Character of Jesus

Bearing All and Caring for None

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

But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” -James 4:6

A poor minister began to preach once, and all the world spoke ill of him; but God blessed him. By-and-bye they turned round and petted him. He was the man-a wonder! God left him! It has often been the same. It is for us to recollect, in all times of popularity, that “Crucify Him; crucify Him” follows fast upon the heels of “Hosanna,” and that the crowd to-day, if dealt faithfully with, may turn into the handful of to-morrow; for men love not plain speaking. We should learn to be despised, learn to be contemned, learn to be slandered, and then we shall learn to be made useful by God. Down on my knees I have often fallen, with the hot sweat rising from my brow, under some fresh slander poured upon me; in an agony of grief my heart has been well-nigh broken; till at last I learned the art of bearing all and caring for none. And how my grief runneth in another line. It is just the opposite. I fear lest God should forsake me, to prove that He is the author of salvation, that it is not in the preacher, that it is not in the crowd, that it is not in the attention I can attract, but in God, and in God alone. And this thing I hope I can say from my heart: if to be made as the mire of the streets again, if to be the laughingstock of fools and the song of the drunkard once more will make me more serviceable to my Master, and more useful to His cause, I will prefer it to all this multitude, or to all the applause that man could give.  ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0131.cfm

In Heaven

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

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. – Titus 2:11

…that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. – Titus 3:7

Soon, soon, the saints of earth shall be saints in light; their hairs of snowy age shall be crowned with perpetual joy and everlasting youth; their eyes suffused with tears shall be made bright as stars, never to be clouded again by sorrow; their hearts that tremble now are to be made joyous and fast, and set for ever like pillars in the temple of God. Their follies, their burdens, their griefs, their woes, are soon to be over; sin is to be slain, corruption is to be removed, and a heaven of spotless purity and of unmingled peace is to be theirs for ever. But it must still be by grace. As was the foundation such must the top-stone be; that which laid on earth the first beginning must lay in heaven the top-most stone. As they were redeemed from their filthy conversation by grace, so they must be redeemed from death and the grave by grace too…

There may be Arminians here, but they will not be Arminians there; they may here say, “It is of the will of the flesh,” but in heaven they shall not think so. Here they may ascribe some little to the creature; but there they shall cast their crowns at the Redeemer’s feet, and acknowledge that He did it all. Here they may sometimes look a little at themselves, and boast somewhat of their own strength; but there, “Not unto us, not unto us,” shall be sung with deeper sincerity and with more profound emphasis than they have even sung it here below. In heaven, when grace shall have done its work, this truth shall stand out in blazing letters of gold, “Salvation is of the Lord.”~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0131.cfm

 

Give Us This Day Our Daily Grace

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises 5 Comments

And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. – 2 Corinthians 9:8

So look day by day for fresh grace. Frequently, the Christian wants to have grace enough for a month vouchsafed to him in one moment. “O!” he says, “what a host of troubles I have coming-how shall I meet them all? O! that I had grace enough to bear me through them all! “My dear friends, you will have grace enough for your troubles, as they come one by one. “As thy days, so shall thy strength be;” but thy strength shall never be as thy months, or as thy weeks. Thou shalt have thy strength as thou hast thy bread. “Give us this day our daily bread.” Give us this day our daily grace. But why is it you will be troubling yourself about the things of to-morrow? The common people say, “Cross a bridge when you come to it.” That is good advice. Do the same. When a trouble comes, attack it, and down with it, and master it; but do not begin now to forestall your woes. “Ah! but I have so many,” says one. Therefore I say, do not look further before thee than thou needest. “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” Do as the brave Grecian did, who, when he defended his country from Persia, did not go into the plains to fight, but stood in the narrow pass of Thermopylae; there, when the myriads came to him, they had to come one by one, and he felled them to the earth. Had he ventured into the plain he would have been soon devoured, and his handful would have been melted like a drop of dew in the sea. Stand in the narrow pass of to-day, and fight thy troubles one by one; but do not rush into the plains of tomorrow, for there thou wilt be routed and killed. As the evil is sufficient so will the grace be. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0131.cfm

The Royal Bath of Mercy

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

Salvation is of the LORD. -Jonah 2:9

No one has helped to provide salvation; God has done it all Himself. The banquet of mercy is served up by one Host; that Host is He to whom the cattle on a thousand hills belong. But none have contributed any dainties to that royal banquet; He hath done it all Himself… The royal bath of mercy, wherein black souls are washed, was filled from the veins of Jesus; not a drop was contributed by any other being. He died upon the cross, and as an expiator He died alone. No blood of martyrs mingled with that stream; no blood of noble confessors and of heroes of the cross entered into the river of atonement that is filled from the veins of Christ, and from nowhere else beside. He hath done it wholly. Atonement is the unaided work of Jesus. On yonder cross I see the Man who “trod the winepress alone;” in yonder garden I see the solitary conqueror who came to the fight single-handed, whose own arm brought salvation, and whose omnipotence sustained Him. “Salvation is of the Lord,” as to its provisions; Jehovah-Father, Son, and Spirit-hath provided everything.

“Salvation of the Lord alone;
Grace is a shoreless sea.”

~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0131.cfm

Salvation is of the Lord

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, promises, salvation 3 Comments

Our God is the God of salvation; and to God the Lord belong escapes from death. – Psalm 68:20

To begin at the beginning, the plan of salvation is entirely of God. No human intellect and no created intelligence assisted God in the planning of salvation; He contrived the way, even as He himself carried it out. The plan of salvation was devised before the existence of angels. Before the day-star flung its ray across the darkness, when as yet the unnavigated ether had not been fanned by the wing of seraph, and when the solemnity of silence had never been disturbed by the song of angel, God had devised a way whereby He might save man, whom He foresaw would fall. He did not create angels to consult with them; no, of Himself He did it. We might truly ask the question, “With whom took He counsel? Who instructed Him, when He planned the great architecture of the temple of mercy? With whom took He counsel when He digged the deeps of love, that out of them there might well up springs of salvation? Who aided Him?” None. He Himself, alone, did it. In fact, if angels had then been in existence, they could not have assisted God; for I can well suppose that if a solemn conclave of those spirits had been held, if God had put to them this question, “Man will rebel; I declare I will punish; my justice, inflexible and severe, demands that I should do so; but yet I intend to have mercy;” if He had put the question to the celestial squadrons of mighty ones, “How can those things be? How can justice have its demands fulfilled, and how can mercy reign?” the angels would have sat in silence until now; they could not have dictated the plan; it would have surpassed angelic intellect to have conceived the way whereby righteousness and peace should meet together, and judgment and mercy should kiss each other. God devised it, because without God it could not have been devised. It is a plan too splendid to have been the product of any mind except of that mind which afterward carried it out. “Salvation” is older than creation; it is “of the Lord.”~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0131.cfm

Christ Died in Vain for No One

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

Lost man! Lost woman! Where are you? Do you feel yourself to be lost? I am so glad of it; for there is remission by the blood-shedding. O sinner, are there tears in your eyes? Look through them. Do you see that Man in the garden? That Man sweat drops of blood for you. Do you see that Man on the cross? That Man was nailed there for you. Oh! if I could be nailed on a cross this morning for you all, I know what you would do: you would fall down and kiss my feet, and weep that I should have to die for you. But sinner, lost sinner, Jesus died for you-for you; and if He died for you., you cannot be lost. Christ died in vain for no one. Are you, then, a sinner? Are you convinced of sin because you believe not in Christ? I have authority to preach to you. Believe in His name and you cannot be lost. Do you say you are no sinner? Then I do not know that Christ died for you. Do you say that you have no sins to repent of? Then I have no Christ to preach to you. He did not come to save the righteous; He came to save the wicked. Are you wicked? Do you feel it? Are you lost? Do you know it? Are you sinful? Will you confess it?…”Oh!” but you say, “I am such a sinner;” “Ah!” says He, “that is just why I died for you, because you are a sinner.” “But,” you say, “I do not deserve it.” “Ah !” says He, “that is just why I did it.” Say you, “I have hated Him.” “But,” says He, “I have always loved you.” “But, Lord, I have spat on Thy minister, and scorned Thy word.” “It is all forgiven,” says He, “all washed away by the blood which did run from My side. Only believe Me; that is all I ask. And that I will give you. I will help you to believe.” “Ah!” says one, “but I do not want a Saviour.” Sir, I have nothing to say to you except this-“The wrath to come! the wrath to come!” ~ C.H. Spurgen

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0118.cfm

The Leveling Gospel

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

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. -Ephesians 2:13

Oh! I love the gospel, for this reason among others, because it is such a leveling gospel. Some persons do not like a leveling gospel; nor would I, in some senses of the word. Let men have their rank, and their titles, and their riches, if they will; but I do like, and I am sure all good men like, to see rich and poor meet together and feel that they are on a level; the gospel makes them so. It says “Put up your money-bags, they will not procure you remission; roll up your diploma, that will not get you remission; forget your farm and your park, they will not get you remission; just cover up that escutcheon, that coat of arms will not get you remission. Come, you ragged beggars, filthy off-scourings of the world, penniless; come hither; here is remission as much for you, ill-bred and ill-mannered though ye be, as for the noble, the honorable, the titled, and the wealthy. All stand on a level here; the text is universal: “Without shedding of blood there is no remission.”

Never, though you strained yourselves in prayer; never, though you wept yourselves away in tears; never, though you groaned and cried till your heart-strings break; never in this world, nor in that which is to come, can the forgiveness of sins be procured on any other ground than redemption by the blood of Christ, and never can the conscience be cleansed but by faith in that sacrifice. The fact is, beloved, there is no use for you to satisfy your hearts with anything less than what satisfied God the Father. Without the shedding of blood nothing would appease His justice; and without the application of that same blood nothing can purge your consciences.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0118.cfm