1 00:00:00,000 –> 00:00:07,160 You’re listening to a sermon from Pastor Colin Smith of Open The Bible. 2 00:00:07,160 –> 00:00:16,680 To contact us, call us at 1-877-OPEN-365 or visit our website OpenTheBible.org. 3 00:00:16,680 –> 00:00:21,500 Let’s get to the message, here is Pastor Colin. 4 00:00:21,500 –> 00:00:27,780 Well will you open your Bible at Second Corinthians, Chapter 5 and Verse 17 we’re going to look 5 00:00:27,780 –> 00:00:29,500 at a number of different scriptures. 6 00:00:29,980 –> 00:00:38,000 This evening again we are looking at a Bible theme and therefore drawing from many scriptures 7 00:00:38,000 –> 00:00:44,939 across the Bible and we are continuing our series that is entitled Regeneration – How 8 00:00:44,939 –> 00:00:49,180 Christ Changes Your Soul. 9 00:00:49,299 –> 00:00:54,540 Now we began last time by framing a question like this. 10 00:00:54,540 –> 00:00:59,360 The Bible says that the sinful mind is hostile to God. 11 00:00:59,459 –> 00:01:04,160 The Bible says that men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. 12 00:01:04,160 –> 00:01:08,080 By nature we are dead in trespasses and sins. 13 00:01:08,080 –> 00:01:13,739 Since the Bible says these things how come that you or anybody else, how is it that anybody 14 00:01:13,739 –> 00:01:19,400 could be here today loving Christ, believing the Gospel and wanting to be more holy than 15 00:01:19,400 –> 00:01:20,400 you are? 16 00:01:20,400 –> 00:01:23,739 How could that happen when by nature we’re hostile to God. 17 00:01:23,739 –> 00:01:28,639 We love darkness rather than light and we are dead in trespasses and sins and we saw 18 00:01:28,680 –> 00:01:35,120 that the Bible’s marvelous answer to that question is this wonderful truth of regeneration, 19 00:01:35,120 –> 00:01:41,339 that behind all believing, behind all loving the Lord Jesus Christ, behind all desires 20 00:01:41,339 –> 00:01:47,980 to be more holy than we are is a miracle of God’s regenerating grace. 21 00:01:47,980 –> 00:01:54,559 And we are exploring this miracle, this marvelous work of the Holy Spirit to change us from 22 00:01:54,559 –> 00:01:57,919 the inside, that the Bible calls regeneration. 23 00:01:57,919 –> 00:02:04,040 We saw that it is so great that the only other way in which the Bible uses this particular 24 00:02:04,040 –> 00:02:09,919 word in the New Testament is to describe the new heavens and the new earth. 25 00:02:09,919 –> 00:02:11,320 That’s how great it is. 26 00:02:11,320 –> 00:02:16,160 And that is what God has done in you if you are a believer. 27 00:02:16,160 –> 00:02:21,220 So, regeneration then, if you’re coming new into the series, what we’re talking about 28 00:02:21,220 –> 00:02:26,440 is the miracle of God’s grace in which he gives you new birth, new life, makes you a 29 00:02:26,500 –> 00:02:34,080 new creation, gives you spiritual life from the dead as you become raised with Jesus Christ. 30 00:02:34,080 –> 00:02:38,419 It is a change that happens in you by the Holy Spirit. 31 00:02:38,419 –> 00:02:43,619 It’s not a change in what is happening to you, it is a change in the you to whom things 32 00:02:43,619 –> 00:02:45,059 are happening. 33 00:02:45,059 –> 00:02:51,940 And we give this simple definition, that regeneration is the work of God by which he changes your 34 00:02:51,940 –> 00:02:58,679 soul so that with a new mind and a new heart you love him and trust him and follow him 35 00:02:58,679 –> 00:03:00,460 freely. 36 00:03:00,460 –> 00:03:04,779 It’s at the very heart, therefore, of what it means to become a Christian. 37 00:03:04,779 –> 00:03:12,059 And we took the first step on this journey last time when we saw that regeneration is 38 00:03:12,059 –> 00:03:18,179 God’s work in us that berths our work in Him. 39 00:03:18,979 –> 00:03:22,320 So that if you love God, if you believe the Gospel, if you want to be more holy than you 40 00:03:22,320 –> 00:03:26,679 are, the explanation is that you have been born again. 41 00:03:26,679 –> 00:03:29,699 You are regenerated by the Spirit of God. 42 00:03:29,699 –> 00:03:34,800 It is a miracle of His grace that is so great that it could only be compared to what will 43 00:03:34,800 –> 00:03:39,660 happen on the last day in the new heavens and in the new earth. 44 00:03:39,660 –> 00:03:46,539 Now, today we’re going to take a second step, and moving further into this great subject, 45 00:03:46,539 –> 00:03:57,000 we learn together that regeneration is a complete transformation that begins a continuing process. 46 00:03:57,000 –> 00:04:02,380 It is a complete transformation that begins a continuing process. 47 00:04:02,380 –> 00:04:05,479 I love getting feedback from the Life Groups. 48 00:04:05,479 –> 00:04:10,520 And already, in some of the Life Groups, as we’re talking about these truths from the 49 00:04:10,520 –> 00:04:14,800 Bible, people are wanting to move on to talk about the continuing process. 50 00:04:14,800 –> 00:04:18,339 They want to talk about how I’m changing in an ongoing way. 51 00:04:18,339 –> 00:04:20,700 That’s not what we’re talking about here. 52 00:04:20,700 –> 00:04:26,779 What we’re talking about here is the change that has happened in your becoming a Christian. 53 00:04:26,779 –> 00:04:31,519 That’s what regeneration is, and I hope that that will become very, very clear for us as 54 00:04:31,519 –> 00:04:34,339 we look into the Bible today. 55 00:04:34,339 –> 00:04:42,079 So your salvation involves both something that Christ has done, and something that Christ 56 00:04:42,079 –> 00:04:43,559 is still doing. 57 00:04:43,700 –> 00:04:47,500 A completed work and a continuing work. 58 00:04:47,500 –> 00:04:55,880 What He has done is to give you new life, new birth, and we call that regeneration. 59 00:04:55,880 –> 00:05:02,320 What He is still doing is to make you increasingly like the Lord Jesus Christ, and we call that, 60 00:05:02,320 –> 00:05:05,079 we usually refer to that as sanctification. 61 00:05:05,079 –> 00:05:10,359 It’s probably just worth noting for a moment that sanctification is sometimes used in the 62 00:05:10,579 –> 00:05:12,820 Testament of a completed work. 63 00:05:12,820 –> 00:05:19,040 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verse 11, you were sanctified, but usually sanctification is 64 00:05:19,040 –> 00:05:26,040 used in the Bible to speak of a continuing process in which God is making us more like 65 00:05:26,040 –> 00:05:29,179 Jesus by the Holy Spirit. 66 00:05:29,179 –> 00:05:36,179 Now, I want us to see how these wonderful gifts that are ours in Christ relate together 67 00:05:36,179 –> 00:05:42,339 so that we understand just how great our salvation in Christ really is. 68 00:05:42,339 –> 00:05:49,619 So, just to get your thinking here, let me give you a simple, even trivial analogy. 69 00:05:49,619 –> 00:05:54,260 Karen and I enjoyed a wonderful day last Monday. 70 00:05:54,260 –> 00:05:56,059 It was my birthday. 71 00:05:56,059 –> 00:05:58,220 And so, we celebrated in style. 72 00:05:58,220 –> 00:06:05,140 Now, I could simply tell you, hey, we had a wonderful day last Monday. 73 00:06:05,420 –> 00:06:12,480 Or, I could unpack that, and I could tell you what it was that made it a wonderful day. 74 00:06:13,519 –> 00:06:15,820 So I’ll do that since I started. 75 00:06:15,820 –> 00:06:19,040 We went to the inn at Lake Geneva. 76 00:06:19,040 –> 00:06:24,279 We sat on a little balcony, looking out over the lake, which was remarkable, really, because 77 00:06:24,279 –> 00:06:25,820 it was cold and wet. 78 00:06:25,820 –> 00:06:28,880 And we sat on this little balcony in our overcoats. 79 00:06:28,880 –> 00:06:32,820 Only a British couple would do this kind of a thing, you have to understand. 80 00:06:32,880 –> 00:06:35,519 And we enjoyed every minute of it. 81 00:06:35,519 –> 00:06:36,880 We had a marvelous dinner. 82 00:06:36,880 –> 00:06:39,100 We opened a pile of cards and of gifts. 83 00:06:39,100 –> 00:06:42,440 Our sons called on the phone and remembered. 84 00:06:42,440 –> 00:06:48,640 And when we got home, there was a voicemail from the pastoral staff, singing happy birthday! 85 00:06:48,640 –> 00:06:49,679 That’s a great day! 86 00:06:49,679 –> 00:06:51,399 That really is. 87 00:06:51,399 –> 00:06:54,299 And there were many things that made it great. 88 00:06:54,299 –> 00:07:01,320 Now, the Bible says that God has given us a great salvation. 89 00:07:01,420 –> 00:07:04,200 But what is it that makes it great? 90 00:07:04,239 –> 00:07:06,660 Well, I want you to think of it this way. 91 00:07:06,660 –> 00:07:10,160 There’s what He has done for us. 92 00:07:10,160 –> 00:07:14,320 And there’s what He has done in us. 93 00:07:14,320 –> 00:07:17,700 There’s what He has already done. 94 00:07:17,700 –> 00:07:20,880 And there is what He continues to do. 95 00:07:20,880 –> 00:07:25,679 And as you think of the extent of the greatness of the salvation that is ours in Christ, all 96 00:07:25,720 –> 00:07:32,720 the pieces that make it great, you’ll begin to have a clearer view of just how wonderful 97 00:07:32,720 –> 00:07:37,600 everything that is yours in Christ really is. 98 00:07:37,600 –> 00:07:38,839 Think of it this way. 99 00:07:38,839 –> 00:07:44,000 Christ’s completed work for us we call justification. 100 00:07:44,000 –> 00:07:48,820 It is the marvelous gift by which He forgives us freely so that we can say, having been 101 00:07:48,820 –> 00:07:55,559 justified by faith, we have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ, Romans 5.1. 102 00:07:55,559 –> 00:07:57,559 You contribute nothing to that. 103 00:07:57,559 –> 00:07:59,100 And it is not a process. 104 00:07:59,100 –> 00:08:01,440 It is a gift. 105 00:08:01,440 –> 00:08:08,299 His blood was shed, and you are justified completely through Jesus Christ by His shed 106 00:08:08,299 –> 00:08:09,299 blood. 107 00:08:09,299 –> 00:08:11,179 It is a done deal. 108 00:08:11,179 –> 00:08:16,519 Christ’s continuing work for us, the work He is still doing for us, we usually refer 109 00:08:16,519 –> 00:08:19,899 to as His intercession. 110 00:08:19,899 –> 00:08:24,679 Christ is for you not only on the cross two thousand years ago, He is for you now, at 111 00:08:24,679 –> 00:08:30,799 the right hand of the Father, He always lives to make intercession for us, that’s Hebrews 112 00:08:30,799 –> 00:08:32,739 7 and verse 25. 113 00:08:32,739 –> 00:08:36,520 That’s why you can have confidence to live the Christian life, whatever you’re facing. 114 00:08:36,520 –> 00:08:41,119 Because the Lord Jesus Christ is alive and right now He’s for you. 115 00:08:41,119 –> 00:08:44,679 That is how you can be sure since your life is in His hands. 116 00:08:44,679 –> 00:08:49,299 That His purpose for you will be worked out, and that you will have everything that you 117 00:08:49,299 –> 00:08:50,299 need. 118 00:08:50,299 –> 00:08:56,219 And we thank God for His completed work of justification and His continuing work of intercession 119 00:08:56,219 –> 00:09:01,799 for you in Jesus Christ. 120 00:09:01,799 –> 00:09:07,719 But then beside that, the Bible speaks not only for what God has done for us in Jesus 121 00:09:07,719 –> 00:09:19,119 Christ but what God does in us by His Holy Spirit, and Christ’s completed work in you 122 00:09:20,119 –> 00:09:24,400 is called regeneration, that’s what this series is all about. 123 00:09:24,400 –> 00:09:31,039 His continuing work in you is satisfiction, and I want to understand the difference between 124 00:09:31,039 –> 00:09:37,159 these two and to see how they relate together, it’s very important in how we live the Christian 125 00:09:37,159 –> 00:09:38,159 life. 126 00:09:38,159 –> 00:09:42,380 And the truth is, folks, that most Christians are very much more familiar with the continuing 127 00:09:42,380 –> 00:09:46,520 process than they are with the complete transformation. 128 00:09:46,559 –> 00:09:52,539 So many of us are very comfortable saying in the life groups, God is changing me. 129 00:09:52,539 –> 00:09:59,119 But some of us are very uncomfortable, very hesitant and very fuzzy when it comes to saying, 130 00:09:59,119 –> 00:10:00,219 God has changed me. 131 00:10:00,219 –> 00:10:02,760 We’re not sure we can say that. 132 00:10:02,760 –> 00:10:06,140 That’s why we’re studying regeneration. 133 00:10:06,140 –> 00:10:11,099 Your first instinct is to say, well, you know, I’ve surely got a lot more changing to do, 134 00:10:11,099 –> 00:10:14,559 I’m a work in process and I haven’t arrived yet. 135 00:10:14,619 –> 00:10:17,000 What that means is you’re talking about sanctification. 136 00:10:17,000 –> 00:10:21,559 You’ve tuned into the continuing work of change that the Holy Spirit does. 137 00:10:21,559 –> 00:10:23,159 You understand that well. 138 00:10:23,159 –> 00:10:24,159 You see it. 139 00:10:24,159 –> 00:10:26,599 I’ve got a long way still to go. 140 00:10:26,599 –> 00:10:30,719 But what many of us have not grasped well is the completed work that the Holy Spirit 141 00:10:30,719 –> 00:10:32,400 has done in us, regeneration. 142 00:10:32,400 –> 00:10:40,880 And that’s why today I want to give you seven scriptures that clearly speak of the 143 00:10:41,880 –> 00:10:46,679 work of Christ in a Christian believer. 144 00:10:46,679 –> 00:10:49,840 And you may like to note these and to ponder them. 145 00:10:49,840 –> 00:10:55,960 What I want you to notice is that in every case the language is of a completed change. 146 00:10:55,960 –> 00:10:57,659 Something that has happened. 147 00:10:57,659 –> 00:11:00,000 You ready to go then? 148 00:11:00,000 –> 00:11:01,000 Seven Scriptures. 149 00:11:01,000 –> 00:11:02,039 Here we go. 150 00:11:02,039 –> 00:11:08,719 Number one, 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and 17, the verse that we read earlier, if anyone 151 00:11:09,080 –> 00:11:14,039 in Christ, he is a new creation. 152 00:11:14,039 –> 00:11:17,479 The old has gone and the new has come. 153 00:11:17,479 –> 00:11:19,559 Now notice the language. 154 00:11:19,559 –> 00:11:24,159 He doesn’t say if anyone is in Christ he’s becoming a creation. 155 00:11:24,159 –> 00:11:30,059 It’s not the old is going away and the new is gradually forming in me. 156 00:11:30,059 –> 00:11:34,200 If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. 157 00:11:34,200 –> 00:11:36,700 The old has gone. 158 00:11:36,700 –> 00:11:38,919 The new has come. 159 00:11:38,919 –> 00:11:40,599 There is no process here. 160 00:11:40,599 –> 00:11:42,559 No process. 161 00:11:42,559 –> 00:11:44,099 It’s a done deal. 162 00:11:44,099 –> 00:11:49,239 It is something that has happened in its entirety and it’s true of you if you are in Jesus 163 00:11:49,239 –> 00:11:50,239 Christ. 164 00:11:50,239 –> 00:11:51,280 It’s true of every Christian. 165 00:11:51,280 –> 00:11:55,760 If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. 166 00:11:55,760 –> 00:11:57,880 This amazing transformation has happened to you. 167 00:11:57,880 –> 00:11:58,880 The old has gone. 168 00:11:58,880 –> 00:11:59,880 In you. 169 00:11:59,880 –> 00:12:01,780 The new has come. 170 00:12:02,119 –> 00:12:05,520 Now, this is what we’re trying to understand from the Bible. 171 00:12:05,520 –> 00:12:09,260 Second verse, Galatians chapter 2 in verse 20. 172 00:12:09,260 –> 00:12:13,039 Again, notice the definitive language. 173 00:12:13,039 –> 00:12:20,020 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me says Paul 174 00:12:20,020 –> 00:12:24,200 speaking he said this is what has happened and not just happened to him, it’s what happened 175 00:12:24,200 –> 00:12:26,700 to every Christian believer. 176 00:12:26,700 –> 00:12:29,380 This is the truth about you as a Christian believer. 177 00:12:29,380 –> 00:12:35,280 If you’re in Christ you have been crucified with Christ and you no longer live but Christ 178 00:12:35,280 –> 00:12:36,280 lives in you. 179 00:12:36,280 –> 00:12:37,640 That’s what the Bible says about you. 180 00:12:37,640 –> 00:12:41,900 That’s what we’re trying to understand in this series and get a better grasp of what 181 00:12:41,900 –> 00:12:42,900 has happened. 182 00:12:42,900 –> 00:12:47,799 Not what’s still to happen, what has happened already. 183 00:12:47,799 –> 00:12:54,659 Colossians 3 and verses 1 to 3. 184 00:12:55,000 –> 00:13:00,140 Since you have been raised with Christ. 185 00:13:00,140 –> 00:13:04,440 Notice not since you hope to be one day raised with Christ, since you have been raised with 186 00:13:04,440 –> 00:13:09,940 Christ set your hearts on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 187 00:13:09,940 –> 00:13:13,700 Again, notice the language, this is what has happened to you. 188 00:13:13,700 –> 00:13:18,059 If you’re a believer you have been raised with Christ, that’s why you love Christ, that’s 189 00:13:18,059 –> 00:13:19,739 why you believe the Gospel. 190 00:13:19,739 –> 00:13:24,559 Because you were dead in your trespasses and sins but you’re not now, something’s changed. 191 00:13:24,559 –> 00:13:25,559 Also alive from the dead. 192 00:13:25,559 –> 00:13:28,440 This is what the Holy Spirit has done for you. 193 00:13:28,440 –> 00:13:29,719 And later he says you died. 194 00:13:29,719 –> 00:13:33,599 Your life is now hidden with Christ. 195 00:13:33,599 –> 00:13:37,760 Of course there’s something for us to do here as there is in fact in all of these texts, 196 00:13:37,760 –> 00:13:39,239 setting your hearts on things above. 197 00:13:39,239 –> 00:13:41,700 We’ll come back to that in a few moments. 198 00:13:41,700 –> 00:13:47,479 But the way that you do that is first by taking in the miracle of what God has already done 199 00:13:47,479 –> 00:13:48,479 in your life. 200 00:13:48,479 –> 00:13:52,440 You have been raised with Christ. 201 00:13:52,440 –> 00:13:53,640 It’s happened. 202 00:13:53,640 –> 00:13:58,359 Number four, first Corinthians chapter six, verse 19. 203 00:13:58,359 –> 00:14:03,580 Do you not know, Paul says, so there were some Corinthians who also struggled to understand 204 00:14:03,580 –> 00:14:06,039 regeneration and needed to be taught this doctrine. 205 00:14:06,039 –> 00:14:13,140 He says do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. 206 00:14:13,780 –> 00:14:18,979 There’s so many Christians who are talking about, well, I want to receive the Holy Spirit, 207 00:14:18,979 –> 00:14:23,539 and Paul is saying, don’t you understand that if you’re in Christ your body is a temple 208 00:14:23,539 –> 00:14:24,559 of the Holy Spirit? 209 00:14:24,559 –> 00:14:25,859 He lives within you. 210 00:14:25,859 –> 00:14:31,500 He lives within you and you have received Him from God. 211 00:14:31,500 –> 00:14:34,859 If you’re in Christ, the Holy Spirit lives in you. 212 00:14:34,859 –> 00:14:36,559 He is with you. 213 00:14:36,559 –> 00:14:41,440 And His presence is what gives power that makes the Christian life possible. 214 00:14:41,500 –> 00:14:44,940 That’s why it’s so important to know this. 215 00:14:44,940 –> 00:14:48,539 Number five, Ephesians chapter five and verse eight. 216 00:14:48,539 –> 00:14:51,900 Again, we’re noticing the definitive language each time. 217 00:14:51,900 –> 00:14:54,080 No process. 218 00:14:54,080 –> 00:15:02,599 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. 219 00:15:02,599 –> 00:15:03,900 Wonderful statement. 220 00:15:03,900 –> 00:15:08,179 He doesn’t say you have light, He says, you are light. 221 00:15:08,179 –> 00:15:10,799 Your very nature was dark. 222 00:15:11,280 –> 00:15:13,359 Men love darkness rather than light. 223 00:15:13,359 –> 00:15:15,219 But your very nature has changed. 224 00:15:15,219 –> 00:15:20,940 You are light because Christ now lives within you. 225 00:15:20,940 –> 00:15:22,320 You are light. 226 00:15:22,320 –> 00:15:23,320 That’s regeneration. 227 00:15:23,320 –> 00:15:25,479 So, live as light, that’s sanctification. 228 00:15:25,479 –> 00:15:27,359 You see the continuing process. 229 00:15:27,359 –> 00:15:30,840 You can’t live as light unless you are light. 230 00:15:30,840 –> 00:15:38,119 Regeneration, the completed change that gives rise to a continuing process. 231 00:15:38,440 –> 00:15:47,619 Number six, you have been set free from sin, Romans 6, and verse 22, and you have become 232 00:15:47,619 –> 00:15:49,440 slaves to God. 233 00:15:49,440 –> 00:15:53,799 The benefit you reap leads to holiness and the result is eternal life. 234 00:15:53,799 –> 00:15:57,340 Now, boy, for many of us this is a great text. 235 00:15:57,340 –> 00:16:00,539 In fact, for all of us a great text to underline these words. 236 00:16:00,539 –> 00:16:03,320 You have been set free from sin. 237 00:16:03,320 –> 00:16:05,479 That’s what Paul says about you as a Christian believer. 238 00:16:05,580 –> 00:16:13,140 You have been set free from sin. 239 00:16:13,140 –> 00:16:17,000 Look at these words and try to take them in. 240 00:16:17,000 –> 00:16:20,380 Many Christians don’t grasp this. 241 00:16:20,380 –> 00:16:22,659 They immediately say, oh, you obviously don’t know me. 242 00:16:22,659 –> 00:16:23,659 You don’t understand. 243 00:16:23,659 –> 00:16:28,239 You see, actually, I sin, and I fail in many ways, and I’ve obviously not been set free 244 00:16:28,239 –> 00:16:29,239 from sin yet. 245 00:16:29,239 –> 00:16:30,840 Paul says, wait a minute. 246 00:16:30,840 –> 00:16:34,260 You have been set free from sin. 247 00:16:34,299 –> 00:16:36,020 That’s what he says. 248 00:16:36,020 –> 00:16:40,479 He’s writing to Christians, to ordinary Christians like us. 249 00:16:40,479 –> 00:16:43,020 Sin is still your enemy. 250 00:16:43,020 –> 00:16:49,640 Sure you fail in many ways as I do, but what he’s saying is that sin is no longer your 251 00:16:49,640 –> 00:16:51,380 master. 252 00:16:51,380 –> 00:16:53,580 You are no longer sin’s prisoner. 253 00:16:53,580 –> 00:16:56,280 You are no longer chained. 254 00:16:56,280 –> 00:17:01,640 You are no longer under the authority of this old slave master because you are set free 255 00:17:01,640 –> 00:17:02,640 by Christ. 256 00:17:02,640 –> 00:17:08,660 You can put up a fight against temptation and that is why there is hope for you. 257 00:17:08,660 –> 00:17:12,239 That is why there is hope. 258 00:17:12,239 –> 00:17:15,219 Because you’re in a new position, you’re not a prisoner. 259 00:17:15,219 –> 00:17:16,979 You’ve been set free. 260 00:17:16,979 –> 00:17:21,839 You’re able to put up a fight when temptation comes. 261 00:17:21,839 –> 00:17:25,640 Number Seven, 1 Peter 1 and verse 23. 262 00:17:25,640 –> 00:17:31,599 You have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable through the living 263 00:17:31,699 –> 00:17:33,239 and enduring word of God. 264 00:17:33,239 –> 00:17:34,239 Here’s what’s happened. 265 00:17:34,239 –> 00:17:37,199 You have been born again. 266 00:17:37,199 –> 00:17:38,920 Now think of the language here. 267 00:17:38,920 –> 00:17:41,699 You can’t be a little born, can you? 268 00:17:41,699 –> 00:17:42,819 You can’t be half born. 269 00:17:42,819 –> 00:17:44,920 You’re either born or you’re not born. 270 00:17:44,920 –> 00:17:47,800 The language is of completed transaction. 271 00:17:47,800 –> 00:17:50,199 Either this has happened or it has not happened. 272 00:17:50,199 –> 00:17:55,599 And to Christian believers, he says, here what is, what is true of you in Christ, you 273 00:17:55,599 –> 00:17:57,119 have been born again. 274 00:17:57,119 –> 00:18:00,119 It has happened. 275 00:18:00,140 –> 00:18:06,380 So, drawing this truth together, that runs all the way through the New Testament. 276 00:18:06,380 –> 00:18:12,119 Regeneration is Christ’s completed work in you. 277 00:18:12,119 –> 00:18:15,680 It is not a process. 278 00:18:15,680 –> 00:18:19,239 It does not happen in stages. 279 00:18:19,239 –> 00:18:25,979 That is what makes it different from sanctification, which is a process and does happen in stages. 280 00:18:25,979 –> 00:18:27,800 Think of it this way. 281 00:18:27,819 –> 00:18:30,060 You can be a little in love. 282 00:18:30,060 –> 00:18:32,619 Anyone ever been a little in love? 283 00:18:32,619 –> 00:18:35,400 But you cannot be a little married. 284 00:18:35,400 –> 00:18:37,260 You’re either married or you’re not, right? 285 00:18:37,260 –> 00:18:38,260 Okay? 286 00:18:38,260 –> 00:18:43,579 Now, sanctifications, like being a little in love, it kind of grows, progresses. 287 00:18:43,579 –> 00:18:45,140 Regenerations, like being married. 288 00:18:45,140 –> 00:18:46,800 You either are or you’re not. 289 00:18:46,800 –> 00:18:49,560 Does that help to make it clear what the distinction is, here? 290 00:18:49,560 –> 00:18:54,439 A completed transaction that gives rise to a continuing process. 291 00:18:54,439 –> 00:18:59,260 So I want us to get this in our minds, because it’s critical to our understanding of the 292 00:18:59,260 –> 00:19:05,439 Christian life, and I do want to show you how it is in just a moment’s time. 293 00:19:05,439 –> 00:19:10,439 Regeneration is the completed transformation, the work of God’s Spirit that begins the continuing 294 00:19:10,439 –> 00:19:13,400 process that we call sanctification. 295 00:19:13,400 –> 00:19:18,640 The great truth of sanctification that many Christians understand well is that God is 296 00:19:18,640 –> 00:19:20,199 changing me. 297 00:19:20,199 –> 00:19:22,040 Thank God for that. 298 00:19:22,040 –> 00:19:27,420 The great truth of regeneration that most Christians do not understand well is that 299 00:19:27,420 –> 00:19:33,900 Christ has changed me, and we need both these truths. 300 00:19:33,900 –> 00:19:38,020 And I want to show you in just a moment what happens if you grasp the one and not the other, 301 00:19:38,020 –> 00:19:41,680 and the answer is, you become spiritually exhausted. 302 00:19:41,680 –> 00:19:45,520 We’ll see how. 303 00:19:45,520 –> 00:19:47,599 Now, that’s the learning bit. 304 00:19:47,599 –> 00:19:50,560 Now, we’ve got to get down to some practice. 305 00:19:50,599 –> 00:19:58,920 I want you to see how the wonderful truth of regeneration functions in the life of a 306 00:19:58,920 –> 00:19:59,920 Christian believer. 307 00:19:59,920 –> 00:20:03,880 We say, okay, we spent nearly 20 minutes thinking about this. 308 00:20:03,880 –> 00:20:04,880 What’s the point? 309 00:20:04,880 –> 00:20:05,880 What’s the use? 310 00:20:05,880 –> 00:20:08,000 What’s the value of me knowing this? 311 00:20:08,000 –> 00:20:14,520 How does this truth work in the life of an ordinary Christian person like me? 312 00:20:14,719 –> 00:20:21,560 Well, I want to point you to three ways in which this wonderful truth functions in the 313 00:20:21,560 –> 00:20:26,140 life of a believer, three ways in which it’s really useful to you. 314 00:20:26,140 –> 00:20:29,180 Here’s the first. 315 00:20:29,180 –> 00:20:38,260 Regeneration is the root of all growth in your Christian life. 316 00:20:38,400 –> 00:20:45,300 It’s the root of all growth in your Christian life. 317 00:20:45,300 –> 00:20:51,020 Very simply, if you want to grow, you have to start with life. 318 00:20:51,020 –> 00:20:55,079 Dead things don’t grow. 319 00:20:55,079 –> 00:20:58,140 Put a stone in the ground, it’s a stone in the ground. 320 00:20:58,140 –> 00:21:02,079 Put a seed in the ground, different thing. 321 00:21:02,079 –> 00:21:07,420 So regeneration, because it is God bringing us to spiritual life by the Holy Spirit, is 322 00:21:07,420 –> 00:21:12,060 the root of all growth in the Christian life. 323 00:21:12,060 –> 00:21:20,719 Regeneration is the life that grows in sanctification, or to use a different kind of analogy, regeneration 324 00:21:20,719 –> 00:21:29,479 is the engine that drives all progress in the Christian life. 325 00:21:29,479 –> 00:21:32,500 Regeneration is what makes you want to be more holy than you are. 326 00:21:32,500 –> 00:21:38,800 It is the root, it is the beginning of all Christian progress, it is the life that grows 327 00:21:38,800 –> 00:21:41,020 in what we call sanctification. 328 00:21:41,020 –> 00:21:43,579 What that means is simply this. 329 00:21:43,579 –> 00:21:49,479 Since regeneration is becoming a new person in Jesus Christ, all progress in the Christian 330 00:21:49,479 –> 00:21:57,699 life begins with you knowing clearly who you are in Jesus Christ. 331 00:21:57,780 –> 00:22:02,579 That’s the first way in which regeneration is not only useful, but absolutely critical 332 00:22:02,579 –> 00:22:04,260 to everyone of us. 333 00:22:04,260 –> 00:22:07,459 Let me boil it down for you. 334 00:22:07,459 –> 00:22:16,260 Have you ever come to a place in your life when you said to yourself, you know, I think 335 00:22:16,260 –> 00:22:23,660 I am the most useless, miserable, failed, pathetic, weak apology for a Christian that 336 00:22:23,660 –> 00:22:25,119 ever has been or ever will be. 337 00:22:25,119 –> 00:22:27,959 Anyway, have you ever come to a place in your life when you kind of said that or thought 338 00:22:27,959 –> 00:22:28,959 that about yourself? 339 00:22:28,959 –> 00:22:30,959 A lot of heads nodding. 340 00:22:30,959 –> 00:22:35,760 And I have, too. 341 00:22:35,760 –> 00:22:40,119 Maybe you fell into some sin. 342 00:22:40,119 –> 00:22:43,680 Maybe the progress of other Christians just made you think, what in the world has happened 343 00:22:43,680 –> 00:22:46,540 to me. 344 00:22:46,540 –> 00:22:49,939 Maybe you were ashamed of thoughts that went through your mind. 345 00:22:50,939 –> 00:22:57,739 If I thought that, can I even be a Christian at all? 346 00:22:57,739 –> 00:23:03,319 Let God tell you who you are at that moment. 347 00:23:03,319 –> 00:23:09,280 Listen, you are a new creation in Christ. 348 00:23:09,280 –> 00:23:12,300 You have been crucified with Christ. 349 00:23:12,300 –> 00:23:15,699 You have been raised to new life. 350 00:23:15,699 –> 00:23:18,979 Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. 351 00:23:19,020 –> 00:23:21,459 You have been set free from sin. 352 00:23:21,459 –> 00:23:24,439 You are light in a dark world. 353 00:23:24,439 –> 00:23:26,160 You have been born again. 354 00:23:26,160 –> 00:23:30,260 And for that reason, you are a child of God. 355 00:23:30,260 –> 00:23:36,900 You see, that’s the only way to address the miserable failure thing that every Christian 356 00:23:36,900 –> 00:23:40,640 experiences at some point in our lives. 357 00:23:40,640 –> 00:23:44,500 You have to let God tell you who you are in Christ. 358 00:23:44,520 –> 00:23:51,260 And when you lay hold of that again, you will find the strength to move forward. 359 00:23:51,260 –> 00:23:57,400 Once you know who you are, you will find that the rest of your growth in the Christian life 360 00:23:57,400 –> 00:24:01,280 is simply a matter of being who you are. 361 00:24:01,280 –> 00:24:07,599 Which is why we’re saying that the root of all growth in the Christian life is regeneration. 362 00:24:07,599 –> 00:24:11,760 To know who you are now as a new person in Jesus Christ. 363 00:24:12,300 –> 00:24:16,839 Think through the seven scriptures that we looked at together. 364 00:24:16,839 –> 00:24:20,939 You might like to review them again later, but let me just show you how knowing who you 365 00:24:20,939 –> 00:24:25,180 are in Christ, that’s regeneration. 366 00:24:25,180 –> 00:24:30,140 Drives the new life in which you grow in Christ. 367 00:24:30,140 –> 00:24:32,119 Regeneration drives sanctification. 368 00:24:32,119 –> 00:24:33,459 Listen. 369 00:24:33,459 –> 00:24:38,680 You are light, Ephesians 5, 8, so live as light. 370 00:24:38,680 –> 00:24:39,680 See? 371 00:24:39,680 –> 00:24:41,459 There’s regeneration, what God done for you. 372 00:24:41,459 –> 00:24:42,459 He’s given you a new nature. 373 00:24:42,459 –> 00:24:43,739 You are light. 374 00:24:43,739 –> 00:24:46,099 Now when you know that you are light, what are you gonna do? 375 00:24:46,099 –> 00:24:48,739 Paul says, well, live as light. 376 00:24:48,739 –> 00:24:55,739 When you know that you are light, then you will find, that by God’s grace, you are moved 377 00:24:55,739 –> 00:24:59,699 to be who you are. 378 00:24:59,699 –> 00:25:04,780 You are free from sin, Paul says, so do not let sin be your master. 379 00:25:04,780 –> 00:25:08,660 Don’t let Satan tell you that you have to do this thing that he’s tempting you to do. 380 00:25:08,660 –> 00:25:09,660 You are a free man. 381 00:25:09,660 –> 00:25:10,800 You are a free woman. 382 00:25:10,800 –> 00:25:14,920 So don’t let sin be your master. 383 00:25:14,920 –> 00:25:16,920 Christ lives in you. 384 00:25:16,920 –> 00:25:23,479 Being crucified with Christ, I no longer live, but Christ lives in me, so what is my response 385 00:25:23,479 –> 00:25:24,479 to that? 386 00:25:24,479 –> 00:25:26,760 The life I live, I live by faith in the Son of God. 387 00:25:26,760 –> 00:25:31,520 If Christ lives in me, then I have to live by faith. 388 00:25:31,520 –> 00:25:35,839 When I know who I am, I find how I move forward. 389 00:25:35,839 –> 00:25:38,319 Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. 390 00:25:38,319 –> 00:25:39,920 There’s the regeneration statement. 391 00:25:39,959 –> 00:25:42,719 What’s the next thing that comes in 1 Corinthians 6? 392 00:25:42,719 –> 00:25:45,439 Therefore flee from sexual immorality. 393 00:25:47,119 –> 00:25:53,359 See, you will not flee sexual immorality until you really know that in Christ your body is 394 00:25:53,359 –> 00:25:55,040 a temple of the Holy Spirit. 395 00:25:55,040 –> 00:25:58,319 When you’ve really laid hold of that and that is true of you and Christ, you’ll say, 396 00:25:58,319 –> 00:25:59,619 I have to live differently. 397 00:25:59,619 –> 00:26:04,239 If my body really is a temple of the Holy Spirit, it changes the whole way in which 398 00:26:04,239 –> 00:26:08,400 I think about that stuff. 399 00:26:08,400 –> 00:26:14,079 You have been raised with Christ, so set your minds on things above. 400 00:26:14,079 –> 00:26:19,920 See, if you already belong to heaven, then get your mind where you already belong. 401 00:26:19,920 –> 00:26:26,119 You are a new creation in Christ, so live for Christ and not for yourself, 2 Corinthians 402 00:26:26,119 –> 00:26:32,199 5 verse 17, you have been born again first Peter, so love one another deeply. 403 00:26:32,400 –> 00:26:38,800 So, in all of these Scriptures, they work the same way. 404 00:26:38,800 –> 00:26:42,640 Discover who you are, and then you’ll know how to move forward. 405 00:26:42,640 –> 00:26:50,400 Regeneration is the root, the beginning of all progress in the Christian life. 406 00:26:50,400 –> 00:26:54,680 And one reason why many Christians don’t make a lot of progress is that we don’t think deeply 407 00:26:54,680 –> 00:27:00,560 about who we are in Jesus Christ and what God has already done for us in Jesus Christ. 408 00:27:00,560 –> 00:27:04,020 Once you go out into this week saying my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, and that’s 409 00:27:04,020 –> 00:27:13,780 already true, you’ll think differently about the way that you live. 410 00:27:13,780 –> 00:27:16,880 Do you know who you are in Christ? 411 00:27:16,880 –> 00:27:20,520 You know, there’s a lady in the congregation just recently said to me. 412 00:27:20,520 –> 00:27:27,079 She said it’s really helped me to know that the flesh is not who I am. 413 00:27:27,079 –> 00:27:28,959 It’s what I’m fighting against. 414 00:27:29,219 –> 00:27:32,579 Isn’t that good? 415 00:27:32,579 –> 00:27:34,640 She had grasped regeneration, you see. 416 00:27:34,640 –> 00:27:39,000 She’d grasped that she really is a new person, and that the temptations that were coming 417 00:27:39,000 –> 00:27:46,400 to her and that she was battling against, that’s not who I am, and that was strengthening 418 00:27:46,400 –> 00:27:49,500 her, therefore, to fight against that stuff. 419 00:27:49,500 –> 00:27:52,719 How is this useful, regeneration? 420 00:27:52,719 –> 00:28:00,020 It is the life that grows in sanctification and knowing who you are is the beginning of 421 00:28:00,020 –> 00:28:06,680 becoming who you are, which is the whole process of growth in the Christian life. 422 00:28:06,680 –> 00:28:09,040 Here’s the second thing. 423 00:28:09,040 –> 00:28:17,900 Regeneration, perhaps more than any other truth in the Bible will help you to overcome 424 00:28:17,900 –> 00:28:25,160 discouragement and particularly to overcome discouragement in regards to progress in 425 00:28:25,160 –> 00:28:27,459 the Christian life. 426 00:28:27,459 –> 00:28:32,619 Now let me, I’ve asked of the Lord that this would be life changing and liberating for 427 00:28:32,619 –> 00:28:36,060 some in our congregation this weekend. 428 00:28:36,060 –> 00:28:41,199 Let me describe the issue and see if you relate to this. 429 00:28:41,199 –> 00:28:47,060 Some Christians have a genuine longing to be more like Christ. 430 00:28:47,060 –> 00:28:53,939 It runs so deep within them, but they are always discouraged about it. 431 00:28:53,939 –> 00:28:56,800 They have an air of defeat about them. 432 00:28:56,800 –> 00:29:01,739 They say, I want to be a better Christian, but I’m not there yet. 433 00:29:01,739 –> 00:29:06,780 I’m not the person that I want to be, but I’m praying that God will do a new work in 434 00:29:07,180 –> 00:29:14,300 And there’s this kind of sense of defeat that hangs over them year after year after 435 00:29:14,300 –> 00:29:15,300 year. 436 00:29:15,300 –> 00:29:22,479 There’s a desire, there’s a longing, there’s no joy, no real sense of progress, just I 437 00:29:22,479 –> 00:29:25,180 wish I was better than I am. 438 00:29:25,180 –> 00:29:34,060 The longing is good, but the sense of defeat is surely not what we find in the New Testament. 439 00:29:34,160 –> 00:29:39,319 The great strength of these Christians is that they have a passionate longing for holiness. 440 00:29:39,319 –> 00:29:41,160 You can’t have that too much. 441 00:29:41,160 –> 00:29:43,880 They want to be better. 442 00:29:43,880 –> 00:29:49,160 They’re stretching themselves out in the pursuit of a more godly life. 443 00:29:49,160 –> 00:29:55,800 In other words, they’ve really grasped onto the doctrine of sanctification which promotes 444 00:29:55,800 –> 00:30:00,160 humility and it promotes effort and it says you haven’t arrived there yet, you have a 445 00:30:01,119 –> 00:30:02,500 so press on. 446 00:30:02,500 –> 00:30:06,680 These Christians will really relate to a wonderful verse that we all need. 447 00:30:06,680 –> 00:30:11,719 Like Philippians 3.10, not that I have already obtained this or have already been made perfect, 448 00:30:11,719 –> 00:30:13,359 but I press on. 449 00:30:13,359 –> 00:30:15,400 That’s sanctification. 450 00:30:15,400 –> 00:30:16,619 Alright? 451 00:30:16,619 –> 00:30:20,180 The continuing process. 452 00:30:20,180 –> 00:30:22,000 Now we need all the truth of the Bible. 453 00:30:22,000 –> 00:30:26,640 That’s the whole point of why we’re here for this series. 454 00:30:26,660 –> 00:30:29,979 And that includes, I need this truth of sanctification. 455 00:30:30,000 –> 00:30:33,199 Boy I do. 456 00:30:33,199 –> 00:30:38,780 I need to aply myself to becoming more holy than I am on a continuing basis. 457 00:30:38,780 –> 00:30:45,119 With God’s help I need to work on being less selfish and less critical unless a whole lot 458 00:30:45,119 –> 00:30:47,400 of things. 459 00:30:47,400 –> 00:30:49,619 I said to my wife, what else should I put on that list? 460 00:30:49,619 –> 00:30:53,319 She said, just put a whole lot of things. 461 00:30:53,339 –> 00:30:58,400 I need to be more generous, more thankful, more patient, more understanding. 462 00:30:58,400 –> 00:31:02,479 And by God’s grace I really want to do that. 463 00:31:02,479 –> 00:31:06,680 Because His Spirit lives in me as in you if you’re a Christian believer. 464 00:31:06,680 –> 00:31:09,680 But let me ask you honestly this question. 465 00:31:09,680 –> 00:31:17,739 Who in this congregation honestly is satisfied with his own sanctification or her own sanctification? 466 00:31:17,739 –> 00:31:22,760 Is there anyone here who is as holy as he or she wants to be? 467 00:31:22,760 –> 00:31:23,760 Not one of us. 468 00:31:23,760 –> 00:31:30,520 In fact, the first mark of genuine holiness is that we want to be more holy than we are. 469 00:31:30,520 –> 00:31:36,339 So the problem that we face – and you’re not alone in this – the problem that we 470 00:31:36,339 –> 00:31:43,239 face in sanctification, number one problem is discouragement because we never get there. 471 00:31:43,239 –> 00:31:44,239 It’s always beyond. 472 00:31:44,239 –> 00:31:47,579 We’re always pressing on. 473 00:31:47,719 –> 00:31:54,319 And if sanctification is the only truth you have grasped, then the Christian life 474 00:31:54,319 –> 00:31:57,660 will always seem beyond you. 475 00:31:57,660 –> 00:32:04,900 And you will live your Christian life like it’s always beyond you until the day you die. 476 00:32:05,020 –> 00:32:16,939 That is why, beside the great truth of sanctification, every one of us needs the truth of regeneration 477 00:32:16,959 –> 00:32:18,699 and what God has brought together. 478 00:32:18,699 –> 00:32:23,859 Let no man or woman separate. 479 00:32:23,859 –> 00:32:29,420 Because besides sanctification, which is what God is still doing in you, there is this wonderful 480 00:32:29,420 –> 00:32:35,400 truth of regeneration, which is what God has done in you, and that is what will give you 481 00:32:35,400 –> 00:32:40,439 joy and strength to continue on the journey of sanctification. 482 00:32:40,439 –> 00:32:42,380 That will keep you going. 483 00:32:42,380 –> 00:32:44,540 That will deliver you from discouragement. 484 00:32:44,540 –> 00:32:47,819 What God has done in you, thank Him for it. 485 00:32:47,819 –> 00:32:49,780 Find joy in it. 486 00:32:49,780 –> 00:32:56,760 And let me give you just a little picture, because I want you to think about this. 487 00:32:56,760 –> 00:33:00,219 Imagine with me a man who’s going on a journey through the desert, okay? 488 00:33:00,219 –> 00:33:04,500 He’s got a pack on his back, he’s got a cloth over his head. 489 00:33:04,500 –> 00:33:12,979 He trudges through miles and miles and miles of sand, and he’s carrying water that sustains 490 00:33:13,300 –> 00:33:16,380 When he drinks the water, he knows he’s got to find an oasis to get more water, otherwise 491 00:33:16,400 –> 00:33:17,400 he’s going to do what? 492 00:33:17,400 –> 00:33:22,319 Going to die in the desert, right? 493 00:33:22,319 –> 00:33:28,160 Regeneration is the oasis for your soul. 494 00:33:28,160 –> 00:33:33,420 It tells you that beside the work that Christ continues to do in you, there is the work 495 00:33:33,420 –> 00:33:36,199 that He has already done. 496 00:33:36,199 –> 00:33:40,739 And that is water to a thirsty soul. 497 00:33:41,739 –> 00:33:47,859 Now, imagine our man in the desert on his journey running out of water, his flask is 498 00:33:47,859 –> 00:33:53,020 empty, he’s getting tired and exhausted and a mile ahead of him there is an oasis, 499 00:33:53,020 –> 00:33:58,579 and all of us are in the oasis there, and we’re grateful to be there before we continue 500 00:33:58,579 –> 00:33:59,579 on our journey. 501 00:33:59,579 –> 00:34:03,859 And here we see this man who’s coming towards the oasis, he looks absolutely exhausted, 502 00:34:04,339 –> 00:34:11,840 In this oasis there is a spring of water, ahead of him there is a blue lagoon into which 503 00:34:11,840 –> 00:34:19,340 he can plunge his dried out body, and as we see him coming up we go out to welcome and 504 00:34:19,340 –> 00:34:24,840 we say, Brother come on in here, and be refreshed and be renewed before you go on the next stage 505 00:34:24,840 –> 00:34:25,620 of your journey. 506 00:34:25,620 –> 00:34:36,239 But, he says, I must press on, and we say to him you are going to die in the desert 507 00:34:36,239 –> 00:34:37,879 if you don’t come here and fill your bottles of water. 508 00:34:37,879 –> 00:34:45,760 Oh no, no, no, this journey is long, he says, I must press on, and off he goes. 509 00:34:45,760 –> 00:34:54,219 Listen, a lot of Christians are like that and it’s happening even in our life groups 510 00:34:54,320 –> 00:35:01,520 I believe in some of our discussions we can’t get into our minds what God has done for us. 511 00:35:01,520 –> 00:35:07,080 We keep bypassing the oasis and going back on into the journey of sanctification, and 512 00:35:07,080 –> 00:35:11,179 what we still to do, and what we still to achieve, and what we’re still working on. 513 00:35:11,179 –> 00:35:22,500 So, God says you are a new creation in Christ, that is water to a thirsty soul, but you rush 514 00:35:22,540 –> 00:35:24,360 to pass it. 515 00:35:24,360 –> 00:35:25,959 You don’t take it in. 516 00:35:25,959 –> 00:35:32,739 You say, new creation, well I’m not as new as I want to be, so I must press on. 517 00:35:32,739 –> 00:35:37,020 God says you are the temple of the Holy Spirit. 518 00:35:37,020 –> 00:35:39,639 Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. 519 00:35:39,639 –> 00:35:42,620 There’s life in that. 520 00:35:42,620 –> 00:35:44,399 You come in and drink of that deeply. 521 00:35:44,399 –> 00:35:48,840 You are a temple of the Holy Spirit, that’s what God says to you, but you see some of 522 00:35:49,000 –> 00:35:52,760 Some of us are like that man in the desert, we say, no, no, we’ve no time to stop there, 523 00:35:52,760 –> 00:35:53,760 we’ve got to press on. 524 00:35:53,760 –> 00:35:56,280 You see, I need to be more filled with the spirit than I am. 525 00:35:56,280 –> 00:36:00,699 I’m sure that’s true, I just want you to stop and hear this. 526 00:36:00,699 –> 00:36:06,280 Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. 527 00:36:06,280 –> 00:36:10,320 Stay there for a moment. 528 00:36:10,320 –> 00:36:18,560 break in this truth, because it will be the water that sustains you on the journey. 529 00:36:18,560 –> 00:36:22,679 God has said, hear it, hear it. 530 00:36:22,679 –> 00:36:34,320 You have been set free from sin and there’s power in that to drive you forward in living 531 00:36:34,320 –> 00:36:37,280 the Christian life. 532 00:36:37,280 –> 00:36:40,580 But you rush past this and you say oh, you don’t understand, there are many besetting 533 00:36:40,580 –> 00:36:45,620 sins in my life and I really need to work very hard at conquering them. 534 00:36:45,620 –> 00:36:54,219 You are so passionate about sanctification and that’s great, that you rush past regeneration 535 00:36:54,219 –> 00:37:00,800 which is very bad because then like the man without the water in the desert eventually 536 00:37:00,800 –> 00:37:01,820 you know what happens. 537 00:37:02,719 –> 00:37:10,320 pursuit of the Christian life exhausted, exhausted, exhausted. 538 00:37:10,320 –> 00:37:14,199 That’s what happens again and again in every generation to people who grasp sanctification 539 00:37:14,199 –> 00:37:19,540 and not regeneration. 540 00:37:19,540 –> 00:37:27,580 Drink deeply of this water. 541 00:37:27,580 –> 00:37:30,159 It will sustain you on the journey of sanctification. 542 00:37:30,159 –> 00:37:33,820 That’s what it’s for. 543 00:37:33,820 –> 00:37:39,399 Let Christ tell you who you are. 544 00:37:39,399 –> 00:37:44,600 Take in the miracle of God’s grace that He has already done. 545 00:37:44,600 –> 00:37:51,600 Stop for one moment fretting about what you are not yet, and take in who you already are 546 00:37:51,600 –> 00:37:52,600 in Jesus Christ. 547 00:37:52,600 –> 00:37:56,060 It is water to your soul. 548 00:37:56,060 –> 00:37:59,219 In Christ, you are a new creation. 549 00:37:59,280 –> 00:38:05,080 And in Christ, the old has gone and in Christ, the new has come. 550 00:38:05,080 –> 00:38:06,080 Drink this water. 551 00:38:06,080 –> 00:38:08,479 It will be life to you. 552 00:38:08,479 –> 00:38:16,899 It will help you overcome discouragement, and it will sustain you on the journey of 553 00:38:16,899 –> 00:38:18,399 the Christian life. 554 00:38:18,399 –> 00:38:23,639 You see how important this truth is, why we would want to take these weeks so that we 555 00:38:23,639 –> 00:38:25,659 get it into our minds and hearts? 556 00:38:26,659 –> 00:38:29,280 It’s how it works in the Christian life. 557 00:38:29,280 –> 00:38:35,020 And here’s the last thing, and it’s just very brief. 558 00:38:35,020 –> 00:38:39,060 Regeneration will help you stand up against temptation. 559 00:38:39,060 –> 00:38:43,860 It is very important to know how temptation works. 560 00:38:43,860 –> 00:38:50,379 What Satan does is he invites you to go back to your old sins, and because he’s a liar 561 00:38:50,500 –> 00:38:59,439 and he’s the father of lies, what he does is he tempts you with some enticement. 562 00:38:59,439 –> 00:39:04,120 And what he does by putting these thoughts into your mind is something like this. 563 00:39:04,120 –> 00:39:11,060 He holds an enticement before you, and he says, this is what you want. 564 00:39:11,060 –> 00:39:14,479 This is what you enjoy. 565 00:39:14,479 –> 00:39:16,580 This is where you belong. 566 00:39:16,580 –> 00:39:19,260 And, wait for it. 567 00:39:19,260 –> 00:39:22,899 This is who you are! 568 00:39:22,899 –> 00:39:34,439 And, remember then, in that moment of temptation, that he is the father of lies, and the Spirit 569 00:39:34,439 –> 00:39:38,840 of truth would come to you and say, no. 570 00:39:38,840 –> 00:39:41,040 This is who you were! 571 00:39:41,040 –> 00:39:46,280 It is not who you are. 572 00:39:46,280 –> 00:39:49,760 For you have been bought, you have been cleansed, you are a new creation. 573 00:39:49,760 –> 00:39:51,800 You are a Temple of the Holy Spirit. 574 00:39:51,800 –> 00:39:54,300 You are light in this dark world. 575 00:39:54,300 –> 00:39:57,560 Now, be who you are. 576 00:39:57,560 –> 00:40:00,840 We thank God for the doctrine of regeneration. 577 00:40:00,840 –> 00:40:04,120 Let’s pray together, shall we? 578 00:40:04,120 –> 00:40:13,800 Father, this is amazing, glorious truth of your work of grace in us. 579 00:40:13,919 –> 00:40:25,260 And, Father, we bless You today for what You have already done. 580 00:40:25,260 –> 00:40:34,600 Help us to drink deeply of this water, that we might be strengthened, sustained, refreshed, 581 00:40:34,600 –> 00:40:37,860 equipped for the journey of the Christian life. 582 00:40:38,360 –> 00:40:49,139 Grant that some who are flagging and exhausted may find refreshment and joy in Your Word 583 00:40:49,139 –> 00:40:51,800 today. 584 00:40:51,800 –> 00:40:57,939 For these things we ask with great thanksgiving in the Savior’s name, and everyone said, 585 00:40:57,939 –> 00:40:58,780 Amen. 586 00:41:02,899 –> 00:41:07,300 You’ve been listening to a sermon with Pastor Collins Smith of Open the Bible, to contact 587 00:41:07,300 –> 00:41:15,199 us, call us at 1-877-OPEN-365 or visit our website, OpenTheBible.org.