The Holy Spirit

The Bullying Legalist

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

But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. – Galatians 4:29

Beloved, the legalist is a great deal older than the Christian. If I were a legalist to-day, I should be some fifteen or sixteen years older than I am as a Christian, for we are all born legalists. Speaking of Arminians, Whitfield said, “We are all born Arminians.” It is grace that turns us into Calvinists, grace that makes Christians of us, grace that makes us free, and makes us know our standing in Christ Jesus. The legalist must be expected, then, to have more might of argument than Isaac; and when the two boys are wrestling, of course Isaac generally gets a fall, for Ishmael is the biggest fellow. And you must expect to hear Ishmael making the most noise, for he is to be a wild man, his hand against every man, and every man’s hand against him; whereas Isaac is a peaceful lad. He always stands up for his mother, and when he is mocked, he can go and tell his mother that Ishmael mocked him, but that is all that he can do; he has not much strength. So you notice now-a-days. The Ishmaelites are generally the strongest, and they can give us desperate falls when we get into argument with them. In fact, it is their boast and glory that the Isaacs have not much power of reasoning-not much logic. No, Isaac does not want it, for he is an heir according to promise, and promise and logic do not much consist together. His logic is his faith; his rhetoric is his earnestness. Never expect the gospel to be victorious when you are disputing after the manner of men; more usually look to be beaten. If you are discoursing with a legalist, and he conquers you, say, “Ah! I expected that; it shows I am an Isaac, for Ishmael will be sure to give Isaac a thrashing, and I am not at all sorry for it.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0069.cfm

Learning the Difference

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

For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. -Galatians 4:22, 23

There cannot be a greater difference in the world between two things than there is between law and grace. And yet, strange to say, while the things are diametrically opposed and essentially different from each other, the human mind is so depraved, and the intellect, even when blessed by the Spirit, has become so turned aside from right judgment, that one of the most difficult things in the world is to discriminate properly between law and grace. He who knows the difference, and always recollects it-the essential difference between law and grace-has grasped the marrow of divinity. He is not far from understanding the gospel theme in all its ramifications, its outlets, and its branches, who can properly tell the difference between law and grace. There is always in a science some part which is very simple and easy when we have learned it, but which, in the commencement, stands like a high threshold before the porch. Now, the first difficulty in striving to learn the gospel is this. Between law and grace there is a difference plain enough to every Christian, and especially to every enlightened and instructed one; but still, when most enlightened and instructed, there is always a tendency in us to confound the two things. They are as opposite as light and darkness, and can no more agree than fire and water; yet man will be perpetually striving to make a compound of them-often ignorantly, and sometimes willfully. They seek to blend the two, when God has positively put them asunder.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0069.cfm

 

Driven to Our Saviour

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

And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We be all dead men. -Exodus 12:33

When the children of Israel went out of Egypt it is a remarkable thing that they were forced out by the Egyptians. Those Egyptians who had enriched themselves with their slavery, said, “Get ye hence, for we be all dead men;” they begged and entreated them to go; yea, they hurried them forth, gave them jewels that they might depart, and made them quit the land. And it is a striking thing, that the very sins which oppress the child of God in Egypt, are the very things that drive him to Jesus. Our sins makes slaves of us while we are in Egypt, and when God the Holy Spirit stirs them up against us, how do they beat us with cruel lashes, till our soul is worn with extreme bondage; but those very sins, by God’s grace, are made the means of driving us to the Saviour. The dove fleeth not to its cote unless the eagle doth pursue it; so sins like eagles pursue the timid soul, making it fly into the clefts of the Rock Christ Jesus to hide itself. Once, beloved, our sins kept us from Christ; but now every sin drives us to him for pardon. I had not known Christ if I had not known sin; I had not known a deliverer, if I had not smarted under the Egyptians. The Holy Spirit drives us to Christ, just as the Egyptians drove the people out of Egypt.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0055.cfm

God Loveth Crying-Out Prayers

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

Arise, cry out in the night…-Lamentations 2:19

Trust in Him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before Him: God is a refuge for us. Selah. -Psalm 62:8

God loves earnest prayers. He loves impetuous prayers-vehement prayers. Let a man preach if he dare coldly and slowly, but never let him pray so. God loveth crying-out prayers. There is a poor fellow who says-“I don’t know how to pray. Why, sir,” he says, “I could not put six or seven words together in English grammar.” Tush upon English grammar! God does not care for that, so long as you pour out your heart. That is enough. Cry out before Him…When you go to mercy’s gate, let me give you a little advice. Do not go and give a gentle tap, like a lady; do not give a single knock, like a beggar; but take the knocker and wrap hard, till the very door seems to shake. Rap with all your might! and recollect that God loveth those who knock hard at mercy’s gate. “Knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”

Just hear how the Psalmist has it: “pour out your hearts before Him.” Not “pour out your fine words,” not “pour out your beautiful periods,” but “pour out your hearts.”… Pour out your heart like water; pour it out by confessing all your sins; pour it out by begging the Lord to have mercy upon you for Christ’s sake; pour it out like water. And when it is all poured out, He will come and fill it again with “wines on the lees, well refined.”

Thus do I speak to all who will acknowledge themselves to be sinners in the sight of God, but even these must have the assistance of the Holy Spirit to enable them to cry out. O my Lord, grant it. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0059.cfm

Rebel No More

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

Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good; and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities and your abominations. -Ezekiel 36:31

God, in conversion, makes us new men. We are not altered, improved, or mended, but a new life is given us; we become new creations in Christ Jesus. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to make us to be born again, and as that which is born of the flesh is flesh, so that which is born of the Spirit is spirit, and it hates the old corrupt nature, loathes it, and fights against it to the death. And further, the moving cause for loathing ourselves is the receipt of divine mercy. “Oh!” saith the soul when it finds itself forgiven, “did I rebel against such a God as this! What! has He struck out all my sins from the roll, cast them all behind His back, and does He declare that He loves me still? Then wretch that I am that I should have revolted and rebelled against such a God as this.”

And it is, …when we find that He blots out our sin, that He is all love and all compassion, we yield to Him at once, and then shame comes, to think that it should ever have been needful for us to yield, that we should ever have taken up arms against Him at all. It is a beautiful incident in English history when one of our kings was carrying on war against his rebellious son. and they met in battle, and the son was just about to kill the father, when the father’s visor was lifted up and he saw that it was his father whom he was about to kill. So the sinner, fighting against His God, thinks He is his enemy, but on a sudden he beholds it is his own Father that he has been fighting against, and he drops the weapon of his rebellion, feeling ashamed that he should have rebelled against such mercy and such favour…Your God is good, be ready to repent and be forgiven; rebel no more.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3506.cfm

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