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We do not want them here!
From Spurgeon's sermon, "Regeneration"
I address myself to the saints in heaven, redeemed by sovereign
grace: "Children of God, are you willing that the wicked should
enter heaven as they are, without being born again?
Are you willing that they should be admitted as they are?"
I see Lot rise up, and he cries,
"Admit them into heaven! No! What! must I be vexed
with the conversation of Sodomites again, as once I was?"
I see Abraham; and he comes forward, and he says,
"No; I cannot have them here. I had enough of them while
I was with them on earth- their jests and jeers, their silly
talkings, their vain lifestyles vexed and grieved us.
We do not want them here."
And, heavenly though they be, and loving as their spirits are,
there is not a saint in heaven who would not resent with the
utmost indignation the approach of anyone of you to the gates of
paradise, if you are still unholy, and have not been born again.
Ask the holy angels before the throne:
"Angels, principalities and powers, would you be willing that
men who do not love God, who do not believe in Christ,
who have not been born again, should dwell here?"
I see them, as they look down upon us, and hear them
answering- "No! Once we fought the dragon and expelled him
because he tempted us to sin; we must not and we will not, have
the wicked here!
These alabaster walls must not be soiled with black and lustful
fingers; the white pavement of heaven must not be stained and
rendered filthy by the unholy feet of ungodly men.
No! We do not want them here!"
I see a thousand spears bristling, and the fiery faces of
innumerable seraphs thrust over the walls of Paradise.
The angelic hosts say-
"No, while these arms have strength,
and these wings have power,
no sin shall ever enter here!"
God himself has said- "Except a man be born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God."
What sinner, will you scale the battlements of paradise
when God is ready to thrust you down to hell ?
Will you with impudent face brazen him out?
God has said it, God has said it with a voice of thunder,
"You shall not enter the kingdom of heaven."
Can you wrestle with the Almighty?
Can you overthrow Omnipotence?
Can you grapple with the Most High?
Worm of the dust! can you overcome your Maker?
Trembling insect of an hour,
will you dare the hand of God?
Will you venture to defy him to his face?
Ah! he would laugh at you.
As the snow melts before the sun,
as wax melts at the fierceness of the fire,
so would you, if his fury should once lay hold of you.
Do not think that you can overcome him.
He has sealed the gate of Paradise against you, and there is no
entrance. The God of justice says, "I will not reward the wicked
with the righteous; I will not allow my good and godly Paradise
to be stained by wicked ungodly men.
If they turn I will have mercy upon them;
but if they do not turn, as I live, I will tear them in pieces,
and there shall be none to deliver."
Now, sinner, can you brazen it out against him!
Will you rush upon the thick bosses of Jehovah's bucklers?
Will you try to scale his heaven when his arrow is stringed
upon the bow to reach your heart?
What! when the glittering sword is at
your neck and ready to slay you?
Will you endeavor to strive against your Maker?
No potsherd, no; contend with your fellow potsherd.
Go, crawling grasshopper; go, fight with your brothers;
strive with them, but do not come against the Almighty!
He has said it, and you never shall,
you never shall enter heaven,
unless you are born again!
"I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God
unless he is born again." John 3:3
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