Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Those Without the Spirit Cannot Please God
This is the third part in a series on "free will."
Yesterday, we showed that man can do nothing to save himself,
but must be "born of God," or regenerated by God, Himself (John 1:12-13).
Today's passage indicates an inability of sinful man to do anything to
please God. Only those who have the Holy Spirit are able to please Him.
******************
5 "Those who live according to the
sinful nature have their minds set on what
that nature desires; but those who live in
accordance with the Spirit have their minds
set on what the Spirit desires.
6 The mind of sinful man is death,
but the mind controlled by the Spirit
is life and peace; 7 the sinful mind is
hostile to God. It does not submit to
God's law, nor can it do so.
8 Those controlled by the sinful nature
cannot please God."
Romans 8:5-8
TWO TYPES OF PEOPLE
There are two types of persons referred to in this passage:
Those without the Holy Spirit, sinful man, and those who have the Holy Spirit.
Those who have the Holy Spirit (have been "born again") are at peace with God,
and live a life pleasing to Him.
Those without the Holy Spirit (sinful man who has not been "born again") have
no desire to please God. In fact, they are unable to do anything to please Him.
Yes, sinful man may do "good deeds," such as helping a neighbor in need or
donating to charity, but God considers these works to be as "filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6).
Compared to a perfectly holy and righteous God, these good deeds mean nothing
to God if the person is not in a right relationship with Him.
Certainly, repenting and believing in God would please Him, but those without
the Spirit are unable to do so. They are hostile toward God.
MUST BE BORN AGAIN
Jesus said to Nicodemus:
"You must be born again (to see the kingdom of God).
The wind blows wherever it pleases.
You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it
comes from or where it is going.
So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
John 3:7b-8
Jesus said that a person must be born again, and this by the Holy Spirit, not by
anything the person does.
The new birth is described in Ezekiel 11:19-20.
God said (about the faithful of Israel),
"I will give them an undivided heart
and put a new spirit in them; I will
remove from them their heart of stone
and give them a heart of flesh.
Then they will follow my decrees
and be careful to keep my laws.
They will be my people,
and I will be their God."
The Holy Spirit causes them to trust in God and obey Him.
They become His people and He becomes their God. Those who have
the Holy Spirit live for God, while those who don't have it will be
punished for their disobedience (Ezekiel 11:21).
GOD CAUSES THE NEW BIRTH
"Praise be to the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ!
According to His great mercy, He has
caused us to be born again to a living
hope through the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead,
to an inheritance that is imperishable,
undefiled, and unfading,
kept in heaven for you,
who by God's power are being guarded
through faith for a salvation ready to
be revealed in the last time."
1 Peter 1:3-5
God causes the new birth, not a decision to accept Christ.
Remember, a person without the Holy Spirit is unable to do anything to please God,
such as trust in Him for salvation.
The power of God the Holy Spirit keeps us saved, not any free will decision a person
makes.
"In Him (Jesus) you also,
when you heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation,
and believed in Him,
were sealed with the promised
Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee
of our inheritance until we acquire
possession of it,
to the praise of His glory."
Ephesians 1:13-14
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Man's Inability to Save Himself
This is part two in a series on "free will."
The following passage of scripture demonstrates man's inability
to do anything to save himself.
Man is unable to do so without God's sovereign action causing it.
*****************
10"He was in the world,
and the world was made through Him,
yet the world did not know Him.
11 He came to His own,
and His own people did not receive Him.
12 But to all who did receive Him,
who believed in His name,
He gave the right to become children of God,
13 who were born, not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh
nor of the will of man,
but of God."
John 1:10-13
Verse 13 is used by many to say that man must DO something to be saved,
that we must "receive" Jesus by faith.
Yes, we must receive Jesus by repenting and trusting in Him, but repentance
and faith are both gifts from God. They do not come from within man.
REPENTANCE
"Godly sorrow brings repentance
that leads to salvation ..."
2 Corinthians 7:10a
Our repentance is not our own, but comes from God.
We would never repent unless God granted repentance to us.
FAITH
"This (standing firm in the faith) is a sign
to them (those who oppose you) that they
will be destroyed, but that YOU WILL BE SAVED -
AND THAT BY GOD.
For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ
NOT ONLY TO BELIEVE ON HIM,
but also to suffer for Him ..."
Philippians 1:28b-29
Faith is a gift from God. We would never believe without this gift.
*****************
Now, let's go back to John 1:12-13.
VERSE 12
So, to be saved, we must receive Jesus through God's grace.
When we receive Him we become "children of God" (v.12).
"Fallen human beings are not children of God by nature; this is the privilege
only of those who have faith, a faith generated in them by the sovereign action
of God." (Reformation Study Bible Commentary)
VERSE 13
We DO NOT become His children by being "born of blood" (v13).
"Blood" may refer either to lineal descent (that is, blood from one's father
and mother), or to the Old Testament sacrificial system (that is, the various
blood sacrifices). Neither is the basis for birth into the family of God."
(Holman Christian Standard Bible Commentary)
We become His children born "not of the will of the flesh (v13).
"Flesh" refers to man here. WE ARE NOT BORN INTO GOD'S FAMILY BY
OUR OWN FREE WILL.
We become His children "not of the will of man (v13).
" 'Will of man' means not of human lineage, or of human capacity, or of
human volition." (HCSB Commentary)
*************
We do not become a child of God through our heritage or free will,
but only by being "born of God" (v13).
This is regeneration, or the new birth, which is a miracle wrought by the Holy Spirit
(John 3:3-8).
Regeneration is God's giving spiritual life to a dead sinner, who is unable to do anything
to bring spiritual life to himself.
This regeneration leads to repentance and faith, resulting in salvation,
AND SALVATION HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH MAN'S FREE WILL!
Friday, December 27, 2013
By Him and Through HIm
This is the first in a series about man's "free will" in salvation.
Does man have to give God permission to save him, or allow God to save him;
or does God's sovereign grace save without any cooperation from man?
I believe the Bible teaches that God saves totally, on His own, without our help.
I'll be giving biblical answers to the questions above, along with some others over the next
few days.
Today, we'll look at Saul's/Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus.
See if you can find any sign of free will here, or if God "chose" Paul to be His own, and to
bring the gospel to the Gentiles.
**********
"But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus,
who became to us wisdom from God,
and righteousness and sanctification,
and redemption, so that, it is written,
'Let him who boasts,
boast in the LORD.'"
1 Corinthians 1:30-31
"Through Him you believe in God,
who raised Him from the dead
and glorified Him,
and so your faith and hope
are in God."
1 Peter 1:21
Christians are "in Christ Jesus" by God's doing, and "we believe
in God" through Jesus.
**********
From The Potter's Freedom, by James R. White:
"Is it by my free will, or God's act of free will, that I am in Christ Jesus?
Every believer must ask this question. It is not enough to limit God's free
will too making a plan available.
The question is not 'Is God ultimately the source of the plan of salvation?'
The question is, Who, ultimately, is responsible for my union with Jesus Christ?
God is both the one who is the origin and source of salvation in general,
and the one who powerfully, purposefully, and perfectly draws His elect people
into blessed union with Jesus Christ.
The Scripture knows no other doctrine. Paul knew this truth doctrinally
and experientially:
'But when God, who had set me apart
from my mother's womb and called me
through His grace, was pleased to reveal
His Son in me so that I might preach Him
among the Gentiles, I did not immediately
consult with flesh and blood.'
Galatians 1:15-16
If anybody knew that the idea of 'free will' was a myth, it was Paul.
* It was not free will that knocked Paul to the ground on the road to Damascus.
* It was not free will that blinded him.
* Paul was not 'seeking after God' nor the Savior, Jesus Christ on that day when
God chose to reveal His Son to him.
No, God determined the day and the hour, and Paul was only happy to oblige.
He preached a powerful grace, a grace that stops the elect in their tracks and
changes them.
Paul knew nothing of a grace that tries and tries, and fails and fails.
It is powerful grace, purposeful grace, sovereign grace that lies at the base of
his words to Titus:
'He saved us, not on the basis of deeds
which we have done in righteousness,
but according to His mercy,
by the washing of regeneration and
renewing by the Holy Spirit,
whom He poured upon us richly
through Jesus Christ, our Savior.'
Titus 3:5-6
Saving grace that brings the gift of faith. A mighty God who saves His elect.
This is the biblical presentation."
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
From Death to Life
"Jesus didn't come to make bad people good,
but to make dead people live."
Ravi Zacharias
*****
NO ONE DOES GOOD
No one is good without God's grace.
"As it is written:
'There is no one righteous,
not even one;
there is no one who understands,
no one who seeks God.
All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one."
Romans 3:10-12
Some may say that they can do good deeds without having God's Holy Spirit,
but when a person is not reconciled to God, then nothing he does is good in God's
eyes. Compared to God's holy standard, deeds that we think are good are like
filthy rags. They pale in comparison to what a holy and righteous God can do.
"All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like filthy rags."
Isaiah 64:6a
A Christian is righteous only because Jesus has mercifully saved him, and taken
the Christian's sin upon Himself, and imputed His righteousness to him.
"God made Him who had no sin
to be sin for us, so that in Him
we might become the righteousness of God."
2 Corinthians 5:21
*****
WE WERE DEAD IN SIN
Before conversion, the Christian was dead in sin, separated from God, and following
Satan. We were under God's wrath because of our disobedience.
"As for you, you were dead in your
transgressions and sins, in which
you used to live when you followed
the ways of this world and of the
ruler of the kingdom of the air,
the spirit who is now at work in
those who are disobedient.
All of us also lived among them
at onetime, gratifying the cravings
of our sinful nature and following
its desires and thoughts.
Like the rest, we were by nature
objects of wrath."
Ephesians 2:1-3
GOD MAKES US ALIVE WITH CHRIST
Though we were objects of God's wrath, because of His love for His people,
He miraculously saved us by His grace.
"But because of His great love for us,
God, who is rich in mercy,
made us alive with Christ even when
we were dead in transgressions - it is
by grace you have been saved."
Ephesians 2:4-5
*****
LIVING BY FAITH
Now that we belong to God, we want to live for the One who died for us.
"I have been crucified with Christ
and I no longer live, but Christ lives
in me. The life I live in the body,
I live by faith in the Son of God,
who loved me and gave Himself
for me."
Galatians 2:20
(Only a Christian can say this).
We live because Christ, even though He died for His people, arose and lives.
This is how we should live.
" ... we have not stopped praying for you
and asking God to fill you with the
knowledge and wisdom and understanding.
And we pray this in order that you may live
a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him
in every way: bearing fruit in every good work,
growing in the knowledge of God, being
strengthened with all power according to His
glorious might so that you may have great
endurance and patience, and joyfully giving
thanks to the Father, who has qualified you
to share in the inheritance of the saints in
the kingdom of light."
Colossians 1:9b-12
Sunday, December 22, 2013
God's Sovereignty in The Christmas Story
In the midst of the holidays, with all the hustle and bustle,
and the shopping, decorating, and partying, we sometimes not
only overlook "the reason for the season," Jesus, but also that
God sovereignly determined every single detail of "The Christmas
Story."
*****
The story doesn't begin with Mary and Joseph, but actually its
genesis is from before the creation of the world. God, the Father,
and Jesus the Son (yes, Jesus didn't come to be at His birth, but was
there with the Father from the beginning), knew that Adam would fall,
causing everyone afterward to be born in sin, and requiring a Savior
who must be a perfect sacrifice to satisfy God's wrath for disobeying Him.
Jesus knew only He could meet the Father's requirements, and He
voluntarily agreed to sacrifice Himself, to be the Savior of everyone who
believed in Him.
*****
The Old Testament sacrificial system was not a failure, requiring God
to revert to "Plan B," Jesus' dying for the sins of His people. No, those
sacrifices of animals foreshadowed the cross, leading the way to Jesus for
salvation. The sacrifices served their purpose as God intended from the
beginning.
God's plan was seamless, and could not be thwarted by any human action.
His sovereign plan was for Mary and Joseph to be the earthly parents of
the Messiah. He chose them for His sovereign purpose, and only they could
serve God in this unique way.
Mary and Joseph were both descendants of David's, just as the Messiah was
prophesied to be.
*****
* God's sovereignty is evident as the angel, Gabriel, delivers the news to
Mary, that, even though a virgin, she would deliver the "Son of the Most High"
through the power of the Holy Spirit.
* We see God's sovereignty as the angel told Joseph that Mary's baby was
conceived through the Holy Spirit, and that the baby would be called Jesus,
because "He will save His people from their sins."
* An angel appeared also to the shepherds, telling them about Jesus' birth,
a star led the wise men on a long journey to find the messiah, and an angel
told Joseph in a dream that Mary and he could safely return with Jesus to
Israel, because Herod, who wanted to kill Jesus, had died.
*****
* Finally, God's sovereignty and foreknowledge are seen in Jesus' death
(the reason He came - "to save His people"), and His resurrection.
Peter told the crowd:
"This man (Jesus) was handed over to you by
God's set purpose and foreknowledge;
and you, with the help of wicked men,
put him to death by nailing him to the cross.
But God raised him from the dead,
freeing him from the agony of death,
because it was impossible for death to keep
its hold on him."
Acts 2:23-24
Peter and John prayed before fellow believers:
"Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together
with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in
this city to conspire against your holy servant
Jesus, whom you anointed.
They did what your power and will had decided
beforehand should happen."
Acts 4:27-28
All of these people did what God had decided beforehand should happen.
These particular people, Herod, Pilate, and Jewish leaders, were destined to
conspire against Jesus, by God's will.
God used wicked people to accomplish His purpose to sacrifice Jesus,
and then raise Him from the dead. All of this, the birth, life, death, and
resurrection of Jesus, are evidence of God's sovereignty.
God, the Father, and Jesus, the Son, worked together, as they always do,
using ordinary people, to save God's chosen ones, through Jesus' birth, life,
death, and resurrection.
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
God's Omniscience in Salvation
Put your thinking cap on because I'm going deep today.
Not really. Every conclusion I reach is logical.
God is sovereign (all powerful) and omniscient (all knowing),
and He does as He pleases (Psalm 135:6).
God knows everything and He knows everything that will happen.
Nothing takes Him by surprise.
If God knows something will happen, then it will definitely happen.
Nothing will happen that God does not know about. If something happens
that God did not know would happen, then He is not omniscient or sovereign;
and that would mean He is not God.
However, God IS God, and He is all powerful and knows everything.
***************
With these facts in evidence, let's look at some logical conclusions about God
and His omniscience in salvation. You may have to read some of these statements
more than once, but logically they make sense.
God knows everything His created will do.
According to His sovereign election, He knows who will believe and won't believe
in Him.
He chose His people "according to His pleasure and will - to the praise of His
glorious grace ..." (Ephesians 1:4-6).
If God knows you will believe in Him, then you will believe. If He does not
know you will believe, then you will never believe. All this is according to His
purpose in election - to the praise of His glory.
*****************
Jesus knows His sheep and His sheep know Him (John 10:14-15).
Jesus' sheep listen to His voice and follow Him in salvation. Those who are not
His sheep do not believe in Him.
"...you do not believe because you are not my sheep.
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they
follow me."
John 10:26-27
God knows how many people will be saved, and that number will not be one
more or one fewer than the number God knows will be saved.
"When the Gentiles heard this (that they could also be saved),
they were glad and honored the word of the Lord;
AND ALL WHO WERE APPOINTED TO ETERNAL
LIFE BELIEVED."
Acts 13:48
God knows who His people are.
"Nevertheless, God's solid foundation stands firm,
sealed with this inscription:
'The Lord knows those who are His ..."
2 Timothy 2:19a
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