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Holy Trinity Anglican Orthodox Church
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Becoming a Living Person |
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Ephesians
2:8-9 Trinity
Sunday June 7, 2009 We have been looking at Ephesians 2:8-9, which says, “by grace are ye saved through faith.” We have talked about grace and we have talked about faith, but I have not specifically addressed what it means to be “saved.” Yet it needs to be addressed, for it has been grossly misrepresented today. According to some churches, we are all saved automatically. There is no need to repent of sin, or ask forgiveness, or believe in Jesus. The God problem I spent much time talking about over the past few weeks simply does not exist, according to these churches. They say God is pleased with all people, all are His children, and all are bound for Heaven. In the mean time, He just wants us to enjoy life and be “nice.” This is the position of most of the theologically liberal churches, According to other churches, and these are often the ones we consider “conservative” and “Bible-believing,” salvation means simply deliverance from the penalty of sin. These churches say something like; you are a sinner and deserve to go to hell, but Jesus suffered the wrath of God in your place. If you ask Him, He will forgive your sins and take you to Heaven when you die. Now, that is all true as far as it goes; its problem is that it doesn’t go far enough. Salvation, according to the Bible, is more than just being saved from hell; it is a total cleansing from sin that includes forgiveness, and also includes a change of essence that begins a process of restoration of the whole person. Salvation begins to transform us into the kind of person we should be but cannot be because of the natural “fallenness” that is so much a part of our being and nature. So the very first step in our salvation is an act of God that changes our nature and enables us to receive the grace of God by faith. We call this change, “regeneration.” I want to talk about regeneration today. In good homiletics class form, I have three points. First, the need for regeneration. Second, the means of regeneration. Third, the results of regeneration. The Need for Regeneration The need for regeneration is simple, we are sinners by nature. Our nature, our inner being, our essence that makes us who and what we are, which the Bible calls our “soul” is flawed. More than simply flawed, it is fatally flawed because it is self-centered instead of God-centered. This self-centeredness causes us to follow our own will, rather than subjecting ourselves to the will of God. The Bible puts this in rather strong language. Ephesians 2:2 tells us that the unregenerate person is dead in sins. It then goes on to describe just what dead in sins means. “Wherein
in times past ye walked according to the course of this world, according
to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience: … in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the
desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of
wrath, even as others.” Romans 8:6-8 tells us about this same condition, using the words “carnal” and “flesh.” The words do not refer to our literal flesh and blood. They refer to a state of being. They refer to an orientation of the whole person. To be carnally minded means one’s entire orientation is toward oneself instead of toward God. It is to be totally wrapped up in self and totally self-directed. Thus, Romans 8:7-8 says; “the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not
subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
So that they that are in the flesh cannot please God.” Notice verse 7 says to be carnally minded is “enmity against God.” Enmity against God is to be an enemy of God. That is the state in which the unregenerate, or, carnal, person lives. He cannot do otherwise. The carnal mind is not subject to the law of God “neither can be.” The unregenerate mind cannot make itself love God and keep His commandments. It is unable to change itself. Let’s return to the image of being dead in sin, found in Ephesians 2. The Apostle Paul, human author of Ephesians, is using a stark word picture here. He is saying that without the transforming influence of the Holy Spirit, a person is as dead toward God as a corps is dead toward this world. You can put a corps in front of the best food in the world, but he cannot eat it. He is dead to it. Likewise you can put the Bread of Life before one who is dead in sins, and he will be unable to eat of It, because he is dead in his soul toward God. That is why you can tell some people about Christ and receive nothing but a blank stare. They can’t understand you because their souls are still dead toward God. Unless God does something in that person to “quicken” him, as Ephesians calls it, that person will not, because he cannot, eat the feast of salvation in Christ. So the carnal person is dead in his soul, and can no more make himself alive to God than the corps who is dead in the flesh can make itself alive to the world. Only God can give us life. That is the need of regeneration. The Means of Regeneration How does a person become regenerated? How does a person stop being carnal and at enmity with God, and start trusting in Christ? He must be quickened, or, regenerated, by the Holy Spirit. Many people have almost no understanding of the person and work of the Holy Spirit. They think of Him as something like the “force” of a popular science-fiction series. They think His job is to give them religious experiences, or enable them to work miracles, or speak in tongues. In reality the Spirit’s task is to bring and keep you “in Christ.” It is the Holy Spirit who makes you aware of your sin. It is the Holy Spirit who makes you realise that you need a Saviour. It is the Holy Spirit who enables you at last to cry out to Jesus in faith and trust. It is to this work of the Holy Spirit that we refer when we talk about regeneration. This is what Paul called in Ephesians 2:1 being “quickened.” The Spirit quickens us by means of the Word of God, the Bible. He enables some portion of the Bible to finally penetrate our heads and our hearts, and causes it to make sense to us. Martin Luther is a good example of this. Martin Luther was a religious man; a monk, a priest, a Doctor of Theology, yet he was not a regenerate man. It is so easy to get involved in religious activities and ceremonies and experiences, and yet be completely devoid of real faith in Christ. I see it often these days. I say, with deep sorrow, that most of the people who tell me they are Christians are fooling themselves. They are adherents of religious pageants and ceremonies and entertainments and feelings but not of Jesus Christ. They want to “experience” God rather than trust God. Martin Luther, with all his religious accomplishments and experiences realised one day that he did not have Christ. He was reading Romans 1:17, “The just shall live by faith,” when the Holy Spirit enabled him to understand what it means to really live by faith. Through the Spirit, the Bible began to make sense to him. He began to understand why Jesus had to go to the cross, and why he, Martin Luther, could never do enough to earn the favour of God. He began to understand why he needed to confess his sin and cling to only Jesus Christ as his hope of salvation. How was he enabled to understand all of this? How was he enabled to call upon Christ to forgive and save him? The Holy Spirit had opened his eyes and his heart to the grace of God. He had been quickened, made alive, by the Holy Spirit. That is the means of regeneration. The Results of Regeneration Finally, let us think about the results of regeneration. The first result is what we were talking about a moment ago, the ability to trust in Jesus as your Lord and Saviour. If anyone asks if you have the Holy Spirit these days, they are probably asking if you are a charismatic. They believe that after a person is “saved” he may receive a “second blessing” called the “baptism of the Holy Spirit,” in which he will speak in tongues, among other things. I like to be charitable about other people’s beliefs, but I must say here that I believe the charismatic faith completely misunderstands the person and work of the Spirit. Their misunderstanding is so great that it causes me to fear they misunderstand the meaning of salvation entirely. Do you have the Holy Spirit? If you have been regenerated, if you have been enabled to believe in Christ and to trust Him as your Saviour and Lord, you have the Holy Spirit. No person can say “Jesus is Lord,” and mean it, unless he has been regenerated by the Spirit of God. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it [faith] is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast.” So, you see, according to the Bible, even your faith is the gift of God. You did not work yourself into a state of faith, God worked faith in you by His Holy Spirit. That is the first result of regeneration. The second result is that you are remade into a new person in Christ. You are no longer carnally minded. You are no longer at enmity with God. You have willingly become subject to God as your God and King. You desire to know Him more fully. You long to be more obedient to His will. You live to be like Him, and you live to be for Him. In short, the result of regeneration is holiness. God saved us not just so we could go to Heaven at some point in the future, far in the future, most of us hope. He saved us to restore us to His original intention, the condition enjoyed by Adam and Eve before the Fall, the condition of glorifying and enjoying Him. The beginning of this process of restoration is called “regeneration.” Growing in this restoration is called “sanctification”. But that’s another sermon. Let us pray. Holy God, who alone by Thy Holy Spirit is able to regenerate and quicken those who are dead in sin, and to keep and grow us in Christ. We give Thee thanks for the work of Thy grace which is our salvation. In Christ’s name, Amen. The Rev. Dr. R. Dennis Campbell, Vicar, Holy Trinity Anglican Church,
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