Attributes of God

A Question to You, Scorner of God’s Children

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

And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. – John 10:28

Have you ever succeeded in stopping the work of grace in the heart of any one? You tried to laugh it out of your wife, but if she really was converted, you never would laugh it out of her. You may have tried to vex your little child; but if grace be in that child, I defy you and your master the devil to get it out. Ay, young man, you may laugh at your shopmate, but he will beat you in the long run. He may sometimes be abashed, but you never will turn him. If he is a hypocrite you will, and perhaps there will be no great loss, but if he be a true soldier of Christ, he can bear a great deal more than the laugh of an emptyheaded being like yourself. You need not for a moment flatter yourself that he will be afraid of you. He will have to endure a greater baptism of suffering than that, and he will not be cowed by the first shower of your poor, pitiful, malicious folly. And as for you, sir merchant, you may persecute your man, but see if you will get him to yield. Why, I know a man whose master had tried very hard to make him go against his conscience; but he said, “No, sir.” And the master thought, “Well, he is a very valuable servant; but I will beat him if I can.” So he threatened that if he did not do as he wished he would turn him away. The man was dependent on his master. and he knew not what he should do for his daily bread. So he said to his master honestly at once, “Sir, I don’t know of any other situation, I should be very sorry to leave you, for I have been very comfortable, but if it comes to that, sir, I would sooner starve than submit my conscience to any one.” The man left, and the master had to go after him to bring him back again. And so it will be in every case. If Christians are but faithful they must win the day. It is no use your kicking against them; you cannot hurt them. They must, they shall be conquerors through Him that hath loved them. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0202.cfm

Its Useless, O Puny Man

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

“It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.” – Acts 26:14

There is a figure here; there is an allusion to the ox goad. When the ox was yoked for ploughing, if he did not move on in as sprightly a manner as was desired, the husbandman pricked him with a long rod that ended with an iron point. Very likely, as soon as the ox felt the goad, instead of going on, he struck out as hard as he could behind him. He kicked against the goad, sending the iron deep into his own flesh. Of course the husbandman who was guiding him kept his goad there still, and the more frequently the ox kicked, the more he was hurt. But go he must. He was in the hand of man, who must and will rule the beast. It was just his own option to kick as long as he pleased, for he did no harm to his driver, but only to himself.

And when you have persecuted Christ in order to stop the progress of His gospel, let me ask you, have you ever stopped it at all? No; and ten thousand like you would not be able to stop the mighty onward rush of the host of God’s elect… “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against His anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.” But what said the Almighty? He did not even get up to combat with them. “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall He speak unto them in His wrath and vex them in His sore displeasure. Yet have I set My King upon My holy hill of Zion.” The church cares not for all the noise of the world. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though waters thereof roar, and be troubled, and though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.” Ah, in your hosts ye have not prevailed, and think ye, O puny man, that one by one, ye shall be able to conquer? Your wish may be strong enough, but your wish can never be accomplished. You may desire it anxiously, but you shall never attain thereto.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0202.cfm

A Word to Mockers and Despisers of Christians

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

Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. – Matthew 5:10

You have got a poor man who works for you, who wears a fustian jacket. He is nobody. You may laugh at him. He will not tell anybody, or even if he does, you will not be called to book about it, because he is nobody. You dare not laugh so at a duke or an earl. You would mind your behavior if you were in such company as that; but because this is a poor man, you think you have a license given you to laugh at his religion. But remember, that beneath the fustian jacket there is Jesus Christ Himself. Inasmuch as you have done this unto one of the least of His brethren, you have done it unto Him. Has the thought ever struck you, that when you laughed you were laughing, not at him, but at his Master? Whether it struck you or not it is a great truth, that Jesus Christ takes all the injuries which are done to His people as if they had been done to Him… If ye could see Christ enthroned in heaven, reigning there in the splendours of His majesty, would ye laugh at Him? If ye could see Him sitting on His great throne coming to judge the world, would ye laugh at Him? Oh! as all the rivers run into the sea, so all the streams of the churches’ suffering ran into Christ. If the clouds be full of rain they empty themselves upon the earth, and if the Christian’s heart be full of woes it empties itself into the breast of Jesus. Jesus is the great reservoir of all His people’s woes, and by laughing at His people you help to fill that reservoir to its brim. and one day will it burst in the fury of its might and the floods shall sweep you away, and the sand foundation upon which your house is builded shall give way, and then what shall ye do when ye shall stand before the face of Him whose person ye have mocked and whose name ye have despised?~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0202.cfm

Personal Preaching

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

…Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?… – Acts 26:14

Jesus did not say out of heaven. “Saul, why does the synagogue persecute Me? Why do the Jews hate My religion?” No; it was put more pertinently than that-“Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?” If it had been put in general terms, it would have glanced off from the heart of the apostle; it could have been like an arrow which had missed the mark, and barely grazed the skin of the man in whose heart it was intended to find a home; but when it came personally-“Why persecutest thou Me?”-there was no getting off it. I pray the Lord to make the question personal to some of you. There be many of us who have had personal preaching to our souls. Do you not remember, dear brother in Christ, when you were first pricked in the heart, how personal the preacher was? I remember it well. It seemed to me that I was the only person in the whole place, as if a black wall were round about me, and I were shut in with the preacher, something like the prisoners at the Penitentiary, who each sit in their box and can see no one but the chaplain. I thought all he said was meant for me; I felt persuaded that some one knew my character, and had written to him and told him all, and that he had personally picked me out. Why, I thought he fixed his eyes on me; and I have reason to believe he did, but still he said he knew nothing about my case. Oh, that men would hear the word preached, and that God would so bless them in their hearing, that they might feel it to have a personal application to their own hearts.

Oh! Master! turn sinners to Thyself; for Jesus sake! Amen.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0202.cfm

What Grace!

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

“And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.”- Act 26:14

What grace was it that could lead the Saviour’s heart to speak to such a man as Saul, who had breathed out threatenings against His church? Had he not haled men and women to prison; had he not compelled them in every synagogue to blaspheme the name of Jesus Christ? and now Jesus Himself must interpose to bring him to his senses! Ah, had it been a thunderbolt which quivered in its haste to reach the heart of man, we should not have marvelled, or had the lips of the Saviour been heaving with a curse we should not have been astonished. Had He not Himself in His own lifetime cursed the persecutor? Did He not say, whosoever shall offend one of the least of these My little ones, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that be were cast in the sea? But now the man that is cursed by that language, is yet to be blessed by Him whom he had persecuted; who though he had stained his hand in blood, and had now the commission in his hands to drag others to prison, though he had kept the clothes of those who had stoned Stephen, yet the Master, the King of heaven, must Himself speak from the upper skies to bring him to feel the need of a Saviour, and to make him partaker of precious faith. I say this is marvellous condescension and matchless grace. But, beloved, when we come to recollect the Saviour’s character it is but little wonderful that He should do this for He has done far more than this. Did He not in person leave the starry thrones of heaven, and come down to earth to suffer, and bleed and die? But when I think of Bethlehem’s manger, of the cruel garden of Gethsemane, and the yet more shameful Calvary, I do not wonder that the Saviour should do any act of grace or condescension…And you and I, beloved, who have tasted of this grace, can say it was matchless love that saved Paul, but not love unexampled; for He hath saved us also, and made us partakers of the same grace.  ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0281.cfm

 

The Crowns of the Reclaimed

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God 2 Comments

The four and twenty elders fall down before Him that sat on the throne, and worship Him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created. – Revelation 4:10, 11

Here they come-Saul of Tarsus, and Manasseh, and Rahab, and many of the same class. “And how came ye here?” They reply, “We have had much forgiven, we were grievous sinners, but the love of Christ reclaimed us, the blood of Christ washed us, and whiter than snow are we, though once we were black as hell.” “And whither are ye going?” They reply, “We are going to cast our crowns at His feet, and ‘Crown Him Lord of all.'” Among that throng, my dear hearers, I hope it may be my lot to stand. Washed from many sins, redeemed by precious blood, happy thou that moment be, when I shall take my crown from off my head, and put it on the head of Him whom having not seen I love, but in whom believing, I rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. And it is a happy thought for me, this morning. that many of you will go with me there… Will not your gratitude be great? Will not your song be loud, when approaching His dear feet, you lay your honors there and cry, “Blessed be Jesus who has kept my poor soul in all its dangers, and brought me safely at last to Himself?”

I must ask you this question, my dear hearers: Have you a crown to put on the head of Jesus Christ to-day? “Yes,” says one, “I have. I must crown Him for having delivered me out of my last great trouble.” “I must crown Him,” says another, “for He has kept up my spirits when I was well nigh despairing.” “I must crown Him,” says another, “for He has crowned me with lovingkindness and tender mercy.” …Take Him to be thy all in all, and say, “Yes, on His head are many crowns, and I have put one there, and I shall put another there ere long.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0281.cfm

The Crowns of Martyrs and Soul Winners

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

…and on His head were many crowns… – Revelation 19:12

How brilliant are the ruby crowns of the martyred saints. From the stake, from the gibbet, from the fire, they ascended up to God; and among the bright ones they are doubly bright, fairest of the mighty host that surrounds the throne of the Blessed One. What crowns they wear! … An angel might blush to think that his dignity was so small compared with that of those riders in chariots of fire. Where are all those crowns? They are on the head of Christ. Not a martyr wears his crown; they all take their blood-red crowns, and then they place them on his brow-the fire crown, the rack crown, there I see them all glitter. For it was His love that helped them to endure; it was by His blood that they overcame.

And then, brethren, think of another list of crowns. They who turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars for ever and ever. There are a few men whom God has enabled to do much for the church and much for the world. They spend and are spent. Their bodies know no rest, their souls no ease… What crowns shall theirs be when they come before God, when the souls they have saved shall enter paradise with them, and when they shall say, “Here am I and the children which Thou hast given me! “What shouts of acclamation, what honors, what rewards shall then be given to the winners of souls! What will they do with their crowns? Why, they will take them from their heads and lay them there where sits the Lamb in the midst of the throne. There will they bow and cry, “Jesus, we were not saviours, Thou didst it all; we were but Thy servants. The victory belongs not to us but to our Master. We did reap, but Thou didst sow, we did cast in the net, but Thou didst fill it full. And our success is accomplished through Thy strength, and by the power of Thy grace.” Well may it be said of Christ, “On His head are many crowns.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0281.cfm