Col33
Puritan Board Freshman
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CH Spurgeon sermon:
"The Mighty Power Which Creates and Sustains Faith"
on Ephesians 1. 19—23
https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-l...er-which-creates-and-sustains-faith#flipbook/
Do you agree with CH Spurgeon's interpretations?
The following are excerpts from the most astonishing sermon I have ever experienced about the "Double Miracle" of Regeneration:
"God made the world out of nothing.
That was an easy task, compared with making a new heart and a right spirit, for “nothing” at least could not oppose God: “nothing” could not standout against him; but here, in salvation, God had to deal with an opposing something which he has to fight with and to destroy; and when that has been reduced and overcome, then comes in the creating power by which we are made new creatures in Christ Jesus; so that it is a double miracle, something more than creation: it is creation and destruction combined."
***
"In the regeneration of every soul there is a destruction as well as a creation. The old man has to be destroyed—the stony heart has to be taken away out of our flesh; and though this is not done in all of us—nay, nor in any of us completely—yet the day shall come when sin shall be utterly destroyed, both root and branch, and all evil principles shall be torn up by the roots, and, like our sins, they shall cease to be, so that if they were searched for they could not be found. When the morning stars sang together because a world was made, creation was their one theme. God made the world out of nothing.
Further than this, there is more than creation—there is destruction. No man can destroy anything. Since the world began, not a single particle of matter has ever been annihilated. You may cast matter into the depths of the sea, but there it is; it still exists. Cast it into the fire, and the fire consumes it: but either in the ash or in the smoke, every atom survives. Fire does not destroy a single particle. There is as much matter in the world now as when God first spoke it out of nothing. It is as great an exercise of divinity to destroy as it is to create.
“Know that the Lord is God alone—
He can create and he destroy.”
In the regeneration of every soul there is a destruction as well as a creation. The old man has to be destroyed—the stony heart has to be taken away out of our flesh; and though this is not done in all of us—nay, nor in any of us completely—yet the day shall come when sin shall be utterly destroyed, both root and branch, and all evil principles shall be torn up by the roots, and, like our sins, they shall cease to be, so that if they were searched for they could not be found. When the morning stars sang together because a world was made, creation was their one theme. God made the world out of nothing. That was an easy task, compared with making a new heart and a right spirit, for “nothing” at least could not oppose God: “nothing” could not standout against him; but here, in salvation, God had to deal with an opposing something which he has to fight with and to destroy; and when that has been reduced and overcome, then comes in the creating power by which we are made new creatures in Christ Jesus; so that it is a double miracle, something more than creation: it is creation and destruction combined."
***
Spurgeon's comments about Ephesians 1:19-23 follow this:
Ephesians 1:19-23 “The exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.”
CH Spurgeon on Ephesians 1:19-23:
" ... to bring the human mind to exercise simple faith in Jesus is a work of the most astounding power. To bring down the pride of man, to subjugate his will and to captivate his passions, so that he shall cheerfully accept that which God presents to him in the person of Christ Jesus, is a labour worthy of a God. How strangely vile are they who cannot be brought to know their own mercies, except by an omnipotent power. The blessed Spirit of God is always the secret Author of faith; it is not of ourselves, it is the gift of God.
Our text twice over uses the strongest words which could be employed to set forth the Almighty power exhibited in bringing a soul to believe in Jesus, and in bringing that believing soul onward till it ascends to heaven.
You will carefully notice we have first of all this expression, “The exceeding greatness of his power and then we have on the other side of the word “Believe,” lest it should escape anyhow from the sacred barrier, these words, “According to the working of his mighty power.”
Now, the first expression is a very amazing one. It might be read thus: "The super- excellent, sublime, overcoming, or triumphing greatness of his power;” and the other is even more singular: it is a Hebrew mode of speech forced to do duty in the Greek tongue: “The effectual working of the might of his strength or “The energy of the force of his power,”—some such strong expression as that. As if the apostle was not content to say,“ You believe through the power of God,” nor “ through the greatness of that power,” but “through the exceeding greatness of his power,” and not satisfied with declaring that the salvation of man is the fruit of' God's might, he must needs put it, his mighty power: nay, as if that were not enough, he writes, the energy, the efficacious activity of the power of that might.
No amount of straining at the passage can ever get rid of the grand doctrine which it contains, namely, that the bringing of a soul to simple faith in Jesus, and the maintenance of that soul in the life of faith, displays an exercise of omnipotence such as God alone could put forth."
.
CH Spurgeon sermon:
"The Mighty Power Which Creates and Sustains Faith"
on Ephesians 1. 19—23
https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-l...er-which-creates-and-sustains-faith#flipbook/
Do you agree with CH Spurgeon's interpretations?
The following are excerpts from the most astonishing sermon I have ever experienced about the "Double Miracle" of Regeneration:
"God made the world out of nothing.
That was an easy task, compared with making a new heart and a right spirit, for “nothing” at least could not oppose God: “nothing” could not standout against him; but here, in salvation, God had to deal with an opposing something which he has to fight with and to destroy; and when that has been reduced and overcome, then comes in the creating power by which we are made new creatures in Christ Jesus; so that it is a double miracle, something more than creation: it is creation and destruction combined."
***
"In the regeneration of every soul there is a destruction as well as a creation. The old man has to be destroyed—the stony heart has to be taken away out of our flesh; and though this is not done in all of us—nay, nor in any of us completely—yet the day shall come when sin shall be utterly destroyed, both root and branch, and all evil principles shall be torn up by the roots, and, like our sins, they shall cease to be, so that if they were searched for they could not be found. When the morning stars sang together because a world was made, creation was their one theme. God made the world out of nothing.
Further than this, there is more than creation—there is destruction. No man can destroy anything. Since the world began, not a single particle of matter has ever been annihilated. You may cast matter into the depths of the sea, but there it is; it still exists. Cast it into the fire, and the fire consumes it: but either in the ash or in the smoke, every atom survives. Fire does not destroy a single particle. There is as much matter in the world now as when God first spoke it out of nothing. It is as great an exercise of divinity to destroy as it is to create.
“Know that the Lord is God alone—
He can create and he destroy.”
In the regeneration of every soul there is a destruction as well as a creation. The old man has to be destroyed—the stony heart has to be taken away out of our flesh; and though this is not done in all of us—nay, nor in any of us completely—yet the day shall come when sin shall be utterly destroyed, both root and branch, and all evil principles shall be torn up by the roots, and, like our sins, they shall cease to be, so that if they were searched for they could not be found. When the morning stars sang together because a world was made, creation was their one theme. God made the world out of nothing. That was an easy task, compared with making a new heart and a right spirit, for “nothing” at least could not oppose God: “nothing” could not standout against him; but here, in salvation, God had to deal with an opposing something which he has to fight with and to destroy; and when that has been reduced and overcome, then comes in the creating power by which we are made new creatures in Christ Jesus; so that it is a double miracle, something more than creation: it is creation and destruction combined."
***
Spurgeon's comments about Ephesians 1:19-23 follow this:
Ephesians 1:19-23 “The exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.”
CH Spurgeon on Ephesians 1:19-23:
" ... to bring the human mind to exercise simple faith in Jesus is a work of the most astounding power. To bring down the pride of man, to subjugate his will and to captivate his passions, so that he shall cheerfully accept that which God presents to him in the person of Christ Jesus, is a labour worthy of a God. How strangely vile are they who cannot be brought to know their own mercies, except by an omnipotent power. The blessed Spirit of God is always the secret Author of faith; it is not of ourselves, it is the gift of God.
Our text twice over uses the strongest words which could be employed to set forth the Almighty power exhibited in bringing a soul to believe in Jesus, and in bringing that believing soul onward till it ascends to heaven.
You will carefully notice we have first of all this expression, “The exceeding greatness of his power and then we have on the other side of the word “Believe,” lest it should escape anyhow from the sacred barrier, these words, “According to the working of his mighty power.”
Now, the first expression is a very amazing one. It might be read thus: "The super- excellent, sublime, overcoming, or triumphing greatness of his power;” and the other is even more singular: it is a Hebrew mode of speech forced to do duty in the Greek tongue: “The effectual working of the might of his strength or “The energy of the force of his power,”—some such strong expression as that. As if the apostle was not content to say,“ You believe through the power of God,” nor “ through the greatness of that power,” but “through the exceeding greatness of his power,” and not satisfied with declaring that the salvation of man is the fruit of' God's might, he must needs put it, his mighty power: nay, as if that were not enough, he writes, the energy, the efficacious activity of the power of that might.
No amount of straining at the passage can ever get rid of the grand doctrine which it contains, namely, that the bringing of a soul to simple faith in Jesus, and the maintenance of that soul in the life of faith, displays an exercise of omnipotence such as God alone could put forth."
.
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