I agree with you 100% that faith precedes regeneration. And so did Spurgeon. This view of his was very inconsistent with Calvinism, almost all Calvinist/Reformed believers insist that a person must first be regenerated to have the ability to believe.
But Spurgeon definitely believed in Irresistible Grace.
Source-
http://mikeratliff.wordpress.com/2007/09/25/spurgeon-on-irresistible-grace/
Do you see what Spurgeon believed here? Spurgeon believed Jesus did not knock at your door, he smashed your door to pieces and walked in. Spurgeon believed God would "make me to believe", that is, he would impose or compel you to believe. Spurgeon said there was no standing against it, it cannot be resisted.
So, if this is true, then why didn't Jesus simply compel the children of Jerusalem to believe? He certainly spoke as if he truly and sincerely wanted them to come to him, so why didn't he irresistibly cause them to come?
This is what Spurgeon believed, you can see in his own words.
None of this can happen until we listen and learn. He will not tear down the door that we put up our unbelief everything we put up can not be removed until we listen and learn to His I must. I understand where Spurgeon is coming from, but there is much more to scripture.
2 Corinthians 3:
7 Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? 9 If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! 10 For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. 11 And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!
12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. 13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away. 14 But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. 15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
This door, this veil of our own making cannot be torn, broken down without turning to God through Jesus Christ, just the way we are in unbelief, it is the work of God through Jesus Christ to tear down these doors. It will not be done without the word of God, the words of life.
The veil our door will not be turn down until we do turn to Jesus just the way we are. It all starts with the word of God without that nothing will be torn down, done away with.
Romans 6
Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ
6 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with,[Or be rendered powerless] that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. 14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.