How does God save His people from the pleasure of sin? The answer is, By imparting to them a nature which hates evil and loves holiness. This takes place when they are born again, so that actual salvation begins with regeneration. Of course it does; where else could it commence? Fallen man can neither perceive his desperate need of salvation, nor come to Christ for it, till he has been renewed by the Holy Spirit.
A. W. Pink's Studies in the Scriptures (ed. Sovereign Grace Publishers,, 2001) - ISBN: 9781589602212