The Father

For Christ’s Sake

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

And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. – Ephesians 4:32

“For Christ’s sake;” all the good things which God has bestowed upon us have come to us “for Christ’s sake,” but especially the forgiveness of our sins has come “for Christ’s sake.”…The great God can, as a just Lawgiver and King, readily pass by our offences because of the expiation for sin which Christ has offered. If sin were merely a personal affront toward God, we have abundant evidence that He would be ready enough to pass it by without exacting vengeance; but it is a great deal more than that. It would probably be the worst calamity that could happen-that any sin should go unpunished by the supreme Judge. Sometimes in a state, unless the lawgiver executes the law against the murderer, life will be in peril, and everything will become insecure, and therefore it becomes mercy to write the death-warrant: so is it with God in reference to this world of sinners…It is His very love as well as His holiness and His justice which, if I may use such a term, compels Him to severity of judgment, so that sin cannot and must not be blotted out till atonement has been presented. There must first of all be a sacrifice for sin, which, mark you, the great Father, to show His love, Himself supplies, for it is His own Son who is given to die, and so the Father Himself supplies the ransom through His Son- that Son being also one with Himself by bonds of essential unity, mysterious but most intense. If God demands the penalty in justice, He Himself supplies it in love. Tis a wondrous mystery, this mystery of the way of salvation by an atoning sacrifice; but this much is clear, that now God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven us, because satisfaction has been made to the injured honour of the divine government, and justice is satisfied. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1448.cfm

The Tenderest Spirit of Forgiveness

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

“Forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”- Ephesians 4:82

The heathen moralists, when they wished to teach virtue, could not point to the example of their gods, for, according to their mythologists, the gods were a compound of every imaginable, and, I had almost said, unimaginable vice. Many of the classic deities surpassed the worst of men in their crimes: they were as much greater in iniquity as they were supposed to be superior in power. It is an ill day for a people when their gods are worse than themselves. The blessed purity of our holy faith is conspicuous, not only in its precepts, but in the character of the God whom it reveals. There is no excellency which we can propose but we can see it brightly shining in the Lord our God: there is no line of conduct in which a believer should excel but we can point to Christ Jesus our Lord and Master as the pattern of it. In the highest places of the Christian faith you have the highest virtue, and unto God our Father and the Lord Jesus be the highest praise. We can urge you to the tenderest spirit of forgiveness by pointing to God who for Christ’s sake has forgiven you. What nobler motive can you require for forgiving one another? With such high examples, brethren, what manner of people ought we to be? We have sometimes heard of men who were better than their religion, but that is quite impossible with us: we can never, in spirit or in act, rise to the sublime elevation of our divine religion. We should constantly be rising above ourselves, and above the most gracious of our fellow Christians, and yet above us we shall still behold our God and Saviour. We may go from strength to strength in thoughts of goodness and duties of piety, but Jesus is higher still, and evermore we must be looking up to Him as we climb the sacred hill of grace. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1448.cfm

Our Vindicator Liveth

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

For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. – Job 19:25

It was the kinsman’s duty to defend the rights of his needy relative, so Job intended here to say, “I know that my Vindicator liveth;” and the Lord Jesus Christ is the Vindicator of His people from all false charges. It is not easy for Christians to live in this world without being slandered and misrepresented; certainly, those of us who live in the full blaze of public life can hardly utter a word without having it twisted, and tortured, and misconstrued. We are often represented as saying what we loathe even to think; yet we must not be surprised at that. The world loves lying, -it always has done so, and it always will. Even in private life you may meet with similar cruel treatment; there are some of God’s best children who lie under reproach by the year together. The very things which they would not tolerate for a moment are laid to their charge, and they are thought to be guilty of them, and even good people hold up their hands in pious horror at them, though they are perfectly innocent all the while. Well, beloved, ever remember that your Vindicator liveth. Do not be too much concerned to clear your own character; above all, do not attempt to vindicate yours in a court of law, but say to yourself, “I know that my Vindicator liveth.” When He cometh, “then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” His people may be under a cloud now; but, when He appeareth, the cloud shall break, and their true glory shall be seen. The greater the obloquy under which any of us have unjustly lived on earth, the greater will be the joy and the honor which will be vouchsafed to us in the day when Christ shall clear our character from all the shameful aspersions that have been brought against us. All will be cleared up in that day, so leave the accusations alone, knowing that your Vindicator liveth. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2909.cfm

The Only Acceptable Sacrifice

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

“Behold! The Lamb of God…” – John 1:29,36

How was the Lamb of God first seen in the world? It was the case of the lamb for one man, brought by one man for himself, and on his own behalf. You all know that I refer to Abel, who was a shepherd, and brought of the firstlings, of his flock, that is, a lamb, and he brought this lamb for himself, and on his own account, that he might be accepted by God, and that he might present to God an offering well-pleasing in His sight. Cain brought of the fruit of the ground as an offering to God. I think that there was a difference in the sacrifice, as well as in the man bringing it, for the Holy Ghost says little about the difference of the man, but He says, “By faith Abel offered unto to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain,” and he was accepted because he brought a more excellent sacrifice. The one sacrifice was bloodless, the fruit of the ground, the other was typical of Christ, the Lamb of God, and was therefore accepted: “and the Lord had respect unto Abel, and to his offering.”

Now, beloved, our first view of Christ usually is here, to know Him ourselves. I am a sinner, and I want to have communion with my God; how shall I obtain it? I am guilty, I am sinful; how shall I draw near to the holy God? Here is the answer. Take the Lord Jesus Christ to be yours by faith and bring Him to God; you must be accepted if you bring Christ with you. The Father never repelled the Son, nor one who was clothed with the Son’s righteousness, or who pleaded the Son’s merit. Come you, as Abel came, not with fruits of your own growing, but with the sacrifice of blood, with Christ the holy Victim, the spotless Lamb of God, and so coming, whoever you may be, you shall be acceptable before God by faith. Now, behold Him, each one of you for yourself! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2329.cfm

God’s Great Sacrifice

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

“Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; and looking upon Jesus as He walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God.”- John 1:35-36

The world was lost; God must punish sin; He sent His Son to take our sin upon Him that He might honor the law of God and establish God’s government by being obedient to the law, and yielding Himself up to the death-penalty. He whom Jehovah loves beyond all else came to earth, became a man, and, as a man, was obedient unto death of the cross. It is He who is called in our text “the Lamb of God,” the one Sacrifice for man’s sin. There is no putting away of sin without sacrifice; there is only one Sacrifice that can put away sin, and that is, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is divine, yet human; Son of God, yet son of Mary. He yielded up His life, “the Just for the unjust,” the Sinless for the sinful, “that He might bring us to God,” and reconcile us to the great Father. That is the story, and whosoever believeth in Him shall live. Any man, the world over, who will trust himself to Christ, God’s great Sacrifice, shall be saved, for this is our continual witness, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.” “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

I want to entreat men, who have looked elsewhere, now to turn their eyes away from the fruitless search after peace and life, and to come and “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” May the Spirit of God open their eyes, and incline their hearts, that they may look unto Him and live! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2329.cfm

The Intercession of Christ

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

…who also maketh intercession for us… – Romans 8:34

When Christ pleads, He does not plead with one who is stronger than Him or inimical to Him, but with His own Father. “My Father,” saith He “it is My delight to do Thy will and it is Thy delight to do My will; I will then that they, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am.” And then He adds this blessed argument, “Father those for whom I plead are Thine own children, and Thou lovest them as much as I do,” yea, “Thou hast loved them as Thou hast loved Me.” Oh, it is no hard task to plead, when you are pleading with a Father for a brother, and when the Advocate can say, “I go to My Father and to your Father, to My God and to your God.” Oh! I think I could indeed plead if I were pleading for myself. But, do you know, I have never felt that with regard to Christ. I can sit down and let Him plead, and I do not want to get up and conduct the pleading myself. I do feel that He loves me better than I love myself. My cause is quite safe in His hands, especially when I remember again that He pleads with my father, and that he is his own Father’s beloved Son, and that he is my brother-and such a brother-a brother born for adversity.

“Give Him, my soul, thy cause to plead,
Nor doubt the Father’s grace.”

It is enough; He has the cause, nor would we take it from His hand even if we could-

“I know that safe with Him remains,
Protected by His power-
What I’ve committed to His hands
Till the decisive hour.”

~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0256.cfm

The Full Price Brought to the Mercy Seat of Heaven

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

…who also maketh intercession for us. – Romans 8:34

Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them. – Hebrews 7:25

A quaint old divine says, that “When God in His justice rose from His throne to smite the Surety, He would make no concession whatever. The Surety paid the debt.” “Yet,” said the Judge, “I will not come down to earth to receive the payment; bring it to Me.” And, therefore, the Surety first groped through death to fight His way up to the eternal throne, and then mounting aloft by a glorious ascension, dragged His conquered foes behind Him, and scattering mercies with both His hands, like Roman conquerors who scattered gold and silver coins in their triumph, entered heaven. And He came before His Father’s throne and said, “There it is, the full price. I have brought it all.” God would not go down to the earth for payment; it must be brought to Him. This was pictured by the high priest of old. The high priest first took the blood, but that was not accepted. He did not bring the mercy-seat outside the veil, to carry the mercy-seat to the blood. No, the blood must be taken to the mercy-seat. God will not stoop when He is just; it must be brought to Him. So the high priest takes off his royal robes, and puts on the garments of the minor priest, and goes within the veil, and sprinkles the blood upon the mercy-seat. Even so did our Lord Jesus Christ. He took the payment and bore it to God; took His wounds, His rent body, His flowing blood, up to His Father’s very eyes, and there He spread His wounded hands and pleaded tor His people. Now here is a proof that the Christian cannot be condemned, because the blood is on the mercy-seat…it speaks in the very ears of God, and it must of a surety prevail. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0256.cfm