Latest / Reformed Thinking / Obstacles To Soul-Winning | Charles Spurgeon

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Obstacles To Soul-Winning | Charles Spurgeon · Reformed Thinking

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You know, usually when we talk about a medical diagnosis,
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there's this expectation of absolute precision.
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Right, like it's a math equation or something?
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Yeah, exactly. Wait, I mean, it's like
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engineering. You break your arm, the X-ray
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shows that jagged white line, and the Doctor just points at
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the film and said, well, there it is, that's the problem.
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It's binary, it's broken or it's not broken.
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It's clean, it's visible, and we can categorize it neatly so we
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know what we're dealing with. We love a clear diagnosis
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because it dictates a clear treatment plan.
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But then you step into the world of the human soul and suddenly
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that X-ray machine is it's useless.
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We're looking at a diagnostic landscape that is, quite
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honestly pretty murky. Oh, absolutely.
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When we try to figure out why someone rejects the gospel.
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Or you know why a person sits in a Pew for decades without any
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genuine change? The reasons are rarely as clear
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as a snapped bone. It's the absolute definition of
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diagnostic Muddy Waters. I mean, the symptoms might look
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like one thing, but the underlying disease is something
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else entirely. Yeah, that's a good way to put
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it. We see the outward behavior.
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Maybe it's outright hostility, or maybe it's just polite
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nodding. But the internal spiritual
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condition is completely hidden from Plainview, and treating a
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misdiagnosed illness can sometimes be worse than doing
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nothing at all. Welcome to Reformed Thinking.
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For those of you listening, we're really glad to have you
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sitting in with us today as the third person in the room.
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Glad you're here with us. We have an incredibly
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fascinating stack of source material.
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Today we're doing a deep dive into Charles Spurgeon,
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specifically excerpts from his work The Soul Winner A.
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Classic. It really is.
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We are zeroing in on a section where he outlines the specific
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obstacles to winning souls. We're going to unpack these
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historical, yet painfully timeless barriers to faith.
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And we'll look at everything from sheer apathy to secret,
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hidden sins. Right.
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And we'll analyze all of this through a lens consistent with
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Reformed theology and the Westminster Confession.
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So let's jump right into the first massive obstacle Spurgeon
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identifies. Sounds good, let's do it.
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It's one that might actually surprise some people because it
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isn't active, hostile infidelity.
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It's just indifference. It's.
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Lethargy. Just a complete lack of
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interest, yeah. Spurgeon points out that in many
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districts, people simply don't care enough about religion to
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even oppose it. They aren't concerned with what
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you preach, they have no thought of God, and they only use His
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name when they're swearing. Which is a pretty bleak picture,
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it is. But here is where it gets really
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fascinating. Spurgeon makes this observation
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linking economic stagnation to spiritual apathy.
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He notes that in the Thames Valley, during a time when
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business was slack and trade was down, a preacher might kill
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himself preaching and see absolutely 0 result.
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Right. The economic conditions were
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bleeding into the spiritual ones, Yeah.
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And he saw the same dynamic among the Negroes of Jamaica.
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A lack of physical work correlated with very little
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prosperity in the churches. It's an interesting correlation
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when. I read this, my mind went to
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wetwood. Oh, I like that analogy.
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It's not that the wood is actively fighting the fire,
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right? It's just incapable catching a
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spark. Yeah, it just sits there.
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But I don't quite buy the psychology here on first glance.
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I mean, if I lose my job and my business dries up and I'm
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struggling to feed my family, wouldn't I be more likely to cry
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out to God? You would certainly think so.
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So why does an economic downturn produce this lethargy that
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Spurgeon compares to an earthworm wriggling away out of
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reach? Why does financial ruin result
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in spiritual deadness rather than a spiritual awakening?
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That's a really perceptive way to frame the tension, and it
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drives right to the heart of the reformed view of the natural
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human disposition, OK. Lay it on me.
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To understand this, we have to look at the doctrine of total
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depravity as articulated in the Westminster Confession.
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By nature, fallen humanity isn't just spiritually sick or
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slightly injured, we are spiritually dead.
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Right. Dead in trespasses and sins.
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Exactly. Without the regenerating of the
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Holy Spirit, the default state of the human heart is coldness
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and enmity toward God. Now, when times are prosperous,
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or when a society has a bustling economic life, there's a kind of
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external structure. Like a rhythm to daily life.
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Yes, a rhythm that mimics vitality.
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People have a purpose in their daily work.
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They have schedules, social expectations, and that earthly
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purpose can mask the underlying spiritual void.
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That makes a lot of sense, no? So they look alive because
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they're busy. Precisely when those external
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structures fall away, when the work dries up in the Thames
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Valley, the result isn't an automatic turn to the divine.
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Instead, the collapse of the earthly structure simply exposes
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the spiritual decay that was already there all along.
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Wow. So the hardship just pulls back
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the curtain, Yeah. The natural man, when stripped
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of his earthly comforts and distractions, doesn't natively
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possess the spiritual life required to seek God.
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He just sinks into a heavier, more obvious lethargy.
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So my wet wood analogy, your. Wet wood analogy hits the mark
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perfectly. The economic depression is like
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a torrential rain on wood that has already dead.
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The rain didn't kill the wood, but it made it undeniably
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obvious that the wood cannot catch fire.
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That is sobering. It is now Spurgeon's pastoral
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remedy for this is striking. He doesn't suggest a new
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economic policy or a softer, more entertaining message to
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draw a crowd. What does he suggest?
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He says the preacher must be doubly in earnest.
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The preacher must possess A vehement, burning, blazing, all
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consuming zeal. So the preacher brings the fire.
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Yes, if the environment is freezing cold, the minister must
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burn hot enough to counteract the surrounding apathy.
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The preacher's zeal becomes the instrument the Spirit uses to
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Pierce that lethargy. Because there's zero warmth
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resident in the listener. Spot on.
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The warmth has to come entirely from the outside.
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OK, so if indifference is this passive block, a kind of
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freezing cold where the person just shrugs, what happens when
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the intellect actively resists the truth?
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That is a very different beast, yeah.
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Spurgeon moves from the apathetic worker to the act of
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unbeliever. Unbelieve takes a pronounced
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form when individuals consciously elevate their own
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opinions above God's inspired declarations.
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Which is basically the core of human pride.
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Right. And Spurgeon issues a really
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strong warning here. He says we should never fight
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unbelievers with their own weapons.
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He argues against using what he calls paper pellets of reason.
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Paper pellets of reason. What a great phrase.
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It really is. He suggests that arguing for the
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pulpit often does more harm than good.
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In fact, he says that by trying to meticulously refute every new
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heresy, A preacher might inadvertently teach infidelity
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to young minds in the congregation.
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Minds who otherwise knew absolutely nothing of those
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false ideas in the first place. Exactly To illustrate this, he
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shares a remarkable anecdote about a man who sat in his
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congregation every single Sabbath.
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This man explicitly called Spurgeon an awful man because
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Spurgeon had absolutely no sympathy for his unbelief.
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That's. Quite an accusation.
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Yeah, but get this, this self-proclaimed unbeliever kept
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returning week after week. Because of the conviction,
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right? Because Spurgeon's calm faith
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and the visible results of that faith convinced the man of his
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own foolishness, the man admitted that seeing Spurgeon's
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conviction made him realize he was a fool.
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That's amazing. I.
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Think about this like a virus entering a body.
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If you argue with unbelief on its own terms, using only human
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logic, it's like giving a virus a host to mutate within.
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Oh, that's good. You don't cure the disease, you
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just create a smarter, more resilient resistance.
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But how do we square this approach with the biblical
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command to give a defense for the faith?
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Are we supposed to just ignore intellectual objections
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entirely? Well.
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We aren't ignoring them, but we are recognizing the true nature
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of the objection. When we filter Spurgeon's advice
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through the Westminster Confession stance on the human
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will and intellect, his refusal to argue on the unbelievers
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terms makes perfect sense. Because of how sin affects the
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mind. Yes, the Confession teaches that
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the fall corrupted the whole man, and that includes the mind.
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Theologians refer to this as the noetic effects of sin.
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The noetic effects, meaning the intellect itself is compromised.
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Right, because the intellect is darkened.
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Pure logic alone cannot resurrect A spiritually dead
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heart. Sin acts like a massive
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cognitive bias it. Twists.
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Things it twists. Logic suppresses truth and
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rationalizes rebellion to protect the ego.
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If you engage a person purely on the level of human philosophy,
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treating their objection as a purely academic puzzle, you are
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validating their false assumption.
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The assumption that they are the judge.
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Exactly. You are validating the idea that
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their fallen reason is the ultimate judge of universal
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truth. You are stepping onto their
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terrain and playing by rules that are rigged by their own
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spiritual blindness. So that's why Spurgeon called
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them Pedro pellets. Yeah, Spurgeon recognized that
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paper pellets of reason are completely insufficient against
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the armor of a hardened will. When Spurgeon refused to
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sympathize with that man's unbelief, he was refusing to
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pretend that the man's rebellion was a neutral intellectual.
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Problem. He treated it as a moral
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problem. Yes, by demonstrating resolute
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faith, Spurgeon confronted the man with a reality that logic
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could not dismiss. The authenticity of a believer's
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holiness and earnestness carries significantly more weight than
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any philosophical debate. You.
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Fight unbelief with belief. You fight falsehood with the
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truth. You don't cut and pare down the
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gospel to make it fit human follies.
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The Holy Spirit uses the unadulterated proclamation of
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the Word, backed by a holy life, to breakdown the barriers of the
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mind. So the virus analogy holds up.
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It holds up very well if you give the rebellious mind the
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debate it craves. It simply feeds on the argument
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getting stronger and more prideful.
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By presenting the pure truth and living it out, you administer
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the only cure capable of penetrating the disease.
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That makes a lot of sense. Active Unbelief uses intellect
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as a shield, but there's another tactic the human heart uses that
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doesn't require arguing at all, it just requires waiting.
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Spurgeon discusses 2 related barriers here, fatal delay and
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Carnal Security. Let's look at delay first the.
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Whole I'll do it tomorrow mindset.
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Exactly. Spurgeon compares this to the
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biblical story of Felix responding to the apostle Paul.
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Felix heard the truth, He actually felt the weight of it,
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but he parry the thrust by telling Paul he would wait for a
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convenient season. It's this tragic, endless
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procrastination, right? Then there's carnal security.
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This is the false assumption of safety.
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People look at themselves, they compare their actions favorably
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to their neighbors, and they conclude they're in a pretty
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safe position. They feel no dread of eternal
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destruction whatsoever. None.
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Now, Spurgeon is incredibly forceful regarding the remedy
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for these two traps. For the one delaying, he insists
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on pressing men for a speedy decision, declaring that now is
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the accepted time. No more waiting.
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And for the carnally secure, his advice is even more severe.
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He says the preacher must Thunder day and night to make
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the unbelieving Sinner tremble. Thunder day and night.
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That's a strong image. He issues a stark warning
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against preaching smooth things that are too soothing, stating
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that if we fail to declare the danger, part of the
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responsibility for the ruin lies at our door.
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But there's a tension here that we need to unpack.
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I mean, if we hold to the Reformed understanding that God
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alone changes the heart on his own sovereign timetable, why is
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there such an intense urgency to press for an immediate decision?
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That's a very common question, right?
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Why are we commanded to make the Sinner tremble right now, today,
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if the time your regeneration is entirely in God's hands?
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That tension is one of the most vital aspects of Reformed
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pastoral practice, and misunderstanding it leads to
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terrible errors. The Westminster Confession holds
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firmly to the sovereignty of God in salvation.
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Right. It is God, the Holy Spirit who
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applies the redemption. Working when and where and how
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He pleases, However, this internal sovereign work of the
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Spirit is ordinarily accomplished through the
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external call of the gospel. OK, so the preaching is the
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mechanism, yes? The preacher or the witnessing
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Christian is the instrument of that external call, and that
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external call must always be urgent, because the reality of
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sin is urgent. So the urgent is based on the
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actual danger. Precisely when Spurgeon thunders
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from the pulpit, he is not trying to manipulate the human
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will through sheer psychological force or emotional abuse.
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He is faithfully administering the means God has ordained to
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awaken the dead. And preaching smooth things.
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Preaching smooth things is pastoral malpractice because it
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colludes with the sinner's delusion.
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Carnal security is a lethal anesthesia.
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The individual thinks they are perfectly healthy while a fatal
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disease runs its cords through their veins.
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Thundering is to wake them up. To shatter that false peace,
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yes, the moral law must be preached.
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In all its terrifying purity. The law thunders against our
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self righteousness. It destroys the grading curve we
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use to compare ourselves to others.
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It shows them they are, as Spurgeon says, condemned
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already. Right.
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The urgency of the preacher pressing for a decision today,
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right now, reflects the objective reality that tomorrow
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is not promised to anyone and God's wrath against sin is real.
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That makes the preacher's job incredibly weighty.
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It is. We preach with absolute urgency,
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knowing full well that it is the Spirit who uses that very
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urgency to awaken the dead heart according His perfect timetable.
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The sovereignty of God isn't an excuse for our passivity.
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It's the only guarantee that our urgent preaching won't be in
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vain. So the law is the hammer that
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shatters the false peace. But what happens when the hammer
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hits too hard, or when a person misinterprets the resulting
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brokenness? That's a dangerous swing of the
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pendulum. Yeah, for carnal security is the
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danger of feeling too safe. What happens when the pendulum
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swings entirely the other way? Spurgeon talks about people who
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feel absolutely no hope, and he calls this the paralysis of
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despair. They act as if they are encased
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in solid steel. Encased in steel, right?
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What is particularly fascinating here is the specific theological
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distortion Spurgeon tackles. To address this.
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He points out that some people have been taught that the work
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of salvation is something of God altogether apart from the
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Sinner. This leads to the excuse, if
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salvation is for me, it will come to me in due time.
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Spurgeon acknowledges there is a great truth hidden in that idea,
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referencing God's sovereignty, but left by itself without
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qualification, he labels it a horrible falsehood.
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And he's right to call it that. He distinguishes this clearly as
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fatalism, not predestination. I think about this like a
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passenger on a plane that is going down.
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Someone hands them a parachute and they refused to put it on.
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Claiming that whatever happens is just faded to happen.
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Exactly, claiming that if gravity dictates they survive,
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they will survive, and if the universe dictates they crash,
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they will crash regardless of their actions.
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Which sounds logical on the surface to some people.
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Right, but it's a complete misunderstanding of how the
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system works. Can you break down the mechanics
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of this distinction? Why is confusing fig.
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Lism with predestination such a lethal obstacle?
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Well, the distinction between cold fatalism and the reformed
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Dr. of predestination is massive, and getting it wrong
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leaves people in that steel casing of despair.
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How so? Fatalism is fundamentally A
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Pagan concept. It views the universe as a
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machine driven by an impersonal, blind, unfeeling force.
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In fatalism, the end result is fixed regardless of the choices
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made along the way. So human action is totally
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meaningless in that view. Yes, it destroys human
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responsibility and obliterates any reason for hope.
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You just sit back and wait for the inevitable.
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But the Reformed doctrine of predestination as outlined in
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the confession is entirely different.
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It's a personal God ordaining things.
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Right. It teaches that God, the loving
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and personal Creator, has ordained the ends, but He has
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also ordained the means to those ends.
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The. Means OK, that's the key.
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Yes, God has chosen his people, but He has also decreed that
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they will be saved through the hearing of the gospel, through
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the conviction of sin, through repentance, and through faith in
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Jesus Christ. So the parachute in my analogy,
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the. Parachute represents the means
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of grace. To refuse the parachute is to
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refuse God's ordained method of deliverance.
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The Sinner is explicitly commanded in Scripture to ask
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for mercy, to repent, and to cast their guilty soul on
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Christ. So sitting back and doing
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nothing is actually disobedience.
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Exactly, When a person uses theology as an excuse to remain
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passive, saying I'll just wait for God to save me if I'm elect,
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they're hiding their rebellion behind a theological distortion.
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Wow. And Spurgeon's solution to this?
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It's. Brilliant.
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He says we must preach full and free salvation to awaken hope in
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the despairing spirit. If the preacher only talks about
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the mechanics of election without offering the free grace
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of Christ to all who will look to him, he leaves the Sinner in
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that steel casing, the. Offer has to be wide open.
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The gospel invitation must be thrown wide open.
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Who, whoever believes, will not perish.
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That broad free offer is the very tool the Spirit uses to
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draw the elect out of their despair and into faith.
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But sometimes that theological excuse that I can't be saved
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unless God does it, is just a smokescreen for something much
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more tangible. But something they don't want to
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give up, yeah. Despair might say I cannot be
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saved, but in reality the individual harbors a hidden
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reason. They simply refuse to come
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forward. This brings us to the hidden
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chains, the love of secret sin, and the illusion of self
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righteousness. Those are heavy chains.
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Very heavy. Spurgeon gets very specific
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about the secret lusts that block many from faith.
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He lists a man entangled in fornication with a woman not his
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wife. He mentions dishonest business
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transactions and he talks extensively about excessive
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drinking. The drinking 1 is really
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insightful. It is with drinking he makes a
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really keen observation about how it affects the emotions.
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He says these men get soft headed with a maudlin
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sensitiveness during preaching maudlin.
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Sensitiveness. That's a great description.
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Yeah, they might cry, they might look very affected by the
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sermon, but they will not change their lives as long as they
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cling to the cup of devils, right Then he flips the coin to
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look at self righteousness. These are the people who claim
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they have kept all the commandments from their youth.
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Spurgeon says a full heart has no room for Christ.
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He insists that Moses must come with the Law to show them their
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true fallen state. Back to the law shattering the
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false peace, yes? Now I have to admit, I find the
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psychology of that first group baffling.
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It is genuinely shocking to me that a person can sit under
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preaching, feel genuine tenderness of heart, even
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shedding real tears, and yet remain totally bound by a hidden
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sin it. Happens all the time though.
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But how? How can a person experience that
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level of emotional resonance with the truth while
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simultaneously clinging to a harlot or a fraudulent Ledger?
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It is shocking, but it is a profoundly accurate reading of
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human nature, and it ties directly back to what we
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discussed earlier regarding total depravity.
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So the emotions are depraved too.
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Yes, we often confuse emotional arousal with spiritual
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regeneration. The Westminster Confession
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teaches that the affections or emotions are part of the fallen
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human nature. So crying doesn't mean you're
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saved. Not at all.
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A person can have a natural emotional reaction to a moving
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sermon, A tragic story, or majestic piece of music without
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the Holy Spirit actually changing their fundamental
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disposition. OK, that makes sense.
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Spurgeon's phrase model insensitiveness captures this
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perfectly. The alcohol or the sheer drama
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of the preaching or the atmosphere of the room
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manipulates the surface emotions.
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They shed watery tears. They might even feel a temporary
19:56
sense of regret. But their will is still
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enslaved. Exactly.
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Their will remains completely enslaved to their idol, whether
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that is the cup of devils, the illicit relationship or the
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stolen money. The emotional response does not
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equal regeneration. Because true repentance requires
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action. True repentance involves a
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change of mind and a turning away from the sin.
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This is why Spurgeon says the preacher must keep aiming the
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arrow at the joint in the sinners harness the preaching
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has to bypass the shallow emotions and strike the
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conscience and. What about the self-righteous
20:28
person? Well, the self-righteous person
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is equally enslaved just to a more socially acceptable idol.
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Their own pride, right? When Spurgeon says Moses must
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come with the law, he is talking about the pedagogical use of the
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moral law. The law acts as a strict
20:44
schoolmaster. It's the spiritual X-ray we
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talked about at the very beginning of our conversation.
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It shows the break. Yes, it shines A blinding light
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on the heart to reveal that our supposed righteousness, our good
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deeds, are filthy rags. Until the law crushes that self
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righteousness and exposes the hidden rod of those secret sins,
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the person will never see their desperate need for the Great
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Physician. These hidden sins often exist in
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the shadows of a person private life behind closed doors, but
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the next obstacle is completely out of the open.
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It's very. Visible, very visible, and it
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dictates a person's life on a very material, physical level.
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Spurgeon addresses the two faces of worldliness.
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He shows how worldliness effects both the destitute and the
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wealthy, rendering them completely deaf to the gospel,
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but for entirely different reasons.
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The. Pressures are different, but the
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result is the same. Right.
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For the poor, grinding poverty causes them to fixate entirely.
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In physical survival. They're constantly asking what
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shall we eat? It's a basic survival mechanism,
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yeah. And Spurgeon points out that
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Christ fed the hungry multitude because relieving physical
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destitution makes a person capable of listening you.
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Can't hear the gospel over a starving stomach?
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Exactly. Conversely, the wealthy obsess
21:57
over fashion. Spurgeon vividly describes
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gentlemen who must be fashionable, daughters dressed
22:03
in the best style, and sons learning to dance.
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The Victorian equivalent of keeping up with the Joneses,
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Yeah. He calls this specific sort of
22:10
worldliness the curse of non conformist churches.
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Then he identifies 1/3 type, the miserly shopkeeper.
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This man is deafened by the chink of 30 pieces of silver
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scraping up halfpennies, much like Judas.
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The love of money. Right.
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I look at this like listening to a radio broadcast.
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Extreme poverty is like a deafening static on the line.
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You cannot hear the message because the noise of your empty
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stomach is too loud. That's a good way to put it.
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Extreme Wealth, on the other hand, is like playing a
22:38
completely different, much louder song over the broadcast.
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Both scenarios prevent the actual message from being heard.
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Yeah, they both drown out the signal.
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So how do we approach this dual problem through a theological
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lens? How does the Church handle both
22:53
the static of poverty and the loud song of wealth?
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Your radio analogy illustrates the mechanics of this perfectly.
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Let's analyze the static of poverty first.
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The Reformed tradition has a robust theology of the physical
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world. God created us as embodied
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souls. We are not just floating
23:11
spirits. We have physical needs.
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Right when Spurgeon advocates for Christian charity feeding
23:15
the hungry clothing the naked, he isn't suggesting we use food
23:19
as a bribe for conversion. He is recognizing that extreme
23:22
physical suffering severely impairs the human capacity to
23:25
attend to spiritual realities. So.
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Charity clears the static. Exactly relieving that the
23:30
suffering removes the physical static so the spiritual message
23:33
can be heard. It is an act of common grace and
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a reflection of Christ's own compassion for the multitudes.
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But. What about the louder song of
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wealth? That is in many ways a more
23:44
insidious trap. Poverty forces a person to
23:47
recognize their dependence, even if only for physical bread.
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Wealth. Yates.
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An intoxicating illusion of complete independence.
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They think they don't need anyone, not even God.
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Yes. The obsession with fashion
24:00
status and appearances that Spurgeon critiques is an
24:03
idolatry of the self. And then there is the miserly
24:06
shopkeeper. Spurgeon's reference to Judas is
24:09
chilling when you stop and think about it.
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Because Judas was right there with Jesus.
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Judas was in the physical company of Christ.
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He heard the greatest sermons ever preached directly from the
24:17
mouth of the Savior. He saw the miracles, yet the
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covetousness in his heart, the constant mental chink of those
24:25
30 pieces of silver was louder than the voice of the Son of
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God. That is terrifying.
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It is the confession reminds us that sin is a corruption of our
24:33
whole nature. Parsimony and covetousness are
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respectable sins in a capitalist society.
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We call it good business or being shrewd, but internally it
24:44
is a spiritual poison that deafens the soul to the gospel.
24:47
So what does the church do? Both faces of worldliness demand
24:51
that the preacher boldly proclaim the temporary nature of
24:54
this world and the eternal weight of the next.
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The church has to minister to the physical needs of the poor
25:00
while simultaneously warning the rich of the deceitfulness of
25:03
their wealth. That physical reality of
25:05
worldliness bleeds directly into another physical obstacle.
25:09
Spurgeon paints A vivid, almost cinematic picture of how
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physical spaces and daily habits dictate a person's life.
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The environment they live in. Yeah, now they can pull a person
25:18
away from any good they might hear on a Sunday.
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He describes the working man's situation in 19th century
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London. He lives in A1 room home filled
25:25
with crying children, damp drying linen hanging everywhere
25:29
and a scolding wife. It sounds chaotic.
25:31
It is a place of severe, inescapable discomfort.
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To escape this claustrophobia, the man flees to the bright
25:38
gaslight, the warmth and the jolly companions of the Gin
25:41
Palace. Which is designed to be
25:43
appealing. Very appealing, and Spurgeon
25:46
notes that any good the man might have received from the
25:48
Sabbath hymns is completely wiped out by the comic songs and
25:52
questionable tales in the bar parlor.
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It's an environment perfectly designed to obliterate spiritual
25:57
conviction. It just washes it all away.
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Spurgeon's remedy here is very practical.
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He advocates for lawful means to wean people from evil
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associations. He mentions a blue ribbon
26:08
meeting which was part of the temperance movement as a safe
26:11
gathering place. So providing an alternative,
26:13
right? It isn't just the place for
26:15
singing and preaching, it is an alternative social space.
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By giving the man a physical way out of his habits, the result is
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tangible. He saves his money, he gets a
26:24
better cottage so the linen can dry in the yard and the baby
26:27
cries less because the mother has more resources to feed it.
26:30
It improves his entire life. Now, if we translate the Gin
26:34
Palace to modern times, we might think of the digital Gin Palace,
26:38
social media algorithms designed to distract outrage and numb us.
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That's. A great comparison.
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My question is about the church's role in this.
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Does the Church step out of its bounds by creating these
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alternative social spaces? Is this kind of social
26:54
reformation A distraction from the primary mission of preaching
26:58
the Gospel? That is a question that has been
27:00
debated heavily within Reformed circles for centuries.
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What is the proper scope of the Church's mission?
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Right, because we don't want to just become a social club.
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Exactly. To understand Spurgeon's
27:11
approach, we have to frame this within the practical outworking
27:14
of sanctification. The Confession makes it clear
27:17
that justification is by faith alone, and the gospel alone is
27:20
the strength of God unto salvation.
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The. Primary mandate.
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Church's primary mandate is the proclamation of the Word and the
27:26
administration of the sacraments.
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However, believers are also called to love their neighbors
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and to foster environments where virtue can flourish.
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So it's both. Yes, Spurgeon is not suggesting
27:38
that a blue ribbon meeting saves a man's soul.
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He knows that sobriety is not salvation.
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What he is doing is exercising intense pastoral wisdom.
27:47
Knowing that the soil needs to be ready all.
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Right. He recognizes that you cannot
27:51
expect a new plant to thrive if you leave it in toxic soil.
27:55
Removing a man from the Gin Palace is a practical
27:57
application of removing stumbling blocks to the gospel
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if a man is drunk six days a week, his mind is incapable of
28:04
reasoning with the scriptures on the 7th day that.
28:06
Makes perfect sense. You're clearing the path.
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By providing an alternative social environment, the church
28:12
is ministering to the whole person.
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It is an expression of common grace.
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When the man's physical life stabilizes, when the baby is
28:19
fed, the cottage is larger and his mind is clear, he is placed
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in a position where he can hear the word without the immediate,
28:26
overwhelming distraction of his vices.
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So it's not replacing the gospel.
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Not at all. The church isn't replacing the
28:33
gospel with social work. It is using lawful social means
28:36
to clear the brush away so the seed of the gospel can be
28:39
planted in good soil. In applying this today with the
28:41
Digital Gin Palace. The Church must think critically
28:44
about how to cultivate communities and practices that
28:47
pull people out of the isolating algorithmic outrage machine so
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they can actually hear the still small voice of the Spirit.
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We have covered an immense amount of ground today.
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We really have. We started with the passive
28:59
resistance of apathy and the way economic realities can expose
29:03
our spiritual deadness. We analyzed the act of
29:06
rebellion, of unbelief, and the danger of giving a mutating
29:09
virus a host by arguing on the world's terms.
29:13
We looked at the tragic traps of delaying decision and resting in
29:16
a false carnal security. Yes, and we discussed the
29:19
paralysis of despair, breaking down the crucial distinction
29:22
between cold fatalism and true biblical predestination.
29:26
We expose the hidden chains of secret sin, like the man weeping
29:30
while holding the cup of devils and the self righteousness that
29:33
requires the crushing weight of the moral law.
29:35
The strict schoolmaster. We examine the loud distractions
29:38
of worldliness, whether from the static of poverty or the louder
29:42
song of wealth and covetousness. And finally, we looked at how
29:46
our physical environment and daily habits, from the 19th
29:49
century Gin Palace to our modern digital escapes, can either
29:53
foster or destroy the work of the gospel in our lives.
29:56
And through all of this, the theological wrap up brings us
29:59
back to the sovereignty of God. The bottom line?
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While these obstacles are massive, whether they are
30:05
intellectual, emotional, material or environmental, the
30:09
Reformed view holds fast to the truth that God's grace is
30:13
irresistible. It overcomes the most stubborn
30:16
human resistance. Even the hardest heart.
30:19
But it does so through means. It works through the faithful,
30:22
unflinching proclamation of the truth, coupled with the
30:25
authentic holy lives of believers who care enough to
30:27
remove the physical and social stumbling blocks from their
30:30
neighbors paths. Which?
30:31
Brings us to our final thought for today.
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We have spent this whole time looking at these barriers as
30:36
obstacles for the unbeliever. We've been analysing the people
30:39
outside the church or the people sitting in the pews who have
30:41
never truly believed. But I want to leave you, the
30:44
listener, with a question to ponder as you look at this list.
30:49
How many of these barriers are currently acting as obstacles in
30:53
your own spiritual life right now?
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That is a challenging thought. We aren't immune just because we
30:58
know the theology. Are you harboring a false carnal
31:01
security based on the fact that you listen to deep dives like
31:04
this one? Comparing your knowledge
31:06
favorably to others? A.
31:07
Very real danger. Is there a hidden covetousness,
31:11
A subtle listening to the chink of silver in your daily work,
31:14
that is drowning out the skirit? When we step back into the
31:18
examination room and look at the X-ray of our own souls, what
31:22
murky shadows are preventing us from fully submitting to the
31:25
Great Physician? Something for all of us to
31:27
consider. Truly thank you for sitting in
31:29
with us today on Reform Thinking.
31:31
We appreciate you taking this deep dive with us and we look
31:33
forward to our next conversation.