Part Five
    As we consider the doctrine of grace, we are led to examine what it is, and how we came to know about it. What is it that leads one to acknowledge that the teaching of Jesus Christ, and the grace of God that is embodied here is the theme of the entire canon of Scripture that is called The Bible?
    As a dear brother has said in a great message on the subject, "It is grace that allows us to receive grace". And what an awesome truth that is! God's grace is, and has been bestowed upon a people so as to allow, and to guarantee their reception of grace. Without, or apart from God's  grace  that  makes  men  know  of  grace,  they  could never  have experiential knowledge of grace.
    Consider  carefully,  and meditate  deeply upon these  texts of Scripture that I call attention to as we seek to look further into this great and staggering subject of the doctrine of grace. Be most diligent to study and apply yourself to this matter, as the Bible commands us, as here: "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth".  (II Tim. 2:15) "The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love:  therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee". (Jer. 31:3) "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out". (John 6:37)  "But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord,  because  God  hath  from  the  beginning  chosen you  to  salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ". (II Thes. 2:13)
    Consider these Scriptures also: "Fight   the   good   fight   of faith,  lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses". (I Tim. 6:12) "For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call". (Acts 2:39)
    There are so many texts of Scripture that could be cited to further affirm that God calls His elect to Himself in salvation until each of us would soon be overwhelmed were we to consider them all. I do not  want  to  present  another  treaties  as  is  so  often  read when  a particular  doctrinal  statement  or  position  is  under  consideration. Rather, I want to show that because all Scripture is of God, and is therefore profitable to His people, the practical and functional aspects of our lives must be doctrinally sound, and based upon the truth.
    I believe that the realities of life, as evidenced by what is seen, heard, written, and acted upon will clearly show that when moral or cultural breakdown occurs,  it can be traced backward to times and instances  when  doctrinal  deviation  took  place.  When  departure  from sound, biblically based doctrinal position occurs, the inevitability of misconduct always follows.
    Specifically,   I   declare   that   when   the   religious,   or ecclesiastical communities went after the deceptive onslaughts of Satan and  his  prescribed  and  promoted  "free-willism",  the  floodgates  of departures from doctrinal soundness resulted.  And from one departure comes many additional errors. In fact, error begets more error, and it goes on and on.
    I  refer  to  the heresy of "free-willism",  as practiced   and preached by so much of mainline religiousity, because this evil is the exact opposite of the position that I hold that the Scriptures actually teach. This heresy is rampant, and it seems to be ever expanding as men are led by its deceits into a maze of more denials of the work of the Holy Spirit in the calling of sinners unto repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ where life is to be exclusively found.
    "...God is light, and in him is no darkness at all".  (I John 1:5) And yet men lead themselves and others into the chaotic path that leads to destruction. These leaders of the blind are continuing their evil, and in so doing they and their followers are sure to fall into the ditch.  It is a broad way that men are traveling as they imbibe these untruths,  and  practice  these  pernicious,  polluted,  and  poisonous doctrineS of "do-it-yourself" religion. And sadly,  this way, or rather these paths are being traveled by multitudes at this very time,  each telling themselves and all whom they can influence that theirs is the right way; that man finally decides for himself, without the work of God being the cause. Opportunity, they say, God provides to all men without exception,   but only those who will themselves into following are to benefit from what God has given opportunity to receive.
    The Scriptures clearly teach that man is unable to come to Jesus Christ in order to receive life. It is true that all men need the life that Jesus gives,  and all men are responsible to repent and come to Jesus where life resides.  But,  this responsibility to come does not translate into ability, or desire to come. Sin settled that part of the matter; that is,  the ability and the desire to come to Jesus has been forfeited and forever lost.
    When Adam sinned, he and his entire posterity were plunged into the  abyss  of sin and degradation with all  faculties injured beyond repair. Adam exercised his free-will,  and when he did so in that he chose to be with his wife Eve, rather than to obey God and continue in His will,  he surrendered the freedom of his will and placed himself under the bondage of Satan and of sin.  Thus,  his actions are still heaping to himself the consequences of a creature in defiance of his
Creator,  and all that such rebellion entails. His ability and desire towards God is now gone. He is alone.
    Adam cannot return unto God and to right standing and fellowship with Him. He is nakedly exposed, without covering, and without defense. The judgment of God is sure, and there is no escape and no deferral of judgmental consequences, nor deflection of those consequences away from himself. He cannot regain that which he gave up.
    "But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,..." (Eph. 2:4) Oh, how wonderful these words, and how glad is each  sinner  who  is  truly  made  to  hear  them  in  his  heart  of understanding. How sweet to know that where Adam could not, God could. When Adam would not, God would. And so it was, even then, and so it is, even now. "Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins,  and clothed them".  (Gen. 3:21) "Even then".  "Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)  "For by grace are ye  saved through faith;  and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:" (Eph. 2:5-8) "Even now"!
    We may,  in review of the previous studies of the doctrine of grace,  declare  that  in Adam all  mankind became void of desire and ability to come to God where their only help could be found. Also, we have found that before time or creation, God had entered into covenant with Himself to deliver a chosen, elect, loved people back to Himself, in spite of their sin and departure. And this was all purposed before there was manifested need. And in order to accomplish  this grand purpose, the Son had agreed to stand in the place of these chosen ones and to atone for their sins so that they could be justified and rendered suitable to return to God.
    Now, we are comforted with the matter of their being actually and effectually called into the fold of God. We are therefore to examine the intent of God in calling them unto Himself,  and the means that He would employ to accomplish His eternal purpose in that regard. We must  restrict  our  thinking to  the  teachings of the Scriptures,  and refrain from allowing ourselves to be led astray by the imaginations and speculations of men, or of systems. If we would know the truth, we must confine ourselves to the study and application of truth.
    What do the Scriptures teach concerning the calling by God of His elect people, His very own chosen ones? What do the Scriptures teach concerning the work of God the Holy Spirit in bringing to the fold the sheep of God's hand? And what means does He employ in doing so? Or does He employ no means at all, as the so-called "primitives" proclaim?
    Upon careful examination of the texts that were used as this treatise was begun, one is led to the obvious conclusion that if ever man is  to be brought back to God,  then an undertaking by Another, outside of man himself must be the case. In each of the texts that were cited, and in so many others, the picture becomes more and more clear that fallen man must be made holy and willing to come. Holy in order to fit one to come to God, and for sure, willing to come in order that one will come.
    "For it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure". (Phil. 2:13) This text states plainly that it is God who works. And as He works in the objects of His work, He renders those objects willing and able to do the good pleasure of Him who works. What could be plainer than that?

    We find als that Jesus Himself so clearly taught that it is the Holy Spirit that does the working in the bringing of a sinner to God. "It is the spirit that quickeneth;  the flesh profiteth nothing:  the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life". (John 6:63) Here, Jesus is the speaker, and He declares that it is the Holy Spirit who quickens, or makes alive, the previously dead sinner. It is a supernatural work of God.  But He also says that the Spirit uses the words that Jesus speaks as the means of pronouncing that life. God does the work, and He uses the means of the proclaimed gospel in that work.
    An examination of the encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus will produce further indisputable evidence that it is the true teaching of all the Scriptures that God saves sinners, and the work is the work of Himself alone. There is harmony throughout the whole of Holy Writ, and the truth is found everywhere one looks,  so long as the looking is confined to The Book.
    Notice that Jesus insisted upon a strict truth when He said, and affirmed a second time the necessity of a new beginning   that is, a new birth.  In verses  3  and  5  of John,  chapter  3,  Jesus  declared  the imperative, and then emphasizing, "Ye MUST be born again" in verse 7, as if to solidify what He had declared previously. Note this: "...Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God",  and "...Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God". And then, as I said, verse 7 nails it down as to its absolute necessity. A new birth is required in order that any further benefit can accrue.
    While we are considering this matter, let me comment further on verse 5, wherein is the declaration that this new birth is "of water and of Spirit".  There are some opposing views as to the meaning of this expression, "of water and of Spirit", and I want to speak for a moment on those various views.
    Some hold that the "water" in this expression refers to the natural birth that Nicodemus, and all others have already experienced. And perhaps there is some validity in that view, for indeed a natural
birth has preceded any reference to a spiritual birth, or of a being born again, or from above. Those who teach this position can correctly remind us all that there is a factor of "water" when a natural birth is involved. That fact is not denied, nor is it sought to be "taught away".
    I  submit  that  this  is  not  the  true  meaning  that  Jesus  is emphasizing here, however. A natural birth is truly pre-supposed,  for there is no need for a second birth where there has been no first birth. Again, remember, we must not allow our minds to lead us in a direction that  seems  so  logical  and  so sure,  to  the point at which we feel confident that we have found the truth, and thus, cease to look further into what The Book teaches. And we are all, you and I, prone to do this very thing. When we convince ourselves that we have found the meaning of a passage, we stop searching for truth. And many times, we do this much too soon, even before we have begun to see the whole truth.
    Also,  I must be sure to speak against the false doctrine of baptismal regeneration, as some would seek to use this verse to teach that the water here is the baptismal water. This is not the case, and either imagination or dishonesty would lead one to read baptism into the context of what Jesus is declaring to this learned man, Nicodemus. The context demands that we stay with the thought of regeneration, or a new birth,  which is  an actual  and real  occurrence,  and not a symbolic representation of such an event. Baptism is not the issue here. A new birth is what is in view, and I submit that it is more likely dishonesty that  leads  one  to  inject  baptism  into  this  discussion.  Deliberate refusal to properly interpret the Scriptures seems to me to be pretty evident,  and the practitioners of such tactics gather no acclaim, or recognition from God. God deals only in truth.
    There are also some who read this passage and conclude that those who do not equate "water" to a natural birth, are presenting the case for three births, and not just two. The expression from these runs
something like this: "If water does not refer to the natural birth, then you have a natural birth; a separate birth "by water"; and still a third birth by the Holy Spirit". This is incorrect interpretation however, as I hope to show by the following explanation.
    The natural birth is recognized. There is no question that Jesus acknowledged that this man, Nicodemus by name, is a real, live, human being who exists because he has been begotten of his earthly father, and borne by his earthly mother. He is a natural man. But this fact is not under consideration.  It is a fact,  and Jesus and Nicodemus both are fully aware of it.     Nicodemus imagines that Jesus is referring to a repeat natural birth. But the Lord Jesus is NOT referring to a natural birth. He insists upon a birth from above; a spiritual birth.
    What Jesus insists upon, and what this learned Jew, Nicodemus, does not understand is that a second (not a third) birth is a vital, essential,  imperative transaction that must precede any sight of,  or entrance into the kingdom of God. "Ye MUST be born again".
    The "water" here is emblematic of the word of God. And the word of God is  always  shown  to be  the instrument  that God uses in the regeneration of a dead sinner. When ever you read of the instrument that is used in the new birth, and is spoken of in Scripture, it is the word of God that is brought into view. "This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me". (Psa. 119:50) And here also: "For though ye  have  ten  thousand  instructors  in  Christ,  yet  have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus have I begotten you through the gospel". (I Cor 4:15) And finally: "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. (I Pet. 1:23)
    So,  we  may  properly  conclude  that  it  is  the  Spirit  that quickeneth, and that the instrument that the Spirit has chosen to use in this awesome transaction is the word of God; the gospel of the grace of God as manifested in Jesus Christ.  It is the gospel that is used in every single case of regeneration that we know of, as recorded for our learning. Not recorded in the record books of men, but in The Book.
    Some one has asked,  "Could God have saved one apart from the preaching of the gospel? I cannot say that God could. not have worked this marvelous transaction another way. But, this I can say with full assurance, "For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." (I Cor. 1:21) What I can say, and what I must say as emphatically as I can, is that if God ever saved a single sinner by any other means than by the preaching of the gospel, He did not record the event. I believe, therefore, that it pleased God to save sinners through the foolishness of preaching, and that it did not please Him to do it in any other way. Ever!
    From all that has been said to this point, there may still be those who would read all this and say, "But does God actually call the chosen ones to Himself, and does He do so in such a way as to insure their coming to Him?" To which we answer: "Yes, God does actually call His elect to Himself, and He does so in an absolute, unequivocal and unimpeachable manner". His work is always effectual,  in this,  and in every other thing that He does. He always works, and who can withstand His work? He succeeds in all that He purposes. Always.
    Listen as the Lord Jesus Christ speaks:  "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out".  (John 6:37). As plainly and as forcefully as language can express, the Lord Himself declares that those given by the Father shall come  to  the  Son.  There  is  no  supposition  of  alternative  action considered in the statement of Jesus Christ. There is no possibility of failure, either on the part of God who has given; on the part of God who has died substitutionally; on the part of God who calls; or on the part of the object of the call. Neither God, nor the sinner will fail. God is omnipotent, so is immune to failure, and the sinner is impotent to come on his own strength or merit, as well as impotent to successfully resist the irresistible. The transaction is guaranteed to be fruitful.
    Again, Jesus speaks: "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him:  and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets,  And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me". (John 6:44-45)
    These  texts  confirm at  least  three  precious  aspects  of  the doctrine of grace. First, there is the clear pronouncement that some men have been given to the Son, by the Father. This is election. This is an act of choosing some men, by the Father to be His gifts to the Son. Then, there  is  the  depravity  of  men,  even  the  elect  of  God,  which incapacitates them along with all others. Thus, they are, by their own sin rendered unable to come to the Son, even though they were eternally given to Him as His very own. Sin infected God's elect as well as the non-elect. We see here that the act of sin on man's part did not negate the elective choice of God that had preceded sin,  so as to make that choice of God unattainable. Man cannot attain unto right standing before God, but God can bring fallen man to life in Jesus Christ.
    And finally, there is the absolute guarantee that each and every one that God had chosen to obtain salvation, even though man's sin had eliminated all possibility of man ever finding himself acceptable to God, would, in the Person of their Surety and Substitute, be brought to life and to salvation in all its fullness. There is the grand and full assurance that each and every one whom the Father had chosen, and for whom the Son had died, would be in time made to hear of the Father, and to be taught of the Father, by the effectual work of the Holy Spirit, using the instrumental means of the preaching of the gospel. This then results in the fulfillment of this promise, "...cometh unto me". (John 6:45)
    Does God call His elect? Does He do so consistently, both as to who, and as to how? Unequivocally, He does! God does call, and He always calls, and He calls by the preaching of the gospel. And the call that God issues is a call that is never successfully resisted. Every sinner who is quickened by the Holy Spirit is also called by the gospel. Not as a separate activity, but as a most glorious and wonderful expression of God's love for His own.
    Do you remember the texts that were cited at the beginning of this portion of our study? Please read again: "The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore  with  lovingkindness  have  I  drawn  thee".  (Jer.  31:3) And compare this with John 6:45, that says: "It is written in the prophets, And they shall all be taught of God.  Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh to me
    How assuring it is then to know that they whom the Holy Spirit quickens, He also makes known unto them the Father,  and so they now learn of Him whom they had previously not known. And being made to hear of Him, and to learn of Him, they come to the Son.
    But why does God the Holy Spirit quicken them at all, and then why does He teach them of the Father? Why does He continue this work in them until they learn of the Father and then come to the Son? Why? Have you never wondered, WHY?
    "Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee"
Oh,  praise  the Lord!  He has  everlastingly loved His  chosen people.  And it is upon the basis of His love for them that He acts favorably toward them.  Because God loves,  lie acts.  His work is the manifestation of His love.  Where,  and upon whom His love rests,  His actions are to be seen. Always.
    God does not love in a weak, or helpless, or futile manner. God does not find within Himself any degree of weakness,  nor loss   of desire to deal favorably. Where His love is, it has always been, from eternity. And so, His actions toward His loved ones has always been in full accord with His purpose.
    So, does God always work so that His own glory is manifested, and His children benefited? Yes. God so acts - and He shall forever act accordingly - for He is ever the same.
    If God loves you, He has, or will draw you  by the gospel to His dear Son. He will be faithful to accomplish His purpose. He will save His people from their sins. (Matthew 1:21)

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