May 13, at the bottom of it all, in love, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through

Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will, Ephesians 1, 4 and 5. The experience of Charles

Spurgeon is not beyond the ability of any ordinary Christian. Spurgeon, who lived from 1834 to 1892,

was a contemporary and friend of George Mueller and Hudson Taylor. He served the Metropolitan Tabernacle

in London for over 30 years as the most famous pastor of his day. His preaching was so powerful

that people were converted to Christ every week. His sermons are still in print today and he

is held up by many as a model soul winner. He recalls an experience when he was 16 that shaped

his life and ministry for the rest of his days. When I was coming to Christ, I thought I was doing

it all myself, and though I sought the Lord earnestly, I had no idea the Lord was seeking me.

I do not think the young convert is at first aware of this. I can recall the very day and hour

when I first received those truths, the doctrines of sovereign overcoming grace in my own soul.

When they were, as John Bunyan says, burnt into my heart as with a hot iron, and I can recollect

how I felt that I had grown from a babe into a man, that I had made progress in

scriptural knowledge through having found once for all the clue to the truth of God.

One week night, when I was sitting in the house of God, I was not thinking much about the preacher's

sermon before I did not believe it. The thoughts struck me, how did you come to be a Christian?

I sought the Lord. But how did you come to seek the Lord? The truth flashed across my mind

in a moment. I should not have sought him unless there had been some previous influence in my mind

to make me seek him. I prayed, thought I, but then I asked myself, how came I to pray?

I was induced to pray by reading the scriptures. How came I to read the scriptures?

I did read them, but what led me to do so? Then, in a moment, I saw that God was at the bottom

of it all, and that he was the author of my faith, and so the whole doctrine of grace opened up to me.

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