If you have your Bible, join me in Titus chapter 3 and verses 5 and 6. I have a topical message tonight that lends itself to what we're dealing with, so we'll sort of begin in Titus 3, 5, and 6. The title of my message tonight is Regeneration pictured as irresistible. So the doctrine of regeneration has pictures, or metaphors, and it pictures regeneration as being truly irresistible. Titus 3, verses 5 and 6, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he has saved us through the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ. So the word regeneration, it shows up here, as I mentioned this morning, in one other verse in the New Testament in Matthew. Through the washing of regeneration. So I'd like to briefly say four things tonight about how regeneration is pictured as being irresistible, which means that it is not in the will of man, it is not man cooperating with grace that causes regeneration. Regeneration is a changing of human nature and the will of man to the point where the sinner is willing to trust Christ, no, willing to trust Christ because of regeneration. Remember, the issue in one sense is quite simple. Do you believe and then you're born again? That's the common message you hear quite frequently across our nation. So you must believe to be born again. Or does the Bible teach exactly the opposite? And that is, you must be born again or you must be regenerated by the Holy Spirit in order to believe. And these four pictures set forth that it is, you must be regenerated in order to believe. And so when a person is regenerated, then ability is restored for that person to freely trust Christ, come to Christ, receive Christ, believe upon Christ, and so on. So four pictures that show that grace is irresistible, meaning that regeneration must precede, must come first in order for a person to believe. So the first picture that is set forth is one in this long series that we have weaved in and out of in more than one point, and that is regeneration is pictured as a resurrection from the dead. something or someone is dead and they are imparted fresh life and they are resurrected. And then of course the classic passage on that is Ephesians chapter 2, you who are dead in trespasses and sins. Dead meaning not having the ability. We cannot raise ourselves from the spiritual grave and tomb of sin any more than by our own power. If we've died, we could raise our bodies from the graves in which we have been planted. And so, it is a resurrection from the dead. Now, let me give you a verse I don't think that we have looked at in the series. So, beyond Ephesians 2, in John 5, verses 24 and 25, expresses it from a little bit different angle, but saying the same thing here. Christ is directly speaking in verse 24 and 25 of John 5. Most assuredly I say to you, he who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has eternal life and shall not come into judgment, but is passed from death to life. And this is verse 25, Most assuredly I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. Now, in John 5 and verse 25, it's interesting because numerous commentators recognize that that is talking about the quickening work of Christ's voice in raising sinners from the grave and tomb of sin. And that is exactly what is being stressed there. So some, not necessarily even arguing from a Calvinistic point of view, recognize that clearly in this context, that is what is being said here. Then a few verses later, the actual physical resurrection that will take place, Christ also mentions that. The hour is coming, and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live." And so there is this resurrection. Christ's voice raises people from the grave of sin. And His voice is tied, of course, to the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit Himself. But here His voice is especially mentioned. So we cannot raise ourselves. And so there's a resurrection from the grave of sin, the power of sin, sin's death. We've looked at in messages gone by, we've looked at, remember, that this spiritual death causes inactivity. And so mentioning a wayward woman says that though she lives in her pleasure, she's dead in her sins. And so she's alive in one sense, but dead in another sense. And so the picture here is that a resurrection must take place. This is how radical regeneration is. It is being raised from the grave of sin. So each one of us who, by sovereign grace, has saving faith. we have been given the gift of faith. Well, that has come because of the regenerating work. The voice of Christ has been heard and it has raised us to life. And the first expression of that life is to repent and to believe, to throw ourselves upon Christ. Now again, there may be many preparations of the Holy Spirit for a long period of time. Also, we have to be alert that that's not always so. It can be a work very quickly done, where there is little preparation. And so there are some who are extreme in preparing how you must be prepared before regeneration happens and that. And so these things can happen very, very quickly. And so there's some fruit that is so ripe, all you've got to do is walk up and touch the tree, and the fruit falls off. People come to Christ. I don't believe we're living in a season like that now, but I have seen seasons like that. And I believe that we're living in a season. Preach the word in season, out of season. Surely this is an out of season time. because of the fallenness of the culture, the decadence of the culture, the entire Western civilization, and America obviously included in that. And so I have found these days to be the most difficult days to witness, and even during the wild and woolly 60s. it was easier to talk to sinners. A lot of sin was going on, fresh exploding sin, but it was still easier than I find. Say, what do you make of that? I think we need to go back to Ezekiel 36. There's a hardening of the heart, and then the heart can get harder and harder and harder and harder, can it not? Sin hardens the heart. Our assignment is still the same. And the Holy Spirit has not lost any of his power, has he? So we go on. But we are facing a culture that is very difficult to handle and is not favorable, increasingly unfavorable towards the Christian faith at high levels, high levels in Western civilization, high levels in this nation as well. God is able to raise sinners from the grave of sin. And this regeneration, this imparting of life, that which has no life, this imparting of life is described as a resurrection from the dead. People dead in trespasses and sins do not have faith. That would be a contradiction. Why then do some sinners experience faith? Why do they trust Christ? because they have been resurrected from the dead. They've heard the voice of the Son of God. The Holy Spirit himself has invaded into their being, come into their being, and imparted to them this life, the life of God himself. And with that restored ability, the inability is overcome. And with that heart of stone gone and a heart of flesh imparted, that heart of flesh that is now alive, spiritually alive unto the Lord, the sinner comes to Christ. So the first picture is a resurrection from the dead. A second way that regeneration is pictured in the Word of God is like being born, or as Scripture would call it, born again. John chapter three, other passages of scripture, which talk about a new birth. And so regeneration is described as one who has experienced a special, supernatural, new birth. In John chapter one, it puts it out of all, should put it out of all contention, that regeneration is dependent upon the sinner willing to believe, and then the Holy Spirit can regenerate. In John 1, verses 12 and 13, but as many as received him, that is Christ, he gave them the right to become the children of God, even those who believe in his name. Now, those who believe in his name, here's verse 13, who were born, so this is the supernatural birth, who were born, not of blood. In the Greek, it's more tightly bloods, which this means that if my parents are Christians, and if my grandparents are Christians, That does not make me a Christian by being physically born in that family. This is another type of birth. So it is not by physical generation that I become a Christian. I must experience a new birth if I am to be saved and come to Christ. So who are born not of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh. Can it be any plainer? Now in this case, flesh is not being used in a good sense. There's nothing in the flesh, the fallenness of man, that causes a person to be born again. So in other words, already this verse has eliminated, you believe, and that allows the Holy Spirit to cause you to be born again. This verse says, it's not of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh. Man wills, don't confuse people. Man wills. Man is a free agent. He freely does things. with the restrictions of being a creature. He is not sovereign over God and over God's will, but we freely do things. But it is not within our capacity to will a new birth. And so, bloods are eliminated, physical relations, the will of the flesh, and then verse 13 says, nor the will of man. And so, the will of man. I think what that is referring to is that I may be born again, but I cannot cause somebody else to be born again. So all the preachers that have ever preached during the Old Testament period, New Testament period, Paul and Peter and John, on down through the centuries, Spurgeon, Luther, so on, other names that are not known that will be at the judgment seat of Christ for their faithfulness, all the thousands and millions of preachers that have preached, all of them combining their will together to want to see a sinner saved cannot cause a single sinner to be born again. That's what that verse is referring to. Note what's eliminated. Surely the verse is eliminating this idea that man wills, he believes. He wills, and that causes the new birth. This verse says exactly the opposite. Verse 12, those who have received Christ, those who have believed upon his name, who were born not of blood or bloods, nor of the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. It's a supernatural birth. And so this is regeneration being pictured as like one who has been physically born. So one must be spiritually born. You must be born again in order to believe the gospel. And so that's why it's pictured as a birth. Did you give your mom permission for you to be born at the time when you were, right? Did your mom say, let's vote who wants to be born, you know, or that? So the rush was on, wasn't it, in many cases? And you are the object of it. You are the subject of it. But you and I are not the cause of this supernatural birth. That's what is being pictured here. Regeneration is like being born. The baby is the subject of that birth. The baby is the object of that birth. And the baby is not the cause of all of that taking place. Something else happened. And so it is like being born. Physically, it is compared to that. You cannot cause your conception or your birth. We're simply the subject. It's the action upon us, and we're born. Now, very interesting verse regarding this particular area of being born again. is found in 1 John 5 and verse 1. In 1 John 5 and verse 1, you have this picturing of being born again. And we are born again And as we are born again, the verse talks about faith. So this is 1 John 5, whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. So, some of our friends would say that that does not determine that you must be born again before you can believe. Actually, it does. Because the Greek New Testament makes it very clear. Let me tell you what this verse is not saying. This verse is not saying you believe and then you're born again. That could be expressed in the Greek. It is not expressed in the Greek. Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. In other words, the way that this verse is constructed in the Greek, you are born of God first, and that's why you believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the anointed one. Exactly the opposite. The late John Montgomery Boyce, great Calvinistic servant of Christ, in his commentary on 1 John, He points this out, and he says, which comes first, faith or life? The question is asked in discussions of the differences between the Calvinistic and Arminian theology, for it expresses the question whether man chooses God by deciding to believe on Christ, or whether God first chooses men by making them alive in Christ, as a result of which they believe. John's first verse, this is 1 John 5 now, John's first verse, answers the question in reference to the new birth. In none of the English versions is the full sense of the verse adequately communicated. For the differences in the word the differences in these tenses are not as striking in English as in Greek. In the Greek text, the word believe is present tense indicating a present continuous activity. The word born in the phrase born of God also translated child of God is in the perfect tense. And so he goes on, we believe and in fact do everything else of a spiritual nature precisely because we have first been made alive, or born again, as we would say. And so he affirms what is obviously there. One of the great Greek scholars in the history of our nation was the Southern Baptist, late Southern Baptist Greek scholar, A.T. Robertson. You've heard his name before, heard people quote him. So he was a renowned Baptist Greek scholar. And in his word pictures in the New Testament, in his volume six, he covers this verse. And he, in part, what he says is, nothing less will satisfy John, not merely intellectual conviction, but full surrender to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Then he quotes another scholar. And the other scholar is William Law. And so Robertson quoting William Law. The divine begetting is the antecedent and not the consequence of believing. Now why does William Law say that and why does this great Greek scholar point this out? So what is being said here is the verse is not saying, the original does not say that by believing you're born again. The way that Greek is constructed, and Robertson knows this, William Law knows this, and those that have a little bit of knowledge about the Greek should be able to grasp this as well, and that is not what 1 John 5 and verse 1 is saying. It is saying that you must be born of God, and if you are, then you will continually believe upon Jesus as the Messiah, as the Christ. And so the Bible is very clear that this birth, this supernatural birth, where life has been imparted and we're like a new baby, we're a babe in Christ, when all of those things that are described in the scripture, it is because we are first born of God, a supernatural work, and that leads to this trust and the receiving of the unknown to the one as prophets, priest, and king, and are all in all. 1 John 5 and verse 1 confirms that as well. Then, of course, there's the classic text of John chapter 3, verses 1 through 8, and his encounter, Christ's encounter with Nicodemus. and where it's very clearly set forth in the same direction, is that we're born again, and out of that we have faith, the implications of John 3, verses 1 through 8. So note the ordo salutis, note the order of salvation. And so there are certain things that happen prior to other things. And so as William Law says, it's the antecedent, It happens before, and believing does not cause it. It is being born, supernaturally born, that causes one to come to Christ. So it is like a baby, conceived and born and brought forth. And it does not depend upon the will of the baby, does it? Now, maybe some mommas would say, well, no, we know there was a will fighting all the way. It went on for this long or that long and so on. That's not the picture that's being presented, not the point that's being presented. The point is that births actually take place. A will beyond that baby is operating. And so you don't, you know, the mom doesn't say to the baby, okay, now, would you of your own free will and free agency, would you permit me to allow you to be born? Is that what happens? No, it's exactly the opposite. This is what these passages are saying, is that it is as you are born again. So evangelists and others, many others, who give steps to be born again, and so on, that is reversed from what the scripture says. And the Calvinistic doctrine of irresistible grace is what is there because when that person is born anew, new, they're born afresh, new life, just like with a fresh born baby, that person will respond to that life, trusting Christ and so on. Now, a third picture that is set forth is that the new birth, or the regeneration rather, is described as an imparting of light to the soul. It's like what happened at creation for the physical world that is compared to the spiritual world of a person being regenerated by the Lord. and a very fascinating picture of what happens. So in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, it says, but even if our gospel is veiled, it's veiled to those who are perishing, whose mind the god of this age, that's Satan, the god of this age has blinded. So you have a supernatural agent. and his co-workers who are part of the blinding power. So it's beyond simply the fallenness of the sinner in that sense. Supernatural agents also assist in blinding. Blinding to what? Whose minds the God of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, whose the image of God should shine on them, The gospel is the most blazing light that there is in the universe. The person, the work of Christ, the glory of Christ is a blazing light. But blinded eyes do not see. They do not see the glory of Christ. Verse 5 says, For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. Now here's the key verse. For it is God who commanded light to shine out of darkness that has shone in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. When did God command the light to shine out of darkness? Genesis 1 and verse 3. And God said, let there be light. And there was light. And Paul is alluding to that. Back in Genesis chapter 1, did the Lord look to anybody to cooperate with Him for anything? There was the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. There wasn't anybody else. And so, in creation week, that day dawned when God said, let there be light. And there was light that broke forth. That's what happens in regeneration. It is like a light being imparted to the soul. Now, what exactly does that mean? Well, it means a number of things, and it's a bit hard to describe, at least for me it is. It's a bit hard to describe. And that is that when this light is imparted to the soul, the blinding power of Satan is broken, and this regenerating spirit the regenerating spirit, the Holy Spirit, imparts this light to the soul, the sinner sees the glory of God in the face of Christ for the first time. Now, I did not say that's the first time they've ever heard about Christ. I did not say it's the first time they may have professed to be saved in Christ. But when this glory light shines which is all of God's. Paul says, just like at creation, God commanded the light to shine and the physical light did shine because God's word always accomplishes God's purpose. That's what happens to the center. Now, don't misunderstand. I'm not saying that a new person freshly regenerated. I'm not saying that that person can articulate exactly this. But here's what I believe we can say, that when somebody sees the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, The gospel is there, and then this light is imparted, and the glory of God is seen in the face of Christ. They see beauty in Christ. I didn't say they could write an essay on that. I said, but they see beauty in Christ. And they love Christ for the first time, because they see the glory of God in the face of Christ. And regeneration causes that. This light is imparted, and in the impartation of that light, it's creative, like a creation. Genesis 1-3, Paul says, this is what happens to us spiritually. The glory of God is seen. Eyes that were blinded to the glory of the gospel. Satan doesn't care if you believe every detail of the gospel, as long as I do not see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And again, this can happen very swiftly. You say, well, you have to be a theologian to be saved, you know, up to that point. No, no, us poor sinners may have never heard clearly the gospel, except for the first time, the living in this nation, which clearly presented, and this light is imparted to the soul, and you know that that is the one, you know it is that Jesus, it is the Jesus of 2 Corinthians chapter 4, the Jesus of the Word of God, God come in the flesh, Almighty God, without ceasing to be God, and that He is the one, it's in Him. And when you see the glory of God in the face of Christ, you are comfortable with the Gospel. You are comfortable that it's not salvation by your works. You are comfortable with the divine reality or revelation through the word that it is all of grace, none of us, all of grace, and that God's way of salvation is glorious and beautiful. You say, that happens. Yes. Now, that will expand and grow in one who's been regenerated, of course. But these babes, if you will, these freshly resurrected ones, if you will, they have had the glory light imparted to their soul. Glory has come to their soul. And that's what makes the difference. And that's why you'll have You know, you'll have these folks who, you know, the Bible is not the word of God, and there's contradictions in the Bible, and so on. And I have a PhD in physics, and so I know this can't be true, you know, and that. Well, when Mr. Physics, or Mrs. Physics, when they're touched by grace, I've heard scientists, they're all from different backgrounds, they pick this up, they believe every bit of it. Why? Because this is light, isn't it? Scripture is described as being a light itself. They're now in the lights, because the glory light in regeneration has been imparted to Him. And so there is Almighty God, and He comes to the center. The gospel has gone forth. The message has gone forth. And Almighty God looks upon that center, and this is the moment. This is the time of destiny. And God says over that center, let there be light, which is equal, let there be saving grace. And in that moment, just as sure as in creation week, let there be light, and there was light. Just as sure, grace is imparted unto that center. Meaning that the center can see the glory of grace that is found in Christ. None of me, all of Him, And you can have ups and downs and so on, of course, allowing for all of that, but you never get over the fact of how glorious Jesus is. Is that not true? Is it how glorious Christ is? Decades later, you still see the glory of God in the face of Christ. You're still resting upon Him. That's because this divine supernatural light has been imparted to the soul. And that sinner is enabled to see, to perceive with the eyes of the soul, eyes of the heart, is able to see the glory of God. And that sinner will throw himself or herself upon the glory of the Lord. So it's amazing. So sometimes critics of the Bible, or people that are not critics, they've never read the Bible before, they pick this up, it's alive to them. Why? Because the glory light is shining in their souls. And they know that all of this, from Genesis to Revelation, is the voice of that glorious God. and the glorious gospel that has been imparted, opened up to them, imparted to them in a revelational saving way, if you will. And so, like at creation, there's a glory light that shines. You'll note that the sinner does not cooperate with the Lord. According to 2 Corinthians 4, the sinner is blinded by a supernatural agent. who is as much a real person as you are or I am, a fallen angel. And the result of that is they are blinded. And so unless there's supernatural healing, blind people do not overcome their blindness, do they? What happens is is that that is broken. The power of Satan is broken. The blinding power, the veil is lifted with unveiled eyes. They behold the glory of the Lord. But that veil is lifted by sovereign grace. And the glory light is imparted, that's regeneration. Regeneration is like an imparting of light. And that center is never the same, because that center sees the beauty and glory of Christ. I would expand it out that the Trinity is seen, he as triune God, is seen as the beautiful one, and glorious one, and so on. So like at creation, a light that was created, this is the glory light of grace connected to the gospel that is imparted and that sinner sees and believes. We perceive something, don't we? And no one can talk us out of it. Those who try to. Why? Because the blinders are gone. The veil is lifted. I've beheld something. You're blind and you do not see. You're blinded by the God of this age, but by grace. By grace, this creative glory light has been imparted to me. One of the most famous sermons and one of the most studied sermons that John Leonard preached is not just centers in the hands of an angry God, but is his sermon on a divine and supernatural light. It is amazed people through the centuries, scholars included, through the centuries, they've studied that. He takes his text out of Matthew, that flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, Simon Barjona, you know? Flesh and blood is not, but my Father is heaven. He starts there and then weaves through passages that It's a divine and supernatural light that's imparted. And in Edward's hands, all sorts of insights break forth regarding that great sermon. And so Edwardsian scholars have studied that sermon and studied it and studied it. And so it shows up in Edwardsian studies all over the place because of the power of what he's setting forth there. Same thing that I am stressing regarding the glory light. Then lastly, the new birth is described, or the regeneration, let me get it right, regeneration is described as being like the wind blowing. It's in the context of the new birth, John chapter 3, where you have to be born again. It's a supernatural birth. Nicodemus is confused. It's in the Old Testament. He should have understood it. Jesus says, do not marvel that I say to you, you must be born again. That's verse seven. And then, the wind blows where it wishes, or wills, or willeth, okay? You can hear the sound of it, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it goes. So is everyone who's born of the Spirit of God. Now, John three and verse eight, that is a testimony to sovereign grace in salvation. that salvation is by sovereign grace, that regeneration is by sovereign grace. And so everyone who is born of the Spirit of God is compared to the wind blowing. And so the Holy Spirit is compared to the wind. Elsewhere in the Old Testament, the ruach of God, he's the breath of God, the wind. So it can be translated, sometimes where it is translated wind can be translated breath and so on. The Holy Spirit is especially the breath of God and the wind that blows. And so the wind blows where it wishes. You can't control the wind. Now we have, the wind blow upon us. We're the objects upon which the wind blows. But you can't control the wind, can you? It blows where it wishes. And so this is the freedom of the Holy Spirit to cause whoever to be born again and will be born again according to His free will, the Holy Spirit's free will. Any more than you can harness the wind, you cannot harness the Holy Spirit. But that's what's happened. Satan cannot harness. the blowing winds of the Spirit of God himself. People cannot harness the blowing winds of the Holy Spirit. And so, any more than you can, where did the wind come from? And say, well, we have instruments that can say it's coming from this direction. Where's the origin of it? You cannot harness the wind. The point is obvious, what Jesus is saying here. is that the Spirit of God, He is God, the Sovereign Spirit, and He sovereignly moves and rushes upon whom He will to cause to be born of God, to be born of the Spirit. A supernatural birth there, but it's compared to the wind. Now, if the Arminian angle is right, then I can harness the Spirit. because the spirit then can do no more in this matter of me being regenerated or born again, can do no more than what I allow him to. And I've heard sincere people, you know, that no, no, God never forces, God never does this, caricaturing what we believe, and God is a perfect gentleman, and so on and so forth, and so he would not do that, unintentionally what they are saying. unless they're outright Pelagians, you know, of the radical sort. But unintentionally, most of them, evangelicals, most of them are unintentionally, what they're saying is, is that the new birth is in my hands. Oh, sure, you need some of the Holy Spirit's help. Evangelicals, of course, always say that. These verses are not talking about the Holy Spirit helping us to do something. These verses are talking about radical, supernatural, pictured here by regeneration, by a new birth, by being raised from the dead, on down the list, so on. And so, like creation lights, imparted the glory light of salvation, imparted that shows us the glory of Christ. And so it's in my hands. Steps to being born again. If I follow those steps, I will be born again. If I do not, I will not be born again. You must be born again. And so this verse is talking about the freedom. The Holy Spirit can only regenerate me if I believe upon Christ. That is not the ordo salutis that is found in the Word of God. That is not the order of salvation. The new birth depends upon me believing. He cannot cause me to be born again unless I believe. These pictures say exactly the opposite. that unless God sovereignly moves upon me, supernaturally moves upon me, I will never trust Christ. I will never come to Him. I cannot cause my own spiritual birth any more than I caused my own physical birth. I was the subject and object of it. And so as the wind blows, this is talking about, John 3 and verse 8 is talking about the utter sovereignty of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit does not rush upon all like the wind to cause them to be born again, to be born of God. He does not do that for everyone. He is sovereignly in control of that. And the sinner could no more harness that to cause the Lord to, by us believing upon Christ, to cause the Lord then to cause us to be born again. Could no more do that than you can walk out there and by your own power, by your own will, harness the blowing winds. And so John 3 and verse 8 is about the supernatural wind that cannot be controlled. The Holy Spirit is totally and sovereignly in control. And upon those that he causes to be regenerated or born again, They will come to Christ. They will walk in the laws of God. They will, through ups and downs and battles and so on, they will persevere all the way to the end. Regeneration is like the wind blowing. It cannot be harvested, cannot be harnessed rather. And so it's totally in the hands of the Holy Spirit. regeneration pictured, the washing of regeneration pictured as resurrection from the dead, like being born again, like creation light of the first week, glory light comes, and like the wind that we cannot control, but he who is sovereignly in control, especially the third person of the Godhead in this case, rushes upon those and causes them to be born of God. These pictures should tell us that salvation, regeneration, must happen first for a person to have true repentance, true faith, meaning true ability to repent and to believe. This should not discourage us. These four pictures are our greatest encouragement for people to come to Christ. Pray to the God who regenerates. Pray that God will move upon this one and that one. Go after them. Give them the word, because faith does come by hearing, hearing by the word of God. But we know regeneration must come to that soul. Pray. It's amazing how people who don't pray, see little happen as far as seeing people come to Christ. And you discover that people who see others come to Christ is that they pray. You have not because you ask not, James 4.2, right? So we pray. We go to the Lord. If our miminism is right, we ought to go and beg the sinner to have mercy on the Lord, let him cause us to be born again, right? What we should do, we go to the Lord to be merciful towards that sinner. Remember, we are not saying that man does not have a will. We are not saying that man is not a free agent. As a creature, he's a free agent. But God's will is over all of that. Man makes choices. It does not hinder anyone from coming to Christ. We can tell the sinner I'm blinded. In other words, if more awakening is coming before regeneration, the work, I can't come, I can't break. We have the best message. There is a supernatural work that can be done. You send the sinner to the supernatural God who does this supernatural regenerating. Go to the Lord. Cry out for mercy. Go to the Lord. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Seek him while he may be found. And if they're not willing to seek, then they're not sincere anyways. And whatever happens, it'll be temporary. We can try to save them ourselves, pronounce them saved, you know, but that will not save. So our greatest hope as witnesses are these four pictures of regeneration. The Lord is in this. The Lord's gonna save some people, is he not, right? The Lord's determined. Some more people are gonna be saved. And they're out there. And so we should be filled with the Holy Spirit. Pray to be filled with the Spirit. That's where the power is. It's related to the Holy Spirit. And so in the book of Acts, they were filled with the Spirit and God regenerated all sorts of people. Those two are not, those connections are there. He said, well, yeah, but now you're taking out of the sovereignty. No, no, not at all. but the sovereign God has chosen to use his sovereign means and tools, and so he works through these things. You'll notice that those who scatter quite a bit of seed see more people come to Christ, and those who do not witness, how amazing, they don't see hardly anybody come to Christ. Right? And so these are means that the sovereign God owns. So a message like this, this topical message, should encourage us that the Lord is in this. It does not matter how hard the heart is. It does not matter how thick the stone is in the chest of that person. The sovereign God is able to remove that stone and give them a new heart of flesh, a new spirit, a new heart that will respond to the Word of God, to the saving of their souls. And so remember, It's pictured in no less than these four ways. These four ways teach us it is regeneration first, and then repentance and faith following. Cannot be reversed. Sovereign will. I will. I will give a new heart. I will, God, I will take out the heart of stone. I will, I will. The sinner has no ability to do that, nor does the sinner have any desire to do it. That's what it is to be a sinner. But then there's this gracious one, who has so loved the world of sinners, that he comes, and not only in the sending of his Son, but the sending of the Holy Spirit. to sinners, to quicken them onto faith and repentance in Christ. Let's bow our heads in prayer.