Fourth indictment, an ignorance
of the doctrine of regeneration. An ignorance of the doctrine
of regeneration. My dear friend, and I'm going
to say this bluntly, I know that there are Calvinists here, and
I know that there are Arminians here, and I know that there are
all sorts of strange animals in between. But I want you to know this. Although I am leaning more toward,
I guess I call myself a five point Spurgeonist. I want you
to know this. Calvinism is not the issue. No,
I'm going to get in a lot of trouble when this goes on the
Internet. Calvinism is not the issue. I'll tell you what the
issue is. Regeneration. And that is why I can have fellowship
with Wesley and Ravenhill and Tozer and all the rest. Because
regardless of where they stood on the other issue, they believed
that salvation could not be manipulated by the preacher. That it was
a magnificent work of the power of Almighty God. And with them,
therefore, I stand. That it was a work of God. There is a greater manifestation
of the power of God in the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit than
in the creation of the world, of the universe, because He created
the world ex nihilo, out of nothing, but He recreates a man out of
a corrupt mass. It is paralleled with the very
resurrection of our Savior from the dead. if you are a preacher. I understand
that in preaching there is teachers and preachers and expositors
and this and that, and all of them are very necessary for the
health of the church. But you must understand this. As old G. Campbell Morgan, I've
heard of him that when he would go up that majestic tower to
preach, he would quote to himself, as a lamb led to the slaughter,
as a sheep for his shears. He knew that apart from a magnificent
manifestation of the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, everything
he said would be death. That it is the Spirit that gives
life. And in that sense, every one
of us who proclaim must proclaim as a prophet. What do I mean
by that? We are always, we are always,
Ezekiel, standing in that valley of dry bones and they are very
dry. And we walk out there and what
do we do? We prophesy. We say, hear the
word of the Lord. We know that the wind of God
must blow on these slain or they will not rise again. And when
you have fully grasped that in the innermost part of your being,
you will no longer give yourself to the manipulation that is so
often carried out in the name of evangelism in this country. You will proclaim the Word of
God. You will proclaim it. The doctrine of regeneration.
Look at the Wesley's. Look what they had to face for
a moment. And my dear Whitfield. What was it? Everybody believed
they were Christian. Thoroughly Christian. Why? They were baptized as infants.
Brought into the covenant. They were confirmed. They lived
like devils. Regeneration was traded for a
type of creedalism that was given authority by the religious leaders
of the day. And then here comes the Wesley's.
No, it is not right with your soul. You are not born again. There is no evidence of spiritual
life. Examine yourself. Test yourself
if you are in the faith. Make your calling and election
sure. Ye must be born again here in
America because of the last several years, several decades of evangelism,
the idea of born again is totally lost. It only means that at one
time in a crusade, you made a decision and you think you were sincere.
But there's no evidence of a supernatural recreating work of the Holy Spirit
in your life. If any man, not if some men,
if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. And now, it's the same today. What do we face? I'll tell you
what we face. It's not a sort of infant baptism
necessarily most of the time. It's not a high church confirmation
by an ecclesiastical authority. What we face is the sinner's
prayer. And I'm here to tell you, if
there's anything I've declared war on, it's that. You say, Brother Paul, yes, in
the same way that infant baptism, in my opinion, was the golden
calf of the Reformation, for the Baptists and the Evangelicals
and everyone else who's followed them today, I'll tell you, that
sinner's prayer has sent more people to hell than anything
on the face of the earth. You say, how can you say such
a thing? Go with me to Scripture and show me, please. I would
love you to stand up and tell me where anyone evangelized that
way. The scripture does not say that
Jesus Christ came to the nation of Israel and said that the time
is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Now, who would
like to ask me into their heart? I see that hand. It's not what
it says. He said repent. and believe the
gospel. Now men today are trusting in
the fact that at least one time in their life they prayed a prayer
and someone told them they were saved because they were sincere
enough. And so in their salvation, if you ask them, are you saved?
They do not say, yes I am because I'm looking unto Jesus and there
is mighty evidence giving me assurance of being born again.
No! They say, one time in my life
I prayed a prayer. And they live like devils. But they prayed a prayer. And some of them. I heard of
one evangelist who was coaxing a man to do that thing. Find
the man felt so uncomfortable, the evangelist said, well, I'll
tell you what, I'll pray to God for you. And if it's what you
want to say to God, squeeze my hand. Behold, the power of God. Decisionism. The idolatry of
decisionism. Men think they're going to heaven
because they have judged the sincerity of their own decision.
When Paul came to the church in Corinth, he did not say to
them, look, you're not living like Christians, so let's go
back to that one moment in your life when you prayed that prayer
and let's see if you were sincere. No, he said this, test yourselves,
examine yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Because
I want you to know, my friend, salvation is by faith alone. It is a work of God. It is a
grace upon grace upon grace. But the evidence of conversion
is not just your examination of your sincerity at the moment
of your conversion. It is the ongoing fruit in your
life. It is the ongoing fruit in your
life. Oh, my dear friend, look what we've done. Is it a tree
known by its fruit? What, 60, 70 percent of America
thinks it's converted, born again. We kill how many thousands of
babies a day? We're hated around the world
for our immorality, yet we're Christian. And I lay this squarely,
the blame at the feet of the preacher.