For the Faithful in Christ

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Paul’s thanksgiving and prayer for the faithful in Christ:

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.

And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Colossians 1:1-14 (ESV)

The Personality of the Holy Ghost

The Personality of the Holy Ghost
Delivered on Sabbath Morning, January 21, 1855
by C. H. Spurgeon
At New Park Street Chapel, Southwark

“And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.”
John 14:16-17 KJV

You will be surprised to hear me announce that I do not intend this morning to say anything about the Holy Spirit as the Comforter. I propose to reserve that for a special Sermon this evening. In this discourse I shall endeavor to explain and enforce certain other doctrines, which I believe are plainly taught in this text, and which I hope God the Holy Ghost may make profitable to our souls. Old John Newton once said, that there were some books which he could not read; they were good and sound enough; but, said he, “they are books of halfpence; you have to take so much in quantity before you have any value; there are other books of silver, and others of gold; but I have one book that is a book of bank notes; and every leaf is a bank-note of immense value.” So I found with this text: that I had a bank-note of so large a sum, that I could not tell it out all this morning. I should have to keep you several hours before I could unfold to you the whole value of this precious promise— one of the last which Christ gave his people.

I invite your attention to this passage because we shall find in it some instruction on four points: first, concerning the true and proper personality of the Holy Ghost; secondly, concerning the united agency of the glorious Three Persons in the work of our salvation; thirdly we shall find something to establish the doctrine of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in the souls of all believers; and fourthly, we shall find out the reason why the carnal mind rejects the Holy Ghost.

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The fullness of His grace

The fullness of His grace
(Octavius Winslow, “From Grace to Glory” 1864)

“For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.”
John 1:16


Will you hesitate, then, child of God to sink your emptiness in this fullness; to drink abundantly from this supply; to go to Jesus . . .

  • with every sin, the greatest;
  • with every temptation, the strongest;
  • with every need, the deepest;
  • with every trial, the severest;
  • with your mental despondency, your lowest spiritual frame yes, exactly as you are–and receive from Christ’s boundless grace–grace to help you in the time of need? Hesitate not!

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A Sermon for Men of Taste

A Sermon for Men of Taste
Delivered Sunday Morning, July 6th, 1862
by C. H. SPURGEON,
At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington

“Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.”
1 Peter 2:1-3 KJV

“If you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” “If,” then this is not a thing to be taken for granted concerning every one of the human race. “If,” then there is a possibility and a probability that some may not have tasted that the Lord is gracious. “If,” then this is not a general, but a special mercy; and it becomes our business to inquire whether we are comprehended in that company who know the grace of God by inward experience.

There is no spiritual favor which may not be a matter for heart-searching. At the very summit of holy delight, we meet the challenge of “sentinel If.” — “If you then be risen with Christ,” And at the very bottom, even at Repentance-gate itself, he meets us with a warrant of arrest until he sees whether our sorrow is the godly sorrow that needs not to be repented of. “If you are the Son of God?” is not always a temptation of the devil, but often a very healthy inquiry most fittingly suggested by holy anxiety to men who would build securely upon the Rock of Ages. Continue reading

The Birth Of Christ

The Birth Of Christ
Delivered by
C. H. SPURGEON,
At the New Park Street Chapel, Southwark
On the Lord’s Day Morning, December 24, 1845

“Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. Butter and honey shall He eat, that He may know to refuse the evil, and choose the Good.”
Isaiah 7:14-15.

The kingdom of Judah was in a condition of imminent peril. Two monarchs had leagued themselves against her, two nations had risen up for her destruction. Syria and Israel had come up against the walls of Jerusalem with full intent to raze them to the ground and utterly destroy the monarchy of Judah.

Ahaz the king, in great trouble, exerted all his ingenuity to defend the city and, among the other contrivances which his wisdom taught him, he thought it fit to cut off the waters of the upper pool, so that the besiegers might be in distress for lack of water. He goes out in the morning, no doubt attended by his courtiers, makes his way to the conduit of the upper pool, intending to see after the stopping of the stream of water, but lo, he meets with something which sets aside his plans and renders them needless!

Isaiah steps forward and tells him not to be afraid for the smoke of those two firebrands, for God should utterly destroy both the nations that had risen up against Judah. Ahaz need not fear the present invasion, for both he and his kingdom would be saved. The king looked at Isaiah with an eye of incredulity, as much as to say, “If the Lord were to send chariots from Heaven, could such a thing as this be? Should He animate the dust and quicken every stone in Jerusalem to resist my foes, could this be done?” Continue reading

The Unchanging Christ

The Unchanging Christ
by J. C. Ryle

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Hebrews 13:8

Always the same! unchanging! —that is a glorious character; a character which belongs to nothing that is of the earth; a character which He alone deserves, who is the Lord from heaven.

What of this present world in which we live and move and have our being? It has stamped upon it the marks of a tremendous change; it is no longer the same as it was in the beginning, it cannot be that fair creation of which God pronounced every part and portion to be very good. Doubtless we see that it is still a beautiful world, clothed with all that is lovely to the eye, furnished with all that is necessary to our comfort, stored with everything that can make life enjoyable.

You may see everywhere the traces of a bountiful Father’s hand. But still, we repeat, this world is not what it once was: it is no longer the same —no more the same than the gallant ship which yesterday did walk the waters like a thing of life, and today is dashed high on the beach and lies there a wreck, dismasted, shattered, and forsaken. This world is no more the same than the ruin of some ancient magnificent temple, which now stands desolate and silent and alone, with weeds and briars creeping over its floor, and ivy hanging about its broken walls like a widow’s garment. Continue reading