Character of Jesus

How Can You Be Saved?

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, promises, repentance, salvation, Sovereignty of God, the unbelieving life Leave a comment

…the wrath of God abides on him. – John 3:36

Notice the word, “abides,” this is to say, it is upon you now. God is angry with you at this moment—and always. You go to sleep with an angry God gazing into your face, you wake in the morning, and if your eyes were not dim, you would perceive His frowning countenance. He is angry with you, even when you are singing His praises, for you mock Him with solemn sounds upon a thoughtless tongue. Angry with you on your knees, for you only pretend to pray, you utter words without heart. As long as you are not a believer, He must be angry with you every moment. “God is angry with the wicked every day.” Spiritual life belongs only to believers. You are now without that life, yet you exist, and wrath abides on you, and so it ever must be. While you shall not see life, you shall exist in eternal death, for the wrath of God cannot abide on a non-existent creature. You shall not see life, but you shall feel wrath to the uttermost. It is horror enough that wrath should be on you now, it is horror upon horrors, and hell upon hell that it shall be upon you forever.

And notice that it must be so, because you reject the only thing that can heal you. As George Herbert says, “Whom oils and balsams kill, what salve can cure?” If Christ Himself has become a savor of death unto death to you, because you reject Him, how can you be saved? There is but one door, and if you close it by your unbelief, how can you enter heaven? There is one healing medicine, and if you refuse to take it, what remains but death? There is one water of life, but you refuse to drink it then must you thirst forever. You put from you, voluntarily, the one and only Redeemer, how then shall you be ransomed? Shall Christ die again, and in another state be offered to you once more? O sirs, you would reject Him then, as you reject Him now. There remains no more sacrifice for sin. On the cross, God’s mercy to the sons of men was fully revealed, and will you reject God’s ultimatum of grace, His last appeal to you. If so, it is at your own peril. Christ being raised from the dead dies no more. He shall come again, but without a sin offering unto the salvation of His people. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1012.cfm

The Crime of Crimes

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

And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. – John 3:19

In many love of sin rather than any boasted self-righteousness keeps them from the Savior. They do not believe in Jesus, not because they have any doubt about the truths of Christianity, but because they have an enslaving love for their favorite sin.

“Why,” says one, “if I were to believe in Christ, of course, I must obey Him—to trust and to obey go together. Then I could not be the drunkard I am, I could not trade as I do, I could not practice secret licentiousness, I could not frequent the haunts of the ungodly, where laughter is occasioned by sin and mirth by blasphemy. I cannot give up these my darling sins.” Perhaps this sinner hopes that one day, when he cannot any longer enjoy his sin, he will meanly sneak out of it and try to cheat the devil of his soul. But meanwhile he prefers the pleasures of sin to obedience to God, and unbelief to acceptance of his salvation.

O sweet sin! O bitter sin! How are you murdering the souls of men! As certain serpents before they strike their prey fix their eyes upon it and fascinate it, and then at last devour it, so does sin fascinate the foolish sons of Adam. They are charmed with it and perish for it. It yields but a momentary joy, and the wage thereof is eternal misery, yet are men enamored of it. The ways of the strange woman and the paths of uncleanness lead most plainly to the chambers of death yet are men attracted thereto as moths to the blaze of the candle, and so are they destroyed…The preference of a lust to God is a greater insult still. To obey our passions rather than His will, and to prefer sin to His mercy, this is the crime of crimes. May God deliver us from it, for His mercy’s sake. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1012.cfm

The Unbeliever’s Ease

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

…he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. – John 3:36

Oh man, I pray you as your fellow creature let me speak with you a word of expostulation. God declares that His wrath abides upon you as an unbeliever, and do you call that nothing? God says, “I am angry with you,” and you say to Him, “I do not care, it is of very small importance to me. The rise or fall of the government bonds is of much more consequence than whether God is angry with me or not. My dinner being done to a turn concerns me a great deal more than whether the infinite God loves me or hates me.” A man who is able to take pleasure and be at ease while God is angry with him shows that his heart is harder than steel.

In certain cases, the root of this unbelief lies in another direction. It is fed by pride. The person who is guilty of it does not believe that he needs a Savior. His notion is that he will do his very best, attend the church or the meeting house very regularly, subscribe occasionally or frequently, and go to heaven partly by what he does, and partly by the merits of Christ…God believed it needful, in order to save man, that the Redeemer should die. Yet you self-righteous ones evidently think that death a superfluity, but if a man could save himself, why did the Lord descend and die to save him? If there is a way to heaven by respectability and morality without Christ, what is the good of Christ? It is utterly useless to have an expiator and a mediator, if men are so good that they do not require them. You tell God to His face that He lies to you, that you are not so sinful as He would persuade you, that you do not need a substitute and sacrifice as He says you do. Oh, sirs, this pride of yours is an arrogant rebellion against God. Look at your fine actions, you who are so good—your motives are base, your pride over what you have done has defiled, with black fingers, all your acts. In as much as you prefer your way to God’s way, and prefer your righteousness to God’s righteousness, the wrath of God abides on you. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1012.cfm

The Well-known News

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

And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. – Acts 16:31

In a great many, unbelief may be ascribed to a careless ignorance of the way of salvation. Now, I should not wonder if many of you imagine that if you do not understand the Gospel, you are therefore quite excused for not believing it. But, sirs, it is not so. There are places of worship all around you, which you can without difficulty attend. The Book of God is very cheap. You have it in your houses. You can all read it or hear it read.

Is it so, then, that the King has been pleased to reveal Himself to you, and tell you the way to salvation, and yet you, at the age of twenty, thirty, or forty do not know the way of salvation? What do you mean, sir? What can you mean? Has God been pleased to reveal Himself in Scripture, and tell you how to escape from hell and fly to heaven, and yet have you been too idle to inquire into that way? Dare you say to God, “I do not think it worth my while to learn what You have revealed, neither do I care to know of the gift which You have bestowed on men.”

How can you think that such ignorance is an excuse for your sin? What could be a more gross aggravation of it? If you do not know, you ought to know. If you have not learned the Gospel message, you might have learned it, for there are some of us whose language it is not difficult for even the most illiterate to understand, and who would, if we caught ourselves using a hard word, retract it, and put it into little syllables, so that not even a child’s intellect need be perplexed by our language. Salvation’s way is plain in the Book. Those words, “Believe and live,” are in this Christian England almost as legible and as universally to be seen as though they were printed on the sky. That trust in the Lord Jesus saves the soul is well-known news. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1012.cfm

Offending the Persons of the Trinity

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, promises, repentance, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Father, The Holy Spirit, the unbelieving life Leave a comment

He was numbered with the transgressors; and He bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. – Isaiah 53:12 (read Isaiah 53)

The unbeliever perpetrates an offense against every person of the blessed Trinity. He may think that his not believing is a very small business, but indeed, it is a barbed shaft shot against the Deity. Take the persons of the blessed Trinity, beginning with the Son of God who comes to us most nearly. It is to me the most surprising thing I ever heard of that, “the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” I do not wonder that in India the missionaries are often met with this remark: “It is too good to be true that God ever took upon Himself the nature of such a thing as man.”

Yet, more wonderful does it seem to be that, when Christ became man, He took all the sorrows and infirmity of man, and in addition, was made to bear the sin of many. The most extraordinary of all facts is this that the infinitely Holy should be “numbered with the transgressors,” and in the words of Isaiah, should “bear their iniquities.” The Lord has made Him who knew no sin, to be made sin for us. Wonder of wonders! It is beyond all degree amazing that He who distributes crowns and thrones should hang on a tree and die, the just for the unjust, bearing the punishment due to sinners for guilt.

Now, knowing this, as most of you do, and yet refusing to believe, you do, in effect, say, “I do not believe that the incarnate God can save.” “Oh no,” you reply, “We sincerely believe that He can save.” Then it must be that you feel, “I believe He can, but I will not have Him save me.” Wherein I excuse you in the first place, I must bring the accusation more heavily in the second. You answer that “(I) do not say (I) will not believe Him.” Why do you then remain in unbelief? The fact is you do not trust Him; you do not obey Him. I pray you account for the fact. If there be any barrier, it is not with God, it is not with Christ, it is with your own sinful heart. You are welcome to the Savior now, and if you trust Him now, He is yours forever. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1012.cfm

Unbelievers Hate God

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, repentance, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Holy Spirit, the unbelieving life Leave a comment

The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hand…. he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. – John 3:35,36

Suppose a man has injured another, grossly insulted him, and that repeatedly, and yet the injured person, finding the man at last brought into a wretched and miserable state, goes to him and simply out of kindness to him, says, “I freely forgive you all the wrong you ever did me, and I am ready to relieve your poverty and to succor you in your distress.” Suppose the other replies, “No, I would sooner rot than take anything from you.” Would not you have in such a resolve a clear proof of the intense enmity that existed in his heart?

The unbeliever touches God in a very tender place by his unbelief. No doubt it was to the great Maker a joyous thing to fashion this world, but there are no expressions of joy concerning it at all equal to the joy of God in the matter of human redemption. We would be guarded when we speak of Him, but as far as we can tell, the gift of His dear Son to men, and the whole scheme of redemption, is the master work even of God Himself. He is infinite in power, and wisdom, and love. 

And so, when a man says, and every one of you unbelievers practically say so, “I would sooner lie forever in hell than honor Christ by trusting Him,” this is a very plain proof of your hatred of God and His Christ. Unbelievers hate God. Let me ask, for what do you hate Him? He keeps the breath within your nostrils. He it is that gives you food and clothing and sends fruitful seasons. For which of these good things do you hate Him? You hate Him because He is good. Ah, then, it must be because you yourself are evil, and your heart very far removed from righteousness. May God grant that this great and crying sin may be clearly set before your eyes by the light of the Eternal Spirit, and may you repent of it, and turn from your unbelief and live this very day. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1012.cfm

Will You Receive God’s Mercy or His Condemnation?

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, promises, Sovereignty of God, The Father, The Holy Spirit, the unbelieving life Leave a comment

And when He comes, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on Me… – John 16:8,9

He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. – John 3:18

The all-seeing One, when He beholds men spurning the supreme gift of His love, cannot but regard such rejection as the worst proof of the hatred of their hearts against Himself. When the Holy Spirit comes to convince men of sin, the special sin which He brings to light is thus described, “Of sin, because they believed not on Me.” Not because the heathen were licentious in their habits, barbarians in their wars, and the bloodthirsty in their spirit. No, “Of sin, because they believe not on Me.”

Condemnation has come upon men, but what is the condemnation? “That light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil.” Remember, also, that expressive text, “He that believes not is condemned already.” And what is he condemned for? “Because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God.”

Let me remark, further, that in the rejection of divine mercy as presented in Christ, the unbeliever has displayed intense venom against God, for observe how it is. He must either receive the mercy of God in Christ, or he must be condemned—there is no other alternative. He must trust Christ whom God has set forth to be the propitiation for sin, or else he must be driven from the presence of God into eternal punishment. The unbeliever in effect says, “I had sooner be damned than accept God’s mercy in Christ.” Can we conceive a grosser insult to the infinite compassion of the great Father? ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1012.cfm