Regeneration Born from Above — E.A. Johnston

How many times have I heard evangelists and pastors quote Revelation 3 .20, Behold, I stand at the door and knock, if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

And then the evangelist will talk about an impotent Jesus standing at the door of the sinner's heart, unable to come in on his own, who stands there helplessly while he waits for someone to open the door and let him in, like an insurance salesman with his hat in his hand.

And then the minister will make the following comments, Jesus is standing at the door of your heart, friend, and he is knocking. Won't you open the door and let him in? Just open your heart, friend, and accept Jesus.

Won't you open the door and let him into your life? Just open your heart and invite Jesus in. And some folks do just that. They do what the pastor tells them to do. Then they walk an aisle and repeat a prayer and join the church, and the pastor pats them on the back and tells them they are now a Christian.

False Assurance and Unconverted Church Members

But the trouble is, they are still unchanged and unconverted individuals who are now just gospel hardened as they rest upon a false bottom of carnal security. And if they were to die, they would die in their sins and open their eyes in the eternity of hell.

Regeneration as the Supernatural Work of the Holy Spirit

I want to make a statement to you, friends, and you better write this down, because you won't hear it much in your day and mine. And my statement is backed by my Bible. No one can be saved apart from the precious blood of Christ, and no one can be born again apart from the supernatural operation of the Holy Spirit and regeneration.

My Bible declares in Titus 3, 5, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us by the washing and regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. You see, friends, it is the gospel applied and enforced by the Holy Spirit that saves man.

It's a supernatural work of grace upon the heart. You do not open your heart to invite a poor, pitiful Jesus in. It says in the book of Acts about the first convert in Europe who was a woman named Lydia.

And my Bible says whose heart the Lord opened. But modern evangelists will use this worn out illustration of Jesus knocking and knocking on the door of the sinner's heart. And won't you let him in? He is helpless, helpless, and he needs to be let in because he cannot come in on his own.

But that's not the real gospel, friends. I like what the Puritan Thomas Watson had to say on this point. He said ministers knock at the door of men's hearts. The spirit comes with the key and opens the door.

Did you hear that, friend? It's the Holy Spirit who comes in with the key and opens the heart to receive Christ. And I will state this emphatically that no person can be saved apart from the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit.

Salvation Belongs to God, Not Human Decision

That is, if you want to go to heaven, you can make yourself a Christian today without God. At least that's what most pastors will tell you. You decide. You cast your vote for Jesus or you do not. You open the door to your heart and let him in.

Or you leave him standing on the outside, powerless to do anything about it. Because in your day and mine, friends, we've committed the great crime of taking salvation out of the hands of God and placing it in the hands of men.

You make yourself a Christian today. And we are reaping the harvest of faulty evangelism in our churches today because most church members today are yet unconverted. They've never experienced the true work of grace upon their heart through regeneration of the Holy Spirit.

Listen, friend, if you're going to make it into God's holy heaven, you must be born again. Let me ask you, are your sins washed in the blood? And are you born from above? That's the bottom line of being a true believer.

You don't make yourself a Christian. God is the author of salvation. The Puritans, like Thomas Watson, didn't have the means that we do today to make converts. They didn't have folks raise their hands or walk an aisle or repeat a prayer to be saved.

They didn't ask folks to open their hearts and accept Jesus and let him in. They just didn't know any better than to preach the great doctrines of the Bible, which were ruin, redemption, repentance, and regeneration.

And they knew that Jesus wasn't standing outside the door of the sinner's heart in a helpless way, hoping someone would come along and let him in. No, they didn't know any better than to say what the Bible had to say about it.

And they phrased it in this way. Ministers knock at the door of men's hearts. The Spirit comes with the key and opens the door. And the key, friends, is the doctrine of regeneration. And that's what my subject is today.

Jesus' Teaching on the New Birth in John 3

My message is entitled, Regeneration, Born from Above. And my text is the Gospel of John, Chapter 3. You can turn in your Bibles there now. In the Gospel of John, Chapter 3, we see Jesus talking to a man called Nicodemus about the most important subject in the world, being born from above, true salvation.

And Jesus isn't soft-soaking the Gospel or diluting it like we do today, so not to offend sinful man. Rather, Jesus is giving Nicodemus the oil straight from the can, so to speak. He informs him that you cannot go to heaven unless you are born from above through the new birth, which is regeneration.

And it is the Holy Spirit who performs this operation upon the sinner's heart. But preachers today won't tell you that. They'll say, sinner, save yourself. Just decide for Jesus. Just open your own heart and let him in.

Because Jesus is an impotent being who can only stand helplessly at the door of your heart, hoping you will let him in. But it isn't so, friends. When a person is truly saved, they hear his voice, and he comes in with power, majesty, and authority and transforms their lives.

When Jesus was here in his earthly ministry, as he passed through towns and villages, those who encountered him experienced change. Did you hear that? They experienced change. Have you? Is your life radically transformed by your being a Christian?

Holiness, Transformation, and the Unconverted Ministry

Do you have power from above to live a holy life? Has the Spirit of God implanted the disposition of holiness in you? My Bible says in Hebrews, for holiness without, no one will see the Lord. Or do you call yourself a Christian and still live like the devil?

A lot of folks do, you know. Some of them stand in pulpits. I believe we live in a day of an unconverted ministry. I believe there's many seminary graduated men who are polished, professional, and educated, but they are yet unconverted men.

They've never been born from above, or they know their Bibles well enough, but they do not know their God. You can tell it just by listening to them preach. They don't have a clue as to what true salvation is.

They are blind guides leading the blind, and both fall into a ditch. And we live in a day of the unconverted church member. Never before in the history of this nation has there been so many in our churches who mistakenly believe themselves to be saved, and they are lost.

This is the price we pay for our modern day evangelism with its perverted gospel, which only declares, God loves you, friend. Jesus loves you so much, he died for you. Just open your heart and let him in.

Only believe, and you will go to heaven. And there is no mention of man's duty of repentance, and the necessity of regeneration upon the heart. So we make our false converts by the thousands, because we need them to pay our massive bills, to carry our massive debts on our massive church campuses.

George Whitefield's Discovery of the New Birth

But no one can be saved apart from the redemptive work of Christ, and no one can be saved apart from the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. Let us now examine our passage from John's gospel. And before I read it, I want to share a story with you about George Winfield, the great British evangelist.

He tried to reach heaven through good works, through self-denial and much prayer. He would starve himself, deny himself warm clothing in the winter. He would visit prisons and give alms and fast and pray.

But he was not saved until his good friend, Charles Wesley, handed him a book by a Scotsman by the name of Henry Scougal. And the book was entitled, The Life of God in the Soul of Man. And as George Winfield read that book, the scales fell from his eyes.

And he saw that heaven was not gained by self-denial. It was not gained by good works, but by transformation upon the heart through the new birth. That being a Christian was having the life of God in the soul of man.

Jesus' Conversation with Nicodemus

And this is our passage today, friends, from chapter three in the gospel of John. Let's read it right now. And may the spirit of the Lord be pleased to attend the reading of his holy word. And it's my prayer that someone doesn't just hear the voice of this poor preacher, but rather they hear his voice as it comes in with power and majesty and authority.

It is my prayer that the Holy Spirit will apply the gospel to a heart. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus by night and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest except God be with him.

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, well, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born?

Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth. So is every one that is born of the Spirit.

The Spirit Applies the Gospel to Dead Hearts

What my King James Bible is saying there, friends, is this. No one can be saved apart from the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. If you're not born from above, you will die in your sins and be cast into hell and its fires.

It's the preacher's job to press home the claims of Christ upon the sinner, but it's the Holy Spirit's job to apply the gospel message to the heart of the sinner in conviction and regeneration. It's the Holy Spirit who comes with the key and opens the heart.

A man is dead in trespasses and sins. He is blinded by Satan and helpless in his captivity. The reality of Christ must come as a light piercing the darkness, as seen in 2 Corinthians 4, 6, which declares, God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Listen, friends. Jesus declared, you must be born again. George Whitfield was preaching on Boston Common in 1740 during the Great Awakening, and a minister approached him and remarked, Mr. Whitfield, you've been preaching on the theme of, he must be born again now for quite some time.

Let me ask you, sir, when will you preach us a different message? To which the great Whitfield replied, until ye are born again. Listen, friends, to be born again is to be born of the Spirit. And as the wind blows where it wills, the Spirit in regeneration operates on the sinner's heart through the new birth.

Repentance and Regeneration as Twin Necessities

There is a change made in a person who has experienced saving faith, and it's not brought on about by a power of our own, or worked up in our own flesh, or a decision with our own mind, but it's a supernatural act of God upon the heart of man.

It's the very life of God in the soul of man. It's not working your way to heaven like a young George Whitfield tried to do, but it is the renewing of the Holy Ghost as seen in our text from Titus, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus mentioned two necessities to occur for a person to enter his heaven. One is, except you repent, you shall all likewise perish. And the second necessity is, you must be born again. It is my prayer that the pulpits of our land will once again sound forth and warn men of their great danger of dying in their sins.

For my Bible warns, the soul that sinneth, it shall die. And may our pulpits once again proclaim the twin doctrines of man's duty of repentance and the utter necessity of regeneration for a person to be saved.

Let me ask you again, friend, are your sins washed in the blood? And are you born from above?