Theological Coffeehouse: The Doctrine of Regeneration
Download MP3Alright. We're gonna go ahead and get started. Welcome to our taco tequila and theology house. We have no official name. I like that one better than conversations.
Joel Brooks:Redeemer Community Church puts this on every summer. We'll meet for for 4 of the months during the summer, in which we just take on a different theological topic and talk on it for about 50 minutes or so. We'll take a break. The bar will be open for a while. And then, and then we'll have q and a time.
Joel Brooks:In the past, we've always done it at a coffee house. This time, we think the questions will be a little livelier. I hope so. Jeff is gonna be the one up here teaching tonight on regeneration and what does it mean when you believe the gospel. The reason we do these theological coffee houses or taco tequila houses is there's some subjects that you would like to just go a little bit longer on on Sunday evenings when we meet, but it really doesn't lend itself to that.
Joel Brooks:And so we try to pick different theological topics that we can, go at in length and let you ask questions so we can really dig in deeper. And, regeneration and what happens when one believes the gospel is one of those things that come up several times. And so that's gonna be our topic tonight. Jess gonna come up here and, Jeff is the associate pastor at Redeemer Community Church. And I'm handing it off to
Speaker 2:him now.
Jeffrey Heine:That was really nice. We should do that a lot more at church. A lot more applause. Anybody needs to stand up to do it, that's fine too. Alright.
Jeffrey Heine:So I'll try to talk a little bit louder for those of you in the back. Okay. So if you've heard me teach before in any context, you know that, I I kind of gravitate towards asking really big, big questions. Like, going kind of 10,000 feet and just trying to see kind of basic questions. And I think that some of that goes back to the fact that I spent a lot of times a lot of years growing up in the faith where I had no idea what was going on.
Jeffrey Heine:I mean, I had some idea of that what was going on. And and and the people around me were really encouraging and helpful and all that. But but for the most part, like big concepts, I just didn't get them. Like, I knew how to do little things. Like, I got rid of, like, a bunch of CDs, so I knew how to do that.
Speaker 2:Like, I knew how to do
Jeffrey Heine:those things after camp. But but real issues of the faith and growing in the faith and trusting in Christ and those kinds of things like that, that was a lot harder for me. And so I like to whenever it comes time for us to spend time together teaching and examining the scriptures and asking questions to ask really, really big questions and then see if we can work our way down to some things that we can really put our weight into it. And we can really hold on to those kind of hand holds of life. When everything's kind of slipping and falling apart and you those things that you just hold on to and you know that it's going to be okay.
Jeffrey Heine:And so those those are the kinds of questions that I like to ask. And so with a topic like this, many people have asked if tonight with the topic of regeneration, if we're gonna get lizards and we're gonna we're gonna cut the tail off. And then in time, we're gonna see the tail come back. We just did not have the budget for it. It's a great great visual.
Jeffrey Heine:Maybe one day. But but the question that I kind of want to start off with is this. What do you do? Now some of you, your your first thought might be like your job. You know, that kind of question.
Jeffrey Heine:Like what do you do? Well, my job. Like that's what I do. And what are all the other things that you do? The choices that you make day in day out.
Jeffrey Heine:Those kind of simple choices of simple life moments, like what do you do And why do you do those things? Why do you do the things that you do? And I'm not just talking about, like, the good things, the things that you like Instagram. I'm not talking about, like, when when, like, your food is perfect or your child is perfect or whatever it is and you take the photo and everyone's like, oh, I hate myself because my life's not as good as their Instagram life. And like, not that.
Jeffrey Heine:But the the choices that you make, like what you do, why do you do it? What's forming? What are the commitments in your life that shape the way that you make those everyday decisions? What do you do? Why do you do it?
Jeffrey Heine:Now there's a modern philosopher, 20th century philosopher. He, he's a French philosopher and his name was Jacques, Jean let's see. Lyotard is his last name, which is cool if your name is Lyotard. If you're a communications major, always start with a quote from Lyotard. Just it's gonna go over or just a French philosopher.
Jeffrey Heine:But, Jean Francois Lyotard, he wrote about the postmodern condition. He he actually wrote a book called The Postmodern Condition, which I think really speaks into our context of how we think and the choices that we make. And it kind of speaks into our culture. And so Lyotard said this. He he's kind of like truncated what is his, extreme simplification of the postmodern condition?
Jeffrey Heine:He he called it this. He said it's the incredulity towards metanarratives. So it's easy. See that's a simplified incredulity towards the metanarratives. Now the incredulity, that means we don't trust in the idea of a big story.
Jeffrey Heine:We don't trust that there are just overarching big story things, and that everything falls under these big story ideas. It's that we resist that. And instead, one of the one of the things that happens when we do that, instead of believing that there is a big story, we we turn all of our attention onto ourselves. And I have a story. And that's what life is about.
Jeffrey Heine:So that first deception, that first lie is that there's no big story. There's just the individual. And then the second lie is that experience is everything. What you experience and how you experience, that's how you define everything around you. I like this.
Jeffrey Heine:I didn't like that. And so when you have these experiences, then you decide what's true, what's not, what you like, what you don't like, and that's how you kind of categorize everything. So there's no big story. And what I experience, what I feel personally. You don't have to feel it.
Jeffrey Heine:You don't have to experience it. But it's special and meaningful to me, and therefore, I will derive meaning and truth out of that. The third thing is that nothing has to change. I can believe those things and I can live that way and I can like those things and I can derive meaning from those things and that can be special to me and nothing has to change. So if you will, if you will agree with me in this time with all these different things moving and shaking, and and the deal is this is closer to life.
Jeffrey Heine:Right? So with all of these things, can we actually think about what we do and why we do them? What kind of influences are challenging that? Because then when we ask that question, when we really say that something in me does need to change, I don't really like some things about me or the things that I do or the choices that I make or the things that I think, the things that I don't put on Facebook, the things that I don't put on Instagram, the things that I don't share with anyone, those things need to change. And so when we realize that, when we realize that things do need to change in the cultural current that's kind of sweeping us along, we say, well, that's a personal choice.
Jeffrey Heine:I have some personal I need to get I need to really hunker down to my commitments. I need to I need to get serious. I need to recommit. Any bells yet? Okay.
Jeffrey Heine:So I need to I need to really need just focus in and I need to rededicate myself to these things, because this time this time is going to be different. We have this do it yourself mentality. Faith is something that the individual then decides to go to work at. And so I'm gonna build this up and I'm gonna get it nice and strong. I'm gonna build this faith up.
Jeffrey Heine:I'm gonna change the choices that I'm making. And I'm gonna get these things straight. And then what what happens? The the wind blows and the seas roar and then everything kind of falls apart again. So these lies, there's no big story, experiences everything, and nothing has to change.
Jeffrey Heine:And herein this this is why talking about regeneration, this it becomes really controversial and it becomes really uneasy and discomforting inwardly. Now this isn't the kind of thing that you just go out and debate with people. This is something that wars kind of within the self. This these questions of who am I and what am I doing and what has happened to me if I'm a believer? You see, we're confronted with the fact that there is a grand story.
Jeffrey Heine:There is a big story. Now, yes, you do have a story. But there is a a bigger story. Your story is a part of another story. Your story is redeemed by a bigger story.
Jeffrey Heine:And so being so myopic and so focused on our own story distracts us from this bigger, grander story. So there is a big story. Not only that, experience is critical, but experiences is not how we then derive our understanding. That's not how we get our theology. It's just from what we've experienced.
Jeffrey Heine:That's a dangerous thing, because if you experience something different than I do, then we end up in very different places, don't we? But if there is a larger story, if there is a greater truth and that truth is revealed in the scriptures, if that's true and if you believe that, then that means that we can understand our experiences by our theology. The word of god. The what and theology is just a a a bigger way, a grander way of saying thinking about god. The way that we think about god would be the scriptures that would shape the way that we think about God.
Jeffrey Heine:And then the way that we think about God and that how that makes us think about ourselves then helps us to understand the things that we experience. So it doesn't eliminate experience. It just repositions it. So if we can be rooted in a theology, if we can be rooted in an understanding of God and life and faith, then we can come to a question like this and say, well, what is regeneration? Now there are two times where you will see the word regeneration in the English scriptures.
Jeffrey Heine:2 times it comes up. Now it's represented in a lot of different metaphors, but really you're going to see regeneration only in 2 locations. Once in Matthew, when Jesus is speaking and teaching, and then another time it's going to come up in Titus, in one of Paul's letters. Now the word regeneration comes from the word, palangencia. Alright.
Jeffrey Heine:So communication majors. Like, so you you'll start with a leotard quote and then you move to an imprencable word like palangencia. Now for a kid that had a speech impediment growing up, these are all quite tricky. It's okay. I had speech therapy in a broom closet in Western Kentucky.
Jeffrey Heine:So everything worked out great. So really the the word palangencia is these two words, these two Greek words kind of brought in together. Palen, which means again or new. And gensia, where we get Genesis, is birth. A new birth.
Jeffrey Heine:Being born again. Now for those of you that can remember, 1976, one thing that happened back then was that Jimmy Carter was running for president. And he gave an interview that was quite, it was quite a buzz for a long time. It's actually still, these are stats. It's still the number one selling Playboy interview.
Jeffrey Heine:Playboy Magazine. The number one selling Playboy Magazine ever was the one that Jimmy Carter, presidential candidate, gave an interview. 1st presidential candidate to ever make this mistake. And and he gave this interview and at the very end of it, the guy's leaving it and there this whole thing is shaped with this idea of Jimmy Carter is a born again Christian. So that that moment, him giving that interview actually defined the way our our culture, American culture still recognizes the phrase born again.
Jeffrey Heine:Now, the way a lot of that was also shaped is in also that same year, 1976, Chuck Colson, who was a part of the Watergate scandal, he was indicted for being a part of that, and then he went to prison for a number of months. And before he went into prison, he became a Christian and he released a book called Born Again. And in those two times, the the way that the culture around Christianity kind of understood what was meant by that phrase born again was second chance. You see, with Chuck Colson, he was talking about how, he had yes. He had participated this second chance.
Jeffrey Heine:You you might have also seen just yesterday when Mark Sanford was at South Carolina where he got a congressional seat. And he got up. He was the one that went hiking on the Appalachian Trail, which really meant that he was with a mistress somewhere. Anyway, it's crazy business. But when he got up and he gave a speech about it, and he said, I believe in a God of second chances.
Jeffrey Heine:And that second chance translated into a second life in politics. The second chance. And what we have to realize from the onset is that the born again idea I looked at a terrible, terrible definition of this online. Those websites where people supply their own definition, they really fascinate me because it just kind of captures like what some people think words mean. And one of them was, a born again Christian is the kind of Christian that gets really heavy into drugs and almost dies.
Jeffrey Heine:And then they turn their life around and they say, I don't want that kind of life anymore. I'm born again. It also had to do with, men or women that had lived a salacious lifestyle and kinda wanted to rewind it back there a little bit. And so they're born again. It's a second chance.
Jeffrey Heine:That's not what we're talking about. Right? That's not what Jesus means when He's talking to Nicodemus and He says in John 3 that you must be born again. He's not saying a second chance, because guess what? 2nd chance, you're gonna blow it.
Jeffrey Heine:3rd chance, you're gonna blow it. 4th chance, you're gonna blow it. We can keep going with this. We've got the room for a while. We don't need a God of second chances.
Jeffrey Heine:We need a God who changes us. And that's what we mean by being born again. Regeneration, palangencia, this new birth. When we see Jesus use it in Matthew chapter 19, he's talking about a regeneration of the Earth. He takes this word regeneration, this word, Palingencia.
Jeffrey Heine:He takes this idea that was in a philosophy that had started about 500 years before he was walking on the earth. And he takes this philosophy where they think that everything turns over and over and over. The world, people, Reincarnation. That kind of an understanding. And he takes that and he uses that word to say, no.
Jeffrey Heine:There's going to be a palingency. There's going to be a renewal of all things, but it's gonna happen one time. And that's when all of this becomes the kingdom of God. The renewal of the heavens and the earth. That that palindincia, that regeneration.
Jeffrey Heine:That's what Jesus is talking about in Matthew 19. See, we need to be changed, and that is what re regeneration is. It is that kind of change. JC Ryle, who is a, an Anglican Bishop, he he he said these words, I think, like, end of the 1800, I believe. He said this, regeneration means a change of one's heart and nature when they become a Christian, when they become a follower of Christ.
Jeffrey Heine:It's a change of one's heart and one's nature. And this is, distinct from saying anyone who just professes the name of Christian or the culture of Christianity or just participating in things. It's even more than one who just associates with Christianity. It also differentiates between someone who just says that they agree with the concepts of Christianity. Maybe more pointedly, that they agree with some of the moral goodness or the moral benefits of Christianity.
Jeffrey Heine:They they just kind of zero in on, well, this will probably make me a better business leader or maybe a better dad or whatever it might be. Like, maybe this will just help me get that morality that I've been looking for it. It's more than that. This is saying that the person who trusts in Christ, who is a follower of Jesus, it is a a change in their heart and their very nature. It is this change that makes all the difference, and we see this throughout the scriptures.
Jeffrey Heine:We see it much more specifically kind of zeroed in on in the New Testament, but it's talked about in the old and the new. In Ezekiel chapter 11, he talks about the stony heart being replaced with a heart of flesh. In Acts 3, Peter calls it repenting and being converted. In Ephesians 2, Paul talks about being quicken from the dead and from our trespasses and our sin. In Colossians 3, it's putting off the old man and his deeds, and putting on the new man.
Jeffrey Heine:In Titus 3, where we see that word regeneration, specifically in paligenia, it is the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit. It is that great change of the heart and the nature. It's transformation of the whole inner person. It's that change, that bias change of the heart towards God and the scriptures, towards sin and towards the world. Now why does this matter so much?
Jeffrey Heine:I just wanna I'm gonna ask you a question, and I want you to answer it in inwardly. I I I I actually want you to do this whether you you like me or not. Okay? So let's just let's try and try and do this. Have you ever and this is for the people in the room who consider themselves to be Christians.
Jeffrey Heine:For those of you who are Christians here, here's a question for you. Have you ever wondered if you are not saved? Like, have you has that thought ever crossed your mind? I mean, have you ever had, like, those kind of moments, like, when no one else is around and and you're kind of just you're analyzing just kind of your life and just kind of looking it over and you look at these things and you just say I'm not talking about just the last night of camp. I'm talking about other other context of your life.
Jeffrey Heine:Those who have never been to a Christian camp, I feel like you've missed out on so much and you've also not. Like, it's, there are some amazing ones. And I'm thankful that every now and then I get to be a part of some of those amazing ones. But, but my goodness. Anyway but have you have you ever asked that that question?
Jeffrey Heine:Have you have you ever asked it and just and just wondered? Have you ever asked it and it kind of overcame you and you you didn't just, like, peruse the question. Like, the question wrestled you. And and it and it was it was a difficult thing to consider. If you've ever ever ever thought about that, then that is why the doctrine of regeneration matters.
Jeffrey Heine:That's that's why it matters if you know what this means and we study where what where we see this in the scriptures and what these promises mean. If you've ever asked that question, this is what regeneration is, and it's this divine work of God. It's the changing of the inner person. It's the changing of the heart and the soul and the mind and the strength. It is that new creation that we're told about in scripture.
Jeffrey Heine:An example. If you have a Bible with you, if you want to open up to acts chapter 16, If you want to open your bibles or open an app, an application on some kind of electronic device, You can do that as well. I'll give you a couple seconds. I always feel back. It's like if in a lot of these context when you're saying, if you've got a bible with you, open to this And then the person starts reading before you can even find it.
Jeffrey Heine:And then you say, well, I'm never bringing my bible again. Don't be that guy. Alright. Hopefully, you found it. It's acts chapter 16.
Jeffrey Heine:We're gonna take a just a quick look at the snapshot of Lydia. Chapter 16. We're gonna begin with verse 13 here. Alright. Verse 13.
Jeffrey Heine:And on the Sabbath day, he went outside to the gate to the riverside where we were supposed to where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. One who heard us was a woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods who was a worshiper of god. That's important. Who was a worshiper of god. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.
Jeffrey Heine:And after she was baptized, a whole lot just happened there between hearing what was heard. And then after she was baptized and her household as well, she urged us saying, if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay. And she prevailed upon us. So she's a worshiper of God. That means that she she would have heard about Yahweh.
Jeffrey Heine:She would have understood who Yahweh was, that she was seeking to worship him, but did not know, as we've seen a number of times in acts up into verse 16, that there were these people that had heard of Yahweh. They they knew who he was. They were seeking to worship him, but they had not yet heard the good news of the gospel. And here, the Lord opens her heart to pay attention to what Paul is saying. Paul is saying the gospel.
Jeffrey Heine:So that work that we see right there is the work of God in bringing new life. He opened her heart to transform her, to transform her heart and her thinking. And she was then confessing this belief, and that's what led to her baptism. So just like in the great commission that was they were being sent out. It was to tell people to repent and to be baptized, and that's that's what we see here.
Jeffrey Heine:Paul is doing exactly that. And Lydia had her heart opened by God. Notice that she didn't open her own heart, but she had a response. She had a response to that. She reacted to what God was doing,
Speaker 2:and
Jeffrey Heine:she was responsible for that reaction. She had a reaction that was called out from her and she was baptized. This is what regeneration is, this divine work of God to change the inner person. And again, this can be discomforting. This can be a little unsettling.
Jeffrey Heine:1, like I mentioned before, because the cultural currents that kind of shaped the way we think about ourselves and the way that we make decisions and who we are as individuals. Another thing is it's it can be unsettling because and what we're going to move to next, we we have to talk about why it's necessary. Why is regeneration necessary? What's the problem that needs to be fixed? And when we look at that, when we actually consider what that is and what that means, that is that can be disturbing And maybe even surpassing that, how disturbing that can be, recognizing that we can't change it, recognizing our inability to create this change that we so desperately need, that is unsettling as well.
Jeffrey Heine:So why is regeneration necessary? What is the problem? And we don't want to hear people say this, but if we are left alone with the question, we we would answer that, yes, something must change in me. We are not as we should be when we are apart from Christ. And so regeneration is necessary because of the exceeding sinfulness and rebellion in our hearts.
Jeffrey Heine:We not only need to be cleansed of the guilt, which is something that we talk about quite a bit. That cleansing of guilt. That's the atonement. That's justification. We've actually done a, theological coffee house on the atonement.
Jeffrey Heine:You can find that on our website and we can have this discussion further on that on that topic, but we we do emphasize that one regularly. But not only do we need to be cleansed from the guilt of sin, we need to be set free from the desire to sin. We need to be set free from the power of sin. This is necessary. It's also necessary for us to enter to see the Kingdom of God.
Jeffrey Heine:If you still have your Bible out, turn to John chapter 3. John chapter 3. We're picking up on verse 1 where Jesus has been teaching. And now a man named Nicodemus comes to him. John chapter 3 verse 1.
Jeffrey Heine:Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and he said to him, rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God. For no one can do the signs that you do unless God is with him. And Jesus answered, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born when he is old?
Jeffrey Heine:Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? And Jesus answered, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.
Jeffrey Heine:So it is with everyone who is born of the spirit. There we get that kind of glimpse of both that problem that you must be born again and then also that startling wildness that it seems with the spirit that He goes where He desires to go, doing as He wishes. See, this is necessary that you must be born again. So here's this man who is of the seed of Abraham and he's he's saying he feels like he has this good footing. He's this ruler.
Jeffrey Heine:He's a learned man, and yet he is not perceiving and understanding that he must be born again. Now Jesus was the first one to use this metaphor of being born again as a symbol of conversion. A lot of, kind of mystic religions after this point pick up on this phrase of being born again and that born again state being being some kind of conversion or newness. But but this was unique to what Jesus teaching at this point, that someone must be born again. Someone alive, not reincarnation, not where someone dies and then they come back their spirit into some other body, but that someone alive would be born again.
Jeffrey Heine:And Jesus uses this metaphor to talk about what has to happen for someone to enter into to see the kingdom of God. It's necessary that we understand this concept of the desperate state of humanity, that we have to be born again. And if we belittle this disaster of the fall so can see if you can hold on to this one with me here. If we belittle the disaster of the fall, then we belittle what we have been rescued from. Do you see that?
Jeffrey Heine:If if we make it just a bunch of mistakes and we just need a second chance and we just need a better go at this, Like, I'm older now. Like, I'm gonna I'm gonna really make some good I'm gonna rededicate this. I'm we're I'm gonna get focused. I'm gonna get disciplined, and then then we're gonna get this right. See, we we don't need that second chance.
Jeffrey Heine:We need a change. And if we if we belittle what it means to rebel against God, if we're if we're belittling those things, then when it comes to the rescue, when it comes to redemption and reconciliation with the living God, when it comes to those things, we're gonna belittle those things too. And and so I would like to lovingly, kind of, confront you in that. That if you have a small view of sin, if you have a small view of sin, then you have I would imagine you have a very small view of God's rescue. And if you have a small view of God's rescue, it probably means that you have a small view of the fall.
Jeffrey Heine:And what we have to do is see these things as we ought to, that we have eyes to actually see the great disaster of sin and the great rescue of God. I know that what we're talking about can be unsettling, but we have to look this problem in the eye, because we must be born again. So we know what it is. It's a change of heart. It's this transformation of the heart and the nature, and we know why we need it.
Jeffrey Heine:It's that sin and rebellion, but how does this happen? I know what it is. I know that I need it. How do I get this? How does it happen?
Jeffrey Heine:You see, regeneration is necessary, but we can't do this on our own. That would be the 2nd chance kind of mentality. Like, if I just if I work hard enough, I can I can make I can really get those bootstraps and kind of lift myself up and I can make this work? We need regeneration, but we cannot do this by works done by us in righteousness. We see this, if you would turn now, to chapter 3 of Titus.
Jeffrey Heine:Titus chapter 3. I'm gonna have to move along a little fast. So get to turn it. Alright. So we we got a lot of ground to cover.
Jeffrey Heine:Alright. Okay. Chapter 3 verse 4. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God, our savior appeared, He saved us not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ, our savior. Now I'm not sure if you picked up on it because I read it kind of quickly and you might not have it in front of you, but something that happens in this passage is quite phenomenal.
Jeffrey Heine:We see at work all three members of the Trinity. We see God rescuing us. We see God coming in with his great love. We see the work of the Spirit in bringing this regeneration, washing us the inward man, the inward person being washed and cleansed and renewed. A new creation being made, that work by the Holy Spirit.
Jeffrey Heine:But if you look again, if you just kind of watch the the movement of the words there, he saved us not by works, but by regeneration through Christ. You see all of this working together. You see the triune God working in concert and harmony to regenerate, to bring new life to the dead. We see this again. I'll just read this quickly.
Jeffrey Heine:It's 1st Peter chapter 1 verse 3. He says that according to His great mercy, He, meaning God, has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He caused us. He this is a work that He is doing, that he causes this new life to come to the dead. We see it again in Ephesians 2, where the dead and the sins and the trespasses.
Jeffrey Heine:He causes this life to come because of his great love with which he loved you. He seated you with Christ. He rescued you with Christ. New life. Regeneration is the work of God alone, but we react to it.
Jeffrey Heine:We participate in it, and that participation is this expression of faith. So that we say with all confidence that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. Whosoever. That any anyone who calls these words out and expresses this faith and this trust because this is the work that God is doing, that he would bring about faith and union with Christ and regeneration, which is this new life, this new nature, this new desire in men and women. That they would long, not for their selfish ways, but for the ways of God.
Speaker 2:It is
Jeffrey Heine:a work that he does and we react to that work and that reaction is expressed. I like the phrase, it's a beautiful one, that the first cry of this new life, this first cry of being born again, the first cry that is heard is the cry of faith. The cry of trust. Looking upon him who knew no sin, but became sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God. That we would become that.
Jeffrey Heine:We wouldn't become that by hard work and good discipline, but that we would become that by the work of God and then out of that would come the discipline and the hard work. We would react to what he has accomplished. That we would no longer be trying to earn this redemption, earn this regeneration, but that we would live out of that redemption. Because God is not a God that says, I love you but it's not I love you but we're gonna need to work on some things. He says, I love you now.
Jeffrey Heine:Go. Walk in the newness of life. Walk by my spirit. Abide in my love. Listen to my commandments.
Jeffrey Heine:Trust me. Trust me in a faith that I supply. A trust that we fan into flame. Trust me. See, we have to see that relationship between being born again and believing in Christ.
Jeffrey Heine:We see that in John chapter 3, right after he says that you must be born again, is the John chapter 3 that most people can't avoid, but knowing that whosoever would believe. This belief in this new life, this belief in being born of God are tied together. That one cannot believe without this new life, which we'll see becomes really, really important to hold fast to. So how and when does it happen? It happens through God's work, the Father, through the Spirit, through the Son, and redeeming and ransoming ransoming his people, making them sons and daughters.
Jeffrey Heine:Those whom he has called and caused to be able to call out Abba Father. God gives faith to receive Christ, to trust him and he unites the person to Christ. Because as as I've talked about before, the idea that all of these treasures, this redemption, this disgrace, this, perfect righteousness, all these things that are in Christ, how do you get to that? You just slug your way through and and try and and just or do you just try to be good enough that he might extend it to you? No.
Jeffrey Heine:The way that you apprehend, the way that you have access to those things that are in Christ, the things that he has won, the treasures that we sing about, the treasures inside of him, The way you get to those treasures is through the work of the person of the Holy Spirit. He unites us with Christ that we might benefit from the things we have no business benefiting from. We're united with him. We are given this cry of faith to trust him and God brings that regeneration. And so, in our remaining time, how do we know then?
Jeffrey Heine:How do we okay. So I know what it is. I know, why it's so important. We've started looking at how these things start to happen and and the work that God is doing. It happens because God has caused a work to happen, but how do I know if it has happened?
Jeffrey Heine:I'm gonna give 4 things. 44 things that I think that we can look to, at least 4 things. There are many more, but we're gonna we're gonna consider 4 of them in our remaining time here. Four things. The first, and a great session of scripture to study, to to to learn and to to kind of feast on these kinds of ideas is John's epistle, 1st John, just to spend spend time walking through 1st John and seeing what is he outlining for life of the believer who is regenerate, who is who is living the born again life, who is living the new life.
Jeffrey Heine:He he spells it out in some really confrontational language. But here's the first thing. 1st John 39. Mourning sin. 1st John 39, that an evidence that this regeneration has happened is that we mourn sin.
Jeffrey Heine:Let me read verse 9. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, For God's seed abides in him and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. Now I was yelled that scripture by a street preacher one time who told me that he did not sin anymore. And I said, that's amazing because I'm doing it a lot right now as I look at you. But but he was saying, no.
Jeffrey Heine:I'm a Christian, and therefore I can't sin anymore. And that's not what what John is talking about right here. John John is saying that that habitual sin, that that sin, that we war against it, that we war against sin, that we fight against it, that we hate it, that when we fall into sin that we would be sorrowful. We would actually care. That is the work of God.
Jeffrey Heine:That we would mourn sin, the great desire of of one soul is no longer sin. It's no longer rebellion against God. There's no joy taken in rebelling. There's there's no joy in turning against God. Maybe momentary flickering of passion, but but but not a love for sin.
Jeffrey Heine:Wholehearted, whole willed sin, no more. Number 2, 1st John chapter 5. That one would trust in Jesus. That that's a that is the example given that an evidence that we would see that someone has experienced this new life is that they would trust in Christ. Now, fear and doubt can still happen, but they are not dominant.
Jeffrey Heine:JC Ryle uses this example when he says, to the person who is experiencing those doubts if you say to them, would you give up all hope and trust in Christ? Would you would you turn against him entirely and hope not in any manner or means of of who he is and what he has accomplished. And he said, if the person responds, no, I I I can't do that. I doubt. I have doubts.
Jeffrey Heine:I have con I have confusion. I have questions, but I can't I can't let go of that hope. He said, that's new life in you. Fan into flame that hope. Because that's one thing that's never it's not fear and doubt are never blessed in the scriptures, like, oh, yeah, keep questioning keep being confused.
Jeffrey Heine:That's not a that's not a blessed thing. It's it's when Jesus says to Thomas, do not go on any longer unbelieving but believe. We're called out of that fear. We're called out of that doubt. But don't let that doubt make you think that you are not a believer.
Jeffrey Heine:Doubt your doubts. Confront them. You don't just sweep them on the rug. You don't have to pretend like they don't exist. Confront them, but don't confront them alone.
Jeffrey Heine:Theology is best done just like faith in community. And and again, by theology I don't mean what happens in a school. I'm talking about thinking about God. When we think about God, we think about God best when we think about God with other people. The third thing.
Jeffrey Heine:1st John chapter 2 verse 29. The regenerate, the person born again fights for righteous living. Let me read verse 29 there of chapter 2. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. So the the desire to please God, the desire to do those things like loving the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, loving your neighbor as yourself, doing those things.
Jeffrey Heine:That that's what being that's the born again life. The the desire to do those things. The desire for righteousness. That's that is an evidence of the work of God in bringing new life. 1st John chapter 3.
Jeffrey Heine:This is the 4th 4th evidence that will go over in this time, and that is a love for the church. Now you might have been great with the morning sin. You are awesome with the trust in Jesus. You're you're you're decent with the fighting for righteous living, but a love for the brothers and sisters in Christ. A desire to reach out and love to the brothers and sisters in Christ, no matter how different you might be, no matter what social stigmas might prevent that interaction, no matter what prejudices might have been in your past, that you would see first a brother or a sister.
Jeffrey Heine:That when anger and hatred enters in, that you'll be quick to reconcile, that you would hate that sin and call it what it is. Whether that's a racial prejudice or or what was a socioeconomic prejudice or whatever it is, you would see that prejudice as sin and you would hate it. And in hating it, you would seek to live into that righteousness that you have been called into. You would leave it behind no matter what it might cost you. A love for the church that you would also love to be around the brothers and sisters of Christ.
Jeffrey Heine:That that being in fellowship, being in corporate worship settings, being in small group settings, being in casual settings, whatever it might be, that you come together and that your kinship, your brotherhood and sisterhood, that that would be evidence, that that would be a a clear, purposeful reason for why you are together. And, of course, there can be a myriad of common interests. I mean, of of all the people that have ever existed in history, we're the only ones that are in this room together right now. I mean, we've got a lot of commonalities already. And so we can interact though, 1st and foremost, because of whose we are.
Jeffrey Heine:That we are brothers and sisters in Christ. And like I said, there are cultural opposition to these things. There there's a current that kind of sweeps against us that says, no, who you are as an individual and what you experience is is right. And don't let anyone kind of speak into your experiences and tell you that they're right or wrong or like that's, another kind of postmodern thought is that there is no right or wrongness. Like don't even, like, entertain right or wrong.
Jeffrey Heine:There's what you like and what you don't like. And I can't you know, it's kinda like art, you know? Like, do you do you kinda you have your perception and I've got mine and, like, let's not let's not confront each other in any of these things. But what we see in the scriptures is something that that really matters as to how we make our choices. When when we know that we have been made new, when we are a new creation in Christ, that there's a transforming of our minds, that there's a metamorphosis of the very way that we think, not just what we think about, but the very way that we think is being transformed and changed by God.
Jeffrey Heine:Then when we come to the questions of what do you do, and why do you do them, They take on a different form, because you're gonna have to start answering. If you are a follower of Christ, if you are someone who trusts in Him and you hope in Him and you see that you are in union with Christ and that you have this faith in trusting Him, and that this regeneration, this new life is something that is in you and growing in you, then you have to start answering the question, what happened to you? What happened? What what was that change? And that change that we see that John is that John records as Jesus is having this interaction with Nicodemus is that you must be born again.
Jeffrey Heine:And throughout this little book that John c Rowell wrote about regeneration, which is a great it's a little it's like a little pamphlet almost. It's such a small book and I'd really recommend it to you. I've got some other recommend recommendations I'll I'll mention in the q and a time. But he can't go 2 paragraphs, even in this short little book, without saying, are you born again, dear reader? Dear listener, are are you have you experienced this new life?
Jeffrey Heine:And and at the risk of sounding like, maybe some context that you are a little, averse to, in in kind of maybe a traditional church setting, like, you have to face that question. I don't care how contemporary, like, your church setting that you really desire to be in. But, like, you have to face that question. Like, as a as a person, as a human on this earth and God's creation, you have to face that question. And why not face it now?
Jeffrey Heine:So we've considered why this is so important, what this regeneration is, how it comes about, and how we can see it evidenced in our lives. And I hope that you are left with some questions, not just for me in the q and a time, but questions for yourself. And I do thank you. I know that we we've endeavored in something quite tricky in this amount of time. 1 to cover something as huge as the doctrine of regeneration.
Jeffrey Heine:The second thing is to keep our ears, tuned and and listening and engaged in these thoughts. But 3 that and this is probably even more important than volume or anything else, and that's this. We've actually tried to seek a truth that's greater than ourselves. And when we do that, when we when we seek a truth that's greater than ourselves, especially when we do that together, I believe that God does things. I think that he think that he opens our eyes and he opens our ears and he opens our hearts to understand things, so that when you are faced with those questions, the hard questions, kind of the dark night of the soul questions that you would say, I do not give up my hope in Christ.
Jeffrey Heine:I I see that I do hate the sin that is plaguing me. I I I'm striving to shake it. I'm striving to live this new life, but it's hard That you would that you would mark these evidences of his work in your life, not your work in your life, but his work in your life, that you would see evidenced in the way that you live, in the way that you think, in the way that you believe, in the way that you pray. And so I I thank you for taking this time to endeavor with me to seek a truth that is greater than ourselves. We're gonna take a little break here about 10 minutes or so.
Jeffrey Heine:You can, get a get a drink, stretch your legs, tip well. These people are very nice and we wanna be nice back. Thank you.
Joel Brooks:Alright. If you all would find your seats.
Speaker 2:And if
Joel Brooks:you haven't realized by now, if you're in the back, it's gonna be a little harder to hear than in the front. Alright. And just so you know, next month, a couple of things. 1, doctor Mark Ginnilette, is gonna be the speaker. He's a decent professor.
Joel Brooks:He spoke for us was it last year? Last summer, 2 summers on the Psalms. He's fantastic. For those of you here, you remember that. Also, know that we will make sure that the back door there is covered so no sound comes in next month.
Joel Brooks:So we can actually hear a little bit better. For q and a time, it's not stump the pastor. Just ask what questions, anything that you might. If Jeff doesn't know, he'll say he doesn't know. We're not gonna just, you know, try to lie to anybody or sound really smart up here.
Joel Brooks:And, so whatever questions you have, just raise your hand like school and, and Jeff will call on you. Alright.
Jeffrey Heine:Okay. So there's a lot I mean, I usually, when I when I preach on Sundays, I usually have 4 pages of notes or so. And it's usually like 10 10 pages. They're prompts not like manuscript kind of thing. 10:10 minutes per page.
Jeffrey Heine:And so I have about 4 pages usually and I try to keep it as under 40 as possible and that rarely happens. Tonight I had 9 pages of notes. So obvious I was trying to to go as quickly as I could on a number of things. So there might be some areas that are a little unclear and I I want you to feel free to kind of ask whatever. If I don't like Joel was saying, if I don't feel like I can really feel it that well, I'll say so.
Jeffrey Heine:And also if it's a really long answer or something like that, that would be better for us to get lunch or coffee and talk about it. That is a is a great context too. So, we'll just open it up. So any questions you might have. You'd think that this would be a fear of mine, but it's not.
Jeffrey Heine:Just the I love silence.
Caleb Chancey:Yes. I'm just curious. You know, during this whole conversation with the Danish and baptism, I'm just wondering how that interacts or where that kind of the correlation there association.
Jeffrey Heine:Yeah. So do you wanna turn to Titus chapter 3? And let me restate the question. So, yeah. The question was kinda how baptism works into all of this.
Jeffrey Heine:And that that question is, whether you intended or not, enormous. Like, that's that's a really, really big question because, we do see with Lydia, like, this this God opening her heart and changing her heart and then this movement into her baptism. But there are questions that people have asked like is that does that read it's called baptismal regeneration. That's that some Christian churches, the tradition is that at the baptism, that's when regeneration happens. And so a child, if the child is baptized, is regenerate at that point and then, like, throughout their life.
Jeffrey Heine:And then others who still would, do infant baptism would say, no. That's, we're we're saying that there is a a blessing, a covenant blessing and all that stuff, but, but that regeneration is still something that we look to in the future. So there are different views on that. Particularly, it's, it's an issue that is dealt with in, churches that do infant baptism. So you'd see that as a big question there.
Jeffrey Heine:Now for those that do not practice infant baptism but practice believers baptism, as redeemer does, the relationship that we see, in Titus 3. So if we can turn our attention there.
Speaker 2:Let me
Jeffrey Heine:see if I can pull it up here. And he saved us not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the holy spirit. Now the washing that's being talked about there is this inward cleansing. You know, we see this a lot as, even with the metaphor of be circumcised in the heart. You know, that that language of the internal circumcision and and this language about an internal washing is really the the metaphors that are being used there.
Jeffrey Heine:A cleansing inwardly. So the washing that we see in Titus 3, I would I would say is not a an allusion to baptism in that context. Although it is using the idea of washing, the idea of baptizing, that metaphor for an inward renewing that the spirit work of the spirit there. But that is that does get into lots of questions of there are it's it's kinda divided all over the place. I mean, you can find some Anglicans that would be on either side as far as baptismal regeneration.
Jeffrey Heine:There are Presbyterian on either side. There are Catholics. And and so it that is a very big conversation. And I hope it doesn't sound like a cop out when I just say we don't practice the the infant baptism. So, like, we're we are not, associating regeneration with the act of baptism.
Jeffrey Heine:We would recognize a blessing and and and a grace that happens as the, and that grace kinda namely being a fanning into flame the faith of the believer when they are obedient in in baptism. But that it's not the it's not the work of baptismal regeneration that some Christians would would adhere to. Now that difference, I don't think, is one that becomes, one where we would necessarily disass think that it would be necessary to disassociate or not call people Christians or that kind of an issue. But I do think it's an interpretive issue that does have some practical ramifications for how we see what this work of of regeneration is in evangelism and and those kinds of things. It it has its place in that.
Jeffrey Heine:Do you have any further questions about kind of baptism? Martin Swant? I'd love for you to. This is gonna be impossible for me to repeat into the microphone. I can already guess.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Jeffrey Heine:Okay. So the the question I will distill it and and this is what I've got. The question is kind of the the role of emotion and one's emotions in being a regenerate living in the born again life. Like what role does emotion play in that? Is that acceptable?
Jeffrey Heine:Yes. We'll sign off. Alright. Dictated not read. So I would say this, to the person.
Jeffrey Heine:I'm gonna I'm just gonna imagine a person is asking this question. And I would say to the person who's asking, is that okay? They see David dancing before the ark or something and they say, I feel like that is inappropriate. You know, whatever it might be. Bodies aren't supposed to do that.
Jeffrey Heine:That's a that's an unnecessary movement of the body. So I I would I would answer like this. How how are your emotions engaged in other contexts? You know, is this are you are you a really like emotive person? Like, do you do you just cry at every movie and you do you dance wildly at every concert and all these things?
Jeffrey Heine:Like are you a person that kind of emotes in those in that manner? Because I think it would be really disingenuous to go into some church setting and then just feel like, well, everybody else kind of acts like this and emotes like this and and that you would feel like you just had to kind of play the part. I feel like that's not very genuine. And I think maybe above all else, like shouldn't worship be genuine? I mean, even if it's like a little confused or a little, you know, at least at least let it be genuine.
Speaker 2:I mean,
Jeffrey Heine:I think that that's one thing that that God through the prophet Isaiah just kind of tears apart is this half hearted Yeah. Half assed. Worship. Where we just, you know, where we just, like, do we our heart's not in it. Like, we don't we don't care about these things.
Jeffrey Heine:Like, it's just not if it's not coming from that place, if it's not coming from a true place of who we are and who are being is before the Lord, then, like, then no. Like that that emotive jargon is just useless. Then moving on the other end of that. If you are emotive, if you're a person that emotes, like in every kind of context, like you're very expressive and like those things, then then trying to rein all of that in. Now we wanna we wanna make sure that we're never a distraction in any context because we wanna love our brothers and sisters in such a way that we wouldn't impede on their kind of being and doing in that in that context of corporate worship.
Jeffrey Heine:But again, at the very least, shouldn't it be authentic? Shouldn't it be wholehearted? And now the my my demeanor, my personal demeanor, like, when I'm not kind of in this kind of context is a little bit more reserved and I don't I'm not very, physically expressive and and that kind of thing. I do that in this because I try to be seen so people know that I'm up here, you know. But but more like privately, unless I'm arguing with you like 1 on 1 and I'll use my hands more.
Jeffrey Heine:But, you know, it's it's it's more reserved. And, and to that end, it would be disingenuous of me to to to try and play into just the norm around me. Now I could learn from that norm. Like, I could learn from that that context around me and and and grow in how I express things. And but I think having a strict formula of how someone should be responding emotionally, I think that that's a personality thing.
Jeffrey Heine:And I think that that's a god given personality thing. It can be cultivated. Like I said, it can change. It can you can do that. And there might be an environment that kind of brings certain things out that you hadn't really seen before.
Jeffrey Heine:I mean, I don't know how much dancing David had really done previously. I don't I don't know his his background in dance. However, like, if if it's if it's coming from that from that place of a real heart of worship, then I think that it does need to be appropriate, but in no way does it need to be reserved. Yes. So the the question is, I'm a Christian.
Jeffrey Heine:I have been born again. I this regeneration has happened to me, by God's grace. But I keep sinning. And I know that there are only 2 people here in my heart. It's me and Jesus.
Jeffrey Heine:I don't think it's him. Alright. So so why is it that that I keep kind of desiring these things? And this is where, you know, that, kind of going back to what John was saying as far as habitual sin and all of that. Like, he's we're talking about a warring against sin.
Jeffrey Heine:And your emotions. Even you you being able to acknowledge that that is sin. Like, seeing whatever that thing is, whatever that that that is that you're wrestling with and and repenting of it. Maybe just to give an example, and I'm not putting this on you, but maybe it's pride. Like, you just you just keep wrestling with pride, and it's just pervasive.
Jeffrey Heine:It just keeps coming back. It's like a weed. Like, you cut it out and you're wondering, well, if it's a weed, like, what didn't get didn't the whole garden get cleaned out here? Like, why why are these back? And I I think that we have to see that while this washing and this renewal, this seed as as being described there in John 1st John, is that seed is in us.
Jeffrey Heine:That it's not, it's not first off, it's not that desired loved sin. The fact that you recognize it as sin means that that regenerate heart is is seeing it appropriately. Okay. And then the desire not not to do that again, for that to be the last time that you repent of that sin. I think that's another evidence of that regeneration.
Jeffrey Heine:And and as you know, we see Paul and there's a lot of different views as far as, like, kind of what Paul is exactly saying here. But but I think that when he talks about how the how the heart of the mind is willing, but then that the spirit is willing, but then the flesh is weak. I think it's the very existence of a willing spirit means that regeneration has come. That's just my take. There are a lot of a lot of people smarter than me that have a different take of that.
Jeffrey Heine:But I see that if if we're talking about the will that that that there is a desire, that the spirit is desiring to do this kind of obedience, but this flesh is so weak. I think he's talking about a flesh that is in need of sanctification. So as we have justification, as we have regeneration, as then sanctification. One of my favorite occasions, that sanctification is this this building up. Is this renewing.
Jeffrey Heine:And and that as we have the regeneration, which is this newness, that there's a sanctification of the flesh, that we would desire it less and less, that we would fight. I mean, this is something that we have to recognize, that God did set us up to where when we were ransomed and renewed and given the mind of Christ, that it's something that we would grow in and that sin would be something that we would still fight. Because he could have said Lydia, Lydia believes, she's baptized, and then she disappears. And the next person, they believe they're baptized and they disappear. That that's not what he has ordained.
Jeffrey Heine:And in the scriptures, we see that we we fight against sin. And and what I would really call into question is or not call into question, but what I really want to focus in is not why does this keep coming up, but where is the strength to keep fighting? Where is that focus to keep fighting that sin? Where's the discipline? Where's the time in god's word and prayer?
Jeffrey Heine:Where's the not just like general accountability like did you? Yep. Did you? Yep. Alright.
Jeffrey Heine:Let's try better next week. Like, not that. But what would the real real community around you that presses you on? And then also the the wherewithal to say, my salvation is not dependent dependent upon how successful I am at beating this sin. My salvation is from the work of Christ, not the works of righteousness.
Jeffrey Heine:Now, so comment now, fight that sin. Be disciplined. Be diligent. Be unrelenting. Just as that sin is unrelenting, you know, like like the like, you know, that that beast outside the door who is who's striving to devour to say, no.
Jeffrey Heine:I I I will not be devoured, but but I will fight against this. And, and then to realize that the the desire to fight it and the strength to fight it are from God. Yes. Yeah. That that that's a great question.
Jeffrey Heine:So the question is, am I is it is it a one time I am regenerate period? Or is it an ongoing thing? And that's where I would say, when we're talking and and this is this is what's really helpful to do in thinking about God and in theology is where things are distinctly talked about in scripture to be distinct when they're when we're talking about things that differ to to acknowledge the differences. And and so with this, I would say that the new life that is brought to the believer, that that new life that cries out abba father, that recognizes being a son or daughter, that, that desires holiness and the things of God desires righteousness and desires to leave behind and hates and mourns sin. That is a one time birth.
Jeffrey Heine:There is a one time awakening to trusting in Christ in one time and then a continual sanctification. The outworking of what that new life is is continual and progressive. And and there might be some things that you think that you kind of, like, conquered 10 years ago that are now all of a sudden it's back. Like you used to be really angry person and You became a believer and the anger seemed to go away. And now, 10 years later, you're married and you have kids and you see yourself flying off the handle.
Jeffrey Heine:As an example. So to to look at that anger and to say, okay. I I have new life. I have this new thinking and this this metamorphosis that that Paul talks about in Romans 12. That there was just be this this new mind of thinking, but these old things do plague me and I war against them.
Jeffrey Heine:But but that it would be progressive. And that doesn't mean that it's always a progress progressively successful. That might be worth mentioning. It's always it's not always this like upshot. Like in 96, I was here.
Jeffrey Heine:99, I was here. 2001, I was here. Like, it's always this this upshot. Like, you're always improving. Because there might be some life circumstance that you had never envisioned coming to you, to your front door, and it comes and things kinda turn to shambles.
Jeffrey Heine:Things that you had built up seem to be torn down. But what it's not it's coming back to what is that foundation. Is the foundation the rock of Christ? Is that foundation the trustworthy, never stopping, never moving love of God? And that if we come back to that bedrock, then what we build on that will be able to withstand those hard seasons.
Jeffrey Heine:Although it might seem like there there are new sins that are coming up, but the what is maintaining is the vigilance, the striving for for righteousness and the striving against sin. But, yes, it is progressive how that sanctification plays out, Although it is a definite work of God in bringing that new life because we would just love rebellion and sin without that new work. We would just love and be satisfied and say, you know, maybe I got some consequences that I don't really like. Maybe there are some morals that I kind of need to shift around. But like, but actually seeing sin for what it is, rebellion against God, and hating it, that's from God.
Jeffrey Heine:That comes from no other place. You can you can entertain some concepts or ideas, but but living that and believing that only comes from a work of God in in quickening and awakening those things. Who's next? Question from Martin Swant. Yes.
Jeffrey Heine:You may. Okay. Does that make sense? Yes. It does.
Jeffrey Heine:So the question is, how would you tell someone who thinks that they are a Christian that they are not 1? Without coming across judgmental. Without coming across. Judgmental. Judgmental.
Caleb Chancey:I still I still don't judge.
Jeffrey Heine:You you know. Alright. So here's here's what I here's what I would say. First off, we need to be very cautious with positioning ourselves as the the seer of seers, the soothsayer of soothsayers who knows if people are saved or not. We need we need to to be cautious first of that.
Jeffrey Heine:Then we move to talking about the gospel and gospel out workings. Like the list that that was kind of going through as far as like, what what are these marks and these things that we see? And I would I would encourage if this was a friend, if this is something that you cared about, share how you are hating sin. Share how you are loving righteousness. Share how you are struggling and fighting for those things that you love and believe in trusting in Christ.
Jeffrey Heine:Share those things and see what the response is. You know, it's not it's not your your job to just like shake every cultural Christian out of their sleep. That's the work of God. But he uses us to be bold in those situations, to be bold. And I would say speaking about those things, speaking about the gospel and be so in all boldness, in all honesty, in all confidence that we would say those things.
Jeffrey Heine:But deconstructing them, I don't think is necessarily the best place to start. Share your own struggles. Connect them to the greater story, the story that has redeemed your story. So tell them your story. Acknowledge how your story has been redeemed by the story, the redemption of men and women back to their creator God, through sacrifice, through love.
Jeffrey Heine:As you as you do that, at some point, the dissonance gets louder and louder. You you realize you're not hitting the same notes. And you're you're hitting this note and they're hitting that note and the distance gets louder and louder and louder. And if the spirit is is awakening them in that dissonance, that you would that you would be able to speak truth into that into that brokenness. But but as far as just being the the one who diagnoses that that kind of a of a deal, I would I would caution you, in how you would I think that's where I would start.
Jeffrey Heine:It's just not not not beginning with that, but beginning with if this person is a believer, then how are they being encouraged in in those four things that I kinda walk through as far as those evidences. Does that help? Yes. Between faith it is important to distinguish which comes first. I think it is important to distinguish Which one which one comes first?
Jeffrey Heine:It's a great question. Neither comes first. That faith and regeneration and union with Christ would be a work of God in someone's life. That he would in in uniting them with Christ through the spirit, in, opening their eyes to their own sinfulness and desperate state, and in directing them into a confidence and a trust, a faith in who Jesus is and what he has declared. I believe that that is a singular work of God in bringing, I've heard people use before like a match as a as an example.
Jeffrey Heine:When the match is struck, is it light or heat that comes first? So and now what I would also kind of add into that, that doesn't mean the first time this person has heard these things. You know, Lydia was a worshiper worshiper of God. I mean, she had heard things about Yahweh, that he was creator, that he was all these different aspects of who Yahweh is were were, outlined to her to some degree. But then the specific good news that Paul was bringing when Lydia, had her heart opened by god to receive that, to hear it, to as as it's recorded by Luke, to pay attention, Which I think is one of the I mean, what an amazing concept that God God would open her heart to pay attention.
Jeffrey Heine:I just feel like that's like the the best just capturing that language of like just he he quickens our hearts and he opens our eyes to pay attention to what? To him. We've been paying attention to a lot of things. Lydia had been paying attention to a lot of things. She was a seller of purple things.
Jeffrey Heine:She was a seller of those purple goods and was probably quite successful and had a lot of money. She paid attention to a lot of things. And he opened her heart to pay attention to him. And so when that happened, faith, union with Christ, union with him, a trust in him, all these things came to life. She was quickened.
Jeffrey Heine:She was dead in her sins and her trespasses, and she was seated with Christ and quickened to new life in him. So I would say it is it is a very important question. What comes first? And I would say, God's work comes first. Yes.
Caleb Chancey:To do so, what advice, what level of hope do you give them?
Jeffrey Heine:Can you start it one more time just so I can get it all?
Caleb Chancey:To to a Christian who feels like they have to, you know, Christ has to come on and, what what level of hope what do you what advice do you tell me? What do you sit and wait and pray? And what would you tell them if it is an action of God's to turn your heart and
Speaker 2:and there's no action,
Caleb Chancey:no works on there?
Jeffrey Heine:That's a great question. So so, to the person who, you're saying who who thinks that or who is a Christian?
Caleb Chancey:Yeah. They said they consider themselves
Jeffrey Heine:They can They consider themselves a Christian, but they have not experienced this regeneration. I would I would say to the person who considers themselves to be a Christian, they have not experienced that. Which means that they do not have faith in Jesus, that they do not trust him, that their confidence is not based in him. I would say you have participated in a cultural context. You've you've participated in things.
Jeffrey Heine:Now if they're saying I have faith, but I don't feel like I'm regenerate, I would say that faith is the evidence that you
Speaker 2:are.
Jeffrey Heine:So maybe that answers your question. So I would say that that the the desire of that person, no matter how small they feel the flame, the flicker might be, their desire to please God is an evidence of his work in their life. And so and I would even say to anyone that would hear the things that we've talked about tonight, if they were to, say, I care about this. Like, I I I care about it, you know, fighting sin and and trusting in Jesus. I I care about these things, but I don't know if I don't know if I consider myself a Christian.
Jeffrey Heine:I would I would really encourage them to go back and into to be looking at something like first John and to see God God is doing a work in you. And if we just if we meditate on just that first concept that this is a work that God does, that he quickens and awakens us from death into life, That if we have any regard for his holiness and our desire to be righteous, that is that is his work at at play. That is the evidence of his work. And and not, not just some social cultural participation, like believing and hoping in those things is his work. And there might be doubt that needs to be taken on and and fought.
Jeffrey Heine:There might be questions that need answers, but this that I think those things would be evidences of of his his active and decisive work in regeneration. Any other questions? If he is professing faith in Christ and a trust in him, not in his own righteousness, but the righteousness of Christ. If he's giving up hope of saving himself and looks to Christ as his savior, then I would I would be trusting in his those words of confession. I would trust in that and then say, there's a myriad of things that that we grow in and and learn and sin that we would, reject and those and and righteousness that we would live into.
Jeffrey Heine:But that that declarative statement, I think, would be an evidence of the work of god in their life. Now, again, we we I I would 2 things that would inform that. 1, my my confidence in someone's salvation is not in their work but the work of god. And also, that I can't perceive and understand all that that is. And that what maturity those things are.
Jeffrey Heine:And so I'm not gonna seat myself in that chair, but I'm going to recognize that God is the one who does this work and I'm going to affirm the confession in this person and I'm going to care for them in discipleship or whatever. As though they, this is all true. Did that clarify anything that might have been muddled with his answer?
Speaker 2:Yeah. Maybe I was not clear
Jeffrey Heine:with this situation. Okay. Yeah. And that would be the yeah. That there would be discipleship and not just, kind of a checklist for the self.
Jeffrey Heine:But but that that would be something that would be done. Yeah. Yeah. I think that it would be the hope that leads that that takes the faith for today into the faith of tomorrow. And so is that hope set on Christ?
Jeffrey Heine:Any other questions tonight? Thanks for sticking around. No? Alright. Well, like Joel was mentioning, next, next month we will be hosting another one here and it's gonna be with, Doctor.
Jeffrey Heine:Mark Gillett. He's a professor at Beeson and he's also, a minister at Christ not Christ the King. At Cathedral Church of the Advent downtown. And he's a great friend and a great teacher. And so we look forward to having you there.
Jeffrey Heine:So, let me let me say a prayer, a blessing for you guys as we go. God, we thank you for who you are. We thank you for the work that you do in us. And we ask that you would give us hope to trust in you. You give us love to love you and to love the people around us well.
Jeffrey Heine:We pray these things in the name of Christ.
Joel Brooks:Amen.
