Spurgeon on New Converts

Great quotes from chapter 1 of 'The Soul Winner' by Charles H. Spurgeon.

"It very often happens that the converts that are born in excitement die when the excitement is over. They are like certain insects which are the product of an exceedingly warm day, and die when the sun goes down. Certain converts live like salamanders, in the fire; but they expire at a reasonable temperature."
p9

"The preacher's work is to throw sinners down in utter helplessness, that they may be compelled to look up to Him who alone can help them."
p13

"The proof to you that you have won the man's soul for Jesus is never before you till he has done with himself and his own merits, and has closed in with Christ."
p20

"Great care must be taken that this faith is exercised upon Christ for a complete salvation, and not for part of it. Numbers of persons think that the Lord Jesus is available for the pardon of past sin, but they cannot trust Him for their preservation in the future. They trust for years past, but not for years to come; whereas no such sub-division of salvation is ever spoken of in Scripture as the work of Christ. Either He bore all our sins, or none; and He either saves us once for all, or not at all.
p20

"Is it any wonder that many converts fall away, when, in fact, they were never taught to exercise faith in Jesus for eternal salvation, but only for temporary conversion? A faulty exhibition of Christ begets a faulty faith; and when this pines away in its own imbecility, who is to blame for it? According to their faith so it is unto them: the preacher and professor of a partial faith must unitedly bear the blame of the failure when their poor mutilated trust comes to breakdown."
p21

"True regeneration implants a hatred of all evil; and where one sin is delighted in, the evidence is fatal to a sound hope."
p23

"You may say to yourself, at the close of the service, 'Here is a splendid haul of fish!' Wait a bit. Remember our Saviour's words, 'The kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind; which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.' Do not number your fishes before they are broiled; nor count your converts before you have tested and tried them. This process may make your work somewhat slow; but then, brethren, it will be sure."
p28

Authentic Talk: Inch By Inch Growth

My second talk at 'Authentic' students and 20s group at Kings Church Eastbourne. Not especially eloquent, but gets the job done!

Inch_By_Inch_Growth.pdf

Authentic: Inch By Inch Growth from Sam Arnold on Vimeo.

The Marks of a True Believer

I was listening to a sermon today that said generous giving was a mark of a true believer. Without it, your salvation could be in question. It was one of those statements that I agreed with to some extent, but couldn't agree in the fullest. I had to pick apart why that was. And here's where I got with my thinking...

While generous giving is certainly a mark of a believer, it is really just one of many, many signs. The real and true mark of a believer is regeneration, which is the bigger, wider picture of what is going on in a believers life. Giving, in this sense, is like one particular branch of a much bigger tree. You would certainly hope that it was there, but it doesn't, in itself, make the tree.

The trouble with gradual sanctification is it takes someone time to grow. Just like a tree, the more it grows, the stronger it gets and the more branches, shoots and fruit it produces. But in the beginning, there's hardly anything to see. It's barely a twig. It might only have one leaf.

So really, generous giving is just one of many marks that you are likely to see in a mature believer. It's a single mark of a much greater evidence: regeneration.

Spurgeon on Salvation, Sin, Satan and the Saved

Quotes from 'Christ's Glorious Achievements'

"For myself, I love to live near a sinner's Saviour. If my standing before the Lord depended upon what I am in myself and what good works and righteousness I could bring, surely I should have to condemn myself a thousand times a day."
p18

"To believe is, to trust, to confide, to depend upon, to rely upon, to rest in."
p18-19

"There is no difference between one believer and another as to justification. So long as there is a connection between you and Christ the righteousness of God is yours. The link may be very like a film, a mere spider's line of trembling faith, but, if it runs all the way from the heart to Christ divine grace can and will flow along the most slender thread"
p20

"Come, look up, ye believers who are burdened with a sense of sin. While you chasten yourselves and mourn your sins, do not doubt your Saviour, nor question His righteousness."
p21.

"... for only by regeneration can we know ourselves to be the true seed."
p34.

"You must not think the devil cares much about you : the battle is against Christ in you."
p41.

""If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature." Read, and the reading will be accurate, "He is a new creation." This is a very sweeping statement. A man in Christ is not the old man purified, nor the old man improved, nor the old man in a better humour, nor the old man with additions and subtractions, nor the old man dressed in gorgeous robes. No, he is a new creature altogether."
p70.

The Hiddenness of God (Part 4)

In some ways when we struggle with the hiddenness of God we are, at those moments, questioning whether Creation, Jesus and the Bible is enough. If we conclude that they aren't enough proof, they're not enough to cement our belief, that's a very big statement. We're passing judgment not only over God's work in history, but Jesus Christ himself. It's personal.

Sown Amongst Thorns

"For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. What the true proverb says has happened to them: The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire."
2 Peter 2: 20-22

This description of the person that once believed but becomes entangled again by the defilements of the world runs parallel to the parable of the sower. It echoes perfectly the seed sown amongst thorns: life that springs up for a short time and is then choked away. It perfectly describes so many people I've known over the years - so gutting, but so fitting.

There must be a number of reasons why they are in a worst state, and better if they had never known the gospel message. Here are my thoughts:

1. It totally dishonours the name of Christ. It discredits the gospel message, weakening it's power in the lives of those around them who are themselves in need of salvation, and have witnessed their falling away. For this they stand accountable to God, and thus carry extra weight on their shoulders.

2. They themselves may be much less likely to consider the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ again in the future, having played about with it once already, concluding that it "didn't work". Hebrews 6 remarks that it's like crucifying Jesus twice. They may feel that there's nothing left for them.

3. They have had knowledge, insight and blessings that many people have never experienced. They are not blind like the rest of the world. They do not have the same the same excuse. Their knowledge holds them accountable, which cannot go well on the day of judgement.

C.T. Studd on Evangelism

"Remember than mere soul-saving is comparatively easy work and is not nearly so important as manufacturing the saved ones into Saints, Soldiers and Saviors."
C.T. Studd, Cricketer and Pioneer, p70

Wrestling with Hebrews 6

"For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned."
Hebrews 6: 4-8

A brutal and sobering passge of scripture. It seems to be saying that it's impossible for us to bring certain people back to repentance. And if repentance is impossible, you are in a place that is beyond salvation. People who were once amongst God's people, tasted the goodness of Christ and the Holy Spirit, and then fell away. There are two points that come to mind:

1. Were these people genuine Christians?
2. This word "impossible" is, in either case, very scary.

It makes reference to people who have previously repented. People who were enlightened, and even shared in the Holy Spirit. Does this mean they were genuine Christians? One thing's for sure: they outwardly appeared to be so, had partaken in the Christian life, and shared a degree of enlightenment. Having had all this they then decided that the world was better than Christ and returned to their previous way. In this they openly and publically shame Christ, bringing disgrace to His name, wounding the gospel and it's effectiveness in those around them.

In Jesus' parable of the sower there is seed which takes root and quickly springs up but is in shallow soil and dies; and also seed which is choked by thorns and thistles. In both cases there is a response to the gospel, and there is new life which springs out, but then dies away. This to me makes the most sense in interpreting Hebrews 6. I think faith often comes by degrees. A tree when it first grows is nothing but a tiny plant. Step on it and you squash it. But gradually, when protected, it grows and grows, over time it becomes established and forms an immovable living entity. A massive oak tree is hard to push around.

It almost seems like there's this transitionary period that's critical in a new believer. It's like becoming a Christian isn't merely flicking a switch, but a gradual process of roots going down and life springing up. There's a testing of faith over time, and some faith doesn't survive. So are these people true Christians? Hebrews 3:14 says "For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end." The test of truly authentic faith is that it perseveres to our last day on Earth. A person can therefore have many spiritual experiences and blessings, claim to be a Christian in all the right ways, and yet fail this long test of faith.

The most difficult word in all of this is the word "impossible". It's incredibly scary, but it's right there, in the Bible. It says some people can't be bought back to a place of repentance. Being in a place where you are unable to repent puts you beyond salvation. Very, very sobering should any of us fall into this pit, showing utter distain for the cross of Christ, and proving we were never of Him.

"Whoever comes to me I will never cast out."
John 6:37

This last point is an important one. God will never reject anyone who repents. Should a backslider return to Christ in humble repentance, they are guaranteed acceptance. The question is whether or not they themselves can repent.

Trials build strength

Hudson Taylor on young converts and the importance of trials:

"In their spiritual infancy they should be left to grow naturally in the circumstances in which God had placed them, strengthened by the very trials with which they found themselves surrounded."
Biography of James Hudson Taylor, p211

"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."
James 1:2-4

If life was easy, free from struggles and frustrations, we would remain weak and our faith never tested. We would never have the opportunity to trust God and wholly rely on Him. We would never grow or mature. As it is, we can count it as joy. That's hard. But that wording 'count it all joy' seems to suggest that it's not necessarily our immediate experience. It's a conscious decision. We step back and realise 'even though it's hard, this is a good thing'.

Premature birth?

I've been thinking for a while that it's quite possible to be too eager to see people 'converted'; to pray the sinners payer and chalk them on the list of souls won for Christ. Like a premature birth, a person who converts without experiencing the full conviction of sin, or considering the cost of following Christ, produces a weak and vulnerable baby.

"Possibly, much of the flimsy piety of the present day arises from the ease with which men attain to peace and joy in these evangelistic days... Too many think lightly of sin, and therefore think lightly of the Saviour. He who has stood before his God, convicted and condemned, with the rope about his neck, is the man to weep for joy when he is pardoned, to hate evil with which has been forgiven him, and to live to the honour of the Redeemer by whose blood he has been cleansed."
Charles Spurgeon, 1890, Autobiography

Spurgeon's methods for determining salvation were strict, and when true salvation in a person's life was not evident, they were posted in the churches List of Refusals – people to be revisited later on. As his biography states "He truly believed in hell, and he recognised the awful responsibility should he give some person cause to believe he was saved if there was no evidence that it was so."

The following are three marks of true conversion which Spurgeon's church looked for when dealing with a person tesifying that they had come to know Christ:

One, had the person, knowing himself to be a sinner and unable to do anything toward saving himself, gone to God, begging for mercy, and had entirely trusted his soul to Christ, believing in the saving merit of His death upon the cross? [This individual experience of the soul with God was the unalterable and basic necessity, and without it there was no recognition of the person as truly converted.]

Two, had the person entered into newness of life, experiencing a change of affections, victory over sins, a love for the Word of God, and a desire to win others to Christ?

Three, did he or she possess a basic understanding of the doctrines of grace, recognising that salvation did not begin with himself or his own will, but with God's choice and God's action, and that God, who saved him, would keep him through time and through eternity?

From Spurgeon: A New Biography by Arnold Dallimore, p81.