Things that accompany Salvation - Part 2

REV. C. H. Spurgeon, September 20, 1857 

"Things that accompany Salvation."—Hebrews 6:9.

Now, my dear hearers, this advance-guard is so far ahead that you and I cannot see them. These are true doctrines, but very mysterious; they are beyond our sight, and if we wish to see Salvation, we must not stop until we see the van-guard, because they are so far off that only the eye of faith can reach them. We must have that sacred glass, that divine telescope of faith, or else we shall never have the evidence of things not seen. Let us rest certain, however, that if we have Salvation we have Election. He that believeth is elected whoever casts himself on Christ as a guilty sinner, is certainly God's chosen child. As sure as ever you believe on the Saviour, and go to him, you were predestinated to do so from all eternity, and your faith is the great mark and evidence that you are chosen of God, and precious in his esteem. 

Dost thou believe? Then Election is thine. Dost thou believe? Then Predestination is as surely thine as thou art alive. Dost thou trust alone in Jesus? Then fear not, Redemption was meant for thee. So then, we will not be struck with terror at that grand advance-guard that hath already gained the celestial hill, and have prepared the place where the elect shall for ever repose upon the bosom of their God.

II. But mark, we are about to review THE ARMY THAT IMMEDIATELY PRECEDES SALVATION; and first, in the forefront of these, there marches one whose name we must pronounce with sacred awe. It is God, the Holy Spirit. Before anything can be done in our salvation, there must come that Third Person of the Sacred Trinity. Without him, faith, repentance, humility, love, are things quite impossible. Even the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ cannot save until it has been applied to the heart by God the Holy Spirit. Before we notice the grand army, then, that immediately precedes Salvation, let us be cautious that we do not forget Him who is the leader of them all. 

The great King, Immortal, invisible, the Divine person, called the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit: it is he that quickens the soul, or else it would lie dead for ever; it is he that makes it tender, or else it would never feel, it is he that imparts efficacy to the Word preached, or else it could never reach further than the ear; it is he who breaks the heart, it is he who makes it whole: he, from first to last, is the great worker of Salvation in us just as Jesus Christ was the author of Salvation for us. O soul, by this mayest thou know whether Salvation has come to thine house—art thou a partaker of the Holy Spirit? Come now, answer thou this question—hath he ever breathed on thee? Hath he ever breathed into thee? Canst thou say that thou hast been the subject of his supernatural influence? 

For, if not, remember except a man be born of the Spirit from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; only that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Thy best exertions will be all unavailing unless the Holy Ghost shall work in thee, to will and to do of God's good pleasure. The highest efforts of the flesh can never reach higher than the flesh, just as water of itself will never run higher than its source. You may be moral, you may be strictly upright, you may be much that is commendable, but unless you be partakers of the Holy Spirit, salvation is as impossible to you as it is even to the lost. We must be born again, and born again by that divine influence, or else it is all in vain. Remember, then, that the Spirit of God always accompanies Salvation.

And now, close in the rear of the adorable Spirit follow the Thundering Legion. No sooner does God the Holy Ghost come into the soul, than he brings with him what I have called the Thundering Legion; and those of you that have been saved will not be at a loss to understand what I mean. This Thundering Legion are clad in mail, their helmets wave with horror; their speech is rough like men that come from a far country; their faces are terrible to look upon, for they are like unto lions, and do terribly affright the timid. Some of the men in this Thundering Legion bear with them swords; with these swords they are to slay the sinner. For before he can be made whole, he must be spiritually killed, the sword must pierce him, and must slay all his selfishness before he can be brought to the Lord Jesus. 

Then another body of them carry with them axes, with which they cut down the thick trees of our pride and abase the goodly cedars of our righteousness. There are with them those that fill up the wells with stones, and break up all the cisterns of our carnal sufficiency, until we are driven to despair, having all our hopes despoiled. Then come those who, with brazen trumpets, or with trumps of ram's horns—like those who once razed Jericho level with the ground—do blow a blast, so shrill and dread, that the sinner thinks that even the yells of hell itself could not be more terrible. Then come those who with lances pierce the spirit through and through; and in the rear are the ten great guns, the artillery of the law, which, perpetually fire upon the wounded spirit till it knows not what it is, nor what it does. My friend, has this Thundering Legion ever come to your house? 

Have they ever taken up their quarters in your heart? For, rest assured, these are some of the "things that accompany Salvation." What I have said is no allegory to those who have been converted, but it may be a mystery to those who know not the Lord. Understand, then, that the first work of God the Spirit in the soul is a terrible work. Before a man can be truly converted, he must suffer great agony of spirit; all our self-righteousness must be laid level with the ground, and trampled like the miry streets. Our carnal hopes must, every one of them, be cut in pieces, and our refuges of lies must be swept away with the hail of God's anger. The law of God will appear terrible to the sinner when he is first convinced of sin. 

"What have I done?" he will say. Or rather, "What have I undone? I have undone myself." See him when God the Spirit has first convinced him of sin; you would think him mad; he is thought to be mad by his worldly companions. He weeps day and night, tears become his meat and his drink; he can scarcely sleep for the dreams of hell, and when he wakes he thinks he feels it already. "Oh, the wrath to come, the wrath to come, the wrath to come!" that seems to be ever pressing on his heart. He is like John Bunyan's pilgrim, he has a heavy burden on his back, and he knows not how to get rid of it, he wrings his hands and cries "What shall I do? I am undone. 

I have rebelled against God, and God is angry with me." Ah, I tell you this Thundering Legion is a terrible thing indeed. God be praised, when once they go out of the heart there is some joy; but whilst they are billited in the conscience of man, I defy him to eat or drink with any mirth or joy. The poor town of Mansoul is hung with black all the time these rough soldiers are there. Hideous threatenings and doleful forebodings are the sinner's only company in such a case. He seeks to find a little hope and comfort in his own doings; down comes the hammer of the Law, and breaks all his doings to pieces. 

He thinks, well he will rest on the couch of Indifference and Sloth; forth comes the Law, ties him to the halberts, takes its ten-thonged whip and begins to lay on to him with all his might till his heart bleeds again. Then comes Conscience with its brine, and washes him all over; and he is exceedingly tormented, for even his bed is become a bed of spikes and thorns. This Thundering Legion always precedes Salvation. More or less of terrors every man must feel before he is converted. Some have less, some have more; but there must be some measure of this terrible law work in the soul, or else Salvation is not come to a man's house.

Oh, Thundering Legion, ye are gone; we hear their trumpets and the dying echoes still appall us. We can remember, brethren, those terrible days when they were in our house and in our heart. They are gone. What see we in the rear of them? Close in the rear there follows a broken heart. Look at it; do not despise it, God never despises it, do not thou. "A broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise." I see how this poor broken heart is broken; it is rent to its very eye and center; it is bathed in tears; it is overwhelmed with suffering. See its humility; it never talks about boasting now. Mark its repentance, the sins it loved before it hates now; it speaks not about self-salvation. Hear it, as the broken heart speaks out its broken language. 

Hear it—"Lord have mercy upon me a sinner!" Do not fear to come and look at this broken heart; how sweetly is it perfumed! The sacred smell of a sacrifice which God approves rises from it. Hear it, as again it speaks—"Lord, save, or I perish." See this poor broken heart when it is in the world and at its business; it interrupts its business with ejaculations like these—"Oh that—Ah, ah—would that!" And when it can get alone, it pours out its heart before God, and cries,

Unclean, unclean, and full of sin

From first to last, O Lord I've been;

Deceitful is my heart.

Oh wash my soul in Jesus' blood; forgive me all my guilt, and I will be thy servant for ever and ever.

Dear hearers, has this broken heart ever come to your house? Rest assured I am speaking God's own truth, that admits of no dispute—unless this broken heart has come within your bosom you cannot be made partakers of Christ. The heart must first be pounded in the mortar of conviction, and beaten in pieces with the pestle of the law, or else it never can receive the grace of the Comforter in all its plenitude. Are you broken-hearted to-day? Are you sorrowful at this very hour? Be of good cheer, Salvation is not far behind. When there is once a broken heart there is mercy very near. The broken heart is the prelude of healing. He that kills will make whole; he that woundeth will bind up; he that smote will cure. God is looking on thee with love, and will have mercy upon thee.

Things That Accompany Salvation - Part 1

REV. C. H. Spurgeon, September 20, 1857

"Things that accompany Salvation."—Hebrews 6:9.

I am not quite certain that my text will warrant all I shall say upon it this day if read and understood in its connection. But I have taken the words rather by accommodation than otherwise, and shall make use of them as a kind of heading to the discourse which I hope to be enabled to deliver. I sat myself down, and I meditated on this subject—"Things that accompany Salvation." And after some period of rumination, my thoughts assumed the form of an allegory; in which I hope to present them to you this morning. I compared Salvation to a rich and costly treasure, which God in his infinite love and mercy had determined to send into the world, and I remembered that our Lord Jesus was so much interested in the bringing of this Salvation to this earth, that he did send all that he had, and came himself to attend and to accompany this Salvation. I then pictured to myself a great march of bright ones through this land, carrying in their midst the sacred jewel of Salvation. I looked forward, and I saw a mighty van-guard, who already had attained the shores of Eternity. I looked around Salvation, and I saw it always in every case attended with divers graces and virtues which seemed to be like troops and soldiers to guard it in the van, about its flanks, and in the rear.

Before we begin, however, let us just make this caution. When the Apostle speaks of virtues and of graces, he calls them "things that accompany Salvation," not things which cause it. Our faith does not cause Salvation, nor our hope, nor our love, nor our good works; they are things which attend it as its guard of honor. The origin of Salvation lies alone in the sovereign will of God the Father; in the infinite efficacy of the blood of Jesus—God the Son, and in the divine influence of God the Holy Spirit. There are, however, "things that accompany Salvation." Picture then to yourselves the march of some ancient monarch through his territory. We read stories of eastern monarchs in the olden time, that seem more like romance than reality; when they marched with thousands of flying banners and with all kinds of riches borne with them. Now you are to take that as the basis of my figure and suppose Salvation to be the sacred treasure which is being carried through the world, with guards before and guards behind, to accompany it on its journey.

We will begin, then, with the advance-guard that has accompanied Salvation or rather gone before it. We shall then come to those who immediately precede it, and then we shall notice those who accompany it by its side, and conclude by noticing the rear guard attending upon this Salvation of our God.

I. First, then, IN THE MARCHES OF TROOPS AND ARMIES, THERE ARE SOME THAT ARE OUTRIDERS, AND GO FAR AHEAD OF THE OTHER TROOPS. So in the march of Salvation, which have far preceded it to clear the way. I will tell you the names of these stupendous Titans who have gone before. The first is Election, the second is Predestination, the third is Redemption and the Covenant is the captain of them all. Before Salvation came into this world, Election marched in the very forefront, and it had for its work the billeting of Salvation. Election went through the world and marked the houses to which Salvation should come and the hearts in which the treasure should be deposited. Election looked through all the race of man, from Adam down to the last, and marked with sacred stamp those for whom Salvation was designed. 

"He must needs go through Samaria," said Election; and Salvation must go there. Then came Predestination. Predestination did not merely mark the house, but it mapped the road in which Salvation should travel to that house, Predestination ordained every step of the great army of Salvation, it ordained the time when the sinner should be brought to Christ, the manner how he should be saved, the means that should be employed; it marked the exact hour and moment, when God the Spirit should quicken the dead in sin, and when peace and pardon should be spoken through the blood of Jesus. 

Predestination marked the way so completely, that Salvation doth never overstep the bounds, and it is never at a loss for the road. In the everlasting decree of the Sovereign God, the footsteps of Mercy were every one of them ordained. As nothing in this world revolves by chance—as even the foreknown station of a rush by the river is as fixed as the station of a king—it was not meet that Salvation should be left to chance; and therefore God has mapped the place where it should pitch its tent, the manner of its footsteps to that tent, and the time when it should arrive there. Then came Redemption. 

The way was rough; and though Election had marked the house, and Predestination had mapped the road, the way was so impeded that Salvation could not travel it until it had been cleared. Forth came Redemption, it had but one weapon; that weapon was the all-victorious cross of Christ. There stood the mountains of our sins; Redemption smote them, and they split in halves and left a valley for the Lord's redeemed to march through. There was the great gulph of God's offended wrath; Redemption bridged it with the cross, and so left an everlasting passage by which the armies of the Lord may cross. Redemption has tunnelled every mountain; it has dried up every sea, cut down every forest; it has levelled every high hill, and filled up the valleys, so that the road of Salvation is now plain and simple. God can be just, and yet the justifier of the ungodly.

Now, this sacred advance-guard carry for their banner the Eternal Covenant. Election, Predestination, and Redemption—the things that have gone before, beyond the sight, are all rallied to the battle by this standard—the Covenant, the Everlasting Covenant, ordered in all things and sure. We know and believe that before the morning star startled the shades of darkness, God had covenanted with his Son that he should die and pay a ransom price, and that, on God the Father's part, he would give to Jesus "a number whom no man could number," who should be purchased by his blood, and through that blood should be most securely saved. Now, when Election marches forward, it carries the Covenant. These are chosen in the Covenant of grace. When Predestination marcheth, and when it marketh out the way of Salvation, it proclaims the Covenant. "He marked out the places of the people according to the tribes of Israel." And Redemption also, pointing to the precious blood of Christ, claims Salvation for the blood-bought ones, because the Covenant hath decreed it to be theirs.

My Weird Morning With God!

This Morning I had the weirdest time with God, I nagged about everything and He had an answer every time I opposed Him. God being God, I found out in the end, He had a purpose in mind, so this weird time with Him was needed.

I have been feeling like a mess lately and in my mind there is so much clutters about my walk with Him, I felt so tired and basically drained of all my energy. I attributed the whole thing to the fact that I was so sick with this bad flu that I am just getting over and the throat and ear infection that I did not take any antibiotic on purpose for various reasons.  The past few weeks I was able to post on my blog because I did not really have to think since I only wrote about things that I lived out with Him, but I was always aware of being light headed and not being able to think properly at all.

So, I was reading October 16^th Oswald Chambers devotion, the Holy Spirit told me to write my post on the subject. I got upset because I know from experience that today’s devotion would be very cumbersome to write about for two reasons. First, it took God years to walk me through the process to acquire the mind and the attitude that Oswald Chambers is talking about in this devotion. Secondly, I had such a hard time letting go of what I thought was so noble and used to bring me so much satisfaction and joy, to embrace Christ’s point of view when it comes to mission and works done in His name. I fought Him every step of the way and He put a lot of work in me to teach me what Oswald put into few words on a page. So I told God that I was tired of writing what He has done in my life, I said it seems like I am making it about me, so how can that be right in your sight? His answer was “why do you think I went through the process of teaching you everything step by step through experiencing me? Why do you think you cannot express yourself unless you go through things step by step?

When I realized I was not going to win this argument with God, I said what about Oswald Chambers, I can tell you put Him through the same training, why is it you are okay with the fact that he wrote only for other Christians who are on this path with you, couldn’t you entrust him to write things step by step as well? He said to me, never mind Oswald Chambers he is not your business, and it is not up to you to question me. I said God I am so tired, overwhelmed and drained that I feel if I do not get out of it I am going to be depressed and useless to you.  

During that time, my Bible was opened on my lap, I glanced at it and saw something I wrote on June 2008  it goes this way “Lord teach me how to be like Paul living each day as a new day with anticipation forgetting yesterday and moving forward toward the goal.”  When I read that, I said to God, I can’t believe I was this person in 2008 and now I am failing you. Strangely, I admitted to Him that I have lived the past few weeks on “past grace” instead of fresh grace every day so that my mind could be renewed. Yet, I still did not realize that God was leading me to an examination process that I have been avoiding.

I said to God, “so much for me wanting to be like Paul.” I not only feel I have let you down but after fifteen years of Christianity I am nowhere to being like Paul. God answer to me was “you are a human being it is normal that you go through this phase once in a while and I fully expect that, He continued with, Paul felt this way too, I had to get him out of those depressed times, yet, he is the same man who later on wrote Philippians 3 that you love so much.”.

I tried to go back to the Bible again, suddenly I was craving talking to my friend, the one God had forbidden me to see when I wrote “A melancholic day on April 2^nd and April 18 posts” I know I have craving seeing my friend for the past few weeks, and at times, I had to force myself not to take the phone and call. But, today the whole thing came crashing down, I wanted to see my friend, I wanted to get away from it all, and I needed a break from all those godly stuff in my mind. I could see myself trying to remain seated to avoid going out. I felt like a junkie I need of the next fix. Then God told me, do you see why I need to protect you against yourself?  I said to God, what does that mean? Is that even Biblical what you are saying?

He said well, read 2 Peter 2:7-10. After I finished reading those verses I still did not quite understand and I remained quiet trying by myself to decipher what He was trying to say to me. Of course He knows I was struggling to understand, then He told me, there is a part of me that longs for this ungodly relationship that corrupt my mind and spirit, and it is all against His purpose for any child of His.  

It is so strange when we are not thinking soberly with the Holy Spirit. When I found clarity of mind, I knew it was ridiculous of me to hold myself at such a high standard because when Paul wrote Philippians he was a Christian for few decades where I still have five full years to put in, before I can say I have been a Christian for two decades. But, God was not concerned about that, He was concerned that I was being too hard on myself and needed me to understand what I was going through was part of the path of becoming this person He wants me to be. God is fine with our shortcomings and failures He does not hold them against us nor that He defines us by them, but AS LONG AS WE ARE ON THE RIGHT PATH WITH HIM. Like God taught me, if we are going south and He is going North, while we love calling ourselves work in progress, but in reality, as far as He is concerned, we are not truly work in progress.

Someone I love dearly made a decision a few weeks ago, but when he called me to tell me what he was about to do, I told him, this decision will affect the rest of your life and that he might never recover from it. He said I do understand I am going complete opposite direction from God’s way. But this is what I need to do. This person said something like he is hoping that God will somehow make things right for him and eventually forgive him. He was doing what felt right for him because he could not fathom the idea of trusting God and make a decision that would have been painfully hard now, but over time would pass. This person could not take the pain that we all encounter when we decide to allow Him to work Salvation in and through us. Yet he still somehow hopes that God would follow his footsteps. It is hard to talk to someone who is that far from God, someone who is only counting on God’s goodness and love to make it. While God can still salvage us when we defy Him and chose our own path, but we are playing with fire and saying that we are a work in progress would not do.

I know I am a work in progress because through His grace I maintain the path. Yet I have a long way to go, and yes I hash things out with Him all the time. I do it when I do not understand, I do it when I am overwhelmed with life and tired of the waiting process, and so on. But the frame of mind that I am in, the attitude, my intention, my heart and my disposition are all geared toward following His path, His plan, and His purpose for me. Just like when you read the psalmist, you can see how David hashed things out with God, but in the end, he knew it was about His will for his life and nothing else. It is about maintaining a state of mind where the heart is always open to the Holy Sprit helping us mature spiritually while learning to continually practice His presence as we put away all unchristian habits.

It turns out, after God talked to me about my ungodly relationship that corrupt my mind and spirit, He showed me the reason that I have been so overwhelmed lately, and why I had all the clutters that made me feel I was a prisoner in my own mind, is because in the past, I never dealt with the issue with Him. Instead I chose to use my ungodly friend to feel emptied out and I would come back to Him willing to continue the path. Then He said to me, the reason that you need a break even from your spiritual life with me is because you are not learning to put into practice to find your rest in me when your practical life become cumbersome with all the small things. 

While you have learned to rest in me for the big things, you have to do the same with the small ones as well. I broke down, I dumped the whole load that I was carrying, at His feet and while crying I was able to feel so emptied out, so light that I took a deep breath from deep down, then all of the sudden all clutters disappeared. Now I know what I have been doing wrong and I will be diligent to keep resting in Him for little things as well. But the truth is, I needed God to tell me that because I had no idea what the remedy was and why I felt the need to get away from Him sometimes.

Another thing that God showed me as well, is that unless I learned to rest in Him for little things instead of running to an ungodly friend, I will stunt my spiritual growth and in order to take me further I have to learn to get to that hump that keep me stumbling.