The Father

Our Lifework

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

If any man serve Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall also My servant be… – John 12:26

I do not believe that any Christian was created merely to keep a shop—he was created to serve God in his trading. Notwithstanding all man’s sin, a man is such a noble work of God that he cannot have been intended merely to measure off yards of silk, or to weigh pounds of sugar, or to sweep street crossings, or to put on crowns, robes and diamonds. There is something grander than that for man to do! The little birds are made to sing God’s praises and I, who am of more value than many sparrows, must be meant to sing God’s praises too! This is especially true concerning us who profess to have been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ and to have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit. Our life has an outlook towards the Infinite—there are windows in our life that look towards God. Look out of them, O Christian! With your windows open towards God, live in the light of His Countenance and seek in all things to please and honor Him! It is your lifework to honor God, to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, to be the instrument by which God shall illustrate His almighty power—the black foil from which He shall display the brightness of His Grace. You are to be the means of spreading abroad in this world the savor of Christ’s name—but you cannot do this unless you follow Christ.

I do not believe that all of you would be following Christ if you were to attempt to preach. Even Christ never attempted to do what His Father did not intend Him to do. A man once asked Him to officiate as a lawyer or a judge, but He replied, “Who made Me a judge or a divider over you?” One beauty of Christ’s life was that He kept to His calling and did not go beyond His commission. And you will be wise if you do the same…Every man has his own particular calling and every Christian’s calling should be especially for God…all are fitted for the work to which they are called by God. And to each one the Master says, “Follow Me and keep to the work which My Father has given you to do, even as I pleased not Myself by selecting My own work, but did that which My Father had appointed for Me.”

Following the Risen Christ by C. H. Spurgeon

Set Your Affection

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

Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. – Colossians 3:2

“Set your affection.” These words do not quite express the meaning, though they are as near it as any one clause could well come. We might render it thus—“Have a relish for things above” or, “Study industriously things above” or, “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” That which is proper enough for a dead man is quite unsuitable for a risen one! Objects of desire which might suit us when we were sinners are not legitimate nor worthy objects for us when we are made saints. As we are quickened, we must exercise life and, as we have ascended, we must love higher things than those of earth.

What are these “things above” which we should set our affection upon? I ask you, now, to lift your eyes above yonder clouds and this lower firmament to the residence of God. What do you see there? First, there is God Himself. Make Him the subject of your thoughts, your desires, your emotions, your love. “Delight yourself, also, in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” “My Soul, wait only upon God, for my expectation is from Him.” Call Him, “God my exceeding joy.” Let nothing come between you and your heavenly Father! What is all the world if you have not God and when you once have God, what matters it though all the world is gone? God is all things and when you can say, “God is mine,” you are richer than Croesus. O to say, “Whom have I in Heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside You”! O to love God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind and with all our strength—that is what the Law required—but it is what the Gospel enables us to render.

Following the Risen Christ by C. H. Spurgeon

Seek the Things That Are Above

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

If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. – Colossians 3:1

Let us be practical and in very deed seek the things that are above—seek them because we feel we need them. Seek them because we greatly prize them. Seek them because we hope to gain them; for a man will not heartily seek for that which he has no hope of obtaining. The things which are above, which we are even now to seek, are such as these—let us seek heavenly communion, for we are no more numbered with the congregation of the dead, but we have fellowship in Christ’s Resurrection and with all the risen ones. “Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ” and, “our conversation is in Heaven.” Let us seek to walk with the living God and to know the fellowship of the Spirit. Let us seek heavenly Graces, for “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above.” Let us seek more faith, more love, more patience, more zeal—let us labor after greater charity, greater brotherly kindness, greater humbleness of spirit.

Let us labor after likeness to Christ, that He may be the firstborn among many brethren. Seek to bear the image of the heavenly and to wear those jewels which adorn heavenly spirits. Seek also heavenly objectives. Aim at the Glory of God in everything. You have to labor and toil in this world for you are yet in the body—take care to use worldly things to God’s Glory. Exercise your privileges and fulfill your duties as before God, not minding the judgment of men. Wherein you mingle with the sons of men, take heed that you descend not to their level, nor act from their motives. You are not to seek your own selfish ends or the aggrandizement of a party, but to promote the general good and the interests of truth, righteousness, peace and purity. Sanctify everything by the love of God and your neighbor. Seek no party ends, but things which are pure and honest and of good report.

Following the Risen Christ by C. H. Spurgeon

Our Holy Service

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

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. – Matthew 5:16

When our Lord had left the tomb thus early, He spent a season on earth among His disciples, and we are to pass the time of our sojourning here on earth as His was passed—in holy service. Our Lord reckoned that He was on the move from earth as soon as He rose. If you remember, He said, “I ascend unto My Father and your Father.” He did not say, “I shall ascend,” as though He looked at it as a future event, but He said, “I ascend,” as if it were so quickly to be done that it was already doing. Forty days He stayed, for He had 40 days’ work to do—but He looked upon Himself as already going up into Heaven. He had done with the world. He had done with the grave and now He said, “I ascend to My Father and your Father.”

We also have our 40 days to tarry here—the period may be longer or shorter as the Providence of God ordains—but it will soon be over and the time of our departure will come. Let us spend our risen life on earth as Jesus spent His—in a greater seclusion from the world and in greater nearness to Heaven than ever. Our Lord occupied Himself much in testimony—manifesting Himself—as we have already seen, in many ways to His friends and followers. Let us also manifest the fruits of our risen life and bear testimony to the power of God! Let all men see that we are risen! So live that there can be no more doubt about your spiritual resurrection than there was about Christ’s literal Resurrection. Do not publish to the world your own virtues that you may be honored among them. “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven.”

Following the Risen Christ by C. H. Spurgeon

Faith that Saves the Soul

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Father, the unbelieving life

…even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. – Romans 4:17

But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible. – Matthew 19:26

(Regeneration) seems to me to be quite as great an act of faith as for Abraham to believe in the birth of a child by two parents who were both advanced in years. The case stands thus—here am I, dead by nature—dead in trespasses and sins. The deadness of Abraham and Sarah, according to nature, was not greater than the deadness of my soul to every good thing. Is it possible, then, that I should live unto God? That within this stony heart there should yet throb eternal life and Divine Love? That I should come to delight in God? Can it be that with such a depraved and deceitful heart as mine should yet rise to fellowship with the holy God and should call Him my Father and feel the spirit of adoption within my heart?

Can I, who now dread the Lord, yet come to rejoice in Him? “Oh,” says the poor troubled sinner, “can I, that have fought against the Throne of God. I that even tried to doubt His existence—can I ever come to be at perfect peace with Him so that He shall call me His friend and reveal His secrets to me and listen to my voice in prayer? Is it possible?” The faith which saves the soul believes in the possibility of regeneration and sanctification—no, more—it believes in Jesus and obtains for us power to become children of God and strength to conquer sin! This is believing God, indeed!

How Is Salvation Received? by C. H. Spurgeon

Ordained

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Father, The Holy Spirit

But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth… – 2 Thessalonians 2:13

Open your Bibles and turn to John 15:16, and there you will see that Jesus Christ has chosen His people, for He says, “Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My name, He may give it you.” Then in the 19th verse, “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” Then in the 17th chapter and the 8th and 9th verses, “For I have given unto them the words which Thou gavest Me; and they have received them and have known surely that I came out from Thee, and they have believed that Thou didst send Me. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou hast given Me; for they are Thine.” Turn to Acts 13:48: “And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord; and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.” They may try to split that passage into hairs if they like; but it says, “ordained to eternal life” in the original as plainly as it possibly can; and we do not care about all the different commentaries thereupon. You scarcely need to be reminded of Romans 8, because I trust you are all well acquainted with that chapter and understand it by this time. In the 29th and following verses, it says, “For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first-born among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?” It would also be unnecessary to repeat the whole of the 9th chapter of Romans. As long as that remains in the Bible, no man shall be able to prove Arminianism; so long as that is written there, not the most violent contortions of the passage will ever be able to exterminate the Doctrine of Election from the Scriptures.

Unconditional Election by C. H. Spurgeon

Make Ready, for He Comes

Sherry Attributes of God, promises, repentance, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Father, the unbelieving life

Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. – Job 1:21

It is not always proper for us to ask reasons for divine acts, for if He gives no account of His matters we ought not to ask any account. That frivolous affectation of piety which leads even professedly Christian men to call every affliction a judgment, and to consider that every patron who is suddenly taken away, dies as a judgment either upon him or others, I detest from my very soul…Those who talk thus know nought of their Bibles. They upon whom the tower of Siloam fell, dream ye that they were worse sinners than others? I am utterly sick of the cant of a portion of the religious world, when they raised a kind of miniature howl at me, when I said, and still repeat it, that an accident on a railway on the Sunday is not a judgment, but happens in the common course of Providence, and that we are not to look for an immediate reason close at hand for any of these events.

I hear a voice which says to me, “Preacher! be instant in season and out of season, be up and doing, earnest and fervent, for thy day is short, and thy time shall soon be over.” I hear a voice which says to you, officers of the Church, “Be diligent in business, fervent in spirit—serving the Lord; for soon shall the pallor of death overtake you, and He shall lay His chill hand upon your hoary heads and stretch you in the cold grave.” I hear a voice which speaks to the people of my charge—the members of this Christian Church—”Work while it is called today, for the night cometh wherein no man can work.” And I hear a solemn note, ringing as a funeral bell to you who are unconverted, and I translate its message thus—”Prepare to meet your God, ye careless ones, who are at ease, make ready, for He comes; ye thoughtless ones, who give yourselves no trouble about eternity, make ready, for He comes; drunkard, thou who art a lover of pleasure more than a lover of God, make ready for He comes; swearer, blasphemer, make ready, for He comes; He comes whom thou hast blasphemed; and each one of you, if ye be out of Christ, if your sins still lie upon you, if ye have never sought and found absolution from the lips of God your Father, seek it, seek it, for He comes. 

The Royal Death Bed by C. H. Spurgeon