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REGENERATION AND THE HOLY SPIRIT
...We
trust in Jesus for what we cannot do ourselves: if it were in our own
power, what need of looking to Him? It is ours to believe, it is the
Lord's to create us anew. He will not believe for us, neither are we to
do regenerating work for Him. It is enough for us to obey the gracious
command; it is for the Lord to work the new birth in us. He who could go
so far as to die on the cross for us, can and will give us all things
that are needful for our eternal safety.
"But a saving change of heart is the work of the Holy Spirit. "
This also is most true, and let it be far from us to question it, or to
forget it. But the work of the Holy Spirit is secret and mysterious, and
it can only be perceived by its results. There are mysteries about our
natural birth into which it would be an unhallowed curiosity to pry:
still more is this the case with the sacred operations of the Spirit of
God. "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound
thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, or whither it goeth; so is
every one that is born of the Spirit." This much, however, we do
know—the mysterious work of the Holy Spirit cannot be a reason for
refusing to believe in Jesus to whom that same Spirit beareth witness.
If a man were bidden to sow a field, he could not excuse his neglect by
saying that it would be useless to sow unless God caused the seed to
grow. He would not be justified in neglecting tillage because the secret
energy of God alone can create a harvest. No one is hindered in the
ordinary pursuits of life by the fact that unless the Lord build the
house they labor in vain that build it. It is certain that no man who
believes in Jesus will ever find that the Holy Spirit refuses to work in
him: in fact, his believing is the proof that the Spirit is already at
work in his heart.
God works in providence, but men do not therefore sit still. They could
not move without the divine power giving them life and strength, and yet
they proceed upon their way without question; the power being bestowed
from day to day by Him in whose hand their breath is, and whose are all
their ways. So is it in grace. We repent and believe, though we could do
neither if the Lord did not enable us. We forsake sin and trust in
Jesus, and then we perceive that the Lord has wrought in us to will and
to do of His own good pleasure. It is idle to pretend that there is any
real difficulty in the matter.
Some truths which it is hard to explain in words are simple enough in
actual experience. There is no discrepancy between the truth that the
sinner believes, and that his faith is wrought in him by the Holy
Spirit. Only folly can lead men to puzzle themselves about plain matters
while their souls are in danger. No man would refuse to enter a lifeboat
because he did not know the specific gravity of bodies; neither would a
starving man decline to eat till he understood the whole process of
nutrition. If you, my reader, will not believe till you can understand
all mysteries, you will never be saved at all; and if you allow
self-invented difficulties to keep you from accepting pardon through
your Lord and Saviour, you will perish in a condemnation which will be
richly deserved. Do not commit spiritual suicide through a passion for
discussing metaphysical subtleties.
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