Transcript

Some years ago, a boy named Jimmy, who grew up on an Indiana farm, fell into the sordid world of drugs. He moved to Chicago and lived in holes beneath the streets where he feasted on an endless supply of heroin, opium, cocaine, and morphine.

His nickname became “Jimmy the Rat.” One day while lying in a filthy bunk below the level of the street, Jimmy heard someone singing hymns on the street above. He recalled the songs he’d sung in church as a boy and something stirred in him.

Shortly afterward, he staggered into the Pacific Garden Mission, where he heard more singing. Holding up both hands, he called out, “I want somebody to pray for me!”

Mission workers gathered around and earnestly prayed as he trusted Christ, and Jimmy’s life was changed forever. By God’s grace he was able to overcome his addictions. He returned to Indiana and became a successful farmer with a Christian wife and children.

He often shared his testimony of God’s saving grace, and as his children would pray during their family prayers, “Thank God for Pacific Garden Mission where daddy learned to know Jesus.”

Every believer has a unique testimony. Yours may not seem as dramatic as Jimmy the Rat’s, but it’s just as real and just as glorious. Every believer in Christ is Exhibit A to the world of the transforming power of the gospel and the grace of God.

As this man experienced the glory of the new birth, in this episode we’ll look at the Holy Spirit’s work of regeneration.

In Colossians 1:10, the Apostle Paul prayed for the church at Colosse “That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.”

That’s what we are doing with this series about the Holy Spirit, increasing in the knowledge of God. As your knowledge and understanding of God increases your love for Him grows. And God’s Word challenges us to love the Lord our God with our all heart, soul, and mind. And learning how the Godhead works makes you love Him more.

How the Godhead works is that the Spirit has this quiet, powerful behind the scenes work, where He works by His Word and in our hearts and He faithfully points us to Christ.

And as we learn to trust Christ more, live for Him, worship Him, and become more like God’s Son, this in turn results in God the Father being honored and glorified.

In the salvation of a soul, in their regeneration, the Spirit works quietly and convicts the heart of the sinner of their sins and their need of the Savior. He points them to Christ.

And when they trust Christ alone as the perfect provision for their sins and that He rose again, they are given new life and are gloriously saved. This in turn, glorifies, honors and gives praise to God the Father. How the Godhead works is a beautiful thing.

Titus 3:5: “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.”

What characterizes mankind in his natural state is death. Speaking our physical death, Hebrews 9:27 states that “It is appointed unto men once to die.” All mankind is under the sentence of this death.

Then speaking of spiritual death, Ephesians 2:1 and 4:18 tell us that we are “dead in trespasses and sins” and “alienated from the life of God.”

If nothing is done to change the situation, man is headed for the judgment of the second death of the lake of fire. Revelation 20:14-15 reads, “This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

All mankind needs spiritual, eternal life. And in John 10:10, Christ said, “I am come that they might have life.”

If man is to have spiritual life it must be given to him from a source outside of himself. And the work of God in imparting eternal life through belief in the gospel is called regeneration.

Regeneration is necessary because of the fallen state of all mankind being dead in their sins. Every person born into the world needs regeneration, because every person born into the world is born in Adam with its dead, fallen, sin nature.

But regeneration by the Holy Spirit is God meeting mankind’s need for spiritual life and imparting it when one believes the gospel.

In our justification, Christ’s righteousness is imputed to our account. In regeneration, the Holy Spirit imparts eternal life to those who trust Christ.

The term “regeneration” is translated from the Greek word, palingenesias, which means new birth, renewal, recreation. It means to be born again and to receive new life. And only God can do that. Regeneration is solely a work of God.

In regeneration, the Holy Spirit imparts a new and immortal life in the believer. You can see the word “genesis” in the Greek word, palingenesias.

To be born again is to experience a second genesis. It is a new beginning as a result of once being dead in your sins, to now having eternal life and being alive in Christ.

In regeneration that which is dead is made alive. It’s like what the father of the prodigal son said when his son returned home, “For this my son was dead, and is alive again” (Luke 15:24).

Regeneration is not a correction or improvement of my mind, will, emotions, or nature. It is a brand new thing, a new beginning. Before Christ, we didn’t have eternal life; after trusting Christ now we do, and we have it forever.

Regeneration by the Holy Spirit is a complete change, changed from being spiritually dead in Adam to now being spiritually alive in Christ.

As 1 Corinthians 15:22 says, “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”

And regeneration takes place as a result of what Titus 3:5 teaches: “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us.”

Self-regeneration is impossible. It’s not by works of righteousness that we may do believing that by them we will inherit eternal life. No possible human effort can give us eternal life. Being religious doesn’t result in our regeneration. No one can be regenerated by doing good works.

Instead it’s according to His mercy that we receive the gift of eternal life and experience regeneration. Regeneration gives God all the glory. He does it all for us.

To receive regeneration we need to have the attitude of the publican that the Lord spoke of in Luke 18: “And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.”

We experience God’s regeneration by His mercy. We receive it by faith alone, trusting that Christ paid our sin debt for us, that He died for us and rose again. We cannot earn it by works of righteousness. It is a gift of grace.

Regeneration is an instantaneous act and not a process. The moment we trust the Christ died for our sins and rose again, we are regenerated and are given new life.
Paul referred to it as the “washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost.”

Washing does not refer to the physical rite of water baptism. That is a work of righteousness. And Paul says we are born again “not by works of righteousness which we have done.” Paul wrote that it is by God’s mercy, “He saved us.”

And washing has to do with something God does for us by His grace at the moment of salvation. It’s speaking of a spiritual reality.

“Washing” here means “bathed all over.” Just like when you take a bath and are bathed all over and clean, when a sinner trusts Christ as their Savior, he is cleansed from all his sins, and he is renewed by the Holy Spirit and is a brand new person in Christ.

With the new birth, or our regeneration, comes the washing away of sin. Like 1 Corinthians 6:11 says, “but ye are WASHED, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”

Regeneration brings divine cleansing from sin. Being in our sins, we are dead spiritually. Being washed, the sin that caused our spiritual death and separation from God, is washed and removed forever.

We are washed and cleansed and the washing of regeneration gives us the gift of a new, Spirit-generated, Spirit-empowered, and Spirit-protected life, a spiritual, abiding, eternal life that that can never be taken away from us. This is the new birth.

The “washing of regeneration” reminds me of the old hymn, “Are you washed in the blood?” “Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

“Are you washed in the blood, In the soul-cleansing blood of the Lamb? Are your garments spotless are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?”

We once were dirty, defiled, and dead in our sins, but by the washing of regeneration, our sins are washed away by the blood of Christ and we have new life and are born again into the family of God.

Paul wrote in Titus 3:5 that we have the new birth and renewing, by “the Holy Ghost.”

There are three “R’s” in salvation, “Ruin by sin, Redemption by Christ, and Regeneration by the Holy Spirit.”

The Holy Spirit is the Agent of our regeneration and renewing. Regeneration is a specific work and operation of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit brings life to those who believe. The gift of new life is imparted to the soul through the Holy Spirit. And it is a one-time act of the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation.

We can’t cleanse ourselves and we can’t give life to ourselves. The washing of regeneration and renewing is all “of the Holy Spirit” by His kindness, love, and mercy.

Regeneration is also creative in its nature. In regeneration, the Spirit creates the gift of a new nature in each believer, and as a result, we become a new creation in Christ.

As 2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature [new creation]: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

The Holy Spirit is to the believer what the Creator is to the creation. Without God the Creator, the world does not come into existence.

Without God as the sustainer, it does not continue in its present state. It is God who created it and God who sustains it, and so it is with the Holy Spirit and the believer.

Without the Holy Spirit, we do not come into existence as a new creation and we are not sustained. Without the Holy Spirit we wouldn’t be regenerated or born again. We live in the Spirit. We are being kept by the Spirit. And we are kept by Him for eternity.

We needed the grace of the Father, to provide and give us a Savior, His Son. We needed the love of the Savior to willingly and sacrificially to come into the world to save us. And we need the power and mercy of the Holy Spirit to make us new creations in Christ!

Though the work of the Holy Spirit totally differs from the work of the Father and of the Son, it is no less necessary for us. It is as vital as the rest. We need His work of regeneration in infusing God’s life into our souls.

John 3:1-8: “There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.

“Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?

“Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into 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 canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”

Nicodemus was a Pharisee and “a ruler of the Jews,” or a member of the 70-member Jewish ruling council called the Sanhedrin. So Nicodemus was a man of standing and influence in Israel and the Jews’ religion.

Nicodemus came to Christ “by night.” This is likely because he was afraid of the implications and drawing disfavor from his fellow Pharisees for associating and being seen in conversation with Christ.

Nicodemus came to the Lord and addressed Him respectfully: “Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God.”

The “we” implies that there were other religious leaders among the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin who were convinced with Nicodemus that Christ was “come from God.”

The reason Nicodemus believed Christ to be a teacher sent by God, was because “no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.”

The undeniable miracles that the Lord did meant to Nicodemus that Christ was a teacher of God and that God approved His teaching. As a Pharisee, Nicodemus himself was a teacher in Israel, and he was curious and had questions for this Teacher of God.

Nicodemus did not recognize the Lord as God manifest in the flesh. He was like so many even today who believe that Christ was a great man and a teacher. But Nicodemus calling him Rabbi and a Teacher fell far short of Who Christ was and is as God.

Knowing this and knowing him and his spiritual need, the Lord shook the foundation of what Nicodemus believed and abruptly states, “Verily, verily, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God,” that is, Israel’s hope of the kingdom on earth.

The words “verily, verily,” literally mean, “amen, amen,” or truly, truly. In other words, these words are trustworthy and sure.

The words “born again,” literally mean “born from above.” For a person to enter the kingdom of God, Christ told Nicodemus that he must experience a spiritual birth, a rebirth, new life from above.

In light of Paul’s words of Titus 3:5 of our washing of regeneration or new birth, we learn that this is a trans-dispensational principle, or as true under grace for the Body of Christ, as it was true for Israel under the law.

We too need to be born again to see the kingdom of God. However, for us in the Body, our hope is the heavenly kingdom of God. There are two aspects to the kingdom of God, one earthly, one heavenly. Israel’s hope is the earthly kingdom, ours is the heavenly kingdom. Either way, “except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Nicodemus is taken back and perplexed and doesn’t grasp the spiritual meaning. He questioned the Lord with rhetorical questions, expecting a negative answer, because surely Christ did not mean something as absurd as a second physical birth.

He asked, “How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?” The Lord answered Nicodemus that “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit” he won’t enter the kingdom of God.

Based on the Lord’s further statement in the next verse, I believe that being born of water speaks of being born of the flesh, or physical birth.

Answering Nicodemus’ protest about being born when you’re old or entering the mother’s womb a second time, the Lord pointed out to Nicodemus that there are two kinds of birth, of water and of the Spirit, or the natural and the spiritual.

The breaking of the water in natural birth is what defines the double expression “of water and of the Spirit.” It is a description of birth and rebirth. So the Lord was saying that except a man be born and born from above, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

In other words, as the Lord said in verse 7, “Ye must be born again.” Being born “of the Spirit” refers to the Holy Spirit’s regeneration and the spiritual rebirth.

Physical birth involves life and spiritual birth involves God’s life being imparted to believers. Entering God’s family only comes through the new birth. One must be born of God in order to become a child of God.

This does not occur by adoption. It is a mistake to say that we are adopted into God’s family. Adoption in Scripture is different from how we understand adoption.

In biblical times, adoption had to do with position, taking one who was already their child and at a time appointed declaring openly before others that this child was now a full-grown son and heir to all that the father had.

For believers, adoption has to do with the spiritual blessing of God placing us as full-grown sons and heirs in Christ the moment we believe.

Just like we are born into our families by physical birth, we are born again into God’s family by the spiritual birth of the Holy Spirit.

And birth involves a future, and likewise spiritual birth gives all the saints of God from all the ages a bright future and glorious hope in Christ in both heaven and the earth.

In verse 6, the Lord contrasted physical and spiritual birth, and He gives an important reason why regeneration is necessary: “That which is born of the flesh: is flesh; in that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.”

This goes back to the fact that you cannot regenerate or give spiritual life to yourself.

This is a specific work of the Holy Spirit that He gives to those who believe by His mercy and grace. Because it is impossible for the flesh to produce spiritual life.

The law of biogenesis states that, in the natural world, life can only be produced by living things or beings. In other words, rocks cannot produce animals.

And likewise, in the spiritual world, only the Spirit of God can produce a new creation or give eternal life. Only the Spirit can produce and impart spiritual life. This cannot be done by the flesh. Flesh produces flesh and physical life. The Spirit produces the spiritual and spiritual life.

And thus as the Lord told Nicodemus, “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.” We need spiritual life to be saved, and thus we need to be born again, born from above, born of the Holy Spirit.

Each person MUST have two births or two birthdays. The first, our physical birth, and the second, our spiritual birth, by the Holy Spirit. We need to be regenerated, born again, given new life, and born into the family of God.

Just as you have been born physically you need to be born again spiritually. The old statement is true: “Those born once will die twice, and those born twice will die once.” We need to be born again or we will face the second death of the lake of fire.

The Lord then uses the analogy of the wind: “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit” (v. 8).

The wind correlates to the Spirit in Scripture. When the Spirit came from heaven on the Day of Pentecost, Acts 2:2 says, “Suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty WIND.”

Nicodemus had objected to this teaching of being born again because he didn’t understand how it could be. The Lord showed him how he believed and didn’t question other things which are unexplainable and hard to be understood.

The wind blows where it wishes. We hear it, but we don’t see it. We don’t know where it comes from or where it is going; its origin and destination are unknown.

Even though the wind can’t be seen, people cannot and don’t deny the existence of the wind, they hear it, feel it and see its effects.

Like the wind, the Spirit of God is invisible and powerful. He is an unseen power. The Spirit’s effects are worked in those who are born again and given life from above by Him. Regeneration is an unseen but powerful transaction that takes place in a person’s heart.

God’s work of regeneration cannot be explained by natural laws. And the new life of one born of the Spirit is unexplainable by ordinary reasoning.

But the new birth is an undeniable reality. Though not seen, it as much of a reality as the wind. It is a spiritual reality to be fully trusted.

And like the wind, as far as the natural man’s understanding, he doesn’t know the origin of this spiritual life nor the final destiny of those born again and where they are going.

But we, as believers, understand our spiritual life is from above and by the Holy Spirit, and we know where we are going.

Have you been born again? We receive the new birth by faith alone, just trusting that Christ, as our Substitute, took our sins on Himself, died for them, and rose again.

Trusting that simple gospel message you have “the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.”