Sing!

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O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. – Psalm 95:1

When you can say, “I feel like singing all the time,” then sing; and when you say, “I do not feel like singing,” make a point of singing then, just to let the devil know that he is not your master. It is a good thing to praise Christ in the presence of His friends; it is sometimes a better thing to extol Him in the presence of His enemies. It is a great thing to praise Jesus Christ by day; but there is no music sweeter than the nightingale’s, and she praises God by night. It is well to praise the Lord for His mercy when you are in health, but make sure that you do it when you are sick, for then your praise is more likely to be genuine. When you are deep down in sorrow, do not rob God of the gratitude that is due to Him; never stint Him of His revenue of praise whatever else goes short. Praise Him sometimes on the high-sounding cymbals, -crash, crash, -with all your heart and being; but when you cannot do that, just sit, and mean His praise in solemn silence in the deep quiet of your spirit. To be redeemed from a dying world, to be fetched out from a condemned world, to be brought out from slavery, to be made a child of God, is enough to make you emulate the angels, and even to excel them. They cannot rise to so high a pitch of gratitude as you ought to reach even now, and ought to keep up all the days of your life, and then “for ever and ever “in the presence of the King. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2483.cfm

Giving God the Glory

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

To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. – Galatians 1:5

God is glorified in Christ’s death. Has the Father given His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us? Then there is glory enough in Jesus Christ upon the cross to last throughout eternity. Fix your eye upon that bleeding Savior; behold the glorious justice of God in laying guilt on Him, and punishing it on Him, and behold also the inconceivable love of God in thus putting His Only-begotten to death that we might live through Him. You need not range the world around to see the glory of God in nature, though that is a delightful employment, for there is enough glory in the cross of Christ to last throughout all eternity. The apostle says, “To whom be glory for ever and ever.” How long that is, I cannot tell. “For ever” is without any end, but Paul says, “For ever and ever,” and there is glory enough in the cross of Christ to last for ever and ever, as long as the Eternal Jehovah Himself exists.

Well then, has Jesus Christ delivered us from the world? Have we fled to Him, and been pardoned? Are we accepted in the Beloved? Then, let us begin to glorify God now. Let us glorify His dear Son, let us praise Him. Let every beat of our heart tell out our joyous thankfulness, and so continually yield sweet music unto God…for it is indeed a subject of great praise to be separated from the world, and to be made holy unto the Lord. But, brothers and sisters, when you once begin the music, never leave off, because, as the apostle says, glory is to be given to God “for ever and ever.” I saw, last week, a brother from the backwoods of America, and he said to me, “Twenty years ago, I was in your vestry, and you did me much good by something that you said to me.” I asked, “What did I say?” And the good man replied, “You said, ‘Brother, as a minister, there are two occasions upon which you ought to preach Jesus Christ.’ I enquired, ‘What are those two occasions?’ You answered, “In season, and out of season.'” Well now, there are two occasions upon which we ought to praise God, “in season, and out of season.” Praise Him when you feel like praising; and when you do not feel like it, praise Him till you do. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2483.cfm

Apart

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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

“Lord, if it be Thy will, fulfill it in me”

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

Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father… – Galatians 1:4

I believe that there would be much more persecution than there is if there were more real Christians; but we have got to be so like the world, that therefore the world does not hate us as once it did. If we would but be more just, more upright, more true, more Christlike, more godly, we should soon hear all the dogs of hell baying with all their might against us; but what of that? It would just be the fulfillment of the divine purpose, and God would be well pleased with us. Come, then, and let us fall back upon the omnipotent strength which ever slumbers within the divine will. Lord, if it be Thy will, fulfill it in me; if this be Thy purpose, accomplish it in me. Oh, what brave men and women those early saints were! I do not wonder that our friend cried out just now when I depicted the martyr; but there were tens of thousands of such holy men and women in the days of persecution. Have you never heard of her whom they set in a red-hot iron chair because she would not turn away from Christ, or of that other poor feeble woman, who was tossed on the horns of bulls, but who, nevertheless, spoke up right bravely for her Master as she came to die? Yes, and there have been boys and girls, who, for Christ’s sake, sooner than sin, have braved the most fearful deaths. Remember John Bunyan when he refused to give up preaching. They put him in prison, and said to him, “Mr. Bunyan, you can come out of prison whenever you will promise to cease preaching the gospel.” He said, “If you let me out of prison to-day, I will preach again to-morrow, by the grace of God.” “Well,” said they, “then you must go back to prison:” and he answered, “I will go back and stay there if need be till the moss grows on my eyelids; but I will never deny my Master.” This was the stuff of which the godly were made then; may the Lord make many of us to be like them, men and women who cannot and will not do that which is evil, but will, in the name of God, stand to the right and the true, come what may! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2483.cfm

According to the Will of God

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

Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father… – Galatians 1:4

The text says, “According to the will of God and our Father.” Mr. Charles Simeon used to say that there were some, in his day, who thought that the very word “predestination” sounded almost like blasphemy; and I have no doubt that there are some left who cannot bear to hear of the will and the purpose of God, but to us these words sound like sweetest music. I do not believe that there ever would have been a man delivered from this present evil world if it had not been according to the will, the purpose, the predestination of God, even our Father. It needs a mighty tug to get a man away from the world. It is a miracle for a man to live in the world, and yet not to be of it; it is a continuous miracle of so vast a kind that I am sure it would never have been wrought if it had not been according to the will of God our Father. Yet so it stood in the divine decree, that there should be a people chosen from among men, a people who should be called out from among the mass of the ungodly, who should be drawn by supernatural power to follow after that which is right and good and holy, who should be washed in the blood of Jesus, and renewed by the Holy Spirit in the spirit of their minds, and henceforth should be a peculiar people, in the world but not of it, the people of God set apart unto Himself, to be His now, and His hereafter for ever and ever. I delight to remember that this is the will of God, even our sanctification, our separation from the world. “He gave Himself for our sins. “Why did Christ do this? Because our holiness was included in the purpose of God. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2483.cfm

Thus Has Christ Delivered Us

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

For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. – 2 Corinthians 5:21

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. – Romans 8:1

Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world… – Galatians 1:4

How does the death of Christ deliver us from the world? It does this by removing from us the condemnation of our sin. Having borne our sins in His own body on the tree, Christ has for ever freed us from the penalty that was our due. Christ has delivered us from the world by making sin hateful to us. We say to ourselves, “Did sin kill Christ? Then we cannot play with that dagger that stabbed our Lord. How can we be friendly with the world that cast Him out, and hanged Him on a tree? O murderous sin, how can I give thee lodgment in my heart when thou didst kill the altogether lovely One?” Men speak hard things of regicides, but what shall I say of deicide? And sin is that deicide which slew the Christ of God; yet, marvel of marvels, by that death on the cross He hath crucified us to the world, and the world unto us, and so He has delivered us from this present evil world. I may add that Christ has also delivered us from the world by the splendor of His example in giving Himself to die for His enemies, and by the glory of His infinite merit, whereby He purchased back that image of God in Adam which sin had obliterated. He gave Himself, the very image of God, and more than that, God Himself, that He might give back to us that image of God which long ago we had lost. Thus has Christ delivered us from this present evil world; judge ye, sirs, whether He has thus delivered you. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2483.cfm

Altogether His Own

Sherry Christian Life Leave a comment

Who gave Himself for our sins… – Galatians 1:4

“He gave Himself.” I will not say that He gave His royal crown, that diadem which did outshine the sun; I will not say that He laid aside His azure vest and hung it on the sky as He came down to earth; I will not say that He gave up for us the thrones and royalties of heaven. You know that He did all this, and far more…I need not say that He gave His body, His soul, and His spirit, but you have it all in these three words: “He gave Himself.” “He gave Himself for our sins.” That is the wonder of Christ’s death, our sins could not be put away except by His dying in our stead. There was no expiation of our sin, and consequently no deliverance from its condemnation, except by Christ’s bearing in our room, and place, and stead, that wrath of God which was due to us; and He did do it. “He gave Himself for our sins.” I need not say more upon that point except just this. Do not, I pray you, let us permit Him in any sense or measure to fail of His supreme object. “He gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world,” therefore, out of gratitude to Him, if for no other reason, let us not be of the world, and like the world, servants of the world, slaves of the world. What! did Christ die to deliver us from the world, and do we go back to it, and deliberately put our necks under the world’s yoke, and wear the world’s yoke, and become again the world’s slaves? I am ashamed of myself, and of you, whenever we for a moment act as the ungodly world acts, and become as the world is, self-seeking, rebellious against God’s will, living contrary to the divine law of Christ. Oh, let every drop of blood He shed on Calvary purge you from all resemblance to the world! Let the dying Savior’s cries move you to hate the sin which the world loves; from Calvary, hear Him cry, “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing.” By the blood with which He bought you, be ye not of the world, seeing that He hath redeemed you from among men that you might be altogether His own. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2483.cfm