Sovereignty of God

The Best of All Possessions

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

For I know that my Redeemer lives… – Job 19:25

Poor Job, he had lost everything else, but he had not lost his Redeemer. Notice, he does not say, “I know that my wife and my children live;” but he says, “I know that my Redeemer liveth.” Ah! “my Redeemer,”-he has not lost Him, so he has the best of all possessions still left. Looking up to Him, by faith, with the tears of joy standing in his eyes, he says, “Yes, He is my Redeemer, and He still lives; I accept Him as mine, and I will cling to Him for ever.” Can you, beloved friends, not merely rejoice in Christ as the Redeemer, but also as your Redeemer? Have you personally accepted Him as your Redeemer? Have you personally trusted Him with your soul, wholly and really; and do you already feel in your own heart, a kinship to this great Kinsman, a trust in this great Vindicator, a reliance upon His great redemption? Another man’s redemption is of no value to my soul; the sweetness lies in the little word “my”-“my Redeemer.” Luther used to say that the marrow of the gospel is found in the pronouns, and I believe it is: “my Redeemer.” We had lost everything. Father Adam had put everything under a heavy mortgage, and we could not even meet the interest on it; but the whole estate is unmortgaged now, even to paradise itself. Does someone ask, “Is there not any mortgage even upon paradise?” …Jesus Christ hath said, in the words of the psalmist, “I restored that which I took not away.” Bankrupt debtors, through the Lord’s sovereign grace, you are no longer under any liabilities because of your sin if Christ be accepted by you as your Goel and Redeemer. He hath restored to you the estates which your first father, Adam, had lost; and He hath made you heirs of God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, through the wondrous redemption which He wrought for you upon the cross of Calvary. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2909.cfm

His Glory Turned to Shame

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

“O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn My glory into shame?” – Psalm 4:2

An instructive writer has made a mournful list of the honours which the blinded people of Israel awarded to their long-expected King:

(1.) They gave Him a procession of honour, in which Roman legionaries, Jewish priests, men and women, took a part, He Himself bearing His cross. This is the triumph which the world awards to Him who comes to overthrow man’s direst foes. Derisive shouts are His only acclamations, and cruel taunts His only paeans of praise.

(2.) They presented Him with the wine of honour. Instead of a golden cup of generous wine they offered Him the criminal’s stupefying death-draught, which He refused because He would preserve an uninjured taste wherewith to taste of death; and afterwards when He cried, “I thirst,” they gave Him vinegar mixed with gall, thrust to His mouth upon a sponge. Oh! wretched, detestable inhospitality to the King’s Son.

(3.) He was provided with a guard of honour, who showed their esteem of Him by gambling over His garments, which they had seized as their booty. Such was the body-guard of the adored of heaven; a quaternion of brutal gamblers.

(4.) A throne of honour was found for Him upon the bloody tree; no easier place of rest would rebel men yield to their liege Lord. The cross was, in fact, the full expression of the world’s feeling towards Him; “There,” they seemed to say, “Thou Son of God, this is the manner in which God Himself should be treated, could we reach Him.”

(5.) The title of honour was nominally “King of the Jews,” but that the blinded nation distinctly repudiated, and really called Him “King of thieves,” by preferring Barabbas, and by placing Jesus in the place of highest shame between two thieves. His glory was thus in all things turned into shame by the sons of men, but it shall yet gladden the eyes of saints and angels, world without end.
https://www.vcyamerica.org/charles-spurgeons-daily-devoti

The Two Redemptions

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

For I know that my Redeemer lives… – Job 19:25

Let us think of how the Lord Jesus Christ hath redeemed us from bondage. Having broken the law of God, we were in bondage to that law; we had received the spirit of bondage again to fear. But we, who have believed in Jesus, our Kinsman, can say that He hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, and that we are no longer in bondage. We were also in bondage under sin, as Paul wrote, “I am carnal, sold under sin;” but Christ has come, and broken the power of sin in us, so that its reigning power is subdued; and though it still striveth to get the mastery, and often maketh us to groan within ourselves, even as Paul did, yet do we, with Him, thank God, who giveth us the victory, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

There are two redemptions,-redemption by price and redemption by power, and both of these Christ hath wrought for us;-by price, by His sacrifice upon the cross of Calvary; and by power, by His Divine Spirit coming into our heart, and renewing our soul. Ought we not unceasingly to bless the Lord who hath redeemed us from under the law, having paid the penalty for the commands which we had broken, and who hath also redeemed us from the power of sin? “I know that my Redeemer liveth,” then I know that I am a free man; for if the Son makes us free, then are we free indeed. I know that He paid the price for my soul’s eternal redemption, then may my soul continually exult in Him, and rejoice in the liberty wherewith He hath made me free. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2909.cfm

Our Vindicator Liveth

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

For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. – Job 19:25

It was the kinsman’s duty to defend the rights of his needy relative, so Job intended here to say, “I know that my Vindicator liveth;” and the Lord Jesus Christ is the Vindicator of His people from all false charges. It is not easy for Christians to live in this world without being slandered and misrepresented; certainly, those of us who live in the full blaze of public life can hardly utter a word without having it twisted, and tortured, and misconstrued. We are often represented as saying what we loathe even to think; yet we must not be surprised at that. The world loves lying, -it always has done so, and it always will. Even in private life you may meet with similar cruel treatment; there are some of God’s best children who lie under reproach by the year together. The very things which they would not tolerate for a moment are laid to their charge, and they are thought to be guilty of them, and even good people hold up their hands in pious horror at them, though they are perfectly innocent all the while. Well, beloved, ever remember that your Vindicator liveth. Do not be too much concerned to clear your own character; above all, do not attempt to vindicate yours in a court of law, but say to yourself, “I know that my Vindicator liveth.” When He cometh, “then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” His people may be under a cloud now; but, when He appeareth, the cloud shall break, and their true glory shall be seen. The greater the obloquy under which any of us have unjustly lived on earth, the greater will be the joy and the honor which will be vouchsafed to us in the day when Christ shall clear our character from all the shameful aspersions that have been brought against us. All will be cleared up in that day, so leave the accusations alone, knowing that your Vindicator liveth. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2909.cfm

Our Kinsman

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

“For I know that my Redeemer liveth,”- Job 19:25

Job, in the midst of his false friends, had One whom he called his kinsman. “I know,” he said, “that my Kinsman liveth.” I want you to think of Jesus Christ as your Kinsman if you are really in Him, for He is indeed the nearest akin to you of any- bone of your bone, and flesh of your flesh. “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same.” Now, your own flesh and blood, as you call them, are not so near to you in real kinship as Jesus is; for, often, you will find flesh and blood near akin by birth but not by sympathy. Two brothers may be, spiritually, very different from one another, and may not be able to enter into each other’s trials at all; but this Kinsman participates in every pang that rends your heart; He knows your constitution, your weakness, your sensitiveness, the particular trial that cuts you to the quick, for in all your afflictions He was afflicted. Thus, He is nearer to you than the nearest of earthly kin can possibly be, for He enters more fully into the whole of your life; He seems to have gone through it all, and He still goes through it all in His constant sympathy with you… Our Lord Jesus Christ’s relationship to us is no accident of birth; it was voluntarily assumed by Him. He would be one with us because He loved us; nothing could satisfy Him till He had come to this earth and been made one flesh with His Church. This He did because He would be one flesh with His people, and that is a very near kinship which comes as close as that, and which willingly does so, not by force, but by voluntary choice. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2909.cfm

Our Everlasting Hope

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

…to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. – Ephesians 1:6

God loves His Son with such an overflowing love that He has love enough for you, love enough for me, if we are in Christ Jesus. He is the great conduit or channel of God’s love, and that love flows through all the pipes to every soul that believes in Jesus. Hide behind your Lord, and you are safe. Trust His name, living and dying, and nothing can harm you…There hangs our everlasting hope; we trust to Christ in life and in death, and we are accepted for His sake. Come, every sinner, bring the Lamb of God; put Him on the altar, and you shall be accepted at once, and you may at once begin to praise the name of the Lord.

As we go on, we find this Lamb of God useful, not only for acceptance, but also for rescue and deliverance. It is a dark and dreadful night; Egypt shivers and stands aghast; and…forth flies an angel, armed with the sword of death. In every house of Egypt there is heard a wail, for the firstborn is dead, from the firstborn of Pharoah to the firstborn of the woman who turns the mill to grind the daily corn. Death is in every house; nay, stay; there are houses wherein there is no death. What has secured those habitations? The father took a lamb, shed its blood, dipped the bunch of hyssop in it, and smeared the lintel and the two side posts; and then all sat down and feasted on the lamb undisturbed, and calm and happy. They rejoiced to have for food that lamb whose blood was the ensign of their safety. There was no crying there, no dying there; death could not touch the inhabitants of the house that was marked with the blood of the Paschal lamb. Beloved, you and I are perfectly safe if we are sheltered beneath the blood of the Lamb of God; nothing can harm us, everything must bless us. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2329.cfm

The Lamb Slain for the World

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God 2 Comments

“Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” – John 1:29

Now you have gone beyond the bounds of Israel and have come to the Lamb for the world. You have come to the Lamb of God, who dies for Gentiles as well as Jews, for men in the isles of the sea, for men in the wilds of Africa, for men of every color, and every race, and every time, and every clime. Oh, glory be to God, wherever there are men, we may go and tell them of Christ! Wherever there are men born of Adam’s race, we may tell them of the second Adam, to whom looking, they who shall live, and in Him they shall find eternal life. I love to think of the breaking down of the bounds that shut in the flow of grace to one nation. Behold, it flows over all Asia Minor, at first, and then over all Greece, and then to Rome, and Paul talks of going to Spain, and the gospel is borne across the sea to England, and from this country it has gone out unto the utmost of the earth…

‘Round the altar priests confess,
If their robes are white as snow,
‘Twas the Saviour’s righteousness,
And His blood that made them so.

The blood of the Lamb has whitened all the saints who are in heaven; they sing of Him who loved them, and saved them from their own sins in His own blood. “Unto Him that loved us and saved us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us king and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” There is no whiteness in heaven but what the Lamb has wrought, no brightness there but what the Lamb has bought; everything there shows the wondrous power and surpassing merit of the Lamb of God. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2329.cfm