The Regenerate Man
THE REGENERATE MAN
The Scriptures portray two kinds of men. There are those who are saved and those who are unsaved. There are those who are spiritually alive and those who are spiritually dead. All of mankind was plunged into spiritual death through the fall of Adam. If man is to have life, it must be through the process of regeneration.
What is Regeneration? It is that process whereby God, operating through His Holy Spirit, makes the believer alive and renewed unto Himself.| This process of regeneration is described in a number of different ways throughout the Scripture. At its very core, it is a movement from death to life. From Death to Life. And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. (Ephesians 2:1-3). This passage begins with our past condition. It was one of death. There was a time when we were all spiritually dead. The sphere of our death was in our trespasses and sins. No matter what our nationality, our religious or cultural background, we all share in this common heritage. We were all dead in our sins. We were helpless. A dead person cannot help himself. A dead person can do nothing for himself. There is no question of a dead person being able to help himself. All the preaching in the world will not save him or move him to action. He is dead. When was the last time you saw a revival meeting in a graveyard? A corpse cannot respond to injunctions to change his life. He cannot do anything. He is dead. If you are going to do anything at all with a dead person, you must raise him from the dead. He needs a new life. He needs a resurrection. The turning point of this hopeless situation comes in Ephesians 2:4 with the words, “But God...” But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:4-6). This section is introduced with the conjunction, “but.” We were dead, but God made us alive. We were disobedient in following after the world and the devil, but God raised us out of the world and out of the domain of the devil. We were depraved, but God seated us with Christ and gave us a new nature. We were doomed, but God showed us the surpassing riches of His grace. The contrast shows how we were apart from Christ versus what God did to being us to life in Christ. You have seen those “before” and “after” advertisements that are shown on television. This is a similar showing. It portrays a “before” and “after” we came to Christ. This will be seen in the following chart that contrasts the way we were versus what God has accomplished on our behalf: The Way We Were|What God Did|
Y
O U|Were dead in your trespasses and sins|B
U
T
G
O D|Made us alive together with Christ|
|Walked... according to the course of this world according to the prince / the spirit||Raised us up with Him|
|Formerly lived in the lust of our flesh||Seated us with Him| With this simple conjunction (de), we are transported from death to life - from the darkness of the grave to the light of everlasting life.
He made us alive: Even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (Ephesians 2:5 a).
We have been reborn into God's family. Just as a baby is unable to give birth to itself, so we had nothing to do with causing our own birth. It was given to us, not by our own will, but in accordance with the will of God.
12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13 who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12-13).
We have been born into a new life. We have a new relationship with God and a new position in Christ. There is a wonderful newness in the life of the Christian.
He raised us up with Him: And raised us up with Him... (Ephesians 2:6).
We have already been resurrected in the mind of God. Just as Jesus rose from the dead, we are also considered and reckoned to have risen from the dead. We have been identified with Christ and that means we share all that belongs to Him. We are reckoned to have been raised up with Him.
He seated us with Him: And raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6).
What does it mean to be seated? It means that the work is finished. That the victory is complete. When a priest went into the temple, the one thing that he never did was to sit down. He was always standing in the presence of God. Even when the animal sacrifice had been offered, he still stood. Because the next day there would have to be another sacrifice offered. And another. And another. It was never-ending. But Jesus was the final sacrifice. When He died upon the cross, He said, “It is finished!” When Jesus ascended into heaven, He sat down at the right hand of the Father. He sits at the side of God. It is a position of honor and authority. We hold the same position. We are reckoned to be seated in heaven with Jesus. We are co-heirs with Christ. The utter magnitude of God's gift to us beings us to an obvious question. Why? Why has God acted like this? Why has God so richly gifted us? The answer is seen in Ephesians 2:7 : So that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:7). The purpose of your salvation is everlasting. It is so that throughout eternity you might be a trophy of God's grace and His kindness in Christ. You will be the display of what God has done to deliver a human life from the bondage of sin. In the second year of the War Between the States, an informer in the prison camp at Palmyra disappeared. The Commander in charge ordered that 10 men would be shot in reprisal. One of those men was William T. Humphrey, a husband and father of a number of children. Hearing that Humphrey was under the sentence of death, a young man named Hiram Smith came forward, explaining that he was unmarried and without a family. He asked permission to take the place of Humphrey, stating that perhaps it would be better for a single man to die than a man with a family. I am told that if you go to the cemetery of the Mount Pleasant Church in what used to be the town of Mount Salem, you will find a stone that has been erected with the following inscription:
“This monument is dedicated to the memory of Hiram Smith. The hero who sleeps beneath the sod here was shot in Palmyra, October 17, 1862 as a substitute for William T. Humphrey, my father.” That is what Christ has done for us. He has become our substitute. And as a result, we have become an eternal monument to the riches of His mercy and to the overabundance of His grace. The Death of the Old Man.
3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:3-4). The same identification truth is seen in this passage. When we were baptized into Christianity, we were being identified with Jesus Christ and specifically with His death on the cross. Because He died on the cross, you are declared to have died with Him. You were condemned to death because of your sins and the sentence of death was carried out against Christ.
(The major significance in baptism is IDENTIFICATION. When you are baptized, you are being identified with the movement or church or religion or system of beliefs held by those into whom you are being baptized.)
You might be inclined to think it might have been better if the sentence of death had merely been forgotten. But God does not forget. He is righteous. His righteous nature demands that the sentence of death be carried out. It was carried out in Christ. He died in your place. When you believed in Him, you were identified with that death. The Birth of the New Man.
22 Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart, 23 for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and abiding word of God. (1 Peter 1:22-23).
I have a friend, Bill Iverson, who used to pose the following riddle: “Born once, die twice. Born twice, die once.” The answer to the riddle is that the believer has been born twice. His first birth was a physical birth. His second birth is a spiritual birth. The first birth brings a life that will eventually perish. The second birth brings a life that will never die.
Just as the first birth gives certain characteristics and attributes to the newborn baby, so also the new birth brings certain characteristics and attributes. The new man is your identity. Many Christians have been taught that the new man is merely a force or a “new nature” that has come into them and which helps to guide them to do good. But this is too shallow a view compared to the richness of what the Bible teaches. The new man is not something that has come into you. It is what you have become.
Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. (2 Corinthians 5:17). The believer is not just one who is indwelt by a new creature. He has actually become a new creature. We became a creature by the fact that we had a Creator. We become a new creature in the same way. There is One who performed a new creation and made new creatures of us. When you trusted in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you were born again into the family of God. You might not have felt any physical change. Perhaps you experienced no great emotional release. Maybe you did not feel any different. But you became a new person. The new man is growing. When you were born physically, you were a complete person. You probably had all of the usual number of arms and legs, fingers and toes, eyes and ears. However, this did not mean you were fully grown. The same is true of the new man. You have been born again. You have become a child of God. You are a new person, complete in your new identity. But you still need to grow.
Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. (2 Corinthians 4:16).
Scientists tell us that from the day you were born, your physical body began to die. It continues this process until it finally goes to the grave. Your eyesight will dim, your hearing will fade, and your strength will wither. But you need not lose heart. The person that you have become is being renewed day by day.
...but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ (Ephesians 4:15).
We are becoming like Jesus Christ. When we first believed, we became like Him in the same way that a baby is like the old man he will one day become. Our goal is to grow within the realm of those communicable attributes. This brings a new responsibility. Privilege always brings with it responsibility. If you have been declared by God to be righteous, then you are also to live in a righteous way. If you are deemed holy by God, then you are to be holy. If you are a son of God, then your manner of life should be such as befits a son of God.
22 ...that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, 23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. (Ephesians 4:22-24).
You are no longer the old creature. He has passed away. He is dead and buried. You are a new creation and that calls for a new way of living. The problem is that many Christians continue to wear the rags of their former manner of life. They continue to indulge in the sinful habits of their old life. Those things need to be laid aside. They no longer have a legitimate part of your life. They do not fit you any longer. You should not be wearing them. They are like wearing someone else's clothes. You have a whole new set of clothes. This new set of clothes matches your new mind and your new self. This is not talking about physical clothes. It does not mean you have to run around wearing a t-shirt that says, “Holy Spirit” printed on it. This is not physical clothing. It speaks of your manner of life. You need to clothe yourself in a manner of life that is in keeping with the new man that you have now become. This brings us to a crucial question. What about the presence of continuing sin in my life? If I have become a new creature, then why do I continue to sin? The answer is found in the problem of the flesh. The Problem of the Flesh. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. 17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. (Galatians 5:16-17).
There is an opposition between that which is “of the flesh” as opposed to the Spirit. They are by nature in opposition in the same way that the two poles of a magnet are opposed to one another. The practical result of this in the Christian's life is that you may not do the things that you please. For we know that the Law is spiritual; but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. 15 For that which I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. 16 But if I do the very thing I do not wish to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that it is good. 17 So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which indwells me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the wishing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. 19 For the good that I wish, I do not do; but I practice the very evil that I do not wish. (Romans 7:14-19).
Paul says the problem of the believer is that he is still “of flesh.” It is this flesh—this presence of sin within the believer—that remains in bondage to sin. When the old man died, his corpse remained. Paul is not talking about your physical body, for that would be Greek dualism that says the soul is good and the body is bad. Instead, Paul is speaking of the presence of sin that continues to make itself known within you. This sin is like a foreign invader—a cancer. Because of this invader, you find yourself doing the very things you know are inconsistent with your new life. The result is a battle.
20 But if I am doing the very thing I do not wish, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. 21 I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wishes to do good. (Romans 7:20-21).
Paul uses his own experience as a Christian to describe the ongoing struggle that is experienced by the Christian as he seeks to follow Christ. He finds that he now has a new desire in his new relationship with Christ, but that there is still a continuing struggle with sin.
22 For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, 23 but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. (Romans 7:22-23).
You are involved in a battle. The battleground is within you. The enemy is that continuing presence of sin. Many Christians have become virtual prisoners of war. But there is still hope, both for the present and for the future. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. (2 Peter 1:4). This is not to say that the Christian is a schizophrenic. We are not two separate people. We are a new person. We have a new identity and that identity is rooted in Christ. The Christian is one who has been made a partaker of the divine nature. This new nature provides both the motivation and the strength for a new way of living.
9 Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, 10 and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him. (Colossians 3:9-10).
Paul says the reason you are not to lie to one another is because you have a new identity. You have laid aside the old identity and have put on the new identity. Furthermore, this new identity is constantly being renewed into the original image of the Creator.
5. Provisions for the Battle.
We are not left without the necessary provisions and supplies for our battle. The Lord has provided four sources of strength. The Word of God. Psalms 119:11 says, Thy word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against Thee.” When Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness, He utilized the word of God to defeat those temptations. The interceding Christ. Hebrews 7:25 says that Jesus lives to make intercession for us. Romans 8:34 speaks of Christ who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. The indwelling Spirit. John 16:13 says that one of the ministries of the Spirit is to guide us into all truth. He is our Guide and our Helper. Galatians 5:16 says, “Walk in the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.” Romans teaches us that the Spirit also helps our weaknesses with regard to prayer. The encouraging Church. Hebrews 10:25 warns us against forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some. By contrast, that verse goes on to charge us with the ministry of encouraging one another.
6. Victory in the Battle.
We are not left in doubt as to the outcome of this spiritual battle. The message of the Scriptures is that Jesus wins. The victory of the cross: And when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him (Colossians 2:13-15). When Jesus died upon the cross, it looked for all the world as though the powers of Satan had won. The Son of God nailed spread-eagle on wooden crossbeams. The enemies of Christ rejoicing and mocking Him. Thieves on either side of him joining in the taunting. Even the governor's taunting inscription nailed to the cross, as if to say, “Here is what I think of the concept of a Jewish king!” Do you remember the inscription? It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” The Jewish leaders didn't like that and they petitioned Pilate to have it changed, but he would not. And so, it remained. It was the custom of that day to post the crimes for which a criminal was being executed on the cross where he hung. This would serve as a warning to other would-be criminals. What was the crime of Jesus? His crime was in being the King. This passage tells us there was another inscription posted on the cross that day. It was an inscription unseen by human eyes. It was the inscription “consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us.” It was the inscription of our sins. Don't miss this! Your sins were nailed to His cross. This indicates that He died for you.
Christ died, that's history.
Christ died for you, that's salvation. A student was taking a test in college and he wrote on his exam, “Only God could pass this test.” When he got it back, the professor had written on it, “God gets an A and you get an F.” Christ took the test and nailed it to His cross. He passed the test for you. And then He said, “No More Tests!” The present victory of faith. 1 John 5:4 tells us that whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. A continuing assurance of victory. Php_1:6 says that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. The ultimate victory. 1 Corinthians 15:54 says that when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "Death is swallowed up in victory.