I'm not even waiting one day to post this quotation! It comes thanks to John Piper's blog. When my wife, Phyllis, read it to me this morning, I was elated! Why? Because, as Duncan was prone to do, he "hit the nail right on the head." [Let me note that Piper sites Rich Gleanings as his source (see below). He sends you to Amazon where there are a few used copies. My link is to Reformed Heritage who offer the same in a new copy for less!]
The Bible teaches that we are so sinful we are morally unable to please God (Romans 8:7). It also teaches that without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Yet salvation is by faith, and we are called again and again in Scripture to believe (Acts 16:31).
How then shall we preach to those who cannot come to Christ, but must come in order to be saved?
John Duncan (1796-1870) was a minister of the Free Church of Scotland and a missionary to the Jews in Hungary. He is often referred to as Rabbi Duncan because of his love for Jewish people. John Macleod wrote that "since the days of the Apostles there is hardly on record such a striking work of grace among the Jews as took place in the days of his labors in Buda-Pesth."
Here is Duncan's penetrating answer to our question.
It would not do to tell a man that he may come to Christ, but that he must come. Some, indeed, would have man to do all, though he could do nothing; and others would have him to do nothing, because all was done for him.
As long as I am told that I must come to God, and that I can come, I am left to suppose that some good thing, or some power of good remains in me, and I arrogate to myself that which belongs to Jehovah. The creature is exalted, and God is robbed of His glory.
If, on the other hand, I am told that I cannot come to God, but not also that I must come, I am left to rest contented at a distance from God, I am not responsible for my rebellion, and God Jehovah is not my God.
But if we preach that sinners can't come, and yet must come, then is the honour of God vindicated, and the sinner is shut up. Man must be so shut up that he must come to Christ, and yet know that he cannot. He must come to Christ, or he will look to another, when there is no other to whom he may come; he cannot come, or he will look to himself.
This is the gospel vice, to shut up men to the faith. Some grasp at one limb of the vice and some at the other, leaving the sinner open - but when a man is shut up that he must and cannot, he is shut up to the faith - shut up to the faith, and then would he be shut up in the faith. God is declared to be Jehovah, and the sinner is made willing to be saved by Him, in His own way, as sovereign in His grace. (Rich Gleanings, 392, emphases added)
4 comments:
I agree with God's sovereign grace in saving us. He certainly draws us to himself in a miraculous way. Yet I wonder how confused a nonbeliever would be if I said you must chose Christ but there is no way you can chose him. I would certainly compel him to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for his salvation, knowing that God will do his part, producing faith in his heart.
THE BIBLIE AND THE DEPRESSION
"Then cometh Jesus with then unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples. Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.
And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.
Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me." (Matthew 26,36-38)
I think depression is one of the most tragic of which passes through the soul of a person, and because it disfigures the depression self-esteem, self, a sense of transcendence, and other qualities that make man the biggest creations of God. It is an evil that seeks to dispel that image that God placed in us.
In the Bible there are cases of people like Abraham, Moses, King David, the prophet Jeremiah, the prophet Jonah, the Old Testament and New Testament in the case of the apostle Peter and Paul, and even of the Lord Jesus Christ through times of depression.
Sin however I just want to refer to the text of Matthew 26,36-46 in showing that the Lord Jesus at the Garden of Gethsemane with his disciples, suffered a great depression because they experience a profound sadness and a mortal agony. The Lord Jesus looms the intense suffering that was going to experiment until his death at the hands of the Jews, so they turned to the Lord for a prayer that she can regain the strength and peace I needed to face their prueba.
Siendo that the Lord your face depression as any man and found out to them in prayer, this may be a good choice whether you are taking medications as therapy or as an act of faith to level the emotions that are found in our hectic hearts
Phil:
There is a pastoral angle to pursue with each sinner. Our tactics may vary, but the truth is the same. Duncan's comment seems most adaptable to theologians and pastors who need to be sure that their feet are on solid ground salvifically.
In some cases, Scripture presents this "confusion" as a viable example for listeners. For instance, Joshua, in his parting words to Israel urges them to "fear God." They agree that they will, only to hear him say, "You can't" (24:14-19). This offsets hubris in the people who assumed they'd be fine. God knew they wouldn't and needed an extra prod.
Jesus put an impossible task before the Rich Young Ruler, and later made the application to his disciples that what is impossible to men is possible to God. Granted, he did not say to the young ruler that it was impossible. The lesson seemed (in this case) to be aimed at the disciples--and us.
But in John 6, Jesus did call the crowds to follow him in such a radical way (eat my flesh, drink my blood) that they all left Jesus, along with many of the outer group of disciples! Here Jesus called them to come, but said in v. 44 that they could only do so with the Father's drawing power.
Whatever way we present the truth, it will definitely take a work of grace to make the sinner see and believe. "He that has ears to hear, let him hear."
Thanks, as always for your good comments!
Something to consider with the examples you used is that Jesus was speaking to a religious audience, whether it was the rich young ruler or the Jews in John 6. These dudes thought they had it all together, when in reality they didn't. Jesus does the same thing in John 3 w/ Nicodemus.
In contrast he doesn't seem to do it with the Samaritan woman in Jn. 4. He invites her to drink and as the narrative unfolds it becomes clear that she does!
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