Attributes of God

Our Commission

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God 14 Comments

“To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespass unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.” – 2 Corinthians 5:19

Let us open the commission. It lies in a nutshell. “Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, As I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, but had rather that he should turn unto Me and live.” “Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord; though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as wool, though they be red like crimson they shall be whiter than snow. ” Our commission begins with the announcement that God is love, that He is full of pity and compassion, that He is desirous to receive His creature back, that He willeth to forgive, and that He electeth, if it be consistent with the high attribute of His justice, to accept even the most rebellious, and to put them amongst His children. Our commission goes on to disclose the manner, as well as the motive, of mercy. Inasmuch as God is love, He, in order to remove all difficulties in the way of pardoning rebels, has been pleased to give His only begotten Son that He might stand in the room, place, and stead of those whom God has chosen; their sins He engaged to take; to carry their sorrows, and to make an atonement on their behalf. Thus the justice of God should be satisfied, and His love flow over to the human race. We declare, therefore, that God has given Christ, and He has made it a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that He came into the world to save sinners, even the very chief.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3497.cfm

But Until Christ Comes…

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God 6 Comments

Even when we were dead in sins, He hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved) – Ephesians 2:5

Without Christ your religion is dead, corrupt, a stench, a nuisance before God-a thing of abhorrence, for where there is no Christ there is no life in any devotion, nothing in it for God to see that can possibly please Him. And this, mark you, is a true description, not of some, but of all who are without Christ. You moral people without Christ, you are lost as much as the immoral. You rich and respectable people, without Christ, you will be as surely damned as the prostitute that walks the streets at midnight. Without Christ, though you should heap up your charitable donations, endow your almshouses and hospitals, yea, though you should give your bodies to be burned, no merit would be imputed to you. All these things would profit you nothing. Without Christ, e’en if you might be raised on the wings of flaming zeal, or pursue your eager course with the enthusiasm of a martyr, you shall yet prove to be but the slave of your own passion, and the victim of your own folly. Unsanctified and unblest, you must, then, be shut out of heaven, and banished from the presence of God. Without Christ, you are destitute of every benefit which He, and He alone, can bestow.

It is all lost! lost! lost! without Christ, utterly lost, and until Christ comes not a single beam of hope can make glad that anxious eye.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3472.cfm

An Unconditional Peace

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

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:..Having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in Himself of twain one new man, so making peace; – Ephesians 2:8, 15

Most acceptable is a messenger of peace if the people know that he brings no hard terms. When a certain king sent to the inhabitants of a town that he would make peace with them, provided he put out their right eyes and cut off their right hands, I am sure the tidings must have caused the utmost consternation, and the ambassador could not be very popular. But there are no hard terms in the gospel. In fact, there are no terms, no conditions at all. It is an unconditional peace which God makes with men. It is a gospel which asks nothing of men, but gives them everything. The Lord saith, “My oxen and My fatlings are killed; all things are ready, come ye to the supper.” There is nothing for man to get ready; all things are prepared. The terms-if I must use a word I do not like-are simple and easy. “Believe, and live.” With what joy should a rebellious sinner hear the voice of the ambassador who brings no hard conditions from God.

No temporary peace is proposed that may presently be broken, but a peace that shall stand fast for ever and ever. No temporary armistice, no brief interlude between the deeds of battle do we herald. Peace; eternal, unbroken peace; peace that shall endure in life and outlive death; peace which shall endure throughout eternity, we testify and make known to you.

This peace is proclaimed to all men. It is proclaimed without exception. “Whosoever believeth in the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved.” None are excluded hence but those who do themselves exclude. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3497.cfm

 

Ambassadors for Christ

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prayer, promises, repentance, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Holy Spirit 2 Comments

“Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.”- 2 Corinthians 5:20

There has long been war between man and his Maker. Our federal head, Adam, threw down the gauntlet in the garden of Eden. The trumpet was heard to ring through the glades of Paradise, the trumpet which broke the silence of peace and disturbed the song of praise. From that day forward until now there has been no truce, no treaty between God and man by nature… Never in the heart of any natural man, unless divine grace has put it there, has a desire to re-establish peace been felt or entertained. If any of you long to be at peace with your Maker, it is because His Spirit has made you long for it. Left to yourselves, you would go from conflict to conflict, from struggle to struggle, and perpetuate the encounter, until it ended in your eternal destruction… That He anxiously desires man to be reconciled unto Him, He proves by taking the first step. He, himself, sends His ambassadors… and He commands those ambassadors to be very earnest, and to plead with men, to pray them, to beseech them that they would be reconciled to God. I take this to be a sure pledge that there is love in the heart of God. Why, at the very announcement of these tidings, the rebellious sinner’s ears should be opened! It were enough to make him say, “I will hearken diligently; I will hear what God the Lord shall speak, for if it be true that He takes the first step towards me, and that He is willing to take up this deadly quarrel, God forbid that I should turn away; I will even now hear and attend to all that God shall speak to my soul.” May He bless the message to you, that you may be reconciled to Him without a moment’s delay. ~ C.H, Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3497.cfm

Come, Broken Hearts, Come to the Physician

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

He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. –Psalm 147:3

He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. This the Holy Spirit mentions as a part of the glory of God, and a reason for our declaring His praise: the Lord is not only a Builder, but a Healer; He restores broken hearts as well as broken walls. The kings of the earth think to be great through their loftiness; but Jehovah becomes really so by His condescension. Behold, the Most High has to do with the sick and the sorry, with the wretched and the wounded! He walks the hospitals as the good Physician! His deep sympathy with mourners is a special mark of His goodness. Few will associate with the despondent, but Jehovah chooses their company, and abides with them till He has healed them by His comforts. He deigns to handle and heal broken hearts: He Himself lays on the ointment of grace, and the soft bandages of love, and thus binds up the bleeding wounds of those convinced of sin. This is compassion like a God. Well may those praise Him to whom He has acted so gracious a part. The Lord is always healing and binding: this is no new work to Him, He has done it of old; and it is not a thing of the past of which He is now weary, for He is still healing and still binding, as the original hath it. Come, broken hearts, come to the Physician who never fails to heal: uncover your wounds to Him who so tenderly binds them up! ~ C.H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David,

Accepted in the Beloved

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

He that believeth on Him is not condemned: – John 3:18

I like to credit my Father’s word. “He that believeth in Him is not condemned.” Condemned I am not, for I know I do believe in Him. “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.”

Beloved, the covering is as broad as the sin. The covering completely covers, and for ever covers; for as God sees to-day no sin in those who are washed in Jesus’ blood, so will He never see any. You are accepted with an acceptance that nothing can change. Whom once He loves He never leaves, but loves them to the end. The reason of His love to them does not lie in their merits nor their charms; the cause of love is in Himself. The ground of His acceptance of them is in the person and work of Christ. Whatever they may be, whatever their condition of heart may be, they are accepted, because Christ lived and died. It is not a precarious or a conditional, but an eternal acceptance.

Believe in Jesus. Rely upon Him; depend upon Him. I have heard of Homer’s Iliad being enclosed in a nutshell, so small was it written; but here is the Plain Man’s Guide to Heaven in a nutshell. Here is the essence of the whole gospel in one short sentence. “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” Trust Him; trust Him. That is the meaning of that word believe. Depend upon Him, and as surely as thou doest it, nor death, nor hell, nor sin shall ever separate thee from the love of Him whom thou hast embraced, from the protection of Him in whose power thou hast taken shelter. The Lord lead you to cower beneath His covering wings, and grant you to be found in Christ, accepted in the Beloved. So shall your present peace be the foretaste of your eternal felicity. Amen.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3500.cfm

He Alone Covers Our Sin

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, confession of sin, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God 5 Comments

Thou hast taken away all Thy wrath: Thou hast turned Thyself from the fierceness of Thine anger. – Psalm 85:3

Whosoever among you, knowing himself to be guilty, who will come and put his trust in Jesus Christ, shall have his sins covered. “Can God do that?” Yes, He can. He alone can cover sin: Against Him the sin was committed. It is the offended person who must pardon the offender. No one else can. He is the King. He has the right to pardon. He is the Sovereign Lord, and He can blot out sin. Beside that, He can cover it lawfully, for the Lord Jesus Christ (though ye know the story, let me tell it again-the song of redemption always rings out a charming melody), Jesus Christ, the Father’s dear Son, in order that the justice of God might be vindicated, bare His breast to its dreadful hurt, and suffered in our room, and place, and stead, what we ought to have suffered as the penalty of our sin. Now the sacrifice of God covers sin-covers it right over; and He more than covers it, He makes it cease to be. Moreover, the Lord Jesus kept the law of God, and His obedience stands, instead of our obedience; and God accepts Him and His righteousness on our behalf, imputing His merits to our souls.

Oh! the virtue of that atoning blood! Oh! the blessedness of that perfect righteousness of the Son of God, by which He covers our sins!..Beloved, such is Jesus Christ, the covering for all our sins. God sees no sin in those who are hidden beneath Jesus Christ. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3500.cfm