Christian Life

This Great and Glorious Doctrine

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Holy Spirit

But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. – 2 Thessalonians 2:13,14

In many of our pulpits it would be reckoned a high sin and treason to preach a sermon upon Election, because they could not make it what they call a “practical” discourse. I believe they have erred from the truth therein. Whatever God has revealed, He has revealed for a purpose. There is nothing in Scripture which may not, under the influence of God’s Spirit, be turned into a practical discourse: for “all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable” for some purpose of spiritual usefulness. It is true, it may not be turned into a free-will discourse—that we know right well—but it can be turned into a practical free-grace discourse: and free-grace practice is the best practice, when the true doctrines of God’s immutable love are brought to bear upon the hearts of saints and sinners.

I love to proclaim these strong old doctrines, which are called by nickname Calvinism, but which are surely and verily the revealed truth of God as it is in Christ Jesus…Just let me run through a catalog of passages where the people of God are called elect. Of course, if the people are called elect, there must be Election. If Jesus Christ and His apostles were accustomed to style believers by the title of elect, we must certainly believe that they were so, otherwise the term does not mean anything. Jesus Christ says, “Except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved; but for the elect’s sake, whom He hath chosen, He hath shortened the days.” “False christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.” “Then shall He send His angels and shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.” “Shall not God avenge His own elect, who cry day and night unto Him, though He bear long with them?” Together with many other passages which might be selected, wherein either the word “elect,” or “chosen,” or “foreordained,” or “appointed” is mentioned; or the phrase “My sheep” or some similar designation, showing that Christ’s people are distinguished from the rest of mankind.

Unconditional Election by C. H. Spurgeon

I Can See My Father’s Hand

Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God, The Father

…shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it? – Amos 3:6

The greatest temptation of modern times is to impute everything which happens to the laws of nature. Now, this may satisfy philosophy, but theology goes a little further, and while it admits all the laws of matter, yet it asserts that a law is in itself utterly powerless, apart from a power to carry it out. It may be a law that such-and-such things shall be done, but they never will be done unless there be some power to make the law effective. The notion of some in modern times seems to be, that this world is like a great clock, wound up many years ago- in fact, there are some who believe in perpetual motion and appear to teach that it wound itself up. In order to get rid of God, and send Him as far away as possible, they go back to primeval times and conceive that then all the wheels were set in motion, and a sufficient quantity of momentum put into the whole affair, so that it is now going on of itself. As to divine interpositions, these they will not believe; miracles, of course, are absurd, and everything is left to the ordinary laws of nature, there being sufficient vitality, according to some, in the world itself to carry on its own acts, according to certain laws and rules. Blessed be God, we know that this is not true. We believe it is our duty to use every sanitary means to remove the seeds of disease; we believe that they err who would proclaim a fast over a plague, when it were better to sweep the street; we think that they are wrong who only go to the prayer-meeting when they had better go and put down a row of dilapidated cottages and build better ones; we think that they are impractical and do not understand the Scriptures well, who would be on their knees when they ought to be on their feet and doing earnest work for man; but at the same time, still we have it, that the Lord has done everything, and that calamities come not except God putteth forth His hand—that it is His will to remove men by death, and only by His will could they die. Why, that idea of leaving us all to machinery is an unhappy one to a man who can say, “My Father, my Father in heaven.” I can see my Father’s hand…Blessed be God, we have no doubt about our answer to the question. Even if there be evil in a city the Lord hath done it!

The Royal Death Bed by C. H. Spurgeon

It’s Not Fate, but God’s Loving Will

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God, The Father, the unbelieving life

…shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it? – Amos 3:6

Some predestinarians without a God, are as far astray in their ideas as those who believe in chance without a God…forgetting their God they deny the thought of chance, but they bend to the idea of fate…I thank God that while I believe in predestination, I know the difference between that and fate. Fate is predestination blind, demented, brainless, wandering about, achieving wondrous things without a purpose, overturning mountains, plucking up cedars by the roots, scattering firebrands, hurling deaths about, but all without an end. Such is fate—It is because it must be—events occur, because they shall be. But predestination is a glorious thing. With many eyes it looketh to the interests of God and His creatures too, and although it saith the thing must be, yet it must be because it is wise, and right, and just, and kind, that it should be; and though we may think that it comes to the same in the end, yet to our hearts the differences are as wide as the poles asunder. Believe not in fate but believe in God. Say not it was the man’s destiny but say it is God’s will. Say not, a cruel and irresistible fate hath snatched him away; but say, a tender hand, finding that the due time was come, hath taken him from evil to come.

If neither a foolish chance nor an insensate fate hath done it; perhaps the spirit of evil may have inflicted it. Perhaps Satan may bring evils upon us; perhaps he may drag down men to their graves; perhaps he may cut the thread of life; perhaps he is the evil genius of the world, and the keeper of the gates of death…Look not on your troubles and trials, my brethren in Christ, as coming from hell. Satan may sometimes be the instrument of your pains, but still, they come from God. In the cup of our sorrows, there is not a dreg which the Father did not put there; bitter as the compound may be, the eternal hand of wisdom mixed the whole. The rod may fall, but Satan does not wield it. Like as a father “chasteneth his children,” so the Lord doth chasten “them that fear Him.” Jesus, Thou hast vanquished Satan, Thou hast delivered us from the very fear of death, because Thou hast destroyed him that had the power of death, that is the devil.

The Royal Death Bed by C. H. Spurgeon

Not Chance but Divine Order

Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God, The Father

Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it? – Amos 3:6

We have nothing to do with the question of moral evil, and indeed with the awful mystery of the origin of moral evil, we have nothing to do at any time. There may have been some few speculators upon this matter who, like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, could walk in the midst of the fire unharmed, but most men who have ventured near the mouth of this fiery question, have been like Nebuchadnezzar’s guards—they have fallen down, destroyed by the blasting influence of its heat. The problem we have to solve is not how was evil born but how shall evil die—not how it came into the world, but the mischief it has wrought since its coming, and how it is to be driven out. Those persons who fritter away their time in useless and curious enquiries about the origin of moral evil, and so forth, are generally persons who are too idle to attempt the practical casting out of the fiend, and therefore would kill their time, and quiet their consciences by abstruse controversies and vain janglings about subjects with which we have nothing to do.

The evil in the text is that of calamity, and we might so read the verse—”Shall there be a calamity in the city, and the Lord hath not done it?”…God must have done this thing, or else we are driven to some other alternative. How came this calamity about? Shall we suppose it to be by chance? There are still some found foolish enough to believe that events happen without divine predestination, and that different calamities transpire without the overruling hand, or the direct agency of God. Alas! for you and for me, if chance had done it. Ah! what were we, men and brethren, if we were left to chance!..Thank God it is not so with us. Chance exists only in the heart of fools, we believe that everything which happens to us is ordered by the wise and tender will of Him who is our Father and our Friend, and we see order in the midst of confusion, we see purposes accomplished where others discern fruitless wastes, and we believe that, “He hath His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet.”

The Royal Death Bed by C. H. Spurgeon

Retaining His Presence

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prayer, Sovereignty of God

Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. – Psalm 2:11

When God does come to us, we should seek by all means to retain His presence. How can this boon be secured?

First, by humbly walking with God. If we grow proud because we are honoured by our King’s company, and begin to think that there must be, after all, something in us to attract God to us, and cause His face to shine upon us, we shall not long have the Lord among us. Seek, then, to be lowly in His presence.

Next, let much grateful praise be given to Him from loyal hearts. If God is saving sinners, let us give Him the glory of it. If He is at work among us, let us not go and talk about what we have been doing; but let us tell men and angels, too, what HE has done. Let us never dare to handle God’s jewels as if they were our own.

Moreover, there must be perpetual watchfulness. If God be with us, He may give us a great victory, and yet tomorrow we may be defeated because Achan has hidden the goodly Babylonish garment and the wedge of gold. Unless we are sober and vigilant, we may sadly have to mourn that the Lord has withdrawn His presence from us. There is a fierce light that beats around His throne. “Our God is a consuming fire.” Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? The Scriptural answer is, “He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly.” May God make us men of such calibre as can endure that heat!

And lastly, there must be an individual fellowship with God on the part of each one of us. It is hard work for the whole church to walk with God every day and all the day; but if each member will see to it that his own personal life is right, the church, as a whole, need fear nothing.

Is God in the Camp? by C. H. Spurgeon

What Can We Do?

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prayer, promises, repentance, Sovereignty of God, The Father, The Holy Spirit

I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. – John 15:5

What can we do to obtain the presence of God in our midst?

There is not one among us who does not know that the Holy Ghost is needful to effect any work. We must pray in the Holy Ghost, or else we shall not pray at all; and we must preach under the influence of the Holy Ghost, or else we shall chatter like sparrows on the window-sill in the morning, and nothing will come of the chattering. Only the Holy Ghost can make anything we do to be effectual. Therefore, never begin any work without the Holy Ghost, and do not dare go on with the impetus that you have gained, but cry again for the Holy Spirit. Let all your service for God be in the Spirit, or else it is all good for nothing.

We must confess our helplessness without God and honestly mean the confession. The first thing that is required of us is to bemoan the fact that, by and of ourselves, we can do nothing; even as our Lord said to His disciples, “Without Me ye can do nothing.” We must also be very careful in our lives. God will not come to an unholy church. The sacred Dove will never come to a foul nest. There must be a purging and a cleansing, or else He will not come. there must be a conscientious obedience to His word, a strict adherence to His truth, His doctrine, His precepts, to the whole of Christ’s rule and law. He will not prosper us unless we are careful to follow every step that He has taken. God help us to have this conscientious care, this coming out from those who may not be thus careful; according to His word. “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” If we desire this special sense of God’s presence, there must be unbroken union. To crown it all, there must be a hearty reliance upon God, and a childlike confidence in Him. I would recommend you either believe in God up to the hilt, or else not believe at all. Oh, I pray you, do believe in God, and His omnipotence!

Is God in the Camp? by C. H. Spurgeon

Innumerable Blessings

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God

Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. – Psalm 16:11

The fact of God being in the camp cannot be hidden, for in a delightful way it distills joy into worship. The saints enjoy fellowship with one another; and when Christian people meet each other, and God is in the camp, they have many a happy word to exchange concerning their Master. 

When God comes into the camp, those who are troubled and tried begin to wipe away the tears of sorrow, and feel strengthened to bear their burdens; or, better still, they cast their care on Him who is so manifestly near. Our hearts are also cheered by seeing anxious sinners turn their eyes towards the cross of Christ. Then Jesus reveals His love to them, and they perceive it; they fly into His arms and find salvation there. Oh, what joyful times we have had of late in talking with many who have yielded themselves to Christ, and taken Him to be all their salvation, and all their desire! May God stay in the camp with us till every sinner that comes within our ranks, and many also who are outside, shall come to Jesus, and be saved!

When God is in the camp, His presence infuses daring faith. Feeble men begin to grow vigorous, young men dream dreams and old men see visions. Many begin to plot and plan something for Jesus which, in their timid days, they would never have thought of attempting. Others reach a height of consecration that seems to verge on imprudence. Alabaster boxes get broken, and the precious ointment is poured out upon the Master’s head, even though Judas shakes His money-bag, and cries, “To what purpose is this waste?”…Because God is in the camp, many take up the work which at first only the truly brave believer dared to try. ..I cannot tell you what innumerable blessings come to the camp of the spiritual Israel when God is there. I hope that we know a little of this even now; and I am sure we want to know a great deal more of it.

Is God in the Camp? by C. H. Spurgeon