promises

Our Heavenly Burden

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

“Whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple.” -Luke 14:27

“Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me, and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” -Matthew 11:29

When we took Christ’s cross to be our salvation we took it also to be our heavenly burden  . When we yielded ourselves up to Christ to be saved by Him, we in spirit renounced every sin. We felt that we had come out from under the yoke of Satan, and that we made no reserve for the lusts of the flesh that we might obey them, but bowed our necks to the yoke of the Lord Jesus. We put ourselves into Christ’s hands unreservedly, and we said, “Lord, sanctify me, and then use me. Take my body and all its members; take my mind and all its faculties; take my spirit and all the new powers which thou hast bestowed upon me with it; and let all these be Thine. Reign in me; rule me absolutely, sovereignly, always and alone. I do not ask to be my own, for I am not my own, I am bought with a price.” After we have learned the grand truth that, “if one died for all, then all died,” we infer that “Christ died for all, that we that live might not henceforth live unto ourselves, but unto Him that died for us, and rose again.” Are we not, then, to be true to this blessed compact? “I do remember my faults this day,” says one. Ay, but remember also the vows that still engage you. Do not desire to escape from the sacred bond. ‘This day remember the Lord to whom you dedicated yourself in the days of your youth, perhaps long years ago, and again entreat Him to take full possession of the purchased possession, and hold it against all comers, for ever. So it ought to be. He that says, “I am in Him” ought also so to walk even as He walked. Obey the sacrifice of Jesus, yield yourselves as living sacrifices; by your hope of being saved by Him put your whole being into His hands to love and serve Him all your days.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1732.cfm

Conformity to Christ

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, The Father, The Holy Spirit 1 Comment

But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. -Romans 8:9

The Father anointed Christ of old with the same anointing, which rests on us in our measure. The Holy Spirit descended upon Him, and rested upon Him, and we have an unction from the same Holy One. The Spirit of God has anointed all the chosen of God who are regenerated, and He dwelleth with them and in them. Now, the Spirit of God in every case works to the same result. It cannot be supposed that the Spirit of God in any case produces unholiness: the thought were blasphemy. The fruit of the Spirit is everything that is delightful, right, and good towards God, and generous towards man. The Spirit of God, wherever He works, works according to the mind of God; and God is hymned as “Holy, holy, holy,” by those pure spirits who know Him best. He is altogether without spot or trace of sin, and so shall we be when the Spirit’s work is done. If, then, the Spirit of God dwell in you (and if He doth not, you are not in Christ), it must work in you conformity to Christ that you should walk even as He walked.

Perhaps further argument is not needed; but I would have true Christians remember that this is one article of the agreement which we make with Christ when we become His disciples. It is taken for granted that when we enter the service of Jesus we, by that act and deed, undertake by His help to follow His example. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1732.cfm

Imitators of Christ

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

Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. -Ephesians 5:1

We cannot be Christians unless we are in Christ; and we are not truly in Christ unless in Him we live and move and have our being, and the life of Christ is lived over again by us according to our measure. “Be ye imitators of God, as dear children.” It is the nature of children to imitate their parents…Ought we not to be very grateful to Christ that He deigns to be our example? If He were not perfectly able to meet all our other wants, if He were an expiation and nothing else, we should glory in Him as our atoning sacrifice, for we always put that to the front, and magnify the virtue of His precious blood beyond everything, but at the same time we need an example and it is delightful to find it where we find our pardon and justification. They that are saved from the death of sin need to be guided in the life of holiness, and it is infinitely condescending on the part of Christ that He becomes an example to such poor creatures as we are… This certainly is one trait in the Good Shepherd’s character, “when He putteth forth His own sheep He goeth before them.” If Jesus bids us do anything, He first does it Himself. He would have us wash one another’s feet; and this is the argument-“Ye call me Master and Lord, and ye say well; for so I am. If I, then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.” Shall we not do as He does whom we profess to follow? He has left His footprints that we may set our feet in them.Will we not joyfully fix our feet upon this royal road? ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1732.cfm

Our Vital Union with Christ

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

He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked.- 1 John 2:6

“He that saith he abideth in Him…” -that is exactly what every Christian does say. He cannot be a Christian unless this be true of him, and he cannot fully enjoy his religion unless he assuredly knows that he is in Christ, and can boldly say as much. We must be in Christ, and abidingly in Christ, or else We are not saved in the Lord. It is our union with the Christ that makes us Christians: by union with Him as our life we truly live in the favour of God.-We are in Christ, dear brethren, as the manslayer was in the city of refuge, I hope that we can say we abide in Him as our sanctuary and shelter. We have fled for refuge to Him who is the hope set before us in the gospel. Even as David and his men sheltered themselves in the caves of En-gedi, so we hide ourselves in Christ. We each one sing, and our heart goes with the words-

“Rock of ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in thee.”

We abide in Christ as our shelter, our home, and our life… “Who shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord?” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1732.cfm

 

Leaders in Right

Sherry Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, The Holy Spirit 1 Comment

…then shall the people of the LORD go down to the gates. -Judges 5:11

To go down to the gates, however, means something else, for citizens went down to the gates to exercise authority and judgment. He that is in Christ discerneth spirits, and separateth between the excellent and the reprobate. “The spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.” The saints, being led of the Spirit, discern between the precious and the vile; they know the voice of their Shepherd, but a stranger will they not follow, for they know not the voice of strangers. The saints judge this world, and by their living testimony condemn its sin. “Know ye not that we shall judge angels” in the day of the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ? Instead of being judged and following others, they who love God become the leaders in right, and are as God’s mouth rebuking iniquity.

To go down to the gates signified also to go forth to war. When a Christian man is saved, he is not content with his own safety, he longs to see others blessed. He can now go out of the gates to attack the foe who once held him in bondage, and therefore he girds on his weapon. When will the church of God be inflamed by the sacred desire of carrying the war for Christ into the enemy’s territory?… If you are saved, you must seek to save others; if you have received the light, carry it into the dark places. If you have escaped from the jaw of the lion, and the paw of the bear, now go forth to fight with the monster and tear others from his power. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0763.cfm

Liberty: To Walk in Holiness Unhindered

Sherry Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises 2 Comments

And I will walk at liberty: for I seek Thy precepts. -Psalm 119:45

Do you know what the liberty of a child of God is, dear friends, or are you all your lifetime subject to bondage? If you are a child of God, you do know something of it, but if you are not initiated into the mystery of the inner life, you will very probably confound liberty with license. The liberty of the man of the world is liberty to commit evil without restraint: the liberty of a child of God is to walk in holiness without hindrance. When the believer’s ways are enlarged, he delights to run in the statutes of the Lord; obedience is freedom to the Lord’s servant. Christ’s yoke is easy, and His burden is light. I fear that very many of you who are present this morning are slaves-some of you slaves to fashion, you wear the fetters most conspicuously. You are the serfs of custom, and you have not the moral courage to rebel. You bow your necks to human dictation, and own that you must do what others do. You have neither the manhood nor the grace to strike out a path of your own. Now, the true child of God does not care one snap of his finger what others may do, to his own Master he stands or falls… I take it that the genuine Christian who has once come to fear God, fears nobody else; that he scorns to hamper himself with the sinful customs which sway the slavish hordes of mankind. He chooses for himself by the light of God’s word, and when he sees a thing to be right, he does it, and he asks no man liberty on that account. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0763.cfm

Likened to the Golden Lions

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

But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption…-1 Corinthians 1:30

Righteousness is that attribute which the carnal man fears but he who sees the righteousness of God satisfied by the atonement of Christ, is charmed even by the severe aspect of God dressed as a judge. The justified child of God is not afraid of the righteousness of God, for he can meet all its demands. He likens it to the golden lions which stood in pairs upon the steps of the throne of Solomon-not meant to drive away the petitioner, but to let him see how strong, how powerful, was that throne upon which Israel leaned. I see the righteousness and holiness of God like huge colossal lions, as I look at His throne, and I delight, as I ascend the steps to bow before the glorious Father’s face, to know that His righteousness is engaged to save those for whom Jesus died. Let us recount the righteous vengeance of Calvary, the terrors that God cast forth upon His Son when He cursed our sins by making Christ to be a curse for us, though He knew no sin. This is a subject upon which we should delight to dwell…The Lord prizes His saints above all the world beside. He gave Egypt and Ethiopia for them-He did more, He gave His Son for them; He gave heaven’s brightest jewel, heaven’s glory, heaven’s heaven He gave that He might redeem them from all iniquity, to be His own peculiar people. Thus, my beloved brethren, take care when you converse upon the Lord’s acts, that you speak of His peculiar favor towards Israel, His chosen, His elect.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0763.cfm