Character of Jesus

The Silenced Archers

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

Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall: The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him: But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob… -Genesis 49:22-24

They that are delivered from the noise of archers in the places of drawing water…-Judges 5:11

It seems that archers and wells frequently go together. It was the blessing of Joseph-“Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall.” But what next? “The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him.” And so in the text: here are wells, but there is the noise of archers, which greatly disturbs those who go to draw water. Brethren and sisters-I think you know, but I will refresh your memories-you know what the noise of archers has been to you when you have tried to draw water. Years ago, with some of us, our sins were the archers that shot at us when we would fain come to Christ and drink of His salvation. When we bowed the knee in prayer, a fiery arrow would dart into our hearts-“How dare you pray? God heareth not sinners!” When we read the word of God, another barbed shaft would be shot against us-“What hast thou to do with God’s word? There can be no promise there for such as thou art. Knowest thou not that thou art a condemned sinner, and that book curses thee solemnly? Turn away from it, of what service can it be to thee?”

Ah! but beloved, you are delivered from the noise of archers now; your sins which are many, are forgiven you; now you can come to Jesus, now you can come to the ordinances, now you can read the Bible, now you can hear the word, and you find that God’s paths drop fatness… for you are accepted in the Beloved, justified by faith, and have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0763.cfm

The Unstoppable Wells of Salvation

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

For all the wells which his father’s servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth. -Genesis 26:15

Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. -Isaiah 12:3

We read that in old times the enemies stopped up the wells, but neither hell nor its infernal train can ever fill up one of the wells which the Lord has digged and filled by His Spirit. If outward ordinances be stopped, yet the great deep that lieth under will find a vent somewhere; and if we were forbidden to draw near to the Lord’s table, or to meet to listen to the word, yet, blessed be God, we could pray, and we could have secret fellowship with Jesus, and so the wells could not so be stopped that the thirsty Christian should be deprived of his drink in due season.

Moreover, as they cannot be stopped, so neither can they be taken away from us. The Philistine king, Abimelech, strove with Abraham and with Isaac to take away the wells; but these are ours by covenant engagements, these are given to us in the eternal council, they are guaranteed to us by the solemn league of the eternal Three; and none of these covenant blessings shall be wrested from the heirs of life, who are heirs of all things in Christ Jesus. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0763.cfm

The Well of Refreshment

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prayer, promises, The Father, The Holy Spirit 1 Comment

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. -Hebrews 4:16

What a well that is to the Christian when he can draw nigh unto God with a true heart! It is a glorious thing to have such a well as that in the family, where, in prayer with the children, you can bring all the necessities of the household before God, and mention each child if you will, and all the troubles of the past, or all the expected difficulties of the coming day. Let us never give up that well. But, as for private prayer, brethren, this world were drear indeed if we could not pour out our sorrows into our Father’s ear. This is the poor man’s riches; this is the sick man’s medicine; this is the faint man’s cordial; this is the weak one’s strength; this is the ignorant man’s school; this is the strong man’s confidence. Neglect prayer, and you will soon discover that all your spiritual powers wax weak; but be much in supplication-and he that is mighty on his knees, is mighty everywhere. He that looketh God in the face every morning, will never fear the face of man; and he who looketh Christ in the face each evening, may well close his eyes in sweet repose, feeling that, if he should never wake to this world of care, he shall wake up in the likeness of his Lord. Oh, yes! the mercy seat is a well of refreshment indeed! Over and above this, every form of fellowship with Jesus, wrought in us by the Spirit, is a well of salvation…Beloved, we are no strangers to Jesus Christ, blessed be His name, and He is no stranger to us; we have seen Him through the lattices of the ordinances; we have found the means of grace to be like windows of agate and gates of carbuncle, through which we have beheld Him; we have Him in our hearts full often, He embraces our soul-we carry the fire of His love flaming on the altar of our affections. He is our dear companion, our ever present help in time of trouble.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0763.cfm

This Golden Book

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

When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. -Isaiah 41:17-18

Arising out of this greatest fountain, we have wells from which we draw the waters of comfort. First there is this book, this golden book, this book of God, this god of books, the word of God, with its thousands of promises, suitable to every case, applicable to all seasons, faithful and true, yea and Amen in Christ Jesus. Oh! how frequently when we have been fainting and ready to die, we have found that promise true, “I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground” when we have turned to the word, and searched there and found the promise, and fed upon it, as one that findeth great spoil have we rejoiced in God’s word. The doctrines of this book are inexpressibly reviving to us. He that understandeth them shall find them to be a well of life and comfort. I need not instance those doctrines, for you know them, you feed upon them, they are your daily bread. Beloved, when we think of God’s eternal love to His people, when we meditate upon redemption by blood, when we consider the truth of effectual calling by the Holy Spirit, when we remember the immutable faithfulness of the Most High, the covenant suretyship of our Lord Jesus, when we look forward to the perfection which will be ultimately ours, and to the haven of eternal rest to which every one of the Lord’s people shall be brought, we do indeed find that-

“Here in the fair gospel-field,
Wells of free salvation yield
Streams of life, a plenteous store,
And our soul shall thirst no more.”

~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0763.cfm

Our Great Inexhaustible Well

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

They that are delivered from the noise of archers in the places of drawing water, there shall they rehearse the righteous acts of the LORD -Judges 5:11

We thank God that we who are the children of the Most High, have wells to go to. The world is a wilderness; say what we will of it, we cannot make it into anything else. “This is not our rest; it is polluted.” We are passing through the desert of earth to the Promised Land of heaven, but we praise God that we have wells to drink of on the road. As Israel drank at Elim, and as the patriarchs drank at Beersheba, so have we wells of salvation, out of which we joyfully draw the living water. Our great inexhaustible well is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is, indeed, the great “deep that lieth under,” the “deep that coucheth beneath,” the secret spring and source from which the crystal streams of life flow, through the wells of instrumentality and ordinance. “All my fresh springs are in Thee.” Whenever we come to the Lord Jesus Christ, we drink and are refreshed. No thirst can abide where He is. “He that drinketh of the water that I shall give him,” saith He, “shall never thirst.” Glory be to His name, we know the truth of this-

“I came to Jesus, and I drank
Of that life-giving stream;
My thirst was quenched, my soul revived,
And now I live in Him.”

As often as we muse upon His person, commune with Him in holy fellowship, think of His wounds, triumph in His ascension, and long for His second advent, so often doth our spirit drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, and we lift up our head. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0763.cfm

Give Christ Your Heart

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

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. -Romans 10:9

A missionary was preaching to the Maori tribe of the New Zealanders. He had been telling them of the suffering love of Christ, how He had poured forth His soul unto death for them; and as he concluded, the hills rung to the thrilling question-“Is it nothing to any who pass by? Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto His?” Then stood forth a plumed and painted chief, the scarred warrior of a thousand fights, and as his lips quivered with suppressed emotion, he spoke. “And did the Son of the Highest suffer all this for us men? Then the Indian chief would like to offer him some poor return for his great love. Would the Son of God deign to accept the Indian’s hunting dog? Swift of foot and keen of scent the tribe has not such another, and he has been to the Indian as a friend.” But the missionary told him that the Son of God had need of no such gifts as these. Thinking he had mistaken the gift he resumed-“Yet perchance He would accept the Indian’s rifle? Unerring of aim, the chief cannot replace it.” Again the missionary shook his head. For a moment the chief paused; then as a new thought struck him, suddenly despoiling himself of his striped blanket he cried with childlike earnestness, “Perhaps He who had not where to lay His head will yet accept the chieftain’s blanket. The poor Indian will be cold without it, yet it is offered joyfully.” Touched by love’s persistency, the missionary tried to explain to him the real nature of the Son of God; that it was not men’s gifts but men’s hearts that He yearned for. For a moment a cloud of grief darkened the granite features of the old chief; then as the true nature of the Son of God slowly dawned upon him, casting aside his blanket and rifle he clasped his hands, and looking right up into the blue sky, his face beaming with joy, he exclaimed-“Perhaps the Son of the Blessed One will deign to accept the poor Indian himself!”

Is that what you say this morning? You would give Christ this, and that, and the other. Soul, give Him your heart. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0400.cfm

Your Sin Can Forever Be Put Away

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

Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. -Matthew 11:28

And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. -Acts 2:21

To return to God is not a cruel request to you. He does not ask you to perform a pilgrimage and blister your weary feet, or to thrust an iron in your back and swing yourself aloft as does the Hindoo; He asks you not to lie on a bed of spikes or starve yourself till you can count your bones. He asks no suffering of you, for Christ has suffered for you. All He asks is that you would return to Him, and what is that? That you would be unfeignedly sorry for your past sin, that you would ask His grace to keep you from it in the future, that you would now believe in Christ who is set forth to be the propitiation for sin, that through faith in His blood you may see your sin for ever put away and all your iniquity cancelled. That is neither a hard nor a cruel demand. It is for your good as well as for His glory. O Spirit of God, make the sinner now willing to repent and to believe in Christ.

“A debtor to mercy alone,
Of covenant mercy I sing;
Nor fear with Thy righteousness on,
My person and offering to bring.

The terrors of law and of God,
With me can have nothing to do;
My Saviour’s obedience and blood,
Hide all my transgressions from view.”

God promises-and He cannot lie-“He that believeth and is baptized,” He does not say, “may be,” but “shall be” saved, and God’s “shalls” and “wills” do not play with men; but He speaks them in real earnestness. “Whosoever calleth upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0400.cfm