93-05 – Do You Know Your Spiritual Birth Line? – Called But Not Yet Converted

In this scripture-packed series, Dr. Betters discusses regeneration, effectual calling, conversion, justification, adoption, sanctification, perseverance and glorification. Come along on this journey and find great joy in discovering many treasures in your journey along your spiritual birthline. Peter’s spiritual journey is a clear picture of a man intrigued by the Messiah, but not converted. In this message we watch as God removes Peter’s spiritual blindness. Peter’s journey helps us see our own spiritual birthlines unfold.

Transcript

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Welcome to In His Grip with Dr. Chuck F. Betters, produced by Marking Ministries. Each In His Grip message is designed to help turn your hearts toward Jesus and equip you to walk by faith. Let's join Dr. Betters as he preaches the series: Do You Know Your Spiritual Birth Line?

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For Matthew, this begins the final phase of his account of the life of Christ. In the chapters that are yet to come, he will unveil to his disciples who he is. He will officially cast off the Jewish nation for their rejection of him in a spiritual sense of the word. He will give his disciples the program for the kingdom work. And he will go to the cross and rise from the dead. Now this chapter, chapter 16, and specifically the verses we're going to take a look at, form the preface to all of that. He's about to enter into the final stage, and now he is going to set the stage for what he wants to say in the rest of the book. But I want you to notice Matthew chapter 16 and look with me at verse 20. It says, Then he warned his disciples that they should tell no one that he was the Christ. Now there have been different interpretations from different scholars as to why he would make such a statement. And I've given that some more thought. And here are some of the reasons that are proposed as to why Jesus would command us to silence, or command his disciples to silence. Most scholars say, well, you know, it's because they didn't really grasp the meaning of what Messiah would do. Perhaps they were going to take the zealot's position and see the Messiah as a political Messiah. And had they done that, they probably would have been killed instantly, as most zealots were. So most scholars say they didn't understand that Jesus was not coming to establish some sort of a political kingdom, but a spiritual kingdom, and because they didn't understand that, he said and commanded them to silence. That's explanation number one. Explanation number two is that since they did not have the full understanding of what the Messiah would do, they had no real message. And in essence, what Jesus is saying is unless you have the whole message, unless you understand what you're saying, it's better to keep quiet and not say anything. And there is certainly some truth to both of those positions. If you don't have the message, you could cause more damage than you cause good. We know that from the life of the Apostle Paul when he first was converted. He didn't fully understand how to make application of everything that had happened to him and caused the church great havoc because of his positions that he held early in his conversion. Well, there's a lot to be said about those first two positions, but I want to entertain a third position that I think is more close to what is going on here. And I want you to listen carefully because it could very well affect your life. What we say in the rest of this message could very well change your life. In fact, you could begin to take a look at salvation from an entirely different perspective than you ever have before. I want to suggest something to you. And then I want to try to prove it from the scriptures. I believe Jesus commanded his disciples to silence because they were not yet converted men. I don't believe that the disciples at that particular stage were converted men. And so he commands them as unconverted men to keep silent. I want to take a look at one of those men. And I want you to kind of revisit with me the typical or historical pericopy of scripture that most scholars say is Peter's conversion. And I don't believe it was Peter's conversion. We've already preached on this, but I want to go back and take another look at it one more time. Matthew chapter 16, beginning with verse 13. When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, Who do people say the Son of Man is? They replied, Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. But what about you? Now you remember that passage? We preached on that just recently. What about you? Who do you say that I am? Now let's take a look at Simon Peter. Simon Peter answered, You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Now most scholars say that's where Peter was converted. And I want to suggest to you that there's nothing in that passage that says that Peter was converted. What it says to us is that he declared Christ to be the Son of the Living God. Jesus replied, Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And then he goes on and tells him, I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church. Of course, the rock being Christ and the profession of faith being that which Peter has made, but the rock being the foundation of the church, the rock being Christ, and the principle of the resurrection and the new life that we have in Christ. But now I want you to note something. This is why I don't think Peter was converted. Look at verse 21. From that time on, Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and teachers of the law. And that he must be killed. Underscore both of those musts. He must be killed. He must go to Jerusalem and on the third day be raised to life. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. Never, Lord, he said, never shall this happen to you. Now there's an urgency in this verse. An urgency of I must do this and I must do that. The urgency of the gospel is the mission and ministry of Christ. I must go to the cross. I must die there. I must be buried. I must be raised. This is my purpose. This is my plan. This is my objective. This is why I came. I must do this. Notice he says that he must suffer. The Greek word is the word pathos, where we get the word for feeling, not just suffering in the sense of physical pain, but actually experiencing our sins for us, actually taking in himself my curse and my condemnation and my sins and pathos, feeling those sins and experiencing that pain in my behalf. He says, Now I must do that. Then it says Peter began to rebuke him. Now that's an interesting word. It's a word in the Greek that I think rebuke doesn't do justice to. It's an interesting play-on words, if you will. It's the picture of a man who has a set of criteria or a set of information or pieces of data. And he looks over that data and he evaluates it. He kind of starts to form mental impressions of what that data means. And as that data comes home, as he begins to understand exactly what that data is telling him, he begins to reject it. He begins to say, No, I don't like this. No, I don't desire this. No, I don't want this. That's the word for rebuke. Mark's gospel tells us that Jesus began to speak plainly to them. It was interesting to me that Mark used the word plainly. It was not as though Peter was confused. Peter very clearly understood what Jesus was saying. If you want to be a Christian, if you want to be a child of God, you're going to have to pick up this thing called the cross and you're going to have to follow me. That the only way in which you can truly come to the point of conversion is by embracing the work of the cross. I must go and suffer. I must be buried and rise again. Now Peter sifts all that data through, plainly spoken to him, very clearly understood by him. And he pulls Jesus aside and he says, No. Peter was in essence evaluating the message of suffering and registering his objection to it. But in so doing, he exposed the true condition of his heart. Because you see, men in their unconverted state believe the same way that Peter did. They missed the message. Although he had been given what I call the faculty of faith, that is, God had implanted into his heart the faculty to believe. Otherwise, he could not have declared Christ to be the Son of the Living God. He had already made that statement showing that the faculty of faith had been implanted, but he was yet an unconverted man. He declared Jesus as the Christ out of faith. But for him and for his own spiritual condition, he was still an unconverted man. That is why verse 23. Jesus turns and says to Peter, get behind me, Satan. Notice it doesn't say he said to Satan, get behind me, Satan. He said to Peter, get behind me, Satan. Now you see, people in their unconverted state are still controlled by the God of this world. Everyone who has never come to faith in Christ, everyone who is unconverted, is controlled by the God of this world. That is Satan. So he says to him, Get behind me, Satan. This is the condition of the heart. And notice what he says: you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men. Another interesting play on the Greek words. You don't have in mind, that's a word for focused thinking. You know, you can sit right here right now, like most people do in a church service. You can sit here, and if you're a typical church goer, your mind will probably drift a dozen times in this message. You'll be out there somewhere. Some of you are already out there. And you're drifting further and further, but then all of a sudden something will be said and you'll come back. And you'll hone in. And you'll say, wait a minute, that applies to me. That's the word used here. It's a focused thinking. And Christ is saying to Peter, this is how you're thinking. You're focused on the things of men. And so focused are you on the things of men that you can't understand the things of God. Peter is an unconverted man. He says, You are mentally disposed to think in the same way that unconverted men think. Romans chapter 8 and verse 5 describes this man. You don't have to turn to it now, but it says, Those who live according to the sinful nature, that's man in his lost condition, have their minds set on what that nature desires. Same words. An unconverted man living in the sinful nature is focused in his mind a certain way. But then he continues there, but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on the things of the Spirit. You see the difference? Two kinds of ways in which to focus your thinking on the things of men or on the things of the spirit. Christ says that men in their fallen condition focus on the things of men. That's what Peter was doing. He was an unconverted man. Paul says the same thing in Philippians chapter 3. He says, Many live as enemies of the cross. Now, how does he describe an enemy of the cross? He says, their destiny is destruction, their God is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame because their mind is on earthly things. Same language. He said the same thing in Colossians chapter 3. He said, Since then you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind, phroneo, the Greek word, focus your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you are dead and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. And so we have this concept in the scriptures that unconverted men will focus upon the things of men. Converted men will focus upon the things of the spirit. There is no in-between ground. Your mind is either focused on Christ or it's focused on the world. Now you need to evaluate yourself. Satan's MO is always to get Jesus to take the low road. You remember when he took him to the Mount of Temptation? You remember what he did? He offered him power. He offered him the easy way out, the road of power through material things like bread and signs and wonders. That's the way of Satan. That's how Satan thinks. The easy road. The low road. The material road. The hedonistic road. Focus on the things of this world and your flesh and your needs. And you're still an unconverted man or woman. Now, I want you to listen very carefully to what I have to say next because you're going to get a little confused. How do we tend to think? When we stop to think about the terms born again, what do we usually think of? Now you roll that term around in your mind for a minute. When you hear somebody is born again, what do you normally think of? You normally think of what? This point X in their lives, where they maybe prayed the prayer, maybe came forward at a Billy Graham crusade or a church service, or maybe sat across the table from you and prayed the prayer. Said something like, Jesus, I need you. I want you to come into my heart and forgive my sins. I want you to be the Lord of my life, etc. And we tend to look at that point X in their lives as the moment in which they were born again. Now listen to me. I believe that Peter at this stage was born again, but he was not converted. You look a little confused. I believe he was born again, but not converted. You say, what in the world are you talking about? How can you be born again and not converted? How can this be? Being born again has absolutely nothing to do with anything that you do. Go over to John's Gospel chapter 3. I want to explore this a little more. There's a vast difference between the two. A vast difference between saying, I am born again and I am a converted man. One will lead to the other, that's guaranteed. If you are born again, you will be converted. If you are not born again, you cannot be converted. You following me? But because you're born again doesn't necessarily mean that you have yet come to the point of being converted. Before we look at John chapter 3, I want to talk about exactly where Peter is at this stage in his life. And you might be able to say this about yourself. Peter was in a position of real tension at this stage. Behind him was the Old Testament and all that he had been taught as a child concerning the coming of Messiah. And so the faculty of faith having been implanted in him, he was able to confess to Jesus, You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. In other words, my understanding of Old Testament Messiahship, as best I can comprehend it right now, I have decided that you have to be that Christ, the Son of the Living God. Now Jesus says to him, Flesh and blood didn't reveal this to you, Peter. Somebody else revealed this to you. My Father in heaven showed you that. So he's not denouncing what he said. But don't jump from that statement to believing that Peter was now a converted man. Because the very next passage he's called Satan. You see, here is where the problem lies with Peter. Peter's in attention, where many of you are. He wants to believe what he's been told from the Bible. But he looks out ahead of him and he doesn't understand the future yet. He's hearing rumblings from Jesus about something about a cross, something about dying. And then Jesus specifically and plainly spells that out, and what's in his heart now comes out. All of that fear, all of that tension inside of Peter just came bubbling out. He could not register, he could not understand, and he began to rebuke Jesus for speaking of a cross. You see, part of him wanted to be converted. The other part said the price tag's too high. And I'm not willing to do it. And so there is this real struggle of fear inside of Peter, the principle of antagonism, if you will. Are we focused upon the things of God or are we focused upon the things of man? One scholar put it this way: Are we God circumferenced or are we man circumferenced? Are we surrounded by the images of God or are we surrounded by the images of man? Are we viewing life from the perspective of the eternal or are we viewing life from the perspective of the temporal? These are the questions that very few people answer. How am I viewing life? At this juncture in Peter's life, he did not see the ultimate picture, but now keep this in mind: God was bringing him in and through the process. And he would not let him go. That's the meaning of the word grace. The man was a victim of his own fears, yet he is the product of God's grace. Follow the logic. Here is where the basic problem of an unconverted man lies no man can live this hour unless he feels behind him the infinite movement of God's precious spirit. And also is able to grasp out ahead of him the program, if you will, the timetable, if you will. Will of where all this is going. You can't really function as a spiritual creature unless you do both of those things. Unless you look back and unless you look ahead. Now you see where Jesus is going to carry Peter? He's already brought him from the past, in that Peter recognizes his need of Old Testament Messiah. And in just a few short minutes, he's going to take him to the Mount of Transfiguration and show him a glimpse of the future. That's how Peter's fears were going to be worked through. Here's the key. Now listen carefully. God was in process with Peter. We tend to think of our conversions in terms of a point X. And many of us have that point X. We tend to think of our conversions as something, well, I came out of drugs and I came out of alcohol and I used to do this and I used to do that. And we look at those and we say, those are the more dramatic conversions. Those are the more exciting conversions, and I want to extend to you this thought. I don't believe they're at all the exciting conversions. The exciting conversions are the people who were raised in Christian homes by Christian parents who surrounded them with the love of Christ so much so that as the gospel was shared with them, those children grow up saying, I can't ever remember a day in which I didn't believe. Those are the exciting conversions. Because you see, there God brings them through a process as well. We tend to look for the point X, but God all along is working the miracle of salvation, moving Peter from one point of understanding to another point of understanding to another point of understanding. It's clear he still did not comprehend the essence of salvation. There was still a ways to go before he would grasp the fullness of what God was saying to him. So much more Peter had to learn about the issues of grace. When we talk to somebody about salvation, what do we usually refer to? We usually refer to that moment of faith. We call it being born again, an experience, decision day, going forward, receiving Christ, accepting Christ, or whatever other term you want to use. That's how we tend to think. And yet I want to suggest to you that there's a new, much more powerful and certainly much more biblical way to think about the movements of the Spirit of God. And by the way, it's a very freeing thought. You know what's so freeing about it? You suddenly realize I'm not in control of this thing. It doesn't matter what I say or how I say it or what I do. It doesn't matter because God is in control majestically from beginning to end, and He's even going to use my foolishness if necessary. He's even going to use my stupidity if necessary to bring me to that point. We need to rethink our spiritual lives along the concept of a journey. We need to get out of all of this emotionalism that says what I do and how I say it and how I present it. As you go over to John chapter 3, I want to show you something. See if you can follow this with me. John chapter 3. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus. A man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus. A ruler of the Jews. Now, if you were to stop right there and start holding a conversation with Mr. Nicodemus, would you call him a religious man? If you're holding this conversation, would you say, I am speaking to a religious man? The answer, of course, is yes, you would be. You're speaking to a man who is a religious man. Would you say that Nicodemus had faith? As you're standing there, would you say, Mr. Nicodemus, do you believe in the promises of the Old Testament? What would he say? Absolutely. Is this a man that you have to convince about his faith? The answer is no. Now, I want to revisit a text for you that is a very familiar text, but I want you to take a look at it from a different angle. Because I want to suggest to you that being born again is not the same as being converted. Verse 2. This man came to him by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher, for no man can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. Obviously, Nicodemus is moved in his religious convictions by what he sees Jesus going around the countryside doing. Now, Jesus answered and said to him, I'm reading this by the way out of the New American Standard, but I want to show you something here. Truly, truly, I say to you, it's a familiar verse. You've heard this verse a thousand times. I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Now, how many of you have heard that verse at least once before? Everybody's heard that verse. Unless, let's look at it again, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Now, Jesus is going to compare our spiritual birth to our physical birth. And he's going to use an illustration and bring Nicodemus into a discussion that compares the two. Nicodemus picks up on this and says in verse 4, how can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he? Well, Nicodemus caught the message. The message is that Jesus was going to compare our physical birth to our spiritual birth. He was going to make a double line, if you will, two parallel lines and draw analogies from our physical birth that explains the processes of our spiritual birth. Now, as pro-lifers, we believe that life begins where? At conception. That's based on Psalm 139 and other passages in the Bible very clearly telling us that while I was yet in my mother's womb, we had identity. You have this egg. This is not biology 101 sex ed class, but I want you to listen. We have this egg, we have this sperm. Now, before that egg and that sperm come together, what is the nature of the person that will be formed in just a few minutes? That nature is non-existent. Something has to happen. That something that has to happen is that that sperm and that egg have to come together. Now let me ask you this. Does the egg cause it to happen? Does the sperm cause it to happen? Or is there some outside force that brings that egg and that sperm together and fertilizes it? Well, of course, as Christians, we understand that the moment of conception is a miracle of God. No man's been able to recreate life along those lines. We believe that a miracle happens and that at that moment of conception, that which is dead comes to life. Now here's the key. How many of you sitting here believe that that happened in your case? How many of you don't believe that that's happened in your case? Seeing no hands, I would conclude that all of you believe that somewhere along the way that miracle of conception took place. Now here's the key. How many of you were active in that process? How many of you caused that to happen? Look at the verse again, because I'm gonna give you a little Greek lesson here. Verse 3 I say to you, unless one is born again. Heorist, subjunctive, passive. You know what that means? Point action with continuing results that you are passive in. In other words, something happened at a point X, but it happened to you, not because of you. Somebody else did it to you, and it has continuing results. You following me? What are the continuing results? Look at the person sitting next to you. That's what happens when conception takes place and is allowed to run its course. A human being, fully formed and maturing, happens as the result of conception. Now the key here is the passive mood of the verb. The passive mood says, I didn't have anything to do with that. You can take the verb hit. I can hit the pulpit. That's an active verb, I do the hitting. Or you can walk up here and punch me in the mouth and say, I hit the pastor. From my perspective, I took the hit, I am passive, and that's the verb. That's the verb that's used right here. Being born again is a passive, supernatural act of God whereby He places into our hearts at some point at which we are totally unaware the faculty of faith to believe. It is at that point that we are born again. Now you say, when could that happen? That could happen in the womb. John the Baptist, I believe, is a prime example of how that regenerating power happened in the womb. It could happen somewhere along the way in your life where God, unbeknownst to you, implants within you the faculty to believe. I've racked my brains trying to figure out that moment in my life. I could come up with maybe 25 or 30 different times, even as a little child, I can come up with 25 or 30 different times where God may very well have worked that miracle of regeneration, and that's what it's called. It's where God recreates life, takes that which is dead, and brings it to life. It's the moment of conception where God places in me his new life. Now here's the key, and I love this. This is what the Reformed faith says. For everyone in whom God has worked that miracle, they will be saved. God does not regenerate what he will not later convert. God will convert what he has regenerated. Now Nicodemus scratches his head. Verse 5, Jesus answered, Truly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Some Baptists try to take that passage and make it mean water baptism. Some people who believe in baptismal regeneration do the same thing. I don't believe that has anything to do with baptism. I believe that is a reference to the book of Ezekiel, chapter 36, where God talks about the purging that happens upon our conversion, where he places a new spirit within us. I don't believe he can separate water and spirit here. One is simply a symbol of the other. The water he's referring to is the cleansing that takes place when we are converted people. The moment when we come to know and understand and receive the fullness of God's Spirit, we are cleansed from our sins. You see where Peter was? Peter was yet unconverted. God was moving him through the process. And some point prior to, maybe even the call of Peter, at some point God infused within Peter the faculty of faith and regenerated that which was dead. At that moment he was born again, but yet unconverted. Now go over to John chapter 21. I want you to look with me at verse 15. This is where I believe Peter is beginning to comprehend the meaning of conversion. Now, where have we taken him from? We've watched him do what? You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. No, Lord, these things will never happen to you. Get behind me, Satan. To the Mount of Transfiguration, where he gets a glimpse of the future, to his denial that he even knew Christ. You see what this man's going through? A maze, a process, events in his life that God was sovereignly superintending to awaken within him that faculty of faith, to quicken within him that spirit that had been placed there to bring him to the point of conversion. John chapter 21, verse 15, when they had finished eating. This is after the resurrection now. Peter had denied him three times. Jesus said to Simon, Peter, Simon, son of John, do you truly love me more than these? Greek word aka'o, the highest kind of love, a god love. Do you love me with that kind of love? Yes, Lord, he said, you know that I phalao, I love you with a human love. That wasn't the question. That wasn't the question. Verse 16, again Jesus said to Simon, son of John, do you truly agape, do you truly love me with that supernatural kind of love that can only come from God? He answered, Yes, Lord, you know that I fully. You see, he still hasn't ascended. He still hasn't come to understand. It's still very troubling. But notice the patient love of God. Verse 17. The third time he said to him, Simon, son of John, do you fully me? You see what Jesus is doing? Do you even love me in a human sort of way? He drops the Agapa'o word. And he brings up a whole new word. The word that Peter's been using. Peter, you've said it twice now that you love me with philea love. But now, do you even really love me that way? Now, Peter was hurt. He understood it. Because Jesus asked him the third time, do you philea me? He said, Lord, you know all things. You know that I phlea you. You see what God's doing here in Peter's life? Like a surgeon. He's going inside of this man's soul and he is moving him personally. Personally. From the point where he actually rebukes Christ for the plan of salvation. Where now surgery is being done on his level of commitment. How much do you really love me? Now you know what's going to happen in just a few days after this. The Holy Spirit is going to come. And the Spirit of God is going to bring Peter to that point where he is truly converted. He stands up and preaches one of the most powerful sermons ever preached because now, at that point, it all clicks. At that point, it all comes together. I believe at that point Peter is converted. Where are you in the process? Where are you? You know, this says a lot about how we treat our children and how we minister to our children. When our children were babies, well, before our children were even conceived, we prayed for two things. For all four of our children before they were even conceived. Number one, that they would come to know, love, and fear God. And that number two, if God were not to give them the gift of singleness, that they would marry the right person. When our kids were in the cradle, when they were in the nursery, we would go into the room and we would hold their hands and pray with them and for them that God would save them. That God would save them. We used to rebuke Satan and say, you can't have these kids. You're not going to get them. You see, if you understand regeneration and what it means for God to impart within us that supernatural miracle of creating within me the faculty of faith. You see, if he doesn't do that, I will never believe, because my nature is antagonistic to his nature. If God doesn't change the nature, then I will never believe because my nature is fallen. God has to work that miracle. You need to pray that your children are regenerated at an early age. You know those little prayers that they pray? A Sunday school teacher may witness this sometime where that little child prays to receive Christ. Now, they may or may not at that point be truly converted. Some children are truly converted at a young age. But other children, that could be a part of the same process that God was working Peter through. To bring him to a point of truly understanding conversion. Truly understanding what it means to be born again. By the way, the word again there, born again, is the word we get above from. It's literally born from above. That's why it's a passive verb. Born from above means that it's an action that comes outside of us from above. God is the one who creates that spirit within me when I am born again. Very important concept, friends. That's the implantation of the faculty of faith. It's a supernatural act of the Holy Spirit, who then from that point on guarantees, guarantees my salvation. Now listen. You know what we are as Christians, as we observe this process? We are midwives. You know what a midwife is? For you pregnant women out here, let me explain something to you. I am going to explain something to you, pregnant women. Now you listen to me. How long does it take for that baby inside of your womb to mature? Nine months, right? There's a gestation period of nine months. Let's just suppose you try to force the issue at four months or three months. What's going to happen? You're going to either miscarry or a deformed child is going to be born or the baby's going to die. That is what I think we do far too often as Christians in our ministry to other people who are not yet converted. We are the midwives. We are there to experience the birth. We are there to watch God work the miracle. So what do we do? We try to work the miracle instead. We try to browbeat him into the kingdom. We try to see birth given before it's time. And so what happens? We have a lot of people who miscarry. You've seen it and I've seen it. People who make these professions of faith who months later are as lost as the devil. Why? Because we weren't patient with the process. God is working the process. And He is the one from beginning to end that is in control of this. He is the one who brings the salvation. And it's all by what? By grace. Ask people today, you say, How are you saved? And most people will answer what? We are saved by faith. That's not true. You're not saved by faith. You're saved by grace. And the means by which that grace is expressed is faith. But it is the grace of God that saves us from beginning to end. Where are you in the process? You may very well be converted. You may be in that stage where you've been born again or regenerated, and God has given you that faculty of faith, but you're not yet converted. You may be on the other side of conversion in that sanctification process where you're learning to put off the old man and put on the new man. But one thing is certain: from beginning, regeneration to the end, glorification, God is in absolute control of the plan of salvation. Where are you in the process? Have you truly come to understand the cost of submission to Christ? I'd like you to take a hymnal. And I want to show you as we close this message. I want to show you something. I think the hymn writer got this. You've sung this hymn a thousand times. Two hundred and two. I want you to look at something with me. Look at the first verse. Amazing grace. How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found was blind, but now I see. They understood the condition of the heart. Second verse, 'twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved. That's where Peter was. How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed? That's his conversion. Verse 4, through many dangers, toils, and snares I have already come. Tis grace has brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home. If he's in control of the regeneration act that you're passive in, and all along the way calling you to that point of conversion, and he's in control of those circumstances as he was with Peter, and he's in control of all of the sanctification that goes on after you're converted, then what does that say? That says in verse 5, when we've been there 10,000 years, bright, shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing God's praise than when we'd first begun. What's he talking about there? But our glorification. From regeneration to our calling, to our conversion, to our sanctification, to our glorification, it is all grace. That's why it's guaranteed. That's why you can never lose it. Because God has imparted the faculty of faith to believe, promises the glorification to come, and if he promises the end and promises the beginning, what's it say about everything in between? Majestically, beautifully, wonderfully, he moves Peter through his own fears and brings him to the point of true conversion, where then he stands up, not one who was stillborn, not one who had been the product of a miscarriage, not prematurely aborted, but one who was fully life, fully developed, fully mature in the faith. At that point, he is able to declare the wonderful riches of God. Read his sermon in Acts chapter 2, in Acts chapter 3. Read that sermon. Read that message. It all came together. But God had to work him through the process. Just like a midwife. The midwife will say to you, push! But the baby's not ready to come. That's not a very smart midwife, is it? You see, as Christians, we are the midwives. We are to go out and preach that message and help discern where people are in the process. Where are they? Where are they? And then minister that word according to where they are. And if God sees fit, wonderfully and beautifully to allow you to be the midwife who brings birth, so much greater is it to see somebody come to Christ. I told you a few weeks ago I led a little boy to the Lord. But you know that's even a misnomer. I didn't lead him to the Lord. Somebody else had done all the work before me. I just happened to be the midwife who was there and saw the birth. No more is somebody born again because of your pressure and your high-pressure salesmanship and your great speech and your ability to communicate the four spiritual laws or any other plan. No more is somebody born again and coming to faith in Christ and saved as the result of that than there is a physical birth, the product of the wisdom of a midwife. Where are you in the process? Where's your family in the process? Where are your children in the process? Which doubts is God dealing with now? Are you patient enough to see it through? You're patient enough to watch the miracle of salvation. God could use a thousand different circumstances for that to happen. Let's pray together. Father, help us to fine-tune our understanding of this wonderful, marvelous plan of salvation. Help us to see it for what it is. Grace. Grace. Grace. Oh Lord, how majestic is your name. That wonderful, amazing grace that saved a wretch like me. And that same amazing grace that already secured for me my glorification guarantees it. I pray that you'll continue to bless our understanding of these deep, deep truths of Scripture. That we will see men and women truly come to faith in Christ. Truly converted, not superficially, but truly converted. Because they fully understand the majesty of your grace.

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Now may the grace of God, the love of our Lord and our Savior, Jesus the Christ, the very presence, person, and power of his Holy Spirit abide with each of you now until Christ comes again and forevermore. And all God's people.

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Mark H. Ministry is here to offer help and hope to hurting people by pointing out to the promises of God and the comfort of his work. Through in his faith, ask Dr. Betters, failing treasure, and healthy folks, we provide free, faith-based resources for those watching through suffering, grief, confusion, and feeding. To learn more about Dr. Better for our resources, or contact, visit M-A-R-F, If you rest again, be trusted, even when you do not understand the same thing.