salvation

Let His Praise Be Great and Endless

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

Let all those that seek Thee rejoice and be glad in Thee: let such as love Thy salvation say continually, “The LORD be magnified.” – Psalm 40:16

The world is dull and sleepy, and utterly indifferent to the glory of God in the work of redemption. We need to tell it over and over and over again, that God is great in the salvation of His people. There are many, who will rise up and deny God’s Glory; revilers of all sorts abound in rage; but over and above their clamor, let the voice of truth be heard, “Let God be magnified.” They cry, “the Bible is worn out.” They doubt its inspiration, they question the deity of Christ, they set up new gods that have lately come up, that our fathers knew not. Let us confront them with the truth, let us oppose them with the gospel, let us overcome them through the blood of the Lamb, using this one only war-cry, “Let God be magnified.” Everywhere in answer to all blasphemy, in direct conflict with profanity, let us lift up this voice with heart and soul. “Let God be magnified.”

It is only right, and according to the fitness of things, that God should be magnified in the world which He Himself created. Such a handiwork deserves admiration from all who behold it. But when He new-made the world, and especially when He laid the foundation of His new palace in the fair colors of Jesus’ blood and adorned it with the sapphires of grace and truth; He had a double claim upon our praise. He gave His Son to redeem us, and for this let His praise be great and endless. Things are out of joint if God the Redeemer be not glorified. Surely the wheels of nature revolve amiss, if God, the loving and gracious, be not greatly magnified. As every right-hearted man desires to see right and justice done, therefore does he wish that those who love God’s salvation may say continually, “Let God be magnified.”… He who blesses God blesses himself. We cannot serve God with the heart without serving ourselves most practically. Nothing, brethren, is more for your benefit than to spend and be spent for the promotion of the divine honor. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1013.cfm

May God Be Glorified in Me

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

Let all those that seek Thee rejoice and be glad in Thee: let such as love Thy salvation say continually, “The LORD be magnified.” – Psalm 70:4

Brethren, the text tells us this must be continual. How earnest you feel about the cause of Christ when you have heard an inspiriting sermon, but how long does it last? Ah, those old days of mission enterprise, when Exeter Hall used to be crowded because missionaries had interesting stories to tell of what God was doing-what enthusiasm there used to be-where is it now? Where is it now? Echo might well answer “where is it now?” To a great degree it has departed. The zeal of many rises and falls like a barometer. They are hot as fire, and cold as ice, in the shortest space; their fervor is as transient as the flame of thorns, and hence it is very hard to turn it to any practical account. Oh, for more of the deep-seated principle of intense love to God’s salvation, steady and abiding, which shall make a man say continually, “Let God be magnified.” We would desire to wake up in the morning with this on our lips. We would begin with the enquiry, “What can I do to magnify God this day?” We would be in business in the middle of the day, and yet never lose the one desire to magnify God. We would return to our family at night, urged by the same impulse, “How can I magnify God in my household?” If I lie sick, I would feel that I must magnify God by patience; if I rise from that bed, I would feel the sweet obligation to magnify Him by gratitude; if I take a prominent position, I am doubly bound to magnify Him who makes me a leader to His dock, and, if I be unknown and obscure in the church, I must with equal zeal magnify Him by a conscientious discharge of the duties of my position. Oh, to have one end always before us, and to press forward towards it, neither turning to the right hand nor to the left. As though we were balls shot out of a rifled cannon we would rush on, never hesitating or turning aside, but flying with all speed towards the center of the target. May our spirits be impelled by a divine energy towards this one only thing. The Lord be magnified! whether I live or die, may God be glorified in me! All of us, women as well as men, illiterate as well as learned, poor as well as rich, silent as well as eloquent, should after our own ability say, “Let God be magnified.” Oh, would to God we were all stirred up to this! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1013.cfm

Here is a Wonder

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

“Let God be magnified,” – Psalm 40:16;70:4

“Let God be magnified,” for it is He that saved us, and not we ourselves. We trace our salvation not to our ministers, nor to any pretentious priesthood. None can divide the honors of grace, for the Lord alone hath turned our captivity. He decreed our salvation, planned it, arranged it, executed it, applied it, and secures it. From beginning to end salvation is of the Lord, therefore, let God be magnified. Moreover, the Lord wrought salvation that He might be magnified thereby. It was God’s object in salvation to glorify His own name. “Not for your sakes do I this, O house of Israel.” Truly we desire that the Lord’s end and purpose should be fully subserved, for it is His well-deserved due. O Thou who hast bled upon the cross, may Thy throne be glorious! O Thou who wast despised and rejected of men, be Thou extolled, and be Thou very high. Thou deservest all glory, great and merciful God. Such a gift, such a sacrifice, such a work; Thou oughtest indeed to be lauded and had in honor by all the intelligent universe. The saying is settled deep in truth and established in right.

This saying is naturally suggested by love. It is because we love His salvation that we say, “The Lord be magnified.” You cannot love God without desiring to magnify Him, and I am sure that you cannot know that you are saved without loving Him. For here is a wonder, a central wonder of wonders to many of us, that ever we in particular were saved. I do not think I could be so wonder-struck and amazed at the salvation of you all as at my own. I should know it to be infinite mercy that saved any one of you, or all of you, I say I should know it, but in my own case I feel it is an unspeakable and inconceivably great mercy which has saved me; and I suppose each brother here, each sister here will feel a special love to Christ from the fact of being himself or herself an object of His love. We never sing, I am sure, with warmer hearts any hymn in our hymn-book than that one-

“What was there in us that could merit esteem,
Or give the Creator delight?
Twas even so Father, we ever must sing,
For so it seemed good in Thy sight.”

~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1013.cfm

So Safe a Salvation

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

Let such as love Thy salvation say continually, “Let God be magnified.” – Psalm 70:4

We love God’s salvation because, in addition to the display of wondrous love, it is so safe a salvation, so real, so true: we have not given heed to cunningly devised fables; we have not chanced our souls upon a fiction. We run no risk when we trust the Savior.

Did God lay on Christ my sin? Was it really punished in Him? Then there cannot exist a reason why I should be condemned, but there are ten thousand arguments why I should for ever be “accepted in the Beloved.” “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.” Substitution is a basis for intelligent confidence; it satisfies both the demand of the law and the fears of conscience; and gives to believers a deep, settled, substantial peace, which cannot be broken. We love this salvation because we feel that it places a foundation of granite beneath our feet instead of the quicksand of human merit. Justice being satisfied is as much our friend as even mercy herself; in fact, all the attributes unite to guarantee our safety.

We love God’s salvation because it is so complete. Nothing remains unfinished which is necessary to remove sin from the believer and give him righteousness before God. As far as atonement for sin is concerned, the expiation is most gloriously complete…when our Divine Lord went up to Calvary, and on the cross gave up His body, His soul, His spirit, a sacrifice for sin, He finished transgression, made an end of sin, and brought in everlasting righteousness. Herein, my brethren, we have strong consolation, the immutable things wherein it is impossible for God to lie, His word and oath, are our immovable security. By the atonement we are infallibly, effectually, eternally saved, for He has become the “author of eternal salvation, unto all of them that obey Him.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1013.cfm

We Love the Salvation of God

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

Let all those that seek Thee rejoice and be glad in Thee: let such as love Thy salvation say continually, “The LORD be magnified.” – Psalm 40:16

The object of (God’s salvation) towards us was to redeem unto Christ a people who should be zealous for good works. The sinner loves a salvation from hell; the saint loves a salvation from sin. Anybody would desire to be saved from the pit, but it is only a child of God who pants to be saved from every false way. We love the salvation of God because it saves us from selfishness, from pride, from lust, from worldliness, bitterness, malice, sloth, and uncleanness. When that salvation is completed in us, we shall be “without spot or wrinkle or any such thing,” and shall be renewed in holiness after the image of Christ Jesus our Lord. That its great aim is our perfection in holiness is the main beauty of salvation. We would be content to be poor, but we cannot be content to be sinful; we could be resigned to sickness, but we could not be satisfied to remain in alienation from God. We long for perfection and nothing short of it will content us, and, because this is guaranteed to the believer in the gospel of Christ, we love His salvation, and we would say continually, “Let God be magnified.”

We love His salvation because of one or two characteristics in it which especially excite our delight. Foremost is the matchless love displayed in it. Why should the Lord have loved men, such insignificant creatures as they are, compared with the universe? Why should He set His heart upon such nothings? But more, how could He love rebellious men who have wantonly and arrogantly broken His laws? Why should He love them so much as to give up His only begotten? These are things we freely speak of, but who among us knows what is their weight; “God commendeth His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” I believe that even in heaven, with enlarged faculties, it will be a subject of perpetual wonder to us that ever God could love and save us. And shall we not love the salvation which wells up from the deep fount of the Father’s everlasting affection? O brethren, our hearts must be harder than adamant, and made of hell-hardened steel, if we can at once believe that we are saved and yet not love, intensely love the salvation which was devised by Jehovah’s heart. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1013.cfm

The Life-Blood of a Gospel Ministry

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

Let all those that seek Thee rejoice and be glad in Thee: and let such as love Thy salvation say continually, “Let God be magnified.” – Psalm 70:4

Sin was not pardoned absolutely; else justice had been dishonored; but sin was transferred from the guilty to the innocent One. “The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” When our iniquity was found upon the innocent Lamb of God, He was “smitten of God and afflicted,” as if He had been a sinner; He was made to suffer for transgressions not His own, as if they had been His own; and thus, mercy and justice met together, righteousness and grace kissed each other. Alas! there are many who fight against this plan, but I rejoice that I am surrounded by warm hearts who love it and would die for it. As for me, I know no other gospel and let this tongue be dumb rather than it should ever preach any other. Substitution is the very marrow of the whole Bible, the soul of salvation, the essence of the gospel, we ought to saturate all our sermons with it, for it is the life-blood of a gospel ministry. We must daily show how God the Judge can be “just, and yet the justifier of him that believeth.” We must declare that God has made the Redeemer’s soul a sacrifice for sin, making Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Our plain testimony must be, that “He was made a curse for us;” that “His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree;” that “He was once offered to bear the sins of many;” and that “He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bare the sin of many.” About this we must never speak with bated breath, lest we be found unfaithful to our charge. And why, brethren, should we not joyfully proclaim this doctrine? for is it not the grandest, noblest, most divine, under heaven? The plan so adorns all the attributes of the Godhead and furnishes such a safe footing for a trembling conscience to rest upon, such a fortress, castle, and high tower for faith to rejoice in, that we cannot do otherwise than love it. The very way and plan of it is dearer to our souls than life itself. Oh, then let us always say, “Let God be magnified,” since He devised, arranged, and carried out this Godlike method of blending justice with mercy. C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1013.cfm

He is Salvation

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

Let such as love Thy salvation say continually, “The LORD be magnified.” – Psalm 40:16; 70:4

Let me show you, beloved, what it is in salvation that the thoughtful believer loves; and I may begin by saying that he loves, best of all, the Savior Himself. Often our Lord is called Salvation, because He is the great worker of it, the author and finisher, the Alpha and the Omega of it. He who has Christ has salvation; and, as He is the essence of salvation, He is the center of the saved ones’ affection. Have you, beloved, carefully considered that Jesus is divine, that He counts it not robbery to be equal with God, being our Creator and Preserver, as well as our Redeemer? Do you fully understand that our Lord is infinite, eternal, nothing less than God; and yet for our sakes He took upon Himself our nature, was clothed in that nature with all its infirmities, sin alone excepted, and in that nature agonized, bled, and died, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. Oh, marvel of marvels, miracle of miracles! The immortal Lord stoops to death; the Prince of glory bows to be spit upon. Shame and dishonor could not make Him start back from His blessed purpose, but to the death of the cross He surrendered Himself. O, you who are saved, do you not love Christ, who is your salvation? Do you not feel a burning desire to behold Him as He is? Is not His presence, even now, a nether heaven to you? Will not a face-to-face view of His glory be all the heaven that your utmost stretch of imagination can conceive? I know it is so. Your heart is bound to Jesus, His name is set as a seal upon it; therefore, I charge you to say continually, “Let God be magnified.” Glory be to the Father who gave His Son, to the Son who gave Himself, to the Spirit who revealed all this to us. Triune God, be Thou extolled for ever and ever.

“He bore, that we might never bear,
His Father’s righteous ire.”

~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1013.cfm