Maidenbower Baptist Church

Having drawn the portrait of a persecutor from Herod's history in Acts 12, we turn now to Simon Peter and those around him. Tracing Peter's experience, we see his threatening imprisonment, his peaceful night, his angelic deliverance, his happy housecall, his eventual report, and his quiet departure. Along the way we learn various lessons, not least about the preservation, peace, and prayers of the saints, and are assured of the progress of the gospel.

Paul compacts the experience of salvation into one terse declaration. He tells the Galatian Christians what we were (slaves), what we became (sons), what we are now (heirs because sons), and how we entered into this new state: through Christ Jesus. How, then, do we define ourselves? If we are sons, then we should be joyful and obedient because of what Christ has secured for us. If we are still slaves, we need to come to Christ that we might be set free.

Elijah's plea was simple: "Let it be known that I have done all these things at your word." Spurgeon turns it in two directions. First, to obedient saints, it is a firm ground for prayer. He considers the labouring minister, a whole church, an individual Christian, and—departing slightly from his main heading—he asks how it would be used by a seeking sinner. Second, to those who cannot say that they have acted according to God's word, it is a solemn matter for question, a means of self-examination. As he sometimes does, he puts the question to the same categories as under his first heading from the different angle: to the worker he asks about our preaching and our living; to the church, he asks about our motives and our holiness; to Christian people, he inquires about arrogance and hypocrisy. He gives more time here again to the seeking sinner, with a couple of hints to those who may be converted, urging them to embrace the will of God in those things which lead to peace. Spurgeon shows us here how to preach a sermon on two levels to a mixed congregation, blending both comforts and challenges to various kinds of hearers. The result is a striking call to humble obedience, applied across the board.

This psalm weaves together God's high character and man's deep need, not as contrasts but as counterpoints. We do not lose sight of Christ, we do not disconnect from Christ's people. Here, then, is a man who has grasped God's faithful love, God's ready grace, and God's tender mercies. The plea to be heard, for God to turn to the needy man, fits the suffering Son, a seeking sinner, a struggling saint, and a striving servant.

If you are setting off across the desert, you need water. If you are caught in the desert, you need water. If you have or will have a real thirst, you need water. If you have thirst of soul, you need living water—you need the God of grace to shower forgiveness, peace, joy, and strength upon you. That is the condition to which Christ speaks. To all such he offers a solution: "Come to me, and drink." He is the one who supplies the Spirit, who gives all needful for spiritual life and service. The invitation could not be broader: "anyone" who thirsts may come to him and drink. But the question is real: "If anyone is thirsty...." Not everyone feels this thirst, and not everyone responds to Christ when the man of love offers life in himself.

Our Lord Jesus, insists Spurgeon, was not only a man of sorrows, but a man of joys. He knew joys in his humiliation, and he knows joys in his exaltation. He has distinct gladness as the Mediator. Bubbling over with delight, Spurgeon spreads himself in his introduction, delighting to think of the delight which characterises our Lord in glory. Only then does he turn, with particular concentration, to the substance of his sermon, packing in truth because he has less time than otherwise, condensing his study of the distinctive privilege and character of the saints' joy, drawn from their entering into Christ's joy. He holds fast to his text, before expanding upon it in the last few moments of his sermon, as—soaked with Scripture, and with a poetry born of piety—he considers the channels through which the blessings of God flow to us, and then soars into a concluding exhortation to God's people to enter into the joy which the Lord has secured for us. It is a truly happy sermon, and it breeds the kind of happiness which this world cannot offer, but which is received and enjoyed by all who know Christ Jesus as their God and Saviour, and the Almighty as their Father, through him.

A brief devotion in preparation for a season of thanksgiving, considering Habakkuk's resolution to rejoice in the face of the loss not just of the mere delights of life but the very supports of life. However, when all is gone, God is not, and God is still good. Habakkuk therefore, facing the worst of all possible futures in this world, looks up to the God of salvation and resolves to rejoice and so bring glory to God whatsoever comes to pass.

Here is a song for the wilderness, delight for the desert pilgrim. The song has a strong foundation, for it is a song of God reconciled, of peace established. It is a song of endless resources, for to those in fellowship with God the wells of salvation have been opened—gospel truths, gospel promises, gospel ordinances, and gospel experiences. This leads to joyful labour, for we are to draw from the wells of salvation, to return to Christ again and again to obtain strength and sustenance for the way. Then, and only then, can we sing praises to God as we pass through the wilderness.

What may seem to be a slightly twee title contains a very sweet truth: "My God will hear me." With such a brief phrase, Spurgeon simply unpacks it, weaving together doctrine, experience, and practice. Here is a title to relish, "my God," with all it means. Then there is an argument to grasp, that because he is God and my God, he will hear me. Then there is the favour involved, that all-hearing, sympathetic, wise, and righteous ear which is open to our cry, to enter into our experience. And do not forget, says Spurgeon, the person who is heard. Here he pleads not only with the believer who already enjoys this sweet silver bell ringing in his heart, but also the troubled and distressed soul, sin-sick and sorrowing, who has come to desire God as Saviour. The God of heaven, kind and gracious, will most assuredly hear the one who cries out of the depths. What a joyful thought to take away, and what a great expectation to possess: "My God will hear me!"

We are working through a book of systematic theology called "Daily Doctrine" by Kevin DeYoung (Crossway). We hope that you will join us and engage with the book as we seek to learn more about the God of heaven, and what the knowledge of him means for his pilgrim people upon earth. The whole video series can be found here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLydzd6kZnPWdDUP1Dj9CIV_hSp42WEeMb&si=ACvRi4lPPuAH1jqx If you are in the UK you can get the book here: https://amzn.to/3ZX4ICu or https://www.icmbooks.co.uk/product/38356/Daily-Doctrine-A-One-Year-Guide-to-Systematic-Theology or https://uk.10ofthose.com/product/9781433572852/daily-doctrine-hardback. If you are in the US you can get the book here: https://amzn.to/3VSrTNq or https://www.heritagebooks.org/products/daily-doctrine-deyoung.html. Direct from Crossway: https://www.crossway.org/books/daily-doctrine-hcj/ Logos users: https://www.logos.com/product/299143/daily-doctrine-a-one-year-guide-to-systematic-theology

Simeon was a godly man—just and devout, patient and holy. He was waiting for the Consolation of Israel. Here we consider what Simeon saw in the temple one day, unremarkable by human standards. We also need to know who he identified, the salvation of God and the hope of men. How did Simeon know? He was instructed by the Word of God and guided by the Spirit of God. So what did Simeon do? He embraced the Christ, and blessed God and spoke of the child's saving career. And how did Simeon feel? He knew God's peace and joy, able to live and die delighted by divine mercy. And what of you?

Many of us look forward to gifts, but none leave us speechless. God's gift, though, is indescribable—it exceeds our capacity for speech. So what is this gift? Why can you not describe it? And, what should you do with it? Here we explore the wonder of the Son of God, the Saviour, given to sinners for salvation. He is inexpressible and inexhaustible, and we declare his glory even as we acknowledge that it is beyond all telling!

"The Philadelphian church was not great, but it was good; it was not powerful, but it was faithful." Does that describe the congregation to which you belong? Drawing from Christ's words to the church of Philadelphia in Revelation 3, Spurgeon identifies the word of praise which Christ offers, the word of prospect, and the word of promise. As ever, the preacher uses this congregation to hold up a mirror in which we may assess our own reflection. Can we receive such praise for our faithfulness in holding to the Word of God? Have we been faithful with what we have received, and so been granted a prospect of further usefulness? And, with all that, can we therefore rest upon the promise, that having kept God's word, we shall ourselves be kept from temptation? A typical blend of encouragement and challenge, all soaked in the savour of Christ, gives us an opportunity to examine ourselves, to aspire to greater faithfulness and holiness, and to take comfort in the goodness and mercy of our Redeemer.

We are working through a book of systematic theology called "Daily Doctrine" by Kevin DeYoung (Crossway). We hope that you will join us and engage with the book as we seek to learn more about the God of heaven, and what the knowledge of him means for his pilgrim people upon earth. The whole video series can be found here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLydzd6kZnPWdDUP1Dj9CIV_hSp42WEeMb&si=ACvRi4lPPuAH1jqx If you are in the UK you can get the book here: https://amzn.to/3ZX4ICu or https://www.icmbooks.co.uk/product/38356/Daily-Doctrine-A-One-Year-Guide-to-Systematic-Theology or https://uk.10ofthose.com/product/9781433572852/daily-doctrine-hardback. If you are in the US you can get the book here: https://amzn.to/3VSrTNq or https://www.heritagebooks.org/products/daily-doctrine-deyoung.html. Direct from Crossway: https://www.crossway.org/books/daily-doctrine-hcj/ Logos users: https://www.logos.com/product/299143/daily-doctrine-a-one-year-guide-to-systematic-theology

Abruptly, woefully, the apostle James dies, murdered by Herod Agrippa. The narrative paints a portrait of a persecutor in all his contradictions and frustrations. But we learn not only about him but from him, drawing lessons about the kingdom of a greater and kinder king, even our Lord Jesus Christ, who governs all things for the good of his people and the glory of his name. His kingdom comes, regardless of the opposition.

Isaiah speaks to a people sunk in darkness, and brings the promise of light. That promise, delivered with sweet certainty, comes to fulfilment in the arrival of Immanuel, the Christ, Jesus of Nazareth. That language of darkness is equally applicable to all men who are living without and apart from Christ Jesus, which is why we need to understand the lack of light (walking and living in deep and death-like darkness), the hope of light (God's gracious gift to benighted men), and the gift of light, which is God's own Son, come into the world for salvation.

There is a splash of sentiment in this selection, because this is another sermon of Spurgeon's which I remember reading in preparation for preaching. I recall being struck with the preacher's delight in the Scriptures, with his happy depth of insight, with the experiential substance of the address, with its theological depth and doctrinal precision, and with the practical vigour of the whole. The title of the sermon gives us its two divisions, and—as he often does—Spurgeon walks through the text, drawing out its particular elements, hitting the key notes with brevity and pungency. Instruction, challenge, and encouragement are all readily blended, with the prominent presence of God in Christ the thread which bind things together, the whole evidently preached with a ready dependence on the Holy Spirit. Re-reading this sermon, I found myself wishing that I could come to it with the same freshness as I did the first time I surveyed it, but I trust that I now have a deeper and warmer appreciation for the truths which it contains, and hope that increasing love for the triune God will make that always and increasingly the case.

We are working through a book of systematic theology called "Daily Doctrine" by Kevin DeYoung (Crossway). We hope that you will join us and engage with the book as we seek to learn more about the God of heaven, and what the knowledge of him means for his pilgrim people upon earth. The whole video series can be found here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLydzd6kZnPWdDUP1Dj9CIV_hSp42WEeMb&si=ACvRi4lPPuAH1jqx If you are in the UK you can get the book here: https://amzn.to/3ZX4ICu or https://www.icmbooks.co.uk/product/38356/Daily-Doctrine-A-One-Year-Guide-to-Systematic-Theology or https://uk.10ofthose.com/product/9781433572852/daily-doctrine-hardback. If you are in the US you can get the book here: https://amzn.to/3VSrTNq or https://www.heritagebooks.org/products/daily-doctrine-deyoung.html. Direct from Crossway: https://www.crossway.org/books/daily-doctrine-hcj/ Logos users: https://www.logos.com/product/299143/daily-doctrine-a-one-year-guide-to-systematic-theology

John uses short words to express big ideas. He is plain but profound, and straight as can be in setting out what it means to be a true Christian. First, he identifies a condition: "if we walk in the light." This speaks of sincere and progressing holiness of life, with no sin indulged. Second, he offers a clarification: the quality of this holiness is derived from God himself—"as he is in the light." Finally, he identifies the consequences of such a life in communion with God: fellowship with others so walking, and the confidence that we are being cleansed in the blood of Jesus Christ.

We are tracing the overflow of God's goodness, as the gospel wave breaks powerfully over ancient boundaries. In our first study of Acts 11:19–30 we saw a good purpose, a good word, a good step, a good hand, and a good number. Keeping our eye on the mercy and grace of God in Christ, next we turn to a good man called Barnabas, a good work in Antioch, a good plan to involve Saul of Tarsus, a good name for the disciples, and a good gift to Jerusalem, the church in Antioch having received some from them already.

There is a particular trick which our Adversary loves to use both to hinder sinners and to disturb saints, and that is to paint the character of God in the darkest possible shades, to twist and pervert the Almighty and All-Merciful God's revelation of himself. In this sermon, preached from three texts, Spurgeon sets out, in the best sense, to vindicate the character of God. While still insisting upon the utter holiness of the Most High, Spurgeon nevertheless makes most clear the compassion of the Lord, and his willingness to save, and his pleadings with those who are lost in the misery of sin, and his provision for them in Christ Jesus to find life and joy and peace, through forgiveness. He emphasises God's delight in salvation, not as a mere idea, but as a sweet reality. As you can imagine, the sermon is peppered with strong reasoning and urgent pleading for sinners who may have the wrong idea of God to understand his gracious heart, as he makes himself known in the Word of God, and to come to him that they might not die, but live.

We are working through a book of systematic theology called "Daily Doctrine" by Kevin DeYoung (Crossway). We hope that you will join us and engage with the book as we seek to learn more about the God of heaven, and what the knowledge of him means for his pilgrim people upon earth. The whole video series can be found here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLydzd6kZnPWdDUP1Dj9CIV_hSp42WEeMb&si=ACvRi4lPPuAH1jqx If you are in the UK you can get the book here: https://amzn.to/3ZX4ICu or https://www.icmbooks.co.uk/product/38356/Daily-Doctrine-A-One-Year-Guide-to-Systematic-Theology or https://uk.10ofthose.com/product/9781433572852/daily-doctrine-hardback. If you are in the US you can get the book here: https://amzn.to/3VSrTNq or https://www.heritagebooks.org/products/daily-doctrine-deyoung.html. Direct from Crossway: https://www.crossway.org/books/daily-doctrine-hcj/ Logos users: https://www.logos.com/product/299143/daily-doctrine-a-one-year-guide-to-systematic-theology

The goodness of God in the gospel should thrill those who observe it. This portion of God's word overflows with God's goodness, as the gospel wave breaks powerfully over ancient boundaries. In this first study of Acts 11:19–30, as the good news comes to Antioch, we see a good purpose, a good word, a good step, a good hand, and a good number, and trace it all back to the good heart of a saving God and the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

Preached at Exeter Hall to a congregation which seems to have consisted largely if not exclusively of young men, an extended introduction about the importance of profitable reading gives way to a punchy series of questions. The first, "What is most essential to be understood in this Book?" gives Spurgeon the opportunity to review the gospel in its essence as contained in Isaiah 53. The second, "What is the test of a man's understanding the Book?" gives the preacher scope to speak of the receptive reader's delight in Christ and his truth. Thirdly, the question, "What can be done to obtain such a desirable understanding?" allows our preacher to stir up a spiritual appetite in his hearers, and to urge them to use every proper means to grasp the truth as it is in Jesus. Again, the crafting of the sermon is natural and effective, the three questions providing a platform for the preacher not just to proclaim the gospel but to press it home upon his congregation. The final sentences open a precious window into the preacher's hopeful heart: "When we meet in heaven we shall praise the Lord for making us understand what we read. God bless you all, for Christ's sake." What a sweet and happy prospect for us still!

We are working through a book of systematic theology called "Daily Doctrine" by Kevin DeYoung (Crossway). We hope that you will join us and engage with the book as we seek to learn more about the God of heaven, and what the knowledge of him means for his pilgrim people upon earth. The whole video series can be found here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLydzd6kZnPWdDUP1Dj9CIV_hSp42WEeMb&si=ACvRi4lPPuAH1jqx If you are in the UK you can get the book here: https://amzn.to/3ZX4ICu or https://www.icmbooks.co.uk/product/38356/Daily-Doctrine-A-One-Year-Guide-to-Systematic-Theology or https://uk.10ofthose.com/product/9781433572852/daily-doctrine-hardback. If you are in the US you can get the book here: https://amzn.to/3VSrTNq or https://www.heritagebooks.org/products/daily-doctrine-deyoung.html. Direct from Crossway: https://www.crossway.org/books/daily-doctrine-hcj/ Logos users: https://www.logos.com/product/299143/daily-doctrine-a-one-year-guide-to-systematic-theology

In response to the anger and disdain of the proud scribes and Pharisees, Christ makes clear that he has not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance. Having considered what this means, we answer the questions: who must come to Christ; who may come to Christ; and, how do we come to Christ? Here is the humbling hope of Christ's statement—that Jesus Christ will receive sinners who respond to his call by his word and Spirit.

This week we finally crest the peak of our reading of Spurgeon's sermons, crossing the halfway line in our reading through the Passmore & Alabaster collection of his preaching. This address, on love as the first fruit of the Spirit, is a fitting marker for the occasion. The sermon bears many of Spurgeon's hallmarks: richly doctrinal and practical and experimental; full of a lively sense of the Holy Spirit; rising to a Christ-centred crescendo; pleading for the holiness of God's people and the salvation of the lost; a thorough sense of the text in its context; an inventive and engaging outline; a delight in the grace of our heavenly Father; a lively hope of heaven; a plain call to penetrating self-examination. In one sense there is nothing remarkable about the sermon. In another sense, the fact that this is a further sermon showing a consistent richness of substance and a sustained intensity of spirituality makes it notable not because it stands out but because it is more of the same, and it warms our hearts.

We are working through a book of systematic theology called "Daily Doctrine" by Kevin DeYoung (Crossway). We hope that you will join us and engage with the book as we seek to learn more about the God of heaven, and what the knowledge of him means for his pilgrim people upon earth. The whole video series can be found here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLydzd6kZnPWdDUP1Dj9CIV_hSp42WEeMb&si=ACvRi4lPPuAH1jqx If you are in the UK you can get the book here: https://amzn.to/3ZX4ICu or https://www.icmbooks.co.uk/product/38356/Daily-Doctrine-A-One-Year-Guide-to-Systematic-Theology or https://uk.10ofthose.com/product/9781433572852/daily-doctrine-hardback. If you are in the US you can get the book here: https://amzn.to/3VSrTNq or https://www.heritagebooks.org/products/daily-doctrine-deyoung.html. Direct from Crossway: https://www.crossway.org/books/daily-doctrine-hcj/ Logos users: https://www.logos.com/product/299143/daily-doctrine-a-one-year-guide-to-systematic-theology

Here is another sermon in which you detect notes of what today might be called 'pastoral theology.' Spurgeon could preach to preachers, certainly, and you see much of that in some collections of lectures and sermons, especially his Lecture to My Students. However, he also wants those who hear the Word of God to have some understanding of what it is to preach the Word of God. So, earlier in this year, you have his sermon on the pastor's life being wrapped up with the steadfastness of the saints. Here, he opens a window into what is taking place in the man who preaches and to the man to whom he preaches. How does God fit a man to be a minister of the gospel? What does God do in the heart of a converted man? And, what does that converted man have to do, in terms of his own experience of and response to the work of God? Here then you have two divine operations, one upon a preacher, and one upon a hearer, the second developing into its Godward and its manward elements, and yet never merely theoretical, but constantly brought close to the life of those who preach and those who hear.

We are working through a book of systematic theology called "Daily Doctrine" by Kevin DeYoung (Crossway). We hope that you will join us and engage with the book as we seek to learn more about the God of heaven, and what the knowledge of him means for his pilgrim people upon earth. The whole video series can be found here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLydzd6kZnPWdDUP1Dj9CIV_hSp42WEeMb&si=ACvRi4lPPuAH1jqx If you are in the UK you can get the book here: https://amzn.to/3ZX4ICu or https://www.icmbooks.co.uk/product/38356/Daily-Doctrine-A-One-Year-Guide-to-Systematic-Theology or https://uk.10ofthose.com/product/9781433572852/daily-doctrine-hardback. If you are in the US you can get the book here: https://amzn.to/3VSrTNq or https://www.heritagebooks.org/products/daily-doctrine-deyoung.html. Direct from Crossway: https://www.crossway.org/books/daily-doctrine-hcj/ Logos users: https://www.logos.com/product/299143/daily-doctrine-a-one-year-guide-to-systematic-theology

Peter's battles have only begun: the fact of his fellowship with the Gentiles spreads quickly, and Peter faces opposition from those who have thought as he once did. Acts 11:1–18 first records the strife, the contention from those of the circumcision against Peter for his fellowship with the uncircumcised. In response, Peter rehearses the story of God's grace toward Cornelius and his household, emphasising the shared salvation which they enjoy together. That leads to the silence of the opposers and the song of the persuaded, as they recognise that this is God's doing, and none should stand against it. While we may not face precisely the same issues, we might still battle with the same spirit. We, too, need to grasp God's grace, and to rejoice in the gospel of Christ which advances without regard for human boundaries and borders.

This is a deliberately simple sermon. Spurgeon sets out to answer the prayer of the boy who asked, "Lord, grant that our minister may say something to-morrow that I may understand." Some might not have turned to Leviticus in order to answer that prayer, but Spurgeon does so in order to "deal with the essence and soul of true religion." Taking an image that recurs in Leviticus, he speaks here primarily of the attitude of the one who makes the burnt offering, involving confession, acceptance, transference, identification. That vocabulary might not be the simplest, but the explanation of each is plain and pressing, driving at the penal substitutionary atonement (to use a similarly dense phrase!) which lies at the heart of our acceptance with God. Of interest may be the fact that the sermon for the following week (number 1772) he takes the same text and deals with the death of the sacrifice, so that out of one brief verse he unpacks the core of our salvation, as it is accomplished by Christ and the cross and appropriated by the faith of the repenting sinner.

We are working through a book of systematic theology called "Daily Doctrine" by Kevin DeYoung (Crossway). We hope that you will join us and engage with the book as we seek to learn more about the God of heaven, and what the knowledge of him means for his pilgrim people upon earth. The whole video series can be found here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLydzd6kZnPWdDUP1Dj9CIV_hSp42WEeMb&si=ACvRi4lPPuAH1jqx If you are in the UK you can get the book here: https://amzn.to/3ZX4ICu or https://www.icmbooks.co.uk/product/38356/Daily-Doctrine-A-One-Year-Guide-to-Systematic-Theology or https://uk.10ofthose.com/product/9781433572852/daily-doctrine-hardback. If you are in the US you can get the book here: https://amzn.to/3VSrTNq or https://www.heritagebooks.org/products/daily-doctrine-deyoung.html. Direct from Crossway: https://www.crossway.org/books/daily-doctrine-hcj/ Logos users: https://www.logos.com/product/299143/daily-doctrine-a-one-year-guide-to-systematic-theology

How much and how often do we consider the wonder of divine pardon? Here we see the essence of God's dealings with a sinner. Rebuked by God's word, David offers a simple confession. Nathan combining a gracious pardon from the Lord. He reminds David of the penalty commuted, the death that David deserved but was spared. Before we close, we also glance at a shadowy substitution, for sin always brings death, and David's death has fallen upon another...upon Christ, the Son of God.

Can you imagine living in a world with no fear? One day we will, and even now we can begin to do so! To learn how, we must begin with the people God addresses, the objects of his love, favoured through covenant. Then we must consider the commands God issues to those people: "fear not," and, "be not dismayed." But what underpins these commands? It is the assurances God gives, of his presence, his person, his provision, his pity, and his power. All this being true of us in Christ Jesus, we too can live without sinful fear.

You might have thought that high doctrine and broad doctrine were contrasts, perhaps one good and the other bad, but in this sermon they are complements, each declaring something wonderful about God's plan and purpose in salvation. This is something of a throwback, I think, a sermon from the archives, preached at Exeter Hall, probably in the 1850s (published here in 1884). It is a wonderful example of lively, eager, natural evangelistic preaching. Spurgeon loads his sermons with illustrations; his cheerful humour is on full display; his eagerness to make Christ known is unparalleled; his pathos in pleading with sinners is exemplified; his wisdom in addressing doubts and fears is plain. This is the kind of sermon which no preacher should seek merely to mimic, but it is just the kind of ministry to emulate. If we are Christians, let us feel again the sweet force of the gospel, and let it inspire us not only to cling to Christ, but to make him known to others. If we are preachers, let this rebuke us and stimulate us, that we have not so preached and that we should so preach. If you are not yet a believer, then may I urge you to listen to this sermon, to read it all, and to take it to your heart.

The meeting between Peter and Cornelius reaches a climax with Peter's gospel confession that the Lord shows no partiality, and the sweet gospel declaration of the finished work of Jesus Christ. Peter recounts his gospel commission to make known this good news to all. When the Holy Spirit falls upon the gathered Gentiles there is gospel recognition: God is powerfully at work to save sinners among the nations, and the gospel wave has definitively broken on Gentile shores!

Do we take God at his word? In condescension and compassion, the Lord of hosts invites his people to "try me now in this": to act in dependence upon his promises and to obtain great blessings. We need to understand what the Lord's challenge involves, who is speaking and what he is inviting us to do. We need to feel why the challenge bites, our tendency to hold back even when the Lord holds out his mercies. Then, we ought to consider how to act when the challenge comes, and what it looks like to take God at his word.

Subtitled, "A Pleading Reminder for the New Year." If you are a pastor-preacher, and your heart is where it should be, then this short sermon is likely to resonate with you. However, it may be that, if you are not a pastor, you have rarely or even never thought about the way in which an under-shepherd of Christ's flock considers the sheep entrusted to his care by the Great Shepherd. This short sermon expresses the deep concern and abiding affection which a true pastor has for the people to whom he preaches and over whom he watches. Spurgeon describes is as the pastor's life being "wrapped up with his people's faithfulness." There is nothing that more grieves him than a departure from the way of truth, there is nothing that more delights him than to see the saints standing fast. He looks at all sides of this experience—those who are not in the Lord at all, those who appear to be in the Lord but are not standing fast, and those who are in the Lord and standing fast, who bring deep joy to an overseer's heart. This sermon will help you, on the one hand, to consider your own heart; on the other, it might give you a glimpse into the heart of your pastors, and help you to appreciate and to pray for them.

We are working through a book of systematic theology called "Daily Doctrine" by Kevin DeYoung (Crossway). We hope that you will join us and engage with the book as we seek to learn more about the God of heaven, and what the knowledge of him means for his pilgrim people upon earth. The whole video series can be found here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLydzd6kZnPWdDUP1Dj9CIV_hSp42WEeMb&si=ACvRi4lPPuAH1jqx If you are in the UK you can get the book here: https://amzn.to/3ZX4ICu or https://www.icmbooks.co.uk/product/38356/Daily-Doctrine-A-One-Year-Guide-to-Systematic-Theology or https://uk.10ofthose.com/product/9781433572852/daily-doctrine-hardback. If you are in the US you can get the book here: https://amzn.to/3VSrTNq or https://www.heritagebooks.org/products/daily-doctrine-deyoung.html. Direct from Crossway: https://www.crossway.org/books/daily-doctrine-hcj/ Logos users: https://www.logos.com/product/299143/daily-doctrine-a-one-year-guide-to-systematic-theology

We are working through a book of systematic theology called "Daily Doctrine" by Kevin DeYoung (Crossway). We hope that you will join us and engage with the book as we seek to learn more about the God of heaven, and what the knowledge of him means for his pilgrim people upon earth. The whole video series can be found here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLydzd6kZnPWdDUP1Dj9CIV_hSp42WEeMb&si=ACvRi4lPPuAH1jqx If you are in the UK you can get the book here: https://amzn.to/3ZX4ICu or https://www.icmbooks.co.uk/product/38356/Daily-Doctrine-A-One-Year-Guide-to-Systematic-Theology or https://uk.10ofthose.com/product/9781433572852/daily-doctrine-hardback. If you are in the US you can get the book here: https://amzn.to/3VSrTNq or https://www.heritagebooks.org/products/daily-doctrine-deyoung.html. Direct from Crossway: https://www.crossway.org/books/daily-doctrine-hcj/ Logos users: https://www.logos.com/product/299143/daily-doctrine-a-one-year-guide-to-systematic-theology