Let's turn back to Titus chapter
3. This is an overwhelming thought
while I was sitting there thinking about it, but there is a place
called heaven. There's no sin there. The Lord
Jesus Christ is there. God the Father is there. God the Spirit is there. And
Paul called it the third heaven. I don't know if that means heaven
is outside of this universe. It certainly could mean that
because God doesn't dwell in the universe. The universe dwells
in God. And there is a place called heaven, a place of indescribable
bliss. And when I'm speaking of that,
I really feel like I'm without words to
describe this place. Now, for me and you to enter
into that place, because this life is temporary. It's not going
to last much longer. And then heaven or eternal destruction. For me or you to enter into heaven,
there's going to have to be two things that are done for us.
For this glorious, divine being, the God of glory, the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. There's gonna have to be two
things done for us for him to be able to embrace us and accept
us. First, I'm gonna have to be justified. I can't enter heaven without
that. And second, I'm going to have
to be regenerated, whatever that means. And I cannot enter heaven
without that. Heaven and fellowship with God
is impossible without these two things. Now look with me in verse
five of Titus chapter three. Not by works of righteousness,
which we have done. Now I love the way Paul makes
that very clear statement. There's no mistaking it. Not
by works of righteousness, which we have done. Now you can write
this down. You're not going to enter heaven.
I'm not going to enter heaven by works of righteousness. But according to His mercy, He
saved us by the washing of," Here's the
word, regeneration. Regeneration is a scriptural
term. By the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost.
This has something to do with Regeneration, he continually
renews me. Though our outward man perish,
yet the inward man is renewed day by day. It's God the Holy
Spirit that renews us every day so that we continually have this
washing of regeneration, which he shed on us abundantly. through
Jesus Christ, our Savior. That's why we are regenerated
because of Jesus Christ, our Savior, that being justified. There's the second thing. Being
justified by His grace, We should be made heirs according to the
hope of eternal life. Now, Lord willing, I wanna bring
a message tonight on regeneration. And Lord willing, next Wednesday,
I wanna bring a message on justification from this passage of scripture.
Now, these things are of critical importance. There is no entering
of heaven without both of these things and they're inseparable.
Where you have one, you have the other. They can't be separated. They always go together. Justification
and regeneration. Now go back to the first of the
chapter. Paul says to Titus, put them
in mind, the believers, to be subject to principalities, Authorities,
powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,
to speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, contentious, but
gentle, showing all meekness unto all men. Now, he first speaks
of authority. being subject, submitting to
authority. Turn with me for a moment to
Romans chapter 13. Verse one. Let every soul, that's me and
you and everybody else, be subject unto the higher powers. That's not talking about spiritual
powers. That's talking about the government. That's talking
about authorities that God has put in place. Let every soul
be subject under the higher powers for there is no power, but of
God. The powers that be are ordained
of God. Whosoever therefore resisted
the power. resisteth the ordinance of God. And they that resist shall receive
to themselves damnation, condemnation for rulers, are not a terror
to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid
of the power? Do that which is good, and thou
shalt have praise of the same, for he is the minister of God."
This position of authority, God's put him there. Now remember,
the only authority is God. And he has put people in places
of authority. He is the minister of God to
thee for good. But if thou do that which is
evil, be afraid for he beareth not the sword in vain. That's
talking about punishment by the law. For he is the minister of
God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. One
of the greatest problems in our society is the eroding respect
of authority. Ask any school teacher. They'll
tell you that is the case. Disrespect. A not respectful
attitude towards authority. It's very ugly. It's based upon
an inflated view of someone's own self-importance. That's why
they can disrespect authority. There's no true respect and it's
very ugly. Respect for God's authority and
the authority he has set in place And you know really that's what
the fifth commandment is all about when it says honor your father
and mother Yes, you're to honor your father and mother. They
do have authority over you I Remember when my dad would say to me Do
it because I say to do it No other reason was needed now that
got under my skin. I didn't like it, but he was
right in saying that Parents have authority over their children,
and you're called upon to do it because they said to do it. But that is really a reference
to all authority. Honor your father and mother
in all authority, and that's the only commandment with promise,
that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest see good
all the days of your life. You see, if you teach your children
a respect for authority. They are going to be more successful
in life than they would have been if you don't teach them
this healthy respect of authority. If they have authority problems,
they're going to have problems in school, they're going to have
problems on the job, they're going to be failures in many
respects. And if that's the case, it's
because you didn't teach them to honor authority. That's your
great job as a parent. is to teach your kids to honor
authority. The powers that be are ordained
of God, parental authority, the authority of the man in the home,
the authority of teachers over their students, the authority
of the law and the police's use of the law to exercise authority
in our country, the authority of the employer over the employee,
the authority of the pastor in the church. Disrespect for authority
is ugly. May we all be people who respect
authority. And that's what he's saying.
Look what he says in verse three. Put them in mind, remind them
of this. This is ordained by God. This is inspired by God.
Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers,
to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work, to speak
evil of no man, to be no brawlers and contentions, but gentle. Showing all meekness unto all
men. Boy, that's not the way of the
world, is it? Showing all meekness, deference to all men, really
having respect for all men. I hope every one of us will always
be respectful to everybody. Verse three, four. I remember
this is Paul speaking. who before the Lord saved him,
he said touching the righteousness which is in the law, I was blameless.
That is the high opinion he had of his own morality. What a religious
man. But look what he says about himself,
for we ourselves also were sometimes or before time. Here's the summary
of my life before the Lord saved me. Foolish, disobedient, Unpersuadable
is what the word means. Deceived, serving a slave of
diverse lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy. Hateful, deserving the hatred
of God and hating one another. Now, Paul gives that as the summary
of his life. And if we have any light with
regard to what we are by nature, we'll see that describes us.
Foolish, disobedient, deceived, slaves of diverse lusts and pleasure,
living malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But after
that, the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared. Now that's word, that love toward
man is actually the word philanthropy. This is the benevolence, the
philanthropy of God toward men. God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten son. God's so good. God's so good at all times. Whatever he does is good. He
brings good out of evil. Everything he does is good. People quite often will question
if God's good, how can he let that happen? How can he let this
disaster happen? How can he let, God's good. And
he always brings good out of evil. And we trust his character
for that. I might not understand how it's
going to be, but I trust his character. God is good. He's
good all the time. Oh, the goodness of God. Now look what he says in verse
five, not. by works of righteousness which
we have done. Now he'd already given a summary
of his own life. You know why we can't be saved
by works of righteousness? Because we don't have any. Because we would be described
in verse three, foolish, deceived, disobedient, slaves to diverse
lusts and pleasures, living in malice and ill will and envy. and jealousy, hateful, deserving
the hatred of God and hating one another. Paul said, that
was me. So obviously I can't be saved
by works of righteousness because I don't have any. Not by works
of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy. God's mercy is saving mercy. If he's had mercy on you, that
means he saved you. His mercy is saving. His mercy
is sovereign. What that means is he gives it
to whomsoever he pleases. There's nothing you or I can
do to get him to have mercy. He gives mercy because he's merciful. He delights in mercy, but here
is how he saves, not by works of righteousness, which we have
done, but according to his mercy, his saving, his sovereign mercy. That's the only kind of mercy
there is. He saved us by the washing of regeneration. Now there's the word. the washing
of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. Regeneration. What is it? If you would ask the average
person on the street, what does regeneration mean? Probably most
would say, I'm not sure. What is regeneration? Well, there are other scriptural
words that are used to describe it. And if I would understand
what regeneration is, I have to have some idea of a quickening,
a giving of life. That's a scriptural word to describe
regeneration. And you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins. By grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of
works. lest any man should boast. We're his workmanship. It is
a quickening, but God who is rich in mercy for his great love
wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened
us together with Christ. Colossians 2.13, and you being
dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened
together with him. I think of what the Lord said.
I love this. It's the spirit that quickeneth. The flesh profits
what? Nothing. The words that I speak
unto you, they are spirit and they are life. This is a scriptural
word to describe regeneration, a quickening. And then it's described
as a creation. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creation. Now when God created the universe,
I love this, the Latin phrase ex nihilo, he created it from
nothing. He didn't have anything to work
with. He simply willed it into existence. And we talk about
creative people. I suppose on some levels, some
people are obviously more gifted and created than others, but
they're not creative in the sense that God's the only creator.
And what they have, he gave them. I'm thankful for the gifts other
people have, but they came from him. And really only God creates,
only God brings something from nothing. And in this thing of
regeneration, that's what he's doing. He's bringing something
from nothing. If any man be in Christ, He is
a new creation, something that was not there before, a creative
act of God. And isn't that what David meant
when he said, create in me a clean heart, oh God, if you don't create
it in me, I won't have it. I'm powerless to bring this to
pass. Ephesians 2. where his workmanship
created. There's the word, created. in Christ Jesus unto good works. Second Corinthians 4, 6, but
God who commanded the light to shine out of the darkness has
shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. There's creation.
God commanded the light to shine out of the darkness. Let me read
this to you from Colossians chapter three, verses 10 and 11. The
new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of
him who created him. Whether it's neither Jew nor
Greek, circumcision nor uncircumcision, bond nor free, barbarian, Scythian,
but Christ is all. I know when someone is the creative
work of God, when Christ is all. When you really believe Christ
is all that God is, all to God, all in your salvation, all in
the word, all you want to be found in, when you believe that,
you're the creative work of God. It's also called, it's a quickening,
it's a creation. It is called being born of God,
born of God. The Spirit, having been born
again, born from above. Peter said we're begotten again,
birthed again, a new life by a lively hope, by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead. Being born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. It's called the new man. It's
called, and I love this, the hidden man of the heart. You know, you're aware of it,
but you can't see it, nor can anyone else. They may be aware
of it, but it's the hidden man of the heart, even a meek, which
is not corruptible, not even subject to corruption, even a
meek and quiet spirit, which in the sight of God is of great
price. It's the pure heart. of the beatitudes,
blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. Now,
what is it? What is regeneration? I see these
scriptural descriptions of a new birth, creation. What is it? Well, I can't be
brought into heaven without it. Amen. I cannot have fellowship with
God without it. I cannot believe the gospel without
it. I cannot repent without it. I cannot love without it. I cannot persevere in the faith
without it. I cannot be poor before God without
it. I can't mourn. I can't be meek
before God. I can't hunger and thirst after
righteousness I can't be merciful, not truly. I can show a general
mercy, but not the kind that a believer shows. I can't be
a peacemaker. I can't hunger and thirst after
righteousness unless I have this thing of regeneration. There's no fruit of the spirit
without regeneration. Now I see the necessity of regeneration. Show me a man that looks to Christ
only. And I'll show you a man who has
been regenerated. If right now all you have is
Christ, that's the creative new birth regeneration of God in
you. I love what Paul said in Philippians
3. He says, we are the circumcision.
There's not a more important verse of scripture than this.
We are the circumcision. We're the folks who've had our
hearts circumcised by the Spirit of God. This is not a circumcision
with hands. This is the new birth. We are
the circumcision which worship God for who he is, as he's revealed
in his word, in the Spirit, this new nature. The only people who
worship God are those who have been regenerated. We worship
God in the spirit and we rejoice in Christ Jesus. If I've been regenerated, here's
the evidence. I rejoice in Christ Jesus. I have confidence only in Christ
Jesus. I rely only in Christ Jesus. And people who have been regenerated
who rejoice only in Christ Jesus. What's the rest of the verse?
No confidence in the flesh. And I have absolutely no confidence
in my flesh, your flesh, or anybody else's flesh. Now, before I say what it is,
regeneration, Let me say a few things I think will be helpful
that it's not. Regeneration is not a change
in the substance of human nature. What you're born with, you still
have, and it is not changed. It's not an addition or subtraction. from the normal faculties of
the soul, the mind, the memory, the affections, the will, the
conscience. There is nothing in your human
nature that is changed or acted upon. And here's a way I think
that can explain this. Your IQ hadn't improved. If you're regenerated, your IQ
has not improved. It's not moral reformation. You can have that without being
regenerated. Regeneration is not moral reformation. Regeneration is the imparting,
the implanting of life. Spiritual life. The life of God
in your soul that was not there before. It's the new heart that
he gives. A new heart also will I give
you. It's the divine seed being born
again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible. Not even
subject to corruption by the word of God, which liveth and
abideth Forever. I love this passage of scripture
with regard to the new birth. He that's born of God, that's
being regenerated, isn't it? That's being created in Christ
Jesus. He that's born of God doth not commit sin. Well, that means he doesn't practice
sin. Do you practice sin? Of course you do. He that's born
of God, the new birth, the new nature, doth not commit sin. It's the divine seed being born
again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible. He that's
born of God doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him. He cannot sin. because he's born of God. Now, this is mysterious. I bet
I get an amen to that. This is mysterious. And the Lord
said, the wind blows where it wills. You hear the sound thereof
and canst not tell whether it goeth or from whence it cometh.
So is everyone that is born of the Spirit. Now, while the old
nature is not changed, There is a new nature, a holy nature
that was not there before. And because of this new nature,
there's a new disposition in this man. Now, what do I mean
by that? There was a time when I had no
love for Jesus Christ. I didn't even know who he was.
Couldn't really know him. But with now, I love Jesus Christ. I love his person. I love his
attributes. I love who he is. I love how
he saves. I love his character. Everything
about the Lord Jesus Christ, I love. Now, somebody said, I'm
afraid I don't love him enough. I know you don't. You can be
sure of that. But you love him. You can say with Peter, Lord,
you know all things. You know that I love you, that
I love your person. That's a new disposition that
was not there before. It's the true change of mind that affects every faculty of
the soul, the memory. You know the only thing I want
remembered? Jesus Christ. That I might be found in him.
The affections. I love Christ. I've been talking
about that. You know what else? I hate myself.
I hate my old man. If you love Christ, you hate
yourself. You hate your old man. You hate that which is contrary
to him. And you see it. And the more you know Christ,
the more clearly you see it. I hate my old man. That's my
affections, love and hate. The will is affected. Paul put
it this way. To will is present with me. In
Romans 7, the will is present with me. I would never sin again. I would be perfectly conformed
to the image of Christ. The will is present with me,
but how to perform that which is good, I find not. find a law that what I would
do good, evil, evil is present with me all the time. But I have a new will. The will
is present with me. The conscience has a new disposition. My conscience can now only be
satisfied by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Nothing else
soothes my conscience other than this. Christ was raised from
the dead and God accepts me in him. So this new man causes a
new disposition in every single believer that's being regenerated. Now, in closing, regeneration
is instantaneous. They're not steps. It's instantaneous. Second, it's
the work of God, a creative act of God. As many as received him,
to them gave he the power to become the sons of God, even
to them which believe on his name, which were born, they were
birthed, not of blood, not of the will of man, not of the will
of the flesh, but of God. It's essentially, this thing
of regeneration is essentially the work of God the Holy Spirit.
The Lord said that which is born of the flesh, it's never gonna
rise anywhere above that flesh. That's all it can be. But that
which is born, birthed, begotten of the Spirit is Spirit, fathered
by God the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit that quickens,
that gives life. The flesh profits nothing. Listen to Paul's words in II
Thessalonians 2.13, but we're bound to thank God always for
you. Brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the
beginning chosen you to salvation. through sanctification of the
spirit and belief of the truth. Well, how do I know if I've been
sanctified by the spirit? You believe the truth. Well,
how do I know? How do I believe the truth? Only
when you've been sanctified by God, the Holy Spirit, there's
a genuine belief of the truth. Now, the reason or the foundation
of regeneration is the resurrection of Christ. being begotten unto a lively
hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." Why am
I born again? Because Jesus Christ was raised
from the dead. That's why. It had nothing to
do with my works. It's His work. The cause of regeneration
is the will of God. James 1 18, of His own will begat
Him. through the word of truth. There's
the cause of regeneration, the sovereign will of God, the evidence
of regeneration, so simple, faith. First John 5, who so believeth
that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. And regeneration cannot be corrupted. It can't go bad. Let me show
you that in scripture. First John chapter five. I want
you to look at this with me. Verse 18. First John chapter
five, verse 18. We know. I love those words. We know,
you know, I do too. I know this as much as John did.
You do too. We know. We know that whosoever
is born of God sinneth not. Can God sin? Absolutely not. Can that which he has birthed
and brought forth sin? Absolutely not. We know this. This isn't up for debate. We
know this. That whosoever is born of God
sinneth not, but he that's begotten of God keepeth himself. You know what folks who are begotten
of God do? They keep themselves. It's by
grace that they keep themselves, but they keep themselves. And
look what it says next. And the wicked one toucheth him
not. Now the wicked one has plenty
to work with in me and you, doesn't he? You remember when the Lord
said to Peter, Satan has desired to have you that he may sift
you as wheat. And he had plenty to work with
to sift Peter. but that which is born of God,
the wicked one can't touch. Remember the way the Lord said,
the prince of this world's come and he's found nothing in me.
There was nothing for him to work with. Well, when the prince
of this world comes to the new man in Christ Jesus, he can't
touch him because there's nothing there for him to work with. That's
what he means when he says, he that's born of God, sinneth not,
for he can't sin, his seed remains in him." Peter put it this way,
we're called partakers of the divine nature. And this is carried on, this
new man continues all the way, though the outward man perishes,
the inward man is renewed day by day by the Spirit of God,
a continual renewing. Now, because of this, listen
to this, Colossians 112 says He's made us meet. It doesn't
say He will make us meet. It says He hath made us meet. To be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light, all I need to be with that great body The
saints in light, no sin there. All I need to be there, I have
right now. He's made us, not he will make
us, he's made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints
in light. Justification and regeneration. We're gonna look at justification
next week, but turn back to our text. Titus chapter three. Verse eight, now this is a faithful
saying, what I've said up to this point. This is a faithful
saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly,
repeatedly, over and over again. Paul said to write the same things
to you, to me indeed is not grievous, irksome, vexing, but for you
it's safe. He says these things, I will,
that thou affirm constantly that, and in order that is what that
means, that, or in order that, they which have believed in God
might be careful to maintain good works. Now, if I'm constantly
affirming to you that you need to be careful to maintain good
works, what will I do? Nothing. If I constantly affirm
of the regenerating work of God and the justifying work of Christ,
if I constantly affirm that over and over, guess what it's gonna
do? It's gonna make all who believe careful to maintain good works. That's what's gonna make somebody
careful. Not beating them over the head saying you need to maintain
good works, but preaching the gospel of God's grace, the work
of Christ for you and the work of Christ in you. Regeneration,
the work of Christ in you. Justification, the work of Christ
for you. And somebody might wonder why
did he mention regeneration first? I think I know. Because nobody
can understand justification who hadn't been regenerated by
the spirit of God. When you're regenerated by the Spirit of
God, you're gonna have some understanding of justification and not before
then. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy
Ghost. How we thank you for the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ, how we thank you for The new birth,
giving us a nature that loves you and loves one another and
loves your gospel. The new disposition you've given
us till we see the world for the vanity it is. And we see
the altogether gloriousness and loveliness of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Lord, bless this message for
your glory and our good for Christ's sake. In his name we pray, amen.