Hebrews 6

Elementary Doctrine:

Repentance from dead works 

Faith toward God 

Regeneration of the Holy Spirit 

Laying on of hands 

Resurrection of the dead 

Eternal judgment 

Repent of going your own way, we cannot do works to get God. We must submit ourselves to His Holy Will, He has planned the works He wants us to do and will give us His own power to carry it out. 

Faith toward God that He loves us, made us for himself, has a perfect plan for us and will give us His grace to walk it out. All we can do is say yes or no. 

Regeneration by the Holy Spirit washes us clean of sin and gives us the grace and power to obey the Will of the Almighty. 

Laying on of hands  transmits and transfers the gifts of God. 

Resurrection of the dead, we will all be raised to a new body, some to heaven, some to hell. 

Eternal judgement will be based on our works, whether we did the will of God or not. Each will get his own reward. We want to do the will of God to be with Him forever. Don’t worry about what someone else is doing…you will be judged on your own obedience. 

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It is impossible to restore again to repentance those who:

Once been enlightened

Tasted the heavenly gift 

Shared in the Holy Spirit 

Tasted the goodness of the word

Powers of the age to come 

Because they have fallen away:

They crucify once again the son of God to their own harm 

They hold Jesus up to contempt 

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It is impossible for God to lie 

The heirs of the promise are unchangeable for his purpose 

He guaranteed it with an oath 

We must flee for refuge to God 

Have strong encouragement and hold fast to the hope 

This hope is a steadfast anchor of our soul that enters into the holy of holies where Jesus has gone and become our high priest forever!

Introduction

Fallen in Adam, all people are born dead in sins and trespasses and are incapable of spiritual renewal. Scripture teaches that regeneration (the new birth) is an essential part of the redeeming work of God in Christ. Spiritually dead men and women are utterly dependent on God to sovereignly give them spiritual life. The Holy Spirit is the agent of regeneration inasmuch as He convicts people of their sinful condition, of the wrath to come, and of their need for Christ. In the new birth, the Spirit implants in the souls of God’s people new wills, affections, and desires. Scripture often speaks of regeneration under the figure of spiritual resurrection. This connects regeneration to the resurrection of Christ. By union with Christ, believers experience the application of what Christ accomplished in His life, death, and resurrection. Regeneration precedes faith, for no one can believe in Christ until they are given new hearts by the Spirit of God. The saving blessing of regeneration is signified and sealed in the sacrament of baptism. The symbolism of regeneration in baptism is drawn from God’s typical works of water-judgment acts of re-creation in the Old Testament. Though regeneration is a one-time act of God, it is also the fountainhead of sanctification, the beginning of the ongoing process of spiritual renewal. Additionally, the regeneration of individuals is a prelude to the regeneration of the cosmos on the last day.

Explanation

Scripture reveals that all people are born “dead in sins and trespasses” (Eph. 2:1). By nature, we are unable to do anything pleasing to God. No one naturally seeks after God (Rom. 3:10–11). The natural man or woman is unable to see the kingdom of God or understand the things of God (John 3:3; 1 Cor. 2:14). This means that no one can trust in Christapart from the initiative of God’s saving grace—namely, regeneration.

In regeneration, God implants a new heart—together with a renewed will, affections, and desires—in the elect to enable them to walk in a manner pleasing to Him. Regeneration is, therefore, one of the saving benefits of redemption purchased by Christ and applied to the elect by the Holy Spirit. Westminster Confession of Faith 13.1 summarizes the nature of regeneration in the following way: “They who are once effectually called and regenerated, have a new heart and a new spirit created in them.” If a person professes to be a Christian but has not been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, he or she is not a true believer.

In the Old Testament, God promised this work of grace through the prophet Ezekiel: “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules” (Ezek. 36:25–27).

The work of regeneration is further illustrated in Ezekiel’s vision of the dry bones (Ezek. 37:1–14). Accordingly, theologians have commonly spoken of regeneration as spiritual resurrection. Reformation and revival occurs when the Spirit of God sovereignly moves to change the hearts of men, bringing them from spiritual death to spiritual life.

In the Gospels, John 3 is the clearest passage on the doctrine of regeneration. Many theologians believe that Jesus alludes to Ezekiel 36 when teaching Nicodemus about his need for the new birth. In John 3:8, Jesus teaches that regeneration is the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit who produces new hearts in the elect. As the wind moves wherever it wills, the Spirit moves in whomever He wills. In John 16:8, Jesus teaches that the Holy Spirit brings conviction of sin, righteousness, and judgment in the process of regeneration and conversion. The New Testament gives ample examples of regeneration. For instance, the book of Acts recounts the regeneration of Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9:1–9; 22:6–11; 26:12–18), Lydia (16:14), and many others.

In the Epistles, regeneration is often represented by language denoting spiritual resurrection in union with Christ (Rom. 6:4–6, 13; Eph. 2:5–6). Union with Christ in His death and resurrection makes regeneration possible. Christ’s accomplishment of redemption undergirds the Spirit’s application of redemption to the elect. The spiritual resurrection of believers is grounded in the reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

During the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century, one of the great theological battles concerned the doctrine of regeneration. The Reformed vigorously defended the idea that regeneration precedes faith and that it is based on the sovereign working of the Holy Spirit. The Reformed doctrine of regeneration stands in stark contrast to doctrines of both the Arminians and Roman Catholic Church. The Arminian position of regeneration is that a person’s faith precedes his or her regeneration. In teaching this, they deny the Bible’s teaching about the inability of man to believe in Christ by nature. The Roman Catholic Church—together with Lutherans—teaches that regeneration is inseparably tied to baptism. Accordingly, Rome teaches that regeneration is conferred to individuals in the sacrament of baptism _ex opere operato_(through the work performed). The Reformed creeds and confessions of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries carefully articulate the doctrine of regeneration in contradistinction to both of these aberrant views.

While Reformed theologians defended the doctrine of regeneration against the sacramentalism of Rome, they affirmed that baptism is a sign and seal of the regeneration of believers. The waters of baptism symbolize the washing and renewal of the Holy Spirit. Water baptism points to the promise of the new creation. This aspect of new creation was typified in the Old Testament water-judgment baptisms of the flood and the Red Sea (1 Cor. 10:1; 1 Peter 3:18–20). With the waters of the flood, God washed away the wicked while delivering Noah and his family. In the Red Sea, God was delivering Israel while destroying His enemies in the waters. So, too, new covenant baptism symbolizes the washing away of the sins of God’s people while delivering them.

Though regeneration is a one-time act in which God renews the nature, will, mind, and heart of the elect, it is the fountainhead of progressive sanctification. The transformation of the nature is the beginning of the restoration of the whole man in union with Christ. The seed of sanctification is implanted in the souls of believers in their new birth.

In addition to individual regeneration, Scripture speaks of the regeneration of creation (Acts 3:21). This is the promise of the consummation based on the finished work of Christ. The regeneration of the elect in time is the first fruits of the recreation of the cosmos on the last day. The saving work of Jesus Christ will culminate in God’s ultimately uniting “all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth” (Eph. 1:10).

Jesus explicitly refers to certain individuals as "sons of the devil" in the context of their actions and choices. For instance, in John 8:44, Jesus states, "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do"1. This statement is directed towards those who oppose Him and reject His message, indicating that their actions align with the will of the devil rather than the will of God. The implication here is that one's spiritual lineage is determined by one's choices and actions, particularly in relation to faith and obedience to God.

Sin is a conscious choice to turn away from God and His commandments. When individuals choose to act in ways that are contrary to God's will, they align themselves with evil, the devil. This alignment is not a matter of nature but of choice; individuals become "sons of the devil" through their actions and rejection of God's truth.