The Father

Troubles Bring Us Nearer to God

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

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God -Philippians 4:6

I speak from heart knowledge and real experience. We never have such close dealings with God as when we are in tribulation. When the barn is full, man can live without God; when the purse is bursting with gold, we somehow can do without so much prayer. But once take your gourds away, you want your God; once cleanse away the idols out of the house, then you must go and honor Jehovah. Some of you do not pray half as much as you ought. If you are the children of God, you will have the whip, and when you have that whip, you will run to your Father. It is a fine day, and the child walks before its father; but there is a lion in the road, now he comes and takes his father’s hand. He could run half-a-mile before him when all was fine and fair; but once bring the lion, and it is “father! father!” as close as he can be. It is even so with the Christian. Let all be well, and he forgets God. Jeshurun waxes fat, and he begins to kick against God; but take away his hopes, blast his joys, let the infant lie in the coffin, let the crops be blasted, let the herd be cut off from the stall, let the husband’s broad shoulder lie in the grave, let the children be fatherless-then it is that God is a God indeed. Oh, strip me naked; take from me all I have; make me poor, a beggar, penniless, helpless: dash that cistern in pieces; crush that hope; quench the stars; put out the sun; shroud the moon in darkness, and place me all alone in space, without a friend, without a helper; still, “Out of the depths will I cry unto Thee, O God.” There is no cry so good as that which comes from the bottom of the mountains; no prayer half so hearty as that which comes up from the depths of the soul, through deep trials and afflictions. Hence they bring us to God, and we are happier; for that is the way to be happy-to live near to God. So that while troubles abound, they drive us to God, and then consolations abound.~ C.H. Spurgeon

http://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0013.cfm

Trials Make Room for Consolation

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

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort -2 Corinthians 1:3

There is nothing makes a man have a big heart like a great trial. I always find that little, miserable people, whose hearts are about the size of a grain of mustard-seed, never have had much to try them. I have found that those people who have no sympathy for their fellows-who never weep for the sorrows of others-very seldom have had any woes of their own. Great hearts can only be made by great troubles. The spade of trouble digs the reservoir of comfort deeper, and makes more room for consolation. God comes into our heart-He finds it full-He begins to break our comforts and to make it empty; then there is more room for grace. The humbler a man lies, the more comfort he will always have. I recollect walking with a ploughman one day-a man who was deeply taught, although he was a ploughman; and really ploughmen would make a great deal better preachers than many college gentlemen-and he said to me, “Depend upon it, my good brother, if you or I ever get one inch above the ground, we shall get just that inch too high.” I believe it is true; for the lower we lie, the nearer to the ground we are-the more our troubles humble us-the more fit we are to receive comfort; and God always gives us comfort when we are most fit for it. That is one reason why consolations increase in the same ratio as our trials.~ C.H. Spurgeon

http://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0013.cfm

As Through Much Tribulation

Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life, The Father 3 Comments

For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us…- 2 Corinthians 1:5

Look upward. Dost thou see thy heavenly Father, a pure and holy being, spotless, just, perfect? Dost thou know that thou art one day to be like Him? Thinkest thou that thou wilt easily come to be conformed to His image? Wilt thou not require much furnace work, much grinding in the mill of trouble, much breaking with the pestle in the mortar of affliction, much being broken under the wheels of agony? Thinkest thou it will be an easy thing for thy heart to become as pure as God is? Dost thou think thou canst so soon get rid of thy corruptions, and become perfect, even as thy Father which is in heaven is perfect?

Lift up thine eye again; dost thou discern those bright spirits clad in white, purer than alabaster, more chaste, more fair than Parian marble? Behold them as they stand in glory. Ask them whence their victory came. Some of them will tell you they swam through seas of blood. Behold the scars of honor on their brows; see, some of them lift up their hands and tell you they were once consumed in fire; while others were slain by the sword, rent in pieces by wild beasts; were destitute afflicted, tormented. 0 ye noble army of martyrs, ye glorious hosts of the living God. Must ye swim through seas of blood, and shall I hope to ride to heaven wrapped in furs and ermine? Did ye endure suffering, and shall I be pampered with the luxuries of this world? Did ye fight and then reign, and must I reign without a battle. Oh, no. By God’s help I will expect that as ye suffered so must I, and as through much tribulation ye entered the kingdom of heaven, so shall I. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

http://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0013.cfm

Our Expectation is from God

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

Let Israel hope in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption. -Psalm 130:7

You have not a hope apart from the ever-blessed Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. To the Father, you look with the expectation of a child who is an heir. To the Son of God you look, waiting for that wedding feast which shall be kept with Him to whom you are affianced by a betrothal that never can be contravened. To the Holy Ghost you look, for He is with you even now as the earnest of your inheritance, and you expect your inheritance to be of the same nature as the earnest which you already enjoy, and that you will be filled with His light, and love, and purity, and blessedness. For this you are looking, “My soul, wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from Him.” Can you say that? We are men of great expectations; but our expectations are not in men that die, or men that live, our expectations are in Him who never dies, and never fails, and never disappoints those who put their trust in Him. Say, dear hearer,—I cannot come round, and put the question to all of you individually,—but say, Dost thou belong to this approved company of men that hope in the Lord? ~ C.H. Spurgeon

http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/2455.htm

When All Men Speak Ill of Thee

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

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. -Psalm 46:1

I have often admired Martin Luther, and wondered at his composure. When all men spoke so ill of him, what did he say? Turn to that Psalm-“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble; therefore we will not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.” In a far inferior manner, I have been called to stand up in the position of Martin Luther, and have been made the butt of slander, a mark for laughter and scorn; but it has not broken my spirit yet; nor will it, while I am enabled to enjoy that quiescent state of: “So He giveth His beloved sleep.” But thus far I beg to inform all those who choose to slander or speak ill of me, that they are very welcome to do so till they are tired of it. My motto is cedo nulli-I yield to none. I have not courted any man’s love; I asked no man to attend my ministry; I preach what I like, and when I like, and as I like. Oh! happy state-to be bold, though downcast and distressed-to go and bend my knee and tell my Father all, and then to come down from my chamber, and say-

If on my face, for Thy dear name,
Shame and reproach shall be;
I’ll hail reproach, and welcome shame,
For Thou’lt remember me.

~ C.H. Spurgeon

http://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0012.cfm

God Gives Us the Sleep of Security

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

I lay down and slept; I awoke, for the Lord sustained me. -Psalm 3:5

Solomon slept with his armed men round his bed, and thus slumbered securely; but Solomon’s father slept one night on the bare ground-not in a palace-with no moat round his castle wall, but he slept quite as safely as his son, for he said, “I laid me down and slept, and I awaked, for the Lord sustained me.” Now, some persons never feel secure in this world at all; I query whether one half of my hearers feel themselves so. Suppose I burst out in a moment, and sing this-

I to the end shall endure,
As sure as the earnest is given;
More happy, but not more secure,
Are the glorified spirits in heaven.

You would say, that is too high doctrine; and I would reply, very likely it is for you, but it is the truth of God, and it is sweet doctrine for me. I love to know, that if I am predestinated according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, I must be saved; if I was purchased by the Son’s blood, I cannot be lost, for it would be impossible for Jesus Christ to lose one whom He has redeemed, otherwise He would be dissatisfied with His labours. I know that where He has begun the good work He will carry it on. I never fear that I shall fall away, or be lost; my only fear is, lest I should not have been right at first; but, provided I am right, if I be really a child of God, I might believe that the sun would be smitten with madness, and go reeling through the universe like a drunken man-I might believe that the stars would turn form their courses, and instead of marching with their measured tramp, as now they do, whirl on in wild courses like the dance of Bacchanals-I could even conceive that this great universe might all subside in God, “even as a moment’s foam subsides again upon the wave that bears it;” but neither reason, heresy, logic, eloquence, nor a conclave of divines, shall make me pay a moment’s attention to the vile suggestion that a child of God may ever perish. Hence I tread this earth with confidence. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

http://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0012.cfm

The Sleep of Quietness of Soul as to the Future.

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, The Father, The Holy Spirit 4 Comments

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. -Jeremiah 29:11

God giveth His beloved the sleep of quietness of soul as to the future. O that dark future! that future! The present may be well; but ah! the next wind may wither all the flowers, and where shall I be? Clutch thy gold, miser; for “riches make to themselves wings and fly away.” Hug that babe to thy breast, mother; for the rough hand of death may rob thee of it. Look at thy fame and wonder at it, O thou man of ambition! But one slight report shall wound thee to the heart, and thou shalt sink as low as e’er thou hast been lifted high by the voices of the multitude. The future! All persons have need to dread the future, except the Christian. God giveth to His beloved sleep with regard to the events of coming time.

What may be the future lot,
High or low concerns me not;
This doth set my heart at rest,
What my God appoints is best.

Whether I am to live or die is no matter to me; whether I am to be the “offscouring of all things,” or “the man whom the king delighteth to honour,” matters not to me. All is alike, provided my Father doth but give it. “So He giveth His beloved sleep.” How many of you have arrived at that happy point that you have no wish of your own at all? It is a sweet thing to have but one wish; but it is a better thing to have no wish at all-to be all lost in the present enjoyment of Christ and the future anticipation of the vision of His face. O my soul! what would the future be to thee, if thou hadst not Christ? If it be a bitter and a dark future, what matters it, so long as Christ thy Lord sanctifies it, and the Holy Ghost still gives thee courage, energy, and strength? ~ C.H. Spurgeon

http://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0012.cfm