Brooklands Gospel Centre

Dundonald, Northern Ireland

 

Worthy is the LAMB that was slain

Revelation 5:12

Regeneration and Renewal

 

“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.” - Titus 3:5-7.

 

Regeneration links us to the PAST; Renewal links us to the PRESENT.

 

Regeneration:

 

Man is spiritually dead, unable to give a commitment to anything (Ephesians 2:1). Regeneration in includes our word ‘genesis’- beginning - and embraces the concept of being born again or born anew.

 

It is the entry into a new state:

 

OLD STATE - IN ADAM.

NEW STATE - IN CHRIST.

OLD STATE - IN THE KINGDOM OF DARKNESS.

NEW STATE - INTO THE KINGDOM OF HIS DEAR SON.

OLD STATE - BORN IN SIN.

NEW STATE - BORN OF THE SPIRIT.

 

So Biblical regeneration is the impartation of the life of God to a person who is spiritually dead. We must remember that :

 

The sin of Adam is the sin of the race.

The fall of Adam is the fall of the race.

 

In relation to the ‘WASHING’ of regeneration, the word is perceived by the Apostle like a bath - a once for all cleansing. This has an echo of the words of Jesus to Simon Peter “He that is bathed needeth not save to wash his feet” - John 13:10. What a blessing we have been washed from the filthiness of the flesh.

 

The two main blessings that come from spiritual Regeneration are FORGIVENESS and JUSTIFICATION. Forgiveness through the CROSS (Ephesians 1:7).

 

Justification through the RESURRECTION (Romans 4:25)

 

NOTE: Humans can forgive, God, alone, can justify.

 

Renewal:

 

This is the forward movement of the regenerated life:

 

It is the personal intervention of the Lord Jesus in His death and Resurrection that regenerates me.

 

It is the personal intervention of the Holy Spirit that causes that life to grow and mature.

The blessing of RENEWAL has to do with the restoration of the Divine image in failing man. It carries the idea of ‘transformation’. The Apostle writes to the Corinthian church “For we, beholding, as in a mirror, the glory of God, are transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, as by the Spirit” - 2 Corinthians 3:17-18. The Apostle also emphasises (in Romans 12:2) that we should “not be fashioned according to this world” but we should be “transformed by the renewing of your minds”.

 

This leads to the reality of a Spirit filled and Spirit led life. Writing to the Ephesians the Apostle refers to this when he says “Be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit” - Ephesians 5:18. The idea is one of ‘control’. Just as alcohol controls the actions of a drunk person, so allowing The Holy spirit to control the believer’s actions, makes for a life that is glorifying to God.

 

To illustrate this truth, we could think of the builder, who is tasked with the restoration of a historic building, and discovers that the beautiful oak beams are suffering from wood worm. He dare not replace them, that would destroy the authenticity of the building, so he impregnates the affected areas with a powerful solution that will keep things under control.

The blessings of Renewal comes to us as we allow God, the Holy Spirit, to renovate our lives. The old Adamic nature is neither removed or improved. And the Holy Spirit’s ministry in the life is to control the sin virus, to keep it in check and to allow the beauty and brightness of the life of Jesus to be manifested in us as His children.

 

DREW CRAIG

 

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