Top 6 Books for the Lord's Day: Sermons

The following article was originally posted on our church blog in 2018.

As a pastor I am always reading commentaries and theological works, so it is important for me to keep the Sabbath somehow different.  Here is a day of worship, and I have sought, then, to read material that will bring me into worship.  To that end I generally confine my Sunday reading to sermons.   

There are, of course, other books appropriate for the day.  I think, for example, of Octavius Winslow's Personal Declension and Revival of Religion in the Soul or some of the great Christian biographies (M'Cheyne, Bonar, Nettleton, Whitefield, Lloyd-Jones, Elias, Harris, Burns, Dabney, etc.) or histories of revival or any of the great books on the person of Christ listed in an earlier post.

In this post, however, I will offer just 8 books - the best 8 that I am aware of - which contain sermons suitable for this day which ought to be for the Christian a kind of heaven on earth.   

I have written elsewhere about growing up without the Sabbath.   For years I was convinced that Sabbath keeping was legalistic.  Apart from Sunday morning worship my Sundays were my own.  When confronted (10 years ago) with the consistent testimony and example of our forefathers I began studying the matter and became convinced that Sunday is the Christian Sabbath.  I began to observe the day thinking it would be a costly and painful endeavour.   I have found instead that it is the very best of days; indeed, it is the queen of days.  I have learned as the old saying goes that "a Sabbath well spent brings a week of content."  

A great part of Sabbath keeping is reading books that will lift our hearts toward heaven.  Here, then, are 8 of the very best in that category:

1. The Shadow of Calvary by Hugh Martin.  This book was a Christmas gift from my parents.  It interested me because of the title, but I really didn't know what to expect except that it was a Banner publication and (therefore) had to be good.  It is better than good.  Hugh Martin has made me think about the events leading up to the cross in ways I have never have before.  Better than that I have come to appreciate Christ's work at Calvary still more.  On more than one occasion this book has brought me to tears.  Reading these sermons you cannot help but be confronted on one hand with the appalling wickedness of our ingratitude to Christ as well the terrible price that was paid for our sin; but then, on the other hand, you cannot help but be astonished at the love of Christ which truly passes knowledge.  Whatever else these sermons do they will certainly leave you more grateful to Christ. 

2. Sermons by Benjamin M. Palmer.   This selection of sermons amounts almost to a systematic theology, but it is more than that.  Palmer was one of the greatest preachers in the history of the Church.  He was well loved in his day though underappreciated in our own.  Here is a volume that is worth its weight in gold.  Here is what preaching ought to be.  Sometimes the sermons come as a rebuke to the careless, sometimes they come as medicine to the weary, sometimes they come as an appeal to the lost but always they are rich in gospel hope.      

3. Communion Sermons by Samuel Rutherford.  This is a very short volume but truly valuable.  Rutherford's sermons are among the very best I have read.  Other great works include Quaint Sermons and Sermons Preached by the Scottish Commissioners to the Westminster Assembly.  But of the 3 this is easily my favourite.  It is hard to explain its value.  Perhaps it is enough to say that it shows like few books do the loveliness of Jesus.

4. The Works of Ralph Erskine.  So far I have only completed volume 1, but that one volume is worth the price of the collected works.  No author/preacher so winsomely presents Christ in the offer of the gospel as Erskine does.  If I had only a very short time to live I would probably turn to Erskine for comfort.  I have been so helped by these sermons.  More than once I have been stirred to the very core of my being and left wondering and worshiping.  I cannot commend these sermons enough because they do what every sermon should do.  They leave the reader thinking (not "what a great sermon I have read" but) "what a great Christ I have!"  

5. The Most Holy Place by Charles Spurgeon.  I have spent many happy Sabbaths in this book.  Of course there are so many volumes of Spurgeon's sermons that I could have chosen, but this is the one that has meant the most to me.  It is a collection of sermons on the Song of Solomon.  Spurgeon believed that whereas much of Scripture could be described as something like the outer court of the temple and the Psalms the Holy Place, Song of Solomon could be described as the Most Holy Place; because here we are shown an intimate picture of Christ's love for His bride.  I don't know if this book is available anymore.  It was published by Christian Focus but may be out of print.  If you can find a used copy buy it!

6. Puritan Sermons 1659-1689 published by Richard Owen Roberts, Publishers.  

I said six but this time I found it impossible to narrow the list down.  Here are three more must reads for the Sabbath.

• The Works of John Flavel.   Every volume is worth its weight in gold.  
• The Works of Richard Sibbes, vol. 2.   Some of the most precious Sabbath evenings in my memory were spent reading this very precious book.
• Looking Unto Jesus by Isaac Ambrose.  This book is the one exception in this list.  To my knowledge it is not a collection of sermons.  Still, it deserves a place on this list.  In my opinion it is the best work on the person and work of Christ ever printed and makes for wonderful reading.