prayer

Our Duty to the Great Commission

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prayer, promises, repentance, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Holy Spirit, the unbelieving life Leave a comment

Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel? – Jeremiah 15:12

Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit, saith the LORD of hosts. – Zechariah 4:6

Man’s heart is very hard; it is like the northern iron and the steel. Our preaching—we try to make it forcible, but how powerless is it of itself! The preacher seeks goodly words and illustrations; he brings forth the law of God, he gives forth threatenings in God’s name; he reasons concerning judgment to come, and flinches not from declaring the eternal punishment of sin; he preaches the love of God, and the infinite mercy of Christ Jesus, and he blends all this with an affection which longs for conversion, and he prays for God’s blessing; but in many, many hearts there is no change, the northern iron and the steel remain unmovable…Children of God, you are driven to this, that here is a case in which you are powerless. You might as well reverse the wind, or move a star, or create a world, as soften these hardened hearts. What are you then to do? Certainly, you are to continue the effort; nothing must tempt you to relinquish it, or even to relax your zeal. If you cannot break the heart, truly it is no business of yours to do so; commit that work to Him who is fully equal to the miracle, keep to your work, and fear not that the Lord will work with you. God bids you continue prayer, warning instruction, and invitation. If you knew that every soul you preached to or talked with would be lost, it were no less your duty to preach the gospel; for the duty to tell out the gospel is not influenced by our success, but is based upon the commission of Christ: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”

The Northern Iron and the Steel by C. H. Spurgeon

What of Nonsuccess?

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

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. – Galatians 6:9

Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel? – Jeremiah 15:12

When a man succeeds, he continues to succeed, as a rule; he derives encouragement from what God has already done by him and goes from strength to strength. Probably, however, there is more grace exhibited by the Christian, who, without present success, realises the things not seen as yet, and continues still to work on. To labor is not easy, but to labor and to wait is harder far. It is a grand thing to continue patiently in well doing, confident that in the end the reward is sure.

You know the story of the removal of old St. Paul’s by Sir Christopher Wren. A very massive piece of masonry had to be broken down, and the task, by pick and shovel, would have been a very tedious one, so the great architect prepared a battering-ram for its removal, and a large number of workmen were directed to strike with force against the wall with the ram. After several hours of labor, the wall, to all appearances, stood fast and firm. Their many strokes had been apparently lost, but the architect knew that they were gradually communicating motion to the wall, creating an agitation throughout the whole of it, and that, by-and-by, when they had continued long enough, the entire mass would come down beneath a single stroke. The workmen, no doubt, attributed the result to the one crowning concussion, but their master knew that their previous strokes had only culminated in that one tremendous blow and that all the nonresultant work had been necessary to prepare for the stroke which achieved the purpose. O Christian people, do not expect always to see the full outgrowth of your labors! Go on, serve your God, testify of His truth, tell of Jesus’ love, pray for sinners, live a godly life, serve God with might and main, and if no harvest spring up to your joyous sickle, others shall follow you and reap what you have sown, and since God will be glorified, it shall be enough for you.

The Northern Iron and the Steel by C. H. Spurgeon

Do Not Delay!

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

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

Satan has destroyed multitudes of men, tempting them to ask for more time, instead of coming up to the mark at once and asking for immediate pardon. What are the fabled virtues of tomorrow? Why do men dote upon the unknown future? To an immediate decision I would press you at this moment and may God, by His Divine Spirit, deliver you as a bird from the hand of the fowler, that you may no longer procrastinate and waste your life in disobedient delay! This being the temptation, let me hint to those of you who are bankrupt, what your wisdom is. It is your wisdom to face the business of your soul. Your soul‐matters are the most important things you will ever have on hand, for when your wealth must be left and your estate shall see you no more—and when your body is dead—your soul will still be living in eternal happiness or endless woe! Therefore, do not neglect your state in reference to God. It is the most important matter! Give it the first place.

Settle this business before you attend to anything else. Take care that you face it like an honest man and not as one who makes the best of a bad story! It may be bad, yet the best thing you can do is to go right through with it in truth and soberness before the Lord. Hope lies that way. Do not let your danger be concealed like a thief who hides in the good man‘s pantry till the hour to rob his house. Suffer not the sparks to smolder where they may consume your all! Quench the fire before you sleep! When you face the matter, be very true and sincere with yourself and with God because you are not dealing with creditors who may be cheated, but you are dealing with GOD who knows the secret thoughts and intents of your heart…Do not make the slightest attempt at paying, for you cannot do it! But take quite another course—plead absolute poverty and appeal to mercy! Say, “Lord, I have nothing, I am nothing, I can do nothing. I must throw myself upon Your Grace.”

Bankrupt Debtors Discharged by C. H. Spurgeon

Christ is the Mirror of the Church

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

All those who see Me ridicule Me; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, “He trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him; let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!” – Psalm 22:7,8

He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now, if He will have Him: for He said, I am the Son of God. – Matthew 27:43

While thus we see our Lord in His sorrow and His shame as our substitute, we must not forget that He also is there as our representative. That which appears in many a psalm to relate to David is found in the Gospels to refer to Jesus, our Lord. Often the student of the Psalm will say to himself, “Of whom speaketh the prophet this?” He will have to disentangle the threads sometimes, and mark off that which belongs to David and that which relates to the Son of God; and frequently he will not be able to disentangle the threads at all, because they are one, and may relate both to David, and to David’s Lord. This is meant to show us that the life of Christ is an epitome of the life of His people. He not only suffers for us as our substitute, but He suffers before us as our pattern. In Him we see what we have in our measure to endure. “As He is, so are we also in this world.” We also must be crucified to the world, and we may look for somewhat of those tests of faith and taunts of derision which go with such a crucifixion. “Marvel not if the world hate you.” You, too, must suffer without the gate. Not for the world’s redemption, but for the accomplishment of divine purposes in you, and through you to the sons of men, you must be made to know the cross and its shame. Christ is the mirror of the Church. What the head endured every member of the body will also have to endure in its measure. Let us read the text in this light, and come to it saying to ourselves, “Here we see what Jesus suffered in our stead, and we learn hereby to love Him with all our souls. Here, too, we see, as in a prophecy, how great things we are to suffer for His sake at the hands of men.” May the Holy Spirit help us in our meditation, so that at the close of it we may the more carefully arm ourselves with the same mind which enabled Him to endure such contradiction of sinners against Himself. – C.H. Spurgeon

Let Him Deliver Him Now

Come to the Gate of Life

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

…we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. – 2 Corinthians 5:20

“We pray you in Christ’s stead.” Since Jesus died in our stead we, His redeemed ones, are to pray others in His stead; and as He poured out His heart for sinners in their stead, we must in another way pour out our hearts for sinners in His stead. “We pray you in Christ’s stead.” Now if my Lord were here how would He pray you to come to Him? I wish, my Master, I were more fit to stand in Your place at this time. Forgive me that I am so incapable. Help me to break my heart, to think that it does not break as it ought to do, for these men and women who are determined to destroy themselves, and, therefore, pass You by, my Lord, as though You were but a common felon, hanging on a gibbet! O men, how can you think so little of the death of the Son of God? It is the wonder of time, the admiration of eternity. O souls, why will you refuse eternal life? Why will ye die? Why will ye despise Him by whom alone you can live? There is one gate of life, that gate is the open side of Christ; why will you not enter, and live? “Come unto Me,” says He; “Come unto Me.” I think I hear Him say it: “Come unto Me all that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” I think I see Him on that last day, the great day of the feast, standing and crying, “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.” I hear Him sweetly declare, “Him that cometh to Me I will no wise cast out.” I am not fit to pray you in Christ’s stead, but I do pray you with all my heart. Do come and accept the great sacrifice and be reconciled to God. You that hear me but this once, I would like you to go away with this ringing in your ears, “Be ye reconciled to God.” I have nothing pretty to say to you; I have only to declare that God has prepared a propitiation, and that now He entreats sinners to come to Jesus, that through Him they may be reconciled to God. Father, draw them! Father, draw them! Eternal Spirit, draw them, for Jesus Christ Your Son’s sake! Amen. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

The Heart of the Gospel

Do Not Doubt the Merciful God

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prayer, Sovereignty of God, The Holy Spirit Leave a comment

We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly. Our fathers understood not Thy wonders in Egypt; they remembered not the multitude of Thy mercies; but provoked Him at the sea, even at the Red Sea. – Psalm 106:6,7

There is the sea; (the Israelites) have just marched through it, and they have reached Marah, where the waters are brackish. If they now distrust and complain, close on the heels of their great deliverance, it will be a crime indeed. O men, what are you at? There is the Red Sea which God divided: and yet you think He cannot give you water to drink! O fools and slow of heart, thus to doubt the Almighty! Doubt in the presence of a mercy! Doubt while so great a favor is before your eyes! This is evil indeed! O beloved, do not bear hard upon these Israelites, bear hard upon yourselves, and hate the sin which dares intrude within the sacred encloses of your joy in the cross, and dares to tempt you even when the five wounds of Jesus are shining on your soul like the stars of God. Hate the sins which follow you to the Table of the Lord. Hate the wandering mind which taints the sacred bread and wine and defiles you when the instructive symbols are yet in your mouths. Abhor the sin which dogs your heel, and follows you even to your knees, and hinders you in drawing near to God in prayer. Oh, the accursed sin which even on Tabor’s top makes us fall asleep or talk foolishly!

Do you wonder that God was provoked? Have you ever acted so? Did you ever rise high in rapture, and praise the Lord upon the high-sounding cymbals, and then find yourself groveling on the ground within an hour? What fools we are! “Verily every man at his best estate is altogether vanity.” When we know most, we are ignorant; when we swell to our greatest, we are big nothings. When God makes much of us, we think least of ourselves. How greatly do we prize and praise the precious blood of Jesus which cleanseth us from all sin?…O Thou blessed Holy Spirit, strengthen the faith of Thy people this day, and may that faith create in us perfect obedience to the will of the Lord, so that henceforth we may magnify His holy name, and walk with Him until we see His face unveiled above! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2204.cfm

Provoking God

Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life, prayer, Sovereignty of God, The Father Leave a comment

Our fathers understood not Thy wonders in Egypt; they remembered not the multitude of Thy mercies; but provoked Him at the sea, even at the Red Sea. – Psalm 106:7

Why does the Psalmist dwell upon the place, and say, “at the sea, even at the Red Sea”? Why was it worse to provoke the Lord there than elsewhere? It evidently was so, for the inspired Scripture mentions the spot twice to put an emphasis upon it. Why was this?

The offense itself was grievous anywhere. They doubted God when they heard that Pharaoh pursued after them, and they said, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast Thou taken us away to die in the wilderness?” This imputation of cruelty to their faithful God provoked His sacred heart. The Lord is very pitiful, and His name is love, and therefore He is not easily provoked; but He declares that He was provoked by this display of their mistrust. They provoked Him: they called Him forth, as it were, to battle; they vexed Him and stirred Him up to contend with them. O brothers and sisters, after so much love as God has shown us, we must not fall to provoking Him; let us far rather spend our lives in extolling Him! To provoke Him at any time is a wanton wickedness—unjust, ungenerous, diabolical. It is no common sin which thus provokes the longsuffering Lord. Many a sin God has endured patiently, but in this case, He is provoked to anger. This is an offense which touches the apple of His eye and causes His jealousy to burn like coals of fire. O children of God, how can you provoke your Father to wrath? The Lord have mercy upon us! We must bow low at His feet with sorrowful repentance. Let us shun this fault in the future. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2204.cfm