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There is no greater mockery than to call a sinner a free man. Show me a convict toiling in the chain gang, and call him a free man if you will; point out to me the galley slave chained to the oar, and smarting under the taskmaster’s lash whenever he pauses to draw breath, and call him a free man if you will; but never call a sinner a free man, even in his will, so long as he is the slave of his own corruptions. In our natural state, we wore chains, not upon our limbs, but upon our hearts, fetters that bound us, and kept us from God, from rest, from peace, from holiness, from anything like freedom of heart and conscience and will. The iron entered into our soul; and there is no slavery as terrible as that. As there is no freedom like the freedom of the spirit, so is there no slavery that is at all comparable to the bondage of the heart." ~Spurgeon
"'Who then can be saved?' But Jesus looked at them and said to them, 'With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.'" (Mt. 19:25-26)
"No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him" (John 6:44)
"No one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father." (John 6:65)
There is no greater mockery than Calling whom God set free , no matter what his physical condition or location, as bound under the bondage of sin.
ReplyDeleteGod said Those who he set free are free indeed!
Now this does not mean those who are outside of Gods grace are free from sin's condemnation. It does mean that those who are born again are no longer under the condemnation of sin. They are indeed SET FREE. To say otherwise is to call God a liar
Deeperstill---not sure you got the point of what Charles Spurgeon was saying. He is saying that NON-BELIEVERS are NOT free.. they are under the burden of sin, DEAD in their sins. A physically DEAD person cannot choose anything much less a SPIRITUALLY dead person choose 'light'. It says in the Bible that men LOVE the DARKNESS... that verse shows us that we hate the light UNTIL God GIVES US LIFE and raises us spiritually from the dead. Yes once Christ gives us life as new children of God THEN we are FREE in Him!
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