Thursday, February 12, 2009

SALVATION IS OF THE LORD
you didn't choose Him; decide to follow Him; believe in Him; or repent as act of your free will

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, 
Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the 
foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, 
for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:

May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
1 Peter 1:1-2



A Defense of Calvinism
by C.H. Spurgeon


The old truth that Calvin preached, that Augustine preached, that Paul preached, is the truth that I must preach today, or else be false to my conscience and my God. I cannot shape the truth; I know of no such thing as paring off the rough edges of a doctrine. John Knox's gospel is my gospel. That which thundered through Scotland must thunder through England again.

IT IS A GREAT THING to begin the Christian life by believing good solid doctrine. Some people have received twenty different "gospels" in as many years; how many more they will accept before they get to their journey's end, it would be difficult to predict. I thank God that He early taught me the gospel, and I have been so perfectly satisfied with it, that I do not want to know any other. Constant change of creed is sure loss. If a tree has to be taken up two or three times a year, you will not need to build a very large loft in which to store the apples. When people are always shifting their doctrinal principles, they are not likely to bring forth much fruit to the glory of God. It is good for young believers to begin with a firm hold upon those great fundamental doctrines which the Lord has taught in His Word. Why, if I believed what some preach about the temporary, trumpery salvation which only lasts for a time, I would scarcely be at all grateful for it; but when I know that those whom God saves He saves with an everlasting salvation, when I know that He gives to them an everlasting righteousness, when I know that He settles them on an everlasting foundation of everlasting love, and that He will bring them to His everlasting kingdom, oh, then I do wonder, and I am astonished that such a blessing as this should ever have been given to me!

"Pause, my soul! adore, and wonder!
Ask, 'Oh, why such love to me?'
Grace hath put me in the number of the Saviour's family:
Hallelujah! Thanks, eternal thanks, to Thee!"

I suppose there are some persons whose minds naturally incline towards the doctrine of free-will. I can only say that mine inclines as naturally towards the doctrines of sovereign grace.

The Gratitude that Springs from Sovereign Grace
Sometimes, when I see some of the worst characters in the street, I feel as if my heart must burst forth in tears of gratitude that God has never let me act as they have done! I have thought, if God had left me alone, and had not touched me by His grace, what a great sinner I should have been! I should have run to the utmost lengths of sin, dived into the very depths of evil, nor should I have stopped at any vice or folly, if God had not restrained me. I feel that I should have been a very king of sinners, if God had let me alone. I cannot understand the reason why I am saved, except upon the ground that God would have it so. I cannot, if I look ever so earnestly, discover any kind of reason in myself why I should be a partaker of Divine grace. If I am not at this moment without Christ, it is only because Christ Jesus would have His will with me, and that will was that I should be with Him where He is, and should share His glory. I can put the crown nowhere but upon the head of Him whose mighty grace has saved me from going down into the pit.

Looking back on my past life, I can see that the dawning of it all was of God; of God effectively. I took no torch with which to light the sun, but the sun enlightened me. I did not commence my spiritual life-no, I rather kicked, and struggled against the things of the Spirit: when He drew me, for a time I did not run after Him: there was a natural hatred in my soul of everything holy and good. Wooings were lost upon me-warnings were cast to the wind-thunders were despised; and as for the whispers of His love, they were rejected as being less than nothing and vanity. But, sure I am, I can say now, speaking on behalf of myself, "He only is my salvation." It was He who turned my heart, and brought me down on my knees before Him.

I can in very deed, say with Doddridge and Toplady - "Grace taught my soul to pray, and made my eyes o'erflow;" and coming to this moment, I can add - 'Tis grace has kept me to this day, and will not let me go.'

Born, as all of us are by nature, an Arminian
Well can I remember the manner in which I learned the doctrines of grace in a single instant. Born, as all of us are by nature, an Arminian, I still believed the old things I had heard continually from the pulpit, and did not see the grace of God. When I was coming to Christ, I thought I was doing it all myself, and though I sought the Lord earnestly, I had no idea the Lord was seeking me. I do not think the young convert is at first aware of this.

I can recall the very day and hour when first I received those truths in my own soul-when they were, as John Bunyan says, burnt into my heart as with a hot iron, and I can recollect how I felt that I had grown on a sudden from a babe into a man-that I had made progress in Scriptural knowledge, through having found, once for all, the clue to the truth of God. One week-night, when I was sitting in the house of God, I was not thinking much about the preacher's sermon, for I did not believe it. The thought struck me, How did you come to be a Christian? I sought the Lord. But how did you come to seek the Lord? The truth flashed across my mind in a moment-I should not have sought Him unless there had been some previous influence in my mind to make me seek Him. I prayed, thought I, but then I asked myself, How came I to pray? I was induced to pray by reading the Scriptures. How came I to read the Scriptures? I did read them, but what led me to do so? Then, in a moment, I saw that God was at the bottom of it all, and that He was the Author of my faith, and so the whole doctrine of grace opened up to me, and from that doctrine I have not departed to this day, and I desire to make this my constant confession, "I ascribe my change wholly to God."

I once attended a service where the text happened to be, "He shall choose our inheritance for us;" and the good man who occupied the pulpit was more than a little of an Arminian. Therefore, when he commenced, he said, "This passage refers entirely to our temporal inheritance, it has nothing whatever to do with our everlasting destiny, for," said he, "we do not want Christ to choose for us in the matter of Heaven or hell. It is so plain and easy, that every man who has a grain of common sense will choose Heaven, and any person would know better than to choose hell. We have no need of any superior intelligence, or any greater Being, to choose Heaven or hell for us. It is left to our own free-will, and we have enough wisdom given us, sufficiently correct means to judge for ourselves," and therefore, as he very logically inferred, there was no necessity for Jesus Christ, or anyone, to make a choice for us. We could choose the inheritance for ourselves without any assistance. "Ah!" I thought, "but, my good brother, it may be very true that we could, but I think we should want something more than common sense before we should choose aright."

Inflexible Providence
First, let me ask, must we not all of us admit an over-ruling Providence, and the appointment of Jehovah's hand, as to the means whereby we came into this world? Those men who think that, afterwards, we are left to our own free-will to choose this one or the other to direct our steps, must admit that our entrance into the world was not of our own will, but that God had then to choose for us. What circumstances were those in our power which led us to elect certain persons to be our parents? Had we anything to do with it? Did not God Himself appoint our parents, native place, and friends? Could He not have caused me to be born with the skin of the Hottentot, brought forth by a filthy mother who would nurse me in her "kraal," and teach me to bow down to Pagan gods, quite as easily as to have given me a pious mother, who would each morning and night bend her knee in prayer on my behalf? Or, might He not, if He had pleased, have given me some profligate to have been my parent, from whose lips I might have early heard fearful, filthy, and obscene language? Might He not have placed me where I should have had a drunken father, who would have immured me in a very dungeon of ignorance, and brought me up in the chains of crime? Was it not God's Providence that I had so happy a lot, that both my parents were His children, and endeavoured to train me up in the fear of the Lord?

John Newton used to tell a whimsical story, and laugh at it, too, of a good woman who said, in order to prove the doctrine of election, "Ah! sir, the Lord must have loved me before I was born, or else He would not have seen anything in me to love afterwards." I am sure it is true in my case; I believe the doctrine of election, because I am quite certain that, if God had not chosen me, I should never have chosen Him; and I am sure He chose me before I was born, or else He never would have chosen me afterwards; and He must have elected me for reasons unknown to me, for I never could find any reason in myself why He should have looked upon me with special love. So I am forced to accept that great Biblical doctrine. I recollect an Arminian brother telling me that he had read the Scriptures through a score or more times, and could never find the doctrine of election in them. He added that he was sure he would have done so if it had been there, for he read the Word on his knees. I said to him, "I think you read the Bible in a very uncomfortable posture, and if you had read it in your easy chair, you would have been more likely to understand it. Pray, by all means, and the more, the better, but it is a piece of superstition to think there is anything in the posture in which a man puts himself for reading: and as to reading through the Bible twenty times without having found anything about the doctrine of election, the wonder is that you found anything at all: you must have galloped through it at such a rate that you were not likely to have any intelligible idea of the meaning of the Scriptures."

If it would be marvelous to see one river leap up from the earth full-grown, what would it be to gaze upon a vast spring from which all the rivers of the earth should at once come bubbling up, a million of them born at a birth? What a vision would it be! Who can conceive it. And yet the love of God is that fountain, from which all the rivers of mercy, which have ever gladdened our race-all the rivers of grace in time, and of glory hereafter-take their rise. My soul, stand thou at that sacred fountain-head, and adore and magnify, for ever and ever, God, even our Father, who hath loved us!

God Enters into Covenant with Sinful Man
In the very beginning, when this great universe lay in the mind of God, like unborn forests in the acorn cup; long ere the echoes awoke the solitudes; before the mountains were brought forth; and long ere the light flashed through the sky, God loved His chosen creatures. Before there was any created being-when the ether was not fanned by an angel's wing, when space itself had not an existence, when there was nothing save God alone-even then, in that loneliness of Deity, and in that deep quiet and profundity, His bowels moved with love for His chosen. Their names were written on His heart, and then were they dear to His soul. Jesus loved His people before the foundation of the world-even from eternity! and when He called me by His grace, He said to me, "I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee."

Then, in the fulness of time, He purchased me with His blood; He let His heart run out in one deep gaping wound for me long ere I loved Him. Yea, when He first came to me, did I not spurn Him? When He knocked at the door, and asked for entrance, did I not drive Him away, and do despite to His grace? Ah, I can remember that I full often did so until, at last, by the power of His effectual grace, He said, "I must, I will come in;" and then He turned my heart, and made me love Him. But even till now I should have resisted Him, had it not been for His grace. Well, then since He purchased me when I was dead in sins, does it not follow, as a consequence necessary and logical, that He must have loved me first? Did my Saviour die for me because I believed on Him? No; I was not then in existence; I had then no being. Could the Saviour, therefore, have died because I had faith, when I myself was not yet born? Could that have been possible? Could that have been the origin of the Saviour's love towards me? Oh! no; my Saviour died for me long before I believed. "But," says someone, "He foresaw that you would have faith; and, therefore, He loved you." What did He foresee about my faith? Did He foresee that I should get that faith myself, and that I should believe on Him of myself? No; Christ could not foresee that, because no Christian man will ever say that faith came of itself without the gift and without the working of the Holy Spirit. I have met with a great many believers, and talked with them about this matter; but I never knew one who could put his hand on his heart, and say, "I believed in Jesus without the assistance of the Holy Spirit."

I am bound to the doctrine of the depravity of the human heart, because I find myself depraved in heart, and have daily proofs that in my flesh there dwelleth no good thing.

If God enters into covenant with unfallen man, man is so insignificant a creature that it must be an act of gracious condescension on the Lord's part; but if God enters into covenant with sinful man, he is then so offensive a creature that it must be, on God's part, an act of pure, free, rich, sovereign grace.

When the Lord entered into covenant with me, I am sure that it was all of grace, nothing else but grace. When I remember what a den of unclean beasts and birds my heart was, and how strong was my unrenewed will, how obstinate and rebellious against the sovereignty of the Divine rule, I always feel inclined to take the very lowest room in my Father's house, and when I enter Heaven, it will be to go among the less than the least of all saints, and with the chief of sinners.

"Salvation is of the Lord."
The late lamented Mr. Denham has put, at the foot of his portrait, a most admirable text, "Salvation is of the Lord." That is just an epitome of Calvinism; it is the sum and substance of it. If anyone should ask me what I mean by a Calvinist, I should reply, "He is one who says, Salvation is of the Lord." I cannot find in Scripture any other doctrine than this. It is the essence of the Bible. "He only is my rock and my salvation." Tell me anything contrary to this truth, and it will be a heresy; tell me a heresy, and I shall find its essence here, that it has departed from this great, this fundamental, this rock-truth, "God is my rock and my salvation."

What is the heresy of Rome, but the addition of something to the perfect merits of Jesus Christ-the bringing in of the works of the flesh, to assist in our justification?

And what is the heresy of Arminianism but the addition of something to the work of the Redeemer?

Every heresy, if brought to the touchstone, will discover itself here. I have my own private opinion that there is no such thing as preaching Christ and Him crucified, unless we preach what nowadays is called Calvinism. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism; Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else. I do not believe we can preach the gospel, if we do not preach justification by faith, without works; nor unless we preach the sovereignty of God in His dispensation of grace; nor unless we exalt the electing, unchangeable, eternal, immutable, conquering love of Jehovah; nor do I think we can preach the gospel, unless we base it upon the special and particular redemption of His elect and chosen people which Christ wrought out upon the cross; nor can I comprehend a gospel which lets saints fall away after they are called, and suffers the children of God to be burned in the fires of damnation after having once believed in Jesus. Such a gospel I abhor.

"If ever it should come to pass,
That sheep of Christ might fall away,
My fickle, feeble soul, alas!
Would fall a thousand times a day."

If one dear saint of God had perished, so might all; if one of the covenant ones be lost, so may all be; and then there is no gospel promise true, but the Bible is a lie, and there is nothing in it worth my acceptance. I will be an infidel at once when I can believe that a saint of God can ever fall finally. If God hath loved me once, then He will love me for ever. God has a master-mind; He arranged everything in His gigantic intellect long before He did it; and once having settled it, He never alters it, "This shall be done," saith He, and the iron hand of destiny marks it down, and it is brought to pass. "This is My purpose," and it stands, nor can earth or hell alter it. "This is My decree," saith He, "promulgate it, ye holy angels; rend it down from the gate of Heaven, ye devils, if ye can; but ye cannot alter the decree, it shall stand for ever."

Indelible Grace
God altereth not His plans; why should He? He is Almighty, and therefore can perform His pleasure. Why should He? He is the All-wise, and therefore cannot have planned wrongly. Why should He? He is the everlasting God, and therefore cannot die before His plan is accomplished. Why should He change? Ye worthless atoms of earth, ephemera of a day, ye creeping insects upon this bay-leaf of existence, ye may change your plans, but He shall never, never change His. Has He told me that His plan is to save me? If so, I am for ever safe.

"My name from the palms of His hands
Eternity will not erase;
Impress'd on His heart it remains,
In marks of indelible grace."

I do not know how some people, who believe that a Christian can fall from grace, manage to be happy. It must be a very commendable thing in them to be able to get through a day without despair. If I did not believe the doctrine of the final perseverance of the saints, I think I should be of all men the most miserable, because I should lack any ground of comfort. I could not say, whatever state of heart I came into, that I should be like a well-spring of water, whose stream fails not; I should rather have to take the comparison of an intermittent spring, that might stop on a sudden, or a reservoir, which I had no reason to expect would always be full. I believe that the happiest of Christians and the truest of Christians are those who never dare to doubt God, but who take His Word simply as it stands, and believe it, and ask no questions, just feeling assured that if God has said it, it will be so. I bear my willing testimony that I have no reason, nor even the shadow of a reason, to doubt my Lord, and I challenge Heaven, and earth, and hell, to bring any proof that God is untrue. From the depths of hell I call the fiends, and from this earth I call the tried and afflicted believers, and to Heaven I appeal, and challenge the long experience of the blood-washed host, and there is not to be found in the three realms a single person who can bear witness to one fact which can disprove the faithfulness of God, or weaken His claim to be trusted by His servants. There are many things that may or may not happen, but this I know shall happen-

"He shall present my soul,
Unblemish'd and complete,
Before the glory of His face,
With joys divinely great."

All the purposes of man have been defeated, but not the purposes of God. The promises of man may be broken-many of them are made to be broken-but the promises of God shall all be fulfilled. He is a promise-maker, but He never was a promise-breaker; He is a promise-keeping God, and every one of His people shall prove it to be so. This is my grateful, personal confidence, "The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me"-unworthy me, lost and ruined me. He will yet save me; and-

"I, among the blood-wash'd throng,
Shall wave the palm, and wear the crown,
And shout loud victory."

I go to a land which the plough of earth hath never upturned, where it is greener than earth's best pastures, and richer than her most abundant harvests ever saw. I go to a building of more gorgeous architecture than man hath ever builded; it is not of mortal design; it is "a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens." All I shall know and enjoy in Heaven, will be given to me by the Lord, and I shall say, when at last I appear before Him-

"Grace all the work shall crown
Through everlasting days;
It lays in Heaven the topmost stone,
And well deserves the praise."

The Sufficient Efficacy of the Merits of Christ
I know there are some who think it necessary to their system of theology to limit the merit of the blood of Jesus: if my theological system needed such a limitation, I would cast it to the winds. I cannot, I dare not allow the thought to find a lodging in my mind, it seems so near akin to blasphemy. In Christ's finished work I see an ocean of merit; my plummet finds no bottom, my eye discovers no shore. There must be sufficient efficacy in the blood of Christ, if God had so willed it, to have saved not only all in this world, but all in ten thousand worlds, had they transgressed their Maker's law. Once admit infinity into the matter, and limit is out of the question. Having a Divine Person for an offering, it is not consistent to conceive of limited value; bound and measure are terms inapplicable to the Divine sacrifice. The intent of the Divine purpose fixes the application of the infinite offering, but does not change it into a finite work. Think of the numbers upon whom God has bestowed His grace already. Think of the countless hosts in Heaven: if thou wert introduced there today, thou wouldst find it as easy to tell the stars, or the sands of the sea, as to count the multitudes that are before the throne even now. They have come from the East, and from the West, from the North, and from the South, and they are sitting down with Abraham, and with Isaac, and with Jacob in the Kingdom of God; and beside those in Heaven, think of the saved ones on earth.

Blessed be God, His elect on earth are to be counted by millions, I believe, and the days are coming, brighter days than these, when there shall be multitudes upon multitudes brought to know the Saviour, and to rejoice in Him. The Father's love is not for a few only, but for an exceeding great company. "A great multitude, which no man could number," will be found in Heaven. A man can reckon up to very high figures; set to work your Newtons, your mightiest calculators, and they can count great numbers, but God and God alone can tell the multitude of His redeemed. I believe there will be more in Heaven than in hell. If anyone asks me why I think so, I answer, because Christ, in everything, is to "have the pre-eminence," and I cannot conceive how He could have the pre-eminence if there are to be more in the dominions of Satan than in Paradise. Moreover, I have never read that there is to be in hell a great multitude, which no man could number. I rejoice to know that the souls of all infants, as soon as they die, speed their way to Paradise. Think what a multitude there is of them! Then there are already in Heaven unnumbered myriads of the spirits of just men made perfect-the redeemed of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues up till now; and there are better times coming, when the religion of Christ shall be universal; when- "He shall reign from pole to pole, With illimitable sway;" -when whole kingdoms shall bow down before Him, and nations shall be born in a day, and in the thousand years of the great millennial state there will be enough saved to make up all the deficiencies of the thousands of years that have gone before. Christ shall be Master everywhere, and His praise shall be sounded in every land. Christ shall have the pre-eminence at last; His train shall be far larger than that which shall attend the chariot of the grim monarch of hell.

Particular Redemption - The Nature of the Atonement
Some persons love the doctrine of universal atonement because they say, "It is so beautiful. It is a lovely idea that Christ should have died for all men; it commends itself," they say, "to the instincts of humanity; there is something in it full of joy and beauty." I admit there is, but beauty may be often associated with falsehood. There is much which I might admire in the theory of universal redemption, but I will just show what the supposition necessarily involves. If Christ on His cross intended to save every man, then He intended to save those who were lost before He died. If the doctrine be true, that He died for all men, then He died for some who were in hell before He came into this world, for doubtless there were even then myriads there who had been cast away because of their sins. Once again, if it was Christ's intention to save all men, how deplorably has He been disappointed, for we have His own testimony that there is a lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, and into that pit of woe have been cast some of the very persons who, according to the theory of universal redemption, were bought with His blood. That seems to me a conception a thousand times more repulsive than any of those consequences which are said to be associated with the Calvinistic and Christian doctrine of special and particular redemption. To think that my Saviour died for men who were or are in hell, seems a supposition too horrible for me to entertain. To imagine for a moment that He was the Substitute for all the sons of men, and that God, having first punished the Substitute, afterwards punished the sinners themselves, seems to conflict with all my ideas of Divine justice. That Christ should offer an atonement and satisfaction for the sins of all men, and that afterwards some of those very men should be punished for the sins for which Christ had already atoned, appears to me to be the most monstrous iniquity that could ever have been imputed to Saturn, to Janus, to the goddess of the Thugs, or to the most diabolical heathen deities. God forbid that we should ever think thus of Jehovah, the just and wise and good!

There is no soul living who holds more firmly to the doctrines of grace than I do, and if any man asks me whether I am ashamed to be called a Calvinist, I answer-I wish to be called nothing but a Christian; but if you ask me, do I hold the doctrinal views which were held by John Calvin, I reply, I do in the main hold them, and rejoice to avow it. But far be it from me even to imagine that Zion contains none but Calvinistic Christians within her walls, or that there are none saved who do not hold our views. Most atrocious things have been spoken about the character and spiritual condition of John Wesley, the modern prince of Arminians. I can only say concerning him that, while I detest many of the doctrines which he preached, yet for the man himself I have a reverence second to no Wesleyan; and if there were wanted two apostles to be added to the number of the twelve, I do not believe that there could be found two men more fit to be so added than George Whitefield and John Wesley. The character of John Wesley stands beyond all imputation for self-sacrifice, zeal, holiness, and communion with God; he lived far above the ordinary level of common Christians, and was one "of whom the world was not worthy." I believe there are multitudes of men who cannot see these truths, or, at least, cannot see them in the way in which we put them, who nevertheless have received Christ as their Saviour, and are as dear to the heart of the God of grace as the soundest Calvinist in or out of Heaven.

The Sandy Foundation of Arminianism; and The Solid Rock of Grace
I do not think I differ from any of my Hyper-Calvinistic brethren in what I do believe, but I differ from them in what they do not believe. I do not hold any less than they do, but I hold a little more, and, I think, a little more of the truth revealed in the Scriptures. Not only are there a few cardinal doctrines, by which we can steer our ship North, South, East, or West, but as we study the Word, we shall begin to learn something about the North-west and North-east, and all else that lies between the four cardinal points. The system of truth revealed in the Scriptures is not simply one straight line, but two; and no man will ever get a right view of the gospel until he knows how to look at the two lines at once.

For instance, I read in one Book of the Bible, "The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Yet I am taught, in another part of the same inspired Word, that "it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy." I see, in one place, God in providence presiding over all, and yet I see, and I cannot help seeing, that man acts as he pleases, and that God has left his actions, in a great measure, to his own free-will. Now, if I were to declare that man was so free to act that there was no control of God over his actions, I should be driven very near to atheism; and if, on the other hand, I should declare that God so over-rules all things that man is not free enough to be responsible, I should be driven at once into Antinomianism or fatalism. That God predestines, and yet that man is responsible, are two facts that few can see clearly.

They are believed to be inconsistent and contradictory to each other. If, then, I find taught in one part of the Bible that everything is fore-ordained, that is true; and if I find, in another Scripture, that man is responsible for all his actions, that is true; and it is only my folly that leads me to imagine that these two truths can ever contradict each other. I do not believe they can ever be welded into one upon any earthly anvil, but they certainly shall be one in eternity. They are two lines that are so nearly parallel, that the human mind which pursues them farthest will never discover that they converge, but they do converge, and they will meet somewhere in eternity, close to the throne of God, whence all truth doth spring.

It is often said that the doctrines we believe have a tendency to lead us to sin. I have heard it asserted most positively, that those high doctrines which we love, and which we find in the Scriptures, are licentious ones. I do not know who will have the hardihood to make that assertion, when they consider that the holiest of men have been believers in them. I ask the man who dares to say that Calvinism is a licentious religion, what he thinks of the character of Augustine, or Calvin, or Whitefield, who in successive ages were the great exponents of the system of grace; or what will he say of the Puritans, whose works are full of them? Had a man been an Arminian in those days, he would have been accounted the vilest heretic breathing, but now we are looked upon as the heretics, and they as the orthodox. We have gone back to the old school; we can trace our descent from the apostles. It is that vein of free-grace, running through the sermonizing of Baptists, which has saved us as a denomination. Were it not for that, we should not stand where we are today. We can run a golden line up to Jesus Christ Himself, through a holy succession of mighty fathers, who all held these glorious truths; and we can ask concerning them, "Where will you find holier and better men in the world?" No doctrine is so calculated to preserve a man from sin as the doctrine of the grace of God. Those who have called it "a licentious doctrine" did not know anything at all about it. Poor ignorant things, they little knew that their own vile stuff was the most licentious doctrine under Heaven. If they knew the grace of God in truth, they would soon see that there was no preservative from lying like a knowledge that we are elect of God from the foundation of the world. There is nothing like a belief in my eternal perseverance, and the immutability of my Father's affection, which can keep me near to Him from a motive of simple gratitude. Nothing makes a man so virtuous as belief of the truth. A lying doctrine will soon beget a lying practice.

A man cannot have an erroneous belief without by-and-by having an erroneous life. I believe the one thing naturally begets the other. Of all men, those have the most disinterested piety, the sublimest reverence, the most ardent devotion, who believe that they are saved by grace, without works, through faith, and that not of themselves, it is the gift of God. Christians should take heed, and see that it always is so, lest by any means Christ should be crucified afresh, and put to an open shame.

30 comments:

Darrin said...

"Salvation is of the Lord."
Note that right after Jonah said this the fish vomited him out. Sadly the response of many professing Christians to this wonderful message is the same as that fish.

The Seeking Disciple said...

And we Arminians agree that salvation is of the Lord. In fact, sadly the Arminianism that Spurgeon preaches against and that Steve Camp writes about is not the Arminianism of James Arminius. A reading of his works would reveal that. What Spurgeon thunders against (as do we reformed Arminians) is semi-Pelagianism. How unfortunate that so many Calvinists mistake Pelagianism for Arminianism.

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for sharing this! I love Spurgeon and his emphasis on the Sovereign Grace of our LORD. It was the "Morning and Evening" Devotional of C.H. Spurgeon that the LORD used to introduce me to Reformed theology when I was a brand new believer.

Darrin said...

The Seeking D,
"the Arminianism that Spurgeon preaches against and that Steve Camp writes about is not the Arminianism of James Arminius."
Nevertheless it IS the prominent theology in Christendom today.

Not that I find Arminius consistent in his reasoning, but you are quite right that the modern twist is drastically different (and much worse, I believe).

"How unfortunate that so many Calvinists mistake Pelagianism for Arminianism."
But perhaps more unfortunate that so many non-Calvinists mistake humanism for the gospel. (Present company excluded, sincerely.)

Grace, brother.

Mike Anderson said...

I do not believe I have ever heard the term reformed Arminian before. If there is such a thing they most certainly hold to the twisted notion that CHRIST did not die for anyones sins but that HE merely suffered for them. The word of GOD speaks of no such thing. And this is the shame of arminianism and this is what our Mr. Spurgeon understood of Arminians and their theology.

Mike Anderson said...

I apologize if my tone was harsh or unloving. Sometimes my passion gets ahead of my sanctification.
Mike

Anonymous said...

Christ does it ALL.

The old Adam in us hates that and exerts his free-will which is idolatry.

Our will is bound to sin.

St. Paul reminds us that "no one seeks for God."

We don't want Him...but He wants us.

SJ Camp said...

Let Us Repent
No worries my friend. I didn't think your first comment was that harsh - but if you did, thanks for saying something.

I allow people to express themselves here with a lot of freedom. I think sometimes we are way to sensitive on issues of tone. I would much rather have someone just say it, put their beliefs out there, and even if they are a bit awkward or heated - that's ok.

Good to have you posting here.
Campi

SJ Camp said...

Darrin
Good point man!

SJ Camp said...

The Seeking Disciple
the Arminianism that Spurgeon preaches against and that Steve Camp writes about is not the Arminianism of James Arminius. A reading of his works would reveal that.

Could you provide some quotes to back up this claim?

Thanks,
Steve

SJ Camp said...

Friend of Life
Amen!

Morning and Evening are one of my favorite Spurgeon resources too.

SJ Camp said...

The Old Adam
Our will is bound to sin. St. Paul reminds us that "no one seeks for God." We don't want Him...but He wants us.

Well said...
Steve

Darrin said...

Hey Steve,
I'm not speaking for The Seeking Disciple, but I just want to clarify where I agreed with him.
I don't recommend Arminianism in any of its forms, but I did notice that the 5 articles of the Remonstrants seemed to at least give more acknowledgment of man's depravity and salvation being of grace than is typically seen today, although the overall statements of these early followers were not consistent with these concepts. But today, the church has largely gone way past this, believing man is capable of good himself, etc. and really falls into Pelagianism, as our brother indicated.

The Jolly Beggar said...

What is the gospel that Christ preached? He told the people to come unto him and he would give them rest. It says in Luke chapter 4, when Christ read the passage from Isaiah to begin his ministry- that he came to heal the brokenhearted, to set a liberty those that were bound. I cannot imagine Christ coming to a prison where all were bound in the prison of sin, only opening some of the doors, leaving the rest to perish. Does that sound like Jesus to you? Is that salvation?

Rick Frueh said...

Spurgeon is my favorite preacher! I believe God has now opened his heart to the wonders of God's sovereignty working through man's free will. :) Oh well, we all agree "Salvation is of the Lord". I wasn't looking for Him in 1975, He found me.

Like Abraham, I have nothing of myself in which to boast.

(I like Spurgeon much better than Arminius. No one reveals the cross of Jesus Christ as the Spirit through Spurgeon!)

Mike Anderson said...

Jolly Blogger,

"to begin his ministry- that he came to heal the brokenhearted, to set a liberty those that were bound."

Can you think of a single incident as to where CHRIST did not accomplish this very thing in all of those whom the FATHER has given HIM?

"I cannot imagine Christ coming to a prison where all were bound in the prison of sin, only opening some of the doors, leaving the rest to perish."

And HE did open every door for those whom the FATHER had given HIM. Not a single one has been left to perish.
So you must come to grips with what it is that you are saying about the finished work of our Savior. In effect you are saying that HE either does not have the power to genuinely save anyone or that HE has potentially saved everyone or no one or even worse that HE has effectually saved everyone.
It would be my hope that you would reject all of these as they hold a very low views of our GOD.
There is only one view that gives GOD the most glory and that is that CHRIST did in fact save every single one HE came to save. Which makes "it is finshed" make allot more sense. Because, the way you appear to view it, it is not finish until you have had your say. And if that is in the scripture I cannot find it.

"Is that salvation?"

Even if it only applied to one individual that is salvation.

The Blainemonster said...

"I am bound to the doctrine of the depravity of the human heart, because I find myself depraved in heart, and have daily proofs that in my flesh there dwelleth no good thing."

Amen again and again!

"I do not know how some people, who believe that a Christian can fall from grace, manage to be happy. It must be a very commendable thing in them to be able to get through a day without despair. If I did not believe the doctrine of the final perseverance of the saints, I think I should be of all men the most miserable, because I should lack any ground of comfort."

I've thought this on so many occasions, and the fact that an Arminian view has to lead to pride. "I'm keeping myself saved." I know most folks in my denomination (A/G) would ascribe their salvation to God's grace, but then they teach and preach and speak about how we have to "stay saved." It boggles the mind. There's something so vital (THE TRUTH!) missing in that kind of soteriology.

Praise the Lord, what a powerful message from CHS!

Anonymous said...

There was a period of time, between the imprisonment of John the Baptist, and the calling of the disciples, that Jesus preached by Himself in Galilee. Mark 1:15 tells us the thrust of His message: “And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”

There are some Bible teachers who see significance in the order of Christ’s command. Repentance from sin must come first, they say, and then the belief in the Gospel. But this is difficult to sustain. If we take the word “repent” to mean “a turning away from sin,” we meet an impasse, for we know that sinful men – and all men are sinful in their nature, and sinful to the core - are incapable of turning away from sin.

Furthermore, a call to “repent” necessarily involves a “belief,” for toward Whom could a turning away from sin be, except toward a higher Being? Thus, we see that Jesus is calling men to turn away from their unbelief, and toward belief in Him, as the Son of God, and as the one true Mediator between God and man. (I Timothy 2:5)

A well-known preacher relates the story of attending a prayer meeting. A man was called upon to pray, and, in a case of the unusual, this man did not close his prayer by asking the Lord to cause men to place their faith in Jesus. Rather, he prayed that men would transfer their faith from whatever it was currently in, to the Person of Christ Jesus. Everyone has faith in something. The transference of that faith into Him Who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6), is the greatest need of every person.

The Church in the Net said...

It is crystal clear that God the Father points us not to an unfinished work, as if somehow there were need to complete something, but instead he points us to the completed work of His Son, in whom He is well pleased.

Thanks for the reminder Steve.

In Christ,
Eric.

Unknown said...

Seeking D:

Is there anyone in Hell for whom Christ died?

If so, please support that from scripture.

If not, why not?

The Seeking Disciple said...

Steve, Arminius completely believed that salvation was a work of grace. Over and over again in his works, Arminius agreed with the Reformers John Calvin and Martin Luther that salvation was a work of grace from beginning to end. While Arminius did argue for a freedom of the will, he no doubt ascribed all of salvation to the gracious work of the Father through His Son.

Boxcarvibe, I have no doubt that the elect are in heaven and the non-elect in hell but the basis of their election or rejection is not what you ascribe. The clear teaching of Scripture is that we are saved by faith and we go to hell because of unbelief. How could a righteous and just God hold people accountable for unbelief if in fact He is the very one who would not allow them to believe in the first place?

The Seeking Disciple said...

BTW, I named my son after Charles Spurgeon. I named him Haddon Spurgeon in honour of Spurgeon despite my holding to reformed Arminianism. I love Spurgeon and thank God for him. God used him powerfully and how I can't wait to see him in heaven and give him a bear hug even if we disagreed on earth.

Psalm said...

It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.

Rick Frueh said...

"Is there anyone in Hell for whom Christ died?"

If there isn't then what does it matter? If there is it might affect evangelism. In the end, it will not matter to those who end up in hell.

Unknown said...

Hi Rick:

Truly, there's aren't any "if's" in that answer.

For if you hold to mans free-will, and to Christ dying for the "sins of world," then Hell would be choked with people for whom Christ died...because they didn't exercise their free-will to believe. Your answer to the question then, should be an emphatic, hearty YES!

Which in the end, makes Christ's life and death one huge failure, doesn't it?

Rick Frueh said...

"If" it is as you say, then it is what it is, and no amount of doctrinal evangelism will change anuthing but some men's minds. And even that will not affect heaven and hell.

Preaching the true gospel to every creature is the command to every believer regardless of free will perspectives.

The Arminian must guard against watering down the gospel to effect more conversions, and the Calvinist must guard against a passion for theological perspectives at the expense of a subtle lethargy in evangelism.

The model for musical evangelism? Steve Camp and Keith Green have a child!

Rick Frueh said...

"Which in the end, makes Christ's life and death one huge failure, doesn't it?"

With that logic then God's creation itself was one huge failure unless He orchestrated the sin of Adam.

SJ Camp said...

To All:
I so appreciate this discussion... Good stuff.

Two things before heading off to church:

1. What is the nature of the atonement?

2. For whom did Christ die?

I would submit to you that the nature of the atonement is substitutionary, vicarious, propitiatory and fully redemptive (see Heb. 2:17; Roms. 3:21-31; 2 Cor. 5:21).

If that is true then we can say that primarily Christ died for God (see Isaiah 53).

Follow up question:

What does it mean that Jesus was the propitiation for the sins of the people?

Steve

Rick Frueh said...

Good discussion, Steve, and without rancor. The cross was a redemptive reflection of the love of God and/or the God who is love. And in fact God's love is always redemptive and infinite. And we might offer this question to further illustrate the love of God in the infinite abstract.

If God foreknew that no one would trust Christ, or that God did not choose one single sinner to be elected, would God's love be so deep and powerful that Christ still would have come and died?

In essence, was the cross the untethered revelation of Love and the saved the risidual effects of that Love? Of course, since God was love before creation so His love was the motivation and the "world" was in this case the recipient of the grace that flows from that Love, which is...God Himself.

J. K. Jones said...

All,

Please stop saying that we do not choose Christ. God chooses to make our hearts anew (We are born again.). But then we do choose, of our own free will / agency to place our faith in Christ.

This is critical to note because it avoid High / Hyper Calvinism.