The sermon distinguishes ordinary physical sleep from the deeper rest God gives His beloved: a quiet conscience, contentment in providence, and confidence in Christ. Spurgeon grounds assurance in the atonement, insisting that human virtue cannot remove sin but Christ’s death can. For believers, death is sanctified rest for the body while the soul is with Christ and awaits resurrection glory. The sermon also warns the unconverted of judgment and calls everyone to search Scripture and examine whether their faith is genuine.
Theological center: The believer’s peace and assurance rest on God’s gracious provision in Christ’s atoning death and His preserving work through death unto resurrection.
Applications: Search the Scriptures for truth · Trust Christ for forgiveness · Examine your profession · Consider the source of peace
Primary texts: Psalm 127:2 · Revelation 14:13 · 1 Thessalonians 5:6
“For so he giveth his beloved sleep.” Psalm 127:2 THE sleep of the body is the gift of God. So said Homer of old, when he described it as descending from the clouds and resting on the tents of the warriors around old Troy. And so sang Virgil, when he spoke of Palinurus falling asleep upon the prow of the ship. Sleep is the gift of God. We think that we lay our heads upon our pillows and compose our bodies in a peaceful posture and that, therefore, we naturally and necessarily sleep. But it is not so. Sleep is the gift of God and not a man would close his eyes did not God put His fingers on his eyelids, did not the Almighty send a soft and balmy influence over his frame which lulled his thoughts into quiescence, making him enter into that blissful state of rest which we call sleep. True, t…