The Cleansing Power of the Holy Spirit #2

You'll hear people say, why didn't I see this before? How was it that I missed it? Why did you miss it?

I'll tell you. It's because you were dead. That there was more than simple mental comprehension that you needed. Christ lived and died over 2,000 years ago. Yet here we are as a church, saved by what happened then. How does God do it? Through the cleansing power of the Holy Spirit. And that's the subject of Pastor Don Green's message today on the Truth Pulpit.

Hello, I'm Bill Wright. We're continuing our series, Titus, God's Glorious Plan of Grace. Last time, Don began showing us the means by which the Spirit works to save us. The Holy Spirit cleanses us like water and then bestows the power we need to live changed lives. Today, we'll see additional ways salvation is accomplished on our behalf. We'll again be in Titus chapter 3, so open there in your Bible as we join Pastor Don Green now in the Truth Pulpit. We have in front of us this morning a wonderful text that helps us understand how it is that we came to be the people of God. How it is that a person becomes a Christian. In this message, I'm going to give you four points to follow along to just kind of give you some places to hang your notes and to build your understanding. This passage is talking about the Holy Spirit.

That couldn't be any clearer. Verse 5, it's the Holy Spirit who does the washing. He was poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior. We're going to see four aspects of the work of the Spirit in the life of a believer when he saved him.

The first point is this, coming from a broader scriptural context. The Spirit cleanses like water. The Holy Spirit cleanses like water. External water applied to the body cannot remove the sin of your soul. It cannot remove the deadness of heart. Water on the body can't impart life to the inner heart of man. Now secondly, the Spirit cleanses with power.

The Spirit cleanses with power. So how does that happen? How is it that a man goes from being dead in sin one day and he wakes up with songs of praise to Christ in his mouth the next day? How does that happen, I ask you? It's not because the man did something to himself.

It's because something happened to the man. And what we see described in Titus chapter 3 is what happens. It explains why that came to pass. And the power of this is astonishing. Look at verse 5 with me. He did it by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit. The washing. He did an act of spiritual cleansing on you. The washing of regeneration expresses the cleansing effect of salvation. The Holy Spirit cleansed you.

He washed you spiritually by changing your nature under the sound of the Word of God. The Gospel was brought to you in one manner or another. And while many around you heard it and it bounced off their ears, somehow through something you read, something you heard, it penetrated your heart. Something gripped you. Something awoke within you and said, oh, but this is true. I've missed it all before, but now I see it. I taught people things of God, but I didn't even know them to be true myself.

They weren't true in my own experience. Some of you know about that. And part of what you can see, part of the way that you can see it has to be a work of the Holy Spirit, is that over and over and over again, you'll hear people say, why didn't I see this before? How was it that I missed it? Why did you miss it?

I'll tell you. It's because you were dead. That there was more than simple mental comprehension that you needed. You needed the aid of the Holy Spirit to open your mind like Lydia in Acts 16, where he opened her heart so that she could believe and receive the things that were being spoken by the apostle Paul. And unless the Spirit of God had done that in your life, you would still be in darkness today.

And so here's what happened. From all of that dominant pollution in your life from Titus 3, verse 3, the Holy Spirit removed that dominant pollution of your disobedient nature, and he imparted new life to you, a new life that was willing to repent and believe in Christ. He washed away that defilement.

Now, look at the end of the verse with me. By the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit. This idea of renewal is closely related to that idea of regeneration. Regeneration, the impartation of new life. Renewal, the idea that that new life comes with, watch this, with power.

It comes with power. The renewal describes a transformation that took place in the deepest recess of your heart. The Spirit of God gave spiritual power to live the Christian life. That's why you changed when you became a Christian. That happens because a real, genuine work of the Holy Spirit takes place in the life of a Christian. God had to save you if you were going to be saved, because you couldn't save yourself. And by his Spirit, that is what he did. God saved us through an act of the Spirit that cleansed us from within and imparted new life.

That is a blessed gift. Now, someone might say, after all of that, are you sure it's not about an act of baptism that makes this happen? Well, let's look at the text. Let's look at the context again. Paul had just said, he had just said, how did men miss this?

Who make their living writing books? You know how they miss it? It's because they're dead too. He had just said, it's not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness. Of course it's not a ceremony. It's nothing that we did to ourselves. It's nothing that another man did to us. It's something that the Spirit of God did to us. God forbid that we would rob God of his glory by attributing it to an act of human hands in a false religious system. What a satanic travesty that is, to rob the Spirit of God of the glory that he deserves for converting someone and saying, oh, well, we can do this by baptism.

No, you can't. You can put somebody under a faucet for a thousand years and not convert their souls. You think you're just going to sprinkle some water or pour it on them or dip them in water and change their heart?

Please. That's not what he's talking about here. Now, it's not by deeds of righteousness. Let's notice something else.

What was it? Just write in the context. You can see it for yourself.

You don't have to depend on what I say here. In the context, what does he say was poured upon them? In the context, he says, it was by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom, the Spirit of God, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior. It's the Spirit of God that was poured out that resulted in conversion, not the pouring of literal water. It's right there in the context.

He can't be talking about anything else. And only a pre-existing spiritual agenda would lead you to a different conclusion. The Spirit cleansed us with power.

That's what happened. Now, stay with me. I'm not done yet. Thirdly, the Spirit cleanses us like water, not with it, like it. The Spirit cleansed you with power at your conversion. Thirdly, the Spirit cleansed you abundantly.

Abundantly. Oh, the glory of this just transcends the ability of words to express. Look at verse 6. God saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior. Beloved, God poured the Spirit out on us. He did it richly. He did it abundantly. You see in this verse the utter magnitude of the generosity of God. He didn't do this in a stingy manner.

He didn't leave the waitress a five percent tip as a token that he had been there. He did this with such generosity that it can be said that he just poured it. He just dumped the Spirit out without measure, pouring this great cleansing power of the Holy Spirit on our souls with such abundance that it can be said that he did it richly. With great abundant spiritual wealth, God blessed us with his gift of salvation. Now, the only way that you can continue to reinforce the greatness of this, the wonder of this, the power of it, the sheer goodness of it is to continually bring your mind back to verse 3.

Don't lose sight of verse 3 on this. Who did he pour these riches out upon? He poured them out on us, those who believe in Christ. What were we like when he did it? Verse 3, we were foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another, saying we were Christians when we weren't, cursing the name of Christ, some of us, including me.

We were like that. And here we are today, heirs of eternal life, born again. Brothers and sisters in Christ, don't you see the generosity of God is utterly beyond measure? That it is too great for human expression? That this is so far beyond the realm of human achievement? That this could only glorify and magnify a God of grace, love, mercy, and kindness beyond degree? And while it humbles us, it doesn't just humble us and make us deny our spiritual merit and deny our spiritual pride and repent of it all, it does something on the positive side as well. It draws us to love and magnify and worship Him. Oh God, there is nothing on this earth to compare that measure of grandeur, that grand display of kindness that you have poured out on me. Nothing on earth compares to that. And God, I just fall on my face and worship You with gratitude, with devotion, claiming none of the merit to myself and giving you all of the glory.

That's what this does to your heart. God does not hold back the Holy Spirit for a select few who receive a second blessing after their conversion. That utterly decimates the generosity of God and salvation and contradicts a verse like this. God poured out the Spirit on every single believer in Christ. He was abundantly generous on every one of us, and His generosity was such that He gave the fullness of the third person of the most blessed Trinity and poured it out on us to cleanse us from sin, to impart spiritual power, and to change us forever and to make us a child of God.

Every one of us! You're not a Christian if you don't have the Holy Spirit. And to suggest anything different is to suggest that God hasn't really been all that rich with us in the first place. This whole passage says that the richness of God, the goodness, the mercy, the grace of God is seen in the fact that He richly and abundantly poured out the Spirit on everyone who believes. Every one of them!

Not just a few. And the evidence of that new birth, that evidence of regeneration and renewal, is not jabbering nonsense coming from the lips of somebody in an excited emotional state. It's the abiding, ongoing work of spiritual transformation that shows itself in someone living righteously whereas before they lived in the deadness of sin. That's the mark of the work of the Spirit of God, and we are the unworthy beneficiaries of that work if we're here today and we're in Christ. Praise be to His name. Beloved, I say a lot of different things repeatedly, but I just ask you, those of you who know Christ, I ask you, don't you love Him? Don't you love Him for this?

Aren't you grateful, thankful for such a magnificent, unearned gift as that? And those of you that are here and you're not a Christian, my heart breaks over you. How is it, how is it that you can be cold and indifferent to this clear instruction from God's Word upon your heart? Come to Christ. I want you to share in the benefit of this, and Christ calls you and says, come to me, that you might share in this gift. Well, fourthly, what does the Spirit use? Some of you are waiting for me to get to this point.

Here it is. The Spirit of God didn't just zap us out of nowhere. Point number four, the Spirit Himself uses means.

What does He use? What does the Spirit of God use in that dead heart? Point number four, the Spirit cleanses with God's Word. He cleanses with God's Word, and I am so excited to show you this and for you to see it even in the context of Titus.

Listen, throughout this letter of Titus, Paul repeatedly commanded Titus to preach the Word and to preach it with authority. Look at chapter 2, verse 1. Actually, let's go back to the qualification to be an elder. Verse 9 of chapter 1.

Seems like a long time ago since we looked at an introduction to the qualification of elders. But in verse 9, one of the qualifications to be an elder in the church is verse 9, that the man holds fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict. Teaching is at the core of the mission of the church. Chapter 2, verse 1. Paul speaking in the second person singular to Titus says, as for you, Titus, my apostolic representative, as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine. Verse 15 of Titus chapter 2. Titus, these things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority.

Let no one disregard you. Chapter 3, verse 8, right at the end. We're going to cover verse 7 next week.

Otherwise, we'd be here until noon or 1 o'clock. Verse 8. Paul says again, this is a trustworthy statement and concerning these things, I want you to speak confidently so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds.

These things are good and profitable for men. Titus, teach. Titus, the leaders must be able to exhort in sound doctrine. Titus, say it with authority. Say it with confidence.

Why? That emphasis on teaching. It's because the Spirit of God uses the teaching of the Word of God to do his work in human hearts. It is by the proclamation of the Word of God that the Spirit of God opens up the understanding, illuminates the mind of those who hear and breathes new life in them. The Spirit works through the proclamation of the Word. Go back to the book of Ephesians briefly.

You must understand this. Ephesians 5 in verse 25. Paul is teaching on marriage, but he's simultaneously teaching on the nature of the relationship between Christ and the church. Husbands, love your wives, just as, parallel thought, Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for her, so that he might sanctify her, here it is, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word. The spiritual cleansing comes through the teaching of the Word of God.

That's what he's saying. The Spirit works through the proclamation of the Bible. 1 Peter chapter 1, on the other side of the book of Hebrews and the other side of the book of James. 1 Peter chapter 1, he says, you have been born again. 1 Peter 1 verse 23.

Sorry. You have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable. That is, through the living and enduring Word of God. All flesh is like grass. Its glory like the flower of grass.

The grass withers and the flower falls off. Oh, beloved. But the Word of the Lord endures forever and this is the Word which was preached to you. That imperishable living Word that caused you to be born again. You see, when a preacher stands up in a pulpit and proclaims the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sinners, for the forgiveness of sins, and calls on them to repent and believe in the Gospel. Christ said in Mark chapter 1 verse 15, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand.

Repent and believe in the Gospel. You see, when a preacher does that, when a book faithfully proclaims the Gospel, when you speak to your neighbor the fundamental facts of the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ, we are dealing in the imperishable Word of God which has intrinsic power to convert a soul. What happens when someone is saved is that the Spirit of God takes that proclamation, brings it with understanding and power to that human heart so that that person is drawn and pulled to repent and believe.

It makes sense. It resonates in his heart. And that work of the Gospel is taken, that Word of the Gospel is taken by the Spirit of God and impacted and imparted to the human heart so that that person repents and believes.

You ask, how did that happen? How did you come to be converted? If you're a true Christian, somewhere, someone, sometime told you about Christ. Someone, somewhere, sometime pointed you to Scriptures that spoke the truth about salvation.

And maybe it took a long time for it to reach its mark, but somewhere along the line you said, yes, that's true. I believe that. That's what I want. That's for me. Lord Jesus, I call on you for mercy in the midst of my sin. Those of you that are here and don't know Christ, that's what you need to do. Just call on him for mercy.

I'm not going to prescribe a formulaic prayer for you to pray. Christ is the only Savior and you are dead in sin. Call on him for mercy and then go to his Word and let the Spirit lead you.

Now, so here's what we said. The Spirit cleanses like water. The Spirit cleanses with power. The Spirit cleansed you abundantly. And the Spirit cleanses with God's Word.

Now, I want you to understand something really fundamental here. We're still a new church, less than two years old. This is why we preach. This is why we're not interested in a lot of dancing people with flowers up on the stage. God doesn't use that to convert hearts.

He uses the Word. That's why we're not trying to entertain people with what we do and all that other junk that you can find at every five-cent church and everywhere else. We're not interested in that.

Why? Because the Scriptures say it is the preaching of the Word of God. It's only the Word of God that can save a soul. And we want to make that as clear and distinct and as undistracted as we possibly can so that the Word of God would have the full reign of the Spirit to work in the hearts of people who hear. That's why we do what we do.

Scripture teaches, and we believe, that this book of 66 individual books is the instrument that the Spirit of God uses to save sinners from eternal damnation. That's why we preach. That's why we act like it's important.

You know why? It is important. That's why we do what we do, and we let all the other stuff go. We're not interested in that because it doesn't matter, because there's no real power in it.

You can move someone's emotions with different kinds of lights and loud and soft music. You can move their emotions, but you can't awaken them from sin. Only the Word of God does that.

And that's why we do what we do. The Spirit of God uses the Word of God to produce children of God who will adorn the doctrine of God by living righteously. Praise be to God.

There's inexpressible grace. We are cleansed by the Spirit like water, abundantly with power and through God's Word, all of which means we are indeed new creatures in Christ. Well, more great encouragement today from Pastor Don Green here on The Truth Pulpit. And, Don, to fully appreciate how God has transformed us.

It helps to compare who we once were to who we are now. Well, my Christian friend, if you're like me, sometimes you just get weary with your sins, your failures, the struggle against temptation, and just all of the stuff of life. Well, let me remind you of something important as we close today's broadcast. God has begun a work in you if you are in Christ that He fully intends to complete until the day of Christ Jesus. He has the power to do it. The work that He has started, He'll finish. So you can keep trusting Christ and not lose heart.

God will be good to you in the end. Thanks, Don. And, friend, remember to visit thetruthpulpit.com for more about this ministry. There you'll also find out how to get free CDs of Don's messages. Once more, that's thetruthpulpit.com. Next time, more of our series, Titus, God's Glorious Plan of Grace. Be sure to join us then on The Truth Pulpit with Don Green.