Regenerate

"No more soul-destroying doctrine could well be devised than the doctrine that sinners can regenerate themselves, and repent and believe just when they please....As it is a truth both of Scripture and of experience that the unrenewed man can do nothing of himself to secure his salvation, it is essential that he should be brought to a practical conviction of that truth. When thus convinced, and not before, he seeks help from the only source whence it can be obtained."

Iain Murray, The Forgotten Spurgeon, p. 98

Salvation, Effectual Calling, Predestination and Evangelism

I tell you yes, for herein rests the power of the gospel. It does not ask your consent; but it gets it. It does not say, will you have it? but it makes you willing in the day of God's power....The gospel wants not your consent, it gets it. It knocks the enmity out of your heart. You say "I do not want to be saved" ; Christ says you shall be. He makes your will turn round, and then you cry, "Lord save, or I perish!" Ah, might heaven exclaim, "I knew I would make you say that" ; and then He rejoices over you because He has changed your will and made you willing in the day of his power. If Jesus Christ were to stand on this platform tonight, what would many people do with Him? If he were to come and say, "Here I am, I love you, will you be saved by me?" not one of you would consent if you were left to your will. He Himself said, "No man can come to me except the Father who hath sent me draw him." Ah! we want that; and here we have it. They shall come! They shall come! Ye may despise us; but Jesus Christ shall not die for nothing. If some of you reject Him there are some that will not. If there are some that are not saved, others shall be. Christ shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hands. Iain Murray, The Forgotten Spurgeon, p. 93

Calvinism and Arminianism

"Calvinism gives you ten thousand times more reason for hope than the Arminian preacher, who stands up and says, "Therei s room for everybody, but i do not think there is any special grace to make them come; if they won't come, they won't come, and there is an end of it; it is their own fault, and God will not make them come." The Word of God says they cannot come, yet the Arminian declared positively that he could if he liked.' When a man who has reached this point is told that God has determined to save sinners, that, just as He has given the Spirit to apply the merits of that sacrifice and to quicken the dead in sin- the purpose is His, the gift is His, the means are His, the power is His - this is exactly the good news that such a fainting soul needs. To a person who is no longer dependent upon himself and who feels the desperate evil of his heart there could be no more needed message than on that teaches him to look and trust in the free grace of God."

Iain Murray, The Forgotten Spurgeon, p. 90

Hopelessness and Arminianism

"The glorious truth that it is the very hopelessness of the sinner that shows him where real hope lies. To minimize that hopelessness-as Arminianism does- is therefore not the way to reveal the brightness of the hope which shines in the gospel."

Iain Murray, The forgotten Spurgeon, p. 89

Regeneration

"'Sinner, unconverted sinner, I warn thee thou canst never cause thyself to be born again, and though the new birth is absolutely necessary, it is absolutely impossible to thee, unless God the Spirit shall do it....' Do what you will, and still at your very best there is a division wide as eternity between you and the regenerate man...The Spirit of God must new make you, yet must be born again. The same power which raised us from the deat; the very same omnipotence, without which angels or worms could not have had a being, must again step forth out of his privy chamber, and do as great a work as it did at the first creation in making us anew in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Iain Murray, The forgotten Spurgeon, p. 87

Regeneration

"We are helpless to co-operate in our regeneration as we are to co-operate in the work of Calvary, and as it is the Cross alone that meets the guilt of sin, so it is regeneration alone which meets its power. It is this doctrine which at once does justice both to the real nature of the sinner's condition and to the greatness of the Spirit's work."

Iain Murray, The forgotten Spurgeon, p. 87

Salvation and Calvinism

"Concerning the sinner he believes that he has fallen into a condition far more terrible and that he has a need which is much more colossal. And concerning grace he glories that it is efficacious to reach men even in such a position: 'You look at the spiritual thermometer and you say, "How low will the grace of God go? Will it descend to summer heat? Will it touch the freezing point? Will it go to zero?" Yes, it will go below the lowest conceivable point, - lower than any instrument can indicate: it will go below the zero of death.'It is at that point of spiritual death that the Holy Spirit first meets men in saving power and raises them from sin's sepulchre. Not until life is implanted can repentance and faith be exercised and therefore these spiritual acts are 'the first apparent result of regeneration.' 'Evangelical repentance never can exist in a unrenewed soul.'"

Iain Murray, The Forgotten Spurgeon, p. 86