salvation

Why Some Foolishly Refuse Him

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, repentance, salvation, Sovereignty of God 7 Comments

For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. -Galatians 3:10

Some refuse Him out of perfect indifference; the great mass of men have not a thought above their meat and their drink. Like the cock that found the diamond on the dunghill, they turn it over and wish it were a grain of barley. What care they for heaven, or the pardon of sin? Their mind does not reach to that. See that ye-that ye, none of you, are so sensuous as to “refuse Him that speaketh from heaven” for such a reason as this. Some reject Him because of their self-righteousness: they are good enough. Jesus Christ speaks against them, they say; He does not applaud their righteousness, He ridicules them rather; He tells them that their prayers are long prayers, and their many good works are, after all, a poor ground for reliance.” So as the Saviour will not patronize their righteousness, neither will they have to do with Him. Oh! say not ye are rich and increased in goods; ye are naked, and poor, and miserable. Say not ye can win heaven by your merits; ye have none; your merits drag you down to hell. Yet many will refuse the Saviour because of the insanity of their self-righteousness.  Some, too, reject Him because of their self-reliant wisdom. “Why,” they say, “this is a very thoughtful age.” …Nay, it is the thinking of Christ we have to think about; otherwise, our thinking may prove our curse…. While your souls are being lost, sirs, there is better employment for you than merely indulging in rhapsodies and inventions of your own supposed judgment. Take hold of this, the gospel of Jesus revealed of God, lest ye perish, and perish with a vengeance. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3492.cfm

He Speaks Love to Your Soul

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

Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. -Matthew 11:28

See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh. -Hebrews 12:25

“Come to Me, repent, be saved”; but until now ye have refused “Him that speaketh.” Will not the time past suffice to have played this mischievous game? Will not the years that have rolled into eternity bear enough witness against you? Must ye add to all this weight by again refusing? Oh! I implore you to see to it that ye do not again “refuse Him that speaketh from heaven,” for there is not a word of that which He speaks, but what is love to your souls. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came not armed with terrors to work wrath among the sons of men; all was mercy, all was grace, and to those who listen to Him, He has nothing to speak but tenderness and loving-kindness; your sins shall be forgiven you; the time of your ignorances God will wink at; your transgressions shall be cast into the depths of the sea; for you there shall be happiness on earth, and glory hereafter. Who would not listen when it is good news to be heard? Who would not listen when the best tidings that God Himself ever sent forth from the excellent glory is proclaimed by the noblest Ambassador that ever spake to men, namely, God’s own Son, Jesus, the once crucified, but now exalted Saviour? For these reasons, then, at the very outset I press upon you this exhortation, “See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh such precious truth”, which the enemy would fain take out of your minds: truth which you yourselves have refused long enough already, and truth which is sweet, and will be exceedingly precious to your souls if you receive it. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3492.cfm

 

 

Clothed in Christ’s Righteousness

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation 3 Comments

Notice by way of encouragement that we may regard our reception of Christ’s righteousness as an installment of the final overthrow of the devil-

Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them. -Genesis 3: 21 

A very condescending, thoughtful, and instructive deed of divine love! God heard what Adam said to his wife, and saw that he was a believer, and so He comes and gives him the type of the perfect righteousness, which is the believer’s portion-He covered him with lasting raiment. No more fig leaves, which were a mere mockery, but a close fitting garment which had been procured through the death of a victim; the Lord brings that and puts it on him, and Adam could no more say, “I am naked.” How could he, for God had clothed him. Now, beloved, let us take out of the promise that is given us concerning our Lord’s conquest over the devil this one item and rejoice in it, for Christ has delivered us from the power of the serpent who opened our eyes and told us we were naked, by covering us from head to foot with a righteousness which adorns and protects us, so that we are comfortable in heart, and beautiful in the sight of God, and are no more ashamed.

Therefore, brethren, be ye steadfast in resisting the evil one being strong in faith, giving glory to God.

“Tis by Thy blood, immortal Lamb,
Thine armies tread the tempter down;
“tis by Thy word and powerful name
They gain the battle and renown.
“Rejoice ye heavens; let every star
Shine with new glories round the sky;
Saints, while ye sing the heavenly war,
Raise your Deliverer’s name on high.”

~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1326.cfm

Sin in Us Destroyed

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

And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God. -Revelation 14:5

Oftentimes the Lord also grants us to know what it is to overcome temptation, and so to break the head of the fiend. Satan allures us with many baits; he has studied our points well and he knows the weakness of the flesh: but many and many a time, blessed be God, we have foiled him completely to his eternal shame! The devil must have felt himself mean that day when he tried to overthrow Job, dragged him down to a dunghill, robbed him of everything, covered him with sores, and yet could not make him yield. Job conquered when he cried, “Though He slay me yet will I trust in Him.” A feeble man had vanquished a devil who could raise the wind and blow down a house, and destroy the family who were feasting in it. Devil as he is, and crowned prince of the power of the air, yet the poor bereaved patriarch sitting on the dunghill covered with sores, being one of the woman’s seed, through the strength of the inner life won the victory over him.

“Ye sons of God oppose his rage.
Resist, and he’ll be gone:
Thus did our dearest Lord engage
And vanquish him alone.”

Moreover, dear brethren, we have this hope that the very being of sin in us will be destroyed. The day will come when we shall be without spot or wrinkle or any such thing; and we shall stand before the throne of God, having suffered no injury whatever from the fall and from all the machinations of Satan, for are “they are without fault before the throne of God.” What triumph that will be! “The Lord will tread Satan under your feet shortly.” When He has made you perfect and free from all sin, as He will do, you will have bruised the serpent’s head indeed. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1326.cfm

The Guilt of Sin is Gone

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, repentance, salvation 1 Comment

Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. -Romans 4:8 

Is not the power and dominion of sin broken in you? Do you not feel that you cannot sin because you are born of God? Some sins which were masters of you once, do not trouble you now. I have known a man guilty of profane swearing, and from the moment of his conversion he has never had any difficulty in the matter. We have known a man snatched from drunkenness, and the cure by divine grace has been very wonderful and complete. We have known persons delivered from unclean living, and they have at once become chaste and pure, because Christ has smitten the old dragon such blows that he could not have power over them in that respect. The chosen seed sin and mourn it, but they are not slaves to sin; their heart goeth not after it; they have to say sometimes “the thing I do,” but they are wretched when it is so. They consent with their heart to the law of God that it is good, and they sigh and cry that they may be helped to obey it, for they are no longer under the slavery of sin; the serpent’s reigning power and dominion is broken in them.

It is broken in this way, that the guilt of sin is gone. The great power of the serpent lies in unpardoned sin. He cries “l have made you guilty: I brought you under the curse.” “No,” say we, “we are delivered from the curse and are now blessed, for it is written, ‘Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.’ We are no longer guilty, for who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? Since Christ hath justified, who is he that condemneth?” Here is a swinging blow for the old dragon’s head, such as he never will recover. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1326.cfm

It Is God’s Wisdom

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

“See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused Him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven.”- Hebrews 12:25

It does not say, “Refuse not Him that speaketh,” but “See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh”-that is, “be very circumspect that by no means, accidental or otherwise, you do refuse the Christ of God, who now in the gospel speaks to you. Be watchful, be earnest, lest even through inadvertence ye should refuse the prophet of the gospel dispensation-Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who speaks in the gospel from heaven to the sons of men.” It means, “Give earnest heed and careful attention, that by no means, and in no way you refuse Him that speaketh.”…That which Jesus speaks concerns your soul, concerns your everlasting destiny; it is God’s wisdom; God’s way of mercy; God’s plan by which you may be saved. If this were a secondary matter, ye need not be so earnest about receiving it, but of all things under heaven, nothing so concerns you as the gospel. See, then, that ye refuse not this precious Word, more precious than gold or rubies-which alone can save your souls.

Oh! sirs, ye are fallen through your first father, Adam, and the tendencies now of your souls are towards evil, and not towards the right, and when the Lord comes from heaven to you, you will reject Him if left to yourselves. Watch, then, I say; see that ye refuse not, stir up your souls, awaken your minds, lest this delirious tendency of sin should make you angry with your best friend, and constrain you to thrust from you that which is your only hope for the hereafter. When a man knows that he has a bad tendency which may injure him, if he be wise he watches against it. So, knowing this, which God’s Word tells you, watch, I pray you, lest ye refuse Him that speaketh. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3492.cfm

The Bruising of Your Heel

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

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman… -Genesis 3:15

Do you recollect how you were led to see the bruising of Christ’s heel and to stand in wonder and observe what the enmity of the serpent had wrought in Him? Did you not begin to feel the bruised heel yourself? Did not sin torment you? Did not the very thought of it vex you? Did not your own heart become a plague to you? Did not Satan begin to tempt you? Did he not inject blasphemous thoughts, and urge you on to desperate measures; did he not teach you to doubt the existence of God, and the mercy of God, and the possibility of your salvation, and so on? This was his nibbling at your heel. He is at his old tricks still…

Did not your worldly friends begin to annoy you? Did they not give you the cold shoulder because they saw something about you so strange and foreign to their tastes? Did they not impute your conduct to fanaticism, pride, obstinacy, bigotry, and the like? Ah, this persecution is the serpent’s seed beginning to discover the woman’s Seed, and to carry on the old war. What does Paul say? “But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.” True godliness is an unnatural and strange thing to them and they cannot away with it Though there are no stakes in Smithfield, nor racks in the Tower, yet the enmity of the human heart towards Christ and His Seed is just the same, and very often shows itself in “trials of cruel mockings” which to the tender hearts are very hard to bear. Well, this is your heel being bruised in sympathy with the bruising of the heel of the glorious Seed of the woman. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1326.cfm