salvation

God Sanctifies Your Spirit

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, The Holy Spirit 4 Comments

Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth. -John 17:17

The best proof I can give you of the holy tendency of our doctrines is this great fact, that in every age those who have held the doctrines of grace have exhibited in their lives a holy walk and conversation…And we have told you that the Holy Ghost gives a new heart, and a right spirit, and that there is something more required than you can do yourselves; that you are unable to perform such good things as God expects from you, therefore God the Spirit must renovate you.

“Except ye have the spirit of Christ, ye are none of His.” Except ye live like Christ, ye shall not be with Christ at last; if your spirit be not sanctified in this world, you will not find that God will sanctify you when you come before His throne. But you, poor sinners, who have no holiness of your own, and no good works at all; I know you have not any, because you are not a child of God. Do you feel that you have not? Come then, and Christ will give you some: He will give you Himself. If you believe on the Lord Jesus, He will wash you from all your sins, give you a new heart, and henceforth your life shall be holy, your conduct shall be consistent, He shall keep you to the end, and you shall most assuredly be saved. God bless this testimony to any such as are living in sin, that they may be reclaimed from it; for Christ’s sake! Amen.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0070.cfm

The Origin of Good Works

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, The Holy Spirit 4 Comments

Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us…-Romans 12:6

It is an old maxim, that nature can never rise above itself. Water, coming from the top of a hill, will rise as high as its source; but unless there is some extraordinary pressure put upon it, it will never rise higher. So of human nature, Scripture says it is exceedingly vile; we cannot expect good works out of an evil nature…We must not look for good works in an evil nature any more than we should look for the grapes of Sorek on the vines of Gomorrah. We cannot expect to find good works coming from nature; truly it is vain and idle to think that good works can arise from the natural man. “Where, then,” you ask, “do they come from?” We answer, good works come from a real conversion, brought about by the Spirit of God. Until our conversion, there is not the shadow of goodness about us. In the eye of the world we may be reputable and respectable, but in the eye of God we are nothing of the sort… When once the human heart is put under the microscope of Scripture, and we see it with a spiritual eye, we see it to be so vile and filthy, that we are quite sure that until we have a new heart and a right spirit, it would be just as impossible to expect to find good works in an unrighteous, unconverted man, as to hope to see fire burning in the midst of the ocean. The two things would be incongruous. Our good works, if we have any, spring from a real conversion; yet more, they spring also from a constant spiritual influence exercised upon us, from the time of conversion even until the hour of death. Ah! Christian, thou wouldst have no good works if thou hadst no fresh influence day by day. Thou wouldst not find the grace given thee at the first hour sufficient to produce fruit to-day…Good works, I know whence you come! Ye come floating down on the stream of grace, and if I did not have that stream of grace always flowing, I should never find good works coming from me. Good works from the creature? Impossible! Good works are the gifts of God, His choice pearls, which He sendeth down with His grace.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0070.cfm

 

My Substitute, My Hope

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation 5 Comments

For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. -1 Corinthians 3:11

There is only one hope for a poor sinner from the justice of Jehovah; and that is in the “Man of sorrows acquainted with grief,” who “gave His back to the smiters, and His cheeks to them that plucked off the hair.”…Dost thou not know that the law which God made on Sinai has been broken by us all, and that God, the “jealous God,” will “by no means spare the guilty?” And dost thou not know, O sinner, that thou must offer something to God, to make up a recompense for what thou hast done? Dost thou not know, that God is so angry with the man who sins, that He will damn that man, unless there is some one who will be damned for him, and suffer the punishment in his stead? And dost thou not know, that our religion is a religion of substitution-that Jesus Christ the Son of God became man; that He might take the punishment we ought to have had; that He bore the wrath we ought to have borne; that He took the guilt we committed, just as the scape-goat of old did, and carried it right away into the wilderness of forgetfulness; so that now a sinner who is putting his trust in that substitution can escape punishment.

Precious Jesus! what a substitute Thou wast for guilt! Sweet Lord Jesus! I kiss Thy wounds this day; Thou Man! Thou God! Thou who didst wrestle with Jacob! Thou who didst walk with Abraham, the man of God, of Mamre! Thou who stoodst in the fiery furnace with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego! Thou Son of God, Thou Son of Man, who didst appear to Joshua with Thy sword drawn! I worship Thee, my substitute, my hope! Oh! that others might do so, too…accept Him as their Saviour! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0063.cfm

Is It a Wonder?

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation 5 Comments

Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows? -Isaiah 60:8

Try, try, O enemy, to stop one of the Lord’s doves, when he is coming to the windows! You cannot do it. Did not the devil try to stop you, O brother, when you were coming to God? Ah! he did; but it was all in vain. And when you went to join the church, how many difficulties there were in the way! But when you are called to God you will not be afraid, you will fly like a cloud. Ah! the world says we shall stop by-and-by; that all our success is as nothing; that it will soon die away; that it is a mere excitement, and will soon end. Ah! let them talk so, if they please. We are flying like a cloud. We have God within us; we have good within us; we have the might of the Deity within our church; and who is he that shall stop us? We bid the mighty men of this earth come; we bid carnal reason array itself against us; we bid the wisdom of the critic try to stop us. But they cannot do it. The weakness of God is mightier than man; and He who took us from the sheep-folds to lead His people Israel will not desert His David; He who has put us before His people will not cast us away, nor will He leave His church, nor forsake His chosen ones. “Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?”

It is amazing that any man should be saved, if you look at man; it is not amazing if you consider God. May the Lord in His mercy keep us from pride, and also keep us living on Him, believing in His might, and trusting in His power!   ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0063.cfm

Come and Welcome, Sinner, Come!

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

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

Timid spirit, timid spirit, put away the thought that He is unwilling to save. It is a lie against thy own soul; it is a libel against His character. What! He unwilling to distribute that which He so freely bought at so immense a price! Do you see in any one period of His life an unwillingness to save?.. It is done; redemption is accomplished, and think you He was so earnest and so intent on the work of redemption, and now is unwilling to reap the fruits of it? Why, do you not know, poor penitent, that He died to save you, and think you that it needs much argument to move the heart that once was pierced to pity and compassion? Scout the thought once for all. He is able to forgive; that thou knowest. He is as willing as He is able. Infinite is His ability, and as infinite His willingness. I beseech thee, distrust Him not. Come as thou art, with all thy sins about thee. Come, now and put thy trust in Him. Thou shalt find the door of heaven’s gate not creaking on its hinges, but standing ajar and opening easily…

He is not unwilling; thou art unwilling. If there be any hardness of heart, it lies with thee, and not with Him. If there be difficulties in the way of thy salvations they are difficulties in thyself, not in Him. Come and welcome. This is the invitation which reaches thee to day from heaven’s festal board. Come and welcome. Come and welcome. Come and welcome, sinner, come! Let nothing make thee linger. He thirsts to save; He pants to bless. He longs to redeem and ransom. Only trust Him; and if thou be made glad when thou trustest, He will be glad too…So come, and make thy Savior glad. Come and make Him see of the travail of His soul that He may be abundantly satisfied. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0302.cfm

When Jesus Weeps

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, salvation 5 Comments

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not! -Luke 13:34

A sure evidence that a man has espoused some mighty purpose, and that his purpose has saturated his whole soul, and steeped him in its floods, is, that if he be unsuccessful, he will weep. Now, see our Lord. Were there ever such tears shed as those which He poured forth over Jerusalem? Standing on the hilltops, He saw its towers and its glittering temple, and He discerned in the dim future the day when it should be burned with fire, and the ploughshare of destruction should be driven o’er its once fair, but then desolate, foundations and He cries, “O Jerusalem! Jerusalem! how often would I have gathered thy children together as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” Oh that wail of His,-“O Jerusalem! Jerusalem!” Does it not remind you of those words of God in one of the old prophets, where weeping over Ephraim, He saith “How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? Mine heart is turned within Me, My repentings are kindled together.” Jehovah’s bowels yearned to clasp His Ephraim to His breast. And so with Jesus. They may spit in His face, and He weeps not. They may drag Him out of the synagogue and seek to cast Him headlong down the brow of the hill, but I find not that He sighs. They may nail Him to the cross, and yet there shall be ne’er a tear. The only thing that can make Him weep is to see that they reject their own mercy, that they put away from them their only hope, and refuse to walk in that only way of peace. This alone might serve as a proof of the intensity of Jesus’ soul in his great purpose. He must save others; and if they be not saved, He will weep. If others oppose their salvation He will grow angry; not for Himself but for them. Careless of what happens to Himself, He has no fear, no anger for injuries that are poured on Him, but His whole spirit is given up to the one great work of rescuing souls from sin, and sinners from going down into the pit.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0302.cfm

The Glad Heart of Jesus

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

Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work… And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.-John 4:34, 36

Now you generally know when a man’s heart is in his work, by the joy he feels in it. You see some preachers go up into their pulpits as though they were going to be roasted at the stake; and they read their sermons through as if they were making their last dying speech and confession. What do you think they call it?-why, doing their duty. True ministers call preaching a pleasure, not a duty. It is a delight to stand up to tell to others the way of salvation and to magnify Christ. But mere hirelings cannot go higher than the idea of doing their duty when they are telling out this glorious tale. Jesus Christ was none of these. “My meat is” He said, “to do the will of Him that sent Me.” The only times that Jesus ever smiled and rejoiced are the times when He was in the midst of poor sinners. At that time “Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.” Let Him see a penitent, let Him hear the groan of a sinner mourning over his evil way, let Him discern a tear trickling down the cheek of one of His hearers, and Jesus Christ begins to be glad, and the Man of Sorrows wears a smile for a moment upon that pale and sorrowful face. At all times there is a travailing in birth for souls: He is only happy when He sees the family of God enlarged.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0302.cfm