“So speaks the heresy called Calvinism. “
Heresy? Once upon the time, you were the heretic.
Spurgeon:
“[I]t is often said that the doctrines we believe have a tendency to lead us to sin....I ask the man who dares to say that Calvinism is a licentious religion, what he thinks of the character of Augustine, or Calvin, or Whitefield, who in successive ages were the great exponents of the systems of grace; or what will he say of the Puritans, whose works are full of them? Had a man been an Arminian in those days, he would have been accounted the vilest heretic breathing, but now we are looked upon as the heretics, and they as orthodox. We have gone back to the old school; we can trace our descent from the apostles....We can run a golden line up to Jesus Christ Himself, through a holy succession of mighty fathers, who all held these glorious truths; and we can ask concerning them, “Where will you find holier and better men in the world?””
“The man dead in trespasses and sins can drink the water of life (John 4), can eat the bread of life (John 6), can receive the power to become the sons of God (John 1), can believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, if he is willing. God made it possible.”
Without the Holy Spirit, no man can call Jesus the Christ.
1Co_12:3 Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.
There is no one good, no one who seeks after God.
Rom 3:10-12 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: (11) There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. (12) They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
“This is the gospel pattern.”
And what did Jesus say to those Jews who would not believe and who did not understand Him?
Joh 10:25-30 Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me. (26) But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. (27) My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: (28) And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. (29) My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. (30) I and my Father are one.
Joh 6:43-44 Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves. (44) No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
Indeed, those who the Father has not given Him, cannot believe, cannot see, for they are in their sins, and their natural inclination is to deny Christ.
Joh 12:39-41 Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again, (40) He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. (41) These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him.
I don't get the reference to Spurgeon. I disagree with Arminianism as well. If one believes he can lose his salvation, then he is still trusting in his own works to save him, not in the finished work of Jesus Christ.
"In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truthy, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession" (Ephesians 1:13,14)
We are sealed with the holy Spirit AFTER we believed, not BEFORE.
Regeneration does not preceded faith. Here is Acts 16:30,31 according to calvinism:
And brought them out, and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" And they said, "There is nothing you can do. But if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, then you will demonstrate that you have already been regenerated." (Pseudo Acts 15:30,31)
But the real Acts 15:30,31 does NOT say that. It says "Believe" (aorist imperative, a command which the hearer is implored to obey). "and thou shalt be saved" (future -- salvation, the gift of god, will be the result. It's a gift that is received through faith, not of works, lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2:8,9 is often twisted by calvinists (like R.C. Sproul) to say something it does not: that faith is the gift. The English does NOT support this, and Greek most assuredly does not.
As humans we exercise faith all day, everyday. (I was hiking over the weekend and with every plant of boot in the rocky terrain I trusted that the path would hold and I wouldn't find myself sliding down the mountain trail). God wants us to trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ, not in our own works of righteousness. God is faithful to raise us up in the last day. Such are saved from the 2nd death. They will not stand before the great white throne of judgement and be judged according to their works. Faith is not a work.
Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. (Roman 4:3-5)