Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nybert. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert. I'm sure you've heard of the
phrase, being born again. What does that mean? I've entitled this message, Born
From Above. The Lord said to Nicodemus in
John chapter three, verse three, verily, verily, I say unto you,
except a man be born Again, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven. The adverb again is usually translated
above or from above. You must be born again and that
necessitates you or I being born from above, born from heaven. I'd like to read a passage of
scripture in John chapter one, beginning in verse 12. but as many as received him. And there is no salvation apart
from receiving the Lord Jesus Christ. But as many as received
him, to then gave he power to become the sons of God. even
to them which believe on his name." Now, do you want to know
what it means to receive him? It means to believe on his name. His name is his attributes. It's the person behind the name. You are believing on him who
is. Now look what he says about these
ones who are given the power to become the sons of God. Verse
13, which were born. That's being born from above
or born again. Them which are birthed, literally
fathered by God. Now that's what it means to be
born again. You were fathered by your earthly father. If you're
born again, you're going to be fathered by God, given a spiritual
nature that you did not have before. Now, John says, which
were born, not a blood. You will not be born again. because
your mother or your father or any of your relatives were born
again, grace does not run in bloodlines. Now, I'm thankful
that sometimes the Lord saves whole families. Sometimes he
saves only one in a family, but grace does not come through bloodlines,
which were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh. Now, one of the greatest lies
perpetrated in our day is that man has a free will and it is
his decision to become born again. He decides to be saved as an
act of his free will. That is a lie. There is no truth to that. We're not born of the will of
the flesh. Paul said in Romans 9 16, it's
not of him that willeth. nor of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy. Not of the will of man, a man
is not born again or born from above because a great collection
of men get together and pray for that man and say, we will
not give up until God saves that man. And the man is born again
because of the prayers of those people. Now, God uses prayer
and we should be praying for ourselves and for others, but
the new birth does not come as a result of prayer. or born of
God, born as an act of the will of God. That's how one is born
again. Now, if any of you were alive
in the mid-70s when Jimmy Carter was running for president, you
may remember that he identified himself as a born-again Christian. My dear friends, there's no other
kind of Christian than a born again Christian, born from above. During that time or somewhere
close to that time, Billy Graham wrote a book entitled, How to
be Born Again. Now, what if I wrote a book entitled,
How to be Conceived, These are the steps you need to take in
order to be conceived. You need to do this, you need
to do that, then you'll be conceived. You would say, well, if you'd
write a book like that, you're a fool. Well, for somebody to
write a book entitled How to be Born Again is more foolish. It's contrary to common sense. It's sinful. It's wrong to tell
someone, here's what you need to do. Here's how to be born
again. Now, the Bible never tells you how to be born again. It
says you must be born again. You must be born from above,
but as far as here's the steps you need to take in order to
be born again, here's the conditions you need to meet in order to
be born again, that's foolishness. That's just a form of salvation
by works. Now, why must we be born again? Why must we be born from above? That's a very important question
to consider. Do you remember in Genesis chapter
two, when God said to Adam, in the day you eat thereof, he forbid
him to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And
he said, in the day you eat thereof, you shall surely die. Now note the language. He didn't say you might die.
He said, in the day you eat thereof, you shall surely die. He didn't say if you eat of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He said, when you do. How did God know that they would
eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? Because it
was part of His purpose. God didn't simply permit this
to happen. It was all a part of His glorious
purpose, the eternal purpose, which He purposed in Christ Jesus
our Lord. He created the universe for the
death of Christ on the cross and the glorification of his
own great name. And included in that glorious
purpose was the fall of Adam. Did Adam never fall, there would
be no cross. But Christ is called the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. Now he said, in the
day you eat thereof, you shall surely die. Now I heard a preacher
speaking on this and he said, God demonstrated his mercy and
his long suffering and his grace to Adam when he didn't kill him
on that very day. Well, that's not what the scripture
says. The Lord said in the day you
eat thereof, you shall surely die. And he died that very day. It's called spiritual death. He became spiritually dead. What Paul calls dead in trespasses
and sins. Ephesians chapter two, verse
one, dead. Now don't miss that. Not impaired,
not sick, not disabled, dead. What can a dead man do? A dead
man certainly cannot perform the functions of life. He can't
see, he can't hear, he can't smell, he can't taste, he can't
feel, he's dead. A spiritually dead man. cannot
perform the functions of spiritual life. Why? He's spiritually dead. He has no ability to believe,
to repent, to love. Oh, he's got the ability to sin.
He's still got a body and soul, but he has no spiritual ability. He's dead in sins. And that is
why one must be born from above. A dead man can't give himself
life. He's completely dependent upon God to give him life. Why must a man be born from above? Because he is dead in trespasses
and sins. Now let's look at this passage
where the Lord made this statement. In John chapter three, verse
one, we read, there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus. a ruler of the Jews. This man
was a very religious man, a very moral man, a very well-respected
man. And he had the same scriptures
that you and I have, as far as the Old Testament goes. And he
was looking at the same Old Testament that you and I do. A very religious
man, Nicodemus. Verse two says, the same came
to Jesus by night. Now why did he come by night?
Well, it could be that he did not want to be identified with
Christ at this time because his contemporaries would look down
on him for identifying with Christ. So he wouldn't come at night
when they wouldn't find out about it. Nobody would know. It could
have meant that. But I think more than anything
else, Nicodemus was in the dark. He had no light. He had no understanding of the
gospel. The same came to Jesus by night. And said unto him, Rabbi, this
is a respectful address. He was impressed with the Lord
Jesus Christ as a man. He did not yet understand who
he really was, but he was impressed. He said, we know that thou art
a teacher come from God. Four, no man can do these miracles
that thou doest, except God be with him. Now, the Lord performed
miracles that only God can do. He created matter. He brought
food into existence. He brought matter into existence,
into the universe that was not there before. Only God can do
that. He controlled the weather. He
healed the sick. He gave sight to the blind. He
raised the dead. He did what only God could do. And Nicodemus saw these miracles,
and he was impressed. But did you know, you never believe
because of what you see. All of his knowledge was based
upon sight, the miracles he saw. If I could commit or do these
same miracles that he did, it wouldn't make anybody believe
the gospel. You might be impressed with me. I might be on the front
page of the newspaper of this man who God used to do these
things, but nobody would believe the gospel because of that. Nicodemus
was totally dependent upon what he saw. Jesus answered, what
a mercy. What a mercy that he didn't leave
him in his darkness. Jesus answered and said unto
him, verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a man be born again,
he cannot see the Kingdom of God. You see these miracles,
but you have no understanding of the Kingdom of God, and you
cannot see the Kingdom of God, except you be born from above. It takes spiritual life. You see, the natural man is dead
in trespasses and sins. He's saying to Nicodemus, Nicodemus,
you know nothing. All your religious is pointless.
All your religious knowledge is useless and pointless, pointless
knowledge. You know nothing except, except
a man be born from above, birthed by God. given spiritual life. He cannot see, he cannot perceive,
he cannot understand the kingdom of God. Now, as I understand,
the most intelligent of the primate apes would be a chimpanzee. Could
a chimpanzee, under any circumstance, learn calculus? Well, the answer
is no. I don't care if you have the
best teacher to ever live. The chimpanzee cannot learn calculus. It's beyond him. He's a chimpanzee. He cannot possibly learn calculus. The natural man, because he's
dead in sins, cannot possibly understand, see, or perceive
the kingdom of God. It's beyond him. He must be born
from above. He must be given a new nature,
a new heart, a new understanding that he did not have until God
gave it to him. Except a man be born again. Born from above, he cannot see
the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, how
can a man be born when he's old? He didn't understand this. All
he understood was physical birth in the first place. How can a
man be born when he's old? Can he enter the second time
into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered. Once again, what
a blessing of grace toward this man, Jesus answered. You may and I may have very foolish
ideas about the gospel and we may ask things that just are
wrong, but thank God, 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, he can't see or perceive
or understand the kingdom of God except he be born again. He cannot enter the kingdom of
God except he be born of water and of the Spirit. Now what does
that mean? A lot of religious people think
that that water refers to the water of baptism. You cannot
be born again unless you go under the waters of baptism. As a matter
of fact, there are several baptismal formulas with the Church of Christ
and the Christian Church and so on where the new birth actually
happens through the act of baptism, baptismal regeneration. That's
just not so. That's salvation by works. That's
saying you need to be baptized in order to be saved. That is
contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ. May the Lord deliver
us from believing something so wrong. In Ephesians 5, verse
26, we read where Christ will wash and cleanse the church with
the washing of water by the word. This water represents the Word
of God. Now let me give you some scripture
that verify that. James 1.18 says, of his own will
begat he us, and speaking of the new birth, through the Word
of truth. The water is the truth of the
gospel, the Word of God. Peter said being born again.
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word
of God that liveth and abideth forever." Now what this is a
reference to is the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ being birthed
by the Word of God, the content of the Gospel message. There
is no birth apart from hearing the Gospel. And I'm not talking
about a gospel or man's gospel, but the gospel, the gospel of
God, the gospel concerning who Jesus Christ is, the God-man,
the creator. He came down from heaven and
lived in the flesh. He lived a perfect life and perfectly
obeyed God's law, yet he died. Why did He die when He never
sinned? Because the sins of God's elect were placed upon Him by
His Father. He made Him to be sin for us
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. He died under the wrath of God
as the sin-bearing substitute, and He was raised from the dead
because He completely satisfied all the demands of God. And he
put away those sins and the justice of God demanded his resurrection. He made full satisfaction for
sin. He completely honored God. Now that is the gospel message. And there is no salvation apart
from hearing and believing the gospel message. That's the water,
but no one said except a man be born of water and of the Spirit.
It's only by the Spirit of God that you and I can be enabled
to believe that message. It's beyond the natural man's
ability. It's only by the spirit of God,
by hearing the gospel, God taking that message and by the spirit
of God birthing one into the kingdom of heaven so that they
enter into the kingdom of heaven. Now he says in verse six, that
which is born of the flesh is flesh. And that which is born
of the spirit is spirit. That which is born of the flesh,
the way I was born into this world. That which is born of
the flesh will never rise above what it is, flesh. They that
are in the flesh cannot please God. The carnal mind, the fleshly
mind is enmity against God and it cannot rise above what it
is. But they which are born of the
Spirit, the Lord says, that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. Now, if you're born again, you're
birthed by the Spirit of God, and He gives you a spiritual
nature, one that was not there before, a nature that cannot
sin. This is what the new birth is.
Now, somebody says, are you saying a believer doesn't sin? Well,
his new man doesn't. Scripture says that. 1 John 3.9
says, he that's born of God doth not commit sin. And somebody
says, well that means he doesn't practice sin. That's not what
it says. It says he does not commit sin, the new man. Now
somebody says, how can I see that? Well, you can't really
in the sense that it A believer has two natures, one sinful nature,
one holy nature, but they're like hot water and cold water
coming out of the same faucet, out of the same consciousness.
And it's impossible to really see, well, that didn't sin, but
it's still true that that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.
Can God, the Holy Spirit, give birth to something that's sinful?
Why, the thought is blasphemous. No, that which is born of the
Spirit is Spirit. And it says in verse seven, Marvel
not that I say unto you, you must be born again." This is
what the Old Testament taught. A new spirit will I give you,
a new heart will I give you. It's throughout the Old Testament. You know, when the Lord said
to Nicodemus, after he said, how can these things be? Jesus
answered and said, in him art thou a master of Israel. No,
it's not these things. You ought to know them. They're
taught in the Old Testament. You don't know them. But he goes
on to say, marvel not, when he's speaking to Nicodemus, that I
say unto you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it
listeth. That's what the King James says.
It simply means the wind blows where it wills. You can't control
the wind. You can't say to the wind, I
want you to blow this way or that way. The wind blows where
it wills. We have absolutely no control
over the wind. Now the scripture says God holds
the winds in his fist and the wind blows exactly where he tells
it to blow. But you and I have no control
over the direction of the wind. And this is letting us know something
about the sovereignty of the Spirit of God in dispensing the
new birth. The wind blows where it wills,
you hear the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh
and whither it goeth. So is everyone that is born of
the Spirit. Now John chapter five, verse
21 says, the Father quickens whom He will. The Father gives
life to whom He will. And the same verse says, the
Son gives life to whom He will. And John 6.63 says, it's the
Spirit that gives life The flesh profits nothing. God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit will the birth, the spiritual
birth. Their will is one and they will
the birth of one who's born again. It's the sovereign work of God
that men have no control over. I love it that way. Salvations
of the Lord. You and I are in His hand. Now this is not bad news, this
is good news. If it was up to us, no one would
be saved. You would not be saved, I would
not be saved, because salvation is of the Lord, and salvation
is in His hand, and if He's pleased to, He can save you. If he's
pleased to, he can save me. I'm gonna be like that leper,
Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. That leper didn't say,
Lord, I will that you make me clean. He said, Lord, if you
will, you can make me clean. Now let me make these closing
remarks about this thing of being born from above. Born again,
regenerated. Regeneration is the work of God
the Holy Spirit. There's the work of the Father
in election, the work of the Son in redemption, and the work
of the Holy Spirit in regeneration. It's just as necessary for the
salvation of the sinner as the work of the Father and the work
of the Son. Ezekiel 36, 27 says, and I will
put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes. Secondly, regeneration is the
work of God alone. This is not a cooperative effort
between God and man. Free will is not involved in
regeneration. There is no condition that needs
to first be met before one can be born again. Regeneration is
the work of God alone. The Lord said, no man can come
to me except the father which has sent me draw him. Third, regeneration, being born
of God, precedes faith. You must be given life before
you can believe. You do not believe and then live. You must be given spiritual life
before you can believe. Now logically, here's the fourth
statement I want to make, logically, of regeneration or being birthed
from above precedes faith, but chronologically, they come at
the precise same time. The very second you believe,
you're born from above. The very second you're born from
above, you believe. There's no time when you have
life that you don't believe. Now, logically, life has to come
before faith, but chronologically, they come at the precise same
time, and there is no regeneration without hearing and believing
the gospel. You cannot be born from above
unless you hear and believe the gospel message. Now, my response
to this is, Lord, cause me to hear the gospel, cause me to
believe, give me life. Now we have this message on DVD
and CD. If you call the church, write,
we'll send you a copy, or if you look on our website, you
can get it off that. This is Todd Nyberg praying that
God will be pleased to make himself known to you. To receive a copy
of the sermon you have just heard, send a request to todd.nyberg
at gmail.com, or you may write or call the church at the information
provided on the screen.