Regeneration

REGENERATION - We believe that all people are sinners by nature and by choice and Are, therefore, under condemnation (Romans 3:10-19,23, Eph. 4:18, Rom 5:12; 6:23).We believe that those who repent of their sins and trust Jesus Christ as Savior are regenerated by the Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 5:17, Titus 3:5, Eph. 2:22-23).

Once there was a brier growing in a ditch and there came along a gardener with his spade. As he dug around it and lifted it up the brier said to itself, "What is he doing? Doesn't he know I am a worthless brier?" But the gardener took it into his garden and planted it amid his flowers, while the brier said, "What a mistake he has made planting me among these beautiful roses." Then the gardener came once more and made a slit in the brier with his sharp knife. He grafted it with a rose and when summer came lovely roses were blooming on that old brier. Then the gardener said, "Your beauty is not due to what came out but to what I put in."

Isn't it amazing? Isn't it amazing that we can be a sinful person lost and sin, wrecked and torn, lost and hopeless and Jesus can make us new again? (Tear and restore paper trick) .

The act of being made into a new creation, the old being gone, the new come. Regeneration, it is such an amazing concept. Last week we went through the belief that we are all sinners, born in sin, inherited sin from the first man Adam. We spend our lives searching for something greater to fill us and we fail. The other side of that is we can be Born again by the grace of God.

To be born again is a Christanese word that I wonder if anyone really understands anymore. We can be born again, we can be changed, that is the other side of the coin of the salvation message. Lost in sin and the option to be changed and forgiven and made into something new. We believe that those who repent of their sins and trust Jesus Christ as Savior are regenerated by the Holy Spirit. What does it mean to be born again? When does regeneration happen? How do we know that we are a new creation? These are all things that we are going to go through today.

What is regeneration?

Our main passage this morning is the story of Nicodemus and Jesus in John 3.

John 3:3–4 CSB

3 Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 “How can anyone be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked him. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born?”

We use the term born again a lot but I believe lots of people who have not grown up in the church does not know what we are talking about. It makes me think of a story I heard from a pastor. He was at a funeral and they started to sing the song “There is a fountain”. It is an old hymn that we probably all well know.

There is a fountain filled with blood Drawn from Immanuel’s veins; And sinners, plunged beneath that flood, Lose all their guilty stains:

Have you ever stopped to think what people who do not know Jesus think of that song? So you guys swim in fountains of blood now, seems gross. We have to be careful about some of the Christianese words we use is what I am trying to say. To be born again is to be regenerated by the Holy Spirit. Which I am sure helps alot. To be Regenerated is a secret act of God in which He imparts new spiritual life to us. We are going to go through now what this looks like.

It comes from God Alone

The first thing we need to understand is Regeneration is an essential to our faith as we will see. To be changed and renewed is something that will come from being a child of God, there is no way around it.

John 3:1–2 CSB

1 There was a man from the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to him at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could perform these signs you do unless God were with him.”

John 3:3–4 CSB

3 Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 “How can anyone be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked him. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born?”

The next thing that we need to understand is that the act of being born again, being changed into a child of God is of God. being born again is what shows us this. Nicodemus had the same idea. He wondered how it is possible for anyone to be born again, to come a second time from your mothers womb.

That was kind of the point though. It is impossible to be born again like Nicodemus was thinking. And yet Jesus said it was essential, that we need to be regenerated t+o be part of the Kingdom of God. The active part we play in salvation is repentance and faith the rest is done by God. We play no part in being born again.

This is hard to take, How many of you like to hear that you play no part in the change that happens in your life when you become a child of God? I like to cross reference passages, it says the same thing in

Ezekiel 36:26–27 CSB

26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will place my Spirit within you and cause you to follow my statutes and carefully observe my ordinances.

You notice the common theme I will give you a new heart, I will change you, I will place my spirit within you. It is God alone through the work of the HS that changes us.

It is essential to our faith.

John 3:5–6 CSB

5 Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit.

There are a couple things we can go over as well. How it works, we do not know, the nature of being born again is not know to us. The second thing, which does not really matter in the grand scheme of things, but is important to point out none the less is the timing of regeneration. When are our lives changed? It happens in an instant but there are a couple different ways to interpret the timing of the events.

There are a group of Christians that hold to reformed theology that believe God needs to change us first before we can have faith. This is what they call irresistible grace. We are so lost in sin that we can not hope to turn to God on our own with out Him first working in our lives and changing us. His grace is irresistible and those He calls will turn to Him as He works in their lives. So they believe we are changed by God then we can have faith.

There is another view though that I hold to, that says we repent and then God changes us. The Bible is clear on this if we follow the context of Scripture. The Bible says again and again that we repent and then we are changed and given a new heart. Yes we are lost in sin unable to escape it on our own. But God has called all people to turn to Him, but not everyone will respond. Being born again, given a new heart is for those that repent and turn to Jesus.

This is an interesting passage that explains what this new life, this new heart is supposed to look like. It is a bit confusing and has a few possible interpretations to it. We have learned that Regeneration is a part of salvation in which New life is imparted on to us. We have learned that this act is from God through the work of the HS. Now we are going to see a little of what it looks like and that it is essential to our faith.

There is a couple meanings that we can get from this, something they would have all understood at the time. The first would be in reference to the teaching and baptism of John the Baptist. John the Baptist taught and practiced a baptism that signified the repentance of Sin and the coming messiah who would endow men with the HS. Our new birth, being born again which here I have called regeneration is only possible upon repentance and confession of sin, which God has called us all to do. And by the transforming power of the HS in our lives.

the second half of what this means is a bit broader. Both words spirit and water the way it is phrased here go together to mean the same thing. Not only is it in reference to repentance and confession, but life! Both water and spirit are words that are used in reference to new life, to purity. So to be born of water and spirit has a larger meaning of vbeing born to new life from above, eternal life in Christ.

Thirdly we read that this new life we are born to, as part of salvation, is what makes us children of God. It says then that unless one confesses their sin and repents and turns to Jesus, unless we live in new life in Christ then we are not part of the K of G.

Mere words are not enough to enter the K of G, what is needed is to be born again. Unless we take these steps to be born again, we will not be part of the K of G. How do we know this has happened? God does place within us a desire to change, to live for Him, to right the wrongs we have done. We start to be convicted of the bad things that we do.

John 3:7–8 CSB

7 Do not be amazed that I told you that you must be born again. 8 The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

An inner change is what this is saying. Not just outward conformity but a changed heart. a little parable is used to help explain this further. We do not understand how this happens, like we do not see where the wind comes from or where it blows but we know it does. we see the signs of it. It happens, that we do know but the rest remains a mystery. it is the divine act of God.

Conclusion.

Outward actions are not enough. We can put on a Good show, pretend we are children of God. But this wont last for long. What we need is both. the inward reality of someone who has turned to God in repentance and faith, the outward reality is the acting out of a life changed.

One of my favorite Christian musicians name is Lacey Sturm. Before she became a Christian she dealt with abuse at the hands of family members, the loss of a loved one, it was to much for her to bear. she decided one day that she was going to take her own life when she got home. She lived with her grandma who was a follower of Jesus. When Lacey came home without hope, ready to end it all her Grandma was home, and she was not supposed to be home that afternoon. Her grandma had taught her about Jesus from a young age and she would try and ignore her. But on this day when she was going to end it all, her grandma got to her and she grudgingly came to church. She hated everyone at church, but the pastor spoke that day about suicide and the hope that was found in Jesus and from all her grandma had taught her and what he was hearing that day she turned her life to Jesus. she was born again, gone was the desperation, the suicidal thoughts, she found eternal hope in Jesus.

Jesus is the changer of lives. The first thing we need to remember is that being born again, regeneration, the change that comes With salvation

It from God alone for the Glory of God alone.

It is not of us, but what Salvation does is it changes our lives from the inside out for the glory of God. Nothing we can do can change our own lives.

For the Kingdom of God

Being born again is essential for entering the kingdom of God. It starts with confession and repentance from our sin and turning to God. When that happens we receive new life in Jesus. He changes our lives. Which will be seen in the way that we live our lives in front of others.

Miracles and mighty works are possible for those that do not know Jesus, the bible says this, that is not convincing evidence of a changed life. Genuine love for God and His people though is different. AA changed life will result in this and obedience to the commands of God, character traits of a lie lived for Jesus, demonstrated over a consistent period of time, these ca not be produced by Satan or by the common man or women working on their own strength.

so then I ask, have you been born again? have you allowed Jesus to change your life?