The Father

The Church Must Bring Forth Children

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

As Thou hast sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.- John 17:18

When a church is not serving God, mischief is brewing withing herself. While she is not bringing others in, her own heart is becoming weak in its pulsations, and her entire constitution is a prey to decline. The church must either bring forth children unto God, or else die of consumption: she has no alternative but that. A church must either be fruitful or rot, and of all things, a rotting church is the most offensive. Would God we could bury our dead churches out of our sight, as Abraham buried Sarah, for above ground they breed a pestilence of scepticism; for men say, “Is this religion?” and taking it to be so, they forego true religion altogether.

And then, worst of all is, God is not glorified. If there be no yearning of heart in the church, and no conversions, where is the travail of the Redeemer’s soul? Where, Immanuel, where are the trophies of Thy terrible conflict? Where are the jewels for Thy crown? Thou shalt have Thine own, Thy Father’s will shall not be frustrated; Thou shalt be adored; but as yet we see it not. Hard are men’s hearts, and they will not love Thee; unyielding are their wills, and they will not own Thy sovereignty. Oh! weep because Jesus is not honored. The foul oath still curdles our blood as we hear it, and blasphemy usurps the place of grateful song. Oh! by the wounds and bloody sweat, by the cross and nails, and spear, I beseech you followers of Christ, be in earnest, that Jesus Christ’s name may be known and loved through the earnest agonizing endeavors of the Christian church. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1009.cfm

A Gift of Free Grace

Sherry Christian Life, confession of sin, promises, repentance, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Father 1 Comment

And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. – Acts 16:31

The readiness of God to pardon is to be seen in the fact that He makes no hard conditions with sinners. He does not say, “I will pardon if you suffer this or endure that penance; I will pardon if you perform this act of heroism or that deed of consecration.” No, He himself says, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” Receive what is freely given-that is the gospel precept, and nothing else. Only confess thy transgressions, or, in other words, own thine emptiness, and then trust thy Savior, and thou art saved.

That He is ready to forgive appears in this yet more glorious fact, that what God demands of man by the gospel He also works in him by His spirit; as for confession of sin He puts the words into the sinner’s mouth, repentance He works in the sinner’s heart, and saving faith His own Spirit creates in the sinner’s soul. Is He not ready to forgive when even what might be called the condition of pardon in one light is under another aspect a gift of free grace?

The sinner’s plea on his lip is, “for Jesus’ sake,” the sinner’s hope in his heart is “for Christ’s sake,”-and it is this that the Father looks at; when He sees that the poor trembling soul has embraced Jesus, His own dear Son, the Father puts the sin away at once without a word, and says, “Be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee, go in peace.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1272.cfm

At His Own Cost

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

For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. – Romans 5:6

For the good of all His creatures, as well as for the glory of His own character, God must not allow sin to go unpunished. The judge may be willing enough to pardon the culprit, but he is a judge, and as such he must condemn the guilty. The readiness of God to pardon was seen in this that at His own cost He provided a way by which His mercy might be consistent with justice. From His own bosom He took His only begotten Son, His own self, for He was one with Him, and God, in the person of His Son, suffered that which has honored justice, vindicated the law, and enabled God to be just and yet the justifier of the ungodly. Oh, as I see the adorable Father giving up His Well-beloved, to bleed and die for men, I know beyond all question that He is a God ready to pardon.

And now, the atonement being made, and justice being unable any longer to offer any protest to boundless mercy, God stands ready to pardon. By the blood of His dear Son He is able to blot out offenses, through the sweet savor of the sacrifice of Jesus He smiles on guilty men. He delights now to blot into oblivion the transgressions of all them that seek His face. “Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.” “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Jesus Christ’s salvation is like the good Samaritan, it comes where the wounded man is, and pours its oil and wine into his bleeding wounds. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1272.cfm

Here It Is Ye Learn Love

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

“He laid down His life for us” – 1 John 3:16

Pause at the remembrance of thy convictions; think of thy conversion; recollect thy preservation, and how God’s grace hath been working upon thee, in adoption, in justification, and in every item of the new covenant; and when thou hast summed up all these things, let me ask thee this question: Do all these things produce in thee such a sense of gratitude as the one thing that I shall mention now, the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ? For, my brother, if thy mind is like mine, although thou wilt think highly enough of all these things that God hath given thee, thou wilt be obliged to confess that the thought of the death of Christ upon the cross swallows them all up. This I know, my brethren, I may look back, I may look forward, but whether I look back to the decrees of eternity, or look forward to the pearl-gated city, and all the splendours that God has prepared for His own beloved children, I can never see my Father’s love so beaming forth, in all its effulgence, as when I look at the cross of Christ, and see Him die thereon. I can read the love of God in the rocky letters of the eternal covenant, and in the blazing letters of heaven hereafter; but, my brethren, in those crimson lines, those lines written in blood, there is something more striking than there is anywhere else, for they say, “He laid down His life for us” Ah, here it is ye learn love. You know the old story of Damon and Pythias, how the two friends struggled together as to which should die for the other; there was love there. But, ah! there is no comparison between Damon and Pythias, and a poor sinner and his Saviour. Christ laid down His life, His glorious life, for a poor worm; He stripped Himself of all His splendours, then of all His happiness, then of His own righteousness, then of His own robes, till He was naked to His own shame; and then He laid down His life, that was all He had left, for our Saviour had not kept anything back.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2656.cfm

How Great is His Love

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

Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God…because He laid down His life for us – 1 John 3:1, 16

Did the Saviour lay down His life for me? We will read it now, “He laid down His life for me;” and I pray the Lord to help each of you, by faith, to read it so, because, when we say “us”, that is dealing in generalities- blessed generalities it is true -but let us, at this time, deal in specialities, and say, each one of us who can do so truthfully, “He laid down His life for me.” Then, HOW GREATLY HE MUST HAVE LOVED ME!

Ah, Lord Jesus! I never knew Thy love till I understood the meaning of Thy death. Beloved, we shall try again, if we can, to tell the story of our own experience, to let you see how God’s love is to be learned. Come, saint, sit down, and meditate on thy creation, note how marvellously thou hast been formed, and all thy bones fitted to one another, and see love there. Mark, next, that predestination which placed thee where thou art; for the lines have fallen unto thee in pleasant places, and, notwithstanding all thy troubles, thou hast, compared with many a poor soul, “a goodly heritage.” Mark, then, the love of God displayed in the predestination that has made thee what thou art, and placed thee where thou art. Then look thou back, and see the lovingkindness of thy Lord, as displayed to thee in all thy journey up till now. Thou art getting old, and thy hair is whitening above thy brow; but He hath carried thee all the days of old; not one good thing hath failed of all that the Lord thy God hath promised. Recall thy life-story. Go back now, and look at the tapestry of thy life, which God has been working every day with the golden filament of His love, and see what pictures of grace there are upon it. Canst thou not say that Jesus has loved thee? Turn thine eye back, and read the ancient rolls of the everlasting covenant, and see thy name amongst the firstborn, the elect, the Church of the living God. Say, did He not love thee when He wrote thy name there? Go and remember how the eternal settlements were made, and how God decreed and arranged all things so that thy salvation should come to pass. Say, was there not love there?~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2656.cfm

Our Daily Exercise

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

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

The outcome of our union with Christ must be holiness. “What concord hath Christ with Belial?” What union can He have with men that love sin? How can they that are of the world, who love the world, be said to be members of the Head who is in heaven, in the perfection of His glory? Brothers, we must, and especially in the power of our union to Christ, seek to make daily advances in good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them; for walking means not only persevering but advancing. We should go from strength to strength in holiness: we should do more, and do better.

This should be our daily exercise: “That we should walk in them.” Good works are not to be an amusement, but a vocation. We are not to indulge in them occasionally: they are to be the tenor and bent of our lives. “Oh,” says one, “that is a hard saying:” Do you say so? You see how impossible it is that you should be saved by these good works; do you not? But if you are saved, if you have obtained a present salvation, if you are now a child of God, if you are now assured of your safety, I charge you, by the love you bear to God, by the gratitude you have to His Christ, give yourself wholly to everything that is right, and good, and pure, and just. Help everything that has to do with temperance, and righteousness, and truth, and godliness; and “let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2210.cfm

In Union with Christ

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

I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing. John 15:5

We are the branches; He is the Vine out of which we grow. Your life, and all your fruit-producing power lie in your union to Christ. You are not merely new-created, but you are created in Christ Jesus. It is not merely a change from a lower nature to a higher, but from separation from Christ to union with Him. What a wonderful thing that is-that you and I should not only be creatures in the world, but new creatures in Christ Jesus! Creatures we were in the first Adam; but our new-creatureship is in the second Adam. Beloved, if you are what you profess to be, you are one with Jesus by that vital union which cannot be dissolved; and good works follow upon that union. Joined to Jesus by faith in Him, love to Him, and imitation of Him, you walk in good works. Your creation to holiness is your creation in Christ Jesus. As you become one with the anointed Savior, His anointing ordains you to service, and His salvation leads you into obedience. There cannot but be fruit on that branch which is vitally joined to that fruitful stem, Christ Jesus, who did always those things which pleased the Father.

Our good works must flow from our union with Christ by virtue of our faith in Him. We depend upon Him to make us holy. We depend upon Him to keep us holy. We overcome sin by the blood of the Lamb. We reach after holiness by the constraining love of Jesus. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2210.cfm