Notices for the coming week are
as follows. If the Lord will, there will
be a prayer meeting on Tuesday at seven o'clock. There'll be
no service on Thursday, as it is Cranbrook anniversary services
at 3.30 and 6.30 p.m. when Mr. Gerald Bass is expected
to preach. Next Lord's Day, our pastor is
expected to preach at 10.30 and two o'clock. May the Lord help us as we begin
the worship of his great name by singing the hymn 362. The tune is Assalon 567. 362, how pleased and blessed was I
to hear the people cry, come, let us seek our God today. Yes,
with a cheerful zeal, we haste to Zion's hill and there our
vows and honors pay. O peace and blessed was I to
hear the people cry, Come, let us sing our God today. You spread a cheerful tale, bringing
praise to Zion's tale. ? Zion's bright, happy place ?
? Land of faith and respite ? Help us to strengthen, praise thee
right. Hear me, O tribes of Israel, Send prayer, praise, and tears. God save the Queen! God keep
the Queen! ? And in His greater Son ? ? As
with His royal throne ? He takes the grace of judgment
well. He makes good things become. He makes the sinner sad. ? And I want to rejoice in Thee
? ? Make me certain Thy gate ? ? And join with him in praise
? ? To music's shore of every praise ? ? Heaven and earth teach
thy peace ? and which is high in grace, a
thousand virtues own in praise. ? Light of greatness above ? ?
Is to this sacred house ? ? All to thy praise have we given ? And since my glorious God, Raised
me this blessed world, There are two portions of scripture
I wish to read this morning. The first is found in the Gospel
of John, chapter 3. The third chapter of the Gospel
of John, reading down to the end of verse 21. Let us hear the word of God.
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. 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. Nicodemus saith unto Kim,
How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second
time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, 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. that which
is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the
spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee,
ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth,
and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it
cometh, and whither it goeth. So is every one that is born
of the spirit. Nicodemus answered and said unto
him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto
him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and
testify that we have seen, and ye receive not our witness. If
I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, How shall
ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended
up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son
of Man which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal
life. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten Son. That whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son
into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through
him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not
condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because
he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation,
that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather
than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone that
doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light,
lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh
to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they
are wrought in God. We turn the page to chapter five,
and I'll read from verse 19. In the early part of this chapter,
we read of the healing of the man at the pool of Bethesda. Then answered Jesus and said
unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing
of himself, but what he seeth the Father do. For what things
soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father
loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that himself doeth,
and he will show him greater works than these, that he may
marvel. For as the Father raiseth up
the dead, and quickneth them, even so the Son quickneth whom
he will. For the Father judgeth no man,
but hath committed all judgment unto the Son, that all men should
honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth
not the Son, honoureth not the Father which hath sent him. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth
on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and 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 shall
live. For as the Father hath life in
himself, So hath he given to the Son to have life in himself,
and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because
he is the Son of Man. Marvel not at this, for the hour
is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear
his voice, and shall come forth, they that have done good, unto
the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto
the resurrection of damnation. I can of mine own self do nothing.
As I hear, I judge. And my judgment is just, because
I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which
hath sent me. If I bear witness of myself,
my witness is not true. So reads the word of God. May
the Lord give us understanding. and may help us now as we pray. Almighty and eternal Lord God,
we seek to bow in thy holy presence, help us to humble ourselves before
thee, that we may come to thee with contrite hearts and repentant
spirits, that we may acknowledge thy mercy and thy goodness toward
us through another week of time. We acknowledge that thou art
the eternal, ever-living God, eternal, infinite, and unchanging. We worship thee in the trinity
of thy persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Thou art the
God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of thy people. Thou art
the God of all comfort, the God of mercy and grace. We seek to
draw near, pleading the name and merit of the Lord Jesus Christ,
our only hope, our only way of access. For he alone is the mediator
and the surety. He it is who makes intercession
for sinners here below. And we realize that we have no
hope in ourselves. We are lost and undone. We've
all sinned and come short of the glory of God. We've broken
thy holy law. We have done those things we
ought not to have done. and left undone those things
we ought to have done. We are indeed miserable sinners.
And we pray, Lord, help teach us by thy spirit, each of us,
that we may be taught of the Lord, that we may be made to
possess our iniquities. We may realize that we are condemned
in thy sight because of the breaches of thy law. And we pray, Lord,
help teach us also to know the wonders of divine grace, that
matchless grace, that matchless condescension that sent thy beloved
Son into this sinful world. As we have been reminded, for
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life. Lord, we bless thee for the plan
of salvation, the love that drew salvation's plan and the grace
that brought it down to man. We thank the Lord that this little
chapel stands as a testimony of those who in former times,
out of love for the truth, desired to gather together in the bonds
of Christian fellowship and desired the Word of God to be preached
to them in purity and in power. And thy people down through the
generations here have been blessed We give thanks, O Lord, that
there's a continuity of worship in this place, even to the present
time, that there is a number gathered here around the open
word of God this day. We pray, O Lord, thy gracious
enabling and the power of the Spirit to accompany the preaching
of the everlasting gospel of thy grace, that it may be applied
to the hearts of the people. We pray, O Lord, that thy people
may be blessed, that they may be comforted, and established,
that they may be built up in their most holy faith. And though
the word may search our hearts at times, we pray that we may
see more clearly than ever before the fullness, the wonder, the
glory of the person of Jesus Christ, that there is in him
a fullness of grace, grace that we need. And we pray, Lord, that
we may have exalted views of him that we may glory in his
name and that he may be honoured in this place this day. We pray,
O Lord, for those that yet without spiritual life are dead in their
sins and do not feel their danger and know not their load. We pray,
O Lord, that thou wilt awaken them even this day, that they
may be made aware that thy word is true from the beginning. and
all the way through to the end. That the word is the word of
truth and the word that makes known to us our iniquities, our
failures, and our sin, and our danger, and the condemnation
it deserves, that we deserve. But may they come to realize
the wonders of grace in Christ Jesus and become seeking souls. May they pray the publican's
prayer, even for the very first time. God be merciful to me. a sinner. And we know that where
that prayer is prayed from the heart, there will be an answer,
an answer of kindness and love and compassion and forgiveness. Lord, we pray for the work of
the Holy Spirit in these times, in these days of small things.
We pray, Lord, that be pleased to use thy people here in some
way, as a testimony for the truth, as a beacon of hope. as light
in the darkness. We pray likewise for every gospel-loving
church and congregation, that the truth may sound forth from
them, and that the word may be made known amongst others. Lord,
we pray in these dark and benighted times, these days of open wickedness,
days where there seems to be no shame, even for the most perverse
activities. O Lord, we pray that thou come
again in power in these times, as in former days we pray for
nothing less than an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in revival
blessing, that there may be a rich effusion of the Spirit upon the
people of God and upon preachers of the gospel, that there may
be raised up preachers of great wisdom and grace and power as
in former times, to go forth to the highways and the byways
to proclaim the need of salvation, to proclaim the holiness of thy
law and the riches of thy grace in Jesus Christ. Lord, we pray
for the spread of the truth in these times. In this country
of ours, we give thanks for the large number of scriptures that
have been received outside places of worship, the outside people's
homes during the last two or three years. We pray, Lord, that
this may be abundantly blessed to those who have willingly and
freely taken a copy for themselves. And we pray that there may be
a spirit of searching in their hearts, a diligence to know what
the Word of God has to say to them. And we pray that this spirit
of inquiry may be the means of bringing them to a point of conviction
regarding the truth. that all their preconceived notions
may fall away and be as nothing, that they may realize that they
need the Lord Jesus Christ to save them from their sins. We
pray then for the building up of thy church, thy kingdom in
these times. We pray likewise for the tens
of thousands of Bibles that have been presented to children in
schools in the last year or so. and we're thankful for these
open doors of opportunity. We pray the word may be indeed
received in the hearts of young people in these times, that thy
blessing may rest upon these endeavors. Lord, we will pray
for the forthcoming coronation of King Charles III. We would
remember him at the throne of grace, praying that his sins
may be forgiven, that his eyes may be open to the truth, he
may realize that there's only one true faith, only one true
God, the eternal, ever-living God, who has made himself known
in Jesus Christ. We pray, Lord, that I'll bring
him to know these things, and may there be blessing where the
word of God is expressed on the coronation day, or whether it
may be expressed in hymns. We pray that as the truth is
made known in this way, we pray, there may be blessing to those
that will be present on that occasion and those that will
be listening in all around the world. Lord, we pray that you
give honor and glory to thy great name in these times. We know
that these things happen by divine appointment, as thy word says,
by me, king's reign, and prince's decree of justice, by me, noble's
rule, even all the judges of the earth. And so, Lord, we pray
for the good of the royal family at this time. Lord, let us know
the turmoil and the difficulties that they have passed through
in more recent times, public embarrassments. We pray, Lord,
that even these may be used in some way for their good. Lord, we pray that they'll be
pleased to hear us in these things. We desire, Lord, thy gracious
help and enabling. We pray for this congregation,
the young and the old and the middle-aged. We pray for those
that are young, that while they are young, may their hearts be
made tender in the fear of the Lord. May they be given ears
to hear and a heart to understand the great truths of the gospel.
May they early in life be brought to feel their need of something
more than this world can give. And may the truth that they hear
from the pulpit and at home, we pray that it may be blessed
to them. It may be the means of bringing
them from darkness to light, from the kingdom of Satan to
the kingdom of thy dear son. We pray for those who perhaps
in their hearts may be wishing they were not here, perhaps wishing
they were somewhere else. Lord, if this is so, we pray
that, stop them, we pray, in their hearts and bring them to
consider their ways and be wise, that they may realize that we
are journeying on through this short life to a never-ending
eternity of either endless happiness or endless despair. Lord, we
pray these things may be made more and more real to their understanding. And may the gospel's gracious
call and the gospel's gracious message become more and more
meaningful to their hearts. We pray that none in this congregation
may be lost. that none may be left to themselves. But in thy rich saving mercies,
thou bless the ministry of the Word of God to them. We pray
for the pastor of this congregation and ask, O Lord, that he may
be blessed as he spends time away at this time. We ask, O
Lord, that he may be blessed under the Word today. We pray
that be with him and help him day by day and week by week.
as he returns to minister the word of God once more in this
place. May there be much fruit and blessing
and prosperity. For Lord, we know it depends
entirely upon thy goodness and thy blessing, for without thy
help and thy enabling, nothing of real good will be accomplished,
but words will simply fall to the ground. Lord, we pray thou
be pleased to bless the public declaration of the gospel of
thy grace, that as Christ is exalted in this pulpit, sinners
may look and live. Lord, we pray that be pleased
to enlarge thy habitation here below, enlarge the true church,
the visible church of Christ, that they may be added to such
as should be saved, that there may be gracious additions sinners
who will be constrained to tell out their little tale of grace.
How they have by thy grace escaped from the judgment of hell and
hope in glory to appear. So Lord we pray thou bless thy
word continually that thy name may be honored and glorified.
Bless the deacons of the church and give them wisdom and grace
we pray in their office. Lord, we pray for each member
of the church that they may grow in love and harmony and union,
one with another, that there may be a fellow mutual feeling.
They may weep with those that weep and rejoice with those that
rejoice. Lord, we pray and bless each
one present we ask this day. May it be a good day in the courts
of the Lord. May thy name be honored and glorified. And so, Lord, we pray that help
us We realise that we come so far short, there's so much to
confess. But Lord, we come, we trust humbly
before Thee and dependently and pray Thou be with us and look
upon us in Thy kindness and mercy as we ask all these things with
the forgiveness of our latest sins. We ask it for Christ's
sake. Amen. We continue in our worship by
singing the hymn 360, the tune is Pentecost 319. God in his earthly temples lays
foundations for his heavenly praise. He lights the tents of
Jacob well, but still in Zion loves to dwell. 360. ? In His holy temple place ? ?
All nations all praise Him ? ? Be thy sustenance for day and
night ? ? Blessed Zion, blessed man ? O say does that star-spangled
banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the
brave? ? As churches beat ? ? Till praise
availed ? ? The Lord is born ? ? This time of old ? ? What
wonders are ? ? How giant are ? ? How city are ? ? How confident
are ? ? Thine ancient song ? ? And Egypt's love ? ? Egypt's
love ? ? And Greek and Jew ? ? Shelt'ring him, their eyes guarding
him ? ? Angels and men shall join to sing his praise ? ? The hill where men in boulders
sleep ? ? When from his hand his roses flowed ? Oh, say does that star-spangled
banner yet wave I invite your attention to the
chapter we read, John's Gospel, and chapter 3, the third chapter
of the Gospel of John. And I particularly draw your
attention to the words found in verse 7, the words of Christ
to Nicodemus. Marvel not that I said unto thee,
ye must be born again. We have before us the fundamental
truth of the need of the new birth. The new birth lies at
the foundation of all true Christian experience. Without the new birth,
we're not the Lord's, we're not one of His. We're yet in our
sins. As you may be aware, during the
18th century, George Whitefield, amongst others, preached powerfully
and extensively, not only to thousands, but sometimes to tens
of thousands, the word of God. And he so often preached regarding
the need of the new birth. He often took this as a text.
And he's asked on one occasion, Mr. Whitfield, why is it that
you so often preach from ye must be born again? And his simple
reply was, because ye must be born again. J.C. Ryle, who was one of the godly
bishops of the Church of England in the late Victorian era, he
put it like this, those that are not born again will one day
wish they'd not been born at all. Have you ever thought about
it in those terms? the fundamental importance of
experiencing the new birth. And it may be there are children
here this morning, you're puzzled by this, like Nicodemus was puzzled
when he said, how can a man when he's old enter again the second
time to his mother's womb? And he didn't understand these
things. But I want to try to open these
things to you this morning, because these things are so important.
I realize that some things thy may say may be very searching
to those who truly are the Lords. But if we are based upon a good
foundation, searching will do us no harm. An honest businessman
will not be afraid of the auditors who wants to check his accounts,
and a house that is founded upon a good foundation will bear the
scrutiny of a surveyor. And likewise, if we are built
upon the good foundation, Lord Jesus Christ, then the probing
that the Word of God gives to us will indeed do us no harm,
it will not cause us any offense, but we'll realize the fundamental
importance of these things. This then is a universal truth
that all men need to hear, all men need to be aware of. And
just a slight aside here, notice in verse seven, there's a slight
change in the pronouns. There's a very simple rule in
the Authorized Version. If a pronoun begins with a T,
thee and thou and thine, it's singular, addressing one person
or one body of people. If it begins with a Y, you and
yours and ye, then it's plural. But notice how the Lord Jesus
addressed, first of all, Nicodemus, marvel not that I said unto thee,
addressing him as an individual, but then it changes to the plural,
ye must be born again. Not just Nicodemus, but his contemporaries. And this is, as I say, universal
truth. There's no going to heaven without
being born again. So this is a very important and
also a searching subject. And I trust that you're willing
to be searched from the word of God, as Anne still expresses
it. Here, let me search my inmost
mind and try its real state to find. Because it's an important
thing to know where we really stand. in the sight of a holy
God? Are we truly on the narrow way
which leads to everlasting life or are we still on the broad
road that leads to everlasting destruction? Now the first thing
we must notice is this, that it's possible to come very close
to the kingdom of God and yet not be born again. This was the
case of Nicodemus. He was a ruler amongst the Jews. He held a high position in the
synagogue. He was widely respected. He would have had a knowledge
of the Holy Scriptures as far as they were available at that
stage, the Old Testament Scriptures. He would have been well versed
in these things and had a working knowledge of the Word of God. He would have known much about
the kingdom that was promised and foretold by the Old Testament
prophets, the kingdom of the Messiah that was yet to come.
He would have known these things. He knew that God had a people
that he'd formed for his praise and he would have imagined that
he was among them. He would have looked back to
his heritage and believing Abraham to be his great forefather would
have believed that he was also in the favor of God simply on
that account. And yet for all this he was not
born again. Also he had a respect for the
Lord Jesus Christ. He came to him with a sense of
deep respect, he addressed him as Rabbi. He had observed the
work of Christ, he knew about the miracles that he had performed
and he knew that God must be with him to give him this ability
and this power to open the eyes of the blind, to unstop deaf
ears and to raise the dead, to make the lame to walk and to
cleanse the lepers. He realized that the power of
God was with the Lord Jesus and yet with his knowledge and with
his understanding, with his respect of the person and the work of
the Lord Jesus Christ, he was yet without spiritual life in
his heart. He hadn't grasped this very important
and fundamental truth of the need to be born again. And Christ marveled at this,
that he was a master in Israel but didn't know these things. And likewise he told Nicodemus
not to marvel that he had said to him, he must be born So it's
very possible to come close, very close, to the kingdom of
God and yet be a stranger to God and to grace and to be without
the new birth. There's a number of very sobering
examples in the scriptures concerning this. Let me remind you of some
of them. You go back to the book of Numbers, we read of Balaam,
who was a fortune teller from Mesopotamia. And he'd been asked
by the king of Moab to come and curse Israel. And he pretended
that he didn't want any wages of money for reward. And he pretended
he only wanted to do what God wanted him to do. And he could
see that there was something different about God's people
Israel. That they were protected by him.
That they were loved by him. And he went on to speak of the
coming of Christ. He prophesied of the Messiah,
the Lord Jesus Christ. He even said this, let me die
the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his.
And yet for all this, he was without the new birth. And we
find that the word of God elsewhere reveals to us that he loved secretly
the wages of unrighteousness. His heart was unchanged. He was
living a life of pretense. And we find him at last on the
wrong side, making allegiance with those who are fighting against
Israel. And he lost his life in the battle. We read of Saul, King Saul, don't
we? The first king over God's national
people, Israel. We're told that he was head and
shoulders above everybody else. When he began as king, he seemed
somewhat humble. He was surrounded by a band of
men, we're told, whose hearts God had touched. He was in favorable
company. He also had Samuel as his spiritual
guide if he was inclined to go to speak with him and ask counsel
of him. But we find for all this that
he was not born again in spite of the fact that he became well
known as having the spirit of prophecy upon him. Is not Saul
also among the prophets became a byword? But he was without
spiritual life. He had another heart but not
a new heart we're told. and he disobeyed a number of
significant occasions, he disobeyed the voice of the Lord and his
life began to go downhill further and further. In the end he consulted
the forces of darkness and went to the witch of Endor and ended
his life falling upon his own sword. We read also in the New
Testament of Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, one of the
chosen followers of Christ, who heard the gracious words that
fell from his lips, who heard every sermon he preached, who
saw his graciousness and heard his counsel. He was given gifts
for preaching and exercised those gifts for performing miracles
as he went around the country under the command of Christ with
the other disciples. He appeared to be the most charitable
amongst the disciples because he was entrusted with the money
bag and gifts for the poor. But for all this, he was not
born again. He had just a form of godliness,
but denied the power thereof. And we find he had no love for
Christ. He sought opportunity to betray him, and regarded the
master as worth only the price of a slave, 30 pieces of silver. And as you well know, he ended
up hanging himself out of despair. You see, these are very solemn
things, aren't they? to go so far in the things of God, have
this knowledge of the truth to such a considerable degree and
yet be without spiritual life in the heart. Just one more example
will suffice. Simon the Sorcerer of Samaria.
We read of him in Acts chapter 8. He was impressed by the preaching
of Philip who went down and preached Christ in Samaria, this great
rejoicing in the city. Many believed. We're told that
Simon believed, but it proved to be only a notional faith,
a mere outward acceptance of the truth that he had heard.
When the apostles Peter and John came down from Jerusalem, they
could see right through him because they had performed, or rather
they'd had the ability to demonstrate the apostolic sign gifts. And
Simon wanted these things for himself, an offer of money that
he might have this power exercised these gifts and they saw right
through him that his heart was not right in the sight of the
Lord and that he was still in the gall of bitterness and the
bond of iniquity and they exhorted him to repent of his wickedness. So can you see the Word of God
sets these examples before us to show to us how close a person
may come to the kingdom and yet not be born again. Furthermore,
we must notice that it's possible to make many mistakes regarding
this truth as to what it is to be born again. First of all,
it's not self-reformation. A person may grow up under the
sound of the truth, and when they get into their teenage years,
perhaps, or early adult life, they perhaps want to push at
boundaries, and they perhaps rebel in their hearts, and maybe
outwardly as well in some way, but maybe they grow up and they
mature in their twenties, they may get married and settle down
and have a family. There's an outward reformation. But this is not the new birth.
Yes, the new birth will lead to a reformation of life, but
it's not merely self-reformation. It's not just maturity. It's
not just seeking to be morally upright as to external things,
important as these things are. I referred to George Whitfield
earlier, let me come back to him because before he began preaching
extensively during the 1700s, people were appalled at the state
of the nation. And there were those who sought to form an organization
to improve moral manners, as they called it. And they wanted
to teach people how they ought to live and how they ought to
behave and their responsibilities on a social level. But it was
a failure. But when George Whitfield preached
powerfully under the anointing of the Spirit, the need of the
new birth, people's hearts were changed. They were changed from
the inside, there was a change therefore on the outside. You
see, that's the fundamental difference, isn't it? The need of the new
birth within. And furthermore, it can be mistaken
that being brought up in a Christian family, having parental training
and teaching, or scientific teaching, the outward ministry of the Word
of God, and it can be realized or thought that, well, surely
this is enough. I've been molded and fashioned
and taught by these things, surely that is enough. Chapel attendance
in itself, good as it is, doesn't make us one of the children of
the Lord. These things neither are they
hereditary, as John chapter one reminds us. In verse 11 it says,
concerning Christ, he came unto his own, and his own received
him not. 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, which were born not of blood, nor of
the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Notice that, born of God, not
of blood, not of family connections, Some of us here could perhaps,
if it was appropriate, boast of our pedigree. Godly people,
perhaps, on both sides of our family, who were the Lords and
testified of the truth in their lives. But good as that is, and
a privilege to be born in that context and have such forebears,
but the point is this, we need to be born again. It's a very
personal matter, isn't it? Not born of blood, it's not about
human relationships. nor of the will of man. It's
not the result of man's influence. No one can bring spiritual life
to another. It is God's prerogative to do
this very thing. Yes, he uses his people, he uses
human instrumentality, but it's the work of God in the soul,
isn't it? So those who receive the Lord
Jesus Christ, we're told, they are born of God, born with a
spiritual new birth. So it's possible then to make
many mistakes. You see what I'm trying to do here is to clear
the ground as I go, to show you that which is not true, that
which is not the reality of the experience of the new birth.
So let us come to the question then, why do we need to be born
again? Maybe that's the question you're
asking, particularly some of the children, young people, why
do we need to be born again? Well, for this reason, by nature,
we are dead in our sins, dead in trespasses and in sins. Paul
refers to the Ephesian believers that that's where they once were.
Under the prince of the power of the air, the children of disobedience,
the children of wrath, even as others. Without God, without
Christ in the world, and therefore without hope. But God had intervened
in his rich mercy towards them that experienced a new birth.
So they are no longer dead in their sins now, but alive unto
God. The illustration that we can
use is that of a corpse. It's not a pleasant illustration,
but it's an important one. Where there's no life, then there's
no warmth, there's no movement, there's no sight, there's no
hearing. And likewise spiritually, we are spiritually dead, so there's
no movement towards God. No affection towards the Lord. no spiritual warmth, no spiritual
sight, no spiritual hearing, dead in trespasses and in sins,
alienated from the life of God, in a far country, far, far away
from the things of God in our hearts, although we may be surrounded
by the Lord's people, and yet we can be far, far away from
the Lord in our hearts. An enmity against God is not
just a case of being at a distance, but there's a rebelliousness
in our hearts, there's a love for sin, a love for those things
that displease God, and perhaps just a mere acceptance or even
a resentment of those things the Lord would have us do. And
we are provoking God to anger, all the while we remain in an
unconverted state and condition. You see, there's no going to
heaven without the new birth. As the Sunday school hymn reminds
us, Glory's gates but open to the born again. I remember reading
a story that left a deep impression on me many years ago of three
sisters who lived together. Two of them were godly women,
but the other was openly worldly and ungodly, had no interest
in the things of God, spent her life pleasing herself as far
as she could. But one morning she came down
to breakfast and seemed very, very subdued. And her sisters,
being concerned for her, wanted to know what was wrong. And she
was reluctant to tell them. In the end, she agreed to tell
them that the night before she'd had a strange dream. She saw
herself in a place of light and glory and purity. She assumed
this must be heaven. Everybody seemed to be happy
and holy. And one appeared to her in shining garments in which
she believed must be the Lord Jesus Christ. Then she looked
at herself and she saw her own filthy garments and felt most
uncomfortable in his presence. He seemed to frown upon her.
She felt herself falling and falling and falling into flames. And upon this she awoke. And
she was so moved by what she had seen and felt in the dream. And so she related this to our
sisters. Well, it's a reminder to us,
isn't it, that if it were possible for a person to get to heaven
in an unconverted or unregenerate state, they would not be happy
there. Heaven is happy because it's
holy. We are unholy by nature. The
Lord has to deal with that. The Lord has to put in their
hearts a love for holiness, a love for purity, a love for righteousness. This is what the Lord does when
he imparts life in the soul and therefore we begin to feel our
need of a saviour, our need to be ready and made fit for heaven. So why must we be born again?
Because we are utterly unfit as we are to stand in the presence
of the holy Lord God of heaven. So let us come to this important
aspect of what is it then to be born again, it is to be awakened
to newness of life, to have a spiritual encounter with the living God,
to know something of the life of God imparted to our soul,
so it enlightens us and enlivens us. It is nothing less than experiencing
the resurrection power of the Lord Jesus Christ in the heart.
That's why I read from John chapter 5, because there it speaks of
being in the grave. The hour is coming and now is
when they that are in the grave shall hear the voice of the Son
of God and live. We are like in a grave by nature,
spiritually, in the depths, in the dark. But the Lord speaks
through his word and brings power to that soul in a state of death
and raises them with a spiritual resurrection to newness of life. You think of Lazarus, We're told
of him in John's Gospel, aren't we? He had died in a state of
corruption, four days, his body had been laid in the grave, and
Christ comes to Bethany. And he knows the sorrow, he knows
the sadness, he knows the condition of Lazarus, but what does he
say? Lazarus, come forth! And he that was dead came forth,
bound hand and foot with grave clothes. He had life, but no
liberty. And the Lord spoke again, didn't
he? Loose him and let him go. And
he had complete deliverance and complete liberty. It may be that
someone here this morning, you have life, but as yet you do
not have liberty. The Lord has awakened you, but
you feel the bonds and the shackles of sin that are yet upon you.
You long for freedom. You long for spiritual relief
and deliverance. Well be encouraged. What the
Lord did for Lazarus, he will do for you. He spoke life and
power to him to bring him from darkness and from deadness to
life and gave him liberty. This is what the Lord does in
a spiritual sense for all of his people who are brought into
his kingdom. You see, we become new creatures
in Christ Jesus. Young people and children, you'll
understand the process of metamorphosis, the caterpillar, an earthbound
creature, often eats away at the plants, and then time comes
when it forms a chrysalis. Effectively it dies, but when
the chrysalis opens, it's no longer an earthbound caterpillar,
it's a creature of beauty, of liberty, a butterfly. And this
is what the Lord does in the spiritual sense, that spiritual
metamorphosis. Death to the past, so that no
longer we are earthbound creatures, doing harm by our sins. But now
there's spiritual liberty, spiritual beauty. The Lord beautifies the
meat with salvation. Has that happened to you? Has
the Lord performed this miracle of grace in your heart? Has he
changed you, that you're not what you used to be? He's nothing
less than the mighty power of God that's brought about this
change. New creatures in Christ Jesus so that all things pass
away and all things become new. through Jeremiah the Lord, poses
this question in chapter 3, verse 19, how shall I put thee among
the children? How can you become one of God's
children? Well, I hope you know the answer now, by a spiritual
new birth. And notice the way the question
is put, how shall I put thee among the children? It is if
the Lord expresses it as if it's a problem. And I like the way
Dr. Gill comments on that verse,
he says, but grace overcomes all the difficulties. Humanly
speaking, it's impossible, but not with God. Nothing's impossible
with him. And he and he alone brings the
dead sinner to newness of life. But then we must come to this
consideration. How may we know if we are born again? How can
we be sure? What are the marks and indications
of the new birth in the word of God? Well, I want to keep
as closely as I can to the figure of speech the Lord Jesus himself
employs here in this chapter of a natural birth illustrating
a spiritual birth. Well, first of all, when a little
baby is born, it comes from darkness to light, from the darkness of
the mother's womb into the light of this world. And that's precisely
what happens when the Lord works this work of his grace in the
heart. We are brought from spiritual darkness into the light of God's
kingdom. Paul, writing to the Ephesians,
reminded them of this, that they were once children of darkness,
but now are light in the Lord. Walk, he says, as children of
the light. And no doubt that was their genuine
desire, to walk according to the light. They come to know
Christ, the light of the world. They want, therefore, to be light
bearers, and to follow Christ, and to testify of him in their
lives. No longer did they want to walk
in the darkness of pagan worship. No longer did they want to shout,
great is the goddess of Diana, the goddess of the Ephesians,
as they once did. But now they wanted to exalt
the Lord Jesus Christ, and honor him, and walk in his ways, and
have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. Can you testify
this has happened to you? Maybe there was a time, you can
look back, when you had sort of a love, interest in worldly
things. Your heart was inclined to the
things of time and sense. You were absorbed by these things.
Maybe you resented the restraints that were placed upon you by
your parents. But now you can see the darkness of these things.
It's like a person perhaps is walking in the twilight and they
come indoors and the light is on, perhaps in the front room,
and the curtains are still undrawn and they look out the window
and say, I didn't realize it was so dark outside. It didn't
seem dark when I was out there. And that's how it is when we've
been brought into the light. We can see the darkness of this
present evil world. We didn't see it like that at
one stage, perhaps. We thought it was exciting, even
desirable and attractive. But now we see the terrible darkness,
the spiritual darkness of this present evil world. Why is it
you see it differently? Because you've come into the
light. It's not just mere knowledge
you have, but it's experience. The Lord has done this miracle
of grace for you. He's given you light and understanding.
The light of Christ himself has shone into your heart. The apostle
Paul could testify of this when he said, God who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness, that's in creation, has shined
in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. You can test yourself at this
very point. Do you now see the darkness of
this world, at least in some measure, and you feel attracted
to the light of Christ? You see His glory in some measure?
You see His suitability to save sinners like you? That's because
the Lord has given you this new understanding, this new light
from above, this spiritual life in the heart. It doesn't always
happen suddenly. It did for Saul of Tarsus, as
you well know, on the Damascus Road. It was even a physical
light that blinded him. But there was light in his heart.
He was a changed man from that day onwards. You think of a man
like John Newton who loved the darkness, who resented all the
things that had been taught by his godly mother, who ridiculed
the gospel, who went out of his way to be obnoxious and to use
bad language and to encourage others to do the very same thing.
But the Lord turned him around, didn't he? Awakened him. came
to realize his danger, and to show him the sinfulness of his
sin, and he truly deeply repented of all his wickedness. He could
say that, I'm not what I want to be, I'm not what I trust I
one day will be, but I do know this, I'm not what I used to
be, like the blind man in John chapter nine. One thing I know,
whereas I was blind, now I see. The Lord had opened his eyes,
he now was in the light, Not only in a natural sense, but
he saw Christ. Christ made himself known, didn't
he? Dost thou believe on the Son of God? He said, Who is he,
Lord, that I might believe on him? And Christ made himself
known to him as the Son of God, and he believed on him and worshipped
him. Why was that? Simply because
the Lord had, in the new birth, caused him to pass from darkness
to light. Furthermore, when a baby is born,
it will cry. It's a very moving experience.
for a mother and also a father, if he's witnessing a birth, to
hear that first cry, after all those weeks of waiting and anticipation,
perhaps even concerns and complications. At last, a baby is born, it's
alive! That first cry almost moves you
to tears. And so it is in grace, there's
that first cry for God's mercy. A felt need, knowing that we
are sinners, we are guilty, we are ashamed, we are Lost and
undone, we cannot save ourselves. And so we cried out the publican
pride, we prayed, God be merciful to me, a sinner. Remember David
in Psalm 51, he speaks of these things. Have mercy upon me, O
God, according to thy loving kindness. He wanted his sins
to be expunged, to be blotted out. He wanted to be made free
from sin. He wanted to be delivered from
the guilt of his transgressions. That's because he was a man born
again of the Spirit of God. Do you know something about this?
Praying for God's mercy. And this isn't just for grown-ups. Young people and children can
know this. I've seen over the years a number of children less
than the age of 10 who have clearly and distantly come to know the
Lord's saving grace. I think of a little boy I knew
very well. For a long, long time his prayer was this. Wash me.
and I shall be whiter than snow. And as time went on, he became
more and more convicted of his need of the washing that only
the precious blood of Christ could give. And at last, soon
after his ninth birthday, he heard a gospel sermon from these
words, the precious blood of Christ, as the lamb without blemish
and without spot. And the Lord applied these great
truths of the atonement to his young heart, and he could could
say, although I cried, I felt very happy. The Lord gave him
peace in his soul, peace and joy in believing. This is because
of the new birth, this cry for God's mercy, this genuine longing
desire to be freed from the guilt and the shackles of sin. It's
repentance, isn't it? Repentance before God and faith
toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Furthermore, when a baby is born,
it begins to breathe. So it is when a person experiences
spiritual life, there's now a felt need to pray. No doubt the Apostle
Paul, in his days as Saul of Tarsus, as a Pharisee, he thought
he had prayed, perhaps very eloquent prayers in the synagogues. But
he prayed his first real prayer on the Damascus Road, didn't
he? Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? I remember Ananias
was told to go to Saul, and he was afraid. But the Lord encouraged
him by saying, behold, he prayeth. In other words, he's a changed
man. He now has life in his soul. He now knows what it is to have
spiritual longings, spiritual breathings, and spiritual desires.
Prayer is the Christian's vital breath, the Christian's native
air. And it's a very natural thing,
isn't it, for a Christian to feel their need to pray. Not
just saying prayers, not just going through the motions, not
just doing what others expect us to do, but because we feel
we must. We must communicate with the
Lord God of heaven. We are needy, we are poor, we
have sins to be forgiven. We need the Lord's mercy and
grace. And so we cry to him, we pray, we look to him. And
the Christian life is the pathway of prayer, ongoing desires, the
desire to know more of these things, to have deeper discoveries
and clearer discoveries of the person and the work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. We have to pray our way along
if we are the Lords. So we come to the prayer meetings,
we join with others who pray, we pray for ourselves at home,
we pray with our families. And not only do we spend time
in devotion where we can, day by day, but we will, at times
at least, our hearts will be open to the Lord. You might be
busy about other things. You may be walking down the street,
you may be at the kitchen sink, But you feel your need to pray,
to call upon the Lord. This is because of new life,
isn't it? In the soul, it wouldn't be like that otherwise. Those
that are dead in sin do not feel their need of the Lord in this
way. They're happy to just drift along, happy to go along, as
it were, in an outward form of the things of God, but where
there's life, there's a sense of desire and yearning and longing
for the Lord. Furthermore, A little baby is
born, it hungers and it thirsts, doesn't it? A little baby may
begin to feed almost as soon as it's born. It has this sense
of appetite. And so it is in the new birth,
there's appetite for the things of God. A hungering, thirsting
after righteousness, a felt need of Christ. And we see a sense
of the wonderful suitability of the Lord Jesus Christ as the
Savior. We never saw it before, we perhaps
had a reverence concerning Christ and we knew it was wrong when
people took the name of Christ in vain, but now it's altogether
different. We love the Lord, we feel our
need of him, and we hunger and thirst after righteousness. We find the apostle Peter, he
exhorts believers in these terms, as newborn babes desire the sincere
milk of the word. that ye may grow thereby. It's an exhortation, isn't it?
Desire the sincere milk of the word. God has given us his word. And there's food for the youngest
believer, for those who just have their eyes open, as it were,
in the things of God. There's food for their souls.
And so we feel a sense of attraction to the word of God. The Lord
speaks to us. The Lord instructs us. He builds us up. He strengthens
us by it. This is because the Lord has
given us this sense of concern and desire. The Holy Spirit that
first inspired the Word also is the Spirit that gave us life
in our hearts. So there's a sense of attraction to the Spirit-inspired
Word. We love the preaching of the
Word. We find it does our souls good. We find we've built up
and we are established in the things of God as we hear the
anointed preaching of the Word of God. Furthermore, a little
baby cannot wash itself. It needs to be washed, but it
cannot wash itself. And the Lord teaches us that
we are defiled because of our sin. We have broken God's law.
We are as an unclean thing in his sight, and we cannot wash
ourselves. We cannot put away our own sin. We realize then that we need
the virtue of the precious blood of Christ to cleanse us from
all iniquity. What a wonderful word that word
all is. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin. Maybe you're tempted sometimes
that there are certain things you've forgotten, certain sins
you've never actually confessed by name. The devil can sometimes
use this as a handle against God's people, to distress them,
to worry them. But the point is this, the blood
of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin, even those things
that you've forgotten. The Lord knows them, of course,
You've forgotten them, but the Lord cleanses his people from
all sin by faith in that precious blood that cleanses from sin. Furthermore, a little child needs
to be clothed, and it cannot clothe itself. It's born naked
and vulnerable and needy. And the Lord makes us to know
our sense of spiritual nakedness, that our own righteousnesses
are as filthy rags, not fit for the presence of God. but our
hearts rejoice to hear of a perfect garment of salvation, even the
robe of Christ's righteousness, that righteousness that he has
wrought out, that he has worked out by his spotless obedience
while here below. That righteousness is the justifying
righteousness of God's people. This is the garment that the
Lord puts upon his children. Think of the prodigal son. He
rebelled and went away, but then he came to himself, we're told,
He started to think about his foolishness, his sinfulness in
turning away from his family and from the things of the past. He wanted to go back. He wanted
to make amends. He was repentant. He was ashamed. What happened when he returned
home? The father had been waiting for him. He ran and fell on his
neck and kissed him. And what did he say? Bring forth
the best robe and put it on him. And so, likewise, the Lord Jesus
Christ puts the best robe, his own righteousness, upon his repenting
and coming people who draw near to him for salvation. I trust I'm not speaking to you
in a foreign language. I hope you understand something
of these things by the Lord's teaching in your own hearts and
by your own experience of the truth. The Lord has done these
things for you. He's put these desires in your hearts because
life has been imparted to your soul that was once in a state
of deadness and lostness. Well, the graciousness of the
Lord to needy sinners. He does everything for us and
in us. It's by His grace and grace alone. Let me conclude with the words
of an old hymn that puts it like this. Oh, you who'd enter that
glorious rest and sing with the ransomed the song of the blessed,
the life everlasting, If he would obtain, he must be born again. Amen. Let us conclude by singing together
hymn 195. The tune is Ombudsly 385. Assist
my soul, my heavenly King, thy everlasting love to sing,
and joyful spread thy praise abroad, as one through grace
that's born of God. 195. And so, my heavenly King, I ever
now sing aloud to thee, ? And join the straight ? ? And
bridge the broad ? ? As one through grace ? ? As one of God. ? grateful stars, the range of
man, thy songs be friendly, hear me now. ? Nor will the moon of creation
melt ? ? Enter my heart Here in this cell, the old rubbish.
? And so great Thou art ? ? The
Lord of hosts ? ? Lift me, my soul ? ? To Thee arise ? and home of pride. Her reign is now, my soul not
strange, ? Till vacant hands ? ? Approach again ? ? And time
again ? ? Is no higher word ? May I thy praises sing, ? Who has created the universe
? ? And washed me in the Savior's blood ? ? Where'er you go ? ? Daylight
shall come ? ? And there will flow ? ? Peace to my home ? ? Joyful of those ? O'er the land of the free and
the home of the brave? to his first man shall be the
sun, and in that glorious bright abode And now may the grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father, the fellowship
and communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all now and for evermore. Amen.