Christian Life

Blessed Axe of Sorrow

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

In which you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you are in heaviness through manifold trials: -1 Peter 1:6

It may be asked, what is the method by which trial strengthens faith? We might answer in various ways. Trial takes away many of the impediments of faith. Carnal security is the worst foe to confidence in God. If I sit down and say, “Soul, take thine ease, thou hast much goods laid up for many years;” faith’s road is barricaded, but adversity sets the barn on a blaze, and “the much goods laid up for many years,” cease to block up the path of faith. Oh, blessed axe of sorrow, which clears a pathway for me to my God by cutting down the thick trees of my earthly comforts! When I say, “My mountain standeth firm, I shall never be moved,” the visible fortification, rather than the invisible protector, engages my attention; but when the great earthquake shakes the rocks, and the mountain is swallowed up, I fly to the immovable Rock of Ages to build my confidence on high. Worldly ease is a great foe to faith; it loosens the joints of holy valour, and snaps the sinews of scared courage. The balloon never rises until the cords are cut: affliction doth this sharp service for believing souls. While the wheat sleeps comfortable in the husk it is useless to man, it must be threshed out of its resting-place before its value can be known. Trial plucks the arrow of faith from the repose of the quiver, and shoots it against the foe.

…trial is of special service to faith when it drives her to her God. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0585.cfm

Why An Afflicted and Poor People?

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

Thus saith the Lord, by the mouth of the prophet,

I will also leave in the midst of you an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the LORD. -Zephaniah 3:12

Now, why afflicted and poor? Because there is an adaptation in the afflicted and poor among the Lord’s people, to trust in the Lord. He does not say, “I will leave in the midst of thee a prosperous and rich people, and they shall trust.” No! these scarcely seem to have such capacity for faith as the afflicted ones have. Rather, “I will leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people,” and they, by reason of their very affliction and poverty, shall be the more graciously disposed to repose their faith in the Lord. Untried faith is always small in stature; and it is likely to remain dwarfish so long as it is without trials. There is no room in the placid pools of ease for faith to gain leviathan proportions, she must dwell in the stormy sea if she would be one of the chief of the ways of God. Tried faith brings experience; and every one of you who are men and women of experience, must know that experience makes religion become more real to you. You never know either the bitterness of sin or the sweetness of pardon, till you have felt both. You never know your own weakness till you have been compelled to go through the rivers, and you would never have known God’s strength had you not been supported amid the water-floods. All the talk about religion which is not based upon an experience of it is mere talk. If we have little experience, we cannot speak so positively as those can whose experience has been more deep and profound. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0585.cfm

Tempests are Trainers

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

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer various trials, so that the authenticity of your faith…may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. -1 Peter 1:6-7

Faith untried may be true faith, but it is sure to be little faith. I believe in the existence of faith in men who have no trials, but that is as far as I can go. I am persuaded, brethren, that where there is no trial faith just draws breath enough to live, but that is all; for faith, like the fabled salamander, has fire for its native element. Faith never prospers so well as when all things are against her: tempests are trainers, and the lightnings are her illuminators. When a calm reigns on the sea, spread the sails as you will, the ship moves not to its harbour; for on a slumbering ocean the keel sleeps too. Let the winds come howling forth, and let the waters lift up themselves, then, though the vessel may rock, and her deck may be washed with waves, and her mast may creak under the pressure of the full and swelling sail, yet it is then that she makes headway towards her desired haven. No flowers wear so lovely a blue as those which grow at the foot of the frozen glacier; no stars so bright as those which glisten in the polar sky; no water so sweet as that which springs amid the desert sand; and no faith so precious as that which lives and triumphs in adversity. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0585.cfm

For Your Sake

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

Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him”- John 11:14-15

There lived in the little village of Bethany a very happy family. There was neither father nor mother in it: the household consisted of the unmarried brother, Lazarus, and his sisters, Martha and Mary, who dwelt together in unity so good and pleasant that there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore. This affectionate trio were all lovers of the Lord Jesus Christ, and were frequently favoured with His company….But, alas! affliction cometh everywhere; virtue may sentinel the door, but grief is not to be excluded from the homestead…Lazarus sickens. It is a mortal sickness beyond the power of physicians. What is the first thought of the sisters but to send for their friend Jesus?…”I am glad,” saith He, “for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe.” Ah! we see it now: Christ is not glad because of sorrow, but only on account of the result of it. He knew that this temporary trial would help His disciples to a greater faith, and He so prizes their growth in faith that He is even glad of the sorrow which occasions it. He does as good as say, “I am glad for your sakes that I was not there to prevent the trouble, for now that it is come, it will teach you to believe in Me, and this shall be much better for you than to have been spared the affliction.”

We have thus plainly before us the principle, that our Lord in His infinite wisdom and superabundant love, sets so high a value upon His people’s faith, that He will not screen them from those trials by which faith is strengthened.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0585.cfm

Faith’s Plea: Do As Thou Hast Said

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

Confirm to Your servant Your promise, that You may be feared. -Psalm 119:38

(M)y dear friends…there is always some special promise to you; and you have only to turn your Bible over and find it out, and then go to God with “Do as Thou hast said.” Let me just select a few characters. There is one here, exceeding faint in the ways of the Lord. “Oh!” he says, “I am faint, though I hope I am pursuing.” Now, here is the promise,-“He giveth power unto the faint;” When you get such a promise, stick hard and fast to it; do not let the devil cheat you out of it, but keep on saying, “Lord, Thou hast said, He giveth power unto the faint.” “Do as Thou hast said.”…Are you covered all over with sin, and under a deep sense of your iniquities? Go and tell Him this: “Thou hast said, ‘I will cast their iniquities into the depths of the sea.’ Lord, I know I have these sins; I do not deny it; but Thou hast said, ‘I will pardon them.’ I have no reason why Thou shouldst pardon them; I cannot promise that I shall be better; but, Lord, Thou hast said it, and that is enough; ‘Do as Thou hast said.'” Another one here is afraid lest he should not be able to hold on to the end, and lest after having been a child of God he should be a cast-away. Then, if that be thy state, go and take this to God: “The mountains may depart, and the hills may be removed, but the covenant of My love shall not depart from you;” and when you are thinking that your Saviour is going away, catch hold of His skirts, and say, “Jesus, do as Thou hast said. Thou hast said, ‘I will never leave thee;’ ‘do as Thou hast said.'”…And if Satan says, “He is gone away, and will never come back again,” tell Satan he has nothing to do with it; God has said it, and keep to this, “Do as Thou hast said.” If you do that, you will want no other argument and no other reason.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0088.cfm

He Abides Faithful

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

If we believe not, yet He abides faithful: He cannot deny Himself. -2 Timothy 2:13

Beloved, to suppose that God could violate His promise, is to suppose Him divested of His Godhead. Take away God’s honour from Him, and He becomes less than man…”Oh! sir,” you say, “but I do not deserve it; I am such a poor worthless creature, He will not keep His promise to me.” I tell you that does not make a whit difference in God’s promise; if He has promised, He is divinely bound to perform His promise, in whatever state you may be…Hear the promise, then, once more, Are you a sinner? “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, even the chief.” And, again: “He is able to save unto the uttermost them that come unto God by Him.” And, again: “Come unto Me, all ye that are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” And let me say again, with the profoundest reverence, that if Christ did not give rest to every weary heavy laden sinner that came to Him, He would be un-Christed, He would lose His truthfulness, He would be undeified, He would lose His veracity, and the loss of one poor believing sinner would be the loss of God’s own godhead; it would be the dethroning of the immortal; it would be the pulling down of heaven, the breaking asunder of the universe, and the dissolution of creation’s own earth, and of creation’s self. Faith may well go to God, and say, “Lord, do as Thou hast said; for if Thou dost not, it will be a dishonor to Thyself.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0088.cfm

Thou Art a True God

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

That by two immutable things, in that it was impossible for God to lie, we might have strong encouragement, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: -Hebrews 6:18

If you should say to faith, “Faith, why do you expect God to do as He has said it, why do you expect it?” Faith would answer, “I have a whole bundle of reasons that justify the act. And in the first place, I have a right to expect Him to do as He has said, because He is a true God; I know He cannot lie. He has said He will give me such-and-such a thing; if He was not a truthful God, I would not say, ‘do as Thou hast said!’ but since He is a true God, and never was known to break His promise, and since, moreover, by two immutable things, wherein it is impossible for God to lie-His oath and His promise-He has made the thing secure; and since I know that in Christ all the promises are yea and amen, I think I have good reason enough for going to Him and saying, ‘do as Thou hast said.’ If He were some fallible being who promised and would not perform, I might hesitate somewhat; but since He is always true and constantly precious, I will go and say to Him, ‘Lord, do as Thou hast said.'” Poor sinner! God has said, “He that confesseth his sin shall find mercy.” Now, if you go to God, you want no other plea than this,-“Lord, do as Thou hast said;’ ‘I have confessed my sins;’ ‘do as Thou hast said.'” “But, sinner, why should I do as I have said? you do not deserve it.” “Lord, Thou art a true God.”

“Thou hast promised to forgive,
All who on Thy Son believe;
Lord I know Thou canst not lie,
Give me Christ or else I die.”

Go, poor sinner, tell the Lord that, and as truly as He is God, He will never send you empty away. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0088.cfm