Regeneration in the OT & NT

Scripture Readings: Ezekiel 36 and John 3

0:03 Will you follow, please, in your own Bibles as I read from two portions of the Word of God. The first in the Old Testament, the book of Ezekiel, chapter 36. Ezekiel, chapter 36. And I shall read verses 22 through 31. Ezekiel 36, beginning with verse 22.

0:35 Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God, I do not this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for my holy name, which ye have profaned among the nations whither ye went. And I will sanctify my great name, which hath been profaned among the nations, which ye have profaned in the midst of them. And the nations shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. And 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. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you,

1:32 And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep mine ordinances and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. And I will save you from all your uncleanness, And I will call for the grain, and will multiply it, and lay no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye may receive no more the reproach of famine among the nations. Then shall ye remember your evil ways, and your doings that were not good. And ye shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities, and for your abominations.

2:30 Then from the New Testament, the third chapter of John's Gospel, the Gospel according to John, the record of our Lord's dealings with a leader of the Jews called Nicodemus, this one who came to Jesus by night, John's Gospel, chapter 3. Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, and The same came unto him by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that thou doest except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born anew, or born again, or born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him,

3:28 How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born anew. The wind bloweth where it will, and thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh, and whither it goeth. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit. In our Lord's Day morning studies in the Scriptures, we are presently engaged in an effort to understand the broad biblical teaching of

Review and Transition to Regeneration

4:25 with respect to the salvation which we as the people of God receive and which we in turn seek to proclaim to others. Having examined the teaching of Scripture with respect to the objects of this salvation, the central figure of this salvation, we are now concerned with examining the testimony of Scripture with respect to the cardinal blessings of this salvation.

4:53 And I have suggested that it is helpful in trying to hold the biblical materials together in our own minds to conceive of these blessings as all coming to us from a common origin or within a common orbit. And that origin or orbit of these blessings is nothing less than union with Jesus Christ. The Scripture tells us in Ephesians 1, 3 that God hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing

5:23 in Christ. And there is no blessing of salvation from sin and its consequences that is parceled out to sinners apart from union with Jesus Christ. But then I have also suggested that we must not only conceive of these blessings as having a common orbit or origin, but as coming to us in a sequence. There are those blessings which meet us on the threshold of our being united to Christ in vital union. There are those which meet us the moment we cross that threshold, and then there are those that await the hour when the Lord Himself takes us to be with Him. Now, the first of these threshold blessings, we have already examined the great privilege of calling, often called effectual calling.

6:19 And we came to understand from our study of many portions, particularly of the New Testament, that calling is nothing less than that efficacious summons of God by which sinners are actually brought into fellowship with Christ to enjoy the privileges of His salvation. 1 Corinthians 1.9 is perhaps the most pivotal text bringing together these lines of biblical truth.

6:55 Now today we begin our study of the second of these threshold blessings. That is, one of those blessings along with calling that come to us as we enter the house of saving grace and mercy. And it is that blessing that we are going to be able to do. that we will entitle regeneration. Now that's a big word, but it ought not to be a word that would scare us, for it is a word that embodies many lines of biblical truth. Having examined the doctrine of calling, it is inevitable that we should move to consider the doctrine of regeneration. Now in order, by way of introduction, to show this inevitability,

Why Regeneration Must Accompany Calling (Murray)

7:45 this inseparable connection between calling and regeneration, I can do nothing better than to read to you, and I trust not in a way that will be boring or tedious, but will sound as though I were speaking it extemporaneously, that is, if I could speak with such precision, from the introduction to this subject in Professor Murray's treatment of it in his excellent little book, Redemption Accomplished in Applied,

8:14 He says in his opening words of this treatment, we have found that the application of redemption begins with an effectual call by which God the Father ushers us into the fellowship of his Son. An effectual call, however, must carry along with it the appropriate response of the person who is called. It is God who calls, but it is not God who answers the call.

8:44 It is the person to whom the call is addressed. And this response must enlist the exercise of the heart and the mind and the will of the person concerned. It is at this point that we are compelled to ask the question, how can a person who is dead in trespasses and sins, whose mind is enmity against God,

9:10 who cannot do that which is well-pleasing to God, answer a call that involves entering into fellowship with Christ. Fellowship is never one-sided. It is always mutual. Hence, the fellowship of Christ must involve the embrace of Christ both in faith and in love. Now, how can a person whose heart is depraved whose mind is at enmity against God, embrace Him who is the supreme manifestation of the glory of God. You see the question? If entering into fellowship with Christ involves not only His embrace of us, but ours of Him, and since in Christ there is the supreme manifestation of God's glory, how can a mind that is enmity against God and His glory

10:09 a will opposed to God in His glory. How can such a mind and heart embrace the Savior? That's the great question. The answer to this question is that the believing and loving response which the calling requires is a moral and spiritual impossibility on the part of one who is dead in trespasses and sins. Romans 8.8 says, They that are in the flesh cannot, cannot please God

10:39 And our Savior Himself gives unequivocal expression to this impossibility when He says in John 6, 44, No one can come to Me except the Father which hath sent Me draw Him. Again, our Lord says, No one can come unto Me except it were given Him of the Father. The fact is that there is a complete incongruity. Now, for you kids, that's just a big word that means There's no harmony, no fitness. There is a complete unfitness, disharmony between the glory and the virtue to which sinners are called and the moral and spiritual condition of the ones who are called. Now, how can we overcome that unfitness, this incongruity? Well, Professor Murray goes on to say it is the glory of the gospel of God's grace that it provides faith.

11:37 for this unfitness or this incongruity. God's call, since it is effectual, carries with it the operative grace whereby the person called is enabled to answer the call and to embrace Jesus Christ as He is freely offered in the Gospel. God's grace reaches down to the lowest depths of our need and meets all of the exigencies, that is, all of the difficulties of the moral and spiritual impossibility which inheres in our depravity and in our spiritual inability. And that grace is the grace of regeneration. I have given you that rather lengthy reading because it expresses so profoundly what we must understand

Regeneration in the Westminster and 1689 Confessions

12:29 of the inescapable necessity of considering calling in conjunction with regeneration and regeneration in conjunction with calling. We saw in our study of calling that God is the author, that it issues in fellowship with Christ, in holiness and ultimately in glory. Well, how then can a sinner who is dead in trespasses and sins, who sees no glory in Christ,

12:57 who has no affection for the God who calls him. How can that sinner respond to that call? Well, he responds because the God who issues that call is the God who is pleased to regenerate him, thereby giving him the ability and the inclination to respond to that call. Now, so intimate is this connection between calling and regeneration, and it's a very interesting point.

13:25 that in the Westminster Confession and in our own Baptist Confession, there is no separate heading for regeneration. Did you know that? You move immediately from effectual calling to justification. And the reason for this is that what we are calling regeneration is included in our confession under the heading of effectual calling. Listen to the language. Those whom God hath predestined unto life,

13:51 He is pleased in His appointed and accepted 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. Now, how does He do it? Listen. Enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God, taking away the heart of stone and giving them a heart of flesh,

14:21 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. Well, you see, in those words, enlightening, taking away,

14:45 giving, renewing by His almighty power, determining we have what we are calling for the sake of our study, the grace of regeneration. Well, with that introduction to show the intimate relationship, the inseparable relationship between calling and regeneration, what I propose to do this morning is first of all to give a brief survey of the use of this term regeneration, and then as time permits, to point you to the major biblical pictures or analogies of this amazing transformation of God's regenerating grace. First of all, then, a brief survey of the use of this term. Unlike the doctrine of calling, which rests primarily upon a specific family of biblical words, and that's what made that study such a delight, we just trace through the occurrence of the words call, calling, and called,

Survey of the Word 'Regeneration' in the New Testament

15:43 Regeneration as a biblical concept rests upon many lines of terminology and upon many categories of analogy or likeness. The word itself only occurs twice in the New Testament. First of all, it occurs in Matthew 19 and verse 28. And this obviously has nothing to do with individual regeneration. In Matthew 19 and verse 28...

16:13 We have the record of our Lord's response to Peter's question. We've left all to follow you. What do we get? Mercenary Peter. And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, that ye who have followed me, now here's the word, in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of his glory, Ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Now obviously the term in the regeneration refers to the consummation of all things. If you want to sound very learned, you say it has that ultimate eschatological perspective. And that big mouthful simply means that it's pointing to the glorious end of all things.

17:07 It's pointing to that time when our Lord, in the language of 1 Corinthians 15, will put down the last of His enemies. And so our Lord is using the term with respect to the final restoration, that consonant renewal that is the fruit of Messiah's reign as He sits upon His throne. But He does do this much for us. The use of the term here points to the fact that inseparably bound up in any biblical notion of regeneration is the concept of radical and pervasive renewal. In the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit upon the throne of His glory, is nothing less than the new heavens and the new earth. So the concept of radical and pervasive renewal is bound up.

18:00 in this usage of the word regeneration. Now the second and only other usage in the New Testament is found in Titus. And here it does indeed refer to individual salvation. Titus chapter 3. The apostle is urging...

18:28 the people of God to be gentle with their fellow sinners. And he says one thing that will help them in seeking to be motivated in this direction is the remembrance of what they once were by nature. But God has changed what they were by nature. Verse 4, But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love toward man appeared, not by works done in righteousness which we did ourselves, But according to His mercy He saved us through the washing of, here's the word, regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, which He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by His grace, we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Now here, you will notice that the concept of regeneration is

19:27 is bound up on the one hand with washing and on the other hand with renewing. And though it is not my purpose to give a detailed exposition of the passage, suffice it to say that whatever this aspect of our salvation is, it is bounded by washing and renewing. It is the washing of regeneration found in conjunction with the renewing

19:56 of the Holy Spirit. So again we are brought back to the fundamental idea introduced by the use in Matthew, that there is radical renewal, there is pervasive renewal, and the hint of this passage is that it is renewal in conjunction with cleansing or with washing. Now, if we were to build the entire treatment of the doctrine on the only use of the word regeneration,

The Term in Church History and a Working Definition

20:26 This would be the beginning and end of our materials. But the word has been used in a much broader sense, and in about three minutes I want to take you through centuries of church history and its use of the term. Early in the history of the church, the term was perverted to mean baptismal grace which was conveyed through the application of water upon an individual. So that the term regeneration became synonymous with the heresy of baptismal regeneration. That is, when the water of baptism was applied, regeneration supposedly occurred and it was conceived of primarily as forgiveness of sin. Now in the older Reformed and Protestant writings, it is used to describe the whole process of inward renewal.

21:22 It was used many times as a synonym for conversion. Any of you who do any reading in John Owen, you will find this in volume 3 of his work on the Holy Spirit, where there are times in which he uses the word conversion as a synonym for regeneration. You will find Calvin using the term to express the whole concept of renewal from beginning to end. But in later theological writing...

21:50 And in our usage in this series of studies, it has come to mean that initial impartation of spiritual life or the new birth as taught by our Lord in John 3 or by the Apostle John in his epistles. Now, for our purposes, we're going to work with a very brief and simple definition of regeneration. Regeneration. It's the definition given by Dr. Packer in his article on regeneration in Baker's Theological Dictionary. Here it is. Regeneration is an inner recreating of fallen human nature by the gracious, sovereign action of the Holy Spirit. Regeneration is an inner recreating of what? Fallen human nature. How? How?

22:46 By the gracious, sovereign action of whom? Of the Holy Spirit. Now I trust that definition is not complex. That you don't find that burdensome nor tedious. Regeneration is that inward. It's not something that comes in terms of water on the head. Or getting the right man in the right place. In relationship to the right ecclesiastical system. Or raising a hand. No, no. It is an inward action.

23:16 recreating a fallen human nature by the gracious, it's rooted in grace, yet sovereign action of the Holy Spirit. So much then for that brief survey of the term. And I did this again not to be wearying, not to sound learned, but to seek to be a true shepherd to your souls that as you read the various writers,

Old Testament Analogy 1: Circumcision of the Heart (Deut 30)

23:42 I didn't want you to be confused and think that the Bible had no definite doctrine of regeneration because there was an imprecise use of the terminology of regeneration. But now we move very quickly to this that I trust will be meet and drink to our souls the major biblical pictures or analogies of this inward recreative work by the operation of the Holy Spirit. And we shall begin with several major Old Testament analogies. Now some of you may say, isn't that strange? Isn't the doctrine of the new birth or regeneration a New Testament doctrine exclusively? No. You'll remember in the passage which was read in your hearing in John chapter 3, that when Nicodemus expresses perplexity at this teaching concerning the necessity of a new birth,

24:39 that our Lord chides him in verse 10 with these words, Art thou the teacher of Israel, and understandest not these things? Nicodemus, you're a master in the Scriptures. You've risen to such prominence as to be considered the teacher in Israel. And you are ignorant of these things. Our Lord says that His ignorance is blameworthy.

25:10 Now if the Old Testament were silent concerning the doctrine of regeneration, Nicodemus could not be blamed for his ignorance. But it was precisely because the Old Testament was not silent that he is blamed for his ignorance of this glorious teaching of the mighty recreated work of God the Holy Spirit upon fallen human nature. Now what are then some of the major Old Testament analogies, pictures, descriptions of this transformation? Well, the first is found in Deuteronomy chapter 30, or the first for our study, under the figure of the circumcision of the heart. The book of Deuteronomy chapter 30.

26:06 In this section of the Word of God, the great blessings and curses of the covenant have been enunciated. The people of God have publicly, some upon one mountain, some upon another, they have publicly pronounced their amen to the blessings and cursings of the covenant of God.

26:29 We read in verse 1 of Deuteronomy 30, And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, that which has been described, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath driven thee, And thou shalt return to the Lord thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children with all thy heart and with all thy soul, that then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the peoples whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee. If any of thine outcasts be in the uttermost parts of heaven,

27:15 From thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, and from thence will He fetch thee. And the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it, and He will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers. Now notice, in the midst of this promise of restoration to those who will return to the Lord, there is this amazing statement, And the Lord thy God...

27:44 will circumcise thy heart and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul that thou mayest live. Now here under the analogy of the circumcision of the heart, the wonderful doctrine of regeneration is set before us.

28:11 Here God promises that in this restoration He will do something utterly unheard of. And I want you to notice the four major lines of thought that are in the text, verse 6. First of all, here is an act of identity wrought by God Himself. And the Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart.

28:39 circumcision was instituted as an identity of that nation, beginning with Abraham and his household, and then became that means by which they were identified by the Lord. God Himself did not do the circumcising. He instituted the ordinance of circumcision, or the ritual of circumcision. But here God Himself says, I will perform circumcision, This act by which I will identify and mark out my people. It is an act of identity wrought by the living God Himself. The Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart. Secondly, notice, it is an act of God upon the deepest recesses of the inner man. The Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart.

29:39 And in the Scriptures the heart is not used in terms of the fine psychological distinctions we make in our day. The heart was the seat of the whole man. Guard thy heart, for out of it are the issues of life, says Solomon. And so when God says that He will perform an act by which He will identify His people, it will be an act that does not stand short of touching the innermost springs of their humanity. It will be a circumcision of the inner man, of the heart. The third thing we note in this text is that it is an act resulting in vital relationship to God. Look at the language. He will circumcise thy heart and the heart of thy seed to do what? To love

30:41 In other words, it will be an act of God resulting in nothing less than true and vital religion. The essence of true and vital religion is love to God in terms of the revelation He has made of Himself. Now the way to that religion is not love, it is the way of faith. But the essence of that religion is indeed love to him. If anyone love not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema, whom having not seen, ye love. And so this is a promise of an act of Almighty God that will result in nothing less

31:20 than the bringing to pass of true and vital religion. There will be this love relationship with the living God. And fourthly, it is an act that will issue in life, look at the language, that thou mayest live. Now surely, surely, none in his right mind

31:44 unless he has some cause to promote other than an honest treatment of the Scriptures, would say that this text is speaking of anything less than that inner recreating of fallen human nature by the gracious, sovereign action of the Holy Ghost, which results in the sinner entering into true and living communion with the living God.

Old Testament Analogy 2: New Heart (Ezekiel 11)

32:15 Surely then these blessings are wonderfully fulfilled in the true Israel. The Israel within Israel, to use Paul's language in Romans, or in the language of the apostle later on in Galatians, the Israel of God. And for all who comprise that true Israel, whether they are brought through ethnic Israel or later on brought through the Gentiles, they do indeed experience in union with Christ these wonderful blessings. God Himself performs an act in which there is this circumcising of the heart that results in vital relationship to Him and which issues in life. Well, there is a second analogy, and this thread is picked up and enlarged then particularly by the prophet Ezekiel.

33:12 And it is the analogy of the giving of a new heart. You see, we progress from the circumcising of the heart, which has the concept of the cutting away of the flesh, to the actual impartation of a new heart. This is introduced, first of all, by Ezekiel in chapter 11 of his prophecy. Ezekiel chapter 11. Now remember what we're doing. We're simply trying to get the biblical picture the analogies of the grace of regeneration as they unfold to us in the New Testament. Ezekiel chapter 11. Now just a word about the setting of this passage. The people of God have been driven into captivity because of their sins. The curses that were pronounced in Deuteronomy, that if they turned away to idols, God would scatter them among the nations, those curses have come to pass.

34:11 They are now scattered among the nations. And in this particular section of the prophecy of Ezekiel, there is the wonderful promise that though they have been scattered, God will yet be merciful to a remnant. He will yet bring restoration to His people. Notice verse 16 of Ezekiel 11. Therefore say thus saith the Lord God,

34:38 Whereas I have removed them far off among the nations, and whereas I have scattered them among the countries, yet I will be to them a sanctuary for a little while in the countries where they are come. Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God, I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you from out of the countries whither you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel, and they shall come hither.

35:08 And they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence. And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. And I will take the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes,

35:36 and keep mine ordinances and do them, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. Now again, do you see the major lines of thought in this text? In the promise of restoration, God says that He's going to do an amazing thing. The first aspect of that amazing thing is that He will give to all upon whom this blessing comes,

36:06 one heart, and I will give them one heart. That is, there will be an internal unity. Not only will the individual heart of the restored sinner be united to fear God's name, but there will be one heart among all who come under the blessings of this promise. There will not merely be an external identity held

36:31 together by the external pressures of the theocracy, with one external king and one external law in one external land. No, no. He says, I will give them one heart. One heart. And God says this will be His work. Second thing is, He said, I will put a new spirit within them. Look at the language. And I will put a new spirit within you.

37:00 No longer will it be my presence above you in the pillar of fire and in the cloud as it was in the wilderness, or in the Shekinah as it was in the temple prior to the dispersion. He's already hinted at this in the previous context. He says, I will be a sanctuary to you in the very land of your captivity. You see, God is saying, in essence, my presence will no longer be localized here.

37:28 And now the wonderful fulfillment of the promise. I will put a new spirit within you. And then the third great blessing is this. I will take away the heart of stone. I will take the stony heart out of their flesh. Long before Dr. Bernard ever talked about heart transplants, Ezekiel was preaching about it. A mighty act.

37:58 of God in which He says, I'll remove the heart of stone. Do you catch something of the vivid imagery? What is stone? A material that is lifeless. No blood ever pulsed through stone. It is unimpressionable. You can't leave a dent in stone with your finger. It is cold. There is no warmth. It is lifeless. There is no blood. There is no breath.

38:25 God says this is the state of your hearts. With respect to truly loving me, having as it were the lifeblood and the pulse of holy longings for fellowship with me, you know nothing. With respect to the lifeblood of true communion with me as the God of the covenant, you know nothing. But I'm going to do something. I'm going to take out the heart of stone. Well, that will leave us then in a neutral position, would it not?

38:55 God says, no, I shall do something else. I will then implant a heart of flesh. That which beats with life. That through which the very breath of life pulses. So there is not only the removal of the stony heart, but the implantation of the fleshy heart. And now what will this result in? And God no longer talks in figures. Now He talks in plain language. Look at it.

39:24 The result is this, that they may walk in my statutes and keep mine ordinances, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. Do you see what God says the result of this transplant will be? There will be spontaneous obedience. No longer obedience merely externally constrained, if at all.

39:54 but obedience that springs from the heart, obedience that will find expression in the language of Psalm 40, I delight to do thy will, O my God, yea, thy law is within my heart. And then the climactic promise. There will be this mutual identity and owning of one another as a result of this mighty work of God, They shall be my people. God says, I will own them as mine. And it says, they will own me as theirs. I shall be their God. Doesn't that sound something like effectual calling, fellowship? The mutual embrace? God says, when this work is done, I will embrace them as mine. And they will embrace me as theirs. So then we move from the analogy...

Old Testament Analogy 3: Ezekiel 36 — Sprinkle, New Heart, My Spirit

40:54 Of the circumcision of the heart to this concept of the implantation of a new heart and the giving of a new spirit. And notice how Ezekiel picks up this theme again in chapter 36, the passage read in your hearing. And enlarges upon it. And some additional thought is now added. And we see the richness, you see, as this unfolds. And why the Lord rebukes Nicodemus. Art thou teacher of Israel and ignorant of these things?

41:26 Testament scriptures have sufficient witness to them, Nicodemus. Chapter 36, again, read the context for a thrilling unfolding of the heart of God. The prophet's been denouncing the false shepherds of Israel, not so much their spiritual leaders, but their, what we would say, political leaders who were to be spiritual leaders. And great denouncings have come from the lips of the prophet But in the midst of this, some of the most wonderful promises of the coming of the Redeemer. For instance, in chapter 34 and verse 23, in the midst of all of this condemnation of the false shepherds and those who follow them and those who reap the tragic fruit of their indifference and insensitivity, God says this, And I will set up one shepherd over them.

42:19 And he shall feed them, even my servant David. He shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. David was long since in his grave. Who is this David? He is David's greater son, the great shepherd of his sheep, even the Lord Jesus. And I, Jehovah, will be their God, and my servant David, prince among them. I, the Lord, have spoken it. You see, in the midst of judgment comes the promise of mercy.

42:48 Well, in that same cycle of judgment and mercy, we come now to Ezekiel 36. Verse 24, I will take you from among the nations and gather you out of all countries and bring you into your own land. Now notice the additional thought. And I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness and all your idols will I cleanse you.

43:16 A new heart also will I give you. Now you see the additional thought? Not only will there be this taking out of the heart of stone, the impartation of a new heart, but it will be found in conjunction with a work of cleansing. God says, I will sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean. God Himself is going to effect a cleansing that produces cleansing.

43:41 cleansing before his own eye. Ye shall be clean. I will cleanse you. A new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you. I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. Now notice the richness. I will put my spirit within you. The earlier prophecy said, I'll put a new spirit within you. Well, does that mean the recreation of the human spirit alone?

44:11 Does it mean the actual impartation of God Himself in the person of His Spirit? Now He tells us, I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep Mine ordinances and do them. Ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and ye shall be My people, and I will be your God again. And now notice how he picks up the note of cleansing on the other side of the promise. And I will save you from all your uncleannesses. And I will call for the grain and multiply it and lay no famine upon you. And then this vivid imagery that will end in their self-loathing as they think of the mercy of God against the backdrop of their own unfaithfulness. So what do we have at?

45:00 where we have added to the concept, you see, of the implantation of the new heart, the cleansing of verse 25, then the removal and the implantation of the new heart, verse 26, but then the actual impartation of God's own Spirit. Look at the language. I will put my Spirit within you. And now what will be the fruit of that work of God? Again, spontaneous obedience.

45:29 I will cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep Mine ordinances and do them. Do you not remember the words read in your hearing this morning, My sheep hear My voice, and they follow Me? My sheep hear My voice, and they follow Me. I will put My Spirit within them.

45:55 Cause you to walk in my statutes and keep mine ordinances and do them. And then this mutual identity, I will be their God. They shall be my people. Now it's important to underscore, you see, that additional concept that is woven into this prophecy of Ezekiel. That whatever this heart transplant involves, it will be found in the closest conjunction with spiritual cleansing.

The New Covenant Framework: Jeremiah 31-32 and Hebrews 8-10

46:23 That will be important when we come to John 3. Born of water and of the Spirit. Are you ignorant of this Nicodemus, teacher in Israel, master among the people of God, conversant with the Old Testament? Are you ignorant of the prophecy of Ezekiel? I will sprinkle. I will put my Spirit within you. And then in a very wonderful way, which time will not permit, I can only...

46:53 point to the verses. In Jeremiah 31, verses 31 to 34, mark it down, you who take notes, Jeremiah 31, 31 to 34. Then in Jeremiah 32, 36 to 40, God adds a new dimension. He says that all of these blessings will come within the framework of a change of covenantal administration. In other words, God says, I'm going to make a new covenant with the house of Jacob and with the house of Israel. A new covenant. And then these blessings of the implantation of the new heart and the new spirit are said to come within the framework of a new covenant in contrast with the covenant made with His people under Moses. If you want to know the fulfillment of that, you just turn to Hebrews 8 and Hebrews 10 in the New Testament.

47:52 And the writer to Hebrews quotes directly from the Jeremiah passages, which include the rich thought of the Ezekiel concepts and of the Deuteronomy concepts. And God says that these are the blessings that come to us sealed in the blood of our great high priest and God's only true sacrifice, even the Lord Jesus.

Conclusion on Old Testament Witness to Regeneration

48:15 This has been an all-too-brief survey of the Old Testament, the major Old Testament analogies, and I haven't even come to the New Testament. We'll have to leave those for next week, God willing. But what can we say in conclusion? Well, I trust it is right to say it should be abundantly clear from the passages which we've read and briefly expounded that the promises of God relative to spiritual blessing take the form of a promise of radical love

48:44 inward, sovereign, gracious activity. I will cleanse. I will take away. I will give. I will put. I will cause. How could language be more plain? That everyone who expected the blessings that God would give to His sinning people who had forfeited all claim to blessings, Anyone who looked forward to blessing that would come by the grace of God could not escape the fact that that blessing would come in the form described in these passages. A gracious, a sovereign recreation of fallen human nature that would result in mutual fellowship. I, their God, they, my people. Heart love, heart obedience.

49:42 Well, my friends, that's what has come to be known in Christian terminology as regeneration. That's all we're talking about. But that is what we're talking about. And when Jesus said, except a man be born again, born anew, he wasn't talking about all this current gibberish about born again. Some leading radical who sees the face, he thinks of Jesus on the moon one night and says, I was born again.

50:11 It has nothing to do with that. It has nothing to do with someone getting a warm feeling when they think about religious things and then say they're born again. It has to do with the sovereign, efficacious work of God, taking out the heart of stone, giving the heart of flesh, tying men to diligent obedience to the revealed will of God and Holy Scripture. giving them experiences in which they are run off, supposedly giving prophecies and gibbering away in so-called tongues and having ecstasies and visions. No, no, my friends. It has to do with biblical religion that begins with a heart that embraces the God revealed in the Bible, that has a totally new disposition to Him,

51:06 To his law. To his son. To his grace. But it never stops there. You notice in all those promises. It ends up in the feet. What starts in the heart ends up in the feet. I will cause them to keep my statutes. To walk in my commandments. To heed my ways.

Application: The Cheapened 'Born Again' and True Self-Loathing

51:26 So if you sit here this morning and say, Oh, I love this preaching on regeneration, born again. I'm a born-againer. Oh, I feel so good. My friend, listen. I'm not asking you what you feel like this morning. I want you to look at your feet. And I want you to look at the state of your heart. Is that heart a heart that reflects this mighty work of God? A heart that has been brought to feel the pain of its sin. Remember what he said when I do this?

51:56 Ye shall loathe yourselves for your uncleanness. Do you know anything of self-loathing? Do you know what it is to look in the mirror and hang your head with shame? That you as a creature made in the image of God, made to know Him and love Him, have lived 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 years self-centered, sin-loving, world-loving,

52:25 Do you know anything of what it is to loathe yourself? To feel the leanness of your soul. Whenever anyone is born of the Spirit, anyone is regenerated, one of the aspects of God's work by the Spirit is to give to that person a painful sight of what he is as a sinner. And then he gives a sight of the glory of Christ the Savior. We see Him who is David's greater son.

52:55 who humbled Himself and became obedient unto death. Even the death of the cross and now is highly exalted, and we are made to embrace Him as He is revealed in Scripture. And we love the Christ of Scripture, and we trust the Christ of Scripture. And then, as God says, I will cause them to keep My statutes. Our feet then run in the way of His commandments, not perfectly, but purposefully.

53:21 Not always with the same degree of alacrity or zeal. But as Jesus said, My sheep hear my voice and they follow me. My friend, do you claim to be born again? And the burden of proof rests upon you to manifest that your heart has been broken at the sight of your sins. That your heart has been drawn out in faith and love to the Lord Jesus. And that this day as a practical demonstration of that love.

53:50 You seek diligently to obey Him. And if that's not true of you, you're a stranger to God's regenerating grace, regardless of what you claim to have known or to have experienced. And my heart is pained as in our day. This terminology has become so cheapened. On Mondays, I often try to relax my mind by reading something totally innocuous and non-theological.

54:20 And I picked up a sport magazine this past Monday and began to read the account of a man who supposedly became a Christian. And he says his whole career has turned around since he's been, quote, born again. Someone saw that he wasn't doing too well and didn't have his act together, so they came and talked to him about Jesus and how Christ could give him the fulfilled life. And so he prayed his prayer and he had some kind of transformation. He began to hit home runs and fed a striking out. He began to feel better.

54:48 was nominated to the all-star team. Then the interviewer went on to say, look, I come from a place in the country where being born again and living straight are sort of synonymous. He said, something bothers me. You're known to be quite a ladies' man. How do you square up your being born again with being a ladies' man? You know what his answer was? He said, there's nothing wrong with sex so long as it's not kinky sex. He says, yeah, but what about sex outside of marriage? You claim to be a Christian.

55:18 He was silent for a minute. And don't anyone laugh. I don't mean to be funny. He said, I call it a form of Christian sharing. Born again. Born again. Living in open, blatant violation of the seventh commandment. Thou shalt not commit adultery. And yet he's paraded around the youth meetings.

55:46 To give his testimony of being born again. And this is multiplied hundreds and thousands of times over in our own country in the present hour. You say, there you go, Pastor Martin. Always got to end up on the negative. My friends, if you value your soul, listen. You better not be content with anything less than the work of the Spirit that plants your feet in the way of diligent adherence to the law and revealed will of God.

56:19 And if you can sit here this morning and say, by the grace of God, I do own the God of the Bible as my God. And I do trust only in the blood of His Son to cleanse and purge me from sin. And albeit feebly and at times so faintly I can hardly discern it, but thank God it's real. I know what it is to delight in the way of His commandments. Then, my friend, rejoice.

56:48 For in you God has fulfilled his word of promise. I will take out the heart of stone. I will give them a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within them. I will cause them to walk in my statutes. And if that's true of you, then you see all of the praise is to be given to the God who has been graciously sovereign to you.

57:13 Would you say, what about me? If that's not happened to me, all the passages say God will do it. He will do it. He will undertake. What hope is there? My friend, go to that God and cry to Him for mercy. I'd be a liar if I told you you had the power to change your own heart. But I'd be less than a true servant of Christ if I didn't direct you to the One who can change it. Go to Him and cry to Him for mercy. Ask Him to do

Closing Prayer

57:43 for you what you cannot do for yourself, but which must be done if you are ever to see and enter the kingdom of heaven. Let us pray. O our Father, we rejoice this morning that in grace and mercy you have come to rebel sinners.

58:12 who deserve nothing but the curse for our disobedience. And yet you say, I, I will gather you. I will take out the heart of stone. I will give a heart of flesh. We thank you. We thank you for the grace of regeneration, for that mighty recreative work performed upon fallen human nature,

58:42 constituting us new creatures in Christ. O God, we bless you. We praise you that in this building this morning there are many monuments of your power to recreate men into the likeness of your Son. And we pray that there may be yet many more, that you will bless the proclamation of your word this day to that very end. Seal then your word to our hearts.

59:11 And continue with us through this your day. To the praise of your name and to the prophet of our souls. We ask in Jesus name. Amen.