THE HOLY SPIRIT IS THE AGENT OF REGENERATION--Part 3

Since we stated that the Holy Spirit is the Agent of Regeneration, let's look at some of the
characteristics of the Holy Spirit in Regeneration--

1. The free action of the Spirit, is vividly portrayed, in the Bible.

He does as He wills, but He wills the eternal purpose of the Godhead.
He is both the Spirit of the Father, and the Son.

His purpose is to regenerate those, whom the Father elected and the Son purchased.

Now, Get this truth; GOD ALONE HAS FREE WILL, IN THE ABSOLUTE SENSE.

The Spirit's Arbitrariness, which characterizes His work, is not the same as arbitrariness in man.
Arbitrariness in man is revealed, when he refuses any norm or standard above himself.

Human Arbitrariness is always without a standard, but, God cannot be guilty of arbitrariness
because He is His own law.
There is no standard above Himself.

It's impossible to subject God to a law above Himself, that would restrict His own actions.
God's Sovereignty rules out arbitrariness, because His Sovereignty forms the enduring
Foundation of all authority.

Man must not start his reasoning with a law above God, for there is no law above God.
He must begin with God, Who is above arbitrariness.

God's Hand will always save those, He purposed to save.

2. The Spirit is irresistible in Regeneration.
Opposition to The Spirit and resistance by man, pertains only, to the external dispensation of
grace.

Acts 7;51 doesn't refer ti the Spirit's subjective work in Regeneration, but to the objective
proclamation of the Gospel--''Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost; as your fathers did, so do ye.''

Now, contrast that with;
John 3;8-''The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth; so is every one that is born of the Spirit.''

Romans 9;19-''Thou wilt then say unto me,Why doth he yet find fault/ For who hath resisted his will/''

The resistance of these Jews was not to the Spirit of God within them, for they were destitute of
The Spirit.
They resisted the Holy Spirit in His ministers, and particularly, in Stephen.

Their Subjective Darkness resisted The Objective Light of The Gospel--
John 1;5-''And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.''

The Holy Spirit cannot be resisted in Regeneration, because He works immediately upon man's
subconsciousness.

As the child knows nothing of the genesis of his own existence, so the Christian knows nothing of
the beginning of his spiritual existence.

we shall continue to look atb the characteristics of The Holy Spirit in Regeneration, in our next blog.