The Regenerating Holy Spirit
Notes
Transcript
4 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Third message on the Holy Spirit - talk about how the Holy Spirit is forgotten.
How the third Person of the Godhead indwells every believer
Regeneration: The Miracle of the New Birth
What is regeneration?
“Regeneration is the impartation of life, spiritual life, to those who are dead, spiritually dead through their trespasses and sins.” (Reuben Archer Torrey)
We were born as natural beings, with natural bodies and souls.
We are all born in this world spiritually dead
3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Regeneration - definition; the new birth.
Truths about the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit:
1. The miracle of the new birth is the greatest miracle ever.
2. Regeneration grants spiritual life to dead sinners.
3. Regeneration is the impartation of a new nature.
The miracle of the new birth is the greatest miracle ever.
“Born Again”
Salvation is through the new birth.
“But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us...” (Titus 3:4a)
God’s kindness and love (God’s lovingkindness) - need I say anything more about the tremendous love of God
Lovingkindness - Encapsulated in one word - GRACE.
— He saved us not by works of righteousness which we have done..
According to His mercy - definition of mercy..
Difference between mercy and grace - story of the criminal who was pardoned.. (poor theology, neglects the work of the Holy Spirit)
“through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5b).
The washing of regeneration - “washed” here means to be bathed all over.
Cleansed from all sins - and made a new person in Christ.
2. Regeneration grants spiritual life to dead sinners.
63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.
We were all dead without the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit.
1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,
Once walked according to the course of this world,, according to the prince of the power of the air.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
The spiritual life God gives us in the spirit is not a mediocre kind of life, just getting by, or surviving..
“through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior” (Titus 3:5b-6)
ABUNDANTLY
Jesus came to give us the abundant life.
3. Regeneration is the impartation of a new nature.
Every human being is born into this world with a perverted nature, our intellect, affections and will are aliens to the truth and nature of God.
a. Intellect - Our mind, limited understanding, examples of difficulty in trying to make people understand:
14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
b. Affections - The desires of the flesh; changes in our fleshly appetite
“Do not be partakers with them.”
c. Will - the decisions,
Explain the altar call - it is not your own will, it is the sovereign will of God
brings an awakening that leads to faith.
synergism vs monorgism
Opening of the heart
Faith comes after regeneration, not the other way around
The will of God - Philippians 2:13
Renewing comes later - be renewed in the Spirit of your mind
Our minds no longer submit to the narrative of the world.
7 that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Meditate on that for a minute. “ Heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
Final Illustration - the story of Nicky Cruz’s conversion