Regeneration explained
Key Passage: Titus 3:3-5
Date: June 7, 2024
Would you turn to Titus chapter number three? Titus chapter number three in God’s Word this morning. And aren’t you glad we’ve got God’s Word? I mean, I wouldn’t know what to preach on. I mean, I’d probably be talking about the dog next door or football or something, but didn’t have God’s Word, amen.
And I wouldn’t know where we’re going, why we’re here, what we’re supposed to do while I’m here. Praise the Lord, we got God’s Word. And that’s what you hang your hat on right there, the Word of God. It’s always true and endures forever. I think it was interesting. Who was it? Voltaire, I believe it was. He said, “I’m going to do away with the Bible,” and he kind of devoted his life to doing it. And, of course, Voltaire died long ago, and years after he died, it just so happened that his house turned into a printing press for Bibles, amen. God had the last say so, as He always does, you know. And praise the Lord, we got His Bible, and I’m glad for it. Titus chapter number three this morning. If you’re there, if you found it, would you say amen? Amen.
Good deal. I like to hear that. Amen. If you haven’t found it, just look like—act like you found it. I won’t know any different, all right. We’ll be good to go. If you’re holding it upside down, your neighbor’s going to know you didn’t find it, though. You know, they’ll know. But as long as you can coax them to follow along with you, everything’s good, all right? You know. Titus chapter number three. Last week we preached for a bit on what must I do to be saved in Acts 16:30, 31. I think the clearest place in all the Bible, right there, just very, very clear. Today I want to just for a bit touch on this—I believe the Lord wants it: What happens to me when I get saved? What happens to me when I get saved? Or, I tell you what, for the Internet, you know, they complain if it’s too long. They’re like, “Man, the line wasn’t long, passionate enough. We couldn’t get it all in there,” you know. So, we’ll just put one word in there: regeneration, regeneration. We’ll just put that one word in there. Titus chapter number three, God’s Word. And if you’re able to—if you didn’t eat too much for supper last night, and you’re able to—I’m teasing with you—but if you’re able to, would you please stand as we read God’s Word together, just trying to show it some respect? Titus three, and we’re going to start in verse number three of God’s Word.
Now let me just say a word. Brother Jim’s expecting this, so I can’t let him down. But, you know, he was just right with the Lord when he left here, and he comes back and he’s not even using his Bible. He’s got his phone out texting this morning. Can you believe that? You see that, folks, right there? Egypt’s rubbed off on him, I’d tell you for sure now, you know. I’m teasing him. I love that man back there. He’s got his Bible on his phone there, all right? I know you’ll be disappointed if I didn’t give you a hard time a little bit, but Jim, so I wanted to go ahead and get it done right off the bat there, you know. Titus 3, verse number 3, if you would, please.
“For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lust”—or different kind of lust, probably addictions—“and pleasures, living in malice.” Malice is that inward feeling and thought that you want to hurt, so you like to see someone hurt. That type of thing. Living in malice and envy, ill feelings because of their good, hateful, and hating one another. All these inward feelings are just out of whack. All these things—this would be just so much we could say about that. For we ourselves also were sometimes all these things.
Verse number four: “But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared.” By the way, the main appearing was through Jesus Christ. By the way, I think it’s right to make much of us loving Jesus. That’s the greatest command of all the Bible. But can I say something greater than our love for Jesus, more important? It’s His love for us. In fact, we love Him because He first loved us. And why I just say emphasizing your life, especially in your walk with the Lord: He loves you. He loves you. He always has. You were born a good Christian, He always will. He loves you. Nothing can change that. Does that make you want to go out and do something crazy? No, that makes me want to serve Him. That’s what it makes me do. Focus on His love. That’s where it all started. He loved us. “For God so loved the world…”
Brother Anthony, can I get you just turn the fans on, please? Just no air condition, just leave it where it is, just some fan, get some air moving a little bit, sometimes in between. It was cold the night, but warm it up, just get some air flowing. Somebody didn’t wear a yoder, and I won’t mention any names, you know. Just get a little airflow, and I’m joking, don’t take me too serious. But verse number five, verse number five, if you would please: “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us.”
Remember last Sunday we talked about this fellow who said, “What must I do to be saved?” And we said they were already at first base; they understood it, and it’s not a process. You are either saved or lost. “What must I do to be saved?” That’s what he was talking about. “But according to His mercy, He saved us.” That’s a Bible term. He saved us. It gets misused sometimes, but it’s a Bible term. Are you saved? Are you born again? Child of God? Those are Bible terms. He saved us. Watch what He says: “by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost.” He goes on more on the subject. We won’t read it all for time’s sake, but just three words out of that verse there, we’re going to focus on for just a bit this morning. Verse number five.
Would you pray with me that God would work in your heart, my heart, as we do our best to preach as well? Would you do that? Lord, we come to You. Father, it would do no good if You and Your Spirit don’t take Your Word and apply it to the hearts of these listeners. Lord, You know, I love these people. I really do, Lord. And I do ask, Lord, would You help them, give them what they need? Lord, some of this might seem redundant, but help it to be fresh and new, and help Your people be hungry and kind of stay on board until it gets to something that applies to them. Father, we thank You. We’ll praise You. We’ll brag on You for what You do. We do ask for all these things in the name of Jesus. We pray. Amen. Thank you so much. May be seated.
If you look at that word in verse number five, He says there, “But according to His mercy He saved us by the washing”—by the washing. Let’s just stop for the sake of “by the washing.”
We have an inside dog and an outside dog. Our inside dog is a little Yorkie. She’s 14 years old; she’s getting old for sure. We have a big dog, Dixie. We let her in on cold nights like last night. She stays in the laundry room, but she’s for the most part outside. And can I say this: Dixie sometimes does this one thing real good. Sometimes she stinks real good. You know what I’m talking about? Especially after she gets sprayed by a skunk. I mean, we’ve got fields behind us—not ours—but horses out there and all that. And I don’t know how many times she’s gotten sprayed by skunks—too many to count, many, many times. But whether she’s gotten sprayed or not, if sometimes, if you pet her and all that, you smell your hands, like, “Whoa.” Anybody know what I’m talking about? So we have to wash her.
We’ll bring her in. I like to bring her to the bathtub because she can’t get out of the water hose or however you’re doing it. Get that dog shampoo and all that, and you wash her, you know. And she doesn’t stink quite so bad. Wash her a couple times, she smells good, amen, you know. That’s just the way it is. But she needs washing. Now, here’s the bad thing about it: You wash her and you let her out, and she’ll go out back and find, you know, the horse pastures, you know, the fertilizer in the horse pastures, you know what I’m talking about. She’ll wallow in that stuff, that crazy dog. You let her out there, and you just back there, you know. But dogs, that’s just kind of their nature. And before He even talks about this term regeneration, He talks about washing—the washing of regeneration. Why is that? Because an unsaved person, their nature is to sin. They inherited that way back from Adam and Eve. We call it the Adamic nature or their sin nature. Just like a dog. You ever taking a dog out for a walk in a field somewhere and they find something dead that stinks for miles, you know what I’m talking about, and they wallow in it? Anybody know what I’m talking about there? Come on now, yeah, it’s just their nature. For one unsaved person, it’s their nature to sin.
Can I just say a word about that? It eludes me. Well, I’ve heard all that. Just stick with me here, all right? We’re going somewhere. Stick with me, would you please. But don’t get too shook up about the world being so bad. Can I be honest? The world always has been bad since Adam and Eve. You don’t understand; I’m against that, but can I say they were killing babies in Moses’ time after they were born? Was that going on or not? They were drowning them. You talk about brutal. They were sacrificing them in the Nile River. I’m just saying, so don’t let the world just get you shook up to the point you can’t do anything for God. The world is going to be the world. They’re going to do those things. I don’t like it. We ought to stand against it. We ought to stand for truth. But if I get shook up so much by the world, I won’t be a light shining in this world.
You know, in the Bible, I’m just being honest with you here, the countries around Israel would have these false gods. This one god they had, it was like this idol, and it had arms like this, and it had a fire pit down. They would make a fire, and they would take their babies, and they’d put their babies in that arm, and they would offer up their babies as a sacrifice. Now, friend, that’s just wicked. And I say these things to say, you know, if we’re not careful, we’re just doomsday, doomsday, doomsday, everything’s bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, that you’re depressed for all your life. Come on now. And I’m not trying to be doomsday from the pulpit, I’m just saying some of these things have been going on forever, and it was a wicked day in time then.
Now, can I say, here’s where we have major problems: When the saved people start doing what the lost people, unsaved people, do—that’s when you got major problems. That’s what really got God involved so often. When the children of Israel began to do these things, then remember the principle over there? Judgment must begin where? At the house of God. That’s what ought to get us riled up—when we are doing the worldly things. But the world’s going to be the world. That’s what he means in verse number three. Would you go back to verse number three right there? Stick with me here. Verse number three, Titus three. He’s talking about before they were saved, these people before they were saved: “For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish”—just living for a laugh, just good time, do drink, eat, and be merry, do drugs, whatever—just foolish, just for a laugh. “Disobedient”—weren’t listening to God or anybody else. “Deceived”—boy, Satan had them chained by sin. “Serving divers lust”—addicted to drugs and pornography and filth and all the alcohol, that’s what it’s talking about. “Serving divers lust and pleasures, living in malice”—you just got a problem with everybody; you’ve got ill feelings towards everybody. “Envy”—just somebody does good and it bothers you because you’re doing good around you. “Hateful, hating one another.” He’s talking about before they were saved. That’s what the world is.
And can I say something here? Though I don’t want you to live on a guilt trip of what you were like before you got saved—don’t do that. Hey, your sins are forgiven. Praise the Lord, they’re done. They’re gone, gone, gone. But it wouldn’t hurt us ever once in a while, for our born-again Christian on our way to heaven, to remember what He saved us out of, and not make it seem like it’s wonderful, but just declare how bad it is and how it wrecked our life. That’s right to do that. And praise the Lord, He delivered me from that junk, and that my emotions, my things are so messed up with malice and envy and all this—admit that how bad it was. I was messed up. It’s all right to do that. This was talking about before they were saved—the lost people.
But now something changed. Something changed. Now they had that sin nature. My Granny Lee—Granny Lee typically would have some pigs. I don’t know, five, six, seven pigs out in the pig pen way out in the back of the field, you know. She owned a couple acres, believe it or not. You go way out back there, and there was the pig pen. And here’s the thing: you get a five-gallon bucket, and you get the pig slop. Anybody know what pig slop is? Man, y’all get an education. That’s the leftovers from the last week, you know, I mean, just put in that. And then, you know, you need to add some feed in there, and you go down there for care of that five-gallon bucket, get your boots on, you know, your old rubber boots on there, you know. And you walk down there, and the pig pens typically are all muddy and everything, you know, and the troughs—there’s a feeding trough, it’s always dumped over. You walk down there, and you walk out there. By the way, when you’re walking in, you get inside the fence, the pig pen, be careful. Don’t turn your back on those pigs. They could be mean. Anybody know what I’m talking about? Yeah, they can get you if you’re not careful. You know, yeah, those of you who have been around, you’re like, “Yep, that’s exactly right,” you know. By the way, the one time I saw my granny mad—mad, mad—at us grandchildren, we were riding her pigs. Oh, she didn’t like that. She wasn’t happy about that. I don’t know what it was, but anyway. But you get there at the pig pen and you turn that trough upright and you hose it down, you get all the mud—I clean it out—and then you take that five-gallon bucket, and you get it over the fence, and you pour it in there, and you know what the pigs do? You think they’re just going there and eat it? They never just eat it. You know what they do? They go out of that snout and they knock that trough over, and you get all that food mixed in with the mud, and then they eat it. Anybody regret eating sausage this morning? Anybody like that? That’s their nature. That’s just their nature. And lost people don’t get too shook up at them. That’s their nature. See, that’s their sin nature.
Now, let’s go to the next word here. We got washing. Here’s the next word right there, verse number five. He saved us by the washing of, what’s the next word? Regeneration. What does that mean? This is my simple definition of it: You are re-gained. Remember Jesus said over there in John 3, “Ye must be born again.” He goes on in that chapter. He says, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, but that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” You are born spiritually. You are re-gained. Ephesians 2:1 says it this way: “You hath He quickened”—that means made alive—“who were dead in trespasses and sin.” Spiritually, you were dead because you’re born with that sin nature. That sin brings death. Sin is death. It brings death, and you’re born with that sin nature. You’re born spiritually dead. But when you’re born again, the Spirit moves inside, and it gives you rebirth, new birth, new life. You’re born again. That’s why the Bible says you’re a new creature. Something is new; your spirit is living. You’re spiritually born; you are re-gained or regenerated.
Yesterday, I had the purpose of going over to Jim and Angie’s house for a bit, and their grandson was there, a six-month-old little boy. I hadn’t seen him since he was a newborn, and they came to church maybe a month or older, so I haven’t seen him in five months at least. I walked in there and kind of turned the corner, and I saw this six-month-old baby, and man, I just couldn’t believe it. But the first look at this baby, I said, “That is Dillon all over.” That’s the dad. And the first thing, that’s Dillon all over right there. Could not believe it. I mean, that’s a little Dillon. That’s all it was, Minister Dillon. Poor child, right, Brother Jim? But just an amazing resemblance.
And so here’s what happened: When you get re-gained, regenerated, you get the genes from God. That’s why someone says, “Man, what happened to you? You used to be pretty rough. You used to kind of act like this and talk like this, but you’re a little different now. What happened to you?” You got regenerated when you were saved, and you have the genes of God inside you. You have new birth. You’re supposed to, in some aspect, resemble the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s regeneration. You see, if I just had to make myself better and just turn over a new leaf, we’re just a social club, it will be a lost cause because you have a sin nature. You could not win over. But when you have new birth, you’re regenerated, now you can win in looking like Jesus. That’s why if a lost person really tries to act like he’s saved, it’s a miserable, hard job because he’s not been changed inside.
The washing of regeneration. Brother Kevin, we already got those fans on. If you just leave that, that’d be good. I appreciate that. But what’s already been changed? We’ve been regenerated. Now it’ll show in different ways. It really will. It’ll show in so many different ways. Sometimes it’s her eyes. What was it, Brother Jim? I think he said, “From here up it’s Dillon, from here down it’s different,” or something like that. And it’ll affect you differently. See, everybody will look a little different, it’s according to how it happens to you when you have new birth.
And some people when they get saved—I thought about my daughter, Sarah, when she got saved, she kind of… she did not want to admit she was a sinner. “Heck, everybody else is a sinner. Well, Brother Frank’s a sinner. Daddy’s a sinner, that’s for sure. Mommy’s a sinner,” you know. And then one day it dawned on her, “Man, I’m a sinner.” Oh, man. After that, she came. She said, “My dad, I want to say…” And John had a ball game. And so, you know, “Well, y’all go to the ball game, and Sarah’s going to stay home for a minute.” And she asked the Lord Jesus Christ to be her Savior. She’s ready, once she admitted she was a sinner. But here’s the neat thing about it. Here’s the thing that kind of resembled the Lord in Sarah’s little girl’s heart and life: When we went to the ballgame, you know what happened? At the ballgame, she wanted to tell everybody, “I just got saved!” Well, that was resembling Jesus. It’ll show up in different ways.
Now, typically, can I say this: differently? Maybe someone gets saved and they’re older in life, and maybe they’ve had a rough life already. When they get saved, sometimes it shows in very obvious, very open ways. A lot of times, if somebody gets saved when they’re very young—Brother Anthony, how old were you when you got saved? Brother Anthony was five years old. He wasn’t a drug addict. He said, “Well, I was dragged to church.” Amen, Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday, you know. That’s it. And so it’s not going to look the same. It’s not going to be the same. And sometimes, “Well, everything didn’t change in your life. You didn’t get saved.” Well, I wasn’t a drug addict. Well, I was, too. I was dragged to church, too. But it should show in some way. In some form or fashion, others should say, “Hey, man, something happened to them. What happened to you? You used to be mean; you’re nice all of a sudden.” Well, my wife threatened me with a bat. That’s why, you know? No, you’re re-gained. Something happened in your life. By the way, if nothing ever happened in your life, I’d start saying, “Whoa, what’s going on here?” And it might not show up in everything in your life, but something inside—God—something’s changed here. I’ve been re-gained.
My dad—I talk about my dad often. Dad was what most would call a functioning alcoholic, and he battled it for a long time. Getting saved—but he finally got saved. Well, man, that Sunday afternoon, he rode down the road and pulled the bottles out of the car—and I don’t know about cigarettes at the time—but the bottles out of the car. Went to work on Monday, started telling people about the Lord Jesus Christ. It was drastic because God saved him out of a pretty rough life. Now, I like it when it shows like that, but can I say it doesn’t always show itself the same way? Just like, you ever have this, parents? You got that little baby, and you’re so proud of that little bitty thing, you know? I mean, every baby is cute in the world to mom and dad and special grandma and grandpa. Somebody save me right there. The older I get, every baby’s cute, but anyway. You know, and you’re proud of that baby. And so someone comes along and they say, “Oh, that baby’s so cute, it looks just like you, Mom.” Doesn’t look a bit in the world like Dad, just all the way like Mom, you know? And they leave, and Dad’s over there mad about it, you know? She’s over there like, “Ha ha,” like there, you know? And then what happens? The next person comes along and says, “That baby looks just like you, Dad. It doesn’t look like you a bit in the world, Mom.” Anybody experienced those things?
Yeah, that’s just how people see it. And the same way when someone’s born again, it’s not always going to show the same way. And be so careful about saying they’re not saved. You don’t know their heart. But something inside should have changed. They’re regenerated. The re-gene—it ought to show in their life. Can I say this? They may or they will still battle sin. I was talking to a man this week, and he has things going on in his life. He’s trying to get them right, and honestly, he’s convicted about it. And I said, “Hey, it’s a pretty good sign”—we were talking about salvation—“a pretty good sign you are saved”—because you’re convicted about that. That’s it. But is he winning in that battle? No, not right now. He’s not. Hopefully, he will. We’re talking about that. But he’s convicted about it, and there ought to be some conviction. There ought to be that.
Now, so we’ve talked about the washing. We’ve talked about the regeneration, all right? Let’s get to the third word, would you please, here, verse number five. Y’all back over there. Titus 3. Look at verse number 5, that last part there. He said, “But according to His mercy He saved us by the washing of regeneration.” And what’s the next word there? “Renewing of the Holy Ghost.” Can I just maybe give a one-word definition of renewing? I think maybe the closest one-word definition would be renovating. Renovating. It is an ongoing thing, this renovation. Renewing of the Holy Ghost, renewing all these things that God’s continually doing in our life, not until we look like Jesus fully one day in heaven will it all be done.
When we were newlyweds, we’ve been married about a year. We lived in Indiana at the time—I’m teasing—but the Lord called us to be a youth director down in Alabama. We lived in L.A., lower Alabama, amen. And we lived in a single-wide trailer, very pretty small, just a single-wide trailer. And when we moved in there, they had the old brown, dark brown paneling on the walls. All the ladies were like, “Uh-huh, that’s got to go,” you know. And I was still a newlywed, you know, about a year married. I didn’t realize how bad those things got to go, you know. And we were building a building at church, and I was gone so many hours of the day, probably too much. And I went off to work one day, and I came home, and those dark brown walls were white. One day, my wife had renovated that trailer—in the hall, the living room. I mean, she had went to… I didn’t even know she was doing it, man. She renovated that place, amen. And praise the Lord, it needed brightening up for sure. I have a problem with that. I just thought, “Wow, man, I could have helped,” you know. She’s renovating.
Now, the Holy Ghost, when you get saved, He regenerates you, and He starts this process of renovating you. Now, can I say this? You have very much control over how much He renovates you. He lets you have much say so over that. That’s why the books of Ephesians and Colossians of the Bible say, “Put off the old man and put on the new man.” We have very much control on this ongoing process of renewing.
You know, one of the first steps—y’all listen to that—one of the first steps when someone gets saved of renewing is this thing back here, when they go up here in this water and they go swimming for just about a second or two, you know, and it’s called baptism. And they are… Remember what I usually say when someone’s getting baptized? I’ll say, “Buried in the likeness of His death, raised in the likeness of His resurrection.” They’re regenerated; they’re to look like… raised in the likeness. They’re going to resemble, in some form or fashion, because they’re regenerated, the likeness of Jesus Christ. And this renewing, He’s renovating them. One of the first steps of someone getting saved, getting renovated, is getting baptized. It’s not part of salvation, but once they’re saved, it’s part of that. God’s renewing them. He’s renovating them. He’s making changes inside there. And the Holy Spirit will want to make some changes. He is always the same. He’s not going to change to me. He is the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit.
Now, I’ve been on all this for some time. They say, “Well, I’ve heard this for 20 years.” We’re just… we’re going somewhere. Here’s the bad part. All right. I’ll still out there. You know, that’s the good news. Man, He regenerated. If you were born a good Christian, you got regenerated; the Holy Spirit is trying to renovate you. Now here—here’s the bad part: When you get regenerated, He’s renewing you, you still have the old man, or the sin nature, or sometimes called the flesh. You still got it. That’s maybe one of the biggest things I look forward to when I go to heaven. I will lay this robe of flesh down, no more battling those feelings inside. You don’t have to battle what’s going on around you. Man, boom, you just do right instantly. You’re regenerated, and that’s it. Man, He takes control of everything. I’m looking forward to that day right there. I won’t have to battle to eat the right stuff. That’s going to be a good thing right there, because I have to battle that. I win and lose sometimes, you know. But till then, there’s a battle.
Would you look over in Galatians chapter number five real quickly here? Galatians chapter five. Look in Galatians 5 and verse number 17. Verse number 17. Galatians 5, would you look at verse number 17 right there? Watch what He does here. He says, “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” So the Spirit, when you’re born again, He moves inside. Whom He moves inside, He regenerates you, He’s renewing you. But you still got this flesh, the old man. Boy, you’ve got a battle. They are butting heads all the time. They’re contrary. They’ll never go in the same direction, never will. Don’t buy that lie that your flesh will feed you. They’re contrary to one another. They’re battling each other, and that’s the battle.
Now, let me just very briefly here—we don’t have too much time left—let me talk to you about how to win over the flesh to be totally renovated, if you will. Here’s the good thing about it. Here’s a wonderful thing about it. Sometimes we get in our head, “Well, I’ve got to make myself all this.” No, you don’t. The Holy Spirit is the one that renovates, and you let Him renovate. Actually, that leads to point number one in this thing, winning over the flesh: You give the Spirit control. You yield to the Holy Spirit.
Would you look in verse number 16 of Galatians 5? We just read 17. Galatians 5:17 talks about the battle. Would you look at the verse right before, verse number 16? Galatians 5:16 says, “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” That walk shows moment by moment daily in your life. You’re letting the Holy Spirit control. Obey every impulse of the Holy Spirit. Did you hear that? For me, it’s so much just like a little impulse the Holy Spirit gives. Obey every impulse of the Holy Spirit. Don’t make Him yell, “I got you out back of the woodshed!” Obey every impulse of the Holy Spirit. Just an impulse. I’m so bad about being dismayed. What is dismayed? It’s where you just freeze in fear. Don’t freeze in fear. Obey every impulse of the Holy Spirit. He tells you to give somebody a tract; give him a tract. He tells you to go tell somebody you’re sorry; go tell them. Every impulse. He tells you to get involved in that situation; get involved. Tells you don’t get involved; don’t get involved. Every impulse. He says, “That feeling you got in your heart is wrong; say, ‘I’m sorry about that.’” Every impulse. Say you need to forgive that person for what they just said. Every impulse. Everything He says, boom, boom—obey. You’re walking in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill… But you think, and I think sometimes, “I’ve got to beat my flesh.” You’re not going to. But your flesh is no match for the Spirit, and when you yield to every impulse of the Spirit, He can defeat your flesh. Every impulse.
You get just a feeling of jealousy. Well, if somebody pulls up, they got a new or nicer car, you know, you’ve been working hard for yours. Well, they probably didn’t work as hard as they did for my car. And I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I don’t want that. I don’t want to be like that type of person. But you’re walking in the Spirit, every impulse. Obey every impulse of the Spirit. You need to love that person. You need to go put your arm around that person. You need to go tell them, “Hey, you’re doing good.” You need to encourage. Obey every, every little impulse of the Spirit—the still, small voice. It’s so much better to listen to that than Him hitting you over the head. Now, He can hit you over the head, and He does, chasing His children, but it’s so much better. Just yield, obey every impulse of the Holy Spirit.
I’m not there. I like to be there. Striving for that. I want to be there. Sometimes I get caught up in my agenda, my thoughts, my feelings, and what they did to me and how I feel about what I think about it, and I’ve tuned out. I’ve quenched the Spirit. But you yield; you’re walking in the Spirit. Obey every impulse of the Spirit. So important. You still got your old man. I don’t want him. I want to put him off, as Ephesians tells us, and I want to put on the new man. How do I do that? Obey every impulse. Let the Holy Spirit renovate your heart. He can paint those paneled walls and make them white, amen.
Number two. Would you look over very quickly here? Would you look over in Galatians chapter number five? Galatians will read one verse, and a little bit later on, we’ll read another verse in Galatians, so stay there. But Galatians 5 and verse number 24. Galatians 5 and verse number 24. I’m just trying to give you three practical steps on how to let the Lord totally renovate your life. Renewing comes up twice in the Bible here, and then over in Romans is renewing your mind. The very correlation there—well, time to get to it. Galatians 5. Look in verse number 24. Galatians 5, verse number 24. If you’re there, would you say amen? Amen. Look in 5:24, Galatians: “And they that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.”
So here’s a key: Yield to the Holy Spirit, walk in the Spirit. Here’s another key: They that are Christ—have I truly, fully given myself to Jesus? When I have all these feelings going haywire inside of me, and maybe, yes, something’s bringing it all on—Satan always uses people to bring it all on—all these feelings are going crazy inside. How do you do it? Give yourself to Christ. Give yourself fully, completely to Christ.
I don’t do this quite as much as I used to, but for a while, this was kind of one of my routines in my prayer time. I said, “Lord, I want to give You everything. If there’s anything You don’t want to have, I want You to have it.” You got my truck. That’s hard for a country boy to give up his truck, amen, you know. My truck is Yours. My wife’s car—our car is Yours. Our house is Yours. My dog’s Yours. That’s another thing for a country boy to give up, you know. My dogs are Yours. My kids are Yours. Yeah, He can take a lot better care of your kids than you can anyway. He just gave you those kids to raise for Him anyway. “I have no greater joy than to hear”—not to see, but then to hear—“that my children walk in truth.” Yes, that spiritual was also, I believe, applied physically too. You can’t apply it that way. Everything: My reputation. Lord, You know what they’re saying, You know what they’re doing, You know how they’re twisting all this, You know how they’re manipulating it all. Give it all to Him. “They that are Christ have crucified.” I give it to You. Give Him your schedule. Give Him your music. You got my music? Hey, music is so important. Satan really loves to work in music. Satan is so gifted at music. I think he’s the best. If he were to sing, you’d say, “Man, that’s the best singer in all the world right there.” Yeah, he probably is built in with these musical instruments in him. He’s a song leader of heaven. And so Satan, when he fell, he uses music very much, and it’s so important that you give your music to the Lord. They that are Christ—that’ll take care of all the rest. They that are Christ. It’s not too hard to figure out rock and roll music and that kind. What was it? David Bowie, David Bowie, David Bowie, whatever, that rock and roll singer, he said himself, “Rock and roll music has always been and always will be the devil’s music.” Not too hard to figure it out. Rolling Stone magazine said the three major types of rock and roll music are drugs, sex, and rebellion. Not too hard to figure it out. The problem is when I don’t give myself to Christ; that’s the root of it.
They that have given themselves to Christ—when you battle it, “My flesh is so strong. What am I going to do?” Give yourself again to Christ. Give Him everything. These feelings inside of me, I have a hard time changing them. What do you do about it? Give them to Christ. They’re not right, Lord. I know that. I’m sorry for it. I’m giving them to You. Give Him everything. “They that are Christ have crucified the flesh.”
Well, then the Holy Spirit says, “Man, I can make this home amazing. I can renovate it. I can make it so pleasant and joyful to live in and to walk around,” and you’re happy with what God’s made you. You’re enjoyable to live around as far as a family member. You can look at the mirror and say, “Man, I’m messed up, but God’s doing something with a messed-up individual.” You can put your head on the pillow and have peace, why? Because you’ve given yourself to Christ, and He’s crucified your flesh. That’s the life you want, I promise you. It’s from the Holy Spirit. You see, we’re the canvas, and sometimes we think, “I’ve got to make my canvas beautiful.” No, you just let Him paint a beautiful picture of Jesus on your canvas. He can. “They that are Christ have crucified the flesh.”
So number one: You walk in the Spirit, obey every impulse of the Holy Spirit, step by step, moment by moment. And then maybe there are sometimes for me, for sure, so many times, man, just something’s just… We were talking about casting all your care upon Him last Sunday. And sometimes you’re like… somebody said, “Well, some things just won’t cast.” But take those things and give those to Jesus. He can cast them. “They that are Christ have crucified the flesh.”
One last thing. One last thing. Would you look at Galatians 2? Galatians 2, verse number 20. Galatians 2:20. How do I get fully renovated, if you will? It’ll be complete when we get to heaven. We’ll never be fully there, but these will help you so immensely if you just practice them: Yield to the Spirit, give yourself to Christ daily. And then number three, Galatians 2:20. Galatians 2:20. Here we go. You’re there? Galatians 2:20. Would you read it out loud with me? Here we go: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me.”
Paul said this in another place in Scripture, one of the greatest Christians, Paul. He said, “I die daily.” Did you hear the first part of that verse? “I am crucified with Christ.” Dr. Lee Robertson used to say, die to praise and criticism. Die to praise and criticism. “I am crucified with Christ.” I don’t know about you, but I have a flesh a mile long. Anybody else? Seems like it grows. I mean, you know, the Holy Spirit gets me somewhat in line. I go to sleep, and man, it’s back about a mile long the next morning. It’s just there. I don’t do it like I ought to. But sometimes that verse will get a hold of me—Galatians 2:20. It’s the verse that really captivated Dr. Lee Robertson about dying. “I am crucified with Christ.” You sometimes just say that phrase over and over to yourself all day long: “I am crucified with Christ.”
Sometimes your flesh is so strong, and Lord, I don’t know if I can win over my flesh. Sometimes I’ll go to Jesus, the Holy Spirit, to the Lord, and I’ll say, “Would You let me climb up on the cross with You? Would You let me die with You? Jesus, I need to get up there with You. I want to be crucified with You. Jesus, I need to get on the old rugged cross with You. I am crucified with Christ.” Would You let me get up there? By the way, that’s when you’re close to Him right there. That’s when you have wonderful fellowship of suffering right there. That’s when you’re near and dear to His heart. “I am crucified with Christ.” Jesus, let me get up there. Let me die with You. All my wants, all my feelings, all right. I think about the situation. Let me get up there. I want to be crucified with You. “I am crucified with Christ.” Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ. That’s when He begins to live through you. That’s when He renovates you to the point of regeneration, to the point, “Hey, you look like the image of the Son of God. You look like Jesus.”
That’s when I heard of a preacher, Bobby Robertson, talk about he went to a restaurant years ago with an old, godly preacher, just been preaching for years—this old, dear saint. And they were leaving the restaurant, and someone said, “Hey, could I tell you something? Just the way you carry yourself,” told this older preacher, “He said, ‘You remind me of Jesus.’” I asked the individual, “Did you know this preacher?” “Did you know?” “No, we’re just traveling through. I’ve just seen you, and something about you.” And Brother Bobby said that old preacher started crying. “So I’ve been wanting to be like Jesus for a long time. Been praying to resemble Him for a long time.” How do you get there? “I am crucified with Christ.” Jesus, let me get up there on the cross with You. Oh, that’s a dear and sweet place. Paul said it, “I die.” Man, the Holy Spirit, He can renovate a life.
Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? Say, “Preacher, I would like to resemble Jesus more. I like to resemble Jesus to this old world. I like to be more like Jesus.” God spoke to my heart. I like to be regenerated, renewed to the point that I’m godly, and the world says, “He resembles Christ.” If that’s you, God spoke to my heart, I like to resemble Jesus more. Just lift your hand up. I’m so far from it. Oh, me too, friend. Me too. That’s a great desire. That’s a desire for a good Christian. You are saved. Thank you so very much. You can put your hands down.
Maybe you hear this morning, you say, “I need to yield, obey every impulse of the Spirit more. I need to give every part of my life to Christ more, every part, everything. And I need to be crucified. I need to die daily.” One of those three specific things, God spoke to my heart. I need to put some of those things into practice in my life. God spoke to my heart about one of those three specific things. If that’s you this morning, preacher, I need to put into practice one of those three things. God bless you. God bless you. I need to put them in practice. Anybody else? God spoke to my heart about one of those three specific things. God bless you. God bless you. Anybody else? Anybody new? Thank you so very much. You can put your hands down.
Maybe you hear this morning, the last question, I’m done. You say, “Preacher, I don’t ever remember being saved, being regenerated. I don’t ever remember a change in mind when I was re-gained. I don’t have a time when I was born from above. I was born again. I don’t have a time when the Holy Spirit began this renewing, just renovating my life. I don’t know that I’m a born-again Christian.” Friend, that is the most important thing in all the universe. Heaven or hell hangs in the balance for all eternity. Friend, if I am a true child of God, in some form or fashion, regeneration, renewing should show. It may be different than everyone else, and we’re not trying to compare, but some form, some fashion, you should have some regeneration and some renewing going on.
“Preacher, I don’t know that I’m saved. I need to get saved.” If that’s you this morning, “Preacher, I need to get saved.” And that’s you? Would you slip your hand up? Anybody like that? Just slip it up. “Preacher, I don’t know that I’m saved. I need to get saved. I need to make sure I’m going to heaven.” Anybody like that? Slip it up. Anybody like that? Slip it up.
Hey, child of God, let’s let Him regenerate and renew fully, fully, to resemble Christ to this old world. That’s what’s needed. Would you please stand right where you are? Would you please stand? I’m going to have a word of prayer. As soon as I say amen, I’m finished singing or praying—excuse me—that the instruments will play. We’ll sing a song. As soon as we say amen, would you come to an old-fashioned altar? And would you give yourself to Christ anew? Would you say, “I want to obey every impulse of the Spirit”? Would you come to an old-fashioned altar and say, “I’d like to climb up on the cross with You, Jesus. I’d like to be crucified with You and You live through me”? Would you tell Him that in a sincere way? Don’t wait for anybody else. If God spoke to your heart, if He’s tugging, would you come as soon as we say amen? Would you do that?
Thank You, Lord, for Your Word. Thank You, Jesus, for Your shed blood. Thank You, Holy Spirit, for Your regeneration and Your renewing. Lord, I do pray in our lives that the Holy Spirit would have renewed this openness of Him to work however He would like in our hearts and in our lives. Lord, we thank You for what You do. Help us be obedient to You. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar - Regeneration - Sunday AM 10092022