Desperation to Regeneration

Let’s open our bibles to John chapter 3. It’s good to be in the Lord’s house, to pray, to worship, to be with one another. Can I just say to everyone here… You’re beautiful, You’re amazing, and you are more like Jesus when you come to the Lord’s house to be with others seeking and worshiping the Lord. It’s an amazing privilege to shepherd you, to teach you, to lead you, top pray for you and to love on you.

This week has been a hard week for me. On Tuesday I was handed some things to spiritually struggle with that I had not planned on dealing with. It was hard to write a sermon when your heart is hurting and something you thought you’ve given to God is trying to linger on. On Wednesday I came over to the church to work and during my morning devotional time, I was currently reading the book of Romans, and it just so happen to be the chapter 12 that Paul says in verse 19, Dear friends, never take revenge.

Leave that to the righteous anger of God for the Scripture say, I will take revenge; I will pay them back, says the Lord, The Lord reminded me of two things, If we harbor bitterness in our live’s, we cant expect joy to find a place to dock. Harmony can’t be lived out unless we let the Holy Spirit disarm us. If we want peace and joy, in our life, we must give what we have, within us that causes bitterness and wrath, and we must give it to the Lord, and in turn he gives us in return His peace, and His joy.

Thursday comes around and I am here again praying for the Lords direction for the message and I am struggling. My soul is crying out to God asking Him to heal the wound i had. Then My wife, who has been amazingly growing the last few months in Christ. She can just sense I am hurting and she sends me a text that says, If we dwell excessively in the past and continue to dwell about our past mistakes and our past failings, it will neutralize the ability to change and improve our lives.

How true is that statement. My wife knew I was conflicted, she knew my heart was hurting. So I fell to the altar once again on Thursday morning and All I will say is, what the enemy’s aim to destroy, hurt and divide, God has given peace, joy and a deeper longing for Him. I can testify before you today, there is healing at the foot of the cross. Later that morning as I was preparing for the district family camp meeting a man came into the church, looked me in the eyes and said, Pastor I want to be baptized.

There is no way I could have baptized that man with a heart of bitterness. I hope you’re seeing how God works with grace. God’s Holy Spirit was bringing grace into my life, he was bringing grace into my wife’s life, and he was bringing grace into that mans life. And at the crossroads where all three of our lives intersects, we always find abundant openings of grace to share with one another.

I told him, let me prepare my heart, i went and got some water and I baptized him right over there. We did my favorite thing to do.. we hugged and embraced and praise God for his amazing grace. I believe he walked out of here, recommitted to the Lord, and set a part for service. God will use that man for great and mighty things. After everything was said and done, this is what the Lord laid on my heart, We desperately need the Holy Spirit to open the gospel in our lives.

The gospel. Last week we looked at how we are to be desperate for the Presence of God in our life. That we should never move forward without God presence and without this hunger for His presence. This week what we need is the work of the Holy Spirit to open the gospel into our lives. What does it mean to have the gospel opened in our lives? Well, in theological terms that means we are regenerated.

Now, typically we speak of justifications at the same time. But for time sake, I want to just bring to the table this word regeneration. What is it and how it affects our lives. And I want to ask the question that burns in my heart everyday, Are you born again? Let’s start here. Let’s stand together as we read John chapter 3. Find with me verses 5-8 Jesus answered, ‘I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.

Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, “You must be born again.” 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.’ I think this is one of the most stout and bold statements in the gospels.

Again, another one is when Luke tells us that JEsus tells people either to repent or perish. There is no grey area. There is no middle ground. You are either in or not. Make a decision today and walk in it. One of the greatest hindrances in walking in the Spirit of God is being lukewarm and indecisive in our walk. But one of the most stout and heavy statements made by Jesus was, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.

So that brings out this very importance question. Can anyone believe in Jesus, trust in Jesus and not be born again. And the answer to that is yes. How do we know this? we know this because we can look at what Jesus teaches us from the previous chapter. Looks back with me at the end of chapter 2. JEsus teaches us this in John chapter 2, right before he talks to Nicodemus..

Jesus tells the crowd and us, 23 Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name. 24 But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. Jesus knew their hearts. The people saw, the people believed. The people wanted. The people asked. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them. Can we just take a moment to let that verse settle into our hearts this morning.

They believed and trusted but Jesus didn’t entrust himself to them. Lord, I pray you find hearts here this morning that are trustworthy of your holy precious presence. Amen So, how are we born again? How does this process begin that we call regeneration? Well, it begins by grace. We have a term called, prevenient Grace. It means God was working in our life before we even knew GOd.

You and I didn’t just wake up one day and say, ya know, Having me some God sounds like a good plan. Before salvation we don’t know God. The Holy Spirit is working in our lives to help reveal HIm to us. THat’s a part of this regeneration. When we are born again, God reveals our need. I need a lot of things. I want a lot of things too. But there is a difference between what I need and what i want.

A need is something necessary to live and function. A want is something that can improve our quality of life. So many people live this life with the title of christian but living with Jesus as a want rather than a need. I want something to improve the quality my life here on earth. I want a faith where I can morally live in sin and live according to my own desires, and in the end believe that I have eternity with Jesus waiting for me.

Church, that is one of the biggest lies that has not only infiltrated the church, but has also invaded our culture. That we can live the same way we lived before we came to Jesus. That there is no difference between Matthew before salvation and Matthew after salvation. God reveals our need. And He reveals our need and opens our eyes to the truth of the gospel. When we are born again, God doesn’t reveal to us a way to improve the quality of our life, but he reveals to us a salvation that is necessary to live and function.

Just like the air I breathe, it’s a necessity to have to live and function. When the Spirit begins this regeneration process, he’s opening our eyes to our need. What you’ve got in John 3 is Nicodemus, Nicodemus a Pharisee, who was a member of the Jewish ruling council was a respected man. He was devout in his life. He spent his entire life learning how to enter the kingdom of God.

He spent his entire life teaching others what commands to obey, what actions to take to enter the kingdom of heaven. And now, Jesus is there before him telling him that everything he has worked for, for his entire life was meaningless. Can you imagine living your entire life in pursuit of God and then having God tell you, that all of your work was meaningless. That all of our religion in the end is really meaningless.

It is just a huge coverup to the fact that we are truly isolated from God? And so, Jesus says. You must be born again. What Jesus is doing is he’s helping this learned man, this man of the word of GOd who knows the word, to open his eyes and to reveal to him the greatest need. And His greatest need was not the law, but a new birth to know GOd.

His greatest need was a relationship. To be regenerated and to be born again,this new birth was necessary to know God. No person in this room chooses to be born. It’s absolutely impossible to give birth to yourself, right. No one, in the history of time, has ever been in a place where they had the ability to look down at this big blue marble and go, I guess I don’t have anything else better to do.

I guess I’ll just enter earth now. That looks like an amazing place to live out my life. War, famine, animosity, separated from God. Sign me up for some of that… YOLO……….. nobody does do that! Why? Because there is nothing good in us and without God it’s impossible. what is needed? We need to see a biblical snapshot of our life to see we desperately need Jesus. So the Holy Spirit has already been working to accomplish this in all of our lives.

Remember, prevenient Grace. God is working in you before you even know, he’s working to reveal to you and me our sinful state, a need for a savior and a call into holiness. But before holiness, we’ve got to witness this great need. The word of God coupled with the work of the Spirit begins revealing to us that were in desperate need of a savior. We’re morally evil. I know for most of us, we’re willing to be called sinful.

But Matthew, Man.. you’re saying I am morally evil? Yes. Genesis 8:21 says, “...Every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood.” We are spiritually sick. At the core of who we are is a eternal disease that reaches far deeper than any cancer or disease known to man. We’re reminded in Matthew 9:12 - 12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.

Thirdly we are slaves to our sin. John 8:34, everyone who sins, Jesus says, is a slave to sin. Have you sinned? Then your a slave to sin. Romans 6:16 and 20 talk about how we are slaves to the sinful nature, gratifying the desires of the sinful nature. We’re blinded by the truth. I Corinthians 2:14 says, that we cannot understand the things of God, because they are foolish to us.

We are lovers of darkness. Ephesians 5:8 says, you were once darkness. John 3:20 reminds us everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into the lighter for fear that his deeds will be exposed. Morally evil, spiritually sick, slaves to sin, we are blinded to truth, lovers of darkness, and all of those pool together to say this huge statement… we are all spiritually dead. Ephesians 2:1 states, “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins.

SO let me ask, if this is true… help me here…. If this is true…. That since birth you and I had every inclination to walk away from God, to be morally evil, to be blinded by truth and to be lovers of darkness. How can we ever choose good? We can’t and it seems impossible now, right? We’ve got to understand that without God we would never make any good decisions.

It doesn’t matter who you are. A spiritually dead person is dead. And a life a part from is dead. And this new birth is impossible without God. Sop, pastor.. whAt do I need to do to not be like those people that Jesus wouldn’t give his presence to? Well, that’s a very important question. The answer is this, if I am morally evil, blinded by truth, a lover of darkness, and so forth, I realize and I am lead by the Holy Spirit to realize that I must be absolutely surrender and dependent upon the Spirit of GOd.

That’s the second part. He not only opens my eyes to a need, but in regeneration the Holy Spirit begins to change my heart. Listen to this beautiful Scripture in Titus 3:3-7: At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he 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, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. What happened? Transformation! When we are born again, when we come alive in Christ. The Spirit changes our heart. Let me use say what this is not, this is not.

Well, I guess i need to come to church. Not because I want to worship but because I made a public confession that I need Jesus and i don’t want people to think Im not christian. or I don’t really want to pray and ask God to forgive me of my sins. Salvation is not those things. Salvation is a change of heart. It’s not where we, begrudgingly, let go of the things of the world, so we can hang onto Christ.

It’s where we see the Spirit of God open our eyes to see this stuff does not compare to the treasure we have in Christ, and we cling to Christ because we want Him. Christ becomes all we desire. That is what Ezekiel says in 36:24-27 “For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land.

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 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.” What happened?

He changes our hearts. He cleanses us. He makes us clean. That’s what the SPirit does. He cleanses us by the work of Christ on the cross through His word. Not by our work, not by us deciding one day that my mam-maw and pap-paw was Christian so I will be to. It’s not like when I was in high school and they asked if we wanted to be voters. So I looked to see what my family was, and I said, I want to be in that group.

We are washed in the word.. And this is my favorite part… he reveals to us our need, he changes our heart and then the Holy Spirit indwells within us. I love knowing that the SPirit of GOd is within me. Becuse here is why. I want Christ. I need Christ. Because my eyes have been opened that apart form him i am sinful. Apart from Him I will walk in darkness, and love my darkness and spend eternity in darkenss if I do not have the very living presence of GOd within me.

So the Spirit opens our eyes, he opens our hearts, he find a home there and then he enables our belief. He helps us believe. When I begin to not believe in what the word says, that’s a sign that I am wavering in my faith. And I go tot he Lord in prayer. Oh Lord, help my unbelief. Mark 9:23-34 Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.” 24 The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!” He helps me believe but he also helps me turn from sin.

The Spirit enables us to turn from sin; to turn from the darkness that we live in; to turn from sin and to trust in Christ. Turn and trust—that’s the picture in Acts 2. Repent and be baptized. Repent—be baptized. Repent. Turn to God, so your sins may be wiped out. Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household. All throughout the book of Acts, what you see is turn and trust, turn and trust.

The Spirit in regeneration enables us to turn from sin and trust in Christ. Just Monday, alicia and I went to cracker barrel for our weekly parsonage secretary meeting. As we sat, i sat on the side that was facing these four lovely ladies who were dressed very beautiful, but they were dressed a little more provocative than I would have been comfortable with seeing while eating my morning grits. My mind was talking me places i did not want it to go…

so I asked Alicia. Would you mind switching me seats? She looked at me like I was weird, and she said, I guess so. I didn’t want to be a slave to my old sin. I know what I was like in college. I know what I have struggled with my entire life. I don’t want to be that way anymore, I want to look upon my wife and see her beautiful face and have her know she has my faithfulness in body and mind.

It’s the same way with Jesus, are we faithful to him with body and mind soul and Spirit? He helps my belief, he helps me turn from sin, and the Spirit transforms our life, not just for us, but greater for us. He transforms us for the eternal good. He transforms us for the Fathers eternal glory. Our walk in Christ ultimately is not for us. That is where we get it wrong.

Our walk with Christ is to bring glory to the son, who in turn brings glory to the father. Listen to what happens before Ezekiel’s transformation. Listen to what He says in Ezekiel 36:22-23, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: “It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am going to do these things...”’ ‘“...but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone.

I will show the holiness of my great name...Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Sovereign LORD, when I show myself holy through you before their eyes.”’ it’s absolutly selfish of us to say that Jesus died for me and just leave it there. It’s absolutly selfish of us to say that eternity is for my goodness and for my good behavior and it is my reward for all of these things I’ve done on earth.

And a heart that thinks otherwise is a heart that only came to Christ to save it;’ skin and not to be kin with the great I am. God is making a great name for himself, and what he does is he turns us from sin, enables us to trust in Christ for our good and for his a glory. All of this is to lead us to this one question this morning.

Have you been born again? I want to ask you, have you witnessed these things I have mentioned in your life? I’m not asking if you sit in a seat, or you attend the activities. Has the Spirit of God opened your eyes to see the depth of your sinfulness and your need for Him? Has he changed your heart? Not if you have found a list of things that somebody has told you to do in order to earn salvation.

“Say these words.” “Pray this way.” Has your heart been changed by the Spirit of God? Has He cleansed your heart from sin? Has He put His Spirit in you and begun the process of transformation? I’m not saying that everything is transformed and perfect in our lives— we’re going to talk about that Next week I beleive at this time were going to talk about perfections and sancfitification—but has He begun this process of transformation as you turn to Him, as you turn from sin and trust in Christ?

You and I will never understand holiness if we’ve never explreindfed salvation and regeneration. So I urge you, if there is doubt, If your heart is saying, I need to be born again. NOt just with words, but with the Spirit of GOd within me. I want to invite you to come forward. I just want to say this… even the desire to want to come forward is the SPirit working within you.

Have you been born again. Will you now turn the desperation in your life, over to the Holyn Spirit let the power of regernation take over. For the glory of the Son, Father and Holy Spirit. *