The Father

All is Laid Up in Christ

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

For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. – Colossians 1:19, 20

“All fullness” is a wide, far-reaching, all-comprehending term, and in its abundant store it offers another source of delight. What joy these words give to us when we remember that our vast necessities demand a fullness, yea, “all fullness,” before they can be supplied! A little help will be of no use to us, for we are altogether without strength. A limited measure of mercy will only mock our misery. A low degree of grace will never be enough to bring us to heaven, defiled as we are with sin, beset with dangers, encompassed with infirmities, assailed by temptations, molested with afflictions, and all the while bearing about with us “the body of this death.” But “all fullness,” ay, that will suit us. Here is exactly what our desperate estate demands for its recovery. Had the Savior only put out His finger to help our exertions, or had He only stretched out His hand to perform a measure of salvation’s work, while He left us to complete it, our soul had forever dwelt in darkness. In these words, “all fullness,” we hear the echo of His death-cry, “It is finished.” We are to bring nothing, but to find all in Him, yea, the fullness of all in Him: we are simply to receive out of His fullness grace for grace. We are not asked to contribute, nor required to make up deficiencies, for there are none to make up-all, all is laid up in Christ. All that we shall want between this place and heaven, all we could need between the gates of hell, where we lay in our blood, to the gates of heaven, where we shall find welcome admission, is treasured up for us in the Lord Christ Jesus. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

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

All Fullness

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

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

“It pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell.” Two mighty words: “fullness”- a substantial, comprehensive, expressive word in itself, and “all”- a great little word including everything. When combined in the expression, “all fullness,” we have before us a superlative wealth of meaning.

Blessed be God for those two words. Our hearts rejoice to think that there is such a thing in the universe as “all fullness,” for in the most of mortal pursuits utter barrenness is found. “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” Blessed be the Lord forever that He has provided a fullness for us, for in us by nature there is all emptiness and utter vanity. “In me, that is, in my flesh, there dwelleth no good thing.” In us there is a lack of all merit, an absence of all power to procure any, and even an absence of will to procure it if we could. In these respects, human nature is a desert, empty, and void, and waste, inhabited only by the dragon of sin, and the bittern of sorrow. Sinner, saint, to you both alike these words, “all fullness,” sound like a holy hymn. The accents are sweet as those of the angel-messenger when he sang, “Behold, I bring you glad tidings of great joy.” Are they not stray notes from celestial sonnets? “All fullness.” You, sinner, are all emptiness and death, you, saint, would be so if it were not for the “all fullness” of Christ of which you have received; therefore, both to saint and sinner the words are full of hope. There is joy in these words to every soul conscious of its sad estate and humbled before God. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

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

When Christ Blesses Our Offerings

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

And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted. – John 6:11

Christ gave thanks for these trifles because He saw whereunto they would grow. Do you not think that, having thanked the Father, He also thanked the boy? And in after years these words of gratitude would be ample recompense for such a tiny deed. Like the woman who cast in the two mites to the treasury, he gave his all, and doubtless was commended for the gift. Though high in glory to-day, Christ is still grateful when such offerings are made to Him; still He thanks His Father when, with timid trembling hands, we offer to Him our best, our all, however small; still is His heart gladdened when we bring Him our scanty store that it may be touched by His dear hand and blessed by His gracious lips…He blesses our offerings, not for their worth, but because His power will yet make them worthy of His praise. May the Lord thus bless every talent that you have! May He bless your memory; may He bless your understanding; may He bless your voices; may He bless your hearts; may He bless your heads; may He bless you all and evermore! When He puts a blessing into the little gift and into the little grace that we have, good work begins, and goes on to perfection.

When the loaves had been blessed they were increased by Christ. Peter takes one, begins to break it, and as he breaks it, he has always as much in his hand as he started with. “Here, take a bit of fish, friend,” says he. He gives a whole fish to that man, he has a whole fish left. So he gives it to another, and another, and another, and goes on scattering the bread and scattering the fish everywhere, as quickly as he can; and when he has done, he has his hands just as full of fish and as full of bread as ever. If you serve God you will never run dry. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2216.cfm

There is Hope for Hopeless Souls

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

All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me; and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out. – John 6:37

“Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out”-for no reason, and in no way, and on no occasion, and under no pretense, and for no motive. “I will not not cast him out,” says the original. “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” You say it is too good to be true that there can be pardon for you: this is a foolish measuring of God’s corn with your bushel, and because it seems too good a thing for you to receive, you fancy it is too good for God to bestow. Let the greatness of the good news be one reason for believing that the news is true, for it is so like God. I think this good news should arouse those who have almost gone to sleep through despair. The sailors have been pumping the vessel, the leaks are gaining, she is going down, the captain is persuaded she must be a wreck. Depressed by such evil tidings, the men refuse to work; and since the boats are all stove in and they cannot make a raft, they sit down in despair. Presently the captain has better news for them. “She will float,” he says; “the wind is abating too, the pumps tell upon the water, the leak can be reached yet.” See how they work; with what cheery courage they toil on, because there is hope! Soul, there is hope! There is hope! THERE IS HOPE! To the harlot, to the thief, to the drunkard.

“There is no hope,” says Satan. Liar that thou art, get thee back to thy den; for thee there is no hope; but for fallen man, though he be in the mire of sin up to his very neck, though he be at the gates of death, while he lives there is hope. There is hope for hopeless souls in the Savior. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1000.cfm

The Most Obscure Saints Are Well Cared For

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, The Father 2 Comments

How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare. – Luke 15:17

If we could call forth from his seat a weak believer in God, who is almost unknown in the church, one who sometimes questions whether he is indeed a child of God, and would be willing to be a hired servant so long as he might belong to God, and if I were to ask him, “How, after all, has the Lord dealt with you?” what would be his reply? You have many afflictions, doubts and fears, but have you any complaints against your Lord? When you have waited upon Him for daily grace, has He denied you? When you have been full of troubles, has He refused you comfort? When you have been plunged in distress, has He declined to deliver you? The Lord Himself asks, “Have I been a wilderness unto Israel?” Testify against the Lord, ye His people, if ye have aught against Him. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, whosoever there be in God’s service who has found Him a hard task-master, let him speak. Amongst the angels before Jehovah’s throne, and amongst men redeemed on earth, if there be any one that can say He hath been dealt with unjustly or treated with ungenerous churlishness, let him lift up his voice! But there is not one. Even the devil himself when he spoke of God and of his servant Job, said, “Doth Job serve God for nought?” Of course he did not: God will not let His servants serve Him for nought; He will pay them superabundant wages, and they shall all bear witness that at His table there is “bread enough and to spare.” Now, if these still enjoy the bread of the Father’s house, these who were once great sinners, these who are now only very commonplace saints, surely, sinner, it should encourage you to say, “I will arise and go to my Father,” for His hired servants “have bread enough and to spare.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1000.cfm

Made Fit for Heaven by the Holy Spirit

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, promises, salvation, The Father, The Holy Spirit 3 Comments

The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life. – Job 33:4

Sinner, thou needest a new life and thou needest holiness, for both of these are necessary to make thee fit for heaven. Is there a provision for this? The Holy Spirit is provided and given in the covenant of grace; and surely in Him there is enough and to spare. What cannot the Holy Spirit do? Being divine, nothing can be beyond His power. Look at what He has already done. He moved upon the face of chaos and brought it into order (Genesis 1:2); all the beauty of creation arose beneath His moulding breath. We ourselves must confess with Elihu, “The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.” Think of the great deeds of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, when men unlearned spake with tongues of which they knew not a syllable aforetime, and the (tongues like as) flames of fire upon them were also within them, so that their hearts burned with zeal and courage to which they hitherto had been strangers. Think of the Holy Spirit’s work on such a one as Saul of Tarsus. That persecutor foams blood, he is a very wolf, he would devour the saints of God at Damascus and yet, within a few moments, you hear him say, “Who art Thou, Lord?” and yet again, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” His heart is changed; the Spirit of God has newly created it; the adamant is melted in a moment into wax. Many of us stand before you as the living monuments of what the Holy Ghost can do, and we can assure you from our own experience, that there is no inward evil which He cannot overcome, no lustful desire of the flesh which He cannot subdue, no obduracy of the affections which He cannot melt. Is anything too hard for the Lord? Is the Spirit of the Lord straitened? Surely no sinner can be beyond the possibilities of mercy when the Holy Spirit condescends to be the agent of human conversion. O sinner, if thou perish, it is not because the Holy Spirit lacks power, or the blood of Jesus lacks efficacy, or the Father fails in love; it is because thou believest not in Christ, but dost abide in wilful rebellion, refusing the abundant bread of life which is placed before thee. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1000.cfm

Bread Enough and to Spare

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

And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! – Luke 15:17

Ah! the master proof that in Christ Jesus there is “bread enough and to spare,” is the cross. Will you follow me a moment, will you follow Him, rather, to Gethsemane? Can you see the bloody sweat as it falls upon the ground in His agony? Can you think of His scourging before Herod and Pilate? Can you trace Him along the Via Dolorosa of Jerusalem? Will your tender hearts endure to see Him nailed to the tree, and lifted up to bleed and die? This is but the shell; as for the inward kernel of His sufferings no language can describe it, neither can conception peer into it. The everlasting God laid sin on Christ, and where the sin was laid there fell the wrath. “It pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief.” Now He that died upon the cross was God’s only begotten Son. Can you conceive a limit to the merit of such a Savior’s death? I know there are some who think it necessary to their system of theology to limit the merit of the blood of Jesus: if my system of theology needed such a limitation, I would cast it to the winds. I cannot, dare not, allow the thought to find a lodging in my mind; it seems so near akin to blasphemy. In Christ’s finished work I see an ocean of merit; my plummet finds no bottom, my eye discovers no shore. There must be sufficient efficacy in the blood of Christ, if God had so willed it, to have saved not only all this world, but ten thousand worlds, had they transgressed the Maker’s law. Once admit infinity into the matter, and limit is out of the question. Having a divine person for an offering, it is not consistent to conceive of limited value; bound and measure are terms inapplicable to the divine sacrifice. The intent of the divine purpose fixes the application of the infinite offering but does not change it into a finite work. In the atonement of Christ Jesus there is “bread enough and to spare;” even as Paul wrote to Timothy, “He is the Savior of all men, specially of those that believe.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1000.cfm