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，正是這些教義，特別是神對祂子民的堅忍的教義，神用它來拯救有史以來最偉大的傳道人之一查爾斯·哈登·司布真？司布真在十五歲的時候就得救了，但在那之前他就已經注意到他的朋友們，原本生活很好，卻因陷入嚴重的惡行而毀掉了自己的生活。司布真對這些事情感到震驚。他擔心自己也會落入其中。他這樣推理：“無論我做出什麼好的決定，當誘惑[攻擊]我時，它們很可能毫無用處。我會像人們所說的那樣，‘他們看到了魔鬼的鈎子，卻忍不住要咬他的魚餌。’我會羞辱自己。”就在那時，他聽到了基督會阻止祂的聖徒跌倒的真理。這對他來說有一種特殊的魅力，他發現自己說：“如果我去找耶穌，從他那裡得到一顆新心和一個正直的靈，我就能免受其他人陷入的這些誘惑。我必蒙祂保守。”正是這個真理和其它真理將司布真帶到了救主面前。

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]

我希望你也能有同樣的認識！我所傳的福音不是根基不穩固的。我並不宣揚百分比和概率的宗教。我宣揚基督、保羅、奧古斯丁、路德、加爾文和所有其他發現上帝是他們純粹的希望和救贖的人的信息。它傳達了人類因罪而徹底毀滅的信息，以及上帝在基督里完美拯救的信息，這通過祂揀選一群人歸自己並最終保守他們來表達。願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.