The Faith Which Finds Its Way to Glory

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

He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. – Romans 4:20,21

We know that we must persevere to the end, for only he that endures to the end shall be saved. Does it not seem incredible that such feeble, fickle, foolish creatures as we are should continue in faith and the fear of God all our lives? Yet this we must do! The faith which saves, enables us to believe that we shall persevere, for it is persuaded that the Redeemer is able to keep that which we have committed unto Him, that He will perfect that which concerns us, that He will suffer none to pluck us out of His hands and that having begun the good work in us He will carry it on!

We believe, according to God’s promise, that we shall one day be “without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing.” I do believe that this head shall wear a crown of glory and that this hand shall wave a palm branch. I am fully assured that He will one day sweetly say to me—

“Close your eyes that you may see
What I have in store for thee.
Lay your arms of warfare down,
Fall that you may win a crown.”

We, all, who are Believers in Jesus, shall one day be without fault before the Throne of God! But how is this to be? Surely our confidence is that He who has promised it is able to perform it! This is the faith which finds its way to Glory—the faith which expects to enter into the Redeemer’s joy because of the Redeemer’s love and life!

How Is Salvation Received? by C. H. Spurgeon

Faith that Saves the Soul

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Father, the unbelieving life

…even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. – Romans 4:17

But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible. – Matthew 19:26

(Regeneration) seems to me to be quite as great an act of faith as for Abraham to believe in the birth of a child by two parents who were both advanced in years. The case stands thus—here am I, dead by nature—dead in trespasses and sins. The deadness of Abraham and Sarah, according to nature, was not greater than the deadness of my soul to every good thing. Is it possible, then, that I should live unto God? That within this stony heart there should yet throb eternal life and Divine Love? That I should come to delight in God? Can it be that with such a depraved and deceitful heart as mine should yet rise to fellowship with the holy God and should call Him my Father and feel the spirit of adoption within my heart?

Can I, who now dread the Lord, yet come to rejoice in Him? “Oh,” says the poor troubled sinner, “can I, that have fought against the Throne of God. I that even tried to doubt His existence—can I ever come to be at perfect peace with Him so that He shall call me His friend and reveal His secrets to me and listen to my voice in prayer? Is it possible?” The faith which saves the soul believes in the possibility of regeneration and sanctification—no, more—it believes in Jesus and obtains for us power to become children of God and strength to conquer sin! This is believing God, indeed!

How Is Salvation Received? by C. H. Spurgeon

A Blessed Chain

Sherry sermon

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

Sermon Text

Dictum! Factum! Spoken! Done!

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, prophecy, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Holy Spirit

He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what He had promised, He was able also to perform. – Romans 4:20,21

Is any thing too hard for the LORD?  – Genesis 18:14

True faith ridicules impossibility and pours contempt upon improbability, knowing that Omnipotence and Immutability cannot be thwarted or hindered. Has God said it? Then so it is! Dictum! Factum! Spoken! Done! These two are one with the Most High! Well, now, the faith of every man who is saved must be of this character. Every man who receives salvation receives it by a faith like that of Abraham, for, my Brothers and Sisters, when we are saved we, too, take the promise of God and depend upon it! To one Believer, one Word of God is applied. To another, some sweet Word, most sure and steadfast, is discovered upon which we fix our hope and find an anchor for our spirit. Yes, and as we search the Word by faith—we take each promise as we find it and we say, “this is true,” and “this is true,” and so we rest upon all of them!

Is it not so with all of you who have peace with God? Did you not gain it by resting upon the promises of God as you found it in the Word and as it was opened up to you by the Holy Spirit? Have you any other ground of confidence but God’s promise? I know you have not, my Brethren, nor do you desire any! And we, also, believe in God over the head of great difficulties. If it were difficult for Abraham to believe that a son should be born to him, I think it is harder for a poor burdened sinner, conscious of his great guilt—conscious that God must punish him, also, for that guilt—to believe, nevertheless, in the hopeful things which the Gospel prophesies unto him!…Despite the trepidation of the awakened spirit, the Holy Spirit enables it to accept the great Father’s promise, to rest upon the propitiation which He has set forth and to quiet itself with the firm persuasion that God, for Christ’s sake, does put away its sin.

How Is Salvation Received? by C. H. Spurgeon

Faith that Glorifies God

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

He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what He had promised, He was able also to perform. – Romans 4:20,21

Abraham’s own advanced years and the age of his wife were of no consequence. He did not take them into the reckoning but saw only a faithful Almighty God and felt content. O noble faith! Faith such as God deserves! Faith such as none render to Him but those whom He calls by Irresistible Grace! This it was which justified Abraham and made him the father of Believers! Abraham’s faith, also, gave glory to God. I stopped in the middle of the 20th verse just now, but we must now complete the reading of it. “But was strong in faith, giving glory to God.” God had promised and he treated the Lord’s promise with becoming reverence. He did not impiously suspect the Lord of falsehood, or of mocking His servant, or of uttering today what He might take back tomorrow.

Abraham knew that Jehovah is not a man, that He should lie, nor the son of man that He should repent. Abraham glorified the Truth of God and, at the same time, he glorified His power! He was quite certain that the Lord had not spoken beyond His line, but that what He had promised He was able to perform. It belongs to puny man to speak more than he can do—full often his tongue is longer than his arm—but with the Lord it is never so. Has He said, and shall He not do it? Is anything too hard for the Lord? Abraham adoringly believed in the immutability, truth and power of the living God—and looked for the fulfillment of His words!

There were no signs, marks, tokens, or indications to substantiate the confidence of Abraham! He rested solely upon the unlimited power of God! And this, dear Brothers and Sisters, is the kind of faith which God loves and honors—which needs no signs, marks, evidences, helps, or other buttresses to support the plain and sure Word of the Lord—but simply knows that Jehovah has said it and that He will make it good!

How Is Salvation Received? by C. H. Spurgeon

Because God Promised Him, So It Must Be

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

Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all… – Romans 4:16

There was in Abraham an eye to the central point of the promise—the Messiah—Jesus, our Lord.

I do not know that Abraham understood all the spiritual meaning of the Covenant made with him. Probably he did not. But he did understand that the Christ was to be born of him, in whom all nations should be blessed. When the Lord said that He would make him a blessing and in him should all nations of the earth be blessed, I do not suppose Abraham saw all the fullness of that marvelous word—but he did see that he was to be the progenitor of the Messiah. Our Lord, Himself, is my Authority for this assertion—“Abraham saw My day, he saw it and was glad” (John 8:56). Though there appeared to this man, old and withered, with a wife 90 years of age, no likelihood that he should ever become a father, yet did he fully believe that he would be the father of many nations—and that upon no basis whatever but that the living God had so promised him and, therefore, so it must be!

Brothers and Sisters, these were, in themselves, terrible difficulties—enough to make a man fear that the promise did but mock him—but Abraham did not consider anything beyond the promise and the God who gave it! The difficulties were for God to consider—not for him! He knew that God had made the world out of nothing and that He supported all things by the word of His power and, therefore, he felt that nothing was too hard for Him!..Yes, and as we search the Word by faith—we take each promise as we find it and we say, “this is true,” and, “this is true,” and so we rest upon all of them!

How Is Salvation Received? by C. H. Spurgeon

Abraham’s Faith

Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God

Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before Him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. – Romans 4:16,17

Abraham’s faith consisted in believing the promise of God and this he did firmly and practically…God promised to give him a seed and yet he had no children. Year followed year and in the course of nature he grew old and his wife was long past the age of child-bearing—and yet there was no son born to them. When at last Ishmael was born, his hope in that direction was dashed to the ground, for he was informed that the Covenant was not with Ishmael—believing Abraham had stepped aside to carnal expediency and had hoped, in that way, to realize the lingering promise! But he had 14 more years to wait—till he was 100 years old and till Sarah had reached her 90th year! Yet he believed the word of the Lord and fell upon his face and laughed with holy joy and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born unto him that is 100 years old?” So, too, when Isaac was born and grown up, he believed that in Isaac should the Covenant be established.

Now consider that we have multiplied promises and those are written down in black and white in the Inspired Word, which we may consult at any time we please, while Abraham had only, now and then, a verbal promise—and yet he clung to it and relied upon it. Though there was nothing else to rely upon and neither sign nor evidence of any offspring to fulfill the promise that he should be heir of the world and father of many nations, yet he needed no other ground of confidence but that God had said it and that He would make His word good.

How Is Salvation Received? by C. H. Spurgeon