Christian Life

The Reward of the Unselfish

Sherry Christian Life 2 Comments

“There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?” – John 6:9

Though seemingly inadequate to feed the multitude, these loaves and fishes would have been quite enough for the boy’s supper, yet he appears to have been quite willing to part with them. The disciples would not have taken them from him by force; the Master would not have allowed it: the lad willingly gave them up to be the commencement of the great feast. Somebody might have said, “John, you know that you will soon be able to eat those five cakes and those two little fishes; keep them; get away into a corner: every man for himself.”…But the boy whom God uses will not be selfish. Am I speaking to some young Christian to whom Satan says, “Make money first, and serve God by-and-by; stick to business, and get on; then, after that, you can act like a Christian, and give some money away,” and so on? Let such a one remember the barley loaves and the fishes. If that lad had really wisely studied his own interests, instead of merely yielding with a generous impulse to the demand of Christ, he would have done exactly what he did; for if he had kept the loaves, he would have eaten them, and there would have been an end of them; but now that he brings them to Christ, all those thousands of people are fed, and he gets as much himself as he would have had if he had eaten his own stock. And then, in addition, he gets a share out of the twelve baskets full of fragments that remain. Anything that you take away from self and give to Christ is well invested; it will often bring in ten thousand per cent. The Lord knows how to give such a reward to an unselfish man, that he will feel that he that saves his life loses it, but he that is willing even to lose his life, and the bread that sustains it, is the man who, after all, gets truly saved. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2216.cfm

But Nobody Knows Me

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

“There is a lad here, who has five barley loaves, and two small fish, but what are they among so many?” – John 6:9

Rest assured, that if you have the Bread of Life about you, and you are willing to serve God, you need not be afraid that obscurity will ever prevent your doing it. “Nobody knows me,” says one. Well, it is not a very desirable thing that anybody should know you: those of us who are known to everybody would be very glad if we were not; there is no very great comfort in it. He that can work away for his Master, with nobody to see him but his Master, is the happiest of men…Oh, for grace to work on unobserved, to have your one talent, your five loaves and two fishes, and only to be noticed when the hour suggests the need, and the need makes a loud call for you. We have thus seen, first of all, the loaves and fishes, in the desert, quite unnoticed, but put there by providence; and we now behold them by that same providence, thrust into prominence.

Andrew said, “What are they among so many?” The boy’s candle seemed to be quite snuffed out: so small a stock-what could be the use of that? Now, I dare say, that some of you have had Satan saying to you, “What is the use of your trying to do anything?” Ah, dear friend! he is afraid of what you can do, and if you will only do what you can do, God will, by-and-by, help you to do what now you cannot do. But the devil is afraid of even the little that you can do now; and many a child of God seems to side with Satan in despising the day of small things. “What are they among so many?” So few, so poor, so devoid of talent, what can any of us hope to do? Disdained, even by the disciples, it is small wonder if we are held in contempt by the world. The things that God will honour, man must first despise. You run the gauntlet of the derision of men, and afterwards you come out to be used of God. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2216.cfm

Have Faith in the Providence of God

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

Andrew said to Jesus, “There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fish, but what are they among so many?” – John 6:9

Christ never is in need but He has somebody at hand to supply that need. Have faith in the providence of God. What made the boy bring the loaves and fishes, I do not know. Boys often do unaccountable things; but bring the loaves and fishes he did; and God, who understands the ideas and motives of lads, and takes account even of barley loaves and fishes, had appointed that boy to be there.

Let us also believe in His providence with regard to the Church of Christ: He will never desert His people; He will find men when He wants them. Thus it has ever been in the history of the saints, and thus it shall ever be. Before the Reformation there were many learned men who knew something of Christ’s gospel; but they said that it was a pity to make a noise, and so they communed with one another and with Christ very quietly. What was wanted was some rough bull-headed fellow who would blurt the gospel out and upset the old state of things. Where could he be found? There was a monk named Luther, who, while he was reading his Bible, suddenly stumbled on the doctrine of justification by faith; he was the man: yet when he went to a dear brother in the Lord, and told him how he felt, his friend said to him, “Go back to thy cell, and pray and commune with God, and hold thy tongue.” But then, you see, he had a tongue that he could not hold, and that nobody else could hold, and he began to speak with it the truth that had made a new man of him. The God that made Luther knew what he was when He made him; He put within him a great burning fire that could not be restrained, and it burst forth, and set the nations on a blaze. Never despair about providence. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2216.cfm

Our Little Means in His Hands

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

And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted. – John 6:11

Five thousand people and five little biscuits wherewith to feed them! The disproportion is enormous: if each one should have only the tiniest crumb, there would not be sufficient. In like manner, there are millions of people in London, and only a handful of whole-hearted Christians earnestly desiring to see the city converted to Christ; there are more than a thousand millions of men in this round world, and oh, so few missionaries breaking to them the bread of life; almost as few for the millions, as were these five barley cakes for those five thousand! The problem is a very difficult one. The contrast between the supply and the demand would have struck us much more vividly if we had been there, in that crowd at Bethsaida, than it does sitting here, nearly nineteen hundred years afterwards, and merely hearing about it. But the Lord Jesus was equal to the emergency: none of the people went away without sharing in His bounty; they were all filled. Our blessed Master, now that He has ascended into the heavens, has more, rather than less, power; He is not baffled because of our lack, but can even now use paltry means to accomplish His own glorious purposes; therefore, let no man’s heart fail him. Do not despair of the evangelization of London, nor think it hopeless that the gospel should be preached in all nations for a testimony unto them. Have faith in God, who is in Christ Jesus; have faith in the compassion of the Great Mediator: He will not desert the people in their spiritual need, any more than He failed that hungry throng, in their temporal need, long ago. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2216.cfm

The Most Obscure Saints Are Well Cared For

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, The Father 2 Comments

How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare. – Luke 15:17

If we could call forth from his seat a weak believer in God, who is almost unknown in the church, one who sometimes questions whether he is indeed a child of God, and would be willing to be a hired servant so long as he might belong to God, and if I were to ask him, “How, after all, has the Lord dealt with you?” what would be his reply? You have many afflictions, doubts and fears, but have you any complaints against your Lord? When you have waited upon Him for daily grace, has He denied you? When you have been full of troubles, has He refused you comfort? When you have been plunged in distress, has He declined to deliver you? The Lord Himself asks, “Have I been a wilderness unto Israel?” Testify against the Lord, ye His people, if ye have aught against Him. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, whosoever there be in God’s service who has found Him a hard task-master, let him speak. Amongst the angels before Jehovah’s throne, and amongst men redeemed on earth, if there be any one that can say He hath been dealt with unjustly or treated with ungenerous churlishness, let him lift up his voice! But there is not one. Even the devil himself when he spoke of God and of his servant Job, said, “Doth Job serve God for nought?” Of course he did not: God will not let His servants serve Him for nought; He will pay them superabundant wages, and they shall all bear witness that at His table there is “bread enough and to spare.” Now, if these still enjoy the bread of the Father’s house, these who were once great sinners, these who are now only very commonplace saints, surely, sinner, it should encourage you to say, “I will arise and go to my Father,” for His hired servants “have bread enough and to spare.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1000.cfm

Awake, Unconverted Man!

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

Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. – 2 Corinthians 6:2

You, you unconverted man, are asleep; a deep and horrible sleep holds you fast. If it were not so, you would perceive your danger, and you would be alarmed. You have broken God’s law; the fact is certain and solemn, though you treat it lightly. Punishment must follow every breach of that law, for God will not be mocked nor suffer His government to be treated with contempt. For every transgression there is an appointed recompense of reward. The retribution which is your lawful due will not long be withheld: it is on its road towards you. The feet of justice are shod with wool: you hear not its coming, but it is as sure as it is silent. Its steps are swift, and its stroke overwhelming.

If you were awakened, O sin-stricken transgressor, you would also perceive that there is a remedy for your disease, a rescue from your present danger. “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them;” and “Whosoever believeth in Jesus Christ hath everlasting life.” Forgiveness of sin is guaranteed to every one that rests in the work of Jesus…If God would awaken thee, thou wouldst tremble at the jaws of hell which are open to receive thee; thou wouldst turn to Christ, and say, “Jesus, save me! Save me now!” You are asleep, sinner-you are asleep, or you would not take matters so coolly. I am afraid for you and bowed down with amazement and dread. The mercy is that you may be awakened: you are not yet among the slain that go down into the pit. Oh, that that almighty grace would awaken you at this present moment ere your doom is sealed and your damnation executed! Here I offer my fervent prayers for you, believing that He to whom I pray is able to bring to holy sensibility the most stolid of mankind. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0996.cfm

Cherish Your Faithful Preacher

Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life Leave a comment

And He commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is He which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead. – Acts 10:42

Faithful preachers are among God’s best gifts. Cherish them and be obedient to their admonitions. I have known persons become offended when a minister is “too personal;” but wise men always prize a ministry in proportion as it is personal to themselves. He who never tells me of my faults, nor makes me feel uneasy, is not likely to be the means of good to my soul. What is the use of a dog that never barks? Why have a doctor, and grow angry with him if he points out the source of your disease? Did God send us, as His messengers, to pander to your taste or flatter your vanity? We seek not your approval if it be not founded on right…Conscience makes men respect the gospel even when their depravity makes them loathe it. They are held fast by the cords which they fain would cast from them. May it often be so that while my plain dealing excites your anger, it may nevertheless have a power over you; and may every man and woman here, whether saved or unsaved, feel that the preaching is the truth of God to his or her soul; and, whether liked or not liked, may it become the permanent means of arousing from sleep, and ultimately bringing to Christ every one of you to whom these words shall come. Be sure and attend an arousing ministry and pray God to make the ministry which you now listen to more and more an arousing ministry to your own soul. Pray for the preacher, for he is in the same danger as yourselves, for he, too, is compassed with infirmity. The minister soon goes to sleep unless God wakens him; and what is more sad than to see the professed messenger of God become a traitor both to his Master and to men’s souls by a lack of zealous affection? It is ill for the sheep if the shepherd himself be asleep. Woe to the camp where the sentry is given to slumber! May God deliver our country from being overrun with preachers whose souls are insensible concerning their grand work, and who love the bread of their office better than the glory of God or the good of their hearers. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0996.cfm