 What does it mean to have a regenerated heart? What does it mean to be regenerated? That's what we're gonna talk about. But there's another aspect of being regenerated, having a regenerated heart, or as we might commonly call being born again. There's another part of that that we don't always talk about and we should talk about because the two are intertwined. As a matter of fact, you can't be one without the other. Now, how the mechanisms work vividly, how God kind of weaves these things together, the order, as they would say, order sleutas, which is the order of salvation. Don't quite know. The Bible doesn't tell us enough to where it's definitive and so you're gonna have people that are gonna give their best guess, use the scriptures as best they can, but it's sometimes difficult. So because of that, I wanna just deal with one, what this is and is there any response on our part either prior to it? Before now, one of the questions that is gonna come up is does regeneration precede faith? And so I've got to also, well, obviously we gotta deal with that, but then also what if it does, what if we believe it does? What if regeneration is what causes our faith? Well, the question is what faith? And since the word for faith is the same word for belief, what sort of belief? Now we've talked about it in the past how the Bible knows of no Christian who is not a believing Christian, who is in an act of, or state of, I shouldn't say act, but a state of believing, more than an act of believing, but a state of believing. And so does this state of believing where you'll see the part of simply being used, the epistewan, the believing ones we've said before, does this state of believing? It does that come after regeneration? Or could there be any sort of belief prior to that? That's gonna be kind of a, and I know folks have an idea of which way to answer and so forth, but we're gonna look at some passages and see if it states so. By the way, thank you, Chayun, kind of appreciate that so much and thank you for the cat picture on there. So, also, well, you know, before we get into it, let's go ahead and just deal with what the word means. Matter of fact, before I get into it, let's just start where we know to start. Let's go to John 3. Now we're gonna be other places, but I wanna just start here and give ourselves a working definition first. And in John 3, we've covered the story before. This is Nicodemus. Nicodemus is speaking to Jesus in John 3 and Jesus says to him, truly, truly I say to him, or I say to you, unless one is born again and there's that word that we're talking about, this word being born. It's derived from the Greek word gnao, or in this case, ganethe, so it is ganethe anothin. This literally means to be born from above. So the Bible is telling us, Jesus is telling us that you must be born from above first. Okay, now that part we know. Well, what must be born from above? Is it the whole man, the total man? What must be born first? Or I'm sorry, what must be born from above? Well, let's put a pause there in John 3 and let's work our way from the very beginning. And I shouldn't say the very beginning because some of the words, by the way guys, when you wanna look up some of these words and start seeing when did God start discussing some of these things. Some of these things we can only go back so far. However, there are certain things that we learn that we gleaned from what was said earlier. So as far as back as we can go, we can go to Deuteronomy 10. So let's go to Deuteronomy 10. What did I just do? Did something just click? Oh, okay, I'm sorry. I'm looking at something, I'm sorry. So in Deuteronomy 10, verse 16, God tells him, we've covered this before, but we're gonna add a few more scriptures that we haven't covered before. He says, so circumcise your heart and stiffen your neck no longer. So God tells them to circumcise your heart. Now, obviously they know what it means to circumcise, especially the men, their flesh. Well, that's different. That's them cutting their flesh to show that they are part of this covenant with God. That they are God's people. Now, this circumcision was not just for the law, for the old covenant, but it was actually implemented under the Abrahamic covenant. So he says to circumcise your heart. Well, how do you do that? How do you, and imagine yourself being one of the children of Israel, being told to do that, how did you do so? Now, he's not just saying so, just to be saying so, as though everything's peachy-keying and that, you know what? Oh, by the way, guys, I know you got a lot on your plate, but in the meantime, go ahead and circumcise your heart. No, he's telling them to get their hearts right. Why? Fix your heart. You, you, sir, you, madam, you need to do something with your heart. Get your heart right. Circumcise your heart. Adjust your heart. How? Well, him asking me to do so, it would seem to imply that they could do so, and we're gonna talk about that. And this is kind of where we have to, you know, certain people wanna start, you might wanna read your doctrinal beliefs into it. It's gonna be kind of hard to read them into it. I wouldn't care whether you are Calvinist, whether you are a reformed Calvinist, whether you're more covenantal, I'm sorry, not more of a dispensational Calvinist, whether you are a minion, whether the provisions doesn't matter. All we've got to go off of is what's here. Now, remember, God is telling these people that you are going to be disobedient when you get into the land. Now, they've already been disobedient. As a matter of fact, as soon as they left Egypt, what were they doing? Grumbling and complaining. They hadn't even got to the Red Sea before they started grumbling and complaining. So these are people who just are natural grumblers, they're complainers, they sin naturally, but let's be honest, so do we. You and I sin naturally just as we, listen, if given opportunity, we can sin with the best of them, right? Same thing with these Jews. And he's telling them when you get into the land, by the way, when you get there, I'm going to kick you out. Well, why are you going to kick us out, God? Well, because you're going to be disobedient. But I'll tell you what, circumcise your heart. Get your heart right. Now, there's going to be two things you're going to notice. And I want to demonstrate that by going back to Deuteronomy. So the passage of Deuteronomy 10, 16 says, so circumcise your heart and stiffen your neck no longer. So he's telling them, he's commanding them to circumcise your heart. Well, there's a problem though, that if we're not careful, we've got to kind of reconcile something. In Deuteronomy 30, and let's go to verse five, God says, moreover the Lord your God will circumcise your heart. Now, this is him saying, after I have brought you back because I'm going to scatter you amongst the nations because you're disobedient. Yet the disobedience that you have not done yet, but you will disobey me. And because of the disobedience that's going to be in the future, I'm going to scatter you, I'm going to punish you, but I'll bring you back. And when I bring you back, when I bring you back, then I will circumcise your heart. So notice what's happening here. God is telling them to circumcise their heart, but then God is also saying, I will circumcise your heart. Well, we've got to reconcile that. We have to reconcile that. Is the first to say that it can't be done? Now, obviously the second can be done. If God is saying, I will do so, well then what does that mean? If God says that I will circumcise your heart. Guys, what does that mean? When God says, I, and I'm pointing to me because that's the only I that I know, but I'm obviously God, but when God says, I will circumcise your heart, what does that mean? Pretty easy. It means that he will circumcise their heart. He will do it. That part is understood. It's the first part that might cause some confusion when he says that I want you to circumcise your heart. Why am I bringing that up? And I don't want to confuse you guys, but through the scriptures, we're going to see where God commands people to do something, but then also by the same token says that he will do it. So, which is it God? Should we do it or are you going to do it? Are you saying that, are you asking us to do it because we can do it? Are you telling us to do it because we can do it? Or is it that you're saying that you're going to do it because we can't do it? Or are you saying that you're going to do it because we can do it, but we won't do it? Which is it? Therein lies a little bit of the dilemma and I hope I'm not confusing you, but I hope you see where I'm going to in just a little bit. What does a person with an uncircumcised heart looks like? Now, we use this term circumcise. The word for circumcised is it's talking about a new spirit in your heart. It's talking about regeneration. Let's go back to John three. I'm gonna go back to the Old Testament, but just so we can keep our terms similar so we can know what we're talking about. Jesus says, truly, truly, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Well, what does that mean to be born again? And he's stating, he is literally stating the order. He's stating chronologically that before you can see the kingdom of God, the first thing that has to happen is you must be born again. What does born again mean? Now, guys, some of you guys have heard me say this. We've covered this in the past. We'll cover it again here briefly. Being born again is not being saved. Being born again is not being saved. I know people say you must be born again and that's true, but being born again is not being saved. Being born again is your heart being changed. Now, being saved is you've placed your faith in Christ. However, being born again naturally takes place first and then you do so. Do I believe that everyone who has a regenerated heart, a born again heart, will they then place their faith in Christ? Sure. Why do we have to have our heart born from above? Oh, by the way, the term being born from above is it's used three different ways or stated three different ways just here by Jesus. Jesus makes this statement three different ways. He says in verse three, being born again. Then in verse five, because Nicodemus is confused, he says, truly, truly, Jesus says, I say to you, unless one is born of water and spirit. So the second term is you both mean the same, born again and being born of water and spirit. Both of those mean the same thing. And then if we look down further, he says that which is born of flesh is flesh, that which is born of the spirit of spirit. He says, marvel not that I say that you must be or that so everyone must be born of the spirit. So there's three ways that Jesus describes this. I know I'm going pretty quickly, but there's three ways that Jesus describes this. He describes it as being born again, being born of water and spirit and then being born of the spirit. Where does that come from? That comes from what he is saying that he is going to do. Remember, in Deuteronomy, the command is, fix your heart, circumcise your heart. By the way, circumcise your heart, that's also synonymous as well. So we've got four terms, get your heart right. So they can't circumcise their heart or they at least won't, either they can't or they won't. Either way, God says that he will. We know he's going to do so because it's prophesied all throughout the Old Testament that he's going to do so, okay? Now I'm throwing a lot at you and I want to kind of unscramble this in just a little bit, but your heart must be regenerated. Your heart must be born again. By the way, where do we get this term regenerated? Well, before I go further, because that term is also synonymous. Being born again and being regenerated are the same things. I'm going to mention this passage and I'll come back to it again for further clarification, but before we do go back to John 3, I want you all we're going to do a little bit of Greek. So brace yourself. You just lost me. I'll try to bring you back, Ballad Corp. John 3, 3 says, unless one is born again and it's where this use here is, look on the right side. This word going to slow down just a little bit. Genethe anothin. It's made of two words. The genethe part is made of gnao organemite, okay? That means to be born or to become, to begat, to be fathered, to be brought in, okay? That's the first word. Remember that word, okay? This anothin is to be born above or born again. Now, the born above from above up, so you are born from up or from above. Are you with me? So we have two words that we're talking about. Being born and born from up or born from above, okay? Why is that important? Where's my Greek alert? I'm sorry, I apologize. You know it's on there somewhere. I have not used that thing in so long. I don't know where it is. I need to bring it back down. Anyway, let's go to Titus 3.5. I want you to see this word here. He says that he saved us not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to his mercy by the washing and regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. Now this word I want to focus on, this word regeneration. This word is born of, it's called, it's two words that are there. Now if you look at the bottom, look underneath me, you're gonna see these two words. One, palin, which means again, and then genomai, which is to be born. So we have the first word that we recognize, genomai or genaio, that's there. So we have palin genasias, which is to be born again. That's where the word regeneration comes from. So this being born again, where have we heard that before? Or again born, where have we heard that term before? In John 3. And that John 3 born again is also synonymous with being born from, what it means being born from above, but it's also synonymous with being born of warden spirit and being born of the spirit. So this born again, this regeneration is simply the spirit of God doing a work. Okay, that part is important. We'll come back to Titus 3 in just a little bit. Whoa, what's going on? Hold on one second, it does appear I'm frozen. Let me see if I can fix something. Hold on one second, guys. Guys, if you can hear me, hold on one second. I'm gonna go ahead and put another cable on, give me one second. Still this? All right, guys, I don't know if that, if you can see me now, hopefully you can see me now. I don't know what happened. This, I don't know, I just had to switch the cords out. I don't know what was going on with that, but we're back. I'm not as clear as I was before, but I'm back. Sorry about that, I have to go back. Now I gotta go back and edit that whole thing out. Dog gone in. I don't even know where I left off that, but I'll see if I can make a quick recovery. People were saying I was frozen. I don't know what the deal was. Now it says double click to, what is this saying? Okay, hold on one second. I don't know if there's something on my screen that I need to get rid of. So let's see, camera source, camera source, video source should be, there it is. All right, there we go. And maybe that's what it is. Maybe I've got a, I've got a different video set up and so I must have done something wrong. I need to call tech support. Anyway, so let's back up. So the word that's used in John three is again born and that refers to, there's two things that can refer to. It can be, it can refer, somebody says the coast cup. It can refer to being born a second time or being born from above. Nicodemus thought that it could be born a second time. Jesus corrects him and says, no, this is not a second time. This is clearly born from above. And it's the same word this used in Titus three that Paul is describing. This is how we're saved by this being born again, which means being born from above. God has told the children of Israel to fix your heart, to circumcise your heart. But he says, I'm gonna do so later. As a matter of fact, the problem that we've got with this heart is something that is pretty bad. As a matter of fact, notice what he says about the heart in Jeremiah 17, nine. Uh-oh. Oh, don't it. Hold on one second. Let me remove all this stuff right here. I'm gonna get this right. I'm gonna get this right. And I'm gonna get this right in a second. If it ain't one thing, it's another. That's why joy and pain, sunshine and rain. Anyway, so let's go to a passage that God tells us about our heart. What he says is this. Why is this right? I gotta move this out of the way. There we go. All right. I don't know what is happening here, but the information should be good enough. He says, the heart is more deceitful than all else and desperately sick. Notice the terminology he says, desperately sick. Who can understand it? The heart is desperately sick. Deceitful, more deceitful than all else. That's pretty bad. That's pretty bad to say that that's what the heart is. Desperately wicked or desperately sick. The heart that we have. So because of that, even though he's told them to fix your heart, he says, God says that I will fix your heart. I will do this. As a matter of fact, we know, I won't go to the passage, but in Ezekiel 36, we've covered some before that he says that he will, that God will, you know, I need to. I need to, it wouldn't be right if I did not. So I need to go ahead and put it because there might be and inevitably there usually is somebody here who may not have seen or heard this before. Let me, so let me just go ahead and put it up for those who may not have seen this. But he says, then I will. So this guy is stating that what he's going to do, he will, I will sprinkle clean. As a matter of fact, can you guys see this? Let me switch these. Because I don't know if you can see this. Let me switch sides. There we go. He says, then I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will, here it is. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you will be careful to observe my ordinances. So here's God saying that I'm going to do something to your heart. So when he's saying to circumcise your heart, this is what he's talking about. The circumcising of your heart is him giving you a heart of flesh, taking that heart of stone out by putting his spirit in your heart. And he used the same two elements in Ezekiel 36 that he does in John 3, water and spirit. Now, I posed a question earlier. God says in Deuteronomy 10, you circumcise your heart. But then later in 30, he says, I will circumcise your heart. Well, that's not the first time that God has, or not the only time that God has said you do something, then come along later and say that I will. We have an example. He says in first Chronicles 2219, look what he says. Now, this is the same disobedient people. Now, obviously years later, but he says, now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord, your God. Arise therefore and build the sanctuary. Notice what he says. He says, set your heart and seek the Lord. Here's the question. Here's my question, you guys. Is it possible for anybody to seek the Lord? That's the question. So I want you guys to tell me, what do you think is it possible for anybody to seek the Lord? You need to answer this question. It's an important question, vitally important questions. As a matter of fact, what does God say? God says, what do I know about Frankie Beverly? Verse two of Psalm 14, the Lord has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men. Why? To see if there are any who understand who seek after God. Right? Now, this is important, guys. This is very, very important. As a matter of fact, as a matter of fact, let me put another passage in real quick that I haven't thought to put it in. Let me go ahead and put this passage in Romans in Romans. Romans three. And let's fix it over here. Also, four or five, so you guys can see it. Okay. And let's drop down. And I want you to see, let's go to verse 11. He says, no, I'm starting with verse 10. Jesus, I'm not Jesus. Paul, Paul says, he says, as it is written, there is none righteous, not even one. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks for or after God. So what's the question? The question is, let me answer two ways. Is it possible? Well, one, does anyone seek after God? And then two, is it possible to seek after God? Wait a minute, Corey. Aren't you really saying the same thing? No. Does anyone seek after God? One, two, is it possible to seek after God? Is there anyone that seeks after God? Is it possible to seek after God? The answer is a bit tricky. Even though, wait a second, Corey, we just read. He just said, there is none who seeks after God. Well, there is none, according to verse 11 of Romans 3, there is none who seek after God. But has there ever been anyone, anyone that ever sought after God in the past? Well, yeah, there have been. This is where the Greek and as well as the Hebrew comes in. I want you to notice something about the Greek word that's used here. This word for seek, if you can look over here, and I wanna, you know what, I gotta, okay. I don't think that this is not showing up well enough for you guys to see all of this. So let me move this a little bit. Okay, there it is. I want you guys to be able to read the whole thing. So the Greek over here, where it says for there are none who seek, the Greek over here is exetone. Look at the bottom of the screen. This word is a present active participle. Present active participle. What does that mean? Well, when you think participle, just kind of in a generic sense, you think ING, ING. So he says, there is none who is seeking. There is none who is seeking. But there might be somebody who on this day might seek. That day might seek. But the seeking part is the important part. I told you guys before that we are identified as the ING people. We are the ING people. What do I mean? Because we don't believe, we are believing. We don't follow, we are following. We don't overcome, we are overcoming. And we don't seek, we are seeking. We don't hear, we are hearing. There's a difference. Ours is continuous. Those of the world who might do it for a moment, theirs is temporal for the moment. Are you with me? The reason why I say that, that's the verb, that's the tense that's being used here. So it's important to always look at the tense, the mood and the voice. This is this word for seeking, guys. Look back on the screen. If you look at the bottom, it's a present active participle. So it's present and active and it's a participle. This is what we are doing. There is none, I'm sorry, in this case, there is none who is seeking. There is none who is seeking. Now, the Bible will describe a person who believes or believed anybody can do that. There's a lot of people that believed or believe for the moment. But that's not the same category of people who are believing. And I hope I'm not confusing you guys, but as best you can figure this out or understand me, it's important to know the difference between us and the people who look like us but aren't like us. All of you who will be in heaven are those that are believing. There are some folks that have made a profession of faith and won't go to heaven because they're not the believing ones. What determines if you are the believing or the hearing or the following or the seeking or the overcoming? What determines that? The regenerated heart, that's what determines that. Let's go back to the Hebrew word that's used here. Let's put that on the screen and there are seek. And so guess what this is, guys. This is a call, this is a call, part of simple. So guess what this says. God looks down from heaven to see if there are any who understand who are seeking after God. To see if there are anyone who are seeking after God. That's it, gentlemen, ongoing activity, actively doing. That's what it is. The question is, do you have the ability on your own to do the ing part? Now everybody has the ability to do it one time, maybe twice. Everybody has that ability. What has to happen though in order for you to be able to do the ing part, something has to happen to your heart. That's why Jesus goes back to it. He says that unless one is born from above, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. He can't be one of the ings, why? Because he might think it's a good idea for today, but what happens tomorrow? What happens when trials or temptations come? What happens just when time goes, ah, you know what, I'm through with this. How do we know this is the case that people who aren't the ing, whose heart hasn't been changed, whose heart has not been regenerated, whose heart hasn't been born again. What are those people like? Do we have anywhere in the Bible where there are people who believed but their heart wasn't right? And so they believed for a moment. Yes, Jesus brings us up in Luke 8. They don't quite get it, but we should get it now. In Luke 8, he tells the parable of the seed and sower. And so picking back up in 11, now the parable is this. The seed is the word of God. So you hear the word of God. Someone preached the word of God, preached up a storm, sweated through their clothes, the choir saying, matter of fact, you gave five tides. You gave tides five times. You don't even believe in tides, but he preached so good you gave tides five times. That's because the word was so good. Does that mean anything? No. Now the word does mean something. The word does mean something. But when the word is planted into a heart that has not been regenerated, then what's going to happen? Here's what it is. Those beside the road are those who have heard, then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts. So they had the word in their heart so that they will not believe and be saved. Here's this word, believe. Now, what do you think this word believe is? Do you think that the devil is stopping them from believe or the devil is stopping them from believe in? He's trying to stop them from believe in because the believe in is the point. And so apparently the devil has that ability to do so with a regular old heart. Apparently he has that ability to stop a person from believe in, but he can't stop from just momentarily having belief. He can't stop that. So what does he do? The Bible says so that he'll come so that they won't believe it. There's that word. The Greek word that's used over here is pistil santes. Look at the bottom left bottom corner. It says the heiress active participle, the ING. Verse 13, it says that those on the rocky soil are those who when they hear receive the word with joy and these have no firm root. Look at that word. They believe for a while, but notice what this word is. This word is not a participle. So they believe, they believe, but they weren't believing. So they believed for a while and in time of temptation fall away. Okay. The seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard and as they go their way, they are choked with the worries and riches and pleasures of this life and bring no fruit to maturity. Look at verse 15. But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest good, look at the word here, heart, in an honest good heart. They have an honest good heart and hold it fast and bear fruit with perseverance. So what has to happen? In order for you to be the believing, you must hear the word with a good heart. Okay. Hopefully, if I've confused anyone, I'm hoping this is kind of making sense now. If you hear the word or whoever hears the word, whatever the person is that hears the word, unless their heart is a good heart or unless their heart has been what? Born again. Can that they know them born from above or regenerated or circumcised? Unless that heart has the spirit, that heart has been changing to a heart of flesh. They won't hear. They won't keep it. But the heart that is the good heart that's been not a work of you, but a work that's been from God putting his spirit in you. Well, then that person will receive the spirit. I mean, we'll receive the word. And then what does it say? Well, hold it fast and bear fruit with perseverance. So question. And this is not even really important, but I'll go ahead and throw it in there. A heart that has been regenerated. A heart that is a good heart. When it receives the word, what will that heart do? According to the end of verse 15, they will hold it fast, hold the word fast, and do what? Bear fruit with perseverance. So when someone says, Yeah, you got to bear fruit. You got to remain. Well, he just told us that the person with the good heart that hears the word, they will go and do so. Okay. Now the question is, can anybody hear the word and believe the word? Well, sure. Jesus just told us there are people that believed it, heard it, believed it, took into their heart and then went on about the merry way and then stopped believing. They were never called the believing ones, the high pistuons. Even John 3 itself says that those of us, the believing ones, shall never perish. The I-N-G, the high pistuons, the believing ones. But what about before this regenerative work took place? That's the question. Because the question is going to be, Corey, what about in the Old Testament? We don't see that anyone was regenerated. We don't see that someone's heart was born from above, because the Bible tells us God says He will do this. He will do something with their hearts when, in the future. If He's going to do something to their hearts in the future, means He hadn't done it yet. Is this thing... There's all kind of stuff happening here. I don't know if y'all heard that, that little beep. I'm supposed to put this up, and I haven't put it up. So apparently it's working. Apparently this thing is working. Anyway, let me put it right here. I put it here so my wife would see that I'm actually going to put it up. Honey, when are you going to put that thing up? I'm going to put it up. Stop nagging me. Stop worrying about this thing. I'm going to put it up. Meanwhile, it's been sitting here for a couple of months. I'm going to put it up. I promise you, it's on the desk right there. It will get up. It will get up there. One of these days. One of these days. Now the thing wants to... Okay, wait a second. I'm having two... This is ridiculous. This is absolutely ridiculous. Now the thing wants to beep. Okay, how do I... I don't even know how to stop it from beeping. That is my plan. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I might... Okay, there it is. There it is. If I take this battery out, if... Oh God, this thing is tough. There it is. I... I... Regenerated this heart. Everything is happening, but it doesn't matter. You can't stop this devil. You can't stop this. I had to remove the battery. That battery was tough. Any other time when you need batteries for something, they won't put it in. This comes with the battery. It's all right, though. It's all right, though. So could a person with an unregenerate heart believe? Back to the question. Yes, they can't do it continually. They cannot do it continually. But what about people in the Old Testament? There are people in the Old Testament who did believe and they kept believing. Yes, they did. But you just said, Cor, you couldn't do it without a new heart. How do they do it? Any time you've got the presence of God with you, that will help. What did... Now, not all of them, they would have the presence of God or they would have the prophet of God. They would have the miracles of God. They would have God come upon them and move them. You would have, though, this, this up, down, up, down, up, down. Now, how many people from the Old Testament would say, we have no idea? But now, what they had to do is because they could still have a fallen heart. They could still, they could still be bothered. They could still feel bothered because of their sin. Being bothered because of your sin is not, you know what? It's not even a human trait. Even animals, even if you've got a dog, your dog, when he or she does something, they know they've done something wrong and they feel bad, right? If you've got a cat, not so much. That cat, the cat can do something wrong and could care less. Matter of fact, the cat is looking at you like, what's your problem? Cats are not, they're not repentant at all. So they might not make it to heaven. Dogs will. How about that? Animals have a repentant. They feel some remorse and say repentant, but they touch it and definitely use that word, but they feel remorse. Human beings can feel remorse. Animals can feel remorse. And if we go to the Book of Judges, we see this cycle happening where they do something, get themselves in trouble, feel remorse, they're getting punished, and then they cry out to God. That's another way to kind of keep you going. The problem is that didn't always happen with us. There's a new, I know there's an ugly word for some people, but it's a biblical word. There is a new economy, a new house rule. There's a new dispensation that is taking place now because those people could not get their heart straight. And it would take one God being present, the Spirit of God, the Angel of the Lord being present, the Prophet being present. And on top of that, they had to have all of these different offerings. They had to have all of these different offerings and the yearly day of atonement. So that's the problem then. We don't have that now. Now here's the question. We're told how bad and how wicked our heart is, right? We're mad. We're told how bad and how wicked our heart is. So what does God say he's going to do? He's going to fix it. Now we'll look and see. As a matter of fact, government of the story in John 3, Jesus tells a story as we work our way to John 3.16. There's something that's brought up that's kind of odd. When we go to John 3, let's drop down to verse, verse, let's start in verse 12. I told you earthly things and you don't believe. How will you believe? I tell you heavenly things. He says, no one has ascended into heaven, but he who has ascended from heaven is the Son of Man. Here it is. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up so that whoever believes will in him have eternal life. Have you ever stopped and gone over and looked at that story that Jesus is speaking about? About Moses having to lift up the serpent? Well, let's go there because the children of Israel were doing what they always do, murmuring and complaining. And so what happened was, let's just go there. Let's go to Numbers 21. Let's start in verse, so in verse 4. Then they set out from Mount Orr, by the way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Eden. And the people became impatient because of the journey. The people spoke against God and Moses. Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water and we loathe this miserable food. The Lord, now look what the Lord does. The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people so that many people of Israel died. So the people came to Moses and said, We have sinned because we have spoken against the Lord and you. Now, you don't understand this. When we do wrong, what's required to get us back in order? Especially if you don't have a regenerated heart. Well, punishment. Punishment is a good way to kind of at least temporarily, for the moment, get your heart right. Because you can be sorry. Matter of fact, not even just sorry that you got in trouble and that you got caught, but you could also be, you know, man, I, I hate that I did this. I wish I had never done this. But then you might end up doing it again because something in your heart isn't there. I'm going somewhere with this. I, I plan on, the goal is monkey moves, is to have a mic drop moment, the later on. That's, that's the goal, Neland. That is the goal. The children of Israel, like us, mess up. There's something that corrects us. With them, it was punishment and the presence of God. Because every time they messed up, they didn't always get punished. Sometimes the Lord just shows up and there's this awe. That's because when God shows up, what do you do when God shows up? And I mean the real God. I ain't talking about one of these fake guys, but when God shows up, awe shows up. And there's this terror that shows up. That's just who he is. He walks through the door and, uh-oh, y'all hold up. God is here. Same thing with us. Punishment helps us. But then also, the presence of God. Well, if you regenerate it, what do you already have? The presence of God. The convicting of the Holy Spirit. Who is God? With them, they didn't have the convicting of God with them all the time. Notice when we go back and look at the Bible, in most cases, if not all cases, when they got out of line, God, the presence of God, was not there. The man of God was not there. When the cat's away, the mice will play. Well, for us, the Holy Spirit is there. Now, that doesn't mean that we can't sin. And there's punishment for that. And so just like them, they get punished. Now, so for them, these fiery serpents biked them for grumbling and complaining. You all believe, it wasn't, what, a few days earlier, a few minutes earlier, you believed then, now you're growing, now you're complaining, man, we should just stay in Egypt. It was better back in Egypt. Now you brought us out here to die. Okay. So, they need some adjusting. They need an attitude adjustment. God's going to give them an attitude adjustment. Now, you're going to notice the attitude adjustment in the Old Testament is different than the attitude adjustment that we get in the New Testament. We'll deal with that in just a second. But this attitude adjustment in the Old Testament, this way, came by way of serpents. Came by way of people getting bit and dying. And so the people came to Moses and said, we have sinned because we have spoken against the Lord and you. Well, you could have said that before the serpents sprung. You didn't say that until the serpents bit you. Since you believed that, why didn't you say it before the serpents bit? You didn't say anything about that until punishment showed up. Sometimes you do need punishment. I can preach on that. But sometimes you just need punishment. Matter of fact, you can preach on that. Sometimes you just need it. But sometimes the punishment is like, uh-oh, too late. Sometimes the punishment is death. Sometimes the punishment is something health-wise, something physical. Sometimes the punishment is financial. Sometimes the punishment is someone else close to you being hurt. Sometimes the punishment is financial. Sometimes the punishment is your surroundings. Sometimes the punishment is everything. sometimes the punishment is just a word just a stern rebuking I wouldn't like most kids probably not most kids I wouldn't like a lot of kids you ever have your parents ever told you my mother did that one time and I just well well fine let me help you out mama she said I've heard it this is gonna hurt me more it's gonna hurt you mama can promise you this whoopie that you about to give me is not gonna hurt you as much as gonna hurt me but let's just fix the problem mama don't whoop me I asked her one time mama can you just can you just give can you just can you just talk to me instead of giving me a whooping can you just talk to me no no boy because if I just talk to you you don't do it again so sometimes I just give me just give me a stern word give me a rebuking give me a good tongue lashing didn't work for me it did not work for me and so I have to get the spanking guess who I get the spanking Israel you're getting the spanking and not all of you some of you some of you gonna learn now by the way those who died they can't complain and those of you who didn't die you were just fortunate but get right and so he says those as we spoke against you and the Lord so please would you please please please intercede with the Lord that he may remove the serpents from us and Moses interceded for the people then the Lord said make a fiery serpent and set it on or a bronze serpent and set it on the standard and it shall be about that everyone who is bitten look when he looks at it he will live and Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard and it came about that if a serpent bit any man when he looked at the bronze serpent he will live which is why Jesus makes a statement here in John 3 he says so as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so must the Son of man be lifted up so that whoever believes in him will have eternal life the issue is who's gonna make us believe in him who's gonna cause us to look at him because coming to Christ we're not punished into coming to Christ they were punished into looking at the serpent so what happens with us well we're not punished so what is guy gonna do and to see fixing the problem he is literally fixing the problem that he said he was gonna do by giving people this new heart not just Israel because if we go to John 1 he says that all of us who are his have been born of the spirit so all of us that includes Gentiles as well so it's not just the Jews but it's also the Gentiles every single person especially this side of the cross you are if you are Christian you have been born of the spirit and you are part of the eng camp the ING group believing hearing following yet that's what you are you are part of the ING group their problem was they were not they would believe for the day and then stop believing again which is why they had these constant these ad I mean these different offerings you had all this stuff plus the yearly day of atonement and then oh by the way if you mess up you just might get punished and just die and go to hell so there's a difference now there's something that we don't talk about as it relates to regeneration our heart being regenerated one thing we don't necessarily associate with some do and if you do then amen correct but something that a lot of us don't do is that is we don't associate repentance also with a regenerated heart we don't associate that we might think it's it's it's it's somewhere in involved in the process but maybe it is part and parcel of the process with with regeneration because the Bible knows of nobody who has a regenerated heart who is not repentant and the Bible knows of no one who was repentant who doesn't have a regenerated heart it's just it's almost like saying I don't know if any water that's not wet when you get the water you get the wet when you get the wet you get the water when you get the regeneration you get the repentance you get the regeneration why because your heart is made new it's born from above what does that naturally mean thank you Steve by the way for the super sticker what does that naturally mean if your heart is born from above what does above not like above doesn't like your low down living above that is a spirit from God does not like your low down living let me just kind of break and break something to you you probably don't know this yet some of you do some of you do some of you don't there are some out there that don't hopefully you do you have a lifestyle if not in check to be a low down liver yeah not liver internally but like you like to live live in live in the bottoms you would much rather be in the mud you would much rather just you know what let me see how much sin I can get away with if if it's up to me Lord let me send this much if this much sense is what I can do and still make the heaven while I'm I'm going all the way to the edge I'm gonna do as much as I possibly can unless there's something that's gonna hold me back in restraining are you still and how do we know because even with the Holy Spirit what do you do sometimes you still do some low stuff you still you still sin what brings you back well two things correction punishment and then this regenerated heart see the the regenerated heart that brings about repentance does not mean that you don't mess up the regenerated heart that brings about repentance means that one you won't do it as much or intentionally into when you do you're bothered by it you're so bothered by it that no one even has to tell you it haunts you it keeps you up at night not because you're guilty or you don't feel like you like man that bothered me there are things that I've done like man let's kind of tell you truth there's some stuff that I've done I think but you know what I hated that some things that I just recently I shouldn't say recently probably within the last yep you know within the last year stop it stopped bothering me it stopped bothering me I'm getting ready to do something before I go to the to the part where I'm gonna share something with you I've shared it with you before but I'm gonna share a little bit more than I haven't I don't but we don't sin every day I don't know if you do or don't I can't I can't tell you for sure bleach if you sin every day or not I don't know I don't think about it but I I am reminded of my sin every day I know what kind of person I am every day I acknowledge what kind of person I am and can be every day that's why Jesus who also knows is about us bleaching everyone else that's why Jesus tells us how should we pray and at the end he says lead us not into temptation but what does he say deliver us from evil or the evil one or what's that mean this is a daily prayer this isn't prayed at once I'm a Christian good to go okay you might not be the ING person because we know better let me tell you who knows better there's three people who knows better you God and Satan yep you God and say Cory what do you mean Satan though well cuz he's the one he's the one that's been in your room he's the one that's been all up in your in your phone he's the one that was there with you making these little keystrokes on your computer he knows where you what sites you visit he knows what you've typed what you've typed in he's the one that's been there and so there's only one person he'd be honest with not him because he's a deceiver not God he knows you better but yourself this is why Jesus Jesus this why John says acknowledge your sin confess your sin I must I'm not I'm not a sinner I'm not viewed by God as a sinner but I mess up why is that if you a thief I'm a thief if you a liar I'm a liar if I'm a if I'm a lustful person I'm a lustful person from a murder I'm a murderer if I'm an adulterer I'm an adulter if I am ego maniacal all of all of those things on it that way you can get fixed I told you all the story before about in the example where if you're at a mall I don't people still go to malls anymore or if you're at an amusement park or if you're taking a trip if you're taking a trip all you know is that this is my destination I'm going to this store in this mall or I'm going to this particular ride at this amusement park I'm going to this city in this country I've got to do a couple things one I've got to find out I've got a look on the map the marquee of the directory and see where the place is that I'm going okay I see where I have to go it's in the corner the the northwest corner of the mall I see where I'm going on this map it is 112 miles east I see where it is it's in the it's in the southwest part of I don't know Arkansas after you figure out where you have to go fine that's good that is good what's the next thing you need to find out what's the next most just important is where you're going what else is this important well that little mark on that marquee the directory that says X you are here you need to know where you are that's the being honest with yourself part that's where that comes in that's where you have to say that's what you have so you know what I'm just I'm just messed up I just I just I just messed up someone says I don't send I am God I got all okay all right yeah I see why you I see why you're deleted okay cool you'll find out though you will find out you need to know where you are all of us need to come to to a to an understanding of this is what I am when people are telling you in mass who you are when people are saying you're this you're this if you're if you're natural Tennessee is to know I'm not to fight it did okay all right you might not be repenting person and guess what the Bible knows of no Christian who is not repenting you can't even deal with it when you when when brothers and sisters say hey you're this you're that you're that you're that and you never listen you never he you dismiss them they're they're they're part of that group they don't believe okay meanwhile everybody who either likes you or used to like you your enemies your family they tell you the same thing but it's there if it's always somebody else and never you then it's always you okay that's why men die early men don't die early ladies because you all are more healthy no men die early because we are late to accepting whatever the diagnosis or at least going in and check I got listen I got this gigantic growth on the side on my right side and wife says well go get a check that eyes this alright I'll walk it off no you won't you having these headaches you having this fill in your chest it's okay I probably ate something we are late to go to the doctor because we don't want to accept it we're partly because we're afraid to find out the truth listen therapy for me was finding out the truth Corey and I've said it before for some reason folks don't hear me when I keep saying although I've said it a number of times I was no good you know good Corey you need this to grow you now as believers the belief part and the the keeping of the belief part that's a God work how do I know let's go back to Titus 3 5 he says God saved us not on the basis of these which we have done in righteousness which would be which will be us believing I believe but according to his mercy how so by the washing of regeneration who did the washing we didn't buy the washing there's this word being born again this war this by the washing of being born again and renewing by the Holy Spirit that's God that did so that's God that did so and by the way this word here this renewing the word Anna is up from above kind of no sense which is to be to be renewed or to be new and so for the newing from up so we are being up new to make I'm making up a word to get you to understand what I'm saying our newing or becoming new is coming from above our being born is coming from above we didn't do it he did it and that's how we're saved and so because of that when you enter into some sort of sin you have some sin and punishment comes you know how that thing works together the punishment with this regenerative heart you know what I'm good God thank you I hear you now Lord because we still got this flesh let's let's just be honest you still have the flesh and so if a person if a person is not even accepting of their sin if they're not repentant they're not a Christian it just it is what it is but a person with a regenerative heart regenerated heart they are they are a Christian Christians have regenerated hearts Christians are repentant meaning that I mean big stop sinning repentance does not mean you stop sitting repentance means you hate sinning you hate sinning what Paul said the thing that I do I hate I hate doing that okay good then we're getting somewhere if you can hate the sin if you're hating the same within fine we are we are listening we're on our way you are the person that's accepting that you got high blood pressure you are the person that's accepted that you got some sort of issue disorder what have you have that and so now you can be helped you can be helped and the person who doesn't want to be helped is the person who will not be helped that that that makes sense right so for me now by the way by the way the Bible says that he caused us first Peter 1 3 God caused us to be born again so it's God that's doing so it's God that has circumcised our heart it's God that has regenerated our heart it's God that has put his spirit in us and sometimes and it looks differently in some people him moving in us looks differently in different people the question is why why does it look different let's say let's just say with me it might look different than let's say let's I'm just use the Vante looks differently than the Vante it looks different than it looks in Jeff or why well there's a purpose in your life that God has for you know what it is don't know but God intends to use you use his children to be like in the world like to who who are you gonna illuminate like to well I never sin and so therefore I would I don't know I guess have my light shine to people who don't sin also okay well for me I used to be involved in all sorts of sexual sin and so my light will shine to other people who have been in sexual sin so they can kind of see the way out as I'm following Christ that makes sense I have been involved in all sorts of drug use and so as I let my light shine to other people have been in all sorts of drug use they can follow me as I follow Christ well for me I've been in prison and so there are people who have been down out there there's nobody who I condemn now I'll talk about sin I'll say hey listen this is what it is but who who is that I can't relate to who do I somebody said correct you think that you that you're more superior over somebody how's that I'm I'm listen I'm five dollars worth of dirt five dollars probably four sixty seven on my good day with inflation I might be 502 not not nothing special about me whatsoever but it's the Lord who lives in me and so there's somebody who because of what I've gone through they can be helped now for the rest of you not you folks in the chat but some of you other folks who don't do anything anything wrong you don't sin I thank God I'm not like that tax collector with an amen it's no wonder why no one is being saved around you it's no wonder why folks aren't aren't being delivered it's no wonder why the folks around you revel in the dirt why they revel in the mud there's no wonder there's no wonder why broken folk messed up for not broken folk messed up folk are attracted to you because you messy too but if you're broken I'm broken I am as broken as they get you know how you know how broken I am let me tell you how broken I am look at my clock my clock is broken I got a broken clock because I'm a broken dude but what does God desire a broken the sacrifices of God are a broken and contrite heart yeah there's somebody that wants to tell you about how bad you were in the past you broke that listen tell some more tell some more you give my testimony same thing with you you're going through something God wants to see how you're going to go through it some of the stuff is is that you done you've created some stuff no fault of your own you got a something's happened with you medically and it's not your fault God wants to do God wants to see how you're going to handle this financial situation maybe it was your fault maybe it wasn't God wants to see how you're going to handle things in the the city or the city you're in there's nothing you can do about this let's say someone stole your car or did something how are you going to respond your job is moving out of town or get laid out through no fault of your how are you going to respond that's the that's the I'm broken two broken pencils but I know a mender Joan I know a mender that's who I know I know a mender who when he puts you back together even with the scars even with the brokenness even with the broken bones the the the uh what do you call those things the stitches even with the blemishes the bruises that are still there how God does it you look better with them you look God have you seen a person there's just some people that are just just good-looking people who they might have a blemish or bruise and the bruise like wow even with this bruise the person looks good can't stand that person I I hate her with her with her mole right there you can God can take a blemish he can take an imperfection a scar a stitch something he can take a limp and make it look lovely I didn't you know I didn't mean I didn't mean to put those bars right there I didn't mean to do that right there it just listened right there it just it just came out but he can take your limp and make it look lovely he he can make all your failures look like an awesome testimony and that's what he does that's what he does maybe that's how we can look at it at his bruised and battered and tattered body because it looks like ours and only people with a regenerated repentant heart who's been druged through the mud either on their own or by God can identify see there are things that used to bother me I don't know if I told you I've told you this before do you all know that for the longest all not all of my dreams but most of my dreams you know you go to sleep in prison and you just have a dream because you're sleeping and so I have a dream the dream was about something in prison people in prison were in the dream stuff in prisons in the dream I had a dream in prison that me and my wife went on a cruise in the cruise both of us are in our room the room was a horrible looking room you know why because the room looked just like the prison cell and while in the room my wife is we're both in there we're unpacking and there's a knock on the door and someone says all right it's count time stand up count time which we have to do in prison just because that's what I was surrounded by that was in me um when I got out what do you think I had dreams about it's still about prison it's it's going to take a while for that for to not have dreams about that prison now my dreams are different now my dreams are even if the prison pops up my dreams are now it's funny it's about people coming out of prison or people hearing the word in prison but I'm on the outside I used to wonder Lord when am I going to stop having having those dreams well I probably will never stop having those dreams but God will use that past for my for my benefit or for someone else's benefit someone else's past benefited me you know how hard it would be if you go to prison and and no one says hey don't don't worry about it you'll be able to have it I've made it as far you can you can make it as far if you don't have that well man I'm about to kill myself by the way the suicide rate in prison is high because people feel like they can't make it you need somebody to say I can make it well how do you know you don't know what I've gone through yeah I do I've been I've been messed up too and so here I am because I got this heart where God has been working on my heart didn't give me the surgery now I can I can help you out I'm not faking what I used to think that I was all that now I know I'm not now I know I was lying to myself I wasn't lying to the world they could see but now I can see it for myself and so the question now though is is how do you know your heart is regenerated how do you know that your heart is regenerated because that's that's the 64 thousand dollar question or I guess 64 million dollar question how do you know your heart was regenerated you have a regenerated heart which means well again I told you this is the reason why I'm saying this they go hand in hand regeneration and repentance because you are because you're bothered by your actions you're bothered by who you are and because the spirit lives in you you don't want to just get past the sin you don't want to just get past what it was you did you want to go somewhere because again look on the map I see where I'm going and I see where I am if I really am regenerated then my desire is going to be to go to where I'm trying to go I'm going to go after and proceed towards that destination so as a believer if I truly I'm a believer if I truly am regenerated I hit a detour what have you you know what I don't do you know how you know do you know how you know you're not that you are regenerated not the sin it ain't the sin that determines if you're regenerated it's not the sin that determines if you're repenting what determines if you have a regenerated repenting heart is the fact that even though you fail you sin you went this way we should be going that way is the fact that you decide that you turn around and go that way why what did God say he is going to do let me go back this passage if I can find it if I take it down let's go back this passage in Ezekiel 36 he says I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statues my ordinances so you know you are if you are walking towards him now if you're not walking towards him now we got a problem now we got a problem and because of that if you recognize it all you got to do listen the problem is fixable it's easy place your faith in him now someone asked a question Corey is it possible to have that kind of generic fake faith then get regenerated I don't know I don't know that question stays open because we don't have an example of it and the Bible doesn't really say it would be me giving an opinion and I wouldn't really yeah well maybe it's I guess it's possible I guess it's possible for those in Luke 8 to not be regenerated but have that temporal belief and then later their heart be regenerated that's possible I don't know if it does work their way I would probably say not but I'm not sure I'm not sure that ain't the most important thing the most important thing is are you regenerated not when you were regenerated but are you Paul didn't say examine yourself to make sure that you have in the past been saved basically he said make sure that you examine yourself to make sure that you are Jesus didn't say not everyone who says to me uh Lord Lord he says I never knew you um his point is not that I used to know you I need to know you now right now at this very moment do you know him at this very moment do you have Christ doesn't matter when you did how long you did how great he's been in your life well it doesn't matter actually how great he's been in your life but the point is you need him in your life and so this is just the crux of salvation you do not get it you do by the way Jesus makes a statement it's kind of we don't even point this passage out look at this passage he says in Matthew 19 27 Peter says behold behold we have left or I have left or we have left them sorry everything to follow you what then will there be for us because even the the the disciples the apostles they were they were human beings too what about us what what's there for us Jesus says truly truly I mean truly I say to you that you who have followed me what he says in the regeneration Polygynesia which is what the same word that's used in Titus 3 you follow me in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on his on his glorious throne you also should sit up on the 12th throne as judges and 12th tribes now we won't do that but he mentions following him in the regeneration same thing for us so every believer must be regenerated this has to happen in order to be saved it has to happen in order to be saved that's a good passage Carlos by the way Romans 116 so guys that's it I was going to have my little mic drop moment but I said no I will save it because I have a need to save it I've got something else to say later so anyway guys I love you all if you have any questions I think somebody asked me about my my testimony why I why I went to prison for being a knucklehead for thinking I was smarter than the average bear that that's why so but I'm out I was I was out and I'm here amen amen Christina um I'll just I'll I'll say this there's a lot of people who feel like that they're in a this time of being chastised you know the good thing about that is that you recognize it is that you recognize go ahead reform brinn um I go ahead and ask it I'll take it real quick is that you recognize it because if you don't within Houston we got a problem God is always trying to correct his children and if you can hear it you can feel it when they man there's a lot of us who don't hear it don't care aren't his children so that's that's actually good news that's actually good news I'm gonna wait for I'm gonna take this one question from reform brinn who I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that reform brinn you are reformed because you put in your thing reformed brinn so I'm gonna assume that you are reformed where's the question so when you're gonna yeah I should have closed I should have over let me fix this cup let me fix my cup he says so when are you going to just mean just mean never never but because you know what and I'll say this on the way out I'm pretty sure there are no patriots in heaven I'm pretty sure God never Jesus never mentions anything about a patriot in the Bible but he did mention the cults yes you go in that town you'll see a cult that's never been written go and get it if the owner asks you the owner asks you why are you taking this cult the Lord tell him the Lord needs the cult amen