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He created as it pleased him; he made them as
he chose; the potter exercised power over his clay to make his vessels as he willed, and
to make them for what purposes he pleased. Think you that he has abdicated the throne of
grace? Does he reign in creation and not in grace? Is he absolute king over nature and not
over the greater works of the new nature? Is he Lord over the things which his hand made
at first, and not King over the great regeneration, the new-making wherein he maketh all
things new?
But take the works of Providence. I suppose there will be no dispute amongst us
that in providential matters God ordereth all things according to the counsel of his own
will. If we should, however, be troubled with doubts about the matter, we might hear the
striking words of Nebuchadnezzar when, taught by God, he had repented of his pride—
"All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; he doth according to his
will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his
hand, or say unto him, What doest thou." From the first moment of human history even
to the last, God's will shall be done. What though it be a catastrophe or a
crime—there may be the second causes and the action of human evil, but the great
first cause is in all. If we could imagine that one human action had eluded the prescience
or the predestination of God, we could suppose that the whole might have done so, and all
things might drift to sea, anchorless, rudderless, a sport to every wave, the victim of
tempest and hurricane. One leak in the ship of Providence would sink her, one hour in
which Omnipotence relaxed its grasp and she would fall to atoms. But it is the comfortable
conviction of all God's people that "all things work together for good to them that
love God;" and that God ruleth and overruleth, and reigneth in all acts of men and in
all events that transpire; from seeming evil still producing good, and better still, and
better still in infinite progression, still ordering all things according the counsel of
his will. And think you that he reigns in Providence and is King there, and not in grace?
Has he given up the blood-bought land to be ruled by man, while common Providence is left
as a lonely providence to be his only heritage? He hath not let slip the reins of the
great chariot of Providence, and think you that when Christ goeth forth in the chariot of
his grace it is with steeds unguided, or driven only by chance, or by the fickle will of
man? Oh, no brethren. As surely as God's will is the axle of the universe, as certainly as
God's will is the great heart of providence sending its pulsings through even the most
distant limbs of human act, so in grace let us rest assured that he is King, willing to do
as he pleases, having mercy on whom he will have mercy, calling whom he chooses to call,
quickening whom he wills, and fulfilling, despite man's hardness of heart, despite man's
willful rejection of Christ, his own purposes, his won decrees, without one of them
falling to the ground. We think, then, that analogy helps to strengthen us in the
declaration of e text, that salvation is not left with man's will.
2. But, secondly, we believe that the difficulties which surround the opposite theory
are tremendous. In fact, we cannot bear to look them in the face. If there be
difficulties about ours, there are ten times more about the opposite. We think that the
difficulties which surround our belief that salvation depends upon the will of God, arise
from our ignorance in not understanding enough of God to be able to judge of them; but
that the difficulties in the other case do not arise from that cause, but from certain
great truths, clearly revealed, which stand in manifest opposition to the figment which
our opponents have espoused. According to their theory—that salvation depends upon
our own will— you have first of all this difficulty to meet, that you have made
the purpose of God in the great plan of salvation entirely contingent. You have the
put an "if" upon everything. Christ may die, but it is not certain according to
that theory that he will redeem a great multitude; nay, not certain that he will redeem
any, since the efficacy of the redemption according to that plan, rests not in its own
intrinsic power, but in the will of man accepting that redemption. Hence if man be, as we
aver he always is, if he be a bond-slave as to his will, and will not yield to the
invitation of God's grace, then in such a case the atonement of Christ would be valueless,
useless, and altogether in vain, for not a soul would be saved by it; and even when souls
are saved by it, according to that theory, the efficacy, I say, lies not in the blood
itself, but in the will of man which gives it efficacy. Redemption is therefore made
contingent; the cross shakes, the blood falls powerless on the ground, and atonement is a
matter of perhaps. There is a heaven provided, but there may no souls who will ever come
there if their coming is to be of themselves. There is a fountain filled with blood, but
there may be none who will ever wash in it unless divine purpose and power shall constrain
them to come. You may look at any one promise of grace, but you cannot say over it,
"This is the sure mercy of David;" for there is an "if," and a
"but;" a "perhaps," and a "peradventure." In fact, the
reigns are gone out of God's hands; the linch-pin is taken away from the wheels of the
creation; you have left the whole economy of grace and mercy to be the gathering together
of fortuitous atoms impelled by man's own will, and what may become of it at the end
nobody can know. We cannot tell on that theory whether God will be gloried or sin will
triumph. Oh! how happy are we when come back to the old fashioned doctrines, and cast our
anchor where it can get its grip in the eternal purpose and counsel of God, who worketh
all things to the good pleasure of his will.
Then another difficulty comes in; not only is everything made contingent, but it does seem
to us as if man were thus made to be the supreme being in the universe. According
to the freewill scheme the Lord intends good, but he must win like a lackey on his own
creature to know what his intention is; God willeth good and would do it, but he cannot,
because he has an unwilling man who will not have God's good thing carried into effect.
What do ye, sirs, but drag the Eternal from his throne, and lift up into it that fallen
creature, man: for man, according to that theory nods, and his nod is destiny. You must
have a destiny somewhere; it must either be as God wills or as man wills . If it be as God
wills , then Jehovah sits as sovereign upon his throne of glory, and all hosts obey him,
and the world is safe; if not God, then you put man there, to say. "I will" or
"I will not; if I will it I will enter heaven; if I will it I will despise the grace
of God; if I will it I will conquer the Holy Sprit, for I am stronger than God, and
stronger than omnipotence; if I will it I will make the blood of Christ of no effect, for
I am mightier than that blood, mightier than the blood of the Son of God himself; though
God make his purpose, yet will I laugh at his purpose; it shall be my purpose that shall
make his purpose stand, or make it fall." Why, sirs, if this be not Atheism, it is
idolatry; it is putting man where God should be, and I shrink with solemn awe and horror
from that doctrine which makes the grandest of God's works—the salvation man—to
be dependent upon the will of his creature whether it shall be accomplished or not. Glory
I can and must in my text in its fullest sense. "It is not of him that willeth, nor
of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy."
3. We think that the known condition of man is a very strong argument against the
supposition that salvation depends upon his own will; and hence is a great
confirmation of the truth that it depends upon the will of God; that it is God that
chooses, and not man,—God who takes the first step, and not the creature. Sirs, on
the theory that man comes to Christ of his own will, what do you with texts of Scripture
which say that he is dead? "And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and
sins;" you will say that is a figure. I grant it, but what is the meaning of it? You
say the meaning is, he is spiritually dead. Well, then I ask you, how can he perform the
spiritual act of willing that which is right? He is alive enough to will that which is
evil, only evil and that continually, but he is not alive to will that which is
spiritually good. Do you not know, to turn to another Scripture, that he cannot even
discern that which is spiritual? for the natural man knoweth not the things which be of
God, seeing they are spiritual and must be spiritually discerned. Why, he has not a
"spirit" with which to discern them; he has only a soul and body, but the third
principle, implanted in regeneration, which is called in the Word of God, "the
spirit," he knows nothing of and he is therefore incapable, seeing he is dead and is
without the vitalizing spirit, of doing what you say he does. Then again, what make you of
the words of our Savior where he said to those who had heard even him, "Ye will
not come to me that ye might have life?" Where is free-will after such a text as
that? When Christ affirms that they will not, who dare say they will? "Ah, but,"
you say, "they could if they would." Dear sir, I am not talking about that; I am
talking about if they would, the question is "will they?" and we say
"no," they never will by nature. Man is so depraved, so set on mischief, and the
way of salvation is so obnoxious to his pride, so hateful to his lusts, that he cannot
like it, and will not like it, unless he who ordained the plan shall change his nature,
and subdue his will. Mark, this stubborn will of man is his sin; he is not to be excused
for it; he is guilty because he will not come; he is condemned because he will not come;
because he will not believe in Christ, therefore is condemnation resting upon him, but
still the fact does not alter for all that, that he will not come by nature if left to
himself. Well, then, if man will not, how shall he be saved unless God shall make him
will?—unless, in some mysterious way, he who made heart shall touch its mainspring so
that it shall move in a direction opposite to that which it naturally follows.
4. But there is another argument which will come closer home to us. It is consistent
with the universal experience of all God's people that salvation is of God's will. You
will say, "I have not had a very long life, I have not, but I have had a very
extensive acquaintance with all sections of the Christian Church, and I solemnly protest
before you, that I have never yet met with a man professing to be a Christian, let alone
his really being so, who ever said that his coming to God was the result of his unassisted
nature. Universally, I believe, without exception, the people of God will say it was the
Holy Spirit that made them what they are; that they should have refused to come as others
do unless God's grace had sweetly influenced their wills. There are some hymns in Mr.
Wesley's hymn-book which are stronger upon this point than I could ever venture to be, for
he puts prayer into the lips of the sinner in which God is even asked to force him to be
saved by grace. Of course I can take no objection to a term so strong, but it goes to
prove this, that among all sections of Christians, whether Arminian or Calvinistic,
whatever their doctrinal sentiments may be, their experimental sentiments are the same. I
do not think they would any of them refuse to join in the verse—
Nor would they find fault with our own hymn,
'Twas the same love that spread the feast,We bring out the crown and say, "On whose
head shall we put it? Who ruled at the turning-point? Who decided this case?" and the
universal Church of God, throwing away their creeds, would say. "Crown him;
crown him, put it on his head, for he is worthy; he has made
us to differ; he has done it, and unto him be the praise for ever and
ever." What staggers me is, that men can believe dogmas contrary to their own
experience,—that they can hug that to their hearts as precious to which their own
inward convictions must give the lie.
5. But, lastly, in the way of argument. and to bring our great battering-ram at the last.
It is not, after all, arguments from analogy, nor reasons from the difficulties of the
opposite position, nor inferences from the know feebleness of human nature, nor even
deductions from experience, that will settle this question once for all. To the law and to
the testimony, if they speak not accord to this word, it is because there is no light in
them. Do me the pleasure, then, to use your Bibles for a moment or two, and let us see
what Scripture saith on this main point. First, with regard to the matter of God's
preparation, and his plan with regard to salvation. We turn to the apostle's words in the
epistle to the Ephesians, and we find in the first chapter and the third verse,
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him
before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in
love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself
according to the good pleasure of his will"—a double word you notice—it is
according to the will of his will. No expression could be stronger in the original to show
the entire absoluteness of this thing as depending on the will God. It seems, then, that
the choice of his people their adoption is according to his will. So far we are satisfied,
indeed, with the testimony of the apostle. Then in the ninth verse, "Having made
known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath
purposed in himself: that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather
together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth;
even in him." So, then, it seems that the grand result of the gathering together of
all the saved in Christ, as well as the primitive purpose, is according to the counsel of
his will. What stronger proof can there be that salvation depends upon the will of God?
Moreover, it says in the eleventh verse—"In whom also we have obtained an
inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things
after the counsel of his own will:" a stronger expression than "of his
will"—"of his own will," his free unbiased will, his will alone. As
for redemption as well as for the eternal purpose—redemption is according to the will
of God. You remember that verse in Hebrews, tenth chapter, ninth verse: "Lo, I come
to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he might establish the second. By
the which will we are sanctified." So that the redemption offered up on Calvary, like
the election made before the foundation of the world, is the result of the divine will.
There will be little controversy here: the main point is about our new birth, and here we
cannot allow of any diversity of opinion. Turn to the Gospel according to John, the first
chapter and thirteenth verse. It is utterly impossible that human language could have put
a stronger negative on the vainglorious claims of the human will than this passage does:
"Born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of
God." A passage equally clear is to be found in the Epistle of James, at the first
chapter, and the eighteenth verse: "Of his own will begat he us with the word of
truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures." In these
passages—and they are not the only ones—the new birth is peremptorily and in the
strongest language put down as being the fruit and effect of the will and purpose of God.
As to the sanctification which is the result and outgrowth of the new birth, that also is
according to God's holy will. In the first of Thessalonians, fourteenth chapter, and third
verse, we have, "This is the will of God, even your sanctification." One more
passage I shall need you to refer to, the sixteenth chapter, and thirty-ninth verse. Here
we find that the preservation, the perseverance, the resurrection, and the eternal glory
of God's people, rests upon his will. "And this is the Father's will which hath sent
me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up
again at the last day; and this is the will of him that sent me that every one which seeth
the Son and believeth on him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the
last day." And indeed this is why the saints go to heaven at all, because in the
seventeenth chapter of John, Christ is recorded as praying, "Father, I will that they
also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am." We close, then, by noticing
that according to Scripture there is not a single blessing in the new covenant which is
not conferred upon us according to the will of God, and that as the vessel hangs upon the
nail, so every blessing, we receive hangs upon the absolute will and counsel of God, who
gives these mercies even as he gives the gifts of the Spirit according as he wills. We
shall now leave that point, and take the second great truth, and speak a little while upon
it.
II. MAN'S WILL HAS ITS PROPER PLACE IN THE MATTER OF SALVATION. "Whosoever will
let him come and take the water of life freely." According to this and many other
texts the Scripture where man is addressed as a being having a will, it appears clear
enough that men are not saved by compulsion. When a man receives the grace of Christ, he
does not receive it against his will. No man shall be pardoned while he abhors the though
forgiveness. No man shall have joy in the Lord if he says, "I do not wish to rejoice
in the Lord." Do not think that anybody shall have the angels pushing them behind
into the gates of heaven. They must go there freely or else they will never go there at
all. We are not saved against our will; nor again, mark you, is the will taken away; for
God does not come and convert the intelligent free-agent into a machine. When he turns the
slave into a child, it is not by plucking out of him the will which he possesses. We are
as free under grace as ever we were under sin; nay, we were slaves when we were under sin,
and when the Son makes us free we are free indeed, and we are never free before. Erskine,
in speaking of his own conversion, says he ran to Christ "with full consent against
his will," by which he meant it was against his old will; against his will as it was
till Christ came, but when Christ came, then he came to Christ with full consent, and was
as willing to be saved—no, that is a cold word—as delighted, as pleased, as
transported to receive Christ as if grace had not constrained him. But we do hold and
teach that though the will of man is not ignored, and men are not saved against their
wills, that the work of the Spirit, which is the effect of the will of God, is to change
the human will, and so make men willing in the day of God's power, working in them to will
to do of his own good pleasure. The work of the Spirit is consistent with the original
laws and constitution of human nature. Ignorant men talk grossly and carnally about the
work of the Spirit in the heart as if the heart were a lump of flesh, and the Holy Spirit
turned it round mechanically. Now, brethren, how is your heart and my heart changed in any
matter? Why, the instrument generally is persuasion. A friend sets before us a truth we
did not know before; pleads with us; puts it in a new light, and then we say, "Now I
see that," and then our hearts are changed towards the thing. Now, although no man's
heart is changed by moral suasion in itself, yet the way in which the Spirit works in his
heart, as far as we can detect it, is instrumentally by a blessed persuasion of the mind.
I say not that men are saved by moral suasion, or that this is the first cause, but I
think it is frequently the visible means. As to the secret work, who knows how the Spirit
works? "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but
thou canst not tell whence it cometh nor whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of
the Spirit;" but yet, as far as we can see, the Spirit makes a revelation of truth to
the soul, whereby it seeth things in a different light from what it ever did before, and
then the will cheerfully bows that neck which once was stiff as iron, and wears the yoke
which once it despised, and wears it gladly, cheerfully, and joyfully. Yet, mark, the will
is not gone; the will is treated as it should be treated; man is not acted upon as a
machine, he is not polished like a piece of marble; he is not planed and smoothed like a
plank of deal; but his mind is acted upon by the Spirit of God, in a manner quite
consistent with mental laws. Man is thus made a new creature in Christ Jesus, by the will
of God, and his own will is blessedly and sweetly made to yield.
Then, mark you,—and this is a point which I want to put into the thoughts of any who
are troubled about these things,—this gives the renewed soul a most blessed sign of
grace, insomuch that if any man wills to be saved by Christ, if he wills to have sin
forgiven through the precious blood, if he wills to live by a holy life resting upon the
atonement of Christ, and in the power of the Spirit, that will is one of the most blessed
signs of the mysterious working of the Spirit of God in his heart; such a sign is it that
if it be real willingness, I will venture to assert that that man is not far from the
kingdom. I say not that he is so saved that he himself may conclude he is, but there is a
work begun, which has the germ of salvation in it. If thou art willing, depend upon it
that God is willing. Soul, if thou art anxious after Christ, he is more anxious after
thee. If thou hast only one spark of true desire after him, that spark is a spark from the
fire of his love to thee. He has drawn thee, or else thou wouldest never run after him. If
you are saying, "Come to me, Jesus," it is because he has come to you, though
you do not know it. He has sought you as a lost sheep, and therefore you have sought him
like a returning prodigal. He has swept the house to find you, as the woman swept for the
lost piece of money, and now you seek him as a lost child would seek a father's face. Let
your willingness to come to Christ be a hopeful sign and symptom.
But once more, and let me have the ear of the anxious yet again. It appears that when you
have a willingness to come to Christ, there is a special promise for you. You know, my
dear hearers, that we are not accustomed in this house of prayer to preach one side of
truth, but we try if we can to preach it all. There are some brethren with small heads,
who, when they have heard a strong doctrinal sermon, grow into hyper-Calvinists, and then
when we preach an inviting sermon to poor sinners, they cannot understand it, and say it
is a yea and nay gospel. Believe me, it is not yea and nay, but yea and yea. We give your
yea to all truth, and our nay we give to no doctrine of God. Can a sinner be saved when he
wills to come to Christ? Yea. And if he does come, does he come because God brings
him? Yea. We have no nays in our theology for any revealed truth. We do not shut the door
on one word and open it to another. Those are the yea and nay people who have a nay for
the poor sinner, when they profess to preach the gospel. As soon as a man has any
willingness given to him, he has a special promise. Before he had the willingness he had
an invitation. Before he had any willingness, it was his duty to believe in Christ, for it
is not man's condition that gives him a right to believe. Men are to believe in obedience
to God's command. God commandeth all men everywhere to repent, and this is his great
command, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." "This
is the commandment, that ye believe in Jesus Christ whom he has sent." Hense your
right and your duty to believe; but once you have got the willingness, then you have a
special promise—"Whosoever will let him come." That is a sort of
extraordinary invitation. Methinks this is the utterance of the special call. You know how
John Bunyan describes the special call in words to this effect. "The hen goes
clucking about the farm-yard all day long; that is the general call of the gospel; but she
sees a hawk up in the sky, and she gives a sharp cry for her little ones to come and hide
under her wings; that is the special call; they come and are safe." My text is a
special call to some of you. Poor soul! are you willing to be saved? "O, sir,
willing, willing indeed; I cannot use that word; I would give all I have if I might but be
saved." Do you mean you would give it all in order to purchase it? "Oh no, sir,
I do not mean that; I know I cannot purchase it; I know it is God's gift, but still, if I
could be but saved, I would ask nothing else.
Why, then the Lord speaks to you this morning, to you if not to any other man in the chapel, he speaks to you and says—"Whosoever will let him come." You cannot say this does not mean you. When we give the general invitation, you may exempt yourself perhaps in some way or other, but you cannot now. You are willing, then come and take the water of life freely. "Had not I better pray?" It does not say so; it says, take the water of life. "But had not I better go home and get better?" No, take the water of life, and take the water of life now. You are standing by the fountain outside there, and the water is flowing and you are willing to drink; you are picked out of a crowd who are standing round about, and you are specially invited by the person who built the fountain. He says, "Here is a special invitation for you; you are willing; come and drink." "Sir," you say, "I must go home and wash my pitcher." "No," says he, "come and drink." "But, sir, I want to go home and write a petition to you." "I do not want it," he says, "drink now, drink now." What would you do? If you were dying of thirst, you would just put your lips down and drink. Soul, do that now. Believe that Jesus Christ is able to save thee now. Trust thy soul in his hands now. No preparation is wanted. Whosoever will let him come; let him come at once and take the water of life freely. To take that water is simply to trust Christ; to repose on him; to take him to be your all in all. Oh that thou wouldest do it now! Thou are willing; God has made thee willing. When the crusaders heard the voice of Peter the hermit, as he bade them go to Jerusalem to take it from the hands of the invaders, they cried out at once, "Deus vult; God wills it; God wills it;" and every man plucked his sword from its scabbard, and set out to reach the holy sepulchre, for God willed it. So come and drink, sinner; God wills it. Trust Jesus; God wills it. If you will it, that is the sign that God wills it. "Father, thy will be done on earth even as it is in heaven." As sinners, humbly stoop to drink from the flowing crystal which streams from the sacred fountain which Jesus opened for his people; let it be said in heaven, "God's will is done; hallelujah, hallelujah!" "It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy;" yet "Whosoever will let him come and take the water of life freely."
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