Christian Life

What Can We Do for God?

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

For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. – Philippians 2:13

My soul pants and pines to see Christ glorious in the eyes of men. Now, if Christ is to be glorified, He must be glorified by you; if His kingdom is to come, it must come through you. God works, but God works by means. He worketh in you “to will and to do of His own good pleasure.” Souls are to be saved, but they are not saved without instruments. The feast is to be furnished with guests, but you are to go into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in… Now we, as a people, have been greatly blessed and helped of God, and I believe the Master has a very high claim upon us. We are indebted to the grace and mercy of God, and we ought to be doing something for the extension of the Savior’s kingdom. We are a feeble folk; what can we do for God? Why, do as much as the strong! What can we do for God? Do as much as the mighty!

I must fight for God! there must be victories won for Him! We must extend the range of the gospel; we must find places where souls can be brought to hear the Word. Hell shall not for ever laugh at our inactivity, and heaven shall not eternally weep at our sloth! In God’s name, go forward, and let something be done for God, and for His Christ, for a perishing age, for a dark world, for heaven’s glory, and for hell’s defeat. Up! ye who know the Lord; ye swordsmen of our Israel, up and at them, and God give you a great victory and deliverance! “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” Hear ye that note, O dead souls, and live. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0560.cfm

She Abides Perfect

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

And they shall abide, for now He shall be great to the ends of the earth… – Micah 5:4

Observe, dear friends, that in the use of the term “abide,” we have not only existence, and continued existence, but the idea of quiet, calm, uninjured duration. It does not say she lingers, hunted, tempted, worried, but she abides. Oh! the calmness of the Church of God under the attacks of her most malicious foes. Thou cruel adversary, the virgin daughter of Zion hath shaken her head at thee and laughed thee to scorn! She abides in peace when the world rages against her. It is most noteworthy how, in most instances, the Church of God still keeps her foothold where she has been most savagely persecuted. In modern times we find in Madagascar, after years of exterminating persecution, the Church of God rises from her ashes, like the phoenix from the flames. The chief wonder is that she abides perfect. Not one of God’s elect has gone back; not one of the blood-bought has denied the faith. Not one single soul which ever was effectually called could be made to deny Christ, even though his flesh should be pulled from his bones by hot pincers, or his tormented body flung to the jaws of wild beasts. All that the enemy has done has been of no avail against the Church. The old rock has been washed, and washed, and washed again by stormy waves, and submerged a thousand times in the floods of tempest, but even her angles and corners abide unaltered and unalterable. We may say of the Lord’s tabernacle, not one of the stakes thereof has been removed, nor one of her cords been broken. The house of the Lord from foundation to pinnacle is perfect still: “The rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house and it fell not;” nay, nor a single stone of it “for it was founded upon a rock.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0560.cfm

That True and Faithful Church of the Living God

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises 1 Comment

…upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. – Matthew 16:18

To what trials, my brethren, has not the Church of God been subjected? What new invention can Satan bring forth? The fire, the rack, imprisonment, banishment, confiscation, slander, all these have been tried, and in them all the Church has been more than conqueror through Him who loved her. False doctrine without, heresy and schism within; hypocrisy, formalism, fanaticism, pretenses of high spirituality, worldliness-these have all done their worst. I marvel at the wondrous ingenuity of the great enemy of the Church, but methinks his devices must nearly have come to an end. Can he invent anything further? We have been astounded in these ages by the prodigy of an infidel bishop; we have been struck dumb with sorrow and amazement at a decree which declares that a Church professing to be a Church of Christ must permit men to be her ministers who deny the inspiration of Holy Scripture. This is a new thing under the sun. Popery and infidelity are to be both legalized and fostered in a Church professing to be Christian and Protestant…Ask me “Where is the Church?” In one unbroken line our apostolic succession runs; not through the Church of Rome; not from the superstitious hands of priest-made popes, or king-created bishops, but through the blood of good men and true, who never forsook the testimony of Jesus; through the loins of true pastors, laborious evangelists, faithful martyrs, and honorable men of God; we trace our pedigree up to the fishermen of Galilee and glory that we perpetuate, by God’s grace, that true and faithful Church of the living God, in whom Christ did abide and will abide until the world’s crash. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0560.cfm

His Glory and Majesty

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

That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow… – Philippians 2:10

Jesus Christ is greatly to be reverenced; the familiarity with which we approach Him is always to be tempered with the deepest and most reverent adoration. He is our brother, bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, but still, He counteth it not robbery to be equal with God. I know He made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and He calleth Himself to-day our Husband, and maketh us to be members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones; but yet we must never forget that it is written, “Let all the angels of God worship Him,” and “At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Yes, Christ is majestic in His Church. I would, brethren, we always thought of this. There is a glory and a majesty about all the laws of Christ, and all His commands, so that whether we baptize at His command, or break bread in remembrance of Him, or lift up His cross in ministry-in whatever we do, in His name, which is in fact, what He does through us, there is an attendant majesty which should make our minds feel perpetually reverent before Him.  O that the world could see the glory of Christ in the Church! O that the world did but know who it is that is in the midst of the few, the feeble, the weak, the foolish as they call them…There is a true and mysterious presence of Christ with His people, according to the promise “Lo I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world;” it is because the world ignores this that she despises and sneers at the Church of God. Therein is our comfort and our glory. We have a majesty about us if we be the people of God, which is not to be gainsayed; angels see it and wonder-a majesty of indwelling Godhead, for the Lord is in the midst of us for a glory and around us for a defense. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0560.cfm

Jehovah-Jesus

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

“He shall feed in the strength of Jehovah.” – Micah 5:4

Do not fail to discern that the empire of Christ in His Church is effectually powerful in its action; “He shall feed in the strength of Jehovah.” Wherever Christ is, there is God; and whatever Christ does is the act of the Most High. Oh! it is a joyful truth to consider that He who redeemed us was none other than God Himself; He who led our captivity captive was Jehovah-Jesus; He who stands to-day representing the interests of His people is very God of very God; He who has sworn that every one of His people whom He hath redeemed by blood shall be brought safe to His Father’s right hand, is Himself essential Deity. O my brethren, we rest upon a sure foundation when we build upon the Incarnate God; and O ye saints of God, the interests of each one of you, and of the one great Church, must be safe, because our champion is God; Jehovah is our Judge, Jehovah is our Lawgiver, Jehovah is our King, He will save us. How can He fail or be discouraged? When He maketh bare His arm, who shall stand against Him? Let us rehearse the mighty deeds of the Lord and tell of His wonders of old. Remember how He got Him victory upon Pharaoh and the pride of Egypt! With a high hand and an outstretched arm did the Lord bring forth His people from the house of bondage. When the proud high stomach of Egypt’s king again rose against the Most High, the Lord knew how to lay His adversary lower than the dust…”Let us sing unto the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and His rider hath He thrown into the sea.” Surely it shall be so at the last day with Jesus our King, and all His saints; we also shall sing “the song of Moses, the servant of God, and of the Lamb,” in that day when the arch-enemy shall be overthrown, and the hosts of evil shall be consumed, and they who hate the Lord shall become as the fat of rams, into smoke shall they consume, yea, into smoke shall they consume away. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0560.cfm

His Watchful Care

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

“He shall stand and feed…” – Micah 5:4

It is said, “He shall stand and feed;” not ” He shall feed now and then, and then leave His position;” not, “He shall one day grant a revival, and then next day leave His Church to barrenness.” Beloved, there is no such pastor as Christ. “I know My sheep,” He can say, in a very high and peculiar sense. He knows them through and through; He feels with them; in all their afflictions He is afflicted; He is one with them eternally. There is no such wakeful watchman as the Lord Jesus. Is it not written, “I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.” Those eyes never slumber, and those hands never rest; that heart never ceases to beat with love, and those shoulders are never weary of carrying His people’s burdens. The Church may go through her dark ages, but Christ is with her in the midnight. She may pass through her fiery furnace, but Christ is in the midst of the flame with her. Her whole history through, wherever you find the Church, there shall you find the Church’s Lord. The head is never severed from the body, nor is the watchful care of this gracious Husband towards His spouse suspended for an instant.

I would that our Churches could be more influenced by a belief in the abiding power, presence, and pre-eminence of their living and reigning Lord. He is no dead King whose memory we are bidden to embalm, but a living Leader and Commander whose behests we must obey, whose honor we must defend. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0560.cfm

He Stands and Feeds

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

And He shall stand and feed in the strength of the LORD… – Micah 5:4

It is said “He shall stand and feed.” The great Head of the Church is actively engaged in providing for His people. He does not sit down upon the throne in an empty state or hold a scepter without wielding it in government. No, He stands and feeds. The expression “feed,” in the original is like an analogous one in the Greek, which means to shepherdize, to do everything expected of a shepherd: to guide, to watch, to preserve, to tend, as well as to feed. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the great Head of the Church, is always actively engaged for the Church’s good. Through Him the Spirit of God constantly descends upon the members of the Church; by Him ministers are given in due season, and all Church-officers in their proper place. When He ascended up on high He received gifts for men; “And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” Our Lord does not close His eyes to the state of His Church. Beloved, He is not a listless spectator of our wants. He is this day standing and feeding His people. They are scattered, I know, wide as the poles asunder, but our mighty Shepherd can see every sheep and lamb of His flock, and He gives them all their portion of meat in due season. He it is that like a mighty Breaker, goes forth at the head of His flock, and they follow where He clears the way, “He shall stand and feed.” Oh! blessed carefulness and divine activity of our gracious King! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0560.cfm