Posted by Michael Bunker
editor@lazarusunbound.com
***Since I wrote
this almost a year ago, I have concluded that there are far fewer true
Christians than I first thought, and far more 'ecclesiastical athiests' (or
counterfeit 'christians') than I ever imagined. Truly, few there are that are
truly saved***
“For we ourselves also were sometimes
foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in
malice and envy, hateful, and
hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour
toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but
according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and
renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ
our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according
to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:3-7)
March
15, 2004 – This is primarily going to be a discussion on Regeneration, but in
discussing that critical doctrine, it is necessary that we also discuss the
difference between Regeneration and Conversion, and the many horrible errors
and confusions that are being perpetuated from the pulpits of modern apostate
“christianity” today on the topic.
Paul
teaches that all men (without exception) were once “children of wrath”
(Ephesians 2:3); fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and that
there was nothing to make us differ from the heathen and the reprobate (1 Cor.
4:7). If a man replies, “Well, my election as a sheep made me
different from the goats from before my birth”, I would ask him to
reconcile that belief with the plain statements of scripture that tell us that
every man MUST BE BORN AGAIN in order to see the Kingdom. I would say to that man that his election
had no effect on him at all prior to his regeneration, and that it was a
reality that existed in the mind of his Creator, but did him no earthly good at
all.
We
can find some important facts about our former condition in Ephesians the 2nd
Chapter:
1.
We
were “dead in trespasses and sins” and in need of “quickening” (2:1). Quickening” means to be “made alive” or
“brought to life”.
2.
We
were “uncircumcised” (2:11), which means, our hearts were inclined away from
God. We were heathen and unclean
creatures.
3.
We
were “without hope” (2:12), which means had we not been quickened, we could not
believe, repent or have faith. We were
totally unable to do anything to help ourselves.
4.
We
were at “enmity” with God (2:15,17), which means we were NOT seeking God, but
were at warfare with Him. We were not
looking for peace with God; rather, we were complete and active enemies of God.
5.
We
had “no access” to God (2:18) at all, rather, we lacked the necessary
requirement to seek or pursue God, that being the Spirit of God which is
necessary for us to approach, look towards,
or seek the Father.
6.
We
were “strangers and foreigners” (2:19), which is used to mean the OPPOSITE of
“fellowcitizens with the saints”.
I
have to make a point here, and we will prove and emphasize our point as we go
along:
NOWHERE
IN THE BIBLE ARE WE ENCOURAGED TO SEEK AFTER, OR TO WORK TOWARDS REGENERATION!
How
could we? We were “without strength”
(Romans 5:6). Romans 3:11 says, “There is none that understandeth, there is
none that seeketh after God”. Just as you did not seek your first “generation” when you were
conceived and born of a woman, you could not seek or work towards your
“regeneration” or being born-again of the Spirit of God. Listen to how John says it, “Which were born, not of blood, nor of the
will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God”. These are the things which were NOT involved
in your regeneration:
1.
Your
blood (who your father is or what tribe you are from).
2.
Your
desire to seek God (no “decision for Christ”, or “seeking God”)
3.
Your
will (Only God’s will is the cause of regeneration).
It
is that simple… Did you choose to be born?
Then you did not choose to be re-born.
Jesus inexorably ties “regeneration” with “generation”:
“Jesus answered and
said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be
born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and
be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born
of water and of the Spirit, he
cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh;
and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto
thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou
hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it
goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit” (John 3:3-8).
The
false, so-called “Christianity” of today says, “I was seeking God, and He saved
me”, but the Bible says that NO MAN sought Him. The Bible says that they could not even SEE the Kingdom!
Regeneration
is a sovereign act of a Sovereign God, without any work of preparation at all
in the life or heart of the one regenerated.
Regeneration is also called “Quickening” and being “Born-Again” in the
Bible. Regeneration is an invisible,
internal act – worked upon the recipient, whereby he is made alive (where he
was once dead); his heart is circumcised; his stony heart is removed and
replaced with a heart of flesh, and he is enabled to seek the Kingdom of
God. No man is drawn to the One True
God at all, unless He is given a new heart first. The old, corrupt heart may indeed seek after “a christ”; it may indeed be religious. It may seek after religious piety and
earthly goodness. Religious men may
call themselves “Christians” and pat their own backs and thank themselves for
being wise enough to use their “free will” to get saved. But the truly regenerate man can give no
glory to any but Christ, for Christ said, “All
that the Father giveth me shall
come to me; and him that cometh
to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37). Arminians hate the words of Christ, especially when He says, “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” (John 6:44).
Regeneration
is NOT conversion. You were not
converted when you were regenerated.
Regeneration is a one time act of God upon His elect children. While all men exist in a state of rebellion
and open warfare against God, God (while we are yet enemies; while we yet war
against Him) Sovereignly and by Grace alone makes some of these dead men a
LIVING SPIRIT. This action is by God’s
free and special Grace alone, not from anything foreseen in man, not because of
any character or value in the one made alive, not because God foresaw that the
man would eventually believe and come to Him, but because God will ENABLE his
elect to believe and to repent and to come unto Him. Do you know that the Bible says that this is the exact same (and
no less) than that power which raised Jesus Christ from the dead?
Do
you see now how Arminianism and “Free Will” doctrines debase and slander
God? Don’t you see how “Free Will”
salvation attempts to rob God of His glory?
Paul prayed:
“That the God of
our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of
wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding
being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what
the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of his
power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the
heavenly places” (Ephesians 1:17-20).
Just
as Lazarus had no power to seek resurrection, and nothing but a dead and
rotting corpse with which to call out to Christ; the Spirit of God must enable
that which is dead to see Christ and to come to Him.
The
new birth is of God, and God alone.
There
are two gospels abroad in the world today.
The “Free Will” gospel exalts man and debases God’s salvation. It seeks God out of the flesh, and refuses
Him his due. The “Sovereign Grace”
Gospel (the only True Gospel), seeks God aright, and bestows upon God all the credit
and the glory for the new birth. I did
seek God. But I did not seek Him while
I was dead. I sought Him after He
quickened my spirit, and enlightened mine eyes, and drew me inexorably to
Himself. Not of the will of man, but of
God. That’s what your Bible says.
False Religion Mixes
and dangerously Confuses Regeneration and Conversion
The
religious, so-called “christian” world has so horribly mangled the differences
between regeneration and conversion – that when people hear the truth about the
Sovereignty of God and His election and predestination of the Saints, they
immediately default to either:
a)
Trying
to prove responsibility (which we never deny, but in fact emphasize), or,
b)
Trying
to figure out when they were “saved”.
Was it when they said a prayer?
Was it when they walked up to the priest (or pastor) and “made a decision”? When exactly was I saved? We’ll get to that…
It
is critical to your spiritual health and well-being as a Christian that you
understand the differences. Your
spiritual growth will skyrocket and the eyes of your enlightenment will fly
open when you first humble yourself and give God not part, not half, not some… but ALL of the Glory for making
you spiritually alive, before you even sought Him.
Let’s
look at some of the differences…
Whereas
I am locked out of any participation in my regeneration, I am throughout the
scripture commanded and enjoined to be converted. Regeneration is necessary and must precede conversion, but
conversion is something with which I definitely have something to do. I am regenerated once for ever, according to
the scriptures; but I am converted continuously and in different areas of my
life, according to my regenerated will to have all of my life come under the
government and Kingdom of God.
Jesus
locked most of humanity out of the ability to be converted:
“And when he was
alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable. And
he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of
God: but unto them that are without, all these
things are done in parables: That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and
hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be
converted, and their sins
should be forgiven them” (Mark 4:10-12).
Do
you see what Jesus is saying here? He
spoke in parables and hid things from the goats so that they would not be
converted and show that their sins were forgiven them! Jesus is telling the disciples plainly that
unless they are regenerated, they cannot see Him, believe on Him, understand
Him – nor can they be converted! John
says the same thing in his Gospel:
“He hath blinded
their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted,
and I should heal them” (John 12:40).
Regeneration
is God’s Sovereign work bestowed upon His elect; it is the actual giving of
ZOE’ (eternal spirit life) to men; it is a one time, invisible act of God, and
it is totally perfect, complete, and irrevocable for ever.
Conversion
is man’s response to the work of God, it is co-operational and conditional on
obedience. It requires true spiritual
fellowship with God, and the honest and sincere desire to be brought under
God’s government and Kingdom. There is
outward evidence of conversion called FRUIT; conversion is always partial (on
this earth) and continual, and can be seen in different parts of our lives at
different times. Conversion is the
entering into the Kingdom of God.
This
may hurt just a bit… I know many
Christians who I truly believe are regenerated, born-again, eternally saved
Saints of the Most High God; but I know very few converted Christians. Very few.
Too many of God’s children are afraid of the Kingdom and in love with
the world. Too many of God’s children
are still listening to the world and the world’s increasingly ecumenical
religious cult; and they are afraid of losing friends, loved ones, and personal
peace and affluence in this world. Why
would Christ bid you come unless He bid you come and die? What is it that you love so much that you
refuse to be converted? The religious
world bastardizes and confuses these words, because they are truly afraid of
converted Christians.
Conversion
is the response of a regenerated heart to a Sovereign God. Conversion is heeding and obeying the
commandments of God.
Conversion
shows that we love God.
Conversion
is work.
Conversion
is fleeing from one country and taking refuge in another.
Conversion
is totally submitting our mind, will, and emotions to the government of God.
Now
I want to talk for a minute about the confusion about the “when” of
salvation. “When was I saved?” is a question
people ask… and, Lord willing, I will get to the answer in just a minute. But it frustrates me that so many people are
so confused as to the basic Biblical teachings concerning this issue…
So
many people are flooding the world (primarily third world countries) in their
misplaced zeal for missionary evangelism that they never stop to consider what Gospel they themselves have
believed, and what Gospel they are
spewing on the world. Jesus Christ
Himself rebuked the Pharisees about this:
“Woe unto you,
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye
make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves” (Matt. 23:15).
The
false “Free Will” gospel has many adherents and many missionaries, most of whom
will never question themselves or even stop to think that they are creating
children that are TWICE the children of hell than they themselves are. Think about that. Most of these missionaries (just like many of you) are suffering
from “I Disease”. I hear from these people every day, “I just
want to put God first in my life”, they say; then listen to them: “I
was saved when I saw
that my life was going bad
and I decided to go to church”,
or, “I decided to go to a
revival”, and “I saw that I was a sinner, and I needed to be saved, so I said the ‘sinner’s prayer” and
I went forward to confess
this to my priest (pastor), and then I
got saved, and now I want to
live MY life for God.” All that and they want to put GOD first in
their life? How man “I’s” did it take
to get to God? You’ve got “I Disease” out there, and it is
communicable, and people are spreading it all over the world. Jesus looks at it totally differently:
“And he said,
Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given
unto him of my Father” (John 6:65).
Do
you understand the importance of Jesus saying that NO MAN can come unto Him
unless it is given unto him to come; and that ALL THOSE who the Father gives
Him will come unto Him? Do you understand that these simple truths
lock the Pharisees of that time and in the present from ever entering into the
Kingdom? Where is your “I Disease” now?
Modern
religionists want to take part in (and take credit for) regeneration, which
they had nothing to do with, but they reject the continuing work of conversion
and obedience in which they are specifically ordered to engage!
I
get e-mails every day that honestly ask me, “How do I know if I am elect?” Now that is an honest question. But first we must agree that not only CAN
you know, but the Bible exhorts you to make sure and to do not stop until you do
know:
“Wherefore the
rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if
ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the
everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 1:10).
If
a man is hired to move a cord of wood, and he asks “how do I move it?” we must
first agree that he CAN and that he MUST move it. It is his obligation.
Peter says that if you will spend the time and effort to make your
calling and election sure FIRST, that you will then have a way opened unto you
into the Kingdom. Remember, the
entering into the Kingdom of God is about your conversion. Make your
calling and election sure, and you will then see your duty clearly. You will see the commandments of separation,
of holiness, of obedience more clearly.
Now the world sends out missionaries who don’t even believe that there
EXISTS a divine “calling and election”!
What kind of proselytes do you think these people make? If you do not even understand the Doctrines
of Sovereign Grace, why, you should be concerned with evangelizing yourself
first. You should focus on making your
calling and election sure. I know I am
the elect when my doctrine is pure and undefiled, when God’s sovereignty in
election and reprobation is the centerpiece of my belief system, when God’s
providence is my worldview. I know that
I am the elect when the TRUE Fruit of the Spirit is evident in my life and
ministry (not the false and lying fruit taught in religious whorehouses
today). I know that I am the elect when
I daily seek to enter into the Kingdom; when I take the Kingdom by violence;
when radical obedience without regard to consequence is my method. Most people say that they want the Kingdom,
but they love the kingdoms of this world too much to take the Kingdom of
Heaven.
Let’s
talk about “when” you were saved. The
religious One-World Cult has made this term “saved” into a costume that you can
put on and take off at will. But the
Bible is a little more clear about it.
1.
God
saved me eternally in His perfect, omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent mind,
before the foundations of the world were laid, when The Father (who exists out
of time) promised a particular bride, a particular church, a particular people,
to His Son. God purposed from all
eternity to save me, and I was specifically on His mind, when I was engraved
into the hands of Jesus, and written into the Lamb’s Book of Life.
2.
God
saved me legally by the completed work of Jesus Christ almost 2000 years ago
when He fulfilled the law perfectly and served as a propitiation for my sins
PARTICULARY, and when He served as my representative in completing the law on
my behalf PARTICULARLY, and when He ascended to the right hand of the throne in
Heaven and sat down next to the Father because His work was done.
3.
God
saved me particularly when I was regenerated by the Spirit of God in time. This happened NOT while I was seeking God or
trying to please Him, but when I was dead in trespasses and sins, and bearing
the weapons of my warfare against Him.
Christ CAUSED me to be regenerated, gave me a heart of flesh and gave me
the gifts of belief, repentance, and faith to seek Him aright.
4.
God
saves me continuously from peril and hardship, from temporal punishments and
curses, from desperation and anguish, from the loss of peace and the loss of
temporal safety, from all those things that are not according to His will
concerning me… when I seek Him and follow after Him as His disciple.
5.
God
will save me gloriously, according to His promise, when one day very soon I die
and am eternally resurrected and taken to be with Him where He is; or when He
returns to this world to save the remnant of those who are left alive and
remain when He bodily returns. On that
day I will be saved from the body of this death and from the sting of death,
and I will be securely ushered into the presence of our gracious heavenly Lord
and Savior, in whom I live and move and have my being.
Do
not be deceived. God is not
mocked. The modernist invention of
so-called “christianity” today is the false gospel heresy of free-will Pelagianism.
It has been cooked up and re-hashed by
the Romanist Anti-christ church, and it has been widely trumpeted and spread by
the false prophets and lying Pharisees of the last day’s religious order.
If
you are a child of God, regeneration is the work of God that is behind you;
conversion is the work set before your eyes tonight. Would you have life? Then
you must be born-again… it is the mysterious and Sovereign work of God and it
is glorious to behold; but would you have life “more abundantly”? (John 10:10),
then repent and be converted!
Whereas
you are nowhere in all of scripture commanded to “be regenerated”, you are
commanded throughout scripture to “repent
and be converted” (Acts 3:19). Who
will be converted? Only the regenerated
can obey and follow the commands of God.
God keeps regeneration solely under His complete command and control,
but He has invited you to “be converted”.
Make
no mistake, regeneration is a work done secretly inside the elect of God, but
conversion only takes place outside the camp, where our Lord and Savior was
mocked and scourged, put to an open shame, and made a spectacle to the
world. Will you be converted? Then you must leave the City of Destruction
and become a pilgrim and a stranger on your way to the Celestial City. Will you be converted? They you will turn your back to the false
religious systems of the world, and you will seek first the Kingdom of God. Will you be converted? Then you will suffer all things for His
sake; you will reject what is popular and emotional, for what is unpopular and
painful. Will you be converted? Then you will embrace the stake, and the
whip, and the rod; you will embrace the chains and isolation; you will embrace
fires and lions; and you will hurry towards that which your flesh abhors. Will you be converted? There is no other way to enter the Kingdom
than to shun the filthy and profane modern harlots, and all their daughters,
and all their whorehouses, and to set your nose like a flint towards the
Kingdom of Heaven.
I
pray that many of you will be converted to Christ tonight.
I
remain your servant in Christ Jesus,
Michael
Bunker
*** Since I
wrote this article, I have studied long and hard about this subject of
salvation. After reading the Works of Thomas Shepard (especially The Sincere
Convert), I have concluded that there are many, many "false
salvations", that bear false fruit and feign good doctrine.
1. There are those that put on the form of religion through a light profession
of faith, and they doubt not that God and Christ exist, and that they will one
day give an account; but they live on with the false belief that God is
"all mercy and no justice, all honey and no sting" - not realizing
their perilous state, until they die and are sent from the presence of God into
eternal damnation.
2. There are those who are made aware of their wicked estate, and their sins
bear down upon them, and they seek religion to be saved from their sure place
in hell; but they love this world so much, that they cannot put it down, so
they seek the "bottom line", or what is the minimum duty I must meet
to be saved. They speak well, and act well, but cannot and will not leave the
world or fall upon Christ alone. They will have the world AND Christ, but never
Christ alone.
3. There are those who truly reform themselves, correct themselves - seek right
action above all things, even to the point of separating from the world and all
unrighteousness. They wish to read the right books, hear the right sermons and desire
to be directed from the paths of evil. They live their lives (as seen by
others) as Christians and above board; but they never came to know their sin,
and to hate it, and to recognize the reality of their state and to groan under
the weight of it. They flee to a cardboard cutout of Jesus, which they build
out of external duties that they hope will please him and satiate His wrath.
You may be regenerated, and struggle and suffer in your conversion;
but if you are not regenerated, you will never truly be converted to
Christ. You may go through many forms
and styles of religion, but you will never be a true Christian if you are not
reborn of the Spirit first. Many there
are who will approach the throne of God only seconds after their deaths, and
will be told “away from me ye cursed”.
Those who know their state, and desire to flee from the wrath that is to
come, and who find beauty and bottomless mercy in the love of Christ, will seek
to work those works that are commanded of them as a sign to themselves that
they are His. You will not save yourselves
with your works, but you will surely damn yourself without them. You may flee to Christ only to be sent away
from His presence, but if you do not flee to Him, you will certainly perish
without Him.
Something to ponder.