The Forbearance of God: Click | View Series

Romans 2:4—"Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?"

God not only acts kindly to sinners, but when they misuse his kindness he labors to set them right (Isa. 1:18, Hosea 11:8). It is a sad thing that any who have seen God's judgments on others, and have escaped themselves, should draw from this special mercy a reason for adding sin to sin (Jer. 3:8).

God's Kindness Should Lead To Repentance

The forbearance of God should lead us to repentance. For we should argue that:

1. He is not hard and unloving, or he would not have spared us.
2. His great patience deserves recognition at our hands. We are bound to respond to it in a generous spirit.
3. To go on to offend would be cruel to him, and disgraceful to ourselves. Nothing can be baser than to make forbearance a reason for provocation.
4. It is evident from his forbearance that he will rejoice to accept us if we will turn to him. He spares that he may save.
5. He has dealt with each one personally, and by this means he is able to put it, as in the text, "God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance." He calls us individually to himself. Let each one personally remember his own experience of sparing mercies.
6. The means are so gentle; let us yield to them cheerfully. Those who might refuse to be driven should consent to be drawn.

O sinner, each gift of goodness draws you to Jesus!
Forbearance causes humble repentance to Jesus! Long-suffering waits and woos you to Jesus! Will you not turn from sin and return to your God, or "do you presume on the riches of his kindness?"

Adapted from Charles Spurgeon's sermon notes.

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The Forbearance of God: Click | View Series

Romans 2:4—"Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?"

God not only acts kindly to sinners, but when they misuse his kindness he labors to set them right (Isa. 1:18, Hosea 11:8). It is a sad thing that any who have seen God's judgments on others, and have escaped themselves, should draw from this special mercy a reason for adding sin to sin (Jer. 3:8).

5 Ways We Take God's Mercy For Granted

1. By allowing it to remain, unnoticed, ungratefully passing it over.
2. By claiming it as our due, and talking as if God were bound to bear with us.
3. By opposing its design, and refusing to repent (Prov. 1:24-25).
4. By perverting it into a reason for hardness of heart, presumption, infidelity, and further sin (Zeph. 1:12, Eccl. 8:11).
5. By urging it as an apology for procrastination (2 Pet. 3:3-4).

Adapted from Charles Spurgeon's sermon notes.

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The Forbearance of God: Click | View Series

Romans 2:4—"Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?"

It is an instance of divine condescension that the Lord reasons with men, and asks this question, and others like it (Isa. 1:5, 55:2; Jer. 3:4, Ezek. 33:11).

God not only acts kindly to sinners, but when they misuse his kindness he labors to set them right (Isa. 1:18, Hosea 11:8).

It is a sad thing that any who have seen God's judgments on others, and have escaped themselves, should draw from this special mercy a reason for adding sin to sin (Jer. 3:8).

Honor God's Goodness and Mercy

1. A reverent sense of it will be a sure safeguard against taking it for granted.

It is manifested to us in a threefold form:

• Goodness which has put up with past sin (Ps. 78:38)
• Forbearance which bears with us in the present (Ps. 103:10).
• Long-suffering which, in the future as in the past and the present, is prepared to bear with the guilty (Luke 13:7-9)
2. It is manifested in great abundance: "riches of his goodness."
• Riches of mercies bestowed, temporal and spiritual (Ps. 68:19)
• Riches of kindness seen in gracious deliverance, measured by evils averted which might have befallen us, such as sickness, poverty, insanity, death, and hell (Ps. 86:13)
• Riches of grace promised and provided for all needs.
3. It is manifested in its excellence by four considerations:
• The person who shows it. It is "the goodness of God" who is omniscient to see sin, just to hate it, powerful to punish it, yet patient towards the sinner (Ps. 145:8).
• The being who receives it. It is dealt out to man, a guilty, insignificant, base, provoking, ungrateful being. (Gen. 6:6)
• The conduct to which it is a reply. It is love's response to sin. Often God forbears, though sins are many, wanton, aggravated, daring, repeated (Mal 3:6).
• The blessings which it brings. Life, daily bread, health, gospel, Holy Spirit, new birth, hope of heaven (Ps. 68:19).
4. It has been in a measure manifested to you. "Do you presume?"

Adapted from Charles Spurgeon's sermon notes.

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Dead But Alive: Click | View Series

Romans 6:11-12—"So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions."

How intimately the believer's duties are interwoven with his privileges! Because he is alive to God, he is to renounce sin, since that corrupt thing belongs to his estate of death.

Sin Wants To Reign Over You

"Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions."

1. Sin has great power. It is in you and will strive to reign.
• Sin remains as an outlaw, hiding away in your nature.
• Sin remains as a plotter, planning your overthrow.
• Sin remains as an enemy, warring against the law of your mind.
• Sin remains as a tyrant, worrying and oppressing the true life.
2. Sin's field of battle is the body.
• Its wants—hunger, thirst, cold, etc.—may become occasions of sin, by leading to murmuring, envy, covetousness, robbery.
• Its appetites may crave excessive indulgence and, unless continually curbed, will easily lead to evil.
• Its pains and infirmities, through engendering impatience and other faults, may produce sin.
• Its pleasures, also, can readily become incitements to sin.
• Its influence upon the mind and spirit may drag our noble nature down to the groveling materialism of earth.
3. The body is mortal, and we shall be completely delivered from sin when set free from our present material frame, if indeed grace reigns within. Till then we shall find sin lurking in one member or another of "this vile body."
4. Meanwhile we must not let it reign.
• If it reigned over us, it would be our god. It would prove us to be under death and not alive to God.
• It would cause us unbounded pain and injury if it ruled only for a moment.

Sin is within us, aiming at dominion. This knowledge, together with the fact that we are nevertheless alive to God, should:

• Help our peace, for we perceive that men may be truly the Lord's, even though sin struggles within them.
• Aid our caution, for our divine life is well worth preserving and needs to be guarded with constant care.
• Draw us to use the means of grace, since in these the Lord meets with us and refreshes our new life.

Let us come to the Table of Communion, and to all other ordinances, as alive to God. In that manner, let us feed on Christ.

Adapted from Charles Spurgeon's sermon notes.

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Dead But Alive: Click | View Series

Romans 6:11-12—"So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions."

How intimately the believer's duties are interwoven with his privileges! Because he is alive to God, he is to renounce sin, since that corrupt thing belongs to his estate of death.

How intimately both his duties and his privileges are bound up with Christ Jesus his Lord!

How thoughtful ought we to be upon these matters; reckoning what is right and fit; and carrying out that reckoning to its practical issues.

What Does It Mean To Be Dead to Sin?

"So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus."

1. We are dead with Christ to sin by having borne the punishment in him. In Christ we have endured the death penalty, and are regarded as dead by the law (verses 6 and 7).
2. We are risen with him into a justified condition, and have reached a new life (verse 8).
3. We can no more come under sin again than he can (verse 9).
4. We are therefore forever dead to its guilt and reigning power: "Sin will have no dominion over you" (verses 12-14).

This reckoning is based on truth, or we should not be exhorted to it.

To reckon yourself to be dead to sin, so that you boast that you do not sin at all, would be a reckoning based on falsehood, and would be exceedingly mischievous. "For there is no one who does not sin" (1 Kings 8:46; 1 John 1:8). None are so provoking to God, as sinners who boast their own fancied perfection.

The reckoning that we do not sin, must either go upon the Antinomian theory, that sin in the believer is no sin, which is a shocking notion, or else our conscience must tell us that we do sin in many ways; in omission or commission, in transgression or shortcoming, in temper or in spirit (James 3:2, Eccles. 7:20, Rom. 3:23).

To reckon yourself dead to sin in the spiritual sense is full of benefit both to heart and life. Be a ready reckoner in this fashion.

Adapted from Charles Spurgeon's sermon notes.

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Prepare in Private: Click | View Series

Matthew 10:27—"What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops."

We must not run till we are prepared. This verse describes, and by implication promises, the needful preparation of heart. Our Lord will speak in our ear: he will commune with us in solitude.

Prepare to proclaim Jesus' message

What Jesus has told us alone in the dark we are to tell out openly in the light.

Courting publicity, we are to preach "on the housetops."

What is this message which we have heard whispered?

We bear our willing witness that:

1. There is peace in the blood of Jesus.
2. There is sanctifying power in his Holy Spirit.
3. There is rest in faith in our Lord and God.
4. There is safety in conformity to our great Exemplar.
5. There is joy in nearness to Jesus our Lord.

As we hear more we will tell more.

Oh, that men would receive our earnest testimony!

Will not you receive it, who hear us at this present hour?

Adapted from Charles Spurgeon's sermon notes.

Prepare in Private: Click | View Series

Matthew 10:27—"What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops."

We must not run till we are prepared. This verse describes, and by implication promises, the needful preparation of heart. Our Lord will speak in our ear: he will commune with us in solitude.

Prepare by spending time with Jesus

We do not rightly perceive what we have to make known till Jesus personally imparts his holy teaching to our inmost hearts.

We see by reason of personal contact with our Lord:

1. Truth in its personality; living, acting, feeling; for he is "the way, the truth, and the life." Truth is no theory or phantom in Christ. Substantial truth is spoken by him.
2. Truth in its purity is found in him, in his written teaching, and in that which he speaks to the heart. Truth from man is mixed and adulterated; from Jesus it is unalloyed.
3. Truth in its proportions; he teaches all truth, in its true relations. Christ is no caricaturist, partisan, or politician.
4. Truth in its power. It comes strikingly, persuasively, convincingly, omnipotently from him. It quickens, and sustains.
5. Truth in its spirit. His words are spirit, life, love.
6. Truth in its certainty. "Truly truly," is his motto.
7. Truth in its joyfulness. He speaks delight unto the soul. The truth in Jesus is glad tidings.

See the advantage of studying in Christ's College.

Adapted from Charles Spurgeon's sermon notes.

Prepare in Private: Click | View Series

Matthew 10:27—"What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops."

Usefulness is the great desire of our souls if we are disciples of Jesus. We believe that it will most surely be attained by our making known the gospel. We have full faith in "the foolishness of preaching."

We feel that we have need to receive that gospel personally from the Lord himself, or we shall not know it so as to use it correctly.

We must not run till we are prepared. This verse describes, and by implication promises, the needful preparation of heart. Our Lord will speak in our ear: he will commune with us in solitude.

Time alone with God is an honor

The disciple is associated very nearly with his Lord, and received into closest fellowship with him.

We see before us three important matters:

1. We are permitted to realize our Lord's presence with us personally.

He is still on speaking terms with us: still is he our Companion in the night, our Friend in solitude.

2. We are enabled to feel his word as spoken to us.

Immediately: "I tell you." Personal contact.
Forcefully: "in the ear." Not as thundered from Sinai, but as whispered by "a still, small voice." Still, very effectually.

3. We are privileged to receive such communications again and again: "I tell you . . . you hear."
• We need precept upon precept, line upon line.
• Our Lord is willing to manifest himself to his own day by day.
• We shall be wise to make occasions for hearing his voice in solitude, meditation, prayer, communion, etc.
• We shall do well to use occasions of the Lord's own making, such as the Sabbath, sickness, the night-watches, etc.
• We need for a thousand reasons this private tuition, this personal communication with our Commander-in-chief.

Adapted from Charles Spurgeon's sermon notes.

Jesus Our Lord: Click | View Series

Romans 4:24—"Jesus our Lord."

It is the part of faith to accept great contrasts, if laid down in the Word, and to make them a part of her daily speech. This name, Lord, is a great contrast to incarnation, and humiliation. In the manger, in poverty, shame, and death, Jesus was still Lord.

THE WORD "OUR" IS ESPECIALLY SWEET

1. It makes us remember our personal interest in the Lord. Each believer uses this title in the singular, and calls him from his heart, "My Lord."
• David wrote, "Jehovah said to my Lord."
• Elizabeth spoke of "The mother of my Lord."
• Magdalene said, "They have taken away my Lord."
• Thomas said, "My Lord and my God."
• Paul wrote, "The knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord."
2. It brings a host of brethren before our minds, for it is in union with them that we say "our Lord." And so it makes us remember each other. (Eph. 3:14-15)
3. It fosters unity, and creates a holy clanship, as we all rally around our "one Lord." Saints of all ages are one in this.
4. His example as Lord fosters practical love. Remember the foot-washing and his words on that occasion. (John 13:14)
5. Our zeal to make him Lord forbids all self-exaltation. "But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher. Neither be called instructors" (Matt. 23:8, 10).
6. His position as Lord reminds us of the confidence of the church in doing his work. "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples" etc. (Matt 28:18-19). "The Lord worked with them" (Mark 16:20).
7. Our common joy in Jesus as our Lord becomes an evidence of grace, and so of union with each other (1 Cor. 12:3).

Let us worship Jesus as our Lord and God.
Let us imitate him, copying our Lord's humility and love.
Let us serve him, obeying his every command.

Adapted from Charles Spurgeon's sermon notes.

Jesus Our Lord: Click | View Series

Romans 4:24—"Jesus our Lord."

It is the part of faith to accept great contrasts, if laid down in the Word, and to make them a part of her daily speech. This name, Lord, is a great contrast to incarnation, and humiliation. In the manger, in poverty, shame, and death, Jesus was still Lord.

OUR LOVE FOR JESUS GIVES "LORD" SPECIAL MEANING

1. We yield it to him only. Moses is a servant, but Jesus alone is Lord. "For you have one teacher" (Matt 23:8, 10).
2. To him most willingly. Ours is delighted homage.
3. To him unreservedly. We wish our obedience to be perfect.
4. To him in all matters of lawmaking and truth-teaching. He is Master and Lord: his word decides practice and doctrine.
5. To him in all matters of administration in the church, and in providence. "It is the Lord. Let him do what seems good to him." (1 Sam. 3:18).
6. To him trustfully, feeling that he will act a Lord's part right well. No king can be so wise, good, great as he. (Job 1:21).
7. To him forever. He reigns in the church without successor. Now, as in the first days, we call him Master and Lord (Heb. 7:3).

Adapted from Charles Spurgeon's sermon notes.