Christian Life

Our Covenant Relationship with God

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God 1 Comment

Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father… – Genesis 26:3

God said to Isaac, “I will be with thee, and will bless thee…I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father.” And in the twenty-fourth verse of the chapter, where the promise is renewed, it is still on the ground of the covenant: “I am with thee, and I will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham’s sake.” Now, do you know anything of the covenant relationship between God and His people? The bulk of Christians nowadays are wholly ignorant on this subject…I love the promises of God because they are covenant promises. God has engaged to keep His word with His people in the person of His dear Son. He has bound Himself, by covenant with Christ, and will not, cannot, go back from His word; and Christ has fulfilled the conditions of the covenant, and He who hath “brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,” will certainly, “make you perfect to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ.” The promise is a double promise when it is confirmed in Jesus. Though we are poor and worthless creatures, yet can we say with David, “Although my house be not so with God, yet He hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure.” Twice God says by Isaiah, “I have given Him for a covenant to the people” thrice happy are they who receive what God hath given, and who, in Christ, enter into that blessed bond. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2238.cfm

Blessed and Envied

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God 2 Comments

For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him. – Genesis 26:14

While these Philistines saw that God blessed Isaac, they nevertheless envied him, as we read in the fourteenth verse. How strange it is that men, who do not care to be blessed of God themselves, envy them who are blessed of Him! I heard one say, “It is not just that God should have a chosen people.” Sir, do you want to be one of God’s people? These blessings which God gives to them, do you want to have them? You may have them, if you will. If you will not have them, I pray you do not quarrel with God because He chooses to give them where He wills…If you want the blessing of the Lord, have it even now, for my commission as an ambassador of Christ is to beseech men to be reconciled to God; if you do not want it, do not quarrel with God for giving it to His own chosen. It was so with those Philistines-they wanted not Jehovah’s blessing, and yet they envied Isaac, who had it.

But while they envied him, they feared him, and courted his favour. Do I speak to some young believer who has gone into a house of business, or some Christian woman who has been placed in a family where her religion exposes her to opposition? Let me counsel you to go straight on, taking no notice of the hindrances thrown in your way. You will first be envied; after that you will be feared; and after that you will be sought after, and your company will be desired. If you can only keep as firm as Isaac did, never losing your temper, but always being gentle, and meek, and kind, you will conquer; and you who are to-day despised, will yet come to be honoured, even as Isaac was by the very Abimelech who had, just a little while before, asked him to go away. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2238.cfm

Be Like Christ

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

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. – Galatians 5:22,23

…thou art now the blessed of the LORD. – Genesis 26:29

People will say, “If any man is a true Christian, he is one;” they will have no doubt about it. When longsuffering, gentleness, and meekness are in the life, men begin to say to such a one, “Thou art now the blessed of the Lord.” As the gentleness of the Lord makes us great, the gentleness of the saints brings to God great glory. Anger hath a temporary sovereignty, that melts in the heat of the sun. Quietness of spirit is king over all the land. If thou canst rule thyself, thou canst rule the world. Isaac conquered by his meekness; for when Abimelech saw that he yielded well after well rather than keep up a quarrel, he said to him, “Thou art now the blessed of the Lord.” Some of you do not understand this. “What!” you say, “are we not to stick up for ourselves?” That depends upon whose you are; if you are your own, take care of yourselves; but if you are Christ’s, let Him take care of you. “But,” you say, “if you tread on a worm, it will turn.” But surely you will not make a worm your pattern? Nay, but let the meek and lowly Christ be your example and seek to be a partaker of His Spirit. He prayed even for His murderers, “Father, forgive them,” and He ever sought to return good for evil. I pray you to do the same, cultivate a gentle spirit, and even worldlings will say to you, “Thou art now the blessed of the Lord.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2238.cfm

They Have Been with Jesus

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises 1 Comment

And Abimelech charged all his people, saying, “He that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to death…” “That thou wilt do us no hurt, as we have not touched thee, and as we have done unto thee nothing but good and have sent thee away in peace: thou art now the blessed of the LORD.” – Genesis 26:11,29

God always has a way of making men feel “how awful goodness is.” They may jest and jeer against a Christian, but his life vanquishes them. They cannot help it. They must do homage to the supremacy of grace. The promise is still true, “When a man’s ways please the Lord, He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.” God will impress upon the minds even of unbelievers this fact, that such a man, such a woman, is one whom God has blessed. Do you not know some believers who have such an air of other-worldliness about them, that though they mix freely with the people amongst whom they dwell, men instinctively acknowledge that “they have been with Jesus,” and have been blessed by Him? I do not care to see pictures of the saints of old with a nimbus of light round their heads, even though they have been painted by the old masters, yet there is a something about one who lives a saintly life, a brightness encircling him, like the symbol of God’s presence, which separates him from those around him, and leads us to say to him, “Thou art now the blessed of the Lord.” Before the Philistines bore this testimony to Isaac, no doubt they remarked his gentleness. I do believe that there is nothing that has such power over ungodly men as meekness of spirit, quietness of behavior, patience of character, and the continual conquest over an evil temper. If you grow angry when people are angry with you, you will have lost your position; but if you can be patient under persecution, if you can smile when they ridicule you, if you can yield your rights, if you can bear and continue to bear, you are greater than the man who has taken a city. Remember the blessing promised to the disciples of Christ who are peacemakers. They are not only the children of God, but “they shall be called the children of God.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2238.cfm

A Sign of His Blessing

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

Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the LORD blessed him…thou art now the blessed of the LORD. – Genesis 26:12-14; 27-29

There are some of God’s people who are so evidently favoured of heaven that even those who despise and oppose them cannot help saying of them, “They are the blessed of the Lord.” I wish that we were all such; so distinguished by piety, so marked out by strength of faith and prevalence of prayer, that even our Abimelechs might be forced to say to each of us, “Thou art now the blessed of the Lord.” We read in the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth verses, “Then Isaac sowed in the land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the Lord blessed him. And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great: for he had possession of flocks and possession of herds, and great store of servants.” Prosperity is not always a token of blessing. It may be proof of the Lord’s favour, and it may not be…Nevertheless, it is true that worldly prosperity may be sent, and has been sent, to the children of God, as a token of divine favour. It is not always when we eat the quails that they make us ill; God can send them in such a way that we may enjoy them and be strengthened by them. He can give riches as well as poverty. That was the Philistines’ reason, and it is a Philistine’s reason. It is not a very satisfactory one, but it has some force, for the Lord Jesus Himself gave the sign of blessing upon the meek, saying, “They shall inherit the earth;” and in the same memorable discourse upon the mount, He uttered the exhortation and promise, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things”-the things which the Gentiles seek after-“shall be added unto you.” So, we may fairly construe the “mercies of God” as a sign of His blessing. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2238.cfm

Miracle of Mercy; Prodigy of Grace

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises 1 Comment

…thou art now the blessed of the LORD. – Genesis 26:29

There was a day when I was cursed, and there was a day when I loved sin, and opposed God’s will; but now I love sin no longer, and I find my highest delight in doing the will of my Father in heaven. My soul, if this be true, “thou art now the blessed of the Lord”; thou art a miracle of mercy; thou art a prodigy of grace; and truly, where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” …Once, because you believed not, the wrath of God was resting upon you, but now you can say, “O Lord! I will praise Thee: though Thou wast angry with me, Thine anger is turned away, and Thou comfortedst me.” Surely then “Thou art now the blessed of the Lord.” Thou art poor, perhaps, in this world’s goods; but being an heir of the “inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,” why, “Thou art now the blessed of the Lord.” Or, perchance, you are weak and ill, and scarcely able to be in your place; but though thy flesh and strength fail, by His grace, you will triumph over all. With many a fear and many a care oppressed, still “thou art now the blessed of the Lord,” and on Him thou canst cast thy care, and from Him receive deliverance from all thy fears. Whatever thy distresses, this overwhelms them all as with a flood of joy-

“O joy! ’tis mine, this life divine,
Life hid with Christ in God;
Once sin-defiled, now reconciled,
And washed in Jesus’ blood.

~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2238.cfm

Richly Blessed Despite Ourselves

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

…thou art now the blessed of the LORD. – Genesis 26:27-29

 “Thou art now the blessed of the Lord.” The Philistines had behaved basely towards Isaac, and now that he had prospered, they urged him to forget the past. They meant, “This is why we trust that you will deal kindly with us, and overlook our hard usage; for, in spite of all, God has so blessed you that you need not be fretful and pettish and remember what we have done.” There is much force in the argument which these Philistines used. If God has richly blessed us, notwithstanding all our faults and failures, surely, we should learn to forgive many injuries done to ourselves. If the Lord forgives us our debt of ten thousand talents, we must be willing to forgive our fellow-servant his debt of a hundred pence. Child of God, if you are now the blessed of the Lord, you will often turn a blind eye towards the offenses of your fellow-men. You will say, “God has so blessed me, that I can well overlook any wrongs that you have inflicted, any hard words that you have said. I am now blessed of the Lord; so, let bygones be bygones.” May you have grace given to you to do that now, if any of you have had a little squabble with any other!

Once you were condemned; but, being in Christ Jesus, “there is therefore now no condemnation.” “Thou art now the blessed of the Lord.” Once you were at enmity against God; but now, being reconciled to God by the death of His Son, you are His friend: “Thou art now the blessed of the Lord.” “Ye were sometimes in darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord.” How great the change for the man or woman to whom we can say “Thou art now the blessed of the Lord”! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2238.cfm