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Voddie Baucham - Nebuchadnezzar and His Conversion · Voddie Baucham Sermons

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  Speaker 1: When we come to the conclusion of Daniel chapter 4,
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  Speaker 1: we have been here for a while and we have
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  Speaker 1: learned much. But here in Daniel chapter 4, we get
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  Speaker 1: to the crux of the matter as we look beginning
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  Speaker 1: at verse 34 on to the end. And what I
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  Speaker 1: want to address today is Nebuchadnezzar's conversion. Now, it's difficult
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  Speaker 1: for us to talk in terms of Nebuchadnezzar's conversion for
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  Speaker 1: a number of reasons. Let me outline just five of them. First,
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  Speaker 1: we generally think of conversion as a New Testament concept.
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  Speaker 1: We don't think about conversion in terms of the Old Testament.
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  Speaker 1: We don't think about people in the Old Testament being converted,
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  Speaker 1: if you will. We have pictures in our minds of
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  Speaker 1: the conversion of the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus.
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  Speaker 1: We have pictures in our mind of the Ethiopian eunuch
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  Speaker 1: who hears the gospel and says, there's some water. We
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  Speaker 1: have pictures in our mind of Cornelius hearing the gospel
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  Speaker 1: or of the day of Pentecost message being preached, individuals
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  Speaker 1: being confronted with the gospel, responding in faith, being baptized,
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  Speaker 1: united with God's people. But we don't generally think about
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  Speaker 1: that idea in terms of the Old Testament. Secondly, we
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  Speaker 1: think of conversion in the Old Testament exclusively in terms
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  Speaker 1: of the Hebrew people. Only in terms of the Jews.
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  Speaker 1: We think about God's salvation of His people, Israel. When
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  Speaker 1: we read the Old Testament, that's what the Old Testament
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  Speaker 1: is about. It's about God redeeming his people, is it not?
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  Speaker 1: And so we don't generally think about God redeeming, God calling,
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  Speaker 1: and God saving Gentiles unless and until, again, we get
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  Speaker 1: to the New Testament. Because after all, in the Old Testament,
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  Speaker 1: it's really all about God saving the Jews, and it's
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  Speaker 1: not until the New Testament that we get to the
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  Speaker 1: age of the Gentiles, right? Really? Ruth? Rahab? Rahab? Nebuchadnezzar? Thirdly,
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  Speaker 1: we don't see Nebuchadnezzar's life after his conversion. He just
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  Speaker 1: gets cut off. We're done at chapter four. So it's
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  Speaker 1: hard for us to think of him as a converted
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  Speaker 1: man when we don't get to see fruit of that
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  Speaker 1: after his conversion. We don't get to see a changed life.
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  Speaker 1: By the way, that doesn't bother us For example, in
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  Speaker 1: the life of Cornelius in the New Testament or the
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  Speaker 1: Ethiopian eunuch, we don't get to see their life, do we?
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  Speaker 1: And yet we still have no problem understanding that they've
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  Speaker 1: been converted. But in the Old Testament, it bothers us. Fourthly,
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  Speaker 1: we don't see any fruit of his conversion in Babylon's
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  Speaker 1: treatment of the Jews. we might say okay fine he's
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  Speaker 1: been converted his life has been changed and for whatever
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  Speaker 1: reason he's cut off but certainly when we get to
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  Speaker 1: chapter 5 and we get to his son certainly there
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  Speaker 1: are to be fruit in the life of his son
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  Speaker 1: as a result of the changed life of the father
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  Speaker 1: but we get to chapter 5 and things go from
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  Speaker 1: bad to worse whereas Nebuchadnezzar took the items from the
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  Speaker 1: temple Belshazzar blasphemes, and defiles the items from the temple. Finally,
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  Speaker 1: although these things are difficult for us, conversion is the
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  Speaker 1: only word that we can use to describe what happens
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  Speaker 1: to Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel chapter 5. What else can we
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  Speaker 1: say of a man who goes from where this man
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  Speaker 1: was in the first three chapters to where this man
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  Speaker 1: is by the fourth chapter. What other word, pray tell,
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  Speaker 1: would you use to describe what has happened to him
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  Speaker 1: if not conversion? And so we look at the conversion
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  Speaker 1: of Nebuchadnezzar. First, we look at the evidence of Nebuchadnezzar's conversion.
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  Speaker 1: The first thing that I want you to see is
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  Speaker 1: he has gone from pride to praise. By the way,
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  Speaker 1: that's the opposite of pride. Pride is making much of me.
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  Speaker 1: Praise is making much of God. Amen? So he has
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  Speaker 1: gone from pride to praise. We see this, first of all,
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  Speaker 1: in this pair of hymns. Really, if you look at
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  Speaker 1: chapter 4, there is a frame in chapter 4 of Daniel.
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  Speaker 1: And there is a frame around the dream and its interpretation.
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  Speaker 1: So you have a hymn. Go with me to the
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  Speaker 1: beginning of the chapter. You have a hymn at the
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  Speaker 1: open of his letter there in the first three verses.
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  Speaker 1: And then in chapter 4, after his hymn, I, Nebuchadnezzar,
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  Speaker 1: was at ease in my house and prosperous in my palace.
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  Speaker 1: There's the opening of the frame. Nebuchadnezzar's hymn of praise
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  Speaker 1: to God and the picture of him at ease in
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  Speaker 1: his palace now we close the frame at the end
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  Speaker 1: of the chapter and what do we find well we
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  Speaker 1: find once again a hymn in verses 34 and 35
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  Speaker 1: and then in verse 36 what happens at that same
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  Speaker 1: time my reason returned to me and the glory of
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  Speaker 1: my kingdom my majesty and splendor returned to me what
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  Speaker 1: do you have You have a mirror of the first
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  Speaker 1: part of the chapter. The first part of the chapter,
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  Speaker 1: there's a hymn. Right after the hymn, I'm at ease
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  Speaker 1: in my palace and things are great. Last part of
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  Speaker 1: the chapter, you have a hymn. And right after the hymn,
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  Speaker 1: I'm at my palace and things have returned to me.
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  Speaker 1: In the middle of that frame, if you will, there
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  Speaker 1: is the dream, its interpretation. It comes to fruition. But
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  Speaker 1: the frame is hymnody. How do we know that it's hymnody? Well,
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  Speaker 1: for one thing, in your Bible, as I lose a
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  Speaker 1: button here, in your Bible, what you will find is
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  Speaker 1: that it's sort of set apart as hymnody just in
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  Speaker 1: the way that it's written structurally. But secondly, what you'll
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  Speaker 1: find is parallelism. Look with me, if you will, there
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  Speaker 1: beginning at verse 34. At the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar,
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  Speaker 1: now watch the parallels. Lifted my eyes to heaven and
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  Speaker 1: my reason returned to me. Then there's another pairing right
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  Speaker 1: after that. I blessed the most high and praised and
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  Speaker 1: honored him who lives forever. Then you have another parallel. Forever.
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  Speaker 1: His dominion is an everlasting dominion and his kingdom endures
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  Speaker 1: from generation to generation. He's saying the same thing two ways.
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  Speaker 1: Then you have another parallel. All the inhabitants of the
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  Speaker 1: earth are accounted as nothing and he does according to
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  Speaker 1: his will among the host of heaven and among the
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  Speaker 1: inhabitants of the earth. None can stay his hand or
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  Speaker 1: say to him, what have you done? This is a
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  Speaker 1: hymn of praise. This is Hebrew parallelism. prototypical Hebrew parallelism
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  Speaker 1: here from Nebuchadnezzar. But there's something more interesting as you read.
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  Speaker 1: It's amazing as you continue to walk with a text.
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  Speaker 1: And I pray that you guys are walking with these
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  Speaker 1: texts over the course of the week. But as I
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  Speaker 1: walk with this text over the course of the week,
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  Speaker 1: I noticed something. This hymn of praise parallels almost exactly
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  Speaker 1: the Lord's Prayer. Look at it. The Lord's Prayer, Matthew
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  Speaker 1: chapter 6, beginning at verse 9. How does it begin?
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  Speaker 1: Our Father who art in heaven. For those of you
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  Speaker 1: who learned it in the older versions. Our Father in heaven.
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  Speaker 1: What does Nebuchadnezzar say in chapter 4, verse 34? I, Nebuchadnezzar,
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  Speaker 1: lifted my eyes to heaven and my reason returned to
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  Speaker 1: me and I blessed the Most High. Well, the Lord's
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  Speaker 1: Prayer continues. Hallowed be thy name. Nebuchadnezzar's hymn continues. And
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  Speaker 1: praised and honored him who lives forever. The Lord's prayer continues.
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  Speaker 1: Your kingdom come. Nebuchadnezzar's hymn continues for his dominion is
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  Speaker 1: an everlasting dominion and his kingdom endures from generation to
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  Speaker 1: generation the Lord's prayer continues your will be done on
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  Speaker 1: earth as it is in heaven Nebuchadnezzar's hymn continues all
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  Speaker 1: the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing and
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  Speaker 1: he does according to his will among the host of
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  Speaker 1: heaven and among the inhabitants of earth there it is
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  Speaker 1: how do we not call this a conversion The man's
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  Speaker 1: praying the Lord's Prayer before the Lord's Prayer is the
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  Speaker 1: Lord's Prayer. Do you see that? This man has been converted.
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  Speaker 1: There is evidence that this man has been converted. There
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  Speaker 1: is repentance, and repentance is essential to our conversion. This,
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  Speaker 1: after all, was the message that Jesus came preaching with.
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  Speaker 1: it not? Matthew chapter 3 and verse 2, repent for
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  Speaker 1: the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Matthew chapter 4
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  Speaker 1: verse 17, from that time Jesus began to preach saying,
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  Speaker 1: repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Matthew
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  Speaker 1: chapter 11 verse 20, then he began to denounce the
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  Speaker 1: cities where most of his mighty works had been done
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  Speaker 1: because they did not repent. Mark chapter 1 verse 15,
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  Speaker 1: The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is
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  Speaker 1: at hand. Repent and believe the gospel. Mark chapter 6
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  Speaker 1: verse 12. So they went out and proclaimed that people
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  Speaker 1: should repent. Luke chapter 13 verse 3 and also verse 5. No,
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  Speaker 1: I tell you, but unless you repent, you will all
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  Speaker 1: likewise perish. Acts chapter 2 and verse 38. And Peter
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  Speaker 1: said to them, repent and be baptized every one of
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  Speaker 1: you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness
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  Speaker 1: of your sins and you will receive the gift of
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  Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit. Acts chapter 3 verse 19. Repent therefore
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  Speaker 1: and turn again that your sins may be blotted out.
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  Speaker 1: Acts chapter 8 verse 22. Repent therefore of this wickedness
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  Speaker 1: of yours and pray to the Lord that if possible
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  Speaker 1: the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. Acts
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  Speaker 1: chapter 17 verse 32. The time of ignorance God overlooked,
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  Speaker 1: but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. Acts
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  Speaker 1: chapter 26 verse 20, but declare first to those in Damascus,
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  Speaker 1: then in all Jerusalem and throughout all the regions of
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  Speaker 1: Judea and all the Gentiles, but to all the Gentiles
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  Speaker 1: that they should repent and turn to God performing deeds
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  Speaker 1: in keeping with their repentance. Repent, repent, repent, repent, repent.
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  Speaker 1: We don't hear that much. You see, when we talk
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  Speaker 1: about conversion or we talk about generally this idea of
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  Speaker 1: being born again, what we talk about is accepting Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: asking Jesus into your heart. By the way, phrases that
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  Speaker 1: you will find nowhere in the New Testament. Nowhere in
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  Speaker 1: the New Testament will you find That salvation is about
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  Speaker 1: accepting Jesus. Nowhere are you called to accept Jesus. Nowhere
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  Speaker 1: in the New Testament will you find that salvation is
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  Speaker 1: about asking Jesus into your heart. Nowhere in the New
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  Speaker 1: Testament are you told to ask Jesus into your heart. Nowhere, nowhere, nowhere.
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  Speaker 1: It's not there. What you are told again and again
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  Speaker 1: and again is to repent and believe. to turn from
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  Speaker 1: your sin and turn to Christ. That's what we're told.
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  Speaker 1: That's the picture of conversion. Repentance, a turning from sin.
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  Speaker 1: Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. What do we see
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  Speaker 1: in the life of Nebuchadnezzar? We see repentance. Turning from
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  Speaker 1: his pride to praise. The exact opposite of the sin
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  Speaker 1: that marked his life. That's the picture of repentance. That's
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  Speaker 1: the picture of a 180 degree turn. Repentance. Have you
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  Speaker 1: repented of your sin? That's the question. I didn't ask
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  Speaker 1: you if you asked Jesus to come into your heart.
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  Speaker 1: I asked you if you'd repented of your sin. I
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  Speaker 1: didn't ask you if you accepted Jesus. What does that
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  Speaker 1: mean to accept Jesus? I asked you if you turn
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  Speaker 1: from your sin and turn to Christ as your only
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  Speaker 1: hope of salvation. That's my question to you. Not only
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  Speaker 1: do we see repentance, but we also see restoration. Notice this. Again,
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  Speaker 1: this bodes well for the idea that Nebuchadnezzar has actually
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  Speaker 1: been converted. In chapter 4 and verse 27 says, Daniel
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  Speaker 1: tells him the dream and he warns him. He says, therefore,
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  Speaker 1: O king, in light of this, because this is what's
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  Speaker 1: coming down the pipeline for you. Therefore, O king, let
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  Speaker 1: my counsel be acceptable to you. Break off your sins
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  Speaker 1: by practicing righteousness. There's repentance. Turn from your sin, turn
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  Speaker 1: to righteousness. And your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed.
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  Speaker 1: There's repentance again. that there may perhaps be a lengthening
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  Speaker 1: of your prosperity. Turn from your sin that God might
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  Speaker 1: lengthen your prosperity. Now, think through this for a moment.
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  Speaker 1: God's prophet comes to Nebuchadnezzar. God's word comes to Nebuchadnezzar
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  Speaker 1: first through this dream, not through the interpretation of God's
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  Speaker 1: prophet Daniel. Daniel interprets this dream and calls Nebuchadnezzar to repentance.
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  Speaker 1: And he says, God is going to remove your kingdom
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  Speaker 1: and remove your prosperity. By the way, this has nothing
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  Speaker 1: to do with the idea that salvation equals prosperity. Let
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  Speaker 1: me say that again. This has nothing to do with
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  Speaker 1: the idea that salvation equals prosperity. And people who talk
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  Speaker 1: that trash have not met their brothers and sisters in
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  Speaker 1: third world countries who have nothing. and love God with
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  Speaker 1: every fiber of their being and still have nothing. But
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  Speaker 1: in its context, it makes all the sense in the world.
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  Speaker 1: Nebuchadnezzar is the greatest king in all of planet earth. Why?
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  Speaker 1: Because God placed him there so that he might use
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  Speaker 1: him in order to purge his people Israel. So Nebuchadnezzar's
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  Speaker 1: relationship to God, by the way, everybody has a relationship
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  Speaker 1: with God. Amen. Well, being a Christian is about having
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  Speaker 1: a relationship with God. No, you have a relationship with God.
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  Speaker 1: Non-Christians have a relationship with God. Amen. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord.
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  Speaker 1: They're not going to like it when it manifests itself
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  Speaker 1: on the day of judgment, but they do have a
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  Speaker 1: relationship with God. Everybody has a relationship with God and
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  Speaker 1: a relationship to God. Nebuchadnezzar's relationship with God is based
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  Speaker 1: on the prosperity of his kingdom. So when Daniel says,
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  Speaker 1: God is going to remove this prosperity from you, Daniel's
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  Speaker 1: not teaching us a lesson about the relationship between prosperity
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  Speaker 1: and Christianity. Daniel's teaching Nebuchadnezzar something about his relationship with
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  Speaker 1: God and about how God is going to judge him
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  Speaker 1: specifically and particularly. Now why is that important? Well because
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  Speaker 1: Look at verse 38. At the same time, again, this
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  Speaker 1: is after Nebuchadnezzar's experience that we might not be comfortable
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  Speaker 1: calling conversion. At the same time, my reason returned to me,
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  Speaker 1: and for the glory of my kingdom, my majesty and
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  Speaker 1: splendor returned to me. My counselors and my lords sought me,
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  Speaker 1: and I was established in my kingdom, and still more
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  Speaker 1: greatness was added to me. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and
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  Speaker 1: extol and honor the king of heaven, for all his
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  Speaker 1: works are right and his ways are just. And those
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  Speaker 1: who walk in pride, he is able to humble. If
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  Speaker 1: Nebuchadnezzar wasn't converted, why did this happen? Repent. Or everything goes, Nebuchadnezzar. No,
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  Speaker 1: I won't repent. Okay, I'm going to give you your
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  Speaker 1: stuff back, but that dog won't hunt. The only way
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  Speaker 1: that there is restoration is if there is repentance. There
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  Speaker 1: has been repentance, and the evidence of that is the restoration.
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  Speaker 1: Nebuchadnezzar has been converted. But listen, even if he hadn't
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  Speaker 1: experienced the restoration of his kingdom and the increase of
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  Speaker 1: his prosperity, he would still have been converted. How many
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  Speaker 1: of you know that you can get saved and your life, again,
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  Speaker 1: speaking temporally, physically, get worse? Yes. Does the term martyr
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  Speaker 1: mean anything to you? The apostles loved the Lord and
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  Speaker 1: served him, were genuinely converted godly men, and their rewards
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  Speaker 1: were things like beheading, crucifixion upside down, run through with
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  Speaker 1: a spear in one instance. beaten to death with a
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  Speaker 1: branch from an olive tree in another instance. Again, don't
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  Speaker 1: buy this lie that says your salvation is connected with
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  Speaker 1: monetary increase and a decrease in problems and difficulties in
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  Speaker 1: your life. That is simply not true. And so we
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  Speaker 1: cannot read that in Nebuchadnezzar's experience here. But we can
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  Speaker 1: see that there is a picture of his conversion. We
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  Speaker 1: don't have anything after his life, but what we do
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  Speaker 1: have is God restored him. Secondly, we look at the
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  Speaker 1: means of Nebuchadnezzar's conversion. And this is significant. First, Nebuchadnezzar
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  Speaker 1: didn't turn to God because he hit rock bottom. Amen, somebody.
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  Speaker 1: Nebuchadnezzar didn't turn to God because he hit rock bottom.
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  Speaker 1: That is a therapeutic term, okay? That term comes to
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  Speaker 1: us from our friends and organizations like Alcoholics Anonymous and
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  Speaker 1: so on and so forth. that a person is really
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  Speaker 1: not going to get any better, and they're really not
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  Speaker 1: going to want to get better unless and until they
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  Speaker 1: hit rock bottom. And then when they hit rock bottom,
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  Speaker 1: they are finally ready to look for help and receive help. Folks,
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  Speaker 1: that is not biblical. Nebuchadnezzar did not turn to God
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  Speaker 1: because he hit rock bottom, nor is it necessary to
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  Speaker 1: hit rock bottom to in order for an individual to
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  Speaker 1: experience genuine conversion. Amen? Hear me, children. You need to
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  Speaker 1: thank God every day for parents who raise you in
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  Speaker 1: the discipline and instruction of the Lord. You need to
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  Speaker 1: thank God every day for parents who catechize you. You
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  Speaker 1: need to thank God every day for the fact that
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  Speaker 1: you may be a little foggy when it comes to
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  Speaker 1: telling people exactly when it was that you were converted,
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  Speaker 1: Because ultimately what happened is you were so immersed in
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  Speaker 1: these truths that as you walked, you merely looked up
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  Speaker 1: one day and realized that you weren't just mouthing them anymore,
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  Speaker 1: but you actually believed them. They were real in your
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  Speaker 1: life and you'd been changed. Don't believe the lie that
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  Speaker 1: you have to hit quote unquote rock bottom in order
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  Speaker 1: to be ready to turn to God. Here's the other thing.
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  Speaker 1: You don't know what rock bottom is. He hit rock bottom. No,
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  Speaker 1: actually there was worse. Amen? No matter how bad things
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  Speaker 1: get in your life, remember this, it can always be worse.
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  Speaker 1: So no, Nebuchadnezzar didn't turn because he hit rock bottom.
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  Speaker 1: Why is this significant? Because, and we're going to get
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  Speaker 1: to this in a moment here, but there's a theological
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  Speaker 1: issue here. And the theological issue is, you see, I'm
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  Speaker 1: going to argue for a reformed Calvinistic understanding of what
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  Speaker 1: happened to Nebuchadnezzar. That it had nothing to do with
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  Speaker 1: his will. Nothing at all. That it was purely the
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  Speaker 1: sovereignty of God in spite of Nebuchadnezzar, not because of
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  Speaker 1: or even in partnership with Nebuchadnezzar. It was monergistic, not synergistic.
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  Speaker 1: God alone saved Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar did not help God save him.
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  Speaker 1: Nor did God merely tweak his circumstances so that he
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  Speaker 1: would eventually cry out to God. Folks, think about this
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  Speaker 1: for a moment. Seven years of what we would now
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  Speaker 1: commonly call schizophrenia. The argument from the semi-Pelagian Armenian side
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  Speaker 1: goes something like this. God sent him through that because
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  Speaker 1: he knew that That was what it would take for
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  Speaker 1: Nebuchadnezzar to finally turn to him. Well, what does that
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: say about people who don't turn to God? That God
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: couldn't figure out how to get them? I mean, think
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: about that for a moment. Think about how far God goes.
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: If you look at it from that perspective, think about
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: how far God goes in order to get Nebuchadnezzar and
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: how many people live their life as decent human beings,
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: in quotes, okay, decent in quotes, okay? The old lady
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: down the street, she's nice to kids. She gives them candy.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: She's as sweet as pie. God has never taken her
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: to the gutter. God has never taken her through painful experiences.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: God has never sent her out to eat grass for
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: seven years. And she doesn't know Jesus from the man
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: in the moon. She dies and goes to hell. Do
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: you mean to tell me that the only reason she
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: didn't come to Christ is because God couldn't figure out
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: how to torture and torment her enough to make her
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: turn to him? That just doesn't work, folks. That just
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: doesn't work. Or here's the other way that you'd have
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: to look at it, that there's some people that no
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: matter what God did, they were never going to turn
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: to him. So he just gave up. But it was
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: because of them, not because of God. Because no matter
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: what God would have done, by the way, who made
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: them that way? Were they accidentally made that way? Is
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: God in heaven going, oh, if I could only have
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: tweaked that one a little bit before he left the factory.
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: Because if he'd been tweaked just a little bit, all
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: it would take is a few years of eating grass
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: and he would have turned. But as it is, that
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: one is so bent that even inflicting that on him
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: won't turn him to me. Do you follow? See, Nebuchadnezzar
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: crushes that theory. He kills it once and for all.
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: This is pure monergism. Nebuchadnezzar does not help God save him.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: He can't. He's out of his mind. He can do
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: absolutely nothing. He knows nothing. All he wants is grass.
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: He doesn't want God. He doesn't have sense enough. He
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: didn't turn because someone reached his intellect. His intellect was unreachable.
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: Nebuchadnezzar didn't turn because someone reached his intellect. In fact,
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: nobody talks to him. Thirdly, he doesn't turn because somebody
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: met him where he was. Somebody didn't get out there,
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: climb down on all fours, eat grass with him so
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: that they could relate to him so that somehow, you know,
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: the gospel could be clearer to him in his grass-eating circumstance.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: Nebuchadnezzar was converted supernaturally. And doctrinally, we call this regeneration.
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: Charles Hodge says of regeneration, It is the subjective change
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: wrought in the soul by the grace of God. Wayne
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: Grudem puts an even finer point on it. In the
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: work of regeneration, we play no role at all. It
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: is instead totally a work of God. Folks, regeneration is
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: the new birth. Think about it. Did you have anything
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: to do with your first birth? No, nothing at all.
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: You weren't born because you wanted to be born. You
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: weren't conceived because you wanted to be conceived. You had
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: absolutely nothing to do with that. James Boyce expands on
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: this in connecting regeneration and conversion. Listen to what he says.
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: The scriptures teach that regeneration is the work of God,
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: changing the heart of man by his sovereign will, while
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: conversion is the act of man turning toward God with
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: the new inclination thus given to his heart. And so
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: people will say, well, what are you saying? Regeneration is
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: completely an act of God. You say we have nothing
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: to do with regeneration, none whatsoever. I don't have to
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: cry out to God. I don't have to repent. I
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: don't have to believe. You just told me I had
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: to repent and believe. Now you're saying that I got,
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: what are you talking about? Yeah. That's conversion. That's not regeneration.
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: You can only experience conversion because of regeneration. You have
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: to be born again in order to even have a
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: desire to respond to God. There is nothing in you
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: that wants God. All you want is you all day,
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: all the time. By the way, if you believe otherwise...
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: Then you believe that there is something meritorious in you
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: that does not reside in others. So that when you
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: stand before God in heaven, you will have reason to boast.
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: What do the scriptures say of this? Clearest expression, John
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: chapter 3. Jesus answered him, verse 3. Truly I say
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: to you, Unless one is born again, he cannot see
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: the kingdom of God. You can't even see the kingdom
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: unless you're born again. Some would have us believe that
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: we're born again because of our response to the kingdom,
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: because of our disobedience. for the kingdom. The Bible says
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: you can't even see the kingdom unless you're born again,
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: let alone want the kingdom. Nebuchadnezzar said to him, how
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: can a man be born when he is old? Can
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: he enter a second time into his mother's womb and
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: be born? Jesus answered, truly, truly, I say to you,
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: cannot enter the kingdom of God. You can't enter unless
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: you're born of water and the Spirit. You can't enter
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: unless you're born twice. You can't enter unless you have
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: a spiritual birth. You don't have a spiritual birth in
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: order for you to enter. You don't make that happen.
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: That which is born of the flesh is a flesh,
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: Do not marvel that I said to you, you must
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: be born again. The wind blows where it wishes, and
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: you hear its sound, but you do not know where
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: it comes from or where it goes. So it is
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: with everyone born of the spirit. It's like the wind.
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: You hear it sound, but you don't control it, and
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: you don't see it. That's the new birth. The new
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: birth is not you bending your will towards God. The
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: new birth is God making you new and giving you
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: a will bent toward him that you then exercise by
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: God's grace. Ephesians chapter 2, verses 1 through 5. And
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: you were woefully sick, almost looked like you were dead, No,
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: you were dead in trespasses and sins. Dead, dead. Well,
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: you know, God does most of the work, but you
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: have to do your part. You're out there drowning and
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: they throw you a life preserver. Two problems with that illustration.
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: Number one, the Bible doesn't say I'm drowning. The Bible
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: says I'm drowned. I'm not in the process of dying.
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: I'm dead. Here's the second problem. Dead men don't grab things.
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: Dead men do nothing unless they're made alive first. Only
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: having been made alive can they do anything. Regeneration precedes faith.
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: Regeneration comes first. It is supernatural and you have absolutely
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: nothing to do with it whatsoever. Titus chapter 3, verses
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: 4 and 5. But when the goodness and loving kindness
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: of works done by us in righteousness, but according to
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: his own mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewal
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: of the Holy Spirit. Does it get clearer than that?
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: 1 Peter 1, 3. Blessed be the God and Father
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy,
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: he has caused us to be born again to a
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: 1 Peter 1, 22 and 23. Having purified your souls
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love,
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: love one another earnestly from a pure heart since you
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: imperishable seed. through the living and abiding word of God.
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: 1 John chapter 5 makes it clear that those who believe,
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: believe because they have been born again. This is the
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: new birth. This is what the scriptures teach. So that
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: when we read about man's response to God, what we
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: are reading about is a response that is enabled by
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: the new birth. It is only because of the new birth.
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: That is what happened with Nebuchadnezzar. Now, this has been
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: debated for a long time in the history of the church.
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: The most significant of those debates, again, we think about
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: it from the standpoint of Calvin and Arminius. But even
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: Before that, there was Luther and Erasmus. And even before that,
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: there's Augustine and Pelagius. How did the Augustinian and Pelagian
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: debate even start? Augustine prayed a prayer. That prayer was,
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: oh God, command what you would and grant what you command. God,
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: command what you would and grant what you command. This
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: jumped all over Pelagius, who was a British monk. Pelagius
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: wrote a response. He even wrote to Rome and tried
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: to get Augustine. Now again, Pelagius is in Britain. Augustine
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: is in Africa. And Pelagius writes to Rome basically to say,
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: you need to do something about this African monk because
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: he's talking nonsense. Pelagius responded, are you saying, Augustine, that
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: God has the inherent right to command anything that he
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: so desires from his creatures? Nobody is going to dispute that.
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: God inherently, as the creator of heaven and earth, has
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: the right to impose obligations on his creatures and say
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: thou shalt do this and thou shalt do that. Command
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: whatever thou would. It is a perfectly legitimate prayer. So
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: Pelagius says, I like the first part of your prayer.
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: I get the first part of your prayer. I agree
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: with the first part of your prayer. However, it was
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: the second part of the prayer that Pelagius abhorred when
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: Augustine said, grant what you command. His response was, what
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: are you talking about? If God is just, if God
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: is righteous, and God is holy— and God commands of
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: the creature to do something, certainly that creature must have
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: the power within himself, the moral ability within himself to
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: perform it, or God would never require it in the
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: first place. That sounds reasonable, doesn't it? What's the basis
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: of Pelagius' belief? Basically, he believed that man was not
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: completely marred by the fall, and that there was enough
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: residue within man to be able to find within himself
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: that goodness left over after the fall to respond to God.
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: In fact, Pelagius argued that the fall of Adam really
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: only affected Adam directly, and that there's no such thing
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: at all as original sin that mars the rest of us. R.C.
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: Sproul writes, in the fifth century, the church condemned Pelagius
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: as a heretic. Pelagianism was condemned at the Council of Orange,
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: and it was condemned again at the Council of Florence.
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: the Council of Carthage, and also, ironically, at the Council
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: of Trent in the 17th century in the first three
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: anathemas of the canons of the succession. So consistently throughout
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: church history, the church has roundly and soundly condemned Pelagianism
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: because Pelagianism denies the fallenness of our nature. It denies
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: the doctrine of original sin. Why is all of this important?
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: Here's why. Because Pelagianism at least semi-Pelagianism, is the predominant
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: view in the church today. The overwhelming majority of people
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: who call themselves Christian are Pelagian. They do not believe
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: in monergistic salvation. They do not believe that regeneration precedes faith.
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: They believe with Pelagian that there is enough of man
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: unmarred by the fall. And so they have this idea
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: that Jesus dies in hopes of saving everybody. But recognizing
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: that because of man's free will, only some are going
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: to take him up on his offer. We all believe
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: in limited atonement. The semi-Pelagians believe that man limits the atonement.
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: The Augustinians believe God limits the atonement. I want to
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: read to you just a few of the canons of
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: the Synod of Orange. Why do I want to read
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: these to you? Because I want you to see how
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: nothing has changed. These are the things condemned by the
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: church as heresy, and these are the most commonly held
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: beliefs in the church today in our culture and around
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: the world. Listen to them. Canon number four. If anyone
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: maintains that God awaits our will to be cleansed from sin,
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: but does not confess that even our will to be
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: cleansed comes to us through the infusion and working of
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit. He resists the Holy Spirit himself who
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: says through Solomon, the will is prepared by the lord
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: proverbs 8 35 and that salutary work of the apostle
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: for god is at work in you both to will
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: and to work for his good pleasure does that sound
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: familiar Anyone maintains that God is waiting for our will
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: to be cleansed? He's there. He's waiting. He wants to
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: save you. Jesus is waiting. But what he's waiting on
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: is you. He's waiting on you to enact your will.
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: He's waiting on you to find it in yourself, the
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: desire to be cleansed. Because after all, and this is
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: going to sound incredibly familiar, the Holy Spirit is a gentleman.
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: He'll knock on the door, but he won't kick it down.
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: They haven't read my Bible. My God's not running for God.
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: Canon 5. If anyone says that not only the increase
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: of faith, but also its beginning and the very desire
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: for faith by which we believe in him who justifies
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: the ungodly and comes to the regeneration of holy baptism
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: or salvation, If anyone says that this belongs to us
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: by nature and not by a gift of grace, that
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: is by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, amending our
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: will and turning it from unbelief to faith and from
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: godlessness to godliness, it is proof that he is opposed
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: to the teaching of the apostle. For blessed Paul says,
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: and I am sure that he who began a good
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: work in you will bring it to completion on the
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1, 6. And again, for
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: by grace you have been saved through faith and this
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: not of your own doing. It is a gift of God.
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: Let's look at another one. Canon 6. If anyone says
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: that God has mercy upon us when, apart from his grace,
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: we believe, will, desire, strive, labor, pray, watch, study, seek, ask,
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: or knock, but does not confess that it is by
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: the infusion and inspiration of the Holy Spirit within us
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: that we have the faith, the will, or the strength
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: to do all these things as we ought— Or if
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: anyone makes the assistance of grace depend on the humility
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: or obedience of man and does not agree that it
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: is a gift of grace itself that we are obedient
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: and humble. He contradicts the apostle who says, what have
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: you that you did not receive? And, but by the
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: grace of God, I am what I am. There are more.
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: And I would commend to you to read the canons
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: of the Synod of Orange. Because what the church has
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: condemned as heresy for centuries now is the most popular
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: theological position abiding in the church today. And it has
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: been roundly condemned as heresy because it does not line
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: up with the scriptures. Our own confession, Second London Baptist Confession,
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: chapter 9, paragraph 3. Man by his fall into a
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: state of sin had wholly lost all ability of will
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: to any spiritual good accompanying salvation. So as a natural
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: man being altogether averse from the good and dead in
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: sin is not able by his own strength to convert himself,
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: and I love this line, or prepare himself thereunto. Not
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: only can you not convert yourself, you can't even get
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: yourself ready for conversions. So finally, what's the fruit of
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: Nebuchadnezzar's conversion? What does all this mean? First, it means
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: all praise goes to God and God alone. God does
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: not share his glory in the conversion of a sinner
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: when it is God who does the conversion apart from
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: the sinner. And Nebuchadnezzar's condition is is there to highlight
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: this doctrine for us. So that if there's any other
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: place in the scripture where you wonder what man's mental
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: capacity and man's mind and man's will has to do
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: with his conversion, there is always Daniel chapter 4 that
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: says to you, oh, in case you were wondering, here's
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: a man eating grass who gets saved. To God be
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: the glory, great things he has done. Amen. Amen. By
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: the way, I don't care how God found you spiritually,
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: you were on all fours eating grass. Secondly, we see
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: God's kindness and mercy toward Nebuchadnezzar. God is not looking
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: at Nebuchadnezzar, you know, like you'd look at a baby
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: and say, I'm just drawn to you because you're just
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: so cute. No. No. God looks at Nebuchadnezzar and sees
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: nothing in him whatsoever that would please him or draw
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: him to Nebuchadnezzar. And it was the same with you.
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: You are no better than other people. There was not
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: some light in you that somehow you had maintained that
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: other people had not maintained. You did not go and
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: do extra work to kindle the flame that other people
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: have access to so that God looked upon you and said,
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: oh my child, you are so much better than this
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: one over here because you actually, no, absolutely not. The
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: only oh my child that issues forth from the father
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: is issued toward his son who makes you who you are.
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: That's the only one. This is my beloved son with
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: whom I am well pleased. There is none other with
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: whom God is pleased. And he is only pleased with
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: you when you are found in Christ. And you will
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: only be found in Christ if God by his grace
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: wakes you from the dead. Thirdly, we see that Nebuchadnezzar
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: is now a trophy of God's grace throughout the ages.
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: Nebuchadnezzar does not stand as a monument to the will
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: of man being exercised towards God. He stands as a
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: monument to the God of grace who saves men in
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: spite of themselves. That's what the Augustinian doctrine does. It
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: makes trophies of grace for God's glory and not for
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: our own. I did not exercise what I found in myself,
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: but I exercised what I had been given by God.
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: And both the giving and the exercising were by God's grace.
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: And as a result, those who are saved are trophies
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: of God's grace. Finally, Nebuchadnezzar stands in as an encouragement
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: to all of us engaged in evangelism. Because he says
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: to us, you don't have to be smart enough. You
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: don't have to be slick enough. You don't have to
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: be tricky enough. You don't have to be crafty enough.
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: Just share the gospel. By the way, do you feel
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: the burden lifted? Lifted? I was trained in evangelism from
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: an Arminian perspective. And I cannot tell you the burden
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: that comes with actually thinking that a person being saved
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: is dependent upon you saying the right thing the right
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: way in the right time. I cannot tell you the
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: burden that that brings. In fact, many of you right
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: here in front of me don't evangelize because you're afraid
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: to say the wrong thing. And you are overwhelmed by
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: the pressure that comes from thinking that you have to
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: say the right thing in the right way at the
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: right time. Otherwise, somebody could be lost forever because you
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: weren't intelligent enough, articulate enough, slick enough, or whatever enough.
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: But what Daniel chapter 4 says to you and to me,
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: is that if God can save a man who's on
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: all fours eating grass, he can certainly use you. Amen?
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: God can use you. Just share the gospel. I am
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ because it
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: is the power of God unto salvation for all those
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: who believe, the Jew first and also the Greek. Amen?
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: Just share the gospel. Enough already. Now, does that mean
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: that we don't need to be as clear as we
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: can and as articulate as we can and as winsome
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: as we can? Okay, I'm not saying that. I'm not
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: saying that you need to go out of here like Jonah,
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: the worst evangelist in the history of the world. You
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: stink of fish. And you walk around saying to people, repent,
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: in 40 days he's going to wipe you out. Repent,
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: in 40 days he's going to wipe you out. Repent,
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: I sure hope you don't. In 40 days he's going
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: to wipe you out. Repent, I don't like you. I
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: don't want to be here. I wasn't even coming here.
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: But what I smell like is the fish who spit
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: me out on your shore. I hate you people. Repent,
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: 40 days he's going to wipe you out. See, I'm
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: not saying that you need to be that guy. But
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: here's a newsflash. God used that guy to save a
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: whole city. Worst evangelist ever. And God used him to
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: save a whole city. Why? Because it's not about how
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: articulate you are. It's not about how winsome you are.
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: God saves sinners. God saves sinners. Now, Let me get
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: to the other side of the coin. Because you never
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: preach a message like this without having people come to
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: you with some version of this conversation. I understand that
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: it is God who regenerates us and God who saves us.
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: I just don't feel very regenerated. I think I'm not elect. Well,
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: what have you been doing? I've been sitting there waiting
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: to feel regenerated. Well, what's the evidence that you've been regenerated? Well,
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: that I turned to God in repentance and faith. Okay,
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: turn to God in repentance and faith. Well, I really
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: don't want to turn to God in repentance and faith
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: because then I think that might be my flesh. Well,
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: but God says that that would be regeneration. Yeah, but
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: I'm really scared that it would be my flesh. So
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: I don't want to do anything because I'm afraid that
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: it would be my flesh. Yeah, but it's him who
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: works in you both to will and to work for
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: his good pleasure. So what you just said to me
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: is God has given you a desire to be saved,
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: a desire to turn to him in repentance and faith,
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: but you won't turn to him in repentance and faith
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: because you feel like doing so would be dishonoring to
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: the God who gave you the desire to do it
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: in the first place. Help you cry out to God.
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: Call upon him while he is to be found. Turn
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: to him. Repent of your sin. Trust in Christ and
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: Christ alone for your salvation. I plead with you to
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: trust in Christ. Oh, wait a minute. Why would you
• 52:07
  Speaker 1: plead with me to trust in Christ if you think
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: that God is the one? Yes, he uses the preaching
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: of the gospel. And I want you to be saved.
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: I want you to turn to Christ. I desire that
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: Christ would have the full reward for which he gave
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: his life. And I know that he uses the frailty
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: and weakness of preaching of the gospel. And so I
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: say to you through tear-stained eyes, turn to Christ, repent, believe.
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: You don't have to figure out how God did it.
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: Just know that God has been gracious to you and
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: come to him by faith. This doctrine is not designed
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: for you to sit around and navel gaze as to
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: whether or not you're the elect. This doctrine is designed
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: so that when you cry out to God and when
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: he saves you, you might not glorify yourself, but you
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: might recognize that you did what you did by the
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: grace and to the glory of Almighty God himself. That's
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: what this doctrine is about. Nebuchadnezzar doesn't sing a song
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: about how he was regenerated. He just sings a song
• 53:35
  Speaker 1: about the goodness of the God who saved him. There
• 53:41
  Speaker 1: is a time and a place for digging deep into
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: these doctrines but if you believe that digging deep into
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: the doctrine and understanding it exhaustively is the prerequisite for
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: you being saved you've just denied the doctrine do you
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: follow me you just created a prerequisite now I am
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: born again because I have sufficiently plumbed the depths of
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: the doctrine of regeneration. All praise be to me and
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: my doctrinal study. By grace are you saved through faith
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: and that not of yourselves. It is a gift of God,
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: not as a result of works, so that no man
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: can boast. Turn from your sin. Turn to Christ. Go
• 54:46
  Speaker 1: from pride to praise. Trust in Christ alone for your salvation.
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: And know that it is he who has worked in
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: you to even desire such a thing. Don't you dare
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: become one of those navel gazers who constantly questions whether
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: or not he's one of the elect. when the fact
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: that you're worried about it would be evidence that you are. Amen?
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: Praise God for the way that he saves us. Praise
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: God for his electing, regenerating grace. Praise God for the
• 55:32
  Speaker 1: finished work of Christ. Praise God for snatching us by
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: the scruff of the neck and dragging us into the kingdom.
• 55:41
  Speaker 1: Praise God for all of that. Now repent of your sin,
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: cling to Christ, and be saved. Let's pray.