Character of Jesus

What is Our True Profession?

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

And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, “Let no fruit grow on you ever again.” Immediately the fig tree withered away. – Matthew 21:19

There have been churches which have stood prominent in numbers and in influence; but faith, and love, and holiness have not been maintained, and the Holy Ghost has left them to the vain show of a fruitless profession; and there stand those churches, with the trunk of organization, and widely extended branches, but they are dead, and every year they become more and more decayed. We may have numbers of people coming to hear the Word, and a considerable body of men and women professing to be converted; but unless vital godliness is in their midst, what are congregations and churches? We might have a valued ministry, but what would this be without the Spirit of God? We might have many outward efforts; but what of these without the spirit of prayer, the spirit of faith, the spirit of grace and consecration? I dread lest we should ever come to be like a tree, precocious with a superlative profession, but yet worthless in the sight of the Lord, because the secret life of piety, and vital union to Christ, are gone. Better that the axe clears away every vestige of the tree than that it stands out against the sky an open lie, a mockery, a delusion.

My heart’s desire is that we may learn the lesson in detail and take it home each one to his own heart. May the Lord Himself speak to each one of us personally! May we tremble, lest, having a profession of godliness, we should wear it conspicuously, and yet should lack the fruitbearing which alone can warrant such a profession. The name of saintship, if it be not justified by sanctity, is an offence to honest men, and much more to a holy God. A pronounced and forward avowal of Christianity without a Christian life at the back of it is a lie, abhorrent to God and man, an offence against truth, a dishonour to religion, and the forerunner of a withering curse. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2107.cfm

A Lesson for the Nations

Sherry Character of Jesus, promises, Sovereignty of God 3 Comments

And when He saw a fig tree in the way, He came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away. And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away!”- Matthew 21:19

The blighted fig tree was a singularly apt simile of the Jewish state. The nation had promised great things to God. When all the other nations were like trees without leaves, making no profession of allegiance to the true God, the Jewish nation was covered with the leafage of abundant religious profession. Scribes, pharisees, priests and elders of the people were all sticklers for the letter of the law, and boaster of being worshippers of the one God, and strict observers of all His laws. Their constant cry was, “The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, are these.” “We have Abraham as our father” was frequently on their lips. They were a fig tree in full leaf. But there was no fruit upon them; for the people were neither holy, nor just, nor true, nor faithful towards God, nor loving to their neighbor. The Jewish church was a mass of glittering profession, unsupported by spiritual life. Our Lord had looked into the temple and had found the house of prayer to be a den of thieves. He condemned the Jewish church to remain a lifeless, fruitless thing; and it was so. The synagogue remained open; but its teaching became a dead form. Israel had no influence upon the age.

What a lesson is this to nations! Nations may make a profession, a loud profession, of religion, and yet may fail to exhibit that righteousness which exalteth a nation. Nations may be adorned with all the leafage of civilization, and art, and progress, and religion; but if there be no inner life of godliness, and no fruit unto righteousness, they will stand for a while, and then wither away. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2107.cfm

Once a Curse but Now a Blessing

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

“And it shall come to pass, that as ye were a curse among the heathen, O house of Judah, and house of Israel, so will I save you and ye shall be a blessing…Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord.”—Zechariah 8:13, 22

The day is coming, yea it dawns already, when the whole world shall discern the true dignity of the chosen seed, and shall seek their company, because the Lord hath blessed them. In that day when Israel shall look upon Him whom they have pierced, and shall mourn for their sins, the Jew shall take his true rank among the nations as an elder brother and a prince. The covenant made with Abraham, to bless all nations by his seed, is not revoked; heaven and earth shall pass away, but the chosen nation shall not be blotted out from the book of remembrance. The Lord hath not cast away His people; He has never given their mother a bill of divorcement; He has never put them away; in a little wrath He hath hidden His face from them, but with great mercies will He gather them. The natural branches shall again be engrafted into the olive together with the wild olive graftings from among the Gentiles. In the Jew, first and chiefly, shall grace triumph through the King of the Jews. O time, fly thou with rapid wing, and bring the auspicious day!..I think we do not attach sufficient importance to the restoration of the Jews. We do not think enough about it. But certainly, if there is anything promised in the Bible it is this. I imagine that you cannot read the Bible without seeing clearly that there is to be an actual restoration of the Children of Israel . . . For when the Jews are restored, the fullness of the Gentiles shall be gathered in; and as soon as they return, then Jesus will come upon Mount Zion with His ancients gloriously, and the halcyon days of the millennium shall then dawn; we shall then know every man to be a brother and a friend; Christ shall rule with universal sway. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://thejerusalemconnection.us/blog/2011/08/01/charles-h-spurgeon-and-the-restoration-of-israel/

Jehovah’s Mighty Word

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

And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD… – Exodus 4:22

“Thus saith the Lord” is that with which we must confront the Lords enemies. When Moses went in before Pharaoh, the words which he used were not, “The elders of Israel have consulted, and thus have they bidden me say,” not “Our Father Abraham once said, and his words have been handed to us by long tradition”-such talk would have been readily resisted; but he confronted the haughty monarch with “Thus saith the Lord, Let My people go;” and it was the power of this divine word which rained plagues upon the fields of Zoan, and brought forth the captives, with silver and gold. Pharaoh might boast, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice?” but ere long he knew that Jehovah’s Word was mightier than all the horsemen and chariots of Mizraim and was not to be resisted without terrible defeat. To this day, if we would break sinners’ hearts, our hammer must be “Thus saith the Lord;” and if we would woo them to obedience to King Jesus, our reasons must come from His own Word. I have often noticed in conversion, that, though sometimes a particular passage of the sermon may be quoted by the converted person as the means of enlightenment, yet in the majority of cases it is the text, or some passage of Scripture, quoted during the sermon, which is blessed to do the work. McCheyne says, “Depend upon it, it is God’s Word, not our comment upon God’s Word, that saves souls;” and so it is. Let us use much of Scripture, much of the pure silver of sacred revelation, and no human alloy. “What is the chaff to the wheat, saith the Lord?” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0591.cfm

Feed Me with Thy Word

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

But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ ” – Luke 4:4

Where can a child of God find true solace apart from that which cometh out of the mouth of the Most High? Truly, “Man doth not live by bread alone; but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God doth man live;” “Thy words were found, and I did eat them;” “How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” When Nathan came to tell David of the covenant which the Lord would make with him and his house, David would scarcely have believed so great a mercy to be really his if the prophet had not began with “Thus saith the Lord.” It was not “Thus saith Nathan,” or “Thus do the ancients say,” but “Thus saith the Lord;” and David’s heart was full of holy joy when he saw the covenant to be ordered in all things and sure. When Hezekiah lay sick unto death, he turned his face to the wall and prayed; but there was no comfort to the royal suppliant until the prophet came with “Thus saith the Lord;” and when Sennacherib was about to besiege Jerusalem, and Lachish had fallen, Hezekiah prayed, and the people with him; but oh! they could not think it possible that there should be a hook put into the jaw of the mighty Assyrian, and that he should be turned back by the way in which he came, till the prophet reassured their hearts with a “Thus saith the Lord.” Zion’s sons and daughters feast upon the sure word of their faithful God. Brethren, I need not enlarge here, for I hope most of you know the preciousness of a divine promise. There is nothing wanted to stay your soul in your worst troubles, but the Word of God applied with power. God may not send you a friend; He may not raise up a deliverer; but if He shall only give you to believe His Word, that shall be enough for you. Martin Luther said: “I have covenanted with my Lord that He should not send me visions, or dreams, or even angels. I am content with this one gift of the Scriptures, which abundantly teaches and supplies all that is necessary, both for this life and that which is to come.” O Lord, only feed me on Thy Word, and I will not envy kings their delicacies, nor even the angels around Thy throne the bread of heaven on which they live. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0591.cfm

The Only Authority in God’s Church

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

And the LORD spake unto Moses… – Exodus 25:1

When the tabernacle was pitched in the wilderness, what was the authority for its length and breadth? Why was the altar of incense to be placed here, and the brazen laver there? Why so many lambs or bullocks to be offered on a certain day? Why must the Passover be roasted whole and not sodden? Simply and only because God had shown all these things to Moses in the holy mount; and thus had Jehovah spoken, “Look that thou make them after their pattern, which was showed thee in the mount.” It is even so in the church at the present day; true servants of God demand to see for all church ordinances and doctrines the express authority of the church’s only Teacher and Lord. They remember that the Lord Jesus bade the apostles to teach believers to observe all things whatsoever He had commanded them; but He neither gave to them, nor to any man, power to alter His own commands. The Holy Ghost revealed much of precious truth and holy precept by the apostles, and to His teaching we would give earnest heed; but when men cite the authority of fathers and councils and bishops, we give place for subjection? No, not for an hour. They may quote Irenaeus or Cyprian, Augustine or Chrysostom; they may remind us of the dogmas of Luther or Calvin; they may find authority in Simeon, Wesley, or Gill-we will listen to the opinions of those great men with the respect which they deserve as men; but having so done, we deny that we have anything to do with these men as authorities in the church of God: for there nothing has any authority but “Thus saith the Lord of Hosts.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0591.cfm

The Trowel and Hammer of God-sent Ministers

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

Thus saith the LORD God of Israel… – various scriptures

If he be God’s minister, he does not found his teaching upon his own authority, for then his message would be only that of himself, and not to be esteemed; but he shows the authority of his Master, and none can gainsay him. He claims men’s attention on the ground that he utters a “Thus saith the Lord.” No matter how aged he may be, he does not proclaim the truth as merely the result of his long investigations or his extraordinary experience, but he grounds it upon “Thus saith the Lord.” So spake the hoary-headed Joshua when for many a year he had known the faithfulness of God and was about to die. He was singing his swan-song, preaching his last sermon; but he did not commence it, “Thus saith my age,” “Thus say I upon mine own authority,” but “Thus saith the Lord God of Israel.” A God-sent minister is the ambassador of the Most High, but he has no right to go beyond his commission; and when he does so, his office cannot yield him support. The prophets of God did not say, “Thus I speak as a prophet,” but, “Thus saith the Lord.” When the prophet came in Gideon’s days and spoke to erring Israel, he opened his mouth with, “Thus saith the Lord God of Israel.” Turn to the pages of Isaiah, and mark how frequent he quotes the divine authority; study the plaintive words of Jeremiah, and observe how solemnly his prophetic woes are prefaced with, “Thus saith the Lord;” and the soaring Ezekiel, to whom was given, as it were, six wings, that he might take more lofty flights than the eagle knoweth-even he relied not upon the sublimity of his language or the glory of his imagery, but found the sinews of his strength in “Thus saith the Lord God.” This is the trowel and this the hammer of God’s builders, -this the trumpet of his watchmen and the sword of his warriors. Woe to the man who comes in any other name! If we, or an angel from heaven, shall preach unto you anything but a “Thus saith the Lord,” no matter what our character or standing, give no heed to us, but cleave unto the truth as it is in Jesus. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0591.cfm