Alright, go back to John chapter
3 with me. John chapter 3. Our Lord said in verse 3, He
said, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again,
He cannot see the kingdom of God. And then in verse 5, he
says, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot
enter the kingdom of God. Now, this mystery of the new
birth, it is a mystery. It is a mystery. The world has so abused this,
and so many people claim this. Born again Christian, you know.
And it has become a laughing stock and a mockery to the world. People laugh at that and joke
about it, don't they? He's born again. They laugh at
that because the person is such a fool. But this, the Lord Jesus Christ
said this. He said, I verily, verily, truly,
truly, I say unto you, except a man be born again, he cannot
see the kingdom of God, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Verily, verily. The Lord doesn't
say, except a man get born again. Except a man be born. Right there
it tells us that something, someone does to you. Except God the Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit, salvation is of the Lord. Except God the Father,
Son, and the Holy Spirit give birth, to a man, woman, a young person,
they're not going to see the kingdom and they're not going
to go in. Now, the Lord is talking to a
religious man named Nicodemus. There were many religious, everybody
was religious like they are now. And this man was a teacher, a
Pharisee. Pharisee means separatist. That's
what it means. These fellows thought they were
holy, and they wore the clothing that made everyone think they
were holy men. That's how it was made. They
taught the law. They knew something of the law.
They really didn't know the law, but they could quote it. They
knew the letter. They didn't know the Spirit.
They thought they kept it, or pretended to. Our Lord saw right
through them. And they were strict livers as
far as men were concerned. Strict livers, as far as people
thought. And yet our Lord saw right through
them. He knew what was in men. That's why I read that verse
to you. They believed in Him. They saw
the miracle. No, they didn't believe in Him. They didn't believe
on Him. He didn't commit to them. He knew what was in them. They
said their God was their belly. They wanted to see some more
miracles. They wanted to get their belly full. They wanted to get the
blessing, not the blesser. And these fellows, these teachers
of the law, these legal fellows, the Lord said they were full
of extortion and excess. Whited sepulchers, dead, but
they appeared to men to be holy. And He called them, every time
He named The Pharisees, what did they say about it? Hypocrites.
Every time. That's an actor. He said, you're
playing a part. And I know you. Men can't see
through it. But God doesn't see as men see
it. Actors. Fakes. Nicodemus. The name means victorious. Does that sound familiar? He's
living the victorious life. Peter said of these fellows,
he said, they promise men liberty when they themselves are captive. He came to our Lord, verse 2,
at night. See, what they do is to be seen
of men. And he didn't want to tarnish
his reputation as being a doctor and a leader of men. The Lord is bringing him. The Lord is humbling him. I believe
Nicodemus ended up on the board. I believe he did. I'm quite sure
of it. Born again. But he's not now. He comes by nights. Maybe he's
just curious. But he still doesn't want people
to see him talking to this man that the Pharisees hated, this
teacher. My, my, I remember coming to
hear the Word and didn't want my buddies to know about it.
I remember. I didn't want them to know about
it. I didn't want them to think I was... And I remember one time,
one of them said, you're going to church? Well, you know, there's a girl
down there. They came at night. And, you
know, people always come for the wrong reason. Whenever somebody
comes, they're coming for the wrong reason. But God... God Almighty is the one that
brings them in. Thankfully. He came to the Lord by night,
and he said, Rabbi, teacher, or professor, or doctor so-and-so. And I just hear his voice. I've
heard these Pharisees talk. They like to sound pious. They
like to sound biblical, don't they? They put on English accents,
even though they're from Pennsylvania. That's true. Let's turn to the
fourth chapter of the third epistle of John. There is no fourth chapter, but
that's what they sound like, the law. He said, 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." Teacher. We know you're a teacher. We
know you're a miracle worker. We believe God's with you. But
he believed God was with him, too. He believed he was a teacher,
too. He thought pretty highly of himself,
too. He thought too highly of himself. And here's man's whole
problem. He thinks too lowly of God and
too high of himself. Nicodemus doesn't know who this
is he's talking to. And he's lost. He's a leader
of men. And the Lord answered him. Look
at it. The Lord answered him, it says.
Seems like the Lord cut him off, doesn't it? Before Nicodemus
asked him any question. The Lord cut him off and said
right up front, in his face, emphatically, verily, verily,
I say unto thee, I'm talking to you, Nicodemus, unto thee,
except the man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of
God. Now, why did he answer Nicodemus
like that? Because, and this is where it
all starts, because Nicodemus is a blind man. He's a blind
leader of the blind. Nicodemus, like all people until
God gives them eyes to see, are blind. Oh, they have a form of
godliness. Many have a form of godliness.
This man seemed to be religious, said he knew God, but he didn't
know God. He didn't know a living and true God. He's standing in
front of Him. God's standing in front of him. He doesn't even
recognize Him. He called Him Rabbi. If he'd
have known him, Brother John, he'd have hit his knees, wouldn't
he? Like Thomas, and said, my Lord and my God, I don't deserve
to be here. But Nicodemus is a blind leader
of the blind. He doesn't know who Christ is.
He hasn't seen His glory. To see the Kingdom of God is
to see Christ. Turn to John 12 with me. This
is what this says in John chapter 12. Nicodemus has not been born
of God to see Christ's glory. That's where it starts. John chapter 12, and look at
verse 36. spake Jesus and departed, did
hide himself from them. He did it again, didn't he? He
hid himself. Which one of you men read from
Isaiah 45 recently? One of you men read. You did. That verse says, Thou art a God
that hidest thyself. Remember that? There he is. He hides his face from the wise
and the prudent. Reveals himself unto babe. What
then? things of Christ, the glory of Christ who is. He hides himself. The natural man by searching
can't find out God. God must reveal himself, right?
They're blind. Read on. Isaiah, the prophet,
that it might be fulfilled. Verse 37, though he had done
many miracles, they believed not on him. Who hath believed
our report, Isaiah said, to whom hath the arm of the Lord been
revealed? See, the Lord must reveal. God must reveal him,
Son. No man knoweth the Father but
the Son, neither knoweth any man the Son but the Father. And
vice versa. It must be revealed. And go on. It says they could
not believe. Because Isaiah said again, he,
that is God, hath blinded their eye and hardened their heart
that they should not see with their eye, nor understand with
their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. These
things said Isaiah when he saw his glory and spake of him. This is what Isaiah said after
Isaiah saw his glory. In Isaiah 6 he said, I saw the
Lord high and lifted up. He didn't see Jesus. He saw the
Lord high and lifted up. He didn't see a lowly, meek and
lowly man named Jesus. He saw the Lord high and lifted
up. His train filled the temple.
The whole earth was full of His glory. And the post trembled
with His voice. And the angels around him covering
their faces and their feet and flying, crying, holy, holy, holy.
Jesus. That's what he saw. But he saw
the Lord Jesus Christ in his glory. This is salvation. This
is to have your eyes open. This is to see his glory. See
who he is. What did Isaiah do? What's the
first thing he did? Woe is me. I'm undone. I'm a sinner before this holy
God. He repented. He saw his sin before this holy
God. He fell on his face and he worshiped
this God. And God in mercy sent an angel
of mercy with a coal from the altar. And that's not my text.
But you see, and he says, why can't they see his glory? The
Lord said, go out and preach to them and blind their eyes
and blind their mind. And shut their ears. And they're
not going to be open until I open them. And the first thing they'll see
is my glory. Verse 42. Nevertheless, among
the chief rulers, many believed on him, but because of the Pharisee,
they did not confess him. Anyone who doesn't confess Christ
is lost. He doesn't believe him. He doesn't
believe him. Our Lord said, He that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved. Confessed me before men, didn't
he? Well, they didn't do it. Why? They loved the praise of
men more than the praise of God. And isn't that religion? Doesn't that describe religion? And these religious leaders,
like Nicodemus, every one of them, to a man, if they knew
who Christ was, they'd jerk those robes off real fast. That fellow would jerk that fish
hat off his head and rend his mantle and put on sackcloth and
ashes. and bow before the Lord of glory
and say, I have usurped your glory. I have been antichrist. Please have mercy upon me. All
these fathers and so forth would say, Lord, forgive us. You are
the only mediator. I was going to show you, but
I don't have time. Mary, right before this. It's all connected.
It's all connected right before this. Mary came to him in chapter
2 and said, they need wine. And he turned to her. Apparently
some people came to Mary and said, tell your son that we need
wine. They thought we can get to the
son through his mother. Does that sound familiar? Millions do that now. And she came to him and said,
they need wine. He turned and said, woman. He
didn't call her mother. He never did call her mother. Mary is not the mother of God.
The mother of a baby named Jesus. The child is born, but the Son,
who abided forever, is given. And he said, what have I to do
with thee? And after that, that struck fear in her. And she told
all of those around her, Mary said to all of those around her,
you do what He says. You don't come to me, you go
to Him. You listen to Him. I can't pray
for you, He's got to pray for me. I just read that prayer. I just copied it down. Hail Mary,
full of grace. It doesn't say that in the Bible.
It says, we beheld His glory. as of the only begotten of the
Father, full of grace. Him, one mediator. That's right before this. He
showed His glory. Then He went into the temple
and planted a whip and cleaned it out. He said, this is my house,
house of prayer, and all you're doing is fundraising. Clean that
house. Men don't know Him. They claim to, and they do what
they do in His name, but they're blind leaders of
the blind, just like Nicodemus, a teacher in Israel. So many blind to who God is,
blind to who Christ is. And you know it by their speech. Their own mouth condemns them. Rabbi? Is that all He is? Oh,
my. Do you know His enemies referred
to Him as Jesus? Always. Jesus. Even the devil. We know who they
are. Jesus. The Pharisees. We know this man.
This is Jesus. His people called Him Lord. He
said, you call me... to His disciples. He said, you
call me Lord and Master and you say well. I want to say well.
I want to give him all the respect and honor that he's due, don't
you? Call him Lord. And no man can except I. Come by the Holy Spirit. You've got
to be born of God to see His glory. And you don't know Him
as Savior until you see Him as Lord. Every time the name Savior
comes up, Lord's in front of it. Barnard used to say, don't
tell me who your Savior is. Tell me about your Lord. I believed
he was Lord long before I even thought that he was going to
have mercy on me. Like all of them, they thought they were
going to die. They saw his glory. No, they're not going to die. Oh, man, this is life eternal.
But they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent. And the way men and women, young
people talk about him, the way they approach him, the way they
go to worship, so-called, tells me, like Psalm 36, the transgression
of the wicked saith within my heart, there is no fear of God
before their eyes. Oh my, but who maketh us to differ? Why? Why do we? have something of the fear of
the Lord. Huh? Why? Born of God. Born of God. A lot of flesh. A lot of blood. Well, Nicodemus said this in
verse 3. In verse 4, Nicodemus said, How
can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second
time into his mother's womb and be born? I don't know if he's being smart
aleck. I've dealt with a lot of religious
people that get that way. Haven't you? And I don't know if he is or
not. I don't think so. The Lord's
counting us to keep a man from doing that one, unless he's just
reprobate. But he's just ignorant. He's asking a question that reveals
his ignorance. And this is how confused and
ignorant people are today. Our leaders, our teachers, our
people say in the new birth, this glorious, supernatural,
powerful, mysterious act of Almighty God upon a human soul, What Scripture
says is bringing them from death to life, no less miraculous and
amazing than when God called Lazarus from that time. Scripture says calling this from
darkness to light, translating them, removing them from the
kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son, of making
something in them that never existed before. And yet they say it's just an
act of the human will. If you just, you know, you just
come on down front, you know, and make that little, while the
choir is playing it, just say it. Just speak the words. How
ridiculous. That's an insult to God. The glory of God and the glory
of His Son. What it took to save our soul. was nothing less than
God Almighty's Son living on this earth for thirty-three and
a half years, fulfilling the law perfectly in every jot and
tittle. By His knowledge, He'll justify
many. There can't be one jot or tittle
missing from the law. To offend in one point, to be
guilty of it all. He has to know it perfectly,
fulfill it all perfectly for his people as their representative.
And then going to Calvary's tree and having laid on him the iniquity
of them all, of all of God's people, being made sin for them,
and enduring the fire of hell and the wrath of God who is angry
with the wicked every day. and enduring that hell on Calvary's
tree, going through the equivalent of eternity in hell, being separated
from God, pouring out His precious blood, dying, making His soul
an offering for sin, and going through that hell and being buried,
and then going and putting away our sin, and then offering up
that blood upon the mercy seat, obtaining eternal redemption,
finishing that work, sealing the book, Rising from the grave,
sitting down, sending the Holy Spirit to find them all. In the depths of sin, in the
gutter, in the throes of iniquity, falling far off from God, going
and reaching Him afar off, and all the intricate things that
are connected together to bring them to hear the gospel. Salvations
of the Lord. Man doesn't have any part in
it. It would be easier to get back
in your mother's womb and be born than it would to try to
enter the kingdom of God. It's easier. That's why our Lord
said, which is easier, to make a man who's born a cripple walk
or to say he sins be forgiven? Which is easier? The fakes and the phonies, there's
some miracles going on out there. I mean, there are. Lying signs
and wonders. The Lord said there would be.
The Lord sends that because they don't believe the truth. Sins,
lying wonders. And they actually happen. But nobody can put away
one sin. Our Lord said in verse 5, except
you be born of water and spirit, it cannot enter the kingdom of
heaven. It cannot see it, it cannot enter the kingdom of God.
That which is born of flesh is flesh. That which is born of
the Holy Spirit is spirit. Flesh and spirit are two entirely
different things. Flesh in no way, no way contributes
to the Spirit. No way. That which is flesh is flesh,
he said. This is what our Lord is plainly saying. Doesn't this
just totally shoot down everything that has to do with the flesh?
Huh? Man is flesh. He's born flesh. He's born dead flesh. And whatever is of the flesh
is dead works. Fleshly works. God Almighty has
to create something that He doesn't have. God Almighty has to send
something that He doesn't have. His Spirit. Man doesn't have
the Spirit. He has a soul. He's dead. But God, when He does His work,
sends His Spirit. The Spirit of Christ. A new creature. It wasn't there before. That which is flesh, fleshly
religion, produces flesh. I remember old Brother Barnard,
bless his heart. I love and admire that man. The
Lord sent him like John the Baptist who saw through all that flesh,
John the Baptist did, and renounced it. And he'd go to these big
Southern Baptist places and preach this gospel that people never
heard before and just shock them. Like Nicodemus. Shock them. And bless God, God would save.
This happened in the book of Man. There would be an organist
over there, the pastor's wife. Lord, save her. The pastor's
wife. That happens all the time, things
like that, through the preaching of the gospel. They must be born
again. They're religious, but they must
be born of God. They've done something by the
flesh, and they've got all this flesh, and that's all it is,
is flesh. And one time, a girl got up, and you know how people
like to show off their religion, you know, show off how holy they
are. And this young girl got up and
sang one of these songs like they do, you know, looking to
the sky, had that microphone, you know, tears running down
her face. You know, is everybody praising the Lord, or are they
looking at that girl and saying, oh, she loves the Lord? Huh? You know what they're thinking.
And she got done with that song. And she wished the man hadn't
invited Barnard up. Because Barnard got up after
that and he said, Honey, that was nothing but the flesh. And don't you know her mother
and her daddy and the preacher? That's all it is. Feel good religion? Entertainment, music, and all
that? Oh, I know I'm safe because I felt something. You know, a
pill will give you a good feeling. Maybe it's menopause you're going
through. Seriously. I had a dream last night. Bad
pizza. Get that too. Get that for you.
It needs to be made fun of. It's flesh. That which is flesh
is flesh. That's why this leader of men,
the Lord approached this man before he could get anything
out of his mind. He said, you must be born again. Born from above. Somebody must do something for
you. You've done all this stuff. Promoted yourself. Worshiping
man. Worshiping the creature more
than the Creator. You don't know God. You're lost. And you won't know Him until
somebody does something for you. That's what this whole religious
generation needs to hear. And they all, to a person, talk
about being born again. I got born again. Right there,
they reveal. They don't know what he's talking
about. I got born again. Like something to go get. Our Lord said this, and again,
all this flesh, all these fleshly gimmicks and tactics and tricks
and doing things, you can bring in a lot of goats that way. Yes,
you can. You can bring people into the
house with all this flesh. If you have a business, and this
is how they operate it, they operate it just like a business,
they learn those tactics. They're taught that in these
business schools, religious schools. They're taught those things.
And they bring people in with these tactics. Yeah, they do.
They get big crowds in. You'll get people in, but you
won't get God's people. You can bring in lots of goats,
but there ain't no sheep. There's one thing Christ said.
Jesus Christ said, My sheep do what? Hear! My voice, what's
that? The voice of the Lord is full
of glory. The voice of the Lord is powerful.
The voice of the Lord makes the hens to calves, gives birth. The voice of the Lord breaks
hearts, brings down pride. The voice of the Lord makes men
worship God and God only, see His glory, renounce all, no room
for boasting. Only the voice of the Lord will
do that. It's powerful. It gives birth, new birth. Look at what our Lord said here
in verse 5. Except a man be born of water
and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. He first
said he can't see it. And except you're born of water
and Spirit, you cannot enter the kingdom of God. You won't
go in. First thing is to see it. Next thing is to enter it. Except a man born of water and
spirit, both of these things. And it's a simultaneous thing.
Water and spirit. What is this water? What is this
water? Well, you know, Lord, amazingly,
when you're born the first time, what do you conceive then? Water. Aren't you? And then when
you're about to give birth, ladies, what happens? What's the first
thing that happens? Your water breaks. It breaks forth. And
this new person comes out. The Lord is so amazing. What's the water? What are we
conceived in by? Right here. The Word of God. Listen to this. He said, give
ears, ye people, and hear. Deuteronomy 32, Stan's favorite
one of them. Give ear, oh ye heaven, I'm going
to speak. Hear the words of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop
as rain. I'm going to publish the name
of the Lord. That's what the Word does. He's the rock. Listen to this. Isaiah 55, this is it. He said, As the rain cometh down,
so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It will
not return, but it will accomplish what I sent it to do. What's
that? New birth. Of his own will begat he us with
what? The word of truth. The word of
truth. He said, the Holy Spirit cleanses
His church also with the washing of water by His Word. Now, not just preaching the Word.
Men say that. Not just preaching the Bible.
Well, He preaches the Bible. No. What is the Word? Well, the
Word was made flesh. The Word speaks of Christ, testifies
of Him. Not enough just say you preach
the Bible, but you must preach Christ and Him crucify. He's
the Word. Peter said, the Word of God which
liveth and abideth forever, and this is the Word whereby we preach
unto you the gospel. The gospel is the Word. The Word
is the gospel. The Word is Christ. Christ is
the Word. He's the water of life. Out of His rib and side, hanging
on the cross, they took a sword. If you'll take this sword, and
drive it in, what will come out? Water and blood. Sanctification
and justification. Redemption. New birth. He prevailed
in birth. Salvation is up above. He uses
this word. Oh, my. That's how wonderful
it is. I see it happen, and a person
comes in and they're dead, they're blind, maybe they're religious,
but they hear the Word, they hear Christ, whatever, and they
must hear the gospel, the gospel. And they keep coming, and if
they'll hear from a man sent from God, if they'll hear the
gospel, it will be saturated with God's Word. If you know,
if a person knows the Word of God, they'll listen to a grace
preacher, a true preacher. And you'll hear the Word line
upon line upon line upon line. You listen to men like Tom Hardy
and Brother Nybert and Brother Fortner and on and on it goes. You listen. You know the Word
of God. You'll hear them quoting Scripture after Scripture after
Scripture after Scripture. Why? They know what the power
of God is. The power of God is His Word. This is how God begat
us with the Word of Truth. We know how men are born again. We can't do it. Spurgeon can't
do it. Calvin can't do it. Knox can't
do it. Man, no preacher can do it. Only the Spirit of God through
the preaching of the Word of God can do it. And the arrows,
they're like arrows in the king's quiver, these arrows, and they're
sharp. It's the only thing that will
pierce this hard heart. So what we do is shoot error
after error after error, hoping, word after word after word, hoping
one of them hits home. And you know who will make it
hit? We can't. I don't know how often I've prepared.
I thought the fellow was going to be here this morning that
this would have applied to him perfectly. I really did. A teacher. in a church. And I thought he
was going to be here. I couldn't help it, thinking
about him and preparing him. He's not here. So who's this
for? I don't know. And I'm glad. And there's been so many times
I've thought, boy, I'm going to get Hannah hit now. She needs
this. This will get her. This is just for you, Hannah.
Pew! She doesn't move. It didn't hit
her. And old Vicki over here is crying. It hit her. Or vice versa. I don't know. The Spirit blows
where it listens. That's what the Scripture says.
And that's on purpose. So He'll get the glory. Not the
man. And the man leaves thinking,
I'm a failure. I'm a total failure. Nobody heard
a thing. The Lord said, You are a failure,
yes, but not My Word. You can't do anything. You're
right. You can't convince anybody of anything. You're right. No
man ever has. But I do. No flesh shall go. Wind bloweth where it listeth."
Oh, how this just totally destroys all this so-called Holy Ghost
religion today, doesn't it? They announce it two weeks ahead
of time. Come, we're having a Holy Ghost
revival at 7 p.m. on August the 30th. The Lord said, you don't know
where he is or where he's going. You may hope he's being there,
You better praise there. Right? Oh, how men, how ignorant they
are. The wind bloweth where it listeth.
The Holy Spirit is sovereign. He's going to operate on who
God chose, God loved, Jesus Christ died for, And that's who he's rounding
up. That's who he's going after. He's going to find every one
of them. He's not trying to save anybody. He's going after God's
sheep. I remember a message by my pastor
years ago. The title of it was, On the Trail
of His Sheep. And he won't quit until he finds
it. How many? All of them. to the
glory of the Great Shepherd, to the glory of the God who promised
it, to His Word that promised it, to the glory of the Holy
Spirit who finds them, who gives us birth. How can this
be, Nicodemus said? How can this be? What about whosoever
will? I can hear him, can't you, Nicodemus? What about whosoever will? What
about call? We shall call on the name of
the Lord. What about that? What about repentance and faith? Doesn't the person have to call?
Yes. Doesn't the person have to repent? Yes. Yes, you do. But it doesn't come first. Faith's not the cause of life.
Life's the cause of faith. Repentance is not the cause of
salvation. It's the result. Night of the will of the flesh.
Not of the will of man, but they're born how? Of God. But when He does this work, thy
people shall be willing in the day of His power." When He gives
them the will. Whosoever will. Who will? Bernard
used to say, I don't have any trouble with the whosoever will,
it's the whosoever won't. That's not emphasizing man's
will, it's emphasizing whosoever. male, female, young, old, Jew,
Gentile, barbarian, Scythian, bond-free, whosoever, chief of
sinners, whosoever cometh, who will come. All that the Father
giveth me. All that the Holy Spirit operates
on. Gives eyes to see. And our Lord said to him, Are
you a master of Israel and don't know these things? You're teaching
people, and you need to be taught the first principles. Remember
that? He said, we know. Our Lord said,
we. Aren't you glad He said that?
We know. He taught about us, Jerry. My people. And we know. John said that.
And we know. Paul said it. And we know that
all things work together. John said we know that the Son
of God has come. He's given us an understanding. He's taught
us. He'll all be taught of God. My children, he said. Out of
the mouths of babes. My children. All of them. They know. Know what? Salvation
is up to the Lord. And if you know that, rejoice.
Rejoice, that's where it starts. He said to him, you can't even
understand earthly things. How are you going to understand
heavenly things? Nobody goes up to heaven. Nobody. Nobody has ever gone
ascended into heaven. Somebody had to come down to
do something for them to bring them to God. They can't get there.
You cannot scale Sinai. You can't even come near it,
you'll be pierced through it. Let me quit with this. He said you can't understand
earthly things. The natural birth is a good picture
of spiritual birth. In the Lord's wonderful, amazing
providence, natural birth greatly typifies spiritual birth. Does
the child contribute? Does the child contribute to
its birth? Well, you say that's ridiculous. Does the child have the parents? You tell me. Who had who? Oh, my. Did the baby let the
father? I mean, did the father one day
just about to have and ask the baby? Would you like to? I want
to be your father if you'll let me. Oh, come on. It's absurd,
isn't it, to think of that? Or the baby accept the mother?
It's ridiculous, isn't it? It's foolish. It's foolish. Let me ask you this. Did the
baby cry before it was born? Did the baby see before it was
born? Or after? Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? Which comes first in salvation,
life or pain? Life. Our Lord said, he that
believeth hath life. That's why he believed it. He
said, no man can come except I draw him. He can't come. He's
dead. He's dead. And repentance and
faith? Yes, they must repent. Except
if you repent, you'll perish. Call. Who serves who calls? Yes.
But that's the gift of God. And what's the point, preacher? It's the point of the whole universe.
It's the reason God made everything. His glory. His glory. Which men aren't concerned
with. And I've given this illustration
so many times, and I'm not tired of it. I'd have to get tired
of my daughter before I got tired of it. But that girl was a gift
of God. Her naming is Hannah. A gift
of God. And I do remember that like it
was yesterday. How old are you? Twenty-six. I do remember. I was there. I
was there. I wasn't there for the grandbaby.
No way I was going to go watch that. Not watch my daughter. But she was conceived by her father
and her mother. She had nothing to do with that.
She didn't even exist. Right? She had no part in that. Father's
seed, and the mother conceiving it, and a midwife, a doctor,
bringing it forth. That's the Father, Son, and the
Holy Spirit. And I was there, and I watched
as my wife endured great pain for Baal. I watched as she endured
suffering for many months. And my daughter did not contribute.
I did not help. She contributed to her suffering.
You understand that? You see what I'm trying to say? And she prevailed in birth until
that baby was born. The baby didn't help out. If anything, she's a hindrance. Right? Christ prevailed in birth. He's the one. He's the one. And when I was there watching
this, and that baby girl was born, and it didn't matter if
she was male or female. It didn't matter. That's my child. But when she was born, the doctor,
first thing, handed her to me. Well, no, first thing he did,
when she was born, like I said, it didn't matter if she was male
or female, but all I was wanting to know was if she's alive. Because she looked like newborn
babies. She looked dead, nothing. Blue. I just wanted to know if she's
alive. Well, what happened to bring forth life? What happened
to prove that she's alive? What happened? The great physician
inflicted some pain. He took her little foot. They
used to smack their bottoms, you know. Somebody said, smack
me in the face. But anyway, he took her little foot. I didn't want to see him do this,
but he did anyway, and flicked it. Pain! She's got to feel some
pain. Why are you doing that? It's going to fill her lungs
with air. What's she going to do? And I rejoiced to high heaven,
praising God. She's crying! She's alive. Now I know she's alive. Our Lord
said of Saul of Tarsus to Ananias, go down there, behold, he prayed. He's crying. And that takes pain. What's that? God convicts us
of sin. Pain. Well, she cried. Then what happened? She cried.
And you know what? The doctor handed her to me.
And she's crying. And I started talking to her.
It's alright. It's alright. It's okay, baby. It's okay. It's
okay. It's okay. And Hannah, you stop
crying. She heard my voice. She heard
my voice. She's got ears. Alright, now
she can cry. She's got ears. She can hear her father's voice.
And you know what happened next? Her eyes opened. And it was love
at first sight. No, I loved you before that.
Your mother loved you long before that. Can you love an unborn
child? God did before the world began. And then what happened? I took
you over to a basin of water. And I washed her. She's filthy.
I washed her from her blood like a child in the field. I washed
her all the time saying, I love you, honey. Oh, everything's
fine. It's going to be just fine. And
she starts shivering. What do I do? I put a blanket
around her. I wrap her. I cover her up. I
make her warm. Now she's got peace. Is that a good illustration?
That's exactly what God does in this new birth of His children
every time. I say, but what comes first?
A new birth. A new birth. Did we congratulate
Hannah when she came out? Did anybody go up to her and
say, well, thank you so much for coming? Oh, no. Huh? They all congratulated us. We congratulated and gave glory
to our God and named her accordingly. You must be born again from above
to see His glory, to enter into His glory. And she's a part of
our family now. Oh my, she is us. She is me. I am her. She's
us. You must be born to be a member
of His family. And if you are, And nobody can
separate you from that love. Isn't that wonderful? Alright,
Brother John, if you'll come. I forget the number. Let's all
turn to number 255 and stand.