Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Sunday, August 9, 2009
How Hearts Are Softened - C.H. Spurgeon - 9/18/1887
Zechariah 12:10-11 "And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. "
Slightly altered to today's english
Nothing good can come out of a stony heart; it is barren as a rock. To be unfeeling is to be unfruitful. Prayer without desire, praise without emotion, preaching without earnestness – what are all these? Like the marble images of life, they are cold and dead. Insensibility is a deadly sign. Frequently it is the next stage to destruction.
I. Observe that holy tenderness arises out of divine operation. “I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplications.”
- It is not in fallen man to renew his own heart. Can the adamant turn itself to wax, or the granite soften itself to clay? Only He that stretched out the heavens and laid the foundation of the earth can form and reform the spirit of man within him. The power to make the rock of our nature flow with rives of repentance is not in the rock itself.
- The Spirit of God is prompt to give life and feeling. In ancient times He moved upon the face of the waters, and by His power order came out of confusion. The same Spirit at this time broods over our souls, and reduces the chaos of our natural state to light and life and obedience. There lies the hope of our ruined nature. Jehovah who made us can make us over again. Our case is not beyond His power. Is anything too hard for the Lord? Is the Spirit of the Lord straitened? He can change the millstone into a mass of feeling, and dissolve iron and steel into a flood of tears. When He deals with the human mind by His secret and mysterious operations, He fills it with new life, perception, and emotion.
- The Holy Spirit makes us like wax, and we become impressible to His sacred seal. Remember, you that are hard of heart, that your hope lies this way; God Himself, who melts the icebergs of the arctic, must make your soul to yield up its hardness in the presence of His love. Nothing short of the work of God within you can effect this…The Spirit of God must work regeneration in you. He is able of stones to raise up children of Abraham; but until He works you are dead and insensible.
- God’s aim is that grace may reign by delivering us from our natural impenitence, and by causing us to sorrow because we have sinned… Do not think, therefore that when you feel the Holy Ghost melting you, that the Father will refuse you; it is He that sent the Holy Ghost to deal with you. Imagine not that you can feel repentance for sin and bow in sorrow at the Savior’s feet, and that Jesus will reject you; for it is He who sent the Spirit of grace to bring you to repentance, and make you mourn because of the ill which you have done.
- The Spirit is as the wind, invisible save by its effects. The Holy Ghost comes as the dew which in soft silence refreshes the tender herb. North with sound of trumpet or observation of man doth the Spirit perform his gracious deeds. His working is one of the secrets and mysteries which no man can explain to his fellow…Do not, therefore, expect to be informed when the Spirit is upon you.
- The Holy Spirit can make your heart as tender as the apple of the eye, and cause your conscience to be as sensitive as a raw wound, which feels the slightest touch. God grant us grace to deal with Him about these things, and not to be looking to ourselves. As well hope to extract juice from the stones of the sea-beach, as spiritual feeling from the carnal mind. He who can make the dray bones lice, and He alone, can make the hardened mourn over sin.
In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. "
Slightly altered to today's english
Nothing good can come out of a stony heart; it is barren as a rock. To be unfeeling is to be unfruitful. Prayer without desire, praise without emotion, preaching without earnestness – what are all these? Like the marble images of life, they are cold and dead. Insensibility is a deadly sign. Frequently it is the next stage to destruction.
I. Observe that holy tenderness arises out of divine operation. “I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplications.”
- It is not in fallen man to renew his own heart. Can the adamant turn itself to wax, or the granite soften itself to clay? Only He that stretched out the heavens and laid the foundation of the earth can form and reform the spirit of man within him. The power to make the rock of our nature flow with rives of repentance is not in the rock itself.
- The Spirit of God is prompt to give life and feeling. In ancient times He moved upon the face of the waters, and by His power order came out of confusion. The same Spirit at this time broods over our souls, and reduces the chaos of our natural state to light and life and obedience. There lies the hope of our ruined nature. Jehovah who made us can make us over again. Our case is not beyond His power. Is anything too hard for the Lord? Is the Spirit of the Lord straitened? He can change the millstone into a mass of feeling, and dissolve iron and steel into a flood of tears. When He deals with the human mind by His secret and mysterious operations, He fills it with new life, perception, and emotion.
- The Holy Spirit makes us like wax, and we become impressible to His sacred seal. Remember, you that are hard of heart, that your hope lies this way; God Himself, who melts the icebergs of the arctic, must make your soul to yield up its hardness in the presence of His love. Nothing short of the work of God within you can effect this…The Spirit of God must work regeneration in you. He is able of stones to raise up children of Abraham; but until He works you are dead and insensible.
- God’s aim is that grace may reign by delivering us from our natural impenitence, and by causing us to sorrow because we have sinned… Do not think, therefore that when you feel the Holy Ghost melting you, that the Father will refuse you; it is He that sent the Holy Ghost to deal with you. Imagine not that you can feel repentance for sin and bow in sorrow at the Savior’s feet, and that Jesus will reject you; for it is He who sent the Spirit of grace to bring you to repentance, and make you mourn because of the ill which you have done.
- The Spirit is as the wind, invisible save by its effects. The Holy Ghost comes as the dew which in soft silence refreshes the tender herb. North with sound of trumpet or observation of man doth the Spirit perform his gracious deeds. His working is one of the secrets and mysteries which no man can explain to his fellow…Do not, therefore, expect to be informed when the Spirit is upon you.
- The Holy Spirit can make your heart as tender as the apple of the eye, and cause your conscience to be as sensitive as a raw wound, which feels the slightest touch. God grant us grace to deal with Him about these things, and not to be looking to ourselves. As well hope to extract juice from the stones of the sea-beach, as spiritual feeling from the carnal mind. He who can make the dray bones lice, and He alone, can make the hardened mourn over sin.
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