AG STUDY GUIDE FINAL - The Forerunner

Think of it this way. The idea of being born is a process that begins with conception and
ends with the actual birth. When you were conceived in your mother’s womb, prior to
that time you did not exist and therefore you had no conscious thoughts! You simply
received biological life as a result of the union of your father and mother. And so it is
with being born again of the Holy Spirit. As Pastor Walter Bowie noted earlier, in
answer to Nicodemus’ question, Jesus did not say repent and believe.
Pastor John Gil notes:
“This grace of the Spirit in regeneration, like the wind, is powerful and
irresistible; it carries all before it; there is no withstanding it; it throws down
Satan's strongholds, demolishes the fortifications of sin; the whole posse of hell,
and the corruptions of a man's heart, are not a match for it; when the Spirit
works, who can let?“ ~ Gill, John D.D. LL.D., Gill’s Expositor (Streamwood, IL.:
PB Library 1976), Volume 7 page 769
This understanding led John to write in the introduction to his Gospel,
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of
God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the
will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” ~ John 1:12-13
Dr. Thomas Ascol – I think John six is a wonderful passage that speaks of Irresistible
Grace. When Jesus talks about all that the Father gives to Me will come to Me; no man
can come to Me unless the Father draws him. The word “draw” is a powerful word. It
was used of a drag net. When fishermen would go out to the sea, cast their nets in, they
would draw the fish. This is a powerful descriptor of the work of Gods’ grace.
Good point! Some have suggested that the phrase in John 6:44…
“No man may come to me unless the Father draws him…” ~ John 6:44
…is a type of wooing. But, as Dr. Ascol pointed out, the word means “to drag.” The
same Greek word is used in James 2:6,
“Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts?” ~ James 2:6
To say instead, “Don’t let the rich oppress and woo you into the courts” is, of course,
absurd.
By rejecting Irresistible Grace, the Arminians made man and his will ultimately
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