Character of Jesus

Twice Marked

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

And when He puts forth His own sheep, He goes before them, and the sheep follow Him: for they know His voice. -John 10:4

Our Savior marks us. It has been very properly observed, that there are two marks on Christ’s sheep. One is on their ear, the other is on their foot. The mark on the ear: “My sheep hear My voice.”The mark on the foot: “I know them, and they follow Me.”

Now, the spiritual ear listens to God. The opening of it is the work of the Holy Spirit, and this is a mark of Christ’s chosen blood-bought people, that they hear not only the hollow sound, but the hidden sense; not the bare letter, but the spiritual lesson; and that, too, not merely with the outward organ, but with the inward heart. The chief point is that they hear His voice.

Christ has marked His sheep on their feet as well as their ears. They follow Him: they are gently led, not harshly driven. They follow Him as the Captain of their salvation; they trust in the power of His arm to clear the way for them. All their trust on Him is stayed; all their hope on Him they lean. They follow Him as their teacher; they call no man “Rabbi” under heaven, but Christ alone…And the sheep of Christ follow Him as their example; they desire to be in this world as He was. It is one of their marks, that to a greater or less degree they have a Christ-like spirit; and if they could they would be altogether like their Lord. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/spurgeon/sermons17.xxviii.html

Our Father’s Love

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

Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with every good thing to do His will. And may He accomplish in us what is pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. -Hebrews 13:20-21

As well by power are we redeemed as by price, for the blood-bought sheep had gone astray even as others. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way,” but, my brethren, the good shepherd has brought many of us back with infinite condescension: with boundless mercy He followed us when we went astray. Oh, what blind slaves we were when we sported with death! We did not know then what His love had ordained for us: it never entered our poor, silly heads that there was a crown for us; we did not know that the Father’s love had settled itself on us, or ever the day-star knew its place. We know it now, and it is He that has taught us; for He followed us over mountains of vanity, through bogs and miry places of foul transgression; tracked our devious footsteps on and on, through youth and manhood, till at last, with mighty grace, He grasped us in His arms and laid us on His shoulder, and is this day carrying us home to the great fold above, rejoicing as He bears all our weight and finds us in all we need. Oh, that blessed work of effectual grace! He has made us His own, He has defeated the enemy, the prey has been taken from the mighty, and the lawful captive has been delivered. “He hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron asunder,” to set His people free. “O that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!”~ C.H. Spurgeon

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/spurgeon/sermons17.xxviii.html

Bought with His Blood

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, The Holy Spirit 3 Comments

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body. – 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Now, our blessed Shepherd esteems His sheep because they cost Him His blood.In the face of every saint the Savior sees, as in a glass, the memorial of His bloody sweat in Gethsemane, and His agonies at Golgotha. “Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price.” That stands as a call to duty, but it is at the same time a consolation, for if He has bought me, He will have me. Bought with such a price, He will not like to lose me, nor suffer any foe to take me out of His hand. Think not that Christ will suffer those to perish for whom He died. To me the very suggestion seems to draw near to the verge of blasphemy. If He has bought me with His blood, I cannot conceive He cares nothing for me, will take no further concern about me, or will suffer my soul to be cast into the pit. If He has suffered in my stead, where is justice gone that the substitute should bear my guilt, and I should bear it too? And where is mercy fled, that God should execute twice the punishment for one offense! Nay, beloved, those whom He hath bought with His blood are His, and He will keep them.~ C.H. Spurgeon

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/spurgeon/sermons17.xxviii.html

 

His Forever

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

Father, I want those You have given Me to be with Me where I am, and to see My glory, the glory You have given Me because You loved me before the creation of the world. – John 17:24

How came the saints to be Christ’s?

They are His because He chose them. Ere the worlds were made, out of all the rest of mankind He selected them. He knew the race would fall, and become unworthy of the faculties with which He endowed them, and the inheritance He had assigned them. To Him belonged the sovereign prerogative that He might have mercy on whom He would have mercy; and He, out of His own absolute will, and according to the counsel of His own good pleasure, made choice severally and individually of certain persons, and He said, “These are mine.” Their names were written in His book: they became His portion and His heritage. Having chosen them of old so many ages ago, rest assured He will not lose them now. Men prize that which they have long had. If there is a thing that was mine but yesterday, and it is lost today, I might not fret about it; but if I have long possessed it, and called it my patrimony, I would not willingly part with it. Sheep of Christ, ye shall be His for ever, because ye have been His from ever. They are Christ’s sheep, because His Father gave them to Him. They were the gift of the Father to Christ. He often speaks of them in this way. “As many as Thou hast given Me:” “Thou hast given them Me,” saith He, over and over again. Of old, the Father gave His people to Christ. Separating them from among men, He presented them to Him as a gift, committed them into His hand as a trust, and ordained them for Him as the lot of His inheritance. Thus they become a token of the Father’s love to His only begotten Son, a proof of the confidence He reposed in Him, and a pledge of the honor that shall be done unto Him. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/spurgeon/sermons17.xxviii.html

Our Good Shepherd

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

I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. – John 10:14

Sheep are silly creatures, and in this respect likewise we are very sheepish. We meekly own it to Him who is ready to guide us. We say, as David said, “O God, Thou knowest my foolishness;” and He says to us as He said to David, “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go.” If Christ were not our wisdom, we should soon fall a prey to the destroyer. Every grain of true wisdom that we possess we have derived from Him; of ourselves we are dull and giddy; folly is bound up in our heart…He discerns you as you are, claims you as His own, foresees all the ills to which you are exposed, yet tends you as His flock, sets store by every lamb of the fold, and so feeds you according to the integrity of His heart, and guides you by the skillfulness of His hands. “I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down,” saith the Lord God. Oh, what sweet music there is to us in the name which is given to our Lord Jesus Christ of “the good Shepherd”! It not only describes the office He holds, but it sets forth the sympathy He feels, the aptness He shows, and the responsibility He bears to promote our well-being. What if the sheep be weak, yet is the shepherd strong to guard His flock from the prowling wolf or the roaring lion. If the sheep suffer privation because the soil is barren, yet is the shepherd able to lead them into pasturage suitable for them. If they be foolish, yet He goes before them, cheers them with His voice, and rules them with the rod of His command.

That I am like a sheep is a sorry reflection; but that I have a shepherd charms away the sorrow and creates a new joy.~ C.H. Spurgeon

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/spurgeon/sermons17.xxviii.html

We Are Like Sheep

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

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.-John 10:27

Christians are here compared to sheep. Not a very flattering comparison you may say; but then we do not wish to be flattered, nor would our Lord deem it good to flatter us, While far from flattering, it is, however, eminently consoling, for of all creatures there are not any more compassed about with infirmity than sheep. In this frailty of their nature they are a fit emblem of ourselves, at least, of so many of us as have believed in Jesus and become His disciples. Let others boast how strong they are; yet if there be strong ones anywhere, certainly we are weak. We have proved our weakness, and day by day we lament it. We do confess our weakness; yet may we not repine at it, for, as Paul said, so we find, when we are weak then are we strong. Sheep have many wants, yet they are very helpless, and quite unable to provide for themselves. But for the shepherd’s cure they would soon perish. This, too, is our case. Our spiritual needs are numerous and pressing, Yet we cannot supply any of them. We are travelers through a wilderness that yields us neither food nor water. Unless our bread drop down from heaven, and our water flow out of the living rock, we must die. Our weakness and our want we keenly feel: still we have no cause to murmur, since the Lord knows our poor estate, and succours us with the tenderest care.

The more conscious you are, dear brethren, of your own deficiencies, your lack of stamina, discretion, sagacity, and all the instincts of self-preservation, the more delighted you will be to see that the Lord accepts you under these conditions, and calls you the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand.~ C.H. Spurgeon

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/spurgeon/sermons17.xxviii.html

The Noticed Pray-er

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

And the Lord said to (Ananias), Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth. – Acts 8:11

God bore witness that Saul did pray. He was about to answer the prayer. He had Ananias in readiness to go and comfort the poor blinded penitent. God is about to answer your prayer if you have cried to Him. Perhaps the man is present who will speak to you.

He called attention to it by a “Behold.” We have heard of many marvels concerning which men cry, “Behold”; but that which strikes God most is a sinner praying. God does not say, “Behold Herod on his throne,” or “Behold Caesar in his palace.” I am afraid there are many of whom it would have to be said, “Behold, he never prays!” What a sight — a man created by his Maker, and daily fed by His bounty, who never worships Him! And yet when he does pray, God makes a wonder of it. It is his first prayer this morning. He has reached home and is kneeling by the side of that bed on which he has slept so often without prayer, and he cries, “O God, I do not know what to say, but be merciful to me a sinner, and forgive my sins.” I hear the rustling wings of angels as they gather around the sacred spot. Anon they fly upward, crying, “Behold he prayeth.”…You remember that day when you first prayed; and you go upstairs, and say, “Lord, many days have passed since, and I have not ceased to cry; but now I am in special trouble. I beseech Thee, deliver me!” And angels sing and the devils mutter, “Behold, he prayeth.” The young man has grown old, and has gone up to the same room for the last time. “Behold, he prayeth.” Prayer, which has long been his vital breath and native air, is now “His watchword at the gates of death.” The shining ones gladly meet the soul that is on Jordan’s bank when they hear the voice, “Behold, he prayeth.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

http://biblehub.com/sermons/auth/spurgeon/behold_he_prayeth.htm