Character of Jesus

The Beloved Physician of Men’s Souls

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

“He hath sent Me to bind up the broken-hearted. ” – Isaiah 61:1

Some hearts want more than words. The choicest consolations that can be conveyed in human speech will not reach their case; the wounds of their hearts are deep, they are not flesh cuts, but horrible gashes which lay bare the bone, and threaten ere long to kill unless they be skillfully closed. It is, therefore, a great joy to know that the generous Friend who, in the text, promises to deal with the sorrowing, is fully competent to meet the most frightful cases. Jehovah Rophi is the name of Jesus of Nazareth; He is in His own person the Lord that healeth us. He is the beloved physician of men’s souls. “By His stripes we are healed.” Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses, and He is able now with a word to heal all our diseases, whatever they may be. Joy to you, ye sons of mourning; congratulations to you, ye daughters of despondency: He who comes to comfort you can not only preach with His tongue, but He can bind up with His hand. “He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. He telleth the number of the stars; He calleth them all by their names.” Precious promises are for poverty-stricken saints. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1016.cfm

 

We Shall Be Comforted

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

To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified. – Isaiah 61:3.

Who gives this word? It is a word to mourners in Zion, meant for their consolation. But who gives it? The answer is not far to seek. It comes from Him who said, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,” “He hath sent Me to bind up the broken-hearted.” …If He declares that He will comfort us, then we may rest assured we shall be comforted! The stars in His right hand may fail to penetrate the darkness, but the rising of the Sun of Righteousness effectually scatters the gloom. If the consolation of Israel Himself comes forth for the uplifting of His downcast people, then their doubts and fears may well fly apace, since His presence is light and peace…

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me; because the Lord hath appointed Me to preach good tidings unto the meek.” Remember what kind of preacher Jesus was. “Never man spake like this man.” He was a Son of consolation indeed. It was said of Him, “A bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench.” He was gentleness itself…Now, if such be the person who declares He will comfort the broken-hearted, if He be such a preacher, we may rest assured He will accomplish His work.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1016.cfm

 

“All flesh shall see the salvation of God.”

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

…and on either side of the river, was the tree of life…The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations…Blessed are those who do His commandments that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. – Revelation 22:2,14

Amongst the fancies of idolatry are there any inventions of man that can cool his fevered brow and sooth his griefs? Does Mohammedanism offer hopes for eternity that can light up the grave to an awakened sinner? Are there thoughts of bliss in idolatry calculated to cheer the sepulcher? All religions answer, “Comforts are not in us.” It is only at the cross, it is only by Jesus crucified that the world can be healed. Hitherto little has been accomplished compared with our desires; and in contrast to our ambitions, next to nothing; but faith, darting beyond the things that are seen, flying into the presence-chamber of God, can behold Him writing with the eternal pen, “All flesh shall see the salvation of God.”

We have sweetened the waters a little; no more the suttee burns; the African is free; the slave-ship crosses no more the deep. In some regions exterminating wars have ceased; the white dove of peace flies where the raven of war was seen. Glory be to God. A few leaves cast into the waters have done this. Let us bear a whole Christ and a whole gospel amongst the nations, and lay the tree in this Marah, until at last the whole world shall drink of the sweet waters of divine love, and God shall be all in all. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0987.cfm

The Healing Tree

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

In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life…The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. – Revelation 22:2

Brethren, all the world over, the heathen have trials, bitternesses, woes…Some nations are devastated with war; others are tormented with diabolical customs and rites: their actions even towards themselves through their superstition are brutal…Oh, the woes, the woes of mankind! High are the Andes, lofty the Himalayas, but the woes of the sons of Adam are higher, huger still. The Ganges and the Indus, and other mighty streams, pour their floods into the ocean; but what mighty deep could contain the torrents of human grief? A very deluge is the sorrow as well as the sin of man. And, my brethren, the heathen know nothing of the healing tree, the tree cut down of old, which still hath power to sweeten mortal misery. You know it, you have your trials, and you surmount them by the appeals you make to your Lord, and by the power of His consolations; but alas! these sons of darkness have your griefs, and more, but they have not your Comforter. For them the deluge, but not the ark; for them the tempest, but not the refuge. And you are so sure that you have that which would cheer them: no doubt passes across your mind as to the gospel. These are wavering times in which some professors, and even some teachers, almost believe, that the gospel is but one theory of many, and will have to stand its test, and, in all probability, will fail as many human systems of thought have done. You think not so; you believe that God’s gospel is a verity, a revelation of Jehovah. Heaven and earth may pass away, but not His word, His Christ, His decree, His covenant. You know that you have a tree that can heal the bitter fountains. No doubt comes across your mind as to that: what then? By common humanity, much more by the tender movements of the grace of God upon your souls, I conjure* you present this remedy to those who need it, and who need it so much. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0987.cfm

*meaning, implore

Even to The Sweetened Bitterness of Death

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

When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, It is finished: and He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost. – John 19:30

“O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” 1 Corinthians 15:55

With all that can be said about death it is not a pleasant subject for contemplation, and needs to be viewed in connection with covenant consolations. Certain brethren buoy themselves up with the hope of escaping death by the second Advent. I am not certain that they are wiser than David who did not hope to omit the valley of the shadow of death, but trusted that he should fear no evil therein, because the rod and staff would be his stay. The death of Christ robs death of its terrors. The prospect of the resurrection and the certainty of immortality make us say, “Surely the bitterness of death is past!”

Be it remembered, that if the cross avails to sweeten all the bitterness of our mortal life, and even the last bitterness of death, it is assuredly available this morning to sweeten the bitterness of our present sorrow…Do you feel desponding at this moment, my brother, my sister? Go to your Savior at once, view Him suffering on your behalf, behold the completion of your reconciliation to God, mark the security of your soul through the finished work of your glorious Surety, take down your harps from the willows, put away your ashes, ask the Lord to anoint you with the oil of joy instead of mourning… Record the mercy rather than the sorrow, and give thanks unto the Most High. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0987.cfm

A Triumph of Grace

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

 …they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter…-Exodus 15:23

And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience – Romans 5:3

I do not know but what it will become sometimes to the Christ a subject of joy that Marah is bitter. For suppose Marah had been sweet, then, Moses had not prayed to God, and then the tree had not been cut down, and they had never known the power of God to sweeten bitter waters. It must be an awful thing to live an unafflicted life on earth. You say it must be a very delightful thing. I have no doubt it may be from some aspects; but a person who has had no sickness, how can he have a sympathetic heart? What service can he render in cheering the people of God? If you never had any trials, I should suppose, unless something very extraordinary happened, that you would become harsh, and untender; I am afraid some would grow brutal, coarse, hard of heart. Who wishes, where others have to suffer, to claim an immunity from a blessing which brings rich consolations with it, and works eternal benefits? Beloved, this is ever one thing that sweetens Marah that it afterwards bringeth forth the comfortable fruits of righteousness. Our trials are not sent to us alone and by themselves; there is a quantum sufficit of grace sent with them, by which they are made available as means to sanctify us, and make us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.

The water was bitter, but it became absolutely sweet. The same water that was bitter became sweet, and the grace of God, by leading us into contemplations that spring out of the cross of Christ, can make our trials themselves to become pleasant to us. It is a triumph of grace in the heart when we not only acquiesce in trouble, but even rejoice in it. “We glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0987.cfm

Conformable Unto Christ

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

That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death – Philippians 3:10

Ravishing, indeed, is the reflection in the midst of all our grief and suffering, that Jesus Christ suffers with us. In all thine affliction, O member of the body, the Head is still a sharer. Deep are the sympathies of the Redeemer, acute, certain, quick, infallible; He never forgets His saints.

All the while the Lord lays His chastening hand upon His servants they may be cheered by this reflection, that in this He is making them conformable unto Christ. What should they know of Gethsemane if they had no sweat of pain? What should they know of the passion if they never had to cry, “I thirst,” or “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” They were poor scholars in the school of Christ’s sufferings if they endured no sufferings themselves; and it is a blessed thing, a sweet thing to drink of His cup, and to be baptised with His baptism.

Moreover, when the child of God is in his right state, it is always enough for him that his condition is the result of his Father’s will. Is it God’s will? Is it Christ’s will? Then it is my will. How could I dare to wish anything to be otherwise than divine love appoints? ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0987.cfm