God’s Holy One Saw No Corruption

July 27, 2024July 26, 2024Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God, The Holy Spirit Leave a comment

For Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption. – Psalm 16:10

For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption: But He, whom God raised again, saw no corruption. – Acts 13:36,37

David could not have meant himself when he said, “Thou wilt not suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption;” because David died, and his body was buried, and it did see corruption. He must therefore have referred to Christ, who is indeed God’s “Holy One.” Of Him the prophetic word was true, for God did not suffer Him “to see corruption.” He died, and was laid in the grave, but He rose again on the third day. In that climate there was, while Christ lay in the grave, plenty of time for His body to become corrupt. The spices with which they perfumed the precious body would not have sufficed to keep back corruption; they would have helped conceal the unpleasant odour which putrefaction brings, but they would not have stopped the process of decay. But Christ rose again, and no corruption had come to His body, for that body was a holy thing; it had no defect, nor taint of sin, as our bodies have. Begotten of the Holy Ghost, it was a pure thing; though born of the Virgin Mary, it was united to the Godhead, and not separated from it even in death; it saw no corruption. There is the apostle’s argument, then: David speaking not of himself, but of someone else, says that the Lord will not suffer Him to see corruption; and this he spake by the Spirit of the very Christ whom we preach to you as the Author and Finisher of salvation. He is living and reigning to-day, King of kings and Lord of lords; he that believeth in Him, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and live for ever with his risen, reigning Redeemer. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2243.cfm

On This We Must Agree

July 26, 2024July 26, 2024Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God Leave a comment

“For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep.”- Act 13:36

It is remarkable that David should say, in the sixteenth Psalm, “Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption,” and yet that Paul should say concerning him, when preaching at Antioch, that he “saw corruption.” The key to this apparent contradiction is the fact that David did not speak of himself, but of his Lord. Peter, in his memorable sermon on the day of Pentecost, quotes the words of the psalmist, applies them to his risen Redeemer, and distinctly affirms that, in the Psalm, “David speaketh concerning Him.”

It is worthy of notice that Peter and Paul both use the same argument about this statement of David. These two apostles did not always agree; but however much they might differ about other matters, they were of one mind about the resurrection of Christ. I hope that whatever differences there may be among true preachers of the gospel, they will always be one in declaring the resurrection of our Lord. This corner-stone of the gospel must never be displaced or dishonoured. The good news we are commissioned to declare is the same that Paul received and delivered, “that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.” Chief among the Scriptures fulfilled by the resurrection of Christ stands this word, which David, inspired by the Holy Ghost, wrote so long before the event: “Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.” The resurrection of Christ is the top-stone of our faith. Because “He, whom God raised again, saw no corruption,” Paul was able to say this to his hearers, “Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by Him all that before are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2243.cfm

Fitting Work

July 25, 2024July 13, 2024Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God 3 Comments

Now, behold, in my trouble I have prepared for the house of the LORD…Now set your heart and your soul to seek the LORD your God; arise therefore, and build ye the sanctuary of the LORD God… – 1 Chronicles 22:14,19

What I have to say here is this: DAVID’S WORK FITS ON TO THE WORK OF ANOTHER. That should be a great joy to some of you who do not see much coming of what you are doing. Your work is going to fit on to somebody else’s work. This is the order of God’s providence for His Church. It does not happen that He gives a whole piece of work to one man; but He seems to say to him, “You go and do so much; then I will send somebody else to do the rest.” How this ought to cheer some of you up, the thought that your work may be no failure, though in itself it may seem to be so, because it fits on to the work of somebody else who is coming after you, and so it will be very far from a failure! You have sometimes seen a man take a contract to put in the foundations of a house, and to carry it up to a certain height. He has done that; he will not be the builder of that house; that will be the work of the next contractor, who carries up the walls, and puts on the roof, and so forth. Yes, but he who did the foundation-work did a great deal, and he is as much the builder of the house as the man who carries up the walls. So, if you go to a country town or village, and you preach the gospel to a few poor folk, you may never have seemed very successful; but you have been preparing the way for somebody else who is coming after you.

You will notice how one shall do his work, which shall be necessary to some larger work that somebody else will do after him. This is God’s way, so that the second man, the Solomon coming after David, may do his work all the better because of what his father has done before him…I daresay that Solomon often thought gratefully of his father David, and what he had done; and you and I, if God blesses us, ought always to think with thanksgiving of the Davids who went before us. It is the way of God in providence to set one man to do part of a work which pieces on to that of another man. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2261.cfm

“What is all this to God?”

July 24, 2024July 13, 2024Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life, promises Leave a comment

Now, behold, in my trouble I have prepared for the house of the LORD… – 1 Chronicles 22:14

Read it: “Now, behold, in my trouble I have prepared for the house of the Lord an hundred thousand talents of gold;” and so on. In the margin of your Bibles, you will find the words, “in my poverty.” David thought little of what he had prepared. He calls it poverty, I think, because it is the way of the saints to count anything that they do for God to be very little. The most generous men in the world think the least of what they give to God’s cause. David, with his millions that he gives, says, “In my poverty I have prepared for the house of the Lord.” As he looked at the gold and silver, he said to himself, “What is all this to God?” And the brass and the iron, that could not be reckoned, it was so much and so costly; he thought it was all nothing to Jehovah, who fills heaven and earth, whose grandeur and glory are altogether unspeakable. If you have done the most that you can for God, you will sit down, and weep that you cannot do ten times as much. You that do little for the Lord will be like a hen with one chick; you will think a great deal of it. But if you have a great number of works, and you are doing much for Christ, you will wish that you could do a hundred times as much… Oh, to be multiplied a thousand-fold, that we might, anywhere and everywhere, serve Jesus with heart, and mind, and soul, and strength! So, David here considers that what he did was very little. Yet, it was proof of his sincerity…To have something to do for Jesus, and to go right on with it, is one of the best ways to get over a bereavement, or any other mental depression. If you can pursue some great object, you will not feel that you are living for nothing. You will not sit down in despair; for, whatever your trouble may be, you will still have this to live for, “I want to help in building the Church of God, and I will do my part in it whatever happens to me. Come poverty or wealth, come sickness or health, come life or death, as long as there is breath in my body, I will go on with the work that God has given me to do.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2261.cfm

Have You Done Your Part?

July 23, 2024July 13, 2024Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prayer, promises Leave a comment

Now, behold, in my trouble I have prepared for the house of the LORD an hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver; and of brass and iron without weight; for it is in abundance: timber also and stone have I prepared; and thou mayest add thereto. – 1 Chronicles 22:14

You see that David had done his part toward the building of the temple. I should like to ask every believer here, “Have you done your part?” You are a child of God; God has loved you and chosen you; you have been redeemed with precious blood. You know better than to think of working in order to save yourself; you are saved; but have you diligently done all that you can for your Lord and Master? It was well said, in the prayer-meeting before this service, that there are several thousand members of this church who could not preach, and there were some who did preach of whom the same thing might be said, for it was poor preaching, after all; and our brother said in prayer, “Lord, help us who cannot preach, to pray for the man who does!” Have you, dear friend, who cannot preach, made a point of praying for the pastor of the church to which you belong? It is a great sin on the part of church-members if they do not daily sustain their pastor by their prayers.

Then there is much else that you can do for Christ, in your family, in your business, and in the neighbourhood where you live. Could you go to bed to-night, and there close your eyes for the last time, feeling, “I have finished the work which God gave me to do. I have done all that I could for the winning of souls”? I am afraid that I address some who have a talent wrapped in a napkin, hidden away in the earth. My dear man, go home, and dig it up, before it gets altogether covered with rust, to bear witness against you. Take it up, and put it out to heavenly interest, that your Lord may have what He is entitled to receive…We shall soon be gone; our day lasts not very long. “The night cometh when no man can work.” Shall it be said of you, or of me, that we wasted our daylight; and then, when the evening shadows came, we were uneasy and unhappy, and though saved by divine grace, we died with sad expressions of regret for wasted opportunities? ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2261.cfm

Do Your Part

July 22, 2024July 13, 2024Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life, promises Leave a comment

Now, behold, in my trouble I have prepared for the house of the LORD… – 1 Chronicles 22:14

David had prepared the way for Solomon’s temple. It was by his fighting that the time of peace came, in which the temple could be erected…There could be no peace till her adversaries had been crushed; and David did that. You do not hear much about the men who prepare the way for others, Somebody else comes along, and apparently does all the work; and his name is widely known and honoured; but God remembers the heralds, the pioneers, the men who prepare the way, the men who, by casting out devils, routing grievous errors, and working needful reforms, prepare the way for the triumphal progress of the gospel…David found the site for the temple. He discovered it; he purchased it; and he handed it over to Solomon. We do not always remember the men who prepare the sites for the Lord’s temples. Luther is rightly remembered; but there were reformers before Luther. There were hundreds of men and women who burned for Christ, or who perished in prison, or who were put to cruel deaths for the gospel…God remembers all those pre-Reformation heroes. It may be your lot, dear friend, to clear a site, and to make the occasion for others; and you may die before you see even a cornerstone of your work laid; for it will be yours when it is finished, and God will remember what you have done…David received the plans from God. The Lord wrote upon his heart what He would have done. He told him, even to the weight of the candlesticks and lamps, everything that was to be arranged. Solomon, wise as he was, did not plan the temple. He had to borrow the designs from his father, who received them direct from God. Many a man is far-seeing; he gets the plan of the gospel into his heart, he sees a way in which great things can be done, and yet he is scarcely permitted to put his own hand to the work. Another will come by-and-by and will carry out the plan that the first one received…O Christian men and women, there must be very much unused energy in the Church of God! We have a great dynamo that is never used. Oh, that each one would do his own part, even as David did his! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2261.cfm