Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayer for attention to the chapter that we read,
the Gospel according to John, and chapter 3. And we'll read
for our text verse 8, but specifically the last part of that verse. John chapter 3 verse 8, The wind
bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the soundeth of,
but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth.
So is every one that is born of the Spirit. John chapter 3
and verse 8. Our subject this morning is the
description of all that are born of the Spirit and our Lord in
this chapter when he has the audience with Nicodemus He impresses
upon him and impresses upon us the necessity of the new birth. We have our Lord speaking to
him and Nicodemus in a natural ways, interpreting what the Lord
is saying to him, he must be born again. And Nicodemus, he
says, how can this be? And he's thinking of it as in
a natural way, how can a man be born again? It's a very similar
objection as to what we find in John chapter 6, where our
Lord is teaching there, except ye eat the flesh and drink the
blood of the Son of Man. you have no life in you. And
they took that literally, how can this man give us his flesh
to eat? And so our Lord is speaking of
spiritual things, but we read the natural man receiveth not
the things of God, neither can he know them, because they are
spiritually discerned. And so the teaching is of a spiritual
birth, not a natural birth. We have a natural birth, and
there is a spiritual birth, and it is a spiritual one that our
Lord is speaking of. So our Lord answered him in verse
5, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of
water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Now that verse is clarified in
Titus and chapter 3 and verse 5. where we read, not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He
saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. Some have made error and thought,
well, the new birth part of that is baptism, there's to be a work
in it, this is to be performed, but though baptism is an act
of obedience for a believer, It is not a condition in that
sense of salvation. Baptismal regeneration is not
taught in the Word of God. But that which is taught is that
where there is the new birth, then there is a regenerating,
there is a washing, there is a cleansing, a sanctifying of
that person. It makes a profound effect in
that person's life. So what the Lord then sets before
Nicodemus is vital for us all. And yet, all of God's children
though, all of them must be in God's time and way, born again
with the Spirit. Yet, when they are born, finds
them in very different ways. Some, they called completely
out of the world, they have not been brought up under the sound
of the truth, they haven't heard the truth, they haven't heard
the gospel, they haven't known it at all, and the Lord is pleased
to come and give them their new birth, and there's a beginning
of a spiritual life in their heart. Others, they have been
brought up under the sound of the truth, they've known the
doctrines in their head might be able to rehearse them very
well, and yet they are still in a state of nature. And though
each must partake of the new birth, yet the way the Lord deals
with each one, and the effect of it, and how it flows from
that new birth will be different, because one is coming from a
condition of complete ignorance of anything of the Lord's ways.
even in a natural way, whereas another is coming at it with
some knowledge of it. When the Lord called Saul of
Tarsus, the Apostle Paul, he was a Pharisee of the Pharisees,
so brought up to know the Scriptures very, very well. He did not see
Christ in those Scriptures. He did not see that Jesus was
the Christ. But when he was given the new
birth and when he could then see, that knowledge that he had
was greatly used. The Lord shone that light on
all what he already had. He didn't have to, in one sense,
relearn it, but have it reinterpreted to him. And so there is a difference
and we must make allowances in that way. I don't want to set
forth this morning in a dictatorial way, this is how the new birth
must be. If you haven't been in this way,
then you are not born again. There is an absolute vital necessity
of it. Every one of God's children are
born again, and there are aspects of it, as our text indicates,
that is common to every one of them, and that we must insist
upon. We must insist upon the state
of man that is by nature that the need for the new birth is
because he is spiritually dead, he is fallen, he is far off from
God, he doesn't know spiritual things, it's as if he is completely
dead to them altogether. If someone was literally dead,
then as to the things that are happening around them in this
world, they would know nothing about them, they would be going
on round about them and and they wouldn't know anything about
it and so it is we could be alive we can learn the things of God
naturally but be as dead to the spiritual meaning as if we were
literally dead man is totally corrupt and totally fallen totally
incapable of responding in any way to God or the things of God
at all without the new birth The natural man cannot. There's
nothing that any preacher, anyone can appeal to in a natural man
that he has capability of responding to and obeying the gospel or
walking in the gospel ways without the new birth, without the spiritual
birth. So the blessing of the birth
is very, very great. It is absolutely essential to
realize the blessing of the new birth. We've only got to look
in this chapter at verses 18 and verses 36, and he that believeth
on him is not condemned. What a blessing! But the other
side, he that believeth not is condemned already. because he
hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 This is the condemnation,
that light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather
than light, because their deeds were evil. That is the state
and condition of man in that way. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall
not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him." What a solemn
condemnation, what a solemn place to be in. And notice we have
in this chapter, on one hand the insistence on the new birth,
on the other hand the insistence on believing in the Lord Jesus
Christ, and the two of them go together, the new birth will
always lead to Christ, and will always lead to a believing in
Him. Our text is a simple illustration,
it takes the idea of the wind, and it may be where you are,
it's certainly where we are here, we've had the wind over the last
few days, the wind bloweth where it listeth, It is sovereign. Whether it goes this way or that
way, we have no hand in that at all. They'll hear us, the
sound they're off. But can't not tell whence it
cometh and whither it goeth. We don't know where it starts
from, where it ends. It just comes and it just goes. It's a powerful thing. Can do
great damage when it has great power. and we hear it and we
can feel it but the emphasis actually here is put on hearing
it and I think that's a intended emphasis because hearing is so
important in the new birth and in the seeing of the effects
in a sinner with the mouth confession is made unto salvation but the
illustration is then with the wind and our Lord finishes the
verse so is everyone that is born of the Spirit the Spirit's
why with every one of his children is in this way as well they won't
tell from really where it arose where it began where it ends
It comes, it comes so gently, softly. Our Lord says in Deuteronomy,
my speech shall distill as the dew. Distill, just softly, gently. You can't even see it coming.
If it's raining, you can see the drops coming, they're falling.
But with the dew, all you just see is you suddenly start to
see the damp and the water that is slowly forming. And it's in
this way that we have set before us this sovereign saving work
of God in the new birth. And dear friends, I want to look
this morning at three main headings. Firstly, the new birth, and then
secondly, what follows the new birth, and thirdly, what the
new birth springs from and leads to. Firstly I want to look at the
new birth itself and under this point again look at three different
ways and the first is that the new birth is an instantaneous
gift of spiritual life and the reason why I bring the point
in this way is because some will teach that the new birth is a
process that man can be gradually instructed and taught in the
ways of the Lord and gradually come to a knowledge and to a
birth of believing and assurance of faith and that whole process
is the new birth. But the Scriptures speak of a
new birth here as an immediate effect, as that which is done
by God, and that which must precede other teaching and instruction. And so the Lord says in Isaiah
that I am sort of them that ask not after me. And Ezekiel takes it up and he
says that I pass by thee when thou wast in thy blood, and when
thou wast in thy blood, I bid thee live. And the idea is the
Lord coming to one that is dead, one that is not seeking, one
that does not know the Lord, and he bids them live. We have
the case with our Lord calling his disciples, passing by them,
follow me. and His immediate command and
immediate effect there. Our Lord says in John of His
people, I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of mine hand. And that gift
is a sovereign gift. John, he says in his epistles,
we know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love
the brethren. It gives one of the signs and
evidences of that new birth which is passing from death unto life. The time that a soul first is
given spiritual life, the time when that soul first has that
new nature, it is that at which Paul, when he writes to the Philippians,
refers to, and he says, He which hath begun a good work in you
will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ, and the beginning
is the new birth. We have it again when Paul writes
to the Hebrews in chapter 12, and he speaks of our Lord as
the author and finisher of faith. An author is one that begins
it. The Lord is the Alpha and Omega,
the beginning and the ending. And Paul, when he writes to the
Ephesians, he says, By grace ye are saved through faith, and
that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. And the Lord
Jesus Christ is the giver of that faith. And without faith
it is impossible to please God. We must have faith. All men have
not faith, but faith is that which is bound up again with
the new birth, and it is an instant gift. It is that which the Lord
gives to His people, spiritual life. Now, again thinking of
the illustration here, some of us may be able to point to a
time in our lives, even a place where the Lord gave us that eternal
life, where he opened our eyes. The Apostle Paul could point
to the Damascus Road. I can point to a doorstep over
in Australia and where the Lord, what the Lord did at that time
in opening my eyes, giving me life. Many of the Lord's people
do not know, and even where we can point to a time as to how
it arose and when it came, the ordering, the commanding, the
purposes of God, all of that is with God. He's a sovereign
as to when and how that he performs it, but many a child of God can't
actually begin. If we were going out for a walk
in the countryside and it was nice and still weather, no breeze
at all. And then after a while we said,
oh, the wind's slowly got up, hasn't it? It's now blowing and
it's quite strong. When did that start? Was that
five minutes ago? Was it ten minutes ago? I'm not
sure, I don't know when that began. And it's like that, that
a person may not be able to come to the exact time or the place
when it was that the Lord gave them eternal life, gave them
a new birth, gave them that new nature, but that it happened,
it did happen and that it was a gift and it was an instantaneous
gift that they had no hand or part in it But now that once
they were blind, now they see. Once they were dead, now they
are alive. But under this first point, I
want to make that it is an instant gift. And as soon as the Lord
gives that eternal life, it is eternal life. It won't be taken
away from them. It won't perish. It won't die.
It will end in heaven. It will end in glory. he will
not forsake the work of his own hands, and as we quoted just
before, he that hath begun a good work in you will perform it unto
the day of Jesus Christ. So, secondly then, not only it
is an instantaneous gift of spiritual life, but it is the beginning
of spiritual life. And this we may be able to discern
a bit more clearly. We sung in the hymn about prayer. We mentioned the Apostle Paul,
what was said of him to Ananias. Behold he prayeth. But he was
a Pharisee. Pharisees always pray. They made
long prayers. But for the first time, instead
of praying like a Pharisee, he was praying like the publican,
God be merciful to me, a sinner, a real prayer. And you see there
the difference. Just because one is like a spiritual
Pharisee is not having the new birth. And we could be a stripped
Baptist, we could be very firm in all the reformed ways and
yet be ignorant and not have the new birth at all. And so
with the beginning of spiritual life, there are several things,
and I bring them before you as preparation things, things that
are vital for what the Lord is going to do next in that person's
life, having begun. And the things that He'll do
in beginning that spiritual life, He gives them spiritual eyes. They begin to see what they did
not see before in the Word of God. Passages familiar to them,
that they had never seen Christ there, or never seen the Law
there, or never seen condemnation there. They begin to see what
they did not see before in the Word of God. And it will be also
in the preaching, In the hymn books, one of our late dear sisters
in faith, in her testimony to our church, she said when the
Lord began, she said the Bible was a new Bible, the hymn book
was a new hymn book. She was seeing them with different
eyes, hearing with different ears. How hearest thou? How readest thou? And mine ear
hast thou opened. That is a a vital preparation
work that we begin to hear, we begin to see, we have a heart
given us to perceive the things of God, which before we could
not perceive. We've been given a teachableness
by nature, we say, depart from us, we desire not the knowledge
of thy ways, or we say, I know it all, I've been brought up
from a child, I don't need to be taught, you don't need to
teach me, I know it all, but to be brought in as an ignorant
sinner. Lord, teach me about Thee, that
which I see not, teach Thou me. Immediately there's an openness,
a receptiveness to being taught, and that is a vital thing. It is a coming to the light.
In verse 21 we read, He that doeth truth cometh to the light. that his deeds may be made manifest,
that they are wrought in God. For the first time, instead of
wanting to hide things and to flee from God, there's a wanting
to come to God and to come to the light of the Word of God.
Search, Lord, O search my inmost heart, try its real state to
find, the secret springs of thought explore, call my words and actions
o'er. To obey that sense of the sinnership. The whole work of God is to reconcile
God and man and to bring to Christ, to Jesus, for he shall save his
people from their sins. And for the first time, this
person with the new birth begins to feel that they are sinners,
that they have sinned. You think of our Lord telling
the parable of the prodigal son. What did he say he was going
to tell to his father that I have sinned? No more worthy to be
called thy son. Some degree of that conviction
of sin we would not lay down lines as to say you've got to
have conviction under this strength or this manner or dangled over
hell or whatever it is as to some measure. But dear friends,
we need to know enough of our sin, and enough of conviction
of it, that only Christ can do us good, only Christ can save
us. If our sins are, shall we say
to us, small enough so that we can manage them ourselves, then
we do not need the Saviour. But if our sins are too much
for ourselves, and we have to cry with the apostle in chapter
7 of Romans, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from
this body of death?" Then we'll have the answer he had too, I
thank God through Jesus Christ my Lord. And so there is in the
beginning of spiritual life a real preparation for what then is
going to follow on, an appetite for the Word, a hunger and a
thirst after righteousness. these things accompany the new
birth and that gift of spiritual life, so though you may not be
able to point to the exact time when that began, yet you may
more clearly be able to see, once I did not see, now I do,
once I did not hear, now it has changed how I listen in the house
of God, once i didn't feel once i wasn't exercised about spiritual
things now i am once i didn't have any desire to be taught
but now i do and i feel my great ignorance of the things of god
and so this effect of the new birth is very important to really
notice that here is a soul now that's ready to be taught, hungers
for the word, needs a saviour, wants salvation, loves to hear
the word of God, the Bible is different, the means of grace
will be different. This is the following on and
the beginning of spiritual life that will mark out the life of
this child of God. in the third place under this
first point is God's and our use of means never despise the means that
God uses to bring to a new birth if you are like Zacchaeus and
you say well actually I went as a stranger into a house of
God just to see what it was like and I've continued with them and
the word has been blessed to me I've got all of these effects
of spiritual life but I can't really have been given as a gift
this spiritual life because I just came out of curiosity and I just
came in but was not Zacchaeus drawn by curiosity when he wanted
to see the Lord who he was and because he was of low stature
climbed up into a sycamore tree But the Lord, he came to where
he was, he knew his name. He says, Zacchaeus, come down,
I must dine at thy house. And he says this, for salvation
is come to this house. And the Lord used that means.
With the apostle Paul and Silas, they were misused in Philippi,
thrown into prison. They prayed unto the Lord. They
sang praises in the prison. The jailers, the other prisoners,
they heard them. And then at midnight there was
a earthquake, and the jailer was going to kill himself because
the prisoner's escaping and he'd be held responsible. And Paulie
cries out, do thyself no harm, we're all here. And the Lord
used that. Used that as to giving him eternal
life. And his whole character was changed
and he wanted to be he washed their wounds, he wanted to be
taught, he was taught and he was blessed and his household
the Lord used that means and we must remember God does use
means in this way means to bring a people to himself and mates
with them and gives them eternal life through that means We think
of Naomi and Ruth, Ruth the Moabites, you trace the providences that
bring them together, the bereavements that bring them together, and
then how Ruth comes to Bethlehem, she says to Boaz, why takest
thou knowledge of me, seeing that I am a stranger? She felt
a stranger, and yet the Lord had drawn her by love to Naomi
and caused her to cleave to her and brought her into that land
now we hold fast to this that the gift of eternal life is an
instantaneous thing but the fruits of that in love to the people
of God in a teachable-ness those things then are very evidenced
so don't be stumbled that you cannot find an exact time don't
be stumbled at what means the Lord has been pleased to use
how He has used those means but look at the effect that the Lord
has wrought in your heart and prepared you to receive that
word sometimes we speak of trials and afflictions being sanctified
we know in Romans 8 that all things work together for good
to them that love God to them that are the called according
to his purpose and that would be trials and troubles John Newton
in the great storm that the Lord was pleased to use to turn that
hardened slave trader into a believer and a follower of the Lord the
Lord uses these means and he is glorified and honoured in
that, and we are to trace the Lord's handling. While we speak
of something being sanctified, another way of putting it is,
has it changed how we hear, how we receive the Word, how we come
into the house of God? What effect has it had? And you think of the illustration
here with the wind, what effect has the wind had? Though we may
not tell when it began, where it comes from, where it goes
to, but you hear the sound, and what effect is it having? And so God uses me Those of us that desire the salvation
of others, that know of others in nature's darkness, those round
about us, those in our families, knowing that God uses means,
we will seek to bring them to the means and bring the means
to them, bring the Word to them, that we might be the instrument
that the Lord is pleased to give spiritual life through us. This
is the spirit and the desire of the missionaries and all who
truly love a soul. Come and hear all ye that fear
God, I'll tell you what He hath done for my soul. The Apostle
says He is the chief of sinners, and that if I have found mercy,
then there may be hope for others. And the commissioned to go into
all the world, preach the gospel to every creature. It is the
means. It wasn't disciples stay at Jerusalem,
the Holy Spirit will go forth and he will put this new birth
into the hearts of many around the nations, you don't need to
go out and preach. No, there was to be the means
and the commission and we should remember that. All of those who
truly desire the blessing and work of God. You know, Mordecai
said to Queen Esther, she was in a position that she could
help and be a blessing to her people, and every believer is
in that position. Salt of the earth, light and
salt, in families, in churches, in a road, in a community. And
may we be of those that recommend the grace of God and that we
speak to men of the worth of their souls and the danger that
they are in. God uses means. Those that know
that, they will also not be slack in using means to point souls
unto Christ, knowing it is God's work and God's work alone to
bless those means. But then when the Lord has granted
us that spiritual life, when He has used means, and maybe
not means, maybe quickened directly with no discernible means, but
when He has brought us then to have new eyes, new ears, spiritual
life, then we must know as well that the Lord will use means
to instruct us and bring us to true faith in Christ and assurance
of salvation in Him. And there will be a following
on. Our Lord in John 8 and verse 31, there were those Jews that
believed on Him. That is, they believed that Jesus
of Nazareth was the Christ. That's all they believed at that
point. And the Lord said to them, that
if ye continue in my word, then ye shall be disciples indeed. Ye shall know the truth, and
the truth shall make you free. And every one that is being quickened
in eternal life are to continue in the word. Of no doubt with
the Ethiopian unit he continued in the word after even that he'd
been brought to baptism and if he got then to Isaiah 56 he would
have read of the wonderful blessings to the eunuchs it would have
been so wonderful and comforting to him but we are to then go
to the means of grace and it is there that the Lord then will
do the work of grace and bring great work to be done, and this
is what I want to look at in the second place, what shall
follow the new birth, the new birth that is instantaneous,
that has the fruits and effects of preparing a heart and making
them teachable, and God using the means, and then pointing
those that are the subjects of His grace to then go to the Word,
continue in my Word, if you're going to be a disciple indeed,
and that's what we want. The proof of the new birth is
that it doesn't stagnate, but grow in grace and in the knowledge
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. If it does stagnate,
if it can, if it can just result in nothing and no following on
to know the Lord, it was not the new birth. that which comes
from God will proceed it will continue it will grow but the
Lord will put in his people such a need of salvation and such
a desire to use the means and that means then will be blessed
to them and the Lord will further the work through that means so
I want to be then clear on the means and to look then At our
second point, what follows the new birth? What follows is teaching. Now
some beautiful words in the Word of God, Isaiah tells us that
they all shall be taught of God and Jeremiah that they shall
all know me from the least unto the greatest of them and the
Apostle Paul he takes it up in the epistle to the Hebrews and
he says them in chapter 8 and verse 10 for this is the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel after those days saith
the Lord I'll put my laws into their mind and write them in
their hearts And I will be to them a God, and they shall be
to me a people. And they shall not teach every
man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the
Lord, for they shall all know me from the least to the greatest. And that teaching, we think of
our Lord, as he was wont, he taught them again. Our Lord's
whole ministry was a teaching ministry, bringing people to
be taught of the kingdom of God. And he taught through parables
and really in the word there's two aspects of the teaching one
is the law and the other is the gospel the law is a schoolmaster
unto Christ now when the Lord first began with me it was as
if he closed the word of God to the gospel and he opened it
to the law and wherever I turned in the word of God it condemned
me sentence after sentence and verse after verse there was death,
there was condemnation it brought me in as a guilty sinner and
I tried very hard to fulfill that law and to obtain a righteousness
of my own but I couldn't and I still came in as still as filthy
and guilty a sinner as I was at the very beginning but then
the time came that the Lord closed the word to the law and opened
up the Gospel and I began to see the Gospel promises and the
blessings in the Lord Jesus Christ that were always there but I
didn't see them and I didn't understand them and didn't know
them and it is as Christ was revealed and taught through the
ministry and through the Word that then I came to truly know
the Lord, to love the Lord and to believe in Him and to trust
the promises and to trust His grace. So what follows in that
teaching is a bringing to real repentance, a godly sorrow for
sin, a turning away from past ways of sin, whatever it was,
and a turning unto the Lord, a change of life, not just a
turning over a new leaf, but a real change in that person's
life. All things are passed away, all
things become new, a new creature in Christ Jesus. And for the
first time there is that conflict between an old nature and a new
nature, and that will remain right through the life of a child
of God. One that is unregenerate just
has one nature, an old nature, and they just have conflicts
with conscience at times, but they don't have a new perfectly
pure principle of grace from the Lord, a new nature that loves
the Lord, that comes from above, that doesn't come from beneath,
and is maintained by God. And so they are blessed with
repentance, with turning, with godly sorrow for sin. If we confess
our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. It would be a believing of the
report of the Gospel, believing the provision in the Gospel,
but then being brought to believe, and to be given faith and trust,
to believe personally that Christ died for me, the Lord giving
that assurance, blessing us with spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus, something the natural man does not know
of a spiritual blessing. The love of God shed abroad in
the heart by the Holy Ghost. The peace of God that passeth
all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through
Christ Jesus. Those blessings, then were the
disciples glad when they saw the Lord. Have we known what
that is? When we've seen the Lord in the Scriptures, we've
seen Him in a sermon, we've seen Him in a providence, we've seen
Him His handiwork going before us, and He's made us glad. He's rejoiced our heart. The
disciples on the way to Emmaus, it was equivalent to sitting
under a sermon. And they said afterwards, when
Christ was revealed to them in the breaking of bread, did not
our heart burn within us while He talked with us by the way?
Have we had something of that effect? under the preaching of
the gospel when we've heard the word said before us then it has
moved our heart instead of being hard and unfeeling and yes even
with a believer there are times that they have great hardness
and great times of darkness and that is another part of the teaching
that they understand the life is not in them but in Christ
and also it shows Here they are mourning over what the world
and unregenerate will never mourn over. They don't mourn on the
Lord hiding his face. They don't mourn a hard heart.
They've never known any different. But if you and I have known a
softened heart, known an anxious spirit, exercised prayerful spirit,
and then we're left to hardness, coldness, and distance, and far
off, and we mourn over that and we feel in, There's evidence
of a living soul that is now feeling and feeling about things
that once they never felt about and they never troubled about.
But now the state of their soul and what goes on within greatly
concerns them. And many cries to the Lord, many
confessions of sin, here on my heart the burden lies, past offences
by my eyes, and sorrow for sin. mourning over the defilement
within, and it is within, for the wounds and bruises and putrefying
sores, and for the first time in their life they see it, they
feel it, they labour under it, and this is all of the effect
of the new birth, it follows on from that, and the Lord is
pleased then to use the ministry and make Christ precious, the
whole real seal of the new birth, it will lead to Christ. And yes, feeling to be condemned
by the law is a schoolmaster unto Christ, you won't feel the
blessing at first, but all the while we have some help in self,
then we won't flee to Christ. But the more we feel our sinnership
and need of Him, I could from all things parted be, but never,
never Lord from Thee, Jesus is the one thing needful, I without
Him perish must, and there's that real desire after Christ,
and embracing Him by faith, the soul that the Lord has begun
with, will lead on to make Christ more and more precious. Give
me Christ or else I die, the Apostle Paul desired to preach
nothing among men, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified, because
the Holy Spirit will take that soul back to Calvary and say,
why these sufferings, why these groans, what was this that Christ
suffered for? He was perfect, He was sinless,
it was for your sin, for what you have done, for crimes that
you have done, this is why He is laid on Him, the iniquity
of us all, He is being punished by God for sins not his own,
for your sin. And this is why the Spirit is
showing this to you, showing the Lord as you've never seen
him before. He's Jesus in the sinner's place,
sunk in shame, the wrath of God, the hiding of a father's face,
but then rising again, a sacrifice accepted, accepted on behalf
of his people, He laid down His life for the sheep and has taken
it again. And it is then as the new birth
is given that the ear is opened to these tidings of the Gospel,
the good news of salvation through Jesus the Lamb, the sufferings
that He endured, and the grace, the glory that should follow.
That is the message of salvation. that every sinner that lives
to feel his need is welcomed to the throne of grace as Saviour's
blood to plead. And that is our only plea, God
be merciful to me, mercy through blood I make my plea, God be
merciful to me. And it is this what follows on
from the new birth, the teaching and instructing The Holy Spirit,
the Lord said, He is the Spirit of truth. He shall receive of
mine and shall show it unto you. Wherever the Holy Spirit is,
then Christ will be precious. He is the author of the scriptures,
all scriptures given by inspiration of God. It's not the word of
man, it's the word of God. And it is through that word that
the Holy Spirit blesses and reveals Christ. and shows Christ and
draws sinners to Christ. And there is all of our hope.
And so this is the seal that follows the new birth. If we haven't been able to trace
the very beginning, then maybe the preparation for the teaching,
or if the preparation we cannot see clearly, that we then can
see those marks and evidences of the teaching of God in our
soul, be able to say, this is the Lord's work and is marvellous
in my eyes. It is not me teaching myself,
it is the Lord teaching me. I am a poor, ill-deserving sinner. I know not what way to take,
I know not what to do, but the Lord does teach me, speak to
me through the Word and reveal His beloved Son. And He says
to me, I am the way, the truth and the life, no man cometh unto
the Father but by May." Well we have this then that follows
on from the new birth but then we have lastly what the new birth
springs from and what it leads to. If we are brought to realise
that we have been partakers of this spiritual birth given this
appetite and the Lord has blessed us and blessed us with faith
in the Lord. If He has brought us then to
walk in obedience to Him and to His commands in baptism and
joining to the Church of God so that we then, that we know
that we are the children of God, we love the people of God and
we have this seal of joining with them and meeting with them
then we are to look back and we are to look forward we are
to look back and realise that why did the Lord begin with us?
why did he pass by us and bid us live? why did he give us the
new birth? because the word says that we
are chosen in him from before the foundation of the world Jeremiah
says that I have loved thee with an everlasting love, and therefore
with loving kindness I have drawn thee. The Lord says, Thine they
were, the fathers, and thou gavest them me, the sheep of God. And we look back, and we look
back to that eternal love of God. Why? We cannot tell. There's nothing in us. nothing
he foresaw in us, no good he knew that we would do. Just because
he sovereignly would love, he set his love upon us, unworthy
souls. Our names written in the Lamb's
Book of Life, in the Covenant of His Grace, we look back to
see the reason why the Lord has been pleased to pass by us and
to work in that way in our hearts. In Ephesians, in chapter 1, we read this, that according as
he hath chosen us in him, verse 4, before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before him
in having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will. That is why we look back and
we see that foundation so deep. We look back to Calvary and that
particular love that the Lord had to us then and we think my
new birth sprung from that eternal love of God It sprung from the
blessings that flow forth from Calvary. And the doctrines of
election are very precious to a soul that has been born again
of the Spirit. Very precious to those who know
that the Lord has wrought this work in them and put them amongst
His children. The doctrines of election are
very precious in that way. I believe, I know, they're very
precious to those that have a desire for souls as well. You know,
in evangelism, we'd be greatly discouraged if we thought, well,
it was only up to us. But when we know the Lord has
his dear people, he knows where they are, and he will bless them,
he will never miss his mark. How encouraging to speak a word
to this one or that one, and give a portion to this one or
that, knowing not what shall prosper this or that, or both
alike, knowing of election, it helps us to give the word and
to tell others of the salvation of God, knowing that it is the
powerful work of God who will find out His people in that way. With not only a looking back,
but then there is a looking forward as well. Why has the Lord saved
His people? Why has He set His love upon
them? This people have I formed for myself, they shall show forth
my praise. Father, I will, that they whom
thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold
my glory. And there's an inheritance, incorruptible,
undefiled, reserved in heaven for you. The blessed prospect
to the child of God that realizes what a blessing that they have
been given in that eternal life, soon no longer a body that is
corrupt, but incorruptible, undefiled, and given a new body, new garments,
is a blessed place to come to what the new birth springs from
and leads to, and to look back, and to look forward. May the
Lord help us to do so. Above all, may we see and know
that the Lord has put us amongst His family, and if there is any,
still unconcerned, think that while the new birth is not for
you, it is such a solemn condition and place that you are in. Our
Lord says again, He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life,
and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the
wrath of God abideth on him. The Lord be pleased to bless
you with this new birth. how vital it is, and may even
the Word this morning be used of God to bring you into real
concern, bring you to pray and to seek Him, maybe earnestly
for the very first time. The Lord bless the Word, comfort
His people and get to Himself glory as He quickens His dear
people into life. Amen.