promises

Live Near to Jesus

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

Therefore are they before the throne of God…For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them… -Revelation 7:15,17

Idle Christians are often unhappy Christians. I have met with many a spiritual dyspeptic always full of doubts and fears. Is there a young man here full of doubts and fears who has lost the light he once possessed, and the joy he once had? Dear brother, get to work. In cold weather the best way to be warm is not to get before a fire, but to work. Exercise gives a healthy glow, even amidst the frost. “I am doing something,” says one. Yes, with one hand; use the other hand. “Perhaps I should have too many irons in the fire,” says one. You cannot have too many. Put them all in, and blow the fire with all the bellows you can get. I do not believe any Christian man works too hard, and, as a rule, if those who kill themselves in Christ’s service were buried in a cemetery by themselves, it would be a long while before it would get filled. Work hard for Christ. It makes happy those who are in heaven to serve God day and night, and it will make you happy on earth. Do all you can. Another way is to have fellowship with Christ here. Read again this chapter. “He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them-He shall feed them.” Oh! if you want to be happy, live near to Jesus. Poor men are not poor when Christ lives in their house. Truly, sick men have their beds made easy when Christ is there. Has He not said, ” I will make his bed in all his sickness”? Only get fellowship with Jesus, and outward circumstances won’t distress you. The sun will not light on you, nor any heat. You will be like the shepherd on Salisbury Plain, who said it was good weather, though it rained hard. “It is weather,” said he, “that pleases me.” “How so?” said a traveller to him. “Well, sir,” he said, “it pleases God, and what pleases God pleases me.” “Good day!” said one to a Christian man. “I never had a bad day since I was converted,” said he. “They are all good now since Christ is my Saviour.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3499.cfm

Heaven on Earth

Sherry Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation Leave a comment

These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. -Revelation 7:14

Dear hearers, have you all got faith? It is, as it were, the key of blessedness. “But all men have not faith,” says the Apostle. Hast thou faith? Dost thou believe in Christ Jesus? In other words, dost thou trust thyself alone with Him? Can you sing with our poet:

“Nothing in my hand I bring
Simply to Thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress,
Helpless, look to Thee for grace.
Foul, I to the fountain fly,
Wash me, Saviour, or I die”?

Make much of the faith that will admit you to heaven… Do any of us want to know what heaven is on earth? Most of us will say, “Aye” to that. Well then, the text tells you how to find heaven on earth. You find it in the same way as they find it in heaven…be thou washed in the blood of Christ, and that will be a great help towards happiness on earth. It will give thee peace now, “the peace of God that passeth all understanding.” Some people think that heaven on earth is to be found in the theatre, and in the ballroom, and in the giddy haunts of fashion. Well, it may be heaven to some, but if God has any love to you, it won’t be heaven to you. Wash your robe, therefore, in the Saviour’s blood, and there will be the beginning of heaven on earth. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3499.cfm

Think Much of Heaven

Sherry Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation Leave a comment

Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. -2 Peter 1:10-11

We cannot too often turn our thoughts heavenward, for this is one of the great cures for worldliness. The way to liberate our souls from the bonds that tie us to earth is to strengthen the cords that bind us to heaven. You will think less of this poor little globe when you think more of the world to come. This contemplation will also serve to console us for the loss, as we call it, of those who have gone before. It is their gain, and we will rejoice in it. We cannot have a richer source of consolation than this, that they who have fallen asleep in Christ have not perished; they have not lost life, but they have gained the fullness of it. They are rid of all that molests us here, and they enjoy more than we as yet can imagine. Cheer your hearts, ye mourners, by looking up to the gate of pearl, by looking up-to those who day without night surround the throne of their Redeemer. It will also tend to quicken our diligence if we think much of heaven. Suppose I should miss it after all! What if I should not so run that I may obtain! If heaven be little, I shall be but a little loser by losing it; but if it be indeed such that the half could never be told us, then, may God grant us diligence to make our calling and election sure, that we may be certain of entering into this rest, and may not be like the many who came out of Egypt, but who perished in the wilderness and never entered into the promised land. All things considered, I know of no meditation that is likely to be more profitable than a frequent consideration of the rest which remaineth for the people of God. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3499.cfm

 

Refusing the Everlasting and the Ever Blessed

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

For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven -Hebrews 12:25

When Moses spake in God’s name, it was no light thing to refuse such an ambassador. Still, Moses was but a man. Though clothed with divine authority, yet he was but a man and a servant of God. But Jesus Christ is God by nature. See that ye refuse not Him who is of heavenly origin, who came from heaven, who is clothed with such divine powers, that every word He speaks is virtually spoken from heaven, and who, being now in heaven, speaks through His ever living gospel directly out of the excellent glory. Regard ye this, I pray you, and remember well the parable which Jesus gave. A certain man planted a vineyard, and let it out to husbandmen, and when the time came that he should receive the fruit he sent a servant, and they stoned him. He sent another, and they beat him. He sent another, and they maltreated him. After he had thus sent many of his servants, and the dressers of the vineyard had incurred his high displeasure by the shameful way in which they had treated the servants, he sent his own son, and he said, “They will reverence my son.” It was the highest degree of guilt when they said, “This is the heir; let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.” Then they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. You know how the Saviour was treated by the sons of men; but here is the point I aim at; it is this: to reject Jesus Christ, to refuse Him, to refuse merely His gospel, if He did not speak in it, might not be so high a misdemeanour, but to refuse Him!-I don’t know how it is, but my heart feels very heavy, even to sinking, at the thought that any man here should be able to refuse Christ, the Son of God, the Everlasting and the ever Blessed…I cannot fashion an excuse for any of you, if you, after having heard the gospel, be cast into hell, I dare not think that its utmost pains will be too severe for so high an insult to such wondrous love. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3492.cfm

Why Some Foolishly Refuse Him

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, repentance, salvation, Sovereignty of God 7 Comments

For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. -Galatians 3:10

Some refuse Him out of perfect indifference; the great mass of men have not a thought above their meat and their drink. Like the cock that found the diamond on the dunghill, they turn it over and wish it were a grain of barley. What care they for heaven, or the pardon of sin? Their mind does not reach to that. See that ye-that ye, none of you, are so sensuous as to “refuse Him that speaketh from heaven” for such a reason as this. Some reject Him because of their self-righteousness: they are good enough. Jesus Christ speaks against them, they say; He does not applaud their righteousness, He ridicules them rather; He tells them that their prayers are long prayers, and their many good works are, after all, a poor ground for reliance.” So as the Saviour will not patronize their righteousness, neither will they have to do with Him. Oh! say not ye are rich and increased in goods; ye are naked, and poor, and miserable. Say not ye can win heaven by your merits; ye have none; your merits drag you down to hell. Yet many will refuse the Saviour because of the insanity of their self-righteousness.  Some, too, reject Him because of their self-reliant wisdom. “Why,” they say, “this is a very thoughtful age.” …Nay, it is the thinking of Christ we have to think about; otherwise, our thinking may prove our curse…. While your souls are being lost, sirs, there is better employment for you than merely indulging in rhapsodies and inventions of your own supposed judgment. Take hold of this, the gospel of Jesus revealed of God, lest ye perish, and perish with a vengeance. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3492.cfm

He Speaks Love to Your Soul

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

Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. -Matthew 11:28

See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh. -Hebrews 12:25

“Come to Me, repent, be saved”; but until now ye have refused “Him that speaketh.” Will not the time past suffice to have played this mischievous game? Will not the years that have rolled into eternity bear enough witness against you? Must ye add to all this weight by again refusing? Oh! I implore you to see to it that ye do not again “refuse Him that speaketh from heaven,” for there is not a word of that which He speaks, but what is love to your souls. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came not armed with terrors to work wrath among the sons of men; all was mercy, all was grace, and to those who listen to Him, He has nothing to speak but tenderness and loving-kindness; your sins shall be forgiven you; the time of your ignorances God will wink at; your transgressions shall be cast into the depths of the sea; for you there shall be happiness on earth, and glory hereafter. Who would not listen when it is good news to be heard? Who would not listen when the best tidings that God Himself ever sent forth from the excellent glory is proclaimed by the noblest Ambassador that ever spake to men, namely, God’s own Son, Jesus, the once crucified, but now exalted Saviour? For these reasons, then, at the very outset I press upon you this exhortation, “See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh such precious truth”, which the enemy would fain take out of your minds: truth which you yourselves have refused long enough already, and truth which is sweet, and will be exceedingly precious to your souls if you receive it. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3492.cfm

 

 

Clothed in Christ’s Righteousness

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

Notice by way of encouragement that we may regard our reception of Christ’s righteousness as an installment of the final overthrow of the devil-

Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them. -Genesis 3: 21 

A very condescending, thoughtful, and instructive deed of divine love! God heard what Adam said to his wife, and saw that he was a believer, and so He comes and gives him the type of the perfect righteousness, which is the believer’s portion-He covered him with lasting raiment. No more fig leaves, which were a mere mockery, but a close fitting garment which had been procured through the death of a victim; the Lord brings that and puts it on him, and Adam could no more say, “I am naked.” How could he, for God had clothed him. Now, beloved, let us take out of the promise that is given us concerning our Lord’s conquest over the devil this one item and rejoice in it, for Christ has delivered us from the power of the serpent who opened our eyes and told us we were naked, by covering us from head to foot with a righteousness which adorns and protects us, so that we are comfortable in heart, and beautiful in the sight of God, and are no more ashamed.

Therefore, brethren, be ye steadfast in resisting the evil one being strong in faith, giving glory to God.

“Tis by Thy blood, immortal Lamb,
Thine armies tread the tempter down;
“tis by Thy word and powerful name
They gain the battle and renown.
“Rejoice ye heavens; let every star
Shine with new glories round the sky;
Saints, while ye sing the heavenly war,
Raise your Deliverer’s name on high.”

~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1326.cfm