Let's turn back to 1 John chapter
5. We looked at this verse last
week, but I want to have a different emphasis tonight. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born. is birthed, is begotten of God. And the reason he believes that
Jesus is the Christ is because he's born of God. He does not become born through
disbelieving. He believes because he's born. Logically, The new birth takes
place before believing. It has to, doesn't it? Logically. But chronologically, they take
place at the precise same time. There's not a millisecond in
your experience where you have life that you don't believe the
gospel. Faith and life always go together. If I believe, it's because I've
been born of God. I've entitled this message, Born
of God. And isn't this mysterious and
amazing and being born of God, being birthed by God? Now the
Bible gives three things that let us know something about this
miraculous, supernatural thing. And that's not a bad word to
use because when the Holy Spirit talked about the virgin birth,
he said that holy thing, like what can we call it? That holy
thing. So when we talk about this thing
of the new birth, the Bible gives us Three things, maybe there's
more, but this is all we're going to look at tonight, that give
us some idea as to what takes place in the new birth. These
three things are the virgin birth of Christ, the resurrection from the dead,
and creation. All three of those give us some
idea of what is meant by the new birth. The virgin birth of
Christ, the resurrection of Christ from the dead, or resurrection
from the dead, and creation. Those are the things that take
place when God births a man or woman into the kingdom of God. First, let's consider the virgin
birth of Christ. He really was born of a virgin. Isaiah 714, behold, a virgin
shall conceive and bear a son, and thou shalt call his name
Immanuel, God with us. The angel said to Mary, the Holy
Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall
overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy thing
that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. Now, the new, the virgin birth
was utterly miraculous. Amen. A virgin. Well, The new birth is utterly
miraculous. It's a miracle of God. That's
all it can be called is a miracle of God. With regard to the virgin
birth, the Lord said in Psalm 40, and it's quoted in Hebrews
10, A body hast thou prepared me. Remember that scripture?
A body hast thou prepared me. The Holy Ghost prepared him a
human nature for Christ to serve, obey, and honor his father. A
body hast thou prepared for me. And in being born of God, the
Holy Ghost gives us a nature, a spiritual nature by which we
can serve, obey, and believe our God. In the virgin birth,
humanity was formed in Mary. In the new birth, that which
is divine is formed in us. Partakers of the divine nature,
2 Peter 1, 4. If you're a believer, you have
the divine nature in you, born of the Spirit of God. In the
virgin birth, man was not involved, was he? Same in the new birth. Man is not involved. And in the virgin birth, the
human nature of Mary was not changed. In the new birth. Our nature,
our human nature is not changed. It stays the same. So we can seize the parallels
in this new birth with the virgin birth. And what about creation? I love to think of creation when
God created something from nothing. There was nothing. God said,
light me. And the light flooded the universe. God created something from nothing. Now, how much did man have to
do with the first creation? Absolutely nothing. He was the
one who was created. How much does man participate
in the new creation? Same. Absolutely nothing. Any man be in Christ, he's a
new creation. For in Christ Jesus, circumcision
avails nothing nor uncircumcision, but a new creation, a creative
act of God created in Christ Jesus unto good works. God took
that which was nothing and made something from it. creation. And the new birth is also compared
to a resurrection. And you hath he quickened who
were dead, dead in trespasses and sins. And you were raised
from the dead and given life. As a matter of fact, in Revelation
chapter 20 verse 5, the new birth is called the first resurrection. The first resurrection from the
dead. Upon such the second death hath no power, that person who
has been raised from the dead. You've actually been raised from
the dead and given life. Now, what contribution does man
make in resurrection? I love this. He said, Lazarus,
come forth. How much did Lazarus contribute
in this thing of being raised from the dead? Was there something
he needed to first do before he could be raised from the dead?
Of course not. Lazarus come forth and he that was dead came forth. Now this being born of God is
a sovereign work of God the Holy Spirit. John chapter 3 verse
8, the Lord said, the wind bloweth where it listeth, where it wills.
You can't, how much control do you have of the wind? None. What's more uncontrollable than
the wind? The wind blows where it listeth. You hear the sound
there, but you can't tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth.
Even so is everyone that is born of the Spirit. James 1.18 says,
Of his own will begat he us. with the word of truth, that
we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. Turn with me to 1 Peter 1. Now,
what we're actually going to do is just look at the scriptures
that deal with being born again. 1 Peter 1, verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy
hath begotten us, that's the word, birthed us, quickened us,
given us life. According to his abundant mercy,
he hath begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead. Now, I love this. Why? Did He
beget us? We're given two reasons. Number
one, because of His abundant mercy. This is an act of the
mercy of God Almighty. And it comes because of the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead. You see, when Christ was raised
from the dead, it means God is going to raise me from being
dead in sins. I'm going to be raised, I'm going to be birthed
into the kingdom of God because of the person and work of Christ.
He lived for me, he died for me, he was raised for me, therefore
God the Holy Spirit is going to give me this new birth. He
must because Christ died for me, because God's mercy calls
upon it to happen. So that's the cause behind the
new birth, the abundant mercy of God and the resurrection of
the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. Look in verse 23 of this
same chapter. being born again, being birthed
by God, not of corruptible seed, not of Adam's seed, but of incorruptible
by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. Now the
word of God is the seed or the agent that brings about the new
birth. In a human birth, a man's seed
is joined with a woman, and life comes from that. But in the new
birth, the seed is the incorruptible, uncorruptible Word of God. The Word of God is the seed that
begets the new birth, and it's what Peter called, in 1 Peter
chapter 3, the hidden man of the heart which is not corruptible. I'm explaining what the scripture
says, do I understand it? No, no, neither does anybody
else, but it's what the Bible teaches. God's word, this is
why the preaching of the gospel is so important. This is why
what we're doing right now is so important. Faith cometh by
hearing, and hearing by the word of God. God takes his word. Through somebody like you, yeah.
It pleads God by the foolishness of preaching, Well, that seems
like foolishness to me. Well, God called it that. It
pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them to
believe. He takes his word and he begets life through his word. Being born again, not of corruptible
seed. God doesn't use human thought,
human error, human religion, but incorruptible, the word of
God, which liveth and abideth forever. Now, there is no life
apart from hearing, believing, and receiving the gospel. Ephesians
1.13 says, In whom you trusted, after that you heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your salvation. The Lord said, Sanctify
them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. Second Thessalonians 2.13, But
we're bound to thank God always for you, brethren, beloved of
the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Those two things can't be separated. Sanctification of the Spirit
and belief of the truth. I've already quoted this. of
his own will begat he us through the word of truth." Now, there
are three things that the Holy Spirit identifies that have nothing
to do with the new birth. Turn to John chapter 1. And this is pointed out to us
because the natural man will not believe this. Verse 12. Verse 12, John chapter 1, but
as many as received him. You know, if God gives you Him,
you'll receive Him. There's no merit in that, but
you'll do it. And if you don't receive Him,
He never gave Him to you. But if He gives Him to you, you
will receive Him gladly, thankfully, amazed by it. as many as received
him, to them gave he power, the right, the privilege to become
the sons of God, even to them which believe on his name. Now, what is it that a son of
God does? What is the evidence that he's
done something for me? What is the evidence that I've
received him? I believe on his name. Right now, While I'm talking
to you, I know the name of the Lord Jesus Christ is the only
reason I'll be accepted by the Father. Right now, I know I'm
kept by His name. Right now, I know I'm saved by
His name. His name is who He is. His sovereignty,
His justice, His grace, His glory, all His attributes, I'm saved
by His name. Now that somebody that's received
Him, this is the evidence. They believe on His name. Now look what He says in verse
13. He gives us three things. that did not bring about this
birth, which were born, birthed. Those that believe on his name,
those who have received him, they were birthed, not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of
God. Now, not of blood. If you're
born again, if you're born from above, if God has given you this
holy new nature, it has no fleshly connections at all. It's not
because your mom and dad were saved. It's not because of any
relationship you've had with anybody else. It's not of blood. It's just not. Now, I'm thankful
sometimes the Lord saves whole families. Sometimes only one
person in the family is saved. But whatever the case, it doesn't
have anything to do with any fleshly relationships. not of
blood. If I'm born, it's not because
of the will of the flesh. Now what that's talking about
is the will of man. I don't will. I don't make a
decision. I'm going to become born. I don't
will myself to be born any more than a new baby conceived wills
itself into conception. Free will has absolutely nothing
to do with being born again. Now let me tell you something
about free will. There's no such thing. It's a philosophical absurdity. There's no such thing. Your will is controlled by your
nature. And it's ridiculous to think
of a free will. No, everybody's will is controlled by their nature.
God's will is controlled by his nature. He's holy. That's why
he cannot sin. He can't freely decide, well,
I'm going to tell a lie, or I'm going to sin, or I'm going to
do something wrong. No. Holy will is controlled by His holy
nature. There's no such thing as free
will. If there ever was a time when
a will was free, and even then it wasn't free because God's
sovereign over it, he's in control of it, but the only time the
will might, somebody might argue that it was free is when Adam
was in the garden before the fall. He had an innocent nature. And God said, in the day ye eat
thereof, you'll surely die. That was all part of God's purpose.
And so you, I, I don't even know why I'm saying that. There's
no such thing as free will. Just get that down. There's no such
thing as free will. I don't have any doubt that when
Satan was tempting Eve in the garden, it was with regard to
this thing of free will. That's what was going on. He
said, right now you're a robot. Your spiritual nature is such
that you obey God and there's no virtue in your obedience.
You're just obeying your nature. So what's good about that? Which
is false reasoning. God obeys his nature, and it's
all good, isn't it? But he said, if you go ahead
and eat this fruit, your eyes will be opened, you'll know the
difference between good and evil, and you'll choose the good over
the evil, and that's what'll make you like God. You'll be
just like God. That was the temptation in the
garden, free will. But John tells us it's not of
the will of the flesh. It's not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy." Now,
free will is salvation by works. That's all you can call it. Salvation
by works. Somebody that preaches free will
doesn't have any idea who God is, they don't have any idea
who they are, and they don't believe the gospel. Not of the
will of man. Here's the third thing. Not of
blood, Not of the will of the flesh, not the will of man. Now
how many times have men got together and we're going to pray for revival.
There's nothing wrong with I'm not I'm not discounting that
we ought to be asking the Lord to do something do something
special. But here's the point. No man
can or conglomeration mean can get together and dictate this.
This is what's going to happen. We're going to pray. We're going
to pray. We're going to seek the Lord.
We're going to ask for his blessing until the blessings fall down
from heaven. And we're not going to give him
any rest until that takes place. Well, have that attitude, but
understand this. Birth doesn't come because of a bunch of men
getting together and praying for it. I love that scripture
in Zechariah chapter four, verse six, not by might, Not by power,
not by armies, not by collections of men, not by power, not by
the spiritual power of any one man, but by my spirit, saith
the Lord. Now this being born, it's not
by blood, it's not by the will of the flesh, it's not by the
will of man. Now turn with me for a moment
to Galatians chapter 4. The issue here that we're talking
about actually is grace and works. That is the issue of this thing
of being born of God. Let me show you this from Scripture,
Galatians chapter 4. Beginning in verse 19. My little children, of whom I
travail in birth again, until Christ be formed in you. I desire
to be present with you now, and to change my voice. I don't like
to be talking like this, for I stand in doubt of you. Tell
me, you that desire to be under the law, Do you not hear the
law? And I think it's so interesting
that at this time he doesn't go to the Ten Commandments. That's
where we would go. We'd go to the Ten Commandments.
You think you can keep this law? That's where we would go. not
Paul. And this is one of the most significant
passages of Scripture in the Bible because just this example
of this passage of Scripture lets us know that every story
in the Old Testament is given to illustrate the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Every single one of them. I would
have never read this story and thought, well, that's the gospel.
That's the two covenants. But Paul tells us it is, and
therefore we know this and every other story is given to illustrate
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now let's go and read.
Tell me ye that desire to be under the law, do you not hear
the law? For it's written that Abraham had two sons, the one
by a bondmaid, the other by a free woman. But he who was of the
bond woman was born after the flesh. There wasn't anything
miraculous about it. She was a young woman. She could
bear children, but but he also of the bondman was
born after the lesson, but he of the free woman was by promise."
You see, this was a miraculous birth. Sarah was 90 years old,
not carrying 90 or 99, but she'd already gone through menopause,
and there's no way she could bear a child. Abraham was 100,
she was 90-some, she had a baby. It was a miraculous birth. Now, go on reading, verse 24. Which things are an allegory
For these are the two covenants, the one who is a regular birth,
Abraham doing his part, and that's what was going on at this time.
You'll remember Sarah said, God promises the child, but we're
not having one. Abraham, we've got to do our
part. If we don't do our part, God's promise is not going to
be fulfilled. We need to do our part. Abraham said, okay, listen
to his wife. And she said, there's Hagar. He went in, he did his
part. And there we have salvation by works. Man doing his part. That's all it is. Man doing his
part. But what does the Bible say?
You're going to cast out that bald woman and her son. But let's
go on reading. For this Hagar, is Mount Sinai in Arabia, the
law, and answers to Jerusalem, which now is in bondage with
her children. But Jerusalem, which is above,
is free, which is the mother of us all, for it's written,
Rejoice thou barren that bearest not, break forth and cry thou
that travailest not, for the desolate hath many more children
than she which hath a husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was,
are the children of the promise, but as then he that was born
after the flesh." There it is. born after the flesh, persecuted
him that was born after the spirit. Even so, it is now flesh and
spirit born after the flesh, born after the spirit, grace
and works. Verse 30, nevertheless, what
sayeth the scripture, cast out the bond woman and her son for the son of the bond woman
shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. So then, brethren,
we're not children of a bondwoman, but of the free. Now, while we're
there, look in Galatians 5, 17. Here he talks about the flesh
and spirit again. For the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and
the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one
to the other, so that you cannot do the things that you would. Now, this is going on on the
inside of every believer right now. right now. You got flesh. You got spirit. You got your
old nature. You got your new nature. The
flesh lusts against the spirit. The spirit lusts against the
flesh. These two are at odds with one
another. They're contrary one to another. You would, listen to me, I would
never sin again. I would be just like the Lord
Jesus Christ. I would. You know, I can't wait,
I cannot wait to die in the sense of being free from this sinful
nature. I look forward to it. You would
be without sin, but you can't. You've got something
called the flesh that's always there. And you would, you don't
want to admit it, but how bad would you be? What kind of evil
things would you be that are right there right now? But you
can't execute what you would because God, the Holy Spirit
won't let you. What you want to do, you cannot
do. Now this is the war that's going
on inside. The struggle in Rachel's womb
began when she had life, didn't it? And she came to inquire of
the Lord, and the Lord said, there's two men or men within
me. What about the Shulamite woman when she described herself?
She said, I'm one of two companies of armies are on my inside. And
that is the experience of every believer. Read Romans chapter
7. Two separate natures in one man, all, and here's the problem,
all coming out of the same faucet. You've got the hot water and
you've got the cold water. Different things, but they come
out of that one faucet and these two natures are channeled into
that one man. Now, do we grasp this completely? Of course not. Do we experience
it? Yes, we do. Yes, we do more experience than than understood. Now, what I'd like to do now
is consider what this nature born of God actually does. Turn
to first John, chapter two. You know from John three that
it sees and enters the kingdom of heaven. But I want us to see these scriptures. First John, chapter two. 29, if you know that he is righteous,
do you know that? You know that? You know the Lord
Jesus Christ is altogether righteous, don't you? He's the righteous
one. If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone that doeth
righteousness is born of him. Well, how do you reconcile that
with Isaiah 64, 6, our righteousness are as filthy rags? How do you
reconcile that with there is none righteous, no, not one? Well, they don't need to be reconciled
because they're not at odds. That which is born of God is
righteous. The old man is filthy rags, isn't he? There is none
righteous, no, not one, but that which is born of God is righteous. You see, not only is Christ's
righteousness imputed to us, his very perfect obedience is
imputed, charged to my account, more so than that given to me.
And the reason it's charged to my account is because I've got
it. I've got it. I'm perfectly righteous before
God. But you'll remember when Adam sinned, His act of disobedience,
by one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners. When
Adam sinned, that sin became mine. I was guilty of it, that
one sin. But not only was I charged with
that one sin, he imparted to me his evil nature. That's the reason I am born sinful. The sin of Adam was imputed to
me. I was guilty of it, I sinned,
and it was imparted to me. Now in the same way, the righteousness
of Christ is imputed to me. It's mine. And when I'm born
of Him, His righteous nature is imparted to me, and I have
a righteous nature. sins in everything I do. I can't
look at anything I do and say, well, that was righteous, because
it's still coming out of the same faucet. There's sin in everything
I do. You too. You know it. I don't
have to convince you of that. It's the two things still in
the one faucet. So I can't look at anything and
say, well, I know that's righteous. But by faith, I know it is because
God says he that doeth righteousness is born of God. And so this is
something we know by faith because God says it. I don't need any
other reason to believe something than that. God says it. I look
in first John, chapter three, verse nine. Whosoever first night. Whosoever
is born of God. doth not commit sin. Now, he does righteousness and
he does not commit sin. For his seed remaineth in him,
And he cannot sin. He lacks the ability to sin because
he is born of God. Now, he that's born of God doth
not commit sin. Question. Can God the Father
sin? Why, you cringe at the thought.
No. Can God the Son sin? You know,
I've heard people argue that, well, if he couldn't sin, then
what would be so big a deal about his righteousness? What about
his, if he couldn't sin, what does it mean he was tempted?
I mean, obviously he had the potential. No, no, he's impeccable. The Son of God couldn't sin?
He couldn't sin. Can God the Holy
Spirit sin? No. He's got the Holy Spirit. Holiness cannot sin. The seed of God cannot sin. Can that which is born of God
sin? No. No, it comes from Him. It's born of Him. He that's born
of God, committed, is born of God, does not commit sin. Now,
I've heard so many preachers say, well, what that means is
they don't practice sin. It doesn't say that. As a matter
of fact, the language, the way it's spoken in the original,
that language will not allow that interpretation. But what's
it look like anyway? He doesn't practice sin. Does
it mean sin's okay as long as you just trip up every now and
then, but you don't have it as a habitual practice? That's ridiculous. What does it say? He that's born
of God doth not commit sin. 1 John. Chapter 4. You know, I was listening to
a preacher preach on this, and he actually made the statement.
He said, well, I sin less than I did. Good. I'm happy for you. Verse 7, 1 John chapter 4, verse
7. Beloved, let us love one another,
for love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born of God and
knoweth God. Everyone that loveth. Now, you
know that this is not talking about human love. This is not
talking about the love between a parent, a child, or a man and
woman. This is talking about divine
love. Divine love. Everybody that loves God as he
is, You know, I love God. I love the God of the Bible.
I love the God who's absolutely sovereign. I love the God who's
holy. I love the God who's just. I love the God who is the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. I love the Lord Jesus Christ
just as He is. I wouldn't change Him if I could.
I admire Him. He's glorious. I love God, the
Holy Spirit, who gave me new birth. He that loveth Him that
begat, loveth Him that's begotten of Him. Anybody that He begats,
I love. And I love men. I want them to
hear the gospel. Now that's the love he's speaking of. Love.
Everyone that loveth is born of God. He that loveth not knoweth not
God, for God is love. Turn to 1 John chapter 5. This
is the scripture we've already looked at. I love this scripture. Whosoever believeth, that Jesus
is the Christ, is born of God. Now notice it doesn't say, whosoever
seeth. Most people look at John's epistle
as what you need to read and see if you have these certain
evidences that show that you're saved. Can you see that you're
growing in grace and that you're becoming more like Christ and
more holy and less sinful and you start doing this and you
quit doing that and you can see from these evidences in your
life that you're saved. Now let me say this. If you can
find any evidence in your life like that that makes you think
you're saved, you're not. You're not. You don't know anything
about what it is to trust Christ only as your salvation. He didn't
say whosoever seeth. He said whosoever believeth relies
on this. that Jesus is the Christ. Now, it doesn't have anything
to do with what you believe about yourself. Faith doesn't look inward. Well,
I believe Christ died for me. I believe I'm saved. Forget that.
All it has to do with is do you believe that Jesus is the Christ,
God's prophet, the very word of God, the one who brings the
word of God to you? Do you believe He's God's priest? That if He represents you before
the Father, you must be saved. Do you believe He's God's King?
King of kings and Lord of lords. And you need Him as such to cause
you to do His will. The King is the one who reigns.
Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Look in verse 4. Chapter 5, For
whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world. Now, how many times
have you heard people talk about leading or living defeated Christian
lives? He's just living a defeated Christian
life. Beloved, there's no such thing.
If you're born of God, you overcome the world. How? 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. Do you believe that Jesus is
the Son of God? You've got that faith that overcomes the world. Everybody else is overcome by
the world. The believer overcomes the world. Now what I thought about was
the wayside here, the stony ground here who receives the word with
joy but doesn't endure, the thorn choked here who receives the
word but after a while They bear no fruit. Choked, the word is
choked. They don't have, you know why? They've never been born again.
But that person who believes that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God, that person has been begotten of God and he overcomes
the world. And finally, in verse 18, We know he repeats himself here,
but he says something else. We know that whosoever is born
of God sinneth not, but he that's begotten of God keepeth himself. He keepeth himself. And that
wicked one touches him not, he keeps himself. Now, what's that
mean? How does one go about keeping
themselves? Turn with me to John chapter
7. John chapter 7. Verse 37, In
that last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and
cried, saying, If any man thirst, Let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the
scriptures have said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of
living water. But this he spake of the Spirit,
which they that believe on him should receive. For the Holy
Ghost was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Now what all that means, I don't know. If somebody can tell me
after the service, I'll appreciate. Well, actually, don't tell me.
You don't know either, probably. But the point is, if I have been
born of God, I've got a well of water springing up that'll
never run dry. You know, I don't come here for
a fill-up, although I do. I come here to hear the gospel.
I come here to preach the gospel. I come here to be comforted,
to worship Christ. But the reason I do that is because
I have in me, being born of God, a fountain that never runs dry. And so I keep myself. I keep
myself. I know it's the Lord in me. It's
only His Spirit in me. It's the new man in me. It's
not the old man. The old man's nothing but sin.
The old man would leave Christ right now, but every believer
has been born of God, and they have a well of water springing
up to everlasting life that they're never going to lose. Now, isn't this an amazing, miraculous
thing, being born of God? What amazing grace. I've been born of God. Can you say that and really believe
it? Yep, I do. I believe that Jesus is the Christ.
I believe that He's the Son of God. And according to the Word
of God, that tells me I've been born of God. Let's pray. Lord Hal, we give thanks only through Christ's
name that all of your people are birthed, born of you. Lord, it's just another demonstration
that salvation is of the Lord and salvation is all by your
grace. And Lord, we confess that, and Lord, how we delight in who
you are and how you save sinners by your grace in a way that you
get all the glory and none goes to us, and we love it that way.
I bless this word for your glory and our good. In Christ's name
we pray, amen. Matt, you got us closing in.