Christian Life

How Can We Bless God?

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

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ: according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.”-Ephesians 1:3-4

It should be our life to bless Him who gave us our life. It should be our delight to bless Him who gives us all our delights. So says the text, and so let us do: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

But how can we bless God? Without doubt the less is blessed of the Greater. Can the Greater be blessed by the less? Yes, but it must be in a modified sense. God blesses us with all spiritual blessings; but we cannot give Him any blessings. He needs nothing at our hand; and if He did, we could not give it. “If I were hungry,” saith the Lord, “I would not tell thee: for the world is Mine, and the fulness thereof.” God has an all-sufficiency within Himself and can never be thought of as dependent upon His creatures, or as receiving anything form His creatures which He needs to receive. He is infinitely blessed already; we cannot add to His blessedness. When He blesses us, He gives us a blessedness that we never had before; but when we bless Him, we cannot by one iota increase His absolutely infinite perfectness. David said to the Lord, “My goodness extendeth not to Thee.” This was as if he had said, Let me be as holy, as devout, and as earnest as I may, I can do nothing for Thee; Thou art too high, too holy, too great for me to be really able to bless Thee in the sense which Thou dost bless me. How, then, do we bless God? We say with David, “Bless the Lord, O my soul,” and we say with Paul, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We can bless God by praising Him, extolling Him, desiring all honour for Him, ascribing all good to Him, magnifying and lauding His holy name. Well, we will do that. Sit still, if you will, and let your heart be silent unto God; for no language can ever express the gratitude that, I trust, we feel to Him who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2266.cfm

A Great Saviour of Great Sinners

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

Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom. – Luke 23:42

Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him… – Hebrews 7:25

Consider now the teaching of our Lord; see the glory of Christ in salvation. He is ready to save at the last moment. He was just passing away; His foot was on the doorstep of the Father’s house. Up comes this poor sinner…and the Saviour smiles and declares that He will not enter except with this belated wanderer. At the very gate He declares that this seeking soul shall enter with Him. Our Lord had His dying pangs upon Him, and yet He attends to the perishing criminal, and permits him to pass through the heavenly portal in His company. Jesus easily saves the sinners for whom He painfully died. Jesus loves to rescue sinners from going down into the pit. You will be very happy if you are saved, but you will not be one half so happy as He will be when He saves you. See how gentle He is! He comes to us full of tenderness, with tears in His eyes, mercy in His hands, and love in His heart. Believe Him to be a great Saviour of great sinners. I have heard of one who had received great mercy who went about saying, “He is a great forgiver;” and I would have you say the same. You shall find your transgressions put away, and your sins pardoned once for all, if you now trust Him.

This man believed that Jesus was the Christ. The next thing he did was to appropriate that Christ. He said, “Lord, remember me.” As soon as ever a man believes that Jesus is the Christ, let him hook himself on to Him. The moment you believe Jesus to be the Saviour, seize upon Him as your Saviour. Take the Lord to be yours, and you have Him. Jesus is the common property of all sinners who make bold to take Him. Every sinner who has the will to do so may take the Lord home with him. He came into the world to save the sinful. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2078.cfm

“I say to you, today…”

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

“Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” – Luke 23:43

“Verily I say unto thee, to-day shalt thou be with Me in paradise.” “To-day.” Thou shalt not lie in purgatory for ages, nor sleep in limbo for so many years; but thou shalt be ready for bliss at once, and at once thou shalt enjoy it. The sinner was hard by the gates of hell, but almighty mercy lifted him up, and the Lord said, “To-day shalt thou be with Me in paradise.” What a change from the cross to the crown, from the anguish of Calvary to the glory of the New Jerusalem! In those few hours the beggar was lifted from the dunghill and set among princes. “To-day shalt thou be with Me in paradise.” Can you measure the change from that sinner, loathsome in his iniquity, when the sun was high at noon, to that same sinner, clothed in pure white, and accepted in the Beloved, in the paradise of God, when the sun went down? O glorious Saviour, what marvels Thou canst work! How rapidly canst Thou work them!

Please notice the majesty of the Lord’s grace in this text. The Saviour said to him, “Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with Me in paradise.” Our Lord gives His own will as the reason for saving this man. “I say.” He says it who claims the right thus to speak. It is He who will have mercy on whom He will have mercy and will have compassion on whom He will have compassion. He speaks royally, “Verily I say unto thee.” Are they not imperial words? The Lord is a King in whose word there is power. What He says none can gainsay. He that hath the keys of hell and of death saith, “I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with Me in paradise.” Who shall prevent the fulfilment of His word? ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2078.cfm

We Shall Be with Him in Paradise

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

“Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” – Luke 23:43

Who is this that entereth the pearl-gate at the same moment as the King of glory? Who is this favoured companion of the Redeemer? Is it some honoured martyr? Is it a faithful apostle? Is it a patriarch, like Abraham; or a prince, like David? It is none of these. Behold, and be amazed at sovereign grace. He that goeth in at the gate of paradise, with the King of glory, is a thief, who was saved in the article of death. He is saved in no inferior way and received into bliss in no secondary style. Verily, there are last which shall be first!

Here I would have you notice the condescension of our Lord’s choice. The comrade of the Lord of glory, for whom the cherub turns aside his sword of fire, is no great one, but a newly converted malefactor. And why? I think the Saviour took him with Him as a specimen of what He meant to do. He seemed to say to all the heavenly powers, “I bring a sinner with Me; he is a sample of the rest.” While we are handling this text, note well the blessedness of the place to which the Lord called this penitent. Jesus said, “To-day shalt thou be with Me in paradise.” Paradise means a garden, a garden filled with delights. The garden of Eden is the type of heaven. We know that paradise means heaven, for the apostle speaks of such a man caught up into paradise, and anon he calls it the third heaven. Our Saviour took this dying thief into the paradise of infinite delight, and this is where He will take all of us sinners who believe in Him. If we are trusting Him, we shall ultimately be with Him in paradise. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2078.cfm

We Look to the Living Saviour

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

And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” – Luke 23:43

This man whom Christ saved at last was a man who could do no good works. If salvation had been by good works, he could not have been saved; for he was fastened hand and foot to the tree of doom. It was all over with him as to any act or deed of righteousness. He could say a good word or two, but that was all; he could perform no acts; and if his salvation had depended on an active life of usefulness, certainly he never could have been saved. He was a sinner also, who could not exhibit a long-enduring repentance for sin, for he had so short a time to live. He could not have experienced bitter convictions, lasting over months and years, for his time was measured by moments, and he was on the borders of the grave. His end was very near, and yet the Saviour could save him, and did save him so perfectly, that the sun went not down till he was in paradise with Christ…Jesus was a man, and he called Him so; but he knew that He was also Lord, and he called Him so, and said, “Lord, remember me.” He had such confidence in Jesus, that, if He would but only think of him, if He would only remember him when He came into His kingdom, that would be all that he would ask of Him…This man did not hesitate. He grasped the one hope for himself. He did not keep his persuasion of our Lord’s Messiahship in his mind as a dry, dead belief, but he turned it into trust and prayer, “Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom.” Oh, that in His infinite mercy many of you would trust my Lord! You shall be saved, I am sure you shall: if you are not saved when you trust, I must myself also renounce all hope. This is all that we have done: we looked, and we lived, and we continue to live because we look to the living Saviour. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2078.cfm

The Glory of Christ’s Grace

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

Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise. – Luke 23:40-43

I constantly meet with persons in this condition: they have lived a life of wantonness, excess, and carelessness, and they begin to feel the fire-flakes of the tempest of wrath falling upon their flesh; they dwell in an earthly hell, a prelude of eternal woe. Remorse, like an asp, has stung them, and set their blood on fire: they cannot rest, they are troubled day and night. “Be sure your sin will find you out.” It has found them out, and arrested them, and they feel the strong grip of conviction. This man (the thief) was in that horrible condition. What is more, he was in extremis. He could not live long; the crucifixion was sure to be fatal; in a short time, his legs would be broken, to end his wretched existence. He, poor soul, had but a short time to live-only the space between noon and sundown; but it was long enough for the Saviour, who is mighty to save. Some are very much afraid that people will put off coming to Christ, if we state this. I cannot help what wicked men do with truth, but I shall state it all the same. If you are now within an hour of death, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved. If you never reach your homes again, but drop dead on the road, if you will now believe in the Lord Jesus, you shall be saved: saved now on the spot. Looking and trusting to Jesus, He will give you a new heart and a right spirit and blot out your sins. This is the glory of Christ’s grace. How I wish I could extol it in proper language! He was last seen on earth before His death in company with a convicted felon, to whom He spoke most lovingly. Come, O ye guilty, and He will receive you graciously! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2078.cfm

None Excluded-He Will Save You

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, confession of sin, prayer, promises, repentance, salvation Leave a comment

And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise. Luke 23:43

I want you to notice that the last companion of Christ on earth was a sinner, and no ordinary sinner. (The thief) had broken even the laws of man, for he was a robber. One calls him “a brigand”; and I suppose it is likely to have been the case. The brigands of those days mixed murder with their robberies: he was probably a freebooter in arms against the Roman government, making this a pretext for plundering as he had opportunity. At last, he was arrested, and was condemned by a Roman tribunal, which, on the whole, was usually just, and in this case was certainly just; for he himself confesses the justice of his condemnation (v.41). The malefactor who believed upon the cross was a convict, who had lain in the condemned cell, and was then undergoing execution for his crimes. A convicted felon was the person with whom our Lord last consorted upon earth. What a lover of the souls of guilty men is He! What a stoop He makes to the very lowest of mankind! To this most unworthy of men the Lord of glory, ere He quitted life, spoke with matchless grace. He spoke to him such wondrous words as never can be excelled if you search the Scriptures through: “To-day shalt thou be with Me in paradise.” …You may come to him, whoever you may be; for this man did. Here is a specimen of one who had gone to the extreme of guilt, and who acknowledged that he had done so; he made no excuse and sought no cloak for his sin; he was in the hands of justice, confronted with the death-doom, and yet he believed in Jesus, and breathed a humble prayer to Him, and he was saved on the spot…None of you are excluded from the infinite mercy of Christ, however great your iniquity: if you believe in Jesus, He will save you. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2078.cfm