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Reaching forth...

By God's grace, still presenting the same old message from the same old Book...

God works in the life of men, both the saved and the lost. God by providential dealings and guidance might take a man on any course without the man realizing it is God at work, whether the man is saved, to be saved in time, or lost (Rev 17:17; Acts 4:28; John 8:9; Jude 1:15; John 16:8). There might be conviction of sin, or a turning of the heart one way or the other, but unless a man is born again, they are lost.

The Scriptures define the one that is born again, regenerated. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. The one that is regenerate believes that Jesus is the Christ.

The one that is born again is saved already. Also, faith cometh by hearing (John 6:45; 1 Pet 1:23). Further, the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. God the Father has predestined only a limited number to be saved, God the Son died to effect the salvation of only those given to Him by the Father, and God the Spirit is seeking to quicken none save God's elect.

KJB 1 John 5:1 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God:

KJB Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

KJB 1 Corinthians 1:18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

KJB Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

KJB 1 Peter 1:23-25
23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:
25 But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.

KJB 2 Cor 3:5-6
5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;
6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

KJB 1 Thess 2:13 For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.

Repentance unto life occurs just once, and my understanding is that regeneration and our conversion occur at the same time, being simultaneous and in practical terms synonymous (Acts 15:3). Our conversion is wholly the work of God, therefore we are made to turn from death to life, darkness to light, our coming to Christ where before we saw no beauty that we should desire Him. Following are a few words why I think this.

KJB Romans 11:33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!

The course of ones life can be noticeably and radically changed, but that is not salvation. Saul was given another heart, but this does not signify he was saved.

KJB 1 Samuel 10:9 And it was so, that when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart: and all those signs came to pass that day.

They that yet love their sins are lost, no matter how they have sought to live. One can be made aware of many things, yet still love their sins, and still be lost. One can worship, but that is not evidence of salvation if they know not what they worship (John 4:22, 24). They can know about Christ, but if they have not come to Christ, they are yet in their sins and lost.

KJB Psalms 36:2 For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful.

KJB Psalms 97:10 Ye that love the LORD, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.

There is nothing in man that can keep God from having mercy on them (John 15:16; Eph 2:5; Tit 3:5; 1 John 4:19).

KJB Psalms 34:8 O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.

There is nothing in man, that is, in the flesh, that desires to come to Christ. You must be born again.

KJB Isa 53:2-3
2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

KJB John 1:10-13
10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

 KJB Rom 3:11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.

Quote: "When addressing the unsaved, preachers often draw an analogy between God’s sending of the Gospel to the sinner, and a sick man in bed, with some healing medicine on a table by his side: all he needs to do is reach forth his hand and take it. But in order for this illustration to be in any wise true to the picture which Scripture gives us of the fallen and depraved sinner, the sick man in bed must be described as one who is blind (Ephesians 4:18) so that he cannot see the medicine, his hand paralyzed (Romans 5:6) so that he is unable to reach forth for it, and his heart not only devoid of all confidence in the medicine but filled with hatred against the physician himself (John 15:18). O what superficial views of man’s desperate plight are now entertained! Christ came here not to help those who were willing to help themselves, but to do for His people what they were incapable of doing for themselves:
“To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house” (Isaiah 42:7).
Now in conclusion let us anticipate and dispose of the usual and inevitable objection—Why preach the Gospel if man is powerless to respond? Why bid the sinner come to Christ if sin has so enslaved him that he has no power in himself to come? Reply:—We do not preach the Gospel because we believe that men are free moral agents, and therefore capable of receiving Christ, but we preach it because we are commanded to do so (Mark 16:15); and though to them that perish it is foolishness, yet, “unto us which are saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18).
“The foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Corinthians 1:25).
The sinner is dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1), and a dead man is utterly incapable of willing anything, hence it is that “they that are in the flesh (the unregenerate) cannot please God” (Romans 8:8)." (A. W. Pink)

One must repent and believe the gospel. While repentance and faith are listed as two steps, there is a time of birth, regeneration, that includes both repentance and faith being worked in man, therefore repentance and faith are simultaneous. Though God might have dealt with a person in many ways long before a person comes to faith, until they believe they are yet unregenerate and are lost. God might deal with a man long before they are born again, but the new birth, regeneration, is not the stirring up, education and reworking of the old flesh, but instead is a spiritual birth, whereby we are new creatures. If one repents, they have faith, for repentance is unto life. One that has faith is born again. If you believe on Christ you are saved (John 3:36), and have the faith of the elect, and so you are converted; but if you do not believe, you are yet in your sins and you are lost (John 3:18). A person can see the terrible consequence of sin and be miserable because of that, yet still love sin and hate Christ. A person can be at ease while they love sin and hate Christ, and yet they are lost. You must be born again, and if you are born again you have repented and come to Christ (Luke 13:3). You must choose Christ, but God must grant repentance unto life, your eyes being opened, making you willing (Isa 42:7; Eph 1:18; Acts 11:18; Ps 110:3). Until one comes to Christ, they are lost, and if any die without coming to Christ, they will be eternally lost.

KJB Matthew 11:28-30
28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

KJB John 10:27-29
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.

KJB John 17:2-3
2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

KJB John 6:37-39, 44
37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
39 And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

KJB John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

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A message of comfort from the Scriptures,
that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

Come and hear, all ye that fear God,
and I will declare what he hath done for my soul.
Psalms 66:16

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Bob Krajcik
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