Calvary Road Baptist Church
“PLEAD THINE OWN CAUSE”
Psalm 74.22a
We begin with the 74th Psalm. Of course, this Psalm is a poem. All of the Psalms are poems. Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon are all inspired books of Hebrew poetry. But this psalm is a special kind of poem. It’s labeled “Maschil,” because its design is to give you a knowledge of, and the tools to understand, the afflictions that befall the people of God.[1]
The psalm is divided into three main sections. As we proceed through each of the three sections, I want you to try to mentally put yourself in the shoes of the Jewish people who would have read this psalm, who would have felt the heartache associated with it, who would have found themselves speaking to God just like the psalmist did.
It is likely that this psalm was written centuries before the siege of Jerusalem by the armies of the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, some 600 years before Christ. 606 BC is the standard date given for that. I think this psalm was written during the time of King David, four hundred years earlier, around 1000 BC. The psalm is so very prophetic that it expresses precisely the heart’s cry of a devout Jew living in Jerusalem as it was being overrun by the vulgar and blasphemous Babylonian soldiers.
Imagine yourself to be a single pious Jew in the Jewish capital which had long ago turned its back on God. The Babylonians breached the walls several days ago, and they are now sacking your city, running completely amok.
This psalm shows three stages that you would go through.
THE FIRST STAGE YOU WOULD GO THROUGH WOULD BE TERROR, BECAUSE YOU FEEL YOU HAVE BEEN ABANDONED BY GOD
Eleven verses depicting the reaction to trauma:
Verse 1:
“O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?”
You might ask, “Pastor, how could a real child of God ever feel this way?” “How could a real Christian ever feel abandoned by God?” If you are truly converted you only betray your spiritual immaturity and inexperience by asking such a question. The psalmist not only reflects the feelings of a Jewish person in Jerusalem when the Babylonians breached the city walls but the feelings of most thoughtful and contemplative Christians at more than one time in their lives.
Verse 2:
“Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.”
The references to purchase and redemption bring to mind Israel’s deliverance from Egyptian bondage. And Mount Zion is the place on which the Temple was to be built and consecrated. In the Temple, in the Holy of Holies, the glory of God would for centuries dwell between the cherubim on the Mercy Seat covering the Ark of the Covenant.
Verse 3:
“Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.”
Here the psalmist anticipates a plea to God to come quickly to the scene of destruction which will look so horrible that it appears it will last forever. The foreign solders of this verse will be God’s wicked enemies who will desecrate the sanctuary of His Temple.
Verse 4:
“Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs.”
Loud and coarse talking soldiers will roar and shout orders to a conquered and frightened people. They will set up their military standards everywhere. No doubt, their standards will be mingled with idolatrous insignias. All in a sacred place that will at one time have been consecrated to the true and living God.
Verses 5 & 6:
5 A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees.
6 But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers.
It used to be that a Jewish man could show his strength, his endurance, and his virility by chopping down thick trees with an ax. But the day would come when a Babylonian soldier shows off his virility and strength by chopping down the breathtaking ornamentation that will adorn the Temple’s walls.
Verse 7:
“They have cast fire into thy sanctuary, they have defiled by casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground.”
History tells us Jewish Temples have been destroyed three times in Jerusalem’s history. The Temple was burned the first time by the Babylonians. That was Solomon’s Temple. The last time it was burned by the Romans. That was Herods’s Temple, in 70 AD The second Temple, Zerubabel’s Temple, was not destroyed by fire. This psalm refers to that first destruction, when the Babylonians set fire to Solomon’s Temple, and cast down the dwelling place of God’s name to the ground, all the way to the ground.
Verse 8:
“They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.”
You see here that the enemy will be bent on the annihilation of the Jewish people, as those inspired by Satan have always been. They are always after the annihilation of the Jewish people, and any man who is categorically opposed to the Jewish people is, by definition, Satan-inspired. Satan’s plan and purpose are dependent upon the destruction of God’s chosen people, the Jews. Conquering them was not sufficient for the Babylonians. They wanted them wiped off the face of the earth. They didn’t succeed, but that is what they wanted.
Verses 9-11:
9 We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.
10 O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?
11 Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck it out of thy bosom.
The picture is of God having His hand tucked away. No more any prophet, verse 9. This certainly suggests that this psalm was written long before the destruction of Jerusalem since we know that the prophet Jeremiah was very much a prophet on the scene when Jerusalem was sacked. But the psalmist anticipates the heart’s cry by asking, “How long?” “How long are you going to let them blaspheme forever?” “Why is your hand held back?” “Lord, aren’t you going to do anything about what is going on here?” This psalm is timely in its application even though it speaks directly to a point in history. Every child of God experiences these heartaches. And every child of God suffers the agonies that are reflected in this psalm. There is no seasoned Christian warrior who has not felt frightened because he thought himself abandoned by God. “I am hanging out here all by myself, Lord.” Every one of us who has been converted for any length of time and has taken a stand for God has felt this way.
THE NEXT STAGE YOU COME TO WOULD BE CONFIDENCE BECAUSE YOU REMEMBER THE ALMIGHTY POWER OF GOD
In these six verses, the psalmist recounts God’s past demonstrations of power.
Verse 12:
“For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.”
Do God’s people panic? Do they feel abandoned at times? Yes, we do. But then we remember. God is who He has always been. Nothing has changed. And He still works salvation, He still provides deliverance, not just in Jerusalem, but in the midst of the earth. God is not bound by geography. He is not limited to work only in friendly confines. He can do just as much work where you work as He can here at this Church. God can do what He does do and He can do it anywhere He chooses to do it.
Verses 13-15:
13 Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.
14 Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
15 Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers.”
These three verses refer to Israel’s deliverance from Egypt to the Promised Land: The dividing of the sea by strength is an allusion to the parting of the Red Sea, verse 13. Breaking the heads of the dragons in the waters refers to the drowning of Pharaoh’s armies in the waters of the Red Sea when they tried to pursue the fleeing Israelites, also verse 13. The destruction of leviathan in pieces refers to the killing of the Pharaoh along with his army, verse 14. Cleaving the fountain and the flood was when God gave the Israelites water from the rock, verse 15, and also Exodus 17.6. Drying up mighty rivers is a reference to stopping the flow of the Jordan River so Israel could march across dry shod into the Promised Land, verse 15, and Joshua 3.14-17. Each of these deliverances, please take note, occurred outside the Promised Land, in foreign territory. God truly does save in the earth, and that would be a comforting promise to Jewish people about to be carried off into Babylonian captivity.
Verses 16-17:
16 The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun.
17 Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter.”
God has saved before, and it was in a foreign land. He can surely save again, even if it is again in a foreign land. How powerful is God to save? Here our psalmist remembers the Genesis account of creation. The scattering and establishing of people following the Flood and even God’s control of the seasons of the year that came after the Flood had abated. There are situations and experiences which completely overwhelm the child of God, personal tragedies, or national catastrophes. When God doesn’t move to intervene, or when God instigates and allows a catastrophe to occur, we can very well feel abandoned. We can very frequently feel isolated, temporarily without comfort for our soul. But then we remember God. Our God, omnipotent God, Who cannot be overwhelmed by events, Who reigns over all, and Who has delivered with such demonstrations of power in the past and can certainly do so again if He chooses.
Finally, THERE COMES, NOT THE PLAINTIFF CRY OF COMPLAINT, BUT THE PLEA FOR HELP
This is the prayer.
Verse 18:
“Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O LORD, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name.”
Here we have the beginning of the prayer, in which the psalmist rehearses before God the sins of the wicked. The enemy has reproached, and the foolish have blasphemed God’s name. The psalmist pleads with God not to forget what evil men have done toward Him and His holy name.
Verse 19:
“O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked: forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever.”
The substance of this prayer is that God will deliver nothing to the wicked, not even a little bird. “Don’t give them anything, LORD.” And that He will not ever forget. “Don’t ever forget your poor Israelites.” And He won’t forget.
Verse 20:
“Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.”
Of course, God will have respect for His covenant with Israel. The horror, of course, is for you who are without Christ. This is your horror. If you are not converted, your horror is that God has made no covenant with you. None. “Strangers from the covenants of promise,” Paul writes in Ephesians 2.12. God is not obligated to remember Gentiles at all since He has made covenant promises only to the nation of Israel. And the dark places of the earth are those places where spiritual light does not shine, which places certainly are full of habitations of cruelty. Oh, how the spiritually dark are cruel. Cruel to mothers and cruel to fathers, cruel to sons and cruel to daughters, cruel to husbands, and cruel to wives. The psalmist is asking God to remember him when he is taken to Babylon, that place of spiritual darkness where every individual who does not know God is so cruel.
Verse 21:
“O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name.”
Look carefully at verse 21 again. Our prayer warrior is now back on his spiritual feet. He is back on top. He is once again confident in his God, and he knows that those who will be oppressed will someday return. Notice what he says. “O let not the oppressed return ashamed.” What’s implicit in that prayer? We are going to return. WE ARE GOING TO RETURN. WE ARE COMING BACK. YOU ARE BRINGING US BACK, but don’t let us come back ashamed. The psalmist wants his people to return unashamed, and to praise God’s name wherever they are. So you see, the psalmist now has his spiritual bearings again.
Verse 22:
“Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily.”
Of course, the foolish man can only reproach God. But look at what the prayer warrior, look at what the servant of God, look at what the Godly man, now asks for. “Arise, O God, plead thine own cause.” From this, we have insight why the Babylonians are running amuck. This is why the walls have been breached. This is why the people were being carried into captivity. No wonder things are going the way they are going. This applies so much to our day, as well, with rampant wickedness. God has not yet begun to plead His cause. God is yet silent.
Verse 23:
“Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually.”
One final prayerful plea for God to remember. All will be well when God arises and pleads His Own cause. When God argues His Own case is what the phrase actually means. That is what is needed, for God to plead His Own cause, for God to argue His Own case.
Be mindful of this cycle that the psalmist predicts the witness to catastrophe will go through, when it seems that God has not taken up His Own cause, when it seems that His people are being overturned. First, there is the terror that is associated with feelings of abandonment. Next, and who can predict how long it will take to reach this second stage, there is a remembrance of the omnipotent power of God. O, how comforting it is to remember that God is King and that His power is sufficient to deal with every situation. Then comes the prayer of faith, the fervent and effectual prayer, the pointed and passionate prayer.
For what does the praying person pray who sees all about him collapsing, when he sees the enemies of God blaspheming and defiling when he takes note of the fact that where the ungodly live are full of the habitations of cruelty? When he finds himself overwhelmed, when he sees that he can do nothing of himself, when all that man can do has been done to no effect, he then calls out to God to arise. “Arise, O God, plead thine own cause!” I am the psalmist, and that is the text of my sermon:
First, YOU HAVE HEARD ME PLEAD GOD’S CAUSE
I will cite passages too quickly for you to follow. I am going to recount to you the things that I have done in your presence and in front of you as you have heard me plead God’s cause.
First, I have loved you for Him. You cannot deny that I have loved you for Him. In Second Corinthians 5.14-15 Paul writes,
14 For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:
15 And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
I testify before God and men that for thirty-five years, the love of Christ has constrained me. I have loved you for Him. I have loved you. But that is not enough to bring you to Christ, is it? Me loving you is not enough to see you saved. Yes, I have loved you. You might say, “Well, I don’t like the way you love people.” I am sorry. I love people the best I can in my feeble fashion. Maybe it’s not the love part of me that you don’t like, maybe it’s this next part.
Next, I have reproved and rebuked you for Him, Second Timothy 3.16-4.5:
16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
1 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;
2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts…”
That describes some of you. It is your lust that has carried you off.
3 …but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
“Well, I disagree with you pastor. I just don’t agree with your teaching.” I appreciate what you say, but if you were honest, you would speak to me about your disagreement. We have people in our Church who have disagreed with me, yet they are still here after voicing their disagreements. They are honest and have demonstrated integrity, which is something those who disagree but remain silent do not display.
Verse 5:
“But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.”
I have loved you for Him, but that wasn’t enough to see you turn from your sins and trust Christ. I have reproved and rebuked you for Him, have I not? Again and again and again and again and again and again and again, yet that is not enough to see you converted to Christ. I have loved you for Him but you weren’t converted. I have reproved and rebuked you for Him, but you still weren’t converted.
Third, I have taught you for Him, Matthew 28.19:
“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations,…”
I have done that. I have declared to you how to be converted to Christ. I have taught you as much about conversion, as I know. I have taught you more about conversion than some pastors I know understand about the subject, but it wasn’t enough to see you converted. I have loved you for Him, and you were not converted. I have reproved and rebuked you for Him, and you were not converted. I have taught you for Him, and you were not converted. What is it going to take to see you converted to Christ?
Fourth, I have exhorted you for Him, First Timothy 4.13-16:
13 Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.
14 Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.
15 Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.
16 Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.
So, I have exhorted you. You don’t know anyone that has loved you like I’ve loved you. And you don’t know anyone that has reproved and rebuked you like I have. And you don’t know anyone that has taught you like I have. And you don’t know anyone that has exhorted you as I have. Yet still, you are not converted.
Fifth, I have preached to you for Him. Mark 16.15:
“And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”
First Corinthians 1.18, 21:
18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
I have loved you, and you weren’t saved. I have reproved and rebuked you, and you weren’t saved. I have taught you, and you weren’t saved. And I exhorted you, and you weren’t saved. I even preached to you, and you still weren’t saved. And preaching is the means by which God saves sinners. Is it not? And yet you haven’t come to Christ. I have preached to you until I have turned red in the face. I have preached to you until I have lost my voice. I have preached to you until I was so tired I went home and collapsed. But you still did not turn to Christ.
Sixth, I have sought to be an example to you for Him, First Timothy 4.12:
“Let no man despise thy youth;…”
That was true of me, years ago. I came here as a young man. By the way, that phrase does not mean “let no man despise thy young people.” Some ignorant youth workers use this as a verse for their youth group. No, it refers to a young pastor, not teenagers.
“Let no man despise thy youth;…”
Don’t let anyone despise your youthfulness, Timothy.
“…but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.”
That is what I have strived to do over these thirty-five years. I have done my dead level best to be an example to you for Him. Not for you. I haven’t loved you for you. I have loved you for Him. I haven’t reproved and rebuked you for you. I have reproved and rebuked you for Him. I haven’t taught you for you, I have taught you for Him. I have exhorted you for Him. I have preached to you for Him. I have sought to be an example for Him.
Seventh, but the testimony of Christ was not confirmed in you, First Corinthians 1.6:
“Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you.”
Confirmed in the Corinthians, but not confirmed in some of you. “How do you know that?” You weren’t converted. Paul was writing to the Corinthians, and they were people who had problems. But they were converted people with problems, and Paul wrote in verse 6,
“Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you.”
But it has not been confirmed in you. You see, you have heard me again and again and again and again and again and again and again. You have heard me plead God’s cause. Those of you who are viewing this, if you are not converted, you can hear me plead God’s cause until I turn blue in the face, and you are still determined to die and go to Hell in your sins.
You have not yet heard God plead to you His own cause. God has not pleaded His own cause to you. I have argued God’s case to you for more than three decades. And I have argued His case by love and reproof and rebuke and teaching and exhortation and preaching and by example. By every device I can imagine I have attempted to argue God’s case for you. But you are unconvinced. You are unpersuaded. You are unmoved. Nothing happens. You don’t budge. But you see, no one is converted when the preacher argues God’s case with you. No one is ever saved when the preacher argues God’s case. No one turns to Christ when I plead God’s cause. God has chosen to use means, and He wants men to plead His cause. But it is decisionism that concludes that whenever a man pleads God’s cause sinners are saved.[2] Decisionism is not true. People are saved when the preacher, having pleaded God’s cause, then God pleads His own cause.
Next, YOU HAVE NOT HEARD GOD PLEAD HIS OWN CAUSE
God has not declared His glory and majesty to you, Psalm 19.1-3:
1 The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
2 Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.
3 There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.
Yet you have not noticed it. It means nothing to you. You look up at the stars at night and see nothing. You look up at the stars at night and feel nothing. You look through a magnifying glass at a little drop of pond water and see the little paramecium and the little euglenas and the amebas, and they mean nothing to you. You could, as I did many years ago, lay on the front lawn shortly after the grass had been mowed, and pick out a single blade of grass that is cut straight across, and watch it grow to a distinctive tip. Just watch the grass grow. You can do that, but for you, it would mean nothing because God has not chosen to plead His own case to you. God has not decided to argue in His favor to you. What does that mean? What does that mean to you? While it may be pleasant for you, it is not good for you should God not argue His cause to you.
The Good Shepherd has not called out to you, John 10.27:
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”
But not you. During one Wednesday night Bible study, we learned that there are sheep and there are goats. Interestingly, the word sheep doesn’t apply only to people who are converted. The word applies to people who are converted, and also to people who are going to be converted. But you are not converted. Are you going to be converted? I don’t know. I hope so. I want you to be. I would like for you to be saved. But the only way that you are going to be saved is to hear His voice call you, cry out to you, and you will respond to Him. If you don’t, you are going to go to Hell. You have not heard God plead His own cause.
The Spirit of God has not reproved you, John 16.8. Jesus said,
“And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.”
It hasn’t happened to you. Has it happened to you? You say, “What do you mean reprove the world of sin?” Are you eaten up by guilt? I don’t mean bothered, I mean consumed. I don’t mean you are twisted out of shape a little bit so that it makes the evening unpleasant. I mean it’s a crisis. I mean you are weighed down by your sin. You can’t sleep. You can’t eat. People are frightened about what happens to a person so dealt with by God’s Spirit.
Some of our people were so dealt with by the Holy Spirit of God. It created such consternation and such concern by the people who knew them, that loved ones wondered whether they were going to come out the other side, because they experienced such a great crisis of the soul. You might wonder, “Well, pastor I don’t understand.” Yes, you are right.
You do not understand. You do not understand that God is a God of glory and a God of majesty. Why do you not understand? Because God has not pleaded His own cause with you. You do not see the Lord Jesus Christ as the Shepherd who bids you come to Him, because God has not argued His case to you. The Spirit of God has not reproved you of your sin. Why? Because God has not argued His cause with you.
Things happen to people when God takes up His own cause with them. God shakes them. God rattles them. God moves them. They don’t remain the same, because now it is not just the voice of the preacher. It is not just a man moving back and forth on the platform. It is God moving you, God working in your heart, God working on your mind, God working on your soul to persuade you that you are lost and undone, and you have no hope. And you must turn to Christ and you must turn now. That is what happens when God pleads His own cause. He hasn’t done that with you. The results of God’s own pleading are entirely absent from your life.
Finally, BECAUSE THE RESULTS OF GOD’S OWN PLEADINGS ARE ABSENT
When God argues His case, when He pleads His cause in your soul, in your mind, in your heart, a person is thereby deeply affected. But you are unaffected, suggesting that God has not pleaded His own cause to you. You might wonder, “What are these affects you are referring to?” “What happens when someone is affected in this way?”
Three indications that show God has not pleaded His own cause with you:
First, you do not fear God or His wrath. Consider two verses in the letter to the Hebrews, Hebrews 10.31 and Hebrews 12.29:
10.31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
12.29 For our God is a consuming fire.
Whether you believe it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God or not, it is. Whether you acknowledge that our God is a consuming fire or not, He is. When God begins to plead His own cause, you then understand. God is a consuming fire. It is a fearful thing to fall into His hands. So, you do not fear God or His wrath because God has not touched you.
Next, you are not drawn to Christ. John 6.37, 44:
37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
You might be thinking, “Well, I don’t like that stuff.” It doesn’t matter whether you like it or not. The issue is only that won’t come to Christ.
Finally, you will not come to Christ to escape God’s wrath, John 7.37 and Revelation 22.17:
7.37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
22.17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
These two verses combine to reveal three things to us: John 7.37 shows Christ urging lost sinners to come to Him to satisfy their spiritual thirst. Revelation 22.17 shows both the Spirit of God and all the Christians who have ever lived urging sinners to do the same thing. I know that God has not pleaded His cause with you; because when God pleads His cause with a man or with a woman, or with a boy or with a girl, that individual is persuaded.
They are convinced.
They believe.
They come.
If you are listening and you are not saved, and if you remain lost and are not converted, it will not be because I have failed.
I have loved you.
I have exhorted you.
I have rebuked you.
I have reproved you.
I have taught you.
I have preached to you.
I have pleaded God’s cause.
Neither will it be because God has failed.
God doesn’t plead His cause and fail.
He just doesn’t always plead His cause.
__________
[1] “The term Maschil is prefixed to thirteen Psalms. Our translators have not ventured to do more, in the text, than simply print the word in English characters; in the margin however they render it, as the Geneva version had done before them, “to give instruction.” It would be going too far to affirm that this interpretation is subject to no doubt. Some good Hebraists take exception to it; so that, perhaps, our venerable translators did well to leave it untranslated. Still the interpretation they have set down in the margin, as it is in the most ancient, so it is sustained by the great preponderance of authority. It agrees remarkably with the contents of the thirty-second Psalm, which affords the earliest instance of its use, for that Psalm is preeminently didactic. Its scope is to instruct the convicted soul how to obtain peace with God, and be compassed about with songs of deliverance.” - Charles H. Spurgeon, The Treasury Of David, Volume I, (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers), Psalm 32, page 87.
[2] Decisionism is the belief that a person is saved by coming forward, raising the hand, saying a prayer, believing a doctrine, making a Lordship commitment, or some other external, human act, which is taken as the equivalent to, and proof of, the miracle of inward conversion; it is the belief that a person is saved through the agency of a merely external decision; the belief that performing one of these human actions shows that a person is saved.
Conversion is the result of that work of the Holy Spirit which draws a lost sinner to Jesus Christ for justification and regeneration, and changes the sinner’s standing before God from lost to saved, imparting divine life to the depraved soul, thus producing a new direction in the life of the convert. The objective side of salvation is justification. The subjective side of salvation is regeneration. The result is conversion.
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Pastor@CalvaryRoadBaptist.Church