Regeneration in the OT & NT

Driving home: Art thou the teacher of Israel and understandest not these things?

Deuteronomy 30:6 — God promises to circumcise the heart. The flesh that obstructs love to God is cut away. As literal circumcision marked Israel as God's people, so the inner cutting away of fleshly resistance marks the truly born of God.

will circumcise thy heart and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul that thou mayest live. Now here under the analogy of the circumcision of the heart, the wonderful doctrine of regeneration is set before us.

27:44 - 28:09 Read in full sermon

Stone is lifeless — no blood pulses through it, no breath warms it. God says your heart in its natural state is stone toward Him. He promises a heart of flesh — beating with life, pulsing with the breath of God's life, capable of true love and obedience.

of God in which He says, I'll remove the heart of stone. Do you catch something of the vivid imagery? What is stone? A material that is lifeless. No blood ever pulsed through stone. It is unimpressionable. You can't leave a dent in stone with your finger. It is cold. There is no warmth. It is lifeless. There is no blood. There is no breath.

37:58 - 38:24 Read in full sermon

The point: Test your 'born again' claim by your feet — does what God has done in your heart show up in your obedience?

Pastor Martin notes that the Old Testament regeneration promises always end with walking. 'I will cause you to walk in my statutes.' Inner work always issues in outer obedience — what God starts in the heart He always carries into the feet.

To his law. To his son. To his grace. But it never stops there. You notice in all those promises. It ends up in the feet. What starts in the heart ends up in the feet. I will cause them to keep my statutes. To walk in my commandments. To heed my ways.

51:06 - 51:24 Read in full sermon

The point: Do you know anything of self-loathing for your sin and the leanness of your soul? It is one mark of regeneration.

Ezekiel says the regenerate 'shall loathe themselves for their uncleanness.' Pastor Martin asks: do you know what it is to look in the mirror and hang your head with shame at the leanness of your soul? Self-loathing is one mark of God's regenerating work.

Ye shall loathe yourselves for your uncleanness. Do you know anything of self-loathing? Do you know what it is to look in the mirror and hang your head with shame? That you as a creature made in the image of God, made to know Him and love Him, have lived 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 years self-centered, sin-loving, world-loving,

51:56 - 52:22 Read in full sermon

The point: If you do not seek diligently to obey Christ, you are a stranger to His regenerating grace whatever you claim to have experienced.

Pastor Martin describes reading a sports magazine interview of an athlete claiming his life turned around since he was 'born again.' But when the interviewer asks why he is then living openly with his girlfriend, the athlete calls it 'a form of Christian sharing.' Pastor Martin uses the story to expose the cheapened pop-evangelical 'born again' label.

And I picked up a sport magazine this past Monday and began to read the account of a man who supposedly became a Christian. And he says his whole career has turned around since he's been, quote, born again. Someone saw that he wasn't doing too well and didn't have his act together, so they came and talked to him about Jesus and how Christ could give him the fulfilled life. And so he prayed his prayer and he had some kind of transformation. He began to hit home runs and fed a striking out. He began to feel better.

54:20 - 54:46 Read in full sermon

The point: If you can own the God of the Bible and trust only Christ's blood, give Him glory — He has done in you what He alone could do.

Pastor Martin closes by pointing around the room: there are many monuments of God's power to recreate sinners — those who once had hearts of stone now beating with love to God, walking in His statutes. The doctrine has visible witnesses.

And if you can sit here this morning and say, by the grace of God, I do own the God of the Bible as my God. And I do trust only in the blood of His Son to cleanse and purge me from sin. And albeit feebly and at times so faintly I can hardly discern it, but thank God it's real. I know what it is to delight in the way of His commandments. Then, my friend, rejoice.

56:19 - 56:47 Read in full sermon