Sovereignty of God

Dictum! Factum! Spoken! Done!

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

He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what He had promised, He was able also to perform. – Romans 4:20,21

Is any thing too hard for the LORD?  – Genesis 18:14

True faith ridicules impossibility and pours contempt upon improbability, knowing that Omnipotence and Immutability cannot be thwarted or hindered. Has God said it? Then so it is! Dictum! Factum! Spoken! Done! These two are one with the Most High! Well, now, the faith of every man who is saved must be of this character. Every man who receives salvation receives it by a faith like that of Abraham, for, my Brothers and Sisters, when we are saved we, too, take the promise of God and depend upon it! To one Believer, one Word of God is applied. To another, some sweet Word, most sure and steadfast, is discovered upon which we fix our hope and find an anchor for our spirit. Yes, and as we search the Word by faith—we take each promise as we find it and we say, “this is true,” and “this is true,” and so we rest upon all of them!

Is it not so with all of you who have peace with God? Did you not gain it by resting upon the promises of God as you found it in the Word and as it was opened up to you by the Holy Spirit? Have you any other ground of confidence but God’s promise? I know you have not, my Brethren, nor do you desire any! And we, also, believe in God over the head of great difficulties. If it were difficult for Abraham to believe that a son should be born to him, I think it is harder for a poor burdened sinner, conscious of his great guilt—conscious that God must punish him, also, for that guilt—to believe, nevertheless, in the hopeful things which the Gospel prophesies unto him!…Despite the trepidation of the awakened spirit, the Holy Spirit enables it to accept the great Father’s promise, to rest upon the propitiation which He has set forth and to quiet itself with the firm persuasion that God, for Christ’s sake, does put away its sin.

How Is Salvation Received? by C. H. Spurgeon

Faith that Glorifies God

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

He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what He had promised, He was able also to perform. – Romans 4:20,21

Abraham’s own advanced years and the age of his wife were of no consequence. He did not take them into the reckoning but saw only a faithful Almighty God and felt content. O noble faith! Faith such as God deserves! Faith such as none render to Him but those whom He calls by Irresistible Grace! This it was which justified Abraham and made him the father of Believers! Abraham’s faith, also, gave glory to God. I stopped in the middle of the 20th verse just now, but we must now complete the reading of it. “But was strong in faith, giving glory to God.” God had promised and he treated the Lord’s promise with becoming reverence. He did not impiously suspect the Lord of falsehood, or of mocking His servant, or of uttering today what He might take back tomorrow.

Abraham knew that Jehovah is not a man, that He should lie, nor the son of man that He should repent. Abraham glorified the Truth of God and, at the same time, he glorified His power! He was quite certain that the Lord had not spoken beyond His line, but that what He had promised He was able to perform. It belongs to puny man to speak more than he can do—full often his tongue is longer than his arm—but with the Lord it is never so. Has He said, and shall He not do it? Is anything too hard for the Lord? Abraham adoringly believed in the immutability, truth and power of the living God—and looked for the fulfillment of His words!

There were no signs, marks, tokens, or indications to substantiate the confidence of Abraham! He rested solely upon the unlimited power of God! And this, dear Brothers and Sisters, is the kind of faith which God loves and honors—which needs no signs, marks, evidences, helps, or other buttresses to support the plain and sure Word of the Lord—but simply knows that Jehovah has said it and that He will make it good!

How Is Salvation Received? by C. H. Spurgeon

Because God Promised Him, So It Must Be

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

Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all… – Romans 4:16

There was in Abraham an eye to the central point of the promise—the Messiah—Jesus, our Lord.

I do not know that Abraham understood all the spiritual meaning of the Covenant made with him. Probably he did not. But he did understand that the Christ was to be born of him, in whom all nations should be blessed. When the Lord said that He would make him a blessing and in him should all nations of the earth be blessed, I do not suppose Abraham saw all the fullness of that marvelous word—but he did see that he was to be the progenitor of the Messiah. Our Lord, Himself, is my Authority for this assertion—“Abraham saw My day, he saw it and was glad” (John 8:56). Though there appeared to this man, old and withered, with a wife 90 years of age, no likelihood that he should ever become a father, yet did he fully believe that he would be the father of many nations—and that upon no basis whatever but that the living God had so promised him and, therefore, so it must be!

Brothers and Sisters, these were, in themselves, terrible difficulties—enough to make a man fear that the promise did but mock him—but Abraham did not consider anything beyond the promise and the God who gave it! The difficulties were for God to consider—not for him! He knew that God had made the world out of nothing and that He supported all things by the word of His power and, therefore, he felt that nothing was too hard for Him!..Yes, and as we search the Word by faith—we take each promise as we find it and we say, “this is true,” and, “this is true,” and so we rest upon all of them!

How Is Salvation Received? by C. H. Spurgeon

Abraham’s Faith

Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God

Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before Him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. – Romans 4:16,17

Abraham’s faith consisted in believing the promise of God and this he did firmly and practically…God promised to give him a seed and yet he had no children. Year followed year and in the course of nature he grew old and his wife was long past the age of child-bearing—and yet there was no son born to them. When at last Ishmael was born, his hope in that direction was dashed to the ground, for he was informed that the Covenant was not with Ishmael—believing Abraham had stepped aside to carnal expediency and had hoped, in that way, to realize the lingering promise! But he had 14 more years to wait—till he was 100 years old and till Sarah had reached her 90th year! Yet he believed the word of the Lord and fell upon his face and laughed with holy joy and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born unto him that is 100 years old?” So, too, when Isaac was born and grown up, he believed that in Isaac should the Covenant be established.

Now consider that we have multiplied promises and those are written down in black and white in the Inspired Word, which we may consult at any time we please, while Abraham had only, now and then, a verbal promise—and yet he clung to it and relied upon it. Though there was nothing else to rely upon and neither sign nor evidence of any offspring to fulfill the promise that he should be heir of the world and father of many nations, yet he needed no other ground of confidence but that God had said it and that He would make His word good.

How Is Salvation Received? by C. H. Spurgeon

God’s Divine Sovereignty

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, Sovereignty of God

“Is it not lawful for Me to do what I will with Mine own?”—‍Matthew 20:15

There is no attribute of God more comforting to His children than the doctrine of Divine Sovereignty. Under the most adverse circumstances, in the most severe troubles, they believe that Sovereignty has ordained their afflictions, that Sovereignty overrules them, and that Sovereignty will sanctify them all. There is nothing for which the children of God ought more earnestly to contend than the dominion of their Master over all creation—the kingship of God over all the works of His own hands—the throne of God, and His right to sit upon that throne.

On the other hand, there is no doctrine more hated by worldlings, no truth of which they have made such a football, as the great, stupendous, but yet most certain doctrine of the Sovereignty of the infinite Jehovah. Men will allow God to be everywhere except on His throne. They will allow Him to be in His workshop to fashion worlds and to make stars. They will allow Him to be in His almonry to dispense His alms and bestow His bounties. They will allow Him to sustain the earth and bear up the pillars thereof, or light the lamps of heaven, or rule the waves of the ever moving ocean.

But when God ascends His throne, His creatures then gnash their teeth; and when we proclaim an enthroned God, and His right to do as He wills with His own, to dispose of His creatures as He thinks well, without consulting them in the matter, then it is that we are hissed and loathed, and then it is that men turn a deaf ear to us, for God on His throne is not the God they love. They love Him anywhere else better than they do when He sits with His sceptre in His hand and His crown upon His head. But it is God upon the throne that we love to preach. It is God upon His throne Whom we trust. 

Divine Sovereignty by C. H. Spurgeon

Come to the Throne of Electing Mercy

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

…God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. – 2 Thessalonians 2:13,14

Take courage, take hope, O sinner, that there is Election. So far from dispiriting and discouraging you, it is a very hopeful and joyous thing that there is an Election. What if I told you perhaps none can be saved, none are ordained to eternal life; wouldn’t you tremble and fold your hands in hopelessness, and say, “Then how can I be saved, since none are elect?” But, I say, there is a multitude of elect, beyond all counting—a host that no mortal can number. Therefore, take heart, you poor sinner! Cast away your despondency—may you be elect as well as any other? For there is a host innumerable chosen. There is joy and comfort for you.

There is yet one more thought—do you love the thought of Election? Are you willing to admit its justice? Do you say, “I feel that I am lost. I deserve it and that if my brother is saved I cannot murmur. If God destroys me, I deserve it, but if He saves the person sitting beside me, He has a right to do what He will with His own, and I have lost nothing by it.” Can you say that honestly from your heart? If so, then the Doctrine of Election has had its right effect on your spirit, and you are not far from the kingdom of heaven. You are brought where you ought to be, where the Spirit wants you to be; and being so, depart in peace! God has forgiven your sins. You would not feel that, if you were not pardoned—you would not feel that if the Spirit of God were not working in you. Rejoice, then, in this! Let your hope rest on the Cross of Christ. Think not on Election, but on Christ Jesus. Rest on Jesus—Jesus first, middle, and without end.

O sinner! come to the throne of electing mercy…If you go to Him, and ask Him, you shall receive (salvation from Him); for He never has spurned one yet! Is not that hope for you?

Unconditional Election by C. H. Spurgeon

Made Fearless and Bold

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

…God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth… – 2 Thessalonians 2:13

Election in the Christian should make him very fearless and very bold. No man will be so bold as he who believes that he is elect of God. What cares he for man if he is chosen of his Maker? What will he care for the pitiful chirpings of some tiny sparrows when he knows that he is an eagle of a royal race? Will he care when the beggar points at him, when the blood royal of heaven runs in his veins? Will he fear if all the world stand against him? If earth is all in arms abroad, he dwells in perfect peace, for he is in the secret place of the tabernacle of the Most High, in the great pavilion of the Almighty. “I am God’s,” says he, “I am distinct from other men. They are of an inferior race. Am not I noble? Am not I one of the aristocrats of heaven? Is not my name written in God’s book?” Does he care for the world? No: like the lion that does not care about the barking of the dog, he smiles at all his enemies; and when they come too near him, he moves himself and dashes them to pieces. What cares he for them? He walks about them like a colossus; while little men walk under him and understand him not. His brow is made of iron, his heart is of flint—what does he care for man? No; if one universal hiss came up from the wide world, he would smile at it, for he would say— “He that hath made his refuge God, shall find a most secure abode.”

“I am one of his elect. I am chosen of God and precious; and though the world cast me out, I fear not.” Ah! You time-serving professors, some of you can bend like the willows. There are few oaken-Christians now-a-days, that can stand the storm; and I will tell you the reason. It is because you do not believe yourselves to be elect. The man who knows he is elect will be too proud to sin; he will not humble himself to commit the acts of common people. The believer in this truth will say, “I compromise my principles? I change my doctrines? I lay aside my views? I hide what I believe to be true? No! since I know I am one of God’s elect, in the very teeth of all men I shall speak God’s truth, whatever man may say.” Nothing makes a man so truly bold as to feel that he is God’s elect. He shall not quiver, he shall not shake, who knows that God has chosen him.

Unconditional Election by C. H. Spurgeon