Regeneration & Self-Denial — Paul Washer

The Kingdom of Heaven and the Call to Self-Denial

Open up your Bible to Matthew 13, verse 44. The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again. And from joy over it, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls. And upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and he bought it. Let's pray. Father, I come before you in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, and I know that you hear me.

Lord, this day, I am weak and I'm trembling. You've given me a great privilege to be here in front of brothers and sisters far more advanced than me. In weakness, show yourself to be very strong. With the foolish and the untaught, show yourself to be wise.

Help us this day. Let this not be a vain exercise. So much, so much preaching, so many words. Lord, I would rather keep my eyes closed, throw rocks at your door until you answer. Rend the heavens and come down.

Show yourself mighty. Bring reformation and revival.

Make your bride glorious. Help her. Help her.

Help the men to whom you have entrusted her. To take good care of her. Lead us in a way everlasting. Make us wise scribes. Bring forth good things from old and new. Put it in all our hearts to present her to you.

Spotless bride. I would rather stay here. In Jesus' name. Amen. Before I get started, I have to tell you that I feel almost just speechless. This is not drama. I fear God too much to use drama with you.

But I have labored for the last week over what I am to say. I have labored and labored and written and tore up what I have written even until last night. Last night at 11 after a meeting, I went to my study and my wife came in and she said, So what's this all about?

I thought you were going to bed. And I said, No, I've accomplished nothing with what I'm supposed to say. Absolutely nothing. She said, Well, I'll see you in the morning. You see, I'm to teach on self-denial.

Regeneration as the Foundation of Self-Denial

But there are so many things in Scripture that you cannot teach. Because there are so many other things that they must be built upon. And so many of the foundations have fallen. So many of the columns around us have been smashed and destroyed that it's almost like, Where do you begin?

Where do I even start? Where do I even start? Self-denial. How do you teach it? And as I was listening to my brother preach, never heard him preach before. And he kept saying the word over and over. That's the same word that kept coming for weeks to me.

And I was going, Lord, how can I teach on self-denial unless they understand this one doctrine? How can we even begin to share self-denial with all the churches in this nation if they first do not understand a primary doctrine that they no longer understand because the pastors do not understand it?

And that's the doctrine of regeneration. And then as I was sitting there, and my dear brother said, Now, I know that I'm not supposed to speak on regeneration, but it's all about regeneration. I said, Yes.

Yes. I want to just briefly look at this passage so that no one can say that I didn't speak on self-denial. But then I want us to look at something. That if, and especially you young men, if you can grasp this truth, it will empower your life, empower your ministry, empower your preaching.

You see, young men, listen to me. There is a reformation going on in this country. There is a real reformation. I'm not talking about the church growth, six flags over Jesus entertainment type of reformation or revival.

I'm not talking about the media charismatic type of revival. But I travel all over this country. I travel all over the world. I visit many universities. And I am seeing quite an amazing thing that even in secular universities, when I go there to speak, I see 100 and 150 young men and women reading Edwards and Spurgeon and more importantly, the Apostle Paul and reading him rightly.

There is a reformation occurring. And God has done it. And he will do it. But there are certain doctrines that are key if we're going to see a reformation and a revival. And if it is to be sustained, it will be sustained not by zeal, but by truth.

And not just by truth, but spirit empowered truth. Biblical terminology with biblical definitions. Applied and empowered by the Holy Spirit is vibrant Christianity. Biblical terminology with biblical definitions without the application and power of the Holy Spirit is nothing more than dead orthodoxy and intellectual Calvinism, which is a demon in itself.

And then biblical terminology without biblical definitions is basically traditional church in America. And that always leads to the fourth stage. And what is that? Abandoning all biblical terminology and going to church growth methodologies to build something that is not a church.

And so, young men, I'm going to be speaking to you. I'm going to be speaking to the young men primarily, but to the old, because we all need to hear this. And it is this. We need truth. But the truth has to be more than just factual evidence in a book.

It is more than propositional. It is empowered by the Holy Spirit. It must become a reality in your life. A reality of the cross. A reality of the resurrection. A reality of the power of the Holy Spirit and the presence of God.

Because until it becomes a reality, you're nothing more than a little boy parrot who says all the right things and doesn't have a clue what he's talking about. And so in this text, the one thing that I want to point out that has so much to do with it is just look at this for a moment.

Verse 44. The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field which a man found and hid again and from joy over it goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. That absolutely destroys our Catholic idea of piety and self-denial.

And it also destroys many fundamental fundamentalist ideas of self-denial and piety. You see, we have this sort of idea because most people in churches today are unconverted and grudgingly do righteousness and grudgingly let go of wickedness.

We have this idea that self-denial is a sinful creature letting go of the wicked things he hates and letting go of the wicked things he loves and embracing the righteous things he hates in order to save his own skin.

But self-denial, what it truly is, is this. And I've written it down. Is the reality of a new creature simply living out what he has become through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. Living according to his new nature, doing the righteous deeds that he now loves and putting off the sinful deeds of the fallen unregenerate flesh which he now hates.

It is the willing and joyful response of the regenerate man whose mind has grasped something of God's glory, something of the worth of Christ's sacrifice and something of the greatness of the salvation that has been so freely given to him.

So we are not talking in self-denial about this grudging, horrid, popish type of thing, but this thing of a new creature who has been transformed by the power of God, has been given a new heart that loves and desires righteousness, has been given spiritual eyes so that when, first of all, after being regenerate, opens those eyes and sees the beauty and the wonder of Christ, desires him and is irresistibly drawn to him.

I'm talking about a gospel with power. A gospel of power. And when you believe in a gospel of power and the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, you no longer have to depend upon the arm of the flesh and all the silly little travesties and Ferris wheels that are built in the name of Jesus in order to attract people.

It is not just a gospel of truth, but a gospel of power. Now, I want to, I'm really not sure where I want to go. There's so many passages that deal with this. But I want us to go to the book of Ezekiel for a moment.

Ezekiel 36 and the New Heart

And in this book, we're going to find something that has a great deal to do with self-denial. Ezekiel, chapter 36. Born-againism. I have a friend who has written a track called Born-againism. Everybody in America is born-again.

And the reason why they're born-again is because of most of the preachers and pastors who do not understand the gospel nor the power of the gospel. And that we've reduced the gospel down to four spiritual laws and five things God wants you to know.

We have done the very same thing that Catholicism has done since its beginning. Turned salvation into nothing more than a few little steps and a superstitious prayer at the end. Turned salvation into nothing more than a mere human decision whereby a man decides for himself simply to jump out of the line going to hell in order to jump into the line going to heaven.

But when you grasp the power of regeneration, everything else begins to fall in place. And until you grasp the power of regeneration, you cannot understand the doctrine and the calling to self-denial.

Let me just give you an example of this before we read Ezekiel. Just another little definition I've written about man. Man is a fallen, radically depraved, spiritually dead, morally corrupt, sin-loving, God-hating creature.

In the very core of his being, he is as opposed to God as the devil himself. He cannot change and has no desire to do so. He loves a lie and will do everything in his power to restrain and suppress any and every truth about God.

And the more he knows about God, the more he hates Him because God is righteous and man is evil. Now, how do you take something like that? How do you expect a creature like that to all of a sudden hear a gospel message of self-denial and turn his back on absolutely everything he is and at all costs follow the Christ?

How can you expect a man to take a journey of a thousand miles if he's neither willing nor able to take the first step? And this idea of, well, as the brother put it, let's get them saved and then gradually introduce them to salvation and to discipleship and to the call to self-denial.

But I want to tell you something. It is not any more easier to coax a dead man to take one step than it is to coax him to take a million. If he's dead, he's dead. And within that is found the power of regeneration.

Because I, as a preacher, an itinerant, nothing, little preacher, because of my belief in the power of the gospel and the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, I can look at the most defiled man on the face of the earth and tell him to forsake his mother, his father, his lands, his home, his own life, and I can expect that out of the group of them, somebody's coming out.

I do not have to lay down the bar on the gospel. I can bid men to come and die from the very moment I speak with them because I believe in the power of resurrection. Someone says, how can you expect a man to do that?

I say, well, let me answer that with another question. How can Ezekiel command bones to live? And how can Jesus cry out to a dead man and tell him to come forth? Because salvation is not just some mere, tiny, puny, human decision.

It is the supernatural work of God. I would submit to you that there is more power revealed in the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit in the life of one sinner than all the power revealed in the six days of creation.

We need to believe that. Then we don't have to succumb to trickery and device. When I'm looking for missionaries, I see all kinds of boys go in front of me. I want one man who will take one open Bible, walk out in the middle of the town square, and preach until they kill him or someone comes out of there born again.

Because that's all that's required. The truth. And the more we fill our lives up with all sorts of silly things, the less God's power is going to be revealed in our lives. Now, let's look in Ezekiel 36.

And just see the magnificence of this. And how a man can embrace self-denial. In verse 22 of 36, Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God, It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations, where you went.

I don't know. It seems to me like God has a... I don't know if it's a sense of humor. I don't know what you would call it. Or he just likes to make me cringe. I don't know why he does this. But I preach in so many places.

And before I get up to preach, there's always some lady who stands up and sings a song that asks this question. I can't figure out why God saved me. What inherent worth did God ever see in me? And I'm like a little boy in class in the back of the church going, Oh, pick me, I'll tell you.

And I have to go up to the platform every time. And I have to go, Well, let me share with you exactly why God saved you. It had absolutely nothing to do with you. He saw no inherent worth in you. And the only thing you could have ever motivated a holy and righteous God to do is condemn your soul in the very deepest pit of hell.

God has saved you for His own name and for His own glory and a demonstration of His own power. But don't forget this, my Calvinistic brethren. He has also saved because He is love. He is love. Don't ever forget that.

Know that love is not pulled forth from Him by some inherent worth found in creation, but He is love. And He saves because He is love. Oh, what a wonderful doctrine that is. That it is not just in the sense of His own glory, or in His own name.

That's become a very popular thing to say in conferences such as this. And I glory in it because it's true. But never forget, He is the God of love. And He saves men. But I want you to look at something that's very important.

When He says, I'm about to act. And I'm about to act for my holy name. And then if you go down in verse 23, I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations which you have profaned in their midst.

Why? Then the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when I prove myself holy among you in their sight. He says, I am going to do a work of salvation and it will be so great in you that even the pagan unbelieving nations will recognize that something supernatural has happened here.

That I am God. Do you realize that God could have saved Israel from Egypt? Just like that. But plague after plague after plague. Why? He brought forth some of those Egyptians. He proved to Egypt He was God.

When God truly does a work of salvation, genuine conversion in the life of a man, although we should not expect the unbelieving world to see it and understand it in its fullness, we should expect them to misinterpret it, but we should expect them to see something they cannot explain.

But because of the preaching in America, the name of God has been blasphemed among the Gentiles because we popishly declare unregenerate people to be saved. They live like hellions. And then the unbelieving world looks at us and says, where is the power of your God?

You are a laughing stock. A laughing stock. You see, when we're talking about doctrines, not just doctrines with regard to soteriology, but doctrines with regard to the church, it is so important. Church discipline is not for the sake of simply, it's not just for the sake of bringing back a straying sheep.

It is for the sake of God's glory. It is for His name. It is to present before the nations a demonstration of the power of a God through a converted church, through a regenerate group of people. As pastors, listen to me.

You should care for your sheep because you love your sheep. But you should guard your sheep because of God's reputation. It was Paul's desire to present that church, a beautiful virgin. It was his life.

It was his life's work. Folks, this is about people. But it is not primarily about people. It is primarily about God and His reputation and His fame among the nations. Let me give you an example. In Numbers 14, after the spies and everything that happened, God tests Moses.

And by His grace, He upholds Moses. But He tests him. He says, Moses, basically, get back. I'm going to destroy them all. I'll make a people out of you. And Moses' intercession is, No, Lord, you can't do that.

Because your enemies will say that although you were able to bring them out of the land of Egypt, you were not able to bring them into their own land. And I submit to you that's exactly what's happening in America today.

God got them saved, but God can't do nothing else with them. God can save them from hell, but He can't save them from the power of sin. I remember when I had the privilege of sitting under, at times, Leonard Ravenhill.

And I can remember him saying things like, So, you've been saved. Saved from what? Have you been saved from lust? Have you been saved from greed? Have you been saved from pride? Have you been saved from immorality?

From what have you been saved? So much of Baptist theology is nothing more than reactionary. A reactionary movement against heresy. But it becomes a heresy in itself. We're so quick to defend the doctrine of justification that we destroy the doctrine of justification.

Because if you have the doctrine of justification, without the doctrine of regeneration, you have nothing. The same God who has the power to justify wicked men because His own Son died in their law place under His wrath, that same God has the power to regenerate a heart and make a man not only be a new creature, but act like one.

But act like one. Now, in verse 24, look what He says, For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands, and bring you into your own land. This is foundational to self-denial. You see that?

It's God. Our brother labored long to talk about our duty. It's a two-sided coin. Both sides must be kept in their place or you warp both of them. Tomorrow He'll speak about God and God's work in that.

It's the same thing here. Look at this passage. I love this passage. Verse 24. Now I'm going to put emphasis on the personal pronoun I. For I will take you from the nations, I will gather you from the lands, and I will bring you into your own land.

Verse 25. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean, and I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh, and I will put my spirit within you, and I will cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.

Do you recognize the pattern there? Salvation is all about the work of God demonstrating the glory of God. And that is why men such as ourselves should guard it so severely and preach it so carefully.

Because it's all about God and His name. Let His name be great among the nations. Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done. It's all about God. When you no longer have regeneration in preaching, you have nothing.

Nothing. He says, for I will gather you from the nations. What? Separation. Separation. I will take you out of there. And I will do it with a strong hand. If there is no work of separation in your life recognizable at any point in time, you're lost.

You say, oh, Brother Paul, if I say that, they'll kill me. Then die! Then lose your home! It'll cost me. Then make the payment. How many Calvinists do we have? How many men who have good theology, but they are too cowardly to preach it?

Because it'll get me in trouble. What do you expect it to do? All the ones who have gone before us, their blood, they shed. You preach into a largely unregenerate church body. What do you expect them to do to you?

But how is it going to change? Except we suffer. I was preaching at no small school several years ago, and a genuine revival broke out, so they tell me. I am never allowed to be back in that school again.

And someone asked me about it. They said, I don't understand. And I said, this is what you've got to understand. Men are too civilized to want revival. They're too proper to want revival. They want everything pretty and clean, and they'll never get revival.

Because when revival comes, it's going to rip everything apart, including us. The worst thing that ever happened to a preacher is he becomes civilized. It's worthless. Worthless. One thing I noticed about Leonard Ravenhill, and I'd take a Leonard Ravenhill over 20 dead Calvinists.

One thing I noticed about Leonard Ravenhill, he was dangerous. He was dangerous. We are to be men of love, men with towels, men who weep, men who serve. But we are to be dangerous about truth. Do you really expect to get out of this unscathed?

Without any scars? Just read Howell Harris, Daniel Rowlands, Whitfield, the two Wesley boys, even Edwards himself. Look what it costs. And it's the same thing in their day that it is in ours. Do you see that?

What was going on? I'll tell you what was going on. You've been baptized as an infant. You're in the church. Even though you're unregenerate, you're in the church. You're in the church. You got in. Why?

Because you went through some man-made superstitious thing. Southern Baptists are no different. It's just we don't have infant baptism. We have that silly superstitious prayer at the end of a Roman road that sends more people to hell than every brothel in this country.

It's true. Look what we do. It's no different than the Jehovah Witnesses or something. We deal with a man. We say, do you know you're a sinner? He says, and usually we ask him like this. Now, you know, all of us are sinners.

That's like my mother has been diagnosed with cancer. That's like the doctor walking in a few months ago and go, you know, Barb, you got cancer. Do we tarry not in the presence of God so to have his fear upon us?

You tell a man, you know, the Bible says that you've sinned. And if he says, well, yes, I know I'm a sinner. Then we go to the next evangelical hoop for him to jump through. Well, he knows he's a sinner.

Now, let's go to the next question. Well, let me just put this by you. Go talk to the devil sometime and ask him if he knows he's a sinner or not. He'll say, why, yes, I am. Thank you very much. You see, the question is not.

Listen to me. The question is not whether or not this man recognizes he is a sinner. The question is this. While I have been sharing the gospel with you, has the power of God so regenerated your heart that you now hate the sin you once loved?

And then if they say, well, yes, I know I'm a sinner. Then we say, well, would you like to go to heaven? You ever had anybody go? Why, no, I'd just rather go to hell. Everybody wants to go to heaven. Don't you realize that?

Absolutely. Everybody wants to go to heaven. They just don't want God to be there when they get there. Men love heaven. They don't have a problem with heaven. It's God they hate. And so the question is not, do you want to go to heaven?

The question is this. The God that you have hated, ignored, despised, showed no thankfulness toward, has he so worked in your heart as that now you esteem him and desire him? The Christ who shed his blood for the souls of men, has God done such a work in your heart that he's now precious to you?

If we get them to say that they're a sinner and we get them to say they want to go to heaven, then we ask them this question. Would you like to pray and ask Jesus Christ to come into your heart? I just don't see anywhere.

You know, I use satire because the prophets use satire. It's a biblical thing to do. But I just don't see anywhere where Jesus walks up and says, you know, the time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand.

Now, does anyone want to ask me into their heart? I'm standing out here all day and there's no door handle on the outside. And if it's going to get open, you're going to be. Jesus Christ owns the door.

If he wants to knock it down, he will. You see, it's just it's got to the point of absurdity. You could do a comedy on this. And many foreign brothers in the countries in which I preach and travel make so much fun of American evangelicals and Southern Baptists and say, oh, God, please never send them here.

But it is a call to repentance and to faith and to maybe have to work with a person. You know, I have preached the gospel to people and seen people seemingly glorious, gloriously converted in a moment's time just like that.

And they're still walking with Christ. But I have met other people that I have sent home. And they have suffered through this thing for months until God revealed to their heart that they were born again.

You see, God is going to do a work of separation and he is going to do it. He is in the life of every one of his people, as we're going to see here in a moment. He says, I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and all your idols.

The moment God begins to work in a person's life, he begins separating them. But listen to me, separating them, not just from a wicked world, but separating them to himself. There are many men in the name of religion who have separated themselves from all manner of vile things.

And yet they are lost, lost, lost. Because it is not just a question of do you hate that which defiles and that which is wicked? You can do that for pride's sake. But do you love him? Let me share with you something about holiness.

Holiness as Separation Unto God

You want to really mess up somebody really bad, a guy who is preaching on holiness. You want to mess him up. Say, what is your definition of holiness? And for the most part, most men will say, God is without sin.

God is pure. There is no evil in him. There is no darkness. And then go, OK, thank you. That's your definition of holiness. Yes. OK, what's your definition of righteousness? God is without sin. God is holy.

God is pure. Well, which is it? You realize how much we confuse those two ideas? I would submit to you that holiness does not mean primarily that God is morally pure. Or that God is light. Or that God is without sin.

Holiness means that God is unique. That there is none like the Lord. There is none like Him. He is totally and completely separate. I always ask young people, I say, well, what's more like God? An archangel in the presence of God, worshipping Him in glory and power?

Or bacteria floating around in your toilet? And they'll always say, well, an angel. I say, no. Neither. An archangel in heaven is no more closer to God than bacteria floating around in your toilet. Because there is none like the Lord.

He is not like us just bigger. He's not like us at all. It is not quantitatively larger. It is qualitatively different. There's none like Him. His name. That is why I always get on to Englishmen who works with me.

I say, oh, you English, you're always talking about God and country. That's blasphemy. God and king. Blasphemy. You don't put God in a conjunctive relationship with anyone. Unless it's the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

What does that have to do with separation? Absolutely everything. To be holy is not to be a little evangelical Pharisee who crosses every T and dots every I. And makes inferences into laws and presses them on everyone else around you.

Holiness is to be separated unto God. To be immersed in God. To be passionate about God. To be wild about God. To think about God. To be God was thought to be consumed by God. That is holiness. And everything else breaks forth from that.

Because if there's any other foundation laid, it's not a proper one. You can do all sorts of things in the name of Christianity and be a million miles away from God and His will. And so this idea, again, of self-denial is not this person grudgingly doing right things in order to go to heaven.

Sometimes I'll go out visiting with my pastor. And we'll go see somebody who hasn't been to church in months and months and months. And knock on the door and the person will receive us very, very well.

Be very, very polite. Begin to speak with him about the things of God. And he's automatically drawn to the duties of church. And he says, you're right. I know I need to get back in church. How many of you have heard that before?

I need to get back in church. Well, you know, I need to get my kids in Sunday school. I need to read my Bible. He's lost. God is nothing but bad medicine to him that he takes only not to die. I go home tonight and make it home.

My wife's waiting up for me and she's standing there at the door. And I walk in and I just give her a big old kiss. And she says, well, what's all that about? And I pull out this. I said, well, I'm page 32 of the Manual of Good Husbands.

It says she will feed me that book page by page. She doesn't want that. She wants my heart. When we talk about self-denial, I have never met a missionary, never in my life, worth his salt, that's given up almost everything that even thought about it.

If you were to start talking to them about it, they get uncomfortable and try to change this. Because they can't think of anything they've given up. Why? They're so mesmerized by God. It's not about giving up stuff.

It's about looking at Him and following Him. Now, I want us to go on. He says in verse 25, And I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean. Look at that. Now, let me just stop here. This is not something that is some sort of an evangelical second blessing upon spiritual Christians.

This is upon everyone called by His name, everyone born in Zion, every child of God. This will be a reality in their life, at least to some noticeable degree, or they are not a child of God. Let me stop here.

I'm going to get mad now. I am so sick and tired of hearing people say, and everything that's been said here so far I agree with. I just want you to understand the context. I want you to understand this.

I am so tired of people saying, There's just as much immorality in the church as there is outside of the church. There's just as much divorce in the church as outside of the church. There's just as much homosexuality and lying and hating and everything else in the church as outside of the church.

That is a damnable lie. The church of Jesus Christ in the United States of America, although she is not perfect, she is broken, she is humble, and she's following her Master. The problem is many of you guys don't even know what the church is.

This is not like Israel, where there was this nation state called forth, and then this small group, this small remnant of regenerated people. You forget we're Baptists. It's a regenerate church. It's a converted church.

I heard a speaker stand up, a great, well-known at least, I don't agree with his form of apologetics, but he stood up, a big apologist, and he stood up and goes, We've got to do something. We've got to do something because 75 of the Christian youth in America do not believe that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is important.

And I said, Sir, if they don't believe the resurrection is important, they're not Christian. It's like the deacon gets up in the middle of just some big carnal warfare in the church and says, We're Christians.

We shouldn't be hating one another. If you're hating one another, you're not Christians. You see, we've got this idea. We just label everybody Christian, and then from then on, it's not about salvation, just the kind of reward you get.

That's not true. It's like you look at people and they interpret the story of Jesus, the parable of Jesus about the two builders and the two foundations, rock and stone. You have preachers say, Now, if you're a Christian and you're building upon the rock and the storms of life come, you'll have a stable, good life because your life will be built upon the rock.

Well, if you're a Christian and you're not building your life upon the rock, then when the storms of life come, it's going to be hard for you. That's not what that teaches. What that teaches is this. If you're hearing His Word and obeying and building your life upon the rock, then when the storms of God's judgment come and the consummation of all things, you will stand.

And if you are hearing His Word and not obeying it and building your life upon the rock, you will be damned. It's the same thing about all the calls to self-denial from Jesus Christ in the Gospels. We think that He's saying, OK, you become a Christian and then some of you are going to surrender to these calls.