salvation

He Was Everywhere Accessible

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

So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many… – Hebrews 9:28

Our Lord Jesus Christ has once appeared, and though He will appear again, it will not be for the same purpose. On His first appearing fix your thoughts; for the like of it will never be seen again. In the bosom of the Father He lay concealed as God; as the second person of the divine Trinity in Unity He could not be seen, for “no man hath seen God at any time.”…In the manger He might be seen with the eyes, and looked upon, and handled; for there the Word was made flesh, and God was incarnate. He whom the ages could not contain, the glorious One who dwelt with the Father for ever unseen, now appeared within the bounds of time and space, and humble shepherds saw Him, and adored Him. By Gentiles he was seen; for wise men from the East beheld and worshipped Him whose star had led them. As He grew up, the children of Nazareth beheld Him as a child obedient to His parents; and by-and-by He was made manifest to men by the witness of John and the descent of the Holy Ghost upon Him at His baptism…He dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory: He was the revelation of God to men, so that He could say, “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.” He was made still more manifest by His death; for in His crucifixion He was lifted up from the earth, that all might behold Him. He was exalted upon the cross, even as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, on purpose that whosoever looked to Him might live…Thus we may look into His inmost heart. High on the cross the Saviour hung, without veil or curtain to conceal Him. “Once in the end of the world hath He appeared.” I know of no appearance that could have been more complete, more unreserved. He moved in the midst of crowds, He spake to men and women one by one. He was on the mountain, and by the sea; He was in the desert, and by the river; He was both in house and in temple; He was everywhere accessible; in the fullest sense “once in the end of the world hath He appeared.” Oh, the glory of this gracious epiphany! This is the greatest event in history: the invisible God has appeared in human form. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2194.cfm

See the Wisdom of God

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

And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews’ children. – Exodus 2:6

The very means which Pharaoh devised for the effectual crushing of the people-the destruction of the male children-became the direct, nay, the divine provision for educating a deliverer for them. Moses had never been, in all probability, trained in the courts of Pharaoh if he had not been put in the basket of bulrushes on the brink of the Nile; and his mother would certainly never have put him there if there had not been a pitiless edict that the male children should be put to death. Moved by maternal instinct to save her child and moved by faith in God not to obey the king’s command, she places her child in the ark. Pharaoh’s daughter finds the child, compassionates its cry, extricates it from peril, loves it fondly, adopts it capriciously, and educates it in the very court of Pharaoh. That child grows up to be the man who should vex the fields of Zoan-the man of God, who with a high hand and an outstretched arm, would lead forth the slaves of Egypt to become a great nation, which God should bless. So you see the Lord in all points meets Pharaoh and foils him. This Pharaoh was the great representative in those days of the power of evil, and he stands still to the Christian church as the type of the seed of the serpent. But the Lord withstands him, despoils him of his purpose, and turns all he does to the very highest and best end. Such the narrative, full of instruction, and charged with portent, that serves as a type of the Lord’s doing when He makes bare His arm for the salvation of His own heritage. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0997.cfm

Israel Rose Superior to All Her Disadvantages

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

“The more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew.” – Exodus 1:12

It did seem to be a deep-laid plot, very politic and crafty indeed, that as the kings of Egypt, themselves of an alien race, had subdued the Egyptians, they should prevent the other alien race, the Israelites, from conquering them. Instead of murdering them wholesale, it did seem a wise though a cruel thing to make them slaves; to divide them up and down the country; to subject them to toil till their spirits were broken; to appoint them to the most menial work in the land, that they might be crushed down and their spirits become so base that they would not dare to rebel. Thus we may suppose it was hoped that their physical strength would be so relaxed, and their circumstances so reduced, that the clan would soon be insignificant if not utterly extinct. But God met and overruled this policy in various ways. “The more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied.” The census proved the error of their calculation. The cause looked likely, but it was not productive of the consequence expected. Had it been another people, the tactics might have been successful; but they were God’s people, endeared to Him by their ancestry, ennobled in His sight by their covenant destiny, and encompassed with His favor as with a shield. No conspiracy formed against them could thrive. And so it came to pass, that like certain herbs which spring up when trodden down, or like certain trees that grow taller if loaded with weights, Israel rose superior to all her disadvantages. “The more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew.” This cometh of the Lord of Hosts, who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working.

O friendless one, O Christless sinner! dost thou not want God to be thy helper, and Christ to be thy friend? If thou dost, then on the cross behold the Savior. Turn to Him thine eye: penitently trust Him: rely upon Him, and He is yours, and then henceforth the Lord of Hosts shall be with you, and God of Jacob shall be your refuge, and your afflictions also shall work your good. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0997.cfm

Be Forgiving of Thy Neighbor

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Holy Spirit 1 Comment

Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. – Colossians 3:13

When we forgive, it is a poor and humble business compared with God’s forgiving us, because we are only forgiving one another, that is, forgiving fellow-servants; whereas when God forgives us it is the Judge of all the earth forgiving, not His fellows, but His rebel subjects, guilty of treason against His majesty. For God to forgive is something great; for us to forgive, though some think it great, should be regarded as a very small matter. Our Lord in His parable tells us that the fellow-servant owed a few pence, but the servant himself was debtor to his master many talents. What we owe to God is infinite, but what our fellow creature owes to us is a very small sum. What did he do which has so much offended you? “He said a very shameful thing about me.” It was very bad of him, no doubt. “Then he played me a very nasty trick, and acted very ungraciously; in fact, he behaved scandalously, and if you hear the story, you will be quite indignant.” Well, I am indignant. He is a bad fellow, there is no doubt about it; and so are you. So were you certainly when you first came to God; bad as he is to you, you have been much worse to the Lord. I will warrant that his blacks towards you are whites compared with your blacks in the presence of God. “Oh, but you would not believe how basely he acted.” No, and I dare say I should hardly believe it if I heard how base you have been to the Lord; at any rate, it should make our eyes fill with tears to think how we have grieved our God and vexed His Spirit. Some of us have had so much manifest forgiveness, so much outward sin forgiven, that for us to forgive ought to be as natural as to open our hands. After such forgiveness as the Lord has bestowed on some of us, we should be wicked servants indeed if we were to take our brother by the throat and say, “Pay me what thou owest.” We should deserve to be given over to the tormentors by our angry Master if we did not count it joy to pass by a brother’s fault. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1448.cfm

Divinely Pardoned

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

For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more. – Hebrews 8:12

There is such a truth, reality, and emphasis in the pardon of God as you can never find in the pardon of man; for though a man should forgive all you have done against him, if you have treated him very badly, yet it is more than you could expect that he should quite forget it, but the Lord says, “Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more for ever.” If a man has played you false, although you have forgiven him, you are not likely to trust him again. It is an old proverb, “Never ride a broken-knee’d horse,” and it is not a bad proverb either. But see how the Lord deals with His people. When Peter was set on his legs again he was a broken-knee’d horse enough, and yet see how gloriously the Lord rode that charger on the day of Pentecost. Did he not go forth conquering and to conquer? The Lord lets bygones be bygones so completely that He trusts pardoned souls with His secrets, for “the secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him”; and He entrusts some of us with His choicest treasures, for Paul said, “He hath put me in trust with the gospel, though I was a blasphemer.” He commits to our keeping that priceless casket which encloses the best hope of men, namely, the gospel of Jesus. “We have this treasure in earthen vessels.” This shows how perfect is our forgiveness,-nay, I must put it, how divine is the forgiveness which we have received. Let us rejoice in that grand promise which comes to us by the mouth of Jeremiah of old, “In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve.” Here is annihilation-the only annihilation I know of-the absolute annihilation of sin through the pardon which the Lord gives to His people. Let us sing it as though it were a choice hymn-“The iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1448.cfm

An Eternal Forgiveness

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

And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses… – Colossians 2:13

All our transgressions are swept away at once, carried off as by a flood, and so completely removed from us that no guilty trace of them remains They are all gone! O ye believers, think of this, for the all is no little thing: sins against a holy God, sins against His loving Son, sins against gospel as well as against law, sins against man as well as against God, sins of the body as well as sins of the mind, sins as numerous as the sands on the sea shore, and as great as the sea itself: all, all are removed from us as far as the east is from the west. All this evil was rolled into one great mass, and laid upon Jesus, and having borne it all He has made an end of it for ever. When the Lord forgave us He forgave us the whole debt. He did not take the bill and say, “I strike out this item and that,” but the pen went through it all;-PAID. It was a receipt in full of all demands, Jesus took the handwriting which was against us and nailed it to His cross, to show before the entire universe that its power to condemn us had ceased for ever. We have in Him a full forgiveness.

And let it be remembered that this forgiveness which God has given us for Christ’s sake is an eternal forgiveness. He will never rake up our past offences and a second time impute them. He will not find us on an evil day, and say, “I have had great patience with you, but now will I deal with you after your sins.” Far otherwise, he that believeth in Jesus hath everlasting life, and shall never come into condemnation. Irreversible is the pardon of heaven. “The gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” He never repents what He has given, or forgiven. “Tis done, “tis done for ever: Jehovah absolves and the sentence stands fast for ever. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth?” Blessed be God for eternal pardon! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1448.cfm

Fully and Freely Forgiven

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

Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. – Isaiah 55:7

Pardon once given continues to be given. When through doubt and anxiety I was not sure of my pardon, yet it was still true; for he that believeth on Him is not condemned, even though he may write bitter things against himself. Beloved friend, catch hold of that, and do not let it go. Divine pardon is a continuous act.

And this forgiveness on God’s part was most free. We did nothing to obtain it by merit, and we brought nothing wherewith to purchase it. He forgave us for Christ’s sake, not for aught that we had done. True, we did repent, and did believe, but repentance and faith He gave us, so that He did not forgive us for the sake of them, but purely of His own dear love, because He delighteth in mercy, and is never more like Himself than when He passeth by transgression, iniquity, and sin.

Remember, also, that He forgave us fully. It was not here and there a sin that He blotted out, but the whole horrible list and catalogue of our offences He destroyed at once. The substitution of our Lord has finished that matter even to perfection:

“Because the sinless Saviour died,
My sinful soul is counted free;
For God, the Just, is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me.”

~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1448.cfm