repentance

A New Heart, A New Love, A New Desire

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

Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. – Hebrews 9:12

This precious blood has this property about it, that, if the peace which it first causes should become a little dim, you have only to go to the precious blood to have that peace once more restored to you…That blood gives the pardoned sinner access with boldness to God Himself. That blood, having taken away the guilt of sin, operates in a sanctifying manner, and takes away the power of sin, and the pardoned man does not live as he lived before he was pardoned. He loves God, who has forgiven him so much, and that love makes him enquire, “What shall I do for God, who has done so much for me” Then he begins to purge himself of his old habits. He finds that the pleasures that once were sweet to him are sweet no more. “Away ye go,” he says to his old companions; “but I cannot go with you to hell.” Having a new heart, a new love, a new desire, he begins to mix with God’s people. He searches God’s Word. He makes haste to keep God’s commandments. His desires are holy and heavenly, and he pants for the time when he shall get rid of all sin, shall be quite like Christ, and shall be taken away to dwell for ever where Jesus is. Oh! the blood of Christ is a blessed sin-killer. They say that St. Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland. Ah! but Christ drives all the serpents out of the human heart when He once gets in. If He does but sprinkle His blood upon our hearts, we become new men, such new men as all the rules of morality could not have made us, such new men as they are who, robed in white, day without night, sing Jehovah’s praise before His throne. – C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3293.cfm

The Just for the Unjust

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

And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. – Hebrews 9:22

Yes, blood is always a ghastly and a terrible thing. It is so, I suppose, because we recognize in it the destruction of life. Is it not so, also, though we may not be able to define the emotion because we are compelled, in our consciences, to admit the effect of sin, and we are staggered as we see what our sin has done All through the great school of the Jewish law, blood was constantly used to instruct the Israelite in the guilt of sin, and in the greatness of the atonement necessary for putting it away… I do not think anyone ever knows the preciousness of the blood of Christ, till he has had a full sight and sense of his sin, his uncleanness, and his ill-desert. Is there, any such thing as truly coming to the cross of Christ until you first of all have seen what your sin really deserves A little light into that dark cellar, sir; a little light into that hole within the soul, a little light cast into that infernal den of your humanity, and you will soon discern what sin is, and, seeing it, you would discover that there was no hope of being washed from it except by a sacrifice far greater than you could ever render. Then the atonement of Christ would become fair and lustrous in your eyes, and you would rejoice with joy unspeakable in that boundless love which led the Saviour to give Himself a ransom for us, “the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.”

May the Lord teach us, thundering at us, if need be, what sin means. May He teach it to us so that the lesson shall be burned into our souls, and we shall never forget it! I could fain wish that you were all burden-carriers till you grew weary. I could fain wish that you all laboured after eternal life until your strength failed, and that you might then rejoice in Him who has finished the work, and who promises to be to you All-in-all when you believe in Him, and trust in Him with your whole heart. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3293.cfm

Do Not Hinder the Holy Spirit’s Work

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

Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works… – Revelation 2:5

Every member of a church who is living in secret sin, who is tolerating in his heart any thing that he knows to be wrong, who is not seeking eagerly his own personal sanctification, is to that extent hindering the work of the Spirit of God. “Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord,” for to the extent that we maintain known unholiness, we restrain the Spirit. He cannot work by us as long as any conscious sin is tolerated. It is not over breaking of commandments that I am now speaking of, brethren, but I include worldliness also-a care for carnal things, and a carelessness about spiritual things, having enough grace just to make us hope that you are a Christian, but not enough to prove you are; bearing a shriveled apple here and there on the topmost bough, but not much fruit; this I mean, this partial barrenness, not complete enough to condemn, yet complete enough to restrain the blessing, this robs the treasure of the church, and hinders her progress. O brethren, if any of you are thus described, repent and do your first works; and God help you to be foremost in proportion as you have been behind.

Anybody who calls off the thoughts of the church from soul-saving is a mischief maker. I have heard it said of a minister, “He greatly influences the politics of the town.” Well, it is a very doubtful good in my mind, a very doubtful good indeed. If the man, keeping to his own calling of preaching the gospel, happens to influence these meaner things, it is well, but any Christian minister who thinks that he can do two things well, is mistaken. Let him mind soul-winning, and not turn a Christian church into a political club. Let us fight out our politics somewhere else, but not inside the church of God. There our one business is soul-winning, our one banner is the cross, our one leader is the crucified King. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1009.cfm

From Sighs and Cries to Blessings

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

“As soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.”- Isaiah 66:8

Israel had fallen into the lowest condition, but an inward yearning of heart was felt in the midst of God’s people for the return of the divine blessing; and no sooner had this anxious desire become intense, than God heard the voice of its cry, and the blessing came…Before there has fallen a great benediction upon God’s people, it has been preceded by great searchings of heart. Israel was so oppressed in Egypt, that it would have been very easy, and almost a natural thing, for the people to become so utterly crushed in spirit as to submit to be hereditary bond-slaves, making the best they could of their miserable lot; but God would not have it so; He meant to bring them out “with a high hand and an outstretched arm.” Before, however, He began to work, He made them begin to cry. Their sighs and cries came up into the ears of God, and He stretched out his hand to deliver them. Doubtless, many a heart-rending appeal was made to heaven by mothers when their babes were torn from their breasts to be cast into the river. With what bitterness did they ask God to look upon His poor people Israel, and avenge them of their oppressors. The young men bowed under the cruel yoke and groaned, while hoary sires, smarting under ignominious lashes from the taskmaster, sighed and wept before the God of Israel. The whole nation cried, “O God visit us; God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, remember thy covenant, and deliver us.” This travail brought its result; for the Lord smote the field of Zoan with mighty plagues, and forth from under the bondage of the sons of Misraim, the children of Israel marched with joy. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1009.cfm

A Gift of Free Grace

Sherry Christian Life, confession of sin, promises, repentance, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Father 1 Comment

And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. – Acts 16:31

The readiness of God to pardon is to be seen in the fact that He makes no hard conditions with sinners. He does not say, “I will pardon if you suffer this or endure that penance; I will pardon if you perform this act of heroism or that deed of consecration.” No, He himself says, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” Receive what is freely given-that is the gospel precept, and nothing else. Only confess thy transgressions, or, in other words, own thine emptiness, and then trust thy Savior, and thou art saved.

That He is ready to forgive appears in this yet more glorious fact, that what God demands of man by the gospel He also works in him by His spirit; as for confession of sin He puts the words into the sinner’s mouth, repentance He works in the sinner’s heart, and saving faith His own Spirit creates in the sinner’s soul. Is He not ready to forgive when even what might be called the condition of pardon in one light is under another aspect a gift of free grace?

The sinner’s plea on his lip is, “for Jesus’ sake,” the sinner’s hope in his heart is “for Christ’s sake,”-and it is this that the Father looks at; when He sees that the poor trembling soul has embraced Jesus, His own dear Son, the Father puts the sin away at once without a word, and says, “Be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee, go in peace.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1272.cfm

Not Unlike the Israelites

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

Nevertheless for Thy great mercies’ sake Thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them; for Thou art a gracious and merciful God. – Nehemiah 9:31

Brethren, the Israelites seem to have been set forward as a picture of all God’s people. As the foot of the altar was made of the looking glasses of the women, the polished brass of the mirrors being melted down, so it seems to me as if Israel was intended to be a looking-glass in which every one of us might look and see his own image…To what other nation did God give the oracles of His truth? What other tribes did He separate unto Himself to be a people in whose midst He would show forth His glory? What other nation did He bring forth out of the house of bondage with a high hand and a stretched out arm?

Yet with the Lord before their eyes they refused to see Him, and with all His wonders before them they refused to believe. You know, dear friends, that we are always particularly wounded by the unkindness of any to whom we have been specially attentive and generous. We complain, “It was not an enemy for then I could have borne it, but it was thou, a man, mine acquaintance, my friend.” Hard is it to be injured by a child for whom you have endured much self-denial, and to whom you have rendered tenderest love. “Sharper than an adder’s tooth is an unthankful child.” After this fashion Israel offended, and, speaking after the manner of men, the Lord felt it keenly, He was grieved at His heart, because His great goodness to them had been so basely misused. He cries, “O that they had hearkened unto Me,” and in another place, “Hear, O heavens, and give ear O earth, I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against Me.” Such is the language which Scripture puts into the mouth of the Lord, and yet He forgave His provoking people times without number-was He not indeed ready to pardon?

Lord, when we provoke Thee in this way be pleased to show Thyself a God ready to pardon. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1272.cfm

Our Pardoning, Merciful God

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

…but Thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness… – Nehemiah 9:17

Brethren, if we search ourselves through and through, we cannot find anything in our fallen nature which can recommend us to the Most High. If we think that we have a claim upon God’s goodness, we are in darkness, and deceive ourselves. When the true light comes, it reveals our bareness of all merit or excuse, and shows that there is nothing in human nature but that which provokes the Lord. This is the fact as to our condition while we are unregenerate, and oftentimes the true believer, when darkness gathers around him, finds himself to be in much the same condition. His evidences burn dimly, the candle of the Lord seems quenched within his spirit, and, worst of all, the sun of divine favor is not discernible; then groping all around he can discover nothing in himself but that which causes him to sigh and groan, being burdened. In such a plight he should cast overboard the great anchor of faith, and escape from himself to his God. It were well for him always to do so, but especially in the cloudy and dark day. To whom should he turn for light but to the Sun of Righteousness? Where look for grace but to the God of all grace? Where for all but to the All in all? If what I am makes me despair, let me consider what God in Christ is and I shall have hope.

That God is merciful becomes to sinners the first point upon which they can fix their hope: that the mercy of God endureth for ever affords to the saints a most blessed stronghold when inward sin assails the soul. But whence do we learn this supremely consoling truth? How do we know that God is merciful? I scarcely think we should have inferred from His works the readiness of God to show mercy…God Himself is ready, His own heart and hand all ready to bestow pardon upon the guilty ones who come before Him. There is forgiveness with Him that He may be feared. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1272.cfm