Tag: sanctification

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Spurgeon Audio: The Sealing of the Spirit

The Spirit of God never takes the place of the Redeemer, he exercises his own peculiar office which is to take of the things of Christ and show them unto us, and not to put his own things in the place of Jesus. The foundation of our hope is laid in Christ from first to last, and if we rest there we are saved. The seal does not always come with faith, but it follows after. I have said this because I am afraid lest in any way whatever you should leave the simple, plain, and solid ground of confidence in the finished work of Jesus Christ, and in that only. Recollect that a man who believes in Jesus Christ is as truly saved when he does not know it as he is when he does know it; he is as truly the Lord’s when he mourns in the valley of humiliation as when he sings on the mountain top of joy and fellowship. Our ground of trust is not to be found in our experience, but in the person and work of our Lord Jesus.
“I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name:
On Christ the solid rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand.”

Charles H. Spurgeon, The Sealing of the Spirit, preached at Metropolitan Tabernacle March 19, 1876

There are many things about this sermon that are a true blessing to believers. There is the reminder throughout of the amazing Trinitarian work of salvation. There is the admonishment against seeking after or trusting in experiences over the truth of God’s Word, and the encouragement that we can trust in that Word truly.

And truly, we can know that God is working in our lives, and in this world, through His Spirit blessing and transforming us bit by bit into the image of Christ. We need to remind ourselves of this continually. So often lately I see many people decrying this politician or that law or this cultural trend, and saying “If this continues we’re going to lose…” something important. Lose the country, lose the culture. But do we really think so little of the kingdom of God that we are afraid of the decay of a secular political institution? Or that we have to defend ourselves through that institution?

The Holy Spirit abides in us, and that is a sign and seal of God’s promise to complete the work He began in us. Scripture speaks of this and testifies to this truth, and we can rely on it, even when the world and our experiences are shaking our confidence in other ways. We aren’t going to be able to rest peacefully in this world in the sense that we have no cares, but neither should we be striving in a way that says “I don’t trust that God’s power is enough.” And if I may speak very directly, it is my observation that a lot of Christians, even ones who trot out the term “reformed” to describe themselves, are striving in a way that says exactly that.

Jarod and I are going to talk about that a little bit more on the next Kings Highway Radio. But my encouragement and admonishment to my brothers and sisters of the faith, especially in the West, would be this: when you feel the frustration of watching our civilization move in a direction that is ungodly, are you taking that to the Lord, or are you taking that to comment boxes and angry Twitter rants? When you have neighbors that are not believers, that in fact live in ways contrary to what is godly, are you able to love them, or do you hide from them and allow animosity to grow?

Do you mourn the slow death that the cancer of sin brings on our world, and do you pray for God’s will to be done in transforming hearts? Or are you hardening yourself to those outside your circle?

There’s a lot to think and pray about here. I desire to see God glorified in everything, but most of all I desire to see the grace of God seen clearly. I want us to trust to the work of the Holy Spirit not because of some desire for an experience, or for a moment I can point to and say “this is when God worked in me in such and such a way.” I want us to trust to the work of the Spirit for those times when all the ways of the world press against us, and they will. In that time, I pray we will glorify Jesus as a greater treasure than anything else we could have.

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Episode 47: The Fourth Beatitude (Part 5)

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There is nothing in this world that is more real than hunger and thirst—and the truly blessed man has such a real passion, desire and craving after righteousness that it can only be likened to hunger and thirst. He must have his sins pardoned, he must be clothed in the righteousness of Christ, and he must be sanctified! And he feels that it will break his heart if he cannot get rid of sin. He pines, he longs, and he prays to be made holy! He cannot be satisfied without this righteousness—and his hungering and thirsting for it is a very real thing. – Charles Spurgeon

Read the whole sermon text at Spurgeon Gems

Opening prayer from Spurgeon’s Prayers Personalized, free to download at Monergism

I had to spend time wrestling with a heavy weight on my heart for a while before I was able to really get this episode under way.  No one specific thing seemed to hinder me, but I ended up seeking counsel from many good brothers who aided me in and with prayer and much truth, and I am incredibly grateful to them that I am now able to be here creating this.

The truth Charles Spurgeon speaks about the Beatitudes, that each one succeeds and builds upon the one before it logically and in a sort of “order of salvation” sense, is beginning to be demonstrated as we get to one of the greatest promises a believer in Jesus can cling to: when you ache with desire for righteousness, you will be satisfied.

When you feel the awareness of the glory and purity of God revealed in Jesus and you feel so very unworthy to be in His presence, remember: you will be satisfied.

When you cry out for freedom from desperately clinging sins and false identities that call you into evil ways of life, that call you by names of a dead man, you have the right, the privilege, and the charge to look to the cross, and to the empty grave, and to know: Jesus satisfies all charges against you; Jesus takes away even the sins you haven’t committed yet; Jesus gives you His perfect and complete righteousness like a garment that will never wear out and never be soiled.

Alive and imperishable

Paul takes the ideas that Jesus teaches here and discusses them in great detail especially in Romans.  Chapter 6 opens with the truth about the relationship of the believer in Christ to sin: we are dead to it.

We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.–Romans 6:6-11

It doesn’t mean that in this world we will never sin (chapter 7 goes on to discuss that), but that we have been set free from sin both in guilt and in fact.  We do not have to say yes to our sin, and in fact should continue to faithfully say no to it because we can and we must.  That is the hunger of the one who has been changed by the Holy Spirit; that is the holy thirst of the one who bows the knee to Jesus in joy and adoration.

Let’s put away the big words for a moment though: this is about the way God changes a man when He saves him.  Each step we’ve taken, from the eyes opening to the reality of how much we actually need God and how inadequate we are on our own, to the mourning of our hearts over that truth and the humility of heart that comes as a result, and now the new taste, the new desires we have.  But even though this hunger and thirst is something that we as believers now have by the grace of God, we have to feed that hunger, we need to drink our fill of God’s goodness and righteousness!

Jonathan Edwards said of this deep-seated need, “There is no such thing as excess in our taking of this spiritual food.  There is no such virtue as temperance in spiritual feasting.”  And even more importantly: for those in Christ, there is no cutting us off from that feast.  When we stumble and sin, we are not turned away by a shocked God shaking his head saying “Well, geez, I thought you were better than this…maybe come back after you’ve washed up.”   No, we are to come right to that table and leave behind the sinful junk food, because God has provided a strengthening meal and a refreshing drink that restores.

Next episode we will continue this as we dig into the kind of person that God is making us into in Christ.  Thank you all for your continued prayers and support, and I encourage you to subscribe to the podcast and follow at the links below.

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