Condemnation

We are not only under condemnation through our offences, but we are under the dominion of a fallen nature which is at enmity against God. It is not only that we have committed sins for which we need mercy, but we have a sinful nature which needs to be made anew. Arminianism preaches the new-birth but it preaches it as a consequence of or an accompaniment to the human decision; it represents man as being born again by repenting and believing, as though these spiritual acts are within the ability of the unconverted. This teaching is only possible because of an under-estimation of the toatal ruin and impotence of the sinner. The Scripture says that the natural man cannot receive spirtiual things and it is because of this that the Divine quickening must precede the human response.

Iain Murray, The Forgotten Spurgeon, p. 83

Suffering / Grace

When one is full of health and vigour, and has everthing going well, you might, perhaps, live on the elementary truths of Christianity very comfortably; but in times of stern pressure of spirit, when the soul is much cast down, you want the marrow and the fatness. In times of inward conflict, salvation must be all of grace from first to last.

Iain Murray, The Forgotten Spurgeon, p. 83

Arminianism

Arminianism, because it obscures the glory which belongs solely to the grace of God, comes under apostolic condemnation and is therefore an error sufficiently serious for there to be no room for compromising. We may have fellowship with brethren who are under the influence of there errors but in the preaching and teaching of the Church there can be no wavering or indistinctness of such an issue.

Iain Murray, The Forgotten Spurgeon, p. 81

Arminianism

'Does God loveme because I love him? Does God love me because my faith is strong? Why, then, he must have loved me because of somthing good in me, and that is not according to the gospel. The gospel represents the Lord as loving the unworthy and justifying the ungodly, and therefore I must cast out of my mind the idea that divine love depends on human conditions.

Iain Murray, The Forgotten Spurgeon, p. 81

Arminianism

A second reason why Spurgeon opposed Arminianism so strongly was that he saw tht the spirit of that system leads directly to legality, for while evangelical Arminians deny salvation by works, the tendency of the errors they hold is to evevate the importance of the sinner's activity and to direct emphasis primarily to the human will and endeavour. This is the logical outcome of a system which regards the human decision as the crucial factor in determining who is saved, and which represents faith as something which every man may call into exercise if he so chooses.

Iain Murray, The Forgotten Spurgeon, p. 79

Faith / Salvation

I have heard it often asserted that if you believe that Jesus Chirst died for you, you will be saved. My dear hearer, do not be deluded by such an idea. You may believe that Jesus Chirst died for you, and may believe what is not true; you may believe that which will bring you no sort of good whatever. That is not saving faith. The man who has saving faith afterwards attains to the conviction that Chirst died for him, but it is not of the essence of saving faith. Do no get that into your head, or it ruin you. Do not say, "I believe that Jesus Chirst died for me," and because of that feel that you are saved. I pray you to remember that the genuine faith that saves the soul has for its main element - trust- absolute rest of the whole soul - on the Lord Jesus Christ to save me, whether he died in particular or in special to save me or not, and relying, as I am, wholly and alone on him, I am saved.

Iain Murray, The Forgotten Spurgeon, P. 78