Last Sunday morning, we read
from the 1st and 2nd chapters of 1 Thessalonians. This morning,
I would like for us to read from the 2nd chapter of 2 Thessalonians. Will you open your Bibles, please,
to that portion of Scripture? I'd like for us to read beginning
with verse 1. Now we beseech you, brethren,
by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering
together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be
troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as
from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive
you by any means, for that day shall not come, except there
come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed the
son of perdition. who opposeth and exalteth himself
above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that
he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that
he is God. Remember ye not that, when I
was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know
what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For
the mystery of iniquity doth already work, Only he who now
let it will let until he be taken out of the way. And then shall
that wicked be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the
spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of
his coming. Even him whose coming is after
the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders. And with all deceivableness of
unrighteousness in them that perish. because they received
not the love of the truth, that they might be saved." Now notice
very carefully for the next few verses. And for this cause, God
shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie,
that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but
had pleasure in unrighteousness. The next two verses, Won't you
look at it very closely? But we're bound to give thanks
all the way to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto he call you
by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast
and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether
by word or our epistle. Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself
and God, even our Father, which hath loved us and hath given
us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort
your hearts and establish you in every good word and work. I wanted to read the entire chapter,
but keep in mind I'm not preaching on eschatology today. I wanted
us to look at verses 13 and 14 in the light of the entire context,
especially in the context of verses 10 through 17. Now let me review briefly some
of the things we've already discussed as we continue this morning to
discuss the distinction between preaching Christ and offering
Christ. We have made three distinctions
thus far. Number one, the distinction between
regeneration and the effectual call. Number two, the distinction
between the general and the effectual calls. And the one which we're
now studying, number three, the distinction between preaching
Christ and offering Christ. We have also shown the importance
of the priority of preaching. We have also shown from Scripture
that we are not authorized by Scripture to offer Christ. I cannot offer Christ to anyone.
No one else can. I'm commanded, I'm commissioned
to preach Christ but not offer Christ. Now since there is a
revival today of, and I'm using this term because it is one that
everyone recognizes, and it is the term of Calvinism, and we're
thinking of Calvinism only in the sense of soteriology, the
science of salvation. Since there is a revival of free
grace, and that's a term I like better than Calvinism, there
is also a revival of controversial things pertaining or connected
with free grace. I've been subjected to some of
these things through the years, but not to the extent that I
am now and will be in the future. I believe there is a distinction,
a very clear distinction, between preaching Christ and offering
Christ. Last Sunday night, I gave 20 arguments after having given,
last Sunday morning, 7 biblical facts. Now, we're not dealing
with those 7 biblical facts beginning this morning. We'll do that beginning
next Sunday morning. But I did mention those 7 biblical
facts last Sunday morning, and I'll not repeat them again this
morning. And we will be expanding on those
seven biblical facts for two or three weeks to come. Sunday
night I gave 20 arguments showing the biblical distinction between
offering Christ and preaching Christ. And I believe that they
are beyond anyone answering from scripture. Now, this morning
and tonight, it's going to take three services to do what I...
Well, I should say about three services. I hope I can complete
what I want to give in two, that is, this morning and tonight.
So we're continuing with the subject entitled, The Free Offer
Controversy. That's the title. The Free Offer
Controversy. Here are the three things now
I want to discuss with you this morning and this evening. And
if I do not complete this evening, I'll complete it probably Wednesday
evening. Number one, we want to give the
definition of the free offer. What does it really mean? We've
given it before, but we're going to use men who emphasize and
stress the free offer. We're going to quote from them
just briefly. So the definition of the free offer. Number two,
we want to look at the basic premise of the free-offer theory. The basic premise of the free-offer
theory. Now, let me make a statement
at this point. Last Sunday evening, I shared something with you.
As a result of all the research work I've done for the last several
weeks, I've come to this conclusion, and I haven't found anything
to contradict it, And we're going to deal with that in this second
point. The basic premise of the free offer. I stated last Sunday
evening, in fact I'll give it to you again. The free offer
of the gospel idea is connected either with gospel regeneration
or no distinction being made between regeneration and the
effectual cause. As we expand on that this morning
and tonight, you'll see why I have come to that conclusion. And
it is a fact. Everything that I have in my
library, and I have a great amount of source material. Now the third
point that we want to deal with, this morning and tonight, is
we want to consider the common grace and free offer connection. Notice the point. We want to
consider common grace and the free offer connection. Is there
a connection? Now, those are the three things
we want to deal with today. First of all, a definition of
free offer. Secondly, the basic premise of
the free offer. And number three, we want to
consider common grace and the free offer connection. In doing
this, I think we can cover the field pretty well. Now, I do
not expect you to agree with everything I say as soon as I
say it, but I do expect you to not become controversial with
me on this matter, but simply to consider all the evidence
that I present to you, and I believe if you will consider the evidence
that I shall present, I'm not worried about the conclusion,
really. All right, we'll begin this morning. And you'll see
why that we wanted to read this morning from the second chapter
of 2 Thessalonians, especially verses 13 and 14. I'm going to
quote a brief statement now from the Westminster Confession of
Faith. Other confessions, whether it
be the Philadelphia Confession or any other confession, they
are all similar in their statement that I'm going to give to you.
We're defining the term free offer. Listen carefully. The
Westminster Confession states, and I quote, He, that is God,
freely offereth unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ,
requiring of them faith in him that they might be saved, end
of quote. That statement is taken from
Chapter 7 of the Confession and Article 3. Now, I have a more
detailed account of the confession, but I'll not take the time to
give it this morning. I'm trying to keep this as concise
as possible. Let me now give to you another
statement to add to that one by a man by the name of William
E. Payne, who has an article in one of these Baptist Reformation
Review magazines, and I read it this last week. He's a man,
he's a grace preacher from Canada. Listen to this. Quote, The inviting
of sinners to Christ does not deny the truth of God's sovereignty
and the salvation of souls, but merely recognizes that the sovereignty
of God has decreed, or the sovereign God has decreed the use of certain
means to bring about certain ends. the various aspects of
salvation. I'd like you to listen carefully
to that statement. The various aspects of salvation
are nowhere expressed more delightfully than in 2 Thessalonians 2, verses
13 and 14. And then he gives this brief
outline. He says, number one, the cause is God's purpose. are God's purpose in divine election. Number two, the means, the gospel. And number three, purpose and
means to accomplish it are laid side by side. Now, that's his
summary. So let's take the two statements
together now in defining the term free offer. The confession
that I quoted states, God freely offers unto sinners life and
salvation. Notice now the two things, life
and salvation. By Jesus Christ requiring of
them, that is, sinners, faith in him that they might be saved. William Payne adds to that by
saying, the various aspects of salvation are nowhere expressed
more delightfully than in 2 Thessalonians 2, 13-14. When one reads that
man's article, you'll soon come to the conclusion that he believes
in gospel regeneration. Now, go back with me for just
a moment, because we do not want to get away from the Scriptures.
We must base everything on the Word of God. So go back, please,
if you will, to 1 Thessalonians, and let us consider a few things
that we mentioned last Sunday morning from chapter 1, and I'll
just point these out briefly. In verse 4, Paul said, this is
1 Thessalonians 1, 4, Knowing, brethren, beloved, your election
of God. How did Paul know their election
of God? The answer is given in verses
five through seven. Number one, our gospel came not
unto you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit
and in much assurance. Number two, ye became followers
of us and of the Lord. And number three, ye were examples
to all that believe. That's how Paul knew it. That's
how I know it. That's the only way any other
person can know whether a person is one of God's elected ones
or not. Now go, if you will please, back
to 2 Thessalonians, or over to 2 Thessalonians, and look again
at verses 13 and 14. Paul had just made the statement
under the inspiration of the Spirit of God that the Lord would
sense a strong delusion that men might believe a lie, or the
lie, and I'm not preaching on eschatology, that they might
be damned. But he's showing in contrast
to that in verse 13, but we are bound to give thanks all the
way to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit. Now let me ask a question. Is
sanctification positional or progressive in this text? Is it positional or progressive?
Believer, it has to be positional. Not progressive here, it is positional
sanctification. The same that is given us in
1 Corinthians 1 verse 2. The same as Hebrews 10, 10 through
14. Positional sanctification. And
positional sanctification is what? The same as regeneration
of the new birth. So election is unto salvation. And it's through, or by what? by means of the efficacious work
of the Holy Spirit in regeneration, and, he says, belief of the truth.
So we have both regeneration and what? Conversion in this
one text of Scripture. Then he goes on to say in verse
14, for until he called you, this is the effectual call by
our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, we've defined what it means
for one to use the term free offer by giving a quotation from
a confession. Now, I have six questions that
I want to ask, and I doubt seriously that I will get beyond these
this morning. And we're going to close our lesson this morning
with giving a distinction between offer and invite. Someone might say, There's a
very fine line between offering and inviting, but I assure you
there is a line, and I can prove it. I have a Webster's Dictionary
on Synonyms, and I made a little study of this, and so I can speak
with authority this morning. I have already shown you from
Scripture there is not a verse of Scripture in the Bible where
the word offer is used, where it ever refers to one who is
preaching, offering Jesus Christ. It is not to be found. It is
not to be found. And I'm concerned about what
the Bible teaches, and I believe you are too. All right, question
number one. Six questions this morning as
we answer what is given as the definition of the free offer
theory. Question number one. How can
life be offered by the preacher? How can life be offered by the
preacher? Life is not offered. Life is
given. Life is the very gift of God. It is not something that is offered,
it is given. It is given by the sovereign spirit in regeneration.
Now let me pause a moment. I've preached much for the last
number of years on the distinction between regeneration and conversion,
but I will add something this morning. If the proper distinction
is not made between regeneration and conversion, it will lead
to all kinds of confusing and contradictory beliefs. I'd like to repeat that. Unless
a proper distinction is made and understood, it will lead
to all kinds of confusing and contradictory ideas. If you'll
keep that one thought in mind as you study, as you read, not
only the scriptures, but the works of men, You'll see that
whenever there is a contradictory statement, whenever there is
a confusing statement, it can always be pointed back to a lack
of understanding of the distinction between regeneration and conversion.
That's always true. Life is not something offered. Now, the confession that I read
to you stated, Or it states, God freely offers unto sinners
life and salvation. I'm assuming that people who
embrace this confession make a distinction between life and
salvation. They're not just throwing in
the word salvation just to fill up space. And please observe
the conjunction and life and salvation. So I'm assuming that
life would have to mean the impartation or the infusing of the principle
of life. Therefore, it would have to be
the new birth. It would have to be regeneration. And that
is the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit. And that is not
something that is offered. It is something that is given,
and given by the Spirit of God. You can see the importance of
that. Question number two. What is meant by the term life?
Well, I've already gone into it a little bit. If the confession
means, by the term life, regeneration, then we know that regeneration
is not something offered, It is something given. John 3, verse
8, Our Lord speaking to Nicodemus said, The wind bloweth where
it listeth, thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not
tell from whence it cometh, or whither it goeth. So is every
one that is born of the Spirit. I can't help but think about
Ezekiel, Chapter 16 and the first verses of that chapter are great
in describing regeneration. You remember the child that had
been thrown out into the world, having been born, not even swaddled,
lying in its own pollution or blood? And people passed by without
helping. And when God passed by, what
did he see? He saw the child in that condition
and said what? Lived! And there was life. That is a biblical example of
regeneration in the Old Testament. God just simply spoke and there
was life. And it happened at the time of
love, verse 8, Ezekiel chapter 16. In other words, regeneration
does not happen when you want it to happen. I said regeneration does not
take place when the individual wants it to take place. The giving
of life takes place when the Sovereign Spirit gives life. And there's no condition attached,
so faith cannot be attached as a condition to the gift of life
itself in regeneration. And churches today are literally
filled with people who have made their decision. They have believed
and they have been brought and led to the place by preachers
that they can, at any time they so desire, believe and they'll
experience the new birth. That is contrary to Scripture.
That is not Bible. That is heresy. It is not an
error. It's heresy. And I cannot endorse it. I cannot
endorse any institution that upholds it. So we must see what the term
life means. Now, regeneration is applied. It is not offered. It is not offered. Now, question
number three. What is meant by the word salvation
in the Confession? If the word salvation is understood
in the sense of conversion, then it is through faith. Conversion
is through faith. And the person to whom God has
given the principle of life, there is cooperation on his part. And he does believe because the
Lord doesn't believe for him. He does repent because God doesn't
repent for him. However, it is God who enables
him to repent. Jeremiah 31, 18, Turn thou me
and I shall be turned. And God alone can grant repentance. God alone can give the principle
of faith. So if the word salvation means
conversion, then faith is a condition for a conversion experience. Notice what I'm saying. Now let's
look at number four. For what purpose did God decree
the use of means? For what purpose did God decree
the use of means? Let me give to you a statement
by Mr. Payne himself, and I just read
this, and he is defending the free offer of the gospel theory.
It would be well for you to listen to this statement. Quote, Common
Grace, I beg your pardon, this is by Halsey. But one is similar,
given by Paine. Here's one by Halsey. Common
grace, then, finds its highest expression in that desire and
will of God, not only for fallen man's temporal well-being, but
for his soul's salvation and eternal happiness. And eternal
happiness. Now let me give you another statement.
Charnock And please do not go home if you have the attributes
of God by Charnock and throw it out the window. But Charnock
made a mistake here, and I don't mind saying he made a mistake.
He says in some of his works, the gospel is the instrument
whereby God brings the soul forth in a new birth. Thus he believed
and taught what? Gospel regeneration. He went
on to say, it is through the Word that God begets us, and
through the Word he quickens us. He quickens us. So you can see he makes no distinction
whatsoever between what? Regeneration and conversion.
And he also believes what? that the Word of God, the written
Word of God, the Gospel, is the means of regeneration. I deny
that. And we'll be giving some other
examples of it. But these people believe, you see, that the Gospel
is the means of regeneration. And this is why this person quoted
and used 2 Thessalonians 2, verses 13 and 14, To teach what? The gospel is the means of regeneration. But, beloved, the gospel is not
the means of regeneration. The gospel is the means of a
conversion experience. And my whole thesis, from the
time we began this series, is that life, L-I-F-E, is brought
to L-I-G-H-T by means of the gospel. And there is a vast difference. in life being brought to light
and life being brought into existence. Life is not brought into existence
by the gospel. Life is brought into existence
by the Sovereign Spirit, and that life brought into existence
by the Sovereign Spirit is brought to light by means of the gospel. By means of the gospel. Now,
according to Mr. Payne, in his defense of the
free offer of the gospel theory, various aspects of the gospel. I wonder if he means the various
aspects of the gospel that regeneration is included. Surely regeneration
would be included in the various aspects of salvation. Now, what
did I do at the beginning of this series but take several
Sundays to show you the many different ways in which the Greek
word sozo is used in Scripture, and sozo is the Greek word for
salvation. It is used numerous ways, and
the only way that a person can determine what it means is to
consider it in the light of its context. By doing that, he can
know in what sense the word is used. You say, well, not many
people are going to do that. Well, I'm not responsible for
their failure to do it. But every person who desires
to know the truth will do that. He'll do that. So I deny that
the gospel was the decreed means to produce the new birth. Listen carefully to this. Now,
this is a very strong statement, but I believe it with all my
heart and I can prove it. To my satisfaction, maybe not
to yours, but to mine. The Bible does not teach gospel
regeneration any more than it teaches baptismal regeneration
or decisional regeneration. Now, listen to that. Observe
that statement, please. Now, I want to Prove my point. In all three, it takes the cooperation
of man. Think about it for a moment.
In baptismal regeneration, it takes the cooperation of man.
Man must cooperate if a person is saved by water
baptism. There must be a human instrument
involved in a person's salvation if water saves him. You can't deny that. If you were
to come forward this morning and say, I believe the Lord is
dealing with me, but I believe I'm going to have to be baptized
before I can actually be saved. That means you're waiting upon
this preacher. to take you down into the water,
to bury you in baptism. So there is human cooperation.
I can't accept that. Salvation is not of God, is it?
In that sense, it would not be of God, would it? It would be
of God and man. So salvation in that sense would
not be of God only. Salvation in that sense would
be of God and man. So there's cooperation in baptismal
regeneration. There's cooperation in decisional
regeneration. There has to be cooperation,
not only on the part of the person proclaiming the message of God,
but on the part of the individual who responds. There has to be
human cooperation. Thus I do not believe that either
one I do not believe in gospel regeneration. I do not believe
in baptismal regeneration. I do not believe in decisional
regeneration. Why? Because each one is connected
with some human instrument. But the sovereign God of the
universe, if my Bible is true, and I believe it is, every word
of it, it is the sovereign God who gives the principle of life
without human cooperation. And having given the principle
of life, it is the responsibility of every person who has been
born of the Spirit of God to respond and, beloved, he will
respond when the gospel is proclaimed. That's the effectual call. So
when you look at the three parts that this person has mentioned, built around the statement that
Paul makes to the Thessalonian church, chapter 2 of the 2nd
epistle, verses 13 and 14, when he said, there is first of all
the cause, the root cause, God's purpose in divine election. I believe in divine election.
No controversy there. And then the means in bringing
it about, the gospel. I deny that. The means of regeneration
is the sanctifying work of the position of work of the Holy
Spirit. And the gospel goes forth in the 14th verse as a call of
God, and that is a conversion experience. And then he closes
by saying, purpose and means to accomplish this salvation
are laid side by side. Think it through. Question number
five. And, beloved, we're getting into
a point now that this is real preaching territory. Are sinners
to be invited to Christ for regeneration or for salvation? You see, I'm making a distinction
between regeneration and salvation now because salvation is used
in so many different ways. And the Bible makes that distinction.
So are sinners to be invited to Christ for regeneration or
salvation? There cannot be, listen carefully
to this, there cannot be an indiscriminate invitation to sinners for regeneration. But there can be an invitation
for those who are weary, thirsty, and heavy laden to come to Jesus
Christ for rest and to have their thirst quenched. Now listen to
that statement again. And beloved, I'm basing everything
on this and I'm going to prove it before I'm through this morning.
There cannot be an indiscriminate invitation to sinners for regeneration
or the new birth. But there can be, there should
be, an invitation for the weary and thirsty for salvation. Now
if you make that distinction, you won't have any more problems.
Now I'm going to illustrate my point with biblical examples. Those who thirst for grace, that
is, for the grace of salvation, have been made thirsty by the
grace of God. Those who thirst for Jesus Christ
have been made thirsty by the grace of God in regeneration.
You wouldn't be thirsty if you had not been made thirsty by
grace. So the person who thirsts for
God has been made thirsty by the grace of God. Please get
that statement. Now I'm going to amplify it with
several biblical examples. Are you ready for them? Number one, thus the person who
reasons has been made reasonable by the grace of God. Isaiah 118,
Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord. I said the person
who reasons has been made reasonable by the grace of God. The unregenerate
person is unreasonable. He'll remain unreasonable until
he is made reasonable by the grace of God. Now, there isn't
anything wrong with an invitation. Isaiah said, come and let us
reason together. I can simply say to you, I'm
not inviting you. I'm not offering an indiscriminate
invitation for people to come for the new birth. I can't do
that. I can't do that. I'm not authorized
to do that. But I can't invite every person
whose reason has been made reasonable to reason about the things of
God. And if he is reasonable, he has
been made reasonable by grace. It's Isaiah 118. Let's go a step further. Several
biblical examples. Matthew 11, 28. I'd like you
to turn to that verse. We'll amplify it a little bit.
We're going to look at several this morning. I want to look at some
of the very verses that are used by the free all for the gospel
proponents. I'd like for us to read beginning
with verse 27. All things are delivered unto me of my father,
Christ said, and no man knoweth the son but the father, neither
knoweth any man the father save the son, and he to whomsoever
the son will reveal him. Now, he doesn't reveal himself
to every person. If you want the proof of that,
go back to verse 25. At that time, Jesus answered
and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
thou hast hid these things from the wise and the prudent, the
worldly wise and the worldly prudent, and hast revealed them
unto babes. And then look at verse 26, Even
so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. In other words,
it pleased Him. Now verse 28, Come unto me, all
ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Well,
verse 28 says, So the only person who will come to Christ is the
person who has been made weary of the burden of sin. And he's
been made weary of the burden of sin by the grace of God in
regeneration. See how simple it is? Turn with
me to Isaiah 55, 1. Here's another verse that is
used so often. Oh, every one that thirsteth,
I read this last week a message by a man in a work that I have,
and he said, Notice, the invitation is universal. My beloved, the
invitation is not universal. He missed the point entirely.
He said the invitation is unrestricted. Look at it a minute. Come on,
let's look at it. Let's not be clouded by prejudice. Let us not be prejudiced because
of things we've been taught. For everyone that thirsteth,
I would say the invitation is restricted, not unrestricted. You cannot get a universal invitation
out of that. The invitation is restricted
to those who are thirsty. You can't get away from it. Come ye to the waters. And he
that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat. Yea, come, buy wine
and milk without money and without price. Now, verse 1 does not
mean the person didn't have any money, any of this world's goods. He had some of this world's goods,
and I'm going to prove to you by the next verse. Wherefore
do ye spend money for that which is not bread? He didn't have
the ability within himself to buy this heavenly commodity,
or to trade for this heavenly commodity is the illustration
that is being used. But the invitation is restricted
to those who are thirsty, and no person thirsts for it. But
the invitation is restricted to those who are thirsty, and
no person thirsts for God until he has been made thirsty by the
grace of God. The same thing is true about
the person who seeks God. No person will seek God until
he has been sought and found by God. See how simple it is? So the person who thirsts for
the water of life... Now there's some New Testament
references I'd like to give you in connection with this one.
John 7, 37 and Revelation 22, 17. They all teach the same thing. And the invitation is to the
thirsty. So it is restricted to the person who is thirsty.
Now I want to take you to another great biblical example. What
about the person who hungers for the Word of God? The person
who hungers for the Word of God hungers because he's been made
hungry by the grace of God in regeneration. Will you turn with
me to Acts, the 10th chapter? Let me illustrate it for you
with the Word of God. I'm sure all of us remember the
familiar story of Cornelius, but I'm wondering how many know
the truth of the story. So turn to Acts 10 and read a
few verses with me, and we'll get to the real foundation of
our subject. Let's begin with verse 1. There
was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion
of a band called the Italian Band. Notice now a certain man
in verse 1. Verse 2, a devout person, one
that feared God, one who gave much alms to the people and prayed
to God always. Are these characteristics of
an unregenerate or a regenerate person? I'm asking you. Verse
4, thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before
God. Look at verse 5. And now send
men to Joppa, and call for one Simon." Now, Cornelius had been
regenerated. He had been given a taste for
the Word of God by the grace of the sovereign God in regeneration,
which is by the sovereign Spirit. But now he is to have a conversion
experience. So call for Simon. I'm not through
with the story. Look at verse 6, in the latter
part of verse 6. He shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do.
Simon's going to tell you what to do to have a conversion experience. Look at verse 8, the last part.
He sent them to Joppa. And then we have the story about
Peter. Verse 13, Rise, Peter. Verse 15, And the voice spake
unto him again the second time. Took a lot to convince Peter.
He was prejudiced. He was prejudiced. He didn't
want to go, just like Jonah. Jonah didn't want to go to the
Ninevites. But God gave him a second chance, and here the Lord spoke
to Peter twice. Now look at verse 21. Go with them, doubting nothing.
I've sent them. All right, verse 21. Then Peter went down to the men
which were sent unto him from Cornelius. Behold, I am he whom
ye seek." Notice now, Cornelius was seeking for someone to give
to him the Word of God. He was hungry for the Word. He
had been made hungry by the grace of God and regeneration. Now
verse 22, and they said, Cornelius the centurion, a just man and
one that feareth God, and of good report among all the nation
of the Jews, was warned from God by an holy angel to send
for thee into his house, and to hear words form," notice this,
to hear words of thee. For what purpose? To hear words
of thee. Please underscore those words.
To hear words of thee. Now, words not for regeneration,
words for a conversion experience. For what purpose? Well, drop
over to the 11th chapter in verse 14, I'll give you the purpose.
I'm having to cover an awful lot of territory rapidly here.
Verse 14 of chapter 11. So study chapters 10 and 11 together.
Who shall tell thee words whereby thou and all thy house shall
be saved, not regenerated, converted, not regenerated? Beloved, there is the biblical
answer. I believe the Word of God. So if a person is thirsty,
he's been made thirsty by grace. If he's hungry for the Word,
he's been made hungry by grace. Now let me give one other. The
person who hears the call of the gospel has been made capable
of hearing by the grace of God. And just the other Sunday night
I preached on Zacchaeus and the effectual call. Zacchaeus was
capable of hearing the call simply because his ear had been opened
by the grace of God. Now, I'd like you to observe
the following points in Isaiah 55, verse 1. Actually, verses
1 through 3. Ho, every one that thirsteth. There is the proclamation. Secondly,
an invitation, come ye. And notice how many times the
word come is found within the context of verses 1 through 3
when you have time. And thirdly, a ministration Those
who have been made thirsty by grace are without anything within
themselves to lay hold of heavenly commodities. But having been
born from above, they are heavenly merchantmen." So the invitation includes the
regenerate but unconverted. Now, did you get what I said?
The invitation is not to be given indiscriminately to come to Christ
for regeneration. The invitation, however, is given
to whom? To those who have been regenerated
but are unconverted. When you make that distinction,
it is as clear as the noonday sun. Now, I'm going to close
this morning by giving the difference between offer and invite. I've read where some have said,
well, there's a very thin line between inviting and offering. So I had to study that for myself,
and I'll tell you what I found, and I challenge you to study
that for yourself. Don't take my word for it. But I have some
pretty good dictionaries in my library, and also dictionary
of synonyms in my library. And so I made a study of the
synonyms. And by the way, invite And offer are not synonymous
terms. I challenge you, I challenge
you to study it for yourself. Remember I said the other Sunday,
it behooves us to know the meaning of words? Now listen carefully. Is there a difference between
offer and invite? It might be said there's a very
fine line between them, but the fact is there is a line. They're not synonymous terms. All right? Are you with me? We'll
look at the word offer first of all. Here are the synonyms
in a dictionary of word synonyms. Offer, proffer, and tender are
synonyms. I'm going to look at each one.
Offer, however, is the most important one of the words. Listen carefully. Offer is the most common of these
words, we're told. It implies a putting before one
something which may be accepted or rejected, to make a show of
willingness to perform or give. Now keep that thought in mind
because we'll be coming back to that definition in a moment.
Proper, a synonym of offer. differs from offer chiefly in
more consistently implying a putting or setting before one something
that one is at liberty to accept or reject, and is usually stressing
voluntariness, spontaneity, or courtesy on the part of the agent. Webster's Dictionary gives an
illustration of it. The man proffered his arm to
a lady having difficulty crossing the street. Now the word tender. Now you're going to come across
this word in many works that you read, tendering the gospel.
Tinder was originally and still is a term in legal use meaning
to offer something to the court or to a person concerned according
to the terms of the law for a formal acceptance or approval. Now let's look at the word invite. Here are the synonyms. Invite
bid, solicit, court, woo, are comparable when they mean to
request or encourage a person to come to one or to fall in
with one's plan or desires. Now we look at the word invite. I want you to see the difference
now between offer and invite. Here it is, and it's clearly
set forth. Invite, in its ordinary and usual
sense, implies a courteous request to go somewhere, do something or give some assistance which
it is assumed will be agreeable or at least not disagreeable
to the person invited. There it is. Do you see the difference
between offer and invite? There it is. I'm going ahead
and mention the others and I'm coming back to close. with the
real distinction between offer and invite. I have no authority
to offer Jesus Christ, to offer the new birth. But I have every
right to invite persons in whose hearts there's been a work of
grace. And I don't know, I'm not trying
to point them out, I'm not trying to pick them out. I just simply
proclaim the gospel and invite all who are thirsty, all who
are weary and heavy laden, all who are hungry for the word of
God. Why? Because it will be pleasant
to them. It will not be disagreeable to
them. But such an invitation is disagreeable to the unregenerate
person. Now the word bid, which is a
synonym of invite, bid is increasingly uncommon in the sense of to request
the presence of someone to a feast or a great occasion. And I was
surprised in my new dictionary of synonyms, they even quoted
a biblical verse here to illustrate this point. as many as ye shall
find bid to the marriage, Matthew 22, 9. It just so happens, however,
that the word bid in your King James Version is a translation
by the translators of the Greek word kaleo, which means to call. Which means to call. But notice,
bid is increasingly uncommon, I can understand it. Why? Because
bid is usually used in the sense of something for sale. It's used
at an auction, in other words. Soliciting differs from invite
in stressing urgency or need rather than courtesy in requesting.
Court basically implies an endeavor to win the favor of a person,
flattery, attention being given, or making love. Now, we have
a lot of that going on in religious circles today. in the so-called
invitations, appealing to their emotional nature, appealing to
their flesh. You've tried everything else,
why don't you try Jesus? No one who knows anything about
the grace of God and the truth of Scripture would make a statement
like that. What about the word woo, another synonym? Woo basically
implies, and of course we're all familiar with this, amorous
courting. Now go back to offer and invite. Offer and invite. I do not believe
in the free offer, the gospel theory, in the sense of offering
salvation, in the sense of regeneration to people indiscriminately. Why? Because offer, according
to Webster's newest dictionary, is the most common of these words
In the synonyms, it implies a putting before one something which may
be accepted or rejected to make a show of willingness to perform
or give. And salvation or regeneration
is not offered to every human being without exception. You
know why? Jesus Christ didn't die to purchase
salvation for all without exception. And I'm going to quote Albert
Barnes later on, and you're going to be amazed. He believes in
universal atonement and the universal offer, and of course you can
see they all go together. I don't quote these men to just
try to show them up. Let me make this statement. If
I were of mine, any person can make a statement and quote somebody
that agrees with him. Anybody can just almost utter
any kind of a statement against somebody that would agree with
it. I do not quote these men because
they agree with me. I simply quote men who agree
and disagree in order that we might investigate the Word of
God more diligently and arrive at the truth of God. Invite,
it is different. It is not a synonymous term with
offer. Invite in its ordinary and usual sense implies a courteous
request to go somewhere, do something, or give some assistance which
it is assumed will be agreeable, or at least not disagreeable,
to the person invited. So when I give an invitation,
and the invitation is in the gospel when it is preached, not
in my words that are added to it, not in my appeal afterwards. The invitation is in the message
of the gospel when it is proclaimed, and the invitation strikes home
to the person who has been given the disposition of heart for
it. It is not disagreeable to him. It is agreeable to him,
and he responds because it is agreeable. I have no authority
to offer regeneration to any person, but I do have the authority
to preach the Lord Jesus Christ, preach Christ, and the gospel
itself is an invitation to those who have a taste for it. I just
challenge anybody to refute that. That's the book of God. Do we
want truth, or are we so taken up with tradition? and opinions
that we're not willing to investigate and search and to know the mind
of God. Now, this doesn't discourage
me. This doesn't keep the gospel from being preached to every
creature. The gospel is to be given indiscriminately. I can't discriminate. The Holy
Spirit does. But in preaching Christ, I never
offer him. I can't do that. I can't do that. Do you see the difference?