Well, good morning to all of
our hearty souls that could make it out this morning. Glad to
see everybody here. Thankful to have another opportunity
to worship together. If you would, open your Bibles
with me to Revelation chapter 21. Revelation chapter 21. Before we begin, let's bow together
in prayer. Our Father, which art in heaven,
holy and reverend, is your matchless name. Lord, we thank you that
this morning out of your goodness to your people that you've given
us another opportunity to meet together and to worship you.
Father, how I pray that you enable us to do that this morning, that
you send your spirit upon us and enable us to worship you. Bless your word as it's open,
we pray. And enable us to hear one more
time of our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, I pray that everything
that we would hear would be mixed with faith, that you'd give us
a hearing ear, perceptive, a believing heart, that we would not just
hear things about our Lord Jesus Christ, but that we'd hear Him
and believe Him, cling to Him, cause us to rest even more fully
in Him. Father, we pray that you'd bless
those who can't be with us this morning. We pray that you would
give those who are on the roads safety and safe travels that
you continue to watch over and bless your people. Father, we
pray for those who are sick, who are sorrowing. We pray especially
for Peg Wooten and her family at this difficult time, that
you comfort their hearts with your presence, that you cause
us to be a help and encouragement to them. Father, we pray that
you bless our children's classes, cause your gospel to to run well
in those classes that the seeds of faith might be planted in
the hearts of our little ones. How we beg your mercy for them. Father again, in this hour, bless
us with your presence. Enable us to see more of our
Lord Jesus Christ. For it's his blessed name we
pray, give thanks. Amen. All right, Revelation 21,
we looked at the first eight verses last week, but I want
us to take a closer look at verse five. I've entitled the message
this morning, The New Birth. Verse 5 of Revelation 21, And
he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.
And he said unto me, Write, for these words are true and faithful.
I've reminded us often during our study in the book of Revelation
that this book does not simply tell us what God will do at the
end of time. The book of Revelation tells
us what God is doing, what he will yet do for his people what
he has done for his people. This is the Savior speaking in
verse five, sitting upon the throne. He says, behold, I make
all things new. Certainly that does apply to
the new creation. There is coming a day when he'll
burn up this creation, create new heavens and a new earth.
But he's also talking about what he is doing for his people right
now. He is making all things new for
his people. Every time the Lord saves someone,
reveals Christ in them, he's made all things new for that
sinner. Now that's vital to salvation. There is no salvation without
the new birth. Our Savior said you must be born
again. There can't be any salvation
unless we're born again. We've got to be given a new man
because this old one can't be improved. He can't be renovated.
He can't go be with Christ. Now I'll show you why, verse
8. Remember verse 8. This describes all of us by nature. But the fearful and the unbelieving
and the abominable. and murderers and whoremongers
and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part
in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is
the second death." Now that describes all of us by nature. We're all
fearful and unbelieving. It's what we all are. So it's
obvious if we're going to be saved, we must be given a new
heart, a new nature. We must be born again. We can't
just be renovated. You can't put new wine in old
bottles. They'll just burst. We've got to be made new. So
look at Galatians chapter 6. The new birth is not improving
the old man. The new birth is not making that
old man of the flesh do some good religious things and call
that salvation, call that the new birth. Because there's no
profit in any of those things. If we would be saved, we must
be made a brand new creature. Galatians 6 verse 15. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision
availeth anything nor uncircumcision. but a new creature. The only
thing that avails anything, the only thing of any value in this
matter of salvation is a new man who's been born of God. Now
there can't be any salvation without the new birth. Salvation,
the salvation of a sinner requires the work of the whole Godhead.
If there's going to be salvation, there must be the work of the
Father in election. He must choose us first because
we'll never choose Him. There must be the work of the
Son in redemption. Somebody must pay the redemption
price. Somebody's got to make us righteous. Somebody's got
to give us an obedience. That's the work of the Son. And
thirdly, there must be the work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration.
Now you can't make one of those more important than the other
two. Salvation requires the work of all three or there is no salvation. So the new birth is the birth
of a new man. A man who never existed before.
It's life where there never was spiritual life before. That's
why we see the new birth has to be the work of God. Because
only God can create life. That's true physically and spiritually.
Only God can create life. So this is the work of God alone.
And that new man is a man who's born. He's born in a very similar
way to the way the man of the flesh is born. How's a fleshly
baby born? Fleshly baby is born from the
fleshly seed of his father. Well, so is the new man. He's
born from the seed of his father. But pretty much that's where
the similarities end. Everything else about that new
man is different. Our Lord said, I make all things
new. Everything about that new man
is new. The only thing the man of the
flesh can do is see him. That's all he can do is see him
because he's born from sinful seed of a sinful father. But
the new man can never sin because he's born from a different seed,
new seed. He's born of holy seed of his heavenly father. The man
of the flesh is a slave to sin. The new man is Christ's free
man. It's all new. The man of the flesh is under
the law. The new man is under grace. So when the savior says,
behold, I make all things new, he means more than a new creation.
He means what he is doing for his people right now through
the preaching of the gospel. Look at 2 Corinthians 5. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
he's a new creature, a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. That word new Paul uses there
is the exact same word, the same Greek word, that's used in Revelation
chapter 21. They're talking about the same
thing. So if God has saved us, everything
about that new man he's created in us is new. All the old ways
are passed away. Every believer still has two
natures. Don't don't mistake the new birth, meaning that the
old nature, the old desires, the old sin has passed away.
Now, every believer has two natures. We still have that old man we
were born with. We're not going to get rid of him until we put
these bodies in the ground. That old man is just as sinful
and just as strong as he's ever been. But there's been a new
man born in the believer, and that new man rules. Now, the
new man and the old man fight each other forever. They have
that civil war going on inside the believer forever until the
body dies. But the new man rules. Now that
doesn't mean that we sin less than we used to. We live more
wholly than we used to. If it means that, we all feel
like we're in trouble. Here's how you know the new man
rules. Old things are passed away because
the old man, he doesn't rule anymore because he cannot stop
us from believing Christ. He can't stop us from loving
Christ or needing Christ or resting in Christ. So in that way, the
new man rules. So when the Lord saves us, Everything
is new and all the old things are passed away. Look at Mark
chapter one. I'm going to go through, try
to put these all in order. I want us to look at some scriptures
to see how everything is made new for the believer. When the
Lord reveals Christ to us and in us, everything is new. First
of all, what the Lord says is we get a new doctrine. Mark chapter
one, verse 27. And they were all amazed, insomuch
that they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this? What
new doctrine is this? For with authority commanded
he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him. Now, they
said, This is a new doctrine. This is a new teaching. Now,
salvation in Christ is not a new doctrine, is it? It's the old,
old doctrine, the old, old story of grace and salvation in him.
But when Christ came, This doctrine was new in this sense. It was
fully revealed in him. You know, the Jews always they
thought that salvation was by the law, the ceremonies. They
had trouble seeing how these things pictured Christ. But once
Christ came, he revealed that salvation has always been in
him. He revealed what all those pictures, all those types, all
those ceremonies meant that it's all in him. And when Christ comes
and is saving power, he saves in authority. He calls his people. They don't have a choice. They
come to him because this is the day of his power. Father elected
those people into salvation. Christ saves those people by
his righteousness, by his blood and the spirit when he calls.
He gives those people life. He gives them faith. And they
can't say no to God when he calls because God has all power and
all authority. So man's works, man's power,
man's decisions doesn't have anything to do with it, does
it? Salvation's of the Lord, of His power. That's the doctrine
of salvation in Christ. It's in His power. Now look at
John chapter 13. When the Lord saves a sinner,
we get a new commandment. Now the old man, he's always
lived with an old commandment, the commandment of the law, which
says do and live, disobey and die. That's the commandment.
But when the Lord saves us, all that's passed away. And all things
are made new because Christ already obeyed the law for us. Christ
already died for us. So that commandment's passed
away. We're free from the law. But we're not free from a commandment.
The Lord gives us a new commandment. John 13, verse 34. A new commandment I give unto
you, that you love one another. As I have loved you, that ye
also love one another. By this all men know that you're
my disciples, if you have love one to another. Now the commandments
of the law were always grievous to us, weren't they? But our
Lord's commandments are not grievous to us. Not if he's given us a
heart of love. They're not grievous to us. We
have a new commandment, a commandment of love. Then when the Lord saves
us, he gives us a new will. Now what's the will of the flesh?
The will of the flesh is to be God ourselves. The will of the
flesh is to say, no, God, I want to make the rules. I want to
decide how a sinner can be saved. I want to decide how I can come
to you. That's where all false religion comes from. It comes
from the will of the flesh to be God myself, to say, I'm going
to decide how this matter of salvation goes. It's the same
thing as what happened to Eve in the garden. I'm going to be
God myself. I'm going to be the one, not just to know good from
evil, I'm going to be the one to determine what's good and
what's evil. I want to be God. That's the
will of the flesh. Man's will is to destroy Jesus,
to take him off the throne and put ourselves on the throne.
In Luke 23 verse 25, Pilate, after he tried everything in
this world he could do to set the Lord free, he finally delivered
Jesus to their will. That's what the scripture says.
And what was their will? Pharisees got them to cry out
to give us Jesus to destroy him. And when Pilate turned him over
to their will, that's exactly what they did. They crucified
him and killed him. But now look at Romans chapter
7. But when the Lord saves us, all that passes away because
the Lord gives us a new will. And we say with the Lord, not
my will, but thy will be done. And I know we don't do it perfectly,
but that is the will. of every new man. It's the will
of every new man. I talked to a man this week who
just found out just in the past couple weeks his wife has got
two, three months to live. And he said, Frank, we've got
a lot of peace with him. He said, this is the Lord's will.
He said, neither God's on the throne or he's not. This is the
Lord's will. And we have a lot of peace with
it. He said, now pray for us that it stay that way. We don't
do it perfectly, do we? No, but that is the will of the
new man. Romans 7 verse 18. For I know that in me, that is
in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For the will is present
with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. For
the good that I would I do not, but the evil which I would not,
that I do. Now if I do that I would not,
it's no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find
then a law, that when I would do good, evil's present with
me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man,
after the new man. But I see another law in my members,
warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity
to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this dead? I thank
God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, with the mind,
I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of
sin. I'm not going to get rid of this
flesh, all it can do is sin, but my new will is for Christ
to save me by His grace, not by my obedience. My new will
is that God forgive me for Christ's sake, because of His blood, not
because I've done something to deserve it. My new will is for
Christ to keep me by His power, not me to keep my own self by
my own morality. And my new will is that the Lord
enable me to serve Him and follow Him and surrender to His will.
Then when the Lord saves a sinner, we get a new wall. Now, we used
to walk after the way of the flesh, the course of this world,
after the prince of the power of the air. And you know, most
of that walk, mostly, it's not just the way of the flesh, which
is to seek to please the flesh and all the sinful things of
this world. But I tell you what, the worst way we demonstrate
the walk of the flesh is the walk of false religion, the walk
of self-righteousness, this walk, this way, this conduct that I
want to be God, that I want to decide how it is that I can be
saved. But when the Lord saves us, when
he reveals Christ to us, all that passes away. And we get
a new one. Romans 8 verse 1. There's therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk
not after the flesh, but after the spirit. For the law of the
spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law
of sin and death. For what the law could not do, and that it
was weak through the flesh, God sending his own son in the likeness
of sinful flesh and for sin, for sacrifice, for sin, condemned
sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. For they that are after the flesh
do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the spirit,
the things of the spirit. That's our new walk is not to
walk after the flesh, but to walk after the spirit, to walk,
to walk seeking. the Lord Jesus Christ to walk
seeking salvation and righteousness in him. Right? First Corinthians chapter one. When the Lord saves us, we get
a new knowledge. We have new knowledge because
he's given us a new mind, a new mind that can know things, a
new heart that can believe things. I'll tell you what we used to
think we knew. We used to think, I know this. I can be good enough
to please God. If I just will straighten up
and quit doing this and start doing this, I can be good enough
to please God. And all of the knowledge of the
flesh is simply ignorance. It's simply darkness. And when
the Lord saves us, all that passes away. All that what we used to
think is knowledge, we count it bedung. It passes away. And
we can say truly with the Apostle Paul, I know the in me. That is, in my flesh dwelleth
no good thing. I used to think just the opposite
of that, but now I know in me dwelleth no good thing. The only
goodness, the only righteousness that I can have, I know this,
is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. First Corinthians 1, verse 30. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth
Let him glory in the Lord. That's the new knowledge God
gives his people. I know the only righteousness
I can have is the Lord Jesus Christ. And the only reason I
have the glory is found in Christ. Galatians chapter 2. When the Lord saves us, all things
are new. We get a new life. Now our old
life was a life of the flesh, wasn't it? seeking pleasure from
the flesh. It was seeking sinful things. But like I said a minute ago,
more importantly, if seeking the pleasures of the flesh in
religious things, seeking to promote myself through religious
things by looking at religion is something that I've done.
So I can say, look at me. But when God saves us, when the
Lord reveals Christ to us, All that passes away. We quit wanting
to look at ourselves. We quit wanting anybody else
to look at ourselves. And we get a new life, a life
of faith in Christ. Galatians 2 verse 20. I am crucified
with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. In the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loves me
and gave himself for me. That's how I live. I live in
Christ. I live through faith in Christ,
not by any stretch of the imagination of my own works, but through
faith in Christ. Then when the Lord saves us,
we get a new relationship with God. Now the old man has a relationship
with God, doesn't he? But it's a relationship of a
servant to a master. We're always trying to work.
We're always trying to keep the law in order to please God, in
order to please our master, to earn something from him, to earn
his favor, because otherwise he's going to damn us. That's
the relationship of a servant to a master, isn't it? But when
Lord saves us, when he reveals Christ in us, that relationship
passes away and we get a new relationship with God. Now, no
longer are we servants. Our Lord said, I don't call you
servants. I call you my friends. I call you sons and daughters."
The Apostle John said, Behold, what manner of love the Father
hath bestowed upon us, that we, you may us, that we, somebody
like us could be called the sons of God. That's our new relationship
with God, that we're sons. And that's exactly what Christ
came to accomplish. Galatians 4 verse 1. Now I say, that the heir, as
long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though
he be lord of all, but is under tutors and governors until the
time appointed of the father. Even so we, when we were children,
were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness
of time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made
under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that,
here's why he did that, that we might receive the adoption
of sons. And because we're sons, God has sent forth the Spirit
of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore,
thou art no more a servant, but a son. And if a son, then an
heir of God through Christ. That's the new relationship.
We have the relationship of a son to a loving father. All right,
then when the Lord saves us, we get a new way of righteousness.
Now the old way of righteousness, the way that the man of the flesh
thinks is The way of righteousness is to try to earn it by keeping
the law. Now that seems right to men, doesn't it? That just
seems right to the flesh. If I want to please God, if I
want to be righteous, I've got to keep the law. That seems right.
Well, there is a way that seems right unto a man. And all of
the ways that seem right to the man of the flesh are the ways
of death. We can't keep God's law. We can't
do anything in our own bodies, our own selves, to please God.
We'll look at Ephesians chapter 4. That's the way of the flesh. But when the Lord saves us, when
he reveals Christ to us, if God ever gives us a view of the Lord
Jesus Christ, that old way, trying to keep the law to earn a righteousness
is going to pass away. If we ever see Christ, we're
going to seek righteousness in him, by God's grace in him. Ephesians
4 verse 24. And that you put on the new man.
which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. That righteousness is created
in the new man. He's created in righteousness.
He's created in true holiness and he'll never lose it ever.
He's created righteous and holy. Now, righteousness. Righteousness
is not something that's simply a legal term. It's on the books
in glory and we won't get it until we get there. No, the believer
is righteous. He created righteous. Isn't that
what the word of God says? He created in holiness. He's
already righteous in Christ right now. Right now he's righteous. And that righteousness is so
real. That union with Christ is so real that when the Lord
saves us, we get a new name. No longer do we have to go by
our worthless name, the worthless name of Adam. But Jeremiah said,
this is the name. wherewith she shall be called,
Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord, our righteousness. That's how real
that righteousness in Christ is. And really this new way of
righteousness, we find out it's not so much a way, is it? But it's a person. When we, when
God reveals Christ to us, we quit looking for ways and things
to do, but we look to a person. He is our righteousness. Then
you look at Philippians chapter 3. When the Lord saves us, we get
a new way of worship. Now the old way of worship was
self. That's all false religion. You
just watch it on TV, listen to people talk. It's the way of
self. People want to get up and say,
look what I did for Jesus. That's what the false prophets
are always trying to get people to do. Go out and do all this
stuff for Jesus, you know. It's just what their hope is.
Just listen to him. Talk us. You know, I decided to let Jesus
into my heart. You know, look how I gave this
week. Look, I sacrifice. Look, I witnessed this week,
you know, and they're the whole theme of it is, yeah, me, yeah,
me. And then later on. Oh, yeah.
And yeah, Jesus, too. That's the that's the way of
worship of false religion. Just listen to it. You can't
deny it. But when God saves us, when he
reveals Christ to us, All that passes away and we get a new
way of worship. Philippians 3 verse 3. For we
are the circumcision which worship God in spirit and in truth and
rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. That
new way of worship is the way of worship in spirit, worshiping
Christ. John 4 verse 24 says, God is
spirit. So they that worship him must
worship him in spirit and in truth. It's not a fleshly thing
of the motions of the flesh, is it? Our new worship is spiritual
worship. Then when the Lord saves us,
we get a new goal. Everybody's got goals. I tell Jan all the
time, you gotta have a goal. You gotta have a goal. Nobody
gets anything done unless they got a goal. Well, I'll tell you
what the goal of the old man is. You never can get rid of
it. It's to promote the flesh. It's
to promote song. And the goal of the old man is
to, you know, just out in the world is to get as much as you
can in this world, no matter what it cost him. But primarily
it reveals itself in religion. It's to promote self, self-righteousness,
what I did. But when the Lord saves us, all
that passes away. The goal of promoting self passes
away and we get a new goal. Our new goal is the Lord Jesus
Christ. Philippians 3 verse 8. Yea, doubtless,
and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord. For whom I have suffered the
loss of all things. All those things I used to count as good,
all those things that were my goal, I count them but loss. I put them away. They passed
away. And I do count them but dung that I may win Christ. Heed my goal that I may win Christ
and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which
is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ.
the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may know
him, that's my goal, that I may know him in the power of his
resurrection, in the fellowship of his sufferings, be made conformable
unto his death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection
of the dead. And not as though I'd already
attained, either already perfect, but I follow after. This is my
goal that I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for
which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count
not myself to have apprehended. But this one thing I do, forgetting
those things which are behind, those things I think are sinful,
those things that I think I did which were good. I forget those
things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which
are before. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high
calling of God in Christ Jesus. That's my goal is to know Christ,
to win him and be found in him so that when God looks at me,
he doesn't look at me. But he looks at me in Christ. So when
God looks at me, all he sees is the perfection of the Lord
Jesus Christ. I have a new goal. The end of
Hebrews chapter eight. When Lord saves us, we get a
new covenant. That old man, he had a covenant,
the covenant of the law, which covenant we break. It's the covenant
of the law can never give us life because we can't keep it.
All we can do is break that law. So that covenant, all it can
do is condemn us. But when the Lord saves us, all that passes
away. That old covenant passes away and he gives us a new covenant. Now we're under the covenant
of grace and the covenant of grace saves sinners. Every last
one of them it saves because Christ already met every condition
of the covenant. Hebrews 8 verse 8. For finding
fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord,
when I'll make a new covenant with the house of Israel and
with the house of Judah. Not according to the covenant
I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the
hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they continued
not on my covenant and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. But
this is the covenant that I'll make with the house of Israel.
After those days, saith the Lord, I'll put my laws into their mind
and write them in their hearts and I'll be to them a God and
they should be to me a people. And they shall not teach every
man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the
Lord. For also know me, for the least of the greatest. And I'll
be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins, and their iniquities
will I remember no more." See, that old covenant has passed
away. And this new covenant always saves sinners. Because Christ
ratified it with his own blood. And that's why the Father said,
I'll be merciful to their unrighteousness. I will remember their sins and
iniquities anymore. because it's all been put away under the blood,
under the blood of Christ. And our Lord Jesus told us that.
Remember when he instituted the Lord's table, he told his disciples,
this is my blood in the New Testament, which is shed for many for the
remission of sins. That word testament is the same
word covenant. It means it's a covenant. And
the covenant of grace was sealed with the precious blood of Christ.
And that's why that covenant of grace always saves. Christ
met every condition of it. He obeyed it perfectly and His
blood paid the penalty of it. So all that's left for His people
is mercy and life and grace in Christ Jesus. Then when the Lord saves us,
we get a new way of coming to God. Our old way of coming to
God was by our works, by our morality, wasn't it? And that's
a way that's full of fear and trembling Because inherently
we know our works aren't good enough. Inherently we know we've
not done enough to please God. He won't accept us. We always
have this feeling we've got to do more. Unless our conscience
is seared, we always know we've got to do more. But when the
Lord saves us, all that passes away and we get a new way of
life. Hebrews 10 verse 19. Having therefore brethren boldness
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new
and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the
veil, that is to say his flesh, and having an eye preached over
the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full
assurance of faith. Not in fear and trembling, but
in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an
evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. In Revelation
chapter five, when the Lord saves us, we get a new song. I heard
this song on the radio the other day and I thought that is the
song of the flesh. It's hard to be humble when you're
perfect in every way. Isn't that the song of the flesh?
It is, isn't it? Look at me. That's the song of
the flesh. Look at me. But all that passes
away when the Lord saves us. We get a new song. Now our song
is look at Christ. Revelation 5 verse 9. And they
sung a new song, saying thou art worthy to take the book and
open the seals thereof. For thou was slain and has redeemed
us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and
people and nation has made us under our God kings and priests
and we shall reign on the earth. And I beheld and I heard the
voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and
the elders and the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000
and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice, Worthy is
the lamb that was slain, for it seek power and riches and
wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. And every
creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth
and such as are in the sea and all that are in them, heard I
saying, blessing and honor and glory and power be unto him that
sitteth upon the throne and under the lamb forever and ever. That's the new song that is in
the heart of every believer. All right, well, I got too much
information here, too much notes, but we'll end there. But you
see how that works. When the Lord says, I create
new heavens and a new earth, he's not talking about only what
he's going to do at the end of time. It's what he's already
done in the hearts of his people in the new world. All right,
Lord bless you.