Would you turn back to John Chapter
3? Tonight I'm going to be speaking on this subject from Hebrews
Chapter 3, Confidence and Rejoicing. I've entitled the message for
this morning, must be born from above. The adverb, again, when the Lord
says, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of
heaven, is usually translated from above, from heaven, from
God. You must be born again. And if
you're born again, it must be from above. It must be the work
of God. Look in John chapter one. To be born of God is to be fathered
by God. It's to be birthed by God. This is an utterly supernatural
thing. And look what John says in verse
12 of John chapter one, but as many as received him to them,
gave he power to become the sons of God. even to them that believe
on his name, which were born, which were birthed, which were born, not of blood. You will not be born again or
born from above because your mom and dad are. This does not
run in fleshly bloodlines. Nor of the will of the flesh. If you're born again, it's not
because you of your free will decided to become born again. That's foolishness. Nor of the will of man. You're
not born again because a bunch of men got together and started
praying for you and they're going to keep praying until you're
finally born again. but of God, born, birthed of God. Now the content of this very
important and unique chapter, John chapter three is not found
in Matthew, Mark, Or Luke, born from above, born again,
born of God. Now, some of you may be old enough
to remember back in the mid seventies when Jimmy Carter was running
for president, he said, I am a born again Christian. as if
there was any other kind. I'm a born again Christian. Back during those days, Billy
Graham wrote a book entitled, How to be Born Again. What if I said to you, I've written
a book on how to be conceived. You'd say, that's insane. That's crazy. You'd be right,
wouldn't you? There's no difference between
that and writing a book on how to be born again. The Bible says
you must be born again. You must be born from above.
No question about that. But how to be born again? How to be conceived, that's foolishness. That's illogical. That's irrational. That's just plumbed up. The necessity of the new birth. The Lord says to Nicodemus in
chapter three, verse three, Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, or born
from above, he cannot." It doesn't say he may not, it says he cannot. He cannot see, or perceive, or
understand the things of the kingdom of God. Unless I'm born
from above, unless I'm birthed by God, unless I'm Saved. I cannot see the kingdom of God. Look what he says in verse five.
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water
and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Now in this thing of the new birth, whatever it is, whatever
it is, I can't see, I can't perceive, I can't understand the gospel.
I can't do it. I can't enter the kingdom of
God. I can't come in except I be born
from above. Now, why? What is this all about? Why do I need to be born from
above? Why do I need to be birthed by
God? Why do I need to be born again? Turn to Genesis chapter two.
The question is answered here. This is before the fall of man.
This is before Satan tempted our first parents in the garden. Verse 15, Genesis chapter two,
verse 15. I'd like you to look at this
for yourself. And the Lord God took the man and put him into
the garden of Eden to dress it. and to keep it. And the Lord
God commanded the man saying of every tree of the garden thou
mayest freely eat. No restrictions. What a place that must have been. You've got it all. But of the tree, of the knowledge,
of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day
that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. First thing that I would notice
is he did say If you eat, you shall surely die. Don't miss
that. He did not say, if you eat, you'll surely die. He said, in the day you do, you
shall surely die. Now, this comforts me to no end. God could have prevented Adam
from eating that fruit, couldn't he? Of course he could. Did he? No. Why didn't he? It's part of his eternal purpose.
You see, everything that takes place is for the glory of Jesus
Christ and the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. God purposed everything
and he purposed. I can't... Someone says he allowed
it. No, he purposed it. He purposed
it. He purposed this to take place. Now, whatever God does is glorious.
Amen. He's God. Altogether glorious. And he purposed this to take
place for his glory, according to his will. Man, if you don't have that,
you're left with Some really bad stuff. This is good stuff. This is glorious. This is who
God is. He is in absolute control of
everything, working all things after the counsel of his own
will. But what did he say to Adam? He said, in the day you
eat thereof, you shall surely die. That very day. Now, I was listening to a man
preach from this passage of scripture, and he said God demonstrated
his long suffering and his mercy in the fact that he didn't kill
Adam that very day. He said he would, but he didn't. If that is the case, either God
was mistaken when he said on that very day, you shall surely
die, or he lied. when he said, on that day, you
shall surely die. That day, he did die. He didn't die physically, but
he died spiritually. He did not die physically, he
died spiritually. And that is what Paul is talking
about when he says, and you have he quickened, have he given life
to who were dead in trespasses and sins. You and I were born
into this world dead in trespasses and sins. Listen, you didn't
become a sinner when you sinned, you sinned because of what you
already were, dead in sins, a sinner. That's why I must be birthed by God. I want to remind you,
I've always liked this statement, if you're wrong on the fall,
you're wrong on it all. If I'm wrong with regard to what
took place with Adam in the garden, I'm wrong on everything else. Adam spiritually died. What can a dead man do? He can't
see. He can't feel. He can't taste. He can't hear. He's dead. A spiritually dead man cannot,
lacks the ability to hear the gospel. Oh, he can hear it audibly,
but he can't hear it with hearing ears. He can't see the glory
of Christ. He may hear of it, but he can't
see it. He can see nothing spiritually because he's dead. Hence the need of being born
again, born from above. Spiritual death looks like this.
The Lord said this, John 6, 44. No man can come to me except
the father which has sent me draw him. If God leaves you alone,
if God leaves me alone, we will not come to Christ because we
cannot, we're dead in sins. The carnal mind is enmity. That's a strong statement, isn't
it? The carnal mind, the mind I'm born with, the way I was
born into this world, the carnal mind is enmity, hatred against
God, with God. It's not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the
flesh cannot please God. Now in the fall, Adam was not
injured. He did not become sick. He died. Hence the need to be born from
above, born of God. Chapter three, verse one, there was a man of the Pharisees
named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This was a very religious
man. This was a very moral man. This was a man who claimed to
have respect for the scriptures. He was one of those of whom our
Lord would have described, you search the scriptures, in them
you think you have eternal life. He had the same Bible that you
and I have. The New Testament had not yet
been written, but he had Genesis through Malachi, and he believed
that it was the word of God. Very religious man, but he didn't
understand the gospel. There was a man of the Pharisees
named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus
by night. Now, why did he come by night?
What could be that he did not want his contemporaries see him
coming to this man whom they hated. I don't wanna be identified
with him. So he came at night when nobody'd
see. Nobody'd know about it. But I think more than anything
else, he came to the Lord Jesus Christ in utter darkness. Dead in trespasses and sins. He could not see. He could not
enter. And here's what he said coming
in the night. He said unto him, Rabbi, he spoke
to the Lord with some measure of respect, teacher. 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 he saw the
Lord perform miracles. Utterly supernatural miracles
that only God could do. Now you think of the miracles
that he performed. He raised the dead. I don't know
if he witnessed this. Maybe you've witnessed him turning
that water into wine. Uh, he created matter. He brought
food into existence that was not there before creation of
new matter, um, controlling the weather. No man can do these
miracles that you do, except God be with him. But everything
Nicodemus believed was based upon what he saw. You know, nobody ever believed
in Christ because of what they saw. You can see all the miracles
in the world and it will make you believe. This is the way
this man came by what he saw. And I think of the confidence
he speaks of when he says, we know, we know you're a teacher
come from God. I mean, obviously look at the,
look at the evidence, look at the facts, look at what we see.
We know. Verse three, Jesus answered and said unto
him. He doesn't thank him for his
affirmation, does he? He's saying this, Nicodemus,
you know nothing, except you be born again. You cannot see, you cannot perceive,
You cannot understand the kingdom of God. It takes spiritual life
to see the kingdom of God. Can a dead man see? No. Can he hear? No. Can he taste? No. Can he touch, feel? No. Can he smell? No. He's dead. His heart's not beating. His
lungs are not heaving. He's dead. He's graveyard dead. He cannot do these things. Can
a spiritually dead man see the glory of Christ? No. Can he hear
the gospel? No, not his gospel. Not his good
news. Can he smell the sweet savor
of Christ? No. He is dead. Now, I believe the highest order
of primates or the most intelligent order of the primates is the
chimpanzee, I think. Is there any way that a chimpanzee
could ever teach a calculus class? No. He lacks the ability. Can he understand calculus? You put him with the most simple
teacher, the best teacher, and teach that chimpanzee calculus,
What kind of progress will there be? None. Except a man be birthed from
above. Born again, he cannot. He lacks the ability. If you
don't have a new nature, if God does not give me a new nature,
I'll never see, I'll never understand the kingdom of God because I'm
dead in sins. That's what he says. Nicodemus,
you don't know anything. Boy, what a blessing it is when
a man finds out that all of his religious knowledge is worthless. Knows nothing. But I thought
that it was wrong. Verse three, or verse four. Nicodemus
saith unto him, how can a man be born when he's old? Nicodemus
was an old man at this time and all he understood was physical
birth. He didn't know what the Lord
was talking about. He says, how can a man be born when he's old?
Can he enter in the second time into his mother's womb and be
born? Um, somebody says, was he being a smart aleck at that
time? Maybe, I don't know, but it's, it didn't make any sense
to him. What do you mean by being born again? How can that happen?
The Lord answers again. Verse five, Jesus answered, Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of
the spirit. He cannot enter into the kingdom
of God. You're going to have to be birth
Nicodemus. You're going to have to be birth of water. You're
going to have to be birth of the spirit. And if you're not,
you cannot, you lack the ability to enter the kingdom of God. Now what's that mean? My marginal reading in this Bible
I have says, with reference to Mark 16, 16, born of water, like
you're born again when you're baptized. Uh-uh. No. The Lord did say, whoso believeth
and is baptized shall be saved. He said that. That doesn't mean
you have to be baptized to be saved. Didn't mean that at all. He's not saying you're born again
by going under the water. I've seen where people have these
baptismal, I guess, formulas when they baptize people. Church
of Christ, you go under, you're born again, you come back up.
That's foolishness. There's no truth to that. Turn to Ephesians chapter five. Verse 25, husbands, love your
wives, Ephesians 5, 25. Husbands, love your wives, even
as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that
he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water. How? By the word. Now the water signifies the Word
of God. There is no new birth without
the Word of God. Not the Word of man, but the
Word of God. Now let me verify this with some
other scriptures. James chapter 1 verse 18, of
his own will, begat he us with the word of truth. There's no
new birth without hearing and believing the word of God. Peter said in first Peter chapter
one, being born again, not of corruptible seed, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God. There is no
new birth without hearing, receiving, and believing the Word of God,
the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the Gospel. It's the life, the death, the
burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's the Word
of God. God the Son came and lived a
perfect life. He died on Calvary's tree after
living that perfect life. Why? The sins of God's elect,
he took them to himself and they became his. He became guilty
of those sins. He died under the wrath of God.
He satisfied the wrath of God when he was raised from the dead.
That means every sin was paid for, put away, gone. And now every believer stands
before God without guilt. That's the gospel. because of
the life, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ
the Lord. Now, you believe when you rely
on him only. That's what it is, that's what
faith is. Faith is in him, it's not faith in yourself. Well,
I this, I that, that ain't faith. Faith is looking to Christ alone
as everything in your salvation. All God requires I have. Now,
you gotta hear that. And you gotta believe that. You
know the only way you'll do it? Is by the Spirit of God. That's
what he's talking about when he says, except a man be born
of water and of the Spirit, birthed by God. This is a supernatural
thing. It's not something you, you don't
just up and say, well I think I'm gonna get born again. You
know, when people say, I got saved, well, I got a cold, you
know, I got sick, you know, I mean, that's not the way to speak of
God's salvation. Birthed through the Word by the
Spirit of God, and without that, You cannot enter the kingdom
of God. Now, you know what I'm doing
right now? Lord, birth me by your spirit. Birth me by your
word. Cause me to enter the kingdom
of heaven through the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse six. The Lord gives a comment on what
he just said. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. It'll never rise above
that. It will never rise above that. You know, when Lynn and I had,
well, Lynn had her, when Aubrey was born, you know the way she
was born? A sinner. Flesh. You know why? She came
from being Lynn. She's born a sinner, she's born
bad. Sorry, Aubrey. No, I was too. The point is, that which is born
of the flesh will never be any more than that. Flesh. That which is born of the spirit.
Now, a fleshly man can't produce anything but a fleshly man. The
Spirit produces only that which is Spirit. Birth of God, born
of God, a new man, a new creation. That's how the New birth is described. And you know, this was taught
in the Old Testament. He said, a new heart will I give you.
I'll put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes.
This is what the Bible has always taught. The new man, that which
is born of the spirit. is Spirit. That's why every believer
and only a believer, you still have the nature you were born
with. It's still there. If it wasn't, you wouldn't sin
anymore. But you have a new nature, a holy nature, a nature that
the scripture says does not commit sin. 1 John chapter 3 verse 9. The Holy Spirit does not beget
anything but that which is like himself. Partakers, the scripture
says, of the divine nature. And that which is born of the
flesh will never be anything but that. That which is born
of the spirit will never be anything but that. Now let's go on reading
verse seven. The Lord says, marvel not that
I say unto you, you must be born again. Don't be surprised by
this. This is what the Old Testament scripture teaches. This is the
way it's always been. Marvel not that I said unto thee,
you must be born again. Now look at the illustration
he gives, verse eight. The wind blows where it wills. That's what that word listeth
means. The wind blows where it wants to blow. Now, can anybody
say, wind, go that way? Will it obey you? No. It goes
where it wants to go. You don't have any control over
the wind, do you? You can't make it do what you
want. It goes where it wills. The scripture says he holds the
winds in his fist. He has absolute control of the
wind, but the wind blows where it wills. Even so, the wind blows
where it wills. You hear the sound thereof. You
can't tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth. So is everyone
that is born of the Spirit, birthed of The Spirit. Now this is talking
about the sovereignty of God the Holy Spirit in giving life.
He gives life to whom he will. God gives life to whom he will.
The Father quickens whom he will. The Son quickens whom he will. The Spirit quickens whom he will. And the Father's will, the Son's
will, and the Spirit's will is one will. The Lord said, it's
the spirit that gives life. The flesh profits nothing. Your
flesh doesn't have anything to do with this. This is a spiritual
work of God. You have no control. Now, let me remind you of this.
I want to remind myself of this. You are in the hand of a sovereign
God. Sovereign father, sovereign son,
sovereign spirit. It's up to him as to whether
or not you'll be saved. You don't have any control in
this. None. Now, that's a good thing. You know why it's a good thing?
He can save you if he's pleased to save you. And if you ask for
mercy, do you know there's never been anybody that he turned down
that really asked for mercy? I don't care who you are. If
you seek mercy at his hand, you've got it. He delights in mercy. He delights in saving by his
grace. Now, if you say, it's not fair
for you to not save me. Okay. He'll pass you by. But
if you sue for mercy in your need of him, he'll receive you. The wind blows where it wills. You hear the sound thereof, you
can't tell whence it comes or where it goes, even so is everyone
that is born of the Spirit. Now let me make these concluding
remarks. Number one, regeneration, being
born again, is the work of God alone. There is not cooperation between
God and man. It's not God asking you if he'll,
will you let me give you new birth? Oh, thanks for the permission.
That's foolishness. It's the work of God. alone. And this is what the scriptures
always taught, Ezekiel 36, 27, and I will put my spirit within
you and cause you to walk in my statutes. A new heart will
I give you. That which is born of the spirit
is spirit. The new birth, regeneration,
is the work of God alone. Secondly, regeneration is the work of the
Holy Spirit. He's God, God the Spirit, and
that's his particular office in the salvation of the sinner.
God the Father elects, God the Son redeems, God the Holy Spirit
gives life. There are no conditions you first
need to meet in order for God to give you life. Have I done
enough for me to get life? Nope. Never will, but thank God
there are no conditions you must first meet for God to give you
life. It's the work of the Spirit of
God. Number three, being born of God,
regeneration precedes saving faith. You have to be given life
before you believe. You don't believe and then live.
You live, then you believe. Faith is impossible for the natural
man. Remember the way Paul said, by
grace you're saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it's
the gift of God. The gift not of works, lest any man should
boast. You don't believe and then God gives you the new birth.
The only reason you believe is because God birthed you from
above. Logically, regeneration or being born of
God precedes faith chronologically. Chronologically, they come at
the exact same time. There's no one second period
or whatever where you have life but you don't believe. And this
is just what the scripture teaches. When you have life, you believe. When you believe, You have life. They come at the precise same
time. Logically, life's gotta come
first. We know that, don't we? Chronologically, they come at
the precise same time. When you believe the gospel,
when you rest in Christ, when you see him as everything in
your salvation, you've been birthed of God. When you're birthed of
God, when you're born again, you're gonna believe the gospel.
precise same time. There is no regeneration without
hearing and believing the gospel. Somebody says, well, I was saved
when I heard a works message and then I gradually got to the
point where I believed grace. No, you weren't saved then. You
were not saved then. You are saved when you believe,
when you hear and believe the gospel. God doesn't use error. He doesn't have to. He's God. Well, he can't find anybody to
preach the truth. Yeah. He's God. He always uses the
truth and begins life through the truth. There is no regeneration
without hearing and believing the gospel. Listen to this scripture. Second Thessalonians 2.13 says,
we're bound to thank God always for you, brethren, beloved of
the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you unto
salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth. Sanctification of the Spirit
is the belief of the truth. Belief of the truth is the sanctification
of the Spirit. One last scripture, 1 John 1,
or 1 John 5. This is what we're going to close
with. Have I been born of God? I hope every one of us are asking
ourselves that question. We see it's out of my hands in
the sense that I can't make it happen. You can't make it happen. I'm gonna be born again. Well,
doesn't work that way. We're in the hands of a sovereign
God. Now we ask him to give us birth. Lord, save me. Give me
a new heart. David prayed this. He said, create
in me a clean heart. The only way that can take place
is through the creative act of God, where he creates in me a
clean heart. Now look in 1 John 5, verse 1. Whosoever. Now, my dear friends,
I've got several favorite words in the Bible. Grace, Christ. I love this word. Whosoever.
I'm one of them. I can fit myself into that demographic.
Can't you? I'm a whosoever. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord should be saved. I'm a whosoever I'm calling.
I shall be saved. That's the divine order. Whosoever. Believeth that Jesus is the Christ
is born of God. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ. Now the Christ of God. God's prophet. Now the Christ
is God's prophet, priest, and king. That's his offices. In
the Old Testament, you had the prophet, the priest, and the
king. They were all anointed by God for that purpose. Christ
is the anointed one, the anointing. He's God's prophet. He is the
word of God. Do you believe that? Do you believe
he is the gospel message? God's priest. And he's not like
those Old Testament priests who bring the blood of animals that
represent his blood. They come into the Holy of Holies
and they bring the blood of a dead animal. Christ is the priest
who brings his own blood. Oh, what a priest. Do you believe
that Jesus Christ is the priest of God's appointing? The one
who cannot fail? I did. He cannot fail. If he
represents me, if he brings his blood for me, I'm saved. He's God's King. Yet have I said
my King upon my Holy hill of Zion, unlike other Kings, every
other King has borrowed power, really no power. Um, by me, the Lord said King's
reign. King's heart is in the hand of
the Lord. He is the rivers of water, he turneth away whatsoever
he will. This king has inherent power, the power of God. He's
got the power to make sure his will is always done. Now do you
believe, I'm not asking you if you believe that you're saved.
This is very important. I'm asking you if you believe
that Jesus Christ is the Christ. and you're relying on that. You
know what? You, my dear brother or sister,
have been birthed, born of God. Let's pray. Lord, I ask in Christ's name,
we ask with United hearts. By your grace. That you would. Give life. To dead sinners in
this place. That they might behold. That
thy son. Is your Christ? In his name we
pray, Amen.