Prayers Already Answered

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prayer, promises, The Father 1 Comment

…save with Thy right hand and answer me. – Psalm 108:6

There is an old promise, concerning God’s people, which says, “Before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.” This text is one of the instances in which the Lord has dealt with His saints upon the lines of that promise. David prays, “Save with Thy right hand, and answer me;” and while he is waiting for God to answer him, he remembers that God has already spoken. In effect, he says to himself, “I am waiting for an answer, but God has given it to me.” Very often, the response to a believer’s petition has been practically received before he presents his request, and he only needs that God should open his eyes for him to see that, before he called, God had answered his supplication. Indeed, brethren and sisters in Christ, in one sense, all your prayers, that is, your prayers that ought to be answered, are already answered; for, whatsoever there may be that you may rightly ask of God, you really have it, since, in giving us Christ, He has already given us all things. An important part of the duty of faith is to believe that you have what you ask in prayer, and then you shall have it. This is blessed philosophy; may we all learn it! Oftentimes, when we are crying to God, and waiting for an answer to our petition, if we did but look around us, and if we had more acute powers of observation-if our spiritual faculties were keener and quicker, we should perceive that we already have the very thing for which we are asking. Some of you have, perhaps, been saying, “Oh, that we were indeed the Lord’s people, who have their prayers answered even before they offer them!” Well, then, turn to the Book, and you will find that the Lord has there told you that you are His if, indeed, you are believing in His Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. God has given you, by that most sure word of testimony, the clearest possible evidence of your personal interest in Christ already. If you are asking for some further kind assuring word, to soothe your fears to rest, turn to the Bible, for there is in it the very word you need. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2864.cfm

Gladness for Sadness 

Sherry sermon 2 Comments

You who are King of kings and Lord of lords, we worship You. Before Jehovah’s awful throne we bow with sacred joy.

Sermon Text

Gladly Yoked with Christ

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises Leave a comment

Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light. – Matthew 11:29, 30

I do not know whether I am right, but it struck me, when considering this text from various points, that probably our Saviour meant to convey an idea of deeper fellowship than we have yet considered. Did not He mean this- that He carried a yoke on His shoulder, which He calls, “My yoke?” When bullocks are yoked, there are generally two. I have watched them in Northern Italy, and noticed that when two are yoked together, and they are perfectly agreed, the yoke is always easy to both of them. If one were determined to lie down and the other to stand up, the yoke would be very uncomfortable; but when they are both of one mind you will see them look at each other with those large, lustrous, brown eyes of theirs so lovingly, and with a look they read each other’s minds, so that when one wants to lie down, down they go, or when one wishes to go forward, forward they both go, keeping step. In this way the yoke is easy. Now I think the Saviour says to us, “I am bearing one end of the yoke on My shoulder; come, My disciple, place your neck under the other side of it, and then learn of Me. Keep step with Me, be as I am, do as I do. I am meek and lowly in heart; your heart must be like Mine, and then we will work together in blessed fellowship, and you will find that working with Me is a happy thing; for My yoke is easy to Me and will be to you. Come, then, true yoke-fellow, come and be yoked with Me, take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me.” If that be the meaning of the text, and perhaps it is, it invites us to a fellowship most near and honorable. If it be not the meaning of the text, it is at any rate a position to be sought after, to be laborers together with Christ, bearing the same yoke. Such be our lot. Amen. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0969.cfm

Immovable Rest

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

…and ye shall find rest unto your souls. – Matthew 11:29

My dear brethren, if you find rest to your souls you will not be moved by the judgment of men. The children in the market-place were the type of our Lord’s generation, who railed both at John the Baptist and at our Lord. The generation which now is follows the same course, men are sure to cavil at our service. Never mind; take Christ’s yoke on you, live to serve Him; take Christ’s burden, make it a point to bear all things for His sake, and you will not be affected either by praise or censure, for you will find rest to your souls in surrendering yourself to the Father’s will. If you learn of Jesus you will have rest from the fear of men.

Next you will be delivered from fretfulness at want of success. “Then began He to upbraid the cities wherein most of His mighty works were done, because they repented not.” He had wrought His mighty works, and preached the gospel, and they did not repent. Was Jesus discouraged? Was He, as we sometimes are, ready to quit the work? No; His heart rested even then. If we come to Jesus, and take His yoke and burden, we too shall find rest, though Israel be not gathered.

Learning of Jesus we too shall rest in reference to divine decrees; we shall rejoice in whatever the Lord determines; predestination will not cast a gloom over us, but we shall thank God for all He ordains. What a blessed rest! As we open it up, does not its compass and depth surprise you? How sweet to lie passive in His hands, reconciled to every mystery, content with every dispensation, honored by every service satisfied in God! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0969.cfm

The Spiritual Rest Found in Christ

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Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. – Matthew 11:28, 29

It is very evident that the rest which we are to find is a rest which grows entirely out of our spirits being conformed to the spirit of Christ. “Learn of Me, and ye shall find rest.” It is then a spiritual rest altogether independent of circumstances. It is a vain idea of ours, to suppose that if our circumstances were altered, we should be more at rest. My brother, if you cannot rest in poverty, neither would you in riches; if you cannot rest in the midst of persecution, neither would you in the midst of honor. It is the spirit within that gives the rest, that rest has little to do with anything without. Men have sat on thrones and have found them uneasy places, while others on the rack have declared that they were at rest. The spirit is the spring of rest, as for the outward surroundings they are of small account. Let but your mind be like the mind of Christ, and you shall find rest unto your souls: a deep rest, a growing rest, a rest found out more and more, an abiding rest, not only which you have found, but which you shall go on to find. Justification gave you rest from the burden of sin, sanctification will give you rest from molesting cares; and in proportion as it becomes perfect, and you are like your Saviour, your rest shall become more like that of heaven.

In describing the second rest there is more said concerning Him than in the first. In the first part of our text it only says, “I will give you rest;” but in the second part His character is more fully explained-“For I am meek and lowly in heart;” as if to show that as believers grow in grace, and enjoy more rest, they see more of Jesus and know more of Him. All they know when sin is pardoned is that He gives it, perhaps they hardly know how; but afterwards when they come to rest in Him in sweet fellowship, they know more of His personal attributes, and their rest for that very reason becomes more deep and perfect. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0969.cfm

Learn of Jesus

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises Leave a comment

…and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart… – Matthew 11:29

Now, in order to learn of Christ it is implied that we lay aside all prejudices of the past. These things much prevent our finding peace. Have you any preconceived notions of what religion should be? Have you fashioned on your own anvil ideas of what the doctrines of the gospel ought to be? Throw them all away; learn of Jesus and unlearn your own thoughts. Then, when you are willing to learn, please to note what is to be learned. In order to get perfect rest of mind you have to learn of Jesus not only the doctrines which He teaches, but a great deal more than that. To go to school to be orthodox is a good enough thing, but the orthodoxy which brings rest is an orthodoxy of the spirit…To catch the spirit of Jesus is the road to rest. To believe what He teaches me is something, to acknowledge Him as my religious leader and as my Lord is much, but to strive to be conformed to His character, not merely in its external developments but in its interior spirit, this is the grammar of rest. Learn to be like the meek and lowly-hearted One, and ye shall find rest. Take the word “meek” first. I think that refers to the yoke-bearing, the active labor. If I actively labor for Christ I can only find rest in the labor by possessing the meek spirit of my Lord; for if I go forth to labor for Christ without a meek spirit, I shall very soon find that there is no rest in it, for the yoke will gall my shoulder…Then, as to the passive part of our rest-lesson, note the text, “I am lowly in heart.” We shall all have to bear something for the truth’s sake so long as we are here. The reproach is a part of the gospel. The rod is a blessing of the covenant. The lowly heart finds the burden very light because it acquiesces in the divine will. The lowly heart says, “Not my will but Thine be done; let God be glorified in me, it shall be all I ask. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0969.cfm

Take His Yoke

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises 1 Comment

Take My yoke upon you…For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light. – Matthew 11:29, 30

He who is a Christian will not find rest in being idle. There is no unrest greater than that of the sluggard. If you would rest take Christ’s yoke, be actively engaged in His service. As the bullock has the yoke put upon its neck and then begins to draw, so have the yoke of Christ put on your neck and commence to obey Him. The rest of heaven is not the rest of sleep; they serve Him day and night in His temple. They are always resting, and yet, in another sense, they rest not day nor night. Holy activity in heaven is perfect rest. True rest to the mind of the child of God is rest on the wing, rest in motion, rest in service, not rest with the yoke off, but with the yoke on. We are to enter upon this service voluntarily; we are to take His yoke upon us voluntarily. You observe, it does not say, “Bear My yoke when it is laid upon you but take it.” Do not need to be told by the minister, “My dear brother, such-and-such a work you are bound to do,” but take up the yoke of your own accord. Do not merely submit to be the Lord’s servant but seek His service. Ask, “What can I do?” Be desirous to do it voluntarily, cheerfully, do all that lieth in you for the extension of His kingdom who has given you rest, and you shall find that the rest of your soul shall lie in your doing all you can for Jesus.

Now the burden of Christ is His cross, which every Christian must take up. Expect to be reproached, expect to meet with some degree of the scandal of the cross, for the offence of it never ceases. Persecution and reproach are a blessed burden; when your soul loves Jesus it is a light thing to suffer for Him, and therefore never, by any cowardly retirement or refusal to profess your faith, evade your share of this honorable load. Woe unto those who say, “I will never be a martyr.” No rest is sweeter than the martyr’s rest. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0969.cfm