REGENERATION, FAITH AND REPENTANCE Redemption Accomplished and Applied

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Summary of Christian Doctrine Louis Berkhof

REGENERATION The Need for Regeneration A Result of the Fall of Man  The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.“…[Eve] took some and ate it…[Adam] ate it. Genesis 2:15-17; 3:6 The Death which Adam and Eve, and all their descendants, experienced was spiritual death. Physical death followed the fall as a result of exile from the Garden and from the Tree of Life.

THE NEED FOR REGENERATION (CONT.) Guiding Images of Man’s Condition before Regeneration  Heart of Stone - Ezekiel 11:19  Slaves to Sin - Romans 6:20  Dead in Sin – Ephesians 2:1-2  Spiritually Undiscerning – 1 Corinthians 2:14 What do we learn from these passages about the unregenerate state in which we once lived?  Our hearts were impotent  We were controlled by our sinful nature  We were not sick but DEAD!  We were incapable of understanding spiritual things.

THE WORK OF REGENERATION God is the Author of Regeneration (specifically the Holy Spirit) John 1:12,13 Acts 16:14 John 3:5-8 It is the work of God alone without our co-operation It is not “additive” but “transformative”  Hearts of Stone => Hearts of flesh  Slaves of Sin => Slaves of Righteousness  Spiritual Death => Spiritual Life  Ezekiel 36:25,26 The regenerate will believe. (John 6:37)

FAITH AND REPENTANCE Calling and Regeneration are acts of God alone. What about faith and repentance?

FAITH, REPENTANCE AND THE BELIEVER Scripture makes clear that calling and regeneration are God’s work alone but upon the matter of faith and repentance scripture reveals that man is called to co-operate with God. The question of which comes first, faith or repentance, is a question which is out of order itself. Each implies the other. To turn from sin is to turn to God for salvation from sin. There is no other place to turn. To trust in Christ is to rest in him out of desire to be saved from our sin. The question is, “How does one come to have the capacity to repent and trust in Jesus?”

THE REPENTANCE OF THE BELIEVER God is the Author or our Repentance  When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, "So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life.“ Acts 11:18  Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth… 2 Timothy 2:25  Grace precedes every work of good. It is God, who in his grace, gives to us a new will that views aright God, ourselves, our sin, and righteousness. It is by this grace that we are made able to see our sin as vile and deplorable and so turn from it with sorrow and humility, abandoning our hope and trust in all else that is not Jesus.

THE FAITH OF THE BELIEVER The Author of our Faith is God.  For it is by grace(f) you have been saved, through faith(f)-- and this(n) not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8,9  See also 1 Corinthians 12:8,9; Galatians 5:22  Grace precedes every good work. It is only by the grace of God that we are able to see the beauty and splendor of the gospel of God in Jesus and so place our whole-souled trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins. The Object of our Faith is Jesus Christ  John 3:16, 18, 36; 6:40  Acts 10:43  Romans 3:22  Galatians 2:16

THE FAITH OF THE BELIEVER The Responsibility of Exercising Faith is Ours  By definition faith is believing, and it is the belief of the sinner placed in the person of Jesus the Savior. Man is called, even commanded, to repent and believe in Christ. (Isaiah 45:21,22; Matthew 11:28; Acts 2:38-41, Romans 10:9) The Content of our faith does not consist in believing that we are chosen for salvation, nor is it the belief that we have been saved, rather it is a whole-souled trust in Christ in order that we may be saved. “It is not as persons convinced of our election nor as persons convinced that we are the special objects of God’s love that we commit ourselves to him but as lost sinners.” –John Murray