SERMON OUTLINE:
REGENERATION DEFINED:
• Personal (Titus chapter 3 verse 5)
• Universal (Matthew chapter 19 verse 28)
REGENERATION ILLUSTRATED:
• Reality of the new birth (John chapter 3 verses 1-3)
• Simplicity of the new birth (John chapter 3 verses 5-6)
• Dignity of the new birth (John chapter 3 verses 3)
• Urgency of the new birth (John chapter 3 verses 7b)
SERMON BODY:
Ill:
• When I go to another country on mission,
• I like to teach my translators some British colloquialisms and unusual words.
• Some of our words just sound fun,
• e.g. Hullaballoo, nincompoop, airy-fairy, chockablock, collywobbles,
Here a few more unusual words, can you guess what they mean?
• Confabulate
• Means “to talk informally to chat.”
• So, I hope to do a bit of at Speakers Corner this afternoon/evening.
• Accubation
• This word describes the state of reclining while you eat.
• So basically, anyone who snacks while watching Netflix or the football is an “accubation.”
• Peccadillo.
• Not to be confused with an armadillo!
• Peccadillo, simply means “a slight offense, a lapse in judgment.”
• Bumbershoot
• A genuine fun word that is another word for “umbrella.”
• Everywhen
• This isn’t a typo or my bad grammar,
• It means “always” or “all the time.”
• TRANSITION:
• Some words are fun, but… never underestimate the power of words:
Ill:
• In 1924 Adolf Hitler started writing his book Mein Kampf,
• Which means "My Struggle."
• Some people ignored the book, and some laughed at it,
• But for every word in Mein Kampf, 125 people died in World War II.
• TRANSITION:
• Never underestimate the power of words:
• A judge speaks, and a man is condemned or set free.
• A physician speaks, and a person has surgery, or he goes home from the hospital.
• A government official speaks, and millions of dollars can be spent or withheld.
• A preacher speaks and an individual can move from spiritual death to life!
According to sociologists.
• Our tongues form an average of 16,000 words/day.
• What matters most, however, is not the number of words you speak,
• But the kind of words you choose, and the impact they have.
Quote: Pearls from Many Seas, T. J. Bach.
“A careless word may kindle strife,
A cruel word may wreck a life,
A bitter word may hate to instill,
A brutal word may smite and kill,
A gracious word may smooth the way,
A joyous word may light the day,
A timely word may lessen stress,
A loving word may heal and bless.”
Ill:
• In our own personal lives, we know the power of words.
• We all enjoy a compliment,
• And we all hate criticism.
TRANSITION: The Bible uses specialist words (jargon).
• We see specialist words (jargon) in lots of areas of life.
• Question: where might you here, ‘AWOL’ ‘Cookhouse,’ ‘Buckshee,’ ‘Civi’?
• Answer: Military jargon.
• Question: where might you here, ‘Offside, VAR, Red card?
• Answer: Football (Soccer).
• Question: where might you here, ‘IP address, Adware, Virus, Firewall’?
• Answer: Computer jargon.
• Question: where might you here, ‘Performance Table, NQT, GCSE, Key Stage’?
• Answer: Education jargon.
• TRANSITION:
• The Bible also uses specialised words or jargon.
• e.g. Regeneration, Redemption, Reconciliation, Intercession.
• e.g. Justification, Sanctification, Propitiation, Imputation and Mediation.
• And over the next few weeks we will be looking at some of these words.
• Think of them like jewels waiting to be discovered.
• And if we take time to dig them up and polish & hone them.
• We can enjoy their immense beauty and their theological value!
REGENERATION DEFINED:
• The first word we are going to look at in this series is ‘Regeneration.’
• The English word "regeneration" is a dated word.
• Today we might use the alternative words, ‘New birth, renewal or restoration’.
Ill:
• Those of you who use the King James Version of the Bible:
• Will come across the older word "regeneration,"
• It is used twice in that Bible translation.
• Let’s start our investigation and look at the two references.
(a). Personal regeneration (Titus chapter 3
verse 5 (C.E.V.):
“He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth (regeneration) and renewal by the Holy Spirit”.
• The NIV translation, chooses the words, “rebirth & renewal,”
• While the KJV uses the word "regeneration."
Ill:
• In nature there is a plant called, the "resurrection plant."
• This natural phenomenon is a good illustration of regeneration.
• YouTube: https://youtu.be/wamQ2xOQ_IU
• The plant is dead, of that there is no doubt,
• Yet, a bit of water brings it to new life, renewal, regenerates it!
What we have in this verse is a beautiful illustration of the gospel:
• (1). “He saved us”.
• A reminder that salvation was God’s idea and plan not ours.
• While we were still sinners and could not care about God.
• He cared about us and sent a saviour into the world!
• (2). “Because of his mercy”.
• God’s motive for saving us was his merciful character and nature.
• He saved us because he loved us!
• (3). “And not because of any good things we had done”.
• All we had to offer God was our sin!
• Our righteousness becomes like filthy rags when we depend on it before God.
• (4). “God washed us by the power of the Holy Spirit”.
• Conversion is a work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of an individual person.
• The expression “Washing” here literally means “bathed all over”.
• What we could never do – wipe the slate clean – the Holy Spirit has done for us!
• (5). “He gave us new birth and a fresh beginning”.
• Salvation is not a new set of beliefs but a new life!
• It really is being born all over again.
• Starting life afresh. Regeneration!
Ill:
• London businessman Lindsay Clegg told the story of a warehouse property he was selling.
• The building had been emptying for months and needed repairs.
• Vandals had damaged the doors, smashed the windows,
• And strewn trash around the interior.
• As he showed a prospective buyer the property,
• Clegg took pains to say that he would replace the broken windows,
• Bring in a crew to correct any structural damage and clean out the garbage.
• The buyer said to him:
“Forget about the repairs, when I buy this place, I’m going to build something completely different. I don’t want the building; I want the site”.
• TRANSITION:
• God does not simply patch up the old building.
• He wants the site to produce something new!
(b). Universal regeneration (Matthew chapter
19 verse 28).
“Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel”.
• While the KJV uses the word "regeneration."
• The NIV translation, chooses the words, “renewal,”
Note: the context.
• The rich young ruler approaches Jesus and wants ‘eternal life’.
• Jesus gives him some hard truths (vs 21),
“…go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.
Then come, follow me.’
• Disappointingly we read,
• “He went away said for he had great wealth!”
• What could have been the start of a beautiful friendship,
• Sadly. ends in disappointment,
• Because of the demands Jesus placed before the young man.
Jesus then told the disciples (verses 23-24):
“I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24Again I tell you; it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
This statement of Jesus shocked the disciples:
• The reason they were astonished was because of their understanding of God.
• The Jews believed that wealth was a mark of God’s favour & blessing.
• ill: A casual reading of the book of Job in the Old Testament.
• Reveals this kind of thinking.
At the time of Jesus, the thinking was:
• Rich people are blessed of God,
• And therefore, near to God and near to heaven.
• Poor people are not blessed of God,
• And therefore, not near to God and not near to heaven.
• Notice: Jesus turned that idea completely on its head.
• By saying it was so hard for a rich person to enter heaven.
• The disciples who heard that panicked.
• After all they had given up everything to follow Jesus.
• They were now poor.
• If the rich can’t get to heaven what chance has a poor man?
• What chance had they got?
• The teaching of Jesus.
• Is once again the very opposite of all that they had ever been taught.
Verse 26:
26” Jesus looked at them and said,
“With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
• It is impossible for any human being to be saved!
• If salvation depended on them.
• But salvation is not dependent on human beings,
• It is dependent on God who is able to save completely those who come to him!
Verse 28:
• Jesus does not dismiss Peter’s legitimate if not selfish query:
• He does not rebuke him but encourages him.
• He was aware that Peter and the other disciples had left everything to follow him.
• And so, in reply Jesus tells Peter that he and the other disciples will get their reward.
• It will come in the ‘regeneration’ or ‘restored’ or the ‘renewed’ universe.
• We read about these events in passages like Isaiah 65&66, 2 Peter 3 & Revelation 21.
• Jesus makes it very clear that this promise to his disciples.
• Will be fulfilled when he sits on his throne,
• When he establishes his kingdom.
• Old governments and old systems will be redundant.
• Everyone will experience regeneration, newness as Christ shall reign.
Note: So, in the King James Version of the Bible:
• Only twice is the word ‘regeneration’ found.
• Although the idea of new life is obviously mentioned elsewhere.
• The classic passage being John chapter 3.
• Where the word "born" is used eight times in the first nine verses.
• So, let’s focus in there on that chapter.
REGENERATION ILLUSTRATED:
• From John chapter 3,
• We can glean four things about this new birth:
(1). The reality of the new birth (vs 1&3):
“Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus,
a member of the Jewish ruling council”.
“Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth,
no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”
This new birth that Jesus speaks about a reality:
• It is as real an experience as one’s own physical birth.
• It is not just an emotional or psychological experience.
• It is something that is real in the life of the believer.
Ill:
• At the time Jesus walked on planet earth.
• Everybody had some answers to the problems of life.
• e.g. The Romans said the way to solve life's problems is through law,
• And you back up that law with military force and might.
• e.g. The Greeks said, "No, the way to solve problems is with wisdom/education.
• People need schools, understanding and philosophy."
• e.g. The Jewish people said, "No, the answer is religion.
• But you need sacrifices, a priesthood, the temple."
• e.g. Jesus came along and blew all those ideas out of the water!
• His message was so radical and different.
• He said the heart of the problem is the problem of the human heart.
• You need a new heart, an inward change!
• You need regeneration!
Ill:
• Chapter breaks and verse numbers were added by people,
• To help us navigate around the Bible.
• Stephen Langton in the early 1200s, added the chapter divisions.
• Robert Estienne in the 1550s, added the verse numbers.
• They did a very good job, but occasionally they get it wrong,
• Here is an example.
• Chapter 2 verses 23-25 fit better with chapter 3.
• The chapter concludes these very telling and insightful words:
“Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name.
But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people.
He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.”
Other versions translate it:
“But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all MAN. 25He did not need MAN 's testimony about MAN, for he knew what was in a MAN”.
• Four times in these verses, we have the word, ‘MAN.’
• And chapter 3 verse 1 opens with this statement,
• “Now there came a MAN of the Pharisees.”
• Nicodemus may have been the best of men, i.e. religious, moral, upright etc.
• But he was still only a man, therefore he had a sinful nature and a sinful heart!
e.g.
• Law (which the Romans depended on) could never change his heart.
• Wisdom/education (which the Greeks depended on) could never change the heart.
• Religion (which the Jews depended on) could never change the heart,
• But regeneration (which Jesus taught and made possible) could and did!
• The gospel of Jesus Christ is not just good information:
• It is a message of transformation.
• It is a message that is real – it works!
(2). Simplicity of the New Birth (vs 5&6):
“Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit”.
Jesus used birth as a simple illustration of what happens when a person is converted:
• I say it was simple; unfortunately, even though Nicodemus was a great teacher of Israel,
• He misunderstood, he failed to grasp, to understand what Jesus was talking about.
• Jesus was using a metaphor, an illustration, about something spiritual,
• But Nicodemus interpreted this metaphor as something physical.
• Nicodemus took him literally.
• And asks that insightful question (vs 4).
‘How can someone be born when they are old?’ Nicodemus asked. ‘Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!’
• So, Jesus explains to him in verses 5,6:
• “Unless he is born of water.”
• Physical birth, with water alluding to amniotic fluid.
• And the Spirit (spiritual birth).
• Flesh gives birth to flesh (physical birth),
• But the Spirit gives birth to spirit” (spiritual birth).
• Jesus is telling Nicodemus,
• “Not to major on the physical and the material - because he is talking in spiritual terms."
Ill:
• No baby is born of his own effort.
• No baby can conceive him or herself.
• They are born by the will of or the actions of another.
• In the same way no human being can regenerate themselves,
• To be, ‘born again,’ requires the will of another.
• It is a work of God!
Quote: John chapter 1 verse 13:
12” Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God– 13children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God”.
Notice
• That although this illustration is simple to understand.
• There is still much mystery that is involved (vs 8):
“The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So, it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
Ill:
• Oldies, do you remember 30 years ago a certain weather forecaster?
• BBC presenter Michael Fish in 1987,
• Had his career was defined by this one broadcasting moment.
• YouTube: https://youtu.be/82hBNQSfros?si=69M8p-DYEhkplIvw
• Even today,
• The complex interplay of global and local factors means,
• That while our wind forecasts are increasingly accurate,
• They’ll never be perfect - there is still a mystery to it!
Notice:
• That Jesus is not comparing the wind to the Holy Spirit,
• Although that is a valid illustration.
• He is actually comparing the believer to the wind:
• "So is EVERYONE that is born of the Spirit."
• Just as there is much mystery to physical birth.
• So, there is much mystery to spiritual birth.
• And yet at the same time just think of how simple it is:
• Even a child can put their trust in Jesus Christ and be born again.
• Come to genuine saving faith.
(3). Dignity of the New Birth (vs 5-6)
“Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.”
Ill:
• Just as physical characteristics are hereditary.
• e.g. So many people tell me Arlo looks just like me.
• I normally reply (tongue in cheek); “Yes, he is a good-looking kid!”
• That normally put people in an awkward moment,
• Because they didn’t want to make out, he was not good looking,
• But didn’t want to say I was!
Not only are physical characteristics hereditary.
• But so are our mannerisms and character traits:
• Whether we like to admit it or not.
• Each person here has both the physical & behaviour traits of their parents.
Ill:
• I look in the mirror in the morning,
• And see my dad looking back at me!
• TRANSITION:
• What is true physically is also true spiritually!
• Remember the word translated "born again" in John chapter 3.
• Can also be translated "born from above."
• Every Christian is born a child of the King,
• The New Testament makes it very clear,
• That we are the children of the Living God.
Quote: John chapter 1 verse 12:
12” Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God– 13children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God”.
The dignity of the new birth is an amazing thing.
• We are the children of God,
• The God who created the universe.
• We are in his family and therefore we share his nature.
• We all know the expression, “Like father like son.”
• ill: We may not be all-knowing (omniscient), but we can be kind.
• ill: We may not be all-powerful (omnipotent), but we can be trustworthy.
• ill: We may not be and everywhere (omnipresent), but we can be loving.
• We are in his family,
• Therefore, we share his nature.
(4). Urgency of the New Birth (vs 7b).
• Verse 7b:
• ‘You must be born again.’
• This was not a suggestion that Jesus made.
• Instead, it is a commandment.
• It is not an idea that we can toy with.
• It is absolutely urgent-we must be born again.
Quote: The great evangelist of the 17th century George Whitfield:
• Was on one occasion asked; “Why he was always preaching about being ‘Born again’?”
• Whitfield replied: “Madam, because you MUST be born again!”
• Whitfield realised regeneration was not an optional extra.
• It was a necessity! Without it there is no salvation!
Ill:
• Bishop Taylor Smith (1860-1938),
• Was an Anglican bishop and military chaplain.
• Who one time was preaching on this passage,
• In one of the cathedrals in England.
• In his address he started interacting with the congregation.
• “You sir must be born again.”
• “And you madam must be born again”.
• He then said; “Why even the Dean of the cathedral must be born again!”
• Now the Dean of this cathedral was at that time not ‘born again’.
• But those words pricked away at his heart and mind all through the rest of the service.
• He kept saying to himself.
• “I’m in Church, I’m a clerical man, I’m ordained, I’m a man of letters etc, etc”.
• Then he realised that that was not enough.
• That day Bishop Taylor Smith had the joy of leading him to faith in Jesus Christ!
THIS MORNNING WE NEED TO ASK THE QUESTION.
• Are you, “Born again,”? Have you been, ‘regenerated’?
• Are you a ‘committed Christian’, a ‘follower of Jesus Christ’.
Ill:
• Many years ago, lived an unusual evangelist, by the name of Ebenezer Wooten,
• He went about the rural areas of England preaching the gospel.
• At the end of one mission,
• He was in a village packing a\way the marquee tent.
• Suddenly, a young man came running up to him and asked,
• “Mr. Wooten, what can I do to be saved?”
• Mr Wooten was pulling up the tent stakes from the ground,
• And without looking up he said, “You are too late, young man.”
• The young man was shocked and taken aback and asked,
• “Do you mean that now the meetings are over I am too late to be saved?”
• Mr. Wooten replied, “No, that is not what I mean,”
• You asked, “What can I do to be saved?
• And my reply is that you are nineteen hundred years too late to do anything.”
• The Lord Jesus Christ did all that needed doing on the cross.
• All you need do is fall on your knees, repent and ask Jesus to receive you.
• Trusting him to be your Saviour.”
• TRANSITION:
• That day the young man was, "born again,” he was, “regenerated,"
• He experienced the ‘New birth’ of John chapter 3.
• Question: what about you?
SERMON AUDIO:
https://surf.pxwave.com/wl/?id=ZHconLeeNMVaYRhUVPH6g31NxzuqtJZV
SERMON VIDEO:
https://youtu.be/Ttev-cIW4WI
