Alright, let's begin our service
opening our Bibles to the Gospel of John. John chapter 3. I'll make a few announcements
as you're turning. The visitation for Julie's grandmother
will be today from 3.30 to 6, followed by a funeral service
at the Southside Nazarene Church in Catlesburg. On a much happier
note, on Sunday the 20th we'll have a zero birthday party. for
Amy and Bobby Lee and for Barb Collins. I know we'll look forward
to that. I covet your prayers. Lord willing, this evening I'll
be preaching at Todd's Road Grace Church and coming back home tonight. And next Sunday, Lord willing,
I'll be preaching at the conference in Cottagefield. Brother Paul
Mahan and Don Fortner, Pastor Gabe Stoniker will be here to
preach to you. So I know you'll look forward
to that. I covet your prayers as we travel and preach. All
right, John chapter three. 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 canst not tell whence it
cometh, and whither it goeth. So is every one that is born
of the Spirit." We'll end our reading there. All right, let's
stand together as Mike leads us in singing our call to worship. Believer, let not unbelief, nor
peace and joy devour, Jehovah Jireh sins relieve, for every
trying hour. The Lord will keep you, be assured,
in him on every side. His Christ, the angel of the
Lord, Jehovah will provide. Though strength may fail and
woes increase, Our God, the Savior, abides. His love and mercy never cease,
Jehovah will provide. He saw us fallen, lost, and dead,
and did for us provide Himself the Lamb, who in our stead was
sacrificed and died. All grace in Christ for us Turn
now to 212 in our What can wash away my sins? What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that
makes me white as snow. No other fount I know For my pardon this I see, For
my cleansing this I plea, Oh, precious is the flow that
makes me white as snow. No other hound I know, but the
blood of Jesus. Nothing can forsin atone, Not of good that I have done,
but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that
makes me white as snow. No other pelt I know, This is all my hope and peace. This is all my righteousness. Oh, precious is the flow that
makes me white as snow. No other fount I know. I love you. I love you. I love you. Good. I saw all the children
singing that song. That's a blessing to see that. Let's turn now to 216, over a
few pages. 216. Look to the Lamb of God. If you from sin are longing to
be free, Look to the Lamb of God. He too will redeem you died
on Calvary. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God, For
He alone is able to save you. Look to the Lamb of God. When saints and tempts and doubts
and fears assail, Look to the Lamb of God. You in His strength shall over
all prevail. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God For He
alone is able to save you Look to the Lamb of God Are you weary? Does the wait seem long? Look to the Lamb of God His love
will cheer and fill your heart with song. Look to the Lamb of
God! Look to the Lamb of God! Look to the Lamb of God, for
He alone is able to save you. Look to the Lamb of God, fear
not when shadows are Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. For He alone is able to save
you. Look to the Lamb of God. If you turn to back to 1 Kings
chapter 17, this is where our message will be from this morning.
Well, while you're turning, I just got to say, not being up here
very often, it's such a blessing to hear all that singing coming
forth and praising our Lord. A blessing in fact, as you prepare
to bring the message. So let's go 1 Kings chapter 17
and we'll pick up in verse 17. And here we are after Elijah
went to that widow, to that elect, and he picked up. And it came
to pass, after these things, that the son of the woman, the
mistress of the house, fell sick. And his sickness was so sore
that there was no breath left in him. And she said unto Elijah,
what have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? Art thou come
unto me to call my sin to remembrance and to slay my son. And he said
unto her, Give me thy son. He took him out of her bosom
and carried him up into a loft where he abode and laid him on
his own bed. He cried unto the Lord and said,
O Lord, my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with
whom I sojourned by slaying her son? And he stretched himself
upon the child three times and cried unto the Lord and said,
Oh, Lord, my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come unto
him again. And the Lord heard the voice
of Elijah and the soul of the child came into him again and
he revived. Elijah took the child and brought
him out of the chamber into the house and delivered him under
his mother. And Elijah said, See, thy son
liveth. And the woman said to Elisha,
now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the
word of the Lord in my mouth is true. And the Lord bless his
way. Our great, holy, heavenly father,
come before you this morning, a thankful people, and yet a
needy people. Lord, we're so, so thankful for
this written word, that you've given us a full revelation of
the incarnate word, our Lord Jesus Christ. That you've given
us a pastor to proclaim that word to us. And that we don't
need signs and wonders to know that he's bringing us your word. We have this word that we can
try this spirit. Father, we pray that you would
bless the message brought this morning. Lord, leave us not alone. Lord, whenever men endeavor to
preach and glorify our Lord Jesus Christ, leave them not alone.
Send your spirit to be among them. Give our pastors a word
from me. Lord, give us hearing ears and
receiving hearts. Lord, we're mindful through sickness
and death and trials of this world of our sin, but we're so
thankful for regeneration through the Lord Jesus Christ, for life,
life to hear, we praise our Lord, to know salvation in Him. Father, we pray for that life. We think of our children here
in this congregation, Lord. Thou hast hedged them about as
they go out into the world. in school or our young people
in their jobs, and we know that thou art protecting them, but
Lord, we pray that you would reveal yourself to them. They've
sat under the sound of the gospel. It calls them to hear. Give them
faith. Show them their need. It calls
them to run to our Lord Jesus Christ, to cling to him. We ask
that for for our friends and family, for anyone, our loved
ones, that you would reveal yourself to them. Thou art able, Lord,
won't you be willing to glorify our Lord Jesus Christ through
the saving of sinners. Father, we pray for those going
through trials, sickness, loss, We pray, Lord, that you would
hold them up, cause them to look to Christ for comfort, for peace. Cause us to help one another,
to lift one another up in prayer and act in love. Father, we pray
once again, bless this world this morning. Speak to the new
man, speak to our living hearts, calls us to rejoice and glorify
our Lord Jesus Christ. It's in his name that we pray
all these things. Amen. Our sovereign God maintains His
universal throne In heaven and earth and hell He reigns And
makes His wonders known His counsels and decrees firmer than mountains
stand. He will perform, ah, dare he
please, and none can stay his head. All things His will controls,
And all His all-wise decree, As fix the destinies of all In
matchless sovereignty. Jacob, by grace he's saved, and
gives no reason why. But Esau's heart he left depraved,
And who shall dare reply? What if the potter takes Part
of a lump of clay? And for himself a vessel makes,
And casts the rest away. Who shall resist his will, Or
say, What doest thou? is the Sovereign still, and all
to Him must bow. My soul, bow and adore the Lord
in all His ways. His sovereignty none can explore,
but I will trust His praise. For of His and to Him, and to
Him are all things. To whom be glory evermore. Amen, Amen, Amen. To whom be glory evermore. Amen, Amen, Amen. Alright, open your Bibles if
you would. 1 Kings chapter 17, the passage Brother Dan read
for us a moment ago. I read to you the verse in the
book of Hebrews that brought me here to 1 Kings 17. The writer
says in Hebrews 11 verse 33, who through faith subdued kingdoms,
wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths
of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of
the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in
fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received
their dead, raised to life again. And what I want us to see this
morning in 1 Kings chapter 17 is a picture of the new birth.
By faith, a woman received her dead to life again. We looked
at this story here in our Bible class this morning, how the Lord
had set a famine in the land for three years and six months.
During that time, the Lord sent Elijah to a Gentile widow and
her son, and the Lord miraculously fed them during this time of
famine. While Elijah was still staying
with the woman, this widow's son died. Her husband had already
died. This is her only child, and her
only child died. Verse 17 of 1 Kings 17. And it came to pass after these
things that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell
sick. And his sickness was so sore that there was no breath
left in him. And she said unto Elijah, what
have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? Art thou come unto
me to call my sin to remembrance and to slay my son? I tell you
what we're going to do. We're going to very quickly forgive
what this poor mother says. I believe it was right for us
to give a free pass to pretty much anything a mother says when
one of her children dies. But she's saying, Elijah, it'd
have been better for me if I never met you, if I just never knew
you. Now, really, her son would have starved to death a year
ago if she had never met Elijah, but she's speaking out of grief.
And it could be she's saying, what good did it do me? I mean,
I'd be better off if I didn't know you. And what good did it
ever do me to know you? You're the prophet of God. You
didn't intercede for me. Stop this from happening. You
didn't stop my son from from dying. You came to me and it
seemed like you're coming to give me a blessing from God.
But you've come and discovered my past sin. You've uncovered. Here I am. I'm a Gentile. I've
lived in idolatry and all this sin. And you're really come to
discover my past sin. Now you're punishing me for my
former sin. I know you said you came to give me a blessing, but
what you've really done It punished me for my sin. Now, she shouldn't
have said that, but like I said, we're going to very quickly forgive
her, understanding the circumstances that she's in. And if you feel
like being hard on this poor woman, let me ask you a question.
How many times have you thought, oh, the Lord's punishing me for
my sin? After He's blessed me with the
forgiveness of sin, He's blessed me with salvation, He's promised
me my sins forgiven in Christ, yet this has happened to me because
God's punished me for my past sin. How often have you thought
that? I'm thinking that's a whole lot worse than what she said
to Latcha. Because this is questioning Almighty God. God's punishing
me for my sin after He promised me it was forgiven? Now this
death is given to us as a picture of our spiritual death. This
woman's son was dead. And there's not one thing she
can do about it. I mean, that's what brings such
grief to our hearts. When a loved one dies, there's
nothing we can do about it. Nothing we can do can put life
back into our loved one. I mean, this woman, maybe she
was trying. Maybe she was trying to hold that son in her bosom,
trying to get the warmth of her body into his body. But there's
nothing she could do to put life back into the body. of her son. And that's a picture of you and
me. We're born dead in trespasses and sins. And there is not one
thing we can do about it. There's not one thing we can
do to give ourself life. We lost our life when Adam sinned. When Adam sinned, you and I sinned.
And because of his sin, Adam died. When Adam died, you and
I died in him. He was our representative. The
Apostle Paul said, by one man sin entered into the world and
death by sin. So death passed upon all men
for that all have sinned and literally translated that means
all sinned in Adam. We sinned in Adam. We died in
Adam too. And we're powerless to give ourselves
life again. Nothing we can do to put spiritual
life back into our soul. The only hope we have is that
we would be given life. given life from the dead, life
from above, and the new birth. And that's what I want to talk
to you about this morning, the new birth. Regeneration, I titled
the message Regeneration, life from the dead. Now, number one,
regeneration happens when a sinner is alone with God. Verse 19,
and he said unto her, give me thy son. And he took him out
of her bosom and carried him up into a loft where he abode
and laid him upon his own bed. Now this boy was dead. And if
Elijah told that boy, son, I'll give you life. If you'll just
take the first step toward my law, I'll take you up and give
you life. If he had said that, what would
have happened? That boy would have stayed dead, wouldn't he? If Elijah would have said, now
just, you know, make the first move. Show me you've got some
interest and I'll give you life. He'd have stayed dead. could
not take the first step because he's dead. He couldn't take the
first step of his life dependent upon it. He's dead, he's powerless
to move. If Elijah would have said, now
come on now, take the first step towards me. Don't you hear your
mother's crying? Aren't you affected by her broken
heart? Make her feel better and take
the first step toward me, I'll give you life. Boy would stay
dead, wouldn't he? He's dead. And since he's dead,
he's completely unaffected by his mother's tears. He can't
hear her. He can't hear what she said to
him. He couldn't have heard what Elijah said to him. He's dead. That boy is going to go to the
next room. How's he going to get there? Elijah's going to
have to carry him there. He's going to have to take him
there. And that's you and me. We're spiritually dead. And if
God sent a preacher, to promise that God would save us if we
just take the first step toward Him, we'd stay dead and go to
hell. Because we're dead and we can't
take the first step. If God sent a preacher and promised
to save us, if we just repent, or we just believe, if you just
believe God, we'd stay dead and we'd go to hell. We don't have
the capacity in us to believe. We don't have the capacity to
repent. We're dead. Dead people can't
do anything. We can hear the gospel with these
ears, but we don't have the power to believe it. We don't have
the power to love it. And you know why that is? Because
we're dead. We're spiritually dead. This
boy needs somebody else to give him life because he can't do
it himself. And that's what you and I need.
We need somebody else to give us spiritual life. We can't get
it for ourselves. And the only way that will happen
is if we're alone with God. Elijah took this boy and now
he's in his room. He's alone with Elijah. The only
way you and I will ever be born again is if we get alone with
God. Now that does not mean you have
to go home and get in a room all by yourself and not let anybody
in. You can be alone with God in an auditorium full of people.
You can be alone with God. Being alone with God is when
I find God speaking to my heart. I know there's a lot of other
people here, but it seems like God is talking only to me. God is dealing directly with
me. That's being alone with God.
And I can tell if I've been alone with God. I can tell that God
has spoken to my heart. When the gospel of Christ stops
being a doctrine that's different from other denominations, around
the area and the gospel starts being what I need. Not what somebody
else needs, what I need. I find myself craving the gospel. I must hear it. I can tell that
I've been alone with God when the gospel of Christ becomes
my life. My life. Christ is my life. When the gospel Quits being about
Christ and starts being Christ. Oh, now God's spoken to my heart.
Now Christ is my Savior. He's my life. He's my righteousness. When that happens, I know I've
been alone with God. God's spoken to my heart. And
you know, nothing in creation is left up to chance. Things
that we call good, things that we call bad. Earl and I were
talking about this last week. I worry myself sick about what's
going to happen to this country politically. I mean, I just think
there's not going to be a country left for our children. I just
worry myself sick. And they're all reminding me
now, well, nothing left up to chance, is it? God's either in
control or he's not. Nothing is left up to chance.
I've been hoping and praying for rain, for rain, for rain.
This afternoon, I've got to go up to Lexington. Tonight, I've
got to come back. I might have to rain today. God's in control. He's not left up to chance. Well,
that is certainly true concerning the salvation of God's elect.
God's not going to leave their salvation up to chance. He's
not going to leave it up to them. How are God's elect going to
get to the place where they hear the gospel? And how is that dead
sinner going to believe it? How is that dead sinner going
to hear it and believe it? God's going to carry them. He's
going to take them. When I first got out of college,
I went down south to work a job for a while in South Carolina.
A man I worked with would come to me and say, would you carry
me over to this city? Or we got this job going on.
Would you carry me over there? And it figured out, that sounds
so strange to me. Would you carry me? He means,
would you take me? Would you drive me? Would you
give me a ride? Well, that's what God does for his people.
He carries them. Where is it they need to go hear
the gospel? God will carry them. He's going to take them there
and He's going to give them an ear to hear it. He's going to
give them a heart to believe it. See, God in the gospel commands
us to come to Christ. That's not a good idea now. That's
not just something maybe we should do someday. God commands us to
come to Christ. That's a sweet commandment, isn't
it? It's a commandment. God commands
us. to do what we cannot do. And
then he carries us to Christ. He takes us to him. Regeneration
comes from being alone with God. Regeneration is a work that God
does in us and only God can do it. Number two, regeneration
is the result of Christ interceding for his people. Verse 20, he
cried unto the Lord and said, O Lord my God, hast thou also
brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourned by slaying her
son? Now Elijah here is a picture of Christ, our great high priest,
who's interceding for his people. He is interceding, Elijah is,
particularly for this boy. Not all the other boys in town,
not all the other widows and their sons in town, this boy
and this widow. Look at John chapter 17. This
is exactly what our Savior was doing in John chapter 17. If you want to read the Lord's prayer,
the Lord's prayer here is found in John chapter 17. This is the
prayer of Christ, our great high priest, as he prayed particularly
for his elect. He prayed for his elect and only
his elect. Verse two, he says, as thou has
given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life
to who? as many as thou hast given him. Christ is going to
give life to somebody, and I know exactly who it is. It's all those
that the father elected and gave to Christ to save. He's going
to give them life. Verse three, and this is eternal
life, that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ
whom thou has sent. Now, salvation is a person. Salvation
is knowing and loving, believing a person. It's not knowing the
right doctrine. It's not keeping the law. It's
not living more by more moral life than somebody else. Salvation
is knowing and loving and believing the Lord Jesus Christ. Well,
who's going to know Christ? Who's going to believe him? He
says they, they, all those that the father elected and gave to
Christ. Christ was interceding for those
people. And when he suffered and died,
he saved eternally saved all those that the father gave him
to say. So it's only right that God give
life to those people. It's only right. The Lord Jesus
Christ obeyed the law for them. He made them righteous. There's
no reason for them to die. Christ suffered the penalty of
the broken law for them. He suffered and died for his
people. as their substitute. Just like
we sinned in Adam, we died in Christ. Just like we sinned in
Adam, we obeyed the law in Christ. There's no reason for God's elect
to stay dead. Christ has made them righteous.
He satisfied the law for them. He satisfied justice for them.
So now God's justice demands that they live. God's justice
demands they have eternal life. And I tell you when they receive
it, Christ makes intercession for them. See, Christ suffered
and died. He didn't stay dead. He rose
again. He ascended back on high where
he ever liveth, doing what? Making intercession for his people. And when he makes intercession
for his people, he's not asking the Father to do me a favor and
give this one life. No. He's saying, Father, give
this one life. I died for them. My blood was
shed for them. He's pleading his sacrifice.
He's pleading himself. So he always receives what he
asks He intercedes with the father because he's pleading his sacrifice. All right, here's the third thing.
Regeneration is the work of the Holy Spirit in us. Verse 21. And he stretched himself upon
the child three times and cried unto the Lord and said, Oh, Lord,
my God, I pray they let this child soul come into him again. No, Elijah stretched himself
out upon this boy, and the word means He measured himself upon
him. Elisha did something very similar
one time. He stretched himself. He measured
himself upon this dead child. He put his face on his face,
put his hands on his hands. He put his heart on his heart,
his feet on his feet. He measured himself upon him,
making himself exactly what that boy needs. Well, that's a picture
of Christ. He measured himself. He made
himself to be exactly what his people need. The Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, was made flesh. He was made a real human being
so that he could be our representative, the representative of his people
who are in the flesh. And Christ was sinless flesh
so that he could be the substitute for his people and take their
sin away. See, if he had sin of his own, he couldn't take
our sin away, could he? But he's sinless, so he could take the
sin of his people away from him. He obeyed the law as a man, not
for himself. He's already holy. He's already
righteous. He obeyed the law as a man so
he could give that righteousness to his people. Then he stretched
himself. He measured himself upon his
people. He made himself to be exactly
what his people need. He was made sin for his people.
He took all of the sin. He took all of the iniquity.
He took all the vileness. of the sin of his people away
from them. And he took it in his own body upon the tree and
he sacrificed himself as the only sacrifice that could put
away sin. He's the only perfect sinless
sacrifice. He's the only sacrifice that
the father would accept. The Lord Jesus Christ made himself
everything his people need so that they would have eternal
life. And when the spirit of Christ comes, he measures himself
upon his people, face to face, hand to hand, arm to arm, chest
to chest, heart to heart, foot to foot. And he breathes life
into God's elect. Just like God breathed life into
Adam, God, the Holy Spirit breathes life into his people. All right,
fourthly, regeneration in this life will lead to eternal life
in glory. Verse 23. And Elijah took the
child and brought him down out of the chamber into the house
and delivered him unto his mother. And Elijah said, See, thy son
liveth. Now, nothing, I mean, nothing
would have satisfied this mother other than her living son. The
only thing that would have satisfied her. Elijah's concerns and his
prayers, she might have appreciated them. but it wouldn't satisfy
her if her son stayed dead. The only thing that would satisfy
her broken heart is her son be given back to her alive so that
she could enjoy his company. And we can just imagine how satisfied,
how filled with joy she was when Elijah brought her son and she
received her son alive from the dead. And that's exactly what
the writer of the Hebrews was talking about. Chapter 11. In
verse 24, the woman said unto Elijah, Now by this I know that
thou art a man of God, and the word of the Lord in thy mouth
is truth. She sure changed her tune from
just a little bit ago, didn't she? Just a little bit ago she
was saying, it would have been better for me if I never met you. Now
she's saying, I know you're a man of God, and the word in your
mouth is truth. She changed her tune. Well, you
know, that always happens. Our tune is changed when God
gives life from the dead. Here's the picture. The father
loved the people in eternity. It was his purpose to save those
people and nothing, nothing but their eternal life would satisfy
him. The father elected a people to
save. I'm going to say this carefully, but this is true. More than election
is required. for the salvation of a sinner.
Now it's got to start there. The gospel's got to start there.
Everything in the gospel flows from God's election of a people,
but more than election is required for salvation. The son must come
in the flesh. He must suffer and die as a sacrifice
for the sins of those people that the father chose to save.
But more than a sacrifice is required for the salvation of
a sinner. Redemption in Christ, that did change our legal standing
with God. It absolutely did. But it didn't
change us. No, it didn't change us. If we
would have eternal life, we've got to be changed. Something's
got to be done in us. We've got to be given life from
the dead. So the Holy Spirit must come
and give spiritual, holy, eternal life to God's elect. The Spirit's
got to do that. Not only does God's justice demand
it, the father will never be satisfied. And to all those people
that he chose, all those people for whom the son died are given
eternal life. And that's what the Holy Spirit
does. See the blood must be shed. I say this very carefully that
more than a sacrifice is required for the salvation of a sinner.
I say that carefully. But that's so. The blood must
be shed. It's like the day of the Passover.
The blood had to be shed. The blood had to be caught in
the basin, didn't it? The lamb, the Passover lamb, had to die.
But brother, that blood better be applied to the doorpost. If
it's not, the firstborn's gonna die. The blood must be applied. The Holy Spirit comes and he
applies the blood of the sacrifice of Christ to our heart and gives
life, his faith, in the new birth. The Father, the Son, the Holy
Spirit will all be satisfied when all of the elect are presented
faultless before the Father with exceeding joy. The Father will
be satisfied when the Son says to him, behold, I and the children
which God has given me. Father, they're all here. Not
one of them is missing. And then the Father will be satisfied. All of his purpose of redemption
has been brought to pass and he's satisfied. And might I add,
we who believe will be completely satisfied then too, and not children. All right. That's the picture.
That's, that's the story that we have here. And this, this
truth of the regeneration, the necessity of the new birth is
so glorious. It's so wonderful. It's talked
about throughout scripture. And I want to read some of them
to you so that we see something of the miracle of regeneration. The new birth is so miraculous.
It's a work that can only be done by God. Our Lord told Nicodemus,
he read this to open the surface. Nicodemus came to him just flattering
the Lord, didn't he? He said, Oh, you know, we know
you're a prophet of God. Nobody could do these things
you're doing. He just flattered And the Lord just skipped all that
and got right to the heart of the issue. He said, Nicodemus, you
must be born again. He didn't say, Nicodemus, you
got to get saved. He said, Nicodemus, you must be born again. If you must be born again, you're
helpless. You don't contribute anything
to it. You've got to be born again because of what somebody
else did. You must be born again by the
will and by the power of somebody else. God, the Holy Spirit. He moves where he listed, just
like the wind does. And we won't turn to all these
scriptures, but turn to this one, Ephesians chapter two. I
want to say something of this miracle of being born again. So we're awed by it and thankful
for it. To be born again is to be spiritually
raised from the dead. It is to be given life from the
dead by God's grace. Ephesians 2 verse 1. And you
hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein
in time 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 all had our conversation in times past, in the lust of our
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind.
And we're by nature the children of wrath, even as others. And
we've been that way a long time. You know, this widow's son, he
was just nudely dead, wasn't he? She was still holding him
in his arms. We're dead. We've been dead a
long time, a long 6,000 years. We're dead so that we're stinking
and rotting. We're dead so that there's nothing
left but dust. That's how, that's, that's the
deadness I'm talking about, our spiritual deadness. Oh, but verse
four, but God who's rich in mercy for his great lover with he loved
us. He loved us even when we were
dead in sins. What has he done? Hath quickened
us together with Christ by grace you're saved and he's raised
us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus that in the ages to come, He might show the exceeding
riches of His grace and His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. The regeneration is to be given
life from the dead. Now, why would God Almighty give
a wretch like me who's dead, stinking and rotting and trespasses
and sins? I got my conversation, my citizenship
in the lust of this flesh. I live to fulfill the desires
of this flesh and of this wicked mind. I am by nature the children
of wrath, even as others whom he passes by. Why on earth would
almighty God give life to somebody like me? For his glory. That's why God
did all this so that he would get the glory in giving life
to the dead. Who else could do that? Only
God. He did it. He does this so that
he would be glorified. Then to be born again. is to
be made a brand new creature, is to be made a spiritual man
who never existed before. This is a new birth. A new man
is born here. 2 Corinthians 5, 17 says, therefore,
if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. When a sinner
is born again, everything is new. Everything is. That new
man has got a new motive because he's got a new heart. New motives
that come from a new heart. Now you serve God out of love
and thanksgiving. You don't serve him out of fear
of punishment. You don't serve him trying to get a reward from
him. You serve him out of love. And you have a new motive of
love because God's given you a new heart. A heart that loves
Christ. Everything's new. The gospel's
all the same. The gospel you've heard preached
has not changed one whit. But now you see it. Because you've
got new eyes to see. The gospel you hear preached
with these ears hasn't changed one bit, but now you hear it.
Because God's given you new ears. Now, it's like, yeah, yeah, I
wish he'd hurry up so we could hurry up and go get in line down
at the restaurants, you know, get a good seat. Now you believe
it. Now you believe what you once
hated. How did everything turn 180 degrees?
God's given you a new heart. He made you a brand new creature
and Everything has changed. Everything's new. Then to be born again, grab hold
of your seat here, to be born again, is to have Christ formed
in us, in our heart. Apostle Paul said, I'm crucified
with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. Galatians 2.20. We wouldn't dare
believe such a thing if God didn't put it in the Word. Christ liveth
in me. And the Apostle Paul went to
Galatia preaching. This is what he told them. Galatians
4 verse 19. This is why I came to you preaching.
My little children of whom I travail in birth again until what? Christ be formed in me. See, that's regeneration when
Christ is formed in you. And I'm not even gonna bother
trying to explain that. Christ is formed in you, you
know what that is. And if he's not, I'm gone. I don't have the
words to explain it. To be born again is to receive
a new nature. When God saves a sinner, God
doesn't fix up that old nature. The flesh cannot be improved. That's why the Lord told Nicodemus,
That which is born of the flesh is flesh. Of course you're going
to ask, how can these things be? Of course you don't understand
this because that which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which
is born of dead flesh can only be dead flesh and it can never
be improved. If we're going to have life,
there's got to be a new birth, a new birth. When God saves a
sinner, that sinner is born again, born a brand new person. And that person, that nature
that is born of God, is holy. It's Christ formed in you. It's
the holy nature of Christ. When we're born again, we receive
the nature of our Heavenly Father. Just like we receive the natural
nature of our Father when we're born of the flesh. My wife tells
me sometimes, oh, I've seen your dad in you. I say, that's just
what your dad would do. And I say, well, thank you. I take that
as a compliment. Why does she say that? Because when I was
conceived, I received the nature of my father. There are a lot of things about
him that I loved and admired. But now let me tell you, he's
a dead sinner. And the only nature he could pass on to me was a
dead spiritual nature. I'm just like him, just like
my father Adam. When it's a spiritual birth and
regeneration, we're born with the nature of our heavenly father.
That's why Peter said in 2 Peter 1 verse 4, whereby are given
unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might
be partakers of the divine nature. You're partakers of the divine
nature because in the new birth we receive the nature of our
heavenly father. Then to be born again is to have
the seed of God planted in us. The apostle John says in first
John three verse nine, whosoever is born of God doth not commit
sin. For his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because
he's born of God." That's that seed, the seed of the Word of
God, the seed of the Lord Jesus Christ, that nature planted in
us, and that nature cannot sin, because it's born from a holy
seed. Now look at the book of James, James chapter 1. I told you this earlier, that regeneration,
New birth is a work that only God can do. Don't take my word
for it. Here you'll see it in the word
of God, James chapter one, verse 17. Every good gift and every perfect
gift is from above and cometh down from the father of lights
with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Now,
without question, the new birth is a good gift. It's a perfect
gift. The only way we can have it is from above, from the Father. Verse 18, of his own will begat
he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first
fruits of his creatures. God Almighty does this gracious
work in the hearts of all his poor, insignificant people of
his own will. It's not of our will. It's of
his will and his power. He begat us and gave us life.
All right, one more scripture. John, the gospel of John chapter
one. If a sinful dead son of Adam
is going to become a son of God, we're going to have to be born
again into a new family with a new nature, aren't we? With
a new father. What is the power of God that gives the sinner
the right, the power, the privilege to become a son of God. John
one verse 11. He came into his own. and his
own received him not. That's all the flesh can do.
It can't see him, it can't believe him, it can't love him, it can't
receive him. He came unto his own who were in the flesh and
his own received him not. But as many as received him,
to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on his name. Now who is it that received Christ?
Who is it that believed Christ when he came? Who is it today
that believes the gospel of Christ when they hear it preached? Who
believes that? Is it people that got some ability
of themselves? They can just will themselves
to believe God when other people cannot? Is that who believes
God? No, not at all. The people who
received Christ, the people who believed Him, were the ones that
received a new want to. They received a new nature when
they were born of God. Look at verse 13. which were
born. These ones who believed on his
name were born, not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor
the will of man, but of God. See, they were born, not of the
blood, not of natural blood. They didn't believe God because
their mom and daddy were Jews. No, that's not why. It wasn't
the will of the flesh. It wasn't that they could decide
to believe God when other people cannot. They believed God by
the will of God. by the power of God who caused
them to be born again. And when they were born again,
they could not believe Christ. The only thing they could do
is believe him. All right. That's the new birth. That's what God's word has to
say about the new birth. What a miracle. Isn't that wonderful? What a miracle. I'll tell you the truth. I sure
would like to be born again, don't you? Well, how can I tell
if I've been born again? I mean, I want to know, am I
born again? Or is this just something that
I believe because it's all I've ever heard? How can I tell if
I've been born again? You know, the gospel is such
a great mystery. The smartest natural minds cannot
understand it. The softest hearted people cannot
believe it. Salvation is such a mystery.
It just can't be explained with human words. Yet it's so simple. It's so simple. Don't overcomplicate
matters here. God and His power and wisdom
make this so simple. Have I been born again? Do you
believe God? Do you believe Christ? Do you
believe He's your only hope? Is He the only hope you want? then you've been born again.
God's made you be born again. Oh, may God have mercy and cause
us to be born again. If only he can give us life from
the dead. Let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, how we thank you
for this your word. This your word that's so mysterious,
so powerful. yet that you make so plain for
the children's bread that the smallest child can believe. Father, how we thank you. How
we thank you that in your will, in your power, in your mercy
and grace to your people, that you do not leave us to our own
devices, but that it is of your will you begat, you give your
people life. Through your word, through the
preaching of your word, how you move powerfully by your spirit
and give life to the dead, give faith where there was none, give
life where there was none, give love when there was only hatred,
and give us life to believe and love and follow and feed upon
the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, I pray that you would
not let this message just be words of doctrine on paper, but
that you'd bless your word and might that you cause it to reach
the hearts of your people. Father, give life this morning.
Give life to your people through the preaching of your word. Encourage
and strengthen your people. Strengthen the life that you've
given by enabling us to feed upon Christ. Cause him to be
our all and all. It's his precious name that we
pray and give thanks. Let's stand and sing number 195,
195. Let's sing the chorus after the
second and the fourth, the even numbers. I've a message from the Lord,
Alleluia. The message unto you I'll give. It is recorded in His Word, Alleluia. It is only that you look and
live. I've a message full of love,
Alleluia. A message, O my friend, for you. Tis a message from above, Alleluia. Jesus said it, and I know tis
true. Look and live, my brother, live. Look to Jesus now and live. It is recorded in His Word, Alleluia. It is only that you look and
live. Life is given unto you, Alleluia! Eternal life thy soul shall have,
If you'll only look to Him, Alleluia! Look to Jesus who alone can save. I will tell you how I came, Alleluia,
to Jesus when he made me whole. Was believing on his name, Alleluia,
I trusted and he saved my soul. Who can leave my brother leave? Look to Jesus now and live. It is recorded in His Word, Alleluia. It is only that you look and
live. I'll get that.