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January 28 - February 19, 2019
It is such a radical and comprehensive work of the Spirit that he considers anyone in Christ to be a new creation or creature.
The very nature of the person is undone and recreated. The heart of stone that cannot respond to divine stimuli is transformed into a heart of flesh that will respond.
The sinner cannot respond positively to God because he will not.
His love for unrighteousness and desire for autonomy makes him so hostile to God that he simply cannot bring himself to acknowledge Him or obey His law.
They were unable because they were unwilling, and they were unwilling because of their hatred.
This is the way of the unregenerate person before God. He cannot come to God because he will not come to God, and he will not come because of his love for unrighteousness and his hatred for a holy and sovereign God. Thus, his heart can be compared to stone. It is lifeless and unresponsive to the call of the gospel apart from a supernatural work of the Spirit.
Some people say that the world would be converted if only we could give them a clearer vision of Jesus.
The Bible teaches that people are radically depraved. They hate God and despise His righteous law.
Only then will he see Christ as He is and love the Christ he sees.
This represents a person under the judgment of God.
This represents the unconverted person under the bondage of religion.
This represents the man regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit. What is impossible with men is possible with God.
Charles Spurgeon used the following illustration to demonstrate the true nature of the unconverted and the power of regeneration.
In fact, it has acted in perfect conformity with its nature. It has done exactly what a pig should and will always do.
He would suffer the greatest shame and be most apologetic. Fourth, he would never forget the day of his transformation or cease to be repulsed by the shape of the trough or the smell of slop.
In conclusion, these truths leave us with some personal questions in two different categories. First, are we those who have merely made some decision to accept Christ, or are we new creatures?
We would do well to remember the twin warnings the apostle Paul once gave: “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation” (Gal. 6:15). For if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature.
But if a person’s conversion requires a supernatural work of the Spirit on par with the creation of the universe and the resurrection of Christ from the dead, then we know that all the convincing, coercion, and manipulation in the world are not enough to bring about the desired end.
what we do know is that God will lead His people to their appointed destination, and He will not lose even one among the multitude.
Based on this truth and those we discussed in the previous chapter, we can create this outline to describe God’s magnificent work of conversion in the life of every believer.
new creature recreated in the image of God has a new spirit or inward disposition toward God.
God indwells the believer through the Holy Spirit to instruct, prompt, and empower him to walk according to His statutes.
To put it simply, God must not only save a person, but He must also sustain him in that salvation.
There is so much dangerous heresy within the evangelical community regarding the Holy Spirit that many sincere Christians have almost withdrawn themselves from even a proper consideration of His role in the Christian life.
It is impossible to live the Christian life apart from Him.
The idea Ezekiel is communicating is that through the indwelling Spirit, God will cause His people to walk in His statutes and be careful to observe His ordinances.
“Make me walk in the path
Rather, at conversion, God regenerates the heart of the believer and transforms his affections.
Although God does ensure the obedience of His people, He does not bring His people kicking and screaming into submission; rather, they follow Him as a sheep follows its shepherd. As Jesus declared to the unbelieving Jews:
IMPORTANT : A shepherd walks and however poorly the sheep do follow
FOUR COMMON SCENARIOS
The first case involves an individual who has made a decision to accept Christ and yet shows little interest in the things of God and bears no apparent fruit other than his confession of faith.
second case involves an individual who attends a contemporary
So has he been drawn to Christ, or to a social group that affirms his worth and meets his felt needs?
The third case involves an individual who once professed Christ but has not been in fellowship with the church for years.
He has simply made the decision to turn away from all the wicked things he still loves and do all the righteous things he still hates in order to save himself from judgment and secure his home in heaven!
he will exhibit a noticeable transformation in his desires that will continue growing throughout the course of his life.
The fourth case involves an individual who hears the gospel and makes a profession of faith in Christ.
All true believers are able to identify with this scenario.
If we are ever to understand the nature and power of conversion, we must first come to terms with this great truth: God does not merely save a person from the condemnation of sin and then leave him without the divine aid necessary to overcome its power.
No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, “Know the LORD,” for they all shall know Me,
Even in light of the overwhelming failure of these programs to produce a vibrant Christianity, few are willing to entertain the possibility that the great multitude of “carnal Christians” in the church are simply unconverted.
the nation of Israel, which consisted of the physical descendants of Abraham, was largely an unregenerate nation with only a small remnant of believers, or true Israelites.
For this reason, devotion, obedience, and perseverance mark the true church, even under the most terrible circumstances.
Even to suggest that it was to be done away with and replaced by another was to predict an event of cataclysmic proportions.
Although there was a godly remnant, a small minority, in the nation who were truly regenerate and justified by faith, the great majority were unregenerate and unbelieving idolaters.
This truth about the nature of Israel under the old covenant is important because too often the rebellious behavior of the nation of Israel has been used to justify the same behavior in the so-called professing church.7 It is argued that the overwhelming carnality in the church and the existence of only a small godly remnant is to be expected because that is exactly what we see when we study the history of Israel.
comparison between Israel and the church is wrong.
There is not a godly remnant in the true church; that true church is the godly remnant.
What a bold statement
less than a biblical gospel and neglects church discipline.
This is the major difference between the old and new covenants, and we must maintain and proclaim it.
