promises

Travailing for Souls

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

And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. – John 17:3

The like living zeal and vehement desire have always been perceptible in the Church of God before any season of refreshing. Think not that Luther was the only man that wrought the Reformation. There were hundreds who sighed and cried in secret in the cottages of the Black Forest, in the homes of Germany, and on the hills of Switzerland. There were hearts breaking for the Lord’s appearing in strange places, they might have been found in the palaces of Spain, in the dungeons of the Inquisition, among the canals of Holland, and the green lanes of England. Women, as they hid their Bibles, lest their lives should be forfeited, cried out in spirit, “O God, how long?” There were pains as of a woman in travail, in secret places there were tears and bitter lamentations, on the high places of the field there were mighty strivings of spirit, and so at length there came that grand revulsion which made the Vatican to rock and reel from its foundation to its pinnacle. There has been evermore in the history of the church, the travail before there has been the result.

Even Christ went not forth to preach until He had spent nights in intercessory prayer, and uttered strong cryings and tears for the salvation of His hearers. His ministering servants who have been most useful, have always been eagerly desirous to be so. If any minister can be satisfied without conversions, he shall have no conversions. God will not force usefulness on any man. It is only when our heart breaks to see men saved, that we shall be likely to see sinners’ hearts broken. The secret of success lies in all-consuming zeal, all-subduing travail for souls.

“The love of Christ doth me constrain
To seek the wandering souls of men;
With cries, entreaties, tears, to save,
To snatch them from the fiery wave.”

~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1009.cfm

From Sighs and Cries to Blessings

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

“As soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.”- Isaiah 66:8

Israel had fallen into the lowest condition, but an inward yearning of heart was felt in the midst of God’s people for the return of the divine blessing; and no sooner had this anxious desire become intense, than God heard the voice of its cry, and the blessing came…Before there has fallen a great benediction upon God’s people, it has been preceded by great searchings of heart. Israel was so oppressed in Egypt, that it would have been very easy, and almost a natural thing, for the people to become so utterly crushed in spirit as to submit to be hereditary bond-slaves, making the best they could of their miserable lot; but God would not have it so; He meant to bring them out “with a high hand and an outstretched arm.” Before, however, He began to work, He made them begin to cry. Their sighs and cries came up into the ears of God, and He stretched out his hand to deliver them. Doubtless, many a heart-rending appeal was made to heaven by mothers when their babes were torn from their breasts to be cast into the river. With what bitterness did they ask God to look upon His poor people Israel, and avenge them of their oppressors. The young men bowed under the cruel yoke and groaned, while hoary sires, smarting under ignominious lashes from the taskmaster, sighed and wept before the God of Israel. The whole nation cried, “O God visit us; God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, remember thy covenant, and deliver us.” This travail brought its result; for the Lord smote the field of Zoan with mighty plagues, and forth from under the bondage of the sons of Misraim, the children of Israel marched with joy. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1009.cfm

A Gift of Free Grace

Sherry Christian Life, confession of sin, promises, repentance, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Father 1 Comment

And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. – Acts 16:31

The readiness of God to pardon is to be seen in the fact that He makes no hard conditions with sinners. He does not say, “I will pardon if you suffer this or endure that penance; I will pardon if you perform this act of heroism or that deed of consecration.” No, He himself says, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” Receive what is freely given-that is the gospel precept, and nothing else. Only confess thy transgressions, or, in other words, own thine emptiness, and then trust thy Savior, and thou art saved.

That He is ready to forgive appears in this yet more glorious fact, that what God demands of man by the gospel He also works in him by His spirit; as for confession of sin He puts the words into the sinner’s mouth, repentance He works in the sinner’s heart, and saving faith His own Spirit creates in the sinner’s soul. Is He not ready to forgive when even what might be called the condition of pardon in one light is under another aspect a gift of free grace?

The sinner’s plea on his lip is, “for Jesus’ sake,” the sinner’s hope in his heart is “for Christ’s sake,”-and it is this that the Father looks at; when He sees that the poor trembling soul has embraced Jesus, His own dear Son, the Father puts the sin away at once without a word, and says, “Be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee, go in peace.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1272.cfm

At His Own Cost

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

For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. – Romans 5:6

For the good of all His creatures, as well as for the glory of His own character, God must not allow sin to go unpunished. The judge may be willing enough to pardon the culprit, but he is a judge, and as such he must condemn the guilty. The readiness of God to pardon was seen in this that at His own cost He provided a way by which His mercy might be consistent with justice. From His own bosom He took His only begotten Son, His own self, for He was one with Him, and God, in the person of His Son, suffered that which has honored justice, vindicated the law, and enabled God to be just and yet the justifier of the ungodly. Oh, as I see the adorable Father giving up His Well-beloved, to bleed and die for men, I know beyond all question that He is a God ready to pardon.

And now, the atonement being made, and justice being unable any longer to offer any protest to boundless mercy, God stands ready to pardon. By the blood of His dear Son He is able to blot out offenses, through the sweet savor of the sacrifice of Jesus He smiles on guilty men. He delights now to blot into oblivion the transgressions of all them that seek His face. “Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.” “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Jesus Christ’s salvation is like the good Samaritan, it comes where the wounded man is, and pours its oil and wine into his bleeding wounds. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1272.cfm

Tenderness from an Offended God

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

And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, “Where art thou?”…”And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her Seed; He shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel.” Genesis 3:8-9, 15

We must never think that our Lord Jesus died to make God merciful; on the contrary, the death of the Lord Jesus is the result of the mercy of God. When man sinned God was willing enough to pardon him, for the death of a sinner is no pleasure to Him. Judgment is His strange work. The way in which the Lord came to Adam at the first showed His mercy. He came, if you remember, in the cool of the day, not at the instant the crime was committed. God is not in a hurry to accuse man, or to execute vengeance upon him; He therefore waited until the cool of the day. He did not address rebellious man in the language of indignation, but He kindly said, “Adam, where art thou?” And when He had questioned the guilty pair, and convicted them, and the sentence was passed, it was terrible certainly, but, oh, how mildly tempered; the curse was as much as possible made to fall obliquely: “cursed is the ground for thy sake.” Though the woman was made to feel great sorrows, yet those were connected with a happy event which causes the travail to be forgotten. There was tenderness in the dread utterances of an offended God, and mainly so because almost as soon as He declared that man must labor and die He promised that “the Seed of the woman should bruise the serpent’s head.” Assuredly the Lord our God is by nature very pitiful and full of compassion.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1272.cfm

Provider and Pardoner

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

“Yea, forty years didst Thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing: their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not. Their children also multipliedest as the stars of heaven, and Thou broughtest them into the land, concerning which Thou hadst promised to their fathers that they should go in to possess it.”- Nehemiah 9:21, 23

Nehemiah also notices that God did not stint them in their daily provisions, notwithstanding their offenses. “Yea,” says he, “Thou withheldest not Thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst.” I am struck with wonder to think that God should have caused His manna still to fall. They provoked Moses and they set up Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, but that very morning God’s bread was in their mouths. They came up to speak against God and against His servant, but their tongues would have been cleaving to the roof of their mouths for thirst if that very morning they had not drunk of the water which God had given them. When dependent persons will persist in disregarding our remonstrances and violating our rules, we are driven to stop the supplies. But the Lord did not stop the supplies even in this urgent case. Would not famine and drought have brought them to their senses? If there had been no food for the women and children, and no drink for the strong men, would not that have tamed them? Even lions and savage beasts may be thus subdued. But no, their bread was given them, and their water was sure. Was He not a God ready to pardon? Yes, and I know a people who, despite their sins, have already taken possession of many a gracious promise, so that they already dwell in the midst of covenant blessings. I know a people too who, notwithstanding their sins, shall enter into rest. “He shall surely bring them in,” for He will bring His chosen into His glory, and they shall see His face with joy. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1272.cfm

His Pardon and Guidance

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

Yet Thou in Thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness… – Nehemiah 9:19

While God forgave His people He showed His readiness to pardon. He continued while they were in all these sins to guide them both by night and by day. The nineteenth verse says, “Yet Thou in Thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to show them light, and the way wherein they should go.” Only think of it, that very day they made a calf, when the sun went down the fiery pillar still lit up the camp. At that very hour in which they said “We will make to ourselves a captain, and go back to Egypt,” the cloud was covering the camp, and screening them from the burning heat of the sun. They sinned beneath the shade of special mercy. Oh, if the Lord had said, “Now I will leave you, I will give you no more guidance. Since you will not follow My commandments, go which way you will,” should you have wondered? If He had left them to faint in the heat of the day and grope in the darkness of the night would you have been surprised? Ah, but let us wonder to think that the Lord has guided us as pilgrims through this desert land: He has still been both sun and shade to us, even to this day, notwithstanding all our sin. Had He deserted us what countless evils had befallen us. Blessed be the mercy which faileth not.

My brethren, bless ye also the Lord that though He has often smitten you, and given you the bread of affliction and the water of affliction, yet He has not taken away your teachers from you, nor quenched the light of Israel. Still doth His good spirit enlighten and instruct the people. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1272.cfm