Overly Mindful of the Imperfections and Difficulties of Ministries

Sherry Christian Life 1 Comment

He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap. – Ecclesiastes 11:4

“Cast thy bread upon the waters:” “Give a portion to seven, and also to eight.” If anybody occupies his mind unduly with the difficulties connected with liberality, he will do nothing in that line. “He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.” “How am I to know,” says one, ” that the person to whom I give my money is really deserving? How do I know what he will do with it? How do I know but what I may be encouraging idleness or begging? By giving to the man, I may be doing him real injury.” Perhaps you are not asked to give to an individual, but to some great work. Then, if you regard the clouds, you will begin to say, “How do I know that this work will be successful, the sending of missionaries to a cultivated people like the Hindoos? Is it likely that they will be converted?” You will not sow, and you will not reap if you talk like that; yet there are many who do speak in that fashion. There was never an enterprise started yet but somebody objected to it; and I do not believe that the best work that Christ Himself ever did was beyond criticism; there were some people who were sure to find some fault with it. “But,” says another, “I have heard that the management at headquarters is not all it ought to be; I think that there is too much money spent on the secretary, and that there is a great deal lost in this direction and in that.” Well, dear friend, it goes without saying that if you managed things, they would be managed perfectly; but, you see, you cannot do everything, and therefore you must trust somebody. I can only say, with regard to societies, agencies, works, and missions of all kinds, “He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.” If that is what you are doing, finding out imperfections and difficulties, it will end in this, you will do nothing at all. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2264.cfm

Don’t Overthink It

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

He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap. – Ecclesiastes 11:4

Sow when the time comes, whatever wind blows. Reap when the times comes, whatever clouds are in the sky. There are, however, qualifying proverbs, which must influence our actions. We are not to discard prudence in the choice of the time for our work. “To every thing there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.” It is well to sow when the weather is propitious. It is wise to “make hay while the sun shines.” Cut your corn when there is the probability of getting it dry. But Solomon here is pushing the other side of the matter. He had seen prudence turn to idleness; he had noticed some people wait for a more convenient season, which never came. He had observed sluggards making excuses, which did not hold water. So he, with a blunt word, generalizes, in order to make the truth more forcible. Not troubling about the exceptions to the rule, he states it broadly thus: “Take no notice of winds or clouds. Go on with your work whatever happens. ‘He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.'” A man may observe the wind, and regard the clouds a great deal too much, and so neither sow nor reap.

In any labour to which we set our hand, if we take too much notice of the difficulties, we shall be hindered in it. It is very wise to know the difficulty of your calling, the sorrow which comes with it, the trial which arises out of it, the temptation connected therewith; but if you think too much of these things, there is no calling that will be carried on with any success…Our hope is not in self, but in Christ; let us go and sow it. Our hope is in the finished work of Christ; let us go and reap it; for, if we keep on regarding the winds and the clouds, we shall neither sow nor reap. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2264.cfm

The Christ-life

Sherry Character of Jesus, Christian Life, repentance 1 Comment

Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; – Colossians 3:12

If Christ is all, and yet I being a Christian am not like Christ, my Christianity is a transparent sham, I am nothing but a base pretender, and my outward religiousness is a pompous pageantry for my soul to be carried to hell in-nothing more. It is a gilded coffin for a lifeless spirit. I shall perish with a double destruction, if I have dared to profane the name of Christ by taking it upon me, when I have not the essence of the Christian religion within me. Orthodoxy, though it be of the most assured sort, is vanity of vanities, unless there be with it an orthodoxy of life: and experience, whatever man may say about it, is but a dream, a fiction of his own imagining, if it does not display itself in shaking off the sins of the flesh and putting on the adornments of holiness. O brethren, these are searching things to every one of us. Who amongst us lives as he should at home? Could you bear that the angel who visits your house should publish, before the great cloud of witnesses, all that he has seen there? …I charge you, if you have any respect for Christ, lay down His name if you will not endeavor to honor it, you covetous money-grubbers, you earth-scrapers, who live only for this world, you will be lost; you need not doubt of that, you will be lost sure enough; but why need you make the assurance of your condemnation doubly sure by the base imposture of calling yourselves Christians. Meanwhile, let the Ethiopian call himself white, if he will; let the leopard declare that he has no spots; these things shall not matter; but the falsehood of a man who lives without Christ, while calling himself a Christian, brings such dishonor upon Him who was nailed to the tree, and whose religion is that of holiness, that I beseech you, by the living God, give up your profession, if you do not endeavor to make it true. If you are not living as you should, do not pretend to be what you are not. Seek ye unto God, that the life of Christ being in you, you may manifest it in your conversation. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1006.cfm

Simply Rely Upon Him and Be at Peace

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

Christ is all… – Colossians 3:11

See in the truth before us a rebuke for the doubts of many seekers. They will say, “I have not this, I have not that.” Suppose thou hast it not, Christ has it, if it be good for anything. “I would fain cast myself upon the mercy of God in Christ this day, but,”-Ah, away with thy “buts.” What dost thou want? “I want true belief,” saith one. Come to Christ for it then. “I want a broken heart,” says another. If you cannot come with a broken heart to Christ, come for a broken heart.

“True belief, and true repentance
Every grace that brings us nigh,
Without money
Come to Jesus Christ and buy.”

We have an odd proverb about the folly of taking coals to Newcastle; but what folly must that be which makes a man think that he can take something to Christ, when Christ is all. Come, come, come, come to Him, poor sinner, and let Him be all in all to thee. Simply rely upon Him and be at peace.

How this rebukes the coldness of saints. If Christ be all in all, then how is it we love Him so little? If He is so precious, how is it we prize Him so little? Oh! my dull, dead, cold heart, what art thou at? Art thou harder than adamant, and baser than brutish, that thou art not much more moved with ardor and fervent affection towards such a Lord us this? Christ is all, my brethren, yet look how little we offer to Him-of our substance how scant a portion-of our time how slender a part-of our talents how small a parcel! God stir us to holy fervency, that if Christ be all for us, we may be all for Christ. May we lay ourselves out without reservation to the utmost stretch of our power, asking fresh strength from Him, that we may do all that can be done by mortal men, and that all may be done with us by God, that He shall see it to be compatible with His glory to do. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1006.cfm

The Sealing of the Spirit

Sherry sermon Leave a comment

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

Are You Rich or Destitute?

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

Christ is all, and in all. – Colossians 3:11

There are many things in this world that are good, but there is nothing that is good for everything. Some plants may be a good medicine, but not a good cordial; the plant of renown (Ez.34:29) is good in every way. Good clothing is not able to stay your hunger, but Christ the bread of heaven is also the Father’s best robe. You cannot expect any finite thing to be good for all things, but Christ is infinite goodness. This tree of life bears all manner of fruits, and the leaves are for the healing of the nations. He is strength and beauty, safety and sanctity, peace and plenty healing and help, comfort and conquest, life here, and life for ever. Glory be to the Lord Jesus Christ! What can He be less than God, if He be all? “All.” Is it not a synonym for God? We say there cannot be two Gods, because the one God is everywhere, and fills all space; and who then can He be who is called “all in all,” but “very God of very God?” Worship Him, my brethren, with all your hearts; rejoice in Him and bless Him from day to day. Let not the world think you poor who are so rich in Him. Never suffer men to think you unhappy, who have perfect happiness in the ever-blessed Immanuel.

Oh, the blessedness of the man who can say, “Christ is mine.” On the other hand, see the wretchedness of the man who has not the Savior: for if Christ is all, you who believe not on Him are devoid of all, in being destitute of Christ. But you say, “I try my best, I attend public worship, I do a great deal that is good;” you have nothing if you have not Christ. Do not flatter yourself that you are getting on and adding goods to goods in spiritual things; if you have not a Savior you are naked and poor and miserable; you are without all if you are without Christ, who is all. The Christian, then, is rich, but everyone who is destitute of Christ is poor to the extreme of poverty. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1006.cfm

Christ is the Channel of All, the Pledge of All, the Sum of All

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God, The Father 2 Comments

He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? – Romans 8:32

All love and mercy flow from God through Christ the mediator. We get nought apart from Him. “No man cometh unto the Father but by Me.” Other conduits are dry, but this channel is always full. “He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.”

When God gave us Christ, He did as much as say, “I have given you all things.” “He that spared not His own Son, but freely delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” He is a covenant to us, the title-deed of the promised rest.

“Money answereth all things,” says the wise man, and this is true in a limited sense; but he that has Christ, has indeed all things: he has the essence, the substance of all good. I have only to plead the name of Jesus before the Father’s throne, and nothing desirable shall be denied me. If Christ is yours, all things are yours. God, who gave you Christ, has in that one gift summed up the total of all you will want for time and for eternity; to obliterate the sin of the past, to fulfill the needs of the present, and to perfect you for all the work and bliss of the future. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1006.cfm