Renewal of the mind is impossible without regeneration (John 3:3). John Calvin writes, “Meditation on the heavenly life begins with regeneration. Before we have been regenerated, our desires lean towards the world, and rest on the world.” With regeneration comes a new mind able to receive God’s truth and a new desire to do His will. This will, Paul says in Titus 2:12, includes the renunciation of ungodliness and worldly passions. The apostle is characterizing the whole of the Christian life, which is a turning from all that Scripture calls unrighteous unto the Lord and everything He defines as righteous, whether or not the world recognizes it as such. In short, Paul calls us to a life of repentance. The grace of regeneration and the affirmation of sound doctrine not only move us to deny evil but to become good . . . We must submit to Jesus as Lord and work towards self-control, uprightness, and godliness, but let us never forget that pleasing God in these areas is begun and completed by grace. Augustine comments that we dare not attribute any progress in righteousness to ourselves but to the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
So although 2 Corinthians 5:17 and Ezekiel 36:26 speak of a decisive change that always occurs in the heart of every new believer, the outworking of that change is not instantaneous and absolute. Instead it is progressive over time and never complete in this life. However, the awareness of this internal struggle with sin should never be used as an excuse for sinful behavior. Rather, we should always keep in mind that we are saints called to live a life that is set apart for God.
From Respectable Sins
2 Cor 5:17 – Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Ez 36:26 – 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.
6 And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.
New Bible Commentary:
The new element is that the Lord is seen here taking a decisive new part in their fortunes.
It will be by his power that they will be restored to their land.
(This is the meaning, in effect, of the phrase restore your fortunes; v 3, see also Je. 29:14; 30:3.)
Not only this, however, but he will create in them a new ability to be faithful.
This is implied by the phrase: The LORD your God mill circumcise your hearts (6); the same figure of speech in 10:16 had simply been an exhortation.
In some mysterious way the Lord will renew the relationship to make his people faithful (though their own need to repent is not bypassed; v 2). This is without lessening the need for their real obedience-, they are still responsible for their life with him.
The point may be understood in the light of the NT teaching about the role of the Holy Spirit in enabling Christians to overcome their sinful nature (Rom. 8:9-27; Gal. i:16-25).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary:
30:1-10 In this chapter is a plain intimation of the mercy God has in store for Israel in the latter days.
This passage refers to the prophetic warnings of the last two chapters, which have been mainly fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, and in their dispersion to the present day; and there can be no doubt that the prophetic promise contained in these verses yet remain to come to pass.
The Jewish nation shall in some future period, perhaps not very distant, be converted to the faith of Christ; and, many think, again settled in the land of Canaan.
The language here used is in a great measure absolute promises; not merely a conditional engagement, but declaring an event assuredly to take place.
For the Lord himself here engages to circumcise their hearts; and when regenerating grace has removed corrupt nature, and Divine love has supplanted the love of sin, they certainly will reflect, repent, return to God, and obey him; and he will rejoice in doing them good.
The change that will be wrought upon them will not be only outward, or consisting in mere opinions; it will reach to their souls.
It will produce in them an utter hatred of all sin, and a fervent love to God, as their reconciled God in Christ Jesus; they will love him with all their hearts, and with all their soul.
They are very far from this state of mind at present, but so were the murderers of the Lord Jesus, on the day of Pentecost; who yet in one hour were converted unto God.
So shall it be in the day of God’s power; a nation shall be born in a day; the Lord will hasten it in his time.
As a conditional promise this passage belongs to all persons and all people, not to Israel only; it assures us that the greatest sinners, if they repent and are converted, shall have their sins pardoned, and be restored to God’s favor.
Sanctification begins in regeneration. The Spirit of God infuses into man that new living principle by which he becomes “a new creature” in Christ Jesus. This work, which begins in the new birth, is carried on in two ways--mortification, whereby the lusts of the flesh are subdued and kept under; and vivification, by which the life which God has put within us is made to be a well of water springing up unto everlasting life. This is carried on every day in what is called “perseverance,” by which the Christian is preserved and continued in a gracious state, and is made to abound in good works unto the praise and glory of God; and it culminates or comes to perfection, in “glory,” when the soul, being thoroughly purged, is caught up to dwell with holy beings at the right hand of the Majesty on high. But while the Spirit of God is thus the author of sanctification, yet there is a visible agency employed which must not be forgotten. “Sanctify them,” said Jesus, “through thy truth: thy word is truth.” The passages of Scripture which prove that the instrument of our sanctification is the Word of God are very many. The Spirit of God brings to our minds the precepts and doctrines of truth, and applies them with power. These are heard in the ear, and being received in the heart, they work in us to will and to do of God’s good pleasure. The truth is the sanctifier, and if we do not hear or read the truth, we shall not grow in sanctification. We only progress in sound living as we progress in sound understanding. “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” Do not say of any error, “It is a mere matter of opinion.” No man indulges an error of judgment, without sooner or later tolerating an error in practice. Hold fast the truth, for by so holding the truth shall you be sanctified by the Spirit of God.
Regeneration is a subject that lies at the very basis of salvation, and we should be very diligent to make sure that we really are “born again,” for there are many who imagine they are, who are not. Be assured that to be called a Christian is not the same nature as being a Christian, and that being born in a Christian country and being recognized as professing the Christian religion is of no significance at all unless there be something more added to it. Being “born again” is a matter so mysterious that human words cannot describe it. “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nevertheless, it is a change that is known and felt—known by works of holiness and felt by a gracious experience. This great work is supernatural. It is not an operation that a man performs for himself: A new principle is infused that works in the heart, renews the soul, and affects his whole life. It is not a change of my name, but a renewal of my nature, so that I am not the man I used to be, but a new man in Christ Jesus. To wash and dress a corpse is a far different thing from making it alive: Man can do the one—God alone can do the other. If you have, then, been “born again,” your declaration will be, “0 Lord Jesus, the everlasting Father, You are my spiritual Parent; if Your Spirit had not breathed into me the breath of a new, holy, and spiritual life, I would still be ‘dead in trespasses and sins.’ My heavenly life is wholly derived from You; to You I ascribe it. ‘My life is hidden with Christ in God.’ It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” May the Lord grant us assurance on this vital point, for to be unregenerate is to be unsaved, unpardoned, without God, and without hope.
“13 That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven milesfrom Jerusalem, 14 and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15 While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. 16 But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.“
Alistair Begg on Luke 24:16 from “Getting the Big Picture, Part A”
Luke is pointing out to us that we cannot see Christ unless He wills to disclose Himself
32 Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. 33 And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. 34 And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments. 35 And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” 36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine 37 and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” 38 There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”
39 One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
There are two main themes of the first part of his sermon “A Prayer and A Promise, Part B” : Salvation and Religion
Salvation
Both thieves hear the same thing, but each respond differently
The regeneration of the thief is a mystery of God
Religion
Religion makes people confident in themselves
Religion makes people stand up on chairs and makes them look down on everyone else
Religion thinks God responds positively to people when they do good stuff
Religion thinks God owes us something for the good we have done
You have good reason to “hate evil,” for just consider what harm it has already caused you. What a world of mischief sin has brought into your heart! Sin blinded you so that you could not see the beauty of the Savior; it made you deaf so that you could not hear the Redeemer’s tender invitations. Sin turned your feet into the way of death and poured poison into the very fountain of your being; it tainted your heart and made it “deceitful above all things, and desperately sick.” 1 What a creature you were when evil had done its utmost with you, before divine grace intervened! You were an heir of wrath just like others; you ran with the crowd to do evil. We were all like this, but Paul reminds us, “but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”– We have good reason, indeed, for hating evil when we look back and trace its deadly workings. We were in such a sorry state that our souls would have been lost if omnipotent love had not intervened to redeem us. Even now it is an active enemy, always looking for ways to harm us and to drag us to perdition. Therefore “hate evil,” Christian, unless you desire trouble. If you want to cover your path with thorns and plant nettles in your pillow, then fail to “hate evil”; but if you would live a happy life and die a peaceful death, then walk in all the ways of holiness, hating evil right to the end. If you truly love your Savior and want to honor Him, then “hate evil.” We know of no cure for the love of evil in a Christian like daily communion with the Lord Jesus. Be often with Him, and it is impossible for you to be at peace with sin.
Order my footsteps by Thy Word,
And make my heart sincere;
Let sin have no dominion, Lord,
But keep my conscience clear.
1. Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick;”
It is not for us to imagine that we can prove the truth of Christianity by our own arguments; nobody can prove the truth of Christianity except the Holy Spirit, by his own almighty work of renewing the blinded heart. It is the sovereign prerogative of Christ’s Spirit to convince men’s consciences of the truth of Christ’s gospel; and Christ’s human witnesses must learn to ground their hopes of success not on clever presentation of the truth by man, but on powerful demonstration of the truth by the Spirit.
Paul points the way here” When I came to you brethren, I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God in lofty words or wisdom . . . My speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but the power of God” (1 Cor 2:1-5). And because the Spirit does bear witness in this way, people come to faith when the gospel is preached. But without the Spirit there would not be a Christian in the world.
THEN ALL THE DISCIPLES LEFT HIM AND FLED. – MATTHEW 26:56
He never deserted them, but they in cowardly fear of their lives fled from Him at the very outset of His sufferings. This is but one instructive instance of the frailty of all believers if left to themselves; they are but sheep at best, and they flee when the wolf appears. They had all been warned of the danger and had promised to die rather than leave their Master; and yet they were seized with sudden panic and took to their heels. It may be that I, at the opening of this day, have braced myself to bear a trial for the Lord’s sake, and I imagine myself able for the challenge; but let me be careful in case with the same evil heart of unbelief I should depart from my Lord as the apostles did. It is one thing to promise, and quite another to perform. It would have been to their eternal honor to have stood manfully at Jesus’ side; they fled from honor. May I be kept from imitating them! Where else could they have been so safe as near their Master, who could presently call for twelve legions of angels? They fled from their true safety. 0 God, let me not play the fool also. Divine grace can make the coward brave. The smoking flax can flame forth like fire on the altar when the Lord wills it. These very apostles who were timid as hares grew to be bold as lions after the Spirit had descended upon them, and even so the Holy Spirit can make my wretched spirit brave to confess my Lord and witness for His truth. What anguish must have filled the Savior as He saw His friends so faithless! This was one bitter ingredient in His cup; but that cup is drained dry; let me not put another drop in it. If I forsake my Lord, I shall crucify Him afresh and put Him to an open shame. Keep me, 0 blessed Spirit, from such a shameful end.
Regeneration is the term used for this spiritual change wrought upon the heart by the power of the Holy Spirit sent forth from Christ’s throne
It is absolutely necessary that regeneration takes place in order for a man to be released from his fallen and depraved state to the Kingdom of God
Christ, in John 3, rests upon the reality that man is so depraved and fallen that his spiritual birth must take place first before he ever perceives or understands of the spiritual realities of the kingdom of heaven (John 3:3, 5)
In this way, the Spirit’s work is crucially important in delivering and changing the heart of these men so that they may believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved
This event, that spiritual change, is impossible with men, but possible with God
Without a manifestly true change on the mind of the person by God, they cannot believe, nor experience any deep significant trust on Christ
No unregenerate man, then, can see the kingdom of God unless God wills he should see it and converts him to be able to see it
From all this, it is manifest that redemption itself proceeds on the principle that God must allow admission to His kingdom first, and to apply a spiritual principle that quickens the soul to life
Several churches like the Roman Catholic,have associated the regenerative act with baptism, however, the Bible clearly teaches that baptism is a testimony that regeneration has taken place and not a means to attain it
The Bible is clear that regeneration is brought about by the Holy Spirit alone
Titus 3:5:”5he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,”
1 Cor2:6-16:6 Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. 7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. 8 None of i the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. 14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 16 “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
Regeneration is the catalyst that allows the Crhistian to interact with his creator
It is the beginning step of an eternal walk with God
Regeneration allows the individual to have a relationship with God and thus stands at the beginning of the Christian life
John Chapter 3:
Now there was a man of the Pharisees named h Nicodemus, i a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus [1] j by night and said to him, k “Rabbi, l we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do m unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is n born o again [2] he cannot p see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born q of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 r That which is born of the flesh is s flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. [3] 7 t Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You [4] must be born u again.’ 8 v The wind [5] blows w 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.”
Justification:
act of God, based on Christ’s work on the cross, whereby a sinner is pronounced righteous by the imputation of the righteousness of Christ
because Ephesians 4:14 says the goal of my preaching ministry should be that you “are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine.” I want you to be strong and stable and mature. In particular, I want you to know the doctrine of the imputation of God’s righteousness in Christ. I know “imputation” is a big and unusual word. But this is the word that has been used for hundreds of years to describe the truth that God “imputes” his righteousness to us through faith because of Christ’s obedience. Why should you be denied what tens of thousands of strong Christians have been strengthened by for centuries – the “imputation” of God’s righteousness in Christ? It’s a glorious truth that will change your life if you see it and savor it for what it is.
“Imputation” is different from “impartation.” God does “impart” to us gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit, so that we have them and they are in us growing and they are ours. But all of that gracious impartation through the Spirit is built on an even more firm foundation, namely, imputation – the work of God outside of us: God’s own righteousness, not imparted to us, but imputed to us. Credited to us, as Romans 4:6 and 11 say. Put to our account. Reckoned to be ours. I ask myself as a pastor, Why should the people of Bethlehem be denied the knowledge of this great doctrine that has sustained saints for centuries? Why should we cave in to the modern pragmatism that says doctrine is impractical? And I answer: we shouldn’t.
Sanctification:
Process of being made holy resulting in a changed lifestyle for the believer
Understanding the difference between justification and sanctification can be as important as understanding the difference between salvation and damnation. Rightly dividing between the two is of crucial importance. When you understand what they are, you can then draw a line in the sand and say, “This is what saves. This is not what saves.”
Justification is the work of God where the righteousness of Jesus is reckoned to the sinner so the sinner is declared by God as being righteous under the Law (Rom. 4:3; 5:1,9; Gal. 2:16; 3:11). This righteousness is not earned or retained by any effort of the saved. Justification is an instantaneous occurrence with the result being eternal life. It is based completely and solely upon Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross (1 Pet. 2:24) and is received by faith alone (Eph. 2:8-9). No works are necessary whatsoever to obtain justification. Otherwise, it is not a gift (Rom. 6:23). Therefore, we are justified by faith (Romans 5:1).
Sanctification, on the other hand, involves the work of the person. But it is still God working in the believer to produce more of a godly character and life in the person who has already been justified (Phil. 2:13). Sanctification is not instantaneous because it is not the work of God alone. The justified person is actively involved in submitting to God’s will, resisting sin, seeking holiness, and working to be more godly (Gal. 5:22-23). Significantly, sanctification has no bearing on justification. That is, even if we don’t live a perfect life, we are still justified.
Where justification is a legal declaration that is instantaneous, sanctification is a process. Where justification comes from outside of us, from God, sanctification comes from God within us by the work of the Holy Spirit in accordance with the Bible. In other words, we contribute to sanctification through our efforts. In contrast, we do not contribute to our justification through our efforts.
So although 2 Corinthians 5:17 and Ezekiel 36:26 speak of a decisive change that always occurs in the heart of every new believer, the outworking of that change is not instantaneous and absolute. Instead it is progressive over time and never complete in this life. However, the awareness of this internal struggle with sin should never be used as an excuse for sinful behavior. Rather, we should always keep in mind that we are saints called to live a life that is set apart for God.
“Sanctify them through Thy truth.” –John 17:17
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