(Marsha West – Christian Research Network)
But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect… (1 Peter 3:15).
If you know anything about Christianity, then you know that the early Church was given a mandate by the Lord Jesus Christ to evangelize the lost. “Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, ‘This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem’” (Luke 24:45-47).
Christians are to evangelize the unsaved. Unsaved is a euphemism to describe people who are not going to the kingdom of light (Heaven) when they die; they’re going to the realm of darkness (hell) “where the worm never turns.” Those who reject the gospel message are not born again. Moreover, they’re not “saved.”
In Passivity Wes Bredenhof states that “Regeneration (being born again) is a one-time event where the Holy Spirit miraculously takes a heart of stone and turns it into a heart of flesh.” Here’s how Scripture sums up being born again: The old man dies and the new man springs to life! (John 3:3, 1 Peter 1:23).
Regeneration is not to be confused with sanctification, as sanctification is a lifelong process. To ‘sanctify’ a person is to make him holy. (John 17:16-19).
There are two categories of unsaved people: Those who have heard the Gospel of the Son of God (good news) and do not believe, and those who have never heard the gospel.
The gospel message is short and sweet: “It is the Holy Spirit who works in and through a person’s will to regenerate that person (John 1:12-13) and give him a new nature “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph 4:24). Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone (Eph 2:8-9), in Christ alone (Acts 4:12). Human works cannot save you, so it is fruitless to try to earn a place in heaven. (Gal 2:16; Eph 2:8-9; Tit 3:5). The Bible teaches that salvation is 100% God’s doing “nothing in my hands I bring, simply to the cross I cling.”
Grace is God giving us what we don’t deserve and cannot earn. God must first regenerate a person before he/she can believe. Continue reading →