{"id":1043,"date":"2016-08-15T23:05:46","date_gmt":"2016-08-16T04:05:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/reformed-theology\/"},"modified":"2016-08-15T23:05:46","modified_gmt":"2016-08-16T04:05:46","slug":"reformed-theology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/reformed-theology\/","title":{"rendered":"Reformed Theology"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:6.0pt;line-height:normal'><b>Resources<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:0cm; margin-left:18.0pt;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;line-height:normal'>\u2022&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Integrity of Heart, Skillfulness of Hands, Charles H. Dyer &amp; Roy B. Zuck, editors.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:0cm; margin-left:18.0pt;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;line-height:normal'>\u2022&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Max Anders, Jesus, Knowing Our Savior, (Nashville, Thomas Nelson Publ., 1995), p. 76.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:0cm; margin-left:18.0pt;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;line-height:normal'>\u2022&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Baker Books; Grand Rapids, MI, 1994, pp. 238ff<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:6.0pt;line-height:normal'><b>Regeneration<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:0cm; margin-left:18.0pt;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;line-height:normal'>\u2022&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Its necessity John 3:7, Gal. 6:15 Eph. 2:2<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:0cm; margin-left:18.0pt;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;line-height:normal'>\u2022&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Its nature John 3:5; 2 Cor. 2:1\u20137; 5:17; Eph. 2:10<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:0cm; margin-left:18.0pt;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;line-height:normal'>\u2022&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Its agent John 3:8; 6:63; 2 Cor. 3:6; Titus 3:5<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:0cm; margin-left:18.0pt;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;line-height:normal'>\u2022&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Its instrument 1 Peter 1:23; James 1:18; John 5:24<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:0cm; margin-left:18.0pt;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;line-height:normal'>\u2022&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Its means 1 John 5:1; Gal. 3:26; John 1:12\u201313<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:0cm; margin-left:18.0pt;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;line-height:normal'>\u2022&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Its fruit 1 John 3:9; Rom. 6:22 1 John 3:10<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:0cm; margin-left:18.0pt;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;line-height:normal'>\u2022&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Its manifestation 1 John 5:1\u20132, 3:6<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=right style='margin-bottom:6.0pt;text-align:right; line-height:normal'>From the Book of 750 Bible and Gospel Studies, 1909, George W Noble, Chicago<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:6.0pt;line-height:normal'><b>Reborn Spiritually<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:3.0pt;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height: normal'>Being reborn; the subject of Jesus\u2019 discourse with Nicodemus in John 3 (cf. Titus 3:5). This word is not found often in Scripture, but the idea is important. Regeneration is seen to be the work of the Holy Spirit (John 3:5\u20138). The \u201cnatural man\u201d always thinks of salvation (however understood) as resting in one\u2019s own hands, but Jesus taught that it is necessary for a divine work to take place if anyone is to be saved. Sinners must be reborn spiritually.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=right style='margin-bottom:6.0pt;text-align:right; line-height:normal'>The Shaw Pocket Bible Handbook, Walter A. Elwell, Editor, (Harold Shaw Publ., Wheaton , IL; 1984), p. 355<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:6.0pt;line-height:normal'><b>The Covenant<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:3.0pt;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height: normal'>Ezekiel 36:25\u20138<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:3.0pt;line-height:normal'>The Lord proclaims His grace abroad! \u201cBehold, I change your hearts of stone; Each shall renounce his idol-god, And serve, henceforth, the Lord alone.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:3.0pt;line-height:normal'>\u201cMy grace, a flowing stream, proceeds To wash your filthiness away; Ye shall abhor your former deeds, And learn my statutes to obey.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:3.0pt;line-height:normal'>\u201cMy truth the great design ensures, I give myself away to you; You shall be mine, I will be yours, Your God unalterably true.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:3.0pt;line-height:normal'>\u201cYet not unsought, or unimplored, The plenteous grace I shall confer; No\u2014your whole hearts shall seek the Lord, I\u2019ll put a praying spirit there.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:3.0pt;line-height:normal'>\u201cFrom the first breath of life divine Down to the last expiring hour, The gracious work shall all be mine, Begun and ended in my power.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=right style='margin-bottom:6.0pt;text-align:right; line-height:normal'>Olney Hymns, by William Cowper, from Cowper\u2019s Poems, Sheldon &amp; Company, New York<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:6.0pt;line-height:normal'><b>The Hidden Life<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:3.0pt;line-height:normal'>To tell the Saviour all my wants,  How pleasing is the task! Nor less to praise Him when He grants Beyond what I can ask.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:3.0pt;line-height:normal'>My labouring spirit vainly seeks To tell but half the joy, With how much tenderness He speaks, And helps me to reply.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:3.0pt;line-height:normal'>Nor were it wise, nor should I choose, Such secrets to declare; Like precious wines their taste they lose, Exposed to open air.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:3.0pt;line-height:normal'>But this with boldness I proclaim Nor care if thousands hear, Sweet is the ointment of His name, Not life is half so dear.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:3.0pt;line-height:normal'>And can you frown, my former friends, Who knew what once I was, And blame the song that thus commends The Man who bore the cross?<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:3.0pt;line-height:normal'>Trust me, I draw the likeness true, And not as fancy paints; Such honour may He give to you, For such have all His saints.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=right style='margin-bottom:6.0pt;text-align:right; line-height:normal'>Olney Hymns, William Cowper, from Cowper\u2019s Poems, Sheldon &amp; Company, New York<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:6.0pt;line-height:normal'><b>New Birth<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:3.0pt;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height: normal'>The new birth or regeneration is an inner recreating of fallen human nature by the Holy Spirit. It changes the disposition from lawless, godless self-seeking into one of trust and love, of repentance for past rebelliousness and unbelief, and loving compliance with God\u2019s law henceforth. It enlightens the blinded mind to discern spiritual realities and liberates and energizes the enslaved will for free obedience to God.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:3.0pt;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height: normal'>The use of the figure of new birth to describe this change emphasizes two facts about it. The first is its decisiveness. The regenerate man has forever ceased to be the man he was; his old life is over and a new life has begun; he is a new creature in Christ, buried with him out of reach of condemnation and raised with him into a new life of righteousness.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:3.0pt;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height: normal'>The second fact emphasized is that regeneration is due to the free, and to us, mysterious, exercise of divine power. Infants do not induce or cooperate in their own procreation and birth; no more can those who are dead in trespasses and sins prompt the quickening operation of God\u2019s Spirit within them.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=right style='margin-bottom:6.0pt;text-align:right; line-height:normal'>Your Father Loves You by James Packer, Harold Shaw Publishers, 1986, page for January 22<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:6.0pt;line-height:normal'><b>New Life in Christ<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:3.0pt;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height: normal'>If I had a car with the engine that was ready for the grave, I\u2019d have a new engine put in. I\u2019d take the car into a mechanic who would put it in for me. If when I got that car back, it ran just as poorly, I\u2019d begin to wonder if the old really had been replaced or just cleaned up. It is not different with our new lives in Christ.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=right style='margin-bottom:6.0pt;text-align:right; line-height:normal'>Christian Personal Ethics, C.F.H. Henry, Eerdmans, 1957, pp. 383ff<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:6.0pt;line-height:normal'><b>By God Alone<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:3.0pt;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height: normal'>Rebirth or regeneration is monergistic, not synergistic. It is done by God and by God alone. A dead man cannot cooperate with his resurrection. Lazarus did not cooperate in his resurrection. Regeneration is a sovereign act of God in which man plays no role. After God brings us to life, of course, we certainly are involved in \u201ccooperating\u201d with Him. We are to believe, trust, obey, and work for him. But unless God acts first, we will never be reborn in the first place. We must also realize it is not as if dead people have faith, and because of their faith God agrees to regenerate them. Rather, it is because God has regenerated us and given us new life that we have faith.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=right style='margin-bottom:6.0pt;text-align:right; line-height:normal'>R. C. Sproul, Tabletalk, 1989<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:6.0pt;line-height:normal'><b>Rose and Brier<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:3.0pt;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height: normal'>Once there was a brier growing in a ditch and there came along a gardener with his spade. As he dug around it and lifted it up the brier said to itself, \u201cWhat is he doing? Doesn\u2019t he know I am a worthless brier?\u201d But the gardener took it into his garden and planted it amid his flowers, while the brier said, \u201cWhat a mistake he has made planting me among these beautiful roses.\u201d Then the gardener came once more and made a slit in the brier with his sharp knife. He grafted it with a rose and when summer came lovely roses were blooming on that old brier. Then the gardener said, \u201cYour beauty is not due to what came out but to what I put in.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=right style='margin-bottom:6.0pt;text-align:right; line-height:normal'>Source unknown<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Resources \u2022&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Integrity of Heart, Skillfulness of Hands, Charles H. Dyer &amp; Roy B. Zuck, editors. \u2022&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Max Anders, Jesus, Knowing Our Savior, (Nashville, Thomas Nelson Publ., 1995), p. 76. \u2022&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Baker Books; Grand Rapids, MI, 1994, pp. 238ff Regeneration \u2022&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Its necessity John 3:7, Gal. 6:15 Eph. 2:2 \u2022&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Its nature John 3:5; 2 &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/reformed-theology\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Reformed Theology&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1043\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}