Freed from Fear

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

The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe. – Proverbs 29:25

…that He might deliver us from this present evil world… – Galatians 1:4

There are multitudes of people still in the condition of abject slavery to those who are round about them; but when Christ came into the world, He gathered out of the world a people who were not afraid of anybody. After His good Spirit had renewed them, they walked about fearless of the greatest earthly potentates. There was the great Emperor of Rome, for instance, and who dared ever contradict what the Emperor of Rome said? The man who wrote our text did; and Paul before Nero is a vastly greater man than the cruel tyrant upon the throne. When they bring the saints before the judgment-seat, the Roman consul says, “Offer sacrifice to idols. You know the law; take that incense, and put it on the altar, this very moment.” One of the guards says, ” “Sir, this man is obstinate and rebellious; I have told him what he is to do, but he refuses.” The consul says, “Dost thou, impious wretch, refuse to worship Jupiter? Put that incense on the altar, this moment, or thou shalt be torn in pieces with hot irons.” The man before him replies, “I am a Christian.” “Is that your answer?” “Yes, sir, my only answer; I am a Christian.” “Then tear him with the pincers; let him learn what my hot irons can do.” They do it, and the brave saint bears it. Perhaps a groan escapes his lips, for flesh is frail; but when he is asked again, “Will you worship Jupiter?” he replies as before, “I am a Christian.” “To the lions with him, then, to the lions with him,” cries the enraged persecutor, and he is taken off to the amphitheatre; but as that poor simple peasant walks across the arena, the wild beasts themselves seem cowed before him, and, though he is soon torn in pieces, everybody goes home from the amphitheatre saying, “What a strange being that man was, he seemed utterly devoid of fear!” Yes, the early Christians were without fear and without reproach, for Christ came to set them free from fear of this present evil world. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

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

Delivered from the Spirit of the World

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… – Galatians 1:4

And He answering said, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.” – Luke 10:27

Jesus has come to deliver us from the spirit of the world. The spirit of the world is, “I can swim; so, if everybody else be drowned, there will then be the more room for me.” “I fight for my own hand,” says the worldling, “and if, in the process, I crush the widow and the fatherless, I cannot help that, they should not get in my way.” The rules of political economy do not permit of anything like mercy; they are as inflexible as the laws of nature. They are something after this fashion, -“Grind down the poor; get as much as ever you can out of them for as little money as possible. Care for nobody but yourself. Mind the main chance; make money, honestly if you can, but if not, make it anyhow; only keep clear of the law, for it would be a mistake to fall into its clutches.” Now, Christ has come to gather out of the world a people who will not be possessed with this detestable spirit, but who will resolve to live for others rather than for themselves. We are to consider those who are around us, and to think what influence our conduct will have upon them. We are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, and mind, and soul, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves; we are to love even our enemies; we are to do good to the unthankful and to the evil. We are in all ways, and according to the measure of our ability, to copy the example of our Father who is in heaven, who maketh His sun to shine and His rain to fall upon the evil as well as upon the good. O friends, see what Christ has come to do, even to separate unto Himself a people like unto Himself out of this present evil world! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

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

Christ’s Triple Character

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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.

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For This Purpose, the Savior Died

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

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

In Paul’s day, the world was in a horrible state. Then, the slave was chained to his master’s door, like a dog, and slept at night in a hole under the stairs, and the slave’s master indulged in all kinds of debauchery and sin. The cruelty of the Romans satisfied itself with gladiatorial shows where men murdered each other to make a public holiday. Christ came to gather out a people even from among these abominations, and He did gather them out, a holy people who could not, and would not live as the rest of the world lived. They did not go away into the deserts, or hide themselves in caves, living as hermits, but they went up and down in the earth, attending faithfully to the duties of daily life, yet everywhere marked as differing from other men. Their moral tone, their whole thought about the things of this world and the next, was altogether different from that of the rest of mankind, for Christ had come to draw them out of the kennel of iniquity in which others lived like beasts, to lift them up out of the bog of sin, and make them to be a pure-minded, holy, kind, generous, loving people who should be like their Master, Jesus Christ. For this purpose, the Savior died. He thought it worth His while even to die upon the cross that He might thereby make a better, purer, nobler, more unselfish, more devout people than as yet had appeared in the Roman or Jewish world; and this is what He is still doing in this present evil world, lifting up men and women out of the filthiness in which they have been wallowing, and making them love holiness, and purity, and temperance, and hate all that is evil in the sight of God. This, then, is the great object of Christ’s death, to deliver us from the world’s condemnation, and to deliver us from the world’s condition. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

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

Jesus’ Great Aim

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… – Galatians 1:4

What did our Lord Jesus Christ aim at with regard to His people? To preserve them from going down into the pit? To rescue them from hell? To bring them to heaven? Yes, all that; but more than that. His great aim with regard to His people is to deliver them from this present evil world. We are living in this present evil world; and as Paul called it by that name, we need not alter the phrase, for we cannot help knowing that it is still an evil world, and in it are God’s redeemed and chosen people, by nature part and parcel of that world, equally fallen, equally estranged from God, equally set on mischief, equally certain to go down into the pit of destruction if left to themselves. The object of Christ is to carve out a people from this great brook of stone; it is His purpose to find His own people, who were given to Him before ever the earth was, and to deliver them from the bondage and the slavery in which they are found in this Egypt, of which they seem to form a part, though to the eye of Christ they are always as separate and distinct as the Israelites were when they dwelt in the land of Goshen.

Christ came that He might deliver His people from this common condemnation of this present evil world. This is the City of Destruction which is to be burned with fire, and Christ’s business is to fetch His people out of it. Therefore, He sends His evangelists to cry to them, “Flee from the wrath to come; tarry not in the city but escape for your lives; you are in a doomed world, which will certainly be destroyed, therefore, fly to the only shelter from the coming storm.” …The-Lord Jesus Christ came into the world that He might deliver us from that condemnation which now rests upon all the race of Adam except those who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before them in the gospel. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

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

The True Christ Jesus Revealed

Sherry Christian Life 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: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. – Galatians 1:4,5

The apostle Paul, in his writings, is notable for the fact that he scarcely ever mentions the name of the Lord Jesus Christ without pausing to praise and bless Him. There are many benedictions and hallelujahs in Paul’s Epistles, which might have been omitted so far as the run of the sense is concerned, but not one of them could be omitted because his heart was so aglow with love to his Divine Master that he only needed to mention that dear name and out burst his praises in a moment. I can see the great wisdom of the apostle in acting in such a fashion as this. He is about to write to these Galatians concerning their leaving the gospel; what is the best way to make them sorry for turning aside from the faith? Why, to set before them Jesus Christ Himself, who is the very essence and glory of the gospel.

I have heard of one who preached much against certain errors, but there was another servant of the Lord who never preached against those errors, but who always proclaimed the gospel right out straight; and when one asked him why he did not attack the errors, he said, “I do preach against them most effectually. If there is a crooked stick about, and you want to show how many crooks there are in it, you need not do anything except lay a straight one down by the side of it, and the crookedness of the other stick will be detected at once.” So, the apostle admires, extols, and adores the Lord Jesus Christ, and thus, in the best possible manner, introduces what he has to say concerning the errors of the Galatians. Oh, for a burst of sunlight from the face of Christ! Then would the shadows of to-day soon fly away. They who have never seen Him may love modern novelties and falsehoods; but if they have beheld His face, and have been won by His charms, they will hold that He who is the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever, is infinitely to be preferred to all the inventions of men. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

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

Pause a While and Praise Him

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prayer, promises 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: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. – Galatians 1:4-5.

I am quite sure that, when Paul was writing the Epistle to the Galatians, he was eager to get at his task. The Galatians had turned aside from the gospel of God’s grace, and Paul was in dead earnest to bring them back to the grand truth of the doctrine of salvation and justification by faith in Christ. He was burning to get at his work of trying to win them back to the old paths; but it seemed needful and courteous to begin with a salutation. In that salutation occurred the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, so off went the apostle directly. Earnest as he was to get to the special subject on which he was about to write, he felt that he must tarry a while and write a little to the honor of his Divine Master. So, we read, “Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, 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: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” Then he gets at the business he has in hand: “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from Him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ,” and so on. He is red-hot upon that subject, yet he must stop a minute or two to pen some few words of praise to his glorious Lord and Savior. The old proverb says, “Prayer and provender hinder no man’s journey:” and to stop a little while, to praise and bless the name of Jesus Christ, hinders no man’s argument. Whatever it is that thou hast to do, if thy Master shall cross thy path, pause a while, and praise Him as best thou canst. When Mary sat at Christ’s feet, she was not wasting her time, she was employing it then to the highest possible profit; and when you and I get away even from the Master’s work, to think of our Lord Himself, and to praise Him, and commune with Him, we are by no means wasting our time; but we are gathering strength, and laying it out to the best possible purpose with regard to our future work and warfare. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

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