All tagged order of salvation
This subject is more near and dear to me now than ever before because of how the Lord has blessed my own family. Recently we celebrated the first anniversary of adopting our youngest son. This process was quite difficult for us, and I have written about those difficulties here and here. And I am not the only one of us at The Gospel Forum who can testify to the power of this process in revealing the heart of God and displaying his sovereign grace. For myself, throughout this process, the Lord has taught me more intimately of the importance of this reality of adoption.
In our world today, we often hear the victims of horrible crimes declaring, “We want justice, that’s all we want.” This is understandable, as human beings who have been created in the image of God (Gen.1:27), we have a natural desire for justice to be done. When we witness injustice, we are disgusted, we shake our heads in disbelief. We tend to see the retaliation of victims as justified and deserving of accolades rather than punitive action.
Conversion is the process in which a sinner turns from sin to God in repentance and faith, as a result of regeneration. Put even more simply, conversion is “the turning of a sinner to God.”
Biblical regeneration is referring to that supernatural work of the Holy Spirit in which the spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1) elect sinner is brought to spiritual life (Ephesians 2:5). In the process, the totally depraved sinner has their heart of stone replaced with a heart of flesh, so that he is washed, born from above (Titus 3:5) and now able to repent and trust in Christ as a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). It is important to understand that man is entirely passive in this act.
While there remains mystery in the work of salvation, and while our hearts may never fully scan the infinite depth of God’s mercy, he has given us a picture of this magnificent work. God has given us a clear message: good news of salvation through Jesus. This gospel is sufficient to save, even if our understandings fail.
