salvation

Receive Him Now, Poor Sinner

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

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: – John 1:12

Since what I have had I have received by God’s grace, might I not receive more?…If you have had faith, why should you not have more? If God gave you hope, joy, experience, why not more? You are not straitened in Him, you can be only straitened in yourself. Try to remove those hindrances, and ask the Lord to give you more grace.

If all that Christians have they have received, sinner, why should not you receive as well as they? If it were true that Christians got these good things out of themselves, then you, poor sinner, might despair, for you know you have no good thing in you; but if the best of saints, the best Christian in heaven, has not anything but what he received, why should not you receive? To receive, you know, is never a difficult thing. I warrant you that out of all the people in London there is not a man but what could receive. Try it on the present occasion. Let it be a thousand pounds, and see how many among us would be unable to receive. If there be a person about who would not receive, I tell you who it is-it is the man who thinks himself so rich that he does not care to have any more. Even so the proud, self-righteous Pharisee cannot receive; but you poor, good-for-nothing, empty sinners can receive; and here is the mercy-“to as many as received Him, to them gave He the power to become the sons of God, even to as many as believed on His name.” Open that empty hand, open that empty heart: God grant they may be opened now by His own divine Spirit, and may you receive, and then I know you will join with us in saying, “Of His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1271.cfm

Of Special Grace

Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life, promises, salvation, The Holy Spirit 3 Comments

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God – Ephesians 2:8

Have I ever given to God His due place in the matter of my salvation?-a question that I may very well put, for I recollect when I was converted to God, and truly converted too, but I did not know that it was the work of the Spirit in my heart; I did not understand that it was the result of special grace. I had heard the gospel generally preached, but I had not learned the peculiar doctrines of grace; and I recollect very well sitting down and thinking to myself, “I am renewed in my mind, I am forgiven, I am saved: how came that about?” and I traced it to this, that I had heard the gospel, but as I knew that many never had an opportunity of hearing it, I saw special grace in my having had the opportunity to hear it. But then I said, “There are others who have heard it, but it was not blessed to them: how came it to be blessed to me?” and I cogitated for awhile whether it could be something good in me that made the gospel useful to me, for if so I deserved to have the credit of it. Somehow the grace which God had given me made me fling that theory to the winds, and I came to this conclusion, “It must be God that made the difference,” and having got that one thought into my mind, the doctrines of grace followed as a matter of course. Only by experimentally knowing that there has been a special work of grace in your own soul, will you be likely to place the Lord where He should be in your creed, for some provide a very inferior place for the Lord in the matter of their salvation. With them man is very great, and God is made little of; but true theology makes God the very sun of the system, the center, the head, the first, and chief. Have you done so? If not, correct your views, and get a clearer view of the gospel of grace. May the Holy Spirit help you therein. To know the doctrines of grace will be much to your comfort, will tend to your stability, and will also lead you to seek the glory of God.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1271.cfm

Forgiving Love

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

Even when we were dead in sins, He hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved)… For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: – Ephesians 2:5,8

I believe assuredly that we have nothing good in us but what we have received. For instance, we were dead in trespasses and sin, and we were quickened into spiritual life: my brethren, did that life spring out of the ribs of death? Did the worm of our corruption beget the living seed of regeneration? It were absurd to think so. God be praised for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sin, which led Him to quicken us by His grace. We have been forgiven our great sins-wholly forgiven; through the precious blood of Christ we have been made clean. Did we deserve it? Does any man who professes to be a Christian say for a single moment that he deserved the ransom paid by Christ, and deserved the pardon of his sin? It would be monstrous blasphemy even to imagine such a thing. Oh no; “By grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.” God forgave us freely; there could not possibly have been any quality in sin which could have called forth forgiving love. He had mercy upon us because He would have mercy upon us; not because we could claim anything at His hand.

“Of His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace.”~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1271.cfm

Look to His Dear Son

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

He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. – Psalm 103:10

One single night of frost will destroy millions upon millions of creatures that were happy and enjoyed life; and this is done by that God of whom we are often assured that He cannot possibly punish sin, or put men to pain. But He does it. Hear the cry of the poor seamen, when the storm tosses the great barque, and drives it on the rock. See how everywhere the Lord is a great God and terrible. Even though He condescends to be a Father to those of us who trust in Jesus Christ, His Son, and is gentle as a nurse to us, yet is He the God of thunder and of fire, the great and almighty God, the King who will not be questioned by His subjects, and who will not alter His arrangements to please their fancies.

It is well for us to speak of God as we have found Him. He has dealt kindly and graciously with us: “He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities; “else had we been cast away for ever. We long that others may be able to speak of God in the same way; not saying what they would have Him to be, but what He has revealed Himself to be, in nature, and in providence, and especially in grace. Let us all come humbly to His feet. He bids us look to His dear Son, and so find peace and salvation. If we will not do so, there is nothing for us but to be driven from His presence, and from the glory of His power, world without end. Will we dare to defy Him? Have we the impiety so to do? O God, humble us! Beneath the terror of Thy majesty, and the glory of Thy righteousness, and the supreme splendour of Thy love, bow us down, to accept Thy grace, and to become Thine for ever and ever! God grant that it may be so, for our Lord Jesus Christ’s sake! Amen. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2670.cfm

The Eternal Purpose of God

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

He will recompense it, whether thou refuse, or whether thou choose. – Job 34:33

Whatever our will may be, God will carry out His own purpose. As surely as God is God, He will never be defeated in anything. He who is omniscient, and therefore sees the end from the beginning, is also omnipotent, and therefore can work His own will exactly as He chooses,-He will never be baffled by the will of men. I believe in the free agency of man as much as anyone who lives; but I equally believe in the eternal purpose of God. If you ask, “How do you reconcile those beliefs?” I answer,-They have never been at variance yet, so there is no need to attempt to reconcile them. They are like two parallel lines, which will run side by side for ever;-man responsible because he does what he wills, and God infinitely glorious, achieving His own purposes, not only in the world of dead, inert matter, but also through those who are free agents; without changing them in the least degree, leaving them just as free as ever they were, He yet, in every jot and tittle, performs the eternal purpose of His will.

Christ did not die in vain. He will rejoice in every one whom He purchased with His blood. He will not lose one of the jewels that are to deck His crown for ever. You may strive against His kingdom, but that kingdom will come when He pleases. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2670.cfm

 

 

Is Not God’s Way the Best?

Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life, salvation Leave a comment

“For who has known the mind of the LORD ?Or who has become His counselor?” – Romans 11:34 (Isaiah 40:13)

The mind of God is so infinitely great, and good, and wise, that it cannot be supposed that, even if He left the plan of salvation to our option, we could choose anything half as good as what He decrees and appoints. Should He, for a single moment, hold His sovereignty in abeyance, and allow us to be kings and princes on our own account, what follies we should perpetrate! We should choose a way of salvation that would not honour God, nor destroy evil, nor even be good for our own selves. Some people would like a heaven into which they could enter without being born again; but what kind of heaven would that be! Some would like to have joy and peace without believing in Christ. Some would like to have eternal felicity, and yet indulge their lusts. This would be an evil of the most awful kind. It is better that sin should bring to man infinite sorrow than that it should be linked with eternal enjoyment. The mischief of it is that it does get linked with enjoyment for a while by foolish men, who forget what must come afterwards; but God has never joined these two things together, it is only wicked men who have pretended to celebrate this unholy marriage. God proclaims a perpetual separation between sin and happiness, and it is well that it should be so.Is not God’s way the best? -C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2670.cfm

 

In God’s Own Way

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

For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” – Romans 9:15

There is no man living who has any absolute right to receive anything from God except destruction. That terrible doom we have all merited, but nothing beyond that. If we were shut up in prison, and kept upon dry bread, so long as we were out of hell, we should still be under obligation to God. If the Lord should choose to show mercy to only one man in the world, He has a perfect right to do so; if He chooses to give it to a few, or if He chooses to give it to all, He has the right to do so. He is absolutely sovereign, and these are the words that He would have every one of us to hear and to heed: “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” The crown rights of the King of kings must never be assailed; for us beggars to turn choosers, and to dictate to God what He shall give to us;-for us condemned criminals to begin to make bargains with God as to how He shall preserve our lives, if He chooses to do so,-oh, this will never do! You know, dear friends, that when we give even a trifling charity, we like to do it in our own way.

When anything comes to us entirely as a gift, it is not for us to cavil at it, but to accept it; and this is specially true of God’s great gift of salvation. O Lord, if Thou wilt but save me, save me anyhow! If I may be delivered from this accursed sin of mine, and made pure and holy, do it, Lord, after Thine own gracious fashion! It is not for me to suggest any plan to Thee, but to leave myself entirely in Thy hands, and to let it be according to Thy mind.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2670.cfm