurgeon and the Apostle Paul?

In March of 1889, Spurgeon preached a sermon based on a single phrase from 2 Corinthians 4:4 – “The light of the glorious gospel of Christ.” In this message, the Prince of Preachers puts the gospel on display and lets it shine in all its brilliance.

First, the preacher considers that the glory of the gospel is Christ Himself. “Christ is the author of the gospel, the subject of the gospel, and the end of the gospel.” What is so glorious about the gospel? Christ. The good news is good because it is news about Him.

Next, Spurgeon describes the nature of the light of the gospel. The gospel needs no illumination from the outside; it is light itself, and people need only to open their eyes to see it. “I wish I could induce unbelievers here to read the story of the crucifixion every morning,” Spurgeon states, “and to keep on reading it and studying it; for I am persuaded that the light which streams from the cross would, by the blessing of God, open their eyes, and enter their souls savingly.”

Finally, he addresses what we ought to do with this light we’ve been given. What shall we do with this light? “Look towards it[!]” Spurgeon exclaims. “I beseech you,” he continues, “beloved in the Lord, to get alone, and give yourself to meditate upon the glory of the once-despised Jesus. Track him from the cradle to the cross, from the cross to the crown. I cannot suggest to you any subject more instructive, more comforting, more ennobling than this.”

Maybe you have heard the gospel many times, but don’t see its glory. Perhaps you don’t feel sorrow for sin, desire for forgiveness, or joy at the news of grace. You are missing something heavenly. Only God can open your eyes.

Is the gospel glorious to you? Have you beheld the glory of Christ? “Look unto Jesus, and the light within will grow like the glory of heaven.”

Excerpt:

Have you never heard how the Laplanders climb the hills when the sun is at last about to appear after the weary winter months? How they rejoice in the first beams of the rising sun! So let us rise to lofty meditation, and look to our Lord and Master, till we perceive his mediatorial glory, and are blessed thereby. Have you no time? Give up your newspaper for a week that you may sanctify the time to the noble end of considering the glory of your Lord; and I will warrant that you shall get a thousand times more out of such thought than from skimming the daily journal. Look unto Jesus, and the light within will grow like the glory of heaven.

Read the rest of the sermon here.



Introduction to the Sermon of the week: “Never! Never! Never! Never! Never!”

By / Feb 9

Have you ever had to say something twice to make a point? A mother will drill her children, “Never, ever cross the street without looking both ways.” On special occasions we may even repeat our point a third time. “I cannot, cannot, cannot forget our anniversary,” rueful husbands have chided themselves. But God, in making a point to His people, repeats Himself no less than five times!

“Never! Never! Never! Never! Never!” is the title of Spurgeon’s 1862 sermon and is also the forceful assertion underlying the English text of Hebrews 13:5. In the original Greek, five negating words are repeated throughout the verse to drive home the point that Jesus will never leave His people. It is a “five-fold assurance,” a “quintessence of consolation” says Spurgeon. “If he be father, if he be husband, if he be head, if he be all-in-all, how can he leave thee?”

For those who are in Christ, this assurance has no end. Those who have put their faith in Jesus are eternally united with Him. What grounds do we have for comfort? God, the Creator of all things, is forever with us. Nothing can separate us from His love. “To depend upon the daily providence of a faithful God, is better than to be worth twenty thousand pounds a year. […] How we ought to rejoice with joy unspeakable if He will never leave us! Mere songs are not enough; shout for joy all ye that are upright in heart.”

Excerpt:

Whether he gave the word to Abraham or to Moses matters not; he has given it to thee as one of the covenanted seed. There is not a high blessing too lofty for thee; nor a wide mercy too extensive for thee. Lift up now thine eyes to the north and to the south, to the east and to the west, for all this is thine. Climb to Pisgah’s top, and view the utmost limit of the divine promise, for the land is all thine own. There is not a brook of living water of which thou mayest not drink. If the land floweth with milk and honey, eat the honey and drink the milk. The fattest of the kine, yea, and the sweetest of the wines, let all be thine, for there is no denial of any one of them to any saint. Be thou bold to believe, for he hath said, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” To put everything in one, there is nothing you can want, there is nothing you can ask for, there is nothing you can need in time or in eternity, there is nothing living, nothing dying, there is nothing in this world, nothing in the next world, there is nothing now, nothing at the resurrection-morning, nothing in heaven that is not contained in this text — “I will never leave thee; I will never forsake thee.”

Read the rest of the sermon here.



Sermon of the Week: “Frost and Thaw”

By / Jan 28

In January 1866, a wintry weather episode prompted Charles Spurgeon to preach a sermon titled “Frost and Thaw”. Snowflakes, ice crystals, frost, and wind can teach us truths about God. What can we learn from observing God’s power over nature?

Spurgeon first observed God’s operations in nature itself. By looking at His works in sending natural phenomena like ice and snow, we can learn about God’s character. “It seems to me […],” Spurgeon says, “to make the world so magnificent, to light it up with such a lustre and such a splendour, to think that God is in it, and that it is his ice, and his snow, and his wind, and his cold, and that everything is his […]” (emphasis added).

Secondly, Spurgeon observes how natural phenomena can teach us about God’s law and grace. Law, like a cold frost, cuts, chills, and discomforts as it exposes us, showing our corruption. Without the gospel, exposure to the law of God hardens the heart, leaving us hopeless and despairing. But grace, like a warm southerly wind, ushers in the sweetness of the gospel and God’s actions on behalf of hopeless sinners. The gospel softens the heart, awakens new life, and empowers for growth. Such truth brings the soothing warmth of joy and freedom when the sinner is united with Christ into the family of God.

Have you felt the cold sting of the conviction of sin? Thank God for it. But even more, thank Him for His thawing work of grace.

Excerpt:

Christian, be thou reminded of the goodness of God in the frost of adversity, which you feel this morning. Your losses and burdens are but God’s love dressed in black robes. Rest assured that when God is pleased to send out the biting winds of affliction, he is in them, and he is always love, as much love in sorrow as when he breathes upon you with the soft south wind of joy. Endeavour to see the loving kindness of God in every work of his hand! Praise him — he maketh summer and winter — let your song go round the year! Praise him — he giveth day and sendeth night – give him songs in the night! Despond not, for God is with you, and rejoice evermore in him. Cast not away your confidence; it shall have great recompence of reward. As David wove the snow, and rain, and stormy wind into a song, even so combine your trials, your tribulations, your difficulties, and adversities into a sweet Psalm of praise, and say perpetually —
“I will praise thee every day,
For thine anger’s passed away.”

Read the rest of the sermon here.



Sermon of the Week: “Danger. Safety. Gratitude.”

By / Jan 19

Can a Christian lose his salvation? How should we respond to the news of yet another prominent Christian falling into public sin? What are we to make of the Bible’s many warning passages addressed to Christians? How can I make it to the end?

These are the perennial questions that Spurgeon addresses in his 1874 sermon, “Danger. Safety. Gratitude.” Here, Spurgeon warns his congregation of the reality that any Christian, no matter how mature they may seem in their faith, can fall into egregious sin if they rely on their own devices. Christ alone keeps His children from evil. “If we do not fall, it is not because [the wicked] have not tried to make us fall, but because God has upheld us by his grace. If we know ourselves at all, we must have come to the conclusion that, apart from the grace of God, we are a mass of sin and corruption, and capable of anything that is evil.” Every story of backsliding that we hear stands as a warning to us of the danger of our indwelling sin and this fallen world.

But even in that grave reality, there is reason for much hope. Spurgeon reminds his congregation that although sin is always lurking at the door, safety is found in the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. When we put our faith in Christ, He saves us, not just for a moment, but for all eternity. Our sin — ­­­­past, present, and future — is nailed to the cross. And He fills us with His Spirit that He might keep us to the end. “You did not have him to be a Savior for a time, to cleanse you from sin, and then to leave you to fall back into sin,” Spurgeon reminds us. “When you took him to be your Savior, I hope you took him for all your life, and for eternity. That is how he took you[.]” When temptation and sin come knocking, run to Jesus. He will guide you safely through.

Excerpt:

Christ is your Savior from beginning to end, so always regard him in that light; and as your Savior let it be very comforting to you to reflect that he is divine: “The only wise God our Savior.” He who has undertaken to save you is no mere man, and no angel; he is nothing less than the omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient God. Your peril can be averted by his omnipotent might. The hidden dangers in your pathway all lie unveiled to his all-seeing eye. You are safe, not because you can see and avoid the dangers that beset you, nor yet because you are strong, and can conquer your adversaries, but because your Savior is God, and therefore you shall be saved, continuously saved, perfectly saved, and presented as a saved one at the last.

Read the rest of the sermon here.



Sermon of the Week: “Heaven Above, and Heaven Below”

By / Jan 8

What would it look like to enjoy the privileges of heaven during life on earth?

In 1890, less than two years before his death–possibly with premonitions of his approaching entry into the Celestial City–, Charles Spurgeon preached a sermon entitled “Heaven Above, and Heaven Below”, in which he sets forth the idea that heaven is both a present and future reality.

“The fact is,” Spurgeon declares, “that heaven is God fully enjoyed.… [the one w]ho knoweth God knoweth heaven.” In heaven, God Himself will be our deep and unending delight. God has prepared a place of pure perfection for His people: every need supplied, every tear wiped away, and all evil removed. Better yet, all our desires will be transformed to reflect God’s heart. Our hearts will be pure, fixed on Christ, without a hint of sin remaining. Our sanctification will be complete.

However, the privileges of heaven aren’t exclusively reserved for the afterlife. “Think of what you are by grace,” Spurgeon continues, “and remember that what you will be in glory is already outlined and foreshadowed in your life in Christ.” As believers, we don’t have to wait until heaven to experience some of our inheritance. Through Jesus, we are justified, forgiven, and completely righteous in God’s eyes. Our Heavenly Father’s face is shining on us as brightly today as it will for all the ages to come.

As believers here on earth, we cannot possess greater riches than we already have in Christ. Christians are just as wealthy today as they will be in heaven. “The richest saint in glory has no greater possession than his God: and even I also can say, in the words of the psalm, ‘Yea, mine own God is he.’”

Does the disposition of your heart here on earth reflect your status as an heir of heaven? How does the hope of heaven shape your life in the meantime?

Excerpt:

“Already you are as much forgiven as you will be when you stand without fault before the throne of God. The Lord Jesus has washed you whiter than snow, and none can lay aught to your charge. You are as completely justified by the righteousness of Christ as you ever can be; you are covered with his righteousness, and heaven itself cannot provide a robe more spotless…. To-day we have the spirit of adoption, and enjoy access to the throne of the heavenly grace; yea, and to-day by faith we are raised up in Christ, and made to sit in the heavenlies in him. We are now united to Christ, now indwelt by the Holy Ghost: are not these great things, and heavenly things? The Lord hath brought us out of darkness into his marvellous light. Although we may, from one point of view, lament the dimness of the day, yet, as compared with our former darkness, the light is marvellous; and, best of all, it is the same light which is to brighten from dawn into mid-day. What is grace but the morning twilight of glory?”

Read the rest of the sermon here.



Sermon of the Week: “The Immutability of Christ”

By / Dec 31

Where do you look for stability in an ever-changing, tumultuous world? As the year 2025 ends and 2026 begins, we are reminded of the reality of change. Some people look to the future for a fresh start, with hope and expectation. On the other hand, others see the new year as just another indication that the “good old days” are long gone. The uncertainty of the future can bring anxiety and uncertainty. In his first sermon of 1858, Spurgeon reminds us that true stability is found only in the unchanging Christ.

“It is well that there is one person who is the same,” Spurgeon begins. “It is well that there is one stable rock amidst the changing billows of this sea of life; for how many and how grievous have been the changes of this year?” Perhaps he recalled the tragic Lewisham Rail Crash of the previous year. Two trains had collided, killing eleven people and injuring thirty others. Such tragedies remind us of the finitude of life.

Spurgeon encourages his congregation that, amid the swirling seas of life, our anchor is secure: Jesus is Lord. He never changes. His love, his Word, and his gift of salvation hold as true today as they did before time began. “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.”

Excerpt:

“Should [Christ] come on earth to visit us again, as sure he will, we should find him the same Jesus; as loving, as approachable, as generous, as kind, and though arrayed in nobler garments than he wore when first he visited earth, though no more the Man of Sorrows and griefs acquaintance, yet he would be the same person, unchanged by all his glories, his triumphs, and his joys. We bless Christ that amid his heavenly splendors his person is just the same, and his nature unaffected. ‘Jesus Christ the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.’”

Read the rest of the sermon here.



Sermon of the Week: “Good Cheer for Christmas”

By / Dec 22

What are you feasting on this Christmas? The Christmas feast is a closely held tradition for countless families. Succulent ham, soft buttery rolls, heaps of mashed potatoes, and all the sides one could hope for cover the banquet table on the day of Christmas. Then, friends and family gather around the table to celebrate the coming of their Lord and His abundant blessings. 

But Spurgeon calls his listeners to feast on Christmas, not just with a physical meal, but the spiritual supper prepared for all believers, “[…] I invite you to the best of all Christmas fare—to nobler food than makes the table groan—bread from heaven, food for your spirit. Behold, how rich and how abundant are the provisions which God has made for the high festival which he would have his servants keep, not now and then, but all the days of their lives!”

First, Spurgeon urges all Christians to meditate on the feast Christ has created through His death, burial, and resurrection. All sinners are welcome at the table. No one is too dirty to partake, for the only requirement for a seat at the banquet is faith in the one who prepared it. “Come hither, all ye whose spiritual tastes are purified by grace, and feed upon this choice provision, which shall be sweet to your taste, sweeter, also, than honey and the honeycomb.”

Second, consider the banquet hall. This place of dining is the church gathered together to glorify their Messiah. Although there are distinctions among the body of believers, whether by ethnicity or geography, all who truly hold to Christ are united. “There is but one church in heaven and earth, composed of men called by the Holy Ghost, and made to live anew by his quickening power; and it is through the ministry of this church that an abundant feast is spread for all nations, a feast to which the nations are summoned by chosen herald, whom God calls to proclaim the good news of salvation by Jesus Christ.” Our local gatherings are a foretaste of that grand gathering of the universal church when Christ returns.

Finally, Christian, remember the guests invited to the table. Guests from all walks of life can come and dine. Under Christ, there is no exclusion owing to race, class, or sex. Jesus will never shut the door on those who desire to come and feast with Him. “Still is it true, ‘Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.’ Some very odd people have come to him, some very wicked people, some very hardened people, but the door was never closed in any one’s face.”

So, as you gather this Christmas with your loved ones to dine, see a picture of the eternal banquet prepared for you in the halls of heaven. Those banquet doors, which have now been thrown open for you, were opened with the coming of a baby boy, the incarnate deity, Jesus Christ the Lord.

Excerpt:

If you believe in Jesus Christ, all these things are yours. Come, poor trembler, the silver trumpet soundeth, and this is the note it rings, “Come and welcome, come and welcome, come and welcome.” The harsher trumpet of the law which waxed exceedingly loud and long at Sinai had this for its note, “Set bounds about the mount: let none touch it lest they die.” But the trumpet for Calvary sounds with the opposite note; it is, “Come and welcome, come and welcome, sinner, come! Come as you are, sinful as you are, hardened as you are, careless as you think you are, and having no good thing whatsoever, come to your God in Christ!” O may you come to him who gave his Son to bleed in the sinner’s stead, and casting yourself on what Christ has done, may you resolve, “If I perish, I will trust in him; if I be cast away, I will rely on him.” You shall not perish, but for you there shall be the feast of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. The Lord bless you very richly, for his name’s sake. Amen.