1 00:00:00,000 –> 00:00:06,600 You’re listening to a sermon from Pastor Colin Smith of Open the Bible. 2 00:00:06,600 –> 00:00:14,740 To contact us, call us at 1-877-OPEN365 or visit our website, OpenTheBible.org. 3 00:00:14,740 –> 00:00:17,740 Let’s get to the message. 4 00:00:17,740 –> 00:00:19,719 Here is Pastor Colin. 5 00:00:19,719 –> 00:00:23,299 Excited about our new series beginning today. 6 00:00:23,299 –> 00:00:29,299 Regeneration, a new word for some of us that we’re going to learn and explore in its full 7 00:00:29,340 –> 00:00:30,660 meaning in the Bible. 8 00:00:30,660 –> 00:00:32,619 And here’s what it’s about. 9 00:00:32,619 –> 00:00:36,340 How Christ changes your soul. 10 00:00:36,340 –> 00:00:42,740 Now I want to open up the subject by asking some questions that will gear our minds towards 11 00:00:42,740 –> 00:00:47,740 what we’re studying in the scriptures over these coming weeks. 12 00:00:47,740 –> 00:00:53,459 What difference does believing in Jesus make in a person’s life? 13 00:00:53,459 –> 00:00:55,820 How does it make a difference? 14 00:00:55,820 –> 00:01:02,380 If a person who did not believe comes to believe, what else changes? 15 00:01:02,380 –> 00:01:04,400 Many people are asking this question I think. 16 00:01:04,400 –> 00:01:11,540 They’re saying, are you saying Evangelical Christian, are you saying that the only difference 17 00:01:11,540 –> 00:01:14,820 between a person who goes to heaven and a person who goes to hell is that the person 18 00:01:14,820 –> 00:01:18,120 who goes to heaven believes something different from the person going to hell? 19 00:01:18,120 –> 00:01:19,580 Is that what you’re saying? 20 00:01:19,580 –> 00:01:21,400 Is that what we’re saying? 21 00:01:22,040 –> 00:01:29,540 Or is there something else that makes a person in Christ different from a person who belongs 22 00:01:29,540 –> 00:01:30,540 to the world? 23 00:01:30,540 –> 00:01:32,099 Is it just a difference of belief? 24 00:01:32,099 –> 00:01:35,699 Because remember, the devils also believe. 25 00:01:35,699 –> 00:01:38,900 And if it’s more than that what more? 26 00:01:38,900 –> 00:01:41,580 What makes a Christian different? 27 00:01:41,580 –> 00:01:49,400 Or to frame the question another way, the Bible says that the gospel is the power of 28 00:01:49,540 –> 00:01:53,160 God for the salvation of everyone who believes. 29 00:01:53,160 –> 00:01:57,099 That’s Romans chapter 1 and verse 16. 30 00:01:57,099 –> 00:02:01,400 Power means that there’s more than forgiveness going on in the gifts that God gives to us 31 00:02:01,400 –> 00:02:04,019 in the gospel. 32 00:02:04,019 –> 00:02:09,619 Forgiveness comes from his love, from his grace, and from his mercy, but alongside that 33 00:02:09,619 –> 00:02:13,820 the gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. 34 00:02:14,419 –> 00:02:21,220 What Christian has happened in you life that could only be explained by an intervention 35 00:02:21,220 –> 00:02:27,619 of God’s power, because clearly that’s what the gospel involves. 36 00:02:27,619 –> 00:02:31,259 Or here’s another question, a different one. 37 00:02:31,259 –> 00:02:37,199 We celebrated at Easter just last week what Christ has accomplished for us on the cross. 38 00:02:37,199 –> 00:02:43,139 He cried out in a loud voice, it is finished, and on the third day He rose from the dead. 39 00:02:43,160 –> 00:02:48,580 Jesus saves us, through His atoning death and through His resurection. 40 00:02:48,580 –> 00:02:52,559 But here’s the question, how does that, all that Jesus accomplished on the cross, how 41 00:02:52,559 –> 00:02:57,179 does that become effective in a person’s life? 42 00:02:57,179 –> 00:03:03,160 Well we would answer to that, it becomes effective in a person’s life as a person believes in 43 00:03:03,160 –> 00:03:07,940 the Lord Jesus Christ and as a person repents, it becomes effective through repentance and 44 00:03:07,940 –> 00:03:09,419 faith. 45 00:03:09,419 –> 00:03:17,580 But that only raises another question, how is it possible for a person who is dead in 46 00:03:17,580 –> 00:03:22,279 trespasses and sins, that’s Ephesians chapter two and verse one, how is it possible for 47 00:03:22,279 –> 00:03:29,220 a person dead in trespasses and sins to repent and to believe, how could that happen? 48 00:03:29,220 –> 00:03:33,479 Let me give you some scripture just to frame this for you, Romans chapter eight and verse 49 00:03:33,479 –> 00:03:39,820 seven says that the sinful mind is hostile to God. 50 00:03:39,820 –> 00:03:44,639 That is, the mind with which you were born and the mind with which I was born, our human 51 00:03:44,639 –> 00:03:54,000 nature, our mind by nature, by default in our fallen humanity is hostile towards God. 52 00:03:54,000 –> 00:04:00,080 Now how in the world does a mind that is hostile towards God, that is the mind you were born 53 00:04:00,940 –> 00:04:05,440 with, how does such a mind come to believe God and to trust God? 54 00:04:05,440 –> 00:04:08,520 How could that happen? 55 00:04:08,520 –> 00:04:17,839 Jesus says, men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. 56 00:04:17,839 –> 00:04:24,339 In other words, we are born by nature, every one of us with an instinctive love for darkness 57 00:04:24,339 –> 00:04:29,140 rather than light because darkness is more comfortable to us because of the nature of 58 00:04:29,779 –> 00:04:31,359 Now, here’s the question. 59 00:04:31,359 –> 00:04:38,359 How then can men or women who love darkness, come to love God who is light, and in whom 60 00:04:39,559 –> 00:04:42,000 there is no darkness at all. 61 00:04:42,000 –> 00:04:46,839 How’s that going to happen if by nature we love darkness? 62 00:04:46,839 –> 00:04:52,559 The Bible says that the human heart is deceitful, twisted, warped, desperately wicked above 63 00:04:52,559 –> 00:04:53,839 all other things. 64 00:04:54,179 –> 00:04:58,880 How then can repentance and faith come from a deceitful heart? 65 00:04:58,880 –> 00:05:02,239 How’s that going to happen? 66 00:05:02,239 –> 00:05:07,660 And if the human heart, if the nature with which you were born, and the nature with which 67 00:05:07,660 –> 00:05:14,339 I was born, is incapable of producing faith and repentance, how in all the world will 68 00:05:14,339 –> 00:05:17,059 anyone be saved? 69 00:05:17,059 –> 00:05:23,820 Now, the answer, folks, to all these questions is in this one word that we are going to learn 70 00:05:23,820 –> 00:05:27,700 from the Bible over these next weeks, regeneration. 71 00:05:27,700 –> 00:05:35,279 The wonderful truth of how Jesus Christ changes your soul. 72 00:05:35,279 –> 00:05:42,579 It is perhaps the most neglected and least understood dimension of our salvation. 73 00:05:42,579 –> 00:05:47,160 Most Christians, I think, understand fairly well justification by which our sins are forgiven 74 00:05:47,160 –> 00:05:48,980 and we are made right with the Father. 75 00:05:49,440 –> 00:05:54,279 Many Christians understand well glorification, by which one day the Lord Jesus will take 76 00:05:54,279 –> 00:05:59,140 us into his presence, and when we see him, we will be like him. 77 00:05:59,140 –> 00:06:05,160 But many Christians do not understand well regeneration, that is, the work of God by 78 00:06:05,160 –> 00:06:12,100 which he changes your soul, so that with a new mind and with a new heart you love him 79 00:06:12,100 –> 00:06:16,380 and you trust him and you follow after him freely. 80 00:06:16,420 –> 00:06:20,700 Now, that’s what regeneration is about, how Christ changes your soul. 81 00:06:20,700 –> 00:06:25,739 It’s not so much what he does for you in forgiveness, it’s what he does in you to 82 00:06:25,739 –> 00:06:28,140 change who you are. 83 00:06:28,140 –> 00:06:29,899 And it’s a wonderful truth. 84 00:06:29,899 –> 00:06:37,500 Now only just as a sense of what we’re doing here, normally in the preaching ministry 85 00:06:37,500 –> 00:06:42,600 here at the Orchard, we follow through a Bible book, or we follow through a Bible passage 86 00:06:42,600 –> 00:06:44,799 sort of verse after verse. 87 00:06:44,820 –> 00:06:49,619 In this series, what we’re doing is we’re learning a Bible doctrine. 88 00:06:49,619 –> 00:06:54,019 That is, we are learning a teaching that is found in many places in the Bible that is 89 00:06:54,019 –> 00:06:57,260 fundamental to the whole of the Christian life. 90 00:06:57,260 –> 00:07:00,559 And what that means is that over these next weeks, we’re going to be looking at statements 91 00:07:00,559 –> 00:07:05,440 that are found in many different parts of the Scripture and seeking to draw them together 92 00:07:05,440 –> 00:07:10,200 to expand our understanding of God’s wonderful salvation. 93 00:07:10,200 –> 00:07:13,420 And so, I’m very grateful to the guys in the media team who are putting together the 94 00:07:13,420 –> 00:07:18,079 slides to help us note down some of these Scriptures, so that you can follow through 95 00:07:18,079 –> 00:07:19,079 on them. 96 00:07:19,079 –> 00:07:22,679 And of course, if you are in a life group, and if not, I encourage you to get involved 97 00:07:22,679 –> 00:07:23,679 in one. 98 00:07:23,679 –> 00:07:24,679 Call the office. 99 00:07:24,679 –> 00:07:25,920 You can be part of a life group. 100 00:07:25,920 –> 00:07:30,480 You’ll have the opportunity to discuss these great themes from the Bible as we meet in 101 00:07:30,480 –> 00:07:35,200 groups and consider these great questions further together. 102 00:07:35,200 –> 00:07:37,040 Now let’s start here. 103 00:07:37,100 –> 00:07:41,399 What in the Bible do we read about regeneration? 104 00:07:41,399 –> 00:07:46,100 Well, the first thing to say is that if you have the new international version of the 105 00:07:46,100 –> 00:07:49,799 Bible, which I have, and which is in the Pew Bible, you won’t find the word anywhere at 106 00:07:49,799 –> 00:07:53,799 all, which is one mark down for the NIV, as far as I’m concerned. 107 00:07:53,799 –> 00:07:59,320 But you will find it in just about every other major translation of the New Testament, and 108 00:07:59,320 –> 00:08:03,679 you will find it in Titus 3, verse 5. 109 00:08:03,679 –> 00:08:05,079 You might like to turn there. 110 00:08:05,160 –> 00:08:08,760 If you have the NIV, as I do, then you will see it says there, 111 00:08:08,760 –> 00:08:13,579 When the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us. 112 00:08:13,579 –> 00:08:17,579 Not because of righteous things that we had done but because of His mercy, He saved us 113 00:08:17,579 –> 00:08:21,940 through the washing of rebirth — there’s the word — regeneration and renewal by the 114 00:08:21,940 –> 00:08:22,940 Holy Spirit. 115 00:08:22,940 –> 00:08:28,359 Let me quote it to you from the new American Standard Version, NASB. 116 00:08:28,359 –> 00:08:33,559 He saved us by the washing of regeneration — there’s the word — and renewing by the 117 00:08:33,559 –> 00:08:35,000 Holy Spirit. 118 00:08:35,099 –> 00:08:40,520 English Standard Version — He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewal of 119 00:08:40,520 –> 00:08:41,960 the Holy Spirit. 120 00:08:41,960 –> 00:08:47,539 Kings James Version — He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the 121 00:08:47,539 –> 00:08:48,539 Holy Spirit. 122 00:08:48,539 –> 00:08:56,679 In other words, Titus 3.5 says that regeneration is how Christ saves us. 123 00:08:56,679 –> 00:09:00,719 So it is very important. 124 00:09:00,719 –> 00:09:03,520 What does it mean? 125 00:09:03,520 –> 00:09:11,119 Well we get a clue, and this is a mind blowing clue, as to what it means by the one other 126 00:09:11,119 –> 00:09:16,039 place that the word regeneration is used directly in the New Testament. 127 00:09:16,039 –> 00:09:21,359 Again in just about every translation except our dear friend the NIV. 128 00:09:21,359 –> 00:09:27,580 And that is Matthew 19 and verse 28 and I quote here from the New American Standard 129 00:09:27,580 –> 00:09:28,580 Bible. 130 00:09:29,400 –> 00:09:36,559 Jesus is speaking to the disciples and he says in Matthew 19 and verse 28 he speaks 131 00:09:36,559 –> 00:09:38,580 about the new heaven and the new earth. 132 00:09:38,580 –> 00:09:49,440 And he says, truly I say to you, that you who have followed me in the regeneration when 133 00:09:49,440 –> 00:09:53,739 the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne you also will sit upon twelve thrones judging 134 00:09:53,739 –> 00:09:57,200 the twelve tribes of Israel. 135 00:09:57,280 –> 00:09:59,520 Now think about what Jesus is describing here. 136 00:09:59,520 –> 00:10:08,640 He’s talking about the glorious day when this pain and suffering filled planet will be so 137 00:10:08,640 –> 00:10:14,700 marvelously renewed and recreated—the new heaven and the new earth—this tired old 138 00:10:14,700 –> 00:10:21,960 world afflicted with the effects of Adam’s sin, heaving in its suffering and in its pain, 139 00:10:22,000 –> 00:10:27,219 it will be changed so that the planet itself reflect the glory of Christ’s redeeming 140 00:10:27,219 –> 00:10:27,719 work. 141 00:10:27,719 –> 00:10:30,719 This is what Paul talks about in Romans 8, verse 21. 142 00:10:30,719 –> 00:10:38,460 The whole creation will be liberated from its bondage to decay. 143 00:10:38,460 –> 00:10:44,919 And when the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 19, verse 28, is describing the new heavens 144 00:10:44,979 –> 00:10:51,260 and the new earth, the glory of the planet redeemed. 145 00:10:51,260 –> 00:10:57,979 So that it no longer reflects the hideous marks of Adam’s fall into sin but rather 146 00:10:57,979 –> 00:11:02,960 reflects the glorious marks of the Lord Jesus Christ and His triumph on the cross. 147 00:11:02,960 –> 00:11:10,559 When the Lord Jesus reaches for a word to describe that, what word does he use? 148 00:11:10,559 –> 00:11:11,880 Regeneration. 149 00:11:11,960 –> 00:11:16,039 So regeneration is something wonderful. 150 00:11:16,039 –> 00:11:23,039 It involves taking something, in this case the planet, that has been devastated by the 151 00:11:23,039 –> 00:11:27,500 fall and making it new so that it reflects the glory of Christ. 152 00:11:27,500 –> 00:11:31,859 Now try and take this in. 153 00:11:31,859 –> 00:11:40,659 The Bible uses that same word to describe what Jesus Christ does in you. 154 00:11:40,659 –> 00:11:44,179 That’s mind-blowing, the regeneration. 155 00:11:44,179 –> 00:11:51,640 Now you may be saying, is that all you got? 156 00:11:51,640 –> 00:11:56,219 Two verses not even properly translated in the NIV? 157 00:11:56,219 –> 00:11:59,280 Nope, much more. 158 00:11:59,280 –> 00:12:06,619 We’re wading here into a whole river of truth that runs throughout the Scripture. 159 00:12:06,619 –> 00:12:10,140 Regeneration is described in different ways that are more familiar to us. 160 00:12:11,140 –> 00:12:12,419 One is the new birth. 161 00:12:12,440 –> 00:12:14,159 Another is new creation. 162 00:12:14,159 –> 00:12:15,539 Another is new life. 163 00:12:15,539 –> 00:12:16,539 Another is the new heart. 164 00:12:16,539 –> 00:12:21,700 Let me just refresh your memory, that will be the case, I’m sure, for many of us in reminding 165 00:12:21,700 –> 00:12:26,760 you about these scriptures that all express this wonderful theme of regeneration, that 166 00:12:26,760 –> 00:12:31,599 is what Christ does in your soul, as someone who belongs to Him. 167 00:12:31,599 –> 00:12:33,780 Perhaps the best known is being born again. 168 00:12:33,780 –> 00:12:35,179 That simply means the same thing. 169 00:12:35,179 –> 00:12:37,500 That’s what we’re talking about here. 170 00:12:37,539 –> 00:12:42,159 Jesus says to Nicodemus, John chapter three and verse three, no one can see the Kingdom 171 00:12:42,179 –> 00:12:43,859 of God unless he is born again. 172 00:12:43,859 –> 00:12:48,320 Then Jesus says to him, you must be born again. 173 00:12:48,320 –> 00:12:52,500 Then the Lord Jesus explains in that same chapter that regeneration is the work of the 174 00:12:52,500 –> 00:12:53,500 Holy Spirit. 175 00:12:53,500 –> 00:12:55,299 He uses an analogy. 176 00:12:55,299 –> 00:12:58,419 He says the wind blows wherever it pleases. 177 00:12:58,419 –> 00:13:02,239 You hear its sound, you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going, so it is 178 00:13:02,239 –> 00:13:05,580 with everyone born of the Spirit. 179 00:13:05,580 –> 00:13:07,380 What is regeneration? 180 00:13:07,380 –> 00:13:09,340 Regeneration is to be born of the Spirit. 181 00:13:09,340 –> 00:13:12,979 That is what the Lord Jesus is talking about here. 182 00:13:12,979 –> 00:13:15,960 How does the Holy Spirit bring us to this new birth? 183 00:13:15,960 –> 00:13:19,979 Answer, first Peter, chapter one, in verse twenty three, he does it through the Word 184 00:13:19,979 –> 00:13:21,460 of God. 185 00:13:21,460 –> 00:13:26,479 You have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable through the living 186 00:13:26,479 –> 00:13:28,820 and enduring Word of God. 187 00:13:28,820 –> 00:13:32,659 Peter is using the analogy of how a new life begins. 188 00:13:32,659 –> 00:13:35,000 How does a new human life begin? 189 00:13:35,020 –> 00:13:43,460 Well, the living seed comes, and not all of the living seed produces new life, but there 190 00:13:43,460 –> 00:13:47,320 is no new life that is produced without the living seed. 191 00:13:47,320 –> 00:13:54,359 So Peter is saying by analogy how does the new birth come, how is spiritual life generated 192 00:13:54,359 –> 00:13:59,440 in someone who is born dead toward God as you and I were. 193 00:13:59,440 –> 00:14:04,799 Well it is a work of the Holy Spirit in your soul that comes through the living and enduring 194 00:14:05,000 –> 00:14:09,760 seed of the Word of God. 195 00:14:09,760 –> 00:14:13,619 And you say, oh, now you’re talking about something I know, born again. 196 00:14:13,619 –> 00:14:16,679 Why don’t you just say we’re on a series about being born again? 197 00:14:16,679 –> 00:14:27,119 Well, I’ll tell you, because the words born again in our culture have been so horribly 198 00:14:27,119 –> 00:14:33,880 abused that there are millions of people who don’t have the faintest idea what born again 199 00:14:33,960 –> 00:14:36,700 actually means. 200 00:14:36,700 –> 00:14:41,820 There’s a pop song that has this line, I’m not going to sing it to you, I really mustn’t 201 00:14:41,820 –> 00:14:42,820 do that. 202 00:14:42,820 –> 00:14:49,260 It says in the refrain, lying in your arms, I’m born again. 203 00:14:49,260 –> 00:14:53,919 That’s what a lot of people think born again is, feeling better, feeling like I’ve got 204 00:14:53,919 –> 00:14:57,580 some hope now, you know. 205 00:14:57,580 –> 00:15:06,940 And you know, there are many in our culture who will refer to themselves as born again 206 00:15:06,940 –> 00:15:07,940 Christians. 207 00:15:07,940 –> 00:15:12,659 They have no love for Christ, they live no different from the world. 208 00:15:12,659 –> 00:15:16,039 You go into other parts of the world, and you’ll find a lot of people who think that 209 00:15:16,039 –> 00:15:22,940 born again is an American kind of Christian found somewhere mainly in the South. 210 00:15:23,020 –> 00:15:28,780 So the reality is folks, is that we are awash with this born again language that is widely 211 00:15:28,780 –> 00:15:33,140 either completely misunderstood or not understood at all. 212 00:15:33,140 –> 00:15:42,039 And what I want us to grasp over these weeks, is a biblical and glorious grasp of what it 213 00:15:42,039 –> 00:15:47,219 is that Jesus Christ has done in your soul if you’re a Christian. 214 00:15:47,219 –> 00:15:48,460 Regeneration. 215 00:15:48,460 –> 00:15:55,440 What it really means to be a new person in Christ born from above, born of the Spirit, 216 00:15:55,440 –> 00:16:02,039 changed on the inside so that you’re no longer who you were, or what you were. 217 00:16:02,039 –> 00:16:09,419 Because in the New Testament, the new birth, regeneration, is a miracle on such a scale 218 00:16:09,419 –> 00:16:15,719 that it could only be compared to the re-creation of the heavens and the earth. 219 00:16:15,780 –> 00:16:18,440 The Bible also speaks about it as being a new creation. 220 00:16:18,440 –> 00:16:20,919 You know this well, I’m sure many of you. 221 00:16:20,919 –> 00:16:23,440 Second Corinthians, chapter 5 and verse 17, 222 00:16:23,460 –> 00:16:27,260 if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. 223 00:16:27,260 –> 00:16:29,780 The old has gone and the new has come. 224 00:16:29,780 –> 00:16:32,359 The New Testament speaks about it being a new life. 225 00:16:32,359 –> 00:16:38,320 Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 5, God who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ 226 00:16:38,320 –> 00:16:42,919 even when we were dead in transgression so that it is by grace you have been saved. 227 00:16:42,919 –> 00:16:45,000 If you’re in Christ this is what has happened to you, 228 00:16:45,020 –> 00:16:49,419 the most marvelous thing that ever happened in your life. 229 00:16:49,419 –> 00:16:50,700 God has made you alive. 230 00:16:50,700 –> 00:16:52,919 A spiritual resurrection has taken place. 231 00:16:52,919 –> 00:16:57,080 You are not who you were, there’s been a change in your soul. 232 00:16:57,080 –> 00:16:59,140 You’ve been regenerated. 233 00:16:59,140 –> 00:17:02,500 The Old Testament puts it this way, it’s a new heart. 234 00:17:02,500 –> 00:17:10,920 Ezequiel chapter 36 and verses 25 and 26, really set out side-by-side the great blessings 235 00:17:10,920 –> 00:17:13,020 of the gospel. 236 00:17:13,079 –> 00:17:18,939 God says through the prophet Ezekiel, I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be 237 00:17:18,939 –> 00:17:20,199 clean. 238 00:17:20,199 –> 00:17:21,739 There’s the promise of forgiveness. 239 00:17:21,739 –> 00:17:22,739 That’s marvelous. 240 00:17:22,739 –> 00:17:23,739 You’ll be clean. 241 00:17:23,739 –> 00:17:24,739 You’ll be washed. 242 00:17:24,739 –> 00:17:25,739 You’ll be forgiven. 243 00:17:25,739 –> 00:17:28,119 You’ll be made pure. 244 00:17:28,239 –> 00:17:29,520 Then notice what he says next. 245 00:17:29,520 –> 00:17:31,959 I will give you a new heart. 246 00:17:31,959 –> 00:17:33,520 I will put my spirit in you. 247 00:17:33,520 –> 00:17:36,479 I’ll remove from you a heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 248 00:17:36,520 –> 00:17:39,000 That’s the new birth, that’s regeneration. 249 00:17:39,020 –> 00:17:47,599 Of course, everyone who’s a member of this church knows all this very well already because 250 00:17:47,599 –> 00:17:54,099 the word regeneration occurs in our statement of faith that all members of this church affirm 251 00:17:54,099 –> 00:17:55,939 and all of us of course know by heart. 252 00:17:55,939 –> 00:17:58,160 Now, I don’t know it by heart either. 253 00:17:58,160 –> 00:18:01,060 Don’t worry about that, but here’s what it says. 254 00:18:01,060 –> 00:18:06,660 In one of its points, we believe that the Holy Spirit in all he does glorifies the Lord 255 00:18:06,660 –> 00:18:08,439 Jesus Christ. 256 00:18:08,439 –> 00:18:16,420 He convicts the word of its guilt, he regenerates sinners, and in him they are baptized into 257 00:18:16,420 –> 00:18:18,760 union with Christ. 258 00:18:18,760 –> 00:18:23,140 So, that’s something that all members of the church in our statement of faith affirm, and 259 00:18:23,140 –> 00:18:27,180 anyone becoming a member of the church affirms this statement of faith. 260 00:18:27,180 –> 00:18:32,079 So, good for us to understand it well, because it’s one of the central tenets of what we 261 00:18:32,079 –> 00:18:33,079 believe. 262 00:18:33,079 –> 00:18:35,760 So, what then is this regeneration? 263 00:18:36,439 –> 00:18:40,040 Well, the title of this series will give you probably the simplest of all definitions, 264 00:18:40,040 –> 00:18:43,540 it is how Christ changes your soul. 265 00:18:43,540 –> 00:18:47,599 It is the work of the Lord Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit in you. 266 00:18:47,599 –> 00:18:53,000 So, think of it this way, forgiveness is what he does for you, regeneration is what he does 267 00:18:53,000 –> 00:18:54,420 in you. 268 00:18:54,420 –> 00:19:00,800 And that’s why the word soul is there in the title, it’s how Christ changes your soul. 269 00:19:00,819 –> 00:19:06,140 And I chose that word very deliberately rather than life for this reason. 270 00:19:06,140 –> 00:19:12,780 See, when we talk about your life, we’re normally referring to the things that happen to you 271 00:19:12,780 –> 00:19:14,739 or the things that you do. 272 00:19:14,739 –> 00:19:16,579 What’s happening in your life? 273 00:19:16,579 –> 00:19:22,400 Well, you know, I’m at high school or I’ve taken up this sport or I’m at college or I’m 274 00:19:22,400 –> 00:19:27,319 taking up a trade or I’m getting married or I’m going through the break-up of a relationship 275 00:19:27,319 –> 00:19:35,579 or I’ve got a job or I just lost a job or I’m sick and I’ve been diagnosed with an illness, 276 00:19:35,579 –> 00:19:39,160 I’m growing old and then eventually I die. 277 00:19:39,160 –> 00:19:40,260 That’s your life. 278 00:19:40,260 –> 00:19:41,439 The things that are happening to you. 279 00:19:41,439 –> 00:19:43,280 You can put whatever you want into that list. 280 00:19:43,280 –> 00:19:44,280 What’s happening to you? 281 00:19:44,280 –> 00:19:45,280 That’s your life. 282 00:19:45,280 –> 00:19:47,920 What are you doing? 283 00:19:47,920 –> 00:19:53,319 Your life, the things that are happening to you, what’s your soul? 284 00:19:54,000 –> 00:19:58,699 Your soul is the you to whom these things are happening. 285 00:19:58,699 –> 00:20:00,699 That’s a very important distinction. 286 00:20:00,699 –> 00:20:06,199 See, Christians often say, and it’s not wrong to say this, but we say, you know, Jesus will 287 00:20:06,199 –> 00:20:08,920 change your life. 288 00:20:08,920 –> 00:20:12,959 I think when people hear us saying that, what they hear is something like this. 289 00:20:12,959 –> 00:20:14,760 Oh good, Jesus is going to change my life. 290 00:20:14,760 –> 00:20:17,099 That means Jesus will change what’s happening to me. 291 00:20:17,099 –> 00:20:20,880 So if I come now to Jesus, presumably that means I’m now going to meet the right girl, 292 00:20:20,880 –> 00:20:22,800 get a new job, recover from this illness. 293 00:20:22,839 –> 00:20:25,160 Jesus is going to change my life. 294 00:20:25,160 –> 00:20:28,959 Friend, that is not the promise of the gospel. 295 00:20:28,959 –> 00:20:33,260 Regeneration is not a change in what is happening to you. 296 00:20:33,260 –> 00:20:38,239 Regeneration is a change in the you to whom these things are happening. 297 00:20:38,239 –> 00:20:40,560 It’s in the soul. 298 00:20:40,560 –> 00:20:44,739 We’re all concerned about what’s happening in our lives of course. 299 00:20:44,739 –> 00:20:50,920 But God is supremely concerned about the you to whom these things are happening. 300 00:20:51,319 –> 00:20:54,060 Your soul. 301 00:20:54,219 –> 00:20:59,619 See, Christians face the same experiences as everyone else in life. 302 00:20:59,619 –> 00:21:07,660 The same experiences of sickness and death, employment and unemployment, bereavement. 303 00:21:07,660 –> 00:21:09,040 We live with the same dangers. 304 00:21:09,040 –> 00:21:10,939 We face the same temptations as others. 305 00:21:10,939 –> 00:21:12,020 We live with the same pressures. 306 00:21:12,020 –> 00:21:15,020 The same struggles as people who are not Christians. 307 00:21:15,020 –> 00:21:18,140 Life is what it is. 308 00:21:18,180 –> 00:21:23,260 And Christ’s regenerating work does not lie in changing the things that are happening 309 00:21:23,260 –> 00:21:24,260 to you. 310 00:21:24,260 –> 00:21:29,339 Christ’s regenerating work lies in changing the you to whom these things are happening. 311 00:21:29,339 –> 00:21:30,540 That’s what matters. 312 00:21:30,540 –> 00:21:32,300 Your soul. 313 00:21:32,300 –> 00:21:34,699 Who you really are. 314 00:21:34,699 –> 00:21:37,319 Whatever’s going on in your life. 315 00:21:37,319 –> 00:21:41,939 That’s what regeneration’s about. 316 00:21:41,939 –> 00:21:46,260 This is a marvelous subject. 317 00:21:46,520 –> 00:21:50,979 Now, I want to make three observations about regeneration. 318 00:21:51,000 –> 00:21:55,380 I got into preparing this and realized we’re only gonna get to number one today. 319 00:21:55,380 –> 00:21:58,420 And so we’ll, God willing, continue next time. 320 00:21:58,420 –> 00:21:59,540 But here’s where we’re going. 321 00:21:59,540 –> 00:22:02,020 And we’ll just take the first step today. 322 00:22:02,020 –> 00:22:07,939 First regeneration is God’s work in us that births our work in Him. 323 00:22:07,939 –> 00:22:13,619 Then next time we’ll come to press further with this that regeneration is a complete 324 00:22:14,020 –> 00:22:19,699 transformation that begins a continuing process. 325 00:22:19,699 –> 00:22:26,180 And then beyond that, regeneration is a secret change in nature that brings an open change 326 00:22:26,180 –> 00:22:27,180 in life. 327 00:22:27,180 –> 00:22:30,300 In other words, when Christ regenerates you, you’re never the same again. 328 00:22:30,300 –> 00:22:32,099 You’re a different person. 329 00:22:32,099 –> 00:22:33,859 And it shows. 330 00:22:33,859 –> 00:22:37,500 And we’re gonna see how from the Bible. 331 00:22:37,500 –> 00:22:42,959 But today just to take this first step, regeneration is God’s work in us that births our work in 332 00:22:43,319 –> 00:22:44,319 him. 333 00:22:44,319 –> 00:22:51,319 Dr. Wayne Grudem, who for many years taught at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, our 334 00:22:51,420 –> 00:22:54,439 denominations seminary just up the road here. 335 00:22:54,439 –> 00:22:57,439 He writes this on this great subject. 336 00:22:57,439 –> 00:23:03,719 In the work of regeneration, we play no active role at all. 337 00:23:03,719 –> 00:23:07,819 Instead, it is totally God’s work. 338 00:23:07,819 –> 00:23:12,640 Now, he’s making the point that in many aspects of our salvation, like repenting and 339 00:23:12,699 –> 00:23:14,959 believing, we do play an active part. 340 00:23:14,959 –> 00:23:21,780 But he’s saying when it comes to regeneration, we play no active part at all. 341 00:23:21,780 –> 00:23:26,939 Regeneration is totally a work of God. 342 00:23:26,939 –> 00:23:31,359 Now, if you think about what we’ve been saying already, I think you will fairly quickly say, 343 00:23:31,359 –> 00:23:35,560 well, of course, it has to be because being born isn’t something you do. 344 00:23:35,560 –> 00:23:38,780 It’s something that happens to you. 345 00:23:39,219 –> 00:23:45,579 Because since the Bible tells us that by nature we are dead in trespasses and sins, obviously 346 00:23:45,579 –> 00:23:49,140 the dead can’t give life to themselves. 347 00:23:49,140 –> 00:23:53,540 We can’t participate in bringing ourselves to spiritual life. 348 00:23:53,540 –> 00:23:56,199 Only God can give new life to the dead. 349 00:23:56,199 –> 00:24:01,979 And indeed, when we look at the Scriptures that relate to this great theme, they consistently 350 00:24:01,979 –> 00:24:06,939 emphasize that regeneration is God’s work and that it is God’s work alone. 351 00:24:06,979 –> 00:24:11,719 For example, Ezekiel 36, verse 26, God says, 352 00:24:11,719 –> 00:24:16,939 I will give you a new heart, I will put a new spirit in you, I’m the one who will remove 353 00:24:16,939 –> 00:24:19,540 from you the heart of stone, isn’t that a great promise? 354 00:24:19,540 –> 00:24:28,640 I’m going to deal with a stony heart and I’m going to move you in the direction of my laws. 355 00:24:28,660 –> 00:24:34,280 Regeneration is, in the New Testament, a sovereign work of the Holy Spirit. 356 00:24:34,280 –> 00:24:41,439 John chapter 3 and verse 8, notice this, the wind blows wherever it pleases. 357 00:24:41,439 –> 00:24:42,900 You don’t control the wind. 358 00:24:42,900 –> 00:24:46,859 No the wind blows wherever it pleases. 359 00:24:46,859 –> 00:24:51,959 And then John says, so it is with everyone born of the Spirit. 360 00:24:51,959 –> 00:24:55,560 It’s the Spirit’s sovereign work. 361 00:24:55,560 –> 00:24:57,040 It is thirdly, God’s gift. 362 00:24:57,040 –> 00:24:59,239 James, chapter one and verse 18. 363 00:24:59,239 –> 00:25:03,520 He chose, that is God chose, to give us birth. 364 00:25:03,599 –> 00:25:05,760 He gave us birth, and how did he do it? 365 00:25:05,760 –> 00:25:09,839 He did it through the Word of Truth that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all that 366 00:25:09,839 –> 00:25:12,599 he created. 367 00:25:12,599 –> 00:25:16,439 Now here’s the question that as soon as we begin thinking about regeneration, and how 368 00:25:16,439 –> 00:25:23,040 it is God’s unique work to bring new life from our spiritual death and to transform 369 00:25:23,040 –> 00:25:29,219 a soul that by nature is hostile to him and loves darkness more than light and is twisted 370 00:25:29,219 –> 00:25:31,760 and deceitful and desperately wicked. 371 00:25:31,760 –> 00:25:38,839 How does what God alone does in regeneration relate to what we do, which is to believe 372 00:25:38,839 –> 00:25:43,219 the gospel and to repent? 373 00:25:43,219 –> 00:25:51,540 How does the thing that God alone does connect with the thing in which we are active and 374 00:25:51,540 –> 00:25:52,540 we are engaged? 375 00:25:52,540 –> 00:25:57,040 Now that’s a very important question, and of course it has been debated by Christians 376 00:25:57,040 –> 00:26:00,699 down through the years and perhaps always will be. 377 00:26:00,699 –> 00:26:05,000 But I’d like to turn you attention to John’s Gospel chapter 1 where I think these two are 378 00:26:05,000 –> 00:26:07,060 most clearly brought together. 379 00:26:07,060 –> 00:26:12,400 That is, the work of believing in which we are involved and the work of regenerating 380 00:26:12,400 –> 00:26:14,739 that God does alone. 381 00:26:14,739 –> 00:26:20,359 And if you turn to John chapter 1 and verse 12 and 13, you’ll see that the apostle brings 382 00:26:20,359 –> 00:26:24,819 the two right next to each-other. 383 00:26:24,959 –> 00:26:27,640 Notice what he says. 384 00:26:27,640 –> 00:26:34,199 John chapter 1 and verse 12, to all who received Him, that is Christ, well that is something 385 00:26:34,199 –> 00:26:35,280 we do, right? 386 00:26:35,280 –> 00:26:36,560 We receive Christ, don’t we? 387 00:26:36,560 –> 00:26:38,500 We’re actively involved in that. 388 00:26:38,500 –> 00:26:43,339 You can think back to when you received Christ. 389 00:26:43,339 –> 00:26:47,020 To those who believed in His name, there’s something else that we do. 390 00:26:47,020 –> 00:26:48,760 We believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. 391 00:26:48,760 –> 00:26:50,420 He calls us to do that. 392 00:26:50,420 –> 00:26:56,319 To those who received him, to those who believed in His name, he gave the right to become children 393 00:26:56,319 –> 00:26:57,699 of God. 394 00:26:57,699 –> 00:27:02,339 So, quite clearly, the people who become God’s children are the ones who believe in the Lord 395 00:27:02,339 –> 00:27:07,339 Jesus Christ and the ones who receive the Lord Jesus Christ. 396 00:27:07,339 –> 00:27:13,280 But then John says something else that’s very important about these children. 397 00:27:14,219 –> 00:27:25,079 That these children are born, verse 13, not of natural descent, nor of a human decision, 398 00:27:26,900 –> 00:27:32,699 or of a husband’s will, but they are, what, born of God. 399 00:27:32,699 –> 00:27:34,680 You see how important the Scripture is? 400 00:27:34,680 –> 00:27:41,699 Because he’s bringing together these two critical truths, believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, 401 00:27:41,780 –> 00:27:47,000 something in which we are active, and being born again something that God does alone. 402 00:27:47,000 –> 00:27:50,459 And by bringing them together, he’s making it very clear that they happen at the same 403 00:27:50,459 –> 00:27:56,839 time, though obviously they happen in a very different way. 404 00:27:56,839 –> 00:28:00,060 Regeneration is the work that God does on his own. 405 00:28:00,060 –> 00:28:06,520 Faith, believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, is a work in which you are involved. 406 00:28:06,520 –> 00:28:11,239 And these two things happen together, they’re never to be separated. 407 00:28:11,239 –> 00:28:18,079 And John is telling us that those who believe in his name become God’s children. 408 00:28:18,079 –> 00:28:25,839 But then he’s telling us that they become God’s children, not of a human decision. 409 00:28:25,839 –> 00:28:27,800 But how? 410 00:28:27,800 –> 00:28:29,839 Because they are born of God. 411 00:28:29,839 –> 00:28:34,540 There’s an ancient illustration of this that I find very helpful. 412 00:28:34,540 –> 00:28:39,219 I offer it to you, I hope that you might find it helpful too. 413 00:28:39,219 –> 00:28:42,300 Think about a sunrise. 414 00:28:42,300 –> 00:28:51,160 The sun comes up in the morning and when it does, there is light. 415 00:28:51,160 –> 00:28:53,380 The two things always happen together. 416 00:28:53,380 –> 00:28:56,060 They are inseparable. 417 00:28:56,060 –> 00:28:57,979 Never the one without the other. 418 00:28:57,979 –> 00:29:01,660 Never light without the sun and never sun without light. 419 00:29:02,180 –> 00:29:11,660 But we would say it is light because the sun rises. 420 00:29:11,660 –> 00:29:17,300 We would never say the sun rises because it is light. 421 00:29:17,300 –> 00:29:29,819 Now, regeneration is like the sun rising and faith is the light that it brings. 422 00:29:29,819 –> 00:29:35,939 In other words, behind all believing, and especially behind your believing if you’re 423 00:29:35,939 –> 00:29:38,540 in Christ. 424 00:29:38,540 –> 00:29:45,060 Behind your believing is a miracle of regenerating grace. 425 00:29:45,060 –> 00:29:48,859 And I want you to see that. 426 00:29:48,859 –> 00:29:55,020 What God has done in you and to rejoice in it. 427 00:29:55,020 –> 00:30:02,839 That’s why we’re saying that regeneration is God’s work in us, that births our work 428 00:30:02,839 –> 00:30:04,439 in Him. 429 00:30:04,439 –> 00:30:12,300 Now, have you seen this miracle of God’s grace in your own life? 430 00:30:12,300 –> 00:30:14,060 I want you to think about this. 431 00:30:14,060 –> 00:30:18,020 If we’re really taking seriously what the bible says about the way that we’re born by 432 00:30:18,020 –> 00:30:27,680 nature, how in all the world did someone like you, someone like me, how in all the world 433 00:30:27,680 –> 00:30:34,540 did you who were born dead in trespasses and sins, you who were born with a heart that 434 00:30:34,540 –> 00:30:41,219 loves darkness more than light, how in all the world would you be sitting here today 435 00:30:41,219 –> 00:30:46,800 as someone who loves Christ, believes the gospel and wants to be more holy than you 436 00:30:46,800 –> 00:30:47,800 are? 437 00:30:48,280 –> 00:30:51,339 And what possible explanation is there of that? 438 00:30:51,339 –> 00:3054,099 And there’s only one possible explanation. 439 00:30:54,099 –> 00:31:01,500 That God has done an amazing work of regenerating grace in you that when you see it, will become 440 00:31:01,500 –> 00:31:02,859 the greatest joy of your life? 441 00:31:02,859 –> 00:31:07,939 You see behind my believing there is a work of God that is beyond anything that I can 442 00:31:07,939 –> 00:31:08,939 explain. 443 00:31:08,939 –> 00:31:13,439 The New Testament is telling me it is so great that it can only be compared to the re-creation 444 00:31:13,439 –> 00:31:14,739 of the heavens and the earth. 445 00:31:15,719 –> 00:31:22,260 But there are so many Christians who have never really seen what it means to be saved 446 00:31:22,260 –> 00:31:27,979 and live in a kind of nether world of gloom which they feel God to somehow still be far 447 00:31:27,979 –> 00:31:29,199 off. 448 00:31:29,199 –> 00:31:35,760 If you are in Jesus Christ, God has done in you the most amazing miracle and when you 449 00:31:35,760 –> 00:31:41,540 see it, you’ll want to sing, you’ll rejoice. 450 00:31:41,599 –> 00:31:47,260 You’ll have a sense of the overwhelming glory of God’s grace that has penetrated into the 451 00:31:47,260 –> 00:31:51,260 very core of your being. 452 00:31:51,260 –> 00:31:53,719 Thank God for it. 453 00:31:53,719 –> 00:31:58,719 Where would my sinful nature have taken me if it was not for God’s regenerating grace? 454 00:31:58,719 –> 00:32:06,260 Where would your nature have you today if it was not that God has stepped in and changed 455 00:32:06,359 –> 00:32:11,400 your soul so that you’ll love Christ and believe the gospel and want to be more holy than you 456 00:32:11,400 –> 00:32:12,400 are. 457 00:32:12,400 –> 00:32:17,180 That’s a miracle, and it’s a miracle of His redeeming grace. 458 00:32:17,180 –> 00:32:24,099 Friends, I want through this series for us to catch the wonder and the glory of the saving 459 00:32:24,099 –> 00:32:25,900 work of the Lord Jesus Christ. 460 00:32:25,900 –> 00:32:29,579 He saved us by the washing of regeneration. 461 00:32:29,579 –> 00:32:34,339 That’s what He’s done for you if you’re in Christ. 462 00:32:34,339 –> 00:32:35,339 Marvelous. 463 00:32:36,060 –> 00:32:42,219 Now, here’s the very last thing in these remaining moments because there is an obvious question. 464 00:32:42,219 –> 00:32:48,020 If you’re in Christ and you begin to see this, you will rejoice in it. 465 00:32:48,020 –> 00:32:53,780 It will just lift you and a whole different and bigger understanding of what it really 466 00:32:53,780 –> 00:32:56,699 means to be saved. 467 00:32:56,699 –> 00:33:02,959 If you’re a Christian, especially if you’re not, you may well be asking this question 468 00:33:02,959 –> 00:33:03,959 right now. 469 00:33:04,060 –> 00:33:06,839 It’s an essential question that arises at this point. 470 00:33:06,839 –> 00:33:15,300 Okay, I see that regeneration sounds wonderful, it hasn’t happened to me. 471 00:33:15,300 –> 00:33:18,719 You’re telling me that it’s God’s work and you’re telling me that it’s God’s work alone, 472 00:33:18,719 –> 00:33:22,300 so what can I do about it? 473 00:33:22,300 –> 00:33:28,640 If regeneration is something that God does, what hope is there for me? 474 00:33:28,760 –> 00:33:34,880 Now, that’s a very real question and it’s absolutely the right question and it’s a question to 475 00:33:34,880 –> 00:33:38,300 which the Bible gives a crystal clear answer. 476 00:33:38,300 –> 00:33:42,500 And I want all of us who belong to Christ and those of us who don’t yet, to see that 477 00:33:42,500 –> 00:33:44,160 answer clearly. 478 00:33:44,160 –> 00:33:48,160 So our last stopping point today is in John 3, let’s come back there and I want to show 479 00:33:48,160 –> 00:33:50,400 you just one more thing here. 480 00:33:50,400 –> 00:33:55,959 Jesus says in this marvelous conversation with Nicodemus, moral man, very religious 481 00:33:56,359 –> 00:33:59,619 man, Jesus says to him in verse six, you must be born again. 482 00:33:59,619 –> 00:34:01,920 And Nicodemus is very sharp. 483 00:34:01,920 –> 00:34:06,619 He comes back with the obvious response, which is to say how can this be? 484 00:34:06,619 –> 00:34:09,860 Telling me to be born again, that’s not something I can do, it’s impossible. 485 00:34:09,860 –> 00:34:12,899 That’s exactly where we are with this question, how can I be born again? 486 00:34:12,899 –> 00:34:15,780 I can’t do that, I can’t do it. 487 00:34:15,780 –> 00:34:23,580 Now, I want you to notice where the Lord Jesus Christ takes the conversation. 488 00:34:23,580 –> 00:34:27,260 A person has to be born again but that’s something we cannot do of ourselves, it’s 489 00:34:27,260 –> 00:34:29,639 God’s work alone, so where do we go from there? 490 00:34:29,639 –> 00:34:31,139 We stuck? 491 00:34:31,139 –> 00:34:38,040 No, notice where Jesus takes the conversation, verse 14 and verse 15. 492 00:34:38,040 –> 00:34:43,139 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert so the son of man must be lifted up that everyone 493 00:34:43,139 –> 00:34:50,419 who believes in him may have eternal life, for God so loved the world that he gave his 494 00:34:50,659 –> 00:34:59,699 one and only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 495 00:34:59,699 –> 00:35:01,939 So Jesus takes this man where? 496 00:35:01,939 –> 00:35:10,340 To the truth that Jesus is the Son of God, that he was lifted up on the cross to die 497 00:35:10,340 –> 00:35:15,699 and that if you believe in him, you will have eternal life — no hesitations, no caveat, 498 00:35:15,699 –> 00:35:18,639 no exclusions. 499 00:35:18,639 –> 00:35:21,860 Whoever believes in him will not perish. 500 00:35:21,860 –> 00:35:24,320 You see, that’s the gospel. 501 00:35:24,320 –> 00:35:31,760 The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, crucified, risen. 502 00:35:31,760 –> 00:35:37,320 Put your faith in Him as Savior and Lord and Master, and you will be saved and eternal 503 00:35:37,320 –> 00:35:38,540 life will be yours. 504 00:35:38,540 –> 00:35:40,739 That’s the gospel. 505 00:35:41,639 –> 00:35:49,600 By the way, so that we see this isn’t an isolated case, the same thing happens in Acts 16. 506 00:35:49,600 –> 00:35:52,840 You don’t need to turn to it now, but let me just remind you of the story there. 507 00:35:52,840 –> 00:35:56,219 Paul’s in prison, a place called Philippi. 508 00:35:56,219 –> 00:36:02,439 There is an earthquake that God sends, the walls crumble, and the Philippian jailer is 509 00:36:02,439 –> 00:36:07,479 absolutely terrified, because if Paul leaves, it’s more than his life is worth. 510 00:36:08,199 –> 00:36:14,899 And sensing the greatness and the glory of God, he asks Paul, What must I do to be saved? 511 00:36:14,899 –> 00:36:17,280 Acts 16 to 30. 512 00:36:17,280 –> 00:36:22,719 And I want you to notice Paul does not say to him, You must be born again. 513 00:36:22,719 –> 00:36:25,239 Because that just takes you to the dead-end, you see. 514 00:36:25,239 –> 00:36:28,800 By the way, please understand this, Christians are sometimes confused. 515 00:36:28,800 –> 00:36:31,500 You must be born again is not the Gospel. 516 00:36:31,500 –> 00:36:37,080 If you say to someone, You must be born again, you’re merely telling them the impossibility 517 00:36:37,139 –> 00:36:39,000 of them achieving their own salvation. 518 00:36:39,000 –> 00:36:42,520 You take them to a dead end, okay? 519 00:36:42,520 –> 00:36:45,320 So Paul does not say, You must be born again. 520 00:36:45,320 –> 00:36:46,320 What does he say? 521 00:36:46,320 –> 00:36:49,639 He says, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. 522 00:36:49,639 –> 00:36:51,060 That’s what you’ve got to do. 523 00:36:51,060 –> 00:36:52,199 You believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. 524 00:36:52,199 –> 00:36:53,719 There’s the Gospel, you see. 525 00:36:53,719 –> 00:36:55,840 Christ crucified, Christ risen. 526 00:36:55,840 –> 00:37:00,719 You believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. 527 00:37:00,719 –> 00:37:02,879 They say now wait a minute, wait a minute. 528 00:37:02,879 –> 00:37:05,159 I think there’s a bait-and-switch that’s going on here. 529 00:37:05,620 –> 00:37:08,600 Didn’t you just say that I’m dead in trespasses and sins 530 00:37:08,600 –> 00:37:11,199 and doesn’t that mean that God is still asking me 531 00:37:11,199 –> 00:37:12,719 to do something that I cannot do? 532 00:37:12,719 –> 00:37:15,399 Well let me give you one picture in these last moments 533 00:37:15,399 –> 00:37:17,199 this time again from the New Testament 534 00:37:17,199 –> 00:37:19,159 that has really helped me 535 00:37:19,159 –> 00:37:22,260 and I hope it might help you also. 536 00:37:23,280 –> 00:37:26,360 Mark tells us about an occasion, it’s in Mark chapter three, 537 00:37:26,360 –> 00:37:28,280 when Jesus came into a synagogue 538 00:37:28,280 –> 00:37:32,760 and there was a man there who had a shriveled hand. 539 00:37:32,800 –> 00:37:36,060 Okay so he doesn’t have the power to move his hand. 540 00:37:38,179 –> 00:37:40,239 It’s withered, it is dysfunctional. 541 00:37:41,080 –> 00:37:43,139 And the Lord Jesus Christ, 542 00:37:43,139 –> 00:37:45,639 called this man out in front of the whole crowd 543 00:37:45,639 –> 00:37:49,959 and had him stand beside Jesus at the front of the synagogue 544 00:37:50,919 –> 00:37:55,320 and Jesus said to him, okay a man with a shriveled hand, 545 00:37:55,320 –> 00:37:59,699 Jesus said to him, stretch out your hand. 546 00:38:00,260 –> 00:38:02,620 Now I want you to put yourself in 547 00:38:02,620 –> 00:38:04,419 the man’s shoes for just a moment. 548 00:38:04,419 –> 00:38:06,020 I mean of all the things to say to a man 549 00:38:06,020 –> 00:38:07,419 with a hand that doesn’t work, 550 00:38:07,419 –> 00:38:10,060 Jesus says to him, stretch out your hand. 551 00:38:10,060 –> 00:38:11,899 Can’t you see Jesus, that’s the one thing in the world 552 00:38:11,899 –> 00:38:13,939 I can’t do, I can walk, I can jump, I can run. 553 00:38:13,939 –> 00:38:15,620 I can’t stretch out my hand. 554 00:38:15,620 –> 00:38:19,540 Jesus said to him, stretch out your hand. 555 00:38:22,919 –> 00:38:26,560 What’s the man gonna do? 556 00:38:27,560 –> 00:38:30,300 He can stand there face to face with Jesus 557 00:38:30,300 –> 00:38:32,719 and have a long debate about his own inability. 558 00:38:32,719 –> 00:38:34,280 He can say, Lord Jesus you’re asking me 559 00:38:34,280 –> 00:38:35,959 to do something I cannot do. 560 00:38:35,959 –> 00:38:37,959 That debate can go on forever 561 00:38:37,959 –> 00:38:39,540 and then everyone will go home. 562 00:38:40,600 –> 00:38:42,899 He could take offense at the Lord Jesus 563 00:38:42,899 –> 00:38:44,399 and could say, are you mocking me 564 00:38:44,399 –> 00:38:46,100 in some way by saying stretch out your hand 565 00:38:46,100 –> 00:38:47,120 when it’s perfectly obvious, 566 00:38:47,120 –> 00:38:48,000 that’s the one thing in the world 567 00:38:48,000 –> 00:38:49,419 I cannot do, I’m out of here. 568 00:38:50,780 –> 00:38:55,280 Mark records beautiful with the minimum number of words 569 00:38:56,260 –> 00:38:57,219 what happened. 570 00:38:58,860 –> 00:39:01,540 Jesus says to him, stretch out your hand 571 00:39:01,540 –> 00:39:06,540 and Mark records, and he stretched out his hand. 572 00:39:12,979 –> 00:39:15,219 In the stretching out of the hand, 573 00:39:15,219 –> 00:39:18,479 the miracle God is doing in his life is revealed 574 00:39:20,100 –> 00:39:22,040 and I want you to think about this. 575 00:39:22,040 –> 00:39:24,679 If you imagine this guy going on his national tour, 576 00:39:24,699 –> 00:39:27,639 giving his testimony afterwards, you know? 577 00:39:27,639 –> 00:39:28,959 What do you think he was going on about 578 00:39:28,959 –> 00:39:30,959 for the rest of his life? 579 00:39:30,959 –> 00:39:33,040 Do you really think he stood up in front of all the people 580 00:39:33,040 –> 00:39:34,719 in all the other synagogues and said, 581 00:39:34,719 –> 00:39:37,800 let me tell you the story of the great day 582 00:39:37,800 –> 00:39:41,020 when I stretched out my hand? 583 00:39:41,020 –> 00:39:42,719 No. 584 00:39:42,719 –> 00:39:44,560 He got up and he said something like this. 585 00:39:44,560 –> 00:39:48,320 Let me tell you about how Jesus Christ healed me. 586 00:39:48,320 –> 00:39:49,320 That’s what he said. 587 00:39:50,679 –> 00:39:52,840 And you see the Lord Jesus Christ, as it were, 588 00:39:52,840 –> 00:39:53,860 is saying to you, 589 00:39:55,239 –> 00:39:59,280 believe, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. 590 00:39:59,280 –> 00:40:01,419 You can stand there and have all the arguments 591 00:40:01,419 –> 00:40:02,399 you want with God. 592 00:40:02,399 –> 00:40:03,959 Your life will never be changed. 593 00:40:06,520 –> 00:40:08,679 Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, 594 00:40:08,679 –> 00:40:10,399 your life will be changed. 595 00:40:11,500 –> 00:40:13,679 It will not be changed if you stand back 596 00:40:13,679 –> 00:40:15,179 and just debate with God 597 00:40:15,179 –> 00:40:17,159 and you can do that for the rest of your life. 598 00:40:17,159 –> 00:40:18,939 Or you can walk out and you can be offended. 599 00:40:18,939 –> 00:40:19,780 You can say, 600 00:40:19,780 –> 00:40:21,679 I don’t want anything to do with a God like this. 601 00:40:21,679 –> 00:40:24,320 But if you will believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, 602 00:40:24,399 –> 00:40:25,520 your life will be changed. 603 00:40:25,520 –> 00:40:26,719 And I’ll tell you something else, 604 00:40:26,719 –> 00:40:28,300 that when that happens, 605 00:40:28,300 –> 00:40:31,399 you will not go through the rest of your life saying, 606 00:40:31,399 –> 00:40:33,620 oh, I believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. 607 00:40:33,620 –> 00:40:35,479 You along with every other believer 608 00:40:35,479 –> 00:40:37,060 will find that as soon as you do, 609 00:40:37,060 –> 00:40:37,899 you will say, 610 00:40:37,899 –> 00:40:42,679 God has done a saving work in me and you’ll know it 611 00:40:44,439 –> 00:40:45,699 and you’ll rejoice in it. 612 00:40:46,719 –> 00:40:47,580 And you’ll say, 613 00:40:47,580 –> 00:40:49,560 I thought it was just that I was believing. 614 00:40:49,560 –> 00:40:50,739 But now I see that something 615 00:40:50,739 –> 00:40:52,879 much more than believing what’s happening. 616 00:40:52,879 –> 00:40:56,959 Yes, he regenerated your soul. 617 00:40:56,959 –> 00:41:00,219 It’s glorious and it’s marvelous and it’s unfathomable. 618 00:41:00,219 –> 00:41:02,439 And the only thing else in the world 619 00:41:02,439 –> 00:41:04,040 that it could be compared to 620 00:41:04,899 –> 00:41:08,600 is the recreation of the heavens and the earth. 621 00:41:08,600 –> 00:41:11,840 That’s regeneration. 622 00:41:11,840 –> 00:41:13,419 So I want to say to you, 623 00:41:15,500 –> 00:41:19,260 believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. 624 00:41:20,100 –> 00:41:22,719 And friend, if you are in Christ, 625 00:41:23,820 –> 00:41:26,179 I want you to begin opening your mind 626 00:41:26,179 –> 00:41:29,620 to the miracle of what he has done in you 627 00:41:29,620 –> 00:41:34,620 in this saving work of regeneration in your soul. 628 00:41:40,000 –> 00:41:44,479 Father, take us further 629 00:41:45,199 –> 00:41:48,939 into the wonder and glory 630 00:41:48,939 –> 00:41:52,199 of Christ’s redeeming work for us. 631 00:41:53,659 –> 00:41:55,600 And grant to us, we pray, 632 00:41:57,260 –> 00:42:01,560 joy, peace, worship 633 00:42:05,340 –> 00:42:08,100 that arises from seeing 634 00:42:08,100 –> 00:42:10,080 more of the glory of the gospel. 635 00:42:12,020 –> 00:42:13,600 And today, and through this series, 636 00:42:13,600 –> 00:42:16,459 may there be many who find themselves strangely moved 637 00:42:16,459 –> 00:42:19,659 within their own hearts who will believe 638 00:42:19,659 –> 00:42:22,820 in the Lord Jesus Christ 639 00:42:22,820 –> 00:42:24,919 and discover like that man did 640 00:42:24,919 –> 00:42:26,540 as he stretched out his hand 641 00:42:27,419 –> 00:42:30,939 the most amazing miracle of grace 642 00:42:32,199 –> 00:42:35,379 that made it possible in Jesus’ name. 643 00:42:36,780 –> 00:42:37,620 Amen. 644 00:42:40,520 –> 00:42:41,760 You’ve been listening to a sermon 645 00:42:41,800 –> 00:42:44,100 with Pastor Colin Smith of Open the Bible. 646 00:42:44,100 –> 00:42:49,100 To contact us, call us at 1-877-OPEN-365 647 00:42:49,399 –> 00:42:52,899 Or visit our website, OpentheBible.org.