The Father

Thou Hast Owned Me Still

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

I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought. -Hosea 13:5

Yes, Lord, Thou didst indeed know me in my fallen state, and Thou didst even then choose me for Thyself. When I was loathsome and self-abhorred, Thou didst receive me as Thy child, and Thou didst satisfy my craving wants. Blessed forever be Thy name for this free, rich, abounding mercy. Since then, my inward experience has often been a wilderness; but Thou hast owned me still as Thy beloved, and poured streams of love and grace into me to gladden me, and make me fruitful. Yea, when my outward circumstances have been at the worst, and I have wandered in a land of drought, Thy sweet presence has solaced me. Men have not known me when scorn has awaited me, but Thou hast known my soul in adversities, for no affliction dims the lustre of Thy love. Most gracious Lord, I magnify Thee for all Thy faithfulness to me in trying circumstances, and I deplore that I should at any time have forgotten Thee and been exalted in heart, when I have owed all to Thy gentleness and love. Have mercy upon Thy servant in this thing!

My soul, if Jesus thus acknowledged thee in thy low estate, be sure that thou own both Himself and His cause now that thou art in thy prosperity. Be not lifted up by thy worldly successes so as to be ashamed of the truth or of the poor church with which thou hast been associated. Follow Jesus into the wilderness: bear the cross with Him when the heat of persecution grows hot. He owned thee, O my soul, in thy poverty and shame-never be so treacherous as to be ashamed of Him. O for more shame at the thought of being ashamed of my best Beloved! Jesus, my soul cleaveth to Thee.

“I’ll turn to Thee in days of light,
As well as nights of care,
Thou brightest amid all that’s bright!
Thou fairest of the fair!”

~ C.H. Spurgeon

http://bible.christiansunite.com/Morning_and_Evening/chme1031.shtml

 

Thy Sighs Move the Heart of Jehovah

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

The Lord looketh from heaven; He beholdeth all the sons of men. -Psalm 33:13

Perhaps no figure of speech represents God in a more gracious light than when He is spoken of as stooping from His throne, and coming down from heaven to attend to the wants and to behold the woes of mankind. We love Him, who, when Sodom and Gomorrah were full of iniquity, would not destroy those cities until He had made a personal visitation of them. We cannot help pouring out our heart in affection for our Lord who inclines His ear from the highest glory, and puts it to the lip of the dying sinner, whose failing heart longs after reconciliation. How can we but love Him when we know that He numbers the very hairs of our heads, marks our path, and orders our ways? Specially is this great truth brought near to our heart, when we recollect how attentive He is, not merely to the temporal interests of His creatures, but to their spiritual concerns. Though leagues of distance lie between the finite creature and the infinite Creator, yet there are links uniting both. When a tear is wept by thee, think not that God doth not behold; for, “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him.” Thy sigh is able to move the heart of Jehovah; thy whisper can incline His ear unto thee; thy prayer can stay His hand; thy faith can move His arm. Think not that God sits on high taking no account of thee. Remember that however poor and needy thou art, yet the Lord thinketh upon thee. For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards Him.

Oh! then repeat the truth that never tires;
No God is like the God my soul desires;
He at whose voice heaven trembles, even He,
Great as He is, knows how to stoop to me.

~ C.H. Spurgeon

http://bible.christiansunite.com/Morning_and_Evening/chme0928.shtml

 

The Call of Christ

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

“And He goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto Him whom He would: and they came unto Him.”-Mark 3:13

Here was sovereignty. Impatient spirits may fret and fume, because they are not called to the highest places in the ministry; but reader be it thine to rejoice that Jesus calleth whom He wills. If He shall leave me to be a doorkeeper in His house, I will cheerfully bless Him for His grace in permitting me to do anything in His service. The call of Christ’s servants comes from above. Jesus stands on the mountain, evermore above the world in holiness, earnestness, love and power. Those whom He calls must go up the mountain to Him, they must seek to rise to His level by living in constant communion with Him. They may not be able to mount to classic honours, or attain scholastic eminence, but they must like Moses go up into the mount of God and have familiar intercourse with the unseen God, or they will never be fitted to proclaim the gospel of peace. Jesus went apart to hold high fellowship with the Father, and we must enter into the same divine companionship if we would bless our fellowmen. No wonder that the apostles were clothed with power when they came down fresh from the mountain where Jesus was. This morning we must endeavour to ascend the mount of communion, that there we may be ordained to the lifework for which we are set apart. Let us not see the face of man to-day till we have seen Jesus. Time spent with Him is laid out at blessed interest. We too shall cast out devils and work wonders if we go down into the world girded with that divine energy which Christ alone can give. It is of no use going to the Lord’s battle till we are armed with heavenly weapons. We must see Jesus, this is essential. At the mercy-seat we will linger till He shall manifest Himself unto us as He doth not unto the world, and until we can truthfully say, “We were with Him in the Holy Mount.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

http://bible.christiansunite.com/Morning_and_Evening/chme0910.shtml

Thou Art a King!

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

And have made us unto our God a kingdom and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. -Revelation 5:10

…some persons will say, “I wish you would prove what you affirm, when you say that saints are kings; for, if we were kings, we should never have any sorrows; kings are never poor as we are, and never suffer as we do.” Who told you so? You say if you are kings, you would live at ease. Do not kings ever suffer? Was not David an anointed king? and was he not hunted like a partridge on the mountains? Did not the king himself pass over the brook Kedron, and all his people weeping as he went, when his son Absalom pursued him? And was he not a monarch when he slept on the cold ground, with no couch save the damp heather? O yes, kings have their sorrows-crowned heads have their afflictions.

“Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.”

Do not expect that because you are a king, you are to have no sorrows. “It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink.” And it is often so. The saints get but little wine here. It is not for kings to drink the wine of pleasure; it is not for kings to have much of the intoxicating drink and the surfeits of this world’s delight. They shall have joy enough up yonder, when they shall drink it new in their Father’s kingdom. Poor saint! do dwell on this. Thou art a king! I beseech thee, let it not go away from thy mind; but in the midst of thy tribulation, still rejoice in it. If thou hast to go through the dark tunnel of infamy, for Christ’s name; if thou art ridiculed and reviled, still rejoice in the fact, “I am a king, and all the dominions of the earth shall be mine!” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

http://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0010.cfm

I Am Descended from the King of Kings

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

And hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. -Revelation 1:6

What a fuss some people make about their grandfathers and grandmothers, and distant ancestors. I remember seeing in Trinity College, the pedigree of some great lord that went back just as far as Adam, and Adam was there digging the ground-the first man. It was traced all the way up. Of course I did not believe it. I have heard of some pedigrees that go back further. I leave that to your own common sense, to believe it or not. A pedigree in which shall be found dukes, marquises, and kings, and princes. Oh! what would some give for such a pedigree? I believe, however, that it is not what our ancestors were, but what we are, that will make us shine before God; that it is not so much in knowing that we have royal or priestly blood in our veins, as knowing that we are an honor to our race-that we are walking in the ways of the Lord, and reflecting credit upon the church, and upon the grace that makes us honorable. But since some men will glory in their descent, I will glory that the saints have the proudest ancestry in all the world. Talk of Caesars, or of Alexanders, or tell me even of our own good Queen: I say that I am of as high descent as her majesty, or the proudest monarch in the world. I am descended from the King of kings. The saint may well speak of his ancestry-he may exult in it, he may glory in it-for he is the son of God, positively and actually…he is a twice-born child of heaven: one of the blood royal of the universe. The poorest woman or man on earth, loving Christ, is of a royal line. Give a man the grace of God in his heart, and his ancestry is noble. I can turn back the roll of my pedigree, and I can tell you that it is so ancient, that it has no beginning; it is more ancient than all the rolls of mighty men put together; for, from all eternity my Father existed: and, therefore, I have indeed a right royal and ancient ancestry.~ C.H. Spurgeon

http://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0010.cfm

His Finished Covenant

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

He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. -Romans 4:25

Beloved, our Saviour Jesus Christ finished the great work of making us what we are, by His ascension into heaven. If He had not risen up on high and led captivity captive, His death would have been insufficient. He “died for our sins,” but He “rose again for our justification.” The resurrection of our Saviour, in His majesty, when He burst the bonds of death, was to us the assurance that God had accepted His sacrifice; and His ascension up on high, was but as a type and a figure of the real and actual ascension of all His saints, when He shall come in the clouds of judgment, and shall call all His people to Him. Mark the man-God, as He goes upward towards heaven; behold His triumphal march through the skies, whilst stars sing His praises, and planets dance in solemn order; behold Him traverse the unknown fields of ether till He arrives at the throne of God in the seventh heaven, Then hear Him say to His Father, “I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do; behold Me and the children Thou hast given me; I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course; I have done all; I have accomplished every type; I have finished every part of the covenant; there is not one iota I have left unfulfilled, or one tittle that is left out; all is done.” And hark, how they sing before the throne of God when thus He speaks: “Thou hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.”~ C.H. Spurgeon

http://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0010.cfm

Our Blood-Bought Treasure

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

I will celebrate my deliverance and call on the name of the LORD. – Psalm 116:13 

Jesus said, “I will take the cup of salvation;” and He did take it-the cup of our deliverance. Bitter were its drops; gall lay in its depths; there were groans, and sighs, and tears, within the red mixture but He took it all, and drank it to its dregs, and swallowed all the awful draught. All was gone. He drank the cup of salvation, and He ate the bread of affliction… Behold His brow covered with sweat; witness the agonies as they follow each other into the very depths of His soul. Speak, ye lost, and tell what hell’s torment means; but ye cannot tell what the torments of Gethsemane were… Ah! that wrestling man-God-that suffering man of Gethsemane! Weep o’er Him, saints-weep o’er Him; when ye see Him rising from that prayer in the garden, marching forth to His cross; when ye picture Him hanging on His cross four long hours in the scorching sun, overwhelmed by His Father’s passing wrath-when ye see His side streaming with gore-when ye hear His death-shriek, “It is finished,”-and see His lips all parched, and moistened by nothing save the vinegar and the gall,-ah! then prostrate yourselves before that cross, bow down before that sufferer, and say, “Thou hast made us-Thou hast made us what we are; we are nothing without Thee.” The cross of Jesus is the foundation of the glory of the saints; Calvary is the birth-place of heaven; heaven was born in Bethlehem’s manger; had it not been for the sufferings and agonies of Golgotha we should have had no blessing. Oh, saint! in every mercy see the Saviour’s blood; look on this Book-it is sprinkled with His blood; look on this house of prayer-it is sanctified by His sufferings; look on your daily food-it is purchased with His groans. Let every mercy come to you as a blood-bought treasure; value it because it comes from Him; and ever more say, “Thou hast made us what we are.”~ C.H. Spurgeon

http://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0010.cfm