Thank you for that if I could
I might jump up and down so good deeper than the stain If you
would open your Bibles with me to Psalm 51 Psalm 51 You probably
already noticed the sign-up sheet in the vestibule We're gonna
have a zero birthday dinner and it as it turns out. It's from
from all year long Partially that's because when I was going
through radiation at I just couldn't get it together. But I found
out even after I was going through those treatments, I still haven't
been able to get my act together. So we finally got this done here
in a few weeks. We'll enjoy doing that together.
All right, Psalm 51. Have mercy upon me, O God, according
to thy lovingkindness, according unto the multitude of thy tender
mercies. Blot out my transgressions. Wash
me throughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sins.
For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
Against thee, thee only have I sinned, and done this evil
in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest,
and be clear when thou judgest. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth
in the inward parts, and in the hidden part thou shalt make me
to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall
be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter
than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness,
that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy
face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in
me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit
from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold
me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors
thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee. Deliver
me from blood guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation, and
my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. O Lord, open
thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth thy praise. For thou
desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it. Thou delightest
not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit. A broken and a contrite heart,
O God, thou wilt not despise. Do good in thy good pleasure
and design. Build thou the walls of Jerusalem.
Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness.
With burnt offering and whole burnt offering, then shall they
offer bullocks upon thine altar. All right, let's stand together
as John leads us in singing our call to worship. Great Father of glory, how rich
is Thy grace! What wonderful love is displayed
in Thy face! In Jesus thy image with brightness
we view, With hope to be formed in that likeness anew. O wanderer of wonders, astonished
I gaze to see in a manger the Ancient of Days. My God, my Creator, a woman was
born. My Lord bowed His head, For unworthy
sinners He suffered and bled. My spirit rejoices, the work
is all done. My soul is redeemed, my salvation
is won. Great Father of glory, how rich
is Thy grace! What wonderful love is displayed
in Thy face! Okay, if you would, now turn
in your hymnal to song number 75, Abide With Me. Abide with me, fast falls the
eventide. The darkness deepens, Lord with
me abide. When other helpers fail and comforts
flee, Help of the helpless, O abide with me. Swift to its close ebbs
out life's little day. Earth's joys grow dim, its glories
pass away. Change and decay in all around
I see. O Thou who changest not, abide
with me. I need Thy presence every passing
hour. What but Thy grace can foil the
tempter's power? Who, like Thyself, my guide and
stake can be? Through cloud and sunshine abide
with me. Hold Thou Thy Word before my
closing eyes. Shine through the gloom and point
me to the skies. Heaven's morning breaks and earth's
vain shadows flee. All right, if you would turn
your Bibles to the Gospel of John, chapter three. We'll read verses 1 through 17.
There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the
Jews. The same came to Jesus by night
and said unto him, Rabbi, We know that thou art a teacher
come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest
except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto
him, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him,
how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second
time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered. Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot
enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Marvel
not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again. The wind
bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof,
but cannot tell whence it cometh. and whither it goeth, so is every
one that is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered and said unto
him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto
him, Art thou the master of Israel, and knowest not these things?
Verily I say unto thee, We speak that we know, and testify that
we have seen, and you receive not our witness. If I have told
you earthly things and you believe not, how shall you believe if
I tell you heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to
heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the son of
man which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal
life. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son
into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through
him might be saved. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank
you this morning. It's a blessing to us. To read
these words and understand that in which we read, you have given
us the true knowledge and the wisdom of the gospel in which
we have preached to us. To know this passage and understand
what is said. Understand true grace and understand
the mercies, the true mercies that lie in your grace that you
have saved us by. And to know that those mercies
are only in through and by our Lord and our savior. the Lord
Jesus Christ. We must know him, know the one
in whom you have exalted. We must look to him and look
to him alone for grace. Grace only through faith only
and in Christ only is our means in which we're taught by the
passage in which we just now read. We pray, Lord, you bless
our pastor this morning as he brings us another message as
you did is the first. Bless the words in which you
have laid on his heart. Let him bring him to us, Lord,
in a way of power, in a way of spirit. Make these words effectual
to our hearts, Lord. Let us hear him in an effectual
way, a way in which only you can bring forth. Now we pray,
Lord, for those in whom you have brought into these trials and
tribulations, those in whom are suffering, as the pastor told
us this morning, those whom are suffering the sins of this flesh.
We pray, Lord, a blessing. Give them the blessings of knowing
that these things didn't happen by chance. These things, as in
all things, is coming to pass in the perfect order in which
you have ordered them that they must come. So we pray that, Lord. We thank you, Lord, for your
grace. We thank you for your redemption of your son and the
calling of the spirit. All these things we pray in Christ's
name for his sake only. The Bible's open to the text
Brother Gary just read for us, the passage. It'll serve as our
text this morning. I've titled the message, Can
a man be born when he's old? That's the question Nicodemus
asks in verse four. How can a man be born when he's
old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and
be born? Now quite obviously, Nicodemus is very concerned,
or concerned, confused about the new birth. And there's still
a whole lot of confusion in the world today about the new birth. And I thought it would be very
good, very profitable for us to look at what God's word has
to say about the new birth. We're going to turn to a number
of scriptures this morning. I want you to use your Bibles
so that you see what God has to say about this matter of the
new birth, because it's vitally important. And my prayer that
not only would the Lord teach us what the new birth is, but
that he would cause us this morning to be born again. I don't want
to just have a head knowledge of this, but experience it by
being born again. And you'll find as we go through
the passage that this, I believe how I closed with the, with the
lesson this morning, that if you've experienced the new birth,
there really isn't a whole lot of confusion about it. is there.
Most of the confusion comes from a person not being born again.
So I want to show you the three, four things about this. Number
one is this. The new birth is necessary for
salvation. In verse seven of John three,
the Lord says, marvel not that I said unto you, you must be
born again. Now no one can possibly not understand
what the Lord just said there. You must be born again. It's not optional. You must be.
And here's why. When Adam fell, all of us died
in Adam. When Adam sinned, he died spiritually
instantly. So that the only seed that he
had to pass on to his children was a spiritually dead seed. And that came down all the way
to you and me. You know, all life comes from
a seed. And the nature of the life depends
upon the nature of the seed, doesn't it? An apple tree produces
apples because that's the nature of the seed, to grow an apple
tree. When it came time for you and me to be conceived, we were
just like David. We were conceived in sin. We're
born spiritually dead. We are conceived spiritually
dead because that's the nature of our father's seed. That's
the only thing our fathers had to pass on to us is what Adam
passed on to them, a spiritually dead nature. That nature is dead
and it can never live again. Never. It's dead in trespasses
and sins and it will always be dead. Always. You can't give
light and life and understanding to this dead nature. It's dead
and that's the way it's going to stay. And this flesh, the
body of flesh, eventually has to die because it's full of sin.
It's full of sin from this spiritually dead nature. The flesh has to
die because it's already spiritually dead. What naturally follows
from being spiritually dead is you die physically. So the only
way any of us can have spiritual life, we can't give life to this
old nature. So if we're going to have spiritual
life, we've got to be born again. We've got to be born from above
or else we'll never have life. In verse three, Jesus answered
and said unto him, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man
be born again, he be born from above, he cannot see the kingdom
of God. Now that word see there means
to perceive or to know. It means to understand. You know,
if I would explain something to you and then say, now, do
you see what I'm saying? Do you see? What I'm asking is,
do you understand? That's what the Lord is saying
here. No one can understand the kingdom of God unless they've
been born again. You can't understand what the
kingdom of God is. You can't understand how somebody
gets into it. You can't understand who the
king of it is unless you've been born again because dead people
don't understand anything because they're dead. I don't care how
long you explain something to a man laying in a casket, he's
never gonna understand it because he's dead. And you see that in
the world today. I guess it's always been there,
but the only point of reference I have is the world in which
I live. So many people think that the kingdom of God is political.
They think, well, one day Christ is gonna return, and there's
gonna be this millennial reign on earth, and believers are gonna
reign with Christ, and boy, you just wait, because I'm gonna
get you then. We're gonna lord it over all
these unbelievers. It's been so mean to us all our life long, And they think it's a political
thing, you know. I'll tell you why they think
that. It's because they don't understand the kingdom of God.
They can't understand it because they're dead. Other people think
that the kingdom of God is an earthly thing. It's a thing that
will give them more money, better jobs, better health, more friends,
and make them happier here on earth. They think that is what
the kingdom of God is. It's just something to make you
happier here on earth. I'll tell you why they think
that. It's because they're spiritually dead. They don't understand what
the kingdom of God is. In Romans 14, verse 7, the apostle
said, the kingdom of God, it's not meat and drink. It's not
the stuff of this life. But it's righteousness and peace
and joy in the Holy Ghost. Now look over 1 Corinthians chapter
2. Now the only way you can see
that and understand and have joy in that, what Paul just said,
is the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but it's righteousness
and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. The only way you can believe
that, see that, and have joy in that is if you've been born
again. If you've not been born again, you cannot understand
it. 1 Corinthians 2, verse 12. Or let's just look at verse 14. But the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
unto him. Neither can he know them. Why
can't he know them? Because they're spiritually discerned.
And he can't understand anything spiritually because he's dead
spiritually. So here's why we must be born
again. We can't have spiritual life unless we're born again.
We can't understand anything that spiritual, we can't understand
anything that God says unless we've been born again. And we
can't be in God's presence unless we've been born again. Look at
verse five back in our text. Jesus answered, verily, verily,
I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the spirit,
he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Now all of us died in Adam. And when we died in Adam, we
were separated from God in Adam. When God thrust Adam out of the
garden, out of his presence, you and I were thrust out of
God's presence too. And we can't come back to God
and be in his presence as we are. Not in our sin. The holy
God is not going to allow sinful, dead, stinking corpses to be
in his presence and to pollute his kingdom. He's not going to
do it. God's kingdom is a kingdom of righteousness. So if you and
I would enter the kingdom of God, we would be in his presence.
We have to be righteous. But our problem is that since
we're sinners, we can't make ourselves righteous. We can't
earn our way into the kingdom of God. So if we would enter
the kingdom of God, We've got to be born again with a new righteous
nature. That's the only way we can be
made righteous, is if we're born again with a righteous, holy
nature that God will accept into his presence. So that's why we
must be born again. All right, number two. Now, the new birth, it sounds
very confusing to the natural man. Well, what is it? What is
the new birth? Well, the new birth, it's not
fleshly. In verse six, the Lord says,
that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born
of the spirit is spirit. That which is born of the flesh
will always be flesh, and that which is born of the spirit will
always be spirit, and the two will never mix. So the new birth
has got nothing to do with the flesh, does it? Suppose you could
be born again in a fleshly way. Like Nicodemus is wondering,
well, how can I enter back into my mother's womb the second time,
be born the second time, Well, suppose you could do that. Wouldn't
do you any good, would it? You'd just be born the same way
you were born the first time. You'd be born dead, sinful flesh.
That's all we would be, because that which is born of the flesh
is flesh. You can't go back into your mother's
womb and be born again a spiritual person. You can only be born
dead, sinful flesh. Even the new birth does not improve
the flesh. If you've been born again, you
know that. Even the new birth does not improve
the flesh. The flesh remains dead, sinful
flesh. I'm jumping ahead of myself,
but that war's against the new man. Even the new birth does
not improve our sinful flesh. The new birth is not fleshly,
not at all. Look back a page or two at John
chapter one. We've got to be born a different
way than a fleshly way if we would be born again. John 1 verse
10. He was in the world and the world
was made by him and the world knew him not. He came into his
own and his own received him not. Now why didn't his own receive
him not? The Jews that had all the pictures,
all the types, all the ceremony, had the law, had the prophets.
Why didn't the world of flesh, receive Christ when he came?
Because they're dead. Because they're dead, they can't
receive him. The only thing that they can do is hate him. Why
did they reject Christ as the savior? Because they're dead. They couldn't see him. They couldn't
see that he's king. They couldn't see that he's the
savior. They couldn't understand who
he is because he's dead. So they could not believe on
him. But thank God somebody believed on him. Verse 12. But as many
as received him, to them gave he power. He gave the right or
the privilege to become sons of God, even to them that believe
on his name. Somebody believed, didn't they?
Peter did. The other 10 of the 11 did. They believed. Mary Magdalene
believed. Martha and Mary believed. Lazarus
believed. There are many people who believed on him, aren't there?
There are people here. You believed on Christ. Other
people, they hear the message and they don't like it, they
leave, they go somewhere else. But you believed. But you believed. Why? Why do you believe when
somebody else doesn't believe? Because you've been born again.
Why are you a son or daughter of God? Because you've been born
that way. Verse 13, which we're born. Not of blood, not of fleshly
blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but they're
born of God. People who are born again are
not born again because of anything to do with the flesh. We're not
born again by the will of the flesh, or by the power of the
flesh, or by the teaching of the flesh. You cannot be born
again because your parents and grandparents were born again.
Can't do it. Now they'll pray for you. They'll
point you to Christ, they'll bring you to the services, but
you cannot be born again because you're related in a fleshly way
to somebody who believes Christ. We can only be born again by
the will and power of God. Now that's spiritual, not fleshly,
isn't it? So the new birth doesn't come
from anything about the flesh, who we're related to because
we're born some way in the flesh. The new birth also cannot come
by human morality, by human works, by things that we do or don't
do in the flesh. That's Nicodemus. Now think about
who it is that came to the Lord here. This is the Pharisee. He's a ruler of the Jews. He's
a religious leader. I mean, this man was serious
about religion. He was serious about the Old
Testament scriptures. This man fasted twice in the
week. Not once, but twice. He gave tithes of everything
he possessed. Boy, on Friday night, when he's
counting out his tithe, he gets that little thing that holds
all your mints, all your herbs, and gets it down. He counts out
his little flakes of all the different herbs. He even tithes
of his herbs, stuff from his herb garden. Nicodemus, boy,
when he went out, he wore the broad phylacteries. The scriptures,
you know, written out in these broad phylacteries. This man
didn't go bribe and pray. He went out in the street corner
and prayed. Boy, everybody knew. Boy, Nicodemus, he's a man of
prayer. He's a man of the scriptures. Nicodemus, now he's a Pharisee.
He's one of the rulers of the, he's not just some low-level
Pharisee. This guy's high up. He was as
morally and doctrinally straight as any Jew could be. But he's
still dead. He still couldn't see. He still
couldn't understand because he hadn't been born again. Brother
Henry described folks like that this way, they're straight as
a gun barrel and twice as empty. That's Nicodemus. Nicodemus,
no matter all the things that he did or didn't do, could not
be born again by the flesh, by something that the flesh did.
And if Nicodemus couldn't do it, I promise you, you and me
can't do it. Can't be done. Look at Titus chapter three. Titus chapter three, verse five. Not by works of righteousness
that we've done, not by works that we've done in the flesh,
but according to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration,
the washing of the new birth and the renewing of the Holy
Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior. So we can't be born again by
anything that the flesh does, It's got to be by the power of
God. Here's the third thing. The new birth, it's not a head
knowledge. It's not a head knowledge of
true, right things. Look back in our text, verse
one. There's a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the
Jews. The same came to Jesus by night
and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher
come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest
except God be with him. Now I'm sure Nicodemus came to
the Lord by night. There's been a lot made of this,
right? Nicodemus came to the Lord by night. I'm pretty sure
Nicodemus didn't want any of his Pharisee cronies seeing him
going and talking to their archenemy, this Jesus of Nazareth. I'm sure
Nicodemus didn't want other people in society, publicans and sinners.
Those publicans and sinners that he looked down on, they were
so comfortable. with the Lord Jesus. He didn't
want them seeing him with the Savior either, because that would
ruin his good, pious, self-righteous reputation. That would just ruin
him. But Nicodemus coming to the Lord
by night is also a picture of him coming to the Lord in his
spiritual darkness, in the deadness not being born again. Nicodemus
came to the Lord in his deadness, and nothing can be darker than
spiritual deadness, can it? And that's the way Nicodemus
was. But he did come to the Lord and he had some knowledge of
some true things. Now remember who Nicodemus is now. This man
is a Pharisee and his business is the Old Testament scriptures.
Those Old Testament scriptures prophesied of the Messiah. They
understood that that was prophesying of the Messiah. That's why they
were looking for him. Now they were looking for an earthly king,
but they understood something of what they were saying. They
were looking for a king. But when Jesus of Nazareth came
and he fulfilled every prophecy of the Old Testament scriptures
that Nicodemus was in every single day, Nicodemus still couldn't
see him. Now he knew a lot of facts and
figures. He could quote you a lot of scriptures,
but he couldn't see that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah.
The only thing that, as far as Nicodemus could tell, this man
is a teacher sent from God. You're not the Messiah. You're
not the Savior. You're just an ordinary man sent from God. Nicodemus
thought that because he hadn't been born again. He was still
dead. The new birth, It's not some
new idea that the Lord just came up with. It's not like nobody
had ever heard of the new birth before when Christ came on the
scene. The new birth is prophesied throughout
all the Old Testament scriptures. I look back at Ezekiel chapter
36. There are many Old Testament scriptures that prophesy and
tell us of the new birth. If you want to see them all,
This afternoon, get you an Aves topical Bible, look up regeneration. There's all kinds of prophecies
of the new birth in the Old Testament, but let me give you this very,
very plain one. Ezekiel 36 verse 24. For I will take you from among the
heathen and gather you out of all countries and will bring
you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water
upon you and you should be clean. From all your filthiness and
from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart, a brand new
heart, a heart that never existed before, a new heart also will
I give you and a new spirit will I put within you. I'm not gonna
teach that old dead spirit, I'm gonna put a new spirit within
you. And I'll take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I
will give you a heart of flesh. And I'll put my spirit within
you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you should keep
my judgments and do them." Now that is a clear prophecy of the
new birth. God's gonna put a new spirit
in the hearts of his people. And then in the next chapter,
the Lord gives Ezekiel a picture of what he's gonna do in the
new birth in the Valley of the Dry Bones. God told him what
he's gonna do, then he gave him a picture of it. That can only
be talking about the new birth. Now Nicodemus was, intimately
familiar with those scriptures. But he still didn't know what
they meant. He would read the scriptures and he wouldn't see
Christ in them, because he hadn't been born again. Look back in
our text in verse 10. It sounds like the Lord's saying
this in amazement, but you know he's not, but it is a shocking
picture, truth about our nature. that a person can read the scriptures
and read them and read them and read them and read them and still
not see Christ. In verse 10, Jesus answered and said unto
him, art thou a master of Israel? You're a master of the scriptures,
a master, you're supposed to be a ruler of the people. You're
supposed to be able to rule well because you know the scriptures.
You're a master in Israel, and no, it's not these things. Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, we speak that we do know, and testify
that we've seen, and you receive not our witness. If I've told
you earthly things and you believe not, how shall you believe if
I tell you of heavenly things? No man hath ascended up to heaven,
but he that came down from heaven, even the son of man which is
in heaven. Nicodemus read those scriptures and read them and
read them and read them, but he still didn't know who they
were talking about. That Ethiopian eunuch. The first
times, as far as we know, that he was exposed to the Old Testament
scriptures, he's reading Isaiah 53, and the Lord gave him enough
light to ask the preacher, who's the prophet talking about? Himself
or some other man? And Philip said, oh, let me tell
you. Let me tell you who he's talking about. Nicodemus didn't
see it because he hadn't been born again. Nicodemus, look at John chapter
five. He's the kind of man that our
Lord talks about here in John chapter five, verse 39. Search the scriptures. And what
the Lord is saying, you do search the scriptures. Boy, the Pharisees
did. You do that, for in them you think you have eternal life,
and they are they which testify of me. Now eternal life can't
come by searching and studying and memorizing scriptures with
our dead spiritual mind. These men were in the scriptures
every day and they had no idea those scriptures were talking
about Jesus of Nazareth being the Christ. They didn't see it
because they hadn't been born again and the proof of it is
in verse 40. You will not come unto me that
you might have life. So the new birth, It can't come
from just memorizing scriptures with our natural mind. The new
birth also cannot come from fantastic religious experiences. Look back
in our text, John 3 at the end of verse 2. Nicodemus says, now
no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be
with him. Nicodemus had seen quite a few
miracles. I mean, you think this man saw
the Lord turn the water into wine. He's seen him heal people. He's seen him raise the dead.
He's seen miracles. But seeing miracles never makes
anybody be born again. Never does. You know, we would
love to see the gift of healing on our loved ones who are sick.
We'd love to, you know, what all the different miracles are.
But now listen, that ain't going to do us any good. Seeing miracles
never makes anybody be born again and see Christ. Nicodemus saw
all the miracles that the Lord performed, and the best thing
he had come up with is your man sent from God. Just like any
other prophet, he couldn't see him as the Christ because he'd
not been born again. Well, all right, here's what
we've got so far. The new birth is necessary for salvation, and
we can't have life without it. The new birth doesn't have anything
to do with the flesh. The new birth doesn't have anything to
do with the motions of religion. It's not a head knowledge of
religious facts. That's what the new birth is
not. All right then preacher, what is the new birth? You told
me what it's not. Can you tell me what it is? I
can tell you. The new birth is spiritual. The
new birth is not fleshly. The new birth is the birth of
a brand new spiritual man. a brand new spiritual nature
that God, the Holy Spirit, causes to be born in our hearts. Look
at 2 Corinthians chapter five. The new birth is the birth of
a new nature, a new creature who has never existed before.
2 Corinthians five, verse 17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
he's a new creature. The same word translated creature
there is usually translated creation. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
he's a new creation, or a new creature. Old things are passed
away, and behold, all things are become new. Now, you don't
have to be right bright to understand what that's saying. If any man's
in Christ, he's there because he's a new creature. A man was
arguing with me about that one time, and I said, That's the
new birth, you're a new creature. And he said, well, it doesn't
mean that. I said, what does it mean? He said, well, I don't know,
but it doesn't mean that. Yeah, the Bible means what it says.
If any man's in Christ, I'll tell you why he's there, he's
a new creature. He's a brand new creation that's
been born of God. And I'll show you that in 1 Peter
1. I know we're turning to a lot of scriptures
here, but I want you to see this. I feel like it's so important
we understand what God says the new birth is. You don't have
to understand it, but just believe what God says. 1st Corinthians
or 1st Peter 1 verse 23, being born again. Now here's how somebody
is born again, not of corruptible seed, not of corruptible, dead,
dying seed of the flesh, but of incorruptible by the word
of God, which liveth and abideth forever. When a person is born
again, were conceived by the word of God. Much like the first
time we were born, the first time all of us were born, we
were conceived in our mother's womb by seed, the sinful seed
of our father. Now that seed produced a sinner.
That's the only thing it can produce. It can only produce
a sinner who can only sin, because that's the nature of the seed
that conceived us. That's why we're all sinners.
It's so easy to see. When the new birth, were conceived
by seed, too, but not by corruptible, by incorruptible seed, by the
Word of God. And that birth, anybody that's
conceived by the Word of God, when they're born, they can only
be born with a righteous nature that cannot sin, because that's
the kind of seed, that's the nature of the seed. It's incorruptible,
holy, righteous seed, and that new man can never sin. Now, my
old man, He's unchanged. He's never going to do anything
but sin. The new man is never going to sin. If you've been born again, you
understand that. You understand that because you
feel the warfare going on between those two, don't you? It's impossible
for that new man to sin because he was conceived by sinless sin.
Let me show you that in 1 John chapter 3. I'm not just making
this up now. This is not just the doctrine
that we've decided to adopt. This is what God's word teaches.
1 John 3. Verse 9. Whosoever is born of God doth
not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot
sin, because he is born of God. Now, I'm sure you're like me
and you've heard people say, well, now that just means a person
who's born again won't practice sin. Now, you know good and well that's
not true. You know good and well that's not true. If that's true,
that what John's saying here is that someone's been born again
doesn't practice sin, then no son of Adam's ever been born
again. Because even after we're born again, everything we do
is sinful. Now, you know it doesn't mean that. Our Lord taught us
to pray, forgive us our sins. Now, why would he tell us to
pray that way if we don't practice sin? That's not what John means. What he means is this. The new
man, born of God the Holy Spirit, does not sin, because he cannot
sin, because he's been conceived by holy seed. And that's the
way we've got to be born. The holy God cannot accept us
into his presence as we are. We've got to be made holy and
righteous. But we can't do anything holy
or righteous, can we? We can't do anything to make
ourselves holy. We can't do anything to make ourselves righteous.
That ship sailed a long time ago. It's too late for that.
So God the Holy Spirit causes a new nature to be born in the
hearts of his elect, a nature that God will accept. And it's
that man that will go straight into the presence of God when
the flesh dies. When the body of a believer finally
dies, instantly, you know what happens? The flesh dies. The nature of the flesh has finally
died. And that nature that's been trapped inside him for all
this time goes straight into the presence of God. Doesn't
have to be cleaned up, washed up, changed. He goes straight
into the presence of God because he was born righteous. He was
born holy. And that's why he can go straight
into the presence of God. All of that means that a believer
has to live with two opposite natures in one body, always warring
against each other. Those two natures will war against
each other with all they've got until the flesh finally dies.
Neither one of them will ever quit. That old man will never
quit trying to get you to trust in your own works. Never. He'll
always be trying to convince you, trust in something that
you do. God will bless you if you do this. God's not blessing
you because you've done that. The old man will never shut up
about it. But the new man will never quit
trusting Christ. The new man will never change
sides and finally start trusting in the works of the flesh. He'll
always war against trusting the works of the flesh. And neither
one of them will ever quit, which leaves the believer the happiest,
most miserable person on earth, doesn't it? You're so happy you've
been born again, but you're miserable, you're living in this civil war.
And it's miserable, I understand. I mean, I know. But here's something that will
encourage you and comfort you. You know, most times, to us,
to the believer, what it feels like is the new man's prevailing. I mean, I don't want to sin,
but I do. Isn't that what Paul was talking about in Romans 7?
I don't want to sin, but I do. What I don't want to do, that's
what I find myself doing. What I want to do, I don't seem
to be able to do it. It feels like the old man's winning. I mean, why do I sin so much
if the new man, you know, if the new man would just prevail,
I wouldn't sin so much. Well, the new man will prevail. I promise you he'll prevail.
The new man will prevail. Now he's not gonna prevail by
stopping you from sinning or making you sin less than you
used to. The new man will prevail in this
way. He will always make you look to Christ. He'll always
make you trust Christ. He'll always make you run to
Christ asking for mercy. Yes, you see your sin. But it's
only the new man that can see the sin of the old man, isn't
it? Before you were born again, you didn't see yourself as all
that sinful at all. He said, well, I mean, you know, I'm not
perfect. I do some things wrong. I'm not that bad. Now you see
yourself as totally depraved. Why do you see that? Because
only the new man can see the sin of the old man. And when
the new man sees the sin of the old man, what does he do? He
makes you run to Christ to beg for forgiveness. He makes you
one more time hear the gospel of that bloody sacrifice of Christ
and know your blood's been put away by the blood of Christ.
He constantly keeps bringing you to Christ. and he'll never
quit trusting Christ. So that if you have been born
again, get ahold of your seats here. If you have been born again,
your name is gonna be listed right alongside Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob in Hebrews chapter 11. You think, oh, I'd like to
be like, oh, what those men did. I'd like to see what they, I'd
like to serve God like they did. These all died in faith. you're gonna be listed right
along beside him if you've been born again. The new man will
prevail. All right, that's what the new
birth is. How's it happen? How does the
new birth happen? Look back in our text, John 3. The new birth is the birth of
a spiritual man. So God, the Holy Spirit, has
to birth him. He's gonna be a holy man, spiritual man. He's got
to be born of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is gonna
birth God's people sovereignly. 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 everyone
that's born of the Spirit. Now the wind blows where it wants
to. It just blows where God sends
it. We can't direct it, we can't stop it, we can't change it.
The same thing is true about the Holy Spirit of God. The Spirit
moves where He will. He gives life to whom He will. Spiritual, eternal life is all
up to the will of God. It's all up to Him giving it
to whom He will. And I'm telling you this, if
we're born again, it's because God willed it. Not because we
decided to accept it, not because we decided to be born again,
it's because Almighty God willed it. James chapter one. Now, how is it that a sinner
is born again? It's by the will of God, the
Holy Spirit. James 1, verse 18. Of his own will begat he, birthed
he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first
fruits of his creatures. How'd that happen? Of his own
will, using the word of God as the seed. God, the Holy Spirit,
Sovereignly gives life to whom he will because God is gracious
to dead sinners. So if Christ died for you, you
must live. And the Holy Spirit is the one
that's going to give you life. You must live because Christ
already died the death that you deserve. So the Holy Spirit comes
and gives you the life that Christ earned, that Christ deserves
as a man made under the law. Now do you see that? Do you see? Do you understand? Do you believe
that? Do you love that? If you do,
it's because you've been born again. You've been given the
mind of Christ. That's what the new birth is.
That's how the new birth happens. Now I want to give you this in
conclusion. How can I be born again? How can you be born again? How can I be born again? I can't
decide to be born again. I can't decide to get saved.
How can I be born again then? You can ask God to cause you
to be born again. That's what you can do. Now look
back to Psalm 51. This is the Psalm that we read
to open the surface. David wrote it. David, the man
after God's own heart. And you know what David asked
God to do? Make me be born again. We can do the same thing David
did. Psalm 51 verse nine. Hide thy face from my sins and
blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O
God, and renew a right spirit within me. We can ask God to
cause me to be born again. I don't have a clean heart, but
God, would you create one? I don't have a clean, righteous,
holy nature. but would you cause one to be
born in me? We can't decide to get born again, but we sure can
beg God to do it for us, can't we? And I pray that's what each
of us will leave here doing this morning. All right, let's bow
together in prayer. Our Father, how we thank you,
the plain, obvious teaching of what the new birth is, how and
why you birth your people again to spiritual, eternal life that
can never die. And Father, I pray that you would
be our teacher this morning, that you would apply your word
to each heart here, that you would make us see, that you would
make us understand, because by the power of your spirit, you
cause us to be born again. The word, the seed, the word
of God has been preached. Father, I pray and beg of you,
beseech you, that you would plant it in each heart here this morning.
And we ask, Father, that you do it to the praise and glory
of your person, your grace, that you do it so that Christ our
Savior would be praised and magnified for his great work that he's
done for his people. Father, it's in Christ's name,
for his sake we pray, amen. All right, Sean, come lead us
in our closing song. If you would, turn in your hymnals
to song number 323. 323, and stand as we sing, More Love to
Thee. More love to Thee, O Christ,
more love to Thee. Hear Thou the prayer I make,
unbended knee. This is my earnest plea, more
love, O Christ, to Thee. More love to Thee, More love
to Thee, Once earthly joy I craved, sought
peace and rest. Now the alone I seek, give what
is best. This all my prayer shall be,
more love, O Christ, to Thee. More love to thee, more love
to thee. Let sorrow do its work, send
grief and pain. Sweet are thy messengers, sweet
their refrain. when they can sing with me, more
love, O Christ, to Thee, more love to Thee, more love to Thee. Then shall my latest breath whisper
Thy praise, This be the parting cry my heart shall raise, This
still its prayer shall be, More love, O Christ, to Thee, More
love to Thee, More love to Thee. Oh, God.