The Highway Forums General Discussion Open Forum Mark 4: 11-12

The Holy Spirit is a great influence in both the elect and reprobate in regard to conscience. For the reprobate, it is the Spirit who restrains their depravity and sinfulness so that they do what could be called, relative "good works", i.e., they are not allowed to fully express their depravity upon others. One of the most interesting passages in Scripture, IMHO, which illustrates this is found here:

Genesis 20:2-6 (ASV) "And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister. And Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah. But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, because of the woman whom thou hast taken. For she is a man's wife. Now Abimelech had not come near her. And he said, Lord, wilt thou slay even a righteous nation? Said he not himself unto me, She is my sister? And she, even she herself said, He is my brother. In the integrity of my heart and the innocency of my hands have I done this. And God said unto him in the dream, Yea, I know that in the integrity of thy heart thou has done this, and I also withheld thee from sinning against me. Therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.

In this passage we see that the heathen have no warrant to boast about any alleged virtue they might have, for it is the Spirit of God alone Who is responsible for anything that they might do that could be construed as "good"; i.e., on a horizontal (human) plane.

As far as "preparatory work", it is true that the Spirit often influences the elect sometimes long before He regenerates them. But it must be maintained that during this period of "preparation" the sinner is still spiritually dead and thus totally incapable of recognizing the Spirit's work on, in and through them. In short, it would be wrong to conclude that such individuals have some measure of salvation before they are actually regenerated. There are many who exhibit great sorrow for their sinful acts (cf. 2Cor 7:9, 10; Heb 12:14-17) yet are far from God and have no real interest in Him; dead people do not truly seek after God in anyway shape or form. (Rom 3:11)

Lastly, and briefly since this is off-topic, re: predestination and the rejection of the doctrine by some you know who will not embrace that grand biblical doctrine of God as God . . . If God has not ordained all things, then He would have no right to be called God. For the Almighty Creator and Sustainer of the universe is He who has determined all things after the counsel of His own will, according to the Scriptures. (cf. Ps 33:11; 135:6; Dan 4:35; Isa 46:9, 10; Acts 3:23; 4:27; Rom 11:33-36; et al)

There are quite a number or articles on The Highway website that deal with the doctrine of predestination (foreordination, foreknowledge, etc.), including some which answer most of the popular objections. You can access them directly by clicking here: Predestination.

In His grace,