Sovereignty of God

By Thy Power We Rely

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

Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith. – Acts 6:7

If we pant to see the Word of God increase, multitudes added to the disciples, and a great company of those who are least likely to be saved brought in, there must be an adequate instrumentality. Nothing can avail without the operation of the Holy Spirit and the smile from heaven. Paul planteth, Apollos watereth, and God giveth the increase. We must never begin our catalogue of outward means without referring to that blessed and mysterious Potentate who abides in the church, and without whom nothing is good, nothing efficient, nothing successful.

“Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly dove,
With all Thy quickening powers.”

This should be our first prayer whenever we attempt to serve God, for if not, we begin with pride, and can little hope to succeed by prowess. If we go to the warfare at our own charges we must not marvel if we return stained with defeat. O Spirit of the living God, if it were not for Thy power we could not make the attempt, but when we rely upon Thee, we go forward in confidence. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0802.cfm

The Winds of Trials

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

Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. – Song of Songs 4:16

You see, there are sweet spices lying in Christians, like hidden honey and locked-up perfume within the flowers on a hot day. What is wanted is that those sweet odours should be diffused…Observe, that until our graces are diffused, it is the same as if they were not there. You may go through a wood, and it may be abounding in game, yet you may scarcely see a hare or notice a pheasant anywhere about. There they lie all quiet and undisturbed; but, by-and-by, the beaters go through the wood making a great noise, and away the pheasants fly, and you may see the timid hares run like hinds let loose, because they are disturbed and wakened up. That is what we sometimes need, to be aroused and stirred from slumber. We may not know that we have any faith till there comes a trial, and then our faith starts boldly up. We can hardly know how much we love our Lord till there comes a test of our love, and then we so behave ourselves that we know that we do love Him. Oftentimes, something is needed from without to stir the life that lies hidden within. It is so with these sweet flowers in the Beloved’s garden, they need either the north wind or the south wind to blow upon them that they may shed abroad their sweet odours. It is very painful to a Christian to be in such a condition that his graces are not stirring. He cannot endure it. We who love the Lord were not born again to waste our time in sinful slumber; our watchword is, “Let us not sleep, as do others.” We were not born to inaction; every power that God has put within us was meant to be used in working, and striving, and serving the Lord. So, when our graces are slumbering, we ourselves are in an unhappy state. Then we long for any agency that would set those graces moving. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2475.cfm

These Sweet Odours

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

Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. – Song of Songs 4:16

The spices with which God is conserving this present evil age, lest His anger should destroy it because of the growing corruption, are to be found in the flowers which He has planted in the garden of His Church. It sometimes happens that these sweet odours within God’s people lie quiet and still...I recollect, when I was young, reading an expression, -I think of Erskine’s, -in which he says that he likes a roaring devil better than a sleeping devil. It struck me then that, if I could keep the devil always asleep, it would be the best thing that could possibly happen for me; but now I am not so sure that I was right. At all events, I know this, when the old dog of hell barks very loudly, he keeps me awake; and when he howls at me, he drives me to the mercy-seat for protection; but when he goes to sleep, and lies very quiet, I am very apt to go to sleep, too, and then the graces that are within my soul seem to be absolutely hidden. And mark you, hidden grace, which in no way reveals itself by its blessed odours, is all the same as if there were none to those that watch from the outside and sometimes to the believer himself. What is wanted, in order that he may know that he has these sweet perfumes is something outside himself. You cannot stir your own graces, you cannot make them more, you cannot cause their fragrance to flow forth. True, by prayer, you may help to this end; but then, that very prayer is put into you by the Holy Spirit, and when it has been offered to the Lord, it comes back to you laden with blessings; but often something more is needed, some movement of God’s providence, and much more; some mighty working of His grace, to come and shake the flower bells in His garden, and make them shed their fragrance on the air. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2475.cfm

The Hope of the World

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

“Ye are the salt of the earth.” – Matthew 5:13

Every particle of faith that there is in the world is a sort of purifier; wherever it comes, it has a tendency to kill that which is evil. In the spiritual sanitary arrangements which God made for this poor world, He put men of faith, and the faith of these men, into the midst of all this corruption, to help to keep other men’s souls alive, even as our Lord Jesus said to His disciples, “Ye are the salt of the earth.” The sweet perfumes that flow out from the flowers which God cultivates in the garden of His Church are scattering spiritual health and sanity all around. It is a blessed thing that the Lord has provided these sweet spices to overpower and counteract the unhealthy odours that float on every breeze. Think, then, dear friends, of the importance of being God’s fragrant flowers, which may yield perfumes that are delightful to Him, and that are blessed and healthful to our fellow-men. A man of faith and love in a church sweetens all his brethren. Give us but a few such in our midst, and there shall be no broken spiritual unity, there shall be no coldness and spiritual death; but all shall go well where these men of God are among us as a mighty influence for good. And, as to the ungodly around us, the continued existence in the earth of the Church of Christ is the hope of the world. The world that hates the Church knows not what it does, for it is hating its best friend. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2475.cfm

The Sweet Spices of Faith, Hope and Love

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

…blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. – Song of Songs 4:16

There are in the Lord’s garden sweet flowers that drip with honey, and all manner of delightful perfumes.  There are such sweet spices within the believer’s heart; there is faith, -is there anything out of heaven sweeter than faith, -the faith which trusts and clings, which believes and hopes, and declares that, though God shall slay him, yet will he trust in Him? In the Lord’s esteem, faith is full of fragrance. Then comes love; and again, I must ask, -Is there to be found anywhere a sweeter spice than this, -the love which loves God because He first loved us, the love which flows out to all the brotherhood, the love which knows no circle within which it can be bounded, but which loves the whole race of mankind, and seeks to do them good? It is exceedingly pleasing to God to see love growing where once all was hate, and to see faith springing up in that very soul which was formerly choked with the thorns and briers of doubt and unbelief. And there is also hope, which is indeed an excellent grace, a far-seeing grace by which we behold heaven and eternal bliss. There is such a fragrance about a God-given hope that this poor sin-stricken world seems to be cured by it. Wherever this living, lively hope comes, there men lift up their drooping heads, and begin to rejoice in God their Savior… These, then, are some of the saints’ sweet spices…these sweet spices are delightful to God. It is very wonderful that we should have within us anything in which God can take delight; yet when we think of all the other wonders of His grace, we need not marvel at all. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2475.cfm

Fruitful Unto His Praise

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

Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. – Matthew 13:8

What a difference there is between what the believer was by nature and what the grace of God has made him! Naturally, we were like the waste howling wilderness, like the desert which yields no healthy plant or verdure. It seemed as if we were given over to be like a salt land, which is not inhabited; no good thing was in us or could spring out of us. But now, as many of us as have known the Lord are transformed into gardens; our wilderness is made like Eden, our desert is changed into the garden of the Lord. “I will turn unto you,” said the Lord to the mountains of Israel when they were bleak and bare, “I will turn unto you, and ye shall be tilled and sown;” and this is what He said to the barrenness of our nature. We have been enclosed by grace, we have been tilled and sown, we have experienced all the operations of the divine husbandry. Our Lord Jesus said to His disciples, “My Father is the husbandman,” and He has made us to be fruitful unto His praise, full of sweetness where once there was no fruit, and nothing that could give Him delight.

In the good ground mentioned by our Lord in the parable of the Sower, the good seed did not all bring forth a hundredfold, or even sixty-fold; there were some parts of the field where the harvest was as low as thirty-fold, and I fear that there are some of the Lord’s gardens which yield even less than that. Still, there are the fruits and there are the flowers, in a measure; there is a good beginning made wherever the grace of God has undertaken the culture of our nature. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2475.cfm

Our High Dignity

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

“Fellow citizens with the saints.”-Ephesians 2:19

What is meant by our being citizens in heaven? It means that we are under heaven’s government. Christ the king of heaven reigns in our hearts; our daily prayer is, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” The proclamations issued from the throne of glory are freely received by us: the decrees of the Great King we cheerfully obey. Then as citizens of the New Jerusalem, we share heaven’s honours. The glory which belongs to beatified saints belongs to us, for we are already sons of God, already princes of the blood imperial; already we wear the spotless robe of Jesus’ righteousness; already we have angels for our servitors, saints for our companions, Christ for our Brother, God for our Father, and a crown of immortality for our reward. We share the honours of citizenship, for we have come to the general assembly and Church of the first-born whose names are written in heaven. As citizens, we have common rights to all the property of heaven. Ours are its gates of pearl and walls of chrysolite; ours the azure light of the city that needs no candle nor light of the sun; ours the river of the water of life, and the twelve manner of fruits which grow on the trees planted on the banks thereof; there is nought in heaven that belongeth not to us. “Things present, or things to come,” all are ours. Also, as citizens of heaven we enjoy its delights. Do they there rejoice over sinners that repent-prodigals that have returned? So do we. Do they chant the glories of triumphant grace? We do the same. Do they cast their crowns at Jesus’ feet? Such honours as we have we cast there too. Are they charmed with His smile? It is not less sweet to us who dwell below. Do they look forward, waiting for His second advent? We also look and long for His appearing. If then, we are thus citizens of heaven, let our walk and actions be consistent with our high dignity. ~ C.H. Spurgeon