[BBC List] lordship

[Mike Abendroth]

LORDSHIP 

1.   "Church hypocrites..." 
by Spurgeon --

No man who is not united in his heart vitally and entirely to
Christ, can ever be of the slightest service to the church of God.

Oh, if there be a place where sinners are more loathsome
to God than anywhere else, it is in his church.

A dog in its kennel is well enough-
but a dog in the throne-room is quite out of place.

A sinner in the world is bad enough-
but in the church he is hideous!

A madman in an asylum is a creature to be pitied,
but a madman who protests he is not mad, and will
thrust himself among us that he may obtain means
of doing mischief, is not merely to be pitied,
he is to be avoided, and needs to be restrained.

God hates sin anywhere, but when sin puts its fingers
upon his divine altar; when it comes and lays its insolent
hand upon the sacrifice that is burning there, then God
spurns it from him with disgust.

Of all men, who stand in the most likely place to receive the
mightiest thunderbolt, and the most terrible lightning's flash,
those are the men who have a divided heart, and profess to
serve God, while with their souls they are serving sin.

Take heed, sinner, take heed, running on in your sin you will
meet with punishment. But after all, O hypocrite, look well
to your ways, for your sin and your lie together shall bring
down a dread and swift destruction upon your devoted head.


2.   Sheep or swine?
-Spurgeon,   "SEPARATING THE PRECIOUS THE VILE"

There is an essential difference between the
righteous and the wicked, even in their sins--

If you see a SHEEP fall into the mire, it is quick enough up again.
"A righteous man falls seven times, but he rises up again."

But if the SWINE falls there, it wallows in it again and again,
and nothing but the whip or the stick can make it rise.

As for the wicked, he rolls and revels in
his sin, abiding and continuing in it.


3.   Swine or sheep?
-Spurgeon, "A passion for Holiness in a Believer's Life"

"Sin shall not have dominion over you."   Rom. 6:14

Sin shall not have dominion over the believer,
for though he falls, he shall rise again. 

The child of God, when he falls into the mire, is like
the sheep that gets up and escapes from the ditch as
quickly as possible- it is not in his nature to lie there.

The ungodly man is like the hog that rolls in
the filth and wallows in it with delight. 

The mire has dominion over the swine,
but it has none over the sheep.

Every child of God weeps, mourns, and bemoans his sin, and
he hates it when, for a while, he has been overtaken by it. 

Sin has an awful power, but it has no 'dominion' over
a true believer.   It may cast him down, but it cannot
make us delight in it's evil.

God has so changed your nature by His grace that
when you sin, you shall be like a fish on dry land--
you shall be out of your element. 

In worldly company, you shall feel like a man
who sits upon thorns or walks amid snakes. 
In worldly amusements, you shall feel as if
the house shall fall upon you. 
You shall never be made happy by evil, but shall
groan under it, if you ever yield to it's power. 

You shall hate yourself to think you ever consented to
its solicitations.   You shall be wretched and unhappy
and shall find no rest until you return unto your Lord.

You may fall into sin by surprise, but if you calmly
and deliberately go to that which is unclean, how does
the love of God dwell in you?

It is both the way TO peace, and the way OF peace
to submit one's whole self   to God. 
Nor is it a difficult task to a true believer,
but it is the desire of his heart,
the pleasure of his life. 

Complete consecration of every faculty of mind
and body to the Lord is our soul's deepest wish!


4.   Externally religious!
>From Spurgeon's sermon, "CHRIST CRUCIFIED"

How many are there 'externally religious',
with whose characters you could find no fault,
but who have never had the regenerating influence
of the Holy Spirit; who never were made to
lie prostrate on their face before Calvary's cross;
who never turned a wishful eye to yonder Savior crucified;
who never put their trust in him that was slain for the sons of men.


5.   Grand Professions!
>From Spurgeon's sermon,   "THE SPIES"

There are men that make grand professions,
but their lives are as much opposed to their
professions, as hell is opposed to heaven.

As Christ is holy, even so do his people desire to be holy.

And the grace of God which brings salvation is pure and
peaceful; it produces in men things that are holy and things
that magnify God, and that make human nature appear glorious.


6.   'lip-piety'
>From Spurgeon's sermon,   "HYPOCRISY"

A hypocrite may be known by the fact that his speech
   and his actions are contrary to one another.

As Jesus says, "they do not practice what they preach."

The hypocrite can speak like an angel,
he can quote texts with the greatest rapidity;
he can talk concerning all matters of religion,
whether they be theological doctrines, metaphysical
   questions, or experimental difficulties.

In his own esteem he knows much and when he rises to speak,
you will often feel abashed at your own ignorance in the
presence of his superior knowledge.

But see him when he comes to ACTIONS.
What do you behold there?

The fullest contradiction of everything that he has uttered.
He tells to others that they must obey the law-
    does he obey it? Ah! no.

He declares that others must experience this, that,
and the other, and he sets up a fine scale of experience,
far above even that of the Christian himself;
but does he touch it?
No, not with so much as one of his fingers.

He will tell others what they should do;
but will he remember his own teaching?
Not he!

Follow him to his house; trace him to the market,
see him in the shop, and if you want to refute his
preaching you may easily do it from his own life.

My hearer! is this your case?

You are a member of a church, a deacon, a minister.
Is this your case?

Is your life a contradiction to your words?

Do your hands witness against your lips?

How does it stand with you?

'Talk' is easy, but 'walk' is hard.

'Speech' any man may attain unto, but 'act' is difficult.

We must have grace within to make our life holy;
  but 'lip-piety' needs no grace.

Some people I know of are like inns, which have an angel hanging
outside for a sign, but they have a devil within for a landlord.

There are many men of   that kind; they take good care to
have an excellent sign hanging out, they must be known by
all men to be strictly religious; but within, which is the
all-important matter, they are full of wickedness.

There are many books which are excellently bound,
but there is nothing within them; and there are many
persons that have a very good spiritual exterior,
but there is nothing whatever in the heart.

Do you not know some of them?

Perhaps if you know yourself you may discover one.


7.   Kiss the Son!
-Spurgeon,   "AN EARNEST INVITATION"

"Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish
from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little."
      -Psalm 2:12

Christ requires of every man who would be saved,
that he shall yield to his government and his rule.

There are some who are willing enough to be saved and take Christ
to be their priest; but they are not willing to give up their sins,
not willing to obey his precepts, to walk in his ordinances,
and keep his commandments.

Now, salvation cannot be cut in halves.

If you would have justification, you must have sanctification also.

If your sins are pardoned they must be abhorred;
if you are washed in the blood to take away the guilt of sin,
you must be washed in the water to take away the power
of sin over your affections and life.

Oh, sinners, the command is, "Kiss the Son," bow your knee,
and come and own him to be your monarch, and say--
"Other lords have had dominion over us; we have worshipped
our lusts, our pleasures, our pride, our selfishness, but now
will we submit ourselves to your easy yoke. Take us and make
us yours, for we are willing to be your subjects."

You must give him the kiss of allegiance, of homage,
and loyalty; and take him to be your king.


8.   Our supreme 'deity'...
>From Edward Griffin's   "An Exhortation to Serve the Lord"

'If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother,
wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes,
and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.'

None are true disciples but those who love Christ supremely.

They esteem God above every other object.

They consider his glory as their highest interest,
and communion with him as their supreme happiness.

It is their greatest grief that their treacherous hearts
are so prone to wander from God.

Their most fervent desires pant after him.
And when in a favored hour they find 'him whom their
soul loves,' they hold him fast and will not let him go.

There is no true love to God which is not habitually supreme.

Supreme love to God will certainly produce self denial for his sake.
It will habitually avoid every thing which he has forbidden,
and obey, not a part, but all his commands.

Supreme love will seek communion with its object
more than any worldly pleasure.
It will pant after him and after greater conformity to him;
it will seek his glory as the highest interest;
it will count him the most desirable portion;
it will delight in thinking of him more than in any worldly thoughts;
it will delight in prayer,
it will renounce the world and idols and cultivate a heavenly mind.

Unless we have that which will produce all these effects,
we have no supreme love to God;
and if we have no supreme love, we have no love at all;
and if we have no love, as there is no neutral state,
we are his enemies. 'He who is not with me is against me..."

Hence it is that so many people who attend public worship
and lead regular lives, are unmindful of God from day to day,
neglect prayer, put eternal things out of view,
and lose themselves in the eager pursuit of the world.

They must be conscious, if they will but reflect,
that 'the world' engages more of their care than God or their souls,
and is of course their supreme deity.

They would rather be employed in reading an amusing story
than in searching the Scriptures.

Surely such people do not love God.

Such minds could not be happy in heaven if admitted there.
They must undergo a radical change or certainly
they can find no happiness beyond the grave.

Ah Lord God, how many such are to be found among us,
among the dearest friends of our hearts.

It is distressing to look through our congregations and see
how men neglect God; how they live without him in the world,
live as though there were no God.

Is there no remedy for our lost 'professing' brethren?
Will nothing awaken them to their duty and danger?


9.   Where's the fruit?
>From Spurgeon's sermon, "FIGS AND OLIVE BERRIES"

It would be a monstrosity, a thing to be wondered at and stared at
as unnatural and absurd if a fig tree started bearing olive berries;
and it is just as unnatural for a Christian to live in sin.

Can he so live as to bear the fruits of iniquity
instead of the fruits of righteousness?
God forbid that it should be so!

If the fig tree should ever bring forth olive berries,
we might have good reason to question whether it was a fig tree,
for a tree is known by its fruits.

So, when one who professes to be a Christian lives as worldlings
live, there is grave reason to fear that he is a worldling
notwithstanding his profession.

If we are to know him by his fruits, which is our Lord's infallible
test, how can we imagine that he is a partaker of the divine life
when he acts as he does?

Inconsistency of life casts a very serious doubt upon many
who call themselves the children of God.

No wonder they are themselves often the subjects of doubts and fears,
as they ought to be; for, if they judge themselves by their fruits,
they may well question whether they have ever been born again.

Those who are new creatures in Christ Jesus seek to live
as he lived, so far as it is possible for them to do so.

An inconsistent 'professor',
a double-dealing 'professor',
a worldly 'professor', (what an anomaly!)
a 'professor' that holds with the hare and runs with the hounds,
a 'professor' that makes a great profession
but has little or nothing worth having in possession-
such a man is the scorn of the world,
a mere blown-up football for men and devils to kick wherever they will.
 
An unholy man or woman, who 'pretends' to be a Christian,
is a stench in the nostrils of the thrice-holy God,
and a by-word and reproach among those
who make no pretence of being the Lord's people.

10.   Not enough!
>From Spurgeon's sermon,   "Spiritual Gleaning"

For many Christians, it is enough for them to be
sound in doctrine, and tolerably correct in practice.

They care far less than they should about having intimate
communion with Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

It is only in proportion as we hold fellowship with Christ,
and commune with him, that either ordinances,
or doctrines, or promises can profit us.

All other things are dry and barren
unless we are enjoying the love of Christ,
unless we bear his likeness,
unless we dwell continually with him,
and rejoice in his love.


11.   Followers of Christ...
>From Spurgeon's sermon- "Christ's People- Imitators of Him"

Oh, my brethren, what can I say now to enforce my text, but
that,   if you are like Christ on earth, you shall be like him in
heaven?

If by the power of the Spirit you become followers of Jesus,
you shall enter glory.

For at heaven's gate there sits an angel,   who admits no
one who has not the same features as our adorable Lord.

There comes a man with a crown upon his head,
"Yes," he says, "you have a crown, it is true,
but crowns are not the medium of access here."

Another approaches, dressed in robe of state and the gown of
learning. "Yes," says the angel, "it may be good, but gowns and
learning   are not the marks that shall admit you here."

Another advances, fair, beautiful, and comely.
"Yes," says the angel, "that might please on earth,
but beauty is not wanted here."

There comes up another, who is heralded by fame,
and prefaced by the blast of the clamor of mankind;
but the angel says, "This is well with man, but you
have no right to enter here."

Then there appears another- poor he may have been;
illiterate he may have been;   but the angel, as he looks at him,
smiles and says- "It is Christ again; a second edition of Jesus
Christ is here!   Come in, come in. Eternal glory you shall win!
You are like Christ-   in heaven you shall sit, because you are
like him."

Oh! to be like Christ is to enter heaven.
But to be unlike Christ is to descend to hell.

Likes shall be gathered together at last,
tares with tares, wheat with wheat.

If you have sinned with Adam and have died, you shall lie with
the spiritually dead forever, unless you rise in Christ to newness
of life- then shall you live with him throughout eternity.

Wheat with wheat, tares with tares.

"Be not deceived; God is not mocked:
whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap."

Go away with this one thought, then my brethren,
that you can test yourselves by Christ.

If you are like Christ, you are of Christ, and shall be with Christ.
If you are unlike him, you have no portion in the great
inheritance.

May my poor discourse help to fan the floor and reveal the
chaff;   yes, may it lead many of you to seek to be partakers of
the inheritance of the saints in light, to the praise of his grace.
To him be all honor given!     Amen.


12.   The "fruitless professor"
>From Spurgeon's sermon,   "The Fruitless Vine"

The damnation of a   "fruitless professor"   will be the most
horrible   and ignominious sight that ever hell itself has seen!

When Satan fell from heaven, with his black Satanic malice
against God,   there was a kind of grandeur in his devilry-
there was an awful, terrific sublimity in his damnation.

And when a great blasphemer and a hard swearer shall be sent
at last to perdition, there shall be something of sublimity in it,
because he has been consistent with his profession.

But when a professor of religion finds himself in hell,
it shall be the most miserable, contemptible, and yet terrible
mode of damnation wherewith men were ever damned!

I think I see honest blasphemers lifting themselves from their
chains of fire, and hissing between their teeth at the minister who
comes there, after having been a deceiver-    "Aha! aha! aha! are
you here with us? You did warn us of our drunkenness, and tell
us of our curse; ah! are you come into the drunkard's hell
yourself?"

"Pshaw!" says another, "that is your strict Pharisee.
Ah! I remember how he told me one night that I should perish,
unless I made a profession of religion.
Take that, sir!" and he spits upon him.
 "You are a loathsome thing.   I perished; but I served my master
well. You- you did pretend to serve God, and yet you are a
sneaking hypocrite!"

Says another, yelling from the corner of the pit,
"Let us have a Methodist hymn, sir; quote a promise from the
Bible; tell us about election. Let us have a little of your fine
preaching now."

And round hell there goes the hiss, and the "aha! aha! aha!"
and the yell of spitefulness and scorn upon the man who
professed to be a Christian, but became a castaway, because his
heart was not right in the matter.

I confess, I should dread above all things the unutterable hell of
hells of hypocritical apostates, of men that stand in the ranks,
profess to love God, prate godliness, that sit in the pews and
uphold Christianity, that take the sacrament, and speak about
communion, that stand up to pray, and talk about being heard
for their faith, who are all the while committing abominations, and
under cover of their professions are cheating the poor, robbing
the fatherless, and doing all kinds of iniquity.

I confess, I as much dread the 'excess' of their damnation,
above the damnation of others, as I dread to be damned at all.

It is as if in hell another hell had been made, to damn those that
sin above others, to damn them after being damned- for
hypocrites, for men who have been with us, and not of us;
who professed to be Christ's, and yet have been mean
deceivers after all.

O! sirs, if you would not make your chains more heavy,
if you would not stir the fire to a more furious heat,
if you   would not make your yells more hideous,
quit your professions this night, if you are not worthy of them.

Go out of this place, and send in your resignation to the church;
or else, sirs, be honest, and bend your knee before God, and
ask him to search you, and try you, and make you sincere and
upright before him.

Be one thing, or else the other;   do not cloak yourself in the
robes of sanctity to hide the corruptions that all the while fester
beneath.

Stand out, bold, brave sinners; and do not be
'sneaking' sinners, that wear the masks of saints.


13.   Living in sin?
>From Spurgeon's sermon, "The Old, Old Story"

No man can believe that Christ suffered
for his sins, and yet live in sin.

No man can believe that his iniquities were the murderers
of Christ, and yet go and hug those murderers to his bosom.

The sure and certain effect of a true faith in the atoning
sacrifice of Christ is the purging out of the old leaven,
the dedication of the soul to him who bought it with his blood,
and the vowing to have revenge against those sins
which nailed Jesus to the tree.


14.   Empty Religion!
>From Spurgeon's sermon, "Religion- a Reality"

Now we will grant you this morning that much of the religion
which is abroad in the world is a "vain thing".

The religion of 'ceremonies' is vain. If a man shall trust in the
gorgeous pomp of uncommanded mysteries, if he shall consider
that there resides some mystical efficacy in a priest, and that by
uttering certain words a blessing is infallibly received, we tell him
that his religion is a vain thing. You might as well go to the Witch
of Endor for grace as to a priest; and if you rely upon 'words',
the "Abracadabra' of a magician will as certainly raise you to
heaven, or rather sink you to hell, as the performances of the
best ordained minister under heaven. Ceremonies in themselves
are vain, futile, empty.

All 'ceremonial religion', no matter how sincere, if it consist
in relying upon forms and observances, is a vain thing.

So with 'creed-religion'- by which I mean not to speak against
creeds, for I love "the form of sound words," but that religion
which lies in believing with the intellect a set of dogmas,
without partaking of the life of God; all this is a vain thing.

Again, that religion 'which only lies in making a profession of
what one does not posses', in wearing the Christian name, and
observing the ritual of the Church, but which does not so affect
the character as to make a man holy, nor so touch the heart as to
make a man God's true servant- such a religion is vain
throughout. O my dear hearers, how much worthless religion
may you see everywhere! So long as men get the name, they
seem content without the substance.

Everywhere, it matters not to what Church you turn your eye,
you see a vast host of hypocrites, numerous as flies about a dead
carcass. On all sides there are deceivers, and deceived ones;
who write "Heaven" upon their brows, but have hell in their
hearts; who hang out the sign of an angel over their doors, but
have the devil for a host within. Take heed to yourselves; be not
deceived, for he who tries the heart and searches the
imaginations of the children of men is not mocked, and he will
surely discern between him that fears God, and him that fears
him not.


15.   We do not want them here!
>From Spurgeon's sermon,   "Regeneration"

I address myself to the saints in heaven, redeemed by sovereign
grace: "Children of God, are you willing that the wicked should
enter heaven as they are, without being born again?
Are you willing that they should be admitted as they are?"

I see Lot rise up, and he cries,
"Admit them into heaven! No! What! must I be vexed
with the conversation of Sodomites again, as once I was?"

I see Abraham; and he comes forward, and he says,
"No; I cannot have them here. I had enough of them while
I was with them on earth- their jests and jeers, their silly
talkings, their vain lifestyles vexed and grieved us.
We do not want them here."

And, heavenly though they be, and loving as their spirits are,
there is not a saint in heaven who would not resent with the
utmost indignation the approach of anyone of you to the gates of
paradise, if you are still unholy, and have not been born again.

Ask the holy angels before the throne:
"Angels, principalities and powers, would you be willing that
men who do not love God, who do not believe in Christ,
who have not been born again, should dwell here?"

I see them, as they look down upon us, and hear them
answering- "No! Once we fought the dragon and expelled him
because he tempted us to sin; we must not and we will not, have
the wicked here!

These alabaster walls must not be soiled with black and lustful
fingers; the white pavement of heaven must not be stained and
rendered filthy by the unholy feet of ungodly men. 
No!   We do not want them here!"

I see a thousand spears bristling, and the fiery faces of 
innumerable seraphs thrust over the walls of Paradise. 
The angelic hosts say-
"No, while these arms have strength,
and these wings have power,
no sin shall ever enter here!" 

God himself has said- "Except a man be born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God."

What sinner, will you scale the battlements of paradise
when God is ready to thrust you down to hell ?

Will you with impudent face brazen him out?

God has said it, God has said it with a voice of thunder,
"You shall not enter the kingdom of heaven."

Can you wrestle with the Almighty?

Can you overthrow Omnipotence?

Can you grapple with the Most High?

Worm of the dust! can you overcome your Maker?

Trembling insect of an hour,
will you dare the hand of God?
Will you venture to defy him to his face?

Ah! he would laugh at you.

As the snow melts before the sun,
as wax melts at the fierceness of the fire,
so would you, if his fury should once lay hold of you.

Do not think that you can overcome him.

He has sealed the gate of Paradise against you, and there is no
entrance. The God of justice says, "I will not reward the wicked
with the righteous; I will not allow my good and godly Paradise
to be stained by wicked ungodly men.
If they turn I will have mercy upon them;
but if they do not turn, as I live, I will tear them in pieces,
and there shall be none to deliver."

Now, sinner, can you brazen it out against him!
Will you rush upon the thick bosses of Jehovah's bucklers?

Will you try to scale his heaven when his arrow is stringed
upon the bow to reach your heart?

What! when the glittering sword is at
your neck and ready to slay you?

Will you endeavor to strive against your Maker?
No potsherd, no; contend with your fellow potsherd.
Go, crawling grasshopper; go, fight with your brothers;
strive with them, but do not come against the Almighty!

He has said it, and you never shall,
you never shall enter heaven,
unless you are born again!

"I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God
unless he is born again."    John 3:3


16.   Salvation FROM sin...
-Spurgeon, from his sermon   "Pride Catechized"

Christ came to save his people 'from' their sins- not 'in' them.

And it is essential to salvation that sin should be repented of,
and, being repented of, should be renounced, and that, by the
help of God, we should lead a new life, under a new Master,
serving from a new motive, because the grace of God has
renewed our spirit.


17.   A 'mere profession'
-Spurgeon, from his sermon, "Secret Sins"

A 'mere profession' is but painted pageantry to go to hell in.
It is like the plumes upon the hearse, or the trappings
upon the black horses which drag men to their graves,
the funeral array of dead souls.

To be out of Christ is a dreadful thing.
To be dead in sin is a fearful thing.
Death is a solemn thing. 
Damnation is a horrible thing.


18.   UNDER THE MICROSCOPE!
-Spurgeon,    "Kept From Iniquity"

Some professing Christians are so like worldlings that,
if you put them under a microscope,
you could not tell the difference between them!

If you can do what worldlings do,
you shall go at last where worldlings go!

If grace does not make you to differ from them,
it is not the grace of God-- it is all a sham.


19.   FEIGNED RELIGION!
by Spurgeon--

O you members of Christian churches!
There are many of you who have a feigned
experience and a feigned religion.
How many there are of you who have the
externals merely of godliness!
You are white-washed sepulchres,
outwardly fair and beautiful,
like the garnished gardens of a cemetery--
but inwardly you are full of dead men's
bones and rottenness!

Be persuaded, I beseech you,
to get no deliverance any way except by the blood of the
Lamb, and by really feasting on Christ.


20.   Sprinkle a little religion...
-Spurgeon,    "Baptism-   A Burial"    

How is it that so many professors exhibit a mere
worldly life, living for business and for pleasure,
but not for God, in God, or with God?

They sprinkle a little religion on a worldly life,
and so hope to Christianize it.
But it will not do.


21.   Your all?
by Spurgeon--

Religion is not to be stowed away
in the dark garret of the brain.

Christianity is a heart religion, and if you cannot say,
from the very depths of your being, "Christ is all,"
you have neither part nor lot in the blessings and privileges
of the gospel, and your end will be destruction,
everlasting banishment from the presence of the Lord.


22.   CHRIST IS NOT ALL IN ALL...
-Spurgeon,    "Sown Among Thorns" 

No doubt multitudes who receive Christianity
become regular attendants at our place of worship
and are honest in their moral character;
but Christ is not all in all to them.

He holds a very secondary place in their affections.

Their religion is buried beneath their   worldliness.
Sad will their end be.
God in mercy save us from such a doom!

There is only a certain amount of thought and energy in a
person; and if the world gets it, Christ cannot have it.
If our thoughts run upon care and pleasure,
they cannot be eager about true religion.
Is not that clear?

23. "Faith & Works"
The following is adapted from Spurgeon's sermon,
     "THE WEDDING GARMENT"

Too many professors pacify themselves with the idea
that they possess 'imputed righteousness', while they
are indifferent to the sanctifying work of the Spirit.

No man ever had the 'imputed righteousness of Christ'
without receiving at the same time, a measure of the
righteousness wrought in us by the Holy Spirit.

Justification by faith is not contrary to
the production of good works.

The faith by which we are justified, is the faith which produces
holiness, and no man is justified by faith which does not also
sanctify him, and deliver him from the love of sin.

Godliness does not consist in 'profession', but must
be proved by inward vitality and outward holiness.

There is none in heaven or earth thought more despicable,
more fit to be thrown away as rubbish and offal, than a man
who had a Christian name, but had not the essentials of the
Christian's nature.

24. Nominal Christians...
The following is from Spurgeon's sermon, 
"A SERMON TO OPEN NEGLECTERS AND NOMINAL 
FOLLOWERS OF RELIGION"

Many give a 'notional assent' to the gospel.

If I were to mention any doctrine, they would say, "Yes, that is
true- I believe that." But their 'heart' does not believe- they do
not believe the gospel in the core of their nature, for if they did,
it would have an 'effect' upon them.

A man may say, "I believe my house is on fire," but if he goes
to bed and falls to sleep, it does not look as if he believed it,
for when a man's house is on fire he tries to escape.

If some of you really believed that there is a hell, and that
there is a heaven, (as you believe other secular things),
you would act very differently from what you now do.

You know that you must be born again, but you are still
strangers to the new birth. You are as religious as the seats you
sit on, but no more; and you are as likely to get to heaven as
those seats are, but not one whit more, for you are dead in sin,
and death cannot enter heaven.

You are like dunghills with snow upon them--
while the snow lasts you look white and fair, but when
the snow melts, the dunghill remains a dunghill still!

25.   Professing Christians... 
The following is from Spurgeon's sermon,
 "NOMINAL CHRISTIANS — REAL INFIDELS"

Professing Christians, the love of this world is enmity against
God. You PROFESS to love God, yet you are as worldly, as fond
of its fashions and its frivolities, as pleased with its pomp
and its fooleries, as hungry for its honors and its fripperies,
as you can well be. 

"Whatsoever a man sows that shall he also reap."
This verse teaches that if you continue to sow sin
you will have to reap the result of it, and that, unless
through divine grace you are led to give up your right-eye
sins, and to cut often your right-arm lusts, you will perish. 

Christ only bids you give up that which will ruin you;
he only asks you to do that which will make you happy. 

The Son of God was nailed to the cross, and out of love to you
he demands that you forsake the sin which will destroy you. 

God demands Repentance.
Repentance is a change of mind—

the changing of your mind with reference to SIN,
caring no more for its pleasures, despising it and
turning away from it.

Repentance is a change of mind with regard to HOLINESS;
seeking your happiness in it.

Repentance is a change of mind with regard to CHRIST,
so that you shall no longer look upon him as without
form or loveliness, but as a most precious Savior,
such as you need. 

Christ demands of you that you should throw out your
Ornaments of Self-Righteousness, and wrap yourself in the
sackcloth of humiliation, and cast the ashes of penitence
upon your head, and cry, "Unclean! unclean! unclean!"


26. Living like hell? 
The following is by Don Fortner-
Almost everyone I know makes some kind of religious profession,
has some hope of going to heaven when he dies, and attends church,
at least occasionally. Yet, I know very few people whose religion
has made any radical change in their lives. Most everybody I know
lives like hell, though almost all think, by some strange delusion, that
because they say, "I believe in Jesus,"   they are going to heaven.

Are you such a person. If you are, listen carefully to this preacher--
    If you live like hell, when you die, you will go to hell. 

I know you do not want to be told that; but I am not running for
political office. I am trying to help you, to help you eternally.
If you do not want to go to hell when you die, pay attention to
what I have to say. Pay attention to what God says in his
Word. Will you hear the Word of the Lord? 

"Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God?
  Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor
  adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves
  nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit
  the kingdom of God."     1 Cor. 6:9-10 

"Do not be deceived", imagining that through doctrinal knowledge
and religious profession you are saved, even though you live contrary
to the righteous character of God. 

No one living in sin, under its dominion, has
been made a partaker of the divine nature. 

Lest anyone mistake his meaning, Paul plainly describes those people
who shall never inherit the kingdom of God. In the list given in these
verses of Scripture, the Holy Spirit is not talking about isolated acts.
He is describing people whose lives are characterized by these
abominable things. If these things characterize your life, the wrath of
God is upon you. Except you repent, you will perish in hell forever!
    God help you to repent. 

It matters not what we profess, or claim to believe.
Those who live like children of wrath are children of wrath. 

If these characteristics describe you, Do not be deceived, no matter
what you say, profess, and pretend; no matter what society, religion, and
preachers say to the contrary, you are a child of wrath.
You shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

27. Sin and salvation
The following is from Spurgeon’s sermon,
"The Great Physician and His Patients"
No. 618.    Matthew 9:12.

Many people think that, when we preach salvation,
we mean salvation from going to hell. We do not
mean that, but we mean a great deal more.
We preach salvation from sin; we say that Christ
is able to save a man; and we mean by that that he
is able to save him from sin and to make him holy;
to make him a new man.
No person has any right to say, "I am saved," while
he continues in sin as he did before. How can you
be saved from sin while you are living in it?

28.   The back door to hell!
The following is from Spurgeon's sermon,
    "A SERMON FROM A RUSH" 

Better not to have known the way of righteousness
than, having known it, to be turned back again.
The worst of men are those traitors who leave
the army of truth to side with the foe. 

I believe in the doctrine of the final perseverance of
every true child of God; but there are in all our churches
certain spurious pretenders who will not hold on their
way, who will blaze and sparkle for a season, and then
they will go out in darkness. They are "wandering stars,
for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever." 

Better far make no pretension of having come to Christ,
and of having been born again, unless through divine
grace you shall hold fast to the end. 

Remember the back door to hell!   Remember the back door to hell! 

There is a public entrance for the open sinner; but there
is a back door for the merely professed saint. There is
a back door for the hoary-headed professor, who has lived
many years in apparent sincerity, but who has been a liar
before God. There is a back door for the preacher who can
talk fast and loudly, but who does not in his own heart
know the truth he is preaching. There is a back door to hell
for church members, who are amiable and excellent in many
respects, but who have not really looked unto the Lord
Jesus Christ and found true salvation in him. 

God grant that this may wake some, who otherwise
would sleep themselves into perdition! 

"O my God! my God!   Am I, after all, mistaken? Have I
played the hypocrite, and must I take the mask off now?
Have I covered over the cancer? Have I worn a golden
cloth over my leprous forehead, and must it be torn away?
and must I stand, the mock of devils and the laughter of
all worlds? What! have I drunk of your cup, have I eaten
with you in the streets, and must I hear you say,
I never knew you, depart from me you worker of
iniquity?     Oh! must it be?"
 
29. Stuffed Christians?
The following is from Spurgeon's sermon,
"Life's Ever Springing Well" #864. John 4:14.

"We are all Christians."
"Why, we belong to a Christian
  nation; are we not born Christians?"
"Surely we must be all right; we have
  always attended our parish church, is
  not that enough?"
"Our parents were always godly; we were
  born into the church, were we not?   Did
  they not take us up in their arms when
  we were little, and make us members of
  Christ? What more do we lack?" 

This is the common talk. 

There is no Christian practice, there is
no Christian habit, but what has been,
or will be before long, imitated by people
who have no vital godliness whatever. 

A man may appear much like a Christian,
   and yet possess no vital godliness! 

Walk through the British Museum, and you
will see all the orders of animals standing
in their various places, and exhibiting
themselves with the utmost possible
propriety. The rhinoceros demurely retains
the position in which he was set at first;
the eagle soars not through the window;
the wolf howls not at night; every creature,
whether bird, beast, or fish, remains in
the particular glass case allotted to it. 

But you all know well enough that these
are not the living creatures, but only the
outward forms of them. Yet in what do
they differ? Certainly in nothing which you
could readily see, for the well stuffed
animal is precisely like what the living
animal would have been; and that eye
of glass even appears to have more of
brightness in it than the natural eye of
the creature itself. 

Yet you know well enough that there is a
secret inward something lacking, which,
when it has once departed, you cannot restore. 

So in the churches of Christ, many professors
are not living believers, but stuffed believers,
Stuffed Christians! 

There is all the external of religion, everything
that you could desire, and they behave with a
great deal of propriety, too. They all keep their
places, and there is no outward difference
between them and the living, except upon that
vital point; they lack spiritual life. This is the
essential distinction, spiritual life is absent. 

It is almost painful to watch little children
when some little pet of theirs has died, how
they can hardly realize the difference
between death and life! 

Your little boy's bird moped for awhile upon
its perch, and at last dropped down in the cage;
and do not you remember how the little boy
tried to set it up, and gave it seed, and filled
its glass with water, and was quite surprised to
think that birdie would not open his little eye
upon his friend as it did before, and would not
take its seed, nor drink its water! 

Ah, you finally had to tell the poor boy that
a mysterious something had gone from his
little birdie, and would not come back again. 

There is just such a spiritual difference between
the mere professor, and the genuine Christian. 

There is an invisible, but most real, indwelling
of the Holy Spirit, the absence or the presence
of which makes all the difference between the
lost sinner and the saint.
   

30. A thin slice of godliness
over a mass of carnality!
The following is from Spurgeon's sermon,
"Constancy and Inconstancy: a Contrast."
No. 852.   Hosea 6:3, 4. 

"...what should I do with you?" asks the Lord.
"For your goodness vanishes like the morning
mist and disappears like dew in the sunlight."
   Hosea 6:4 

Oh, beware of pious veneering! 

Beware of the religion which consists
in putting on a thin slice of godliness
over a mass of carnality! 

We must have thorough going work
within; the grace which reaches the
core, and affects the innermost spirit
is the only grace worth having. 

The absence of the Holy Spirit is the
great cause of religious instability. 

Beware of mistaking 'religious excitement'
for the Holy Spirit, or your own resolutions
for the deep workings of the Spirit of God
in the soul. 

All that human nature ever paints, God
will burn off with hot irons. All that human
nature ever spins he will unravel and cast
away with the rags. 

You must be born from above, you must
have a new nature wrought in you by the
finger of God himself, for of all his saints
it is written, "You are his workmanship,
created anew in Christ Jesus." 

Oh, but, everywhere I fear there is an
absence of the Holy Spirit! There is much
getting up of a tawdry morality, barely
skin deep, much crying "Peace, peace,"
where there is no true peace. There is
very little deep heart searching anxiety
to be thoroughly purged from sin. 

The hopes of many hypocrites are flimsily
formed, and their confidences ill founded.
It is this which makes deceivers so plentiful,
and fair religious shows so common.

31. Form   or   Power?
The following is from Spurgeon's sermon, "The Form
of Godliness Without the Power" #2088.   2 Timothy 3:5.

"Having a form of godliness but denying its power." 

A mere form of godliness joined to
an unholy heart is of no value to God. 

The swan, although its feathers are
as white as snow, yet its skin is black. 

God will not accept that 'external morality'
which conceals 'internal impurity'.   There
must be a pure heart as well as a clean life. 

The power of godliness must work within,
or else God will not accept our offering. 

There is no value to man or to God in
   a religion which is a dead form. 

Sad is that man's plight who wears the
name of Christian but has never been
quickened by the Holy Spirit. 

There is no use in a mere formal religion.
If your religion is without spiritual life, what
is the use of it? Could you ride home on a
dead horse? Would you hunt with dead dogs? 

Is false religion any better? 

In the depth of winter, can you warm
   yourself before a 'painted fire'? 

Could you dine off the 'picture of a
   feast' when you are hungry? 

There must be vitality and substantiality,
or else the form is utterly worthless; and
worse than worthless, for it may flatter
you into deadly self conceit. 

How shameful will such a fruitless, lifeless
professor be in eternity, when the secrets
of all hearts shall be revealed! What shame
and everlasting contempt will await him when
his falsehood shall be detected, and his
baseness shall fill all holy minds with horror! 

What will be the hell of the false professor! 

"Having a form of godliness but denying its power."

32. The true test of the spiritual state of our souls! 
(From Octavius Winslow's, "The Desire to See Jesus") 

Christ once seen by faith becomes an object 
of ever growing desire. The believing soul is 
never satisfied with the sight it has had of Jesus. 

The Apostle Paul saw Jesus as none of the 
others had seen Him; and yet this was still 
his great desire, "that I may know Him." 

Thus the desires of the renewed soul 
after Christ are unlimited and insatiable, 
and will never be satisfied until it beholds 
Him in glory; nor even then! 

Eternity will be occupied with Jesus; in contemplating 
His person, in admiring His beauty, in beholding His 
glory, in studying His work, and in sweetly chanting 
his high praise. 

But the Christ loving soul wants 
to realize more of Jesus now; 
   more of His love and loveliness; 
   more of His grace and graciousness; 
   more of the fitness and completeness of His sacrifice; 
   more of His manifested presence and sacred communion. 

There does not exist a stronger evidence of 
our union with Christ, and of our interest in 
His salvation than this one ardent desire of 
the soul after Him. 

Our views and thoughts and aspirations 
concerning Jesus constitute the true 
test of the spiritual state of our souls! 

Let this, then, evidence the reality of your conversion, 
and the healthfulness of your growing state; namely, 
your longings after Christ, your deepening desire to 
see more of Jesus, to have more real transaction with 
Him by faith, closer fellowship with Him, and to exalt 
Him more warmly and supremely upon the throne of 
your love! 

33. We would rather be infidels than Christians! 
(adapted from Spurgeon's sermon "Method and Music, or 
the Art of Holy and Happy Living" #913. Colossians 3:17. 

Some professors' lives dishonor the Christian religion. 

The world observes them and says, "Are these Christians, 
these covetous, quarrelsome, domineering, or boastful 
people? If so, we would rather be infidels than Christians!" 

Oh, you caricatures of godliness! How dreadful will 
be your punishment if you die in your present state! 
Repent of your sin, and ask of God grace to make 
your profession sincere. 

And if you will not do this, at least be honest enough to 
give up your false profession, for you do but degrade it. 

Why must you pretend to serve Christ? 

What do you gain by your hypocrisy? 

If you must serve mammon and the devil, serve them! 

Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "Grace Quotes Archive" by:

Bible Bulletin Board
Box 119
Columbus, New Jersey, USA, 08022
Our websites: HYPERLINK "http://www.biblebb.com/"www.biblebb.com and
HYPERLINK "http://www.gospelgems.com"www.gospelgems.com
Email: HYPERLINK "mailto:tony at biblebb.com"tony at biblebb.com
Online since 1986



Charis,
 
Mike Abendroth
 
"Make us choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong, and never to
be contented with half truth when whole truth can be won.   Endow us with
courage that is born of loyalty to all that is noble and worthy, that scorns
to compromise with vice and injustice and knows no fear when right and truth
are in jeopardy."
  - West Point Military Academy Cadet Prayer
 
HYPERLINK "http://www.bbcchurch.org"www.bbcchurch.org
 


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