Let's open our Bibles again to
John chapter 3. The title of the message this
morning is The Necessity of the New Birth. This is a very important
message for the day in which we live. Sadly, our world today
is filled with people who call themselves born-again Christians. I'm born again. I'm born again.
actor, born-again athlete, or born-again, you know, whatever.
Yet they know nothing of Christ. And they actually hate the Christ
that is declared in the scriptures if they hear it. So they obviously
don't know anything about the new birth. It's like Nicodemus
couldn't understand the new birth. Then we have those who are on
the other extreme. You know, if they're not born-again
Christians, then they just deny the new birth altogether. They
say there's no such thing as a new birth. Salvation is just,
you know, you decide to be saved or whatever, you know. I have a very important message
for us this morning. I want us to be taught from God's
word what the new birth really is so that we're protected from
both of these extremes. I want us to see what what does
God's word say about these matters. I want to be very clear. I hope
to be relatively brief, but I want us to see what does God's word
say? You know, there's a group of people who just do not like
Brother Henry's commentaries on the scriptures. They say,
well, it's too simple. So all he says is what God's
word already says. To me, that's a great compliment.
And that's exactly what I want to do this morning. I want to
just say, what does God's word say about the new birth? And
based upon what our Savior says in verse seven, ye must be born
again. This is an important message
for everyone here. If you're here this morning,
this is an important message for you. Listen to these words
the Savior said. Ye must be born again. This is a personal message to
you, each of you, each of us who are gathered here this morning.
You must be born again. You must be born again. Without the new birth, you'll
die in your sin and spend eternity in hell. You must be born again. You must be born again. Sinners are 100% passive in the
new birth. You can't do anything to make
yourself be born again. You must be born again. You must be born from above Sinners
are not born because they decide to be born any more than a baby
decides to be conceived in its mother's womb. That's foolish,
isn't it? Same thing's true of the new
birth. The new birth is an act of God done in you without any
act of yours whatsoever. The new birth is not something
you do. The new birth is something God does. God does for you and
he does in you. You must be born again. And you
must be born. There's got to be a new man born.
There's got to be a new nature born from different seed than
the first birth. It's got to be different from
the first birth. And you must be born again. The
new birth is a second birth. It's a new birth. It's the birth
that's opposite of the first birth in every way. The first
birth is flesh. The new birth is spiritual. The
new birth is in sin. The second birth, the new birth
is in holiness. You must be born again. And I'll
tell you how necessary the new birth is. The new birth is just
as necessary as the Father electing you and Christ dying as your
substitute on the cross. Just as necessary. You'll never
enter heaven without the new birth. Just like you'd never
enter heaven without the sacrifice of Christ for you and the Father
choosing you. Salvation requires both. a work done for you and
a work done in you. Righteousness must be imputed
to us legally. That's Christ's work for us as
our representative. And righteousness must be imparted. Righteousness must be put in
us personally. And that's done in the new birth.
Now, Nicodemus could not understand what our Lord meant by being
born again. And you and I won't either. unless
the Holy Spirit makes us to be born again. I'll do my best to
explain what the new birth is from God's Word, but the only
people who are going to understand is people who've been born again.
That's the only people who can understand. And I want to talk
to you this morning as clearly and simply as I can about the
new birth. And I pray God will apply it
to our hearts. So here's my first question. What is the new birth? The new birth is a work that
God does in you, without any input from you at all. Just like
our first birth. Our first birth was the result
of what our parents did for us, without any input from us. I
never had any input about where I would be born or when I would
be born. That's something my parents decided
for me. The new birth is the exact same
way. It's a work that God does for
you. The new birth does not remove anything from your flesh. It
doesn't remove sinful desires or tendencies from your flesh.
It doesn't change anything about your flesh. The flesh will always
be flesh. It will never be anything but
sinful, corrupt, rotten flesh. The new birth is God imparting
life into the believer. He puts a new life in the believer
so that the believer lives with two natures in one body. Look
over Romans chapter eight. We read that from Paul's experience
of that in Romans 7 to open the surface. Look here at Romans
8 verse 10. And if Christ be in you, the
body's dead, the body's still dead because of sin, but the
spirit is life because of righteousness. That's the two natures in every
believer, life and death, sin and righteousness, that's in
every believer. Well, all right, you tell me
you're going to tell me what the scriptures say about the
new birth. Let me tell you what the scriptures say the new birth
is. First of all, the new birth is
the birth of a new man, a new nature that never existed before. The new birth is the creation
of a new man, a new nature that wasn't there before. Suddenly
there's a new nature. There's a second nature. You're
a new creature in Christ. Second Corinthians 5.17 says
this. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
he's a new creature. He's a new creation. Old things
are passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. Secondly, the new birth is to be a new creature, a new
man. And the new birth is to be raised from the dead and given
life in Christ. That's what baptism is a picture
of, isn't it? We died, we're buried, and we're resurrected
in Christ. That's what Paul tells us in
Ephesians 2 verse 1. And you hath he quickened, and
you hath he given life to, who were dead in trespasses and sins. The new birth is life from the
dead. Thirdly, scripture says the new
birth is the giving of a new heart. The new birth is not fixing
up your old heart. A new birth is the giving of
a new heart. And do you know that's not only
a New Testament teaching. This is not something that's
brand new that should have surprised Nicodemus. This was taught in
the Old Testament. Nicodemus is a ruler of the Jews. He's not a political ruler. He's
a religious ruler. He's a Pharisee. The Old Testament
scriptures were, these means life. But he didn't know it,
did he? That's why our Lord says in verse
10, Aren't thou a master of Israel and you don't know these things?
Nicodemus, these things are taught in the Old Testament. Let me
just show you one example. Ezekiel chapter 36. David said, ask God, create in
me a clean heart. Give me a new heart. In Ezekiel
36 verse 26. The new birth is the giving of
a new heart. A new heart also will I give
you, and a new spirit will I put 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 statues, and you should keep my judgments and do them. That's the giving of a new heart.
That's the new birth. It's the giving of a new heart.
Fourthly, look at Galatians chapter two. The new birth is to have Christ
dwell in your heart by faith. Galatians 2 verse 20. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless,
I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me. The new birth is to have Christ
dwell in your heart. Paul told the Colossians, what's
your hope of glory? Your hope of glory is Christ
in you. And he told the Romans, if you
don't have the spirit of Christ, if the spirit of Christ does
not dwell in you, you don't belong to him. You're none of his. The
new birth is to have Christ dwell in your heart by faith. And then
fifthly, the new birth is to be made partaker of the divine
nature, to be made partaker of the nature of Christ. Now, Peter
told us that all believers are made partakers of the divine
nature. Now, what does that mean? You
know, people say, oh, if you believe that, you think we're
made little gods with all the power and being and character
of God. No, nobody's saying that. Let me see if I explain this
to you. partakers of the divine nature. In our first birth, can
anyone deny you're made a partaker in Adam's nature? Can anybody
deny that? In honesty, can you deny you're
made a partaker of Adam's sinful nature? Of course you can't.
Because all creation begats after its kind. A fish always begats
a fish. A fish will never begat a giraffe,
ever. Birds begat birds. A bird will never begat a fish.
Cows begat cows and humans begat humans. Now, when we say we're
begotten just like our father, we don't just receive the same
kind of flesh, fleshly body as our father. We receive our father's
nature. the nature of sin. That's how
we receive Adam's sin nature. We're made partakers of his sin
because our father passed his sinful nature right on to us
through his sinful seed. Well, the new birth does the
same thing. In the new birth, we're made
partakers of the nature of God, our new father. When we're born
again, we receive the nature of Christ. It's a new nature
that's in us. The old nature is unchanged.
We receive a new nature. A nature that cannot sin. See,
in our first birth, we received a nature that can only sin. In
the second birth, we receive a nature that cannot sin. And
those two natures are gonna fight as long as the body lives. Our
first birth gave us union with Adam. Can anybody deny that? We have union with just like
Adam through our first birth. The second birth gives us union
with Christ. Look at 1 John chapter five.
This is what the scriptures teach us. 1 John 5, verse 18. We know that whosoever is born
of God sinneth not. That new nature that's born of
God sins not because it's born of the nature from the seed of
God. But he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that
wicked one toucheth him not. Now the flesh will always be
flesh, will always be nothing but sinful flesh. But the new
man, he'll always be holy and righteous and perfect because
he's born of God. That's what the new birth is.
That's what God's word says. All right, second. Why must I
be born again? Why? Will I die in my sin and
go to hell if I'm not born again? Well, several reasons. First
of all, because we're dead flesh. The flesh is, like I said, it's
not just this body. The flesh is a nature. It's a
nature of sin, a nature of corruption that cannot be improved. You can never improve this flesh
to make it any better than what it is. Look at verse six in our
text. This is what the Lord says. That
which is born of the flesh is flesh. You can't expect anything
else of it. It will always be flesh. And
that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Sin is not what we
do. Sin is what we are. That's what
our flesh is, is sin. That's why we've got to be born
again. We've got to be given a new nature, a nature of righteousness
and holiness, because we're dead in sin. Secondly, we must be
born again because we're dead. And since we're dead, we don't
have any understanding. We don't have any understanding
of God. We don't have any understanding of Christ. We don't have any
understanding of any spiritual truth whatsoever. Look at verse
three. Jesus answered and said unto
him, Verily, verily, truly, truly, Nicodemus, I say unto thee, except
a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Now that
word C our Lord uses there means no. It's the exact same word
in verse 11 that's translated no. Verily, verily, I say unto
thee, we speak that we do know. That word no is the exact same
word translated C in verse three. That word C means to know. Now you children will understand
this C. I use Sidney's example. Sidney's
mom likes to help her with her math homework, doesn't she? And
she'll explain a math problem to you. She'll show you how to
do it. And she'll say, do you see? Now she's not asking, Sidney,
do you see the sound waves come out of my mouth? That's not what
she's asking. She's asking, do you understand? Do you know? Now do you know
how to do this problem? That's what our Lord's saying.
The flesh, the nature that we're born with, can't see, cannot
see Christ, cannot know Christ. It can't. Our carnal mind is
enmity against God. Our carnal mind hates God and
is opposed to God. Not only does that carnal mind
not know God, that carnal mind has no desire to know God. So
if we're going to know God, somebody's got to give us a new mind. Somebody's
got to give us a new nature that does know God. Now, let me say
this about this knowing. Salvation is not knowing some
facts about Christ. Salvation is not learning some
biblical truths. Salvation is not knowing the
five points of Calvinism. That's not. You ought to know
those things or teach those things to our children and to our adults.
But now, salvation is not knowledge. The knowledge our Savior is speaking
of here is knowledge that the old man can never have. It's
knowledge that can only be given in the new birth to the new man. The new man has that knowledge. He knows God. That's why we've
got to be born again or we'll never know God. 1 Corinthians
2. See if this isn't what God's
Word says, we've got to be born again or we cannot know God. Verse 12. Now we have received,
not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God,
that we might know the things that are freely given to us of
God, which things also we speak, not in words which man's wisdom
teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual
things with spiritual. But the natural man receives
not the things of the spirit of God, for they're foolishness
unto him, neither can he know them, because they're spiritually
discerned. The only way we can ever know
them is if God gives us a new nature, a spiritual nature. That's when we can know God. Third, why must I be born again? Because we cannot enter the kingdom
of God in this sinful flesh, in this sinful body. Look at
verse five in our text in John three. 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, only the
new man born of God is holy and righteous. Only that new man
can enter into the kingdom of God. The new man will finally
one day enter into God's presence when he leaves this body of sin
in the grave. And that's when the new man will
be set free to go be with God. But it's the new man who only
the new man who can enter into God's presence. You know, if
we could enter into heaven at this moment, just like we are,
we wouldn't enjoy it because we're in a body of sin. Matter
of fact, if we went to heaven like we are now, we'd turn it
into hell because we're sinners. We've got to be changed. Look
at Ephesians chapter five. Ephesians 5, verse 5. For this you know, that no whoremonger
nor unclean person or covetous man who is an idolater hath any
inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man
deceive you with vain words, for because of these things cometh
the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Well, if no
unclean person can enter into heaven, and I'm unclean, Can
you tell me how I can be made clean? So I can enter? Yes, I
can. By being washed. By being washed
in the blood of Christ. The new man who's born of God
is born clean. He's born holy. And that's the
new man that will enter heaven. Fourth one, why must I be born
again? Because by nature, we refuse
to believe Christ. Now our problem is not we can't
understand. That's not our problem. Our problem
is our refusal to believe. That's our problem. Look at verse
11 in our text. Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
we speak that we do know and testify that we've seen. and
you received not our witness. The Lord didn't say you don't
understand our witness. He said you won't receive it.
You refuse to believe it. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God, and we don't have any faith by nature. So if we
are going to have faith, God's got to cause a new man to be
born, a man who does believe God, who believes Christ and
rests in Christ. Fifthly, Why must I be born again? Because we're born in darkness
and we can't have light unless we're born again. Verse two in
our text. The same Nicodemus 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, Nicodemus came to the Lord
by night because he didn't want anybody to see him talking to
the Lord Jesus. He'd been ashamed and didn't
want to endure the scandal of being seen talking to the Lord.
But this means more than that. Nicodemus came to the Lord by
night because Nicodemus was in spiritual darkness, such darkness
that he could not see. And that's the nature all of
us are born with. Look back at page John 1, verse 4. Two pages
maybe. John 1 verse 4. In him, in Christ the word of
God, in him was life and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness
and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent
from God whose name was John. The same came for a witness,
to bear witness of the light that all men through him might
believe. Now he, John the Baptist, was
not that light, but he was sent to bear witness of that light. The light shined in darkness
and the darkness comprehended it not. And the only way we'll
ever see the light, the only way we'll ever be given this
light of Christ is in the new birth. It's to be given life. And if not, we'll forever be
in darkness. We must be born again. All right,
here's my third question. How? How was a sinner born again? Now I'm going to be very clear. I'm not telling you how to be
born again. People write books about that.
How to be born again. If you ever see one, don't you
buy it. Don't you read it. I promise you it's a lie. Anybody
telling you what to do to be born again is lying to you. There's
nothing we can do to make ourselves be born again. There's nothing
we can do to twist God's arm and make Him give us life. God
of His sovereign will has to give us life, has to cause us
to be born again. We cannot be born again by our
decision. Brethren, we're dead. Do we get
that, that we're dead, spiritually dead? Here's a man lying in a casket.
Do you ask him where he wants to be buried? Do you ask him
what kind of casket he wants to be buried in? Of course not.
He can't make that decision. Why not? He's dead. You and I
are spiritually dead. We can't make a spiritual decision. We can't decide to accept Jesus. We can't be born again by our
will. We're dead. We can't will to do anything.
Scripture says it's not of him that willeth, nor of him that
runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. So how is it that God
causes a sinner to be born again? Now that question I can answer.
How does God cause a sinner to be born again? Number one, he
does it by the seed of the word of God. Look at verse five. 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 the word water there is a picture. The water represents the word
of God. Look at Ephesians chapter five. Ephesians 5 verse 25. Husbands, love your wives, even
as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that,
here's why Christ loved the church and gave himself for it, that
he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water
by the word. See, that word, the water the
Lord speaks of is his word. That's the seed. This word that
we preach is the seed that God uses to give spiritual life. Just like fleshly life begins
with a fleshly seed, spiritual life begins with spiritual seed,
and that seed's the word of God. James chapter one. Returning to the law of scripture,
if I told you, I want you to see what does God's word say
the new birth is. James one, verse 18. of his own will begat he us with
what? The word of truth, that we should
be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. And one more scripture,
1 Peter chapter one. God causes a sinner to be born
again by the seed of the word. Verse 22, 1 Peter one. Seeing
you have purified your souls and obeying the truth through
the spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, See that you
love one another, with a pure heart, fervently, being born
again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the
word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh
is his grass, and all the glory of man is the flower of grass.
The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away.
But the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word
which by the gospel is preached unto you. God causes sinners
to be born again, by seeing the word of God. Secondly, God causes
sinners to be born by the sovereign will of God. James just told
us, of his own will begat he us. It's God's sovereign will
that causes sinners to be born again. And in verse eight, back
in our text, the Lord says the exact same thing. The wind bloweth
where it listeth. 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. The wind cannot be controlled.
People out in Oklahoma, I've seen some pictures of clouds
and winds and stuff the past few days. I bet you they wish
they could control the wind. But they can't do it. It cannot
be done. You can't even influence the
wind to blow somewhere else. It blows wherever it desires. Our Lord says the Holy Spirit
is the same way. The Spirit is sovereign. He gives
life where he will. The Holy Spirit is sovereign
because the Holy Spirit is God. And the Holy Spirit can't be
controlled, just like God can't be controlled. God can't be manipulated. He gives life where he will. And he does it through the preaching
of Christ. Our Lord talked about us being
born of water and the Spirit. We're born by the Spirit, blessing
the Word of God. You can't tell where he comes
from or where he goes, but suddenly he blows through. And there's
life. The spirit bloweth where he listed.
The new birth comes from the sovereign will of God. Thirdly,
how does God give this new birth? By the spirit revealing Christ
crucified. Look at verse 14 in our text.
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." Everyone who's born again,
they see, they understand, they know that the death, burial,
and resurrection of Christ is my death to sin. Christ died
the death I deserve, and I live because He lives. I've raised
a newness of life in Him. How does God cause a sinner to
be born again? By the Spirit giving faith in
Christ. The Spirit giving us faith and
enabling us to see Christ and believe Christ and rest in Him.
You know faith and spiritual life come at the exact same moment.
You don't get faith first and then later on you get life when
you're born. No. Faith and life come at the
exact same moment. 1 John chapter 4. 1 John 4, verse 13. Hereby know we that we dwell
in him and he in us because he has given us of his spirit. And
we've seen and do testify that the father sent the son to be
the savior of the world. We believe that we see that we
understand that whosoever shall confess whosoever. This is the
confession of my heart that Jesus is the son of God. God dwelleth
in him. and he in God. And we've known
and we've believed the love that God hath to us. God is love,
and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God dwells
in him. Now look down at chapter five,
verse one. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born
of God. See, faith and life come at the
exact same moment. And everyone that loveth him
that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. And then
verse 11. This is the record that God has
given to us eternal life, and this life is in his son. He that
hath the son, he that believes on the son, he that hath union
with the son hath life, and he that hath not the son of God
hath not life. That's how God causes a sinner
to be born again. And here's my fourth question.
When? When is a sinner born again?
But first of all, sinners born again when it pleases God. Isn't
that what Paul told the Galatians? When it pleased God who separated
me from my mother's womb, when it pleased Him, He called me
by His grace. Revealed His Son to me and in
me that I might preach Him. We're born when it pleases God.
Second, we're born again at the very moment we believe Christ. This is what I just told you.
Faith in the new birth, faith in life, come at the exact same
moment. A faith we know is the gift of
God. You'll receive it when God gives it because it's a gift
of God, right? You can't create faith in yourself just like you
couldn't create your own life in your mother's womb. Somebody
else had to create that and give it to you. Faith and spiritual
life come the exact same way. They come as the gift of God.
And the evidence of spiritual life, just like the evidence
of physical life is breathing in a heartbeat, The evidence
of spiritual life is faith, just like breathing is the evidence
of physical life. Suppose you come across a man,
you come around a corner and there lays a man just laying
there on the ground. He's not moving. You wonder,
is he dead? Is he alive? Well, how are you going to find
out? Well, you bend down, you put your ear down. Do you feel
or hear any breath, any breathing? Do you feel a pulse? If you hear some breathing, there's
life. If you feel a heartbeat, there's
life. That's the evidence of physical life, isn't it? Someone
might be wondering, well, have I been born again? Let me ask
you a question. Do you believe on Christ? If
you believe Christ, you've been born again. because faith in
Christ is the evidence of the new birth. If you believe that
your only hope of the forgiveness of your sin is in the Lord Jesus
Christ and his sacrifice, you've been born again. That's the evidence
of faith is the evidence of spiritual life. Now, fifthly, lastly, how
should I react to this truth? I must be born again. Preacher,
you just told me Nothing I can do. You just told me there's
nothing I can do to give myself spiritual life. Why are you asking
me how I should react? You just told me there's nothing
I can do to make God give me life. Why are you asking me how
I should react? Just throw my hands up and just
do nothing and wait for lightning to strike? Because you told me
there's nothing I can do. Now hold your horses. I said
there's nothing you can do to make God give you life. I said
there's nothing you can do to create life in yourself. I never
said there's nothing you can do. Haven't we read this from scripture?
God says, I'll show mercy to whom I will show mercy. Have you ever asked God to be
merciful to you? Have you ever asked for it? God
delights to show mercy to sinners. Have you ever said, Lord, I'm
a sinner? Would you have mercy on me? Lord, if you will, you
can have mercy on me. Have you ever asked God for mercy?
You can do that. We just read spiritual life is
in the word of God. Then we just read it. I show
you that from God's word, the seed God uses to give life is
his word. All right. And how should you
react to that? I believe I'd read it. If I want
life and this is the seed that God uses to give it, I believe
I'll immerse myself in it and see if God might be pleased to
give me life. I know a place in this town where the gospel
is preached every Sunday and Wednesday, preaching the word. We go verse by verse through
the word. I believe if I wanted life, I'd be there to hear it
because that's where the seed is. That's where the seed's being
planted. If you want life, this is very simple. The gospel, like
I said, not hard to understand. If you want life, be around where
the seeds are planted. It's springtime. Want me to tell
you where tomato plants are going to grow this spring? Jay and
I have this little plot we use as a garden. In our little old
backyard, want me to tell you where tomato plants are going
to grow? I can tell you exactly where tomato plants are going
to grow in our yard, where tomato seeds are planted. That's where
they're going to grow. They're not going to grow over
here. We've got a blackberry bush and we've got some grass
or we've got some concrete. Tomato plants aren't going to
grow there because no seeds are going to be planted there. They're going
to grow over here where the seed was planted. Every week from
this pulpit, whether it's me or one of these other men, we
preach God's word. We're sowing the seed and we're
watering. Paul said one sowed and the other waters. Then if
I was you, and I wanted life, I'd be here where the seed's
planted and where the seed's watered. It could be. I don't
know whether God would give you life or not. But I can tell you
this, he's not going to do it apart from the preaching of his
word. If I wanted life, I'd make it my business to be here every
time these doors are open because life is going to come from where
the seed's planted. And lastly, we read this. Y'all remember we just talked
about this. that life comes, a new birth comes when God the
Holy Spirit moves in power. Well, the Spirit only moves in
power where Christ is preached. Then I believe I'd be here when
Christ is preached. And I'd ask him, Lord, would
you give me life? You give it to whom you will,
you blow where you will, you give life where you will. Would
you be pleased to give me life? I'm dead, I don't have any. I
don't have any way to get it. Would you give it to me? It may
be a spirit to give you life. It may be. But I know this, he's
not going to do it apart from the preaching of the word, from
the preaching of Christ. So I'd be there where Christ
is preached. Could be. He'll be merciful. It's just
like God will do it, isn't it? Just like it. All right, let's
bow into that. Our Father, how we thank you
for your word. How I thank you that you made your word so plain
and clear and simple that children can understand it. Father, we
pray you'd make us as little children, you make us come to
you as little children, that we might receive all the salvation,
the blessing of forgiveness of sin, life and righteousness and
peace in our Lord Jesus Christ. While you said that you'd honor
your word, how we pray that you'd honor your word, that you'd bless
your word as it's been preached. It's been preached in such weakness,
weakness and frailty of this instrument. But Father, would
you bless your word to the hearts of your people to give life,
to give faith and comfort and strengthen your people. that
we might know that life, eternal life is found in the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's Christ and Christ alone. Father, bless for your great
namesake. We pray that you'd bless, that
you'd perform a great miracle of mercy and grace through the
preaching of your word this morning. For it's the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ and for the glory of his name, we pray.