Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?- Isaiah 60:8

The ancient church, in the foresight of her mighty increase in these latter days lifts up her hands in astonishment, and having been so used to see the Lord’s grace confined to a small nation, she exclaims in amazement, “Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?” “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” Oh! thou distrustful church, dost thou marvel because thy Lord giveth thee many children? Is it not written-“More are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife,” saith the Lord. I tell thee, the Lord will show thee greater things than these. The increase we have had shall yet be exceeded, if God wills it. Nothing is impossible with Him. He who converts one, could as easily convert a hundred; and He who redeems a hundred, could save a thousand by the self-same power. Is not the blood of Jesus sufficient? Is not the Holy Ghost powerful enough? and is not the mighty Three-One God “able to do for us exceeding abundantly above what we can ask or think?” Yet, so it is; so little are our expectations, and so unprepared are we for God’s mercies, that when He pours out a blessing upon us, so that we have not room enough to receive it, we begin shutting up the windows altogether, and think, “Surely it cannot come from God, because there is so much of it.” Why, that is the very reason why we should believe it to be. If there were few conversions, then we might tremble, and fear lest they might be man’s; but when there are so many none but God can accomplish it. When one or two are brought to join a church, we may shake for fear and examine them with caution; but when they fly like a cloud, we can only say, “Great art Thou, O God, marvelous are Thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well.” Doubtless, brethren, until larger views of God’s power and increased faith shall diminish the wonder, we shall always stand in amazement, and say, “Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0063.cfm

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.-Philippians 1:21

We conceive that the greatest blessing we shall ever receive of God is to die; but doubtless it would not be for our good to withdraw from this world as soon as we had escaped from sin. It is better for us to tarry a little while; far better. And the reasons for this are, first, because a little stay on earth will make heaven all the sweeter. Nothing makes rest so sweet as toil; nothing can render security so pleasant as a long exposure to alarms, and fears, and battles. No heaven will be so sweet as a heaven, which has been preceded by torments and pains. Methinks the deeper draughts of woe we drink here below, the sweeter will be those draughts of eternal glory which we shall receive from the golden bowls of bliss; the more we are battered and scarred on earth the more glorious will be our victory above, when the shouts of a thousand times ten thousand angels welcome us to our Father’s palace. The more trials the more bliss, the more sufferings the more ecstasies, the more depression the higher the exaltation. Thus we shall gain more of heaven by the sufferings we shall pass through here below. Let us not then, my brethren, fear to advance through our trials: they are for our good; to stop here awhile is for our benefit. Why! we should not know how to converse in heaven if we had not a few trials and hardships to tell of, and some tales of delivering grace to repeat with joy. An old sailor likes to have passed through a few shipwrecks and storms, however hazardous they may have been, for he anchors in Greenwich Hospital, he will there tell, with great pleasure, to his companions, of his hair-breadth escapes. There will be some old soldiers in heaven, too, who will recount their fights, how their Master delivered them, and how He won the victory and kept off all their foes.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0047.cfm

“I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world…” -John 17:15

Some hermits and others have fancied that if we were to shut ourselves from the world and live alone, we should then be more devoted to God and serve Him better…Why, brethren, common sense tells us at once that living alone is not the way to serve God. It may be the way to serve self, and wrap ourselves in a garment of self-complacency; but it cannot be the way to worship God truly. If it be possible, by this means, to fulfil one part of the great law of God, we cannot possibly carry out the other portion-to love our neighbour as ourselves, for we thus become unable to bind up the broken-hearted, to bring the wanderer back, or to win souls from death and sin. Out of the heart proceedeth all evil, and if we were in retirement we should sin, because we should carry our hearts with us into whatever solitude we entered.

…But it may be understood in a second sense. “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of this world”–by death…But Jesus does not pray that one of His chosen people should be too soon removed, He does not desire to see His newly begotten souls plume their wings and fly aloft to heaven until their time shall come…He leaves it to His Father, until, like shocks of corn fully ripe, we shall each of us be gathered into our Master’s garner… Christ does not pray that we should be taken out of the world, because our abode here is for our own good, for the world’s benefit, and for His glory. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0047.cfm

For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. – Luke 15:24

Poor backslider, thou wast once a Christian. Dost thou hope thou wast? “No,” sayest thou, “I believe I deceived myself and others; I was no child of God.” Well, if thou didst, let me tell thee, that if thou wilt acknowledge that, God will forgive thee. Suppose you did deceive the church, thou art not the first that did it. There are some members of this church, I fear, who have done so, and we have not found them out. I tell you your case is not hopeless. That is not the unpardonable sin. Some who have tried to deceive the very elect have yet been delivered; and my Master says He is able to save to the uttermost (and ye have not gone beyond the uttermost) all who come unto Him. Come thou, then, to His feet, cast thyself on His mercy; and though thou didst once enter His (church) as a spy, He will not hang thee up for it, but will be glad to get thee anyhow as a trophy of mercy. But if thou was a child of God, and canst say honestly, “I know I did love Him, and He loved me,” I tell thee He loves thee still. If thou hast gone ever so far astray, thou art as much His child as ever. Though thou hast run away from thy Father, come back, come back, He is thy Father still. Think not He has unsheathed the sword to slay thee. Say not, “He has cast me out of the family.” He has not. His bowels yearn over thee now. My Father loves thee; come then to His feet, and He will not even remind thee of what thou hast done. The prodigal was going to tell his Father all his sins, and to ask him to make him one of his hired servants, but the father stopped his mouth. He let him say that he was not worthy to be called his son, but he would not let him say, “make me as an hired servant.” Come back and thy Father will receive thee gladly; He will put His arms around thee and kiss thee with the kisses of His love, and He will say, “I have found this My son that was lost; I have recovered this sheep that had gone astray.” My Father loved thee without works, He justified thee irrespective of them; thou hast no less merit now than thou hadst then. Come and trust and believe in Him. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0045.cfm