How does a sinner come to be a child of
God? If it's not by natural birth,
and it's not, then what's the positive side
of that? What is it? Well, let's look at verse nine
first, and we have the simple answer there that it's by miraculous
birth. It's supernatural. Our Lord said
to Nicodemus, you must be born from above. He got that confused
with natural birth. He said, how can a man enter
into his mother's womb and be born a second time? No, not that
kind of birth. You've got to be born from above,
like Sarah. Her having a son was impossible
with men. That's just what our Lord said
about becoming a child of God. With men, it's impossible. Coming
to Christ is impossible. Our Lord was asked by his disciple,
who then can be saved? This young man came inquiring,
wanting to enter the kingdom of God. And obviously, at least
in his own eyes, he was an exemplary human being. And the disciple
said, if he can't be saved, then who can be saved? And our Lord
said, basically nobody. With me and it's impossible and
I want us to think about what our Lord is saying there that's
impossible turn with me to mark chapter 10 This This has to do with our
text mark chapter 10 Verse 17 We're learning now how does someone
become a child of God? It's not by natural birth. It's
not the way religion thinks it is, that you just do some outward,
natural things that anybody can just do. You see how that's the
equivalent of the Jews thinking that just because they're born
a Jew, I'm saved. I'm one of the people of God. Religion, it's the same thing
to say, well, I walked an aisle, so I'm a child of God. I made
a decision. You're still saying it's of man,
it's of the flesh. And our texts and all scripture
teach otherwise. So let's look at it, Mark 10,
17. And when he was gone forth into
the way, there came one running and kneeled to him and asked
him, good master, what shall I do that I may inherit Eternal
life and Jesus said unto him why I call us tell me good There
is none good, but one that is God You see why the Lord dealt
with that? There's so many things to say
about that and we don't have time to expound all of this passage
tonight But he's fixing to tell this man go sell everything you
have and give it to the poor and come follow me the only way
a man's gonna do that is if he knows that he's God and If you're
talking to God and God tells you that, that's one thing. And
so he establishes that up front. There's nobody good but God.
He's not saying that he's not God, obviously. He's saying though,
why are you calling me good? And then in verse 19, thou knowest
the commandments You know how the Lord said, if you do these
things, you'll live. Do not commit adultery, do not
kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, defraud not, honor
thy father and mother. And he answered and said unto
him, master, all these have I observed from my youth. Again, he doesn't
know who God is. Even if he was able to say Jesus
is God, he didn't know who God is. or he wouldn't say, I've
measured up to God's law since I was a boy. If you know who
God is, then Jesus beholding him loved
him and said unto him, one thing thou lackest. Go thy way, sell whatsoever thou
hast and give to the poor and thou shalt have treasure in heaven
and come, take up the cross and follow me. The one thing he lacked
was the thing our Lord dealt with first. You lack the faith
to believe on the son of God. If he knew who that was, and
I've said this before, if you know who he is, you will sell
all that you have. And you won't be able to sell
it fast enough to come follow him. The kingdom of heaven is
likened to a man, a goodly merchant, seeking pearls Or a merchant
seeking goodly pearls In this listen to him though. He was
sad at that saying at that saying and went away grieved for he
had Great possession we're told exactly why he walked away because
he had a lot of stuff When Jesus looked round about and saith
unto his disciples how hardly shall they that have riches enter
into the kingdom of God And the disciples were astonished at
his words, but Jesus answereth again and saith unto them, children,
how hard is it for them that trust in riches? That's the difference
now, because if you have a lot of stuff, you're gonna trust
in that stuff, unless God does a miracle in your heart. Riches, enter into the kingdom
of God, it's easier for a camel. Go through the eye of a needle.
and for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. And they
were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, who
then can be saved? And Jesus, looking upon them,
saith, with men it is impossible, but not with God, for with God
all things are possible. You see how this expounds our
text? If God left it up to our will, nobody would be saved.
It's not possible. That's what our text is saying.
It's got to be a miraculous birth. If it was left up to Abraham
and Sarah to have a child, there's not ever going to be a child. With men, it's impossible. And think about what he was saying
was impossible. It's something very simple. The
man left the Son of God because he had great possessions. He
considered what his possessions did for him more valuable than
what the Lord could do for him in his estimation. Our Lord simply said that for
any man to choose Christ over themselves is impossible. That's not how sinners are saved.
The very thing that religion tries to compel sinners to do
in their so-called worship services when they try to get people saved
Exactly what they're trying to get people to do is impossible
according to God's word. It can't be done You cannot choose
Christ You can't do it What it takes for a sinner to
come to Christ is for God to draw that sinner to his son John
644 the way That God draws sinners to his son is by simply opening
their eyes by revealing him literally to know him is to love him. If
you don't love him, it's because you don't know who he is. When you see Christ as he is,
you'll be like that merchant man seeking goodly pearl. It's
in Matthew 1345. You'll sell all that you have
and you'll buy that pearl of great price. The Lord Jesus Christ. Moses chose didn't he? When God did a work in his heart
he chose the reproach of Christ as Greater riches than all of
the treasures of Egypt That but it's impossible to do
that by nature you're not gonna do it So, how does God reveal His son
to sinners. So you see what we're saying?
You gotta come to Christ. When are you gonna come to Christ?
When you know who he is. Well, how do you know who he
is? Look at John three with me. Let's turn to John chapter three. Verse one. This is how you come
to know who Christ is, so that you will come to him. You will
come to it. Chapter three, verse one, there
was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 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. A teacher come from God. In other
words, and this is important now, Particularly here in verses
2 to 3 It was Christ Who he is that that Nicodemus was playing
at there He's talking about who you are. You must be a teacher
come from God because you do these great miracles unless God
sent you Unless you come from God You couldn't do that stuff
but look at what the Lord answers him you'd you'd think that that he was just ignoring Nicodemus. In a sense, he did. And told
him what he needed to hear, not necessarily what he wanted to
hear. He didn't really directly address his question. But look,
remember what the subject is in verse two. Who are you? Who
you are? We, I know, I, we know, we know,
we know. No, you don't know. That's the
thing. And here's what our Lord said.
Unless you're born again from above, you ain't gonna know.
Can I just say that in plain language? Is that what he said?
You're not gonna know. Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
You're sitting there saying, I know, we know who you are,
you're from God, you're a teacher, you must be from God. And he's
saying, you're not ever gonna know who I am unless God gives
you a new heart, unless the spirit of God gives you spiritual life.
You're not gonna be able to see anything. You're not gonna be
able to know anything. And Nicodemus said, and notice what he's saying there
in verse three before we move on. Except a man be born again,
a miraculous birth by the power and grace of God. That's Sarah. That's Romans 9. That's what
is pictured there. That's what we see there. That's
the lesson of how you do become a Jew. You do become one of God's
Israel by a miraculous birth. And Nicodemus didn't understand
that. He said, in verse four, 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 to thee except a
man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the
kingdom of God You've got to be born of the Spirit There's
a lot of speculation about what being born of water is. I believe
that he's just saying You know, everybody knows about the water
or your water broke, you know, you've got to not only be born
naturally But you've got to be born of the Spirit too. I believe
that's what he's saying born of water and of the Spirit. He
cannot enter into the kingdom of God. You say you know, but
you don't know, and you're not gonna know until you're born
of God, miraculously. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. You see, that's one of the reasons
I think that water, just being born of water, I think that is
just the way that he said that. That you're in the womb, you're He's just talking about natural
birth there, because then he says it this way. That which
is born of flesh is flesh. And that which is born of the
spirit is spirit. It's two different things. You're
talking about fleshly birth. How can a man enter into his
mother's womb? That's not how you become a child of God. You're
not being born into a Christian family. Baptizing babies is,
I guess it's blasphemy. I don't know what else you could
call it. Because it's contrary to the doctrine of Scripture. You're not born into a family.
This thing, what do they call it? Covenant theology or something,
where if you're, you know. When Paul said, you know, you'll
be saved and your house, They say, well, if a man is saved,
then his whole family is saved. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. It's
two completely different things. You must be born again. You've
already been born of water, Nicodemus. You've got to be born another
time. another birth, a miraculous birth by the power and grace
of God. And then he described how it
happens. The wind, verse eight, bloweth where it listeth. The
wind, you can't control it. It blows where it wants to and
you hear it, you hear the sound of it, but you can't tell where
it came from and you can't tell where it's gonna go next. That's
how the spirit is when he's saving sinners. He goes to who he wants
to. And you'll know about it, but
you didn't have anything to do with it. That is exactly what is foreshadowed
and illustrated by Abraham and Sarah having a child. With men,
it's impossible. Abraham has no life in him in
that sense, and Sarah has no life in her in that sense. Remember
now that Abraham was the father of the Jews. There was a time
when he didn't have any trouble having children. The Lord said,
your children, of course, he's talking about more generations
than just Abraham's original children, But he said, they'll
be as the sands of the seashore, your seed. But he was talking
about the spiritual seed. But also the Jews, there were
millions and millions of Jews. And he was called the father
of the Jews, the father of Israel, because he was the one that God
came to and made this promise. But God showed us here that God's
children are not born like that. He waited, God waited until Abraham
was impotent and Sarah was infertile, I guess is the way you would
say it, to show that man has nothing to do with the birth
of a true spiritual Israelite, a child of promise, an elect
son of God. Why didn't he come when Abraham
was 30 years old and say, I'm gonna give you a son? Because
he's deliberately showing us that the flesh profiteth nothing
in salvation. And then in the same story, Abraham
and Sarah show us how man feels about that. God makes his promises,
but we gotta do our part, right? You remember that. Sarah said,
go into my handmaid and have a son, and then we'll have an
heir. No, God already promised you an heir. Not like that. She decided to exercise her free
will. And Abraham went along with it
and produced an heir, not by miracle, but by human decision,
human ingenuity, doing our part to accomplish God's purpose.
You don't have a part in that. It just happens to you. That's
your part in it. It happens to you, if God is
pleased. Turn with me to Galatians chapter
four, please. Galatians 4 Verse 21 in Galatians 4 Tell
me ye that desire to be under the law Do you not hear the law
if you if you knew who God is and knew? His law, you wouldn't want to
be under the law. You wouldn't want to be on the
footing of works before God. Verse 22, for it is written that
Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid and the other by
a free woman. But he who was of the bondmaid
was born after the flesh. You see that? He's just a natural
birth. Of course, those are miracles
too, but in a different sense. You know what I mean? We don't make babies, God gives
them. He gives them. But the son of the bond woman
was born after the flesh, in a spiritual sense too. But he of the free woman was
by promise, by promise. That word's in our text tonight.
Which things are an allegory, for these are the two covenants.
The one, you see why Paul brought this up in Romans nine? You're
not a child of God by natural birth. Here's how you are though.
These are the two covenants. The one from Mount Sinai, which
gendereth to bondage, which is Hagar. For this Hagar is Mount
Sinai in Arabia, and answereth 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. Above, above, you
must be born from above. For it is written, rejoice thou
barren that bearest not, break forth and cry thou that travailest
not, for the desolate hath many more children than she which
hath a husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was,
are the children of promise. Isaac was the child that God
promised that they would have when it was impossible for them
to have a child. Saying that he's the child of
promise is saying he's the child that was born just because God
said so, without any help from anybody. But as then, he that
was born after the flesh persecuted Him that was born after the Spirit,
even so it is now. Those that insist on being saved
by doing their part, they hate people that are freely saved
of God. Always have, always will. Nevertheless,
what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her
son. For the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son
of the free woman. And that's exactly what Sarah
said. Then we'll have an heir. If we do our part and make this
happen, we will have an heir. God said, you will not have an
heir like that. She shall not be, he shall not
be heir with the son of the free woman. So then brethren, we are
not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. What a beautiful,
clear allegory. That is, we're of spiritual birth,
not natural, not the flesh. We're the children by God's promise,
by God's covenant with his spiritual Israel. So you see what Romans
9 is referring to. God's true children are children
by miraculous, supernatural, spiritual promise. And not only
that, But as God gave life where there was only death, he manifestly
revealed that all efforts of the flesh to produce life are
rejected by him. He shall not be heir and you
shall not be saved by fleshly means, by doing your part. You
shall not be. Religion says, let's get people
born. instead of waiting on God. And
then, you know, if you get somebody born, you have to entertain them,
you gotta brag on them, you gotta motivate them with rewards or
threaten them with hell to get them to even show up to their
so-called church services. God's church loves the Lord Jesus
Christ because he first loved them. Jacob have I loved, that's
why they love him. They love Him, they love His
gospel, they love His people, they love His worship. They're
born of the Spirit, and the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.
Against such there's no law, and they that are Christ's have
crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts, Just like
God said, he shall not be heir. There will not be an heir that
way. You're not gonna be a son of God. You're not a son of the
promise. So Paul said, everything that would recommend me as a
son of God, I count it but done that I may win Christ. They that
are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and
lusts. If we live in the spirit, let
us also walk in the spirit. If we have life before God by
the Spirit, let's act like it. So God's covenant is not in vain,
as it might appear. Remember what Paul said just
previous in our context. He said, it's not as though the
word of God hath taken none effect, even though the Israelites, according
to the flesh, reject him. Read there in Galatians, even
now, they have nothing but fleshly
false faith. But it's not His covenant, His
promise is not in vain because it is the children born of God
and not Abraham that are counted as the seed of promise, the children
of promise. And every last one of them shall
be saved. Romans 11, 26, and so all Israel,
and he spent all this time identifying who true Israel is, all of them,
shall be saved. As it is written, there shall
come out of Sion the deliverer and shall turn away ungodliness
from Jacob for this is my covenant unto them when I shall take away
their sins. That's what it is to be a child
of God. And not only this, Paul says in verse 10, not only this, But God's true Israel are born,
not only by miraculous birth, but by free, sovereign, electing
grace. Called in Romans 11, five, in
the same context, the election of grace, the choosing of grace. Look at verses 10 and 11 together.
back in Romans 9. And not only this, but when Rebekah
also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac, the child
of promise, Isaac, Rebekah conceived by him for the children being
not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God, according to election, might stand not of
works, but of him that calleth." When they didn't even exist,
as far as the world is concerned, as far as the flesh is concerned,
before they even existed, before they were even born, God chose
one and not the other. When they had neither done any
good or evil, showing that God's love has nothing to do with anything
that we've ever done or will do. before any decisions were made
by either one of them, before any life, Christian or otherwise,
could be lived by them, before anybody gave anybody's heart
to anybody. Without regard to anything done
by anybody but Christ, God loved one and hated the other. It couldn't
be plainer. On the basis of God's love, a
difference was made. and on no other basis. Verse 12 simply shows that God
went against the order of their birth deliberately also. Because
a Jew might think, well, if nothing else we'll consider, at least
the Jews, you know, since the firstborn had preeminence, that
God might honor that in his choosing. He might at least choose the
one that's preferred by law. Under the Old Testament scriptures,
the firstborn had preeminence. That's a picture, of course,
of Christ, the firstborn of the dead, the firstborn of his creatures,
and his preeminence over all. But God deliberately chose the
opposite to show that there was absolutely nothing to recommend
either one of them to him when he made his choice. Without a cause, God loves freely. That's what we're seeing here.
He loves freely, without a cause, without a condition. That's not that complicated,
is it? You see, this is the deep, dark truth of the doctrine of
election. That's so deep, isn't it? It's just true. When it gets complicated is when
you try to reconcile that with your free will, because you're
trying to mix things that, you're trying to mix something that
don't exist with the truth of God, and that's going to get
complicated. You're going to have a tough time. You're going
to have to come up with all kinds of weird stuff in order to reconcile
that. If you just believe God, though,
it's kind of plain. It's kind of plain. You may not
like it, Then again, you might. And never forget that election
is God's love. I remember the Lord showing me
that in Romans chapter nine. I don't remember when it was.
It was many years ago. At least initially, the Lord
showed me that a long time ago, that election, God does not choose arbitrarily,
but in loving one, he makes the difference between the two. In loving one of these sinners,
that sinner is picked out from the other one who is hated. That's
election. The difference between the elect
and the reprobate is not a lottery system. It is the eternal, infinite,
immutable love of God Almighty. And that love is in His Son. Why did God love Jacob and me
and you if we're His? The only answer in scripture
we have to that question Christ Let's read Romans 8 in closing
verses 28 Through 39 Listen to this beautiful truth
and also this is the same context as our Our text in Romans 9 We
know that all things work together for good and To them that love
God, to them who are the called, according to his purpose. For
whom he did foreknow. And that word doesn't just mean
that he knows everything about them, that's intimate. That says
Adam knew his wife Eve, that's love. To put it plainly, he loved
him first. All things work together for
good to them that love God because he loved them first. That's what
that word foreknow says. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son. Now
that involves all kinds of, it involves our whole life and it
involves every second. But the end result is one thing. for us to be like Christ. You see how the answer to the
question, why did God love me and not so many others he didn't
love? The only answer is Christ. He purposed an eternity that
I would be just like his son. He loved me and his son. He chose
me in His Son. And that's what we're reading
about here. He predestinated us to be conformed to the image
of His Son. And this goes right along with
our 1 Corinthians 15 study, doesn't it? And in 2 Thessalonians, where
we looked in 1 Thessalonians also, He's gonna make us like himself. It's the only way we can live
with him forever, is if we're just like him. And
that's the point of everything. That's the point of everything.
He predestinated everything so that we would be like Christ. That Christ might be the firstborn
among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called. And whom he called, them he also
justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. This is called the golden chain
of grace because it begins with God knowing us. As he said, I think to Jeremiah,
before I form thee in the belly, I knew you, that's the kind of
knowledge he's talking about. I knew you then, I knew you.
It starts with that. Before you even existed, you
did in the mind and heart of God and he loved you then, he
knew you then, he set you apart then. And notice he keeps saying the
same ones, the same ones, the ones that he did, those that
he foreknew, those that he loved before they were even born. Those
are the ones he predestinated. Those are the ones that are gonna
be like Christ. And those are the ones whom he called. You
wanna know who's elect, who the elect are? Well, it might take
a little time. We'll have to wait around and
see who he saves, who he reveals the gospel to. Because that's
who they are, it's them. It's them that he called. And
the word there is named, so that's, you're mine. You're mine. The girls are gonna name that
goat one of these days because he's theirs. They get to name
it. But we're named by the name of
Christ, we're named. in whom He called them, He also
justified. Those who stand in God's presence,
holy and spotless, are the ones that He knew in their mother's
womb before He formed us in our mother's womb. What shall we
say then to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us, seeing that we've been in His hands since before
we were born? He's been purposing and decreeing
everything for our good since before we were born. If He's for us like that, who's gonna be a problem for
me? Who's gonna mess that up? If
this salvation is eternal, if God's love for me is eternal, Even I can't mess it up myself.
I'm a professional messer-upper. He that spared not his own son. You see that? We're talking about
love, aren't we? That's the definition of love.
Herein is love. Not that we love God, but that
he loved us and spared not his own son. but delivered him up for us all.
How shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Paul said, all things are yours. And that's why, because of the
love of God in Christ Jesus. Who shall lay anything to the
charge? Maybe you think, well, that all sounds wonderful, but
I'm a wretch. No, you're not. According to
God you're not who shall weigh anything to the charge of God's
elect. It's God that justifies Who is
he that condemneth it is Christ that died Yea rather that is
risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh
intercession for us Safe though the worlds may crumble And here we are now, Jacob have
I loved, Jacob have I loved, and who shall separate us from
the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
You may, under distress, and tribulation, persecution, you
may think, you know, Job, it seems like he thought that God
had forsaken him. David, in many places in the
Psalm, he said, Is your mercy clean gone forever? That's only in your mind. That
can't separate you from God's love, from the love of Christ.
As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long.
We are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these
things, we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. Jacob
have I loved. What a difference. People look
at that as just kind of a black and white, like a choice that
God made. It's sort of a forensic doctrinal
thing. And I don't know how to describe
that, except I've been there and I've faced off with it. God's love is everything. It's
everything. All things. We are more than
conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. That's election. He loved us
before we were us. At least in a physical sense. And he loves us yet he loved
us with an everlasting love and with loving kindness. He drew
us to the Savior. That's election. It's not just
a cold doctrine. It's not just a fact that we
want to Glowed over that that so many people don't know that
but we know that It's salvation it's everything
it's the difference it's the difference it's Christ Why would God love a worm like
me Christ Let's pray