By Pastor Bill Parker
From Reign of Grace Media Ministries
Two important things we must understand about the
work
of the Holy Spirit in God's elect. (1) All the work of the Holy Spirit
IN a sinner is the fruit and effect of Christ's work FOR the sinner. In
other words, Christ's work, His righteousness, is the only ground of
salvation.
None of the work of the Holy Spirit IN a sinner forms any part of the
ground
of salvation. The work of the Holy Spirit IN a sinner is as necessary
for
salvation as the work of Christ FOR the sinner, but not for the same
reason.
Christ's work is the ground of salvation. The Holy Spirit's work IN a
sinner
is the fruit and effect. The is important because it is necessary that
Christ as Mediator between God and men have all the pre-eminence in
salvation.
The triune Godhead is glorified in the salvation of sinners based on
the
merits of Christ alone. Without Christ's work FOR sinners, there would
be no work of the Spirit IN sinners (John 16:7; 1 Cor. 15:14-19).
Also consider that the main work of the Holy Spirit IN sinners is to
point
them to Christ and cause them to value His work for them (John
16:13-14).
(2) Another thing to remember is that this work of
the
Holy Spirit IN sinners is not called invincible or irresistible because
the Holy Spirit forces us to come to Christ against our wills. It is
true
that apart from the Holy Spirit's work we will never choose to come to
Christ for salvation. If left to ourselves we will always choose our
own
way and perish, but God the Holy Spirit in salvation, in true
conversion,
changes our wills. God makes us willing in the day of His power
(Ps.
110:3), and He does it by using His truth in the Gospel to
enlighten
us and teach us and convince us that there is no hope of salvation
outside
of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ
(John 6:45; 16:8-11).
This effectual, invincible calling is the work of
God
the Holy Spirit whereby He through the preaching of the Gospel
convinces
us of sin (of the absolute impossibility of salvation conditioned on
the
sinner), enlightens our minds in the knowledge of God in Christ (how He
can be just to justify the ungodly based on the imputed righteousness
of
Christ), and draws out our affections and wills toward God as both a
just
God and a Savior in Christ. The Holy Spirit persuades us and enables us
to embrace Christ by faith and plead His righteousness alone as the
only
ground of salvation, freely offered to us in the Gospel.
This is absolutely necessary as we all by nature are
spiritually
kin to Satan and totally opposed in our minds to God being glorified in
salvation conditioned on Christ alone. We all by nature believe
salvation
conditioned on the sinner, and go about trying to establish a
righteousness
of our own (Eph. 2:1-3). This is the product of the
powers
of Satan and darkness, self-righteousness, self-love and pride which we
inherited from our natural father Adam. Therefore, it is NECESSARY that
we be BORN AGAIN by the Spirit of God through the word of God (John
3:3,5).
God must do right, and just as Adam's sin is imputed
and
his fallen nature imparted to each one whom he represented in each
generation,
when we are born by natural generation, even so, Christ's righteousness
is imputed and His very nature imparted to each and every one whom He
represented
in each successive generation, when we are born again by regeneration
and
conversion. Just as the sin of our representative Adam plunged all whom
he represented into guilt, total depravity and all particulars involved
in this state, even so, the righteousness of our Representative Christ
Jesus demands that each one whom He represented be made partakers of
all
grace here and all glory hereafter. Adam's sin insured that we be made
partakers of spiritual death, and Christ's righteousness insures that
all
the elect be made partakers of spiritual life (Eph. 2:4-5; John
6:37,
44-45; 10:16; Rom. 8:28-30). Consider the great Gospel truth of
invincible grace in light of the following:
I. PURPOSED BEFORE TIME, FULFILLED AND
APPLIED IN
TIME.
A. Whatever God purposes before time must have its
accomplishment
in time. Christ is the LAMB SLAIN FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD in
the mind and purpose of God. For salvation to be obtained and
completed,
this must take place in time according to the Father's will in Christ's
own Person as God the Son incarnate. This actual event was always sure
and certain, yet it must have had its accomplishment in time on the
cross
of Calvary.
Galatians 4:4-5-- In time Christ came,
being
made of a woman, under the law, and our sins were IMPUTED to Christ who
went to the cross and paid our sin debt and perfectly satisfied law and
justice on our behalf. Jeremiah called Him the LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
In time, Christ came and actually established that righteousness.
Daniel
said that messiah would come and make an end of sin by satisfaction and
establishing that righteousness. Christ came and did what was purposed
for Him to do before the foundation of the world. Both Jeremiah and
Daniel,
for example, were saved based on that atonement yet to be accomplished
in time.
In order for God to be just and punish Christ for
our
sins, sins actually had to be imputed to Him. HE HAD TO BE MADE
SIN (2 Cor. 5:21a). He was already made sin in the mind
and
purpose of God, but not yet in His own Person as God the Son incarnate.
He was set up from everlasting as God the Son incarnate, the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world, but He had not yet actually taken
into
union with His Divine Person that perfect, sinless humanity formed by
the
Spirit. In the mind and purpose of God, Christ was always ONE WITH THE
ELECT in the view of God's law and justice BY REPRESENTATION, but it
was
necessary that He be made ONE with us BY IMPUTATION. So Christ in
eternity
past became a partaker of our nature in the mind and purpose of God
WITH
A VIEW TOWARD His incarnation and His becoming a partaker of our sin
and
guilt by imputation. When this took place in time, there was an actual
death, an actual separation of the Father and the Son, an actual
atonement,
a righteousness established, all in fulfillment of God's eternal
purpose
of grace to glorify Himself in salvation.
B. It can be said that ALL of God's elect in every
generation
are saved in the Person of Christ, their Representative, yet not in
their
own persons UNTIL REGENERATION AND CONVERSION (salvation). Ephesians
2:6 states that we are already seated in the heavenlies in
Christ
Jesus, not in our own persons, but in the person of our Representative.
Christ has by God the Father's appointment performed and satisfied all
the conditions of the salvation of His elect in order that we should
most
certainly enjoy all the grace and glory prepared and promised in the
way
and manner determined by God.
Christ actually delivered us from the curse of the
law
by being made a curse for us 2000 years ago. He purged our sins by
Himself.
He perfected God's elect forever by His one offering as their
Substitute,
Surety, and Representative. Christ alone satisfied all the demands of
God's
law and justice thereby establishing a perfect unchangeable
righteousness
for each and every one of God's elect 2000 years ago. Each and every
one
of God's elect were, at that time, actually entitled to all spiritual
blessings
to be communicated and freely bestowed unto us, in God's way and time,
without any dependence upon any condition to be performed by us. This
is
why our reconciliation, justification and all of salvation are in the
Scriptures
spoken of as things actually done and accomplished in the death of
Christ.
It is not as though all of God's elect were actually justified and
saved
in their own persons at that time. Most had not been born yet, but
because
of the absolute certainty of our regeneration and conversion in
time, it is spoken of as if it were already accomplished.
Always keep in mind the vital principles of
representation
and imputation, and never lose the distinction between Christ as Head
and
Representative and the ones whom He represents. We know that we all
sinned
in Adam, and, therefore, we all became guilty, defiled, and condemned
in
our representative, Adam, yet not in our own individual persons until
by
natural generation and imputation we become so personally. In time,
when
we are born into this world by natural generation, we are born in sin,
in a state of wrath and condemnation, guilty and defiled by
representation
and imputation. In the very same way all of God's elect were purged
from
sin and justified in Christ our Representative, yet not in our own
individual
persons until by imputation, regeneration, and conversion, we become
actual
partakers of Christ's nature, Spirit, and imputed righteousness. This
is
the application and communication of grace. THIS IS EFFICACIOUS,
IRRESISTIBLE
GRACE!
II. IN THE NEW BIRTH, COMMON TO ALL TRUE
BELIEVERS.
A. PAUL'S CONVERSION, A PATTERN (Gal.
1:15-16;
1 Tim. 1:15-16) -- We know that the details of each person's
conversion
may be different in the realm of circumstances and temporal situations,
but the process and the issues are the same for all of God's people.
Consider
the
Apostle Paul as an example. Before his regeneration and conversion,
before he was born again, before justifying faith and repentance from
dead
works, he was a guilty, defiled, servant of sin, a member of Satan's
spiritual
family, alienated from God, and all his efforts at religion and
morality
were dead works and fruit unto death. Even at this time he was already
saved in the mind and purpose of God, yet not in his own person. His
sins
were already purged, put away, and he was already perfected forever in
the Person of Christ his Representative, yet certainly not in his own
person.
Righteousness had been established for him, yet righteousness had not
yet
been imputed to him. All spiritual blessings had been secured for him,
yet none had yet been communicated to him. Christ, his Representative,
had purchased for him all grace here and all glory hereafter, yet he
had
not yet become a partaker of any of this in his own person. He was
righteous
and holy, purged and justified in the Person of Christ his Surety, but
he was guilty and defiled, condemned and under the power of darkness in
his own person, BEFORE REGENERATION AND CONVERSION, BEFORE SALVATION.
We might note that even before Paul's actual
conversion,
he, like all of God's elect, was blessed of God in temporal and
providential
ways. God had determined before the foundation of the world to bring
this
man to the point in time when he would be saved, born again. But before
his conversion, Paul attributed all of the temporal and providential
blessings
to a god of his own imagination, not the true and living God. This is
the
experience of all of God's elect. We may look back in our lives and see
many times when God preserved us and blessed us temporally and
physically,
but before we came to faith in Christ and true repentance, we
attributed
it all to a false god, a god who cannot save.
Paul was purged and made righteous and holy in his
own
person when in true conversion, which includes regeneration, faith, and
repentance, he was made an actual partaker of Christ's nature, spirit,
and righteousness. Before believing, before justifying faith, Paul was
not purged in his own person. He was defiled and had no fellowship with
God. Remember, the wrath of God abides on all who believe not on the
Son
of God (John 3:18,36), and God's wrath cannot abide
where
sin has been purged. An unbeliever is not purged, cleansed, justified
or
yet a partaker of any grace or glory in his own person, although like
Saul
of Tarsus, he may be so in the person of Christ, His Representative. If
he is, then at some time he, by the power of the Spirit of God, will
hear
and believe the Gospel. Justifying faith and repentance from former
idolatry
and dead works is the evidence of election and that Christ represented
and atoned for that person's sins.
B. All of us are born under the covenant of works,
under
law, owing a debt to God's law and justice. There is an actual passage
in time between the covenant of works to which we are born by nature
and
the covenant of grace which is the NEW BIRTH by the Holy Spirit of God.
The elect of God must in time be made one with Christ by IMPUTATION of
His righteousness to them (2 Cor. 5:21b) and in
REGENERATION,
wherein we become actual partakers of His nature, His spirit, that
powerful
principle of holiness which enables us to receive Him and His
righteousness
by FAITH and to repent from dead works and former idolatry.
Righteousness
alone demands justification and life according to God's promise and
consistent
with strict law and inflexible justice; and until we become actual
partakers
of Christ's righteousness by imputation and faith, it is impossible for
a holy God to justify us and receive us into His fellowship, in our own
persons. Only those who receive the gift of righteousness shall reign
in
life by Jesus Christ. Until we are united to Christ by faith through
the
preaching of the Gospel, we remain guilty, defiled, under wrath in our
own persons, and lost.
C. Titus 3:4 -- This is the
manifestation
of God's goodness and love to us PERSONALLY in a special manner by His
Spirit. The grace of God, the love of Christ, APPEARED to us when we
were
enlightened to God's Gospel of salvation conditioned on Christ, where
His
righteousness is revealed (2 Cor. 4:6). This does not
oppose
God's purpose before time, nor Christ's purchase in time. Paul seeks to
magnify the grace of God in our conversion. Here, God reveals Himself
in
a certain way to His elect as both a JUST GOD AND A SAVIOR based on the
blood and the imputed righteousness of Christ (Isa. 45:21-22,
24-25).
Who is commanded to look and be saved? Those already saved? NO! Active
idolaters are commanded to look and be saved, to repent of their
idolatry.
On what ground are they to seek salvation? The imputed righteousness of
Christ revealed in the Gospel.
Titus 3:5 -- What is the NEW BIRTH?
What
actually takes place in a sinner when he is born from above by the
Spirit
of God? Paul tells us. That sinner is REGENERATED (given life or
quickened)
and RENEWED (converted in newness of life) (Rom. 6:17-18; 7:4-6).
The Agent in this new birth is the Holy Spirit who makes us actual
partakers
of the very nature of Christ (His spirit, His righteousness), and the
instrument
is the Gospel whereby our hearts are purified by faith and our
consciences
are purged by the blood of Christ. The Holy Spirit imparts a new, holy
principle in our hearts, the very nature of Christ, enlightens our
minds
to the glory of God revealed in the promise of salvation conditioned on
Christ, and we are brought from death unto life. God the Father
actually
imputed the very righteousness of Christ to each one of His elect in
each
successive generation. The Holy Spirit imparts new life unto them and
renews
their minds with the truth of the Gospel, overcomes their natural
prejudices
against it, and brings them to faith in Christ and repentance from dead
works. Now these things take place as God has ordained from the
beginning,
and they are never separate according to Scripture. They can be
distinguished
but never separated. Where there is the imputation of righteousness,
there
is regeneration and conversion. Where there is faith, there is life (John
6:54).
D. Salvation is not only a thing determined and
resolved
in the mind and purpose of God, but it is actually and completely
accomplished
by the atonement of Christ (Titus 3:6), and in the
actual
application of it is made in time to the elect in regeneration and
conversion.
THIS IS THE ELECTS' OPEN PASSAGE INTO THE STATE OF GRACE, AND WITHOUT
THIS
THERE IS NO ENTRY INTO GRACE AND GLORY. Remember, there is a vital,
unbreakable
connection between God's purpose in election as the cause of salvation,
Christ's work for us as the ground of salvation, and the Holy Spirit's
work in us to apply salvation.
Ephesians 2:1-5 -- We were spiritually
dead
and condemned in the person of Adam our representative, but not in our
own persons until we were born by natural generation. We were
spiritually
alive, purged from sin, redeemed, and even glorified in the Person of
Christ
our Surety, but not in our own persons until we are born again by
regeneration
and conversion, and not finally glorified in our own persons until we
pass
from this life into the next (Rom. 8:30; Eph. 2:6). The
application
of salvation to our own persons, whereby we are made actual partakers
of
justification and life in this world, is just as sure and certain as
Christ's
death on Calvary. This application is the effectual call of God the
Holy
Spirit through the preaching of God's Gospel. God the Holy Spirit is
the
sovereign Agent who quickens spiritually dead sinners, and the Gospel
preached,
heard and understood is the means, the very power of God unto salvation
(Rom. 1:16-17) by which He calls and converts God's
people
(2 Thess. 2:13-14; 1 Pet. 1:23-24; James 1:18). Here we
see
that the truth of irresistible grace does not shut any sinner out of
the
kingdom of God. Sinners exclude themselves by refusing to believe these
truths which honor the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Sinners
refuse
to believe these truths which exclude all occasions and grounds of
boasting
in themselves (1 Cor. 1:29-31).
III. OUR RESPONSIBILITY TO PREACH AND HEAR.
A. Someone may object then, "Why preach, why listen,
why
evangelize, why send missionaries? We don't know if they are God's
elect,
if Christ died for them, or if the Holy Spirit will quicken and call."
We must see that in all things the secret things belong unto the Lord,
but the revealed things belong to us (Deut. 29:29). God
has
commanded His people, for His glory, to preach the Gospel to all
without
exception and show sinners their responsibility to believe and repent.
Evangelism is not motivated by what we do not know. It is motivated by
what we do know! We know that the Gospel preached will have no saving
effect
upon any sinner apart from the Holy Spirit's effectual call. We know
that
if any sinner savingly believes God's Gospel, it is due to the power of
God in affecting that great change. But we know also that God uses
means
to save His elect, and we are responsible to use the means to His glory
and our good.
We know that the means will be used in every
instance
of the application of salvation to God's elect. We know that God's
elect
will hear and believe God's truth. We know that all without exception
are
commanded to believe it and to seek justification and life based on the
imputed righteousness of Christ. We know that all are forbidden to seek
salvation any other way upon any other ground. We know that all without
exception are responsible to believe God's promise of salvation
conditioned
on Christ -- HE THAT BELIEVETH SHALL BE SAVED, AND HE THAT
BELIEVETH
NOT SHALL BE DAMNED. God uses means, and we are commanded and
encouraged
to be diligent in using the means (Isa. 55:6-7). Many
who
claim to believe the doctrines of grace excuse their ambiguous and
vague
preaching by claiming that if any of their hearers are God's elect,
they
will hear and believe. This is nothing more than a person seeking to
remove
the offense of the cross under the guise of exalting God's sovereignty.
We should make our preaching plain and distinct and definitive so that
sinners, whether they believe it or not, know exactly what we believe
and
what God's Word says (1 Cor. 14:8). This is our
responsibility.
B. We know that THIS PROMISE OF THE GOSPEL IS SURE
AND
CERTAIN TO ALL THE SEED (all of God's elect), and that it is
made
certain by means of faith, believing God's promise of salvation
conditioned
on Christ (Rom. 4:16). There are many things we do not
know
and have no promise or assurance from God as to the outcome. For
example,
if you get sick and need an operation, you do not know when you go
under
the anesthesia whether or not you will wake up. You have no promise
from
God concerning the certainty of physical health and life, but
that
does not stop you from seeking after and using the means. Why? It is
because
your physical life is precious to you.
In eternal salvation and life we do have a sure and
certain
promise from God BASED ON HIS FAITHFULNESS TO FULFILL HIS PROMISE OF
SALVATION
CONDITIONED ON CHRIST ALONE! We are to tell sinners that GOD WILL
JUSTIFY
THE UNGODLY, EVEN THEM, BASED ON THE IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS OF
CHRIST
ALONE. Now, all are commanded to seek after and use the means to gain
eternal
life.
B. We also know what keeps sinners from the means and in condemnation. John 3:18-20 -- The only thing that keeps a sinner in a state of condemnation is the sinful principles of self-love, self-righteousness and religious pride which cause them to refuse to admit of and repent of former idolatry and dead works. These sinful principles cause a sinner to insist on salvation based on something other than the imputed righteousness of Christ. In the invincible calling, God the Holy Spirit convinces those whom Christ redeemed of the utter impossibility of being saved based on anything other than the imputed righteousness of Christ, and He reveals to them that God is glorified in their salvation conditioned on Christ alone. This makes them willing to be saved and kept saved by grace alone.