repentance

The Life-long Campaign

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

…only the stump of Dagon was left to him. – 1 Samuel 5:4

Here is the sphere in which faith is to work—it does not talk of ended warfare but carries on the life-long campaign to ultimate victory. Faith does not say, “I have ceased the conflict”—she knows better! Faith says, “I am in the midst of it, warring with a thousand foes and looking for the victory through Jesus Christ, my Lord.” O Brothers and Sisters, be strong in faith by the power of the Holy Spirit, for you have need to be, since the stump of Dagon still remains! The lusting of the flesh abides still in the regenerate! Look at this matter again. That stump of Dagon which remained was a vile thing—it was a piece of an idol—a fragment of a monstrous image which had been worshiped instead of God!

Now, the sin which dwells in you is never to be regarded by you as anything else than a horrible, loathsome and detestable thing. After such love as you and I have known, that there should be in us even the power to be ungrateful ought to shock us! After such proof of His Truth as God has shown us, that after such faithfulness and such abundant evidences of faithfulness we should still be capable of unbelief ought to be a sorrow to us! Oh, I wish I could never sin again throughout time or eternity! Oh, that every particle of the tinder of depravity into which the devil could let a spark fall was gone from my nature! It is a mercy to have the sparks put out, but it is a pity to have even the tinder left—and there is plenty of this tinder about us all!

Dagon’s Ups and Downs by C. H. Spurgeon

Our Dagon Cast Down Again

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

And they took Dagon and set him in his place again. And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him. – 1 Samuel 5:3,4

The setting up of Dagon, the second time, and his second fall very well represent the battle going on in the soul between sin and Grace. What fools these Philistines were to continue worshiping a god which, when it tumbled down, could not get up again! To worship a god which fell on its face was bad enough, but to worship one that could not rise when he fell—but needed to be set in his place by human hands—was certainly vile infatuation!

Even thus Satan and the flesh come into our souls and try to set our fallen Dagon up, again, with some measure of success. It often happens that in young converts there comes a period when it looks as if they had altogether apostatized and gone back to their former ways. It seems as if the work of God were not real in their souls and Divine Grace was not triumphant. Do you wonder at it? I have ceased to wonder! The Gospel is preached and the man accepts it—and there is a marvelous difference in him! But when he goes among his old companions, although he is resolved not to fall into his former sins, they try him severely. He is assailed in a thousand ways! Now, all this is a violent attempt of Satan and the flesh to set Dagon up again! They know that the Lord has thrown him down and they cannot bear it…The wanderers have come back, weeping and sighing, to admit that they have dishonored their profession—and what has been the result in the long run?

Why, they have had more humility, more tenderness of heart, more love to Christ, more gratitude than they had before! And I have been glad, (not glad that they wandered), but glad that the Grace of God, when He has brought them back again more fully, has given them a deeper conversion and a more lasting and substantial work of Grace, so that afterwards they have continued, by the Grace of God, honorable, useful Christians even to the end! 

Dagon’s Ups and Downs by C. H. Spurgeon

Sin and Grace, Conflict and Victory

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

…behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD… – 1 Samuel 5:4

While the Dagon of sin sits firmly on his throne, as if he never could be stirred and his horrid form is, alone, to be seen lording it over all the thoughts and imaginations of the heart, even then it is that “God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses and sins,” sends His almighty Grace to dwell within us! When that Grace enters the soul, it comes not with observation—and sin, at first does not know any more about the incoming of Grace than Dagon knew about the Ark. The Grace, the Light, the Truth, the Love of God come into the soul and the man does not know, as yet, what the Lord has done for him…We have now Dagon and the Ark in the same temple—Sin and Grace in the same heart—but this state of things cannot long abide! No man can serve two masters! And even if he could, the two masters would not agree to be served!

The two great principles of Sin and Grace will not abide in peace with each other, they are as opposite as fire and water. There will be conflict and victory, but we know which will conquer, for as surely as ever the Grace of God comes into the soul, Sin receives notice to exit! That night, when the Philistines had finished their exulting ceremonies, they thought they had left Dagon robed in glory, reigning and triumphing over the Ark of the Lord. They had scarcely shut the doors and gone before Dagon fell on his face to the ground before the Ark. Down he went! He did not lean over—he fell! Nor did he drop upon his side, but he was made to do obeisance before the Ark, for he fell on his face!. Even thus Grace in the soul is not long before it overthrows sin. What a turning of things upside down Grace always makes! The watchword is, “Overturn, overturn, overturn!” The Breaker is come up, and the images of man’s invention must be dashed to shivers!.. When Grace enters the soul the dominion of self-confidence comes to an end!

Dagon’s Ups and Downs by C. H. Spurgeon

We Are Indebted to God

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

There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. – Luke 7:41,42

They had nothing at home or abroad that they could dispose of. Things had come to such a pass with them that they had neither stock nor money, nor anything in prospect which they could draw upon—they were brought to the last extremity—reduced to absolute beggary. Meanwhile, their great creditor was pressing them for settlement…We are all, by nature and by practice, plunged in debt—and this is the way in which we came to be so—hear it and mark it well! As God‘s creatures we, from the very first, owed to Him the debt of obedience. We were bound to obey our Maker! It is He that made us, not we, ourselves, and we were, therefore, bound reverently to recognize our Creator, affectionately to worship Him and dutifully to serve Him. This is an obligation so natural and reasonable that nobody can dispute it! …But, dear Friends, we have not done His will! We have left undone the things we ought to have done, and we have done the things we ought not to have done—and so we have come, in a second sense, into His debt! We now stand liable to penalty, yes, we are already condemned!

I remember when I felt the burden of sin and though, but a child, my heart failed me for anguish, and I was brought very low. Sin was no bugbear to scare me—it was a grim reality—as a lion, it tore me in pieces. And now, today, I know the reality of pardon—it is no fancy, no dream—for my inmost soul feels its power! I know that my sins are forgiven and I rejoice because of that belief, but I should never have known the real truth of this happy condition if I had not felt the oppressive load of sin upon the conscience. I could not afford to play at conversion, for sin was an awful fact in my soul. Our heavenly Father does not wish us to use lightness in a matter concerning which Jesus shed His blood—and so He brings us into trouble of soul—and afterwards into a vivid realization of Free Grace.

Bankrupt Debtors Discharged by C. H. Spurgeon

No Music but the Music that is Heard in Heaven

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

Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. – 2 Corinthians 5:20

Let me give you a parable. In the days of Nero there was great shortness of food in the city of Rome, although there was abundance of corn to be purchased at Alexandria. A certain man who owned a vessel went down to the sea coast, and there he noticed many hungry people straining their eyes toward the sea, watching for the vessels that were to come from Egypt with corn. When these vessels came to the shore, one by one, the poor people wrung their hands in bitter disappointment, for on board the galleys there was nothing but sand which the tyrant emperor had compelled them to bring for use in the arena. It was infamous cruelty, when men were dying of hunger to command trading vessels to go to and fro, and bring nothing else but sand for gladiatorial shows, when wheat was so greatly needed. Then the merchant whose vessel was moored by the quay said to his shipmaster, “Take thou good heed that thou bring nothing back with thee from Alexandria but corn; and whereas, aforetime thou hast brought in the vessel a measure or two of sand, bring thou not so much as would lie upon a penny this time. Bring thou nothing else, I say, but wheat: for these people are dying, and now we must keep our vessels for this one business of bringing food for them.” Alas! I have seen certain mighty galleys of late loaded with nothing but mere sand of philosophy and speculation, and I have said within myself, “Nay, but I will bear nothing in my ship but the revealed truth of God, the bread of life so greatly needed by the people.” God grant us this day that our ship may have nothing on board it that may merely gratify the curiosity, or please the taste; but that there may be necessary truths for the salvation of souls. I would have each one of you say: “Well, it was just the old, old story of Jesus and His love, and nothing else.” I have no desire to be famous for anything but preaching of the gospel. There are plenty who can fiddle to you the new music; it is for me to have no music at any time but that which is heard in heaven—”Unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, to Him be glory for ever and ever!” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1910.cfm

Knowing and Understanding

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

Our fathers understood not Thy wonders in Egypt… – Psalm 106:7

They ‘understood not His wonders in Egypt”, because their hearts were hardened by their association with a proud, worldly, idolatrous and yet cultured nation, and they had turned aside from the spiritual faith of their fathers. Wonders were wrought, and they saw them, and were amazed; but they did not see beneath the surface, nor perceive the Lord’s meaning in them. The fact is, dear friends, these people had no deeply spiritual work upon their hearts. Beloved, I pray to God for you who are newly called out from the world, that the first working of grace in your souls may be deep, true, clear, and lasting. I would have you not only know but understand. Depend upon it- a man’s after-character is very much shaped by the mode of his conversion. Why do some turn back altogether? It is because their change of heart was not that thorough radical conversion which involves the creation of a new nature. They felt certain superficial impressions which they mistook for the new birth, and they made a hasty profession which they could not afterwards maintain. They were not thoroughly saved from the dominion of sin, or they would have held on till the end. Many professing Christians of whom we have a good hope that they will prove to be sincere, never had any deep conviction of sin, nor any overwhelming sense of their need of Jesus: hence they have seen little of our Lord in His glorious offices, and all-sufficient sacrifice, and have gained no thorough understanding of His truth…I am afraid for you if you have only a flimsy experience, a skin-deep conviction, a blind man’s apprehension of heavenly light. No wonder if very soon you forgot, and afterwards rebel. Let us pray to God that both in ourselves, and in those whom we bring to Christ, the work of grace may be deep and thorough; and may our faith in Jesus be sustained by a clear understanding of the gospel, and of our Lord’s dealings with us! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2204.cfm

Be Ye Followers of God

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, confession of sin, prayer, promises, repentance, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Holy Spirit Leave a comment

We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly. Our fathers understood not Thy wonders in Egypt; they remembered not the multitude of Thy mercies; but provoked Him at the sea, even at the Red Sea – Psalm 106:6,7

Great things, whether good or evil, begin with littles. The river that rolls its mighty volume to the sea was once a tiny brook; nay, it started as a spring-head, where the child stooped down to drink, and, with a single draught, seemed as if he would exhaust the supply. The rivulet ripples itself into a river. Sin is a stream of this sort. It starts with a thought; it increases to a resolve, a word, an act; it gathers force, and becomes habit, and daring rebellion. Want of understanding lies at the fountain-head of sin: “Our fathers understood not Thy wonders in Egypt.” Out of this lack of understanding comes the greater offense of ungrateful forgetfulness. Failure of memory follows upon a want of understanding: “They remembered not the multitude of Thy mercies.” This readily leads on to the sad consummation of rebellion. Provocation follows upon forgetfulness. Inward faults display themselves in outward offenses: “They provoked Him at the sea, even at the Red Sea.”

To confess our personal sin will tend to keep us humble; and in view of the Lord’s mercy, which has spared and pardoned us, a sense of our guilt will make us grateful. The less we think of ourselves the more we shall think of Him whose “mercy endureth for ever”; and if we see where our fathers’ sins began, and how they grew, and what they came to, we may hope that the Spirit of God will help us to turn from the beginnings of evil, and forsake the fountain-heads of our iniquities. This will tend to repentance and holiness. May we be so wrought upon by the Spirit of God that we shall not be as our earthly fathers, but become like our heavenly Father, who says to us, “Be ye followers of God, as dear children.” We are not to take our fathers after the flesh for our example wherein they have gone astray; but our Father who is in heaven we are to imitate by the power of His grace. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2204.cfm