prophecy

Not One Is Missing

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

For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. – Ephesians 5:30

Christ lives a perfect life. Perhaps you do not see how this is a link between His living and your living, but it is, because we are a part of Christ. According to the Word of Scripture, every believer is a member of Christ’s body. Now, a man who lives perfectly has not lost his finger, or his arm, or his hand. A man may be alive with many of his limbs taken away, but you can scarcely call him a perfect-living man. But I cannot imagine a maimed Christ. I have never been able to conceive in my soul, of Christ lacking any of His members. Such a thing was never seen on earth. The barbarous cruelty of the Jews could not effect that, and, by the Providence of God, Pilate’s officers were not permitted to cause such a thing. “Not a bone of Him shall be broken,” was the ancient prophecy. They brake the legs of the first and second thief, but when they came to the matchless Lord they saw He was already dead, so they brake not His legs. Even in His earthly body, which was the type of His spiritual body, He must suffer no maiming injury. Therefore, my brethren, because Christ lives as a perfect Christ, everyone that is one with Him must live also…Because He lives in perfect happiness, I conceive that all who are dear to Him will be round about Him. It shall not be said that He lost one of them, nor shall one of the family be missing, but:

“All the chosen seed
Shall meet around the throne,
To bless the conduct of His grace,
And make His wonders known.”

~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3401.cfm

 

Willful and Wicked Conduct

Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life, prayer, promises, prophecy 5 Comments

And Zacharias said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years…” “But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time.” – Luke 1:18, 20

His fault was that he looked at the difficulty. “I am an old man,” said he, “and my wife is well stricken in years.” And while he looked at the difficulty, he would fain suggest a remedy; he wanted a sign. I have often trembled in my own soul when I have felt an inclination thus to tempt the Lord by looking for some minute circumstance to verify a magnificent promise. When I have thought, “Hereby shall I know whether He does hear prayer or not,” a cold shiver has passed over me, the shudder has gone through my soul that ever I should think of challenging the truth of God’s word, when the fact is so certain. To us who have full often cried unto the Lord in our distresses and been delivered out of our troubles, to raise such a question is indeed ungrateful. For a child of God who habitually prays to his Father in heaven to look upon His faithfulness as a matter of uncertainty is to degrade himself, and to dishonour his Lord. Yet there is no denying the tendency and disposition among us to want a sign. As we read a prophecy of the future, we crave a token in the present. If the Lord were pleased to give us a sign, or if he told us to ask for a sign, we should be quite right in attaching a high importance thereto, but for us to doubt a plain promise, and, therefore, ask a sign, is to sin against the Lord. Sometimes we have wanted signs in spiritual things. Meet and proper is it for us to rejoice in the true delights of fellowship with Christ, but it ill becomes us to make our feelings a kind of test of our acceptance, or to say, “I will not believe God if He does not indulge me with certain manifestations of grace; unless He gives me the sweetmeats I crave, I will be sulky and sullen, and refuse to eat the children’s bread.” Why, such conduct is willful and wicked; it is weak, and utterly inexcusable. Yet how many of us have been guilty of this folly? ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3495.cfm

This is Heaven Indeed

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

And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. – Revelation 21:3

Mark, that in all Christ has, a believer has a share. This seems to me to be the sum total, and the crowning of it all- to reign with Christ, to ride in His triumphal chariot, and have a portion of His joy; to be honored with Him, to be accepted in Him, to be glorified with Him. This is heaven, this is heaven indeed.

Well said Chrysostom, “The pains of hell are not the greatest part of hell; the loss of heaven is the weightiest woe of hell;” to lose the sight of Christ, the company of Christ, to lose the beholding of His glories, this must be the greatest part of the damnation of the lost. Oh, you that have not this bright hope, how is it that you can live? You are going through a dark world, to a darker eternity. I beseech you stop and pause. Consider for a moment whether it is worth while to lose heaven for this poor earth. What! pawn eternal glories for the pitiful pence of a few moments of the world’s enjoyments? No, stop I beseech you; weigh the bargain ere you accept it. What shall it profit you to gain the whole world and lose your soul, and lose such a heaven as this?

But as for you who have a hope, I beseech you hold it fast, live on it, rejoice in it-

“A hope so much divine,
May trials well endure,
May purge your soul from sense and sin,
As Christ the Lord is pure.”

~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0188.cfm

The Magnificence of Our Saviour

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

For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God. – Romans 14:11

Can you imagine the magnificence of the Saviour? Can you conceive how thrones and princes, principalities and powers, all wait at His beck and command? Ye cannot tell how well the tiara of the universe doth fit His brow, or how the regal purple of all worlds doth gird His shoulders; but certain it is, from the highest heaven to the deepest hell, He is Lord of Lords-from the furthest east to the remotest west, He is master of all. The songs of all creatures find a focus in Him. He is the grand reservoir of praise. All the rivers run into the sea, and all the hallelujahs come to Him, for He is Lord of all. Oh, this is heaven-it is all the heaven I wish, to see my Master exalted; for this has often braced my loins when I have been weary, and often steeled my courage when I have been faint “The Lord also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, both of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth.”

We cannot read our Bibles and believe them literally, without believing that there are bright days coming, when Christ shall sit upon the throne of His father David, when He shall hold His court on earth, and reign amongst His ancients gloriously. But oh, if it be so, you and I shall see it, if we belong to the happy number, who have put their trust in Christ…Happy men and happy women who have such a hope, so to behold the Saviour’s glory. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0188.cfm

The Traveller’s Hope

Sherry Christian Life, promises, prophecy, salvation 24 Comments

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. – Hebrews 11:13

Going home the other night I noticed the difference between the horse’s pace in coming here and going home, and I thought to myself, “Ah! the horse goes well, because he is going home;” and the thought struck me, “How well a Christian ought to go, because he is going home.” You know, if we were going from home, every rough stone in the road might check us, and we might need a good deal of whip to make us go. But it is going home. Bless God, every step we take is going home. It may be knee-deep in trouble, but it is all on the road; we may be ankle-deep in fear, but it is going home; I may stumble, but I always stumble homewards. All my afflictions and griefs, when they cast me down they but cast me onwards towards heaven. The mariner does not mind the waves, if every wave sends him nearer his haven, and he does not care how loudly howl the winds, if they only blow him nearer port. That is the Christian’s happy lot: he is going homeward. Let that cheer thee, Christian, and make thee travel on joyfully, not needing the whip to urge thee to duty, but always going on with alacrity through duty and through trial, because thou art going homeward.

Again: if we have the best things to come dear friends, do not let us be discontented. Let us put up with a few of the bad things now, for they only seem to be so…You and I are travellers. It will soon be over… Come! let us put up with these few inconveniences on the road, for the best wine is coming; let us pour away all the vinegar of murmuring, for the best wine shall come. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0226.cfm

In That Eternal World of Joy

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

And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints. – Revelation 15:3

We know very much on earth what makes us happy; Jesus Christ hath taught us many things that give us joy and gladness. It is a world of ignorance, but still through grace we have entered into the school of the gospel, and we have learned some sweet truths. It is true we are very much like the boy who is beginning to write. We had to make many ugly pothooks and hangers, and we have not yet learned to write with the sweet running hand of joy; but nevertheless, the Lord has taught us some great truths to fill our heart with joy; the great doctrine of election, the knowledge of our redemption, the fact of our security in Christ; these great but simple doctrines have filled our hearts with bliss…There are old casks of knowledge that contain the richest wine, and Christ shall stave them in, and we shall drink of them to the full. It is not fit that we should know all things now, we could not bear many things, and therefore Christ keeps them back, but

“There shall you see and hear and know
All you desired or wished below,
And every power find sweet employ
In that eternal world of joy.”

It needs but that we should see our Lord, that we should fly into His arms, that we should feel His embrace, that we should fall at His feet, and, was I about to say, weep for joy? ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0226.cfm

There is Yet a Future Time of Rest

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, prophecy, salvation, Sovereignty of God 26 Comments

There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. – Hebrews 4:9

Here on earth the believer enters into rest by faith; the Christian enjoys rest even in the wilderness; the promise is fulfilled. “They shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods.” God giveth to His beloved sleep; there is a peace that passeth all understanding, which we may enjoy even in this land of turmoil, strife, and alarms, a peace which the worldling knoweth not of, nor can he guess it.

“A holy calm within the heart,
The pledge of glorious rest.
Which for the church of God remains,
The end of cares, the end of pains.”

But beloved, drink as we may of the cup of peace, the good wine is kept until a future time. The peace we drink to-day is dashed with some drops of bitter. There are disturbing thoughts; the cares of this world will come, doubts will arise; live as we may in this world, we must have disquietudes; thorns in the flesh must come. But oh! the “rest that remaineth for the people of God.” What good wine shall that be! God hath a sun without a spot, a sky without a cloud, a day without a night, a sea without a wave, a world without a tear. Happy are they who, having passed through this world, have entered into rest, and ceased from their own works, as God did from His, bathing their weary souls in seas of heavenly rest. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0226.cfm