Conversion to Jesus Christ (12)

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Regeneration or new birth

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>>[music playing in the background throughout the Well let's turn in our
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Bibles to 1 Peter 1, we had just read verses 22 -25 to which we'll be giving attention here in a few moments.
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On recent Sundays we've been addressing the matter of the calling of God to come and receive salvation that He offers through the
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Gospel of Jesus Christ, God's calling. And we have considered two different forms of God's calling that are depicted for us in the
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Scriptures. There is of course the general call of God that goes out to the entire human race, that's the call of the preacher, the call of the witness, the call of the
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Gospel that we to proclaim far and wide. That general call of course will not result in anyone being saved because of man's sinful condition.
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The general call of God is not sufficient to convert the soul, and so there is need for a greater, an inward call, an effectual call of God is essential.
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And God issues this effectual call to His elect, which always results in them coming to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
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Everyone the Father calls comes to Jesus as our Lord Jesus Himself declared.
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And so God issues this effectual call to His elect, they come to Christ, and it results in their salvation.
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We gave a definition of God's effectual call taken from the Westminster Catechism. Effectual calling is the work of God's Spirit, whereby convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills,
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He doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered us in the
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Gospel. So the effectual call works inwardly in us. Now for the last two
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Sundays, we've given attention to an aspect of God's calling, that being the grace of illumination that God imparts to His people.
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Illumination is the work of God's grace in which He reveals saving truth to sinners. He turns on the lights.
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And in God's calling of sinners to salvation, He reveals and teaches them the truth regarding their own sin and the remedy for that sin through the
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Gospel, through Jesus Christ. But just as there are two types of calling, general and effectual, so there are two types of illumination or two forms of illumination.
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God is able to illuminate sinners to truth while extending to them this general call to salvation.
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Unconverted people who remain in an unconverted state can acquire a great deal of biblical knowledge.
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And not just knowledge acquired through their own mind and intellect, but because God has blessed them in revealing
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Himself and truth about Him to them. And so God commonly illuminates people to spiritual truth, but that illumination does not result in their salvation.
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But thankfully there is God's illumination of the sinner that does result in salvation. This form of illumination accompanies
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God's effectual call of His people unto their salvation. And so when
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God brings salvation to a person, to an individual, God Himself teaches that person that He is a sinner and that Christ is the
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Savior. All that are taught by God come to Jesus Christ.
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And so when the individual whom God intends to save hears the word of God taught or preached, and if it's in accordance to God's purpose and timing,
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God Himself opens the eyes of that person to understand the reality and the importance of that truth.
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And so there is an illumination of spiritual truth that does not result in salvation, and there is an illumination of truth to the soul that always results in salvation.
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And sometimes you'll see the former referred to as external illumination, which would accompany
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God's general calling, and the latter form of illumination sometimes referred to as internal illumination, which would accompany
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God's effectual call. And so God illuminates people to the truth of His word, the truth of their own condition, and the truth of the
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Gospel. What is the different or the additional work of God in His effectual call unto salvation, which is accompanied with illumination of saving truth, when compared with that which does not result in salvation?
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What's the difference? Well, whereas God will illuminate unsaved people to the meaning of truth and the truthfulness of God's word, when
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God effectually calls His own unto salvation, He causes them not only to understand the truth, but in addition,
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God causes them or Him to see and embrace the significance of biblical truth.
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That's important. Not just an understanding of the truth, but the significance of it, the importance of it, the value of it, the desire for it, the delight in it.
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And that's what those who are not converted, although they're illuminated, that's what they fail to experience.
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And so when God purposes to save a soul, that word comes to the soul with power.
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The sinner is struck with the importance of it. This is vital. He's struck with the truth of it.
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This is true. And he's also struck with the reality and relevance of it. It must be obeyed.
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I must obey it. I must believe it. I must obey it. And so God causes each of His elect to see the reality and the relevance of what
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God says, respecting His sin, His need of salvation, His need for repentance that is turning from sin, and His need to embrace
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Jesus Christ in the gospel, because He's come to understand not only His meaning, but His value through the work of the
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Holy Spirit. Now, when we speak of this internal illumination, this understanding that God imparts, we have to recognize that the only reason that this is done or perceived by this individual is because there is another work of God that's taking place inwardly that's not necessarily perceived.
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In fact, most often is not perceived by the individual. And so today, we want to examine the underlying cause that God's illumination of the sinner is seen and understood in its truth and importance.
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And of course, the distinction between those who hear and understand and remain unchanged by the truth and those who understand and are transformed by that truth is due to the grace of regeneration that God has caused to occur in those who are of His elect, those who are
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His people, the grace of regeneration. And that's why the illumination becomes effectual.
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That's why it becomes not only understandable, but relevant, important, critical, urgent, because God has done a work of grace, of regeneration in the soul of that one.
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And that's why He perceives it and receives it and responds to it in the way that He does.
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Now, we spoke about this work of regeneration some weeks ago, back in the sixth sermon of this series, when we described the ordo salutis, that Latin phrase meaning order of salvation.
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And there and then we spoke about Nicodemus and how the Lord Jesus told him that he needed to be born again.
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But when we spoke about regeneration on that occasion, we did so within the context of that order of salvation.
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And since that Sunday, we have been delineating or setting forth that order of salvation, that order of salutis.
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And that's why today we've come to the point of regeneration. We've been talking about first, in our first three sermons, you know, are we converted?
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What is it to be converted? And then we began to talk about this order of salvation, the grace of God, the need for the new birth.
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And then we spoke about how God prepares the sinner for regeneration. And then we spoke about illumination and calling.
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Well, now here it is, the grace of regeneration. This is at the point where the sinner becomes changed inwardly.
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And it's a work of God's grace, a sovereign work of God that He performs, this grace of regeneration.
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And so we want to now consider in more detail this sovereign work of God's grace and regeneration, whereby
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He imparts spiritual life to a sinner who is spiritually dead in his sins and trespasses.
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And this is man's great need, the need for regeneration. Again, our
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Lord told Nicodemus, most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God.
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And He repeated Himself to Nicodemus, most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born of water in the
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Spirit he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. And He was telling this to Nicodemus who had been illuminated by God to much truth.
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He was the teacher in Israel. He could recite, you know, the
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Hebrew scriptures, all the events and all the doctrines, and yet he needed to be born again.
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And he didn't understand this. He didn't perceive this. He even needed to be illuminated by the
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Spirit of God as to what Jesus was saying. And so, this is essential.
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Jesus said, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again.
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And so, our Lord taught Nicodemus the necessity, the essential need for regeneration, the new birth.
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Here are the words of Arthur Pink regarding the necessity of regeneration. Now, fallen man has altogether departed from what ought to be his chief end, his aim or object, for instead of having before him the honor of God, himself is his chief concern.
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And instead of seeking to please God in all things, he lives only to please himself or his fellow creatures.
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Even when through religious training the claims of God have been brought to his notice and pressed upon his attention, at best he only parcels out one part of his time, strength and substance to the one who gave him being, and daily loatheth him with benefits, and another part for himself and the world.
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The natural man is utterly incapable of giving supreme respect unto God until he becomes a recipient of spiritual life.
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None will truly aim at the glory of God until they have an affection for God, for him.
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None will honor God supremely whom they do not supremely love. And for this, the love of God must be shed abroad in the heart by the
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Holy Spirit, and this only takes place at regeneration. Then it is, and not until then, that self is dethroned and God enthroned.
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Then it is that the renewed creature is enabled to comply with God's imperative call, my son, give me thine heart.
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There we see the need, the necessity of regeneration. One cannot be saved without regeneration.
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One cannot truly believe the gospel apart from being born again first.
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And then he's able to enter, he's able to see, perceive the kingdom of God and its truth and its relevance and embrace it wholly and fully.
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Now, when God called us to salvation, he performed two major works of grace within us in order that we would repent of sin and believe the gospel.
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Again, first God had to make us keenly aware of our need of salvation and the way of salvation through Christ.
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We, again, just address this in the manner of the grace of illumination. But secondly, he needed to make us willing and able to respond to the truth of the gospel.
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And so first we needed to know the truth of God about our condition, about God's remedy in Christ. But again, something more was needed.
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We needed to be transformed. We needed to be changed. And so in order for us to come to salvation, we needed more than just being informed.
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We needed to be transformed. And this is what regeneration is all about.
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When God effectually calls a person to salvation, he first illuminates that person's mind to a sinful condition and God's remedy in Christ.
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But then secondly, God works his grace in that person so that he would be made willing and able to respond to the message of the gospel he had been brought to understand.
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Because until this work of regeneration, that soul will not respond, embrace, commit himself to that gospel.
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And so this God making his people willing in the day of his power is this work of grace, this matter of being born again, this matter of regeneration.
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And it's wholly due to a work of the grace of God, the sovereign God in his own time and in his own way.
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And so there's God's work of grace and illumination in which he imparts spiritual understanding to us of our sinful condition and his remedy in Christ.
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And then there's God's work of grace and regeneration in which he secures our willing response to that understanding he has given us.
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Both illumination and regeneration are associated with God's perfectual calling that we've been talking about.
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Both are essential if a sinner is to be saved. He needs to be informed so as to dispel the spiritual darkness of his thinking, but he needs to be transformed so as to dispel his aversion and his resistance to the will of God, because that's what's natural to him as a sinner.
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Both of these are involved in saving faith. Both of these must be present and evident if saving faith is present.
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And this is all of grace. It is a work of our good, loving, and sovereign
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God toward us, he who has purposed to save us from our sins, the grace of regeneration.
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Now, with that little word of introduction, let's give attention to the passage that we read earlier, 1
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Peter 1, 22 -25. Here we read of a call to holy living because of our new birth by the word of God.
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Peter first declared that all true Christians have purified themselves by obeying the truth.
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That's how he put it. Peter assumed that this is so. Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth, all of these
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Christians had done that. The often stated principle is implied here.
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A true Christian is one who has in faith responded to the word of God in action, not just in word.
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And that's important. They purified their hearts as a result of the truth.
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If one really believes the truth, he will obey the truth. If you don't obey the truth, it's because you don't really believe it.
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And so in believing, truly believing, the sinner will turn or repent from sin and begin to order his life according to the truth of God's word, the
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Bible. He believes it. And so there's no such thing in the New Testament as a true
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Christian whose life is characterized by rebellion to the word of God. I talk about rebellion, defiance.
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Granted, we all disobey and we do so all too many times. We resist, but we don't rebel.
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We may procrastinate, but in the end, God gains our compliance to his will because he's caused us to delight in his will.
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And so although the Christian has already purified himself of many things, there's much more that needs to be done. But the matter of rebellion has been solved.
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Jesus Christ is Lord. We fight against sin in order to serve
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God. We used to fight against God to serve sin. Everything's changed. Secondly, Peter states that all true
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Christians have sincere love for other true Christians. You see that? He described them as having a sincere love of the brethren.
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Again, Peter assumes this is so. It's true of every Christian. Now, the
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Christian in one sense owes love to all men, whether Christian or not.
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And this may be understood as a general desire for their good, their well -being.
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That should characterize us. It may be described as goodwill toward men, and it should be seen in our action toward them.
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And we are even to love our enemies as the Lord Jesus commanded us. And that doesn't mean have feelings of affection for them, but it means we are to be kind to them and merciful to them and desire their good.
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Essentially, the idea of loving people in the world is we should have a sincere desire to promote another's true welfare, as one put it.
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And yet, although a Christian owes love to all men, the Christian has nevertheless a love for Christians that is of a purer kind and of a more intimate degree.
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God's put this within us. It comes with regeneration. It comes with a new birth. Peter described this as a sincere love for the brethren.
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I stand up each month before a food -and -clothes closet gathering for about 10 or 15 minutes and try and say a word to awaken the people, you know, as to their need for Christ.
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Just about everybody assumes they're a Christian. And yesterday morning, I stood up and in the light of Raymond's verse that he put on the marquee and how true
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Christians love one another and tried to present that before these people as a true indicator whether you're a
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Christian or not. You have a special, unique love for Christian brethren because they're Christian.
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That's one of the clearest indicators in my thinking to distinguish a true
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Christian from one who is not. Again, this is a product of the
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Holy Spirit, so much so that Paul could write to the Christians at Thessalonica, but concerning love of the brethren, you have no need to have anyone write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another.
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One of the clear evidences of being a Christian is you find yourself, you just love other Christians.
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You never had that love before, but you do now. That's an evidence of grace. And Paul, whenever he heard of two things, he was convinced of their conversion.
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He says, when I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I ceased not to pray for you.
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And he mentioned that several times in the beginning of his epistles. He saw both as evidence of true
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Christianity. One comes with the other. And so,
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God teaches His people to love one another. We also read this in 1 John 5, 1 and following, and these are the verses
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I read yesterday morning. Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves
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Him who begot also loves Him who is begotten of Him. You've been born again, begotten of God, where are you going to love others who are born again of God?
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That's what he says. And by this, we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep
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His commandments. That is, when we use the law of God, the commandments of God to order our relationships with one another.
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By this, we know we're really loving people when the commandments of God govern our relationships, is what he's saying.
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And so, a person who does not possess sincere love for other Christians does not know God, is what the
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Scriptures declare. Nevertheless, true Christians need to love one another more deeply.
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None of us love like we ought to love, I suspect. And this is the command of Peter in verse 22, love one another fervently with a pure heart.
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Even though you love one another, you need to love one another more and better, more fully.
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And later, Peter stated how this may be done in practical ways, but here he simply stated the command that we ought to love one another deeply.
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And so, what's being stressed here is that we should purpose to love each other with constancy and with intensity.
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And this is something we all need to work on, do we not? Well, the next three verses of 1
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Peter 1 give further reasons why this command should be obeyed. It's fitting to do so when you consider the manner in which you were born again.
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And so, here we come into the realm of regeneration. The command to love one another deeply should be obeyed when one considers that you have been born again by the imperishable living seed of God.
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And so, here's a clear reference to the grace of regeneration here, referred to as being born again.
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Regeneration is wholly a work of God's sovereign grace in the heart and life of God's elect, those whom he chose in eternity to be saved in history.
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That's what Peter teaches in 1 Peter 1. By the way, let's remind ourselves there's no place in the
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Bible where we may find steps prescribed for a sinner that if he followed these steps it will result in him being born again.
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There are no instructions on how to be born again, because you have no power, no ability to affect that end.
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It's wholly in God's hands. This work of God is above us and beyond us.
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Again, our Lord told Nicodemus that he must be born again, but he never told Nicodemus that he must do certain things in order for this work of grace to take place.
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There's nothing you can do to cause God or lead God to cause you to be born again.
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All you can, the best you can do is pray that he'd be merciful and gracious and do so. There's no steps that you can take to secure it.
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J .I. Packer wrote concerning regeneration, the new birth, regeneration is monergistic, and that's a word, mono, singular.
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The second aspect of that, gistic, is from a Greek word speaking about work.
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It's a single work, a single work of God. Regeneration is a work of God.
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That is entirely the work of God, the Holy Spirit. That's how he's describing or defining monergism.
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It raises the elect among the spiritual dead to new life in Christ. Regeneration is a transition from spiritual death to spiritual life, and conscious, intentional act of faith in Christ is its immediate fruit, not its immediate cause.
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And the Arminians of the world, of course, say regeneration is caused or results from your faith.
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You believe the gospel, and as a result, you'll be born again. And that's just not taught in the
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Bible. The Bible says you can't believe unless you're first born again. That's the
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Ordo Salutis again. Now, we might ask the question, what is this incorruptible seed to which
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Peter refers? You're born again by incorruptible seed. You might, in reading this verse, assume it's the word of God.
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It's the gospel. It's the scripture. But this is not correct. The seed here is the principle of spiritual life itself that he implants within the soul.
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It's a work of grace imparted and sustained by means of the eternal word of God.
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And so the word of God is the instrument by which this is communicated, but the seed is life itself, spiritual life, eternal life,
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Christ himself imparted, implanted within the soul. And that's what regeneration is.
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And so the word of God, the gospel, the Bible mentioned here is the instrument by which
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God imparts this seed to his people. But the word of God is not the seed. The seed is a principle of life.
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And so each of us who is a true Christian has been born again, having had the word of God proclaimed to us, the word of truth, the eternal word of God, and God blessed that word.
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And while we maybe didn't perceive it, see it, understand it, recognize it.
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But while that word was being preached, God, the Holy Spirit implanted a seed of life in us.
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And it might've been a, you know, something imperceptible. You didn't even know it, but you were changed and the change began to emerge.
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Maybe suddenly, maybe a little over time, but it was because God imparted life to you that wasn't there before.
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How does this verse, however, relate to loving the brethren fervently? Because that's the context we have, isn't it?
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Essentially this way, in contrast to earthly life that is weak and temporal, our life that God has given us is eternal.
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Because we have this common family life of eternal duration, having been wrought and being sustained by the imperishable seed, we should love one another deeply.
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We've got a common life that we enjoy with one another. The point is this, we have a family connection with one another as Christians.
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And this connection of family is much closer and of a purer kind than say blood relation of earthly brothers and sisters.
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Whereas our relatives were born of seed, bringing about an earthly connection that will cease with death, the children of God were born of seed, which brought about a family connection that will never dissolve.
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Because the seed that resulted in your second birth is eternal, the family connections that it produced are also eternal, and therefore we should love the brethren deeply.
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That's what he's arguing. The fact is we'll be dwelling in eternity together as brothers and sisters in Christ, and therefore we should love one another because of this connection.
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You know, I would hope that we regard one another as friends, and we're growing in that friendship as time passes, as we deal with issues and we share common hurts and pains and struggles.
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But our relationship is going to be enhanced and improved, isn't it? Greatly. When we're all fixed one day at our glorification, and we're going to be friends, brothers and sisters in Christ throughout eternity, and much of our joy in heaven will be in our relationship with one another.
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And we ought to be able to experience a measure of that even now if we're thinking rightly and living rightly with one another.
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Amen? That's the point he's trying to make. And then it's fitting to obey this command and love one another deeply when you consider the eternal nature of the
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Word of God, verses 24 and 25a, all flesh is as grass, all the glory of man is the flower of grass.
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The grass withers and its flower falls away, but the Word of the Lord endures forever. We consider this passage because it's quoted in Isaiah 40, so some months ago.
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Isaiah 40 you'll recall is a word of promise to Jewish exiles in Babylon that God was going to cause them to return to the land and send them the
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Savior. But at the same time, that passage is a prophetic of the salvation that we enjoy through Jesus Christ in this church age.
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And the fact that Peter applies that passage to Christians demonstrates that and validates that assertion.
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Isaiah 40, 6 through 8 was prophetic of what we enjoy together in Christ today. And so God had judged the nation of Judah severely for its sins.
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But God, in addition to Isaiah, declared that He in His mercy and grace would send forth
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His Word again. And this time His Word would not judge and condemn them as it did, but rather redeem
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His captive people. And so the prophet foretold in Isaiah 40 the ministry of John the
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Baptist and the coming of the Lord Jesus to His people, bringing salvation to them. And here in our
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New Testament passage, Peter is speaking to strangers and exiles as well.
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That's how he introduced the epistle. Just as Isaiah was speaking to strangers and exiles in Babylon, Peter is speaking to strangers and exiles,
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Gentiles, that are also returning in this pilgrimage and the promise of salvation in and through the
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Word of God. And so Peter is indicating here that we have been the recipients of God's life, giving grace through His Word.
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And so Peter emphasizes, as did Isaiah, first, the fragile and temporary nature of life apart from God.
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All men are frail. The best they can accomplish, the best they can become is fragile. All will soon fade and perish.
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How easily and quickly can all come to nothing that a man is and has.
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As fast as grass can shrivel and flowers wilt under the hot winds blowing out the desert, a man can deteriorate and perish that quickly.
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But in contrast, Peter also emphasizes the enduring nature of the Word of God through which the
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Father gives eternal life. And this is said in contrast to the life that an earthly father imparts to his children, which is but temporal.
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The Word of God is truth, it's eternal, and therefore what it produces and sustains is also eternal.
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As John Brown of Haddington once wrote, till mind ceases to be mind and truth to be truth,
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God to be God, it must continue binding believers in a holy, happy relation to God as their
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Father and to one another as brethren to all eternity. The Word of God abides forever.
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And then in addition, Peter reasons it's fitting to obey this command when you consider it's this Word that was preached to you.
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1 Peter 1 .25b, so what a privilege it is to have the imperishable, living, enduring
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Word of God preached. It is the means by which God accomplishes His purposes. God performs a work of God through His Word that takes place in the hearts of His chosen people, a work that is mysterious in nature and is hidden from any possibility of physical scrutiny.
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The Spirit of God causes people to be born again through this proclaimed Word, which results in bringing each of His people into eternal relationship with Himself and with all others who have been similarly blessed by the regenerating work of the
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Holy Spirit. That is the essence of that passage. Well, let's move on and consider other biblical terms for this grace of regeneration, because there are several found in the
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Scriptures. The Bible speaks, of course, of being born again, or being similarly born from above.
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And again, we examined this earlier, some weeks ago in John 3, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
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It's also mentioned in John 1, verses 12 and 13, But as many as received Christ, to them
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He gave the right to become the children of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born.
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Notice, those who believe, present tense, who were born, tense prior to believing.
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You notice that? There it shows you the new birth precedes faith. Those who believe, who were born, not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God.
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God is sovereign in causing people to be born again, and as a result, they come to faith in Christ.
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They believe. The Bible also speaks of Christians having been begotten.
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Now, this is King James language, or that God begat us as a man, as a father's,
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His child, as a man fathers His child. We read in James 1, 17, Every good gift, every perfect gift is from above, comes down from the
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Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning of His own will begat
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He us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of His creatures. It was
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God's will, His sovereign will. How did He begat us, cause us to be born again?
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Through the word of God, the word of truth. The Bible speaks of Christians having experienced the renewal of the
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Holy Spirit. This should also be understood as regeneration. But when the kindness and love of God, our
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Savior, toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to His mercy,
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He saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.
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And I see that as one work of grace there, is a cleansing. Washing of sin doesn't simply mean forgiveness of sin, but actually being cleansed of sin.
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You cease being the same, you know, defiling, you know, soiled sinner that you once were.
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You're washed clean. You're different when you are born again. You still struggle with sin, but you know, you've experienced a washing and a renewing.
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Some of us, when we were converted, that was one of the first sensations, if you want to put it that, just a sense of being cleansed.
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You ever sense that? You know, you just feel like you've been washed clean, spiritually speaking, of sin.
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And it is a tremendous feeling. Not everybody experiences it, but some do. It's a washing that takes place.
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Then the Bible also speaks of Christians, of course, having been quickened by God. Now, this may be a little different than the idea of birth, but rather more the idea of spiritual resurrection, coming forth from the dead.
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And this is found, this word quickened is found in the King James Version. And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins.
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That's more of a resurrection than a birth. But both ideas are true with regard to coming to life.
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And so he quickened us. And then in verse 5 of Ephesians 2, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ by grace you are saved, and raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ.
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We're enthroned with Christ Jesus even now. We're sharing in his reign and his authority even now.
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And as seen in grace, in our victory over sin and the devil, in our being servants of Christ, furthering his word and his will in the world.
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And then of course, lastly, the Bible speaks of Christians having experienced regeneration. Titus 3, 5, we read about it.
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Not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration.
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And earlier we mentioned renewing of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost. So those are the words that are used with regard to the grace of regeneration.
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What about the essential nature of regeneration? Well, let's consider what regeneration is like and what it's not like.
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First, regeneration consists in the implanting of the new principle of the new spiritual life in man.
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Seed of life is implanted there. Prior to the impartation of this life, fallen man was disposed towards sin.
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He desired to rule his own life, pursuing the desires of his own fallen heart. And woe to anybody who gets in his way.
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But with the new birth, a new principle becomes predominant in him, the one who is regenerated now has a heart, a bent, a disposition towards holiness.
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Because of the work of the Holy Spirit, this new life principle imparted to him, he now has a disposition
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Godward. He desires to please God above his desire to please himself.
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Or we might say he's brought to the place that he would please himself most by knowing that his thoughts and actions pleased
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God. As a Christian, isn't that really your desire?
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If you had your way, you would never sin again, but do everything that was pleasing to God.
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That would be your greatest delight. And only a Christian can say that with sincerity and clarity.
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And so regeneration brought this, this change and this change is wrought in the whole man, not just a part that is played out on Sunday, or when you're around other
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Christians, but it affects the whole man. The whole man is permanently changed and affected.
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Lewis Burkoff illustrated this or set this forward and I've got his notes in front of us or the substance of it, my own words.
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First, this change is wrought in a man's intellect when he's born again. Consider the difference between the natural man and the spiritual man in 1
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Corinthians 2 .14. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God.
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In other words, he doesn't want to. They're foolishness to him. That's how I was as a non -Christian.
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Mary was witnessing to me, drug me to a Bible study, asked me what I thought about afterward, and I laughed.
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And relations for old women and children and weak men. Foolishness.
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They're foolishness to him, nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. He's incapable of knowing them.
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But he who is spiritual, and in this context, spiritual means you're born again. He who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no man, no one.
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And so here the natural man is the unregenerate man. The spiritual man is the one who has been born anew. The scriptures describe regeneration as a new man that God has created in us, according to which we are to conform our lives.
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Colossians 3 .9 and following, do not lie to one another since you have put off the old man with his deeds.
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That's the old way of living before you became a Christian. And have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him.
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See, there's the intellect idea. We're transformed in our intellect. Where there is neither
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Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all and in all.
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But not only is this change wrought in a man's intellect, his mind, but also in a man's will. The whole man is affected by the new birth.
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And so we read in Philippians 2 .12 and 13, therefore, my beloved, as you've always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
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And then they explained the reason why. For it's God who works in you both the will and to do of his good pleasure.
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Why do you will to do God's will is because God has worked that grace within you.
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That desire didn't come from your fallen heart, did it? It came from that new heart that God imparted to you.
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And then in 2 Thessalonians, we read of Paul's desire that Christians would be directed by God in the way they should live.
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Now, may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ. See, may the Lord direct you in this.
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May the Lord conform you into this. He not only affects the mind through the new birth, but the will is transformed also.
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And then thirdly, this change is also wrought in a man's feelings or his emotions. 1
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Peter 1, we're moving up into the passage that we were considering earlier. Bless me, the God and father of our
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Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us. There you have regeneration, has begotten us again to or unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.
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That's your future salvation, fully secured by God. He's holding it for you.
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And then you yourself who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.
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God's got your salvation secure, your inheritance. He's got you secure by his power.
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God doesn't lose anything by his power, does he? When his power is at work. And the two of you are going to come together one day, you're kept by the power of God.
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And therefore, verse 6, in this you greatly rejoice. There's the emotions affected.
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Okay. When a person's born from above, in this you greatly rejoice. Though now for a little while, if need be, and the implication it is necessary, you've been grieved by various trials so that the genuineness of your faith, in other words, the reality, the truthfulness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ or the second coming.
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And then it describes Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. We love
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Jesus Christ. Though now you do not see him yet believing you rejoice with joy, inexpressible and full of glory.
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Your emotions are affected by the new birth. It's not just a cold, calculated doctrinal thing that we embrace.
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This has meaning. And so the whole man is affected and influenced by this work of regenerating grace performed by a sovereign
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God. And so he performs his work of grace in the souls of all his people that he has purposed to save from eternity.
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Well, not only does regeneration affect the whole man, but secondly, regeneration is an instantaneous change in man's nature.
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Regeneration does not happen gradually or in degrees. One moment, the sinner is unregenerate in his sins governed by sin.
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The next moment, he's a new creature in Christ Jesus. Now it can start out small, but there's a change before you're moving in one direction.
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Now you're moving in another direction. You may struggle and stumble, you know, especially early on, but it's clear your destination is going a different way.
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It's instantaneous. Now, of course,
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God's grace in sanctification is gradual, but not in regeneration. There's no intermediate stage between life and death.
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One either lives or is dead, and that's exactly right. You can't be in between.
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And then thirdly, regeneration is a change that occurs imperceptibly by the one who receives life.
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I commonly use the illustration about physical birth. As hard as I try,
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I cannot remember when I was physically born. And, but you know,
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I don't need to, do I? I've got, you know, I breathe. I've got, you know, some feelings.
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I've got, I can perceive things. I'm physically alive. And people cannot necessarily point to the time they were born anew spiritually, nor need you.
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But you can certainly determine whether you're spiritually alive today. And so, you know, you're born again by its effects, not because of some experience that you had that you perceive or think that's when you were born again.
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Maybe you were, maybe you weren't, but that's immaterial because there are many people that can be excited and enthused and experience a momentary or even a short -term change, but not be born anew.
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As the old saying goes, it's not how high you jump out of the, out of the pew, but it's how straight you walk when you come down.
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And that's how you know you're born again, by its effects.
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I want to close with reading this description of John Gill. He wrote like the
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Apostle Paul. You talk about run -on sentences. You know, Paul wrote a sentence in Ephesians 1,
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I think that's 12 or 13 verses long. I think Gill might have beat here, but here he sets forth the effects of regeneration and he covers it all.
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He, Gill is thorough. A principal effect of it, talking about the new birth, regeneration, or if you will, a commitment to it, of it, is a participation of every grace of the spirit.
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Regenerate ones have not only the promise of life made to them, but they have the grace of life given them.
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They live a new life and walk in newness of life. They partake of the grace of spiritual light before their understandings were darkened, but now they are enlightened by the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of divine things.
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They were before darkness itself, but now are made light in the Lord. And regeneration has laid the beginning of sanctification, which is carried on till completed, without which no one, no man shall see the
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Lord. For the new man is created in righteousness and true holiness. The principle of holiness is then formed from whence holy actions spring.
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The grace of repentance then appears, the stony heart, obdurate and impenitent heart being taken away and a heart of flesh susceptible of divine impressions being given on which follow a sense of sin, sorrow for it after a godly sort and repentance onto life and onto salvation, which is not to be repented of.
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Faith in Christ, which is not of man's self, but the gift of God and the operation of the spirit of God is now given and brought into exercise, which being in effect is an evidence of regeneration for whosoever believe that Jesus is a
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Christ and especially that believes in Christ as his savior and redeemer is born of God and such have hope of eternal life by Christ.
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While unregenerate men are without hope, without a true, solid and well -grounded hope, but in regeneration they are begotten to a lively hope and have it, a good hope through grace founded upon the person, blood and righteousness of Christ, which is of use to them both in life and death.
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Regenerated persons have their hearts circumcised, which is but another phrase of regenerating grace.
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I didn't include that one, spiritual circumcision. To love the Lord their God with all their heart and soul and though before their carnal minds were enmity to God and all that is good, now they love him and all that belong to him, his word, worship, ordinances and people and by this it is known that they have passed from death to life, which is no other than regeneration because they love the brethren.
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In short, regenerate persons are partakers of all the fruits of the spirit, of all the other graces besides those mentioned as humility, patience, self -denial and resignation to the will of God and they're blessed with such measures of grace and spiritual strength as to be able to resist sin and Satan and to overcome the world and every spiritual enemy for whatever is born of God overcomes the world and the
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God of it, the men in it and the lust thereof. Whosoever is born of God sinneth not, does not live in sin, nor is he overcome by it, but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself from Satan and his temptations from being overcome with them and that wicked one touches him not, being clothed with the whole armor of God, which he has skilled to wield, he keeps him off and at bay so that he cannot come in with him.
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He holds up the shield of faith to him whereby he quenches all his fiery darts. That's a description of the
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Christian and regeneration is the beginning of this work of God whereby he transforms us into the ones that he has destined us to become.
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And so the grace of God in regeneration is essential. It's something that you and I cannot produce.
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God is sovereign in this. We know that he does so through the instrument of his word.
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And so it is our responsibility and our task to proclaim the word of God fully, not just some things that we think will be appealing to sinners, to unconverted people, but we preach the word of God fully, the whole counsel of God as clearly and as often as we possibly can do.
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And then we have to pray and trust God to bless it to his end. But he's sovereign in that.
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And sometimes through history, he's pleased to do a great work of saving people and revival breaks out.
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And the pastors say here in New England, back in the 1740s, when revival broke out, many of them testified, we didn't change anything in what we were doing.
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We preach the same kinds of sermons we always preach. But then when God began to work, people began to be converted by the dozens and dozens and whole communities were transformed.
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God is sovereign in this. And sometimes he's, he's, uh, because of his purposes of judgment, say to history or within a land, he's only redeeming some, a few, a remnant, but other times he's pleased to do a wonderful, large work of redeeming people and bringing them into the kingdom.
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And we ought to pray to that end. But even if it never comes, we are to be faithful.
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Are we not in making the word of God? No. And so we clear our name, uh, and our responsibility.
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And yet we know we're in a position. If God be pleased, he can bless. May the