Covetousness and carnality had crept in among them. If any person would be saved by keeping the Law, then he must keep it wholly, not merely in part, for . Some Hebrew words of uncertain meaning have been left out. Esteemed British pastor D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said: Conversion is the first exercise of the new nature in ceasing from old forms of life and starting a new life. New Testament Theologies by Weiss, Beyschlag, Holtzmann, Schlatter, Feine, Stevens, Sheldon, Weinel. Its unseen power lies beyond the reach of our vision and understanding The wind is sovereign in its movements and silent as to its mystery. Forgiveness cannot be effected, nor righteousness declared, until guilt has been established. Positional Sanctification is not a second work of grace to be sought subsequent to the experience of Regeneration. The righteousness of Christ is imputed to the believer; the sin of the unbeliever is imputed to Christ as if that sin were Christs. Inasmuch as our Lord said, Ye must be born again, you better believe it! The war is done, armistice has been declared, and God holds nothing whatever against us. In the Fathers plan for the Son we see the principle of Preparatory Sanctification. Peter uses, in his sermon on the day of Pentecost, the words "refreshing" (Acts 3:19) and "restoration of all things" (Acts 3:21) of the final completion of God's plans concerning the whole creation, and accordingly looks here at God's people as a whole. to renew, repair. Somewhere I heard or read of a tragedy at sea in which a young fisherman was washed overboard and lost. This regeneration causes a complete revolution in man. Again the pastor told her to go to the bank and withdraw the necessary amount from the boys account. Many Christians either withdraw from it completely or else they associate it with fanatical fringe groups. In 1Corinthians 12:13 such cleansing is called the baptism of the Spirit in agreement with the oft-repeated promise (Joel 2:28 (in the Hebrew text 3:1); Matthew 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; Acts 1:5; 11:16). God stands at the commencement of all life. (Job 25:4-6). Since only God possesses creative power, He alone can impart life where there is no life. Regeneration is God working in us; Justification is God working for us. . What is impossible for the Christian who is resisting or grieving or quenching the Holy Spirit is possible for the one who is walking by the Spirit. . Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate (Hebrews 13:12). No child of God is free from temptation, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour (I Peter 5:8). This is a "regeneration in the proper meaning of the word, for it signifies a renovation of all visible things when the old is passed away, and heaven and earth are become new" (compare Revelation 21:1). The source of the old creation was Adam, and from him we inherited sin and death. We are in a warfare, not against each other, but against sin. This is what Ezekiel 36:25 suggests: "I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you." It was Isaiah and Jeremiah who drew attention to this (Isaiah 57:15; Jeremiah 24:7; 31:33-35; 32:38-40, et passim). The effects of Regeneration are nothing short of miraculous because there is no power within man that can produce them. In his first reference to the new birth, the Apostle John refers to those which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:13). . Accordingly, Rome teaches that regeneration is conferred to individuals in the sacrament of baptism _ex opere operato _(through the work performed). The Spirit regenerates. We know that our Lord Jesus Christ was sinless and therefore free from all moral impurity, and yet He prayed, And for their sakes, I sanctify myself . The analogy of the movements of the wind to the Spirits operation in Regeneration is clear. Only God can clear the guilty. Both have reference to justification before men. From time to time he added to the account, which continued to bear interest. God was manifest in the flesh. What man has understood or explained it? All the redeemed are assured of their Adoption (Galatians 4:4, 5) by virtue of the indwelling Holy Spirit Who is called the Spirit of adoption (Romans 8:15); however, we do not actually experience it until Christ returns for us and our bodies are redeemed. . But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth (II Thessalonians 2:13). Christ is our sanctification ( 1 Cor. Man as he is by nature stands in direct contrast to the demands of the spiritual life. The flesh is at enmity with God (Ephesians 2:15); all mankind is "darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God" (Ephesians 4:18). The word again as used by our Lord in John 3:3, 7, where He spoke of being born again, is the translation of another, which means from above. The classical expression of this conviction is found in the prayer of David: "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right (margin "stedfast") spirit within me. It is Gods foresight and choice linked together with His own plan and purpose. He had set Himself apart for the purpose for which the Father had set Him apart. This response gives occasion to and is synchronous with the divine act of renewal (regeneration). Those who are justified by faith can take pleasure in tribulation (II Corinthians 12:10), for we know that it is but for a moment, and that it worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory (II Corinthians 4:17). Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1). Today God is implanting spiritual life to believing sinners through the redemptive process. Since we are exhorted to pursue it, then it must be the will of God for His children to do so. renew (5), renewed (1), repair (1), restore (3), restored (1). The grace of God which brings Salvation also teaches Sanctification (Titus 2:11, 12). The statement that God separated Paul from his mothers womb is more than a reference to Gods providential care of him at birth. Though conversion and regeneration, in real-time, appear to What He said is that the Father set Him apart and sent Him from Heaven to earth to accomplish the Divine mission of redemption. He who denies the possibility of Christs Virgin Birth can hardly be expected to believe in the New Birth. But regeneration, according to Jesus, is more than life, it is also purity. Now this process of Sanctification goes on during the present life here on earth, but it will be perfected at (Greek en), not until, the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Regeneration is not of blood, which means, I take it, that not even the finest Christian parents can impart Divine life to their offspring. The Reformed creeds and confessions of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries carefully articulate the doctrine of regeneration in contradistinction to both of these aberrant views. Behold, even the moon hath no brightness, and the stars are not pure in his sight: how much less man, that is a worm! Christians have time for sports, entertainment, travel, and socializing, but little or no time for communion with God in prayer and the study of His Word. When William Carey was pleading for missionaries to carry the Gospel to unevangelized peoples of the world, a group of preachers in England tried to silence him with the words, If God wants to evangelize the heathen He will do it without your help or ours. It was true, and still is, that God can reach the heathen with the Gospel without the help of any of us. Our Lord said to Nicodemus, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God (John 3:5). Having stated the meaning and a definition of the term, let us look at some Scriptures where the word is used: (1) A day can be sanctified. The Cross And Our Response to Trials (1 Peter 4:12-19), 8. Had death triumphed over Him, our justification would have been forever impossible. The work of regeneration is further illustrated in Ezekiels vision of the dry bones (Ezek. So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17). Sprouls new book on the hard sayings of Scripture. The marvels of saving grace call for a life corresponding to our exalted position in Christ. It will last! Thus Gregory Nazianzen (Orations, xi.2) calls baptism the second of the three births a child of God must experience (the first is the natural birth, the third the resurrection). Accordingly, theologians have commonly spoken of regeneration as spiritual resurrection. In the Red Sea, God was delivering Israel while destroying His enemies in the waters. On one occasion I gave to my class in a Bible College the assignment to write a definition of Sanctification. In Pauls day, and later in the days of the Protestant Reformation, and in our own day, it would be difficult to find a truth more cardinal to our historic Christian faith than the doctrine of Justification. James says, Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only (James 2:24). Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. . Union with Christ in His death and resurrection makes regeneration possible. As "God is love," the children of God will love (1John 5:2). When we were saved we became partakers of the Divine nature (II Peter 1:4). The holy man of God will honor God with his body. Verse 5 tells us that only one kind of man can be justified; not the self righteous worker, but the ungodly man who believes, for, says Paul: . Satan knows well the power of true Sanctification in the believers life; therefore, it is to the advancement of his kingdom if he can perpetuate confusion in our minds and conflict among the brethren. In the second most important passage on the means of Regeneration, we find our answer. This is the promise of the consummation based on the finished work of Christ. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all (James 2:10). Ephesians 2:1-2 This aspect of Sanctification was in view in our Lords prayer, where He prayed, Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth (John 17:17).
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