Sovereignty of God

Only at the Feet of Jesus

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

And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard His word. – Luke 10:39

Only at the feet of Jesus can the divine power be gained which works in us holiness and sanctifies us practically; therefore, as you must be purified or you cannot enter heaven, you must come to Jesus’ feet. Moreover, it is at the feet of Jesus that the soul’s ignorance is removed; and since ignorance concerning ourselves and our God must be taken from us, we must be taught of Him. God is “our light and our salvation;” our light first, and our salvation in consequence. We must have the light. The spiritually blind man cannot enter heaven, he must have his eyes opened, but Jesus alone can work that miracle of grace. Neither can we receive true light except from Him, for He is “the true light, that lighteth every man that cometh into the world;” none are ever enlightened, except by Him. “In Him is light-all light; and the light is the light of men.”

In order to enter heaven, it is necessary that our nature should become like the nature of Christ. This earth is for those who bear the image of the first Adam; but the new heaven and the new earth are for those who bear the image of the second Adam.. We must, by some means, acquire the nature of the second and heavenly Adam, and this must be wrought in us by regeneration, and developed by acquaintance with Him. By sitting at His feet, and beholding Him, we become changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. If we reject the Lord Jesus as our trust, teacher, and exemplar, we have no new life, we are not new creatures in Christ, and we can never be admitted within the holy gates where those alone dwell who are fashioned after His likeness. We must, then, sit at His feet…

Woe, woe, woe eternally to the soul that will not sit at the feet of Jesus! He shall be trodden beneath His feet in His anger and crushed in His hot displeasure. God grant that may never be our portion. To sit at Jesus’ feet is the one thing needful then. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1015.cfm

Be Always Learners and Lovers of Jesus

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

And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: but one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. – Luke 10:41,42

Let me say to those of you who can honestly declare that Christ is your sole confidence, it is possible for you to forget the necessity of sitting at His feet. You, dear brethren, are looking to His precious blood alone for your salvation, and His name is sweet to you, and you desire all things to be conformed to His will. So far it is well with you, for in this you have a measure of sitting at His feet; but so had Martha; she loved her Lord, and she knew His word, and she was a saved soul, for “Jesus loved Mary, and Martha, and Lazarus;” but you have not perhaps so much of this needful thing as Mary had, and as you ought to have. You have been very busy this week, and have been drifted from your moorings; you have not lived with your Lord in conscious fellowship; you have been full of care and empty of prayer; you have not committed your sorrows to your loving friend; you have blundered on in duty without asking His guidance or assistance, you have not maintained, in your Christian service, the communion of your spirit with the Well-Beloved, and, if such has been the case, let me say to you, and ask you, as you sit here this morning, to make a little stop in your Sunday-school teaching or your street preaching, or whatever else it is that you are so laudably engaged in, and say to yourself: “To me, as a worker, the one thing needful is to keep near my Lord, and I must not so suffer the watering of others to occupy me, as to neglect my own heart, lest I should have to say ‘woe is me, they made me keeper in the vineyards, but my own vineyard have I not kept.'” To the saints, as well as to others, the one thing needful is to sit at Jesus’ feet. We are to be always learners and lovers of Jesus. Departure from Him, and independence of Him, let them not once be named among you. It is weakness, sickness, sin, and sorrow for a believer to leave His Lord and become either his own leader or reliance. We are only safe while we remain humbly and gladly subservient to Him. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1015.cfm

A Learner in the School of Christ

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

But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. Luke 10:42

The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master. – Luke 6:40

Discipleship is too often forgotten; it is as needful as faith. We are to go into all the world and disciple all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and of the Holy Ghost. A man cannot be saved unless he has become a learner in the school of Christ, and a learner, too, in a practical sense, being willing to practice what he learns. Only he who does the Master’s will knows His doctrines. We are, if we have chosen the good part, sitters at the feet of Jesus, just as Saul of Tarsus sat at the feet of Gamaliel; Christ is to us our great Instructor, and we take the law from His lips. The believer’s position is that of a pupil, and the Lord Jesus is his teacher. Except we be converted and become as little children, we can in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven. Sitting at the feet of Jesus indicates the child-like spirit of true discipleship; and this is the one thing needful: there is no salvation apart from it.

The first duty, indeed, of the student to the tutor is that he be cheerful in accepting, and diligent in retaining, what is taught: in this sense, Mary was really waiting upon Christ in one of His loftiest capacities, namely that of a teacher and prophet in the midst of Israel. In that same spirit, had the Master only intimated it, she would have risen to wash His feet, or anoint His head, or wait at table, as Martha did; but she would, while she was performing these active duties, have continued spiritually in her first posture; she could not, of course, have continued literally sitting at the feet of the Saviour, but her heart would have remained in the condition which that posture indicates. She was in the fittest position for service, for she waited to hear what her Lord would have her to do. We must all be servants, too; as we have been servants of unrighteousness, we must by grace submit ourselves unto the rules of Jesus, and become servants of righteousness, or, else, we miss the one thing that is indispensable for entrance into heaven. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1015.cfm

Choosing That Good Part

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

But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. – Luke 10:42

We have no difficulty whatever in deciding what the one thing is. We are not allowed to say that it is the Saviour, for He is not a thing; and we are not permitted to say that it is attention to our own salvation, for although that would be true, it is not mentioned in the context. The one thing needful evidently is that which Mary chose-that good part which should not be taken away from her. Very clearly this was to sit at Jesus’ feet and hear His word. This and nothing less, this and nothing more.

The mere posture of sitting down and listening to the Saviour’s word was nothing in itself: it was that which it indicated. It indicated, in Mary’s case, a readiness to believe what the Saviour taught, to accept and to obey-nay to delight in, the precepts which fell from His lips. And this is the one thing needful-absolutely needful; for no rebel can enter the kingdom of heaven with the weapons of rebellion in his hands. We cannot know Christ while we resist Christ: we must be reconciled to His gentle sway, and confess that He is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

To sit at Jesus’ feet implies faith as well as submission. Mary believed in what Jesus said, and, therefore, sat there to be taught by Him. It is absolutely necessary that we have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, in His power as God and man, in His death as being expiatory, in His crucifixion as being a sacrifice for our sins. We must trust Him for time and eternity, in all His relationships as Prophet, Priest, and King. We must rely on Him; He must be our hope, our salvation, our all in all. This one thing is absolutely necessary: without it we are undone. A believing submission, and a submissive faith in Jesus we must have, or perish. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1015.cfm

How Can You Be Saved?

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

…the wrath of God abides on him. – John 3:36

Notice the word, “abides,” this is to say, it is upon you now. God is angry with you at this moment—and always. You go to sleep with an angry God gazing into your face, you wake in the morning, and if your eyes were not dim, you would perceive His frowning countenance. He is angry with you, even when you are singing His praises, for you mock Him with solemn sounds upon a thoughtless tongue. Angry with you on your knees, for you only pretend to pray, you utter words without heart. As long as you are not a believer, He must be angry with you every moment. “God is angry with the wicked every day.” Spiritual life belongs only to believers. You are now without that life, yet you exist, and wrath abides on you, and so it ever must be. While you shall not see life, you shall exist in eternal death, for the wrath of God cannot abide on a non-existent creature. You shall not see life, but you shall feel wrath to the uttermost. It is horror enough that wrath should be on you now, it is horror upon horrors, and hell upon hell that it shall be upon you forever.

And notice that it must be so, because you reject the only thing that can heal you. As George Herbert says, “Whom oils and balsams kill, what salve can cure?” If Christ Himself has become a savor of death unto death to you, because you reject Him, how can you be saved? There is but one door, and if you close it by your unbelief, how can you enter heaven? There is one healing medicine, and if you refuse to take it, what remains but death? There is one water of life, but you refuse to drink it then must you thirst forever. You put from you, voluntarily, the one and only Redeemer, how then shall you be ransomed? Shall Christ die again, and in another state be offered to you once more? O sirs, you would reject Him then, as you reject Him now. There remains no more sacrifice for sin. On the cross, God’s mercy to the sons of men was fully revealed, and will you reject God’s ultimatum of grace, His last appeal to you. If so, it is at your own peril. Christ being raised from the dead dies no more. He shall come again, but without a sin offering unto the salvation of His people. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

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

“The wrath of God!”

Sherry Attributes of God, promises, Sovereignty of God 2 Comments

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

“He shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” “The wrath of God!” No words can ever fully explain this expression. Holy Whitefield, when he was preaching, would often hold up his hands, and with tears streaming down his eyes, would exclaim, “Oh, the wrath to come! The wrath to come!” Then he would pause because his emotions checked his utterance.

The wrath of God! I confess I feel uneasy if anybody is angry with me, and yet one can bear the anger of foolish, hot-tempered persons with some equanimity. But the wrath of God is the anger of the One who is never angry without a cause; One who is very patient and long-suffering. It takes much to bring choler into JEHOVAH’s face yet is He wroth with unbelievers. He is never wroth with anything because it is feeble and little, but only because it is wrong. His anger is only His holiness set on fire. He cannot bear sin, who would wish that He should? What right-minded man would desire God to be pleased with evil? That were to make a devil of God. Because He is God, He must be angry with sin wherever it is.

This makes the sting of it, that His wrath is just and holy anger. It is the anger, remember, of an Omnipotent Being, who can crush us as easily as a moth. It is the anger of an Infinite Being, and therefore infinite anger, the heights and depths and breadths and lengths of which no man can measure. Only the incarnate God ever fully knew the power of God’s anger. It is beyond all conception, yet the anger rests on you, my hearer. Alas, for you, if you are an unbeliever, for this is your state before God. It is no fiction of mine, but the word of inspired truth, “The wrath of God abides on him.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

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

The Crime of Crimes

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

And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. – John 3:19

In many love of sin rather than any boasted self-righteousness keeps them from the Savior. They do not believe in Jesus, not because they have any doubt about the truths of Christianity, but because they have an enslaving love for their favorite sin.

“Why,” says one, “if I were to believe in Christ, of course, I must obey Him—to trust and to obey go together. Then I could not be the drunkard I am, I could not trade as I do, I could not practice secret licentiousness, I could not frequent the haunts of the ungodly, where laughter is occasioned by sin and mirth by blasphemy. I cannot give up these my darling sins.” Perhaps this sinner hopes that one day, when he cannot any longer enjoy his sin, he will meanly sneak out of it and try to cheat the devil of his soul. But meanwhile he prefers the pleasures of sin to obedience to God, and unbelief to acceptance of his salvation.

O sweet sin! O bitter sin! How are you murdering the souls of men! As certain serpents before they strike their prey fix their eyes upon it and fascinate it, and then at last devour it, so does sin fascinate the foolish sons of Adam. They are charmed with it and perish for it. It yields but a momentary joy, and the wage thereof is eternal misery, yet are men enamored of it. The ways of the strange woman and the paths of uncleanness lead most plainly to the chambers of death yet are men attracted thereto as moths to the blaze of the candle, and so are they destroyed…The preference of a lust to God is a greater insult still. To obey our passions rather than His will, and to prefer sin to His mercy, this is the crime of crimes. May God deliver us from it, for His mercy’s sake. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

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