Sovereignty of God

The Ones Who Are Invited

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

Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28

There are to be found many who are actively engaged in seeking salvation; they believe that if they obey the precepts of the law they will be saved, and they are endeavoring to the utmost to do them; they have been told that the performance of certain rites and ceremonies will also save them, they are performing those with great care; the yoke is on their shoulders, and they are laboring diligently. Some are laboring in prayer, some are laboring in sacraments, others in self-denials and mortifications, but as a class they are awakened to feel the need of salvation, and they are intensely laboring to save themselves…Very speedily those who are active in self-righteously working for salvation fall into the passive state and become burdened; their labor of itself becomes a burden to them. Besides the burden of their self-righteous labor, there comes upon them the awful, tremendous, crushing burden of past sin, and a sense of the wrath of God which is due to that sin. A soul which has to bear the load of its own sin, and the load of divine wrath, is indeed heavily laden…The acute anguish of their souls will often be increased in proportion as their endeavors are increased; and while they hope at first that if they labor industriously they will gradually diminish the mass of their sin, it happens that their labor adds to their weariness beneath its pressure; they feel a weight of disappointment, because their labor has not brought them rest; and a burden of despair, because they fear that deliverance will never come. Now these are the persons whom the Saviour calls to Himself- those who are actively seeking salvation, those who are passively bearing the weight of sin and of divine wrath. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0969.cfm

All Are Bidden to Come

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

“Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. – Matthew 11:28

The word “all” first demands attention: “All ye that labor.” There was need for the insertion of that wide word. Had not the Saviour said a little before, “I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to babes?” Someone who had been listening to the Saviour, might have said, “The Father, then, has determined to whom He will reveal the Christ; there is a number chosen, according to the Father’s good pleasure, to whom the gospel is revealed; while from another company it is hidden!” The too hasty inference, which it seems natural for man to draw from the doctrine is, “Then there is no invitation for me; there is no hope for me; I need not listen to the gospel’s warnings and invitations.” So the Saviour, as if to answer that discouraging notion, words His invitation thus, “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden.” Let it not be supposed that election excludes any of you from the invitation of mercy; all of you who labor, are bidden to come. Whatever the great doctrine of predestination may involve, rest assured that it by no means narrows or diminishes the extent of gospel invitations. The good news is to be preached to “every creature” under heaven, and in this particular passage it is addressed to all the laboring and heavy laden.

O you who feel your unworthiness, who have been seeking salvation earnestly, and suffering the weight of sin, Jesus will freely give to you what you cannot earn or purchase, He will give it as an act of His own free, rich, sovereign mercy; and He is prepared, if you come to Him, to give it to you now, for so has He promised, “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0969.cfm

Wait for God’s Appointed Time

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

Until the time that his word came: the word of the LORD tried him. The king sent and loosed him; even the ruler of the people and let him go free. _ Psalm 105:19. 20

The time was in God’s hands, and it was very wisely ordered. Suppose that the butler had thought of Joseph, and had spoken to Pharaoh about the interpretation of his dream, the probabilities are that when the courtiers of Pharaoh’s court heard it they would have made the halls of the palace ring with laughter; and the magicians would especially have poured scorn on the idea that a slave boy who had been imprisoned for scandalous behavior knew more about interpreting dreams than the wise men of Egypt who had been brought up to the art and had gained high degrees in the profession. It would have been a theme of ridicule all over the land. It was the wrong time, and God would not let the butler recollect, because that recollection would have marred the plot and spoiled the whole business: but God’s “until” came at the nick of time when Joseph was ready for court, and when Pharaoh was ready to appreciate Joseph. The hour needed its man, and here was the hour for the man. The straight way from the dungeon to the throne was not open until Pharaoh dreamed his dream, then must Joseph come forth and not before. Oh, brother, sit still and wait. The deliverance you are craving for is not ripe yet; wait while the word tries you, for that same word will in due time set you free.

You see, brethren, there is a time of deliverance, and the time is fixed of God, and it is a right time: therefore, we have quietly to wait for it…Bear on, young man, bear on. Ay, and grey-headed man, bear on, bear on. The anvil breaks the hammers in the long run; bear on, bear on. The rock breaks the billows and is not itself broken. Bear the trials which come to you from God and from His word with joy and patience, for the end is not yet, but when it cometh it shall be everlasting joy. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1277.cfm

The Divine “Until”

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

Until the time that his word came: the word of the LORD tried him. – Psalm 105:19

Trials do not last forever. Cheer up; the tide ebbs out, but the flood will return again. Note the word “until.” He who counts the stars also numbers your sorrows, and if He ordains the number ten your trials will never be eleven. The text says, “until”; for the Lord appoints the bounds of the proud waters, and they shall no more go over your soul when they reach the boundary of the divine “until.” “Until the time that his word came”-the same word which tried Joseph in due time set him free. If the Lord gives the turnkey permission to keep us in prison there we must remain, until He sends a warrant for our liberation, and then all the devils in hell cannot hold us in bondage for an instant longer. My dear brother, I want you in your trouble to look entirely to God, whose word is a word of power. He speaks, and it is done. He has spoken trouble to you, but He can just as readily speak comfort to you. Never mind what the butler’s word is. Do not entreat him, saying, “When it is well with thee speak a word for me.” The butler’s word will not avail, it is Jehovah’s word you need, for “where the word of a king is, there is power.” It is a blessed thing to know that trouble comes direct from God, whatever the secondary agent may be. You must not say, “I could have borne it if it had not been for that wicked woman.” Never mind the wicked woman, look to God as overruling her malice and everything else. He sends the trial, and therefore look to Him to deliver you from it.

“‘Tis He that lifts our comforts high,
Or sinks them in the grave.”

He shuts us up in prison, and He brings us out again. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1277.cfm

Sanctified Trials

Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God, The Holy Spirit Leave a comment

And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. – Genesis 41:41

Great riches and high positions are not to be desired. Agur’s prayer is a wise one: “Give me neither poverty nor riches.” Joseph was in great peril when he came to be lord over the land of Egypt, but during his time in prison he had been learning to spell out a mystery and answer a riddle. Practically, his interpretation of Pharaoh’s dream was what he had been learning in prison, namely, that it is idle to boast of the fat kine, since the lean kine can soon eat them up, and it is unwise to be proud of the full ears, because the withered ears can soon devour them. Pharaoh saw in the dream the lean devouring the full-fleshed, but Joseph alone understood it. He saw his fat kine when he was in his father’s house eaten up when he was sold as a slave; he saw his full ears when he was in Potiphar’s house devoured by the withered ears when he was thrown into prison, and he now knew that there was nothing here below worth our relying upon, since on the chariot of all earthly good there rides a Nemesis, and every day is followed by a night. He was tutored to be a ruler for he had learned the prisoner’s side of politics and felt how hard it was for men to be unjustly condemned without trial. He foresaw that this could not be forever endured, and that one day the long-suffering lean kine would be goaded to fury and would eat up the fat ones that oppressed them. Hence Joseph’s rule would be just and generous, for in this he would see the elements which would preserve law and order and prevent the poorer sort from overturning everything.

Joseph believed the word of the Lord, and he spoke with the accent of conviction, and Pharaoh believed also. Whence came this simple-minded courage? Whence this boldness? It was the right royal velour which doth hedge about a virtuous soul-or rather the fearlessness which follows from the fear of God. He stood forth and delivered his message, and the Lord established his word. He had been preparing for this in the day of his sorrow: like a good sword-blade, he had been passed through the fire and through the fire again, that now he might not fail in the day of battle. Oh, dear brothers and sisters, may you gain as much from tribulation as Joseph did, and you will do so if the Holy Spirit sanctifies them to you. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1277.cfm

The Chief Use of Our Trials

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

“As the fining pot to silver, and the furnace to gold, so is a man to his praise.” – Proverbs 27:21

Dear brethren, the chief use of trial to Joseph and to us is very often seen in our future lives. While Joseph was tried in prison God’s great object was to prepare him for the government which awaited him. It was designed first to give him power to bear power: a rare acquirement. Solomon says, “As the fining pot to silver, and the furnace to gold, so is a man to his praise.” Many a man can bear affliction, but few men can endure prosperity; and I have marked it, and you must have marked it too, that the most perilous thing in all the world is to step suddenly from obscurity into power. Have we not seen men, illiterate and unknown, suddenly introduced to the Christian pulpit, and made much of, and has it not frequently turned out that their names have been by-and-by prudently forgotten, for they were overthrown by the dizzy heights to which they were lifted? It is far better that a man should fight his way up to his position, that he should be assailed by enemies and distrusted by friends and should pass through a probationary career. Even then he can only stand as the Lord holds him, but without it he is in especial peril. Hence the apostle says, “not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.” If I knew that some young man here present would be greatly owned of God in the future, and become in future a prince in our Israel, if by lifting up of this finger I could screen him from fierce criticism, misrepresentation, and abuse, I would not do it, because, severe as the ordeal might be to him, I am persuaded it is needful that he should pass through it in order to make him able to bear the giddy heights of the position for which God intends him. Joseph on the throne of Egypt, I know not what he might have been if first of all he had not been laid in the stocks. His feet learned to stand fast on a throne through having been set fast in a dungeon. His gold chain was worn without pride because he had worn a chain of iron; and he was fit to be the ruler of princes because he had himself been a servant among prisoners. Through his trial God gave him power to bear power, and this is a far rarer gift than the power to endure oppression and contempt. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1277.cfm

It is Good to be Afflicted

Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God, The Holy Spirit Leave a comment

…for the LORD searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. – 1 Chronicles 28:9

No Christian man is all that he thinks he is; our purest gold is alloyed. We have none of us so much faith as we impute to ourselves, nor so much patience, or humility, or meekness, or love to God, or love to men. Spurious coin swells our apparent wealth. It is amazing how rich and increased in goods we are till the Lord deals with us by a trial, and then full often we discover that we are naked, and poor, and miserable in the very respects in which we boasted ourselves. Oh, man, if thou be a child of God thou art like a house which He is building with gold, and silver, and precious stones; but by reason of thine old nature thou art mixing up with the divine material much of thine own wood, and hay, and stubble; therefore, is it that the fire is made to rage around thee to burn out this injurious stuff which mars the whole fabric. If the Holy Spirit be pleased to bless thine afflictions to thee then wilt thou be daily led to put away the materials of the old nature with deep abhorrence and repentance, and thus shall the true work of God which He has built upon the sure foundation, stand in its true beauty, and thou shalt be builded for eternity.

The rod of God teacheth us more than all the voices of His ministers. When the Christian has been passed through the fire, the assaying, by removing the dross, adds a new lustre to the gold. Brother, thou art not what thou shalt be, nor canst thou be what thou shalt be except through a measure of trial. Child, it is needful for thee to feel the weight of thy Father’s hand, or thou wilt never behave thyself as a man. Thou must see His face veiled with frowns and hear His voice in harshness chiding thee for thy transgressions, otherwise thou wilt always retain the follies of childhood. Our chastisements are our promotions. They are privileges more precious than the rights of princes. “It is good for me that I have been afflicted.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1277.cfm