Man! Think!

I came upon a sermon by C.H. Spurgeon, called Without Money And Without Price. Spurgeon was talking about the surprising nature of free grace to us. We have it so innately in us that we must do something to get something. We often take this attitude with us with regard to God's grace. But Spurgeon makes a great point that if we think a little bit, we wouldn't be nearly suprised about God's radical grace to us in the gospel:



"Thus I have spoken upon the surprising nature of this fact (free grace). But I need to add that though I have thus shown grounds for our surprise, yet if men would think a little they might not be quite so unbelievingly amazed as they are. For, after all, the best blessings we have come to us freely. What price have you paid for your lives? And yet they are very precious. 
Skin for skin, yes, all that you have would you give for them! What price do you pay for the air you breathe? What price does a man pay for the blessed sunlight? Tonight when we lay our heads down upon our pillows the poor man’s sleep shall be as sweet as the sleep of him who reclines on down. Sleep is the unbought blessing of Heaven, you cannot purchase it! It is clear, then, that some of the best blessings we possess come to us by the way of free gift."

Prodigal Love for a Prodigal Son

This is an excerpt from a sermon delivered by C.H. Spurgeon a long time ago. Spurgeon was preaching on Jesus' well known parable the Prodigal Son. The whole sermon can be read here. Enjoy reading about the love of God in Christ for you. Be encouraged in the gospel!

Spurgeon:

This poor young man, in his hungry, faint, and wretched state, having come a very long way, had not much heart in him. His hunger had taken all energy out of him, and he was so conscious of his guilt that he had hardly the courage to face his father; so his father gives him a kiss, as much as to say, “Come, boy, do not be cast down; I love you.”

“Oh, the past, the past, my father!” he might moan, as he thought of his wasted years; but he had no sooner said that than he received another kiss, as if his father said, “Never mind the past; I have forgotten all about that.” This is the Lord’s way with His saved ones. Their past lies hidden under the blood of atonement. The Lord saith by His servant Jeremiah, “The iniquity if Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve.”

But then, perhaps, the young man looked down on his foul garments, and said, “The present, my father, the present, what a dreadful state I am in!” And with another kiss would come the answer, “Never mind the present, my boy. I am content to have you as you are. I love you.” This, too, is God’s word to those who are “accepted in the Beloved.” In spite of all their vileness, they are pure and spotless in Christ, and God says of each one of them, “Since you were precious in My sight, you have been honourable, and I have loved you. Therefore, though in yourself you are unworthy, through My dear Son you are welcome to My home.”

“Oh, but,” the boy might have said, “the future, my father, the future! What would you think if I should ever go astray again?”Then would come another holy kiss, and his father would say, “I will see to the future, my boy; I will make home so bright for you that you will never want to go away again.” But God does more than that for us when we return to Him. He not only surrounds us with tokens of His love, but He says concerning us, “They shall be My people, and I will be their God: and I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear Me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them: and I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.” Furthermore, He says to each returning one, “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put My spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them.”

Whatever there was to trouble the son, the father gave him a kiss to set it all right; and, in like manner, our God has a love-token for every time of doubt and dismay which may come to His reconciled sons. Perhaps one whom I am addressing says, “Even though I confess my sin, and seek God’s mercy, I shall still be in sore trouble, for through my sin, I have brought myself down to poverty.” “There is a kiss for you,” says the Lord: “Your bread shall be given to you, and your water shall be sure.” “But I have even brought disease upon myself by sin,” says another. “There is a kiss for you, for I am Jehovah-Rophi, the Lord that heals you, who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases.” “But I am dreadfully down at the heel,” says another. The Lord gives you also a kiss, and says, “I will lift you up, and provide for all your needs. No good thing will I withhold from them that walk uprightly.” All the promises in this Book belong to every repentant sinner, who returns to God believing in Jesus Christ, His Son.

The father of the prodigal kissed his son much, and thus made him feel happy there and then. Poor souls, when they come to Christ, are in a dreadful plight, and some of them hardly know where they are I have known them talk a lot of nonsense in their despair, and say hard and wicked things of God in their dreadful doubt. The Lord gives no answer to all that, except a kiss, and then another kiss. Nothings puts the penitent so much at rest as the Lord’s repeated assurance of His unchanging love. Such a one the Lord has often received, “and kissed him much,” that He might fetch him up even from the horrible pit, and set his feet upon a rock, and establish his goings.

HT: Timmy Brister

In the name of the Lord I will destroy them!

"In the name of the Lord I will destroy them." --Psalm 118:12 

Our Lord Jesus, by His death, did not purchase a right to a part of us only, but to the entire man. He contemplated in His passion the sanctification of us wholly, spirit, soul, and body; that in this triple kingdom He Himself might reign supreme without a rival. It is the business of the newborn nature which God has given to the regenerate to assert the rights of the Lord Jesus Christ. My soul, so far as thou art a child of God, thou must conquer all the rest of thyself which yet remains unblest; thou must subdue all thy powers and passions to the silver sceptre of Jesus' gracious reign, and thou must never be satisfied till He who is King by purchase becomes also King by gracious coronation, and reigns in thee supreme. Seeing, then, that sin has no right to any part of us, we go about a good and lawful warfare when we seek, in the name of God, to drive it out. O my body, thou art a member of Christ: shall I tolerate thy subjection to the prince of darkness? O my soul, Christ has suffered for thy sins, and redeemed thee with His most precious blood: shall I suffer thy memory to become a storehouse of evil, or thy passions to be firebrands of iniquity? Shall I surrender my judgment to be perverted by error, or my will to be led in fetters of iniquity? No, my soul, thou art Christ's, and sin hath no right to thee. 

Be courageous concerning this, O Christian! be not dispirited, as though your spiritual enemies could never be destroyed. You are able to overcome them--not in your own strength--the weakest of them would be too much for you in that; but you can and shall overcome them through the blood of the Lamb. Do not ask, "How shall I dispossess them, for they are greater and mightier than I?" but go to the strong for strength, wait humbly upon God, and the mighty God of Jacob will surely come to the rescue, and you shall sing of victory through His grace.

Taken from C.H. Spurgeon's Morning and Evening Devotional.

A New Year's Benediction

 I found these words by C.H. Spurgeon encouraging to my soul.

I wish, my brothers and sisters, that during this year you may live nearer to Christ than you have ever done before. Depend upon it, it is when we think much of Christ that we think little of ourselves, little of our troubles, and little of the doubts and fears that surround us. Begin from this day, and may God help you. Never let a single day pass over your head without a visit to the garden of Gethsemane, and the cross on Calvary. And as for some of you who are not saved, and know not the Redeemer, I would to God that this very day you would come to Christ. I dare say you think coming to Christ is some terrible thing: that you need to be prepared before you come; that he is hard and harsh with you. When men have to go to a lawyer they need to tremble; when they have to go to the doctor they may fear; though both those persons, however unwelcome, may be often necessary. But when you come to Christ, you may come boldly. There is no fee required; there is no preparation necessary. You may come just as you are. It was a brave saying of Martin Luther's, when he said, "I would run into Christ's arms even if he had a drawn sword in his hand." Now, he has not a drawn sword, but he has his wounds in his hands. Run into his arms, poor sinner. "Oh," you say, "May I come?" How can you ask the question? you are commanded to come. The great command of the gospel is, "Believe on the Lord Jesus." Those who disobey this command disobey God. It is as much a command of God that man should believe on Christ, as that we should love our neighbor. Now, what is a command I have certainly a right to obey. There can be no question you see; a sinner has liberty to believe in Christ because he is told to do so. God would not have told him to do a thing which he must not do. You are allowed to believe. "Oh," saith one, "that is all I want to know. I do believe that Christ is able to save to the uttermost. May I rest my soul on him, and say, sink or swim, most blessed Jesus, thou art my Lord?" May do it! man? Why you are commanded to do it. Oh that you may be enabled to do it. Remember, this is not a thing which you will do at a risk. The risk is in not doing it. Cast yourself on Christ, sinner. Throw away every other dependence and rest alone on him.

Thou Art All Fair, My Love

The Lord's admiration of his Church is very wonderful, and his

description of her beauty is very glowing. She is not merely fair, but

"all fair." He views her in himself, washed in his sin-atoning blood

and clothed in his meritorious righteousness, and he considers her to

be full of comeliness and beauty. No wonder that such is the case,

since it is but his own perfect excellency that he admires; for the

holiness, glory, and perfection of his Church are his own glorious

garments on the back of his own well-beloved spouse. She is not simply

pure, or well-proportioned; she is positively lovely and fair! She has

actual merit! Her deformities of sin are removed; but more, she has

through her Lord obtained a meritorious righteousness by which an

actual beauty is conferred upon her. Believers have a positive

righteousness given to them when they become "accepted in the beloved"

(Eph. 1:6). Nor is the Church barely lovely, she is superlatively so.

Her Lord styles her "Thou fairest among women." She has a real worth

and excellence which cannot be rivalled by all the nobility and royalty

of the world. If Jesus could exchange his elect bride for all the

queens and empresses of earth, or even for the angels in heaven, he

would not, for he puts her first and foremost-"fairest among women."

Like the moon she far outshines the stars. Nor is this an opinion which

he is ashamed of, for he invites all men to hear it. He sets a "behold"

before it, a special note of exclamation, inviting and arresting

attention. "Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair"

(Song of Sol. 4:1). His opinion he publishes abroad even now, and one

day from the throne of his glory he will avow the truth of it before

the assembled universe. "Come, ye blessed of my Father" (Matt. 25:34),

will be his solemn affirmation of the loveliness of his elect.

-C. H. Spurgeon

Must Read Sermon

Here is a great sermon from Spurgeon on the approachableness of Jesus

http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/0809.htm

Spurgeon and Owen on Particular Atonement

"We are often told that we limit the atonement of Christ, because we say that Christ has not made satisfaction for all men, or all men would be saved.  Now, our reply to this is, that, on the other hand, our opponents limit it: we do not.  The Arminians say, Christ died for all men. Ask them what they mean by it.  Did Christ die so as to secure the salvation of all men.   They say, "No, certainly not."  We ask them the next question--Did Christ die so as to secure the salvation of any man in particular?  They answer, "No."  They are obliged to admit this, if they are consistent.  They say, "No, Christ has died that any man may be saved if..." --and then follow certain conditions of salvation.  Now, who is it that limits the death of Christ? Why, you.  You say that Christ did not die so as to secure the salvation of anybody.   We beg your pardon, when you say that we limits Christ's death; we say, "no my dear sir, it is you that do it."  We say Christ so died that he infallibly secured the salvation of a multitude that no man can number, who through Christ's death not only may be saved, but are saved, must be saved and cannot by any possibility run the hazard of being anything but saved.  You are welcome to your atonement; you may keep it.  We will never renounce ours for the sake of it."
Charles Spurgeon


"[If Jesus died for all men]...why then, are not all freed from the punishment of all their sins?  You will say, "Because of their unbelief; they will not believe."  But his unbelief, is it sin, or not?  If not, why should they be punished for it?  If it be sin, then Christ underwent the punishment due to it; If this is so, then why must that hinder them more than their other sins for which he died from partaking of the fruit of his death?  If he did not, then he did not die for all their sins."  John Owen

Jesus Is So Kind

I was encouraged last night as I was reading Spurgeon again in his Morning and Evening.

"Our poorest actions Jesus accepts; our deepest sorrow He feels; our slenderest wish He hears; and every transgression He forgives. Jesus is still our servant as well as our Friend and Master. What condescending patience it is when the Savior with much long-suffering bears the repetitive follies of His wayward disciples, day by day and hour by hour washing away the multiplied transgressions of His erring but still much-loved child! While we find comfort and peace in our Lord's daily cleansing, its legitimate influence upon us will be to increase our watchfulness and quicken our desire for holiness."

This so encourages me, because I see my sin, I see my follies, yet Jesus still loves me. It reminds me of the gospel, it rivets my affections on Christ, it makes me treasure Him and His work on my behalf. I need the gospel!

Do Not Be Conformed To This World

This is my first post on my blog, and it is from Spurgeon's Morning and Evening!

If a Christian can by possibility be saved while he conforms to this world, at any rate it must be so as by fire. Such a bare salvation is almost as much to be dreaded as desired. Reader, would you wish to leave this world in the darkness of a desponding death bed, and enter heaven as a shipwrecked mariner climbs the rocks of his native country? then be worldly; be mixed up with Mammonites, and refuse to go without the camp bearing Christ's reproach. But would you have a heaven below as well as a heaven above? Would you comprehend with all saints what are the heights and depths, and know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge? Would you receive an abundant entrance into the joy of your Lord? Then come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing. Would you attain the full assurance of faith? you cannot gain it while you commune with sinners. Would you flame with vehement love? Your love will be damped by the drenchings of godless society. You cannot become a great Christian-you may be a babe in grace, but you never can be a perfect man in Christ Jesus while you yield yourself to the worldly maxims and modes of business of men of the world. It is ill for an heir of heaven to be a great friend with the heirs of hell. It has a bad look when a courtier is too intimate with his king's enemies. Even small inconsistencies are dangerous. Little thorns make great blisters, little moths destroy fine garments, and little frivolities and little rogueries will rob religion of a thousand joys. O professor, too little separated from sinners, you know not what you lose by your conformity to the world. It cuts the tendons of your strength, and makes you creep where you ought to run. Then, for your own comfort's sake, and for the sake of your growth in grace, if you be a Christian, be a Christian, and be a marked and distinct one.