Joy To The World: Daily Readings For Advent

by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

In the midst of the business of December, take 5 minutes each day and let Charles Spurgeon, the prince of preachers, warm your heart with joy that can only be found in the good news of Jesus Christ. “This is the season of the year when, whether we wish it or not, we are compelled to think of the birth of Christ.” said Charles Spurgeon at the start of his sermon on 23rd December 1855. After dispelling any notion of a religious necessity of celebrating Christmas, he went on, “However, I wish there were ten or a dozen Christmas-days in the year” as an opportunity to preach on the incarnation of Jesus. Slow down this advent and reflect on the birth of Jesus with this 25-day advent devotional guide.

Genres: Christmas, Christian, Devotional, Nonfiction, Theology, Faith, Christian Living

98 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 22, 2016

About the author

Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892) was England's best-known preacher for most of the second half of the nineteenth century. In 1854, just four years after his conversion, Spurgeon, then only 20, became pastor of London's famed New Park Street Church (formerly pastored by the famous Baptist theologian, John Gill). The congregation quickly outgrew their building, moved to Exeter Hall, then to Surrey Music Hall. In these venues, Spurgeon frequently preached to audiences numbering more than 10,000—all in the days before electronic amplification. In 1861, the congregation moved permanently to the newly constructed Metropolitan Tabernacle.

Reviews

[Darla · Rating 5 out of 5]

"In darkness he is our star, and in brightness he is our sun."

This was my daily devotional for Advent this year. Spurgeon is able to say more in one sentence than I could on an entire page. Such a blessing to sit at his feet in 2022. I am inspired to dust off my copy of "Faith's Checkbook" for 2023. My grandpa gave me a copy when I was a preteen and I am sure it has more to tell me.

[Miriam Simut · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Come, then; believe, trust, rejoice, adore! If you have neither gold, frankincense, nor myrrh, bring your faith, your love, your repentance and, falling down before the Son of God, pay him the reverence of your hearts."

"I want none beside him. In life he is my life, and in death he shall be the death of death. In poverty Christ is our riches, in sickness he makes our bed. In darkness he is our star, and in brightness he is our sun."

I couldn't stick to one reading/day.... This was incredible.

[Lindsay Lemus · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can NOT tell you enough how much I enjoyed this book, and to buddy read it was just the icing on the cake. Spurgeon speaks to the soul, and although he wrote his books over 100 years ago, his words are timeless and touching in the best ways. I highly suggest you read this as your next advent next Christmas time.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Christians looking for a great advent devotional will enjoy these selections from "the prince of preachers" to help celebrate the season.

[Amanda (The Little Book Spot) · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is nothing like Spurgeon. He says it like it is-with truth and no compromise, yet also so beautifully and eloquently. This book was a blessing to my soul!

[Tiffany · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved every second of this beautiful book. It helped prepare my heart for advent in such a meaningful way.

[Abbie Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I want none beside him. In life he is my life, and in death he shall be the death of death. In poverty Christ is our riches, in sickness he makes our bed. In darkness he is our star and in brightness he is our Sun.”

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn’t have hoped for better. All chapters are excerpts from a few of Spurgeon’s Christmas sermons. I’ll come back to this one again and again.

[Penny -Thecatladybooknook · Rating 5 out of 5]

BEAUTIFUL readings for advent that are excerpts of Spurgeon's sermons. HIGHLY recommend for advent.

2nd read of this and it's just as wonderful as the first time!

[Paige Cuthbertson| Turning_Every_Paige · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

I love Spurgeon. That being said— sometimes he waxes eloquent, and other times he waxes fluffy. This book was a combination of both. 😆 There really we’re some great selections in here though, so don’t let me discourage you from reading it.

The other issue is that this book was obviously self-published. The compiler needs to go back through and correct several typos.

[Laurie DelaCruz · Rating 5 out of 5]

How awesome it would have been to sit under a preacher like Spurgeon!

[Nikki Schoenbeck · Rating 5 out of 5]

“In darkness he is our star, and in brightness he is our Sun.”
Such a good advent. I think this would be a good advent to read with your kids. Both children and adults would appreciate this advent.

[LeaBeth | BookTime · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful Christmas read! My fav line:

“In life, he is my life. In death, he shall be the death of death. In poverty, Christ is our riches, in sickness, he makes our bed. In darkness he is our star; in brightness, yet our sun!”

🤍🎄

[Chad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great advent! Short, easy daily readings, very Christ-centered.

[Wendy | Wendy’s Inspired Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a great advent book. This will be a yearly read for me 🎄♥️

[Nessa Reese-Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reasons for the season

Good read helps you reflect on the reasons for the season take a look and you shall. See. Amen amen

[Gina Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I do enjoyed this little book with excerpts from Spurgeon’s advent sermons! I think reading this may become a Christmas tradition for me.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good thoughts hindered by a lack of context

I enjoy reading Spurgeon’s lectures and sermons as they are generally very thought-provoking and deep. While marketed as an advent devotional, this is a collection of excerpts from Spurgeon’s sermons around Christmas time. The excerpts themselves are worthy of 5 stars, however, they are hindered by a lack of context. I would have rather had longer portions of the sermons to digest and meditate on instead of “devotional-length” snippets that were never intended to stand on their own outside of the context of the sermon itself.

5 stars for the general thoughts contained in each section, 3 stars for needing a greater context = 4 stars overall

[Renee Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars for Spurgeon
3 stars for the compilation because no page numbers, wrong sources of an entire sermon, and changing of old English to modern language.
——————
Few people have as incredible theology of suffering as Spurgeon. He wasn’t one to wallow, though his suffering was severe. He wasn’t one to complain about or embellish his sufferings. And any talk surrounding an affliction pointed his hearer to Christ who Spurgeon says “never mourner a better comforter than Christ hath been to my spirit” (D25).

“Joy to the World” was such an easy read for Advent. Not only was it short and simple to stay on track each day of the month of December (like this book was so NOT overwhelming like some Advent books, I’m talking 2 minutes a day), but my soul was left more joyful, more hopeful, more earnestly longing for the return of our Immanuel.

This book is wonderful in that it takes pieces of several of Sprugeon’s sermons on the Son of God’s incarnation and makes it devotional in nature. “He was born to save. If he does not save he was born in vain, for the object of his birth was salvation. If he shall not be a Saviour, then the mission of God to earth has missed its end, for its design was that lost sinners might be saved” (D21). The only disappointment in this book was that the editor removed the old English and modernized it and there were a few of the sermon sources wrong. These are just personal preferences, however.

Christmas is a joyful time, though the hurt and angst looms over us daily. But the believer has reason to hope, to rejoice. “Man is like a harp unstrung, and the music of his soul’s living strings is discordant, his whole nature wails with sorrow; but the son of David, that mighty harpist, has come to restore the harmony of humanity, and where his gracious fingers move among the strings, the touch of the fingers of an incarnate God brings forth music sweet as that of the spheres, and melody as rich as an angel’s song” (D11).

I definitely recommend adding this to your next year’s Advent list if you are looking for a simple read to refocus in the midst of a busy season.

#readRENEEread

[Mishan Klotz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charles Spurgeon has a very eloquent style of writing that reminds me of CS Lewis. This is my first by him and will not need my last. What an encouragement and refreshment to the soul to read someone whose heart is so on fire that it comes through in all his words, igniting a greater burning in your own heart.

If only Christian writers and apologists of today could come through like some of these men of old. The desire never seems as pure, the conviction never so strong, the declarations never so ardent- most likely due to a godless, secular, ease and luxury driven culture which has dampened the affections of Christan men and divided their loyalties.

This is surely not the case with Spurgeon. Sometimes you have to go back to find what you are looking for. Just recently I had been thinking how lacking all the devotionals have been that I have been reading lately and then I found this one. And the minimally "cleaned up", modernized language helped!

Excellent!

[Carrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful Advent Reading!

This book contains 25 devotional readings for the month of December up through Christmas day. This is a lovely way to meditate on and celebrate the birth of Christ!

[Nadine Giles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spurgeon never disappoints, and this devotional is no exception. Each day’s reading points your heart to the humble, miraculous, magnificent coming of our Savior. On Christmas Day, we fittingly read Spurgeon’s personal testimony and experience of grace through the saving and sanctifying work of Jesus.

[Samuel Kassing · Rating 3 out of 5]

A joy filled collection of advent readings taken from Spurgeon’s sermons.

[Erin DeWillis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this SO MUCH!

[Hannah Robbins · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good! I don’t think I’ll get tired of rereading this every advent.

“But sing, sing, o universe, till you have exhausted yourself, you cannot afford a song so sweet as the song of Incarnation.”

[laurafee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was just okay. I debated between this and RC Sproul, and I feel like I should have bought Sproul. It seems too rudimentary for Charles Spurgeon. However, it is still better than pretty much every other advent study out there.

[Lucia M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good little advent study (though a few imperfections with the e-book). I made lots of highlights (;

[Michelle Sabino · Rating 5 out of 5]

THIS WAS RICH.

Quick little snips from sermons from Spurgeon put together for a little daily advent reading. So so good.

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

“As he is full of grace he is full of truth. True have his promises been, not one has failed. I have often doubted him, for that I blush; he has never failed me, in this I must rejoice. His promises have been yes and amen. I speak the testimony of every believer in Christ, though I put I personally to make it more forcible. I bear witness that never servant had such a Master as I have; never brother had such a kinsman as he has been to me; never spouse had such a husband as Christ has been to my soul; never sinner a better Savior; never soldier a better captain; never mourner a better comforter than Christ hath been to my spirit. … In darkness he is our star, and in brightness he is our sun.”

[Barbara Harper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Last year I had a book of C. H. Spurgeon’s Christmas sermons and thought to read them a bit at a time, like a devotional. But it didn’t work. I felt like I wasn’t getting the full impact and flow of thought without reading the whole sermon in context. So I ended up reading one each weekend

This year, however, I found a devotional book made up of short (2-3 pages on an iPad mini Kindle app) excerpts from some of his sermons: Joy to the World: Daily Readings for Advent. I was looking for something with short readings since my regular reading routine is pretty full, and this fit the bill.

Sometimes books made of excerpts from other books or sermons don’t always come across well: it’s obvious that some context is missing. But that wasn’t the case with this book. Each reading seemed like a complete thought. The English has been modernized a bit, but it didn’t seem to take away from the readings to me.

One of the themes is how a humble manger birth made Christ approachable: “We might tremble to approach a throne, but we cannot fear to approach a manger. Never could there be a being more approachable than Christ” (p. 20).

I also liked very much the thought in Day 6’s reading that God was pulling invisible strings to orchestrate the details of Christ’s birth, even to the point of the census being decreed to get Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem, where the Scriptures prophesied Christ would be born. That’s a comfort in these times.