The Holy Spirit

What Jesus Saw in Us

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Holy Spirit 1 Comment

Scarcely for a righteous man will one die; peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die; but God commendeth His love towards us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. – Romans 5:7,8

When Christ has renewed us by His Spirit, there may be a temptation to imagine that some excellency in us won the Savior’s heart; but, my brethren, you must understand that Christ died for us while we were yet sinners. Not that infant washed and swaddled, not that fair maiden with the jewel in her ear, and with the pure golden crown upon her head, not that lovely princess, presented like a chaste virgin to her husband; no, that was not what Jesus saw when He died. He saw all that in the glass of His prescience, but the actual condition of that fair maid was very different when He died for her; she was cast out, unwashed, unsalted, unswaddled, in her blood, a foul, filthy thing. Ah! my brethren, there is no filthy thing under heaven so filthy as a filthy sinner. When there was not a ray of beauty to be discovered in us, when neither without nor within a single thing could be found to commend us, but we were morally altogether abhorrent to the Holy nature of Christ, then-oh wondrous grace! -He came from the highest heaven that the mass of our sin might meet on Him… Such a wonderful union is there between Christ and the sinner that I venture to say there are some expressions in the New Testament and in the Old with regard to Christ’s connection with the sin of man that I would not dare to use except as direct quotations from Holy Writ; but being there you shall see how wondrously the love of Jesus Christ induced Him to take upon Himself our sad condition and plight. But, oh the love! oh the love! God over all, blessed for ever, should have laid on Him the iniquity of us all! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0694.cfm

Love Learned at the Feet of Jesus

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, The Holy Spirit Leave a comment

Love… – 1 Corinthians 13

Love’s art is learned at no other school but at the feet of Jesus, where the Spirit of love doth rest on those who learn of Him. Beloved, the Spirit of God puts love into us, and helps us to maintain it, thus-first, love wins these victories, for it is her nature. The nature of love is self-sacrifice. Love is the reverse of seeking her own. Love is intense; love is burning; therefore, she burneth her way to victory. Love! Look at it in the mother. Is it any hardship to her to lose rest and peace and comfort for her child? If it costs her pain, she makes it pleasure by the ardour of her affection. It is the nature of love to court difficulties, and to rejoice in suffering for the beloved object. If you have fervent love to the souls of men, you will know how true this is.

There are with her tenderness that “beareth all things,” faith that “believeth all things,” hope that “hopeth all things,” and patience which “endureth all things,” and he that hath tenderness, and faith, and hope, and patience hath a brave quaternion of graces to guard him, and he need not be afraid. Best of all, love sucks her life from the wounds of Christ. Love can bear, believe, hope, and endure because Christ has borne, believed, and hoped, and endured for her…Love makes us love; love bought us, sought us, and brought us to the Saviour’s feet, and it shall henceforth constrain us to deeds which else would be impossible…May the Lord of love look into your very eyes with those eyes which once were red with weeping over human sin: may He touch your hands with those hands that were nailed to the cross, and impress the blessed nailmarks upon your feet, and then may He pierce your heart till it pour forth a life for love, and flow out in streams of kind desires, and generous deeds, and holy sacrifices for God and for His people. God grant it, for Jesus’ sake. Amen. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1617.cfm

Love’s Endurance

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, The Holy Spirit Leave a comment

Love…endures all things. – 1 Corinthians 13:7

The last victory of love is in enduring all things, by which I understand a patient perseverance in loving. This is perhaps the hardest work of all, for many people can be affectionate and patient for a time, but the task is to hold on year after year. I have known some men earnestly check their temper under provocation, and bear a great many slights, but at last they have said, “There is an end to everything: I am not going to put up with it any longer. I cannot stand it.” Blessed be God, the love that Christ gives us endureth all things. As His love endured to the end, so does the love which the Spirit works in us endure to the end.

(L)ove holds out under all rebuffs. “You mean that I shall not love you, my good man, but I shall love you. You give me the rough side of your tongue and make me see that you are not a very lovable person, but I can love you notwithstanding all. What? Will you do me a further unkindness? I will oppose you by doing you a greater kindness than before. You said a vile thing about me; I will not hear it, but if it be possible I will say a kind thing of you. I will cover you up with hot coals till I melt you; I will war against you with flames of love till your anger is consumed. I will master you by being kinder to you than you have been unkind to me.” What hosts of misrepresentations and unkindnesses there are; but if you go on to be a true Christian you must endure all these…Stand fast in love; endure not some things, but all things, for Christ’s sake; so shall you prove yourself to be a Christian indeed. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1617.cfm

Love Believes in the Salvation of Men

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, The Holy Spirit Leave a comment

Love…believes all things… – 1 Corinthians 13:7

Love believes that the precious blood of Christ can redeem the bondslaves of sin and Satan and break their iron chains; she believes that the power of the Holy Spirit can change a heart of granite into a heart of flesh. Love, therefore, believing this, believes also that God can save this sinner by herself, and she therefore begins to speak to him, expecting that the word she speaks will be God’s instrument of salvation…She does not refrain from preaching Christ through fear of failure, but she believes in the great possibilities which lie in the gospel and in the Spirit of God, and so she deals earnestly with the man next her. She believes in her own principles, she believes in the grace of God, she believes in the power of the Spirit of God, she believes in the force of truth, she believes in the existence of conscience, and so she is moved to set about her saving work. She believeth all things.

Brethren, do you want a model of this? Then I beseech you look to your divine Master. See Him in the morning when the sheep are counted, missing one of them, and so full of faith is He that He can find the lost one, that He leaves the ninety and nine, and cheerfully enters the pathless wilderness. See how He bounds over the mountains! How He descends the ravines! He is seeking His sheep until He finds it, for He is fully assured that He shall find it. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, for His faith is great in the salvation of men, and He goes forth to it believing that sinners shall be saved. I delight in the deep, calm faith of our Lord Jesus Christ. He had no faith in man’s goodness, for “He knew what was in man”; but He had great faith in what could be done in men and what could be wrought for them, and for the joy that was set before Him in this He endured the cross, despising the shame. He had faith that grand things would come of His salvation-men would be purified, error would be driven out, false-hood would be slain, and love would reign supreme. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1617.cfm

Absolutely Needful

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, The Holy Spirit 1 Comment

“Charity beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.”- 1 Corinthians 13:7

The absence of charity is absolutely fatal to vital godliness; so saith the Holy Ghost in this chapter. When then, you read the apostle’s high encomiums of charity, do not say, “This is a fancy virtue to which certain special saints have attained, and we are bound to admire them for it, but we need not imitate them.” Far from it. This charity is the common, everyday livery of the people of God. It is not the prerogative of a few; it must be the possession of all. Do not, therefore, however lofty the model may be, look up to it as though you could not reach it: you must reach it. It is put before you not only as a thing greatly desirable, but as absolutely needful; for if you excelled in every spiritual gift, yet if you had not this all the rest would profit you nothing whatever. One would think that such excellent gifts might benefit us a little, but no, the apostle sums them all up, and saith of the whole, “it profiteth me nothing.” I pray that this may be understood of us at the very beginning, lest we should manage to slip away from the truth taught us by the Holy Ghost in this place and should excuse ourselves from being loving by the notion that we are so inconsiderable that such high virtue cannot be required of us, or so feeble that we cannot be expected to attain to it. You must attain it, or you cannot enter into eternal life, for if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His; and the Spirit of Christ is sure to beget the charity of our text, which “beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1617.cfm

The Song of the Redeemed

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, The Holy Spirit Leave a comment

Sing, O ye heavens; for the LORD hath done it…break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified Himself in Israel. – Isaiah 44:23

Mr. Sankey is now behind me, but he cannot sing sweetly enough to set forth to the full the majesty of this song, nor could the choicest choir of singing men and singing women; nay, this task exceeds the reach of the seraphim themselves. Praise is silenced, O Lord, by the glory of Thy love. Yet, brethren, let us give forth such music as we have.

Let us consider how we sing this song. We sing it when by faith we see the grand truth that Jesus Christ took His people’s sin upon Him, and so redeemed them. Understanding this fact, which is the heart of the gospel, we begin to sing for joy. Get a grip of that, my brethren, and hold it fast: your hearts will then sing; you cannot help it. Not all the harps of heaven can be more melodious than your song will be when your heart fully understands this fact-that Jesus Christ did actually stand in His people’s stead, and finished transgression, and brought in everlasting righteousness for them. You will sing it better still if the Holy Spirit has applied it to your own soul, so that you can say, “My sins are blotted out like a cloud, and like a thick cloud my transgressions.” “Through Jesus’ blood I am clean, I am accepted in the Beloved, I am dear to the heart of God; on me there remaineth now no spot nor wrinkle, for I am cleansed through Jesus Christ.” Nothing else can bring forth such charming music from any man’s mind as a sense of redeeming grace and dying love. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1240.cfm

Rejoice in Your Redemption

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

And they sung a new song, saying, Thou … hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation … – Revelation 5:8

…the Lord hath done it… – Isaiah 44:23

Sinner, though you have not this redemption, yet I would have you sing about it, for it is precisely what you want. You are slaves to sin, and ought you not to bless God that there can be such a thing as redemption? …Many are redeemed, and are rejoicing in it; why should it not come to you? At any rate, begin to hope.

Rejoice, because salvation is a work done for you by another hand. “The Lord hath done it.” A redemption in which you had to find a part of the price would not make you sing, for you are too poor to contribute a farthing, but the Lord has found the whole cost to the utmost penny. If ever you are saved, it must be by power beyond your own, for you are weak as water; be glad, then, that the Lord has done it. If you can ever get that thought into your mind (and I pray the Holy Ghost to put it there), that your salvation was completed on the tree by the Lord Jesus, why, methinks, you will with joy shout forth the Redeemer’s praise.

Think again “the Lord hath done it,” even He whom you have offended. The God whom you have grieved has condescended to work out your redemption. Ought not this to make your soul say, “Would God it were for me”? and then begin to sing even at the bare possibility of such a thing. “Only trust Him now! He will save you. He will save you. He will save you now.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1240.cfm