REGENERATION

 

“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.” John 3:3-7

 Another word for regeneration is rebirth, from which we get the phrase “born again.” To be born again is opposed to, and distinguished from our first birth, when we were conceived in sin. The new birth is a spiritual, holy, and heavenly birth signified by a being made alive in a spiritual sense. Our first birth, on the other hand, was one of spiritual death because of inherited sin. Man in his natural state is “dead in trespasses and sins” until we are “made alive” (regenerated) by Christ (Ephesians 2:1). After regeneration, we begin to see, and hear, and seek after divine things, and to live a life of faith and holiness. Now Christ is formed in our heart; we are now a partaker of the divine nature, having been made a new creature. God, not man, is the source of this (Ephesians 2:1, 8). It is not by men's works, but by God’s will. Simply put, regeneration is God making a person spiritually alive, a new creation, as a result of faith in Jesus Christ. The reason regeneration is necessary is that prior to salvation we are not God's children (John 1:12-13); rather, we are children of wrath (Ephesians 2:3; Romans 5:18-20). Before salvation, we are degenerate. After salvation we are regenerated. The result of regeneration is peace with God (Romans 5:1), new life (Titus 3:5; 2 Corinthians 5:17), and eternal sonship (John 1:12-13; Galatians 3:26). This regeneration is eternal and begins the process of sanctification wherein we become the people God intended for us to be (Romans 8:28-30). This concept of the new birth is unique to Christianity. No other religion offers a cure for the total depravity of the human heart.

Conversion results in regeneration, or new birth. This means more than a reformation of the old nature, for the regenerated man receives a new, holy nature with power over the old, sinful nature. The new birth involves two elements:

1. Destroying the power of the old nature: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” II Cor. 5:17

2. Imparting a new nature, the nature of God: “Put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” Ephesians 4:2

The Bible teaches that we have three distinct parts to our beings: spirit, soul and body. The Holy Spirit initially only comes to live and dwell in our human spirit, not in our soul or our body. What this means is that only our spirit is immediately regenerated at our conversion with the Lord.

Our spirit is immediately regenerated because the Holy Spirit has now moved in and has taken up full residence in it. As a result of the Holy Spirit’s presence and power now residing in our spirit, our spirit is immediately and instantaneously regenerated with a new and divine spiritual life.

As a result of receiving the Holy Spirit we now have His divine power available to us to help us in the sanctification process that the Lord wants to start with each and every one of us, and we now have His divine power available to us to help us be very good and very successful at whatever God will be calling us to do for Him in this life. As a result of this new rebirth and regeneration in the Lord, we now have a new restored relationship with the Lord.

The new nature brings a change of desires and attitudes and power to live a new life. The new birth does not eliminate the sinful nature, however. The child of God has two natures, the carnal and the spiritual.

Conversion and regeneration are inseparable; conversion is the act of turning from sin to Christ. Regeneration is being made a new creature by the power of the Holy Spirit. Regeneration is the instrument that brings us into the family of God or the kingdom of God.

The only way to become a true child of God is by being born again; born of the water (baptism) and of the Spirit (Holy Ghost). The new birth is the door to salvation and consequently to heaven.

When we believe in Jesus and obey Acts 2:38 we experience the birth of water and the Spirit. We are “born again”. We actually become a new creation in Christ. At repentance and water baptism, we bury the old sinful lifestyle, the record of past sins and the death penalty for sin. When we receive the Holy Spirit we begin to live new, godly lives through the indwelling of the Spirit.

 THE NEW BIRTH IS A WHOLE

Although Jesus identified two components, water and Spirit; He nevertheless spoke of one birth. I John 5:8 tells us that the Spirit, water and blood agree in one. Ephesians 4:5 states that there is only one baptism, comprised of both water and Spirit and this one baptism places us in the body of Christ according to Romans 6:3-4. Whatever repentance, water baptism and the Spirit baptism accomplish individually, the total work of conversion is completed at the union of the three. The Bible pattern is to experience all three practically simultaneously or in rapid succession.

Since the new birth is a single, indivisible whole, it is apparent that the blood of Christ applies throughout the process. The blood of Jesus refers to Christ’s atoning death. Without Christ’s atonement we could not seek God, repent effectively, receive the forgiveness of sin at baptism, or receive the Holy Spirit. The substitutionary death of Jesus makes repentance, baptism and the Spirit baptism both available and effective.

The blood is applied at the first hearing of the gospel to enable us to seek God, at repentance to enable us to turn from sin, at baptism to forgive our sins and at the Spirit baptism to enable us to receive God’s Spirit. After the new birth, we continue to live an overcoming, holy life by the power of the blood. The blood is applied throughout the salvation process, from the first hearing of the Word until Christ’s return.  

WHAT IS REGENERATION?

A. It is a rebirth (a new birth) or a re-creation (a new creation). Regeneration is the creation by the Holy Spirit of a new man called the “new creation”, or the “new man”.

B. Like the first birth it is an event and not a process.

C. The actual birth takes place in a second, as one passes from darkness to light. The person begins a new life in Christ.

NECESSITY OF REGENERATION

The Bible plainly teaches that all need to be born again! It is not a matter of opinion and choice. There are no exceptions to this rule; neither, sex, age, position or condition exempts anyone from the necessity of the new birth: John 3:3 “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

There is no substitute for the new birth. To fail to be born again is to be lost. To become a new creature is to be born again.

Only God can give a new, clean pure heart; this is the new birth. The universal sinful condition of man demands a change in order for a man to be saved. Romans 3:23 says “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”

The holiness of God demands that men be born again. Holiness is foreign to natural man; it can only be obtained through the new birth. To live the life of Christ we must have the nature of Christ.

THE NATURE OF REGENERATION

A. It is not baptism. Baptism is for the forgiveness of sin.

B. It is not reformation. Reformation is the act of the old nature of turning from evil, while regeneration is the supernatural act of God; it is a spiritual crisis; it is a revolution; it is a complete turn around.

C. Regeneration is a spiritual quickening, a new birth, a new creation. From creation everything has brought forth "after his kind", sinners beget sinners.

D. We cannot alter the old nature, or reform it or re-invigorate it but we need a new birth, the impartation of a different "kind", God's holy nature. A change from death to life; this is not reformation, this is a spiritual resurrection.

THE AGENTS USED IN THE NEW BIRTH

A. The Word Of God:

“Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever" I Peter 1:23. One reason that so few people are born again today through modern preaching is that there isn't enough of the Word of God in modern sermons.

B. Faith: It is faith generated by the hearing of the Word of God that saves a soul.

C. The Holy Spirit:

Spiritual life is begotten by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit first convicts the sinner and then converts Him. It brings him into the kingdom of God.

THE METHOD OF REGENERATION:

A. The Divine Side:

Regeneration is a creative act on the part of God, not reformation by man. We are begotten by the will of God.

B. The Human Side: The human part is to believe and receive Jesus Christ (Jn. 1:12).

C. The Gospel: The gospel is the power of God that is capable of changing men's lives.

THE EVIDENCE OF REGENERATION

A. The person who is born again lives a righteous life (I John 2:29)

B. The person who is born again does not live a life of sin (I John 3:9, 5:18)

C. The born who is born again will fulfill the command to love (Luke 10:27; I John 4:7)

D. The born again individual lives an overcoming life (I John 5:4)

E. The person who is born again believes that Jesus is the one and only true God.  (I John 5:1)

Many believers are totally unaware of all these benefits and blessings. As a result of not fully realizing who they really are in Christ, and exactly what they have immediately available to them as a result of the Holy Spirit now living on the inside of them, many believers are living defeated, joyless, and unproductive lives in the Lord.

Remember  you are now a true, born again child of God. You don’t have to settle for mediocrity in your life. You can now enter into God’s best for your life.