Ask the question tonight, am
I regenerated? Have I been born again? Has God
put His life in my soul? In preaching the last few weeks
on the work of the Holy Spirit, we dealt with regeneration, with
the effectual calling, with the Spirit's drawing, with the Spirit's
quickening, with the new birth. And we've seen that our nature,
our very nature, our fallen nature, makes it necessary that we be
born again, that we be regenerated. Our nature necessitates it. And that's something a person
can't do. He cannot give himself life. Only God can do that. And we also learn this, that
in regeneration, and God gives us His and puts life in us. There are no means used in our
regeneration, no means. Just as God created the world
out of nothing, He takes us and puts life in us without any means. It is the direct, it is the immediate
work of the Spirit of God upon our souls. It's His work started
in us, and He brings life. It's coming from death to life. And it's something that can never...
People say, you know, that you can lose, fall from grace and
that. It's something that can never
be lost. I'll tell you why it can't be lost. It's a birth.
It's bringing into existence a person who never existed before.
It's a birth. And even a person that's stillborn,
it's a birth. And you can undo a birth. But
God has no stillborns. God has no one that's born out
of time. They're always born in due time. And so you see, beloved, it is
God's work. The reason it can't be lost is
God's work. It's God that puts this life in. It's a permanent
work. And this is why the security of the believer is sure, and
we're as sure for glory as if we were there by the grace of
God, because glorified is in the past tense. It's because
of this business of regeneration. Now, I want to say this before
I get started, that all Bible doctrine, all doctrine, helps
and influences our life in this world. If what we learn and what
we are taught by the Holy Spirit, if it does not have a direct
influence on our life, then we haven't learned it. The gospel
has a direct influence upon our life. God has, and the life that
he puts in our soul has a direct influence, and everything we
hear influences how we're going to live in this world, how we're
going to react toward one another, how we're going to react toward
God, how we react toward the gospel, and everything that happens
with us in this life. And so, when we deal with things
like this, some may wonder, am I regenerated? Has God put His
life in my soul? Am I a partaker of the divine
nature? Has God put the life of God,
the life of Christ in me? What's the effect of this truth,
this regeneration, this new birth upon my soul, upon my life? How
can I know? How can I know that I've regenerated? And I'll tell you something,
in first life, it's going to show itself. In first life, it
shows itself. When a baby is born, If it's
not stillborn, it starts crying, it starts screaming, it starts
howling. And because it has life, that life is manifested immediately. Now, the screaming and crying
didn't cause it to have life. It just manifested the life that
it already had. And that's what God does. It's
what we mean that when we come, life manifests itself. Isn't
that right? If the life of God is in a man's
soul, it's going to manifest itself. And that's what conversion
is, and we'll deal with that at another time. And listen,
I've got about six things I want to say tonight. It won't take
me long. But if you want to know, you're
regenerated. The regenerated soul, look over
here in 1 John chapter 4. We're going to look at 4 John
here quite a bit tonight. That regenerated soul, that soul
that has the life of God in it, believes that Jesus is the Christ. Look what it said here in 1 John
4, 1 and 2. Beloved, believe not every spirit,
but try the spirits, whether they are of God, because many
false prophets are going out into the world. Now watch this.
Hereby know ye the Spirit, the Spirit capitalized of God. Every
spirit If the Spirit of God is in you, if the Spirit of God
has regenerated you, if the Spirit of God has given you life, every
spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh
is of God. Now, what does that mean? If
you're regenerated, you believe that Jesus is the Christ. Now,
what confesses that Jesus Christ is what? Is come. Now, when you
confess that Jesus Christ has come, that means that He was
somewhere before He come. Where was he before he comes?
Who was he before he comes? And so just like we talk Wednesday
or Sunday night about, you know, that no man calleth Jesus the
Lord but by the Holy Ghost. It's only when the Spirit of
God's in a man that he will acknowledge with his lips, with his heart,
with his soul, with his mind, with his whole being, that Jesus
Christ is Lord, that He's the Master, that He's the Savior,
that He's what we desperately need in this world. And we confess
that in our hearts. and hold him that way. And it
says here that Jesus Christ, He has come. Where did He come
from? Why did He come? Who did He come
for? What did He accomplish when He
came? Who did He come for? And so,
you see, when we say that Jesus Christ is coming to flesh, we're
making a doctrinal statement and staking our souls on that
statement. This is more than just saying,
well, I believe. And I'll tell you something,
beloved. Multitudes upon multitudes of people in this world, from
the pulpit to the back of the pew, do not believe that Jesus
Christ has come into flesh. When a jungle witness knocks
on your door, he don't even believe Jesus Christ is God. That if
you worship Him and confess Him to be Lord, you're worshiping
an idol. Mohammedans don't believe that
Jesus Christ has come into flesh. Multitudes of Baptists don't
believe that Jesus Christ has come into flesh. I was turning
through the channel yesterday evening, and I just happened
to, I don't know how I've done it, but I got the thing and started
flipping around, and come on a religious station. And a fellow
was out preaching. And I said, wait a minute, see
what he has to say. He started talking about C.S.
Lewis and reading all of his books, but his whole message
was, was he was preaching how dangerous Harry Potter is in
this world. How dangerous it is to read Harry
Potter. Now you've got something to say
when you're telling folks about how dangerous Harry Potter is.
Not how dangerous sin is. How blasphemous it is to preach
that Jesus Christ walked to save you, but came! How blasphemous
it is to deny the blood of Christ that He, Beloved Whom He died
for, He redeemed! How blasphemous it is to deny
the blood of Christ that what He's bloodshed for, He actually
put the sin away! And He's worried about Harry
Potter! Half-pottery might have no effect
on my life, but I tell you, Christ does. The gospel does. Sin does. And I want to know
about who come in the Father. I don't want to hear about some
fantasy story. There's somebody's fantasy. Anybody's
got a chance knows it's fantasy. And they pay that guy big money
to get up and tell him that foolishness. And look over here in 1 John
5. Warn with me just a moment. Talking about You know, He's
the eternal God. The Word, when He comes, we confess
that He's come. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, and we've held His glory as the glory of the only
begotten of the Father. But look here at what He says
about believing that Jesus is the Christ. Whosoever believeth
that Jesus is the Christ, watch this, is born of God. Simon Peter,
who do men say that I am? You're the Son of the living
God. You know, flesh and blood didn't make you understand that.
But my Father, which is in heaven, He taught you that. And what's
this? And everyone that loves Him,
that begat, loveth Him also that is begotten of Him. If you love
God that begat, you love everyone that's begotten of Him. So we
know, you know you're regenerated. You believe that Jesus Christ
has come into flesh. And let me show you something
else over here in 1 John 3.24. that regenerated soul, he knows
that he has been given the Holy Spirit. He knows that he's been
given the Holy Spirit. Look down here in the last part
of verse 24. And hereby we know, and how many
times did John say we know here? And hereby we know that he abideth
in us. How do we know that Christ is
in us? How do we know the Spirit of God? How do we know the truth
is in us? By the Spirit which he hath given us. He sent the
Spirit. This is what Paul told the Galatians.
God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts. And you know why? You know the
first thing that happens when He goes into the ark is you start
crying, Father! You have a relationship and you
recognize God to be something you never recognized Him to be
for. And you call on Him, depend on Him, and look to Him as one
who is your Father. and as one who begat you from
the dead, and as one that you acknowledge, as they ever fathered." And this is the spirit of adoption. Oh my, it's the spirit of adoption.
You know, he has the spirit, and we know that, what did John
say here in verse 1 of chapter 3? Behold, what manner of love
the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called,
what? The sons of God. And God makes us sober sons. You know, you take a brand new
baby in your house, And He's not your flesh and blood. And
you take them into your house and you adopt them. And they
grow up in your home and they feel like, you know, they'll
call you father, they'll call you mother, they'll call you
brother, sister, uncle, and aunt. And they may never know the difference.
That's what happens. We were not in the family of
God. And God only has one Son. So how in the world are we going
to be sons of God And how are we going to be legal heirs of
God? By adoption. Not only adoption, He uses the
Spirit in our heart of His own Son to let us know that we are
His children that He adopted us. And that Christ is our brother.
Oh, let me give you another one here. How does a person know
they're regenerated? It believes that Jesus Christ
has come into flesh. He's given us the Holy Spirit.
And then look over here at 1 John 2 and verse 3. Now, this is something we need
to take our time with here. And I think that everybody ought
to agree with me on this, because it's Scripture. And hereby, 1
John 2, 3, and hereby we do know that we know Him if we keep His
commandments. You see, he that's regenerated
keepeth the commandments of Christ, the commandments of God. Now
watch this, he that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments,
is a liar unto truth, not in him. Now watch what he says here
in verse five. But whoso keepeth his word in
him, verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby know that we
are in him. So the commandments in the word
of God are the one and the same here in this particular context.
And let me show you, so we keep his commandments, we delight
in the commandments of God. Look over here in 1 John 5.3,
talking about keeping His commandments. That regenerated soul keeps the
commandments, loves the Word of God. And watch what it says
here again in 1 John 5.3. For this is the love of God,
that we keep His commandments. And what's this? And His commandments
are not grievous. They're not grievous. Have you
ever read anything in the Bible that's grievous to you? You say,
I don't like it. I don't want to do that. I don't
love that truth. I don't delight in that truth.
I don't want to walk in that truth. Have you ever heard about
a great universal scripture that says, no, I don't want that.
I'm not going to believe that. I'm not going to walk according
to that. No. And this is how you tell the child of God from
the child of the devil, which I just read to you. He that doeth
righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. And what
is righteousness? Righteousness is doing what's
right just because it's right to do, looking for no reward. It's just much in nature to do
what's right. It's not somebody saying, well,
I know that's wrong, and this is wrong, and that's right, and
that's... I mean, the Scriptures tell us that believers will swear
to his own hurt. Swear to his own hurt. And also,
you see, beloved, I'm going to show you two things here. You
keep... First, John, look with me over in 1 Timothy real quick.
1 Timothy 1, 5, talking about the commandments,
keeping the commandments. And the commandments is God's
Word. That's our delight. We pray, not my will, but thine,
be done. What are some of the commandments Christ gave us?
Love the enemies, pray for them which despisefully use you, bless
them that curse you. Don't you think about what? Tomorrow,
because tomorrow I have the sufficient evil for the day there. Consider
the lilies. Be careful for nothing. By this shall all men know you
are my disciples, because you'll have love one for another. So we can go on and on and on
with these things like that. And look what he's saying here
in 1 Timothy 1.5. Now the end, or the goal, the
fulfillment of the commandment, the end of the commandment is
this, charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and
of faith that's not put on. Oh my, the end of the commandment
is, what's the goal of the law? Love. That's why I said our commandment's
not, if you love, One another. If you love Christ, if you love
God, if you love Him, you know that you're going to find comfort
and assurance in His work, and you're going to delight in walking
in His work. And have a good conscience. Your conscience is not condemning
you. Your conscience is not all the time accusing you. And then
a faith that's not put on. Now look over here in Romans
chapter 13, let's do that quickly. Here's what he says. Talking
about keeping His commandments. God's Word, that's our delight.
There's not one commandment, not one word that we wish that
wasn't there. Romans chapter 13. You know, our Lord gave us so
many commandments, you know. Don't sound your horns before
you get one. Don't sound a trumpet. When you
pray, pray to your Father in secret. You go on and on about
the priesthood after Christ sat down for us. And just the Sermon
on the Mount. Not only what He done with His
other disciples. Just move it on. But look here in Romans chapter
13, verse 8. Oh, no man anything but to love
one another. For he that loveth another hath
what? Fulfilled the law. For this, thou shalt not commit
adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt
not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet. And if there
be another commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this
saying, namely, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Now
watch it, this is what makes the commandments. Love no work
of no ill to his neighbor. Do you all get up and say, boy,
I'm going to do my neighbor really bad today. I don't like the way he drives
his car down the road. I don't like his dogs barking
all the time. I hate that mailbox he's got up there. He's got his
name all over that thing. He wants everybody to know what
a big shot he is. I don't think that way, does
he? What worth of no-heel to his neighbor? Therefore, love
is the fulfilling of the law. And our Lord said, you know,
a new commandment I give unto you. What's that new commandment?
And then, under the Jewish law, and that's why they came to Christ,
they said, which is the greatest law? Which is the greatest law?
What's the greatest commandment? And our Lord said, on the law
and the prophets, say two things. Love God, love your neighbor. And all beloveds, and that's
why, that's why these commandments are not greatest. They're not
grievous. They're not grievous at all.
You know what? It's the way of the transgressor that's hard.
It's when we're out of, when we don't manifest that love,
when we don't manifest that patience, when we don't have good feelings,
or we have ill feelings towards somebody, have animosity towards
somebody, it really, really grieves the sin on it. And His commandments,
if we, then they're not grievous. They're not grievous. And let
me tell you something else, 1 John 3, 14. That regenerated soul
not only keeps the commandments, has the Holy Spirit, confesses
that Jesus Christ has come into flesh. That regenerated soul, he knows
he's regenerated because he loves the brethren. Look what it says
there in verse 14. We know, and how many times does John say
this to you? We know that we have passed from
death unto life. How do we know? How do we know
we're born again? Because we love the brethren. This is one of the greatest mysteries
that we've ever faced as believers. You can go someplace, never been
there before, go among the Lord's people, and you'll sit down and
talk to somebody, and it's just like you knew them all their
lives. And you delight in them. You enjoy them. You just rejoice
in them. You have the best time with the
Lord's people wherever they are. Whether there's war, whether
it's true, whether it's a blessing. And we go a long way to be with
one another. People are going to come here
in June. They're going to come from hundreds of miles away. And we
go way far away to be with the brethren. How many people...
I met men this last summer, or last month, that I've never met
before in my life. And we just... Just like that. Just like that. And when we was
up at Wheelersburg, I had to drag Gary out of there. He went
up there, and I thought he was going to just stay. They said,
send Jan, tell Jan to come up here. Put her on the bus. Tell
her to come. And that's what happens when
you... And you know these people, and you love these people. And
you see, beloved, we're brethren. And we love them. We're begotten
of the same Father. We have the same Spirit. We have
the same Master. We have the same goal. We have
the same love. And we recognize one another
when we meet. Somebody will have to run up
to you and say, well, I'm a Christian. You know that, don't you? No,
no, no, you don't have to do that. You get around to those
people, they'll tell on you real quick. And I'm going to tell you, and
I'm sure you've been in this situation before yourself. I
was with a fellow that I think he was a believer. Now, whether
he is or not, God only knows. But me and him had some wonderful,
wonderful scriptural conversations. And we was having one one day.
And this preacher, he's a doctor. He got a doctorate degree. He
decided to jump in in our conversation and tell us how wrong we were
in our interpretation of what we were talking about. We're
talking about God taking Abraham, his son, up on the mountain,
and how Abraham took his own son up there, and how that was
the gospel, and how that the gospel was put there, you know,
the substitutionary work of Christ. And this old doctor comes up
and he says, oh, no, no, no, no, you all are all wrong about
that. He said, all that that story of Abraham is, is about
faith and obedience, being obedient to God. He did not know anything
about it. And I said, no, you don't know
anything about it. He said, well, we may disagree,
but we're still brothers in the Lord. And you know what I told
him? I said, we're not brothers. We don't have the same Lord.
We don't have the same Father. We certainly don't believe the
same gospel. And I see him all the time, and
I still believe that. I don't care how many degrees
he's got. If he gets 360 of them, he can go in a full circle one
of these days. You know, they think that's impressive.
But he's going to correct... We're talking about the gospel.
We're rejoicing in Christ and the things of Christ and the
gospel. And this fellow's asking me these questions, and oh man,
he wants to know. And I gave him books to read,
and we had wonderful conversations. And this jake leg wants to jump
up and start telling us how stupid we are. And we're talking about
Christ. And substitutionary word, Christ. And, oh, beloved, we prefer the
Lord's people. We would prefer being with them
more than anybody. We are such a close family. Now,
listen to me. We can even see one another do
something wrong and love them still. Love them still. You know, people that we love
do things that we don't like, but we love them anyway. I do
things that just drives her nuts, but she loves me anyway. And
she does things that just makes me want to pull out my hair,
but I love her anyway. Now, that's the way we are. We love, you
know, we all do things that other people don't like, but We love
them anyway, and that's the way we are as believers. Right? We
all have things we love. We love one another anyway. That's
the wonderful thing. That's how close a family we
are. That's how close a family. And oh, beloved, let me give
you the fifth thing. How can we know that we regenerate?
How can I know? Well, the regenerated soul has
a war between the flesh and the spirit that he never had before.
Galatians chapter 5. Let's look at that. You know, that man who has been
regenerated, that God's put his life in him, the principle of
life, he has a war between his flesh and the Holy Spirit. And
oh, beloved, it's something that, oh, he said here in verse seventeen,
for the flesh lustrous wars against the Spirit. See how that's capitalized?
That's the Holy Spirit in us. And the Spirit against the flesh.
And they're contrary to one another. I mean, they're absolutely opposed
to one another. So that you cannot do the things
that you would. See, there's a fight going on
in us. Every believer, there's a fight
going on in God's people. I mean, a real fight. I mean,
it's a fight, beloved, that this war, I mean, Paul calls it here
a war. He called it over in Romans chapter
7, a war. He said, I see a war in my members. He said, it's a war. That that
I would do, I don't. And that that I wouldn't, I do.
I see men that are in my life. I serve the law of God, but with
my faith, I serve the law of sin. So there's two laws going
on in me, two wars. And you know, beloved, there's
an ever-believer. Every man that's regenerated
knows this. They've experienced it. The Holy
Spirit's in you. He's dealing with you. He's working
in you. He's drawing you. He's weaning
you off from this world. And He just has to keep doing
that. He just keeps that all night. And thank God He does.
Why don't He let our flesh go and do what it would? What would
we do if we let our flesh go? But the Spirit won't let our
flesh control us. And our flesh can't do what it
would because the Spirit won't let us. And we cannot be as spiritual
and as God-honored and as Christ-exalted and submitted as we want to be
because of the flesh. And not only that, but he's constantly,
in this work that he does in us, this war going in us, he's
revealing to us and teaching us truth. That's why Paul said,
you know, I haven't arrived yet. I'll press toward the mark. for
the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. I'd love
to know why Christ laid an end on me, but I don't know why.
I haven't arrived yet, don't understand it. All I know is
that I want to be with Him, and I want to cause Him to be the
finish line. Huh? Now, I'll tell you, the
unbeliever doesn't have a problem with sin. You know, he doesn't
have a problem with the darkness that's in him. He don't know
what it is to have this war in the flesh. He knows what it is
to fight a sin, but he don't know what it is to war between
the flesh. But the believer has a war between
him and the flesh. And oh, listen to me, I think
this is, I think these are, ah, these truths, I need them. And
I, you know, and am I regenerated? Tell you another thing about
a regenerated soul. Here's the difference between soul that's
been regenerated and hasn't. That regenerated soul, that quickened
soul, has a great, great desire to know God, to know Christ. Not just to be blessed by Him.
And thank God we rejoice to be blessed, and we pray for God's
blessing, and we're blessed in Christ. But this is the difference. We desire to know Him. A person. A person. We want the giver. Not just gifts. We want the one who does all
the blessing. Not just the blessings. We want
to know. We need to know. We desire the
person. We want to know God the Father.
We want to know God the Son. We want to know more about Him.
We hunger and thirst after Him. We desire Him. We want to walk
with Him. We want to have intercourse with
Him. We want to know Him personally. We want to be like John who leaned
on his friends. We want to be like Simon Peter
said, Lord, wash me from all over. Dump my head, my feet,
my body. Just wash me. We're like David. He said, Oh,
I'll pass. I'll pass after the living God. The living God. Oh, I never ever
want to be like this. He said, Oh, God, I need you. Oh, God, I want you. Oh, God,
I desire you. Oh, Lord Jesus. And you reach
out in your soul and say, God, I need you. That's what a regenerated soul
does. A person being regenerated, all
he's interested in is what he can get from God and what he
can give to please God. But we want to know God. We desire
Him. That's why Paul said, I want
to know Him. I want to win Him. I want to
be found in Him. And then last of all, how can
I know I'm regenerated? The regenerated soul not only desires forgiveness
of sins, not only wants to avoid the consequences of sin, which
is hell and punishment, But they actually know what it
is to abhor sin, to hate sin, to loathe sin. And we're talking
about, you know, thank God for the forgiveness of sins. Thank
God that I don't want to go to hell for my sins. But I know
now what it is to hate sin, to loathe sin, to abhor it. And no wonder Paul cried out,
O wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from what?
This body of death. Job said, I have whored myself. God said, I'll cause you to loathe
yourself and your evil ways. Now, when sin becomes such a
burden to you, not sins you've committed, but sin as you are,
sin as you feel, sin as you think, sin as party in nature. And you,
oh, you say, oh, God, will I ever be done with this horrible thing?
Will I ever be done with this disease that's in my very soul
and my marrow and my bone, and it sparks like fireflies upwards
out of me? No. Oh, we have a sense of sin
that we were unbelievers. We never had. Sins would upset
us. But now it's a nature that bothers
us. Sins is what we used to go and
repent of. What we are is what we call God
to have mercy on now. And, O beloved, we long for the
time, long for the time, and it's coming sooner than later.
We long for the time when we shall be free from it once and
for all. And the time is coming, this
corruption shall put on incorruption. This moral shall put on immortality. Flesh, thank God, flesh and blood
is not going to escape from God. And when I drop this roll of
flesh and mount up to swings in the
sky to meet the Lord, Are you regenerated? Huh? Are you regenerated? Do you believe that Jesus Christ
has come into flesh? That you believe that Jesus is
the Christ? Do you love keeping God's commandments? Do you love
the brethren? Do you have the Holy Spirit?
Do you have that war in your flesh? Do you have a great desire
to know God, to know Christ, to know the person? and abhor sin in you, in you,
in you. You know. That's why John said,
we know, we know, we know, we know, we know, we know, we know.