A Journey of Faith
Recently, someone very dear to me asked concerning himself, "Why did I get saved?" I responded, "Because God chose you." The result of God's sovereignty is rebirth. Did you ever ask yourself, what do I believe about the extent of God's sovereignty? My heart aches most days because the teaching of God's unmatched sovereignty is proclaimed by so few and, in many cases, by people who have become very conceited by their vast knowledge, or so they think. Such people, however, may discredit themselves, but the Word of God remains perfect.
Nearly three hundred years ago, a man named George Whitefield felt called to serve God. He went to school to do so and, while there, helped to start what we now know as Methodism. However, he realized that for all his zeal and desire to serve God, he was not a saved man. After a month of not eating because of the seriousness of his spiritual life, and when he understood grace, he gave his life to Christ and was born anew.
George has been called the lightning rod of The Great Awakening. An authentic revival occurred in the British Isles and America for forty years. God used men like Jonathan Edwards and many colonists to preach passionate messages about sin, repentance, and faith. The vast majority of pastors proclaimed the sovereignty of God without altar calls, and the proof of a person's salvation was the transformation of their hearts and how they lived.
Whitefield was thrown out of the churches in England because he dared to proclaim that a person must be born again. So George took to the fields in England and in America and, by the grace of God, saw tens of thousands of people come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
A Contemporary Awakening of Rebirth
During the nineteen sixties and seventies, an awakening also occurred here in America. However, the message, while similar, was different. The preaching elevated the idea that a person must be born again to be sure. I was there, and I used to wear a dog tag around my neck that said, "Born-again," I still have it. During the seventies, people began hearing, "The term born again is overused, and it doesn't mean anything anymore." If it came to have no meaning, it wasn't because it was overused but misused.
People react harshly to rebirth because it takes the control of salvation out of the hands of people and places it squarely in the hands of God, where it belongs. No person can birth themselves, especially not by an act of the will. "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 a man, but of God." John 1:12-13.
Isaiah preached for five chapters, but the vision of God he received in chapter six changed him and his message considerably. In chapter forty-five, he was given a message about Cyrus, the Persian king. Concerning Cyrus' history records, "Cyrus the Persian king (590-529 BC) is considered by many to be an exemplary case of a benevolent conqueror as he allowed his subjects to live and worship the same way as before his political reign over them." Northeastern Illinois University. "The king's heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever He pleases." Proverbs 21:1
Here is what God's Word says about the extent of His sovereignty. "This is what the LORD says to Cyrus, His anointed, "For the sake of Jacob, My servant, and Israel, My chosen one, I have also called you by your name; I have given you a title of honor though you have not known Me. "I am the LORD, and there is no one else; there is no God except Me." Isaiah 45:1, 3-5. Be sure to understand the meaning. God took an unsaved king, as he always does, and used him to serve His divine will. Such as he constantly does with the devil. God never needs permission to change a person's mind or actions. If this thought of mine is not true, neither is "I am the LORD, and there is no one else; there is no God except Me."
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