IS CONVERSION NECESSARY? By C.H. Spurgeon

The Spirit calls men to Jesus in diverse ways- Some are drawn so gently that they scarcely know when the drawing began, and others are so suddenly affected, that their conversion stands out with noonday clearness. Perhaps no two conversions are precisely alike in detail- the means, the modes, the manifestations, all vary greatly. As our minds are not all cast in the same mold, it may so happen that the truth which affects one is powerless upon another; the style of address which influences your friend may be offensive to yourself. "The wind blows where it will."

Yet in all true conversions there are points of essential agreement- there must be in all a penitent confession of sin, and a looking to Jesus for the forgiveness of it, and there must also be a real change of heart such as shall affect the entire life thereafter. Where these essential points are not found, there is no genuine conversion. Where there is true faith, there is the new birth, and that implies a change beyond measure, complete, and radical. Any man who is united to Christ has experienced a great change. This change is a thorough and sweeping one, and operates upon the nature, heart, and life of the convert. There must be a divine work, making us new creatures, and causing all things to become new with us, or we shall die in our sins. Our condition before God, our moral tone, our nature, our state of mind, are made by conversion totally different from what they were before. In a word, if we are in Christ Jesus we are new creatures; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. In conversion, infidels become believers, Roman Catholics forsake their priests, harlots become chaste, drunkards leave their cups, and, what is equally remarkable, Pharisees leave their self-righteous pride, and come as 'sinners' to Jesus. Conversion may be known by the fact that it changes the whole man.

It changes the 'principle' upon which he lives- he once lived for self, now he lives for God. He once did right because he was afraid of punishment if he did wrong, but now he shuns evil because he hates it. He once did right because he hoped to merit heaven, but now no such selfish motive sways him- he knows that he is saved, and he now does right out of gratitude to God.

His 'objects in life' are changed- he once lived for gain, or worldly honor; now he lives for the glory of God. His 'comforts' are changed- the pleasures of the world and sin are nothing to him now, he finds comfort in the love of God shed abroad in his heart.

His 'desires' are changed- that which he once panted and pined for, he is now content to do without. And that which he once despised, he now longs after as the deer pants after the water brooks. His 'fears' are different- he fears man no more, but fears his God. His 'hopes' are also altered- his expectations fly beyond the stars. The man has begun a new life.

A convert once said- "Either the world is altered or else I am." Everything seems new. Beloved hearers, may we all meet in heaven. But to meet in heaven we must all be converted, for inside yonder gates of pearl none can enter but those who are new creatures in Christ Jesus our Lord. God bless you, for Christ's sake. Amen. by C.H. Spurgeon

The Pharaoh – Saul of Tarsus by John Roden

Pharaoh, king of Egypt, hated the people of God – so did Saul of Tarsus (Act 9:1). Pharaoh sought to kill the people of God – Saul of Tarsus was hell-bent and determined to persecute and kill all the disciples of Christ (Act 22:4-5). Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice to let Israel go?” (Exd 5:2) – Saul of tarsus believed Jesus of Nazareth was a fake and an imposter, and held the clothing of those men who stoned His disciple Stephen to death as Stephen called upon God, saying “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (Act 7:58-59). Pharaoh dropped into Hell under the waters of the Red Sea (Exd 14) – Saul of Tarsus was unhorsed on the road to Damascus, conquered and subdued by the manifested glory and marvelous grace of the risen, exalted, and glorified Lord Jesus Christ (Act 9:3-19). He later changed his name to Paul, was called to be an Apostle of Christ, and eventually wrote at least 13 books of the New Testament! God said of Pharaoh: “Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show My power in thee…” (Rom 9:17). The same said of the murderer Saul of Tarsus, upon his conversion: “He is a chosen vessel unto me.” (Act 9:15). The only thing that made the difference in these two men was the sovereign grace of God – one vessel of wrath prepared for destruction, the other was a vessel of mercy, prepared beforehand for glory (Rom 9:22-23)

Exert from John Roden ‘The Sovereign Grace of God in Salvation’

Blood-drenched Book by John Roden

The Bible is a blood-drenched Book throughout – the story of blood redemption in the Lord Jesus Christ is pre-figured, prophesied, or told from the early chapters of its first book of Genesis after man’s fall, right on through both Old and New Testaments, including the Book of Revelation, its last Book. (Rev 5:9, 7:14, 12:11)

In this regard, I would like to quote Dr. M.R. DeHan (1891-1965)
“When we are accused of preaching a Gospel of blood, we plead guilty to the charge, for the only thing that gives life to our teaching and power to the Word of God is the fact that it is the blood which is the very life and power of the Gospel. From Genesis to Revelation we see the stream of blood which imparts to this Book the very life of God”

exert from John Roden ‘The Sovereign Grace of God in Salvation’

Redeemed by Henry Law

"God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body." 1 Cor. 6:20

"God purchased you at a high price. Don't be enslaved by the world." 1 Cor. 7:23
Redeemed ones are no more their own.

Your time is redeemed; use it as a consecrated talent in His cause. Your minds are redeemed; employ them to learn His truth and, to meditate on His ways. Thus make them armories of holy weapons. Your eyes are redeemed; let them not look on vanity; close them on all sights and books of folly. Your feet are redeemed; let them trample on the world, and climb the upward hill of Zion, and bear you onward in the march of Christian zeal. Your tongues are redeemed; let them only sound His praise, and testify to His love, and call sinners to His cross. Your hearts are redeemed; let them love Him wholly, and have no seat for rivals.

"For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect." 1 Peter 1:18-19
by Henry Law

No cradle holds an innocent one! By Henry Law

When evil fills the heart, evil effects will soon appear. From tainted sources, tainted waters flow. The tree proclaims the qualities of its root. When poison permeates the veins, the whole body sickens. The plague begun, spreads an infecting course. When Adam fell, the inner man became entirely corrupt. Now, corruption cannot but propagate
corruption. The parent reproduces his own likeness. Hence every child is born in sin.

No cradle holds an innocent one!

Each offspring of the human family steps upon earth . . . dead towards God; corrupt in inward bias; prone to iniquity. He brings . . . no eye to see God's will; no ear to hear His voice; no feet to climb the heavenly hill. He is . . . an alien from righteousness; a willing slave of Satan; blinded in intellect; a pilgrim towards a lost land; a vessel fitted for destruction; a current strongly rushing downwards.

His heart has many tenants; but God is no longer there. The palace once so fair is now
overrun with weeds. Like Babylon in ruins, wild beasts of the desert lie there, and the
houses are full of doleful creatures. Is. 13:21. Reader, such surely is your birth state!
Has your soul realized the dreadful truth? Do you abhor natural self? Has the life giving Spirit quickened you with renovating might? Are you a new creation in Christ Jesus? If so, surely you will bless God's rescuing grace. If otherwise, may this dark picture scare you from delusion's dream! by Henry Law

Sovereignty - Success - Substitution - Satisfaction by Don Bell

Meditate today on these four words, as they relate to the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which we are redeemed: SOVEREIGNTY –SUCCESS – SUBSTITUTION – SATISFACTION. Here are four Words that will both instruct and comfort your hearts, and inspire your hearts with Thanksgiving and praise to the Lord Jesus Christ for his great redemption.

The first word is SOVEREIGNTY – Our Lord's work of redemption was an act of Divine sovereignty. "He laid down his life for us." There was nothing in us which compelled him, or moved him to redeem us. He voluntarily laid down his Life for us, because it was the free and sovereign pleasure of his love to do so.

The second is SUCCESS – Because our Redeemer is the eternal, sovereign God: we are assured that his death and his redemptive work is a success, and not a failure. The prophecy has been fulfilled - "He shall not fail." Whatever the Lord Jesus Christ intended to accomplish at Calvary, he has accomplished.

The third is SUBSTITUTION – The Lord Jesus Christ died as a Substitute for a particular people. And those people for whom Christ stood as a substitute at Calvary, bearing their sins and enduring the wrath of God in their place shall never perish. They are redeemed!

The fourth is SATISFACTION – Our blessed Savior's one, substitutionary sacrifice for our sins has completely and perfectly satisfied the wrath and justice of God against us. His sacrifice was infinitely meritorious, so that every sinner who believes on Christ is freely justified and fully pardoned. by Donald Bell

Redemption by Don Bell

Here is a word from God that should brighten the day for you – "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree." When the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, hung upon the cross, he was made to be a curse, an object of Divine wrath and Judgment, so that we who believe might never endure the curse of God's wrath. He did not simply make it possible for us to Be redeemed. He did not simply make us redeemable. The text says, "Christ Hath redeemed us from the curse of the law!" This redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ is the central theme of Holy Scripture, the foundation of Our faith, and the only hope we have of eternal salvation. by Donald Bell

Sound theologians! by C.H. Spurgeon

A man may know a great deal about true religion, and yet be a total stranger to it. He may know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and yet he may be possessed of a devil. Mere knowledge does nothing for us but puff us up. We may know, and know, and know, and so increase our responsibility, without bringing us at all into a state of salvation.

Beware of resting in head-knowledge. Beware of relying upon orthodoxy, for without love to Christ, with all your correctness of doctrine, you will be a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal.

It is well to be sound in the faith, but the soundness must be in the heart as well as in the head. There is as ready a way to destruction by the road of orthodoxy as by the paths of heterodoxy. Hell has thousands in it who were never heretics. Remember that the devils "believe and tremble."

There are no sounder theologians than devils, and yet their conduct is not affected by what they believe, and consequently they still remain at enmity to the Most High God. A mere head-believer is on a par therefore with fallen angels, and he will have his portion with them forever unless grace shall change his heart. by C.H. Spurgeon

ETERNAL, ABSOLUTE PREDESTINATION! by Spurgeon

Oh! we love the sublime doctrine of eternal absolute predestination.

Some have doubted whether predestination is consistent with the free agency of man. We believe that man does as he pleases, yet notwithstanding he always does as God decrees. Man does as he wills; but God makes him do as He wills, too. No, not only is the will of man under the absolute predestination of Jehovah; but all things, great or little, are of him. There is nothing great or little, that is not from him. The summer dust moves in its orbit, guided by the same hand which rolls the stars along. The dewdrops have their father, and trickle on the rose leaf as God bids them. Yes, the sear leaves of the forest, when hurled along by the tempest, have their allotted position where they shall fall, nor can they go beyond it. In the great, and in the little, there is God working all things according to the counsel of his own will. And though man seeks to go against his Maker, yet he cannot. Everything is ordained by God! Unto Him who guides the stars and sparrows, who rules planets and yet moves atoms, who speaks thunders and yet whispers zephyrs, unto Him be glory! by C.H. Spurgeon

Deadly, destructive, damming by CH Spurgeon

The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: "God, I thank you that I am not like other men-- robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get." Luke 18:11-12

Nothing is more deadly than self-righteousness!

Your own righteousness will destroy you as certainly as your iniquities!

If you rest upon what you have done, however good in your own eyes, or however praiseworthy in the esteem of your fellow-men, you rest on a foundation that will certainly fail you. Christ will have you to know, however good you are, that you must come to him just as the vilest of the vile must come. You must come as guilty- you cannot come as righteous. You must come to Jesus to be washed; you must come to him to be clothed. You think you do not need washing; you fancy you are clothed, and covered, and beautiful to look upon. But oh! the garb of outward respectability, and of outward morality, often is nothing but a film to hide an abominable leprosy! Your merits or your demerits are alike unavailing for salvation! God grant that we may no longer boast of ourselves. Put away the Pharisee's pride, and never utter the Pharisee's prayer. It is self-righteousness which damns the souls of thousands! God's arm is strong enough, God's fire fierce enough, to melt even the iron of self-righteousness. By C.H. Spurgeon

Divine Sovereignty by A. W. Pink

It has been well said that "true worship is based upon recognized greatness, and greatness is superlatively seen in Sovereignty, and at no other footstool will men really worship." In the presence of the Divine King upon His throne even the seraphim 'veil their faces.'

Divine sovereignty is not the sovereignty of a tyrannical despot, but the exercised pleasure of One who is infinitely wise and good! Because God is infinitely wise He cannot err, and because He is infinitely righteous He will not do wrong. Here then is the preciousness of this truth.

The mere fact itself that God's will is irresistible and irreversible fills me with fear, but once I realize that God wills only that which is good. My heart is made to rejoice. Here then is the final answer to the question- What ought to be our attitude toward the sovereignty of God? The becoming attitude for us to take is that of godly fear, implicit obedience, and unreserved resignation and submission. But not only so: the recognition of the sovereignty of God, and the realization that the Sovereign Himself is my Father, ought to overwhelm the heart and cause me to bow before Him in adoring worship. At all times I must say, "Even so, Father, for so it seems good in Your sight." By A.W. Pink

Cheap and easy work by J.C. Ryle

"And you cannot be My disciple if you do not carry your own cross and follow Me." Luke 14:27

It costs something to be a true Christian!

Let that never be forgotten. To be a 'mere nominal Christian', and go to church—is cheap and easy work. But to hear Christ's voice, and follow Christ, and believe in Christ, and confess Christ, requires much self-denial.

It will cost us . . . our sins, our self-righteousness, our ease, our worldliness. All—all must be given up. Our Lord Jesus Christ would have us thoroughly understand this. He bids us to "count the cost."

"So no one can become My disciple without giving up everything for Me." Luke 14:33 by J.C. Ryle

Cain, Esau, Saul, Ahab, Judas by (J. C. Philpot)

"Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death." 2 Cor. 7:10

These two kinds of repentance are to be carefully distinguished from each other; though they are often sadly confounded. Cain, Esau, Saul, Ahab, Judas, all repented. But their repentance was the remorse of natural conscience, not the godly sorrow of a broken heart and a contrite spirit. They trembled before God as an angry Judge, but were not melted into contrition before Him as a forgiving Father.

They neither hated their sins nor forsook them. They neither loved holiness nor sought it.

Cain went out from the presence of the Lord.

Esau plotted Jacob's death.

Saul consulted the witch of Endor.

Ahab put honest Micaiah into prison.

Judas hanged himself.
How different from this forced and false repentance of a reprobate, is the repentance of a child of God;that true repentance for sin, that godly sorrow, that holy mourning which flows from the Spirit's gracious operations!

Godly sorrow does not spring from a sense of the wrath of God in a broken law, but from His mercy in a blessed gospel; from a view by faith of the sufferings of Christ in the garden and on the cross; from a manifestation of pardoning love; and is always attended with self-loathing and self-abhorrence; with deep and unreserved confession of sin and forsaking it; with most hearty, sincere and earnest petitions to be kept from all evil; and a holy longing to live to the praise and glory of God. by J.C. Philpot