Sermon Sunday – Charles Spurgeon Remembrance of Christ
May 29, 2011 at 7:51 am | Posted in Sermon Sunday | Leave a commentTags: abortion, absurd, Adam, affection, agony, America, Apollyon, ateasetees, attention, baptism, beast, bed, benefit, Bible, bird, blasphemy, blessing, blood, bread, brother, business, cage, calling, Calvary, Christ, Christian, church, compromise, conscience, courage, coward, creature, crime, cross, crown, cup, damnation, death, deliverance, descent, desecrate, desert, despise, dragon, drunk, duel, dumb, election, embalm, emblem, eucharist, evangelism, everlasting, evil, evny, experience, extraction, fact, faith, finished, flesh, foe, forget, Gethsemane, girdle, glory, God, gospel, grace, gratitude, grief, guilt, Hallelujah, heart, hell, helm, holy, Holy Ghost, hope, hour, imagination, Islam, Israel, Jehovah, Jesus, Jordan, Judah, judgment, Lamb, law, life, lion, London, Lord, Lord's Supper, love, lusts, mariner, marriage, martyr, memory, mercy, Messiah, miserable, mistake, mock, monarch, money, monument, moon, mother, murder, murderer, nailed, nature, ocean, ordinance, passion, pastor, patience, peace, persecution, Pharisee, photograph, Pilate, pilgrim, pillow, poverty, power, prayer, race, regenerate, remembrance, remnant, repent, rescue, sabbath, salvation, Savior, scepter, scripture, season, sin, slander, smile, soldier, son, sorrow, soul, spectator, stone, suffering, sun, tears, temple, tempt, ten commandments, thorn, traveller, treasure, trial, truth, victory, vile, visage, water, wicked, wilderness, wine, worm
A Sermon
Delivered on Sabbath Evening, January 7th, 1855, by the
REV. C. H. Spurgeon
At New Park Street Chapel, Southwark.
“This do in remembrance of me.”—1 Corinthians 11:24.
It seems, then, that Christians may forget Christ. The text implies the possibility of forgetfulness concerning him whom gratitude and affection should constrain them to remember. There could be no need for this loving exhortation, if there were not a fearful supposition that our memories might prove treacherous, and our remembrance superficial in its character, or changing in its nature. Nor is this a bare supposition: it is, alas, too well confirmed in our experience, not as a possibility, but as a lamentable fact. It seems at first sight too gross a crime to lay at the door of converted men. It appears almost impossible that those who have been redeemed by the blood of the dying Lamb should ever forget their Ransomer; that those who have been loved with an everlasting love by the eternal Son of God, should ever forget that Son; but if startling to the ear, it is alas, too apparent to the eye to allow us to deny the fact. Forget him who ne’er forgot us! Forget him who poured his blood forth for our sins! Forget him who loved us even to the death! Can it be possible? Yes it is not only possible, but conscience confesses that it is too sadly a fault of all of us, that we can remember anything except Christ. The object which we should make the monarch of our hearts, is the very thing we are most inclined to forget. Where one would think that memory would linger, and unmindfulness would be an unknown intruder, that is the spot which is desecrated by the feet of forgetfulness, and that the place where memory too seldom looks. I appeal to the conscience of every Christian here: Can you deny the truth of what I utter? Do you not find yourselves forgetful of Jesus? Some creature steals away your heart, and you are unmindful of him upon whom your affection ought to be set. Some earthly business engrosses your attention when you should have your eye steadily fixed upon the cross. It is the incessant round of world, world, world; the constant din of earth, earth, earth, that takes away the soul from Christ. Oh! my friends, is it not too sadly true that we can recollect anything but Christ, and forget nothing so easy as him whom we ought to remember? While memory will preserve a poisoned weed, it suffereth the Rose of Sharon to wither. Continue Reading Sermon Sunday – Charles Spurgeon Remembrance of Christ…
Genesis 8:13-22
March 7, 2011 at 8:12 pm | Posted in Bible Study | Leave a commentTags: abortion, account, alone, altar, America, Ararat, ark, aroma, assurance, ateasetees, Bible, bird, Born Again, Christian, church, clean, cold, compromise, Day, death, depravity, dinosaurs, dove, drink, eat, Eden, evangelism, evil, faith, Fall, favor, fire, flood, fountain, Genesis, global, God, gospel, grace, Harvest, heat, heaven, hell, holy, hope, Israel, Jesus, judgment, law, life, love, marriage, mercy, mock, money, multiply, murder, night, Noah, offering, onslaught, pastor, peace, perish, plead, prayer, promise, rain, raven, repent, righteousness, salvation, scripture, seed, sin, study, summer, ten commandments, TIME, today, tomorrow, truth, unclean, violence, window, winter, wood
Now it came about in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first of the month, the water was dried up from the earth. Then Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold, the surface of the ground was dried up. In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry. Then God spoke to Noah, saying, “Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. “Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by their families from the ark. Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. LORD smelled the soothing aroma; and the LORD said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done. “While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, And cold and heat, And summer and winter, And day and night Shall not cease.”
This week, we see the after effects of the Flood as well as a promise from the Lord. Before we look at that, let’s review a little bit. Since the Fall of man in the garden of Eden, man had been spiraling downward into violence. In recent times, it had gotten so bad that man’s only thoughts were evil continually. The earth was full of violence. Because of man’s depravity, God decided to give him 120 years to repent and return to Him. If man didn’t do this, God was going to judge the earth with a global Flood. In the midst of all of the evil lived Noah and his sons and their wives. Noah was a preacher of righteousness and found favor with God. Because of this, God revealed to Noah that a Flood was coming and that he should build a great ark for protection. God revealed the plans for the ark to Noah and they began to build it. At this time, no one had ever seen rain so the idea of a global Flood was preposterous. While building the ark, Noah also spent time preaching righteousness to those around him, warning them of the coming judgment in hopes that they might be saved.
About a week before the Flood, the animals that would spend time on the ark started arriving and boarding the now-finished ship. There were two of every unclean animal (including dinosaurs) and seven pairs of every clean animal. As the day of judgment approached, God told Noah and his family to board the ark and God shut the door behind them. Then, in a sudden onslaught, the fountains of the great deep burst and the windows of heaven opened up and water the likes of which had never been seen before rained down upon the entire planet. For forty days and nights it rained non-stop until the water rose over the highest mountains to a depth of about 20 feet. Every living land animal and many of the water dwelling ones perished in those forty days. All of the people who once mocked Noah for his proclamation now lay dead in the floodwaters. For a year, Noah and his family lived on the ark riding out the high waves and the storms as the Flood raged across the planet. Finally, things began to subside and the waters began to recede. Noah sent out a few birds to test the level of the waters. Finally, when the last dove didn’t return, Noah knew that land was visible. It is here that we pick up our study.
It has been a year and seventeen days since they boarded the ark. They had been through a lot, but God finally told them that it was time for them to disembark. Noah opened the ark of his salvation and he and his family, along with every animal on the ark, came out into a world that was very different from the one that they had seen when they entered the ark. The animals were given the command to multiply upon the earth. This was the purpose for which the animals were saved. It is interesting that they obeyed God in this. What is even more interesting to me, is Noah’s response.
After being saved from certain death by the grace of God and spending a year on a ship with at least two representatives of every animal known, Noah didn’t think about eating or drinking. Instead, he thought of God. Verse 20 says that Noah built an altar to the Lord and made an offering of every clean animal that they had brought with them. I find it interesting that those who search for the ark or believe that it may be found in the mountains of Ararat today seem to overlook this simple statement. They forget that Noah made an offering to the Lord. You may be wondering why this strikes me funny and what it has to do with those looking for the ark? Well, to make an offering to the Lord, you would have had to have fire. To have a fire, you must have wood – dry wood. The only likely source of dry wood at the time would have been the ark. The land may have been dry but it is doubtful that the wood was. I seriously doubt that the ark still exists today. I would imagine that Noah used the wood in his daily life.
Noah remembered the God who had remembered him. He offered to the Lord a small pittance of what was owed, but God accepted the offering. Not only that, God made a promise that still stands today. The Lord promised that He would never again curse the ground on the account of man, nor destroy every living thing like He had just done. While the earth remains, the Lord has promised that seedtime and harvest, winter and summer, cold and heat, day and night will never cease. God has kept His promise. He has never destroyed every living thing from the earth. Seedtime and harvest have continued. So have summer and winter, cold and heat, and day and night. Everything has been done according to God’s plans.
It is the same with man. The Bible says that it is God’s will that none should perish but that all should come to repentance. It says that if a man will repent of his sins and put his faith in Jesus Christ alone to save him, the man will be born again. He can know without a shadow of a doubt that he will go to heaven when he dies. Not only that, but God will give him a new heart with new desires. He will be changed from the inside out. This promise has come true for millions, including me. If you will repent of your sins, turn away from the lying, the stealing, the lusting, the hatred, the gossip, the adultery, and all the other sins in your life; and if you will put your faith in Christ to save you from the wrath of God; then this very minute, as you read these words, God can save you. He will save you! And you can have assurance that you will go to heaven when you die.
Please consider where you stand and what will happen when you stand before God to give an account of your life. If you are not sure your saved, or you know for a fact that you’re not, then please understand that I plead with you right now to make it right with God before you die. You don’t know if you have tomorrow. You only are guaranteed this minute. Please be honest with yourself and repent….while there is still time…..
Genesis 7:11-24
February 21, 2011 at 7:14 pm | Posted in Bible Study | Leave a commentTags: abortion, all, America, animals, ark, ateasetees, Bible, bird, cattle, Christian, church, compromise, covered, creeping thing, death, die, door, escape, eternity, evangelism, everything, evil, faith, flood, fountains, global, God, gospel, grace, great deep, guilt, Ham, heaven, hell, holy, homosexual, hope, Israel, Japheth, Jesus, judgment, law, life, local, love, mantle, marriage, mercy, mock, money, move, murder, Noah, pastor, peace, perish, plates, prayer, promise, rain, repent, safety, salvation, scripture, Shem, ship, sin, ten commandments, today, tomorrow, truth, violence, water, wife, window
In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened. The rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights. On the very same day Noah and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark, they and every beast after its kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, all sorts of birds. So they went into the ark to Noah, by twos of all flesh in which was the breath of life. Those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered as God had commanded him; and the LORD closed it behind him. Then the flood came upon the earth for forty days, and the water increased and lifted up the ark, so that it rose above the earth. The water prevailed and increased greatly upon the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. The water prevailed more and more upon the earth, so that all the high mountains everywhere under the heavens were covered. The water prevailed fifteen cubits higher, and the mountains were covered. All flesh that moved on the earth perished, birds and cattle and beasts and every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind; of all that was on the dry land, all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, died. Thus He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky, and they were blotted out from the earth; and only Noah was left, together with those that were with him in the ark. The water prevailed upon the earth one hundred and fifty days.
This week, we’re going to look at the beginning of the Flood. Noah was told by God that the world was going to be destroyed by a global flood. He was given the dimensions of a large ship and told that he and his family, and every land dwelling, air-breathing animal would come to him to find safety on the ark. He was to prepare the ship and gather the food and God would bring the animals to him. This was all due to the great evil and violence that entertained the minds of men constantly. God had given man time to repent and the time had come to an end. Noah not only spent his time building the ark (which wouldn’t have necessarily taken the 120 years that God had given man to repent), the Bible says that he was a preacher of righteousness. All of his preaching had gone out and as the final week came to a close, no one had come to Noah looking to be saved from the Flood. The world to this point had never seen rain and will never see the amount of rain that it saw during the global Flood.
God begins the account of the deluge with an exact date. It was Noah’s 600th year of life, the second month and the seventeenth day. It was this day that the fountains of the great deep burst open and the rain began to fall. It is believe that the fountains of the great deep may have been caused by a large crack in the earth’s crust where the extremely hot mantle rock cause instantaneous superheated jets of steam to force an immense amount of water into the sky. While this is still being debated, it is a very interesting thought. The crack in the mantle would have drawn the supercontinent apart into different pieces like we see in the continents today. It would have also caused the water level to rise and the continental plates sunk. Regardless of how it happened, it happened.
As the rains began to fall, the last of the animals and people entered the ark. What happens next is amazing: The Lord shut the door behind Noah. It wasn’t Noah that closed the door of the ark. It was the Lord Himself. God had saved Noah and his family as the judgment came upon the earth. The thing about this is that all the work that Noah did wouldn’t have been worth anything if the door wasn’t closed. God is the One who saved Noah. He warned him of the coming Flood, prepared him and gave him the plans for the ark, and then shut the door when the rains came. As the door was shut, the rains continued. They poured down in a deluge, causing the water level to rise rapidly. The splitting plates would have caused the level to rise faster and would have continued to throw more rain into the air as the molten rock contacted the cold water. We are told that the rains lasted for forty days and forty nights and that the water continue to increase, lifting the ark up so that it “rose above the earth”. We are told that the water continued to prevail upon the face of the earth and raised the ark to a level unknown by anyone before this.
There are many who mock those of us who believe the Bible when it talks about a global Flood. Many who try to discount the Flood of the Bible have come up with many excuses to try and explain away the truth of God’s judgment, but none of them hold up to the scriptures. Some say that the Flood wasn’t global and was instead a local flood. Think about this for a minute. If the Flood was local and not global, then why would God have told Noah about the judgment and had him build the ark? Noah had 120 years before the waters came. That’s plenty of time for Noah and his sons and their wives to move out of the area of the Flood. But, there are other problems. God was using the Flood to judge the earth for the wickedness of mankind. If the Flood was a local flood, then those who are able would have been able to get away from the flood just like Noah did. There would have been many that escaped the judgment of God when all of them were under His wrath. Another problem with the local flood idea is the fact that water finds its own level. This means that you can’t contain water in a certain areas when there are gaps in the container. The mountain range where Noah lived wasn’t a sealed container. Because of this, the water would have rushed out of the gaps and the level of the Flood would have been much lower than it should have been and again would have allowed many to escape God’s judgment. This is not what the scripture says. God said that He would judge all flesh for their wickedness and violence except those who were in the ark.
The main problem with the local flood is found in the scriptures themselves. Taking a look at the beginning of the account, we see important indicators that the Flood was global (emphasis mine):
The water prevailed more and more upon the earth, so that all the high mountains everywhere under the heavens were covered. The water prevailed fifteen cubits higher, and the mountains were covered. All flesh that moved on the earth perished, birds and cattle and beasts and every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind; of all that was on the dry land, all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, died. Thus He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky, and they were blotted out from the earth; and only Noah was left, together with those that were with him in the ark. The water prevailed upon the earth one hundred and fifty days.
These words mean exactly what they do in English. “All” means all, “everything” means everything, “every” means every. Look at those words again. All of the high mountains everywhere under the heavens. How could you get a “local” flood out of this? All the mountains everywhere were covered. Then, once the were covered, the water rose another 15 cubits. If it is a “short” cubit (18 inches) that would be another 22.5 feet. If this was a “long” cubit (20 inches), it would have been another 25 feet above the highest mountains. Again, how can you get a “local” flood out of this? It says that the water cover the earth. Not only that, it says that all flesh that moved on the earth perished. It says that God blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land and that only Noah was left. If it was a local flood and not a global Flood, how would all the flesh ON THE PLANET have died? How could Noah and his family be the only ones that survived the Flood? The Bible, seemingly written with the understanding that men would mock the Flood of Noah (see 2 Peter ), makes it clear that it was a global Flood. If you disagree with the truth of a global Flood, then you also have to disagree with the epistles that Peter wrote. In both of them, he uses the Flood as an example of the coming judgment of God upon all of the ungodly. If this is not true of the Flood, then Peter’s example breaks down and has no meaning.
But, this is not the case at all. The judgment of God through the Flood was real and it was global. It was a sign of God’s justice in the Flood itself, but it was a sign of His mercy in allowing man so much time to come to Him in repentance. Just like the days of Noah, there is coming a time when God will judge the earth again. He will not break His promise and do it with water again; this time, He will do it with fire. The Bible says that the times will be just like the days of Noah. Men will be evil, they will eat, drink, and marry. And just like that time, the judgment of God will come upon man unexpectedly. All of those who are not born again through repentance of sin and faith in Jesus Christ will find themselves standing before God and being found guilty and cast into hell. Is that you? Are you born again? Have you entered the ark of salvation found in Jesus Christ? If not, are you willing to risk your eternal life for the temporary fun of sin? Believe me, it’s not worth it. The short time of joy that you find in your sin will be erased in a heartbeat as the flames of hell burn through you for eternity. Please, while there is still time, repent of your sins and put your faith completely in Jesus Christ to save you. Don’t wait for tomorrow, for you may not have the time….
Genesis 1:20-23
September 20, 2010 at 4:14 pm | Posted in Bible Study | Leave a commentTags: America, animal, aquatic, ateasetees, Bible, bird, Christian, church, compromise, creation, day 5, evangelism, evening, expanse, faith, fill, fish, fly, fruitful, Genesis, God, good, gospel, grace, heaven, hell, holy, hope, Jesus, judgment, kind, law, life, love, marriage, mercy, monster, moon, morning, multiply, peace, planets, prayer, repent, salvation, scripture, sea, sin, space, stars, sun, ten commandments, truth, whales
This week’s Bible study is going to take us through a closer look at the fifth day of Creation. Let’s read the passage of scripture first:
Then God said, “Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.” God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good. God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.
Again we see the Lord focusing on a specific part of the creation and filling it with life. Before we get into the text, there are a couple of terms that we’ve already looked at that we see used here. The first is the word expanse, which we saw in our study of Day 2. If you’ll remember from our study, the expanse includes everything from the land of our planet to the space where the planets, stars, and suns exist. The birds fly above the earth in the expanse of the heavens. Later in the passage, we again see the phrase “after their kind”. Remember that this is an indication that each type of animal was originally made with all of the necessary genetic information for the variety of animals that we see today. As the animals continued to reproduce, the variety increased. Different events split up these animals into smaller groups and helped them continue to diversify, but they are still the same kind of animal. Continue Reading Genesis 1:20-23…
