My subject this morning is the
new birth. Nothing, I believe, is shrouded
with more mystery and superstition than the new birth. Over the
years, I've listened to preachers talking about being born of God
who sincerely believe that they've experienced And they describe it, some of
them, as something that can be felt, a feeling. I don't know. That's a wide area. I'm not going to go in and try
to expound on all the various things. But generally speaking,
they describe it as a feeling, this feeling of calmness, this
feeling of assurance, this warm, a confident feeling. Others describe
it as something that came to them in an hour of desperation,
lying out on the battlefield, one man told me, with his throat
cut ear to ear, his lifeblood pouring out on the ground. And
suddenly the Lord spoke to him, and he saw a light, and he had
this experience. Or dying on the hospital bed,
you know, these after, what they call after death experiences
and all this type of thing. Some men describe being born
of God in that fashion, something that came to them in an hour
of desperation. Yet others describe it as a force,
an invisible power giving the power to reform their lives,
giving them the power to walk on a higher plane, giving them the assistance from
God to live righteous lives in strict obedience to the law. Some churches teach that the
new birth works in conjunction with the ordinances, that the
new birth works in conjunction with baptism, or somehow it works in conjunction with
the elements that are furnished at the Lord's table. And on and
on it goes. There's books compiled by men
and they can give you all these different things. But these are
just some of the things that I've heard in my lifetime. But
what does the Bible say about the new birth? What does God
have to say about the new birth? Is the new birth just something
men made up? Is this something that churches
got together and had a conference and discussed these things and
said, well, here's what we're going to call this. We're going
to call this the new birth. And this is going to be an important
thing. It's going to be included into
our message. Where did the new birth come
from? Does the Word of God have anything to say about it? Does
it describe it? What does the Bible have to say
about it? Now, I shouldn't have to convince you that there's
people out there who are merchandisers of men's souls. That's what the
scripture calls them. I didn't make up that term. He
said they'll sell the souls of men for gain. There's merchandisers
of men's souls who will say or do anything for gain and reputation. I shouldn't have to persuade
you that there are some out there who are deceived and being deceived
and deceiving one another. That's what the Scripture says.
Listen to these warnings. In Colossians 2, verse 8, Beware! Beware lest any man spoil you
through philosophy and vain deceit. After the rudiments of this world,
after the tradition of men. This is men's tradition. Beware,
our Lord said, of the living, the doctrine of the Pharisees. And Paul said, Beware of dogs.
Beware of evil workers. Beware of the concision. There's
men out there, Paul wrote to Timothy, and he said there's
men out there who are proud knowing nothing. You ever met any? I've met them. Proud men, proud,
knowing nothing. Knowing nothing. But doting about
questions and stripes of words. And he said, it's nothing more
than perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds who are destitute
of the truth. There's men out there who are
walking, Paul said, according to the prince of the power of
the air. They're walking the course of this world being used
by the prince of the power of the air, the spirit, who now
worketh in the children of disobedience. There are men out there who would
deceive you, and it is important that you know the truth. You
know what our Lord said? He said, if you continue in My
doctrine, then are you My disciples, and you shall know the truth,
and the truth shall set you free. We are not free when we are under
the bondage of deceitful men who are deceived and deceiving
one another. We are not free The truth is
what sets you free. The truth. So what does the Bible
have to say about the new birth? The Bible teaches that for any
man to have any legitimate hope before God, he must be born again. I want you to see this in the
Scriptures. Turn with me to John chapter 3. Whatever this new birth is, it's
not an option. There's churches today who don't
even talk about the new birth. They're not like some who want
to say it's this, that, and the other. They just do away with
it all together. There is no new birth. You just kind of evolve
into children of God. The new birth is not an option.
It's not something with which God rewards believers for their
sincerity so they can live on a higher plane. It is absolutely
necessary to the saving of the soul. Now listen to this. This
is John 3. Our Lord is talking here in this
verse to a man who was a master theologian. He went as far in
the school of the Jews as he could go. This is Nicodemus. This was a man who knew theology. This was a man who knew the Word
of God. Now, I want you to listen to
what the Lord tells him. Jesus said, Verily, verily, I say unto
thee, verse 3, Except a man be born again, he cannot see. Now, you look that word up in
your Greek concordance and you'll find out that that word means
perceive. You cannot see the Kingdom of
God. You cannot perceive. You cannot
understand it. You cannot enter into it. You have no concept of it whatsoever
except you be born again. It's what the Lord told that.
And that proud, arrogant man looked at him and he said, Are
you saying that I need to crawl back into my mother's womb and
be born again? Again, in verse 5, except a man
be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot, cannot enter into
the Kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is
flesh, and that which is born of Spirit is Spirit. You must
be born again. In 2 Thessalonians chapter 2,
Paul tells the church there that God hath from the beginning chosen
us to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit. That is, the setting
apart of the Spirit of God. How does the Spirit of God set
us apart? Through the new birth. That's
where it begins, in the new birth. He hath from the beginning chosen
us to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth. In 1 Peter 1, verse 2, the Apostle identifies those
to whom he writes, saying that they are elect according to the
foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the
Spirit, the new birth, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ. That is, the purging of our guilty
conscience by applying a full understanding concerning the
substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus Christ. He tells us in
Hebrews 9.13, If the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes
of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, the old leper, the unclean man,
sanctifyeth to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall
the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself
without spot to God, purged your conscience from dead works to
serve the living God. And then one more scripture before
we go to my text over in 1 Peter 1, verse 23. I'm trying to establish
from the scriptures that the new birth is a real and active
and a necessary work of God in the hearts of chosen sinners. 1 Peter 1, verse 22. Seeing you
have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit
unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that you love one another
with a pure heart fervently. Now listen. Being born again,
not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible by the Word of
God which liveth and abideth forever." Verse 25. But the Word
of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the Word which by
the Gospel is preached unto you. Let this be established. To have
any legitimate hope before God, I must be born again. Born again. You know, I can preach to you.
If God will make you willing, I can sit down with you, and
I can take you through the Scriptures, and I can take these doctrines
and prove it to you in the Scriptures that this is what God is saying.
This is what God is saying. This is the Word of God. This
is the truth. But you must be born again before
you are willing. His people shall be willing in
the day of His power. And to have any legitimate hope
before God, I must be born again. Now turn with me to 1 John 5.
And here's my question. This is what we're going to talk
about this morning. What is it to be born of God? If it's not a feeling, if it doesn't come in the crisis,
then what is it? What is it to be born of God?
What does the Bible say that it is to be born of God? How
would I know if I'm born of God? How would I know? Paul said,
no you're not unless you be reprobate. Well, how do I know? How do I
know? What is it to be born of God?
Some people say the evidence of being born of God is to be
able to heal the sick. You can heal the sick. You've
seen them. You've heard them. Faith healers on TV. Some people
say it's to have immunity to poison. And they go over there
to Mark, where Mark gives a great commission that says, these signs
shall follow them. If they shall drink any deadly
thing or take up serpents, it won't harm them, and so on and
so on. Some say it's to speak in a heavenly language. What
is it to be born of God? I want you to take your Bibles,
1 John 5, and read verse 1. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is what? Born of God. Ain't that what
that says? Born of God. And every one that
loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of
him. The one true and great evidence
of the indwelling of God's Spirit in a man is faith in the crucified,
resurrected, ascended, glorified Savior. That is what it means
to be born again. He rests his soul upon the Savior. He has an understanding, I read
it to you in the Psalms, they have a good understanding, God's
people do, in the day of His power. When they become willing,
they become willing because they have a good understanding of
the redemption that He's given unto them. Faith is not some
confidence in yourself that you are ready, willing, and able
to serve God and accept Jesus into your life. Faith is being
persuaded by the Spirit of God to see the glorious redemption
accomplished in Christ and rest your souls upon Him. It is the
divine revelation that Jesus is the Christ. Whosoever believeth
that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God. Now, I showed to
you, and you read it along with me in II Thessalonians 2.13,
and I Peter 1, verse 2, and I Peter 1, 23 through 25, that the gospel
of Jesus Christ is the seed of regeneration. And there's a lot
more scriptures I could take you to and show you that. But what is the gospel except
the declaration that Jesus is the Christ? Huh? I've got nothing else to tell
you. I'm not going to rally you all
in here one Sunday and say, now you know you've been drinking
too much, don't you? Huh? You need to lay off that
bottle a little bit. And you really need to quit smoking
because it's a proven fact that it causes lung cancer, and your
body's the temple of the Holy Ghost, and you need to do that.
And then you need to do this, and you need to refrain from
that, and on and on and on and on and on. I'm going to point
you to Christ. Do you understand that if any
man be in Christ, he's a new creature? How did he get to be
a new creature? He's born of God. Huh? He's born of God. Jesus is the Christ. This is
what John's telling you. Alright? What is the Christ? What's the Christ? The angel
said unto the shepherds, For unto you is born this day in
the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. The Savior, Christ the Lord,
is set forth in the Word of God from Genesis to Malachi. What
is the Christ? It's not just a word. It's not
just another religious phrase that we say, the Christ. And
I hear them talk about Christ all the time on TV, but nobody's...
They're talking about the Christ, the Christ, the Christ, but nobody's
telling you anything about the Christ. Who is the Christ? What
is the Christ? Here it says that Jesus is the
Christ. This man Jesus, born of Mary,
came from the womb of the Virgin Mary. The seed of the Holy Spirit in
her womb. This man, Jesus, is the Christ. Well, what's that mean? You see
what I'm saying? What's that mean? That don't
mean anything unless you know who the Christ was. The Savior Christ the Lord set
forth in the Word of God all throughout the Old Testament.
This promised one, this anointed one, this one through which all
the blessings of God have been given is called the Christ. They
all look for the Messiah, that's the Christ. They all look for
the promised seed, the seed of Jesse, the seed of David, the
seed of the woman, on and on and on it goes. The Samaritan
woman said to Jesus, I know that Messiah's cometh, And when He'd
come, He'd tell us all things. Jesus said, I that speak unto
you am He. I am the Christ. I am the Christ. This is the
good news that falls on the ears of every chosen sinner. The whole
of the Old Testament Scriptures just keep saying over and over,
somebody's coming, somebody's coming, somebody's coming. He'll
be a priest like Melchizedek. He'll be a king like David. And on and on and on it goes.
It talks about the Christ. The Christ. Moses said, the Lord
your God is going to raise up a prophet like unto me. You hear
him. He is the prophet. He is the
prophet. Somebody's coming. Can you be
the seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham, the seed of the Holy
Covenant, the seed of Jesse, the seed of David, virgin-born
Immanuel, God with us? The Word made flesh. What is
it to be born of God? It's to believe that Jesus, the
Son of Mary, Jesus, that infant laid in the manger in Bethlehem,
is the Christ. He is the Christ. I'm going to
tell you something. There's no other hope for men.
There's no other hope. No other hope. Everything else
is whistling in a cemetery. Man is spiritually dead. Man
died in the garden. In Adam, all die. On and on and
on. I've read to you the Scriptures.
I've quoted to you the Scriptures. I've had you to turn to the Scriptures.
Man's dead. Man's dead. Man's cursed of God.
There's no goodness in Him. There's no righteousness in Him.
There's no anything in Him. He's an enemy of God. There's not even a shadow of
a hope that some will crawl up out of their depravity and become
sons of God. There's not even a shadow of
a hope. Not even a fraction of a hope that some will escape
the bondage of their fallen nature. That some will overcome the strong
man armed who keeps his goods at bay. There's no possibility
that even eternity would be long enough for some to rise up from
the dead. Man is doomed. And the only reason
why God is not sending His all-consuming fire down on this world is because
in this world He has an elect people that He chose in Christ
before the foundation of the world. That's the only reason
you and I are breathing air today. and say, well, I just don't see
how God is going to put up with this mess much longer. He put
up with it until all His elect had been called in. All of them be called in. You
look at Sodom and Gomorrah. That's about the day we're living
in today. Almost. We're almost there. Just
like Sodom and Gomorrah. But He had one of His elect down
in Sodom and Gomorrah, and He saved him. The people said, show
us a sign. Isaiah said, the Lord Himself
shall give you a sign. A virgin shall conceive and bring
forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Immanuel. The confidence of faith is of
great importance. It must be grounded upon the
testimony of God concerning His Son. In 1 John 5, verse 10, it
says, He that believeth on the Son of God, now listen to this,
hath to witness in himself. God the Holy Spirit has enlightened
him. to the testimony of God in this
book concerning His Son. He knows who the Christ is. He knows why He must come. He knows what He did when He
did come. And He knows where He is now,
seated at the right hand of God. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath the witness in himself. That is, he's heard it, he's
embraced it, he's rejoicing in it, He has the indwelling Spirit
of revelation in His heart. He that believeth not, now listen
to this, hath made God a liar. He made God a liar because he
believeth not the record that God gave of His Son. He won't
hear God's servant, he won't consider God's Word, and he won't
receive the things of the Spirit of God for their foolishness
unto him. He makes God a liar. That's how
serious... Well, I just don't believe that
man. I'm not going to say I made God
a liar. You don't believe this man you've
made God a liar. I'm telling you the truth and
I'm reading it to you from the Word of God. This is the testimony
of God concerning His Son. So here's the first thing, all
those born of God, bow to God's testimony concerning His Son. They bow to it. They look at
it. They consider it. They think on it. And then secondly, believing
that Jesus is the Christ is to see Him fulfilling the redemptive
will of God. And to see Him doing it without
compromising the character of God. The Christ which God set
forth in the Old Testament in the types and figures was set
forth as a propitiation for our sins. Propitiate means to appease
an offended party. It means to conciliate or satisfy
the offended one. In Romans 3, verse 24, it says,
being justified freely by His grace, through the redemption
that's in Christ Jesus, whom God, that is, whom God hath before
set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood to
declare His righteousness for the remissions of sins that are
passed through the forbearance of God. That is, He set Him forth
in those Old Testament types. That word, as a propitiation,
that means mercy seat. He set Him forth in the old mercy
seat. He set Him forth in the old tabernacle
as a propitiation for our sins through faith in His blood. That
is, for all those who saw and understood what the types and
figures pointed to. You know, we kind of get the
idea those Old Testament saints didn't know what they believed.
They didn't know what to believe. One fellow told me, he said,
the Old Testament saints, they're saved by the law. The New Testament
saints are saved by grace. That's a bunch of Tommy rocks. I'm telling you, God sent forth
Christ in that tabernacle. He sent forth Christ in that
ark. All of those things pointed to
Christ. All you've got to do is read the book of Hebrews.
Paul will tell you that. Plain word, that priesthood,
that whole priesthood, talking about Christ. Christ being come a high priest, all those who saw and understood
what types and figures pointed to, trusted in the redemption
He would accomplish in Him who is the Redeemer, understanding
what those things meant. And it meant that in Christ and
through His accomplished redemption that God could be appeased and
still be righteous and holy and just. Faith perceives that His
person and work is sufficient to save sinners, vile sinners,
fallen sinners, enemies in their minds by wicked works, sinners
under the curse of the law, depraved in their natures, Deceived sinners
going about to establish their own righteousness. Helpless,
hopeless sinners. He came into this world to save
sinners. Chosen sinners. Sinners for whom
He was ordained before the world began. To believe that Jesus is the
Christ. is to be given the understanding
of who this Christ is, and what He's accomplished, and how He
accomplished it, without compromising the name of God. Thirdly, to
believe that Jesus is the Christ is to recognize Him as our representative,
whose life's obedience in person constitutes our righteousness. Preacher, do you believe you're
righteous? I believe my righteousness is in Him. And I'm going to tell you something,
if your righteousness is not in Him, if you're not righteous
in Him, you're not righteous. There's just one righteousness.
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
who believes. Not to some, to everyone who believes. He's the
end of the law. Well, in some way. No, any way
you want to look at it, he's the end of the law for righteousness.
You just let your imagination take you as far as it'll go with
that. We recognize him as our representative. You see, this is where salvation
is at. This is what faith perceives.
This is what men who are born of God acknowledge and see. They
have a revelation of God. And they understand that they're
one with Him. You'll never have any hope. You'll
never have any joy. You'll never have any peace.
You'll never have any understanding until you see yourselves one
with Him. One with Him. Isn't that what
Paul said? We're buried with Him. We're
risen with Him. We're seated with Him. We're
one with Him. That's what faith perceives.
This is my representative. He's down here as a baby. And from the time he was born
until the time they took him down from the cross and laid
him in the tomb, he obeyed God's law perfectly. He obeyed that
law, loving the Lord his God with all his heart, soul, mind,
and strength. preferring his neighbor above
himself. Had no possessions. He gave himself
to the ministry completely, totally. He obeyed that law without spot,
without blemish, without rank. Heed my righteousness. Paul did not seek from God the
ability to keep the law or for God to compromise His character
and accept the best He could do and call it righteousness.
Rather, here's what that apostle, that one-time Pharisee, here's
what he prayed. Oh God, to be found in Christ. Now listen, not having my own
righteousness. You won't want yours either if
God ever shows you what it is. Filthy rags, what it is. Oh,
to be found in Him, Paul said, not having my own righteousness
which is of the law, but that righteousness of Christ, that
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which
is of God by faith. And then fourthly, to believe
that Jesus is the Christ is to see Him as our great High Priest,
ordained for men in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation
for the sins of the people. The new birth is not evidenced
by speaking in tongues, church membership, or any other activity
of the flesh. The new birth is evidenced by
an understanding that Jesus is the Christ. Whosoever believeth
that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. And then fifthly, this
revelation, this understanding, this light which has flooded
our dark souls, brought light into darkness, constitutes our
victory over this present world. 1 John chapter 5 verse 4. Don't you see this? Whatsoever
is born of God overcometh the world. And this is the victory
that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh
the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? This is what constitutes our
victory over this world. Peter said we're kept by the
power of God through faith. unto salvation ready to be revealed
at the last day. And then again in his second
official he said, according as his divine power hath given unto
us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the
knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue. What is it to be born of God? It is to know 1 John 5, verse
20. It is to know that the Son of
God has come and given to us an understanding that we may
know Him that is true, that we are in Him which is true, even
in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God. This is eternal life. What is
it to be born of God? Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God.