The Only True Ground of Rejoicing

"The poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel" (Isaiah 29:19)

We were observing that none can tell who the Lord's people are till God the Spirit makes them manifest. The Lord knows who they are: "Having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his." "Yes," say some, "He knows them when they begin to turn to him, when they accept the offers and proffers of salvation, and take hold of his grace; he knows them then." My friends, that is not God's way of working. He knows his sheep before he gives them eternal life; he says, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." In God's religion, life is the first thing given. The poor sinner is dead in trespasses and sins. The Lord Jesus Christ is a "quickening spirit;" and he has "power over all flesh, to give eternal life to as many as the Father gave him." And in regeneration, the Holy Spirit makes no mistake. As a Spirit of knowledge, he knows who the Lord's covenant people are; and when the set time to favour Zion comes, he arrests them in the conscience. Saul was one of these vessels of mercy; and Zacchaeus also was a monument of grace; and therefore, at the appointed moment, the Lord the Spirit quickened them into spiritual life. There are not any whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life but what the blessed Spirit either has regenerated, or will in due time regenerate and begin the good work of grace in their precious souls, and carry it on in the face of every opposition from within and from without, from sin, men and devils. It is a good doctrine, my friends. Where God begins the work, he will surely carry it on and finish it till at last he lands the soul safe in immortal glory. He does not give the poor sinner a stock of grace to live on and cultivate. No, no! It is God's grace that cultivates the poor sinner, and not the poor sinner that cultivates the grace of God.

- excerpt from a sermon preached by John Kershaw at Zoar Chapel in London on April 10, 1845 ( The Only True Ground of Rejoicing (truegospel.net) )