<description>Spurgeon is not a mindless preacher, stuck in a rut of structure, though he is always recognisably himself in style. Here he begins with a brief introduction, before launching into a study in contrast between the wages of sin, which is death, and the gift of God which is everlasting life in Jesus Christ our Lord. In each case (particularly the first) he goes beyond a scant understanding of the words, and begins to dig out their sense, and press home their substance, and plead in the light of what he has to say. The first part of the sermon is a pressing development of the misery of sin and its consequences, manifestly weighing down the very heart of the preacher as he speaks. In the second half he moves into light and joy, setting forth the wonders of redeeming grace in Christ, and the free favour of God. He closes with applications for the believer, pressing home what it means to receive this life and to live as those who live indeed, but also encouraging every child of God to believe in the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit, the same power by which Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. By the grace of God, the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ will yet secure life for those who are dead in sin, to the praise of his glory. It is a simple structure, and a striking sermon, and it should leave us feeling the horrible weight of sin and its awful wages, the wonder of God's grace in Christ, bestowing life on the hell-deserving.</description>

C. H. Spurgeon - From the heart of Spurgeon

Death and Life: the Wage and the Gift (sermon 1868)

<description>Sin deserves judgment. Your sin deserves God's judgment. In the first chapter of Isaiah, God declares his righteous judgment against the sin of Israel. Taking verse 27 as a general principle, applicable to God's dealings with sinners today, we look at the redemption promised, a ransom price paid, a deliverance accomplished. Then we turn to the redemption described in terms of the justice and righteousness of God displayed. Finally, we look at the redemption bestowed on the penitents. Where does a sinner find such a redemption? Where does God show himself both just and the Justifier, if not at the cross of Jesus Christ?</description>

Jeremy Walker

Righteous redemption

<description>Having thought about why the church needs deacons, we turn next to the qualities which a church must look for in deacons. Among the things to look for, a potential deacon must be credible, available, responsible, reliable, practical, charitable and spiritual. These qualities will show themselves in the things to look at: his life, his wife, his home. These are the things a man must be if the church is to recognise him as a deacon.</description>

Jeremy Walker - Deacons

What does the church look for in deacons?

<description>Here is Spurgeon at the heart of his ministerial and pastoral calling: glorying in the cross of a crucified Christ. Here is the essential power of all his preaching, and here is the delight of his own soul. Unpacking the sermon methodically, and finding his time running out as he expands upon this theme, Spurgeon begins with the cross itself, and what the apostle meant when he thought of it and spoke of it. He had in mind the fact of the cross, the bare reality of the incarnate Son of God dying for sinners. He had in mind the doctrine of the cross, and all it means, and the cross of the doctrine, the very centre and core of true Christianity. And why did Paul glory in this? Spurgeon ranges across the attributes of God, highlighting the ways in which God is manifested and magnified in the salvation accomplished in the death of his beloved Son, as well as speaking of the particular delights and comforts and stirrings which it brings to those who glory in it. And then, says our preacher, Paul had felt all its impact on his own soul and on his own life. The world had been emptied of all its attraction, all its enticements, all its glories, by the glory of the cross. Oh that the glory of the cross would have the same impact on us today, that the death of Christ would slay in us both self and the world, and so hold our hearts that no-one and nothing else would ever draw us, but that Christ in all the matchless mercy of his atoning sacrifice would be and remain our all-in-all.</description>

The Cross our Glory (sermon 1859)

<description>It is all too easy to despise the needy, especially when they intrude upon us. Christ and his disciples were seeking privacy and peace in the face of their own weariness and trouble, but when they came out of the boat in which they had travelled, they found a crowd waiting. What did the Lord Jesus see? He saw a great multitude, a mighty mass of needy people all seeking help. How did the Lord Jesus feel? He was moved not with frustration but with compassion, as he is still moved. What did the Lord Jesus know? He knew that the crowd were like sheep which had no shepherd. How did the Lord Jesus act? He began to teach them many things, to tell them about the kingdom of God, in order that they might find peace, protection, and provision under his care.</description>

Christ’s compassionate care

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