If you will, turn back with me
now to 1 Peter chapter 1. My subject, and I pray it's God's
message for you for this hour, is being born again. I've heard that phrase quoted
since I was old enough to know what language is. Just a little
fellow sitting there on the pew I couldn't make it through the
whole service. I'd go through about 30 minutes and then just
follow and go to sleep. That's so little. But I can remember
back hearing men and women talking about being born again. Every child of God, every chosen
sinner for whom Christ died, shall be born again. There's nothing iffy about it.
It's not one of those things that some people have happened
and others don't. Every child of God, every chosen
sinner for whom Christ died shall be born of God. Our Lord said, except a man be
born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom
of God. He can talk about it, but he
can't enter in. He can argue doctrine, but he
can't enter into the Kingdom. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. And
except a man be born again, he cannot see, he cannot perceive
the Kingdom of God. Well, what does it mean to be
born of God? It means to become a son of God. That's what it means. It means
to be a believer. In John chapter 1, the Gospel
according to John, chapter 1 and verse 10, it says, talking about
our Lord, that He was in the world, and the world was made
by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and
His own received Him not. They've been talking about him
for centuries. They've been prophesying about him for centuries. But
when he came to them, they received him not. But some did. Some did. Some of the world and
some of his own. As many as received him. Why
did they receive him and nobody else did? Why did you receive it? And others
sitting there that same day didn't. As many as received Him, now
listen to this, to them gave He power. I asked Brother Don
one time, I said, what's that word power mean? Does that mean
permission or authority? He said, yes. It means everything
that power means. To them gave He power to become
the sons of God. Now listen, even to them that
believe on His name, which were born, born, not of blood, not
of blood, not of the will of the flesh, not of the will of
man, but of God. Nobody was given power to become
sons of God by a new birth who were not chosen of God and predestinated
under the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according
to the good pleasure of His will. Nobody. Turn with me to Romans
chapter 9. Let me see if I can show you
something over here. The Jews looked to Abraham as their covenant
head. They said to our Lord, We have
Abraham as our father. John 8, 39. You couldn't be a Jew unless
you had a blood tie to Abraham. In Romans 9, Paul begins to show
them that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the patriarch, were typical
men who all represented in figure the true children of God. Each
one was a figure. Abraham, it was his faith that
God was giving in figure. He believed God and it was counted
to him for righteousness, and he didn't say it for his sake
alone, but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed if we believe
on him that sent our Lord into this world. Abraham's faith is
what he was singled out for. And Jacob stood in tithe as a
representative of God's elect. All those things told to her
mother before these two children were ever did any good or any
evil. They weren't even born yet. They
were still in the womb of their mother. Romans 9 and 11. It was
said unto her that the purpose of God according to election
might stand not of works, but of him that calleth. Jacob, all
ye sons of Jacob. What's he talking about? He's
talking about God's elect. Jacob in figure stood for all God's
elect. Romans 9, 6. Neither because
they are the seed of Abraham are they all children, but in
Isaac. Now we come to the third man.
In Isaac shall thy seed be called. Now here's a man typical of calling
in the new birth, Isaac. That is, they which are the children
of the flesh, these are not the children of God. But the children
of the promise are counted for the seed. Now watch this. For
this is the word of promise, at this time will I come and
Sarah shall have a child. But he was too old to have children,
and so was she. It didn't make no difference. God said, when I come, she's
going to have a child. And Sarah is a type of the church.
And when Zion prevails, she brings four sons and daughters. In Galatians
4.28, listen to this. Now we brethren, as Isaac was,
are children of the promise. Boy, that clear ain't it? Huh? We're born as Christ comes into
our hearts by His gospel and according to His promise. Now
with these things in mind, let me show you four things concerning
this new birth of chosen sinners. First of all, I want you to see
this, the providence of God. Those who read and study the
Word of God rest heavily upon the providence of God. They wait
on God, don't they? What are they waiting for? God's
providence. How many times does he tell us, wait
on the Lord? What you talking about? He's talking about God's providence.
God does things in His own time, according to His way, not ours.
We wait on the Lord. But what is the providence of
God? It's God arranging and controlling all things for our good and His
glory. That's the providence of God.
God states His providence concerning His elect all through the Scriptures.
Back yonder in Isaiah 46, beginning of verse 3, He said, Hearken
unto Me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house
of Israel, which are born by Me. from the belly, which are carried from the womb.
And even to your old age I am He, and even to whore hairs,
white hairs, will I carry you. I have made, and I will bear,
even I will carry, and will deliver you. Verse 8, remember this,
Show yourselves men, bring it again to mine, O ye transgressors. Remember the former things of
old. For I'm God and there's none else. I declare the end
from the beginning. And from ancient times the things
that are not yet done, saying my counsel shall stand and I'll
do all my pleasure. I'll call a ravenous bird from
the east. The man that executed my counsel
from a far country. I've spoken it. I'll also bring
it to pass. I've purposed it. I'll also do
it. So I'm like God's providence
to man. They're nothing iffy or dependent
upon chance. Believers obtain their inheritance. Now listen. He appointed Christ
the steward of all things, even time. He's the steward of all
things. By whom also, he says, we have
obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the
purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his
own will. Oh, but there's a lot of things
involved in this, I know. And God's providence brings them
to pass. Salvation in Christ by new birth
is not some last chance effort of God because everything else
fails. God's done all he can do. Really? The living God, the creator of
the universe, done all he can do and now he's waiting on you
to do something? My soul, how silly. No sir, that ain't how it works.
God, listen to this, God. Now there's an antichrist in
the world and men are influenced by him. And they will receive
not the love of the truth that they might be saved because they've
been deceived. Deceived by anti-Christ religion,
deceived by false doctrines, false refuges. They've been deceived
and they won't receive the love of God that they might be saved.
So God turns them over to strong delusion. He sends strong delusion.
If this is what you want, you can have it. Here you are. And
they'll believe a lie and be damned. That's what it says over
in 2 Thessalonians 2. But he don't leave it there.
Oh, he said, but beloved, Thank God for you, beloved. Why? Because God has from the beginning
chosen you to salvation. Now listen. Through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Where unto? Because He
purposed these things. He called you by our Gospel to
the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. That clears
the bell, doesn't it? Oh, my soul, God promised. He states this clearly over in
1 Peter 1, verses 2 and 3. We're elect according to the
foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the
Spirit unto obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus
Christ. The Holy Spirit takes that blood
that was shed and He shows you that it was for you. He sprinkles
that blood on your heart. On your heart. And He gives us
a lively hope. a living hope by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead. Is Christ your hope? Then you
have a living hope because he's not dead in the tomb, he's alive
and seated at the right hand of God. We've got a lively hope. Listen to this. Grace be to you,
and peace be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy
hath begotten us again unto a live will. God's providence is the working
out of God's redemptive will and the means of grace which
He's ordained for our salvation. At this time, I'll come. And you're going to have a son.
You're going to have a son. Oh, the providence of God. And then secondly, I want you
to see this. I want you to see the means of
grace. God births His children by the
means He has ordained. Nobody argues too much with the
natural means of birthing children. Been having children since Adam
and Eve. Nobody argues about that. Oh, but tell them something
about the means by which spiritual children are born and they look
at you like you're from another planet. The means of the new birth is
the preaching of the gospel. 1 Corinthians 3, 5. Who then is Paul? And who is
Apollos? But members by whom you believe,
now listen, even as the Lord gave to who? Every man. Well, that don't leave any options,
does it? No. No. This is what He's given
to birth His children, and He's given it to every man. 1 Corinthians 4, verse 15. Listen to this. For though you
have 10,000 instructors in Christ, yet have you not many fathers. For in Christ Jesus I have begotten
you through the gospel. There's nothing there to misunderstand,
is there? There's not a child here today
that can't understand those words. The natural birth is somewhat
a symbol of our spiritual birth. Until a seed is put within there,
it's not going to be a child born. Oh, I was just in my closet
and I was born again. I don't think so. What if my wife would have come
to me? I'm a young man and I've been out of town and I come back.
I've been out working and I come back. My wife tells me, she said,
Honey, I'm just over there working in the garden one day and next
thing I know I'm pregnant. I don't think I'd be talking
to a divorce lawyer. There has to be a seed. Has to
be a seed. Until a seed is put within, there's
not going to be a child born. And as the Holy Ghost put that
seed into the womb of the Virgin, even so, He puts that gospel
seed in us. And Christ is born in our hearts
and minds. That's what it means to be born
again. The ordained means is gospel
preaching. The Holy Ghost works in the hearts
of chosen sinners through gospel preaching. 1 Peter 1.12 tells
us that the prophets understood that what they were preaching,
this grace that they were talking about, and this man that's going
to come, all the promised seed, He's coming. These prophets understood that
unto us they did minister the things, now watch this, which
are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel
unto you with the Holy Ghost. That's how we found out. That's
how we found out. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Isn't that what they said over
in Romans 2? But how are you going to call
on Him in whom you have not believed? And how are you going to believe
on Him in whom you have not heard? And how are you going to hear
without a preacher? Oh, they preach the gospel unto
you that the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. Wherefore,
gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, alert, listening, and
hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you
at the what? The revelation of Jesus Christ. Is that how men are born? preaching of the gospel. That's
the gospel seed. How many parables are there?
What about the sower? Went forward to sow. What did
he sow? He sowed seed. Didn't do any good over there
in the middle of the road. Didn't do any good over there
in the thorns and thistles. The only place it grew was in
that plowed ground. And then thirdly, Let's look at the seed of regeneration.
Peter said, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but
incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth
forever. What is this seed which breaks
forth into a new man? Well, I can tell you this, if
you're wrong on this, you're wrong on everything. That's just
how important this is. If you're wrong on this, you're
wrong on everything. What is this gospel seed? Well, he says in 1 Peter 1.23,
it's an incorruptible seed by the Word of God. And this has
a two-fold explanation, so I want you to pay attention. First of
all, it may be talking about the essential Word, which is
Christ. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Talking about that essential
word, which is Christ, who ever liveth and abideth. Isn't that
what he said of himself? Or, it may have reference to
the gospel. 1 Peter 1.25 says, and this is
the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. Now I'm
going to tell you something. You're not going to be born again
reading in here about creation. You can study creation from now
to end of time. You're not going to be born again.
And that's the word of God. He tells you how the world was
made. Am I going to be born again? No. No, that's not how you're
born. You're born by the person that this book declares. That's
how you're born. This is the word which by the
gospels preached unto you. I don't stand up here and make
things up. I've already quoted to you 10 or 15 scriptures this
morning and gave you reference to them. But I've also made application
to it and told you what it's talking about. It's talking about
Christ. Is the born-again Christian?
What is this thing? What is this new birth? What's
born in me? What's different in me now than
then? Is a born-again Christian some
supercharged person endowed with power which overcomes everything?
You can't find that in the Scripture. Paul said, but I would do good
evil, President. The good that I would, I do not.
The evil that I wouldn't do, that's what I do. You don't sound
supercharged to me. Or perhaps a new and divine creation
that's no longer subject to sin. I grew up in a church like that.
They believed that you could reach a plateau there of perfection
and then when you did, you were sanctified by a second definite
work of righteousness. What exactly is this new man? Peter said, we are begotten again
unto a hope, a lively hope, a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. Now brethren, there's only two
men talked about in all Scripture, just two men, Adam and Christ. And when he gets down to it,
And he starts to teach us something about that resurrection in 1
Corinthians chapter 15. He starts telling us something
about this resurrection of Christ. He said, as in Adam, all die. As in Christ, shall all be made
alive. Just two men. The old man born
of Adam, corrupt, fallen, depraved, at his best state, altogether
vanity, walking in the vanity of their minds, and Christ who
is the new man. In Ephesians chapter 4, he tells
us that pastor, preachers, and evangelists minister to men and
women until they come into the unity of the faith and of the
knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man. Is that talking
about the sinner? No. He's talking about His Lord. A perfect man. The sacrifice
must be perfect to be accepted. God will accept your righteousness
when it's perfect righteousness. And the only perfect righteousness
we have is in Christ. He's not going to take your good
works and put away your sins. When I see the blood, I'll pass
over you. Whose blood? That perfect blood. That lamb without spot or blemish.
You see what I'm saying? We keep preaching unto people
until they come into the unity of the faith and of the knowledge
of the Son of God unto a perfect man. What are you preaching this
morning, preacher? I'm preaching to you a perfect
man, Christ. He's perfect. He's God come into
the flesh. He knew no sin. He couldn't be
tempted by sin. unto the measure of the stature
of the fullness of Christ. Christ in you, Paul said, the
hope of glory. Oh, I thought it was me. That's
what religion is trying to do, reform the whole world. When
they've made a proselyte out of everybody in this world, they're
going to be two-fold more of the child of hell than they were. It's Christ in you, the hope
of glory. John tells us if we say we had
no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth's not in us. If
we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His Word's
not in us. But listen to this, 1 John 3,
9. Whosoever is born of God, now watch this, doth not commit
sin. For his seed remaineth in him,
and he cannot sin because he is born of God. Now I'm going
to tell you something. If you apply that to you, you've
missed everything that I had to say. That seed in you is that
perfect man who cannot sin. He cannot sin. The only way for those Scriptures
to be true and consistent is that Christ is that seed and
that new man born within. And if Christ is what is born
in me, a new creation in Christ Jesus, then that holy regenerating
seed must be the gospel of Christ. Examine yourselves, Paul said,
whether you be in the faith. Prove your own self. Know you
not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you? Huh? Except you be reprobates. It's Christ in you. There is
no other hope. Listen to this. Galatians 2.19.
For I, that is my natural self, am dead to the law that I might
live unto God. I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless,
I live. Are you listening? Yet not I. But Christ liveth in me. Oh. Everything else, just religion. I can't remember the name of
the movie. And even if I could, I wouldn't tell you. I don't
want you to think I watch that stuff. But in that movie, they
lock the sheriff up. And he's running for sheriff. The opposing sheriff is the one
that locked him up. And his deputy come in and just
pleaded with him to tell him what he knew. And he said, why
won't you tell him? He said, because once you've
heard the truth, everything else is just cheap whiskey. You see
what I'm saying? Christ. No, you knock your own. What is my hope? What is my hope
today? Not last week. If you have to
go back to yesterday, you missed something. Salvation is a continual
thing. And I tell you, our hope is Christ.
A fellow asked Henry one Sunday. He hadn't seen him since seminary.
He said, Henry, are you still saved? And he said, I don't know.
He said, is the Lord still on the throne? He's my hope. If He's still on the throne,
I'm still saved. Christ in you, there is no other
hope. You cannot simply read in the
Word of God about creation, or the Ark of Noah, or the history
of the world. Even the facts of the life, death,
and resurrection of Christ can be born again. It is the testimony
of God that He's given to us eternal life, and this life is
in His Son. It's in His Son, and he that
hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God,
whatever else he hath, he don't have life. This is the Word, he said, which
by the Gospel is preached unto you. The Word of God as to how
and in whom God saves sinners. My friend, if you miss this,
you miss everything. Salvation is all in Christ. Colossians
128, Christ in you, the hope of glory, whom we preach, warning
every man, teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present
every man perfect in Christ Jesus. Only the gospel of Christ, the
gospel seed, can produce Christ in you. Alright, so we've got
the providence of God arranging for us all these means that God's
The hearing of the gospel. The gospel is preached unto us
in power and in the Holy Ghost. Paul told those Thessalonians
in his first letter, he said, I know your election of God. I know from my own experience,
that's something I'd like to know. He said, I know your election
of God. For our gospel came not unto
you in word only. It came in power. It came in
the Holy Ghost. Now watch this. It came in what? Much assurance. Are they just
born of God? How did they have all this assurance?
They were assured in Christ. In Christ. And being born of God, What is our inmost desire? What
is the inmost desire of a man born of God? What does he want? I just want to preach. No. I just want this. I just want
that. No. No. 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 2. Now watch this. As newborn babes
desire The sincere milk of the word, what word? That word which
by the gospel was preached unto you. That you may grow thereby,
if so be you tasty. We bottle fed our first baby.
We had all kinds of trouble. She had colic, she had this,
she had that. We couldn't travel, we couldn't
do anything. Second, when she breastfed, we'd go anywhere. Newborn babes desire the sincere
milk of the Word. Those born of God hunger to hear
about their Savior. They're not hungry for work salvation
or free will or decisionism or ceremonialism. They have no appetite
for it. Not days or feasts or any of
these things. They hunger for the sincere milk
of the Word which is Christ. Nothing is so adequate for the
new born babe as Christ. Beware, Paul said, lest any man
spoil you through philosophy. This is in Colossians chapter
2. They are going to spoil you through
philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men. Every natural
man reasons things by traditional understanding. He thinks he knows
something and now he gets this and he starts reasoning about
it with his natural reasoning. Every natural man makes his decisions
based on what established religion has to say. Oh, so you think
you're right and everybody else is wrong. How many times have
you heard that? You think you're the only one and all Arkansas
knows the gospel. No, there might be one more. Don't let these men deceive you,
for in Christ, now listen to this, in Christ dwelleth all
the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in Him. who's the head of all principalities
and power. Wow. You mean I don't need anything
else? That's what I'm saying. You don't need anything else.
He's all you need. And as you have received Christ
Jesus, the Lord Paul said, walk in him. Walk in him. Newborn babes may be forced to
drink from a bottle, but what they really want is that sincere
milk from their mother's breast. And the church is the mother. The mother is God's true church.
Oh, our great God and Father, we pray that you'll take these
things which we've preached here today and use them for your good and your glory. make us to understand
these things which are so clearly written. And even more so than
that, allow us to be made to become
the children of God. Father, thank you. Thank you
for this day, a day in all eternity. Set apart that your name might
be glorified and your gospel might be preached. That sons
and daughters may be born. Help us, Lord, for whatever amount
of time we have left in this world to devote ourselves to
these things. We ask it for Christ's sake.
Amen.