D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones “The Test of Real Christianity” on Romans 8:5-8
https://www.mljtrust.org/sermons/book-of-romans/real-christianity-the-test/
You are either a Christian or you are not a Christian.
You are either “dead” or “alive”.
You are either “born” or “not born”.
"Foundational Doctrines Study - Conversion"
Psalm 107:20
He sent forth his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave.
Ezekiel 36:26
I will GIVE you a new heart and put a new spirit in you..
John 5:21, 24 (1 John 3:14a)
Just as the Father raises the dead and GIVES them life, even so THE SON GIVES LIFE to whom he is pleased to give it...(THEN)…Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.
Romans 4:17b, 6:13b
God GIVES life to the dead...As those who are alive from the dead, offer yourselves to God…
Ephesians 2:5. 8
(God) made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in sin...For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the GIFT of God…
Stephen Charnock "A Discourse of the Efficient of Regeneration" https://ccel.org/ccel/charnock/efficient_regeneration/efficient_regeneration.ii.html
Regeneration is the motion of God in the creature; conversion is the motion of the creature to God, by virtue of that first principle.
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, God’s Way of Reconciliation: An Exposition of Ephesians 2, "In Christ Jesus"
https://www.monergism.com/christ-jesus
This is true Christianity, that it is the very essence of Christianity and nothing less than that. It is what God has done to us and for us, and not anything that we have done.
A.W. Pink
"The Spirit's Quickening"
https://www.pristinegrace.org/article.php?id=834
The Holy Spirit "quickens" the soul, or imparts spiritual life to it, before its possessor is "brought forth" and "born again" by the Word of God. (1 Peter 1:23)
"The Attributes of God"
Here then is the first thing, in time, which God does in His own elect. He lays hold of those who are spiritually dead and quickens them into newness of life. He takes up on who was shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin, and conforms him to the image of His Son. He seizes a captive of the Devil and makes him a member of the household of faith. He picks up a beggar and makes him a joint-heir with Christ. He come to one who is full of enmity against Him and gives him a new heart that is full of love for Him. He stoops to one who by nature is a rebel and works in him both to will and to do of His own good pleasure. By His irresistible power He transforms a sinner into a saint, an enemy into a friend, a slave of the Devil into a child of God.
W.T. Shedd "Regeneration"
https://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/sdg/regenerationshedd.html
Regeneration is solely the work of God. The terms employed in Scripture prove this: “creating anew” (Eph. 4:24), “fathering” (James 1:18), “quickening” (John 5:21; Eph. 2:5), “calling out of darkness into light” (1 Peter 2:9), “commanding the light to shine out of darkness” (2 Cor. 4:6), “alive from the dead” (Romans 6:13), “new creature” (2 Cor. 5:17), “born again” (John 3:3-7), “God’s workmanship” (Eph. 2:10). These terms denote a work of omnipotent power. The origination of life is impossible to the creature. He can receive life; he can nurture life; and he can use and exert life. But he cannot create life.
Second, regeneration as the creative and life-giving act of God produces an effect on the human understanding. It is illumination: “enlightening the mind” (Westminster Larger Catechism 67); “God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6; 1 Cor. 2:12-13); “the eyes of your understanding being enlightened” (Eph. 1:18; Phil. 1:9; Col. 3:10; 1 John 4:7; 5:20; 17:3; Ps. 19:7-8; 43:3-4).
The author of spiritual life Himself must operate directly, and outright give spiritual life and power from the dead: that is, ex nihilo. The new life is not imparted because man perceives the truth, but he perceives the truth because the new life is imparted. A man is not regenerated because he has first believed in Christ, but he believes in Christ because he has been regenerated.
R.C. Sproul “What Does “Soli Deo Gloria” Mean?”
https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/soli-deo-gloria-god-alone-be-glory
Yes, I must believe.
Yes, I must respond.
Yes, I must receive Christ.
But for me to say “yes”, my heart must first be changed by the sovereign, effectual power of God the Holy Spirit.
The blind can not “believe” themselves to see (2 Corinthians 4:4)
The deaf can not “decide” to hear (Psalm 38:13)
The dead can not “make a free will choice” to re-birth/regenerate themselves (John 3:4-7)
C.H. Spurgeon on Romans 5:6 - “When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly…"
Christ did NOT come into the world to help us to save ourselves. He came to save us—not to set us on our legs and say, “Now you do so much, and I will do the rest.” No, He came to save us! From top to bottom salvation is all of Grace, and all the gift of God by Jesus Christ. He did not come into the world to make us salvable, but to save us—nor to put us in the way of somehow or other meriting salvation!
“Alive or Dead – Which” on 1 John 5:12 "He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life."
https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0755.cfm
St. Augustine, quoted by C.H. Spurgeon in The Saint and His Savior, The Progress of the Soul in the Knowledge of Jesus, Chapter 1, “The Despised Friend” on Isaiah 53:3
https://www.spurgeongems.org/chs_the-saint-and-his-savior.pdf
There was a great dark cloud of vanity before mine eyes, so that I could not see the sun of justice and the light of truth. I, being the son of darkness, was involved in darkness. I loved my darkness, because I knew not Thy light. I was blind, and loved my blindness, and did walk from darkness to darkness, but Lord, Thou art my God, who hast led me from darkness and the shadow of death, hast called me into this glorious light, and behold I see.
John Owen Works Volume 3 "Discourse on the Holy Spirit", Adapted in Voices From The Past - Puritan Devotional Readings
http://archive.org/details/theworksofowen03owenuoft
2 Corinthians 5:17a "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation."
In the beginning there was nothing in the earth that had life or any disposition towards it. The Holy Spirit moved upon the prepared matter and communicated unto it the principle of life. Since Adam brought spiritual darkness and death upon all mankind, no man who has ever lived, has had the least principle of spiritual life in him, or any disposition towards it. In this state of things the Holy Spirit must create life. He undertakes this by the effectual communication of a new principle of spiritual life unto the souls of God's elect. This work is regeneration, and the Spirit is the principal and efficient cause of it (John 3:8).
Flesh and blood, and the will of man, are rejected completely in this matter. The new birth is ascribed unto God alone. In the new birth He creates a new spiritual being. The foundation for this came by Jesus Christ, who brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. The great Physician of our souls came to heal the wound of nature, laid bare the disease itself, declared the greatness of it, and the ruin we were under, that we might be thankful for our transformation.
There is a great variety in the means which the Holy Spirit uses for this great work. He works when and how He please. Mostly, He uses the preaching of the Word, but sometimes men are called in an extraordinary manner. Notwithstanding this, regeneration is of the same nature in all who experience it. All born of God are born equally so. One many have more of the image of his heavenly Father impressed on him, be more or less holy, or exhibit more perfections of grace, but they cannot be more or less regenerate.
Regeneration does not consist in a mere moral reformation of life. It requires the infusion of a new, real, spiritual principle into the soul and its faculties. It brings spiritual life, light, holiness, righteousness, and the expulsion of the contrary, inbred, habitual principle of sin and enmity against God. This alone enables true acts of holy obedience.
The principle of true regeneration always, certainly, and infallibly produces the reformation of life intended. In some, it does it more completely, in others more imperfectly, but in all sincerely. Regeneration and reformation are inseparable. This spiritual renovation of nature in regeneration will infallibly produce a moral reformation of life. This is produced by a creating act of the power of God, and it is applied into the essential faculties of our soul. In regeneration, the purposes, designs, and inclinations of the mind are changed. This new creation does not consist in just a new course of action, but in renewed faculties. It is thus called the 'divine nature' (2 Peter 1:4).
Ephesians 4:22-24 describes the work of regeneration with respect both to its foundation and its progress. The Holy Spirit works on men suitably to their natures, even as the faculties of their souls, minds, wills, and affections are able to be affected and wrought upon. He does not come upon them with involuntary raptures, using their faculties and powers as the evil spirit controls the bodies of those whom he possesses. The true work of the Spirit is evidenced by a rational belief in the Scripture. The Spirit works by the means determined and declared in the Word. By the Word we must test everything really belonging, or pretended to belong, to this work of regeneration.
In regeneration, there is a divine supernatural principle wrought in us that enables the soul to perform duties of holiness. We cannot learn it; it can only be taught by God. The beauty and glory of it is absolutely inexpressible. It includes conformity to God, likeness to Christ, compliance with the Holy Spirit, interest in the family of God, fellowship with angels, and separation from darkness and the world.
Thomas Manton A Practical Exposition of the Lord's Prayer adapted in Voices From The Past
The work of conversion is completely of God. God alone frames our hearts to the obedience of his will. This must be so as we consider the nature of man. Man is stark blind in the things of God. Man is blind with a hard heart (Ephesians 4:18). He is an enemy to the law of God (Romans 8:7). He is dead in trespasses and sins. (Ephesians 2:5). There is nothing in man's nature to carry his to grace. In conversion, God must work or he can never be renewed. God must open our understanding and our hearts (Ephesians 1:18, Acts 16:14). God does not only knock at the heart by his Word, he also opens the heart and enters to take possession.
Salvation is expressed by regeneration (John 3:3), resurrection (Ephesians 2:5), creation (Ephesians 2:10), and light out of darkness (2 Corinthians 4:6). We are called new creatures, and are overcome by God's power (2 Corinthians 10:4). What a mystery is grace, and the power of God that works in us!
Thomas Goodwin, Of Calling, Ch. IV, “Effectual Calling”
https://books.google.com/books?id=LoVPAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA276&lpg
In the calling of some there shoots up very suddenly an election-conversion. You shall, as it were, see election take hold of a man (Philippians 3:12), pull him out with a mighty power, stamp upon him the divine nature, stub up corrupt nature by the roots, root up self-love, put in a principle of love to God, and launch him forth a new creature.
1 Samuel 10:6
(NIV) The Spirit of the LORD will come powerfully upon you...and you will be changed into a different person.
(NASB) The Spirit of the LORD will come upon you mightily...and be changed into another man.
George Swinnock “The Door of Salvation Opened By the Key of Regeneration”
How wonderfully doth the new born soul differ from his former self. He liveth a new life, he walketh in a new way, he steereth his course by a new compass, and towards a new coast. His principle is new, his pattern is new, his practices are new, his projects are new, all is new. He ravels out (unravels) all he had wove before, and employeth himself wholly about another work.
Thomas Boston
Human Nature In Its Fourfold State
The heart has become a threefold cord against heaven and holiness: a blind mind, a perverse will, and disordered affections. The conscience and body are (also) corrupt and defiled. Thus, we see the necessity of regeneration, and a total change of nature. Regeneration makes a new head for knowledge, a new heart and new affections for holiness. This change cannot be made by human industry, but by the mighty power of the Spirit of God (John 3:5)
“Regeneration”
https://www.the-highway.com/regeneration_Boston.html
In regeneration, the mind is enlightened in the knowledge of spiritual things…The will is renewed…The will is cured of its utter inability to will what is good. While the opening of the prison to them that are bound, is proclaimed in the Gospel, the Spirit of God comes and opens the prison door, goes to the prisoner, and, by the power of His grace, makes his chains fall off; breaks the bonds of iniquity, wherewith he was held in sin, so as he could neither will nor do any thing truly good, and brings him forth into (freedom).
Jonathan Edwards, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, 1741
All you that never passed under a great change of heart by the mighty power of the Spirit of God upon your souls; all that were never born again, and made new creatures, and raised from being dead in sin...you are thus in the hands of an angry God; 'tis nothing but his mere pleasure that keeps you from being this moment swallowed up in everlasting destruction.
Octavius Winslow Daily Walking With God on 1 Corinthians 2:14
"But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."
The mere presentation of truth to the unrenewed mind, either in the form of threatening, or promise, or motive, can never produce any saving or sanctifying effect. The soul of man, in its unrenewed state, is represented as spiritually dead; insensible to all holy, spiritual motion. And yet there are those who maintain the doctrine, that divine truth, unaccompanied by any extraneous power, can effect all these wonders! Against such a theory we would simply place one passage from the sacred word: "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3)
Thus we plead for a personal reception of the truth, before it can produce anything like holiness in the soul. The mental eye may be clear, the moral eye closed; the mind all light, the heart all dark; the creed orthodox, and the whole life a variance with the creed. Such is the discordant effect of divine truth, simply settled in the human understanding, unaccompanied by the power of the Holy Spirit in the heart. But let a man receive the truth in his heart by the power of God Himself; let it enter there, disarming and dethroning the strong man; let Jesus enter, and the Holy Spirit take possession, renewing, sealing, and sanctifying the soul; and then we may look for the "fruits of holiness, which are unto eternal life." (Romans 6:22)
J.C. Ryle
True Preaching
The evangelical preachers of the eighteenth century “…told (every man) plainly they were dead and must be made alive again; that they were guilty, lost, helpless and hopeless and in imminent danger of eternal ruin. Strange and paradoxical as it may seem to some, their first step towards making men good was to show them that they were utterly bad; and their primary argument in persuading men to do something for their souls, was to convince them that they could do nothing at all.”
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels on John 3
The change which our Lord declares needful for salvation is evidently no slight or superficial one. It is not merely reformation or amendment or moral change or outward alteration of life. It is a thorough change of heart, will and character. It is a resurrection. It is a passing from death unto life. It is the implanting in our dead hearts of a new principle from above. It is the calling into existence of a new creature, with a new nature, new habits of life, new tastes, new desires, new appetites, new judgements, new opinions, new hopes, new fears. See this, and nothing less than this, is implied, when our Lord declares that we all need a new birth.
Old Paths, Chapter 5 "Alive or Dead"
http://www.preachtheword.com/bookstore/old-paths-ryle.pdf
Christian Leaders of the 18th Century
The spiritual reformers of the 18th century preached...plainly that they were dead, and must be made alive again; that they were guilty, lost, helpless, and hopeless, and in imminent danger of eternal ruin. Strange and paradoxical as it may seem to some, their first step towards making men good was to show them that they were utterly bad; and their primary argument in persuading men to do something for their souls was to convince them that they could do nothing at all.
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Effectual Calling, Regeneration and New Birth from Great Doctrines of the Bible: God the Father, God the Son; God the Holy Spirit; The Church and the Last Things
https://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/sdg/effectualregeneration.html
The character of God and the character of men and women as the result of sin makes regeneration essential, because there is no such thing as an innate divine spark in human beings. So regeneration must come at the very beginning because if it is possible for me to do something which will eventually lead to my regeneration, I do not need regeneration. If I, by myself, as I am as the result of the Fall and of sin, can appreciate spiritual truth, if I can appreciate the Gospel and say, ‘Yes I’m going to pay attention to that,’ and then, as the result of my paying attention, I am born again, well then, I do not need the gift of life.
If I have already got the ability and the power and the discrimination to recognize truth and to desire it, then I do not need to be regenerated. But the fact is that I do not have such a power.
Romans “The Perseverance Of The Saints”
The cardinal error into which many tend to fall is to think of ourselves as Christians in terms of our believing and our holding on, instead of looking at ourselves in the way in which Scripture always presents the position to us... There has been so much emphasis upon decision, receiving, yielding, being willing, and giving ourselves that salvation is regarded almost exclusively in terms of our activity... Many are in trouble simply because they do not realize the truth concerning the new birth... Nothing is more glorious than the doctrine of the rebirth; and this is obviously the work of God in us through the Spirit. We do not give birth to ourselves, we are not reborn because we believe. We believe because we are reborn.
“Regeneration: A New Disposition - A Sermon on the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WezI2HRGac4
If we hold that we become regenerate because we have already believed, then we have to show why we need to be regenerate at all. The purpose and object of regeneration is to enable us to receive this ability to receive God's truth...I need a new nature before I can understand these things.
“Born Again" - A sermon on John 3:8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fP9a0hvQrnA
“Except a Man be Born Again” - A sermon on John 3:3
https://www.mljtrust.org/sermons/book-of-john/except-a-man-be-born-again/
A man cannot be born again without being humbled. If we are dead and need resurrection, it’s a very humbling thought, isn’t it? That is why people have hated the doctrine of Regeneration above everything else! The Two Things that the Religious Person HATES more than anything else are the Cross of Christ seen truly: the Substitutionary Atonement, and Regeneration. Why? Well, because he regards them as insulting.
The Plight of Man and the Power of God
Why is it that man chooses sin? The answer is that man has fallen (willfully turned away in rebellion) from God...and his whole nature has become perverted and sinful. Man needs a new nature. Whence can he obtain it? There is but one answer, in Jesus Christ the Son of God. He came from Heaven and took upon Him human nature perfect and whole. He is God and man. In Him alone are the divine and the human united. And He offers to give us His own nature...All who believe on Him, and receive Him, obtain this new nature...Those who hated God now love Him and desire to know Him. Their supreme desire now is to please, honour and glorify Him...And this in turn brings them into an entirely new relationship with their fellow men. Loving the Lord their God first, they find themselves loving their neighbours as themselves...A new society is only possible when we have new men (not more educated or advanced men); and Christ alone can produce new men.
God the Holy Spirit, pp. 118 - 119
In regeneration, a person is completely passive and plays no part at all; it is entirely the work of the Spirit of God in the heart. Conversion, however, involves human activity - the person acts, moves, and responds to God's effectual call. (God opened Lydia's heart to believe the Gospel message. Acts 16:14) Regeneration is what God does to us unconsciously, while conversion is our first conscious response to that work.
"Conversion"
https://www.mljtrust.org/sermons/great-biblical-doctrines/conversion/
The agency of conversion is the Holy Spirit through the effectual call. The call becomes effectual, leading to human activity and response. Both divine and human activity must be included in conversion.
"Foundational Doctrinal Studies - Conversion", Lesson 3 p. 24
What is the agency in conversion? And here the answer is quite simple. It is first of all and primarily the work of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit does it through the effectual call… The call becomes effectual, and it is that which leads to the next step— what you and I do. You notice that we are mentioning this for the first time, but in any definition of conversion you must bring in the human as well as the divine activity. The call comes effectually and because it comes effectually we do something about it. That is conversion: the two sides, the call and the response… In dealing with conversion, of necessity we must give equal emphasis to the activity of human beings. Now in regeneration and in the union, we are absolutely passive; we play no part at all; it is entirely the work of the Spirit of God in the heart. But in conversion we act, we move, we are called, and we do it.
This I Believe
The Holy Spirit revealed to me the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God who had come into the world 'to seek and to save that which is lost'. He taught me that Christ had died for sins - bearing my punishment in His death upon the Cross - and that He had also rendered a perfect obedience to God's laws on my behalf. As the result of this God forgave me freely, and in addition imputed the righteousness of His Son to me, regarding me as if I had never sinned at all. Moreover, He created in me a new nature and made me a new man. He adopted me into His Family as one of His sons, and showed me that I was a joint heir with Christ of a glorious inheritance in heaven. 'By the grace of God I am what I am.'
(In regeneration the Holy Spirit gives us a new heart to believe, and opens our blind eyes to understand the Gospel. In conversion, the Gospel is applied and acted upon. )
Leonard Ravenhill
Jesus did not come into the world to make bad men good. He came into the world to make dead men live!
Are you dead, or are you alive? Are you a new person?
Matt Maher "Alive Again"