Christian Life

Self-denials for the Lord’s Sake

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

And He said to them all, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. – Luke 9:23

We ought to walk as Christ did in the matter of self-denial. Of course, in this work of self-denial we are not called to imitate Christ in offering up ourselves as a propitiatory sacrifice. That would be a vain intrusion into things which are His peculiar domain. The self-denials which we practise should be such as He prescribes us. There is a will-worship which is practised in the Church of Rome of self-denials which are absurd, and must, I think, be hateful in the sight of God rather than pleasing to Him… Enough self-denials come naturally in every Christian man’s way to make him try whether he can deny himself in very deed for the Lord’s sake. You are thus tested when you are put in positions where you might get gain by an unrighteous act, or win fame by withholding a truth, or earn love and honour by pandering to the passions of those about you. May you have grace enough to say, “No; it cannot be. I love not myself, but my Lord. I seek not myself, but Christ. I desire to propagate nothing but His truth, and not my own ideas”: then will you have exhibited the self-denial of Jesus. These self-denials will sometimes be hard to flesh and blood. And then in the Church of God to be able to give all your substance, to devote all your time, to lay out all your ability-this is to walk as Jesus walked. When weary and worn, still to be busy; to deny yourself things which may be allowable, but which if allowable to you would be dangerous to others-this also is like the Lord. Such self-denial as may be helpful to the weak you ought to practise. Think what Christ would do in such a case, and do it; and, whenever you can glorify Him by denying yourself, do it. So walk as He did who made Himself of no reputation, but took upon Himself the form of a servant. and who, though He was rich, brought Himself down to poverty for our sakes, that we might be rich unto God. Think of that.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1732.cfm

Obedience

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

Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered… – Hebrews 5:8

Our Lord Jesus Christ took upon Himself the form of a servant; and what service it was that He rendered! “He was a Son; yet learned He obedience by the things that He suffered.” And what obedience that dear Son of God rendered to the Father! He did not come to do His own will, but the will of Him that sent Him. He yielded Himself up to come under law to God, and to do the Fathers will. Now in this respect we ought also to walk even as He walked. We have not come into the world to do what we like, to possess what we choose, or to say, “That is my notion, and therefore so shall it be.” Sin promised freedom, and brought us bondage; grace now binds us, and ensures us liberty. Obedience is the law of every spiritual nature. It is the Lord’s will that in His house His word should be the supreme law, for so only can our fallen natures be restored to their original glory. Set the wandering stars in their spheres, and rule them by the majestic sway of the sun, and then they will keep their happy estate, but not else. Understanding, heart, life, lip, everything, is now to enter into the service of God, even the Father, and it is to be ours to say, “Lord, show me what Thou wouldest have me to do.” Surely, beyond any other quality, we see in the career of the Son of God the perfection of self-abnegation. No man was ever so truly free as Jesus, and yet no man was so fully subservient to the heavenly will… His was the unique originality of absolute obedience. Dear friends, you see how it ought to be with you also. It is ours to walk in cheerful subservience to the mind of the Father, even as Jesus did. Does this strike you as an easy thing? It is child’s work, certainly; but assuredly it is not child’s play.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1732.cfm

Holiness

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life 2 Comments

…ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy. – Leviticus 11:45 (see also 1Peter 1:16)

The first thing that every Christian has to see to is holiness. I will not try at any great length to explain what that word means, but it always sounds to me as if it explained itself. You know what wholeness is-a thing, without a crack, or flaw, or break; complete, entire, uninjured, whole. Well, that is the main meaning of holy. The character of God is perfectly holy; in it nothing is lacking; nothing is redundant. When a thing, is complete it is whole, and this applied to moral and spiritual things gives you the inner meaning of “holy.” When a man is healthy, perfectly healthy, in spirit, soul, and body, then he is perfectly holy; for sin is a moral disorder, and righteousness is the right state of every faculty. The man whose spiritual health is altogether right is right towards God, right towards himself, right towards men, right towards time, right towards eternity. He is right towards the first table of the law, and right towards the second table. He is an all-round man; he is a whole man, a holy man. Truth is within him; truth is spoken by him; truth is acted by him. Righteousness is in him; he thinks the right thing, and chooses that which is according to the law of uprightness. There is justice in him; he abhors that which is evil. There is goodness in him; he follows after that which will benefit his fellow-men. I cannot spare time to tell you all that the word “holy” means; but if you wish to see holiness, look at Christ. In Him you see a perfect character, an all-round character. He is the perfect One; be ye like Him in all holiness.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1732.cfm

Bound to Live to Christ’s Glory

Sherry Christian Life, Sovereignty of God Leave a comment

…to walk, even as He walked. – 1 John 2:6

Inasmuch as we are in Christ, we are now bound to live to Christ’s glory, and this is a great means of glorifying Christ. What can we do to glorify Christ if we do not walk even as He walked? If I came and preached to you, and if I had the tongues of men and of angels, yet if I did not seek to do as my Master did, what avails all that I can say? It is but “sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal.” You know what men say to unholy preachers: they bid them be silent or be consistent. Unholy ministers are a derision, and a scoff, and a by-word. And so it is with unholy Christians, too. You may teach your children at home, or teach them in the Sunday-school class; but if they see your lives to be Christless, prayerless, godless, they will not learn any good from you. They will rather learn from what you do amiss, than from what you say that is right. Do you blame them that it is so? Are not actions far more forcible than words? …Christian love is by no means so plentiful as it might be, nor holy living, either. Is not this the thing that weakens the preaching, of the gospel-the want of living the gospel? If all the professed Christians who live in London really walked as Christ walked, would not the salt have more effect upon the corrupt mass than the stuff which is now called salt seems to have? We preach here in the pulpit; but what can we do, unless you preach yonder at home? It is you preaching in your shops, in your kitchens, in your nurseries, in your parlours, in the streets, which will tell on the masses. This is the preaching-the best preaching in the world, for it is seen as well as heard. I heard one say he liked to see men preach with their feet; and this is it, ” they ought also so to walk even as Christ walked.” No testimony excels that which is borne in ordinary life. Christ ought to be glorified by us, and therefore we ought to be like Him, for if we are not, we cannot glorify Him, but must dishonor Him.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1732.cfm

Lord, Sanctify Me, and Use Me

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

Abide in Me, and I in you… – John 15:4

It is taken for granted that when we enter the service of Jesus we by that act and deed undertake by His help to follow His example. “Whosoever doth not bear His cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple.” “Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me, and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” You know, if any man love Christ, he must follow Him: “If ye love Me, keep My commandments.” When we took Christ’s cross to be our salvation we took it also to be our heavenly burden. When we yielded ourselves up to Christ to be saved by Him, we in spirit renounced every sin. We felt that we had come out from under the yoke of Satan, and that we made no reserve for the lusts of the flesh that we might obey them, but bowed our necks to the yoke of the Lord Jesus. We put ourselves into Christ’s hands unreservedly, and we said, “Lord, sanctify me, and then use me. Take my body and all its members; take my mind and all its faculties; take my spirit and all the new powers which Thou hast bestowed upon me with it; and let all these be Thine. Reign in me; rule me absolutely, sovereignly, always and alone. I do not ask to be my own, for I am not my own, I am bought with a price.” After we have learned the grand truth that, “if one died for all, then all died,” we infer that “Christ died for all, that we that live might not henceforth live unto ourselves, but unto Him that died for us, and rose again.” Are we not, then, to be true to this blessed compact? “I do remember my faults this day,” says one. Ay, but remember also the vows that still engage you. Do not desire to escape from the sacred bond. ‘This day remember the Lord to whom you dedicated yourself in the days of your youth, perhaps long, years ago, and again entreat Him to take full possession of the purchased possession, and hold it against all comers, for ever. So it ought to be. He that says, “I am in Him” ought also so to walk even as He walked. Obey the sacrifice of Jesus, yield yourselves as living sacrifices; by your hope of being saved by Him put your whole being into His hands to love and serve Him all your days.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1732.cfm

The Father Desires to See Christ in Us

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

He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked. – 1 John 2:6

Why ought we to walk as Jesus did?

When we read the word “ought,” if we are honest men, we begin to look about us and to make enquiries as to the reason and the measure of this obligation. An “ought” is a compulsion to a true heart. There is a “needs be” to every godly man that he should do what he ought.

What, then, is the ground upon which this “ought” is fixed?

It is a part of the original covenant purpose; for “whom He did foreknow He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son.” That is the drift of the plan of grace, the aim of the covenant. Grace looks towards holiness, that there should be a people called forth to whom Christ should be the elder brother, the firstborn among many brethren. You certainly have not had the purpose of God fulfilled in you, dear friend, unless you have been conformed to the image of His dear Son. “He hath chosen us in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.” This is the aim of election; this is the object of redemption; this is the fruit of calling; this is the concomitant of justification; this is the evidence of adoption; this is the earnest of glory; that we should be holy, even as Christ is holy, and in this respect should wear the lineaments of the Son of God. He hath given His own Son to die for us, that we may die to sin; He has given Him to live that we may live like Him. In every one of us the Father desires to see Christ, that so Christ may be glorified in every one of us. Do you not feel this to be an imperative necessity to be laid upon you? Would you have the Lord miss His purpose? You are chosen of God to this end, that you should be “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, zealous of good works,” and what is this but that you should walk even as He walked? ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1732.cfm

Christ Deigns to be Our Example

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God 3 Comments

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. – Ephesians 5:1

The first thing about a Christian is initiation, initiation into Christ: the next thing is imitation, the imitation of Christ. We cannot be Christians unless we are in Christ; and we are not truly in Christ unless in Him we live and move and have our being, and the life of Christ is lived over again by us according to our measure. “Be ye imitators of God, as dear children.” It is the nature of children to imitate their parents. Be ye imitators; of Christ as good soldiers, who cannot have a better model for their soldierly life than their Captain and Lord. Ought we not to be very grateful to Christ that He deigns to be our example? If He were not perfectly able to meet all our other wants, if He were an expiation and nothing else, we should glory in Him as our atoning sacrifice, for we always put that to the front, and magnify the virtue of His precious blood beyond everything: but at the same time we need an example, and it is delightful to find it where we find our pardon and justification. They that are saved from the death of sin need to be guided in the life of holiness, and it is infinitely condescending on the part of Christ that He becomes an example to such poor creatures as we are. It is said to have been the distinguishing mark of Caesar as a soldier that he never said to his followers “Go!” but he always said “Come!” Of Alexander, also, it was noted that in weary marches he was sure to be on foot with his warriors, and in fierce attack’s he always was in the van. The most persuasive sermon is the example which leads the way. This certainly is one trait in the Good Shepherd’s character, “when He putteth forth His own sheep He goeth before them.” If Jesus bids us do anything, He first does it Himself. He would have us wash one another’s feet; and this is the argument-“Ye call Me Master and Lord, and ye say well; for so I am. If I, then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.” Shall we not do as He does whom we profess to follow? He has left His footprints that we may set our feet in them.Will we not joyfully fix our feet upon this royal road? ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1732.cfm