Christian Life

Heaven’s Sweetest Joy

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prayer, promises, salvation, The Father 6 Comments

“Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” – John 17:24

A few more rolling suns, and you and I shall be in heaven. Go on, O Time! with thy swiftest pinions fly! A few more years, and I shall see His face. O canst thou say, my hearer, “I shall see His face?” Come, thou gray-headed one, nearing the goal of life, canst thou with confidence say, “I know that my Redeemer liveth?” If thou canst say that, it will fill thy soul with joy. I can never think of it without being moved to tears. To think that this head shall wear a crown; that these poor fingers shall strike the harp-strings of everlasting song; that this poor lip, which now faintly tells the wonders of redeeming grace, shall join with cherubim and seraphim, and rival them in melody. Is it not too good to be true? Does it not seem sometimes as if the very greatness of the thought overwhelmed our faith? But true it is, and though too great for us to receive it, it is not too great for God to give. We shall be with Him where He is. Yes, John; thou laidst thy head upon thy Saviour’s bosom once, and I have ofttimes envied thee; but I shall have thy place by-and-bye. Yes, Mary; it was thy sweet delight to sit at thy Master’s feet, while Martha was cumbered with her much serving. I too, am too much cumbered with this world; but I shall leave my Martha’s cares in the tomb and sit to hear thy Master’s voice. Yes, O spouse, thou didst ask to be kissed with the kisses of His lips, and what thou askedst for poor humanity shall yet see. And the poorest, meanest, and most illiterate of you, who have trusted in Jesus, shall yet put your lip to the lip of your Saviour, not as Judas did, but with a true “Hail, Master!” you shall kiss Him. And then, wrapped in the beams of His love, as a dim star is eclipsed in the sunlight, so shall you sink into the sweet forgetfulness of ecstacy, which is the best description we can give of the joys of the redeemed. “Father, I will that they whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am.” That is heaven’s sweetest joy, to be with Christ.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0188.cfm

Nothing Coming Between Us in Heaven

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation 8 Comments

So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory. – 1 Corinthians 15:54

We have our hours of contemplation, when we do draw near to Jesus, but alas! how the world steps in and interrupts even our most quiet moments-the shop, the field, the child, the wife, the head, perhaps the very heart, all these are interlopers between ourselves and Jesus. Christ loves quiet; He will not talk to our souls in the busy market place, but He says, “Come, My love, into the vineyard, get thee away into the villages, there will I show thee My love.” But when we go to the villages, behold the Philistine is there, the Canaanite has invaded the land. When we would be free from all thought except thought of Jesus, the wandering band of Bedouin thoughts come upon us, and they take away our treasures, and spoil our tents. We are like Abraham with his sacrifice; we lay out the pieces ready for the burning, but foul birds come to feast on the sacrifice which we desire to keep for our God and for Him alone. We have to do as Abraham did; “When the birds came down upon the sacrifice, Abraham drove them away.” But in heaven there shall be no interruption, no weeping eyes shall make us for a moment pause in our vision, no earthly joys, no sensual delights, shall create a discord in our melody; there shall we have no fields to till, no garment to spin, no wearied limb, no dark distress, no burning thirst, no pangs of hunger, no weepings of bereavement; we shall have nought to do or think upon, but for ever to gaze upon that Sun of Righteousness, with eyes that cannot be blinded, and with a heart that can never be weary; to lie in those arms for ever; throughout a whole eternity to be pressed to His bosom, to feel the beatings of His ever faithful heart; to drink His love; to be satisfied for ever with His favor, and full with the goodness of the Lord! Oh! if we have only to die to get to such delights as these, death is gain, it is swallowed up in victory.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0188.cfm

How Sweet to Gaze on that Blessed Face

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation 7 Comments

Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. – 1 John 3:2

Even the sweetest visits from Christ, how short they are! Christ comes and goes very much like an angel; His visits are few and far between with the most of us, and oh! so short-alas, too short for bliss. One moment our eyes see Him, and we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, but again a little time and we do not see Him, our beloved withdraws Himself from us; like a roe or a young hart He leaps over the mountain of division; He is gone back to the land of spices, and feeds no more among the lilies.

“If to-day He deigns to bless us
With a sense of pardoned sin,
He to-morrow may distress us,
Make us feel the plague within”

Oh, how sweet the prospect of the time when we shall not see Him at a distance, but face to face. There is a sermon in those words, “face to face.” And then we shall not see Him for a little time, but

“Millions of years our wondering eyes,
Shall o’er our Saviour’s beauties rove;
And myriad ages we’ll adore,
The wonders of His love.”

Oh, if it is sweet to see Him now and then, how sweet to gaze on that blessed face for aye, and never have a cloud rolling between, and never have to turn one’s eyes away to look on a world of weariness and woe! Blest days! when shall ye come, when our companionship with Christ shall be close and uninterrupted? ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0188.cfm

Given to Christ by God

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prayer, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Father, The Holy Spirit 7 Comments

“Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am…” – John 17:24

Answer this question-Have you given yourselves to Christ? Have you been brought, by the constraining power of His own free love, to make a voluntary surrender of yourself to Him? Have you said, “O Lord, other lords have had dominion over me; but now I reject them, and I give myself up to Thee…Little am I worth, but such as I am, I give all I have and all I am to Thee. It is true, I was never worth Thy purchasing, but since Thou hast bought me, Thou shalt have me. Lord, I make a full surrender of myself to Thee.” Well, soul, if thou hast done this, if thou hast given thyself to Christ, it is but the result of that ancient grant made by Jehovah to His son long ere the worlds were made. And, once again, canst thou feel to-day that thou art Christ’s? If thou canst not remember the time when He sought thee and brought thee to Himself, yet canst thou say with the spouse “I am my Beloved’s?” Can you now from your inmost soul say, “Whom have I in heaven but Thee, and there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee!” If so, trouble not your minds about election, there is nothing troublesome in election to you. He that believes is elected, he who is given to Christ now, was given to Christ from before the foundation of the world. You need not dispute divine decrees, but sit down and draw honey out of this rock, and wine out of this flinty rock. Oh, it is a hard, hard doctrine to a man who has no interest in it, but when a man has once a title to it, then it is like the rock in the wilderness, it streams with refreshing water whereat myriads may drink and never thirst again.

Again, I say, be not cast down, neither let your hearts be disconsolate. If you be given to Christ now, you are among the happy number for whom He intercedes above, and you shall be gathered amongst the glorious throng, to be with Him where He is, and to behold His glory. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0188.cfm

Soldiers of the Cross

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation 12 Comments

But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God… For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. – Acts 20:24, 27

Brethren, you and I are soldiers, soldiers of the cross, and at this hour worlds are rushing to the shock. The fight is thickening, and we are warriors! Shame upon the craven who stays from the battle. The trump is sounding to-day. Mohammed has waked from his sleep; the Moslem, with bloody hands, has sought to slay our race; the Hindoo, too, the meek-eyed Hindoo, his eyes have glared like the eyes of his tiger, and his lips have smacked with gore. The battle is raging. Not there alone. Popery hath aroused itself, with mighty effort it is endeavoring to win back this gem of the sea, this first isle of the ocean. Infidelity, too, is on the stir; her myrmidons are flying here and there. Everything is awake, except the church of God. Oh! rouse ye, men and brethren; rouse, now that the fight is at its fullest fury. Now is the time for our most desperate valour, our most earnest zeal. Let each, as he is able, help this great cause; and above all let us all in our spheres be preachers of the gospel,

“Seeking to tell to others round,
What a dear Saviour we have found.”

~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0189.cfm

Help for the Maniac

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, salvation 3 Comments

There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us. – Acts 16:9

Do you not know that the loudest eloquence is silence? To move the heart of the right-minded, ye need not the declamation of the orator. The sight of silent, dumb misery is the highest eloquence to a tender heart. It is true, I must confess it the nations of the earth do not vocally ask for your help; nay, worse than that, if you send them the help of the gospel, they will many of them reject it. Your missionaries have been slain, -the altars of false gods have been stained with their blood; but still I solemnly repeat it the nations of the earth are silently crying, “Come over and help us.” If I see a person in the street sick, faint, and dying, although he spoke not to me, though he asked me not to befriend him, I should think the weakness of his silence more potent than all the power of words. Ay, and if I saw him like a maniac, rejecting my help and pushing me from him, if I was convinced that he was really a maniac, for that very reason that he needed my help, I would thrust my alms upon him, I would willingly give him my help and assistance, and so must you do…It is ours to thrust our kindness upon unwilling men, because we believe that their unwillingness arises from the madness of their disease. Let us take the poor man that has fallen among thieves. Let us pour in the oil and the wine, and if he doth not receive it gratefully, because he is faint, if he putteth his hand upon the wound, and rends away the liniment, and unbinds the plaster, nevertheless. let us bind him up again, and set him upon our own beast, and carry him to the inn. Let us pay for the lodging even though as yet he cannot speak to thank us; and the day shall come, when the wound is healed, and the burning fever is removed, when his brain is cool, and his reason restored, that he shall fall at our feet and kiss the hand that once he spurned. Unborn generations shall bless the men that sent the gospel, which at first their fathers did reject.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0189.cfm

To See God’s Elect Ingathered

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God 4 Comments

And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! – Romans 10:15

Beloved, the greatest help that the gospel brings is help to the soul. Ah, Christian men, ye know what this means: your brothers and sisters are this day wandering blindfold, they know not whither. Ye know, for the Bible tells you that they are wending their weary way down to the gulf of black despair! Oh does not your heart desire that the blind eye should be opened, that the misguided should be directed on the path to heaven: would not your pity desire to snatch the fire brand from the flame? Do you not anxiously seek to know how you can lead the vicious to virtue, and the virtuous to the righteousness that is in Jesus Christ? Have you no desire to see God’s elect ingathered, to see them washed, and sanctified, and perfected? Remember this is to be, and since it is to be it is certain that ye must send the gospel far and wide, for by no other means can God’s elect be gathered home. How can they believe without a preacher? How can they preach except they be sent? The gospel must go throughout all lands, that the elect may be gathered home, and the Messiah’s kingdom come. Oh! ye who love the souls of men, is it to you an awful thought that hell’s caverns are filling; is it a dreary thing to you to see the broad road so crowded with its many travelers? You are longing and wishing that the narrow way might have more pilgrims, I beseech you, then, look to it, that by every mean. and by all means ye aid the preaching of the gospel of Jesus; for it is the help for which the earth calls, and the help which you must render to it. Come over and help us by preaching Christ’s holy gospel. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0189.cfm