It is a blessing to be here with
you all. We've been praying in our church
in Orlando for this meeting, and I send you greetings from
your brethren there. As a matter of fact, we brought
some of your brethren with us, so we're thankful that we've
got some folks from our church here with us this morning, this
weekend. I am so very thankful for this
church and for your pastor. and all the many blessings that
you've been to us over the years. So we look forward to having
you all visit with us, and several of you have done that, and we're
thankful. Would you turn with me in your Bibles to the book
of Colossians, chapter 1? I want to try to bring a message
this morning. on the mystery of the new birth. The mystery of the new birth. I hope that the Lord will give
us a sincere and deep interest in this subject. For the Lord
himself said, I hope the Lord gives us a genuine
desire for an understanding of this truth. For He Himself said,
lest you be born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God. When
the Apostle Paul wrote these verses in Colossians chapter
1, he speaks of this mystery as the hope of our glory. The hope of our salvation is
somehow linked to this mystery of Christ in you. Read with me
verses 25. He says, Wherefore, I am made
a minister according to the dispensation of God. which is given to me
for you to fulfill the word of God, even the mystery which hath
been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to the
saints. Pray the Lord will make this
mystery manifest to us today, to whom God would make known
what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles."
As we were reminded last night, that's us, the Gentiles. That God would make known to
us the full mystery of His glory. Which is Christ in you? The hope of your glory. Now I want to use the story given
to us in Luke chapter 1 to illustrate how it is that Christ is formed
in us. As you know, the story of Luke
chapter 1 speaks of the incarnation of Christ. The word became carne,
carne, the word for flesh. When we talk about incarnation,
we're talking about the Lord Jesus Christ being born of a
woman, being born under the law to redeem them that are under
the law. God having prepared for him a
body. through the seed of a woman. This is the incarnation. Apart
from this miracle of Christ becoming us, there would be no salvation. The story of Christ being formed
in the womb of Mary and the declaration of this incarnation parallels
what I'm calling the spiritual incarnation of Christ today. Christ formed in you. Paul puts it like this in Galatians
chapter 4. He says, My little children of
whom I prevail in birth again until Christ be formed in you. The necessity of Christ in us
is the hope of our glory. And the parallels are many. Notice with me in Luke chapter
1, verse 26. And in the sixth month, the angel
Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee named Nazareth. to a virgin, a spouse to a man
whose name was Joseph of the house of David, and the virgin's
name was Mary. And the angel came unto her and
said, Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women."
When she saw him, she was troubled at this saying. Cast in her mind
what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said
unto her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive
in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name
Jesus. And he shall be called Great,
and shall be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God
shall give unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall
reign, he shall reign. over the house of Jacob forever,
and of his kingdom there shall be no end." We were taught very
clearly last night about the ministry of the angels, the messengers
of God. From the book of Revelation,
the angels of the churches, the pastors. The name Gabriel means
man of God. The first parallel I see in the
forming of Christ in the womb of Mary to the forming of Christ
in the hearts of His people is that this wonder, this mystery,
this miracle is declared by an angel. It is declared by an angel. I heard a man say, the people
where I live won't listen to preaching. We've got to find
another method to communicate the gospel to them. My response
was, if they won't listen to preaching, they won't be saved.
They won't be saved. God's going to use the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. The men of God, the
men that God has sent with His message to His people, declaring
the truth of His Son. is the means by which Christ
is formed in you and in me. Yes, whosoever calls upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved, but how can they call upon whom
they've not believed? How can they believe in whom
they've not heard? How can they hear without a preacher? How can I, the Ethiopian said,
understand what this scripture says unless some man should guide
me? Why has God designed the method
of preaching as the means of salvation, the means of communicating
the gospel to the hearts of his people, the means by which Christ
is formed in us? I'll tell you why. I come from
a religious tradition where men pride themselves in getting together
and pooling their ignorance in arguments. And it's just the
opposite of what we're doing right now. No one here is giving
you any opportunity to speak. Faith comes by hearing. What
are you doing right now? Nothing. You're listening. Listening is the most passive
means by which God can communicate His grace to the hearts of His
people, and He's not going to let you participate in it. And
we're not going to have a fooling of our ignorance, and we're not
going to ask for one another's opinions, and we're not going
to debate the Scriptures. We're going to declare who Christ
is, and God's people are going to hear. Faith comes by hearing,
only by hearing. It's a humbling means for you
to have to sit there and listen to another man. Another man. Just as much a sinner as you.
Communicate to you the truth of God's word. That's why he
uses the foolishness of preaching because it's humbling. Because
it's passive. One sinner telling another sinner
about the Savior. One beggar telling another beggar
where to find bread. This is the method by which the
Lord announced the incarnation, the forming of Christ in the
womb of Mary, and it is exactly the same method that God uses
today to form Christ in the hearts of His people. Gabriel didn't just tell her
what was going to happen, but he told her why it was going
to happen. Now the declaration of the Gabriels,
the men of God, the angels of God, declaring the truth of Christ,
don't just recount the historical facts. A lot of people know about
what happened 2,000 years ago. God sent his Son into this world.
They believe that he lived a sinless life, that he died on Calvary's
cross, that he rose from the grave and ascended into heaven.
And they're trusting in the knowledge of that historical information
as the hope of their salvation. But they have no understanding
as to why Christ did what he did. The gospel is not just what
happened. The gospel is, more importantly,
why it happened. Here's what Gabriel declares.
Look with me. At verse 31, And behold, thou
shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son, and
shalt call his name Jesus, and he shall be great. There's none like him. There's
none like him. This word great is the word megas.
It has to do with not just the size, but the hearing, the voice,
the sound of Him. This is, He shall be called the
Son of the Highest, the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne
of His Father David, and He shall reign. He's going to reign. He's going to save whomsoever
He wills. He's going to reign sovereign
over Jacob, over His church, over all men. The reason that
the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world was in order to save
sinners. That's his name, Jesus. You shall
call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people. An accomplished
Savior. You know, this concept of a Messiah that fails to accomplish what
he came to do is a modern day idea. The Jews didn't even believe
in a Messiah that was going to be a failure. The whole idea of Christ coming
and reigning and being the Messiah carries with it the idea that
he's going to succeed in what he came to do. Israel knew all about the acts
of God. They saw the manna come from
heaven. They saw the water come from
the rock. They saw the pillar of fire and the pillar of smoke,
the cloud of smoke. They didn't know why. The scripture
says that Israel knew God's acts, but Moses knew his ways. He knew
what God was doing and why he was doing it. There's a passage in Luke chapter
1. I'm sorry. Yes, turn back with
me just one page. Just one page. You see in Luke
chapter 1 verse 2, Dr. Luke, the physician, writing
an account under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of the life
and the purpose of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look what he says. Even
as they delivered them unto us, verse two, which from the beginning
were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word. You see that word
eyewitnesses? That's the word from which we
get our word autopsy. Autopsy. Now you do not perform
an autopsy in order to determine whether a person is dead. You
perform an autopsy in order to determine why they died. Luke is telling us why the Lord
Jesus Christ came and did what he did. And he's writing to Theophilus. Theophilus, the lover of God.
The lovers of God listen to not just what happened, but why it
happened. And God's messengers all tell the same story. They
all tell the same story. There's no controversy in the
Gospel. Christ is not divided. The Scripture says that all of
God's messengers, all of his angels, all of his Gabriels see
eye to eye. They tell the same thing about
the same Christ from the same Scriptures. And God's people
aren't interested in hearing something new and clever. They
want to hear what Christ came to accomplish for them. He came
to accomplish the salvation of his people, and he succeeded
in doing just that. He satisfied all the demands
of God's holy law and satisfied God's justice through his life
of obedience and righteousness and through his sacrificial,
substitutionary, sin-bearing death on Calvary's cross. He
did what the Father sent him to do. a successful Savior. That's what Gabriel told Mary,
and that's what the angels of God tell God's people today,
and they hear just like she heard. I want you to notice in verse
26 of our text that Gabriel was sent from God unto a city, to
a virgin. This announcement was made to
a particular person. Now the outward call of the gospel
is to all men everywhere to repent. And seeing how we don't know
who God's elect are, we just deliver that command of God. But all the time we know that
the inward, irresistible, effectual call of the Holy Spirit is to
particular individuals. A certain man, the scripture
says. A whole crowd of people there
and a lot of need, but a certain man. Whom do men say that I am? the
Lord asked the disciples. Well, some say this and some
say the other, but whom do you say that I am? Peter, in one of those rare occasions,
spoke the truth in clarity and said, Thou art the Christ, the
Son of the living God. And the Lord said to Peter, Blessed
Peter are you among all men. Flesh and blood did not reveal
this unto you. My Father which is in heaven
has made this known unto you. Upon this rock, this declaration
that you've just made that I am the Christ, the Son of the living
God, I'm going to build my church. This is the message that I'm
going to preach that's going to draw my people to me. I'm
going to do it to particular individuals, just like I chose
out Mary as a particular individual. I'm going to form myself in the
hearts of particular individuals. No man can come to me unless
the Father which sent me draw him. I know my sheep. I know where they are. They might
be on that back road to Gaza, but I know where they are. I'm
going to get my gospel to them. I'm going to find them. I'm going
to call them out by name. They're going to hear my voice
and they'll follow me. God has a particular people that he has
determined to save and he's going to accomplish just that with
every one of them. When the announcement of the
birth of Christ or the incarnation of Christ was first heard by
Mary, notice with me in verse 29, there was confusion and fear. You know the same thing happens
today. When a sinner first hears the gospel of God's accomplished
sovereign grace in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, that
God has elected from the foundations of the world a particular people
in the covenant of grace and that the Lord Jesus Christ came
to successfully accomplish the salvation of those people. When
they hear about the gospel of their salvation, Their first
response, how can this be? How can this be? Now it's the
world that says it's not fair. Why would God not save everybody? But those for whom Christ is
formed in them, their response is, why would God save anybody? And particularly, why would it
have anything to do with me? That was Mary's response. Look
at verse 29. And when she saw him, she was
troubled at his saying. Cast in her mind what manner
of salutation this would be. How can this be? Perhaps there's
somebody here this morning that's casting in their mind. How can
this be? How can God just arbitrarily
choose to save some and not others? Well, it's not arbitrary. It's
according to his sovereign will and purpose. Purpose determined
in himself. He has the right to do it. Why?
Because he reigns over the house of Jacob. He rules. He's sovereign.
Mary thought, if this is true, if this is true, my life is going
to be forever changed. And it was. That's the response. That's the response that the
sinner has when they first hear the gospel. If what you're telling
me is true, and here it is right here in God's Word, I believe this, my life will
never be the same again. If Christ is formed in me, Then I'll have to say with the
Apostle Paul, I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet it's
not I. But it's Christ that lives in me, so that the life that
I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me and died for me. He is in me, causing me to will
and to do His good pleasure. I want you to notice in verse
38, that it was necessary for Mary to find grace in the eyes
of the Lord. It was necessary for her to find
grace. Why did she need grace? One reason. Only sinners need grace. Only
sinners need grace. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation. Christ came to save sinners,
and sinners are the only ones he saves. But he saves everyone. Everyone. God has to make us a sinner.
Mary's name means rebellion. That's what her name means. If
your name is Mary, that's what your name means in the original
text. Miriam. Miriam means rebellion,
and that's what we were. at enmity with God, in rebellion
against God. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
2. Verse 1. And you hath he quickened
who were dead in trespasses and sins. wherein in times past you
walked according to the course of this world, according to the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience, among whom also we had our conversation
in times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children
of wrath, even as others, but God. But God, who is rich in
mercy for his great love with which he loved us, even when
we were dead in sins, has quickened us together with Christ. By grace
you are saved. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world formed in the womb of a sinner. He continues to come and inhabit Notice with me from our text that Mary was a virgin. The Lord Jesus Christ came and
was formed in the womb of a virgin. You know the miracle of the new
birth? Well, physically speaking, once a person loses their virginity,
there's no turning back. But you know, spiritually, that's
not true. Spiritually, that's not true.
Spiritually, we're born into this world as idolatrous harlots,
and yet the Lord says, I'll show you this in Revelation 14. The miracle and the mystery of
the new birth is done in the hearts of virgins. Revelation chapter 14 verse 4.
These are they which were not defiled with women, for they
are virgins. They are they which follow the
Lamb, whither he goeth. These were redeemed from among
men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb." If you
are in Christ, you are a new creature, and all old things
have passed away. All of that idolatry, all of
that sin, all of that rebellion, all of that harlotry, is no more. And as a matter of
fact, our virginity has been restored, and the Lord Jesus
Christ has come to be formed in the hearts of virgins. He calls us virgins. Paul says,
I labor that I might present you a chaste virgin. A chaste
virgin. We just read in Revelation 14,
virgins are the only ones that are going to get to heaven. spiritual
versions. The works of idolatry have been
put away, and they are no longer done. It's like you said last
night. You said, well, that's how God sees it. Well, that's
how it is. That's how it is. How God sees it is how it is.
And the past is gone, and all things are made new. Notice with me that the conception
of Christ in the womb of Mary was conceived by the Holy Spirit. It is necessary, the Lord said,
it is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away,
the Spirit of truth will not come. But when he comes, when
he comes, he's going to convict the world of sin, of righteousness
and of judgment, of sin, because they believe not on me. of righteousness, because I know
my Father judged him, because the Prince of this world was
judged. That's the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the hearts
of God's people. And apart from that work of the Spirit of God
forming Christ in us, Christ cannot be formed in us. For the
natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit, they are
spiritually discerned. He can't understand them, he
can't see them. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, but
that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. The law kills, the
spirit gives life. We are as dependent upon God
breathing the life of his spirit into us as Adam was when God
formed him from the dust of the earth. He had to breathe his
breath of life into his nostrils for him to become a living soul. Without the aid of a man, Joseph's name means Jehovah has
added. It is not by works of righteousness
which we have done. It is not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God who showeth mercy. Without
your works, without your aid, without your participation, that's
the method, that's the way that Christ is formed in us. Mary
noticed in verse 38 of our text. Mary said, Behold, the handmaid
of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed
from her. How do I know if Christ has been
formed in me? Because God has made me a willing
participant. He's made me a willing participant.
He causes us to be willing in the day of his power. He causes
his people to say, Speak, Lord, for thy servant listening. Lord,
whatever you will, I rejoice in being your handmaid. Mary, notice in verse 39, arose
in those days and went into the hill country with haste into
the city of Judah. She was anxious to tell someone
about what the Lord had done. But you know, the only other
person that she found that was able to rejoice with her was
another person in the same condition she was in. You know, as anxious as we are
as believers, once Christ is formed in us to tell other people
about what the Lord's done, the only people that are able to
enter into that rejoicing with us are the ones who've had the
similar experience. Let me ask you to turn with me
in closing to the Book of Amos. Chapter 5. This mystery of the new birth. The Lord Jesus said in John 17,
I in them. and thou in me." Being in Christ,
having Christ formed in us, the hope of glory, the only means
by which we can be saved. You say, well, how can I? Well, the Lord is going to send
a messenger, and he's going to cause us to hear, and we're going
to believe and rejoice. The Lord tells us in Amos chapter
5 what we ought not to seek after
in hoping for this reality, this life, this new birth. In verse 4 of Amos chapter 5,
he says, For thus saith the Lord unto the house of Israel, Here's the command of God to
you and to me. Seek ye me, and ye shall live. Seek ye me, and ye shall live.
Well, what is it to seek Christ? He tells us what it's not. In
verse 5, he says, But seek not Bethel. nor enter into Gilgal,
and pass not to Beersheba. For Gilgal shall surely go into
captivity, and Bethel shall come to naught. Seek the Lord, and ye shall live."
Now Bethel, Gilgal, and Beersheba represent things that men seek
in substitution for Christ. The children of Israel have built
tabernacles in those three cities and they went there in order
to engage in religious activities. Bethel, you remember. Translated
means the house of God. Bethel is the place where Jacob,
in fleeing for his life from Esau, had that vision of the
ladder going up into heaven and the Lord Jesus himself ascending
and descending. Or him being that ladder and
the angels ascending. That picture of Christ. And you
remember what Jacob did when he woke up from that dream? From
that vision? He tried to make a deal with
God, didn't he? He said, Lord, if you'll bring me back to this
place, then I'll worship you. Isaiah puts it like this in Isaiah
chapter 55. He says, Come ye, buy and eat,
yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price. That word price means to bargain
or to barter or to trade. And when God says, Seek ye me
and you shall live. He says, don't go to Bethel.
Don't go to the house of God in your time of trouble and try
to make a bargain with God. It wasn't until Jacob had that
experience with Laban and ended up at the River Javit when he
met the Lord Jesus, and that's when his name was changed to
Israel. That's when the Lord touched him. But men try to make
a deal with God in hopes of finding salvation. They say in their
times of trouble, Lord, I'll start doing this and I'll stop
doing that. I'll worship you if you'll do
this for me. Don't go to Bethel. Seek ye me,
and ye shall live. You know, that Syrophoenician
woman was given no hope that God was going to do anything
to help her out. As a matter of fact, everything
she was told, everything she was told would have led her to
believe that the Lord was going to pass her by. And yet the scripture
says she worshipped him. She worshipped him. Don't go
to Bethel. Don't make a deal with God. Don't
try to bargain with him. Don't come to the house of God
in order to get delivered from some temple trouble. Seek ye
me and ye shall live. Gilgal. Gilgal was that place
where the Israelites first camped when they came into the promised
land. They made sacrifices there. They
made temples there and tabernacles and they went back there often
in order to remember that experience of coming into the promised land.
Don't go to Gilgal. Don't go to Gilgal. Seek ye me. When? Right now. To whom coming? We come to the Lord Jesus Christ
right now. Just as we are. Right now. Oh, I remember when I got saved.
I remember when this happened or that happened. And men hang
the hope of their salvation on a past experience and they keep
going back to Gilgal. Don't go to Bethel. Don't go
to Gilgal. Don't go to Beersheba. Beersheba
is that place where Abimelech shepherds argued with Abraham
shepherds over which wells were going to be used for their sheep. Don't go there. Don't reduce
the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ to a theological argument with
other religious people trying to prove your point. Don't go
there. Don't rest the hope of your salvation
on something you've learned or some theological truth that you
know. Don't think that just because
you believe the doctrine of grace that that means you're saved.
I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is
able to keep that which I have committed. Don't go to Bethel. Don't go to Gilgal. Don't go
to Beersheba. Seek ye me, me, and ye shall live." This is a
mystery. This is not some sort of ethereal
thing that's not real. They say, well, how can I know
that Christ is formed in me? Listen to the message. Don't
go to those places. Don't go to those places. Seek
Christ. Seek Him. Look to Him. Lean upon Him. Rest in Him. Rely
upon Him. Believe Him. You believe in a
person. A person you've never seen before.
A person you've never touched. A person you've never heard His
audible voice, and yet faith believes Him. believes the revelation that's
been made of him in his Word. It believes the declaration that
he has come in order to save sinners. Christ is formed in us. This is the hope of our glory. He's the hope of our glory. PRABHUPÄ€DA Well, it's good, good,
good.