{"id":19288,"date":"2015-06-21T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-06-21T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/the-meaning-of-life-part-3\/"},"modified":"2015-06-21T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-06-21T05:00:00","slug":"the-meaning-of-life-part-3","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/the-meaning-of-life-part-3\/","title":{"rendered":"The Meaning of Life – Part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[88],"series_event":[434],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-19288","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-john","series_event-john","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"The Meaning of Life - Part 3","sermon_date":"20150621","sermon_month":"6","sermon_year":"2015","sermon_notes":2761,"sermon_slides":2760,"sermon_mp3":2762,"sermon_id":"621159504410","series_or_event":434,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":88,"chapter_and_verse":"20:30-31","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\nThe Meaning of Life, Part 3\n6-21-15 John 20:30-31 Lesson 128\n\nGood morning everybody; if we could take our Bibles and open them to John20:31, hoping to finish this chapter today, God willing. The title of our message this morning is The Meaning of Life, Part 3, as we have been sort of focused on, the last couple of Sunday\u2019s, verses 30-31 which are so critical to John\u2019s purpose in writing and the Christian life in general.\n\nI want to take the time to salute the fathers that are out there. It\u2019s sort of interesting to watch what our society is doing with fathers; how the role of the man within the home is sort of being lowered. It\u2019s sort of interesting, not so much interesting but disturbing just to watch sitcoms and to see that the guy that\u2019s always the dumbest in the room is the dad. I can think of a few sitcoms that go that direction. And of course, scripturally the role of fatherhood is highly elevated. In fact, you may not know this but if you\u2019re a father of a family you\u2019re the pastor of that little church, called your family. And you\u2019re responsible, according to Ephesians 6:4 to raise them in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord. [Ephesians 6:4, \u201cAnd, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.\u201d KJV]\n\nAnd, it\u2019s not a job you can outsource to somebody else. You can\u2019t farm it out to a Sunday School class, or a VBS or a church, all those ministries; they only thing they can really do is reinforce what\u2019s happening at home. So we\u2019ve lost a lot of ground on this issue of fatherhood and so on Father\u2019s Day we want to try and reclaim some of that ground biblically.\n\nAnd what we\u2019re dealing with today is the ultimate Fatherhood, really, and I think it\u2019s somewhat interesting that the Lord would have us in this particular passage on this particular day of the year where we celebrate fatherhood, because what we\u2019re talking about here, through something that we are going to define as regeneration, once that happens to a person God becomes their personal Father.\n\nSo here\u2019s the passage that we\u2019re going to be looking at today. You\u2019ll notice the second part of what I have there on the screen, \u201cbut these have been written so that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that by believing you may have life in His name.\u201d Last time we talked about the distinction between \u201cbelieve\u201d and \u201cbelieving\u201d and today we are getting into this whole subject of what does it mean when it says that \u201cyou may have line in His name.\u201d What is that even talking about? I\u2019m going to try to show you today what this word \u201clife\u201d means, and I\u2019m going to show to you about 14 truths, I\u2019ll go through these fairly quickly, but 14 truths about this subject of life because if a person has never received the life of God, through something called regeneration, God is not their Father at all. In fact, they have no relationship with God the Father at all, other than the fact that He one day will be their judge. So regeneration, then, becomes the foundation of the Christian life and experience.\n\nSo let\u2019s go through these one by one. What is it speaking of it here when it says, \u201cso that by believing you may have life in His name.\u201d What is life even about? That\u2019s why I\u2019ve entitled these messages the meaning of life. The Greek word here for life is zo\u0113 and the very fancy word that theologians have generated is something, a phrase I mentioned a couple of times earlier, it\u2019s called regeneration. Now regeneration is not mentioned here in the passage, the word \u201clife\u201d is mentioned but the word regeneration, you\u2019ll find it used two times in the Greek New Testament, once in Matthew 19:28, talking about the regeneration of all things, which is the kingdom age. [Matthew 19:28, \u201cAnd Jesus said to them, \u2018Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes.\u201d]\n\nAnd then you\u2019ll find it used one other time in Titus 3:5 in description of the born again experience of the Christian, sometimes called regeneration. Titus 3:5 says, \u201cHe saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.\u201d The Greek word for regeneration is palingenesia and that\u2019s a very interesting word; it\u2019s used only twice in the Greek New Testament, it\u2019s a compound word; it\u2019s two words put together into one, palingenesia, palin means again, now you recognize the word genesia, as in the book of Genesis, which is the Greek name for the Hebrew book that we call Genesis. That name was not added until the Hebrew was translated into Greek; a couple of hundred years before the time of Christ it took on this name \u201cGenesis,\u201d which is not a Hebrew word, it\u2019s a Greek word. And the Greeks named it that book because that\u2019s what this book is about, it\u2019s about creation, it\u2019s about a birth, it\u2019s about a new beginning, so to speak.\n\nAnd so when the Greek New Testament uses this expression \u201cregeneration\u201d palingenesia essentially what it means is again palin creation; creation again. That\u2019s the life of God, creation again. Dr. Chafer explains it this way: It is a God wrought, or brought metamorphosis. A new creation has happened the moment somebody has trusted in Jesus Christ. So we can define regeneration, or life, simply as this: the impartation of divine life, in fact it is the impartation of the very life of God. Now Dr. Chafer says this: \u201cat least 85 New Testament passages describe that a Christian is a changed person by virtue of the fact that he has received the very life of God.\u201d 85 times it tells us that if we are truly Christians we have been the recipients of the life of God.\n\nHere are some synonyms for regeneration or life: sometimes it\u2019s called the new birth, sometimes it\u2019s called spiritual reproduction, sometimes it\u2019s called spiritual renewal, and sometimes it\u2019s called re-creation. And this idea of regeneration or being created anew through the power of the Spirit of God is not some kind of obscure idea that just shows up on the pages of the New Testament, rather it\u2019s well developed in the Old Testament.\n\nYou might want to jot down Ezekiel 36:24-28 where the nation of Israel in the last days is going to be regathered and I believe is being regathered into their own land. And then God says in verse 27, \u201cI will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My Statutes. And as that vision is interpreted for us in Ezekiel 37:11-14 it\u2019s described as a valley of dry bones. And in this vision Ezekiel sees the bones assembling so that they form a living or an actual skeleton or body. And then he sees the skin and the muscles appearing on this skeleton, and then lastly Ezekiel sees the breath of God entering this skeleton or this person so that it becomes a living being. The \u201cbreath of God\u201d is the Holy Spirit entering the nation of Israel and she comes to life, not just politically like you see her today politically alive, but she comes to life spiritually. And that\u2019s essentially what we call regeneration or the life of God.\n\n[Ezekiel 36:24-28, \u201cFor I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. [25] Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. [26] Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. [27] And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. [28] You will live in the land that I give to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God.\u201d\n\nEzekiel 37:11-14, \u201cThen He said to me, \u2018Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say, \u2018Our bones are dried up and our hope has perished. We are completely cut off.\u2019 [12] Therefore prophesy and say to them, \u2018Thus says the Lord GOD, \u2018Behold, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel. [13] Then you will know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people. [14] I will put My Spirit within you and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken and done it,\u2019 declares the LORD.\u2019\u201d]\n\nIn fact, Jesus referred to this reality, called regeneration, He referred to it as being born again, perhaps better translated being born from above. And He was trying to explain this reality to Nicodemus and Jesus is very frustrated with Nicodemus because Nicodemus doesn\u2019t seem to get the whole idea. How can a man be born again when he is old, how can he enter his mother\u2019s womb a second time, and Jesus says are you the teacher of Israel and you do not understand these things? Nicodemus, you should know what regeneration is, you should know what the new life is; it\u2019s very well developed in the book of Ezekiel. [John 3:4, Nicodemus said to Him, \u2018How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?\u2019\u201d [5] Jesus answered, \u2018Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.\u201d]\n\nDr. Walvoord says this: \u201cWhile regeneration is not an experience it is the foundation of all Christian experience.\u201d God begins His relationship with us, as I\u2019ll show you in a minute, through regeneration which we can define as the impartation of the life of God. We are not born into the world with this life; it is something that has to be created in us anew. And this is what John is talking about here when he says that they \u201cmay believe\u201d and \u201chave life in His name.\u201d He is talking about regeneration, which is the impartation of divine life.\n\nThe second thing I want to bring to your attention about regeneration is regeneration is what gives us a relationship with God. You see, if a person has never been regenerated they are only God\u2019s creation but they have no spiritual relationship with Him. Regeneration is what allows us to know God. Prior to regeneration we know about God but regeneration allows us to actually know Him. Jesus said in John 17:3, \u201cThis is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.\u201d The life of God in a person allows them not to know about God but to actually know Him personally in terms of a relationship.\n\nDr. Chafer says this: \u201cIt\u2019s one thing to know about God, but it\u2019s quite another thing to know God.\u201d I can\u2019t tell you how many people I run into that know things about God but they have no regeneration in them, they have no life of God in them, they don\u2019t know Him. There\u2019s no personal relationship between the two of them, they don\u2019t talk to Him, He doesn\u2019t speak to them; it\u2019s just facts and data and information. At the point of regeneration God becomes your Father; that\u2019s why it\u2019s neat that we are looking at this on Father\u2019s Day; this is the ultimate Father\u2019s Day sort of experience.\n\nIn John 1:12-13 it talks very clearly about this new birth and you\u2019ll notice what it says there. It says, \u201cBut as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, [13] who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.\u201d How do you become a child of God? How do we become children of God? We become children of God by being \u201cborn, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.\u201d God has no grandchildren; I cannot live off of the faith of my parents. I can\u2019t live off of the spiritual life of my parents. I have to have my own new birth. God only has children. And the moment I trust in Christ and the life of God enters me is the moment God becomes my Father.\n\nGalatians 4:6 says this: \u201cBecause you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, \u2018Abba! Father!\u201d \u201cAbba\u201d is an Aramaic expression that means \u201cDaddy.\u201d What a great verse to look at on Father\u2019s Day, we actually have the ability to call God \u201cDaddy\u201d because of our intimacy with Him. But you\u2019ll notice very clearly that this only happens because He has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, it only happens because of the reality of regeneration.\n\nSo what is regeneration? It is the impartation of divine life. What is the significance of regeneration? Regeneration gives us a relationship with the God that made us. We know Him and He becomes our Father.\n\nNumber 3, regeneration makes us a new creature. Galatians 6:15 says this: \u201cFor neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision,\u201d circumcision or uncircumcision deals with the outer marks of the body, and Paul says, \u201cFor neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.\u201d The issue, Paul says, is not outward conformity to the Law; the issue is the new birth. Is the life of God in you or not? That\u2019s the significant issue. Paul says in Ephesians 4:24 \u201cput on the new self, which is in the likeness of God\u2026.\u201d Galatians 6:15, \u201cnew creation;\u201d Ephesians 4:24, \u201cnew self.\u201d 2 Corinthians 5:17, a very famous passage of Scripture, says this: \u201cTherefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a\u201d what? \u201cnew creature; the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.\u201d\n\nBecause the life of God was not in you before, once it enters you, you are so different that God actually looks at you as if you are a totally new creature or creation or a new man or a new woman. So what is regeneration? What is the life of God? It is the impartation of divine life which gives us a relationship with God, which makes us a brand new creature or creation. And as you become a new creature, or creation, what you discover is you have brand new capacities. It\u2019s just like when you were physically born into this world, you had certain capacities, you had the capacity for sight, smell, touch, personality, disposition, emotion, the sensation of pain, the sensation of joy, all of those things happened because of a physical reality called conception, which ultimately resulted in a physical birth. And it is exactly the same with the spiritual birth. As a person is born spiritually and they begin to experience the life of God within them, what they discover is they have brand new capacities.\n\nDr. Walvoord sums it up this way, he says: \u201cNew life brings with it new capacity. The person who before regeneration was spiritually dead and blind to spiritual truth, now becomes alive to a new world.\u201d\n\nNow you say well, do you have some examples of those new capacities that we have as newborn children of God. And the answer is this: You now have spiritual sight which you did not have before. John 3:3 puts it this way: \u201cJesus answered and said to him, \u201cTruly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.\u2019\u201d You see, Nicodemus\u2019 problem was not a lack of intellect; it was based on an inability to perceive. Jesus is trying to communicate to Nicodemus spiritual truth which Nicodemus had no ability to perceive or to view or to see and what Jesus said is you need the new birth to see. How can you see spiritual realities if the Holy Spirit is not in you?\n\n1 Corinthians 2:14-15 puts it this way, \u201cBut a natural man,\u201d now the \u201cnatural man\u201d would be the person without the Holy Spirit, the person who is alive physically, biologically, the heartbeat is working fine, the cardiovascular is working fine, but they do not have the life of God in them, \u201cBut the natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them,\u201d why? \u201cbecause they are spiritually appraised. [15] But he who is spiritual,\u201d that would be the new birth, \u201che who is spiritual appraises all things, het he himself is appraised by no one.\u201d\n\n\u201cAs a blind man,\u201d Dr. Walvoord says, \u201cAs a blind man for the first time contemplates the beauties of color and perspective once sight is restored, so the newborn soul contemplates new revelation of spiritual truth; for the first time he is able to understand the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit.\u201d With the new birth comes a new creature; with a new creature comes new capacities. One of the great capacities that we have is the capacity for communication as newborn children of God, as we seek to communicate with God Himself.\n\nDr. Walvoord says this: \u201cHe is now able to enjoy the intimacies of fellowship with God and freedom in prayer, a capacity that he did not have before.\u201d Another example of a new capacity would be fruit of the Spirit. What is fruit of the Spirit? The Spirit is the character qualities that God seeks to replicate in us which He sees in His own Son: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control. Prior to spiritual birth a person has no ability to generate such capacity. He is simply acting out his job description, which we call the works of the flesh.\n\nPaul tells us in Galatians 5:19 and following that the works of the flesh are obvious. He talks about jealousy, outbursts of anger, quarrelsomeness, envy, drunkenness, these are the characteristics of what we\u2019re like in our natural state, but then spiritual birth happens and suddenly Jesus, through the life of God is living inside of me and He\u2019s seeking to live out His life in my place, and suddenly the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness and self-control, these types of things begin to become a reality. [Galatians 5:19-21, \u201cNow the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, [20] idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, [21] envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.\u201d]\n\nDr. Walvoord says this: \u201cHe is now able to enjoy the intimacies of fellowship with God and freedom in prayer. As his life is under the control of the Spirit he is able to manifest the fruit of the Spirit, utterly foreign to the natural man. His whole being has new capacities for joy and sorrow and love and peace and guidance and all of the realities in the spiritual world.\u201d\n\nSo this new birth is very significant; it is the impartation of divine life; it is what gives us a relationship with the God that made us. It is what makes us a new creature or creation in Christ and as a new man we have new capacities which we did not have before.\n\nNumber 5, regeneration is eternal. How long does regeneration last, exactly? Notice John 5:24, Jesus says, \u201cTruly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life,\u201d that\u2019s the Greek word zo\u0113 again for life, and the Greek word eternal is ai\u1e53nios, which is a word used to describe God Himself. Romans 16:26 says God is eternal, therefore once a person experiences regeneration it is something that lasts forever, just as God Himself is forever the regeneration inside of us last forever because it is the identical word, ai\u1e53nios, used to describe eternal life. What does that mean exactly? It means that once you are regenerated it can never be forfeited. If it could be forfeited then \u201ceternal\u201d doesn\u2019t mean \u201ceternal,\u201d does it?\n\nDr. Walvoord puts it this way: \u201cThe bestowal of eternal life cannot be revoked; it declares the unchangeable purpose of God to being the regenerated person to glory. Never in Scripture do we find anyone regenerated a second time. Although the Christian may lose much of the normal spiritual experience due to sin and desperately need confession and restoration, the fact of regeneration does not change.\u201d Aren\u2019t you glad about that? As regenerated newborn children of God we sin and we can get out of fellowship with Him, until we confess our sin and fellowship is restored, but the underlying fact and foundation of regeneration is in or unalterable, or else eternal life simply doesn\u2019t mean eternal life.\n\nOne of the great tragedies that I saw as a new Christian who, as I watched people that didn\u2019t grow up under sound doctrine, I watched Christians getting saved every Sunday; this particular church had an altar call and it was impressive because they got a lot of people to come forward, and as I was in that church for a period of time I started saying wait a minute, I thought they got saved last week, or the week before. And see, they\u2019re never really taught the reality of eternal life, they\u2019re never taught the meaning of the Greek word ai\u1e53nios so what happened during the week? Well, they fell into sin and they fell out of fellowship with God and under His conviction. And they said to themselves, well, I had regeneration, I must have lost it so I need to get it back. And so they got saved, supposedly the Sunday that followed, and then the next Sunday, and then the next Sunday, when in reality what was happening was the sin they were under was taking them out of fellowship with God, which can seem severe, but it cannot cancel regeneration. So regeneration is something that is eternal.\n\nNumber 6, regeneration is immediate. It takes place the very moment you place your personal faith in the promises of Jesus Christ. The promise of the Word of God is that you are regenerated at that very moment. Notice again, John 5:24, \u201cTruly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life,\u201d the Greek verb \u201chas,\u201d echo in the original language, the way it\u2019s pronounced, it\u2019s in the present tense. In other words, it\u2019s a present, immediate reality in the life of a person the moment they place their personal trust in Jesus Christ. Eternal life is not something you have to wait and die to get. Oh, I can\u2019t wait to die and go to heaven so that I can have eternal life? What a poor understanding of what the Scripture is saying. Eternal life or the life of God is something you get immediately. And if \u201ceternal\u201d means eternal and words mean anything it\u2019s your life forever. So it is something that takes place instantaneously, it is something that takes place immediately.\n\nNow look at this one here very carefully, number 7, and this is where much of the confusion comes in: regeneration does not eradicate the old nature. Yes, you receive regeneration instantaneously the moment you place your personal trust in Christ; yes, it is something yours forever; yes, it is something yours immediate, but that doesn\u2019t mean the old nature that\u2019s inside of you, that is the Adamic nature where the works of the flesh come from, that nature that\u2019s been part of us ever since the point of conception, that does not mean that the old nature just withers away and dies.\n\nIn fact, sometimes when you get saved you actually think oh my gosh, I\u2019ve gotten more sinful. I mean, I\u2019m more sinful than before I was saved. Now why do you think that? You think that because now something greater than yourself is inside of you, that wasn\u2019t there before, convicting you of different things. And sometimes the conviction of God is so severe we think I must have gotten more sinful. No, you didn\u2019t become more sinful, you were a great sinner before and you\u2019re a great sinner now. But you see, the fact of the matter is now you are aware of sin. Suddenly the sins that you have been committing all of these years, suddenly you are aware of them. Why? Because of regeneration and the life of God inside of us, which is highlighting our minds and our consciences to things that we do in through, word and deed, motives, things we say or don\u2019t say or don\u2019t do that are displeasing to God.\n\nDr. Walvoord puts it this way, he says: \u201cWithout eradicating the old nature with its capacities and will for sin, the new nature has within it the longing for God and His will that we would expect would ensue from eternal life. While the Scriptures are clear that a regenerated person can sin and does sin, the lapse is traced to the sin nature. The state of sinless perfection can never be reached until the sin nature is cast out and this is accomplished only through the death of the physical body, or the transformation of the body without death at the point of the rapture. Even the new nature, though never the origin of sin, does not have the abilities sufficient to conquer the old nature. The power for victory lies in the indwelling presence of God. The new nature provides a will to do the will of God and the power of God provides the enablement to accomplish this end in spite of the sinfulness of the sin nature.\u201d\n\nYou know, I remember as a 16 year old hearing the gospel and believing it and it was a euphoria that swept over me. And I remember waking up the next day with the same old tendencies and proclivities that I had before. Why is that? Because yes, the life of God was inside of me but the old nature is still there, until death or the rapture, and the new nature, what it can do is it can give you the desire to please God, oh, the desire is there, but the new nature in and of itself cannot equip you to live the life of God.\n\nWell then, what do we do to live the life of God? We have to become familiar with the grace riches that we have been given in New Testament revelation, the armor of God, the Holy Spirit within us, our baptism into Christ, the union that we have with Christian, the fellowship that we have with God\u2019s people, the work of the church. I mean, all of these additional things that God has given us beyond simply the new nature, as we access them by faith and walk in them moment by moment by faith and access their power, we begin to discover that we have the ability to tell that sin nature no. But you see, the new nature in and of itself will not give you that power. It will give you the desire but not the power. And just because you\u2019re a born again Christian does not mean that the old nature somehow withers away and dies.\n\nSee, that\u2019s why Paul couldn\u2019t wait to die. He says, \u201cabsent from the body is to be present with the Lord.\u201d [2 Corinthians 5:8, \u201cWe are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.\u201d KJV] He said, \u201cFor me to live is Christ, to die is\u201d what? \u201cgain.\u201d [Philippians 1:21] He longed to be free from this body because he longed to be free from the old nature and to be totally dominated by the new nature, because as long as he was in the body that he was in the sinful desires and temptations and tendencies just continue, the desire to return to sin never disappears.\n\nThat\u2019s why we have to become familiar with our riches and our resources in Christ and access them moment by moment. And if we don\u2019t do that we\u2019re stuck in Romans 7. You know Romans 7, don\u2019t you? Paul says the very thing I want to do I don\u2019t do, and the very thing I shouldn\u2019t do I end up doing. He goes on for a whole chapter like this. He\u2019s describing the desire that he had to please God because of the reality of the new nature within Him and yet he had not grown to a point to really appreciate all of his resources and he\u2019s talking about a stumble and a struggle that he had in Christianity.\n\nDoes that sound like you? I\u2019ve had major times in my Christian life just like that. And the mistake we make is we think regeneration gets rid of the old nature and that doesn\u2019t happen until resurrection, death or the rapture.\n\nNumber 8, however\u2026 however regeneration is a token, if you will, of the coming age. Dr. Walvoord puts it this way: \u201cIn the last analysis the experiences of this life are only antecedents to the larger experiences the regenerated person will have after deliverance from the presence and temptation of sin. Regeneration will have its ultimate display when the person regenerated is completely sanctified and glorified. Our present experiences, limited as they are by the presence of the sinful nature and the sinful body, are only a partial portrayal of the glories of eternal life. Through the experiences of life, however, the fact of regeneration should be a constant source of hope and an abiding confidence that \u2018He who has begun a good work in us will complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.\u2019\u201d\n\nWhat, then, is the new nature in us? What is it a reminder of? It\u2019s a reminder of future glory; it\u2019s a reminder that payday someday. It\u2019s a reminder that the new nature that is inside of me one day will be placed in a resurrected body, in a glorified state, that matches the new nature, and doesn\u2019t even have an ambition or a temptation, or tendency to sin. Every time you sense a yearning to please God rejoice, because number 1, it\u2019s evidence of the new nature within you. And number 2, it\u2019s a reminder of payday someday.\n\nDid you know the Holy Spirit within us is called a down payment? Ephesians 1:13-14 says this: \u201cIn Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation\u2014having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise.\u201d The Spirit of God is inside of us, [14] \u201cwho is given as a pledge\u201d sometimes translated down payment, \u201cgiven as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God\u2019s own possession to the praise of His glory.\u201d What is the Holy Spirit inside of me? It is a down payment. Now when you make a down payment on something what are you guaranteeing to the seller? More payments are coming. What is the new nature and the life of God inside of us? It\u2019s a down payment, if you will, of greater glories coming, speaking of our ultimate glorification and our one day state of sinless perfection, which obviously we don\u2019t have now. But you know, the interesting thing about God, I start a lot of projects and I don\u2019t finish them, God\u2019s not that way. What He starts He finishes; what He orders He pays for. That\u2019s why there was this quote from Philippians 1, \u201cHe who began a good work in you will perform it until the day of Christ Jesus.\u201d [Philippians 1:6]\n\nYes, the new life of God does not eradicate the old nature but it is a token of the time in history where that old nature will be gone, and a thing of the past.\n\nNumber 9, Regeneration is needed, desperately, in people. Why? Because of the presence and reality of spiritual death. Genesis 2:17 says this: \u201cbut from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.\u201d And guess what? They ate, and did they die that split second? No, at least not physically, Adam lived to the ripe old age of 930, Genesis 5:5 says that, but something went out that day; the life of God went out; the relationship that they had with God disappeared. And all of us are born under Adam\u2019s lineage, devoid of spiritual life, devoid of the life of God. Oh, your heartbeat might be pumping blood just fine, the cardiovascular system might be working just fine, but you are without spiritual life. If you had spiritual life there would be no need for regeneration, would there?\n\nEphesians 2:1 says this, \u201cAnd you were dead in your trespasses and sins,\u201d they didn\u2019t die physically that split second but they spiritually died. And this is why the Christian is always portrayed in the Scripture as one who returns to life from death. Romans 6:13 says, \u201c\u2026present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, [\u2026and your members as instruments of righteous\u00acness to God. [14] For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.\u201d Romans 6:13 and 14.\n\nEphesians 2:5 says He has \u201cmade us alive together with Christ.\u201d If regeneration has happened in your life you are like a person that has come back from the dead; not physically but certainly spiritually. And if spiritual death is this reality, if all of Adam\u2019s descendants physically have been affected by spiritual death, what is the greatest desperate need a human being has? It is regeneration. If you have not been regenerated then you\u2019re missing the greatest thing you need from God, but don\u2019t presently possess.\n\nAnd this is why Jesus said, number 10, regeneration is absolutely necessary. Do you recall what He said to Nicodemus? John 3:7, \u201cDo not be amazed that I said to you, \u2018You must be born again.\u2019\u201d Notice the word \u201cmust.\u201d He doesn\u2019t say hey, why don\u2019t you try out the born again thing and see if it works, it\u2019s one of your options. It\u2019s not an option, it\u2019s mandatory! It\u2019s foundational. If it doesn\u2019t happen you have nothing with God\u2026 nothing!\n\nJohn 3:10 \u201cJesus answered and said to Him, \u2018Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?\u201d Did you catch the definite article, \u201cthe\u201d in front of \u201cteacher?\u201d Nicodemus was not just one of many teachers, he was the head hauncho. He was the big cheese; he was the big kahuna, whatever you want to call him, he was in charge, he was the boss. And Jesus said you\u2019re the top dog and you don\u2019t understand a rudimentary basic truth, very well developed by the 6th century prophet Ezekiel?\n\nDr. Chafer says this: \u201cIn announcing these great truths about flesh and spirit God did not address them to the lowest in the social order, such as those people that obviously needed to be improved.\u201d He\u2019s not talking to the skid row wino or drunk, he\u2019s not talking to the drug addict, he\u2019s not talking to the prostitute, he\u2019s talking to the most elite erudite, educated religious leader in the whole country. And to him he says, \u2018you must be born again.\u2019\u201d He chose to speak these words to a ruler and teacher in Israel who was, without doubt, the very flower of Judaism. Think about that! If Nicodemus in his socioeconomic and educational religious standing needed this new birth, what about the rest of us? Certainly we need it all the more as well, don\u2019t we?\n\nYou see, I used to look at the \u201cborn again\u2019s\u201d as a denomination within Christianity. Oh, there\u2019s the Presbyterian Christians over there, there\u2019s the Baptist Christians over there, there\u2019s the Methodist Christians over there, there\u2019s the Lutheran Christians over there, there\u2019s the Bible church Christians over there, there\u2019s the Evangelical Free Churches over there and oh yeah, over there somewhere is the born again Christians, as if being born again is some kind of subset within Christendom.\n\nBeloved, if you\u2019re not a born again Christian you\u2019re not a Christian. I don\u2019t really care, I don\u2019t think Jesus cares where you happen to go to church. You may be a Metho-catho-bapterian or a Bapti-costal-fundamentic or whatever you want to call yourself but the fact of the matter is the new birth has to happen. If it doesn\u2019t happen it doesn\u2019t matter where you go to church you do not have the life of God in you nor do you have a relationship with God at all. How blind I was for 16 years of my life, not understanding this simple thing. And then I received the new birth as a 16 year old and everything changed. We\u2019re not talking about an option here.\n\nAnd then number 11, regeneration is acquired by exposure to the Word of God. If you do not hear or read the Word of God you cannot be regenerated because you have nothing to respond to. The Word of God is the instrument that the Spirit of God uses to awaken us to our need for the new life of God. If the Word of God has no interaction with you at all, then the new birth can\u2019t happen. I don\u2019t think this is just my opinion, I think this is in the Scripture. James 1:18 says this: \u201cIn the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the\u201d what? \u201cthe word of truth.\u201d 1 Peter 1:23 says, \u201cfor you have been born again not of seed which is perishable, but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.\u201d How do we become born again? Through an exposure to the Word of God. Romans 10:17, you all know the verse, \u201cSo faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.\u201d 2 Timothy 3:15 says, \u201cand that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith \u2026 in Christ.\u201d How do you learn about salvation through faith in Christ? Through the Scriptures that you have known from infancy Timothy.\n\nDid you catch the very end there of verse 31, \u201cand that believing you may have life in\u201d what? \u201c\u2026believing in\u201d what? \u201cBelieving in His name.\u201d You have to believe in the promises of Jesus Christ and there\u2019s only one place to get them; there\u2019s only one record of them and that\u2019s the Scriptures. Acts 4:12 says, \u201cThere is no salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.\u201d If you will not respond to or have an awareness of the promises of Jesus Christ as revealed through the Scripture, the new birth simply cannot happen. It doesn\u2019t matter how philosophical or erudite the preacher or teacher is. And this is something that is just killing us in evangelicalism in America today. The content of the Bible is disappearing from most Bible churches. You get thoughts of people, philosophies, motivational self-help, any number of topics. But what about the Word of God? And people say well look, if I just jettison the Word of God just a little bit and talk about other things I\u2019ll fill the building. You can do that; you can fill buildings this way.\n\nBut do you know what\u2019s shrinking? The actual number of regenerated people is shrinking because if the Word of God disappears then the spiritual birth cannot happen. You don\u2019t have a church any more; you have a crowd, like you would have at a basketball game or a football game. You\u2019ve got a lot of people but percentage wise the budget may be up, the room might be packed but the actual number of regenerated people is shrinking because the Scripture is telling us that regeneration cannot and will not happen without contact with the Word of God. That\u2019s why it\u2019s so important to memorize Scripture, so that when opportunities arise to evangelize give them what the Scripture says. Don\u2019t give them your ten points on how to live a happy life, that doesn\u2019t save anybody. Give them the Scripture; the Scripture is the ancient writings which are sufficient to lead us unto salvation\n\nNumber 12, the generation is gained or acquired by responding in faith to the Word of God. John 1:12-13, \u201cBut as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,\u201d how do you become a child of God? You have to receive, which is a synonym for believe, in Him, His promises as revealed in the Scripture.\n\nJohn 3:16, we know this verse very well, don\u2019t we: \u201cFor God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son that whosoever\u201d what? \u201cbelieves in\u201d what? \u201cHim shall not perish but have eternal life.\u201d Do you see the order here? First comes belief in the promises of God as revealed in the Word of God; what follows is what? Life, regeneration! People say well, don\u2019t you get regenerated first and believe second? Show me where it says that in the Bible; show me one verse that clearly teaches that. I could show you hundreds that teach the opposite. You don\u2019t have the life of God in you until you believe in Christ. The life of God is something given to you at the point of faith.\n\nJohn 5:24, Jesus says, \u201cTruly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has\u201d what? \u201ceternal life.\u201d When do you get eternal life? After you believe. Dr. Chafer puts it this way: \u201cThus without exception all that enter into salvation, including the gift of eternal life depends only on the one human requirement of believing on the Savior.\u201d Oh, yeah, God will bother you before you believe, He\u2019ll convict you, He\u2019ll put circumstances in your path, He\u2019ll (I believe) make every effort to expose you to His promise, but until you trust in those promises everything that God has done prior to that is not eternal life. It is the grace of God but it is not eternal life.\n\nDr. Walvoord says this: \u201cAs related to faith the human will can act by means of efficacious grace; in the new birth, of course, the human will is not opposed to regeneration and wills by divine grace to believe, but this in and of itself does not produce the new birth. It is not that human will is ruled aside, nor does it waive the human responsibility to believe. It is rather that regeneration is wholly a work of God in the believing heart. While regeneration is often preceded by various antecedents, such as the work of common grace and accompanying influences, these must be sharply distinguished from regeneration.\" The conviction to believe is not regeneration. Believing itself is not regeneration. Believing is a condition of regeneration. Regeneration is the impartation of divine life which is promised by God at the point of faith.\n\nNumber 13, Regeneration is completely a work of God. And don\u2019t get faith and regeneration mixed up. Faith, you exercise volition; regeneration itself, which is promised to follow faith, that in and of itself can only be accomplished by one being, God Himself. We do not regenerate ourselves. God alone regenerates us.\n\nYou might recall John 1:13, we made reference to it a little earlier, you recall what that verse said? [12] \u201cBut as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,\u201d watch this, \u201cwho were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.\u201d What is he saying? He\u2019s saying that regeneration is not accomplished because of blood or your own will; it is accomplished only by God Himself.\n\nThere\u2019s a very interesting expression that recurs throughout the book of Genesis, you\u2019ll find it in Genesis 1:12, you\u2019ll find it in Genesis 1:25, it says each produce after its own kind. What does that mean? It means Mr. and Mrs. rhinoceros got together and they had a baby rhinoceros. They didn\u2019t have a baby giraffe; they didn\u2019t have a baby hippopotamus. Each produced after its own kind, male, female rhinoceros produced another rhinoceros, and this, of course, flies right in the face of evolutionary thinking which talks about how one species evolved into another. And the Bible flatly rejects that principle when it says each produced after its own kind. [Genesis 1:12, \u201cThe earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good.\u201d Genesis 1:25, \u2018God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good.\u201d]\n\nNow remember that because notice what Jesus said to Nicodemus about the new birth in John 3:5-6, \u201cTruly, truly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.\u201d Watch this. [6] That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. What is he saying? He\u2019s saying Nicodemus, the new birth that I am talking about you can\u2019t get it on your own. Why is that? Because flesh gives birth to flesh. Things produce after their own kind. You are fleshly, all you can produce is flesh. What you need is a miracle of God. What you need is something greater than yourself deposited into you. Flesh won\u2019t get it done because things produce after their own kind. Flesh gives birth to flesh.\n\nDr. Chafer writes, \u201cWhere would Nicodemus begin were he to attend the achievement of his own birth from above?\u201d I mean, if the whole thing was up to him, other than to believe, where would Nicodemus even start since he is a man of the flesh. How can a man of the flesh, with each thing producing after its own kind, get you the life of the Spirit? How can that happen?\n\nDr. Walvoord writes this: \u201cIt is a smashing blow to all philosophies which hold that man has inherent capacities of saving himself.\u201d Regeneration is wholly of God. No possible human effort, however noble, can supply eternal life. The proper doctrine of regeneration gives to God all glory and power due His name. And at the same time it displays His abundant provision for a race dead in sin. I love that first sentence, I love the whole quote, \u201cIt is a smashing blow to all philosophies which hold that man has inherent capacities of saving himself. Regeneration is wholly of God.\u201d It\u2019s a miracle, that\u2019s what it is. And people say well, why doesn\u2019t God do some miracles today? Let me just tell you something, if someone believes in Christ and receives the gift of life and is regenerated, that\u2019s a miracle. Why is it a miracle? Because only God can do that. Man can\u2019t do it; human manipulation can\u2019t do it; scheming can\u2019t do it, marketing research can\u2019t do it, because flesh only gives birth to flesh.\n\nWhat an astounding thing it is when a person responds to the gospel by way of faith and is regenerated. That, in and of itself, is a miracle far greater (in my mind) than turning water into wine at Cana, or any other miracle, the parting of the Red Sea, manna from heaven, all of those miracles are so important but they are so subpar to this ultimate miracle that God seeks to do in men and women through regeneration.\n\nAnd then finally number 15, and with this we\u2019re finished. Regeneration is the purpose of John\u2019s Gospel. Remember the verses that we\u2019ve been looking at very carefully, \u201cTherefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of His disciples which are not written in this book; [14] but these have been written so\u201d what? \u201cso that you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.\u201d You mean this whole thing is not just a theology textbook? It\u2019s not just designed as a biography to get across information? NO, it\u2019s not that at all. It is a historical account but that\u2019s not its ultimate aim; its ultimate aim is to present lost man with the information he needs to respond in faith to the promises of Christ and experience the greatest miracle, the foundational miracle, that we desperately need, which is regeneration.\n\nPalingenesia means created again. That\u2019s why John wrote the book. Dr. Constable says this: \u201cJohn\u2019s purpose was clearly evangelistic. His Gospel is an excellent portion of Scripture to give to an unbeliever. It is probably the most effective evangelistic tool available. Its impact on the reader is strongest when he reads it through at one sitting, which takes most people less than two hours.\u201d I\u2019ve been teaching it for three years; you can read the whole thing in two hours. \u201cThis document can also deepen and establish the faith of any believer, and John undoubtedly wrote what he did to accomplish this end as well.\u201d I mean, I read it as a believer since 1983 and my faith is strengthened. But you see, its ultimate purpose is for the person that has never believed in Jesus, to respond to the Word of God through simple childlike faith and receive this promise.\n\nYou\u2019ll notice the word \u201cmay\u201d there, translated in the NASB at the end, \u201cthat believing you may\u201d or might \u201chave life in His name.\u201d Why is it translated that way? Because \u201chave\u201d is in the subjunctive mood. Just like, you might remember a few Sundays ago I said \u201cbelieve\u201d is in the subjunctive mood. Why does that matter? It matters plenty. The subjunctive mood is not the mood of certainty. It is the mood of possibility. He\u2019s saying you have these promises now the ball is in your court; maybe you\u2019ll respond, maybe you won\u2019t. That\u2019s what the subjunctive mood here is communicating.\n\nSo what are we trying to say? We\u2019re trying to say respond to it; you have the information, respond to it, trust in it, rely on it, depend upon it, have confidence in it. Trust its promises; trust it and its promises for the safekeeping of your soul. And this is not something you have to do through any human activity, such as raise your hand, walk an aisle, join the church, vow to do better, giving money, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah dah. It\u2019s a private moment between you and God, where the Spirit of God convicts you of your need to believe and He essentially communicates through the conviction that you are in a lost state; you have not been regenerated. So fix it, solve the problem, believe in Jesus and experience the miracle of regeneration.\n\nJohn 3:3-5 was so strategic in my life, having been raised as a devout Episcopalian up until the age of 16, banking my eternity in my desire to be good, that stumbling into a home Bible study I heard the teacher talking about you must be \u201cborn of water and the Spirit,\u201d and quite frankly I had no idea what it meant, but I knew this much: whatever it meant, spiritual birth, I didn\u2019t have it; could I articulate it to you? Could I explain it to you? Could I show you Bible verses? No I couldn\u2019t, but I knew whatever he was talking about I didn\u2019t have it. And consequently that very night He saw my confusion and gave me the opportunity to respond in faith to Christ. And I became born spiritually\n\nHave I lived a perfect life since then? No, but the desire has always been there, and I\u2019ve had ups and I\u2019ve had downs and I\u2019ve had times in my life when I needed to educate myself in my resources of God because regeneration will not eradicate the old nature. But you see, what you need on the front end of the equation is regeneration. You need that new nature and you need the Spirit and you need the life of God; it\u2019s a moment of privacy between you and the Lord as I\u2019m speaking.\nIf you\u2019ve never done this, just trust in Jesus and His promises the best you know how. And if you have done that, and are doing it, on the authority of the Word of God regeneration is a present reality for you. If it\u2019s something you need more explanation on I\u2019m available after the service to talk. Shall we pray?\n\nFather, forgive us for rushing over, many times in our reading this life and what it means and read things in the Scripture that we really don\u2019t understand. Help us to grasp the significance of this statement and this miracle; we will be happy and grateful to give you all the praise and the glory. We ask these things in Jesus name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026 Amen.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t