Washing of Regeneration | Titus 3:1-7

Well, I want to begin our time this morning by

telling a story from church history. In my opinion,

one of the most important disputes that have

come up in church history in the history of our

faith, primarily because it shaped the way every

branch of Christendom understands the concept

of original sin. And it has a direct connection

to the way the Protestant Reformers sought to

correct church dogmas in the West back in the

16th and 17th centuries. But this particular

dispute happens way before that, about 1 ,100

years before that, at the turn of the 5th century.

This story centers around a monk by the name

of Pelagius. Pelagius had made a name for himself

in his homeland in the British Isles, which in

the 5th century was actually a part of the Roman

Empire. Now, as I say that, that gives me an

excuse to do what? Put a map on the screen. Boom.

Good. So we're going to talk about the travels

of Pelagius the monk. That is a map of the Mediterranean

region. The blue dot is always Jerusalem. Very

good. The red dot is always Rome. I have a new

dot on there because when we get to the 5th century,

the yellow dot is important. It represents Constantinople.

Very good. Or the Eastern Roman Empire. And the

green dot, of course, is... and that is where

Pelagius is from, and we're going to trace where

he goes next. Now, Pelagius and his followers

were known for promoting what we call a hyper

-ascetic lifestyle, denying themselves all comforts

in life in order to please God, in order to conform

themselves to a very rigorous law. And Pelagius

was known in his homeland for constantly railing

against what he saw as moral laxity in the church,

blaming all the bishops in the West, for emphasizing

the doctrine of grace over the moral commands

of Scripture. So around the year 410, Pelagius

and his entourage left Britain, and they traveled

to Rome to see if they could influence the folks

in the imperial city. And when he arrived in

Rome, he quickly gained a following, primarily

because people were impressed with his rhetoric,

impressed by his disciplined lifestyle. But unfortunately

for him, soon after he arrived in Rome, the Visigoths

laid siege to the outskirts of the city of Rome.

And like many others, Pelagius was forced to

flee for his life, choosing to evacuate and travel

by sea to North Africa. And he ended up... in

this area near the ancient city of Carthage.

And there Pelagius came up against a theological

force named Augustine. Now, you've heard me talk

about him many times. Augustine was a philosopher

turned bishop in a region known as Hippo, which

is in North Africa. Today, it's Algeria. And

what followed was a back and forth debate between

Pelagius and Augustine over three areas of systematic

theology that are essential to what we believe,

the doctrine of man, the doctrine of sin, and

the doctrine of salvation. And as soon as Pelagius

arrived in North Africa, Augustine bit into him.

immediately started writing a series of letters

denouncing his teaching, primarily focused on

four things that Pelagius believed. Number one,

he believed that there was no such thing as original

sin. Number two, he believed that human nature

was inherently predisposed towards goodness because

man had been made in the image of God. Number

three, that rather than our will being enslaved

to sin, he believed that man is utterly free

and able to choose either good or evil, able

to follow after God or reject him. And at the

root of all of that, number four, that Adam's

sin affected only Adam. That Adam's fall in the

garden affected only Adam. The rest of humanity

simply followed Adam into sin merely by imitation,

not by virtue of having a corrupted nature. And

so what that meant for Pelagius was that human

beings are capable of not sinning by striving

to follow the second Adam, who is Christ. And

through that striving, combined with God's grace,

Pelagius taught that man is capable of actually

achieving a state of sinlessness. Now, in response

to that, Augustine wrote that Pelagius had completely

misunderstood the nature of humanity's core problem.

And as a result of that, he had failed to understand

the solution to the problem that came in the

person of Christ. By rejecting original sin and

the corruption of human nature that came from

the fall, what Pelagius had actually done was

create a doctrine of grace that actually nullified

grace because it was contingent upon man's striving.

Augustine ripped him all over the place. Echoing

the words of Paul in Romans 5, Augustine insisted

that Adam's corrupted nature is passed on to

every single one of us. Paul writes, through

one man, sin entered into the world, and death

through sin, through one transgression, the fall

in the garden, Paul says, there resulted condemnation

to all men. So by nature, Augustine said, we're

all corrupted. We all stand guilty before the

holy standards of the Lord. And that is precisely

why we need grace. Because we're guilty before

God is precisely why we need a savior. We don't

become sinners when we sin, Augustine said. We

are sinners. And because we are sinners, that's

why we sin. It's our nature. So this was the

battle that shaped up. So Pelagius was sort of

humiliated in North Africa, publicly rebuked,

and so in the year 412, he bailed. He took off

and he headed towards the Holy Land to find hopefully

a more receptive audience there, but Augustine

did not stop. Augustine continued throughout

the 420s, writing and preaching on biblical doctrine

that refuted not just Pelagius, but all of his

followers that had been left behind in North

Africa. And it didn't get any easier for Pelagius

in the Holy Land. He was officially accused of

heresy at a synod in Jerusalem in 415 and then

condemned by two North African synods in the

year 416 and 418. And after that, nothing is

known about the man's life. He drifted into obscurity.

Other than today, we still bring him up as the

arch heretic of the doctrine of salvation. Poor

guy. That is his reputation. Just to add insult

to injury, 13 years later at the Ecumenical Council

of Ephesus in 431, what we call today Pelagianism

was thoroughly condemned by all of the bishops

from both the West and the East. Now, I'd love

to say that that was the end of the issue, but

if you study church history, you find that heresy

has a tendency to stick around. It has this way

of clawing back in a whole different form and

reappearing, and that is exactly what happened

with Pelagianism. Years later, another monk,

this man named John Cassian, who was a prominent

voice in monastic life in Egypt and Constantinople

and later in Marseilles, he promoted a mediating

position between Augustine on one hand and Pelagius

on the other. And he taught something that today

we call semi -Pelagianism. By the way, not semi

-Augustinianism, but semi -Pelagianism. Seeking

to find a middle ground on this issue to try

to make everybody happy about this issue of free

will and salvation. And while you might look

at it and say, well, it's a less offensive heresy

than Pelagianism, it's still rooted in a series

of unbiblical premises that lead us to unbiblical

conclusions. But sadly, it's being taught today

all over the place. In every corner of the modern

-day church, whether people realize it or not,

we are still teaching semi -Pelagianism. This

is how it goes. First, Cassian and others, they

would acknowledge the concept of original sin,

and they would say that, yes, all of mankind

has been impacted by the fall. But they claim

in the fall, man was only damaged. He was only

weakened or injured. It didn't incapacitate him.

So semi -Pelagianism denies the concept of depravity.

In semi -Pelagianism, man is weakened but still

capable, capable of inclining his heart towards

God and seeking after him, assisted by his free

will and his own self -generated faith. And this

in spite of what Paul writes about natural man

in Ephesians 2, that man is not just damaged

but dead, dead in his transgressions. And what

Paul writes in Romans 3, that there is none righteous,

not even one. There is none who understands there

is, how many you seek after God on their own?

None. None. Now, Cassian didn't deny the need

for God's grace in order to be saved. What he

taught was, as man in his own free will is able

to turn to God in faith, generated by himself,

God responds to that. and then gives that man

sufficient grace to save him, completing the

process. So in semi -Pelagianism, salvation is

a cooperative effort. God does his part, but

man starts that process, and together, salvation

is achieved. And again, this is still very common

in churches all over the world today. It's a

free will soteriology, and it's often taught

subtly, and it's often not challenged. But we'll

find out in just a second why it's problematic.

So grab your Bibles. We're going to Titus chapter

Titus 3 · chapter mention

3. I got a map in there. Nice. So yeah, so this

is going to be a little bit theologically heavy

this morning because we're talking about very,

very important theological terms that show up

in our passage for this morning. Let's back up

to verse 1. We'll make sure that we read in context

down through verse 7. So here is what Paul writes

to Titus, what he instructs this young protege

to proclaim to the believers that are in the

churches there on the island of Crete. Verse

1, he says, remind them, Titus, to do what? To

be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient,

to be ready for every good deed, to malign no

one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration.

By the way, that's the way we should be in Santa

Clarita today, right? In other words, make sure

that the people in Crete, these believers, that

they maintain their testimony in front of the

unbelieving world. Exhort them, Dave just prayed

this, to adorn the gospel with their lives, being

a blessing to their culture and being good citizens.

And as you do that, Titus, remind them of what

they used to be. This is what comes up in verse

3. As you're doing this, as you're dealing with

people of the culture, remind them what they

used to be, verse 3. For we also, Paul includes

himself, you and me, Titus, and everybody else,

we also were once, that's past tense, once, what?

Foolish ourselves. We were fools. Everyone in

this room was at this place too. We were fools,

right? Disobedient, deceived. enslaved to various

lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice

and envy, hateful and hating one another. And

so what happened? Did we fix ourselves? How many

of you guys feel like you fixed yourself? Did

we recognize how awful we were and turn to God

on our own? Paul says no. Look at verses four

and five. He says, but when the kindness of God

our Savior and his love for mankind appeared,

by sending the Son, right, he saved us. God saved

us. We didn't save ourselves. God saved us. And

he saved us based on what? Well, 1 Paul says

this, not on the basis of deeds which we've done

in righteousness, in case you were confused.

You weren't saved on the basis of your good deeds.

So that rules out the possibility that we can

somehow earn our salvation or merit our salvation

based on good works, based on the visible church

that we're a part of. But then Paul tells us

what the true basis of our salvation is. Underline

it, highlight it, mark it down. He says the basis

of salvation is according to God's mercy. You

see it there in the text? According to his mercy.

So if any human being in the history of man is

ever saved, it's due to this one essential fact

that God has been merciful. Now the question

we want to go on, because we talked about this

several weeks ago, the question we want to answer

next is the next logical one. If we're saved

by God's mercy, according to his grace, how does

he save us? What is the mechanism by which he

saves us? And that's what we see continuing in

verse 5. He saved us by the washing of regeneration

and renewing by the Holy Spirit. That's the mechanism.

whom he poured out upon us richly through Jesus

Christ our Savior, so that being justified by

his grace, We would be made heirs according to

the hope of eternal life. Guys, this is some

of the most beautiful language in the New Testament,

right? Just overflowing with the goodness of

God. But what you see here is a series of important

statements that help us piece together how salvation

comes to us. And mark these things in your minds,

guys, and in your hearts, so that never again

you go to some church and you get misled into

semi -Pelagian thinking. That somehow you are

the one that... that played a role that you started

the process of your own salvation. Once again,

you see the basis for salvation, not our good

deeds, right? Nothing in us. It's rooted in God's

kindness, in God's love, and God's mercy. Then

we see the means of our salvation, that is the

power of the Holy Spirit through the work of

Christ, producing in us and for us regeneration,

renewal, and justification. And finally, the

result of salvation, we are made heirs. We are

adopted as sons and daughters to the hope of

eternal life. Guys, we could literally close

our Bibles right there and just sing some more

praise songs because just those basic three statements

are so beautiful. We could just shut it down

right there, but I want to go on. I want to go

on. Where do we go from here? Well, I want to

hone in in the time we have today on this concept

of regeneration. And also the term washing, because

historically that term washing has created all

kinds of confusion among believers. But before

we do that, let me give you a couple of quick

notes of Christology for you to see here, especially

for anybody who's ever heard this question asked

by an unbeliever, or maybe you've thought it

yourself. Does the New Testament actually say

that Jesus is God? That question's floating around

all the time. Well, here in this passage, the

answer's yes. And in fact, it's all over the

place if you read the text carefully. So look,

first of all, who's called Savior in verse four?

God is. Now, the context seems to favor the idea

that that's a reference to God the Father because

he's the one who sends the Son in his appearing

and bringing of salvation. So I think in verse

four, God the Father's our Savior, but who's

called Savior in verse six? Jesus is. Okay, so

the Father is Savior and Jesus is the Savior.

And historically we've said, yeah, that's because

they are consubstantial. The Father and the Son

are one in substance, in essence, in attributes,

and in purpose. So in a subtle but very clear

way, what Paul's doing here is making Jesus equal

to the Father. And you'll read right past it

if you don't pay attention, but that's exactly

what he's doing. Oh, and by the way, there's

also a Trinitarian polemic built into the passage

because all three persons of the Trinity are

found right here in these verses in relation

to salvation. The Father sending the Son, the

Son accomplishing the work of redemption, and

the Spirit producing regeneration and renewal

by way of the Son. So we have incredible Christology

and Trinitarianism just in these few verses.

So when I mentioned, I don't know how many weeks

ago, I said this is one of the most important

passages for New Testament theology. This is

why. This is beautiful stuff. Okay, let's dive

deeper. Look at verse 5 again. I want to focus

in on this word regeneration. And you can see

up on the screen, the word that Paul uses here

is a very unique word. Pallaginesia. Okay? It's

a word that you'll find only twice in the entire

New Testament. Twice. First here in Titus 3,

and then in Matthew 19, where Jesus uses it,

which means it's worth looking at much, much

closer. Some of you guys remember the context

of Matthew 19. The Lord is speaking to large

crowds. He's out in Judea beyond the Jordan,

but he's also teaching his disciples privately.

And remember the rich young ruler? Right after

Jesus addresses this rich young man's question,

which is, how do I obtain eternal life? Jesus

says to the 12, you know what? It's hard for

a rich man to get into the kingdom of God. And

then using obvious hyperbole, he says, in fact,

it's so hard, it's easier for a camel to go through

the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter

the kingdom of God. And how do the disciples

respond to that teaching? They're shocked. Why?

Because in their paradigm, it was the wealthy

priests in Jerusalem who were supposed to be

leading other people into the kingdom of God.

They obviously get in, and they're supposed to

help us get in, too. And Jesus blows their minds

with this teaching. And if that's true, they

ask Jesus, well, then who can be saved? Because

if those guys in the holy garments in Jerusalem

aren't going to be saved, who can be saved? Right?

And what does Jesus say? Remember? He says, with

people, this is impossible. Now, don't read past

that. Listen again. With people, this is impossible.

It's impossible for a human being to buy his

way into the kingdom or to work his way into

the kingdom or to somehow find a loophole and

work his way in. But, Jesus adds, with God, what?

All things are possible. That's an incredibly

important teaching here. And that's what we see

also in Titus 3. If the basis for God saving

us is his mercy, then yes, even a rich man can

be saved if God chooses to pour out his mercy

richly upon that man. That's the teaching. But

in that moment, you know, the disciples are confused

and Jesus' answer doesn't satisfy Peter, of course,

of all guys. In fact, it makes him anxious, and

he says to Jesus, well, look, Lord, we left everything

to follow you, so what's in it for us? What's

left for us, he says. And here comes the connection

to regeneration. Jesus says to them, truly I

say to you, you who have followed me in the renewal

of all things, and that is where you see this

word, paligenesia. Literally, it says in the

regeneration. When the Son of Man sits on his

glorious throne, you also shall sit upon 12 thrones,

judging the 12 tribes of Israel. Now that is

unique to the apostles, but look at everybody

else. Everyone who has left houses or brothers

or sisters or father or mother or children or

farms for my namesake will receive many times

as much and will inherit eternal life. So you've

got to understand the context here. Peter asks

about his own individual salvation. Like, what's

in it for me and for the other guys? And Jesus

responds by pointing him to this huge picture

of the rebirth of all of creation. And he says,

trust me, Peter, when everything gets regenerated,

you and everybody else who's followed me, you

will have a great reward. So that's what gets

to the meaning of this word regeneration in Titus

3. Listen, will we see the physical world around

us? We can still see the handiwork of God, his

design, but we also see that the creation has

fallen and it is disordered, right? Paul tells

us that in Romans 8, that the creation was subjected

to depravity because of the fall. And now it

groans and it suffers just as we do under the

weight of sin. But then he says in Romans 8,

there is the certain hope that's coming. Someday

the creation will be set free from the slavery

to corruption. So the ultimate eschatological

purpose that God has for all of creation is that

someday it will be regenerated and us with it.

Those of us whom God has chosen to be saved,

we will be regenerated. We will be made new along

with creation. So regeneration is both individual,

but it's also this giant subject matter. Now,

let's go back to verse 5 again and see how he

says this. What is that mechanism? He saved us

by the washing of regeneration. So very simply,

what Paul is talking about here is the new birth.

The new birth or the making of something new.

I know that for I don't know how many decades

now in Christianity, at least evangelicalism,

everything's about being born again, and it's

sort of become an overused, tired phrase, but

that's exactly what regeneration means. It means

being born again or being made new. So what comes

with being born again, there's a whole bunch

of things that come with it that I'll get to

in a moment, but first we have to go back and...

We always have to remember the bad news before

we get to the good news, right? Why do we need

to be made new? Why do we need to be regenerated?

Because of that list in verse 3, right? Because

we were once all foolish and disobedient and

deceived and slaves to sin and filled with malice

and envy and hatred. All of us are in there somewhere,

right? We have to be honest with ourselves. We're

all in that. And at the end of the age, in the

regeneration to come, in the new heavens and

the new earth, those things will not be welcome.

They need to be done away with. We need to be

born again so as to move out of that and into

something new. And that happens in our lives

on the earth when God draws his elect unto himself,

when the Holy Spirit makes us alive in Christ,

when the Holy Spirit moves us from spiritual

death to spiritual life, and he gives us a whole

new inner man, a completely new nature with new

affections. It's a radical, miraculous transformation

that brings in us a shift in worldview and a

whole new way of living. It's a life where now

by the power of God's Spirit, we are producing

spiritual fruit that brings glory to God. What

are they? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,

goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self

-control in increasing measure. This is what

it means to be born again. And importantly, we

now stand in a redeemed state before the judge.

Once we're born again, we now stand in a different

state. and state before the judge. Having been

bought at a price, our record of sins is no longer

counted against us. Our sins have been washed

away by the blood of Christ, right? Right? That

is exactly what Paul means here when he talks

about the washing of regeneration. Now pause

for a moment. I'm going to do a quick rabbit

trail on an important subject here. Because when

you first read that word washing, you might have

had something in mind. You might have thought

of baptism. And that's a very common interpretation.

Far too often what we do as Christians is we

see certain words in Scripture, like washing,

like cleansing, or even just the word water,

and almost with a knee -jerk reaction, we assume

that baptism is what's being described here.

And what we're doing when we do that is we're

sort of reading our experience back into the

text, even though the context doesn't call for

it. And this is one of those passages so many

professing Christians read Titus 3 .5, listen

now, as regeneration through baptism. And sadly,

they come to the false conclusion that God saves

people through the physical act of baptizing.

That's incredibly common today. And it amazes

me that folks can read the Bible and somehow

come to the conclusion that a physical or material

act like being baptized can bring about a spiritual

transformation. Think about that for a second.

A physical action can bring about a spiritual

transformation. Jesus addressed this in John

6. He said, it's the spirit that gives life.

The flesh profits what? Nothing. The spirit gives

life, the flesh profits nothing, meaning human

effort can only produce physical life. Human

effort cannot produce spiritual life. Not even

something as well -intended as baptism is going

to bring regeneration to a man or woman. And

yet in the Eastern Orthodox Church today, they

teach that baptism done by a properly ordained

priest or bishop in the Orthodox Church does

just that, that the act of baptism saves us.

And in fact, they would say, if you're not baptized

in that tradition, you are outside the kingdom

of God. That's how extreme they get. And then

our friends in the Roman Catholic Church take

it an even step further. Not only do they claim

that the sacrament of baptism is a means of saving

grace, they do baptisms on the principle of something

called ex opere operato, this great Latin phrase

which says, listen now, that the faith of the

person being baptized is not in play. It doesn't

matter at all. The only thing that matters is

that the priest doing the baptizing is properly

ordained by the Catholic Church, and so the baptism

itself, just the physical act, regardless of

the person being baptized, that that is effectual

in saving. And this is common all over the world.

None of this is biblical. In fact, if you read

1 Corinthians 1, you will hear Paul say this

now. Listen, Christ did not send me to baptize,

but to preach the gospel. If baptism saves, that

is a terrible statement to make. Then he goes

on to say he thanks God that he didn't baptize

more people. How could he say that? If baptismal

regeneration were true, how could he say that?

And if baptism could save, why wouldn't we? stop

what we're doing right here and just go out into

the community and line people up and just dunk

them. Right? Wouldn't we just do that? Now, I'm

not downplaying the importance of baptism. It

is an essential part of the Christian life. It

is an incredibly important sign or symbol that

connects to a spiritual reality, and we should

be obedient to be baptized. But we've got to

be careful here that we don't inject our own

desired meaning, our own traditional interpretations

into the text of Scripture because this verse

says nothing about baptism. It talks about washing,

but it doesn't say anything about the sacrament

of baptism, right? So we should be careful about

this. In fact, the Greek word there for washing

is the word lutron. And all it is, it's the simplest

word in the Greek for bathing. For cleansing

something thoroughly. And that's what Paul has

in mind. Listen, when God saved us, he thoroughly

cleansed us through the act of regeneration.

That's it. We were thoroughly cleansed. And just

to reinforce that that interpretation is correct,

again, Paul uses that same word, Lutron, only

one other place in the entire New Testament,

and it's not about baptism there either. So we

have to get this right. That verse, by the way,

is Ephesians 5, where Paul talks about Christ

gave himself up for the church, having cleansed

her by the washing, there's the word, of the

word. And the purpose there is that Jesus would

free his bride from all the spots and stains

and wrinkles that mar her beauty. But this idea

of washing of the word is simply the spoken word

of the gospel, which has a cleansing effect upon

its hearers, not the sacrament of baptism. So

be careful of that knee -jerk reaction to see

washing and to jump to a conclusion that is not

in the context of the passage. Now, there's no

way I can avoid looking at one more passage that's

so critical to this whole issue, and it's the

very famous conversation that Jesus has with

Nicodemus in John 3. And I want to touch on this

because, A, regeneration is a part of it, and

number two, it's another passage where people...

wrongly see baptism at play. So let me put some

of the phrases up on the screen. This is John

John 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3. Jesus tells Nicodemus, truly, truly,

I say to you, unless one is born again or born

from above, what? They cannot see the kingdom

of God. And then Jesus says this as well. Unless

one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot

enter. The kingdom of God. So water and spirit.

So many books have been written trying to understand

what that actually means. But I don't think we

complicate things, don't we? When really, I think

it's very simple. Now, some people have looked

at this and said, well, the water must refer

to physical birth. Like we all pass through amniotic

fluid when we're born, right? But that doesn't

make sense either because everybody experiences

that. And Jesus seems to be referencing something

here that's very particular. Again, some people

see water and they think this is a reference

to baptism, but that doesn't add up either based

on the context. Why? Well, remember, who is Jesus

talking to here? This is Nicodemus. He is a Jewish

man. He is a Pharisee on the highest council

in the land, right? So why would Jesus be talking

to such a man about a new ordinance that's going

to be... in the church. It doesn't make sense.

In fact, from a Jewish perspective, what would

Nicodemus be thinking about when he hears water?

A Jewish purification ritual, the type of thing

that you would go through in a mikvah before

you went up to the temple. So he would have absolutely

no idea what Jesus is referring to if Jesus is

talking about baptism. So the best interpretation

of water in this verse is exactly what we see

in Titus 3. It's a washing. It is a spiritual

cleansing, the washing away of sins. So bottom

line, this is what Jesus is saying to Nicodemus.

Very simply, in order to enter the kingdom of

God, you must be cleansed from sin. and born

again by the Spirit. That's it. You must be cleansed

from sin and born again by the Spirit. And again,

just to strengthen the case for that interpretation,

remember how, as Jesus says this to Nicodemus,

remember he doesn't track with Jesus at all,

does he? He's confused. And Jesus says at one

point, he says, are you the teacher of Israel

and you don't get this? That is an obvious interpretive

clue. that Jesus is talking about something from

the Hebrew Scriptures that a rabbi should know,

and Nicodemus doesn't get it. So it's a soft

rebuke. Like, you're the teacher of Israel. This

is clear in your own Scriptures in the Old Testament,

and you don't know. Well, guess what? This is

clearly found in a very prominent chapter of

prophecy in Ezekiel 36. Listen to the similar

language, and you'll see why Nicodemus should

have understood this. I will sprinkle clean water

on you, right? God says to Israel, and you will

be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness

and from all your idols. So right there we have

your washing, right? Moreover, I will give you

a new heart and put a new spirit within you,

and I will remove the heart of stone from your

flesh and give you a heart of flesh. That, friends,

is regeneration. That is the new birth, from

death to life, from stone to flesh. And then

he finishes, I will put my spirit within you

and cause you, I the Lord will cause you to walk

in my statutes and you will be careful to observe

my ordinances. That's what Jesus was talking

about with Nicodemus. He was announcing to Israel

through this man that the promises of the new

covenant had now arrived, the kingdom had come

to earth. And through Jesus' life, death, and

resurrection would come this spiritual cleansing,

the removal of sins and new life for anyone who

would follow after him. That's what Jesus is

talking about. So, to summarize, I'm going to

give you a strong theological description of

what regeneration is, and I'm going to break

it down by phrases. We're back in Professor No's

class here for just a second, so hang with me.

This is a good definition. regeneration refers

to, first of all, the work of the Holy Spirit,

that's important, wherein he unites the elect

sinner to Christ by breathing new life into a

spiritually dead man so as to raise him from

spiritual death to spiritual life, removing his

heart of stone and giving him a heart of flesh

so that he is washed, born from above, and is

now, now able, to repent and trust in Christ

as a new creation. That's worth a picture, by

the way, if you want to snap that. Or if you

want me to send this to you, send me a note and

I'll send it to you. That is a really good description

of what regeneration is. So now that is going

to take us back to the, remember the Ordo Salutis

that I showed you several weeks ago in Prof No's

class? You remember? With this in mind, you're

all reading it still, which is great. It's good.

Let's go back to the order of salvation and see

where that fits in. Okay? Let me walk you through

this once again. Guys, I know it's technical.

I know it's heavy. But we've got to understand

how it is that we've been saved because it affects

all of our walk with Christ. So it starts with

election, right? Before the foundation of the

world, according to Ephesians 1. God elects.

Sinners to be saved. Then comes the universal

gospel call. The good news about Jesus goes to

the ends of the earth. We share it with everybody

we can possibly talk to because we don't know

who they elect are. So we share it with everybody

and we pray for everybody. We send out missionaries.

We do all of that. But then comes what we call

the effectual gospel call. The effectual gospel

call. By the way, I put a box around these because

I think it was Adam who pointed it out last time.

It looks like this is a long process, but those

five things right there happen together. This

is just the logical order that Scripture gives

us as to how we're saved, but those five things

all happen at once. The effectual gospel call.

This is what we read in John 6 about God drawing

us. It's an effectual drawing to God the Father

by way of the Son. Then we have regeneration.

Okay, this is what we've just been talking about.

The washing away of our sins, the bringing us

to life. We were dead and now we're alive. Giving

us a new nature. Changing our affection so that

now we can turn to God and love him and worship

him and ask him to save us. We need to be changed

before we can do that. And that's the regeneration

of the heart. Then comes our part in this. which

is all a gift from God, and that is conversion.

In time and space, because the Spirit breathed

new life into us, because the Spirit took away

the veil from our eyes so that we could see,

yes, now we repent and we believe and we trust

in Christ. And that is a real decision that we

make in time and space. It is a real decision,

but that decision came about because of what

God did in the heart. Does that make sense? We're

like Lydia. You know the story of Lydia in Acts

16? It's such a cool picture because Paul comes

to Philippi and preaches the word, and it says

at first Lydia was listening but not believing.

Until what? It says until the Lord opened her

heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.

That's what she needed. That's what we needed

before we could be saved. So in that moment,

we put our trust in Christ and we commit to following

him as Savior and Lord and to walk in all the

good works that he's prepared for us to walk

in. What a beautiful thing. And then instantly

we're justified. That's the next step. We are

declared to be pure in God's sight. Think about

this. It's a forensic or legal declaration that

right now, if you've trusted in Christ, you are

seen as pure. God sees you through his son. Pure,

because the righteousness of Christ has been

reckoned to your account. Right? Justification.

By the way, that shows up in verse 7 of our text,

right? And then the next step, we're adopted

as children of God. This happens instantly, right?

We are made heirs. We have this great inheritance

that we will have someday in the heavenly places.

And then we had those last three things which

happened between that moment that we're converted

and until we pass away from this physical life.

Three things. Sanctification. That's our growing

and maturing in the faith as the Holy Spirit

produces good works in us, as he produces in

us all of these things that we read about in

Galatians 5. And then we have perseverance. And

this is this beautiful, beautiful doctrine of

assurance that tells us that we cannot slip out

of God's hands. If he has marked us out for salvation

before the world was made, if he has saved us

in time and space, if he has promised us that

we are adopted as his son or daughter, we're

not going to slip out of his hand. In John 6,

we count on this promise. Jesus says, all that

the Father gives to me will come to me. Hear

the sovereignty in that. All that the Father

gives to me will come to me, and the one who

comes to me I will certainly not cast out. This

is the will of him who sent me, that all that

has been given to me, I will raise them up on

the last day. There's no ambiguity. There's no

room for, well, maybe this person will slip out,

or maybe that one will. In the process of sanctification,

we persevere to our final breath, and then based

on God's promise, we are glorified. where we

will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Now, look at that list again. Can you see why

the scriptures say that we're saved by grace

alone and not by our works? Because that's all

God's work. All of it. This is why he deserves

the praise. This is why we have no reason to

boast. Which of those things did we produce?

Which of those things did we generate by our

own strength? None of it. We were as active in

being born again as we were the first time we

were born. How many of you guys have taken credit

for your first birth? It's silly, right? We laugh,

we chuckle. It's the same thing with our rebirth.

Not active at all. We don't exercise our free

will to be born again any more than Lazarus executed

his free will to come out of the grave. He was

dead. But Jesus called him out. That's given

to us as a beautiful metaphor for what happens

to us in being born again. We're in the grave.

We're wrapped in all the grave clothes. It's

the voice of Jesus that calls us to life. Make

sense? Because life is the work of God alone.

New life is the work of God alone. Resurrection

life is a work of God alone. And listen, I could

spend... We could spend another hour walking

through all the passages that teach this, but

I'll give you a couple quick ones. James 1, and

the exercise of his will, not ours, his will,

he brought us forth by the word of truth so that

we would be a kinder first fruits among his creatures.

1 Peter 1, blessed be the God and Father of our

Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great

mercy, there's that word again, according to

his mercy, caused us to be born again. Not us,

he caused it. He caused us to be born again to

a living hope. Ephesians 2, this is the most

obvious one. Even when we were dead in our transgressions,

God made us alive. He made us alive. We didn't

turn to him and say, God, can you help me over

here? I want to be alive. We were dead. He made

us alive together with Christ by grace, not by

works, by grace you've been saved. And then lastly,

John 1, as many as received him, to them he gave

the right to become children of God who were

born not of blood, it's not a blood thing, nor

of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of

man. Had nothing to do with our will, but born

of God. Over and over again, we read this stuff,

you guys. So any willing on our part, including

faith itself, is not the cause of our new birth.

It's the result of our new birth. Does that make

sense? As Ezekiel prophesied, our hearts are

made of stone when we're dead. We need to have

a beating heart of flesh, one that comes alive,

and only God can perform that kind of surgery.

When a person is on a hospital gurney dead from

a heart attack, he doesn't sit up on his own

and say, hey, could you hand me those paddles

so I can shock myself back to life? That would

be ridiculous. But that's basically what we say

when we think that we can make ourselves alive

and turn to God. Give me those paddles. I'll

do this. How could it be possible for someone

who is dead to do any kind of cooperating with

God? Going back to the story of Pelagius and

Augustine and John Cassian. So was Adam's sin

just his own? Was mankind just damaged by the

fall? Or was the sin of Adam passed along to

every one of us, thoroughly corrupting our nature

and causing us to be guilty before God? We have

to answer that question, you guys, if we really

want to understand what God has done for us.

And we have to answer it not based on what we

want it to say or based on what makes us feel

good about ourselves, but what divine truth says

in the word. Now, today you're not going to meet

anybody that says, well, I'm a Pelagian. But

you will meet some people who are semi -Pelagian,

whether they know it or not. And I'm going to

give you a test for this, okay? If you really

want to test if somebody, a friend of yours,

is Augustinian or is semi -Pelagian, give them

this scenario. Think about this now. There's

a man who is drowning in the ocean. He is without

hope. There's nothing in sight. He is drowning

in the ocean. And then suddenly he hears the

rotor blades of a helicopter. Right? And suddenly

he has hope. And he begins to wave his arms frantically

at this helicopter. And the pilot looks down

and miracle of miracles sees him in the water.

And he brings the helicopter over and he hovers

overhead and he lets down a life -saving basket.

And this man who was dead just a moment ago,

he swims to the basket and he climbs in and he's

pulled to safety. Is that biblical salvation?

You could say that, well, he had no hope, that

he was saved because of the pilot, but that is

still semi -Pelagianism. Because the salvation

was a cooperative effort. Right? He waved his

arms. He waved the guy down. He swam to the boat.

It's still semi -Pelagianism. And that man would

be able to boast, at least partially, in his

salvation. I did those things. I made it happen.

Now, let me adjust the scenario to what Paul

says and what Augustine said and what the Reformers

taught. That man in the water is already drowned.

He's dead at the bottom of the ocean. He's dead.

So that helicopter could fly around. He's never

going to be seen. There's no reason to drop a

basket to him because he wouldn't be able to

swim to it. That's the true picture that we have

in Scripture. What that man needs is more than

just help. He needs to be brought to the surface.

He needs to be raised from the dead in order

to be saved, just like Lazarus. No power or ability

to save himself. He would need somebody to come

in and take those paddles and apply it to his

heart and shock his heart back to beating again.

That's the biblical picture. Friends, like it

or not, that is the picture we have. But we have

to know this, because that's the picture of salvation,

that's precisely why we say God is so good. That

is precisely why we worship him as we do, because

we don't have the ability to save ourselves.

Because of God's great mercy, we worship as we

do. Does that make sense? Otherwise, we'd boast.

We'd at least partially boast in the fact that

we saved ourselves. Okay. Was that heavy enough?

Tanya made fun of me last night. She's like,

oh, you're doing this on Father's Day, are you?

I'm like, I don't line up the passages. They

just come, and we have to deal with them. So

I'm just going to wrap up by just barely touching

on this other great statement in verse 5, the

renewing by the Holy Spirit, because that does

go hand in hand with regeneration. This will

be very fast. The Greek noun there for renewing

is another very unusual word that's used only

twice in the New Testament. It's used here in

Titus 3 and in this famous verse, Romans 12,

2, where we're told, don't be conformed to the

world, but be transformed by the renewing of

our minds. Renewing. This is a word that speaks

to a complete and total renovation or overhaul

of one's disposition and heart. And that's what

takes place within the believer when we are cleansed

from sin and born again. a total overhaul or

renovation of our disposition and heart. It's

a radical change that's initiated by God the

Father as He infuses us within with the Holy

Spirit. So these things go together. Spiritually

cleansed, born again, infusion of the Holy Spirit,

and a renewing of who we are in every way, and

a whole new worldview, a whole new way of living.

And because God has done that work, guys, nothing

can ever be the same. We cannot be the same because

we've been radically transformed by what Paul

says to Titus here. The washing of regeneration,

the renewing of the Holy Spirit. And this is,

look, we talk in our covenant here at Oak Hill

about holding each other accountable. Is our

life changed? Have we been radically transformed?

Is the Spirit within us producing spiritual fruit?

These are questions to ask of ourselves but also

of one another because we care for each other.

But this is what it should look like to be washed

by regeneration and renewed by the Holy Spirit.

It's a total change. And going back to where

we started by using this word, Paul wants us

to see once again, see the big picture here.

Being born again as an individual in this moment

that we live is... participation in the inauguration

of the final eschatological renewal. You and

I, we saw it in the James 1 passage. We are the

first fruits of this age to come. So from this

point forward, when you guys think about your

new birth, I want you to think all you've received

right now is the first installment of something

much greater to come. It's just the first installment.

Your ultimate reward is someday to have a perfected

body. Amen. and a completely renewed soul that

lives forever in a fully perfected environment

where we praise Jesus and glorify the Father

forever and ever. We've only experienced the

first installment of that. The fullness is still

to come. So when you stop to consider what God

has done for you, you ready? Chosen you, drawn

you, cleansed you from sin, brought you to life,

justified you, adopted you, and is now in the

process of sanctifying, when you think about

these things, friends, I want you to start thinking

big, thinking very big, thinking eschatological,

thinking about the beauty of what's to come because

you are loved by a great God and a great Savior.

Amen? Regeneration. If you have questions, let

me know. Let's pray together. Father, thank you

for the challenge of this passage and how beautiful

it is, Lord. The way you have worked through

Paul and writing to Titus and laying out these

massive themes, Lord, that speak to this great

work that you've done in our lives. Lord, we're

overwhelmed by it, and it's still a mystery to

us because we are stuck down here in these bodies,

in this world that has fallen and disordered.

So, Lord, I pray that you will help us to cut

through the fog and begin to understand more

how it is that you have saved us and that that

would drive us to worship. That would drive us

to change lives, to drive us to serve you and

serve your children more and more, Lord. That

we wouldn't just sit in the pews here this morning

and think, oh, that's nice. That's nice that

God did that. No, that we would be challenged

and excited and moved to new life. and that you

would bring that about by the power of your spirit.

Lord, thank you for this time that we've had

together. Thank you for your word. I pray now

that we'll respond well as we sing praises to

you because you're worthy of it. We praise you

now in the name of Jesus, and everybody said,

amen.