{"id":19105,"date":"2016-04-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-04-20T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/soteriology-014\/"},"modified":"2016-04-20T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-04-20T05:00:00","slug":"soteriology-014","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/soteriology-014\/","title":{"rendered":"Soteriology 014"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[101],"series_event":[459],"sermon_service_type":[473],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-19105","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-titus","series_event-soteriology","sermon_service_type-sunday-school","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Soteriology 014","sermon_date":"20160420","sermon_month":"4","sermon_year":"2016","sermon_notes":3567,"sermon_slides":3569,"sermon_mp3":3570,"sermon_id":"420161939146","series_or_event":459,"service_type":[473],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":101,"chapter_and_verse":"3:5","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nSoteriology 14, Titus 3:5\n\nApril 20, 2016\n\nGood evening everybody; if we could take our Bibles and open them to the book of Titus, chapter 3, verse 5.\u00a0 And we are in a section of our class on the doctrine of salvation where we\u2019re talking about Roman numeral VI, the results of salvation.\u00a0 So under Roman numeral V we spent a lot of time explaining how you acquire salvation which is by faith alone in Christ alone.\u00a0 And then once salvation is gained what exactly do you possess?\u00a0 And kind of the goal of this section is just to describe your wealth in Christ.\n\nDr. Chafer, whose picture I have up there, described 33 items that a person receives the moment they trust in Christ.\u00a0 And I went through that list very fast and we\u2019re not going to drill down on all 33 items but we\u2019re going to spend some time drilling down on some of them.\u00a0\u00a0 Last time, remember, we talked about when you come to Christ you are God\u2019s son or daughter, you are brought into adoption.\u00a0 And then we also talked about how you received, at that point, the gift of eternal life.\n\nAnd let me move into a third blessing that we have and that\u2019s something called regeneration.\u00a0 What is regeneration?\u00a0 Regeneration is the impartation of divine life.\u00a0 It\u2019s the moment upon faith in Christ that spiritual life comes into a lost person.\u00a0 And that ministry of the Spirit of God is desperately needed because of our condition in the first Adam.\u00a0 Remember what God told Adam back in Genesis 2:16-17? \u201cThe day that you eat from the tree thereof is the day you shall surely\u201d what? \u201cdie.\u201d\u00a0 [Genesis 2:16-17, \u201cThe LORD God commanded the man, saying, From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; [17] but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.\u201d]\n\nNow Adam lived about 930 years so he didn\u2019t physically die that second, although the process started.\u00a0 But he did die spiritually that second because the human being is basically comprised of three parts: body, soul, spirit.\u00a0 And the spiritual quality in him which gives people the capacity to relate to God, that spark of life was extinguished.\u00a0 And as we are all born under the first Adam that is essentially our condition.\u00a0 We\u2019re born into the world spiritually dead.\n\nThe book of Ephesians, chapter 2 and verse 1 all but says that, as do many other passages.\u00a0 But Ephesians 2:1 says, \u201cAnd you were dead in your trespasses and sins.\u201d\u00a0 Now a lot of people overdo spiritual death and I\u2019ll talk about that in just a moment.\u00a0 Spiritual death does not mean inability to respond to God; let me postpone that discussion for a few points down the road.\u00a0 But because we are spiritually dead, in fact, Ephesians 2:1 basically says walking dead people when you translate that in the Greek.\u00a0 Because we are spiritually dead the greatest thing that we need is spiritual life and that\u2019s something called regeneration.\u00a0 Jesus called it the new birth, that\u2019s the whole point of His conversation with Nicodemus over in John 3, remember the whole Nick at night conversation that Jesus had with Nicodemus?\u00a0 Remember what He said there?\u00a0 \u201cTruly, truly, I say to you, unless one is\u201d what? \u201cborn of water and the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God.\u201d\n\nSo Nicodemus, who was a Pharisee, in fact he was the chief Pharisee, you have a lot of religiosity but you\u2019re dead spiritually and what you need is the new birth, regeneration, the impartation of divine life.\u00a0 He tells Nicodemus that\u2019s his greatest need.\u00a0 And that is the greatest need of all human beings today because in the first Adam we are spiritually dead, we do not have that life of God inside of us.\u00a0 So this is what\u2019s called the new birth, and unless someone receives the new birth from God they\u2019re not a Christian.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t matter how religious they are, it doesn\u2019t matter where they go to church, it doesn\u2019t matter what religious data is in their mind, it doesn\u2019t matter what their parents did or didn\u2019t do.\u00a0\u00a0 All those things are irrelevant; if\u00a0 you\u2019re not born of the Spirit you\u2019re not a Christian, period.\n\nSo I wrote down this little saying here, you may have heard this:\u00a0 If you are born once you\u2019ll die twice; if\u00a0 you\u2019re born twice you\u2019ll die once.\u00a0 So we all know what that means, right?\u00a0 If you\u2019re born once, physically, but you\u2019re never born spiritually then you\u2019ll die twice; physically you\u2019ll die, and then your soul goes into where?\u00a0 Something called the second death, Revelation 20:11-15 describes it as the second death, which is the lake of fire, eternal separation from God.\n\n[Revelation 20:11-15, \u201cAnd you were dead in your trespasses and sins, [12] And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.\u00a0 [13] And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds.\u00a0 [14] Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.\u00a0 [15] And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.\u201d]\n\nSo you die physically and then your soul goes into that terrible place.\u00a0 Conversely, if you are born twice you\u2019ll only die once.\u00a0 What does it mean to be born twice?\u00a0 Well, you\u2019re physically born and then there comes a point in your life where you trust Christ as your Savior, and the spark of life, or the impartation of divine life, regeneration, comes into you.\u00a0 And if that\u2019s your condition, which I hope you\u2019re in, then the worst thing that can happen to you is you\u2019ll die one time.\u00a0 You\u2019ll physically die, and you know what, you might not even have to do that if we\u2019re the rapture generation.\u00a0 I can\u2019t guarantee that we are but I hope we are, because there\u2019s a generation that will not physically die, that will be caught up.\u00a0 But if we\u2019re not the rapture generation then the very worst thing that can happen to you is you can physically die but your soul has no part in the second death.\n\nSo really the fundamental question in a person\u2019s life is have they received this new birth, regeneration, the impartation of divine life.\u00a0 Now where do we find this word, I\u2019ve just described a concept, but where do we find this word \u201cregeneration\u201d?\u00a0 It\u2019s in Titus 3:5; the Greek word that\u2019s translated regeneration is palingenesia<\/em>.\n\nSo let\u2019s read this verse here, Titus 3:5 which is where I had you turn.\u00a0 Titus says, \u201cHe saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration\u201d that\u2019s the word I\u2019m trying to unpack here, \u201cregeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.\u201d\u00a0 So that word translated \u201cregeneration\u201d is the new birth; it\u2019s the impartation of divine life and it\u2019s palin<\/em> genesia<\/em>, which is a compound word;\u00a0 palin<\/em> means again, and you recognize genesia<\/em>?\u00a0 What book of the Bible do you think of there?\u00a0 Genesis, which is the book of beginnings.\u00a0 So palingenesia<\/em> literally means to begin again.\u00a0 That\u2019s the word translated regeneration.\n\nThat\u2019s why 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, \u201cTherefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new\u201d what? \u201ccreature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.\u201d\u00a0 And you literally are a new person because you are functioning now the way God intended human beings to function, which is to be alive, not just physically at the body level, the soma<\/em> level, not just alive at the soul level, the psuch<\/em>\u0113<\/em> level, but alive at the spiritual level.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why Paul says the things of God to the natural man, now who\u2019s the natural man?\u00a0 The natural man is the person that\u2019s alive, soul and body but not spiritually.\u00a0 The natural man is the Ephesians 2:1 person who is a walking dead man.\u00a0 [Ephesians 2:1, \u201cAnd you were dead in your trespasses and sins,\u201d]\u00a0 That person, the things of God are a mystery to him. In fact, they\u2019re foolishness to him.\n\nSo you can go up to somebody who has never been born spiritually and\u00a0 you start talking about spiritual things and it\u2019s like you\u2019re talking a foreign language to them because they don\u2019t have any capacity to understand it, because they don\u2019t have the regeneration or the new birth or the life of God inside of them.\u00a0 Now palingenesia<\/em> is used only two times in the New Testament.\u00a0 It\u2019s used here and Titus 3:5.\u00a0 [Titus 3:5, \u201cHe saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done, but according to His mercy, by the<\/em> washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.\u201d]\n\nIt\u2019s used one other time and take a look at this, it\u2019s interesting, over in Matthew 19:28, this the only other time that this word, palingenesia<\/em>, begin again, regeneration, impartation of divine life, is used.\u00a0 And here it\u2019s talking about the millennial kingdom.\u00a0 And notice what Jesus says there, Matthew 19:28, \u201cAnd Jesus said to them, \u2018Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration\u201d now that\u2019s palingenesia<\/em>, \u201cin the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.\u201d\u00a0 Now that\u2019s talking about the millennial kingdom when Jesus is going to reign on David\u2019s throne and the twelve disciples that followed Him will be on thrones reigning over the twelve tribes of Israel.\u00a0 And the millennial kingdom is called a regeneration.\u00a0 So there it\u2019s not talking about spiritual regeneration, it is in a sense but it\u2019s talking about the physical regeneration or restoration of the earth after the horrors of the seven year tribulation are over.\n\nAnd this is very interesting because it\u2019s being used in an eschatological end times context, our word\u00a0 palingenesia<\/em>.\u00a0 So we have in our end times understanding an order, we call it premillennialism, which basically means Jesus comes back first, \u201cpre\u201d I\u2019m not talking about the rapture at all, I\u2019m talking about the return of Christ at the end of the seven year tribulation period, Jesus Christ comes back first and then what follows is what?\u00a0 The millennium, which is the regeneration of all things.\n\nSo if you can understand that example or concept then you just apply it to someone\u2019s spiritual life; first Jesus comes into them, right?\u00a0 And then what results is a regeneration or an impartation of divine life.\u00a0 And the reason I make an issue out of that, and I\u2019ll\u00a0 develop this more a little bit later, but there\u2019s a lot of people today arguing that you have to be regenerated first, before you can believe.\n\nNow\u00a0 you\u2019ll notice that when Jesus uses the word \u201cregeneration\u201d in an eschatological sense there\u2019s an order here.\u00a0 First He comes back, then the millennial kingdom, the regeneration of all things comes.\u00a0 So in the same way, first you trust in Jesus, your body becomes the temple of the Holy Spirit and the result of trusting in Christ is regeneration or the impartation of divine life.\n\nSo we are not teaching here at all that regeneration is the cause of faith.\u00a0 Okay.\n\nRegeneration is the result of faith and that is sort of a hard concept to get across unless you can understand the end times analogy that Jesus is using in Matthew 19:28, and I\u2019ll talk more about how people get the order lopsided in just a moment.\u00a0 But the Bible is very clear that regeneration, the impartation of divine life, cannot and will not happen in a person without exposing the lost sinner to the Word of God.\n\nYou know Romans 10:17, right, \u201cFaith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.\u201d\u00a0 The Scripture is the instrument that the Holy Spirit uses to convict the lost sinner of their need to be regenerated, of their need to believe in Christ.\u00a0 And this is not just taught in Romans 10:17, remember the verses that we\u2019re working through on Sunday morning, 2 Timothy 3, not last Sunday but the prior Sunday we talked about 2 Timothy 3:15, that the Scriptures are capable of making one wise unto what?\u00a0 Salvation.\u00a0 So Timothy, teach the Scriptures because God used the Scriptures in your life to make you \u201cwise unto salvation.\u201d\u00a0 So that\u2019s another verse that shows that the Spirit of God uses the Word of God to convict people of their need to believe in Christ.\u00a0 [2 Timothy 3:15, \u201cand that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.\u201d]\n\nA couple of other verses on that, you might just jump over to the book of James for a minute, James 1:18, James, of course, being the first New Testament book written, the earliest one we have, written about A.D. 44-47, James, the half-brother of Christ wrote this book.\u00a0 And James says, \u201cIn the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the\u201d what? \u201cword of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.\u201d\u00a0 He\u2019s talking about the new birth, regeneration.\u00a0 And notice that God brought this forth in us by exposing us first to the what?\u00a0 \u201cWord of truth.\u201d\n\nOne other verse, if you just go over one book to the right, 1 Peter 1:23, Peter makes a beautiful statement about God\u2019s Word and in the process of verse 23 he says, \u201cfor you have been born again\u201d that\u2019s the new birth, regeneration, \u201cyou have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.\u201d\u00a0 And he goes on there and he quotes Isaiah 40:8 which talks about how \u201cThe grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God \u00a0stands forever.\u2019\u201d\n\nBut in the process of describing God\u2019s Word Peter is very clear that you have been born again by the Word of God.\u00a0 The Word of God is living and active and so the Spirit of God uses the Word of God to awaken the sinner to their need to believe in Christ so that the Holy Spirit will come into them so that they can be regenerated, the impartation of divine life as a result of salvation.\n\nSo that\u2019s why exposure to the Scripture in the life of a church, in our own individual lives, even when you\u2019re evangelizing people I would encourage you to commit a few Scriptures to memory, like John 3:16 or others, because that\u2019s really the tool that the Spirit of God is going to use to convict people of their need to believe in Christ.\u00a0 [John 3:16, \u201cFor God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.\u201d]\n\nA lot of times we think it\u2019s our artful persuasive verbal skills and those are nice, you know, if people have those, but that\u2019s really not the definitive issue.\u00a0 The definitive issue is God\u2019s Word; it\u2019s the Word that He uses to make people aware of their need to be regenerated.\n\nNow going to that last bullet point there, this is an important issue: does regeneration precede faith?\u00a0 One of the things that is in ascendency today, particularly in the United States of America amongst Bible teachers is something called Reformed Theology.\u00a0 I would give it another term, a Hyper-Calvinist sort of approach.\u00a0 And essentially what they do is they camp very heavily on the word \u201cdead.\u201d\u00a0 Ephesians 2:1 says we\u2019re dead in our trespasses and sins.\u00a0 [Ephesians 2:1, \u201cAnd you were dead in your trespasses and sins.\u201d]\u00a0 And so basically what they teach from that, because of the emphasis they place on \u201cdead\u201d which they define as inability, you don\u2019t even have the ability to believe in Christ is what they\u2019ll say, because how can someone that\u2019s dead believe.\u00a0 So what God has to do is He has to regenerate you first; see, they\u2019ve got the order backwards.\n\nWe\u2019re defining regeneration as a result of salvation, they\u2019re making it the cause of salvation.\u00a0 So God must do this work in your heart, not of conviction but regeneration.\u00a0 And as you\u2019re regenerated then you\u2019ll have the capacity to believe.\u00a0 See?\u00a0 Now who gets regenerated then?\u00a0 It\u2019s the elect get regenerated; if you\u2019re fortunate enough to be one of the elect then God regenerates you so that you can believe.\u00a0 And this goes through the mnemonic device, TULIP, which is the device that\u2019s used to sort of unpack Calvinism and Calvinism is basically a system of logic.\u00a0 John Calvin was an attorney who developed the early phases of this system and it\u2019s beautifully logically structured IF you buy into step one.\u00a0 If you buy into step one then steps two, three, four, five come easy.\u00a0 The problem is, are they right with step one.\n\nBut basically what they teach is you\u2019re dead, you don\u2019t have any ability to believe in God so that\u2019s the \u201cT\u201d in total depravity.\u00a0 So God must do a work of regeneration in you and once you come alive spiritually then you\u2019ll have the ability to believe and that\u2019s what they call irresistible faith, that\u2019s the \u201cI\u201d in TULIP, you\u2019re irresistibly drawn to Christ because you got regenerated before you even believed and the reason you got regenerated is because you\u2019re one of the elect and the reason God only regenerates the elect is because the dead person can\u2019t believe in Christ anyway.\u00a0 And since faith, or regeneration, is something God gave you, your faith can never fail.\u00a0 So if your faith ever starts to fail\u2026 you ever have any doubts in the Christian life?\u00a0 If your faith ever starts to fail then the question mark in the back of your mind is well, maybe I was never one of the what?\u00a0 One of the elect.\n\nSo you see how the whole thing follows logically?\u00a0 It makes perfect sense from a logical point of view.\u00a0 The issue though is not logic because logic is only as good as its starting point; if the starting point is fallacious then the rest of the steps really don\u2019t matter.\u00a0 The issue isn\u2019t is it logical, it\u2019s very logical; the issue is, is it biblical?\u00a0 And I believe that that system is wrong because there is not a single verse in the Bible (and I\u2019ll show you several that teach the exact opposite) that teach that regeneration precedes faith. What the Bible says over and over and over again, and that\u2019s why I brought up the example of Matthew 19:28, and eschatology, the millennium, the regeneration of all things which follows the return of Christ.\u00a0 The Bible says over and over again is regeneration does not precede faith; but regeneration follows faith.\u00a0 That\u2019s why we\u2019re discussing regeneration under the heading \u201cresults of salvation.\u201d\n\nSo a few verses that show you that regeneration is the result of salvation, not the cause of salvation.\u00a0 Now the very rigid Calvinist, they love John 1:13, which says, \u201cwho were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.\u201d\u00a0 And they say well there it is, you\u2019re born again by the will of God.\u00a0 So what they think that means is you\u2019re born again because God regenerated you so that you could believe.\u00a0 And they use a lot of this lingo, faith is a gift.\u00a0 The problem is, they leave out verse 12, \u201cBut as many as\u201d what?\u00a0 \u201creceived Him,\u201d isn\u2019t that something we do?\u00a0 \u201cas many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who\u201d what?\u00a0 \u201cbelieve,\u201d isn\u2019t that something we do, don\u2019t we believe.\u00a0\u00a0 And then once we believe then we\u2019re born again, and we find ourselves in the will of God because God is willing that who should perish?\u00a0 That none should perish, 2 Peter 3:9\u00a0 [2 Peter 3:9, \u201cThe Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.\u201d]\n\nBut if you cut off verse 12 and you just look at verse 13, which is what theologians do a lot because they write systematic theologies and they\u2019ll use verses to support their points.\u00a0 And you have to watch them very carefully because a lot of time they\u2019re using a verse out of context to support an inaccurate point.\u00a0 Just because someone quotes the Bible doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re doing it accurately because the three rules of Bible study are what?\u00a0 Context, context, context!\u00a0 When you look at the whole context verse 13, when you connect it back to verse 12 it\u2019s not saying\u00a0 you are regenerated so you can believe; it\u2019s actually saying the exact opposite, we believe, we receive, and then regeneration, the impartation of divine life is the result of salvation.\n\nLook at that middle box there, John 3:16, look at this, \u201cFor God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever\u201d what? \u201cbelieves in Him shall not perish but have\u201d what? \u201ceternal life.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Doesn\u2019t that look like eternal life follows belief there?\n\nHere\u2019s another verse, John 5:24, Jesus says, \u201cTruly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has\u201d what? \u201ceternal life, [and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.\u201d]\u00a0 So once again it doesn\u2019t give you the foggiest hint that eternal life is something, regeneration, that comes before you believe; it\u2019s the result of believing.\n\nJohn 6:40 says, \u201cFor this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will\u201d what? \u201chave eternal life, [and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.]\u201d\u00a0 See how eternal life, regeneration, impartation of divine life is something that follows beholding and believing.\u00a0 So it doesn\u2019t give\u00a0 you the foggiest hint that somehow you receive eternal life first so that you can believe.\u00a0 I mean, you would never, if you were stranded on a desert island and you only had the Gospel of John to rely upon and you didn\u2019t know anything about the theological debates or people pushing this doctrine, you would never reach the conclusion that regeneration is something that precedes faith.\u00a0 Regeneration is a result of faith and Christ coming inside of us.\n\nJohn 6:47, \u201cTruly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has\u201d what? \u201ceternal life.\u201d\u00a0 See how eternal life follows believe.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t say truly, truly, I say to you, whoever has eternal life believes, which is what they\u2019re doing, is they are reverting the order because they\u2019re taking the doctrine of deadness and they\u2019re placing such a stress on it that it becomes disproportionate.\n\nAnd when you talk to the five point Calvinist, hyper-Calvinist, there\u2019s always two things they talk about over and over again: the sovereignty of God and the depravity of man.\u00a0 And I\u2019ve already shared with you their emphasis on the depravity of man, how it\u2019s disproportionately over emphasized.\u00a0 Believe me, I believe that human beings are depraved, no problem there; I don\u2019t define it the way they define it.\u00a0 They define it as people don\u2019t even have an ability to respond to the gospel.\u00a0 There\u2019s no biblical support for that.\u00a0 But what they talk about is the depravity of man and the sovereignty of God, and in their system God is in control of everything.\u00a0 God is even in control of whether you\u2019re going to believe or not because you can\u2019t have faith unless God gives it to you as a gift.\u00a0 And so at the end of the day they actually believe that they are protecting the sovereignty of God by not allowing man to play any role whatsoever in salvation.\u00a0 To my mind that is a denial of how God made us.\u00a0 God created us in whose image?\u00a0 His own, and part of being an image-bearer means a free will, volition.\u00a0 And because we are created in His image and because we have free will, when salvation occurs He, God, is not overriding somebody\u2019s free will.\u00a0 They are making a response of volition and the only one God will accept is faith.\n\nBut you see, in the hyper-Calvinist system faith is something that God does.\u00a0 And at the end of the day they talk about how it has to be that way because we need to (A) protect God\u2019s sovereignty, and (B) we need to respect the depravity of man.\u00a0 And I think their understanding of the depravity of man is disproportionate to what the Scripture says.\u00a0 There\u2019s no need to protect God\u2019s sovereignty because if God is sovereign He can protect His own sovereignty, can\u2019t He?\u00a0 And it\u2019s failing to understand that man is an image-bearer of God.\u00a0 That is how God made\u00a0 us.\n\nThink about this for a second.\u00a0 It would have been really easy for God to just not put the tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden at all.\u00a0 Why put the tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden at all, just take out the tree of knowledge and humanity wouldn\u2019t have sinned.\u00a0 Well, the problem is there has to be a tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden because there has to be an avenue of rebellion if man and woman, through volition choose that avenue of rebellion.\u00a0 And if that avenue for rebellion is not there, God is not respecting how He designed us as image-bearers.\u00a0 So one of the most frightening things that we possess as human beings is a free will.\u00a0 And what is the smartest thing you can do with your free will?\u00a0 Imitate Christ who said, \u201cNot My will be done, but\u201d what? \u201cThy will be done.\u201d\u00a0 The smartest thing you can do with your free will is give it right back to God, in every issue of life.\u00a0 But God is not going to snatch it from you or take it from you, or coerce Himself upon you because if He did that he wouldn\u2019t be respecting how He has manufactured us in His image.\n\nHere\u2019s another verse, John 20:30-31, it says, \u201cTherefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe\u201d isn\u2019t believing something that we do? \u201cbelieve that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have\u201d what? \u201clife in His name.\u201d\u00a0 So do you once again see how life, regeneration, is the result of salvation and not the cause of salvation.\n\nNow what does the Spirit of God do in the unsaved person?\u00a0 The Spirit of God is very active regarding the unsaved person.\u00a0 I don\u2019t mean to give you the impression that the Spirit of God has no influence over us at all in terms of our decision to believe because I don\u2019t think a person can actually believe until they come under the Spirit\u2019s convicting ministry.\u00a0 And the Spirit of God will seek to persuade us to believe through conviction, but He won\u2019t believe for you.\u00a0 And that\u2019s the whole point that Jesus was making in the Upper Room, in John 16:7-11, when He was saying it\u2019s to your advantage that I go, because when I go the Comforter will come, the helper, the paraclete<\/em>, the Holy Spirit, the one that comes alongside and assists.\n\nAnd in the process Jesus starts talking about what the Spirit of God does in the world.\u00a0 This is not a ministry here that we\u2019re reading that He performs in the life of the believer, obviously the Holy Spirit does many things in the life of the believer.\u00a0 That\u2019s not what Jesus is talking about here.\u00a0 He\u2019s\n\ntalking about the ministry that the Spirit of God does in the world.\u00a0 And notice what it says, \u00a0\u201cBut I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.\u201d\u00a0 Now that was Christ\u2019s first order of business when He ascended to the right hand of the Father, Acts 1, and began His present session at the Father\u2019s right hand as a priest after the order of who?\u00a0 Melchizedek.\u00a0 And the first thing Jesus did when He entered that position is He sent the Holy Spirit and that\u2019s what\u2019s going on in Acts chapter 2.\n\n\u201cBut I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to\u00a0 you; but if I go I will send Him to you.\u00a0 [8] And He, when He comes,\u201d now he starts talking about what the Spirit does for the unsaved person, \u201cHe will convict\u201d who?\u00a0 The elect?\u00a0 No, it doesn\u2019t say that.\u00a0 \u201cHe will convict the world\u201d that would be everybody in the world as far as I can tell, the cosmos, \u201cHe will convict the world\u201d of three things, and He describes them, \u201cconcerning sin\u201d now is sin there singular or plural?\u00a0 It\u2019s singular, He\u2019s not convicting the world of sins, He\u2019s convicting the world of a sin.\u00a0 \u201c\u2026He will convict the world of sin and righteousness and judgment;\u201d that\u2019s verse 8.\u00a0 Verse 9 He starts to explain what each of those things mean, \u201cconcerning sin,\u201d the Greek there is hamartia<\/em>, it\u2019s a singular noun, \u201cconcerning sin because they do not believe in Me; [10] and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; [11] and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.\u201d\n\nSo as you\u2019re in your office or work place or school or even in your family and you\u2019re around unbelievers, you have to understand something, that the Spirit of God is convicting them over and over of three things: he\u2019s convicting them of sin \u201cbecause they do not believe.\u00a0 He\u2019s convicting them of righteousness because they do not have it.\u00a0 Jesus is leaving, they need the transferred righteousness of God which they think, we all think, we can get by good works.\u00a0 The Spirit of God is persuading them, us before we got saved, otherwise; \u201cand concerning judgment because the ruler of this world,\u201d who is the ruler of this world?\u00a0 The devil, is being cast out. \u00a0And He is convicting them that if they don\u2019t enter the belief in Christ and receive the transferred righteousness of God, then they will go down in smoke (no pun intended) just like Lucifer.\n\nAnd you have to understand that when you\u2019re talking to an unbeliever you have to cooperate with what the Spirit of God is already telling them, or convicting them of, in order for your evangelism to be fruitful.\u00a0 So the more you can introduce the subjects, sin, righteousness and judgment as Jesus defines them, judgment because they\u2019re going down with Satan, righteous because they don\u2019t have the transferred righteousness of God, and sin, singular, because they do not believe.\u00a0 The more you can work those concepts into your evangelism the more fruitful your evangelism will be because you\u2019ll be communicating things that the Spirit of God is already convicting the world of.\u00a0 See?\n\nAnd this is what Lewis Sperry Chafer called True Evangelism<\/em>. It\u2019s learning to use vocabulary that the Spirit of God is already trying to convict the unsaved world of.\u00a0 See, a lot of times when we evangelize we\u2019re talking about all these other different things and we need to start cooperating with the Holy Spirit, understanding what He is already doing in the world and start using words that He Himself is trying to convince the world of, and then you\u2019ll see a new fruitfulness in your evangelism.\n\nBut I really want to focus here on verse 9, \u201cconcerning sin because they do not believe.\u201d\u00a0 The Holy Spirit is not out there convicting the world of sins; He is not convicting the world of spousal abuse, pornography, drug abuse, profanity, going 85 in a 55 mile an hour speed zone.\u00a0 See, those are things we like to focus on but that\u2019s not what the Spirit of God is doing.\u00a0 The Spirit of God is not out there trying to morally reform the lost world.\u00a0 You have to understand that.\u00a0 What he is doing, He\u2019s not convicting them of sins, He\u2019s convicting them of sin, singular, the sin of unbelief which is the only sin that\u2019s unpardonable.\u00a0 If you die in unbelief there\u2019s not hope for a person.\u00a0 So He is trying to convince them, that\u2019s what convict means, it means to persuade, He\u2019s trying to convince them that they are committing, right now, as we speak, a singular sin against God.\u00a0 They are not believing in Christ, because they are not believing in Christ they have never received the transferred righteous\u00adness of God and they\u2019re on their way to judgment just as Lucifer is on his way to judgment.\n\nSo there is no moral reformation that the Spirit of God is working in the unsaved.\u00a0 Now after you get saved and the Spirit of God is inside of\u00a0 you through regeneration, guess what He\u2019ll start convicting you of?\u00a0 Sins.\u00a0 Oh, you\u2019re gossiping, you shouldn\u2019t be doing that.\u00a0 You know, you lose your temper pretty quick, you shouldn\u2019t do that.\u00a0 Why don\u2019t you get a little nicer to your wife or your husband?\u00a0 Why are you always, you know, negative in your speech.\u00a0 These kind of sins that we commit, He\u2019ll start working on those in a process not called justification but what? Sanctification.\u00a0 But until a person is regenerated the Holy Spirit is not doing that at all in people.\u00a0 The Holy Spirit is convicting them of sin, singular.\n\nSo you look at this very carefully and it\u2019s very clear that the Spirit of God is not going to believe for somebody.\u00a0 The Spirit of God is not going to come into someone\u2019s life and override their volition so they have to believe in God, and coerce their will.\u00a0 That\u2019s where the hyper-Calvinist concept really falls apart.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t grapple well with these texts that we\u2019re looking at.\n\nNow a person cannot believe in Christ, it is true, until they come under conviction.\u00a0 So in a sense depravity is there where we can\u2019t believe until we\u2019re convicted, but once under conviction, and this clearly says He convicts the world, once we\u2019re under conviction we have an ability, through human volition, to respond to the gospel.\n\nA lot of people, you know, they have an unsaved coworker, unsaved friend, and they always say what should I do, how can I reach them?\u00a0 I would start praying overtime that this ministry goes into effect in that person\u2019s life.\u00a0 The Spirit of God is already doing that according to this verse.\u00a0 And then become informed enough in the Bible where you start using vocabulary that\u2019s consistent in your evangelism to that person with what the Spirit of God is already trying to convict them of.\n\nSo in hyper-Calvinism the whole name of the game is faith is a gift.\u00a0 Why is faith a gift?\u00a0 Because\u00a0 you are depraved where you don\u2019t even have an ability to respond to God.\u00a0 So God has to regenerate you as the cause of faith, regeneration is not the result of faith in their system, it\u2019s a result of faith in the way we teach it based on the Bible, but in their logical system faith is a result<\/em> of regeneration. So faith itself becomes a gift, and you hear this a lot in their circles; they\u2019ll say faith is a gift and they will quote Ephesians 2:8-9 which at first glance looks like it\u2019s teaching faith is a gift, you all know these verses, \u201cFor by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; [9] not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.\u201d\u00a0 And they\u2019ll say there it is, right there in the Bible, faith is a gift.\n\nThe problem is in Greek, the New Testament was not written in English, it was written in Greek, genders, nouns have genders, masculine, feminine, neuter.\u00a0 Genders are very important.\u00a0 The genders must agree with each other.\u00a0 If the gift that he talks about here is faith then there must be a gender agreement in \u201cgift\u201d and \u201cfaith\u201d for that mindset to work.\u00a0 And the problem is, when you study this in Greek those are two different genders.\u00a0 Faith is a feminine noun, gift is a neuter noun; gift is neuter, faith is feminine so therefore the nearest antecedent of gift cannot be faith.\n\nWell then, what\u2019s the gift?\u00a0 When you study it out in the Bible what you\u2019ll see over and over again is the gift is salvation, the gift is the, not the cause of faith but the what?\u00a0 The result of faith.\u00a0 So the gift is all the benefits that come to us through this marvelous package of salvation.\u00a0 Faith is not the gift, salvation is the gift.\u00a0 And I just share that with you because when you\u2019re in a very strong Calvinistic environment they\u2019ll quote this verse constantly and if you\u2019re not familiar with the nuances in the Greek language it will seem as if faith is a gift.\n\nSo again, it\u2019s this system, we\u2019re depraved, logically, we don\u2019t have an ability to respond so God regenerates us so we can believe; so faith itself is a gift.\u00a0 Coming to Christ is virtually irresistible and I would say the starting point of the whole thing is wrong.\u00a0 Yes, we\u2019re depraved but we have an ability to respond to the gospel by way of faith when we come under conviction.\u00a0 And therefore the regeneration that we receive did not come before we believed; it came after, as a result.\n\nAnd when\u00a0 you get into these circles of very Hyper-Calvinism what they\u2019ll tell you is church history is on our side and I\u2019ve been in countless arguments with people on this and they\u2019ll go into the stages of the faith, from Luther and Calvin and they\u2019ll say who are you to disagree with these giants.\u00a0 But the problem is, when you really start analyzing the history what you\u2019ll discover is history is not on their side as frequently as they make it sound.\n\nFor example, notice what one of the greatest preachers the Christian world ever had, Charles Haddon Spurgeon said in a sermon, he says: \u201cIf I am to preach the faith in Christ to a man who is regenerated, then the man, being regenerated, is saved already, and it is an unnecessary and ridiculous thing for me to preach Christ to him, and bid him to believe in order to be saved when he is saved already, being regenerate. Am I only to preach faith to those who have it? Absurd, indeed! Is not this waiting till the man is cured and then bringing him the medicine? This is preaching Christ to the righteous and not to sinners.\u201d\u00a0 [Spurgeon - Sermon entitled The Warrant of Faith].\n\nSo here you find Spurgeon who just cart blanche rejected this idea that regeneration precedes faith.\u00a0 And you say well,\u00a0 you know Andy, why make an issue out of this?\u00a0 Because it affects how you present the gospel.\u00a0 If you believe that a person\u00a0 must be regenerated so that they can believe you will not preach the gospel to them, what you\u2019ll tell them to do is pray for the gift of faith.\n\nNow here is a quote from John MacArthur, it\u2019s in one of his sermons.\u00a0 And when you get into the John MacArthur, and I agree with a lot of the things John MacArthur has said and teaches, I don\u2019t carte blanch reject everything the man has done.\u00a0 I have a very strong disagreement with him though, on these soteriological salvation issues.\u00a0 And when you get into their circles and you start to rub shoulders with these types of people, you have to toe the line on all these points.\u00a0 And if you will not toe the line you are almost persona non grata<\/em>.\u00a0 And what I\u2019m trying to say is this is significant because it affects how\u00a0 you present the gospel.\u00a0 So here\u2019s a few words; it says, and the MacArthur quote starts about halfway through.\n\nIt says: \u201cIf faith is a gift of God, THEN HOW DO I GET IT? Do I do nothing and hope that God will sovereignly bestow it upon me? Or, do I cry out to God and pray that He will give me the gift of saving faith? Dr. MacArthur apparently holds to this second option. At the end of one of his messages he gave a salvation appeal and said the following:\u201d Now here\u2019s the quote from the sermon, at the end of his message there was a gospel presentation, kind of like how we give our gospel presentations at the end, they do the same thing at his church, and he says: \u201cFaith is a gift from God...it is permanent...the faith that God gives begets obedience...\u201d you see, and this is where the whole doctrine of Lordship salvation comes from.\n\nIf faith is really a gift of God, then there has to be a lot of fruit in a person\u2019s life if it\u2019s from God, right?\u00a0 Or else maybe they never had saving faith and they never had saving faith maybe they were never regenerated so they could believe and if they were never regenerated so they could believe maybe they were never one of the elect.\u00a0 And it leads to, and I\u2019ve been in enough of environments where they teach this, it leads to a very hyper-critical spirit towards your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.\u00a0 If someone doesn\u2019t show up for Wednesday night Bible study, oh-oh, maybe they\u2019ve never received the gift of faith.\u00a0 If they\u2019ve never received the gift of faith\u2026 because they\u2019re faltering, if God\u2019s faith was really in them and He gave it to them there shouldn\u2019t be any faltering, there shouldn\u2019t be any sin, there shouldn\u2019t be any ups and downs.\u00a0 If there\u2019s any laxation or move\u00adment back into sin in any sense there are very severe statements that people make about other people about whether they\u2019re saved or not.\u00a0 And that\u2019s one of the downsides of being in these circles.\n\nI can\u2019t remember where I was in this quote, but \u201cFaith is a gift from God...it is permanent...the faith that God gives begets obedience...\u201d so if you start to have any doubts maybe you don\u2019t have the faith from God.\u00a0 What does the book of James tell us?\u00a0 The book of James tells us that when we pray we should believe and not have what?\u00a0 Doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave tossed and blown by the wind. [James 1:6, \u201cBut let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.\u201d] \u00a0Doesn\u2019t that text indicate that a believer can have doubts?\u00a0 Have you ever had doubts as a Christian?\u00a0 I\u2019ve had doubts as a Christian many times.\u00a0 The problem is when you go through these valleys and you have doubts, if you believe faith is a gift you\u2019re going to start thinking well maybe I don\u2019t have the right faith, that God gives, because if I had the faith that God gives and God can\u2019t fail then I shouldn\u2019t be having doubts.\n\nAnd a lot of emotional, psychological type problems that people have in Christianity is related to these kinds of doctrines that I\u2019m trying to expose.\u00a0 I\u2019m not trying to give you a lecture on theology; I\u2019m trying to show you these things because ideas have consequences.\u00a0 The way you believe about a lot of these things will impact your emotional makeup as you go through the Christian life.\u00a0 Back to the quote: \u201cFaith is a gift from God\u2026it is permanent\u2026the faith that God gives begets obedience.\u00a0 God gave it to you and He sustains it...May God grant you a true saving faith, a permanent gift that begins in humility and brokenness over sin and ends up in obedience unto righteousness. That\u2019s true faith and it's a gift that only God can give,\u201d and now here\u2019s the presentation of the gospel: you ready? I have it underlined, \u201cand if you desire it pray and ask that He would grant it to you<\/u>.\u201d\n\n[Tape GC 90-21 on Lordship salvation, last part of tape, comments made during the closing invitation.]\n\nSo what is the gospel that he just preached?\u00a0 The gospel he just preached is not here\u2019s Jesus, here\u2019s His death, here\u2019s His resurrection, here\u2019s what He did for you, now you respond to that by faith.\u00a0 That\u2019s not what he\u2019s preaching here; he\u2019s telling people to pray for the gift of faith.\u00a0 You go through the book of Acts where they evangelized all over the place and you show me a single time where Paul or anybody else told the lost sinner they need to pray for the gift of faith.\u00a0 What they did over and over again is they presented Christianity, they presented the cross, the resurrection and the good news, and they told people to receive it as a free gift by faith, trusting that the Spirit of God was convicting those people of their need to respond to the message.\u00a0 That\u2019s the gospel he uses.\n\nPaul, all these guys never went around and told people, you know, you\u2019re so dead in your own will that you need to be regenerated so you can believe, so pray for the gift of faith.\u00a0 And what I\u2019m trying to say here is this is not just a pie in the sky debate, it shapes or influences how you actually present the gospel.\n\nSo all things considered, I\u2019m back here to my prior slides and I really planned on being a lot further along, but that\u2019s okay because this class is going to go on into the summer Sunday mornings, so I need to stall anyway because I\u2019m running out of material, but regeneration is the impartation of divine life.\u00a0 Okay.\u00a0 You need it because you are spiritually dead; death doesn\u2019t mean inability, what it means is you can\u2019t respond to the gospel until the Spirit convicts you and your need for it and Jesus told us the Spirit is doing that in the world.\u00a0 When you receive the gospel it is the result of faith.\u00a0 God is not believing for you but He is imparting to you new life, the Holy Spirit enters you as you respond to the gospel and it\u2019s the greatest need a human being has.\u00a0 If they\u2019ve never received this then they go into the second death.\n\nRegeneration literally means beginning again, whether you study it soteriologically or eschatologically it\u2019s always first comes Christ, then regeneration follows and it\u2019s the result. It is accomplished through an exposure to God\u2019s Word, that\u2019s what the Holy Spirit uses in His conviction to awaken people to their need to trust in Christ and regeneration does not precede faith, conviction precedes faith but regeneration does not precede faith, regeneration is a result of faith.\n\nAnd I tried to share with you that there\u2019s actually some\u2026 it\u2019s not just a theological discussion, this shapes your philosophy of ministry and how you share the gospel and that kind of thing.\n\nAnyway, that\u2019s a lot to chew on, isn\u2019t it, for a Wednesday evening.\u00a0 We will go ahead and dismiss our folks that need to pick up their kids, 8:00 o\u2019clock sharp, and I\u2019m sure there\u2019s probably some questions on this.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t