Regeneration

Good morning everyone! I am so glad we are all here together for another family reunion. Those of you online, thank you for being a part of our extended family today. We pray that you will be encouraged and inspired to grow in your relationship with the Lord through the messages here at LRBC. Right now we get to welcome our kiddos back to the amazing kids teachers of LRBC…I know I talk about it all the time, but it is so encouraging to know that our kids are being taught the truths of Scripture in a way that makes sense to them…I am also so grateful that we have people that are passionate to teach our kids and not just play games and babysit Amen...

Now, we have been in a series over the last few weeks were we are looking at various doctrines that we believe as a church. Specifically we have been going through the statement of faith that LRBC has adopted and I have encouraged you to adopt the same or similar beliefs for yourself. Now, alot of people don’t know what they believe and so I want to be clear and encourage everyone here today to know, not only what you believe but why you believe it. I want you to be able to answer questions from people and maybe not remember everything that we discuss, but at least remember enough so that you know how to find the rest of the answers you may need to find. Not only do I want you to be solid in your beliefs, but I want you to be able to experience the joy that comes from knowing what you believe. Actually, if you remember I gave you a definition of doctrine so that we can all be on the same page and we can all know what we are talking about. I said that Doctrine is a set of guiding principles that helps us navigate the twists and turns of life. So that means that what we are talking about can and will actually help you navigate life as you experience various degrees of twists and turns. And just like last week, I know for a fact that many of you have experienced some of those twists and turns just this past week. Maybe you have even felt like throwing in the towel and saying, “whats the point?” because of all of the hard things you are experiencing. Maybe you have even found yourself asking questions about how all of this stuff works and what good the Christian life is. You’ve asked yourself questions like, “is this even real, or does God even care?” You see, what you are learning now in this series should be able to help you answer those specific questions. That is one reason why God has told us to be prepared with answers…Remember

1 Peter 3:15 (ESV)

but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,

Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks why for a reason, or to answer the questions that anyone may ask about your faith. You see, I want you to learn what you believe so that you are prepared, not only for the twists and turns, but so that you are prepared to ask the questions that you have been asking...yourself...

So that’s why we have been in this series called, I Believe”…Last week we finished our little miniseries within this series about the Trinity. If you are curious about that, then feel free to grab that on Youtube, or Spotify/Apple/Google, just search Leaf River Baptist Church and you can get caught up with any of our previous messages that way. For now though, let’s talk about something that is really important to understand. You see, last week I told you that one of the things the Holy Spirit does it to regenerate a dead spirit. In other words, to bring Christ life to your dead spirit. So, how does that happen, and why is it important? That is what we are going to look at today as we look at ...

The Doctrine of Regeneration

Yeah thats a big ‘ol word right there, so what does it mean? Well…I’ll tell you that what we have is a part of Soteriology, or the doctrine of salvation. Remember at the beginning of this series I told you that you were gonna learn some big fancy doctrine words you can use to show everyone how holy and smart you are :)…No that’s not why we are looking at these words…we are looking at these words because they are significant and hold weight when you think about what you personally believe. So what do we as a church believe about this topic?

We believe that all men are sinners, by nature and by choice and are, therefore, under condemnation. We believe that those who repent of their sins and trust in Jesus Christ as Savior are regenerated by the Holy Spirit. We further believe that regeneration results in righteous living, good works and proper social concern. We further believe that those who are truly saved shall be kept saved forever. (Genesis 3:1-6; Romans 5:12-19; 3:9-23; Romans 6:23; Acts 20:21; Ephesians 2:8-10; James 2:14-17; John 10:27-29; I Peter 1:3-5) — LRBC There we go, now we all understand, right? Well to be honest, in order for us to all understand, or at least have a surface level understanding of this topic of salvation we need to understand this doctrine in four separate stages. To begin with we will look at what this looks like

Pre-Salvation:

You see in order to understand the significance of the regeneration of the Holy Spirit that we talked about last week, we really need to understand why there is a need to be regenerated. In order to understand that, we need to go back to the very beginning.

Genesis 3:1–6 (ESV)

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

This is what happened in the perfect Garden of Eden. Adam sinned, causing Eve to sin, causing sin to enter the world…look at

Romans 5:12–14 (ESV)

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

Here we see that sin entered the world through Adam. So what....who cares if sin entered the world? Well. look at this passage that tells us about the consequence of sin.

Romans 6:23 (ESV)

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So all have sinned, and the price for sin is spiritual death…Now, did Adam and Eve immediately fall over dead? No…but there was an immediate spiritual death. An immediate break in relationship with God the Father that they had been experiencing up until that point…thats why if you continue reading Genesis you will see that they hid when they heard God…they were fearful because they knew what had happened and that something was different between them and God.

What all of this means, is that pre-Christ…every single one of us is spiritual dead. There was an old song by a singer named plumb, and she said it like this....

There's a God-shaped hole in all of us And the restless soul is searching There's a God-shaped hole in all of us And it's a void only he can fill

—Plumb (1999)

That God shaped hole is the thing that only he can fill....we will try to fill it with all kids of other stuff, but nothing else works....like fitting a square peg in a round hole, it just doesn’t work....so you keep searching. If that’s true…what the point? What changes to make things work? Well the good news for us is that the Holy Spirit regenerates us at the Moment of

Salvation

Yeah, salvation happens in a moment…in a moment you make a decision to actually trust the Lord. Actually there is a little more than just this moment. You see, at the moment of salvation you have been saved. After the moment of salvation you are being saved, and then for eternity you will be saved. However, let’s look at the moment for now...It’s not a lifetime of learning that eventually will lead to your salvation. It’s not a lifetime of attending church, or giving to charity or having good intentions that leads to salvation becuase all of that would be based on your works, and scripture specifically tells us that is not what happens. Remember this,

Ephesians 2:8–9 (ESV)

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Ok, so this is a gift of God, but what does this require? Like, how do I open this gift…what is the process of regeneration that causes me to be able to accept this gift? That’s where the most famous Bible verse comes in

John 3:16 (ESV)

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Whoever believes in him....that is the key right there. Match that with

Acts 3:19–20 (ESV)

Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus,

That is amazing, so when I believe and I repent then the Holy Spirit regenerates my dead spirit and makes what was dead, alive again in Christ.

Ephesians 2:4–5 (ESV)

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

I love that so much…there was a total change in who were are when we come to Christ. I told you all last week about a small part of what God had done in my life and how the Holy Spirit had worked in my life…Here’s what I didn’t say. God totally changed me, not just a little bit, but God literally changed my demeanor and everything…You see, that is what happens to us

Post-Salvation:

Let me explain a little bit based on my story specifically. You see, prior to salvation I was a pretty angry person. To be honest, and I haven’t talked about this very often, but I was hateful. I was racist, at least somewhat, I was a bully and I was angry like all the time…I was so angry, even though I didn’t notice it at the time that I got in fights frequently, I would fight on the side of the rode, I would get in fights on Waffle House at 2am is someone said something that I perceived as an insult. I was like Bruce Banner in The Avengers where he says, “Thats my secret captain, Im always angry” and then he hulks out and smashes a giant alien worm thing…That was me, I was always ready for some sort of a fight. Now eventually I was looking to talk down a fight, but I was always ready if it didn’t work out. I was so angry that when I first moved to Puerto Rico there was a young lady there named Lizzy. She was volunteering from another church there in Puerto Rico. Well I was friendly, or so I thought, with everyone and it was in the middle of the summer that I submitted my life to God’s and acknowledged him for the first time ever. Over the course of that year I studied and I grew in my relationship with the Lord. I was constantly studying or reading something about Scripture. I started to go to school so that I could learn more about God. Well, the next summer Lizzy came back to work at the church again and she shared something with me. She shared with me that the first summer I knew her she was scared of me. Even though I thought i was being nice, she said she was able to see this anger in me and she was legitimately afraid of me. However, this year was different. She told me that this second summer she could see something was different in my and I was gentle and kind and that anger that I held on my sleeve was gone and she was no longer afraid of me. Do you know what was different in my…The regeneration of the Holy Spirit was different in me. For the last year God had been transforming me into something different than I ever was before, something that he wanted to use for his purposes instead of my own. That is what happens after salvation. You and I are constantly being formed into the person God wants us to be. We read about that in

2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV)

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

You see, in my life, and in yours, after you have come to believe and submit to the Lord, I mean truly submit, not just play church…after you trust in the Lord and submit to him your life will change…the old will go, and the new will come. Listen, this is a very real thing that happens. It happens spiritually, but there is absolutely a change in our behaviour as well. You see, we used to only want what we wanted, but now suddenly we have begun to desire what God wants as well. Now, this isn’t something that is finished immediately, this is something that God the Holy Spirit will continue to work in your life until that time that we would be with the Lord in Glory. This next verse was a verse that I clung onto as a life verse for many many years, and I still look to remind myself

Galatians 2:20 (ESV)

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

It is no longer I who live…but Christ who lives in me. Do you know what happens when I begin to desire the things that God desires? Well, my anger goes away for one…but look at what fills up in its place, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Those are the fruits of the spirit in Gala 5 if you were wondering.

You see, God changes you from the inside out and you will continue to change until you are standing face to face with the Lord and he says, well done, good and faithful servant…but what if I am not experiencing these changes? What if I don’t care that i am angry all the time, or if I know its sinful for me to cheat on my spouse, but I continue to do that anyway? Well, Im gonna be harsh here for a moment. If you are not experiencing the fruit of the Spirit…then I would ask if you have ever had an encounter with the Spirit. You see, because you cannot help but be changed when the Holy Spirit exchanges your dead spirit for God’s life-giving Spirit. Change is just what happens…whether you were a kid or an adult, change happens and you continue to grow towards Christ. If you don’t care to grow towards Christ…then I would question if your spirit has been made new.Ok, so what about if we mess up? What if we sin and forget to repent of that particular sin? What if I do something so egregious that I can’t ask God to forgive me for that particular sin? What happens after I die…will it be ok? Well, let’s take a look at the last part of regeneration...

Eternal Salvation

Yeah…eternal salvation. In other words salvation not just for today…but for eternity? Not just for here…for forever! Look at what Jesus said in

John 10:28 (ESV)

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

That verse right there says alot. now we can’t get into all of it, so Im gonna ask you to reach out if this is new information for you. But here’s the deal…You cannot lose your salvation? In other words, you cannot sin your way out of salvation. Some will teach you that you can loose your salvation, that is an unbiblical teaching that has no foundation in the Scripture. Jesus says that no one will snatch them from his hand. That means that once you are saved, you are always saved. Let me say it this way…If your spirit has been exchanged for Christ…Christ would have to leave you and put back a dead spirit in order for you to loose your salvation. No where in Scripture do we see that happening...

Additionally, once you are saved, you experience eternity in the presence of God. You will never again wonder where God is...

John 14:1–3 (ESV)

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

This is the eternal salvation for those who believe…We will sit with Jesus for eternity worshiping him, and living eternal lives with the Lord. What will that look like? Well…we will have to keep coming back to hear some more about that in a few weeks…For now, I want to encourage everyone to think about your standing before God? Will you stand before God and plead your case only to have him say, get away from me I never knew you? Or will you stand before God and have him say well done good and faithful servant. enter into the place of rest…There is only one way to God, and that is through his son Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for you. This morning don’t allow your pride, or your uneasiness to prevent you from beginning a brand new life with Christ. If you are here this morning and you are interested in learning more about what it means to believe in Jesus and what it means to submit your life to the Lord, then reach out and let’s have a conversation together. If you are hear and you are feeling uneasy about your relationship with the Lord then I want to ask you to message and just ask that I pray for you. You don’t have to give details that you are ready to give, but let’s start te conversation on you getting the place you should be from a spiritual perspective.

Let’s Pray