It is a very perilous spot, that beginning of life, when the youth first leaves the home of piety, and finds himself where the fear of God is not in the place. Oh, may the day never come to you, you young people especially, who have lately put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and professed his name, when you shall be welcomed by the world, but may you for ever forget your kindred and your father's house, so shall the king greatly desire your beauty, for he is the Lord, and worship you him. God does not create useless things: he intends that the faith he gives should have its test, should glorify his name. This is the place from which he went. Charles Haddon Spurgeon December 14, 1856 Scripture: Hebrews 11:6 From: New Park Street Pulpit Volume 3 Faith "Without faith it is impossible to please God."Hebrews 11:6 The Old Assembly's Catechism asks, "What is the chief end of man?" and its answer is, "To glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever." THE OLD Assembly's Catechism asks, "What is the chief end of man?" He has locked it up tonight and he goes to bed, but he is afraid he heard a footstep down the stairs, and he goes to see. I suppose you think you are poor yourselves, though you have got some thousand pounds odd a year, and so you keep it yourself, under the notion that "he that giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord." Abraham had a call, so have we, but here was the difference, Abraham obeyed. The minister called to see him, and said, "What are you doing John?" It was easier for Noah to build the ark than to render so complete an obedience; but the Lord wrought in him by his grace. Many of us may never have to brave the fiery stake, nor to bow our necks upon the block, to die as Paul did; but if we have grace enough to be out of weakness made strong, we shall not be left out of the roll of the nobles of faith, and God's name shall not fail to be glorified in our persons. Where Jesus died, there you shall live. Such a wretched faith has no influence on the man's self, and it will have no influence upon others. God gave his Son, equal with himself, to bear the burden of human sin; and he died, a substitute for sinners,--a real substitute, an efficient substitute, for all who trust in him. Another thing strikes me. We will take our last journey, and we will not fear to take it, for God is our refuge and strength, our helper in the hour of trouble and of death. If thou puttest one atom of trust in thyself thou hast no faith; if thou dost place even a particle of reliance upon anything else but what Christ did, thou hast no faith. said he, "my good woman, that is a broken key, for you have broken the commandments, you have not fulfilled all your duties. "Whither away?" Oh! After that fashion faith overcomes temptation. She stood alone. Oh sinners, who know your sins! There is enough out there in the farmyard for the hogs, but there is not for the children. (1). Do you not? The words of the Lord are like fine gold, pure, precious, and weighty not ono of them may be neglected. He who knows how to pray has his hand on a leverage which moves the universe. "O! The thing is to stand alone. Matchless condescension this! By no means. When God began with many of us, he found us very low down beneath the flood of evil. There is many a Christian who, if he were to go back to the gaiety of the world, would find the world receive him with open arms. The chief end of man, we believe, in this life and in the next, is to please God his Maker. Let us consider, secondly, THE KIND OF OBEDIENCE WHICH FAITH PRODUCES. You have a sort of hereditary religion in the same way as you have a display of family plate; pretty battered it is, no doubt, and rather light in weight by this time, but still you cling to it. Therefore, because our salvation is nearer than when we first believed, it is but meet that our desire to reach the better country, and to enter the heavenly city should become more and more vehement, as "we nightly pitch our roving tent a day's march nearer home." Give me thyself, and take these all away, if so it please thee, but do not, my Lord, do not think I can be content with Egypt since I have set forth for Canaan, or that I can settle down in the wilderness now that I am journeying to the land of promise. "He hath prepared for them"--not "for all of you"--only for such of you as answer the description on which we have been meditating has he prepared "a city.". It delivers the sinner from the stream of sin, and so, laying hold upon the omnipotence of the Spirit, it rescues him from that great whirlpool of destruction into which his soul was being hurried. Next, we must have faith in the rightness of all that God says or does . You cannot take hold upon the angel, and win the victory. Hebrews 11:4 Commentaries: By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks. But thou, poor sinner, with all thy sin about thee, if the rope is round thy loins, and Christ has hold of it, fear not! Alas, I have had to mourn over Christian men--at least I thought they were such--who have waxed very poor, and when they have grown poor, they hardly felt they could associate with those they knew in better circumstances. Do you think that we meditate enough upon heaven? God said to him, "Make an ark"; and we read in answer thereto that he prepared an ark. I believe it to be one of the essentials of a Christian man, that he should have the courage to use his own mental faculties, and search the Bible for himself; for God has not committed our religious life to the guidance of the brain in our neighbour's head, but he has bestowed on each of us a conscience, and an understanding which he expects us to use. Scripture: Hebrews 2:9-13. that ye were wise that ye would care now, and if any of you feel your need of Christ, let me beg of you, for Christ's sake, now to seek faith in him who is exalted on high to give repentance and remission, and who, if he has given you repentance, will give you remission too. Sir, you speak falsely; you do not believe in Christ. To be a burgess of the City of London is thought to be a great honour, and upon princes is it sometimes conferred; but we shall have the highest honour that can be given when we shall be citizens of the city which God has prepared. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter if thou hast no faith. When fear is grafted upon faith, it brings forth good fruit, as in this case. I tried the other day to say a good word, and I am afraid that I made a failure of it. Without faith thou art out of the kingdom of grace, a stranger to the commonwealth of Israel. How long a wolf-beloved habit lingers at the door after the heart has given it a bill of divorce! If you truly believe a man, you believe all that he says. There was communication kept up between them and the old family house at Padan-Aram. Faith is to look through that cloud, not with the eye of sight, which seeth naught, but with the eye of faith, which seeth every thing, and to say, "I trust him when I can not trace him; I tread the sea as firmly as I would the rock; I walk as securely in the tempest as in the sunshine, and lay myself to rest upon the surging billows of the ocean as contentedly as upon my bed." He did not choose another sort of wood, nor alter the shape of the vessel, nor make more stories, nor more windows, nor more doors; but he distrusted his own judgment, and leaned not to his own understanding. I have broken the key of my drawers, and there are some things I must get directly." If that be said in truth, it is well, my brother; you bid fair to be in all things a partaker with faithful Abraham: you also shall find much blessing in the separated life. His choice is neither wealth, nor ease, nor honour; but that ho may glorify God in his body, and his spirit, which are the Lord's. it was a mighty deed which faith accomplished when he bore her off in safety. Have faith in God, and then obey, obey, obey, and keep on obeying, until the Lord shall call you home. Take heed of your good works; get them after faith, but remember, the way to be saved is simply to believe in Jesus Christ. Faith is that handful of corn, the fruit whereof shall shake like Lebanon. Have you faith? To be weak in prayer is a disease which will bring on many other maladies. He takes account of what he has prepared for them. True, it brought him into a world of trouble, and no wonder: such a noble course as his was not likely to be an easy one. It is smoothing the way to return to your old places. Then would she have the beginning of life over again in her last days, which will be made her best days. That is his master. May faith enable us each one, like David, to bless our household! The true believer believes in God beyond all his belief in anything else, and everything else. To be a burgess of the City of London is thought to be a great honor, and upon princes is it sometimes conferred; but, we shall have the highest honor that can be given, when we shall be citizens of the city which God has prepared. Do you want a greater source of consolation than you have got? Own them! but you can not tell what a great thing it is to save a soul. By faith he was adopted and became a son, an heir. To this end may the Spirit of God enable you. C. H. Spurgeon at the Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens. Each man's calling may seem to him to be more full of temptation than his fellow's. "Be of good cheer, then, sinner! I would rather be Master of the Art of prayer than M.A. Remember that your greatest joy while you are a pilgrim is your God. This grey father of the age went on with his preaching, went on with his intercession, and, without a doubt, waited for God in his own time to justify his servant before the eyes of men. If I should never again have the pleasure of speaking for my Lord upon the face of this earth, I should like to deliver, as my last confession of faith, this testimony--that nothing but faith can save this nineteenth century; nothing but faith can save old England: nothing but faith can save the present unbelieving church: nothing but firm faith in the grand old doctrines of grace, and in the ever-living and unchanging God can bring back to the church again a full tide of prosperity, and make her to be the deliverer of the nations for Christ: nothing but faith in the Lord Jesus can save you or me. Here is one that can never be diminished, much less exhausted. We shall have, then, an exposition, an argument, and a question. They are so highly "cultured" that they prefer to be original, and map out their own way. influencers who have died 2021. chesterfield valley food options. wouldst thou struggle with the fiery passion which sendeth forth flame from human breasts? He shall dwell in God's house and be still praising him. O that God might sanctify some that are here! "Pray, sir," said she, believing that he understood the matter, and looking frightened, "What have I left out?" And O! Many are called to suffer much in daily life. He might well be ashamed of that. He suffered the Egyptians to pursue, and overtake, and threaten to divide the spoil; and he allowed them in their pride to go down after Israel into the depths of the sea. walter e smithe daughters net worth. and if we are called to suffer for him, our weakness, in the case of most of us, is even greater: many who can labor without weariness cannot suffer without impatience. It is a city. He knew that none could save him but God; but as God bade him prepare an ark, an ark he prepared, and thus he was saved and his house. Depend upon it, faith that is never tried is not faith. Dear struggler, you will never overcome sin except by faith in Jesus Christ. You have transferred their strong will to your own deliberate choice. To the very edge of Jordan you will meet with temptations. In the presence of the great ones of the earth they may call him their God--anywhere--and he is not ashamed to be so called. Yet if you soar to the skies, you are very apt to drop below the sea-level. It is nothing short of Godhead's utmost stretch of might that keeps the feet of the saints, and preserves them from going back to their old unregenerate condition. There must be determination, thought, care, attention; and faith must work with all these to produce obedience to the will of the Lord. HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK" 913, 652, 504. Orders are given you which cause you great searchings of heart. It is a city, too, for dignity. Though you may think it a very ordinary thing to obey God in all things, you will find that a man had need to set his face like a flint in order to keep the right road; and the only way in which he will be able to hold on his way will be by having faith in God. He taught us to pray, "Lead us not into temptation," but, at the same time, he does lead us there, and intends to do it, and this for the proving of our faith, to see whether it be true faith or not. It may be now or never with you. She became after that a woman eminent for piety walking in the fear of God. Nobody here will actually declare that he will not, but many will reply that they hope they shall. no; thy name may yet be written among the mightiest of the mighty, and thou mayest stand as a memorable and triumphant instance of the power of faith. Although he may not reach the heights of ambition, nor stand upon the giddy crags of presumption, yet he shall know superior joys. If the Lord be God, he must be infallible; and if he can be described as in error in the little respects of human history and science, he cannot be trusted in the greater matters. What a great thing it is to save a soul! Might not a hundred difficulties and doubts be suggested to lead me to question whether God had spoken to me at all? They may look up to him in all the depths of their degradation. As a dog, which is chased away from the house, returns again and again to its former master, so does an evil lust turn again even to the soul that loathes it. To believe in God, and to do his bidding, is a great escape from the hazards of personal weakness and folly. I do not bargain for comfort, and peace, and joy, if I can be more helpful to thy poor, weary children without them. 1877. You mean you are reading the prophecies?" We need not wish to have any strength of our own, for by faith we can reach to any degree of power in the Lord. 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