Turn back with me to John chapter
3. John chapter 3. I appreciate Brother Ralph Dale coming to
preach for you, and I appreciate you showing up to hear him. It's encouragement to him. I
know. And I'm looking forward to hearing
the message you brought. I heard something about it from
some of you. John chapter 3. Now, as I said,
this will be a two-part message, first this morning and finish
up this evening. But in this third chapter of
the Gospel of John, there are two doctrines or two teachings
that we'll look at that are the most widely used. and abused
in religion today, and I speak of the new birth, or being born
again, and in the second part, the love of God. These are two
doctrines that are, they're much more than doctrine, but I say
that, you know what I mean, I believe. But they're the most widely used,
or people dwell on these things more than anything, yet we're
going to see that they're the most widely abused in all of
the scriptures. Now, other than the title of
Christian, I don't know of a phrase that people like to use more
than born again. Born again. People like to use
that. It's the most widely used phrase
I know, other than he's a Christian. And every so-called Christian
claims to be born again. If you are If you claim to follow
Christ and believe Him this morning, then you claim to be a born-again
person. And so I want to, let me give
you an illustration. Everybody likes to use this term.
I worked with a fellow one time, and this is kind of like circumcision,
Rick, which we were talking about. It's not something you flaunt.
Rick brought that up, that circumcision is of the heart, true circumcision. And besides, real circumcision
is not something you flaunt. You don't show it off, nor can
you—it's hidden. You can't see it. And this thing
of true disciples is of the heart, primarily, first off. But this fellow I worked with
one time, he was sitting reading the scriptures. And I walked
into the little place where he was sitting and noticed what
he was reading. And I just sat down and began
talking to him about it. And I was really kind of questioning
him if he knew, like the Ethiopian eunuch. I was kind of asking
him, do you know what you're reading? Do you understand? He
got offensive. He said, I'll have you know that
I'm not born again. Spirit-filled, tongue-talking
Christian. I didn't know. Excuse me. And I walked out. But people
like to use that term, don't they? I'm born again. You born
again? Yeah. Born again. When did you get born again?
You got born again the other day? Well, I want to look at
God's Word, what God's Word says about this thing. I want to look
into the context of when this was used. Our Lord Himself is
the one who Talked about this thing of being
born again, and I want to see in the context of what is being
said here. I want to see what the Lord is
saying and not just grab that phrase, except the man be born
again. He cannot see the kingdom of
God and tear off into a tirade about being born. Got to be born
again. You know, let's just look through the scriptures, but search
the scripture right here and see what he's saying about this
thing. There are a great many people deceived about, and that's
what they do with the word of God. They grab one word, grab
one verse, and tear it off. Well, let's look through the
scriptures and search them. Now, let's look here at verse
1, chapter 3 of John, the Gospel of John. There was a man of the
Pharisees. Now, some of you may know what
a Pharisee was, but let me remind you, a Pharisee in this day and
time. A Pharisee was the most religious,
devout, separate or separated, pious, moral, upright, respected
man of his day. He was the religious leader and
ruler of the Jewish religion, a Pharisee. He could not get
any higher than a Pharisee. A Sadducee was just a step But
they were very religious, very religious. There's still some
Pharisees around today, very orthodox even. And this may apply
to someone in here. They believed the doctrines.
They believed in a sovereign God, Rick. Yes, they did. Pharisees
believed in a sovereign God. They believed in election, Jews
only. And we're going to see in the
context of John 3 why Christ said John 3, 16. Because they
believed in election but they were hyper. They were a hyper
election they believe on Jews only nobody forget it nobody
else but the Jews. But if you would ask somebody.
Man in his best state the best the man could be a Pharisee the
best a man can be and even so today the best the man can be
the most noted and respected people in the community are Christians
right and a preacher at that many and I've been. Very. Amazed at the respect that this
small town has for. Preachers. It's not that way
where we came from the big city and the big city compared to
this it is but. you know, just not the respect
that there is in this little town. People, if you're a preacher,
everybody reverend this, reverend want to give you a break, a discount
here and there. And I don't like to be associated
with that. But nevertheless, a Pharisee was a moral, religious,
respected, honored, and reverend, reverend doctor. If they were
alive today, and they are, they'd be called doctor, reverend, so-and-so. They were religious. And this
man, Nicodemus, was very religious and respected, but he was lost. He didn't know Christ. He didn't
know God. And there may be a Pharisee in
here, different sorts of Pharisees. It takes different forms. You
don't have to wear the robe, but you can just feel like you're
one, and you can just be a Pharisee in the mind and in the heart.
So this fellow named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, verse 2,
he came to Jesus Christ by night. He came to him secretly at night. He was ashamed to be seen with
Christ. He was ashamed to be seen with him. He didn't want
to be associated with what he was saying, with this gospel.
Besides, the Pharisees from the very beginning wanted Christ
dead, every one of them. And Nicodemus was maybe a little
more charitable, but at any rate, he was a curious sort of fellow,
and he came to Christ at nighttime to ask him some questions. Look
at what he says here. It came at night time, snuck
in there, and nobody'd see him. And that may apply to somebody
here. You wouldn't much want your friends to know that you're
in church or what you believe. Wouldn't know, it might cause
a fuss, might cause a fight. But he came by night and said
unto Christ, Teacher, Rabbi, we know, we. You never notice
how Pharisees and self-righteous people talk in the general sense. Yes, we are sinners, aren't we? No, a sinner doesn't talk in
general terms. We are sinners. We know, and
this is the sense in which he's talking, we know that thou, he
didn't want to admit it himself. He didn't want to commit himself.
We know that thou art a teacher come from God. 4. No man can
do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. That's how everybody pronounces
it. We know that thou art a teacher come from God, and no man can
do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. And what
he was doing, now I'm not trying to be hard on old Nicodemus here,
I'm really not. I'm not trying to be hard on
him at all. But he was just like many people
today. He was religious, but he was lost. But he was curiously
interested in religion. Curiously interested in things
like miracles and prophecies. But he was ignorant of the one
thing needful. That's what my pastor preached
on down in Georgia. One thing. One thing. One thing. He was ignorant of
that one thing. And then he said this, and this
was his conception of a true man of God. You do miracles. You must be from God. And then
what people believe today? If a man's got some talents,
if he looks pretty good, if he talks pretty good, they're licensed
to preach. Fourteen, fifteen, sixteen-year-old
boy. He doesn't know the gospel from a hole in the ground. Licensed
him to preach. And anybody that comes down the
pike, anybody and his sister or mother, But miracles, this man, his conception
of a man of God was that he did miracles. He performed miracles.
He had the ability and so forth. But miracles don't establish
God's true sense. Men, do you remember how the
Egyptians back before Moses, they cast down their rods and
so forth and did many miracles? They counterfeited. The miracles of Moses that God
brought through Moses and the anti-Christ, the scripture says
the anti-Christ will come bringing miracles. And besides, most prophets
in the Old Testament didn't do any miracles. I don't see anywhere
where many of the prophets did any miracles at all. John the
Baptist did no miracles, none whatsoever. Well, how do you
know a true man sent from God? Let's look at this for just a
second. A true God-sent man, Nicodemus thought, is miracles,
much like people think today. It's not miracles. It's not abilities. It's not even character. To the
law and to the testimony, the Scripture says, if they speak
not according to my word, I didn't send them, God said. If they're
not speaking according to God's word, God's true gospel. They're
not sent from God. God didn't send them. I didn't
send them. He said in Jeremiah 23 several times that these false
prophets think to make my people forget me by their dreams and
by their miracles and this and that and the other. But he has
a dream. Let him tell his little dream. What's chaff to the wheat,
he said. But he that has my word, my prophet,
you go just speak the word. Speak it and go on. Go on. If they won't have it, shake
the dust off your feet. It's the Word. It's the Word. The
Scripture says, try the spirits. How? How do you try preachers? Brother Ralph came up here. How
do you know if he's a true preacher of God? By what he's saying. By what he's saying. By searching
the Scriptures to see if the things that he said are so from
God's Word. And that's what we tell everybody
that comes in here. Don't just believe what we're
saying because You know, it sounds good because we've got the Bible
open. Go home and search through the
scriptures and see if what we're saying is so. So do it. We've got nothing to hide here.
We want people to do that. If people are looking for the
truth. And they'll go home and get with their Bible and listen
to the gospel and go home and get in their Bible and ask God,
God, show me, is this the truth? I want to know the truth. I want
to know Christ. Would you teach me? He'll teach that man. Yes. Man, he'll teach that man or
that woman. He will. He'll not. His sheep
will hear his voice. And the scriptures say, if there
come one unto you and bring not this doctrine, the doctrine of
Christ, the gospel, don't receive him. Don't receive him. And if
I bring any other doctrine, preach any other gospel, don't have
me either. Now listen, look at this. Nicodemus
said, Teacher, this is how you address Christ. Let me just note
this. You don't come to Christ, first of all, calling Him, Teacher. You don't come to Him in this
way. You come to Him calling Him, Teacher. You come before Him and bow down
at His feet. And this is the reason Christ
is belittling Him. You're going to see, He belittles
this man. Everything He says, He answers it with His own words
and belittles him. I used to think that He spoke very tenderly and compassionately
with him, but I don't necessarily think that's the case, because
up in verse 10, he kind of belittled his position. Are you a teacher?
Well, Nicodemus, the only thing he was interested in, and maybe
somebody in here the same way, that all you're interested in
is being a good Christian and joining up with a good church
and learning some things from the Bible and having a place
to go to church. and learning something from a
teacher. Well, Paul said to young Timothy, there's some people
that are ever learning and never coming to a knowledge of the
truth. What's the truth? Christ said,
I'm the truth. I'm the way and the truth. There's
some people ever learning, going through the scriptures, going
through prophecy, this and that and the other, never coming to
a knowledge of Christ, knowing him. Now they know some scriptures,
quote some scriptures, but they don't see it as a hymn book,
as we like to say, that the scriptures are they which testify of Christ.
If you see that, if you see that this whole book is tuned to middle
C, middle C, middle C, to you all, Christ, the whole book,
centers and revolves around this man, Jesus Christ, the God-man,
the Savior, our Lord, Jesus Christ. It'll open up all the scriptures
to you. But old Nicodemus, he was interested in miracles, and
he probably had endless questions for the Lord, but the Lord didn't
allow him to ask one more question. And we do well in the presence
of people when they come to us. Martin Luther brought this out.
When they come to us, wanting to ask, well, what do you all,
how does, how do you conduct your services? Or how many have
you got? How many are you running? Scott
said, like cattle. How many are you all running?
in Sunday School. Do you have a choir? Get to the
heart. Get to the point. This is what
Christ said. He cut him off immediately. That's endless questions. And
before long, you're taken up explaining what we don't do,
and this and that and the other, and you never get around to the
gospel. Well, Christ said, look at it. He said, Nicodemus said,
We know you're a teacher come from God and that you do these
miracles, except God be with him. And Jesus answered and said,
Barely, barely. Truly. Truly of a truth. Of a truth. You best listen to
what I'm about to say. That's what he means by saying
that truly. Truly of a truth of a truth I
say unto you. And you know, like I said a moment
ago, anybody that's interested in
the truth and not just playing games with religion, it's not
just curious about religion. Anybody that's really wanting
to know the truth, they'll know the truth. Yes, they will. They'll
know the truth. There's a scripture that says,
I thought I wrote it down. I guess I didn't. But it says,
if any man will know the will of God, He'll know the doctrine,
whether or not it'll be of God or not. He'll know. He'll know. Anybody really wants to know
God, the true and living God? I just don't see many folks.
Do you? You all run into many folks at work and your neighbors
and all. It's really interesting. When
was the last time you had somebody come up to you and say something
like, what about sin? What about this
thing of sin? God, what's God really like?
Or who is Jesus Christ? Salvation. Vital question. Righteous. What is righteousness?
I see that word. What is justification? Perpetuation. I see this word,
perpetuation. What does that mean? Ah, people
aren't concerned with these things, are they? They're concerned with
the truth. They're endless questions that don't matter, don't amount
to anything. But Christ got to the point, and as I say, if any
man wants to know the truth, the true and living God, God
will reveal it to him. But Christ says, of a truth,
Nicodemus, of a truth, I say unto you. And if he knew who
was speaking to him, boy, he'd have perked up his ears, wouldn't
he? But he didn't know. His eyes were beholden or blinded. He couldn't know him, just like
those disciples on the road to Omega. He didn't know who he
was talking to. Teacher. Oh, if he'd have known whose
presence he was in, he'd have been on his face crawling. Don't worry, like Moses, was
it Abraham? Oh, I've taken it upon me to
speak, but I'll cover my mouth. Once have I spoken, yet twice.
Oh! Teacher, I've got a question
for you. Christ said, truly. I'll say
it today. Verse 3. You ought to know where
this verse is. John 3, 3. Except a man be born
again. or a woman, he cannot, she cannot
see the kingdom of God. That word see there means understand. It doesn't mean that you cannot,
you're not going to get into heaven to see heaven. That's
not what he's talking about here. He's talking about, except a
man be born from above, he cannot understand, he cannot enter into
the things of God, cannot enter in and understand the gospel,
except the Holy Spirit give birth to this person. Let's get into
it. Nicodemus was like so many people.
He was religious, and he had his profession, probably like
that Pharisee in the temple, Terry. I thank God that I tithe
and listen to that and the other. I'm not as other men. I'm moral. He was religious, moral, but
lost. He didn't know Christ. That's
salvation, to know Christ. to know the true and living God
and Jesus Christ whom he is seeing. He knew the Bible. Pharisees
knew the Bible, John. They could quote vast portions
of scripture. That was a requirement for a
Pharisee. Quote vast portions of the law of God. Quote it!
And I know men today that can quote the scripture. But they
don't bring Christ out in their message. There's a man called
the Living Bible. He can quote the scriptures right
and left. Christ is not the center of his
ministry. He knew some Bible, and he knew some doctrine. Maybe
somebody in here knows some doctrine, knows some Bible, knows what
they believe. But salvation ain't a what. Salvation
is having Jesus Christ revealed to your heart, to your heart. It's the regenerating power of
the Holy Spirit placing Christ in you. Paul, I'll quote this
over and over and over again all the time. Know you not your
own selves, that Christ be in you, Except you be reprobate,
that is, void of any judgment or any understanding whatsoever.
Don't you know your own selves? Salvation is, and we'll get into
this in a minute, what does it mean to be born again? Christ
said, except a man be born again, he cannot understand, he cannot
enter into the kingdom of God, the gospel, understand these
things. Well, our Lord was using the clearest illustration, earthly
illustration, that he could possibly to show the sovereignty of God
and salvation. This is amazing how that men
misconstrued the clearest illustration of God's sovereignty in the Bible
and turned it right around to mean what it doesn't mean. This
is how blind religious people are. They can't understand it.
Completely misconstrued. Look at verse 4. Now Christ said,
Except a man be born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of
God. Do you see a number right in
front of again? And you have a reference in your
center reference? It was above. The word is the same. Look over
verse 31. He that cometh from above. You
see that word? It's the exact same word. I don't know why the English
translators put again in there. I don't know why. But it doesn't
belong there. It's from above. And you have
that in your center reference if you have one. Except a man
be born from above. He cannot see, understand, know
the kingdom of God, God's gospel, the things of God. He cannot.
And Nicodemus said unto him, How can a man be born when he
is old? I don't think he was really, I really don't think
that he was wanting to know the truth here. I think he was saying
a little bit sarcastically, because look here at what he's saying.
Can he enter in the second time into his mother's womb and be
born? Now come on, Nicodemus, what a foolish question. You
know better than that. He's bound to have been saying
this sarcastically. How can a man be born again? How can a man be born when he's
old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb when
he's old? I don't understand that. That doesn't
make good sense. Nicodemus had two problems, and
people got these same problems today. He had two mistakes, two
problems. He didn't listen to what Christ
said. Christ said, except a man be born from above, he cannot
see the kingdom of God. And Nicodemus said, can he enter
the second time into his mother's womb? Can he? Can he do? Can
he do this? Can he do that? Can he? You see, the carnal mind,
the natural mind, is inmate against God. He's inmate. The natural
man receiveth not the things of God. It's foolishness to him.
Right? Nicodemus, it's foolishness.
born again stuff. This is crazy. Foolishness. Neither can he know them. Why?
They're spiritually discerned. Nicodemus had not had his mind
worked on by God's Holy Spirit. Can he? Can he do this? He was
trying to carnally reason what is spiritual. Look over at John
chapter 6 with me. John chapter 6, verse 63. John
chapter 6, verse 63. I just have a feeling there's
somebody in here like this. So I tell you, we need to listen
up here. John 6, verse 63. Christ said, It is the Spirit
that quickeneth. The flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you
are Spirit, and they are life. Everything I tell you, Christ
said, has a spiritual connotation, spiritual understanding. And
you need to get to the heart of what I'm saying in a spiritual
matter. God is spirit. God is spirit. And they that
will worship God must worship him in spirit. That is with the
understanding, with the spirit. God is not worshipped with men's
hands. God is not understood with men's heads. God is spirit. And they that worship God and
understand God and will see and know the things of God must understand
him with spirit. How do you do that? The spirit
of God must give it. Spirit, and you'll see that here
in a moment. But God is a spirit. Back to old Nicodemus here in
chapter three of John. And just like folks today, he
thought that coming to God or salvation was something you do.
Something you do it. And even after hearing God speak,
Even after hearing Jesus Christ himself speak, they still misinterpret
it. And like I said, people take
this very scripture and turn it around, twist it to mean exactly
the opposite of what he's saying. Got to get born again. Oh, so-and-so
got born again. What they mean is, so-and-so
walked down the aisle, accepted Jesus, got baptized, and got
right with God, made his peace with God, got born again. He
made his decision for Jesus. We're going to see here, look
at it, verse 4. Can he enter a second time? Can
he do this? Can he do that? Verse 5, Jesus
answers, "'Verily, verily, of a truth,' now if you listen to
me, I'll tell you something, truly, truly, I say unto thee,
Nicodemus, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit,'
I told you the first time from above, you didn't pay attention
to what I said. Now listen, "'of water,' and
of the Spirit, except the man be born of water and of the Spirit."
He cannot enter into the kingdom of God. He's not getting in.
Born from above, born of the Spirit. Salvation is something
done to you, not something you do. Salvation is God deciding
to have you, give birth to you, not you deciding to have God.
Salvation is God working on and in you, not you working for God. Salvation is altogether a work
outside of ourselves. It's the Spirit that quickens
it. It's the Spirit that quickens it. God is life, and only God
can give life. But men still cannot create life
in and of itself by genetics or whatever. They've been trying
for a long time and never will. And they cannot create spiritual
life. These have been trying for a long time and never will
create spiritual life. But unless the Holy Spirit of
God descends upon a man and supernaturally imparts spiritual life to that
man or that woman or that young person, they will remain dead
in trespasses and sin. Unless God's Holy Spirit decides
to up and work. And we'll see that here in a
moment. And if you, if you are still unchanged, by the gospel. You should believe
it in your head. But you're unchanged. You're
not a new creature. Unchanged if you're unmoved.
You know, people sit under the sound of the gospel for years
and don't apparently have no effect. You're unmoved if you're
undecided about where you stand. I don't want to confuse you.
They say this down here. Your problem is probably no new
birth. Be very frank with you. That's
probably the problem. Because he says, except the man
be born of water and of the Spirit. Now listen to this. Water. What's
he talking about, the water? Water. Look over John chapter
4, verse 10. Water. And it can't mean baptism.
It cannot mean baptism. And like I said this morning,
whole denominations believe in that, that you baptize and you're
saved if you baptize. Boy, if that's the truth, I'd
be double saved. I'd be baptized twice. Like I
said, I used to swim in the baptism stream when I was a kid. That
doesn't save you. That won't wash with the Scriptures.
Baptism. What is this water he's talking
about? Water. Well, look here in John chapter
4, verse 10. He said to this woman at the
well, he answered and said unto her, if you knew the gift of
God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou
wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee living
water." Look at verse 14, "'But whosoever drinketh of the water
that I shall give him shall never thirst,' never, never thirst,
but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of
water springing up unto everlasting life." What's he talking about?
Look over to Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians 5. He's talking
about the Word of God. The water of God's Word. The
Word of God. Galatians Ephesians chapter 5.
Someone said, I overheard someone say they didn't see the importance
of coming to church all the time and being under the sound of
the gospel and so forth. Well, do you take a bath? Do
you take a bath every day? Do you want your children to
eat the proper foods? Do you do what's right for your
body? Well, the water of God's Word is necessary every day. We need to drink of it. his manna and his water, or else
we'll get some terrible affliction and problems, and we won't grow. This means that God has chosen
for us to grow thereby. Other people who are sitting
under the sound of the gospel are growing daily. It's kind
of like—I didn't mean to get off on this, but it's necessary—it's
kind of like building a building. Say if I started building that
house, and It's built. Building a building, you build
one brick at a time, one stick of wood at a time, don't you?
You don't, Rick, you don't grab ten two-by-fours in your arm
and stick them up there and try to nail them off. No, one at
a time. One at a time. One brick at a time. And this
thing of being built up in our most holy faith is one gospel
message at a time. One feeding at a time. And you
miss one. You miss two? I mean, this thing
takes a lifetime to understand anything, doesn't it? Some of
you folks have been hearing the gospel, you feel like you've
been hearing it for ten or fifteen years, and you feel now like
you don't know much at all. Five years ago you didn't know,
you knew less. Eight years ago you knew even
less, maybe nothing. And, but now you feel like you
don't know anything, and you miss one meal, two meals, three
meals. This building ain't never going
to be built. Forget it. That's what's going on with me
in this house. Monday, one day a week, I'm trying
to build a house. Can't be done. Can't be done.
But the water of God's Word. Look at Ephesians 5, verse 26
with me. Or verse 25. Husbands, love your
wives, even as Christ also loved the church. I hope our fellows
hadn't forgot that. I hope I hadn't forgot that message.
Love your wives. like Christ loved the church
and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify it, set it
apart, cleanse it with what? The washing of water by the Word,
by the Word. The Word of God is the water
of life. He says over and over in the
Scripture, of his own will begat he us with the Word of truth,
being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by
the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. He said
over in Psalm 23, He leads me beside the still waters. And
immediately after that, He says, He restores my soul. And you
know, when you come unto the sound of the gospel and hear
the gospel preached, after a long, dry, in this wilderness of this
world, a long, dry week, you're thirsty, you're hungry for the
gospel, and you come in and you get a good drink of the gospel,
and it refreshes, it restores your soul. and enables you to
go right back out there again. Restores your soul. He leaves
them inside the still waters and restores my soul. So the
water is the Word. Back to the text. The water.
Except a man be born of the water and of the Spirit. That's the
Holy Spirit. Now quickly. The new birth is
of God. That's what he said to begin
with. Born from above. The new birth is of God. The
new birth is by the Word of God. by the gospel of God, and as
I said a moment ago, please listen to me, as I said a moment ago,
if you've got problems, you don't understand, there hasn't rightly
been a change, you're unmoved, you're confused, this and that
and the other, the problem is God hasn't yet
moved upon your heart, and you need this And how he does it
is by taking his word, that is the gospel I'm preaching, the
gospel I'm preaching, the word of God. God is chosen by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe, he said there
in 1 Corinthians. It's to take the gospel of Christ and wash
away all false notions, wash them away, cleanse our hearts
and our minds from dead works to serve the living God. It's
to take the word of God and show us God in His person, show us
us. and our true character, show
us this holy God and show us our sinful nature and self, and
to bring us into repentance and conviction of sin over how we've
rebelled against this holy God, and to show us and point us to
Christ, our only hope. The gospel of Jesus Christ, how
that He came down here and established as a man a righteousness, a righteousness
that God will accept, and imputed that or gave it to some people,
maybe you, I don't know. And he took on himself the sin
that God was going to charge us with and punished and killed
his son in our stead. That gospel, you're not going
to hear that. You're not going to hear that outside of the preaching
of the word. And it's God's spirit that must
apply that. Salvation is God choosing whom
he will save, doing what's necessary to secure our salvation, sending
Christ to live and establish righteousness and shed his blood
and justify us. And the new birth here he's talking
about. The new birth is God taking this gospel, this seed of God's
Word, the story of the gospel, and plowing up these hearts,
plowing them up, breaking them up, softening this hard heart
with sin, and planting faith. It's seed faith, all right, but
not like men like to call it today, sending them five dollars,
seed faith, but planting the seed of faith in the Son of God,
not in yourself. We're the circumcision, the true
circumcision, worship this true and living God. and rejoice in
this true and living Christ, and put no confidence in the
flesh. And you're not going to hear that except God's Holy Spirit
work upon you and move upon you. And He creates a new heart and
a new attitude, a new spirit, a new life, a new person. Christ
in you, the Spirit of Christ. If any man hath not the Spirit
of Christ, he's not a head. A new person, a new creation.
And Christ said, look at it. He said, except a man be born
of water and of spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Heaven is a prepared place for
prepared people. Heaven is a prepared place for
prepared people. Now listen, if his word has no
place in your heart right now, If his word has no place in you,
then you have no place in heaven. Let's not fool ourselves into
thinking this. Because, look at verse 6, that
which is born of the flesh is flesh. It's flesh. And that which is born of the
Holy Spirit, capital S, is Spirit. That which is of flesh is flesh.
That is sinful. This old flesh ain't going to
mean nothing but flesh. Sinful, it's always going to be enmity
against God. It's a law of wars in your member
against God. Tugging, pulling. It's dead. Dead to the things of God. It
loves the flesh. It's blind. Cannot see, understand the things
of God. It's carnal. It's worldly. And fleshly religion
is the same thing. Carnal religion. But that which
is born of the Spirit is Spirit. Now listen, new birth, the new
birth is God forming Christ in somebody. It's not understanding,
you hear some doctrine. I'm not being a Calvinist, that's
not the new birth. It's Christ being formed in you. It's the
impartation or the implanting of a new person and a new nature
in somebody, a new attitude. Listen to this. The fundamental
law of the scripture. You remember back when the Lord
created this world? He said he created this after
its kind, this after its kind, after his kind, after his kind.
Everything was created after his kind. Well, flesh is only
going to be flesh, both here and forever. Only going to be
flesh. and to inhabit eternity, we must
be made spirit, must be born anew, anew, a spiritual being,
a new person. We must be predestined by God
Almighty to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ himself,
who is spirit in flesh. And every born-again person has
two natures. Anybody that denies it has not
truly experienced a new birth. And I venture to say, if you
don't have these problems, there's not the new man within you. Two
natures, one that loves sin and hates righteousness, and this
new man in Christ that hates sin and loves righteousness. New person, new person. And listen,
along these lines of importance of hearing the gospel preached,
It's only the grace of God that can subdue this old man in us.
Only the grace of God that can subdue it, and only the Word
of God can feed the new nature. It's the only thing the new nature
feeds upon is the Word of God. Now listen, and I'll not keep
you much longer. Verse 7, look at it. Christ said,
Marvel not that I said unto thee, you must be born again. Evidently,
old Nicodemus was bewildered by this time. as may somebody
can hear better. He was evidently confused and
wide-eyed and couldn't understand this thing. Christ said, don't
be confused. You shouldn't be so confused and so perplexed
by something that should be obvious, that God's God, and He has to
decide who's to be saved. That ought to be obvious. You
must be born from above to go with God's Spirit. You believe
that much, God's Spirit. It ought to be obvious that man
is dead in sin. and that Christ is Lord and that
he alone can save, it ought to be obvious. So where are all
the confusion? That's what I say to this generation.
Where are all the confusion over God's Word? It seems like men
just open their eyes and see what he's saying here, don't
they? No. It takes the power of the Holy Spirit to reveal
that. They can look right at it and not understand it. But
he says here, this is the reason, verse 8, the wind, that's the
Holy Spirit, bloweth where it listeth. And you hear the sound
thereof, but you can't tell where and whence it's coming and whither
it's going. And so is everyone that's born
of the Spirit. Nobody knows who, when, or how,
the means that the Holy Spirit's going to use, except the gospel.
The gospel. We know the gospel is saved,
but we don't know when. We don't know when or upon whom
that the Holy Spirit's going to apply this gospel. That's
what I say to people in here right now. that have been hearing
this gospel for a number of years. And people can hear the gospel for
many years and be unmoved. The Holy Spirit must come. And
that's what we pray for. God will send His Spirit. We
pray for that every time we pray. God sends Your Spirit. Move.
Move upon somebody's heart. Take the Word and pierce somebody's
heart. Pierce them, create a new person, spark. There was a time
for anybody in here that has truly been born from above. There was a time when Rick and
I were talking about this. There was a time when you didn't
care for the things of God and you just didn't care for the
things of God. But there was a day when it was just like a
light being turned on, like a light being turned on. And this gospel,
many of you may have rejected this gospel. But there was a
day, there was a time when the light snapped on, and it's like,
I see, I understand, I hear that, I believe that, that's right,
that's right. That was the Holy Spirit working
and moving, and that must take place in everybody. It must create
a new individual, a new person, a new person within, not just
with the head. I was a young man, I say this
over and over again, My soul, I knew the doctrine, but I didn't
know Christ, and I was fooling myself into thinking I did. This
thing is a new birth from above, a new creation. Having Christ
formed in you, where your whole being, your person, your attitude,
your heart, your spirit, your desires, your wants, your will,
everything is geared and centered in Christ. And this salvation
experience, yes it is an experience. where everything of your being
wants to be like Christ, wants to know Him. Oh, that I may win
Christ. If that is not within you, you
haven't experienced the Spirit of God working in you. Oh, that
I may win Christ and be found in Him. Oh, that I may know Him,
to know the love of Christ. That's the work of the Spirit,
to take the things of Christ and show them unto you. Show
them your desperate need of Christ. That's the work of the Holy Spirit.
And don't fool yourself into thinking that you're a Christian
or born again because you understand some facts. That's not it. That's
not it at all. Although faith work seems to
come after some knowledge. But I'll take that back. There
is some knowledge involved, but there's a we're going to see
tonight how this thing of faith receiving the word as a little
child really must come first. And then God opens the scriptures
to you. But all of the Word of God must
be received as a little child, all of it. And what I'm saying
right now, what Christ said, and what I'm reiterating, is
that this thing is a birth from above. And unless you experience
that, you're like this Nicodemus. You're religious, but lost. That's
how serious this thing is. And I hadn't had any liberty
this morning, but this thing is very serious. It's not knowing
some things. It's having a person revealed
in your heart. This is salvation. And you say,
I don't understand what this is talking about. That's just
the point I'm trying to make. If you don't understand what
I'm talking about, it hadn't taken place yet. So you need
to be praying, God, move, work. Holy Spirit, heavenly dove, create
in this old heart a heart of love for Jesus Christ, for God. And that's what Nicodemus said. How can these things be? I don't
understand. It doesn't make sense to me.
Is anybody in here saying that?" And Christ said to him, and we'll
go into the rest of this tonight, but Christ said, are you a teacher? And you don't know these things?
And I say to you, are you a Christian? A disciple of Christ? That's
what a Christian is. A follower of Christ. You mean
to tell me somebody is a follower and a lover of Jesus Christ and
doesn't want to go hear about him? Doesn't desire and in taking
up with hearing about him and learning about him and every
opportunity wanting to hear him extol and exclaim and preach. In love with him, love the things
of God, loves the word of God. Come on. Christian is discipleship. It's following a person. It's
being in love with a person. That's what it is. That's what
Christ said. Are you a master of Israel and
you don't know these things? Are we a Calvinist and don't
know these things? Could be, could be. But God's
Spirit must move, must move. Anyone truly interested, I say
this though, anyone truly interested, I wouldn't dare blaspheme and
tell you how. be born again. Right now, the
author of this message, you write me and I'll send you a book to
tell you how to be born again. He just said the spirit blows
where it lifts us. You don't know when or what or
how it's going to work. Know it through the gospel. I
do know this much based upon the scripture. If you're going
to be saved, it's going to be on the sound of this gospel.
And you ain't going to be saved unless you understand this gospel.
That's how important this hearing of this gospel is. Say, I don't
believe that. I didn't say it. Anyone truly interested in how
to be born again, well, it's up to the Spirit. But He uses
the means of the preaching of this Word, this Gospel. So I
say, as best advice, I'm not coming down on anybody, and I'm
not beseeching you. I'm practically pleading and
begging with people, knowing, therefore, the terror of the
Lord will persuade men to get in or get out. Get out of the way. Get under
the sound of the gospel. Stay there and ask God to send
His Spirit to teach you Christ. Reveal Christ to your heart.
Come open. Come naked. Take your clothes
off. Come naked before God and say,
teach me. I thought I'm a good Christian,
but I thought I knew something, but I don't know Christ. I want
to know Christ. And if you come in that way,
based upon God's Word and His promises, He'll reveal Christ
to you in His good time. It might not come like that.
It might not come like that, but it'll come in His good time.
And then, you'll know what I'm talking about, or who I'm talking
about. You'll know, as the Scripture
says, even as you have been known. This is what I'm trying to say.
I say it to me, too. God knows our hearts. This is the problem with modern-day
religion, the problem with Nicodemus, taking up with this and that
and the other. One thing is needful, that we know the true and living
God in Jesus Christ, and follow Him, and walk to trust Him, love
Him, and know that He loves us. God knows our hearts. We need
to come, we need to, we need to get absolutely sincere and
serious about this thing else it's not going to come. It's
not going to happen. It's not going to happen. It's serious. It's our eternal
souls that are at stake. A whole lot more than involving
this thing and just, and just playing games. I don't want to
play games. How about you? Let's pray for
one another. Pray for our children. Pray for
our parents. Pray for ourselves. That God will reveal the truth
to us. God's Holy Spirit will reveal
Christ to our hearts. And not be like old Nicodemus
here. Stand with me and I'll dismiss
this in prayer.