Attributes of God

“Come in, my Lord! Come in!”

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

And when He was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, “Who is this?” And the multitude said, “This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee”. – Matthew 21:10-11

On that day, when Christ came up from Bethany, the city gates were wide open. We read nothing about them, because they were not in the way; they were no shut gates to Him. He rode into Jerusalem without let or hindrance. Are your gates wide open? If not, I would say, “Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors: and the King of glory shall come in.” He is willing to abide in your hearts and go no more out for ever; be sure that your gates are set wide before Him. May the Holy Ghost open your hearts! Do not tolerate the thought of shutting out your Lord. Never! Throw wide the portals of your soul. Yea, go forth by willing obedience and say, “Come in, my Lord! Come in!” He was cheerfully received as King. Our Lord did not come to subdue the citizens at the point of the sword. He did not come with force of arms to coerce the city. You must receive Jesus willingly, or not at all. He comes to reign; but He comes in the gentleness of love. He rides on no high-mettled charger, He lays His hand on no sharp sword which clatters at His side; about Him are no men-at-arms, behind Him come no heavy guns dragged along the trembling streets. Jesus was willingly received: everyone exultingly welcomed Him. Will you so receive Jesus? Has He made you willing in the day of His power? You may well salute Him and welcome Him to your heart and your home; for you have never before received so blessed a guest. Set open wide the gates and entreat Him to come in; for He will bring heaven with Him. He never uses force; He conquers only by love. The Holy Spirit works upon the will of man; but He leaves it still a will, so that we freely choose our Lord, and delight in Him as our King. It should not be needful that I should plead for His admission. Surely you should run down the hill to meet Him, and then come back, following after Him with glad Hosannas. Lord Jesus, we cannot be cold in Thy presence. Our souls burn as with coals of juniper when we remember Thee. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2196.cfm

A Shout of Homage and of Prayer

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

…and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna; Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord…Hosanna in the highest. – Mark 11:9,10

I want you to notice in our text, that our Savior was received with the shout of Hosanna! The best interpretation I can give is-“Save, oh, save! Save, oh, save!” Different nations have different ways of expressing their good will to their monarchs. A Roman would have shouted, “Io triumphe!” We sing, “God save our gracious Queen.” The Persians said, “O King, live for ever.” The Jews cried, “Hosanna!” “Save,” or, “God save the King!” The French have their “Vivas,” by which they mean, “Long live the man.” Hosanna is tantamount to all these. It is a shout of homage, welcome, and loyalty. It wishes wealth, health, and honor to the king. In the Saxon we say, “Hurrah”; in Hebrew, “Hosanna.” That mighty shout startled all the streets of the old city: “Hosanna, Hosanna, the King is come. Save Him, O Lord! Save us through Him! Long live the King!” While it was a shout of homage, it was also a prayer to the King. “Save, Lord; save us, O King! O King, born to conquer and to save, deliver us!” It was, moreover, a prayer for Him-“God save the King, God bless and prosper His majesty.” Prayer also shall be made for Him continually; and daily shall He be praised.” We never cease to pray, “Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” Let us then cry, Hosanna, making it at once a loyal shout; a prayer to our King, and a prayer for Him. All these things appear in the benediction which follows: “Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.”

Would it be amiss if we were to indulge in a hearty shout for our King? May we never grow enthusiastic? May we never overleap the bounds of prim propriety? Shall we never cry Hallelujah! Shall no Hosannas burst from our lips? Surely, if our King will come into the midst of His church again, and end these black days of doubt, we must and will shout, or else the very stones will cry out, Yes, O Lord Jesus, Thou shalt have our Vivas: we will shout, “Long live the King! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2196.cfm

Be Not Like the Fool

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

The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. – Psalm 14:1

I see the ungodly man putting this poor fleeting world before the eternal world to come; therein he is a fool; but let me take heed that I in no measure imitate him. Let me never in my business live as though to make money; to get a competence, to earn the wherewithal to eat and drink, were the first thing with me. Let me not fall into his error, but ever seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and believe that other things shall be added to me. The ungodly man disregards God. God is not in all his thoughts. He saith in his heart, “No God.” Now when I know that the ungodly man does that, it should be a warning to me not to forget the Lord or depart from Him in any measure. Alas, we are all of us more or less atheistic. How little of our life is given to God! You who love and fear Him are not always near to Him, though He is always near to you. Do you never enter upon your enterprises without Him? When you begin your business with Him, are you not apt to forget Him in the middle passage of it? Or when you have gone on to the very center of a work with Him, are you not liable to leave Him ere you close? Is not this to learn the way of the wicked and to be like them in wandering away from the living God? To have God always with us, to lean hourly upon Him, and to feel each moment that He is all in all to us-this is the true condition in which our minds ought to be continually. The atheism of the outside world should warn us against the inward godlessness of our naturally atheistic hearts. Be you of another spirit; be courteous, cultivate the grace of cheerfulness and good temper as a Christian. The moroseness of the churl should enforce upon you the duty of godly gentleness. The Lord make us wise and prudent, and from the errors of others may we learn to steer our own course aright ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0983.cfm

A Joyful Day When All Take Part

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

And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set Him thereon. And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way. – Matthew 21:6-8

It is well when disciples are not only willing to fetch another man’s colt but are willing to lay their own garments thereon; when they will not only gather palm fronds to strew the path but will take off their own coats to carpet the way of the King. When everybody does something, or gives something, or at any rate joins in the hearty Hosannas, then is the King come into our midst. Our King is not where hearts are miserly, and souls are selfish; but one token of His presence is that His people offer willingly unto the Lord. At such times believers feel that they are not their own but are bought with a price; and things which once looked like sacrifices too great to be expected of them, are cheerfully presented as sacrifices of joy.

Beloved, we must not forget that it is a token of God’s having come to His church and of His having given her a joyful day, when the children share in it…When God moves the children to earnestness, He will soon move their fathers and mothers. When boys and girls meet to praise God, do not despise their little meetings, nor say, “It is only a parcel of children.” The children are in God’s esteem the most precious portion of the race. He sets high store by His little ones, and He has set a special curse upon those who offend one of the little ones that believe in Him. Jesus, Master, come, we pray Thee! Come in Thy lowly pomp, in all Thy gentleness, and grace, and then will the children of these modern days sing loud Hosannas to Thy name, like those in Thy temple of old. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2196.cfm

A Time of Testimony

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

The people therefore that was with Him when He called Lazarus out of his grave, and raised him from the dead, bare record. – John 12:17

It was a time of testimony: for those who had been present, and had seen Lazarus raised from the dead, bore witness. One stepped forward and said, “With these eyes I saw Lazarus come forth from the tomb of rock.” “As for me”, said another, “I saw him buried, I helped to carry him to the grave; but I saw him come back to the house alive.” “Yes”, said a third, “I rolled away the stone, and as I stood watching for the result, I saw the dead man come forth alive, and I helped to loose his grave-clothes.” All these bore witness to what they had seen. You cannot tell what a joyful effect it produces, and what enthusiasm is stirred, when one after another bears personal witness. Lord, open men’s mouths! Lord, make the quiet ones to tell forth Thy praise! Your silent tongues deprive us of our joy. Your cowardly reticence robs Christ of His glory and the church of its increase. If God has done anything for you, or you have seen Him do anything for others, bear testimony to it. It is the Lord’s due, and your duty, that you should speak to the glory of Christ Jesus. When great wonders have been done, and those who saw them are willing to bear their testimony “hereunto, then we may look for red-letter days, wherein gladness and praise shall be in the ascendant.

When we are all ready, each man, each woman, ready to take our share in the harvesting, then will the sheaves be garnered. It is cheering when the congregation shares the excitement with the church and its ministers, and the prospect of a divine blessing is before the mind of all who seek better things. Surely, the time to favor Zion, yea, the set time has come, when her King is longed for, and every heart beats high with love of Him. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2196.cfm

Days of Holy Exultation

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

…took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet Him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord. The people therefore that was with Him when He called Lazarus out of his grave, and raised him from the dead, bare record. For this cause the people also met Him, for that they heard that He had done this miracle. – John 12:13,17-18

There are choice days when the shout of a King is heard in our assemblies. We have not yet fallen to a dull monotony of barrenness; we have hills like those of Carmel. The low-water mark of lukewarmness is covered deep beneath flood-tides of holy exultation. I think that such days come to the church of God after special miracles of grace have been wrought. Lazarus is raised from the dead, and when the people thus see the greatness of the Prophet of Nazareth, they begin to commend and extol Him, and this leads on to holy excitement. If the Lord will be pleased to work remarkable conversions among us, we shall have grand times. If special instances of His gracious power are seen by us, we will bear our palms of victory before Him, and many hearts shall enquire, “Who is this?” Our hearts shall rejoice as with the joy of harvest when we see the Lord saving great sinners; yea, we will shout as victors who divide the spoil. Do you not think that when Saul of Tarsus was converted, and the churches had rest, that they had also great exultation in their King? Everywhere it must have been talked of that the fierce Pharisee had become a bold preacher of the faith which once he sought to destroy. What joy there is in saintly hearts when ring-leaders in sin become champions for truth! Oh that our God would work such transformations in this city! Pray, my brothers and sisters, that the Lord would do the like for us, and for all His churches just now. Oh, for displays of His power to quicken the dead! Oh, for Lazarus to be raised, and to live among us as a wonder of grace whom neighbors would come to see! O Lord, give us this signal of delight! Let us see Thine arm made bare in the eyes of all the people. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2196.cfm

Our Joyful Love to Him

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

And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way. And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest. – Matthew 21:8,9

These had been with Him in His humiliation, and He would give them a taste of His glory. They had seen Him despised and rejected of men; and He relieved the monotony of His humiliation with a glimpse of His glory. For once they should be allowed to cast their garments under His feet and strong fragrant branches on His path. For once their zeal should have license to climb the trees and break down the boughs to (lay across) his pathway. Nothing on that day filled their ears but the praises of their loved Lord and honored Master. They would soon have enough sorrow when they would see Him seized in the garden and taken away bound to Caiaphas and Pilate to be condemned to die. He would give them a breathing space, an interval of pleasure, wherein their spirits should no longer drag on earth, but rise on wings, into a lofty joy. Our Lord loves His people to be glad. His tears He kept to Himself, as He wept over Jerusalem; but the gladness He scattered all around, so that even the boys and girls in the streets of Jerusalem made the temple courts to ring with their merry feet and gladsome songs. Hear how they clap their hands with delight! “Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna!” You hear it everywhere, and the Lord smiles as He sees the joy which pours in floods around Him. The Lord loves to cast into our cup some drops of heaven’s own honey, until the bitterness of grief is sweetened, and His followers are made happy by their joy in Himself.” Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.” I wish I could express myself in tones more clear and musical; but though bodily weakness compels me to be measured in my utterance, my soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit doth rejoice in God my Savior. May the Lord Himself cast into your hearts the burning coals of joyful love to Him, and so may your souls take fire, and blaze aloft with vehement flames of delight! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2196.cfm