The Holy Spirit

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

God’s Sovereign Determination

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

“Thy faith hath saved thee.”—‍Luke 7:50 and Luke 18:42

Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace… – Romans 4:16

If thou wouldst have salvation, “believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved”; but if not, salvation is utterly impossible to thee. This is the appointed way; follow it, and it leads to heaven; refuse it, and thou must perish. This is God’s sovereign determination, “He that believeth on Him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed on the Son of God.” Jehovah’s will be done. If this be His method of grace, let us not kick against it. 

While I attribute this to the sovereign choice of God, I do see, for Scripture plainly indicates it, a reason in the nature of things why faith should thus have been selected. The apostle tells us it is of faith that it might be of grace. If the condition of salvation had been either feeling or working, then, such is the depravity of our nature, that we should inevitably have attributed the merit of salvation to the working or the feeling. We should have claimed something whereof to glory…”Wherefore dost thou boast in the fact of having believed, and especially when this believing would never have been thine if it had not been for the force of the truth which convinced thee, and the working of the Spirit of God which constrained thee to believe?”…It was Christ that saved the penitent woman, it was Christ that saved that blind beggar, but He takes the crown from off His own head, so dear is faith to Him, and He puts the diadem upon the head of faith and says, “Thy faith hath saved thee,” because He is absolutely certain that faith will never take the glory to herself, but will again lay the crown at the pierced feet, and say, “Not unto myself be glory, for Thou hast done it; Thou art the Saviour, and Thou alone.” In order, then, to illustrate and to protect the interests of sovereign grace, and to shut out all vain glorying, God has been pleased to make the way of salvation to be by faith, and by no other means.

Saving Faith by C. H. Spurgeon

Believe God, Sinner!

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

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. – Romans 10:13

Sinners…you who have heard all about this salvation by trusting—I charge you do not rest till you have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ and rested in the great promises of God. Here is one— “I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more forever.” Here is another which is very cheering— “Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Call upon Him in prayer and then say, “Lord, I have called, and You have said I shall be saved.” Here is another gracious word— “He that believes and is baptized shall be saved.” Attend you to these two commands and then say, “Lord, I have Your Word for it that I shall be saved, and I hold You to it.” Believe God, Sinner!

Oh, that He would give you Grace by His Holy Spirit, to say, “How can I do otherwise than believe Him? I dare not doubt Him.” O poor tried Soul, believe in Jesus so as to trust your guilty soul with Him. The more guilty you feel yourself to be, the more is it in your power to glorify God by believing that He can forgive and renew such a guilty one as you are! If you lie buried like a fossil in the lowest stratum of sin, yet He can quarry for you and fetch you up out of the horrible pit—and make your dry, petrified heart live! Do you believe this? “If you can believe, all things are possible to him that believes.”

Trust the promise that He makes to every Believer that He will save him! Hold to it, for it is not a vain thing! It is your life! “But what if I obtain no joy or peace?” Still, believe the promise, and joy and peace will come. “But what if I see no signs?” Ask for no signs! Be willing to trust God’s Word without any other guarantee but His truthful Character and you will thus give Him glory. “Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed.” Believe that Jehovah cannot lie and as He has promised to forgive all who believe in Jesus, hang on to that Word and you shall be saved!

How Is Salvation Received? by C. H. Spurgeon

Boasting? No.

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

Not of works, lest any man should boast. – Ephesians 2:9

If a man should boast of the strength of his faith, it would be clear evidence that he had none at all, or at least that he had, for the time, fallen into vainglorious presumption. Boasting? No. Faith loves to lie low and behave herself as a little child. And when she lifts herself up, it is to exalt her Lord, and her Lord, alone.

Faith, too, is well calculated to show forth the Grace of God, because Faith is the child of Grace. “Ah,” says Faith, “I have grasped the Covenant. I have laid hold on the promises, I have seen Christ, I have gazed into Heaven, I have enjoyed foretastes of eternal joys! But (she says) I am of the operation of God—I would never have existed if the Spirit of God had not created me!” The Believer knows that his faith is not a weed suitable to the soil of his heart, but a rare plant—an exotic which has been planted there by Divine Wisdom—and he knows, too, that if the Lord does not nourish it, his faith will die like a withered flower.

He knows that his faith is a perpetual miracle, for it is begotten, sustained and preserved by a power not less mighty than that which raised our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead! If I met with an angel in a hovel, I should know that he was not born there, but that he came from above. And so is it with faith—its heavenly descent is manifest to all! Faith, then, tracing her very existence to Grace, never can be anything but the friend, the vindicator, the advocate and the glorifier of the Grace of God—therefore it is of faith that it might be by Grace!

How Is Salvation Received? by C. H. Spurgeon