Christian Life

Saints Observed

Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life, promises 3 Comments

Therefore seeing we also are surrounded with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which does so easily ensnare us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us…-Hebrews 12:1

Thou God seest me. -Genesis 16:13

There are more eyes fixed on man than he (knows) of: he sees not as he is seen. He thinks himself obscure and unobserved, but let him remember that a cloud of witnesses hold him in full survey. Wherever he is, at every instant, there are beings whose attention is riveted by his doings, and whose gaze is constantly fixed by his actions… We are taught by the Apostle that the noble army of martyrs, and the glorious company of confessors, are “witnesses” of our race to heaven, for he says, “seeing, then, that we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us.” From yon blue heaven the eyes of the glorified look down on us; there the children of God are sitting on their starry thrones, observing whether we manfully uphold the banner around which they fought; they behold our valour, or they detect our cowardice; and they are intent to witness our valiant deeds of noble daring, or our ignominious retreat in the day of battle… From heaven there look down upon you spirits who see all that finite beings are capable of beholding. But if we think that thought worth treasuring up, there is one which sums up that and drowns it, even as a drop is lost in the ocean; it is the thought, “Thou God seest me.” It is nought that angels see me, it is nought that devils watch me, it is nought that the glorified spirits observe me, compared with the overwhelming truth, that thou God at all times seest me. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0085.cfm

Out of Pawn

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

Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a people for His own, zealous of good works. -Titus 2:14

I must tell you a singular story, which was related at our church meeting, because there may be some very poor people here who may understand the way of salvation by it. One of the friends had been to see a person who was about to join the church; and he said to him, “Can you tell me what you would say to a poor sinner who came to ask you the way of salvation?” “well,” said he, “I do not know-I think I can hardly tell you; but it so happened that a case of this sort did occur yesterday. A poor woman came into my shop, and I told her the way; but it was in such a homely manner that I don’t like to tell you.” “Oh, yes, tell me; I should like to hear it,” “Well, she is a poor woman, who is always pawning her things, and by-and-bye she redeems them again. I did not know how to tell her better than this. I said to her:-‘Look here; your soul is in pawn to the devil; Christ has paid the redemption money; you take faith for your ticket, and so you will get your soul out of pawn.'” Now, that was the most simple, but the most excellent way of imparting a knowledge of salvation to this woman. It is true our souls were pawned to Almighty vengeance; we were poor, and could not pay the redemption money; but Christ came and paid it all, and faith is the ticket which we use to get our souls out of pawn. We need not take a single penny with us; we have only to say, “Here, Lord, I believe in Jesus Christ. I have brought no money to pay for my soul, for there is the ticket; the money has been paid long ago. This is written in thy word: ‘The blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin.'” If thou takest that ticket, thou wilt get thy soul out of pawn; and thou wilt say, “I’m forgiven, I’m forgiven, I’m a miracle of grace.” May God bless you, my friends, for Christ’s sake.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0080.cfm

Thy Other Loves Turned into God’s Rod

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

For whom the LORD loves He corrects; even as a father the son in whom he delights. -Proverbs 3:12

Christian, I would bid thee never put anything else with Christ; for as sure as ever thou dost, thou wilt have the whip for it. There never was a child of God who harboured one of the Lord’s traitors in his heart, but he always had a charge laid against him. God has sent out a search warrant against all of us; and do you know what He has told His officers to search for? He has told them to search for all our lovers, all our treasures, and all our helpers. God cares less about our sins as sins, than He does about our sins, or even our virtues, as usurpers of His throne. I tell thee, there is nothing in the world thou settest thy heart upon that shall not be hung upon a gallows higher than Haman’s. If thou lovest anything but Christ, He will make it to do penance; if thou lovest thy house better than Christ, He will make it a prison to thee; if thou lovest thy child better than Christ, He will make it an adder in thy breast to sting thee; if thou lovest thy daily provisions better than Christ, He will make thy drink bitter and thy food like gravel stones in thy mouth, till thou comest to live wholly on Him. There is nothing which thou hast, which He cannot turn into a rod, if thou lovest it better than Him; and rest assured He will do so, if thou makest it anything to rob thy Christ.

Keep thine eye, then, fixed on Jesus; for if thou dost turn away from Him, how ill wilt thou fare!~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0080.cfm

Give Christ Your All

Sherry Character of Jesus, Christian Life 3 Comments

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. -Mark 12:30

Christian, never join anything with Christ. Wouldest thou stitch thy old rags into the new garment He giveth? Wouldest thou put new wine into old bottles? Wouldst thou put Christ and self together? Thou mightest as well yoke an elephant and an emmet; they could never plough together. What! wouldst thou put an archangel in the same harness with a worm, and hope that they would drag thee through the sky! How inconsistent! how foolish! What! thyself and Christ? Sure, Christ would smile; nay, Christ would weep, to think of such a thing! Christ and man together? …No, it never shall be; He will have nothing of the sort; He must be all. Note how inconsistent it would be to put anything else with Him; and note, again, how wrong it would be. Christ will never bear to have anything else placed with Him. He calls them adulterers and fornicators that love anything else but Him; He will have thy whole heart to trust in Him, thy whole soul to love Him, and thy whole life to honor Him. He will not come into thy house, till thou puttest all the keys at His girdle; He will not allow thee to give Him all the keys but one; He will not come till thou givest Him garret, parlour, drawing-room, and cellar too. He will make thee sing-

“Yet if I might make some reserve,
And duty did not call,
I love my God with zeal so great,
That I should give Him all.”

Mark thee, Christian; it is a sin to keep anything from God. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0080.cfm

The Faith That Delights God

Sherry Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prayer, promises, salvation, The Holy Spirit 1 Comment

So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. -Galatians 3:9

(T)he crown of Christian experience is to be delivered from all trust in self or man, and to be brought to rely wholly and simply on Jesus Christ. I say, Christian, thy highest and noblest experience is not to be groaning about thy corruption, is not to be crying about thy wanderings, but is to say-

“With all my sin, and care, and woe,
His Spirit will not let me go.”

“Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief.” I like what Luther says: “I would run into Christ’s arms if He had a drawn sword in His hands.” Trust is called venturesome believing; but as an old divine says, there is no such thing as venturesome believing; we cannot venture on Christ; it is no venture at all; there is no hap-hazard in the least degree. It is a holy and heavenly experience, when we can go to Christ, amid the storm, and say, “Oh! Jesus, I believe I am covered by Thy blood;” …”Lord, I believe that through Christ Jesus, ragged though I am, I am fully absolved.” A saint’s faith is little faith when he believes as a saint; but a sinner’s faith is true faith when he believes as a sinner. The faith, not of a sinless being, but the faith of a sinful creature-that is the faith which delights God. Go, then, Christian: ask that this may be thy experience, to learn each day, “He only is my rock and my salvation.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0080.cfm

God’s Keeping Grace

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

And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace.-Romans 11:6

Beloved, do you think you would be where you are now if it were not for divine grace? Only think what a strong temptation you had yesterday, they did “consult to cast you down from your excellency;” perhaps you were served like I am sometimes. The devil sometimes seems to drag me right to the edge of a precipice of sin by a kind of enchantment, making me forget the danger by the sweetness which surrounds it; and just when he would push me down, I see the yawning gulf beneath me, and some strong hand is put out and I hear a voice saying, “I will preserve him from going down into the pit; I have found a ransom.” Do you not feel, that ere this sun goes down you will be damned, if grace does not keep you? Have you anything good in your heart that grace did not give you? If I thought I had a grace that did not come from God, I would trample it beneath my feet, as not being a godly virtue; I would guess it to be but a counterfeit, for it could not be right if it did not come from the mind of glory. It may look ever so much like the right thing: but it is certainly bad unless it came from God…  Man! think how many enemies thou hast; how many rivers thou hast to cross, how many mountains to climb, how many dragons to fight, how many lions’ teeth to escape, how many fires to pass through, how many floods to wade. What thinkest thou, man? Can thy salvation be of anything except of God? ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0080.cfm

Perfection is of the Lord Alone

Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life, promises, salvation, The Holy Spirit 3 Comments

And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. -1 Peter 5:4

The perfection we shall soon have, when we shall stand yonder, near God’s throne, will be wholly of the Lord. That bright crown which shall sparkle on our brow, like a constellation of brilliant stars, shall have been fashioned only by our God. I go to a land, but it is a land which the plough of earth hath never upturned, though it be greener than earth’s best pastures, and though it be richer than all her harvests ever saw. I go to a building of more gorgeous architecture than man hath builded; it is not of mortal architecture; it is “a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens”. All I shall know in heaven, will be given by the Lord; and I shall say, when at last I appear before Him,-

“Grace all the work shall crown
Through everlasting days;
It lays in heaven the topmost stone,
And well deserves the praise.”

Looking back on my past life, I can see that the dawning of it all was of God; of God effectively. I took no torch with which to light the sun; but the sun did light me. I did not commence my spiritual life-no, I rather kicked and struggled against the things of the Spirit: when He drew me, for a time, I did not run after Him: there was a natural hatred in my soul of everything holy and good… I am sure you will not be many weeks a Christian, certainly not many months, before you will say, “I ascribe my change wholly to God.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0080.cfm