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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | A Conditional Salvation | Phil 2:13 | DocTrinsograce | 200298 | ||
"According to their theory -- that salvation depends upon our own will -- you have first of all this difficulty to meet, that you have made the purpose of God in the great plan of salvation entirely contingent. You have then put an 'if' upon everything. Christ may die, but it is not certain according to that theory that He will redeem a great multitude; nay, not certain that He will redeem any, since the efficacy of the redemption according to that plan, rests not in its own intrinsic power, but in the will of man accepting that redemption. Hence if man be, as we aver he always is, if he be a bond-slave as to his will, and will not yield to the invitation of God's grace, then in such a case the atonement of Christ would be valueless, useless, and altogether in vain, for not a soul would be saved by it; and even when souls are saved by it, according to that theory, the efficacy, I say, lies not in the blood itself, but in the will of man which gives it efficacy. Redemption is therefore made contingent; the cross shakes, the blood falls powerless on the ground, and atonement is a matter of perhaps. There is a heaven provided, but there may no souls who will ever come there if their coming is to be of themselves. There is a fountain filled with blood, but there may be none who will ever wash in it unless divine purpose and power shall constrain them to come. You may look at any one promise of grace, but you cannot say over it, 'This is the sure mercy of David;' for there is an 'if,' and a 'but;' a 'perhaps,' and a 'peradventure.' In fact, the reigns are gone out of God's hands; the linchpin is taken away from the wheels of the creation; you have left the whole economy of grace and mercy to be the gathering together of fortuitous atoms impelled by man's own will, and what may become of it at the end nobody can know. We cannot tell on that theory whether God will be glorified or sin will triumph. Oh! how happy are we when come back to the old fashioned doctrines, and cast our anchor where it can get its grip in the eternal purpose and counsel of God, who worketh all things to the good pleasure of His will. [Ephesians 1:11] "Then another difficulty comes in; not only is everything made contingent, but it does seem to us as if man were thus made to be the supreme being in the universe. According to the freewill scheme the Lord intends good, but He must win like a lackey on His own creature to know what His intention is; God willeth good and would do it, but He cannot, because He has an unwilling man who will not have God's good thing carried into effect. What do ye, sirs, but drag the Eternal from His throne, and lift up into it that fallen creature, man: for man, according to that theory nods, and his nod is destiny. You must have a destiny somewhere; it must either be as God wills or as man wills. If it be as God wills, then Jehovah sits as sovereign upon His throne of glory, and all hosts obey Him, and the world is safe; if not God, then you put man there, to say. 'I will' or 'I will not;' 'if I will it I will enter heaven; if I will it I will despise the grace of God; if I will it I will conquer the Holy Spirit, for I am stronger than God, and stronger than omnipotence; if I will it I will make the blood of Christ of no effect, for I am mightier than that blood, mightier than the blood of the Son of God Himself; though God make His purpose, yet will I laugh at His purpose; it shall be my purpose that shall make His purpose stand, or make it fall.' Why, sirs, if this be not Atheism, it is idolatry; it is putting man where God should be, and I shrink with solemn awe and horror from that doctrine which makes the grandest of God's works -- the salvation of man -- to be dependent upon the will of His creature whether it shall be accomplished or not. Glory I can and must in my text in its fullest sense. 'It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.' [Romans 9:16]" --Charles H. Spurgeon |
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2 | A Conditional Salvation | Phil 2:13 | DocTrinsograce | 200545 | ||
"For example, a booklet, which is much circulated in student evangelism at the present time, lays down 'Three simple steps' to becoming a Christian: first, personal acknowledgment of sin, and second, personal belief in Christ's substitutionary work. These two are described as preliminary, but 'the third so final that to take it will make me a Christian... I must come to Christ and claim my personal share in what He did for everybody.' This all-decisive third step rests with me; Christ 'waits patiently until I open the door. Then He will come in...' Once I have done this I may immediately regard myself as a Christian. The advice follows: 'Tell somebody today what you have done.' "A man may make a profession without ever having his confidence in his own ability shattered; he has been told absolutely nothing of his need of a change of nature which is not within his own power, and consequently, if he does not experience such a radical change, he is not dismayed. He was never told it was essential so he sees no reason to doubt whether he is a Christian. Indeed, the teaching he has come under consistently militates against such doubts arising. It is frequently said that a man who has made a decision with little evidence of a change of life may be a 'carnal' Christian who needs instruction in holiness, or if the same individual should gradually lose his new-found interests, the fault is frequently attributed to lack of 'follow-up,' or prayer, or some other deficiency on the part of the Church. The possibility that these marks of worldliness and falling away are due to the absence of a saving experience at the outset is rarely considered; if this point were faced, then the whole system of appeals, decisions and counseling would collapse, because it would bring to the fore the fact that change of nature is not in man's power, and that it takes much longer than a few hours or days to establish whether a professed response to the gospel is genuine. But instead of facing this, it is protested that to doubt whether a man who has 'accepted Christ' is a Christian is tantamount to doubting the Word of God, and that to abandon 'appeals' and their adjuncts is to give up evangelism altogether." --Iain H. Murray, from The Forgotten Spurgeon (1966) |
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