The Conversion of Sinners (Extraordinary Grace - Chapter 4)

The current blog entries contains chapters from a booklet I published last year entitled, "Extraordinary Grace".  A free Kindle copy of the entire booklet can be downloaded here - Extraordinary Grace.

Chapter 1 can be read here - "The Real Problem"
Chapter 2 can be read here - "The Plan of Salvation"
​Chapter 3 can be read here - "The Mission of Jesus"

 
“All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out” – John 6:37
 
            Chapter 1 discussed the incapability of humankind to save themselves. It was presented from the Scriptures that natural men are in a terrible condition. They fell when Adam ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They have been a willful participant in their own depravity which resulted from the Fall. They are lawbreakers and subject to the due punishment of their transgression. Thankfully, God made provision to save some of Adam’s posterity and the Jesus, the Son, willingly came to pay the penalty of their sins.
 
            Though Jesus has paid the sin debt for “his people” (Matthew 1:21), these people are still rebels against God and His kingdom (Romans 8:7). God has commanded “all people everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30). Jesus went so far as to say, “unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3, 5). Even after Christ had paid the sin debt, Paul declared that we are all naturally “dead in the trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). People aren’t born into the world saved. All people without exception are born into this world lost and undone “having no hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12). 
 
            This booklet touches on some deeper theological points. However, our “deep theology” can never contradict the plain teachings of Scripture. On the most elementary level, Jesus declared, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God” (John 3:16-18). Believers are saved. Unbelievers are condemned. Jesus could not be more plain about this point. Whatever our doctrinal position is, if it contradicts this clear teaching of Jesus, we have mistaken something. If ever we have unbelievers saved or believers lost, we have arrived at a position which is in direct conflict with the clear teaching of Jesus Himself. 
 
            On the most elementary level, man is born an unbeliever and must become a believer if he is ever to go to Heaven. This may often seem an easily rectified problem. However, considering the state we have already seen man to be in (i.e. dead), this problem simply cannot be corrected by ourselves. We are in a helpless state naturally without either ability or desire to save ourselves. We are antagonistic, unbelieving rebels against God’s cause and we are quite satisfied to be just that. Something must change.
 
God is the Life-Giver
 
            In discussing these matters with Nicodemus, Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). This act of being “born again” is often referred to as “regeneration”. Since we are dead, we must be given life. Just as Lazarus was raised from the dead by the power of Jesus, so we must be raised from our deathly state by the power of God. A dead person cannot raise himself. And a person dead in their trespasses and sins cannot raise himself. This is why God uses the term “dead” to describe our natural state. The Greek word here rendered “born again” could also be translated “born from above”. Unless one is born from above, he cannot be saved. 
 
            The necessity of regeneration is a commonly discussed subject in the Bible. Jesus said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:44). Though man is unable to come to Jesus by faith naturally, God Himself draws men to the Son. You will search the Scriptures in vain for an example of a person God sought to bring to faith but was unable to do so. When God draws men, they come. In the same chapter, Jesus said, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out” (John 6:37).  All … every one without exception … that the Father has given to the Son before time began will come to Him by faith. They will come when they are supernaturally birthed into the family of God. 
 
            Just after discussing our natural deadness, Paul glorious says, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:4-5). God “made us alive”. This is the equivalent of being “born again” or “regenerated”. This is an act of God. Though we naturally were dead, depraved rebels against God’s cause, He “made us alive together with Christ”. To this, the apostle follows up with “by grace you have been saved”. That is, despite what you wanted and deserved, God gave you something else. You deserved the penalty of your sins. God “made you alive together with Christ”. This is precisely what grace is – that is, getting what you do not deserve. 
 
            God is the Actor in regeneration. He is the Cause of our coming to Christ. God “has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3). Lest any of us believe that our faith somehow brought about the new birth, Peter informs us the very opposite is true. God birthed us. He “caused us to be born again”. He lovingly and graciously saved us by grace through faith. “And this is not [our] own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). The Lord is the great Founder of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). When the dead are raised, the Creator Himself is the Actor. When those dead in their sins are raised, the same rule applies. God “has caused us to be born again”. 
 
The Purpose of the Gospel
 
            How does the new birth work? Does God just spiritually unscrew the top of our heads and pour faith in? Or, is there more involved? The Scripture is not silent on this whatsoever. The work of God in regeneration does not in any way eliminate the Gospel. Paul said, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16). Every person that has ever been saved has been brought to Jesus through the Gospel. Paul said, “It is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes”. There is no exception to this. Perhaps one may argue that this limits God. That is entirely incorrect. God was pleased to save people through the Gospel (1 Corinthians 1:21). He certainly could have brought about our conversion any way He desired – and He did! He chose to save people through the message of the Gospel. 
 
            In speaking to the saints at Thessalonica, Paul said, “For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake” (1 Thessalonians 1:4-5). Paul knew God had chosen these blessed saints to be saved because they responded to the Gospel when it was preached to them. But how did these natural men respond to the Gospel? Simply, the preaching of the Gospel was accompanied “in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction”. That is, the Gospel was “the power of God for salvation” to these people. Paul later told this same group, “But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 2:13-14). God chose them. He set them apart “by the Spirit and belief in the truth”. Paul further explains this by declaring that God called them “through our gospel”. No further clarity needs to be added to this statement. 
 
            It may serve well to show at least a couple of Scriptural examples of the new birth as God uses the Gospel to reach His people. When Paul and Barnabas arrived in Antioch in Pisidia, they preached the message of Jesus dying for sinners in the synagogue. God blessed their efforts so much that “the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord” (Acts 13:44). This would have been a mixed audience of both Jews and Gentiles. The Jews “were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him” (Acts 13:45). However, the Gentiles received the message of the Gospel with gladness. Luke explains this by saying, “And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed” (Acts 13:48). Certainly the entire crowd did not believe. But “as many as were appointed to eternal life” certainly did. This is a clear example of who God regenerates in the new birth. 
 
            On another occasion, Paul and his companions made their way to Philippi. Prayer was customarily made by the riverside in this community on the Sabbath day. The disciples met one particular day with some women who were gathered there. It is unclear as to how the majority of the women received the message. However, there is no doubt as to how one particular lady did. Luke recounts, “One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul” (Acts 16:14). This woman was “a worshiper of God” in that she was not a pagan worshipper of idols. She regarded Judaism as her religion. She was not, however, a believer in Jesus until Paul arrived preaching the Gospel. Once the “Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul”, she was saved. This is a wonderful example of how God works in the new birth. He takes the heart and opens it to the Gospel. In response, the sinner happily comes to Christ (Matthew 11:28; John 6:37). 
 
Lives Changed by God
 
            The instant that the Lord saves a person, things change. This does not mean they are fully mature at the point of salvation, for they are not. Initially, all a person knows for sure is that they are a sinner and Jesus paid their sin debt on the cross of Calvary. They are a spiritual infant (1 Corinthians 3:1).  However, the Holy Spirit immediately starts leading them (Romans 8:14). A battle begins to rage inside a person between the old man and the new man (Romans 7:21-23). They are alive in a way they have never been before. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Whatever worldview they had before, all has now changed. 
 
            The duty of the Lord’s churches is to “make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). Simply, we are to go preach the Gospel to the world in hopes that God will use us to reach people.  Since God’s means of birthing people into His kingdom is the Gospel of Christ, it is this Gospel He has entrusted His churches to carry forth (Mark 16:15). This is the example set by the early churches in the Book of Acts. If ever we hope to be used by the Lord to reach lost sinners, we must be found carrying forth that Gospel which is “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). A clear understanding of God’s work in converting sinners ought to encourage each of us to be more faithful in being a witness of the work of Jesus as Savior (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). 
 
 
“Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” – James 1:18