Make Ready, for He Comes

July 11, 2026July 2, 2026Sherry Attributes of God, promises, repentance, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Father, the unbelieving life

Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. – Job 1:21

It is not always proper for us to ask reasons for divine acts, for if He gives no account of His matters we ought not to ask any account. That frivolous affectation of piety which leads even professedly Christian men to call every affliction a judgment, and to consider that every patron who is suddenly taken away, dies as a judgment either upon him or others, I detest from my very soul…Those who talk thus know nought of their Bibles. They upon whom the tower of Siloam fell, dream ye that they were worse sinners than others? I am utterly sick of the cant of a portion of the religious world, when they raised a kind of miniature howl at me, when I said, and still repeat it, that an accident on a railway on the Sunday is not a judgment, but happens in the common course of Providence, and that we are not to look for an immediate reason close at hand for any of these events.

I hear a voice which says to me, “Preacher! be instant in season and out of season, be up and doing, earnest and fervent, for thy day is short, and thy time shall soon be over.” I hear a voice which says to you, officers of the Church, “Be diligent in business, fervent in spirit—serving the Lord; for soon shall the pallor of death overtake you, and He shall lay His chill hand upon your hoary heads and stretch you in the cold grave.” I hear a voice which speaks to the people of my charge—the members of this Christian Church—”Work while it is called today, for the night cometh wherein no man can work.” And I hear a solemn note, ringing as a funeral bell to you who are unconverted, and I translate its message thus—”Prepare to meet your God, ye careless ones, who are at ease, make ready, for He comes; ye thoughtless ones, who give yourselves no trouble about eternity, make ready, for He comes; drunkard, thou who art a lover of pleasure more than a lover of God, make ready for He comes; swearer, blasphemer, make ready, for He comes; He comes whom thou hast blasphemed; and each one of you, if ye be out of Christ, if your sins still lie upon you, if ye have never sought and found absolution from the lips of God your Father, seek it, seek it, for He comes.

The Royal Death Bed by C. H. Spurgeon

I Can See My Father’s Hand

July 10, 2026July 2, 2026Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God, The Father

…shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it? – Amos 3:6

The greatest temptation of modern times is to impute everything which happens to the laws of nature. Now, this may satisfy philosophy, but theology goes a little further, and while it admits all the laws of matter, yet it asserts that a law is in itself utterly powerless, apart from a power to carry it out. It may be a law that such-and-such things shall be done, but they never will be done unless there be some power to make the law effective. The notion of some in modern times seems to be, that this world is like a great clock, wound up many years ago- in fact, there are some who believe in perpetual motion and appear to teach that it wound itself up. In order to get rid of God, and send Him as far away as possible, they go back to primeval times and conceive that then all the wheels were set in motion, and a sufficient quantity of momentum put into the whole affair, so that it is now going on of itself. As to divine interpositions, these they will not believe; miracles, of course, are absurd, and everything is left to the ordinary laws of nature, there being sufficient vitality, according to some, in the world itself to carry on its own acts, according to certain laws and rules. Blessed be God, we know that this is not true. We believe it is our duty to use every sanitary means to remove the seeds of disease; we believe that they err who would proclaim a fast over a plague, when it were better to sweep the street; we think that they are wrong who only go to the prayer-meeting when they had better go and put down a row of dilapidated cottages and build better ones; we think that they are impractical and do not understand the Scriptures well, who would be on their knees when they ought to be on their feet and doing earnest work for man; but at the same time, still we have it, that the Lord has done everything, and that calamities come not except God putteth forth His hand—that it is His will to remove men by death, and only by His will could they die. Why, that idea of leaving us all to machinery is an unhappy one to a man who can say, “My Father, my Father in heaven.” I can see my Father’s hand…Blessed be God, we have no doubt about our answer to the question. Even if there be evil in a city the Lord hath done it!

The Royal Death Bed by C. H. Spurgeon

It’s Not Fate, but God’s Loving Will

July 9, 2026July 2, 2026Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God, The Father, the unbelieving life

…shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it? – Amos 3:6

Some predestinarians without a God, are as far astray in their ideas as those who believe in chance without a God…forgetting their God they deny the thought of chance, but they bend to the idea of fate…I thank God that while I believe in predestination, I know the difference between that and fate. Fate is predestination blind, demented, brainless, wandering about, achieving wondrous things without a purpose, overturning mountains, plucking up cedars by the roots, scattering firebrands, hurling deaths about, but all without an end. Such is fate—It is because it must be—events occur, because they shall be. But predestination is a glorious thing. With many eyes it looketh to the interests of God and His creatures too, and although it saith the thing must be, yet it must be because it is wise, and right, and just, and kind, that it should be; and though we may think that it comes to the same in the end, yet to our hearts the differences are as wide as the poles asunder. Believe not in fate but believe in God. Say not it was the man’s destiny but say it is God’s will. Say not, a cruel and irresistible fate hath snatched him away; but say, a tender hand, finding that the due time was come, hath taken him from evil to come.

If neither a foolish chance nor an insensate fate hath done it; perhaps the spirit of evil may have inflicted it. Perhaps Satan may bring evils upon us; perhaps he may drag down men to their graves; perhaps he may cut the thread of life; perhaps he is the evil genius of the world, and the keeper of the gates of death…Look not on your troubles and trials, my brethren in Christ, as coming from hell. Satan may sometimes be the instrument of your pains, but still, they come from God. In the cup of our sorrows, there is not a dreg which the Father did not put there; bitter as the compound may be, the eternal hand of wisdom mixed the whole. The rod may fall, but Satan does not wield it. Like as a father “chasteneth his children,” so the Lord doth chasten “them that fear Him.” Jesus, Thou hast vanquished Satan, Thou hast delivered us from the very fear of death, because Thou hast destroyed him that had the power of death, that is the devil.

The Royal Death Bed by C. H. Spurgeon

Not Chance but Divine Order

July 8, 2026July 2, 2026Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God, The Father

Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it? – Amos 3:6

We have nothing to do with the question of moral evil, and indeed with the awful mystery of the origin of moral evil, we have nothing to do at any time. There may have been some few speculators upon this matter who, like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, could walk in the midst of the fire unharmed, but most men who have ventured near the mouth of this fiery question, have been like Nebuchadnezzar’s guards—they have fallen down, destroyed by the blasting influence of its heat. The problem we have to solve is not how was evil born but how shall evil die—not how it came into the world, but the mischief it has wrought since its coming, and how it is to be driven out. Those persons who fritter away their time in useless and curious enquiries about the origin of moral evil, and so forth, are generally persons who are too idle to attempt the practical casting out of the fiend, and therefore would kill their time, and quiet their consciences by abstruse controversies and vain janglings about subjects with which we have nothing to do.

The evil in the text is that of calamity, and we might so read the verse—”Shall there be a calamity in the city, and the Lord hath not done it?”…God must have done this thing, or else we are driven to some other alternative. How came this calamity about? Shall we suppose it to be by chance? There are still some found foolish enough to believe that events happen without divine predestination, and that different calamities transpire without the overruling hand, or the direct agency of God. Alas! for you and for me, if chance had done it. Ah! what were we, men and brethren, if we were left to chance!..Thank God it is not so with us. Chance exists only in the heart of fools, we believe that everything which happens to us is ordered by the wise and tender will of Him who is our Father and our Friend, and we see order in the midst of confusion, we see purposes accomplished where others discern fruitless wastes, and we believe that, “He hath His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet.”

The Royal Death Bed by C. H. Spurgeon

Retaining His Presence

July 7, 2026June 20, 2026Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prayer, Sovereignty of God

Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. – Psalm 2:11

When God does come to us, we should seek by all means to retain His presence. How can this boon be secured?

First, by humbly walking with God. If we grow proud because we are honoured by our King’s company, and begin to think that there must be, after all, something in us to attract God to us, and cause His face to shine upon us, we shall not long have the Lord among us. Seek, then, to be lowly in His presence.

Next, let much grateful praise be given to Him from loyal hearts. If God is saving sinners, let us give Him the glory of it. If He is at work among us, let us not go and talk about what we have been doing; but let us tell men and angels, too, what HE has done. Let us never dare to handle God’s jewels as if they were our own.

Moreover, there must be perpetual watchfulness. If God be with us, He may give us a great victory, and yet tomorrow we may be defeated because Achan has hidden the goodly Babylonish garment and the wedge of gold. Unless we are sober and vigilant, we may sadly have to mourn that the Lord has withdrawn His presence from us. There is a fierce light that beats around His throne. “Our God is a consuming fire.” Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? The Scriptural answer is, “He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly.” May God make us men of such calibre as can endure that heat!

And lastly, there must be an individual fellowship with God on the part of each one of us. It is hard work for the whole church to walk with God every day and all the day; but if each member will see to it that his own personal life is right, the church, as a whole, need fear nothing.

Is God in the Camp? by C. H. Spurgeon

What Can We Do?

July 6, 2026June 20, 2026Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prayer, promises, repentance, Sovereignty of God, The Father, The Holy Spirit

I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. – John 15:5

What can we do to obtain the presence of God in our midst?

There is not one among us who does not know that the Holy Ghost is needful to effect any work. We must pray in the Holy Ghost, or else we shall not pray at all; and we must preach under the influence of the Holy Ghost, or else we shall chatter like sparrows on the window-sill in the morning, and nothing will come of the chattering. Only the Holy Ghost can make anything we do to be effectual. Therefore, never begin any work without the Holy Ghost, and do not dare go on with the impetus that you have gained, but cry again for the Holy Spirit. Let all your service for God be in the Spirit, or else it is all good for nothing.

We must confess our helplessness without God and honestly mean the confession. The first thing that is required of us is to bemoan the fact that, by and of ourselves, we can do nothing; even as our Lord said to His disciples, “Without Me ye can do nothing.” We must also be very careful in our lives. God will not come to an unholy church. The sacred Dove will never come to a foul nest. There must be a purging and a cleansing, or else He will not come. there must be a conscientious obedience to His word, a strict adherence to His truth, His doctrine, His precepts, to the whole of Christ’s rule and law. He will not prosper us unless we are careful to follow every step that He has taken. God help us to have this conscientious care, this coming out from those who may not be thus careful; according to His word. “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” If we desire this special sense of God’s presence, there must be unbroken union. To crown it all, there must be a hearty reliance upon God, and a childlike confidence in Him. I would recommend you either believe in God up to the hilt, or else not believe at all. Oh, I pray you, do believe in God, and His omnipotence!

Is God in the Camp? by C. H. Spurgeon