Sovereignty of God

Obey God’s Word as God’s Word

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

…speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward…- Exodus 14:15

The Lord said to Moses, “Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward.” That word was sufficient guide. Suppose they had said, “Lord, we will go forward if the fiery pillar leads us forward, but not else.” What then? Why, they would have been rebels. We are to obey God’s Word as God’s Word. I heard a brother say some time ago that he should be baptized when it was laid home to him. I thought of what a father would say to his boy if he said, “Father, I shall obey you if it is laid home to me.” In all probability the child would have it laid home to him more feelingly than he desired. There are some disobedient children in the Lord’s family who, if they do not mind, will have scriptures laid home to them in a way they do not quite reckon upon. What have you and I to guide us but the word of the Lord? “Well,” says one, “I guide myself by outward providences.” Do you? You will get into a terrible maze one of these days. Jonah wanted to flee from the presence of the Lord, and therefore he went down to the seaside, and lo, he found a ship going to Tarshish. Might he not have said, “I must be in the way of duty in going to Tarshish, for no sooner did I go down to the wharf than I found a ship starting immediately, and a cabin vacant for a passenger. I paid my fare and walked on board at once. I had not to go off to the shipping-agent’s, and wait for the next liner, but all was prepared for me. Was not that a providence!” Yes, but if you get following providence, and turning aside from the Word, you may soon find yourself in the sea, and no whale prepared for you. Our way is clearly set before us in the Word of God, and that most sure word of testimony should be followed…True believers expect difficulties. It is ours to do what we are bidden to do, not to act according to fancied indications of providence. When the Lord said “Forward!” forward Israel must go, without a fiery cloudy pillar to cheer the way. Has not the Lord spoken? Who shall ask for plainer guidance? ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1793.cfm

All Trouble is Not Chastisement

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

And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them. – Exodus 14:19

It is true, and does happen, that the Lord often hides His face behind the clouds of dust that His own children make by their sins; but this is not always the case. When the consolations of God are small with you, you may generally conclude that there is some secret sin with you: and then it is your duty to cry, “Show me wherefore Thou contendest with me.” But in this case God was not punishing the Israelites for their sins, as He did on after occasions. He seems to have been very patient with their early murmurings, because they were such feeble folk, so unused to pilgrimage, and so unfit for anything heroic. Every trial was severe to the raw, undisciplined spirits of the tribes, and therefore the Lord winked at their follies. There was not a touch of the rod about this withdrawing of His presence from the van, not even a trace of anger; it was all done in loving-kindness and tender mercy, and no sort of chastisement was intended by it. So, dear child of God, you must not always conclude that trouble is sent because of wrath, and that the loss of conscious joy is necessarily a punishment for sin. Such thoughts will be a case of knives cutting your heart in pieces. Do not make for yourself a needless pain. All trouble is not chastisement; it may be a way of love for your enriching and ennobling. Upon the black horse of trouble, the Lord sends His messengers of love. It is a good thing for us to be afflicted; for thus we learn patience and attain to assurance. Shall the champion who is bidden to go to the front of the battle think that he is punished thereby? No, verily, my brethren: whom the Lord loveth He sets in the heat of the conflict, that they may earn the rarest honors. Great suffering and heavy labor are often rewards of faithfulness. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1793.cfm

Removed Yet Moved

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

And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed… – Exodus 14:19

God never leaves us, but we sometimes think He has done so. The sun shines on, but we do not always bask in its beams; we sometimes mourn an absent God-it is the bitterest of all our mourning. As He is the sum total of our joy, so His departure is the essence of our misery. If God does not smile upon us, who can cheer us? If He be not with us, then the strong helpers fail, and the mighty men are put to rout. If we see no cloud or flame, yet may we know that God is with us, and His power is around us. According to our text, “The angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed.” The chosen of the Lord may lose the manifested presence of God; and, indeed, often they may miss it in the particular form in which they have been accustomed to enjoy it… Aforetime everything had seemed bright, and we expected to go from strength to strength, from victory to victory, till we came unto the mount of God, to dwell for ever in His rest; but now before us on a sudden things look dark; we do not feel so sure of heaven as we were, nor so certain of perpetual growth and progress… Sometimes you also may imagine that God’s promise is failing you; even the word of God which you had laid hold upon may appear to you to be contradicted by your circumstances. Then your heart sinks to the depths, for “if the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” …When the cloud of the divine glory is no longer seen in front it has gone behind, because it is more wanted there, and it is no loss after all. When the Lord hides His face for a moment, it is to make us value His face the more, to quicken our diligence in following after Him, to try our faith, and to test our graces… Oh, my Lord, if ever Thou dost leave me, forsake me not in the day of trouble. Yet what have I said? It is a day of trouble when Thou art gone, whatever my condition may be. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1793.cfm

He Repulses None

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

“Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” John 6:37

Is there any instance of our Lord’s casting out a coming one? If there be so, we would like to know of it; but there has been none, and there never will be. Among the lost souls in hell there is not one that can say, “I went to Jesus, and He refused me.” It is not possible that you or I should be the first to whom Jesus shall break His word. Let us not entertain so dark a suspicion.

Suppose we go to Jesus now about the evils of today. Oh, this we may be sure—He will not refuse us audience or cast us out. Those of us who have often been and those who have never gone before—let us go together, and we shall see that He will not shut the door of His grace in the face of any one of us.

“This man receiveth sinners,” but He repulses none. We come to Him in weakness and sin, with trembling faith, and small knowledge, and slender hope; but He does not cast us out. We come by prayer, and that prayer broken; with confession, and that confession faulty; with praise, and that praise far short of His merits; but yet He receives us. We come diseased, polluted, worn out, and worthless; but He doth in no wise cast us out. Let us come again today to Him who never casts us out. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

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God, a Failure? It Can Never Be

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

And Benaiah came to the tabernacle of the LORD, and said unto him, Thus saith the king, Come forth. And he said, Nay; but I will die here. – 1 Kings 2:30

Listen to me, soul, whoever thou mayest be out of the crowd, man or women, whatever thy life may have been, even though it may have been that of a harlot or a thief, a drunkard or a profligate, if thou wilt now believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, thou shalt be saved; for, if not, then God Himself will have missed His greatest design. What did He give Jesus for but to save sinners? What did He lay sin upon Jesus for, but that He might take it off the sinner, and let him go free, and be pardoned? If, then, Christ fails, God’s grandest expedient has broken down. That method by which the Lord resolved to show what His almighty grace can do has proved to be a failure if a believing sinner is not saved. Dost thou think that such a thing can ever be? It is blasphemy to think that Jehovah can be defeated. He that believes in Christ shall be saved; nay, he is saved.

If thou art not saved believing in Christ, then Christ Himself is dishonoured. Oh, let them once know, down in the dark abode of fallen spirits, that a man has trusted in Christ and yet has not been saved, I tell you that they will make such exultation over Christ as Philistia made over Samson when his eyes were put out. They would feel that they had defeated the Prince of Glory. They would trample on His blood and ridicule His claim to be the Savour of men. If any soul can truly say hereafter, “I went to Christ, and He refused me,” then Christ does not speak the truth when He says, “Him that cometh to Me I will in nowise cast out.” Then He has changed His nature, foregone His word, and foresworn Himself. But that also can never be. Wherefore, dear heart, cling to Jesus, and say still, “If I die, I will die here.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1826.cfm

Go You to Christ Only

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

For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus… – 1 Timothy 2:5

There is one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, and he who sets up another is an enemy of souls. There is but One who can be trusted with our soul affairs, even the Lord Jesus Christ; and woe to us if we put our confidence in men! Ordained or unordained, shaven or unshorn, they cannot help us. Yet I know that people do trust in ministers most foolishly. I remember years ago being at three o’clock in the morning in a house now pulled down, which stood not far from the London Bridge railway-station. A gentleman of considerable means had spent the Sunday at Brighton, had come home, and had been taken with cholera on a sudden, and nothing would do him, when he was in the pangs of death, but he must send for me. I went, not knowing what was required of me. But when I got there what could I do? There was a little consciousness left to the man, and I spoke to him of Jesus. I asked if he had a Bible. The people of the house searched high and low, but there was no such thing to be found. The mind was soon too beclouded for further comprehension, and as I came away, I asked, “Has he ever gone to a place of worship?” No, never-never cared for such a thing; but as soon as he was ill, then, “Oh, send for Mr. Spurgeon!” He must come, and nobody else: and there I stood, and what could I do?

What can we do for you, dear hearts, if you will not have our Saviour? We can stand and weep over you, and break our hearts to think that you reject Him; but what can we do? Oh, if we could let you into heaven, if we could renew your hearts, how joyfully would we perform the miracle; but we claim no such power, no such influence! Go you to Christ, and lay hold upon the true altar-horn; but do not be so foolish as to put confidence in us or in any other ministers. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1826.cfm

Thou Art Indeed My Lord and My God

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

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. – John 1:14

We bear our testimony that He is “the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” Brothers and sisters, instead of preaching let me bear my testimony; my testimony of what I have seen, what my own ears have heard, and my own heart has tasted-that Christ is the only begotten of the Father. He is divine to me, if He be human to all the world besides. He has done that for me which none but a God could do. He has turned my stubborn will, melted a heart of adamant, broken a chain of steel, opened the gates of brass, and snapped the bars of iron. He hath turned for me my mourning into laughter, and my desolation into joy; He hath led my captivity captive, made my heart rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Let others think as they will of Him, to me He must be the only begotten of the Father: blessed be His name.

“O that I could now adore Him,
Like the heavenly host above,
Who for ever bow before Him,
And unceasing sing His love. Happy songsters!
When shall I your chorus join?”

Thy name is precious even as ointment poured forth. Thou art indeed my Lord and my God, as certainly as ever Thou wast the God of Thomas. Like Paul, my soul shall say, “God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” – C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0414.cfm