A Comprehensive Birth

He's given us far more than pardon, as wonderful as that is. He's given us more than the righteousness of Christ, glorious as that is. He's made us new people in Christ.

We're not the man, we're not the woman that we used to be. We now are headed in a new direction. We have new appetites, new hungers, and they are God-given. It's the result of the new birth. If you were converted later in life, perhaps even as a teenager, you likely can remember what your life was like outside of Christ. But regardless of whether you can recall a time before you were a believer, the regenerating work of God in your life through the new birth was comprehensive. And that's our topic today on this Tuesday edition of Renewing Your Mind as Stephen Lawson continues his series on the new birth. Although not everyone in a church building on a Sunday morning is a Christian, every Christian has experienced the new birth. And so it does us well to consider the Bible's description of regeneration in order to further praise God for His gracious work in our lives. Here's Dr. Lawson on the comprehensive nature of the new birth. Last time together we considered that the new birth is an instantaneous birth. I want to build on that now in this session, and I want us to talk about that the new birth is a comprehensive birth.

Some would say it is a radical birth. Before we look at this, I want to bring to your attention that the noted theologian John Murray, the great Scotsman who served at Westminster Seminary, calls John 3 the most relevant and explicit episode in the teachings of Jesus. That's a remarkable statement because Jesus said many relevant things, and He had many explicit teachings. But Murray says that it can be argued that the most relevant and the most explicit truth Jesus ever taught is what we find here in John chapter 3. Murray goes on to say that, quote, The doctrine of the new birth occupies a place which, if it were not filled, would leave an obvious hiatus, close quote. In other words, there would be a total gap in our understanding of theology if it were not for this truth of the new birth.

In other words, how redemption that is accomplished is applied to our lives. Murray goes on to say the Sermon on the Mount would be unintelligible without the presupposition of the new birth, close quote. So, in other words, Murray is arguing, how could we ever love our neighbor? How could we ever love our enemies without first receiving a new heart? How could we ever let our yes be yes and our no be no and anything beyond that evil without first receiving a new heart and new tongues?

How could we ever turn the other cheek and go the second mile? And all of these things that the Sermon on the Mount calls forth from us, except God give us a new heart. The entire Sermon on the Mount would be absolutely impossible for any of us to live out were it not for this act of sovereign, divine regeneration by which God speaks life into our soul and gives us a new heart. In this session, I want to talk about the comprehensive nature of the new birth, how radical this act of regeneration is. The new birth involves the entire person. Being born again is not something merely spiritually cosmetic on the outside.

It is not something that is peripheral or marginal. The new birth is something that is radical and is dramatic and is complete in its change on the inside. I would direct our attention again to John chapter 3, and in verse 3, Jesus said, Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven. This metaphor of being born again.

Now, let's think about this in the physical realm. When one is born, one is born with every body part from the beginning. One is formed in the womb and is brought forth with two arms, two legs, two eyes, two ears. The body parts do not come in stages. They do not come in phases.

We don't work our way up from legs to arms. It's a comprehensive birth across the board. What is in the new birth? All things are made new. Stephen Charnock, the great Puritan, writes of this, that no part of the old man remains, but that we are made new in Christ. Charnock writes, regeneration is a universal change of the whole man.

It is a new creature, not only a new power or new faculty. It extends to every part, every understanding, the will, conscience, affections. All were corrupted by sin. All are renewed by grace.

Let me repeat that. All were corrupted by sin. We believe in total depravity. We also believe in total regeneration. Every part that was corrupted by sin is made new by the grace of regeneration. Charnock goes on to write, grace sets up its ensigns in all parts of the soul, surveys every corner, and triumphs over every lurking enemy.

It is as large in renewing as sin was in defacing. The whole soul shall be glorified in heaven. Therefore, the whole soul is now being beautified by grace. Close quote. Isn't that a glorious truth? That from the top of our head to the bottom of our feet, every inch, every ounce of us is regenerated by the Spirit of God and that we are entirely, wholly, completely made new.

I want a few more systematic theologians to weigh in on this before we plunge a little deeper. Listen to Louis Berkhoff. He writes, regeneration is an instantaneous change of man's nature. Now listen to this, affecting at once the whole man intellectually, emotionally, morally. Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield, his analysis of the new birth is, quote, it is a radical and complete transformation wrought in the soul by God the Holy Spirit.

That is remarkable. When we take our last session, that it is an instantaneous change, and this session, a comprehensive change, when those two are brought together, that it is both instantaneous and comprehensive, this is an extraordinary thing that happens on the inside of us. John Murray, whom I just quoted earlier, says that the new birth is a radical and all-pervasive change.

It is a radical, pervasive, and effectuous transformation. And then he says, it is a stupendous change because it is God's recreative act, the greatest change that will ever take place within the human soul as long as we are on this earth is in that moment, that instant of the comprehensive nature of the new birth. Now, I want you to turn with me, if you would, back to the Old Testament. I want you to turn back to the book of Ezekiel, to Ezekiel chapter 11, chapter 11 and verse 19. And, what we will see is that as God spoke through the prophet so long ago, He spoke of this comprehensive nature of the new birth.

In Ezekiel chapter 11 and verse 19, and this is a marvelous text of Scripture, God is the speaker, and God is speaking through the prophet Ezekiel. And God says, regarding the new birth, I shall give them one heart and put a new spirit within them. And I shall take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh. It would be impossible to think of a more dramatic, radical change that takes place in the depths of one's soul than in this act of sovereign regeneration.

Let's look at the individual parts of this verse as you still have it open in front of you. Note God says, I will give them one heart. That is to say, He will give us a new heart, and the new heart that He gives to each one of us is one in the same.

We all have a new nature that is exactly the same. This new heart has new affections, new desires, new passions, new loves, new hungers, new thirsts. And then He says, and I will put a new spirit within them. This new spirit refers to the governing power of the mind. God gives us new attitudes, new priorities, new inclinations, new ways of thinking, a new pattern of thought. We truly become new creatures in Christ Jesus. I mean, our mind is different.

Our affections are different. And He says, I will take out the heart of stone. A heart of stone is what we once had before the new birth. A heart of stone means that our heart was hard, was resistant, it was cold, it was indifferent, it was lifeless, it was unresponsive to the things of God, it was harder than a rock. Even if you grew up in church, even if you grew up in a Christian home, you still had a hard heart. It was a heart of stone. And in the new birth, it was like open heart surgery.

And God opened up the cavity of our chest and He removed, He just took out that heart of stone. It was hideous. It was foul. It was ugly. It had a stench about it. It had death upon it. And God just took it out and set it aside. And then He says, and will give them a heart of flesh. A heart of flesh is a heart that is alive. It's alive to God.

It's living. It has a heartbeat. It has a pulse, a spiritual pulse for God. It's responsive to the things of God. It reacts to the things of God. It loves the things of God. There could not be a more dramatic change take place. It's comprehensive. Everything on the inside was taken out and everything new is put in.

That's what God says. I used to pastor many years ago in Little Rock, Arkansas. And in my church, I was privileged to pastor the man who performed the first heart transplant surgery in the state of Arkansas.

He was trained personally by Cooley and DeBakey down in Houston. He was a brilliant physician and surgeon. And open heart surgery had never been performed before in the state of Arkansas. And then one night, in the middle of the night, he got the phone call to head to the hospital that there had been an accident in another part of the country and they had harvested the heart out of someone who had died. And they took that heart and put it in whatever container it was put in and then rushed to the airport and they put that container into a jet plane and they flew across the country with this new heart. And when the plane landed, they had the ambulance ready and they took the container with the heart in it and they put it into the ambulance and they sped it to the hospital as fast as they could. And there my friend was waiting and here was the person on the operating table. And then that decisive moment, he put the patient under and he opened up the chest cavity and he made the incisions and he removed that old heart and he set it aside and he took this new heart and he implanted it into the chest and he made just the right connections and it was successful. And that person was rejuvenated. That's exactly what God does only exponentially greater. He took out that heart of stone.

As I already said, it was foul, it was hideous, it was ugly, it had the stench of death on it, it was plagued by total depravity, radical corruption, it was hard towards God, hard towards the Bible, resistant to the gospel, it did not love God, it did not love the things of God. And God in that instant and in that moment, God took that old heart and He lifted it out and He set it aside and He put within us a new heart, new mind, new affections, new loves, new passions, new desires, a new loyalty, a new allegiance. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.

The old things passed away, behold new things have come. Can you thank God for what He's done inside of you? He's given us far more than pardon, as wonderful as that is. He's given us more than the righteousness of Christ, glorious as that is. He's made us new people in Christ. We're not the man, we're not the woman that we used to be. We now are headed in a new direction. We have new appetites, new hungers, and they are God-given.

It's the result of the new birth. I want you to look at another passage while we're in Ezekiel, in Ezekiel chapter 36 and in verse 26, Ezekiel 36 and verse 26, I want you to see that God says the same through Ezekiel, Ezekiel 36 and verse 26, listen to the Word of God. Moreover, I, the I is God, God is the speaker. No one else can say this, religion can't do this, church can't do this, no pastor can do this, no evangelist can do this, no Christian parents can do this.

No one can do this, but God and God alone. Moreover, I will give you, notice the freeness of it, notice the grace of it. God freely bestows this. God graciously gives this as a result of His own sovereign pleasure.

Notice He is the initiator of this. He gives this to us in spite of us. He gives this to us even when He sees this old heart within us that is so hardened to Him. God does this toward His enemies. God does this towards those who are in rebellion against Him. How gracious, how kind, how long suffering of God to do this. Rather than strike us dead, which is what we deserve. In the day that you eat of this fruit, you shall surely die. The wages of sin is death. Instead of striking us dead, God strikes us alive.

Notice I will give you, notice how personal this is. Notice how individual, not that I will give to the nation, not that I will give to the corporate group, I will give to you individually a new heart and put a new spirit within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. Verse 27, I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you will be careful to observe my ordinances.

I mean, let's get our arms around this. This is glorious. This is, this is our spiritual biography. This is what God has done in us. He says, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. That is to say, a new mind, new thoughts, new thought patterns, new heart, new desires, a new will, a new disposition, a new spirit, new loyalties, new allegiances. All things are made new. And then He says, I will put my spirit within you. That this is more than over the top.

This is far more than we could ever hope for. Not only does He make us new, but His very Holy Spirit, it is God in us. God comes to live within us. He puts His Spirit within us. We become the temple of God.

The glory of God has come to indwell within us. And note, He says, and cause you to walk in My statutes. I tell you, that's a new heart.

That is an entire new disposition. God actively, powerfully causes us to walk in His statutes. If a person is living in just a lifestyle with habitual pattern of disobedience over an extended period of time, I'll just tell you this, this person has never received a new heart. This person has no love for the Bible, no love for Scripture, no desire to keep the Word of God. Listen, that person needs to go to the operating table.

That person needs to have their heart of stone removed. It matters not if they say, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name? Did we not cast out demons in Your name? Did we not do many wondrous deeds in Your name? I will say unto them in that day, depart from me, you who work iniquity.

I never knew you. Because those whom He knows, those whom He regenerates by His Spirit, He puts His Spirit within them and their Spirit causes them to walk in God's commandments. There's a new desire for obedience. This does not mean the perfection of our lives, but it does mean the direction of our lives is headed in a new path.

And He says, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. What a glorious thing it is to be born again from above. You know, this certainly makes parenting a whole lot easier when your teenage son has a new heart and is born again. This certainly makes pastoring and shepherding a whole lot easier with some people when they are no longer goats, but now they're sheep and they now have a new heart and they are following after the things of God.

This is what is so desperately needed in our society and in our culture and in this world today. What this world needs is this act of regeneration by God by which He makes all things new on the inside. I cannot think of a more glorious thing to ever happen in anyone's life but that God take out that old heart of stone and give a heart of flesh.

I want to tell you again, it's comprehensive, it's radical, it's top to bottom, it's a total overhaul, it is a total recreation. On the inside we become new creatures in Christ Jesus. That was Stephen Lawson on this Tuesday edition of Renewing Your Mind.

Thanks for being with us. If you're a Christian, you have experienced this comprehensive new birth that Dr. Lawson described today. But this new birth is also supernatural, scriptural, transforming and permanent. These are just some of the other ways Dr. Lawson helps you see the scope of the new birth in his 12-message study.

You can own this on DVD along with digital access to the messages and study guide when you give a gift of any amount at renewingyourmind.org or when you call us at 800 435 4343. Your generosity helps support the proclamation of the gospel through Renewing Your Mind and the spread of trusted teaching through all of the outreaches of Ligonier Ministries. So thank you for showing your support at renewingyourmind.org or by clicking the link in the podcast show notes. Before we go today, I wanted to mention an upcoming travel opportunity with you. You know that Ligonier Ministries hosts conferences across the United States and internationally. And did you know that we also have conferences at sea? I would like to invite you to travel with me, Ken Jones, Derek Thomas and other Renewing Your Mind listeners for a Caribbean study cruise next February. We'll consider Galatians Chapter 3 together and I'd love to see you there. You can learn more and discover other study opportunities at LigonierTours.com. What is the state of the human heart before and after the new birth? Join us tomorrow to find out here on Renewing Your Mind.