Faith is not dry dead Orthodoxy

 “Faith in Christ is not the reception of a dry, dead orthodoxy—to believe in Jesus is not simply to be a sixteen-ounces-to-the-pound Calvinist.

Saving faith is not the mere reception of a creed or form of any kind. To believe is to trust and no man truly believes—in the New Testament meaning of the word—until he is brought to trust in Christ, alone, and takes his whole religion upon trust, relying not on what he sees, nor on what he is, but on what is revealed in God’s Word—not on what he is, or can be, or shall be, nor on what he does or can do, nor on what he feels or does not feel—but relying solely on what Christ has done, is doing and shall yet do.”—1901, Sermon #2737 ~~Charles H. Spurgeon~~

Pink on Regeneration

 A.W. Pink,

A summary of what has been before us may be helpful to some.

1. Repentance is an evangelical duty, and no preacher is entitled to be regarded as a servant of Christ's if he be silent thereon (Luke 24:47).

2. Repentance is required by God in this dispensation (Acts 17:30) as in all preceding ones.

3. Repentance is in nowise meritorious, yet without it the gospel cannot be savingly believed (Matt. 21:32; Mark 1:15).

4. Repentance is a Spirit-given realization of the exceeding sinfulness of sin and a taking sides with God against myself.

5. Repentance presupposes a hearty approval of God's law and a full consent to its righteous requirements, which are all summed up in “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart

6. Repentance is accompanied by a genuine hatred of and sorrow for sin.

7. Repentance is evidenced by a forsaking of sin.

8. Repentance is known by its permanency: there must be a continual turning away from sin and grieving over each fall thereinto.

9. Repentance, while permanent, is never complete or perfect in this life.

10. Repentance is to be sought as a gift of Christ (Acts 5:31).

You have no right sir.

 You have no right, sir, to let your despair [on account of personal sin] triumph over the promise of God.

—Charles Spurgeon, Sermon: The Sinner’s Refuge, 3:114

If Temptation isn't feared, it will conquer.

 

God takes Particular Notice of our Thoughts

 

Prone upon every turn

 Christians are prone, upon every turn, to judge themselves miserable, & to conclude that they have no grace, because they cannot feel it…

…as if it were not one thing for a man to 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 grace, & another thing to 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 he hath grace. —Puritan Thomas Brooks, Works 3:56

Rule of Life is not a Rule of Acceptance

 It is true the [moral] Law as a ‘rule of life’ does not require obedience for justification; but yet this corrupt nature [in those justified by faith alone in Jesus] is prone to turn to the old bias, & to turn the ‘rule of obedience’ into a ‘rule of acceptance.’

—Ralph Erskine

Do not depend on Emotional Excitements

 For so long as we permit the ‘forgiveness of sins’ to depend entirely or in part upon the emotional excitements which we enjoy, & upon the good works which we do [instead of upon Christ alone] we continue to live more or less in dread & fear.

—Herman Bavinck, Wonderful Works,448

RELYING ON PROMISES OUTSIDE OF US

 Westminster Divine Anthony Burgess argued that it “is a more noble & excellent way” to find assurance of faith by relying on God’s bare promises in Christ 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘶𝘴 than it is to come to assurance by seeing the evidences of grace 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯 us.

(See RST, 3:774)