Attributes of God

The Gospel Feast

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

The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son… – Matthew 22:2

The Son of God has graciously been pleased to stand towards us. He has undertaken to be a Savior, in order that He might be a bridegroom. He had enough glory before, but in the greatness of His heart, He would magnify His compassion even above His power, and He therefore condescended to take into union with Himself the nature of man, in order that He might redeem the beloved objects of His choice from the penalty due to their sins and might enter into the nearest conceivable union with them. It is as Savior that the Father seeks to honor the Son, and the gospel feast is not for the honor of His person merely, but for the honor of His person in this new, yet anciently purposed relationship.

The marriage is with whom? With angels? He took not up angels. It is a marriage with our own nature, “He took up the seed of Abraham.” Shall we not rejoice when heaven’s great Lord is incarnate as a man, and stoops to redeem humanity from the ruin of the fall? Arise ye who slumber! If there was ever an occasion when ye should bestir your spirits and cry “wake up my glory, awake psaltery and harp” it is now, when Jesus comes to be affianced to His Church, to make Himself of one flesh with her, that He may redeem her, and afterwards exalt her to sit with Him upon His throne. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0975.cfm

The Great Object of the Father

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, promises, prophecy, Sovereignty of God, The Father Leave a comment

“The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son..” – Matthew 22:2

A certain king of wide dominions and great power designed to give a magnificent banquet, with a grand object in view. The crown prince, his well-beloved heir, was about to take to himself a fair bride, and therefore the royal father desired to celebrate the event with extraordinary honors. From earth, look up to heaven. The great object of God the Father is to glorify His Son. It is His will “that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father.” Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is glorious already in His divine person. He is ineffably blessed, and infinitely beyond needing honor. All the angels of God worship Him, and His glory fills all heaven. He has appeared on the stage of action as the Creator and as such His glory is perfect, “For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him.” Nothing is lacking to the glory of the Word of God, who was in the beginning with God, who spake and it was done, who commanded, and it stood forth. He is highly exalted also as the preserver, for He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. He is that nail fastened in a sure place, upon which all things hang. The keys of heaven, and death, and hell, are fastened to His girdle, and the government shall be upon His shoulders, and His name shall be called Wonderful…He is God over all. He is blessed for ever. To Him that is, and was, and is to come, the universal song goeth up. He hath a name which is above every name, before which all things shall bow, in heaven, and earth, and under the earth. He is God over all. He is blessed for ever. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0975.cfm

Herein is Love

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, The Holy Spirit Leave a comment

And the disciples came, and said unto Him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. – Matthew 13:10-11

How tenderly condescending is God to devise similitudes, that His children may learn the mysteries of the kingdom! If it be sometimes marvelled at among men that great minds are ever ready to stoop, what a far greater marvel that God Himself should bow the heavens and come down to meet our ignorance and slowness of comprehension! When the learned professor has been instructing his class in the hall in recondite matters of deep philosophy, and then goes home and takes his child upon his knee, and tries to bring down great truth to the grasp of his child’s mind, then you see the great love of the man’s heart: and when the eternal God, before whom seraphim are but insects of an hour, condescends to instruct our childishness and make us wise unto salvation, we may well say, “herein is love.” Just as we give our children pictures that we may win the attention and may by pleasing means fix truth upon their memories, so the Lord with loving inventiveness has become the author of many a charming metaphor, type, and allegory, by which He may gain our interest, and through His Holy Spirit enlighten our minds. If He who thunders till the mountains tremble yet deigns to speak with us in a still small voice, let us gladly sit in Mary’s place at His gracious feet, and willingly learn of Him. O that God would give to each one a teachable spirit, for this is the greatest step towards understanding the mind of God. He who is willing to learn in a childlike spirit is already in a considerable measure taught of God. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0975.cfm

Our Sacred Praise When a Sinner is Saved

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

And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things to day. – Luke 5:26

The disciples who were around the Savior, glorified God. They rejoiced, and said one to another, “We have seen strange things to-day.” The whole Christian church is full of sacred praise when a sinner is saved; even heaven itself is glad.

But there was glory brought to God, even by the common people who stood around. They had not yet entered into that sympathy with Christ which the disciples felt, but they were struck by the sight of this great wonder, and they, too, could not help saying that God had wrought great marvels. I pray that onlookers, strangers from the commonwealth of Israel, when they see the desponding comforted, and lost ones brought in, may be compelled to bear their witness to the power of divine grace, and be led themselves to be partakers in it. There is “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will towards men,” when a paralysed soul is filled with gracious strength.

If you are indeed what you profess to be, to glorify God must be the fondest wish and the loftiest ambition of your souls. Unless ye be traitors to my Lord as well as inhumane to your fellowmen, you will seek out some fellow Christians, and say, “Come, let us pray together, for such an one,” and if you know a desperate case you will make up a sacred quaternion, to resolve upon his salvation. May the power of the Highest abide upon you, and who knoweth what glory the Lord may gain through you? ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0981.cfm

Gladly Praising God

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

And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. And they were all amazed, and they glorified God. – Luke 5:25,26

Those four men had been the indirect means of bringing much honor to God and much glory to Jesus, and they, I doubt not, glorified God in their very hearts on the housetop. Happy men to have been of so much service to their bedridden friend! Who else united in glorifying God? Why, first the man who was restored. Did not every part of his body glorify God? I think I see him! He sets one foot down to God’s glory, he plants the other to the same note, he walks to God’s glory, he carries his bed to God’s glory, he moves his whole body to the glory of God, he speaks, he shouts, he sings, he leaps to the glory of God. When a man is saved his whole manhood glorifies God; he becomes instinct with a new-born life which glows in every part of him, spirit, soul and body. As an heir of heaven, he brings glory to the Great Father who has adopted him into the family, he breathes and eats and drinks to God’s praise. When a sinner is brought into the church of God we are all glad, but we are none of us so joyous and thankful as he; we would all praise God, but he must praise him the loudest, and he will… “Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: who forgiveth all thine iniquities: who healeth all thy diseases.”~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0981.cfm

Salvation Works Grateful Obedience to Christ

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

But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (He said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house. And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. – Luke 5:25

The man’s healing was proved by his obedience. Openly to all onlookers an active obedience became indisputable proof of the poor creature’s restoration. Notice, our Lord bade him rise-he rose; he had no power to do so except that power which comes with divine commands. He rose, for Christ said “Rise.” Then he folded up that miserable palliasse-the Greek word used shows us that it was a very poor, mean, miserable affair- he rolled it up as the Savior bade him, he shouldered it, and went to his home. His first impulse must have been to throw himself down at the Savior’s feet, and say, “Blessed be Thy name;” but the Master said, “Go to thy house;” and I do not find that he stayed to make one grateful obeisance, but elbowing the crowd, jostling the throng with his load on his back, he proceeded to his house just as he was told, and that without deliberation, or questioning. He did his Lord’s bidding, and he did it accurately, in detail, at once, and most cheerfully. Oh! how cheerfully; none can tell but those in like case restored. So, the true sign of pardoned sin, and of paralysis removed from the heart, is obedience. If thou art really saved thou wilt do what Jesus bids thee; thy request will be, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” and that once ascertained, thou wilt be sure to do it…Open, careful, prompt, cheerful obedience to Christ, becomes the test of the wonderful work which Jesus works in the soul. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0981.cfm

Joy in Being Forgiven by the Savior

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Holy Spirit Leave a comment

What reason ye in your hearts? Whether is easier, to say, thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, rise up and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (He said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house. – Luke 5:22-24

After our blessed Lord had taken away the root of the evil, you observe He then took away the paralysis itself. It was gone in a single moment. Every limb in the man’s body was restored to a healthy state; he could stand, could walk, could lift his bed, both nerve and muscle were restored to vigor. One moment will suffice, if Jesus speaks, to make the despairing happy, and the unbelieving full of confidence. What we cannot do with our reasonings, persuadings, and entreaties, nor even with the letter of God’s promise, Christ can do in a single instant by His Holy Spirit, and it has been our joy to see it done…Paralysed souls who could neither do nor will, have been able to do valiantly, and to will with solemn resolution. The Lord has poured power into the faint, and to them that had no might He hath increased strength. He can do it still…He has never spoken in secret in the dark places of the earth; He has not said to the seed of Jacob, “Seek ye My face in vain.”

“Thy sins be forgiven thee,” fell on him as a dew from heaven; he believed the sacred declaration, and his eyes sparkled. He might almost have felt indifferent whether he remained paralysed or not, it was such joy to be forgiven, forgiven by the Lord Himself. That was enough, quite enough for him; but it was not enough for the Savior, and therefore He bade him take up his couch and walk, for He had given him strength to do so. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0981.cfm