It is Christ's taking hold of us that saves us, not our decision to take hold of our only means of salvation.
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
We shall never have an adequate conception of the greatness of this salvation unless we realize something of what we were before this mighty power took hold of us, unless we realize what we would still be if God had not intervened in our lives and had rescued us. We must realize the depth of sin, what sin really means…
2 Samuel 22:17, Psalm 18:16 (HCSB)
(The LORD) reached down from heaven and took hold of me; He pulled me out of deep waters.
Matthew 14:31
Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of (Peter)...
Psalm 40:2
(The LORD) lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a solid rock...
Isaiah 42:6
I, the LORD, have called you...I will take hold of your hand...
Philippians 3:12b
NIV - Christ Jesus took hold of me.
KJV - I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
CSB - I have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus.
ESV - Christ Jesus has made me his own.
"Laid hold of" (katalambanō from kata - down + lambáno - take)
Colossians 1:13-14
For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Jean Ingelow, from an Anonymous poem, 1878
I sought the Lord, and afterward I knew
He moved my soul to seek him, seeking me;
It was not I that found, O Saviour true,
No, I was found of thee.
Thou didst reach forth thy hand and mine enfold,
I walked and sank not on the storm-vexed sea.
‘Twas not so much that I on thee took hold
as thou, dear Lord, on me.
St. Augustine
Most merciful God, I do now (call upon Thee) to descend into my soul, which Thou hast prepared for Thy reception by the desire which Thou hast breathed into it. (Before) ever I cried to Thee, Thou, most Merciful, hadst called and sought me, that I might find Thee, and finding love Thee. (1 John 4:19)
St. Augustine, quoted by C.H. Spurgeon in The Saint and His Savior, The Progress of the Soul in the Knowledge of Jesus, Chapter 1, “The Despised Friend” on Isaiah 53:3
https://www.spurgeongems.org/chs_the-saint-and-his-savior.pdf
There was a great dark cloud of vanity before mine eyes, so that I could not see the sun of justice and the light of truth. I, being the son of darkness, was involved in darkness. I loved my darkness, because I knew not Thy light. I was blind, and loved my blindness, and did walk from darkness to darkness, but Lord, Thou art my God, who hast led me from darkness and the shadow of death, hast called me into this glorious light, and behold I see.
William Chalmers Burns on his salvation at age 16
https://books.google.com/books?id=97I6dEYCr6MC&pg=PA168&lpg
http://www.wicketgate.co.uk/issue92/e92_4.html
“…in one moment… my inmost soul was in one instant pierced as with a dart. God had apprehended me. I felt the conviction of my lost estate rushing through me with resistless power.”
J.C. Ryle Old Paths
Faith is simply the grasp of a contrite heart on the outstretched hand of an Almighty Saviour (Matthew 14:31). It is the hand of the drowning man which lays hold on the rope thrown to him. Cast away all idea of work, or merit, or doing, or performing, or paying, or giving, or buying in the act of believing on Christ. Faith is not giving, but taking; not paying, but receiving; not buying, but being enriched.
[Yes, we must reach up to that hand, but it is not the reaching, but the hand of the Savior, that saves us. And God in His sovereignty will let us drown in our sin (Romans 1 “give us over”, John 5:40, 2 Thessalonians 2:10) if that is what we choose; a choice of which He had foreknowledge.
But if He has chosen us from eternity, He will not let us drown (Irresistible and Efficacious Grace).]
F.B Meyer The Epistle to the Philippians - A Devotional Commentary
To hear some men speak you would suppose that the initiative in their religious life had come from themselves, that the first approaches towards God emanated from their own hearts, that they were independent of Him until they voluntarily put themselves within the range of His care and help. Nothing could be further from the truth. As well might the flower speak of discovering the sunshine and turning its face thitherwards. The initiative of the religious life does not come from man but from God. The first steps in reconciliation are not on our side but on His. If we seek God it is only because He has been seeking us, and has contrived the span of our life and the location of our home with special reference to our feeling after Him and finding Him (Acts 17:26-27).
When a man turns to God, the first thing he realises is that throughout the wild wanderings of his youth, and amid all the fret and war of his manhood, even when he has been most stubborn and rebellious, God's love has never ceased to seek him. The true comparison for the soul is not that it is immured in dark galleries and catacombs, out of which it presently seeks to escape, but that God comes into the intricacies of its rebellion and wandering, calling tenderly and earnestly, awakening it from its stupefaction, shedding on fast-closed eyes beams of light to startle the drowsy sleeper, and eliciting by every method in his power a quick response. We love because we were first loved (1 John 4:19); we seek because we were sought; we leave our far country, not only because hunger impels, but because frequent missives from our Father's house tell us that He cannot be at rest until we are again seated at His table.
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Thank God my salvation does not depend on me, but on God’s love to me; not upon my frail grasp of Him, but upon His strong grasp of me!
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount
This is the whole miracle of redemption...the meaning of the incarnation...that the Lord Jesus Christ takes hold of us here on earth and (restores and reconciles) us with the almighty God of glory (our Father).
Romans. The Final Perseverance of the Saints, on 8:28-30 "Whom he did predestinate, them he also called..."
Did Saul of Tarsus 'decide' to believe in Christ? Did he 'decide' to accept the message? The Lord of glory appeared to him...and immediately he believed, immediately his will desired Him. This is a perfect picture of the effectual call! The Apostle did not decide to believe, his conversion was not the result of his own activity.
Preachers and Preaching
A sinner does not “decide” for Christ; the sinner “flies” to Christ in utter helplessness and despair saying – “Foul, I to the fountain fly, Wash me, Saviour, or I die.” No man truly comes to Christ unless he flies to Him as his only refuge and hope, his only way of escape from the accusations of conscience and the condemnation of God's holy law. Nothing else is satisfactory. If a man says that having thought about the matter and having considered all sides he has on the whole decided for Christ, and if he has done so without any emotion or feeling, I cannot regard him as a man who has been regenerated. The convicted sinner no more “decides” for Christ than the poor drowning man “decides” to take hold of that rope that is thrown to him and suddenly provides him with the only means of escape. The term is entirely inappropriate.
“His Workmanship”
https://www.monergism.com/his-workmanship-ephesians-210
The first thing that is true about the Christian is that He is aware that God has taken hold of him.
Second, God in the Spirit working in the man and opening his mind increasingly to a perception and an understanding of the truth. It is He who is doing it—putting in the thought; the light and the power of the Spirit, God opening things out, the Word opening before us; our eyes, our understanding being enlightened.
And then in turn that leads to a desire for truth, and a thirst for it.
We become aware of the new nature that God has placed within us, the new principle of life.
R.C. Sproul, Be All the More Diligent to Make Your Calling and Election Sure (1-2 Peter)
You are absolutely powerless to effect your rebirth. Only God in His supernatural power can cause you to be born again. You did not generate it or seek after God. He sought after you. In His mercy and grace, the Spirit of God invaded your soul and changed that heart of stone to a heart of flesh. He gave you the desire for Christ and brought you to Christ as a gift to Christ.
C.H. Spurgeon
"Paul Apprehended and Apprehending"
https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-library/sermons/paul-apprehended-and-apprehending#flipbook/
"Until He Find It"
https://spurgeongems.org/sermon/chs2821.pdf
We were apprehended by Him whom we now have apprehended.
Yam Sing, on his examination for membership on experience before the Baptist Church, San Francisco, in response to the question, "How did you find Jesus?" answered, "I no find Jesus at all; he find me."
‘Declaration of Faith and Practice’ of the New Park Street Chapel (Reformed Baptist church)
We believe, that the work of regeneration, conversion, sanctification and faith, is not an act of man’s free will and power, but of the might, efficacious and irresistible grace of God.
Spurgeon on irresistible grace
https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/charles-spurgeon-calvinism-irresistible-grace
John Owen “The Strength of Faith”
Though you have taken only a weak, faint hold of Christ, he has taken a sure, strong and unconquerable hold of you. Jesus Christ takes special care of those who are weak in faith (Isaiah 40:11 “He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart.”). For whatever reason they are sick and weak and disabled, this good Shepherd takes care of them. (Micah 5:4 “He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they will live securely...”)