Character of Jesus

The Forgotten Backslider

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

My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back…James 5:19

(H)e who is the means of the conversion of a sinner does, under God, “save a soul from death, and bide a multitude of sins,” but particular attention ought to be paid to backsliders; for in bringing backsliders into the church there is as much honor to God as in bringing in sinners. “Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him.” Alas! the poor backslider is often the most forgotten. A member of the church has disgraced his profession, the church excommunicated him, and he was accounted “a heathen man and a publican.” …Now-a-days it is the fashion, if a man falls, to have nothing to do with him. Men say, “he is a bad fellow, we will not go after him.” Beloved, suppose he is the worst, is not that the reason why you should go most after him? Suppose he never was a child of God-suppose he never knew the truth, is not that the greater reason why you should go after him? I do not understand your mawkish modesty, your excessive pride, that won’t let you go after the chief of sinners. The worse the case, the more is the reason why we should go. But suppose the man is a child of God, and you have cast him off-remember, he is your brother; he is one with Christ as much as you are; he is justified, he has the same righteousness that you have; and if, when he has sinned, you despise him, in that you despise him you despise his Master. Take heed! thou thyself mayest be tempted, and mayest one day fall. Like David, thou mayest walk on the top of thine house rather too high, and thou mayest see something which shall bring thee to sin. Then what wilt thou say, if then the brethren pass thee by with a sneer, and take no notice of thee? Oh! if we have one backslider connected with our church, let us take special care of him. Don’t deal hardly with him. Recollect you would have been a backslider too if it were not for the grace of God. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0045.cfm

 

 

This Sacred Enterprise

Sherry Character of Jesus, Christian Life, salvation 4 Comments

…he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. James 5:20

How many have been converted by the example of true Christians. Many of you feel that you cannot write or preach, and you think you can do nothing. Well, there is one thing you can do for your Master; you can live Christianity. I think there are more people who look at the new life in Christ written out in you, than they will in the old life that is written in the Scriptures. An infidel will use arguments to disprove the Bible, if you set it before him; but, if you do to others as you would that they should do to you, if you give of your bread to the poor and disperse to the needy, living like Jesus, speaking words of kindness and love, and living honestly and uprightly in the world, he will say, “Well, I thought the Bible was all hypocrisy; but I cannot think so now, because there is Mr. So-and-so, see how he lives. I could believe my infidelity if it were not for him. The Bible certainly has an effect upon his life, and therefore I must believe it.”

…Oh! men and women, how can ye better spend your time and wealth than in the cause of the Redeemer? What holier enterprise can ye engage in than this sacred one of saving souls from death, and hiding a multitude of sins? This is a wealth that ye can take with you; the wealth that has been acquired under God, by having saved souls from death, and covered a multitude of sins. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0045.cfm

Let Us Prize the Salvation of Other People

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, The Holy Spirit 5 Comments

“Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth; and one convert him; Let him know that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way, shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.”- James 5:19-20

The true believer is always pleased to hear of anything which concerns the salvation of his own soul. He rejoices to hear of the covenant plan drawn up for him from all eternity, of the great fulfillment on the cross at Calvary, of all the stipulations of the Saviour, of the application of them by the Holy Spirit, of the security which the believer has in the person of Christ, and of those gifts and graces which accompany salvation to all those who are heirs thereof: But I feel certain that, deeply pleased as we are when we hear of things touching our own salvation and deliverance from hell, we, as preachers of God, and as new creatures in Christ, being made like unto Him, have true benevolence of spirit, and therefore are always delighted when we hear, speak, or think, concerning the salvation of others. Next to our own salvation, I am sure, as Christians, we shall always prize the salvation of other people; we shall always desire that what has been so sweet to our own taste, may also be tasted by others; and what has been of so inestimably precious a value to our own souls, may also become the property of all those whom God may please to call unto everlasting life. I am sure, beloved,…you will take as deep an interest in it as if it were something that immediately concerned your own souls, for, after all, such were some of you once. You were unconverted and ungodly; and had not God taken thought for you, and set His people to strive for your souls, where had you been? Seek, then, to exercise that charity and benevolence towards others which God and God’s people first exercised towards you. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0045.cfm

A Correct Verdict by the Lower Court

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

If our heart condemn us… -1 John 3:20

There are some persons whose hearts justly condemn them and the voice of conscience is, in them, the Voice of God. The echo of the Divine sentence, “Depart, you cursed,” is heard by them in the halls of conscience before the Voice of God has spoken it…Conscience is saying, “You will be driven, O Man, from the Presence of God!” Now, in this case, the court of conscience sits under the King’s arms with the marks of Divine Authority displayed above its head. And conscience sitting thus as a judge, judges rightly when it judges by the Word of God. Righteous judgment must not be according to man’s whim or fancy, but according to the supreme Law of God—and the verdict of conscience is worth nothing unless it is so formed. The charge against the culprits is that they have broken God’s Law and, in the case of many of them, that they have also rejected God’s mercy. They have offended against the Law and the Gospel!

There is many a man who has wished to believe a lie till he has believed it—and I think that a man who wishes to believe the Truth of God has the easier task of the two! May the ever-blessed Spirit lead you into a solemn conviction of the Truth as it is in Jesus!

If there is one here who says, “I do not believe in Jesus and I do not want to believe in Him,” may God have mercy upon that poor sinner and save him tonight—and God shall have the Glory both now and forever! Amen. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/spurgeon/sermons55.xxviii.html

The Verdict of the Highest Court

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

“For if our heart condemns, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.” -1 John 3:20,21.

Friends, there is (a) class of persons…who…do lay the things of God to heart and they are constantly weighing themselves in the balances of conscience. They look within again and again—they are not afraid of heart-searching— indeed, they spend the most of their time in that stern occupation. Am I about to blame these friends? I must answer, “No and yes.” I will not blame them for what they do, for they do the right thing—but I shall blame them for what they leave undone! Namely this—they forget that the tribunal of conscience, though a very important one, is not the supreme court and that, although it is well to try matters before the heart to see whether it condemns or acquits, yet there is another court, far higher than the court of the human heart—”God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.” There are some good Christian people who are always distressed because they never take their cases into the supreme court and, on the other hand, I fear that there are some ungodly professors who are always presumptuously at ease because they have been satisfied with the verdict of the lower court, which is very liable to err in its judgment—and so they have never presented their case before the great Judge who cannot by any means make a mistake.

Remember that there is salvation in Him. Whoever trusts Jesus Christ is saved! Whoever relies upon His finished work shall never come into condemnation and even though his heart may sometimes accuse him, Christ will clear him from all guilt through His own most precious blood. May this be the happy portion of each one of you here! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/spurgeon/sermons55.xxviii.html

Walk in Newness of Life

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

Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. – Romans 6:4

Vain are all your attempts to be like Him till you have sought His Spirit. Take the cold iron, and attempt to weld it if you can into a certain shape. How fruitless the effort! Lay it on the anvil, seize the blacksmith’s hammer with all your might, let blow after blow fall upon it, and you shall have done nothing. Twist it, turn it, use all your implements, but you shall not be able to fashion it as you would. But put it in the fire, let it be softened and made malleable, then lay it on the anvil, and each stroke shall have a mighty effect, so that you may fashion it into any form you may desire. So take your heart, not cold as it is, not stony as it is by nature, but put it into the furnace; there let it be molten, and after that it can be turned like wax to the seal, and fashioned into the image of Jesus Christ.

…If by the power of the Spirit ye become followers of Jesus, ye shall enter glory. …Oh! to be like Christ is to enter heaven; but to be unlike Christ is to descend to hell. Likes shall be gathered together at last, tares with tares, wheat with wheat. If ye have sinned with Adam and have died, ye shall lie with the spiritually dead forever, unless ye rise in Christ to newness of life; then shall we live with Him throughout eternity. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0021.cfm

Only By His Spirit

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, The Holy Spirit 4 Comments

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. – John 14:26

(Y)ou must know Christ as your Redeemer before you can follow Him as your Exemplar. Much is said about the example of Jesus, and we scarcely find a man now who does not believe that our Lord was an excellent and holy Man, much to be admired. But excellent as was His example, it would be impossible to imitate it, had He not also been our sacrifice. Do ye this morning know that His blood was shed for you? Can ye join with me in this verse,-

“O the sweet wonders of that cross,
Where God the Saviour lov’d and died;
Her noblest life my spirit draws
From His dear wounds and bleeding side.”

If so, you are in a fair way to imitate Christ. But do not seek to copy Him until you are bathed in the fountain filled with blood drawn from His veins. It is not possible for you to do so; your passions will be too strong and corrupt, and you will be building without a foundation, a structure, which will be about as stable as a dream. You cannot mould your life to His pattern until you have had His Spirit, till you have been clothed in His righteousness.

…It was a maxim of the old philosophers, that, three times in the day, we should go over our actions. So let us do; let us not be forgetful; let us rather examine ourselves each night, and see wherein we have done amiss, that we may reform our lives. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0021.cfm