Attributes of God

In Our Purity Alone We Stand

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

“He maketh peace in thy borders, and filleth thee with the finest of the wheat. He sendeth forth His commandment upon earth: His word runneth very swiftly.”-Psalm 147:14.-15.

A Church can never be in a sound and satisfactory state for labor, she never can be in such a condition that God can smile upon her complacently, if she be mixed up with the world, if her sons and daughters be not sufficiently distinguished from the world to be manifestly God’s people…If we take into our churches those who are not converted, we swell our numbers, but we diminish our real strength. We might need to purchase a larger church-book, we might, perhaps, be able to parade our numbers before the world, and we might even flatter ourselves with our apparent prosperity till we intoxicate our own brain, but we should be going backward when we think we are going forward. We have not conquered the world; we have only yielded to it. We have not brought the world up to us, we have only brought ourselves down to it. We have not Christianized an ungodly generation, but we have adulterated Christianity. We have brought the chaste spouse of Christ to commit fornication among the people…If we could to-morrow bring into the Church a sufficient number of ungodly but moral men to double our numbers, to double our subscriptions, to double our places of worship, to enable us to double the number of our missionaries, we should, by succumbing to the temptation, procure a curse instead of a blessing. In our purity, and in our purity alone, we stand…Oh! that God might grant to each of us, who are the pastors of the Church, that unceasing vigilance and constant watchfulness whereby we shall be able to detect the wolves in sheep’s clothing, and whereby we shall be able to say calmly, sternly, yet lovingly, to those who come before us seeking communion, without satisfactory evident that they belong to the living family of God, “You must go your way until the Spirit of God hath touched your heart, for until you have received the living faith in Jesus, we cannot receive you into the number of His faithful ones.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0314.cfm

But, Blessed But

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

“One who is righteous has many adversities, but the LORD rescues him from them all.” – Psalm 34:19

Scripture does not flatter us like the story books with the idea that goodness will secure us from trouble; on the contrary, we are again and again warned to expect tribulation while we are in this body…It is the earthly portion of the elect to find thorns and briers growing in their pathway, yes, to lie down among them, finding their rest broken and disturbed by sorrow.

But, bless-ed but, how it takes the sting out of the previous sentence! “But the LORD rescues him from them all.” Through troops of ills Jehovah shall lead His redeemed scatheless and triumphant. There is an end to the believer’s affliction, and a joyful end too. None of his trials can hurt so much as a hair of his head, neither can the furnace hold him for a moment after the Lord bids him come forth of it. The same Lord who sends the afflictions will also recall them when His design is accomplished, but He will never allow the fiercest of them to rend and devour His beloved.

Lord, we thank You now in the retrospect for the trials which we have endured. Some of us have been brought very low with physical pain and mental weariness, and others have been sore smitten with bereavement, losses and crosses, and persecutions; but there is not one out of all our trials which we could have afforded to have been without. No, Lord, all has been ordered well; there was a need-be for every twig of the rod, and we desire now to thank you that we can see in looking back, how all things have even now worked together for good, though we know we cannot see the end as yet. Amen. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://spurgeonbooks.com/subscribe/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=we_have_holy_joy_in_gods_everlasting_love&utm_term=SpurgeonBooksNewsletter2021-01-15

The Necessary Result of Sin

Sherry Attributes of God, promises, Sovereignty of God, the unbelieving life Leave a comment

Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. – Matthew 22:13

Ah, sirs, what will ye do if ye have no true grace in your hearts when you are taken away from the Lord’s table, taken away from the baptism in which you gloried, taken away from the doctrines of the gospel which you understood so well by head, but which you did not know in your heart…

The misery of hell is not a misery which God arbitrarily creates, it is the necessary result of sin, it is sin itself come to ripeness. Here you see the picture of the man who was insolent enough to come into the church without being a Christian, and now for ever he gnashes with his teeth against that glorious Majesty of heaven which it will never be in his power to injure, but which it will always be in his heart to hate; and this will be his hell-that he hates God; this his darkness-that he cannot see beauty in God; this the outerness of the darkness-that he cannot enter into God’s will. “Depart ye cursed,” is only love repelling that which is not lovely; it is only justice given to a man what his fallen nature craved after. “Get away from Me, ye did not honour Me; when ye did come to Me it was with your lips only. Go where your hearts were; depart from Me, you cursed.”

Oh, may God grant that not one here may come under the lash of this terrible parable, but may we be found of the Lord in peace in the day of His appearing. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0976.cfm

Speechless

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, confession of sin, prayer, repentance, salvation, Sovereignty of God Leave a comment

…And he was speechless. – Matthew 22:12

Why is he silent? Surely it was because he was convicted of open, undeniable disloyalty…He was speechless; he could not have chosen a worse place, nor a more impertinent method of ventilating his disloyalty than that which he selected; there was nothing he could say in self-defense. At that moment, when the King looked him through and through, he saw the full horror of his position; his loins were loosed, like Belshazzar of old when he saw the handwriting on the wall; he saw now that his time to insult was over, and the day of retribution had come. He was taken in the very fact and could not escape. He had been guilty of a superfluity of naughtiness, of an unnecessary extravagance of wickedness in coming into the feast to air his pride. He had committed a suicidal intrusion. He might have kept himself away at any rate, and not have thrust himself into the Judge’s presence. He saw now that the cause of sedition was hopeless, the King was there, and he was in his power and none could rescue him. Why did he not burst into tears? Why did he not confess the wrong? Why did he not say, “My king, I have insulted thee, have pity upon me”? His proud heart would not let him. Sin made him incapable of repentance.

He stood speechless. It was not only that he had no excuse, but he would not confess his wrong. Have I anyone here in such a condition of heart, that while he has been sinning by making a false profession, and knows it, yet he sullenly refuses to confess his fault? Yield thee, man! Yield at once. Fall at the King’s feet at once. Even if you are not a hypocrite, if you have any suspicion that you are, fall down and say, “My King, make me sincere; I submit myself to Thy will, and am ready to put on the wedding badge; if there is any method by which I can honour Thy Son, I cavil not at it; let me wear His colours, and be known by all men to be truly a lover of the great Prince.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0976.cfm

Professor, Look to Thyself

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

And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? – Matthew 22:12

Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? – 2 Corinthians 13:5

Notice that the king, when he thus turned a judge, dealt with this man only about himself. “How camest thou in hither?” Did I hear a whisper in some one’s mind, “Well, if I am unfit to be a church member, there are a great many others who are in the same condemnation.” What is that to you? See to thyself! When the king came in to see the guests he did not say to this man, “How came yonder persons here without the wedding garment?” His dealings were personal with him alone: “How camest thou in hither, not having on the wedding garment?” Professor, look to thyself, look to thyself. Let thy charity begin at home. Cast out the beam from thine own eye, and then mayst thou see clearly to cast out the mote that is in thy brother’s eye. He fixed on the one man, made him his entire audience, and directed to him the solemn question, “Friend, how camest thou in hither?” …I cannot but know that there are some of you who are not Christians though you bear the name. Like those of old, you say you are Jews and are not, but do lie. I am not now speaking of any who have fallen into sin and have suffered our rebuke…I mean others of you whose lives are all that could be desired openly, and yet there is a worm at the heart of your profession; you are not vitally godly, you have a name to live, and you keep that name untarnished as yet, but you are dead. Search ye yourselves; let your prayer be, “Gather not my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody men.” I am as concerned about myself as about you, that I should be found “accepted in the Beloved;” lest after having preached to others I myself should be a castaway! Do let it be a matter of solemn anxiety with each one. If you have never come to Jesus, come now; if you have never sought holiness of life, seek it now. If you have never had the wedding garment, it is yet procurable; go ye to Him who freely gives it, the Lord will not refuse you; go to-day and He will accept you. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0976.cfm

Friend…?

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Sovereignty of God, The Father, The Holy Spirit, the unbelieving life 1 Comment

Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? – Matthew 22:12

But Jesus said to him, “Friend, why have you come?” – Matthew 26:50

It was too high a day for the king to use rough speech; the man pretended to be a friend, and he addressed him as such, but though the word I doubt not was uttered softly, it must have stung him if he had any feeling left. Judas exemplified in his own person this character. When he gave the Saviour the traitor’s kiss, our Lord addressed him as “friend.” He pretended to be a friend. A friend, indeed, to insult his king at his own table, and to select for the insult the delicate occasion of the prince’s marriage to which he had been hospitably invited! The king put it to him, “How camest thou in hither? In hither? Was there nowhere else to pour forth thy sedition, no other spot in which to play the traitor? Needest thou come into my palace, and to my table, and before my son on his wedding day to reveal thy enmity? Was there a need to do this?” So may the Lord say to some of us. “Were there no other ways to sin, but that you must profess to be My servant when you were not so? Were there no other bowls that you could drink from, that ye must profane the cups of My table? Was there no other bread that you could put into your wicked mouths but the bread that represents the body of My Son? Had you nowhere else to sin in that you must needs sin in the church? Could you do nothing else to show your spite but that you must make a lying profession of faith in My Son, who bled upon the cross to redeem the sons of men? Could you assail Me nowhere else but through the wounds of My only begotten Son? Could you vex My Spirit by no other means than by pretending to be My friend, and thrusting yourself in hither, while defiantly rejecting that which was necessary to do Me honour, and to do My Son honour, at the festival of My grace?” I dare not dwell upon the topic. I give you the text; I pray that your conscience may preach the sermon. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0976.cfm

Comforting His Own and Smiting His Foes

Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God, the unbelieving life Leave a comment

…he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment… – Matthew 22:11

The day of comfort to His saints is also the day of vengeance of our God. He who comes to comfort all that mourn comes at the same time to smite the rebellious with a rod of iron. The judge begins by seeing, “He saw there a man.” The parable represents but one such man as present, yet the king saw him at once, he fixed his flaming eyes on that one. I suppose it was a greater crowd than this, but the king fixed his eyes on the solitary offender at once. Does the parable speak of only one because we may expect to find only one hypocrite in a church? Alas! there have been many such at the wedding feast, but one only is mentioned to show us that if there were but one, God would find him out; and being many, the sinners in Zion may be the more sure that they will not escape. It is possible that none of the guests may have noticed the man’s garments; the parable makes no remark upon any expostulations made to him by others; perhaps they were all so taken up with the sight of the king, and so glad to be at the feast themselves, that they had no heart to make remarks upon others. But this is certain, that the king detected at once the absence of what was requisite to the marriage feast. It was not the presence of anything offensive, but the absence of something which was requisite. He did not say to the unworthy guest, “Thou hast rags upon thee,” or “thou art filthy.” or “thou hast an unwashed face”; he enquired solely into the absence of the peculiar badge which denoted a loving guest. God will judge, and does continually judge His church upon this question, the absence of what is absolutely necessary to being a Christian, the absence of honouring the Son, and obeying the Father…The one thing needful is to accept loyally the Lord as King. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0976.cfm