The Holy Spirit

Our Lifework

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

If any man serve Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall also My servant be… – John 12:26

I do not believe that any Christian was created merely to keep a shop—he was created to serve God in his trading. Notwithstanding all man’s sin, a man is such a noble work of God that he cannot have been intended merely to measure off yards of silk, or to weigh pounds of sugar, or to sweep street crossings, or to put on crowns, robes and diamonds. There is something grander than that for man to do! The little birds are made to sing God’s praises and I, who am of more value than many sparrows, must be meant to sing God’s praises too! This is especially true concerning us who profess to have been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ and to have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit. Our life has an outlook towards the Infinite—there are windows in our life that look towards God. Look out of them, O Christian! With your windows open towards God, live in the light of His Countenance and seek in all things to please and honor Him! It is your lifework to honor God, to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, to be the instrument by which God shall illustrate His almighty power—the black foil from which He shall display the brightness of His Grace. You are to be the means of spreading abroad in this world the savor of Christ’s name—but you cannot do this unless you follow Christ.

I do not believe that all of you would be following Christ if you were to attempt to preach. Even Christ never attempted to do what His Father did not intend Him to do. A man once asked Him to officiate as a lawyer or a judge, but He replied, “Who made Me a judge or a divider over you?” One beauty of Christ’s life was that He kept to His calling and did not go beyond His commission. And you will be wise if you do the same…Every man has his own particular calling and every Christian’s calling should be especially for God…all are fitted for the work to which they are called by God. And to each one the Master says, “Follow Me and keep to the work which My Father has given you to do, even as I pleased not Myself by selecting My own work, but did that which My Father had appointed for Me.”

Following the Risen Christ by C. H. Spurgeon

We Must be Like Jesus

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, repentance, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Holy Spirit

Then said Jesus unto His disciples, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. – Matthew 16:24

When sin is pardoned and the eternal safety of the soul is ensured, the next thing is to seek the purity of the soul and to secure a character that shall be worth having throughout eternity. There is no character which is worth having which is not fashioned according to the Character of Christ. He is absolute perfection! In Him is nothing redundant and from Him nothing is omitted which ought to be there. To be perfect, we must be like Jesus. “Looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith,” we are to conquer this sin and to overcome that passion and, in the power of God’s Spirit, to cultivate this tender Grace and that other bolder virtue! The one thing we are to aim at is to tread in Christ’s footsteps, to do what He did and, as far as He is imitable by us, to do it as He did it and to be as He was in the midst of the sons and daughters of men. If I am a Christian, I am not to be following Calvin, or Arminius, or any other earthly leader—I am to mold my doctrinal opinions, my thoughts, words, character and acts after the model of Christ’s!

The same Law applies to the whole of our life-service. If we would do what we were created to do—if, being trees of God’s planting, we are to bear the fruit He meant us to bear, we must follow Jesus Christ! We are sent into the world, under Him, upon the great errand of seeking the lost—

“‘Tis all our business here below
To cry, ‘Behold the Lamb!’”

—some from the pulpit, but every Christian from some place or other. To each individual Believer, Christ has given a position which nobody else can so well occupy and from that position he can influence some other person or persons whom God will bless through him.

Following the Risen Christ by C. H. Spurgeon

Seek the Things That Are Above

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

If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. – Colossians 3:1

Let us be practical and in very deed seek the things that are above—seek them because we feel we need them. Seek them because we greatly prize them. Seek them because we hope to gain them; for a man will not heartily seek for that which he has no hope of obtaining. The things which are above, which we are even now to seek, are such as these—let us seek heavenly communion, for we are no more numbered with the congregation of the dead, but we have fellowship in Christ’s Resurrection and with all the risen ones. “Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ” and, “our conversation is in Heaven.” Let us seek to walk with the living God and to know the fellowship of the Spirit. Let us seek heavenly Graces, for “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above.” Let us seek more faith, more love, more patience, more zeal—let us labor after greater charity, greater brotherly kindness, greater humbleness of spirit.

Let us labor after likeness to Christ, that He may be the firstborn among many brethren. Seek to bear the image of the heavenly and to wear those jewels which adorn heavenly spirits. Seek also heavenly objectives. Aim at the Glory of God in everything. You have to labor and toil in this world for you are yet in the body—take care to use worldly things to God’s Glory. Exercise your privileges and fulfill your duties as before God, not minding the judgment of men. Wherein you mingle with the sons of men, take heed that you descend not to their level, nor act from their motives. You are not to seek your own selfish ends or the aggrandizement of a party, but to promote the general good and the interests of truth, righteousness, peace and purity. Sanctify everything by the love of God and your neighbor. Seek no party ends, but things which are pure and honest and of good report.

Following the Risen Christ by C. H. Spurgeon

The Divine Power

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Holy Spirit

So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: it is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. – 1 Corinthians 15:42-44

When a body is buried, we are told by the Apostle, again, that it is “sown in weakness.” The poor dead frame cannot lay itself down in its last bed—friendly hands must place it there. Even so we were utter weakness towards all good. When we were the captives of sin, we could do nothing good, even as our Lord said, “Without Me you can do nothing.” We were incapable of even a good thought apart from Him. But “when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly” and now we know Him and the power of His Resurrection! God has given us the spirit of power and of love. Is it not written, “As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name”? What an amazing power is this! Now we “taste of the powers of the world to come” and we are “strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness.”

Faith girds us with a Divine power, for, “all things are possible to him that believes.”…Is not this a marvelous change which the spiritual resurrection has worked upon us? Is it not a glorious thing that God’s strength should be perfect in our weakness? The great change mainly concerns another point. It is said of the body, “It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.” Before this we were natural men and discerned not the things that are of the Spirit of God. We minded earthly things and were moved by carnal lusts after the things which are seen. But now, through Divine Grace, a spirit has been created in us which feeds on spiritual bread, lives for spiritual objects, is swayed by spiritual motives and rejoices in spiritual truths.

Following the Risen Christ by C. H. Spurgeon

A Wonderful Change, Indeed

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Holy Spirit

If ye then be risen with Christ… – Colossians 3:1

We are risen with Christ and, therefore, there has been worked in us a wonderful change. When the dead shall rise, they will not appear as they now are. The buried seed rises from the ground, but not as a seed, for it puts forth green leaves and bud and stem and gradually develops expanding flowers and fruit and even so we wear a new form, for we are renewed after the image of Him that created us in righteousness and holiness! I ask you to consider the change which the Spirit of God has worked in the Believer—a wonderful change, indeed! Before regeneration our soul was as our body will be when it dies and we read that, “it is sown in corruption.” There was corruption in our mind, and it was working irresistibly towards every evil and offensive thing.

In many, the corruption did not appear upon the surface, but it worked within. In others it was conspicuous and fearful to look upon. How great the change! For now the power of corruption within us is broken! The new life has overcome it, for it is a living and incorruptible seed which lives and abides forever. Corruption is upon the old nature, but it cannot touch the new, which is our true and real self. Is it not a great thing to be purged of the filthiness which would have ultimately brought us down to Hell where the unquenchable fire burns and the undying worm feeds upon the corrupt?

“Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.” What an honor this is! Heaven itself contains not a more honorable being than a renewed man! Well may we cry with David, “What is man, that You are mindful of him? And the son of man, that You visit him?” …The Lord Himself has said, “Since you were precious in My sight, you have been honorable and I have loved you.” …A precious Christ makes us precious—such honor have all the saints!

Following the Risen Christ by C. H. Spurgeon

The Second Birth

Sherry Character of Jesus, Christian Life, confession of sin, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Holy Spirit, the unbelieving life

If ye then be risen with Christ… – Colossians 3:1

All who believe in Christ are risen with Christ. Let us meditate on this Truth of God.

We were “dead in trespasses and sins,” but having believed in Christ we have been quickened by the Holy Spirit, and we are dead no longer! There we lay in the tomb, ready to become corrupt—yes, some of us were corrupt—the marks of the worm of sin were upon our character and the foul stench of actual sin arose from us. More or less, according to the length of time in which we abode in that death and according to the circumstances with which we were surrounded, death worked in us corruption. We lay in our death quite unable to raise ourselves. Ours were eyes that could not see and ears that could not hear; a heart that could not love and withered hands that could not be stretched out to give the touch of faith….We were, therefore, in a state of spiritual death of the most fearful kind. The Holy Spirit visited us and made us live. We remember the first sensation of life, some of us—how it seemed to tingle in our soul’s veins with sharp and bitter pain—just as drowning persons, when life is coming back to them, suffer great pain. Conviction was worked in us and confession of sin. A dread of judgment to come and a sense of present condemnation were present, but these were tokens of life and that life gradually deepened and opened up until the eyes were opened—we could see Christ! Our hands ceased to be withered and we stretched them out and touched His garment’s hem….Then the eyes, not content with only seeing, fell to weeping and afterwards, when the tears were wiped away, they flashed and sparkled with delight. And oh, my Brothers and Sisters, believers in Jesus, you were not spiritually dead any longer!..Now, Beloved, you are new creatures—the product of a second birth, begotten again in Christ Jesus unto newness of life! Christ is your life—such a life as you never knew before, nor could have known apart from Him. If you then are risen with Christ you walk in newness of life while the world abides in death!

Following the Risen Christ by C. H. Spurgeon

The Resurrection Blessing

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God, The Holy Spirit

If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. – Colossians 3:1

Important to the fact of the Resurrection is the doctrine of the federal headship of Christ and the unity of all His people with Him. It is because we are in Christ that we become partakers of everything that Christ did—we are circumcised with Him, dead with Him, buried with Him, risen with Him because we cannot be separated from Him. We are members of His body and not a bone of Him can be broken. Because that union is most intimate, continuous and indissoluble, therefore all that concerns Him concerns us and as He rose, so all His people have arisen in Him! They are risen in two ways.

First, representatively. All the elect rose in Christ in the day when He quit the tomb. He was justified or declared to be clear of all liabilities on account of our sins by being set free from the prison of the tomb. There was no reason for detaining Him in the sepulcher, for He had discharged the debts of His people by dying “unto sin once.” … “Now if we are dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him: knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dies no more; death has no more dominion over Him. For in that He died, He died unto sin once: but in that He lives, He lives unto God.” (Romans 6:1,8,9)

Next to this representative resurrection comes our spiritual resurrection, which is ours as soon as we are led by faith to believe in Jesus Christ. Then it may be said of us, “And you hath He quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins.” (Ephesians 2:1) The resurrection blessing is to be perfected, by-and-by, at the appearing of our Lord and Savior, for then our bodies shall rise again if we fall asleep before His coming. He redeemed our manhood in its entirety—spirit, soul and body—and He will not be content until the resurrection which has passed upon our spirit shall pass upon our body, too. 

Following the Risen Christ by C. H. Spurgeon