Chapter 1: What is the significance of understanding man's fallenness?
We insist that the first step of our justification, that which quickens us from spiritual death and enables us to come to Jesus at all, is the gracious work of God the Holy Spirit and is never the fruit of the flesh. The Apostle Paul reminded the church in Ephesus that before anyone becomes a Christian, they're not simply sick or ignoring God. They are dead in their trespasses and sins.
So since unbelievers are spiritually dead, how does anyone come to Christ? This is the Thursday edition of Renewing Your Mind. I'm Nathan W. Bingham. This week's series, Chosen by God, has been used by the Lord to help countless Christians around the world grow in their understanding of God's Word and God's sovereignty.
I still remember the light bulbs turning on for me as I worked through this teaching on the sovereignty of God and the will of man. Confusion and questions were replaced with clarity. So I do hope that you've been helped so far this week. Well, here's R.C. Sproul on the radical fallenness of man. In our last session, in our study of predestination, we looked at the concept of free will.
And at the end of that lecture, I set forth some ideas that were originally presented by Jonathan Edwards and also by Saint Augustine, some references to Luther and to John Calvin.
But as much respect as we may or may not have for these great teachers in the history of the church, I think we would all recognize that none of them individually and all of them collectively are to be regarded as infallible teaching authorities. And so we need to go to the next step as we examine the whole question of man's moral ability or lack of it and listen to what our Lord Himself teaches.
because though we may be prone to disagree with Augustine or Luther or Calvin or any other great teacher, far be it from us to stand in opposition to the teaching of Christ Himself. So in this session, I want us to give some attention now to some very crucial statements that Jesus made regarding man's ability or the lack of it.
Turn our attention first of all to the sixth chapter of John's Gospel. where Jesus says in verse 65, and he was saying, for this reason I have said to you that no one can come to me unless it is given to him by the Father. Now let's look at that verse. No one can come to me unless it is given to him by the Father.
The first two words in this statement, no one, or some translations read no man, no person, no one, that statement, if we apply the categories of logic to this and the laws of immediate inference and so on, we see that this statement is what we call a universal negative. That is to say it is all-inclusive.
What Jesus is saying is, without exception, there is no human being who, whatever it is he's going to say about them, that is can come to him unless it is given to him of the Father. So this is an absolute, it's a negative absolute. And we have to understand that. Now the next word is also crucial to our understanding. It is the word can. No one can. Now the word can
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Chapter 2: How does spiritual death affect a person's ability to come to Christ?
And she would always say, I'm sure you can, and you also may. And she would then take that opportunity to teach us that lesson that seems so difficult for us to learn of the difference between the word may, which suggests permission, and the word can. The word can has to do with ability.
So what this verse is saying is that to say that no man can is to say that no one has the ability to do something. If I say no one can run 30 miles an hour, that means no one has the ability to run 30 miles an hour. All right, now what is it that no one has the ability to do that Jesus is talking about here? No one has the ability to come to me, he says. Now let me ask this question.
Does man, in and of himself, according to Jesus, have the ability to come to Jesus? No. Do some men have the ability to come to Jesus in and of themselves? No, no man can come to Jesus. No man can come to me unless. Now we see a clause that follows that we call an acceptive clause. Unless introduces an exception. And unless points to what we call in philosophy a necessary condition.
Now what is a necessary condition? A prerequisite, something that has to happen before something else can possibly happen. That's what a prerequisite is. And so Jesus is saying that there is a necessary condition that must be met before anyone can come to him. Now what does he identify in this verse as the necessary condition for anyone to be able to come to him?
unless the Father gives it to him. Or other translations, unless it is granted by the Father. Another translation reads, unless the Father enables him. Now those words don't all mean the same thing. To grant means to give permission. To give means to give a gift. And to enable means to empower, all right? So there is a certain ambiguity here about what that necessary condition is.
And there's another question that is still hanging out here, and that is if a necessary condition is provided, now we're not talking about coming to Jesus, in any situation, if a necessary condition is provided, Does a necessary condition guarantee that the result you want will in fact take place? Now that's why we make a distinction between necessary conditions and sufficient conditions.
A sufficient condition is a condition that if it is met, guarantees the result. It suffices. So all of this verse is teaching is that in terms of man's natural ability, none of us has the ability in and of ourselves to come to Christ unless God does something. We're still not sure exactly what it is that God does.
And we're still not sure that if God does it, it will guarantee that people will come. All we know is that whatever it is that God does is a necessary condition, a prerequisite. Some have jumped to another verse here in John 6 where Jesus says, all whom the Father give to me, come to me. And that suggests that everybody who gets this necessary condition then indeed do come.
But that's not exactly how those two verses are related to each other. Let's see if we're sharp enough to see the difference. Jesus says, all whom the Father give to me, come to me. No one can come to me unless the Father gives it to him. Now, it almost sounds like that everybody that is given to him to come are those who are included in the ones that the Father gives to the Son.
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Chapter 3: What does Jesus teach about man's moral ability?
Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Now, what has to happen, according to Jesus, before a person can see the kingdom of God? He has to be born again. So regeneration precedes seeing the kingdom of God. Is that a legitimate interpretation of this passage? In fact, nobody can see it at all unless they are first what? Born again, regenerate. All right. Now he goes on to say,
Nicodemus' puzzle, how can a man be born when he is old? He can't enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he? Jesus said, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. So regeneration is a prerequisite for entering and seeing the kingdom of God.
Semi-Pelagians have people choosing Christ before they are regenerate. Semi-Pelagians have people in their human nature cooperating with provenient grace, responding to this wooing and enticing and attracting of God the Holy Spirit, when the Holy Spirit is not yet in them, having regenerated them.
So the bottom line is the Arminian position has people who are not yet born again seeing and choosing the king of the kingdom of God. Boggles the mind, doesn't it? That's why the axiom of Augustinian theology is this. Regeneration precedes faith.
Regeneration is seen as a necessary condition for faith, even as Paul elsewhere teaches in Ephesians 2 when he says that while we were dead in sin and trespasses, God has quickened us, that is, made us alive in Christ, okay, when we were dead. And then tells us that therefore it is by grace you are saved through faith and that is not of yourselves but is the gift of God.
And so we see faith is the gift of God that is the result of the Spirit's work of regeneration within us. That God himself supplies the necessary condition. to come to Jesus. That's why it is sola gratia, by grace alone, that we are saved. Now, Jesus says, that which is born of the flesh is flesh. And that which is born of the spirit is spirit.
Do not marvel that I said to you that you must be born again. Jesus is saying, why should this surprise you? You're a theologian, Nicodemus. Don't you understand the fundamental point of man's fallen nature, that that which is born of the flesh is flesh? And elsewhere he tells us that the flesh profits what? Nothing. But if we believe that God entices us to Christ,
And all we have to do in the flesh prior to our regeneration is cooperate or assent to that, if we can, in fact, cooperate and assent to prevenient grace, to the end that we enter into the kingdom of God and are redeemed forever, and we're doing that while we're still in the flesh, then I ask you, what would the flesh profit? Not just something. Everything. Your eternal salvation.
Oh, Paul speaks about this himself in chapter 8. Let's start at verse 5. For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.
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Chapter 4: What is the necessary condition for coming to Jesus according to John 6:65?
And your donation will also help these truths to be proclaimed on Renewing Your Mind and through the global outreach of Legionnaire Ministries. Visit renewingyourmind.org or call us at 800-435-4343 to give your gift before this offer ends tomorrow. Thank you. Since God is sovereign over salvation, why bother with evangelism? That's the question R.C.
Sproul will tackle Friday, here on Renewing Your Mind.