Attributes of God

The Prayer of Faith

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

But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” – Matthew 19:26

Nothing is impossible to the man who knows how to overcome heaven by wrestling intercession. When we have seen one, two, or ten, or twenty penitents converted, and when we have sometimes been heartily thankful that a hundred have been added to this church in a month, ought we ever to have been satisfied? Should we not have felt that the prayer, which was blessed to the conversion of a hundred, had it been more earnest, might, in the divine purpose, have been answered with the conversion of a thousand? Why not? You will say, “We have not enough ministers.” But God can make them. I tell you, sirs, He could find ministers for His truth-ay, if He willed it, among the very offscourings of the earth. He can take the worst of men, the vilest of the vile, and change their hearts, and make them preach the truth if He pleases. We are not to look to what we have. The witness of the senses only confuses those who would walk by faith. See what He did for the church in the case of Saul of Tarsus. He just went up to the devil’s army, and took out a ringleader, and said to him, “Now, sir, you preach the gospel which once you despised.” And who preached it better? Why, I should not wonder if ere long in answer to prayer we see the Ritualistic clergy preaching the gospel! Who can tell-the Romish priests may yet do it and repeat the tale of Luther and Melancthon. Were not Luther, and Melancthon, and Calvin, and their comrades, brought out of Papal darkness to show light unto the people? We have heard with our ears, why may we not see with our eyes, the mighty works of God? The Lord can find His men where we know nothing about them…Let us not despair. If we will but pray for it, our heavenly Father will deny His children nothing. Come, do but come, in simplicity of heart, and according to your faith shall it be done unto you. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0802.cfm

Plainly Declare the Gospel

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

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. – Romans 1:16

I do believe that the hiding of the cross beneath the veil of fine language and learned dissertation is half the cause of the spiritual destitution of our country. Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. He came to seek and to save that which was lost. I would sooner say these few words and then cease my testimony, than utter the most splendid oration that ever streamed from the lips of Demosthenes or of Cicero, but not have declared the gospel of Christ. We must keep to this. This must be the hammer that we bring down upon the anvil of the human heart again, and again, and again. God forbid that we should glory save in the cross of Jesus Christ our Lord! God forbid that we should know anything among men save Jesus Christ and Him crucified! Look to Him-not to the priest, not to your good works, not to your prayers, not to your church-goings or your chapel-goings, but to Christ Jesus exalted. Look to Him in faith, and God is willing to forgive you, able to forgive you, to receive you, to make you His children, and for ever to glorify you with Himself. We must have much more of this plain preaching, and not only plain preaching but plain teaching. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0802.cfm

By Thy Power We Rely

Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life, prayer, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Holy Spirit Leave a comment

Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith. – Acts 6:7

If we pant to see the Word of God increase, multitudes added to the disciples, and a great company of those who are least likely to be saved brought in, there must be an adequate instrumentality. Nothing can avail without the operation of the Holy Spirit and the smile from heaven. Paul planteth, Apollos watereth, and God giveth the increase. We must never begin our catalogue of outward means without referring to that blessed and mysterious Potentate who abides in the church, and without whom nothing is good, nothing efficient, nothing successful.

“Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly dove,
With all Thy quickening powers.”

This should be our first prayer whenever we attempt to serve God, for if not, we begin with pride, and can little hope to succeed by prowess. If we go to the warfare at our own charges we must not marvel if we return stained with defeat. O Spirit of the living God, if it were not for Thy power we could not make the attempt, but when we rely upon Thee, we go forward in confidence. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0802.cfm

Spread Abroad the Saviour Jesus Christ’s Name

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation 2 Comments

And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly… – Acts 6:7

“How is it likely,” says one, “that we can hope to make an impression upon the present age? What means have we but the simple gospel of Jesus Christ?” …My dear brethren, we are weak, but we are not weaker than the first disciples of Christ. Neither were they learned, nor were they the wealthy of the earth: fishermen, the most of them, by no means men of cultivated ability-their tramp was that of a legion that went forth to conquer as well as to fight. Wherever they went and wielded the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, their enemies were put to confusion. It is true they died in the conflict. Some of them were slain by the sword, and others of them were rent in sunder by wild beasts; but in all these things they were more than conquerors through Him that loved him. The primitive church did tell upon its age, and left a seed behind which the whole earth could not destroy; and so shall we by God’s grace if we are equally set upon it, equally filled with the divine life, equally resolved by any means and by all means to spread abroad the savour of Jesus Christ’s name: our weakness shall be our strength, for God shall make it to be the platform upon which the omnipotence of His grace shall be displayed. Keep together, brethren, keep close to Christ; close up your ranks. Heed the battle cry; hold fast the faith; quit yourselves like men in the conflict, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against you. Only may the King Himself lead us onward to the fray, and we shall not fear the result. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0802.cfm

His Garden

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises 1 Comment

Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden and eat his pleasant fruits. – Song of Songs 4:16

While the spouse was, as it were, shut up and frozen, and the spices of the Lord’s garden were not blowing out, she cried to the winds, “Blow upon my garden.” She hardly dared to call it her Lord’s garden; but now, notice the alteration in the phraseology: “Let my Beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.” The wind has blown through the garden and made the sweet odours to flow forth; now it is no longer “my garden,” but “his garden.” It is wonderful how an increase of grace transfers our properties; while we have but little grace, we cry, “my,” but when we get great grace, we cry “His.” Wherein you are sinful and infirm, brother, that is yours, you rightly call it “my”; but when you become strong, and joyous, and full of faith, that is not yours, brother, and you rightly call it “His.” Let Him have all the glory of the change while you take all the shame and confusion of face to yourself that ever you should have been so destitute of grace. As the spouse says, “Let my Beloved come into his garden.” Here are all the sweet perfumes flowing out; He will enjoy them, let Him come and feel Himself at home amongst them. He planted every flower and gave to each its fragrance; let Him come into His garden and see what wonders His grace has wrought.

Do you not feel, beloved, that the one thing you want to stir your whole soul is that Christ should come into it? Have you lost His company lately? Oh, do not try to do without it! The true child of God ought not to be willing to bear broken communion for even five minutes; but should be sighing and crying for its renewal…The best condition a heart can be in, if it has lost fellowship with Christ, is to resolve that it will give God no rest till it gets back to communion with Him, and to give itself no rest till once more it finds the Well-beloved. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2475.cfm

Be Uplifted

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prayer, promises, The Holy Spirit 1 Comment

Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. – Song of Songs 4:16

“I will approach Thee-I will force
My way through obstacles to Thee:
To Thee for strength will have recourse,
To Thee for consolation flee!”

You, who are the true children of God, cannot ever come into a condition out of which the Holy Spirit cannot uplift you. You know the notable case of Laodicea, which was neither cold nor hot, and therefore so nauseous to the great Lord that He threatened to spue her out of His mouth, yet what is the message to the angel of that church? “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock.” This is not said to sinners, it is addressed to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hears My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.” Oh, matchless grace! He is sick of these lukewarm professors, yet He promises to sup with them, and that they shall sup with Him. That is the only cure for lukewarmness and decline, to renew heart-fellowship with Christ; and He stands and offers it to all His people now. “Only open the door, and I will sup with you, and you shall sup with Me.” O you whose graces are lying so sinfully dormant, who have to mourn and cry because of “the body of this death”-for death in you seems to have taken to itself a body, and to have become a substantial thing, no mere skeleton now, but a heavy, cumbrous form that bows you down,-cry still to Him who is able to deliver you from this lukewarm and sinful state! Let every one of us put up the prayer of our text, “Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; and blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2475.cfm

These Sweet Odours

Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God, The Holy Spirit Leave a comment

Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. – Song of Songs 4:16

The spices with which God is conserving this present evil age, lest His anger should destroy it because of the growing corruption, are to be found in the flowers which He has planted in the garden of His Church. It sometimes happens that these sweet odours within God’s people lie quiet and still...I recollect, when I was young, reading an expression, -I think of Erskine’s, -in which he says that he likes a roaring devil better than a sleeping devil. It struck me then that, if I could keep the devil always asleep, it would be the best thing that could possibly happen for me; but now I am not so sure that I was right. At all events, I know this, when the old dog of hell barks very loudly, he keeps me awake; and when he howls at me, he drives me to the mercy-seat for protection; but when he goes to sleep, and lies very quiet, I am very apt to go to sleep, too, and then the graces that are within my soul seem to be absolutely hidden. And mark you, hidden grace, which in no way reveals itself by its blessed odours, is all the same as if there were none to those that watch from the outside and sometimes to the believer himself. What is wanted, in order that he may know that he has these sweet perfumes is something outside himself. You cannot stir your own graces, you cannot make them more, you cannot cause their fragrance to flow forth. True, by prayer, you may help to this end; but then, that very prayer is put into you by the Holy Spirit, and when it has been offered to the Lord, it comes back to you laden with blessings; but often something more is needed, some movement of God’s providence, and much more; some mighty working of His grace, to come and shake the flower bells in His garden, and make them shed their fragrance on the air. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2475.cfm