The Persecuted Church

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God, The Holy Spirit 5 Comments

When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. – Isaiah 43:2

When first there was a Church of God on earth, in the person of Abel it was persecuted, Cain lifted up his cruel club to slay his brother; and when the children of Seth were the representatives of God’s chosen, they were without doubt the subject of the jeer and gibe of the descendants of Cain. Noah, the preacher of righteousness endured during his one hundred and twenty years, the hardness of heart and carelessness of an unthinking world; he and his family, who were the remnant of the Church in the latter part of those days, were constantly exposed to the laughter and persecution of men…From that day forward, whether you read through the life of Abraham, or Isaac, or Jacob, it still standeth true, “He that is born after the flesh persecuteth him that is born after the Spirit.”

Find me the abode of the Church of God and I can smell the furnace not far off. Show me the follower of the God of Abraham and I shall soon find the host of enemies ready for the attack. Up till the days of the Saviour the kingdom of heaven suffered violence, not only from its friends who would take it, but from those enemies who would assault it. From the blood of Abel down to the blood of Zecharias the son of Barachias, the pathway of the Church hath been a blood-besprinkled time. Since that day, what tongue can tell the sufferings of the people of God? Since Christ became martyr as well as Redeemer, has there been a season in which God’s people have not somewhere or other been made to feel that they are not of the world, and that the world does not love them because they are not of the world? Through much tribulation the people of God must wade their way to Canaan.

Fire! Fire! Fire! by C. H. Spurgeon

 

Tribulations, Temptations and Afflictions

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God 3 Comments

When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. – Isaiah 43:2

It may be well for us to remark that we are not sufficiently grateful, I fear, for the preservation which God affords to us from fire…The walking through the fire here is put for the severest form of trouble: You have, in the commencement of the verse, trouble described as passing through the water. This represents the overwhelming influence of trial in which the soul is sometimes so covered that it becomes like a man sinking in the waves. “When thou goest through the rivers”—those mountain torrents which with terrific force are often sufficient to carry a man away. This expresses the force of trouble, the power with which it sometimes lifts a man from the foothold of his stability and carries him before it. “When thou passest through the rivers they shall not overflow thee.” But going through the fire expresses not so much the overwhelming character and the upsetting power of trouble as the actual consuming and destructive power of trouble and temptation. The metaphor is more vivid, more terrific, than that which is employed in the first sentence, and yet vivid and awful though it be, it is certainly not too strong a figure to be used as the emblem of the tribulations, temptations and afflictions, through which the Church and people of God have been called to pass. We may apprise the richness of the promise in proportion to the astonishing character of the metaphor, and we ought to value the privilege which it confers in the precise ratio of the dreadful character of the danger against which it preserves us. “When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.”

Fire! Fire! Fire! by C. H. Spurgeon

None Shall Resist His Will

Sherry Christian Life, salvation, Character of Jesus, Attributes of God, promises, repentance, Sovereignty of God Leave a comment

Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel? – Jeremiah 15:12

And (Saul) said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” – Acts 9:5

To resist God is to strike with naked feet against a goad. “It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.” You will hurt yourself; you cannot injure Him, nor change His purposes by so much as the turning of a hair. God will have His way: None shall resist His will. Everlasting and eternal are His decrees; and fast and fixed they ever must remain, though all earth and hell should unite in one great conspiracy. He thrusts a bit into the tempest’s mouth, and rides upon the wings of the wind. Confusion there is none to Him. Adversaries, what are they? They are utterly consumed as the stubble. But take ye heed that God come not out against you, ye who are rebels; for if He once put on the war-harness and fight against you, woe unto you! Have you not heard? Hath no one told you of the arrows of His quiver? They are sharp, heart-piercing, infallible. Sickness can shake you till every nerve shall become a road for pain to carry on its dreadful traffic. Poverty can come upon you, and want, like an armed man. Death shall strike down all your lovers, and your acquaintances shall sink into the abyss. Let God but come forth in judgment against a man, or a people, and what can He not do?

Cast down your weapons. Come now and ask for reconciliation. The ambassador of peace invites you. I point you no longer to His burning throne, but to yonder cross. See there God in human flesh—bleeding, suffering, dying. Those wounds are fountains of mercy. Look to them, and you shall live. Wrath is appeased by the death of Jesus. Fury is no more in Jehovah! Trust in Jesus, the crucified, and your transgression shall be forgiven you. That precious blood shall make reconciliation: there shall be peace between you and God; but O resist no longer, for the iron cannot break the northern iron and the steel.

The Northern Iron and the Steel by C. H. Spurgeon

Your Folly, His Glory

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, promises, Sovereignty of God, the unbelieving life Leave a comment

Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel? – Jeremiah 15:12

Men sometimes think themselves of very great consequence. I spoke with one some years ago who had professed to be a Christian, who addressed me very indignantly after some little argument, and said that ere long he intended to produce a pamphlet which would extinguish Christianity. I remember making the remark, that I dared to say that the world would hear as much about it as when a fly fell into a pail of water and was drowned, and not much more. And then he was more indignant still; but I told him I had seen many a moth dash against my gas-burner in the evening, but I had never seen the light put out, though I had seen the wretched insect fall with singed wings upon my table, to suffer for its fatal folly; and I feared that such a fate would happen to him. So, rest assured, it will be to you, O blasphemer of God, or hater of His Christ. Fight against God, would you? Measure your adversary, I charge you. The wax is about to wrestle with the flame: the tow is about to contend with the fire. It is too unequal a warfare. If you are wise, you will select another adversary and not attempt to go to war with the omnipotent King, with such a puny force as yours. “Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like Him?” You may be like iron: go and break the potsherds of the earth; they are fair game for you; but do not contend against the northern iron and the steel, for these will break you. You will not be able to deprive Christ of a single atom of His glory. You may blaspheme, but even that shall, somehow or other by a holy alchemy, be turned to His glory. 

The Northern Iron and the Steel by C. H. Spurgeon

Climbing The Mountain

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You who are King of kings and Lord of lords, we worship You. Before Jehovah’s awful throne we bow with sacred joy.

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He Hath Done It

Sherry Christian Life, salvation, Character of Jesus, Attributes of God, promises, Sovereignty of God Leave a comment

Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit, saith the LORD of hosts. – Zechariah 4:6

Every time we try to do good in our own strength, the effort bears the certainty of defeat in its own bowels. You shoot pointless darts; you wield a blunted sword when you go to work for God without God. It is only when we go in God’s power that we can save souls. “Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.” Lo, spiritual children are a heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of our soul’s womb is His reward. Feel your weakness, my brethren, and then you shall know your strength. Go to the sinner in God’s strength, and then shall you see the divine operation; but certainly not till then. What a blessing it has been to some of us at times to be made to lie very low in the dust and see what unworthy creatures we are! I have often noticed that when God intends to give a great blessing upon my ministry, and to let me know it, he usually makes me feel as if I had rather die than live, because I feel myself so utterly unworthy to preach His word, and am made to bemoan my wretched unfitness to be used at all by my gracious Master. Let the stone lie in the brook, and let it be rounded, and made smooth by trituration of the water—it will do nothing of itself; but when it has been worn away enough by the brook, and David slings it, and smites the giant’s brow, the stone cannot say, “I slew the giant by my own force;” but all men will give glory to the champion who hurled it at the giant’s forehead. Yes, God will have the glory, and He will take means to prevent us from usurping it. He will make us feel that the iron cannot break the northern iron and the steel, and then He will send us forth to victory. Truly my inmost heart confesses that if one heart has been won for my Lord Jesus by me, I am less than nothing in it, and He is all in all. My soul dares not touch the glory but loathes every thought of self-praise. He hath done it, and to Him be everlasting songs.

The Northern Iron and the Steel by C. H. Spurgeon

Our Duty to the Great Commission

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prayer, promises, repentance, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Holy Spirit, the unbelieving life Leave a comment

Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel? – Jeremiah 15:12

Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit, saith the LORD of hosts. – Zechariah 4:6

Man’s heart is very hard; it is like the northern iron and the steel. Our preaching—we try to make it forcible, but how powerless is it of itself! The preacher seeks goodly words and illustrations; he brings forth the law of God, he gives forth threatenings in God’s name; he reasons concerning judgment to come, and flinches not from declaring the eternal punishment of sin; he preaches the love of God, and the infinite mercy of Christ Jesus, and he blends all this with an affection which longs for conversion, and he prays for God’s blessing; but in many, many hearts there is no change, the northern iron and the steel remain unmovable…Children of God, you are driven to this, that here is a case in which you are powerless. You might as well reverse the wind, or move a star, or create a world, as soften these hardened hearts. What are you then to do? Certainly, you are to continue the effort; nothing must tempt you to relinquish it, or even to relax your zeal. If you cannot break the heart, truly it is no business of yours to do so; commit that work to Him who is fully equal to the miracle, keep to your work, and fear not that the Lord will work with you. God bids you continue prayer, warning instruction, and invitation. If you knew that every soul you preached to or talked with would be lost, it were no less your duty to preach the gospel; for the duty to tell out the gospel is not influenced by our success, but is based upon the commission of Christ: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”

The Northern Iron and the Steel by C. H. Spurgeon