Christian Life

In This World We Have No Home

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, prophecy, salvation, Sovereignty of God 1 Comment

But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for He hath prepared for them a city. -Hebrews 11:16

Abraham left his country at God’s command and he never went back again. The proof of faith lies in perseverance…The Apostle tells us, however, that the people of God were not forced to continue because they could not return…Frequent opportunities came in their way. There was communication kept up between them and the old family house at Padan-Aram. They had news concerning the family house. More than that, there were messages exchanged; servants were sometimes sent. There was also a natural relationship kept up. Did not Rebekah come from thence? And Jacob, one of the patriarchs, was driven to go down into the land; but he could not stay there; he was always unrestful, until at last he stole a march upon Laban and came back to the proper life, the life that he had chosen-the life that God had commanded him to live-of a pilgrim and stranger in the land of promise. .

Now our position is a very similar one. As many of us as have believed in Christ Jesus have been called out… I trust we know what it is to have gone without the camp bearing Christ’s reproach. Henceforth in this world we have no home…Our home is beyond the flood. We are looking for it among the unseen things. We are strangers and sojourners, as all our fathers were; dwellers in this wilderness, passing through it to reach the Canaan which is to be the land of our perpetual inheritance. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3478.cfm

The Lord’s Battlements

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

For all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. – 2 Corinthians 1:20 

The Christian man can go away with the reflection that his battlements can never be taken away, because they are the Lord’s. We rely upon the electing love of Jehovah-Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; we trust in the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ, the Everlasting Son; we depend wholly upon the merits, blood, and righteousness of Jehovah-Tsidkenu-the Lord our righteousness; we are confiding in the Holy Spirit. We confess that we are nothing of ourselves-that it is not of him that willeth, or of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. We do not acknowledge one scrap of the creature in our salvation nor one atom of self; we rely entirely upon covenant love, upon covenant mercy, covenant oaths, covenant faithfulness, covenant immutability, and resting on these, we know our battlements cannot be taken away. Oh, Christian! with these walls surrounded thou mayest laugh at all thy foes. Can the devil touch thee now? He shall only look upon thee and despair. Can doubts and fears take away our battlements? No: they stand fast and firm, and our poor fears are but as straws dashed against the wall by the wind; for, “though we believe not, yet He abideth faithful,” and not all the temptations of a sinful world, or our own carnal hearts, can separate us from the Saviour’s love. We have a city, the walls of which are mighty, the foundations of which are eternal; we have a God who says, “I the Lord do keep her, and do water her every moment, lest any hurt her, I will keep her day and night.” Trust Christian, here, salvation shall God appoint for walls and bulwarks. Surrounded with these, thou mayest smile at all thy foes. But take heed you add nothing to them, for if ye do, the message will be, Take away the battlements, they are not the Lord’s.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0038.cfm

By Sovereign Mercy

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

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God -Ephesians 2:8

“Ah!” says the man, “I see I am a lost and ruined sinner-my hope has deceived me; but I have another wall I can make myself better. I can build and repair.” So he begins piling up the wall, and sits down behind it. He makes the covenant of grace into a covenant of works. He thinks faith is a kind of work, and that we are saved for it. He imagines we are to believe and repent, and that we thus earn salvation. He denies that faith and repentance are God’s gifts only, and sits down behind his self-sufficiency, thinking, “I can do all that,” Oh! blessed day when God directs his shots against that. I know I hugged that old idea a long while with my “cans,” “cans,” “cans;” but I found my “cans “would hold no water, and suffered all I put in to run out. There came an election sermon; but that did not please me. There came a law sermon, showing me my powerlessness; but I did not believe it; I thought it was the whim of some old experimental Christian, some dogma of ancient times that would not suit men now. Then there came another sermon, concerning death and sin; but I did not believe I was dead, for I knew I was alive enough, and could repent, and set myself right by-and-bye. Then there came a strong exhortation sermon; but I felt I could set my house in order when I liked, that I could do it next Tuesday week as well as I could do it at once. So did I continually trust in my self-sufficiency. At last, however, when God really brought me to myself, He sent one great shot which shivered it all, and, lo, I found myself utterly defenseless. I thought I was more than mighty angels, and could accomplish all things, then I found myself less than nothing. So also every truly convinced sinner finds that repentance and faith must come from God, that reliance must be placed alone on the Most High; and instead of looking to himself, he is forced to cast himself at the feet of sovereign mercy. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0038.cfm

Take Care of Your Graces, Christians!

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, confession of sin, repentance, salvation, Sovereignty of God Leave a comment

For the LORD shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken. -Proverbs 3:26

“My bad works,” said Erskine, “Always drove me to the Saviour for mercy; my good works often kept me from Him, and I began to trust in myself.” Is it not so with us? We often get a pleasing opinion of ourselves: we are preaching so many times a week, we attend so many prayer meetings; we are doing good in the Sabbath-school; we are valuable deacons; important members of the church; we are giving away so much in charity; and we say, “Surely I am a child of God-I must be. I am an heir of heaven. Look at me! See what robes I wear. Have I not indeed a righteousness about me that proves me to be a child of God?” Then we begin to trust in ourselves, and say, “Surely I cannot be moved, my mountain standeth firm and fast.” …Many a Christian owes his falls to a presumptuous confidence in his graces. I conceive that outward sin is not more abhorbed by God than this most wicked sin of reliance on ourselves. May none of you ever learn your own weakness by reading a black book of your own backslidings. More to be desired is the other method of God when He sends the light of the Spirit into the heart, and developes our corruption; Satan comes roaring there, conscience begins calling out, “Man you are not perfect.” All the corruptions burst up like a volcano that had slept for a little moment. We are taken into the dark chambers of imagery; we look at ourselves, and say, “Where are my battlements gone?” We go to the hill-top again, and see the battlements are all gone. We go by the side of the city-they are all departed. Then we go again to Christ, and say,

“I, the chief of sinners am,
Jesus died for me.”
“Nothing in my hands I bring;
Simply to Thy cross I cling.”

Heaven smiles again, for now the heart is right, and the soul is in the most fitting position. Take care of your graces, Christians! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0038.cfm

Our Only Joy

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

But let all those that put their trust in Thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because Thou defendest them: let them also that love Thy name be joyful in Thee. -Psalm 5:11

The first thing, dearly beloved brethren, whereof we often make a fortress wherein to hide, is-the love of the creature. The Christians’ happiness should be in God, and God alone. He should be able to say, “All my springs are in Thee. From Thee, and Thee alone, I ever draw my bliss.” Christ in His person, His grace, His offices, His mercy, ought to be our only joy, and our glory should be that.” Christ is all.” But beloved, we are too much inclined by nature to hew out for ourselves broken cisterns that hold no water. There is a drop or two of comfort somewhere in the bottom of the leaky pitcher, and until it is dried up, we do not believe it is broken at all. We trust in that sooner than in the fountain of living waters. Now whenever any of us foolishly make a battlement of the creature, God will say to afflictions-“Go ye up against her: take away her battlements, for they are not the Lord’s.”

Oh, what a mercy it is that He does not make a “full end,” beloved!..There may be an end of our hopes, an end of our faith, an end of our confidence at times, but it is not a full end… Though He has taken away many joys, and blasted many hopes, though many of our fair flowers have been blighted, He has left something. One star will twinkle in the sky, one faint lamp glimmers from yonder distant cottage-thou art not quite lost, O wanderer of the night. He has not made a full end; but He may do so unless we come to Him. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0038.cfm

The Bulwark of Extreme Caution

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

For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. -Acts 20:27

I think that the worst battlement the churches have now, is an earthwork of great and extreme caution. It is held to be improper that certain obnoxious truths in the Bible should be preached; sundry reasons are given why they should be withheld. One is, because it tends to discourage men from coming to Christ. Another is, because certain persons will be offended on account of these rough edges of the gospel. Some would say, “O keep them back! You need not preach such and such a doctrine. Why preach distinguishing grace? Why divine sovereignty? Why election? why perseverance? why effectual calling? These are calculated to offend the people, they cannot endure such truths.” If you tell them about the love of Christ, and the vast mercy of God, and such like it will always be pleasing and satisfying; but you must never preach deep searching law-work, you must not be cutting at the heart and sending the lancet into the soul-that would be dangerous. Hence most churches are shielding themselves behind an ignominious bulwark of extreme caution. You never hear their ministers spoken against; they are quite safe behind the screen you will be very much puzzled to tell what are the real doctrinal views of our modern divines. I believe you will pick up in some poor humble chapel more doctrinal knowledge in half an hour, than in some of your larger chapels in half a century. God’s church must be brought once more to rely upon the pure truth, upon the simple gospel, the unalloyed doctrines of the grace of God. O may this church never have any bulwark but the promises of God! May He be her strength and shield!…And whether men hear, or whether they forbear, may we say-

“Should all the forms that men devise
Assault my soul with treach’rous art
I’ll call them vanities and lies
And bind the gospel to my heart.”

~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0038.cfm

Put No Faith in Man’s Word

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

The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof? -Jeremiah 5:31

There are some churches relying upon learning and erudition. The learning of their ministers seems to be a great fort, bastion, and castle. They say for instance “What do these uneducated and unrefined preachers? Of what use are they. We like men of sound argument, men who give a large amount of biblical criticism, who can decide this, that, and the other.” They rely upon their minister; he is their tower of strength; he is their all in all. He happens to be a learned man. They say, “What is the use for any one to oppose him? See the amount of his learning! Why his enemies would be cut in pieces, because he is so mighty and learned.” Never let it be said that I have despised learning or true knowledge. Let us have as much as we can. We thank God when men of learning are brought into the church, when God renders then useful. But the church now-a-days is beginning to trust too much to learning, relying too much on philosophy, and upon the understanding of man instead of the Word of God. I do believe a large proportion of professing Christians have their faith in the word of man, and not in the word of God. They say, “Such-and-such a divine said so; that so-and-so beautifully explained that passage, and it must be right.” But whatever church shall do this, God will say, “Go ye up upon her walls; make not a full end; take away her battlements; for they are not the Lord’s.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0038.cfm