In Christ’s Likeness

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

 I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness. – Psalm 17:15

The Psalmist says we are to wake up in the likeness of God. This may refer to the soul; for the spirit of the righteous will be in the likeness of God as to its happiness, holiness, purity, infallibility, eternity, and freedom from pain; but specially, I think, it relates to the body because it speaks of the awaking. The body is to be in the likeness of Christ…I am to wake up in Christ’s likeness. I do not know what Christ is like and can scarcely imagine. I love sometimes to sit and look at Him in His crucifixion. I care not what men say-I know that sometimes I have derived benefit from a picture of my dying crucified Saviour; and I look at Him with His crown of thorns, His pierced side, His bleeding hands and feet, and all those drops of gore hanging from Him; but I cannot picture Him in heaven, He is so bright, so glorious; the God so shines through the man; His eyes are like lamps of fire; His tongue like a two-edged sword; His head covered with hair as white as snow, for He is the Ancient of days; He binds the clouds round about Him for a girdle; and when He speaks, it is like the sound of many waters! I read the accounts given in the book of Revelation, but I cannot tell what He is; they are Scripture phrases, and I cannot understand their meaning; but whatever they mean, I know that I shall wake up in Christ’s likeness. Oh; what a change it will be, when some of us get to heaven! Whatever may have been the form of our countenance, whatever the contour, the beautiful shall be no more beautiful in heaven than those who were deformed. Those who shone on earth, peerless, among the fairest, who ravished men with looks from their eyes, they shall be no brighter in heaven than those who are now passed by and neglected: for they shall all be like Christ. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0025.cfm

Satisfaction

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

 …I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness. – Psalm 17:15

He will be satisfied, the Psalmist says, when he wakes up in God’s likeness. Satisfaction! this is another joy for the Christian when he shall enter heaven. Here we are never thoroughly satisfied. True, the Christian is satisfied from himself; he has that within which is a wet-spring of comfort, and he can enjoy solid satisfaction. But heaven is the home of true and real satisfaction. When the believer enters heaven I believe his imagination will be thoroughly satisfied. All he has ever thought of he will there see; every holy idea will be solidified; every mighty conception will become a reality, every glorious imagination will become a tangible thing that he can see. His imagination will not be able to think of anything better than heaven; and should he sit down through eternity, he would not be able to conceive of anything that should outshine the lustre of that glorious city. His imagination will be satisfied. Then his intellect will be satisfied.

“Then shall I see, and hear, and know,
All I desired, or wished, below.”

Who is satisfied with his knowledge here? Are there not secrets we want to know, depths in the arcana of nature that we have not entered? But in that glorious state we shall know as much as we want to know. The memory will be satisfied. We shall look back upon the vista of past years, and we shall be content with whatever we endured, or did, or suffered on earth…We shall be satisfied with everything; there will not be a single thing to complain of. “I shall be satisfied.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0025.cfm

My Times Are In Thy Hand

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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

To Behold His Face

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

As for me, I will behold Thy face in righteousness… – Psalm 17:15

Have I not seen my Father’s face here below? Yes, I have, “through a glass darkly,” But has not the Christian sometimes beheld Him, when in His heavenly moments earth is gone, and the mind is stripped of matter? There are some seasons when the gross materialism dies away, and when the ethereal fire within blazes up so high that it almost touches the fire of heaven. There are seasons, when in some retired spot, calm and free from all earthly thought, we have put our shoes from off our feet because the place whereon we stood was holy ground; and we have talked with God! even as Enoch talked with Him so has the Christian held intimate communion with his Father. He has heard His love whispers, he has told out his heart, poured out his sorrows and his groans before Him. But after all he has felt that he has not beheld His face in righteousness. There was so much sin to darken the eyes, so much folly, so much frailty, that we could not get a clear prospect of our Jesus. But here the Psalmist says, “I will behold Thy face in righteousness.” When that illustrious day shall arise, and I shall see my Saviour face to face, I shall see Him “in righteousness.” 

My God, I believe I shall stand before Thy face as pure as Thou art Thyself, for I shall have the righteousness of Jesus Christ -there shall be upon me the righteousness of God. “I shall behold Thy face in righteousness.” O Christian, canst thou enjoy this? Though I cannot speak about it, dost thy heart meditate upon it? To behold His face forever; to bask in that vision! True, thou canst not understand it; but thou mayest guess the meaning. To behold His face in righteousness! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0025.cfm

Confidence

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

“I shall be satisfied when I awake in Thy likeness.” – Psalm 17:15

“I shall be satisfied when I awake in Thy likeness.” God never gives strong faith without fiery trial; He will never give a man the power to say that “shall” without trying him; He will not build a strong ship without subjecting it to very mighty storms; He will not make you a mighty warrior, if He does not intend to try your skill in battle…Oh! what a happy thing to have that faith to say “I shall.” Some of you think it quite impossible, I know; but it “is the gift of God,” and whosoever asks it shall obtain it: and the very chief of sinners now present in this place may yet be able to say long before he comes to die, “I shall behold Thy face in righteousness.” Methinks I see the aged Christian. He has been very poor. He is in a garret where the stars look between the tiles. There is his bed. His clothes ragged and torn. There are a few sticks on the hearth: they are the last he has. He is sitting up in his chair; his paralytic hand quivers and shakes, and he is evidently near his end. His last meal was eaten yester-noon; and as you stand and look at him, poor, weak, and feeble, who would desire his lot? But ask him, “Old man, wouldst thou change thy garret for Caesar’s palace? Aged Christian, wouldst thou give up these rags for wealth, and cease to love thy God?” See how indignation burns in his eyes at once! He replies, “‘As for me, I shall, within a few more days, behold His face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied soon; here I never shall be. Trouble has been my lot, and trial has been my portion, but I have a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” Bid high; bid him fair; offer him your hands full of gold; lay all down for him to give up his Christ. “Give up Christ?” he will say, “no, never!” Oh! what a glorious thing to be full of faith, and to have the confidence of assurance, so as to say, “I will behold Thy face; I shall be satisfied when I awake with Thy likeness.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0025.cfm

To Live on the Future

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

As for me, I will behold Thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness. – Psalm 15:17

Have you ever lived on the future, and said, “As for me I shall have somewhat, by-and-bye?” Why, this is the highest motive that can actuate a man. I suppose this was what made Luther so bold, when he stood before his great audience of kings and lords, and said, “I stand by the truth that I have written, and will so stand by it till I die; so help me God!” Me thinks he must have said, “I shall be satisfied by-and-bye. I am not satisfied now, but I shall be soon.” For this the missionary ventures the stormy sea; for this he treads the barbarous shore; for this he goes into inhospitable climes, and risks his life, because he knows there is a payment to come by-and-bye. I sometimes laughingly tell my friends when I receive a favor from them, that I cannot return it, but set it up to my Master in heaven, for they shall be satisfied when they awake in His likeness. There are many things that we may never hope to be rewarded for here, but that shall be remembered before the throne hereafter, not of debt, but of grace. Like a poor minister I heard of, who, walking to a rustic chapel to preach, was met by a clergyman who had a far richer berth. He asked the poor man what he expected to have for his preaching. “Well,” he said, “I expect to have a crown.” “Ah!” said the clergyman, “I have not been in the habit of preaching for less than a guinea, anyhow.” “Oh!” said the other, “I am obliged to be content with a crown, and what is more, I do not have my crown now, but I have to wait for that in the future.” The clergyman little thought that he meant the “crown of life that fadeth not away!” Christian! live on the future; seek nothing here but expect that thou shalt shine when thou shalt come in the likeness of Jesus, with Him to be admired, and to kneel before His face adoringly. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0025.cfm

Free from Envy

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

As for me, I will behold Thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness. – Psalm 17:15

Notice, that the Psalmist has been speaking of the wicked. “They are inclosed in their own fat: with their mouth they speak proudly.” “They are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes.” But David envies them not. “Go,” says he, “rich man, in all thy riches-go, proud man, in all thy pride-go, thou happy man, with thine abundance of children; I envy thee not; as for me, my lot is different: I can look on you without desiring to have your possessions. I can well keep that commandment, ‘Thou shalt not covet,’ for in your possessions there is nothing worth my love; I set no value upon your earthly treasures; I envy you not your heaps of glittering dust; for my Redeemer is mine.” The man is above envy, because he thinks that the joy would be no joy to him-that the portion would not suit his disposition. Therefore, he turns his eye heavenward, and says, “As for me I shall behold Thy face in righteousness.” Oh! beloved, it is a happy thing to be free from envy. Envy is a curse which blighteth creation; and even Eden’s garden itself would have become defaced, and no longer fair, if the wind of envy could have blown on it, envy tarnisheth the gold; envy dimmeth the silver; should envy breathe on the hot sun, it would quench it; should she cast her evil eye on the moon, it would be turned into blood, and the stars would fly astonished at her. Envy is accursed of heaven; yea, it is Satan’s first-born-the vilest of vices…

Yea, give me such a love to my fellow creatures that I can rejoice in their joy, and the more they have the more glad I am of it. My candle will burn no less brightly because theirs outshines it. I can rejoice in their prosperity. Then am I happy, for all around tends to make me blissful, when I can rejoice in the joys of others, and make their gladness my own. Envy! oh! may God deliver us from it! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0025.cfm