THE MESSAGE OF HOPE - VIII

Titus 3:5b-7
Bob Bonner
July 19, 2009

Over the years of counseling Christians, I have been struck with the reality of what a powerful role shame plays in our lives. Because of this, whenever I come across an article or a passage of Scripture that mentions the word “shame,” I stop and consider what it has to say.

Just so we make sure that we are on the same page as to what we mean by shame, allow me to take a neutral definition for “shame” from Webster’s Dictionary. Webster’s defines shame as, “A painful emotion caused by conscious guilt [meaning you have done something you think is wrong], short-coming, or impropriety [meaning that somehow you were party to something you know is wrong]. A condition of humiliating disgrace or disrepute. Something that brings strong regret, censure or reproach.”

It has been my observation of people that ongoing feelings of shame can lead to strong feelings of embarrassment, inferiority, and hopelessness, so that one believes they can never escape past failures, hurts, hang-ups, and habits--that somehow they are doomed to a life controlled by past or present circumstances.

Allow me to illustrate this for you by telling you true stories of two different women’s lives. The first involves a gal we will call Susan. She was the product of heartless non-Christian parents. Although physically beautiful, she never seemed quite as confident or as outgoing as her brothers and sisters. Sadly, one reason for this is that when she was 8, her father sexually abused her. Overcome by the shame of those experiences, Susan withdrew from others and looked for a way out of her pain.

After eight years of abuse and by the age of sixteen, Susan was addicted to alcohol and drugs, frequently stealing, and selling her body to support her habit. She had reasoned that she was nothing more than sexual merchandise. Although she was ashamed of herself and wanted to change, she saw no way out. The only people who didn’t seem to reject her were those who used her. She felt trapped and alone. Her mantra was, “I am what I am. I cannot change.”

Diana, unlike Susan, came from a Christian home and was very active in her youth group. She diligently shared her faith with her friends at school, and she was a model citizen among her peers. Unfortunately, Diana made a mistake one night that changed her life. Alone for the evening, she and her boyfriend went too far, ashamed by their actions, both teenagers agreed to admit the incident to their parents. Tearfully, Diana confided in her mother, looking for understanding and support. But her mother lost control and bitterly told her how ashamed and disappointed she was of Diana. Diana’s father’s response was not much better. He refused to speak to her. Six months later, after her relationship with her parents had hit rock bottom, Diana left home, got involved physically with her boyfriend, and began using drugs. 

In both these cases, the women’s shame led them to believe there was no hope of ever turning their lives around. They had tried but failed. As a result of their successive failures, they each concluded, “I am who I am. I cannot change.”

Sadly, these stories are not uncommon. In fact, although they may take different forms, they are repeated every day in the lives of many who live around us. We come face to face with weaknesses and controlling sins that we have fought for years, but because we continue to fail, we chose to believe the lie, “I am who I am. I cannot change.”

But God’s Word promises us something different. According to God’s Word, for those who have trusted Jesus Christ to be their Lord and Savior that statement, “I am who I am, and I cannot change,” is a lie. And this morning, we are going to continue our study in Titus 3:4-7, and we will see why that is a lie and what God’s Word says is true for those who know Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. No Christian is destined to fail or doomed to never being transformed.

As you may remember, Titus 3: 4-7 makes up one long sentence whose subject is God’s salvation of sinners and the truth of the Gospel, that is, how God saved us and what a difference His salvation makes in our life. Let’s read Titus 3:4-7 together. 

But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind

appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done

in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of

regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon

us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His

grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

For the past seven messages, we have been looking at what these verses have to say about the Gospel and its implications in the believer’s life today. To better grasp the importance of the Gospel as to how we live our lives today, I have highlighted four typical false beliefs, or lies, that Christians and non-Christians alike hold onto when experiencing failure of any kind. As we have looked at each of these lies, we have seen several Biblical terms that are pillars of truth, explaining why the Gospel is such Good News and a Message of Hope for all who put their trust in Christ.

When we have finished this series, we will have looked at seven different Biblical terms that make up the basis for the Gospel, three of which are found in our passage of Scripture. By way of review and to a get a preview of where we are going today, allow me to remind you of the four lies, the corresponding fears which are aroused when we have believed these lies, and the Biblical terms that refute these false beliefs:

Lie #1: “I must meet certain standards to feel good about myself.”
Corresponding fear: Fear of failure
Biblical term: Justification

Lie #2: “I must be approved of by certain others to feel good about myself.” Corresponding fear: Fear of rejection
Biblical term: Reconciliation

Lie #3: “Those who fail (including me) are unworthy of love and deserve to be punished.”
Corresponding fear: Fear of punishment
Biblical term: Propitiation/redemption

Lie #4: “I am who I am, and I cannot change.”
Corresponding fear: Fear of inability to change
Biblical term: Regeneration/ renewal

This morning, we are going to look at the last false belief that declares, “I am what I am. I cannot change.” God’s corrective response to this false belief is found in verse 5 and concerns the Biblical meaning of “regeneration.”  “Regeneration” is a term closely related to a Biblical term we have already studied in connection with the Gospel, the term “justification.” These two concepts of “regeneration” and “justification” are so closely tied that one cannot separate them, for God always does both together. You can’t have one without the other. Whereas “justification” emphasizes God’s declaring us righteous, “regeneration” points to the fact that God actually makes us righteous through the indwelling power of his Spirit.

Because these two terms are so closely tied together, at times they appear to overlap in meaning. For instance, in Romans 5:18-19 we read:

So then as through one transgression [Adam’s sin] there resulted

condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness

[Christ’s substitutionary death on the cross] there resulted justification of

life to all men. For as through the one man’s disobedience the many

were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many

will be made righteous. 

The obvious connection between justification and regeneration is that what God declares to be true, is ipso facto true. In other words, from God’s point of view, to declare something to be true is to make that one thing true. To declare one to be righteous is to make one righteous. But just so we don’t miss the importance of this or simply think that we may be declared righteous in God’s sight but not actually righteous, God specifically uses a term which explains that we are in fact made righteous in His sight. We are regenerated. Even though we still sin, He sees us as righteous. In addition, it is important to note, according to verse 5, that both the act of renewing and that of regeneration are works of the Holy Spirit. These two actions are not something we make happen, but they are the supernatural work of God.

If you look closely at that word “regenerated” you will notice the prefix, “re.” The point of that prefix is to state that something that once was alive or generated, has died, but has now been made alive again. In other words, we were once spiritually birthed by God at creation. But when sin entered the world, all human beings were born spiritually dead, because God’s Spirit was removed from within us at the Fall. But when we are regenerated, God’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, indwells us, and we are born again, or reborn. Ephesians 2:4-5 puts it this way: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).” This is what Jesus is speaking about in John 3:3,5. “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ . . . Jesus answered, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water [physical birth] and the Spirit [regeneration or spiritual rebirth] he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.’”

Allow me to demonstrate for you what this action of regeneration looks like. In the beginning, before the Fall, God breathed His Spirit into us, which not only made us alive physically, but because His Spirit indwelt us, we were alive spiritually in a relationship with God. But after the Fall, even though physically we may have been alive, we were spiritually dead, because God removed Himself from our lives when He cast the human race out of the Garden of Eden. This left a spiritual void where He once lived, and was filled by the “flesh” and “evil influences” in our spirits that immediately took control of our lives. But when we put our confidence in Christ, God regenerated us by re-entering our lives, in our spirits, making it possible for us to once again carry on a relationship with Him. When He re-entered the control center of our being, our spirit, “the flesh” was removed, and the “old man” died.

But there is even more great news that comes our ways as a result of our being made alive in Christ again. 2 Peter 1:2-4 tells us:

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of

Jesus our Lord; [Why should our inner peace be multiplied?] seeing that His

divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and

godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own

glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious

and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of

the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by

lust. 

In other words, God does not call us to live godly lives and expect us to do it under our own power and strength. Instead, He has promised that when we got saved, we became partakers of His divine nature. We have the very same resurrection power of Christ living in us at our disposal to enable us to live supernatural, godly lives. Therefore, we don’t have to worry about not having the strength or ability to live godly lives. Further, this proves that we believe a lie if we declare, “I am what I am; I cannot change.” You have Christ living in you, ready to change you as you believe and trust in the promises spelled out in Scripture. There is no habit, no hang-up, no past hurt, or injustice that you cannot overcome or find freedom from, because you have God’s power in you, ready to enable you to live a godly life. Now, once you put your trust in Christ, you became a new creation, with a new power source within you to enable you to live in a manner that was impossible before you came to Christ. 

Look at what 2 Corinthians 5:17 declares: “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away [aorist indicative tense, describing a completed action]; behold, new things have come [perfect indicative tense, describing an action that took place in the past, but has ongoing continuous results].” So, what actions have been permanently completed and which ones are ongoing? In the past, before we committed our lives to Jesus Christ, our spirits were spiritually dead and the “old man” ruled our lives. But when we entrusted our lives to Christ, we were born again, regenerated.  Then the “old man” died or was done away with, never to return, because we have become a new creature in Christ. 

You may ask, “What makes me new? I look the same and have the same personality, so what is new about me?” Your spirit changed when Jesus came to live in you. His Holy Spirit has been joined to your spirit. The “old man” was replaced with the “new man.” That is a completed past action, but it also has ongoing results. Like what? Something has begun an ongoing work in you, creating in you new values, new feelings, a new moral renovation, new plans, new hopes, new attitudes, a new purpose for living, new perspectives, and a new power source, the Holy Spirit, to effect an ongoing transformation of your life. When a person truly gets saved, that person begins to change radically; he becomes so different from what he was before, that it may be said he enters a new life. And what’s even more amazing is that oftentimes the newly born again Christian doesn’t even realize some of the changes have occurred, but others around him do notice. 

Along with our becoming a new creation, we also are given a new identity. Whereas before we were known by God as “sinners,” now His name for us is “saints.” But that does not mean we don’t sin or that we are incapable of sinning. We do still sin. Why? It takes time for this transformation to take a place. It is an ongoing process that takes a lifetime. But nonetheless, it is still true. God views us as saints. While the process takes place, our observable sinfulness decreases, but not entirely. We will never be totally free from sin until we are in heaven. But from this point on, God begins the work of transformation that He will complete one day when we are in heaven.

Charles Leiter, in his book Justification and Regeneration, uses the following illustration to help us to better understand what is new about us, what it means to be a new creation, and this process of being changed. He writes:

The truth of the Christian’s new identity, in spite of the remnants of remaining

sin, has been illustrated in terms of a newly purchased factory. Suppose that a

poison gas factory is bought by an oxygen company for the purpose of

producing life-giving oxygen. As soon as the ownership of the factory passes

into new hands, its identity changes. The new owners place a sign in front,

“Oxygen Factory.” In the president’s office, a new director sits at the desk. 

The old president and new president do not share the office, struggling with

one another to control the company. The old president is gone. In fact, the old

factory is gone. An oxygen factory has taken its place, even though it may take

a while before all the old equipment can be switched over to fully function in it

new capacity! At the moment of regeneration, every Christian is made

radically “new” at the very center of his being. . . . It’s only a matter of time

before this essential and central transformation works itself out in every facet of

the believer’s experience. (59-60)

This process by which we are being transformed uses two Biblical words interchangeably to describe it. They are “sanctification” and the term we find in Titus 3:5, “renewing.” “Renewing” is the ongoing process of the transformation of the soul by the Holy Spirit in the new man that can affect even our bodies to a limited extent. It is that spiritual transformation that comes from within, created by God’s Spirit to make us more like Christ.

It is important to emphasize here what verses 5-6 clearly teach, and that is that the power source behind our renewal is not us. We are not changed by our spiritual disciplines. We are not changed because of our will power. The common motivational expression, “If it’s going to be, it’s up to me,” does not apply here, because we are dealing with a super human, supernatural work of God, that requires the third person of the trinity to be at work in us. Notice Titus 3:6, which says of the Holy Spirit, “whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,” meaning that at the moment we trusted Christ, His Holy Spirit came to indwell us.

That word “richly” means in copious measure. In other words, God didn’t hold back anything when He gave us the power that comes with the Holy Spirit. That’s why Peter wrote that “everything you need for godliness” now resides within you, through the power of His Holy Spirit. And that’s why none of us can rightly declare, “I am who I am; I cannot change.” If you know Christ, you have His power residing in you to change your life.

Your only responsibility is to position yourselves before the Holy Spirit by faith, so that He can do what God promised, His transforming work. You may ask, “What do you mean, ‘position ourselves before the Holy Spirit by faith?’” Good question. Glad you asked it!

There are two human keys that we are responsible for if we wish to position ourselves so that we can experience the life-transforming power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The first should be obvious, but for many it is not. If you want to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, if you want to experience His life changing power, then you must be sold out, wholly committed to submit to whatever God asks of you.  If or when you are not, you have just short-circuited the transforming process. To knowingly live in rebellion against God in any area of your life, in your business dealings, in your relationships with those of the opposite sex, in your commitment to resolving conflicts between yourself and others, and so on, you must be committed to do what Jesus asks. The Apostle Paul tells us this when he writes in Romans 12:1, “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual [logical] service of worship.” A sacrifice, even though living, is never partial. It is an all or nothing commitment. This “living and holy sacrifice” is a picture of total submission. There are to be no areas that we refuse to submit. We even need to submit our speech, our commitment to resolve broken relationships as much as it concerns us, our handling of money and discretionary time, and so on. Either God is going to be in charge of our lives, as He is with all sacrifices, or He is not. You chose. If you chose not to submit, then for that moment, you won’t experience His life changing power in your life. If you continue to live that way as a lifestyle, then you had better examine yourself to see whether or not you are even saved in the first place. 

In fact, that’s exactly what the Apostle Paul exhorts you to do in 2 Corinthians 13:5:  “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?” You might ask, “What test?” The test that Jesus Christ laid out for us in His Sermon on the Mount when He revealed that one day, there are going to be people who think they are saved and will be with Jesus in heaven. But to their surprise, this is what Jesus said in Matthew 7:21-23: 

Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of

heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will

enter. Many will say to Me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy

in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name

perform many miracles?” And then I will declare to them, “I never knew

you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.”

What is “lawlessness?” It is living as though you are the law and doing whatever you want to do, but not submitting to God’s direction. And please note, this one who is told to “depart” is a highly religious person. Following Jesus Christ is an all or nothing commitment. It does not demand perfection, but it does demand complete commitment.

Similarly, Paul writes in Ephesians 5:18, “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.” What does wine do when you have become drunk by it? It controls you physically. Hence, to “be filled with the Spirit” is just the opposite. Rather than being under the control of wine or anything other than the Spirit, your life is to be committedly submitted to the control of the Spirit. If you don’t start out with that intentional commitment, but you want to hold back from God, then God will not empower you. To be committed to being sold out and controlled by God’s Spirit does not require that you never fail. It is the heartfelt commitment to this proposition that counts.

If you truly are saved, and you do continue to attempt to control your own life, ignoring what Jesus wants you to do, according to Hebrews 12:5-11 you can expect nothing less than your loving Heavenly Father’s discipline. He will instruct you to change your ways, for it is in your best interest to do so.

So the first key to positioning yourself so that you can experience the Holy Spirit’s transforming power in your life is to be fully submitted to the Lordship of Christ. Without this first key being settled, the second is of no use to you. But once you have intentionally committed your life to the Lord, as Romans 12:1 teaches, then the second key becomes active. This second key is found in the next verse, Romans 12:2. We read, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” 

The second key to Christ’s work in your life is the renewal or transformation of the mind. This, by the way, is a life-long process that is the result of the ongoing study of God’s Word. Or to put it as I have written it for your outlines, the second key to experiencing the Spirit’s life-changing power is to have one’s mind transformed by the ongoing study (not mere reading) of God’s Word, so as to apply it to one’s life. The only way that the Spirit of God can transform our minds, emotions, and wills is if we study the truth about God, what He says is true about us, and the world we live in, rather than being tossed around by every lie or every crazy false doctrine or heresy that comes down the pike. As we understand and submit ourselves to the truth of God’s Word, He, not we, will make sure that our hearts begin to change. And with our hearts being changed, so will our values, desires, hopes, feelings, outlooks, attitudes, goals, and purposes change. The more we submit and trust in God to do His thing in us, the more He makes us like His Son. 

Next week, I would like to go into this in more depth, but for now let me leave you with these questions: What evidence has there been in your life in the past year that your life is still being transformed? If you are not aware of any, why not ask someone you trust if they see any signs of your ongoing growth. If there is no evidence, then are you taking advantage of the two Biblical keys for experiencing the transforming power of God in your life? Are you intentionally committed to all that the Lord wants of your life? Would someone close to you agree with your assessment? Are you committed to a lifelong study and learning from God’s Word so that your mind is being renewed? What is the evidence? During this past week, how much time did you spend studying, not merely reading, God’s Word? How much time did you spend reading God’s Word?

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