Christian Life

Extra Time in Prayer

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prayer, promises, The Holy Spirit 3 Comments

But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. -1 Corinthians 2:9

Ordinary closet prayer will only make ordinary Christians of us. It is in extraordinary seasons, when we are led by God to devote, say an hour, to earnest prayer; when we feel an impulse, we scarce know why, to cut off a portion of our time during the day to go alone. Then, beloved, we kneel down, and begin to pray in earnest. It may be that we are attacked by the devil; for when the enemy knows we are going to have a great blessing, he always makes a great noise to drive us away; but if we keep at it, we shall soon get into a quiet frame of mind, and hear him roaring at a distance. Presently you get hold of the Angel, and say, “Lord, I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me.” He asks your name. You begin to tell him what your name was:

“Once a sinner, near despair,
Sought Thy mercy-seat by prayer;
Mercy heard and set him free;
Lord, that mercy came to me.”

You say, “What is Thy name, Lord?” He will not tell you. You hold Him fast still; at last He deigns to bless you. That is certainly some foretaste of heaven, when you feel alone with Jesus. Let no man know your prayers; they are between God and yourselves; but if you want to know much of heaven, spend some extra time in prayer; for God then reveals it to us by His Spirit. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0056.cfm

The Season of Quiet Contemplation

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, The Holy Spirit 4 Comments

My beloved spoke, and said to me: “Rise up, my love, my fair one, And come away…” -Song of Songs 2:10

There are precious hours, blessed be God, when we forget the world-times and seasons when we get quite away from it, when our weary spirit wings its way far, far from scenes of toil and strife. There are precious moments when the angel of contemplation gives us a vision. He comes and puts his finger on the lip of the noisy world; he bids the wheels that are continually rattling in our ears be still; and we sit down, and there is a solemn silence of the mind. We find our heaven and our God; we engage ourselves in contemplating the glories of Jesus, or mounting upwards towards the bliss of heaven-in going backward to the great secrets of electing love, in considering the immutability of the blessed covenant, in thinking of what wind which “bloweth where it listeth,” in remembering our own participation of that life which cometh from God, in thinking of our blood-bought union with the Lamb, of the consummation of our marriage with Him in realms of light and bliss, or any such kindred topics. Then it is that we know a little about heaven.

Christian! when you are enabled by the Spirit to hold a season of sweet contemplation, then you can say, “But He hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit;” for the joys of heaven are akin to the joys of contemplation, and the joys of a holy calm in God.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0056.cfm

Of Holy Calm and Trust

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

But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. -1 Corinthians 2:9

We think a Christian gets a gaze of what heaven is when, in the midst of trials and troubles, he is able to cast all his care upon the Lord because He careth for him. When waves of distress and billows of affliction pass over the Christian there are times when his faith is so strong that he lies down and sleeps though the hurricane is thundering in his ears and though billows are rocking him like a child in its cradle, though the earth is removed and the mountains are carried into the midst of the sea, he says, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” Famine and desolation come; but he says, “Though the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall there be fruit on the vine, though the labour of the olive shall fail, and the field shall yield no increase, yet will I trust in the Lord, and stay myself on the God of Jacob.” Affliction smites him to the ground; he looks up, and says, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.” The blows that are given to him are like the lashing of a whip upon the water, covered up immediately, and he seems to feel nothing. It is not stoicism; it is the peculiar sleep of the beloved. “So He giveth His beloved sleep.” Persecution surrounds him; but he is unmoved. Heaven is something like that; a place of holy calm and trust:

“That holy calm, that sweet repose,
Which none but he who feels it knows.
This heavenly calm within the breast
Is the dear pledge of glorious rest,
Which for the church of God remains,
The end of cares, the end of pains.”

~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0056.cfm

The Deep Things of God

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

As it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.-1 Corinthians 2:9-10

How very frequently at our prayer meetings do we hear our brethren describing heaven as a place of which we cannot conceive! They say, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him;” and there they stop, not seeing that the very marrow of the whole passage lies in this: “But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit.”

Any one who reads the connection will discover that the apostle is not talking about heaven at all. He is only speaking of this: that the wisdom of this world is not able to discover the things of God; that the merely carnal mind is not able to know the deep spiritual things of our most holy religion. He says, “We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory, which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.”…”But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” I take it, that this text is a great general fact, capable of specific application to certain cases; and that the great fact is this: that the things of God cannot be perceived by eye, and ear, and heart, but must be revealed by the Spirit of God; as they are unto all true believers. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0056.cfm

They Did See Him

Sherry Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, The Holy Spirit 3 Comments

And that He was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve. After that He was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that He was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all He was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. -1 Corinthians 15:5-8

The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is one of the best attested facts on record. There were so many witnesses to behold it, that if we do in the least degree receive the credibility of men’s testimonies, we cannot and we dare not doubt that Jesus rose from the dead. It is all very easy for infidels to say that these persons were deceived, but it is equally foolish, for these persons could not every one of them have been so positively deceived as to say that they had seen this man, whom they knew to have been dead, afterwards alive; they could not all, surely, have agreed together to help on this imposture: if they did, it is the most marvelous thing we have on record, that not one of them ever broke faith with the others, but that the whole mass of them remained firm. We believe it to be quite impossible that so many rogues should have agreed for ever. They were men who had nothing to gain by it; they subjected themselves to persecution by affirming the very fact; they were ready to die for it, and did die for it. Five hundred or a thousand persons who had seen Him at different times, declared that they did see Him, and that He rose from the dead; the fact of His death having been attested beforehand. How, then, dare any man say that the Christian religion is not true, when we know for a certainty that Christ died and rose again from the dead? And knowing that, who shall deny the divinity of the Saviour? Who shall say that He is not mighty to save? Our faith hath a solid basis, for it hath all these witnesses on which to rest, and the more sure witness of the Holy Spirit witnessing in our hearts. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0066.cfm

Take Care of Your Body

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

Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? -1 Corinthians 3:16

If your bodies are to dwell in heaven, I beseech you take care of them. I do not mean, take care of what you eat and drink, and wherewithal you shall be clothed; but I mean, take care that you do not let your bodies be polluted by sin. If this throat is to warble for ever with songs of glory, let not words of lust defile it. If these eyes are to see the King in His beauty, even let this be your prayer, “Turn off my eyes from beholding vanities.” If these hands are to hold a palm branch, oh, let them never take a bribe, let them never seek after evil. If these feet are to walk the golden streets, let them not be swift after mischief. If this tongue is for ever to talk of all He said and did, ah! let it not utter light and frothy things. And if this heart is to pulsate for ever with bliss, I beseech you give it not unto strangers; neither let it wander after evil. If this body is to live for ever, what care we ought to take of it; for our bodies are temples of the Holy Ghost, and they are members of the Lord Jesus. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0066.cfm

The Incorruptible Temple

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

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? -1 Corinthians 6:19

This body, Paul says, is the temple of the Holy Ghost; and where the Holy Ghost dwells in a body, He not only sanctifies it, but renders it eternal. The temple of the Holy Ghost is as eternal as the Holy Ghost. You may demolish other temples and their gods too, but the Holy Ghost cannot die, nor “can His temple perish.” Shall this body which has once had the Holy Ghost in it be always food for worms? Shall it never be seen more, but be like the dry bones of the valley? No; the dry bones shall live, and the temple of the Holy Ghost shall be built up again. Though the legs, the pillars, of that temple fall-though the eyes, the windows of it be darkened, and those that look out of them see no more, yet God shall re-build this fabric, re-light the eyes, and restore its pillars and regild it with beauty, yea, “this mortal shall put on immortality, and this corruptible put on incorruption.

If Christ rose from the dead then all His people must; that if there be no resurrection, then is Christ not risen…As Christ actually rose from the dead, flesh and bones, so shall we. Christ was not a spirit when He rose from the dead; His body could be touched. Did not Thomas put his hand into His side? and did not Christ say, “Handle Me, and see. A spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see Me have.”…There is one body for the soul here, and another body for the spirit up there; and yet it shall be the same body that will rise again from the grave; the same I say in identity, though not in glory or in adaptation. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0066.cfm