I also want you to turn to the
book of John, the Gospel of John, chapter 3. We're going to look at 1 Peter chapter
1 in a minute, but John chapter 3, and the title of the subject
in this message this morning is The New Birth. being born again. Now, this is one of the most widely
used terms in the world today, in religion. Everybody talks
about being born again. They ask so many people, politicians
on down, are you born again, born again, until this has become
a laughing matter to this world. It really has. and so many who
claim to be, that's why it's a laughing matter. But who said this first? Who's
the one who said this first? Who's the one who talked about
being born again? You must be born again. Who was
the very first one to say that? Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
first one. Look at verse 5 in John chapter 3, verse 5. He's
the first one. Christ answered, Verily, verily,
that is, of a truth, of a truth, I say unto thee, except a man
be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom
of heaven. Verse 7. Marvel not that I said
unto you, you must be born again. Verse 3 is where he first said
it. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again,
he cannot see, he will not see the kingdom of God. Not now,
not ever. Our Lord is the first one to
say that. Man's rejection and laughter
of the truth It's more than just rejecting
doctrine. It's more than just rejecting
Baptist or religion. It's calling Jesus Christ a liar,
is what it is. See, this is what God holds all
of man responsible for. Not interested in his son. Or they reject him. Christ is
the one who said this. He who cannot lie. He said heaven
and earth will pass away, but not one word of mine will fail.
Everything I said has come true and will come true. He said you
must be born again. It's not just a religious term.
It's not just some thing to be scoffed at. Our Lord said if
you don't, you'll die in your sins. Why is it serious? God said it,
that's why, because Christ said it. You must be born again. And it's not something simple.
It's not something done by man. We're going to see that in a
little bit. The word again there really means born from above. You must be born from above.
You see, what he said in verse 5 was, except a man be born of
water, that means the first time. And you know, when a woman gives
birth to a child, the first thing that happens before that child
comes forth is what? The water bursts, okay? So what
our Lord is saying, see, we're born encompassed in water in
the womb of a woman, and that water bursts, and when it does,
you come out a son of Adam, a human being. Our Lord said, except
you're born first as a human being, as a son of Adam, and
then you must be Born again, born from above, born of God,
he said in John 1. He cannot enter into the kingdom
of God. We enter into the kingdom of this world by being born from
our mother. We enter into the kingdom of
God by being born by somebody else too. So our Lord said that except
you be born again, you're not going to see the kingdom of God.
You're just going to live in this world, and then you'll die. After that, the judgment, the
Scripture said. Verse 8. This spiritual birth, he said,
verse 8, is like the wind. The wind blows where it listeth.
You hear the sound thereof, but you cannot tell whence it cometh,
whither it goeth. Nobody can predict the wind.
I know what they say about the jet stream and all that stuff,
but they still can't. That's the reason they're so
wrong. Meteorologists, you know, used to call them weathermen.
Now they've got a scientific title, you know, meteorologists.
Well, they can't predict the weather because it's the wind. Quite often they'll say, well,
to cover themselves, they'll say it's a fifty percent chance.
And when clouds are really covering the place, there's a 95% chance
just to cover themselves in case they're wrong. You've still got
a 5% chance it won't. Because you can't predict the
when. Nobody can predict the when. And equally, if not more
foolish, is these preachers and people that are saying, we're
going to have a Holy Spirit revival tonight at 7 o'clock. We know where God's going to
be. We know what God's going to do. Come and get a healing.
Oh, you do, do you? In verse 8, our Lord said this.
He said, You cannot tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth,
so is everyone that is born of the Spirit. Nobody knows. Save him alone. The Holy Spirit
moves on whom he will, not who Not who will let him or who will
accept him. The Holy Spirit moves on whom
he will. It's not our will, it's his will. What could be plainer? What could
be plainer than what our Lord said there, huh? What could be
plainer? Except to a self-righteous Pharisee,
and Nicodemus, the fellow he was talking to, said, What are
you talking about, born again? Can I go back into my mother's
womb and be born again? And our Lord said to him, verse
10, Are you a master of Israel? Are you a master of divinity?
Are you a teacher of the Bible? You know God, and you don't know
that the most simple thing there is to know, that salvation is
of the Lord, that God does the saving, that this thing is a
spiritual work, and we're flesh and blood, and it's only God
that can and must do it. You don't know that? What could
be plainer? God chooses His own family. Let
me ask every parent in here, did your children choose you?
That's ridiculous. God chooses His own family. He
certainly does. What could be plainer? Look at
John 1, back in John chapter 1. John 1, verses 12 and 13. You have it? John 1, verse 12. And so many people take issue
with me and with other preachers over these things, but I'm just
reading John 1. I'm just reading what our Lord said. And it's
not my interpretation, is it? Look at it. Verse 12. To them gave he power, that is,
the right to become the sons of God, even to them that believe
on his name." See there, preacher? Whoever accepts him, whoever
believes, whoever receives him, then they have this possibility.
Oh, no, no, wait a minute. There's a colon at the end of
that verse. It doesn't stop there. The next verse tells us why anybody
receives him. why anybody believes. To them
that believe on his name, verse 13, which were born. Not of blood, they weren't born
into the kingdom of God, nor of the will of the flesh, they
didn't will it of their own free will, their mama didn't will
it, nor the will of man, but of God. The will of God and the
power of God and the purpose of God. the choice of God, the
election of God. God gets all the glory. You must
be born. It doesn't say you must get born
again. I hear that all the time. So-and-so got born again. What
that means is there was an emotional service and they played so many
verses of Just As I Am that a person was getting tired of hearing
it and they ran down front and said, let's get this over with. Not you must get born again,
you must be born again. You must be born from above. What could be planned? And I'm
going to illustrate that in a little bit. Go back to 1 Peter, all
right? 1 Peter chapter 1. I'm going
to illustrate it. Now, verse 18, you have it in
1 Peter 1, verse 18. Our Lord is the writer. Peter
is the one taking dictation. Verse 18, our Lord says, As much
as you know, you were not redeemed with corruptible things. You
know this. He's talking to believers. You know you're not redeemed.
You know you're not saved. You know this. Every child of
God knows these things. The next to last verse in his
second epistle, he says, You know these things before. You
know these things. That you were not redeemed with
anything else. Nobody prayed you through, but
Christ himself. That you didn't accept him. He
made you accept him, Ephesians 1 says. That you didn't do anything
to save yourself. That you wouldn't have sought
him unless he sought you. You wouldn't have called unless
he called you. You wouldn't have had any interest in God whatsoever.
You're looking at a prime example of that. Try as my parents and others
may, they could not convince me of anything. I'm not interested. For years, you must be born from
above. You must be. God is going to
have to do the work. You know these things. You're
not redeemed with corruptible things. He goes on to say you're
not saved, you're not accepted by things, and he talks about
silver and gold, by buying your way into heaven. And you know,
buy God's favor. If God will do this, I'll do
that. If I'll quit this, God will do that. You can't bargain. Salvation is not a bargain with
God. God doesn't bargain with terrorists. And that's what every man by
nature is. shaking his fist in God and started with Adam. I'm
not interested. I don't want God. God doesn't
bargain with terrorists. He issues ultimatums. And only when he changes of heart
will they respond to that ultimatum. You know this. You are not redeemed,
it says, verse 18, with your vain conversation, that is, life. vain life, yet Solomon wrote
a whole book on it, Ecclesiastes. The whole book is about vanity
of vanity. All is vanity, all is worthless.
God doesn't need anybody, starting with this fellow. Vanity of vanity,
all flesh is grass, Isaiah said, grass. He called them grasshoppers
in chapter 43 of Isaiah. The inhabitants of the earth
are reputed as nothing. God does not need anybody. I
beg to differ with all of these false preachers today. God doesn't
need anybody, doesn't need anything. But buddy, every human being
needs God, and needs God to do something for them. And only
when he does will they acknowledge it. Only when God does do something
will they begin to acknowledge the God that gives them birth,
will you? Otherwise, they're a whole life, eating, drinking,
sleeping, carrying on, fully on God, until they die or get
sick, and then they start calling on God. The whole world's calling
on God, aren't they? I said, you know these things.
Talking to believers, you know these things. You know these
things. Only believers know these things. Verse 19 says, We were
redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without
blemish and without spot. Yes, we were redeemed. Hebrews
9, 12 says that Christ obtained eternal redemption for us. Who's
us? God's people. The beloved. God's elect. That's what Peter
said. having obtained eternal redemption for his elect." Whoever
Christ died for, buddy, they're saved. You know this, don't you? You know these things. Why do
they know these things? Why do all of God's people know
these things? They know who God is. They know
what man is. They know who Christ is. They
know what he did. They know man is nothing and
man is dead. They know that God must save.
They know that Christ is all and salvation. They know these
things. Because the Lord Jesus Christ
said so. He said in John 6, 45, they shall
all be taught of God. Quoting Isaiah, all thy children
shall be taught of the Lord, and every man heard and learned
of the Father. They hear and learn who God is.
Just like there were four kids in my family, three sons and
a daughter, we all of us learned something from our Father. Not
a different thing, the same thing. We all knew our Father, who he
was, what he was like, his characteristics, how he acted, how he did things,
how he responded, and so forth. So did all of God's children.
There are not many different faiths all over the world. That's
a lie. I don't care if Billy Graham
said it. There are not many different faiths. Paul the Apostle, God
Almighty, said in Ephesians 4, there's one Lord, one faith,
one Father of one people, not all mankind. One people. I don't care if the whole world
gets together and declaims that, well, this is true and that's
true. It's not true. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, I
am the truth. I am the way. I am the life. He said, no man, be he Arabic
or Jew, be he Muslim or so-called Christian, no man cometh unto
the Father but by me, Jesus Christ. Period. One thing. One more. And there's one birth. And God has to do it. You know
these things. Blessed are you if you do. Blessed
are you if you know these things. It's called the common faith.
It's called the faith delivered to the saints. It's called the
faith of God's elect. It's what all of God's people,
all of God's people believe God is God. He's not trying to be
God. They believe he is God. Not because
anybody lets him be Lord. They know he's Lord. He's been
Lord before man was ever on the earth. They know he works all
things after the counsel of his will, not man's will. They all
know these things. They know man is unable. Man
is dead and trespasses in sin. That Christ must come and give
them life. They know these things. They know that all of salvation
is in Jesus Christ and him alone. They know these things without
a shadow of a doubt. This is the faith of God's elect.
And if you know this thing, better yet, if you believe and love
this thing, blessed are you. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
it to you. Preachers today don't reveal it to you. People don't
like this sort of thing. But the faith of God's elect
is a gift of God. He said here in verse 21. He
says, you by him do believe in God. See that? Verse 21, by him you do believe
in God. He said this over and over again.
Over and over again. Ephesians 1, which, who believe
according to the working of his mighty power. Ephesians 2.8, he says, by grace
you are saved through faith, and that is not of yourselves. As I said, you're looking at
a prodigal son who for years did not give God a thought, didn't
give a flip for God or religion. Try as anyone may, I did not
want it. By Him, you do believe in God. Verse 22 says, seeing you purified
your souls and obeying the truth, through the Spirit, by simple
faith in Christ, and it's not simple because it's something
we do, but that means it's just faith in Christ. It's not works. It's just faith in Christ. But
it says, you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit. You see how
every time he brings up faith, he gives God the glory for it.
You, by him, do believe. You obey the truth through the
Spirit. As many as received him which
were born of God, that's why they received. That's why they
believed. See, God gets the glory. Salvation gives God all the glory.
It sure does. And whoever does not give him
all the glory, they got saved. The Lord didn't save them. Whomever the Lord says, that's
what they go around saying. Not, I did this, I did that. So the Lord said, Amen. The Lord
did a wonderful thing for them. Now look at verse 23. Peter says this. He says, being
born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by
the word of God. Being born again. by the word
of God which liveth and abideth forever." Seed. Everyone in here
from a child, this is not something impure, everyone in here knows
that human beings begin by a man and a woman getting together,
and the seed, or the word here is the sperma, of a man impregnates
a woman, and so therefore a child is produced by virtue of that
bond. That's what this seed he's talking
about, incorruptible seed. Not the seed of man, not anything
corruptible, anything that doesn't last, but by the incorruptible
seed. What is that? The word of God. Verse 25, look at it. The word
of the Lord endureth forever. This is the word which by the
gospel is preached unto you. Being born again by the word
of God. by the preaching of the gospel.
What I'm doing right now, and it's not me. I wish someone else were preaching
this right now. The preacher is not important. He's nothing. I am nothing. Even the Apostle
Paul said that. I am less than nothing. But this message is mighty important.
What the preacher is saying. is going forth, if it be the
gospel now, if it is the gospel, it's a life and death matter.
This is not just a church service. If this is the gospel, if this
is the incorruptible seed, if this is what our Lord said in
Isaiah 55 about his word, he said, My word will not return
void. It will accomplish what I send it to do. It will be,
if it is like Paul said, God always causes us to triumph in
Christ. that when we preach the word,
it doesn't return void. It's doing something. It's either
saving somebody, giving new birth, or it's damning somebody. It's
either softening or breaking a heart, or it's hardening a
heart. It's either causing someone to come to themselves, or it's
causing someone to reject them. It doesn't return void. This
is a life-and-death matter. God's word He said, will not
return void. That's the reason this preacher
and every true preacher uses more of this than his own words. This is indeed the power of God.
And he says we're born by it, born again by it. This is the
word which by the gospel is preached unto you. Yes, I'm preaching,
and I know the world doesn't like it. Paul said that in 1
Corinthians 1, he said they call it foolishness. But he said it
also in verse 21, it pleased the Lord by the foolishness of
preaching to save them that believe. And those of you whom God has
operated on, you love it. Thank God for that. You must,
you're bound to give thanks to God. Now, Ida says we're born again
by this gospel. We're born by the Holy Spirit
taking the seed of the Word, which is not just preaching the
Bible, but preaching the gospel of who Christ is and what he
did. The Holy Spirit takes this Word and plants it in the heart
of, in the mind first, yes, and it goes down into the very inner
being of a man, a woman, a young person. And life is given, spiritual
life. It wasn't there before. Life
begins, spiritual life, an interest in God, a desire for God. And we're going
to see, eyes to see and ears to hear and a mouth to call on
and feet to walk. Now, let's look at this a little
closer, okay? Our Lord is the one that gave
this illustration, and I'm going to try to illustrate Look with
me at Jeremiah chapter 1. Natural birth, this is what our
Lord used to illustrate spiritual birth. Spiritual birth is much
like natural birth. It first begins at conception. It begins at conception. In other words, a man and a woman. Does the child decide to have
itself? Does any child decide, I'm going
to get born? That's foolishness. So is it spiritually, it's foolishness. Two parents, two adults, two
consenting adults get together, a man and a woman, and decide
we're going to have children. And they get together, and in
love and marriage, that's what God has ordained, that's what
God recognizes, in love and in marriage, in a covenant between
them. A covenant, yes, a covenant. They both unite in a purpose,
in love, and decide, we're going to have children. We're going
to have children. Parents decide to have children.
Not vice versa. What could be plainer? Well,
God Almighty is three persons in one. God
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Three persons in
one. God the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit got together in a purpose before the world
began. And in a covenant. And they decided
to have children. A family. Uh-huh. Predestinated,
Ephesians 1 says, to be the people of God, the children of God.
They decided. Nobody decided to be a child of God. That's foolish. You can't do that. The parents
decide, all right? Then the parents get together
in union, that father and that mother, they get together in
union, in love, and the father and the mother get together and
the seed is sown. Let me ask you a very important
question. Which comes first? Life or birth? A lot of people are arguing this
nowadays. When does life begin? At conception. As long as there's
a little heart in that chest beating. As long as the heart
is beating, there's life, right? But not until then. Life begins
first, and then the child is born. Life begins at conception,
too. You ask the average parent, if
they had an ultrasound before the baby was born, you ask that
mother who has that baby in her womb, ask her, is that baby alive? My niece, Carrie Simpson, they
sent us a picture of their child. They hadn't been born yet. They
sent us one of these ultrasounds. You've seen it. They were real
excited about it. They saw this little gray blob
on a screen, you know. They just decided themselves,
look at our baby. Well, God's people were God's
people before they were born. You know that? God's people were God's people
before they were born. Look at Jeremiah 1, verse 5. He says to Jeremiah, Before I
formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. Yea, before thou camest
forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and ordained thee a prophet
unto the nation. He says, just talking about Jeremiah.
Well, okay, let's look at Psalm 139. Psalm 139. You see, all God's people know
this. God's people were in the mind, the heart, the purpose
of God Almighty before the world began. Psalm 139. If you turn there, look at it.
Look at verses 15 and 16. Psalm 139. My substance was not
hid from thee when I was made in secret, curiously wrought
in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance,
yet being unperfect. And in thy book all my members
were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there
was none of them. Oh, how precious are your thoughts
to me. God's people were his people before the world began,
before they were ever born, and the purpose, the electing purpose
of God Almighty and the loving purpose of God, they were his
chosen, his elect. But they've got to be born. In
time. They've got to be born. And this
is the birth. Look at Isaiah 42. You've got
to come to the birth. Our Lord said, except you be
born of water and of the Spirit. We're born sons of Adam. Like I said a while ago, who impregnates who? The Father impregnates the woman. The male is the one who impregnates
the female. God the Father purposed salvation. It was his purpose. He purposed
salvation. Christ talked many times about
a people you gave me. People that were given to Christ
before the world began. God the Father chose whom he
would and gave them to Christ. Put them, as it were, in Christ
before the world began. Now, this is what Scripture teaches.
All right? But now, there's got to be a
merge. When Mindy was pregnant, our
first and only child, like so many men, I was so careful with
her when she was pregnant. If she'd just jump up and down,
I'd say, don't do that. Or come running down the stairs,
stop, stop. Be careful. I wanted her to be
so careful. And she said, well, you'd like
to be having this baby, wouldn't you? Maybe, but I couldn't. I can't. She had to. She had to carry
that child. The mother has to carry that
child. Just as the Father purposed salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ
is the one who bore his people, the one who prevailed in the
birth of his children, who carried them, as it were. Look at verse
1 of Isaiah 42. Behold my servant, this is talking
about Christ, whom I uphold, mine elect, and whom my soul
delighted. Talking about Christ. I have
put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles. He says, I have a long time holding
my peace. I have been still, refrained
myself. Now will I cry like a travailing woman. Isaiah 46, verse 3, it says,
Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, remnant of the house of Israel,
which are born by me from the belly, which are carried from
the womb. Just as God purposed it, Christ
is the one who accomplishes salvation. Christ is the one who actually prevailed for the birth, for
the spiritual salvation of his people. We're carried by him.
Paul even said it. He said, Oh, that I might be
found in him. This is salvation, to be in Christ,
to be found in him. to be born by Him, to be crucified
with Him. For everything Christ did when
He was on this earth, He did it for you. You know, you ladies,
when you had that baby in your belly, wherever you went, that
baby went. Whatever you did, that baby did. Whatever you ate,
that baby ate. Right? Whatever you ingested,
however well you took care of yourself, that's how that baby...
Christ, everything He did as a man, He did it for His people.
He was righteous. Why? To show us how? No, he did
it for his people. We're righteous in him. Christ
was crucified. Christ bore the penalty of sin. Christ was punished for sin,
but he had no sin. He did it for me. Isn't that
a beautiful picture? Carried by him. All right, I
said this a while ago. When a woman comes to the birth,
when she comes to give birth to a child, The first thing that
happens is water comes forth, the water breaks, and pain and
suffering. Our Lord alluded to this. He
said a woman, when she's great with child, and finally she travails
and then gives forth a child, and then for joy that the child
is born, she remembers no more the pain. That's what Hebrews
12 says, Christ, for the joy set before him, endured the pain,
endured the sorrow, even the death of the cross, endured it
for the joy that was set before him in making his people his
own. Now, remember, the child is passive. If anything, the child kind of
hinders its own birth. How many of your children helped
you? How many of your children, in
a cooperative effort, you got together and your child decided
to help you be its mother? Oh no, would you want to leave
where it was in safety and warmth and come into this God-forsaken
world, if you will? Neither do any of God's children
at first. Uh-uh. And not to the will of
man. It's not man. He's not interested
in God. Christ travails and gives birth. All right? Now, you've got to
turn to this, all right? I know believers will appreciate
this. Isaiah 53. And like I said, the child is
passive, and so is the center in this thing of the new birth.
God gets the glory. The mother gets the credit for
the birth of that child, doesn't she? Huh? The mother gets the
credit. The father doesn't take any credit
for it. The father glorifies his son,
even, in what he did for his children. All right? Christ did not travail. Christ did not die for anyone
who is not saved. The Lord Jesus Christ did not
die for anybody who will not be eternally saved. Our Lord
has no stillborn children, no sir. You ladies, let me ask you,
how many of you have had miscarriages? How many of you have had stillborn
children? Were you satisfied? Did it make you happy? Look at Isaiah 53, verse 11. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied. Whoever Christ died for, buddy,
their sins are gone. They are saved. That's fatalism. No, it's not. We're going to
see. what happens next. Christ did
not die for his sins. In Isaiah 66, verse 9 and 10,
I'll just quote it for you. He said, Shall I bring to the
birth and not cause to bring forth? Just pray to the Lord, shall
I cause to bring forth and then shut the womb? No, sir. Wherever
I plant the seed and life begins, they're going to be born again. All right, now, stay with me,
all right? Just a few more minutes. There's someone in attendance
when that child is born, aren't there? Maybe there's somebody
in here, a woman who, like the Indians, was out by herself and
gave birth and did all that. I doubt it. I imagine that most
everyone in here had a doctor present or a midwife, depending
on how old you were, or, you know, had somebody in attendance
who was there to bring forth that child. And that child is
in you, and you travail and learn, pushing that child, doing what
it—life was created in you. But then there's an attending
physician or a midwife or someone there present who must literally
lay hold on that child, and pull that child forth, and
cut that navel, and stretch in that mucus, and wash that face,
and wash that body, and wrap it up. Huh? Who's this? It's the Holy Spirit
of God. I said there's three, didn't
I? Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is the work of the Holy
Spirit through the preaching of the gospel. He lays hold on
somebody. And when those words are listed,
you don't know where the sound is going. I may think, well,
this person right here needs this. I'm going to tell this
to old Dan. I'm going to preach it to old
Dan. I sure hope the Lord saves Dan.
Well, it might be Billy Bob over here. I have no idea. The Holy Spirit knows. God knows. He knows who Christ died for.
And he sends the word. He sends the word to whom he
will, not whom I will. I'm preaching at Dan. His parents
are over here. And the Holy Spirit, through
the preaching of the gospel, takes that word, that powerful
word, the life, the word of God, the power of God, and arrests
a human being, a person. Breaks their heart. Hits them
right between the eyes with the truth. That's their hard heart. I will
not, I will not. And the Spirit says, you will
too. I will. That old hard head, I don't believe
it, I don't believe it. I believe this. You're looking at a hard-headed
rebel. Paul said, why don't you believe
me? I don't want this. And the Holy Spirit, by his mercy,
by his grace, comes and says, you will, because I say so. God be merciful to me, he said. But not until then. That's the
reason I do not direct messages at anybody in particular. I do
not do it. I've learned that a long time
ago. It doesn't do any good. You prepare a message with somebody
in mind, they won't even show up. Guaranteed, every time. The Holy Spirit is there and
lays hold on that person through the gospel, arrests them, convicts
them, breaks their heart, creates pain. maybe other than Jenny, who did
not have a real hard time of it. They say she's a baby machine,
you know, just come right out, no trouble, just no pain or whatever. But there are very few exceptions
to that rule. All of you had pain and suffering
and sorrow, so is the new birth. With every child of God, there's,
it's a It's a travail, not only for Christ himself, but for the
sinner, the one who's being born. There's a wrestling match going
on. Wrestling with yourself, wrestling
with the words you're hearing, wrestling with—wrestling match,
like Jacob of old, whom the Lord was wrestling with. It's not
the sinner wrestling with God, it's God wrestling with the sinner. The Lord appeared to Jacob that
day and started wrestling with him. And Buddy, whoever the Lord wrestles
with, they go away limping like Jacob. They've been wrestled
with. They know they've been dealt
with. They're not the same from that day forward. The Holy Spirit, through the
preaching of the gospel, lays hold on whoever he will. And Buddy, salvation has begun. The seed is sown, but they're
going to come to Christ. They're going to come out. My
doctor took forceps. Hannah's got a long-headed head
right now. No, that's the mayhem head. But
you know, have you ever seen any cone-head kids? That's the
way my daughter was. She was cone-headed when she
was born. The doctor took four sips, literally, and laid it
on her head and whirled her out until she stretched. Thankfully,
it went back to where it was supposed to be. The Holy Spirit lays hold on. It's a forceful thing. And a spirit like the midwife,
like the physician. And I did all these things for
my daughter. I'll never forget. Never forget.
Any of you men expecting a child or someday may have one, don't
miss that. Go on in. I thought I'd throw
up too. I thought I'd faint too, but
I didn't. I was so glad. I'm glad I did that for the purpose
of this message this morning. See, the Holy Spirit is the one
who lays hold and brings a person to Christ. And what he does then
is, the midwife or the physician, or in the case with me, that
child is filthy. That child begins to wash it. Begins to wash the eyes, the
eyes are just covered, can't see a thing. Ear, there's a nose,
everything's just plugged up. Begins to take all that away
and wash that child. Of course, the navel's cut. When
Hannah was born, Mindy gave, went and travailed there, and
they handed that child to me. Now, a newborn, the first thing,
when a child is newborn, He doesn't have his eyes open, right? They don't see. They don't see
anything. They have their eyes shut. And the first thing that
the child does is hear. He does hear. All right, I'm
about to leave something else here, though. The physician checked
to see if that child was alive. They checked to see if that child
was alive. This is what the physician does. And how'd they do it? Caused
a little pain. To a newborn, it's a lot of pain.
They either whack it on the rump, or if you're real ugly, in the
face, or flick it on the feet. That's what they did to Hannah.
The physician just... Is she alive? That's how they know she's alive.
She starts crying. How do you know someone's alive?
How do you know if the Holy Spirit is working on somebody? How do
you know if the Holy Spirit has laid hold on somebody? How do
you know if the Word has taken effect? How do you know if this
scene has been sung? How do you know? Start crying. Not tears, but calling on the
Lord. They don't see much. They don't
see hardly anything. They don't understand much. Their
eyesight's very—they just don't see anything. Well, then the physician handed
me that baby, that darling baby. You know, to a parent, a little
red, ugly child is the most beautiful thing you've ever seen. No mother or father has ever
called their baby ugly. Well, mine wasn't. She was beautiful. And he handed me that baby, and
she was crying, all right? She had her eyes closed. She
was crying. I said, it's okay, it's okay.
Your daddy's here. It's your dad. Start talking
to him. Honey, it's okay. Shut up. She heard her father's
voice. He soothed her, spoke peace to
her. And you know what? And it's been love ever since. It's been love ever since. He
still looks at me. Who's the first person she saw? Her father. So it is in salvation. They won't
see the preacher. They won't see the soul winner.
They won't see any of that. They'll see a merciful God. They'll
hear his voice. Speak peace to them. Crying,
crying, Lord be merciful to me, this sinner. I will. my child. And the eyes are open. Then the
eyes are open. And boy, from there on, they
begin to see things. And it's a gradual process. It's
not all of a sudden 20-20. Not all of a sudden 20-20. So
much goes forward. A newborn child hears her, and
then the eyes are open. See, a newborn is unable to see
clearly, understand, can't talk. I didn't put her on her feet
and say, take off, honey. She can't walk. She's got to learn
to crawl. She can't talk. She starts out
in baby language. The first thing she usually says
is, ma-ma-da-da, you know. And so it is with every single
child whom God gives birth, Christ gives birth to. They don't know
much at first. They don't know the right things
to say. They don't know all of the doctrine, per se, but they
do know this. They know who God is. They know
who Christ is. And their first words are not,
I got anything. I was born. It's all Father. God had mercy on me. My father
had mercy. Christ saved me. That much they
do know. And then there's growth. Would you look at the text real
quickly? There's growth. How does growth come? Let me
say this to every young and old person here. Like I said, this
baptism, this water is nothing. It's just water. This doesn't
do anything to anybody. It's just a tub of water, like
your bathtub at home. It doesn't wash away sin. It
doesn't make somebody a brand new person when they come out.
No, not at all. The water whom the Holy Spirit
uses to wash is called this, the water of his Word. And that's what works on, cleanses,
that's what sanctifies. And this is just a confession. This is what our Lord said to
do to confess him publicly before everyone. Because it's a public
symbol. It's like a ceremony, a marriage
ceremony where a person gets up and confesses Christ. Say,
I love him. I believe him. And I believe
when he was crucified, I hope I was crucified with him. When
he was buried, And I want to be out of sight and out of mind.
I'm not worth living. And I hope he crucified me with
him. And when he arose out of the
grave to ascend to the Father, I want to walk in newness of
life with him, too. I want to be a disciple, and
I want everybody here to know it. That's what baptism is. But it doesn't do anything for
you, baptism. It's just water. But I tell you what, what you're
hearing right now does something for you. This is growth. This is where
growth takes place. In verse 2 of chapter 2, it says,
As newborn babe, desire the sincere milk of the word that you may
grow thereby. Desire that word that you may
grow thereby. Another sign of health is a little
child is hungry immediately. It's hungry immediately, and
there's really nothing that will do, I don't care what whoever
says, expert, there's nothing like Mother's Milk. It gets all
of its immunities and colostrum, is that it? And all of the things
it needs. They say that breastfed babies
are the healthiest baby. They are. Let me tell you, the
only true children of God are those who are breastfed or fed
with the milk of God's Word. Let me say this to every young
and old person. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. The old man, corrupt man, is
fed with the things of this world. You want him to die. But the
new man is fed with this right here and this alone, nothing
else. He says, Speak ye first of the kingdom of God, and all
these things will be added unto you. That doesn't just mean one
time, that means all the time. Get up in the morning before
you go out in this God-forsaken, trash-filled world. That's what
Peter called it, the untoward generation. Before you hit the
road, you need washing. You need some milk. You don't
leave the house without milk, nourishment. Turn that stupid
box off. whether it be music, or tell
it what, get rid of it. No, no, I'm not saying, I'm saying
do away with your television. But don't speak that first. I'm telling you it's detrimental,
it really is. Turn it off. Just a few minutes
alone. I'm telling you what's good for
you. The flesh opposes that. The flesh opposes that. But now
we grow by the sincere milk of the Father. Once somebody said,
before you see any man's face, you need to see the Lord's face.
Get along a little bit. They grow thereby. And you know, after a time, preaching
of the Word, the milk of the Word, they begin to grow. They
begin to walk like that. They begin to talk like a believer. Their vocabulary increases. They
begin to understand. begin to see clearly, right,
until they become adults and mature. They are born again,
born from above, born of God. This is God's work. Well, one,
we believe, one, the Lord has done that for them. And I'll
go ahead and say this now. Jennifer Huff this morning comes,
and she's a good example. like me, of someone who grew
up under the sound of the Word, and though preacher preached
and others, this things of God, in His good time. In His good
time. He has to operate. Only He can
do it, too. And must do it. And I told her,
that I understand fully where she's coming from, because when
you grow up hearing the truth, you do believe it in your head.
I believed as a young, young child. I believed the truth.
I acknowledged it. It says it. I'd preach or preach
from the Bible, and that's right there. And I believed it in my
head. And you even argue it. She was
in high school and she argued with her science teacher and
things like that, you know. Argue it. And you don't know
when this happens, but there comes a time when it leaves the
head and it begins to soak into the heart. When it's not just
doctrine then, when you know you're a man of sinners, man's
dead, when you start realizing, I'm dead. I'm a sinner. It's not so-and-so's no good. Yeah, I mean, Christ is all in
salvation. You understand that in your head,
then it comes down finally into the heart and you say, I want
Christ. And that's what she was telling me.
She said, I believe now. I believe with my heart. And
I want everybody to know that I believe. And I want everybody,
she said this too. So when you've purified your
souls and obeyed the truth unto unfamed love for the brethren,
this is what it produces, too, that only the gospel can produce,
a real love for God's people. She said to me, she said, I want
everybody to know that they're my people, and I love them, and
I want to be here from now. That's of the Lord. Salvation's
of the Lord. And let me say this for the comfort
of some, of many, of most. Salvation is not necessarily
knowing or feeling anything. It's believing. It's trusting Christ. And let
me tell you this. Salvation comes when you want
to be saved. It's not necessarily knowing
and thinking you are. It has begun when you want to
be. That help anybody? Natural man
doesn't want to be. But life has begun when you want
to be. That means a heart has been given.
Listen, naturally I don't want that religion stuff. Don't give
me that religion. I'm just here because somebody
else wanted me to be. No, when salvation comes, you
come because you want to be. You need him. And Lord, that salvation has
begun, that new birth and growth. Don't worry about understanding
everything. Don't worry about running. Just
crawl. Just crawl. All right. Brother Gabe, you'll come up
to lead us in a closing hymn. Jennifer, you can go get ready.