promises

Come and Welcome, Sinner, Come!

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

For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. -Luke 19:10

Timid spirit, timid spirit, put away the thought that He is unwilling to save. It is a lie against thy own soul; it is a libel against His character. What! He unwilling to distribute that which He so freely bought at so immense a price! Do you see in any one period of His life an unwillingness to save?.. It is done; redemption is accomplished, and think you He was so earnest and so intent on the work of redemption, and now is unwilling to reap the fruits of it? Why, do you not know, poor penitent, that He died to save you, and think you that it needs much argument to move the heart that once was pierced to pity and compassion? Scout the thought once for all. He is able to forgive; that thou knowest. He is as willing as He is able. Infinite is His ability, and as infinite His willingness. I beseech thee, distrust Him not. Come as thou art, with all thy sins about thee. Come, now and put thy trust in Him. Thou shalt find the door of heaven’s gate not creaking on its hinges, but standing ajar and opening easily…

He is not unwilling; thou art unwilling. If there be any hardness of heart, it lies with thee, and not with Him. If there be difficulties in the way of thy salvations they are difficulties in thyself, not in Him. Come and welcome. This is the invitation which reaches thee to day from heaven’s festal board. Come and welcome. Come and welcome. Come and welcome, sinner, come! Let nothing make thee linger. He thirsts to save; He pants to bless. He longs to redeem and ransom. Only trust Him; and if thou be made glad when thou trustest, He will be glad too…So come, and make thy Savior glad. Come and make Him see of the travail of His soul that He may be abundantly satisfied. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0302.cfm

The Glad Heart of Jesus

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

Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work… And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.-John 4:34, 36

Now you generally know when a man’s heart is in his work, by the joy he feels in it. You see some preachers go up into their pulpits as though they were going to be roasted at the stake; and they read their sermons through as if they were making their last dying speech and confession. What do you think they call it?-why, doing their duty. True ministers call preaching a pleasure, not a duty. It is a delight to stand up to tell to others the way of salvation and to magnify Christ. But mere hirelings cannot go higher than the idea of doing their duty when they are telling out this glorious tale. Jesus Christ was none of these. “My meat is” He said, “to do the will of Him that sent Me.” The only times that Jesus ever smiled and rejoiced are the times when He was in the midst of poor sinners. At that time “Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.” Let Him see a penitent, let Him hear the groan of a sinner mourning over his evil way, let Him discern a tear trickling down the cheek of one of His hearers, and Jesus Christ begins to be glad, and the Man of Sorrows wears a smile for a moment upon that pale and sorrowful face. At all times there is a travailing in birth for souls: He is only happy when He sees the family of God enlarged.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0302.cfm

His Whole Soul Was in All that He Did

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

For the zeal of Thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached Thee are fallen upon me. -Psalm 69:9

Mark our Master when He goes about doing good. The task is not irksome to Him. There are some men who if they distribute to the poor, or if they comfort the fatherless, do it with such reserve with such coldness of spirit, that you can perceive that it is but the shell of the man that acts, and not the man’s whole soul. But see our divine Lord. Wherever He walks, you see His whole self in flame. His whole being at work. Not a single power slumbers, but the whole man is engaged. How much at ease He seems among His poor fishermen! You do not discover that His thoughts are away in the halls of kings; but He is a fellow with them, bone of their bone and flesh of their flesh. He walks in the midst of publicans and harlots, and He is not ill at ease; not like one who is condescending to do a work which He feels to be beneath Him; He is pleased with it, His whole soul is in it. Mark how He takes the little children on His knee, and though His disciples would put them away, yet His whole spirit is set truly with the poor, with the sinful, whom He came to save, that He says, “Suffer the little children to come unto Me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” Look up into that face, and there is a whole-soured man there; not one whose thoughts are set on dignity and power, and who is schooling Himself down, toning down His mind to the circle in which He moves, as a matter of constraint and duty. His vocation becomes His delight. His Father’s service is His element. He is never happy when He is out of it. He casts His whole being, His whole spirit, into the work of man’s redemption.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0302.cfm

Hold Fast Your Profession

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation 5 Comments

Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience…Hebrews 10:22

If we read the text according to our present authorised translation, we have faith. We have made a public avowal of our faith. We have obtained what the apostle calls “like precious faith”: it is a rare jewel, and he is rich that possesseth it. But another reading — and a very good reading too — runs thus: “The confession of our hope.” If we have faith we have hope. We will take both renderings; for they are both correct in fact if not in the letter. We have a blessed hope, a hope most “sure and steadfast, which entereth into that which is within the veil.” The day of our Lord’s appearing will be the day of the redemption of the body from the dust with which it mingles. We have a joyful, glorious, blessed hope which purifies, and comforts, and strengthens, and sustains us, and this hope is in us now. Are we not enriched with the grace of God? Where faith and hope are found, love cannot be far off; for the three Divine sisters are seldom separated. Let us love the Lord who has given us the first two.

We are to hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, because He is faithful that has promised. Have you found Him faithful? Has the Lord failed you? Has the Lord been untrue in His promises to you? If He has, then do not hold fast your profession. If, after all, it has been a mistake and a delusion, then give it up. But if He is faithful that has promised — if till this moment you have proved the power of prayer, the wisdom of providence, and the truth of the Sacred Word, then deal with my Lord as He has dealt with you. Be not faithless to the Crucified. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

http://biblehub.com/sermons/auth/spurgeon/holding_fast_our_profession.htm

Look Duty in the Face

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

And the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are one: I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me. -John 17:22-23

(D)o not be afraid to go out into the world to do good. Christ is keeping you in the world for the advantage of your fellow-men. I am sometimes wicked enough to think that I would rather go anywhere than stand up again and preach my Master’s gospel. Like Jonah, I have thought I would really pay my fare to be carried away to Tarshish, instead of coming back to Nineveh. So would some of you who have tried to preach, and found you could not succeed as you desired. But do not be down-hearted, my brother; a Christian should never get so. If you have but one listener to-day, perhaps the next time the number will be doubled, and so on, till they cannot be counted. Never say, “I wish to go out of this world:” do not murmur, “My life Is prolonged beyond my joys.” Do what you can. Do not go amongst people with fear; do not be ashamed to look duty in the face. If you are not successful at first, do not be cowards and run away from your guns. We should do all we can to bring our guns into line with our brothers, and take good aim at our foes. Never desert your work, though you come home distressed in spirit, though you see no gleam of success, and nothing is gained. Recollect, you cannot run out of the battle, but you must go on; and you cannot escape the service. On, then, and glory shall be yours.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0047.cfm

Abide, Then, O Soldier

Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life, promises 3 Comments

As Thou hast sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. -John 17:18

The pious mind will know how to improve the very sight of sin to its own sanctification. It will learn humility when it remembers that restraining grace alone prevents a similar fault in itself. It will gather subjects for gratitude and admiration from the fact that grace alone has made it to differ. Never shall we value grace so much as when we see the evil front which it delivers us, never shall we more abhor sin than when we discern its visible deformity. Bad society is in itself like the poisonous cassava, but if baked in the fire of grace it may even be rendered useful. True grace casts salt into the poisonous stream, and then when forced to ford it, the filth thereof is destroyed. Abide, then, O soldier, in the trenches of labour and battle, for the hardness of service is beneficial to thee.

But remember while here that thou losest no opportunity of attacking the foe. Never miss an opportunity of having a shot at the devil. Be ready on all occasion to do mischief to the enemy. In business, drop a word of savour and unction; in company, turn the conversation heavenward; in private, wrestle at the throne…Do not talk of religion to be heard of men, but when a fair opportunity offers, out with your rifle and take a steady aim…More than all keep up a continual fire on the emeny by a holy life. Nothing will more reprove sin than your holiness. If you cannot tell the stick it is crooked, you can prove it to be so, by laying a straight one side by side with it. So put your purity before the impure, and they will be effectually reproved.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0047.cfm

Brace Yourself Up

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

I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world…-John 17:15

(W)e never have any encouragement peevishly to ask God to let us die. Christians are always wanting to die when they have any trouble or trial. You ask them, why? “Because we would be with the Lord.” O yes, they want to be with the Lord, when trouble and temptations come upon them. But it is not because they are “panting to be with the Lord,” it is because they desire to get rid of their troubles-else they would not want to die at all times when a little vexation is upon them. They want to get home, not so much for the Saviour’s company, as to get out of the little hard work. They did not wish to go away when they were in quiet and prosperity. Like lazy fellows, as most of us are, when we get into a little labour we beg to go home. It is quite right sometimes that you should desire to depart, because you would not prove yourself to be a true Israelite if you did not want to go to Jerusalem. You may pray to be taken home out of the world, but Christ will not take up the petition. When your prayers come to the Lord, this little one may try to get amongst them, but Christ will say, “I do not know anything about you, ‘I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world.”‘ You may wish it sincerely, and really desire it, but you will not at present get your Master to pray with you. Instead, then, of crying, or wishing to be away from the battle, brace yourself up in the name of the Lord. Think every wish to escape the fight is but a desertion of your Master. Do not so much as think of rest, but remember, that though you may cry, “Let me retire into the tent,” you will not be admitted until you return a victor. Therefore, stop here, and work and labour. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0047.cfm