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C H Spurgeon
Part 11 of 11.
The final judgment will not be an evaluation of performance sound you have ever heard.
It may be the first tremor that precedes the miracle of true life. It may be the Spirit of God finally breaking down the walls of your false security to offer you the faith that truly saves.
The answer now is not to try to improve your faith or try harder.
The answer is to completely abandon your trust in your own faith produced by your dead works and throw yourself as a naked and broken Sinner at the feet of a sufficient Savior.
It is to stop trusting in your past decision, your baptism, your knowledge, or your church attendance, and trust solely in the person and finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross.
If this is the need of your soul wherever you are, cry out to Him now, confess yourself deception, your empty religiosity, and ask Him to give you by His pure grace, the regeneration, repentance and faith that only He can create in you.
Surrender without reservation, for it is better to be a broken Sinner in the arms of Christ than a confident religious person on the way to hell.
Saving faith is a gift, and he gives it to those who recognize their total inability to save themselves.
Charles Hatton Spurgeon.
Blessings.
Part 10
We have now come to the moment of self-examination.
The moment to stop looking at the faith of others and place our own soul under the penetrating light of God's truth.
Spurgeon would never end a message like this without forcing every listener to ask themselves with fear and trembling. Is it me, Lord?
And that is the question that echoes to you now, in the silence of your heart so examine yourself not on the basis of what others think, but on the basis of what God's Word reveals.
Has your faith led you to a real and practical hatred of the sin you once loved, or only to a superficial fear of the flames of?
Has your faith given you an insatiable hunger for the Word of God, making it your joy and delight? Or does it remain A dusty book read out of mere religious obligation? Has your faith made Jesus Christ the treasure of your soul?
A savior whom you love and serve out of pure gratitude? Or is He just an insurance policy against condemnation?
Does your faith cause you to seek vital fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ at church, or is it just a Sunday social event?
And finally, are your good works a fruit that springs naturally from a grateful heart, or a coin with which you still try to bargain for God's favor?
Spurgeon would warn that nothing is more terribly dangerous than self-deception on the threshold of eternity. It is the act of examining yourself and giving yourself a passing grade while the heavens declare you have failed. It is feeling secure in your religiosity while God sees only a heart that has never truly surrendered.
These are not questions for theological debate. They are matters of eternal life or death. The honest answer to them defines your destiny, because saving faith is not a matter of how much you know or how well you behave.
It is a matter of who you are inside, your very being.
By the sovereign hand of God, the final judgment will not be an evaluation of performance.
See Part 11
C H Spurgeon
Part 9
Was Christ sacrifice on the cross insufficient?
Spurgeon, with the fury of a lion defending the glory of the Gospel, would crush this idea as blasphemy. He would teach us clearly the great difference between the root and the fruit of our good works are not and never could be the root of our salvation. The root is the secret, sovereign and solitary work of God in our hearts through regeneration.
Our works are, however, the inevitable fruit that springs from that root. An apple tree does not strive to produce apples. It produces apples because its nature is to be an apple tree. Likewise, a born-again man does not do good works to become saved. He does them because he has already been saved and his new nature created in Christ Jesus for good works, cannot do anything else but bear fruit. The glory of God. A faith that does not produce a transformed life, Spurgeon would say, is not just a weak faith. It is a dead faith.
It is the faith of demons. The apostle James reminds us that even demons believe that God is one and they tremble. They have a correct theological knowledge, but they do not have a life transformed into holiness. Therefore, a faith that says I believe, but does not produce practical love for the brethren, a hunger for obedience and a real war against sin is a lie. It is a bad check that will be shamefully rejected in the court of heaven. Motivation changes everything.
The religious person does good out of fear of hell or desire for reward.
The regenerate person does good out of love for Christ.
Their actions are not an attempt to pay a debt, but a song of gratitude because the debt has already been paid in full by the cross.
See Part 10.
C H Spurgeon
Part 8
False faith goes to church in search of a benefit for itself, true faith longs for communion with its brothers and sisters because they are its new family, coheirs of the same grace soldiers in the same war. Spurgeon would weep to see how many today pride themselves on being members of a denomination. He would say with his cutting clarity, that it is perfectly possible to have your name on the membership role of the most famous cathedral in the world and still not have your name written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Because belonging to the visible church, the human institution with its programs and buildings, guarantees absolutely nothing.
What matters is belonging to the invisible church, the one that only God knows, composed of every soul that has been genuinely washed in the blood of Jesus, no matter what church they attend.
The religious seek in the church a program, entertainment, a message that pleases them and makes them feel good. The true believer seeks in the communion of Saints encouragement for spiritual battle, correction in love that makes him more like Christ and the opportunity to worship his Savior in unity with others who have also been rescued from death. The church ceases to be an event and becomes a vital expression of their new life in the family.
But this distinction is crucial, for it leads us to another fundamental question. If salvation does not come from our works, what then is the place of our actions?
This question about works is perhaps the point where most souls get lost in the maze of religion.
If salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, what good are our actions?
False faith gives a dangerous and arrogant answer. It says that works are payment.
An effort to earn heaven, or at the very least to help God save us. As if Christ sacrifice on the cross were insufficient.
See Part 9
C H Spurgeon
Part 7
The unconverted soul is not hungry for the word of God.
The true child of God, even the simplest and most illiterate, finds in the Psalms an echo for his soul, and in the Gospels the face of his beloved Savior, his appetite for truth becomes insatiable, and this love for the Word is in fact a reflection of an even greater love, the love for the Person of Jesus Christ Himself for dead faith, Jesus is a concept, a historical figure, a ticket to heaven. For living faith, he becomes the treasure, the Pearl of great value, the center of all existence.
The name of Jesus ceases to be religious jargon and becomes precious. The desire to please him become stronger than the desire to please oneself. The heart that once rejoiced in the vanities of the world now finds its greatest pleasure in the simple contemplation of the glory and sacrifice of its Redeemer. This new passion for Christ and His Word inevitably creates a new hunger, a hunger to be with others who share that same love and that completely changes the way the true believer sees the church.
This new hunger for fellowship, this desire to be with others who love Christ in the same way, is where our understanding of the Church is radically transformed for the religious man, the church is a place, a building where one goes on Sundays, an organization to which one belongs, an event one attends to fulfill a duty, ease ones conscience, or be seen by the community but for the regenerated soul, the Church ceases to be a place and becomes a people. It ceases to be an institution and becomes a living organism. It is no longer a social club with religious themes. It is the communion of Saints, the body of Christ on earth.
See Part 8
C H Spurgeon
Part 6
Holiness ceases to be a suggestion and becomes a necessity, a hunger of His new nature. This does not mean immediate perfection, the true believer still stumbles, but he stumbles while running away from sin, not while dancing with it.
He gets up, hating the fall, not getting used to it.
The lie that was once a convenient tool now burns his tongue. The greed that was once a secret pleasure now becomes a torment to his soul.
The bitterness he once harbored is now seen for the poison it truly is. The struggle itself is the great test of life. As an old preacher once said, a dead man can float down the river with the current, but it takes a living and to fight against it, a corpse does not fight against the worms that consume it, only a living body fights against disease but the life God creates is not defined solely by war.
If repentance is wholly hatred for the sin that separated us from God, its inseparable twin is a consuming love for everything that brings us closer to Him.
Regeneration not only makes us hate what we once loved, it makes us love what we once found tedious, irrelevant, or burdensome. The first great manifestation of this new love is a burning passion for the Word of God.
To false faith, the Bible is at best a book of rules to be obeyed out of duty or an arsenal of verses to win debates. To the regenerated heart, the Bible becomes a love letter from the father.
Each page reveals more of the beauty of Christ. Reading ceases to be an obligation and becomes a vital necessity like the air we breathe. Spurgeon would say that one of the clearest signs of an unconverted soul is its indifference to Scripture. It may respect it, but it does not delight in it.
See Part 7.
C H Spurgeon
Part 5
He not only regrets his sinful acts, but he comes to hate the root of pride and rebellion from which they spring. False faith seeks in Jesus a free pass to escape hell so that it can continue to live as it pleases.
True faith seeks in Jesus deliverance from the very sinful nature that prevents it from living for the glory of God. False repentance wants to get rid of the punishment of sin.
True repentance wants to get rid of the power of sin. It is a fundamental change of mind, will and direction. Therefore, this repentance is not a onetime event. A cry at an altar call that is never repeated it becomes the new heartbeat of the regenerated heart a continuous sensitivity to sin.
A deep, solemn male voice If true repentance is this declared war against sin? How does this battle manifest itself in everyday life? How can we differentiate in practice between the man who merely feels bad about his mistakes and the man whose life has been turned upside down by this work of the Spirit.
The first practical evidence is a radical change in one's relationship with sin. False faith negotiates with sin. It manages it. It tries to hide it. It calls it a flaw, weakness, or a mistake from the past, seeking a God who forgives sin so that it can continue to flirt with it safely. True faith born of regeneration does not want to manage sin, it wants to kill it.
Spurgeon would use the image of a poisonous snake.
An unregenerate man tries to keep the snake of sin as a pet, trying to keep it on a leash even though it sometimes bites him. The truly born-again man, on the other hand, sees that same serpent in his room, and his only desperate instinct is to crush its head. He does not seek excuses for then he seeks in Christ the power to overcome it.
See Part 6
C H Spurgeon
Part 4
It is when, for the first time in our lives, we see our own righteousness, our morality, and our religiosity as filthy rags before the perfect holiness of God.
It is the moment when all our theology, our goodness and our service in the church become trash and we see ourselves as we really are, bankrupt sinners, totally dependent on a mercy we do not deserve.
This encounter with our own rottenness is the prerequisite for the miracle. What then is the 1st and most undeniable fruit that springs from the soil of a heart broken by the conviction of sin? The answer is not immediate joy. It is not a feeling of instant peace.
The first evidence of God's life in a dead soul is one thing alone, and it is brutally honest, genuine repentance. And here Spurgeon implores us not to be deceived by the satanic imitation of repentance which he called remorse.
Remorse is man's sorrow for the consequences of his sin. It is the fear of hell. It is the shame of being discovered. It is the pain of Judas, who lamented the result of his betrayal but never turned to Christ for forgiveness.
Remorse is the cry of the prisoner who hates the cell but still loves the crime. But repentance that comes from regeneration is of a completely different nature.
It is not sadness over the consequences; it is horror at the sin itself because it is an offense against a holy and loving God. It is the soul that looks at the cross and does not feel sorry for itself for being in trouble but feels a deep and real pain for having been the cause of those nails. Spurgeon would say that the truly repentant person does not just say I made a mistake but declares total and relentless war against the self that loves the mistake.
See Part 5
C H Spurgeon
Part 3
This faith uses the Bible as an instruction manual, not as a mirror that reveals its own misery and the desperate glory of Christ. It is, in the end, a faith centered on the eye, the eye that understands, the eye that agrees.
The eye that behaves, and that eye has never truly been crucified. So, what is the line that separates the soul that is merely informed from the soul that has been truly transformed if knowledge, emotion and morality can be misleading? Where is the dividing line?
Spurgeon's answer is violent, absolute, and deeply uncomfortable for the modern religious mind. The difference is not a human decision. It is a divine invasion. It is not about man finding a new way. It is about God creating a new man.
The word for this is regeneration, the new birth. It is not an improvement in character; it is a resurrection of the soul.
It is not an outward cleansing; it is the creation of a life that did not exist before. For Charles Spurgeon, saving faith does not begin with man climbing a step toward God, but with God descending into the tomb of the soul dead in sin, and crying out. Lazarus, come forth. It is an act of sovereign power and exclusive and irresistible work of the Holy Spirit that man cannot initiate, imitate or deserve.
False faith prides itself on its decision for Christ.
True faith trembles before the reality that it was chosen in Christ even before the foundation of the world.
The former is a renovation of the old house, a new coat of paint on rotten walls.
The latter is the complete demolition of the condemned building and the construction of a holy temple where God himself decides to dwell, and this divine work, this regeneration, is not a peaceful and comfortable process. It begins with the Holy Spirit convicting us of our sin in an overwhelming way.
See Part 4
C H Spurgeon
Part 2
Watch closely because understanding the difference could mean the salvation of your soul or the confirmation of eternal deception. This deadly faith, this almost perfect imitation of truth, is the most subtle and diabolical of traps. It does not present itself as a gross error. On the contrary, it dresses itself in orthodoxy. It is the faith of one Who, and God's sovereignty in a heated debate.
Who can explain the doctrine of the Trinity with theological clarity? Who is moved to tears by an old hymn about the blood of Christ? It knows the arguments. It masters the language. It feels at home in the religious. She hears a sermon on sin and nods her head in agreement, thinking of others. She hears about Grace and feels comfortable thinking she already possesses it. But here lies the deception that Spurgeon fought so hard against Knowledge that only swells the mind is not the same as the fire that purifies the heart.
The emotion that makes your skin tingle during a hymn is not the same as the power of the Holy Spirit that breaks the chains of sin and mental agreement with a doctrine is not and never will be the surrender of a broken soul before the Savior. Spurgeon warned with frightening vehemence that a man can be a giant in theology and at the same time a dwarf in grace.
He can have an entire library about God in his head and still not have a shred of God's life in his soul. The deadly danger of this faith is that it creates an expert on God, but not a child of God. It produces a soldier who knows how to wield the sword of the Word to defend a doctrinal position, but who has never allowed that same sword to Pierce his own proud heart and bring him to his knees in repentance.
See Part 3
By C H Spurgeon.
Part 1
There is a faith that seems right, a faith that sits in church pews every Sunday, raises hands during worship, can quote verses by heart, and even debates theology with impressive the look of truth, the sound of truth and the smell of truth, but it cannot save worse. It is the best paved and most respectable Rd. that leads millions of souls straight to hell. I am not talking about the unbelief of the atheist who mocks God. I am not talking about the rebellion of the wicked who live openly in sin. I am talking about something much more subtle and infinitely more tragic. I am talking about the faith that perhaps you who are listening to me now believe you have at this very moment. It is the faith that admires the cross but has never been crucified with Christ. It is the faith that knows the letter of the law but has never been broken by the Spirit of the living God. And on the Day of Judgment, this faith that today seems like a shield will be the main evidence of your condemnation. C Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers, was not afraid to look at a crowded congregation and declare that most of them could be one step away from perdition, even though they held a Bible and had their names on the membership role.
He knew that the greatest. Is not a soul lost in the darkness of the world, but a soul lost in the false light of a dead religion? Today, using the word of God as a sharp scalpel and with the boldness that characterized Spurgeon, we will put your faith under rigorous Examination.
We will expose the cracks, illusions, and lies of a faith that seems pious but is powerless to save. And in the end, we will show you the only mark of faith that truly withstands the fire of judgment.
See part 2
In this section, we see the destruction of Babylon in Chapter Seventeen and the rise of the New Jerusalem in Chapter Twenty-One. Between these two events is an expansion about the fall of Babylon in Chapter Eighteen, followed by the Savior's response in Chapter Nineteen, and the ending result in Chapter Twenty.
Together, these five chapters form a chiasmus highlighting the Savior in the central chapter as follows:
Ch. 17
Ch. 18
Ch. 19, highlights the Savior
Ch. 20
Ch. 21
This set of Chapters is the third storyline in the Book of Revelation.
Living by example: The good; bad and the ugly
Revisiting the theme from the last post; let's consider the situation where someone fails in a mission through no obvious fault of their own. In the example of witnessing in a dangerous neighborhood an incident can quickly arise that abruptly ends our attempts at sharing God's truth. No computer can give us wisdom to fall to our knees and pray; or tell us where to go and when to move on. Paul faced times such as the desire to go to Bithynia and the Spirit said NO; and other times when he was called elsewhere (such as the call to go instead to Macedonia). When someone is in need we can discover what we are supposed to do but not how to help. In Acts we read about someone that couldn't be helped with silver or gold but was healed by Peter ( Acts 3:6) during the time of his unique unction.
We can no more explain God's calling and choosing to reveal Himself to a previously dead heart than we can explain a heart of unbelief that Satan has blinded and who cannot find objective truth (such as the Pharisees finding a need to ask for a sign after all of Christ's miracles). Judas' betrayal made no sense when all the riches of heaven were there for the asking if he would only believe.
In short the spiritual dimension is only comprehended by someone with an eternal soul; namely man albeit the animal kingdom and all of creation reacts to what is happening but only men can truly be judged based on eternal truths evident in the creation as Romans 1 states either sentenced to eternal condemnation or eternal reward of heaven's joy depending on their spiritual state.
What the world doesn't get is that once we are removed as "salt and light" that once 2 Thessalonians 2:6-7 occurs (the restrainer removed) the preverbal you know what is going to hit the fan. Antichrist somehow will be able to craft a deception uniquely appealing to every particular person (AI?)
"I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings."
Blessings
2 Timothy 3:15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
When we look at Timothy we can see just from this passage his upbringing gave him head knowledge of who Christ was; and perhaps there wasn't an "aha" moment so to speak when he definitely was able to state was the day he came to saving faith.
That is just conjecture; but what we can discern is that it was likely just the Old Testament and those familiar with Christ's teachings from actually witnessing what happened to him to that would influence him; and that it was likely Paul's letters and some traditions would have been all of the "New" Testament available to him at the time.
Fast forwarding to today's tech savvy AI environment and we no doubt have a vast array of information available online regarding the Bible. In this segment I'm emphasizing living out faith through a human as being something a computer can't provide except by narrative accounts of saints who have largely passed this earthly realm.
What you won't gather is something perhaps rarely considered; that of those sins which we ALL learn from and how the Body of Christ works to strengthen one another. Suppose someone is given a Word; a specific scripture which happens to pierce the heart of another parishioner. A person may have no idea why the Lord prompts them to warn (let's say a verse about those inheriting the Kingdom of God not being fornicators; idoloters; adulterors; etc ( 1 Corinthians 6:9-11). This is an example of proper use of spiritual gifts; that is using scripture (and not some extrabiblical prophecy) to give a warning to someone. The person can apply it to whatever it is they are struggling with and then it can pierce the heart as Hebrews 4:12 indicates as a "two edged sword". Often men are viewed in a very one sided manner by a computer summary of their lives.
Outta room.
I'll have to go over that because it's usually the 3,4 or 5th time a lightbulb goes off taking me someplace else that I didn't see the first time.
I'm thinking Jesus fulfilled the first half 3.5 years because there was great tribulation , persecution and the earth shook enough that people came out of their graves.
I'm thinking the second half, will happen without warning, fast and chaotic. Matthew 24 mentions this and it kicks off the tribulation so 3.5 years from this event (-/+) will be the return of Christ and, we wiil be sure because the sun and the moon tell us just before the rapture which will be immediately after the tribulation. The darkens both times first for the rapture with a blood moon and next... the Second Coming (wrath) Both the moon and sun darken. We will go through tribulation but are taken out before the Wrath. So we do know when the Second Coming is by paying attention to the simplest things and events that must take place first--> I'm no scholar so forgive me for putting every scripture, I know I read it and I don't want tunnel vision that could take everything out of context. I have an open mind because a closed mind cannot take in new information, example: more knowledge will be learned. A closed mind cannot learn. God told Daniel to shut up the words.... it was not for his time and to seal it or shut the book for the end. I have no doubts today we are watching the every player on the chess board except the AC.
The Book of Revelation is my area of interest. I have learned that there are multiple layers of interpretation. Often, the researcher strays from one layer of interpretation into another layer in part or whole.
In the higher levels, there are three storylines discussing the same period of time. However, each storyline has a different a diffirent primary subject.
To get the most out of the book, set aside the literal reading for the metaphorical. For example, Jesus is the rider of the white horse in Rev. 19:11, and likewise in Rev. 6:1-2. As you may know, as the rider of the white horse in Rev. 6:1-2, he has a crown of authority given to him. This crown of authority is explained in Rev. 5:7 as the book with the seven seals given via God the Father. And, Rev. 1:1 tells us that the seven seals are the revelation that John is shown and writes as the Book of Revelation.
Thus, the revelation is the seven seals and vice versa. The seven seals are repeated throughout the book with varying levels of information that primarily relate to the first 3.5 years of the seven-year tribulation.
That is, the revelation is concerned with the time before the midpoint, more than the time after the midpoint.
I am doing well. Thank you for thinking of me. I come here everyday and read what others post and pray for requests and for those I have regular correspondence with as well as those who no longer post here.
I will post more as the Holy Spirit leads me. Right now it seems I am in a more "quiet, listening" mode in regards to this forum.
I hope your are doing well. Did you have a good Thanksgiving? We did.
I'm doing well, thank you.
Been busy doing landscape work in our back yard, watching Rosie, and getting to know our new grandson, Isaac.
Been experimenting with quick bread recipe to incorporating baby food puree that Rosie no longer eats since she completely eats table food like us.
I made bread using shredded cabbage, apple, pumpkin and butternut squash puree. It turned out well.
I just don't tell my husband what I put in it or he will balk at tasting it. But he usually likes what I cook as long as I keep him in the dark, so to speak.
I enjoy adapting and creating recipes. I have been cooking so many years that I have a good feel for what goes into creating things like quick breads, soups, stews, and other types of dishes.
It is getting colder here in the Washington state. Our winters around Puget Sound are usually rainy and cold with some days of snow. We usually get a few days where we get significant snow accumulation that lasts a few days. The kiddos have fun when they get off from school due to snow. I remember these "snow days" well as a kid.
What are winters like in your country? Do you live near the coast or more in the uplands?
These past few weeks I have been reading up on the history and migration of the peoples from the Eurasian steppe as well as those who migrated into and from Anatolia. I also am learning of who peopled Greece and Italy in between 2000 B.C. and 1 A. D. This is helping me to better understand whom the Old Testament is referring to when they name specific tribes/peoples/nations.
2I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven.3And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;)4How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.5Of such an one will I glory: yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities.6For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool; for I will say the truth: butnowI forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth meto be, orthathe heareth of me.7And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.8For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.9And he said unto me,My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.10Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
Psalm 9:10 KJV
And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.
My Respond:
God always making a way for me to be blessed, richly blessed/treasure and live freely wherever you want it to be by faith
Respond Written and Spoken by REDAPPLETREATY4MEONLY
We haven't heard from you in a while. Are you okay? How are your grandchildren? OK?
I miss seeing you here.
Asking God's continued blessings upon you
and family. Hope you return soon.
To God be the Glory
( The Household of Faith) Is organized and operated.
Hebrews 12:23
"To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,"
First of all, it is not an organization. It is an organism.
*{ A system built on single entities that show signs of life. Needing and using the work of each individual to help it grow, reproduce and remaining stable forever. It responds to the word around it;
to the society we live in. (Tree will always be a tree. Water will always be water. No change in them since the Earth began.
Christianity is only one Religion of the Eleven other groups of people that gives reference to a greater unseen power in this Earth beyond the knowledge and strength of the off springs of Adam & Eve.
We, Christians, proclaim that " The Earth is the Lords" according to Psalms 24:1 KJV__
Heaven is where our God's throne is, according to
Ma. 5:34
34But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne: KJV__
I would like to share this one of many scriptures that mentions the church's work and workers,
1 Corinthians 12:28
"And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues."
We are all still growing as we learn and learning as we grow!
To God be the Glory.