What Doesn’t Change in Regeneration

Galatians 2:20
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In this sermon, Pastor Colin Smith concludes his series on regeneration, explaining how Christ changes the soul. He emphasises that while many Christians understand justification and sanctification, the concept of regeneration is often misunderstood. Regeneration is a real and fundamental change within believers, affecting their conscience, mind, heart, and will.

Pastor Colin reminds the congregation that regeneration leads to true transformation. It’s a real change in the person, not just a symbolic one in God’s eyes. Notably, it results in faith, repentance, and obedience growing in the believer’s life. He also clears up misconceptions that suggest regeneration merely covers our sins without changing us at our core.

He also discusses the unchanging aspects of our human nature post-regeneration, like our physical attributes or temperament. For example, a person’s individual temperament, whether shy or bold, remains the same but is redirected for God’s purposes. This unique reflection of God’s glory in each believer contributes to the diversity within the Christian community.

Pastor Colin further elaborates that while regeneration does not eliminate temptation or change one’s past, it does change the outcome of these temptations and provides a new future. Through regeneration, believers are empowered to overcome sin and look forward to a future defined by their new life in Christ and eternal transformation into his likeness.

1 00:00:00,000 –> 00:00:07,040 You’re listening to a sermon from Pastor Colin Smith of Open the Bible. 2 00:00:07,040 –> 00:00:16,780 To contact us, call us at 1-877-OPEN365, or visit our website, openthebible.org. 3 00:00:16,780 –> 00:00:17,780 Let’s get to the message. 4 00:00:17,780 –> 00:00:20,959 Here is Pastor Colin. 5 00:00:20,959 –> 00:00:28,600 We are wrapping up our series on regeneration, how Christ changes your soul, and we’ve taken 6 00:00:28,959 –> 00:00:35,580 time to focus on this truth because I am convinced that it is both one of the most important 7 00:00:35,580 –> 00:00:43,020 aspects of our salvation and at the same time one of the least understood amongst Christian 8 00:00:43,020 –> 00:00:44,139 people. 9 00:00:44,139 –> 00:00:49,740 Many believers have grasped well our justification by which Christ forgives us and our sanctification 10 00:00:49,740 –> 00:00:52,619 by which we grow in the Christian life. 11 00:00:52,619 –> 00:00:58,279 But many Christians have not really grasped well regeneration, which actually underlies 12 00:00:58,279 –> 00:01:01,520 both our justification and our sanctification. 13 00:01:01,520 –> 00:01:06,580 So we have taken significant time over the summer to try and gain a clearer grasp of 14 00:01:06,580 –> 00:01:14,959 this very important doctrine that lies at the foundation of our salvation in Jesus Christ. 15 00:01:14,959 –> 00:01:18,279 Today what I would like to do is to review some of the highlights of what we have been 16 00:01:18,339 –> 00:01:22,879 learning together and then for us to ask the question, as we’ve been learning what does 17 00:01:22,879 –> 00:01:29,419 change in regeneration, it’s important for us to ask the question, what does not change 18 00:01:29,419 –> 00:01:30,839 in regeneration? 19 00:01:30,839 –> 00:01:36,839 I hope you’re going to find that very practical and helpful from the Scriptures today. 20 00:01:36,839 –> 00:01:39,959 Now by way of review, three observations. 21 00:01:39,959 –> 00:01:47,980 Number one, regeneration is a real change in you that comes about by the grace and the 22 00:01:48,019 –> 00:01:49,440 mercy of God. 23 00:01:49,440 –> 00:01:51,879 It is a real change in you. 24 00:01:51,879 –> 00:01:57,360 Now someone focused this for me very helpfully by asking a question just a few weeks back 25 00:01:57,360 –> 00:01:59,739 after the service. 26 00:01:59,739 –> 00:02:06,739 He said to me, pastor, when the Bible says that you’re a new creation in Christ, does 27 00:02:06,760 –> 00:02:13,020 it mean that you’re a new creation in the eyes of God or does it mean that you’re actually 28 00:02:13,020 –> 00:02:14,380 different in yourself? 29 00:02:14,979 –> 00:02:21,580 He said I’ve got a guy who’s mentoring me, an older Christian, and he’s told me that 30 00:02:21,580 –> 00:02:25,020 the change, the new creation is simply in the eyes of God. 31 00:02:26,160 –> 00:02:34,860 Now I said to him, and would say to you now, if you did not see the glory of Christ, you 32 00:02:34,860 –> 00:02:40,119 didn’t see the glory of Christ but now you do see the glory of Christ, you see it, is 33 00:02:40,119 –> 00:02:42,899 that a change in the eyes of God, or is that a real change in you? 34 00:02:43,639 –> 00:02:44,979 It’s a real change in you, isn’t it? 35 00:02:45,559 –> 00:02:49,679 If your heart was once like stone towards God, remember the heart of stone he takes 36 00:02:49,679 –> 00:02:54,600 away and he gives to us our heart of flesh, if your heart was a heart of stone towards 37 00:02:54,600 –> 00:02:58,380 God but now you have a heart that truly loves God, is that a real change in the eyes of 38 00:02:58,380 –> 00:03:00,979 God only, or is that a real change in you? 39 00:03:00,979 –> 00:03:02,740 It’s a real change in you. 40 00:03:02,960 –> 00:03:08,199 Now this is very very important for us to understand, Regeneration is a real change 41 00:03:08,199 –> 00:03:09,820 in you, you are a new creation. 42 00:03:09,820 –> 00:03:14,460 That’s what the doctrine of regeneration is all about. 43 00:03:14,460 –> 00:03:24,059 Now, wanting to clear that confusion, got my mind onto a memorable but I think profoundly 44 00:03:24,059 –> 00:03:29,220 unhelpful phrase that is often attributed to Martin Luther though it’s not clear whether 45 00:03:29,220 –> 00:03:33,820 he ever actually said it and I’ve certainly heard a number of folks around our congregation 46 00:03:33,820 –> 00:03:38,020 use this phrase and once you’ve heard it once you never forget it. 47 00:03:38,119 –> 00:03:45,279 The phrase that is often attributed to Martin Luther is that Christians are snow-covered 48 00:03:45,279 –> 00:03:46,320 dung. 49 00:03:46,320 –> 00:03:49,139 That is memorable, isn’t it? 50 00:03:49,139 –> 00:03:51,539 A pretty vivid image. 51 00:03:51,539 –> 00:03:59,619 That memorable image makes clear the truth of justification, which is that our righteousness 52 00:03:59,619 –> 00:04:07,559 is not in ourselves but that the righteousness of Christ covers us so that while we are sinners 53 00:04:08,000 –> 00:04:13,020 by nature and by practice, we are justified in the eyes of God by the shed blood of the 54 00:04:13,020 –> 00:04:15,979 Lord Jesus Christ. 55 00:04:15,979 –> 00:04:21,260 But while that memorable phrase makes very clear the doctrine of justification, it totally 56 00:04:21,260 –> 00:04:29,260 obscures and even denies the doctrine of regeneration, which is that there is a real change in who 57 00:04:29,260 –> 00:04:32,660 you are, in your very nature. 58 00:04:32,720 –> 00:04:38,239 So, if you have described the Christian life in that kind of way, don’t do it anymore, 59 00:04:38,239 –> 00:04:42,799 because while it highlights one truth, it completely obscures and denies another truth. 60 00:04:42,799 –> 00:04:46,880 An illustration that does that is usually very unhelpful. 61 00:04:46,880 –> 00:04:50,540 Let’s try and be as clear as we can and get this in our minds. 62 00:04:50,540 –> 00:04:56,559 Folks, we are sinners to the last when we enter heaven. 63 00:04:56,559 –> 00:05:02,279 It will be by the grace and the mercy of God through the righteousness of Christ, by His 64 00:05:02,700 –> 00:05:07,320 blood, not one of us will stand before God on the basis of our progress in the Christian 65 00:05:07,320 –> 00:05:08,700 life. 66 00:05:08,700 –> 00:05:14,480 We will all stand before God as sinners, redeemed by the blood of Christ, entering heaven through 67 00:05:14,480 –> 00:05:18,540 a righteousness not our own, but Jesus Christ’s. 68 00:05:18,540 –> 00:05:25,540 But, while we are sinners to the last, folks, we are regenerated sinners and both of these 69 00:05:25,779 –> 00:05:30,359 truths need to be held together to have a genuine understanding of what it is to be 70 00:05:30,359 –> 00:05:31,820 a Christian. 71 00:05:31,839 –> 00:05:36,799 What that means is that you are a new creation in Christ, and while you are not yet perfect 72 00:05:36,799 –> 00:05:42,959 by any manner of means, one day the full glory of the transformation that he has begun in 73 00:05:42,959 –> 00:05:49,959 you by the Holy Spirit, through regeneration, one day the full glory of that redeeming work 74 00:05:50,040 –> 00:05:56,839 will be seen as you reflect perfectly the glory of Christ in eternity forever and forever. 75 00:05:56,839 –> 00:06:01,679 Now, knowing what Christ has done for you is really important. 76 00:06:01,679 –> 00:06:06,720 And I find it helpful to sometimes think about the sun’s heat and the sun’s light. 77 00:06:06,720 –> 00:06:08,380 You never have the one without the other. 78 00:06:08,380 –> 00:06:09,959 They are distinguishable. 79 00:06:09,959 –> 00:06:12,239 The sun’s heat is not its light. 80 00:06:12,239 –> 00:06:16,000 But where the sun’s heat is, the sun’s light is, and when the light is, the heat is, 81 00:06:16,000 –> 00:06:17,079 and so forth. 82 00:06:17,079 –> 00:06:23,720 Well, God has justified you, forgiven you, clothing you in the righteousness of Jesus 83 00:06:23,720 –> 00:06:28,279 Christ forever so that being justified by faith you have peace with God. 84 00:06:28,279 –> 00:06:31,200 He’s justified you and He has regenerated you. 85 00:06:31,200 –> 00:06:36,760 He has made you a new person, a new creation by the Holy Spirit and it is that truth of 86 00:06:36,760 –> 00:06:43,140 regeneration – that wonderful truth – that we are trying to grasp more clearly in this 87 00:06:43,140 –> 00:06:44,140 series. 88 00:06:44,140 –> 00:06:48,239 So regeneration is a real change in you and when you see it, you want to thank God for 89 00:06:48,239 –> 00:06:49,279 it. 90 00:06:49,279 –> 00:06:53,920 Here’s the second observation by way of review. 91 00:06:53,920 –> 00:07:00,339 Regeneration bears fruit in faith, repentance and obedience. 92 00:07:00,339 –> 00:07:02,760 This is very important. 93 00:07:02,760 –> 00:07:08,720 Some of us I suspect, may be wondering, you know, this marvellous gift of regeneration, 94 00:07:08,720 –> 00:07:14,119 how do I know that it’s actually happened in me? 95 00:07:14,119 –> 00:07:16,480 And some of us particularly struggle with that. 96 00:07:16,480 –> 00:07:21,459 The way the questions usually framed, it often comes from someone who’ll say, you know, 97 00:07:21,700 –> 00:07:28,940 I can’t remember a specific day or time when I came to Jesus Christ. 98 00:07:28,940 –> 00:07:33,260 I hear other Christians talk about a time when they responded to the Gospel and it’s 99 00:07:33,260 –> 00:07:38,200 quite clear to them that that was when they were regenerated but I can’t name a particular 100 00:07:38,200 –> 00:07:42,579 time or occasion and so how do I really know that this has happened for me? 101 00:07:42,579 –> 00:07:46,720 That may be a question for many of us here. 102 00:07:46,739 –> 00:07:52,980 Well think about the analogy of your physical birth. 103 00:07:52,980 –> 00:07:55,700 How many of us remember being born? 104 00:07:55,700 –> 00:07:58,679 None of us. 105 00:07:58,679 –> 00:08:04,739 Which is probably just as well, I don’t think you want to remember that. 106 00:08:04,739 –> 00:08:14,079 You have no recollection of the event of your birth, yet you know that you were born for 107 00:08:14,299 –> 00:08:21,299 sure by the indisputable fact that you are alive, yeah. 108 00:08:21,320 –> 00:08:26,019 Even if you never met your mother, you know that you were born. 109 00:08:26,019 –> 00:08:29,320 Now think about the new birth then. 110 00:08:29,320 –> 00:08:33,520 The evidence of the new birth is the new life. 111 00:08:33,520 –> 00:08:38,960 When a person has faith in Christ and love for Christ and repentance towards Christ and 112 00:08:38,960 –> 00:08:43,679 hope through Christ, that is the evidence that you were born again. 113 00:08:43,700 –> 00:08:48,440 That is the evidence that you truly were regenerated by the Holy Spirit because regeneration bears 114 00:08:48,440 –> 00:08:54,000 fruits in faith and in repentance and in obedience. 115 00:08:54,000 –> 00:08:57,280 And you tell a tree by its fruit. 116 00:08:57,280 –> 00:09:04,520 By the way, it follows that if the truth about you is really you don’t love Christ, 117 00:09:04,520 –> 00:09:11,500 and you don’t trust Christ, and you don’t follow Christ, then you should not deceive 118 00:09:11,500 –> 00:09:15,640 yourself into thinking that you have been born again. 119 00:09:15,640 –> 00:09:22,640 You may have had some spiritual experience, but whatever it was it wasn’t regeneration 120 00:09:22,640 –> 00:09:30,179 if it did not lead to faith, repentance, and obedience. 121 00:09:30,179 –> 00:09:34,159 The evidence of the new birth is seen in the new life. 122 00:09:34,159 –> 00:09:36,080 Thank God for it. 123 00:09:36,219 –> 00:09:42,159 Now some folks teach, and we saw this last time, that if you repent and believe then 124 00:09:42,159 –> 00:09:43,679 God will regenerate you. 125 00:09:43,679 –> 00:09:48,859 I think we’ve been seeing that actually it’s the other way round, that regeneration lies 126 00:09:48,859 –> 00:09:55,520 behind your faith in the same way as your birth lies behind your life. 127 00:09:55,520 –> 00:09:59,640 Since by nature we are blind to the glory of God and by nature our hearts are resistant 128 00:09:59,640 –> 00:10:06,039 to the love of God we don’t have it in us by nature to turn to God and repent and 129 00:10:06,280 –> 00:10:11,940 believe until God shines his light into our minds and pours his love into our hearts so 130 00:10:11,940 –> 00:10:15,200 that we begin to seek after him. 131 00:10:15,200 –> 00:10:23,460 So your faith is the fruit of regeneration not its cause. 132 00:10:23,460 –> 00:10:28,320 The explanation, the wonderful explanation of your love in Christ and of your trust in 133 00:10:28,320 –> 00:10:33,820 Christ and of your following Christ is that God has regenerated you. 134 00:10:33,820 –> 00:10:39,880 And when you see that, clearly it will bring you great joy and you will have every reason 135 00:10:39,880 –> 00:10:43,960 to praise him and to thank him for this. 136 00:10:43,960 –> 00:10:48,380 Now last comment by way of review before we press forward a little further. 137 00:10:48,380 –> 00:10:50,859 Regeneration is a real change in you. 138 00:10:50,859 –> 00:10:53,700 Regeneration bears fruit in faith and repentance and obedience. 139 00:10:53,700 –> 00:10:59,320 Number three, regeneration makes the Christian life possible. 140 00:10:59,320 –> 00:11:07,599 When a child is born a new life is begun, not complete, but begun. 141 00:11:07,599 –> 00:11:11,840 A whole life of growing and developing and maturing lies ahead. 142 00:11:11,840 –> 00:11:18,320 The child will stumble and fall in many, many ways but the birth of the child makes the 143 00:11:18,320 –> 00:11:21,400 life of the child possible. 144 00:11:21,400 –> 00:11:24,659 And it is the same with the new birth. 145 00:11:24,659 –> 00:11:27,440 Regeneration doesn’t make you a perfect saint. 146 00:11:27,460 –> 00:11:30,099 You knew that already. 147 00:11:30,099 –> 00:11:33,140 But it does make your Christian life possible. 148 00:11:33,140 –> 00:11:38,099 Regeneration is the beginning of the life that grows in sanctification. 149 00:11:38,099 –> 00:11:41,039 That’s why it’s such a wonderful and important thing. 150 00:11:41,039 –> 00:11:47,039 God has made me a new person in Christ, now I must pursue this new life being who I am 151 00:11:47,039 –> 00:11:49,479 in Jesus Christ. 152 00:11:49,479 –> 00:11:55,739 The wonderful thing is that in nature God has given to a new born baby, a healthy baby 153 00:11:56,159 –> 00:12:00,599 He has everything that he or she needs for life and for growth, right there at birth. 154 00:12:00,599 –> 00:12:08,539 And where that child is fed and exercises and is kept warm, growth occurs. 155 00:12:08,539 –> 00:12:16,539 Folks, as you feed on the Word of God, and as you are warmed in the fellowship of God’s 156 00:12:16,539 –> 00:12:21,479 people and as you are exercised in a life of obedience, you will grow. 157 00:12:21,479 –> 00:12:26,820 The life begun in you by regeneration will grow in your sanctification and one day will 158 00:12:26,820 –> 00:12:32,840 be marvelously complete in the presence of Jesus Christ in heaven. 159 00:12:32,840 –> 00:12:39,580 So, we focused a lot of time on what changes in regeneration, change in your conscience, 160 00:12:39,580 –> 00:12:44,260 your mind, your heart, and your will. 161 00:12:44,260 –> 00:12:51,859 Now I want to ask the important question, what does not change in regeneration? 162 00:12:51,859 –> 00:12:56,799 And I think we’re going to see today that this is also very important to understand 163 00:12:56,799 –> 00:12:58,440 clearly. 164 00:12:58,440 –> 00:13:03,059 What does not change in regeneration? 165 00:13:03,059 –> 00:13:11,760 Folks, I am by God’s grace and mercy a new creation in Jesus Christ, a new creation. 166 00:13:11,780 –> 00:13:20,419 But my eyes are the same color and it hasn’t done anything to remedy the rather strange 167 00:13:20,419 –> 00:13:25,020 accent with which it appears I grew up. 168 00:13:25,020 –> 00:13:27,099 It hasn’t changed my height. 169 00:13:27,099 –> 00:13:32,739 Now, we’re gonna push a lot further with what doesn’t change, but I want us to tune our 170 00:13:32,739 –> 00:13:39,640 minds to what does not change in the new birth. 171 00:13:39,640 –> 00:13:44,840 Please tune with me to Galatians chapter two and verse 20, Galatians chapter two and 172 00:13:44,840 –> 00:13:47,119 verse 20. 173 00:13:47,119 –> 00:13:52,479 And what I want to bring today is really the fruit of my own meditation on this very important 174 00:13:52,479 –> 00:13:58,640 verse that most of us I think will know very well. 175 00:13:58,640 –> 00:13:59,799 Galatians 2 20. 176 00:13:59,799 –> 00:14:06,340 Paul says, I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in 177 00:14:06,340 –> 00:14:08,179 me. 178 00:14:08,179 –> 00:14:14,659 The life I live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself 179 00:14:14,659 –> 00:14:16,359 for me. 180 00:14:16,359 –> 00:14:23,299 Now, Paul is describing our new life in Jesus Christ and this is one of the great statements 181 00:14:23,299 –> 00:14:26,840 of the new life in Christ in the New Testament. 182 00:14:26,840 –> 00:14:33,539 He’s really saying the same thing here, as in the core verse for our series second Corinthians 183 00:14:34,460 –> 00:14:35,460 517. 184 00:14:35,460 –> 00:14:42,039 In 2 Corinthians 517, he puts it this way, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, 185 00:14:42,039 –> 00:14:44,559 the old has gone, and the new has come. 186 00:14:44,559 –> 00:14:48,419 In Galatians 2.20 he says the same thing a different way. 187 00:14:48,419 –> 00:14:57,760 He says, I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live but Christ lives in me. 188 00:14:57,760 –> 00:15:00,960 He’s really saying the same thing in a different way. 189 00:15:01,919 –> 00:15:09,200 Galatians 2.20 is really a commentary, an expansion on 2 Corinthians 517. 190 00:15:09,200 –> 00:15:11,320 I no longer live. 191 00:15:11,320 –> 00:15:14,159 That’s the same as the old has gone. 192 00:15:14,159 –> 00:15:15,880 Christ lives in me. 193 00:15:15,880 –> 00:15:19,479 That’s the same as saying the new has come. 194 00:15:19,479 –> 00:15:24,880 But what’s significant about this verse in Galatians is that Paul presses on from a restatement 195 00:15:24,880 –> 00:15:30,940 of the truth from Corinthians to give us a description of the experience of what this 196 00:15:31,059 –> 00:15:37,039 new life is actually like and I want you to notice that he describes the experience of 197 00:15:37,039 –> 00:15:39,640 the new life in two ways. 198 00:15:39,640 –> 00:15:47,260 The life I live in the body he says, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and 199 00:15:47,260 –> 00:15:49,739 gave himself for me. 200 00:15:49,739 –> 00:15:55,059 So the new life is lived first by faith in the Son of God. 201 00:15:55,059 –> 00:15:56,739 It’s a life of faith. 202 00:15:56,739 –> 00:16:00,419 It is a life of trusting the Lord Jesus Christ. 203 00:16:00,419 –> 00:16:03,479 It is one of believing his promises. 204 00:16:03,479 –> 00:16:09,239 It is one of laying hold of his being for me and with me and in me in every circumstance 205 00:16:09,239 –> 00:16:11,159 of life. 206 00:16:11,159 –> 00:16:15,700 But not only is it a life that is lived by faith in the Son of God, it is also a life, 207 00:16:15,700 –> 00:16:19,380 notice that he says, that I live in the body. 208 00:16:19,380 –> 00:16:25,020 And what that means is, that you will struggle and I will struggle. 209 00:16:25,520 –> 00:16:32,039 We will all struggle with the unique challenges of our own temperament. 210 00:16:32,039 –> 00:16:36,000 You will feel the pull of your own flesh. 211 00:16:36,000 –> 00:16:41,020 You will sometimes find yourself lacking courage and losing heart and so forth and so on. 212 00:16:41,020 –> 00:16:45,780 You live this life of faith but you live it in the body, which means that you will very 213 00:16:45,780 –> 00:16:49,919 likely experience at some points in your life sickness. 214 00:16:49,919 –> 00:16:54,460 You will experience temptation, you will experience weakness and unless Christ should come in 215 00:16:54,460 –> 00:16:57,940 our lifetime you will experience death. 216 00:16:57,940 –> 00:17:01,900 I live this life of faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me, but 217 00:17:01,900 –> 00:17:05,640 Paul says, I live this life in the body. 218 00:17:05,640 –> 00:17:10,819 Now these two expressions put together, I find a very helpful summary of what the Christian 219 00:17:10,819 –> 00:17:12,380 life is actually like. 220 00:17:12,380 –> 00:17:17,339 It is a life of faith in the Son of God, this new life that I have in Christ and it is also 221 00:17:17,339 –> 00:17:19,939 a life that I live in the body. 222 00:17:19,939 –> 00:17:24,140 And I need to remember both of these things and put them together if I’m to understand 223 00:17:24,140 –> 00:17:26,239 the Christian life well. 224 00:17:26,239 –> 00:17:33,000 Now I want to make simply three observations that come from my own reflections on what 225 00:17:33,000 –> 00:17:38,640 it means to live the life of faith, the new life in the body. 226 00:17:38,640 –> 00:17:41,760 Here’s the first. 227 00:17:41,760 –> 00:17:50,739 Regeneration does not change your temperament but it will change your usefulness. 228 00:17:50,739 –> 00:17:53,800 Now, it’s important to grasp this. 229 00:17:53,800 –> 00:18:01,400 God created you, and he created you different from the person who’s sitting next to you. 230 00:18:01,400 –> 00:18:08,219 He created you with your own unique gifts, your own distinctive personality, temperament. 231 00:18:08,219 –> 00:18:13,459 You are a one-off creation of almighty God. 232 00:18:13,459 –> 00:18:19,619 And in the new birth, when God regenerates you, he does not violate what he has already 233 00:18:19,619 –> 00:18:22,979 done in creation. 234 00:18:23,160 –> 00:18:31,839 I’ve put it this way before in the past that shy sinners become shy Christians, zany sinners 235 00:18:31,839 –> 00:18:41,719 become zany Christians, and cautious sinners become cautious Christians, and cool sinners 236 00:18:41,719 –> 00:18:44,839 become cool Christians. 237 00:18:44,839 –> 00:18:48,979 Regeneration does not make you somebody else. 238 00:18:49,020 –> 00:18:53,819 It moves you in a new direction. 239 00:18:53,819 –> 00:18:58,439 Remember that God says that he makes you a new creation. 240 00:18:58,439 –> 00:19:00,439 He does not make you a different creation. 241 00:19:00,439 –> 00:19:02,420 That’s an important distinction. 242 00:19:02,420 –> 00:19:07,099 You are made new, but you are still you. 243 00:19:07,099 –> 00:19:14,560 Let me try and earth this down a little bit so we can see how important it is in practical 244 00:19:14,560 –> 00:19:21,880 terms, and the best person to pick on is usually yourself, so that’s where I’ll begin. 245 00:19:21,880 –> 00:19:30,640 Some of you have pointed out over the years, kindly, that there is a certain Britishness 246 00:19:30,640 –> 00:19:36,500 about my temperament, a certain reserve, a certain caution. 247 00:19:36,500 –> 00:19:43,319 It’s very un-British for me to say this in public, you understand. 248 00:19:43,319 –> 00:19:47,380 I sometimes wish I could shake it off. 249 00:19:47,380 –> 00:19:56,520 And we all need to grow within the temperamental frame with which God has made us. 250 00:19:56,520 –> 00:20:03,920 But this is the frame with which God has made me, and it is the frame in which Christ is 251 00:20:03,920 –> 00:20:06,479 redeeming me. 252 00:20:06,479 –> 00:20:10,599 And regeneration has not changed my temperament. 253 00:20:10,640 –> 00:20:20,479 By the way, there are plenty of cool British people, I’m just not one of them. 254 00:20:20,479 –> 00:20:22,239 Let’s broaden it out. 255 00:20:22,239 –> 00:20:25,500 I know that this gets a pastor into trouble. 256 00:20:25,500 –> 00:20:31,280 But I want you to think about the range of temperaments, the different styles of who 257 00:20:31,280 –> 00:20:32,280 we are. 258 00:20:32,280 –> 00:20:36,339 The way that God has made us wonderfully different and often wonderfully different between husbands 259 00:20:36,339 –> 00:20:37,780 and wives. 260 00:20:37,780 –> 00:20:41,160 And that is part of the joy of our relationships. 261 00:20:41,160 –> 00:20:46,959 I want you to think about the difference between accountants and artists. 262 00:20:46,959 –> 00:20:51,719 Now, several accountants came after me last night and said, why don’t you go and pick 263 00:20:51,719 –> 00:20:55,239 on the engineers? 264 00:20:55,239 –> 00:21:01,459 And thank God for accountants, thank God for artists and where would we be without them? 265 00:21:01,459 –> 00:21:05,459 And I know that I’m painting a caricature here, but I want you to think about the different 266 00:21:05,839 –> 00:21:12,839 types of personality, what I’m going to call the accountant type, meticulous, detail-oriented, 267 00:21:18,079 –> 00:21:22,520 given to order and organization. 268 00:21:22,520 –> 00:21:28,959 Discipline comes more easily to them than it does to the artists. 269 00:21:28,979 –> 00:21:32,060 The artistic types are creative, expressive, impulsive, spontaneous, romantic. 270 00:21:40,060 –> 00:21:41,880 and spontaneity comes much more easily to them than it does to the accountant types. 271 00:21:45,900 –> 00:21:48,479 Folks your life would be very different if you married and artist than if you married 272 00:21:48,479 –> 00:21:51,199 an accountant, right? 273 00:21:51,199 –> 00:21:55,780 The temperaments are just very very different. 274 00:21:55,920 –> 00:22:02,540 But when an artistic type is redeemed, he or she is not become an artistic type, he 275 00:22:02,540 –> 00:22:07,219 becomes a redeemed accountant type. 276 00:22:07,219 –> 00:22:11,000 And when an artistic type is redeemed they don’t become an accountant type, they become 277 00:22:11,000 –> 00:22:13,680 a redeemed artistic type. 278 00:22:13,680 –> 00:22:19,219 Now this is very important, especially within marriages where often we are very different 279 00:22:19,219 –> 00:22:25,180 and therefore can misunderstand God’s work of grace in one another. 280 00:22:25,180 –> 00:22:30,979 It would be very easy for the more expressive artistic types among us to conclude that the 281 00:22:30,979 –> 00:22:35,319 more reserved accountant types do not really love Jesus Christ because they don’t close 282 00:22:35,319 –> 00:22:38,020 their eyes or raise their hands in worship. 283 00:22:38,020 –> 00:22:43,680 Equally, it would be very easy for the more schedule-driven disciplined and organized 284 00:22:43,680 –> 00:22:48,719 accountant types to conclude that the more spontaneous and impulsive artist types do 285 00:22:48,719 –> 00:22:52,739 not really love Christ because they do not have a set time of routine for reading the 286 00:22:52,859 –> 00:22:55,739 Bible and praying every day at the same time. 287 00:22:55,739 –> 00:23:02,079 Folks, where we’re going with this is that we all need to grow in the Christian life 288 00:23:02,079 –> 00:23:09,079 in our own temperaments but God has made us different so whatever you do do not lose the 289 00:23:09,140 –> 00:23:15,180 joy of following Christ by trying to be conformed to the image of the Christian sitting next 290 00:23:15,180 –> 00:23:16,900 to you. 291 00:23:16,900 –> 00:23:22,060 Because God never intended you to be precisely like the Christian sitting next to you. 292 00:23:22,060 –> 00:23:27,300 He intended all of us to be conformed to the image of Christ but here’s the beauty. 293 00:23:27,300 –> 00:23:32,619 Like a stained glass window that reflects multiple colors of light or like a diamond 294 00:23:32,619 –> 00:23:39,619 that reflects one light in beautiful and multiple ways there will be a unique reflection of 295 00:23:39,900 –> 00:23:45,400 the glory of Christ in you that will be for the eternal praise and glory of God. 296 00:23:45,400 –> 00:23:49,859 That will be different from the reflection of any other person. 297 00:23:50,079 –> 00:23:52,099 God never made two snowflakes the same. 298 00:23:52,099 –> 00:23:55,719 He never makes two Christians exactly the same. 299 00:23:55,719 –> 00:23:56,479 God creates. 300 00:23:56,479 –> 00:24:03,479 He doesn’t clone and as he chose to create us uniquely so he redeems the uniqueness in 301 00:24:05,660 –> 00:24:08,060 our creation. 302 00:24:08,060 –> 00:24:12,040 Now there is a freedom that comes from this. 303 00:24:12,040 –> 00:24:15,280 We live this life in the body. 304 00:24:15,640 –> 00:24:22,640 What that means is that regeneration will not change your temperament. 305 00:24:22,760 –> 00:24:28,400 What it will do is it will change your usefulness. 306 00:24:28,400 –> 00:24:31,319 So take for example a man like Saul of Tarsus. 307 00:24:31,319 –> 00:24:38,319 Before he was regenerated, before he ever came to Christ he was already a driving, impulsive, 308 00:24:39,280 –> 00:24:46,479 passionate, articulate, relentless leader and everything that was in him from creation 309 00:24:46,479 –> 00:24:51,119 was being poured into the destruction of the church and what did God do when he redeemed 310 00:24:51,119 –> 00:24:52,479 him? 311 00:24:52,479 –> 00:24:57,900 He took everything that was in that man by creation and turned it all in a new direction 312 00:24:57,900 –> 00:25:04,500 so that the same passionate, articulate, relentless, driving leadership was deployed for the advance 313 00:25:04,500 –> 00:25:08,060 of the Gospel all over the Gentile world. 314 00:25:08,060 –> 00:25:13,920 What we’re saying here, folks, is God will uniquely use you. 315 00:25:13,920 –> 00:25:21,780 Understand who He has made you to be and rejoice in the fact that He, redeeming your particular 316 00:25:21,780 –> 00:25:26,939 gifting and temperament, will use you in a way that will be different from others around 317 00:25:26,939 –> 00:25:33,400 you for His glory and for the advance of His Kingdom and there will be an unique reflection 318 00:25:33,400 –> 00:25:35,540 of the glory of Christ in you forever. 319 00:25:35,540 –> 00:25:40,959 There will not be another Christian in heaven exactly like you. 320 00:25:40,959 –> 00:25:41,959 That is amazing. 321 00:25:41,959 –> 00:25:47,160 He’s redeemed you and there’s a wonderful freedom in this discovery. 322 00:25:47,160 –> 00:25:50,579 So please don’t try to be someone else. 323 00:25:50,579 –> 00:25:52,520 Let Him use you for His glory. 324 00:25:52,520 –> 00:25:58,040 Now, here’s the second thing, regeneration does not change your temperament but it will 325 00:25:58,040 –> 00:25:59,640 change your usefulness. 326 00:25:59,640 –> 00:26:02,380 He will use you however He has made you. 327 00:26:02,459 –> 00:26:09,280 Secondly, regeneration does not change your temptations, but it will change the outcome. 328 00:26:10,560 –> 00:26:16,020 And we have a baptismal service here later today and I love the story, I’m sure I’ve 329 00:26:16,020 –> 00:26:21,920 told this before, of the man who was baptized, by being immersed in the water and afterwards 330 00:26:21,920 –> 00:26:25,939 he hugged the pastor and he was so full of joy, and he said pastor this is wonderful, 331 00:26:25,939 –> 00:26:30,920 I’ll no longer be facing all these wretched horrible temptations. 332 00:26:30,920 –> 00:26:38,160 And the pastor said to him, for that blessing, I would have had to hold you under for a longer 333 00:26:38,160 –> 00:26:41,359 period of time. 334 00:26:41,359 –> 00:26:49,439 Regeneration does not end nor does it change your temptations, it will change the outcome. 335 00:26:49,439 –> 00:26:54,239 Now we saw last time that James the apostle says that each one is tempted when by his 336 00:26:54,239 –> 00:26:59,400 own evil desire he is dragged away and enticed. 337 00:26:59,839 –> 00:27:05,859 Paul is telling us in Galatians 2 that we live this life of faith in the body. 338 00:27:05,859 –> 00:27:11,300 Our temptations are tied to the flesh or to put it more precisely your temptations are 339 00:27:11,300 –> 00:27:13,160 tied to your flesh. 340 00:27:13,160 –> 00:27:17,979 Which is why your temptations may be different from the particular temptations of the person 341 00:27:17,979 –> 00:27:19,500 sitting next to you. 342 00:27:19,500 –> 00:27:23,640 We all face the battle with sin but we fight that battle in different ways and in different 343 00:27:23,640 –> 00:27:26,339 places. 344 00:27:26,339 –> 00:27:27,859 So what is your battle? 345 00:27:28,180 –> 00:27:35,760 I mean, is it in the area of pride or greed or envy or anger or laziness or lust or gluttony. 346 00:27:35,760 –> 00:27:42,619 You could add to the list, but please because there are distinctive battles that are fought 347 00:27:42,619 –> 00:27:51,800 by each Christian believer, learn to know yourself and to know the distinctive temptations 348 00:27:51,800 –> 00:27:58,160 that you face because they are rooted in your own flesh, your own temperament. 349 00:27:58,160 –> 00:28:01,719 We all face the battle with sin, but we face that battle in different ways. 350 00:28:01,719 –> 00:28:05,880 Let me just give you an example of how different this can be. 351 00:28:05,880 –> 00:28:07,719 Take the issue of money. 352 00:28:07,719 –> 00:28:18,400 Now, the impulse of some is to spend freely and to run up massive debt. 353 00:28:18,439 –> 00:28:27,660 The impulse, by temperament, of others is to save scrupulously and build up large portfolios. 354 00:28:27,660 –> 00:28:36,760 Now, the sin of greed can work in either situation. 355 00:28:36,760 –> 00:28:42,099 And if you don’t understand that, then what you’ll be doing is always seeing the sin that’s 356 00:28:42,099 –> 00:28:47,000 in your brother’s eye and not seeing the lock that’s in your own eye. 357 00:28:47,000 –> 00:28:52,579 What you need to do, what I need to do, is be able to see more clearly how Satan works 358 00:28:52,579 –> 00:28:58,020 in me, how sin finds its root in my flesh, in this body in which I’m living the life 359 00:28:58,020 –> 00:29:03,400 of faith in the Son of God who loved me and who gave Himself for me. 360 00:29:03,400 –> 00:29:06,520 So what are your special temptations? 361 00:29:06,520 –> 00:29:12,180 Look for the distinctive temptation that lurks in your temperament. 362 00:29:12,180 –> 00:29:15,439 Is it to control? 363 00:29:15,439 –> 00:29:18,979 Is it to withdraw? 364 00:29:18,979 –> 00:29:23,140 Is it to fight? 365 00:29:23,140 –> 00:29:27,479 Is it to resent? 366 00:29:27,479 –> 00:29:35,219 What is the distinctive area of battle that you have discovered comes by living the life 367 00:29:35,219 –> 00:29:37,859 of faith in your body? 368 00:29:37,859 –> 00:29:45,300 And, when you know what your special temptations are, examine how they work. 369 00:29:45,300 –> 00:29:49,839 Study where they have gained a root and a hold in your life. 370 00:29:49,839 –> 00:29:53,979 Study your own defeats carefully. 371 00:29:53,979 –> 00:29:54,979 How did that happen? 372 00:29:54,979 –> 00:29:56,900 When did it happen? 373 00:29:56,900 –> 00:30:00,180 What might have been different that could have brought a different outcome? 374 00:30:00,180 –> 00:30:05,140 Folks, we can learn lots here from the sports teams. 375 00:30:05,140 –> 00:30:12,560 You think about the defensive line in a football team, watching the reruns of a touchdown that 376 00:30:12,560 –> 00:30:14,579 they conceded. 377 00:30:14,579 –> 00:30:16,119 What do these guys do? 378 00:30:16,119 –> 00:30:23,020 They watch this play and then they do it in slow motion and they watch it again. 379 00:30:23,020 –> 00:30:25,660 And then they watch it again and again. 380 00:30:25,660 –> 00:30:29,560 And they analyze it and they will say, now, what could we have done? 381 00:30:29,560 –> 00:30:34,719 Where could one of us or more of us have been or move to have thwarted the success of that 382 00:30:35,119 –> 00:30:36,119 play? 383 00:30:36,119 –> 00:30:38,020 What could we do differently next time against this team? 384 00:30:38,020 –> 00:30:44,880 They say that’s exactly the kind of wisdom with which we need to wage the battle of the 385 00:30:44,880 –> 00:30:47,920 Christian life that rages within our own souls. 386 00:30:47,920 –> 00:30:53,439 Learn from your defeats so that in the future you will prevail. 387 00:30:53,439 –> 00:30:58,000 John Owen in his masterful study of Christian warfare, he puts it this way. 388 00:30:58,000 –> 00:31:04,099 He says, we need to be intimately acquainted with the ways and occasions that gives sin 389 00:31:05,060 –> 00:31:07,020 in us. 390 00:31:07,020 –> 00:31:10,020 This is how men deal with their enemies. 391 00:31:10,020 –> 00:31:14,780 They search out their enemies’ plans and consider how and by what means they have prevailed 392 00:31:14,780 –> 00:31:16,500 over them in the past. 393 00:31:16,500 –> 00:31:18,359 Then the enemies can be defeated. 394 00:31:18,359 –> 00:31:25,180 One of the most important parts of spiritual wisdom, he continues, is to find out how sin 395 00:31:25,180 –> 00:31:30,560 uses occasions and opportunities to gain an advantage over you. 396 00:31:30,719 –> 00:31:35,119 We need to trace this serpent to its lair. 397 00:31:35,119 –> 00:31:39,959 We must learn to say, and he is talking about what we would say to Satan. 398 00:31:39,959 –> 00:31:49,719 He says, we must learn to say, this is your usual method and I know what you are up to. 399 00:31:49,719 –> 00:31:52,920 I love that sentence. 400 00:31:52,920 –> 00:31:57,599 That you would come to know how Satan has gained the advantage over you, how he has 401 00:31:57,699 –> 00:32:02,280 worked with particular temptations that are tied to your own flesh so that when you face 402 00:32:02,280 –> 00:32:07,819 that temptation in the future, you would be able to say to the devil, I know this is your 403 00:32:07,819 –> 00:32:12,239 usual method with me, but I know what you are up to. 404 00:32:12,239 –> 00:32:18,680 That’s a lot of spiritual wisdom from John Owen right there. 405 00:32:18,680 –> 00:32:20,699 Regeneration will not change your temptations. 406 00:32:20,699 –> 00:32:23,380 It will change the outcome. 407 00:32:23,380 –> 00:32:27,239 I don’t tire of this statement because I want it to be in our minds. 408 00:32:28,199 –> 00:32:30,479 You can, I hope, finish it for me. 409 00:32:30,479 –> 00:32:39,040 In Christ, sin will always be your enemy, but sin will no longer be your master. 410 00:32:39,040 –> 00:32:42,020 That’s Romans chapter six in verse 14. 411 00:32:42,020 –> 00:32:46,479 Won’t change your temptations, but it will change the outcome. 412 00:32:46,479 –> 00:32:50,319 And remember that no temptation has come to you except what is common to man. 413 00:32:50,319 –> 00:32:55,280 That means there are others fighting the same battle, and God’s faithful, and He will provide 414 00:32:55,280 –> 00:32:58,579 a way out so that you can stand up under it. 41500:32:58,579 –> 00:33:04,800 So put on the full armor of God that you may stand in the evil day. 416 00:33:04,800 –> 00:33:07,760 Now here’s the very last thing here this morning. 417 00:33:07,760 –> 00:33:14,680 Regeneration does not change your past, but it will change your future. 418 00:33:14,680 –> 00:33:18,479 This is wonderful. 419 00:33:18,479 –> 00:33:23,500 Regeneration will not change your past, but it will change your future. 420 00:33:23,500 –> 00:33:28,180 Many of us live in the good of blessings that have come to us from the past. 421 00:33:28,180 –> 00:33:35,739 Some of us struggle with the affliction of great evils that have come to us in the past. 422 00:33:35,739 –> 00:33:40,739 For some of us, it is things that we have done, great evils that we have done. 423 00:33:40,739 –> 00:33:46,459 For others, it is evil that was done to us. 424 00:33:46,459 –> 00:33:48,819 You cannot change the past. 425 00:33:48,819 –> 00:33:51,380 The past is what it is. 426 00:33:51,380 –> 00:33:53,400 What you did, you did. 427 00:33:53,400 –> 00:33:56,699 What was done, was done. 428 00:33:56,699 –> 00:33:58,900 Regeneration does not change the past. 429 00:33:58,900 –> 00:34:03,599 What it does do, and this is the power of it, is it does change the future. 430 00:34:03,599 –> 00:34:05,420 It really does. 431 00:34:05,420 –> 00:34:10,620 To those who struggle with the knowledge of great sins, that Satan often seeks to resurrect 432 00:34:10,620 –> 00:34:12,899 in your memory. 433 00:34:12,899 –> 00:34:19,399 In 1 Corinthians, Paul describes the lifestyles from which God redeemed early believers and 434 00:34:19,399 –> 00:34:23,040 from which He has redeemed many of us. 435 00:34:23,040 –> 00:34:28,520 And He speaks of people who sinned heterosexually and people who sinned homosexually. 436 00:34:28,520 –> 00:34:34,159 And He speaks of thieves, and He speaks of drunkards, and He speaks of slanderers, and 437 00:34:34,159 –> 00:34:36,159 swindlers, and idolaters. 438 00:34:36,159 –> 00:34:45,219 And He says to the congregation in Corinth that is what some of you were. 439 00:34:45,219 –> 00:34:51,000 But you were washed. 440 00:34:51,000 –> 00:34:53,780 You were sanctified. 441 00:34:53,780 –> 00:35:01,040 You were justified by the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God. 442 00:35:01,120 –> 00:35:05,179 Regeneration does not change the past. 443 00:35:05,179 –> 00:35:08,979 What you have done, you have done. 444 00:35:08,979 –> 00:35:13,219 But it does change the future, and here is the marvelous news. 445 00:35:13,219 –> 00:35:19,820 When you are a new creation in Christ, the past is no longer defining for you, the future 446 00:35:19,820 –> 00:35:21,120 is. 447 00:35:21,120 –> 00:35:24,159 Satan wants to say to you, hey, look what you were. 448 00:35:24,159 –> 00:35:29,659 And Christ says to you, that’s not what you are, and look at what you will be in the presence 449 00:35:29,659 –> 00:35:30,659 of Christ forever. 450 00:35:30,659 –> 00:35:32,340 Now, you are a new creation. 451 00:35:32,340 –> 00:35:37,739 It doesn’t change the past, but it does change the future. 452 00:35:37,739 –> 00:35:46,060 And for folks who struggle, as many among us do, with things that were done in the past, 453 00:35:46,060 –> 00:35:48,699 let me just say this. 454 00:35:48,699 –> 00:35:54,000 Someone come up to me after the service last night, and he said, you know, I have so much 455 00:35:54,399 –> 00:35:58,679 stuff that’s baggage from the past. 456 00:35:58,679 –> 00:36:07,080 And he said, I’ve been rummaging around in it, and it’s really not getting me anywhere. 457 00:36:07,080 –> 00:36:11,540 He said, it’s like peeling the onion. 458 00:36:11,540 –> 00:36:23,659 And he said, I’m seeing that what really matters is not the past that I can’t change, but the 459 00:36:23,679 –> 00:36:25,879 future that Christ has changed. 460 00:36:25,879 –> 00:36:29,540 It’s just what’s defining for you. 461 00:36:29,540 –> 00:36:34,300 You’re a new creation in Christ. 462 00:36:34,300 –> 00:36:38,699 How great is the love that the Father has lavished upon us, that we should be called 463 00:36:38,699 –> 00:36:41,879 the children of God? 464 00:36:41,879 –> 00:36:48,179 And what we will be has not yet been made known, but we know that when He appears, we 465 00:36:48,179 –> 00:36:50,520 shall be like him. 466 00:36:50,520 –> 00:36:52,439 That’s what’s defining for you. 467 00:36:53,419 –> 00:37:00,820 You’re going to be like Christ, and the miracle of this new life that has begun in your regeneration 468 00:37:00,820 –> 00:37:04,500 will be complete for the everlasting praise and glory of God. 469 00:37:04,500 –> 00:37:08,399 No other Christian in heaven quite like you. 470 00:37:08,399 –> 00:37:15,979 And so, John says, whoever has this hope in him or her, purifies themselves, even as Christ 471 00:37:15,979 –> 00:37:18,120 is pure. 472 00:37:19,040 –> 00:37:26,419 Father, for this miracle, we give you our thanks and our praise through Jesus Christ, 473 00:37:26,419 –> 00:37:28,679 our Lord. 474 00:37:28,679 –> 00:37:31,520 Amen. 475 00:37:31,520 –> 00:37:35,120 You’ve been listening to a Sermon with Pastor Colin Smith of Open The Bible. 476 00:37:35,120 –> 00:37:43,540 To contact us, call us at 1-877-OPEN365 or visit our website, OpenTheBible.org.

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Colin Smith

Trustee / Founder and Teaching Pastor

Colin Smith is the Senior Pastor of The Orchard Evangelical Free Church in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. He has authored a number of books, including Heaven, How I Got Here and Heaven, So Near – So Far. Colin is the Founder and Teaching Pastor for Open the Bible. Follow him on X formerly Twitter.

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