...my footsteps and giveth me
songs in the night. Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb. Redeemed, redeemed, His child
and forever I am. Okay, now let's go to the book
of 1 Peter, chapter 1. 1 Peter, chapter 1. The blessing of a new child in our midst and
the miracle of that birth made me think of an even greater blessing
and an even greater miracle, the miracle of the new birth.
And there's several passages, but I immediately turned to this
one and began to read it. And it is so such a blessing,
a blessing of all blessing. Verse three of First Peter one,
the apostle says, Blessed, oh, blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which, or who, according to his abundant
mercy, hath begotten us again. Blessed be God for giving birth
to us according to his abundant mercy. This new birth, or begotten,
the word begotten means to sire, to give birth to. This new birth
is of God, he blessed God for giving birth to him. When he's
talking about God, he's talking about God the Father, God the
Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And we have all three of those
persons and how they gave birth to us in one verse here. One of the clearest of verses
in the scripture concerning the triune or three in one. God has and how we're born from
above, born of God. That's what the Scripture says. We're born not of blood, not
of the will of the flesh or the will of man, but of God. Born
of God. It's His work. He's begotten of. Now, let's
look at it verse by verse. Verse 1, Peter. Peter is writing
this. Peter. Now, stop right there. We're talking about the new birth.
He's going to. He's going to talk about the blessing of all
blessing, the miracle of miracles. The blessing of all blessing,
how God Almighty chose us in Christ before the foundation
of the world. Loved us, foreknew us, his people, and did this
great quickening Or life giving miracle this regeneration is
born from a born of God's mystery it is made known under this mystery.
Peter. He knew. He knew why he was Peter. And he blessed God for what he
had done for him Peter. Think about it now Peter wasn't
as not always was not always called Peter. If Sam was his
name Simon he was a fisherman. Many years before he wrote this
he was a fisherman a longshoreman ever known any real fisherman.
On the New England coast or even the Pacific and and other places
all over fishermen are some of the roughest roughest. Burly
old fellows. Peter was one of the rough, gruff,
old salt ladies, an old salt. He was born in a boat, raised
at sea, fishing was his life from a boy, that's all he knew,
sea, boats, nets, fishing was his life, and someday it would
be his death. Most of those old fishermen back
then died at sea. Most of fishing was his life
and it would be his death someday so he knew it's all he cared
to know. It was his life he was dead to
everything and everybody else but. One day there with me to Luke
chapter five one day. Peter there's time one day Simon
and his brother Andrew. Along with their partners they
were in partnership with James and John and Zebedee, their father,
James and John's father, Zebedee. They were partners, all of them,
in fishing. One day they had been out fishing
all night long. That's when the fishing was good,
usually. And they fished all night long.
They used nets back then. commercial fishery fishermen
fishing. And they came back that morning
early in the morning and they were out and in kitchen all night
long fishing. And they didn't catch a thing.
And they were washing their nets on the shore and their boat was
right there tied up. A little back off the shore. And along comes a Galilean teacher. A big crowd of people behind
him. And Peter, Simon, James, they're washing their necks,
and here comes this big crowd. They look up. And the teacher gets in his boat. Now, it has to be, you know,
generally. Whoopsie, I keep getting in my
boat. Yeah, he gets in his boat. Like he owns the thing. This is true. This is a true
story. Simon. And the teacher, he didn't know,
he didn't have a clue who this was. Well, he'd heard of that.
But what's he... Andrew, you see that? And the
teacher said, Simon, we're going fishing. Launch this boat out. We're going fishing. You hear that, Andrew? Maybe
they're laughing to themselves. Teacher, look at Luke 5, verse
5, Simon answers, said, Master, we've toiled all night long. Now, we're fishermen, we're experts
at this, we've been doing all of our lives. And what are you,
a teacher? And we've taken nothing we told
all that we know all the spots we know where most of the fish
are in the waters we fished all night long we didn't get your
thing never let. OK. At your work. And they pushed up. And let down
the net. And it says when they had done
this immediately they enclosed a great multitude of fishes,
so much, so much fish, that their nets were breaking. All of them,
James, John, Peter, Andrew, all their nets full, breaking. And Peter beckoned to his partner,
well, Peter and Andrew's net, and they beckoned to them and
the other ship, that they come and help. And they came, they
filled both ships, and they began to sink. They had so many fish. And when Simon Peter saw it,
he hit his knees on the boat. This is not just a teacher. God
Almighty, through a word and by His power, showed this old,
rough, old fisherman, you're in the presence of my son. Hit your knees. And a twinkling of an eye, he's a different man. He's a
new man. Simon has now become Peter, disciple
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it went on to say he dropped
his notebooks and left all that fish. There was a time. It wasn't
catch and release. You'd keep everything you caught. But he left it all. to follow
this man. I'm going where you're going.
I'll be your disciple from here on out. And if you have those
boats, see you later, dad, mom, honey, my wife. I'm following
you. What? It's a miracle. Peter. That's a whole story in
a word, isn't it? Go back to the text. Peter. Peter
knew something about this miracle, a new birth, didn't he? an apostle
of Jesus Christ, a disciple, a messenger, a servant of Jesus
Christ to the strangers. The word really is sojourners,
those who are sojourners, strangers to the world, strangers to Peter,
strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia,
Asia, Bithynia, and Franklin. I don't know where you got from
there. To the stranger he didn't know
Franklin exit Franklin didn't exist when he wrote it did the
God. And every person that. Elect
first to elect according to the foreknowledge of God. Chosen
by God that is before the world began like what is the let me
break just what he said he chose Chosen by God before the world
began. Elect according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father. What is foreknowledge? He uses
this quite often. Elect according to the... For
whom he did foreknow, Romans 8, 29. For whom he did foreknow,
he did predestinate. Whom he did predestinate, he
called. Whom he called, he justified. Whom he justified, he glorified.
For whom he did foreknow, what does that mean? Well it does
not make what these false preachers say that they say that God looked
down through time to see who would believe on him he knew
beforehand who would believe and elected that they make good
sense that what they need to elect them for. That now they elected him. That's
what they say that's what they say God vote for you never voted
against you you cast a decided deciding that's exactly the way
every modern preacher sums up. Yes it is. How idiotic can you
get that make makes man determine his own salvation that makes
man get the glory that makes man do in the electing and God
running for election. Right. For knowledge is God knowing
or that he is setting his purpose his mind his will upon his love
it's for love you remember when Adam knew his wife Eve. Says
in the beginning Adam knew his wife Eve what does that mean
that mean. I think you're. Yeah I'm seeing other women around
here I believe you're the one. I got to make fun of that but
that's what I. Yeah there's no other ladies you must be my wife.
Glad to know. It means he. Knew her he entered
into entered into a union with her to became one place. That's what for. The. Or in the foreknowledge of God,
he set his love and affection upon those he chose. And he has
to do this. God has to set his love upon
his people because there's nothing lovely about it. We love those
that love us. We love those that are lovely.
Right? Not God. God sets his love. God sovereignly loves. God determines
to love. God purposes to love. Like an
old Well. Like that child in the field.
Is a time of love. His love for. The father's love
for the child. Nothing lovely about it is lying
there in his pollution. I love that foreknowledge. I gotta go on. Elect according
to the foreknowledge of God through sanctification of the spirit.
Unto obedience. and sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ. Peter writes to the elect. He
said, You've been chosen by God, according to his foreknowledge,
before the world began. You have been set apart by God,
the Holy Spirit, sanctified, set apart, operated on by the
Holy Spirit. You have been Redeemed by the
precious blood of the Lamb, your sins have been faithful, washed
in the blood of the Lamb of God. Grace be unto you. And peace multiply. Peter says, I know. It happened
to me. He did that for me. I was a stranger
once to the Covenant, he said, but not anymore. Been made nigh
by the blood of the Lamb. You see, right there is the Trinity,
isn't it? You see that very clearly. Election
of the Father, sanctification by the Spirit, and redemption
by the Son. Right there. If you want a verse of Scripture
to declare the Gospel, Right there it is, people. Right there
it is. Take someone to that. Sanctification. Set apart the Holy Spirit. God
Almighty. God the Father. These people
He chose. He sent the Holy Spirit to arrest them. Set apart. You've heard me illustrate that,
like cutting horse or... Set apart the Holy Spirit. It even says, Kelly, that God
draws with force. The Scripture even says that.
In other words, God uses a rope. The lasso. Not all of them. The ones he set his mind on.
It's the lasso of the gospel. Chords of love. Chords of a man.
The gospel of the message of a man. Of a person. That's what
the Holy Spirit uses. The lasso. Chords of a man. Draw me. Thou hast drawn me with
chords. Chords of a man. The woman at
the well said, come see a man. Come here, you're mine. Come
here, Nancy, you're mine. With the gospel. He did that
with the gospel. Could have been somebody sitting
right beside you didn't hear it. But you heard it. Why? He
less old you. Set you apart. Psyched you because
you're one of God's chosen. He got blood on you. Your tabernacle
had blood all over the doorpost and lint on it. Who did it? Our
elder brother. Who shed his blood and Applied
it to all of God's elect. The Holy Spirit in time, when
we're born in time, and God's fullness of time, just as when
God in the fullness of time sent forth His Son, made of wool,
made under the law, in the fullness of time, God's time, determined
time, by God, who purposes all things, in His time concerning
us, no matter however old we are, when we first hear 20, 25,
16, 30, 35, 40, 50, 50, and his grandmother was 75. Abraham, 75. God sends his gospel. And a new creature is born through
the gospel. Of his own will, James said,
of his own will begat he us. Of his own will, God purposed
it. God purposed it. Yeah, let's turn, we've got plenty
of time. Ephesians 1, this is, this is, oh, you know, well,
we could go to John 1, we could go to Romans 1, we could go to
Ephesians 1, goodness sake, we could go to Colossians 1, to
declare this gospel that God uses concerning his son, what
the Holy Spirit uses to quicken us. This is the lasso, this is
the cords of a man, this is what God uses. What God uses is seed. The word is called seed. That's
what Peter said. We're born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible, the word of God. And he went on to
say, this is the word which by the gospels preached unto you.
This is what the Holy Spirit uses. The seed when the God the
Holy Spirit came upon that little Jewish maiden Mary. And descended upon her and the
angel said that which is born in you that which is in you is
of God that holy thing and it's the same with all whom God purpose
to give birth to. It's a God. The seed of God. What is the seed of God? It's
the Word of God. It's what you're hearing right now. What you're
hearing right now. The Word of God. Look at Ephesians
1. Look at verses 4 and 5. Paul knew who chose him. According as he hath chosen us
in him before the foundations of the world, that we should
be holy. That's sanctification. And without
blame. Justified from all things before
him. Someday, and he did it in love.
Sovereign love having predestinated us under the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ. He's the one who travailed in
pain. He's the one who travailed. There's got to be pain. There's
got to be travail. There's got to be blood and water.
Just like natural birth. I want to illustrate that in
a little while. Jesus Christ is the one who went
through all the pain. There's got to be pain, or no
child will be born. Right? Ladies, you ought to be
listening, entering into it. He did it, and why did he do
it? Verse 5, according to the good pleasure of his will, to
the praise of the glory of his grace. It's all to the praise
of the glory of his gift, what he did. praise of the glory of
his life is election and predestination what is it. Now I'm not being
flippant or trying to be clever. But you'll remember. Predestination
it says predestinated on the children. And God has determined
predestined to be conformed to his image. Predestination election
and predestination is planned parenthood. my God on my. Planned Parenthood. Now we think
we decide to have children. We think that. Oh we're not going
to have children for a few years and oh now we're going to start
we're going to start. Yeah right. Man is so proud of it so presumptuous. I remember my wife And I said
that we're not going to have children for a few years. Then
after a couple of years, well, we'll decide that. Yeah, we're
going to start trying that. It doesn't work that way. There
was another lady called her one time and said to her the same
thing. She said, we're going to wait a while to have children.
And then after a while, she said, well, now I'm going to start.
We're going to have a child. Yeah, right. And she couldn't
put him in. She couldn't. We don't decide, but God does. God does. He knows exactly how
many. Oh, there's a number which no
man can number, but God did. He wrote a book called Numbers. I've been reading it. Every one
of them. numbered down to the last one. God numbered them. Oh yeah, he
foreknew them. He determined it. Every one of
them knew their names, the time of birth, their size, shape,
weight, character, everything about them. Before I formed you
in the belly, I knew. That was the plan. My God, he's the only one that
does. And he did that. And it says. He did this by Jesus Christ,
verse seven, in whom we have redemption through his blood,
forgiveness of sin through his blood without shedding of blood
is no remission. of sin, redeemed by his blood. Jesus Christ had to shed his
blood, had to go through that horrible death that we might
live. That horrible death, excruciating
pain and agony, suffered agony, that we might live. Verse 6 says,
we were accepted in the beloved. John, you thought I was going
to skip over that, didn't you? Accepted in the beloved Christ
our righteous representative. Good and the Holy of Holies.
Accepted by God. And we're accepted in him. And
redeemed by his blood and it's all because of according to the
riches of his grace. Or by grace you're saying it's
all again it's all again and verse 9 says he made known unto
you this he made this known unto you this is the new birth He
made it known unto you. What did he make known? Verse
10, that all things are in Christ. It's all by him, through him,
for him, to him, that God chose you, that the Holy Spirit separated
you, that Christ redeemed you. He made this known unto you.
Down in verse 13, it says, In whom you trusted after you heard
the word of the Lord. This is the power of the gospel.
The seed was sown in your hearts. In whom also you believed. And
then you receive that Holy Spirit from. It's all the praise of
his. Glory down in verse nineteen
got rid of it and you know what's exceeding greatness of his power
to us when you believe according to the working of his mighty
power you know who did it. So go back to our tech Peter
says he said we're elect according to the four knowledge of God
set apart by God's spirit Redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ, verse three, all blessed be the God and the Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his abundant mercy,
if he's done this for you, he did it. He's merciful to you,
abundantly merciful to you. He's been abundantly merciful
to you. And we don't fully realize it
right now, or everybody in here would be shouting, amen, amen. God has been It's of the Lord's
mercies that we're not concerned. It's of the Lord's mercies that
I heard this gospel. It's of the Lord's electing mercy
that I heard this gospel. I'm not an unbelieving fool. It's of the Lord's mercies that
I get to hear this gospel time and time and time again. It will
be of the Lord's mercy if I ever stand before him in the judgment
justified from all things. It's of the Lord's abundant,
saving, mercy, sovereign, undeserved mercy. every bit of us by mercy. Everything this side of hell
is mercy, mercy. We ought to be saying, mercy
me. Mercy unto me. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ according to his abundant mercy. Steve Parks, has he been abundantly
merciful to you? Look at you. Abundant mercy hath begotten us, given birth
to us. He did it all. He did it all. He did the choosing. He did the
loving. He did the drawing. He did the saving. He did the
redeeming. He did the dying. He did the suffering. He did
it all. He does the keeping. He does the providing. He does
the leading, the guiding, the carrying, the bearing. He does
it all. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy have begotten us again. That is, born again. I know this
stupid generation has abused that term in such a way that
it almost makes me shy away from it. But no, sir, this is God's Word. We're born
again. That is born the second time.
We're born the first time. You've got to be born the first
time. Flesh and blood upon this earth to be born again. Born,
more accurately, from above. That's what the Lord said to
Nicodemus, you must be born from above. He didn't say you must
get born. He said you must be born from
above. Oh, Nicodemus, can I enter into
my mother's womb? You fool. You're a master in Israel and
don't understand these things. You didn't have anything to do
with your first birth, let alone your second. Your mother and
your father gave birth to you the first time, begat you, conceived
you. Your mother went through all
that work to give birth to you, travailed in birth to expel you. You didn't have anything to do
with it. And much less do you have to do with your second birth. Far above, born of God, out of
the will of the flesh, the will of mass. How stupid, and I'm
using that word on purpose, how stupid can you get? A man's glory. Oh, blessed be God. The Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, for whose abundant mercy hath forgotten us, hath given
birth to us. I'm just now realizing what my parents went through
for me. I'm almost 50 years old, and it's taken me this long to
really appreciate what my parents did for me. But my mother went through for
me. That's right. Blessed be God, Father, Holy
Spirit, Son of giving birth to me to a lively hope, a living
hope, a lively hope. I mean a living, living, Or they had a baby. No, this
is a soul. This is a person. It's a human
being, a brand new human being. Not just a baby, it's a human
being with a soul, an everlasting soul. A lively thing. Ask Hannah right now, she wakes
up two or three in the morning, ask is it alive? Lively. Real living, lively thing. Hope, it's called hope, because
we're not there yet. Right? It does not yet appear
what we shall be. It says, blood that now we the
sons of God. Yeah, lively, living, real. A real thing, a real son
of God, a real child of God, yes, giving all, well, give you
all evidences to a degree, all evidences, of being a real son
of God, lively, living, true. But it's hope because it does
not yet appear what we shall be. We're going to know someday. Hope. Living, lively, the word
lively means living. What is it to live, to be alive? It's to love. It's to laugh. It's to cry. It's to call. It's to seek. It's to mourn. It's to dance. It's to shout. It's to live. These are living
emotions, living. We don't put any, don't put much confidence in emotion, a lot
of that in religion, but I wouldn't give you a plug nickel for somebody
who shows none. Christ said, my word is life.
When's the last time you, the gospel really moved you? Man, old man, this thing ought
to move us. And he did it by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead. What did the disciples do when
they saw Jesus Christ alive? Did they show any emotion? Man, we can live now. We can
live now. They were ready to quit living,
Stan, weren't they? Peter said, I'm going... Peter!
Simon said, I'm going back He's going back to those dead things
after all you've seen. Yeah, he's dead. He's dead. Somebody
said, No, he's not. No, he's not. Mary said, No,
he's not, Peter. He's just a woman. What do you
know? Manoah's wife said, Lord, we're
pleased to kill us. Peter, you're my life now. You're my
life. You're my life. What was I thinking? He rescued
me from that. I'm going back to that. Here
am I now. Forgotten us again. But lively
hope. That's a message in itself, isn't
it? Lively hope. New life. Forgotten of God. Now,
let me close with this illustration, okay? This is a fitting illustration. Many of you have heard it before,
but I don't get tired of telling it. And it's very fitting. The
second birth, being born from above, is very similar. And that's
by design. By design of God, it's very similar
to the first birth, to this physical birth. Very similar in nearly
every way. It's a miracle. Just because
it happens so much today you know these babies babies being
human being formed in a belly of a woman think think about.
I mean a human being in a somebody's stomach. You will be. Every one of us
were in somebody's stomach. Rowan. That's a miracle. Who did it? God did. Every one
of them. And this is greater than that.
The miracle of God. And the experience of my only
begotten well-beloved daughter is still
very dear to me. We my wife and I were a childless
couple. They told us that it was impossible
for us to conceive. They said with man it's impossible. That's exactly right. Salvations
of the Lord. Regenerations of the Lord. With
man it's impossible. But with God all things Yes,
all things, not only possible, certain. Purpose. Before the
world began. Childless couple, all right.
Well, my wife conceived. Conceived by the father. Seed
of her husband, the father, was implanted in her womb. And she conceived. God, the father,
chooses whom he will, for the world chose. And in time, God,
the Holy Spirit, descends upon, through the preaching of the
gospel, a dead womb, a barren womb, a fruitless human being,
a dead in sin and trespasses human being. But through the
preaching of the gospel, which is the seed, the power of God,
the incorruptible One day, in the fullness of time,
according to him, we don't know it, but he knows it. When is a man born? When is a
man given life? When is someone saved? When it
please God to reveal his Son. When God sends the life-giving
seed. We don't even know, because he's
going to get the glory. No man knows. Preacher's not going to
get the glory. Soul winner's not going to get the glory. Church
is not going to get the glory. God's going to get the glory.
He plants this seed, which is the word of God, which is the
gospel, which is the story of Jesus Christ. That's what God
uses. Nothing more, nothing less. Right, John? Nothing more, nothing
less. You know, everything of life
is in that seed, isn't it? All the genes all the characteristics
and so forth of me were in that that see the word sees her. Such a little tiny thing such
a little insignificant thing in. Small. His life. Life. Well she can say. And she went through labor. Labor and I don't mean just the
actual giving of birth but Nine months carrying that child. Nine months. Especially in the
latter parts. Labor. What did our Lord endure
for thirty-three and a half years as a man? Oh, yes. Pregnant with his people. Enduring
suffering. Didn't have to, but willingly. Would you go through it again
for her a minute? 24 hours of labor? Pain? Would
you go through it nine months? Would you do it again? Ladies,
would you do it again? Nancy, would you do it again? Wouldn't
hesitate. For the joy set before you. So
did the Lord Jesus Christ. And there came a time after nine
months, great pain and agony came upon the mother of the child. Great pain. Our Lord said that
to the woman in the very beginning, didn't he? He said, I've greatly
multiplied our sorrows in childbirth. Why? Because it's a picture of
the Lord Jesus Christ. The great multiplied sorrows
that he endured to give birth to his people. He labored a lot
longer than you ladies will have to because he had a lot more
children. His pains were much greater than yours will ever
be because he had a lot more children. She went through travail, and
you know, when the time comes, water breaks. What's the first
thing that happens, lady? When her water's broke, she's
coming anytime. And a person, a dead human being,
sits here and hears the gospel. The gospel's called the water
of the Word. And they sit here and sit here
and sit here, and all of a sudden, the water breaks. I ain't heard
that. Any time he's coming to Christ.
Any time. He's coming out now. Coming out
from among them. The water broke. And what else comes out? Blood. Lots of it. It's life-giving. That child is living in that
cocoon. What a picture that is of salvation,
huh? In Christ. Alive in Him, hidden. That cocoon feeding off from,
nourishing itself completely from, getting all of its life
from. It is not sustaining itself in
any way, but it owes its very life to the Mother. It's got
an umbilical cord of life attached to it. And so do we. That cord, there
it is again, a cord. A cord of love. God's purpose,
God's promise, God's covenant is that umbilical cord, the blood
of Christ which we nourish, which we're nourished by. And in time, the baby comes out, head first. That's a picture,
I just thought of that, head first. First thing you know is
your head. You lift up the head. The baby
is born. Christ suffered, bled, and died
that we might live. Christ endured the agonies of
Calvary's tree by his own precious blood. When he was hanging on
the cross, literally a soldier came by and slit his side open,
and what came out? Blood and water. That's by design. What else came out? His church. His people. All of them. Out
of his rib and side. Born. Born of God. A child is
born against their will. Sammy told me, the child's a
little bit fussy right now. Well, you would be, too, if you'd
been in a hot tub for nine months. In a hot tub for nine months.
Just hush. And then all of a sudden, somebody
Get out of there. Shine bright lights on you. I
don't want to go back. Isn't that right? A little fussy. Against her will. What's it take
to get that child born? Honey, would you cooperate? Would
you please let me have you Is that how it's done, Sarah? Is
that how it's done? No. Great force on the part of
the mother, right? The kingdom of heaven suffered
violence, and the violence take it by force. The Lord Jesus Christ
forced you, they say. Yes, sir. I will not have this
man reign over me. He said, you will too. I will
not bow unto you. You will too. I will not be ridden
by you. I'm a wild ass as coal. I'm getting
on you. I won't take that bitch. Yes,
you will. Thy people will be willing in
the day of thy power, but it's by force. I love this definition. God's people are saved against
their will, with their full consent. I will not have this man. And
then a few, just a little while later, you said, I will. I will
have this man. Who made you willing? Or that
there's a attending physician there. It was attending physician
there when the mother is pushing the position. That's what the position is pulling. We've already said that in the
Holy Spirit drawing his people Christ from a man in the Holy
Spirit drawing by. Lively hope. The hopes of her mother and father,
the dreams, a real living thing. But you know, it doesn't look
like it at first. When it's first born, when she came out, oh,
is she alive? It didn't look like it. All covered in blood and mucous. I'm sorry if that offends you,
but it's just ugly looking. Still. wouldn't do anything. But the physician knew what to
do. Immediately, he knew what to do. I used to. They used to bag bottles back
then. I think you and our boys stand,
they slapped us in the face. No. Slapped our mothers. No. Now, well, at least they
did with Hannah. They took her little feet and
just flicked the bottom, those little tender fat feet. Boom. Pain. How do you know it's alive? Pain. Never had pain before. Everything's fine. Pain. What does it do? How do you know
it's alive now? What did I do? Rejoiced. She's crying. I'm rejoicing. She's alive! They said of Saul
of Tarsus, don't... The Lord said, behold, he prayeth. He's alive now. They said of
Bartimaeus, he's crying. Bartimaeus cried. The people
at Pentecost, after they heard the gospel, cried out, men and
brethren, what shall we do? Pain, what was the pain? Pain
of heart. Mourning over their own sin and
guilt. Pain. Never had it before. No guilt. Start crying, God be merciful
to me, the sinner. And there's joy in heaven, the
scripture said, over one sinner that cries out, he's alive. He's
alive. Blessed be God. He's alive. A lively child. It's crying. Crying. Well, and then they cut
the umbilical cord and they handed that little girl to me. I'll never forget this as long
as I live. And now she's crying. And I walked over, had her in
my hand. I was scared to death. I'll drop
this here. Get pressure breaker something.
Those white ladies in the nursery you know carrying my one foot.
I'm not going to drop her you know they might drop. I mean if somebody else might
not me buddy. I'll take her over to a little
bowl of warm water. She got her eyes closed and she's
crying. And I dip her down in that and
begin to wash the filth off of her. Wash the blood and the filth
from her. And I begin to speak to her.
Speak peace to her. She's crying. I begin to speak
peace to her. Honey, it's all right. It's okay.
It's okay. It's okay. She opens her eyes. She sees me. And she took her, you know, this,
she took her little hand right up and grabbed hold of my heart
and still got it. And she opened those eyes. And I start crying, like I am
now. She's alive. She sees me, her father. I took her to her mother. And I speak peace to her. She
quits her crime. Fear not, little girl. You're
mine. You're mine. Don't worry. I'm
going to take care of you. And that's what God Almighty
does to the crying sinner. The one in pain over its own
sin. That's what he says after the pain. After the guilt, the Lord comes
in the same gospel and says, Fear not, little child. It's
your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Fear not. You're mine forever. I won't
drop you. I won't drop you. And then what
do they do? They're looking for something. They're looking for something.
And I didn't have it. But she did. Got a nurse. Got to have sincere the scripture
says desire the sincere milk of the word. That you might grow
there by now look at. You know when she was born she
was complete. When she was born she had if she isn't in for this
day hadn't grown another toe. And grown another into internal
organ. Was the scripture said. The first
sign of life, child of God, is what? Complete. Complete. Just as much a son of God as
Abraham. Just as much a son of God here
on this earth as Abraham standing with God right now. Yes, sir.
Complete. Complete. It's a miracle. I'll never get over it. And the
same thing happened to me spiritually. Me! I was giving birth to Him. I had my eyes open. I cried out
by His grace. I had my eyes open, and He spoke
peace to my heart. And I desire, and do still do,
like milk. It's a miracle that the blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, according
to abundant mercy, has begotten us again under lively hope through
the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the death, burial, and the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one who gave us birth,
didn't he? All right.