Did you know that it was these doctrines, particularly the doctrine of God’s perseverance with his people, that God used to save Charles Haddon Spurgeon, one of the greatest preachers who ever lived? Spurgeon was saved when he was only fifteen years old, but before that time he had already noticed how friends of his, who had begun life well, made shipwreck of their lives by falling into gross vice. Spurgeon was appalled by such things. He feared that he himself might fall into them. He reasoned like this: “Whatever good resolutions I might make, the probabilities are that they will be good for nothing when temptation [assails] me. I [will] be like those of whom it has been said, ‘They see the devil’s hook and yet cannot help nibbling at his bait.’ I [will] disgrace myself.” It was then that he heard of the truth that Christ will keep his saints from falling. It had a particular charm for him and he found himself saying, “If I go to Jesus and get from him a new heart and a right spirit, I shall be secured against these temptations into which others have fallen. I shall be preserved by Him.” It was this truth along with others that brought Spurgeon to the Savior.

你是否知道，正是这些教义，特别是神对祂子民的坚忍的教义，神用它来拯救有史以来最伟大的传道人之一查尔斯·哈登·司布真？司布真在十五岁的时候就得救了，但在那之前他就已经注意到他的朋友们，原本生活很好，却因陷入严重的恶行而毁掉了自己的生活。司布真对这些事情感到震惊。他担心自己也会落入其中。他这样推理：“无论我做出什么好的决定，当诱惑[攻击]我时，它们很可能毫无用处。我会像人们所说的那样，‘他们看到了魔鬼的钩子，却忍不住要咬他的鱼饵。’我会羞辱自己。”就在那时，他听到了基督会阻止祂的圣徒跌倒的真理。这对他来说有一种特殊的魅力，他发现自己说：“如果我去找耶稣，从他那里得到一颗新心和一个正直的灵，我就能免受其他人陷入的这些诱惑。我必蒙祂保守。”正是这个真理和其它真理将司布真带到了救主面前。

I wish it might be the same with you! I do not preach a gospel that has a shaky foundation. I do not proclaim a religion of percentages and probabilities. I proclaim the message of Christ, Paul, Augustine, Luther, Calvin, and all others who have found God to be their pure hope and salvation. It is the message of man’s complete ruin in sin and of God’s perfect remedy in Christ, expressed in his election of a people to himself and his final preservation of them. God grant that you might believe it wholeheartedly.^[1]

我希望你也能有同样的认识！我所传的福音不是根基不稳固的。我并不宣扬百分比和概率的宗教。我宣扬基督、保罗、奥古斯丁、路德、加尔文和所有其他发现上帝是他们纯粹的希望和救赎的人的信息。它传达了人类因罪而彻底毁灭的信息，以及上帝在基督里完美拯救的信息，这通过祂拣选一群人归自己并最终保守他们来表达。愿上帝保佑你全心全意地相信它。

^[1] James Montgomery Boice, The Gospel of John: An Expositional Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2005), 777–782.