Christian Life

The Gospel Feast

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

The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son… – Matthew 22:2

The Son of God has graciously been pleased to stand towards us. He has undertaken to be a Savior, in order that He might be a bridegroom. He had enough glory before, but in the greatness of His heart, He would magnify His compassion even above His power, and He therefore condescended to take into union with Himself the nature of man, in order that He might redeem the beloved objects of His choice from the penalty due to their sins and might enter into the nearest conceivable union with them. It is as Savior that the Father seeks to honor the Son, and the gospel feast is not for the honor of His person merely, but for the honor of His person in this new, yet anciently purposed relationship.

The marriage is with whom? With angels? He took not up angels. It is a marriage with our own nature, “He took up the seed of Abraham.” Shall we not rejoice when heaven’s great Lord is incarnate as a man, and stoops to redeem humanity from the ruin of the fall? Arise ye who slumber! If there was ever an occasion when ye should bestir your spirits and cry “wake up my glory, awake psaltery and harp” it is now, when Jesus comes to be affianced to His Church, to make Himself of one flesh with her, that He may redeem her, and afterwards exalt her to sit with Him upon His throne. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0975.cfm

Herein is Love

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

And the disciples came, and said unto Him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. – Matthew 13:10-11

How tenderly condescending is God to devise similitudes, that His children may learn the mysteries of the kingdom! If it be sometimes marvelled at among men that great minds are ever ready to stoop, what a far greater marvel that God Himself should bow the heavens and come down to meet our ignorance and slowness of comprehension! When the learned professor has been instructing his class in the hall in recondite matters of deep philosophy, and then goes home and takes his child upon his knee, and tries to bring down great truth to the grasp of his child’s mind, then you see the great love of the man’s heart: and when the eternal God, before whom seraphim are but insects of an hour, condescends to instruct our childishness and make us wise unto salvation, we may well say, “herein is love.” Just as we give our children pictures that we may win the attention and may by pleasing means fix truth upon their memories, so the Lord with loving inventiveness has become the author of many a charming metaphor, type, and allegory, by which He may gain our interest, and through His Holy Spirit enlighten our minds. If He who thunders till the mountains tremble yet deigns to speak with us in a still small voice, let us gladly sit in Mary’s place at His gracious feet, and willingly learn of Him. O that God would give to each one a teachable spirit, for this is the greatest step towards understanding the mind of God. He who is willing to learn in a childlike spirit is already in a considerable measure taught of God. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0975.cfm

Our Sacred Praise When a Sinner is Saved

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

And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things to day. – Luke 5:26

The disciples who were around the Savior, glorified God. They rejoiced, and said one to another, “We have seen strange things to-day.” The whole Christian church is full of sacred praise when a sinner is saved; even heaven itself is glad.

But there was glory brought to God, even by the common people who stood around. They had not yet entered into that sympathy with Christ which the disciples felt, but they were struck by the sight of this great wonder, and they, too, could not help saying that God had wrought great marvels. I pray that onlookers, strangers from the commonwealth of Israel, when they see the desponding comforted, and lost ones brought in, may be compelled to bear their witness to the power of divine grace, and be led themselves to be partakers in it. There is “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will towards men,” when a paralysed soul is filled with gracious strength.

If you are indeed what you profess to be, to glorify God must be the fondest wish and the loftiest ambition of your souls. Unless ye be traitors to my Lord as well as inhumane to your fellowmen, you will seek out some fellow Christians, and say, “Come, let us pray together, for such an one,” and if you know a desperate case you will make up a sacred quaternion, to resolve upon his salvation. May the power of the Highest abide upon you, and who knoweth what glory the Lord may gain through you? ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0981.cfm

Gladly Praising God

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

And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. And they were all amazed, and they glorified God. – Luke 5:25,26

Those four men had been the indirect means of bringing much honor to God and much glory to Jesus, and they, I doubt not, glorified God in their very hearts on the housetop. Happy men to have been of so much service to their bedridden friend! Who else united in glorifying God? Why, first the man who was restored. Did not every part of his body glorify God? I think I see him! He sets one foot down to God’s glory, he plants the other to the same note, he walks to God’s glory, he carries his bed to God’s glory, he moves his whole body to the glory of God, he speaks, he shouts, he sings, he leaps to the glory of God. When a man is saved his whole manhood glorifies God; he becomes instinct with a new-born life which glows in every part of him, spirit, soul and body. As an heir of heaven, he brings glory to the Great Father who has adopted him into the family, he breathes and eats and drinks to God’s praise. When a sinner is brought into the church of God we are all glad, but we are none of us so joyous and thankful as he; we would all praise God, but he must praise him the loudest, and he will… “Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: who forgiveth all thine iniquities: who healeth all thy diseases.”~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0981.cfm

Salvation Works Grateful Obedience to Christ

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

But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (He said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house. And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. – Luke 5:25

The man’s healing was proved by his obedience. Openly to all onlookers an active obedience became indisputable proof of the poor creature’s restoration. Notice, our Lord bade him rise-he rose; he had no power to do so except that power which comes with divine commands. He rose, for Christ said “Rise.” Then he folded up that miserable palliasse-the Greek word used shows us that it was a very poor, mean, miserable affair- he rolled it up as the Savior bade him, he shouldered it, and went to his home. His first impulse must have been to throw himself down at the Savior’s feet, and say, “Blessed be Thy name;” but the Master said, “Go to thy house;” and I do not find that he stayed to make one grateful obeisance, but elbowing the crowd, jostling the throng with his load on his back, he proceeded to his house just as he was told, and that without deliberation, or questioning. He did his Lord’s bidding, and he did it accurately, in detail, at once, and most cheerfully. Oh! how cheerfully; none can tell but those in like case restored. So, the true sign of pardoned sin, and of paralysis removed from the heart, is obedience. If thou art really saved thou wilt do what Jesus bids thee; thy request will be, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” and that once ascertained, thou wilt be sure to do it…Open, careful, prompt, cheerful obedience to Christ, becomes the test of the wonderful work which Jesus works in the soul. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0981.cfm

Christ’s Power to Speak the Word of Absolution

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

And when He saw their faith, He said unto Him, Man, thy sins be forgiven thee. Luke 5:20

It was the business of the four bearers to bring the man to Christ; but there their power ended. It is our part to bring the guilty sinner to the Savior: there our power ends. Thank God, when we end, Christ begins, and works right gloriously. Observe that He began by saying: “Thy sins be forgiven thee.” He laid the axe at the root; He did not desire that the man’s sins might be forgiven, or express a good wish in that direction, but He pronounced an absolution by virtue of that authority with which He was clothed as the Savior. The poor man’s sins there and then ceased to be, and he was justified in the sight of God. Believest thou this, my hearer, that Christ did thus for the paralytic man? Then I charge you believe something more, that if on earth Christ had power to forgive sins before He had offered an atonement, much more hath He power to do this, now that He hath poured out His blood, and hath said, “It is finished,” and hath gone into His glory, and is at the right hand of the Father. He is exalted on high, to give repentance and remission of sin. Should He send His Spirit into thy soul to reveal Himself in thee, thou wouldst in an instant be entirely absolved. Does blasphemy blacken thee? Does a long life of infidelity pollute thee? Hast thou been licentious? Hast thou been abominably wicked? A word can absolve thee-a word from those dear lips which said, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” I charge thee ask for that absolving word. No earthly priest can give it thee; but the great High Priest, the Lord Jesus, can utter it at once. Ye twos and fours who are seeking the salvation of men, here is encouragement for you. Pray for them now, while the gospel is being preached in their hearing; pray for them day and night, and bring the glad tidings constantly before them, for Jesus is still able “to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by Him.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0981.cfm

Help These Spiritual Paralytics

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

And when He saw their faith, He said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee. – Luke 5:20

Jesus intended to heal the paralysed man, but He did so by first of all saying, “Thy sins are forgiven thee.” There are some in this house of prayer this morning who are spiritually paralysed; they have eyes and they see the gospel; they have ears and they have heard it, and heard it attentively too; but they are so paralysed that they will honestly tell you that they cannot lay hold upon the promise of God; they cannot believe in Jesus to the saving of their souls. If you urge them to pray, they say: “We try to pray, but it is not acceptable prayer.” If you bid them have confidence, they will tell you, though not in so many words perhaps, that they are given up to despair. The bottom of this paralysis is sin upon the conscience, working death in them. They are sensible of their guilt, but powerless to believe that the crimson fountain can remove it: they are alive only to sorrow, despondency, and agony. Sin paralyses them with despair. I grant you that into this despair there enters largely the element of unbelief, which is sinful; but I hope there is also in it a measure of sincere repentance, which bears in it the hope of something better. Our poor, awakened paralytics sometimes hope that they may be forgiven, but they cannot believe it; they cannot rejoice; they cannot cast themselves on Jesus; they are utterly without strength…Lend us your help, ye earnest brethren; form your parties of four; grasp the couches of these who wish to be saved, but who feel they cannot believe. The Lord, the Holy Spirit, make you the means of leading them into forgiveness and eternal salvation. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0981.cfm