All right. Well, in the time
that we have left this morning, brethren, let's turn with me,
if you would, to Matthew chapter 19. As I mentioned in the first hour, You guys have heard me say this,
and I've went over this before, but never on record, I don't
think, as far as video or sermon audio, but I'll place it there. The term regeneration is used
by pretty near everybody in regards to the topic we just got done
talking about, about being born again. And we hear that term
quite often. I've used that term for almost
ever until a few years ago in studying God's word. And as with
all things, I think that whenever we study God's word and Whenever
we press theological words and theological understanding on
God's word to make it say something, that's what is termed eisegesis. But whenever we take what is
God's word and how does it define and what does it say and extrapolate
out of God's word the meaning, then that's called exegesis.
There's your 50 cent words for the day. What do we wanna do? We wanna exegete the word of
God, not eisegete. We don't wanna place upon God's
word and say, this is what I think it says. No, we want to submit
and believe what it says. And it's a record, it's a testimony
that God has given to us. And we are to believe the record,
not make the record conform to what we think or believe. And
so as we always say here, and as historically Baptists have
always said, is the Bible is our only rule of faith. We don't
look to commentators or theological systems. We don't look to all
these men of old, no matter how smart and profound they are,
no matter how many seminary degrees and education that they've got,
all this kind of stuff. We don't look to those guys to
tell us what the word of God says. we look to the word of
God itself and the spirit is our teacher and we need to let
that be what dictates to us what is being said and the bible is
a perfect dictionary for itself. If you want to know what something
means in scripture, let scripture define itself. And I think that
will always come out better if we do that than go to scholars
who are just men. You know, I was thinking about
this the other day, about this whole issue of And I was driving
by at work this last week, and I was driving by this church
building, and they were welcoming their new pastor that was coming
to this church. And down below they had his name,
and they had Dr. whatever, whatever, you know,
there. And I thought to myself, you
know, what does it really matter whether he's the doctor or not,
for one? What difference does that make?
Well, I know the arguments is, well, what makes the difference
is because he's been to school and been educated in theological
things. That's what the majority of people believe is because
he's been educated in theological things. And I actually kind of
went down a rabbit trail in my own mind, which is scary. But
I began to think of this thing. Okay, well, that guy went to
a school where other men were teaching him what to think about
these things, these theological things. Who told those men or
who authorized those men to tell these men what was right and
what was wrong? And then whoever those men were
that told them, who told them and authorized them to tell those
men that in turn told this man what is to be rightly understood
about those scriptures. And if you just chase that on
back, you know, it's one scholar telling another hopeful scholar
on what to believe about the Bible. And so these men are coming
out with degrees, and I'm not saying that they come out with
these degrees and that they tenaciously hold to them, or do they agree
with everything that is being told to them? Because I do know
some men that have went to seminary, and the things that were being
taught in their seminary that they was at, they didn't agree
with, and they even, you know, made contention with the people
that did, and so I do know that that's, I'm not throwing a blanket
over everybody, but what I'm saying is the whole fact is,
is that there is an institution of scholasticism out there that
thinks that they can tell someone else how to believe the scriptures,
and what to believe about the scriptures. Where when we look
into the word of God, we find that that's the job of the Holy
Spirit. even through the teaching within
the church by the pastors and teachers, that even in that,
unless the Holy Spirit give understanding and revealing of those truths,
even that isn't to be taken and believed. How many times have
I already said it this morning? I'd be glad to be corrected long
as it's with the scripture. Or this is what I've seen and
I haven't seen how it could be any way else. See, a man can't
teach me that. Someone has to teach me that
on the spiritual level. Same thing with you. If I say
something and you see it and agree with it and say, hey, that
is what the scriptures are saying. It wasn't because Mike reasoned
it out of you. It's because the Holy Spirit
attested that guy's speaking the truth and teaching the truth. And so, whenever we come to these
issues, we need to let the Word of God and the Holy Spirit and
the interpretation that's found within the Word of God be our
rule of faith and not theological systems. And I'm not knocking
everything that's out there, and I'm not knocking all the
commentators and things. There are a lot of good things
said in those, and I do read them from time to time. But again,
I don't believe anything because they said so. I was really edified by what
Tom Armstrong told me. It gave me a different perspective. Because I was on a rant about
seminary. And he said, you can't overgeneralize
about that. He said, let me tell you my own
experience. He said, I, God used the seminary
I attended the people there to share with me the Gospels of
grace, the doctrines of grace. And so that really, you know,
again, back to God's sovereignty in the matter. Again, some guys
go and they go there not because they believe that this qualifies
me to be a pastor. And some guys don't go to that
because they think that, you know, they go there just for
other learning, you know, experiences. And to that extent, you know,
that's between them and, you know, that's a personal matter,
okay? And I don't necessarily hold that. But whenever you come
out of that and if you use that as a tool to think that you are
qualified to be a pastor or teacher or a preacher, that doesn't qualify
you, and that is not a prerequisite. That is not a prerequisite. Nor does that coming out give
you the right to glory in that over everybody else. And to me,
to be honest, flashing that across everything, I'm doctor so-and-so,
doctor so-and-so. I'm assuming that Tom, he went
through seminary, and I'm sure I guess got a degree, and if
he did, He doesn't flaunt it. As a matter of fact, I didn't
even know he went to seminary. I'm not exalting Tom Armstrong. I'm
just saying that from my interaction with him, he doesn't flaunt. I understand. And there are some
guys that's like that, that you'll never know that. Some guys are
just the opposite. And that to me is where it gets
to be an issue with me, are those things. My other problem is,
like with that church, or with any other church, is they think
that they can only have a pastor if he is a doctor. Again, you're
putting faith in a scholastic system and looking at something
that's not biblical at all. I don't know how I got off on
that rampage. Let's reign it back. Theological systems should
not tell us but the Word of God should. And so that's what I
hope to show in this here, is that the reason that I reject
the term regeneration for quickening, or being born again, is from
my study of the scriptures. And I do want to be open for
correction for this. I've shared this with Larry.
I've shared this with a few other guys that I know. I've shared
this here before in the past, as I said, and everything. And
there have been some guys that have come and approached me to
reprove me and correct me. But the basis of the correction
wasn't the word of God. theological understanding through
commentaries and other men and that's who they pointed me to.
And so that wasn't enough to convince me, and I appreciated
their concern in coming to me. And I hope that I was gracious
in listening and receiving their reproof. But I had to reject
that because it didn't, to me, bear evidence in the word of
God. So let me at least go through that, because I want what I say
and what I do. as I pray that any preacher would
want is to be scripturally based and not and not opinion based
and not, you know, theologically based on external theology stuff. we find that in the word of God,
there's only two places that the actual word regeneration
is found. So when we go to God's word,
we got to look and see the context and how that word is used and
to tell us why we believe what we believe about this word. And
so whenever I was studying the scriptures and I was looking
at this term, and I found it in its only two places. Let me
back up. The reason I began to question
the term regeneration is because the term in and of itself actually
to me seems fallacious. It's wrong in the way that we're
actually born again. It's wrong about the beginning
Where we were created in Adam, and so that's what caused me
to really kind of take a look at this but if you look the word
born again or the Regeneration is only found in Scripture two
times The and For those who are concerned
It's only found in two places, whether you use the English word
or the Greek word. So if you want to get into Greek
semantics with me, it's the same in Greek for those who care for
anything like that. It only appears twice. but the term rebirth, born again,
quickening, those terms are used several times throughout the
scripture, but regeneration is used two times and the word behind
it used only two times and in those two places. And one of
them is here in Matthew chapter 19 and verse 28. And if you'll
turn there and look there with me, you'll find, It says, And
Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that
ye which have followed me in the regeneration, when the Son
of Man shall sit on the throne of glory, ye also shall sit upon
twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Now, the word
regeneration here is being used, and the first thing I want you
to note here is if regeneration means to be brought from darkness
to light. being born again, okay, or given
spiritual life, or being brought from being an Adam to being in
Christ, or whatever term you want to use, phrase you want
to use, then why is Jesus himself needing to be regenerated? Those
who have followed me in the regeneration. Why is Jesus needing to be regenerated
if this is talking about a spiritual birth? I hear sovereign grace
men, preachers, all the time bashing the word of faith teachers,
especially guys like Kenneth Copeland and Jesse Duplantis
and Joyce Myers, who teach that Jesus was born again. That after
he died, he had to be born again. Okay, they bashed Jesus for being
born again. Well, if regeneration, the definition
of that is to be born again, then Jesus is saying those who
have followed me in the regeneration, why is Jesus needing to be regenerated? If that's the phrase, if that's
the term, regeneration. So your definition would mean
that Jesus was born again and we followed him in being born
again. But also look at the verse there.
He also said to those that they would follow Him in the regeneration. They would follow Him in the
regeneration. Now, what I wanted to point out
here is the definite article, the, in front of regeneration.
Regeneration here is something that is specific. The regeneration. He didn't say those who follow
me in regeneration. He said in the regeneration. So he made that specific. It's
a specific regeneration. And if you look grammatically,
that's a noun. Not a verb. To be born again
is a verb. It's an action. But the regeneration
is an act, or excuse me, it's not a verb, it's a noun. It's
a thing. It's a thing. He's talking about
a specific thing. Now keep that in mind that the
regeneration being a specific thing, being a noun, because
in the second place that we're gonna look where this word is
found, we're gonna find that it's the same there too. And
so Jesus is talking about a particular thing that happened. Now, let's
think about this word in and of itself. To generate is to
give life, right? To regenerate is to give life
again, and that is what the verb is. To give life again would
be a verb, but the regeneration is the noun. So to regenerate
is an action, but the regeneration is an event or a thing, not an
action. So if regeneration, or if this
passage is speaking of the action of being born again, At what
point was Jesus regenerated or born again? See, I don't believe this is
talking about being born again. And in the first hour, if you
caught the first hour, if you didn't catch the first hour,
if you're listening and you haven't listened to the first hour, go
back and listen to the preceding message because we've seen there
that Jesus made a distinction, Peter made a distinction, Paul
made a distinction in two different kinds of births, a spiritual
birth and a fleshly or natural birth, okay, a physical birth.
Those two things are the ones that are contrasted. And so whenever
we look at regeneration or being born again, we're not looking
at regeneration means to bring to life again or to give life
again. Now, my question is, is if regeneration
means to give life again, did we, the life that we have in
the new birth, is that the life that we have had before? When
did we have that? To be regenerated means to be
generated again. To be given life again. When did you have this life before? You might say, well, it was in
Adam. Okay. Well, let's go back then
to Adam. Did the life that Adam have, quote unquote, before the fall,
Is that the life that we're given in the new birth? I think if
you say yes, you might wanna go check a few things because
the Bible says that it is eternal life. And if Adam had eternal
life and lost eternal life when he sinned, then it wasn't eternal. If Adam had eternal life before
he sinned, he never would have lost that life. Also, the Bible says that the
life that we have now is a new creation. That we are a new creation
created in Christ Jesus, not an old one revived. So the term regenerate, to make
alive again, is really a misnomer as it pertains to the new birth.
However, if the term to make alive again is in reference to
resurrection, Jesus died and was made alive again. He was
regenerated. He was made alive again. The
Bible is very clear that it can't be talking about Jesus being
born again. It couldn't have been spiritual
life because Jesus never lost spiritual life. Jesus never died
spiritually. No matter what people want to
say about Jesus becoming a sinner, he did not become a actual sinner
himself. He did not sin and thus was given
a sin nature. He was imputed. It was laid upon
him. It was a legal action that took
place. So Jesus never becomes spiritually
dead. Jesus never lost His spiritual
life. Jesus never, ever, ever needed
to be born again spiritually. He was born of woman and the
day that He was born of woman, He was born of woman full of
the Holy Spirit. The Bible says that He had the
Spirit without measure. The Bible said that Jesus Christ,
the man, Jesus Christ, that in him is life, right? Well, if in him is life, then
he wasn't in need of rebirth, spiritual life, the way that
Jesus proclaimed it to Nicodemus, the way that Peter proclaimed
it, the way that Paul proclaimed it, the corruptible seed, the
incorruptible seed, the divine nature, the flesh and the spirit.
Jesus didn't need that. Now, his body laid dead three
days and three nights, and then it was brought to life again,
regenerated. So I would think that in this
passage, Jesus is speaking of the regeneration being his resurrection. Those who have followed me in
the resurrection. If one is regenerated, they are
generated again with the life they had before. If the sinner
is dead and trespasses in sin from the womb, then what life
is being generated again? If we were regenerated, it would
only be a natural life, right? If we were being regenerated,
Brought to life again. It would only be with the life
that we already had from the womb That's the only life that
we've had They're generated again with the life that they had before
that the natural life life of Adam Which was never spiritual
but natural and of the earth earthy So I believe that spiritual quickening
would not be a regeneration of life but a generation of life
and And if you want to use the term
generate, I have no problem with that. We've been generated. I
have no problem with that. That would go exactly with what
the scriptures say. If you want to use it outside
the Bible theological term. See, the Bible says, and here's
another thing. Misunderstanding of the rebirth
the rebirth thinks that there is something that is inherent
in man that is born again or reworked They believe that that
that the new birth makes something better in us Okay Not an adding
of something new to us, but a reworking of that which is already there.
And really, the term to regenerate lends to that understanding of
that. But if you think again, what
Jesus said, that which is born of flesh is flesh. The flesh
can never be made alive. The flesh can never be made the
spirit. The flesh can never be anything but flesh. That which
is born of flesh is flesh, and the flesh cannot please God. If the flesh could be made new
or made whole or made better, then the flesh could please God
and then that scripture has no bearing or meaning anymore. So
to regenerate has nothing to do with the life that we already
have. So the term in and of itself
is not applicable to a natural life. The natural life stays
the natural life until this body is put down. It's that which
is put in this body, which is the life from above, that creation
that's new, that is different, that is a different birth than
the first birth that's natural that Jesus talked about. That's
what we're talking about. And that is not a regeneration,
that is a generation, or that is a given of life, first time. The first time you've ever experienced
that life was when you were quickened. You've never experienced that
before. So I really think that this passage, as far as I can
understand it, and letting the scripture say what it says and
the meaning be what it means, that this is not talking about
spiritual quickening of life, but a generation of life in the
resurrection. It's speaking of Jesus' resurrection,
not a rebirth, Now, notice also while we're
here, the regeneration, or when the regeneration is. It says those who have followed me, past tense. Those who have followed me in
the past tense. regeneration. Jesus was resurrected
to life. We've yet to experience the resurrection
of life. That has not come yet. And so
everyone who will follow Jesus in that, and remember the Bible
says that Jesus was the first fruits among them who would be
raised. And then we, the second fruits,
or we the next, or what the, you know, the latter fruits,
okay? So Jesus was the first fruit to be raised from the dead
and glorified. We have yet to be raised and
glorified. But when we are raised and glorified,
it will be likened unto His resurrection when He was raised and glorified,
right? And so we will follow Him in
that resurrection. And at that time, He says, look
what He says, when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of
His glory, ye also shall sit on, ye also shall sit upon 12
thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel. This is a future thing
here. So he went from something that happened in the past, you
have followed me, to something that's in the future, will sit,
shall sit on thrones. What's the changing point? The
resurrection. The resurrection. The one like
he had after he died. When we have that, when He comes
again, we will be resurrected like He was resurrected then.
And at that point, we shall sit with Him and judge over the 12
tribes of Israel. Now, you guys can argue about
what you want to think about that. I think that's talking
about all the people of God. I think that's talking about
not necessarily an ethnic group called Israel. And I don't think
it's actually 12 thrones, I believe that's talking about everybody,
because that's what the word 12 meant, is complete or all. So anyway, but to me this verse
speaks of Christ's resurrection. Now, turn with me if you would
to Zechariah, to Zechariah chapter 6. Again, I don't want to make my
usage of the scripture here, I don't want to isajeet this,
I want to exajeet this. Is there other places in scripture?
Because I know people can say, well, you're taking one particular
verse and pressing on it what you want it to say. Is there
anything that attests to what you are saying? And so, there's
Jeremiah. Zechariah chapter 6. Look with me down at verse 12. It says, And speak unto him,
saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the
man whose name is the branch. Who's that speaking of? Speaking of Christ, isn't it?
He is the branch or the root out of Jesse. He's talking of
Christ here. The branch of David. He says,
Behold the man whose name is the branch and he shall grow
up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord.
Even he shall build the temple of the Lord, and he shall bear
the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne, and he
shall be a priest upon his throne, and the council of peace shall
be between them both." And so we see here, and I wanna
emphasize, he shall build the temple of the Lord, he shall
bear the glory, he shall be a priest upon his throne, and the counsel
of peace shall between them both. Now this is what Zechariah is
saying about Jesus. And when did this take place? Well, we find that described
or told to us, clarified to us, I should say, in Acts 2. Look with me in Acts 2 and in
verse 30. As a matter of fact, let me just back
up to verse 22. And let me get the context of
this for you. Now, I just put forth that in
Matthew, in this passage in Matthew, that Jesus is speaking of the
resurrection, His resurrection. that those who follow Him in
the resurrection will be the ones who sit with Him in His
glory and will judge the twelve tribes of Israel. And then Zechariah
said that it is the man who will build the temple and the man
who will sit upon the throne and have the glory. Now in Acts
chapter 2 and verse 22 it says, and here again this is Peter speaking here, it says,
Ye men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man
approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs
which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also
know. Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain, whom God hath raised up, having
loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should
be holding of it. For David speaketh concerning
him." Okay, so here again, what's in view? The death, burial, and
resurrection of Jesus Christ, right? And it's specifically,
we're seeing the resurrection of Jesus Christ is what he's
talking about here. Now, what does he say? He goes
back and starts talking of David, the one who's the branch, right? He is the branch of David. For
David speaketh concerning, who? Christ. David speaketh concerning
Christ. I foresaw the Lord always before
my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved. Therefore did my heart rejoice,
and my tongue was glad. Moreover also my flesh shall
rest in hope, because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither
wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption, Thou hast
made known to me the ways of life. Thou shalt make me full
of joy with Thy countenance." Now, that was the quote. Now
he goes back. Men and brethren, let me freely
speak unto you of the patriarch David. that he is both dead and
buried. So what he's saying here is what
was being said in those Old Testament scriptures is not referring to
David as the man David, but to David as the type being Christ. It's speaking of Christ. And
so was what we were seeing in Zechariah, right? But let's go
on. that he is both dead and buried,
and his sepulcher is with us unto this day. Therefore, being
a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him
that of the fruit of his loins, the branch, according to the
flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne. Now, Zacharias said that he would
be the branch, Zechariah said that he would be raised up or
excuse me that he would build his temple that he would be raised
up and that he would sit upon the throne and that he would
bring, would show forth glory. Okay, well now David is cooperating
this and now Peter is also putting all this together and giving
us the New Testament understanding of those Old Testament types
and foreshadows. And Peter is saying that this
is not speaking of David in his person, it's speaking of Christ,
the one who you crucified, it's speaking of Christ. And it says,
according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his
throne. He's seen this before, spake
of the what? The resurrection of Christ. So the being put on the throne,
or the building of the temple, the being put on the throne,
the showing forth the glory, is speaking of the resurrection
of Jesus Christ. All that was in reference to
Jesus Christ, not of some end-time millennial thing. It was talking
about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And so if we look at
that, if we look about what David said, we look about what Peter
is clarifying for us, and what Jesus has said, those who have
followed me in the resurrections will be seated on those thrones
where I'm at. Well, what was that that brought
me to the throne and brought forth my glory? What was that
regeneration? It was my resurrection. And so
he says, he's seeing this before spake of the resurrection of
Christ, that his soul was not left in hell. Neither his flesh
did see corruption. Why? Because he was regenerated. He was brought to life again.
His flesh didn't see corruption. David's flesh saw corruption.
Why? Because he was not regenerated.
David was not made alive again. He was left dead. That body is
corrupted and laid dead. And the only time that that is
going to be made whole again is in the resurrection. whenever we follow Jesus in the
regeneration to be made alive again. Today, David has not been
made alive yet. There will be a day when David
will be made alive again with a brand new body. You will be
made alive again after you've died and decayed and rotted and
turned back into dust. blew up in a bomb and your pieces
are flowing all over the place, no matter where they land and
no matter where they find them all. By the way, after the service
is over, ask Larry about his story about that. Anyway, it will be brought, we're gonna
be made alive again. Brethren, speaking of, and here
we see verse 32. This Jesus hath God raised up,
whereof we all are witnesses. So we see that the resurrection
is talking about Christ being made alive again and is talking
about how he wasn't left to see corruption. And it's that ascending
the throne and the glory and things that was talked about
in Matthew that Jesus was talking about. Look in John chapter two,
if you would. If any brothers have anything
to interject or any questions or need anything clarified, just
wave your hand and stop me. John chapter 2, look with me
if you would at verse 19. Jesus answered and said unto
them, destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it
up. Then said the Jews, forty and
six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear
it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of
his body. when therefore he was risen from
the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them,
and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had
said." Now, bear note there, they believed the scripture.
Remember, they didn't have the New Testament, so they believed
what was being taught in the Old Testament about Jesus's resurrection
or being made alive again, his regeneration. And so we see here
again, Zacharias spoke that he was speaking of he will build
the temple and then that temple he will also tear down and destroy,
but in three days we'll build that temple. It will be brought
to life again. Look with me in Romans chapter
one. Romans chapter one, look at verse
three. I guess let's start in verse
one so we know what's going on before. Paul, a servant of Jesus
Christ, called to be an apostle separated into the gospel of
God, which he had promised to for by his prophets in the holy
scriptures, concerning his son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which
was made the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to
be the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness
by the resurrection from the dead." So the power, he was declared
to be the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness
by the resurrection from the dead. So Jesus said, we too who
follow him in the resurrection will sit upon thrones and that we will judge the 12
tribes of Israel. Well, brethren, that is something that's gonna
happen whenever he comes again and we are resurrected. That's
at the resurrection. Those who have died and gone
before us will be resurrected to new lives. Those who still
remain, the Bible says that their bodies will be transformed. In the twinkling of an eye, shout
of the last trumpet, the dead in Christ will rise and those
who are left will meet Him in the air. Paul even mentions even again
in Romans chapter 6, he says, for if we have been planted together
in the likeness of his death, we shall also be in the likeness
of his resurrection. See, there is going to be a time
when we are going to be resurrected like he was resurrected. Romans
8 verse 10 says, and if Christ be in you, the body is dead because
of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. But
if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell
in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken,
bring to life your mortal bodies by his spirit which dwelleth
in you. So there is a actual making alive
of the natural body. the mortal body that's gonna
take place. So the word quickening speaks
of not only a spiritual quickening, making alive, but also a physical
quickening at the resurrection though. So it's speaking of the
resurrection. So that's why I define regeneration
by the scripture, because in Matthew, if I use Matthew alone,
it's speaking of the resurrection of Christ from the dead. Now
some of my brothers, even the Sovereign Grace brothers I have,
they say that the resurrection is speaking of that time in that
period. But yet they do not agree that
the word regeneration is an improper term for new birth. And that's
where I kind of, you know, if the regeneration is speaking
of that time of resurrection, then how can we use that term
to speak of being born again? Now, Quickly, I know this has
been long, look with me at Titus chapter 3. This is the second
place that this word regeneration is found in Scripture. So we've
looked at one, and I pray that I've been truthful in presenting
the definition according to Scripture, that regeneration speaks of Christ's
resurrection. and the events surrounding His
death and resurrection. But look with me, if you would,
in Titus chapter 3, starting in verse 4. But after
that, the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared,
not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according
to His mercy, He saved us by the washing of regeneration and
renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He shed on us abundantly through
Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by His grace,
we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life."
Now, if you look there, Again, if you will start grammatically
here, the word regeneration here is also a noun, by the washing
of regeneration. That's not a verb there, brethren,
that's a noun. So that too is speaking of an
event, the washing event. Okay, the washing event. And I know a lot of people uses
this as talking about the washing of regeneration as the baptism
of the Holy Spirit. I think that's incorrect. I think
that's incorrect to say that. It's speaking not of an action,
but a thing or an event here. Again, it's not a verb, but look
with me, if you would, in Hebrews 1. It's a washing. the washing of regeneration.
Meaning the event of the regeneration caused a washing. If you broke
it down that way. that the event, the noun regeneration,
or excuse me, regeneration, yes, regeneration, caused a washing. Look with me
at Hebrews chapter one, verse three. It says, who being the
bright, again, speaking of Christ, who being the brightness of his
glory and the express image of his person and upholding all
things by the word of his power, Hey, that goes along with what
we've talked about earlier, His word being power. When He had by Himself purged
our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. So if we go back to what Jesus
said in Matthew, He said that those who follow Me in the regeneration
They will sit with me on thrones. That's where I've went. I've
went and I'm sitting on a throne. And when you join me or follow
me in the regeneration or in the resurrection, you too will
sit on thrones and judge the 12 tribes of Israel. Here, Jesus,
after He had purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of
the Majesty on high." Now that word purged there, what does
that word purged mean? Doesn't that word purged speak
of washing or cleansing? That He purged us of our sins
or He washed us or cleansed us of our sins? Is that not a cleansing
or a washing? Revelation 1 and verse 5. Revelation 1 and verse 5. It
says, And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness and
the first begotten from the dead, and the prince of the kings of
the earth unto him that loved us," and here's the term, washed
us from our sins in His own blood. So there is a washing or a cleansing
that is tied to Jesus' death and resurrection. He washed us
in His blood. And if you'll notice there, it's
tied to the one who was the first begotten of the dead. That word
begotten there, while that does have a connotation of birth,
that word begotten also means to be brought forth or to be
made manifest. So he was brought forth from
the dead or brought forth or made manifest from the dead,
of the dead. The first begotten or brought
forth of the dead. That was Jesus. So again, we
see that there's a washing or a cleansing that is tied to his
death and to his resurrection. We see the same thing in 1 Corinthians
6. 1 Corinthians 6. And by the way, all of this is,
I have this all typed up from the study that I did a long time
ago and I will be glad to print it out and give it to you or
email it to you or whatever that has all these verses and everything
in there. Which is what I'm just going
off is what I typed up in my study. 1 Corinthians chapter
6, look if you would at verse 9. It says, Know ye not that
the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived,
neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate,
nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous,
nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit
the kingdom of God. And such were some of you, but
ye are washed. but ye are sanctified, but ye
are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit
of God. So here again, we see that we
are washed and that washing has to do with the work of Jesus
Christ. It says justified in the name
of Jesus Christ. The whole justification is tied
legally to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In John 13 and
verse 10, Jesus said this, Jesus saith unto them, he that is washed
needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit,
and ye are clean, but not all. Remember, Judas was there. For
he knew who should betray him, therefore he said, ye are not
all clean. So here again, Jesus said that
he that is washed And he is not saved to wash his feet. And he was hinting towards or
talking about the fact that those who are washed by his finished
work, they are clean. No matter what they look like,
they are clean in the sight of God. So I believe that the passage
in Titus, that the washing of regeneration and renewing of
the Holy Ghost goes again back to speak of Jesus and his finished
work, his death, burial, and his resurrection, that the resurrection or the
efficacy that's by his resurrection that's found and his ascension
to glory. See, the very fact that Jesus
was resurrected from the dead was the proof or was the foundation
or the assurance that God had accepted all of what He did in
His death. If Jesus be not raised from the
dead, then your faith is in vain, right? We can believe all that
we want that Jesus died for us, but if He had not been regenerated,
then everything that he did was in vain because God did not accept
that and he left his soul to decay. He left his soul to corrupt,
be corrupted. And so we see that the very fact
that the regeneration of Jesus Christ is the stamp of approval
that we have been washed So by the washing of regeneration and
the renewing of the Holy Ghost, it's all about the mercy of Jesus
Christ. And again, we find that in that,
Jesus is the central figure of that. Jesus is the center of
picture. So, when was Jesus regenerated? He was regenerated at His resurrection. And He is the firstfruits. That's the reason why I don't
believe that regeneration is the proper term. And again, I
hope that this has been edifying. I hope that it's of the truth.
And again, I'm open for reproof and correction on that. And willing
to sit down with anybody that would like to do that. So any
thoughts or anybody have anything, comments on that? Any brothers
have anything to add? I know it's been a long way over
this morning. All right. Well, if nobody has
anything, then let's ask the Lord to bless the food that we're
about to eat and we'll be through with our studies this morning.
Father, again, we thank you for Christ and we thank you for the
Word of God that teaches us and leads us by the Spirit into the
truth. Lord, I truly do ask that if
I am in error in what I have just brought forth to the brethren
here, if I'm leading them in error, Father, I pray that the
Holy Spirit would bring conviction and that the Word of God would
be shown to me and that that might not be true. And Father,
help me to repent of that if that's true. And I thank you
for these brothers who do make comments and bring forth other
things that I don't know and don't see. Lord, I'm appreciative
of the way that we edify one another. And so again, Father,
I pray that everything that has been said today has been of the
truth and has been exalting and glorifying of Christ. And Lord,
I pray that it has been helpful to your people. And so we ask
now, Lord, that as we gather around your table to eat of physical
food after this time of spiritual food, We pray that you would
nourish us once again in that way. Thank you for these ladies
who have prepared it, and we ask you to help us now this week
to be your servants, that you would keep us from evil, restrain
our sin, Father, and empower us for the works of service that
you have determined for us to do before the foundation of the
world, and help us to be testimonies of Christ to those that we're
around. Pray for all those that are listening and watching today.
I pray that it's also been a blessing to them and the ministry as well. And Father Lord, again, we thank
you. It's because of Christ that we ask these things. Amen.