I want to talk to you here this
morning about the various aspects of death. Various aspects of
death. And I'll read here in the book
of Ephesians chapter 2. There are three aspects of the
state of death. There is a spiritual death, and
a physical death, and an eternal death. And here in Ephesians chapter
2 and verse 1, He speaks of those that are dead
in trespasses and in sins. The Apostle says, And you hath
he quickened who were dead in trespasses and
in sins. He is talking about a spiritual
death here. A spiritual death occurs when
one is separated from the Spirit of God. Those that are dead in
trespasses and in sins are separated from the Spirit of God. comes about or occurs when one
is separated from the body, like many today whose body lies
in the funeral parlor, stone-cold dead in the marketplace. because the spirit has been separated
from the body. And then there is eternal death,
which is the separation of the whole person, body and soul,
from the love and the grace of Almighty God. And for this reason,
The second death, or eternal death, is called the second death,
over in the book of Revelation, chapter 21, and verse 18, I think. That's not the place I want.
But anyhow, I just read here, in that latter
part of the book of Revelation, of those that die the second
death. That's the separation of the
body and soul. And it calls it an eternal death. We're all represented by Adam,
And we've, many times as I've mentioned that and read about
that and talked about the federal head of all men, of all human
flesh, is Adam. And what Adam did, we were affected
by it. And I've told you many times
that when Adam, before, before he
died, spiritually, he represented every human being that was and
that is, and those that are yet to come. He represented them. And what he did become part of
us and affected us. his sinning brought about a spiritual
death. As a matter of fact, it brought
about a physical death because man would not have died had he
not sinned. Sin is the reason for death. I told you the story before about
I preached at a funeral one time and talked about that and a fellow
who was at least 10 years older than me at the time, came to
me after the service, after we went to the graveyard, had the
committal of the body of this one whose funeral I had just
eulogized, came to me and he said, you know, he said, I've
learned something here He said, I never knew why men died. He
thought that the reason that men died was because of ill health. Well, that is one of the reasons,
but the real reason why is because of sin. Because sin entered in,
and where sin is, there's death. So all men die in Adam. But the very moment, the very
moment, the very second that Adam sinned and violated the
command of God and the character of God when God had forbid Adam
and Eve from eating of the tree in the midst of the garden, all
the other trees in the Garden of Eden was available to their
use for food, nourishment, comfort, strength, and health. And he
said, I'll put you here to tend this garden, partake of it, all
of it. But the tree here in the midst
of the garden, he said, don't eat the fruit thereof. But he
said, if you eat the fruit thereof, you're going to die. Now, the
very moment The very second that Adam sinned, he died spiritually. And when he died spiritually,
we died spiritually in that he was our federal head, our representative. He was the representative man
that God had sent him and created him out of the dust of the earth.
But the very moment that Adam disobeyed God, strict command
of God that you don't you eat of that fruit. Didn't give him
too much reason, just told him he couldn't have it. And the
very moment, the very second he partook of that fruit, took
that first bite, that first taste, he died spiritually. And his
body became subject to the elements of death, all of it. Corruption was one of them. Time and age and mortality. Now, it took a while. It took
some time now. But at last, the elements of
death overcome old Adam and killed Adam's body. Adam was 930 years old when he died. So it
took a while for the elements of death to bring about the total demise
of Adam's body. He died when he was 930 years
old. And the Bible says in Genesis
chapter 5 and verse 5, it says, And he died, and he died. And in the genealogies of all
those in Old Testament times that God deemed important to set forth the seed from family
to family, after every one of them down there. It says, and
he died, and he died, and he died, which are the elements
of death. And he died, physical death,
physical death. And if Adam was not saved before
his body died, He entered into a state of eternal death. And I'm not saying that Adam
was not saved. I believe that he was. I believe
the pictures of the type of Savior, the type of what was needed,
was certainly pictured in that 3rd and 4th chapters of the book
of Genesis, where God himself took a lamb and burst it at the
flock, the lamb being innocent, and
killed the lamb, shed the blood of the lamb, took the skin or
the coat, the wool of the lamb, and fashioned a coat. and put
it on Adam and Eve. And I think that Adam was saved. But if he was not saved, if he
was not saved before his body died, then he entered into a
state of eternal death, which is the second death. Now, when
we talk about regeneration, which every soul every soul who God saves here in time is
regenerated. He's naturally, because of sin, he's dead in
trespasses and in sin, dead spiritually. He's got physical life, But he
hadn't got any spiritual life. And in this third chapter of
the book of John, we have some insights to the
mystery of regeneration. There was a man of the Pharisees,
and his name was Nicodemus. And he is described in the Holy
Word as a ruler of the Jews. He was a chief man of the Jews. And he certainly was exposed
to the Word of God, at least to the Old Testament, that the truth concerning God and
what God requires. But anyhow, he was a ruler of
the Jews. And somehow, someway, someplace, he became concerned about the
words that the Lord Jesus Christ spoke. And so he was so concerned
that he sought an audience with the Lord Jesus. And he said unto the Lord Jesus,
he called him Rabbi. So we know that he had some thoughts
pertaining to the matters of religion as we know religion
today. He said, Rabbi, we know that
thou art a teacher come from God. Pretty sure of that, he said.
For no man can do these miracles that you do, except God be with
him. And Jesus answered and said unto
him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again,
He cannot see the kingdom of God. That is, a man must be regenerated. He must be quickened from his
dead state. And this regeneration happens
when the Spirit of God takes up his residence in a man's soul. That's the beginning. of regeneration. It is a necessity. It is a must. If a man is not regenerated, and if the Spirit of God never
takes residence in his soul, he is a gone Jesse. He will die without hope. So regeneration then happens,
takes place, when the Spirit of God takes up residence in
his soul. And that Spirit of God brings
life and immortality to that dead sinner. It is the act of a sovereign
God. Only God himself can regenerate,
quicken, and bring immortality to the dead sinner. Now, when
he does that, the mind, a man's mind, his intelligence is enlightened
to desire and to crave and to understand the things of the
Spirit. When that happens, he has this
desire There's a craving within him, a desire within him to understand
the things of God. I refer to myself not as if there
is anything different in my experience and conversion than yours. And
I'm not setting myself up as one that can give forth a perfect
illustration by way of experience. I'm saved, like you're saved,
by the grace of God. If I've been regenerated, it's
because God has quickened me, given me light. And when He did,
when He did, there was a craving in my soul to know more things
concerning God. When God, as I say, quickened
me, deposited His Spirit in my soul, gave me life, and I wanted to
understand it. later on, that I wanted to tell
this story. I desired information. A little bit like the commentator who comes on the radio two or
three times every day. And he begins his commentary
of the news by saying, or by talking about a story, a story. And then he goes on, and at the
end of his comments he said, and this is the rest of the story. It's a little bit like that with
me. I had heard some things, but
I wanted to hear the rest of the story. So I looked for a place or a person
who could tell me the rest of the story. So I finally wound up there Brother
Walker's school in Lexington, Kentucky, Martha and I and three
boys. And I certainly was lost in the
atmosphere of a hundred and some other men in these classes. I was lost in that atmosphere. But I had this yearning. deep
desire to know the rest of the story about the Lord Jesus Christ. And a young fellow came to me. I was in my twenties. And this
boy was about twenty. I was a few years older. But
he came to me and asked me if God had called me to preach.
And I said, well, I don't know. I said, he said, what are you
doing down here? I said, I'm looking for information. That's what I told him. I said, I'm looking for information.
I desire to know something about this land. I want to know what
the rest of the story is. And so he kind of understood
what I was talking about and he said, I believe you'll be
able to and find out what the rest of the story is if you'll
stay with me. So when the Spirit brings life
and immortality to the dead sinner, his mind is enlightened to desire
and to crave and to understand the things of the Spirit. desires to know the Lord and
to have fellowship with Him. Over here in the book of 1 John
is a scripture that speaks of that. 1 John chapter 1 and 3
and 4. It says, well, let me read the
second verse too. It says, For the life was manifested,
the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have looked upon, and our
hands have handled the word of life. For the life was manifested,
and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that
eternal life which was with the Father was manifested unto us. And that which we have seen and
heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with
us. And truly our fellowship is with
the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. These things write
we unto you, that your joy may be filled. This then is the message
which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is
light and in him is no darkness. I said that in the effect of
this quickening, this regeneration, there is a desire in the heart
to know the Lord and to have fellowship with him. There is
another portion of scripture that I want to read to you in
the book of I Corinthians here. 1 Corinthians chapter 2, I think
it is, verses 9 to 14. Listen to this. Verse 9 says,
But as it is written, I hath not seen nor ear heard, neither
have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath
prepared for them that love him. But God has revealed unto us
by Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things
of God. For what man knoweth the things
of a man, save the spirit of a man which is in him? Even so
the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God. We have received, now we have
received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is
of God, that we might know the things that are freely given
to us by God. So the heart, the heart desires and craves
after the things of God, which is the effect of regeneration. Now, just exactly how the Spirit
regenerates the soul, God the Spirit, in regeneration, just
exactly now and precisely how he does this remains a great
mystery. the greatest Bible scholar at any time and any place, past
or present, and even in the future, cannot completely and exactly
and precisely know how God quickens a dead It's a great mystery. And our
Lord told that to Nicodemus here in this third chapter of the
book of John. Let me make a comment or two
on it. John chapter 3. third verse. Nicodemus said,
No man can do these miracles that you do, except God be with
him. And Jesus answered and said unto
Nicodemus, who had some desirous craving after knowledge, I guess,
because he came to him and he recognize that he was different
from other men. He said you must be a teacher
that comes from God because no man, no mortal man can do what
you've done except God be with you. He didn't know that he was
talking to God. He was talking to God manifest
in the flesh. He didn't know that. And Jesus
answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, truly, truly, I say unto
you, except a man be regenerated, except a man be born again, except
a man be quickened, he cannot see the kingdom of God, much
less understand it. He can't see it. Well, Nicodemus
said, unto him, how can a man be born when he is old? So you
can see that he does not understand. He is like everybody else. It remains a great mystery how
God exactly and precisely quickens and regenerates a man, what really
transpires when he has the Spirit of God deposited in his soul.
How can a man be born? Or Nicodemus said, How can a
man be born when he's old? Evidently, Nicodemus was up in
years, maybe 35, maybe 40, maybe 50. He was an old man. He thought he was an old man.
How can a man be born when he's old? They said, Can he enter
in the second time into his mother's womb and be born? Now, remember, Jesus said this
is a necessity. This has got to take place. Something's got to happen here.
A man's got to be born again. He can't see the kingdom of God
unless he's born again. He doesn't understand anything
about the kingdom of God. He doesn't understand anything
about God until he's born again. Well, how can that be? Do I have
to go back? and enter into my mother's womb
the second time and be born? Jesus answered. Now here he's
talking about this great mystery, see? No man knows. There may be some who say they
know, but actually no man, no man knows this great mystery
precisely of what takes place when a man's quickened, when
he's regenerated. There are some effects of it,
and we'll talk about that in just a minute. There are some
effects of regeneration. Jesus answered and said, Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of
the Spirit, he can't enter into the kingdom of God. He said,
That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That's the first birth. That which is born, natural birth. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. And that which is born of the
Spirit is the Spirit. Marvel not that I said unto you,
Ye must be born again. Now he says, The wind bloweth
where it listeneth, where it wishes, where it wants to, and
thou hearest the sound thereof. But you cannot tell from where
it comes and where it goes. So is every one that is born
of the Spirit. Now, our Lord here tells Nicodemus,
he says the wind blows where it wants to, the wind. It goes
where it wants to go, where it desires to go, where it wishes
to go. The wind is sovereign, he said,
and it goes where it wants to go, Nicodemus. And he said, You
hear the sound of it, but you don't know where that wind comes
from. And you don't know where that
wind's going. Now, so is everyone that's born
of the Spirit. Nicodemus said unto him, How
can these things be? After all, we don't fully understand
the natural birth, do we? We don't understand that. How
can we comprehend the work of God in regeneration if we cannot
comprehend the natural birth? How can we comprehend it? The primary effect of quickening,
regeneration, cannot be fully understood in terms of how one
passes from death unto life. But much can be learned from
it, can understand it in its fullness. that we're passed from death
unto life. And that's what happens, you
see, when a man is regenerated. You who were dead in trespasses and in sins have
he quickened. You were dead, but he has regenerated
you. We can learn much from this. We cannot understand it fully,
but we can learn much from the effects of this great work of
regeneration. Now, our Lord compared the moving
of the Spirit in regeneration to the wind. We know that we do not actually
see the wind itself. We hear the wind, but we don't
see the wind. But we know it's the wind by
the effects of the wind. We know that. understand that. The effects of the wind is that
where I live anyhow, big trees are within 25 feet
of the back of our house. There is trees there that two men I don't think can
reach around. monstrous red oak trees. And when the wind blows, the
leaves begin to flap and to move. And the tree begins to sway. And a lot of times, and most
of the time, the effect of that wind brings about limbs hitting
the sides and the roof of our house. So the trees sway from side to
side, and the leaves flap up and down, and we are made to
know by an eerie sound that the wind is present. We understand
that. Now we understand it by the effects
of Now the moving of the spirit produces certain spiritual effects. When we are made spiritually
alive, quickened and regenerated, there are certain spiritual effects
that are manifest in us. You say, well, what are these
spiritual effects? Well, since the Lord used this expression or this factual truth
concerning the wind in regard to the natural birth,
then we will too. A child, when it's born, cries. As a matter of fact, I've never
been in the room, delivery room, when children are born. I wasn't there when my children
were born, my boys, my daughter. I wasn't there with Martha. I stayed on the outside. and
sat out there and waited. But they tell me that there is
many nowadays, anyhow, who go to the bedside of their wife
as she's giving birth. And they tend to think that they're
helping out, I suppose. Whether they are or not, I don't
know. mother or the wife appreciate
it, I don't know. I've had no experience in that.
But I do know that when the baby's born, that the baby cries. As a matter of fact, I've seen
pictures, whether this is true or not, I don't know, but I've
seen pictures where the doctor or the nurse picks up the baby
and smacks its little rear in order to bring about that cry. Is that right, Pat? You're a
doctor. You know those things. The effects of the newborn child, that it
cries. It cries. And some of them cries
for two or three years later. Some of them cries all the time. But they all cry. That's what
I'm saying. That's the point that I'm trying
to make is that the newly born child cries. And another effect of that newborn
child is that it's hungry, and it needs comfort, and it needs
a whole lot of care. And the child of God, One who has been quickened by
the Spirit. One whom our Lord referred to
in this analogy of the natural birth, about the wind blowing, where
it listed, and so forth. When a man is born of the Spirit
of God, regenerated by God's Spirit, If he's born again, the effect
of it is that he begins to cry unto the Lord. I think that means he begins
to pray unto the Lord. Paul, in one place, wrote, said
this, For whomsoever shall call upon the name of the Lord and
shall be saved." I think that when a man is quickened by the
Spirit, he cries from the heart unto the Lord. And to pray unto
the Lord and to cry unto the Lord is primarily to confess
one's sins unto God. To cry unto the Lord is to ask
for mercy, to plead with him for forgiveness on the basis
of the Lord Jesus Christ as his covenant head. When the Spirit
moves upon a lost, dead sinner, he or she begins to cry out unto
the Lord. And also, when a child is born, it becomes hungry. Likewise, one born of the Spirit
becomes hungry and thirsty after the things of God. Just as a
newborn child feeds upon its mother's milk in the book of Hebrews chapter
5. Hebrews chapter 5, I think it
is, and verse 13. Verse 12 will give you the context
here. For when then for the time ye
ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teacheth you again,
which be the first principles of the oracles of God, and are
become as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every
one that useth milk is unskillful, in the word of righteousness,
for he is a babe." A babe, a newly born child, desires the milk of the mother's
breast as a baby. But it says, belongs to them that are of full
age. Even those who by reason of use
have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil, the
milk of the word, that begotten The child of God
desires. He desires his mother's milk. And
the effect of regeneration! We are hungry and thirsty, and
we thirst and hunger for the Word of God. A desire! inbuilt desire of God that flows
into our soul when we are regenerated and given life. Being resurrected from that dead
state, we cry unto God. As the newborn baby needs comfort
and care and fellowship of its family. Even the newborn child
of God craves the comfort and care of he or she's Heavenly
Father. Also, and finally, the healthy
newborn child will grow A child that does not grow in body and
in mind has something seriously wrong with that child. In the
same way, he or she which is born of the Spirit will grow
spiritually like the newborn baby that longs for the pure
milk of the Word, longs for it. He grows, the Bible says, in
grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. These are the effects
of the new birth. Now, as I said, we may not understand
just how the Spirit moves, convincing men of sin. and revealing the
Lord Jesus Christ in the Word and bringing faith to his soul. We don't fully understand all
that. But we know when God is working by His Spirit
because this individual whom God is working with. His experience is like the wind. He doesn't know where the wind's
coming from, and he doesn't know where the wind's going, but he
can be sure of the effects of that wind because he sees the
trees. Now a newborn child of God is
not born with a perfect, mature understanding of all that took
place. I didn't know anything the day
I was born. I didn't know my mother or I
didn't know my father. the first day I was born, or
the second day, or the third day, or the fourth day, or the
fifth day, and on and on and on. It was a long time before
I knew. But I knew I had life. I had
life. Where I come from I don't know,
and how it come about I didn't know. When the Spirit quickens him,
he doesn't know exactly what's happening, but he knows that
he has been made a new creature because he desires after the
things of God. He wants more and more information. where he will derive from this
information a growth, a spiritual growth. He might become a man,
stand on his two hind legs. He's not nourishing his mother's
breast constantly for milk. He finally is weaned from that
milk. And so is the newly born child
of God. He grows in the love and the
mercy and the pity of God. And he desires to hear of the
love of God in Christ. And he'll use every means, every
avenue of hearing and receiving. And our Lord said, as I read
to you in chapter 5, where it said, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, He that heareth my word, God gives him ears to
hear when he quickens him. He gives him itching ears. He wants to hear. He wants to
find out. He wants to have knowledge. He
that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, says he
hath everlasting life. And he shall not come into condemnation,
but is passed from death unto life. Verily, verily, I say unto
you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear
the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear, they will
live. They'll have life and they'll
desire to know more. They'll desire to have their
empty bucket filled. They'll desire to know who God
is. And they'll find out, they'll
be taught by God, that God was in Christ reconciling the world
unto himself. They'll come to find out who
saved them. They'll come to find out why
God saved them. They'll find out that it was
not because of anything good in them. They'll find out that
there was no reason in themselves whereby God would look in their
direction. They'll draw this conclusion
from the teaching of the Spirit that it was of God and God only
who came where they were and quickened them by his Spirit
and given them life from the dead and that it was through
the Lord Jesus Christ whom God has sent. It was through him and him alone,
him only. that supplied their needs and
necessities as a sinner to stand them in good stead with God.
To be regenerated is the sovereign act of God. You can't bring it
about. But the effects of it can be
seen, like the effects of the wind can be seen. And the effects of it is that
you desire If I ever meet a man, a woman, a boy, or a girl that
has an unquenching desire after God, well, I know right then that
he's been quickened by the Spirit of God. Because a dead man, a
dead man can't hear. He can't see. He can't smell. He cannot walk, and he cannot
talk a dead man. It is only a man that has life
that can hear the Word of God. You see, when a man is born again,
he is born by the Spirit of God, and the effect of him being born
again is the cause whereby he hears. If he's not born again,
he can't hear because he's still dead. But if he has a desire
to hear, to hear from God, desire to know who God is, desire to
know how God saves, then he's been resurrected from
the dead. But those that are still dead
in trespasses and in sin, They can't hear. They can't hear the voice of
God. You've got to have life. And that's a little bit about
regeneration. It's a must. You can't born yourself
again. God must do that. Nicodemus said, well, do I have
to go back in my mother's womb a second time and be born again?
Our Lord said, except a man be born again, cannot
see the kingdom of God, much less enter in. Can't even see
it. Don't know anything about it.
Let's stand. We'll meet again this evening
for a few minutes.