Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. Welcome to the program today.
I'm glad you could join us. For the past four messages, I've
been preaching on the subject of the new birth. These messages
have been entitled, You Must Be Born Again. Today, I'm going
to do the fifth message in that series. I've got six messages
all together, so I have one more after this. The reason I've taken
so much time on this is because this is one of the most important
issues concerning the salvation of sinners by the grace of God. You must be born again. And of
course, we're talking about the new birth. Now, John chapter
3 is the passage that I've used as the basis of this series on
the new birth because this is where the Lord Jesus Christ confronted
a man named Nicodemus, a religious man, a man who had risen high
in the ranks of his religious order, the Pharisees. And a man
who did recognize that Jesus of Nazareth was a man sent of
God. He looked at Jesus as a prophet. He didn't believe in Jesus as
the Messiah or as God manifest in the flesh. He didn't believe
that. But he knew that this is a man who performed miracles.
And in chapter three of John, in verse one, Nicodemus said,
no man can do these miracles that you do, except God be with
him. Now that was not the consensus
of the Pharisees because many of the Pharisees looked at the
miracles of Jesus as being performed in a satanic manner. They said
that he had a devil and that he was a blasphemer. But Nicodemus
apparently differed with him, and he came by night, he didn't
come openly in the day, and he wanted to talk to Jesus of Nazareth. And he said, we know you're a
teacher from God. But Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ,
spoke to Nicodemus about being born again. And he said in verse
three, Jesus answered and said to him, verily, verily, I say
unto thee, accept a man, be born again. Literally, the word there
is born from above. So this is a heavenly birth.
He cannot see the kingdom of God. Now I've gone over these
verses. in the first four messages. And if you haven't heard those,
I urge you to get those messages. You can order them. We offer
them free of charge. You can look at them on our website
and you can listen to them in any way. But study this from
the scriptures because so many people have gone awry on the
new birth. They don't know what it's about.
Most people today believe that the new birth is the result or
the effect of a sinner exercising their free will in believing
in Christ or accepting Him as their personal Savior. But that
is not what the scripture teaches. Now, you may believe that. But
I'm just telling you the Scripture teaches otherwise. In fact, we
read over in John chapter 1 where he was talking about those who
had received Christ as opposed to those who had not received
Christ. John 1. I'll just go over it
again. John 1.11. This is the way we have to study
the Bible. It's line upon line, precept
upon precept. I don't mind repeating myself.
Paul told the Philippian church that. He said, to preach the
same thing to you is not burdensome to me. Listen, the gospel of
salvation by God's free and sovereign grace through the blood and the
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ is the greatest message
in the world. And so I repeat it every time
I preach, and I don't mind that. It's not a burden to me. But
Paul said to the Philippians, he said, and it's good for you.
We need to hear it over and over again. We need to see from Genesis
to Revelation how this is the gospel. And so I don't mind going
over these scriptures again. But in verse 11 of John 1, it
says, he came unto his own and his own received him not. Now
some commentators say that his own there refers to his own nation,
the Jews, because Christ in his humanity was a Jew. He was born of the seed of David
according to the flesh, Romans 1 tells us. Born of the tribe
of Judah, the kingly tribe. And Christ is not just a man,
He's God-man. He's God in human flesh. But
He did have a humanity, and when He came into the world, He came
into the world physically as a Jew. And so, He came into His
own nation, and His own nation received Him not. But there were
some that received Him. Look at verse 12. But as many
as received Him. Some people received Him. Some
people today receive Him. Now, ask yourself this question.
What's the difference between those who received Him not and
those who did receive Him? Well, you could paint that a
lot of different ways in the minds of human beings, how we
answer that. Some might say, well, the difference
was those who received Him, they received Him, they believed.
They exercised their free will to receive Christ and the others
didn't. Well, my friend, the Bible teaches that man by nature,
and I use that term all the time on this program. And again, I
don't mind repeating that because it's true and you need to hear
it. It doesn't bother me to say it over and over again. Man by
nature, man and woman, fallen in Adam, the scripture teaches.
And as we are born into this world naturally, are born into
a state of sin and spiritual death, and that reaches to the
well. It's a state of spiritual depravity. And it doesn't always show up
in gross acts of immorality. Now it sometimes and many times
does. But where it mainly shows up is what is said here in John
1.11. He came unto His own and His
own received Him not. If you want to talk about the
depths of depravity and sin, look at it in this way, in a
biblical way. How do you respond to the preaching
of the gospel, the true gospel now, not a false gospel. Millions
of people will latch hold onto a false gospel, salvation conditioned
on sinners, that I make the difference between saved and lost, not God
alone. But how do you respond to the
preaching of the cross? The Bible says in 1 Corinthians
1, I believe it's verse 18, that the preaching of the cross is
foolishness to them who believe not, those who are perishing. And that's depravity. You can
be like Nicodemus, a religious person, trying to keep the law,
but if you don't know Christ, and I'm gonna show you that in
a verse today, If you don't know Christ, if you don't believe
in Christ, that's a sign of spiritual death. And that's why Christ
told Nicodemus, you must be born again or you cannot see the kingdom
of God, the kingdom of heaven. A couple weeks ago I dealt with,
in Matthew chapter 13, where Christ told the disciples unto
you, it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God.
Blessed are your eyes for they see. So he says here, he came
unto his own, his own received him not, verse 12, but as many
as received him. Now what's the difference? As
I said, many people today, they think that the new birth comes
as a result of you making the right decision. That is a lie. That's salvation by works. That
denies the sinfulness, spiritual death, and depravity of man that
the Bible teaches. Faith in Christ, accepting Him,
is the result, the effect of having already been born again
by the power of God, sovereignly and invincibly by the Spirit.
And that's what he says here, verse 12. But as many as received
Him, to them gave He power. Now the word power there is not
ability, it's the right. He gave them the right to become
or to be called the sons of God, even to them that believe on
His name, And then he says in verse 13, which were born, not
of blood, not physically. We're talking about a new birth,
a heavenly birth, born from above, not physical birth. Your physical
pedigree will not save you. I don't care what your grandmother
and grandfather and great-grandmother and great-grandfather believed,
it will not save you. They may have been lost, they
may have been saved, but it doesn't come through physical blood.
Nor of the will of the flesh, that's the works of the flesh.
The new birth does not come about by your works. And look at verse
13 again. Nor of the will of man. The new
birth is not the result of your will, your decision, your desire. He says, which were born of God. And so that's what Christ is
speaking of here in John 3. You must be born again. As I
said, think about the fundamentals here of the gospel. Well, what is the gospel? Well,
Paul wrote over in Romans chapter 1 and verse 16 and 17. He said, I'm not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ. This gospel, this good news,
it's the power of God unto salvation. But it's only the power of God
unto salvation to everyone that believeth. Listen, if I preach
the gospel to you, or if someone preaches it to me, and we don't
believe it, then you can know it's not been the power of God
unto salvation for me because it's only that to everyone that
believeth. Now how is it the power of God unto salvation?
Now the word power there has to do with ability. It's the
word that we get our English word dynamite from. Dunamis or
Denamis, however you pronounce it. And so the gospel is the
dynamite of God unto salvation. It's the power of God. You see,
the power of salvation is not in the sinner's free will. The
power of God in salvation is in the gospel empowered by the
Holy Spirit. And that's what the new birth
is. It's being born of the Spirit. It's a spiritual birth brought
about by the invincible, powerful, convincing work of the Holy Spirit.
And he says, to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and
also to the Greek. And he says in verse 17, for
therein is the righteousness of God revealed. It's a revelation,
see. It's not something we figure
out of our own. God reveals it from faith, that
is from the body of faith, the doctrine of faith, that body
of doctrine, the good news of the gospel, the glorious person,
the finished work of Christ, to faith, that is God-given faith. You see, faith is not in you
naturally. It's not in me naturally. Faith
is the gift of God, for by grace are you saved through faith,
that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. And he says, as it is written,
the justified, the just, shall live by faith. Now what is it
to be justified? Well, that's the ground of salvation. That has to do with number one,
being forgiven of all my sins, But don't leave this next line
out. Being forgiven of all my sins based on a just ground. A righteous ground. Now what
is the righteous ground upon which God forgives me of all
my sins? Well, it's the blood of Christ.
It's not my faith. It's not my repentance. It's
not my works. It's what Christ did on the cross. See, this is what separates Christianity
from all other religions. And so the justified are those
whose sins have been completely purged away, washed away by the
blood of Christ. What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
You see that? Now, that's to be justified.
But justification before God is more than just the forgiveness
of sins, the wiping away of sins. The non-imputation of sins. God
will not charge me with my sins. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? And who are God's elect? Those
who are born again. Those who believe. Not all without
exception. And so, to be justified is to
be forgiven of all my sins so that they cannot be charged to
my account even though I am a sinner. But it's also to be declared
righteous in the sight of God. Again, based on a just ground. And what is that just ground?
Again, the blood of Christ. And that term, the righteousness
of God here, for therein is revealed the righteousness of God. That
term, the righteousness of God, means the whole entire merit
and value and worth of Christ's obedience unto death as my surety. He stood in my place, having
my sins imputed to Him, and He substituted Himself. He's my
substitute. He took my place under the wrath
of God and died the death that I deserved and earned, but that
He took upon Himself as my sins were imputed, charged, accounted
to Him. And He redeemed me, bought me
like stock and barrel. And on that basis, God has declared
me righteous. It's Christ's righteousness imputed
to me, accounted to me. There's a verse in 2 Corinthians
5.21 that speaks of that. How God made Christ to be sin
for us, for His people, for His elect believers. Christ who knew
no sin, He was not made a sinner or made sinful. He was made sin
by our sins being imputed to Him in order that we might be
made or become the righteousness of God in Him. Now that's the
ground of salvation. Now all who have been justified
before God must be given spiritual life. and faith to lay hold of
Christ. The just shall live. Now, how
am I going to live? Because by nature I'm spiritually
dead. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God, neither can he know them. You hath he quickened who were
dead in trespasses and sins, but he quickened them. How am
I going to live? That's where the new birth comes
in. As a result of Christ's righteousness, the forgiveness of sins and my
justification before God in Him, as a result of that, I must be
given life. Now, why is that? Well, sin demands
death, but righteousness demands life. And Romans 5.21 speaks
of that. That as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life, by Jesus Christ, our Lord. Now, what does that tell you?
Well, I'll tell you what it tells you. It tells you that everyone
whom God has justified on the ground of Christ's righteousness,
imputed to them, everyone for whom Christ died, everyone whom
he redeemed on that cross will be born again. They'll be born
again. And so those are the two things
that have to happen for a sinner to receive salvation. He must
be totally set free legally by the declaration of the judge
of all God in justification. And he must be liberated, literally
let out of the jail of sin and death in the new birth. He must
be born again. Now this new birth always comes,
now listen to me, this new birth always comes in the context and
under the preaching of the word of God, the gospel. Always. People are not born again outside
the preaching of the truth. And what happens is that God,
who chose the people before the foundation of the world, and
even though he chose them in Christ, They fell in Adam, and
when they're born into this world, they're born in a state of sin
and death, lost, but God in His good providence, sovereignly,
brings them under the preaching of the gospel. And you can read
about that in Romans chapter six. Listen to this, Romans six
and verse 17. But God be thanked that you were
the servants of sin. That means you were lost, you
were a slave, in other words, spiritually dead. But you have
obeyed from the heart. Now that heart there is the new
heart given in the new birth. Ezekiel spoke of it. In Ezekiel
36, where God was talking about the future promise of the new
covenant in Christ, he said, I'll give them a new heart. I'll put my spirit within them.
Jeremiah spoke of it in Jeremiah 31. The whole Old Testament speaks
of this. And He says, you have obeyed from the heart, that's
your mind, that's your affections, that's your will, that's your
conscience. And what have you obeyed from the heart? That form
of doctrine, teaching, which was delivered you. This is under
the preaching of the gospel. The Bible says it pleased God
by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. It
also says in Romans 10, 17, faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. But if you're not born again,
you cannot hear or see the kingdom of God. You see that? But this
literally means this, that form of doctrine to which you were
delivered. In other words, in God's providence,
even unbeknownst to you. God will bring you under the
preaching of the gospel, and he says in verse 18, being then
made free, literally liberated from sin, that is the darkness
of sin, you became the servants of righteousness. Now, a servant
of sin is an unbeliever. A servant of righteousness is
a believer who looks to Christ for righteousness. You see that? And that's why you must be born
again. Until we're born again, even though God chose us from
the foundation of the world, if we're his elect, we're born
dead in trespasses and sins, and we must be brought to faith
in Christ. And that's what the new birth
does. And it's under the preaching of the gospel over in 2 Thessalonians
2. The Apostle Paul is talking about
in the last days how many people will be deceived in false religion,
especially false Christianity, under the spirit of Antichrist,
the man of sin, the mystery of iniquity, the deceptiveness of
unrighteousness, he talks about. And he says the reason that people
will be deceived is because they receive not the love of the truth.
The truth is in God's word. That's what I'm trying to preach,
God's word. But many, many people will not receive it because they're
stubborn. And he says God will send judgment
upon them, even strong delusion that they would continue to believe
a lie. But in 2 Thessalonians 2.13,
listen to this. He says, but we are bound to
give thanks all the way to God for you, brethren, beloved of
the Lord. Now, these are the people whom
God loves. Because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit,
that's being set apart by the Holy Spirit, and belief of the
truth, that's the gospel, whereunto, verse 14, whereunto He called
you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. You see, this thing of the new
birth is the Holy Spirit sent of God bringing God's people,
God's elect, under the preaching of the gospel, wherever it is,
whether it's on television or in a church service, reading
a book, in some way he's communicating the true gospel of God's free
and sovereign grace, based upon the blood, the righteousness
of Christ, that gospel. which is the revelation of the
righteousness of God, Romans 1, 16 and 17, the power of God
into salvation, sending His Spirit into the world, bringing us providentially,
God working all things after the counsel of His own will.
God, all things work together for good to them that love God,
who are the called according to His purpose. And He brings
them under the preaching of the gospel, imparts spiritual life
and knowledge, and calls them with an invincible calling to
Christ. And they will receive Christ.
And they cannot refuse because He gives them a new heart. And
I'm gonna talk about that next week in the concluding message
of this on the new birth. You must be born again. And somebody
says, well, if it's not up to me, if it's not based on my decision,
then what am I to do? Well, I'll tell you what you
to do. Now, God has given you a mind. He's given you physical
ears, physical eyes, and these things are enough to hold you
accountable, hold me accountable, and that's the way we are to
look at them. You're to seek the truth. Somebody said, well,
I don't know if I'm gonna be born again or not. Well, I know
this, you're not gonna be unless you're under the preaching of
the gospel. And God's gonna bring his people under the true gospel.
What you need to do is look for the truth when you're searching
for a church. People say, well, I want a church
where there's a lot of young people. Well, there may be young
lost people. They may be religious. Or I want
a church that has a lot of social activity. Well, that's not what
the church is for. The church is the pillar and ground of the
truth. The church is the family of God who are to witness in
this world of the gospel of salvation, conditioned on Christ who met
those conditions. Some say, well, I'm looking for
a church where I can be comfortable. That may be the worst place you
need to be. If you're a lost person, you don't need to be
comfortable. You need to be challenged. That's right. You need to examine
yourself in light of the word of God. You may need to, you
say, well, I want to go where they'll tell me things I want
to hear. That may be the worst thing for you. If you have children
and you raised your children, think about it as those little
girls and boys coming up and you're trying to teach them right,
you're trying to discipline them. Did you always tell them what
they wanted to hear? Because if you did, I guarantee
you've got some spoiled brats No, you told them what they needed
to hear. And that's what the gospel does. That's where Christ...
Why did Christ tell Nicodemus? Here's this man, Nicodemus, a
high in religion, a well-known and well-respected preacher in
the Pharisees' religion. But Christ didn't tell Nicodemus
what he wanted to hear. He told Nicodemus what he needed
to hear. You must be born again. Here's what I'm telling you.
For the salvation of your soul, you need a righteousness you
can't produce, and you need life you can't produce. Only God can
give them to you. Now seek the Lord. That's your
only hope. Now nobody's going to seek Him
until God brings you to seek Him. The scripture says that.
But you're not God. You don't live in that realm.
You live on this earth. You think and act upon what you
hear. And you're either gonna reject
it, and that's what happens, that's the reprobate, or you're
gonna receive it, that's the elect. You must be born again.
Hope you'll join us next week for another message from God's
word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1-1-0-2-3. Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia
31707. Contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
or email us through our website at www.theletterrofgrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.