Baptismal Regeneration Refuted

Pastor Martin answers the question: what are the immediate effects of regeneration? From John 6:44-45 he establishes the moral and spiritual impossibility that no man can come to Christ except the Father draw him, and the inevitability that every one who hears and learns of the Father comes. Using the raising of Lazarus as an extended analogy, he shows that the first conscious acting of the regenerate soul is to come to Christ on the two legs of repentance and faith. He then draws three deductions from 1 John 5:1: no one has biblical grounds to believe himself regenerate who is not a penitent believing sinner (exposing the folly of baptismal, presumptive, and decisional regeneration); no one has grounds to doubt his regeneration if he is a penitent believing sinner (the oak tree needs no plaque); and no one has grounds to expect regenerating grace where the gospel is not present. He closes pressing the need to evangelize aggressively and pray fervently.