Regeneration

Good evening.

So tonight we are going to be looking at regeneration, and over this whole soteriology study, I think it's important to emphasize that you can't look at these in isolation, right? It's not pieces. Each of these that we'll study doesn't operate — I mean, it does in a sense, it's independent things — but it operates together as a whole, right? Regeneration, conversion — those are all parts of the same work.

So let's start off with our point number one.

Regeneration is the act of God — at your first blank — in man, by which the governing disposition of a man's soul is made holy, and its first holy exercise of faith and repentance is secured — at your second blank — by the Holy Spirit. That's your third. This is the direct operation of the Spirit in uniting man's soul to Christ. That's your last blank.

So I'll read that again. Regeneration is the act of God in man, by which the governing disposition of man's soul is made holy, and its first holy exercise of faith and repentance is secured by the Holy Spirit. This is the direct operation of the Spirit in uniting man's soul to Christ. Is that "secured" or "secured"? Secured, E-D. Sorry, you speak redneck.

So let's go to our first verse there, John 1:12–13: "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name." Stop right there real quick. When most people read this verse — and I know because I have friends and I used to be one of them — they say, "Well, see, it's as many as received Him, so it is our decision, right?" But this verse, they ignore verse 13. Keep reading.

"Who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."

Right, and you don't need to get into the Greek to understand that text. It's pretty plain. It speaks for itself. If you don't inject any meaning into it and you read it, verse 13 removes all doubt on who was the actor, who did that. It says "not of blood" — that means family heritage won't save you. It says "nor of the will of the flesh" — human effort won't save you. "Nor of the will of man" — you don't decide yourself into salvation. "But of God." And it's interesting, I looked up the Greek of that last phrase, "but of God," and the word — I'll probably butcher it — but it's ek theou, and it means "out of God." It's an act, and it's regeneration, but it comes out of God. That's its originating point.

And we've already gone through the other ones where it pretty much removes all other possibilities. It says "nor of the will of man" — you don't decide yourself there.

Ephesians 2:4: "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses" — and here, underline these two words — "made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved." Made us alive. Just a surface-level reading of this text again, if you let the text speak for itself — "made us" — it's something He does to you.

And if you go through the Bible, and I've asked other people this question, believers in the Bible are referred to sometimes as "the chosen," sometimes as "the elect." Why is that term used? If we choose to be saved, then wouldn't we be called "the choosers" or "the electors," "the deciders" — something to indicate it was our choice? But nothing gives that impression.

The application for point one: does man meet God halfway in salvation?

Point two. To have fellowship with a holy — that's your first blank — God, a radical internal change is requisite in every human soul. It is a change which constitutes its entire character — that's your second blank — entire. Man's natural tendencies are wholly in the direction of sin and self, and a reversal of his innermost dispositions and principles of action is needed if he is to set his love — that's your next blank — on God. So your first blank is "holy," the next blank is "entire," and your last blank is "love."

Jeremiah 13:23: "Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil."

The problem with — understand, like most people's understanding of free will — says that man's free will is — nobody will say it's inclined to the good, because no Christian that I've met — you may have met one — says that man's will is inclined to the good. Most will say it's either neutral, or a few of us say it's inclined to sin because of the original fall. But here's the problem with a neutral view of will.

If man's will isn't inclined to the good or the bad, then why is God concerned? If they were just random decisions, like you could just make them on the fly — but God isn't only concerned about the decision, He's concerned about the heart behind the decision, right? So there has to be some motivator for a decision. And I heard R.C. Sproul say one time, if your will was completely neutral and you came to an intersection, and you could go straight, left, or right, or you could turn around and go back — if your will was completely neutral, you would stand in the intersection and die of inactivity. You would stand there until you starved to death or just passed away, because you would have no reason to prefer the right over the left or to keep going or to turn around.

But man's will, it says after the fall, is always inclined to sin. The Bible refers to us as slaves to sin. So the will is not really the issue — it's the liberty. That's the issue.

And I outline it to people like this, and I'll see if it makes sense to you — if it doesn't, tell me, I'll try to explain it better. Think of an inmate. He's inside of a prison, and his free will is intact. He can wake up, he can eat, he can go to sleep, he can play card games, he can do whatever he wants within that prison. What he cannot do is free himself. His free will is intact, but it's limited because he doesn't have the liberty to make that decision. Our sin nature is that prison. We can make free-will choices inside of our sin nature.

We can even do good things inside of it, to human standards. You know, you can be kind and moral. But none of that is regeneration of the heart, and you can't decide things outside of the way that your will is inclined. And short of being saved, it's always inclined to sin. It's our nature. It's why — me and Casey's wife talked about this earlier — you see people, and they hear a sermon and they have an emotional reaction to it. So for about three or four months, sometimes shorter, sometimes longer, they'll go to church, they'll try to live a better life.

But that isn't regeneration. When they slide back to exactly where they were before, it's really just behavior modification. There's a difference in those two things, and we'll get into that when we get further down.

Romans 8:7–8: "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God."

Here's the point on this verse. All sinners, before they come to Christ, are in the flesh, right? But the Bible says that the mind in the flesh is an enemy of God. The Bible later on — and we'll get into this verse — it says that no one in the flesh can please God. So if God doesn't regenerate us, and it's our faith that causes the regeneration, and we make that decision while we are in the flesh, then the flesh profits everything. The flesh is the cause of salvation. If you've got to make the decision while you're still a sinner — according to faith being the cause of the regeneration — you would be forced to make it while you were in the flesh.

John 5:42: "But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you."

First Corinthians 2:14: "But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."

I brought this up today to a friend of mine, and he said, "What this is saying" — because some translations say "the depths" — he's saying, "Well, that's not talking about that; it's talking about shallow Christians, they can't understand the deep things of God." But I went to the original language and looked up "natural man." It's psychikos, and it's "worldly," "unspiritual." It's a mind trapped in the flesh. It's not a comparison of a shallow versus an informed Christian — it's a comparison of saved and unsaved.

Can Christians be carnal? I would say that — I think Christians battle with sin. Christians can do carnal things, but their disposition isn't to carnal things. Carnal being trapped in the things of the world, one foot in and one foot out, sometimes doing the things that you see around you in the world — those are carnal Christians. But I wouldn't say that the disposition of a Christian can be carnal. If you find yourself always behaving in the carnal, then I would say you're still in the flesh, you're still a slave to your sin.

That's why we repent and why we have conviction. When I was a sinner — and trust me, I was a good one — I did not feel bad when I did those things. I didn't feel bad when I went out and got hammered, fought, swore, chasing women. I was doing everything when I was active duty, and I didn't ever stop and go, "Man, I really feel terrible." I was a slave to my sin. I wasn't even a carnal Christian. I was just in the flesh.

Application: what spiritual good can a man accomplish in the flesh? Exactly none.

Point three. Regeneration is the divine side of that change of heart — that's your first one — which we call conversion if viewed from the human side. Regeneration is God's turning the soul to Him, while conversion is the soul's turning itself to God in repentance and faith. God turning the soul to Himself is both the accompaniment and the cause of conversion. A man turns to God only — your last blank — as God turns him.

And this is — when I first came to this understanding, I pushed back on it a lot, because everything I'd been taught was against this. And I struggled with it for a while, and I still test myself in it, because I want to make sure that I have the courage of my own conviction. So I listen to other people say things that don't align with this.

John 6:44: "And we'll stop here and I'll break this verse down for you, and this was one of the verses that strongly convinced me." So it says, "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day."

Dissect this verse real quick. "No one" — "no one" is a universal negative, right. It means no one, nobody. So it universally excludes everybody.

"Can" — that one word, people miss it because they read it, and at a surface level, "can" is not permissive. It speaks to ability. If I say no one can run 60 miles an hour, I'm saying you do not have the ability to run 60 miles an hour. And R.C. Sproul said this one — you remember when you were in school and you were little, and you said, "Teacher, can I sharpen my pencil?" She said, "I'm sure you can, and yes, you may." You don't say no one "may" run 60 miles an hour. You don't have to give a man — he can't do it. And that's what this is saying. So it says "no one" — universal negative — "can," speaking to ability.

Whatever follows that is going to be what He's talking about. "No man can come to Me," and then it follows with "unless." "Unless" is an exceptive clause, so whatever follows "unless" is either going to be a sufficient or a necessary condition. The very next thing — and what does He say? "The Father who sent Me draws him."

"Draws" — they say, "Well, that's God wooing you, coaching you in." But the same word is used when they drag Paul to court. I looked up that Greek word, and the word "draws" there is the Greek word helkō — it means "carry," "haul," "drag," "compel." It's a positive action taken by a sovereign God. It's not passive.

Because John 6:37 says, "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me." And people argue and say, "Well, giving is a passive action." And if you're linguistically as tough on yourself as you can be, you could say, "Yeah, I think that verse provides a definite outcome." But the word "given" or "gives" is passive. But here in John 6:44, "draws" is not passive. Kittel's dictionary defines it as "to compel by divine superiority."

"And I will raise him up on the last day" — and we'll touch on this at some point, but that's perseverance of the saints. God's got you; you don't have Him. He says, "I will raise him up on the last day." If that were on you, He couldn't make that guarantee. But because it's not, He can make that guarantee.

Acts 16:14: "Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshipped God." And you can underline this: "The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul." Who opened her heart? The Lord opened her heart.

Let me go back to 6:44 real quick, because I think this is — at least it was to me — it was beautiful. When you hear the word "drag," "compel," all of those things, it sounds like a violent action, like a forcing. But in all actuality, the disposition that's given, the drawing, the new will, the new heart — it's so gentle that more than, I would say, at least half believe it was their own decision. That's why people believe it. It's not violent. It's not a violent action of force. It's a gentle —

Application: why must we depend on the Lord in evangelism? Anybody venture a guess?

Yeah, why must we depend on the Lord in evangelism? That's the application blank. Because it's the Lord who brings them to Himself. Exactly. You guys hear that? The Lord is the one that produces the results. The means is evangelism, but you're not the cause.

If it says no one can come unless He draws, let me tell you what else this does: it takes the pressure off the evangelist. It's not up to you to save people; it's just up to you to deliver the message. That's it. You're just a mouthpiece. So success in evangelism isn't defined by you coming in and saying fifty people got saved. That's all credit to God. The success in evangelism is the faithfulness to do evangelism — that is the success. You're obeying God.

Point four. Regeneration is indispensable to the salvation of the sinner — that's your blank.

John 3:5–7: "Jesus answered, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again.'"

"Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." He doesn't say "might not." He says "cannot." The kingdom is barred to the unregenerate. Religion can't climb the wall. Morality can't dig under it. Only the Spirit's new birth opens the gate.

The birth — it's from the Greek word anōthen — and its definition is "from above." The new birth is from above. You can scrub a corpse clean, dress it in fine clothes, and even prop it up in church, but without life it's still dead.

Application: how many ways can one enter the kingdom of God? That's it — one way in.

Point five. Regeneration is a change in the innermost principle of life of man. "Life" is your blank.

John 5:21: "For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will."

"The Father raises the dead and gives life to them." "Gives" implies, on its face, with no digging — just letting the text speak — that there has to be a receiver of what's given. We are the receiver. So faith is not the cause of regeneration; it's the fruit of regeneration.

Ephesians 2:1: "And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sin." He made you alive. It doesn't require digging or going into the Greek — I like doing that anyway — but just let the text sometimes speak for itself. You don't have to add anything to that. It says He made you alive. That is hard to misunderstand.

Application: can a dead man resurrect himself?

Point six. Regeneration changes man's heart and governing disposition.

Ezekiel 36:26–27: "I will remove the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." "I will remove the heart of stone" — He's not talking about you. He's not saying, "You will remove the heart of stone and I'll give you a heart of flesh," or "you'll remove the heart of stone and give yourself a heart of flesh." He says "I" — He speaks of Himself. And again He says "give." That means the action is being taken by someone that's not the person receiving it.

And regeneration here — it says it changes a man's heart and governing disposition. People, they've got two big objections to it. If it's God doing the choosing, then doesn't that make us robots?

But it's not — what regeneration is is God freeing you from the bondage of sin. And Kittel's defines John 6:44 — the drawing — as "to compel by divine superiority." It's not an unwilling coming. You're not getting dragged into the kingdom kicking and screaming. Did any of you experience that when you came to faith — "No, please don't — I don't want to do it"? No one does that. It's your decision. But your disposition, your will, has been changed because your heart has been changed.

So it's not an unwilling coming. And I don't know if this is a good example — I use it sometimes. Say you walk by a house and the house is on fire, and you stand out front and you're worried, and then someone says, "Hey, your mother and father, or your wife, or your kids are inside that house." And you run in. Technically you made the decision to run in, but did you really have a choice? And did you run in against your will? No. You had a new heart, because your family was in there, and you went voluntarily — it was still your decision. Kind of — does that make sense? It does to me, but —

Psalm 51:10: "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me."

David asked Him to create in him a clean heart. He doesn't say, "Okay, I've created a clean heart; now give me a steadfast spirit." He asked God to create a new heart. Ezekiel 36:26, where God says of Himself what we already talked about: "I will give you a heart of flesh and remove the heart of stone."

Ezekiel 11:19–20: "Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take away the stony heart out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God."

He's talking about believers, not unbelievers. And He says again — just let the text speak for itself — "I will give them," "I will put." Just on its face, no digging, no word tricks, no dancing around it — it says what it says. There's no need to dig that deep on this verse; it just is what it is. You don't need to use theological language or attend seminary. Everyone can understand this — just read it.

Jeremiah 31:33: "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord" — here we go again — "'I will put My law in their minds and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.'"

Romans 6:17–18: "But God be thanked that, though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness."

That's another verse you don't need to go to seminary to know what it's saying. If you just read it, you understand it. And if you look at "set free from sin" — "God be thanked" — if it's not God's action, then why is God being thanked? Have you ever patted yourself on the back because you were saved? Nobody goes, "Good job, man, you're saved because you made a good decision." And the other side of that — if it is your decision, you know where it says "so that no one may boast."

So I've asked this question to people before when they bring this subject up. If it says there's no reason for you to boast, tell me the difference between you and an unsaved person. What's the difference? If you believe that it's your decision whether or not you're saved, then you are forced to say, "The difference between me and an unsaved person is I made a better decision than they did. I'm smarter than they are." It's got to be something to that effect, and it has to have the word "I" in it.

Whereas if there's no reason to boast — which the Bible clearly says — then all credit has to go somewhere else, and it can't be you. And when you ask that question to people, "Have you ever patted yourself on the back that you're saved?" — I've met one person who, when I asked him, "What's the difference between you and an unsaved person?" — this person actually said, "I made a better decision."

Well, congratulations — you're smarter than everyone else on planet Earth. It would give you a reason to boast in yourself.

Application: a cold and stony heart can be made new in Christ. And even in the application, there's the word "made." You don't make yourself. And here's another one: it says you must be born again. Did anyone here have any choice or any part of a decision when they were born the first time? No one said, "You know what, I think it's time — I'm going to be born." But they'll believe that about the new birth. They'll say, "No, it's my decision." When does it say God chose us before the foundation of the world? You don't have to dig to understand that it's before anything. How did you make a decision if it was before anything was here? "Before the foundation of the world, I chose you."

The text speaks for itself. It doesn't require you to put anything else in it. "Before the foundation of the world, I chose you" — we were predestined. People think that speaks of determinism, but it doesn't. All that's saying — when they used the word "predestination" — all that is is a deciding beforehand of the ultimate destination, which is in heaven with your Father. It's not saying — now, God does allow or cause anything that happens, and He is aware of all that, and the plan has already been laid out. But predestination in and of itself is only a decision made beforehand that you would be regenerated and your ultimate destination would be back with your Father.

Point seven. Regeneration is a change in the moral relations of the soul. In regeneration, man's sinful nature is not gone, but its power is broken and no longer dominates. He will yet be sanctified.

Regeneration and sanctification — they're not the same thing. They have a close relationship to each other, but they're not the same thing. Regeneration is immediate; sanctification is a process. You're not regenerated over time, but you are sanctified over time.

So the blanks there are "broken" and "sanctified."

Colossians 1:13–14: "He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sin." "He has delivered us." You don't have to do a whole lot of digging to understand what "He delivered us" means. It means just what it means. It's plain, right on its face.

Ephesians 4:21–24: "If indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus, that you put off concerning your former conduct the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, that you may put on the new man, which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness."

And here — go to verse 23 on that handout and underline "be renewed." It doesn't say, "Once you renew yourself in the spirit of your mind." It says "be renewed." Again, the implication is that something is being done to you. Renewed — "be renewed."

The application here: is a regenerate man bound to walk in darkness? The answer is no. When you're regenerated, you're freed from being a slave to sin; you're no longer in bondage to it. You've been given a new heart, a new will. You're free from the bondage of sin.

Point eight. Regeneration is wrought with the use of truth as means. So it's "truth" and "means."

Jeremiah 23:29: "Is not My word like a fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?"

James 1:18: "Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that He might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures." In this one you can underline "He brought us" — not "we brought us." He.

First Peter 1:23: "Having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever." Casey always says there's nothing better than Bible study, and because the power and the method that God uses — the means that He uses — is the Word. That's where it's at. That's why evangelism matters. People will say, "Well, if you believe that God's doing all the regenerating, then what's the point? Why go evangelize? Why tell anybody?" Because the means He uses to do it is His Word — the gospel. That's what you have to believe. Where it says, "How will they hear without a preacher?" You have to tell them. Unless we walked around with signs that said "Chosen" or "Elect" or whatever else sign you wanted to hang on your neck, no one knows who they are.

And what's revealed in the Word is for us, but what's not revealed is not for us. And what's revealed in the Word is evangelism — it isn't a spiritual gift, it's a command. So you just do it. And it says through His Word — that's how, that's one of the methods He uses to bring men to Himself.

Next section.

John 15:3: "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you."

And then the application: how will they hear without a preacher?

Point nine. Regeneration is an instantaneous change, secretly wrought only by God and known only in its results. The blanks are "secretly" is your first blank, and your second one is "only."

John 3:8: "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."

And the new birth is important especially in evangelism, because you get this one a lot. Members of the LGBTQ community will say things like, "Well, I was born this way." But the Bible says that you must be born again. They're born in that sin, but all of us are born in sin one way or another, right? We're all sinners when we're born. A new birth is necessary, and that's the answer to it. Even if — and look, there's dispute about whether or not you're born that way or not born that way. None of that matters anyway. The Bible says you must be born again. And it doesn't say some of you must be born again. Everyone who comes is born again.

Application: are there any halfway converted semi-saints? No. It's in or it's out. There's no rod in the fence on this one.

Point ten. Regeneration is accomplished only through union with Christ.

Romans 8:2: "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death."

Second Corinthians 5:17: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."

The application here: is there salvation apart from union with the Savior?

And for point ten, by way of illustration: a branch has no life apart from the vine. You can tape it to the trellis, paint it green, and water the ground beneath it, but unless it is joined to the vine, it's dead.

So there's no salvation apart from Christ. Don't look for life in a religious effort, emotional experience, or self-reformation. If you're not in Christ, you're still dead.

How can you know if you're in Him? Been asked this too. The Bible gives you the fruits of the Spirit. If you see somebody or you meet somebody — me and Casey's wife talked about this too — when it says you can't look for life: the biggest one here, I think the biggest two that I mentioned when I wrote this, are religious effort and emotional experience. Emotional experience is probably the top one now, and religious effort is more second in these churches — and they're all over the place around here. They'll wind up the crowd. They use buzzwords, music, people love-bombing you. It's a whole experience.

There are churches around here — and I know, I won't mention them, but I know them — they don't even call their services services. They're not church services; they're "weekend experiences." That's what they call them. I've been to a church where they had a pastor position, and I am not kidding you, the guy's name tag said "Weekend Experience Pastor." And I'm not kidding. That's real. Right up the road. Weekend Experience Pastor. And I would tease him every Sunday. I was like, "You know, I'm not really having a good time — can you dance or sing or something? Entertain me."

But those types of churches try to wrap you up in those emotional experiences. They try to give you the emotional high, because people respond to that. You see thousands of people in those churches. But they're all outside of Christ.

Religious effort — and the Catholics are big on this one — the more you do, the better off you are. You have to work your way there. But no amount of church volunteering, no amount of being kind to one another, no amount of giving to the poor — none of that is going to save you. You know the people in Matthew that were told "Depart from Me" thought they had done everything right, and He said, "Depart from Me, I never knew you."

So in short, I'll close with this. Regeneration — we already went through John 6:44, that excludes anyone the Father doesn't draw. Who does He draw? The ones in verse 37 — the ones He gives. And He will raise them up on the last day. The only way to know if you're saved is to look for the fruits of the Spirit in your life, see if you have those, examine yourself. It says, "Examine yourself to see if you're in the faith."

And it's got to be over a time period. You know, you can't examine yourself for a week and say, "Whoo, touchdown, I'm in there." You know, I can change what I do for a week and act like a decent person. But you can wash a pig, and it's eventually going back to the mud. If you find yourself on an emotional high and you go back to the mud, and that's where you live, then you have to ask yourself some serious questions. Do I have a regenerate heart? Is my nature changed? Do I have a new disposition? If you look just like you did — say you've been saved ten years, and you have the same life you did when you got saved — I have bad news for you, and you're probably not saved.

That's it, Casey.