MEET THE REGENERATOR, THE HOLY SPIRIT
Attorney: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
Witness: No.
Attorney: Did you check for blood pressure?
Witness: No.
Attorney: Did you check for breathing?
Witness: No.
Attorney: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?
Witness: No.
Attorney: How can you be so sure, Doctor?
Witness: Because his brain was sitting in a jar on my desk.
Attorney: But nevertheless could the patient have still been alive?
Witness: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law
John 15:26-27 (NCV) “I will send you the Helper from the Father; he is the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father. When he comes, he will tell about me, and you also must tell people about me, because you have been with me from the beginning.
1 John 5:6 (ESV) This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.
I. THE HOLY SPIRIT BEARS WITNESS TO THE TRUTH OF JESUS CHRIST
John 16:14-15 (ESV) He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
Salvation comes only by the Direct Testimony of the Holy Spirit in the individual heart.
1 Corinthians 12:3 (ESV) Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.
• No amount of listening to the testimony of men
• No amount of studying what the Scriptures have to say about Christ
• Will ever lead a person to a true, living, and saving faith in Jesus Christ.
The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the God of Life, the Spirit of Truth must take the testimony of men and take the testimony of the Word of God and interprets it directly to our hearts.
The Testimony of the Holy Spirit
 The whole Bible is the testimony of the Holy Spirit
Revelation 19:10 (ESV) Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
2 Peter 1:21 (KJV) For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
"Which things also we speak, not in words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Spirit teacheth; combining spiritual things with spiritual words" (I Cor. 2:13).
1 Corinthians 2:10-13 (ESV) these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
Unless the Holy Spirit takes His own testimony as it is found in the Word and interprets it directly to the heart of the individual, he will not come to a real living saving faith in Jesus Christ.
If you want your friends, your family to get a true view of Jesus Christ, such a view that they will believe on Him and be saved, you must seek for them the testimony of the Holy Spirit, and you must put yourself in such relationship with God that the Holy Spirit can bear His testimony through you.
No amount of arguing, Scripture quoting on your part will ever bring anyone to a living faith in Jesus Christ!
True Knowledge of Jesus Christ
If you wish to have a true knowledge of Jesus Christ yourself, it is not enough that you study the Word and what the Spirit of God has said about Jesus in the Word; you must seek for yourself the testimony of the Spirit of God directly to your own heart through the Word., and put yourself in such relation that the Holy Spirit can bear His testimony directly to your heart.
Attitude of Unconditional Surrender
In order for the Holy Spirit to bear His testimony to you, you must surrender absolutely to the will of God.
• Acts 5:32 (ESV) And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”
• John 7:17 (ESV) If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.
Same Book, Different Results
You can read the Gospel of John over and over and remain as lost and unregenerate as Adolf Hitler.
Even though John wrote
John 20:31 (ESV) but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
You can read and never believe.
But if that same man were to surrender his will to God before beginning to read the Gospel of John, and will ask God each time He reads to send His Holy Spirit to interpret the things he reads, he cannot read the Gospel through even once without coming to believe the Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God!

Went to Jennifer and Chris Robertson’s home a little over two years ago. Jennifer was concerned about her children and wanted the family to be baptized.
We prayed, that God would open His word to the hearts of the children.
This explains how one who has been in the darkness of sin for so long can suddenly and quickly come to see the truth, when he surrenders his will to God.
There can be no conditions on our relationship with God.
Don Porter and I were driving back to Springfield MO after preaching a revival up in KC. We also had a girl’s trio with us. We picked up a hitchhiker. I was driving, and Don let the fellow sit between us, with the three girls in the back seat. Don got busy witnessing to the poor fellow. He was very resistant, and just did not seem to care. Don even had the girls sing an invitation hymn.

All to Jesus I surrender
All to Jesus, I surrender;
All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him,
In His presence daily live.
Refrain
I surrender all, I surrender all,
All to Thee, my blessed Savior,
I surrender all.
All to Jesus I surrender;
Humbly at His feet I bow,
Worldly pleasures all forsaken;
Take me, Jesus, take me now.
Refrain
All to Jesus, I surrender;
Make me, Savior, wholly Thine;
Let me feel the Holy Spirit,
Truly know that Thou art mine.

But the guy just didn’t get it. He would not give in. He was not willing to surrender His will to God to let God’s Spirit show him.
Don tried everything in the book to try to get this guy to pray the sinners prayer, but to no avail. The Holy Spirit could not give him light, because he didn’t want to surrender.
We Must Look to the Holy Spirit of God to bear His witness to Jesus Christ
 Look at what happened on the day of Pentecost.
Peter, an inexperienced preacher, bore his testimony to Jesus Christ, and bore the Old Testament testimony to Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, bore His testimony to Jesus Christ, and so 3000 men saw and believed. Peter preached and the Holy Spirit said AMEN!
Now if Peter had preached the same sermon just one day earlier, the results would have been entirely different. Peter’s testimony alone, would not have been sufficient. The Old Testament alone would not have been sufficient. What opened the eyes of those stubborn Jews was the Testimony of the Holy Spirit affirming what Peter and the Old Testament said.
The Holy Spirit Illumines
When we preach, when we teach, when we witness, we should lift Jesus Christ as He is presented in the Scriptures and then look to the Holy Spirit to illumine His face. We must not be fearful on our own abilities, not be dependent upon our own abilities. We must be confident of the Holy Spirit and depend upon Him to bear testimony!
If you desire your children, grandchildren, or great grandchildren to see the truth of Jesus Christ, do not depend upon your own powers of communication or persuasion, or upon your knowledge of Scripture. Do not depend upon Sunday School or the Pastor to make Jesus known. Cast your hopes upon the Holy Spirit in realization of your utter helplessness, and look to Him to bear His testimony to Jesus Christ, and pray that those you care for put themselves in such an attitude toward God that the Holy Spirit can testify to them. See to it that you are in such a relationship with God that the Holy Spirit can bear witness through your testimony.
II. THE HOLY SPIRIT REGENERATES MEN
A. GOD’S FIRST DEFINITION OF REGENERATION
John 3:3-eight (ESV) Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
The exact same truth is set forth in Titus 3:
Titus 3:4-7 (ESV) But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
The ‘regeneration’ of Titus 3 does not refer to a remodel of the soul. This is no ‘extreme makeover’. The Greek word is [παλιγγενεσία, palingenesia], which is the combining of palin – again and genesis – birth. It literally means to be born again.
The Holy Spirit imparts new ‘spiritual’ life to us because we were dead in sin. He then regenerates us into a new way of life, a life that is alive to God!
"new birth" (palin, "again," genesis, "birth"), is used of "spiritual regeneration," Titus 3:5, involving the communication of a new life, the two operating powers to produce which are "the word of truth," Jas. 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:23, and the Holy Spirit, John 3:5, 6; the loutron, "the laver, the washing," is explained in Eph. 5:26, "having cleansed it by the washing (loutron) of water with the word."
The new birth and "regeneration" do not represent successive stages in spiritual experience, they refer to the same event but view it in different aspects. The new birth stresses the communication of spiritual life in contrast to antecedent spiritual death; "regeneration" stresses the inception of a new state of things in contrast with the old; hence the connection of the use of the word with its application to Israel, in Matt. 19:28.
We are born Dead to God
Everyone of us, whether born into a Christian family of heathen family, was born into this world spiritually dead.
We are by nature moral and spiritual corpses. We need the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit to become alive to God. God imparts to us His own life.
God directs the Holy Spirit to impart to us His life.
The Holy Spirit is the Great Regenerator!
The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God
1 Peter 1:23 (KJV) Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
James 1:18 (ESV) Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
Plainly, it is the Word of God that the Holy Spirit uses as the instrument of His regeneration.
Only as the Holy Spirit uses the Word of God does true Regeneration results.
The mere written word will not produce the New Birth, no matter how faithfully or powerfully preached or given in witnessing.
Unless the Holy Spirit of God makes it a living thing in the hearts of those to whom we preach and teach and witness to, all the scriptures in the world will not result in the New Birth.
The Letter Kills, the Spirit brings Life
The Apostle Paul wrote:
2 Corinthians 3:3-6 (ESV) And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
What Paul was explaining was what the Jews were a living illustration of. The Pharisees and Sadducees had memorized large sections of the Pentateuch. They studied the Scriptures, they searched the Scriptures, but they did not see Jesus Christ. Their eyes were blind to the truth of Jesus Christ. The strict letter of the Law killed, it did not bring them Spiritual Life in Christ!
When the Holy Spirit takes the Word of God and writes it on our heart, our hearts are born again, and we are alive to God!
You can memorize, you can study the Word in the original languages, but that alone will never lead you to saving faith in Jesus Christ. Salvation and New Life comes only as the Holy Spirit brings the written Word of God to Life in our hearts!
B. GOD’S SECOND DEFINITION OF REGENERATION
2 Peter 1:3-4 (ESV) His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.
We become partakers of the divine nature
 God defines regeneration here as the imparting of His own divine nature to us!
Why is Regeneration Needed?
1. EVERY ONE OF US IS BORN INTO THIS WORLD WITH A MIND THAT IS BLIND TO THE TRUTH OF GOD.
1 Corinthians 2:14 (ESV) The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
2. EVERY ONE OF US IS BORN INTO THIS WORLD WITH AFFECTIONS THAT ARE CORRUPT-SET UPON THINGS THAT DISPLEASE GOD.
We love what we ought to hate, and hate what we ought to love. We naturally are selfish and self loving.
3. EVERYONE OF US IS BORN INTO THIS WORLD WITH A WILL THAT IS PERVERSE.
Romans 8:7 (ESV) For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.
We are all born into this world with a will that is perverse, a will that is set on pleasing self, and not set upon pleasing God.
Your will may not be set upon something corrupt or immoral or criminal. It may not be set on lying, stealing, or getting drunk or using drugs. It may be set on something of high character, or culture or opera or whatever. But whatever your will is set upon, pleasing self is a will that is in rebellion against God.
There is only one RIGHT attitude for your will, and that is an attitude of absolute surrender to God. The aim of your life is not to please self at all, but to please God in all things!
Bottom line: We are born into this world with this nature that is intellectually, affectionally and volitionally corrupt.
III. WHAT HAPPENS IN THE NEW BIRTH?
A. A NEW MIND
Suddenly what was foolishness, even repulsive becomes clear and lovely and wonderful to the mind that is regenerated by the Holy Spirit.
 Fred – a student at SMSU – accepted Christ and cut his hair.
B. NEW AFFECTIONS
Love for the Word of God. Love for the music that exalts Jesus. Love for fellowship with other believers.
Change in the things you want to do-carousing, cheating,
2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
C. NEW WILL
No longer set upon pleasing self. You delight in pleasing God!
When I graduated from high school, I was looking forward to College. My will was set upon girls and fun and making lots of money when I became a lawyer. But something happened to my will when I surrendered everything to God. Suddenly my will was set upon what pleased Him, and I did an abrupt about face and went to Bible College.
 The New Birth is the imparting of a new nature, God’s own nature, to men and women who are dead in trespasses and sins.
 This New Birth is only imparted by the Holy Spirit who uses the instrument of the written word of God and the testimony of that Word written on our hearts.
Regeneration and the New Birth is entirely a work of the Holy Spirit!
 The most skilled preacher preaches a sermon that minister death if it is not empowered and accompanied by the Holy Spirit!
1 Corinthians 2:4-5 (NKJV) And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
Just as we are totally dependent upon the work of Christ for our justification, so we are utterly dependent upon the work of the Holy Spirit in us for regeneration.
The human heart is the soil, the Word of God is the seed, we are the sower, but the Holy Spirit uses all that to reap a harvest!
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?
 I believe that many people can be converted without being regenerated by the Holy Spirit.
Conversion is an outward thing. It is a turn around. One day you are facing sin and your own pleasure, the next you turn around and face toward God.
We see this happening with drug addicts, alcoholics, adulterous spouses, convicts, and all sort of people who find themselves at a rock bottom point in their life. There is a dramatic conversion.
But a conversion without regeneration, without the Holy Spirit imparting the Divine Nature of God, is a conversion that is doomed to be repeated, sometimes over and over. A person can be converted a hundred times, but regeneration, the new birth only happens once.
Conversion is outward, and is often selfishly motivated.
Regeneration is inward, it happens in the very depths of the human heart and spirit. It is a radical transformation of the innermost man, an imparting of life, and imparting of a new nature. This new nature desires to please God above all things. This new nature results in love for God and denial of self.
An outward conversion, if it is to be real and lasting, must be the result of an inward regeneration. When God imparts His nature to man, he stays born again
One John 3:9-10 (NKJV) Whoever has been born of God does not sin (makes a practice of sinning), for His seed (God’s own nature) remains in him; and he cannot sin (make a continuous practice of sinning), 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.
Regeneration is the Work of the Holy Spirit.
 He knocks on the heart of the moral man and says you must be born again.
 He knocks on the heart of the man who is trying to reform himself and says you must be born again.
 He knocks on the heart of the man who trusts in his education and culture and says your must be born again.
 He knocks on the heart of the man trusting in his religion or his baptism or his faithfulness to church and he says you must be born again!
The Doctrine of the New Birth sweeps away all false hopes that many of us build our life upon, and speaks to us of a better way, a living way, the only way!
The Holy Spirit speaks to each of us and says YOU MAY BE BORN AGAIN
He comes to the one who has no taste for the things of God and says you May be Born Again.
He comes to the one who overwhelmed by sin and vileness and says you may be born again.
He comes to the one who has wandered so far away from God that he thinks there is no hope for him, there is nothing to look forward to except an eternity of condemnation in Hell, a Hell that he feels he is already in. and He says You May be Born Again.
You May be Made New all over, you May become a Child of God, and a Partaker of His Holy and Glorious Nature! Hallelujah!

Have you been Born Again?