The Holy Spirit

The Lord Comforts His Church

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

For the LORD shall comfort Zion: He will comfort all her waste places… -Isaiah 51:3

Beloved, we make but sorry comforters for God’s people unless Jehovah puts His own hand to the work. I have sometime tried to cheer up my brethren when they have been desponding, and I hope not without success; yet I have always felt that to relieve and refresh a desponding saint, I must fetch the remedies from my Master’s pharmacy. So, doubtless, those of you who have ever sought to obey the command, “Comfort ye, comfort ye My people,” must have found that it was not your word that could comfort Zion, nor your sympathy, but God’s truth applied by God’ Spirit, for this alone can comfort Zion. Oh! blessed promise! “The Lord will comfort Zion; He will comfort her waste places.” He that made the heavens will become the Comforter of His people. The Holy Ghost, who brooded over chaos, and brought order out of confusion; the mighty Spirit who came down at Pentecost in tongues like as of fire, with a sound like as a mighty rushing wind-that same blessed Spirit will come to the hearts of the members of His Church and comfort them. There are sorrows for which there is no solace within the reach of the creature; there is a ruin which it would baffle any mortal to retrieve. Happy for us that the Omnipotent comes to our aid. It is “He who telleth the number of the stars; calleth them all by their names”; who also “healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds!” Where He is, rolling the stars along, filling heaven with wonder as He creates majestic orbs, and keeps them in their pathways, making the comet fling its gorgeous light across space and startle nations, holding the burning furnace of the sun in the hollow of His hand; yet He stoops down to minister to a desponding spirit, and to pour the oil and wine of heavenly comfort into a poor distracted heart! Yes, it is Zion that is to be comforted, but it is Jehovah Himself who has promised to be her Comforter! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3514.cfm

 

God’s Church: Cleansed and Comforted

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

“For the Lord shall comfort Zion: He will comfort all her waste places and He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.”- Isaiah 51:3

The pedigree of God’s chosen nation Israel may be traced back to one man and one woman-to Abraham and Sarah. Both of them were well stricken in years when the Lord called them, yet, in the fulfillment of His promise, He built up of their seed a great nation, which, for number, was comparable to the stars of heaven. Take heart, brethren; these things are written for our example and for our encouragement. His Church can never sink to so low an ebb that He cannot soon build her up again, nor in our own hearts can the work of grace ever decline so grievously that the same mighty power which once quickened cannot revive and restore us. Think of Abraham and Sarah, childless till they were old, then rejoicing in one son, who became their heir. Hence sprang the great multitude that peopled Palestine. With such a panorama unfolding before you, there is no excuse for despair; but you may find ten thousand reasons for confidence in God.

“The Lord will comfort Zion.” Well He may, for she is His chosen. “The Lord hath chosen Zion.” He would have those upon whom His choice is fixed be glad and happy…He would have His Church rejoice because He has not only chosen her, but He has cleansed her. Jesus has put away the sin of His people by His blood, and by His Spirit He is daily renewing the nature of His children. Sin is the cause of sorrow, and when sin is put away sorrow shall be put away too. The sanctified should be happy. The Lord will, therefore, comfort them:, because He cleansed them. The Church of God is placed where God dwells:-

“Where God doth dwell sure heaven is there;
And singing there should be.”

~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3514.cfm

Beware of a Sunny-Weather Religion

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prayer, promises, salvation, The Holy Spirit 4 Comments

But I have trusted in Thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in Thy salvation. -Psalm 13:5

“If on my face for Thy dear name,
Shame and reproach may be;
I’ll hail reproach and welcome shame,
For Thou (shalt) remember me.”

It takes some pluck, but we ought to have it in the cause of Christ. Your mean, miserable wretches that will only go out to follow Christ in sunny weather, and get them gone again when a cloud darkens the sky, deserve well the wrath that comes upon them. They are like the Nautilus, very well on the placid sea, but the first billow that arises they furl their sails and drop into the deep, and are seen no more. Oh! beware, beware, beware of a sunny-weather religion; beware of a religion that will not stand the fire; but be you such that, if all the world forsook Christ, you would say, “I will rejoice in His salvation”; and if you were turned out of doors, if you were turned out of the world itself, and thought not fit to live, you would yet be content to have it so, if you might be numbered with the people of God, and be permitted to rejoice in His salvation.

I cannot forget, when I sat as a young lad under the gallery of a little place of worship, hearing the gospel simply preached-the blessed moment when I was led to resolve to follow Christ. I have never been ashamed of having done so. I have never had to regret it. He is a blessed Master. He has handled me roughly lately, but He is a blessed Master. I would follow at His heels if only like a dog, for it is better to be His dog than to be the devil’s darling. He is a blessed Master…O eternal Spirit, come and touch some heart, and make this, their spiritual birthright, that they may say, “I will rejoice in Thy salvation.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3503.cfm

Come Out of Your Iron Cage

Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life, promises, The Holy Spirit 3 Comments

Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish’s belly…-Jonah 2:1

One is saying, “Oh! I shall never be in a more unhappy state than I now am in, I have lost the light of His countenance; He hath clean gone away from me, and I shall perish.” You remember in John Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress,” the description of the man shut up in the iron cage. One says to him, “Wilt thou never come out of this cage?” “No, never.” “Art thou condemned for ever?” “Yes, I am.” “Why was this?” “Why I grieved the Spirit, and He is gone; I once thought I loved Him, but I have treated Him lightly and He has departed. I went from the paths of righteousness, and now I am locked up here, and cannot get out.” Yes, but John Bunyan does not tell you that the man never did get out. There have been some in that iron cage that have come out. There may be one here who has been for a long while sitting in that iron cage, rattling the bars, trying to break them, trying to file them through with his own little might and strength. Oh! dear friend, you will never file through the iron bars of that terrible cage; you will never escape by yourself. What must you do? You must begin to sing like the bird in the cage does; then the kind Master will come and let you out. Cry to Him to deliver you; and though you cry and shout, and He shutteth out your prayer, He will hear you by-and-bye; and like Jonah you shall exclaim in days to come, “Out of the belly of hell I cried unto the Lord, and He heard me.”

“Return, O wanderer, return,
And seek an injured Father’s face;
Those warm desires that in thee burn
Were kindled by reclaiming grace.”

~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0051.cfm

A Divine Salvation

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

“I will rejoice in Thy salvation.”- Psalm 9:4

You have salvation wrapped up in the gift of the person of Jesus Christ. All of it lies in Christ. Because He died, our sin is put away. Because He lives, we shall live also. And Christ is the pure gift of God. All salvation is in Him, and, therefore, all salvation is thus procured by God. It is God’s salvation. And what is more, God not only plans and procures, but He also applies salvation… All believers will confess that they are God’s workmanship, created anew in Christ Jesus. “No man can come unto Me except the Father which hath sent Me draw Him.” There is a want (lack) of power. “Ye will not come unto Me that ye might have life.” There is a want (lack) of will, and the Spirit of God, therefore, applies the salvation which God has planned, and which God has provided. And as the first application of this salvation is of God, so is it all the way through.

He is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending. “Salvation is of the Lord,” from first to last. He makes the rough draft of it, in conviction, upon our conscience; He goes on to complete the picture; and if there be one touch in the picture that is not of God, it is a blot upon it. If there be anything of the flesh, it will have to be wiped out; it is not consistent with the work of God. Of God is it in all respects. Now we know that this salvation is of God, not only because we are told that He planned it, and provided it, and applies it, but because it has the marks of God upon it.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3503.cfm

God Can Make Thee a New Man

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, The Holy Spirit 7 Comments

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. – 2 Corinthians 5:17

“Oh that I were a new man in Christ Jesus; oh that I might begin a new life!”

Some of you would like to begin a new life; some of you reprobates who have gone far away! Well, poor mortal, thou mayest. “How?” sayest thou. Why, if thou art a new man in Christ Jesus thou wilt begin again. A Christian is as much a new man as if he had been no man at all before; the old creature is dethroned, he is a new creature, born again, and starting on a new existence. Poor soul! God can make thee a new man. God the Holy Spirit can build a new house out of thee, with neither stick nor stone of the old man in it, and He can give thee a new heart, a new spirit, new pleasures new happiness, new prospects, and at last give thee a new heaven. “But,” says one “I feel that I want these things but may I have them?” Guess whether you may have them, when I tell you, “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.” It does not say it is worthy of some acceptation, but it is worthy of all the acceptation you will ever give it. If you now say, “Jesus came into the world to save sinners, I believe He did! I know He did; He came to save me,” you will find it “worthy of all acceptation.” You say still, “But will He save me?” I will give you another passage: “Whosoever cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out.” Ah! but I do not know whether I may come! “Whosoever,” it saith. “Him that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out.” “Whosoever will, let him come,” it is written. Dost thou will? I only speak to such as will, who know their need of a Saviour. Dost thou will? Then God the Holy Spirit says, “Whosoever will, let him come, and take the water of life freely.”

The feeble, the guilty, the weak, the forlorn,
In coming to Jesus shall not meet with scorn;
But He will receive them, and bless them, and save
From death and destruction, from hell and the grave.

-and He will lift them up to His kingdom of glory. God so grant it; for His name’s sake. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0051.cfm

The God of Peace

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

Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen -Romans 15:33

If you consider God in the trinity of His persons for a few moments, you will see that in each-Father, Son, and Holy Ghost-the title is apt and correct, “the God of peace.” There is God the everlasting Father, He is the God of peace, for He from all eternity planned the great covenant of peace, whereby He might bring rebels nigh unto Him, and make strangers and foreigners fellow-heirs with the saints, and joint-heirs with His Son Christ Jesus.

So is Jesus Christ, the second person, the God of peace for “He is our peace who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us.” He makes peace between God and man. His blood sprinkled on the fiery wrath of God turned it to love, or rather that which must have broken forth in wrath, though it was love for ever, was allowed to display itself in loving-kindness through the wondrous mediatorship of Jesus Christ; and He is the God of peace because He makes peace in the conscience and in the heart.

So is the Holy Ghost the God of peace. He of old brought peace, when chaotic matter was in confusion, by the brooding of His wings: He caused order to appear where once there was nothing but darkness and chaos. So in dark chaotic souls He is the God of peace…When by earthly cares we are tossed about, like the sea-bird, up and down, up and down, from the base of the wave to the billows’ crown, He says, “Peace be still.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0049.cfm