All right, let's turn in our
Bibles to John chapter three. Last time I mentioned about the
necessity of the new birth. You must be born again, or you
cannot see the kingdom of God. And I mentioned how the new birth,
and I ask this question of myself, and this is part of our self-examination. I want to know, have I been born
again by the Spirit? The new birth is part and parcel
of the salvation that God gives to his people. And all whom God
chose before the foundation of the world, all who are justified
by his grace through Christ, all for whom Christ died, they
shall be born again. Christ spoke this in John chapter
12 when he was talking about his crucifixion. He said, and
I, if I be lifted up, meaning if I be crucified, I will draw
all unto me, all for whom he died. They're called his sheep
in the scripture, his church, God's elect. Over here in John
3 and verse 14, I'm gonna get to this today, but I'm gonna
really go back and I'll preach some more on this subject. He
says, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even
so must the Son of Man be lifted up. What is he talking about?
He's talking about the cross. And the reason is that, verse 15,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal
life. Eternal life, spiritual life, the new birth, comes by
virtue of the cross. Christ putting away sin. He died. He was buried, He arose again
the third day. Now how could He arise from the
dead? Because He put away the sins of His people. He paid for
them. He purged our sins. These are
all scriptural words that mean something. It means that He paid
our sin debt so that there's no condemnation. Our sins, if
we're in Him, If we're believers, if we've been born again, here's
what we know from the scripture. God will not and cannot charge
us, impute, account our sins to our account. He can't do it
because he gave them to Christ. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies it. Who
can condemn us? It's Christ that died. If we're born again from above,
that's what he's talking about, he told Nicodemus here, Except,
verse three, except a man be born again, and that word again
there literally means from above. This is not a natural birth.
This is not coming from the womb of your mothers, physically. This is a spiritual birth from
heaven. And it's a heart work. It's a mind work. And so except
you be born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God. You cannot
know, believe, love, understand the kingdom of God. And so you
don't have spiritual eyes. But that's the kind of birth
we're talking about. And if we've been born again,
we know that we stand before God in the righteousness of his
son. Justified. That's an amazing
thing. Forgiven of all our sins. I need
that. That's what you need. That's
what all of us need. To be forgiven of all my sins. That includes the sin of my following
Adam, includes my past sins, present sins, future sins, sins
of omission, sins of commission. All sin, the blood of Jesus Christ
covers me from all sin. And how do I know that's true
of me? And that's what this new birth is all about. The new birth is the work, is
the sovereign, invincible, Irresistible work of God by the Holy Spirit
to give life to a dead sinner. And you, that's what Randy read,
and you hath he quickened. That word quickened means he
gave you life. You hath he made alive who were dead in trespasses
and sins. You were alive physically. You
could attain and achieve a lot in the eyes of men physically,
but not spiritually. Dead, dead, dead, just like Lazarus
laying in the tomb. And then one day God sent the
spirit to bring you under the preaching of the gospel. And
under that preaching of the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit,
just like Christ stood at the tomb of Lazarus and said, Lazarus,
come forth. He stood in the preaching of
the gospel and told you, come forth. And you know what? You came forth, just like Lazarus
did. But you see, the thing about
it is, people have a wrong view of the new birth today. They
believe the new birth is something that a man or woman can control. The preacher can control it by
preaching a certain message and using emotionalism, Or additions
like, you know, every head bowed, every eye closed, let the organ
play low, begging and pleading. Or they believe that you can
control it because you make the decision of your own free will
and you believe and then God gives you life. That's not so.
You can't even see what salvation is. You can't even see the reality
of sin and righteousness until God gives you eyes to see. You
can be sitting right here, hearing me. And if you walk out of here
without believing it, you haven't been born again. Isn't that right? If God gives you eyes to see
this, you'll believe it. In this sense, seeing is believing,
not talking about physically. But you'll believe it. But I
can't control that. All I can do is preach the gospel.
That's what the Lord tells us to do. You go preach the gospel.
And you tell him the truth. And it's his business by his
power and his sovereign will and way at his time to send the
Spirit to give life to a dead sinner. Somebody says, well, preacher,
then there's nothing I can do. Let me put it to you this way.
You can hear what I'm saying. And you're not God, and I'm not
God. And your commandment, you have
a commandment and an opportunity, we'll say, to hear and believe
what I'm saying according to the word of God. Listen to this.
Is what I'm preaching to you, is it the word of God or the
word of men? Now that's what you've got to understand here. But we can't control it. And
he says that, look at verse seven, he says, marvel not that I said
unto thee, you must be born again, born from above. And then he
says this, look at 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. Now that's what he's saying,
we can't control it. Can you control the wind? Who controls
the wind? God does. And that's what he means. Now
preachers can manipulate people to engage in false professions
of religion and using emotional props and scare tactics, but
no preacher, not even those who preach the truth, can manipulate
sinners into the new birth and true professions of faith in
Christ. That's the work of God. You know what, Paul the Apostle,
let me read you something here. He was talking about his conversion.
You remember how Paul was converted on the road to Damascus? You've
heard that story? He wasn't on his way to a prayer
meeting, was he? He wasn't on his way to church. He was on
his way to arrest Christians, take them back, and have them
killed. That's what he was on the road
to do, and God stopped him. and revealed himself to him.
And here's what Paul said about it. Verse 15 of Galatians 1,
I'll just read this to you. He said, when it pleased God,
now he didn't say when it pleased me, or when it pleased my family,
or when it pleased the preacher. He said, when it pleased God,
who separated me from my mother's womb, God was in this thing from
the beginning with Paul, and called me by his grace Verse
16, to reveal his son in me that I might preach him among the
heathen, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood. Now
what I'd like to do in these messages and several coming up
is for us to examine ourselves by the word of God instead of
conferring with flesh and blood. You know what it is to confer
with flesh and blood? Well, let's say I'd come to you
and say, Randy, you think I'm saved? Now, I love Randy Wages,
he's my brother in Christ, but what does it matter what he thinks,
as far as that's concerned, in myself, for my assurance? I do
care what he thinks. I care what all of you think. But when it comes to having the
assurance of faith and having been born again from above, I'm
not gonna confer with flesh and blood. I'm gonna go to the word
of God. Even if I say to myself, what do I think? What does God
think? What does God say? That's the
issue. And if you're ever convinced
that that's what God says, you'll believe it. He'll bring you to
believe it. The wind bloweth. We can't tell
where it come from, where it's going. We might think it's going
north and it might turn south on us. And so is everyone that is born
of the Spirit, he said. We can understand from the Word
of God what the work of the Spirit in the new birth is. We can't
explain everything about it. But basically what he's saying
there in that verse eight is we know it by its evidences.
I can feel the wind when it blows. I can't control it. But when
I'm out there and that wind's blowing, hey, the wind's blowing.
Or hey, it's calm today. But I can't control it. Well
look at verse nine, he says, Nicodemus answered and said unto
him, how can these things be? How can these things be? Now
Nicodemus, he was ignorant of this thing of the new birth.
Now you understand about Nicodemus, he would have been considered
to be a Bible scholar in his day. In the Old Testament, the
laws of Moses, the poetry books, Psalms, the Song of Solomon,
the prophets. But he didn't understand these
things about the new birth. And so Jesus answered, verse
10, and said unto him, art thou a master? Like a teacher of Israel,
a leader, spiritual leader of Israel, and knoweth not these
things? You don't know this? Now, scholars
sometimes today argue, is the new birth taught in the Old Testament?
Should Nicodemus have known these things being a scholar? The answer
is yes. And I could show you several
passages, but I want to just show you just one for example. It's in the book of Ezekiel.
And this is just one of the many examples where we find the new
birth being taught in the Old Testament. And it's in Ezekiel
36, verse 26, and the Lord is prophesying
here through Ezekiel. about the New Testament, the
New Covenant, and how it's gonna be, where in the New Covenant,
the Lord's gonna have a willing people, not a rebellious people,
but a willing people. And he says in verse 26, listen,
he says, a new heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I
put within you. And I will take away the stony
heart out of your flesh. That's the unbelieving heart,
the unbending heart, proud. And I will give you an heart
of flesh. Listen to this, verse 27, I will put my spirit within
you. He'll put life within and you
hath he quickened who were dead. And the Holy Spirit himself will
indwell us. and calls you to walk in my statutes. I'm gonna cause you to do that.
That's what God says. Preacher said, well, God wouldn't
make us do anything against our will. Well, let me tell you what God
does in the new birth. He changes your will. He changes our will. Put a new heart within you. Often
and I don't mean to be picking on the young people now, but
I know how it is. I grew up in Religion and I know
how it is Do you want to be here this morning? What's your will on that issue
Would you be here if mom and dad didn't encourage you or leave
or even make you I Know how it is now. I was once before you
are I But at some point in time, the
Lord, if you're one of His, He's gonna give you a new heart. He's
gonna make you hungry for the word of God. Now that's just
so. And you're gonna wanna hear this.
If that applies to you adults too, you wanna be here? Again, I know how it is. I remember
when I first started hearing the true gospel. I was born in
religion under a false gospel, but I first started hearing the
true gospel, and I'll be honest with you, I wanted to be anywhere
but there. But I stayed there because of
my mother, and I respect and love for my mother. And then
one day, God opened my eyes, gave me a new heart, and in the
process, turned my world upside down, virtually. But that's what he says, he says,
I cause you to walk in my statutes and you shall keep my judgments
and you shall do. Now that's the new birth. Nicodemus
should have known these things, but look back at John 3, he says,
You're a master of Israel and you know it's not these things?
Look at verse 11. He says, Verily, verily, I say
unto thee, we speak that we do know. I'm talking about something
that I have the authority and the knowledge, I know about this,
and testify that we've seen, I've seen it, Christ saying,
and you receive not our witness. Christ is speaking with the authority
of God. You remember at the end of the
Sermon on the Mount, it said, the people were astonished at
his doctrine, for he spoke to them as one having authority
and not like the Pharisees. Do you know how the Pharisees
spoke? It's kind of like people today, they get in a Sunday school
class, they read a verse of scripture and say, well, so and so, what
do you think? And so what do you think over here? You might
have four or five different interpretations, and they'll all walk out hand
in hand saying, well, we all interpret it differently, but
we're all right. Now that's the way the Pharisees
did. But Christ came in and he said, this is the word of God,
this is the way it is, and it can't be any other way. That's it. Now can I do that? I'm not Christ. I mean, but I
can do that because I've got His Word right here, and you've
got it hopefully in front of you. Isaiah said, to the law and to
the testimony, if they speak not according to this Word, there's
no light in them. So understand, I'm not giving
you what my opinion is. One way I know that is because
when I used to hear this message, I used to hate it and I didn't
believe it, but then God gave me eyes to see, gave me life. Knowledge from God gives us sight. Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Turn with me to 1 John chapter 5. The last chapter of the book
of 1 John. Listen to the words, listen to God's word. 1 John,
chapter five, verse 20. Read verse 19. John says, we
know that we are of God. We're the children of God. And
the whole world lieth in wickedness. Now literally, that's the whole
world lies in the wicked one. That means they're deceived by
Satan. And that includes the religious world. But look at
verse 20. And we know. Now there's knowledge
here, isn't there? If you had the knowledge that
God gives a sinner in salvation, you'd believe it. Because you
know it's true. The reason you believe it is
because you know it's true. And you know it's true because God
taught it to you. From His Word. And we know that
the Son of God has come. That's Christ. He's come. In the glory of His
person. In the power of His finished
work. To put away my sins. To establish righteousness. For
me. And He hath given us what? and
understanding. Now does that mean I understand
everything? No. But I understand what He
gives me. I understand who He is and what
He did and why He did it and what He accomplished. I understand
the gospel. That we may know, here's that
knowledge again. Know what? Know Him. Know Him
in the glory of His person. Know Him in the power of His
finished work. Know how His blood put away all my sins. Know how
His righteousness justifies me before God. Know Him that is
true. Not a false person, not a false
Messiah, the true Messiah. And we are in Him. Now that phrase,
in Him, is really important. Am I in Him? Somebody said, is
He in me? That's important too. But am
I in Him? That we are in Him, that is true.
Even in His Son, Jesus Christ, this is the true God and eternal
life. So knowing the true God, having
eternal life has something to do with knowing Him, understanding,
being in Him, all of this, you see. What is that about? We'll go
back to John 3 now. Look at verse 12. Christ says to Nicodemus, he
says, if I've told you earthly things and you believe not, how
shall you believe if I tell you heavenly things? You know, the
Lord often used earthly things to describe or symbolize spiritual
matters, heavenly matters. But here, Nicodemus, he could
not make the connection. Why? Because he had no eyes to
see. I taught this morning on Noah
and the ark. That's a picture of Christ saving
a sinner, isn't it? I never saw that until God gave
me eyes to see, not really. I just saw animals two by two,
pictures, cartoons, and stuff like that. Our ark is Christ. Nicodemus didn't see that. Who
is going to shield a sinner like me from the wrath of God that
I justly deserve? Christ, He's my ark. And just like the ark took all
the punishment of the wind and the rain outside, that's what
Christ did for His people. He took all of the punishment
of the rain and the wind of God's wrath upon Himself so that He
is our refuge. He is our high tower. You see
that? That's what knowing the ark is
all about. It's not just about a miracle. Happening. It was
a miracle. It's not just about a flood. There was a flood. That ark is Christ. That's who
our ark is. He's our Savior. But Nicodemus,
he didn't have eyes to see that. And so Christ told him. Now look
at verse 13. He says, and no man hath ascended
up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son
of Man, which is in heaven. Now what does that mean? Well,
you know, men and women have often gone to great lengths,
striving to ascend to heaven. They've devised many ways to
try this. Religion is the main way. Reformation,
turn over a new leaf. They'll say make your peace,
get right with God. Meditation, that's what I used
to call staring at your belly button. Dreams, they've tried dreams. Near death experiences. Seen
them? Son, they write books about them,
they sell, become best sellers, and they make movies about it.
Nobody's gone to heaven and come back like that. None of these
work. None of these ways will get me
or you into heaven. The only way that we can go to
heaven is if one comes down from heaven because heaven was and
is his abode and provides a way for us to
get there. And that's Christ. I am the way,
the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. So you can do whatever you want, you can try to be good,
you can try to get religion, you can be baptized, you can
walk aisles, you can reform, you can do all these things,
you can meditate, you can have near-death experiences, but you
will not ascend to heaven. Only Christ is the way. His blood, His cross, His righteousness
is the way. And that's exactly what he says
in verse 14. Now read this verse. And as Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
son of man be lifted up. He came down from heaven, the
second person of the Trinity, the son of God. He joined his
deity to that holy humanity. Walked this earth in complete
obedience to the law and made an end of the law. Finished the
transgression. Brought in an everlasting righteousness.
How did he do it? By his death. And he removed
the sin problem from his people. How do you know he removed it?
How do you know he was successful? Because he arose from the dead. And when he applies that resurrection
life to his people based upon his death on the cross, his being
lifted up, that's when he resurrects us from the dead. And you hath
he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sin. And he says at verse 15 that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life.
You know what that tells you there? That believing in him
does not give us life. Because if he hadn't been lifted
up on the cross, we could believe in him till the day is long and
it wouldn't give us life. He gives us life and believing
in him is the evidence of life. Now that's the first evidence
of the new birth. Think about it. What's the first
evidence of life? It's this, it's the gift of knowledge
revealed There must be knowledge now and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The gift of knowledge and faith.
Knowledge and faith are virtually the same. Look at Romans 1 chapter
16. In the book of Romans chapter 1. The apostle writes, look at verse
16. Where I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Now the
gospel, what is the gospel? That's good news. That's telling
me something I don't know that is made good news to me. And
it's the gospel of Christ. So it tells me of Jesus Christ,
tells me who he is. Tells me what he did on the cross,
what he accomplished. And that gospel, that message,
that's what it is, that body of knowledge of how God saves
sinners by grace, based upon the blood, the righteousness
of Christ, it is the power of God unto salvation. That word
power, we get an English word from that Greek word, dynamite. It's like a stick of dynamite
blowing off in your mind. Wow. What knowledge? That's powerful, isn't it? But
see, that's the gospel in the hands of the Holy Spirit. And
it's the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. If
you believe it, God has made that knowledge the power of God
unto salvation to you. To the Jew first. and to the
Greek or the Gentile. Look at verse 17. Now this is
that knowledge. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. In other words, the knowledge
of the righteousness of God. What is the righteousness of
God? That's the merit, the value, the earning power, the worthiness
of the work of Christ in my place as my surety, my substitute,
my redeemer. In other words, what this gospel
tells me is that God doesn't save me because of or based upon
anything I do or decide. It's based upon what Christ did
on that cross. That's why God saves a sinner.
That's the foundation, that's the ground. It's the righteousness
of God because Christ is God in human flesh. Just to satisfy. The justice of God that was against
me, satisfied by one who stood in my place. Jesus Christ, the
Lord, my righteousness. And it's revealed from faith
to faith. Now there's a lot of different
interpretations of that. Some say that means from one
degree of faith to another degree, and faith does grow. But I believe
what it's talking about is from faith, faith being the faith,
because it's talking about the gospel. What is my faith? What do I believe? What is the
content of the message that's good news to me? And it's from
that gospel preached in the power of the Spirit to faith, the faith
that God gives me to believe, to lay hold of Christ. That's the first way that I know
I've been born again. I believe this gospel. Christ. And it's written the
just, the justified, those whose sins are forgiven by the blood
of Christ, those who stand justified before God based upon his righteousness
imputed, they live by faith. Now what does that mean? It's
not faith, it's not ignorant faith. It's not a blind leap
in the dark. We live by looking to Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith. Our faith has substance. You know, the Bible says in Hebrews
11.1 that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the conviction
or the evidence of things not seen. What that literally means
is this. Our faith is the substance, is the assurance of things hoped
for and the evidence or the conviction of things not seen. I've been
convicted by the Spirit. He's convinced me of something
through the Word of God. He hasn't convinced me of something
that I don't know or don't see. Are there things I don't know
and don't see? Oh yeah, a bunch of them. But this one thing I
do know. I know whom I have believed and
I'm persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day. 2 Timothy 1.12. This is life
eternal that they might know thee, the only true God and Jesus
Christ whom thou hast sent. Somebody said, knowledge doesn't
save or doctrine doesn't save, Christ does. Well, technically
speaking, that's true. Christ is the Savior. But he
saved his people by giving them the knowledge that they need
to believe. And he gives them faith. And
he doesn't save any other way. This is the calling of the gospel
and the power of the spirit. It's an invincible calling. The
Bible says many are called, but few are chosen. What does that
mean? There's many people who hear the gospel with the physical
ear, but only the chosen will believe, the invincible calling. And then he brings us to repentance
of dead works and idolatry. That's an evidence of the new
birth too. He establishes in our hearts, and I'm gonna talk
more about these things in coming messages, In other words, when
he brings us to Christ, to follow him and to believe in him, he
turns us away from everyone and everything else. That's repentance.
You can't come to Christ without turning away from all else. Christ
will have no rival. Your works, dead works. We'll
talk about that. And then he establishes within
our hearts, that new heart, a new motive. It's not legal fear of
punishment or mercenary promise of earned reward now. It's love. The love of Christ, His love
to me, realizing His unconditional love to me. That's what constrains
me and drives me. Grace. Thank you, Lord. Gratitude. That's the motive. There's a battle there, isn't
there? We have to fight that battle on that. And then he brings
us to love the brethren. We have a new family. You may not like me, but you're
gonna be with me in this gospel. Ain't that right? We're gonna
be in fellowship on the gospel. I may make you mad, I hope I
don't. But if I do, over some crazy thing, we're still together
in the gospel. That's the fellowship of love
and truth. Love of the brethren. And then, if we're born again,
we will persevere in the faith. We will not fall away because
he keeps us. He preserves us. evidences of
the new birth. Like I said, I'll preach more
on those things as we go. Randy, I was going to just stop
and not have the final song, because I know you're having
some problems with all that. But I'm just going to let's just
bow our heads in prayer, and then that will conclude our service.
And if you'll give me about a minute to get back there before you
file out. Let's bow our heads in prayer.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word of truth in Christ
and for the message of the gospel that you've made powerful in
our salvation to bring us to faith in him and repentance of
dead works, that you would cause us to see the glory of God revealed
in the face of Jesus Christ, to see the beauty of holiness
in him, his blood, all the powerful blood. You said when you see
the blood, you'll pass over us. What great and glorious work
that is. His righteousness, that cloak that we wear, the imputed
righteousness of Christ in which we stand, and the life that you
give us from Him and in Him. We pray, dear Lord, that you
would bless us throughout this week. Keep these things ever
on our minds and hearts, for we pray in Christ's name and
for His sake. Amen.