The Father

He Gave Himself for Us

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

…the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave Himself for us… -Titus 2:13-14

Who is this that is spoken of? and the text gives the answer. It is “the great God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us.” We had offended God; the dignity of divine justice demanded that offenses against so good and just a law as that which God had promulgated should not be allowed to go unpunished. But the attribute of justice is not the only one in the heart of God. God is love, and is, therefore, full Of mercy. Yet, nevertheless, He never permits one quality of His Godhead to triumph over another. He could not be too merciful, and so become unjust; He would not permit mercy to put justice to an eclipse. The difficulty was solved thus: God Himself stooped from His loftiness and veiled His glory in a garb of our inferior clay. The Word-that same Word without whom was not anything made that was made-became flesh, and dwelt amongst us; and His apostles, His friends, and His enemies, beheld Him-the seed of the woman, but yet the Son of God, very God of very God, in all the majesty of deity, and yet man of the substance of His mother in all the weakness of our humanity, sin being the only thing which separated us from Him, He being without sin, and we being full of it. It is, then, God, who “gave Himself for us”; it is, then, man, who gave Himself for us. It is Jesus Christ, co-equal and co-eternal with the Father, who thought it not robbery to be equal with God; who made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Himself the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of sinful flesh, and, being found in fashion as a man, humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. It is Christ Jesus, the man, the God, “who gave Himself for us.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3513.cfm

Seek to Know Him

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

And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. _ John 17:3

Should a man despise the wine of which he has never sipped. It may be sweeter than he dreams. Oh! taste and see that the Lord is good, and so sure as ever you taste, you will see His goodness. I will venture to say, again, that there are many who make light of the gospel, simply through ignorance; and if that is so, I am somewhat in hopes that when they are a little enlightened by sitting under the Word, the Lord may be pleased graciously to bring them to Himself; and then I know they will never make light of Christ again. Oh! do not be ignorant, “for that the soul be without knowledge is not good.” Seek to know Him whom to know aright is life eternal; and when you know Him you will never make light of Him.

In America, it is said, they worship the almighty dollar; I believe that in London many men worship the almighty sovereign; they have the greatest possible respect for an almighty bank note; that is the god which many men are always adoring. The prayer-book they carry so religiously in their hands is their cash-book…. it is the height of folly, the very climax of absurdity, excelling all that the fool, with his cap and bells, ever did, to be living just to gather up the pelf of this world, and not for things to come. Worldliness is a demon that hath wrung the neck of many souls; God grant that we may not perish through our worldliness!! C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0098.cfm

Making Light of the King’s Only Son

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

But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. – Matthew 22:7

Ah! sinner, when thou makest light of the gospel, thou makest light of Christ-of that Christ before whom glorious cherubs bow themselves-of that Christ at whose feet the high archangel thinks it happiness to cast his crown; thou makest light of Him with whose praise the vault of heaven rings; thou makest light of Him whom God makes much of, for He has called Him, “God over all, blessed for ever.” Ah! it is a solemn thing to make light of Christ. Despise a prince, and ye shall have little honour at the king’s hand for it; but despise the Son of God, and the Father will have vengeance on you for His slighted Son. Oh! my dear friends, it seems to me to be a sin, not unpardonable, I know, but still most heinous, that men should ever despise my blessed Lord Jesus Christ and treat Him with cruel scorn. Make light of Thee, sweet Jesus! Oh! when I see Thee with Thy shirt of gore, wrestling in Gethsemane, I bow myself o’er Thee, and I say, “O, Redeemer, bleeding for sin, can any sinner make light of Thee?” When I behold Him with a river of blood rolling down His shoulder, beneath the cursed flagellation of Pilate’s whip, I ask, “Can a sinner make light of such a Saviour as this?” And when I see Him yonder, covered with His blood, nailed to a tree, expiring in torture, shrieking, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani,” I ask myself, “Can any make light of this?” Ay, if they do, then, indeed, it were sin enough to damn them, if they have no other sin-that they have lightly esteemed the Prince of Peace, who is glorious and altogether lovely. Oh! my friend, if thou makest light of Christ, thou hast insulted the only One who can save thee-the only One who can bear thee across the Jordan-the only One who can unbolt the gates of heaven and give thee welcome. O, sinner, think of thy sin, if thou art making light of Him, for then art thou making light of the King’s only Son.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0098.cfm

Do You Hate Christ?

Sherry Character of Jesus, The Father 5 Comments

He who hates Me hates My Father also. -John 15:23

You are indifferent to Christ? Then you hate Him. And why is it that you hate Him? Many a time you have been wooed by the gospel; you have resisted appeals, many of them; come, now, for which of Christ’s works do you hate Him? Have I a persecutor here? Sinner! for what dost thou hate Christ? Dost thou curse Him? Tell me what He has done, that thou shouldst be angry with Him. Point to a single fault of His in His carriage towards thee. Has Christ ever hurt thee?

I tell thee, if thou hatest Christ, thou not only hatest Him without a cause, but thou hatest Him when thou hast simple cause to love Him. Come, poor sinner, what hast thou got by hating Christ? Thou hast stings of conscience. Many a sinner, by hating Christ, has been locked up in jail, has a ragged coat, a diseased body, a nasty filthy house, with broken windows, a poor wife, nearly beaten to death, and children that scamper out of the way as soon as father comes home. What hast thou got by hating Christ? Oh! if thou wert to estimate thy gains, thou wouldst find that getting Christ would be a gain, but that hating Him is a dead loss to thee. Now, if you hate Christ and Christ’s religion, I tell you that you hate Christ without a cause; and let me give you one solemn warning, which is this, that if you keep on hating Christ till you die, you will not hurt Christ by it, but you will hurt yourself most awfully. Oh! may God deliver you from being haters of Christ! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0089.cfm

They Hated Me Without A Cause

Sherry Character of Jesus, salvation, The Father 3 Comments

They hated Me without a cause.- John 15:25

It is usually understood, that the quotation our Saviour here refers to is to be found in the 35th Psalm, at the 19th verse, where David says, speaking of himself immediately and of the Saviour prophetically, “Let not them who are mine enemies rejoice over me, neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause.” Our Saviour refers to that as being applicable to Himself, and thus He really tells us, in effect, that many of the Psalms are Messianic, or refer to the Messiah.

No being was ever more lovely than the Saviour; it would seem almost impossible not to have affection for Him. Certainly at first sight it would seem far more difficult to hate Him than to love Him. And yet, loveable as He was, yea, “altogether lovely,” no being so early met with hatred, and no creature ever endured such a continual persecution as He had to suffer.

And He came on earth to die, that sinners might not die. Was that a cause of hatred? Ought I to hate the Saviour, because He came to quench the flames of hell for me? Should I despise Him who allowed His Father’s flaming sword to be quenched in His own vital blood? Shall I look with indignation upon the substitute who takes my sin and griefs upon Him, and carries my sorrows? Shall I hate and despise the man who loved me better than He loved Himself-who loved me so much that He visited the gloomy grave for my salvation? Are these the causes of hatred? Surely His errand was one that ought to have made us sing His praise for ever, and join the harps of angels in their rapturous songs.

“They hated Me without a cause.”~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0089.cfm

 

The Royal Bath of Mercy

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

Salvation is of the LORD. -Jonah 2:9

No one has helped to provide salvation; God has done it all Himself. The banquet of mercy is served up by one Host; that Host is He to whom the cattle on a thousand hills belong. But none have contributed any dainties to that royal banquet; He hath done it all Himself… The royal bath of mercy, wherein black souls are washed, was filled from the veins of Jesus; not a drop was contributed by any other being. He died upon the cross, and as an expiator He died alone. No blood of martyrs mingled with that stream; no blood of noble confessors and of heroes of the cross entered into the river of atonement that is filled from the veins of Christ, and from nowhere else beside. He hath done it wholly. Atonement is the unaided work of Jesus. On yonder cross I see the Man who “trod the winepress alone;” in yonder garden I see the solitary conqueror who came to the fight single-handed, whose own arm brought salvation, and whose omnipotence sustained Him. “Salvation is of the Lord,” as to its provisions; Jehovah-Father, Son, and Spirit-hath provided everything.

“Salvation of the Lord alone;
Grace is a shoreless sea.”

~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0131.cfm

The Leveling Gospel

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

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. -Ephesians 2:13

Oh! I love the gospel, for this reason among others, because it is such a leveling gospel. Some persons do not like a leveling gospel; nor would I, in some senses of the word. Let men have their rank, and their titles, and their riches, if they will; but I do like, and I am sure all good men like, to see rich and poor meet together and feel that they are on a level; the gospel makes them so. It says “Put up your money-bags, they will not procure you remission; roll up your diploma, that will not get you remission; forget your farm and your park, they will not get you remission; just cover up that escutcheon, that coat of arms will not get you remission. Come, you ragged beggars, filthy off-scourings of the world, penniless; come hither; here is remission as much for you, ill-bred and ill-mannered though ye be, as for the noble, the honorable, the titled, and the wealthy. All stand on a level here; the text is universal: “Without shedding of blood there is no remission.”

Never, though you strained yourselves in prayer; never, though you wept yourselves away in tears; never, though you groaned and cried till your heart-strings break; never in this world, nor in that which is to come, can the forgiveness of sins be procured on any other ground than redemption by the blood of Christ, and never can the conscience be cleansed but by faith in that sacrifice. The fact is, beloved, there is no use for you to satisfy your hearts with anything less than what satisfied God the Father. Without the shedding of blood nothing would appease His justice; and without the application of that same blood nothing can purge your consciences.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0118.cfm