repentance

The Life of the Christian

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

…they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing. – Psalm 34:10

The term to “seek the Lord,” I may say, is the description of the life of the Christian. When he lives as he should, his whole life is seeking the Lord. It is with this he begins. “Behold, he prayeth,” that is, he seeks the Lord. He has begun to be conscious of his sin; he is seeking pardon of the Lord. He has begun to be aware of his danger; he is seeking salvation in the Lord. He is now aware of his powerlessness, and he is looking for strength to the Lord. Those deep convictions, those cries and tears, those repentings and humblings, and, above all, those acts of simple confidence in which he casts himself upon the great atonement made upon Calvary’s bloody tree-those are all acts of seeking the Lord. Now, perhaps, some of you have got no farther than this. Well, you shall have your proportion of blessing, according to your strength. You shall have your share in it, little as you are. He will give to His children at the table their portion, as well as to those who have grown to manhood.

After a man has attained unto eternal life by confiding in the Lord Jesus, he then goes on to seek the Lord in quite another way. No wonder; since he has found the Lord, or rather has been found of Him, and yet he still presses on to apprehend Him of whom he has been already apprehended. He still presses forward, seeking the Lord, and he seeks the Lord thus. He seeks now to know the Lord’s mind, the Lord’s law and will. “Show me what Thou wouldest have me to do,” saith he. “Lord, I went by my own wit once, and I brought myself into a dark wood: I lost myself: I was at hell’s brink, and Thou didst save me: now, Lord, guide and direct me: be pleased to teach me: open my lips when I speak: guide my hands when I act: I wait at Thy feet, feeling that –

“For holiness no strength have I;
My strength is at Thy feet to lie.”

~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3409.cfm

The Most God-like Work

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

Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” – John 6:28

Never hope to be saved except by God’s way of salvation. O that the Holy Ghost would enable you in your heart to say, “Now I come to Thee, O Jesus; guilty as I am, I lift my eyes to Thee, and this is my prayer: ‘Help me for Thy mercy’s sake; have pity upon me and cleanse me in Thy blood, for I put all my trust in Thee.'” Resolve, O seeker, to have no refuge of lies, no Savior but the Lamb of God.

I will confess to you, dear seeker, that often I am myself personally driven to do what I trust you may be led to do today. I look back upon my past life, and while I have much to thank God for, much in which to see His Spirit’s hand, yet when I feel my responsibilities and my shortcomings, my heart sinks within me. When I think of my transgressions, better known to myself than to anyone else, and remember too that they are not known even to me as they are to God, I feel all hope swept away and my soul left in utter despair, until I come anew to the cross, and bethink me of who it was that died there, and why He died, and what designs of infinite mercy are answered by His death. It is so sweet to look up to the Crucified One again, and say, “I have nought but Thee, my Lord, no confidence but Thee. If Thou be not accepted as my substitute I must perish; if God’s appointed Savior be not enough, I have no other, but I know Thou art the Father’s Well-beloved, and I am accepted in Thee. Thou art all I want, and all I have.”…The Jews asked our Savior, “What shall we do that we may work the works of God?” and He said, “This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.” The greatest of all works, the most Godlike work, is to leave off self-righteous seeking, and trust in Jesus. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0947.cfm

Take Jesus as Your All in All

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

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace… – Ephesians 1:7

When the soul is seeking for Jesus, it is at the same time much grieved to find it cannot even now cease from sin...As if that poor heart expected to be perfect before it had even found pardon! As if a patient expected to be perfectly well before he had followed the advice of his physician! My dear hearer, if you were able to cease from all sin for a single day, I am sure you would be out of place on earth, for heaven is the place for perfect people, and not this sinful earth. If a fountain sent forth nothing but pure water for one whole day, we might conclude that it was completely purified. The bearing of good fruit for one season would prove the tree to be good. If your heart abstained from sin of itself throughout one day, it might for another, and so on forever, and where would be the need of a Savior? What, dost thou not know that Christ came to save thee from thy new sins as well as from thine old transgressions? Is His arm too short to reach thy daily needs? His blood of too little power to wash away thy fresh pollutions? Hast thou still some hope of bettering thyself? Have done with this trifling. Confess thyself a helpless sinner, shapen in iniquity, conceived in sin, depraved in heart, and, therefore, needing the never-ceasing mercy of the Lord thy God. Come, wash now in the fountain filled with blood, and if sin returneth, ask Jesus to wash thy feet again. Make Jesus your sole reliance. Cry to Him, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” Nothing else can end your perplexities; you cannot untie the Gordian knot of your difficulties, cut it, then, by leaving all to Jesus. You cannot overcome your sins except by the blood of the Lamb. You cannot be what you should be, nor what you would be, except by taking Jesus to be your all in all. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0947.cfm

A Simple Word Full of Meaning

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

Come unto Me… – Matthew 11:28

“Come unto Me,” “Come.” A simple word, but very full of meaning. To come is to leave one thing and to advance to another. Come, then, ye laboring and heavy laden, leave your legal labors, leave your self-reliant efforts, leave your sins, leave your presumptions, leave all in which you hitherto have trusted, and come to Jesus, that is, think of, advance towards, rely upon, the Saviour. Let your contemplations think of Him who bore the load of human sin upon the cross of Calvary where He was made sin for us. Let your minds consider Him who from His cross hurled the enormous mass of His people’s transgressions into a bottomless sepulchre where it was buried forever. Think of Jesus, the divinely appointed substitute and sacrifice for guilty man. Then, seeing that He is God’s own Son, let faith follow your contemplation; rely upon Him, trust in Him as having suffered in your stead, look to Him for the payment of the debt which is due from you to the wrath of God. This is to come to Jesus. Repentance and faith make up this “Come”-the repentance which leaves that place where you now stand, the faith which comes into reliance upon Jesus.

Observe, that the command to “Come” is put in the present tense, and in the Greek it is intensely present. It might be rendered something like this: “Hither to Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden!” It is a “Come” which means not “Come to-morrow or next year,” but “Now, at once.” Advance, ye slaves, flee from your taskmaster now! Weary ones, recline on the promise now and take your rest! Come now! By an act of instantaneous faith which will bring instantaneous peace, come and rely upon Jesus, and He will now give you rest. Rest shall at once follow the exercise of faith. Perform the act of faith now. O may the eternal Spirit lead some laboring heavy laden soul to come to Jesus, and to come at this precise moment! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0969.cfm

Trust Christ Entirely

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

I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee… – Luke 15:18

Some years ago, there was a crossing-sweeper in Dublin, with his broom, at the corner, and in all probability his highest thoughts were to keep the crossing clean, and look for the pence. One day, a lawyer put his hand upon his shoulder, and said to him, “My good fellow, do you know that you are heir to a fortune of ten thousand pounds a year?” “Do you mean it?” said he. “I do,” he said. “I have just received the information; I am sure you are the man.” He walked away, and he forgot his broom. Are you astonished? Why, who would not have forgotten a broom when suddenly made possessor of ten thousand a year? So, I pray that some poor sinners who have been thinking of the pleasures of the world, when they hear that there is hope and that there is heaven to be had, will forget the deceitful pleasures of sin, and follow after higher and better things.

Some of you, I fear, will make mischief even out of the gospel, and will dare to take the cross and use it for a gibbet for your souls. If God is so merciful, you will go therefore and sin the more; and because grace is freely given, therefore you will continue in sin that grace may abound. If you do this, I would solemnly remind you I have no grace to preach to such as you. “Your damnation is just;” it is the word of inspiration, and the only one I know that is applicable to such as you are; but every needy, guilty soul that desires a Savior is told to-day to believe in Jesus, that is, trust in the substitution and sacrifice of Christ, trust Him to take your sin and blot it out; trust Him to take your soul and save it. Trust Christ entirely, and you are forgiven this very moment; you are saved this very instant, and you may rejoice now in the fact that being justified by faith you have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord. O come ye, come ye, come ye; come and welcome; come ye now to the Redeemer’s blood. Holy Spirit, compel them to come in, that the house of mercy may be filled. Amen, and Amen. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1000.cfm

Grace for the Most Guilty of Sinners

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, promises, repentance, salvation, The Holy Spirit Leave a comment

How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare… – Luke 15:17

The very worst of sinners that have come to Christ have found grace “enough and to spare,” and the very least of saints who dwell in the house of the Lord find love “enough and to spare.” Take, then, the most guilty of sinners and see how bountifully the Lord treats them when they turn unto Him. Did not some of you, who are yourselves unconverted, once know persons who were at least as bad, and perhaps, more outwardly immoral, than yourselves? Well, they have been converted, though you have not been, and when they were converted, what was their testimony? Did the blood of Christ avail to cleanse them? Oh, yes; and more than cleanse them, for it added to beauty not their own. They were naked once; was Jesus able to clothe them? Was there a sufficient covering in His righteousness? Ah, yes! and adornment was superadded; they received not a bare apparel, but a royal raiment. You have seen others thus liberally treated; does not this induce you also to come? Some of us need not confine our remarks to others, for we can speak personally of ourselves. We came to Jesus as full of sin as ever one can be and felt ourselves beyond measure lost and ruined; but, oh, His tender love! I could sooner stand here and weep than speak to you of it. My soul melts in gratitude when I think of the infinite mercy of God to me in that hour when I came seeking mercy at His hands. Oh! why will not you also come? May His Holy Spirit sweetly draw you!

Come along, come along, poor guilty one; come along, there is room enough for thee. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1000.cfm

Sinner, Mercy Waits for Thee

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, promises, repentance, salvation, Sovereignty of God, the unbelieving life Leave a comment

Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power… – Revelation 20:6

Pray, you dear people of God that are awake, that the sinner may be awakened, for there is this awful danger that he may sleep himself into hell. Spiritual sleep deepens and the slumberer becomes more heavy still, the stupor more dense, till the conscience grows seared, and the soul is unimpressionable; the flesh is turned into stone, the heart is harder than steel. It may be that some of those who hear these words of warning may never wake to think about their souls till in hell they lift up their eyes. What an awful lifting up of the eyes will that be! O you who are now peaceful and secure, what a change awaits you! Hurled from vainglorious security to blank despair in a moment! You took it all so easily: you said, “Let me alone; do not worry me; there’s time enough. The preacher ought not to frighten us with these bugbears; we all have a great deal else to do besides listening to horrible stories of hell and damnation;” and so you wrapped it up, and so you smoothed it over, but the end thereof who shall describe? Some persons on their dying beds just wake up in time to see their danger, but not to escape from it: they are carried right over the cataract of judgement and wrath. They are gone, for ever gone, where mercy is succeeded by justice, and hope forbidden to enter. Let much prayer go up from believing hearts that God would awaken sinners now… Ask for the arm of God to be revealed while the heavenly message is delivered; for His is our message: “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.”

Come, thou guilty one, awake! for mercy waits for thee. Come and receive the mercy which Jesus Christ is ready to bestow upon thee! God give thee waking grace and saving grace. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0996.cfm