Sovereignty of God

Offending the Persons of the Trinity

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, promises, repentance, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Father, The Holy Spirit, the unbelieving life Leave a comment

He was numbered with the transgressors; and He bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. – Isaiah 53:12 (read Isaiah 53)

The unbeliever perpetrates an offense against every person of the blessed Trinity. He may think that his not believing is a very small business, but indeed, it is a barbed shaft shot against the Deity. Take the persons of the blessed Trinity, beginning with the Son of God who comes to us most nearly. It is to me the most surprising thing I ever heard of that, “the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” I do not wonder that in India the missionaries are often met with this remark: “It is too good to be true that God ever took upon Himself the nature of such a thing as man.”

Yet, more wonderful does it seem to be that, when Christ became man, He took all the sorrows and infirmity of man, and in addition, was made to bear the sin of many. The most extraordinary of all facts is this that the infinitely Holy should be “numbered with the transgressors,” and in the words of Isaiah, should “bear their iniquities.” The Lord has made Him who knew no sin, to be made sin for us. Wonder of wonders! It is beyond all degree amazing that He who distributes crowns and thrones should hang on a tree and die, the just for the unjust, bearing the punishment due to sinners for guilt.

Now, knowing this, as most of you do, and yet refusing to believe, you do, in effect, say, “I do not believe that the incarnate God can save.” “Oh no,” you reply, “We sincerely believe that He can save.” Then it must be that you feel, “I believe He can, but I will not have Him save me.” Wherein I excuse you in the first place, I must bring the accusation more heavily in the second. You answer that “(I) do not say (I) will not believe Him.” Why do you then remain in unbelief? The fact is you do not trust Him; you do not obey Him. I pray you account for the fact. If there be any barrier, it is not with God, it is not with Christ, it is with your own sinful heart. You are welcome to the Savior now, and if you trust Him now, He is yours forever. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1012.cfm

Unbelievers Hate God

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, repentance, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Holy Spirit, the unbelieving life Leave a comment

The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hand…. he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. – John 3:35,36

Suppose a man has injured another, grossly insulted him, and that repeatedly, and yet the injured person, finding the man at last brought into a wretched and miserable state, goes to him and simply out of kindness to him, says, “I freely forgive you all the wrong you ever did me, and I am ready to relieve your poverty and to succor you in your distress.” Suppose the other replies, “No, I would sooner rot than take anything from you.” Would not you have in such a resolve a clear proof of the intense enmity that existed in his heart?

The unbeliever touches God in a very tender place by his unbelief. No doubt it was to the great Maker a joyous thing to fashion this world, but there are no expressions of joy concerning it at all equal to the joy of God in the matter of human redemption. We would be guarded when we speak of Him, but as far as we can tell, the gift of His dear Son to men, and the whole scheme of redemption, is the master work even of God Himself. He is infinite in power, and wisdom, and love. 

And so, when a man says, and every one of you unbelievers practically say so, “I would sooner lie forever in hell than honor Christ by trusting Him,” this is a very plain proof of your hatred of God and His Christ. Unbelievers hate God. Let me ask, for what do you hate Him? He keeps the breath within your nostrils. He it is that gives you food and clothing and sends fruitful seasons. For which of these good things do you hate Him? You hate Him because He is good. Ah, then, it must be because you yourself are evil, and your heart very far removed from righteousness. May God grant that this great and crying sin may be clearly set before your eyes by the light of the Eternal Spirit, and may you repent of it, and turn from your unbelief and live this very day. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1012.cfm

Will You Receive God’s Mercy or His Condemnation?

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, promises, Sovereignty of God, The Father, The Holy Spirit, the unbelieving life Leave a comment

And when He comes, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on Me… – John 16:8,9

He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. – John 3:18

The all-seeing One, when He beholds men spurning the supreme gift of His love, cannot but regard such rejection as the worst proof of the hatred of their hearts against Himself. When the Holy Spirit comes to convince men of sin, the special sin which He brings to light is thus described, “Of sin, because they believed not on Me.” Not because the heathen were licentious in their habits, barbarians in their wars, and the bloodthirsty in their spirit. No, “Of sin, because they believe not on Me.”

Condemnation has come upon men, but what is the condemnation? “That light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil.” Remember, also, that expressive text, “He that believes not is condemned already.” And what is he condemned for? “Because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God.”

Let me remark, further, that in the rejection of divine mercy as presented in Christ, the unbeliever has displayed intense venom against God, for observe how it is. He must either receive the mercy of God in Christ, or he must be condemned—there is no other alternative. He must trust Christ whom God has set forth to be the propitiation for sin, or else he must be driven from the presence of God into eternal punishment. The unbeliever in effect says, “I had sooner be damned than accept God’s mercy in Christ.” Can we conceive a grosser insult to the infinite compassion of the great Father? ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1012.cfm

Rejection of this Gift is No Small Sin

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

…he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. – John 3:36

What is this peculiar sin which entails the wrath of God upon these people? It is that they have not believed the Son of God. What does that amount to? It amounts to this, first of all, that they refuse to accept the mercy of God. God made a law, and His creatures were bound to respect and obey it. We rejected it and turned aside from it. It was a great display of the heart’s hatred, but it was not in some respects so thoroughly and intensely wicked a manifestation of enmity to God as when we reject the Gospel of grace.

God has now presented not the law, but the Gospel to us. He has said, “My creatures, you have broken My law, you have acted very vilely towards Me. I must punish your sin, else I were not God, and I cannot lay aside My justice, but I have devised a way by which, without any injury to any of My attributes, I can have mercy upon you. I am ready to forgive the past, and to restore you to more than your lost position, so that you shall be My sons and My daughters. My only command to you is, believe in My Son. If this command be obeyed, all the blessings of My new covenant shall be yours. Trust Him and follow Him, for behold, I give Him as leader and commander to the people. Accept Him as making atonement by His substitution and obey Him.”

Now, to reject the law of God shows an evil heart of unbelief, but who shall say what a depth of rebellion must dwell in that heart which refuses not only the yoke of God, but even the gift of God? The provision of a Savior for lost men is the free gift of God, by it all our wants are supplied, all our evils are removed, peace on earth is secured to us, and glory forever with God—the rejection of this gift cannot be a small sin.

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1012.cfm

The One Thing Needful

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

…he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. – John 3:36

It must be admitted that not a few of these (unbelieving) persons are blameless as to their morals. You could not, with close observation, find either dishonesty, falsehood, uncleanness, or malice in their outward life. They are not only free from these blots, but they manifest positive excellences. Much of their character is commendable. They frequently are courteous and compassionate, generous and gentle-minded. Often times they are so amiable and admirable, that while looking upon them, we understand how our Lord, in a similar case, loved the young man who asked, “What lack I yet?” The one thing needful they are destitute of is they have not believed in Christ Jesus, and loath as the Savior was to see them perish, yet it cannot be helped, one doom is common to all who believe not. They shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on them. “God is angry with the wicked every day.”

In many cases these persons are, in addition to their morality, religious persons after a fashion. They would not absent themselves from the usual service of the place of worship. They are most careful to respect the Sabbath, they venerate the Book of God, they use a form of prayer, they join in the songs of the Sanctuary, they sit as God’s people sit and stand as God’s people stand. But alas, there is a worm in the center of that fair fruit, they have missed the one essential thing, which, being omitted, brings certain ruin. They have not believed on the Son of God. Ah, how far a man may go, and yet, for lack of this one thing, the wrath of God may still abide upon him. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1012.cfm

The Discriminator John the Baptist

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

He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. – John 3:36.

John the Baptist was evidently a preacher who knew how to discriminate—a point in which so many fail—he separated between the precious and the vile, and therefore he was as God’s mouth to the people. He does not address them as all lost nor as all saved, but he shows the two classes. He keeps up the line of demarcation between him that fears God and him that fears Him not. We have not many sermons by that mighty preacher, but we have just sufficient to prove that he knew how to lay the axe at the root of the tree by preaching the law of God most unflinchingly; and also that he knew how to declare the gospel, for no one could have uttered sentences which more clearly contain the way of salvation than those in the text before us.

He plainly declares the privileges of the believer, he says he has even now eternal life, and with equal decision he testifies to the sad state of the unbeliever, “He shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” John the Baptist might usefully instruct many professedly Christian preachers. Although he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John the Baptist, and ought, therefore, more clearly to bear witness to the truth, yet there are many who muddle the Gospel, who teach philosophy, who preach a mingle-mangle, which is neither law nor Gospel, and these might well go to the school of this rough preacher of the wilderness, and learn from him how to cry, “Behold the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1012.cfm

We Must Continue Marching

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

I delight to do Thy will, O my God. – Psalm 40:8

Brethren, I believe it is the duty of the Christian church to go on working quite as earnestly and zealously and believingly, if there be no conversions, as if half the world were transformed in a twelve month. Our business is not to create a harvest but to sow the seed; if the wheat does not come up, if we have sown it aright, our Master does not hold us responsible. If missions had been an utter failure it would be no sort of reason why we should give them up. There was a great failure when the hosts of Israel, on the first occasion, went round Jericho; a dreadful failure when they marched round the city twice, and the walls shook not; it was an aggravated failure when they had compassed it four times; it was a most discouraging defeat when they had tramped round it five times; and, on the whole, a breakdown, almost enough to drive them to despair, when they had performed the circuit six times and not a single brick had stirred in the wall. Yes; but then the seventh day made amends, when the people shouted and all the walls fell flat to the ground. Brethren, it is not yet time to shout, but we must continue marching and say, “Let God be magnified.” The longer the walls stand, and the longer we wait, the louder will be our shout when they lie prostrate before us, as they shall; for, “Verily, verily, I say unto you there shall not be one stone left upon another that shall not be cast down.”

Let us still continue to attack the adversary. We are few, but strength lies not in numbers. The Eternal One has used the few where He has put aside the many. In our weakness lies part of our adaptation to the divine work; only let us gather up fresh faith, and renew our courage and industry, and we shall see greater things than these. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

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