promises

A Wonder of Condescending Grace and Mercy

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God, The Father 3 Comments

That in the dispensation of the fulness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him -Ephesians 1:10

In the fulness of time, our Lord Jesus Christ left the glories of heaven, and took upon Him our nature. We know so little of what the word “heaven” means that we cannot adequately appreciate the tremendous sacrifice that the Son of God must have made in order to become the Son of Mary. The holy angels could understand far better than we can what their Lord and ours gave up when He renounced the royalties of heaven, and all the honour and glory which rightly belonged to Him as the Son of the Highest, and left His throne and crown above to be born as the Babe of an earthly mother, yet even to them there were mysteries about His incarnation which they could not fathom; and as they followed the footprints of the Son of man on His wondrous way from the manger to the cross and to the tomb, they must often have been in that most suggestive attitude of which Peter wrote, “which things the angels desire to look into.” To us, the incarnation of Christ is one of the greatest marvels in the history of the universe, and we say, with Paul, “Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh.” The omnipotent Creator took the nature of a creature into indissoluble union with his divine nature; and, marvel of marvels, that creature was man.

O glorious Bridegroom of our hearts, there never was any other love like Thine! That the eternal Son of God should leave His Father’s side, and stoop so low as to become one with His chosen people, so that Paul could truly write, “We are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones, is such a wonder of condescending grace and mercy that we can only exclaim again and again, “Behold how He loved us!”~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3228.cfm

Behold How He Loved Us!

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

And He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore His arm brought salvation unto Him; and His righteousness, it sustained Him. -Isaiah 59:16

When did Christ’s love begin to work for us? It was long before we were born, long before the world was created; far, far back, in eternity, our Saviour gave the first proof of His love to us by espousing our cause. By His divine foresight, He looked upon human nature as a palace that had been plundered, and broken down, and in its ruins He perceived the owl, the bittern, the dragon, and all manner of unclean things. Who was there to undertake the great work of restoring that ruined palace? No one but the Word, who was with God, and who was God. “He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore His own arm brought salvation unto Him; and His righteousness, it sustained Him.” Ere the angels began to sing, or the sun, and moon, and stars threw their first beams athwart primeval darkness, Christ espoused the cause of His people, and resolved not only to restore to them all the blessings that He foresaw that they would lose, but also add to them richer favours that could ever have been theirs except through Him.

Jesus Christ, “that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,” undertook to redeem and guard the whole flock entrusted to His care, so that when, at the last great muster, they should pass under the hand of Him that telleth them, not one of them should be missing, and the blessed Shepherd-Son should be able to say to His Father, “Those that Thou gavest me I have kept, and not one of them is lost.” It was in the everlasting covenant that our Lord Jesus Christ became our Representative and Surety and engaged on our behalf to fulfill all His Father’s will; and as we think of this great mystery of mercy, surely all of us who are truly His must exclaim with grateful adoration, “Behold how He loved us!”~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3228.cfm

Jesus’ Love for Us; Our Love for Him

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

Then said the Jews, Behold how He loved him! -John 11:36

It was at the grave of Lazarus that Jesus wept, and His grief was so manifest to the onlookers that they said, “Behold how He loved him!” Most of us here, I trust, are not mere onlookers, but we have a share in the special love of Jesus. We see evidences of that love, not in His tears, but in the precious blood that He so freely shed for us; so we ought to marvel even more than those Jews did at the love of Jesus, and to see further into His heart than they did, and to know more of Him than they could in the brief interval in which they had become acquainted with Him. When we think of His love to us, we may well cry, “Behold how He has loved us!”

In these days, we are too apt to repress our emotions…If we were in a right state of mind and heart, we should often say to one another, “How wondrous has the love of Jesus been to us!” Our conversation with one another, as brethren and sisters in Christ, would often be upon this blessed subject. We waste far too much of our time upon trifles, it would be well if the love of Jesus so engrossed our thoughts that it engrossed our conversation too… If we were as we should be, one would frequently say to another, “How great is Christ’s love to me, my brother! Dost thou also say that it is great to thee?”

Beloved, remember that, when our love has reached its climax, it can only be like a solitary dewdrop trembling on a leaf compared with the copious showers of love that pour continually from the heart of our dear Lord and Master…May the Holy Spirit fill our souls to the brim with love to Jesus, for His dear name’s sake! Amen.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3228.cfm

“Draw Me”

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, repentance, Sovereignty of God 8 Comments

Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee. -Song 1:4

How often have we resolved that we would live nearer to Christ! Yet, though we have resolved, and re-resolved, I fear it has all ended with resolving. Peradventure we have prayed over our resolutions, and for a little season we have sought it very earnestly, but our earnestness soon expired, like every other fire that is of human kindling, and we made but little progress. Be not disheartened, my beloved in the Lord: I tell thee, whether thou art able to believe it or not, that if thy heart be this night cold as the centre of an iceberg, yet if Christ shall come to thee, thy soul shall be as coals of juniper, that have a most vehement flame. Though to thy own apprehension thou seemest to be dead as the bones in a cemetery, yet if Jesus come to thee, thou shalt forthwith be as full of life as the seraphs who are as flames of fire. Why think you He will not come to you? Do you not remember how He did melt you when first He manifested Himself to your soul? You were as vile then as you are now; you were certainly as ruined then as you are now; you had no more to merit His esteem then than you have now; you were as far off from Him then as you are now-I might say even further off. But lo! He came to you when you did not seek Him; He came in the sovereignty of His grace and the sweetness of His mercy when you despised Him. Wherefore, then, should He not come to you now? Oh! breathe the prayer, “Draw me,” and you will soon find power to run, and when all your passions and powers are fled, the King will speedily bring you into His chamber.

Do seek fellowship with Him, as one who ignores every thought, feeling, or fact besides. So may it please Him to manifest Himself to you and to me as He doth not to the world.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3480.cfm

At His Table

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God 11 Comments

While the king sitteth at his table -Song 1:12

Which in His times He shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords -1 Timothy 6:15

He is called “the King.” I am told that the Hebrew word is very emphatic, as if it said, “The King”-the King of kings, the greatest of all Kings. He must be such to us-absolute Master of our hearts, Lord of our soul’s domain, the unrivalled One in our estimation, to whom we render obedience with alacrity. We must have Him as King, or we shall not have His presence to revive our graces. And when the King communes with His people, it is said to be at “His table,” not at ours. Specially may this apply to the table of communion. It is not the Baptists’ table; it is not my table; it is His table, because if there is anything good on it, remember, He spread it; nay, there is nothing on the table unless He Himself be there. There is no food to the child of God unless Christ’s body be the flesh, and Christ’s blood the wine. We must have Christ. It must be emphatically His table by His being present, by His spreading it, His presiding at it, or else we have not His presence at all. I find the Hebrew word here signifies a “round table.” I do not know whether that is intended which I understand by it-perhaps it is-it suggests to me a blessed equality with all His disciples; sitting at His round table, as if there were scarce a head, but He was one of themselves, so close the communion He holds with them sitting at the table; so dear His fellowship, sitting like one of themselves, made like unto His brethren in all things at His round table.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3480.cfm

Fragrant Graces

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises 6 Comments

While the king sitteth at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof. -Song 1:12

If I understand a Christian aright, he should be a man readily discerned. You do not need to write upon a box that contains spikenard, with the lid open, the word “Spikenard.” You will know it is there; your nostrils would tell you. If a man should fill his pockets with dust, he might walk where he would, and though he should scatter it in the air, few would notice it; but let him go into a room with his pockets full of musk, and let him drop a particle about, he is soon discovered, because the musk speaks for itself. Now true grace, like spikenard or any other perfume, should speak for itself. You know our Saviour compares Christians to lights. There is a crowd of people standing yonder; I cannot see those who are in the shadow, but there is one man whose face I can see well, and that is the man who holds the torch. Its flames light up his face, so that we can catch every feature readily. So, whoever is not discovered, the Christian should be obvious at once. “Thou also wast with Jesus of Nazareth, for thy speech betrayeth thee.” Not only should the Christian be perceptible, but grace has been given to him that it might be in exercise. What is faith, unless it is believing? What is love, unless it is embracing? What is patience, unless it is enduring? To what purpose is knowledge, unless it is revealing truth? What are any of those sweet graces which the Master gives us, unless they yield their perfume? I fear we do not enough gaze upon that face covered with the bloody sweat, for if we did, as sure as the King was thus in our thoughts sitting at His table, we should be more like Him; we should love Him better; we should live more passionately for Him, and should spend and be spent, that we might promote His glory. I just note this point that believers’ graces, like spikenard, are meant to give forth their smell. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3480.cfm

The Gift of God

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God 10 Comments

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God -Ephesians 2:8

We say, “nothing is freer than a gift”. Salvation is so purely, so absolutely a gift of God, that nothing can be more free. God gives it because He chooses to give it, according to that grand text which has made many a man bite his lip in wrath, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” You are all guilty and condemned, and the great King pardons whom He wills from among you. This is His royal prerogative. He saves in infinite sovereignty of grace.

When a man pays another his wage, he does what is right; and no one dreams of belauding him for it. But we praise God for salvation because it is not the payment of debt, but the gift of grace. No man enters eternal life on earth, or in heaven, as his due: it is the gift of God. Salvation is the gift of God: that is to say completely so, in opposition to the notion of growth. Salvation is not a natural production from within: it is brought from a foreign zone, and planted within the heart by heavenly hands. Salvation is in its entirety a gift from God. If thou wilt have it, there it is, complete. Wilt thou have it as a perfect gift? “No; I will produce it in my own workshop.” Thou canst not forge a work so rare and costly, upon which even Jesus spent His life’s blood. Here is a garment without seam, woven from the top throughout. It will cover thee and make thee glorious. Wilt thou have it? “No; I will sit at the loom, and I will weave a raiment of my own!” Proud fool that thou art! Thou spinnest cobwebs. Thou weavest a dream. Oh! that thou wouldst freely take what Christ upon the cross declared to be finished. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3479.cfm