The Father

This is Our Joy, that God Hath Spoken

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

God hath spoken in His holiness… – Psalm 108:7

“God hath spoken in His holiness;” and we ought to be thankful that we have not to serve a God who is dumb. He spake in the garden of Eden when our first parents sinned against Him. To the serpent He said, “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her Seed; He shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel.” It was a message of hope to the world when God spake that great promise concerning His Son. Since then, “at sundry times and in divers manners,” God hath spoken unto men by His servants, and “by His Son,” of which we have the record in this blessed Book; and, since it is a message of mercy and love to us, we ought at once to rejoice that “God hath spoken.” Sinner, you are pleading with God for mercy; and He might well refuse to answer you even a word; but “God hath spoken” already, and the answer to your petition is already recorded in His Word. If, when Adam sinned, He had turned away from our rebellious race, and said, “Henceforward, I will hold no communication with you until that day when, with fire and sword, I punish you for your many transgressions;” we should have had no cause for complaining against Him; certainly, we could not have impeached His justice, or found fault with His severity. But “God hath spoken;” He hath broken the silence which would have been death to us; and, blessed be His name, He hath divinely spoken to us by Him who is THE WORD OF GOD -by God’s great logos -the only voice by which He could fully speak out His whole soul so that men might be able to comprehend Him; and it is upon what God hath spoken unto us, by His Son, that we have to place our faith; so that, had He not spoken, we should not have had any foundation for our faith; but this is our joy, that “God hath spoken.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2864.cfm

Prayers Already Answered

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

…save with Thy right hand and answer me. – Psalm 108:6

There is an old promise, concerning God’s people, which says, “Before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.” This text is one of the instances in which the Lord has dealt with His saints upon the lines of that promise. David prays, “Save with Thy right hand, and answer me;” and while he is waiting for God to answer him, he remembers that God has already spoken. In effect, he says to himself, “I am waiting for an answer, but God has given it to me.” Very often, the response to a believer’s petition has been practically received before he presents his request, and he only needs that God should open his eyes for him to see that, before he called, God had answered his supplication. Indeed, brethren and sisters in Christ, in one sense, all your prayers, that is, your prayers that ought to be answered, are already answered; for, whatsoever there may be that you may rightly ask of God, you really have it, since, in giving us Christ, He has already given us all things. An important part of the duty of faith is to believe that you have what you ask in prayer, and then you shall have it. This is blessed philosophy; may we all learn it! Oftentimes, when we are crying to God, and waiting for an answer to our petition, if we did but look around us, and if we had more acute powers of observation-if our spiritual faculties were keener and quicker, we should perceive that we already have the very thing for which we are asking. Some of you have, perhaps, been saying, “Oh, that we were indeed the Lord’s people, who have their prayers answered even before they offer them!” Well, then, turn to the Book, and you will find that the Lord has there told you that you are His if, indeed, you are believing in His Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. God has given you, by that most sure word of testimony, the clearest possible evidence of your personal interest in Christ already. If you are asking for some further kind assuring word, to soothe your fears to rest, turn to the Bible, for there is in it the very word you need. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2864.cfm

Immovable Rest

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

…and ye shall find rest unto your souls. – Matthew 11:29

My dear brethren, if you find rest to your souls you will not be moved by the judgment of men. The children in the market-place were the type of our Lord’s generation, who railed both at John the Baptist and at our Lord. The generation which now is follows the same course, men are sure to cavil at our service. Never mind; take Christ’s yoke on you, live to serve Him; take Christ’s burden, make it a point to bear all things for His sake, and you will not be affected either by praise or censure, for you will find rest to your souls in surrendering yourself to the Father’s will. If you learn of Jesus you will have rest from the fear of men.

Next you will be delivered from fretfulness at want of success. “Then began He to upbraid the cities wherein most of His mighty works were done, because they repented not.” He had wrought His mighty works, and preached the gospel, and they did not repent. Was Jesus discouraged? Was He, as we sometimes are, ready to quit the work? No; His heart rested even then. If we come to Jesus, and take His yoke and burden, we too shall find rest, though Israel be not gathered.

Learning of Jesus we too shall rest in reference to divine decrees; we shall rejoice in whatever the Lord determines; predestination will not cast a gloom over us, but we shall thank God for all He ordains. What a blessed rest! As we open it up, does not its compass and depth surprise you? How sweet to lie passive in His hands, reconciled to every mystery, content with every dispensation, honored by every service satisfied in God! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0969.cfm

All Are Bidden to Come

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

“Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. – Matthew 11:28

The word “all” first demands attention: “All ye that labor.” There was need for the insertion of that wide word. Had not the Saviour said a little before, “I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to babes?” Someone who had been listening to the Saviour, might have said, “The Father, then, has determined to whom He will reveal the Christ; there is a number chosen, according to the Father’s good pleasure, to whom the gospel is revealed; while from another company it is hidden!” The too hasty inference, which it seems natural for man to draw from the doctrine is, “Then there is no invitation for me; there is no hope for me; I need not listen to the gospel’s warnings and invitations.” So the Saviour, as if to answer that discouraging notion, words His invitation thus, “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden.” Let it not be supposed that election excludes any of you from the invitation of mercy; all of you who labor, are bidden to come. Whatever the great doctrine of predestination may involve, rest assured that it by no means narrows or diminishes the extent of gospel invitations. The good news is to be preached to “every creature” under heaven, and in this particular passage it is addressed to all the laboring and heavy laden.

O you who feel your unworthiness, who have been seeking salvation earnestly, and suffering the weight of sin, Jesus will freely give to you what you cannot earn or purchase, He will give it as an act of His own free, rich, sovereign mercy; and He is prepared, if you come to Him, to give it to you now, for so has He promised, “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0969.cfm

God’s Love in Adversity

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

And the LORD was with Joseph… – Genesis 39:2, 21

And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him… – Acts 7:9

Joseph learned in his trial much that was good for present use. For instance, he found by sweet experience that the divine presence can cheer us anywhere. If he had always been at home with his father, always his fathers darling, he would have known that the love of God is sweet to a favored youth, but no one would have been astonished at that. Even Satan would have said, “Well may he rejoice in thee, O Lord. Hast thou not set a hedge about him and all that he hath?” But he learned that God could be with him when he was sold for the price of a slave: with him when led as a captive across the desert, when he walked wearily by the camel’s side with the Ishmaelites: with him in the slave mart to find him a master who might appreciate him; with him when he became a servant in the house, by blessing him, prospering him, and causing him to find favor in the eyes of his master till he became overseer of all that Potiphar had: and then, best of all, though some would say worst of all, he learned that God could be with him in a dungeon. He could not have known that if he had stayed at home, he must be brought into the thick darkness, that the brightness of the divine presence might be the more fully seen. There is nothing in this world so delightful as the light of God’s countenance when all around is dark. You may tell me that the presence of Jesus is glorious upon Tabor’s glorious mount, and I will not contradict you…but give me the soft subdued light of God’s love in adversity; Christ on the stormy waters for me: Christ in the midst of the furnace with His persecuted ones. Never does the Lord’s love taste so sweet as when all the world is wormwood and gall…It was worthwhile, I say, for Joseph to be falsely accused, and to be laid in irons, to learn experimentally the supporting power of the heavenly Father’s smile. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1277.cfm

When Severe Afflictions Arise

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

“The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” – Job 1:21

“This thing is from Me.” – 1 Kings 12:24

There are some afflictions which remind me of a term which I have seen in the charters of ships, -“the act of God.” Certain calamities at sea are called “the act of God.” So, there are certain events in life which may be very terrible and very sorrowful, but if they are the act of God, they come to us thus distinguished, “This is from God.” Will you not accept it from the Lord?” Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” Will we not say, with Job, “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord”? “This thing is from Me.” O thou who art His child, accept the chastisement from thy Father’s hand, and kiss the rod with which He smites thee!

If we will not bear the yoke that is laid upon us, and heed the gentle tugging of the rein, then the goad and the whip will be used upon us. Nothing involves us in so much sorrow as our refusal to submit to sorrow. If we will not take up the cross, the cross, mayhap, will take us up; and that is a far worse lot than the other. Endure, submit, acquiesce, it is the easiest way, after all; for if thou art a child of God, and thou rebellest against Him, thou wilt have to smart for it… Whenever, therefore, a thing is distinctly from the Lord, it is not to be resisted. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2476.cfm

Until Time is No More

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

For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell… – Colossians 1:19

While the expression “dwell” indicates perpetuity, does not it indicate constancy and accessibility? A man who dwells in a house is always to be found there, it is his home. The text seems to me to say that this fullness of grace is always to be found in Christ, ever abiding in Him. Knock at this door by prayer, and you shall find it at home. If a sinner anywhere is saying, “God be merciful to me!” mercy has not gone out on travel, it dwells in Christ both night and day; it is there now at this moment. There is life in a look at the crucified One, not at certain canonical hours, but at any hour, in any place, by any man who looks. “From the end of the earth will I cry unto Thee, when my heart is overwhelmed,” and my prayer shall not be rejected. There is fullness of mercy in Christ to be had at any time, at any season, from any place. It pleased the Father that all fullness should permanently abide in Him as in a house whose door is never shut.

Above all, we see here immutability. All fullness dwells in Christ-that is to say, it is never exhausted nor diminished. On the last day wherein this world shall stand before it is given up to be devoured with fervent heat, there shall be found as much fullness in Christ as in the hour when the first sinner looked unto Him and was lightened…Till time shall be no more He will exercise the same infinite power to forgive, to renew, to deliver, to sanctify, to perfectly save souls. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0978.cfm