Attributes of God

Muzzle that dog of unbelief!

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God 1 Comment

“I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.” – Psalm 118:17

How very differently we view things at different times and in differing states of mind! Faith takes a bright and cheerful view of matters, and speaks very confidently, “I shall not die, but live.” When we are slack as to our trust in God, and give way to misgivings and doubts and fears, we sing in the minor key, and say, “I shall die. I shall never live through this trouble. I shall one day fall by the hand of the enemy; and that day is hastening on. Hope is failing me. Bad times are at the door. I shall not live through this crisis.” Thus our tongues show the condition of our inner man. We talk according to our frames and feelings, and would make others think that things are as we see them with our jaundiced eyes. Is it not a pity that we give a tongue to our unbelief? Would it not be better to be dumb when we are doubtful? Muzzle that dog of unbelief! Dog did I call him? He is a wolf; or should I call him hound of hell? His voice is as that of Apollyon: it is full of blasphemy against God. Unbelieving utterances will do no good to yourself, and will do harm to those who listen to your babblings. It would be wise to say, “If I should speak thus, I should offend against the generation of Thy children. When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me.” Let us be dumb with silence when we cannot speak to the Glory of God. But, oh, it is a blessed thing, when faith is in our spirit reigning and powerful, to let it have ample opportunity to proclaim the honours of His name! To give his heart a tongue, is wise in man when his heart itself is wise. The more talk we get from the mouth of faith, the better: her lips drop sweet-smelling myrrh. A silent faith, if there be such a thing, robs others of benedictions; and at the same time it does worse, for it robs God of His glory. When we have a joyous faith in full operation, let us be communicative, and let us openly and boldly say, “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2237.cfm

Live for Eternity, Live for Christ’s Glory and Live to Win Souls

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

For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. – Philippians 1:21

It is a dreadful thing to see men, who profess to be Christians, unwilling to die. Should it be so that, when we feel ourselves ill, and likely to die, we should have a host of matters to arrange and many regrets to express? Dear brethren, begin your regrets earlier, while there is time to retrieve the past. Regret now, and ask for grace now to do all that is in you for Him who loved you, and bought you with His blood. As for you who have no redeeming blood upon you, I do not marvel that you live to yourselves. O you who despise Christ, I do not wonder if you despise yourselves so much as to be the slaves of pleasure! But you, who are the elect of God, who are bought by the blood of Jesus, who are called by His Spirit, who profess to be His people—you have nobler things to live for. I pray you, make us not to be ashamed of you by living as if you were mere worldlings, who have their portion in this life. Live for eternity. Live for Christ’s glory. Live to win souls. Behave as occupiers under a Royal Owner should behave. With such a Landlord, the best in the whole universe, be also the best of tenants, and evermore be mindful of the time of your removal to another land…

“Gird up your mind to contemplation, trembling inhabitant of the earth; Tenant of a hovel for a day, you are heir of the universe forever! For, neither congealing of the grave, nor gulphing waters of the firmament, nor expansive airs of heaven, nor dissipative fires of Gehenna, nor rust of rest, nor wear, nor waste, nor loss, nor chance, nor change, shall avail to quench or overwhelm the spark of soul within thee!”

~ C.H. Spurgeon

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Leaving Behind Holy Memories

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life 3 Comments

Set your house in order, for you shall die, and not live. – 2 Kings 20:1

Whitefield used to tell a story of a young man who could not live in the house where his old father had dwelt, because he said, “Every chair in it smelt of piety.” He was a wicked, godless, rebellious, Christless man, and he could not stay where his father’s holiness would force itself upon his memory and rebuke him. Oh, I would like to make every chair in my house like that, so that when my boy comes into possession of it, he will think, “Why, there my father sat to study God’s Word, and there he used to kneel in prayer, and now I have his house, I must imitate his ways.” A dear man of God, who has now gone to heaven, took me into his study one day and said to me, “You see that spot?” “Yes.” “Well, that is the place where my dear wife used to kneel to pray and that is where, one morning, when I came to look for her, as she did not come down to breakfast, I found her dead.” “Oh!” said he, “that is holy ground.” And so it was, for she was a very gracious woman. Oh, that we may so live that everything we leave behind us may be like Abel’s blood that cried from the ground! May our habits and manners be such that, after our death, everything associated with us may be perfumed with holy memories! God make it so! God make it so!

Beloved friend in Christ, do try that everything may be in order for your dying, and everything now prepared for your departure, if it should happen tonight. Do it for the church’s sake. So live that when the church misses you, there shall be left behind you your gracious memory and your holy example to inspire those who will mourn your departure. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

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House Cleaning

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, Sovereignty of God, The Holy Spirit 3 Comments

“Thus says the LORD: ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die, and not live.’ ” – 2 Kings 20:1

Our body, our property, our family, this present life, and all its surroundings are in the text described as our house. As believers in Jesus Christ, if there is anything deficient in us, if there be anything excessive in us, if there be aught that is contrary to the Lord’s mind and will, may the Holy Spirit come and correct it all, so that our house may be set in order!.. Some of your houses need sweeping. The dust and filth of sin are lying all over the floors. You want the precious blood to be sprinkled, or else if the Lord begins to sweep with the bosom of the law, it will happen, as Bunyan tells us, that the dust will be enough to choke your prayers or blind the eyes of your faith. May the Gospel come and sprinkle the water of grace and then may Christ come in and sweep your house. But you need more than sweeping—your house wants washing. Every floor needs cleansing and there is no one but the Lord Jesus Christ who can do this. Nothing can make you clean but His blood. In many of your houses the windows are very filthy and the light of the glorious Gospel cannot enter, so as to bring with it an intelligent conception of the things of God. Oh, that this may be set right! The very drainage in some men’s houses is neglected. Many a foul thing stagnates, ferments, and pollutes their souls. Ah! what is there that is in order in the unregenerate man? To every one in that state, the text calls loudly, “Set thine house in order.” But sirs, unless Christ comes to help you, it is a hopeless task. Unless Christ and His Holy Spirit come to the rescue, your houses will remain out of order still, everything filthy and everything disarranged, and when the great King shall come and find it so, woe unto you, woe unto you, in the day of His appearing! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

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Are You Ready for Judgement Day?

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And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. – Hebrews 9:27

Do you ask, “What is God’s order?”You can see, by reading the twentieth chapter of the Book of Exodus what His thought of order was when He wrote the ten commands. You can learn what His order is under the Gospel, for we read that a new commandment has Christ given to us, that we love one another. And yet again, “This is His commandment, that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ.” Dear friend, is your house, in this sense, right with God? If, at this moment, you had to surrender possession, is everything ordered as you would wish it to be? If the arrow of death should now fly through this sanctuary and find a target in your heart at this moment, is it all right, is it all right, IS IT ALL RIGHT, as you would wish to have it when God’s eye shall look upon you in the day of judgment? What if in a single moment we should see the heavens on a blaze, and the earth should rock beneath our feet, and the dead should rise from their sepulchres? What if, instead of this Tabernacle and its gathered crowd, we should now suddenly see the King Himself upon the great white throne and hear the archangel’s trumpet ringing out the notes, “Awake, ye dead, and come to judgment,” is everything with us as we should like to have it for the blaze of that tremendous day and the inspection of that awful Judge? Happy is that man who can say, “I have committed all to Christ—my body, soul, and spirit—all my powers and all my affections. I have committed all to Him by faith and prayer, so, come, Lord Jesus, come quickly for it is all right even now.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

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Our Chief Business

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Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live. – Isaiah 38:1

We are to set our house in order, that is, our own house. Some persons are very busy setting other people’s houses in order and oh, how fast their tongues will go when they are sweeping out their neighbor’s kitchen or dusting out his cupboard! Set your own houses in order, sirs, before you attempt to arrange the affairs of other people. Again, the tenant himself must do it. “Set thine house in order.” You must not leave it to a priest. You must not ask your fellow man to become responsible for you. You must make personal application to Him who can set all in order for you, even to Him who came into the world and died for this very purpose. If you need oil for your lamps, you must go to them that sell and buy for yourselves, for your fellow virgins can give you none of their oil. Set your own house in order. This is the chief business of every living man as a tenant under God…What kind of order is my house to be set in? My conscience will help to tell me that. An enlightened conscience tells us in what kind of order our heart, our family, and our business should be. By its teachings, we may learn how all the departments of the house should be ordered. It cannot be right that the body should be master over the soul—conscience tells us that…Conscience says that the heart is never right till the whole man is in Christ—till, by a living faith, we have embraced Jesus as our full salvation and have received the Holy Spirit as our Sanctifier. We are never right till we are right with conscience, and conscience tells us that we are never right till we are right with God. “Set thine house in order.” Obey the inward monitor, listen to the still small voice, and prepare to meet your God. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

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Shall a Living Man Complain?

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Let my mouth be filled with Thy praise and with Thy honour all the day. – Psalm 71:8

To live in the perpetual exercise of praise to God, is at once the Christian’s duty and delight. “Nay,” says one, “but we cannot do that, we have other things to think of.” But remember, when the praises of God are not on our lips, they should be in our hearts. The incense was in the censer even when it was not smoking—our praise should abide with us till opportunity permits the holy fire to be applied. Besides, I believe that our God is best praised in common things. He who mends a shoe with a right motive is praising God as much as the seraph who pours forth his celestial sonnet. You in your workshops, you in your families, you on your sickbeds, you anywhere according to your avocations—if you offer, through Jesus the Mediator, the love of your hearts—are paying the rent of praise unto God Most High. Oh, to be continually doing this! But brethren, I am afraid that we are in arrears. Those of us who have paid the most rent are still far behindhand. Yes, you were grumbling this morning—that was not rendering a worthy recompense for benefits received. Shall a living man complain? There are some who do little else but complain. They complain of the times, of the weather, of the government, of their families, of their trade. If, for once, they would complain of themselves they might have a more deserving subject for fault-finding. The Lord is good and does good, and let His name be blessed. Let us, as His people, avow that, though He slay us, yet we will trust in Him. And if He make us groan under His heavy hand, we will even weep out His praises, and our expiring sigh shall be but a note of our life’s psalm, which we hope to exchange full soon for the song of the celestial host above. Praising and blessing God in life, practically by obedience, and heartily with gratitude—this is the rent which is due for the house in which we dwell. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

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