regeneration lecture 2 - grace valley

RegenerationLecture 2

Presented by Dr. Richard Spencer

Outline

• We are going to examine:

1. Why the doctrine is important

2. The context for the doctrine

3. Definitions of the term

4. Human nature; total depravity, and free will

5. The place of regeneration in the Ordo Salutis

6. The Nature of regeneration

7. What leads up to regeneration?

8. Application/Evidence of Regeneration

Outline - Review

We are going to examine:•

Why the doctrine is important1.

The context for the doctrine2.

Definitions of the term3.

Human nature; total depravity, and free will4.

The place of regeneration in the Ordo 5. Salutis

The Nature of regeneration6.

What leads up to regeneration?7.

Application/Evidence of Regeneration8.

Why the Doctrine is Important

It is important because:•

It guards against false conversions1.

It causes us to praise and thank God more2.

It encourages us to rely on the gospel, not 3.evangelistic methodology

It is the ground for true assurance of salvation 4.and a powerful, overcoming, Christian life







Man is so radically corrupt that a miraculous work of God is necessary for him to repent and believe, and this work results in a new creation, which always produces good works (Eph 2:10)







When we understand that: 1) We were hell-bound and hell-deserving sinners 2) We could not do anything to gain our own salvation3) God graciously saved us by the precious blood of JesusThen, we will be motivated to praise and thank him all the more for his marvelous salvation







We can’t save anyone, we must pray and depend on God working along with the simple gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation.







Our salvation is secure because God is faithful, not because we are. We must look for evidence of regeneration, not for any merit in ourselves. (Rom 11:29)

Outline - Review










God’s Plan

The context for understanding regeneration •

is God’s overall plan

His purpose is the manifestation of his own •

glory, which he accomplishes through;

Creating people in his own image –

Allowing the fall–

Planning and providing for the redemption of his –

elect, to be made holy and blameless in his sight and to be brought into his presence for all eternity; his treasured possession

God’s Plan

As his people, we are:•

Partakers of the covenant of grace1.

Seen by God in union with 2. Christ (2 Cor 5:21)

Members of his church, the bride of Christ3.

Members of Christ4. ’s body

God5. ’s adopted children

The church is God• ’s most glorious creation!

Outline

• We are going to examine:

1. Why the doctrine is important

2. The context for the doctrine

3. Definitions of the term

4. Human nature; total depravity, and free will

5. The place of regeneration in the Ordo Salutis

6. The Nature of regeneration

7. What leads up to regeneration?

8. Application/Evidence of Regeneration

Definition of Regeneration

Berkhof• defines it this way¹:

“Regeneration consists in the implanting of the principle of the new spiritual life in man, in a radical change of the governing disposition of the soul, which, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, gives birth to a life that moves in a Godward direction.”

A principle is – “a fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of belief or behavior or for a chain of reasoning.”

¹ L. Berkhof, Systematic Theology, Eerdmans, 1996, pg. 468


Stephen Charnock defines it this way• ¹:

Regeneration “is a universal change of the whole man. It is a new creature, not only a new power or new faculty. This … extends to every part …. [It] is as large in renewing as sin was in defacing.”

¹ Quoted in Beeke & Jones, A Puritan Theology, Reformation Heritage Books, 2012, pg. 474

Westminster Confession of Faith

The Westminster Confession of Faith uses •

Effectual Calling as a synonym for what we are calling regeneration, since when God effectually calls someone he does regenerate them so that they can respond to the call with repentance and faith (i.e., regeneration is what makes the call effectual!)

So, let• ’s look at what the Confession says in Chapter X, Of Effectual Calling

WCF; Chapter X, Of Effectual Calling

1. All those whom God hath predestinated unto life, and those only, He is pleased, in His appointed time, effectually to call, by His Word and Spirit, out of that state of sin and death, in which they are by nature to grace and salvation, by Jesus Christ; enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God, taking away their heart of stone, and giving unto them an heart of flesh; renewing their wills, and, by His almighty power, determining them to that which is good, and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ: yet so, as they come most freely, being made willing by His grace.

WCF; Chapter X, Of Effectual Calling

2. This effectual call is of God's free and special grace alone, not from anything at all foreseen in man, who is altogether passive therein, until, being quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit, he is thereby enabled to answer this call, and to embrace the grace offered and conveyed in it.


In summary, in the modern reformed context, •regeneration refers to the instantaneous, sovereign act of God whereby he radically changes our fundamental nature (our heart) so that we go from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive

This radical inward change is necessarily followed –by a radical outward change in life, which begins with conversion (i.e., repentance and faith)

This definition shows that we must discuss the –nature of man to fully understand the change that is required

Outline










Our Nature

• The biblical view of man is dichotomous; we have a body and a soul, or spirit (the two are used interchangeably)

• We do not understand the relation between them, but we are cognizant of the distinction:

– When someone dies, there is no immediate discernable change in the physical makeup of their body, just a cessation of life, the soul has departed

– The souls of just men made perfect are in heaven (Heb 12:23)

– All those who die in Christ will receive resurrection bodies, but their souls will have a conscious existence in heaven prior to that time (1 Cor 15:52)

Our Nature

The Greeks taught that matter is evil and •

thought of death as liberating the soul from the body

The biblical view is that sin affects every •

aspect of our being, we aren’t as bad as we could possibly be, but there is no part of our being that is unaffected by sin, body and soul are both affected; this is called total depravity, or radical corruption

Let• ’s consider some biblical texts

Our Nature – According to the Bible

Romans 3:9-18 “What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. As it is written: ‘There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. … There is no fear of God before their eyes.’”



To be • “under sin” means to be under its control and subject to its penalty – Romans 6 says we are naturally slaves to sin



• Note the universal nature of the condemnation!



They don• ’t fear God because they suppress the truth and negate him in their hearts



Psalm 14:1, “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’”


Ephesians 2:1-3 “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.”


Ephesians 2:1-3 “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.”

• We were “dead”, following “the ways of this world”, under the “ruler of the kingdom of the air”, gratifying our sinful nature and “objects of wrath”, could it be worse?


Genesis 6:5 “The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.”

Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.”

Romans 7:18 “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature (flesh)”

Titus 1:15 “to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted.”

Our Nature

So, as stated, the biblical view is that sin •

affects every aspect of our being

In fact, sin affects the rest of creation too,•

Rom 8:21-22 “the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.”

Our Nature

When• Adam sinned,

– Our physical bodies immediately became subject to imperfections, illness, aging and death

– Our spirits immediately lost communion with God – we became spiritually dead – and we all inherit a sinful, rebellious nature

In summary, the paradoxical truth taught in •

the Bible is that we are born dead!

Our Nature

• We are physically alive, but dying, and we are spiritually dead, which is what Paul means in Eph 2:1, 4-5

“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins … But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.”

• This spiritual death also affects our will – we need to examine the nature of our will …

Jonathan Edwards on the Will

He defined the will as • “That by which the mind chooses any thing.”

He also says that • “It is that motive, which as it stands in the view of the mind, is the strongest, that determines the Will.”

In other words, at every moment, we do that •which, when all things are considered, we most want to do

J. Edwards, Careful and Strict Inquiry into the Prevailing Notions of the Freedom of Will

Radical Change Needed

Because of our spiritual death, we are unable •

to respond to the gospel call in repentance and faith – dead men do not rise on their own, men who are at enmity with God do not of their own free will choose to love and obey God

The fault lies • with us, not with God

We • do have free of will (free agency), but we cannot choose that which we don’t desire!

The Sinful Nature

Romans • 8:5-8

“Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; … The mind of sinful man is death, … the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.”

Natural Man Cannot Please God

2Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

• If God wants everyone to come to repentance, then repentance and faith would clearly please him, but unregenerate men, who are “controlled by the sinful nature”, “cannot please God.”

• Therefore, unregenerate men cannot repent and believe!

Man’s Inability to Choose

John Murray wrote• ¹,

“Enmity against God must express itself in opposition to every manifestation of his holy will. How then can we expect that man will answer with delight the call to enter into God’s kingdom of glory and virtue? How can a man dead in trespasses and sins, and at enmity with God, answer a call to the fellowship of the Father and the Son? How can a mind darkened and depraved have any understanding or appreciation of the treasures of divine grace? How can his will incline to the overtures of God’s grace in the gospel?”

John Murray, Collected Works, Vol. II, Banner of Truth Trust, 1977, pg. 169

Westminster Confession of Faith

The Westminster Confession of Faith sums it up very •well in Chapter IX, Of Free Will,

1. God has endued the will of man with that natural liberty, that is neither forced, nor, by any absolute necessity of nature, determined good, or evil.

2. Man, in his state of innocency, had freedom, and power to will and to do that which was good and well pleasing to God; but yet, mutably, so that he might fall from it.

3. Man, by his fall into a state of sin, has wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation: so as, a natural man, being altogether averse from that good, and dead in sin, is not able, by his own strength, to convert himself, or to prepare himself thereunto.

Man’s Total Inability

As the Confession correctly states, man is not •

only unable to convert himself, he is unable to even prepare himself!

Without a change in the core of our being, •

we simply will not seek God

Romans 3:11 “there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.”

Man’s Inability

• This inability on the part of man is summed up well by Stephen Charnock¹,

“[Regeneration] is not an excitation or awakening of some gracious principle which lay hid before in nature under the oppression of ill habits, as corn lay hid under the chaff but was corn still; not a beating up something that lay skulking in nature, not an awakening as of a man from sleep; but a resurrection as of a man from death; a new creation, as of a man from nothing. It is not a stirring up old principles and new kindling of them.”

¹ Quoted in Murray, Ibid, pg. 171

Man’s Inability

Given all of this, we should join with the •

apostle Paul in proclaiming,

Romans 7:24 “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?”

The good news is that God is able! •

But, if God doesn• ’t do a work within us, it is hopeless; let’s examine some Scriptures

God Must Draw us to Himself

John 6:44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him”

The Greek word translated as • “draw” here is ελκυω, which means to drag (or draw) by force. It is also used in;

John 21:11 “Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore.”

Acts 16:19 “When the owners of the slave girl realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities.”

God Must Enable Us

John 6:65 “no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him.”

The KJV is much closer to the Greek here, “no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.”

• “No one” can come on his own, God must enable us to respond to the Gospel call, it is an ability that must be given to us, without this gift we are unable to come

Impossible with Man, Possible with God

Matthew 19:24-26 “’Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.’ When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, ‘Who then can be saved?’ Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’”

• It isn’t that a camel going through the eye of needle is impossible with man, it is salvationthat is impossible with man! But, God can make it possible, he can give us the gift

Summary

Man is radically corrupt, spiritually dead, he •

has no hope of saving himself

This corruption affects every aspect of our •

being

We do make real moral choices for which we •

are justly held accountable, but no one is able to choose to love, worship and obey God unless and until God changes his heart

regeneration lecture 2 - grace valley

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