Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20040613.htm

ADAPTING TO THE HOLY SPIRIT'S PRESENT MINISTRIES
Part II: Adapting To The Holy Spirit's Ministry Of Regeneration
(Titus 3:5 with John 3:1-8, 16)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

One of the most troubling experiences a believer can face is the UNCERTAINTY of doubting whether he or she is actually saved and is on his or her way to heaven. Consider the following challenges believers have shared with me regarding this matter:

(1) One believer told me that she used to sit in evangelistic meetings where, when she first arrived, she was convinced she had known Christ. However, the speaker would ask, "Are you sure you really believed in Christ, or if you expressed a false faith! After all, the Bible in James 2:19 says in the KJV: Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.' Well," the speaker would go on to say, "If the demons also believe, and they are on their way to hell, how do you know you had the right kind of faith when you believed? If you aren't sure, you'd better make sure right now lest you die on your way home and end up in hell fire!"

Consequently, believers exposed to such teaching have gone forward in such meetings in anguish of never being sure they have believed well enough or with the right kind of faith to go to heaven!

(2) Another believer one day asked me if she was truly saved, for, unlike other Christians who had experienced "wonderful" salvation joy when they believed in Christ, she had felt nothing unusual. There were no angelic voices, no vision from the heavens, no Christian hymn had flooded her mind!

(3) A relative of mine shared that she could not remember a particular time when she had come to faith in Christ. She said that as far back as she could remember, she had believed what her overseers had told her about Christ. Since she could not remember the time and date of her salvation, she wondered if she was truly saved!



Well, is there a PARTICULAR "salvation EXPERIENCE" one must have to KNOW for SURE that he or she is SAVED? Do we have to remember a specific TIME when we trusted in Christ to be saved? HOW can we be SURE of our salvation -- what is involved in being "born again" as Jesus describes in John 3:1-8?"



(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )



Need: "I know John 3:16 says I must trust in Christ to be saved, but some say John 3:5 shows I must also be baptized for salvation while others imply we FEEL GOOD IF we are TRULY being saved! Well, my experience' seems to fall short of such claims, so, am I saved?!"
  1. Paul taught the Holy Spirit "regenerates" or causes a spiritual new birth to occur when one trusts in Christ for salvation, Titus 3:5.
  2. This event is described by Jesus to Nicodemus in John 3:1-8, 16, and we view this passage and others to clear up our questions:
    1. First, no human merit produces regeneration: it is from God alone:
      1. When Nicodemus, a theologically conservative ruler of the Jews came to Jesus to admit Jesus was from God, Nicodemus would have presumed he was destined to gain eternal life, John 3:1-2.
        1. The religious ruler of the Hebrews named Nicodemus who came to Jesus by night was of the Pharisee party, John 3:1.
        2. According to Jesus, these Pharisees promoted Scripture truth so that even Jesus Himself told His disciples to heed what the Pharisees taught from the Old Testament, Matthew 23:2-3a.
        3. Well, Nicodemus also admitted Jesus was from God due to the miracles Jesus had performed, John 3:2.
        4. Accordingly, Nicodemus had assumed he was right with God and would enter God's heaven at the end of his earthly life.
      2. However, Jesus claimed that unless anyone was "born again," he would not even see the kingdom of God, John 3:3!
      3. Stunned by this news that even he with all his religious credentials had to be "born again," Nicodemus asked how he physically could reenter his mother's womb to achieve that goal, John 3:4!
    2. Second, no human work leads to regeneration: it is by faith alone:
      1. Jesus told Nicodemus that He spoke of a spiritual birth, and alluded to the prophecy about it in Ezekiel 36:24-27, cf. John 3:5:
        1. Jesus said a man needed to be born "of water and of the Spirit," terms Nicodemus as a religious teacher (John 3:10) should have recalled from Ezekiel 36:24-27 pictured the "new birth": (a) Ezekiel predicted God's salvation of Israel when He would gather her to the Holy Land from Gentile lands, Ezekiel 36:24. (b) God would then ceremonially "sprinkle" clean water on Israel and put a new heart and His SPIRIT in her, 36:25-27!
        2. Based on this prophecy, Jesus told Nicodemus he had to be "born of the Spirit" (Jn. 3:6-8) by trusting alone in Him, 3:16!
      2. Thus, Jesus spoke of an event to occur due to faith alone and not to faith plus water baptism or plus some other ritual that the very religious Pharisee, Nicodemus would have already observed!
    3. Third, no experience marks regeneration: it is not itself "felt" by man:
      1. A series of aorist tenses in the Greek New Testament text occur in John 1:13 and 3:3, 5, 7 to describe this "new birth," and they tell of "an event rather than a process," Ryrie, The Holy Spirit, p. 65.
      2. Now, Dr. Ryrie notes other Scripture verses like John 2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1, 4, 18 use the perfect tense in speaking of "regeneration," but the perfect tense "also has the idea of a single, decisive, initial act (like the aorist) but adds the idea of lasting results . . ." Ibid.
      3. As the "new birth" occurs the instant one trusts alone in Christ, it is not "derived from or based on human experience." So, from man's view, it is "a nonexperiential work of God," Ibid., p. 66!
    4. Fourth, though regeneration is not "felt", it yields important results:
      1. God's regeneration produces a new nature in man, 2 Cor. 5:17.
      2. When the "born again" party depends on the Holy Spirit, he lives a new and righteous life in his new nature, one that heeds God and is marked by love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and self-control, Gal. 5:16, 22-23; 1 John 2:3-6.
Application: (1) REGARDLESS what we have HEARD about being born again,' for it TRULY to occur, we must TRUST in Christ Who died for our sin, was buried and rose again to be saved unto eternal life by God, John 3:16; 1 Cor. 15:1-4. (2) If we have DONE so but doubt if we REALLY ARE born again' or saved' due to misgivings of any kind, be SURE that (a) apart from ANY particular EVENT, (b) apart from any particular FEELING (c) and apart from any particular LIFESTYLE lived before we believed in Christ, (d) we ARE SAVED, and (3) rely on the indwelling Holy Spirit for godly living TODAY! (4) We can ALSO take the following OBJECTIVE TEST regarding our salvation status: GOD'S WORD in 1 Corinthians 12:3 and 1 John 4:2-3 claims that IF we confess AS OUR OWN BELIEF that Jesus is the Creator God come in the body, we ARE saved!

Lesson: ONLY at the INSTANT one MERELY TRUSTS in Christ for salvation from sin, the Holy Spirit UNCONDITIONALLY "regenerates" him APART FROM ANY HUMAN EXPERIENCE, producing a NEW NATURE so that one can, by God's indwelling Spirit, live righteously!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

 One of the amazing facts about the "salvation experiences" of some of the believers God has most used for His glory in history is the fact that they were saved under such humble circumstances:

(1) For example, Martin Luther whom God used to produce history's civilization-altering Protestant Reformation was saved while studying the book of Romans. This "unknown scholarly monk" who was assigned to teach Romans as a professor at the "miserable heap of sand'", the "despised Nazareth of [the university of] Wittenburg", Germany in 1515 began to notice that Paul asserted "a man was not justified in God's sight by his own works, or merits, or righteousness, but by faith in Christ . . ." (J. Atkinson, The Great Light: Luther and Reformation, p. 15, 19; F. F. Bruce, Romans: Revised Edition, Tyndale N.T. Com., pp. 56-58 as cited in Jack Kuhatschek's work, Romans: Becoming New In Christ , p. 6) Luther reported: "When I realized this I felt myself absolutely born again . . . There and then the whole of Scripture took on another look to me . . .'" Ibid., Atkinson, p. 20.

Consequently, Western Civilization was drastically affected!

(2) Then, on May 24, 1738, an unsettled man, John Wesley was saved while listening to someone read "Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans." (Ibid., Kuhatschek) Wesley was attending a religious society meeting "very unwillingly'" where someone was reading that portion of Luther's commentary. Then, in Wesley's own words, "About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for my salvation; and an assurance was given me that he had taken my sins away, even mine; and saved me from the law of sin and death.'" (Ibid.) Wesley then began to be mightily used of God, and the great revival, the Great Awakening was begun in our land by God's grace. (Ibid.)

(3) Dwight L. Moody, a noted evangelist near the end of the 19th century, was led to Christ by an unknown man who cared for his soul enough to witness to him where Moody worked in a shoe store.

Thus, it is NOT the SPLENDOR of any "experience" one has when he trusts in Christ that determines IF he is saved. Rather, the REALITY of one's salvation rests on SCRIPTURE'S clarification of HOW and WHEN he is saved! May we thus trust SCRIPTURE for the REALITY of our salvation!