The Great Testifier

December 31, 2022December 31, 2022Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Father Leave a comment

I have declared... – Psalm 40:10

Jesus was constantly testifying to the gospel of God, the gospel of His righteousness and of His grace. From the first moment when He, being full of the Holy Ghost, began to preach the gospel, until the day when He was taken up into heaven, while He blessed His disciples, He was instant in season and out of season. There were no wasted moments of time, no neglected opportunities, no talents held in reserve. “I must work,” was His motto. The zeal of God’s house consumed Him. It was His meat and His drink to do the will of Him that sent Him. Mark ye how He concentrated every attribute of His nature, every faculty of His mind, and every power of His body in the one work He had undertaken-to do His Father’s will? He seems all His life through to have challenged the enquiry, “Wist ye not that I must be about My Father’s business?” He was continually preaching the gospel. “Never a man spake as this Man,” may apply to the quantity as well as the quality of His utterances…He could speak anywhere-even along the crowded thoroughfare, where the multitudes thronged Him. He went down the lowest streets, and from the poorest beggars He didn’t turn aside. He was not thwarted by the sneers, and sarcasms, and subtle questioning of the Pharisees and Sadducees. One thought possessed Him, and He persistently wrought it out. His life-sermon was so thorough that nothing of earthly splendor could allure or distract Him or break the thread. He was always and everywhere either pleading with God for men, or else pleading with men for God…”I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained My lips, O Lord, Thou knowest. I have not hid Thy righteousness within My heart; I have declared Thy faithfulness and Thy salvation: I have not concealed Thy lovingkindness, and Thy truth from the great congregation.” He was the great Witness for God, the great Testifier, who went proclaiming everywhere the kingdom of God, and the good tidings of salvation to man. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0977.cfm

Changed by Grace

December 30, 2022December 30, 2022Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God Leave a comment

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God… – Ephesians 2:8

O! thou who art valiant for truth, thou wouldst have been as valiant for the devil if grace had not laid hold of thee. A seat in heaven shall one day be thine; but a chain in hell would have been thine if grace had not changed thee. Thou canst now sing His love; but a licentious song might have been on thy lips if grace had not washed thee in the blood of Jesus. Thou art now sanctified, thou art quickened, thou art justified; but what wouldst thou have been to-day if it had not been for the interposition of the divine hand? There is not a crime thou mightest not have committed; there is not a folly into which thou mightest not have run. Even murder itself thou mightest have committed if grace had not kept thee. Thou shalt be like the angels; but thou wouldst have been like the devil if thou hadst not been changed by grace. Therefore, never be proud; all thy garments thou hast from above; rags were thine only heritage. Be not proud, though thou hast a large estate, a wide domain of grace; thou hadst once not a single thing to call thine own except thy sin and misery. Thou art now wrapped up in the golden righteousness of the Saviour and accepted in the garments of the Beloved; but thou wouldst have been buried under the black mountain of sin, and clothed with the filthy rags of unrighteousness, if He had not changed thee. And art thou proud?…Go, hang thy pride upon the gallows, as high as Haman; hang it there to rot, and stand thou beneath and execrate it to all eternity; for sure of all things most to be cursed and despised is the pride of a Christian. He, of all men, has ten thousand times more reason than any other to be humble, and walk lowly with his God, and kindly and humbly toward his fellow-creatures. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0125.cfm

God’s Fruitful Vine

December 29, 2022December 29, 2022Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God Leave a comment

Son of man, what is the vine tree more than any tree, or than a branch which is among the trees of the forest? – Ezekiel 15:2

In looking upon all the various trees, we observe that the vine is distinguished among them; so that, in the old parable of Jotham, the trees waited upon the vine-tree, and said unto it, “Come thou and reign over us.” But merely looking at the vine, without regard to its fruitfulness, we should not see any kingship in it over other trees. In size, form, beauty, or utility, it has not the slightest advantage. We can do nothing with the wood of the vine. Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work? or will men make a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon? It is a useless plant apart from its fruitfulness. We sometimes see it in beauty, trained up by the side of our walls, and it might be seen in all its luxuriance; and great care is bestowed in its training; but leave the vine to itself, and consider it apart from its fruitfulness, it is the most insignificant and despicable of all things that bear the name of trees. Now, beloved, this is for the humbling of God’s people. They are called God’s vine; but what are they by nature more than others? Others are as good as they; yea, some others are even greater and better than they. They, by God’s goodness, have become fruitful, have been planted in a good soil; the Lord hath trained them upon the walls of the sanctuary, and they bring forth fruit to His glory. But what are they without their God? What are they without the continual influence of the Spirit, begetting fruitfulness in them? Are they not the least among the sons of men, and the most to be despised of those that have been brought forth of women? Look upon this, believer. Doth not thy conscience reproach thee? Do not thy thousand wanderings stand before thee, and tell thee that thou art unworthy to be called His son? Does not the weakness of thy mental power, the frailty of thy moral power, thy continual unbelief, and thy perpetual backsliding from God, tell thee that thou art less than the least of all saints? And if He hath made thee any thing, art thou not thereby taught that it is grace, free, sovereign grace, which hath made thee to differ? Great Christian, thou wouldst have been a great sinner if God had not made thee to differ. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0125.cfm

Inward Piety

December 28, 2022December 24, 2022Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God Leave a comment

“The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.” – Psalm 19:9

“The fear of the Lord is clean.” The doctrine of truth is here described by its spiritual effect—namely, inward piety, or the fear of the Lord; this is clean in itself, and cleanses out the love of sin, sanctifying the heart in which it reigns. Mr. Godly-fear is never satisfied until every street, lane, and alley, yes, and every house and every corner of the town of Mansoul is clean rid of the Diablolonians who lurk therein.

“Enduring for ever.” Filth brings decay, but cleanness is the great foe of corruption. The grace of God in the heart being a pure principle, is also an abiding and incorruptible principle, which may be crushed for a time, but cannot be utterly destroyed. Both in the Word and in the heart, when the Lord writes, He says with Pilate, “What I have written, I have written.” He will make no erasures Himself, much less allow others to do so. The revealed will of God is never changed; even Jesus came not to destroy but to fulfill, and even the ceremonial law was only changed as to its shadow, the substance intended by it is eternal. When the governments of nations are shaken with revolution, and ancient constitutions are being repealed, it is comforting to know that the throne of God is unshaken and His law unaltered.

“The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.” Jointly and individually the words of the Lord are true. That which is good in detail, is excellent in the mass. No exception may be taken to a single clause separately, or to the book as a whole. God’s judgments, all of them together, or each of them apart—are manifestly just, and need no laborious excuses to justify them. The judicial decisions of Jehovah, as revealed in the law, or illustrated in the history of His providence, are truth itself, and commend themselves to every truthful mind. Not only is their power invincible, but their justice is unimpeachable. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

FB source

Your God Is Your Joy

December 27, 2022December 27, 2022Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God 1 Comment

…we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. – 2 Corinthians 5:1

Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He hath prepared for them a city. – Hebrews 11:16

We know that this earthly house of our tent shall be dissolved, but we have “a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” “He hath prepared…a city.” A city is a place of genial associations. In a lonely hamlet one has little company. In a city, especially where all the inhabitants shall be united in one glorious brotherhood, the true communism of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity may be realised in the purest sense and highest possible degree.

Do not wonder, those of you who are the children of God, do not wonder if you have discomforts here. If you are what you profess to be, you are strangers: you do not expect men of this world to treat you as members of their community. If they do, be afraid. Dogs don’t bark as a man goes by that they know: they bark at strangers. When people persecute you and slander you, no marvel. If you are a stranger, they naturally bark at you. Do not expect to find the comforts in this world that you crave after, that your flesh would long for. This is our inn, not our home. We tarry for a night: we are away in the morning. We may bear the annoyances of the eventide and the night, for the morning will break so soon. Remember that your greatest joy, while you are a pilgrim, is your God. So the text says, “Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God.” Do you want a richer source of consolation than you have? Here is one that can never be diminished, much less exhausted. When the created streams are dry, go to this eternal fountain, and find it ever springing up. Your joy is your God: make your God your joy. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1030.cfm

Matchless Condescension This!

December 26, 2022December 26, 2022Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God Leave a comment

…wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God… – Hebrews 11:16

Have you not sometimes heard of a man who has become rich and has risen in the world, who has had some poor brother or some distant relative. When he has seen him in the street, he has been obliged to speak to him and own him. But oh, how reluctantly it was done. I dare say he wished him a long way off, especially if he had some haughty acquaintance with him at the time, who would perhaps turn round, and say, “Why, who is that wretched, seedy-looking fellow you spoke to?” He does not like to say, “That’s my brother;” or “That’s a relative of mine.” Not so our Lord Jesus Christ. However low His people may sink, He is not ashamed to call them brethren. They may look up to Him in all the depths of their degradation. They may call Him a brother. He is in very fact a brother, born for their adversity, able and ready to redress their grievances, He is not ashamed to call them brethren. One reason for this seems to me to be, because He does not judge of them according to their present circumstances, but much rather according to their pleasant prospects. He takes account of what He has prepared for them…You see his outward attire, not his inner self- you see the earthly tabernacle, but the spirit newborn, immortal and divine- you see not that. Howbeit, God does. Or, if you have spiritual discernment to perceive the spiritual creature, you only see it as it is veiled by reason of the flesh and beclouded by the atmosphere of this world; but He sees it as it will appear, when it shall be radiant like unto Christ, without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. God sees the poorest, the least proficient disciple as a man in Christ; a perfect man come unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; such indeed as he will be in that day when he shall see Christ, for then he shall be like Him as He is. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/rsv/heb/11/15/s_1144016