Quickening VS. Conversion (Repentance)

Q: What does the Bible say about quickening and conversion?

Quickening is the act of God giving life to the spiritually dead, while conversion is the process of recognizing and turning towards Christ after being made alive. In biblical terms, quickening refers to God's act of giving life to those who are dead in trespasses and sins. This is solely an act of God, performed independently of any human action. For example, Ephesians 2:1 states, 'You hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins.' This emphasizes that the act of quickening is entirely God's work. Conversion, on the other hand, involves an awakening of understanding after quickening, where one recognizes their sinfulness and turns in faith to Christ for righteousness. It is a response to the life that has already been granted, which highlights an essential aspect of salvation, as conversion is light given to those who are alive in Christ.

Q: How do we know salvation is entirely God's work?

Salvation is entirely God's work, as seen in the legal aspect of salvation based on Christ's finished work, independent of human cooperation. The doctrine of salvation in sovereign grace theology teaches that it is not something initiated or completed by human effort but is grounded in God's sovereign will. As seen in John 1:13, those who believe are 'born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.' This means that the entire process of salvation, from election to glorification, is orchestrated by God. Acts 4:12 states there is 'no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved,' reinforcing that it is solely through Christ's shed blood that we find salvation. Therefore, believers are encouraged to rest in the assurance that their salvation rests on God's promises rather than their own works.

Q: Why is the concept of legal salvation important for Christians?

Legal salvation establishes our standing before God as justified through Christ and assures us of our eternal security in Him. Legal salvation is essential in Reformed theology as it underlines the believer's standing before God, acquired through the finished work of Christ. Romans 5:1 states, 'Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.' This illustrates that our justification is not based on our merit but on Christ's righteousness. Legal standing grants believers confidence in their salvation, knowing their sins are paid for and they are accepted by God. This concept grounds assurance in the believer's life, allowing them to live in light of God's grace rather than in fear of losing their salvation, which would be inconsistent with the Gospel's message of grace.

Q: What is the relationship between quickening and faith?

Quickening precedes faith, as it is through being made alive that one can truly believe in Christ for salvation. In sovereign grace theology, quickening is the divine act of making spiritually dead individuals alive so that they can respond to the Gospel with faith. Ephesians 2:5 refers to God's action: 'Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ.' This indicates that faith is a result of quickening; it does not initiate it. Acts 16:14 also strengthens this view as Lydia's heart was 'opened' by the Lord to heed the things spoken by Paul. Thus, faith is fundamentally dependent on the prior act of quickening—making faith possible as a natural response to the grace of God bestowed upon the believer.

Acts chapter 10 if you would I've preached on this before it's been a while back Quite a while back, but I thought I would Preach on this again It's come up in a few conversations here and there Lately and It kind of ties in a little bit about faith and what I preached on on faith and then in my book that I wrote, some of the stuff on that kind of deals with this very topic. But I wanted to talk about and looking at Acts chapter 10. I wanted to talk about this morning and possibly next week if the Lord continues on in this thought.

I'd like to talk about the difference that the Bible teaches us, reveals to us, the difference between salvation, being saved, and then legal way, the difference between salvation, quickening, and conversion. Now, if you read books and listen to preachers and stuff like that, it's almost as if they interchange these words and they say it all means the one thing, the one, there's one salvation or whatever that, you know, that this salvation is something that happens whenever you choose Jesus. Let Jesus come into your heart. And at that point, then God saves you, okay? Well, we understand the Bible to teach that salvation and the word saved and the word salvation is used in a couple of different ways, a few different ways. and everything.

And so we have to let the context always determine to us what that actually means. Whenever I use the term saved, for the most part, I will always be referring back to the legal aspect of salvation. The only way that anybody is saved is there first has to be a legal aspect of salvation. meaning my standing.

How is my standing changed? Or how is my standing presented before God in the fact that I am not under wrath, but I am under grace, I am under his love, I am in his love. How is it that this person has ever been loved by God? It's a matter of standing. Where is my standing?

And that always goes back to our union, our eternal union in Christ Jesus. My standing, if I'm a child of grace, my standing with God has always been in Christ Jesus. Because union with Christ did not happen at the cross and it did not happen in time at my decision. Now that's what's being preached by Armenians and by Reformed people alike, that our union with Christ happens when we believe. But the Bible says that we were united with Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world. So that tells me that my standing with God is in Christ Jesus and it has always been in Christ Jesus and has never been outside of Christ Jesus. Now that doesn't negate the fact that we as his people in Christ Jesus was not subjected to vanity in Adam. We were made in Adam, sinners, natural, of the earth earthy, and we are guilty of sin in the flesh.

So we've talked about that quite a bit. So whenever I talk about salvation, I'm talking about the work that Jesus Christ as our mediator has done in securing for us standing with God, all justification, That's standing with God so that as we are seen by God in this time state. Now, outside of this time state, brethren, we are his children by natural or by spiritual generation. We're his children spiritually.

There is a spiritual line and there is a fleshly line. Our fleshly line goes back to Adam. Our spiritual line goes back to Christ from the foundation of the world. Our life was hid with God in Christ Jesus. Now, salvation is by the finished work of Jesus Christ alone. What was the grounds upon which God could look at us in this time state and say, justify? on the grounds of we're united with Christ Jesus and being united with Christ Jesus means that all the promises of God, all of the inheritance of Christ are yea and amen in Christ to his people. Meaning that all the spiritual blessings that God has ever desired and purposed to give to his people He has desired to give it through Christ Jesus. And if we are united to Christ, we are sure to receive those blessings.

No ifs, ands, or buts about it. There is no change in that. If I am one of his, the inheritance is mine. Same thing in the natural realm, brethren. If a child belongs to a parent, that child is a child no matter what that child does. I mean, like I've said before, you know, one of my kids can go down to the courthouse and say, I don't want to be known as that guy's child anymore and change my name, first and last name, if you want to. I'm going to totally disregard any relation to that man. I'm going to move somewhere else. I'm not going to have no contact with that guy. I'm not going to have anything to do with it.

But it still does not change the fact that that child is my child. And that child, by all rights, has right to anything that I would leave to that child, my inheritance. Any blessing that I would want to give to that child, nothing can stop that because that child, even if they change their name, even if they divorce me, is what they can do now. Children can divorce their parents now. It's ridiculous, but it happens. If Caitlin wanted to divorce me today and say, I don't want to have nothing to do with my dad anymore. And whenever I go to die, I say, I'm going to leave this to Caitlin. You know what?

Nobody can stop that because whenever a DNA test was done it's gonna show she's my daughter she belonged to me and that she is an inheritor of anything that I would leave to her and nobody can fight that Jesus Christ has a people that has been given to him by God and he by right and by promise has given to them all spiritual blessings and there's nothing that can negate that, nothing can stop that.

That is what we mean by salvation. Christ has saved us by him coming and living perfectly on our behalf, him coming and dying for our sins that we should have paid for, has been, in fact, and in upholding of the covenant that he made to save us, has now done everything to satisfy the justice of an almighty, holy, righteous judge, God, who cannot acquit the wicked, who cannot excuse sin, who will not wink at sin, who will demand everything that justice demands. God can look at us and love us, accept us, care for us, bless us, and commune with us. And that's because of what Jesus did by his blood, by his righteousness. Jesus saved us by himself. for himself.

There is a salvation that is experiential though, not the legal salvation. That is only by Christ Jesus. That is only done by Christ Jesus outside of us and did not have anything to do with anything that we have experienced. Jesus did that all by himself before we were ever born.

There is an experiential salvation, though, that does involve us as far as the experiencing aspect. Now, there are some that says it involves us by the obeying aspect of it. But even that is Christ doing the work. My legal salvation, my experiential salvation, both aspects are controlled and done and fulfilled and worked on whatever by Christ. I can't claim anything of my own experiential salvation. I can't claim believing. I can't claim faith. I can't claim repentance. I can't claim perseverance. I can't claim good works.

I can't claim any of that because every bit of that is Christ doing that. Every bit of that is Christ who gave me faith, who caused me to believe, who granted me repentance, who caused me to persevere by that faith. He's the one that does that. He's the one who works in me to will and to do his good pleasure. So what Christ is doing experientially in me is the outflow of what Christ has done for me legally. They are the benefits. They are the inheritance. They are the promises. They are the blessings of God that came because Christ Jesus saved me in His work, in His standing, in His position, in His person. So, if my legal standing is outside of me, If my experiential salvation is not controlled by me, both aspects of salvation then is all of Christ. And it means it has nothing to do with what I do, you do, or anybody else does. And it can't be started and it can't be stopped. It can't be initialized. It can't be actualized. It can't be finalized.

And I just made that up and that made me sound like a really snazzy preacher, didn't it? Did that get recorded? No, I'm just kidding, guys. I'm just kidding. I did just make that up, though. If Christ does everything there, then preacher, where's your boasting that you got this guy saved or you got this guy saved or that you've grown this congregation to this big?

I wrote an article a while back based off of a post that I've seen on Facebook one time of Votie Bauckham. I think probably most everybody knows who I'm talking about, Votie Bauckham. He's a black preacher that's very prominent on at least on the internet and everything. I mean, he's prominent in the world, but he's a very prominent preacher. There's a lot of preaching with John MacArthur and all those kind of guys. black preacher who professes sovereign grace, okay?

And I'll admit, there's a lot of things that Bodie Bauckman said that I really like. I mean, I agree with him, okay, on a lot of things that he has said. I think that he has a lordship salvation gospel, and I don't agree with that, but there is a lot of things that he has said.

However, I've seen this article one time that he wrote, and in writing this article, he was writing about the anniversary of him being the pastor of this church, and how many years he had been there. And one of the statements that he made in that was how many, he said, reflecting back on all those years, and he said, and I'm not gonna say quote, because I can't remember, I'm just paraphrasing what he said, but he said, looking back on all the years here, I think about how many people's destinies have changed in this room. Well, anyway, I wrote an article about people's destinies, and you can find that on our sermon audio page, on the article page. You can find it on Wellstrap Publications. I published it there. It may even be on Pristine Grace. I can't remember if Brandon posted it there. And it will be in an upcoming book that I'm putting out to you. But anyway, that's enough time.

He said, people's destinies have changed from this ministry in this church. And I wrote in that article, I said, nobody's destinies are changed. Nobody's destiny has changed. Every destiny of every person was determined before the foundation of the world. God has predestinated every destiny.

So every preacher that ever goes out to preach, no matter where you go, in the bush, in the desert, in the jungles, in the metropolitan cities, wherever you go, Muslim places, Hindu places, Buddhist places, you know, Native American, Spirit Eagle, whatever places, wherever you go to preach, you're not changing people's destinies. You're not hindering somebody's destiny from getting to heaven, and you're not stopping somebody's destiny from going to hell. Nobody is having any effect on anybody's destiny by preaching the gospel or withholding the gospel. their destinies have been set by God." And he said, well, preacher, what are you getting at? I mean, what is all this about?

And what does it have to do with Acts chapter 10? I've spent 30 minutes now saying If we have a right foundation of understanding about salvation in the fact that it is outside of us and it doesn't need us to accomplish what Christ did, then whenever we come to questions and topics and discussions and debates about certain things, especially what we're gonna talk about in Acts 10, we have a principle to stand upon. We have a doctrine that is biblically-based and not theologian-based, or systematic theology-based, or creedal-based, or confession of faith-based, or, as I'm trying to say, tradition-based. We want something that's biblically-based and not tradition-based. So why did I say all that? Because I believe that people get quickening mixed up with the act of salvation that Christ has done, and they get that also mixed up with conversion.

So let's talk a little bit before we get into chapter 10, what the difference is. Quickening, as far as the Bible is concerned, and I use the word quickening, not regeneration. You guys have heard that, and if you don't know what I'm talking about, if you don't know why I don't use the word regeneration when I'm talking about new birth and being quickened, then go back to sermon audio. There's a sermon on there that I did that regeneration is not being born again, okay? Go listen to that. You'll find out why it's like that, or put a comment in the deal, and I'll respond to you later. I don't have time to go through that.

However, quickening is, God giving life and God alone giving life. God alone can give life. That's what quickening is. To be quickened is to be made alive. And only God has the power to make anything alive. Now, look with me. We're gonna keep the place in Acts chapter 10. We might get there today, but go with me to John chapter three in verse eight. We're gonna look at a few ways that this term is used besides quickening. John chapter three. I wanna start reading verse five. This is the account of Jesus and Nicodemus.

Jesus answered, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, here it is, he must be born again. Now, whenever he says born again, he is not saying regenerated. He is saying born for a second time, not born again in the same capacity. Regenerate means there was an original generation that failed at some point, died, and now is being brought back to life in the same capacity. It's regenerating. Okay? And the reason that most people use that is because they have a misunderstanding about Adam. They think that Adam was created a spiritually alive person, spiritual alive person. And that through sin, he fell or he died spiritually. And now everyone from him is dead spiritually because he was alive, but then he died. Now we're all spiritually dead.

But Adam, the Bible says from the very get-go was created subjected to vanity. The Bible says that Adam, from the get-go, was created natural. That was not first that was spiritual, but that which was natural. Adam was a natural person, a earthy person, not one from heaven. He was from earth. That tells us, based upon scripture, that Adam had no capacity for spiritual things. So while he had not yet sinned, Adam still was in the state of being natural and incapable of keeping righteousness. So sin was inevitable because God purposed that way by the way. So people have a misunderstanding of Adam thinking that Adam was created as a spiritually born person, and now he's not.

We need to be regenerated. We need to be brought back to the life that Adam had. Well, guess what, brethren? Adam had natural life. The child of grace has heavenly life. It's completely different. Matter of fact, the scripture says it's born from above. Jesus just said it right here. That which is born of the Spirit is the Spirit.

You must be born again. Not born again the first way you were born, because even Nicodemus brought that up, right? Nicodemus brought up the fact that, so I'm supposed to go back up into my mother's womb and be born again. He's thinking about the same kind of birth. Jesus is saying, no, I'm talking about another kind of birth. So for the people that says, well, born again means regeneration. You're being born another time. Regeneration is life being brought back again. Well, that's the thing is we never had life. And even if that was true, that only applies to Adam. It didn't apply to you. You were born without it. In your own in your own Armenian scheme, in your own, you know, Adam being a spiritual person scheme. But Jesus says, you must be born again.

Now look at verse eight. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth. So is just like the wind, doing whatever it wants to do, blowing wherever it wants to go, landing upon whoever it wants to land on, and you can't control it, and you can't see it coming, and you can't see it going. He says, so is everyone that is, what?

Not born of the flesh, that's Adam, born of the spirit. That's why we use quickening. Because we're not being regenerated, we're being brought to life. We didn't have life to begin with. We're being brought to life, but it is not Physical life, because I'm already alive, ain't I? You see me in Adam? I'm alive. Physically, I'm alive. Spiritually, in Adam, I'm dead. Right now, physically, in Christ, I have no body. Physically, in Christ, I'm spiritually alive, though. It's just the opposite. See, I have a physical body or my spiritual person waiting for me. So quickening is not regeneration. But quickening is not necessarily salvation. It is the evidence or the outflow or the blessing of salvation, to be born from above, to be born again.

Look, if you would, with me at Ephesians chapter two, verse one. But notice while we're there in John, my point, I skipped right over my point. My point was, the wind blows where it listens. The spirit does the work where the spirit wants to do the work.

But look with me at Ephesians chapter one, or excuse me, Ephesians chapter two, verse one, and you hath the preacher quickened who were dead in trespasses and sin. Is that what it says? You have the evangelist, the missionary, the televangelist, the radio preacher, the tape ministry, the video ministry, sermon audio, track society, signs of the times. Nope, it doesn't say any of that.

Who hath quickened you? And you, hath he Christ Jesus quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins so there's that word the Bible uses quickened to be made alive opposite of dead in trespasses and sin means spiritually alive alive no trespasses and sin justified dead in trespasses and sin alive and justified before God who hath done that he hath done that to who? You. Who is the you? His people.

And it's called quickening. Not called regeneration. It's called quickening. But quickening is something different than salvation. Now, I will say this in this aspect, quickening is a saving from dead and trespasses and sins, just like conversion is not quickening. Conversion is something that happens to somebody who is already quickened.

Conversion is a salvation from misunderstanding or salvation from wrong understanding salvation from ignorance we'll go over that here in a little bit but look if you would now john chapter 5 verse 25 john chapter 5 verse 25 i know i'm going to get a lot of flack on that adam stuff but brother i can't unsee that from the bible i can't find where the tradition that says adam did all this Adam did that or was spiritually alive and all that. I can't find that in scripture. John chapter 5 verse 25.

Verily, verily, I say unto you the hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they shall live. As the father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the son to have life in himself and hath given him authority to execute judgment also because he is the son of man. So God has given to Christ, Christ being God, manifested in flesh. Christ is the one who is executing life.

According to this, according to my estimation, The voice of the Son of God is the one who calls somebody to life, not the preacher. I know somebody who say, well, I know, but it's Christ's voice through the preacher. Well, if it's the preacher, then if the preacher doesn't say that, then Christ's voice is never gonna be heard. So there you're back to the issue of salvation is dependent upon something that man does. whether it's the one receiving or the one who is administering the gospel. Salvation can't happen without you involved. But the Bible says that that's not true. See, it's the voice of the Son of God, but it's not the voice coming through the preacher. It's not the voice that is coming from a speaker or through some pages. It's the voice that's coming through into the heart and into the mind by the Spirit of God who is causing you to hear, and here it is, and to understand rightly.

Because before you are understanding wrongly, before Adam sinned, before Adam was quickened, before Adam was given to know good and evil, Adam had no idea. But when Adam was given to know the difference between good and evil, that was proof that he had been made alive to his situation, made alive to spiritual things. Before, he didn't know spiritually anything. But whenever he was made to know spiritual things, guess what? He knew that he was naked before God and had sinned before God, was guilty before God, and he knew he needed to do something to fix that. Guess what?

That's how all of us are. In our natural selves, we don't know that we are spiritually destitute and can't do anything for God. And so what do we do? We fill our life with religion. to make ourselves acceptable before God. But whenever a child of grace is quickened, what happens? That child of grace ceases to look to their cells and their fig leaves that they're making for themselves to cover themselves and make them acceptable for God to cover our dirtiness. Our nakedness before God. What are we doing? A child of grace who has actually been quickened turns from that and sees righteousness only in the face of Jesus Christ and sees my complete inability before God.

That's a grace of God. To know your sinfulness is a grace of God. It's a gift of God, a blessing of God. To know how poor you are before God is a blessing. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Those who are out there boasting about how they've become less sinful and have become more holy, guess what?

More than likely, they're probably not quitting because they're still putting on fig leaves. The child of grace comes before like that publican did in the church. He came first and said, Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner. Couldn't even look up and ask. that Pharisee stood there, what'd he do? And I'm glad I'm not like that guy, Lord. I thank you that you made me, brought me out of what I was and made me what I am today. When all of us are destitute, just like that publican. And that's what we see. Brethren, this is what we see here.

When a child of grace is given to know their sinfulness, they know that they can't make any righteousness of their own And they look only to Christ. Their hope is in Christ. Their joy is in what Christ has done. They live off of what Christ has done for them.

And Christ delivers that message to their heart as only he can do. He's the one who changes their heart by giving them life. And he's the one that now makes the message of turn from yourself and turn to me. repentance and trust in me. He's the only one that can make somebody do that.

Give them understanding. So conversion or repentance is turning from self reliance to Christ reliance. A change of mind. About my condition, a change of mind about my ability A change of mind about the source of my righteousness. It's the voice of God that does that. 1 John 5, 1, please. We talked about these verses a few weeks ago. Look at verse 1. 1 John 5 and verse 1.

Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is already born of God. So to believe that Jesus is the Christ requires you to already be what? Born of God. If you don't think that that's clear enough, look at verse nine. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater.

For this is the witness of God, which he hath testified of his Son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath already the witness in himself, the Son of God in himself. Christ is already residing in the one who believes. He that believeth not God, hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave of his son.

And this is the record that God hath given to us, eternal life, and this life is in his son. He that hath the son hath life, and he that hath not the son hath not life. And if you don't have life, you don't believe. If you have life, you will believe. The believing comes because of life, not the other way around. You do not get life because you believe, because believing can only come from life.

You say again, Mike, what does all this have to do with Acts chapter 10? Because brethren, we have to have the biblical foundation of what quickening is, being made alive. We need to know what conversion is, or repentance is, or Well, we'll just stick with those two words. Conversion or repentance is, once we know what that is, then we can take a look at Acts chapter 10 and see what does the Bible say about people and how they come to know the Lord. Okay, so we see the quickening in these verses that we've already looked at is a bringing to life from dead and trespasses and sin, and that it is a work that is done immediately by the Holy Spirit of God, not by anything that man does. It is a work that God does inwardly to us. And the result of that work or the result that can only come after that takes place is belief. Belief can only happen once life has already been instilled. in us.

Now what is conversion? We hear this term all the time. What is conversion? If conversion is not being made alive and it's not being saved, although it is a salvation, it's a salvation from wrong thinking. But most people, whenever they talk about salvation, they're talking about, I've been, I've moved from death to life. I've moved from going to hell to go into heaven. I've moved from my name not being in the book of life to now being in the book of life.

These are all things that we think happen when we believe. That's how we've been taught. That's how I was taught. That's how these brethren were taught. That's how some of my children were taught for a while. That's how I used to teach it. I used to teach it myself. So, you know, I'm not blaming anybody. before me and I'm not blaming anybody after me because I'm guilty of it. It's our natural understanding. It's natural man's wisdom.

But what is conversion? Quickening is a life that is given by God alone, but conversion is light given to those who are already alive. That's what conversion is. Conversion is whenever, now that we have been made alive, there is a message that comes to us that gives us light about what has happened to us and for us.

You know my favorite verse, one of my favorite verses, right? Probably already know where we're going. But we're not going there yet. We're going to go there in a second. but go, if you would, to 2 Timothy chapter two. We are gonna make it to the first chapter here in 2 Timothy, but let's look here first.

Verse 24, 2 Timothy 2.24.

And the servant of the Lord must not strive I'm asking you guys speak up and answer this. What does the word strive mean. When someone says you know I strive to do this. Try. I can be definitely one of the definitions of strive. I work towards this. I. struggle to these ends? I mean, strive to me, whenever I hear the word strive is I'm pressing, I'm trying, I'm, you know, I'm working hard at accomplishing something. What does this say right here?

And the servant of the Lord must not strive. See, there are a lot of people that are out there that are just beating people over the head, beating people over the head, beating people over the head with the gospel because they think that they can convince them to be saved. This right here says, if you're a servant of the Lord. You must not strive, but be gentle unto all men.

I don't have a problem with us sharing the gospel with people. A lot of people think we don't believe in that, or they take the other notion that if you believe in predestination, what's the purpose of doing that, right? Gentle, how do we do that gentle? How do we preach the gospel gentle? How do we do this gently?

Well, number one, we're not in our minds thinking that if we don't do this, something's gonna happen to that person. their destinies are gonna be forever changed, right? So it's gonna keep the worried aspect, it's gonna keep the frantic aspect, it's gonna keep the, well, we better raise a lot of money because we need a lot of money to get everybody out there aspect, gone away, done away with. But second of all, whenever we understand this gentleness, It means we present it and we leave it.

To those who are made alive, it is good news because the Bible say that it is a saver of life to life, but it's a saver of death and to death. To those who are dead and trespasses in sin, the saver of the gospel is death to them. That's not good news. That's horrible news. You mean to tell me I don't have to do anything? I am as bad as you're saying that I am, and that God doesn't even see anything good in me? I just don't believe that. There's a little spark in everybody. There's a little good in everybody. There's a little something. They don't like that. They don't like to hear there's not going to be any backpacking on my palms. I won't get a certificate. I won't get a pin. I won't get called out at the convention. I'm not gonna get this or that.

Whenever we get to heaven, God's not gonna say, well done, you good and faithful servant, you. See that, to the person who is alive though, that says, and has been given to know, I can't do anything. And they hear the good news, Yes, you can't do anything, but guess what?

You see this man, he's done it all for you. And you see what he stands for, justice and righteousness and holiness. Well, that justice has been satisfied. You don't owe it anything. You see that law over there that was condemning you? You are dead to it and you don't owe nothing to it anymore. and it cannot ever, ever, ever condemn you. No matter how many more times you break that law going into your future, it can't change the fact.

Gentle is me presenting that and leaving it. I'm not trying to pressure somebody into I've been a part of or in church meetings during invitations where preachers have literally wore people out Trying to get people to make decisions Come to the altar to pray to choose Jesus, whatever the phrase you want to use No, be gentle apt to teach patient And verse 25 here it is in me this instructing those that oppose themselves if God per venture, if God, not if you, but if God per venture will give them. Now brethren, I don't know how much, there's so much pack in this verse. You can preach on this for days and days and days. in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, if God, so it takes God to do the work, her adventure, if it's in his purpose, if it's in his plan, if it's in his will, if it's in his operation, will give them. That tells me they don't have it and they can't get it unless God not only purposes it, but does it. if God will give them repentance.

Repentance, turning from sin, never going back to sin, turning away from sin and going towards God. I'm turning away from sinfulness and I'm going towards holiness. I'm turning away from sin because the definition I always heard growing up, the definition I always used when I preached, the definition I heard from other churches outside of my own growing up, was always this. Repentance is a change of mind resulting in a change of action. My mind gets changed, my action follows suit. Well, the Bible says repentance is a change of mind from one thing to a change of mind in another thing. because Paul, his mind knew that he was a sinner, could not keep the law of God, but he knew that his mind had been changed. And now with my mind, I will serve the law of God.

He didn't say, in my mind, I began to know that I am a sinner. And then in my actions, I began to change who I was. And instead of being the man who could not do the things I wanted to do, now the things I want to do, hey, that's what I do. And the things I don't want to do, I don't do them anymore because I have repented. Repentance, brethren, is not necessarily and not prominently in the scripture meaning to turn from sin to not doing that sin anymore. I once was a drinker, now I am not a drinker. I once was a smoker, now I am not a smoker. I once was an adulterer, now I am not an adulterer. I once was a harlot, now I am not a harlot. Once I was a greedy man, now I'm not a greedy man.

Whatever sin you want to tag to it, Because in the end, when you turn from that, you still have other sin that you have not turned from. Therefore, you have not repented of sin. Singular, meaning the action of missing the mark, not hitting the standard, not being righteous. Keep them in all these 25, 30 over here, but you've still missed it over here. And if you've missed it over here, guess what? All these don't matter. You're still unrighteous. You still will not be accepted.

The child of grace receives that with an ear that says, praise the Lord. The child of Satan says, oh, I'm not going to get the accolades. What? God has to give them repentance to the acknowledgement of the truth. So conversion is God granting repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.

Now you can look at 2 Timothy chapter 1. Verse 10, we'll start with verse nine so you can see what we mean. Who has saved us, called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. So there's our standing, brethren, that I was talking about earlier. There's our standing. But look at verse 10. but now there's a change of our standing eternal standing to our experiential dealing in time right our experience in time but now made manifest by the appearing of our savior jesus christ who hath abolished death and had brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

So the gospel is not to bring life, but to bring light to those who already have life. Quickening is giving life. And we found that quickening is only by God and only in God's time without any external help, right? It's the immediate work of the Spirit alone. Conversion, on the other hand, is the child of grace being granted repentance to the acknowledgement of the truth that gospel is bringing to light what is already true. Bringing to light the fact that he has been given life. being brought to light that he is a child of God, being brought to light that he has been given all spiritual blessings and heavenly places and it's just before God without any work upon his own. So quickening is life, conversion is understanding.

Now, I think I'm gonna stop right there because that kind of lays the base work What I would like to do next week, if the Lord willing, I would like to look at Acts chapter 10 and the life of Cornelius. It's what I just preached about people being quickened without the preaching of the gospel, without any work being done by anybody else. Is that biblically based? Is there examples in the scripture of immediate spirit quickening? Is there principles in the Bible that this is taking place? Is there proof that Cornelius was already a born-again child of grace before he ever heard the gospel from Peter? Before he was ever baptized? Was his sins already washed away? Lord willing, we'll pick up from that unless the Lord leads in a different direction. We'll pick up from that. Anybody got any questions, comments? All right, let's pray.

Father, we thank you today for your mercy and the grace that we have through the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for your word that once again guides us into all truth by your spirit. Father, we thank you for what has been revealed. And Father, we pray that our understanding might be opened to what is there. And Lord, we just thank you that all salvation is a work and a completion of you and you alone. We thank you, Father, for that. We thank you for the gift of life. We thank you for the gift of repentance. We thank you, Father, that you have called us. from the dead and that you have granted unto us the life that we have in Christ Jesus.

And we thank you for the gospel that brings that good news to us, that we might rejoice in it, that we might live in the good of it, that we might, by your spirit, walk each and every day in the happiness and in the life that flows from his work, not only for us, but in us. So thank you once again for all that you've done, for all that you are. We thank you for the discussions that we've had this morning. Prior to the live stream, Lord, we thank you for the opportunities that we have and all of that, just as much as we do whenever we gather around like we are now.

Father, we thank you for the fellowship of the brethren. We thank you, Father, for all that you've done. We thank you for being with our brethren, Brother Tom Armstrong and the surgery he came through this week for Brother Mark. surgery that he had the other day. Lord, we just thank you for taking care of them and bringing them through.

We pray for all of our brothers and sisters in Christ that are not here today. We ask that you might be with them, that you might minister to them where they're at. Lord, we thank you for all of our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world. And we do continue to pray for our leaders. We continue to pray for all the people in all these places where Christians are being persecuted. We ask, Lord, that you just might be with them, that your purposes will stand.

We know they will, but we pray that you give grace and mercy to your children in the midst of all those tribulations. And Father, Lord, we know that your grace is sufficient, so may it be so according to your will. We love you, we praise you, and it's in Christ's name that we pray, amen.

Quickening VS. Conversion (Repentance)

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about quickening and conversion?

How do we know salvation is entirely God's work?

Why is the concept of legal salvation important for Christians?

What is the relationship between quickening and faith?

Sermon Transcript

Comments

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Quickening VS. Conversion (Repentance)

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about quickening and conversion?

How do we know salvation is entirely God's work?

Why is the concept of legal salvation important for Christians?

What is the relationship between quickening and faith?

Sermon Transcript

Comments

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