salvation

Young Man, It Is Never Too Soon to Pray!

Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life, prayer, promises, salvation 1 Comment

Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord.- Lamentations 2:19

You are lying on your bed; the gracious Spirit whispers-“Arise, and pray to God.” Well, there is no reason why you should delay till the morning light; “in the beginning of the watches pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord.” We are told there that it is never too soon to pray. How many young persons imagine that religion is a thing for age, or at least for maturity; but they conceive that whilst they are in the bloom of their youth, they need not attend to its admonitions. How many have we found who count religion to be a crutch for old age, who reckon it an ornament to their grey hairs, forgetting that to the young man religion is like a chain of gold around his neck, and like an ornament set with precious jewels, that shall array him with honour. How many there be who think it is yet too soon for them to bear for a single moment the cross of Jesus. They do not want to have their young shoulders galled with an early burden; they do not think it is true that “it is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth;” and they forget that that “yoke is easy,” and that “burden is light.” Therefore, hour after hour, and day after day, the malicious fiend whispers in their ear-“It is too soon, it is too soon! postpone, postpone, postpone! procrastinate!” Need we tell you once more that oft-repeated axiom, “Procrastination is the thief of time?” Need we remind you that “delays are dangerous?” Need we tell you that those are the workings of Satan? For the Holy Ghost, when He strives with man, says, “To-day, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your heart.”…Oh! remember it is not too soon to seek the Saviour, ere you arrive at manhood….Young man, it is not too soon. “Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0059.cfm

All Things Are Met in This Promise

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

However bottomless our desires, however deep our wishes, however high our aspirations, all things meet in this promise,

They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing. -Psalm 34:10

We take it concerning things spiritual. Are we wanting a sense of pardon? We shall not want it long. Are we desiring stronger faith? We shall not want it long. Do you wish to have more love to your Saviour, to understand more concerning inward communion with Jesus? You shall have it. “They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.” Do you desire to renounce your sins, to be able to overcome this corruption or that? to attain this virtue, or that excellency? “They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.” Is it adoption, justification, sanctification, that thou wantest? “Thou shalt not lack any good thing.”

But are thy wants temporal? Dost thou want bread and water? No, I know thou dost not, for it is said, “Bread shall be given thee, and thy water shall be sure.” Or, if thou dost want it somewhat, it shall come before long; it shall not be to starvation. David said, “I have been young and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” Do you want clothes? You shall have them. “He that clothes the lilies of the valley, will he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?” Do you need temporary supplies. You, shall receive them, for “your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.” Whatever your desire, there is the promise, only go and plead it at the throne, and God will fulfil it.  ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0065.cfm

Longing for More of Our LORD

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

O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in Him…they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing. -Psalm 34:8, 10

“Now, freed from sin I walk at large,
My Jesus’ blood’s my full discharge.”

I ask any one here who has an assurance that he is a pardoned man, thoroughly justified and complete in Christ-are you not seeking the Lord? “Oh yes,” you say, “I thirst, I long to know more of Him; I feel that all I have ever known of Him is like the whispering of the sea in the shell, while the awful roar of the sea itself has not yet reached mine ears. I have heard the whisperings of Christ in some little mercy, and I have heard His bounties sing of bottomless, eternal, unchangeable love; but oh! I long to plunge into the sea itself, to bathe myself in the broad ocean of His infinite generosity and love to me.” No Christian ever fancies that he knows enough of his Master; there is no Christian who has found the Lord who does not desire to be better acquainted with Him. “Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever Thou goest,” is the cry of the man who has had his sins forgiven. He sitteth down at the feet of Jesus, and looketh up to Him, and saith, “Master, teach me more; I am a little child; thou art a great instructor; oh! I long to love and learn more of Thee.” He is ever seeking the Lord; the promise to him is, “They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0065.cfm

He is Righteous

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

Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous.  He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. -1John 3:7,8

Works are the fruits of grace. “He is righteous,”-not in himself; for mark how graces come in here-“…he is righteous, even as He is righteous.” It will not allow our righteousness to be our own, but it brings us to Christ again. “He that doeth righteousness is righteous,” not according to his own works, but “even as He is righteous.” Good works prove that I have perfect righteousness in Christ; they do not help the righteousness of Christ, nor yet in any way make me righteous. Good works are of no use whatever in the matter of justification: the only use they are is that they are for our comfort, for the benefit of others, and for the glory of God. “He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil.”

It were well if we always remembered that practical godliness is the soul of godliness; that it is not talking religion, but walking religion which proves a man to be sincere; it is not having a religious tongue, but a religious heart; it is not a religious mouth, but a religious foot. The best evidence is the salvation of the soul. Avaunt! talkative; go thy way, thou mere professing formalist! Your ways lead down to hell, and your end shall be destruction; for “he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.”~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0062.cfm

He Sinneth Not

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

Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen Him, neither known Him. -1 John 3:6

This plain, simple verse, has been twisted by some who believe in the doctrine of perfection, and they have made it declare that it is possible for some to abide in Christ, and therefore not to sin. But you will remark that it does not say, that some that abide in Christ do not sin; but it says that none who abide in Christ sin. “Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not.” Therefore this passage is not to be applied to a few who attain to what is called by our Arminian friends the fourth degree-perfection; but it appertains to all believers; and of every soul in Christ it may be said, that he sinneth not. In reading the Bible, we read it simply as we would read another book. We ought not to read it as a preacher his text, with the intention of making something out of every word; but we should read it as we find it written: “Whosoever abideth in Christ sinneth not.” Now we are sure that cannot mean that he does not sin at all, but it means that he sins not habitually, he sins not designedly, he sins not finally, so as to perish. The Bible often calls a man righteous; but that does not mean that he is perfectly righteous. It calls a man a sinner, but it does not imply that he may not have done some good deeds in his life; it means that that is the man’s general character. So with the man who abides in Christ: his general character is not that he is a sinner, but that he is a saint-he sinneth not openly wilfully before men. In his own heart, he has much to confess, but his life before his fellow creatures is such a one that it can be said of him: “Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not; but whosoever sinneth [the sins of this world. in which the multitude indulge] hath not seen Him, neither known Him.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0062.cfm

Sinless Before God

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

And ye know that He was manifested to take away our sins; and in Him is no sin. -1 John 3:5

Believer, read these words in two senses. He was manifested to take away thy sins that thou hast committed; and that He accomplished, when “the just for the unjust,” He sustained the penalties of them. And He was manifested to take away the power of thy sins; that is to say, to conquer thy reigning lusts, to take away thine evil imaginations, to purify thee, and make thee like Himself. Well, beloved, what a mercy it is that some one was manifested to take away our sins from us! for some of us have been striving a long, long while, to conquer our sins, and we cannot do it. We thought we had driven them out, but they had “chariots of iron,” and we could not overcome them; they lived “in the hill country,” and we could not get near them. As often as we worsted them in one battle, they came upon us thick and strong, like an army of locusts; when heaps and heaps had been destroyed they seemed as thick as ever. Ah! but there is a thought-they shall all be taken away. “Ye know that He was manifested to take away our sins;” and so He will. The time will come when you and I shall stand without spot or blemish before the throne of God: for they are “without fault before the throne of God” at this moment, and so shall we be ere long.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0062.cfm

The Measure of Our Gratitude

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

Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. -Acts 5:31

Whoever hath loathed himself at all sees how Jesus Christ has been a great Saviour, and he admires and adores Him. You know you measure the height of the Saviour’s love by the depth of your own fall. If you don’t know anything about your ruin, you won’t be likely to prize much the remedy. A man that has got a desperate disease, and is dealt with by the physician, if he does not know what the disease is, is not able to feel the measure of gratitude, even if he is healed, that another man would, who knew how fatal the disease was in itself…No! a sense of need helps us to glorify God. Amongst the saints, and when on earth, the sweetest voices are those that have been made sweet by repentance. Amongst those that sing in heaven, and sing with the most sweet and lofty praise to God, are those who bless the grace that lifted them up from the horrible pit and out of the miry clay, and set their feet on a rock and established their goings…Before the sin was perpetrated, Christ carried it into the sepulchre where He was buried; He cast it there; it cannot be laid against us to condemn us, yet do we hate it, and yet do we loathe ourselves to think we have fallen into it. But would not this also be an admirable opportunity to show how we hate sin by seeking to bring others to Christ? Do watch for other souls. As you prize your own, seek the conversion of others, and God grant that you may bring many to Jesus.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3506.cfm