Attributes of God

Obedience

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

Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered… – Hebrews 5:8

Our Lord Jesus Christ took upon Himself the form of a servant; and what service it was that He rendered! “He was a Son; yet learned He obedience by the things that He suffered.” And what obedience that dear Son of God rendered to the Father! He did not come to do His own will, but the will of Him that sent Him. He yielded Himself up to come under law to God, and to do the Fathers will. Now in this respect we ought also to walk even as He walked. We have not come into the world to do what we like, to possess what we choose, or to say, “That is my notion, and therefore so shall it be.” Sin promised freedom, and brought us bondage; grace now binds us, and ensures us liberty. Obedience is the law of every spiritual nature. It is the Lord’s will that in His house His word should be the supreme law, for so only can our fallen natures be restored to their original glory. Set the wandering stars in their spheres, and rule them by the majestic sway of the sun, and then they will keep their happy estate, but not else. Understanding, heart, life, lip, everything, is now to enter into the service of God, even the Father, and it is to be ours to say, “Lord, show me what Thou wouldest have me to do.” Surely, beyond any other quality, we see in the career of the Son of God the perfection of self-abnegation. No man was ever so truly free as Jesus, and yet no man was so fully subservient to the heavenly will… His was the unique originality of absolute obedience. Dear friends, you see how it ought to be with you also. It is ours to walk in cheerful subservience to the mind of the Father, even as Jesus did. Does this strike you as an easy thing? It is child’s work, certainly; but assuredly it is not child’s play.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1732.cfm

Holiness

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

…ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy. – Leviticus 11:45 (see also 1Peter 1:16)

The first thing that every Christian has to see to is holiness. I will not try at any great length to explain what that word means, but it always sounds to me as if it explained itself. You know what wholeness is-a thing, without a crack, or flaw, or break; complete, entire, uninjured, whole. Well, that is the main meaning of holy. The character of God is perfectly holy; in it nothing is lacking; nothing is redundant. When a thing, is complete it is whole, and this applied to moral and spiritual things gives you the inner meaning of “holy.” When a man is healthy, perfectly healthy, in spirit, soul, and body, then he is perfectly holy; for sin is a moral disorder, and righteousness is the right state of every faculty. The man whose spiritual health is altogether right is right towards God, right towards himself, right towards men, right towards time, right towards eternity. He is right towards the first table of the law, and right towards the second table. He is an all-round man; he is a whole man, a holy man. Truth is within him; truth is spoken by him; truth is acted by him. Righteousness is in him; he thinks the right thing, and chooses that which is according to the law of uprightness. There is justice in him; he abhors that which is evil. There is goodness in him; he follows after that which will benefit his fellow-men. I cannot spare time to tell you all that the word “holy” means; but if you wish to see holiness, look at Christ. In Him you see a perfect character, an all-round character. He is the perfect One; be ye like Him in all holiness.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1732.cfm

Lord, Sanctify Me, and Use Me

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

Abide in Me, and I in you… – John 15:4

It is taken for granted that when we enter the service of Jesus we by that act and deed undertake by His help to follow His example. “Whosoever doth not bear His cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple.” “Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me, and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” You know, if any man love Christ, he must follow Him: “If ye love Me, keep My commandments.” When we took Christ’s cross to be our salvation we took it also to be our heavenly burden. When we yielded ourselves up to Christ to be saved by Him, we in spirit renounced every sin. We felt that we had come out from under the yoke of Satan, and that we made no reserve for the lusts of the flesh that we might obey them, but bowed our necks to the yoke of the Lord Jesus. We put ourselves into Christ’s hands unreservedly, and we said, “Lord, sanctify me, and then use me. Take my body and all its members; take my mind and all its faculties; take my spirit and all the new powers which Thou hast bestowed upon me with it; and let all these be Thine. Reign in me; rule me absolutely, sovereignly, always and alone. I do not ask to be my own, for I am not my own, I am bought with a price.” After we have learned the grand truth that, “if one died for all, then all died,” we infer that “Christ died for all, that we that live might not henceforth live unto ourselves, but unto Him that died for us, and rose again.” Are we not, then, to be true to this blessed compact? “I do remember my faults this day,” says one. Ay, but remember also the vows that still engage you. Do not desire to escape from the sacred bond. ‘This day remember the Lord to whom you dedicated yourself in the days of your youth, perhaps long, years ago, and again entreat Him to take full possession of the purchased possession, and hold it against all comers, for ever. So it ought to be. He that says, “I am in Him” ought also so to walk even as He walked. Obey the sacrifice of Jesus, yield yourselves as living sacrifices; by your hope of being saved by Him put your whole being into His hands to love and serve Him all your days.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1732.cfm

The Father Desires to See Christ in Us

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

He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked. – 1 John 2:6

Why ought we to walk as Jesus did?

When we read the word “ought,” if we are honest men, we begin to look about us and to make enquiries as to the reason and the measure of this obligation. An “ought” is a compulsion to a true heart. There is a “needs be” to every godly man that he should do what he ought.

What, then, is the ground upon which this “ought” is fixed?

It is a part of the original covenant purpose; for “whom He did foreknow He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son.” That is the drift of the plan of grace, the aim of the covenant. Grace looks towards holiness, that there should be a people called forth to whom Christ should be the elder brother, the firstborn among many brethren. You certainly have not had the purpose of God fulfilled in you, dear friend, unless you have been conformed to the image of His dear Son. “He hath chosen us in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.” This is the aim of election; this is the object of redemption; this is the fruit of calling; this is the concomitant of justification; this is the evidence of adoption; this is the earnest of glory; that we should be holy, even as Christ is holy, and in this respect should wear the lineaments of the Son of God. He hath given His own Son to die for us, that we may die to sin; He has given Him to live that we may live like Him. In every one of us the Father desires to see Christ, that so Christ may be glorified in every one of us. Do you not feel this to be an imperative necessity to be laid upon you? Would you have the Lord miss His purpose? You are chosen of God to this end, that you should be “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, zealous of good works,” and what is this but that you should walk even as He walked? ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1732.cfm

Christ Deigns to be Our Example

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

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. – Ephesians 5:1

The first thing about a Christian is initiation, initiation into Christ: the next thing is imitation, the imitation of Christ. We cannot be Christians unless we are in Christ; and we are not truly in Christ unless in Him we live and move and have our being, and the life of Christ is lived over again by us according to our measure. “Be ye imitators of God, as dear children.” It is the nature of children to imitate their parents. Be ye imitators; of Christ as good soldiers, who cannot have a better model for their soldierly life than their Captain and Lord. Ought we not to be very grateful to Christ that He deigns to be our example? If He were not perfectly able to meet all our other wants, if He were an expiation and nothing else, we should glory in Him as our atoning sacrifice, for we always put that to the front, and magnify the virtue of His precious blood beyond everything: but at the same time we need an example, and it is delightful to find it where we find our pardon and justification. They that are saved from the death of sin need to be guided in the life of holiness, and it is infinitely condescending on the part of Christ that He becomes an example to such poor creatures as we are. It is said to have been the distinguishing mark of Caesar as a soldier that he never said to his followers “Go!” but he always said “Come!” Of Alexander, also, it was noted that in weary marches he was sure to be on foot with his warriors, and in fierce attack’s he always was in the van. The most persuasive sermon is the example which leads the way. This certainly is one trait in the Good Shepherd’s character, “when He putteth forth His own sheep He goeth before them.” If Jesus bids us do anything, He first does it Himself. He would have us wash one another’s feet; and this is the argument-“Ye call Me Master and Lord, and ye say well; for so I am. If I, then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.” Shall we not do as He does whom we profess to follow? He has left His footprints that we may set our feet in them.Will we not joyfully fix our feet upon this royal road? ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1732.cfm

Take Christ to Thyself

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, prayer, promises, repentance, salvation Leave a comment

And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. – Acts 2:21

Here is a text for you: “Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Is not that a wonderful “whosoever”? “Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord” in believing prayer, asking mercy, trusting Christ for mercy, “shall be saved.” “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.” Most of you know these texts by heart; grip them as with hooks of steel. If you say that you are hungry, and I put a loaf of bread in front of you, will you sit and look at it all night? If I meet you in a week’s time, will you still complain that you are hungry, while there is the bread in front of you still untouched? You deserve to be hungry if that is the case, you deserve to be famished to death if, the bread being there, you will not have it. Take it, and eat it. “May I have it?” asks one. Thou art commanded to have it; this is not a matter that is left to thy option. “The times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent.” Our Lord Himself said, “Repent ye, and believe the gospel.” It is, therefore, a gospel command that thou shouldest repent and believe, and truly thou mayest obey a command given by the Lord Himself. There is no question about thy permission to obey it; then, obey it at once, and take Christ to thyself… Ye guiltiest of the guilty, you most condemned of all the condemned, for whom the hottest hell would be your due place, yet come away, and look to Christ, and you shall live, for none are too vile for Him to cleanse, none are too guilty for Him to pardon. Oh, that you would believe in Jesus while yet the gospel bell rings out, “mercy, mercy, mercy!”! God help you to do so, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake! Amen. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2404.cfm

That Holy and Blessed Doctrine

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

And looking upon Jesus as He walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! – John 1:36

John said in his preaching, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” He pointed out Christ as the Sin-bearer, bearing human guilt in His own person. That is the master-key which lets men into the kingdom of heaven. Oh! how I do delight to preach Christ as the Substitute, Christ as the atoning sacrifice; and when you have heard Christ preached in that way, it makes you ready, “a people prepared for the Lord.” How can men come to Christ if they do not know what Christ has done for them? If you do not understand that He suffered in your stead, the Just for the unjust, to bring you to God, how can you come to Christ? But when you have learned that holy and blessed doctrine of Christ’s propitiation for human sin, why, then, methinks, you will leap at the very sound of it, and say, “Yes, I will take this propitiation to be a sacrifice for me. Blessed Lamb of God-

“‘My faith would lay her hand
On that dear head of Thine,
While like a penitent I stand
And there confess my sin.'”

My friend, you have come to the cross-roads; peradventure, if you reject the Saviour, it will be your last rejection of Him, and it will finally seal your doom; and I am sure, with no peradventure whatever, that if you look to Jesus, and trust to His finished work, you shall be saved, and saved for ever. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2404.cfm