Convert or Born Again?

Q: What does the Bible say about being born again?

The Bible teaches that being born again is a spiritual rebirth that comes from God’s sovereign grace, not from human effort. In John 3:3, Jesus emphasizes the necessity of being born again when He tells Nicodemus, 'Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.' This rebirth is entirely a work of the Holy Spirit, as indicated in John 3:8: 'The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.' This teaching aligns with the historic Reformed understanding that regeneration is solely an act of God's providence, where He calls the elect to faith in Christ, highlighting the importance of God’s sovereign grace in salvation.

Q: How do we know that God's election is true?

God's election is affirmed through Scripture, which teaches that He chooses individuals for salvation based on His sovereign will. The doctrine of election is grounded in passages like Ephesians 1:4-5, which states, 'Even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love, He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will.' This clearly indicates that God's choosing is not based on any foreseen merit or action on our part but is solely a result of His sovereign purpose. Moreover, Romans 8:29-30 elaborates on this by explaining how those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, demonstrating that His election is part of the golden chain of salvation which ensures that the elect will be called, justified, and glorified.

Q: Why is understanding conversion important for Christians?

Understanding conversion as a sovereign act of God emphasizes the necessity of divine grace in the salvation process. While many may view conversion as a result of human effort or decision, the Reformed perspective teaches that true conversion is a work of God’s grace. Acts 10 illustrates this truth through the story of Cornelius, who, despite his piety, was still considered unsaved until he heard the gospel. This indicates that conversion is not merely about adopting a new belief system but rather being spiritually reborn by the Holy Spirit. Acknowledging this helps Christians recognize that their salvation is not from themselves but is a gift from God, as emphasized in Ephesians 2:8-9: 'For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not the result of works, so that no one may boast.' This understanding fosters humility and gratitude in the life of the believer.

What a delight it is to be here today, and I'm so thankful that we get to gather together in the freedoms that we enjoy to be here. Good to see everyone. I have been shocked that there is an entire study of the Bible to find the discrepancies in it. Did you know that many of the great schools of study of religion has a department that allows people to teach that there are discrepancies in the Bible and that it is not all correct.

Hmm, how sad that is. When God saves us, we are shown particularly one thing. This is God's word. This is God's word. Now there are times when I can clearly tell you that there are passages of scripture that I do not understand. But I can also tell you that they do not contradict what God says in other places. They are just, I have to say, I know what it doesn't say.

We will never find that people are saved by works. We will never find that there ever was another savior except Christ the Lord. We will never find that God wished to do anything, that he is not the fountainhead of every and all spiritual blessings. We'll never find that.

It is in his word, and if we run into a place of scripture that we don't understand, don't take that as your text. Take that as a passage of scripture I don't understand, and I pray to God that he reveals to me the truth of it in time. but never say, I'm going to take this as the substance of what the Bible has to say.

Well, join me this morning, if you would, in the 10th chapter of the book of Acts. The 10th chapter of the book of Acts. We have here the wonderful account of the salvation of Cornelius. Roman soldier, a Roman officer, a Roman soldier who is many, many miles away from home. Some 1,300 to 1,500 miles from Rome where he grew up in Italy.

Here in the book of Acts chapter 10, I want to read the first eight verses for our message today and look at some of the thoughts that are contained in that. For we find that the Apostle Peter is going to be continuing his ministry and he's going to be given true revelations of God. about taking the gospel to the Gentiles. Now, in the book of Isaiah, you find a number of times that Isaiah spoke that the gospel would go to the isles of the Gentiles.

It's a wonder that the Israel at the time of the Lord Jesus didn't understand that, but they didn't. The first verse I ever learned to quote, but you can't get, oh, you know it, John 3.16.

John 3.16, that was the first verse of scripture that I ever learned to quote because that's what we had to do to get some prize in the Bible class I was in.

John 3.16, you know, they never shared with me that that is a verse of scripture that needs to be taken in context.

Context is very important and that's gonna happen here in this. It says, there was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion. And that means he had a hundred men under him in the Roman army of the band called the Italian band. He was from Italy. He had a group of men from Italy. and he is here in Caesarea, which is part of what used to be Israel, the promised land as we know it, the land that God gave to the children of Israel.

And if you look at this, you find out that when Peter went to talk to this man at God's command, he went to talk to somebody that was ruling over a country that most of the Jews didn't like having there. He's going to be asked to do something that is quite uncomfortable, but he does it. It says about this man, he's a devout man, one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to people and prayed to God always. I am shocked at what most commentaries say about that verse of scripture, because this man at this point is not saved.

So they jump on the bandwagon and say, look what he has and look what he's offering God and that's what got God's attention. Well, we hope we can dispel that. He saw a vision, in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day, an angel of God coming in. Now ninth hour of the day is three o'clock in the afternoon and it is the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. That's what he has been taught to do. We're going to see that in a moment.

He saw an angel of God coming into him and saying unto him, he knew his name, Cornelius. And when he looked on him, he was afraid. I don't blame him a bit. and said, what is it, Lord? And he said unto him, thy prayers and thy alms are come up for a memorial before God. How many people have jumped on that bandwagon? It's your alms and your prayers. All right.

He said, now send men to Joppa and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter. He lodges with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the seaside. He shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do. And when the angel which spake unto Cornelius was departed, he called two of his household servants and a devout soldier of them that waited on him continually. And when he had declared all these things unto them, he sent them to Joppa." All right. We're going to stop there because the very next thing, we find out that God is working on the other end. on a man by the name of Peter, Simon Peter.

He's going to bring him some things that he had never seen before. I was reading a commentary about what came down in that sheet. Robert Hawker said, every animal that was on the ark was in that sheet. Well, it's a vision. Remember, it's a vision. It's not literal, it's a vision. But he was given opportunity to eat every animal that was on the ark, and he responds to God, I've never eaten anything common or unclean.

All right, that's as far as we're gonna go with that. There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius. Now, I often like to look up the names, the meaning of names of people that I find in the Bible. And oftentimes, it gives us some inside edge about those folks. Well, this man's name, means of a horn. So they didn't tell me much, but the man who defined his name has the last name of Thayer. And Thayer wrote a Greek English dictionary for us to understand some of the Greek words.

Now, when he used that term and shared with us the meaning of Cornelius's name, he would have been much better off to just be silent with the rest of it because he adds some confusing terms. he reveals what he has to believe about what is happening here. In fact, he says here, Cornelius is a Roman centurion, which is we find in the scripture of the Italian cohort, stationed in Caesarea, and then he says, who converted to Christianity. who converted to Christianity. Well, if you look up the word converted, converted means in a religious sense, someone who has adopted a new belief or religion. Now we're gonna find out that he did that very thing, but it wasn't Christianity that he converted to.

You do not convert to Christianity. You're born into Christianity. You're born into Christ. It is not a process we go through of education. It is not a process we go through of memorizing enough verses of scripture or coming to some conclusion about who Jesus is. That is not enough. We are not converted. In fact, the Church of the Living God is not after converts. We're after God to do his business with people that hear the gospel. Matthew chapter 23 and verse 15 shares with us what the Lord Jesus thought about making just converts.

I'll never forget going over to visit my dad one time and the pastor of the church there in town, a little town I grew up in, came up and parked and he had somebody with him. And I don't even remember who was with him, but my dad says, well, Frank, how's it going? That's the pastor's name. He says, what are you doing, Frank? And he says, we're on a church membership drive. Now, I didn't know anything, but I knew that was wrong. Nobody, no church should be on a church membership drive. And a true church, Church of the Living God, would never be on a church membership drive. It's not my business to make church members.

Here we find in Matthew chapter 23, turn there with me, Matthew chapter 23 and verse 15. Now the word in this verse of scripture is a proselyte, that is a convert. In this verse of scripture, the Lord Jesus Christ uses a proselyte. And you know what? That is exactly what Cornelius is. He is a proselyte.

He has adopted Jewish religion. He has adopted, someone came to him, said, your religion is no good. And you'd be really, really smart It would show signs of intelligence if you joined our religion. And he thought about it for a while and he says, okay. And he adopted the Jewish religion. He no longer was following the Roman mythology gods. He was following the religion of Israel.

In Matthew chapter 23 and verse 15, he says, woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. This is Jesus speaking. It says here, for ye can pass sea and land to make one proselyte. And when he is made, ye made him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

It is not our business, it's not the business of the church, the church of the living God, to ever make converts, to make proselytes. We're not in that business, never have been, never hope to be. When a church gets into that position, they've forgotten the reason that they're there. What is the church's business? That is to preach Christ and Him crucified. Who is going to take care of the results of of God's business of preaching Christ and Him crucified.

Turn with me back to the book of Acts chapter 2, and the Bible tells us clearly about this very subject that we want to look at. In the book of Acts chapter 2 and verse 47. In the book of Acts chapter 2 and verse 47, we read these words. Well, added to the church daily, such as should be saved. I'm gonna have to have Mike go over my notes.

Acts 2.47. Oh, I'm in the book of Luke, no wonder. Thank you.

Acts 2.47. Praising God and having favor with all people, Now notice this with me. And the Lord added daily to the church such as should be saved.

Now he wasn't asking for converts. He wasn't asking for people to join the church. He wasn't asking because there was a need with the treasury. We need to have more people attend so it looks better. That wasn't the reason. We have here that the reason that people are added to the church is because God does that. That's his business. adds daily such as should be saved. He is very discriminant on who he brings into the church. It's not indiscriminate business, it's discriminant business. And he said here that he adds daily.

In the book of Acts chapter 10, let's go over there to Acts chapter 10 again, as we look at Cornelius and we look at the situation there. We find out that there is a certain man and this certain man is known to God Almighty. I like the way that we find that term from time to time in the scripture, a certain man. A certain man, a certain person, someone distinguished from all the rest are mentioned here in the book of Acts chapter 10. There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius.

Here we find that so often in scriptures this same principle is found. I would ask you to look at a couple passages of scripture here over in the book in John chapter 5 and John chapter 9. So if you join me in John chapter 5 verse 5, we read these words about a certain man. John chapter 5 and verse 5.

And a certain man was there. He was there at the Pool of Bethesda. He was there with a whole host of people that had many different maladies and illnesses. A certain man was there, which had an infirmity 38 and 8 years. You know, if just vision for a moment in the mind of the Lord Jesus, as he is in a certain place on purpose, and the Lord is moved upon him to carry out the next purpose, he saw in his mind's eye a certain man in a certain place at a certain time, and he's going to be there.

And he joins himself to that place because he has a purpose to do that. He is not doing random. He is on purpose. Now, so often I find myself doing things randomly and then find out it was the purpose of God all along. But to me it was just a random thing. I didn't know what was going to happen as a result of it. but it turned out to be for God's glory. He put me in the right place at the right time to talk to somebody, and I'm thankful for that, but I certainly couldn't have planned that. I'm going to the post office. I'm going to the grocery store. I'm going someplace, and here I am brought to a situation that God has purposed to take place. So here we find that God had purposed to be there.

He says there in verse six, when Jesus saw him lie and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, He said unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? And we mentioned in the past, this so potent man, he has no concept of what Jesus is talking about there because he thinks that he has to get down into that water.

You know, so often when the gospel is brought to us, we have no concept at all what is being said by the preacher because it is not in our language. We just cannot grasp it. And when we try to attempt to have belief on our own, we're gonna fail. When we try to have repentance on our own, we're gonna fail. We find out that God grants all of those things to us.

So he said here in verse seven, the impotent man said, sir, I just can't get down to the water. Verse eight, Jesus said unto him, rise up, take thy bed and walk. Now I want us to know, realize, let us notice here very clearly that there is one person out of the whole host of people that are there that get to leave without waiting any longer. A certain man.

Well, join me in Chapter 9 of the Book of John, and we have the same principle brought out, and it's a principle of scriptures. I think about Israel. As Brother Loren brought his lesson today, and as we've been going through the Book of 1 Samuel on Wednesday night, we're dealing with Israel in the Old Testament.

Very seldom, Do we ever read that God sent anything to anywhere else but Israel? We don't read of prophets going to the Hittites. We don't hear of the gospel going to the Jebusites. We just don't hear that. God sent his gospel to the Jews, to the nation of Israel.

He's gonna show that all the things that he put them through and did for them and carried for them, that didn't change one heart, it takes the grace of God and the new birth to do that. And then we can worship God. Well, The same is true today. God is very discriminant on where the gospel goes. He's not going to send it to some place where there's no sheep. He's going to send it to where there's sheep. That's just required by God. He's doing his business.

In John 9, verse 1, it says this, and as Jesus passed by, he saw a man that was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Lord, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Well, we know the account of this. He said, this man nor his parents had sinned a specific sin for this to happen, but he tells us here. In verse three, neither has this man sinned nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. If you'll travel with me to verse 34 of this chapter, we find this.

Much has taken place. You know, this man that was born blind and God healed, Christ healed, he's kicked out of church. He's kicked out of the synagogue. They said, how did this happen? I don't know. I don't know what happened. Well, tell us some more. He says, you know, I can only tell you this. I was blind and now I see. I can tell you that.

Well, who was it? Well, someone by the name of Jesus, I understand, but I don't know. Now we get down to the no. Jesus tells us here in chapter nine, verse 34, it says, they answered and said unto him, thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us?

And they cast him out. He's been churched. He's been disciplined. He's been brought before the board. They said, we don't want you around here anymore because you don't answer our questions straight. He answered him the best he could. And then it goes on to say, Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and when he had found him. That's what we find, a certain man, when Jesus had found him. Jesus is in the business of doing his business.

And it says here, when Jesus had found him, He said unto him, dost thou believe on the Son of God? And he answered and said, who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And Jesus said unto him, thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. And he said, Lord, I believe, and he worshiped him.

Jesus was not interested in making a convert. Jesus was interested in bringing the gospel to this man and giving him the new birth. He revealed Christ to him in a very miraculous way, in a way known only unto God. We cannot do this for anybody, but God can do it. Our declaration is Christ and Him crucified.

All right, would you go back with me to the book of Acts chapter 10 as we look down through here at Cornelius again. The situation that is carried on here in Acts chapter 10, we notice that this certain man was miles away from home. as I mentioned, about 1,350 miles across the Mediterranean Sea. He is away from his family. He is away from his homeland.

He is there stationed in this place, and yet we find the Bible declares him as a certain man. that God has his eye on. There is no doubt that some thoughts must have gone through Peter's mind as a result of being sent to a centurion soldier in the Roman army when he was taking the gospel to him. What's going to happen here? In verse 2 of this verse of scripture, in this passage, it says he's a devout man. One who feared God. This word for God also can have a meaning of just a deity, but he gave such alms of the people. He had great compassion. He prayed to God always.

Can a person do all this and still be lost? Yes, he is. He's doing all of this and still is lost. To most preachers, he's candidate for baptism. Let's get it taken care of. But he had no credible evidence of salvation. What was he depending on? Cornelius was a devout man.

He's one that feared God, his house also, but he was a proselyte. Robert Hawker in his commentary brought this subject up, and if you want to look it up on the internet, look up a proselyte of the gate. Now that's what Robert Hawker said this man was. He was a proselyte of the gate, and that meant that he was a historical term for a Gentile in Judaism who worshiped one God and observed the basic rules of the Israel, the law of Israel. He did not follow so far as to be circumcised though. He's a proselyte of the gate. He is worshiping exactly what all of Israel was worshiping, and that is not worshiping the true and the living God because they did not know him.

Cornelius is much like what we read about in Luke chapter 18 about the Pharisee and the publican. They could be compared. They did the same thing. Read with me in Luke chapter 18. In the book of Luke chapter 18, we read here about this Pharisee. And we also could say, this is a comparison to what we have with Cornelius. In the book of Luke, chapter 18, verse 10, we read these words that are left for us to read in our scriptures and to compare scripture with scripture.

Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a Republican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee that I'm not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as publican. I fast twice in a week.

I give tithes of all that I possess. I am a good guy. You know, the only difference that I could find between this Pharisee and Cornelius was Cornelius was nicer. He's the kind of guy you wouldn't mind being around. That other guy, my goodness, go home. I don't want to visit with you. All you do is brag about your works.

You know, I used to have a barber here in town. And I really liked the haircuts I got at that lady. And one day I went in there and sit down and she says, Norm, you never told me you were a pastor. And I said, I knew if I did, you'd treat me differently. Oh no, no, no, I'd never do that. It wasn't five minutes she was telling me of all the cats that she'd saved and all the good deeds that she'd done in her neighborhood. She changed. She wanted me to know her good works.

You know, that has never been salvation. And in fact, we find out the Lord said in his great Sermon on the Mount, that's not bragging rights. It's between you and God. Your prayer life is not bragging rights. It's between you and God. Your alms are not bragging rights. or my bragging rights, it's between us and God. And our fasting is the same way. It's between us and God.

So it's not bragging rights. And as soon as we make it bragging rights, we're revealing a whole lot about ourselves, just like that Pharisee did. Now, Cornelius was much nicer, we have to say. He was not boastful or braggadocious, nor Pharisee equal about what he was doing.

He was a nice guy, but he was still lost. I would rather be around lost people that are nice guys than lost people who are torrid. I like good neighbors, even lost neighbors. But this guy was a nice guy. Cornelius did not need some instructions in being a better Christian. He needed Christ. That's what he needed.

There is a verse of scripture that is gonna clear up anything that we may have in our minds about whether he was saved at this time or not. Because the Bible tells us very clearly, one of the things that God blessed me with, and I trust he blessed you with when he saved you, was that you care about context now. you want to know what the rest of the verses of scripture have to say. Well, let's just jump ahead one chapter of scripture here in the book of Acts chapter 10, chapter 11, excuse me, Acts chapter 11. Here we read that when the apostle Peter went back to Jerusalem to share what had happened down here in Caesarea, but a man that was of the Italian band, a centurion, had been saved by the grace of God. He went back to Jerusalem to say, let me tell you something, God's saving Gentiles.

Hallelujah. It says here in Acts chapter 11, verses 13 and 14. Acts chapter 11, verses 13 and 14. And he showed us how he had seen an angel in his house. He's talking about Cornelius, which stopped and said unto him, send men to Joppa and call to Simon, whose surname is Peter. Now look at verse 14 with me. Verse 14, who shall tell thee words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved.

Up to this point, he is just a convert to Judaism, a Gentile that has accepted another religion. I know how that works. I'm a practicing one for years. I went down to Dallas, Texas to Independent Baptist College and believed one thing, hadn't been there for a week and believed something else and came home and I was a convert to another religion. You know what? made the difference is when God saved me by his grace. That made the difference. When I heard the gospel, when someone like the Apostle Peter came to this Gentile who had all of the mask of religion and preached the gospel and upset his apple cart, and God by his grace saved me. made all the difference in the world.

He saw a vision evidently about the ninth hour, 3 p.m., the angel of God coming unto him, saying unto him, Cornelius, Acts chapter 10 and verse three. As we back up that one to the 10th chapter of the book of Acts, we find the continuing story here in verse three. A vision was sent to his way. He saw a vision. How God takes care of his people, his lost sheep, before he ever saves them. He brought him to the right place to hear the gospel. It was at the right time. It was at the right preaching. He had the right minister there.

You know, in the book of Hebrews, Chapter one, verse 14, we read this about God's work on behalf of his lost sheep. Hebrews chapter one and verse 14. What God does for his lost sheep before he saves them, he has his eye upon them. He knows where they are. He moves them where he needs them to be. Here we have evidence of that.

I just don't think that Cornelius thought going to Israel at this time was in his best interest. He probably argued with his commanding officer, send me anywhere but over there. Those guys are radicals. I'd rather go to Britain. I'd rather go to Spain. I'd rather go to Gaul. Sending me to Israel, that's a death sentence.

And yet God sent him there. Why? Because there was a preacher there to meet him. Here in the book of Acts chapter one, verse 14, it says, are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? My goodness, my friends, if God has ever saved you by his grace, he watched over you before you were ever saved. He had you marked out before you were ever saved. He moved you where he needed you to be before you were ever saved.

He did that because he had a great love wherewith he loved us that in Christ Jesus alone, we would find the hope and peace that we needed so badly. In a Christian sense, Cornelius was an unbeliever, but he's in the right place at the right time. God had his eye on him on purpose. It wasn't that he performed good works and it wasn't because he prayed. It was God had his eye on him before the foundation of the world. God had his eye on him on purpose. God would do what was necessary. We must remember that every spiritual blessing begins with God.

It's not because of what we do that he notices us. He notices us even when we're doing what we're doing. What Cornelius was doing was not good. It made no difference. If God had left him alone in that religion, you know he had been on the left-hand side. He'd have been identified as a goat if he'd have just left him alone. But he was identified as one of the lost sheep. So God had his eyes on him. And he says, how does God move all of his lost sheep from the cradle to salvation?

With great purpose. God practices great purpose in this. As he did with Cornelius, he interfered in Rome to get him in Israel. With great care does he do this. He even gave him a free trip. The army moved him over there. Great care was taken. And you know what? It doesn't seem to be any storm on the Mediterranean Sea. How odd is that? He gets over there in good shape.

He has a house, he has a family, he has servants. How blessed is he? God has given him so much. With great distinction and great direction does God do this for those he is intending to save. And he does it with great resolve too. He is resolved to save all his lost sheep from their sins. Cornelius did all his religious deeds for a purpose, and that was his religion. That's why he did it.

In the book of Luke chapter 15, we find a wonderful account of Jesus speaking about something so dear to him. He tells us in Luke chapter 15, beginning with verse one, these words. There is a whole bunch of sinners around Jesus. Are you one of them? I want to be one of them. He only allows sinners around him. Religion? No. Self-made-ness? No. Proselytism? No. He takes sinners, and here we read, then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him, and the Pharisees and scribes murmured, oh my goodness, saying, this man receiveth sinners and eateth with them.

And he spake this parable unto them, saying, What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbors, saying, Rejoice with me, for I found my sheep which was lost.

I say unto you that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance. I don't know how many commentary says, oh, the angels in heaven rejoice. What does it say there? There shall be joy in heaven over one that repenteth. Who's rejoicing?

God's great purpose of grace coming together. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit rejoice over the salvation of a sinner. They can see the grace that they intended for the foundation of the world being carried out and brought to fruition.

Cornelius did all this that he was doing for one reason, and that was his religion. He did it because he was taught by those who were proselyting him, the Jews. You need to do this. You know what the Jews came back with and reported with regard to the Apostle Paul and his preaching? He was leaving out a very vital point. Remember what that point was? He wasn't teaching anybody, except you be circumcised, you cannot be saved. He left out that point. Why was it important to them? Because that's all they were depending upon. That is not, there is nothing that is part of salvation on our part. It is all a work of almighty God. It was not the act of Cornelius, it was God's time of love.

There's a wonderful passage of scripture in the book of Ezekiel chapter 16. Turn there with me if you would to the book of Ezekiel chapter 16. And we find here, remember, Peter says to those saints in Jerusalem in the next chapter, that he might be saved. He was not saved at this point. Ezekiel chapter 16, and there in verse three, we read these words. Ezekiel 16 in verse three, and said, thus saith the Lord God unto Jerusalem.

Can you imagine telling a Jew these words? Thy birth and thy nativity is the land of Canaan. Thy father was an Amorite, thy mother a Hittite. Now that didn't go over very well. You know what he's saying to them? The same thing that the preacher who brought the gospel to me. We fell in Adam. I'm sorry, you're speaking to the wrong person because I'm doing a pretty good job. No, you fell in Adam. You're a sinner by practice, a sinner by nature, and a sinner by choice.

Well, it goes on, and then he says, and as for thy nativity, in the day that thou wast born, thy navel was not cut, neither was thou washed in water to supple thee, thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. That's what we get when we accept some religion. My goodness, we're still filthy, dirty. We haven't been taken care of. We haven't been swaddled. We haven't been taken care of as a child would be taken care of. The religion cannot take care of our spiritual needs.

And then he goes on to say, for as for thy nativity in the verse five, none I pitied thee to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion on thee, but thou was cast out into the open field to the loathing of thy person in the day that thou was born. Boy, you went to church and you got kicked out. You're thrown out in the field.

And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee, When thou wast in thy blood, live! Yea, I said unto thee, When thou wast in thy blood, live! I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and as increased and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments, and so forth. There in verse eight, it goes on to tell us, and now when I pass by thee, I looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love. That's what we find with Cornelius. Your time right now is the time of love.

God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are gonna come in power. They're going to do what is necessary. We know that a man is not justified by works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. We must agree with all the Bible.

It's not in verse four that he was saved. It is a verse that is often separated from context. Acts chapter 10 and verse four. We find out later he was not saved and God came to him in a miraculous way and said, go call for this man. He knows something about the gospel. We're going to stop there today and we'll pick this up at the next appointed time. And we'll find out Peter is marked out to come and declare the gospel. Nathan, if you'll come.

Convert or Born Again?

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about being born again?

How do we know that God's election is true?

Why is understanding conversion important for Christians?

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Convert or Born Again?

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about being born again?

How do we know that God's election is true?

Why is understanding conversion important for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

Comments

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