Lord God, Grant It to Be So!

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises 3 Comments

He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD -Isaiah 51:3

He says (hear it and marvel!) that He will make the wilderness like Eden. You know what Eden was. It was the garden of the earth in the days of primeval purity. Fruit and flower, lofty tree, and lively vegetation abounded there in profuse luxuriance. I know not how its groves and shrubberies were tenanted by graceful creatures and lovely birds, but I can well imagine that every sense of man was regaled by its unfailing charms. No thorns or thistles cursed the soil, no sweating brow with arduous toll forced the crops from barren sods. The land laughed with plenty. The river, branching into many heads, watered the garden. God Himself was pleased to water it with the mists, and to make the fruits grow, to swell in rich abundance, and early come to mature perfection. So the Lord says that when He visits His Church He will make these poor backsliders, these immature Christians, these nominal professors, like Eden. Oh! that the Lord would do it! Oh! that He would make them healthy, fruitful, prolific in fruitfulness, and spontaneously fruit-bearing, so that we should almost have need to say, “Hold, Lord!” just as Moses and Aaron did when the people brought in the offerings for the Tabernacle, until there were more than enough. Oh! that the Church of Christ may be enriched with all spiritual gifts, with all heavenly graces, with all that can minister to the welfare of the saints, to the advantage of the world, and to the glory of Him who created and redeemed us! God grant it may be so!~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3514.cfm

An Everlasting Consolation for the Church

Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life, promises 1 Comment

He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD -Isaiah 51:3

The true way to comfort the Church is to build her synagogues, restore the desolation of former times, to sow her fields, plant her vineyards, make her soil fruitful, call out the industry of her sons and daughters, and fill them with lively, ardent zeal. There is an everlasting consolation for the Church in those grand doctrines of grace revealed to us in covenant, such as election, particular redemption, effectual calling, final perseverance, and the faithfulness of God. Resting in His love, God forbid that we should ever keep back these grand truths; they are the wells of salvation from which we rejoice to draw the water of life. But there are other truths besides these and we could not make full proof of our ministry if we overlooked the rain, even the former and the latter rain, which God gives in due season, or withholds in His chastening anger. I have often remarked that those persons who are always crying after the comfort that is to be derived from the stability of God’s purpose are strangely lacking in that present joy and jubilant song which revels in the goodness of the Lord, who clothes the pastures with flocks, and covers the valleys over with corn. I have also remarked that the best way to make a Christian man happy is to make him useful, ploughing the fields which God has watered, and gathering the fruits which He has ripened. A Christian Church never enjoys so much concord, love, and happiness as when every member is kept hard at work for God, every soul upon the stretch of anxiety to do good and communicate, every disciple a good soldier of the Cross, fighting the common enemy. Thus the Lord will comfort Zion, and He comforts her by turning her desert into a garden, and her wilderness into Eden. – C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3514.cfm

The Lord Comforts His Church

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, The Holy Spirit 3 Comments

For the LORD shall comfort Zion: He will comfort all her waste places… -Isaiah 51:3

Beloved, we make but sorry comforters for God’s people unless Jehovah puts His own hand to the work. I have sometime tried to cheer up my brethren when they have been desponding, and I hope not without success; yet I have always felt that to relieve and refresh a desponding saint, I must fetch the remedies from my Master’s pharmacy. So, doubtless, those of you who have ever sought to obey the command, “Comfort ye, comfort ye My people,” must have found that it was not your word that could comfort Zion, nor your sympathy, but God’s truth applied by God’ Spirit, for this alone can comfort Zion. Oh! blessed promise! “The Lord will comfort Zion; He will comfort her waste places.” He that made the heavens will become the Comforter of His people. The Holy Ghost, who brooded over chaos, and brought order out of confusion; the mighty Spirit who came down at Pentecost in tongues like as of fire, with a sound like as a mighty rushing wind-that same blessed Spirit will come to the hearts of the members of His Church and comfort them. There are sorrows for which there is no solace within the reach of the creature; there is a ruin which it would baffle any mortal to retrieve. Happy for us that the Omnipotent comes to our aid. It is “He who telleth the number of the stars; calleth them all by their names”; who also “healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds!” Where He is, rolling the stars along, filling heaven with wonder as He creates majestic orbs, and keeps them in their pathways, making the comet fling its gorgeous light across space and startle nations, holding the burning furnace of the sun in the hollow of His hand; yet He stoops down to minister to a desponding spirit, and to pour the oil and wine of heavenly comfort into a poor distracted heart! Yes, it is Zion that is to be comforted, but it is Jehovah Himself who has promised to be her Comforter! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3514.cfm

 

God’s Church: Favoured and Comforted

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises 3 Comments

For the LORD shall comfort Zion…Therefore the redeemed of the LORD shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away. -Isaiah 51:3, 11

What can ye conceive of weeping and lamenting in the house where Jehovah dwelleth? It was a rule with one of the old monarchs that no one should come into his presence sad. In all our afflictions we may draw near to the Lord, but His presence should dispel our sorrow and sighing; for the children of Zion should be joyful in their King. If the Lord dwelleth in the midst of His people, there ought to be shoutings of joy. The presence of the King of Heaven is the heaven of their delight. Moreover, Zion enjoys her Monarch’s love, and therefore, He would have her comforted. We know not how dear to the heart of Christ His Church is, but we do know this: that for His Church He left His Father’s house and came down to earth, and was poor, that she, through His poverty, might be made rich. A man leaveth father and mother, and cleaveth to his wife, and they become one flesh; but what shall I say of the great mystery of this glorious Lover, who left His Father’s house, and did cleave unto His Church, and became one flesh with her that He might lift her up and set her upon His own throne, that she might reign with Him as the Bride, the Lamb’s Wife? Well may, therefore, the Lord desire His Church to be happy. Eternal love has fixed itself upon her. Eternal purposes cluster around her. Eternal power is sworn to protect her. Eternal faithfulness has guaranteed eternal life to all her citizens. Why should she not be comforted? I do not wonder that the text says the Lord will comfort the people whom He has thus favoured. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3514.cfm

God’s Church: Cleansed and Comforted

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, The Holy Spirit 3 Comments

“For the Lord shall comfort Zion: He will comfort all her waste places and He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.”- Isaiah 51:3

The pedigree of God’s chosen nation Israel may be traced back to one man and one woman-to Abraham and Sarah. Both of them were well stricken in years when the Lord called them, yet, in the fulfillment of His promise, He built up of their seed a great nation, which, for number, was comparable to the stars of heaven. Take heart, brethren; these things are written for our example and for our encouragement. His Church can never sink to so low an ebb that He cannot soon build her up again, nor in our own hearts can the work of grace ever decline so grievously that the same mighty power which once quickened cannot revive and restore us. Think of Abraham and Sarah, childless till they were old, then rejoicing in one son, who became their heir. Hence sprang the great multitude that peopled Palestine. With such a panorama unfolding before you, there is no excuse for despair; but you may find ten thousand reasons for confidence in God.

“The Lord will comfort Zion.” Well He may, for she is His chosen. “The Lord hath chosen Zion.” He would have those upon whom His choice is fixed be glad and happy…He would have His Church rejoice because He has not only chosen her, but He has cleansed her. Jesus has put away the sin of His people by His blood, and by His Spirit He is daily renewing the nature of His children. Sin is the cause of sorrow, and when sin is put away sorrow shall be put away too. The sanctified should be happy. The Lord will, therefore, comfort them:, because He cleansed them. The Church of God is placed where God dwells:-

“Where God doth dwell sure heaven is there;
And singing there should be.”

~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/3514.cfm

Love’s Medicines and Miracles

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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

Salvation is God’s Greatest Work

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation 2 Comments

“Look unto Me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.”- Isaiah 45:22

Salvation is God’s greatest work; and, therefore, in His greatest work, He specially teaches us this lesson, that He is God, and that beside Him there is none else…O, does it not lower the pride of man, when we hear the Lord say, “Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth?” It is not. “Look to your priest, and be ye saved:” if you did, there would be another god, and beside Him there would be some one else. It is not “Look to yourself;” if so, then there would be a being who might arrogate some of the praise of salvation. But it is “Look unto Me.” How frequently you who are coming to Christ look to yourselves. “O!” you say, “I do not repent enough.” That is looking to yourself. “I do not believe enough.” That is looking to yourself. “I am too unworthy.” That is looking to yourself. “I cannot discover,” says another, “that I have any righteousness.” It is quite right to say that you have not any righteousness; but it is quite wrong to look for any. It is, “Look unto Me.” God will have you turn your eye off yourself and look unto Him.

From the cross of Calvary, where the bleeding hands of Jesus drop mercy; from the Garden of Gethsemane, where the bleeding pores of the Saviour sweat pardons, the cry comes, “Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.” From Calvary’s summit, where Jesus cries, “It is finished,” I hear a shout, “Look, and be saved.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0060.cfm