The Father

The New Song of the Christian

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prayer, promises, The Father 3 Comments

Praise ye the LORD. Sing unto the LORD a new song, and His praise in the congregation of saints. – Psalm 149:1

Solid joys and lasting pleasures make up the new song of the Christian. New mercies make the song always new. There is a freshness in it of which we never weary. Some of you have heard the gospel now for fifty years: has it got flat to you? The name of Jesus Christ was known to you as the most precious of all sounds fifty or sixty years ago: has it become stale now? Those of us who have known and loved Him twenty years can only say, “The more we know Him the more sweet He is, and the more we enjoy His gospel the more resolved we are to keep to the old-fashioned gospel as long as ever we live.” We could, indeed, sing a new song, though we have sung the self-same praises these twenty years. All the saints’ praises have this about them-that they are all harmonious. I do not say that their voices are. Here and there, there is a brother who sings very earnestly through his nose, and very often puts out the rest that are round about him; but it does not matter about the sound of the voice to the ear of man: it is the sound of the heart to the ear of God. If you were in a forest, and there were fifty sorts of birds, and they were all singing at once, you would not notice any discord. The little songsters seem to pitch their songs in keys very different from each other, but yet, somehow or other, all are in harmony. Now the saints, when they pray-it is very strange-they all pray in harmony. So also when they praise God. I have frequently attended prayer-meetings where there were brethren of all sorts of Christian denominations, and I would have defied the angel Gabriel to have told what they were when they were on their knees. So is it with praise. I may say, “The saints in praise appear as one:-

“In word, and deed, and mind,
While with the Father and the Son,
Sweet fellowship they find.”

~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3476.cfm

He is Altogether Lovely

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, The Father 9 Comments

His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely.  – Song of Solomon

There is no exaggeration in the language of the spouse when she says, “Yea, he is altogether lovely.” Such as receive Jesus with their hearts will find that the most rapturous expressions that saints have ever used do not exceed, but fall infinitely short of the delight, the heavenly joys, which He brings into the soul. If one might choose a heaven upon earth, it would be to rest for ever in quiet meditation upon the beauties of His person, the perfection of His character, the power of His blood, the prevalence of His plea, the glory of His resurrection, the majesty of His Second Advent. Everything about Christ is delightful. There is not a truth He ever teaches but is fragrant with choice perfume. There is not a word He utters but smelleth of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces from which He came.

If you have not received Christ, my dear hearer, you have missed the brightest feature of divine revelation…you do not know what life is; you are dead to all its charms; you do not know what light is; you have only dwelt in the shade, or in the twilight at the best, if you have not beheld the Saviour, entertained Him, and tasted that He is gracious. You have missed the cream. You have been stopping outside in the farmyard feeding with the swine. You do not know what the fatted calf is, upon which the children feed at the Father’s table. You have been a dog, satisfied with the bones, not knowing the fatness and the marrow of true life. But the Christian, dear friends, finds Christ to be so inconceivably precious, such a fountain of delight, such a river of mercy, that when he receives Him, he receives Him joyfully, and the longer he knows Him the more joyful he is to think that He ever received him at all. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3487.cfm

He Maketh His Saved Ones Rich

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

For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. – John 3:17

When He came, He came with such wondrous blessings-pardon and peace, justification and acceptance, sanctification and honour, wisdom and righteousness-all these; and now He proclaims Himself to be our protector; His paths drop fatness; He maketh rich and addeth no sorrow; such as find Him find in Him such wealth of goodness-deep, mysterious, unknown-as far exceeds all earthly pleasure, all worldly fortune. Surely on the lowest ground we might afford Him the loftiest welcome. Even churlish Laban received Eliezer with courtesy when he saw the presents he brought-the bracelets, and the earrings, and the jewels, and should not we receive Jesus when we mark those costly gifts in His hand, the purchase of His own blood, which He freely gives to those who receive Him?

And shall we not receive Him joyfully because He comes in such a blessed spirit? He upbraideth not. He was all gentleness, meekness, grace, when here below; though of divine pedigree, the Only-begotten of the Father full of grace and truth. Should we not then receive Him with sound of the trumpet, with the psalter and harp, yea, and with joy of heart unspeakable? Let me add that the better we know Him the more joyfully we should receive Him for His own sake. Oh! I could stand here and weep to think that I do not speak better of my Lord and Master. Truly I know more of His grace and goodness than I should ever be able to tell. I trust you can say the same. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3487.cfm

Our New Nature

Sherry Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Father, The Holy Spirit 5 Comments

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation. – Galatians 6:15

I love Thee, O my Saviour, because on the cross Thou didst bear shame, and spitting, and manifold disgrace for me. New principles stir the new nature which God has given. And this new nature is conscious of new emotions. It loves what once it hated; it hates what once it loved. It finds blight where once it sought for bliss, and finds bliss where once it found nothing but bitterness. It leaps at the sound which was once dull to its ears-the name of a precious Christ. It rejoices in hopes which once seemed idle as dreams. It is filled with a divine enthusiasm which it once rejected as fanatical. It is conscious now of living in a new element, breathing a fresh air, partaking of new food, drinking out of new wells not digged by men nor filled from the earth. The man is new-new in principles, and new in emotions…He was an heir to wrath; he is now a child of God. He was a bond-slave; he is now a freeman…He rejoices in Christ Jesus, and feasts to the full. He was the citizen of earth once; he is now a citizen of heaven. He once found his all beneath the clouds; but now his all is beyond the stars. He has new relationships. Christ is his brother; God is his Father; the angels are his friends; and the despised people of God are his best and nearest kinsfolk. And hence the man has new aspirations. He now pants to glorify God. What cared he about the glory of God once? He now pants to see God; once he would have paid the fare, if it had cost his life, that he might escape from the presence of the Lord. Now he hungers and thirsts after the living God; yea, if his soul had wings, and he could break the fetters of this mortality, he would mount at once to dwell where Jesus is.

Dear friends, are you new men? If you are, you understand what it is; if you are not, I know I cannot explain it to you. Oh! to be born again is a great mystery; blessed is the soul that comprehends it! But he that knows it not will never learn it by the lip; he can only know it by the Spirit of God causing him also to be made a new creature in Christ Jesus. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3467.cfm

The Triumph of Christ

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

While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Thy name: those that Thou gavest Me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled. – John 17:12

This is the triumph of Christ, “Of all those whom Thou hast given Me, I have lost none” Now, suppose there to be heard a whisper from the infernal pit, “aha! Aha! Thou liest! There is one here whom the Father gave Thee, but who Thou didst lose”-why, Christ would never be able to speak again by way of triumph! He could never boast any more. Then might He put down His crown. If it were but to happen in that one case, at any rate, the enemy would have got the advantage over Him, and He would not have been the Conqueror all along the line. But, glory be to God! He who trod the winepress with none for His assistant, came forth out of the crimson conflict, having smitten all His foes, and won a complete victory. There shall not be in the whole campaign a single point over which Satan shall be able to boast.

Christ has brought many sons to glory as the Captain of their salvation, and never yet has He failed, and He never shall in any point, neither the least nor the greatest, neither the strongest nor the weakest. This is essential, dear friends. It is essential to the acclamations of heaven, that every soul that believes in Jesus should live for ever. It is essential to the everlasting harmony and to the joy of Christ throughout Eternity, that all who trust in Him should be preserved and kept safe, even until the end.  ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3401.cfm

Heaven is Our Home (Maranatha!)

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

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. -John 14:3

He has made us long for heaven, and given us at least a measure of preparation for it. We are expecting that, one of these days, if the chariot and horses of fire do not stop at our door, our dear Lord and Saviour will fulfil to us His promise, “if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also,” To a true believer in Jesus, the thought of departing from this world, and going to be “for ever with the Lord,” has nothing of gloom associated with it. This earth is the place of our banishment and exile; heaven is our home. We are like the loving wife who is sundered by thousands of miles of sea and land from her dear husband, and we are longing for the great re-union with our beloved Lord, from whom we shall then never again be separated. I cannot hope to depict the scene when He shall introduce us to the principalities and powers in heavenly places, and bid us sit with Him in His throne, even as He sits with His Father in His throne. Surely then the holy angels, who have never sinned, will unite in exclaiming, “Behold, how He loved them!” It is a most blessed thought, to my mind, that we may be up there before the hands of that clock complete another round; and if not so soon as that, it will not be long before all of us who love the Lord will be with Him where He is, and then the last among us shall know more of His love than the greatest of us can ever know while here below. Meanwhile, we have much of the joy of heaven even while we are upon this earth; for, as Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3228.cfm

What A Wondrous Proof of Love

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

That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses. – Matthew 8:17

“Being found in fashion as a man,” He took upon Himself human sickness and suffering. All our infirmities that were not sinful Jesus Christ endured,-the weary feet, the aching head, and the palpitating heart, “that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sickness.” This was a wondrous proof of love, that the ever-blessed Son of God, who needed not to suffer, should have been willing to be compassed with infirmity just like any other man is. “We have not a high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”

Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. – John 16:24

Christ has so completely given Himself to us that all that He has is ours. He is the glorious Husband, and His Church is His Bride, the Lamb’s wife; and there is nothing that He has which is not also hers even now, and which He will not share with her for ever. By a marriage bond which cannot be broken, for He hateth putting away, He hath espoused her unto Himself in righteousness and truth, and she shall be one with Him throughout eternity. He has gone up to His Father’s house to take possession of the many mansions there, not for Himself, but for His people; and His contrary prayer is, “Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me: for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world.” Jesus has an ever-flowing fountain of joy in His heart, but He desires that His joy may be in you if you belong to Him, and that your joy may be full; and everything else that He has is yours as much as it is His, so surely you will again join with me in saying, “Behold how He loved us!”~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3228.cfm