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More Thoughts From Charles Spurgeon

Dear Friends,

It’s been a while since I sent you a quote from Charles Spurgeon, so I thought I would remedy that! He was such a gifted communicator of Scriptural truth. This particular quote has to do with God's glorious grace in bringing people to salvation. Read them, ponder them, wrestle with them, and then go and compare them to Scripture. Or think back on your own pre-conversion and conversion experience. I trust they will edify and bless your hearts as much as they have mine. Enjoy.


 
"I hear someone murmur, 'God will not give grace to those who do not repent.' I reply, ‘God gives people grace to repent and no person ever repents until grace is first given to them to lead them to repentance.’ 'But God will not give his grace to those who won't believe,' says another. I reply, ‘God gives grace to men by which they are moved to believe. It is through the grace of God that they are brought to faith.’”

 

Or as he says elsewhere:

“I must confess I never would have been saved if I could have helped it. As long as I could, I rebelled and revolted and struggled against God. When he would have me pray, I would not pray. When he would have me listen to the sound of the ministry (preaching), I would not. And when I heard, and the tear rolled down my cheek, I wiped it away and defied him to melt my heart. Then he gave me the effectual blow of grace, and there was no resisting that irresistible effort. It conquered my depraved will and made me bow before the scepter of His grace. And so it is in every case. Man revolts against his Savior, but where God determines to save, save he will. God never was thwarted yet, in any one of his purposes. Man does resist with all his might, but all the might of man, tremendous though it be for sin, is not equal to the majestic might of the Most High."



And for those who struggle with this concept of our utter dependence upon the grace of God for the change that changes us, or even makes us willing to change, Spurgeon adds this:

"A man is not saved against his will, but he is made willing by the operation of the Holy Ghost. A mighty grace which he does not wish to resist enters into the man, disarms him, makes a new creature of him, and he is saved...”

“I believe that Christ came into the world NOT to put men into a savable state, but into a saved state. Not to put them into a state where they could save themselves, but to do the work in them and for them, from first to last. If I did not believe that there was divine might going forth with the Word of Jesus, which makes men willing, and which turns them from the error of their ways by the mighty, overwhelming, constraining force of a divine influence, I should cease to glory in the cross of Christ."  



Spurgeon’s words are a good and necessary reminder for us who frequently (yet mistakenly) can be led to believe that salvation is a mere choice we make (like simply casting our vote on a ballot at a political election). For Scripture makes it clear that salvation requires a mighty work of supernatural grace upon the heart, whereby God cleanses us from our impurities and idols, turns our hearts of stone into hearts of “flesh,” and puts His Spirit into us (Ezek. 36:24-28). God must first work in us to give us new birth (John 3:1-8) before we can see or enter the Kingdom of God. Jesus also makes this clear in Matthew 11:25-30, Matthew 16:13-17, and John 6:44 & 6:65. Paul speaks of it as well in Acts 13:46-48, Acts 16:13-15, Ephesians 2:1-10 and elsewhere.



How Blessed We Are! Pastor Jeff

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