The Holy Spirit

God Hears Prayer

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

O Thou that hearest prayer, unto Thee shall all flesh come. – Psalm 65:2

Observe, here, that God hears prayer. It is, in some aspects, the lowest form of worship, and yet He accepts it. It is not the worship of heaven, and it is, in a measure, selfish. Praise is superior worship, for it is elevating; it is the utterance of a soul that has received good from God and is returning its love to Him in acknowledgment. Praise has a sublime aspect. Now, observe, if prayer is heard, then praise will be heard too. If the lower form, on weaker wing as it were, reaches the throne of the majesty on high, how much more shall the seraphic wing of praise bear itself into the divine presence. Prayer is heard of God: therefore, our praises and vows will be. And this is a very great encouragement, because it seems terrible to pray when you are not heard, and discouraging to praise God if He will not accept it. What would be the use of it? But if prayer and yet more praise be most surely heard, ah, brethren, then let us continue and abide in thanksgiving. “Whoso offereth praise glorifieth Me, saith the Lord.”

Observe too according to the text, that all prayer, if it be true prayer, is heard of God, for so it is put-“Unto Thee shall all flesh come.” Oh, how glad I am at that word. My poor prayer-shall God reject it? Yes, I might have feared so if He had said, “Unto Thee shall all spirits come.” Behold, my brethren, He takes the grosser part as it were, and looks at prayer in His infinite compassion, perceiving it to be what it is-a feeble thing-a cry coming from poor fallen flesh, and yet He puts it, “Unto Thee shall all flesh come. My broken prayer, my groaning prayer shall get to Thee, though it seems to me a thing of flesh, it is nevertheless wrought in me by Thy Spirit. And O my God, my song, though my voice be hoarse and oftentimes my notes most feeble, shall reach Thee. Though I groan because it is so imperfect, yet even that shall come to Thee. Prayer, if true, shall be received of God, notwithstanding all its faultiness, through Jesus Christ. Then so it will be with our praises and our vows. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1023.cfm

Continual Praises

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

Praise is awaiting You, O God, in Zion… – Psalm 65:1

It is to be feared that some of our praise ascends nowhere at all, but it is as though it were scattered to the winds. We do not always realize God. Now, “he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him;” this is as true of praise as of prayer. “God is a Spirit,” and they that praise Him must praise Him “in spirit and in truth,” for “the Father seeketh such” to praise Him, and only such; and, if we do not lift our eyes and our hearts to Him, we are but misusing words and wasting time. Our praise is not as it should be, if it be not reverently and earnestly directed to the Lord of Hosts. Vain is it to shoot arrows without a target: we must aim at God’s glory in our holy songs, and that exclusively.

“Jesus, where’er Thy people meet,
There they behold Thy mercy-seat;
Where’er they seek Thee, Thou art found,
And every place is hallow’d ground,

For Thou within no walls confined,
Inhabitest the humble mind;
Such ever bring Thee where they come,
And going, take Thee to their home.”

There should be in all our solemn assemblies a spiritual incense altar, always smoking with “the pure incense of sweet spices, mingled according to the art of the apothecary”: the thanksgiving which is made up of humility, gratitude, love, consecration, and holy joy in the Lord. It should be for the Lord alone, and it should never go out day nor night. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1023.cfm

The Power of THE WORD

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Fear not… – Revelation 1:17

The word of God, as we find it in this book, is very consoling; the word of God, as we hear it from Christ’s ministers, has great power in it; but the real and true power of the word lies in Jesus THE WORD. When the truth falls fresh from His own lips, then is it power. Right truly did the Master say, “the words which I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” With what power did those syllables fall on the fluttered heart of John-“Fear not.” Oh, that we might hear the same voice by the Spirit in our inmost souls.

“Oh, might I hear Thine heavenly tongue,
But whisper ‘Thou art Mine.’
Those gentle words should raise my song
To notes almost divine.”

Truly there are many voices and each has its significance, but the voice of Jesus has a heaven of bliss in its every accent. Let but my Beloved speak to me, and I will forego the angelic symphonies. Though He should only say, “Fear not,” and not a word beyond, it were worth worlds to see Him open His mouth unto us. But you say, can we still hear Jesus speak to us? Ay, by His Spirit. His Spirit still hath fellowship with the hearts of men, and He can bring the word of Scripture right home into the soul, until it becometh no more the letter but the living, quickening word of Christ. Do you know what I mean by this? If you do not, it is not possible to tell you; and if you do, you will need no explanation. Jesus speaks to the heart, the truth comes not in word only, but in demonstration of the Spirit and with power. O thou troubled believer, thou who art abashed by the very glory thou hast been made to see, be assured that Jesus will draw near unto thy soul, and touch thee, and speak with thee, so that thou shalt be strengthened with might by His Spirit in thine inner man. Had John not fallen as dead, he might never have heard the voice and felt the touch of His Lord. Sweet is the fall which leads to such a rise again. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1028.cfm

His Hand of Favor and Power

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And He laid His right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; – Revelation 1:17

“He laid His right hand upon me.” It is the hand of favor, it is also the hand of power. God gives strength to those who have none. He puts power into the faint. When the child of God is brought very low, it is not a mere subject for consideration or theme for reflection that can lift him up: sick men want more than instruction, they require cordials and supports. There must be actual strength and energy imparted to a swooning soul, and, glory be to God, by His own Holy Spirit, Jesus can and does communicate energy to His people in the time of weakness. He is come that we may have life, and that we may have it more abundantly. The omnipotence of God is made to rest upon us, so that we even glory in infirmities. “My grace is sufficient for thee, my strength is made perfect in weakness,” is a blessed promise, which has been fulfilled to the letter to many of us. Our own strength has departed, and then the power of God has flowed in to fill up the vacuum. I cannot explain the process: these are secrets and mysteries to be experienced rather than expounded; but as the coming of the Spirit of God into us first of all makes us live in regeneration, so the renewed coming of the power of God into our soul raises us up from our weakness and our faintness into fresh energy. Be thou encouraged, then, thou fainting spirit today. They that trust upon the Lord shall renew their strength. All power belongeth unto the Lord, and He will give it plenteously to those who have none of their own. Be of good courage and wait upon Him for none shall be ashamed who make Him their confidence. Then there followed a word from the Master’s own mouth. He spoke and said, “Fear not.” Here He applied the remedy to the disease. Christ Himself is our medicine, as well as our physician. His voice which stilled the sea, also casts out all our fears. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1028.cfm

Knowing the Love of Jesus

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And He laid His right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not… – Revelation 1:17

“He laid His hand upon me.” It is noticeable, that in the great cures which our Savior wrought, He almost always touched the patient. He could with a word have healed, but to prove His fellowship with the sick, He put His hand upon the leper, and upon the blind eye, and touched the deaf ear; thus, manifesting His condescending contact with the infirmities of our nature. The Master could have spoken a word to John and have revived him; but He did not stand at a distance, or guard Himself with a “Touch Me not” but, instead of that, He commenced His care with a touch. No other hand could have revived the apostle, but the hand which was pierced for him had matchless power. There is mighty healing in the royal hand of our Immanuel. When the Holy Spirit inspires us with a sense of the relationship which Christ bears to us, of the sympathy which Christ feels with us, of the kinship and fellow-feeling which reign in Jesus’ breast, then are we comforted. To know that He is not ashamed to call us brethren is a wellspring of comfort to a tried child of God; to feel His presence, to perceive the touch of His hand, and to hear Him say: “I am with thee, be not dismayed, for I am thy God,” this is new life to our waning spirits. Oh! what bliss is this. “In all their afflictions He was afflicted.” He is a brother born for adversity; a sympathetic and tender friend touched with a feeling of our infirmities. “He laid His hand upon me.” “O child of God, pray for a manifestation of the kinsman Christ to thy soul; ask that He would instruct thee as to the fact that He enters into thy grief, having Himself endured the like. Thou art one with Him, and He is one with thee; and as surely as the head feels the pain of the members, so does Jesus share in all the sorrows of His people. Let this be a comfort to thee, thou who art now lying as dead before the risen Lord. He comes near to thee, not to kill thee, but to revive thee by most intimate intercourse, talking with thee as a man speaketh with his friend. O man, greatly beloved, be not so overwhelmed with the greatness of thy Lord as to forget His love, His great love, His familiar love, which at this moment lays its hand upon thee. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1028.cfm

The Best Remedy for Fears

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

And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:  I am He that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen. – Revelation 1:17, 18

The knowledge of Jesus is the best remedy for fears: when we are better acquainted with our Lord, we part company with half our doubts-these bats and owls cannot bear the sun. Jesus in His person, work, offices, and relations, is a mine of consolation; every truth which is connected with Him is an argument against fear: when our heart shall be filled with perfect love to Him fear will be cast out, as Satan was cast down from heaven. Study then your Lord. Make it your life’s object to know Him. Seek the Holy Spirit’s illumination, and the choice privilege of fellowship, and your despondency and distress will vanish as night birds fly to hide themselves when the day breaketh. It is folly to walk in sorrow when we might constantly rejoice. We do not read that John was any more afraid after the Lord had discoursed lovingly upon His own glorious person and character. That divine enlightenment which was given to his mind, purged from it any secret mistake and misjudgment which had created excessive fear.

It is an infinite blessing to us to be utterly emptied, stripped, spoiled, and slain before the Lord. Our strength is our weakness, our life is our death, and when both are entirely gone, we begin to be strong and in very deed to live. To lie at Jesus’ feet is a right experience; to lie there as sick and wounded is better, but to lie there as dead is best of all; a man is taught in the mysteries of the kingdom, who comes to that. Moses with dim legal light needs to be told to put off his shoe from off his foot in the presence of the Lord of Hosts, but John is manifestly far in advance of him, because he lies lower, and is like a dead man before the Infinite Majesty. How blessed a death is death in Christ! How divine a thing is life in Him.  ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1028.cfm

The Clean Made Unclean to Clean the Unclean

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

For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? – Hebrews 9:13,14

Solomon, according to the Jewish tradition, declared that he did not understand why the ashes of the heifer made everybody clean except those who were unclean already. You saw in the reading that the priest, the man who killed the red cow, the person who swept up the ashes and he who mixed the ashes with water and sprinkled them were all rendered unclean by those acts—and yet the ashes purified the unclean! Is not this analogous to the riddle of the bronze serpent? It was by a serpent that the people were bitten—and it was by a serpent of brass that they were healed! Christ’s being regarded as unclean that we become clean and the operation of His Sacrifice is just like that of the ashes, for it both reveals uncleanness and removes it.

If you are clean and you think of Christ’s death, what a sense of sin it brings upon you! You judge of the sin by the Atonement. If you are unclean, drawing near to Christ takes that sin away!—

“Thus while His death my sin displays
In all its blackest hue,
Such is the mystery of Grace,
It seals my pardon, too.”

If we think we are unclean, a sight of the atoning blood makes us see how unclean we are. And if we judge ourselves unclean, then the application of the atoning Sacrifice gives our conscience rest. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1481.cfm