salvation

He is Reality Itself

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

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

If the Christian religion were supposed to be an invention, the existence of the narrative of the life of Jesus would be more wonderful than the facts themselves. The conception of a perfect character requires a perfect mind, and a perfect mind would never have prepared a fiction and imposed it upon men as a veritable history. If the life of Jesus be a fable, then a perfect being has deceived us; and this it is not possible for us to imagine. The life of Jesus Christ is great throughout. It is so tender and so gentle that it is never little and mean: it is so unselfish that it never ceases to be majestic; it is so condescending that it is pre-eminently sublime. Above all, it is full of truth, transparent, artless, natural. No one ever thought of Jesus as acting a part yet; He is reality itself. He is so simple, so unaffected, so truly the holy child Jesus, that in this He is great above all. Never was a man so wholly seen as the Christ; and yet never was man so little understood…it is Himself that is so great-I mean His soul, His spirit, the man Himself.

Consider the Lord Jesus, and it does not matter where you view Him: in the wilderness He is grandly victorious over temptation, in the crowd He is greatly wise in answering those who would entrap Him. Behold Him in His agony in the Garden; was there ever such an Agoniser? Behold Him as the crucified; did ever a cross hold such a sufferer? When Jesus is least He is greatest, and when He is in the direst darkness His brightness is best revealed. In death He destroys death; in the grave He bursts the sepulcher. “Consider how great this Man was”: the field of His life is ample; do not be slow to investigate it. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1835.cfm

Saints Are Blessed in Him

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

And hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the Church, Which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all. – Ephesians 1:22, 23

Consider the relationship of Christ to His own people. Now we get on sure ground, and feel a rock beneath our feet. Long before the heavens and the earth were made, God with prescient eye beheld the person of His Son as God in human nature, and He saw all His elect lying in Him. The Church is His body, “the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.” God the Father saw in the divine decree the mystical Christ, and He was well pleased with all His redeemed for Christ Jesus’ sake. How wondrous was that transaction when in the council-chamber of eternity the covenant was made, and the Lord Jesus Christ became the surety of that covenant. He entered into covenant with the eternal God on the behalf of His chosen that He would make atonement for their sin, and would perfect the righteousness which should cover every one of them, and make them to be accepted in the Beloved. No actual sacrifice was offered for thousands of years; but see how great this man was, since on the strength of His bare promise the Lord continued to save men for thousands of years, admitting them to His infinite glory before the Mediator had appeared, or the Redeemer had put a hand to the work. Consider that you and I, and all of us who are in Christ, are this day beloved for His sake, accepted for His sake, justified for His sake. Still doth God embrace us in the arms of almighty love for His sake; for His sake heaven is being prepared for us; for His sake the treasures of the infinite are given to us; because we are the covenanted ones for whom He pledged His troth, and for whom in the fulness of time He poured out His heart’s blood, that He might redeem us unto God. “Consider how great this man was.” He is so great that all the saints are blessed in Him. He is so great that we, as many as have believed, dwell evermore in the clefts of this great Rock, and find in Him our castle and high tower. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory. “Consider how great this Man was.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1835.cfm

An Amnesty Proclaimed through This Man

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, prophecy, repentance, salvation, Sovereignty of God 2 Comments

Adam, the first man, was made from the dust of the earth, while Christ, the second man, came from heaven. – 1 Corinthians 15:47

Christ Jesus is the second man, the Lord from heaven. Adam, our first father, was the head of the race, and all men were in him as their representative: in him they stood in the garden; in him, alas, they fell when he broke the divine command, and the Lord took up the quarrel of His covenant, and cast him out of Paradise. “Oh, what a fall was there, my brethren: then you and I and all of us fell down.” We inherit, because of Adam’s failure, a nature whose tendencies are towards evil…But now comes in the Lord Jesus Christ as the greater man, the representative man, in whom none are made to fall, but multitudes arise. In this man the Lord is again well pleased with men. Time was when God looked on rebellious man, and it repented Him that He had made him; but now that He turns His eye to this perfect man He feels no such repentance; but, on the contrary, we read that “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself.” For the sake of the man Christ Jesus He deals with the innumerable race of sinners in a way of long-suffering and pity, and does not destroy them…Yea, more; for His sake He sends the gospel of peace to men, and in the name of Jesus glad tidings are sent to every creature. It has sometimes happened that the illustrious deed of one man has served to elevate a class, or even a nation into honour. A grand, heroic deed has welded you not only to that one person but to all His kith and kin. Consider, then, how great this Man was, that the divine mind which cannot look upon sin without indignation, nevertheless was so charmed to look upon the person and character of this glorious Man, that an amnesty was proclaimed to the race, and a message was sent to the sons of men bidding them repent and turn to Him and live. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1835.cfm

One with Him

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

“The LORD has sworn and will not relent, ‘You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek’ ” by so much more Jesus has become a surety of a better covenant. – Hebrews 7: 21, 22

I do not think it should be a matter of option with you whether you will now consider the greatness of your Lord or not; it is His due and right that you should consider His greatness. For He of whom we speak,-“this Man,” is one well known among us. If you be true to your profession He is one most dear to you, to whom you owe all things, aye, owe your very selves. He is one between whom and you there is a troth plighted: you are espoused unto Him, your hearts are His, even as His heart is yours. If you do not consider Him, who will? He has loved you, and given Himself for you. Strangers may listen to our teaching at this time, and in vain we may cry,

“Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?
Is it nothing to you that Jesus should die?”

But you are no stranger, you are not even a guest in His house, but you are a child living at home with Him. He is your brother, and much more; for He is bone of your bone, and flesh of your flesh. All your interests are wrapped up in Him. You are one with Him: by an endless union, one. I claim, therefore, and I am sure you assent at once to the claim, that you should often consider your Lord, and the greatness of His nature, person, office, and work. His greatness should be your perpetual theme…I urge it on you that you do now consider with your whole heart and mind, how great this Man is. Do you not consent to the claim? ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1835.cfm

Freely Invited to God’s Hill

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

And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. – Isaiah 2:2

Is it not a great subject for praise that the nations of the earth may flow to the hill of God and to His House? If I were to tell you that all the nations of Europe were climbing the sides of the Alps, you would ask me, “And what benefit do they gain thereby? They must pass over the slippery fields of ice and they may lose their lives in the midst of the bottomless chasms that are overhung by the mighty precipices; they may suddenly be overwhelmed and buried in the all-destroying avalanche, and should they reach the summit they must fall down exhausted. What is there that men should covet in those barren heights; rarefied air and cold would soon destroy them, should they attempt to exist there.” Ah, but it is not so with God’s hill. There shall be no snow upon its summit, but the warmth and light of Jehovah’s love, there shall be no chasms in its side wherein souls may be destroyed, for there shall be a way, and a highway, (the unclean shall not pass over it) a way so easy that the wayfaring man shall not err therein.

Ye are come to a mountain which is not forbidden to you. there are no bounds set about it to keep you off, but you are freely bidden and freely invited to come to it. Oh! ye people that today hear the words of Jesus! ye are now this day invited to come to the mountain of His Church, on which stands His cross and His throne. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0249.cfm

Willing Converts

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

“The nations shall flow unto (the Mountain of the Lord).” – Isaiah 2:2, Micah 4:1

Of themselves, made willing in the day of God’s power, they shall flow to it. Whenever the church of God is increased by unwilling converts it loses strength; whenever men join the church because of oppression, which would drive them to make a profession of religion, they do not flow, the church is weakened and not strengthened but in those days the converts shall be voluntarily won and shall come in willingly by divine grace; they shall flow unto it. This represents the power of the work of conversion. They “shall flow to it.” Imagine an idiot endeavoring to stop the river Thames. He gets for himself a boat, and there he stands, endeavoring to push back the stream. He objects to it flowing towards the sea. and with his hands he tries to put it back. Would you not soon hear laughter along the banks? Ah, fool, to attempt to stop the stream! Now, the word “flow,” here conveys just the idea. “The nations shall flow unto it.” The Secularist may rise up and say, “Oh, why be converted to this fanatical religion? Look to the things of time.” The false priests may rouse themselves with all their anger to defy Christ, and endeavor to keep their slaves; but all their attempts to stop conversion will be like an idiot seeking to drive back a mighty stream with his puny hands. “All nations shall flow unto it.” What an idea it is! Oh, take your stand today, like prophets of the Lord, and look into the future. Today the Church appears like the dry bed of a torrent; here I stand, and I see a little water flowing in a secret and thread-like stream, amongst the stones. So little is it that I can scarcely detect it, but I take the glass of prophecy, I look far onward, and I see a rolling mass of water, such as is sometimes seen in the rapid rivers of Africa; and there it is, coming with thundering sound. Wait for a few more years, and that torrent, like Kishon’s mighty river, sweeping all before it, shall fill this dry bed, and swell on, and on, and on, with tumultuous waves of joy, till it meets the ocean of Christ’s universal reign, and loses itself in God. Here you see, then, you have more than your imagination can grasp. This stupendous mountain, and all the nations of the earth-vast numbers with immense force, spontaneously coming up to the house of the living God. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0249.cfm

The Lord God Omnipotent Reigneth

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

But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. – Matthew 24:36

In the olden times, when men raised cairns to the memory of departed kings, it was usual to put a heap of stones over the tomb, and every passer-by threw another stone. In course of age. those mounds grew into small hills. Now the Church of Christ in the present day is growing something in that way. Each Christian converted to Christ throws his stone; we each do our measure. By the grace of God let us each make sure of one stone being deposited there, and strive to add another by laboring to be the instruments of bringing someone else to Christ; in this way the Church will grow; and as year after year rolls on, each Christian serving his Master, the Church will increase; and it shall come to pass in the last times, that even by the efforts of Christ’s people, owned by God the Holy Spirit, this mountain shall be highly exalted in the midst of the hills.

We must fight on day-by-day and hour-by-hour; and when we think the battle is almost decided against us, we shall hear the trump of the archangel, and the voice of God, and He shall come, the Prince of the kings of the earth: at His name, with terror they shall melt, and like snow driven before the wind from the bare side of Salmon shall they fly away; and we, the Church militant, trampling over them, shall salute our Lord, shouting, “Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0249.cfm