My favorite hymns. When we were singing more of
Jesus, there's a reason for that change. The Lord said in Matthew
chapter 11, take my yoke upon you and learn not about me, but
of me. May the Lord enable us to do
that tonight. Now, let's look at this passage
of scripture again, and I want to read it the way the world
reads this passage of scripture. Beginning in verse six. Whosoever abideth in him does
not practice sin. He does not sin habitually. It's
not the bent and tenor of his life. Whosoever sinneth, whosoever
practices sin, hath not seen him, neither known him. Little
children, let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness,
that's the bent and tenor of his life. He practices righteousness,
is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that habitually practices
sin is of the devil. For the devil sinneth from the
beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested
that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born
of God does not practice sin habitually. For his seed remaineth
in him, and he cannot practice sin because he is born of God. That's the way the world reads
that passage of scripture. Is that what it means? Verse 7, little children, let
no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness is
righteous even as he. the Lord Jesus Christ, even as
he is righteous. That one who does righteousness
is righteous. The only way you can do righteousness
is if you are righteous. And that righteousness is even
as he, the Lord Jesus Christ, is righteous. And that's saying
a lot, isn't it? Look in verse 29 of chapter 2.
If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone that doeth
righteousness is born, is birthed of him. In order to do righteousness,
even as he is righteous, you have to be birthed. You have
to be born of him. Verse eight, he that committed
sin is of the devil. For the devil sinneth from the
beginning. You know, he was sinning before Adam and Eve. He's the one who tempted Adam
and Eve. He was the originator of sin. Now for this purpose, the Son
of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the
devil. And what are the works of the devil? He causes the commission
of sin. Whosoever is born of God does
not commit sin, for his seed, God's seed remains in him, and
he cannot sin because he is born of God. He's got a divine seed in him
that renders him unable to sin. And the reason he is unable to
sin is because he cannot sin. He lacks the ability to sin. Now, like I said in all of these
verses, men use practices or practices habitually. And most
people who use that view will admit that a believer sometimes
sins. Maybe he oftentimes sins, but
he doesn't sin habitually. That's not the tenor and the
course of his life. Now, if that is the interpretation
of that passage of Scripture, you'd also have to say this.
He that's born of God sins occasionally. That which is born of God, it
does sin, it just doesn't sin habitually. It doesn't sin as
the bent and tenor of its life, but that which is born of God
does commit sin, which is a complete denial of everything this passage
of scripture is saying. He that's born of God does not
commit sin, for his seed The seed of God,
the new birth, regeneration, being born of the Spirit, remaineth
in him. It never leaves. And he cannot
sin. He lacks the ability to sin because
he is born of God. Now, I want to try to talk to
you about this subject, born of God, what it does and what
it does not do. Now that's an interesting subject,
isn't it? Born of God. What it does and what it does
not do. Now the reason, before I go on
with this passage of scripture, the reason we must be born of
God is because we don't have spiritual life. We're dead in
sins. Every man by nature is totally
depraved. Now I could go on and on talking
about what all that means, but let this suffice. When the disciples
saw that rich young ruler leave the Lord, they said, who then
can be saved? If this man can't be saved, who
then can be saved? And the Lord looked at them and
said, With men, it is impossible. Now that's what total depravity
means, very simply. With men, I could go on and talk
about how the affections are depraved and the will is chained
to a sinful nature and the mind is darkened by sin and there's
all kinds of things we could say about total depravity, what
the scripture teaches, but here's the bottom line. Who then can
be saved? With men, it is impossible. dead in sins. And if I'm dead
in sins, the only way I can believe, the only way I can come to Christ,
the only way I can repent is if God births me, if he gives
me life from the dead. Now, I want to look at the New
Testament scriptures. This is taught in the Old Testament
too. The Teaching is uniform, and as Exodus 36, God talks about
the, not Exodus 36, Ezekiel 36, and Jeremiah 31, God talks about
the new heart I give you, and the new spirit I put within you.
I mean, this is the way believers have always been saved, but I
wanna look at the New Testament scriptures that deal with being
born of God, and see if we can learn what being born of God
does do, and what being born of God does not do. Now first,
turn with me to John chapter 1. John chapter 1. This is the first time in the
New Testament we read of this thing of being born of God. John chapter 1, beginning in
verse 11, he came unto his own and his own received him not. But, as many as received him,
to them gave he power, or the right, or the privilege to become
the sons of God. Even to them that believe on
his name, which were born." There it is. Which were born. Not of blood, You're not born
again because your mom or dad are born again. You're not a
Christian because your mom or dad are Christian. Not of the
will of the flesh. A man doesn't use his will to
decide to become born. Free will is the most ridiculous
thing there is. It's just anti-gospel. It's anti-God. And think it. Can you imagine
a being that has not yet been conceived decide, well, I'm going
to be conceived. I'm going to be. That's ridiculous,
isn't it? It's just as ridiculous to think of free will being involved
in the salvation of the sinner. They were born not of blood,
not of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man. You're
not born again because a bunch of people got together and started
praying for you and said, we're not going to leave the Lord alone
until he actually saves that person. No, no one's saved because
of that. Why were you born? Of God. Which were born not of blood,
not of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man, but of
God. Now, what is the evidence you've
been born of God? We'll look in verse 11 again.
He came unto his own, and his own received him not, but as
many as received him. Now this is what people who are
born of God do. They receive the Lord Jesus Christ. And I think it's amazing how
people say, see there, there's works involved. You got to receive. Well, if you don't receive, he
never gave. If he gave, you will receive. And if you're in need, And I
see you in need, and I say, well, here's $100 to help you out.
And you say, well, at least I received it. You know, I'd probably take
it back. I'd probably take it back. People try to make receiving
some kind of meritorious action. It is not. The only reason you
receive is He gave you the grace to receive. Of His fullness have
we all received grace for grace. You know, it takes grace to receive
grace. Here's the ones who have been born of God, but as many
as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of
God, even to them that believe on his name. Now, when I'm believing
on his name, what's that mean? It means the same thing as Romans
10, 13, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved. Now, when I'm calling upon the
name of the Lord, the name of the Lord is who he is. It's his
attributes, it's his characteristics, it's his justice. It's His holiness. It's His sovereignty. It's His
power. It's His wisdom. When I'm believing
on His name, I'm believing on His name. Save me by Your justice.
That's in Your name. Save me by Your grace. Save me
by Your mercy. Save me by Your power. A believer
finds all of his salvation in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now that is who is born of God, those who receive Him, those
who believe on His name. Turn to John chapter 3. There was a man of the Pharisees
named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. As a matter of fact, he
was on the Sanhedrin. The same came to Jesus by night.
Some say it's because he was embarrassed to come to Christ
and didn't want anybody to know about it. That may be the case,
but I think that the language means more of this. He came in
utter darkness. He came in night with no light
at all. The same came to Jesus by night
and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher
come from God. For no man can do these miracles
that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and
said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man
be born again, born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of
God. We cannot possibly see, perceive,
or understand the things of God without being born from above. It's absolutely necessary. You see, the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God. This is in 1 Corinthians
chapter 2. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God for their foolishness unto him. I wonder how many times
I've preached and somebody listens and says, that's foolishness.
Well, it is to a natural man. It doesn't make sense to him.
The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God,
their foolishness unto him, neither indeed can he know them. He lacks
the ability to know them because they're spiritually discerned.
I have to have a spiritual nature given to me in the new birth
by God the Holy Spirit for me to be able to hear and understand
the gospel. Now, I don't care if the preacher
is the most simple, best illustration, can preach the gospels more simply
than anybody else, the natural man cannot understand it unless
God the Holy Spirit gives them life from the dead. Now, a monkey
could not understand calculus no matter how good the teacher
was, could he? And the natural man cannot understand the gospel,
no matter how good the teacher may be, unless God the Holy Spirit
gives him life from the dead. Look in verse four of this same
chapter. Nicodemus saith unto him, Well, how can a man be born
when he's old? Can he enter the second time
into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, verily,
verily, I say unto you, except a man be born of water. And I
have no doubt that that water is not talking about water baptism. That's talking about the water
of the word. The word is quite often described as water. And there's no new birth apart
from hearing the word of God. Except a man be born of water
and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.
Now, there's no entering the kingdom of God without the new
birth. You see, there's no knowledge
of sin. You know, you take any natural man and he has no understanding
of sin. He looks at it totally as behavioral,
I messed up, I did this, I did that, but he doesn't understand
sin as being a nature. He doesn't understand that the
reason he sins is because he's a sinner, that's his nature.
There's no understanding of faith in Christ, there's no coming
to Christ, there's no believing on Christ, there's no entering
the kingdom of heaven apart from being given a new nature, being
birthed by God. Now, what that means is, If God leaves me alone, that's all he's got to do. If
God leaves me alone, I'll go to hell. I'll never believe. I'll never repent. I'll never
love God. Look in verse six. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. And that which is born of the
Spirit is spirit. Now that which is born of the
flesh will not and cannot rise above its nature. That which
is born of the flesh, it's always going to be just that, flesh.
Paul said in Romans chapter 8 verse 7, the carnal mind is enmity
against God, it's not subject to the law of God, neither indeed
can be, so then they that are in the flesh cannot Please, God. That which is born of the flesh
can never rise above what it is. Flesh. Sinful, fallen flesh. And that which is born of the
Spirit is Spirit. Now that's spiritual life. It's only that which is born
of the Spirit that can see the beauty of Christ and come to
Christ and enter in to the things of God. That which is born of
the Spirit is Spirit. Look what he says in verse 17.
Marvel not that I say unto you, you must be born again. It's
absolutely necessary for you to be born again. You will not
enter the kingdom of heaven. You will not believe. You will
not do anything spiritual unless you're born again. It's absolutely
necessary for me or you to be born from above. Verse eight. The wind blows where it wills. That's what listeth me. The wind
blows where it wills. Now how much control do you have
over the wind? It blows one way, it blows another. And you know how much control
you have? None. I know the Lord says he holds
the wind in his fist. He controls the wind. But me
and you don't have any control of the wind. The wind blows where
it wills. You hear the sound thereof, but
canst not tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth. So is everyone
that is born of the Spirit. Now what this is a reference
to is the sovereignty of God in the work of the Holy Spirit.
He gives life to whom He will. You can't control it. There's
nothing you can do to cause this to happen. He gives life to whom
He will. So is everyone that is born of
the Spirit. I think it's interesting. Billy
Graham actually wrote a book entitled How to Be Born Again.
The Bible didn't tell you how to be born again. It just says
you must be born again. And this is the sovereign work
of God. He gives life to whom he will. Now turn to Galatians chapter
four. Galatians chapter four. Verse 23. But he who is of the
bondwoman was born after the flesh. But he of the free woman
was by promise. Now read verses 22 through 24. For it's written that Abraham
had two sons, the one by bondmaid, the other by free woman. But
he who is of the bondwoman was born after the flesh. But he
of the free woman was by promise, which things are an allegory,
for these are the two covenants. The one from Mount Sinai, which
genders to bondage, is Hagar. For this Hagar is Mount Sinai,
and answers to Jerusalem, which now is, and is in bondage with
her children. But Jerusalem, which is above,
is free, which is the mother of us all. Now, this is a reference
to what happened in Genesis chapter 16. You remember the story. God had promised Abraham you're
gonna have a child. Years pass. Genesis chapter 16,
Sarah says, we're not going to have that child unless we do
our part. Obviously, he's restrained me
from bearing. I haven't had a child. So you go into Hagar, my young
Egyptian maid. You have a child through her,
and that'll be our child. Abraham said, OK, I'll do that.
And what came of that union? Ishmael. God never acknowledged
Ishmael as a son. The son of the bondmaid will
not be son with a free woman. So some years later, Sarah, after
she's already gone through menopause, has a child through Abraham.
One is natural, is fleshly. There's no miracle about it.
The other is a supernatural miracle of grace. Now, here's the point. The flesh is works. The spirit is grace. That's the
difference. The flesh represents salvation
by works and the spirit represents salvation by grace. And look
what verse 29 says. But as in he that was born after
the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even
so it is now. You know, it's always been that
way. Grace and works will never get along. Works, the flesh,
will always persecute that one who's born after the Spirit. They cannot coexist. Turn to
1 Peter chapter 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. There's the word, hath birthed
us. borne us again unto a lively hope, a living hope, by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead. Now this being begotten again
unto a living hope comes to us for one reason, because of the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. That's why it
comes, because Christ was raised from the dead. Everything that
was against me was blotted out, and now I am given life. I didn't ask for it, I didn't
do anything to get it, but because Christ was raised from the dead,
and that means all my sin was put away, blotted out, canceled,
because of that, Christ can give me life. I don't say give me
life, although I do, I say it all the time. Lord, give me life. But the only reason I say that
is because I have life. I didn't initially ask for life. He gave
me life for this one singular reason, the person and work of
Christ, the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Christ.
Look in verse 23 of 1 Peter chapter 1. Being born again. There's the word. Being born
again, not of corruptible seed, Corruptible seed is works. Works
cannot produce life. Being born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. Now, there's no birth apart from
hearing the word of God, apart from hearing the gospel. You
know, I've heard, I've had somebody say to me once, they said, you
believe in gospel regeneration. I reckon I do. I don't have any
problem with that. Paul said in Romans 1.16, I'm
not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of
God unto salvation. There's no salvation apart from
the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And if I'm born again,
it's going to be because I've heard the message, and God gave
me life to receive it, and it brings forth fruit. There's no
being born again apart from hearing the Gospel message. And he gives
us a summary as we go on reading as to what that Gospel message
is. Verse 24, here it is. Being born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever, for all flesh is as grass. And all the
glory of man is the flower of the grass. The grass withers,
the flower thereof falls away, but the word of the Lord endures
forever. Now that's what you hear. All
flesh is grass. I love that passage in Isaiah
40 where Isaiah said, the voice said, cry. And I said, what shall
I cry? All flesh is grass. My flesh,
your flesh, there's nothing to it. The goodliness there is like
the flower of grass that withers and fades away. That's all human
merit, human righteousness. There's no such thing. But what's
the one thing that will endure? The word of the Lord, the Lord
Jesus Christ. He shall endure forever. And
this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. Turn to 1 John chapter 2. I've already read this once,
but let's read it again. Verse 29. If you know that he
is righteous, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, speaking of
God, if you know that he is righteous, now most folks If you ask them,
do you believe God's righteous? They'd say, yes, I believe God's
righteous. But they don't really know he's righteous. And that
is seen in the other stuff they believe. What do you mean by
that? Well, if you believe in salvation
by works in any way, you don't believe God's righteous. You
brought him down to your level. You thought, I love what the
Lord said, you thought I was altogether such a one as yourself.
If you believe in salvation by works in any way, you don't believe
in his righteousness. You wouldn't believe salvation
by works if you did. If you believe that Jesus Christ
can shed his precious blood for somebody and pay for their sins
and they wind up in hell anyway, you don't believe he's righteous.
You have no understanding of the righteousness of God. If you don't see the righteousness
of Jesus Christ as your only righteousness and the only way
you come into God's presence, you don't believe he's righteous.
Most people have no concept or understanding of the righteousness
of God. But if you do, if you do, if
you do, I know you'll believe in successful atonement of Christ. If you do, I know you'll believe
his righteousness is the only righteousness. If you do believe
he's righteous, you won't dare come into God's presence on the
footing of your works. Look what it says. If you know that he
is righteous, you know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born
of him. Now this doing of righteousness
can only be the result of being born of God, being given a new
nature, a holy nature. The scripture actually says partakers
of the divine nature. It is impossible to do righteousness
if you're not born of God, because the scripture says our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. Now, this is something that only
the new nature of being born of God can do. It's the doing
of righteousness. And somebody says, well, what
is the doing of righteousness? Well, it's being righteous. Well,
how do you be righteous? It's the life of the believer. It's being poor in spirit. It's mourning before God over
your sin. It's being meek before God. It's hungering and thirsting
for righteousness. It's being merciful. It's being
pure in heart. It's being a peacemaker. It's
being persecuted for righteousness sake. Now that's the doing of
righteousness. It's what a believer is. It's the new birth. It's
the new nature. If you know anybody that does
righteousness, you know the only reason they do it is because
they're born of God. The only way someone can have the Beatitudes,
the only way someone can have the fruit of God, the Holy Spirit,
love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance, is because they have been born of God. There
is no other reason. You know that. Look in verse
9 of 1 John chapter 3. Whosoever is born of God doth
not commit sin. That's what it doesn't do. Whosoever
is born of God, whatever it is, is born of God. Whosoever is
born of God doth not commit sin. You see, holiness cannot sin. Did you know that? Holiness cannot
sin. It's impossible. The new nature
cannot sin. This is that meek and quiet spirit
that Peter spoke of in 1 Peter 3, which is not corruptible,
which is not subject to corruption. Even the ornament of a meek and
quiet spirit, it cannot sin. Now, can God sin? No. Perish the thought. Can the Lord
Jesus Christ sin? No. He's impeccable. Can God
the Holy Spirit sin? Obviously not. Can the divine
nature sin? No. 2 Peter 1 verse 4 says we're
partakers of the divine nature. That which is born of God cannot
sin. Now, here's the fact. The old
nature doesn't do anything but sin. And the new nature never
sins. That's what the Bible teaches.
That's what the new birth does. Look in 1 John chapter 4 verse
7. Beloved, verse on chapter four,
verse seven. Beloved, let us love one another,
for love is of God. And everyone that loveth is born
of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not
God, for God is love. Now the love he's speaking of
is not human love. It's not the love between a husband
and wife. It's not the love between a parent
and a child. It's not the love between people
who are friends and really are close to one another and depend
on one another. It's not a love like that at
all. Now, I'm thankful for those kind
of loves, aren't you? I mean, we'd be in bad shape without
them, and I'm thankful for those loves, but a lost man can practice
all those loves. The love he's talking about is
an actual love for God as he is, and a love for his people
as they are. Now that's the supernatural love
He's speaking of. Now, if I'm born of God, I love
God as He is. You know what that means? It
means I love His holiness. I love His sovereignty. I love
His justice. I love His power. I love His
grace. I love His immutability. I love
His eternity. Everything about God, I love. I love Him as He is. I wouldn't
change Him if I could. And He's the only one who I'd
say that about. Anybody else, I'd change them
to make it more to where somehow I'd benefit from it. But not
God. I love Him as He is, and I love
His people as they are. How are they in Christ? And we
love His way of saving. Everyone that loveth is born
of God. He that loveth not knoweth not
God. Look at chapter 5, verse 1. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God, and every one that loveth him
that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. Now, if you
love him that begat, you're going to love everybody that's begotten
of him. But look again. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. Now take that for what it says. I had someone say to me once,
when I quoted this passage of scripture, and said, anybody
that believes Jesus is the Christ is born of God, he said, that's
making it too simplistic. Is it? Take this for what it says. Do
you believe that Jesus is the Christ? that He is God's Messiah,
God's Anointed. He's God's Anointed Prophet. He's the Word of God. All that
God has to say is Jesus Christ. Do you believe that? When He
says, This is My beloved Son, in whom I'm well pleased. Hear
ye Him? He's God's Prophet. He's God's
Priest. That Priest after the Order of
Melchizedek, where if He represents you, you must be saved. He's
God's King. That means He rules and reigns. The King is the one whose will
must be done. I need Him as my King to cause
me to do His will. I need Him to cause me to come
to the Lord Jesus Christ, to cause me to live, to preserve
me. I love Him being the Christ.
Who so believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Don't think this is too simple.
If you believe He's the Christ, you're born of God. Look in verses
4 and 5 of 1 John chapter 5. For whatsoever is born of God
overcometh the world. And this is the victory that
overcometh the world. Even our faith, who is he that
overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is
the Son of God. Now that person is born of God
who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. Now what I'd like
for you to do, just for a moment, is to completely forget about
yourself. Now what do I mean by that? Don't
try to figure out if you're saved. Don't try to figure out if Christ
died for you. Don't try to figure out if you're one of God's elect.
Don't try to figure out if you've been born again. Just get yourself
out of the picture. Do you believe that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God? That's all I'm asking. It doesn't
matter what you believe about yourself. You remember when the
Lord said to Peter, whom say, or the disciples, whom say men
that I the son of my man am? And they said, well, they say
you're John the Baptist or one of the prophets, but whom say
ye that I am? Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah.
Flesh and blood didn't reveal that to you. my Father which
is in heaven, thou art Peter upon this rock, this confession
of me will I build my church. Now do you remember when the
Lord was watching the crowd leave him after he preached that message
on John chapter 6? And he looked at the disciples
and he said, will you also go away? Here's your opportunity if you
want to leave. You can leave incognito with everybody else,
nobody will notice. And Peter answered, Lord, to
whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life, and we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ,
the Son of the living God. He didn't say we believe and
are sure we're saved. He didn't say we believe and
we're sure that Christ died for us. What he was sure about is
who Christ is. What about the Ethiopian eunuch? after he heard, either here or
in the back, I don't remember where it was, we were hearing
Isaiah 53 read, and I was thinking, wouldn't you have loved to have
been able to hear Philip start preaching from that passage of
scripture when he was reading that and Philip began at that
same scripture, Isaiah 53, and preached unto him Jesus. And
evidently he'd said something about baptism as well. I'm sure
he did. When the Gospels preach, you're
gonna call on people to confess Christ and believe his baptism.
And so here, this man sees this pool of water after hearing Peter
preach, and he says, what hinders me from being baptized? If there's
a reason, I wanna know what hinders me. And Philip said, if you believe
with all your heart, you may. And he answered, I believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son of God. That's faith. If you believe
that He is the Son of God, I'm not asking if you believe you're
saved or if you believe that your experience is right or if
you forget yourself. What do you believe concerning
Him? I don't care what you think about yourself. Just forget it.
It doesn't have anything to do with faith. What do you believe
concerning Him? That's the only issue. I think of Peter after the terrible
fall he had. If you would have said to him,
do you believe you're saved, Peter? I got my doubts. Do you believe Christ died for
you? I don't know. Do you believe that you're one
of the elect? I don't know. Do you believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God? Yes, I do. Remember the Lord prayed that
his faith fail not. Now, did he have assurance? I'm
not sure if he had any assurance. Probably didn't because, as a
matter of fact, the angels said, you codell the disciples and
you make sure you tell Peter that I'm risen. I imagine Peter
probably assumed he wasn't a disciple anymore. He thought he denied
the Lord. But faith is not what you believe about yourself. Faith
is what you believe about him only. Now, Who is he that overcometh the
world? But he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God. Look at John chapter 5 verse
18. We know, this is the last one. We know that whosoever is
born of God sinneth not. We've already seen that. But
whosoever is born of God sinneth not. But he that is begotten
of God, what's he do? He keeps himself. And that wicked
one touches him not. Now, what's it mean to keep yourself?
I know exactly what it means. When you keep yourself, that
means you abide in Christ. You don't go outside of him.
You know that you don't want to be anywhere but in Christ.
You don't want to be seen anywhere else, only in Christ. And that's the only place Satan
can't touch you, is in Christ. Now, he can touch you any other
way. He touched Job, didn't He? And Job was a believer. He touched
Job, and He can touch you. He can turn you inside out if
He tempts you. How do you reckon you're going
to be able to say it? He can touch you in that sense,
but in Christ He can't touch you. He that is begotten of God
keeps himself. And you know what he does? He
keeps himself in Christ. He doesn't want to be found anywhere
else. This is a conscious desire to only be found in Christ. That one who's begotten of God
keeps himself. And that wicked one does not
touch him. That is persevering, being in
Christ, because you've been preserved, because you've been begotten
of God. Only that one who's begotten of God abides in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, this thing of being born
of God, it's true. We're by nature dead in sins.
And we can't give ourselves life. But there is such a thing as
being born of God. We can't enter heaven without
it. It's necessary for salvation. It's the sovereign work of God.
It's grace and works. It cannot sin. It must do righteousness. It's necessary for love. And
it's believing Christ. Not what you believe about yourself.
It's what you believe concerning Him. May God give us all this
new birth. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that we might be born from above, birthed by your spirit, given
spiritual life. Oh, Lord, what a glorious, glorious
thing to have the life of God abiding in our soul. Bless this
message for Christ's sake, in his name we pray, amen. Matt,
come and lead us in closing again.