James 3:13 to 18 Who Is A Wise Man Among You?

 James 3:13 to 18 Who Is A Wise Man Among  You?

"Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good life his works with humility of wisdom. But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descends not from above but is earthly, sensual, demoniacal; for where envying and strife are, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by them that make peace."  

Wisdom does not mean knowledge.

1. It does not mean information.
2. It means the application of knowledge with divine power to the reshaping of life, transforming attitudes, transforming behavior into righteousness.

 Wisdom, then, is not what I know, wisdom is how I live. And so how I live, according to the wisdom of God, is a barometer on my spiritual condition. And I pointed out to you in the past that God puts no premium on a wisdom that is cerebral or a wisdom that is creedal. The only premium God has to put on wisdom is the wisdom that transforms the life.

 
Wisdom, then, in biblical terms equals lifestyle.
 
It equals lifestyle, behavior.

True wisdom is knowing God in a life-changing relationship, okay?

True wisdom is the outworking of a life-changing knowledge of God.



Remember that the wisdom of the Old Testament was basically initiated by the fear of the Lord. Do you remember that? The fear of the Lord is the what? Beginning of wisdom. Wisdom begins in fearing the Lord.

 To fear the Lord is to have a reverential trust in Him. When the Old Testament says fear God, fear the Lord, it is a call to salvation, it is a call to reverential trust, to commitment, in which a person turns from sin in faith to God and has a hatred of evil and a love of obedience. And we went through all of that in great detail a couple of weeks ago.

So wisdom began at the point when one was ushered into a relationship with God through reverential faith and trust, called in the Old Testament the fear of the Lord.

You remember that Cornelius, because he was a believing gentile, was called a God what?

Fearer, because that was the essence of saving faith. So once a person put their faith in God, then that introduced them into a life of wisdom. The fear of the Lord was the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord was to turn from iniquity. The fear of the Lord was to hate evil and love righteousness. The fear of the Lord was to do God’s commandments.


And that all is a part of a saving work, so when a person put his faith in God, he was ushered into the sphere of wisdom.


And then became the - really, the student of divine wisdom who lived that wisdom out. True wisdom, we saw, comes from God. It is given to one who comes into relationship with Him. And all of us who know God in a personal, intimate way have received from Him that wisdom. Now let me say that again. All of us who know God through Christ in a personal way have received the wisdom of God. And that wisdom of God is manifest in the life of a true believer. Every true believer will manifest the wisdom of God.


We will manifest the wisdom of God, and we should manifest more of the wisdom of God.

A true Christian will love the Lord Jesus Christ and should more love the Lord Jesus Christ.

A true Christian will serve God and should more and more serve God, right?

A true Christian will obey and should more and more obey


. So when we say that having become believers, we have received the wisdom of God, that does not mean we have received and are applying all the wisdom that it’s possible to have. Okay?

It is truly a mark of a believer to manifest the wisdom of God, but none of us manifest the wisdom of God to the fullest possible capacity. And so when we say this is the mark of a believer, we can also say it is an encouraging and exhorting text to increase our commitment to that wisdom at the same time.


The New Testament also ties wisdom to the act of believing.

Matthew chapter 7:26, which is a very familiar text to anyone who has studied the gospels. You remember there are people who hear the Word of God and that’s all, and then there are people who do the Word of God, and they are the true believers. Not the ones who hear and not the ones that say but the ones that do.

And then He gives an illustration of that in verse 24.


"Whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him unto a" - what kind of man? - what kind? - "wise man who built his house upon a rock, the rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew, beat on the house, fell not. It was founded upon a rock. These sayings of mine are also heard by people who do not do them and they are likened unto" - what kind of a man? - "a foolish man who built his house on the sand, the rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew, beat on the house, it fell, and great was the fall of it."

Now, here you have the unregenerate man who is very religious. He’s got all the religious superstructure but no foundation, and he is a fool. On the other hand, you have a truly converted man who does the Word of God, and he is a man who is what? Wise. Wisdom, then, in the words of our Lord right here is equated with true salvation. It is equated with saving, working faith.


Matthew 24:42. "Watch, therefore, for you know not what hour your Lord does come, but know this, that if the householder had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched and would have not allowed his house to be broken into."


Our Lord is speaking. "Therefore, be also ready for in such an hour as you think not, the Son of Man is coming. Who then is a faithful and" - what? - "wise servant whom his lord has made ruler over his household to give them food in due season?"

What Does John 3:16 Really Teach

 What Does John 3:16 Really Teach

 

For God

 

So love the world

That He gave

His only begotten Son

That whosoever

Believes

In Him

should not perish

but have eternal life

 

 

 

Interpreting the Bible Responsibly

 

 

Now here is how it happens: every time I talk about the doctrine of Election, the first verse that gets thrown up to me is how about John 3:16.

"What about John 3:16?" And I would say what about John 3:16 I would say?

 

"For God so love the the world that whosoever..........rest of the verse.

And they would unline whosoever five times. and whosoever believe will have everlasting life?" they will read.

"And".... I would say:

They say "well that means everyone has the moral power to choose Jesus and anybody who choose Jesus out of that moral power will be saved."

I look at John 3:16 and I can't find that. Where is that in that verse?

"Well it is obvious?"

Well no it isn't.

You are drawing an inference (a conclusion reached on the basis of your reasoining, or you are inferring something on the text that is not there, or stated)

"No what the verse states explicit (stated clearly and in detail. leaving no room for confusion or doubt) all who do A will not receive B and will receive C."

"All who believe will not perish." All who are in the category will not be included in the category of those who will perish. But will be included in the category who participate or share will have eternal life.

That is what the text teaches explicity. It tell us what happens to those who believe as oppose to those who do not believe.

Now what does the verse say to those who have the moral power to believe?

Do I need to translate that? Nothing.

What does the Bible say explicity about man's natural ability to incline himself to believe and do the things of God.

What does the Lord say explicity?

"No man (universal nagative) can come to Me unless it is given to him by the Father." John 6:44.

 

"This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father." (esv)

Does the Bible teach that in our fallen condition man have the natural ability in his own power to bring himself to Christ? To choose Jesus when we want to.?

No it doesn't.

The Lord Jesus Christ said. we do not have the natural ability, none of has, unless God meets the necessary conditions for us to be able to respond to the Gospel.

That is what the Bible tells us explicity, (fully and clearly expressed and is demonstrated; leaving nothing mrerly implied. ) about our moral ability.

But that explicit teaching that Jesus gives in John 6 is trumped by an implication drawn (the conclusion that can be drawn from a verse although it is not explicity stated.) from John 3. Same author who said in John 6 only God can grant salvation .

Do not interpret the explicit by your inplicit. But you interpret the implication by what is explicit stated.

　 Luther said' You intereprete the obscure with the clear, not the clear with the obscure."

"No man can come unto me."

Unless the fields had been hpdrepared it was in vain to sow the seed. No effort on the sower's part could make them receptive.

 

The fact that they believed not, declared that their hearts were not prepared, but did not affect the goodness of the seed.

 

This defection did not surprise Him,s he ad alread used words whicdh anticipated it. (John 6:37, 44.)

 

The soul of man the flesh is of no value, so without the quickening Spirit of God all forms of religion are dead and worthless.

"except it were given him." John 6:65

"Plainly showing that by the Father's "drawing" (John 6:44) was meant an internal and efficacious operation, for in recalling the statement here He says, it must be "given to a man to come" to Christ. "

"that no man can come to me, except it be given him by my Father"

'Which is the same, as to be drawn by the Father; for faith in Christ is the gift of God, and coming to Him, is owing to efficacious grace, and is not the produce of man's power and free will." John Gill.

"Because many of you believe not, and therefore, though there is in them the outward appearance of discipleship, they lack the inward divine preparation. " Myers.

"All that brings men to Christ is the Father's gift." John 6;65

"Therefore" (better to say:, "for this cause." (John 12:18; John 12;27) John 5:15; John 5:18; John 7:22 and John 8:47.

"Given" by the drawing of grace.

Christ has come completely round to the fundamental principles with which he stated.

 

The coming to Him,

 

the believing on Him,

 

the spiritual apprehension of His Divine humanity,

 

the adoring acceptance of His precious blood,

 

 the reception of the spiritual life-giving energy which went forth from Him in word,

 

 depended on the Father's "drawing" -

 

on those fundamentnal characteristics of appetite and capacity to receive the grace of Chdrist which are subjective and are referrible to the Father's good pleasure.

 

 

Christ does not give the hunger, but the bread. From the beginning He saw the presence of the appetite after that which He came to bestow.

 

 

Sometimes a morbid cessation of all hunger, a moribund cessation of thirst, may be and is transformed into passionate and life-saving eagerness by The sight of food.

 

 

The Father gives both the hunger and the food, the sense of need and the heavenly supply.

 

 

The love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, is ethe drawing of the Father through the Son to Himself.

 

 

The drawing of the Father is the giving of souls to the Son: A fresh thought is here added, This drawing, thus interpreted, is God's gift also to the human soul.

　

　

　

　

　



　

　

Earthly Wisdom

 

James 3:13-18 Who Is A Wise Man Among You?

"Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good life his works with humility of wisdom. But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descends not from above but is earthly, sensual, demoniacal; for where envying and strife are, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by them that make peace."

 

 

 

 

We will first see what EARTHLY WISDOM IS AND DOES?

It is reflective of sensual feeling, and it goes no further than the fallenness of mankind. That is earthbound, sensual, demonic wisdom, and that’s the way most people live.

But Satan calls it wisdom. Hey, when Eve was in the garden in Genesis 3:6, she looked on the fruit because she heard that the tree was able to make one wise. That was a lie. Satan always promises wisdom and he always promises that you will know and be in the know and understand, be erudite and be educated.

 

 

But the wisdom of the world proceeds from evil spirits.

It proceeds from fallen angels. It proceeds from demons. It proceeds from Satan and his agents who are disguised as ministers of light when in fact they are ministers of darkness. The thing that makes human wickedness so devastating is that man is smart and man is wicked and the combination is deadly. Demonic, natural, earthbound wisdom - mark it - never touches God. It never touches God.

 

It leads man into smugness,

it leads man into self-content,

it leads man into immorality,

it leads him into arrogance,

it leads him into self-sufficiency,

it leads him into total abandonment to his natural impulses.

 
And the only thing, beloved, believe me, that restrains the world at all from an absolutely animalistic existence is that God in His grace has salted the earth with divine wisdom that acts as a restrainer. And He has put here the living restrainer, the Holy Spirit.
 
But when the Spirit of God’s restraining work ceases and when the salt, the people of God, are taken out in the Rapture, all hell literally breaks loose for seven years because evil is no longer restrained, and the earth is no longer salted, and there is immorality and evil to the fullest extent that man would purvey it if indeed he were not somehow restrained. It becomes a malignant infection that spreads its killing influence everywhere.
 

And you look at our world, and don’t you worry sometimes?

 

I know I do, and I say, "How can it just keep getting worse and worse?" Sometimes I get frustrated. How can we stop this? How can we put an end to this? Why does it have to go this way? And I remind myself it can’t go any other way because we have a whole civilization of people who are locked up with human wisdom. They don’t have any answers - they don’t have any answers.

 

That’s why the educational system, in terms of its ability to evaluate man and solve his problems, is an absolute farce because all it is is demonic wisdom touching base with the feelings of man who are locked hopelessly in their own corruption.

 

It offers no answers. That’s human wisdom, and that’s the wisdom that characterizes the world.

 

So James says:

Look, if you’re going around saying you have the wisdom of God but you’re motivated by pride and the reflection of your wisdom is that which is characteristic of the world having been defined as demonic as to its source, fleshly as to its drives, and earthbound as to its extent, then whatever your claim, we don’t buy it. If you’re driven by the wisdom of the world, whatever your claim might be, it doesn’t fly.

The results of false wisdom in James 3:16.

 

What are the results? What comes out of this?

 

Verse 16 says: "For where envying and personal ambition are" - and he repeats the two motives from verse 14, same two terms. For where these things are as motives, bitter jealousy and personal ambition, where these two kinds of evil motives produce earthly, sensual, demonic wisdom, the result is that there is confusion and every - what? - evil work.

 

Confusion. The word is a most fascinating word, akatastasia, it means disorder coming out of instability, chaos, confusion, disorder.

 

The same word is used in James 1:8 the impact of doublemindedness.

 

James3:8 the impact of an uncontrolled tongue, the same kind of chaos, confusion, disorder.

 

Listen, earthly wisdom

 

will never produce harmony,
  it will never produce love because earthly wisdom is, first of all, proud, self-seeking, self-serving, self-indulgent,
 
it destroys intimacy,
it destroys love,
it destroys unity,
it destroys fellowship,
it brings discord,
it brings chaos.
•  

Are you seeing it happen all around our world?

 

Anger, bitterness, lawsuits, divorces, people unable to get along with people, that’s the result, that’s the legacy of earthly wisdom.
Confusion, chaos, destruction, devastation, division,
no ability to love,
no intimacy,
no true sharing,
no real fellowship,
no harmony,
no peace,

and our world is going to get worse and worse and worse as men keep moving toward the inexorable day when Jesus Christ invades this world.

 

So the results of false wisdom -

 

 First of all, confusion, chaos, disruption of all order.

 

Secondly, every evil work. You can’t get more general than that, folks. You say, "What does that mean?" It means just that.

At best, the word phauloi means worthless; at worst, it means vile. Every worthless and vile thing. It contemplates evil.

 It contemplates evil, not from the aspect of its active or passive malignity but rather from its good-for-nothingness, the utter impossibility of any true gain ever coming from it.

 

 So out of human wisdom comes

disorder,

chaos,

confusion, and

absolutely no good at all
 

 

The word "thing" you see there, every evil thing, or every evil work?

 

The word there is pragma, pragmatic. It produces absolutely nothing pragmatically of any value at all. At its best, it produces worthless things. At its worst, it produces vile things. Certainly can’t be of God.

V. PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS

V. PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS

A. Arminian Position: All who believe and are truly saved can lose their salvation.Sinners can lose their salvation by failing to keep up their faith, by falling into a state of serious sin, etc.

B. Antinomian Position: (Also known as "Easy Believism") All who make a profession of faith are eternally secure, whether or not they keep up their faith.

C. Reformed Doctrines of Grace, sometimes called Five Solos  or TULIP Position: All who are chosen by God, redeemed by Christ, and regenerated by the Holy Spirit are eternally saved. They are kept in Faith by the Power of Almighty God and therefore continue to persevere in faith.

D. Scriptural Support for the Reformed or Biblical or Calvinist or Mine  Position:

1.The person who truly believes in Jesus Christ HAS new Life that is ETERNAL.

Jn.3:16 - God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

 

Jn.3:36 - "He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."

 

Jn.5:24 - Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.

 

Jn.6:47 - Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.

 

Jn.6:51 - "I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."

 

Jn.11.25 - said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.

 

1Jn.5:13 - These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

 

1Peter.1:23 - having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever,

 

2. All those who come to genuine saving faith in Christ are kept secure in him for eternity by the Power of God.

 

John.6:35 -40 And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.36 "But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe.37 "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.38 "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.39 "This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.40 "And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day."

 

Jn.10:27 -30 "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.28 "And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.29 "My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand.30 "I and My Father are one."

 

Jn.17:11 - "Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are.12 "While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

 

Jn.17:15 - I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.

 

Rom.8:29 - For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

 

Rom.8:35 -39 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?36 As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter."37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

1Cor.1:8 - who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Eph.1:5 - having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,

 

Eph.1:13 - In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

 

Eph.4:30 - And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

 

Phil.1:6 - being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;

 

1Peter.1:3 -Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

3. True believers WILL persevere to the end in faith and obedience by the Power of the Holy Spirit.

Jn.14:21 -"He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him."

 

Jn.15:1 -11 I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.2 "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.3 "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.4 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.5 "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.6 "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.7 "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.8 "By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.9 "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.10 "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.11 "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.

 

 

Eph.2:10 -For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

 

 

1Peter.5:10 -But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.

 

 

2Peter.1:10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble;

 

 

Phil.2:12 - Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

 

 

Phil.3:12 -Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.15 Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.

 

 

1Jn.3:9 - Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.

 

 

1Jn.5:18 -We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him.

 

Heb.5:11of whom we have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

 

1 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,2 of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.3 And this we will do if God permits.4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit,5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.7 For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God;8 but if it bears thorns and briars, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.

 

9 But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner.10 For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister.11 And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end,12 that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

 

 

1Jn.2:19They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.

 

1Jn.2:25 And this is the promise that He has promised us: eternal life.

Doctrines of Grace : IV Part Irresistible Grace

. IRRESISTIBLE GRACE

A. Arminian Position:

 

• The Holy Spirit cannot regenerate fallen man until he believes. The Holy Spirit does all He can to bring every fallen man to salvation, but until fallen man responds in faith, of his own free will, the Spirit cannot give life. Faith preceded and makes possible the New Birth. Faith gives Life.

B. Reformed Position: or Doctrine of Grace, or  Calvinist.

 

• The Holy Spirit regenerates every one of God's chosen people, enabling them to believe. The Holy Spirit graciously regenerates every one of God's chosen people, creating within them a new heart and enabling them to freely and willingly believe in Christ as Savior and Lord. The New Birth precedes and makes possible Saving Faith. Life gives Faith.

C. Scriptural Support for the Reformed Position:

1. Every one whom the Father has chosen and for whom Christ died, will certainly experience the application of that salvation by the Holy Spirit.

 

1. John.6:37All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.
2. John 6:44 -"No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.
3. \John 10:16 - "And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.
4. Rom.8:28 - And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
5. \Rom.8:32 - He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
6. 1Cor.6:11 - And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. 
   
   
7. 1Cor.12:3 -Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.
   
   
8. 
   2Cor.3:6- who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
   
9. 
   \2Cor.3:17 -Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
   
10. Eph.1:3 - Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,
    





11. Eph.1:7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace
    
    • Eph.1:13 -In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
    
    1Pet.1:2 - elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.
    
    
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    Spiritual Regeneration is an inward change in man performed solely by the Holy Spirit and is not dependent upon man's help or cooperation.

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    A New Birth
    
    
    John 1:12 - as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
     
    Rom.9:16 - then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.
     
    John 3:3 -8 Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."4 Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"5 Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.6 "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.7 "Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'8 "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."
     
    1Pet.1:3 -Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
     
    1Pet.1:23 - having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever,
     
    1John 5:4 -For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world our faith.
     
    Titus 3:5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,
    
    
    

A New Heart

 
Deut.30:6 - "And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.

Ezek.36:26 - "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.27 "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.

 

A New Creation

 

2Cor.5:17 - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,

 

Gal.6:15 - For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.

Eph.2:10 -For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforeh

A Resurrection

Jn.5:21 -"For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to14,  them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.

Jn.11:15, 25, 38-44 Then Jesus said to them plainly, "Lazarus is dead.15 "And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him."

 

 25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live

 

 38 Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.39 Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, "Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days."40 Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?"

 

41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.42 "And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me."43 Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth!"

44 And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Loose him, and let him go."

 

Eph.2:1 - And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,

 

Eph.2:5 - when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with

Christ (by grace you have been saved),

 

Col.2:13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,

 
A Gift

Jn.17:2 "as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.

1Cor.4:7 For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?

 

Eph.2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.

3. Repentance and Faith are divine gifts which are the result, not the cause, of the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit.

Acts.5:31 - Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.

 

Acts.11:18 - When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, "Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life."

 

Acts.13:48 - Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.

 

Acts.16:14 - a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul.

 

Acts.18:27 -And when he desired to cross to Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him; and when he arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace;

 

Eph.2:8 - by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.

 

Phil.1:29 - For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake,

 

2Tim.2:25 - in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth,26 and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.