574 The Spiritual Man
constitutes one of the greatest of these principles. Anything which
issues from us, that is from our flesh, is utterly unacceptable to God.
Even should we seek such an indispensable and sublime a matter as
salvation, our pursuit is nonetheless rejected. What we need
unceasingly to remember is that God looks not at the appearance of a
thing—whether good or bad, big or small—but looks instead to see
whence it originates, from Him or not. In salvation, we are saved not
because we want to be saved but because God wants to save us; and
so is it to be throughout our lives. We need to see that aside from
what God does through us, all other activities, however
commendable they may be, are utterly nonefficacious. If we fail to
learn this life principle at the initial stage of salvation, we shall
encounter endless defeats thereafter.
Moreover, according to the actual condition of man, while he is a
sinner his will is rebellious against God. Therefore God must bring
men to Himself as well as grant him new life. Now just as the will of
man represents the man—for it is the essence of his being, so the
divine will personifies God—it being His very life. To say that God
will bring man to Himself is to say that He will bring man to His
will. No doubt this takes a lifetime to fulfill, but even at the outset of
salvation God commences working towards that end. Hence when
the Holy Spirit convicts a man of sin, that conviction is such that the
man would not have a word to say even should God condemn him to
hell. Then when that man is shown by God His definite plan in the
cross of Christ he will gladly accept it and express his readiness to
receive the salvation of God. Thus do we observe that the first stage
of salvation is essentially a salvation of the will. A sinner’s faith and
acceptance is but his desire to take the water of life and be saved.
Similarly his opposition and resistance are his unwillingness to come
to the Lord for life, and accordingly he perishes. The battle whether
to be saved or to perish is fought out in the will of man. Man’s
original fall was due to the rebellion of his will against God’s; and so
his present salvation is effected by having his volition brought into
obedience to God.