Let's go to the third chapter
of John, that portion of scripture that he read to us. Of all the words in the Bible,
certainly one of the key words is the word salvation. It means
deliverance. It presents the idea of a rescue. It also presents the idea of
being made whole, not sick anymore, but to be made whole in our Lord. The author of salvation is indeed
Jehovah. You'll remember the words of
the prophet of God, Jonah, as he was captive in the belly of
the great fish. He said in Jonah chapter 2 and
verse 9, he said, salvation is of the Lord. I consulted Brother
John Gill, and he said there's one more Hebrew letter in the
word rendered salvation, which increases the meaning of the
word to take in all sorts of salvation, all sorts of rescue
and deliverance. And so it would mean a temporal
salvation such as Jonah needed on that occasion. But Dr. Gill said it also includes a
spiritual salvation and therefore an everlasting salvation. No
doubt Jonah had upon his mind the waves of the sea, the belly
of the great fish, but I think and I believe that the commentator
is correct that he was more interested in the deliverance, the salvation
from the wrath of God and from the condemning presence and penalty
of sin and the eternal salvation of his soul and his body. You see, salvation really stretches
from eternity past to eternity future. It does include everything
that God has purposed and that he has brought to pass, that
which he is bringing to pass and shall yet bring to pass in
the deliverance in the rescue and the making of us absolutely
whole in Christ Jesus. The salvation originated then
in the council chambers of God when the Father and the Son and
the Spirit convened together. and in infinite wisdom purposed
this great salvation that included the choice of a multitude which
no man can number but which God has numbered and he wrote those
names down in the Lamb's Book of Life. Those people were ordained
to salvation and when God ordained our salvation, which was in eternity
past, we were saved then. 2 Timothy 1 verse 9 tells us
that we were saved by the grace of God in the eternity by the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This Father chose a people
unto salvation. If you're a believer, you're
a believer because of divine election, not a doctrine to ever
be ashamed of, but a doctrine to be shouted from the mountaintops. For this is the very origin of
our salvation, that salvation which God chose us unto himself
to be his children, to be his people. God the Son in the covenant
of grace agreed to be our surety, our savior, our substitute, God's
perfect sacrifice for sin. Therefore, he is said to be in
Revelation 13, the lamb slain from before the foundation of
the world. And then the spirit of God, who is indeed the author
of our spiritual life. And our subject tonight is born
again. And of course, our Lord Jesus
in verse eight, he likens the work of the Holy Spirit in salvation,
in regeneration, in the new birth, to the wind that blows where
it will. And that's the way it is with
the work of the Spirit. So the author of salvation is
Jehovah. It isn't the sinner. The sinner
in the act of salvation, in the grace of God manifested in salvation,
is one who is being operated on, not one who is a contributor
with. If you listen to most preachers
today, they have a salvation, they present a salvation that
involves a contribution by the sinner to their own salvation. That is not biblical salvation. That salvation which is of God,
that salvation which originated with God in the Council Chambers
of Eternity is a salvation that is all of God, all of grace,
and none of us. It's holy of the Lord. He's the author of salvation.
Secondly, there is that glorious price of salvation that's redemption
by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. We read in Galatians
chapter 4, but when the fullness of the time was come, God sent
forth his son made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem
them that were under the law, that they might receive the adoption
of sons. God said in Job chapter 33 and
verse 24, deliver him from going down to the pit. I have found
a ransom. You see, the redemption of our
souls was because God found a ransom. The ransom was to be paid by
the Lord Jesus Christ to the justice of God. The ransom's
not paid to the devil. God doesn't owe the devil anything. The blood of the Lord Jesus wasn't
presented to the devil. It's not presented to you. It's
not presented to me for our choice as to whether we will allow it
to become effective for our salvation or not. The blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ was presented to the offended law of God and justice. And God was satisfied. And law
was honored. And justice was indeed satisfied. The ransom was the blood of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, we read in Ephesians
chapter 1 in verse 7, in whom we have redemption. We have redemption. We have it
right now. It isn't that we're going to
have redemption. We have redemption right now
through the blood of the Savior. the forgiveness of sins through
the riches of His grace. In Hebrews chapter 9 and verse
12 we read, Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his
own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us. The word obtained means to seek
out, to find, and take hold of it. And that's what Christ did
when he died. He sought our redemption. He
found our redemption. He took hold of our redemption
by his own precious blood shedding. He obtained it. And therefore
we have redemption through His blood. He acquired it. So the
author of salvation is Jehovah. The price of salvation is the
blood of the Savior. But I want to talk about the
vehicle of salvation. That is, how does it come to
us? What is the vehicle? What is
the means by which this great salvation? You read in Hebrews
chapter 2 of how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? How does this great salvation
come to us? Well, it comes to us by double
vehicle. Number one, the Word of God.
It's through the preaching of the Word of God. Of his own will,
James 118, of his own will begat he us with the word of truth. At the end of the first chapter
of the book of 1 Peter, being born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God that liveth and
abideth forever. That's one of the vehicles which
God uses. It is the proclamation of, the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, we read in Romans
1 in verse 16 that the gospel is the very power of God unto
salvation to everyone that believe it. There's a tremendous force. There's a tremendous power in
preaching this gospel of God's grace when the Holy Spirit drives
it home to the heart of a sinner, something happens in that heart. And that's the second thing.
The work of the Holy Spirit brings about life, the new birth, born again. You see, in order for a sinner
like you and a sinner like me to wind up in glory, two things
must be done. Something must be done for us
and something must be done in us. There has to be an external
work, actually two external works, God's choice of us in the covenant
of grace, chosen unto salvation, and then the death of our Lord
Jesus Christ, and both of those great, awesome works of God happened
outside of us. But there is the necessity of
a work being done within us. And that is the work of the Holy
Spirit in the new birth. Now here in John chapter three,
Terry read a good portion of this chapter to us. The speaker
is our Lord Jesus Christ. Never a man spake like this man. Here is that prophet that Moses
wrote about in the book of Deuteronomy. And he speaks to this man Nicodemus
who came to him by night. I don't know why Nicodemus came
to him by night. Some say that he was ashamed
to come by day. It may be that. Perhaps it's
indicative of, and no doubt this is a factor, it was indicative
of his spiritual darkness, the spiritual darkness of his own
heart. I was reading this afternoon
one of many messages that Charles Spurgeon preached on this passage
of scripture, and he said, as far as Nicodemus coming by night,
he said, our Lord's door is open night and day. I like that. It's open night and day. He said,
he neither slumbers nor sleeps. And he said, Nicodemus, perhaps
he came by night so as not to be seen by others. But then Mr. Spurgeon said, better to come
at night than not to come at all. So I really appreciated
reading that message that he had. The speaker was our Lord
Jesus. Will you listen to what the master
says? God give us ears to hear. Because
the scripture says, the hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord
gives them both. And will not hear the word of
the savior, the word of the master. He who spoke this world into
existence. We will not hear the sound of
his life-giving voice unless the Spirit of God quickens us
and makes us alive, and then we'll hear. And then the subject that he
deals with is the new birth. Being born again. Spiritual life. And the reason
is a spiritual act. It's an act of the soul. It's
an act of the heart. Therefore, we're continually
set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our
faith, coming to him. receiving Him. All of these are
actions of faith. That's faith. But we cannot move
a muscle. We will not move toward our Lord
Jesus Christ at all apart from the necessity of the Spirit's
work in life. Life comes first. It isn't believe,
believe and then be born again. It's we must be born again in
order to believe. We must be born in order to turn
from our idols, to turn from our wicked ways and to turn to
Christ the Savior. There must be the presence of
life and by nature there is only the presence of spiritual death. Don't tell me what man can do.
Christ said, no man can come to me except the Father which
has sent me. Draw him, and I'll raise him
up at the last day. You tell me he can come. The
Savior says he can't come. I'm going to believe him, and
I'm not going to believe you. And the Savior said there in
John chapter five in verse 40 to the Jews, he said, you will
not come to me that you might have life. And you can say, well,
people, they will come. They have a free will to come
or not to come. Christ said flatly, you will
not come and you will never come to Christ apart from the sovereign
saving life giving work of the Holy Spirit in the new birth. That's the subject. And the recipient
of this glorious message is Nicodemus. He's a Pharisee, one who's separated
to a life of strictness, of living by the law of God or attempting
to do so anyway. His name is quite interesting
when his parents When his mom gave birth to him, mom and dad
looked upon this little baby boy. They gave him a name that
meant something to them. His name means Victor, V-I-C-T-O-R,
Victor, Conqueror. They esteemed him to be a great,
a great baby, one who would be destined for greatness. That's
the name that the parents gave him. No doubt they said, ah,
what a fine son we have. He's just marvelous. I'm sure
he'll be successful in anything he attempts to do. Let's call
him Nicodemus the victor. Well, he certainly advanced much
further than any of his fellow countrymen. But in this, in his
religion, he was not a victor. He was a victim. He was a victim. A victim of false religion. A
victim of swallowing all of the lies that were spewed out by
his rabbis and his teachers. And he continued to be elevated
in the Jewish religion, joined to the Sanhedrin. He became a
master in Israel, and yet he did not know God. Oh, how far in religion a natural
man can go without any knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
standing right in the presence of the Son of God, the Messiah. Nicodemus was a teacher of the
teachers, a teacher of the rabbis. He had such a thorough knowledge
of the Old Testament. He knew of the pictures of Messiah,
and yet such was his natural blindness that when the Son of
God, about whom all of the Old Testament speaks, when the Son
of God stood right in front of him eyeball to eyeball, he did
not recognize him as being the Son of God with power. He only
recognized him as being a great man who could do miracles. He didn't realize that he himself
was a sinner and needed the Savior. He was a member of the Sanhedrin,
70 men plus the high priest, made 71. The high priest was
the one who made the deciding vote in cases that were, they
met together to decide and that sort of thing. They were the
rulers of the synagogue, he was the ruler. He's a master in Israel,
but he didn't know God. Notice what the Savior said to
him in verse 12. If I have told you earthly things
and ye believe not, he says, how shall ye believe
if I tell you of heavenly things? He had all the degrees, all the
education, all the religious background that a man could possibly
ask for from the Jewish authorities. But he didn't have any understanding
of spiritual things. He's a real sad case. He thinks
he knows everything. And he knows nothing. It's a
blessed day when God the Spirit comes to us and shows us that
all of our so-called religious knowledge is really religious
ignorance. It's a wonderful time when God
the Spirit gives us a teachable spirit, a teachable spirit. I've dealt with people a long
time in the past. And some think that because they
can memorize a couple of verses of scripture, they're ready to
instruct the pastor, their authority is on the word of God, and they're
ready to tell preachers what to preach and what not to preach.
Oh, if we could learn. All of the knowledge that we
have gained from false religion is just dung. It is no good. It's no good. And you know, the
Apostle Paul in the book of Philippians, he recognized that. He added
up all of the things that people would put in the plus column. You know, if you have a plus
column and a minus column, he didn't have much over here on
the minus. He had everything in the plus column and all of
those things, he said, I add them all up, they're useless.
He said, I count them but loss. And so, here's this man. He comes
into the presence of our Savior. He didn't know who this man was,
but our Savior certainly knew him. Certainly knew him. Let me ask you four questions
in the time that remains tonight. you be born again? Secondly,
what is this new birth? And then how are men and women
born again? And number four, how can you
tell that a person has been born again? When is a person born
again? First of all, why must you be
born again? Because he's born wrong the first
time. He's got to be born again. It's
another kind of birth. Because when we were born the
first time, we were born in sin. In sin. We're corrupted from
the get-go. You see, we love the little babies. They're so sweet. We love to
hold them. If you've just given them a bath,
they smell so good. You know, you cuddle them and
you squeeze them and you kiss them and you just love them,
just love them, love them, love them. But we know they're little
sinners. You see, they're like little
vipers. You remember when the Lord told
Saul, he said, kill all the, was it Philistines or whoever
it was, he said, kill them all. And Saul said, I did that. And then the Lord asked Saul,
he said, well, what meaneth this crying babies? You didn't kill
them. Well, why would God order that? Because those babies gonna grow
up to be soldiers, soldiers against Israel. But here's the point. From the youngest to the oldest,
we all have this common melody that we can't get rid of. And
only God can. If he doesn't get rid of it,
then we're goners for sure. Why must you be born again? Well,
there are many answers that could be given to this question. But three things. I think make
it imperative that you be born again. Number one, unless you're
born again, you can't understand anything spiritual. The natural
man is absolutely void of any spiritual understanding. You
may be logical, you may be reasonable, you may be rational, you may
be well-educated, you may have a great high IQ number, but with
regard to the things of God, you don't know anything. Not naturally. In fact, when
it comes to spiritual things, we're like madmen. We know nothing. We're just fools. Because we
have no capacity for spiritual knowledge. Do you understand? No capacity for spiritual knowledge. That's why you must be born again. You see, the heart is hard as
a rock. It's cold, it's unbending, it's
defiled, and it's unaffected by the wrath of God that is threatened
to you, and it's unaffected by the beauties and the glories
and the wonders of Christ Jesus, the only Savior of sinners. You
can preach the grace of God to somebody who's spiritually dead,
They can't see the glory of how God saves sinners, how God remains
just and holy and righteous, and yet embraces the ungodly
without affecting Himself, without contaminating His holiness. And He does that through the
Lord Jesus Christ, but people who have no spiritual understanding
cannot grasp that. It's an impossibility. You pick
up a math book, you can learn principles of math. Pick up a
history book, you can memorize all the history you want to.
Pick up the Word of God, you will not understand the true
meaning of the Word of God apart from the illuminating work of
the Holy Spirit. Being smart doesn't have anything
to do with it. We're dead in trespasses and
sin. In fact, if you aren't born again,
you can't understand the spiritual nature of God's law. Well, the
apostle Paul didn't. He said concerning the law, it's
blameless. That's what he said there in
Philippians. You can't see the true nature of sin. You can't
see the glory of God in redemption. You can't see the spiritual condition
of your own You can't see the spiritual nature of salvation. You can't see the spiritual nature
of faith and worship. You can't worship God. A spiritually
dead person can't worship God. You can't see the true character
of God. Can't see yourself. You can't
see the beauties of the redemptive work of our Lord Jesus Christ.
You can't see the glory of God shining in his face. You can't
see the wonders of the gospel of God's redeeming glory. Not until you're born again.
And I'll tell you something else, unless you're born again by almighty
grace, you can't enter into the kingdom of God. You can reform
your life without the new birth. You can be baptized without the
new birth. You can join the church without
the new birth. You can be zealous in religion
without the new birth. You can even teach a Sunday school
class without the new birth. You can serve as a deacon or
an elder without the new birth. You can even get behind the pulpit
and preach without the new birth, and you can do so in the eyes
of men with great success. But unless you're born again,
you're not entering into the kingdom of God. You'll have a
good name among men and may rise to great heights in your religion
like Nicodemus did, but you're not going to get into the kingdom
of God. You'll never be a part of the true church. You'll never
be one of the members of God's family. You'll never have eternal
life. You'll never have the privilege
of truly worshiping God and fellowshipping with the saints. You'll never
be admitted into the presence of God's glory and the bliss
of heaven, not without the new birth. And then I'll say this, you must
be born again because by nature you're a fallen, sinful, depraved
child of human flesh. You see what it says in verse
six, that which is born of the flesh You know what it is? It doesn't say that which is
born of the flesh may become spirit. No, that which is born
of the flesh is flesh. Don't be surprised. You're not
surprised that your offspring are flesh, are sinful just like
you are. Surely you're not surprised by
that. We're not surprised that children know how to lie, know
how to steal, know how to be selfish. We're not surprised
by those things because that's the way you were. Where'd my
child get that from? You. You. Because that which is born of
the flesh is flesh and that's all it'll ever be. but that which is born of the
Spirit. Now, that's a different story. You must be born again because
you're a fallen, sinful, depraved child of the flesh. Even children of believing moms
and dads, that doesn't give you a leg up in the kingdom of God. No. Raise your children in the
nurture and admonition of the Lord, but remember, you're by
nature flesh, and you can't give spirituality to your children
because they're flesh. And don't get upset with them
when they grow up, they're not interested in the gospel. Why they're dependent, though
they don't know it, they're as dependent upon the power of God
to do a work within them just as you are dependent upon the
power of God. So it brings me to my second
question, well, what is the new birth? I can't explain the mystery
of the new birth. It's one of God's incomprehensible
works. But there are several things
in the Word of God which identify God's regenerating grace. To
be born again is to be raised from the dead. It's nothing less
than a resurrection. Ezekiel's vision in Ezekiel 37
is a great illustration of that. I realize every time I preach,
I'm preaching to some dry bones. I have no ability to raise the
dry bones, but I know who can, and I know who does. Our life-giving God, to be born
against me, raised from the dead. You see, the new birth is not
putting patches or band-aids on the old. It's not that. It's not a reformation. I'm going
to change my life. Well, if you live in a bad life,
you ought to change. You ought to change your way.
Go to the wrong places, stop going. Got bad habits, stop doing
them. But that don't change your heart. To be born again is to be raised
from the dead. I tell you something else, to be born again is to
have Christ formed in you. It's more than a decision. It is a new creation. That's
why I read there in Ephesians 2 and verse 10. We're God's creation. You see, to have eternal life
is to have that one who is life living in you, he takes up his
residence in you. To be born again is to have the
word preached to you in the power of the Holy Spirit who brings
about life. And it's quite miraculous. And
it may happen kind of in a glorious way, a magnificent way, in a
way that you're, it's like you're just smitten, or it could be
just a still, small voice. And suddenly you just find yourself
believing. Don't ever try to pattern your
experience after somebody else's experience. That's absolutely
wrong. Our Lord Jesus, throughout his
earthly ministry, he dealt with a multitude of people, but he
dealt with people in different ways. And he deals with people today
in different ways. Don't be looking for an experience
like Saul of Tarsus had. You're not gonna have it. I can
tell you right now, you're not gonna have that. You can go ahead
and get on your horse and ride down the road toward Damascus.
You're not going to have that kind of experience. It's just
not going to happen. Well, what should I do, preacher?
Camp out under the sound of the gospel of God's free grace to
sinners in Christ Jesus. That's where something happens. You say, well, my loved ones,
I wish they'd come, but they're really not interested. Well,
I'll tell you what, they're not going to be born again listening
to nothing. And they're not gonna be born
again listening to religious garbage and trash. Bring them
to sit under the true gospel. It's the only hope they've got.
Because the Spirit of God uses the Word. That's the vehicle,
remember? The Word of God and the power
of the Spirit. Put those two together, you know
what you got? Born again. Born again. Be born again is to have the
good seed implanted in you by grace. It's to be given a new heart,
a new will, a new mind, a new nature. New. Here's the third question quickly.
Well, how are men and women born again by the Spirit of God? It's a sovereign, irresistible
work of the Holy Spirit. Verse eight, the wind bloweth
where it listeth. Now, he's just said, verse seven,
marvel not that I said unto thee, you must be born again. And you'll
notice in all of this, our Lord Jesus, he requires nothing for Nicodemus to do. He doesn't say do something and
get born again. He tells him what's got to happen
to him, but he doesn't tell him how it's going to happen. That
is, he doesn't tell him to do something in order for it to
happen. He just tells him It's a work of the Spirit of God.
Marvel not that I said of thee, you must be born again. Verse
eight, the wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest
the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and
whither it goeth. So is every one that is born
of the Spirit. Here we are meeting tonight a
congregation, those of you who are watching, wherever you are,
you're watching and you're listening. It may be that the wind of the
Spirit of grace will blow your way. You can't cause it to blow. You
can't force it to blow. You may say, I'm so burdened
about so and so, and I present my supplications to God. to save them by his free and
sovereign grace, and you should do that, but you can't cause
the wind to blow. That's the Lord's business. You see, regeneration is the
sovereign, irresistible work of the Holy Spirit. He works
on whom he will. And I'm all right with that,
aren't you? I'm just fine with that. because
I'd know that He didn't have to work on me. He didn't have to isolate me
from the religious crowd that I was with. He didn't have to
teach me. He didn't have to get the truth
to me. He didn't have to put me in a
pew where I'd hear somebody brag on Christ the Savior. brag on
His righteousness, brag on His redemption, brag on the free
remission of sins through the bloody sacrifice of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He didn't have to put me in a
position to wear out here about God's amazing free grace. That God said, I will have mercy
on whom I'll have mercy, and whom I will I'll harden. He could
have hardened me had it been His will, but instead of hardening
me, He softened me. Instead of pouring judgment out
on me, He flooded my soul with grace. That's what He did, and
that's His business. He deals with whomever he wants
to. And you can't force his hand. And the instrument which he uses
is the preaching of the gospel. That's why we stay the course. We stay the course because preaching
the gospel glorifies God. It magnifies the Son of God.
And the preaching of the gospel is the vehicle that the Spirit
of God is going to use. If He's going to do a work in
somebody's heart, that's the vehicle by which He'll come in. Through the preaching of the
Word of God, exalting God, abasing man, glorifying Christ and his
substitutionary sacrifice as we continue to pound away on
this threefold theme. Often God the Spirit says, I'm
going to use it today. And sometimes it's just to bless
the saints. And I do believe that sometimes
it's just to hold people without excuse. But sometimes it's to soften
hearts. And the Spirit of God suddenly,
through the Word of God, the incorruptible seed, He comes
into the heart. And when life comes in, death
goes out. And it's a miracle. You see, in preaching the gospel
to you, I'm calling upon dead men and women to arise. You know,
our Lord raised three people from the dead. At least only
three instances are given to us in the Scriptures. One was
a young girl. And to the young girl, the Savior
said, Tabitha, arise. What do you think happened? She
arose. The second one, he made a funeral
procession. They was on their way to the
cemetery. And there's a young man on there, and his mother
was a widow. It was their only child. Everybody's
crying and carrying on, weeping. On the way to the cemetery, he
stopped. He stopped the procession. He said, young man, I say unto
thee, arise. What do you think happened? You
know what happened. You see, when life comes in,
death is driven out. That's what happened to the young
man. And then I just preached on the resurrection of Lazarus,
the death and resurrection of Lazarus last Sunday night. Of
those three people, could either one of them respond to the weeping
or to the calls of the parents or their loved ones? I'll tell you what the soul responded
to, the call of God. That is what is mandatory, the
work of God. I know you can't hear me and
you can't obey me when I say come to Christ Jesus, but if
the Spirit of God speaks to your poor soul, though you're dead, You will
live. And that's why we don't engage
in what Charles Finney instigated back in the middle of the 1800s,
the so-called altar call. We don't have an altar. Christ
is our altar. We call people to come to him.
And we never beg anybody to come to the front. except to sign
up for food for meals. But we don't beg sinners to come
up here and make a decision for Christ. We beg the Savior, oh
God, be merciful. Do something for poor sinners.
Well, lastly and quickly, when is a sinner born again? When
can a person say, I know I'm born again by the grace of God?
If you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you can say, I've been
born again, because you couldn't believe apart from the new birth. When you have Christ, you've
been born again. When you have fallen in love
with the Savior, it's not a ritual anymore. Coming to church is
not a ritual. Well, I've got to go to church.
You'll want to come. You'll want to hear the truth.
Because you'll know this is the message that God used to draw
you irresistibly and effectually to the Savior. This is the message
God used to give you spiritual life. And you love the message. And if you love the message of
grace, you love the message of Christ crucified, buried, risen
again, exalted, coming again soon, He believed he is the Son
of God with power. That's evidence that you've been
born again. Oh, God the Spirit, do your work. Do your work in those who know
you not. Let's get those folders out again,
please.