We’re in a series on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. We’ve entitled this series The Helper because that’s who the Holy Spirit is. How fun to think about this third Person of the one triune God. He is a person in the Godhead who often is neglected or confused, related to what the Scriptures teach about Him and about His ministry. Today we’re going to talk about His ministry of giving new life, and we’ve just had three amazing testimonies of this very work.

3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 8 The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people.

What a good news we have!

I see by the clock on the wall that I have less time than I normally have, and I see these really generous faces just saying, “Just don’t stop! Just keep going. We don’t need lunch today.” (Laughter!) So you can pray that the Lord will allow me to give you a shortened version of what was in the first service, but nonetheless, I pray that it will have power in our lives.

Today we open up our Bibles to Titus 3 to learn more about the Holy Spirit, and specifically the Holy Spirit’s work of regeneration. Apart from the help of the Spirit to bring life, we would not know life. Regeneration is the work of the Holy Spirit in placing the life of God in the soul of a person. This new life changes everything for us. It changes our relationship with God. It changes our relationship with others who share that life as well. As we walk through this passage together, there is one main idea that I want for us to grasp. That is that we each need new life from the Spirit and only the Spirit can give that life to us.

So as we look at this big word, regeneration, some theological words are not that important for us to know or think about. This word is really important. I say that because it is a word that the Holy Spirit chose to include in His Book, in God’s Book. Any word is not sort of haphazard. It’s not something that is superficial and can be tossed aside. There are no words in God’s Book that are so churchy, that we say, “That’s churchy language. I don’t need to know what those words mean.” Every word is given for us to meditate upon, to feast upon, to dwell upon, to grab hold of so that our soul will be alive and healthy toward God. Regeneration is one of those words. So we’re going to begin first by considering

The Meaning of Regeneration

What does this word mean? As we begin to think about this vital subject of regeneration, I’m going to cut into the heart of these verses and then work around to dissect it toward its other vital members.

4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy,

Salvation is completely of the Lord. It is a complete work of God’s mercy. It’s not as a result of our righteousness. Not in the slightest! It is a work of God in His mercy and in His grace upon our soul. Then he goes on to speak of the agency. He says

by the washing of

You might circle or underline these two words in your Bibles.

regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,

Then in speaking of the Holy Spirit, Paul, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit says

6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,

If we are in Christ, the Holy Spirit has been poured out upon each one of us richly. There is no one that has special access to the Holy Spirit while others are left sort of destitute. If we are in Christ, we all have the Holy Spirit poured out upon us richly in good measure.

Regeneration and renewal are two separate works of God’s Spirit, but they are two related works of God’s Spirit. That’s why they appear here side by side. Regeneration is the giving of the life of God into the soul of a person. So the life of God which is from above comes down and is placed into the soul of a person so that person now is a spiritually alive soul. That is regeneration. Renewal is the strengthening of the life of God in the soul of a person. So regeneration is that initial gifting, imparting of that life. Then renewal is that continual strengthening of that life.

Regeneration is a one time work of the Holy Spirit. A person is not regenerated last week and then regenerated again this week and then a year later, regenerated again. If the Spirit grants life through Jesus Christ and our faith in Him, then that life perseveres. It remains upon a person; one time regenerated, one time reception of this life. However, that life needs constant renewal. While we live in this world with our old nature still operative, there is a fight. There is a struggle that we have to continue to feed and to strengthen that life that is granted to us by the means of grace that God has provided through the Holy Spirit.

There are so many Scriptures that help us understand what regeneration is. I just want to set three in front of you this morning. The first is John 3. The apostle John tells us about a conversation that Jesus has with a very popular biblical scholar. He is a Pharisee, but he is a main teacher and a lot of people have benefited from his Bible teaching ministry. This man, Nicodemus, comes to Jesus at night. Let’s just pick up the story from John 3.

John 3:2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”

So Nicodemus, I believe, is very authentic and he’s very sincere. He has a soft heart toward Christ. That’s why he wants to talk to Jesus. He wants to have a deep conversation with Jesus when he says these things. “We know you’re a teacher from God.” I think he’s been impressed by the teaching of Jesus that indeed, He’s not just like every other teacher, but He is from God. Jesus does miracles. He doesn’t doubt that at all. He is rather impressed by the miracles Jesus has accomplished already.

John 3:3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Consider who Jesus is speaking to. He’s speaking to a very moral, very biblically informed, very ministry-committed person. He was the kind of person you’d want to have as your neighbor. He’s authentic. He’s not a hypocrite, saying one thing and doing another. He understands and knows the Law. He teaches the Law and he tries his best to live by it. Among people, he is probably one of the best of the best. But right out of the gate, after receiving this compliment, “We know you’re a teacher from God. We know your miracles are really impressive and they’re from God,” Jesus says, “

John 3:3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

He’s speaking to Nicodemus. He’s saying, “Nicodemus, you have a need and I’m going to cut straight to the point in this conversation, to your need. You need new life from above.” Nicodemus is a bit bewildered by this. He receives it, but he is bewildered.

John 3:4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old?

I don’t think he is so much confused between the physical and the spiritual, but he’s asking a physical question in order to gain clarity on the spiritual.

John 3:4-5 …Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly,
That’s four “truly’s.” Do you notice that? Whenever Jesus says “truly” four times, you probably should take notice of it. Everything Jesus says is true, but when He says “truly, truly,” He’s kind of taking Nicodemus by the robe and kind of shaking him a bit. He’s saying, “Nicodemus, you really need to pay attention because this is the most important thing in life for you to know. A lot of the messages and a lot of things you’ve learned through your study of the Bible are good and they’re important, but truly, truly, truly, truly, listen up because this makes the difference of eternity for you, of being included in the people of God and the blessing of heaven and the blessing of a relationship with God or being set aside forever from experiencing God and all of His blessings.” Truly, truly

John 3:5 …I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

The Holy Spirit’s working in the soul of a person is mysterious. We cannot completely understand regeneration because it’s a supernatural work. Jesus uses this analogy between physical birth to help us understand spiritual birth. In physical conception and birth, we can understand something about it. We can describe parts of the process, but we really don’t comprehend the most important parts. There is a limit to our knowledge even in the physical conception of life itself. You see, man still cannot produce physical life out of nothing. And I believe man never will be able to do that, regardless of how far science advances, because only God can do that. God is the author of life.

By the way, as an aside, anyone who refuses to acknowledge God cannot understand physical life or spiritual life. There is something inside of us that knows we have purpose and knows that we have meaning. But a person who fails to acknowledge God sees only mechanical processes involved, with no transcendence. So they speak of physical life in the womb yet as sort of a group of cells, something that is not real. That’s just the blindness of a person who doesn’t acknowledge God because God is the author of life, both physical and spiritual. Spiritually, the gift of life in the soul is a reality that can only be explained by the working of the Holy Spirit. Jesus even talks about that later in that passage with Nicodemus. He says

John 3:8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

In other words, physically, we can know something of the wind, but all those processes involved, we just experience it. We understand it when the wind blows in our face, but we don’t completely comprehend it. There is a mysterious aspect to it.

The second passage that I want to point us to is a passage that Eric expressed in his testimony. It’s Ezekiel 36

Ezekiel 36:25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.

Here, there is a promise of justification. So that’s another big theological word, but a really important word for us to understand. It’s the declaration of righteousness upon a person who is guilty of unrighteousness. It’s the forgiveness of sins. It’s the removal of the guilt of sin and the presentation of acceptability, of righteousness toward one who has not earned that standing. So he says here’s what is going to happen. “I’m going to remove the guilt of your sins. I’m going to sprinkle clean water on you.” That’s justification. But then he says

Ezekiel 36:26 And I will give you a new heart,

That’s the doctrine of regeneration. You see, it’s not enough for us to have our sins removed, because what happens if our sins are removed? The mechanism inside of us, our own human heart that produces sin and still continues to pump out sin, keeps us from being fit for heaven. So God not only must forgive us in order to save us and rescue us, He also must regenerate us and ultimately sanctify us and ultimately even glorify us, or else there is no hope. So God’s salvation is whole and he talks about forgiveness and sprinkling clean and then he talks about this new heart. There is going to be a new life. That’s how God describes this through Ezekiel.

Ezekiel 36:26-27 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

What he’s saying there is this heart of stone that is resistant to God, that pushes God away, is going to be changed so that this new heart is receptive and submissive and soft toward God and toward His will and submission to His Word.

The last passage is 2 Corinthians 5:17.

2 Corinthians 5:17-18 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God,

It’s a description of regeneration. Everything old passes away and the new comes. What’s new? Well, everything becomes new because everything related to our spirit, everything related to our life with God.

So before we move on to our need for regeneration, I want to ask you some questions and they are the most important questions. They are kind of the “truly, truly” questions that flow out of Jesus’ words to Nicodemus. The first question is have you been born again? The second question from Ezekiel 36 is has your heart of stone been removed, cut out, and has God given you a heart of flesh that is responsive to Him, that loves Him, that is submissive to Him, that rejoices in Him? The third question from 2 Corinthians is has the old in your life passed away and everything has become new? We’ve had three testimonies that answer those questions with yes, yes, and yes. Nearly every one of them had a point in their life where they said, “I thought so, but no. I was part of an environment of faith, but I still had a heart of stone. I still wasn’t born again. I still didn’t have everything made new.”

So I want to ask you before you leave here to think about this question because this is what the work of the Spirit does. He offers this life. It’s not something we can manufacture. We can’t go out here and say, “Okay, I’m going to be born again.” We can’t go out here and say, “I’m going to have a heart of flesh, now. That’s just the way I’m going to do it.” We can’t go out and say, “Everything is going to be new. I’m going to make it so.” We can’t do that. We don’t have access to that work. It is the work of the Holy Spirit that is granted to those who humbly get on their knees and ask Him, “God, do a work in my heart. I can’t change my heart, but you can. I need you to do a work. On the basis of what Jesus Christ has accomplished for me, I believe that you will grant me this life.”

The Need for Regeneration

Why do you need it?

3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.

This is a description of the former life, the heart of stone life, the life we had when we were born into the world. For every one of us, it’s a description of our natural self, a self that is without God, a self that is without spiritual life. Does anyone doubt this description’s accuracy, that this is true of every natural person’s heart? If you spend any time on social media reading posts you will quickly see the truth of Titus 3:3. You know, you read this 2,000 year old description and then read the mass of modern posts or read comments after every news story, and it’s depressing. But this description is right there. Look at these words and think through it because I think we all have read some of those posts. We’ve all read those comments. Look at these words.

3 …foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice

We were just looking at each other in a way that we were looking for someone to bite.

and envy,

“That person has something I don’t have, and they shouldn’t.”

hated by others and hating one another.

I know that some people with life in the Spirit post on social media. Bless you! I’m not opposed to that. That’s great! Be light. Be salt. But I have to tell you, I stay off because it’s just too discouraging and it’s also too alluring. If I read too much, I find myself getting drawn into this old life and I don’t want that. I don’t need that kind of temptation. Paul would say in Ephesians

Ephesians 2:1-3 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Here’s the truth. Each of us desperately needs new life. We need regeneration. If God would grant us life in the Spirit, He must first awaken us to our need.

Do you know why so many are unmoved when they hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ, when they hear the story of the cross, the story of the resurrection? Do you know why so many roll their eyes when they hear Jesus proclaimed in a public sphere? Do you know why that is? Because they don’t think they need a Savior. They don’t think they have any disease that needs mended. They think they’re fine. They think “if there is a heaven, I’m surely not bad enough to not be allowed in. Surely I’m okay, right?” So when they hear the Jesus talk or the Gospel, “Wait a minute! I don’t have a problem, so I don’t need that solution.” The first work of the Holy Spirit in our life is a work of conviction. It’s to recognize that I need new life. If I don’t have new life, I am lost now and I am lost forever.

The Agency of Regeneration

5 …by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,

The Holy Spirit is the agent that brings regeneration and renewal. God gives new life to us through the ministry of His Spirit. We have no access to this life apart from the Spirit of God. Jesus says in

John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all.

So whatever we enjoy as children of God, we enjoy only because of the agency of the working of God’s Holy Spirit. It is through the Spirit that we have assurance of a future inheritance. It is through the Spirit we have confidence of a freedom from guilt and experience of peace with God. It’s through the Spirit that we pray and call out to God in real ways, “Daddy, Father, Abba.” It is through the Spirit that fears do not enslave us. It is through the Spirit that temptations don’t rule over us. It is through the Spirit that we become members of Jesus’ church, members of a body that is far more significant than any of us are individually. We are included in God’s family, among God’s people, with purpose to live for the glory of God. It is through the Holy Spirit that we persevere through hardship and trials. It is through the Spirit that we face death itself and every other enemy of God, with hope. It is through the Spirit that we become conformed to the very likeness of Jesus. Whatever we enjoy as the result of being children of God, we owe to the working of the Holy Spirit. Can we hear an ‘Amen’ to that? (Amen!)
The agency is the Holy Spirit. It’s not our doing. It’s not rituals. It’s not certain and specific prayers and that we pray the right way. It is not a certain community and that if we just get a part of the right kind of people. It is not certain special practices and that if we just do these practices. None of that! It is not by works of righteousness. It is by the washing of the regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom God in His rich generosity pours out upon us through Jesus Christ. Praise God that we have access to the Spirit. But let us know we only have access through the Holy Spirit.

The Transformation of Regeneration

What do we expect to happen?

7 so that being justified by his grace

That is being declared righteous by grace, not by works.

we might become heirs

This is those who inherit all the treasure that Christ inherits as an obedient Son.

we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 8 The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things,

Remember, he’s talking to a pastor. He says, “Insist on it with your congregation. Don’t let them forget these things. Because if they forget these things, they’ll lose sight of what’s important. They’ll lose sight of what’s valuable. They’ll lose sight of what’s real and true. Insist on these things. Just press this doctrine and press its application hard into your people’s hearts.” That’s what he is telling Titus.

so that those who have believed in God

Those who have received regeneration, those who have received renewal by the Holy Spirit

may be careful to devote themselves to good works.

You see, we do not devote ourselves to good works in order to be regenerated or to be renewed. It’s by grace that we’re regenerated through the Spirit. It’s by grace we’re renewed through the Holy Spirit. It’s because we have new life and it’s because this life is being strengthened day by day, that God says, “Now participate with me. It’s a gift. It’s a stewardship. This life is by grace. Now participate in the life that I have given you. Do something with that life. Devote yourselves to my glory. This is profitable. It is fruitful. It is purposeful. It is meaningful. It will infuse joy into your life. Insist on these things.” New life in Christ always changes the way we live. If we see no real changes in our relationship to sin and in our relationship with God, we are right to question whether or not we have been given new life by the Spirit.
Last week I was able to hold my fourth grandchild for the first time. He’s two months old. We went out to Colorado. My wife is still there for a few more days. What do you expect to see when you hold a two month old baby? Well, almost everybody here could answer that question. You can expect to see that little two month old wiggle. If he’s not swaddled, his arms and legs and head are going to move. You expect to see him open his eyes sometimes and maybe start to look at you and then a lot of times, close his eyes. You can expect him to coo. You can expect him to cry. You can expect him to get hungry. You can expect him also to eat. You can expect him to do what happens after he eats. (Laughter!) You can expect his skin to be warm to the touch. One thing I didn’t think of, you can expect him to hiccup. He’s going to do that.

What would happen if Kimberly and I went out there to see little Jack for the first time and instead of being warm, he is cold and he is blue? Instead of breathing, we don’t hear any breath. Instead of moving arms and legs, he is just still. Instead of cooing and crying, there is silence. Instead of eating, there is no appetite and there are no diapers ever to change the entire week we were there. What would we conclude? We would have this awful, terrible sense that this baby is not alive. Because where there is life, there is evidence. There is movement. When a person has life in the Spirit, there is movement of life, always. I know it varies in degree like it does with people. In certain diseases, that life might be very slow and minimal, but there is movement. There is evidence. So it is with the transformation.

What if someone confesses Jesus and is baptized? What do you expect to see in that person’s life? Well, we would expect there to be movement toward God. We would expect there to be hunger, spiritual hunger that is satisfied by the milk of the Word. We would expect there to be joyful expressions in worship. We would expect there to be love for brothers and sisters. We would expect there to be crying out to the Father in prayer that is very authentic, and not sort of stiff and formal. We would expect there to be thanksgiving and there to be a willingness and desire to follow Jesus. We would expect changes in affections, changes in the will, changes of the mind. What would we conclude if there were no changes in any of these areas? We would have to conclude, I don’t think there is life. So I want you to ask yourself, do you have evidence of life?

You see, the Holy Spirit makes life possible. The impossible is possible because the Holy Spirit is God, who does miracles. Many think of life in the Spirit as maybe some kind of emotional experience. It may be that, but it is not that. In other words, it may include that, but it is not that. Life in the Spirit is a complete transformation. It’s a transformation of heart. It’s a transformation of everything. It is not merely an emotional event, it is a revolution.

So I would ask you, do you have life in the Spirit? Do you experience evidences of the Spirit’s granting you life? Do you wish for something more? Do you think something is missing? It is possible to have that feeling of something is missing because you have regeneration but you have not experienced renewal for a long, long time. You have life, it’s just gone very, very dormant because you’ve shut off the Holy Spirit from bringing the renewal that He would have to make in your life every day. A renewal that is wrought by a complete yielding, saying, “Lord, whatever you say, that’s what I want to do and I’m just depending upon your Spirit to make that happen.” It’s also possible that you say, “Something is missing,” because you never have experienced regeneration. The answer to that is to call out to God and say, “God, I want the life that you offer through the Spirit. I need it! I need it desperately! I’m calling out in humble faith, believing you would grant it to me as I would ask.”

May God bring about such life of the Spirit in your soul that Jesus shines through you! And may God grant such life of a gathered community like this at Bethany that together as we gather, there would be joy in Christ and then as we leave, there would be a witness to our world because this world is dead. It is dark. It is dusty, and we have the message. It’s a message of Jesus, who died in our place and rose again. It’s a message that the Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit and offers the Holy Spirit and life through His working, to everyone who would believe on Jesus. What a great message of good news!