Sovereignty of God

The Pledge of the First-fruits

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

(For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) – Ephesians 5:9

It is called “first-fruits,” because the first-fruits were always the pledge of the harvest. As soon as the Israelite had plucked the first handful of ripe ears, they were to him so many proofs that the harvest was already come. He looked forward with glad anticipation to the time when the wain should creak beneath the sheaves, and when the harvest home should be shouted at the door of the barn. So, brethren, when God gives us “Faith, hope, charity-these three,” when He gives us “whatsoever things are pure, lovely, and of good report,” as the work of the Holy Spirit, these are to us the prognostics of the coming glory. If you have the Spirit of God in your soul, you may rejoice over it as the pledge and token of the fulness of bliss and perfection “which God hath prepared for them that love Him.”

It is called “first-fruits,” again, because these were always holy to the Lord. The first ears of corn were offered to the Most High, and surely our new nature, with all its powers, must be regarded by us as a consecrated thing. The new life which God has given to us is not ours that we should ascribe its excellence to our own merit: the new nature is Christ’s peculiarly; as it is Christ’s image and Christ’s creation, so it is for Christ’s glory alone. That secret we must keep separate from all earthly things; that treasure which He has committed to us we must watch both night and day against those profane intruders who would defile the consecrated ground. We would stand upon our watch-tower and cry aloud to the Strong for strength, that the adversary may be repelled, that the sacred castle of our heart may be for the habitation of Jesus, and Jesus alone. We have a sacred secret which belongs to Jesus, as the first-fruits belong to Jehovah. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0788.cfm

A Heritage Divine

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

And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. Romans 8:23

We were once an undistinguished part of the creation, subject to the same curse as the rest of the world, “heirs of wrath, even as others.” But distinguishing grace has made a difference where no difference naturally was; we are now no longer treated as criminals condemned, but as children and heirs of God. We have received a divine life, by which we are made partakers of the divine nature, having “escaped the corruption which is in the world through lust.” The Spirit of God has come unto us so that our “bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost.” God dwelleth in us, and we are one with Christ. We have at this present moment in us certain priceless things which distinguish us as believers in Christ from all the rest of God’s creatures…Believing in Jesus, we speak confidently, we have unspeakable blessings given to us by the Father of spirits. Not we shall have, but we have. True, many things are yet in the future, but even at this present moment, we have obtained an inheritance; we have already in our possession a heritage divine which is the beginning of our eternal portion. This is called “the first-fruits of the Spirit,” by which I understand the first works of the Spirit in our souls. Brethren, we have repentance, that gem of the first water. We have faith, that priceless, precious jewel. We have hope, which sparkles, a hope most sure and steadfast. We have love, which sweetens all the rest. We have that work of the Spirit within our souls which always comes before admittance into glory. We are already made “new creatures in Christ Jesus,” by the effectual working of the mighty power of God the Holy Ghost. This is called the first-fruit because it comes first. As the wave-sheaf was the first of the harvest, so the spiritual life which we have, and all the graces which adorn that life, are the first gifts, the first operations of the Spirit of God in our souls. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0788.cfm

The Lord Reigneth

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

We know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.- Romans 8:22-23

Creation glows with a thousand beauties, even in its present fallen condition; yet clearly enough it is not as when it came from the Maker’s hand-the slime of the serpent is on it all-this is not the world which God pronounced to be “very good.” We hear of tornadoes, of earthquakes, of tempests, of volcanoes, of avalanches, and of the sea which devoureth its thousands: there is sorrow on the sea, and there is misery on the land; and into the highest palaces as well as the poorest cottages, death, the insatiable, is shooting his arrows, while his quiver is still full to bursting with future woes. It is a sad, sad world. The curse has fallen on it since the fall, and thorns and thistles it bringeth forth, not from its soil alone, but from all that comes of it. Earth wears upon her brow, like Cain of old, the brand of transgression. Sad would it be to our thoughts if it were always to be so. If there were no future to this world as well as to ourselves, we might be glad to escape from it, counting it to be nothing better than a huge penal colony, from which it would be a thousand mercies for both body and soul to be emancipated. At this present time, the groaning and travailing which are general throughout creation, are deeply felt among the sons of men.

May God in mercy put His hand to the helm of the ship and steer her safely. There is a general wail among nations and peoples. You can hear it in the streets of the city. The Lord reigneth, or we might lament right bitterly. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0788.cfm

The Master-Passion of the Heart

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

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. – Matthew 6:24

The idols of the heathen are all made to stand in the Pantheon face to face, and there is no quarrelling among them; but as soon as you introduce Christ there, they must all go down, or He will not stay. The principle of the toleration of every form of doctrine-I mean not, of course, civil toleration, which we hold to be always necessary and right, but I mean mental toleration,-the principle of the mental toleration of all forms of doctrine, and all forms and shades of action, is heathenish, for where Christ comes He comes to reign; and when once He enters the soul of a man, it is down, down, down with everything else.

There is a text which is often misunderstood. “No man can serve two masters.” I very much question whether he cannot; I believe he could serve, not only two, but twenty. That is not the meaning of the text; the true reading of it is, “No man can serve two masters.” They cannot both be masters; if two of them are equal, then neither of them is really master. It is not possible for the soul to be subject to two master-passions. If a man says, “I love Christ,” that is well; but if he says, “I love Christ, and I love money, and I love them both supremely,” that man is a liar, for the thing is not possible. There is only one that can be the master-passion; and where Jesus enters the soul, love to Him must be the master-passion of the heart. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2469.cfm

Go Forth

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

Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion… – Song of Songs 3:11

Get up from your beds of sloth; rise from your chambers of ease; go forth, go forth to pray, to labor, to suffer; go forth to live in purity, leaving Babylon behind; go forth to walk with Him alone, leaving even your kinsfolk and acquaintance if they will not follow with you. Wherefore tarriest thou at home when the King is abroad? “Behold the Bridegroom cometh, come ye forth to meet Him.” To-day let your eye rest upon Him. Let your eye behold the head that to-day is crowned with glory, wearing many crowns. Behold ye, too, His hands which once were pierced, but are now grasping the scepter. Look to His girdle where swing the keys of heaven, and death, and hell. Look to His feet, once pierced with iron, but now set upon the dragon’s head. Behold His legs, like fine brass, as if they glowed in a furnace. Look at His heart, that bosom which heaves with love to you, and when you have surveyed Him from head to foot exclaim, “Yea, He is the chief among ten thousand, and altogether lovely.” Does sin prevail? Have doubts and fears arisen? Behold King Jesus. Are you troubled, and does your enemy annoy you? Look up to Him. I pray you remember the light in which you are to behold Him. Do not think that Christ has lost His former power. Behold Him as He was at Pentecost…Oh! how glorious was our Lord when the Church crowned Him with her zeal, and the arrows went abroad, and three thousand fell slain by His right hand to be made alive by the breath of His mouth! Oh, how these early saints crowned Him, when they brought of their substance and laid it at the apostle’s feet, neither did any man count that ought he had was his own. They crowned Him with their heart’s purest love; the Church had on her brow her bridal-wreath, and her Husband wore His nuptial crown. Behold Him to-day as wearing that crown still, for He is the same Christ, and you go forth to meet Him, and labor for Him, and love Him as the first saints did. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0482.cfm

That Golden Sovereignty!

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

He made the pillars thereof of silver, the bottom thereof of gold, the covering of it of purple, the midst thereof being paved with love, for the daughters of Jerusalem. – Song of Songs 3:10

As for the bottom of this palanquin, which is of gold, -may not this represent the eternal purpose and counsel of God, that purpose which He formed in Himself or ever the earth was? Pure was the decree of God, holy, wise, just, for His own glory, and most true; and as the precious things of the temple were all of gold, well may the basis of eternal love, an immutable and unchangeable decree, be compared to much fine gold. I do not know, brethren, how it is with you, but I find it most pleasant to have as the basis of my hope, the firm decree of God. Atonement covers me, I know, but still on this I must rest, Jehovah wills it; God decrees it; He hath said it, and it must be done; He hath commanded and it standeth fast. Oh! that golden sovereignty, whereon is written-“I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy; it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth.” Dear brethren, the Apostle plainly tells us that this is the basis on which even the silver pillars rest, “for He hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus, according as He hath chosen us in Him from before the foundation of the world.”

Then, to make this all soft and pleasant to recline upon, here is pavement of needlework. Soft cushions of love on which to rest. There is a double meaning here, for both the Bride and Bridegroom find rest in love. Our Lord finds rest in the love of His people. “Here will I dwell for ever.” They do, as it were, make these carpets of needle-work in their love and affection for Him, and in their trust and confidence in Him; and here He rests. On the other hand, our Beloved spent His life to work for us our bed of rest, so that we must translate it “love of,” as well as love for the daughters of Jerusalem.” We rest in Christ’s love; He rests in our love. Come, I need not explain further, brothers and sisters. Take your rest now to the full. You are married unto Christ; you are one with Him; betrothed unto Him in faithfulness, embraced in the arms of His affection. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0482.cfm

The Pillars and the Covering

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

He made the pillars thereof of silver…the covering of it of purple… – Song of Songs 3:10

As for the silver pillars which bear up the canopy, to what should I liken them but to the attributes of God which support and guarantee the efficiency of the great atonement of Christ beneath which we are sheltered. There is the silver pillar of God’s justice. He cannot, He will not smite the soul that hides beneath the cross of Christ. If Christ hath paid the debt, how is it possible that God should visit again a second time the iniquity of His people, first on their Surety, and then again on themselves? Then stands the next, the solid pillar of His power. “They shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of My hand; My Father which gave them Me is greater than all, and none is able to pluck them out of My Father’s hand.” Then on the other side is the pillar of His love, a silver pillar indeed, bright and sparkling to the eye; love unchanging and eternal, strong as the power and fast as the justice which bear up the canopy on the other side. And here on this side stands immutability, another column upon which the atonement rests. If God could change, then might He cast away His blood-bought; but “because I am God and change not, therefore ye sons of Jacob rejoice.” As for the covering of the chariot, it is of purple. I need not tell you where it was dyed. No Tyrian hues are mingled here. Look up, Christian, and delight thyself in that blood-red canopy which shelters thee from the sun by day and from the moon by night! From hell and heaven, from time and from eternity, art thou secured by this covering which is of purple. Oh! tempting theme to dilate upon the precious and glorious doctrine of atonement! Whenever our adversaries assail the Church, whatever may be the apparent object of their animosity, their real one is always the same, a desperate hatred to the great truth that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. Well, as they hate it, let us love it; and under it let us take our greatest delight. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0482.cfm