The following is an excerpt from a new book by Tom
Nettles Living for Revealed Truth: The Life and Pastoral Theology of Charles
Haddon Spurgeon as posted by Jeremy
Walker at blogsite Reformation 21.
“Spurgeon was adamant that the door to the church be
well-guarded, and had a carefully-developed system whereby converts applying
for membership were graciously but robustly assessed by elders, himself, and
the whole congregation.”
“At two separate points in the book, Nettles shows how - at
times of particular evangelistic endeavour, as well as during the more regular
procedures of church life - the saints were encouraged to make a thoughtful and
scriptural assessment of a man's standing with God and prospective relationship
with the local church.”
“Perhaps, in our day, we are not always sure what we should
be looking for in the heart and life of men and women who profess faith in the
Lord Jesus. Far too many churches, perhaps feeling the pressure of numbers or
some other force, are inclined to drop their standards or blur their
distinctions, if they have them in the first place. In the face of that, these
standards seem to me to be thoroughly biblical, genuinely gracious, and
appropriately robust. They combine doctrinal understanding, experimental
religion, and principled obedience - a religion of head, heart and hand, if you
will. If more congregations embraced a righteous assessment of this sort with
regard to professing converts and applicants for membership, I am persuaded
that they would be spiritually healthier places than they too often are.”
Originally posted on January 9, 2014 by Jeremy Walker
Read the entire article at
http://www.reformation21.org/blog/2014/01/spurgeons-standards-for-conver.php
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