Character of Jesus

The Repentance of Despair

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, confession of sin, promises, repentance, salvation, The Holy Spirit 3 Comments

Then Judas, which had betrayed Him, when he saw that He was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. -Matthew 27:3-4

Yes, Judas the traitor, who had betrayed his Master, when be saw that his Master was condemned, “repented, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned, in that I have betrayed innocent blood, and cast down the pieces in the temple, and went” and what?- “and hanged himself.” Here is the worst kind of repentance of all; in fact, I know not that I am justified in calling it repentance; it must be called remorse of conscience. But Judas did confess his sin, and then went and hanged himself. Oh! that dreadful, that terrible, that hideous confession of despair! Have you never seen it? If you never have, then bless God that you never were called to see such a sight. I have seen it once in my life, I pray God I may never see it again -the repentance of the man who sees death staring him in the face, and who says, “I have sinned.” You tell him that Christ has died for sinners; and he answers, “There is no hope for me; I have cursed God to His face; I have defied Him; my day of grace I know is past; my conscience is seared with a hot iron; I am dying, and I know I shall be lost!”

Ah! There may be a man (reading) here who may have such a death as that; let me warn him, ere he come to it; and may God the Holy Spirit grant that that man may be turned unto God, and made a true penitent, and then he need not have any more fear; for he who has had his sins washed away in the Saviour’s blood, need not have any remorse for his sins, for they are pardoned through the Redeemer. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0113.cfm

 

It is Hard Work to Die Without Jesus

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

That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him, though He be not far from every one of us -Acts 17:27

Those of you who make no profession of religion, are living without God and without Christ, strangers to the commonwealth of Israel,-let me affectionately remind you that the day is coming when you will want religion. It is very well now to be sailing over the smooth waters of life, but the rough billows of Jordan will make you want a Saviour. It is hard work to die without a hope; to take that last leap in the dark is a frightful thing indeed. I have seen the old man die when he has declared he would not die. He has stood upon the brink of death, and he has said, “All dark, dark, dark! O God, I cannot die.” And his agony has been fearful when the strong hand of the destroyer has seemed to push him over the precipice. He lingered shivering on the brink, and feared to launch away.” And frightful was the moment when the foot slipped and the solid earth was left, and the soul was sinking into the depths of eternal wrath. You will want a Saviour then, when your pulse is faint and few; you will need an angel then to stand at your bedside: and when the spirit is departing, you will need a sacred convoy to pilot you through the dark clouds of death and guide you through the iron gate, and lead you to the blessed mansion in the land of the hereafter. Oh, “seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” O Lord, turn us and we shall be turned. Draw us and we will run after Thee; and Thine shall be the glory; for the crown of our race shall be cast at Thy feet, and Thou shalt have the glory forever and ever.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0198.cfm

“Onward, onward, onward!”

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

…looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith…Hebrews 12:2

He that would be saved, must hold on to the end: “He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.” Stop and loiter in the race before you have come to the end thereof, and you have made one of the greatest mistakes that could possibly occur. On, on, on! while you live; still onward, onward, onward! for until you come to the grave, you have not come to your resting place until you arrive at the tomb, you have not come to the spot where you may cry “Halt!” Ever onward if ye would win. If you are content to lose, if you would lose your own soul, you may say, “Stop,” if you please; but if you would be saved evermore, be on, on, till you have gained the prize.

Christian, run onward, for remember who it is that stands at the winning post. You are to run onward, always looking unto Jesus, then Jesus must be at the end. We are always to be looking forward, and never backward; therefore Jesus must be there. Are you loitering? See Him with His open wounds. Are you about to leave the course? See Him with His bleeding hands; will not that constrain you to devote yourself to Him? Will not that impel you to speed your course, and never loiter until you have obtained the crown? Your dying Master cries to you today, and He says. “By My agony and bloody sweat; by My cross and passion, onward! By My life, which I gave for you; by the death which I endured for your sake, onward!” And see! He holds out His hand, laden with a crown sparkling with many a star, and He says, “By this crown, onward!” I beseech you, onward, my beloved; press forward, for “I know that there is laid up for me a crown of life which fadeth not away, and not for me only, but for all them that love His appearing.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0198.cfm

You are Running for Your Life

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises 4 Comments

And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey?…Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. -Hebrews 3:18; 4:11

Recollect, your race is win or lose-death or life, hell or heaven, eternal misery or everlasting joy. What a stake that is for which you run. If I may so put it, you are running for your life; and if that does not make a man run nothing will. Put a man there on yonder hill, and put another after him with a drawn sword seeking his life, If there is any run in him you will soon see him run; there will be no need for us to shout out to him, “Run, man, run” for he is quite certain that his life is at hazard, and he speeds with all his might-speeds till the veins stand like whipcords on his brow, and a hot sweat runs from every pore of his body-and still flees onward. Now, he looks behind, and sees the avenger of blood speeding after him; he does not stop; he spurns the ground, and on he flees till he reaches the city of refuge, where he is safe. Ah! if we had eyes to see, and if we knew who it is that is pursuing us every day of our lives, how we should run! for lo! O man, hell is behind thee, sin pursues thee, evil seeks to overtake thee; the City of Refuge has its gates wide open; I beseech thee, rest not till thou canst say with confidence, “I have entered into this rest, and now I am secure, I know that my Redeemer liveth.” And rest not even then, for this is not the place for rest; rest not until thy six days work is done; and thy heavenly Sabbath is begun. Let this life be thy six days of ever-toiling faith. Obey thy Master’s commandment; “labour therefore to enter into this rest,” seeing that there are many who shall not enter in, because, through their want of faith, they shall not be able. If that urge not a man to speed forward, what can? ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0198.cfm

All Eyes Are Upon You, Christian!

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

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. -1 Peter 5:8

The whole world looks upon a Christian: he is the observed of all observers. In a Christian every fault is seen. A worldly man may commit a thousand faults, and nobody notices him; but let a Christian do so, and he will very soon have his faults published to the wide world…Don’t think the world is ever asleep. We say, “as sound asleep as a church,” and that is a very good proverb; but we cannot say, “as sound asleep as the world” for it never sleeps; it always has its eyes open and it is always watching us in all we do. The eyes of the world are upon you.

And there are darker and yet more malignant eyes that scowl upon us. There are spirits that people this air, who are under the prince of the power of the air, who watch every day for our halting…And alas! those spiritual creatures are not all good. There be those that are not yet chained and reserved in darkness, but who are permitted by God to wander through this world like roaring lions, seeking whom they may devour, ever ready to tempt us. And there is one at the head of them called Satan, the enemy, and you know his employment. He has access to the throne of God, and he makes most horrid use of it, for he accuses us day and night before the throne. The accuser of the brethren is not yet cast down-that is to be in the great day of the triumph of the Son of Man; but as Jesus stands as our Advocate before the throne, so does old Satan first watch us and tempt us, and then stands as our accuser before the bar of God. O my dear brothers and sisters, if you have entered into this race, and have commenced it, let these many eyes urge you forward. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0198.cfm

 

“This is my business…”

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

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” – Matthew 6:33

There are some runners in the heavenly race who cannot win because they carry too much weight. A light weight, of course, has the advantage. There are some people who have an immensely heavy weight to carry. “How hardly shall a rich man enter into the kingdom of heaven!” What is the reason? Because he carries so much weight; he has so much of the cares and pleasures of this world; he has such a burden that he is not likely to win, unless God should please to give him a mighty mass of strength to enable him to bear it. We find many men willing to be saved, as they say they receive the word with great joy, but by-and-bye thorns spring up and choke the word. They have so much business to do; they say they must live but they forget they must die. They have such a deal to attend to they cannot think of living near to Christ. They find they have little time for devotions; morning prayer must be cut short, because their business begins early; they can have no prayer at night, because business keeps them so late. How can they be expected to think of the things of God? They have so much to do to answer these questions-“What shall I eat? what shall I drink? and wherewithal shall I be clothed?” It is true they read in the Bible that their Father who is in heaven will take care of them in these things if they will trust Him.

It is well for us if we can cast everything away except that one thing needful, and say, “This is my business, to serve God on earth, knowing that I shall enjoy Him in heaven.” For when we leave our business to God, we leave it in better hands than if we took care of it ourselves. They who carve for themselves generally cut their fingers; but they who leave God to carve for them, shall never have an empty plate. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0198.cfm

Getting a Right Start

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

…let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us… – Hebrews 12:1

A bad start is a sad thing. If, in the ancient races of Greece or Rome, a man who was about to run the race had loitered, or if he had started before the time it would not matter how fast he ran, if he did not start in order. The flag must drop before the horse starts; otherwise, even if it reach the winning post first, it shall have no reward. There is something to be noted, then, in the starting of the race. I have known men run the race of religion with all their might, and yet they have lost it because they did not start right. You say, “Well, how is that?” Why, there are some people who on a sudden leap into religion. They get it quickly, and they keep it for a time. and at last they lose it because they did not get their religion the right way. They have heard that before a man can be saved, it is necessary that, by the teaching of the Holy Spirit, he should feel the weight of sin, that he should make a confession of it, that he should renounce all hope in his own works, and should look to Jesus Christ alone. They look upon all these things as unpleasant preliminaries and therefore, before they have attended to repentance, before the Holy Spirit has wrought a good work in them, before they have been brought to give up everything and trust to Christ, they make a profession of religion.

How many there are who never think it necessary that there should be heart work within! Let us remember, however, that there never was a true new birth without much spiritual suffering;  that there never was a man who had a changed heart without his first having a miserable heart. We must pass through that black tunnel of conviction before we can come out upon the high embankment of holy joy; we must first go through the Slough of Despond before we can run along the walls of Salvation. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0198.cfm