Charles Spurgeon · Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Volume 29, Sermon No. 1756 · 1883

Renewing Strength: sermon notes

They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.
Isaiah 40:31

Summary

Those who wait upon the Lord, depending on Him, expecting from Him, and patiently trusting His timing, shall renew their strength.

Sermon outline

Likely Title: Renewing Strength

Likely Text/Passage: Isaiah 40:31

Main Theme: Those who depend on, expect from, and patiently wait upon the Lord receive renewed strength from His inexhaustible power.

Introduction

Human strength, physical, mental, and spiritual, eventually fails because it is finite and derived.
Divine strength never diminishes; when human weakness is united to God by faith, strength is renewed.

Main Points

A True Church Is One That Waits Upon the Lord
Waiting means dependence upon God alone for salvation, doctrine, grace, and power.
A true Church expects great things from God and patiently trusts His timing.
Its work relies on God’s Word and the Holy Spirit rather than human eloquence, methods, or power.

Those Who Wait Upon the Lord Need Renewed Strength
Even faithful believers grow faint because they are human, imperfect, and subject to spiritual and emotional fluctuations.
Renewal is necessary for their honor, comfort, usefulness, safety, and perseverance.
The Church, its ministry, Sunday school, officers, and members all need continual spiritual renewal.

Strength Is Renewed by Continually Waiting Upon God
Believers are renewed by feeding upon Christ, resting in Him, and receiving the life-giving work of the Spirit.
Prayer, Scripture, renewed consecration, and wholehearted dependence restore spiritual strength.
Renewed strength should lead to renewed action, greater faith, expectancy, confidence, and service.

Application

Reject reliance on personal righteousness, wisdom, religious effort, resolutions, or achievements for salvation and spiritual strength.
Spend more time with God in prayer and Scripture, renew personal consecration, and trust entirely in His power.
Churches and believers should expect God to bless His truth, patiently continue in faithful obedience, and pray for revival and renewed strength.
Those who are unconverted must abandon self-confidence and trust wholly in Christ and His saving work.

Conclusion

The Gospel is sufficient for both living and dying; those who trust Christ can face death with confidence in God’s faithful promise.
Those who wait upon the Lord will receive renewed strength now and ultimately enter His presence in resurrection glory.

Key quotes

Each quote below is copied from the printed sermon and checked word for word against it.

They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength

Every form of human strength must of necessity spend itself

With God there are no years to make Him decline with age, no labors to tax His powers

You may bring your boundless needs and have them all supplied, but you shall no more diminish His all-sufficiency than when an infant dips his cup into the sea and leaves the sea brimming over upon 10,000 leagues of shore

A man is nothing, but with God in him, he makes Hell tremble

The three together, dependence, expectation, patience, make up waiting upon the Lord

Fret and worry, hurry and haste are all slain by the hand of faith

Oh, you who are weak in spirit, come and feed upon Christ

Scripture references

Isaiah 40:31
The preacher uses the promise that those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength as the sermon’s central theme.
"Our days a transient period run, And change with every circling sun. And while to lengthened years we trust, Before the moth we sink to dust."
He quotes this verse to illustrate the frailty and eventual decline of human physical strength.
"Dust you are, and unto dust shall you return."
He cites God’s judgment on humanity to explain why all human strength eventually fails.
"A thousand years in His sight are passed away as a watch in the night!"
He uses this statement to contrast God’s eternality with human weakness and limited time.
"couches beneath"
He quotes Moses to describe the inexhaustible depth from which believers may draw strength.
"My bow was renewed in my hand."
He uses Job’s words to picture strength being restored by God.
"From the depths of the sea."
He cites the Lord’s promise to show that God can restore people from their deepest spiritual troubles.
"From God, the overflowing spring, Our souls shall drink a flesh supply While those who trust their native strength Shall melt away and droop and die."
He contrasts strength received from God with the failure of strength that comes from self-reliance.
"Our spirits look to God alone, Our rock and refuge is His throne. In all our fears, in all our straits Our soul on His salvation waits."
He uses this hymn-like confession to express the Church’s dependence on God alone.
"To the Law and to the Testimony! If they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them."
He teaches that the Bible alone is the Church’s authoritative source of doctrine.
"Preach Christ Crucified!"
He urges ministers to preach the message God has revealed rather than their own ideas.
"Not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord!"
He identifies the Holy Spirit, rather than human eloquence or ability, as the source of spiritual power.
"Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it"
He encourages the Church to expect God to provide abundantly.
"As your day, your strength shall be."
He quotes this promise to encourage patient dependence on God for strength suited to each day.
"He that believes shall not make haste."
He uses this statement to commend the calm patience produced by faith.
"Though he falls, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord holds him up with His hands."
He assures believers that God will restore and sustain them even when they fall.
"A wounded spirit who can bear?"
He uses this question to emphasize the burden and misery of spiritual weakness.
"strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might."
He urges believers to seek strength in the Lord rather than remaining spiritually weak.
"The Lord Jehovah is his strength and his song! He also has become his salvation."
He celebrates God as the believer’s strength, song, and salvation.
"Be strong. Fear not!"
He describes the Lord’s strengthening command to weary believers.
"They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength."
He repeats the sermon’s main promise as the basis for revival and renewal in the Church.
"I will bring, again, from the depths of the sea."
He invokes God’s power to restore those who have fallen into profound weakness or sorrow.
"feed upon the body and blood of Christ"
He presents fellowship with Christ as spiritual nourishment that renews believers’ strength.
"High Heaven that heard that solemn vow, That vow renewed shall daily hear."
He uses these words to encourage believers to renew their dedication and covenant commitment to God.
"Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit."
He identifies this prayer as the believer’s complete surrender and trust in God at death.
"renew their strength"
He applies the sermon’s central promise to the resurrection, when believers will receive glorified bodies like Christ’s.
"made like unto Christ's glorious body"
He concludes by pointing to the future resurrection transformation of believers.

Small-group discussion questions

Warm-Up (5 minutes)

When do you most notice your physical, mental, or emotional strength beginning to run low?
What is one activity, relationship, or practice that has helped restore you when you felt depleted?

Diving In (20 minutes)

The sermon contrasts human strength with divine strength. What does the pastor say is the difference between depending on ourselves and “waiting upon the Lord”?
Isaiah 40:31 says, “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.” How does the sermon explain the three aspects of waiting, dependence, expectation, and patience?
What might waiting upon the Lord look like in an ordinary Tuesday morning when you feel tired, discouraged, or spiritually weak?

Going Deeper (15 minutes)

The sermon encourages believers to expect God to work while also patiently waiting for His timing. What tensions or difficulties arise when we want immediate results but God’s work seems slow?
Where are you most tempted to rely on your own strength, your abilities, religious efforts, plans, or achievements, instead of resting in God and Christ?

Prayer Prompt

Pray for renewed strength, deeper dependence on God, patient faith, and courage to serve through the power of His Spirit rather than your own ability.

Takeaways

Big idea

Those who wait upon the Lord, depending on Him, expecting from Him, and patiently trusting His timing, shall renew their strength.

Live it out

Spend intentional time in prayer with your Bible, laying your weakness and needs before God.
Rehearse your covenant with God and consecrate yourself anew to His service.
Bring a specific ministry need before the Lord, expecting Him to work through His Word and Spirit.
Continue faithfully in your present duty without abandoning God’s way when results seem delayed.

Closing prayer

Father, we confess that our strength dries up when we depend upon ourselves. Teach us to wait upon You with dependence, expectation, and patience. Feed us with Christ, give rest to the weary, and breathe upon us by Your Spirit. Renew our ministry, our worship, our prayers, and our service. Help us trust Your faithful Word, surrender ourselves wholly to You, and labor with renewed confidence. From Your overflowing spring, supply all we need, for Christ’s sake. Amen.

Read the full sermon

Charles H. Spurgeon, “Renewing Strength,” Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Volume 29, Sermon No. 1756. The sermon is in the public domain; the text used here is the CC0 Markdown edition of Spurgeon's sermons.

Full text in the CC0 edition

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