On Sep 7, 2:03 pm, Bart Goddard <goddar...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> "Gary McNees" <gkmcn...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote
innews:7D23D95C-F5D2-49FF-DDAA-CB7F146D1A0F@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> >> But that is what the free-willers believe: That God leaves them
> >> to choose _freely_ between Him and Satan. And if they choose wrongly
> >> they are ETERNALLY SCREWED.
>
> > Not exactly. We teach that God desires the salvation of all. That He
> > draws all to Christ. But that He does not FORCE them to be saved. He
> > does not save them against their will.
>
> So when Scripture tells you all men are sinful and enemies of
> God, you must certainly believe that it is against _everyone's_
> will to be saved. So now, by your doctrine, _everyone_ is
> eternally screwed.
>
"Blessed are the poor in spirit." "Poor" illustrates one who
recognizes that the only thing he brings to the Cross is the
sin that required it. Like Jacob in Gen 32:10, "I am unworthy"
we must confess our "littleness," our bankruptcy, our total
dependence on God.
The more I study this great doctrine of regeneration in
distinction from conversion, I find it only has to do with
the immateral aspect of man. And note this, the will of
man has no causality on his immaterial self. Paul
realized this and states "it does not depend on the man
who wills or the man who runs but on God who has
mercy." Neither truth nor fellow man can operate
directly on the essence of the soul. Only God has
that capacity. To think that God forces the will to
believe has a false presupposition believing that the
will can produce and effect on the spirit. Confession
and conversion is solely the work of the Spirit exerted
on the newly regenerated spirit of man, the "new man."
This new iimmaterial spirit alone is capable of and
adapted to receive an impression from the eternal
Spirit of God. There is a major distinction to be
made between a mind receiving doctrine notionally
and it receiving it "in spirit and truth."
1) "I will put a new spirit within you"
2) "I will take away the stony heart"
Eze 11"19; 36:26-27
"I will" is God speaking not man. Man's will
has no power to re-incline man's disposition.
Choice proceeds out of inclination even as
effect is the result of prior causality.
"Renew a right spirit within me" Ps 51:10.
"May the God of peace make you perfect
(complete) to do His will" Heb 13:21
"Your people shall be willing in the day of
your power." Ps 110:3
"The Lord direct your hearts into the love
of God." 2 Thess 3:5
Regeneration is the "quickening" which
of God, not of the will, nor of the will
in cooperation with "prevenient grace".
Scripture does not use terms such as
"excite and assist." It uses the terms
"quicken and renew." To excite man
to willfully cooperate would be to
stimulate him, not to impart new life
into him. Man is passive until he is
quickened. And since regeneration is
instantaneous, the sinner's passivity is
instantaneous as well. Man is passive
only for one logical moment. God's mercy,
His creative act of regeneration is like
the "last trumphet" in that the resurrection
of the dead bodies, " in a twinkling of an
eye" is instantaneous and the regeneration
of dead souls is likewise instantaneous and
a sovereign act of God -alone.
The only activity of man upto this instantan-
eous moment of regeneratio is the activity
of enmity against God. After that moment,
and ONLY after that moment, man become
active in submission to God. The carnal,
unregenerated mind is only and ever
characterized by enmity. The spiritual mind
displays the love of God. Man can never
display God's love because it is a love
that is Divine, not human. As soon as the
new life is imparted into regenerated man,
the activity, the filling of the Spirit, is
solely that which of God by His Spirit.
sola gratia
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