XXVIII. MORE EVIDENCES OF
REGENERATION
A
Where saints and sinners must differ.
1 Remember, that all unsaved people,
without exception, have one heart; that is, they are selfish. This is their whole character. They are universally devoted to
self‑gratification only. Their
unconverted heart consists in this selfish disposition, or in this selfish
choice. This choice is the
foundation of, and the reason for all their activity. The same ultimate reason motivates them
in everything they do, and in everything, they don’t do, and that reason is,
either presently or remotely, directly or indirectly, to gratify themselves.
2 The regenerated heart desires to
love God and his neighbor. All
regenerated hearts are similar. The
same motive motivates all true saints, whenever they truly have the heart of the
saints of God. They have only one
ultimate reason for everything they do, allow, or omit. They have one ultimate intention, one
goal in life. They live for the
same goal, the same goal that God lives for.
3 Reason and the law of God (moral
law) govern the saint. In other
words, the law of unselfish and universal love is his law. God not only reveals and develops this
law in his mind, but He writes it in his heart. The law of his mind is the law of his
heart. He not only sees and
acknowledges everything he should do and be, but he also knows that his heart
and his will are conformed to his convictions of what he should do. He gives evidence of this to others,
whether they receive it and it convinces them or not. He sees the path before him and he walks
in it. He knows what he should
will, intend, and do, and he does it.
He is clear about this. And
others can be clear about this also, if they are watching.
4 We can contrast the sinner with
the saint in a very important and fundamental way. Reason and principle do not govern the
sinner, feelings, desires, and impulses govern him. Sometimes the sinner’s feelings coincide
with his intelligence, and sometimes they don’t. However, when they do coincide, he will
not pursue his course out of respect or in obedience to the law of his reason,
but in obedience to that emotional impulse which, for the time being, happens to
lean in the same direction as the law of his reason. But, for the most part, emotional
impulses drive him towards worldly gratifications and in an opposite direction
to something that his intelligence points out. This leads him to a course of life that
is too obviously the opposite of reason to leave any room for doubt as to what
his true character is.
5 The saint is justified, and he has
the evidence of his justification in his own peace of mind. The saint is aware that he obeys the law
of reason and of love. As a result,
he naturally has that kind and degree of peace that flows from the harmony that
his will has with the law of his reason.
He sometimes has conflicts with the impulses of his feelings and
desires. But although these
conflicts may trouble him emotionally, they do not interrupt his peace that
passes all understanding. The
elements of peace within him are still there. His heart and his conscience are one,
and as long as this is true, he has the evidence of justification within
himself. He knows that God cannot
condemn his present state. He knows
that his heart conforms to the moral law.
He rests on the assurance that the Lawgiver is pleased with his present
attitude.
But, there is
more. He also has within him the
Spirit of God witnessing to his spirit that he is a child of God, forgiven,
accepted, and adopted. He feels
God’s loving spirit drawing his heart to exclaim, “Abba, Father”. He is aware that he pleases God, and has
God’s smile of approval. He is at
peace with himself, because he knows his heart is united with the law of
love. His conscience does not
rebuke, but smiles. The harmony of
his own being is a witness to himself, that he is living in the state that God
created him to live in. He is at
peace with God, because he and God are pursuing precisely the same goal, and by
the same means. There can be no
collision, no controversy between them.
He is at peace with the universe, in the sense that he has no ill‑will,
and no malicious feelings or desires to satisfy. He is only afraid of sinning against
God. Neither the fear of hell, or
the hope of heaven influences him.
He is not anxious about his own salvation, but prayerfully and calmly
leaves that question in the hands of God, and is only concerned with promoting
the highest glory of God, and the good of others.
a Therefore,
having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ” (Romans 5:1)
b “There
is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not
walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” (Romans 8:1)
6 The sinner’s experience is the
opposite of this. He is under
condemnation, and even in his most religious moods, he can rarely deceive
himself to the point where he imagines that he feels accepted either with his
own conscience or with God. There
is almost never a time in which he does not have a certain amount of
restlessness and misgiving within.
Even when he is deeply involved in religion, he finds himself unhappy
with himself. Something is
wrong. There is a struggle and a
pang. He may not see where and what
the difficulty is. After all, he
does not obey his reason and conscience; and the law and the will of God does
not govern them. In not having the
assurance of this obedience, his conscience does not smile. He sometimes feels deeply, and he acts
as he feels. He is aware of being
sincere in the sense of being honest about his feelings, and he is aware of
obeying his feelings. But this does
not satisfy his conscience. He
feels more or less wretched no matter what he does. He doesn’t have true peace. Sometimes he feels self‑righteous, his
emotions are quiet, and he is happy.
But this is neither true peace of conscience nor peace with God. No matter what he does, in spite of all
his other feelings, his zeal, and his activity, deep within his spirit, he still
feels uneasy and condemned. They
are not the right kind of experiences.
Hence, they do not satisfy his conscience. They do not meet the demands of his
intelligence. His conscience does
not approve of them. He does not
have true peace. He is not
justified; and he cannot be fully and permanently satisfied that he is
justified.
7 Saints are interested in, and
sympathize with, every effort to reform mankind, and promote the interests of
truth and righteousness on the earth.
The good of others is the end for which the saint truly lives. For him, this is not some theory, some
theological opinion, or some philosophical speculation. It is in his heart, and it is precisely
for this reason he is a saint. He
is a saint just because the theory, which lodges in the head of both saint and
sinner, also lodges and reigns in his heart, and, as a result, it reigns in his
life.
a As
saints supremely value the highest good of others, they will, and must, take a
deep interest in whatever it is that promotes that end. Hence, saints have a spirit of
reformation. They stand committed
to the universal reformation of the world.
They devote their hearts and lives to this end. For this end they live, and move, and
have their being. Every proposed
reform interests them, and naturally leads them to examine its claims. The fact is, they constantly are
studying and devising ways and means to convert, sanctify and reform the human
race. In this state of mind, saints
desire to take hold of whatever promises good to man. True saints love reform. It is their business, their profession,
and their life to promote it; as a result, they are ready to examine the claims
of any proposed reform; and ready to commit themselves to reform, no matter how
much self‑denial it may call them to do.
They have truthfully rejected self‑indulgence as the reason why they
live, and are ready to sacrifice any form of self‑indulgence, for the sake of
promoting the good of men and the glory of God. The saint truly and earnestly desires to
reform all sin out of the world, and for this reason he is ready to go forth
with joy, and to try whatever reform seems to be the most effective from the
best light he can get, to honestly put down sin and the evils that are in the
world.
b Even
those who are wrong, if they are honestly trying to reform humanity and denying
their selfish desires, deserve the respect of their fellow men. Suppose their philosophy is wrong, yet
their intention is good. They have
manifested a desire to deny themselves to promote the good of others. They have been honest and zealous in
this. Now no true saint can feel or
express any contempt for such reformers, no matter how wrong they may be. No: his natural feelings must be the
opposite of contempt concerning them.
If their error has been harmful, he may mourn over what happened, but he
will not and cannot severely judge the honest reformer. The saint necessarily regards war,
slavery, licentiousness, and similar evils and abominations, as terrible evils,
and he longs for the day when all of these will cease. It is impossible that a truly benevolent
mind should not regard these abominations of desolation in this way.
c
Saints
have always been reformers. I know
some people say that neither the prophets, Christ, the apostles, nor the early
saints and martyrs, spoke out against war and slavery, etc. But they did. The instructions of Christ, the
apostles, and the prophets were directly opposed to these and all other
evils. If they did not come out
against certain legalized forms of sin, denounce them by name, and strive to
stir up public feeling against them, it is because they were, for the most part,
busy engaged in a preliminary work.
Their job was to introduce the gospel as a Divine revelation; to set up
and organize the visible kingdom of God on earth; and to lay a foundation for
universal reform, not pushing forward particular branches of reform. They were more concerned with the
overthrow of state idolatry, the great and universal sin of the world in that
age. They labored to get the world
and the governments of earth to tolerate and receive the gospel as a revelation
from the one only living and true God.
They had to deal with their controversy with the Jews, and overthrow all
the Jewish objections to Christianity.
In short, the great, indispensable, and preliminary work of gaining for
Christ and His gospel a hearing, and an acknowledgment of its divinity, was
their job. They went forth into the
world pushing the basic precepts and doctrines of the gospel to their legitimate
results and logical consequences.
They did their job, and they left it for later saints to use the
particular truths, precepts, and doctrines of the blessed gospel against every
form of sin. Prophets, Christ, and
His apostles, have left on the pages of inspiration a clear testimony against
every form of sin. The spirit of
the whole Bible breathes from every page blasting rebukes against every unholy
abomination, while it smiles on everything of good report that promises
blessings to man and glory to God.
The saint is not merely sometimes a reformer; he is always a
reformer.
8 The sinner is never a
reformer in any proper sense of the word.
He is selfish and is never opposed to sin, or to any evil whatever, from
any motives that make him worthy of the name of reformer. He sometimes selfishly advocates and
pushes certain outward reforms; but as certain as it is that he is an unsaved
sinner, so it is just as certain that he is not trying to reform sin out of the
world because of any unselfish love of God or for man. At times, selfish considerations may
influence him to become involved in certain branches of reform. Regard for his reputation may excite his
zeal in such an enterprise.
Self‑righteous considerations may also lead him to enlist in the army of
reformers. His relationship to
particular forms of vice may influence him to set his face against them. Constitutional behavior and tendencies
may lead him to engage in certain reforms.
For example, his constitutional love may be such that he may engage in
reforms from natural compassion.
But, this is only yielding to the impulses of his soul, and it is not
principle that governs him. His
conscience may modify his outward character, and lead him to support some
branches of reform. But whatever
other motives he may have, he is not a true reformer; for he is a sinner, and it
is absurd to say that a sinner is truly engaged in opposing sin as sin. No, it is not sin he is opposing, but he
is seeking to gratify an ambitious, a self‑righteous, or some other spirit, and
that gratification is selfish.
Generally, it is easy to distinguish sinners, or deceived professing
Christians from saints by looking carefully at their temper and conduct in their
relationship to reform. Sinners are
self‑indulgent, simply because they are devoted to self‑indulgence. Sometimes their self‑indulgent spirit
takes on one type, and sometimes another.
Don’t expect them to ridicule or oppose every branch of reform just
because not every reformer will rebuke their favorite indulgences, and force
them to reform their own lives. But
since every sinner has one or more indulgences that he clings to, and since
saints are devising and pushing reforms in all directions, it is natural that
some sinners should manifest particular hostility to one reform, while the other
sinners will be hostile to a different reform.
Whenever someone
proposes a reform that would reform them out of their favorite indulgences, they
will either ridicule it, ridicule those who propose it, or argue against it, or
in some way oppose or totally neglect it.
This is not true with a true saint.
He has no indulgence that he values when put in competition with the good
of others. No, he holds his all and
his life at the disposal of the highest good. Has he, in ignorance of the evils
growing out of his life, used ardent spirits, wine, tobacco, ale, or drugs? Has he been abusive? Has he been engaged in any traffic that
he discovers is harmful? Has he
favored war through ignorance; or, in short, has he done anything wrong
whatever? Simply let a reformer
come forth and propose to discuss the tendency of such things; let the reformer
bring forth his strong reasons; and, from the very nature of true religion, the
saint will listen attentively, weigh with honesty, and, if it is worthy of
support, he will allow himself to be carried by the truth of the proposed
reform, no matter how much it conflicts with his former habits. This must be true, if he has a single
eye to the good of others, which is the very characteristic of a saint.
9 The true saint denies
himself. Self‑denial must be his
characteristic simply because regeneration implies self-denial. Regeneration consists in turning our
heart or will away from the supreme choice of self‑gratification, to choosing
the highest good of God and of the universe. This is denying self. This is abandoning self‑indulgence, and
pursuing or committing our will, and our whole being to an opposite end. This is dethroning self, and placing God
in the throne of our heart.
Self‑denial does not consist, as some seem to imagine, in acts of outward
austerity, in doing penance, making sacrifices, taking fasting to the extreme,
in wearing clothing that separates you from everyone else, and in similar acts
of “will worship and voluntary humility, and neglecting the body”. Self‑denial consists in the actual and
total renunciation of selfishness in our heart. It consists in no longer living for your
self, and you can do this just as easily while sitting on a throne surrounded
with royalty, as in a cottage of logs, or in rags in a
cave.
a The
king on his throne may live and reign to please himself. He may surround himself with those who
can minister to his pleasure, ambition, pride, lusts, and power. He may live for himself. Pleasure, self‑gratification, and
selfish power may be the goal he lives for. This is selfishness. But, he may also live and reign for God,
and for his people. That is, he may
be devoted to God, and consider his reign as a service to God. He may consider everything he does as a
service to God. No doubt his
temptation is great; but, in spite of that, he can be perfectly self‑denying in
all of this. He may not do what he
does for his own sake, nor be what he is, nor possess what he possesses for his
own sake, but, realizing the relationship his situation had belongs has to
others, he may be as truly self‑denying as those who live simple lives. Although this is possible, I’m sure this
would be very rare. A man may truly
be rich for God if his relationships and circumstances make it essential to his
highest usefulness for him to possess a lot of money. This places a lot of temptation before
him; but if this is clearly his duty, and he does it for God and the world, he
may have enough grace to be completely self‑denying in all his circumstances,
and he may be even more commendable for standing fast under these
circumstances.
b Therefore,
a poor man may be poor from principle, or from need. He may be submissive and happy in his
poverty. He may deny himself the
comforts of life, and do all this to promote the good of others, or he may do it
to promote his own interest, temporal or eternal, to secure a reputation for
piety, to appease a morbid conscience, to appease his fears, or to secure the
favor of God. In all things, he may
be selfish. Or, he may be happy
doing this, because it may be true self‑denial: or he may complain about his
poverty and be jealous of others who are not poor. He may be highly critical, and he may
feel that anybody who dresses better than he does is proud and selfish. He may envy someone who owns a better
house and has more possessions than he has. He may set up his views as a standard,
and denounce everyone whose lives do not measure up to his rule as proud and
selfish. This is selfishness, and
these manifestations demonstrate the fact that he is selfish.
A man may forego the
use of a coat, or a cloak, or a horse, or a car, or any and every comfort and
convenience of life, and throughout all of this, he may proceed from either an
unselfish or a selfish state of mind.
If it is true unselfish love and true self‑denial, he will submit to his
situation, cheerfully and happily, without murmuring or complaining, without
censoring, and without envy towards others. He will not insist that others have to
do and be just what he does and is.
He will allow the judge his gavel, the king his robes of state, the
merchant his capital, and the farmer his fields and his flocks, and he will see
the reasonableness and appropriateness of all of this. But if he is selfish and led by the
spirit of self‑gratification, instead of self‑denial, he will be ascetic,
caustic, sour, ill‑natured, unhappy, severe, censorious, envious, and inclined
to complain about, and pick at, the extravagance and self‑indulgence of
others.
c
The
true saint denies his appetites and passions. He denies his artificial appetites
whenever someone calls his attention to the fact and the nature of the
indulgence. He has become the
master of his appetites and passions.
He denies his appetites and passions. He consecrates himself to God. The sinner is a sinner just because his
appetites, passions, and the impulses of his desires are his masters, and he
bows down to them, and serves them.
They are his masters instead of his servants. He consecrates his life to his passions
and desires, and not to God. But
the saint no longer lives to gratify his lusts. Has he been a drunkard, sexually active,
a drug addict, or a heavy smoker?
Has he engaged in self‑indulgent habits of any kind? He is reformed: old things have past
away, and behold all things have become new. Does he still have any bad habits such
as smoking or chewing tobacco, using drugs of any kind, high and unwholesome
living, extravagant dressing, gluttony, or in short, has there been any form of
self‑indulgence about him whatever?
Only call his attention to that indulgence and he will honestly
listen. Any reasonable evidence
will convince him and he will renounce his evil habits without conferring with
flesh and blood. Regeneration
implies all of these things. This
must follow from its very nature.
The Bible everywhere proclaims that this is true for all the saints: “And
those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and
desires”. (Gal. 5:24) Never forget a self‑indulgent Christian
is a contradiction. Self‑indulgence
and Christianity are opposite terms.
10
The
sinner does not deny himself. He
may not satisfy all of his desires because his desires sometimes contradict each
other, and so he must deny one for the sake of indulging in another. His greed may be so strong that he
refuses to indulge in extravagant eating, drinking, dressing, or spending. His love for a reputation may be so
strong that it prevents him from engaging in anything disgraceful, and so
on. Nevertheless, self‑indulgence
is his law. The fear of hell, or
his desire to be saved, may forbid him from outwardly indulging in many types of
sin. But, he still lives, moves,
and has his being only for the sake of indulging himself. He may be a miser, and deny himself the
necessities of life; yet, self‑indulgence is his law. He may and must control some lusts
because they are inconsistent with other lusts. However, he does not control other
lusts. He is a slave. He bows down to his lusts and serves
them. His selfish preferences have
enslaved him so strongly that he cannot overcome them. This demonstrates that he is a sinner
and unregenerate no matter what he says or does. One who cannot conquer himself and his
lusts because he will not conquer himself is an unregenerate sinner. He is one over whom some form of desire,
lust, appetite, or passion has dominion in his life. He doesn’t want to overcome it. He is just as certainly in sin, as sin
is sin.
11
The
truly regenerate soul overcomes sin.
a Listen
to the Bible on this subject.
1)
“Now
by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him”, and does not
keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:3-4)
2)
“And
everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. Whoever commits sin also commits
lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.
And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him,
there is no sin. Whoever abides in
Him does not sin. Whoever sins has
neither seen Him nor known Him.
Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is
righteous, just as He is righteous.
He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the
beginning. For this purpose the Son
of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not
sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of
God. In this the children of God
and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice
righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.” (1 John 3:3‑10)
3)
“Whoever
believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who
begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. By this, we know that we love the
children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we
keep His commandments. And His
commandments are not burdensome.
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has
overcome the world, our faith.” (1
John 5:1‑4)
b These
passages, understood and pressed to the letter, will not only teach that all
regenerate souls overcome and live without sin, but also that sin is impossible
for them. This last passage, as
well as other passages in scripture, forbids us to press this strong language to
the letter. But, we can understand
and admit that overcoming sin is the rule for every one who is born of God, and
that sin is only the exception. The
regenerate habitually live without sin, and fall into sin only at times which
are so few and far between, that in strong language it can be truthfully said
that they do not sin. This is
surely the least these scriptures could mean. And this is consistent with many other
passages of scripture, several of which I have quoted; such as these:
1)
“Therefore,
if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away;
behold, all things have become new.”
(2 Cor. 5:17)
2)
For
in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but
faith working through love.” (Gal.
5:6)
3)
“For
in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision, but a
new creature” (Gal. 6:15)
4)
“There
is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not
walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in
Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it
was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of
sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the
righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk
according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (Romans 8:1‑4)
5)
“What
shall we say then? Shall we
continue in sin that grace may abound?
Certainly not! How shall we
who died to sin live any longer in it?
Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus
were baptized into His death?
Therefore, we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just
as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also
should walk in newness of life. For
if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also
shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was
crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should
no longer be slaves of sin. For he
who has died has been freed from sin.
Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over
Him. For the death that He died, He
died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise, you also, reckon yourselves to
be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your
mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as
instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being
alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to
God. For sin shall not have
dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” (Romans 6:1‑14)
c
The
fact is, if God is true, and the Bible is true, the truly regenerate soul
overcomes the world, the flesh, Satan, sin, and is a conqueror, and more than a
conqueror. He triumphs over
temptation, and the triumphs of temptation over him are generally so rare, that
the Bible says that he does not, cannot sin. He is not a sinner, but a saint. He is sanctified; a holy person; a child
and Son of God. If at any time he
is overcome, it is only to rise again, and soon return like the weeping
prodigal. “The steps of a good man
are ordered by the Lord, And He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly
cast down; For the Lord upholds him with His hand” (Psalms 37:23-24)
12
The
sinner is the slave of sin. Romans
chapter seven is his experience.
When he has the most faith in himself, and others have the most faith in
his good estate, he goes no further than to make and break resolutions. His life is nothing but death in
sin. He does not have the
victory. He sees what is right, but
he doesn’t do it. Sin is his
master, to whom he yields himself as a servant to obey. He tries to forsake sin, but in fact, he
does not forsake it in his heart.
Yet, because he is convicted, has desires, and forms resolutions, he
hopes he is regenerated. Oh,
what a horrible delusion! Stop
short of conviction, with the hope that he is already a Christian! Alas! How many are already in hell, who have
stumbled on this stumbling stone!
The person who is born again
should know what end he lives for.
Perhaps, there is nothing he is more certain about than about his
regenerate or unregenerate state; and if he will keep in mind what regeneration
is, it would seem that he can hardly mistake his own character to the point of
imagining that he is regenerate when he isn’t. The great problem today has been how the
regenerate soul knows his regeneration.
This has led to so much doubt and embarrassment on this subject because
so many believe that regeneration belongs to the soul. As a result, they direct the attention
of the convert to those ever‑fluctuating feelings for the evidence of the
change. No wonder that this has led
conscientious souls into doubt and embarrassment. But separate the born again believer
from false philosophies, and let him know that a new heart consists in supreme
unselfish love, or in entire consecration to God, and then who can’t know the
reason why he lives, or what is the supreme preference or intention of his
heart? If we can settle any
question whatever beyond all doubt by appealing to our consciences, this
would be the question to settle. As
a result, the Bible urges us to know whether we are Christians. We must know each other by our
fruits. The Bible clearly mentioned
this as the rule we must use to judge our situation. The question is not so much, “What are
our opinions” but “what do we live for?
Do we manifest a charitable state of mind? Do we manifest the attributes of love in
the various circumstances that God places us in?” Oh, may this folly of judging each other
more by our opinions and feelings then by the tenor of our lives stop! It seems difficult to rid people of the
prejudice that religion consists in feelings and in experiences that they
passively experience. As a result,
they are constantly prone to delusion on the most important of all the
questions. Nothing can break this
spell but the steady and thorough impartation of the truth concerning the nature
of regeneration.