Titus 3:5b-6

Titus chapter 3 verses 5 and 6 we’ll be looking at the second part of verse 5 and verse 6 Not by works of righteousness which we have done But according to his mercy he saved us By the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. May God bless to us His sacred and holy word this evening. Perhaps you have noticed a family Let’s say move into a house and soon it becomes, it shows effects of A slipshod of lifestyle. The yard is littered with trash. The lawn withers for lack of care. There’s old rusty cars parked here and there. The gutters no longer are properly connected to the roof. The inside of the house is in shambles with books and papers stacked everywhere. One room is so full that there’s only a little tiny pathway that you can make through it because there’s so much hoarded in the house. It’s never neat or orderly. The bathtub looks as if it had never been cleaned. The sinks are covered with dirt. The broken windows are covered with cardboard. The basement is a complete nightmare. And you get the picture. And then there’s a sheriff sale. The house is sold and a new owner buys it. The next thing we know, they’re making all these renovations and changing the house. They paint the house. They clean up the yard. They fix the gutters. They replant the lawn. All the trash inside the house is removed. The sinks in the bathtub are replaced. The broken windows are fixed. And there’s a dramatic improvement in the appearance of the house because there was a change of those who occupied it. In a similar way, it’s impossible for spiritual change to take place in your life without the new resident of the Holy Spirit within you. Paul has described the miserable. condition you are in as a result of Adam’s fall in verse 3. This condition we said in our last study can only be changed by divine intervention. Verse 4. And then we mention how that all three persons of the Trinity are involved in the work of salvation. We talked about God the Father in verse 4, his electing love, the gift of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We talked about the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost in verse 5. He is the one that brings regeneration and sanctification. And now we see in verse 6 as well here that Jesus Christ, our Savior. We’ve talked about his sacrificial death in chapter 2 in verse 14. But here we’re talking about the spiritual gifting of his people in this verse 6. So now we’re ready to contemplate here. the work of the spirit of God in salvation. He has a vital role to play, and he makes a dramatic change in your life. Well, let me begin by saying this. You as a believer have been washed by the Holy Spirit. The Bible says here, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy he saved us, and then by the washing of regeneration. You should realize that the Bible never teaches sacramentalism. It’s somewhat surprising to find those who discover baptism in this particular verse of scripture in reference to washing. Some say, well, the word ought to be translated laver as if it’s referring to the baptismal font. Well, if that’s the case, then baptism becomes the means of regeneration. An act of man, rather than the work of God. God produces salvation. This is contrary to the words of the tax, certainly to what preceded it. It’s not by works of righteousness which we have done. But according to His mercy, he saved us. It’s not the works of man that regenerate a person. A simple study of the scripture reveals to us that baptism is administrated after salvation, not as a means to salvation. salvation. The great commission. Go you therefore and teach or disciple all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son of the Holy Ghost. There’s an order to that. There’s the evangelization. There is the faith in Christ. There is then the baptizing. Peter on the day of Pentecost, repent and be baptized. Repentance comes first. We read also in the day of Pentecost that they that gladly receive, repentant, and be baptized. We read also in the day that they that the word, the gospel, were baptized. We read about Philip when he went to Samaria. The people there believe Philips preaching concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Christ. They were baptized both men and women. And then, of course, we have the Ethiopian eunuch who said, here’s some water. What doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said to him, if thou believeest with all thine heart, thou mayest. Paul here is not speaking of a literal washing with water here. He is alluding to what regeneration does for the center. This is an internal washing that he’s speaking about. If baptism produced regeneration, the phrase should read the regeneration of washing. It’s just the reverse of that. It’s the washing of regeneration. And this indicates that regeneration washes, not a literal washing of water of some sort regenerates. If that was the case, you think about Paul’s situation. He then was not regenerated under Damascus Road. You have to wait until three days later until he was baptized. But that’s not what the scripture would indicate to us. Remember Simon Magis in Scripture in Acts chapter 8 in Samaria, He was baptized, but the indication is that he wasn’t converted. So baptism did not regenerate him. His faith or profession of faith wasn’t genuine. So we have to be careful. We don’t, you know, pounce on a bare word here and all of a sudden make a doctrine out of it that the Bible doesn’t teach baptismal regeneration. So you should realize the Bible never teaches sacramentalism. Now, you are spiritually washed of your sins. by the Holy Spirit. This is a description of what takes place within you. It’s done by Holy Spirit, not human hands. Paul uses the word here which provides a picture of what’s taking place spiritually. When you think of washing what comes to mind, you probably think about soap and water. Some type of cleaning is going to take place. To remove, you know, film, and grime and filth or whatever you have. If you ever worked on a car engine or the exhaust system or something that, oh, they, you get filthy, you get all, you get dirt. You need, you need washing, and so does your clothes. They’re so darkened by everything. Look at that in a spiritual perspective. Sin is like dirt or grime or filth. that’s clinging to you, and salvation involves the washing away of your sins. Now, if you would, look at 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verses 9 through 11, where Paul speaks about a washing here with regard to the Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 6, verses 9 through 11. He says this, know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God. be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor reviles, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you, but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but you are justified, but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Holy or by the Spirit of our God. Now when the Corinthians look back upon their previous life prior to conversion, there were many things of which they could be condemned. He says, such were, past tense, this is what you once were like, but now you’re washed. He says, you’re also sanctified. in the sense of being set apart by the Spirit and justified through the person of Christ, of course, and by the work of the Spirit, this takes place. Isn’t this what David so greatly desired after the sin of Bashiba? In Psalm 51, what did he pray? Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. It’s a marvelous thing about God’s salvation. that he washes away all our sins. Do you know something of this spiritual washing? It’s not whether you’ve got water put on your head or whether you were dunked under the water, or it doesn’t really matter in this case. We’re not talking about outward washing. We’re talking about inward washing. The washing that takes place by the Spirit of God. Notice secondly, you as a believer have been regenerated here by the Spirit, the Holy Spirit. You’ve been born again. Regeneration is a commonly used theological term which finds its meaning here in Scripture and this idea of being regenerated, changed spiritually by God, being born again. Our text uses the phrase here, regeneration, the washing of regeneration. This is where the term comes from. There’s another place where the word regeneration is used, but it has to do with the whole universe in the book of Matthew. But here it’s the individual that we’re talking about. And this is where this biblical term originates from this text of scripture. Literally, it means to be born again. It comes from two Greek words that actually made one word. Palin Genesia. Palin means again. Genesia means birth. To birth again or to be born again. Or to be born the second time or something of this nature. When the Holy Spirit grants you spiritual life, this concept of being reborn is, laid before us. This is taught in the scriptures. You remember Jesus’ famous meeting with Nicodemus when he said, you must be born again in John chapter 3. I once had someone asked me, well, why doesn’t the scripture say generation? Why doesn’t he say we’re just generated? Why does it say we’re re-generated? Well, when you think about it, it has to go back to the fallen Adam. Once, man had spiritual life. Once man was capable of walking with God. But then man by sinning, through Adam’s fall, we all fell, we lost the spiritual life that we once had in Adam. And we’re dead as by one man, sin sin entered to the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men for all of sin. Romans 5. So what the Spirit does is cause you to be reborn, brings you out of this state of terrible deadness, and grants you spiritual life. Regeneration involves the Holy Spirit taking up residence within you, enlightening your mind to understand and to believe the truths of Scripture. The Spirit takes away the heart of stone we had in our unbelief. gives us a heart of flesh according to the Ezekiel’s teaching. Thus, he renews your will. You’re not so stubbornly opposed to the things of God. There’s a change in that. So now that you’re compliant with the things of the Lord. This causes you to find delight in spiritual things. This is what we’re talking about. When we talk about being born of the spirit. Now, you should understand the place of regeneration in the work of salvation. Years ago, there was a woman in Peru whose life was radically transformed by the gospel and the work of the Holy Spirit. Her name was Rosario. She was a terrorist. She was a brute of a woman. She was an expert in martial arts. and in her terrorist activity, she had been guilty of killing 12 policemen in Peru. She went to hear a well-known minister in Lima, Peru, with the intention of killing him because she didn’t like the preaching that she heard. However, she contemplated when to make her move toward him him. She began to listen as he preached a message about hell. And she fell under conviction of sins and came to know Christ as her Savior. Ten years later, she met the minister and told him her story and how that she actually went there to kill him and how God converted her. And now she was a vibrant worker in her church. It started an orphanage where there was over a thousand children. in the orphanage. Now when you think about Rosario’s salvation in light of scripture, let us realize this, that regeneration is entirely the work of the Holy Spirit. Rosario wasn’t interested in the things of God. The gospel irritated her. She actually went to kill the minister who was preaching the gospel. There is none that understands. There’s none that seeks after God, is what Scripture says. And as strange as it may seem to us, because we don’t understand the working of God, the Bible says that the Spirit’s work is like the wind. You don’t see it coming. You don’t see it going, but you see the effects of it. And that’s the way the wind is. We can’t control the wind. And the Spirit of God does as he pleases. So is everyone that’s born of the Spirit of God, Jesus says. The Spirit’s work is mysterious within you. He causes you to know to understand, to assent, to believe in the truths of the Scriptures. God makes His elect people willing in the day of his power, according to Psalm 110, verse 3. Faith is the gift of the Spirit, according to Galatians 522. It is the result of regeneration. There are those who tell us, well, first you believe in Christ and then you’re regenerated. No, you’re regenerated, and because you’re regenerated, you believe in Christ. Faith is a gift. It’s not a human work. Rosario was granted spiritual life by the Holy Spirit, and therefore she believed on Jesus Christ. So regeneration then produces a radical change in the individual. The birth is a one-time act of the Holy Spirit, which results in instantaneous change. Rosario didn’t clean up her life in order to make her acceptable to God so that God would save her. See, he didn’t start having holy thoughts and living a godly life, and then God saved her. First, there was this washing of regeneration. And she found all the vices vices mentioned in verse 3 that We’ve talked about eventually being replaced by the virtues in verses one and two. These things are the fruit of regeneration, not the means of it. This is why the scripture speaks of regeneration as a resurrection. We talked about this in a study on Sunday morning where no one can resurrect themselves. It takes God’s work to do that, and that’s what we find in regeneration. Have you been granted spiritual life by the Holy Spirit. Are you born again? Except a man be born again. He cannot see the kingdom of God, Scripture says. You as a believer have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit. You as a believer are being renewed by the Holy Spirit. He says, not only have you had the washing of regeneration, but he adds here and the renewing also. of the Holy Ghost. Here, I think, is the reference to a lifelong process of sanctification that the Holy Spirit works in the believer’s life. He begins to remove all the sinful characteristics of your life and replaces them with godly characteristics. Regeneration is, as I said, a one-time granting of spiritual life. Well, renewing is the development. in the outworking of this new life. Paul puts it this one, Ephesians 2, 22 to 24, that you put off concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt, according to deceitful lust, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, that you put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Several saints. centuries ago, the emperor of Japan commissioned a Japanese artist to paint a bird. Months passed, no picture of the bird showed up. Years past, still no picture of the bird showed up. The emperor decided he would find out what’s going on with the painter and visited him. And asked for an explanation at his studio. The artist set a blank canvas on an easel, and in 15 minutes, as he painted a beautiful painting of this bird. It became a masterpiece. The emperor asked why there had been such a long delay in this painting coming to pass. The artist then went from cabinet to cabinet, produced armloads of drawings of the feathers, tendons, wings, feet, claws, eyes, and beaks of birds that he had drawn. He kept refining, kept practicing. He placed them one by one before the emperor. These are years of preparation prior to it a complete painting being done. Well, the spiritual life is sort of like that. The Holy Spirit is now changing and making preparation. It’s going to be a final painting, so to speak, of your life, when Christ comes or when the end of the world occurs and where we die. When this happens, there’s going to be the final complete glorification of the individual. But as we go through this life, there is the refining aspect. There is the drawing after the being, and then there’s a redrawing to improve even the first drawing that we’ve had. So the spirit keeps working within us to refine and to improve us as we go along. He operates within you so that you may be conform to the image. of Jesus Christ. Do you see this spiritual type of progress in your life? Are you growing in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ? Is holiness being perfected in your life? This is evidence of the spirit’s work within you. So you as a believer, being renewed by the Holy Ghost. And then you as a believer are gifted by the Holy Spirit. Verse 6 says, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. Now to properly understand this passage, the which here refers to the Holy Spirit, particularly his gifts and graces. The He, he, pack to God, our Savior, in verse 4. And then Jesus Christ, our Savior is mentioned here, is the person meriting, if you would, the outpouring of these gifts and graces in your life. Often in Scripture, when the Holy Spirit is said to be poured out upon someone or to be shed on us or something of this nature, the reference isn’t to the Spirit personally in the sense of we get the Spirit personally, but the gifts and the grace is the Spirit. When the Bible says, you know, be filled with the Spirit, doesn’t mean you get more of the Spirit, but we have the idea here of the Spirit here is graces and gifts. When someone is first converted, there may be something we might say the Spirit was poured out upon them. But when let’s say the disciples in the upper room have the Spirit descend upon them. Or in Chapter 4 of Acts, when the Spirit also fills them again. This is a work of the gifts and graces of the Spirit coming upon. Because they’re already converted. The word abundantly here suggests the richness, the completeness of these graces and gifts of the Spirit of God. It should be noted that the Old Testament prophecies spoke of an abundance of the spirit of God, of the outpouring of the Spirit. Something surpassing any other point in history when the Messiah comes. And we see that on the day of Pentecost where the church was extraordinarily blessed, not only with ordinary grace is what we call the fruit of the Spirit, but also the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, such as prophecy, vision, tongues, healing, all these gifts, until, of course, the completion of the scripture. Both the Father and the Son are said in Scripture to grant the Holy Spirit. For example, John, we read, and I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter, even the Spirit of Truth. Christ purchased these gifts and graces that we enjoy as part of his work on the cross and his death. He bought them for us, if you would. And the Holy Spirit then residing in you, empowers you, to live a godly life. We should realize that it is of His fullness, Christ, that we have received grace for grace. So you have the power to live a godly life. The Spirit enables you to deny ungodliness and worldly lust in your life and to live soberly and righteously and so forth, as we’ve talked about previously. You might be thinking, well, it seems impossible for me to change. As a Christian, I try to overcome sin and put it to death, but it keeps rearing its ugly head. But the Bible says you can overcome. That the Spirit of God is within you. Sin shall not have dominion over you. If your faith wavers, you can cry out for your unbelief. For more faith, if you would. The Spirit is able to open the eyes of your understanding, grant you more knowledge. As you struggle with health problems, God can grant you more grace to endure it. As you’re under trial, and afflictions, the Holy Spirit can give you more patience to be able to bear it. The Bible says that we are to ask and will receive. We have not because we ask not. And so we should think about asking. Because there’s an abundance of graces and gifts that are available to us. We can do all things through Christ, which strengthens us. So this verse should be encouragement, the resources are plentiful. They’re available to you. And therefore we should take advantage of them. Well, when the new family moved into that run-down, dirty, cluttered house, changes began to be made. A complete transformation of the house took place. And so it is spiritually, when the Holy Spirit enters your life, your miserable condition, because of Adam’s fall, is drastically changed by divine intervention. Not only you granted a new life, but he works continually in you, to renew you, to bring you back to what you really were prior to the fall, so that you’re renewed in righteousness and knowledge and holiness and so forth. The Holy Spirit washes, he regenerates, and he gifts you, as this text of Scripture indicates to us. This is his great work. our life in this plan of salvation of God. Well, let us close.