Treasured Sacrifice

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

And led Him away to Annas first; for he was father-in-law to Caiaphas, which was the high priest that same year…Now Annas had sent Him bound unto Caiaphas the high priest. – John 18:13,24

The brook Kedron was that into which all the filth of the sacrifices of the temple was cast, and Christ, as though He were a foul and filthy thing, must be led to the black stream. He was led into Jerusalem by the sheep-gate, the gate through which the lambs of the Passover and the sheep for sacrifice were always driven. Little did they understand, that in so doing they were again following out to the very letter the significant types which God had ordained in the law of Moses. They led this Lamb of God through the sheep-gate, and they hastened Him on to the house of Annas, the ex-high priest, who, either from his relationship to Caiaphas, from his natural ability, or his prominence in opposing the Savior, stood high in the opinion of the rulers. Here they made a temporary call, to gratify the bloodthirsty Annas with the sight of his victim; and then, hastening on, they brought Him to the house of Caiaphas, some little distance off; where, though it was but a little past the dead of night, many members of the Sanhedrim were assembled… Brethren, as the Lord gave commandment concerning even the ashes and offal of the sacrifices, we ought to think no matter trivial which stands in connection with our great burnt offering. My admonition is, “Gather up the fragments which remain, that nothing be lost.” As goldsmiths sweep their shops, to save even the filings of the gold, so every word of Jesus should be treasured up as very precious…Things which were purposed of old, prophesied by seers, witnessed by apostles, written by evangelists, and published by the ambassadors of God, are not matters of secondary interest, but deserve our solemn and devout attention. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0495.cfm

The Very Core of Christianity

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

For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. – Leviticus 17:11

“For this is My blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” – Matthew 26:28

Beloved, we know from Holy Scripture that the death of Christ is the very core of Christianity. Leave out the cross, and you have killed the religion of Jesus. Atonement by the blood of Jesus is not an arm of Christian truth; it is the heart of it. “Even as the Lord said of the animal, ‘The blood is its life,’ so it is true of the gospel, the sacrificial death of Jesus is the vital point of our profession. I know nothing of Christianity without the blood of Christ. No teaching is healthy which throws the cross into the background. The doctrine of Christ crucified is always with me. As the Roman sentinel in Pompeii stood to his post even when the city was destroyed, so do I stand to the truth of the atonement though the church is being buried beneath the boiling mud-showers of modern heresy. Everything else can wait, but this one truth must be proclaimed with a voice of thunder.

If the light of the atonement is put under a bushel, the darkness will be dense. In omitting the cross you have cut the Achilles’ tendon of the church: it cannot move, nor even stand, when this is gone. Holy work falls to the ground: it faints and dies when the blood of Jesus is taken away. The cross must be put into the forefront more than ever by the faithful, because so many are unfaithful. Let us endeavour to make amends for the dishonour done to our divine Master by those who deny or dishonour His vicarious sacrifice. Let us remain steadfast in this faith while others waver, and preach Christ crucified if all others forbear. Grace, mercy, and peace be to all who exalt Christ crucified! ~ Charles H. Spurgeon

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Be Very Watchful

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prayer, promises, The Father, The Holy Spirit 1 Comment

Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. – 1 Peter 1:16

Let us be very watchful against all impurity. Anything like uncleanness in a Christian will soon send the Master away from the church. You know what it was that brought the evil upon the house of Eli. It was because his sons made themselves vile even at the tabernacle door. The young people in that case were the immediate cause of the mischief, but it was the fault of the elder ones that they restrained them not. Watch against all evil passions and corrupt desires. Be ye holy even as your Father which is in heaven is holy.

And then, again, a want of prayer will send Him away. There are members of some churches who never come to the prayer-meetings, and I should be afraid that their private prayers cannot be any too earnest. Of course we speak not of those who have good excuse; but there are some who habitually and wilfully neglect the assembling of themselves together; these are worthy of condemnation. Oh, let us continue a prayerful church as we have hitherto been, otherwise the Master may say, “They do not value the blessing, for they will not even ask for it; they evidently do not care about My Spirit, for they will not meet together and cry for Him.” Do not grieve Him by any such negligence of prayer.

So, too, we may grieve the Spirit by worldliness. If any of you who are rich get to imitate the fashions of the world and act as worldlings do, you cannot expect the Lord to bless us. You are Achans in the camp, if such is the case. And if you who are poor get to be envious of others and speak harshly of others to whom God has given more substance than to you, that again will grieve the Lord…Let me ask you to be more in prayer; let me pray you to live nearer to Him; let me entreat you for the church’s sake, and for the world’s sake, to be more thoroughly Christ’s than you ever have been and may the power of the Holy Spirit enable you in this. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1035.cfm

Hope-Yet No Hope; No Hope-Yet Hope

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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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There Christ Rests

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

And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. – Ephesians 5:2

May we each one be more watchful lest the Bridegroom should withdraw from us. He will go away if we grow proud. If we are boastful, and say, “There is some reason why God should bless us,” and should begin to speak hectoringly towards weaker brethren, the Lord will let us know that “not unto us, not unto us, but unto His name shall be all the glory.” A little thing, a very little thing, will drive Him from us, and it may be many a day before our repentance shall be able to find Him again. He has suffered so much from sin that He cannot endure the approach of it. His pure and holy soul abhors the least taint of iniquity.

If there be a want of love among us, the Lord of love will be offended. The holy dove loves not scenes of strife; He frequents the calm still waters of brotherly love. There the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore, where brethren dwelt together in unity. If any of you have half a hard thought towards another, get rid of it; if there be the beginnings of anything like jealousy, quench the sparks. “Leave off strife,” says Solomon, “before it be meddled with,” as if he said, “End it before you begin it,” which, though it seems strangely paradoxical, is most wise advice. “Little children love one another.” “Walk in love as Christ also has loved us.” May discord be far from us. Wherever He sees true repentance, real faith, holy consecration, purity of life, chastity of love, there Christ rests. I believe He finds no sweeter happiness even in heaven than the happiness of accepting His people’s prayers and praises. Our love is very sweet to Him; our deeds of gratitude are very precious, the broken alabaster boxes of self-sacrifices done for Him are very fair in His esteem. He finds no rest in the world, He never did; but He finds sweet rest on the bosoms of His faithful ones. He loves to come into a pure church, and there to say, “I am at home. I will declare Thy name unto My brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise Thee.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1035.cfm

Our Jealous Husband

Sherry Christian Life 2 Comments

For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God. – Deuteronomy 4:24

The Lord Jesus in His church is not indifferent to the conduct of His people. We are not to suppose that because the sin of all God’s elect is pardoned, therefore it is of small consequence how they live. By no manner of means. The Master of this great house is not blind nor deaf, neither is He a person who is utterly careless as to how the house is managed; on the contrary, as God is a jealous God, so is Christ a jealous husband to His church. He will not tolerate in her what He would tolerate in the world. She lies near His heart, and she must be chaste to Him. What a solemn work the Lord did in the early church. That story of Ananias and Sapphira-it is often used most properly to illustrate the danger of lying; but that is not the point of the narrative. Ananias and Sapphira were members of the church at Jerusalem, and they lied not unto men, which would have been sin enough, but in lying to the church officers they lied unto God, and the result was their sudden death. Now, you are not to suppose that this was a solitary case. Wherever there is a true church of God, the judgments of God are always going on in it…Judgments are begun in the house of God and are always going on there…The Lord Jesus Christ looking around His church, if He sees anything evil in it, will do one of two things; either He will go right away from His church because the evil is tolerated there, and He will leave that church to be like Laodicea, to go on from bad to worse, till it becomes no church at all; or else He will come and He will trim the lamp, or to use the figure of the fifteenth of John, He will prune the vine branch and with His knife will cut off this member, and the other, and cast them into the fire; while, as for the rest, He will cut them till they bleed again, because they are fruit-bearing members, but they have too much wood, and He wants them to bring forth more fruit. It is not a trifling matter to be in the church of God. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1035.cfm

Lovingly Remember the Church of God

Sherry Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prayer, promises, The Holy Spirit Leave a comment

I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother’s house… – Song of Songs 3:4

“I brought Him to my mother’s house.” We ought lovingly to remember the Church of God. By the Holy Spirit we were begotten unto newness of life, but it was in the church, and through the preaching of the word there that we were brought into the light of life. We owe our conversion, the most of us, to some earnest teacher of the truth in the Church of God, or to some of those godly works which were written by Christian men. Through the Church’s instrumentality the Bible itself has been preserved to us, and by her the gospel has been preached to every age. She is our mother and we love her. I know that many of you, dear friends, the members of this church, love the church, and you can say, “If I forget thee, let my right hand forget her cunning.” When you are away from this place, and cannot mix in our solemn assemblies, your heart mourns like one in banishment. Have not I heard you cry, “Ziona, Ziona, our holy and beautiful house, wherein we have worshipped our God, the house which is built of living stones, among whom Christ Himself is the corner-stone, even Thy church, O Jesus: would God I were in her midst again, and could once more unite my praises with those that dwell within her.” Yes, and because we love our mother’s house and the chamber of her that conceived us, we desire to bring Christ into the church more and more…The saints can bring Him in by their testimony. I hope that often Christ is here when I have borne testimony to you of His power to save, of His atoning blood, of His exaltation in heaven, of the perfection of His character, and of His willingness to save. Is there any subject that so delights you as that which touches upon Christ? Is not that the rarest string in all the harp of scriptural truth? ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1035.cfm