Sovereignty of God

What Does This Counsel Mean?

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

“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. – James 4:6,7

“Submit yourselves unto God.” He is your God, your Father, your friend- yield yourselves to Him. What does this counsel mean? It means exercise humility. We do well to interpret a text by its connection: now the connection here is “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble,” and therefore the submission here meant must include humility, even if it be not the chief thing intended. Brothers and sisters, let us take our right place before God. And what is that? Is it the highest seat in the synagogue? Is it the place of those who thank God that they are not as other men are? I scarcely need reply, you who are the children of God will not dream of occupying such a position. If by reason of temporary foolishness you ever boast, I am sure my dear friends, when you think over it in the watches of the night you are very much ashamed of yourselves and would be glad to eat your own words. A pardoned sinner boasting! A debtor to sovereign grace extolling himself! It is horrible. Nothing can be more out of place than boasting upon the lips of a child of God…Is it not one of the fundamental truths of our faith that we are saved by grace? And what says the apostle? “Where is boasting then? It is excluded.” The word “excluded” means shut out. Boasting comes to the door, it knocks, it pleads for admission, but it is excluded. Possibly through our unwatchfulness it gains a momentary entrance, but as soon as ever the grace of God within us ascertains that the intruder is within our gates it ejects him, shuts the door in his face, and bars him out, and in answer to the question “Where is boasting then?” free grace replies, “It is excluded, by the law of grace.” If all the good we have has been given to us freely by divine favor, in what can we glory? ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1276.cfm

Who Can Stand Against Thy Love?

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

But He gives more grace; therefore, it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. – James 4:6,7

“Submit yourselves unto God” is a precept which to thoughtful men is a plain dictate of reason, and it needs few arguments to support it. Yet because of our foolishness the text enforces it by a “Therefore,” which “Therefore” is to be found in the previous verse, -“He resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God.” His wrath and His mercy both argue for submission. We are both driven and drawn to it. The Romans were wont to say of their empire that its motto was to spare the vanquished, but to war continually against the proud. This saying aptly sets forth the procedure of the Most High. He aims all His arrows at the lofty and turns the edge of His sword against the stubborn; but the moment He sees signs of submission His pity comes to the front, and through the merits of His Son His abounding mercy forgives the fault. Is not this an excellent reason for submission? Who can refuse to be vanquished by love? Who will not say as our hymn puts it-

“Lord, Thou hast won, at length I yield;
My heart, by mighty grace compell’d,
Surrenders all to Thee;
Against Thy terrors long I strove,
But who can stand against Thy love?
Love conquers even me.”

If resistance will only call forth the omnipotent wrath of God, but true submission will lead to the obtaining of His plenteous grace, who will continue in arms? ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1276.cfm

It Is a Delight to Submit to God

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

“Submit yourselves therefore to God.”-James 4:7.

“Submit yourselves unto God”-is it not right upon the very face of it? Is it not wise? Does not conscience tell us that we ought to submit? Does not reason bear witness that it must be best to do so? “Submit yourselves unto God.” Should not the creature be submissive to the Creator, to whom it owes its existence, without whom it had never been, and without whose continuous good pleasure it would at once cease to be? Our Creator is infinitely good, and His will is love: to submit to One who is “too wise to err, too good to be unkind,” should not be hard. If He were a tyrant, it might be courageous to resist, but since He is a Father, it is ungrateful to rebel. He cannot do anything which is not perfectly just, nor will He do aught which is inconsistent with the best interests of our race; therefore, to resist Him is to contend against one’s own advantage, and, like the untamed bullock, to kick against the pricks to our own hurt. “Submit yourselves unto God”-it is what angels do, what kings and prophets have done, what the best of men delight in- there is therefore no dishonor nor sorrow in so doing. All nature is submissive to His laws; suns and stars yield to His behests, we shall but be in harmony with the universe in willingly bowing to His sway. “Submit yourselves unto God”-you must do it whether you are willing to do so or not. Who can stand out against the Almighty? ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1276.cfm

He Rises Above All

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

And it came to pass, while He blessed them, He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. – Luke 24:51

Our Lord’s ascension was a triumph over the world. He had passed through it unscathed by its temptations; He had been solicited on all hands to sin, but His garments were without spot or blemish. There was no temptation which had not been tried upon Him, the quivers of the earth had been emptied against Him, but the arrows had glanced harmlessly from His armor of proof. They had persecuted Him relentlessly; He had been made to suffer all that cruel scorn could invent, but He came forth from the furnace with not the smell of fire upon Him. He had endured death itself with love unquenched and courage invincible. He had conquered by enduring all. As He rose, He was infinitely beyond their reach; though they hated Him no less than before, He had been forty days amongst them, and yet no hand was outstretched to arrest Him. He had shown Himself openly in divers places, and yet not a dog dare move his tongue. In the clear air, from far above the hills of Jerusalem, He who was once tempted in the desert, looked down upon the kingdoms of the earth, which had been shown Him by Satan as the price of sin, and reserved them all as His own by right of merit. He rises above all, for He is superior to all. As the world could not injure His character by its temptations, so no longer could it touch His person by its malice. He has defeated altogether this present evil world.

There, too, He led captive sin. Evil had assailed Him furiously, but it could not defile Him. Sin had been laid upon Him, the weight of human guilt was borne upon His shoulders, it crushed Him down, but He rose from the dead, He ascended into heaven, and proved that He had shaken off the load, and left it buried in His sepulcher. He has abolished the sins of His people; His atonement has been so efficacious that no sin is upon Him, the Surety, and certainly none remains upon those for whom He stood as substitute. Though once the Redeemer stood in the place of the condemned, He has so suffered the penalty that He is justified now, and His atoning work is finished for ever. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0982.cfm

Who is this King of Glory?

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

…Who is this King of glory? – Psalm 24:7-10

Call to your minds how the Psalmist in vision saw the Savior’s ascension, and, in the twenty-fourth Psalm, represented the angels as saying: “Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.” The scene is described in rich poetic imagery of the most sublime kind, and it evidently teaches us that when our Savior left the sight of mortals, He was joined by bands of spirits, who welcomed Him with acclamations and attended Him in solemn state as He entered the metropolis of the universe. The illustration which has usually been given is, I think, so good that we cannot better it. When generals and kings returned from war, in the old Roman ages, they were accustomed to celebrate a triumph; they rode in state through the streets of the capital, trophies of their wars were carried with them, the inhabitants crowded to the windows, filled the streets, thronged the house-tops, and showered down acclamations and garlands of flowers upon the conquering hero as he rode along. Without being grossly literal, we may conceive some such a scene as that attending our Lord’s return to the celestial seats. The sixty-eighth Psalm is to the same effect: “The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place. Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captivity captive: Thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them.” So also in Psalm forty-seven: “God is gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.” Angels and glorified spirits saluted our returning champion; and, leading captivity captive, He assumed the mediatorial throne amidst universal acclamations. “having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly triumphing over them in it.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0982.cfm

Like Our Lord

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

Wherefore He saith, When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. – Ephesians 4:8

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. – Hebrews 12:2

As we consider Christ ascended, our hearts burn within us at the thought that He is the type of all His people. As He was, so are we also in this world; and as He is, so shall we also be. To us also there remain both a resurrection and an ascension. Unless the Lord come very speedily, we shall die as He did, and the sepulcher shall receive our bodies for a while; there is for us a tomb in a garden, or a rest in the Machpelah of our fathers. For us there are winding-sheets and grave clothes; yet like our Lord we shall burst the bonds of death, for we cannot be holden of them. There is a resurrection morning for us, because there was a rising again for Him. Death could as soon have held the head as the members; the prison doors once taken away, post and bar and all, the captives are set free. Then when we have risen from the dead at the blast of the trumpet, we shall ascend also, for is it not written that we shall be caught up together with the Lord in the air, and so shall be for ever with the Lord? Have courage, brother; that glittering road up to the highest heavens, which Christ has trodden, you too must tread; the triumph which He enjoyed shall be yours in your measure. You, too, shall lead your captivity captive, and amidst the acclamations of angels you shall receive the “well done” of the ever-blessed Father, and shall sit with Jesus on His throne, even as He has overcome and sits with the Father upon His throne. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0982.cfm

Our Prayer Advocate

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

Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God…let us come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. – Hebrews 4:14,16

If Jesus has gone into the glory, how successful must our prayers be. You send a petition to court, and you hope for its success, for it is drawn up in proper style, and it has been countersigned by an influential person; but when the person who has backed your plea for you is himself at court, to take the petition and present it there, you feel safer still. To-day our prayers do not only receive our Savior’s imprimatur, but they are presented by His own hand, as His own requests. No prayer which Jesus urges can ever be dismissed unheard for that case is safe for which He is advocate.

“Look up, my soul, with cheerful eye
See where the great Redeemer stands;
The glorious Advocate on high,
With precious incense in His hands.

He sweetens every humble groan,
He recommends each broken prayer;
Recline thy hope on Him alone,
Whose power and love forbid despair.”

~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0982.cfm