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.