|
"And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." Luke 16:31 |
Modern orthodoxy has made a grave blunder in assuming that a preponderance of evidence will lead a man to saving faith in Jesus Christ. Show me a man who became a Christian because the evidence convinced him to do so, and I'll show you a man who is INFALLIBLY UNREGENERATE. It isn't possible to become a Christian -- a GENUINELY born again Christian -- through the apologetic or syllogism of evidence.
Rather, it takes POWER to receive SAVING FAITH in Jesus Christ, the POWER of the RESURRECTION of Jesus Christ HIMSELF, and that POWER is conveyed ONLY through the Word of God, either by reading or meditating upon the TRUE Word of God in tandem with the Holy Spirit HIMSELF falling upon the man who reads or meditates upon the Word, or by hearing the TRUE Word of God proclaimed by a REGENERATE Christian whereupon the Holy Spirit likewise falls upon the hearers in POWER, even the RESURRECTION POWER of Jesus Christ HIMSELF. It takes POWER -- not evidence -- to become a genuinely born again Christian, -- or, as the TRUE Word of God puts it -- "through the faith of the operation of God" Colossians 2:12 -- and he who thinks otherwise is himself a complete stranger to the MIRACLE of the New Birth.
In fact, the presentation of evidence as an apologetic as a means to salvation will do FAR more harm than good, for the man who comes to what he believes is faith in Christ through the apologetic or syllogism of evidence will be fortified in his belief that he is saved when he INFALLIBLY is NOT. Tozer's words are wholly apropos here --
|
"There is a difference between the intellectual knowledge of God and the Spirit-revealed knowledge... there is the Christ whom only the Spirit can reveal... YOU MAY BE CONVINCED THAT HE IS THE SON OF GOD AND STILL NEVER FIND HIM AS THE LIVING PERSON HE IS. JESUS CHRIST MUST BE REVEALED BY THE HOLY GHOST... the final flash that introduces your heart to Jesus must be by that illumination of the Holy Spirit Himself, or it isn't done at all." A. W. Tozer, The Tozer Pulpit, Vol II |
When the gospel of Christ is presented in the flesh, even if it's the true gospel, it kills rather than heals; it damns rather than saves; it hardens rather than softens. And Jesus Christ will HIMSELF take vengeance on those who present his gospel without the RESURRECTION POWER of Jesus Christ HIMSELF by the UNCTION, or ANOINTING, of the Holy Spirit. E. M. Bounds penetrated to the very core of the matter when he stated --
|
"Preaching is to give life; IT MAY KILL. This letter-preaching has the truth. BUT EVEN DIVINE TRUTH HAS NO LIFE-GIVING ENERGY ALONE; IT MUST BE ENERGIZED BY THE SPIRIT, with all God's forces at its back. TRUTH UNQUICKENED BY GOD'S SPIRIT DEADENS AS MUCH AS - OR MORE THAN - ERROR. It may be the truth without admixture; but WITHOUT THE SPIRIT its shade and touch are DEADLY, its truth ERROR, its light DARKNESS." E. M. Bounds, Power Through Prayer |
Bunyan noted the exact same thing --
|
"There belongs to every true notion of truth a POWER; the notion is the shell -- the POWER is the kernel and life. WITHOUT THIS LAST, TRUTH DOTH ME NO GOOD, NOR THOSE TO WHOM I COMMUNICATE IT. Hence Paul said to the Corinthians, When I come to you again, I will know not the speech of them that are puffed up, but the POWER. For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in POWER." John Bunyan, Christ A Complete Saviour |
Every GENUINELY born again Christian on this planet knows EXACTLY what Bunyan and Bounds is talking about, for every GENUINELY born again Christian on this planet has EXPERIENCED the very RESURRECTION POWER of Jesus Christ in the SUPERNATURAL MIRACLE of the NEW BIRTH, and he KNOWS the deadly dangers of which Bounds and Bunyan speak, for he KNOWS the POWER of the Holy Spirit, he KNOWS the UNCTION, or ANOINTING, of the Holy Spirit, and he has witnessed the Holy Spirit coming upon himself and others in POWER. And he who cannot so testify is deluding himself if he thinks he's born again.
As Tozer related, a man can be convinced by the evidence that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that there is no other way to heaven but by him, that he is the way, the truth, and the life, that he rose from the dead bodily, that he is coming again in glory -- I say, a man may be CONVINCED of ALL of that and more, and still NEVER be saved, NEVER be GENUINELY born again.
In fact, modern professing Christianity is OVERFLOWING with such people. Absolutely, utterly OVERFLOWING, for there are very, very FEW who profess to be Christians today that are GENUINELY born again, and it has never been worse, for this is the quintessential apostate generation of the world.
You profess to be a Christian? Then I have one question for you...
How did you become a Christian?
Did you choose this for yourself? Did the "evidence" convince you? Did you "make a decision for Christ," or did you "accept Jesus as your Saviour," or did you walk down an aisle at a church or at a crusade, or a host of other such conventions?
If so, then you may be INFALLIBLY CERTAIN that you have NO claim to heaven WHATSOEVER, that the wrath of God abides upon you STILL, and that unless that changes, you will NEVER set foot in the kingdom of Jesus Christ.
Friend, unless you can HONESTLY and LEGITIMATELY testify that Jesus Christ HIMSELF has PERSONALLY INTRODUCED HIMSELF to you in the UNMISTAKABLE SUPERNATURAL MIRACLE of the NEW BIRTH, you will NEVER see the inside of heaven, you will NEVER set foot in the New Jerusalem.
And you are utterly deluded if you think otherwise. Utterly.
|
"He that believeth the Scriptures to be the Word of God, believeth that men MUST BE BORN AGAIN, and also be PARTAKERS OF THAT FAITH WHICH IS OF THE OPERATION OF GOD, according as he hath read and believed, or else he MUST and SHALL be damned. And he that believeth this aright WILL NOT BE CONTENTED until, according as it is written, HE DO PARTAKE OF AND ENJOY THE NEW BIRTH, and until he do find, through grace, THAT FAITH WHICH IS WROUGHT BY THE OPERATION OF GOD IN HIS SOUL. For this is the cause why men do satisfy themselves with so slender a CONCEITED HOPE that their state is good, when it is nothing so, namely, because they do not credit the Scripture; for did they, they would look into their own hearts, and EXAMINE SERIOUSLY whether that faith, that hope, that grace which they THINK they have, be of that nature, AND WROUGHT BY THAT SPIRIT AND POWER THAT THE SCRIPTURE SPEAKETH OF. I speak this of an EFFECTUAL BELIEVING, without which all other is nothing unto salvation." John Bunyan, A Few Sighs From Hell |
Would you be born again? GENUINELY born again?
Then take wise counsel -- pick up a Bible based on the Traditional Text -- in English, the ONLY VALID Bible based on the Traditional Text is the King James Bible -- and then read with SOLEMNITY, beginning in the Gospels preferably, and beg Jesus Christ to reveal himself to you, and give him no rest until he does, for if you read the TRUE written Word of God, you will find the Lord of Glory, even Jesus Christ, moving upon the face of the waters in its pages, just as he moved upon the face of the waters when he walked across the Sea of Galilee, and if you follow the advice just given, and if you persist, Jesus Christ HIMSELF will verily MANIFEST HIMSELF to you (for he HIMSELF promises to do this for those who truly heed this advice), just as he MANIFESTED HIMSELF to his disciples when he moved upon the face of the waters as he walked across the stormy sea some two thousand years ago, and just as he did with ME not too many years ago, and just as he has done with a FEW others from day to day since that time, in this very generation, and just as he will do for YOU if -- IF -- you heed my advice, and if -- IF -- you persist therein, for he who promised is FAITHFUL. John 14:21, Matthew 14:25-27
The Great Gamble
Regeneration And The Holy Spirit
Where Have All The Preachers Gone?