Salvation is free, a gift of grace. We as God’s children did nothing to earn the gift of eternal salvation. The bible teaches that from the time we are born, our nature leads us to say and do things that displease God, and so fall short of His perfect standards. By ourselves we are helpless to improve our standing before God. The good news, and our only hope, is that God is a helper of the helpless!

Gus Harter studies several passages in Romans 3, a very convincing picture of our inadequacy in God’s sight. Once we understand our lack of merit, and see how far short of God’s standards we fall, we begin to understand that salvation must be free. We have no equity to buy it, and rather than earning favor in God’s sight, we accrue through our evil choices a greater debt of sin each day of our lives. How can we hope to earn God’s favor? We cannot. His favor was freely given.

To illustrate, Elder Harter examines Christ’s encounter with a Samaritan woman fetching water from a well (John 4). With but a few words, He laid bare her sinfulness; yet He had known her condition when in the moment before He had told her she could have within her “a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” This woman realized Christ saw her inadequacy with perfect and unblinking gaze, yet called her His own and put His own eternal Spirit in her broken heart. She abandoned her water jar and ran, ran, ran–crying throughout the town the odd, self-indicting news that a man had told her all of her sins: “is not this the Christ?” she would cry, over and over.

We can share in this woman’s excitement over indictment if we understand two things. First, we are guilty as charged. Second, we are totally forgiven for the sake of Christ alone: when He died on the cross, he satisfied God’s unwavering displeasure with our imperfection. When we fully embrace both truths, we see the priceless essence of free grace. To downplay our guilt cheapens the gift of grace. We also dilute the value of grace when we limit the effectiveness of Christ’s sacrifice by suggesting the task is not done, the covenant not sealed or secured until we speak the proper words or remain faithful over time to some code of behavior.

The Samaritan woman knew she had failed to meet the standard of righteous living. Yet in her brief encounter with Jesus, she had seen her greatest failures tallied, measured against grace, and tossed aside. Let us not make light of our failures to live as we should. Rather, let our failures magnify the Savior whose grace covers them.

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It is perhaps the most distinctive doctrine held by the Primitive Baptist faith: Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and man, and they that hear the voice of the Son of God shall live. In this message Elder Gus Harter explores the biblical proofs for immediate Holy Spirit regeneration and answers some common objections.

Regeneration is not often mentioned in scripture by name, but is frequently taught. Regeneration is also known as the effectual call, or the new birth. Elder Harter here presents three metaphors used in the Bible to convey its essence: resurrection, birth, and creation.

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live” (John 5:25). These are Christ’s words, and they speak of two occasions when the dead shall hear God. One of those occasions is yet to come; the other was ongoing even as Christ walked the earth, and continues to this day. The future resurrection is the restoration of natural life to the physically dead, when all of mankind will rise from death and stand before God for the day of judgment. The ongoing resurrection is a figurative picture of regeneration, when a man dead to spiritual things is given spiritual life by the voice of God. As when God raised Lazarus in a vivid object lesson, the dead have nothing to contribute to their own resurrection–whether the natural resurrection of physical life, or the spiritual resurrection of the eternal life lost once in Adam.

“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” (John 3:8). Jesus in this passage is clarifying his teaching to Nicodemus that man must be “born again” to see the kingdom of God. Who among us chooses when to be born, and to whom? As in nature, so in the spirit: those born of the Spirit do not so choose, nor are they chosen by any but God. God has no need to be carried to the distant islands of the Philippines, or behind any barriers erected by hostile governments or vestiges of Babel. Where the wind is free to blow, God is free to work, and need not be carried hither or yonder by men.

The final metaphor for regeneration is creation. Only God can create something where nothing was before. The scriptures often refer to the regenerate man as a “new creation.” Just as the potter has power over the clay, God works salvation upon the objects of His love without need of outside agency or third parties.

When Mary carried the unborn Christ into the room, John the Baptist leaped for joy in his mother’s womb. Was he a Calvinist or an Arminian, Elder Harter asks with a chuckle? And what of David, made to hope on his mother’s breast? Not old enough for solid foods, was David old enough to be accountable for a choice affecting his eternal destiny? “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise,” Christ said, quoting the Psalms. Could it be that the joy of infants visited by God’s Holy Spirit is more perfect praise in the sight of God than any of man’s devices? This belief is the only comfort we have when we consider the millions of unborn children whose lives have been taken in accordance with the law of the land and against the law of God.

Elder Harter also addresses the role of faith in eternal salvation: a mark, not a precondition. Those who believe man’s faith is a requirement of regeneration will often quote John 1:12, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name….” However, verse 12 is not a complete sentence. Verse 13 concludes the thought: “Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” Exactly!

What, then, of the gospel? Should we fold our arms and watch God work? Far from it! As 2 Timothy 1:10 declares, Christ has “brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” Almost at every mention of the marvelous truth of immediate, sovereign regeneration by God’s Holy Spirit, Paul records a refrain of praise or prayer. Though it does not appeal to man’s pride, this doctrine goes beyond the intellect to touch the heart of God’s children, motivating them to lives of godliness. We delight to declare the true, liberating, intoxicating message of the gospel: Christ has accomplished salvation, and those who believe His words show evidence that they are heaven-bound.

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Elder Harter preaches from Psalms 68 verse 13,”Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold.” This is a verse of victory in Jesus. We are sinful earthen vessels and cannot become a child of God on our own efforts. Even good things we do daily are from the mercy of the spirit of God working in us. Elder Harter explains that if you realize you are a sinner or perhaps even doubt God’s presence in your life this is a clear evidence that you have already been saved through Christ Jesus our Lord and that the Lord is dealing with you in this life. Although we have all lien among the pots as we sojourn through this world we can trust that God has redeemed and ultimately glorified us by his grace.

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After returning from a journey to the Philippines Elder Harter explores the instruction of the apostle Paul to the Roman church in Romans 12 verses 1-2. Doctrine comes first and duty follows. Scripture tells us that the doctrine as set forth by God should be the cornerstone of our behavior. Elder Harter explains that those that sin or refuse to tell people about our savior Jesus Christ on the basis of salvation by grace truly do not understand grace. Paul outlines the principles of grace in the first eleven chapters of Romans. In chapter 12 we read that we are to present or commit our bodies to God and not pattern our bodies to this world. We are to be transformed on the inside which would therefore change what is on the outside (our actions). This transformation comes from a knowledge of the true meaning of grace, knowing that we are at the mercy of God, and without him we can accomplish nothing. As followers of Christ we should desire to be transformed by the spirit of God in our life that we may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God in our worship of him.

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Elder Joe Hildreth of Chattanooga Primitive Baptist Church filled a special appointment at Bethany while our pastor was visiting churches in the Philippines. Elder Hildreth turned to Revelation 5:9, “And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation….”

In modern times, one of the most distinctive tenets of Primitive Baptist doctrine is that of God’s sovereign grace in eternal salvation. Throughout this fallen world, God’s Spirit reaches His children even when the preached message of the gospel does not.

Elder Hildreth also shares some information about Bethany’s history from his own experience, tracing the lineage of Bethany through East Atlanta Primitive Baptist Church and Utoy Primitive Baptist Church.

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