Paul’s Retaliation

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For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh who are Israelites… – Romans 9:3,4

Who are these people for whom Paul was anxious beyond measure? To begin with, they were his worst enemies! The name of Paul brought the blood into the face of a Jew. He spat in rage. More than 40 of them had bound themselves with an oath that they would slay him (Acts 23:12-35) and the whole company of the circumcised seemed, wherever he went, to be moved by the same impulse. He frequently gathered large congregations of Gentiles who attended to him earnestly, but the Jews stirred up riots and mobs and, frequently, he was in danger of his life from them. They detested him, regarding him as an accursed apostate from the faith of his fathers…His generous retaliation was to pray for them—no, more—to carry the whole nation on his heart as a burden. “I have great heaviness,” says he, “and continual sorrow of heart for my kinsmen according to the flesh.” Now, if any of you, in following Christ, should meet with opposition, avenge it in the same way! Love most the man who treats you worst! If any man would kill you in his anger, kill him with your loving prayers. If he strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other, also, in submission and lift both hands and eyes to Heaven and cry, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do!”

Never let oppressors see your anger. They will observe your emotion and your grief and they will perceive that you are naturally vexed and troubled but let them also see that you bear them no malice and only desire their welfare. I commend this to those who have a hard fight for Christ in the workroom, in the midst of sneers and jests. Never use the devil’s weapons, though they lie very handy and look very suitable. Only use Christ’s Omnipotent weapon of love and so shall you be His disciples. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1425.cfm

Paul’s Conversion and His New Passion

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

“I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that I were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsman according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertains the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the Law, and the service of God, and the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.”- Romans 9:1-5

Our first thought, after reading this passage, is, what a wonderfully tender and loving preacher Paul must have been. One of the early fathers was known to say that he wished he could have seen Solomon’s temple in its glory, Rome in its prosperity and Paul preaching! I think the last the grandest sight of the three! Oh, to have heard him speak! It might have shamed us into deeper tones of earnestness. Though, I suppose, his oratory was not very astonishing as mere rhetoric, for some said his speech was contemptible, yet it must have been wonderfully powerful upon the heart, for it abounded in sighs and tears and other tokens of evident emotion! Besides, his awful intensity of look and tone must have made his discourses irresistible! He would never have written as he has done in his Epistles if he had been one who could speak with icicles hanging about his lips. He must have spoken from a burning heart which shot forth red-hot bolts of fiery words! He poured his language out like lava from a volcano from the flaming furnace of his soul! His sentences burned their way into the hearts of those who heard him! Brother, if you are called to preach the Gospel, let Paul be your model! I reckon that we never preach aright unless we pour out our inmost soul! And unless we long and hunger and thirst for the conversion of our hearers, we might as well be in bed and asleep! We shall teach them to be indifferent if we, ourselves, are indifferent…. Commend me to the eloquence of Paul and to the oratory of his Master, for Paul was a great preacher because he caught his Master’s spirit and spoke in the manner of Him of whom they said of old, “Never man spoke like this Man.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1425.cfm

A Heart Changed

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

“I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that I were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsman according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertains the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the Law, and the service of God, and the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.”- Romans 9:1-5

What an intense man Paul was! Once convince him and his whole nature moved in the direction which he judged to be right. He was whole-hearted when he persecuted the Church of God and he was equally whole-hearted when, afterwards, he labored with all his might to build up the Church which he had sought to destroy! What a change was worked in Saul of Tarsus, that he who was so ardent a persecutor should become so fervent a preacher! His conversion is one of the proofs of the Divinity of Christianity. When you remember what he was by nature, you will marvel at the extraordinary change of thought and feeling which was worked in him! He who was cruel to the saints, who gave his voice against Stephen and held the garments of those that stoned him, became tenderhearted as a nurse towards her child! Though his Jewish brethren terribly persecuted him and pursued him from city to city, there is not a trace of resentment in any word he writes! Rather, he is full of gentleness. The lion had become a lamb and he that breathed out threats breathed out prayers! He who seemed to burn with enmity became a flame of love! I would to God we were all as thorough-going in the service of our Lord! The pity is that so many professing Christians appear to have no heart, while others borrow a heart for some occasions but do not seem to keep one permanently beating in their own bosoms. O for a warm, engine-like heart all consecrated and forever pulsing mightily! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1425.cfm

God’s Will about The Future

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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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Do All for Him

Sherry Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises Leave a comment

Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. – Colossians 3:24

I beseech you, Brothers and Sisters, if you have any love, pour it out upon Him! If you have any faith exercise it for Him! If you have any courage, be bold for Him! If you have any endurance, endure hardness for Him! If you have any Grace, any virtue, any gift of His Spirit—anything that is lovely and of good repute—use it for Him! Now is the day, now is the hour, now His love puts in her claim and serves you with her sacred writs. By the espousals which you have not forgotten, by the Covenant which you have oft repeated with Him, by the seals of His table, by your burial with Him in Baptism in days gone by, I beseech you now bring forth all your pleasant things for your Beloved! None for anyone else, but all for Him!

I fear we often forget to do all for Him. I know if I preach a sermon and have any recollection that such-and-such a passage might please a learned or wealthy hearer, I have failed to please God. If I have any consideration in my mind as to whether I shall gain esteem for excellence of speech I am weak. But if I preach for Jesus only, then whoever finds fault it doesn’t matter because my work is sweet to Him. And if you pray in the Prayer Meeting, or teach in the class, or give your contribution to the Lord’s work—if you feel you have done it for HIM—oh, then you know you have done right because that is the point which sweetens all! I believe that many have stolen up to the offering-box and dropped in what they could give for the Lord’s sake, and none have known it, and therefore Christ has accepted it—while others may have given large sums ostentatiously because others of their standing were giving as much, and therefore they were not accepted. Put what you give into the pierced hands—make that your treasury! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1066.cfm

The Pleasant Fruits of the Church

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The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved. – Song of Songs 7:13

The Church of God has, in herself, through the rich love of her Husband, all manner of pleasant fruits. There are all manner of pleasant fruits among us. One has one, another has another and, in some hearts, there are many fruits united. A church of God, if well cultivated, is rich in multiform displays of the fruit of the Spirit of God. Some of these fruits are new, and oh, how full of savor they are! Our new converts, thank God for them—what a freshness and power there is about their love! Certain moldy old professors have lost their taste all together—they have passed beyond the time in which they were sweet—they have gotten into the sleepy pear state and are getting rotten. They are chips in the porridge—the taste has gone out of them—if they ever had any. Alas, some have acquired a nauseous flavor, they are very naughty figs, indeed! The new fruits may be sharp and have more pungency than mellowness about them, but for all that they are choice to the Lord Jesus whose soul desires the first ripe fruits. I thank God for youthful zeal! It might, with advantage, have a little more knowledge mingled with it, yet the zeal is good and the fervent is good. May we never be without new-born souls! Then there are old fruits, the experience of believers who are ripening for Heaven—the well-developed confidence which has been tried in a thousand battles and the faith which has braved a lifetime of difficulties. These old fruits—the deep love of the matron to Christ, the firm assurance of the veteran believer—there is a mellowness about them which the Lord delights in! All these choice things ought to be laid up. Every good thing in a church is meant to be stored up, not to be despised and forgotten! And the point of all is that all in the Church ought to be laid up for our Beloved. And now is the time when I earnestly ask, in the name of the Lord Jesus, by the roes and by the hinds of the field, yes, by each sacred token of the love you bear your Master, that each one of you should bring forth his pleasant fruits whether they are new or whether they are old. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1066.cfm

Labor for the Lord

Sherry Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises Leave a comment

Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth: there will I give thee my loves. – Song of Songs 7:12

 The Church takes notice of all enquiries. “Let us see whether the pomegranates bud forth.” If a Church is alive there will always be many to observe where the first tear of repentance is glistening. Watch them, Brothers and Sisters! Those of you who occupy your seats and do not go afield can do the cause great service by watching at home. Around you there are unconverted persons. O my brethren, words fail me to set before you the ways in which you may show your love to Jesus in the Church itself, but I am certain that there is no need for me to speak. Love, herself, will teach you! Mothers somehow bring up their children, though there are no colleges for mothers! Love, with its instincts makes them wise and so will Christians with their love to Jesus become wise to serve. I do believe the less rule and human direction there is in the Church, the better. I do not need to say, “Brother, do this, and do that.” If you love Christ, you will know what to do better than anybody else can tell you. You will find your own places—the Lord will lead you to them. I might put a square man into a round hole if I had the placing of you but love always puts the man into the right position. It tells him what suits his qualifications, and it puts him to his work. And what is more, it keeps him to it! I shall measure your love to Jesus and measure my own, not by the way in which we can talk, or the way in which we can criticize other workers, but by the way in which we shall henceforth labor for the Lord! Jesus is your Master! No one else has bought you! No one else has died for you! No one else will receive you until His fond embrace at the last! No one else is preparing Heaven for you! No one else can say, “Well done good and faithful servant.” Serve Him, then, with both your hands, with all your heart, with every drop of blood in your veins and every breath in your lungs! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1066.cfm