That was a blessing, thank you. In the morning at 10 o'clock,
if anyone is free, we're gonna try to plant some plants outside. You saw them when you came in. I know everybody works, but if
you have some time, it'd be good. Notice what John says, but as
many as received him. John chapter 1 verse 12. But as many as received him,
to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them
which believe on his name, which were born. I've entitled this message, Born
of God. which were born, not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of
God. In the creation, we read these
words, let us make man in our own image. Who is the us? Who is the our? One God in three persons. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit, the triune God. One God in three distinct
persons. 1 John 5, 7 says there are three
that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy
Ghost. There are the three persons of
the Trinity, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and
these three are one. They're not three gods, one God
in three distinct Persons one is not more God than the other
there is an absolute complete equality in the Godhead God the
Father is not more God than God the Holy Spirit God the Son is
not more God than God the Holy Spirit. There's a complete equality
Between the three persons of the Godhead now when I talk about
the Trinity I'm always aware that I just believe this. It's
what the Word of God teaches. There's no way I can explain
that, nor can anyone else. And there are no human illustrations
that can measure up to this. I've heard people, well, water,
it has ice, it has vapor, it's liquid. That's not like three
different persons in one God. There are no human illustrations,
but this is who God is. One God in three distinct persons. And I think it's so beautiful
how the son submits himself to the father. He said, my meat
and my drink is to do the will of him that sent me. And the
spirit shall not speak of himself. He shall show you things to come.
Our Lord said he shall glorify me. God the Holy Spirit takes
a role where he doesn't even speak of himself. When someone
speaks very much of having the Holy Spirit, it's because they
don't have the Holy Spirit. Someone that has the Holy Spirit
speaks much of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this triune God
made man for his own glory. That is his purpose. And each person of the Godhead
have a specific work in the salvation of the sinner. The Father elects. He makes his choice of these
people before time began. The Son redeems. He pays for
their sins. He makes them acceptable before
God. And God, the Holy Spirit, regenerates or begets life into
the ones the Father elected and the Son redeemed. Now, if you
leave out any of this, the election of the Father, the
redemption of the Son, the regeneration of the Holy Spirit, you will
not have the salvation of the sinner. All three are equally necessary,
equally essential, and the gospel cannot be preached if any of
the three are omitted. Now let me repeat that. The gospel cannot be preached
if any of the three are omitted. The good news is that God elected
a people to be saved and they shall be saved. No election,
no salvation. The good news, and I'm talking
about good news, is that Jesus Christ actually redeemed everybody
he died for so that they must be saved. They can't risk the
hazard of the possibility of being anything but saved if Christ
died for them. That's good news. You see, my
hope is that Christ died for me. And the Holy Spirit gives these
people spiritual life. No regeneration, no salvation. Born of God. Now, notice it says in verse
13, which were born. Well, who was born? Those that
receive Christ. Those that believe on his name.
If you wanna know what it is to receive Christ, it's to believe
on His name. His name is who He is. His name
is His attributes. As God, it's to believe on His
name. Do you believe on His name? If
you do, you've been born of God. Now here's the reason these people
receive Him and believe on His name, they were born. They were
birthed. This is why they believe on his
name. This is why they receive him.
Now the act of receiving and believing is not the cause of
life. You're not born of God because
you receive and because you believe. You receive and you believe because
you have been born of God. birthed by God. Now, salvation in every aspect
is of the Lord. Those who are born of God are
not born of blood. Notice he says, which were born
not of blood. That means if you're born again,
it doesn't have anything to do with any of your family members
being born again. You know, there are most reformed,
whatever reformed is supposed to mean, I don't like the term,
but in most reformed churches, they have what they call covenant
theology, where the children are baptized as infants, and
they're part of the covenant community, and somehow they're
more likely to be saved and more benefited being in the covenant
community. And I'm gonna get that from the
Bible. This thing of, now, if the Lord
saves all of our children, we're happy, aren't we? And there are
whole houses that are saved. But the reason those children
are saved is because they're elect, not because somebody's
their mom and dad or brother or sister. That is why there
are whole families where there might only be one saved. Why
are they saved? Because they're elect. Because
Christ died for them. Because God the Holy Spirit gave them
life. It's not of blood. It's not because of any fleshly
relationship. Next he says, these that were
born, look in verse 13, which were born not of blood, nor of
the will of the flesh. Free will is the biggest lie
that's ever been told. Now, do you hear that? There's
no truth to it. The scripture says it's not of
him that willeth. nor of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy." If you believe in free will, if
I believe in free will, two things, I don't believe the Bible. And
number two, I believe in salvation by works. It is that simple. It is not of him that willeth,
which were born, not of the will of the flesh. This whole idea
of God wanting everybody to be saved and Christ dying for everybody
and the Holy Spirit calling everybody that it's up to an act of your
will to accept him as to whether or not you'll be saved, that's
no gospel in that message. Nor, he says, of the will of
man. Um, what that means is what if
everybody, what if everybody in the believer, everybody that
were believers prayed for your salvation, would that save you?
If everybody got together and said, we're going to pray until
this person is saved. Now we ought to pray for one
another. Don't misunderstand me. I want to pray for everybody
in this room. I want to pray for those. I'm not talking about
taking away from the importance of prayer, but if everybody got
together and said, we're going to pray and beat on the doors
of heaven until God saves this man, this united effort, will
that save anybody? No. not born of the will of man,
not of blood, not of the will of the flesh, not of the will
of man, but of God. Billy Graham, probably the most
popular false prophet of the last century, wrote a book entitled,
How to be Born Again. He actually entitled a book by
those words, How to be Born Again. Such a title betrays a complete
and profound ignorance of the gospel. And I'm not saying that
harshly, but it does profound, display
a profound ignorance of the gospel, to dupe people like that. There's
nothing good about that. That's the message of a false
prophet, an enemy of Jesus Christ. I think it's interesting that
Mr. Graham tells how to be born again, and the Bible never does.
It just says, you must be born again. Why must we be born of God? It says these people who believe
on his name, who receive him, they're born, they're birthed.
Why must these people be born of God? Why must they be born
again? Why must they be born from above? Because by nature,
we're born into this world spiritually dead. Now, do you remember when
God said to Adam, in the day you eat thereof, you'll surely
die? He didn't die physically, but he died spiritually. A physically
dead person does not have the ability to perform the functions
of physical life. He can't smell, he can't see,
he can't hear, he's dead. He can't breathe, his blood is
not pumping, he's dead.