HoHum: Every time we say, “I believe in the Holy Spirit,” we mean that we believe that there is a living God able and willing to enter human personality and change it- J. B. Phillips (1906–1982)
WBTU:
A common way of referring to a person’s becoming a Christian is to say that he was converted. This word implies a turning from sin and a turning to God.
How does the HS work upon the heart of the sinner? Must divide this into two parts:
1. How does the HS work to bring a sinner to faith and repentance?
2. How does the HS work upon the heart of the sinner during the moment of conversion?
Tonight we are focusing on #2.
For instances:
The Nature of conversion
What happens to the sinner when he makes the transition from being lost to being saved? Several things happen.
The sinner is justified or forgiven of his sins.
At the same time of justification, he is also regenerated or born again. This is a change in the nature of his heart. His spirit or inner man is no longer in a state of spiritual death but is now alive toward God.
Initial sanctification occurs. Person is set apart, no longer a member of Satan’s kingdom and becomes a member of God’s kingdom. It is similar to adoption, the moment when the sinner becomes a member of the family of God.
Tonight we are focusing on the second of these, regeneration. What is regeneration?
It is a metaphysical change, a change that takes place in the very essence of the soul. This means that the damage sin inflicts upon the soul begins to be repaired; the sin sickness that infects the soul begins to be healed. It is like the change that takes place in an infected feverous body when antibiotics are applied.
Here God is the Great Physician. Ezekiel 36:26-27: I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
The heart of stone is the soul hardened by sin. This is removed and replaced by a “heart of flesh,” this is, one that is soft and yielding to the will of God.
Described in the Bible is several ways:
Romans 6:1-14 Paul speaks of it as a death and resurrection: a death to sin and a resurrection to new life. As a result of this the sinner is “brought from death to life (vs. 13)” and able to “live a new life (vs. 4)”.
Colossians 2:11 is called an act of spiritual circumcision, “not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ.” These words go back to Deuteronomy 30:6: The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.
This is not only the time of new beginnings, but this all shows that these are acts that can be accomplished only by God.
The Holy Spirit Causes Regeneration
The event known as regeneration is specifically the work of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus promised the inward presence of the Spirit through his analogy of the living water, but this would not happen until after Jesus’ ascension and being exalted to the right hand of the Father. John 7:37-39
There is no evidence that OT saints received this aspect of salvation. It is a blessing enjoyed only by Christians in the NT age.
Some would object to this today and in ages past in the ranks of the Church of Christ/ Christian churches. In the days of the frontier they would object because this sounds too much like Calvinism. The Holy Spirit does everything idea. Question last week: How does the HS work to bring a sinner to faith and repentance? Holy Spirit works indirectly through the Word to bring faith and repentance.
The question this week is a little different: How does the HS work upon the heart of the sinner during the moment of conversion? Some in the Restoration Movement deny all direct work of the Spirit even in conversion. When it comes to regeneration, the sinner regenerates himself, and raises himself from the dead. Sinners, come up here and save yourselves. How can this be? Look up Ephesians 2:1, 4-6
John 1:13 says that we are born of God. We did not give birth to ourselves. These images point to divine activity; they are not things that we are capable of.
The Holy Spirit is the person of the Trinity, Godhead, who brings the power of Christ’s death and resurrection to bear upon us.
The Holy Spirit causes regeneration in baptism
At what moment does a sinner pass from the unsaved state to the saved state? Baptism. The sinner is immersed into the baptismal water unregenerated, and emerges from it regenerated.
Romans 6:1-4
A Christian cannot continue in sin- vs. 1
We died to sin- vs. 2.
Surely we are not ignorant of what happened to us in baptism- vs. 3
This saving power includes not only the power to take away the penalty for our sins, but also the power to deal a death blow to our indwelling sin itself. Baptism is thus the moment of our death to sin- vs. 4
We are united with him in his death but it doesn’t end there. We are also united with him in his resurrection, enabling us to walk in a new life- vs. 4
Colossians 2:11-13
The references to “buried” and “raised up” reflect the proper form of baptism, immersion.
Beyond this, “buried with Christ” and “raised up with Hm” are referring to the saving event of regeneration, when “God made you alive with Christ (vs. 13)”.
When does this saving event occur? Baptism.
Titus 3:5-6
This “rebirth and renewal” are referred to as a salvation event: “he saved us”; and he connects it with our “washing” the time of our baptism.
To understand this washing as a reference to baptism makes perfect sense in light of Romans 6 and Colossians 2.
Regeneration occurs during baptism, not through the water itself, but only through the power of God as he works upon the sinner’s heart in that moment according to his promise.
What does this have to do with the Holy Spirit? The HOly Spirit is given in baptism. Titus 3:5-6. This is a work of the Spirit. This reminds us of the Pentecostal outpouring, but it actually refers to our personal baptism. Thus we can properly think of our baptism as our own personal Pentecost!
Acts 2:37-39
The promised Spirit is for you who are seeking salvation. How can this salvation, justification (forgiveness of sins) and sanctification (gift of the Holy Spirit), be received?
Those who repent and are baptized will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit- not a gift from the Spirit, but the Spirit himself as an indwelling, healing presence.
Many will object and say that we are saved through faith. Very true but we are saved by grace through faith at baptism. These passages clearly affirm this.
Some will object that this is not referring to water baptism but to Spirit baptism. One baptism- Ephesians 4:5. Yes, baptism has an outside element (must go to the water and actually be baptized) and also an inside element (inside the sinner). See both in Hebrews 10:22: let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
The Result of regeneration
A scene from an old time western movie. Sometimes, when the hero takes a bullet or arrow, he gets an infection and develops a deadly fever. The doctor in called to the house, and the doctor goes into the bedroom from time to time to see if any change has occurred. The first few times he comes out of the bedroom, sadly shaking his head. Then finally, after one visit, the doctor exits the bedroom with a big smile on his face, saying, “The fever broke!” He is telling us that the hero has turned the corner and is beginning to get well.
When God’s gift of regeneration is giving to the sinner in Christian baptism, we can joyfully shout, “The fever broke! The infection of sin is starting to be healed!” But as with the western hero, the healing of our sin diseased natures is not immediately complete. It does not happen all at once but is an ongoing process called sanctification. This process is the result of the Holy Spirit’s continuing to indwell our very bodies. Romans 8:11: And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
The result of regeneration is that the saved person can now say, “I can obey God’s will; I am able to obey the law’s commands”- which the unregenerated person was unable to do (Romans 8:7-8). We died and rose with Christ, “so that we would no longer be slaved to sin”- Romans 6:6. The spiritual heart transplant of which Ezekiel speaks (36:26-27) enables us to walk in God’s statutes and observe his ordinances. We have been changed- changed by the Spirit, to walk by the Spirit (Galatians 5:16).
