Regeneration by the Spirit — Keith Malcomson

Regeneration by the Spirit in Titus 3

I want you to go to Titus chapter 3, Titus chapter 3, reading from verse 3 to verse 7. And this is the third and last message in this series, and I believe it's so vital. Our message tonight, regeneration by the Spirit.

Reading from Titus chapter 3, verse 3. We ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But what a precious but is placed here.

It's supernatural. It's not natural. But after that, the kindness and the love of God, our Savior, the Lord's man appeared, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us.

How? By the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior. That being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Let's pray together here tonight. Father, we thank you for these old paths, these ancient paths, these ancient words that came out of eternity, out of your heart to be spoken unto us, even in a night like this.

And Lord God, we're praying for a revival in your church again. Lord God, truth has been cast aside and trodden underfoot. Your blood has been trodden underfoot by those in the church. And my God, we're asking for a merciful revival and outpouring of the Holy Spirit that you would abundantly shed forth the Holy Ghost in our midst and upon the real church everywhere, that we might have a gracious revival and a great ingathering of souls.

We know in part that you've already begun to do that. Ones and twos here and there everywhere across this world. But oh God, we're praying that you pour out your Holy Spirit in a mighty way. And we know that when He comes in power, Lord God, we are going to see a great ingathering of souls because He has come to regenerate, to birth anew, to change life supernaturally.

And my God, we are asking for more than just individuals and ones and twos. We are asking to see thousands at a time converted by the power of your Holy Spirit. In Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Amen. My message, regeneration by the Spirit, and I'm going to explain what that is.

The ABCs of the Oracles of God

But listen, in Hebrews chapter 5 verse 12, Paul the apostle calls the foundational doctrines of the Bible, listen to what he calls them. The first principles of the oracles of God. When he talks about the first, it's the Greek word archi, which means the commencement or the beginning.

The word principles that are used here means to arrange them in order. The first word archi can also be the ABCs, the basics, the fundamentals. It's where you actually begin. And so he says here, he talks about the first principles or the ABCs.

There are certain teachings in the Bible that are basic, simple, elementary. They're fundamental. You don't go anywhere with God unless you know these truths. If you're ignorant of these truths, you haven't even begun on the spiritual walk.

And so Paul calls these ABCs of the word of God. The oracles of God are the word that God spoke. Do you know God has spoken ABCs that you've got to understand? They're his utterances about the basic truths of the gospel.

If you don't have basic truths, you don't learn anything else. You cannot go on to maturity. And in fact, Paul deals with those in his day saying that you've lost the ability to understand the ABCs. He said, you ought to be teachers, teaching men the deep things of God.

And he says, but something has gone wrong with your spiritual walk. There's something wrong with your Christianity. You're not even able to teach people and give them meat. You're actually become a baby.

You didn't used to be. But through your spiritual callousness, you've reverted from being a man of God or a woman of God, and you become a baby. And now I've got to teach you the ABC again. It ought not to be.

There's something wrong with the spiritual climate. And so when I say we deal with ruin by the fall, redemption by the blood, and here tonight, regeneration by the spirit, many in the church will say, that's ABC, that's elementary.

We know that, and you'll switch off. I'm going to preach here tonight on regeneration by the spirit. If you sit here and dare think you understand this, and you know this, I would say you're probably a baby.

You're probably ignorant. You're probably someone who has so much knowledge that it shuts you down, and that's very dangerous. Whenever we have lots of knowledge, we have lots of information, we hear lots of preaching, and yet it doesn't affect us spiritually.

We're moving backward into a babyhood stage. There's something really wrong with that. I'm going to go to our text, Titus chapter 3 here, and begin to deal with this message tonight because I believe it's so fundamental, regeneration by the spirit.

The Meaning of Regeneration

And I'm going to explain that word. It simply means to be born again or changed, but I'm going to go into that. In Titus chapter 3 and verse 5, it uses this word, and listen to what it says, that we're saved by the washing of regeneration.

It uses this word, regeneration. The word regeneration is only used twice in our English Bible, once in Matthew 19 about a very different subject. And then here in Titus chapter 3, it's only used once, the word regeneration, about a life-changing experience.

And yet the old preachers took this word, regeneration, that's only mentioned once like this, and they used it for an entire teaching in the entire Bible. And so what does the word regeneration actually mean?

Look at what Paul says in verse 5, you're saved, you're changed, you're forgiven. How? Not by works of righteousness, which you have done. You're not saved by being good. You're not saved by being moral.

You're not in here tonight saying, I'm saved because you're not a drunkard, or you're not a drug user, or you're very moral, or you stop cursing. That doesn't make you saved. You're no better than the vilest sinner.

That doesn't make you any better. But do you know what? That does not save you. Stopping sinning does not save you. But Paul tells us here in this verse, what is it that actually saves you? He says the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit.

That's what changed you. Not your good deeds, not your good works, not your morality. It is regeneration by the Spirit of God. And I want to pull this out. I want you to hear it tonight because I believe in the church of our generation.

We've lost our confidence in the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. We use techniques to get people saved. We think that we are saved by that same means, by following strategies and methodology. In fact, I've heard all my life, men, mature men, men who should know better.

And they say, hey, it's easy to get saved. That's a lie. That is an absolute dangerous statement. And any preacher who says, it's easy to get you saved, doesn't have the first clue about the supernatural power of the gospel.

Neither do they understand the ruin by the fall. Neither do they understand redemption by the blood. Neither do they understand the power of the Holy Spirit to save a man. So this is disastrous. You've got to understand that regeneration by the Spirit.

Remember what we've dealt with? Ruined by the fall in the garden. Redemption by the blood at the cross. But now we're seeing the work of the Holy Spirit. He saves a man. He changes a man. And I assure you, you better make sure it's the real Holy Spirit that changes you inwardly.

Not anything else. And if it comes down to you merely doing good works, you're lost on your way to hell. You have to know, you've experienced regeneration by the Spirit of God. The word used here, regeneration, palengesia, it means a change produced by a return to springtime.

That's what the word means, regeneration. In other words, you've entered into winter. All the leaves are gone. Everything is dead. It's decaying. It's falling apart. But a change happens that carries you right back to the beginning of springtime.

And everything breaks forth as if there'd been no winter. That's what the word regeneration that's used here means. It means to return to that period of warmth, of abundant light shining upon you. The word regeneration means a breaking forth into new life or to return to a new beginning.

The genesis. That's what the word says. It's that you return right back to the genesis or more than that, to return back to the place of the new birth where something is born anew. A place of a new season.

A place of growth. And in the Greek, it really means rebirth. To go back, return to that place where you're born again. Saints of God, that's what regeneration is. It's when a man, an individual experiences this breaking in of the light of God, the power of God.

And you break forth into new life. You become a new creature in God. In other words, you're born again. Notice here it says you're saved by, what is it? It says the washing of regeneration. Do you know regeneration or the born again experience is pictured as a washing.

The Greek word used here doesn't mean to wash yourself. It is the word for bath. It is the instrument. It is a large bath that you're going to put water in and you're going to go into. It is the instrument that you get bathed in.

And so it calls regeneration a bath. And the washing of regeneration is the instrument, the bath of regeneration. And this is the work of the Holy Ghost. He actually puts you within symbolically, spiritually, the bath of regeneration.

You literally go down into this instrument, down into the water to be washed and cleansed and made clean. And you know what? It is a work of the Holy Spirit. That isn't man's work. That isn't your work.

That isn't the church's work. This being put in the instrument of regeneration is only a work of the Holy Spirit. He alone can do that. You're getting bathed. That means it's an entire work, a complete work.

Every part of you is affected by regeneration. Regeneration is like literally getting into a large bath and then the Holy Spirit does the cleaning work. That's the new birth. It also talks about the renewal of the Holy Spirit.

Not only His regeneration in this bath, but His renewal. The word renewal here means to renovate like a house. You ever seen anyone come along and their eyes fall on a house and it's dilapidated and no windows and it's fallen down?

And someone looks upon it and says, I can renovate that. Candice was always like that in that mind. She could renovate anything. Do you know what Jesus does? He looks at lives that are broken, destroyed with sin.

And He says, I can renovate that life if you let me. This regenerating work of the Spirit of God, this renewal means to make new, to make fresh, to make brand new, to go back to its original purpose. And so we see regeneration by the Spirit is a work uniquely by the Holy Spirit where He regenerates you.

He takes you back to a sunny place, back to the beginning, back to the place of a birth. I'm talking about a sinner. And that sinner gets carried there by the Holy Spirit. And then He is renovated. In other words, everything is made new.

There is a total renovation of the house to make it brand new in the hands of God. Listen to what it says in John 1, verse 12. But as many as received Him, that is Christ, through them He gave power to become the sons of God, to get born again.

Even to them that believe on His name. So there's a lot of responsibility. You receive, you believe, you accept. But listen to what it says next, which we're born, that's the word there, born. It's talking about a supernatural regeneration, a work of the Holy Spirit that transforms the life.

And He says, you were born. He's gonna explain how. Let's see how you get born again. Not of blood. So He's gonna tell you how, not first of all, not by blood. You know what that means? Not by a natural birth, not by a family birth.

I don't care how spiritual your parents are. Each of these children in here need born again. I don't care what church you belong to. I don't care if you listen to every sermon. I don't care if you've gone through all of YouTube and watched every message.

It doesn't mean anything. Not of blood, not of your DNA. There's certain teachings in the church and they say you have a special something because of your genealogical family line. And certain things get passed on that bloodline.

Prominent preachers will say this, guests of the Holy Spirit. Other guests get passed down through that DNA. Rubbish. Salvation doesn't get passed through the blood because you belong to a family doesn't make.

So you're born not of blood. Again, not of the will of the flesh. It's talking about your will. Remember this argument about man's free will? Tell a heroin addict, you've just got a free will. You can do anything.

Tell someone addicted to sex. Tell someone with all of the religious stuff around them, you can just do what you want. It's a denial of the doctrine of the Bible. How do you get born again? By your own decision, by the power of your will.

It actually says here, not of the will of the flesh. Not your own decision. Not just you resigning yourself saying, I'm going to get saved. That's not enough. That will not save you. How many people have you met who said, I'm going to get saved tonight.

I'm going to get saved this week. I'm going to make a change in my life. I'll never do that again. I'm not getting drunk again. I'll never curse again. Isn't the world filled with them? He says, nor of the will of man.

That's talking about others. Other men involved in evangelism. No one else by their own will can change you. It has to be born. You don't get people born again. You can't make someone born again. Not of the will of man.

Preachers, churches, ministries, their will cannot save people. If they actually think I have the gift, the power, the technique, the anointing to get men saved. I'll say that's heresy. If you don't fully acknowledge only the spirit of God can save a man and birth a man, he may use a vessel and he does frequently.

But those real vessels are going to know it's not by techniques or strategy or water baptism. Some in the church that believe when I baptize you, you're going to have a new nature. God help us. And then he says, we're born, but of God.

It's a work of God. And so he hammers man's free will. And I believe in responsibility. No sinner will go to hell and say it was God. Didn't work on me. You're a liar. You're a liar. You're responsible.

You say you don't understand all of this. That's fine. Stick around a wee bit. We'll just talk it through. I want to give you three points before I close here on regeneration by the spirit. Three simple statements to explain what is regeneration by the spirit.

This is an ancient doctrine. This is the ABC. You need to understand this, believe this. When you evangelize, you better believe these three points that I've taught you. Ruined by the fall. You better know men are so ruined that by their own selves, they can't come.

You need to know that men are depraved. Oh yes, they could be nice. They don't do all the evil they could do, but they're so fallen. They can't come. Unless there's a work of the Holy Spirit. And you know what?

Unless the blood of Jesus washes them, they can never be forgiven. They can never start anew. They can never turn over a new leaf. Here's my three points. Number one, what is regeneration of the spirit?

Regeneration as Spiritual Resurrection

Number one, it is a spiritual resurrection from the dead. What death is naturally, a sinner is spiritually. It's exactly the same with all of the effect and power of that. Ephesians chapter two and verse one.

I'm going to give you a different scripture for each of these. Ephesians chapter two, verse one. And this is what it says. And you, if you're born again tonight, and you have he, that is God, quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.

Here are those. And he says, you were dead. You're born again tonight. But he says, you were dead, past tense. He's not talking about physically. He's talking about spiritually. Your condition was that you are dead.

The Bible talks about a sinner being dead. And believe me, it is so tragic, just like a physical death. When someone is physically dead, they can do very little. In fact, nothing. And so you have here, Paul talks about, you haven't been dead.

That was your condition. You're standing. And he explains it. You were dead in trespasses and sins. What are trespasses? That's where you go wrong. The word means to err or veer off, going in the wrong direction.

You were dead in trespasses. You were always going in the wrong direction. You are always doing the wrong thing because you're dead. Dead people do not follow God. Do not follow the word of God. Do not desire Jesus Christ.

They can't help themselves. They are dead in trespasses. Try getting a dead man out of trespasses. Try educating them. Try psychology. Try counseling. Try suggestions. Try some self-help courses. But if you're dealing with a dead man and you're saying, we need to deal with your trespasses.

How the mark of a dead sinner is trespasses. He can only repent. He has to repent. Because you're not going to fix that unless the Holy Spirit comes in power. You can drag him. You can stand in front of him with your arms up.

You can threaten them. You can, we could all pile on top of them. But he's a dead man. He's dead in trespasses and sins to miss the mark. Always aiming for something. Always missing the mark. Always desiring.

Never able to fulfill it. This is what a dead sinner is like. He is dead in his sin. Dead in his trespasses. And yet God said, you were that. If you're born again tonight, you were dead. You're a hopeless case.

You weren't just sick. You are dead spiritually. You are dead to God. Dead to his influence. Dead to his voice. Dead to his hand. Dead to his suggestions. You are actually unable to do what you desire to do.

That's what a dead man is. But look what God done. He said, whom God has quickened. The word to quicken means to make alive. A dead man made alive. What am I talking about here? My first point, what is regeneration?

I mean, when you get born again, it is a resurrection. A spiritual resurrection from the dead. You were a dead man. You had no power, no ability, no desire, no will. You've got to realize sinners are like this.

It is a miracle when God moves upon them. They are actually as dead as Lazarus in John chapter 11. If you go back and read John chapter 11 and about Lazarus and Jesus coming to the tomb. And if you read that story as a picture and a symbol of a sinner who's dead in their sins, you're going to get a very clear view.

If you work through that story and begin to read it like this is a sinner, you realize only Christ can raise that man from the dead. He's dead. He's been dead four days. There is no hope. Let Christ come and talk about raising someone from the dead.

And you go, oh yes, and the resurrection of the bodies. You don't believe that can happen now. You know, with the sinner, it was as much a miracle for Jesus to raise Lazarus physically as it takes for a dead man to be raised spiritually right now.

And yet I believe this. When I preach, I've got faith in this room. I know a Christ. I know the power of the Holy Spirit. That's why I preach. I don't care if it's drugs or immorality or chains or unbelief.

I know a work of the Holy Spirit that can take a dead man and make him walk out of a tomb. I know he can do that. I have seen it time and time again. And that's what regeneration is. It is God making dead, helpless men alive who walk out of their tombs, who listen the word of God, who begin to respond and breathe and come out of their dead condition.

It says in verse five, even when we were dead in sins, he hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace are ye saved. Being saved by grace is a resurrection from the dead. Has he saved you by grace?

Not your works, not your will, not your power. Has he saved you by his grace? Then you've had a resurrection from the dead. You've had a supernatural resurrection where God's word reached you and the Holy Spirit worked in you and you suddenly come alive spiritually.

You were once dead in your sin. You were dead to all of this. What a remarkable thing. It says in John chapter 5, 21, for as the father raises up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the son quickeneth whom he will.

He makes them alive. He brings them out of the grave. He brings them up out of that grave. It is a supernatural work. That's the first point. The second point, what is regeneration by the spirit? It's a new birth from on high.

The New Birth from Above

It's a spiritual resurrection from the dead, but it's also a new birth from on high. It says in John chapter 3, verse 3, and this is Jesus speaking. Jesus answered Nicodemus and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye be born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God.

You can't perceive it. You sit there ignorant. What kingdom? Yeah, you're dead. You don't have the ability to understand it. I don't understand what you're talking about. You don't have the ability to comprehend.

You're talking double Dutch. You're speaking French, German, some other language. I don't have a clue what you're talking about. Do you realize why? Because you need born again. This is the second thing of what regeneration is.

It's a new birth from on high. Without this new birth, none of this makes any sense. I watch people in churches that come in. It's utterly a foreign thing. It means nothing. Doesn't affect them. It's foreign to them.

And then something happens to them and immediately they understand what this is all about. What happened? They were born again. Jesus said, Jesus said, and this is the center of the gospel. You must be born again.

It is absolutely essential. You will never see the kingdom of God. You can't understand it. You don't even know what this is about unless you're born again. Once you get born again, all of this becomes real, obvious, open.

You understand it. Someone who understands nothing of this, it's because they haven't been born again. The answer isn't to educate them. Well, if I sit down with them and I tell them all the right things and the right testimonies and the right stories and explain all the scriptures, then they'll get born again.

Really? Do you know, Paul said, I'm not gonna speak with the wisdom of this world, of man's wisdom. I preach the simplicity of the cross of Jesus Christ and men will get born again. It's a miracle. You won't explain with easy words and stories.

Men with their methodology in the church, we're gonna get men born again from on high by telling stories, using strategies, using the four key steps or using the law of God to say, haven't you lied? All these strategies in the church show that men don't realise the new birth is a supernatural experience.

A man who isn't born again doesn't know what he's talking about. It takes the teaching of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit's gotta draw them, open their ears, draw their heart. You have to rely. If you're there going, I've got the suss, I know how to speak to them.

I know how to win souls. I'll tell you, you're a fool. You're denying the power of regeneration that it's in the work of God's hands. When we come to this term born again, Peter used it. Paul uses it.

John uses it. Even St. Patrick of Ireland used it, saying thousands, thousands through the preaching of the Word of God, we're getting reborn or born again. It's a biblical term. Jesus and the apostles used it.

You must be born again. You need to experience a birth. You need to be changed. You need regeneration. He goes on to say, Jesus answered verily, verily, I say unto you, except you be born of water and the Spirit, you cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Not only do you not see it and you don't understand it, you don't comprehend it, you can't even enter into it. You can't get in unless you're born again. When you're born again, then you enter the kingdom.

But you can't enter this. You can't force your way in unless you're born again. When you're born again, you get right in. Listen to what Christ said, that that which is born of the flesh is flesh. And that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Only that born of God supernaturally is spiritual. So look at all those in the church. I've met a lot of people say, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm born again. I say the sinner's prayer. I believe it all. But if they're not birthed of the Spirit of God, they are not spiritual.

There is nothing spiritual about them. They are still flesh. If it was birthed by man, even good religion, but it's man's work, you're still in your flesh. You could believe right, think right, even speak right.

And yet no work of the Spirit of God has gone on within your heart. And then Jesus says, marvel not that I said unto you, you must be born again. Don't marvel. He says, and then he explains, this is why I'm saying you've got to be born of the Spirit.

What do you mean born of the Spirit? Do you know to be born again? In the Greek, it means to be born from above. It's not of this earth. It's not a man's ministry. It's not a stratagems of religion and of careful stratagems of evangelism.

Well, I've got an evangelism course. I know how to do this now. How much time do you spend on your knees? Oh, I speak to the sinners. I can phone the sinners. I'm reaching out to sinners. How much do you pray for them?

How much do you get in your knees and go? I have no power. Are you learning to do this? Do you realize evangelism can be learned, but not winning souls? Do you realize it is the power of the Holy Spirit brings a man into Christ?

You need to be sensitive to that. I said to a good brother very recently on evangelism, and I said, do you realize you could say all the right words? You could be bold. You could pour it all out, and you're not in the Spirit and speaking to that sinner.

You don't affect them. You don't touch them. In fact, you could put walls and barriers up, and they just become convinced there's no power in this. How much time have you prayed for that sinner? How much time have you waited on the Spirit of God?

How weak are you saying? I can't reach this person. I need you. Are you so bold you know how to do this? And you go, well, they didn't listen. You're dealing with dead men. You need a miracle from God.

What do you think? Your right words and your right approach and your boldness will win men to Christ. Don't you realize you should be shaking and trembling and saying, oh God, help me to reach sinners.

I don't have the words. I don't have the boldness. I don't have the ability. And unless the wind blows, nothing's gonna happen. Listen to what Jesus said. The wind bloweth, and he's describing this, the work of the Holy Spirit in saving a man.

The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but thou cannot tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit. It's very sad to say that mature Christians, too many of them in the church, they use this, they steal this.

And they go, what church do you belong to? Oh, I'm led by the Spirit. The wind bloweth where it listeth. Do you have a stable job? Oh no, I just go where the Spirit tells me. It's got to do with the new birth and a man getting born again.

It's got nothing to do with a mature hypocrite playing religious games who says, I just do whatever I wanna do. And I blame the Holy Spirit. That isn't the wind blowing. There's something blowing through your ears, but it definitely isn't the Holy Spirit.

It's, Jesus says here, the Holy Spirit that blows on a sinner and gets them born again. He said, it's like a wind blowing. This is a picture of the Holy Spirit. You blow, can you see the wind? No, you can see its effect when it blows though.

And he also says here, it blows wherever it listeth or it desires to. In other words, the Holy Spirit is sovereign. He is in control. He has the power. Please try and make the wind blow in your direction when you go home.

When it's blown in the wrong direction, go out there and say, wind, please blow in the opposite direction. If you can do that, you can control the Holy Spirit and make him do what you want him to do. You better know the Holy Spirit is a sovereign spirit.

No one controls him. That's why you need to submit to him. That's why you need to be a weak vessel in his hands. You hear the song, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it's going to move next.

Do you know the Holy Spirit moving is surprising? I'm watching sinners get saved. I couldn't have dreamed of three years ago. You say, I see the spirit working here and there. And it's remarkable. People who never had a thought of Jesus, people who actually were convinced this isn't real and all over the place are getting born again.

I mean, everywhere. It's miraculous. You know what? I don't know where it's going to happen next. I don't know where the next revival is going to be. I don't know what's going to happen in Limerick City.

I don't know when it's going to happen, but let this wind blow sovereignly and mightily. And I assure you, lives are going to get changed, transformed by the power of God. Remember the Philippian jailer?

It was an earthquake conversion. He was going to commit suicide. It was dramatic. And so the wind blows on this man about to commit suicide. He gets born again. But remember earlier in the chapter, there was a ladies prayer meeting out by the river.

And Paul comes and preaches. And there's a lady, Lydia, sits there quiet. She looks moral and nice and upright. And she's religious and a woman of prayer. And as she's sitting there and Paul preaches, her heart opens and she's born again.

This wind can blow lightly, almost unseen. And sometimes it comes like a hurricane. It's the work of the Holy Spirit. Third and finally, a new creation within. 2 Corinthians 5, 17. Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature.

Regeneration as a New Creation

Old things are passed away. Behold, all things have become new. What is regeneration? What is the new birth? It is a new creation within an individual sinner. That's what the born again experience says.

It's dramatic. It's supernatural. It's where their life is changed. You can't be born again and not be changed. It's impossible. And so Paul says here, therefore, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature.

If you meet people on the high street and say, I'm in Christ. Christ is in me. And they're not a new creature. You know someone's lying. If they are drinking and smoking and saying, I'm born again, they're a liar.

They're playing games. If they're sleeping around with their girlfriend and blaspheming and carrying on, they're not a new creature. It hasn't happened. What is real regeneration? It's a new creation within an individual.

You're not born again unless there is a changed nature. If you're still in your sins, you need born again tonight. If you cannot turn from your sin, you need born again tonight. In Galatians 6, we read about this new creature.

It's called a new creature. In 2 Corinthians 4, it's called the inward man. In Colossians 3, it's called the new man. And then Ephesians chapter 2, listen to what it says about this new creature. It says it is created by God in Christ Jesus.

In other words, God himself creates a new creature. When you get born again, God does a creation work. I heard an old preacher friend of mine many years ago when he preached on the three greatest miracles of the Bible.

Do you know what he said they were? In all of the Bible, what three miracles would you pick out from the entire Bible to be the greatest? He said number one is creation, where the spirit of God moved and everything was created.

He said the second greatest miracle is the incarnation, where God become incarnate in flesh in a man. The third greatest miracle, he said, is the new creation or the born again person. It's not the miracles of healing.

These are the three greatest miracles and all the rest follow after that. It is a miracle, this new creation. We're told in Ephesians 2 that God created this new creature. It's a new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

If you say God has worked in your heart and yet there's no desire for righteousness and holiness, it hasn't happened yet. It really hasn't. I'm not talking about sinless perfection. I'm not. It's a lifetime of working through these things.

I'm talking about a changed nature. When it says that this new creature is created, that means it wasn't there before. There is a person, a creature, a new creation within the Christian that did not used to be there.

God creates it instantly in the new birth. The Lord reaches into the life of a sinner, a whole new person that has different desires, different choices, different tastes to make, manufacture, or build this new creature.