♪ My God's wondrous grace through me has been made known ♪ ♪ For I am worthy as I am being made before his own ♪ ♪ I have known him, I have believed him ♪ ♪ And I've persuaded that he is able ♪ Keep that which I have made, for unto death I'll gasp at day. O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord! I have believed Him, and I'm persuaded that He is able to give that which I've committed unto Him against that day. The Spirit moves from death, sin and all sin, Revealing Jesus through the Word, Creating faith within. ♪ To whom I have believed and am persuaded ♪ ♪ That he is able to keep that which I forbid him ♪ ♪ Unto him I give standing ♪ First line, that's not the first line. ♪ I know of when my Lord came to me ♪ If I shall pass the veil of death or meet Him in the air, We're turning to Titus chapter number 3. Titus chapter 3 and we'll read from the opening verse. Titus chapter 3, verse number 1 of the chapter. Titus 3 verse 1. Paul by inspiration is giving instruction to Titus here, he said, with respect to the congregation and the congregations in Crete. And he says here, 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, but gentle, showing all meekness unto all men. For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers' lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But after the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he has shared in us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, being justified by his grace. We should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying. And these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which believe in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men. We'll end our reading there. A brief reading today at the end of verse eight. And with the word of God open, let's unite just in prayer, please. Let's pray. Our loving Father, our gracious God, we come before Thee, the Saviour's precious name. We thank Thee that today we are before Thy word. We rejoice in, O God, today that, Father, we're found in the house of God, where the word of God is opened. We thank Thee for the scriptures of truth. Lord, we pray that truth will take a hold of our souls, that we might know benefit and profit as we sit under the word today. Grant, dear God, Thy hand to be upon us. May we know the unfilling, the unctionizing of the Spirit of God. Grant, dear God, help and liberty. Oh, may the sinner's heart be opened by the Spirit of God. May the Holy Spirit be about His work, ministering in hearts and in lives, we pray, as we give ourselves to Thee. Come, meet with us, meet with our souls. May Thy good hand be upon us, for we pray these, our prayers, in and through Jesus, precious in the Holy Name. Amen and amen. We are always peering into a mystery when we consider any work of God. That is certainly true when we come to consider the work of God the Holy Spirit in redemption. For who of us could fully understand or even explain the workings of the Spirit of God within the soul as He begins to apply redemption, a redemption that was accomplished and secured by Jesus Christ in His living and is dying for us. Is it not true that the Holy Spirit's role in salvation is often a role that is most overlooked and underappreciated? While God the Father's sovereignty and his mercy and his righteousness is exalted, while God the Son's love and ultimate sacrifice on the cross is extolled, God the Holy Spirit's invaluable work is hardly even acknowledged by some even within the professing church. However, his work is integral. His work is indispensable when it comes to the salvation of the sinner. And we find that to be true over the last two weeks as we have thought about the two calls that there are in the gospel. Because while the sinner hears the outward call, that general call of the gospel many times, it's not until that sinner hears that inner call the effectual call issued by the Spirit of God in the gospel that the sinner is brought into saving union with Jesus Christ. Today we want to think about another aspect of the Holy Spirit's work in this application of redemption that runs, I believe, parallel to the effectual call that comes in the gospel. A few weeks ago in our gospel service, we thought about the sinner We took the sinner to the operating theater and we examined on that operating theater and found to be true the words of Isaiah chapter 1 when the prophet under inspiration said that the whole head is sick. And as we thought about the different compartments, the different bodily parts, the different members of the head, we came to consider the sinner's ear. And if you can remember a few weeks ago, we said that the sinner's ear is deaf to the voice of God, deaf to the voice of the gospel, deaf to the voice of conscience, even deaf to the voice of the wrong. And so what should be an automatic question in your mind is this, how can a deaf sinner, and I speak in spiritual terms, how can a sinner that has been deafened by sin, how can they hear the effectual call? How can they, who are deaf, hear and respond to the gospel? Well, the simple answer to that is that God, the Holy Spirit, regenerates the heart. And one of the results of that regeneration is that the sinner's ears are opened to hear the gospel. and their hearts are changed, their wells are realigned, and they are enabled to embrace Jesus Christ as he is offered to the sinner in the gospel. It is this mysterious work of regeneration that we want to think about today as we consider the Holy Spirit and regeneration. We are simply trying to understand what is it, what is it that God the Holy Spirit does in a sinner's life that enables them to believe? the gospel. If they are hostile to the gospel, if they are in indemnity with God, there's something that must happen. What exactly happens? What exactly does God do to make the general call of the gospel become the effectual call of the gospel? Well, as I've said, the simple answer to that is that God regenerates the sinner's heart. It is only the sinner who has been regenerated. They are enabled to hear and respond to the effectual call of the gospel. Now, in order that we might understand what is meant by regeneration, we want to simply define our terms. And that's all I want to do today. A message with one point is not an amazing thing. Just one point. There are sub-points, so don't be getting too excited. But we're really simply thinking today about what God does. in regeneration and we need to understand what is meant by this term regeneration and we need to understand it because the term regeneration means different things to different people. In the times of the Reformation, the term regeneration was a broad term. It really incorporated everything with respect to salvation. When the Reformers spoke about regeneration, they were speaking about the entire spectrum of all that happens within a sinner's life, from the propriety work of the Spirit of God, as he convicts the sinner, to the effectual call, to regeneration, to conversion, to sanctification, and ultimately, to glorification. The Reformers took this term, regeneration, in a very broad sense. However, in more modern times, those of the Reformed faith have looked at this term, regeneration, in a much narrower sense. denoting the imparting of spiritual life to the sinner. And by looking at it in that particular way, they exclude the preparatory work of the conviction of sin and the concluding work of sanctification. And as I've said, this is the way that most men in reformed circles look today at regeneration. We want to define this term today. We want to do so in two ways. I want to define it theologically, and we'll do that quickly and briefly. Then we want to spend a little time, a little more time defining it scripturally and see how it is presented to us within the Word of God. So let me first of all give you a theological definition of regeneration. Now don't be falling asleep. We need our minds to be exercised, brethren and sisters. We're not to be lazy when we come to God's house. Trust that you gave yourself enough sleep last night that you would be alert in the house of God today, able to understand the things of God, praying before you came to God's house that he would, by his Spirit, illuminate your heart and give you an understanding to the things of God. We must not be spiritual sloths. We must have hearts prepared. And so let me encourage you to be awake and to listen to the word of God. Now I've mentioned a number of occasions now that answer in the shorter catechism that we find to the question, what is effectual calling? Effectual calling is a work of God's spirit, whereby convincing us of sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ and renewing our wills. He doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered to us in the gospel. As I stated, the Westminster defines, they took the term effectual calling to really speak of salvation. They brought everything into that very term. From the conviction of sin, the enlightening of the mind, the renewing of the will, the receiving of Christ by faith as he is offered to man in the gospel. But there is a statement, I believe, that speaks specifically of this work of regeneration within that statement of effectual calling. And it is that statement renewing our wells. Because that's what regeneration is. It is the renewing of the well. In regeneration, the well. Now what is the well? It's the seat of man's affection. That well is renewed. For that to happen, spiritually speaking, the sinner must be brought from death to life. And that's really what regeneration is. It is a divine act. I want you to underline that. It's a divine act. This is not an act of man. This is not something that a preacher can do. This is certainly not something that you as a sinner can do. This is a divine act. This is a work, an act of God's Holy Spirit, whereby the sinner who is dead in their sin is brought to new life in Jesus Christ. I want to quote a few men. You can take any of the definitions. The simplest, I suppose, And think of it as you think of what other men have said what regeneration is. Dr. Alan Cairns defined regeneration in this very simple way. He said, regeneration deals with the beginning of new life in the believer. Charles Hodge spoke of regeneration as the instantaneous change from spiritual life or from spiritual death to spiritual life. He said that regeneration is a spiritual resurrection, the beginning of a new life. Mr. Pink said, regeneration consists in a radical change of heart, for there is implanted a new disposition, a new direction as the foundation of all holy exercises, the mind being renovated, the affections elevated. The will emancipated from the bondage of sin. Another Reformed preacher said, regeneration is the divine work of God, the Holy Spirit upon the mind and the souls of fallen people by which the spirit quickens those who are spiritually dead and makes them spiritually alive. B.B. Warfield wrote, Concerning regeneration, it denotes exclusively God's act of quickening, which is the first divine act whereby God translates us from death onto life, from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear son. In regeneration, he said, God comes to one born in iniquity and dead in trespasses and sins and plants the principle of a new spiritual life within the soul, hence he is born of God. One final man, Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones. He said this about regeneration. He said, it is the implanting of new life in the soul. It is the act of God by which a principle of new life is implanted in a man or woman with the result that the governing disposition, the governing direction of the soul is made holy. Now lest we be confused, he went on to say regeneration is not a kind of injection or infusion of an actual physical substance into us. It is not anything physical, but rather it is a spiritual change. You may be confused. But don't forget my introductory remark. Whenever God comes, or whenever we're peering into the things of God, they will always be to us a mystery. That is certainly true when we come to consider the work of God the Holy Spirit in regeneration. This is a mystery. The God of heaven imparting out of his good grace life into the soul, the dead and soul. of some sinner. You see, from all of what these men have said, we see that regeneration is a work of grace. And it begins with the implanting of new life within. This is regeneration. Now you may be asking, Preacher, what's the fuss about finding and knowing and defining regeneration theologically? Why would we need to do that today? Why such a depth today with respect to this meeting? I just want something nice to be heard in the house of God. I don't want to be exercising my mind. Why is it so important that we define regeneration theologically? Well, it matters because there are erroneous teachings. There is false teaching about regeneration that must be refuted by the Bible-believing Christian. And brethren, sisters, that refuting can only be done if we actually understand ourselves what it is. What we're referring to when we speak about regeneration. I'll give you two examples of false teaching on this matter of regeneration. You see, there are those and they hold to the heresy of baptismal regeneration. They hold to the heresy of baptismal regeneration. Baptismal regeneration, they say, teaches that the new birth is conveyed to a person by the waters of baptism. In other words, when a child is baptized, they become a new creature in Jesus Christ. They have been regenerated. They have become a son or a daughter of God. But Bible does not teach Bible does not teach that a child is regenerated by the application of water. Such finds no basis within the scriptures and therefore must be rejected. There is no one in this denomination who holds to baptismal regeneration. Every minister believes that a child or an adult is born again by the Spirit of God and certainly not by the application of water, whether it is a child that is baptized or a professing Christian is baptized in believer's baptism. We do not hold to the heresy of baptismal regeneration, but there is a church and they do hold. to this heresy and it's called the Roman Catholic Church. Let me quote from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Holy baptism, they said, is the basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the spirit and the door which gives access to the other sacraments. They continue, through baptism, we are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God. We become members of Christ, are incorporated into the church, and made sharers in her mission. Baptism is the sacrament of regeneration through water in the world. The Catholic Church teaches that a person is freed from sin and reborn as a son or daughter of God at their baptism. But what saith the scripture? The scripture tells us that a person is freed from their sin and reborn as a son or a daughter of God when they repent of their sin and they believe in Christ alone for salvation. John 1 verse 12, But as many as receive him, to them give he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in his name. He does not speak about being baptized. He speaks about faith. He speaks about believing. And through that we are made a son, we are made a daughter of God. And so we reject the heresy, the error of baptismal regeneration. But there is another heresy that's doing the rounds today. We could term it in this way, decisional regeneration. Decisional regeneration. This can happen. when a person is counseled, maybe having been enrolled in some alpha-like course, or even in a church inquiry room. At the end of the whole process, they're asked a list of questions, and if they give their assent to those questions, and if they answer in the right way, and if they then pray a prescribed prayer, then they're pronounced by the minister, by the pastor that they have been saved or they have been regenerated. Now don't get me wrong, there is a part that we do play. There is a part when we come to conversion, the exercising of faith. That's only possible because of what happens in regeneration. There is the repenting of sin, the exercising of faith. So don't get me wrong with respect to that. But when it comes to the matter of regeneration, it's nearly as if it's dependent upon the individual that they decide when their heart is regenerated. That is not the case. Regeneration must never be reduced to a procedure which a man or a woman performs. This is a divine act of Almighty God. This creation of new life within the soul, this is something that God and God alone does. Charles Hodge remarked, no more soul-destroying doctrine could well be devised than the doctrine that sinners can regenerate themselves and repent and believe just when they please. Of course, we cannot. We cannot come to Christ unless the heart has been regenerated. And so it's not, as it were, ascribing at the end of some God finding exercise. We come to the end of it, and there's the last page of the book. Do you believe this? Do you believe this? Do you believe this? Yes, I believe these things. And then the individual says, pray this prayer. And as they've prayed the prayer, then they are able to say, now you're a Christian. Now your heart has been regenerated. That is not what happens, brethren and sisters. This is a miracle. This is God giving life to the dead. This is resurrection, a spiritual resurrection. It takes a miracle on the part of God to bring you out of your sin and on to saving faith in Jesus Christ. I trust such a miracle has taken place. And so we need to know. what regeneration actually is. God imparting new life into the dead soul of the sinner. Because if we don't understand what regeneration is, then we may err on this very important doctrine. It is a work of God, a divine act, God creating life within the dead and soul. But let me move on and speak and give to you a scriptural definition of regeneration. Now the word regeneration, it appears only twice in the scriptures. It appears in Matthew chapter 19 verse 28. And here in Titus chapter 3 in the verse number 5. However, it is only Titus 3 verse 5 that refers to what we're thinking about today. The beginning of new life within the soul. The previous term in Matthew chapter 19, it's speaking about the new heavens and the new earth, I believe. The regeneration that will happen when Christ will appear. But we're really focusing on a single text. When we're thinking about regeneration, it's the only time that it's really speaking about this implanting, this imparting of new life within the soul. There, it's taking it all out of our hands. This salvation. This biblical salvation, it takes it out of man's hands, not of works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy. There it's bringing us to the very source of it all. God's mercy, God in mercy. God in mercy has saved me. God in grace has saved me, not because of what I did, not because of some prayer that I prayed, no, rather it was God in his mercy. He saved us, how? By the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. Those two terms need to be taken together, lest you believe that this would be a proof text for baptismal regeneration. This is not speaking about a person being washed and having their sins washed away in water in their baptism. No, rather this is speaking about the Holy Spirit applying the blood of Christ, regenerating the heart, renewing the will, the Holy Spirit. It's all found there. Note verse 7, that being justified by baptism. It doesn't say that. It says, being justified by grace. This is a work of grace. We should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. The only washing that accomplishes a man or woman, a boy or girl salvation is the washing of our sins in the blood of Jesus Christ. What can wash away your sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. No waters of baptism. can cleanse your sin away. The only agent is the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Now look at that term, regeneration. It means rebirth. It means a recreation. The Greek expert, Thayer, and I'm no Greek expert, he states that the word before us here in the verse number five is a word that was often used to denote the restoration of a thing into its pristine state. You find that maybe you see it happening, maybe some individual you take a clock into, maybe it hasn't been working, you take it into a clockmaker, And what do they do? They take it apart. They make sure all the inner workings of it are cleaned and oiled and greased. Put it all together, putting the shine back on it. And you come in to see the finished object and you're amazed. This is what it was when it was first purchased. This is what it was when it was brand new. Something has happened. There has been a regeneration. There has been a recreation. There has been a rebirth. Something wonderful has happened. And folks, that's what happens in regeneration. There is a rebirth. There is a recreation. There is a restoring. There is the renewal of a person from a dead and spiritual state into a state of spiritual life. I tell you what happens in regeneration. This is what happens. It is the reversing of all that has happened at the fall. And so that communion and union that mankind loses, Because of the fall, that is all restored to them again. Man now is in fellowship with a heart renewed. Man is now in communion with God. Man is in union with God. The one who is born again through Christ and by the Spirit of God is restored into communion and union with God. The one who was before spiritually dead is now made spiritually alive. There is a recreation. And let me remind you that in the first creation, the physical creation, God makes everything out of nothing. And so it is in salvation. There is nothing that God takes in your heart and works upon when it comes to salvation. He has to create new life within. It is not that there's a spark of life within you as the Arminian would teach. And God, as it were, just blows upon it and works upon that little spark, and that comes aflame, and then that individual is brought to new life in Jesus Christ. No, no, what God does in salvation is as miraculous as what He did in the physical creation. He brings life out of death, working on nothing there. nothing but corruption and death and sin, and yet he creates something out of nothing. What a miracle, a miracle of God's grace. Now as I've said, though the word regeneration is not presented, only as it is twice within scripture, there are other biblical terms. The inspired pen, I know of Holy Scripture, do use to speak about the vital work of God and regeneration within the soul of man. We want to give a little time to the considering of them. The first term that we want to think about is that Bible writers, they speak of regeneration in terms of a begetting. There is a begetting. Such a term is used when the inspired writer is speaking about the new birth. You've heard that statement. John the Apostle, it's a favorite term of his. He loves using it to speak about what happens in salvation. He speaks about a person being born again. And he uses it within his gospel and within his epistle. Turn to John chapter three, and as you turn to John three, I'll turn to John chapter one. You can turn there if you so desire. But John chapter one, The verse number 12, we've already quoted this verse, but as many as receive him, to them give he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. There is a birth, there is a begetting. There is the bringing of that individual to life. John chapter 1 but the most familiar chapter is John chapter 3 Nicodemus before the Savior here let's read from the verse 5 Jesus answered verily verily I say unto you the Except a man be born of water and off the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but thou canst tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth. So is every one that is born of the spirit. John, 1 John 5 verse 18, we know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not, but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. There is the begetting, the birthing, and this is the same thought, this regeneration. J.C. Ryle remarked the saving work of God within his people is likened on to a birth because it is the gateway into a new world. The beginning of an entirely new experience. And also because as a natural birth is an issuing from a place of darkness and confinement, the womb, into a state of light and liberty, so the experience of the soul when the spirit quickens us. We're brought out of darkness. We're brought out of bondage, out of confinement, and we're brought into the light of the glorious gospel, into the liberty of the glorious gospel, as God regenerates the soul. Now you think about a birth, you'll often hear the question, whenever a child is born, who's it like? Is it like mum? Is it like dad, or he or she? I suppose I shouldn't be calling a child it. But I suppose a child often bears a likeness to its parent. And in regeneration, as termed as a divine begetting, it is done so because the image or the likeness of the begetter, and who is the begetter? God. That likeness is conveyed and it's stamped upon the soul. You remember in Genesis chapter 5 verse 3, we read the words concerning the first Adam. It says that he begat a son in his own likeness after his image. Well, if that be so with the first Adam, so it is with the last. Because the Lord Jesus Christ, he begats us in the gospel. There's a bringing forth of us in the gospel. And he brings forth people in his own likeness and after his own image. He conveys to his offspring his very nature. We become partakers of the divine nature. His image is stamped upon us as we are born again of the Spirit of God, Romans 8, 29. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Now the question that you need to ask yourself, The question that I need to ask myself is, are we those who bear his image? Is there any likeness of Jesus Christ in how I act and how I react to people and to circumstances in my life? Is there anything of Jesus Christ in me? Do I bear his image? I'm aware that in the work of sanctification there is the conforming of the believer more and more into the image of God's Son. But do you bear any likeness to him? That's the question. Is there any semblance between you and Christ? and love, and joy, and peace, and long-suffering, and gentleness, and meekness, and long-suffering, and temperance, and all of the things that we've been thinking about within our prayer. I mean, is there any stamp of the divine image upon your very life today? C. H. Spurgeon said, the Christian should be a walking image of Jesus Christ. Thomas Brooks said something similar. He said, a Christian's life should be nothing but a visible representation of Jesus Christ. Is that you? Do people look at you? Do people look at me? And they say, there is a Christian. There is a person who has been begotten of God. They bear his image. They're like their heavenly father. I see their Father in them, their spiritual Father I'm speaking of. Do people say that about you? Do people say that about me? As the ungodly world looks sceptically on at how we live and what we do and where we go, do they see Jesus Christ in our works and our deeds? Because, brethren and sisters, we ought to be exhibiting in our lives the character and the life of Jesus Christ. We should be holy as He is holy. We should be at peace with God as He was at peace with His heavenly Father. We should be like our Savior, that when elders look on at us, they instantaneously recognize the features of God the Father. Have you been begotten of God? Is there any likeness to Jesus Christ in your life? And so we have the term, a begetting. Secondly, we have the thought of a creating. The thought of the production of new life within the soul is expressed, I believe, in the words of Ephesians chapter 2 and the verse number 10. Ephesians 2 verse 10 tells us, for we are his workmanship, We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus onto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Brethren and sisters in regeneration, something of God is created within the soul. And that makes the person a new creation, an entirely new creature. God working in. The life of God coming in. The creating of new life. Pushing out that which is dead. And therefore the person becomes a new creature. We read of that. 2 Corinthians 5, 17. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. All things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. Now how can we discern whether a person has been regenerated or not? How can we discern that? Well, can I say that we cannot do it by looking into the heart? No man can look into another person's heart. Nobody can see whether the disposition, the direction of the will has been changed. But though we cannot look into the heart, we can look at the life. We can examine the fruit, we can look at the works, and by that discern whether or not a person is being made a new creature in Jesus Christ. I tell you that if that person, if they walk as they walked before, and if they talk as they talked before, and as they do their deeds as they did before, there needs to be a great searching of heart to whether a genuine saving work has been wrought within the soul. You need to search your heart. If you're talking and walking and doing as you did before some profession of faith, I tell you, you need to understand that when God enters the soul, something radical, something transformational happens. The whole will is changed. The whole desire is changed. You see, whenever a sinner is regenerated by the Spirit of God, then old feelings, old habits, old tastes, Old hopes, old joys, old sorrows, old haunts, old companionships are all gone. And they are replaced by new feelings, and new habits, and new tastes, and new hopes, and new joys, and new companionships, and new desires, because old things pass away, and old things become new. This is biblical regeneration. This is what happens, brethren and sisters. And I fear that there are people in this congregation and you have never been regenerated. You have never been saved. Your life testifies to it. Your life testifies to it. I tell you, whenever you're made a new creature in Jesus Christ, things change. I want you to forget about what you have professed sometime in the past. Let me ask you, have you been made a new creature in Jesus Christ? Has something of God been created within your soul? And has the evidence of that new creation outworked itself within your life? Can you say that the thing of truth that I once sought the things of the world, but now because of the necessity of a new nature within me, I now desire the things that are above. Whereas I once loved my sin, preacher, now I hate my sin. And holiness and godliness and obedience has become supremely attractive to me. When a man, a woman, a boy or girl, a teenager becomes a new creature, the Bible becomes a new book. Prayer becomes a new exercise. And fellowship with the saints becomes a new employment. Now I admit that the transition for some may be at times indiscernible, especially if it be a child that comes to saving faith in Jesus Christ. It may be very gradual, you may have been a person who has lived a morally upright life before you profess faith in Jesus Christ, and maybe at times you wonder, has my heart been truly regenerated or not? But if you examine your tastes and your desires and your general state of mind, and compare the present with the past, then you'll be able to discern whether or not there has been a change wrought by the Spirit of God. If you cannot discern a change, If you haven't been made a new creature in Jesus Christ, get before God, seek him for salvation, and do not rest until you are made a new creature in Jesus Christ. I don't care what you profess. Your life, your life as it presently is, I tell you, there is very little evidence that you are a regenerate person. Very little evidence. And you certainly don't want to go into eternity being unregenerate. The Bible also uses the term quickening. as it speaks of regeneration. John 6, verse 63. It is the spirit that quickeneth. Stay in Ephesians 2. We'll give you a verse there. It is the spirit that quickeneth the flesh prophet of nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit in their life. Ephesians 2, look at verse 5. Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace are you saved. Colossians 2, 13. And you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses." That term, quicken, it simply means to make alive. And it's used by Paul and John to speak of what happens in regeneration when the dead and sinner is made alive unto God. And did you notice in John 6, verse 63, whom Jesus Christ attributes that quickening to. He attributes the quickening to the Spirit. It is the Spirit that quickeneth. It's the Holy Ghost that does it. You see, the third person of the Holy Trinity, in Romans 8, verse 2, is described as the Spirit of life. And it is Him and His work that brings a dead sinner to life again. When the Holy Spirit regenerates the sinner, I repeat it for emphasis sake, to get it into our minds, that sinner is taken out of a spiritual state of death and is brought into a state of spiritual life. And so the truly converted soul is a living soul. They have been quickened from a death of sin and they've been brought to life, a life of righteousness. This quickening, is well illustrated for us in the Old Testament. This thought of the quickening from death to life. It's illustrated for us in that great chapter, Ezekiel chapter 37. You'll know that Ezekiel the prophet is taken into the valley full of bones in that chapter by the Spirit of God. Very dry bones, that's how it's spoken of. Now many use this as an example of revival. Well, I believe that this chapter mainly speaks about regeneration. It is the regenerating is first and foremost pictured for us here, the regenerating of the soul. We'll not get into debate about that. But you know what happens, don't you? He preaches. The prophet, prophesy. That's what God asks him to do. Prophesy to dry bones. That's what God asks me to do every week. Prophesy upon these bones and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. How could they hear? Well, you understand what happens. The bone comes to the bone. The tibula and the fibula, whatever they're called, they all come together. And then their bodies, they're covered with flesh. And then they're covered with sinew. And then eventually they're covered with skin. But I want you to notice in Ezekiel 37, the verse number eight, what we're told. And behold, let's read verse eight. And when I beheld, though the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them above, but there was no breath in them. No breath whatsoever. What was required was that the wind would blow. Verse nine and 10, then he said unto me, prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, thus saith the Lord, come upon the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet an exceeding great army. Now you know and I know, that the wind in Scripture is a type, is a picture of the Holy Spirit. And as the Holy Spirit moves in this valley, they live. They live. And so it is in salvation. Sinners who are dead in trespasses and sins are quickened. They are made alive by the Holy Spirit. Yes, sinners have ears, they have eyes, but they cannot see. But as the Spirit moves, life enters. and the change is wrought, they're quickened. So as I close, let me ask you, have you passed from death to life? Do you feel the life of God within you, pulsating within your soul? Are you living to Christ, for Christ, like Christ? With the expectation that someday you're going to be with Christ, have you been quickened, made alive? I tell you when you're made alive to God, you'll want to know more of Him. You'll want to pray, you'll want to read the Word, you'll want to serve Him, you'll want to witness for Him because you've been made alive. If you haven't been made alive, may God regenerate this, that heart of yours this very moment. And for those who are here who have been made alive, and yet there are others within your family circle that are unsaved. Maybe you sit here in despair over their disinterest in the gospel. Let me encourage you with the truth that whenever the wind of God blows, And the Spirit of God is about His quickening business. Their deadened souls will live. And so therefore, let your cry be like Ezekiel's. Come, Holy Spirit, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, and my family, that they may live. All may we live to the glory of God. having been brought out of the grave of our sin. In regeneration, God imparts new life. As the life of God in you, you'll know whether it is or not by the fruit that you bear in your professed Christian life. Made by his spirit, he breathes upon you. and impart life to you to this very day. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Let's pray. Can I say that this message has been, I trust, informative, but I also trust that it has been evangelistic. And so if you sit here today and you say, preacher, I do not think that I am a regenerate person. I don't believe that this has happened in my life. Well, I'm here to help you this afternoon as much as I'm here in the gospel to help. You seek counsel. Make sure you're saved. Make sure the life of God has been in you, make sure you've been quickened, you've been recreated, make sure you've been begotten of God, and there is something of the image of God stamped upon that soul of yours. You don't want to go into eternity without knowing that. May God in his mercy bring you to Christ, our loving Father, our gracious God in heaven, all that sinners may be begotten of thee, brought to the birth, the new birth, This is a mysterious work, the imparting of life that I cannot do. If I could, dear God, I would. But this is thy work. Oh, impart life. Oh, Spirit of God, oh breath, come and breathe upon these slain that they may live. Answer prayer. Glorify the Christ. Save the lost. and help us to live with the life of God pulsating through our very beings. Help us to live to the glory of the King. For we offer these, our prayers, in and through our Savior's precious name. Amen and amen. Thank you.