Christian Life

Giving Our Heavy Troubles to God

Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life, promises 1 Comment

Cast your burden on the LORD, And He shall sustain you -Psalm 55:22

He shall never permit the righteous to be moved. Things which we reckon great are very little with God. If ye knew what God thought of our talk sometimes, you would be surprised at yourselves. We have some great trouble- we go burdened with it, saying, “O Lord God! what a great trouble I am burdened with.” Why, methinks, God might smile at us, as we do sometimes at a little child who takes up a load too heavy for it (but which ye could hold between your fingers), and staggereth, and saith, “Father, what a weight I am carrying.” So there are people who stagger under the great trouble which they think they are bearing. Great, beloved! There are no great troubles at all: “the clouds are the dust of His feet.” If you would but so consider them, the greatest things with you are but little things with God. Suppose, now, that ye had all the troubles of all the people in the world, that they all came pouring on your devoted head: what are cataracts of trouble to God?-” Drops in the bucket.” What are whole mountains of grief to Him? Why, “He taketh up the mountains as the dust of the balance.” And He can easily remove your trials. Sit not down then thou son of weariness and want, and say, “My troubles are too great.” Hear the voice of mercy: “Cast thy burden on the Lord and He will sustain thee, He will never suffer the righteous to be moved.”

…Ah! it does not matter how heavy troubles are if you can cast them on the Lord…Never be afraid of troubles. However heavy they are, God’s eternal shoulders can bear them. He, whose omnipotence is testified by revolving planets, and systems of enormous worlds, can well sustain you. Is His arm shortened, that He cannot save, or is He weary, that He cannot hold you fast? Your troubles are nothing to God, for the very “clouds are the dust of His feet.”~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0036.cfm

God’s Sovereign Will

Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life 5 Comments

But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. -Genesis 50:20

Turn your eye along the page of history, and see how mysterious God’s dealings have been. Who would conceive that a Joseph sold into Egypt would be the means of redeeming a whole people from famine? Who would suppose that when an enemy should come upon the land, it should be after all but the means of bringing glory to God? Who could imagine that a harlot’s blood should mingle with the genealogy from which came the great Messiah, the Shiloh of Israel? Who could have guessed much less could have compassed, the mighty scheme of God? Providence has always been a hidden thing.

“Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill,
He treasures up His bright designs,
And works His sov’reign will.”

And yet, beloved, you and I are always wanting to know what God is about… We want to know what will be the consequences…We cannot see in history that this world ever went a step backwards. God is ever moving it in its orbit; and it has always progressed even when it seemed retrograding… All things are working together for good; but what the things separately are doing, it would be impossible to explain. Yet, thou child of Adam, with thy finite intellect, art continually stopping to ask, “Why is this?”… but the Omnipotent Creator, the uncreated Eternal, cannot well explain Himself to mortals whom He hath created. We cannot understand Him. It is enough for us to know that His way always must be in darkness, and that we must never expect to see much in this world. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0036.cfm

Comfort for the Tried Ones

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

Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. -Daniel 3:25

Comfort thyself, thou tried one, with this thought: God saith, “I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.” The fire is hot, but He has chosen me; the furnace burns, but He has chosen me; these coals are hot, the place I love not, but He has chosen me… Whatever (the fiery trial) is, I know that He has chosen me.

The next comfort is that you have the Son of Man with you in the furnace. In that silent bedchamber of yours, there sitteth by your side one whom thou hast not seen, but whom thou lovest; and ofttimes when thou knowest it not, He makes all thy bed in thy affliction, and smoothes thy pillow for thee. Thou art in poverty; but in that lonely house of thine that hath nought to cover its bare walls, where thou sleepest on a miserable pallet, dost thou know that the Lord of life and glory is a frequent visitor; He often treads those bare floors, and putting His hands upon those walls He consecrates them!…He loves to come into these desolate places that He may visit thee. The Son of Man is with thee, Christian. Thou canst not see Him, but thou mayest feel the pressure of His hands. Dost thou not hear His voice? It is the valley of the shadow of death: thou seest nothing; but He says, “Fear not, I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God.” …Fear not, Christian! thou carriest Jesus in the same boat with thee, and all His fortune! He is with thee in the same fire. The same fire that scorches thee, scorches Him. …Wilt thou not take hold of Jesus, then, and say-

“Through floods and flames, if Jesus lead,
I’ll follow where He goes.”

Feeling that you are safe in His hands, will you not laugh even death to scorn, and triumph over the sting of the grave, because Jesus Christ is with you? ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0035.cfm

Our Gain but Our Enemy’s Loss

Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life, promises, salvation Leave a comment

…the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. -Daniel 3:22

The devil is never more devoid of wisdom than when he meddles with God’s people…Did any Christian ever suffer yet by persecution-really suffer by it? Does he ever really lose by it? No; it is quite the reverse. We gain by it. You remember the case of the burning fiery furnace of Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego, and Nebuchadnezzar’s dealings. You remember he commanded that the furnace should be heated seven times hotter than usual; and he told his brave men, his strongest ones, to take these three men bound and cast them into the furnace. There they go! they have thrown three men bound into the fire; but before they have time to turn back it is said, the heat of the flames slew those men that cast them into the furnace. Nebuchadnezzar said himself, “Did we not cast three bound into the furnace? Behold I see four men loose walking in the midst of the fire, and the fourth is like the Son of God.” Now, just mark these points. Nebuchadnezzar made a great blunder, and heated the fire too hot. That is just what our enemies often do. if they would just speak the truth about us and only tell our imperfections, they would then have enough to do. But, in their endeavours to cast down God’s servants, they heat the fire rather too hot; they make what they say smell, as Rowland Hill said, too much like a lie, therefore, nobody believes them; and instead of doing any hurt, it just kills the men who would have cast us into the fire.

Persecution damages our enemies; it cannot hurt us. Let them still go on; let them still fight; all their arrows fall back upon themselves. And as for aught of evil that is done against us. it is but small and light compared with the damage that is done to their own cause. This, then, is another blessing concerning the furnace-it hurts our enemies though it does not hurt us.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0035.cfm

The Means of God in Fashioning Us

Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life, promises 3 Comments

Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance -Romans 5:3

Let a blacksmith take a piece of cold iron, lay it on the anvil, and bring down his heavy hammer with tremendous force to fashion it. There he is at work. Ah! Mr. Blacksmith, you will have many a hard day’s work before you will make anything out of that bar of iron. “But,” says he, “I mean to smite hard, to strike true, and morning, noon, and night. this hammer shall be always ringing on the anvil, and on the iron.” Ah! so it may, Mr. Blacksmith, but there will be nought come of it. You may smite it eternally while it is cold, and you shall be a fool for your pains; the best thing you could do would be to place it in the furnace, then you might weld it; then you could melt it entirely, and pour it into a mould, and it would take any shape you pleased. What could our manufacturers do if they could not melt the metal they use? They could not make half the various things we see around us if they were not able to liquify the metal, and afterwards mould it.

There could be no good men in the world if it were not for trouble. We could none of us be made useful if we could not be tried in the fire. Take me as I am, a rough piece of metal, very rough, stern, and hard. You may tutor me in my childhood, and use the rod; you may train me in my manhood, and set the pains of the magistrate and the fear of the law before my eyes, but you will make a very sorry fellow of me, with all your hitting and knocking. But if God takes me in hand, and puts me in the furnace of affliction, and melts me down by trial, then He can fashion me like unto His own glorious image, that I may at last be gathered with Him above. The furnace makes us fusible. We can better be poured out and moulded and delivered unto the doctrines, when we have been somewhat tried.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0035.cfm

Benefits of the Fiery Trials

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

He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. -Titus2:14

What are the benefits of the furnace? Very simply and briefly then, one benefit to be derived from the furnace is, that it purifies us. I was very kindly shown by some of the magistrates of Glasgow over one of the largest ship-building works I had ever seen. I saw them cast certain articles while I was present. I noticed them put the metal in the crucible, and after subjecting it to an intense heat, I saw them pour it out like water into the moulds, but first they removed the impurities from the top; but the scum would never have come on the top had it not been for the fire. They could not extract the dross if it had not been put in the furnace and melted. That is the benefit of the furnace to God’s people; it melts, tries, and purifies them. They get rid of their dross; and if we can but get rid of that, we may be willing to suffer all the misery in the world. The man who is very badly diseased, may stop a long while before he is willing that the doctor’s knife shall be used upon him; but when death comes to his bedside, he will say at last. “Anything, physician; anything, surgeon; if you can but get this disease away-cut as deep as you please.” I confess I have the greatest antipathy to pain; but nevertheless, a greater pain will make one bear a less one to relieve it. And as sin is pain to God’s people; as it is a weary torment, they will be willing, if necessary, to have their right hand cut off, or their right eye plucked out, rather than having two eyes or two hands, to be cast into hell-fire. The furnace is a good place for you, Christian; it benefits you; it helps you to become more like Christ, and it is fitting you for heaven. The more furnace-work you have the sooner you will get home; for God will not keep you long out of heaven when you are fit for it. When all the dross is burned, and the tin is gone, He will say, “Bring hither that wedge of gold; I do not keep my pure gold on earth. I will put it away with my crown jewels in the secret place of my tabernacle of heaven.”~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0035.cfm

A Living Sacrifice

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

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. -Romans 12:1

Now every sacrifice must be burned with fire… They killed the bullock and laid it on the altar, but it was no sacrifice till they burned it. They slew the lamb, they laid the wood; but there was no sacrifice in the killing of the lamb till it was burned. Know ye not, brethren, we are offerings to God, and that we are a living sacrifice unto Jesus Christ. But how could we be a sacrifice if we were not burned? If we never had the fire of trouble put about us, if we never were kindled, we should lie there without smoke, without flame, unacceptable to God. But because ye are His sacrifice, therefore ye must be burned; fire must penetrate you and you must be offered a whole burnt offering, holy and acceptable unto God.

Another reason why we must be put in the furnace is, because else we should not be at all like Jesus Christ. How can we be like Christ, unless our feet, too, are burned in the furnace? If He walked through the flames, must not we do the same? -that “in all things He might be like unto His brethren.” We are we know, to be like Christ in that august appearance when He shall come to be admired of all His saints; we are to be like Him when we shall see Him as He is; and shall we fear to be like Him here? Will we not tread where our Saviour trod?

Yes! Onward, Christian! the captain of your salvation hath gone through the dark valley before you-therefore, onward! Onward with boldness! Onward with courage! Onward with hope! that ye may be like your Saviour, by participation in His sufferings. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0035.cfm