That Holy and Blessed Doctrine

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, promises, Sovereignty of God 1 Comment

And looking upon Jesus as He walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! – John 1:36

John said in his preaching, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” He pointed out Christ as the Sin-bearer, bearing human guilt in His own person. That is the master-key which lets men into the kingdom of heaven. Oh! how I do delight to preach Christ as the Substitute, Christ as the atoning sacrifice; and when you have heard Christ preached in that way, it makes you ready, “a people prepared for the Lord.” How can men come to Christ if they do not know what Christ has done for them? If you do not understand that He suffered in your stead, the Just for the unjust, to bring you to God, how can you come to Christ? But when you have learned that holy and blessed doctrine of Christ’s propitiation for human sin, why, then, methinks, you will leap at the very sound of it, and say, “Yes, I will take this propitiation to be a sacrifice for me. Blessed Lamb of God-

“‘My faith would lay her hand
On that dear head of Thine,
While like a penitent I stand
And there confess my sin.'”

My friend, you have come to the cross-roads; peradventure, if you reject the Saviour, it will be your last rejection of Him, and it will finally seal your doom; and I am sure, with no peradventure whatever, that if you look to Jesus, and trust to His finished work, you shall be saved, and saved for ever. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2404.cfm

Before Daybreak with Christ

Sherry sermon 6 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

He Has the Power to Save You

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, promises, salvation, The Holy Spirit Leave a comment

And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon Him. – John 1:32

My brethren, if I were to preach to you merely to arouse your attention, to awaken your consciences to a sense of sin, or simply to show you the nature of true religion, yet you would not be prepared for Christ unless also you knew something about Him, something about His suitableness and His power to save you. So, John preached Jesus Christ as a mighty and glorious Saviour on whom the Spirit rested. He says that, when he baptized our Lord, as Jesus came up out of the water, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon Him. And I knew Him not: but He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, the same is He which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.” John boldly preached, and told the people that the Spirit of God rested upon Jesus Christ, yea, abode upon Him. Now, this would lead them to Him, and this should lead you to Him. Whatever there is, poor souls, that you need to make you holy and perfect, Christ has it, for the Spirit of God rests on Him, and abides in Him without measure. It you want the grace of penitence, Christ has it to give you. If you want the grace of supplication, He has it to give you. If you want the grace of faith, He has it. If you want the grace of holiness, He has it. “It pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell,” “and of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.” John taught this to his hearers, and I teach it to you. There is nothing wanted between hell-gate and heaven-gate but what is in Christ, nothing wanted for the biggest sinner out of hell to make him the biggest saint in heaven but what Christ has, nothing wanted in any hour of temptation, in any time of depression, nothing wanted in any moment of sickness, or in the article of death itself, but what it is in Christ, and there for you if you trust Him… He hath said, “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2404.cfm

Before The Great Trier of Human Hearts

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

And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. – Luke 3:9

Unless our religion makes us holy, it has not done anything for us that is really worth doing. Unless we hate sin, and love righteousness, our religion is a sham and a lie. John stated that truth very plainly; and that is the way to drive men to Christ. He told them also that the trial of a life would be by its weight as well as by its fruit. “Look,” said he, “at the heap that lies on the threshing-floor. He that hath the fan in His hand begins to winnow it; that which is light and chaffy is blown away, that which has wheat in it remains on the floor. So,” said he, “there must be weight about your religion-stability, reality, sincerity. There must be heart-work in it, it must be no pretence; it must be true from beginning to end, or else it shall no more avail you than a heap of chaff would avail the husbandman when it is blown into the fire.”

Then John taught his hearers that Christ Himself would be the great Trier of human hearts; not ministers or fellow-professors, but, Christ Himself. When men feel this to be true, then they begin to say to themselves, “There is more required than we at present possess. There is more demanded than we can ever manufacture of ourselves. Let us go to Him that hath it, and ask Him for it. Let us go to Christ, who hath grace to bestow upon the poor and needy.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2404.cfm

Insufficient Privileges

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

…begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham as our father… – Like 3:8

As soon as ever John began to preach, the men of Jewish race, proud of their pedigree, pressed near; and John, with all the courage that a servant of the Lord could have, said, “Begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.” You see the drift of his preaching, do you not? He says, practically, “Men and women, there is no virtue in your boasted privileges, there is no merit in your religious descent. As for supposing yourselves to be the peculiar people of God, you are not to be saved that way. Say not, We have Abraham as our father.” Oh, how many hug that idea, “My father was a Christian.” Others say, “Well, I live in a Christian country.” They suppose that there is something in the very race from which they have sprung. Away with all such notions, for whatever external privileges you may have had, they are not sufficient to secure salvation for you.

So John spoke right straight out; and this, I believe, is a great way of preparing men for coming to Christ, when you tell them, “It is not your early training, it is not your going to church or chapel, it is not your infant sprinkling and your confirmation, it is not even your adult baptism, nor your saying prayers and reading the Bible, that will save you; but ‘ye must be born again.’ There must be an inward spiritual change, wrought by the Holy Spirit. You must believe in Jesus Christ, whom God has sent, and you must so believe in Him as to be made new creatures in Him, or else you cannot be saved.” Now, when men realize that all this is true, it startles them out of their false refuges, and makes them ready to flee to the only true refuge… ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2404.cfm

Convinced of Sin and Led to Repentance

Sherry Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, repentance, salvation 1 Comment

Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand… and He will throughly purge His floor, and gather His wheat into the garner; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.- Matthew 3:2, 12

“Repent! Repent ! Repent!” was John’s continual cry. This awakened the consciences of his hearers concerning their sin. Preaching repentance meant, “You have sinned; change your mind in reference to that sin. You have sinned; quit the sin, mourn over it, ask forgiveness for it. Repent ye!” Whenever a man brings to the minds of others their sins, when he so does it that they begin to feel that they have sinned, then they are being prepared for the Lord, for no man will come to the Saviour unless he knows that he needs a Saviour; and no man will feel that he needs a Saviour until he feels that he is a sinner. Hence it is a real preparation of men for Christ to convince them of sin.

The preacher who would “make ready a people prepared for the Lord” must come out with his axe, and lay it to the root of the trees; he must be definite and distinct in indicating this sin and that sin, and crying to all men, “Repent of these sins. Give them up. Get clear from them. Be washed from them; or else, as God lives, when the Christ Himself comes, it will not be to save you, but to blow you away with His winnowing fan as the chaff is blown into the fire.”

This is “to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” by their being convinced of sin and led to repentance. Hence it is a real preparation of men for Christ to convince them of sin. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2404.cfm

The Power to Precipitate Decision

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, repentance, salvation Leave a comment

And he shall go before Him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. – Luke 1:17

In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. – Matthew 3:1, 2

John cried, “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” that is to say, he put a pressure of presentness upon the people. A brother, who is an eminent preacher, but who uses rather long words, was explaining to me the benefit of the preaching of Mr. Fullerton and Mr. Smith in his place of worship. He said, “I do not know exactly why these brethren were the means of the conversion of many in my place whom I had never reached, but I perceived that they had the power to precipitate decision.” It sounded rather strange, but when I thought it over a little while, I rather liked the expression, “the power to precipitate decision.” That is the power that leads men to make up their minds, and say “Yes,” or “No,” to feel that the decision has to be made at once, and that the putting off of it is impossible because it would be a kind of insanity. Now that is the meaning of what John said, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand! Repent ye! He is coming who wields the axe of divine Justice; bear fruit, or else be cut down. He is coming who uses the great winnowing fan; be the true wheat, or else be blown away.” He put the truth so pointedly, and so earnestly, that he did by that means make ready “a people prepared for the Lord.”~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2404.cfm