VESSELS OF MERCY OR VESSELS OF WRATH...the unfathomable riches of the Potter's freewill and sovereignty over all His creatures for eternity

As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part?

By no means! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy

on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”

So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up,

that I might show My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed

in all the earth.” So then he has mercy on whomever he wills,

and he hardens whomever he wills.

You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault?

For who can resist his will?” But who are you, O man, to answer back to God?

Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?”

Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump

one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?

What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power,

has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,

in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy,

which he has prepared beforehand for glory—

-Romans 9:13-23

Reprobation is the antithesis to election and necessarily follows from it. If God does not elect a person, He rejects him. If God decides not to convert a sinner into a saint, He decides to let him remain a sinner (1). If God decides not to work in a man to will and to do according to God's will, He decides to leave the man to will and to do according to his own will. When God effectually operates upon the human will, it is election. When God does not effectually operate upon the human will, it is reprobation. Election is the expression of divine mercy; reprobation of divine justice. Paul teaches this in Romans 11:22, "Behold the goodness and severity of God (divine compassion and divine justice) on them which fell severity; but toward you goodness."

Reprobation relates to regenerating grace, not common grace. It is an error to suppose that the reprobate are entirely destitute of grace. All mankind enjoys common grace. There are no elect or reprobate in this refernece. Every human being experiences some degree of the ordinary influences of the Spirit of God. St. Paul teaches that God strives with man universally. He convicts him of sin and urges him to repent of it and forsake it (Roms. 1:19-20; 2:3-4; Acts 17:24-31).

Reprobation comprises preterition and condemnation of damnation. Preterition is a sovereign act; condemnation is a judicial act. God passes by or omits an individual in the bestowment of regenerating grace because of His sovereign good pleasure (eudokia). The reason of condemnation is known: sin is the reason. The reason for preterition is unknown: it is not sin, because the elect are as sinful as the nonelect. In preterition, God’s action is permissive; inaction rather than action. In condemnation God’s action is efficient and positive.

Preterition is “letting things stand” as they are. To omit or pretermit is to leave or let alone. The idea is found in Luke 17:34, “The one shall be taken, the other shall be left…”

Preterition in the bestowment of regenerating grace is plainly taught in Scripture (Isaiah 6:9-10*; Matt. 11:25-26; 13:11; 22:14; Luke 17:34; John 10:26; 12:39; Acts 1:16; 2 Thess. 2:11-12; 2 Tim. 2:20; 1 Peter 2:8; Rom. 9:17-22; Jude 1:4).

*Isaiah 6:9-10 is quoted more in the N.T. than any other O.T. text (4x’s in the gospels; 1x in Acts; and 1x in Romans). He said, "Go, and tell this people: 'Keep on listening, but do not perceive; Keep on looking, but do not understand.' "Render the hearts of this people insensitive, their ears dull, and their eyes dim, otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and return and be healed."

Source: William G.T. Shedd - "Dogmatic Theology"-third edition; P&R Publishing, 2003 - p. 333-336

1. Shedd is not implying here that Christians are not any longer sinners. He is using the term to describe nature (unregenerate, sinner; regenerate, saint.) Saints are still sinners (Prov. 24:9) saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ (Eph. 4-6). Our old nature has been crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20-21; 2 Cor. 5:17). Though we have been completely delivered from the penalty of sin (salvation), we have not been delivered from the presence of sin (glorification) nor entirely from the practice of sin (sanctification) (Titus 2:12) until we are home with the Lord (Roms. 8:29-31; Titus 2:13). None of us have arrived to the fulness of our sanctification in this life... have we? (Eph. 5:23-27; Rom. 12:1-2). We all still struggle with sin and its desires (Rom. 7:7-10).

But, as new creations in Christ, a genuine Christian will not be given over to the constant "practice of sin" without any repentance or conviction of conscience (Gal. 5:16ff). We will ultimately desire to please the Lord by turning from those things which do not honor Him and then doing the things that do bring Him glory and delight. This is a constant struggle that all of us face - even the Apostle Paul faced it daily in his own life (Rom. 7:14-20). But when we do sin, our hope is that we have an adovate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous who intercedes for us (1 John 2:1-2). We are still sinners, that by God's grace are now made saints--His brethren (Heb. 2:11). We are new creatures, but incarcerated in unredeemed flesh (Rom. 8:23) and that is the source of the battle that rages within each day as we daily walk in the Lord (Col. 3:1-14).

BUT, there is "no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus the Lord" (Rom. 8:1). I hope this helps clarify the distinction of what I believe Shedd is saying.

THE BURDEN FOR REFORMATION AND REVIVALprayer; contrition; and confession

Oh Lord, send a great awakening among your people again according to Your Word; by Your Holy Spirit, for the praise of Your glory, for the spread of Your gospel, for the holiness of Your people. Leave us not in the condition in which we awoke this morning, but conform us by Your grace to Christlikeness so that we may be vessels fit for the Master's use.

This only is a work of heaven--for no man can conjure up a genuine move of God; no man can transform the heart of another; no man can stir the conscience to repentance, convict the soul of sin, and invoke contrition over iniquity. All our ways are impotent before You; and even when we have done all to obey You, we are still "unprofitable servants."

But the true church marches on her knees; and so may we run into the prayer closet this very hour, shut the door and see what You by Your sovereign grace will accomplish. For "it is not by might, not by power, but by My Spirit" says the Lord.

Forgive us Lord for being consumed with the advancement of our own ministries at the expense of others, for measuring the effectiveness of Your work by the size of a church's yearly offerings, and for charging others for that which we have received freely by Your grace. Dash to the ground our paltry plans, our self-devised and promoted reputations, our carefully positioned and politically aligned agendas and alliances. As my friend once said, "How can we be so dead when we've been so well fed; Jesus rose from the grave, but we, we can't even get out of bed."

May The Swordsman, by His divine sword, whittle us down to size as You did Gideon of old, so that we may not find comfort, resolve, or hope in our own strength, wisdom or wealth. May all our lowly boasting turn to tears, all our pride turn to dust, all our vain exaltations of self turn to ash; may our "laughter turn to mourning and our joy to heaviness" until reformation comes... until revival comes to Your people. Break our stubborn hearts with the hammer of Your Word and humble us under Your reverential fear until our deepest longing, passion and joy is found only in Christ Jesus the Lord.

Glorify Yourself for Your names sake only...
Steve
Col. 1:9-14


"A true revival means nothing less than a revolution, casting out the spirit of worldliness, making God's love triumph in the heart." -Andrew Murray

“When God has something very great to accomplish for His Church, it is His will that there should precede it the extraordinary prayers of His people, as is manifest by Ezekiel 36:37... And it is revealed that, when God is about to accomplish great things for His Church, He will begin by a remarkable pouring out of the spirit of grace and supplication (Zechariah 12:10). If we are not to expect that the devil should go out of a particular person, under a bodily possession, without extraordinary prayer, or prayer and fasting, how much less should we expect to have him cast out of the land and the world without it!” -Jonathan Edwards

"God's quickening visitation of his people, touching their hearts and deepening his work of grace in their lives." -J. I. Packer



”I did then preach much upon original sin, repentance, the nature and necessity of conversion, in a close, examinatory and distinguished way; laboring in the meantime to sound the trumpet of God's judgments, and alarm the secure by the terrors of the Lord, as well as to affect them by other topics of persuasion: which method was sealed by the Holy Spirit in the conviction and conversion of a considerable number of persons, at various times and in different places in that part of the county." -George Whitefield


The Prayers of the Saints
To be clothed upon with the "righteousness of GOD," is to occupy a position of dignity and glory to which no other creature can aspire. Angels stand in the aphelion, saints in the center, of the Sun of Righteousness. Lord! let the infidel deny the character, and the worldling scorn the name, number me among your saints everlasting, upon whom is conferred the privilege of fellowship and nearness with You here, and glory, honor, and immortality with You hereafter!

But what is the incense?—"the prayers of saints." The emblem is exquisitely beautiful and expressive. It is one of the highest conceptions of poetry, in one of its most sacred forms. Prayer is holy incense. The margin of the passage so renders it, and David so employs the expression in connection with prayer: "Let my prayer come before You as incense, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice." We have but glanced at the truth that the saints of God are a praying people—that communion with the Triune Jehovah is an essential characteristic. The thought is so important, we propose in a few pages to amplify it. We have said that devotion is a symptom of life, an evidence of true piety, a characteristic of a saint of God. This remark holds good in its universal application. True prayer is that one vital principle that animates, energizes, and sanctifies the universal family of God. Whatever their differences of ecclesiastical polity, discipline, or worship—whatever their varied gifts, attainments, or position in society, prayer is the moral atmosphere of the one Church of God. "Moses and Aaron among His priests, and Samuel among those who call upon His name; they called upon the Lord, and He answered them."

No man is a saint of God who is not a praying man; and a praying man, find him where you may, is a saint of God. He may prefer the place and the mode of prayer which his conscience best approves; and whether that place be a cathedral or a barn, and the mode be liturgical or free, is of no essential moment. If, penetrating within the inner and hidden shrine, he waves before its altar the censer of a truly contrite, believing, adoring heart, drawing near to God in the name of Jesus, and holding fellowship with the Invisible, that man is a man of prayer, is a recognized saint of the Most High, and as such we should recognize and commune with him as a Christian brother beloved.

PRAYER must be the living, enshrouding atmosphere of a saint of God. Not one moment could we live without it. Prayer—either breathed from the believer's heart on earth, or from the lips of the Great Intercessor in heaven—sustains each moment the life of God in the soul of man. Ah, beloved! where could you go with those burdens, those wants, those chafings, those backslidings, those shortcomings, those sorrows, which compose so large a part of daily life, but to the throne of grace? Where could you resort for mercy, for strength, for fortitude, for patience, for comfort and soothing, but where the God of love and power meets you and talks with you through Jesus, as man communes with his friend? It is in this light we come to regard prayer, not merely as a divine command, or as a Christian duty, but as the holiest, sweetest, and most precious privilege God has given to us on earth. Look at its grandeur—a mortal, a sinful mortal, in audience with the God of heaven! And when we consider that mortal in the light of a child and that God in the character of a Father, the spectacle becomes one of unsurpassed beauty and tenderness. But look at its preciousness. It comprehends all the minutiae of our daily life.

• "Casting all your care upon Him."
• "Be careful for nothing; but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God."

What a tender, loving rebuke is this of that restraining of prayer, and limiting of God, which restricts our petitions to the major concerns of life, while it leaves unprovided for the minor ones. And yet, beloved, God is as deeply interested in your small cares as in your large ones. Those comparatively trivial events, those lesser circumstances of your history, are often those which you feel the most keenly, which chafe the most severely, and upon which so much that is important and momentous in your life depends. Learn, then, the blessedness, and appreciate the privilege, of hallowing with prayer the minute details of daily life. Infinite as Jehovah is, He stoops to our little trials, little cares, little wants, little sorrows. Nothing is too small for God that concerns you, His loved child. Study the life of Jesus when on earth. Was there a circumstance, or a want, or a temptation in the history of His disciples too mean or unimportant for His notice? He who, by similitude so significant and impressive, could vindicate and explain the particular providence of God in the affairs of His people, assuring those who the very hairs of their head were all numbered, was not likely to pass unnoticed and unmet the fasting and languor of His disciples, when on one occasion He said unto them, "Come you yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest awhile."

He who created the minute things of nature, alike regards the minute things in providence, and despises not the "day of small things" in grace. God made the atoms that form the pyramids, the mote that dances in the sunbeam, the insect that swims in the ocean drop. Do you think, then, that He can be indifferent to, or regard as beneath His notice, the smallest care, the most delicate sorrow, the lowest want, the lowest interest, that relates to you? Impossible! Learn, then, to entwine with your petitions the small cares, the trifling sorrows, the little wants of daily life. Whatever affects you—be it a changed look, an altered tone, an unkind word, a slight, a wrong, a wound, a demand you cannot meet, a charge you cannot notice, a sorrow you cannot disclose—turn it into prayer, and send it up to God.

Disclosures you may not make to man you can make to the Lord. Man may be too little for your great matters, God is not too great for your small ones. Only give yourself to prayer, whatever be the occasion that calls for it. Send up your heart unto God just as it is. Send up a whole heart, and He will return it a broken heart. Send up a broken heart, and He will return it a healed heart. Send up a cold heart, and He will return it a loving heart. Send up an empty heart, and He will return it a full heart. Send up a praying heart, and He will return it a praising heart. Only send up your heart to heaven, whatever its frame or condition, its desires or wants, and your Heavenly Father's loving, gracious heart will descend and meet it when its pinions have scarce left the earth to sweep in faith and prayer the skies. "Trust in Him at all times. You people, pour out your heart before Him. God is a refuge for us." "And it shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer: and while they are yet speaking, I will hear." Wonderful encouragement to prayer!" -Octavius Winslow

Three Prayers
to Encourage our Hearts Today

Heart Corruptions
"O God, may Thy Spirit speak in me that I may speak to thee. I have no merit, let the merit of Jesus stand for me. I am undeserving, but I look to Thy tender mercy. I am full of infirmities, wants, sin; Thou art full of grace.

I confess my sin, my frequent sin, my willful sin; all my powers of body and soul are defiled: a fountain of pollution is deep within my nature. There are chambers of foul images within my being; I have gone from one odious room to another, walked in a no-man's-land of dangerous imaginations, pried into the secrets of my fallen nature.

I am utterly ashamed that I am what I am in myself; I have no green shoot in me nor fruit, but thorns and thistles; I am a fading leaf that the wind drives away; I live bare and barren as a winter tree, unprofitable, fit to be hewn down and burnt. Lord, dost Thou have mercy on me?

Thou hast struck a heavy blow at my pride, at the false god of self, and I lie in pieces before Thee. But Thou hast given me another master and lord, Thy Son, Jesus, and now my heart is turned towards holiness, my life speeds as an arrow from a bow towards complete obedience to Thee. Help me in all my doings to put down sin and to humble pride. Save me from the love of the world and the pride of life, from everything that is natural to fallen man, and let Christ's nature be seen in me day by day. Grant me grace to bear Thy will without repining, and delight to be not only chiseled, squared, or fashioned, but separated from the old rock where I have been embedded so long, and lifted from the quarry to the upper air, where I may be built in Christ for ever."

Purification
"Lord Jesus, I sin. Grant that I may never cease grieving because of it, never be content with myself, and never think I can reach a point of perfection. Kill my envy, command my tongue, and trample down self. Give me grace to be holy, kind, gentle, pure, peaceable, to live for Thee and not for self, to copy Thy words, acts, spirit, to be transformed into Thy likeness, to be consecrated wholly to Thee, to live entirely to Thy glory.

Deliver me from attachment to things unclean, from wrong associations, from the predominance of evil passions, from the sugar of sin as well as its gap; that with self-loathing, deep contrition, earnest heart searching I may come to Thee, cast myself on Thee, trust in Thee, cry to Thee, be delivered by Thee.

O God, the Eternal All, help me to know that all things are shadows, but Thou art substance; all things are quicksand, but Thou art mountain; all things are shifting, but Thou art anchor; all things are ignorance, but Thou art wisdom.

If my life is to be a crucible amid burning heat, so be it, but do Thou sit at the furnace mouth to watch the ore that nothing be lost. If I sin willfully, grievously, tormentedly, in grace take away my mourning and give me music; remove my sackcloth and clothe me with beauty; still my sighs and fill my mouth with song, then give me summer weather as a Christian.”

Confession and Petition
"Holy Lord, I have sinned times without number, and been guilty of pride and unbelief, of failure to find Thy mind in Thy Word, of neglect to seek Thee in my daily life. My transgressions and shortcomings present me with a list of accusations, but I bless Thee that they will not stand against me, for all have been laid on Christ. Go on to subdue my corruptions, and grant me grace to live above them. Let not the passions of the flesh nor lustings of the mind bring my spirit into subjection, but do Thou rule over me in liberty and power.

I thank Thee that many of my prayers have been refused. I have asked amiss and do not have, I have prayed from lusts and been rejected, I have longed for Egypt and been given a wilderness. Go on with Thy patient work, answering 'no' to my wrongful prayers, and fitting me to accept it. Purge me from every false desire, every base aspiration, everything contrary to Thy rule. I thank Thee for Thy wisdom and Thy love, for all the acts of discipline to which I am subject, for sometimes putting me into the furnace to refine my gold and remove my dross.

No trial is so hard to bear as a sense of sin. If Thou should give me choice to live in pleasure and keep my sins, or to have them burnt away with trial, give me sanctified affliction. Deliver me from every evil habit, every accretion of former sins, everything that dims the brightness of Thy grace in me, everything that prevents me taking delight in Thee. Then I shall bless Thee, God of Jeshurun, for helping me to be upright."

EVERYONE IS PROLIFE WHILE IN THE WOMB...even President Barack Obama

Here is how to pray for President Obama on this issue:

Proverbs 16:12
It is an abomination to kings to do evil,
for the throne is established by righteousness.

Proverbs 20:28
Steadfast love and faithfulness preserve the king,
and by steadfast love his throne is upheld.

Proverbs 21:1
The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord;
he turns it wherever he will.

Proverbs 21:3
To do righteousness and justice
is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.

Proverbs 21:21
Whoever pursues righteousness and kindness
will find life, righteousness, and honor.

Proverbs 24:21
My son, fear the Lord and the king,
and do not join with those who do otherwise

Proverbs 25:5
take away the wicked from the presence of the king,
and his throne will be established in righteousness.

SPURGEON'S PRIMARY BURDEN WASN'T TO CONTEXTUALIZE THE GOPSEL ...but to proclaim it!

UPDATED

Current evangelicalism is vibrant with the latest of buzz words - contextualization. It is a central theme to Bible conferences; it is the focus of books, blogs, pulpits and preachers. We tend to forget that It's not the audience what is sovereign but the message that is sovereign.

At its most base level, contextualization is about proclaiming the gospel to a specific audience group without violating the truth claims of Scripture. To some, it is the attempt to make Jesus relatable by making the gospel germane; to others it is about more effectively making those truth claims lucid and salient.

For example: some missionally minded (cultural in scope, unique in literary apprehension, and operating with concinnity and concision without diluting gospel content) have asserted that even reformers like Calvin experienced explosive church growth and saw thousands of souls regenerated through evangelism because he contextualized the gospel. Considering the religious and political climate of Calvin's day, this conclusion may not be entirely inaccurate, but has some merit to it.

I understood that Calvin's consolidation of Geneva and the creation of The Consistory dramatically changed Geneva and France, so we shouldn't be surprised to see great numbers. But also, the massive growth in Huguenot churches had as much to do with southern French provincialism and the refusal to join the growing nation states as it did with the power of reformed teaching and the spreading of the gospel. To be clear, Calvin had a tremendous burden for missions, church planting, and evangelism; but he remained a faithful contender for the truth of the gospel until his death.

Beloved, the gospel does not benefit from our programs, methods, target specific agendas, cultural analysis, when those programs are do not uphold gospel truth at its core. We must lead with theology in our evangelism and not with methodology. Scripture affords no luxury for such human pragmatics when it comes to the salvation of lost souls. The gospel IS the power of God unto salvation (Roms. 1:16-17); and it is the Lord who adds to the church daily (Acts 2:42ff)--not us.

Paul combats an early rise of sectarian views of ministry when saying,

"So, what is Apollos? And what is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, and each has the role the Lord has given. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth" (1 Cor. 3:5-7).

Paul never sought to primarily contextualize the message by being culturally relevant, but "sought to nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified" (1 Cor. 2:2). He contextualized himself and became all things to all men so that he might win some for the gospel. But he never once watered-down the truth the gospel in order to adapt to his culture. That is why the gospel message remained constant in all of his epistles and did not change from one cultural distinctive to another.

In this same vain, it has been asserted today that the church should strive to have a "humble orthodoxy" out of concern that civility must lead the day in the proclamation of Christianity. Truth by definition is exclusive; truth is commanding; it is bold; and it is unwavering. Christian doctrine and theology contained in the pages of Holy Scripture (the 66 books of the O.T. and N.T.) is objective truth; it is unbending, unyielding, uncompromising, and it asks not for man's approval, but demands obedience to its claims. It is... God's Word and He does not negotiate with His creatures as to what is acceptable or not. His Word silences all other "truth assertions" by taking "every thought captive to the obedience in Christ" (2 Cor. 10:1-5). There is nothing humble about truth, about orthodoxy; however, the truth does humble its listeners.

In the same vain, what we do need in the proclamation of a "bold orthodoxy" are "humble servants" of Christ proclaiming a bold orthodoxy; not watering down the offense of the cross (1 Cor. 1:18ff); but in and of ourselves, we are not to be the offense (2 Cor. 6:1-3). Paul was such a man: "For they say, 'His letters are weighty and strong' (a bold orthodoxy), 'but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible'" (a humble servant) (2 Cor. 10:10). There was the perfect marriage of humility and orthodoxy.

Again, Paul represented a bold orthodoxy and yet remained a humble bond-servant of Christ.

"For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more. To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews; to those who are under the Law, as under the Law though not being myself under the Law, so that I might win those who are under the Law; to those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, so that I might win those who are without law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some. I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it" (1 Cor. 9:19-23).

Notice in these verses above that there is not one instance where Paul ever "contextualized" the truth claims of the gospel to adapt to any cultural setting - not once. He simply sought to remove any offense of his own person, or cultural barriers, so that "he might win some." Should we seek to understand the times in which we live; understand the people we are ministering to? Yes. Should we do all we can to remove any offense of ourselves and without compromising the Word of God, be all things to all men so that by all means some may be saved? Absolutely.

But Paul never comprised or yielded ground on the message of the cross, the gospel, the truth claims of Scripture, or even by redefining the gospel to his listeners. On the contrary, if that were the case, they would have never sought to persecute him or kill him for his ministry in the gospel.

"As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! ¶ For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ" (Gal. 1:9-10).

Paul was not seeker sensitive; he opposed relativism and never sought to be relevant. He was not a man pleaser in any fashion, but a bond-servant of Christ--an ambassador in chains. Like Paul, one man in his day who stood against the pragmatics of the gospel was Charles Spurgeon. Please read these quotes below by Spurgeon on the gospel. My prayer is that it will impact you as greatly as it has so impacted myself.

And may we always remember: though He calls us to be His witnesses and to herald His gospel and truth to all people everywhere, that the fruit of it and the efficaciousness of it and the results of it belong to and are caused solely by God the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit - and not to us.

May we be spectators of His grace, going into all the world empowered with His Spirit to do the work that He has sovereignly prepared for us in advance to do. And as we go, may we go armed with nothing by the truth of His life-changing gospel; proclaiming it plainly to every man's conscience, calling all men everywhere to repent.

Shipwrecked on His grace; for apart from Him—we can do nothing!
Steve
2 Cor. 4:5-7

Spurgeon Quotes on The Gospel

"If the professed convert distinctly and deliberately declares that he knows the Lord's will but does not mean to attend to it, you are not to pamper his presumption, but it is your duty to assure him that he is not saved. Do not suppose that the Gospel is magnified or God glorified by going to the worldlings and telling them that they may be saved at this moment by simply accepting Christ as their Savior, while they are wedded to their idols, and their hearts are still in love with sin. If I do so I tell them a lie, pervert the Gospel , insult Christ, and turn the grace of God into lasciviousness." -Charles Haddon Spurgeon

"The hearing of the gospel involves the hearer in responsibility. It is a great privilege to hear the gospel. You may smile and think there is nothing very great in it. The damned in hell know. Oh, what would they give if they could hear the gospel now? If they could come back and entertain but the shadow of a hope that they might escape from the wrath to come? The saved in heaven estimate this privilege at a high rate, for, having obtained salvation through the preaching of this gospel, they can never cease to bless their God for calling them by his word of truth. O that you knew it! On your dying beds the listening to a gospel sermon will seem another thing than it seems now." -C.H. Spurgeon

"Do you know, my dear unsaved hearer, what God’s estimate of the gospel is? Do you not know that it has been the chief subject of his thoughts and acts from all eternity? He looks on it as the grandest of all his works. You cannot imagine that he has sent his gospel into the world to be a football for you to play with–that you may give it a kick, as Felix did when he said to Paul, "Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee" (Acts 24:25). You surely cannot believe that God sent his gospel into the world for you to make a toy of it, and to say, as Agrippa said to Paul, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian" (Acts 26:28), and then put away all thought of it out of your souls. You cannot even speak of it irreverently without committing a great sin." -C.H. Spurgeon

"Avoid a sugared gospel as you would shun sugar of lead. Seek the gospel which rips up and tears and cuts and wounds and hacks and even kills, for that is the gospel that makes alive again. And when you have found it, give good heed to it. Let it enter into your inmost being. As the rain soaks into the ground, so pray the Lord to let his gospel soak into your soul." -C.H. Spurgeon

"Jesus is the Truth. We believe in Him, —not merely in His words. He Himself is Doctor and Doctrine, Revealer and Revelation, the Illuminator and the Light of Men. He is exalted in every word of truth, because He is its sum and substance. He sits above the gospel, like a prince on His own throne. Doctrine is most precious when we see it distilling from His lips and embodied in His person. Sermons [and songs] are valuable in proportion as they speak of Him and point to Him. A Christ-less gospel is no gospel and a Christ-less discourse is the cause of merriment to devils." -C.H. Spurgeon

"Never lose heart in the power of the gospel. Do not believe that there exists any man, much less any race of men, for whom the gospel is not fitted." -C.H. Spurgeon

"I do not come into this pulpit hoping that perhaps somebody will of his own free will return to Christ. My hope lies in another quarter. I hope that my Master will lay hold of some of them and say, 'You are mine, and you shall be mine. I claim you for myself.' My hope arises from the freeness of [sovereign] grace, and not from the freedom of the will." -C.H. Spurgeon

"Let this be to you the mark of true gospel preaching - where Christ is everything, and the creature is nothing; where it is salvation all of grace, through the work of the Holy Spirit applying to the soul the precious blood of Jesus." -C.H. Spurgeon

"On Christ, and what he has done, my soul hangs for time and eternity. And if your soul also hangs there, it will be saved as surely as mine shall be. And if you are lost trusting in Christ, I will be lost with you and will go to hell with you. I must do so, for I have nothing else to rely upon but the fact that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, lived, died, was buried, rose again, went to heaven, and still lives and pleads for sinners at the right hand of God." -C.H. Spurgeon

"We have an unchanging gospel, which is not today green grass and tomorrow dry hay; but always the abiding truth of the immutable Jehovah." -C.H. Spurgeon

"The heart of the gospel is redemption, and the essence of redemption is the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ." -C.H. Spurgeon

"When we preach Christ crucified, we have no reason to stammer, or stutter, or hesitate, or apologize; there is nothing in the gospel of which we have any cause to be ashamed." -C.H. Spurgeon

THE UNFATHOMABLE LOVE OF GOD...for those who have ears to hear

In this is love not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:10).

by A.W. Pink

There are three things told us in Scripture concerning the nature of God.
First,, "God is spirit" (John 4:24). In the Greek there is no indefinite article, and to say "God is a spirit" is most objectionable, for it places Him in a class with others. God is "spirit" in the highest sense. Because He is "spirit" He is incorporeal, having no visible substance. Had God a tangible body, He would not be omnipresent, He would be limited to one place; because He is spirit He fills heaven and earth. Second, God is light (1 John 1:5), which is the opposite of "darkness." In Scripture "darkness" stands for sin, evil, death; and "light" for holiness, goodness, life. God is light, means that He is the sum of all excellency. Third, "God is love" (1 John 4:8). It is not simply that God "loves," but that He is Love itself. Love is not merely one of His attributes, but His very nature.

There are many today who talk about the love of God, who are total strangers to the God of love. The Divine love is commonly regarded as a species of amiable weakness, a sort of good-natured indulgence; it is reduced to a mere sickly sentiment, patterned after human emotion. Now the truth is that on this, as on everything else, our thoughts need to be formed and regulated by what is revealed thereon in Holy Scripture. That there is urgent need for this is apparent not only from the ignorance which so generally prevails, but also from the low state of spirituality which is now so sadly evident everywhere among professing Christians. How little real love there is for God. One chief reason for this is because our hearts are so little occupied with His wondrous love for His people. The better we are acquainted with His love—its character, fullness, blessedness—the more will our hearts be drawn out in love to Him.

1. The love of God is uninfluenced.
By this we mean, there was nothing whatever in the objects of His love to call it into exercise, nothing in the creature to attract or prompt it. The love which one creature has for another is because of something in them; but the love of God is free, spontaneous, and uncaused. The only reason why God loves any is found in His own sovereign will: "The Lord did not set His love upon you, nor choose you because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: but because the Lord loved thee" (Deut. 7:7,8). God has loved His people from everlasting, and therefore nothing of the creature can be the cause of what is found in God from eternity. He loves from Himself: "according to His own purpose" (2 Tim. 1:9).

"We love Him, because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19). God did not love us because we loved Him, but He loved us before we had a particle of love for Him. Had God loved us in return for ours, then it would not be spontaneous on His part; but because He loved us when we were loveless, it is clear that His love was uninfluenced. It is highly important if God is to be honored and the heart of His child established, that we should be quite clear upon this precious truth. God’s love for me, and for each of "His own," was entirely unmoved by anything in them. What was there in me to attract the heart of God? Absolutely nothing. But, to the contrary, everything to repel Him, everything calculated to make Him loathe me—sinful, depraved, a mass of corruption, with "no good thing" in me.

2. It is eternal.
This of necessity. God Himself is eternal, and God is love; therefore, as God Himself had no beginning, His love had none. Granted that such a concept far transcends the grasp of our feeble minds, nevertheless, where we cannot comprehend, we can bow in adoring worship. How clear is the testimony of Jer 31:3, ‘I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee.’ How blessed to know that the great and holy God loved His people before heaven and earth were called into existence, that He had set His heart upon them from all eternity. Clear proof is this that His love is spontaneous, for He loved them endless ages before they had any being.

The same precious truth is set forth in Eph 1:4,5, ‘According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him. In love having predestinated us.’ What praise should this evoke from each of His children! How tranquilizing for the heart: since God’s love toward me had no beginning, it can have no ending! Since it be true that ‘from everlasting to everlasting’ He is God, and since God is ‘love,’ then it is equally true that ‘from everlasting to everlasting’ He loves His people.

3. It is sovereign.
This also is self-evident. God Himself is sovereign, under obligations to none, a law unto Himself, acting always according to His own imperial pleasure. Since God be sovereign, and since He be love, it necessarily follows that His love is sovereign. Because God is God, He does as He pleases; because God is love, He loves whom He pleases. Such is His own express affirmation: ‘Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated’. (Ro 9:19) There was no more reason in Jacob why he should be the object of Divine love, than there was in Esau. They both had the same parents, and were born at the same time, being twins; yet God loved the one and hated the other! Why? Because it pleased Him to do so.

The sovereignty of God’s love necessarily follows from the fact that it is uninfluenced by anything in the creature. Thus, to affirm that the cause of His love lies in God Himself, is only another way of saying, He loves whom He pleases. For a moment, assume the opposite. Suppose God’s love were regulated by anything else than His will, in such a case He would love by rule, and loving by rule He would be under a law of love, and then so far from being free, God would Himself be ruled by law. ‘In love having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to’—what? Some excellency which He foresaw in them? No; what then? ‘According to the good pleasure of His will’. {Eph 1:4,5}

4. It is infinite.
Everything about God is infinite. His essence fills heaven and earth. His wisdom is illimitable, for He knows everything of the past, present and future. His power is unbounded, for there is nothing too hard for Him. So His love is without limit. There is a depth to it which none can fathom; there is a height to it which none can scale; there is a length and breadth to it which defies measurement, by any creature-standard. Beautifully is this intimated in Eph 2:4: But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us: the word ‘great’ there is parallel with the ‘God so loved’ of Joh 3:16.

It tells us that the love of God is so transcendent it cannot be estimated.

“No tongue can fully express the infinitude of God’s love, or any mind comprehend it: it ‘passeth knowledge’ (Eph 3:19). The most extensive ideas that a finite mind can frame about Divine love, are infinitely below its true nature. The heaven is not so far above the earth as the goodness of God is beyond the most raised conceptions, which we are able to form of it. It is an ocean which swells higher than all the mountains of opposition in such as are the objects of it. It is a fountain from which flows all necessary good to all those who are interested in it (John Brine, 1743).”

5. It is immutable.
As with God Himself there is ‘no variableness, neither shadow of turning’, (Jas 1:17) so His love knows neither change or diminution. The worm Jacob supplies a forceful example of this: ‘Jacob have I loved,’ declared Jehovah, and despite all his unbelief and waywardness, He never ceased to love him. Joh 13:1 furnishes another beautiful illustration. That very night one of the apostles would say, ‘Show us the Father’; another would deny Him with cursings; all of them would be scandalized by and forsake Him. Nevertheless ‘having loved His own which were in the world, He love them unto the end.’ The Divine love is subject to no vicissitudes. Divine love is ‘strong as death... many waters cannot quench it’ (So 8:6,7). Nothing can separate from it: Ro 8:35-39.

"His love no end nor measure knows,

No change can turn its course,

Eternally the same it flows

From one eternal source."

6. It is holy.
God’s love is not regulated by caprice passion, or sentiment, but by principle. Just as His grace reigns not at the expense of it, but ‘through righteousness’, (Ro 5:21) so His love never conflicts with His holiness. ‘God is light’ (1 Jo 1:5) is mentioned before ‘God is love’ (1 Jo 4:8). God’s love is no mere amiable weakness, or effeminate softness. Scripture declares, ‘whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth’. (Heb 12:6) God will not wink at sin, even in His own people. His love is pure, unmixed with any maudlin sentimentality.

7. It is gracious.
The love and favor of God are inseparable. This is clearly brought out in Ro 8:32-39. What that love is from which there can be no ‘separation,’ is easily perceived from the design and scope of the immediate context: it is that goodwill and grace of God which determined Him to give His Son for sinners. That love was the impulsive power of Christ’s incarnation: ‘God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son’. (Joh 3:16) Christ died not in order to make God love us, but because He did love His people, Calvary is the supreme demonstration of Divine love. Whenever you are tempted to doubt the love of God, Christian reader, go back to Calvary.

Here then is abundant cause for trust and patience under Divine affliction. Christ was beloved of the Father, yet He was not exempted from poverty, disgrace, and persecution. He hungered and thirsted. Thus, it was not incompatible with God’s love for Christ when He permitted men to spit upon and smite Him. Then let no Christian call into question God’s love when he is brought under painful afflictions and trials. God did not enrich Christ on earth with temporal prosperity, for ‘He had not where to lay His head.’ But He did give Him the Spirit ‘without measure’. (Joh 3:34) Learn then that spiritual blessings are the principal gifts of Divine love. How blessed to know that when the world hates us, God loves us!