confession of sin

The Lord’s Battlements

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, confession of sin, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Father, The Holy Spirit Leave a comment

For all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. – 2 Corinthians 1:20 

The Christian man can go away with the reflection that his battlements can never be taken away, because they are the Lord’s. We rely upon the electing love of Jehovah-Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; we trust in the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ, the Everlasting Son; we depend wholly upon the merits, blood, and righteousness of Jehovah-Tsidkenu-the Lord our righteousness; we are confiding in the Holy Spirit. We confess that we are nothing of ourselves-that it is not of him that willeth, or of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. We do not acknowledge one scrap of the creature in our salvation nor one atom of self; we rely entirely upon covenant love, upon covenant mercy, covenant oaths, covenant faithfulness, covenant immutability, and resting on these, we know our battlements cannot be taken away. Oh, Christian! with these walls surrounded thou mayest laugh at all thy foes. Can the devil touch thee now? He shall only look upon thee and despair. Can doubts and fears take away our battlements? No: they stand fast and firm, and our poor fears are but as straws dashed against the wall by the wind; for, “though we believe not, yet He abideth faithful,” and not all the temptations of a sinful world, or our own carnal hearts, can separate us from the Saviour’s love. We have a city, the walls of which are mighty, the foundations of which are eternal; we have a God who says, “I the Lord do keep her, and do water her every moment, lest any hurt her, I will keep her day and night.” Trust Christian, here, salvation shall God appoint for walls and bulwarks. Surrounded with these, thou mayest smile at all thy foes. But take heed you add nothing to them, for if ye do, the message will be, Take away the battlements, they are not the Lord’s.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0038.cfm

Take Care of Your Graces, Christians!

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, confession of sin, repentance, salvation, Sovereignty of God Leave a comment

For the LORD shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken. -Proverbs 3:26

“My bad works,” said Erskine, “Always drove me to the Saviour for mercy; my good works often kept me from Him, and I began to trust in myself.” Is it not so with us? We often get a pleasing opinion of ourselves: we are preaching so many times a week, we attend so many prayer meetings; we are doing good in the Sabbath-school; we are valuable deacons; important members of the church; we are giving away so much in charity; and we say, “Surely I am a child of God-I must be. I am an heir of heaven. Look at me! See what robes I wear. Have I not indeed a righteousness about me that proves me to be a child of God?” Then we begin to trust in ourselves, and say, “Surely I cannot be moved, my mountain standeth firm and fast.” …Many a Christian owes his falls to a presumptuous confidence in his graces. I conceive that outward sin is not more abhorbed by God than this most wicked sin of reliance on ourselves. May none of you ever learn your own weakness by reading a black book of your own backslidings. More to be desired is the other method of God when He sends the light of the Spirit into the heart, and developes our corruption; Satan comes roaring there, conscience begins calling out, “Man you are not perfect.” All the corruptions burst up like a volcano that had slept for a little moment. We are taken into the dark chambers of imagery; we look at ourselves, and say, “Where are my battlements gone?” We go to the hill-top again, and see the battlements are all gone. We go by the side of the city-they are all departed. Then we go again to Christ, and say,

“I, the chief of sinners am,
Jesus died for me.”
“Nothing in my hands I bring;
Simply to Thy cross I cling.”

Heaven smiles again, for now the heart is right, and the soul is in the most fitting position. Take care of your graces, Christians! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0038.cfm

Who Truly Are the “Poor Creatures?”

Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life, confession of sin, prayer, Sovereignty of God Leave a comment

For our God is a consuming fire. -Hebrews 12:29

(The ungodly) will say, “Ah! but (the godly) are poor in spirit; they have not good ideas of themselves. Hear them-they are always confessing sinfulness and weakness, and they appear to go through the world without self-reliance, relying upon some unseen power, and always distrusting themselves, and they do not seem to have the pluck that the ungodly have. Why, we who know not God can drink, and they will stop where we can go. And we can let out an oath, but they are afraid. And there is many a song that we can sing that these fastidious folks would not dare to hear, and there is many an amusement which we can enjoy which they, poor creatures, are obliged to deny themselves.” …I do not know that you could do better than pity them. It would be a pity to be angry with them for not enjoying what you enjoy. Don’t, therefore, sneer. But, after all, sir, you know very well that there is more manliness in refusing to sin than there is in sinning; that there is more pluck in saying, “No, I cannot,” than there is in being led by the devil, first into one sin, and then into another… I dare not do that which would dishonour God. I am thankful to be such a coward that I dare not venture it. But you shall not say that we are cowardly…It is not true that we are poor in spirit in the sense that is often attached to us. We have as much of courage of the right kind as the ungodly have. But, sir, we can afford to bear your jest. We are afraid to be damned; we are afraid to take a leap into the dark future, with wrath upon our heads; we do tremble before the living God, though we will tremble nowhere else. We count it no dim honour to fear Him who is a consuming fire. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3512.cfm

Sinner, It Is Now or Never with Thy Soul

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

…behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. – 2 Corinthians 6:2

A man on board a vessel, when he hears the cry of “Fire!” must not stop to arrange his clothes; he must not be concerned to see that his face is washed, that he has bound together that little bundle of papers, or packed up the portmanteau, or counted over the little purse of gold, or even snatched his little property from the cabin. At once, at once, must he climb the stairs and reach the deck, or he will never have stairs to climb, nor feet to climb with. Now or never. Quick is the word. Waste a moment, and it is all over with you; the fire is upon you, for it tarries not in its march… Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” Now, now, NOW. This is the only period God has allotted to you, take care that you use it, lest when your to-days are past, and you hope to see your to-morrow, you should have to spend your to-morrows in the pit of hell. Procrastination is not only the thief of time, but the thief of souls. Now is the day of salvation; I have never heard of any other day.

I know, young man, you intend to think of these things when you are ill; you expect to have a long time upon a sick-bed, and then you suppose all will be right before you die. I tell you, sir, it is hard repenting upon a dying bed.

Consider your ways, O sinners, born to die. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, O trembler, and thou shalt be saved. Trust Him, trust Him. God help thee to trust Jesus, for it is now or never with thy soul. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0550.cfm

When the Sword is Sharp Canst Thou Play About Its Edge?

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, confession of sin, promises, repentance, salvation, Sovereignty of God Leave a comment

For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. -Malachi 4:1

I would I could speak upon this dreadful subject in a proper manner. Whitfield had tones and emotions which were fitting for such a subject. He would cry out, “Oh, the wrath to come! The wrath to come! The wrath to come!” He would cry, I say, until all his hearers responded. with, “What must we do to be saved?” And good Baxter, trembling lest be should he guilty of men’s blood, while he delivered the message, as a dying man to dying men-knew the terrors of the law, and right earnestly he persuaded men to escape for their lives. O sirs, if I saw you. in a burning house, there were not half so much need of earnestness as when I see you in the midst of a mass of sin and corruption which must be consumed by God’s anger, and you with it. Sinner, why wilt. thou die? What can ail thee? What besots thee that thou dost not perceive anything dreadful in the wrath of Him who made thee? He can dash whole worlds to pieces-what can He not do with thee? Hast thou. learned to be callous when thou hearest of eternity? Hast thine ear grown cold to that dreadful word, “Condemnation?” Canst thou read the story of those to whom He said, “Depart, ye cursed,” and not tremble? Canst thou know that thou art this day in danger of the judgment, and not be afraid? When the sword is sharp, and furbished, and taken out of its sheath, canst thou play about its edge? Canst thou yet make mirth? Then is there indeed, need for me to cry to thee, and for all God’s faithful ministers to cry with louder voice than mine-“Escape! escape! escape for thy life.!  ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0550.cfm

By His Given Power

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, confession of sin, promises, repentance, salvation, The Holy Spirit 1 Comment

But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name. -John 1:12

There is many a poor sinner who says, “I know that Christ is Himself the Truth, but how can that Truth be mine? I know that there is eternal life, and that Christ is the Life as well as the Truth and the Way, but I am spiritually dead, can I ever have that life?” Yes, you can, for our Lord Jesus Christ is not merely the Way, but He is also the power by which we run in that way. He is not only the Truth, but He gives us the illuminating Spirit to lead us into the Truth; and He is not only the Life, but He puts that Life into us, and sustains and perfects it. You have nothing to do, sinner, but to give yourself up to the leading, guiding, directing, assisting, quickening of the blessed Spirit of God. It is true that you must believe, but He will give you the grace of faith. It is true that you must repent, but it is also true that He works repentance in us. There must and there will be a change of life in all true converts but it is the Holy Spirit who converts you and turns you completely round. There must be sanctification in genuine believers, but it is the Holy Spirit who sanctifies you. There is nothing asked of you in the gospel, but what the gospel itself gives you. Those things which, in one part of Scripture, are put as precepts, are, in other parts of Scripture, among the promises. What the Lord bids the sinner do, He enables the sinner to do, just as, when Jesus said to the man that was paralyzed, “Take up thy bed, and walk,” with the command He gave the power to obey it; and when He said to another man, “Stretch out thy hand, withered though it be,” the miraculous power, that gave the nerves and muscles force again, went with the mandate from the lips of Jesus. In like manner, trust thou the Lord to give thee the power to lay hold on the gospel. The very eye, with which to look at the brazen serpent is His gift; and that gift He is prepared to bestow upon all who come to Him for it. Is not this good news from a far country? ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2866.cfm

Good News from God to Sinners

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, confession of sin, promises, repentance, salvation 3 Comments

…good news from a far country. -Proverbs 25:25

Sin has led the sinner into a far country. That part of the description of the prodigal son, who gathered all together, and went into a far country, aptly describes the condition of the whole human race…We are, by nature, far off from God in the whole bent and current of our life, which no longer runs in a parallel line with the life of God as first imparted to man (before the Fall), but runs rather according to the fashion of the life of Satan, so that we yield ourselves up to the evil influence of that foul spirit who worketh in the children of disobedience.

Like as a father pitieth his children, so is it with our God. He pities those who wander away from Him. “As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live.” God takes no delight in your sin, and no delight in the shame and sorrow which your sin will bring upon you unless you turn from it, but He will take delight in you if you return to Him. He still cries to you, “Return ye now every one from his evil way;” and He still remembers you in pity and compassion. Notwithstanding your forgetfulness of Him, and your wilful rebellion against Him, He doth remember you still; for God is love, and there is love in His heart even towards sinners who are dead in trespasses and sins. That, surely, is good news to you, and if God thus thinks of you in pity, should not you think of God with deep, heartfelt penitence and contrition?~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2866.cfm