God’s Infinite Power in Regeneration
By Pastor Matt Black
16
July 2006
Lord's Day morning
Ephesians 1:19-20
Introduction: Open your Bible to Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. This morning we come to a magnificent subject. We have been learning about all the things that God does to bring us to salvation, and today, we come to the climax of it all. Here Paul summarizes everything with an exclamation point on God’s transforming power! This power results in a person being “born-again”, “begotten unto a lively hope”, “regenerated”. We didn’t plan or choose this. We were asleep to God, but He has awakened us! He’s given us a new heart, a new life, He’s made us a new creation all by his infinite power! The title then of this morning’s message then is “God’s Infinite Power in Regeneration.” Let’s stand together and read Ephesians chapter 1 and verses 15 through 23.
[Stand and read Ephesians 1:15-23]
Our main text will come from verses 18-20, “The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, 19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us–ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power 20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,”
Paul’s basic prayer in these verses is that we would know and understand that God has put forth such an amazing power in regenerating us so that our hope in Christ might be realized and our inheritance in Christ might be obtained.
These verses leave no doubt that our salvation is a work of God! Here Paul is giving commentary on what we call “regeneration.” What is regeneration? Let’s look at the definition.
I. We see first the Definition of God’s Power in Regeneration.
Regeneration is a hidden “act of God in which he imparts new spiritual life in us. This is sometimes called ‘being born again’”. By this amazing power, God raises us from the dead. He births us into His own family!
In our text, the life that God imparts to us is called His “power”. Life is power. Living is simply experiencing God’s power. When God wakes us up with the power of His own life being infused into us—this is regeneration. It’s a transformation of the soul. Saul the Persecutor of Christians becomes Paul the Apostle of Jesus Christ. Jacob the Deceiver becomes Israel, “Prince with God.” A change takes place here through God’s infinite power! We need to understand the greatness of this power we were given in regeneration. Paul here prays that we might understand what has happened to us. The reason we struggle and fall and fail is because we don’t realize the power that God has given to us!
So let’s ask ourselves about this amazing power of God. Who is this power given to, what does this power accomplish, and how does this power function?
A. Who is this Power given to? Paul simply says it is to “us-ward”.
1. In this we see the Selection of God.
This power is not demonstrated to the whole world in general, but to specific people—Paul prays that we might know the greatness of God’s power to “us-ward.” No child has ever chosen his birth parents! It’s impossibility. It takes God’s power for a child to be physically born. God puts that child into the human family of His sovereign choice. In the same way, no one that has been “born-again” willed regeneration upon himself. You cannot will the new birth.
Question: How then did we get born into God’s family?
Answer: It is God’s selection that is completely in the realm of God’s choice. We who are God’s very own children are “born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:13). It’s not man’s selection or any decision that man has made, but that gracious plan that God made before you and I were born. James tells us that God “of his own will begat he us with the word of truth” (James 1:18). This regenerating power is to God’s elect—to His special chosen people, whom He selected a billion years before there was an angel or a heaven or an earth. The power is directed to a definite group of people. God does not just aimlessly direct His power into the world hoping that some men will respond to Him. It’s not as if God indiscriminately pours His power on the earth. John 3 tells us that the Spirit is quite discriminating. Look at John 3:7. Jesus says to Nicodemus, “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” This verse teaches that the Holy Spirit is sovereign in His regeneration of the human soul. We cannot see the Spirit’s working any more than we can see the wind. Neither can we tell the wind where to blow. God is sovereign in whom He chooses to regenerate. Paul reminds the Ephesians that ‘the eyes of their understanding had been enlightened.’ This is a picture of regeneration.
2. We also see the Sovereignty of God. These elect of God come to God in believing faith. That’s what our text says. Paul prays that we would really understand something here. There is a power that has been given to us—and on the basis of that power, we believe. That power is meted out sovereignly to His elect alone. Christ promises in John 6:37, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me…” All that God chooses out of sinful humanity will have this awakening power that stirs up their understanding through the Word of God. They will come to Christ in believing faith.
Illustration: It’s not their own faith. That is they are not the author of their own faith any more than a blind man can make himself see. Does he see? Are they his own eyes? Yes! Does he exercise his ability to see? Yes! But who gave that man born blind from birth sight in John 9? Did he give himself sight? No! Jesus gave him “eyes to see.” And so also, Christ Jesus is “the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2). Dear friend, we can be “confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).
Sometimes we speak as if God is writing the script as He goes along. God is not one of us. He is exalted a billion times higher than the greatest, most amazing being you can think of, and then infinite times higher than that. He does not wait on the will of any man! He powerfully transforms the will of those whom He has chosen.
3. Thirdly we also see the Strategy of God.
His power is to “us-ward”—to His elect, chosen people for a strategic reason. He wants to infuse faith in us! His power is to “us–ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power”. We need to wake up and realize that the plan of God in this world is to awaken spiritually dead sinners to faith in Christ. This is God’s strategy. His power is directed not to the whole world, but to “us-ward”. He has a plan.
This word “us-ward” is found one other place in the Bible. 2 Peter 3:9 tells us that “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us–ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
The word “longsuffering” here means literally that God “doesn’t lose heart”. Has your heart ever sunk down into your stomach when you have lost something precious to you? God’s heart will never sink down, because He is “not willing that any should perish”. Christ says he will not fail in saving every single one of His Father’s elect. Listen to Him speak of this in John 9:39. Christ says, “all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day”. Listen: God the Father is not willing that any one of His chosen ones should perish. Many well-meaning people have sadly mishandled this precious verse in 2 Peter 3:9. They say that God hopes and wishes no man to perish. God is not willing that any single human being should perish, so He waits and waits and waits, hoping and wishing for every single human being to respond. That view takes God down to our level. What this verse means is consistent with the rest of Scripture. God is “longsuffering to us-ward” He has us in view, His elect. It’s a very narrow lens. He’s not willing that any one of these that He has given to His Son should perish, but that he would lose nothing. Not one will perish. Christ’s iron will won’t allow even one of these little ones to be lost. He will “lose nothing” but “raise it up again at the Last Day.”
God is resolved by His steel, unbreakable, infinite and unchangeable will to save every single one of His people that He has chosen.
So, who is this Regenerating Power given to? All people? No to us-ward. To His people. We asked who, no let us ask what.
B. What does this Power accomplish? Faith—“to us-ward who believe”. God’s regenerating power accomplishes faith in the depth of the soul. Some people say, well, I am saved because I believe. In other words, we get God’s mighty power to save us because we believe. And that is true. “Believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” That is salvation from our perspective. That is what we see. But what Paul is saying is here is the other way around. It’s from God’s perspective. We see what God’s power gives us. Through God’s power, we have faith. But how does that power work?
C. How does this Power function? “according to the working of his mighty power”. Paul says you believe because God’s mighty power has caused you to believe. We believe in direct proportion to the “working of” God’s “mighty power”! This settles any debate that proud, self-supporting man might have!
Some one might say, “Well, I believed on Jesus Christ of my own free-will.” That is true. But understand this. God made your will free, just like He freed Jesus Christ from the bonds of death! You would never have believed had God left you as a spiritual corpse. You stunk to Him—you had no ability or desire to come to him. You would not come that you might have life. But God, in His great mercy freed your will! He raised your dead will and regenerated your sin-rotted soul through the Word of God, and then you believed! “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:10).
II. We see secondly, the Demonstration of God’s power in Regeneration.
A. This power is Surprising. It can only be described an act of God. Look at verses 19 and 20 of our text. Paul prays that God might open our eyes so that we might know, “19 …what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us–ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power…” And what kind of power was it? Look at verse 20. It was the kind of power, “…which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,” Ephesians 2:5 tells us that when Christ was raised from the dead, we were “quickened together” with Him! For us, Christ’s resurrection is not simply a historical event, but “it is an act of transformation in which we now share.”[1] One day we will be resurrected bodily, but, spiritually, we have been awakened. We are now spiritually sensitive. Brethren, we are, and ought to be obsessed with this new powerful life. Our constant prayer is, “that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection…” (Philippians 3:10).
B. This power secondly, is Surpassing. It is sufficient. We need to see “the exceeding greatness of His power…” We constantly complain that we cannot do what God wants us to do. We are too weak. We are too tired. We don’t have what we need.
Put yourself in Paul’s place. He was not one to complain. He was half blind, and his body had been wracked with disease and disaster so many times. He had been stoned (!), ship wrecked, beaten, throne in with lions, and endured months and years in disease infested prison cells with poor water, petrifying food, and inadequate clothing. His comforts were gone, and his health was gone. He was almost certainly living with constant pain in his weary body. With eyes dim and bones aching, and stomach churning at times, he listened to the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul says, “I heard Christ talking to me. “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me (2 Corinthians 12:9).
· When everything can go wrong in life does go wrong, can you hear Christ’s voice speaking to you in the depth of your heart? “My grace is sufficient!”
· When you feel pain, do you also feel the all-surpassing power of Christ? “My strength is made perfect in weakness”!
· When you are sick and confused and at your wits’ end, do you stop relying on your wits, and exult that though your limits are easily reached, there is no limit to Christ’s power? “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me”!
Application: There is nothing in this life that can keep you from serving Christ. His power is greater than your flesh. Are you tired? Shattered by life’s circumstances? In physical pain? Dear brother, dear sister, Christ is able!
Perhaps emotionally, you feel you cannot make it. You are desperately fearful or depressed or lonely or confused. Put your fleshly emotions aside. Put your carnal reasoning aside, and put on the mind of Jesus Christ. Put off the old man, and put on the new!! Glory in your infirmities! Yes, thank God for them. Why should you be happy for physical and emotional weakness? You might think what you need is physical strength or emotional comfort. No, what you need is DIVINE GRACE! Divine grace is fully sufficient to cope with your human frailty. This ought to send impulses of joy and gladness to your heart! Christ’s power is more than able!
As 2 Corinthians 4:17 says, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”
Paul calls this life “our light affliction, which is but for a moment”. In view of eternity, this life is a fleeting moment. “For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away” (James 4:14).
So we’ve seen God’s power Defined and Demonstrated.
III. Thirdly, let’s see the Domination of God’s Power.
Paul says we need to see “what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us–ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power 20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,”
Resurrection life poured into Christ, and He was raised to the right hand of the Father! He is seated in His rightful seat, ruling the universe. But He is also reigning somewhere else. He is reigning in the lives of those who “believe.”
Those who believe do not simply have an intellectual knowledge of salvation. Getting saved is not just agreeing to a doctrinal statement, praying a prayer, or signing on the dotted line. This is not intellectual ascent to biblical facts. Plenty of devils believe that Christ died, was buried, and rose again. All the devils in fact believe this, and they tremble. They believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the Saviour of the world. They have faith that Christ is Lord of all. None of the devils are skeptics. They all affirm the great religious truths of our faith. Yet that does not save them. They have a dirty, filthy nature. They do not love righteousness, and they are not capable loving God. They affirm God and His power and all of these things because they can do no other—they know the reality of these things. They just don’t like it. They hate these truths, but they cannot deny they are true.
Jesus Christ will dominate in your life in direct proportion to your faith. The power of God dominates the lives of those who “believe”. Is your entire life being dominated? Do you believe? Are you seeing the power of Christ in your thoughts, in your motives and in the entire fabric of your life right now? What is your spiritual pulse? What is your spiritual temperature? How far does Christ’s dominion extend in your life?
How can you experience more and more of God’s power? What does God use to give us His power?
As we look into God’s Word it is like a mirror. It reveals who we are, and it instructs us what we ought to be. We look into God’s Word and we have the POWER to change! It is just as 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
Do you lack the grace and power of God in any area of your life? We need to heed Matthew 7:7. It just as easy as asking God. “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you…”
Without prayer, we will not see God move in each one of us or in this church. We have so many opportunities to pray.
· prayer in your private time with God each day over the Word,
· prayer with your family at meals and in devotions,
· prayer with husbands and wives,
· prayer with friends,
· prayer before each worship service, especially the 9:45am prayer time for men on Sundays,
· prayer in worship services,
· and all the hundreds of prayers that ascend during the day as you walk by the Spirit and breathe out your dependence on God and he breathes into you the grace of faith and life and love and joy and obedience and witness.
Jude tells us that prayer is a constant exercise. He says in verses 20-21, “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, 21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”
“The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (James 5:16).
James 1:25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
Philippians 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
Psalm 1 again tells us in verses 2-3, that the blessed man’s “delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. 3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”
Look at verse 21 of our text. Christ’s authority and power is greater than all because He is seated “far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come.” There is no power greater than that which we possess in Christ by faith!
We need to heed Paul’s words in Ephesians 6:10, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might,” and as he says again in Colossians 1:11, how we need to be “strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power….”
Let us conclude by turning over to Ephesians 3:20-21. Christ is able. Whatever you are facing—however confusing the circumstances—Christ is able to carry you through. You must make fall into Him—trust Him as you would a parachute. Trust Him to dominate your life. He is able and ready to help you. Look at Ephesians 3:20. We read, “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, 21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.”
Conclusion: Do you believe Christ is able? If His power is mighty enough to save you, it is mighty enough to keep you in obedience to Him. Do you have all the marks that Christ’s power has transformed your heart? Is God’s power dominating your life, or are you being dominated by your flesh? Are you overcome by your vision of this life, or do you view life from where Christ rules and reigns, in the “heavenly places”? Are you operating on God’s power or your own? Are you obeying the Lord in the power of the Spirit?
< < b a p t i s m s > >
This morning we have several coming for baptism. First we will have Jewel Beckett, then Emily Cormier, then Zachary Crouse, and finally, Miss Jean Willey.
Hymns before Baptism: 591 He is Able; 147 Amazing Grace
Baptisms
If you are saved, you need to be obeying the Lord! Today we are baptizing several people. The first step of obedience is baptism. It is an identification with Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. Perhaps you are here today, and you are not baptized. I want to give you an opportunity to obey the Lord. On August 20th, we are going to have another baptism Sunday, so if you need baptism, you need to obey the Lord immediately. That means you will come to me after this service, and take my hand and say, I need to be baptized.
Closing Hymn: 333 Open Our Eyes, Lord