Character of Jesus

His Poor Needy Ones Are Blessed

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

“For He shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper.”-Psalm 72:12.

This is a royal Psalm. In it you see predictions of Christ, not upon the cross, but upon the throne. In reference to His manhood as well as to His godhead, He is exalted and extolled and very high. He is the king-the king’s son, truly with absolute sway, stretching His scepter from sea to sea, and “from the river even unto the ends of the earth.” It is remarkable that in this psalm which so fully celebrates the extent of His realm and the sovereignty of His government, there is so much attention drawn to the minuteness of His care for the lowly, His personal sympathy with the poor, and the large benefits they are to enjoy from His kingdom. Where Christ is highest and we are lowest, and the two meet, there is “glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill towards men.” I might almost raise the question whether this psalm is more a tribute of homage to the Messiah, or a treasury of comfort for His poor subjects. We will compound the controversy by saying that as Christ here is highly exalted, so His poor needy ones are highly blessed, and while it is a blessing to them that He is exalted, it is an exaltation to Him that they are blessed.

Turning to our text without further preface, we shall note in it the special objects of great grace. “He shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper;” then, the special blessings which are allotted to them. Here it is said that He shall deliver them, but all through the psalms there are scattered promises full of instruction and consolation all meant for them. And, lastly, the special season which God has appointed for the dispensing of these favors. “He shall deliver the needy when he crieth.” That shall be God’s time. When it is our time to cry, it shall be God’s time to deliver.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1037.cfm

A Fit Object for Thy Compassion

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, confession of sin, prayer, promises, salvation Leave a comment

For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men – Titus 2:11

Are any of you sad and lonely? Have any of you been cruelly wronged? Have you lost the goodwill of some you esteemed? Do you seem as if you had the cold shoulder even from good people? Do not say, in the anguish of your spirit, “I am lost,” and give up. He hath compassion on you. Nay, poor fallen woman, seek not the dark river and the cold stream-He has compassion. He who looks down with the bright eyes of yonder stars and watches thee is thy friend. He yet can help thee. Though thou hast gone so far from the path of virtue, throw not thyself away in blank despair, for He hath compassion. And thou, broken down in health and broken down in fortune, scarcely with shoe to thy feet, thou art welcome in the house of God, welcome as the most honoured guest in the assembly of the saints. Let not the weighty grief that overhangs thy soul tempt thee to think that hopeless darkness has settled thy fate and foreclosed thy doom. Though thy sin may have beggared thee, Christ can enrich thee with better riches. He hath compassion….He is a friend of publicans and sinners. He is never happier than when He is relieving and retrieving the forlorn, the abject, and the outcast. He despises not any that confess their sins and seek His mercy. No pride nestles in His dear heart, no sarcastic word rolls off His gracious tongue, no bitter expression falls from His blessed lips. He still receives the guilty. Pray to Him now. Now let the silent prayer go up, “My Saviour, have pity upon me; be moved with compassion towards me, for if misery be any qualification for mercy, I am a fit object for Thy compassion. Oh! save me for Thy mercy’s sake!” Amen. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3438.cfm

In the Sympathy of Christ

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

Uphold me according unto Thy word, that I may live: and let me not be ashamed of my hope. – Psalm 119:116

Have not you noticed, some of you, that after doing your best to serve the Lord, when somebody has sneered at you, or you have met with such a rebuff as made you half- inclined to give up the work, an unexpected success has been given you, so that you have not played the Jonah and run away to Tarshish, but kept to your work? Ah! how many times in your life, if you could read it all, you would have to stop and write between the lines, “He was moved with compassion.” Many and many a time, when no other compassion could help, when all the sympathy of friends would be unavailing, He has been moved with compassion towards us, has said to us, “Be of good cheer,” banished our fears with His voice, and filled our souls to overflowing with gratitude. When we have been misrepresented, traduced, and slandered, we have found in the sympathy of Christ our richest support, till we could sing with rapture the verse-I cannot help quoting it now, though I have often quoted it before:-

“If on my face for Thy dear name
Shame and reproach shall be,
I’ll hail reproach and welcome shame,
Since Thou rememberest me.”

The compassion of the Master making up for all the abuses of His enemies. And, believe me, there is nothing sweeter to a forlorn and broken spirit than the fact that Jesus has compassion. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3438.cfm

I Looked to Him and Was Lightened

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

Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up. – James 4:10

I do well remember when I was under conviction of sin, and smarted bitterly under the rod of God, that when I was most heavy and depressed there would sometimes come something like hope across my spirit. I knew what it was to say, “My soul chooseth strangling rather than life,” yet when I was at the lowest ebb and most ready to despair, though I could not quite lay hold of Christ, I used to get a touch of the promise now and then, till I half hoped that, after all, I might prove to be God’s prisoner, and He might yet set me free. I do remember well, when my sins compassed me about like bees, and I thought it was all over with me, and I must be destroyed by them, it was at that moment when Jesus revealed Himself to me. Had He waited a little longer, I’d have died of despair, but that was no desire of His. On swift wings of love He came and manifested His dear wounded self to my heart. I looked to Him and was lightened, and my peace flowed like a river. I rejoiced in Him. Yes, He was moved with compassion. He would not let the pangs of conviction be too severe; neither would He suffer them to be protracted too long for the spirit of man to fail before Him. It is not His wont to break a leaf that is driven by the tempest. “He will not quench the smoking flax.” Yea, and I do remember since I first saw Him and began to love Him, many sharp and severe troubles, dark and heavy trials, yet have I noted this, that they have never reached that pitch of severity which I was unable to bear. When all gates seemed closed, there has still been with the trial a way of escape, and I have noted again that in deeper depressions of spirits through which I have passed, and horrible despondencies that have crushed me down, I have had some gleams of love, and hope, and faith at the last moment; for He was moved with compassion. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3438.cfm

Helped by His Spirit

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

Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. – Romans 8:26

Brethren, the Lord Jesus knew that after we were saved from the damning power of sin, we should always be full of wants, and therefore He was moved with compassion, and He sets up the throne of grace, the mercy-seat, to which we may always come, and from which we may always obtain grace to help in time of need. Helped by His Spirit, we can bring what petitions we will, and they shall be heard. And then, since He knew we could not pray as we ought, He was moved with compassion when He sent the Holy Spirit to help our infirmities, to teach us how to pray. Now I do not know a single infirmity that I have or that you have, my Christian brother, but what Christ Jesus has been moved with compassion about it, and has provided for it. He has not left one single weak point of which we have to say, “There I shall fail, because He will not help there”; but He has looked us over and over from head to foot, and said, “You will have an infirmity there: I will provide for it. You will have a weakness there: I will provide for it.” And oh! how His promises meet every case! Did you ever get into a corner where there was not a promise in the corner too? Had you ever to pass through a river but there was a promise about His being in the river with you? Were you ever on the sick bed without a promise like this, “I will make thy bed in thy sickness?” In the midst of pestilence have not you found a promise that “He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust?” The Lord’s great compassion has met the wants of all His servants to the end.

Oh! what a guardian Saviour is the Lord Jesus Christ to us, and how we ought to bless His name at all times, and how His praise should be continually in our mouth. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3438.cfm

The Old Book and His Ministers

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

He sent His word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions. – Psalm 107:20

The Lord has gone from us, but as He knew what would happen while He was away, He has, with blessed forethought, provided for our wants. Well He knew that we should never be able to preserve the truth pure by tradition. That is a stream that always muddies and defiles everything. So in tender forethought He has given us the consolidated testimony, the unchangeable truth in His own Book; for He was moved with compassion. He knew the priests would not preach the gospel; He knew that no order of men could be trusted to hold fast sound doctrine from generation to generation; He knew there would be hirelings that dare not be faithful to their conscience lest they should lose their pay; while there would be others who love to tickle men’s ears and flatter their vanity rather than to tell out plainly and distinctly the whole counsel of God. Therefore, He has put it here, so that if you live where there is no preacher of the gospel, you have the old Book to go to. He is moved with compassion for you. For where a man cannot go, the Book can go, and where in silence no voice is heard, the still clear voice of this blessed Book can reach the heart.

But then, since He knew that some would not read the Bible, and others might read and not understand it, He has sent His ministers forth to do the work of evangelists. He raises up men, saved themselves from great sin, trophies of redeeming grace, who feel a sympathy with their fellow-men who are revelling in sin, reckless of their danger. These servants of His the Lord enables to preach His truth, some with more, some with less ability than others; still, there are, thank God, throughout this happy realm, and in other favoured lands, men everywhere, who, because sinners will not come to Christ of themselves, go after them and persuade them, plead with them, and intreat them to believe and turn to the Lord. This cometh of Christ’s tender gentleness. He was moved with compassion, and therefore He sent His servants to call sinners to repentance. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3438.cfm

Look for Opportunities to Do Good in His Name

Sherry Character of Jesus, Christian Life 1 Comment

But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion… – Matthew 9:36

At the sight of the great congregations that gathered to hear Him, our Lord was often moved with compassion. Sometimes it was because they were hungry and faint, and in the fulness of His sympathy He multiplied the loaves and fishes to feed them. At the same time He showed His disciples that it is a good work to feed the poor. He would not have them so spiritually-minded as to forget that the poor have flesh and blood that require sustenance, and they need to eat and to drink, to be housed and clothed: the Christian’s charity must not lie in words only, but in deeds. Our Lord was moved with compassion, it is said, when He saw the number of sick people in the throng, for they made a hospital of His preaching place. Wherever He paused or even passed by, they laid the sick in the streets; He could not stand or walk without the spectacle of their pallets to harrow His feelings. And He healed their impotent folk, as if to show that the Christian does well to minister to the sick-that the patient watcher by the bedside may be serving the Lord, and following His example, as well as the most diligent teacher or the most earnest preacher of the glorious gospel. All means that can be used to mitigate human suffering are Christlike, and they ought to be carried out in His name, and carried to the utmost perfection possible…If you have any bowels of mercy, you should be looking out for opportunities to do good. Oh! never let a poor wounded soul faint for want of the balm. You know the balm. It has healed yourselves. Use it wherever the arrows of God have smitten a soul. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3438.cfm