GOSPEL, The, Is it a means to regeneration, C. H. Cayce The preaching of the gospel was not the means of the regeneration of Paul, Cornelius, nor any other person. Paul was present when Stephen was stoned, and gave his consent to the wicked performance, for he held the clothes of those who stoned Stephen; but the preaching had no effect on him. John tells why Stephen’s preaching had no effect on Paul at that time. Paul was yet in an unregenerate state, he was of the world, only a worldly character. “We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us.” — l John 4:6. Stephen was of God in his preaching, and that character who is not of God does not hear such preaching. They may, and do, hear the vocal sound of the preacher’s voice, but they do not hear understandingly, or to profit, while they are not of God. In order to hear understandingly they must first be of God. If they must be of God first, then the preaching is too late to be a means of regeneration or to make them of God.
The case of the infant cannot be reached by means of the gospel. The infant cannot understand the gospel, and the adult is saved the same way the infant is— both are saved one way. The Saviour says, “Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.” — Mark 10:15. The adult receives the kingdom of God the same way the little child does, or be does not receive it at all. The infant does not receive the kingdom of God, or eternal life, through the means of gospel preaching. As both infant and adult are saved the same way, it follows, therefore, that the adult does not receive the kingdom through the means of gospel preaching either.
God does not have two ways of giving life to the dead. “As the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom He will.”— John 5:21. The Son quickens the dead sinner into divine life, raises him up out of a state of death in sin into a state of life in Christ, the very same way and by the very same divine power that the Father raises the dead. Both are done the same way, and that is one way only. “No man can come to the Father but by me,” says Jesus, who had just affirmed that “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” If He is the way, and no man cometh unto the Father but by Him, then there is only one way of eternal salvation. Sinners receive eternal life, are regenerated, just one way. The Lord speaks to them, as He did to Saul of Tarsus when he was on his journey from Jerusalem to Damascus, and when He speaks to the dead sinner He imparts life. He regenerates the sinner. “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life,” says the Redeemer.
Life is imparted by a direct touch of life; it is not imparted through a means or medium. Hence, sinners are regenerated, born of God, or born from above, or quickened into divine life, by the Spirit of God coming into direct touch with their spirits. When they have thus been made “new creatures” in Christ they are capacitated to hear and understand the gospel, and they never are until then. We are sure that the reason why many of the Lord’s children in this country of ours do not believe the gospel, or do not believe the truth, the doctrine of God our Saviour, is because of false teaching. They are blinded and led astray by false and judaizing teachers, men who are teaching for doctrine the commandments of men. There are so many, who manifest that they are willing to teach most anything, if the money flows, freely their way. They “corrupt” the word of God, or handle the word of God deceitfully for the money there is in it— making merchandise of the people, so that many of the Lord’s dear children are blinded by them and are spending their money for that which is not bread and their labor for that which satisfieth not. The gospel is for the benefit of the Lord’s children, for their comfort, encouragement and instruction. It cannot benefit one who does not receive it, and the natural man does not receive it. So, if it benefits any, it is the Lord’s children, those who have been born of God. The Primitive Baptist, August 20, 1907.