Faith is the Gift of God

Grace Bible Church

Without regeneration, the natural man is at enmity with God. But the work of the Spirit makes us alive to God, and works obedience in us, and faith to trust in Christ and His Gospel unto salvation.--Paul specifically describes the limits of what natural, sinful men can do or know. The only way men can know the things that God has given to us is by the work of the Holy Ghost. That is, in fact, the reason that God imparts His Spirit to our hearts in the first place, so that we can know the things of God that we otherwise could never know.--The natural man, without the work of the Spirit, does not receive the things of the Spirit of God. He might hear then, and be able to repeat them, and even understand them, but he cannot and will not believe on them, nor trust in them at all. Instead, Paul says they are foolishness and a stumbling block to the man without the Spirit of God.--In 1 Corinthians 12-3, Paul sharpens his point- Nobody can declare that Jesus is the Lord, except by the Holy Ghost. This is highly significant, since one must confess Jesus as Lord before one can be saved.--Jesus taught in His Own ministry that it takes a special, selective work by God upon a sinner before that sinner can trust in Christ unto salvation. Everyone whom God first gives to Christ, will surely come to Christ, and nobody can come to Christ unless the Father draws that man to Christ. It takes a special teaching of that man by God in order for him to be drawn to Christ.--Christ taught us that it is the Spirit that makes sinners alive, not sacraments.--Finally, no one can come to Christ, unless coming to Christ is given to that poor man by the Father.--Faith is God's gift to us who believe-