 Yeah, good morning. We'll begin. So we've been going through various doctrines. Last class, which doctrine did we cover? Yes, it was the doctrine of Christ. So this week we will look into the doctrine of salvation. Like I said, you know, we are not following the same order which your notes has. So today we will be covering the doctrine of salvation separately. Maybe we'll look at doctrine of salvation and justification. Next class, we will look at doctrine of redemption and sanctification. So that's the way we would be covering it. Alright, so to get started off with the doctrine of salvation and justification. A lot of people think of salvation in different ways. For some that word salvation, it may mean, I don't know, going and meditating somewhere on a mountain in the hope that some enlightenment will come. For some people, the word salvation, it may mean somehow breaking free from the cycle of life and death. For many Christians, the word salvation means getting a free ticket to heaven. So different people have different views of what salvation is. But what does the Bible say about what salvation means? So according to the Bible, basically it's two things. It is deliverance from slavery to sin. And it is entry into a new relationship, personal relationship with God. So that is actually what salvation is according to the Bible. First, you are delivered from slavery to sin. And second, you are now able to enter into a new personal relationship with God, who is no longer looking upon you with judgment, but who is willing to accept you with love. That would be actually salvation. So someone who comes... So salvation is basically two things. It is deliverance from slavery to sin. And second, it allows you to enter into a personal relationship with God, who is no longer looking upon us with judgment, but is looking upon us with acceptance and peace and love. So it is basically these two things that salvation is. So when we have an altar call and people put up their hands just because they think, okay, I'm going to get a free ticket to heaven. And they're not really understanding the real implications of what is involved. They may have a true conversion experience in their hearts or they may not. Depending on how open they are to these two actual factors, if there's an openness in their heart to really give up their sinfulness, to be delivered from the slavery to sin, if that desire is there, then yes, God would respond to them. Also, if there's a real desire for them to connect with the Lord, get to know Him, place themselves under His protection, then yes, it works. But if you're just standing over there and saying, oh, I want a ticket to heaven, chances are that you will not really have a true salvation experience if you go to the altar call with that kind of an attitude. So salvation is basically deliverance from slavery to sin and having a restored relationship with God. So the salvation experience as such is something that we go through our entire lives. When we first come to the Lord and make that initial commitment to Him, to live for Him, to trust in Him, to submit to Him, at that moment, you could call that the initial conversion experience, where you were part of the world, you were a slave to sin, but now you have been converted, you have been changed, now you are a part of His family. So maybe you could call that the initial conversion experience. And then for the rest of our earthly lives, we will go through what we call the sanctification process. So that would be the second phase of the salvation experience, where you go through sanctification on a daily basis, where God makes you more and more like Christ. And then the final portion of our salvation experience is when we go to heaven and then we share in Christ's glory, there is glorification. So we could say that salvation has got three phases, three stages, the initial conversion experience where you have your encounter with the Lord Jesus and then God forgives you of your sins and a whole bunch of things happen, a whole bunch of divine things happen in that instant, in that moment, when you make that commitment to Jesus. So all that would be involved in your initial conversion experience. And then you go through a lifetime of sanctification, where you are working out your salvation. It doesn't mean that you're trying to earn salvation, that phrase working out your salvation basically means, now you're learning to apply that salvation to your life, you're growing into it, you're enjoying more and more of the salvation experience. So that's the experience of sanctification that takes place over your entire lifetime. And then once we get there to heaven, that is when there is glorification where now you have entered into God's presence and there you will now share in His glory because while on the earth you were willing to share in His sufferings. So we go through this conversion, sanctification and glorification stages in our Christian walk. Let's look at one scripture and get started with that. Efficiency chapter 2 verses 8 to 9. So if someone could read out, Ephesians 2, 8 to 9, a very familiar passage. For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God. None of works lest anyone should boast. Okay, so it says over here that salvation is given freely by the grace of God. We do not deserve to be given salvation, but by grace freely, even though we don't deserve it, it is being given. So by grace we have been saved and this grace, this free grace, this free salvation is given to anyone who chooses to place their belief, their trust in Jesus Christ. So it's given to everyone who has this faith in Jesus. And also it says, this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. And so God gives this gift of faith, God gives this ability to believe to those people who are open to what He is offering. So we saw that, there's a slight overlap even as we keep covering all these doctrines. So these are familiar concepts which we have touched upon earlier. So we saw in John 16, 8, where it talks about the role of the Holy Spirit. And we looked at how He is the one who convicts us of sin, righteousness and judgment. So those believers who are open to what is being, not believers, unbelievers, the unbelievers who are open to the work of the Holy Spirit, who are responding to His convicting work, who are willing to hear what He has to say. So for such people, He gives them the gift of faith to be able to believe in Jesus. And then they make that personal commitment. And once they do that, they have the salvation experience. So all of these things take place through the initiative of God. God takes the first step. He's the one who begins His work of conviction. And then when people are open to that work of conviction, He gives the gift of faith to be, in fact, even be able to believe in Jesus. And then once we place our faith in Jesus, then the salvation experience happens. If we could also maybe read out Romans chapter 10 verse 20. But Isaiah is very bold and says, I was found by those who did not seek me. I was made manifest to those who did not ask for me. So here, God talks about how He took the first step, how He chose to reveal Himself to those who were not even, you know, seeking. So He is the one who does His work of conviction in our hearts and people who are open to receive that. They are the ones who are given this gift of faith to believe in Jesus. And that's when the salvation experience takes place. So God takes the initiative. He is the one who calls us to salvation. So it all begins with a call to salvation and an invitation to salvation that God Himself gives us. So what exactly is this call to salvation? So when God is calling His people to salvation, what is the invitation that He gives? Does He say, you know, come to me because I have free tickets with me available for heaven? Is that this invitation that He gives? What is the kind of invitation that Jesus actually gives? When we say salvation, an invitation to salvation, what exactly does that invitation involve? What does it sound like? Because sometimes when we go to a meeting and, you know, we're sitting over there and we listen to the person who is preaching, we get the impression that salvation, the invitation which is being given is come, you'll get a ticket to heaven. Come, you'll be blessed. Come, all your problems will go away. Come, God will, you know, do this, this, this for you. So we kind of get that as the invitation. But actually, what is the invitation which the Bible says? What is the invitation that actually God makes to His people? You know, if we were to look at Matthew 11, in fact, you would have to maybe look at the entire chunk from verse 20 up to verse 30 to really get a picture of what is the real salvation invitation. So Matthew chapter 11, maybe we could have someone read out just verse 20. Yeah, only verse 20. Matthew 11 verse 20. Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles have been performed because they did not repent. So over here it's talking about how Jesus begins to condemn the towns which are not receiving His message. They are not showing any signs of repentance. So the entire salvation process has to begin with this repentant attitude in the heart where you are no longer satisfied with your sinful attitudes. But rather, you know, you wish to be changed. So Jesus begins his entire talk about salvation by touching upon repentance upon the topic of repentance. He points out that the first thing is people should want to repent of their sinfulness. And then later on, you know, he talks about he condemns all those towns which are not repenting. And then when you come to Matthew 11, 28 to 30, you have the rest of the invitation, salvation invitation being given. So if we could read out Matthew 11 verses 28 to 30. Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lovely in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. So if you were to take the entire passage all the way from Matthew 11 verse 20 and come all the way up to verse 30, we see what salvation is actually about. Jesus is saying you have been living in sin, but that is not the way to live. I'm asking you to repent. I'm asking you to turn away from your old lifestyle, and I'm asking you to come to me. If you come to me, then I will give you rest. I will show you a different way to live. I'm asking you to take up my yoke and start putting that on your shoulders rather than living in your own way. Learn from me. Submit to me. Allow me to teach you how to live a new and different life, and you will discover that your souls will find much rest because my invitation, which I'm offering, the yoke which I'm offering is actually not very heavy. It is light. So this is the salvation invitation over here. There's no mention of a free ticket to heaven. Over here, there's no mention of, you know, I'll be your Santa Claus and just poor blessings upon you. It is a very, very different salvation invitation where Jesus is saying, repent of the life you have been living so far. Come to me. I will show you a different way of life. Submit to me. Learn from me. I'm very gentle in the way I teach. I know I will show you much kindness and mercy, and I will help you to live this new way of life. That is the invitation to salvation. So if a person responds to that and says, Yes, I trust in this Jesus. I know I want what he is offering. They are the ones who experience a true salvation experience. The rest of them may be under the impression that they have become believers. But, you know, if they have not really made that commitment, then they are not believers in the true sense of the word. You know, they still need to be saved. So when a person actually comes to the Lord and makes that initial commitment, they may not have this much clarity about all that is involved, but at least that one basic thing must be there in their heart that, Yes, I do not want to live in sin anymore and Jesus is offering me a better life. I want that at least that one little bit of, you know, desire and that one little bit of awareness that they are leaving behind a sinful lifestyle and making a commitment to Jesus, that at least should be there. If that awareness is also not there, then it's not really at all a true commitment. Okay, so what we are discussing today is like, you know, has to do with eternal life and death. So it's a very, very important topic that we are in fact touching upon. So it's so important how we preach salvation to people. If we are going to be people who are just going to go to people and say, you know what, you come to Jesus, believe in Him and you will, you know, be able to enter heaven. Come to Jesus and believe that He will, you know, give grant you healing and grant you blessings, then, you know, you will receive salvation. That's a very superficial message. We would have to give a true gospel invitation. You know, then people will know what they are actually accepting, what they are coming to Jesus for. It is very, very vital that we present the Gospel in the correct manner. Now just to look a little more upon this call to salvation that Jesus makes, He uses a parable to kind of bring out what He wishes to convey and we see that parable in Matthew chapter 22, verses 1 to 14. Matthew 22, 1 to 14 is where Jesus, you know, uses the example of a wedding banquet that a king is, you know, throwing for all the people, for all the people that he is inviting. So he invites a lot of people for this wedding banquet and, you know, if we, those of us who are familiar with the parable, we see that the people who are invited originally, they are not interested. They don't wish to come for the banquet. And if we were to look at what Jesus was indicating, we know, right? He was basically talking about the Jewish community. Many of the Jewish people were not interested in what he was offering. He's giving this call to salvation, but they are not interested in responding. And so then what does he do? He throws open the invitation to everyone else, the Gentiles. So that's, that's what we see in the rest of the parable, where the servants of the king, they go into all the side lanes and they go down the roads and they go into all the places which are generally not visited and they start calling all the people and say, come, come, you are also now invited to the wedding banquet. So that's basically what we see in this parable where the initial invitees were not interested in what Jesus was offering. And Jesus throws open the invitation to everyone and says, whoever wants to come. And it talks about all the different kinds of people who come. People who are unqualified, maybe to come for a royal wedding. You have the poor, you have the lame, you have the blind, you have all kinds of people coming in. And not all of them would be wonderful, godly, saintly persons. So the invitation is open to anyone, anyone who's interested. It doesn't matter how unqualified they are, doesn't matter how rotten they are, it's just an open invitation for everyone. And so a lot of people come and they come into the wedding banquet and they're all enjoying the feast that is over there. And then it says in the parable that one man was present over there who was not wearing the wedding garments which were given to each of the guests. And this person is not wearing the wedding garments. And he is thrown out of the banquet. So the only condition being laid is when you come to accept the invitation, accept it in the way that I am asking you to accept it. So Jesus is not saying only certain people with certain qualifications can come to me. He is not saying that it is open to anyone who wishes to come. But when you come, you've got to accept him in the way he is asking for. So if you follow that, then you have a true salvation experience. And so over here, maybe we could compare this wedding garment to the robe of righteousness which Jesus Christ would give. So who is he going to be giving this to? So the very last portion of that parable, maybe we could actually look at those two verses at the end. Matthew chapter 22 verses 13 and 14. Matthew 22, 13 and 14. Then the king told the attendants, tie him, hand and foot and throw him outside into the darkness where there will be weeping and gashing of teeth. For many are invited, but few are chosen. That's the final sentence in that parable. Many are invited, but few are chosen. So the invitation is open to everyone in the world. You know, it says in the other scripture, in one of the scriptures that Jesus came as a ransom for all. So the invitation is open to all, but only those who choose to come to him and choose to repent, they are the ones who will be given the robe of righteousness. So anyone who is not wearing or not covered in Jesus Christ's robe of righteousness, who is not covered literally in his righteousness in his perfection, who is not clothed in his perfection, they would be thrown out. So many are invited, but very few are chosen. Who are the chosen few? The ones who are willing to repent and say, yes, I want your righteousness, Lord, and I'm willing to take up your yoke, learn from you, you know, to walk in a new way of life, a holy way of life, turning your back completely on the old sinful lifestyle that you once had. So this is what is involved in true salvation. So, yeah, go ahead. Like the one who are clothed were in righteousness of Jesus, they're only invited, right? They're the chosen, not the invited ones for everyone. They are the chosen who are in, but if we see when we confess, like when we believe in Jesus by faith, we are already made righteous with him. So like, even when, for example, people who as an invitation, they're also keep their faith in Jesus. So they're also kind of, they're also being righteous with God, right? Jesus. But how can we differentiate that? So, we're talking about people who have not yet become believers, unbelievers, when they first start feeling that conviction of the Holy Spirit inside their hearts. At that time, they are convicted of sin, righteousness and judgment. They are convicted that they are sinful people that on their own, whatever they do is not enough. They need a savior who can save them. So they're convicted of sin, they're convicted of righteousness, and they're convicted of judgment, that if they do not accept what Jesus is offering, then all that they have to look forward to is hell and judgment. So the Holy Spirit starts doing this work of conviction. It may happen at a salvation meeting. It may happen when someone is listening to a sermon. It may happen when someone is reading the Bible. It may happen on different occasions. But in that moment, that person begins to kind of understand why they need Jesus and coming to Jesus means saying no to whatever they were living with earlier. They would have to say a full, put a full stop to that and say, from this moment, I am starting a new work. So they are placing their faith in Jesus and hoping that he will now help them. So with that attitude when they come to him, in that moment, the salvation experience takes place. So I meant faith in that sense, where they are trusting Jesus to help them. And I meant repentance in that sense, where there's at least that little bit of awareness that Jesus is expecting me to stop doing whatever I was doing up to now. And from now on, he is saying, I need to walk with him and submit to him. So those elements will be there in the salvation experience of each person, though they may not be aware of the entire full doctrine of salvation at the moment of coming to the Jesus. But at least these basic things should be there in their heart. Then it becomes a true salvation experience in that sense. So the technical term that is used is conversion. Of course, in our in our India, the term conversion has got an entirely different implication. But generally, you know, people who are not even aware of India and the political scenario over here, when they just think of the word conversion, as a theological term, they're basically thinking of two things. So one would be repentance, and the other is faith in Jesus Christ. Conversion involves two basic things. First, it involves repentance. Second, it involves faith in Jesus Christ. If someone could read out Matthew chapter three, versus one to two. This is the end of the first portion, the repentance part of it. Matthew three, one to two. In those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Okay, so this is this has always been the first portion of the conversion talk. Conversion basically has to involve repentance, because the kingdom of heaven is now open, the gates are open, ready to receive people, but you need to repent. If you repent, then yes, you can actually enter through those gates. Okay, so repentance, you know, like we have seen in the earlier sessions, or did we see in the earlier sessions or not? Can't remember. But yeah, repentance is basically a godly sorrow. Oh, why did I live in the way that I did? Why have I dishonored God? Why have I behaved in this shameful manner? So it's a godly sorrow where you're saying, enough is enough. I do not want to live anymore like this. From now on, I want to have a new and different life. And Jesus is promising me that. So this repentance is godly sorrow. For the way you have lived so far, and you think enough, no longer shall I live in sin. I want to have a fresh start. So that would be basically, you know, true repentance. So this person is now ready. This person is responding to the convicting work of the Holy Spirit, and they're ready to start off a new chapter in their lives. There's something that's actually going on inside. Such persons, you know, when they place their faith in Jesus, the Holy Spirit will give them that gift of faith to be able to believe in Jesus, and they will do it in that moment. And in that moment, a whole bunch of divine things which cannot be humanly done are done by God for us, and we become part of his family. So the first portion of true conversion will be repentance. And the other portion is faith in Jesus Christ. We look at a couple of verses, you know, which talk about that. John chapter 14 verse six, if someone could read out. John chapter 14 verse six, Jesus answer, I'm the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me. Jesus is very, very clear about this. He says, having faith in 100 different things is not going to help you. You need to have faith in me that only through me can you come to the Father. So this one basic fundamental piece of faith is absolutely essential to your salvation experience. You got to believe that only through Jesus Christ can I come to God, the Father. There is no other route. There is no other way. This becomes one very, very fundamental piece of faith that a person would need to have. We have something very similar mentioned even in Romans chapter 10 verses nine and 10. If someone could read out Romans 10 verses nine and 10. That if you confess with your mouth, the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved for with the heart one believes to righteousness and the mouth confession is made to salvation. Yes. And so the other aspect of conversion first is repentance. The other is faith in Jesus Christ. Now when we say faith in Jesus Christ, we are talking about two aspects of faith. So here we in John 14 6 and in Romans 10 9 to 10, we saw that we need to believe that only through Jesus Christ believing that he is the Son of God. He is the only one who can save us. That is what you could say that is your at your thinking level, at your mind level, you place your belief, your faith in him and say, Yes, only through Jesus, am I going to be saved? So you confess that with your mouth, because you know, at your mind level, you have now accepted that fact. This is another aspect of faith, which is the personal trust which you place in him, where you are now submitting your entire life to him. So you see at the mind level, you have understood the concept, you have understood that only through Jesus salvation is going to come. But it goes beyond just that mind understanding. It comes to a personal commitment. Out of your thinking, out of what you have now understood, you choose to actually act out and place your entire life at his feet and say, Yes, from now on, I choose to follow you. So there's a personal aspect also of faith involved, where now you're submitting your entire life to him. If we can look at John chapter one verse 12, John chapter one verse 12, yet to all who received him to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become the children of God. So who are these people who have become the children of God? They are the ones who received him. They have fully received him into their life saying, Okay, Lord, now you be Lord and master of every area of my life because I trust you. I don't just believe in you at a mind level. I actually believe you in my personal experience. I'm willing to give up all of myself to you and trust you. So this is you acting out your personal trust and submitting yourself to him. And then in Acts chapter 10 verse 43 and 44, that's basically your passage where Peter has gone to Cornelius household and he's sharing the gospel with all the people who have gathered over there and he's talking to them and he says to them, you know, you need to believe in him. So over there, he's not talking about just the mental level of acknowledging and saying, Oh yeah, Jesus is the way to salvation. There's one step further. He's basically telling that entire household, are you willing to completely come under Jesus covering and totally submit to him? No longer will you be following the Jewish customs? But from now on, you see, because the Cornelius family, what is the term that is used in the Acts for? I mean, this was the category of people who are from a Gentile background and they have chosen to convert to I had my Bible open, I could have just looked up the term. Yeah, so these are the Gentiles who have chosen to now we don't believe that Yahweh is the true God and have stepped into the Jewish faith. But now Peter is coming and saying it's Jesus is the one who is the way to salvation. What's that a God? God follower or something that's the term in our in our Bibles, NIV and all of that. That's what this this Cornelius was when it says, you know, that he was a God follower or something. That's the term that is used for people. I'll look it up later. So now this person is being told it's not enough for you to have come into the Jewish faith. You need to actually place your faith in Jesus Christ. Are you and your family willing to actually do that? Because when you do that, there's going to be a position. The Jews are not going to be happy. They will say, why have you now become a follower of this Jesus? Why have you turned your back on the Jewish, you know, faith into which you have stepped in? So they're going to be saying all of that. Are you willing to make that commitment? So if you could if you could just read out Acts chapter 10 verse 43 Acts 10 verse 43 Acts 10 43 to him all the prophets witness that through his name, whoever believes in him will receive remission of sins. Yeah, it says that whoever believes in him, it's not just believing about him. So it's not enough if Cornelius and his household sit over there and say, oh, yeah, salvation is through Jesus. Even the demons know that the demons also nod their heads and say, yeah, salvation is through Jesus. So just that knowing at this mind level is not sufficient. You go one step further and you make a personal commitment of trust and say, I now choose to submit my entire life to this Jesus and live under him. That becomes personal faith. It's not just intellectual belief, it becomes personal faith. And so in that moment, even as Cornelius and his household are listening to this sermon, you know, when they are told everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness, they actually begin to believe that. And then in that moment when that commitment happens, it says in the next verse, while Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. Now that's what happens in a true salvation encounter where that person has been open to the conviction, open to what God is telling about Jesus Christ. And in that moment when they believe in that moment when they submit and say, okay, from now on, you are going to be my Lord. In that very, very moment, the Holy Spirit comes down upon the person. That is when they are born again into the kingdom of God. And from that moment onwards, it's a whole new life. You know, so there's a lot which actually happens during a true salvation experience. So you and I who are going to be going out and sharing the Gospel, please let us present the salvation invitation the way Jesus presented it. We should not be casual in the way we talk about the Gospel. We should not reduce it to a free ticket to heaven. And we should most certainly not say come to him and he'll take away all your problems and give you blessings. Because when people come with that wrong expectation, and then you have all the trials and difficulties of the Christian life coming, then they wonder, oh, what is this? We came over here for something else. And we are being given something else. And it's not at all a true faith. So here, Cornelius and his household, they choose to believe in what is actually being offered, you know, the forgiveness of sins through the name of Jesus, and they want that. And, and even as they begin to believe, the Holy Spirit comes upon them, and they are all saved. So, you know, just to kind of wrap up what we have been saying about conversion, I may be very, very repentant of my sins. You know, I've kind of looked at myself and I'm ashamed of who I am, the way that I have been living, and I'm very deeply repentant. So I turn my back on all the sins I have repented. And then I go sit on a mountain and I start meditating and waiting for enlightenment to come. You see, you see, I have taken that first step of repentance, but the second step which I have taken is I'm trying to use some other method to attain salvation. I do not get saved. Repentance has happened. True repentance. I'm never again going to go back to all the sinful things that I was doing. I have repented, I've turned away. But now I believe that if I go sit on that mountain and meditate, enlightenment will come upon me. My atman will be, you know, united with something else or whatever. And you know, I'm going to get salvation. So you see, just repentance alone does not lead to salvation. I may be a person who's very repentant of the evil lifestyle I have lived and I give up all of that. I repent of all of that. And now I dedicate my entire life to serving the poor. All my money, all my time is used to serving the poor, but I have not received salvation. I have genuinely truly repented. But I'm looking to, you know, serving the poor as my means of getting salvation, it's not going to happen. So just having that one component of repentance is not enough. In the same way, if I'm a person who says, yes, yes, I believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven. But I don't give up my old sinful lifestyle. So now in the second example that I'm using, I believe in Jesus, I have no doubt about it. I know that Jesus is God. But I have not given up my sinful lifestyle. I have no desire to give up those things. So if that is the case, again, it is not salvation. I do not have a salvation experience. So you need to have both. I need to repent of my sinfulness. Second, I also need to place my faith that in Jesus that He alone is the way to the Father. And I will submit all of my life to Him, take up His yoke and learn from Him. When both of these components come together, only such people are truly saved. So that is when actual conversion, you know, takes place. And in that moment, something called regeneration happens, a new birth takes place, the person is born again. So from that true conversion experience, you move into what is called regeneration. Okay, so let me just take a look at the, you know, the things that are posted over here. Okay, the first question was regarding the, you know, portion for the assessments. So whatever we had done up to the last class, doctrine of Christ, those are all the things which are mentioned in the, you know, in the multiple choice questions. So all the things that were covered up to the last class, you know, this is for the online people, the multiple choice questions. So up to doctrine of Christ, whatever was covered, all those things are there mentioned in those multiple choice questions. So whatever we are covering today is not part of the multiple choice questions which have been posted in the Google Classroom. Regarding this question about people who sin again and again, if it is unbelievers who are sinning again and again, they anyway do not have the salvation experience. So they are anyway under judgment. But if we are talking about people who are sinning again and again after salvation, you know, then if they have reached a stage where they do not even feel any repentance for what they are doing, then it means that they have crossed beyond, you know, any hope of repentance. So Hebrews chapter six and Hebrews chapter 10 would apply to such believers who have, you know, where it talks in detail about in Hebrews chapter six about how they have shared in the Holy Spirit, how they have tasted of the gift of salvation, how they have, you know, known God, how they have experienced the powers of the coming world. They have done all that, but they have now turned away and gone back into the world. And it says over there that for such people, it is impossible for them to turn back to repentance. So Hebrews chapter six and Hebrews chapter 10 would apply to such people who after the salvation experience have chosen to continue living in sin, you know, on a habitual, regular, continuous level to an extent where they finally one day reached a point where there is no desire to follow the Lord. There is no desire to really repent. They still desperately want the heaven ticket. They don't want to lose that. But there's no, no more repentance left inside. There's no not even a slight spark of wanting to come back and honor him. No feeling ashamed of what they have done. All that is gone. All that all that there still remains is this longing to have that heaven ticket. So if you cross that point, Hebrews chapter six and Hebrews chapter 10, say that you have now gone beyond being able to repent. So that would apply to such people. Yeah. So maybe just to, you know, get started on this whole, you know, concept of regeneration. What exactly does it involve? When Jesus was talking to Nicodemus, he says to him, it is not enough for a person to be born into the physical world. But it is also necessary for them to be born spiritually into the spiritual world, you know, into the kingdom of God. So the first birth which all humans undergo is the physical birth into the human world. But there's a second birthing experience that they have to go through and that will be when they choose to be born into God's kingdom. So that second, you know, birth is required. If anyone wants to be in the presence of God, you know, eternally. So if we couldn't read on John three, three, which talks about that. In reply, Jesus declared, I tell you the truth. No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. No one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. And why he explains in verse six, if you could read out three, six, six, four, six, flesh gives birth to flesh. But the spirit gives birth to human flesh can only give birth to a human. But on the other hand, the Holy Spirit can give birth to a new spirit. So when when a baby is born, the human mother is just giving birth to a human child. But when the Holy Spirit gives birth to this to a new person, you know, that that person receives a brand new, you know, spirit. So there are two kinds of birth involved. And only a person who's undergone both, you know, both births is able to be in the presence of God. And we understand that, right? Because when the when the mother gives birth to the little baby, you know, the sinful nature which she had inherited from her father, and she now, you know, the sinful nature is passes on to the child because her husband also has a sinful nature. So that gets passed on to the child. So the child is born alive, physically, but in in the in its spirit, that little baby has a spiritually dead spirit, a spirit that is disconnected from God, a spirit that is not in union with God. So that little baby is born, physically alive, but spiritually dead. Now something else has to happen when that child grows up and has an encounter with God, that child responds to the convicting work of the Holy Spirit, and the child receives the gift of faith from the Holy Spirit to trust in Jesus and submit its entire life to Him. When that happens, at that moment, the Holy Spirit births a new spirit, a spiritually alive spirit inside that person. And that is when that person and is now born into the kingdom of God. So that is the second birth that they would have to go through. Without that, no one can enter into the kingdom of God, like, you know, a very plainly Jesus says over here. If we could just look at one more of a couple of scriptures, Titus 3 verse 5, Titus chapter 3 verse 5, he saved us not because of, right, he saved us not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. So how does a person actually get reborn? You know, it talks about the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. These are things that we looked already at when we were looking at Romans chapter six, where it talks about how this washing of rebirth takes place, how the renewal by the Holy Spirit takes place. So those are things which need to happen divinely inside a person, only then can they actually call themselves a believer. So when we come back from the break, we'll again touch upon this very familiar concept. This is something we have already looked at, but you know, we will just again repeat it and then, you know, move on to other things. So if we can all log back in at 9th at 10 o'clock. Thank you.