ENCOURAGEMENT FOR PASTORS (BY SPURGEON) Could God not, if he pleased, convert men without our preaching?

Could God not, if he pleased, convert men without our preaching? But he will not do it; he would rather that our imperfect preaching should bring them in and therefore he washes our preaching—he washes our feet. Could he not save sinners without you, my brother? And yet he sets you longing after souls, and opens your mouth to speak a good word to them, and he accepts what you do. But oh, what condescension is there, what tenderness, what divine stooping from his loftiness, that he should cleanse your works! It is more than he ever did for angels. When an angel had defiled his service, he banished him from heaven; but with all the imperfection of our service, we expect that in Christ we shall be welcomed into heaven with the words “Well done, good and faithful servant.”