THE WORK OF THE SPIRIT IN SALVATION: Conviction and Regeneration

Memorial Drive 9/30/18 THE WORK OF THE SPIRIT IN SALVATION: Convicting and Regenerating Various Texts TWO PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS … … Setting the Stage For Our Study: SPIRIT and SALVATION Notice the repetition of mention of the WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT and SALVATION! The two are connected again and again! … Setting the Stage For Our Study: The BREADTH of Salvation Ephesians 2:1, 5 We WERE dead and then were MADE alive – we HAVE BEEN saved! But SALVATION is broader than that point-in-time, past experience! The Spirit’s work in our salvation began BEFORE we were saved! … THE CONVICTING WORK OF THE SPIRIT (Opening Eyes) “Our salvation BEGINS with our being brought to a profound sense that we need a Savior.” (The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit, Torrey, 81ff) The NEED for the Convicting Work of the Spirit … We were DEAD and dead folks don’t see very well! (Ephesians 2:1ff) We were BLIND because the god of this world had blinded our minds! The “… gospel is VEILED to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has BLINDED the minds of the unbelieving SO THAT THEY MIGHT NOT SEE the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ …” (2 Cor. 4:4) “… when He comes, He will CONVICT the world concerning SIN and RIGHTEOUSNESS and JUDGMENT …” (John 16:8) “CONVICT” – “to convince, to tell a fault, to rebuke and reprove” “Wow! This is powerful! This is astonishing! This is nothing less than miraculous! When I was dead, completely without spiritual life, and when I was absolutely blind, I could neither see nor comprehend my damning condition and my inevitable future -- righteous judgement at the hands of a holy God -- in THAT condition the Spirit of God visited ME, for no reason having anything whatsoever to do with my being deserving of it … God’s Spirit visited ME and opened my eyes to SEE not only my desperate need but God’s loving and sufficient solution to my need! He miraculously prepared my heart for salvation! So much so that this initial work of CONVICTING me WAS and IS literally considered to be a part of my salvation. My salvation started there!” The GREATEST SIN: What it is that will ultimately bring me to face God’s judgement … “… concerning SIN because they do NOT BELIEVE in Me … ” (Jn. 16:8-11) Two Excuses: My sin is too great! My sin isn’t a big deal! One Issue: Pride! Both maximize self and minimize Christ! Our greatest sin problem prior to coming to faith was not stealing, not drunkenness, not adultery, not murder, not homosexuality or fornication, but the sin of refusing to believe in Jesus Christ! See, we might try to excuse ourselves by declaring our sin is either TOO GREAT or NOT GREAT ENOUGH but both lead to the same thing: A refusal to believe in Jesus Christ; a refusal to embrace God’s gracious solution for our sinful failure! “THIS is the work of God, that you BELIEVE IN HIM whom He has sent.” (Jn. 6:29) “… he who does NOT believe has been judged already, because he has NOT BELIEVED in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (Jn. 3:18) Dependence On the Spirit In Sharing the Truth About Man’s Need and Christ’s Solution … … THE REGENERATING WORK OF THE SPIRIT (Making New) “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is BORN AGAIN he cannot see the kingdom of God … Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and THE SPIRIT, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of THE SPIRIT is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 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.” (John 3:3, 5–8) “We are (DOA) dead on arrival spiritually—not just weak, ailing, critically ill, or comatose. There is NO spiritual heartbeat, NO spiritual breathing, NO spiritual brain-wave activity. We are spiritually stillborn, and so we remain—unless God the Holy Spirit makes us alive.” (Who Is the Holy Spirit, Sproul, 15ff) “It is THE SPIRIT who gives life; the flesh profits nothing …” (Jn. 6:63) “He (God) 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 …” (Tit. 3:5) “The doctrine of the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit is a glorious doctrine. It sweeps away false hopes. It comes to the one who is trusting in education and culture and says, ‘Education and culture are not enough. You must be born again.’ It comes to the one who is trusting in mere external morality, and says, ‘External morality is not enough, you must be born again.’ It comes to the one who is trusting in the externalities of religion, in going to church, reading the Bible, saying prayers, being confirmed, being baptized, partaking of the Lord’s supper, and says, ‘The mere externalities of religion are not enough, you must be born again.’ It comes to the one who is trusting in turning over a new leaf, in outward reform, in quitting his meanness; it says, ‘Outward reform, quitting your meanness is not enough. You must be born again.’ But in place of the vague and shallow hopes that it sweeps away, it brings in a new hope, a good hope, a blessed hope, a glorious hope. It says, ‘YOU MAY BE BORN AGAIN.’ It comes to the one who has no desire higher than the desire for things animal or selfish or worldly and says, ‘You may become a partaker of the Divine nature, and love the things that God loves and hate the things that God hates. You may become like Jesus Christ. You may be born again.’” (Torrey, 101ff) Want to see a miracle? Want to see someone raised from the dead? Look around!