The Person and the work of the Holy Spirit Begin lesson 8

All right, well, I think we are in lesson eight of the work, what is it? The person and work of the Holy Spirit. Thank you, I was trying to do it with the acronym, getting back. So we are in lesson eight, it's on chapter two of Rideout's book, or his lectures, actually, I think it was all from lectures, but in the written form now we have it. So this is talking about regeneration. And again, it's in chapter two of Myles, or Myles, sorry Myles, write-outs book. So the first question, what are the elements required for regeneration? So I just want to step back a little bit and say, what does regeneration mean? We went through it, so. What is it? New birth. New birth, okay. Any others? Does it mean that the old man was newly refurbished through the Holy Spirit? No. No. Good, we've gotten at least that far. Matt, now does it mean just that we're empowered by the Holy Spirit to keep the law? No. Yeah. Jim's giving a big thumbs up here. We'll have a special class for you later.

But I think it's an important word for believers to understand. There are, I guess, so many that think now when you become a believer, you are suddenly empowered by the Holy Spirit to be a better person, to keep the law. It's not what we know through the identification truths, through the death, burial, and resurrection, or co-crucifixion. They think it's just now we're empowered to do it, to be good. And so the regeneration is the key for us to understand that word. And we'll touch on this a little bit later. There are a lot of believers and I remember, I think Mike has something, I don't know if it's from Miles Stanford or what. And I remember in camp, there's a lot of things about many believers today think you accept Jesus in your heart as salvation. Is that correct? That's from Dennis Rockster. Yeah, well, I mean it's prolific. Is that correct? No, the book that you're talking about. Oh, yeah. Dennis Rockster. Oh, Dennis Rockster, the one that, yeah, okay. That's what we used to believe. We used to believe that. So do people hear that about accepting Jesus any hard? Do you hear that still today? Yeah, I mean. Do you have your mic on, by the way?

My grandkids, Abby and Ethan, both accepted Jesus into their hearts. You know, I know what they're saying. I know what they believe. I believe they're regenerating. I think, and we've gone through this, I think there are a lot of people, there are a lot of believers who are in the nursery and will not grow because they've accepted Jesus in their heart. They know the basics of salvation, about Christ and dying for their sins, and I believe they're believers, but they just are not going to be able to grow because they don't know about the co-crucifixion and getting, you know, all of the things through the identification, because you're always trying to work and they don't understand the old man, you know, trying to get you to work to do things.

Oh, and you're really willing to work if you're now empowered by the Holy Spirit, because I have Jesus in my heart. And so there's a lot of that that goes on. I remember down at camp, there were a lot of people that are, you know, you'd hear that in a message down there that they accepted you know, into the heart and then like, have to have to kind of, you know, go and say really what does it mean but I go ahead. And that's what I'm saying, that's what I think a vast majority of believers think.

Well, and it's the perfect trap for the old man, because you're going to work. He's going to make you work because I'm going to, if I, you know, and then there are all the books that are, you know, the prayer of J-Biz and the purpose driven, I mean, the purpose driven life, you know, and all these different programs, you know, J.I. Packer, knowing, knowing God, you know, all these, when, you know, and I remember when I was first here, you know, thinking a lot of those things, I like J.I. Packer, but then when you really get past the first few pages, it's, what are you going to do? Yeah. What are you going to do? And so it's the perfect trap, like I said, for the old man to keep you in that ever, you know, working situation where I'm trying to get better. And guess what? You never get better.

So you got to work on the next program or the next thing. And you're feeling guilty about, you're not improving because I'm trying, I'm trying harder and I'm praying. And I, you know, it's like, I've always said with me and the, uh, trying to memorize scripture, I, you know, cause that's what they, that's what the really good brethren did was, you know, they, they did, they memorized scripture and I've, Man, I tried hard because I thought that was what it was to be a Christian is memorize script, scripture, and that make you better and fail, but all the time. And, you know, now, since I've understood this, I know more scripture now than ever did, because I'm not trying to measure because I think that'll make me a better believer.

So again, this is a real important concept. So yeah. I think that we start with, what does the word regeneration mean? If you start with that premise and exhaust the understanding that word means Genesis again, it means new creation. All of this, it does not mean add something to me. Darrell Bock Right.

And again, you know, as I've said, I don't know how many years, how did I get by the Galatians 2.20? I've been crucified and it's no longer I live.

You know, 2 Corinthians 5.17, it's I'm a new creature. Well, new means just I'm refurbished, I guess, you know, and I'm empowered. That's what the new creature is. I'm a supercharged new human because they have the, you know, dwelling of the Holy Spirit. So you modify, you try and justify these things in scripture somehow, when you really look at, you know, through the Roman six, when we went through all the Romans.

There's one passage that I, and I think I broached this with Mike a little while ago, because where do you get the concept about accepting in your heart? What is that? But it doesn't say in your heart, does it say? Anybody out in either Zoom land or here? I have one passage. That was the one passage I have. But is there other ones?

But that doesn't really say accepting into your heart. And that's where I was like, where... Right, but that doesn't say in your heart. So where does this... Well, when the gospel message was given out in church, It doesn't come into that thing that pumps blood. It comes into your life.

That's what it was. David said, as far as memorization was... The bottom, Nikki. You got it. I was going to say, David said, you know, that word of I hid my heart. And that was that was taking God's word to to their life. Yeah. So are you saying you just I didn't know. Were you saying something? No. No. OK. Sorry. So so I, you know, trying to figure out where this was and I was going through All right, Phil. We're going to separate you. You guys can't see Phil in here. Maybe you can't. Oh, you can't see me.

Anyway, the one I came up with, because I was going through my just daily readings, you know, and it came through this one. It's from Ephesians 3, 14 through 19. For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his spirit in the inner man, 17, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, and that you may be rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ, which surpasses the knowledge that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. That was the only one that I was like, heh.

So my question is, what's wrong with that? Is this what regeneration means? Well, I think that passage there, it looks like it's dealing with spiritual growth as a believer, right? He's talking to believers, he's like, so that Christ may dwell on your hearts. It sounds to me like he's talking about abiding in Christ. I don't know if that's right. Yeah. Any other thoughts? Because I think it's basically what Cheryl said.

The inner being, this is the soul. This is not your heart, like the physical pumping, you know, organ. It's who you are, the identity, your soul. So Mike. It's Romans 10, 9 says that if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. So that's where they construe that.

Well, that's, yeah, it's believe in your heart, but this is the one that may dwell in your heart. And that's why this is the only one that kind of said dwell in your heart. With the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness and with the mouth he confesses. But that's kind of, you know, believing in your heart. That's like in your, again, I think the same principle is that it's your soul. It's who you are.

That's the inner being of you, not your physical heart that, you know, dwelling in your heart here. So, you know, that was just one of those things I think that people, people say, and we have to kind of say, well, it's not just Christ dwelling in your heart.

We have to understand what regeneration really means. It's re-genesis, rebirth, completely new. Yes, Cheryl? The Bible says the heart of man is desperately evil. Right. Who can know it? Right. Did everybody hear that? Can you hear, Cheryl, online? Sort of. Yeah, it's basically saying that the heart is, you know, in Scripture says that it's desperately wicked or evil. So again, is that where Christ would dwell?

So again, I think it's just an important concept because I hear more and more about people accepting in their heart. And that's just, you have to, it's a good entree or entrance into being able to explain what the identification truths are, that it really isn't just accepting in my heart.

This is the death, burial, and resurrection, you know, I point them to the Romans. And then I, get to another one that kind of backs it up is Titus 3, 5 through 8. He saved us not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness but according to his mercy by the washing of regeneration and the renewing by the Holy Spirit whom he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior so that being justified by his grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy statement. So again, by the Washington Regeneration.

So it's not a polishing up, it's a brand new and- The thing that I hear a lot, not that I listen to a lot of it on the radio, but most every one of these high profile preachers, telepreachers, whoever they are, their message of salvation, the first thing they say is you have to confess your sins. And I don't see that anywhere in 1 Corinthians 15. Well, it's repentance. You know, you've got to confess and do all, yeah. But confession and repentance are not the same thing.

Right, right. So, you know, and again, it's the misunderstanding of this regeneration or not understanding Christianity 101, which is Romans. Right. Once you go through that, and again, and I'll have another verse when we get into it on Romans, but for now, Zodiates also has a word for regeneration is palangaetia, meaning spiritual rebirth, the state or the act, a figurative spiritual renovation, specifically messianic restoration.

So it's like the messianic restoration is like what? So but it's really it's rebirth. It's completely new, completely. I mean, birth, you're new. So. The Washington regeneration, Titus three, five refers to the spiritual rebirth of the individual soul.

And then if you also, the second Corinthians five 17, therefore, if anyone is in crisis, a new creature, the old things passed away, behold, new things have come. So if this region, if this is regeneration, what are the elements required for regeneration? Getting back to the question, what are the elements for it? What do you need for regeneration?

Crickets. You need to hear the truth and then have faith and believe it. That's two out of three. Two out of three. What's the last one? Let's see. Faith, the word, actually the word, faith and what's the name of the class? and be filled with, be indwelled by the Holy Spirit. Yeah, the three elements, you know, are the Holy Spirit, the Word, and faith, were the three elements.

Right out has it this way, returning now to the third of John, we understand our Lord to teach that new birth is absolutely essential for entrance into the kingdom of God, and that this birth is by power of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God received by faith. So the Holy Spirit, the word of God, and received by faith. For we saw that those who believed on his name were those who were born of God. Here we see the beautiful suitability of our Lord's presenting his cross and himself as the object of faith to a man like Nicodemus, outwardly moral, but who needed new birth. This new birth must be by the Spirit's power, making use of the gospel of the grace of God.

So again, the three elements were the Holy Spirit, the word, and faith. Also, we read in John 3, 3, that passage, John answered and said to him, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, regenerated, he cannot see the kingdom of God. So if you look in John 3, 14 through 21, you see Jesus discussing with Nicodemus the need for rebirth or regeneration, not just a supercharging of the old man with the Holy Spirit. And so, again, I think this is where many believers are and cannot grow spiritually until they realize the identification truths. You have to understand he was bringing Nicodemus up to what needs to happen now.

It wasn't just by your heritage. It wasn't by just a supercharging of the Holy Spirit empowering you or indwelling you now. It's a complete rebirth. So I think this was the beginning of kind of saying what's gonna transpire, what is gonna have you transpired be placed into Christ ultimately. So any other thoughts on the elements of regeneration? All right.

Okay, now this one. Question two, does new birth precede faith or does it follow it? I think Mike put this question together just to see, you know, like tying two cats' tails together or something. I said, you know, does this mimic the old question, which came first, the chicken or the egg? Yes. Yes, it does.

So, thoughts before we get into this. Does new birth precede faith or does it follow? Well, I think I guess. Go ahead, Myles. I was just going to say up here, I've got quite a few friends pretty heavy into Reformed theology. And I mean, in their view, God has to regenerate you before you can believe so that you can be regenerated. I don't know how that works. Yeah. Yeah. So you're saying new birth has to precede faith, basically. That's what they're saying. I mean, yeah. Yeah. OK. Any others? Jim? I agree with that. It's not necessarily the same thing.

What I gathered from this, from what Reinhart wrote, is new births, by the word, through faith, they are indissolubly synced together. Faith is, you know, faith and an internal element in the new birth. Faith is an internal element in the new birth. They're connected. They both work at the same time.

Okay, so yeah, so I have from Rite Out, and we'll get into more questions. So, such questions seek to separate what God has, and the tough word is indissolubly joined together. that there are mysteries here. None would question. Does not our Lord say, the wind blows where it lists, and you hear the wind sound thereof, but cannot tell where it came and where it goes, so is everyone that is born of the Spirit, John 3, 5. Here's the mystery, and there must be in divine things. God is sovereign, and his work must be, to some extent, inscrutable to finite minds. But we must not reduce the compass of logic that we must not reduce to the compass of logic these mighty truths. Surely it suffices to say new birth is a sovereign act of God, that he is first in it, and it is by the word through faith. So, from that, can you tell me, does new birth precede faith or does it follow it?

Conjunction. Simultaneously. You've got to have the word of God in this equation to know what the right information is. Okay. Where is it? The faith and the facts and the tracks and whatever it is. I think it's in the other room, right? I think it's over there. Yeah. So that's one element. And then because in order to be born new, you have to die first, which you don't find that out until later through identification. But It's almost simultaneous. It has to be. I mean, the Word of God is there before, you're learning the information. Now, the question is, do you believe it or not? You know? It's very similar to Romans 8, 29 and 30, you know? Those he predestined, he also called. Those he called, he also justified. And those he justified, he also glorified. in sync with each other. It all happens simultaneously.

Yeah. See now, any other thoughts? I was going to say, like, we're saved by grace through faith. There's the sequence. I mean, it's faith first. Right. And faith is in the facts of the Word of God. Right. And we accept those, and by grace we're saved. So, the question remains, though, do you need to have rebirth before before regeneration, but yeah. Yeah, no. Here's a thought. I've been working on it.

I'm actually leading communion this morning, or this afternoon. And I've been looking at John chapter 6, and Jesus is talking about how the Israelites received the manna. And what I'm understanding from the passage, he's saying in the same way that the Israelites had to take and eat what God provided as a life source in the physical sense, So with Jesus' life, we have to take and eat, which four times in the chapter, he says, he calls that to believe in him. You have to swallow the source of life. And in that act, you receive the life in that, so it's a simul, it happens at that moment that you receive it, but if you never picked up the food and swallow it, you won't have life, right? So you won't be regenerated if you never believe, right? But that's kind of like that. Go ahead, Mike.

So does the question come down to, if my faith is a non-meritorious act, because it is, like Alan says, it's by grace through faith and that not of yourself. So, like you can know the information of salvation and have it clear. You could repeat it clearly and understand what it is, but there's an element in there that where the faith is a trigger. That's the element. And does the Holy Spirit enable you to believe, or does he wait? A guy told me one time, well, he sits there and he waits for you to believe, and then he regenerates you.

But it's a simultaneous act. Well, I'm saved by grace, which means what? That it's a work of God, you know? But, go ahead. It's like that, grace has appeared. What's that verse? Yeah, but it's through Christ, grace has appeared. Yeah. So, is the Holy Spirit pushing you, drawing you? What is he doing to get you to say, okay, I believe this? Yes, I think so. I think so. Now that I've had some, I'll uncork here.

Because this has been, this has been, and the way I say it, this trot on a very important topic that's caused lots of division within the body of Christ, election versus free will. And that's really what it comes down to, is I think in this question. And there has been a tremendous amount of discussion, MacArthur and that, you know, in the brethren church, that was a huge thing. Free will versus election divided many, many bodies.

And, and so actually when I came here, that was one of the things. And when you said, you know, in, in, uh, Romans eight, or if you look in Ephesians one, all those things, all those are based on you being in him. That's that's occurred. then it's true of you. And I remember when I came here and I was like, you know, how does this, how does that work? How does this work? And I remember it was, I think Mike and one of the, I was coming to the Tuesday class and it was, it's like when you, once you, it's like going through a doorway, you understand by faith, saved by grace through faith, You walk through and you're in Christ.

Now you look back, and now my history is all those things that are in Ephesians 2, Romans 8, that's all true about me. But I had to, by faith, receive that, that truth. So all those things that I think people put election on, all those predestination and all that, all those are key to being in Him. it's after the fact that it's true about you. You've been selected, you've been, because you're now in Christ. And so that really helped me to understand that once that transaction happens, our death, burial and resurrection, it's instantaneous at belief, that now it's all true to me. All those things he's saying are true, but it's after my faith. So if you believe in election, how do you understand these verses?

It's like John 3.16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. So whoever believes, so whoever believes. Wait, if God's the one selecting me, how does this work? Or 1 Timothy 3 and 4, this is good and acceptable in the sight of God, our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Well, he's sovereign. If he desires, why isn't everybody? So Ephesians 2, 8, and 9, for by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves is a free gift of God. What is the process? Through? Faith, okay? 2 Timothy 3, 14 and 15.

You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings, which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. Well, if God elected you, how do you justify that verse?

He leads you. I can tell you how Myles Stanford did it. Myles Stanford said that when you're walking up to the gates of heaven, there's this big sign over the gate that says, whosoever will may come. But when you go through the gate and turn around, look at the back of the sign and the back of the sign says chosen from the foundation.

And that's, I think what you said, and that's what I'm referring to. I think, you know, 20 years ago or whatever, you know, was that, that made sense to me. Yeah. You know, now you look back and all the histories now, I'm in Christ. That's my history.

There's one more, 2 Thessalonians 2.13.

But we should always give thanks to God. We should always give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. What's always in it were the elements, the word, faith, and the Spirit.

I don't believe the election fits on any of this. So it's still, that's simultaneous, getting back to the simultaneous, and back to yours. I believe that the Holy Spirit is working on everybody. I think every human being is being worked on by the Holy Spirit. And he's given us a will to make that, the only reason he gave us a will was to choose Christ or not. And he works on everybody. And those who believe, All this is true, but I think he's working on every single human being and they're rejecting him. And I don't think he's like, Oh, I'm going to work on Jim today.

You know, if you're a non-believer and I think I'll go work on Fred over here, I'm going to work on, I think the Holy spirit's working on everyone, but everybody either doesn't have the word or rejects it. So I think there's the, the Holy spirit is obviously involved. And the way I do it is he brings you up to a point where yes, I believe, or no, I don't.

And I reject it because all of these are through faith word and the faith that's the process saved by grace through faith. So it's always that it, the only reason we have a will is to make that one decision. And so it's, and then all those things are instantaneous. And the 33 things that are the 212 things that are true about you, you know, when you believe.

So I think this has been a big thing in the Brethren Church about election and free will. I think it is free will, but it's the Holy Spirit working on you, giving you the word, and it's like, oh, well, what about the African and doesn't get the word? You don't think God can't get the word to somebody anywhere in the world? If he sees a receptive heart or being convinced, guess what? He'll get the word to him about Christ. So. Two factors. One is, is that The reason that that argument assaults the natural man is because he somehow thinks underneath it all, he maybe deserves the opportunity. Every man deserves to go to hell, and that's period.

Nobody has deserved that. It's totally a gift. It's free. The second thing is, is that I don't think non-believers have free wills. I think they're slaves to sin. They have a will. They're free. And so, what the Spirit does, I think, is he draws them or he woos them. He makes salvation more attractive to them, but he doesn't coerce them in any way. Darrell Bock No, he's convincing them. When you, after you're saved, when you look back and you think, my goodness, if I hadn't have been chosen, I would have never come. Right. Are you kidding me? I'm, you know, I had the same world with Adolf Hitler.

Yeah. Yeah. Genghis Khan, any of them, you know, it's like, yeah, no, I, I, I think it's the, the spirit working in individuals and bring them to a point where you have to make a decision. Yeah, you do. And I've read in a lot of places where once the gospel is presented, the decision is presented along with it, and you either accept or reject in your heart right then. Yeah. And not that that's a finality. Yeah, it might not be the end. It might be the end, but at that point, you just said no. Sure. That's right.

And, and, but I think like in my case, you know, through, uh, an Episcopal background and this and that, and then, you know, finally in college and, and seeing the brethren and things like that, wooed me to, to the truth. And, and again, I didn't understand anything about the identification through, you know, so, but I was a believer. I fully believe that, but I was doing a lot of work. you know, memorizing, like I said, or doing this and trying to make myself better. And why am I not getting better? You know, why I'm trying, I am trying really hard. Oh, reading Romans seven, you know, just, yeah. And Paul struggles.

So any other thoughts out there before I move on that? Like I said, that was, that was, you know, kind of a big question within the Brethren church. And I think in a lot of churches. I was gonna say, and God's not willing that any would perish, which is also interesting. Oh no, that's why, like all those verses I said, he wants everybody to come.

It's a free gift, you idiots. Yeah, and look what it cost him. It cost him his son. You know, and that's, that's like, as I've said, and somebody gave me grief about this. I was just, it's like he, somebody gave you a Ferrari in a garage and, and all you gotta do is take the keys and you don't take the keys.

Sure. You know, here's a free gift of salvation, eternal life with the God of the universe. Here are the keys. Do you want them or not? So what's that? You get the garage. Phil wants to know if you get the garage too. That's the deal for him. If he gets a garage, he's in.

All right, any other thoughts on that? I would say one more thing about one of the resistances is that the grace presented to a non-believer of salvation is so gracious that it's hard to believe. I think as God that gracious, would he really, especially if you grew up in a denomination of doing a lot of spiritual pushups and you start to hear the message of how gracious God is, it's like, no. I'll go one step beyond you. I don't think a lot of believers are there. Oh, I agree with that. I think a lot of believers don't understand.

You know, reading some of the Hungry Hearts in the last week or so, Do we really understand what we have? And you know, it's like we, for the trials, we think there's just enough grace to get us through that trial. No, it's beyond our, you know, what's the, beyond our, yeah, thinker at, you know, it's beyond what we can even think of. And yet we don't access that. or we don't believe it.

And it comes down again, everything is to faith. All of those, you know, and that's, again, my two scenarios. God is sovereign and he loves us eternally. So the chastening and the fit, it's not out of malice. It's to improve us, to bring us to his son, bring us more into unity with him, bring us into that relationship. It's never out of malice. So anyway, I think I'm over. Are we supposed to be? Five over. Five over, yeah, no problem. All right, well, we will begin with question three next week. Let's close with prayer, and are you teaching, Mike? Yeah. Okay.

Heavenly Father, we thank you. We thank you for this time. We thank you for these truths. We thank you again, just as the class is studying the work in person of the Holy Spirit. We thank you again for these truths about the Holy Spirit convicting us and convincing us and putting us just in a place where ultimately we have to decide whether we believe what the Lord Jesus Christ did on the cross for each and every one of us. And again, we just thank you again for your word and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, especially for those of us who believe in just the amazing amounts of love and grace that are poured out in your scripture about what we have in Christ. And we just thank you for that, Father. And we just, we thank you again for this time.

And especially as we think of in Canada, the restrictions up there, we thank you again, just for the freedoms that we have here. We pray if it's your will, just to open up the churches in Canada to be able to freely worship you. So we just pray for that. We pray for Miles too, just with his meetings there, just to keep him safe and free from the persecution there. If that's your will, Lord, we just ask for that. Thank you now for, again, this time we pray for Mike in the next meeting that'll be accurate and true to your word and just prepare our hearts to receive it. We thank you for all these things in Jesus name we pray. Amen.