good evening if you would let's
open our bibles to begin our service to isaiah chapter 53 isaiah chapter 53 who hath believed our report
and to whom is the arm of the lord revealed for he should grow
up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground.
He hath no form of comeliness, and when we shall see him, there
is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected
of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we
hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed
him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God and afflicted, But he was wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep
have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and he was afflicted. Yet he opened not his mouth.
He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before
her shearers is dumb. so he openeth not his mouth.
He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who shall
declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the
land of the living. For the transgression of my people
was he stricken. And he made his grave with the
wicked and with the rich in his death, because he had done no
violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief. When
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days, and
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall
see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied. By his
knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for he
shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a
portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoiled with
the strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death. and
was numbered with the transgressors. And he bare the sin of many and
made intercession for the transgressors. Thank God for his word. All right,
Sean. Okay, we will turn to song number
209, Grace Greater Than Our Sin. The marvelous grace of our loving
Lord, grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt, yonder on
Calvary's there where the blood of the
Lamb was spilled. Grace, grace, God's grace, grace
that will pardon and cleanse within. Grace, grace, God's grace,
grace that is greater than all our sin. Sin and despair, like
the sea waves cold, threaten the soul with infinite loss. Grace that is greater, yes, grace
untold, points to the refuge, the mighty cross. God's grace, grace that will
pardon and cleanse within. Grace, grace, God's grace, grace
that is greater than all our sin. Dark is the stain that we
cannot hide. What can avail to wash it away? Look, there is flowing a crimson
tide. Wider than snow you may be today. God's grace, grace that will
pardon and cleanse within. Grace, grace, God's grace, grace
that is greater than all our sin. Marvelous, infinite, matchless
grace Freely bestowed on all who believe You that are longing
to see His face Will you this moment His grace receive? Grace, grace, God's grace. Grace that will pardon and cleanse
within. Grace, grace, God's grace. Grace that is greater than all
our sins. Okay, if you would now turn to
song number 16, The Lord is King. The Lord is King, lift up, lift
up thy voice. Sing His praise, sing His praise. All heaven and earth before Him
now rejoice. Sing his praise, sing his praise. From world to world the joy shall
ring, For he alone is God and King. From sky to sky his banners
fling, Sing his praise, sing his praise. The Lord is King,
let all His worth declare, Great is He, Great is He! Bow to His will, and trust His
tender care, Great is He, Great is He! Nor murmur at His wise
decrees, Nor doubt His steadfast promises. In humble faith fall
on thy knees, Great is He, great is He! The Lord is King, and
bow to Him ye must. God is great, God is good. The judge of all, to all is ever
just. God is great, God is good. Holy and true are all his ways. Let every creature shout his
praise. The Lord of Hosts, Ancient of
Days. Great is great, God is good. The Lord is King throughout His
vast domain. He is all, all in all. The Lord Jehovah evermore shall
reign. He is all, all in all. All right, let's open our Bibles. Now to Genesis chapter one. Genesis,
the first chapter. We'll begin our reading in verse
nine. And God said, let the waters
under the heaven be gathered together unto one place and let
the dry land appear. And it was so. And God called
the dry land earth. And the gathering together of
the waters called he seas. And God saw that it was good.
And God said, let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding
seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed
is in itself upon the earth. And it was so. And the earth
brought forth grass and herb yielding seed after his kind,
and the tree yielding fruit whose seed was in itself after his
kind. And God saw that it was good.
And the evening and the morning were the third day. We'll end
our reading there. Let's bow together. Our Father, we've gathered here
together this evening, gathered together out of the world, out
of a dry and barren land. And we've come to hear word from
Thee, to be enabled by Thy Spirit to worship You in spirit and
in truth. And Father, I pray that you would
enable us to do that, to worship Thee. Father, give us a word
from Thee. Give us the message, the message
of your Son that you would have us to hear. And Father, enable
us to hear it, to hear it with the ear of faith and to believe
it with the heart of faith, that we might rest more fully and
completely in Christ our Savior. And how we thank you. that you
provided the Savior for sinners. You provided a Savior who completely
and utterly put away the sin of your people and gives them
life, gives them life in Him. Father, we're so thankful. Cause
us to praise His matchless name this evening. And what we pray
for ourselves, we pray for your people gathering together all
around this country to do the same thing that we're attempting
to do, to worship Thee. Father, bless your word where
it's preached. Get glory to your name through the preaching of
your word this evening. Father, we pray for your people
who are in times of trouble and trial. Those who are sick, those
who are bereaved, and loss of loved ones, or heartbroken. In
deep waters, Father, you know, you know, we don't need to tell
you anything. You know where your sheep are.
You know the circumstances that we're in. But Father, you taught
us to pray. We pray that you give grace for
the hour, that you would deliver your people as soon as it could
be thy will. All these things we ask in that
name which is above every name, the name of Christ our Savior. you There is a fountain filled with
blood Drawn from Emmanuel's veins And sinners plunged beneath that
flood Lose all their guilty stains Lose all their guilty stains
Lose all their guilty stains And sinners plunged beneath that
flood Lose all their guilty stains The dying thief rejoiced to see
that fountain in his day And there may I though vile as he
wash all my sins Wash all my sins away. Wash all my sins away. And there may I, though vile
as He, wash all my sins away. shall never lose its power. Till all the ransomed Church
of God be saved to see Be safe to sin no more, be safe
to sin no more, till all the ransomed Church of God E'er since, by faith, I saw the
stream Thy flowing wounds supply. Redeeming love has been my theme,
And shall be, too, And shall be till I die And shall
be till I die Redeeming love has been my theme And shall be
till I die In this poor lisping, stammering
tongue, lie silent in the grave. And in a nobler, sweeter song,
I'll sing thy power to save. I'll sing thy power to save I'll
sing thy power to save Then in a nobler, sweeter song I'll sing
thy power to save Dying thief, rejoice to see that
fountain in his day. May the Lord be pleased to show
us that fountain tonight. We'll leave here rejoicing. All right, open your Bibles again
to Genesis chapter one. I've titled the message this
evening Life in Christ. Life in Christ. Now here we just
read this the third day of creation. This is the day that God said
Let the dry land appear. And what I want us to see from
that is Christ pictured by the dry land. I want us to see that
all physical, all spiritual life is dependent upon the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's all in him. It's all from
him. And I have three points I want
to use to illustrate that truth. Number one is this. All spiritual
life is dependent on the resurrection of Christ. Verse nine, Genesis
one, And God said, let the waters under the heaven be gathered
together into one place and let the dry land appear. And it was
so. And God called the dry land earth
and the gathering together of the waters called he sees. And God saw that it was good.
Now the dry land appearing from underneath the water at this,
at this time, the globe was covered with, with water and the dry
land appearing from underneath that water is a picture of the
resurrection of Christ. The land was there, it was just
buried underneath the water, just like for three days Christ
was buried under the earth, in the heart of the earth. But when
those three days in the tomb were over, Christ was raised
from the dead. He appeared back again, rolled
away the stone and appeared back to the disciples, appeared to
above 500 brethren at once, he appeared. And that's what's pictured
here when the dry land appeared from underneath the water. When
God said, let the dry land appear, Arthur Pink says it's significant,
and I would not argue with him, that this happened on the third
day. After three days, Christ rose, and the third day of creation,
God said, let the dry land appear. And all that gives us a picture
of this, that all spiritual life is dependent upon the resurrection
of Christ. God's people have life. to have
eternal spiritual life because Christ rose again from the dead.
Christ was crucified. He was made sin. He died for
the sin of his people. That's a fact. His sacrifice
put away all of the sin of all of God's elect. The blood of
Christ washed that sin away. It blotted it out so that it
is no more. God's elect have no sin left
because the blood of Christ put it all away. The death of Christ
satisfied God's justice against that sin. God's justice said
a debt must be paid for that sin. And the suffering and the
death of Christ, his blood paid for all that sin charged to him.
And I tell you why we know that so. We know that so because Christ
was raised from the dead. He was raised again for our justification. He was raised again as the proof
positive His sacrifice justified, made all of His people to be
without sin. And that's so important to understand
the resurrection of Christ because there's no good news of the gospel
unless Christ was raised from the dead. Everything that we
believe, everything that we preach, everything that we hang our souls
on regarding salvation is all meaningless if Christ stayed
dead. The good news of the gospel comes from the resurrection of
Christ. His resurrection is proof, His death put that sin away. See, Christ could not be raised
from the dead if there was any sin left on Him, could there?
No, it's sin that causes death. But where there is no sin, there
can't be death. The blood of Christ put away
all the sin of God's elect that was charged to Him. His bloody
death, His sacrifice for that sin, put it away. There's no
sin. Well, then death can't hold Him.
It's sin that causes death. Where there's no sin, there can
be no death. That's why Christ was raised from the dead, and
that's the good news of the gospel to God's people. The resurrection
of Christ is the confidence and the assurance of every believer. No matter where you're at, no
matter what station of life, no matter what the Lord has for
you at this particular moment, the resurrection of Christ is
the confidence and the assurance of every believer. It's the resurrection
of Christ that gives a sinner the confidence to come to Christ
and believe on Him. What gives a sinner, a sinner
like me, a sinner like you, what gives us the confidence? What
gives us the boldness to believe on Christ? What gives us the
boldness to come to Him and cast our soul upon Him? What gives
you that kind of confidence? What gives you that right? What's
this? The Lord Jesus Christ has the
power And he has the right to forgive my sin because his sacrifice
is the only way my sin can be put away. And his resurrection
proves he did it. That gives me the confidence
to trust my soul on him. Only he can put away my sin and
his resurrection proves he did it. The resurrection of Christ
gives the believer confidence in every difficult and painful
trial. And there are many right now
going through those deep waters, in those dark, painful, difficult
hours, the resurrection of Christ is your confidence, is your assurance. When Lord sends a trial our way,
we often feel like we're being punished, don't we? How do I
know this trial will not separate me from God? How do I know that?
It's the resurrection of Christ. There's nothing that can separate
me from God if Christ died for my sin. See, it's my sin that
separates me from my God, isn't it? Well, I can't be separated
from God if Christ put my sin away. So this trial is not separating
me from God. As a matter of fact, what it's
doing is drawing me closer to God. That's what it's doing if
Christ died and rose again for me. Well, how do I know this
trial is not God punishing me for my sin? I mean, you know,
it feels like punishment. It hurts. You know, I remember
being a boy and getting spanked. It hurt. Feels like the Lord's
punishing me. It hurts. How do I know this
is God not getting me, punishing me for my sin? How do I know
that? It's the resurrection of Christ.
If Christ died for my sin, God's not punishing me for it too.
That would be unjust. And this I know about God, He's
just. He's holy and He's just. If he punished Christ for my
sins, he's not gonna punish me for the same sin. I know that.
The Lord is teaching me. He's teaching me. But he's not
punishing me. He's actually, he's showing his
love for me. He chastened everyone that he
loves, all those that he loves. If you're without chastisement,
you're a bastard. So this is not God punishing me. This is
not God saying he's casting me out. This trial is sent to draw
me closer to him. And then the resurrection of
Christ gives a believer confidence as we face death. Now, if Christ
died for my sin, I can never die the second death. If Christ
died for my sin, I will be glorified together with Christ. I will
be, have to be, because the death of Christ put my sin away. Before
he went to the cross, the Savior prayed, Father, I will. all those
that you've given me, all my people, I will that they be with
me where I am, that they may behold my glory. Then he went
to the cross and he bought the right to have his will done.
He bought it. His death is successful. So everyone
for whom he died is going to be glorified. That's part of
the reason I read there in Isaiah 53, because of his death, He
shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied. He's going
to be satisfied to have all of his people with him where he
is and then beholding his glory. And you and I will be satisfied
too when we awake in his likeness and the resurrection of Christ
gives me that confidence to face death knowing that shortly I'm
going to see the savior face to face. because of his death,
his burial and his resurrection for me. The resurrection of Christ
is the guarantee of life for his people. All right, number
two, the land as it appears shows us there's one source of life. All of it is because of the resurrection
of Christ and there's one source. Verse nine, let's read it again.
And God said, let the waters under the heaven be gathered
together under one place and let the dry land appear. And
it was so. Now when the dry land appeared,
the land was all one giant landmass. There weren't any islands. There
weren't any continents. There was one giant landmass.
The sea was one body. All the waters were gathered
together in one place. The sea was one body. The land was one
body. So at that time, there's only
one source of life on the planet. There's only one place that life
can be supported. It's on the land. on the land
that God said, let it appear. And that land is a picture of
Christ, who is the one and only source of life for his people. There's only one place of salvation. It's in Christ. There's only
one place of blessing from God. It's in Christ. There's only
one place of acceptance with God. It's in Christ. And this
truth is taught all through the scripture. I'll just give you
a few examples. In the flood of Noah, there was
one place of life and safety, wasn't there? It was in the Ark,
in the Ark. On the night of the first Passover,
there was only one place of safety for the firstborn, just one,
being in a house under the blood, with blood on the doorpost, just
one. When Israel was circling Jericho and the walls were tumbling
down. The people were going in. They
just walked in. Those walls fell down flat. They
just walked in and killed everybody in there. When those walls were
tumbling down and death and destruction was all around and God's judgment
was upon that place, there was one place of safety in that whole
city. It was in Rahab's house. In that
place was a scarlet line hung out the window. And that scarlet
cord is a picture of the blood of Christ telling you and me
there's one place of safety. from the wrath of God. It's under
the blood of Christ. Now there's only one, thank God
there is one. It's under the blood. The manslayer. He was out working with a friend
one day and he ran back with his axe and the axe head came
off the handle. Hit his buddy right, I mean,
square between the eyes. Killed him dead. He better run. That fellow's
brother, his relative, He's the Avenger of Blood. If he can get
his hands on that fella, he can kill him. And the law says that's
fine. There's no penalty for it. But
the manslayer had one place of safety from the Avenger of Blood.
In the City of Refuge. He couldn't be outside it. He
couldn't be looking at it. He had to be in it. If he was
in the City of Refuge, the Avenger of Blood couldn't touch him.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the only place of life He's the only
place of acceptance with God. That's why the Apostle Paul said,
oh, that I may win Christ and be found in him. He didn't say,
oh, that I may win Christ and God will reward me for all my
preaching and all my traveling and all my suffering and all
my writing. He didn't say that. He said, oh, that I may win Christ
and be found in him. Because the only place of life
and safety there is, is in Christ. I love the simplicity, the singleness
of the gospel. It's Christ. It's Christ. There
is only one righteousness to be had. It's Christ. There's
only one way of salvation. You know, there's not, oh, you
believe this and you believe this and you believe this. We're
all going different directions or wind up in the same place.
I think so. There's one, one way of salvation.
It's in Christ. There's only one truth. I don't
know what exactly where this phrase got started, but you know,
they tell you, you got to tell your truth. I don't know about
your truth and my truth. The truth is the truth. There's
one truth. There's one truth. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. There's
only one life. There's only one. It's Christ.
It's his life that he lived as a man, as the representative
for his people. That's the life of every believer. That's our
obedience as he lived. perfectly obedient to the law.
That's our life if we believe. There's one life and it's his.
There's only one gospel. I say that unapologetically.
There's only one gospel. When Paul talked about these
other messages, he said, I can't believe you're so easily persuaded
and pulled off on this thing. He said, it's not another. It's
not another. He said, if anybody preaches
any other gospel unto you, not what we've preached unto you,
let him be damned. Let him be cursed. What? That applies to
the fellow preaching it and the people believing it. There's
one gospel, and to believe any other is to be damned. There's
just one gospel that God's given us, how He saves sinners. It's
the gospel of Christ. There's one Savior. One. The
Lord Jesus Christ. And you can't just say, well,
you know, call the name of Jesus and you'll be saved. No, wait
a minute. Wait a minute. It's got to be the right Jesus.
It's gotta be the Lord Jesus Christ of this book. It can't
be the Jesus of your imagination. It's gotta be the Lord Jesus
Christ who saves. There's one faith. There's one
hope. There's one baptism. There's one ground of assurance.
It's the Lord Jesus Christ. It's all in him. Life's only
found in Christ. If you'd have it, go to him. It's all in him. Now, when the
Lord first said, let the dry land appear, It was one giant
landmass. It's not that way anymore, but
that's the way it was created. And when you look at the continents
today, it just seems like if you could just shove them together,
they'd all fit. It kind of looks like a great
big old jigsaw puzzle. You could just put them together and they'd
fit. And I guess that's because it all used to be one big old
landmass. Well, when did the land become
separated into continents and islands? When did that happen?
I don't know. Scripture doesn't tell us. Some
people think it's the flood of Noah, but could be, I don't know.
But when the land became separated and how the land became separated
is not important. Somewhere, something happened
to cause a division in this landmass. We know that because we got all
these islands and continents and seas divide and everything.
We also know this, we'll look at this here in a few weeks,
Man was separated from God when Adam sinned. It was Adam's sin
that caused this separation. And our world has been filled
with division and separation ever since. In our country, other
than the time of the Civil War, it's never been as bad as it
is now. Never as much division and strife and just ugh. That's what our world is filled
with. And that's what the sins represent. They represent division.
Now we don't know how or when the land became separated by
the seas. We do know there's a lot of division now. We do
know that. But here's the other thing we know. This is the beginning
of the book. I've read the end of it. And
I know how it's going to end. I know how it's going to end.
Look at Revelation chapter 21. This thing's going to end for
God's people with no division. The Lord Jesus Christ is going
to bring all of his people together in one place to be one with him
and there'll never be any division ever again. Revelation 21 verse
one. And I saw a new heaven and a
new earth for the first heaven and the first earth were passed
away and there was no more sea. Now John says he saw the new,
new Jerusalem. He saw the new heaven, the new
earth. There was no more sea. There's no more sea to divide
the continents anymore. There's no more sea to divide
the people anymore because there, there's no division. There's
no more dangerous, deep waters. Everything's solid footing in
Christ. There's no more dark, deep waters
that we don't understand, that we can't see through. We're Lord
willing planning next month to go to the beach. And Janet's
already begun her annual propaganda to all the family. Don't go in
that ocean past your knees. You can't see under there. If
you can't see, she said, don't go. That's where the fish live.
This is where we live. We all stay in our place. That's
what she says. And that day, there's going to be no more dark,
deep waters you can't see through. There's not going to be anything
left you don't understand. There'll be no more division.
Everything will be made clear and perfect, plain and obvious
in Christ. So there's one landmass, and
that one landmass is a picture of Christ. I want us to see this,
now, the wisdom of God in this. Can't you see the wisdom of God
in the order of creation, in the order that he created things?
Here on the third day, God said, let dry land appear, let there
be land. God created the land before he created animals, before
he created humans, so they wouldn't drown. God created the grass
and the herbs and the fruit trees before he created animals, before
he created humans, so they wouldn't starve to death. So they'd have
something to eat. The birds have a place to make their home. That's
God's wisdom in the order of salvation, or in the order of
creation. God is a God of order, and aren't you glad? If it was
put in the other order, it'd be mighty hard to tread water
for, you know, a day till God created the land, wouldn't it?
He created the land first. so it could support the life
that he was getting ready to create. Well, all of that is
a picture of Christ. Now listen to this, I believe
it will be a blessing to you. Before there was a sinner, there
was a savior. Long before man fell, God had
already provided a savior so his people would not be damned.
Long before Adam plunged his race into sin, God provided the
Savior who would be the bread of life for his people so they
wouldn't starve to death. Long before man died in the fall,
God provided a means of life for his people and it's his son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. See, before there was ever a
sinner, before there was a sinner that brought any sin into this
world, before there was ever sin that marred God's creation,
God already provided a sacrifice for sin. Christ, the Lamb slain,
from the foundation of the world. Now that order of creation gives
us a picture of God's wisdom in salvation. The order in which
he did these things, the savior came first. The provision for
life came first. That shows God's wisdom, but
you know what else it shows? It shows God's mercy and his
grace in salvation. God provided a savior for people
who would come into this world and sin against Him, who would
hate Him. His carnal minds would be enmity
against Him. And the cry of their heart is
going to be, I will not have this man to reign over me. Before
they ever came into this world, before they ever came to this
world hating God, before they ever came to this world sinning
against Him, before they ever shouted in their hearts, I'll
not have this man reign over me, before they ever declared
themselves an enemy of Almighty God, God provided a savior for
them. God provided the means of forgiveness
to bring them back to Him. And it's all in Christ. It's
all in Christ. See, the Lord Jesus Christ is
the source of all life. And you see that, both physical
and spiritual, you see that in His third day of creation. Here
God said, let the grass appear, and the herbs appear, and then
the fruit trees appear. And they appeared, and they grew,
they were plentiful. God saw that it was good. Plant
life, trees, grass, herbs, they all thrived, and the sun wasn't
created yet. The S-U-N. The sun wasn't created
yet. Why did that grass thrive? Why
did those trees and herbs, why did they thrive? They drew their
life from Christ, the light of the world, from back in the first
day when God said, let there be light. They drew their life
from Christ. Even the grass that grows a picture
of Christ, Verse 11, God said, let the earth bring forth grass.
That word grass there means tender grass. That tender grass is a
picture of Christ the Savior. It's a picture of Christ the
life giver. We read that in Isaiah 53. Isaiah in that chapter, that
great, great chapter, says there's someone coming who's gonna accomplish
the salvation of God's people. And that one coming is gonna
be a man. He's going to be a man. Isaiah
describes him as a tender plant, the tender grass, a root out
of a dry ground. He's God, but he's man. He's
coming as the root of Jesse, the rod of Jesse. He's a tender
plant. And all of salvation is going
to spring from him. All of salvation is going to
be accomplished by this tender plant. When it's grown to maturity,
when the time comes to be cut down, in the prime of life, it'll
be cut down. cut down as a sacrifice for sin
and he'll be raised again from the dead because his death is
going to accomplish something. It's going to accomplish the
will and purpose of God. It's going to accomplish the
salvation of God's people. That's why 700 years before the
Lord Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Isaiah already declared he's
the successful savior. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and he'll be satisfied. He's going to be satisfied seeing
everyone for whom he died, and glorified, having eternal spiritual
life. And all of that life, all of
that salvation, all of that mercy, all of that grace, it's all found
in one place. In the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
all in Him. I like one-stop shopping. Now I find I like one-stop shopping
Why don't you have to go out and just get it all in one place?
It's just easier for somebody that doesn't have the skills.
Someone else might have to go shopping and finding deals and
all these things. That's the simplicity of the
gospel. You don't have to be right bright to understand it's
all in one place. The answer is all one. It's all
in one person, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if you'd have it,
go to him. All life's in here. All right,
now here's the third thing. The nature of spiritual life
comes from Christ. Look at verse 11. And God said,
let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed and the
fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself
upon the earth. And it was so. And the earth
brought forth grass and herb yielding seed after his kind
and the tree yielding fruit whose seed was in itself after his
kind. And God saw that it was good. And the evening and the
morning were the third day. And here's what we know so far.
Christ died to pay the sin debt of his people. And the evidence
that he got the job done, the evidence he wiped their sin away,
is he was raised from the dead. All life that comes is dependent
upon his resurrection from the dead. And none of God's elect
can ever perish. They cannot perish, they have
no more sin. They must have eternal life because Christ died as their
substitute. If Christ died as their substitute, God's not gonna
kill them too. But now here's my question. God's
elect, he has elect people, people he chose to save, but now those
people are born into this world dead in trespasses and sin. They're
born in flesh that is dead and sinful and rotten as any other
flesh that you'll find anywhere on this earth. then how are they
made spiritually alive? Christ has got life for them,
he's purchased it for them, but how's he gonna give it to them?
They're dead, how's he gonna make them alive? It's by the
new birth, by the new birth, the work of God the Holy Spirit.
See, this new birth is pictured here in the seed that's in itself,
and everything bringing forth fruit after his kind, that's
a picture, that tells us something about the new birth. On the third
day, God created all the fruit trees. He created apple trees,
peach trees, pear trees, orange trees, pineapple trees, grapefruit
trees, just all these trees. Apple trees, God created an apple
tree. From that tree grew an apple. That apple had seeds in
it. And those seeds, when they would
fall to the ground, are gonna produce more apple trees. Same
thing's true of the peach tree. A peach tree's gonna grow peaches. It's got a seed in it. And that
thing falls into the ground, that seed's gonna grow. And it's
gonna grow into a peach tree. Same thing's true of pineapple
trees, and orange trees, and grapefruit trees. They all have
seeds within themselves that when you plant them, they grow
a specific kind of tree. If it's an apple seed, it's always
going to produce an apple tree. Always. You'll never, ever plant
an apple seed and get a peach tree. Never. It's impossible. A peach seed can never produce
an apple tree. You know why? Because the nature
of the life is in the seed. The nature is already there.
It's contained in the seed. An apple seed can only produce
an apple tree because that's its nature. That's all it can
produce. Well, now the same thing is true
of our flesh. Our dead, sinful flesh can only ever produce more
dead, sinful, That's all it can produce. That which is born of
the flesh is flesh. It's always going to stay dead,
stinking, rotten flesh. It's never going to improve.
That which is born of the flesh must be flesh. That's the very
reason that God's elect. God set his love on them in eternity.
God provided a savior for them in eternity. But when they're
born of this world, they're born dead in trespasses and sins because
our father seed couldn't produce anything else. The only thing
our father seed could produce is more dead sinful flesh. That's
all it can produce because life, the nature of it is in the seed. Well, if God's elect are going
to be born again, if they're going to have spiritual eternal
life, they must be born again from new seed. You know, when
our Lord talked to Nicodemus about being born again, he said,
can man enter the second time into his mother's womb and be
born? Well, that's absurd. But even if he could have been
doing me good, he'd just be born the same old way he was the first
time. If God's elect are going to have spiritual, eternal life,
if they're going to be righteous and they're going to be holy,
they've got to be born again. There's got to be a second nature.
There's got to be a second birth that comes from a different kind
of seed that will produce a different kind of life. And that seed is
the word of God. Now I want you to look at a couple
of scriptures because this is important. John chapter one. John chapter
one. You know, the reason we're so
insistent on preaching the word here is this is the, this is
the seed that God uses to give life. This word is the children's
bread. It's the only way they can be
sustained and fed. And it's the only way they'll
ever be born. John one verse 11, he came into his own and
his own received him not, but as many as received him, To them
gave he power. He gave them the right. He gave
them the privilege to become sons of God, even to them that
believe on his name. Now listen, which were born,
which were born, not of blood or the will of the flesh, nor
the will of man, but of God. They were born again of God.
They were born again from his seed. Now look at James chapter
one. James 1. John says they were born of God.
And here, look what James says. James 1 verse 18. Of his own will begat he us. He caused us to be born again.
Begat he us, how? With the word of truth. The seed
is the word of truth. And here's why he did it. That
we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. God's
people are the first fruits of his creatures. They're just like
that fruit from the third day of creation. They're born from
seed, and their nature comes from the seed, the word of God. Now look at 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1. Verse 3. Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant
mercy hath begotten us again, caused us to be born again unto
a lively living hope. How? By the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. See, there's that resurrection
again. It's all dependent upon the resurrection of Christ. Now
look over at verse 23. Being born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. Now spiritual life in the new
birth is born from a seed. A seed that is righteous. A seed
that is holy. A seed that is sinless. Because
that's the nature of the seed. That's the nature of the Word
of God. The nature of the Word of God is holy. So the only thing
it can produce is holy, righteous life. So a believer has two natures. He's got an old man and a new
man. The flesh and the spirit. can only sin. He can never do
righteousness. He can never do good. He can
only sin because that's his nature. He got that nature from sinful
seed. Sinful seed can only produce
sinful, but that new man, he can never sin. He can never sin
because he's born from holy sinless seed. He got his nature from
the seed. Let me show you that first John
chapter three. 1 John 3. Whosoever is born of God doth
not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot
sin because he's born of God. Now, I've read a lot of people
on this, and boy, they get twisted up on this. And they say, well,
who does not commit sin means does not practice sin, does not
enjoy sin. If that's what that means, anybody
here got any hope? I mean, got any hope? Do you
practice sin? I mean, you may not want to,
but you do anyway, don't you? This means exactly what it says.
Whosoever is born of God doth not commit That new man can never
sin. And the reason is the nature
of the seed from which he was born. It all depends upon for
his seed remaineth in him. And he cannot sin because he's
born of God, because he's born of that seed. And just like a
fruit tree is going to bear fruit, the new man who born from the
fruit, from the seed of the word of God, he's going to bear fruit.
He can bear fruit, just like an apple tree bears apple, just
like a peach tree bears peach fruit. The believer is going
to bear the fruit of the spirit because that's the seed from
which he was born. A believer is going to have love for God,
not enmity. The flesh has enmity against
God, but the believer loves God. He has love for the brethren.
He doesn't have hatred because he's born from new seeds. A believer
is going to have joy in Christ. They don't find their joy in
their works of the law. They find their joy in Christ. The believer has peace with God.
Other people talk about you making your peace with God all you want.
The believer wants nothing to do with that. Believer has peace
with God because Christ made it for me. Because I've got it
in Christ. They have peace with God. And they seek to have peace
with others. As much as life in you, as much
as is possible, live peaceably with all men. Why does a believer
strive to do that? He's got a new nature. He's born
from a different seed. This flesh isn't that way, is
it? No, this flesh wants to go to war. What produces peace? Peace in the heart. The nature
of peace is the new seed, the new man, born from a different
seed. A believer is going to be long-suffering. They're going
to be forgiving. is God, for Christ's sake, has
forgiven us. God's born so long with us. Can't
we bear a little bit with our brethren? A believer will have
goodness. And the word means kindness and
uprightness of heart. You know why they got a heart
like that? God's gave them a new one. He gave them a new nature.
It was born from different seed, from their first heart. A believer's
gonna have faith in Christ. They have faith, they're gonna
live by faith, not by their works, because God's given them a new
nature. A believer will have meekness. I think that means
two things. First, it means to make themselves
small, so that they're not the issue, so that Christ is the
issue. My works, my flesh, my desire,
none of those things are the issue. Christ is the issue. Christ is the issue. And here's
the other thing about meekness. Someone who is meek will bow
to the will of God, knowing this, I don't understand what God's
doing, but he's doing best. And I bow to it. That's meekness.
Now, none of that comes naturally to the flesh, does it? Well,
I just described you the fruit of the spirit. That's the opposite
of the flesh. The flesh has dead fruit, opposite
of all that. So if we're going to bear this
fruit of the spirit, the only way we can do it is to be born again
from a new seed, to have a new nature. And that new nature is
going to produce fruit. It has to, because in different
quantities, absolutely, different quantities, but it's going to
produce fruit. And the fruit is all the same. Different quantities. I'm not Farmer Brown by any stretch
of the imagination, but I like tomatoes. I like tomatoes. I
want tomatoes in the summertime. I just ain't nothing in this
world like a homegrown tomato, homegrown tomato. And I plant
them every year, chances. I don't know. Is this going to
work? The plant always produces some tomatoes. Last year we had,
I just plant two plants, we had more tomatoes than you could
shake a stick at. I mean, I just couldn't believe
how many tomatoes we had. This year, eh, we didn't have
that many tomatoes. We had some, but not as many
as we did last year. But you know what? The tomatoes
this year tasted exactly like the tomatoes last year. See,
the fruit's the same. It could be in different quantities,
God bless us. But the fruit's the same. You
know why? Because of the seed. It's got its nature from the
seed. And that's life in Christ. That's
life. Life is based on Christ's resurrection. Christ is the only source of
it. Christ is the nature of it. It's all Him. Well, I hope that'll
be a blessing and be a help to you. Let's bow together. Our Father, how we thank you
for your word. How we thank you for such a clear
declaration of life in our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, I pray
you take this word as it's been preached and cause it to resound
to your glory. Cause your people to cling to
it, believe it, find their joy, hope, and rest in peace in Christ
our Savior. It's in his blessed name we pray
and give thanks. Amen. All right, Sean. OK, if you would stand and sing song
or page number 216, song number 216, Look to the Lamb of God. If you from sin are longing to
be free, look to the Lamb of God. He to redeem you died on
Calvary, look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God, for
He alone is able to save you. Look to the Lamb of God. When Satan tempts and doubts
and fears assail, look to the Lamb of God. You in His strength shall over
all prevail. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. For He alone is able to save
you. Look to the Lamb of God. Are you a weary? Does the way
seem long? Look to the Lamb of God. His love will cheer and fill
your heart with song. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God, for
He alone is able to save you. Look to the Lamb of God. Fear not when shadows on your
pathway fall. Look to the Lamb of God. In joy or sorrow, Christ is all
in all. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. For He alone is able to save
you. Look to the Lamb of God.