Christian Life

The Winds of Trials

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

Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. – Song of Songs 4:16

You see, there are sweet spices lying in Christians, like hidden honey and locked-up perfume within the flowers on a hot day. What is wanted is that those sweet odours should be diffused…Observe, that until our graces are diffused, it is the same as if they were not there. You may go through a wood, and it may be abounding in game, yet you may scarcely see a hare or notice a pheasant anywhere about. There they lie all quiet and undisturbed; but, by-and-by, the beaters go through the wood making a great noise, and away the pheasants fly, and you may see the timid hares run like hinds let loose, because they are disturbed and wakened up. That is what we sometimes need, to be aroused and stirred from slumber. We may not know that we have any faith till there comes a trial, and then our faith starts boldly up. We can hardly know how much we love our Lord till there comes a test of our love, and then we so behave ourselves that we know that we do love Him. Oftentimes, something is needed from without to stir the life that lies hidden within. It is so with these sweet flowers in the Beloved’s garden, they need either the north wind or the south wind to blow upon them that they may shed abroad their sweet odours. It is very painful to a Christian to be in such a condition that his graces are not stirring. He cannot endure it. We who love the Lord were not born again to waste our time in sinful slumber; our watchword is, “Let us not sleep, as do others.” We were not born to inaction; every power that God has put within us was meant to be used in working, and striving, and serving the Lord. So, when our graces are slumbering, we ourselves are in an unhappy state. Then we long for any agency that would set those graces moving. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2475.cfm

Am I Really a Child of God?

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

While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. – Matthew 25:5

Alas! on a hot and drowsy day, when everything has fallen into a deep slumber, even God’s saints, though they be wise virgins, go as soundly asleep as the foolish virgins, and they forget that “the Bridegroom cometh.” “While the Bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept;” and, sometimes, you and I must catch ourselves nodding when we ought to be wide awake. We are going through a part of that enchanted ground which John Bunyan describes, and we do not know what to do to keep ourselves awake.

At such times, a Christian is very apt to ask, “Am I indeed planted in God’s garden? Am I really a child of God?” Now, I will say what some of you may think a strong thing; but I do not believe that he is a child of God who never raised that question. I have sung, and I expect that I may have to sing again, –

“‘Tis a point I long to know;
Oft it causes anxious thought;
Do I love the Lord or no?
Am I His, or am I not?”

I cannot bear to get into that condition, and I cannot bear to keep in it when I am in it, but still, there must be anxious thought about this all-important matter. Because you happened to be excited on a certain occasion, and thought you were converted and were sure of heaven, you had better look well to the evidence on which you are relying. You may be mistaken after all; and while I would not preach up little faith, I would preach down great presumption. No man can have a faith too strong, and no assurance can be too full, if it comes really from God the Holy Spirit. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2475.cfm

These Sweet Odours

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

Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. – Song of Songs 4:16

The spices with which God is conserving this present evil age, lest His anger should destroy it because of the growing corruption, are to be found in the flowers which He has planted in the garden of His Church. It sometimes happens that these sweet odours within God’s people lie quiet and still...I recollect, when I was young, reading an expression, -I think of Erskine’s, -in which he says that he likes a roaring devil better than a sleeping devil. It struck me then that, if I could keep the devil always asleep, it would be the best thing that could possibly happen for me; but now I am not so sure that I was right. At all events, I know this, when the old dog of hell barks very loudly, he keeps me awake; and when he howls at me, he drives me to the mercy-seat for protection; but when he goes to sleep, and lies very quiet, I am very apt to go to sleep, too, and then the graces that are within my soul seem to be absolutely hidden. And mark you, hidden grace, which in no way reveals itself by its blessed odours, is all the same as if there were none to those that watch from the outside and sometimes to the believer himself. What is wanted, in order that he may know that he has these sweet perfumes is something outside himself. You cannot stir your own graces, you cannot make them more, you cannot cause their fragrance to flow forth. True, by prayer, you may help to this end; but then, that very prayer is put into you by the Holy Spirit, and when it has been offered to the Lord, it comes back to you laden with blessings; but often something more is needed, some movement of God’s providence, and much more; some mighty working of His grace, to come and shake the flower bells in His garden, and make them shed their fragrance on the air. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2475.cfm

The Hope of the World

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

“Ye are the salt of the earth.” – Matthew 5:13

Every particle of faith that there is in the world is a sort of purifier; wherever it comes, it has a tendency to kill that which is evil. In the spiritual sanitary arrangements which God made for this poor world, He put men of faith, and the faith of these men, into the midst of all this corruption, to help to keep other men’s souls alive, even as our Lord Jesus said to His disciples, “Ye are the salt of the earth.” The sweet perfumes that flow out from the flowers which God cultivates in the garden of His Church are scattering spiritual health and sanity all around. It is a blessed thing that the Lord has provided these sweet spices to overpower and counteract the unhealthy odours that float on every breeze. Think, then, dear friends, of the importance of being God’s fragrant flowers, which may yield perfumes that are delightful to Him, and that are blessed and healthful to our fellow-men. A man of faith and love in a church sweetens all his brethren. Give us but a few such in our midst, and there shall be no broken spiritual unity, there shall be no coldness and spiritual death; but all shall go well where these men of God are among us as a mighty influence for good. And, as to the ungodly around us, the continued existence in the earth of the Church of Christ is the hope of the world. The world that hates the Church knows not what it does, for it is hating its best friend. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2475.cfm

God Delights in Us

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

What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that Thou visitest him? – Psalm 8:4

What an exaltation it is to us worms of the earth that there should ever be anything in us well-pleasing unto God! Well did the psalmist say, “What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that Thou visitest him?” But God is mindful of us, and He does visit us. Of old, before Christ came into this world-in human form, His delights were with the sons of men; much more is it so now that He has taken their nature into heaven itself and given to those sons of men His own Spirit to dwell within them. Let it ravish your heart with intense delight that, though often you can take no complacency in yourself, but go with your head bowed down, like a bulrush, and cry, “Woe is me!” yet in that very cry of yours God hears a note that is sweet and musical to His ears. Blessed is repentance, with her tear-drops in her eyes, sparkling like diamonds. God takes delight even in our longings after holiness, and in our loathings of our own imperfections. Just as the father delights to see his child anxious to be on the best and most loving terms with him, so does God delight in us when we are crying after that which we have not yet reached, the perfection which shall make us to be fully like Himself. O beloved, I do not know anything that fills my soul with such feelings of joy as does the reflection that I, even I, may yet be and do something that shall give delight to the heart of God Himself! He has joy over one sinner that repenteth, though repentance is but an initial grace; and when we go on from that to other graces, and take yet higher steps in the divine life, we may be sure that His joy is in us, and therefore our joy may well be full. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2475.cfm

The Sweet Spices of Faith, Hope and Love

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

…blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. – Song of Songs 4:16

There are in the Lord’s garden sweet flowers that drip with honey, and all manner of delightful perfumes.  There are such sweet spices within the believer’s heart; there is faith, -is there anything out of heaven sweeter than faith, -the faith which trusts and clings, which believes and hopes, and declares that, though God shall slay him, yet will he trust in Him? In the Lord’s esteem, faith is full of fragrance. Then comes love; and again, I must ask, -Is there to be found anywhere a sweeter spice than this, -the love which loves God because He first loved us, the love which flows out to all the brotherhood, the love which knows no circle within which it can be bounded, but which loves the whole race of mankind, and seeks to do them good? It is exceedingly pleasing to God to see love growing where once all was hate, and to see faith springing up in that very soul which was formerly choked with the thorns and briers of doubt and unbelief. And there is also hope, which is indeed an excellent grace, a far-seeing grace by which we behold heaven and eternal bliss. There is such a fragrance about a God-given hope that this poor sin-stricken world seems to be cured by it. Wherever this living, lively hope comes, there men lift up their drooping heads, and begin to rejoice in God their Savior… These, then, are some of the saints’ sweet spices…these sweet spices are delightful to God. It is very wonderful that we should have within us anything in which God can take delight; yet when we think of all the other wonders of His grace, we need not marvel at all. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2475.cfm

Fruitful Unto His Praise

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

Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. – Matthew 13:8

What a difference there is between what the believer was by nature and what the grace of God has made him! Naturally, we were like the waste howling wilderness, like the desert which yields no healthy plant or verdure. It seemed as if we were given over to be like a salt land, which is not inhabited; no good thing was in us or could spring out of us. But now, as many of us as have known the Lord are transformed into gardens; our wilderness is made like Eden, our desert is changed into the garden of the Lord. “I will turn unto you,” said the Lord to the mountains of Israel when they were bleak and bare, “I will turn unto you, and ye shall be tilled and sown;” and this is what He said to the barrenness of our nature. We have been enclosed by grace, we have been tilled and sown, we have experienced all the operations of the divine husbandry. Our Lord Jesus said to His disciples, “My Father is the husbandman,” and He has made us to be fruitful unto His praise, full of sweetness where once there was no fruit, and nothing that could give Him delight.

In the good ground mentioned by our Lord in the parable of the Sower, the good seed did not all bring forth a hundredfold, or even sixty-fold; there were some parts of the field where the harvest was as low as thirty-fold, and I fear that there are some of the Lord’s gardens which yield even less than that. Still, there are the fruits and there are the flowers, in a measure; there is a good beginning made wherever the grace of God has undertaken the culture of our nature. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2475.cfm