Attributes of God

Sinner, Fly to Jesus!

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, promises, repentance, salvation, Sovereignty of God, the unbelieving life Leave a comment

“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?” – 1 Corinthians 6:9

The unjust, the oppressive, cheats, rogues, “the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” I will read these words. I need not explain them but let every one here who comes under their lash submit to God’s Word. “Be not deceived: neither fornicators,”-plenty of them in London-“nor idolaters,”-and ye need not worship a God of wood and stone to be idolaters, worship anything but God, you are an idolater-“nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards,”-alas, some of these come to this house regularly,-“nor revilers,” that is, backbiters!, cavillers, tale-bearers, swearers, and such like, “nor extortioners,”-you fine twenty percent gentlemen! You who grind poor borrowers with usurious interest. “But the fearful,”-that means the cowardly, those that are ashamed of Christ, those that dare not suffer for Christ’s sake, those who believe everything, and nothing, and so deny the truth, because they cannot endure to be persecuted; “the fearful and unbelieving,”-that is, those who do not trust a Savior-“and the abominable,”…and “murderers,”-“he that hateth his brother is a murderer;” and “whoremongers and sorcerers;” “those who have or pretend to have dealings with devils and spirits, your spirit rappers, the whole batch of them; “and idolaters, and all liars,” and these swarm everywhere, they lie in print, and they lie with the voice; “all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” None of you shall inherit the kingdom of God, not one of you. If you come within this list, except God renew your hearts and change you, the holy gates of heaven are shut in your face.

“He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son…” – Revelation 21:7

Now, these are no words of mine, but the words of God; and if they condemn you, you are condemned; but, if you be condemned, fly to Jesus! Repent and be converted, as saith the gospel, and forgiveness shall be yours, through Jesus Christ. Amen. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1014.cfm

When Our Work is Done

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

Then took he Him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou Thy servant depart in peace…For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation…– Luke 2:28-30

Saints are willing to depart when their work is almost done. This will not be the case with many here present, perhaps, but it was so with Simeon. Good old man! He had been very constant in his devotions, but on this occasion, he came into the temple, and there, it is said, he took the Child in his arms and blessed God. Once more he delivered his soul of its adoration-once more he blended his praise with the songs of angels. When he had done that, he openly confessed his faith: another important work of every believer-for he said, “Mine eyes have seen Thy salvation.” He bore public testimony to the Child Jesus and declared that He should be “a light to lighten the Gentiles.” Having done that, he bestowed his fatherly benediction upon the Child’s parents, Joseph and His mother; he blessed them, and said unto Mary “Behold, this Child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel.” Now, we read that David, after he had served his generation, fell on sleep; it is time for man to sleep when his life’s work is finished. Simeon felt he had done all: he had blessed God; he had declared his faith; he had borne testimony to Christ; he had bestowed his benediction upon godly people; and so, he said, “Now, Lord, lettest thou Thy servant depart in peace.” …When a man feels, without claiming any merit, that he has fought a good fight, finished his course, and kept the faith, then will he rejoice in the crown which is laid up for him in heaven, and he will long to wear it. Throw your strength into the Lord’s work, dear brethren-all your strength; spare none of your powers: let body, soul, and spirit be entirely consecrated to God, and used at their utmost stretch. Get through your day’s work, for the sooner you complete it, and have fulfilled like an hireling your day, the more near and sweet shall be the time when the shadows lengthen, and God shall say to you, as a faithful servant, “Depart in peace!” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1014.cfm

Weaned from This World

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

Lord, now lettest thou Thy servant depart in peace… – Luke 2:29

Beloved, saints have drawn their anchor up and spread their sails, when they have been made to hold loose by all there is in this world; and that is generally when they hold fastest by the world to come. To many this world is very sweet, very fair, but God puts bitters into the cup of His children; when their nest is soft, He fills it with thorns to make them long to fly. Alas, that it should be so, but some of God’s servants seem as if they had made up their minds to find a rest beneath the moon. They are moon-struck who hope to do so. All the houses in this plague-stricken land are worm-eaten and let in the rain and wind: my soul longeth to find a rest among the ivory palaces of Thy land, O Immanuel.

Brethren, it often happens that the loss of dear friends, or the treachery of those we trusted, or bodily sickness, or depression of spirit, may help to unloose the holdfasts which enchain us to this life; and then we are enabled to say with David in one of the most precious little Psalms in the whole Book, the 131st, “I have behaved and quieted myself as a child that is weaned of his mother, my soul is even as a weaned child.” I have often thought that if David had said, “my soul is even as a weaning child,” it would have been far more like most of God’s people. But to be weaned, quite weaned from the world, to turn away from her consolations altogether, this it is which makes us cry, “Lord, now lettest thou Thy servant depart in peace.” Even as the psalmist when he said, “And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in Thee.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1014.cfm

Most Ready to Go

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

Lord, now lettest thou Thy servant depart in peace… – Luke 2:29

Saints feel most their readiness to go when their communion with Christ is near and sweet; when Christ hides Himself we are afraid to talk of dying, or of heaven; but, when He only shows Himself through the lattice, and we can see those eyes which are “as the eyes of doves by the rivers of water, washed with milk and fitly set;” when our own soul melteth even at that hazy sight of Him, as through a glass darkly. Oh, then we fain would be at home, and our soul crieth out for the day when her eyes shall see the King in His beauty, in the land that is very far off. Have you never felt the heavenly homesickness? Have you never pined for the home-bringing? Surely, when your heart has been full of the Bridegroom’s beauty, and your soul has been ravished with His dear and ever precious love, you have said: “When shall the day break, and the shadows flee away? Why are His chariots so long in coming?” You have swooned, as it were, with love-sickness for your precious Savior, thirsting to see Him as He is, and to be like Him. The world is black when Christ is fair; it is a poor heap of ashes when He is altogether lovely to us. When a precious Christ is manifested to our spirits, we feel that we could see Jesus and die. Put out these eyes, there is nothing more for them to see when they have seen Him. “Black sun,” said Rutherford, “black moon, black stars, but inconceivably bright and glorious Lord Jesus.” How often did that devout man write words of this sort: “Oh if I had to swim through seven hells to reach Him, if He would but say to me, like Peter, ‘Come unto Me,’ I would go unto Him not only on the sea, but on the boiling floods of hell, if I might but reach Him, and come to Him…Oh, how long is it to the dawning of the marriage day? O sweet Lord Jesus, take wide steps; O my Lord, come over the mountains at one stride!” …When these strong throes, these ardent pangs of insatiable desire come upon a soul that is fully saturated with Christ’s love, through having been made to lean its head upon His bosom, and to receive the kisses of His mouth, then is the time when the soul saith, “Lord, now lettest thou Thy servant depart in peace.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1014.cfm

“Make haste, my Beloved”

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

Lord, now lettest thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word… – Luke 2:29

“Lord, now lettest thou Thy servant depart in peace.” Heaven realised and anticipated by hope renders the thought of departure most precious to the heart. And the like, also, is the effect of the grace of love upon us. Love puts the heart, like a sacrifice, on the altar, and then she fetches heavenly fire, and kindles it; and, as soon as ever the heart begins to burn and glow like a sacrifice, what is the consequence? Why, it ascends like pillars of smoke up to the throne of God. It is the very instinct of love to draw us nearer to the person whom we love; and, when love towards God pervades the soul, then the spirit cries, “Make haste, my Beloved! be Thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of separation.” Perfect love, casting out all fear, cries, “Up, and away.”

“Let me be with Thee, where Thou art,
My Savior my eternal rest!
Then only will this longing heart
Be fully and for ever blest.”

I might thus mention all the graces but suffer one of them to suffice! one which is often overlooked but is priceless as the gold of Ophir-it is the grace of humility. Is it strange that the lower a man sinks in his own esteem the higher does he rise before his God? Is it not written, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven?” Simeon had no conceit of his own importance in the world, else he would have said, “Lord, let me stay, and be an apostle. Surely, I shall be needed at this juncture to lend my aid in the auspicious era which has just commenced?” But no, he felt himself so little so inconsiderable, that now that he had attained his heart’s wish and seen God’s salvation, he was willing to depart in peace. Humility by making us lie low helps us to think highly of God, and, consequently, to desire much to be with God. O to have our graces always flourishing, for then shall we always be ready to depart, and willing to be offered up. Lack of grace entangles us, but to abound in grace is to live in the suburbs of the New Jerusalem. ~ C.H. Spugeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1014.cfm

Mark Ye This

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, repentance, Sovereignty of God, The Holy Spirit 1 Comment

“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” – Colossians 2:8

“As it was with the worship of Israel of old, so it is now with that of the Christian church. The pure becomes alloyed with the base, that which is genuine with that which is spurious, divine revelation with human tradition, and the inspired decrees of heaven with the inventions and devices of the children of men. Some fallacies are perpetuated from generation to generation, until the deep hue of antiquity tinges them over, makes them look venerable and speciously invites a reverence and regard to which they never had any legitimate claim… But mark ye this, if the grace of God be once more restored to the church in all its fullness and the Spirit of God be poured out from on high, in all His sanctifying energy there will come such a shaking as has never been seen in our days.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

Amen, Brother Spurgeon!

The Christ Mass and Easter fits perfectly with what Spurgeon has said! They are pagan/papist/traditions of men that have been practiced for so long that they are unlawfully regarded as holy! And those who speak against such days are treated as if they are not Christians by many so-called Christians who love the day above their Lord Jesus’ desires. “Learn not the way of the heathen to worship Me in the same manner…”

Revival comes after repentance!

Our Departure by His Permission Only

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

Lord, now lettest thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word… – Luke 2:29

“Now lettest thou Thy servant depart…” The servant must not depart from his labor without his Master’s permission, else would he be a runaway, dishonest to his position. The good servant dares not stir till his Master says, “Depart in peace.” Simeon was content to wait till he received permission to depart, and it becomes us all to acquiesce cheerfully in the Lord’s appointment whether He lengthens or shortens our life. It is certain that without the Lord’s will no power can remove us. No wind from the wilderness shall drive our souls into the land of darkness, no fiends with horrid clamor can drag us down to the abyss beneath, no destruction that wasting at noonday, or pestilence waiting in darkness can cut short our mortal career. We shall not die till God shall say to us, “My child, depart from the field of service, and the straitness of this thy tabernacle, and enter into rest.” Till God commands us we cannot die, and when He bids us go it shall be sweet for us to leave this world. “Depart in peace,” saith God. It is a farewell, such as we give to a friend: it is a benediction, such as Aaron, the priest of God, might pronounce over a suppliant whose sacrifice was accepted. Eli said unto Hannah, “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of Him.” Around the sinner’s deathbed the tempest thickens, and he hears the rumblings of the eternal storm: his soul is driven away, either amid the thunderings of curses loud and deep, or else in the dread calm which evermore forebodes the hurricane. “Depart, ye cursed,” is the horrible sound which is in his ears. But not so the righteous. He feels the Father’s hand of benediction on his head, and underneath him are the everlasting arms. The best wine with him is kept to the last. At eventide it is light; and, as his sun is going down, it grows more glorious and lights up all the surroundings with a celestial glow, where bystanders wonder, and exclaim “Let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his.” That pilgrim sets out upon a happy journey to whom Jehovah saith, “Depart in peace.” This is a sole finger laid upon the closing eyelid by a tender father, and it ensures a happy waking, where eyes are never wet with tears. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1014.cfm