Promises

God’s promises were never meant to be thrown aside as waste paper; he intended that they should be used. God’s gold is not miser’s money, but is minted to be traded with.

Nothing pleases our Lord better than to see his promises put in circulation; he loves to see his children bring them up to him, and say, "Lord, do as thou hast said." We glorify God when we plead his promises.
                                                 — Charles Spurgeon

An Advantageous Opportunity for Christ to Heal Us

While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”  On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”  Mark 2:15-17

I write this with all reverence: God Himself cannot deliver a person who is not in trouble. Therefore, it is to some advantage to be in distress, because God can then deliver you. Even Jesus Christ, the Healer of me, cannot heal a person who is not sick. Therefore, sickness is not an adversity for us, but rather an advantageous opportunity for Christ to heal us. The point is, your adversity may prove your advantage by offering occasion for the display of divine grace.

 - Charles Spurgeon

No Adjective. Not one.

"Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life." 1 Timothy 1:15-16 (NIV)

"Here’s a word you can take to heart and depend on: Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. I’m proof—Public Sinner Number One—of someone who could never have made it apart from sheer mercy. And now he shows me off—evidence of his endless patience—to those who are right on the edge of trusting him forever."  1 Timothy 1:15-16 (The Message)

The gate of Mercy is opened, and over the door it is written, ‘This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.‘  Between that word ‘save’ and the next word ‘sinners,’ there is no adjective.  It does not say, ‘penitent sinners,’ ‘awakened sinners,’ ‘sensible sinners,’ ‘grieving sinners’ or ‘alarmed sinners.’  No, it only says, ‘sinners.’  And I know this, that when I come, I come to Christ today, for I feel it is as much a necessity of my life to come to the cross of Christ today as it was to come ten years ago—when I come to him, I dare not come as a conscious sinner or an awakened sinner, but I have to come still as a sinner with nothing in my hands.

        
            -----Charles Spurgeon

Busy

"Tomorrow I plan to work, work from early until late. In fact I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer."

    -Martin Luther

 

"Sometimes we think we are too busy to pray. That is a great mistake, for praying is a saving of time."
    -Charles H. Spurgeon

Not a Spare Corner of God's Heart

“Oh, you are not dealing with trifles when you are dealing with the love of God to you.  It is not a spare corner of the heart of God that He gives to you, as you may give a little love to the criminals in the jails, but the great, inconceivably vast heart of God belongs as much to every Christian as if there were not another being in the world for God to love!  Even as Jehovah loves His Only-begotten, so does He love each one of His children.”

C. H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of the Old Testament

The Clover is Over

"Blessed is the man who is done with chance, and who never speaks of 'luck'; but believes that, from the least to the greatest, all things are ordained of the Lord."

- Charles Spurgeon

 

HT:

The Clover Is Over

The Gospel. {period}

 

No Needless Errand

She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, 

because he will save his people from their sins.  Matthew 1:21

Who are his people?  We are eager to know who they are, and we are glad to find that his people need to be saved, and will be saved, for it is written, ‘He will save his people.’  It is not said, ‘He will reward his people for their righteousness,’ nor is it promised that he will ’save them from becoming sinners,’ but ‘He will save his people from their sins.’ . . .

If you are righteous in yourself, you are not one of his people.  If you were never sick in soul, you are none of the folk that the Great Physician has come to heal.  If you were never guilty of sin, you are none of those whom he has come to deliver from sin.  Jesus comes on no needless errand and undertakes no unnecessary work.  If you feel yourselves to need saving, then cast yourselves upon him, for such as you are he came to save.

C. H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of the New Testament, on Matthew 1:21.

Take.......

“Take..........” Matthew 26:26

“Nobody at the table said, ‘Lord, I dare not take.’ But when Jesus said, ‘Take,’ they took. Nobody said, though perhaps everybody felt, ‘I am not worthy to take,’ but as Jesus said, ‘Take,’ they took. . . . .

And I do not suppose that the Master stood holding that piece of bread to Peter for half an hour. He said, ‘Take,’ and Peter took it. ‘Take,’ he said to John, and John took it. ‘Take,’ he said to Philip, and Philip took it at once. . .

I anticipate that someone will say, ‘Am I then to have Jesus Christ by only taking him?’ Just so. Do you need a Savior? There he is. Take him. Do you desire to be delivered from the power of sin? He can deliver you. Take him to do it. Do you desire to lead a holy, godly life? Here is One who can wash you and enable you to live thus. Take him.

He is as free as the air. You have no more to pay for Christ than you have to pay for the next breath that goes into your lungs. Take him in. Take him in. That is all you have to do.”

        --------C. H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of the New Testament

Hell's Terror

 

“‘Immanuel, God with us.’  It is hell’s terror.  Satan trembles at the sound of it. . . . Let him come to you suddenly, and do you but whisper that word, ‘God with us,’ back he falls, confounded and confused. . . . ‘God with us’ is the laborer’s strength.  How could he preach the gospel, how could he bend his knees in prayer, how could the missionary go into foreign lands, how could the martyr stand at the stake, how could the confessor own his Master, how could men labor if that one word were taken away? . . . ‘God with us’ is eternity’s sonnet, heaven’s hallelujah, the shout of the glorified, the song of the redeemed, the chorus of the angels, the everlasting oratorio of the great orchestra of the sky. . . .

Feast, Christians, feast; you have a right to feast. . . . But in your feasting, think of the Man in Bethlehem.  Let him have a place in your hearts, give him the glory, think of the virgin who conceived him, but think most of all of the Man born, the Child given.

I finish by again saying, A happy Christmas to you all!”

                          C. H. Spurgeon

Immanuel is a post from: Ray Ortlund

Do You Argue with God in Your Prayers?

Justin Taylor at the Gospel Coalition posts the following about Prayer.

What do you think?  Is Spurgeon right?

Charles Spurgeon says you should argue with God in your prayers—not to be argumentative, but to beseech the Lord with holy arguments with biblical precedence.
An excerpt:

The best prayers I have ever heard in our prayer meetings have been those which have been fullest of argument. Sometimes my soul has been fairly melted down where I have listened to the brethren who have come before God feeling the mercy to be really needed, and that they must have it, for they first pleaded with God to give it for this reason, and then for a second, and then for a third and then for a fourth and a fifth until they have awakened the fervency of the entire assembly.

The Gospel in Four Words

"'Come unto me,’ he says, ‘and I will give you.’ You say, ‘Lord, I cannot give you anything.’ He does not want anything. Come to Jesus, and he says, ‘I will give you.’ Not what you give to God, but what he gives to you, will be your salvation. ‘I will give you‘ — that is the gospel in four words.

Will you come and have it? It lies open before you.”

- C. H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of the New Testament