The Spirit’s work in salvation<\/p>\n
by Spurgeon<\/p>\n
The Holy Spirit lays bare his heart, lets him see the loathsome
\ncancer that is there eating away his life, uncovers to him all the
\nblackness and defilement of that sink of hell–
\nthe human heart; and then the man stands aghast–
\n“I never thought I was like this!
\nOh! those sins I thought were little,
\nhave swelled to an immense stature.
\nWhat I thought was a mole-hill has grown into a mountain;
\nit was a hyssop on the wall before, but now it has become a
\ncedar of Lebanon.” <\/p>\n
Then the man says to himself, “Oh, I will try to reform; I will
\ndo enough ‘good’ deeds to wash these ‘black’ deeds out.”<\/p>\n
Then the Holy Spirit comes and shows him that he cannot do
\nthis, takes away all his ‘fancied’ power and strength,
\nso that the man falls down on his knees in agony and cries,
\n“Oh! once I thought I could save myself by my good works,
\nbut now I find that-
\n‘Could my tears forever flow,
\nCould my zeal no respite know,
\nAll for sin could not atone,
\nYou must save, and You alone.’ ”<\/p>\n
Then his heart sinks, and the man is ready to despair.
\nHe says, “I can never be saved. Nothing can save me.” <\/p>\n
Then the Holy Spirit comes and shows the sinner the cross of
\nChrist, gives him eyes anointed with heavenly eye-salve, and
\nsays, “Look to yonder cross. That Man died to save sinners;
\nyou feel you are a sinner; He died to save you.” <\/p>\n
And then the Holy Spirit enables the heart to believe,
\nand come to Christ<\/p>\n
The cry of weary, care worn humanity<\/p>\n
(John MacDuff, “Hospice of the Pilgrim” 1891)<\/p>\n
“Oh, where can rest be found?”<\/p>\n
This is the cry of weary, care worn humanity.<\/p>\n
This is the cry embracing every nation and every
\nclimate, from the yearnings of heathendom to the
\nlongings and aspirations of the present hour. <\/p>\n
From the tumultuous sea of the world’s unrest,
\nthis cry has gone up like a dirge of baffled souls,
\n“Oh, where can rest be found?”<\/p>\n
“Come unto me,” is the address of many
\nsiren voices, titillating tones of questionable
\nor forbidden pleasure, leading only to . . .
\nunrest,
\ndisquiet,
\nheart weariness,
\nlife failure;
\ntinted soap bubbles with a momentary
\niridescence, then collapsing.<\/p>\n
The existence of many is a pursuit after spurious
\nand counterfeit rest, misnamed happiness; an
\naimless, vapid life of pleasure; engrossed with
\nobjects which bring with them no sense of
\nsatisfaction; a dull, weary round on the world’s
\nmonotonous treadmill. <\/p>\n
Some strive to find rest through the gateway
\nof ethical systems and philosophic tenets.<\/p>\n
Others, through the gateway of human merit.<\/p>\n
Others through . . .
\nceremonial observances,
\nfasts and vigils,
\npenances and pilgrimages,
\nrites and ceremonies,
\ncreeds and dogmas. <\/p>\n
These, and such as these, are
\nalike spurious and unavailing.<\/p>\n
“Oh, where can rest be found?” <\/p>\n
“Come to Me, all of you who are weary
\nand carry heavy burdens, and I will give
\nyou rest.” Matthew 11:28<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Spirit’s work in salvation by Spurgeon The Holy Spirit lays bare his heart, lets him see the loathsome cancer that is there eating away his life, uncovers to him all the blackness and defilement of that sink of hell– the human heart; and then the man stands aghast– “I never thought I was like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bulletin-editions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1491"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1492,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1491\/revisions\/1492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}