Sovereignty of God

In the New World There is No National Distinction

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, Sovereignty of God 4 Comments

…where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all. – Colossians 3:11

Observe, “there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free,” in the new creation, but “Christ is all, and in all.” In the new world there is no difference between Jew and Gentile; barbarian simplicity and Greek cultivation are as nothing. I suppose as long as we are in the flesh we shall set some store by our nationality, and like Paul shall somewhat glory that we were free born but surely the less of this the better. Within the gates of the Christian church we are cosmopolitan, or rather we are citizens of the New Jerusalem only. As a man, I rejoice that I am an Englishman, but not with the same holy joy which fills me when I remember that I am a Christian. When I meet another man who fears God, I do not want him to think me an Englishman, nor do I desire to regard him as an American, a Frenchman, or a Dutchman; for we are no longer strangers and foreigners but fellow-citizens. If any man be a Christian and a foreigner after the flesh, he is yet in spirit ten thousand times more allied to me than if he were an Englishman and an unbeliever. Greatly is it to be deplored whenever the convulsions of nations drag Christian men into opposition to one another on the ground of politics. One part of the body of Christ cannot be at war with another. It is a shameful thing whenever we suffer our earthly nationality to dominate over our heavenly citizenship. Queen Victoria and President Grant are well enough in their places, but King Jesus is Lord of all; we are above all things subjects of His Imperial Highness the Prince of Peace. Nobody comes into the church as a Jew or a Gentile, nor does he remain there as a Greek or a Scythian, whatever he may have been before; when he becomes a Christian, Christ is all. Earthly distinctions of rank, if they still exist, as they must while we are in this world, are brought to a minimum; within the church they are almost obliterated, and what remains is sanctified to sacred ends. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1006.cfm

All or Nothing at All

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God 4 Comments

Christ is all, and in all. – Colossians 3:11

To say prayers, to go to church, to take the sacrament to observe Good Friday, these are the main reliances of many a religionist, and then if the coach sticks a little in a deeper rut than usual, they call in the help of the Lord Jesus and hope that He will put His shoulder to the wheel. They commonly say, “Well, we must do our best, then Christ will be our Savior, and God is very merciful.” They allow the blessed and all-sufficient work and sacrifice of the Savior to fill up their failures; and imagine that they are extremely humble in allowing so much as that. Jesus is to them a stopgap, and nothing more. I know not whether the condition of such people is one whit more desirable than that of those to whom Jesus is nothing at all, for this is a vile contempt and despising of Christ indeed, to think that He came to help you to save yourselves, to dream that He is a part Savior, and will divide the world; and honor of salvation with the sinner. Those who yoke the sinner and the Savior together as each doing a part rob Christ of all His glory; and this is robbery indeed, to pilfer from the bleeding Lamb of God the due reward of His agonies. “He trod the winepress alone, and of the people there was none with Him.” In the work of salvation Jesus stands alone. Salvation is of the Lord. If Christ is not all to you, He is nothing to you. He will never go into partnership as a part Savior of men. If He be something He must be everything, and if He be not everything, He is nothing to you.

Sinner, thou art the emptiness, and Christ the fullness; thou art the filthiness, and He the cleansing; thou art nothing, and He is all in all; and the sooner thou consent to this the better. Have done with saying, “I would come to the Savior if this, and if that,” for this quibbling will delude, delay, and destroy thee. Come as thou art, just now, even at this moment, for Christ is not almost all, but all in all. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1006.cfm

One with Christ in the Design of God

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

Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious… – 1 Peter 2:4

The architect, in placing the stone, was following out his plan. He planned the foundation and thought of every course; and the stone is essential to the wall, even as the foundation is essential to the stone. Thus, we are one with Christ in the design of God. Reverently we say it, that God’s purpose comprehends not only Christ, but the whole company of His elect; and without His chosen people, the design of Jehovah can never be accomplished. He is building a temple to His praise; but a temple cannot be all foundation. There is a necessity for every stone in the wall; in the divine purpose, there is a necessity that such a one should be a living stone, and such a one should be another living stone. The weakest and the meanest of the Lord’s people are as necessary as the noblest and the most beautiful, though indeed all are without any praise until they are built into the wall. He that chose Christ, chose all His people; He arranged that they should be built up together, and in Him “all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord.” Oh, I like to think of each one of us, however insignificant we may appear to be, as being bricks or stones in that great temple of almighty grace! Perhaps some of us may stand where everybody can see us; but what does it matter? If we are in the wall at all, it is well. Wherever you are placed, we are joined to Christ; and therefore no one has a pre-eminence over any other, because we are all alike built upon the one foundation, even Jesus Christ our Lord, into whom we daily grow, pressing closer and closer to Him in experience, and holding tighter and tighter to Him by faith. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2244.cfm

Greatly Grateful

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God, The Father 3 Comments

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ… – Ephesians 1:3

Paul does not say, “Who has, we hope and trust, blessed us,” but he writes, “Who hath blessed us.” Ah, beloved, if you have a full assurance that God has blessed you in Christ, and that now His smile rests upon you, and all the benisons of the covenant are stored there for you, I think that you cannot help saying, “Blessed, blessed be the name of the Most High!” If you have suspicions about the truth of this precious Book, if you have questions about the truth of the doctrines of grace, if you have doubts about your own interest in those things. I do not wonder that you do not praise God, for a blessing which is only mine by peradventure, well, peradventure I shall be grateful for it; but peradventure I shall not. But if I know whom I have believed; if I have a firm grip of spiritual mercies; if all heavenly things are mine in Christ my Lord, I can sing, “Wake up, my glory; awake psaltery and harp; I myself will awake right early.” “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings.”

With this full assurance should come intense delight: “Who hath blessed us.” God has blessed us. Come, brethren, He has not done some trifle for us, which we can afford to ignore. He has not merely given us some absolutely necessary boons, which we must have, for we could not live without them; but He has in grace dealt still more abundantly with us. He has gone beyond workhouse fare and made us a feast with saints and princes. He has given us more than home-spun garments; He has put upon us robes of beauty and of glory, even His own spotless righteousness. He has blessed us; we are blessed; we feel that we are.

We are not sitting here, and groaning, and crying, and fretting, and worrying, and questioning our own salvation. He has blessed us; and therefore, we will bless Him. If you think little of what God has done for you, you will do very little for Him; but if you have a great notion of His great mercy to you, you will be greatly grateful to your gracious God. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2266.cfm

Adopted and Accepted

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

…having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved…In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will… – Ephesians 1:5,6,11

The chosen ones are adopted; they become the children of God. The universal Fatherhood of God, except in a very special sense, is a doctrine totally unknown to Scripture. God is the Father of those whom He adopts into His family, who are born again into His family, and no man hath any right to believe God to be his Father except through the new birth, and through adoption. And why God thus elects or adopts is declared here: “According to the good pleasure of His will.” He does as He pleases. That old word of God is still true: “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” Men do not like that doctrine; it galls them terribly; but it is the truth of God for all that. He is Master and King, and He will sit on the throne, and none shall drag Him thence…I read here of predestination, and I read here that God hath His own way, and His own will, and that He reigns and rules, and so He will until the world’s end; and all who are loyal subjects wish God to rule. He is a traitor who would not have God to be King; for who is infinitely good and kind as God is? Let Him have His divine will. Who wishes to restrain Him? Whether we wish it or not, however, the Lord reigneth; let the earth rejoice, and let His adversaries tremble. Our predestination is “according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.”

There is another precious doctrine, the acceptance of those who are adopted. We are beloved of God; He has a complacency toward us; He takes a delight in us; we are acceptable in His sight. Oh, what a blessing this is! But remember that it is all in Christ: “Accepted in the Beloved.” Because Christ is accepted, therefore those who are in Him are accepted. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2266.cfm

The Double Blessing: Grace and Peace

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

…grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ...who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love… – Ephesians 1:1-4

One of the first doctrines of our holy faith is that of the union of all believing souls with Christ. We are blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ. Apart from Christ we are nothing; in Christ we have “all spiritual blessings” We are rich as Christ is rich, when we are united to Him by the living bond of faith. Another great doctrine of Holy Scripture is that of election. We are blessed in Christ according as the Father “hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world.” Why did God choose any unto eternal life? Was it because of any holiness in them then existing, or forseen to exist? No, by no means; for we read that: “According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world.”

We are chosen, not because we are holy, but that we may be made holy. The election precedes the character and is indeed the moving cause in producing the character. Before the foundation of the world, God chose us in Christ, “that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.” You see, then, beloved brethren and sisters, the end for which the Lord chose you by His grace.

“Grace be to you,” brethren and sisters, grace in every form of it, the free favour of God, all that active force of grace which comes of His unmerited love. May you have a fresh draught of it at this time! “And peace.” May you feel a deep peace with God, with your own conscience, and with all the world! Oh, that you might find an atmosphere of quiet calm about your mind at this very moment! The double blessing of “grace” and “peace” comes “from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2266.cfm

To Be Made Holy

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

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love… – Ephesians 1:3,4

The text tells us that God blesses us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, “that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.” God’s choice of us was not because we were holy, but to make us holy; and God’s purpose will not be fulfilled unless we are made holy. Some people, when they talk about salvation, mean escaping from hell, and getting into heaven by the skin of their teeth. We never mean any such thing. We mean deliverance from evil, deliverance from sin. Like a dog in the manger, they cannot eat the hay themselves, and they growl at those who can. If you wish to be safe from sin, ask God for that great blessing, and He will give it to you; but if you do not want it, do not complain if God says, “I shall give it to such and such a person, and you that do not even ask for it shall be left without it.” If you do not care to be holy, you shall not be holy. If you did care for it, and wish for it, you might have it, for God denies it to none who seek it at His hands. But if you neither wish for it, nor value it, why do you lift your puny fist against the God of heaven because He hath chosen others, that they should be holy and without blame before Him in love? The object of our election is our holiness, and the object of every spiritual blessing is our holiness. God is aiming at making us holy. Are you not glad of that? May I not say, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, because His aim in every gift is to make us holy”? Brothers and sisters, would we not sacrifice everything we have, and count it no sacrifice, if we might be perfectly holy? ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2266.cfm