9.  “Him did God exalt with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to Israel, and remission of sins” (Acts 5:31).  This passage is used because it speaks of Christ giving repentance.  They infer that is done by a direct operation of the Spirit.  But the passage says nothing as to how he grants repentance.  Christ gives many things that are not the result of a direct operation of the Spirit.  The very next verse says God gives “the Holy Spirit to all them that obey him.”  This directly contradicts the theory of the necessity of a direct operation of the Spirit to enable men to obey him.

10.  “No man can come to me, except the Father that sent me draw him:  and I will raise him up in the last day” (John 6:44).  This is greatly relied upon to show the necessity of an irresistible drawing before men can come to Christ.  The word “draw,” in the Scriptures, is a translation of two words in the original.  One means to draw by force, “to drag;” the other means to “entice, allure or persuade”—­that men are drawn by moral arguments, or “allured.”  In the next verse Christ tells how men are drawn.  “Every one that hath heard from the Father, and hath learned, cometh unto me.”  Christ draws men by “teaching,” and they come as result of “learning.”  That is why he told his disciples to “go teach all nations.”  That is Christ’s method of drawing.

Now, I have selected ten of the strongest passages in the New Testament that support the theory of a direct operation of the Spirit before men are qualified to hear and obey the gospel.  If it is not taught in the above passages, it is not taught in the Bible.  When rightly considered, not one of them even leans toward the theory.  Are we not justified in saying that the theory is not supported by the Scriptures!  Now, how are persons made believers?  Hear the word of God: 

1.  “For I am not ashamed of the gospel:  for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (Rom. 1:16).  Now, here is the unequivocal statement that God’s power to save is lodged in the gospel.  In all ages of Christianity there is not a record of a single soul ever being saved without the presence of this power.  But this is not a magical power.  It must be heard in order that it produce faith.  But how shall they hear without a preacher and how shall he preach except he be sent?  The order is, then, (1) send, (2) preach, (3) hear, (4) believe, (5) obey, (6) saved.  Now, this is the order of the Saviour’s commission to his followers.  “Go preach the gospel to every creature; he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.”  That is our marching order to-day.

2.  “Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, examining the scriptures daily, whether these things were so. Many of them therefore believed; also of the Greek women of honorable estate, and of men, not a few” (Acts 17:11, 12).  Here were believers made by searching the Scriptures and by receiving the Word with all “readiness of mind.”  The same method will make believers of unbelievers to-day.