C. REGENERATION, OR THE NEW BIRTH.
I. ITS NATURE. 1. NOT BAPTISM. 2. NOT REFORMATION. 3. A SPIRITUAL QUICKENING. 4. AN IMPARTATION OF A DIVINE NATURE. 5. A NEW AND DIVINE IMPULSE.
II. ITS NECESSITY. 1. UNIVERSAL. 2. THE SINFUL CONDITION OF MAN DEMANDS IT. 3. THE HOLINESS OF GOD DEMANDS IT.
III. THE MEANS. 1. THE DIVINE SIDE. 2. THE HUMAN SIDE. 3. THE MEANS USED.
C. REGENERATION, OR THE NEW BIRTH.
It is of the utmost importance that we have a clear understanding of this vital doctrine. By Regeneration we are admitted into the kingdom of God. There is no other way of becoming a Christian but by being born from above. This doctrine, then, is the door of entrance into Christian discipleship. He who does not enter here, does not enter at all.
I. THE NATURE OF REGENERATION.
Too often do we find other things substituted by man for God's appointed means of entrance into the kingdom of heaven. It will be well for us then to look, first of all, at some of these substitutes.
1. REGENERATION IS NOT BAPTISM.
It is claimed that John 3:5—"Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit," and Titus 3:5—"The washing of regeneration," teach that regeneration may occur in connection with baptism. These passages, however, are to be understood in a figurative sense, as meaning the cleansing power of the Word of God. See also Eph. 5:26—"With the washing of water by (or in) the word"; John 15:3—"Clean through the word." That the Word of God is an agent in regeneration is clear from James 1:18, and 1 Pet. 1:23.