Give Up All That Opposes Christ

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

Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. – Isaiah 55:7

It is possible, dear friends, that your opposition to Jesus Christ has taken the form of the love of a favourite sin. Now, there is nothing more certain than this, that you cannot be saved and keep your sins: they must be parted with. No man can carry fire in his bosom and yet be safe from burning. While you drink the poison, it must and will work death in you. The thief cannot expect mercy while he keeps the goods he has stolen…Most men in their heart of hearts would like to have their sins and go to heaven too. But that cannot be; while God is just, and heaven is holy, and truth is precious, it cannot be. What then? “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” Give up, give up; give up your sin…The sins of the flesh are a deep ditch, and the abhorred of the Lord fall therein; but as thou lovest thy soul, O young man, escape like a bird from the fowler’s snare. Here is the message of God to thee: “Give up, give up thy sin.” Perhaps though you hear the summons, you trifle with it, and reply, “Yes; I mean to give them all up, and I hope by so doing I shall find my way to heaven. I shall deserve well of my Maker when I have denied myself all sinful pleasures.” But stop; let me not deceive you: this is not all. I fear that some men are not improved in their hearts when they are altered in their outward behavior. I am glad of the outward improvement, but I have sometimes fancied that they have only changed their sins but not given them up. They show no leprosy in their skin, but it lies in their bone and their flesh. It is little use merely to shift the region in which sin sets up its throne if its dominion is still undestroyed…All sin must be cast out of the throne of the heart, and whatever righteousness that is not Christ’s righteousness must go with it. I would fain put the sword-point to thy heart, O sinner, and say, “Give up all that opposes Christ;” for if thou do not give it up, thy soul will be lost. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1007.cfm

Sinner, Give It Up

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

(The King saith) “to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back.” – Isaiah 43:6

They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. – Romans 3:12

You say, “I am righteous; I am no worse than others. I have broken the law, but not much; my sins are trivial. I cannot deserve to be cast into hell for my small offenses. I have been not perfect, but as righteous as most. I have done this, I have done that, I have done the other.” Ah, dear friend, the sword of divine grace will kill all this; and the message that God’s mercy sends to you to-day is, “Give up.” Renounce your fancied goodness and deceitful self-esteem. Oh, give up that spinning; it is a poor trade to spin cobwebs. Give it up. Your father, Adam, taught you to make aprons of fig-leaves; but it was after he had fallen. It is a bad business: give it up. Your own works will never cover you as you should be covered; there is a better righteousness than yours to be had; there is a better footing to stand before God upon than anything you have done. Your refuges are all refuges of lies; give them up. That pretty righteousness of yours, which fools so white, is only white because your eyes are blind; if you could see it, it is all as black as filth can make it. You conceive your robe to be new and fair, but it is all riddled through and through with holes. The worms have devoured it; it is all moth-eaten and decayed. Give it up. Oh, give up that Pharisaic mouthful, “God, I thank thee,” and betake thyself to the publican’s prayer, “God be merciful to me, a sinner.” Give up thy selftrust; it is a painted lie, a rotten plank, a foul deception, a false traitor; it promises salvation, but it brings sure damnation. Jesus is the sinner’s only hope. Give up every other reliance…Rest assured, the sooner you give up all those flattering reliances of yours, the better for you, for there is nothing in them. Even ceremonies that God has commanded are only of spiritual use to spiritual men, and since you are not a spiritual man they cannot profit you. Have you in your heart an opposition to Christ? Can you not yield to Him as God? Can you not stoop to be saved entirely by His merits, and acknowledge Him for your Lawgiver, and Teacher, and Guide? Then as, the text saith so would I say, and may the Lord apply the word: “Give up; give up.” There is no salvation for thee till thou “give up” all ceremonial hopes and formal confidences.  ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1007.cfm

The Beauty of Gospel Influences

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

So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. ~ Romans 9:16

No man is ever taken to heaven against his will, though I do not believe any man ever went there of his own free will till God’s sovereign grace enlightened him and made him willing. You must not suppose that Christ conquers human hearts by physical compulsion, such as the King of Prussia used, for instance, in subduing France, or such as a man uses in driving a horse. The Lord knows how to leave us free, and yet to make us do His bidding, and therein lies the beauty of gospel influences. Suppose man’s will to be a room; if you and I want to open it, we break in the lock; we do not understand the true method; but the Lord has the key and knows how to open the door without a wrench. Without violating even the most delicate spring in the watch, the maker knows how to regulate it. Grace draws, but it is with hands of a man; it rules, but it is with a scepter of love. The fact is, the great dispute between Calvinists and Arminians has arisen very much through not understanding one another, and from one brother saying, “What I hold is the truth”-and the other saying, “What I hold is truth, and nothing else.” The men need somebody to knock both their heads together and fuse their beliefs into one. They need one capacious brain to hold both the truths which their two little heads contain; for God’s word is neither all on one side nor altogether on the other: it overlaps all systems and defies all formularies. It lays the full responsibility of his ruin on man, but all the power and glory of grace it ascribes to God; and it is wise of us to do the same. The great King doeth as He wills among men as well as among the armies of heaven. Who shall stay His hand or say unto Him, “What doest thou?” He rules men as men, and not as inanimate stones. He has a scepter which is adapted to mind and spirit. The weapons of His warfare are not carnal: His forces rule the heart, the mind, the whole manhood as He has made it; and so, He conquers, and becomes the happy King of willing subjects, who, though subdued by power, are happy to own His sway. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1007.cfm

Pray to the King

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

Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit… – Ephesians 6:18

I fully believe that the darkest time of any true Christian church is just the period when it ought to have the most hope; for when the Lord has allowed us to spin ourselves out till there is no more strength in us, then it is that He will come to our rescue…Look to the Most High, and not to man, or ministers, or modes, or methods, but only to Him, and the guidance of His Spirit…In His name I ask you, can anything be too hard for the Lord? Perhaps in your sphere of service you have grown so dispirited that you are inclined to say, “I may as well give up all further effort; no good will result from my endeavors.” But what have you told the Master, and what have you sought at His hand? Have you told Him all your discouragements? Have you asked Him to speak with power, and has He refused you? If so, then give it up, but not till then, for He can even now “say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back;” and as when He said to the thick primaeval darkness, “Let there be light,” and the light leaped into being, and the darkness fled, so can He, amid the gross darkness of our huge city, or the not less dense darkness of our villages, create light to our astonishment and to His glory. It is the King’s word we want-nothing short of it, and nothing more. We must get that by prayer; we must wait upon Him with importunity. If there be only two or three whose hearts break over the desolations of the church, if we have only half a dozen that resolve to give the Lord no rest till He establish and make Jerusalem a praise in the earth, we shall see great things yet. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1007.cfm

Duty is Ours, the Result is God’s

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

So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. – Romans 9:16

However intent you may be in winning souls to Christ, you shall never meet with one who can be subdued to Him by any persuasions of yours apart from the working of His own power. I know the preacher has thought within himself, “I have only to put the truth in a reasonable way, and the man will see it.” Ah! sir, but sinners are not reasonable: they are the most unreasonable of all creatures: none are so senseless, none act so madly as they do. “But,” saith one, “if I were to tell them of the love of Christ in an affectionate loving way, that would reach them.” Yes, but you will find that all your affection and your tears, and earnest delineation of the love of Jesus, will be powerless against human hearts, unless the Eternal Spirit shall drive home your appeals. We know some who have been reasoned with, and if logic could win them, they ought to have been won long ago: they have also been persuaded, and if rhetoric could reach them, they ought to have turned away from their evil ways years ago; but all human art has been tried and tried, and tried in vain; yet there is no room for despair, for Jesus can conquer the unconquerables, and heal the incurables. Do not be disappointed, dear brother, if you have hitherto failed in your efforts; you have but proved that “vain is the help of man.” You see now by experience that “it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.” It is yours to try and bring that soul to Jesus; but it lies with Him to perform the work. Duty is ours, the result is God’s. If the soil of the field committed to me will never yield a harvest, I am yet bound to plough it, if my Lord commands. If I could foresee that my child would never turn to the Lord, yet I ought not to slacken my efforts for its conversion. I have to do with my Master’s command, and what He bids me do I am bound to do…Do not forget then that there is a general opposition to the kingdom of Christ-such opposition as no human power can by any possibility overcome. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1007.cfm

Victorious with God

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

The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies. – Psalm 58:3

All the world over there is a general opposition to the cause of Christ, to the doctrine of truth, to the throne of God. Go where you may, in the highest places of the earth, you shall find true religion despised; among the lowest of the land you shall find that same religion blasphemed; and in the middle classes, where some seem to fancy that all virtue resides, you shall find carelessness about the things of the world to come, and carking carefulness about the selfishness of this present life. Jesus Christ is everywhere despised in comparison with the things that perish. They will not have this Man to reign over them…Striking is that text, “They go astray from the womb, speaking lies.” An old Puritan puts it; “They go astray before they go: they speak lies before they speak;” and so it is. Before it comes to acts, the evil propensity is in the heart; and before the lips can frame the falsehood, there is the lie within the soul. From the earliest infancy to palsied age, nothing seems to cure manhood of its rebellious disposition; the carnal mind is enmity against God, and is not reconciled to God, neither indeed while it remains what it is can it be. There is a general opposition to the cause and kingdom of Christ.

Whatever form sin takes, it is the same opposition, but yet it may need a different mode of treatment, and by a different weapon will it have to be overcome. My dear brother in Christ, you perhaps have a different personal, spiritual difficulty from mine. I have no wish to change with you, and I should not advise you to change with me. The same is true with our trials in winning souls. We have each our difficulties, but they are not precisely alike in detail. You have to fight the north perhaps, and I the south; but the same Lord and Master can make us victorious, and without Him we shall be equally defeated. The opposition which we encounter in serving our Lord is the same, depend upon it. You need not say, “Mine is a peculiarly hard task,” or if you do, I may say the same of mine. After all, both tasks are impossibilities without God… – C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1007.cfm

Brave Waiting

Sherry sermon Leave a comment

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