Sovereign Grace and Man's Responsibility
A Sermon
(No. 207)
Delivered on Sabbath Morning, August 1, 1858, by the
REV. C.H. SPURGEON
at the Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens
"But Esaias is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought me
not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me. But to
Israel he saith, all day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a
disobedient and gainsaying people."–Romans 10:20-21.
DOUBTLESS THESE WORDS primarily refer to the casting away of the Jews,
and to the choosing of the Gentiles. The Gentiles were a people who
sought not after God, but lived in idolatry; nevertheless, Jehovah was
pleased in these latter times to send the gospel of his grace to them:
while the Jews who had long enjoyed the privileges of the Word of God,
on account of their disobedience and rebellion were cast away. I
believe, however, that while this is the primary object of the words of
our text, yet, as Calvin says, the truth taught in the text is a type
of a universal fact. As God did choose the people who knew him not, so
hath he chosen, in the abundance of his grace, to manifest his
salvation to men who are out of the way; while, on the other hand, the
men who are lost, after having heard the Word, are lost because of
their wilful sin; for God doth all the day long "stretch forth his
hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people."
The system of truth is not one straight line, but two. No man will ever
get a right view of the gospel until he knows how to look at the two
lines at once. I am taught in one book to believe that what I sow I
shall reap: I am taught in another place, that "it is not of him that
willeth nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy." I see
in one place, God presiding over all in providence; and yet I see, and
I cannot help seeing, that man acts as he pleases, and that God has
left his actions to his own will, in a great measure. Now, if I were to
declare that man was so free to act, that there was no presidence of
God over his actions, I should be driven very near to Atheism; and if,
on the other hand, I declare that God so overrules all things, as that
man is not free enough to be responsible, I am driven at once into
Antinomianism or fatalism. That God predestines, and that man is
responsible, are two things that few can see. They are believed to be
inconsistent and contradictory; but they are not. It is just the fault
of our weak judgment. Two truths cannot be contradictory to each other.
If, then, I find taught in one place that everything is fore-ordained,
that is true; and if I find in another place that man is responsible
for all his actions, that is true; and it is my folly that leads me to
imagine that two truths can ever contradict each other. These two
truths, I do not believe, can ever be welded into one upon any human
anvil, but one they shall be in eternity: they are two lines that are
so nearly parallel, that the mind that shall pursue 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.
Now, this morning I am about to consider the two doctrines. In the 20th
verse, we have taught us the doctrines of sovereign grace–"But Esaias
is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought me not; I was
made manifest unto them that asked not after me." In the next verse, we
have the doctrine of man's guilt in rejecting God. "To Israel he saith,
all day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and
gainsaying people."
I. First, then, DIVINE SOVEREIGNTY AS EXEMPLIFIED IN SALVATION. If any
man be saved, he is saved by Divine grace, and by Divine grace alone;
and the reason of his salvation is not to be found in him, but in God.
We are not saved as the result of anything that we do or that we will;
but we will and do as the result of God's good pleasure, and the work
of his grace in our hearts. No sinner can prevent God; that is, he
cannot go before him, cannot anticipate him; God is always first in the
matter of salvation. He is before our convictions, before our desires,
before our fears, before our hopes. All that is good or ever will be
good in us, is preceded by the grace of God, and is the effect of a
Divine cause within.
Now in speaking of God's gracious acts of salvation, this morning, I
notice first, that they are entirely unmerited. You will see that the
people here mentioned certainly did not merit God's grace. They found
him, but they never sought for him; he was made manifest to them, but
they never asked for him. There never was a man saved yet who merited
it. Ask all the saints of God, and they will tell you that their former
life was spent in the lusts of the flesh; that in the days of their
ignorance, they revolted against God and turned back from his ways,
that when they were invited to come to him they despised the
invitation, and, when warned, cast the warning behind their back. They
will tell you that their being drawn by God, was not the result of any
merit before conversion; for some of them, so far from having any
merit, were the very vilest of the vile: they plunged into the very
kennel of sin; they were not ashamed of all the things of which it
would be a shame for us to speak; they were ringleaders in crime, very
princes in the ranks of the enemy; and yet sovereign grace came to
them, and they were brought to know the Lord. They will tell you that
it was not the result of anything good in their disposition, for
although they trust that there is now something excellent implanted in
them, yet in the days of their flesh they could see no one quality
which was not perverted to the service of Satan. Ask them whether they
think they were chosen of God because of their courage; they will tell
you, no; if they had courage it was defaced, for they were courageous
to do evil. Question them whether they were chosen of God because of
their talent; they will tell you, no; they had that talent, but they
prostituted it to the service of Satan. Question them whether they were
chosen because of the openness and generosity of their disposition;
they will tell you that that very openness of temper, and that very
generosity of disposition, led them to plunge deeper into the depths of
sin, than they otherwise would have done, for they were "hail fellow,
well met," with every evil man, and ready to drink and join every
jovial party which should come in their way. There was in them no
reason whatever why God should have mercy upon them, and the wonder to
them is that he did not cut them down in the midst of their sins, blot
out their names from the book of life, and sweep them into the gulf
where the fire burneth. that shall devour the wicked. But some have
said that God chooses his people because he foresees that after he
chooses them, they will do this, that, and the other, which shall be
meritorious and excellent. Refer again to the people of God, and they
will tell you that since their conversion they have had much to weep
over. Although they can rejoice that God has begun the good work in
them, they often tremble lest it should not be God's work at all. They
will tell you that if they are abundant in faith yet there are times
when they are superabundant in unbelief; that if sometimes they are
full of works of holiness, yet there are times when they weep many
tears to think that those very acts of holiness were stained with sin.
The Christian will tell you that he weeps over his very tears; he feels
that there is filth even in the best of desires; that he has to pray to
God to forgive his prayers, for there is sin in the midst of his
supplications, and that he has to sprinkle even his best offerings with
the atoning blood, for he never else can bring an offering without spot
or blemish. You shall appeal to the brightest saint, to the man whose
presence in the midst of society is like the presence of an angel, and
he will tell you that he is still ashamed of himself. "Ah!" he will
say, "you may praise me, but I cannot praise myself, you speak well of
me, you applaud me, but if you knew my heart you would see abundant
reason to think of me as a poor sinner saved by grace, who hath nothing
whereof to glory, and must bow his head and confess his iniquities in
the sight of God." Grace, then is entirely unmerited.
Again, the grace of God is sovereign. By that word we mean that God has
an absolute right to give that grace where he chooses, and to withhold
it when he pleases. He is not bound to give it to any man, much less to
all men; and if he chooses to give it to one man and not to another,
his answer is, "Is thine eye evil because mine eye is good? Can I not
do as I will with mine own? I will have mercy on whom I will have
mercy." Now, I want you to notice the sovereignty of Divine grace as
illustrated in the text: "I was found of them that sought me not, I was
made manifest to them that asked not after thee." You would imagine
that if God gave his grace to any he would wait until he found them
earnestly seeking him. You would imagine that God in the highest
heavens would say, "I have mercies, but I will leave men alone, and
when they feel their need of these mercies and seek me diligently with
their whole heart, day and night, with tears, and vows, and
supplications, then will I bless them, but not before." But, beloved,
God saith no such thing. It is true he doth bless them that cry unto
him, but he blesses them before they cry, for their cries are not their
own cries, but cries which he has put into their lips; their desires
are not of their own growth, but desires which he has cast like good
seed into the soil of their hearts. God saves the men that do not seek
him. Oh, wonder of wonders! It is mercy indeed when God saves a seeker;
but how much greater mercy when he seeks the lost himself! Mark the
parable of Jesus Christ concerning the lost sheep; it does not run
thus: "A certain man had a hundred sheep, and one of them did go
astray. And he tarried at home, and lo, the sheep came back, and he
received it joyfully and said to his friends, rejoice, for the sheep
that I have lost is come back." No; he went after the sheep: it never
would have come after him; it would have wandered farther and farther
away. He went after it; over hills of difficulty, down valleys of
despondency he pursued its wandering feet, and at last he laid hold of
it; he did not drive it before him, he did not lead it, but he carried
it himself all the way, and when he brought it home he did not say, the
sheep is come back," but, "I have found the sheep which was lost." Men
do not seek God first; God seeks them first; and if any of you are
seeking him to-day it is because he has first sought you. If you are
desiring him he desired you first, and your good desires and earnest
seeking will not be the cause of your salvation, but the effects of
previous grace given to you. "Well," says another, "I should have
thought that although the Saviour might not require an earnest seeking
and sighing and groaning, and a continuous searching, after him, yet
certainly he would have desired and demanded that every man, before he
had grace, should ask for it." That, indeed, beloved, seems natural,
and God will give grace to them that ask for it; but mark, the text
says that he was manifested "to them that asked not for him." That is
to say, before we ask, God gives us grace. The only reason why any man
ever begins to pray is because God has put previous grace in his heart
which leads him to pray. I remember, when I was converted to God, I was
an Arminian thoroughly. I thought I had begun the good work myself, and
I used sometimes to sit down and think, "Well, I sought the Lord four
years before I found him," and I think I began to compliment myself
upon the fact that I had perseveringly entreated of him in the midst of
much discouragement. But one day the thought struck me, "How was it you
came to seek God?" and in an instant the answer came from my soul,
"Why, because he led me to do it; he must first have shown me my need
of him, or else I should never have sought him; he must have shown me
his preciousness, or I never should have thought him worth seeking;"
and at once I saw the doctrines of grace as clear as possible. God must
begin. Nature can never rise above itself. You put water into a
reservoir, and it will rise as high as that, but no higher if let
alone. Now, it is not in human nature to seek the Lord. Human nature is
depraved, and therefore, there must be the extraordinary pressure of
the Holy Spirit put upon the heart to lead us first to ask for mercy.
But mark, we do not know an thing about that, while the Spirit is
operating; we find that out afterwards. We ask as much as if we were
asking all of ourselves. Our business is to seek the Lord as if there
were no Holy Spirit at all. But although we do not know it, there must
always be a previous motion of the Spirit in our heart, before there
will be a motion of our heart towards him.
"No sinner can be beforehand with thee,
Thy grace is most sovereign, most rich, and most free."
Let me give you an illustration. You see that man on his horse
surrounded by a body of troopers. How proud he is, and how he reins up
his horse with conscious dignity. Sir, what have you got there? What
are those despatches you treasure up with so much care? "Oh, sir, I
have that in my hand that will vex the church of God in Damascus. I
have dragged the fellows into the synagogue, both men and women; I have
scourged them, and compelled them to blaspheme; and I have this
commission from the high priest to drag them to Jerusalem, that I may
put them to death." Saul! Saul! have you no love for Christ? "Love to
him! No. When they stoned Stephen, I took care of the witnesses'
clothes, and I rejoiced to do it. I wish I had had the crucifying of
their Master, for I hate them with perfect hatred, and I breathe out
threatenings and slaughter against them." What do you say of this man?
If he be saved, will you not grant that it must be some Divine
sovereignty that converts him? Look at poor Pilate, how much there was
that was hopeful in him. He was willing to save the Master, but he
feared and trembled. If we had had our choice, we should have said,
"Lord, save Pilate, he does not want to kill Christ, he labours to let
him escape; but slay the bloodthirsty Saul, he is, the very chief of
sinners." "No," says God, "I will do as I will with mine own." The
heavens open, and the brightness of glory descends–brighter than the
noon-day sun. Stunned with the light he falls to the ground, and a
voice is heard addressing him, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it
is hard for thee to kick against the pricks." He rises up; God appears
to him: "Lo, I have made thee a chosen vessel to bear my name among the
Gentiles." Is not that sovereignty–sovereign grace, without any
previous seeking? God was found of him that sought not for him; he
manifested himself to one that asked him not. Some will say, that was
it miracle; but it is one that is repeated every day in the week. I
knew a man once, who had not been to the house of God for a long time;
and one Sunday morning, having been to market to buy a pair of ducks
for his Sunday dinner, he happened to see a house of God opened as he
was passing by. "Well," he thought, "I will hear what these fellows are
up to." He went inside; the hymn that was being sung struck his
attention; he listened to the sermon, forgot his ducks, discovered his
own character, went home, and threw himself upon his knees before God,
and after a short time it pleased God to give him joy and peace in
believing. That man had nothing in him to begin with, nothing that
could have led you to imagine he ever would be saved, but simply
because God would have it so, he struck the effectual blow of grace,
and the man was brought to himself. But we are, each of us who are
saved, the very people who are the best illustrations of the matter. To
this day, my wonder is, that ever the Lord should have chosen thee. I
cannot make it out; and my only answer to the question is, "Even so,
Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight."
I have now, I think, stated the doctrine pretty plainly. Let me only
say a few words about it. Some people are very much afraid of this
truth. They say, "It is true, I dare say, but still you ought not to
preach it before a mixed assembly; it is very well for the comfort of
God's people, but it is to be very carefully handled, and not to be
publicly preached upon." Very well, sir, I leave you to settle that
matter with my Master. He gave me this great book to preach from, and I
cannot preach from anything else. If he has put anything in it you
think is not fit, go and complain to him, and not to me. I am simply
his servant, and if his errand that I am to tell is objectionable, I
cannot help it. If I send my servant to the door with a message, and he
delivers it faithfully, he does not deserve to be scolded. Let me have
the blame, not the servant. So I say; blame my Master, and not me, for
I do but proclaim his message. "No," says one, "it is not to be
preached." But it is to be preached. Every word of God is given by
inspiration, and it is profitable for some good end. Does not the Bible
say so? Let me tell you, the reason why many of our churches are
declining is just because this doctrine has not been preached. Wherever
this doctrine has been upheld. it has always been "Down with Popery."
The first reformers held this doctrine and preached it. Well said it
Church of England divine to some who railed at him, "Look at your own
Luther. Do you not consider him to be the teacher of the Church of
England? What Calvin and the other reformers taught is to be found in
his book upon the freedom of the will." Besides, we can point you to a
string of ministers from the beginning even until now. Talk of
apostolic succession! The man who preaches the doctrines of grace has
an apostolic succession indeed. Can we not trace our pedigree through a
whole line of men like Newton, and Whitfield, and Owen, and Bunyan,
straight away on till we come to Calvin, Luther, and Zwingle; and then
we can go back from them to Savonarola, to Jerome of Prague, to Huss,
and then back to Augustine, the mighty preacher of Christianity; and
from St. Augustine to Paul is but one step. We need not be ashamed of
our pedigree; although Calvinists are now considered to be heterodox,
we are and ever must be orthodox. It is the old doctrine. Go and buy
any puritanical book, and see if you can find Arminianism in it. Search
all the book stalls over, and see if you can find one large folio book
of olden times that anything in it but the doctrine of the free grace
of God. Let this once be brought to bear upon the minds of men, and
away go the doctrines of penance and confession, away goes paying for
the pardon of your sin. If grace be free and sovereign in the hand of
God, down goes the doctrine of priestcraft, away go buying and selling
indulgences and such like things; they are swept to the four winds of
heaven, and the efficacy of good works is dashed in pieces like Dagon
before the ark of the Lord. "Well," says one, "I like the doctrine;
still there are very few that preach it, and those that do are very
high." Very likely; but I care little what anybody calls me. It
signifies very little what men call you. Suppose they call you a
"hyper," that does not make you anything wicked, does it? Suppose they
call you an Antinomian, that will not make you one. I must confess,
however, that there are some men who preach this doctrine who are doing
ten thousand times more harm than good, because they don't preach the
next doctrine I am going to proclaim, which is just as true. They have
this to be the sail. but they have not the other to be the ballast.
They can preach one side but not the other. They can go along with the
high doctrine, but they will not preach the whole of the Word. Such men
caricature the Word of God. And just let me say here, that it is the
custom of a certain body of Ultra-Calvinists, to call those of us who
teach that it is the duty of man to repent and believe, "Mongrel
Calvinists." If you hear any of them say so, give them my most
respectful compliments, and ask them whether they ever read Calvin's
works in their lives. Not that I care what Calvin said or did not say;
but ask them whether they, ever read his works; and if they say "No,"
as they must say, for there are forty-eight large voluines, you can
tell them, that the man whom they call "a Mongrel Calvinist," though he
has not read them all, has read a very good share of them, and knows
their spirit; and he knows that he preaches substantially what Calvin
preached–that every doctrine he preaches may be found in Calvin's
Commentaries on some part of Scripture or other. We are TRUE
Calvinists, however. Calvin is nobody to us. Jesus Christ and him
crucified, and the old fashioned Bible, are our standards. Beloved, let
us take God's Word as it stands. If we find high doctrine there, let it
be high; if we find low doctrine, let it be low; let us set up no other
standard than the Bible affords.
II. Now then for the second point. "There now," says my ultra friend,
"he is going to contradict himself." No, my friend, I am not, I am only
going to contradict you. The second point is MAN'S RESPONSIBILITY. "But
to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a
disobedient and gainsaying people." Now, these people whom God had cast
away had been wooed, had been sought, had been entreated to be saved;
but they would not, and inasmuch as they were not saved, it was the
effect of their disobedience and their gainsaying. That lies clearly
enough in the text. When God sent the prophets to Israel, and stretched
forth his hands, what was it for? What did he wish, thein to come to
him for? Why, to be saved. "No," says one, "it was for temporal
mercies." Not so, my friend; the verse before is concerning spiritual
mercies, and so is this one, for they refer to the same thing. Now, was
God sincere in his offer? God forgive the man that dares to say he was
not. God is undoubtedly sincere in every act he did. He sent his
prophets, he entreated the people of Israel to lay hold on spiritual
things, but they would not, and though he stretched out his hands all
the day long, yet they were "a disobedient and gainsaying people," and
would not have his love; and on their head rests their blood.
Now let me notice the wooing of God and of what sort it is. First, it
was the most affectionate wooing in the world. Lost sinners who sit
under the sound of the gospel are not lost for the want of the most
affectionate invitation. God says he stretched out his hands. You know
what that means. You have seen the child who is disobedient and will
not come to his father. The father puts out his hands, and says, "Come,
my child, come; I am ready to forgive you." The tear is in his eye, and
his bowels move with compassion, and he says, "Come, come." God says
this is what he did–"he stretched out his hands." That is what he has
done to some of you. You that are not saved to-day are without excuse,
for God stretched out his hands to you, and he said, "Come, come." Long
have you sat beneath the sound of the ministry, and it has been a
faithful one, I trust, and a weeping one. Your minister has not
forgotten to pray for your souls in secret or to weep over you when no
eye saw him, and he has endeavoured to persuade you as an ambassador
from God. God is my witness, I have sometimes stood in this pulpit, and
I could not have pleaded harder for my own life than I have pleaded
with you. In Christ's name, I have cried, "Come unto me all ye that
labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." I have wept over
you as the Saviour did, and used his words on his behalf, "O Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered thy children together as a
hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not." And you
know that your conscience has often been touched; you have often been
moved; you could not resist it. God was so kind to you; he invited you
so affectionately by the Word; he dealt so gently with you by his
providence; his hands were stretched out, and you could hear his voice
speaking in your ears, "Come unto me, come: come now, let us reason
together; though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as wool; though
they be red like crimson they shall be whiter than snow." You have
heard him cry, "Ho every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters."
You have heard him say with all the affection of a father's heart, "Let
the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and
let him turn unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and unto
our God, for he will abundantly pardon." Oh! God does plead with men
that they would be saved, and this day he says to every one of you,
"Repent, and be converted for the remission of your sins. Turn ye unto
me. Thus saith the Lord of hosts; consider your ways." And with love
divine he woos you as a father woos his child, putting out his hands
and crying, "Come unto me, come unto me." "No," says one
strong-doctrine man, "God never invites all men to himself; he invites
none but certain characters." Stop, sir, that is all you know about it.
Did you ever read that parable where it is said, My oxen and my
fatlings are killed, and all things are ready; come unto the marriage."
And they that were bidden would not come. And did you never read that
they all began to make excuse, and that they were punished because they
did not accept the invitations. Now, if the invitation is not to be
made to anybody, but to the man who will accept it, how can that
parable be true? The fact is, the oxen and fatlings are killed; the
wedding feast is ready, and the trumpet sounds, "Ho every one that
thirsteth, come and eat, come and drink." Here are the provisions
spread, here is an all-sufficiency; the invitation is free; it is a
great invitation. "Whosoever will, let him come and take of the water
of life freely." And that invitation is couched in tender words, "Come
to me, my child, come to me." "All day long I have stretched forth my
hands."
And note again, this invitation was very frequent. The words, "all the
day long," may be translated "daily"–"Daily have I stretched forth my
hands." Sinner, God has not called you once to come, and then let you
alone, but every day has he been at you; every day has conscience
spoken to you; every day has providence warned you, and every Sabbath
has the Word of God wooed you. Oh! how much some of you will have to
account for at God's great bar! I cannot now read your characters, but
I know there are some of you who will have a terrible account at last.
All the day long has God been wooing you. From the first dawn of your
life, he wooed you through your mother, and she used to put your little
hands together, and teach you to say,
"Gentle Jesus meek and mild,
Look upon a little child,
Pity my simplicity;
Suffer me to come to thee."
And in your boyhood God was still stretching out his hands after you.
How your Sunday-school teacher endeavoured to bring you to the Saviour!
How often your youthful heart was affected; but you put all that away,
and you are still untouched by it. How often did your mother speak to
you, and your father warn you; and you have forgotten the prayer in
that bed-room when you were sick, when your mother kissed your burning
forehead, knelt down and prayed to God to spare your life, and then
added that prayer, "Lord, save my boy's soul!" And you recollect the
Bible she gave you, when you first went out apprentice, and the prayer
she wrote on that yellow front leaf. When she gave it, you did not
perhaps know, but you may now; how earnestly she longed after you, that
you might be formed anew in Christ Jesus; how she followed you with her
prayers, and how she entreated with her God for you. And you have not
yet surely forgotten how many Sabbaths you have spent, and how many
times you have been warned. Why you have had waggon-loads of sermons
wasted on you. A hundred and four sermons you have heard every year,
and some of you more, and yet you are still just what you were.
But sinners, sermon hearing is an awful thing unless it is blessed to
our souls. If God has kept on stretching out his hands every day and
all the day, it will be a hard thing for you when you shall be justly
condemned not only for your breaches of the law, but for your wilful
rejection of the gospel. It is probable that God will keep on
stretching out his hands to you until your hairs grow grey, still
continually inviting you: and perhaps when you are nearing death he
will still say, "Come unto me, come unto me." But if you still persist
in hardening your heart, if still you reject Christ, I beseech you let
nothing make you imagine that you shall go unpunished. Oh! I do tremble
sometimes when I think of that class of ministers who tell sinners that
they are not guilty if they do not seek the Saviour. How they shall be
found innocent at God's great day I do not know. It seems to be a
fearful thing that they should be lulling poor souls into sleep by
telling them it is not their duty to seek Christ and repent, but that
they may do as they like about that, and that when they perish they
will be none the more guilty for having heard the Word. My Master did
not say that. Remember how he said, "And thou, Capernaum, which art
exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty
works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would
have remained until this day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more
tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee."
Jesus did not talk thus when he spoke to Chorazin and Bethsaida; for he
said, "Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the
mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon,
they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say
unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of
judgment, than for you." It was not the way Paul preached. He did not
tell sinners that there was no guilt in despising the cross. Hear the
apostle's words once more: "For if the word spoken by angels was
stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just
recompence of reward, how shall we escape, if we neglect so great
salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was
confirmed unto us by them that heard him." Sinner, at the great day of
God thou must give an account for every warning thou hast ever had, for
every time thou hast read thy Bible, ay, and for every time thou hast
neglected to read it; for every Sunday when the house of God was open
and thou didst neglect to avail thyself of the opportunity of hearing
the Word, and for every time thou didst hear it and didst not improve
it. Ye who are careless hearers, are tying faggots for your own burning
for ever. Ye that hear and straightway forget, or hear with levity, are
digging for yourselves a pit into which ye must be cast. Remember, no
one will be responsible for your damnation but yourself, at the last
great day. God will not be responsible for it. "As I live saith the
Lord"–and that is a great oath–"I have no pleasure in the death of
him that dieth. but had rather that he should turn unto me and live."
God has done much for you. He sent you his Gospel. You are not born in
a heathen land; he has given you the Book of Books; he has given you an
enlightened conscience; and if you perish under the sound of the
ministry, you perish more fearfully and terribly, than if you had
perished anywhere else.
This doctrine is as much God's Word as the other. You ask me to
reconcile the two. I answer, they do not want any reconcilement; I
never tried to reconcile them to myself, because I could never see a
discrepancy. If you begin to put fifty or sixty quibbles to me, I
cannot give any answer. Both are true; no two truths can be
inconsistent with each other; and what you have to do is to believe
them both. With the first one, the saint has most to do. Let him praise
the free and sovereign grace of God, and bless his name. With the
second, the sinner has the most to do. O sinner, humble thyself under
the mighty hand of God, when thou thinkest of how often he hath shown
his love to thee, by bidding thee come to himself, and yet how often
thou hast spurned his Word and refused his mercy, and turned a deaf ear
to every invitation, and hast gone thy way to rebel against a God of
love, and violate the commands of him that loved thee.
And now, how shall I conclude? My first exhortation shall be to
Christian people. My dear friends, I beseech you do not in any way give
yourselves lip to any system of faith apart from the Word of God. The
Bible, and the Bible alone, is the religion of Protestants; I am the
successor of the great and venerated Dr. Gill, whose theology is almost
universally received among the stronger Calvinistic churches; but
although I venerate his memory, and believe his teachings, yet he is
not my Rabbi. What you find in God's Word is for you to believe and to
receive. Never be frightened at a doctrine; and above all, never be
frightened at a name. Some one said to me the other day, that he
thought the truth lay somewhere between the two extremes. He meant
right, but I think he was wrong, I do not think the truth lies between
the two extremes, but in them both. I believe the higher a man goes the
better, when he is preaching the matter of salvation. The reason why a
man is saved is grace, grace, grace; and you may go as high as you like
there. But when you come to the question as to why men are damned, then
the Arminian is far more right than the Antinomian. I care not for any
denomination or party, I am as high as Huntingdon upon the matter of
salvation, but question me about damnation, and you will get a very
different answer. By the grace of God I ask no man's applause, I preach
the Bible as I find it. Where we get wrong is where the Calvinist
begins to meddle with the question of damnation, and interferes with
the justice of God; or when the Arminian denies the doctrine of grace.
My second exhortation is,–Sinners, I beseech every one of you who are
unconverted and ungodly, this morning to put away every form and
fashion of excuse that the devil would have you make concerning your
being unconverted. Remember, that all the teaching in the world can
never excuse you for being enemies to God by wicked works. When we
beseech you to be reconciled to him, it is because we know you will
never be in your proper place until you are reconciled. God has made
you; can it be right that you should disobey him? God feeds you every
day: can it be right that you should still live in disobedience to him?
Remember, when the heavens shall be on a blaze, when Christ shall come
to judge the earth in righteousness and his people with equity, there
will not be one excuse that you can make which will be valid at the
last great day. If you should attempt to say, "Lord, I have never heard
the word;" his answer would be, "Thou didst hear it; thou heardest it
plainly." "But Lord, I had an evil will." "Out of thine own mouth will
I condemn thee; thou hadst that evil will, and I condemn thee for it.
This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men
love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil." "But
Lord," some will say, "I was not predestinated." "What hadst thou to do
with that? Thou didst; do according to thine own will when thou didst
rebel. Thou wouldest not come unto me, and now I destroy thee for ever.
Thou hast broken my law–on thine own head be the guilt." If a sinner
could say at the great day, "Lord, I could not be saved anyhow his
torment in hell would be mitigated by that thought: but this shall be
the very edge of the sword, and the very burning of the fire"–Ye knew
your duty and ye did it not: ye trampled on everything that was holy;
ye neglected the Saviour, and how shall ye escape if ye neglect so
great salvation?"
Now, with regard to myself; you may some of you go away and say, that I
was Antinomian in the first part of the sermon and Arminian at the end.
I care not. I beg of you to search the Bible for yourselves. To the law
and to the testimony; if I speak not according to this Word, it is
because there is no light in me. I am willing to come to that test.
Have nothing to do with me where I have nothing to do with Christ.
Where I separate from the truth, cast my words away. But if what I say
be God's teaching, I charge you, by him that sent me, give these things
your thoughts, and turn unto the Lord with all your hearts.
__________________________________________________________________