John chapter 3. Look at verse 1 again. There was a man of the Pharisees
named Nicodemus. a ruler of the Jews. Now, this is the story of this
Pharisee who came to the Lord by night to talk with him. A very familiar story, I'm sure,
to most of us. And very much could be said about
Nicodemus, about the fact that he came by night and so forth. And we'll make a few comments
on him, but he is not important. Nicodemus is not the important
one here. What is important is what the
Lord said to Nicodemus, and that is what we will spend most of
the time considering this morning. In verse 2, it says the same,
or this ruler named Nicodemus, this Pharisee, came to Jesus
by night and said unto him, Rabbi, or
teacher, 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." Now, a Pharisee here,
a Pharisee in these days was an extremely religious man. You might call a Pharisee a man
at his best state, the best you could get back then. The highest you could reach was
to become a Pharisee. You remember what Paul said.
He said, I was a Pharisee. of Pharisees. High as you could
get in religion. But the Pharisees did not know
Jesus Christ. They professed to be looking
for the Messiah, but when he came, they didn't know him, and
they rejected So this is a picture, this is
a lesson here. It tells us that no matter how
religious someone may appear to be, no matter how high in
religion they may go, how devout, most religion means that. It means very devoted to what
you believe in. I'm religious. that I want to
be more than religious. I want to be born from above. But to be very religious, or
to be devout and pious, or someone that looks like or
claims to be religious or whatever, if they do not know, if we do
not know the true God and the true Christ, then at your best
state altogether vanity. And you're lost. Someone can
be religious, but be lost. Right? This man was. He was as religious as you could
possibly get, but he was lost. Why? He didn't know the true
Christ. He didn't know the Christ of
Scripture. And that's so It's true today. It's sad, but it's true. Everyone's
religious. I mean, you'd be hard-pressed
to go out there in the world and find somebody who didn't
have some sort of religion. And most of them are the so-called
Christians, but don't know the true Christ of the Scripture.
and reject the one, the true one, when he's preached. That's
hard, that sounds hard, but it's so. It's just so. What the Lord said concerning
the Pharisees, he said, now listen to this, what he said, he said
the harlots and the publicans are going to enter the kingdom
of heaven before you do. before the real religious and
pious and devout, devout? Yeah. Harlots in public, street
people. And not everyone that says, Lord,
Lord, he said, will enter. Look at verse 2. He says, here's
what Nicodemus said about Jesus, and this is what most say about
him now. he came to Jesus by night and
said unto him, Rabbi, or teacher, we know that thou art a teacher
come from God. No man can do these miracles
that thou doest, except God be with him. This much most men
and women will acknowledge, and this is what most say about Christ. He's a teacher, and that he is,
but oh, much more. He is a miracle worker. And that
he is. As a matter of fact, he works
all things after the counsel of his own will. He's much more
than a miracle worker. He's the one who works all things,
who does all things. Others say he's a good man, and
that he was, that he's more than good. Christ said to that rich
young ruler one time, he said, Why do you call me good? There's
none good but God. He's better than good. He's God. They say he's admirable, and
that he is. The angels right now are admiring
him. They say he's a teacher, a good worker, a healer, a leader,
an example, a gentle and a loving man, and that he was, and that
he is, but he's much more than that. He's the Almighty God. Jesus Christ is none other than
God. who came down in the flesh. And he said, all authority, all
power is given unto me in heaven. That's God, isn't it? In heaven and in earth. He's God Almighty, and few confess
this. I know some who do. And I've got to keep driving
this nail. When we talk about Jesus Christ
being God, reigning and ruling, a sovereign, all-powerful, we're
talking about the Creator. And that's what John 1 says.
Without him was not anything made which was made. All things
were created by him. He is the Word made flesh. He
is the Creator. And when we say he's the Creator,
We mean much more than he just created some animals and stuff.
He created everything that's alive. And since he created everything
that rides or wriggles or doesn't, that means he owns us. Right? He owns all things. That's what he said, the Father
has given all things into my hand. He owns all things. And what does somebody who owns
things have? What kind of power do they have
over what they own? You know, you have an old dog
down there named Tiger. And can I tell him what to do? Can I tell you what to do with
him? You have a house down there. Can I come in and tell you what
color to paint your walls? Can I decide to accept you and
come in your house? Those are your own things, aren't
they? You own them. You built the house. You bought
the dog or found the dog. They're yours, aren't they? You can do what you will with
your own, can't you? I mean, whatever you will. If you wanted
to kill that old dog, you could kill it, couldn't you? Couldn't you? Christ said, Cannot I do with
my own what I will? Cannot I make of one lump, and
we're all creatures of one lump, creatures of clay, vessels, right? Of the same lump. Romans 9 says,
Cannot God of the same lump make one vessel, a vessel of honor,
and another of dishonor? Cannot he do that? He's the Creator. He sure can. And that's exactly
what he does. And that's just Jesus Christ.
That's who he is. He's the sovereign one. He's
the creator. He's the ruler. He rules over
all. He's God. That's what the name
God means. Absolute controller of all things. That means there's nothing without
his control. If there's anything outside of
God's control, he's not God. If there's anything happening
that's not under the absolute, direct, divine control of God
Almighty, there is no God. There's chaos. Do we understand
that? There's chaos. Things are happening at random
or by chance, and nobody knows what. He's God. He's working all things after
his own will, counsel, and all wise purpose, and it's all going
to come to pass just like he says it. Satan's not God. Man's not a little God. God is
God, and God was made flesh, and this is who this is. He's
not just a teacher. He's not just a miracle worker.
He's not just Jesus. He's the Lord. He's the Lord. And he saves whom
he will. not who will in him, he saves
whom he will. That makes him Lord over souls,
doesn't it? He's Lord. That's what we mean.
And very few people believe him, aren't they? Very few people.
Bless God I believe him. Bless God, and that's why I do
believe him, because he made me. answered and said unto him, Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot
see the kingdom of God." Except a man be born again, he
can't see that there is such a king and is such a God. They see Jesus, like Paul said
in Hebrews, made a little lower than the angels for the purpose
of what? Death, suffering of death. We see him higher than that.
A man that's born, a woman that's born again, a young person that's
born from above, they see him more than Jesus. They see him
higher than that. They see him as the Lord of glory,
seated on his throne, reigning and ruling over all, doing all
things, not doing what men will let him. No, he's Lord! He's
Lord! Men say that. But not everybody
says, Lord, Lord. But he said, this people draws
near to me where they live, Lord, Lord, but with their heart far
from me. With the heart man believeth
what? That he is Lord. Except the man be born again,
he cannot see this kingdom. You remember when he said to
the Pharisees, he said, the kingdom of God doesn't come with observation.
They were looking for the kingdom. What's his thing? He was standing in front of them. That's what he said, the kingdom
of God is among you. He said, the king is standing
here. What are you looking for? The
kingdom. The king is here. He's there
is. And religion, you know, looking
for lots of things. What are they looking for? Boy, you've seen the king in
all his glory. King Christ. Ah. Well, the Lord gives it, did
you notice here, Nicodemus didn't ask him any question. that says Christ answered him. The Lord gives this striking
answer to Nicodemus about a question he wasn't asking. Right? His answer is a question that
Nicodemus never even posed. He didn't know the question,
much less the answer. Like they said to Brother Todd,
you know, a fellow wrote him and said, You run a prize for
asking questions that nobody's asking. Well, somebody ought
to be. Job, the oldest book in the Bible,
asks the question of all questions that nobody's asking today. How
can man—Job 25, Job 9, Job 14—how can man be just with God? How can he be clean as boiling
water? How? He said, I know it's sobering. Well, Christ here gives this
man an answer to something he didn't ask. How's a man going
to get to God? Nicodemus probably wanted to
discuss theology. You've got to know God before
you can discuss theology, don't you? God was standing in front of
him, he called him Rabbi. Anybody's ever seen God until
he doesn't call him Jesus? The disciples of old called him
what? Lord. John said we've seen him, we've
heard him. What do you call him, John? Lord. Thomas, what do you
call him? My God. Rabbi, I've got an answer for
you. Christ said, I've got an answer
to a question he wasn't asking. Now listen, I'm not addressing
the world out there, I'm addressing Central Baptist Church. The world's
not here, and I'm going to talk to others. All right? Us. Parks, and Soards, and Andersons,
and Sheasley, and so on. All right? The Patton. The Kinsleys. All right? I'm talking to us.
Professing believers, all right? Those who have heard the truth.
Look at verse 7. We've already read all this,
but look down at verse 7. He says, Marvel not that I sit
unto thee, you must be born again. Now, and don't us marvel that
I'm preaching on the new birth this morning. This goes hand
in hand with what was studied this morning. I didn't plan it. I did not plan it this way, at
the mouth of two or three witnesses. Isn't that amazing, Jerry? It's
amazing, isn't it? I did not sit down months ago
and say, well, I'm going to work this out before this comes out.
It's amazing. This is the Spirit of God bearing
witness with our spirit that this needs to be heard, life
on life. What is the new birth? Am I born again? Ask yourself
that. John Davis. Ask yourself that. I'll ask myself, all right? You
ask yourself, what is the new birth, and am I born again? Am I born again? Rick Williams. Am I born again? Because like
I said, I'm not talking to anybody else this morning. Mindy Mahan,
pastor's wife. Surely. Now, ask yourself, am
I born again? All right? All right. Let's look
at it. Let's look and see what the Lord
says here about this. He says in verse 3, Except a
man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Except a man be born again. He doesn't say except a man get
mourned again, does he? Huh? I hear a soul winner say
that. I hear people say that. I got
saved. I'm not splitting hairs here.
This is a matter of life or death here. We need to split a little
hairs in. If the word of God makes sure
that the word is be and not get, then we need to make sure In
our hearts, let us be and not get." I've got to say, a fellow
told me that the other day, man, he's just about the sorriest
fellow I've ever run across. He said, I got saved the other
day. Oh, did you now? You probably did. You went out
and got yourself whatever saved you is. That's like, remember that drunk
that approached Spurgeon one day in the alley? That's a good... Some drunk, Charles Spurgeon,
200 years ago nearly, walking down the street and some drunk
came out of the alley and said to him, Mr. Spurgeon, do you
recognize me? He said, no I don't. He said, I'm one of your converts. Spurgeon said, and Spurgeon was
real quick. And he said, well, you do look
like one of mine. You certainly don't look like
one of the Lord's. See, that man got saved out of some kind of emotional
appeal by the preacher or whatever, made his profession, made his
scepter of Jesus, his personal Savior, went down the aisle,
and Mom was crying, Dad was crying, everybody was crying, he was
crying, and it was just a crying time again, you know. And so
he got baptized, and the fixed joint that quit his this didn't
quite quit his drinking, but most do. And he's fixed up. Boy, he's saved and sure for
heaven if he's already there. Where's the conviction of sin? that Christ said the Holy Spirit
would bring, and of righteousness. What is righteousness? That Christ
said the Holy Spirit would convince men, and judgment. Where is all
of that in that? Where is the need of Christ in
all of that? Where is the blood? Where is
the lamb? What good is it? Why is the lamb necessary? Why
are the sinners talking about the lamb? Rabbi, I've got a question for
you. People call me. I've got a question
for you. You must be born again, not get
it. Do you get it? The difference between being
born and getting born. The difference is life and death.
Look at verse 3 again. It says, "...except a man be
born again." Do you have a marginal reference to that word, again?
What does it say? Somebody who has that, say it
out loud. Anybody. from above. That means born,
John 1, verse 13, of God. Right? This man has received
him. To them he was empowered to become
the sons of God, which were born, not of blood, not of flesh, not
of blood, not of the will of man, not the will of the flesh,
but of God. Born of God. God gives birth.
God gives birth. God gives birth. This is very
simple, isn't it, really? And that's the reason Christ
said to Nicodemus, you're a master in Israel, you don't know this?
This is a foundation. I ought to illustrate. Barbara
Ross, right over there sits your son, doesn't it? Barbara Ross. Barbara, I've got a question
for you. Did you give birth to Bob, or did Bob give birth to
you? I know it's tough. Which is it,
though? Who gave birth here? Bob? Did you give birth to him? Bob,
the last Bob. Bob, he's forty-some years old. He's old enough. Let's ask him,
okay? Bob, who gave birth to whom? Did you accept her as your
personal mother one day? One day you just rose up and
said, Or did you, the mother and father
got together and said, we're going to have a son, and this
is what we're going to name him, Bob. Is that what happened? Well, the masters in Israel don't
know this. I understand. I mean, there's
doctors in seminaries who don't know this. and are appealing
to men and women to do something that they can't do. If they had
any sense, they'd be appealing to the only one that can do what
must be done. They've got beggars for preachers
now, and not declarers, they're beggars, begging men and women
to do something for God when they've got a beggar. Elijah, where's the Lord God
of Elijah? Elijah stood before God one day
and said, Let it be known that you're God. You do something. I'm not begging
anybody in here to do anything for Jesus. You can. I'm not begging
anybody in here to accept Jesus. Won't do any good. I'm begging
him to make us accepted in him. I'm begging to God who must move
to move all dead sinners and say, Lift up! It's all I can
count. I'm begging for my daughter's
sake. I'm begging for your daughter's sake. We'd better be doing some
begging to the only one who can. Where are the sinners begging
and crying out, God, do something! God, be merciful! God, save me
or I perish! Where are they coming down these
aisles in these religious meetings? They're popping their gum and
popping their galluses, wanting to see Billy Graham. I want to see the Lord. Nicodemus came to see this teacher.
I've got to see God. I've got to see more than Jesus. Oh, that God would bring men
in here to see one more than Jesus. born of the Spirit. That's what
he said in verse 6. He said that which is born of
the flesh is just old flesh. Whatever a soul winner produces
is just what he's going to be. We talk about glory and marvel
and eternal salvation. You see, And people argue against
it. They say, you mean you believe
once in grace, always in grace? You believe that? Well, man. See, here's the key. Whose grace
is it? And what is grace? You believe
once you're saved, you're always saved? Well, who did the saving? Christ said, I give unto them. Eternal life. Depends on who the eye is, doesn't
it, Henry? If he's the sovereign Jesus Christ
of the universe, no one can stay his hand, or pluck him out of
it. But if he's just Jesus, yeah,
he'll fall to the wayside. That's the reason I must have
this one. Move on me. Say unto my soul, that's what
David says, say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. Christ said, I give unto them
eternal life, and they shall what? Never perish. I'm the good
shepherd. I don't need just some good man
named you. I need the Lord to be my shepherd, don't you? I
need that to be more than a funeral verse. I need that to be my salvation. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall
not fall. I shall not fall. a righteousness, a blood sacrifice, eternal preservation. I shall
not want it. Shall not be wanting in that
great day a covering, a wedding garment. Why? He sewed it for
me. He put it on me. He said, bring
the best robe. It doesn't say, let him try it
on. It doesn't say that. Put it on him!" Then he said,
"...bring the ring, the symbol of our marriage." And what does
he say? Put it on him! Don't let him
try, God! Put it in Christ! Shut the door. Pitch the ark. Put it on the water. It's going
to reach all the way. I am that I am. That's why. A rabbi. Oh, I've got an answer
for you, Sid. You're not even asking. Not even asking the question. Well, am I born again? Has this happened to me? 2 Corinthians
5. Turn over there, okay? 2 Corinthians
5. Turn over there. 2 Corinthians
5. Now, our Lord said that which is flesh
is flesh. Whatever the flesh does, it's
going to be flesh. But whatever spirit, spirit. You like that verse, don't you,
Deborah? She said, My words are spirit. That means whatever word
the Lord takes and uses, it shall not return void. That's the reason
that's all I want to do, is just preach the word, preach the word.
I'm drawing a bow at a butcher, you see. And the errors I have
are right here. Verses. Let's try this verse. Maybe it'll hit somebody. Well,
let's try this verse. I don't know who it'll hit or
what will hit whom, but he knows, doesn't he? That's the reason
we just keep searching, searching the Scripture. One verse. He
knows he'll take one verse to his own and say, and drive that
arrow home to the heart. Joe Park, he needs you. We might just write it in passage. Look at 2 Corinthians 5. Look at this, what he says here
in 2 Corinthians 5. I had it and lost it. All right, verse 17, he says,
Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things
are passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. Any man be in Christ. Now, hold
that and turn back to the text, all right? Hurry. Hurry. I'm running out of time. John chapter 3. Our Lord said,
if any man be in Christ, he's a what? New creature. That's brand new. The old, you
know, we say brand spanking new. That means a baby born, a brand
whack, spanking new. He's brand new. This is something
that's never been there before. Now, what's brand new mean? It's
brand new. Never been there before. Wasn't
there before. Well, look at here what the Lord
uses to do this, to this verse 5. He says, "...let the man be
born of water and of spirit. He cannot enter into the kingdom
of God." Water. What's this talking about? Baptism?
Oh, no. is born of spirit, is spirit. What he's saying is you've got
to be born the first time to be born the second. That's very
simple. Huh? Water? Well, you ladies,
what happens right before you give birth? The water breaks. The baby is born, the baby is
formed in water. It's formed in water. It lives
in this sanctuary, this life-giving sack of water. Well, that's a good picture,
though, isn't it? And what is this water, spiritually
speaking? What are we born of, born in, surrounded with, formed
by? What is this water? Huh? The
Word? That's right. What is the Word? It's the gospel. Peter said,
being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, which
is the word of God which liveth and abideth forever. And it said,
this is the word which we preach unto you by the gospel. It's the word of Christ. It's
the preaching of Christ. Not the preaching of any old
word will do. Not the preaching of sermonettes will do. Not the
preaching of good moral stories from the Bible will do, no, but
the preaching of Christ crucified from the Bible. That will do.
That will do. He is the Word. Didn't Christ
say, to the very next chapter we're going to look at it, he's
going to tell us what the water is, isn't he? And John 4 came
to that woman at the well, and she said, I perceive that you're a prophet."
And he began to tell her, water, you need water. But you came
to me for water. Oh no. I am the water. Well, give me this water. You see, he is the water. Christ
is the water. The word is Christ. We need a
long breath from God's word and that by the Spirit. The water
and the Spirit. Right? The water and the Spirit. All right? Paul said, or our
Lord said in John, he said, When the Spirit is come to give this birth, to give this
life, what's he going to do? What's the Spirit going to do?
He's going to use water. He's going to give birth by water.
How's that? The Word. He's going to take
the Word. God's going to take the Word.
The Word of the priest. The world calls it foolishness.
So, what are they doing? They're not using it. Notice
that. They're not using it. We use
the gospel quartet. That'll get them feeling good.
That'll get them to accept Jesus. Yes, it will. Yeah, it'll do
just that. But when the Holy Spirit, when
God Almighty powerfully takes one word, like, look, and applies it to the heart of
an old sinner, boy, it's life-giving power. The word comes not in
word only, but in power. The Holy Ghost. Man, boy, I'm
about to shut up. The word. And he just birthed.
He just birthed. this new creature, or you want. And the time and the place aren't
known. I've always been amazed at these signs that say the Holy
Spirit and revival tonight at seven o'clock. Oh, where's there
now? Well, the Lord must not know what he's
talking about. No matter, may you, Holy Spirit
of God, on the night of 7 o'clock, be here." The wind blows where
it listed. How do you know you're going
to be there? And how do you know when? You cannot tell, he said,
the sound thereof, where it's going or when it's coming. The masters in Israel, John.
The masters in Virginia. We employ the Spirit. We say
we're going to meet together tonight at seven o'clock and
sure hope the Holy Spirit meets with us. We're going to take
the things of Christ. We're going to try to preach
the gospel. And he said there were two or three of us gathering
in his name. He'll be there. I sure hope there's
two or three here. We don't know that. All right? Are we born again? Are we born again? Turn over
to Joel, chapter 2. All right? The book of Joel,
chapter 2. Now, this whole world can quote
Romans 10, 13. "...who serves the call of the name of the Lord
shall be saved." The whole world can quote that. But Paul was
quoting Joel. Chapter 2. He was paraphrasing
Joel. Chapter 2. He just quoted part
of it, didn't he, Stan? And the spiritual compared spiritual
things with spiritual things, scripture with scripture, old
with new, and so on. And here's what I'm getting at.
They say, Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall
be saved. How shall they Who's going to call? When are they
going to call? How are they going to call? They're not going to
call until something else happens. Right? What's got to happen? What's got to happen for a man
or a woman to call on God? Lord, what's got to happen? Huh? What's got to happen? God's
got to call them first. Right? See, he gets all the glory. Right, John? Joel 2, verse 32. Look at this, "...it shall come
to pass," and this is what Paul is quoting, "...whosoever shall
call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered." Paul, that's
a conjunction. That's describing what just said.
Paul, in Mount Zion, where is that? Church, not on the mountaintop. In the church, Mount Zion. And in Jerusalem, where is that?
That's where the temple is. That's where Christ came, and
we're talking spiritual things here. You know what I'm saying? In the church where the gospel
is being proclaimed, read on, the gospel of Christ shall be
deliverance, as the Lord has said, and in the remnant, not
everybody, but in the remnant whom the Lord shall call. The Lord called. See, they called
one, because he called. John 1, 12. They received him,
didn't they? Why? Because they're born again. My baby, my girl, was born. She's alive. How do I know that?
You know what happened? You know what happened? One day, in the fullness of time,
in the fullness of nine months, she was born. And she is alive. Wife and I got together, seed
was planted, child was conceived, and that child was born. It was
born. We gave birth to that child,
didn't we? Eh? Didn't we? Why is she born? Why
was she alive? What? We gave her life. God, through us, is the mean.
Right? We gave her life. All right,
how do I know she's alive? You see, this has nothing to
do with giving her life, does it? It just doesn't give her
life, but it just proves she is. The doctor got that baby
and came out of there, oh, oh, I'll never forget that. It's
like it was yesterday. Pulled that little varmint out
of there, and she was limp looking and red and messy, just And the doctor, but, oh, she's
beautiful to me. She's beautiful to me. She's
mine. Mine. You know what the doctor did first thing? They
don't spank them on the bottom anymore, I don't think, but I
just took her and flicked her real hard on the bottom of the
feet. You want to have her? How do I know it was a baby born?
How do I know she's alive? You know what happened? She cried. She cried. She's alive. Who shall be saved? No, whoever calls is saved. Who shall be born again? No,
who shall call is born again. What does it mean to call? It's
not a one-time thing, I'm running down the aisle and say, I'll
do this and do that. It's a call from the heart! When the heart then believeth
woman's tear unto righteousness, I need a righteousness! That's
what the call is. God be merciful, I need mercy. That's what the call of a sinner
is. That's the call. Why do they call? God says, he
sends the Word and plants the seed and they're born. And the Holy Spirit picks their
feet and picks their heart, like he did Saul of Tarsus. What did
Saul do? Was he alive? What happened?
Lord! Right? That's what happened. And her little eyes were closed
at first. She didn't see much. You know, there was film all
over her eyes and everything. But I took her. I took that baby
over. I took that baby over to a pan
of water. What? She came out of the water
and the first thing I did was dip her right back into it. Dip
her over to that pan of water and took that water and began
to wash her. You know what happened? Her eyes
came open. You know who she saw? Me. And, honey, we've been stuck
ever since. You've won me. I hope I've won
you. But see the picture? The water
of the Word opens the eyes, and what do you see? Like the disciples
of old, they went up to the Mount of Transfiguration, and they
wanted, let's build us a big church here and a big church
there. Let's have a choir and all that. And God said, one thing
you need to see. He smote him to the ground, and
as they opened their eyes, what did they see? What did they see? The Lord Jesus Christ. We don't
even need a building. We don't even need a building. We got Him. Don't need roads. Don't need a choir. Don't need
a piano. We got one, but we don't need
one. That which is flesh is flesh,
and that which is spirit. Spirit takes the things of Christ
and shows them unto you, opens your eyes, and bore you one from
that day forward. You only have eyes for him. You cry, she's still calling
me, Daddy. What are we still calling him?
Daddy, Father, Savior. It's not a one-time thing, even.
They keep crying. It's not a one-time decision.
You see the farce of that? She's still calling me. All the
time. Daddy! And I love to hear that. The more she calls, Henry, the
better she'll be off. Asking me this, asking me that.
Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! Oh, and we keep calling,
don't we? We keep calling unto Him. What?
What? Same thing we did in the beginning.
Lord, be merciful. God, have mercy. Father, father. Oh, and he says, and read for
yourself sometime over in Ezekiel chapter 36. Read it for yourself. Jot that down. Go home and read
it this evening. He said, I'm going to give them
a new heart. I'm going to wash them with water
from their filth. A new walk, he said, the Spirit
will be with their walk. Are you born again? A new heart. My heart and my
flesh, David said, my heart and my flesh cry out for what? If you then be risen with Christ,
your heart, your affection is set where? Things above. Are you born again? Is that where
you're real? In fact, David said, a man after
God's own heart, with the heart of God, said, My heart and my
flesh cry out for thee, living God. When shall I come yet here
before thee? I'll be satisfied when I awake
with the holiness. Spiritual heart cries out for
God. A new creature. What's that mean? The hard heart. He's taken away
and given a heart of flesh. Old ways, old things he said
there in 2 Corinthians have passed away, and all things become new.
What's that? All things become new. What's
that? New thoughts of God? God changes. God says, like he
said in the psalm, thou thoughtest. God changes it, doesn't he? Like that old black preacher's
title of his message, It Ain't Like You Thought It Was. God
changes his thoughts 180 degrees from where they were. Well, this
is where I think God is. God says, changes his thoughts. Now, that's the way it is. I
thought, well, I thought I chose him. God said, oh, you didn't
choose me, I chose you. Well, I thought I loved Jesus.
Not that we didn't love him, but that he first loved us. Well,
I thought I had something to do with I am thy salvation. Right? I thought I had a righteous
name. Christ is the end of the life,
right? Changes your thoughts, doesn't it, of God, doesn't it?
Changes your ways, too. You say, my ways are not your
ways. Your ways become His. Old principles pass away. If
you had children before the Lord saved you, you have different
principles now about how to raise those kids, don't you? Hmm? Sure he did. Your wisdom, what
you thought was you being a wise parent before. Oh, you were a
fool. You were doing foolish things.
And now the child doesn't understand. Now that the Lord has revealed
and you're trying to follow what his word says, the child says,
I don't understand how he's doing this before. Things have changed! I was a fool before. I didn't
know what I was doing. Now, bless God, I'm trying to
follow what he says for me to tell you. He's made unto me wisdom. I'm learning, too, but if we
walk according to his ways, he said, and I train you up according
to his ways, he said, when you're old you'll not depart from it.
It's a promise, Deborah. You'll err, but you won't err
far. Old ways, old principles, old
thoughts. James said, now listen to this, and I'll quit. All right,
I know it's been a while, but I'll quit. Listen to this. Are you born again? James said, You show me your faith without your works. I'll show you mine by my works."
Didn't. In other words, James is saying,
and he did say this, you believe in one God, you do well. There's only one. The devil James said, do you believe the
gospel? Oh yeah, I believe it. Well, you ought to, because it's
the truth. But James said, show me. Show me. What do you have a heart for?
Come on. Am I born again? Has God moved on my heart? What
do I have a heart for? Examine yourself, as Scripture
says, what is really in your heart. You know what's in a man's
heart, a woman's heart? Whatever he can't live without. That's what. Well, I'm leaving. Demas hath
forsaken me. Why? Having loved is prison. They were not of it, they went
out. He that is of us is with us. Why? Because one thing have
I desired and that what I seek after all the days of my life. One thing. There's one
thing important to me. What's that? My family, my job. No, no. One thing. One. leave off the thing. One, have
I desired, and him will I seek up. Have I been born again? Where are you walking? Where
are you walking? This is where everybody else is going. That's
where I'm going. Not me. Where are you going? Where are
you going out here? Who's going there? God's people? Well, no, but I might win some
of the Lord. Where are you going? I'm going to worship. I want fellowship, believers,
brothers and sisters, family. The family is going to have a
family reunion. You know, we have a family reunion
every Sunday and Wednesday. I'm glad. I've never had a family
reunion in Mayhem, and I'm glad. There's a bunch of them. There's
a fellow down in Alabama that has one every year. He's my cousin,
a dentist. Let me get this off tape.