• Regeneration

    How is a Person Saved? 

    by
    Churchwork
    Published on 12-25-2009 04:45 AM     Number of Views: 1467 
    1. Categories:
    2. Regeneration,
    3. Calvinism

    "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you" (1 Pet. 1.23,25). You are born-again (regenerated) through believing the gospel upon it being preached unto you; not regenerated then it is preached unto you to believe.

    "As many as were ordained to eternal life believed" (Acts 13.48). How were they ordained to believe? By God foreknowing their free-choice. "Seeing YOU put the gospel form you...we turn to the Gentiles" (v.46). "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate (Rom. 8.29)...elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father" (1 Pet. 1.2). "As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name" (John 1.12). Who gets to be a son of God? What precedes becoming a son of God? Those who receive Him, even those who believe on His name; not by the will of the flesh (passion) or the will of man (planning) (v.13). First you must believe: "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God" (1 John 5.1). "In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise" (Eph. 1.13). When is a person sealed (regenerated)? After trusting and hearing and believing. How does this election take place? "Whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate (Rom. 8.29)...elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father" (1 Pet. 1.2). Salvation is promised to all ("Repent, and be baptized every one of you" [Acts 2.38]), contingent upon individual faith ("Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved" [Acts 16.31]).

    "They that hear shall live" (John 5.25). "Ye will not come to me, that ye may have life" (John 5.40). "Every one who seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life" (John 6.40). "Believing ye may have life" (John 20.31). "Believe...and thou shalt be saved (Acts 16.31). If you are Totally unable, then why would God plead with you to hear, come, see and believe? And if you could not respond to the gospel because of an alleged Total depravity (Total inability), then God is being cruel and unjust even abusive by blaming those for not receiving Him when they were born into sin and are not responsible for the sins of their fathers. The Calvinist accuses the OSAS Arminian of a "works-oriented system" despite the fact that faith is contrasted to and the opposite of works and that the requirement of salvation is sola fide (faith alone). What glorifies God and who is really claiming, "because I was better than those who did not believe"? Those who with repentance and faith agree, "Boasting...is excluded by the law of faith" (Rom. 3.27); or those who without any prior repentance and faith, assumed pridefully, "I have peace with God because God in eternity past chose this undeserving sinner and placed His grace and love upon me"? Which do you think is true grace, peace and love? Make your choice.

    You can often sense the pride of a Calvinist as he brushes by you and when he speaks, he need not say but a few words before you are turned off. We can be confident these men were not saved. Calvinists who are not saved include Paul Washer, Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), John Calvin, Augustine of Hippo, James White (today), John Fullerton MacArthur, Jr, R.C. Sproul, John Piper, Fred Driscoll, Charles Spurgeon, Matthew Slick (CARM) to name some popular names. And to the surprise of many even though Martin Luther restored to us Justification by Faith and denounced practices of the Roman Church what he actually meant was in the Calvinist sense, so it is highly likely Luther was not born-again either, because Calvinists don't want to be saved God's way. They prefer to assume they were regenerated that allegedly made them to repent and believe which is irresistibly imposed.

    The Southern Baptist Convention says the issue of the heresy of Calvinism is going to be the foremost issue for the next 10 years. They are not going to weed out the Calvinists they say, but they admit they will have to do something about these false Christians that continue to try to highjack their convention each year.

    What is the Proper Order of Salvation? 

    by
    Churchwork
    Published on 12-23-2009 01:57 PM     Number of Views: 2255 
    1. Categories:
    2. Regeneration

    "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you" (1 Pet. 1.23,25).

    You are born-again (regenerated) through believing the gospel upon it being preached unto you; not regenerated then is preached unto you to believe.

    "In whom ye also [trusted], after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise" (Eph. 1.13).

    "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, [even] to them that believe on his name" (John 1.12).

    "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God" (1 John 5.1).

    The Regeneration of Man 

    by
    Churchwork
    Published on 12-15-2009 07:56 AM     Number of Views: 2420 
    1. Categories:
    2. Regeneration

    The Regeneration of Man

    Why must a sinner be born anew? Why must he be born from above? Why must there be a regeneration of the spirit? Because man is a fallen spirit. A fallen spirit needs to be reborn that it may become a new one. Just as Satan is a fallen spirit, so is man; only he has a body. Satan’s fall came before man’s; we therefore can learn about our fallen state from Satan’s plunge. Satan was created as a spirit that he might have direct communion with God. But he fell away and became the head of the powers of darkness. He now is separated from God and from every godly virtue. This, however, does not signify that Satan is non-existent. His fall only took away his right relationship with God. Similarly, man in his fall also sank into darkness and separation from God. Man’s spirit still exists but is separated from God, powerless to commune with Him and incapable of ruling. Spiritually speaking, man’s spirit is dead. Nonetheless, as the spirit of the sinful archangel exists forever so the spirit of sinful man continues too. Because he has a body his fall rendered him a man of the flesh (Gen. 6.3). No religion of this world, no ethics, culture or law can improve this fallen human spirit. Man has degenerated into a fleshly position; nothing from himself can return him to a spiritual state. Wherefore regeneration or regeneration of the spirit is absolutely necessary. The Son of God alone can restore us to God, for He shed His blood to cleanse our sins and give us a new life.

    Immediately the sinner believes in the Lord Jesus he is born anew. God grants him His uncreated life that the sinner’s spirit may be made alive. The regeneration of a sinner occurs in his spirit. God’s work begins without exception within the man, from the center to the circumference. How unlike Satan’s pattern of work! He operates from the outer to the inner. God aims first to renew man’s darkened spirit by imparting life to it, because it is this spirit which God originally designed to receive His life and to commune with Him. God’s intent after that is to work out from the spirit to permeate man’s soul and body.

    This regeneration gives man a new spirit as well as quickens his old one. “A new spirit I will put within you”—“That which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (Ezek. 36.26; John 3.6). The “spirit” in these passages has God’s life in view, for it is not what we originally possessed; it is accorded us by God at our regeneration. This new life or spirit belongs to God (2 Peter 1.4) and “cannot sin” (1 John 3.9) ; but our spirit, though quickened, may yet be defiled (2 Cor. 7.1) and in need of being sanctified (1 Thess. 5.23).

    When God’s life (which can equally be called His Spirit) enters our human spirit, the latter is quickened out of its coma. What was “alienated from the life of God” (Eph. 4.18) is now made alive again. Hence “although your bodies are ...
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    The Holy Spirit and Regeneration 

    by
    Churchwork
    Published on 12-15-2009 07:56 AM     Number of Views: 2242 
    1. Categories:
    2. Regeneration

    The Holy Spirit and Regeneration

    When regenerated, man’s spirit is made alive through the incoming of God’s life. The Holy Spirit is the prime mover in this task. He convinces the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment (John 16.8). He prepares human hearts to believe in the Lord Jesus as Savior. The work of the cross has been fulfilled by the Lord Jesus, but it is left to the Holy Spirit to apply this finished work to the sinner’s heart. We ought to know the relationship between the cross of Christ and its application by the Spirit. The cross accomplishes all, but the Holy Spirit administers to man what it has accomplished. The cross grants us position; the Holy Spirit gives us experience. The cross brings in the fact of God; the Holy Spirit brings about the demonstration of that fact. The work of the cross creates a position and achieves a salvation by which sinners can be saved; the task of the Holy Spirit is to reveal to sinners what the cross has created and achieved so that they may in fact receive it and be saved. The Holy Spirit never functions independently of the cross: without the cross the Holy Spirit has no proper ground from which to operate: without the Holy Spirit the work of the cross is dead, that is, it produces no effect upon men even though it is already effective before God.

    While it is the cross which achieves the whole work of salvation it is the Holy Spirit Who operates directly upon men for their salvation. Hence the Bible characterizes our regeneration as a work of the Holy Spirit: “that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3.6). The Lord Jesus explains further on that regenerated man is “every one who is born of the Spirit” (v.8). Believers are born anew because the Holy Spirit brings to bear the work of the cross upon them and communicates God’s life to their spirit. He is none other than the Executor of God’s life. “We live by the Spirit” (Gal. 5.25). If whatever men know comes through their brain without the Holy Spirit regenerating their spirit, then their knowledge will help them not one whit. If their belief rests in man’s wisdom and not in God’s power, they are merely excited in their soul. They will not last long, for they are not yet newly born. Regeneration comes just to those who believe in their heart (Rom.10.10) .

    Besides bestowing life to believers at new birth, the Holy Spirit executes a further work of abiding in them. How regrettable for us if we forget this! “A new heart I will give you and a new spirit I will put within you ... and I will put my Spirit within you” (Ezek. 36.26-27). Note that immediately after the clause “a new spirit I will put within you” there follows this one of “I will put my Spirit within you.” The first statement signifies that believers shall receive a new spirit through the renewal of their deadened spirit by the incoming of life. The second has reference to the indwelling or the ...
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    The Aim of Spiritual Work 

    by
    Churchwork
    Published on 12-15-2009 07:56 AM     Number of Views: 9112 
    1. Categories:
    2. Regeneration

    The Aim of Spiritual Work

    Spiritual work aims to give life to man’s spirit or to build up the life in the spirit. Our labor will be nil in worth or effectiveness if it is not directed towards the spirit lying in the very depths of man. What a sinner needs is life, not some sublime thought. A believer needs whatever can nourish his spiritual life, not mere Bible knowledge. If all we communicate are excellent sermonic divisions, wonderful parables, transcendent abstractions, clever words, or logical arguments, we are but supplying additional thoughts to people’s minds, arousing their emotions once again, or activating their will to make one more decision. With a moribund spirit do they come and with just as moribund a spirit do they depart despite our heavy labors on their behalf. A sinner needs to have his spirit resurrected, not to be able to argue better, shed profuse tears, or make a firmer resolve. Likewise a believer does not require outward edification, since his real lack is inward life more abundant—how he can grow spiritually. Should we focus our attention on the outward man and neglect the inward man, our work will be utterly vain and superficial. Such work equals no work at all, and perhaps it is even worse than no work, for a lot of precious time is undeniably wasted!

    Man can be moved to tears, can confess his sins, can consider redemption reasonable, can profess his interest in religion, can sign a decision card, can read the Bible and pray, can even testify with joy; but still his spirit has not received God’s life and therefore remains as dead as before. Why? Because man’s soul is capable of performing all these things. To be sure, we do not despise these motions; nevertheless we recognize that except the spirit is quickened these pious acts are but rootless blades which will be totally withered beneath the scorching sun. When a spirit is born anew it may display these same manifestations in the outward soul: in the depth of its being, however, it receives a new life which enables the person to know God and to know Jesus Christ Whom God has sent. No work possesses any spiritual effectiveness save that which quickens the spirit into an intuitive knowledge of God.

    We ought to perceive that it is quite possible to exercise “false faith” and experience “false regeneration.” Many confuse understanding with believing. The former simply means the mind understands the reason of the truth and reckons it believable. The latter, according to the spiritual sense, involves being united; that is, by believing that the Lord Jesus died for us we unite ourselves with His death. People can understand doctrine without necessarily believing in the Lord Jesus. What we stress is that men are not saved by their good deed, rather do they obtain eternal life through believing the Son of God. Men must believe in God’s Son. Many believe the doctrine of atonement but fail to believe in the Savior ...
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