Grace Family Church: Recent Episodes
The efforts of a legal spirit are directly the opposite of an evangelical faith. By nature every sinner resorts to the law. It cannot save him. He must let go of that, and fall into the arms of Christ. Faith saves, and Jesus Christ is the sole object of faith.
Ministers ought never to despair of the salvation of any sinner. To despair of any one, is just the way to make him despair of himself. Many have been ruined in this way, probably. We ought to expect sinners to repent,- and treat them accordingly. Who shall limit the Holy One of Israel-- It took me long to learn the lesson, but I have learnt never to give up a sinner. We must urge the duty of an immediate faith and repentance, as the Bible does so continually- but we should be careful to enjoin this duty in such a manner that, if it is not immediately done, the individual shall not be led or left to cease seeking God. Many a sinner turns back, when just at the door of heaven.
True light in the conscience is one thing, and a deceitful gloom in the proud heart is quite another. When a sinner has any just sense of his condition, as alienated from a holy God, he will not be apt to think of the unpardonable sin. Spurious conviction is common but useless.
Decision is a vastly important matter with a convicted sinner. The Bible treats it as such- -Choose ye this day whom ye will serve.- A sinner must choose, or he must be lost. Nobody else can choose for him. Nothing can excuse him from doing this duty at once. If he will not do it, he may expect the Divine Spirit to depart from him, and leave him to his own way.
It is important to be wise in aiming to win sinners to Christ. The Bible is the only safe guide. Its spirit is love. It utters no denunciations against any who are disposed to treat the gospel offer seriously. To lead sinners to condemn themselves is one thing, for us to condemn them is quite another. If their reason and conscience do not very much second what we say to them, our words do not hit their case.
An interest about religion may be very different from an interest in it. Men talk about being 'interested,' and 'interesting meetings.' This is all suspicious. It is commonly a mark of either fanaticism or pride, or of both. True religion is solemn and humble. And if it is happy, it is happy in truth, in God, in duty. To mislead souls is no trifle. The kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
When the affections, or mere sensibilities of the heart are excited, and the understanding and conscience are but little employed, there is a sad preparation for false hope-for some wild delusion or fanatical faith. The judgment and conscience should take the lead of the affections- but when the affections take the lead, they will be very apt to monopolize the whole soul-judgment and conscience will be overpowered, or flung into the background- and then, the deluded mortal will have a religion of mere impressions-more feeling than truth-more sensitiveness than faith-more fancy and fanaticism than holiness.
The snares of the devil are very numerous. Perhaps none of them are more common or more dangerous than those which are addressed to pride and vanity.
To cut off the sinner from all reliance upon himself, his merits, and his powers, and throw him naked and helpless into the hands of the Holy Spirit to lead him to Christ in faith, should be the one great aim of the ministry. Sinners certainly ought to repent, for God commands them to repent. But in my opinion, he does not design to have them understand his command as having respect only to their own ability to repent, and not having respect to the proffered aids of the Holy Spirit. Such aids constitute one grand ground on which his command is obligatory, and sweep away every possible excuse.
Moral suasian is one thing, and the Holy Spirit is another. It is an easy thing for a minister to fix a hope in the heart of an alarmed sinner, but it is not safe. The Bible does not tell us that a sinner's resolves are enough. It does not tell us the resolves are regeneration.
-I aim to conspire with the Holy Spirit. If I perceive any one truth has impressed the mind, I aim to make its impression deeper- because the Holy Spirit has already made that impression, and I would not diminish it by leading the mind off to something else.-
-He maketh the wrath of man to praise him, and the remainder of that wrath he will restrain.-
The great leading doctrines of Christianity are the truths which the Holy Spirit employs when he regenerates souls. If young converts are really ignorant on such points, not having experimentally learnt them, they are only converts to error and deception. It is not to be expected, perhaps not to be desired, that young Christians should understand doctrines scholastically, or theologically, or metaphysically- but if they are Christians indeed, it is probable that their mind will be substantially right on such doctrines as human sinfulness, divine sovereignty, atonement, justification by faith in Jesus Christ, regeneration by the special power of the Holy Spirit, and the constant need of divine aid. God's children all have the same image, and same superscription-the family mark. Heaven has but one mould. -Beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image.-
Impenitent sinners need to be convinced of their dependence on a power beyond their own. They need this especially. It is an essential point. Such a conviction will tend to drive them off from their miserable self-reliances. It will never put them at rest, but lead them to work, to prayer. Aside from such a conviction, they will be ignorant of the extent of their depravity- their seriousness will lack depth- and their seeking lack earnestness. The just sense of the amount of their criminality for continuing in their impenitence cannot be brought home to their hearts, unless the doctrine of their dependence helps to bring it there.--The Holy Spirit is their offered aid- and surely that aid is enough.They should know, and feel it to their heart's core, that they are now, on the spot, today, under the most solemn obligations to repent, not only because sin is wrong, but because God offers them the aids of the Holy Spirit- -In me is thy help.- Their impenitence not only tramples under foot the blood of the covenant but also does despite to the Spirit of Grace.
Many convicted sinners are kept from salvation by some mere trifle. It is important to remove the obstacle. They will not be likely to seek God in earnest, till that is done. The stony ground and the thorny ground need preparing before the seed is sown. The young man in the gospel valued his riches too much to follow Christ. All kinds of rubbish will gather around a wicked heart- and a sinner will yield to an obstacle which he is ashamed to mention. We have gained something, when we have discovered what it is. We can then take aim, and the arrow is more apt to hit.
I have often thought, that a truly regenerate man cannot have any doubt of the entire depravity of the heart. If he does not see that, it is probable that he does not see his heart, and hence, his repentance, his faith in Christ, and his reliance upon the Holy Spirit, will probably, all of them, be only deceptions. My observation continues to confirm me more and more in the opinion, that to experience religion, is to experience the truth of the great doctrines of divine grace.
A convicted sinner is the last person in the world to judge justly, in regard to the kind of instruction he needs. He will seize error more readily than truth- and if his tastes are consulted, his soul will be endangered. In consulting such tastes, lies the cunning art of deceivers, who lead crowds to admire them, and urn after them, and talk of them, while they care not for the truth- -deceiving and being deceived.-
The gospel is addressed to hope. Despair must always be deaf to it. Entire despair is incompatible with seeking God. Despair cannot pray. The last effort of the devil seems to be, to drive sinners to despair. -We are saved by hope,- says the apostle.
The resolutions of an unconverted sinner are one thing, and the operations of the Holy Spirit are quite another. They may coincide, indeed, and if such resolutions are made in the spirit of a humble reliance on God, they may be beneficial- -I will arise and go to my father- was no improper purpose. But if such resolutions are made in self-reliance, they are rash, and will seldom be redeemed. Sarah seems to have found herself insufficient for keeping her promise. -All I could do was to tell him I could do nothing, and pray him to help me.---If any one thinks that he has turned to God without the special aids of the Holy Spirit, it is probable that he has never turned to God at all Certainly he cannot sing, -He sent from above- he took me, he drew me out of many waters- he delivered me from my strong enemy.-