The Father

This Wondrous Mystery

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

Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. – 1 Peter 2:24

If you want to see the love of Jesus at the highest point it ever reached, you must, by faith, gaze upon Him when He took upon Himself the sins of all His people, as Peter writes, “who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree.” Oh, how could one who was so pure, so absolutely perfect, ever bear so foul a load? Yet He did bear it, and the transfer of His people’s sin from them to Him was so complete that the inspired prophet wrote, “The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all,” and the inspired apostle wrote, “He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” When a man marries a woman who is deeply in debt, well knowing the burdens that he is taking upon himself even though it is enough to crush him all his life, we may well say, “Behold how he loves her!” That was what Christ did for His Church when He took her into an eternal marriage union with Himself, although she had incurred such liabilities as could not have been discharged if she had spent all eternity in hell; He took all her debts upon Himself, and then paid them unto the uttermost farthing; for we must never forget that, when Christ bore His people’s sins, He also bore the full punishment of them…We cannot have the slightest conception of what that bruising and that grief must have been. We do not know what our Lord’s physical and mental agonies must have been, yet they were only the shell of His sufferings; His soul-agony was the kernel, and it was that which made Him cry, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” Then it was that the precious “corn of wheat” fell into the ground and died; and dying, brought forth “much fruit” of which heaven and eternity alone can tell the full tale. I cannot speak of this wondrous mystery as I fain would do, but you who know even in part what it means must join me in saying, “Behold how He loved us!”~ C.H. Spurgeon

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

A Wonder of Condescending Grace and Mercy

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

That in the dispensation of the fulness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him -Ephesians 1:10

In the fulness of time, our Lord Jesus Christ left the glories of heaven, and took upon Him our nature. We know so little of what the word “heaven” means that we cannot adequately appreciate the tremendous sacrifice that the Son of God must have made in order to become the Son of Mary. The holy angels could understand far better than we can what their Lord and ours gave up when He renounced the royalties of heaven, and all the honour and glory which rightly belonged to Him as the Son of the Highest, and left His throne and crown above to be born as the Babe of an earthly mother, yet even to them there were mysteries about His incarnation which they could not fathom; and as they followed the footprints of the Son of man on His wondrous way from the manger to the cross and to the tomb, they must often have been in that most suggestive attitude of which Peter wrote, “which things the angels desire to look into.” To us, the incarnation of Christ is one of the greatest marvels in the history of the universe, and we say, with Paul, “Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh.” The omnipotent Creator took the nature of a creature into indissoluble union with his divine nature; and, marvel of marvels, that creature was man.

O glorious Bridegroom of our hearts, there never was any other love like Thine! That the eternal Son of God should leave His Father’s side, and stoop so low as to become one with His chosen people, so that Paul could truly write, “We are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones, is such a wonder of condescending grace and mercy that we can only exclaim again and again, “Behold how He loved us!”~ C.H. Spurgeon

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

Behold How He Loved Us!

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

And He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore His arm brought salvation unto Him; and His righteousness, it sustained Him. -Isaiah 59:16

When did Christ’s love begin to work for us? It was long before we were born, long before the world was created; far, far back, in eternity, our Saviour gave the first proof of His love to us by espousing our cause. By His divine foresight, He looked upon human nature as a palace that had been plundered, and broken down, and in its ruins He perceived the owl, the bittern, the dragon, and all manner of unclean things. Who was there to undertake the great work of restoring that ruined palace? No one but the Word, who was with God, and who was God. “He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore His own arm brought salvation unto Him; and His righteousness, it sustained Him.” Ere the angels began to sing, or the sun, and moon, and stars threw their first beams athwart primeval darkness, Christ espoused the cause of His people, and resolved not only to restore to them all the blessings that He foresaw that they would lose, but also add to them richer favours that could ever have been theirs except through Him.

Jesus Christ, “that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,” undertook to redeem and guard the whole flock entrusted to His care, so that when, at the last great muster, they should pass under the hand of Him that telleth them, not one of them should be missing, and the blessed Shepherd-Son should be able to say to His Father, “Those that Thou gavest me I have kept, and not one of them is lost.” It was in the everlasting covenant that our Lord Jesus Christ became our Representative and Surety and engaged on our behalf to fulfill all His Father’s will; and as we think of this great mystery of mercy, surely all of us who are truly His must exclaim with grateful adoration, “Behold how He loved us!”~ C.H. Spurgeon

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

Unprofitable Servants

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, repentance, The Father 7 Comments

But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin. -1 John 1:7

If we walk in the light, as God is in the light, and have fellowship with Him, still we shall need to walk before God very humbly, ever looking to the blood, for even then the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth and continues to cleanse us from all sin. If we have done both these things, we shall still have to say that we are unprofitable servants, and we must walk humbly with God. We have not reached that consummation yet, always doing justly, and loving mercy, though we are approximating to it by Christ’s gracious help; but if we did attain to the ideal that is set before us, and every act was right towards man, and more, every act was delightfully saturated with a love to our neighbour as strong as our love to ourselves, even then there would come in this precept, “Walk humbly with thy God.”

Dear friends, if ever you should think that you have reached the highest point of Christian grace- I almost hope that you never will think so -but suppose that you should ever think so, do not, I pray you, say anything that verges upon boasting, or exhibit any kind of spirit that looks like glorying in your own attainments; but walk humbly with your God. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2328.cfm

Saved With an Everlasting Salvation!

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

Thou shalt speak all that I command thee: and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh, that he send the children of Israel out of his land. -Exodus 7:2

The first thing the Lord did to prove His persevering grace was to commission Moses again. So the Lord God, in everlasting mercy, says to His minister, “You have to preach the gospel again to them. Again proclaim My grace.” It seems a terrible thing to have to pour our souls into deaf ears. Yet I shall not give it up, for I have done it with some here for nearly thirty-three years, and I may as well go on. Why should I lose so much labour? I will try again, like Peter, who, after toiling all night and taking nothing, yet let down the net at the Lord’s bidding. One of these days those dead ears will be made to live. God in mercy says, “Go on with it. As long as there is breath in your body, tell them to believe in My Son, and they shall live. Tell them till you die that ‘He that with his mouth confesseth, and with his heart believeth that God hath raised Christ from the dead shall be saved.'”

I believe that God is saying to His church “You have to do it. You have to gather out Mine elect out of every nation under heaven”…To the eye of reason there is no use in preaching to men dead in sin. I freely admit that; but if it is a commission from God, then it is not ours to raise questions, but to do as we are bidden. God has commissioned His servants to preach the gospel to every creature. Whatever those creatures may be, we are to say to them, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be dammed.” This is our message and our mission, and we are just to tell the truth, and leave God to apply it to the heart. Oh that He may give us grace to tell out the gospel, and to keep on doing it till He has brought His own elect out of the bondage of sin and Satan, and saved them with an everlasting salvation! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2026.cfm

Prayer is Worship

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prayer, promises, The Father 10 Comments

Pray without ceasing. – 1 Thessalonians 5:17

Why should we obey this precept? Of course we should obey it because it is of divine authority; but, moreover, we should attend to it because the Lord always deserves to be worshipped. Prayer is a method of worship; continue, therefore, always to render to your Creator, your Preserver, your Redeemer, your Father, the homage of your prayers. With such a King let us not be slack in homage. Let us pay Him the revenue of praise continually. Evermore may we magnify and bless His name. His enemies curse Him; let us bless Him without ceasing. Moreover, brethren, the spirit of love within us surely prompts us to draw near to God without ceasing. Christ is our husband. Is the bride true to her marriage vows if she cares not for her beloved’s company? God is our Father. What sort of a child is that which does not desire to climb its father’s knee and receive a smile from its father’s face? If you and I can live day after day and week after week without anything like communion with God, how dwelleth the love of God in us? “Pray without ceasing,” because the Lord never ceases to love you, never ceases to bless you, and never ceases to regard you as His child.

“Pray without ceasing,” for you want a blessing on all the work you are doing. Is it common work? “Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.” Is it business? It is vain to rise up early and sit up late, and eat the bread of carefulness, for without God you cannot prosper. You are taught to say, “Give us this day our daily bread,”-an inspired prayer for secular things. Oh, consecrate your seculars by prayer. And, if you are engaged in God’s service, what work is there in which you can hope for success without His blessing? Pray, therefore, as long as you work. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1039.cfm

Aim at Glorifying Him

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prayer, promises, Sovereignty of God, The Father 10 Comments

The king shall have joy in Your strength, O LORD; and in Your salvation how greatly shall he rejoice! – Psalm 21:1

Sometimes we are not in a fit state to receive a blessing, but when we reach the condition of thankfulness, then is the time when it is safe for God to indulge us. A professing Christian came to his minister once and said, “Sir, you say we should always pray.” “Yes, my friend, undoubtedly.” “But then, Sir, I have been praying for twelve months that I might enjoy the comforts of religion, and I am no happier than before. I have made that my one perpetual prayer, that I might enjoy the comforts of religion, and I do not feel joy nor even peace of mind; in fact, I have more doubts and fears than ever I had.” “Yes,” said his minister, “and that is the natural result of such a selfish prayer. Why, dear friend,” he said, “come and kneel down with me, and let us pray in another manner, ‘Father, glorify Thy name! Thy kingdom come.’ Now,” said he, “go and offer those petitions and get to work to try to make it true, and see if you do not soon enjoy the comforts of religion.” There is a great deal in that fact: if you will but desire God to be glorified, and aim at glorifying Him yourself, then shall the joys of true godliness come to you in answer to prayer.

The time for the blessing is when you begin to praise God for it. For, brethren, you may be sure that when you put up a thanksgiving on the ground that God has answered your prayer, you really have prevailed with God. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1469.cfm