Every since Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, it has been God's blessing.

Ever since Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, it has been God's plan to redeem his people.

And he doesn't need our help to accomplish this, yet he chooses to involve us in the work of salvation.

Why is that?

Alistair Begg answers that question today on Truth for Life in a message he's titled Evangelism, God's Part, Our Part.

Right at the very beginning in understanding what it means for us to be involved in Evangelism, we need to recognize that in fulfilling our responsibilities in being obedient to the Great Commission,

we need to be clear as to what God alone can do and what we therefore cannot do.

First of all, conviction of sin is the work of God, the Holy Spirit.

That is why Jesus says, John chapter 16, 8, concerning the Holy Spirit, he says, I'm going to go away, unless I go away, the counselor will not come to you,

but if I go, I will send him to you, and when he, the Spirit comes, he, the Spirit of God, the third member of the Trinity, will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment in regard to sin because men do not believe in me.

It's interesting that the ultimate sin is the sin of unbelief, not to believe in God as sin.

Now the natural man doesn't expect that nor accept it, however that's what it says, in regard to righteousness because I'm going to the Father and in regard to judgment because the Prince of this world now stands condemned.

So God alone can bring conviction of sin.

God alone can give repentance to men.

How in the world is an unrepentant, upright, dignified, well-meaning member of society who works in your office or lives on your street, ever going to get down on his knees and acknowledge that is a helpless, hopeless sinner before God, unless God grants repentance.

When the apostles go out in the birth of the church, Acts chapter 5, in verse 31, and Peter is proclaiming the responsibility that he has to obey God rather than men after they've been given a whacking and we're going to get another one, he says we must obey God rather than men and then in verse 30 of Acts 5, he says that God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree, God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior,

that or in order that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. It's great word. Only God thirdly can draw men and women to Jesus Christ.

Is not what we discovered in John chapter 6, Jesus says, and no one can come to me unless the father draws them.

Also, God alone can reveal Jesus.

We can say all the things that we understand in our Bible is about Jesus, but how in the world is a person ever deep in their inner man, in their woman, going to come to an acknowledgement of Christ, to Corinthians 4 and verse 6,

Paul says, for God who said, let light shine out of darkness, and so there was day and there was night.

Paul says, the same God who turned the lights on in terms of the natural order has turned the lights on in the spiritual order.

...