The Holy Spirit

Salvation is Not by Works of the Law

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

“Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them”-Ephesians 2:9, 10.

We insist upon it, with all our might, that salvation is “not of works, lest any man should boast.” But, on the other hand, we freely admit, and earnestly teach, that “without holiness no man shall see the Lord.” Where there are no good works, there is no indwelling of the Spirit of God. The faith which does not produce good works is not saving faith: it is not the faith of God’s elect: it is not faith at all in the scriptural sense… Before, in the gracious providence of God, Luther was raised up to preach the doctrine of justification by faith, the common notion among religious persons was, that men must be saved by works; and the result was that, knowing nothing of the root from which virtue springs, very few persons had any good works at all. Religion so declined that it became a mere matter of empty ceremony, or of useless seclusion; and, in addition, superstition overlaid the original truth of the gospel, so that one could hardly find it out at all… The way of salvation is by something other than our own works… We who are saved walk in holiness; for we are “created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” It is a decree of the sovereign Lord that His chosen should be led to walk in holiness… We preach salvation “not of works”; we repeat the teaching again and again and mean to repeat it continually till we die. Salvation is of the Lord’s mercy, and not by works of the law. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2210.cfm

The Gospel’s Blessing

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

Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. – Romans 4:8

When the law gets thoroughly into a man’s heart, it drives him to despair of himself. “Oh!” says he, “I cannot keep that law.” Once, he thought that he was as good as other people, and a little better than most; and he did not know but that, with a little polishing, and a little help, he might be good enough, to win the favor of God and go to heaven; but when the law entered his heart, it soon smashed his idol to atoms. The Dagon of self-righteousness speedily falls before the ten commands of God, and is so broken that it can never be mended… You must starve the sinner’s self-righteousness to make him willing to feed on Christ; and thus the very depths of his despair, when he thinks that he must be lost for ever, will only lead him, by God’s abundant love, to a fuller appreciation of the heights of God’s grace.

Now the law can do nothing for a sinner but say to him, “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them;” but the gospel comes in, and it replies to the curse of the law with such words as these, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord impuneth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.” Let the law curse as it may, the gospel’s blessing is richer and stronger, for the gospel says, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ;” and “there is therefore now no condemnation to them, which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3115.cfm

The Forces of Sin and Grace

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

“Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.”-Romans 5:20

There are two very powerful forces in the world, which have been here ever since the time when Eve partook of the forbidden fruit in the garden of Eden. Those two forces are sin and grace. A very great power is sin, a power dark, mysterious, baleful, but full of force. The sorrows of mankind, whence came they but from sin? We should have known no war, nor pestilence, nor famine, nor would aught of sickness or sorrow ever have smitten the human race had not sin sown its evil seed in this earth. Sin is the Pandora’s box from which all evil has come to mankind.

The only counter force against sin is grace… Grace is the free favor of God, the undeserved bounty of the ever-gracious Creator against whom we have offended, the generous pardon, the infinite, spontaneous lovingkindness of the God who has been provoked and angered by our sin, but who, delighting in mercy, and grieving to smite the creatures whom He has made, is ever ready to pass by transgression, iniquity, and sin, and to save His people from all the evil consequences of their guilt. Here, my brethren and sisters in Christ, is a force that is fully equal to the requirements of the duel with sin; for this grace is divine grace, and hence it is omnipotent, immortal, and immutable… The gracious purpose of God’s free favor to an undeserving man is more than a match for that man’s sin, for it brings to bear, upon his sin, the blood of the incarnate Son of God, and the majestic and mysterious fire of the eternal Spirit, who burns up evil and utterly consumes it. With God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost united against sin, the everlasting purposes of grace are bound to be accomplished, sin must be overcome. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3115.cfm

All This is the Work of God

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Holy Spirit 2 Comments

“The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip.” – John 1:43

I was sitting down, one day, gratefully reflecting on what God had done for me. I knew that my sins were pardoned, I knew that I was accepted in Christ Jesus, and I knew that I was renewed in heart, and in one moment the revelation came to me: “All this is the work of God.” The instant I saw that truth, I said to myself, “Yes, that is the fact, and God be glorified for it! But why has this great work been wrought in me?” I knew that there was no merit in me before the Lord had dealt in mercy with my soul, so I said to myself, “This is the effect of sovereign distinguishing grace.” Then I understood in a moment how it is that God begins with us, and that it is God’s will and God’s eternal purpose, which, after all, lie deeper down than our will or our purpose; and God’s will and God’s eternal purpose must have the glory. What a revelation it was to me! I saw the doctrines of grace immediately; and I think that anybody who has been brought to find the Saviour, and who prayerfully studies the reasons for his salvation, can see the same truth that the Lord revealed to me. Because first of all, you began to be thoughtful, did you not? Who made you thoughtful? You would never have found the Savour if you had not become thoughtful instead of careless and indifferent. Who made you think of divine things? What influence was it which wrought upon you, and caused you to feel that you must think about eternity, and heaven, and hell? Then you had a sense of your need and of your sinfulness. There was a time when you had no such sense; then, who gave it to you? Where do you think that repentance, that sorrow for sin, that desire after Christ, came from? Did all that grow in your own fallen human nature? Ah, believe me, that dunghill never brought forth such fair flowers as these! No, it was Christ who sowed the good seed in your soul; it was He who made you feel your need of Him. Surely it was God the Holy Ghost going forth, in the name of Jesus Christ, and dealing with you in mercy. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2375.cfm

When Christ Comes to Our Soul

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, The Holy Spirit 2 Comments

“The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow Me. Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found Him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”- John 1:43-45

“Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found Him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” That is Philip’s description of it: “We have found Jesus.” It was a true description, but it was not all the truth; we will notice the Holy Spirit’s description of it: “The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip.” Philip’s account of the incident is that he found Christ; but the Holy Spirit’s record of it is that Christ found Philip. They are both true, however; although the latter is the fuller.

The day in which a man comes to Christ is also a wonderful day in its effect upon all his future. It is as when the helm of a ship is put right about; the man now sails in a totally different direction. His future will never be what his past was. There may be faults; there may be infirmities and shortcomings; but there will never be the old love of sin any more. “Sin shall not have dominion over you.” This is God’s own promise to us, given through His servant Paul. When Christ comes to our soul, He so breaks the neck of sin, that though it lives a struggling, dying life, and often makes a deal of howling in the heart, yet it is doomed to die. The cross of Christ has broken its back, and broken its neck, too, and die it must. Henceforth the man is bound for holiness, and bound for heaven.

“Tell to sinners round,
What a dear Saviour I have found.”

~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2375.cfm

Lessons from Nature

Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God, The Holy Spirit 6 Comments

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven… – Ecclesiastes 3:1

I suppose the dwellers in cities think less of times and seasons than dwellers in the country Men who were born, trained up, nourished and nurtured among corn-fields, harvests, sowings, and reapings, are more likely to notice such things than you who are always engaged in mercantile pursuits, and think less of these things than rustics do. But I suppose, if it is almost necessary that you should less regard the harvest than others, it ought not to be carried to too great an extent. Let us not be forgetful of times and seasons. There is much to be learned from them, and I would refresh your memories by a harvest field. What a wondrous temple this world is; for in truth it is a temple of God’s building, wherein men ought to worship Him. What a wondrous temple it is to a mind spiritually enlightened, which can bring to bear upon it the resources of intellect, and the illuminations of God’s Holy Spirit! There is not a single flower in it that does not teach us a lesson, there is not a single wave, or blast of thunder, that has not some lesson to teach to us, the sons of men. This world is a great temple, and if you walk in an Egyptian temple, you know that every mark and every figure in the temple has a meaning, so when you walk this world, everything about you has a meaning. It is no fanciful idea that there are “sermons in stones”; for there really are sermons in stones, and this world is intended to teach us by everything that we see. Happy is the man who only has the mind, and has the spirit to get these lessons from Nature. Flowers, what are they? They are but the thoughts of God solidified, God’s beautiful thoughts put into shape. Storms, what are they? They are God’s terrible thoughts written out that we may read them. Thunders, what are they? They are God’s powerful emotions just opened out that men may hear them. The world is just the materializing of God’s thoughts; for the world is a thought in God’s eye. He made it first from a thought that came from His own mighty mind, and everything in the majestic temple that He has made, has a meaning. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2896.cfm

Tenderly Guided

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

Go and join yourself unto this chariot – Acts 8:29

There are many monitions from God’s Spirit which are not noticed by Christians when they are in a callous condition; but when the heart is right with God and living in communion with God, we feel a sacred sensitiveness, so that we do not need the Lord to shout, but His faintest whisper is heard. Nay, He need not even whisper. “Thou shalt guide me with Thine eye.” Oh, how many mulish Christians there are who must be held in with kit and bridle, and receive a cut of the whip every now and then! But the Christian who follows his Lord shall be tenderly guided. I do not say that the Spirit of God will say to you, “Go and join yourself unto this chariot,” or that you will hear a word in your ear; but yet in your soul, as distinctly as the Spirit said to Philip, “Go and join yourself to this chariot,” you shall hear the Lord’s will. As soon as you see an individual, the thought shall cross your mind, “Go and speak to that person.” Every opportunity of usefulness shall be a call to you. If you are ready, the door shall open before you, and you shall hear a voice behind you saying, “This is the way; walk ye in it.” If you have the grace to run in the right way you shall never be long without an intimation as to what the right way is. That right way shall lead you to river or sea, where you can cast your net, and be a fisher of men.

Fear not, neither be dismayed. Let your responsibilities drive you closer to your Master. Let horror of prevailing sin make you look into His dear face who long ago wept over Jerusalem, and now weeps over London. Clasp Him, and never let go your hold. By the strong and mighty impulses of the divine life within you, quickened and brought to maturity by the Spirit of God, learn this lesson from your Lord’s own mouth: “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” You are not fit for it, but He will make you fit. You cannot do it of yourselves, but He will make you do it. You do not know how to spread nets and draw shoals of fish to shore, but He will teach you. Only follow Him, and He will make you fishers of men. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1906.cfm