WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.700 Well, I want to begin our time this morning by 00:00:02.700 --> 00:00:07.120 telling a story from church history. In my opinion, 00:00:07.139 --> 00:00:09.880 one of the most important disputes that have 00:00:09.880 --> 00:00:12.859 come up in church history in the history of our 00:00:12.859 --> 00:00:16.039 faith, primarily because it shaped the way every 00:00:16.039 --> 00:00:18.420 branch of Christendom understands the concept 00:00:18.420 --> 00:00:21.879 of original sin. And it has a direct connection 00:00:21.879 --> 00:00:24.949 to the way the Protestant Reformers sought to 00:00:24.949 --> 00:00:27.489 correct church dogmas in the West back in the 00:00:27.489 --> 00:00:30.390 16th and 17th centuries. But this particular 00:00:30.390 --> 00:00:33.109 dispute happens way before that, about 1 ,100 00:00:33.109 --> 00:00:36.310 years before that, at the turn of the 5th century. 00:00:36.810 --> 00:00:40.090 This story centers around a monk by the name 00:00:40.090 --> 00:00:43.969 of Pelagius. Pelagius had made a name for himself 00:00:43.969 --> 00:00:47.149 in his homeland in the British Isles, which in 00:00:47.149 --> 00:00:49.250 the 5th century was actually a part of the Roman 00:00:49.250 --> 00:00:52.270 Empire. Now, as I say that, that gives me an 00:00:52.270 --> 00:00:55.719 excuse to do what? Put a map on the screen. Boom. 00:00:56.219 --> 00:00:58.179 Good. So we're going to talk about the travels 00:00:58.179 --> 00:01:00.560 of Pelagius the monk. That is a map of the Mediterranean 00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:05.099 region. The blue dot is always Jerusalem. Very 00:01:05.099 --> 00:01:08.159 good. The red dot is always Rome. I have a new 00:01:08.159 --> 00:01:10.099 dot on there because when we get to the 5th century, 00:01:10.239 --> 00:01:14.159 the yellow dot is important. It represents Constantinople. 00:01:14.260 --> 00:01:17.340 Very good. Or the Eastern Roman Empire. And the 00:01:17.340 --> 00:01:19.680 green dot, of course, is... and that is where 00:01:19.680 --> 00:01:22.439 Pelagius is from, and we're going to trace where 00:01:22.439 --> 00:01:25.540 he goes next. Now, Pelagius and his followers 00:01:25.540 --> 00:01:28.900 were known for promoting what we call a hyper 00:01:28.900 --> 00:01:33.159 -ascetic lifestyle, denying themselves all comforts 00:01:33.159 --> 00:01:36.120 in life in order to please God, in order to conform 00:01:36.120 --> 00:01:39.920 themselves to a very rigorous law. And Pelagius 00:01:39.920 --> 00:01:42.739 was known in his homeland for constantly railing 00:01:42.739 --> 00:01:46.260 against what he saw as moral laxity in the church, 00:01:46.340 --> 00:01:49.450 blaming all the bishops in the West, for emphasizing 00:01:49.450 --> 00:01:53.010 the doctrine of grace over the moral commands 00:01:53.010 --> 00:01:57.510 of Scripture. So around the year 410, Pelagius 00:01:57.510 --> 00:01:59.689 and his entourage left Britain, and they traveled 00:01:59.689 --> 00:02:02.549 to Rome to see if they could influence the folks 00:02:02.549 --> 00:02:05.019 in the imperial city. And when he arrived in 00:02:05.019 --> 00:02:06.879 Rome, he quickly gained a following, primarily 00:02:06.879 --> 00:02:08.840 because people were impressed with his rhetoric, 00:02:09.000 --> 00:02:12.360 impressed by his disciplined lifestyle. But unfortunately 00:02:12.360 --> 00:02:15.979 for him, soon after he arrived in Rome, the Visigoths 00:02:15.979 --> 00:02:19.860 laid siege to the outskirts of the city of Rome. 00:02:19.979 --> 00:02:22.900 And like many others, Pelagius was forced to 00:02:22.900 --> 00:02:26.520 flee for his life, choosing to evacuate and travel 00:02:26.520 --> 00:02:30.379 by sea to North Africa. And he ended up... in 00:02:30.379 --> 00:02:33.460 this area near the ancient city of Carthage. 00:02:33.759 --> 00:02:36.840 And there Pelagius came up against a theological 00:02:36.840 --> 00:02:40.930 force named Augustine. Now, you've heard me talk 00:02:40.930 --> 00:02:43.210 about him many times. Augustine was a philosopher 00:02:43.210 --> 00:02:45.930 turned bishop in a region known as Hippo, which 00:02:45.930 --> 00:02:48.729 is in North Africa. Today, it's Algeria. And 00:02:48.729 --> 00:02:51.169 what followed was a back and forth debate between 00:02:51.169 --> 00:02:55.569 Pelagius and Augustine over three areas of systematic 00:02:55.569 --> 00:02:57.969 theology that are essential to what we believe, 00:02:58.050 --> 00:03:01.389 the doctrine of man, the doctrine of sin, and 00:03:01.389 --> 00:03:04.849 the doctrine of salvation. And as soon as Pelagius 00:03:04.849 --> 00:03:08.650 arrived in North Africa, Augustine bit into him. 00:03:08.909 --> 00:03:12.069 immediately started writing a series of letters 00:03:12.069 --> 00:03:15.169 denouncing his teaching, primarily focused on 00:03:15.169 --> 00:03:17.469 four things that Pelagius believed. Number one, 00:03:17.530 --> 00:03:19.909 he believed that there was no such thing as original 00:03:19.909 --> 00:03:23.590 sin. Number two, he believed that human nature 00:03:23.590 --> 00:03:27.930 was inherently predisposed towards goodness because 00:03:27.930 --> 00:03:31.129 man had been made in the image of God. Number 00:03:31.129 --> 00:03:33.610 three, that rather than our will being enslaved 00:03:33.610 --> 00:03:36.310 to sin, he believed that man is utterly free 00:03:36.310 --> 00:03:39.430 and able to choose either good or evil, able 00:03:39.430 --> 00:03:42.990 to follow after God or reject him. And at the 00:03:42.990 --> 00:03:45.050 root of all of that, number four, that Adam's 00:03:45.050 --> 00:03:49.590 sin affected only Adam. That Adam's fall in the 00:03:49.590 --> 00:03:51.629 garden affected only Adam. The rest of humanity 00:03:51.629 --> 00:03:54.930 simply followed Adam into sin merely by imitation, 00:03:55.210 --> 00:03:59.419 not by virtue of having a corrupted nature. And 00:03:59.419 --> 00:04:01.219 so what that meant for Pelagius was that human 00:04:01.219 --> 00:04:04.699 beings are capable of not sinning by striving 00:04:04.699 --> 00:04:07.560 to follow the second Adam, who is Christ. And 00:04:07.560 --> 00:04:10.280 through that striving, combined with God's grace, 00:04:10.520 --> 00:04:13.800 Pelagius taught that man is capable of actually 00:04:13.800 --> 00:04:18.019 achieving a state of sinlessness. Now, in response 00:04:18.019 --> 00:04:20.560 to that, Augustine wrote that Pelagius had completely 00:04:20.560 --> 00:04:24.439 misunderstood the nature of humanity's core problem. 00:04:24.600 --> 00:04:27.139 And as a result of that, he had failed to understand 00:04:27.139 --> 00:04:29.639 the solution to the problem that came in the 00:04:29.639 --> 00:04:33.060 person of Christ. By rejecting original sin and 00:04:33.060 --> 00:04:34.819 the corruption of human nature that came from 00:04:34.819 --> 00:04:37.779 the fall, what Pelagius had actually done was 00:04:37.779 --> 00:04:40.959 create a doctrine of grace that actually nullified 00:04:40.959 --> 00:04:44.220 grace because it was contingent upon man's striving. 00:04:46.430 --> 00:04:49.329 Augustine ripped him all over the place. Echoing 00:04:49.329 --> 00:04:51.470 the words of Paul in Romans 5, Augustine insisted 00:04:51.470 --> 00:04:54.870 that Adam's corrupted nature is passed on to 00:04:54.870 --> 00:04:58.310 every single one of us. Paul writes, through 00:04:58.310 --> 00:05:01.769 one man, sin entered into the world, and death 00:05:01.769 --> 00:05:04.889 through sin, through one transgression, the fall 00:05:04.889 --> 00:05:08.250 in the garden, Paul says, there resulted condemnation 00:05:08.250 --> 00:05:12.750 to all men. So by nature, Augustine said, we're 00:05:12.750 --> 00:05:15.209 all corrupted. We all stand guilty before the 00:05:15.209 --> 00:05:17.569 holy standards of the Lord. And that is precisely 00:05:17.569 --> 00:05:21.410 why we need grace. Because we're guilty before 00:05:21.410 --> 00:05:25.209 God is precisely why we need a savior. We don't 00:05:25.209 --> 00:05:28.370 become sinners when we sin, Augustine said. We 00:05:28.370 --> 00:05:31.069 are sinners. And because we are sinners, that's 00:05:31.069 --> 00:05:34.470 why we sin. It's our nature. So this was the 00:05:34.470 --> 00:05:37.689 battle that shaped up. So Pelagius was sort of 00:05:37.689 --> 00:05:41.110 humiliated in North Africa, publicly rebuked, 00:05:41.110 --> 00:05:45.029 and so in the year 412, he bailed. He took off 00:05:45.029 --> 00:05:47.629 and he headed towards the Holy Land to find hopefully 00:05:47.629 --> 00:05:50.329 a more receptive audience there, but Augustine 00:05:50.329 --> 00:05:53.269 did not stop. Augustine continued throughout 00:05:53.269 --> 00:05:56.389 the 420s, writing and preaching on biblical doctrine 00:05:56.389 --> 00:05:59.129 that refuted not just Pelagius, but all of his 00:05:59.129 --> 00:06:01.350 followers that had been left behind in North 00:06:01.350 --> 00:06:04.350 Africa. And it didn't get any easier for Pelagius 00:06:04.350 --> 00:06:06.689 in the Holy Land. He was officially accused of 00:06:06.689 --> 00:06:10.230 heresy at a synod in Jerusalem in 415 and then 00:06:10.230 --> 00:06:12.550 condemned by two North African synods in the 00:06:12.550 --> 00:06:16.750 year 416 and 418. And after that, nothing is 00:06:16.750 --> 00:06:20.209 known about the man's life. He drifted into obscurity. 00:06:20.509 --> 00:06:22.550 Other than today, we still bring him up as the 00:06:22.550 --> 00:06:25.470 arch heretic of the doctrine of salvation. Poor 00:06:25.470 --> 00:06:29.720 guy. That is his reputation. Just to add insult 00:06:29.720 --> 00:06:32.420 to injury, 13 years later at the Ecumenical Council 00:06:32.420 --> 00:06:36.759 of Ephesus in 431, what we call today Pelagianism 00:06:36.759 --> 00:06:39.899 was thoroughly condemned by all of the bishops 00:06:39.899 --> 00:06:45.040 from both the West and the East. Now, I'd love 00:06:45.040 --> 00:06:47.100 to say that that was the end of the issue, but 00:06:47.100 --> 00:06:49.399 if you study church history, you find that heresy 00:06:49.399 --> 00:06:53.990 has a tendency to stick around. It has this way 00:06:53.990 --> 00:06:56.610 of clawing back in a whole different form and 00:06:56.610 --> 00:06:59.389 reappearing, and that is exactly what happened 00:06:59.389 --> 00:07:03.290 with Pelagianism. Years later, another monk, 00:07:03.430 --> 00:07:06.970 this man named John Cassian, who was a prominent 00:07:06.970 --> 00:07:10.569 voice in monastic life in Egypt and Constantinople 00:07:10.569 --> 00:07:14.430 and later in Marseilles, he promoted a mediating 00:07:14.430 --> 00:07:17.790 position between Augustine on one hand and Pelagius 00:07:17.790 --> 00:07:20.470 on the other. And he taught something that today 00:07:20.470 --> 00:07:24.730 we call semi -Pelagianism. By the way, not semi 00:07:24.730 --> 00:07:28.129 -Augustinianism, but semi -Pelagianism. Seeking 00:07:28.129 --> 00:07:30.269 to find a middle ground on this issue to try 00:07:30.269 --> 00:07:33.329 to make everybody happy about this issue of free 00:07:33.329 --> 00:07:36.029 will and salvation. And while you might look 00:07:36.029 --> 00:07:38.649 at it and say, well, it's a less offensive heresy 00:07:38.649 --> 00:07:42.370 than Pelagianism, it's still rooted in a series 00:07:42.370 --> 00:07:45.730 of unbiblical premises that lead us to unbiblical 00:07:45.730 --> 00:07:48.759 conclusions. But sadly, it's being taught today 00:07:48.759 --> 00:07:51.000 all over the place. In every corner of the modern 00:07:51.000 --> 00:07:53.360 -day church, whether people realize it or not, 00:07:53.540 --> 00:07:56.560 we are still teaching semi -Pelagianism. This 00:07:56.560 --> 00:07:59.240 is how it goes. First, Cassian and others, they 00:07:59.240 --> 00:08:01.720 would acknowledge the concept of original sin, 00:08:01.879 --> 00:08:04.360 and they would say that, yes, all of mankind 00:08:04.360 --> 00:08:08.019 has been impacted by the fall. But they claim 00:08:08.019 --> 00:08:12.680 in the fall, man was only damaged. He was only 00:08:12.680 --> 00:08:16.420 weakened or injured. It didn't incapacitate him. 00:08:16.920 --> 00:08:20.800 So semi -Pelagianism denies the concept of depravity. 00:08:20.879 --> 00:08:23.660 In semi -Pelagianism, man is weakened but still 00:08:23.660 --> 00:08:26.759 capable, capable of inclining his heart towards 00:08:26.759 --> 00:08:30.800 God and seeking after him, assisted by his free 00:08:30.800 --> 00:08:36.899 will and his own self -generated faith. And this 00:08:36.899 --> 00:08:38.759 in spite of what Paul writes about natural man 00:08:38.759 --> 00:08:41.139 in Ephesians 2, that man is not just damaged 00:08:41.139 --> 00:08:44.909 but dead, dead in his transgressions. And what 00:08:44.909 --> 00:08:47.129 Paul writes in Romans 3, that there is none righteous, 00:08:47.169 --> 00:08:49.789 not even one. There is none who understands there 00:08:49.789 --> 00:08:52.090 is, how many you seek after God on their own? 00:08:52.789 --> 00:08:57.330 None. None. Now, Cassian didn't deny the need 00:08:57.330 --> 00:08:59.809 for God's grace in order to be saved. What he 00:08:59.809 --> 00:09:02.730 taught was, as man in his own free will is able 00:09:02.730 --> 00:09:05.750 to turn to God in faith, generated by himself, 00:09:06.110 --> 00:09:09.960 God responds to that. and then gives that man 00:09:09.960 --> 00:09:12.539 sufficient grace to save him, completing the 00:09:12.539 --> 00:09:15.820 process. So in semi -Pelagianism, salvation is 00:09:15.820 --> 00:09:18.379 a cooperative effort. God does his part, but 00:09:18.379 --> 00:09:21.519 man starts that process, and together, salvation 00:09:21.519 --> 00:09:25.139 is achieved. And again, this is still very common 00:09:25.139 --> 00:09:28.080 in churches all over the world today. It's a 00:09:28.080 --> 00:09:31.679 free will soteriology, and it's often taught 00:09:31.679 --> 00:09:35.179 subtly, and it's often not challenged. But we'll 00:09:35.179 --> 00:09:37.419 find out in just a second why it's problematic. 00:09:37.559 --> 00:09:41.019 So grab your Bibles. We're going to Titus chapter 00:09:41.019 --> 00:09:50.639 3. I got a map in there. Nice. So yeah, so this 00:09:50.639 --> 00:09:52.720 is going to be a little bit theologically heavy 00:09:52.720 --> 00:09:55.059 this morning because we're talking about very, 00:09:55.179 --> 00:09:57.679 very important theological terms that show up 00:09:57.679 --> 00:09:59.779 in our passage for this morning. Let's back up 00:09:59.779 --> 00:10:02.320 to verse 1. We'll make sure that we read in context 00:10:02.320 --> 00:10:05.580 down through verse 7. So here is what Paul writes 00:10:05.580 --> 00:10:09.620 to Titus, what he instructs this young protege 00:10:09.620 --> 00:10:12.899 to proclaim to the believers that are in the 00:10:12.899 --> 00:10:15.120 churches there on the island of Crete. Verse 00:10:15.120 --> 00:10:19.120 1, he says, remind them, Titus, to do what? To 00:10:19.120 --> 00:10:23.500 be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, 00:10:23.620 --> 00:10:26.559 to be ready for every good deed, to malign no 00:10:26.559 --> 00:10:30.179 one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration. 00:10:31.390 --> 00:10:33.350 By the way, that's the way we should be in Santa 00:10:33.350 --> 00:10:36.730 Clarita today, right? In other words, make sure 00:10:36.730 --> 00:10:39.730 that the people in Crete, these believers, that 00:10:39.730 --> 00:10:41.750 they maintain their testimony in front of the 00:10:41.750 --> 00:10:44.549 unbelieving world. Exhort them, Dave just prayed 00:10:44.549 --> 00:10:48.269 this, to adorn the gospel with their lives, being 00:10:48.269 --> 00:10:50.710 a blessing to their culture and being good citizens. 00:10:51.820 --> 00:10:53.879 And as you do that, Titus, remind them of what 00:10:53.879 --> 00:10:55.799 they used to be. This is what comes up in verse 00:10:55.799 --> 00:10:58.179 3. As you're doing this, as you're dealing with 00:10:58.179 --> 00:11:00.000 people of the culture, remind them what they 00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:02.980 used to be, verse 3. For we also, Paul includes 00:11:02.980 --> 00:11:05.360 himself, you and me, Titus, and everybody else, 00:11:05.399 --> 00:11:10.080 we also were once, that's past tense, once, what? 00:11:10.360 --> 00:11:13.679 Foolish ourselves. We were fools. Everyone in 00:11:13.679 --> 00:11:15.620 this room was at this place too. We were fools, 00:11:15.679 --> 00:11:20.009 right? Disobedient, deceived. enslaved to various 00:11:20.009 --> 00:11:22.769 lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice 00:11:22.769 --> 00:11:27.230 and envy, hateful and hating one another. And 00:11:27.230 --> 00:11:29.250 so what happened? Did we fix ourselves? How many 00:11:29.250 --> 00:11:32.970 of you guys feel like you fixed yourself? Did 00:11:32.970 --> 00:11:35.850 we recognize how awful we were and turn to God 00:11:35.850 --> 00:11:38.950 on our own? Paul says no. Look at verses four 00:11:38.950 --> 00:11:40.789 and five. He says, but when the kindness of God 00:11:40.789 --> 00:11:43.529 our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, 00:11:43.889 --> 00:11:50.259 by sending the Son, right, he saved us. God saved 00:11:50.259 --> 00:11:54.620 us. We didn't save ourselves. God saved us. And 00:11:54.620 --> 00:11:56.679 he saved us based on what? Well, 1 Paul says 00:11:56.679 --> 00:11:59.980 this, not on the basis of deeds which we've done 00:11:59.980 --> 00:12:03.019 in righteousness, in case you were confused. 00:12:03.279 --> 00:12:05.820 You weren't saved on the basis of your good deeds. 00:12:06.299 --> 00:12:08.779 So that rules out the possibility that we can 00:12:08.779 --> 00:12:11.379 somehow earn our salvation or merit our salvation 00:12:11.379 --> 00:12:14.659 based on good works, based on the visible church 00:12:14.659 --> 00:12:17.740 that we're a part of. But then Paul tells us 00:12:17.740 --> 00:12:21.299 what the true basis of our salvation is. Underline 00:12:21.299 --> 00:12:24.080 it, highlight it, mark it down. He says the basis 00:12:24.080 --> 00:12:28.720 of salvation is according to God's mercy. You 00:12:28.720 --> 00:12:32.620 see it there in the text? According to his mercy. 00:12:32.799 --> 00:12:35.460 So if any human being in the history of man is 00:12:35.460 --> 00:12:38.500 ever saved, it's due to this one essential fact 00:12:38.500 --> 00:12:42.909 that God has been merciful. Now the question 00:12:42.909 --> 00:12:44.470 we want to go on, because we talked about this 00:12:44.470 --> 00:12:46.129 several weeks ago, the question we want to answer 00:12:46.129 --> 00:12:49.090 next is the next logical one. If we're saved 00:12:49.090 --> 00:12:53.350 by God's mercy, according to his grace, how does 00:12:53.350 --> 00:12:56.190 he save us? What is the mechanism by which he 00:12:56.190 --> 00:12:59.070 saves us? And that's what we see continuing in 00:12:59.070 --> 00:13:01.990 verse 5. He saved us by the washing of regeneration 00:13:01.990 --> 00:13:07.629 and renewing by the Holy Spirit. That's the mechanism. 00:13:08.679 --> 00:13:11.840 whom he poured out upon us richly through Jesus 00:13:11.840 --> 00:13:15.120 Christ our Savior, so that being justified by 00:13:15.120 --> 00:13:18.580 his grace, We would be made heirs according to 00:13:18.580 --> 00:13:21.100 the hope of eternal life. Guys, this is some 00:13:21.100 --> 00:13:22.919 of the most beautiful language in the New Testament, 00:13:23.059 --> 00:13:25.480 right? Just overflowing with the goodness of 00:13:25.480 --> 00:13:28.120 God. But what you see here is a series of important 00:13:28.120 --> 00:13:31.679 statements that help us piece together how salvation 00:13:31.679 --> 00:13:34.740 comes to us. And mark these things in your minds, 00:13:34.779 --> 00:13:37.000 guys, and in your hearts, so that never again 00:13:37.000 --> 00:13:39.759 you go to some church and you get misled into 00:13:39.759 --> 00:13:43.220 semi -Pelagian thinking. That somehow you are 00:13:43.220 --> 00:13:45.889 the one that... that played a role that you started 00:13:45.889 --> 00:13:49.509 the process of your own salvation. Once again, 00:13:49.570 --> 00:13:51.649 you see the basis for salvation, not our good 00:13:51.649 --> 00:13:55.129 deeds, right? Nothing in us. It's rooted in God's 00:13:55.129 --> 00:13:59.649 kindness, in God's love, and God's mercy. Then 00:13:59.649 --> 00:14:01.929 we see the means of our salvation, that is the 00:14:01.929 --> 00:14:04.889 power of the Holy Spirit through the work of 00:14:04.889 --> 00:14:08.330 Christ, producing in us and for us regeneration, 00:14:08.809 --> 00:14:12.759 renewal, and justification. And finally, the 00:14:12.759 --> 00:14:16.059 result of salvation, we are made heirs. We are 00:14:16.059 --> 00:14:19.200 adopted as sons and daughters to the hope of 00:14:19.200 --> 00:14:21.940 eternal life. Guys, we could literally close 00:14:21.940 --> 00:14:23.779 our Bibles right there and just sing some more 00:14:23.779 --> 00:14:28.279 praise songs because just those basic three statements 00:14:28.279 --> 00:14:30.539 are so beautiful. We could just shut it down 00:14:30.539 --> 00:14:33.100 right there, but I want to go on. I want to go 00:14:33.100 --> 00:14:35.259 on. Where do we go from here? Well, I want to 00:14:35.259 --> 00:14:38.360 hone in in the time we have today on this concept 00:14:38.360 --> 00:14:42.539 of regeneration. And also the term washing, because 00:14:42.539 --> 00:14:45.080 historically that term washing has created all 00:14:45.080 --> 00:14:48.679 kinds of confusion among believers. But before 00:14:48.679 --> 00:14:51.000 we do that, let me give you a couple of quick 00:14:51.000 --> 00:14:53.899 notes of Christology for you to see here, especially 00:14:53.899 --> 00:14:56.740 for anybody who's ever heard this question asked 00:14:56.740 --> 00:14:58.460 by an unbeliever, or maybe you've thought it 00:14:58.460 --> 00:15:01.299 yourself. Does the New Testament actually say 00:15:01.299 --> 00:15:04.789 that Jesus is God? That question's floating around 00:15:04.789 --> 00:15:07.070 all the time. Well, here in this passage, the 00:15:07.070 --> 00:15:09.090 answer's yes. And in fact, it's all over the 00:15:09.090 --> 00:15:12.769 place if you read the text carefully. So look, 00:15:12.830 --> 00:15:14.769 first of all, who's called Savior in verse four? 00:15:16.490 --> 00:15:20.950 God is. Now, the context seems to favor the idea 00:15:20.950 --> 00:15:22.909 that that's a reference to God the Father because 00:15:22.909 --> 00:15:26.129 he's the one who sends the Son in his appearing 00:15:26.129 --> 00:15:28.669 and bringing of salvation. So I think in verse 00:15:28.669 --> 00:15:31.169 four, God the Father's our Savior, but who's 00:15:31.169 --> 00:15:37.139 called Savior in verse six? Jesus is. Okay, so 00:15:37.139 --> 00:15:40.120 the Father is Savior and Jesus is the Savior. 00:15:40.740 --> 00:15:42.840 And historically we've said, yeah, that's because 00:15:42.840 --> 00:15:45.879 they are consubstantial. The Father and the Son 00:15:45.879 --> 00:15:48.940 are one in substance, in essence, in attributes, 00:15:49.080 --> 00:15:51.919 and in purpose. So in a subtle but very clear 00:15:51.919 --> 00:15:55.159 way, what Paul's doing here is making Jesus equal 00:15:55.159 --> 00:15:58.200 to the Father. And you'll read right past it 00:15:58.200 --> 00:15:59.960 if you don't pay attention, but that's exactly 00:15:59.960 --> 00:16:01.980 what he's doing. Oh, and by the way, there's 00:16:01.980 --> 00:16:05.080 also a Trinitarian polemic built into the passage 00:16:05.080 --> 00:16:07.919 because all three persons of the Trinity are 00:16:07.919 --> 00:16:10.779 found right here in these verses in relation 00:16:10.779 --> 00:16:14.639 to salvation. The Father sending the Son, the 00:16:14.639 --> 00:16:17.080 Son accomplishing the work of redemption, and 00:16:17.080 --> 00:16:20.139 the Spirit producing regeneration and renewal 00:16:20.139 --> 00:16:23.799 by way of the Son. So we have incredible Christology 00:16:23.799 --> 00:16:26.759 and Trinitarianism just in these few verses. 00:16:26.899 --> 00:16:29.120 So when I mentioned, I don't know how many weeks 00:16:29.120 --> 00:16:30.720 ago, I said this is one of the most important 00:16:30.720 --> 00:16:33.700 passages for New Testament theology. This is 00:16:33.700 --> 00:16:36.899 why. This is beautiful stuff. Okay, let's dive 00:16:36.899 --> 00:16:40.759 deeper. Look at verse 5 again. I want to focus 00:16:40.759 --> 00:16:44.659 in on this word regeneration. And you can see 00:16:44.659 --> 00:16:47.559 up on the screen, the word that Paul uses here 00:16:47.559 --> 00:16:53.389 is a very unique word. Pallaginesia. Okay? It's 00:16:53.389 --> 00:16:55.950 a word that you'll find only twice in the entire 00:16:55.950 --> 00:16:59.169 New Testament. Twice. First here in Titus 3, 00:16:59.269 --> 00:17:03.490 and then in Matthew 19, where Jesus uses it, 00:17:03.549 --> 00:17:05.630 which means it's worth looking at much, much 00:17:05.630 --> 00:17:07.750 closer. Some of you guys remember the context 00:17:07.750 --> 00:17:10.690 of Matthew 19. The Lord is speaking to large 00:17:10.690 --> 00:17:13.210 crowds. He's out in Judea beyond the Jordan, 00:17:13.289 --> 00:17:16.730 but he's also teaching his disciples privately. 00:17:17.369 --> 00:17:20.470 And remember the rich young ruler? Right after 00:17:20.470 --> 00:17:24.769 Jesus addresses this rich young man's question, 00:17:24.869 --> 00:17:28.589 which is, how do I obtain eternal life? Jesus 00:17:28.589 --> 00:17:31.029 says to the 12, you know what? It's hard for 00:17:31.029 --> 00:17:34.170 a rich man to get into the kingdom of God. And 00:17:34.170 --> 00:17:36.630 then using obvious hyperbole, he says, in fact, 00:17:36.730 --> 00:17:40.250 it's so hard, it's easier for a camel to go through 00:17:40.250 --> 00:17:41.910 the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter 00:17:41.910 --> 00:17:44.210 the kingdom of God. And how do the disciples 00:17:44.210 --> 00:17:48.019 respond to that teaching? They're shocked. Why? 00:17:48.140 --> 00:17:50.740 Because in their paradigm, it was the wealthy 00:17:50.740 --> 00:17:54.180 priests in Jerusalem who were supposed to be 00:17:54.180 --> 00:17:56.039 leading other people into the kingdom of God. 00:17:56.140 --> 00:17:58.180 They obviously get in, and they're supposed to 00:17:58.180 --> 00:18:00.940 help us get in, too. And Jesus blows their minds 00:18:00.940 --> 00:18:03.880 with this teaching. And if that's true, they 00:18:03.880 --> 00:18:07.180 ask Jesus, well, then who can be saved? Because 00:18:07.180 --> 00:18:10.579 if those guys in the holy garments in Jerusalem 00:18:10.579 --> 00:18:13.039 aren't going to be saved, who can be saved? Right? 00:18:13.180 --> 00:18:17.529 And what does Jesus say? Remember? He says, with 00:18:17.529 --> 00:18:21.690 people, this is impossible. Now, don't read past 00:18:21.690 --> 00:18:25.450 that. Listen again. With people, this is impossible. 00:18:26.109 --> 00:18:29.309 It's impossible for a human being to buy his 00:18:29.309 --> 00:18:31.930 way into the kingdom or to work his way into 00:18:31.930 --> 00:18:34.690 the kingdom or to somehow find a loophole and 00:18:34.690 --> 00:18:39.890 work his way in. But, Jesus adds, with God, what? 00:18:40.390 --> 00:18:43.900 All things are possible. That's an incredibly 00:18:43.900 --> 00:18:46.240 important teaching here. And that's what we see 00:18:46.240 --> 00:18:49.579 also in Titus 3. If the basis for God saving 00:18:49.579 --> 00:18:53.680 us is his mercy, then yes, even a rich man can 00:18:53.680 --> 00:18:57.599 be saved if God chooses to pour out his mercy 00:18:57.599 --> 00:19:01.400 richly upon that man. That's the teaching. But 00:19:01.400 --> 00:19:03.460 in that moment, you know, the disciples are confused 00:19:03.460 --> 00:19:06.900 and Jesus' answer doesn't satisfy Peter, of course, 00:19:06.960 --> 00:19:10.019 of all guys. In fact, it makes him anxious, and 00:19:10.019 --> 00:19:12.740 he says to Jesus, well, look, Lord, we left everything 00:19:12.740 --> 00:19:16.119 to follow you, so what's in it for us? What's 00:19:16.119 --> 00:19:19.980 left for us, he says. And here comes the connection 00:19:19.980 --> 00:19:23.700 to regeneration. Jesus says to them, truly I 00:19:23.700 --> 00:19:27.119 say to you, you who have followed me in the renewal 00:19:27.119 --> 00:19:29.920 of all things, and that is where you see this 00:19:29.920 --> 00:19:33.559 word, paligenesia. Literally, it says in the 00:19:33.559 --> 00:19:36.940 regeneration. When the Son of Man sits on his 00:19:36.940 --> 00:19:40.619 glorious throne, you also shall sit upon 12 thrones, 00:19:40.619 --> 00:19:43.099 judging the 12 tribes of Israel. Now that is 00:19:43.099 --> 00:19:45.380 unique to the apostles, but look at everybody 00:19:45.380 --> 00:19:47.960 else. Everyone who has left houses or brothers 00:19:47.960 --> 00:19:50.599 or sisters or father or mother or children or 00:19:50.599 --> 00:19:53.940 farms for my namesake will receive many times 00:19:53.940 --> 00:19:58.019 as much and will inherit eternal life. So you've 00:19:58.019 --> 00:20:00.859 got to understand the context here. Peter asks 00:20:00.859 --> 00:20:04.440 about his own individual salvation. Like, what's 00:20:04.440 --> 00:20:07.500 in it for me and for the other guys? And Jesus 00:20:07.500 --> 00:20:10.420 responds by pointing him to this huge picture 00:20:10.420 --> 00:20:13.980 of the rebirth of all of creation. And he says, 00:20:14.039 --> 00:20:17.019 trust me, Peter, when everything gets regenerated, 00:20:17.099 --> 00:20:20.279 you and everybody else who's followed me, you 00:20:20.279 --> 00:20:23.680 will have a great reward. So that's what gets 00:20:23.680 --> 00:20:26.599 to the meaning of this word regeneration in Titus 00:20:26.599 --> 00:20:29.079 3. Listen, will we see the physical world around 00:20:29.079 --> 00:20:32.549 us? We can still see the handiwork of God, his 00:20:32.549 --> 00:20:35.089 design, but we also see that the creation has 00:20:35.089 --> 00:20:37.930 fallen and it is disordered, right? Paul tells 00:20:37.930 --> 00:20:40.529 us that in Romans 8, that the creation was subjected 00:20:40.529 --> 00:20:43.650 to depravity because of the fall. And now it 00:20:43.650 --> 00:20:46.710 groans and it suffers just as we do under the 00:20:46.710 --> 00:20:49.250 weight of sin. But then he says in Romans 8, 00:20:49.289 --> 00:20:51.589 there is the certain hope that's coming. Someday 00:20:51.589 --> 00:20:54.569 the creation will be set free from the slavery 00:20:54.569 --> 00:20:57.799 to corruption. So the ultimate eschatological 00:20:57.799 --> 00:21:01.900 purpose that God has for all of creation is that 00:21:01.900 --> 00:21:04.660 someday it will be regenerated and us with it. 00:21:05.519 --> 00:21:08.559 Those of us whom God has chosen to be saved, 00:21:08.559 --> 00:21:13.119 we will be regenerated. We will be made new along 00:21:13.119 --> 00:21:17.500 with creation. So regeneration is both individual, 00:21:17.700 --> 00:21:21.130 but it's also this giant subject matter. Now, 00:21:21.150 --> 00:21:24.690 let's go back to verse 5 again and see how he 00:21:24.690 --> 00:21:27.329 says this. What is that mechanism? He saved us 00:21:27.329 --> 00:21:30.769 by the washing of regeneration. So very simply, 00:21:30.849 --> 00:21:33.289 what Paul is talking about here is the new birth. 00:21:34.710 --> 00:21:37.569 The new birth or the making of something new. 00:21:39.720 --> 00:21:41.619 I know that for I don't know how many decades 00:21:41.619 --> 00:21:44.519 now in Christianity, at least evangelicalism, 00:21:44.579 --> 00:21:46.940 everything's about being born again, and it's 00:21:46.940 --> 00:21:51.579 sort of become an overused, tired phrase, but 00:21:51.579 --> 00:21:54.619 that's exactly what regeneration means. It means 00:21:54.619 --> 00:21:59.940 being born again or being made new. So what comes 00:21:59.940 --> 00:22:01.480 with being born again, there's a whole bunch 00:22:01.480 --> 00:22:02.819 of things that come with it that I'll get to 00:22:02.819 --> 00:22:04.740 in a moment, but first we have to go back and... 00:22:05.259 --> 00:22:07.440 We always have to remember the bad news before 00:22:07.440 --> 00:22:09.700 we get to the good news, right? Why do we need 00:22:09.700 --> 00:22:12.779 to be made new? Why do we need to be regenerated? 00:22:13.000 --> 00:22:16.680 Because of that list in verse 3, right? Because 00:22:16.680 --> 00:22:19.759 we were once all foolish and disobedient and 00:22:19.759 --> 00:22:23.319 deceived and slaves to sin and filled with malice 00:22:23.319 --> 00:22:26.339 and envy and hatred. All of us are in there somewhere, 00:22:26.500 --> 00:22:29.420 right? We have to be honest with ourselves. We're 00:22:29.420 --> 00:22:32.859 all in that. And at the end of the age, in the 00:22:32.859 --> 00:22:35.519 regeneration to come, in the new heavens and 00:22:35.519 --> 00:22:37.539 the new earth, those things will not be welcome. 00:22:38.660 --> 00:22:40.740 They need to be done away with. We need to be 00:22:40.740 --> 00:22:44.319 born again so as to move out of that and into 00:22:44.319 --> 00:22:48.670 something new. And that happens in our lives 00:22:48.670 --> 00:22:51.230 on the earth when God draws his elect unto himself, 00:22:51.490 --> 00:22:54.170 when the Holy Spirit makes us alive in Christ, 00:22:54.390 --> 00:22:56.690 when the Holy Spirit moves us from spiritual 00:22:56.690 --> 00:22:59.809 death to spiritual life, and he gives us a whole 00:22:59.809 --> 00:23:03.390 new inner man, a completely new nature with new 00:23:03.390 --> 00:23:07.009 affections. It's a radical, miraculous transformation 00:23:07.009 --> 00:23:10.470 that brings in us a shift in worldview and a 00:23:10.470 --> 00:23:13.769 whole new way of living. It's a life where now 00:23:13.769 --> 00:23:16.569 by the power of God's Spirit, we are producing 00:23:16.569 --> 00:23:19.990 spiritual fruit that brings glory to God. What 00:23:19.990 --> 00:23:22.910 are they? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, 00:23:23.230 --> 00:23:26.250 goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self 00:23:26.250 --> 00:23:30.130 -control in increasing measure. This is what 00:23:30.130 --> 00:23:32.009 it means to be born again. And importantly, we 00:23:32.009 --> 00:23:35.190 now stand in a redeemed state before the judge. 00:23:35.849 --> 00:23:39.890 Once we're born again, we now stand in a different 00:23:39.890 --> 00:23:43.740 state. and state before the judge. Having been 00:23:43.740 --> 00:23:46.660 bought at a price, our record of sins is no longer 00:23:46.660 --> 00:23:49.279 counted against us. Our sins have been washed 00:23:49.279 --> 00:23:52.599 away by the blood of Christ, right? Right? That 00:23:52.599 --> 00:23:55.380 is exactly what Paul means here when he talks 00:23:55.380 --> 00:24:01.880 about the washing of regeneration. Now pause 00:24:01.880 --> 00:24:03.420 for a moment. I'm going to do a quick rabbit 00:24:03.420 --> 00:24:06.579 trail on an important subject here. Because when 00:24:06.579 --> 00:24:08.900 you first read that word washing, you might have 00:24:08.900 --> 00:24:10.660 had something in mind. You might have thought 00:24:10.660 --> 00:24:14.359 of baptism. And that's a very common interpretation. 00:24:15.240 --> 00:24:17.740 Far too often what we do as Christians is we 00:24:17.740 --> 00:24:20.720 see certain words in Scripture, like washing, 00:24:20.900 --> 00:24:23.440 like cleansing, or even just the word water, 00:24:23.519 --> 00:24:26.559 and almost with a knee -jerk reaction, we assume 00:24:26.559 --> 00:24:28.880 that baptism is what's being described here. 00:24:29.579 --> 00:24:32.039 And what we're doing when we do that is we're 00:24:32.039 --> 00:24:35.059 sort of reading our experience back into the 00:24:35.059 --> 00:24:37.440 text, even though the context doesn't call for 00:24:37.440 --> 00:24:40.380 it. And this is one of those passages so many 00:24:40.380 --> 00:24:43.220 professing Christians read Titus 3 .5, listen 00:24:43.220 --> 00:24:48.940 now, as regeneration through baptism. And sadly, 00:24:48.960 --> 00:24:51.619 they come to the false conclusion that God saves 00:24:51.619 --> 00:24:54.200 people through the physical act of baptizing. 00:24:55.309 --> 00:24:57.950 That's incredibly common today. And it amazes 00:24:57.950 --> 00:25:00.069 me that folks can read the Bible and somehow 00:25:00.069 --> 00:25:02.990 come to the conclusion that a physical or material 00:25:02.990 --> 00:25:06.470 act like being baptized can bring about a spiritual 00:25:06.470 --> 00:25:09.309 transformation. Think about that for a second. 00:25:09.349 --> 00:25:12.349 A physical action can bring about a spiritual 00:25:12.349 --> 00:25:16.589 transformation. Jesus addressed this in John 00:25:16.589 --> 00:25:19.089 6. He said, it's the spirit that gives life. 00:25:19.150 --> 00:25:23.799 The flesh profits what? Nothing. The spirit gives 00:25:23.799 --> 00:25:26.220 life, the flesh profits nothing, meaning human 00:25:26.220 --> 00:25:28.980 effort can only produce physical life. Human 00:25:28.980 --> 00:25:31.920 effort cannot produce spiritual life. Not even 00:25:31.920 --> 00:25:34.980 something as well -intended as baptism is going 00:25:34.980 --> 00:25:40.140 to bring regeneration to a man or woman. And 00:25:40.140 --> 00:25:42.500 yet in the Eastern Orthodox Church today, they 00:25:42.500 --> 00:25:45.640 teach that baptism done by a properly ordained 00:25:45.640 --> 00:25:48.779 priest or bishop in the Orthodox Church does 00:25:48.779 --> 00:25:52.619 just that, that the act of baptism saves us. 00:25:53.099 --> 00:25:55.440 And in fact, they would say, if you're not baptized 00:25:55.440 --> 00:25:57.799 in that tradition, you are outside the kingdom 00:25:57.799 --> 00:26:01.559 of God. That's how extreme they get. And then 00:26:01.559 --> 00:26:03.200 our friends in the Roman Catholic Church take 00:26:03.200 --> 00:26:06.259 it an even step further. Not only do they claim 00:26:06.259 --> 00:26:09.319 that the sacrament of baptism is a means of saving 00:26:09.319 --> 00:26:13.359 grace, they do baptisms on the principle of something 00:26:13.359 --> 00:26:17.140 called ex opere operato, this great Latin phrase 00:26:17.140 --> 00:26:19.920 which says, listen now, that the faith of the 00:26:19.920 --> 00:26:22.720 person being baptized is not in play. It doesn't 00:26:22.720 --> 00:26:25.740 matter at all. The only thing that matters is 00:26:25.740 --> 00:26:28.559 that the priest doing the baptizing is properly 00:26:28.559 --> 00:26:31.579 ordained by the Catholic Church, and so the baptism 00:26:31.579 --> 00:26:35.339 itself, just the physical act, regardless of 00:26:35.339 --> 00:26:38.000 the person being baptized, that that is effectual 00:26:38.000 --> 00:26:42.940 in saving. And this is common all over the world. 00:26:43.759 --> 00:26:47.240 None of this is biblical. In fact, if you read 00:26:47.240 --> 00:26:49.940 1 Corinthians 1, you will hear Paul say this 00:26:49.940 --> 00:26:53.019 now. Listen, Christ did not send me to baptize, 00:26:53.019 --> 00:26:59.500 but to preach the gospel. If baptism saves, that 00:26:59.500 --> 00:27:02.440 is a terrible statement to make. Then he goes 00:27:02.440 --> 00:27:04.740 on to say he thanks God that he didn't baptize 00:27:04.740 --> 00:27:09.359 more people. How could he say that? If baptismal 00:27:09.359 --> 00:27:11.440 regeneration were true, how could he say that? 00:27:12.440 --> 00:27:16.089 And if baptism could save, why wouldn't we? stop 00:27:16.089 --> 00:27:18.390 what we're doing right here and just go out into 00:27:18.390 --> 00:27:20.690 the community and line people up and just dunk 00:27:20.690 --> 00:27:26.269 them. Right? Wouldn't we just do that? Now, I'm 00:27:26.269 --> 00:27:28.230 not downplaying the importance of baptism. It 00:27:28.230 --> 00:27:30.490 is an essential part of the Christian life. It 00:27:30.490 --> 00:27:34.970 is an incredibly important sign or symbol that 00:27:34.970 --> 00:27:37.170 connects to a spiritual reality, and we should 00:27:37.170 --> 00:27:40.279 be obedient to be baptized. But we've got to 00:27:40.279 --> 00:27:43.619 be careful here that we don't inject our own 00:27:43.619 --> 00:27:46.460 desired meaning, our own traditional interpretations 00:27:46.460 --> 00:27:49.400 into the text of Scripture because this verse 00:27:49.400 --> 00:27:52.799 says nothing about baptism. It talks about washing, 00:27:52.900 --> 00:27:54.519 but it doesn't say anything about the sacrament 00:27:54.519 --> 00:27:57.619 of baptism, right? So we should be careful about 00:27:57.619 --> 00:27:59.500 this. In fact, the Greek word there for washing 00:27:59.500 --> 00:28:04.119 is the word lutron. And all it is, it's the simplest 00:28:04.119 --> 00:28:07.509 word in the Greek for bathing. For cleansing 00:28:07.509 --> 00:28:09.549 something thoroughly. And that's what Paul has 00:28:09.549 --> 00:28:12.890 in mind. Listen, when God saved us, he thoroughly 00:28:12.890 --> 00:28:15.970 cleansed us through the act of regeneration. 00:28:16.130 --> 00:28:20.769 That's it. We were thoroughly cleansed. And just 00:28:20.769 --> 00:28:23.009 to reinforce that that interpretation is correct, 00:28:23.230 --> 00:28:25.829 again, Paul uses that same word, Lutron, only 00:28:25.829 --> 00:28:28.230 one other place in the entire New Testament, 00:28:28.269 --> 00:28:32.190 and it's not about baptism there either. So we 00:28:32.190 --> 00:28:33.690 have to get this right. That verse, by the way, 00:28:33.750 --> 00:28:36.230 is Ephesians 5, where Paul talks about Christ 00:28:36.230 --> 00:28:39.309 gave himself up for the church, having cleansed 00:28:39.309 --> 00:28:41.750 her by the washing, there's the word, of the 00:28:41.750 --> 00:28:45.809 word. And the purpose there is that Jesus would 00:28:45.809 --> 00:28:48.269 free his bride from all the spots and stains 00:28:48.269 --> 00:28:51.869 and wrinkles that mar her beauty. But this idea 00:28:51.869 --> 00:28:54.690 of washing of the word is simply the spoken word 00:28:54.690 --> 00:28:57.109 of the gospel, which has a cleansing effect upon 00:28:57.109 --> 00:29:01.549 its hearers, not the sacrament of baptism. So 00:29:01.549 --> 00:29:03.410 be careful of that knee -jerk reaction to see 00:29:03.410 --> 00:29:06.089 washing and to jump to a conclusion that is not 00:29:06.089 --> 00:29:09.990 in the context of the passage. Now, there's no 00:29:09.990 --> 00:29:13.230 way I can avoid looking at one more passage that's 00:29:13.230 --> 00:29:16.089 so critical to this whole issue, and it's the 00:29:16.089 --> 00:29:19.049 very famous conversation that Jesus has with 00:29:19.049 --> 00:29:22.349 Nicodemus in John 3. And I want to touch on this 00:29:22.349 --> 00:29:26.029 because, A, regeneration is a part of it, and 00:29:26.029 --> 00:29:28.349 number two, it's another passage where people... 00:29:28.920 --> 00:29:32.680 wrongly see baptism at play. So let me put some 00:29:32.680 --> 00:29:34.759 of the phrases up on the screen. This is John 00:29:34.759 --> 00:29:39.259 chapter 3. Jesus tells Nicodemus, truly, truly, 00:29:39.319 --> 00:29:43.160 I say to you, unless one is born again or born 00:29:43.160 --> 00:29:47.819 from above, what? They cannot see the kingdom 00:29:47.819 --> 00:29:52.099 of God. And then Jesus says this as well. Unless 00:29:52.099 --> 00:29:55.619 one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot 00:29:55.619 --> 00:29:58.789 enter. The kingdom of God. So water and spirit. 00:29:58.990 --> 00:30:01.490 So many books have been written trying to understand 00:30:01.490 --> 00:30:04.230 what that actually means. But I don't think we 00:30:04.230 --> 00:30:07.589 complicate things, don't we? When really, I think 00:30:07.589 --> 00:30:09.630 it's very simple. Now, some people have looked 00:30:09.630 --> 00:30:11.390 at this and said, well, the water must refer 00:30:11.390 --> 00:30:14.630 to physical birth. Like we all pass through amniotic 00:30:14.630 --> 00:30:17.910 fluid when we're born, right? But that doesn't 00:30:17.910 --> 00:30:20.609 make sense either because everybody experiences 00:30:20.609 --> 00:30:23.430 that. And Jesus seems to be referencing something 00:30:23.430 --> 00:30:27.000 here that's very particular. Again, some people 00:30:27.000 --> 00:30:29.299 see water and they think this is a reference 00:30:29.299 --> 00:30:32.119 to baptism, but that doesn't add up either based 00:30:32.119 --> 00:30:35.099 on the context. Why? Well, remember, who is Jesus 00:30:35.099 --> 00:30:38.759 talking to here? This is Nicodemus. He is a Jewish 00:30:38.759 --> 00:30:41.980 man. He is a Pharisee on the highest council 00:30:41.980 --> 00:30:45.920 in the land, right? So why would Jesus be talking 00:30:45.920 --> 00:30:49.420 to such a man about a new ordinance that's going 00:30:49.420 --> 00:30:52.980 to be... in the church. It doesn't make sense. 00:30:53.140 --> 00:30:55.519 In fact, from a Jewish perspective, what would 00:30:55.519 --> 00:30:57.519 Nicodemus be thinking about when he hears water? 00:30:58.990 --> 00:31:02.170 A Jewish purification ritual, the type of thing 00:31:02.170 --> 00:31:03.769 that you would go through in a mikvah before 00:31:03.769 --> 00:31:06.450 you went up to the temple. So he would have absolutely 00:31:06.450 --> 00:31:09.569 no idea what Jesus is referring to if Jesus is 00:31:09.569 --> 00:31:12.089 talking about baptism. So the best interpretation 00:31:12.089 --> 00:31:15.069 of water in this verse is exactly what we see 00:31:15.069 --> 00:31:18.029 in Titus 3. It's a washing. It is a spiritual 00:31:18.029 --> 00:31:21.569 cleansing, the washing away of sins. So bottom 00:31:21.569 --> 00:31:23.670 line, this is what Jesus is saying to Nicodemus. 00:31:23.710 --> 00:31:26.250 Very simply, in order to enter the kingdom of 00:31:26.250 --> 00:31:29.210 God, you must be cleansed from sin. and born 00:31:29.210 --> 00:31:33.230 again by the Spirit. That's it. You must be cleansed 00:31:33.230 --> 00:31:36.309 from sin and born again by the Spirit. And again, 00:31:36.390 --> 00:31:38.650 just to strengthen the case for that interpretation, 00:31:39.089 --> 00:31:43.210 remember how, as Jesus says this to Nicodemus, 00:31:43.269 --> 00:31:45.089 remember he doesn't track with Jesus at all, 00:31:45.130 --> 00:31:49.069 does he? He's confused. And Jesus says at one 00:31:49.069 --> 00:31:51.029 point, he says, are you the teacher of Israel 00:31:51.029 --> 00:31:54.769 and you don't get this? That is an obvious interpretive 00:31:54.769 --> 00:31:57.920 clue. that Jesus is talking about something from 00:31:57.920 --> 00:32:00.380 the Hebrew Scriptures that a rabbi should know, 00:32:00.539 --> 00:32:04.660 and Nicodemus doesn't get it. So it's a soft 00:32:04.660 --> 00:32:07.319 rebuke. Like, you're the teacher of Israel. This 00:32:07.319 --> 00:32:10.059 is clear in your own Scriptures in the Old Testament, 00:32:10.160 --> 00:32:13.099 and you don't know. Well, guess what? This is 00:32:13.099 --> 00:32:16.400 clearly found in a very prominent chapter of 00:32:16.400 --> 00:32:20.220 prophecy in Ezekiel 36. Listen to the similar 00:32:20.220 --> 00:32:23.059 language, and you'll see why Nicodemus should 00:32:23.059 --> 00:32:27.500 have understood this. I will sprinkle clean water 00:32:27.500 --> 00:32:32.339 on you, right? God says to Israel, and you will 00:32:32.339 --> 00:32:35.500 be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness 00:32:35.500 --> 00:32:38.299 and from all your idols. So right there we have 00:32:38.299 --> 00:32:41.480 your washing, right? Moreover, I will give you 00:32:41.480 --> 00:32:44.359 a new heart and put a new spirit within you, 00:32:44.440 --> 00:32:47.200 and I will remove the heart of stone from your 00:32:47.200 --> 00:32:50.220 flesh and give you a heart of flesh. That, friends, 00:32:50.299 --> 00:32:53.599 is regeneration. That is the new birth, from 00:32:53.599 --> 00:32:56.700 death to life, from stone to flesh. And then 00:32:56.700 --> 00:32:58.799 he finishes, I will put my spirit within you 00:32:58.799 --> 00:33:02.759 and cause you, I the Lord will cause you to walk 00:33:02.759 --> 00:33:06.019 in my statutes and you will be careful to observe 00:33:06.019 --> 00:33:09.380 my ordinances. That's what Jesus was talking 00:33:09.380 --> 00:33:13.099 about with Nicodemus. He was announcing to Israel 00:33:13.099 --> 00:33:15.119 through this man that the promises of the new 00:33:15.119 --> 00:33:17.440 covenant had now arrived, the kingdom had come 00:33:17.440 --> 00:33:20.130 to earth. And through Jesus' life, death, and 00:33:20.130 --> 00:33:22.789 resurrection would come this spiritual cleansing, 00:33:22.930 --> 00:33:27.230 the removal of sins and new life for anyone who 00:33:27.230 --> 00:33:29.509 would follow after him. That's what Jesus is 00:33:29.509 --> 00:33:34.430 talking about. So, to summarize, I'm going to 00:33:34.430 --> 00:33:37.829 give you a strong theological description of 00:33:37.829 --> 00:33:39.490 what regeneration is, and I'm going to break 00:33:39.490 --> 00:33:43.490 it down by phrases. We're back in Professor No's 00:33:43.490 --> 00:33:45.569 class here for just a second, so hang with me. 00:33:45.630 --> 00:33:48.640 This is a good definition. regeneration refers 00:33:48.640 --> 00:33:50.740 to, first of all, the work of the Holy Spirit, 00:33:50.920 --> 00:33:55.220 that's important, wherein he unites the elect 00:33:55.220 --> 00:33:59.740 sinner to Christ by breathing new life into a 00:33:59.740 --> 00:34:04.079 spiritually dead man so as to raise him from 00:34:04.079 --> 00:34:07.539 spiritual death to spiritual life, removing his 00:34:07.539 --> 00:34:09.500 heart of stone and giving him a heart of flesh 00:34:09.500 --> 00:34:14.420 so that he is washed, born from above, and is 00:34:14.420 --> 00:34:19.280 now, now able, to repent and trust in Christ 00:34:19.280 --> 00:34:22.159 as a new creation. That's worth a picture, by 00:34:22.159 --> 00:34:23.719 the way, if you want to snap that. Or if you 00:34:23.719 --> 00:34:26.599 want me to send this to you, send me a note and 00:34:26.599 --> 00:34:28.679 I'll send it to you. That is a really good description 00:34:28.679 --> 00:34:32.699 of what regeneration is. So now that is going 00:34:32.699 --> 00:34:35.159 to take us back to the, remember the Ordo Salutis 00:34:35.159 --> 00:34:37.800 that I showed you several weeks ago in Prof No's 00:34:37.800 --> 00:34:41.719 class? You remember? With this in mind, you're 00:34:41.719 --> 00:34:44.719 all reading it still, which is great. It's good. 00:34:44.860 --> 00:34:48.039 Let's go back to the order of salvation and see 00:34:48.039 --> 00:34:52.400 where that fits in. Okay? Let me walk you through 00:34:52.400 --> 00:34:56.519 this once again. Guys, I know it's technical. 00:34:57.000 --> 00:35:00.119 I know it's heavy. But we've got to understand 00:35:00.119 --> 00:35:02.440 how it is that we've been saved because it affects 00:35:02.440 --> 00:35:06.519 all of our walk with Christ. So it starts with 00:35:06.519 --> 00:35:08.539 election, right? Before the foundation of the 00:35:08.539 --> 00:35:11.880 world, according to Ephesians 1. God elects. 00:35:13.099 --> 00:35:16.099 Sinners to be saved. Then comes the universal 00:35:16.099 --> 00:35:19.000 gospel call. The good news about Jesus goes to 00:35:19.000 --> 00:35:21.599 the ends of the earth. We share it with everybody 00:35:21.599 --> 00:35:25.000 we can possibly talk to because we don't know 00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:27.019 who they elect are. So we share it with everybody 00:35:27.019 --> 00:35:29.960 and we pray for everybody. We send out missionaries. 00:35:30.019 --> 00:35:32.460 We do all of that. But then comes what we call 00:35:32.460 --> 00:35:36.519 the effectual gospel call. The effectual gospel 00:35:36.519 --> 00:35:38.739 call. By the way, I put a box around these because 00:35:38.739 --> 00:35:40.639 I think it was Adam who pointed it out last time. 00:35:41.260 --> 00:35:43.940 It looks like this is a long process, but those 00:35:43.940 --> 00:35:48.159 five things right there happen together. This 00:35:48.159 --> 00:35:50.900 is just the logical order that Scripture gives 00:35:50.900 --> 00:35:53.280 us as to how we're saved, but those five things 00:35:53.280 --> 00:35:56.719 all happen at once. The effectual gospel call. 00:35:56.820 --> 00:35:59.340 This is what we read in John 6 about God drawing 00:35:59.340 --> 00:36:03.960 us. It's an effectual drawing to God the Father 00:36:03.960 --> 00:36:07.099 by way of the Son. Then we have regeneration. 00:36:08.679 --> 00:36:11.260 Okay, this is what we've just been talking about. 00:36:11.340 --> 00:36:14.199 The washing away of our sins, the bringing us 00:36:14.199 --> 00:36:18.639 to life. We were dead and now we're alive. Giving 00:36:18.639 --> 00:36:21.579 us a new nature. Changing our affection so that 00:36:21.579 --> 00:36:24.460 now we can turn to God and love him and worship 00:36:24.460 --> 00:36:29.699 him and ask him to save us. We need to be changed 00:36:29.699 --> 00:36:32.639 before we can do that. And that's the regeneration 00:36:32.639 --> 00:36:36.860 of the heart. Then comes our part in this. which 00:36:36.860 --> 00:36:38.960 is all a gift from God, and that is conversion. 00:36:39.119 --> 00:36:42.440 In time and space, because the Spirit breathed 00:36:42.440 --> 00:36:45.840 new life into us, because the Spirit took away 00:36:45.840 --> 00:36:47.840 the veil from our eyes so that we could see, 00:36:48.000 --> 00:36:51.300 yes, now we repent and we believe and we trust 00:36:51.300 --> 00:36:53.840 in Christ. And that is a real decision that we 00:36:53.840 --> 00:36:57.119 make in time and space. It is a real decision, 00:36:57.239 --> 00:36:59.139 but that decision came about because of what 00:36:59.139 --> 00:37:02.800 God did in the heart. Does that make sense? We're 00:37:02.800 --> 00:37:04.619 like Lydia. You know the story of Lydia in Acts 00:37:04.619 --> 00:37:08.079 16? It's such a cool picture because Paul comes 00:37:08.079 --> 00:37:11.199 to Philippi and preaches the word, and it says 00:37:11.199 --> 00:37:13.300 at first Lydia was listening but not believing. 00:37:13.599 --> 00:37:16.980 Until what? It says until the Lord opened her 00:37:16.980 --> 00:37:19.800 heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. 00:37:20.960 --> 00:37:22.980 That's what she needed. That's what we needed 00:37:22.980 --> 00:37:26.039 before we could be saved. So in that moment, 00:37:26.099 --> 00:37:28.400 we put our trust in Christ and we commit to following 00:37:28.400 --> 00:37:31.139 him as Savior and Lord and to walk in all the 00:37:31.139 --> 00:37:33.179 good works that he's prepared for us to walk 00:37:33.179 --> 00:37:37.280 in. What a beautiful thing. And then instantly 00:37:37.280 --> 00:37:39.340 we're justified. That's the next step. We are 00:37:39.340 --> 00:37:42.260 declared to be pure in God's sight. Think about 00:37:42.260 --> 00:37:46.239 this. It's a forensic or legal declaration that 00:37:46.239 --> 00:37:50.239 right now, if you've trusted in Christ, you are 00:37:50.239 --> 00:37:55.019 seen as pure. God sees you through his son. Pure, 00:37:55.019 --> 00:37:57.699 because the righteousness of Christ has been 00:37:57.699 --> 00:38:03.739 reckoned to your account. Right? Justification. 00:38:03.760 --> 00:38:06.139 By the way, that shows up in verse 7 of our text, 00:38:06.179 --> 00:38:08.900 right? And then the next step, we're adopted 00:38:08.900 --> 00:38:11.619 as children of God. This happens instantly, right? 00:38:11.719 --> 00:38:14.940 We are made heirs. We have this great inheritance 00:38:14.940 --> 00:38:17.139 that we will have someday in the heavenly places. 00:38:18.079 --> 00:38:19.760 And then we had those last three things which 00:38:19.760 --> 00:38:22.980 happened between that moment that we're converted 00:38:22.980 --> 00:38:25.599 and until we pass away from this physical life. 00:38:25.659 --> 00:38:28.739 Three things. Sanctification. That's our growing 00:38:28.739 --> 00:38:31.860 and maturing in the faith as the Holy Spirit 00:38:31.860 --> 00:38:35.440 produces good works in us, as he produces in 00:38:35.440 --> 00:38:37.440 us all of these things that we read about in 00:38:37.440 --> 00:38:40.199 Galatians 5. And then we have perseverance. And 00:38:40.199 --> 00:38:42.900 this is this beautiful, beautiful doctrine of 00:38:42.900 --> 00:38:46.619 assurance that tells us that we cannot slip out 00:38:46.619 --> 00:38:50.880 of God's hands. If he has marked us out for salvation 00:38:50.880 --> 00:38:53.639 before the world was made, if he has saved us 00:38:53.639 --> 00:38:58.280 in time and space, if he has promised us that 00:38:58.280 --> 00:39:00.659 we are adopted as his son or daughter, we're 00:39:00.659 --> 00:39:04.440 not going to slip out of his hand. In John 6, 00:39:04.679 --> 00:39:07.219 we count on this promise. Jesus says, all that 00:39:07.219 --> 00:39:10.900 the Father gives to me will come to me. Hear 00:39:10.900 --> 00:39:12.840 the sovereignty in that. All that the Father 00:39:12.840 --> 00:39:15.559 gives to me will come to me, and the one who 00:39:15.559 --> 00:39:19.199 comes to me I will certainly not cast out. This 00:39:19.199 --> 00:39:21.420 is the will of him who sent me, that all that 00:39:21.420 --> 00:39:23.980 has been given to me, I will raise them up on 00:39:23.980 --> 00:39:27.360 the last day. There's no ambiguity. There's no 00:39:27.360 --> 00:39:29.860 room for, well, maybe this person will slip out, 00:39:29.900 --> 00:39:32.679 or maybe that one will. In the process of sanctification, 00:39:32.980 --> 00:39:37.579 we persevere to our final breath, and then based 00:39:37.579 --> 00:39:40.090 on God's promise, we are glorified. where we 00:39:40.090 --> 00:39:41.949 will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. 00:39:44.210 --> 00:39:49.769 Now, look at that list again. Can you see why 00:39:49.769 --> 00:39:51.409 the scriptures say that we're saved by grace 00:39:51.409 --> 00:39:55.070 alone and not by our works? Because that's all 00:39:55.070 --> 00:39:59.050 God's work. All of it. This is why he deserves 00:39:59.050 --> 00:40:01.769 the praise. This is why we have no reason to 00:40:01.769 --> 00:40:05.110 boast. Which of those things did we produce? 00:40:05.289 --> 00:40:07.349 Which of those things did we generate by our 00:40:07.349 --> 00:40:12.329 own strength? None of it. We were as active in 00:40:12.329 --> 00:40:14.409 being born again as we were the first time we 00:40:14.409 --> 00:40:17.289 were born. How many of you guys have taken credit 00:40:17.289 --> 00:40:22.030 for your first birth? It's silly, right? We laugh, 00:40:22.030 --> 00:40:23.949 we chuckle. It's the same thing with our rebirth. 00:40:24.329 --> 00:40:27.869 Not active at all. We don't exercise our free 00:40:27.869 --> 00:40:31.289 will to be born again any more than Lazarus executed 00:40:31.289 --> 00:40:34.690 his free will to come out of the grave. He was 00:40:34.690 --> 00:40:38.710 dead. But Jesus called him out. That's given 00:40:38.710 --> 00:40:41.750 to us as a beautiful metaphor for what happens 00:40:41.750 --> 00:40:44.530 to us in being born again. We're in the grave. 00:40:44.630 --> 00:40:48.130 We're wrapped in all the grave clothes. It's 00:40:48.130 --> 00:40:51.670 the voice of Jesus that calls us to life. Make 00:40:51.670 --> 00:40:55.010 sense? Because life is the work of God alone. 00:40:55.210 --> 00:40:57.710 New life is the work of God alone. Resurrection 00:40:57.710 --> 00:41:01.449 life is a work of God alone. And listen, I could 00:41:01.449 --> 00:41:04.250 spend... We could spend another hour walking 00:41:04.250 --> 00:41:06.150 through all the passages that teach this, but 00:41:06.150 --> 00:41:09.110 I'll give you a couple quick ones. James 1, and 00:41:09.110 --> 00:41:12.190 the exercise of his will, not ours, his will, 00:41:12.329 --> 00:41:15.809 he brought us forth by the word of truth so that 00:41:15.809 --> 00:41:18.590 we would be a kinder first fruits among his creatures. 00:41:20.389 --> 00:41:22.869 1 Peter 1, blessed be the God and Father of our 00:41:22.869 --> 00:41:24.869 Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great 00:41:24.869 --> 00:41:26.869 mercy, there's that word again, according to 00:41:26.869 --> 00:41:31.429 his mercy, caused us to be born again. Not us, 00:41:31.570 --> 00:41:34.429 he caused it. He caused us to be born again to 00:41:34.429 --> 00:41:38.750 a living hope. Ephesians 2, this is the most 00:41:38.750 --> 00:41:41.250 obvious one. Even when we were dead in our transgressions, 00:41:41.250 --> 00:41:44.889 God made us alive. He made us alive. We didn't 00:41:44.889 --> 00:41:46.989 turn to him and say, God, can you help me over 00:41:46.989 --> 00:41:50.179 here? I want to be alive. We were dead. He made 00:41:50.179 --> 00:41:53.579 us alive together with Christ by grace, not by 00:41:53.579 --> 00:41:55.840 works, by grace you've been saved. And then lastly, 00:41:56.019 --> 00:41:59.659 John 1, as many as received him, to them he gave 00:41:59.659 --> 00:42:02.039 the right to become children of God who were 00:42:02.039 --> 00:42:05.739 born not of blood, it's not a blood thing, nor 00:42:05.739 --> 00:42:07.960 of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of 00:42:07.960 --> 00:42:11.159 man. Had nothing to do with our will, but born 00:42:11.159 --> 00:42:15.239 of God. Over and over again, we read this stuff, 00:42:15.280 --> 00:42:17.920 you guys. So any willing on our part, including 00:42:17.920 --> 00:42:20.500 faith itself, is not the cause of our new birth. 00:42:20.659 --> 00:42:24.440 It's the result of our new birth. Does that make 00:42:24.440 --> 00:42:28.980 sense? As Ezekiel prophesied, our hearts are 00:42:28.980 --> 00:42:31.440 made of stone when we're dead. We need to have 00:42:31.440 --> 00:42:34.400 a beating heart of flesh, one that comes alive, 00:42:34.579 --> 00:42:37.199 and only God can perform that kind of surgery. 00:42:38.250 --> 00:42:40.610 When a person is on a hospital gurney dead from 00:42:40.610 --> 00:42:43.150 a heart attack, he doesn't sit up on his own 00:42:43.150 --> 00:42:44.829 and say, hey, could you hand me those paddles 00:42:44.829 --> 00:42:49.530 so I can shock myself back to life? That would 00:42:49.530 --> 00:42:53.650 be ridiculous. But that's basically what we say 00:42:53.650 --> 00:42:55.510 when we think that we can make ourselves alive 00:42:55.510 --> 00:42:58.269 and turn to God. Give me those paddles. I'll 00:42:58.269 --> 00:43:02.670 do this. How could it be possible for someone 00:43:02.670 --> 00:43:05.090 who is dead to do any kind of cooperating with 00:43:05.090 --> 00:43:09.099 God? Going back to the story of Pelagius and 00:43:09.099 --> 00:43:12.159 Augustine and John Cassian. So was Adam's sin 00:43:12.159 --> 00:43:17.400 just his own? Was mankind just damaged by the 00:43:17.400 --> 00:43:20.000 fall? Or was the sin of Adam passed along to 00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:22.739 every one of us, thoroughly corrupting our nature 00:43:22.739 --> 00:43:26.320 and causing us to be guilty before God? We have 00:43:26.320 --> 00:43:29.019 to answer that question, you guys, if we really 00:43:29.019 --> 00:43:30.900 want to understand what God has done for us. 00:43:31.320 --> 00:43:33.280 And we have to answer it not based on what we 00:43:33.280 --> 00:43:35.719 want it to say or based on what makes us feel 00:43:35.719 --> 00:43:38.480 good about ourselves, but what divine truth says 00:43:38.480 --> 00:43:41.880 in the word. Now, today you're not going to meet 00:43:41.880 --> 00:43:45.300 anybody that says, well, I'm a Pelagian. But 00:43:45.300 --> 00:43:47.579 you will meet some people who are semi -Pelagian, 00:43:47.619 --> 00:43:49.420 whether they know it or not. And I'm going to 00:43:49.420 --> 00:43:51.400 give you a test for this, okay? If you really 00:43:51.400 --> 00:43:53.159 want to test if somebody, a friend of yours, 00:43:53.239 --> 00:43:57.900 is Augustinian or is semi -Pelagian, give them 00:43:57.900 --> 00:44:00.440 this scenario. Think about this now. There's 00:44:00.440 --> 00:44:03.800 a man who is drowning in the ocean. He is without 00:44:03.800 --> 00:44:05.820 hope. There's nothing in sight. He is drowning 00:44:05.820 --> 00:44:09.139 in the ocean. And then suddenly he hears the 00:44:09.139 --> 00:44:12.190 rotor blades of a helicopter. Right? And suddenly 00:44:12.190 --> 00:44:14.889 he has hope. And he begins to wave his arms frantically 00:44:14.889 --> 00:44:17.909 at this helicopter. And the pilot looks down 00:44:17.909 --> 00:44:20.690 and miracle of miracles sees him in the water. 00:44:20.769 --> 00:44:22.829 And he brings the helicopter over and he hovers 00:44:22.829 --> 00:44:25.510 overhead and he lets down a life -saving basket. 00:44:25.690 --> 00:44:28.170 And this man who was dead just a moment ago, 00:44:28.269 --> 00:44:31.530 he swims to the basket and he climbs in and he's 00:44:31.530 --> 00:44:35.650 pulled to safety. Is that biblical salvation? 00:44:39.469 --> 00:44:41.510 You could say that, well, he had no hope, that 00:44:41.510 --> 00:44:44.409 he was saved because of the pilot, but that is 00:44:44.409 --> 00:44:48.070 still semi -Pelagianism. Because the salvation 00:44:48.070 --> 00:44:52.289 was a cooperative effort. Right? He waved his 00:44:52.289 --> 00:44:55.389 arms. He waved the guy down. He swam to the boat. 00:44:56.469 --> 00:45:00.289 It's still semi -Pelagianism. And that man would 00:45:00.289 --> 00:45:02.429 be able to boast, at least partially, in his 00:45:02.429 --> 00:45:06.190 salvation. I did those things. I made it happen. 00:45:07.980 --> 00:45:10.280 Now, let me adjust the scenario to what Paul 00:45:10.280 --> 00:45:13.320 says and what Augustine said and what the Reformers 00:45:13.320 --> 00:45:17.179 taught. That man in the water is already drowned. 00:45:18.099 --> 00:45:22.860 He's dead at the bottom of the ocean. He's dead. 00:45:24.260 --> 00:45:28.579 So that helicopter could fly around. He's never 00:45:28.579 --> 00:45:31.179 going to be seen. There's no reason to drop a 00:45:31.179 --> 00:45:33.000 basket to him because he wouldn't be able to 00:45:33.000 --> 00:45:36.750 swim to it. That's the true picture that we have 00:45:36.750 --> 00:45:39.409 in Scripture. What that man needs is more than 00:45:39.409 --> 00:45:42.269 just help. He needs to be brought to the surface. 00:45:42.329 --> 00:45:45.469 He needs to be raised from the dead in order 00:45:45.469 --> 00:45:49.849 to be saved, just like Lazarus. No power or ability 00:45:49.849 --> 00:45:52.750 to save himself. He would need somebody to come 00:45:52.750 --> 00:45:55.010 in and take those paddles and apply it to his 00:45:55.010 --> 00:45:57.670 heart and shock his heart back to beating again. 00:45:59.469 --> 00:46:03.019 That's the biblical picture. Friends, like it 00:46:03.019 --> 00:46:05.099 or not, that is the picture we have. But we have 00:46:05.099 --> 00:46:08.239 to know this, because that's the picture of salvation, 00:46:08.440 --> 00:46:12.500 that's precisely why we say God is so good. That 00:46:12.500 --> 00:46:15.539 is precisely why we worship him as we do, because 00:46:15.539 --> 00:46:17.420 we don't have the ability to save ourselves. 00:46:17.579 --> 00:46:20.659 Because of God's great mercy, we worship as we 00:46:20.659 --> 00:46:23.760 do. Does that make sense? Otherwise, we'd boast. 00:46:25.099 --> 00:46:27.219 We'd at least partially boast in the fact that 00:46:27.219 --> 00:46:32.239 we saved ourselves. Okay. Was that heavy enough? 00:46:34.760 --> 00:46:36.139 Tanya made fun of me last night. She's like, 00:46:36.239 --> 00:46:37.559 oh, you're doing this on Father's Day, are you? 00:46:38.099 --> 00:46:41.500 I'm like, I don't line up the passages. They 00:46:41.500 --> 00:46:43.840 just come, and we have to deal with them. So 00:46:43.840 --> 00:46:46.400 I'm just going to wrap up by just barely touching 00:46:46.400 --> 00:46:48.340 on this other great statement in verse 5, the 00:46:48.340 --> 00:46:50.820 renewing by the Holy Spirit, because that does 00:46:50.820 --> 00:46:53.239 go hand in hand with regeneration. This will 00:46:53.239 --> 00:46:56.179 be very fast. The Greek noun there for renewing 00:46:56.179 --> 00:46:59.260 is another very unusual word that's used only 00:46:59.260 --> 00:47:02.199 twice in the New Testament. It's used here in 00:47:02.199 --> 00:47:05.119 Titus 3 and in this famous verse, Romans 12, 00:47:05.199 --> 00:47:07.519 2, where we're told, don't be conformed to the 00:47:07.519 --> 00:47:10.380 world, but be transformed by the renewing of 00:47:10.380 --> 00:47:15.159 our minds. Renewing. This is a word that speaks 00:47:15.159 --> 00:47:18.860 to a complete and total renovation or overhaul 00:47:18.860 --> 00:47:22.800 of one's disposition and heart. And that's what 00:47:22.800 --> 00:47:25.539 takes place within the believer when we are cleansed 00:47:25.539 --> 00:47:30.340 from sin and born again. a total overhaul or 00:47:30.340 --> 00:47:33.800 renovation of our disposition and heart. It's 00:47:33.800 --> 00:47:36.000 a radical change that's initiated by God the 00:47:36.000 --> 00:47:40.780 Father as He infuses us within with the Holy 00:47:40.780 --> 00:47:44.239 Spirit. So these things go together. Spiritually 00:47:44.239 --> 00:47:47.199 cleansed, born again, infusion of the Holy Spirit, 00:47:47.280 --> 00:47:51.079 and a renewing of who we are in every way, and 00:47:51.079 --> 00:47:53.780 a whole new worldview, a whole new way of living. 00:47:54.760 --> 00:47:57.340 And because God has done that work, guys, nothing 00:47:57.340 --> 00:48:00.559 can ever be the same. We cannot be the same because 00:48:00.559 --> 00:48:03.719 we've been radically transformed by what Paul 00:48:03.719 --> 00:48:06.480 says to Titus here. The washing of regeneration, 00:48:06.880 --> 00:48:10.980 the renewing of the Holy Spirit. And this is, 00:48:11.059 --> 00:48:13.519 look, we talk in our covenant here at Oak Hill 00:48:13.519 --> 00:48:16.739 about holding each other accountable. Is our 00:48:16.739 --> 00:48:20.300 life changed? Have we been radically transformed? 00:48:21.260 --> 00:48:24.019 Is the Spirit within us producing spiritual fruit? 00:48:24.139 --> 00:48:26.880 These are questions to ask of ourselves but also 00:48:26.880 --> 00:48:28.920 of one another because we care for each other. 00:48:29.380 --> 00:48:32.219 But this is what it should look like to be washed 00:48:32.219 --> 00:48:34.679 by regeneration and renewed by the Holy Spirit. 00:48:35.179 --> 00:48:38.599 It's a total change. And going back to where 00:48:38.599 --> 00:48:41.219 we started by using this word, Paul wants us 00:48:41.219 --> 00:48:44.559 to see once again, see the big picture here. 00:48:44.679 --> 00:48:48.280 Being born again as an individual in this moment 00:48:48.280 --> 00:48:52.420 that we live is... participation in the inauguration 00:48:52.420 --> 00:48:56.320 of the final eschatological renewal. You and 00:48:56.320 --> 00:48:59.239 I, we saw it in the James 1 passage. We are the 00:48:59.239 --> 00:49:02.840 first fruits of this age to come. So from this 00:49:02.840 --> 00:49:04.659 point forward, when you guys think about your 00:49:04.659 --> 00:49:07.400 new birth, I want you to think all you've received 00:49:07.400 --> 00:49:09.579 right now is the first installment of something 00:49:09.579 --> 00:49:13.199 much greater to come. It's just the first installment. 00:49:13.260 --> 00:49:16.199 Your ultimate reward is someday to have a perfected 00:49:16.199 --> 00:49:21.019 body. Amen. and a completely renewed soul that 00:49:21.019 --> 00:49:23.840 lives forever in a fully perfected environment 00:49:23.840 --> 00:49:26.440 where we praise Jesus and glorify the Father 00:49:26.440 --> 00:49:29.539 forever and ever. We've only experienced the 00:49:29.539 --> 00:49:31.460 first installment of that. The fullness is still 00:49:31.460 --> 00:49:34.400 to come. So when you stop to consider what God 00:49:34.400 --> 00:49:36.900 has done for you, you ready? Chosen you, drawn 00:49:36.900 --> 00:49:39.619 you, cleansed you from sin, brought you to life, 00:49:39.780 --> 00:49:42.820 justified you, adopted you, and is now in the 00:49:42.820 --> 00:49:45.460 process of sanctifying, when you think about 00:49:45.460 --> 00:49:47.969 these things, friends, I want you to start thinking 00:49:47.969 --> 00:49:52.489 big, thinking very big, thinking eschatological, 00:49:52.809 --> 00:49:55.230 thinking about the beauty of what's to come because 00:49:55.230 --> 00:49:58.070 you are loved by a great God and a great Savior. 00:49:58.849 --> 00:50:02.869 Amen? Regeneration. If you have questions, let 00:50:02.869 --> 00:50:11.070 me know. Let's pray together. Father, thank you 00:50:11.070 --> 00:50:14.610 for the challenge of this passage and how beautiful 00:50:14.610 --> 00:50:18.679 it is, Lord. The way you have worked through 00:50:18.679 --> 00:50:21.360 Paul and writing to Titus and laying out these 00:50:21.360 --> 00:50:25.440 massive themes, Lord, that speak to this great 00:50:25.440 --> 00:50:28.179 work that you've done in our lives. Lord, we're 00:50:28.179 --> 00:50:30.199 overwhelmed by it, and it's still a mystery to 00:50:30.199 --> 00:50:32.480 us because we are stuck down here in these bodies, 00:50:32.559 --> 00:50:34.820 in this world that has fallen and disordered. 00:50:35.059 --> 00:50:37.239 So, Lord, I pray that you will help us to cut 00:50:37.239 --> 00:50:40.119 through the fog and begin to understand more 00:50:40.119 --> 00:50:42.699 how it is that you have saved us and that that 00:50:42.699 --> 00:50:45.489 would drive us to worship. That would drive us 00:50:45.489 --> 00:50:48.769 to change lives, to drive us to serve you and 00:50:48.769 --> 00:50:51.409 serve your children more and more, Lord. That 00:50:51.409 --> 00:50:54.150 we wouldn't just sit in the pews here this morning 00:50:54.150 --> 00:50:56.769 and think, oh, that's nice. That's nice that 00:50:56.769 --> 00:50:59.309 God did that. No, that we would be challenged 00:50:59.309 --> 00:51:04.690 and excited and moved to new life. and that you 00:51:04.690 --> 00:51:06.449 would bring that about by the power of your spirit. 00:51:06.530 --> 00:51:09.150 Lord, thank you for this time that we've had 00:51:09.150 --> 00:51:11.769 together. Thank you for your word. I pray now 00:51:11.769 --> 00:51:14.590 that we'll respond well as we sing praises to 00:51:14.590 --> 00:51:16.829 you because you're worthy of it. We praise you 00:51:16.829 --> 00:51:18.510 now in the name of Jesus, and everybody said, 00:51:18.650 --> 00:51:19.710 amen.