Christian Life

Take Courage

Sherry Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises 4 Comments

“If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.” – John 15:20

I have been persecuted and ill-treated, because I love Christ. I am mocked, and laughed at, and despised. I try to bear it, but I really cannot. A man will be a man. Tread upon a worm and he will turn upon you. “My patience altogether fails me. I am in such a peculiar position that it is of no use to advise me to have patience, for patience I cannot have; my enemies are slandering me, and I do not know what to do.” What shall we say to that poor man? How shall we give him patience? What shall we preach to him? You have heard what he has to say about himself. How shall we comfort him under this great trial? If we suffered the same, what should we wish some friend to say to us? Shall we tell him that other persons have borne as much? He will say, “Miserable comforters are ye all!” No, I will tell him, “Brother, you are persecuted; but remember the words of Jesus Christ, how He spoke unto us, and said, ‘Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets that were before you.” My brother! think of Him, who, when He died, prayed for His murderers, and said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” All you have to bear, is as nothing compared with His mighty sufferings. Take courage; face it again like a man; never say die. Let not your patience be gone; take up your cross daily and follow Christ. Let Him be your motto; set Him before your eyes. And now, receiving this, hear what the man will say. He tells you at once— “Hail, persecution, welcome shame! Disgrace for Jesus shall be my honor, and scorn shall be my highest glory.” ~ Charles Spurgeon

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By the Will of God

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

For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers… – Acts 13:36

Did David serve his generation by the will of God; or did he fall asleep by the will of God? …Over both his life and his death may be written the words, “By the will of God.” Oh, that we may all so live, that even in death we may serve our generation; may it be true of us that “whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord; whether we live therefore or die, we are the Lord’s”! Thus, “the will of God” shall be done both in our service and in our sleep. David is an example of what will befall those who know Christ, at the end of their service. He did not go to sleep till his work was done. “David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep.” Do not want to die till you have done your work. When brethren say, “Oh, I wish I could go to heaven! Oh, when shall I get home?” they remind me of a man who, when he begins work on Monday, says, “I wish it was Saturday night.” We do not want servants like that, nor does God either. Be willing to live for two hundred and fifty years, if God wills it. Be willing to live until strength fails you, if God wills it; you can still bear your dying testimony to the Lord’s faithful and unchanging love. Do not be in a hurry to go home to heaven. Do not want to go to sleep till you also have served your generation well. When David had served his generation, he fell on sleep. We are told that, in the early days of Christianity, when believers were falling asleep in Jesus, their friends did not bid them “good-bye,” but “good night.” So, we say, in the words of that beautiful hymn-

“Sleep on beloved, sleep, and take thy rest;
Lay down thy head upon thy Saviour’s breast:
We love thee well; but Jesus loves thee best-
Good-night! Good-night! Good-night!

~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2243.cfm

Train Up the Children to Serve the Lord

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

Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it. – Proverbs 22:6

Young Christians do become the best Christians. Early piety is usually eminent piety; so, seek to catch the children while they are young, and train them for the Lord, then they will be ready to serve their generation in their turn. I wish Christians would consider more seriously how the children ought to be looked after by the church. I read the other day of a boy who wished to join in membership with the people of God. His father said that he was too young and kept him back. He was big enough, however, to be sent out to fold the sheep one night. When he came in, his father said, “Jack, have you folded the sheep?” “Yes,” he said; “I folded all the sheep,” laying great stress on the last word. “And did you put the lambs in?” asked his father. “No,” he replied, “I left the lambs outside; they were too young to go in.” “Oh, boy!” said the father; “you know more than I do, after all; they were the very ones that needed most to be folded. You may go and see the minister about joining the church as soon as you like.” If any believers in Christ need specially to be taken into the church, it is those who have come to Jesus in their youth. I pray you, serve your generation by giving the children and young people your most loving attention and care.

Look after the children of this generation for the dangers around them at the present time are almost innumerable…Serve your generation by warning them of their danger and trying to keep them free from the evils by which they are surrounded. Satan gets the advantage over many a young life by causing even right things to be put to wrong uses; and in all sorts of ways, he lays traps for young people. Oh, parents and teachers, do try to give your boys a backbone of moral honesty! Try to show them that they have not come into this world merely to please themselves; that there is something better to be done than that. Do not rest till you have led them to the Saviour, for no boy is safe until he is converted. No girl is safe in the streets of this city till she has a new heart and a right spirit. The times are perilous; yet if we speak a word of warning… ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2243.cfm

Look After the Children

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

But Jesus called them to Him, saying, “Let the children come to Me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God.” – Luke 18:16

The mass of people in London go to no place of worship now; the old habit of attending church or chapel seems to have been given up; but the people will still let the children go to Sunday-school, even if they do it from no better motive than that of getting them out of the way in the afternoon, or in order that the house may be quiet without them. Anyhow, if you open a school anywhere in London, you can quickly get it filled with children. If you cannot do one thing, do another. If you cannot reach the fathers and the mothers, though you should earnestly try to get at them, yet, if you can reach the children. Take care that you lose no opportunity of teaching them the things of God…While yet the clay is soft, mould it for God. May the Lord Himself help you, dear Sunday-school teachers, and others who labour amongst the children, to do your work right well! Nobly are you serving your own generation, and the generation to follow. This is the work that lies nearest to you; seek to accomplish it; and “whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.” …The salvation of the children ought to be sought with double diligence, for they will last the longest. If a man of sixty or seventy is converted, he will have only a short time for serving God here; for he will soon be gone. If a child is converted, a long life of usefulness may enrich the church of God. Remember, too, that those who are converted when children usually make the best saints. Therefore, look after the children. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2243.cfm

Serve Them

Sherry Christian Life Leave a comment

For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. – Romans 14:7

Some are like the sun going down in the west; they will be gone soon. Serve them, dear brethren. You that are in health and vigour, comfort them, strengthen them, and help them all you can. Be a joy to that dear old man, who has been spared to you even beyond the allotted threescore years and ten, and praise God for the grace that has upheld him through his long pilgrimage. Look on his grey hairs as a crown of glory; make his descent to the grave as easy as you can. He once was as young as you are; he once had the vigour that you have. Console him, cheer him, give him the respect that is due to his many years.

The second portion of our generation which we can serve is the part that is shining. I mean those in middle life, who are like the sun at its zenith. They are working hard, bearing the burden and heat of the day; as yet their bones are full of marrow, and they are strong men ready for service for the Lord. Seek to sustain their hands in every possible way. Help them all you can…Suffer nothing to be left undone which may further the work of Christ or help the people around you who are so quickly passing away…Let it be everybody’s ambition to try to make up what shall be lacking through their departure. This is what is due to those who are like the shining part of our generation.

Specially, however, I want to speak to you about serving your own generation in the part that is rising; the young people who are like the sun in the east, as yet scarcely above the horizon. This part of our generation is specially the care of parents and Sunday-school teachers; but let us not leave it entirely to them. We can, most of us, do something to serve this portion of our generation before we fall asleep. Beloved, I commend to your care and attention the children and young people who abound in our midst. In them lies our hope for the future of God’s cause on earth. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2243.cfm

Our Life’s Service

Sherry Christian Life, Sovereignty of God Leave a comment

For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption. – Acts 13:36

To serve our own generation is not a single action, done at once, and over for ever; it is to continue to serve all our life. Notice well that David served “his own generation”; not only a part of it, but the whole of it. He began to serve God, and he kept on serving God. How many young men have I seen who were going to do wonders! Ah, me! They were as proud of the intention as though they had already done the deed. They took a front seat, and they seemed to think that everybody ought to admire them because of what they were going to do; but they were so pleased with the project that they never carried it out. They thought that they might meet with some mishap if they really attempted to do the thing, and the project was so beautiful that they preserved it under a glass shade, and there it is now. Nothing has been accomplished; nothing has been done, though much has been thought of. This is folly. Some, too, begin well, and they serve their God earnestly for a time, but on a sudden their service stops. One cannot quite tell how it happens, but we never hear of them afterwards. Men, as far as I know them, are wonderfully like horses. You get a horse, and you think, “This is a first-rate animal,” and so it is. It goes well for a while, but on a sudden it drops lame, and you have to get another. So it is with church-members. I notice that, every now and then, they get a singular lameness. To very many we have to say, even as Paul said to the Galatians, “Ye did run well; who did hinder you, that ye should not obey the truth?” But David continually served God to the end of his life. May we all, by divine grace, thus serve our whole generation, too! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2243.cfm

Serve the Lord as David Served Him

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

For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption. – Acts 13:36

What is it to serve our generation? I answer, it is to perform the common duties of life as David did. David was the son of a farmer, a sheep-owner, and he took first of all to the keeping of the sheep. Many young men do not like to do the common work of their own father’s business. You do not want to drudge, you say, you want to be a king. Well, there are not many openings in that line of business; and I shall not recommend anyone to be eager to enter them if there were. “Seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not.” Before David swayed the sceptre, he grasped the shepherd’s crook. He that at home cannot or will not undertake ordinary duties, will not be likely to serve his age…In the midst of the routine of daily life, we should, by diligence in duty, prepare for whatever may be our future opportunity, waiting patiently until it comes. Look at David’s occasion of becoming famous. He never sought it. He did not go up and down among his sheep, sighing and crying, “Oh, that I could get away from this dull business of looking after these flocks! My brothers have gone to the camp; they will get on as soldiers; but here am I, buried among these rocks, to look after these poor beasts.” He was wiser than that; he quietly waited God’s time. That is always a wise thing to do. If you are to serve God, wait till he calls you to do His work; He knows where to find you when He wants you; you need not advertise yourself to His omniscience…If you want to serve the church and serve the age, beloved friend, be wide awake when the occasion comes. Jump into the saddle when the horse is at your door; and God will bless you if you are on the look-out for opportunities of serving Him. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2243.cfm