The Ill Weed Pride
For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it? – 1 Corinthians 4:7
Pride grows apace like other ill weeds. It will live on any soil. In the natural heart it flourishes, springing up without sowing, and growing without watering; and even in the renewed heart it all too readily takes root when Satan casts abroad a handful of its seed. Of all creatures in the world the Christian is the last man who ought to be proud; and yet, alas, we have had mournful evidence both in past history and in our own observation, and worst of all in our own personal experience, that Christian men may become lifted up, to their own shame.
…pride is always inconsistent with the true doctrine of the gospel. You may use this test concerning any preaching or teaching that you meet with: if it legitimately and logically leads a man to boast of himself, it is not true. Our chemists use litmus to discover the presence of acid in any liquid submitted to them, for the paper then takes a reddish tint; and you may use this as your test, that when a doctrine makes you red with pride it contains the acid of falsehood… If with a sleek hand it brushes your feathers the right way, and makes you feel “What a fine fellow I am,” you ought at once to flee from it. The very fact that it flatters you should be to you like a fog horn to warn you of danger. Say to every doctrine which fosters pride, “Get thee behind me, Satan, for thou savourest not the things that be of God and of truth, or thou wouldst not speak so well of me.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon
https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1271.cfm
Look to His Dear Son
He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. – Psalm 103:10
One single night of frost will destroy millions upon millions of creatures that were happy and enjoyed life; and this is done by that God of whom we are often assured that He cannot possibly punish sin, or put men to pain. But He does it. Hear the cry of the poor seamen, when the storm tosses the great barque, and drives it on the rock. See how everywhere the Lord is a great God and terrible. Even though He condescends to be a Father to those of us who trust in Jesus Christ, His Son, and is gentle as a nurse to us, yet is He the God of thunder and of fire, the great and almighty God, the King who will not be questioned by His subjects, and who will not alter His arrangements to please their fancies.
It is well for us to speak of God as we have found Him. He has dealt kindly and graciously with us: “He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities; “else had we been cast away for ever. We long that others may be able to speak of God in the same way; not saying what they would have Him to be, but what He has revealed Himself to be, in nature, and in providence, and especially in grace. Let us all come humbly to His feet. He bids us look to His dear Son, and so find peace and salvation. If we will not do so, there is nothing for us but to be driven from His presence, and from the glory of His power, world without end. Will we dare to defy Him? Have we the impiety so to do? O God, humble us! Beneath the terror of Thy majesty, and the glory of Thy righteousness, and the supreme splendour of Thy love, bow us down, to accept Thy grace, and to become Thine for ever and ever! God grant that it may be so, for our Lord Jesus Christ’s sake! Amen. ~ C.H. Spurgeon
https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2670.cfm
Say, “and not I”
Should it be according to thy mind? He will recompense it, whether thou refuse, or whether thou choose; and not I: therefore speak what thou knowest. Job 34:33
Whenever you find anyone opposing God, say to yourself, “and not I.” When there is any wrong thing being done, and it comes under your notice, say, “and not I.” Take care that you go not with a multitude to do evil; do not take upon your tongue just what others may be saying, but bear your individual protest against the evil; even if you stand alone, say, “and not I.”
Whoever opposes God should know that he is not dealing with a man like himself. If you hear a preacher make a statement, and you feel, “That is not the Word of the Lord,” pray God to forgive him for his sin in making it; but if he speaks with the sound of his Master’s feet behind him and what he says is the Word of God, then do not trifle with it. If it be clearly a revealed truth, it may grate against your feelings, and set your teeth on edge; but what of that? You had better get your teeth and your feelings put right, for the truth of God cannot be altered in order to please you. Someone says, “I cannot believe that statement, because it seems too shocking.” That is just why I do believe it, for it does me good by shocking me; and if it is in God’s Word, I am bound to accept it. “Oh!” you say, “but something within me revolts against it.” It is only natural it should do so, for “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked;” and it naturally cries out against the thing that is most surely true. The supreme majesty of God’s Word is that before which we have to bow, and not the insignificant usurpers of our inward feelings, fancies, and whims. “Let God be true, and every man a liar.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon
https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2670.cfm
The Eternal Purpose of God
He will recompense it, whether thou refuse, or whether thou choose. – Job 34:33
Whatever our will may be, God will carry out His own purpose. As surely as God is God, He will never be defeated in anything. He who is omniscient, and therefore sees the end from the beginning, is also omnipotent, and therefore can work His own will exactly as He chooses,-He will never be baffled by the will of men. I believe in the free agency of man as much as anyone who lives; but I equally believe in the eternal purpose of God. If you ask, “How do you reconcile those beliefs?” I answer,-They have never been at variance yet, so there is no need to attempt to reconcile them. They are like two parallel lines, which will run side by side for ever;-man responsible because he does what he wills, and God infinitely glorious, achieving His own purposes, not only in the world of dead, inert matter, but also through those who are free agents; without changing them in the least degree, leaving them just as free as ever they were, He yet, in every jot and tittle, performs the eternal purpose of His will.
Christ did not die in vain. He will rejoice in every one whom He purchased with His blood. He will not lose one of the jewels that are to deck His crown for ever. You may strive against His kingdom, but that kingdom will come when He pleases. ~ C.H. Spurgeon
https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2670.cfm
Is Not God’s Way the Best?
“For who has known the mind of the LORD ?Or who has become His counselor?” – Romans 11:34 (Isaiah 40:13)
The mind of God is so infinitely great, and good, and wise, that it cannot be supposed that, even if He left the plan of salvation to our option, we could choose anything half as good as what He decrees and appoints. Should He, for a single moment, hold His sovereignty in abeyance, and allow us to be kings and princes on our own account, what follies we should perpetrate! We should choose a way of salvation that would not honour God, nor destroy evil, nor even be good for our own selves. Some people would like a heaven into which they could enter without being born again; but what kind of heaven would that be! Some would like to have joy and peace without believing in Christ. Some would like to have eternal felicity, and yet indulge their lusts. This would be an evil of the most awful kind. It is better that sin should bring to man infinite sorrow than that it should be linked with eternal enjoyment. The mischief of it is that it does get linked with enjoyment for a while by foolish men, who forget what must come afterwards; but God has never joined these two things together, it is only wicked men who have pretended to celebrate this unholy marriage. God proclaims a perpetual separation between sin and happiness, and it is well that it should be so.Is not God’s way the best? -C.H. Spurgeon
https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2670.cfm
In God’s Own Way
For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” – Romans 9:15
There is no man living who has any absolute right to receive anything from God except destruction. That terrible doom we have all merited, but nothing beyond that. If we were shut up in prison, and kept upon dry bread, so long as we were out of hell, we should still be under obligation to God. If the Lord should choose to show mercy to only one man in the world, He has a perfect right to do so; if He chooses to give it to a few, or if He chooses to give it to all, He has the right to do so. He is absolutely sovereign, and these are the words that He would have every one of us to hear and to heed: “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” The crown rights of the King of kings must never be assailed; for us beggars to turn choosers, and to dictate to God what He shall give to us;-for us condemned criminals to begin to make bargains with God as to how He shall preserve our lives, if He chooses to do so,-oh, this will never do! You know, dear friends, that when we give even a trifling charity, we like to do it in our own way.
When anything comes to us entirely as a gift, it is not for us to cavil at it, but to accept it; and this is specially true of God’s great gift of salvation. O Lord, if Thou wilt but save me, save me anyhow! If I may be delivered from this accursed sin of mine, and made pure and holy, do it, Lord, after Thine own gracious fashion! It is not for me to suggest any plan to Thee, but to leave myself entirely in Thy hands, and to let it be according to Thy mind.~ C.H. Spurgeon
https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2670.cfm
