Doctrine of salvation
As intimated above, two things are absolutely essential in
order to salvation:
deliverance from the guilt and penalty of sin,
deliverance from the power and presence of sin.
The one is secured by the
mediatorial work of Christ, the other is accomplished by the effectual
operations of the Holy Spirit.
The one is the blessed result of what the
Lord Jesus did for God's people; the other is the glorious consequence of
what the Holy Spirit does in God's people. The one takes place when,
having been brought to lie in the dust as an empty-handed beggar, faith is
enabled to lay hold of Christ, God now justifies from all things, and the
trembling, penitent, but believing sinner receives a free and full pardon.
The other takes place gradually, in distinct stages, under the Divine
blessings of regeneration, sanctification, and glorification.
In regeneration, indwelling sin receives its death-wound, though not its
death.
In sanctification, the regenerated soul is shown the sink of
corruption that dwells within, and is taught to loathe and hate himself.
At
glorification both soul and body will be forever delivered from every
vestige and effect of sin.
Now a vital and saving knowledge of these Divine
truths cannot be acquired by a mere study of them.
No amount of pouring
over the Scriptures, no painstaking examination of the soundest doctrinal
treaties, no exercise of the intellect, is able to secure the slightest spiritual
insight into them.
True, the diligent seeker may attain a natural
knowledge, an intellectual apprehension of them, just as one born blind
may obtain a notional knowledge of the colorings of the flowers or of the
beauties of a sunset; but the natural man can no more arrive at a spiritual
knowledge of spiritual things, than a blind man can a true knowledge of
natural things, yes, than a man in his grave can know what is going on in
the world he has left.
Nor can anything short of Divine power bring the
proud heart to a felt realization of this humbling fact; only as God supernaturally enlightens, is any soul made conscious of the awful
spiritual darkness in which it naturally dwells.
The truth of what has just
been said is established by the plain and solemn declaration of 1
Corinthians 2:14, "But the natural man receives not the things of the
Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know
them, because they are spiritually discerned." Alas that so many evade
the sharp point of this verse by imagining that it applies not to them,
mistaking an intellectual assent to spiritual things for an experimental
acquaintance of them.
An external knowledge of Divine truth, as revealed in Scripture, may
charm the mind and form ground for speculation and conversation, but
unless there is a Divine application of them to the conscience and heart,
such knowledge will be of no more avail in the hour of death than the
pleasing images of our dreams are of any satisfaction when we awake.
How awful to think that multitudes of professing Christians will awaken
in Hell to discover that their knowledge of Divine truth was no more
substantial than a dream! While it be true that no man by searching can
find out God (Job 11:7), and that the mysteries of His kingdom are sealed
secrets until He deigns to reveal them to the soul (Mat 13:11),
nevertheless, it is also true that God is pleased to use means in the
conveyance of heavenly light to our sin-darkened understandings. It is for
this reason that He commissions His servants to preach the Word, and,
by voice and pen, expound the Scriptures; nevertheless, their labors will
produce no eternal fruits unless He condescends to bless the seed they
sow and give it an increase.
Thus, no matter how faithfully, simply,
helpfully a sermon be preached or an article written, unless the Spirit
applies it to the heart, the hearer or reader is no spiritual gainer.
Then will you not humbly entreat God to open your heart to receive
whatever is according to His holy Word in this small booklet?
In what
follows, we shall, as God enables, seek to direct attention to what we have
referred to at the beginning of this booklet as the second of those two
humanly insurmountable obstacles which lie in the way of a sinner's
salvation, and that is, the fitting of him for Heaven, by the delivering of
him from the power and presence of sin.
Such a work is a Divine one, and
therefore it is miraculous. Regeneration is no mere outward reformation,no mere turning over a new leaf and endeavoring to live a better life.
The
new birth is very much more than going forward and taking the
preacher's hand. It is a supernatural operation of God upon man's spirit,
a transcendent wonder. All of God's works are wonderful. The world in
which we live is filled with things which amaze us. Physical birth is a
marvel, but, from several standpoints, the new birth is more remarkable.
It is a marvel of Divine grace, Divine wisdom, Divine power, and Divine
beauty. It is a miracle performed upon and within ourselves, of which we
may be personally cognizant; it will prove an eternal marvel.
Pink
As intimated above, two things are absolutely essential in
order to salvation:
deliverance from the guilt and penalty of sin,
deliverance from the power and presence of sin.
The one is secured by the
mediatorial work of Christ, the other is accomplished by the effectual
operations of the Holy Spirit.
The one is the blessed result of what the
Lord Jesus did for God's people; the other is the glorious consequence of
what the Holy Spirit does in God's people. The one takes place when,
having been brought to lie in the dust as an empty-handed beggar, faith is
enabled to lay hold of Christ, God now justifies from all things, and the
trembling, penitent, but believing sinner receives a free and full pardon.
The other takes place gradually, in distinct stages, under the Divine
blessings of regeneration, sanctification, and glorification.
In regeneration, indwelling sin receives its death-wound, though not its
death.
In sanctification, the regenerated soul is shown the sink of
corruption that dwells within, and is taught to loathe and hate himself.
At
glorification both soul and body will be forever delivered from every
vestige and effect of sin.
Now a vital and saving knowledge of these Divine
truths cannot be acquired by a mere study of them.
No amount of pouring
over the Scriptures, no painstaking examination of the soundest doctrinal
treaties, no exercise of the intellect, is able to secure the slightest spiritual
insight into them.
True, the diligent seeker may attain a natural
knowledge, an intellectual apprehension of them, just as one born blind
may obtain a notional knowledge of the colorings of the flowers or of the
beauties of a sunset; but the natural man can no more arrive at a spiritual
knowledge of spiritual things, than a blind man can a true knowledge of
natural things, yes, than a man in his grave can know what is going on in
the world he has left.
Nor can anything short of Divine power bring the
proud heart to a felt realization of this humbling fact; only as God supernaturally enlightens, is any soul made conscious of the awful
spiritual darkness in which it naturally dwells.
The truth of what has just
been said is established by the plain and solemn declaration of 1
Corinthians 2:14, "But the natural man receives not the things of the
Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know
them, because they are spiritually discerned." Alas that so many evade
the sharp point of this verse by imagining that it applies not to them,
mistaking an intellectual assent to spiritual things for an experimental
acquaintance of them.
An external knowledge of Divine truth, as revealed in Scripture, may
charm the mind and form ground for speculation and conversation, but
unless there is a Divine application of them to the conscience and heart,
such knowledge will be of no more avail in the hour of death than the
pleasing images of our dreams are of any satisfaction when we awake.
How awful to think that multitudes of professing Christians will awaken
in Hell to discover that their knowledge of Divine truth was no more
substantial than a dream! While it be true that no man by searching can
find out God (Job 11:7), and that the mysteries of His kingdom are sealed
secrets until He deigns to reveal them to the soul (Mat 13:11),
nevertheless, it is also true that God is pleased to use means in the
conveyance of heavenly light to our sin-darkened understandings. It is for
this reason that He commissions His servants to preach the Word, and,
by voice and pen, expound the Scriptures; nevertheless, their labors will
produce no eternal fruits unless He condescends to bless the seed they
sow and give it an increase.
Thus, no matter how faithfully, simply,
helpfully a sermon be preached or an article written, unless the Spirit
applies it to the heart, the hearer or reader is no spiritual gainer.
Then will you not humbly entreat God to open your heart to receive
whatever is according to His holy Word in this small booklet?
In what
follows, we shall, as God enables, seek to direct attention to what we have
referred to at the beginning of this booklet as the second of those two
humanly insurmountable obstacles which lie in the way of a sinner's
salvation, and that is, the fitting of him for Heaven, by the delivering of
him from the power and presence of sin.
Such a work is a Divine one, and
therefore it is miraculous. Regeneration is no mere outward reformation,no mere turning over a new leaf and endeavoring to live a better life.
The
new birth is very much more than going forward and taking the
preacher's hand. It is a supernatural operation of God upon man's spirit,
a transcendent wonder. All of God's works are wonderful. The world in
which we live is filled with things which amaze us. Physical birth is a
marvel, but, from several standpoints, the new birth is more remarkable.
It is a marvel of Divine grace, Divine wisdom, Divine power, and Divine
beauty. It is a miracle performed upon and within ourselves, of which we
may be personally cognizant; it will prove an eternal marvel.
Pink
