Character of Jesus

A Distinction to Be Noticed

Sherry Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises 3 Comments

Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin – 1 Peter 4:1

Our sufferings are said to be the sufferings of Christ. Now, suffering in itself is not an evidence of Christianity. There are many people who have trials and troubles who are not children of’ God. I have heard some poor whining people come and say, “I know I am a child of God because I am in debt, because I am in poverty, because I am in trouble.” Do you indeed? I know a great many rascals in the same condition; and I don’t believe you are a child of God any the more because you happen to be in poor circumstances. There are abundance who are in trouble and distress besides God’s children. It is not the peculiar lot of God’s family; and if I had no other ground of my hope as a Christian, except my experience of trials, I should have but very poor ground indeed. But there is a distinction to be noticed. Are these sufferings the sufferings of Christ, or are they not? A man is dishonest, and is put in jail for it; a man is a coward and men hiss at him for it; a man is insincere, and, therefore, persons avoid him. Yet he says he is persecuted. Persecuted! Not at all; it serves him right. He deserves it. But such persons will comfort themselves with the thought, that they are “the dear people of God,” because other people avoid them; when it so happens that they just deserve it. They do not live as they ought to do; therefore the world’s punishment is their desert. Take heed, beloved, that your sufferings are true sufferings of Christ; be sure they are not your own sufferings; for if they are, you will get no relief. It is only when they are the sufferings of Jesus that we may take comfort. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

http://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0013.cfm

 

 

In the Land of Enemies

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

If you were of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. – John 15:19

(M)an of God, look around thee. Do not be asleep. Open thine eyes, and look around thee… This is a wicked world… “Cursed is he that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm.” Blessed is he that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is”…The world is not to be trusted in, not to be relied upon…  Look around thee my brother; thou wilt see some good hearts, strong and valiant; thou wilt see some true souls, sincere and honest; thou wilt see some faithful lovers of Christ; but I tell thee O child of light, that where thou meetest one sincere man, thou wilt meet twenty hypocrites; where thou wilt find one that will lead thee to heaven, thou wilt find a score who would push thee to hell. Thou art in a land of enemies, not of friends.

O Christian! the world is not thy friend. If it is, then thou art not God’s friend; for he who is the friend of the world is the enemy of God; and he who is despised of men, is often loved of Jehovah. Thou art in an enemy’s country, man: therefore, expect trouble: expect that the man who “eats thy bread will lift up his heel against thee;” expect that thou shalt be estranged from those that love thee; be assured that since thou art in the land of the foe, thou shalt find foemen everywhere. When thou sleepest, think that thou sleepest on the battle-field; when thou walkest believe that there is an ambush in every hedge. Oh! take heed, take heed: this is no good world to shut thine eyes in. Look around thee, man; and when thou art upon the watch-tower, reckon surely that trouble cometh. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

http://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0013.cfm

The Sufferings Are to be Expected

Sherry Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises 3 Comments

And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple. -Luke 14:27

Our holy Apostle says “The sufferings of Christ abound in us.” Before we buckle on the Christian armour we ought to know what that service is which is expected of us… Jesus Christ Himself said, “Count the cost.” He wished to have no disciple who was not prepared to go all the way-“to bear hardness as a good soldier.” I have sometimes heard religion described in such a way that its high coloring displeases me. It is true “her ways are ways of pleasantness;” but it is not true that a Christian never has sorrow or trouble. It is true that light-eyed cheerfulness, and airy-footed love, can go through the world without much depression and tribulation but it is not true that Christianity will shield a man from trouble; nor ought it to be so represented. In fact, we ought to speak of it in the other-way.

Soldier of Christ, if thou enlisteth, thou wilt have to do hard battle. There is no bed of down for thee; there is no riding to heaven in a chariot; the rough way must be trodden; mountains must be climbed, rivers must be forded, dragons must be fought, giants must be slain, difficulties must be overcome, and great trials must be borne…it is only pleasant because of the company, because of the sweet promises on which we lean, because of our Beloved who walks with us through all the rough and thorny brakes of this vast wilderness.

Christian, expect trouble: “Count it not strange concerning the fiery trial, and as though some strange thing had happened unto thee;” for as truly as thou art a child of God, thy Saviour hath left thee for his legacy,-“In the world, ye shall have tribulation; in Me ye shall have peace.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

http://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0013.cfm

 

Consolation Proportionate to Spiritual Sufferings

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

“For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.”- 2 Corinthians 1:5

Seek ye rest from your distresses ye children of woe and sorrow? This is the place where ye may lighten your burden, and lose your cares… this is the place where God designs to cheer thee, and to make thy distresses stay their never ceasing course; this is the spot where His children love to be found, because here they find consolation in the midst of tribulation, joy in their sorrows, and comfort in their afflictions… Ay, my friends, if it were not true, ye might weep. If the Bible were not the truth of God-if we could not meet together around His mercy seat, then ye might put your hands upon your loins and walk about as if ye were in travail. If ye had not something in the world beside your reason, beside the fleeting joys of earth-if ye had not something which God had given to you, some hope beyond the sky, some refuge that should be more than terrestrial, some deliverance which should be more than earthly, then ye might weep;-ah! weep your heart out at your eyes, and let your whole bodies waste away in one perpetual tear. Ye might ask the clouds to rest on your head, the rivers to roll down in streams from both your eyes, for your grief would “have need of all the watery things that nature could produce.”

But, blessed be God, we have consolation, we have joy in the Holy Ghost. We find it nowhere else. We have raked the earth through, but we have discovered ne’er a jewel; we have turned this dunghill-world o’er and o’er a thousand times, and we have found nought that is precious; but here, in this Bible, here in the religion of the blessed Jesus we, the sons of God, have found comfort and joy; while we can truly say, “As our afflictions abound, so our consolations also abound by Christ.” ~C.H. Spurgeon

http://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0013.cfm

God Will Help Those Who Trust in Him

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

Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord. -Psalm 31:24

Most men are subject to fainting fits at times. Even David became weak and faint; and Samson, after he had cried exultingly, “With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass, have I slain a thousand men,” yet, for want of a draught of water, was ready to lie down, and faint and die. The best of men are but men at the best; and, therefore, who wonders if their heart sometimes faileth them in the day of suffering, in the hour of battle, or under the broiling sun, when they are laboring for their Lord?

…He who fights most valiantly may be on the verge of victory, and yet be defeated, if his heart should then fail him. I have no doubt, in reading the records of many campaigns, you must have noticed that men have gone on from victory to victory, and suddenly there has been a pause because their hearts failed them, just when, had they followed up their previous successes, they must have swept all before them. Beware, you who have served God with courage, lest fear should take hold upon you, and you should flinch in the day of battle, and miss that which you might have won for your Lord.

…Oh, do not give way! You need not be cowards; do not give way. Do not say, “I must be beaten, I must always be despondent, my life is crushed.” You need not be so. “Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart.” Get you to your chamber, fall upon your knees, pour out your heart before God, tell your trouble to the Most High, and, as the Lord liveth, before whom I stand, He must and will help those who put their trust in Him. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/2455.htm

“I hope”

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

O love the Lord, all ye His saints: for the Lord preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer. Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord. -Psalm 31:23-24

I like to hear a child of God speak of the full assurance of faith, for full assurance is the proper tone of an educated faith. He that believeth ought to be assured of the thing which he believeth; else, why doth he believe it? And it is good when the milk of faith has stood quiet so long that you can see the cream of full assurance floating upon the surface of it. Yet I do know that, if you have not full assurance, and if the most you say is, “I hope,” you are included in the blessed company to whom the psalmist speaks: “all ye that hope in the Lord.” O Little-faith, and Miss Much-afraid, and Mr. Feeble-mind, and Mr. Fearing,—all of you who belong to that very numerous family, all of you who are like Pharaoh’s lean kine,—God loves you! These feeble ones are carried in the Savior’s bosom, or gently led by His loving hand. Do not exclude yourself, I pray you, from any sweetness which lies in the text, “all ye that hope in the Lord.” Indeed, my text seems to me to have an arm like that of the Good Shepherd. “He shall gather the lambs with His arm,” as if He would put His arm around them to draw them close up to His heart.

This, then, is the approved company: “all ye that hope in the Lord.” Not, “you that hope in yourselves;” not, “you that hope in your priests;” not, “you that have any confidences anywhere else;” but you who hope in God alone. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/2455.htm

Our Expectation is from God

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

Let Israel hope in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption. -Psalm 130:7

You have not a hope apart from the ever-blessed Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. To the Father, you look with the expectation of a child who is an heir. To the Son of God you look, waiting for that wedding feast which shall be kept with Him to whom you are affianced by a betrothal that never can be contravened. To the Holy Ghost you look, for He is with you even now as the earnest of your inheritance, and you expect your inheritance to be of the same nature as the earnest which you already enjoy, and that you will be filled with His light, and love, and purity, and blessedness. For this you are looking, “My soul, wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from Him.” Can you say that? We are men of great expectations; but our expectations are not in men that die, or men that live, our expectations are in Him who never dies, and never fails, and never disappoints those who put their trust in Him. Say, dear hearer,—I cannot come round, and put the question to all of you individually,—but say, Dost thou belong to this approved company of men that hope in the Lord? ~ C.H. Spurgeon

http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/2455.htm