Sovereignty of God

God is Just

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

But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. – Galatians 3:22

There are many persons who think that the curse of God upon those who are undeniably wicked is, of course, right; but that the curse of God upon those who for the most part appear to be excellent, and who may have sinned but once, as an act of injustice. We answer, “Nay, when God pronounces the curse, He doth it justly; He is a God of justice; ‘just and right is He.'” And mark thee, man, if thou art condemned, it shall be by the strictest justice; and if thou hast sinned but once, the curse is righteous when it lights upon thy head. Dost thou ask me how this is? I answer, Thou sayest thy sin is little; then, if the sin be little, how little trouble it might have taken thee to have avoided it! If thy transgression be but small, at how small an expense thou mightest have refrained from it! Some have said, “Surely the sin of Adam was but little; he did but take an apple.” Ay, but in its littleness was its greatness. If it was a little thing to take the fruit, with how little trouble might it have been avoided! And because it was so small an act, there was couched within it the greater malignity of guilt. So, too, thou mayest never have blasphemed thy God, thou mayest never have desecrated His Sabbath; yet, insomuch as thou hast committed a little sin, thou art justly condemned, for a little sin hath in it the essence of all sin; and I know not but that what we call little sins may be greater in God’s sight than those which the world universally condemns, and against which the hiss of the execration of humanity continually rises. I say, God is just, although from His lips should rush thunders to blast the entire universe; God is just, although He curses all. Tremble, man, and “kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish by the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.”~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3254.cfm

Mercy in the Substitute

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

For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse… – Galatians 3:10

All who sin against the law are cursed by the law; all who rebel against its commands are cursed-cursed instantly, cursed terribly. Perhaps some here will be inclined to say, “Of course the law of God will curse all those who are loose in their lives, or profane in their conversation. We can all of us imagine that the swearer is a cursed man, cursed by God. We can suppose that the wrath of God rests upon the head of the man who is filthy in his life, and whose conversation is not upright, or who is a degraded man, under the ban of society.” But ah! my friend, it is not quite so easy to get at the real truth, which is this, that the curse of God rests upon every one of us, as by nature we stand before Him. Thou mayest be the most moral in the world, but yet the curse of God is upon thee; thou mayest be lovely in thy life, modest in thy carriage, upright in thy behavior, almost Christlike in thy conduct, yet, if thou hast not been born again, and regenerated by sovereign grace, the curse of God still rests upon thine head. If thou hast but committed one sin in thy life, God’s justice is so inexorable, that it condemns a man for one solitary offense; and though thy life should henceforth be one continued career of holiness, if thou hast sinned but once, unless thou hast an interest in the blood of Christ, the thunders of Sinai are launched at thee, and the lightnings of terrible vengeance flash all around thee. Ah! my hearers, how humbling is this doctrine to our pride, that the curse of God is on every man of the seed of Adam; that every child born in this world is born under the curse, since it is born under the law; and that the moment I sin, though I transgress but once, I am from that moment condemned already; for “cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.”-cursed without a single hope of mercy, unless he find that mercy in the Substitute “who was made a curse for us.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3254.cfm

 

The Intention of the Divine Law

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

“Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.”- Galatians 3:13

Paul says, “the law is holy, but I am carnal; sold under sin.” In all we ever say concerning justification by faith, we never intend to lower the opinion which our hearers have of the law, for the law is one of the most sublime of God’s works. There is not a commandment too many; there is not one too few; but it is so incomparable, that its perfection is a proof of its divinity…But while the law is glorious, it is never more misapplied than when it is used as a means of salvation. God never intended men to be saved by the law. When He proclaimed it on Sinai, it was with thunder, fire, and smoke; as if He would say, “O man, hear My law; but thou shalt tremble while thou hearest it.” Hear it! It is a law which hath the blast of a terrible trumpet, even like the day of destruction, of which it is but the herald, if thou offendest it, and findest none to bear the doom for thee. It was written on stone; as if to teach us that it was a hard, cold, stony law-one which would have no mercy upon us, but which, if we break it, would fall upon us, and dash us into a thousand pieces. O ye who trust in the law for your salvation! ye have erred from the faith; ye do not understand God’s designs; ye are ignorant of every one of God’s truths… It was intended by its thunders to crush every hope of self-righteousness, by its lightnings to scathe and demolish every tower of our own works, that we might be brought humbly and simply to accept a finished salvation through the one mighty Mediator who has “finished the law, and made it honorable, and brought in an everlasting righteousness,” whereby we stand, stand complete before our Maker at last, if we be in Christ. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3254.cfm

In An Instant, Comes Peace to the Soul

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

He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. – Mark 16:16

Whenever Jesus Christ’s blood comes upon a man, the instantaneous effect is something more than miraculous. Before the application of Christ’s blood, the man was distracted. His guilt, and its consequent punishment, weighed heavily upon him. “Alas!” said he, “I shall soon die, and then hell will be my lot!” Oh! some of us will never forget when we were in that miserable, burdened state! I protest before you all that, when I felt the weight of my sin, I wished that I had never been born; and I envied frogs, and toads, and the most loathsome creatures, and thought that they were so much better off than I, because they had never broken the law of God, which I had so wickedly and so wilfully done. If I went to my bed, I started with the fear that I should wake up in hell; and by day the same dread thought distracted me, that I was cast off by God, and must perish. But the moment that I looked to Christ, do not mistake me, the very self-same moment that I put my trust in Christ, I rose from the depths of despair to the utmost heights of joy. It was not a process of reasoning; it was not a matter which took hours and days; it was all done in an instant. I understood that God had punished Christ instead of me, and I saw that, therefore, I could not be punished any more; that I never could be, if Christ died for me, and I was assured that He did, if I did but trust Him. So I did trust Him; with my whole weight I threw myself into His arms, and thought at the time that He had never had such a load to carry before… Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. I am a sinner, and my soul rests alone on Him; and how can He cast me away, since His own promise is, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.”

O dear friends, there are hundreds here who have passed through the same blessed experience, and they can tell you that the blood of Jesus in an instant speaks peace to the soul.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3293.cfm

The Sweetness of His Son’s Blood

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God 1 Comment

For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people – Hebrews 9:19

We are told that (Moses) sprinkled (the blood) upon the book. Oh, how delightful this Bible looks to me when I see the blood of Christ sprinkled upon it! Every leaf would have flashed with Sinai’s lightnings, and every verse would have rolled with the thunders of Horeb, if it had not been for Calvary’s cross; but now, as you look, you see on every page your Saviour’s precious blood. He loved you, and gave Himself for you, and now you who are sprinkled with that blood, and have by faith rested in Him, can take that precious Book, and find it to be green pastures and still waters to your souls.

Whenever you cannot pray as you would, remember that Jesus Christ’s blood has gone before you, and is pleading for you before the eternal throne; like the good Methodist, who, when a brother could not pray, cried out, “Plead the blood, brother!” …There you see that this sin of yours has been already atoned for. Before you committed it, Jesus carried it. Long before it fell from your heart the weight of it had pressed upon the Redeemer’s heart, and He put it away in that tremendous day when He took all the load of His people’s guilt, and hurled it into the sepulchre, to be buried there for ever.

I like to come up to God’s house, and say, “Well, I shall worship God today in the power and through the merit of the precious blood; my praises will be poor, feeble things, but then the sweet perfume will go up out of the golden censer, and my praises will be accepted through Jesus Christ, my preaching, oh! how full of faults; how covered over with sins! but then the blood is on it, and because of that, God will not see sin in my ministry, but will accept it because of the sweetness of His Son’s blood.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3293.cfm

The Redeemer’s Will

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God 1 Comment

For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth. – Hebrews 9:17

Salvation comes to us as a matter of will. Jesus Christ has left eternal life to His people as a legacy. Here are the words:-“Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory.” Now, a will, as the apostle rightly tells us, has no power whatever unless the man who made it is dead. Hence the blood of Jesus Christ, the token of His death, gives validity to all the promises which He has made. That spear-thrust by the Roman soldier was a precious proof to us that our Lord was really dead. And now, beloved, whenever you read a precious promise in the Bible, you may say, “This is a clause in the Redeemer’s will.” When you come to a choice word, you may say, “This is another codicil to the will.” Recollect that these things are yours, not because you are this or that, but because the blood makes them yours. The next time Satan says to you, “You do not believe as you ought, and therefore the promise is not sure,” tell him that the sureness of the promise lies in the blood, and not in what you are or in what you are not. There is a will proved in heaven’s Court of Probate, whose validity depends upon its signatures, and upon its witnesses, and upon its being drawn up in proper style. The person to whom the property is left may be very poor, but that does not overthrow the will; he may be very ragged, but that does not upset the will; he may have disgraced himself in some way or other, but that does not make the will void; he who made the will, and put his name to the will, makes the will valid, and not the legatee to whom the legacy was left. And so with you this covenant stands secure, this will of Christ stands firm. In all your ups and downs, in all your successes and your failures, you, poor needy sinner, have nothing to do but to come and take Christ to be your All-in-all, and put your trust in Him, and the blood of the covenant shall make the promises sure to you.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3293.cfm

The Covenant’s Sureness

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

For all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. – 2 Corinthians 1:20

Beloved, in a covenant there are pledges given, and on those pledges we delight to meditate. You know what they were. The Father pledged His honour and His word. He did more; He pledged His oath; and “because He could swear by no greater, He sware by Himself.” He pledged His own word and sacred honour of Godhead that He would be true, to His Son, that He should see His seed; and that by the knowledge of Him Christ should “justify many.” But there was needed a seal to the covenant, and what was that Jesus Christ in the fulness of time set the seal to the covenant, to make it valid and secure, by pouring out His life’s blood to make the covenant effectual once for all. Beloved, if there be an agreement made between two men, the one to sell such-and-such an estate, and the other to pay for it, the covenant does not hold good until the payment is made. Now, Jesus Christ’s blood was the payment of His part of the covenant; and when He shed it, the covenant stood firm as the everlasting hills, and the throne of God Himself is not more sure than is the covenant of grace; and, mark you, that covenant is not sure merely in its great outlines, but sure also in all its details. Every soul whose name was in that covenant must be saved. Unless God can undeify Himself, every soul that Christ died for He will have. Every soul for which He stood Substitute and Surety He demads to have, and each of the souls He must have, for the covenant stands fast. Moreover, every blessing in which that covenant was guaranteed to the chosen seed was by the precious blood made eternally secure to that seed. Oh, how I delight to speak about the sureness of that covenant! How the dying David rolled that under his tongue as a sweet morsel! “Although my house,” said he, “be not so with God,”-there was the bitter in his mouth; “yet,” said he, and there came in the honey, “yet He hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure.” And this sureness, mark you, lies in the blood; it is the blood of Christ that makes all things secure, for all the promises of God are yea and amen in Christ Jesus, to the glory of God by us.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3293.cfm