Perfect in Christ Jesus

June 15, 2024June 8, 2024Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation 1 Comment

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

There are some who think that Christ is all in some things, but they have not yet seen the full teaching of the text; for it saith: “Christ is all, and in all.” He is all, “say they, in justification; He it is that pardons all our sins and covers us with His righteousness, but as to our sanctification, surely, we are to effect that ourselves; and as to our final perseverance, it must depend wholly upon our own watchfulness. Are we not in jeopardy still? Are there not some points which depend upon our own virtue and goodness?” Beloved, God forbid I should say a word against the most earnest watchfulness, against the most diligent endeavors, but I beseech you do not place them in a wrong position or speak as though the ultimate salvation of the believer were based upon such shifting sand. We are saved in Christ. We are complete in Him. We are sanctified in Christ Jesus: “And He is made of God unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.” Christ is all, not in my justification only, but in my sanctification too. He is all, not only in the first steps of my faith, but in the last. “He is Alpha and Omega; He is the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord.” There is no point between the gates of hell and the gates of heaven where a believer shall have to say, “Christ fails me here, and I must rely upon my own endeavors.” From the dunghill of our corruption up to the throne of our perfection there is no point left to hazard or set aside for us to supply; our salvation has Christ to begin with, Christ to go on with, and Christ to finish with, and that in all points, at all times, for every man of woman born that ever shall be saved. There is no point in which the creature comes in to claim merit, or to bring strength, or to make up for that which was lacking. “Christ is all, and in all.” The saints are “perfect in Christ Jesus.” He said, “it is finished,” and finished it is. He is not the author of our faith only, but the finisher of it too. He is all in all, and man is nothing at all. This is a truth which every believer has recognised. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

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

All or Nothing at All

June 14, 2024June 14, 2024Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God 4 Comments

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

To say prayers, to go to church, to take the sacrament to observe Good Friday, these are the main reliances of many a religionist, and then if the coach sticks a little in a deeper rut than usual, they call in the help of the Lord Jesus and hope that He will put His shoulder to the wheel. They commonly say, “Well, we must do our best, then Christ will be our Savior, and God is very merciful.” They allow the blessed and all-sufficient work and sacrifice of the Savior to fill up their failures; and imagine that they are extremely humble in allowing so much as that. Jesus is to them a stopgap, and nothing more. I know not whether the condition of such people is one whit more desirable than that of those to whom Jesus is nothing at all, for this is a vile contempt and despising of Christ indeed, to think that He came to help you to save yourselves, to dream that He is a part Savior, and will divide the world; and honor of salvation with the sinner. Those who yoke the sinner and the Savior together as each doing a part rob Christ of all His glory; and this is robbery indeed, to pilfer from the bleeding Lamb of God the due reward of His agonies. “He trod the winepress alone, and of the people there was none with Him.” In the work of salvation Jesus stands alone. Salvation is of the Lord. If Christ is not all to you, He is nothing to you. He will never go into partnership as a part Savior of men. If He be something He must be everything, and if He be not everything, He is nothing to you.

Sinner, thou art the emptiness, and Christ the fullness; thou art the filthiness, and He the cleansing; thou art nothing, and He is all in all; and the sooner thou consent to this the better. Have done with saying, “I would come to the Savior if this, and if that,” for this quibbling will delude, delay, and destroy thee. Come as thou art, just now, even at this moment, for Christ is not almost all, but all in all. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

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

O Ye Who Make Jesus Nothing!

June 13, 2024June 8, 2024Sherry Character of Jesus, Christian Life, the unbelieving life Leave a comment

And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him: …Christ is all, and in all. – Colossians 3:10,11

Paul does not say that Christ is all in all to all men, but he tells us that there is a new creation, in which the man is “renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him,” where all national and ceremonial distinctions cease, and Christ is all and in all. It is not to every man that Christ is all and in all. Alas! there are many in this world to whom Christ is nothing; He scarcely enters into their thoughts. Some of the baser sort only use His name to curse by; and as to many others, if they have a religion, it is a proud presumption which excludes a Savior. The creed of the self-righteous has no room in it for the sinner’s Savior; the justifier of the ungodly is nothing to them. The worldly, the frivolous, the unchaste, the licentious, these do not permit themselves to think of the Holy Redeemer. Perchance some such are now present, and though they will hear about Him and of nothing else but Him, they will say, “what a weariness it is,” and be glad when the discourse is ended. Jesus is a root out of a dry ground to multitudes, to them He hath no form nor comeliness, and in Him they see no beauty that they should desire Him. Ah, what will they do when He is revealed in the glory of His power? They thought it nothing to them as they passed by His cross, but they will not be able to despise Him as they stand convicted before His throne. O ye who make Jesus nothing, kiss the Son lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Without Christ, you are to-day without peace, and will be for ever without hope! Nothing remains for Christless souls at the last, but a fearful looking for of judgment and of fiery indignation. I could well pause here, and say, let us pray for those who are unbelievers, and so are living without a Savior, that they may not remain any longer in this state of condemnation. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

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

Known by Our Christliness

June 12, 2024June 8, 2024Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises Leave a comment

“Christ is all in all.”-Colossians 3:11

The Apostle was arguing for holiness…Observe in this chapter that he begins by reminding the saints of their having risen with Christ. If they indeed have risen with Him, he argues that they should leave the grave of iniquity and the graveclothes of their sins behind, and act as those who are endowed with that superior life, which accounts sin to be death and corruption. He then goes on to declare that the believer’s life is in Christ, “for ye are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” He infers holiness from this also. Shall those who have Christ for their life defile themselves with guilt? Is it not inevitable that, if the Holy One of Israel be in them as their life, their life should be fraught with everything that is virtuous and good? And then he brings forward the third argument that in the Christian church Christ is the only distinguishing mark. In the new birth we are created in the image of Jesus, the second Adam, and in consequence all the distinctions that appertain to the old creation are rendered valueless; “there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all”: the argument from this fact being, that since the only abiding distinction in the new creation is Christ, we should take care that His image is most clearly stamped upon us so that we may not only confess with our tongues that we are Christians, but our conversation and our entire character shall bespeak us to be such. As you may recognize the Jew by his physiognomy, the Greek by his gracefulness, and the barbarian by his uncouthness; so should the Christian be known by his Christliness, by the light, love, and life of Christ streaming forth from him. This is the seal of God which is set upon the forehead of the faithful, and this is the mark of election which is in due season graven in the right hand of all the elect. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

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

Living with Christ

June 11, 2024May 25, 2024Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prayer, promises Leave a comment

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee. – Isaiah 26:3

There are many of us who could say, without any exaggeration, that though we do not think so much of our Lord as we should, and are not so much with Him in contemplation as we desire, yet we have spent more time with Him than we have spent with anybody else. Little as we know compared with what we hope to know, yet His love has become to us now the brightest, the most conspicuous fact in all our history. We know but few things; but we know that we are one with Christ in a union never to be broken.

If we are one with Him, to live with Him should be the most natural thing in our lives. Have I not heard, however, of some professors who have not had communion with Christ for many a day? I talked once with a brother, who said a great deal about many things; and when he had complained of this and of that, I leant forward to him, and said, “Brother, how long is it since you have had close fellowship with Christ?” He answered, “Oh, there you have got me!” When I asked him, “What do you mean by that?” he answered, “I am afraid that I have not had fellowship with Christ for months.” I had suspected that it must have been so, or else his conversation would not have been of the kind it was. What a sad thing it must be for a wife to live in her husband’s house, and not speak to him for weeks! But how much worse it is for us to profess to be one with Christ, and yet have no sort of communication with Him by the month together! This is something perfectly horrible. God save us all from such a thing! May we think continually of our Lord, and ever live with Him, because we are one with Him! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2244.cfm

If We are One with Christ…

June 10, 2024June 10, 2024Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, The Father Leave a comment

Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. – 2 John 1:9

If we are one with Christ, we should go through the world like princes; we should be like Abraham among his fellows, who claimed no princedom, and wore no crown, yet who could say to the King of Sodom what he had already vowed to God, “I will not take from thee a thread unto a shoe-latchet, and I will not take anything that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich.” If you are one with Christ, treat the world in that way. O world, thou canst not bless me! God hath blessed me. Thou canst not curse me! God hath blessed me. Dost thou laugh? Laugh if it pleaseth thee. Dost thou frown? What signifieth it to me? If God has smiled upon me, thou mayest spurn me. If I am one with Christ, I expect that thou shouldest think little of me; for thou didst spurn my Head. Should the body of Christ expect better treatment than the Head received?

If we are one with Christ, we shall remember that to dishonour ourselves is to implicate our Lord. If I dishonour any part of my body, my head feels the shame of it; and since we are the members of Christ, we should be very careful how to behave, lest we should cause Him pain. Men will judge Christ by His people. If I caught sight of a pair of legs very unsteadily walking along the street, I should be inclined to say that they belong to a drunken head. If our walk among men is not such “as becometh the gospel”, what hard thoughts those around us may have of our Saviour! Of course, we know that any ill estimate of Him will be false, for He is all fair, and there is no spot in Him; but still His name and His cause will suffer dishonour. Let us not, then, injure or defile ourselves, lest we should bring reproach upon Him whom we love! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2244.cfm