Attributes of God

Tried of the Lord

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

Until the time that his word came: the word of the LORD tried him. – Psalm 105:19

You may rest assured, brethren, that wherever God gives extraordinary gifts or graces, and appoints an extraordinary career, He also appoints unusual trial. There is a verse-I think it is Cowper’s-which says that

“The path of sorrow, and that path alone,
Leads to the land where sorrow is unknown.”

To eminence of any desirable kind there is no royal road, but we must wade through tribulation to it. For Joseph to become prime minister of Egypt the path lay through the prison-house: to all true honor the road is difficult. Expect, then, dear friend, if God gifts thee, or if He graces thee, that He intends to try thee. Such a reflection will tone down thine exultation and prevent its degenerating into pride, and it will aid thee to gird up the loins of thy mind and stand in all sobriety, prepared for that which awaits thee. Look upon talents and graces, and high hopes of eminent usefulness as signs of inevitable tribulation. Do not congratulate yourself, and sing, “Soul, take thine ease; thou art happy in possessing such special gifts,” but prepare to do the life-work to which thou art called. Thou art favored of the Lord, but do not look for the happiness of ease, carnal enjoyment, and human approval, for “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1277.cfm

This Thing Became a Sin

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God 4 Comments

Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. – 1 Kings 12:28

Truly, history repeats itself, only, if it be bad history, it is apt to grow worse. “Behold thy gods O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.” This is almost exactly what they said in Aaron’s days, when he made the ox, which Scripture sarcastically calls a calf, the Egyptian image of strength…I suppose that Jeroboam did not mean to draw them away from worshipping Jehovah; but he would have Jehovah worshipped under some visible image, and not according to the rule which God had laid down. That is just where mischief often begins, both in the church and in the world. Men are willing to worship God if they are allowed to have a ritual and symbols which they have themselves devised; so, instead of the divine simplicity of the New Testament, they have many things added, things to please the taste, aesthetic, beautiful, sensuous; all of which take off the mind from that sublime worship of the invisible God which alone can be acceptable before Him. It is not for us to determine how we will worship God; we are to worship Him after His own manner, for His commandments are still in force: “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them.” The ox was supposed to set forth strength; surely it was an admirable emblem of the Almighty, yet God pours contempt upon it when He bids His inspired servants to speak of it as the image of an ox that eateth grass, as if that could be any symbol of the Most High! “This thing became a sin.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2476.cfm

Take Counsel from God

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

And the king answered the people roughly, and forsook the old men’s counsel that they gave him; And spake to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke… – 1 Kings 12: 13,14

Old men are not always wise, and young men are not always wise; he who consults with men only shall yet learn the truth of this verse, “Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.” Among Rehoboam’s counsellors, the old men had no real principle to guide them, they said to the king, in effect, “Just butter these people with soft words, delude and deceive them with the idea that you are going to yield to them, and then, when you once get the reins into your own hands, you can govern the nation as you like.” This was a wicked policy; but the young men said to the king, “No, no, no; do not pretend that you will listen to the people. There is nothing like putting a bold face on it, and just letting the people know that you will not yield to them. They will be startled by what you say; have you not the authority and example of your father Solomon? Nobody ever dared speak a word of this kind to him, so do you put it down at once, and be bold.” There is no principle, you see, about the advice in either case; it is all policy, but the latter policy is sure not to succeed. I counsel you, brother, -nay, I will give you no counsel except that I counsel you to take counsel of God. Wait upon Him, for He knows what you should do in every difficulty that may arise. If Rehoboam had only had wit enough and grace enough to lay this case before his God He would have given him somewhat of the largeness of heart and the wisdom which He gave to his father Solomon. We often blunder over very ample matters when we speak without asking guidance of God; but in the most intricate circumstances our course will be perfectly clear if we commit our way unto the Lord. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2476.cfm

When Severe Afflictions Arise

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

“The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” – Job 1:21

“This thing is from Me.” – 1 Kings 12:24

There are some afflictions which remind me of a term which I have seen in the charters of ships, -“the act of God.” Certain calamities at sea are called “the act of God.” So, there are certain events in life which may be very terrible and very sorrowful, but if they are the act of God, they come to us thus distinguished, “This is from God.” Will you not accept it from the Lord?” Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” Will we not say, with Job, “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord”? “This thing is from Me.” O thou who art His child, accept the chastisement from thy Father’s hand, and kiss the rod with which He smites thee!

If we will not bear the yoke that is laid upon us, and heed the gentle tugging of the rein, then the goad and the whip will be used upon us. Nothing involves us in so much sorrow as our refusal to submit to sorrow. If we will not take up the cross, the cross, mayhap, will take us up; and that is a far worse lot than the other. Endure, submit, acquiesce, it is the easiest way, after all; for if thou art a child of God, and thou rebellest against Him, thou wilt have to smart for it… Whenever, therefore, a thing is distinctly from the Lord, it is not to be resisted. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2476.cfm

Commit Yourselves to God’s Guidance

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

…this thing is from Me… – 1 Kings 12:24

There sat, one Sabbath day, in that left-hand gallery, a young Hindoo gentleman wearing a scarlet sash. I preached that morning from this text, “What if thy father answer thee roughly?”* and I had hardly reached the vestry at the back before this young Hindoo gentleman was there with an aged man, and all in a hurry the young man said, “Sir, has Mr. E_____ told you about me?” “No,” I said, “I have not seen him for months; what could he have told me about you?” “Are you sure that you never heard of me before?” “To my knowledge, I never heard of you, and never saw you before.” “Well then, sir,” he said, “there is a God, and that God is in this place.” “How so?” I asked. “Last night, I told this gentleman here that I was almost persuaded to be a Christian; but that, when I went home to India, I should be disinherited by my father, and I felt sure that I should not have the courage to stand out as a Christian; and then my friend said, ‘Come and hear Mr. Spurgeon to-morrow morning,’ and I came in here, and you preached from those words, ‘What if thy father answer thee roughly?’ Verily,” he said, “the God of the Christians is God, and He has spoken to me this day.” That was an illustration of our text, “This thing is from Me.” Has it not often happened so? The providential working of the Holy Ghost is a very wonderful subject. They who are the Holy Ghost’s servants learn to depend upon Him for every word they are to utter; they sometimes feel their flesh creep, and almost every hair on their head stand on end at the way in which they have unconsciously spoken so as to depict to the very life the character of their hearers, -casual hearers, perhaps, -as if they had photographed them though they knew them not. Oh, you who are the Lord’s workers, commit yourselves to God’s guidance; the more you can do it, the better, for often you will have to say of an event that happens to you, “This thing is from the Lord.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2476.cfm

A Joyful Acquiescence

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

Thus saith the LORD, Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren the children of Israel: return every man to his house; for this thing is from Me… – 1 Kings 12:24 

Rehoboam had summoned his soldiers to go to war against the house of Israel; but inasmuch as it was from God that the ten tribes had revolted from him, he must not march into the territories of Israel, nor even shoot an arrow against them.

The thing that is happening to you is of the Lord, therefore resist it not, for it would be wicked to do so. If it be the Lord’s will, so may it be. To put our will against His will, is sheer rebellion against Him. Trace an event as distinctly from God, and then the proper course of action is that which the psalmist took, “I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because Thou didst it.” Absolute submission is not enough, we must go on to joyful acquiescence in the will of God. If the cup be bitter, our acquiescence must take it as cheerfully as if it were sweet. “Hard lines,” say you. “To hard hearts,” say I; but when our hearts are right with God, so well do we love Him that, if it ever came to a conflict anywhere, whether it should be our will or His will that should prevail, we should at once end the conflict by saying, “Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt.” It is nothing but wickedness, whatever form it assumes, when we attempt to resist the will of God…He is all goodness, and He is ever full of love. Judged of according to the divine understanding, everything that He willeth must be right. Why, then, shall I dare contend against His strength, His wisdom, and His love? ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2476.cfm

The Lord Sits as King Forever

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

Thus saith the LORD, Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren the children of Israel: return every man to his house; for this thing is from Me. – 1 Kings 12:24 

How was “this thing” from God? Well, clearly, it was from God in two ways. First, it was so as a matter of prophecy. The prophet Ahijah had prophesied that the ten parts of the rent garment which were given to Jeroboam should be symbolic of the ten tribes that would be given to him when they had been torn away from the house of David. The prophecy was literally fulfilled, as God’s words always are.

And, secondly, “this thing” was from God as a matter of punishment. He sent it as a punishment for the sins of the house of David of which Solomon had been guilty when he set up other gods before the Most High, and divided the allegiance of his kingdom from Jehovah by bringing in the gods of Moab, and Ammon, and Egypt. God ordained this evil that He might chastise the greater evil of want of loyalty to Himself on the part of His servant Solomon. Yea, my brethren, God setteth evil against evil that He may destroy evil, and He uses that which cometh of human folly that He may manifest His own wisdom.

So there are some events which are specially from the Lord, although it seemeth not so; and this is to us often a great source of consolation. We have said to ourselves, “However did things get into this tangle and snarl?” …Still, the Lord liveth, and the rock of our salvation faileth not. As He makes the wrath of man to praise Him, so doth He also with the folly and the wickedness of man, and the remainder of both He doth restrain. “The Lord sitteth upon the floods; yea, the Lord sitteth King forever.” Hallelujah! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2476.cfm