Derek Melton emphasizes the critical importance of doctrine, particularly the doctrine of regeneration, in the Christian faith. He explains that true regeneration leads to a transformation of the heart and life, evidenced by a love for God and His people, a desire for righteousness, and a rejection of sin. Melton warns against the complacency in modern Christianity that neglects the teaching of sound doctrine, urging believers to examine their lives for the fruits of true conversion. He passionately calls for a return to the biblical understanding of being 'born again' and the necessity of a genuine relationship with Christ, which results in a changed life. The sermon concludes with an invitation for those who feel the weight of their sin to seek true regeneration through Christ.

And then we'll go into the scriptures. Awakened by Sinai's awful sound, my soul in bonds of guilt I found, and knew not where to go. Eternal truth did loud proclaim, the sinner must be born again, or drink an endless woe. I heard the law, its thunders roll, while guilt lay heavy on my soul, a vast oppressive load. All creature aid I saw was vain, the sinner must be born again, or drink the wrath of God. The saints I heard with rapture tell, how Jesus conquered death and hell, and broke the tempter's snare. Yet when I found this truth remain, the sinner must be born again, and I sunk in deep despair. But while thus in anguish lay, the gracious Savior passed that way, and felt his pity move. The sinner once by justice slain, now by his grace is born again, and sings redeeming love. Let's pray. Father, only you can unlock the mysteries of the truth of the words of God. And Father, we are quite aware of your word that says, for now we know in part. But Father, I pray that you'd reveal this word to our hearts by the Holy Ghost, upon this truth of regeneration, this doctrinal truth. Lord, I pray that it would lay upon our hearts. Lord God, that it would be inscribed upon the tablets, Lord, inwardly in our hearts. And Lord God, that we would be moved by the word of God, stirred by the word of God, awakened by the word of God, and alive because of the word of God. Father, take away our slumbering hearts and give us hearts of zeal and vigilance. Father, work in us, Lord God, this day. Lord, turn our eyes away from things seen, things profane, things temporal. And Lord, let our eyes feast upon those things which are above in heavenly places. Lord, let our minds be occupied with the thoughts of the Holy Ghost, the revelation of the word of God, the truths of the Bible today. And Lord, let our hearts be inclined therein and give us great success for your namesake and for your honor and your glory. And Lord, we give you the praise in Jesus name. Amen. And the Bible says in Romans chapter six, verse 16, it's our foundation scripture. We're going to continue to read this every week until it is adequately and eternally written upon our hearts. No, you not that to whom you yield your servants to obey his servants, you are to whom you obey. Friend, do you understand that terminology that whatever you do with your life becomes your master, the decisions that you make, the choices, the patterns that you live by deems and determines your master. Whether it be of sin and a death or obedience under righteousness, but God be thanked that you were servants of sin. But you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine. Say that with me. Doctrine. Said again, doctrine. That doctrine that was delivered to you. Now, beloved, let me pause for just a moment before I conclude this passage. Haven't we done a grave injustice to our our Christian church in this generation and to Christendom in in general by not teaching the people of God doctrine? True doctrine. It says that you've obeyed from the heart that form of doctor, doctrine that was delivered unto you and you were delivered from a lifestyle of sin. Come on. Haven't we in the pulpit done a grave injustice to you in the pew by not teaching you the doctrines of the faith, the doctrines of the word of God? Beloved, don't grow cold and complacent in this in this series of instruction. Beloved, this doctrines, this this topic that we're teaching upon, these doctrines of the faith, they're living and they're not dead. They're living truths that come from the foreknowledge and the wisdom of Almighty God. Being then made free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness. The Bible says in first Timothy chapter four, verse 16, this take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine and continue in them for in doing this, thou shalt save both thyself and them that hear thee. Now, today we're going to talk about the doctrine of regeneration once again. And again, you must understand the colossal subject that is set before us and my inability to do it much justice at all because of the magnitude of the subject that we're addressing. Be praying for me under your breath as I'm preaching the word of God, but yet be attentive to the words that you're hearing, that God illuminate them upon your heart and within your heart, that you might be able to to not only not only know them, but taste them. God not only wants us to know his truth, but to taste the truth of the word of God, that they are very much a living part of our day to day life and our moment to moment conduct, that it becomes the very rule of our thought and thereby the very rule of our lives. God doesn't want his word to be an abstract thing, but to be the very living function of our heart and our lives, that we live by the word of God and the doctrines of the truths of the word of God. It's not something that should frighten us at all, but something that should absolutely grab hold of us and with us as a people of God with a great determination to lay hold of as the Holy Ghost reveals to these great tenets and doctrines that we might not only experience, but live by them for the honor and the glory of God and his great majesty. And so we're going to continue today. I love it. I wish that I had the knowledge and the heart and the spirituality of the Puritans. I don't. I don't claim to. I have nothing in me that merits standing behind this pulpit to preach these truths that are timeless and that are living oracles, other than the grace of God that it's enabled me to be here. There's nothing on the inside of me that is good without God's grace. I've not merited or earned any title or any position. It's only by the calling and the election of God that I stand here today behind this pulpit with anything to speak concerning the kingdom of God. It's not been my doing. It's been his. Now let's go ahead in our Bibles and turn over to the 36th chapter of Ezekiel. And we're going to launch forward. We're going to continue talking about the effects of regeneration. I believe that we laid the foundation two weeks ago about the cause of regeneration. And now I think it's important that we spend some time emphasizing the effects of regeneration because that is sometimes altogether missing in the Christian experience. Now, the Bible says in Ezekiel chapter 36, I want you to read with me. So if you're not there, go ahead and quickly turn. There in your Bible, I want to give you adequate time. The living word of God reads this way in verse 25 of Ezekiel chapter 36. Then I will sprinkle clean water upon you and you shall be clean. Beloved, listen to me. We've taught upon the doctrine of depravity. I think that we have a fundamental understanding that we have all been born spiritually depraved. We are all dead in our trespasses and sins with the mark of Adam's death upon us. And it's on us eternally unless it is revoked by regeneration. That's worked in us by the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Which reveals himself to the Holy Ghost and works in us. You shall be clean. Clean from what? Clean from your filthiness. From all of your filthiness and from all of your idols, I will cleanse you. A new heart also, hallelujah, not an improved version of the old, but a brand new heart I will give you. A new spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh. And I will give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and to keep my judgments and do them. And you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers. And you shall be my people and I will be your God. You know, it sounds to me like the prophet by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost is giving inference that whenever you're truly regenerated, obeying the Lord Jesus Christ is not the most difficult thing of your life. It simply confounds me to see so many Christians that are struggling with walking in obedience to Christ. When the word of God says that he'll put a new heart on the inside of you and he'll take out that old stony heart and he will cause you to walk in obedience to his statutes. And beloved, it looks to me like we have people that are filling churches that are goats and not sheep. They've not been through the birthing channel of regeneration and they're trying to perform in the flesh what only God can do in the spirit. We have churches that are filled with people that are religiously inclined, but they are absolutely yet dead in their trespasses and sins and that the Holy Ghost is not living and making his abode on the inside of them. And it's evidenced by the way that they're living life. They're trying to perform in the flesh what God has ordained to be performed in the spirit. And they're constantly living upside down with sin being their master. Thank you. Listen to me, friend. Regeneration in its very essence presupposes a total resurrection of our whole nature, whereas we've actually passed from death to life. Turn with me to 1 John chapter three, and we're going to be there some, quite some time today in 1 John. So you can probably just keep your place there. So once again, regeneration in the very term presupposes. A total resurrection of our nature, whereas we have actually passed from being dead in our sins to being alive in Christ. The word of God says in 1 John chapter three, verse 14, For we know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. And he that loveth not his brother abideth in death. We'll talk about that somewhat more today. But friend, we must understand for us to escape the experience. We're talking about the experience, the old timers, the Puritans, they called it experience, experimental Christianity. And it was not experimental, such as we deem today, where you get into a laboratory with beakers and tubes and chemicals and different gases and make things blow up. We're talking about experiential. When I talk about the experimental Christian life, it's the experience that God actually impresses upon you and works within you to whereby you experience something sovereign in your life that you had no ability in your natural inclinations to perform in your own strength or abilities. And so for us to escape the experience of a wholly new and Christlike nature that seizes us, seizes upon us, and not only seizes upon us, but overtakes us. And then it evidences itself by a total reformation of our actions and our conduct is only proof, my friend, that we are yet dead in our trespasses and in our sins. True regeneration, true biblical conversion will always evidence itself in the reformation of our lifestyles. If we've truly been regenerated, my friend, we will produce fruit consistent with the new nature that we have been given by the very sovereign work of God in our lives. Now, I've purposed today to continue where we left off last time in the first part of this message upon the doctrine of regeneration. And we were talking about the effects of true biblical regeneration. Where there is the profession of regeneration without the effects of regeneration, there we know we have a false convert. It's wholly impossible for us, my friend, to be regenerated by the supernatural work of the Holy Ghost of God and to remain unchanged in our daily lives and to remain unchanged in our lifestyles. Blooded, when we have been converted, when we have been regenerated by the very work of the Holy Spirit to whereby our old dead nature has been cast away and God has given us a new nature, there will be always a corresponding evidence of change in your life. Always, always. And my friend, we're living in a culture, a religious culture that refutes what I've just said emphatically, refutes it, denies it, denounces it. I was reading on the internet just this week, a man that was calling A.W. Tozer a false prophet because he preached that if you're regenerated, that you will produce fruit in concordance with the new nature you've been given. And this man is trying to make a case that that's not true. And you know what he's basing that upon? He's basing that upon his own experience because he's not changed. And so he's developed a doctrine according to his lifestyle instead of adapting his lifestyle according to the doctrine. Instead of him being changed by the doctrine, he's changing the doctrine to meet him where he's at and thereby making a God in his own image as an idol and bowing down to it and beginning to come against God's anointed that stand up for truth. My friend, the Bible says that a tree is known by its fruit. Sweet water and bitter water do not flow from the same well. When God makes the well clean, the whole man is clean and there will be fruit in your life in proportion to the new life that God has given you always. Now, listen, there are degrees. There are some that may be more advanced in one area of fruit producing than others. But beloved, there will always be a change in our actions when there's been a change in our nature. If you understand anything about the way anything works in this world, you understand when something is brand new, everything that comes from that is new as well. Hallelujah. Isn't that amazing? Glory to God. Beloved, our culture that we're living in not only permits these thoughts, but the culture that you and I are living in empowers these lies, these fallacious beliefs that Christianity in our culture, my friend, has been watered down to such a quaint term that we apply to ourselves that has no real significance outside of only a social setting. Any suggestion inferred that correlates to reformed living and correlates it to redemption is deemed legalism. It's deemed works and it's negatively viewed in mainstream cultural religion. I'm loving these things had not be. We find within the God breathed scriptures. We find truths revealing to us the people of God, the impossibility of poison water springing up forth from a sweet well or bad fruit being born upon a good tree. And we must always stand with truth. We always stand with truth. And the truth always will give a scent. That biblical regeneration will always be accompanied by evidences that are consistent with its very nature. Always mark this in your heart. Now, go ahead there and turn to 1 John chapter five. We're going to talk about another evidence of regeneration is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And I think it's beneficial for us to take some time. We're talking about the effects of regeneration. We've talked about the cause. It's important for us to talk about the effect and how these evidences correspond with true biblical regeneration. Again, one of these evidences, my friend, is a steadfast confidence in the person and in the work of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. The Bible says in 1 John chapter five, Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Do you see that? Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God and everyone that loveth him that begat loveth him also is begotten of him. Beloved, a man who is born again or regenerated believes that Jesus Christ is the only Savior who can pardon his soul and that he is the divine person that is appointed by God, the father for this very purpose. And beside him, there is no other Savior at all. Listen, this man, this convert. In himself, he sees nothing except unworthiness. Have you felt that or have you been saved by your own worth? But this convert, this child of God, this man or woman that's been regenerated by the Holy Ghost has a full confidence in Jesus Christ. He trusts in him and he believes that all of his sins are forgiven. He believes that because he has accepted Jesus Christ and his finished work and his death on the cross, that he is considered righteous in God's sight. And he may look forward to death and judgment without any fear, without any alarm. Beloved, listen to me. The sting of death has been taken away for the saint. The fear of death has been taken away for the saint. Sin has lost its power and death has lost its sting and death has lost its fear to seize you. This Christian may still have some fears and some doubts, don't we? They may sometimes say things like, I don't feel like I have any faith. But if you ask the true convert, if he's willing to trust in anything instead of Christ, see what he says. See what the convert will say. Ask him if he will rest his hope, his hope of eternal life in his own moral goodness. See what he says. Ask him about his own works. If his faith rests in his own works, ask him if it rests in his own prayers or even in his ministry, his church. Listen to what the true convert says. No, my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus Christ and righteousness. All other sand is, all the ground is sinking sand. And this man or this woman, my friend, the convert, may not be theologically endowed, but nothing can shake their confidence in the person and the work of Jesus Christ as the author and the finisher of their faith. Nothing can shake them. And this confidence has proven upon the battleground of temptation and persecution. It's proven the steadfast confidence when we're going through hell on earth, we have a friend in heavenly places, a brother, an advocate, Jesus Christ, our Lord. And when the winds of persecution begin to assail this convert, the saint of God, he finds his refuge in the finished work of Christ and in him alone. He flees to Christ in the conflict. Also, my friend, one of the very jeering adversary begins to taunt and tempt the regenerate heart. The born again, the convert engages and wields the shield of faith where with the very adversaries arrows and fiery darts are soon quenched. A steadfast confidence in the person and the work of Christ, unmovable by any situation or any affliction that comes. And the true convert, the truly regenerate, when comforts and pleasure are stricken and circumstantial situations are white hot with sword as pleasure, the true regenerate finds his hope and his comfort and his consolation in the provision and in the person of Jesus Christ and him alone. The true regenerate sings his anthem with the apostle Paul, who shall separate us from the love of Christ. Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword, as it is written for thy sake, we are killed all the day long and we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present or things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Next, we see that there is a biblical manifestation of practical or practicing righteousness in the heart and in the life of the true convert, of the truly regenerate. Turn back to chapter two of 1 John. In verse 29, it says, if you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of him. If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of him. My friend, there is a practical righteousness, a practicing righteousness in the daily lives of those that truly are regenerate and that have been born of the very spirit of God. The man or the woman that is born again or regenerated, they're holy, they're holy. The spirit of God on the inside of you is holy. But Christianity is not what we practice. Christianity is who we are. Christ is in us the hope of glory. It's not something that I'm doing. It's just that I'm doing what's consistent with who I am. I'm a child of God regenerated by the work of the Holy Ghost of God. The true regenerate endeavors to live their life according to the will of God. The true convert has a passion to do the very things that please God and also to avoid the things that God hates. Now, beloved, don't think for a moment that you're not going to be prone to error in that regard. You know what? The momentum of your heart and the direction of your life is to do those things that are honorable and pleasing in the eyes of God. It's the heart's desire of the true convert to continually look to Jesus Christ as our example, as well as our savior, that to prove himself to be the very friend of Christ by doing everything Christ commands of us. The true child of God knows that he's not perfect. In fact, the true convert and the true regenerated soul is painfully aware of his indwelling corruptions. You know, it's amazing. The most holy person on the face of the earth today that's closest to God feels the sting of his indwelling corruptions the most. The true regenerate may even find an indwelling evil principle even within himself that's constantly warring against grace. The grace that's within him trying to draw him away from God, but he doesn't consent to it. He doesn't obey it. Even though he can't prevent its presence. Isn't that amazing? Is that wars on the inside of you? There's a principle on the inside of you at times that's constantly warring against the grace on the inside of you. The flesh against the spirit. Am I the only one that has that problem? I don't consent to the flesh. I don't consent to the adversary. I don't consent to it. I don't consent to indwelling corruption, even though I can't prevent its presence from being there. I don't give it the nod. I don't cooperate. Now, listen to me, friend. Sometimes a truly born again person feels so low that they don't even feel like they're a Christian. They question if they're even a Christian at all. John Newton, the author of the great hymn we sing, Amazing Grace, said this. I am not what I ought to be. I'm not what I want to be. I'm not what I hope to be in another world. But I'm still not what I used to be by the grace of God. I am what I am. Amen. Isn't that something? Isn't that true? The true converse, my friend, is righteous in his conduct solely because he's righteous in his nature. Think about this, friend. This is not so profound that you can't grasp this. In your former estate, you were wicked in practice because you were wicked in your nature. And it's not that we earn a meritorious status before God by doing right, because we know that we're not saved by our good works. But when the Holy Ghost of God begins to regenerate the wicked human heart, he thoroughly creates righteousness where righteousness has never been known, nor has it been experienced. He thoroughly creates righteousness where there has never been righteousness. He does that in us. And this man does good from this point on, not because of anything except the good work of God that's taking place in his heart. He does good because God, by his grace, has made him good. God, by his grace, has made him good. All by God's grace. And mark this in your heart. Where there are no evidences of righteousness by practice, there has been no visitation of grace. For the actions, my friend, to be given to corruption is to illuminate the mastery of the heart. Let me say that again. For our actions to be perpetually given to corruption is to illuminate the true mastery of our own hearts. Beloved, we are saved by grace, but we're saved unto good works. Ephesians 2. Next, we will see that when we're truly born again, when the spirit of God has regenerated our hearts, we have an undeniable love for the people of God. That will be an evidence. You will love God's people. And it's a supernatural work that you've not conjured up in your own strength, but it's something God has established in you of his own love, shattered, brought into your heart by his spirit. 1 John 3. We'll read this once again. We read this earlier. For we know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. We know that we have passed from death to life. There is an evidence of love. A supernatural love is within us for the people of God. The Bible says that he that loveth not his brother abideth still in death. Abideth in death. My friend, a man or a woman, and sometimes friends, when I say man, I'm not just meaning the gender specific. I'm talking about mankind. So ladies don't become offended. But a man who is born again has a special love for all the true disciples of Jesus Christ. Just like his father in heaven. He loves all men, but with a strong general love, but he's a special love for those who share his faith in Jesus Christ. A special love. Chooch and I were talking this morning at Tim in prayer in our meeting, our pastor's meeting, about you can meet a true Christian and in that moment you're identified with Christ and with them and that you'd lay your life down for them right there if you had to. There's a kinship. There's a kinship there. You know, we're converted. We're like our Lord and we're like our savior. He loves the worst of sinners, could weep over them, but he has a very peculiar love with those who belong to him, those who are believers. And he's never as much at home as he's when he's in his own company. Had you found it to be that way with your life? That you're never really as much at home as when you're with the people of God. And friend, if you don't have that, there could be something wrong with your heart. I'm not saying this in condemnation. I'm saying this in truth and in love and in reality. The true regenerate heart feels at home with all the members of the same family, their fellow soldiers fighting for the same cause against the same enemy, their fellow travelers journeying along the same road. He understands them and they understand him. They might be very different from you in many ways, but it doesn't matter. They're all the father, sons and daughters, and you can't help but love one another. Amen. And I know this in my own personal testimony, and I can attest that when I was converted, there was an unexplainable love for, and also a connection with the true people of God. No longer did I have a desire to be yoked together with unbelievers. I know that by my own personal testimony, as well as the writings of the gospel of Jesus Christ. My heart yearned for and desired the companionship and the communion of the saints of God. And this love, friend, listen, this love can't be explained. It couldn't be quantitated. It couldn't be measured. It was the love of God that was shed abroad into my heart by the Holy Ghost of God. And it was altogether quite baffling to me. And beloved to this very day, it's still quite baffling to me how there can be those that name the name of Christ and name a profession of faith while being wholly disconnected from the people of God. Also, my friend is very disturbing to me to find those who are professing believers, but yet who are yet yoked to the wicked through relational ties. That baffles me. They see no offense in participating in the cup of the Lord as well as the cup of the devil simultaneously. Friends, this had not ought be. Biblical regeneration works powerfully to tightly knit together the people of God while working powerfully, listen, while also in simultaneously working powerfully to disconnect us from the citizens of the kingdom of darkness. God's grace is at work in me in equal power to connect me with you as well as to disconnect me from them. This is God's grace. Nextly, beloved, it's an evidence of true biblical regeneration that we keep ourself pure in a wicked world. 1 John 5. In 1 John 5 18, it says, we know that whosoever is born of God sent us not, but he that has begotten of God keepeth himself and that wicked one toucheth him not. A man who was born again, my friend is careful with his own soul, not careless. Listen, not only does he try to avoid sin, but he also tries to avoid everything that leads to sin, shunning the very appearance of evil. He's careful about the company that he keeps. He knows that evil communications will corrupt the heart. He also knows that evil is more catching than good. Just like a disease is more infectious than health. He's careful about the use of his time. His chief desire is to spend that time very profitably. He desires to live like a soldier in enemy country, to wear his armor only continually and to be prepared for the very temptations that he knows are coming. He's diligent to be watchful. He's diligent to be humble. He's diligent to be prayerful, keeping ourselves pure. The word of God says in 2 Corinthians 7, verse 11, for behold the self same thing that you sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you. What carefulness, what clearing of yourself, what indignation, yea, what fear, what vayment desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge, and all these things you have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter. Friend, the regenerate heart is always very zealous to guard his heart against the uprising corruptions, even though they've been formerly mortified. Have you ever mortified by the spirit of God, some indwelling corruption, only to be tempted in that regard again and to see those desires fan to flame? I'm glad I'm not the only guy that's had to experience that. Something that you know has been mortified, some diverse lust that has been under the blood, that has been mortified by the spirit of God, that the enemy comes once again in a sweet brotherly kind of a way and begins to seduce us back into the bondages for which we've been delivered, trying to entrap us once again to our affections that once again are in bondage. To the will of the adversary, whereby in due season and due time, we may not even be able to escape. Also, my friend, the true regenerate, the impassions and the enticements of this present world and this culture that you and I are living in, we guard our heart against with a holy vigilance if we're truly born again. Although there are many, my friend, that are in mainstream religion that disregard the warnings against the appearance of evil. Listen, even though there are people in the church that disregard those warnings, the true regenerate trembles at the warning and he gives strict heed always. The true convert also never forgets the filth from which he's been cleansed and he sets his heart once again to never ever again to become entangled with and overcome by its mire ever. Although there are many in religious circles that embrace the practices that are very questionable, the regenerate heart will shun them all, hating the garments that are spotted with the stain of the flesh. And I know that you know this is coming, but I must ask you a question. Have we these evidences in our lives? And I'm again, acutely aware of the levels of maturity and grace and that some of these graces may be more pronounced than some of these graces in other areas and in other lives. But the question still remains a validity. Have you any of these evidences in your life? Is your regeneration merely verbal or a self-appointed title? Are these evidences, my friend, springing forth from your regenerated heart? And do they testify to the authenticity of your experience with Christ, your position in Christ? And friend, if not, you still may yet be dead in your sins, albeit you still may be religion. You may be bound in religion, you may be religious. You know that person, albeit Becky, forget the text message this week, albeit. I'm gonna say that again. You can be very religious and still be dead in your sins. And I'm gonna say this, this is not a condemning indictment against you. The depraved heart in itself is an indictment unto your own condemnation. If your heart is depraved, if you have no evidences, biblical evidences, not cultural. Listen, in this culture, they're gonna say, if you just come forward and pray a prayer, make Jesus a little Lord of your heart that you're going to heaven. But they're not telling the people they must repent and turn away from wickedness by the grace of God. We're not telling people any longer that you're dead in your trespasses and sins. You've been born inherently corrupt and wicked. We're not telling the people that salvation is wholly the work of God and not by the whims of man. And our savior is a savior from sin and not just hell alone. And he delivers us from our carnality. He delivers us from our wicked hearts, our degeneracy, our inheritance from Adam. And there must be a thorough work of the Holy Ghost in your life, whereby there are evidences that spring forth that testify of your experience with God. And we're not telling people anymore. We're saying, come forward an emotional moment with quaint, fancy music playing. It's a prayer, this prayer, and you get to go to heaven. And it doesn't matter how you live after that. And friend, that's a lie from the pit of hell. Regeneration is a total change of nature that affects every fiber of your being. Every fiber of your being. Yes, there are still temptations. Yes, there's still weaknesses. Yes, there's still frailty in your frame. But one thing is marked and known. There has been change wrought in you by the workings of grace, by the Holy Ghost of God that are undeniable to you or man. And we're living in a generation that tries to quiet and to muffle and to silence the voice of God's prophets that are boldly declaring the truth that you must be born again to enter the kingdom of heaven. You must be born again. You must be regenerated. You must be converted that your sins might be blotted out. You must have an experience with God that the grace of God effectually works in your heart to change you from a sinner into a saint. But you've become a holy man, a holy woman by the grace of God at the moment of the new birth that God has transformed your nature. He's given you a new heart with new desires and obedience now is the hallmark of your heart and your life. You're no longer a trespasser. You're now a child of God, loving God, pleasing God, obeying God. And that alone is consistent with your nature. This whole system is a system of debauchery in America, in the Christianity that's in America. It's a false Christianity. It's a fake Christianity that's leaving multitudes into a false conversion. And what's sad is many of those people will never, ever be saved because they think they're truly saved because they've been told by a bunch of liars behind pulpits that they're saved when they're not. They have no evidence of salvation. There's no biblical evidences of salvation in their life. They still have no love for the brethren. They still are connected to the world. They're still given holy to sin. They're still practicing everything they practice while they were living in wickedness, except they go to church on Sunday, just like the devil. These things ought not be. And my friend, I want to reiterate, I'm not giving a condemning indictment against you. Listen, if your heart is still dead in sins, your depravity is your indictment. Jesus didn't come to the world to condemn it because it's already condemned. Well, there's no need to condemn what's condemned. It's just condemned. I'm not here to come and to make you miserable, make you hate everything. I'm coming to reveal the truth, the truth of the word of God. I'm responsible for before God. If there has been the work of grace in your life, there will be corresponding evidences always, always. This whole doctrine that's being taught abroad, around the world today, that you can be saved without having any evidence of salvation is nothing other than heretical lies. Heretical lies and beloved. If some of these evidences, I only have read a few. There are others. These are primary evidences. These are biblical evidences. And listen, if you discern and judge your heart accurately, according to the word of God and see that these evidences are lacking in your life, my friend, you need to look unto Christ. You need to cry out to God for true biblical regeneration, for the Holy Ghost to lay siege upon your heart and to translate you out of darkness and to light. Listen, listen, it's not a status among man. It's an acceptance before God. Your soul is on the line. Beloved, don't play with this. There's eternity before you. The coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is at hand. The end of all things is at hand. How can we play with things that are so eternal, so important? And listen, my friend, if you're here today and you think you might be saved, you're not. A lot of those that are truly regenerated, the Holy Ghost bears witness with their heart. There is a profound revelation that you have passed from death to life. And not only is it something that you're made aware of, everybody around you knows there's something different. And if you're here today, struggling with your identity, not knowing whether you're saved or not, my friend, you can know that you're not. The Spirit of God will reveal to you if you've passed from death to life. Beloved, we in America, we've muddied this. We've given this, and it's only become a status versus an experience. And we go to church, we hear the Bible preached, we have an emotional experience, and we pray a prayer we really don't mean. And we accept Jesus, who we have no intentions of yielding our life to. And this is a grave error in the church. It's a grave error in the church. I remember as a child, we were going to church, a little church in 8th Air. I went down front, and I prayed their little prayer. I got baptized. And in my youthful mind, if I went through all that, the people there would like me a little bit better, and I get to eat the crackers, and I get to drink the grape juice in those cute little cups. We didn't have any of those at home, and I thought they were neat. My whole motive was perverted and false. But friends, listen, it was evidence by the time I was 15, 16 years old, and I was partying, I was smoking, I was lying, I was cheating, I was stealing. Everything I could get my hands on that was evil and corrupt, I got my hands on. Everything within my reach, I grabbed. Unbeknownst mostly to my parents, but I was yet depraved, still in my sins. But I thought I was okay, because I went down front, and they dunked me in water. They gave me the crackers and the grape juice, and I went through all the outward things, but there had been no breach into my heart by the works of grace. But we need to cry out. We need to be awakened to our hearts. True, true position. To who truly lays claim to its ownership. And beloved, if we, as the Holy Ghost reveals, and the scriptures instruct and reveal, find that we still are governed by our former corruptions, our base desires, by our indwelling lusts, by our natural-born estate, that we're foreigners, excluded from the commonwealth, of Israel in the hope of God. And that the only hope that we have is that if God, by His Holy Ghost, displays a marvelous, miraculous, and powerful work of grace in our heart and our life, and transforms us from death to life, from sin to righteousness, from wickedness to holiness, by His miracle-working power, and that we authentically, experientially, pass from death to life. Friend, I'm gonna conclude by saying this. If in the present place and time, you know that you're lost, without Christ, without hope, without God in the world, and you know that you're depraved, you know that you're sinful, and you know that there's an inheritance awaiting those who die in their sins, and you have a desire on the inside of you to flee from the wrath to come, and knowing that God has made the opportunity for you to flee into the very protective bounties of Jesus Christ, God's Son, beloved, you can be saved. You can be born again. You can be born again. You know what? We'll pray with you and cry out to God until Christ be formed in you. But if we come to Him, He will not cast us out. He will not cast us out. Beloved, there is a miracle to take place in your heart and your life that God will radically change you, save you, and then He'll sanctify you, justify you, and then He'll return, and He'll deliver you from this evil, wicked, and untoward generation, and we'll forevermore be with Him, generation for generation, generation for generation, we'll be with Him. Is this making sense to you? Is this making sense? I don't want you to think that I'm standing up here isolating a few people, talking about them. That is not the case. I am preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. And beloved, truth is truth. And if truth exposes lies in our life and darkness in our hearts, it's doing its job. And if you're here and you've not been regenerated, beloved, there is opportunity for you. I want you to close your eyes, please. I know that this message has probably spoke to some of your hearts, and you look inwardly and you still see sin being your master, and you shudder in fear. Beloved, we're trusting God for you. We believe in God for such a great salvation to not only visit but overtake your life. That God will put in you a heart of flesh. He promised. He'll perform it. He decreed it. He'll deliver it. But beloved, we first of all must identify that we're in need. Listen, if you're here this morning and you know that this is you and you need Jesus, you're in need of Jesus. And today, you have an earnest desire to experience the powerful work of grace in your heart and life, and for you to be truly regenerated, I want you to come up to your front and kneel down at this altar.