Our lesson today, Life Brought
to Light by Means of the Gospel. In looking at this subject, we're
going to be studying several verses of scripture that are
used to support what we call gospel regeneration. I do not believe in gospel regeneration. I'm going to take most of the
time in the service this morning to more or less give to you a
bird's-eye view of the subject that we will be discussing in
detail for the next several services. Let us look at the phrase for
just a few minutes. Paul said, as the result of the
coming of Christ, or His appearing, and this refers to the Incarnation,
he has brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel.
It is suggested by many scholars of Scripture that life and incorruptibility
in this portion of Scripture point first of all to the soul
and to the body of the elect, that is, the immaterial and material
parts of the people of God. The Christian experiences life
of the soul now, but he will not experience incorruptibility
until the morning of the resurrection. Thus, we are going to spend a
great deal of time on incorruptibility after we have completed our study
of life being brought to light by means of the gospel. Both
life and incorruption are brought to light by means of the gospel
of Jesus Christ. You may recall what we have said
in recent lessons. First of all, if it were not
for Holy Scripture, you and I would not have any concept of what
happens to man upon his death. Therefore, the scriptures alone
tell us what is going to happen to man when he dies. We rely
solely and completely on the Word of God to give to us the
information we need concerning what will happen to man when
he dies. We're not dealing, however, with
that aspect of the subject this morning. I have before me a list
of 15 different quotations. I do not want to bore you this
morning by giving all of these quotations from various works
that I have in my library. I could have 50 as easily as
I have 15, but I have chosen such men as A. H. Strong, A.J. Gordon, Buswell, Burkoff, Matthew
Henry, John Trapp, Albert Barnes, Thomas Manton, John Calvin, J. Nabor, John Stibbs, Grant's Numerical
Bible, John Gill and his body of divinity as well as his commentary,
and then some contemporary men, who embrace the doctrines of
grace. Now these men, I do not agree
with them at all. And they're recognized, if I
were to call their names, as contemporary men who embrace
as a whole the doctrines of grace. You might be surprised at the
quotations that I could give, and I will give a few this morning,
not many. But I wanted to give to you a
list of names I do not agree with any of these names that
I've given on the subject that I'm discussing with you today,
and that I will be discussing with you in subsequent lessons.
Every one of these men whose names that I've given to you
believe in what I call gospel regeneration, but I do not believe
in gospel regeneration. I feel that this is a very important
point in biblical doctrine, therefore I'm asking you not to believe
what I say because I say it, but to believe what is said because
it is in harmony with Holy Scripture. I'd like to introduce the subject
a little further, so turn with me, if you will, to James chapter
1. The 18th verse of James 1 is one
of the so-called proof texts, if not the major proof text,
are those who believe in gospel regeneration, and I'll explain
that more in detail in a moment, as teaching what I do not believe
this verse teaches. Now, on the surface of the verse,
it may appear to you that God uses the gospel, or the word
of God, as a means in the regeneration of a person. But I affirm that
this text does not teach that. So look with me at verse 18.
We're not teaching this verse this morning. We'll have one
entire lesson later on this particular verse. James said, "...of his
own will begat he us with the word of truth." Now, the controversy
hinges on the meaning of the Greek word translated, begat,
in this verse. I'll not even discuss that reading
this morning, but I'm presenting it to you, asking you to make
all the studies that you are capable of making on this particular
word. Let's read the entire verse.
Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should
be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. I would like to state
at this point that the word translated begat in James 1.18 is used only
two times in the New Testament, and both times are found here
in James 1. Now I'm actually getting ahead
of myself a little bit, but I want you to be doing some thinking.
So if you'll go back to verse 15, and we'll point out in verse
15 where the same word is used, and you can see the connection.
Well, in order to get, I think, the view that you should have
of this, let's read beginning with verse 13. James said, Let
no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God. For God
cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempted he any man, that
is, with evil. But every man is tempted when
he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then when lust hath
conceived, it bringeth forth sin. And sin, when it is finished,
bringeth forth death." Now, the two words, bringeth forth, you
can underscore them. And I beg of you to check me
out. The two words, bringeth forth, in the last part of verse
15, is the same Greek word that is used in verse 18, translated
begat. Same word. Now look at verse
15 for a moment. When lust hath conceived, it
bringeth forth sin. And sin, when it is finished,
bringeth forth, that is, is made manifest. Bringeth forth death. Bringeth forth death. So dropping
down to verse 18. Of his own will begat he us with
the word of truth. I affirm that the word begat
does not mean conception, but it means bringing forth. There
is no reference, the word does not mean conception, but the
bringing forth or the manifestation of the life that had its beginning
in conception. And that's the meaning. Thus,
you see, we do not have the conception itself set forth, but the manifestation
of that which has been conceived in verse 18, and that by means
of the gospel. So a person is not conceived
by means of the gospel. Thus he is not regenerated by
means of the gospel, but that which has taken place by the
sovereign Spirit of God, the conception, if you please, is
made manifest or brought to light, L-I-G-H-T, by means of the gospel. So you can see how important
this subject is. I think there is a lot of confusion,
and I will admit I too was confused for a great number of years.
as a result of things that I read and things that I've been taught.
Now let's raise some questions and answer them by way of introduction.
Is the word of the gospel the means or the instrument of the
new birth or regeneration? My answer is, it is not. It is
not. It is not a question, beloved,
whether God works regeneration by means of a creative word or
command. I hope that you're capable of
making a distinction between a creative command of God and
the work of a gospel in bringing forth that which has been brought
forth by word of command to light. Do you follow me? Let's go back
to Genesis for instance, Genesis 1. God said, let there be light
and there was light. We have in that statement a command. The Word of God, the written
revelation of God's mind was not a means of light being brought
into existence. God just simply said, let there
be light and there was light. God didn't need any instrumental
means. It's the word of command. So
I want us to make a distinction between the word of command and
the gospel preached by God-ordained preachers. So God's command is
one thing, and the hearing of the gospel preached is an entirely
different thing. Let me give another illustration.
In the 16th chapter, of the book of Ezekiel, and that is the greatest
Old Testament illustration of regeneration that you will find
in all the Word of God. God saw Israel, as it were, as
an infant cast into the field, an infant that had been born
physically but lying in its pollution. And I'm using now the Revised
Standard Version. When I passed by you, and saw
you squirming in your blood. I said to you, while you were
in your blood, live." Now that's a word of command. That does
not imply the word of the gospel. So when God saw the infant squirming
in its blood, He said, live, and the infant lived. That's
an illustration of regeneration. That does not illustrate that
life being brought to light by means of the word of God that
is preached. So there's a distinction between
the word of command and the word of God preached by preachers. So the word of command is not
the same as the message of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The question is this, does regeneration precede, accompany, or follow
the gospel of Jesus Christ being preached? Listen carefully. Believe
me, this is important. You may not think so, but you
will not hear any subject more important than this one. We're
dealing with the beginning of life and how life is brought
into existence. And then how that life that is
brought into existence by the command of God is brought to
L-I-G-H-T by means of the Word of God that is preached. They're
two entirely different things. But there's a lot of confusion,
even among Puritans, as you have read the works of the Puritans
through the years. So the word of command is not the same as
the message of the gospel that is preached by men whom God has
called to proclaim the glorious gospel of the blessed Son of
God. Did you know there are four and only four basic views of
the efficient cause of regeneration? Do you know what the four basic
causes of regeneration are that are being taught today? by religionists? Can you think of what they are?
Only four basic views. Now, I'm going to mention all
four of them, but we're only going to consider the latter
two. The first is baptismal regeneration. Now, if you believe in baptismal
regeneration, then you do not know the grace of the sovereign
God. It's just that simple. The second
is the will of man working in conjunction or in cooperation
with the grace of God. And that's what we call synergism,
cooperation. That's the second view, that
the free will of man cooperates in regeneration. I deny that.
The Bible does not teach that. And thirdly, there are those
who believe that the gospel is the means that God uses in regeneration. And the fourth view is that regeneration
is by the Sovereign Spirit without any means. Now, which view do
you hold to? Well, I hope that you hold to
the latter, because only the latter view is the scriptural
or biblical view. Let me mention them again, and
then I would like to illustrate it as simply as I can this morning.
First of all, there is the view of baptismal regeneration. Whether
you realize it or not, most religionists today believe in baptismal regeneration. Now, I'm going to call names.
I'm not going to call names to be offensive. And when I state
the truth, it should not offend anyone. Roman Catholics, and
there are 700 million Catholics in the world today. The official
doctrine of the Catholic Church is baptismal regeneration. The
Lutheran denomination also believes in baptismal regeneration. The
Church of Christ, the Mormons, and we could go on, the Oneness
Pentecostal group, the Episcopalians. Now this is going to surprise
you, and even Methodists. Now don't come to me and want
to argue with me about it, because I've got proof in my library.
When you boil it all down, even the Methodists believe in baptismal
regeneration. So the majority of people today
who are attending places of worship today, at least what they call
worship, they embrace the theory of baptismal regeneration. Now
the most obnoxious group of all would be the Church of Christ.
They'll debate anybody walking, that baptism is essential to
the salvation of the soul. And they have their pig trail
down through the scriptures, beginning with Mark 16, 16, John
3, 5, Acts 2, 38, Acts 22, 16, Galatians 3, 26 and 27, and finally
1 Peter 3, 20 and 21. I want to ask you a question.
Does Acts 2, 38 when Peter said in his famous
sermon on the day of Pentecost, repent and be baptized every
one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins,
and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Does that
verse teach baptism or regeneration? It does not. Now it may appear
on the surface that it does, but you know that it does not,
and I'm not teaching Acts 2.38 this morning. except to say,
Repent, and be baptized every one of you who has repented. For with reference to your repentance
are the forgiveness of sins, and you shall receive the gift
of the Holy Spirit. So the verse does not teach baptismal
regeneration, even though it appears to some on the surface
that it does. Just as that text does not teach
baptismal regeneration, beloved, neither does James 1.18, which
says, Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth. Teach
gospel regeneration. So, James 1.18, along with 1
Peter 1.23, along with Hebrews 4, verse 12,
along with 1 Corinthians 4, verse 15, and several other verses
that we will be investigating later, they do not teach gospel
regeneration. Even though they might appear
on the surface that they do teach that, they no more teach gospel
regeneration than Acts 2.38 teaches baptismal regeneration. Now let's
look at another. We have seen the first view.
those who believe in baptism or regeneration. What about those
who believe that the will of man cooperates with God in regeneration? Baptists in general today, most
so-called Protestants today, believe that man's will is free
and that man's will cooperates with God in fact Really, God
cooperates with the free will of man. In other words, when
man says, I want to be saved, then God is so happy over that
decision, he said, well, now since you've decided to embrace
me, I'll come in and I'll assist you. That's really what it means.
Because what they're actually doing is putting the will of
man ahead of the will of God. But the will of man is always
subservient to the will of God, subject to the will of God. And
that's why James began like it is, of his own will, of his own
will. We have been brought forth So
actually James 1.18 teaches the very same thing that 2 Timothy
1.10 teaches. Life is brought to light by means
of the gospel of the Lord Jesus. And we become a kind of first
fruits of his creatures. So we do not believe that the
Bible teaches baptismal regeneration. I do not believe that whosoever
will, that man's will, must take the initiative, and then God
is made to rejoice to the extent that he says, I'll come in and
assist you, and you will be regenerated. Almost every protest of the day
says, the will of man must lead out. And man's faith is the means
of his regeneration. But the Bible teaches that man's
faith is the fruit of regeneration, and not the cause of his regeneration.
So let's look at them again. Number one, baptismal regeneration. I can't buy that. Number two,
the will of man. And that's synergism. Number
three, those who believe that the gospel is the means of regeneration. And then number four, a person
is regenerated by the sovereign spirit. By the sovereign spirit. So the four basic views that
are given, In the entire religious community today, only four major
ones, I accept the latter, and only the latter, as being the
scriptural view. Now, in order to answer the view
of gospel regeneration correctly, one must consider what is meant
by the term, hearing the gospel. Hearing the gospel. Does the
term hearing refer to the ear that hears, that has been sensitized
by the Spirit of God in regeneration? Or does hearing refer simply
to the organ called the ear? Now, we must make that distinction.
You know, the Bible says, hear and understand. He who has an
ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches, and so
forth. But according to Proverbs 20 in verse 12, the hearing ear
and the seeing eye both are of God. Before any man can hear
the glorious gospel of Christ and embrace the gospel in a conversion
experience, he must first of all have been given a hearing
ear. He cannot give it to himself.
No man can give it to him. Only the Sovereign Spirit can
give man a hearing ear, and that is accomplished in regeneration.
Now let's be technical this morning. To be technical, the Holy Spirit
may perform his work of regeneration, listen carefully, before, during,
or after the external preaching of the word. Are you with me? Listen carefully. I said to be
technical, the sovereign spirit of God may perform his work of
regeneration before, during, or after the gospel is proclaimed
by some preacher. Now, I'd like to explain that
a little bit. I've been discussing the glorious
gospel of Christ with you now for several Sundays from this
portion of Scripture. And I'm assuming that not everyone
present has a hearing ear. I'm not even assuming that every
member of this church has a hearing ear. I can't assume that. Because after having preached
as long as I have, I have seen many people who have been members
of the church of which I pastored, and they've gone along for a
long period of time thinking they were really saved, when
in reality they were not saved at all. It is not difficult for
a person to be self-deceived, and it's very easy for a person
to be self-deceived today. with all the various and sundry
things that are being taught by religionists. But now, does a person have to
hear the gospel before he can be regenerated? The answer is
no. He does not. So the Holy Spirit
can regenerate a person before he hears the word. Now, if you're
here this morning, and you may be hearing me with your organ,
the organ called the ear. You may not be hearing me with
a hearing ear that has been made capable of hearing spiritual
things by the Spirit of God, but you're hearing me talk, and
you're hearing me say something about Christ. And we've been
discussing with you his death on the cross, and how his death
has taken care of death for everyone for whom Christ died. The sting
of death has been removed. Nothing left to death but the
shatter. And all of this is included in the glorious gospel. Now you
may have heard those things, and yet the Spirit of God may
regenerate you while you're listening to me now. But when the Holy
Spirit regenerates you, if He does do that, even while you're
listening to me, that does not mean that what I'm giving now
is used by God in regenerating you. He can just simply regenerate
you and all of a sudden, you haven't been able to understand
what I'm talking about, but then you begin to understand. Or the
Holy Spirit can regenerate you after you have heard some preacher
preach. So to be technical, look at it
again. The Holy Spirit may perform. Or the Holy Spirit can regenerate
you after you have heard some preacher preach. So to be technical,
look at it again. The Holy Spirit may perform the
work of regeneration before one hears the gospel proclaimed,
or during the time it is being proclaimed, or even after it
has been proclaimed. Now, the Bible distinguishes
the influence of the Holy Spirit from the Word of God. Listen
carefully. The Bible distinguishes the influence
of the Holy Spirit from the Word of God, and declares that such
influence is necessary for the proper reception of the truth
of the gospel of Jesus Christ. For example, notice the case
of Lydia. In Acts chapter 16 and verse
14, Paul says, she heard us, singular. She heard us, whose
heart was open to the Lord, a single act. Notice now, a single act,
that she might attend the results, in other words, of my preaching
the gospel. Now look at that verse carefully.
You can't argue with it. It's as simple as it can be.
So Paul said, she heard us, that is, she listened, singular. Whose heart the Lord opened. She didn't have any part in assisting
the Lord in the opening of her heart. The Lord opened her heart,
and when the Lord opened her heart, then she gave attention
to what Paul was saying, and she understood. She did not understand
before. She just heard words. I can explain
it like this. The Lord does not give a spiritual
message and then a human key for the unlocking of that message
for its understanding. Are you listening to that? Are
you letting that soak in? God does not give a spiritual
message and a human key to unlock the spiritual meaning of that
spiritual lesson. So it takes a spiritual key to
unlock the spiritual mystery, to understand the mysteries of
God, and the key that unlocks it is the work of the Holy Spirit
in regeneration. It is the Holy Spirit who gives
the hearing I can't make it any more simple
than that. There is no disposition in an unregenerate person to
receive the spiritual message of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I repeat, there is no disposition in the heart of an unregenerate
person to receive the spiritual message of the gospel of Jesus
Christ. Now, I'm going to illustrate
that in several ways. Would you turn with me, first of all, to
John chapter 3, third chapter of the Gospel of John for the
illustrating of that point. I'd like us to read beginning
of verse 19. Our Lord had just made the statement,
he that believeth on him is not condemned. But he that believeth
not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name
of the only begotten Son of God. Verse 19, And this is the condemnation,
that light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather
than light, because their deeds were evil. There is no disposition
in darkness for the receiving or the embracing of life. Is
there? There is not. Thus there is no
disposition in the heart of an unregenerate person to receive
the spiritual message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now,
he can receive the historical facts, He can say, I believe
that Christ died 2,000 years ago on the cross, I believe he
was buried, and I believe he arose out from among the dead.
He can believe those things historically, but that does not mean that he
has embraced the glorious gospel and the spiritual significance
of it in a conversion, true conversion experience. Now, some overzealous
personal worker may twist his arm and say, you believe that
Christ died 2,000 years ago, don't you? Yeah. See, I did that. You believe that Jesus Christ
was buried, don't you? Yes. You believe he arose out
from among the dead, don't you? Yes. Well, then you're saved,
the so-called personal worker will say. But there's still no
disposition. in the heart of an unregenerate
person to receive the spiritual nature of that message apart
from regeneration. Accepting the mere historical
facts alone will not suffice any more than many of the Jews
who heard Jesus Christ speak and saw him perform miracles,
said they believed on him, John 2, 24 and 25, but the Lord Jesus
Christ would not commit himself unto them because he knew their
hearts. He knew there was no disposition
in their hearts for the receiving of the gospel because they had
not been regenerated. So as there is no disposition
in darkness to receive light, there is no disposition in the
heart of an unregenerate person to receive the spiritual message
of the gospel of Jesus Christ in a true conversion experience. Is there any disposition in a
person who is blind to receive light? No. Is there any disposition in an
ear that is deaf to hear? No. Is there any disposition
in a person who is dead to be quickened or to quicken himself? No. So just as there is no disposition
in a person who is blind to see, no disposition in a person who
is deaf to hear, no disposition in a person who is dead to arise
out from among the dead, so there is no disposition in an unregenerate
person to receive the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. Why do
you think Paul said that? The natural mind receives not
the things of the Spirit of God for their foolishness unto him,
neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned.
Thus it takes a spiritual mind, which is the fruit of regeneration,
to understand the spiritual message of God. Now I want to give to you a few
quotations. I'll try to mix some of them up so it will not be
so boring to you. But I want you to see what is
believed and what is embraced by many people today concerning
the subject that we're discussing. Again, I must affirm, the Bible
does not teach gospel regeneration. The Bible teaches spirit regeneration,
which gives the ability to receive the gospel message. I'm going to quote Dr. A.H. Strong,
an outstanding Baptist scholar. has many helpful things, but
he's wrong on this point. I quote, Regeneration is a change
indispensable to the salvation of the sinner. He doesn't make
the proper distinction between salvation and regeneration. That
was one of the faults of the Puritans, if you read after them
very much. It is a change wrought in connection
with the use of truth as a means. Then he gives as his proof texts
James 1.18, 1 Peter 1.23, 2 Peter 1.4, John 15.3, Ephesians 6.17,
Hebrews 4.12, and 1 Peter 2.9. He was seeking to answer something
that Roman Catholicism had stated, and so he came to this conclusion.
Let's listen to a man by the name of A.J. Gordon. I'm giving
you a kind of a view of different theological backgrounds. A.J. Gordon said, and I quote. Now,
A.J. Gordon was not a Calvinist, but
an Arminian. Regeneration is the communication
of the divine nature to man by the operation of the Holy Spirit
through the Word of God. That's taken from his work entitled,
Two-Fold Life. Let's listen to Bustwell. Bustwell,
in all bookstores today, sell his systematic theology as a
work of grace. And he does believe. in many
things that I embrace concerning the works of grace. Listen to
him. Quote, Since the Holy Spirit
uses the word of God in his work of regeneration, as well as in
his work of conviction, it is no contradiction to speak of
the word itself as the efficient cause of regeneration. End of quote. He then gives as
his proof text 1 Peter 1.23, James 1.18, and 1.21. This is taken from page 173 of
his work entitled, or his systematic theology. Let's listen to Berkhoff. Berkhoff in his work on systematic
theology says, quote, another passage is found in James 1.18. of his own will he brought us
forth by the word of truth." Now, I agree with that, that
we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. That's
his translation of the Greek text. This is his comment. It
can hardly be doubted that the word of truth mentioned here
is the word of preaching. And the assumption is that the
Word precedes the new birth and is, in some sense, the instrumental
to it." End of quote. Now, if you want to take my word
for this, I'm giving you the books. And this is found in his
work, page 454 of his Systematic Theology. I'm not taking anything
out of context either. Matthew, Henry. Yet everyone
has Matthew Henry in his home library. In speaking to the New
Birth, Matthew Henry said, quote, The means whereby this is effected
are pointed out, the word of truth, that is, the gospel. As Paul expresses it more plainly
in 1 Corinthians 4.15, when he said, I have begotten you in
Jesus Christ through the gospel. But please observe, Paul said,
I've begotten you. Don't forget that phrase. We'll
discuss that verse later. John Trapp. Some of you have
him on the New Testament. I have him on the whole Bible.
And I've had it for nearly 30 years. John Trapp said, For together
with the word of God there goeth forth a regenerating power."
James 1.18, Volume 5, page 526. Albert Barnes, Presbyterian,
Calvinist, said, quote, "...with the word of truth," commenting
on that phrase, James 1.18, "...by the instrumentality of truth,"
is his It was not a mere creative act, but it was by truth as the
seed or germ. Thomas Merton, whose work has
just recently been reprinted, quote, The ordinary means whereby
God begetted us is the gospel, and he uses the same verses as
his proof text, such as James 1.18, 1 Peter 1.23. John Calvin, "...in order to
be heard by us, but that it may radically reform our hearts as
a seed of immortal life." That's on page 252. of his first volume,
I believe it is, anointing, in his volume on 1 Peter, in his
work on the New Testament. J. Nabor, now you may not be
familiar with this man, he's an Arminian. I want to give you
some quotations by Calvinists and Arminians to show you there's
really no difference in their view when it comes to regeneration,
many of them. J. Nabor, that's N-I-E-B-O-U-R,
B-O-E-R, excuse me, He says, quote, without the Word, we would
never receive the new birth. Without the Word, we would not
know we were sinners and needed it at all. Without the Word,
we would know nothing of our being able to obtain it through
faith in Christ. Now you see what he believes,
don't you? In other words, by faith in Christ that one is regenerated. The Word of God is called incorruptible
seed. Just the moment a heart is really
opened up to receive it, it germinates and produces a life that will
never die. It is a life-giving seed." John Stibbs makes this statement
in his work on 1 Peter 1.23. This new life is communicated
to men. Our men are made to possess it
through the divine word, the word which had been actively
brought into Peter's readers in dynamic ministry. This is
taken from The Seed is the Word of God, page 94, in his volume,
in his work on 1 Peter. Grant in his Numerical Bible.
a set that almost every Christian has. Quotes, let us notice again,
he says, as in 1 Peter 1.23, that this begetting is by the
word of truth. It is sovereign, for it is of
his own will. But we must not forget that the
sovereign grace operates through the word. We see this truth enlarged
upon in 2 Thessalonians 2, 13, and 14, where divine election
is linked with a sovereign call through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Page 200 in his work on James
in the Numerical Bible. Now a favorite of most of us,
and John Gill, as great as he was on many things, I don't believe
has a truth on this. I'm quoting him now in James
1.18. And the means he makes use of,
or with which he does it, is with the word of truth, of his
own word begettius. Though regeneration is sometimes
ascribed to him, and this act of begetting is done by the Father
through the resurrection of Christ from the dead, But the gospel,
which is the word of truth, and truth itself, and contains nothing but truth, and by this
souls are begotten and born again. And then he gives, as his proof
text, Ephesians 1.13 and 1 Peter 1.23. And hence, ministers of
it are accounted spiritual fathers. Page 783, Volume 6 of John Gill. Quoting now from two contemporary
men, a man by the name of Johnson. He says, and I quote, When the
regeneration of God is upon the soul of man, the gospel is sprinkled
upon that soul and becomes effectual there. The soul of the intelligent
adult is not merely passive in regeneration. Now this man broke
fellowship with me twelve years ago. I haven't lost any sleep
over it. It was over this very thing.
this very thing. He called me a hard shell. I
don't care what he calls me. I'm sure not his soft shell.
Now let me go through this again and I want to explain a little
bit. I want you to listen to this closely. When the regeneration
of God is upon the soul of man, the gospel is sprinkled upon
that soul and becomes effectual there. The soul of the intelligent
adult is not passive in regeneration. I want to ask you a question
this morning. Is the sinner passive or is he active in regeneration? If you say that the sinner is
active in regeneration, then you're no different than the
Arminian. There isn't any difference. in
Arminianism and that view. Is the sinner active or is he
passive in regeneration? Beloved, I'm going to stake everything
on this statement that I'm about to make. I affirm that the Bible
teaches, without any successful contradiction, that the sinner
is passive in regeneration, but he's made active in his act of
conversion. Is that Bible or not? He is passive in regeneration,
but having been regenerated by the Sovereign Spirit, He is made
active in regeneration. Therefore, He is active in a
conversion experience, but He is not active in regeneration.
I can't state it in a plainer than that. I stake everything
on it. Whether I have three people listening
to me preach, three hundred or three thousand, that, beloved,
is what the Bible teaches. So every sinner is passive until
he's regenerated. And when he's regenerated, he's
made active by the Sovereign Spirit, period. I'd like you to turn with me
to Jeremiah. I think I can locate the verse
real quick. I think it's the 18th chapter.
If not, I'll find it, maybe, in my Bible. No, I think it's
the 31st chapter. The 31st chapter of Jeremiah's
prophecy. I want us to begin reading with
verse 18. I'll have time to complete this thought before time to close
our service this morning. I'm not going to get in a hurry
on this series. This is important. We're going
to try to drive down one point at a time until we have completed
this subject. Begin with me as we read at verse
18. I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning
himself thus. Thou hast chastised me, and I
was chastised as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke. Here's the phrase
that I want to emphasize. Turn thou me, and I shall be
turned. Turn thou me. You and I have
to be turned by the grace of the sovereign God before we can
turn. Notice the statement, turn thou
me, it is God who first must turn us before we can turn. So turn thou me and I shall be
turned for thou art the Lord my God. Let's read on. Surely
after that I was turned, I repented. There is no repentance until
a person has been turned in regeneration by the Spirit of God. What I'm
saying is, there is no repentance toward God, and there is no faith
in Jesus Christ until a person has been turned by the Spirit
in regeneration. Thus the sinner is passive until
he has been turned. And when he has been turned by
God, then he, by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, can
repent and can believe. He can neither repent nor believe
until that takes place. Let's read on. Verse 19 again. Surely after that I was turned,
I repented. And after that I was instructed,
I smote upon my thigh. I was ashamed. That's conviction. No one will ever be convicted
of his sins until he's regenerated. Do you know why you have such
a difficult time in order to try to get many church members
today convinced of the fact that they're sinners? They're self-deceived. They've never been regenerated.
Every regenerated person knows, and he says with Paul, when Paul
made this statement, I'm less than the least of all saints.
Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am
chief. Conviction of sin always follows
regeneration, and there's never any conviction of sin until one
is regenerated. Let's read a little further.
I smote upon my thigh, I was ashamed, yea, even confounded,
because I did bear the reproach of my youth. Now don't forget
those two verses. So Mr. Johnson says, and I quote
again, the soul of the intelligent adult is not merely passive in
regeneration. Well, what about the unintelligent
person? Or what about the infant? Let's
raise a few questions. Then he goes on to say, they
say, and with some justification that we are teaching that men
are regenerated by the preaching of the gospel per se, end of
quote. I took this from his own work
printed in August 1975. I'd like to go through that again. He says, when the regeneration
of God is upon the soul of man, the gospel is sprinkled upon
that soul and becomes effectual there. The soul of the intelligent
adult is not merely passive in regeneration, it is also active. They say, and with some justification,
that we're teaching, that is Mr. Johnson and others, that
men are regenerated by the preaching of the gospel per se. I was in a Bible conference with
him back in 1963 in Arkansas. Immediately thereafter, I took
my stand on the subject. He said, I can't buy that. And
so he went his way, and I've been going the Lord's way ever
since. Now I want to quote you one other fellow. This man is
a Houstonian, and I'll not give his name, but he's a Houstonian.
Listen to this. Quote, Throughout the Bible,
where the new birth or conversion is mentioned, the birth is always
said to be of God, But the means of this birth is by, with, or
through the word, the gospel." Do you see how important this
subject is? Now let me just kind of sum up what we've touched
on this morning. First of all, I stated there are four views
of the efficient cause of regeneration. One is baptismal regeneration.
I certainly cannot accept that. Secondly, the will of man, I
can't accept that. Whosoever will may come. And
a man's faith is the means of his being regenerated or born
again. The gospel being the means of
regeneration, that's the third view, I can't accept that. With
all my heart I must tell you, I believe that a person is regenerated
by the Spirit of God. Thus the sinner is passive. in
regeneration, but when he is regenerated, he's made active,
and I'll tell you something, he hits the ground running and
he never looks back. I close with this illustration.
I've been telling you about the carpenters that we've had such
a good time talking to. One of them is so interested,
last Tuesday was their last day until they come back to do the
finished work. I shook hands with him. One of them said, well,
it's going to be a long time before we get back. I said, too
long. Too long. But just before this
older brother left, he said, Brother Best, I want to ask you
a question. He said, I united with the church several years
ago, and he said, I was in a very backslidden condition for a long
period of time. Just got away from the Lord,
got away from the church, and he said, just the last few months
I've come back. He said, my question to you is this. When you were
regenerated and then you had a conversion experience, have
you ever wavered and gone away from the Lord for several years?"
I said, no. I said, now let me explain that. I said, I haven't
gone away from the Lord several years. That doesn't mean that
I haven't become disobedient. It does not mean that I have,
Johnny, that I have not done a lot of things that I shouldn't
do and that I'm continuing to do a lot of things that I shouldn't
do. It doesn't mean that I haven't been backslidden. But I said,
I haven't gone away for several years. I know what he was thinking. I know exactly what John was
thinking about. He was away for several years. In other words,
he said, when the Lord really does something for you, he doesn't
let you go. I said, that's it. He's not going
to let you go back for several years. wander around out there
in the world, and then as Baptists have taught, well, you're safe,
you're eternally secure, then after a while you come back.
I said, you need to analyze and see if you were ever really regenerated
to begin with. Beloved, when the Lord does something
for you, He doesn't put you in a boat and give you the oars
and tell you, you row your own canoe. When God saves you, He is with
you. And you hit the ground running,
you never look back. You may look to the side, are
you with me now? You may look to the side and when you take
a side glance, and this is Bible without me going into the scriptures
this morning, you may take side glances, you may waver, you may
doubt, you may do a lot of things momentarily or hourly that you
shouldn't do, but you never look back. You hit the ground running,
and the change is a change that keeps on changing for the better.
Let's stand as we sing.