I love that song. Would you turn back to 1 John
chapter 5? I've entitled this message, The
Evidence of the New Birth. If I am a Christian, God has
birthed me. He has supernaturally given me
a life that was not there before. I've been born of God. He has done something for me,
and if you're a believer, he's done something for you. that
he didn't do for everybody. When Jimmy Carter was president,
he spoke of being a born-again Christian. That became big back
in the 70s. But that's the only kind there
is. Now, let's think of the new birth
for a moment before we consider what the evidence of the new
birth is. First turn to John chapter 1. Verse 12. 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. Now you see that?
The reason they do that is because they were born. And he excludes
three things, which were born, not of blood. If God has birthed
you, it has nothing to do with some family connection you have.
Nothing. Not of the will of the flesh. If you're born of God, your will
didn't have anything more to do with it than your will had
anything to do with your conception. Absolutely nothing. If you're
born of God, It doesn't have anything to do with the will
of man. It's not because a bunch of men got together and prayed
for you and said, I'm going to keep praying. I'm a knock on
heaven's door until so-and-so is saved. I love that scripture
in Zechariah. It's not of might, not of armies,
nor of power, not by the prowess of any one single individual
or spirituality of any one single individual, but by my spirit,
saith the Lord. Look at John chapter three. Verse three, Jesus answered and
said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man
be born again, born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of
God. You can't understand, see anything
about the kingdom of God, unless you're born of God, born from
above. Look in 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 cannot enter into this spiritual kingdom unless you're born of
God. That's mysterious, isn't it? This thing of being born of God. Look in verse six, that which
is born of the flesh is flesh and it'll never rise above that.
And that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Now marvel not that I say unto
you, you must be born again. This is the sovereign work of
God the Holy Spirit. The wind blows where it listeth
or wills. You hear the sound thereof, but
canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth. So is everyone
that's born of the Spirit. This is a sovereign work of God.
When he gives life, he births whoever he's pleased to give
life to. Look in first Peter chapter one. Verse three, blessed be the God
and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his
abundant mercy hath begotten us again, hath birthed us, hath
given us life unto a living hope. How come? By the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead. That's the only reason it happens,
because of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the
dead. Look in this same chapter, verse
23, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible,
by the word of God which liveth and abideth forever." There's
no new birth apart from the word of God, the gospel message. Being
born again, not of corruptible seed. No one can be saved by
a false message. It has to be the gospel. of God. And he tells us what that message
is. Look in verse 24, for all flesh is its grass and all the
glory of man is the flower of the grass. The grass withers
and the flower thereof falls away. That's what you hear. But
the word of the Lord endures forever, Christ. And this is
the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. Now look
in first John chapter three, verse nine. Whosoever is born
of God, look what it says, doth not commit sin. Can that which is born of God
sin? No. Born of God. Whosoever is born
of God doth not commit sin, for his seed remains in him, and
he cannot sin. He lacks the ability to sin.
This is talking about the new nature, that which is born of
God. It cannot sin. God's seed remains
in him. Now, here's the big question.
Those are some big scriptures. It's an awesome concept, this
thing of God birthing me, the living God giving me life, life
that I didn't have before, the new birth, being born from above,
The big question is, what is the evidence of being born of
God? Don't you find that interesting?
I want to know what the true scriptural evidence is of being
born of God. If I have been born of God, there
is evidence. And what is the evidence that
I've been born of God? Well, our text tells us. I love the
simplicity of this verse. whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ. Do you believe that? Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is what? Born of God. There it is. Now I have a particular
fear of failing to tell what this really means. So I covet
your prayer. I fear overcomplicating it by
saying more than what it means or saying less than what it means
and end up taking away the meaning of this glorious simple yet profound
verse of scripture. There's not a verse of scripture
in the entire Bible that's more important than this verse of
scripture. Now, let's consider it together
and pray for me that I may be enabled to preach this as it
ought to be preached. The first word I would consider
in this verse of scripture is the word whosoever. What a wonderful word. Now, I've
said this before with regard to whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. This word is a whole lot
better than if it said, uh, Todd, if Todd Nybert believes he's
born of God, this is better. And let me tell you why it's
better. It's better because there are other Todd Nyberts. There's
a bunch of them. And it might not have been me.
I can fit myself into this group, whosoever. Now, if you fit the
description that this verse gives, it means you. You're a whosoever. I think of the passage of scripture.
This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save. If it said Todd and
Albert, that wouldn't be good. Because it might not mean me.
I couldn't have any assurance that I'm the one this scripture
is talking about. There are a lot of Todd Nyberts.
I couldn't get any comfort if it said Christ Jesus came into
the world to save Todd Nybert. But it says Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners. Now, whatever else I may or may
not be, I'm one of those. I'm a sinner. I am a sinner. I can take that title myself.
Everything I do is sin because I did it. That's all it takes
is for me to do it, and that makes it a sin. I cannot not
sin, and it's all my fault. It's ever been my fault. I'm
no victim in this. I'm a sinner by nature, yes, but also by choice
and by practice. It's all my fault. I got to take
full responsibility for my sin. You know, until you do that,
you're not going to ask for mercy anyway. It's only that person who's a
sinner that asks for mercy. And I can't look down on anybody
in moral authority and judgment, not with what I know about myself.
And I have no sense of entitlement to God's grace. I'm a sinner. But I can conclude that Christ
came to save me because he came to save sinners. I'm one of those. Therefore I can conclude that
he came to save me. Now do you believe that Jesus
is the Christ? Do you believe that Jesus is
the Christ? Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ, is born of God. Now, the next word I would like
to consider is believeth. Whosoever believeth, not whosoever
sees certain things in his life that makes him conclude he's
born of God. not whosoever sees that he has
become better, become holier, become less sinful, started doing
better, and therefore he can conclude by looking at his life
and what he sees that he's born of God. It doesn't say that at
all. As a matter of fact, if you can
look at your life and conclude you must be saved, I feel quite
sure you're not saved. You've not learned what it is
to look to Christ and rest in him. It doesn't say whosoever
seeth, it says whosoever believeth. Whosoever believeth. And there is something that is
to be believed. Faith has a content. A few weeks ago, before Tom Wooten died, which
he is going to have a service Friday, a military service at
Camp Nelson at 1230. If anybody can go, we're going
to have a graveside service there. But he said to me, he knew he
was dying, and he said, here's my hope. Here it is. What David said, although my
house be not so with God, Yet hath he made with me an everlasting
covenant." And you know, he's in heaven
right now enjoying the riches of that covenant. Ordered in
all things and sure. And this is all my salvation. It's all my desire. That is the
content. Your hope has a content. Now,
don't miss this whosoever believeth. Believeth what? It doesn't say
whosoever believeth he is saved. It doesn't say whosoever believeth
he's one of God's elect. It doesn't say whosoever believeth
that Christ died for his sins. It doesn't say whosoever believeth
that he's been born again. I want you to notice the absence
of anything to do with you thinking about something about yourself. There's a complete absence of
that, and here's why. Faith, and listen to me, faith,
true saving faith, that which is the gift of God's grace, that
which is the result of the new birth, saving faith has absolutely
nothing to do with what you believe about yourself or think about
yourself. You believe that? If so, well,
I believe I must be saved because at least I feel sorry for my
sins and I feel real guilty over my sins and I must be saved because
of the desire. No. Saving faith, faith itself
has nothing to do with what you think about yourself. Well, I
have assurance I'm saved. That doesn't mean you are. I'm
glad you do, but that doesn't mean you are. Saving faith has
wholly to do with Christ. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. Now that is the evidence of being
born of God, believing that Jesus is the Christ. I quoted this verse to a man
who told me, that's just too simplistic. That's not giving
people enough to believe. Well, if you feel that way about
this verse of scripture, you prove by that you don't really
have any understanding of what it means. This is so vast. This is so sublime. This is so glorious. This is
even transcendent. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. Now, there's always, it's always
been this way. It's this way right now. It always
will be this way. There's only one issue. What
think ye of Christ? That's the only issue. Not what
do you think about what somebody else thinks about Christ. But
what do you think of Christ? That is God's issue with me and
you. What think ye? Let's forget about
everybody else. What about so and so? Let's don't
worry about so and so. What think ye of Christ? That is the issue. Now, whosoever
believeth that Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Mary, the
carpenter, the one born in a stable, the man Christ Jesus, the one
who was nailed to a cross and the one who was raised from the
dead. I love Peter's concluding words
to the great sermon on Pentecost, this same Jesus whom you crucified,
God hath made him both Lord and Christ." Now, if you believe that, the scripture says you're born
of God. Now, with regard to the Christ,
there was a whole lot of people in the Old Testament, about everybody,
believed in the Christ. Messiah, the coming one. It was an Old Testament concept. The Messiah is coming. Everybody
in the Old Testament during New Testament times believed in the
Christ, in the Messiah. They just didn't believe Jesus
was the Christ. They just did not believe Jesus was the Christ. They were looking for someone
to come and deliver them from Roman rule and restore Israel
to national prominence and to give them wealth and power and
riches and make them somebody in the world and even after the
Lord was raised from the dead. What did the disciples ask him?
Will thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? I mean,
even at this time, they were still looking for a worldly kingdom,
and they just could not understand the words of our Lord, my kingdom
is not of this world. If it were, my servants would
fight and they'd win too. They'd win that I would not be
delivered to hence. But now my kingdom is not from
hence. His kingdom is not a worldly
kingdom. It's just, it has nothing to
do with this world. All this world is going to be
destroyed. He's going to make a new world, a new heavens and a new
earth. Now turn with me to Luke chapter
four for a moment. Luke chapter four. This is the
beginning of the Lord's public ministry, and we can learn something
about Christ. Christ is not his name,
it's his title. Now look in Luke chapter four,
beginning in verse 16. And he came to Nazareth where
he had been brought up, and as his custom was, he went into
the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read.
And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. It's what we would call Isaiah
chapter 61. And when he opened the scroll, he found the place
where it was written, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because
he hath anointed me. Christ means the anointed, the
anointed, the anointed one. He hath anointed me to preach
the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight
to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised. to preach
the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book and he
gave it again to the minister and sat down and the eyes of
all of them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
And he began to say unto them, this day is this scripture fulfilled. in your hearing, in your very
presence, in your ears. I bet you could have heard a
pin drop as they stared at him when he made that great proclamation. He hath anointed me. Now this anointing, it comes
from the Old Testament. There were three different offices
in the Old Testament. where there was an anointing
that took place, and it was a public thing, and oil was placed upon
them, and they were anointed with oil, and publicly recognized
as such. First, there's the oil that anointed
the prophet. Several times in the scriptures,
God said to Elijah, anoint Elisha prophet, and he anointed him,
and he was recognized as a prophet. The priest was anointed with
oil, and the king was anointed with oil. You remember David,
turn back to 1 Samuel 16. This is when the Lord recognizes
David as king. Verse one, and the Lord said
unto Samuel, how long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have
rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill thine horn with
oil, "'And go, and I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite,
"'for I have provided me a king among his sons.'" Now look down
in verse six. "'And it came to pass when they
were come, "'that he looked on Eliab and said, "'Surely the
Lord's anointed is before him. "'But the Lord said unto Samuel,
"'Look not on his countenance "'or on the height of his stature,
"'because I have refused him. "'For the Lord seeth not as man
seeth. "'For man looketh on the outward
appearance, "'but the Lord looketh on the heart. Then Jesse called
Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, neither
has the Lord chosen this. Then Jesse made Shammah to pass
by. And he said, neither has the Lord chosen this. And again,
Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel
said unto Jesse, the Lord hath not chosen these. And Samuel
said unto Jesse, are here all thy children? You know, they
knew it wouldn't be David. They knew it wouldn't be David.
And he said, there remaineth yet the youngest, and behold,
he keeps the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, send
and fetch him, and we will not sit down till he come hither.
And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and with all
beautiful countenance and goodly to look on. And the Lord said,
arise, anoint him, for this is he. Then Samuel took the horn
of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brethren. The spirit
of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose
up and went to Ramah. No man in the Old Testament held
all three offices. David was a king. David was a
prophet, but he was no priest. And God would have struck him
dead if he tried to offer up a sacrifice. He did that to people.
Moses was a prophet. Moses was a king, but he wasn't
of the priests like Aaron. Samuel was a priest. Samuel was
a prophet, but he was no king. You see, no man in the Old Testament
took all three offices. Why? Because this was reserved
for one man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now a prophet is a man that brings
the Word of God to men. That's the simple definition
of a prophet. Christ is the prophet so much
so that he is God's word to man. This is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased. Hear ye him. He is the word of God to men. Turn with me for a moment to
John chapter six. Verse 59, these things said he
in the synagogue as he taught in Capernaum. He brought them
the word of God. How would you like to have heard
the Lord preach personally? But these people did. And he
didn't speak, he didn't have the spirit by measure. Everything
he said was the word of God. Just the word. It was God speaking.
He is God's prophet. And these things said he in Capernaum,
as he taught in the synagogue. And verse 60, many therefore
of his disciples, when they had heard, said, This is a hard saying. This is harsh. This is disagreeable. We do not like this. Who can
be expected to listen to this? Now go back and read the passage
of scripture when you get a chance on your own and see what it was
he said. Verse 61, when Jesus knew in himself that his disciples
murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you? Are you offended by what I've
said? What if you should see the Son of Man standing up where
he was before? Now I love that. He said, if you're offended now,
you'll really be offended then. When you see me in my glory as
ruling and reigning at the right hand of the Father, I'm going
to be saying the same thing, and you'll really be offended
then. It is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profits nothing. The
words that I speak unto you, they're spirit and they are life. These words that you find offensive,
they're spirit and they're life. But there are some of you that
believe not, for Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that
believed not, who should betray him. And he said, therefore said
unto you that no man can come to me, except it were given to
him of my father. From that time, many of his disciples
went back and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto
the 12, and I can see the people filing
out and leaving him. 5,000 people, they all left him. We don't want to hear this. And
the Lord looked at the 12 and he said, will you also go away? There's the door, if that's what
you want. Will you also go away and look at Peter's answer? Then
Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? It's not
like we have an option. Thou hast the words of eternal
life as God's prophet. And we believe and are sure that
thou art that Christ, the son of the living God. God. A priest is a man. He's a man. He's a man that brings a sacrifice
to God on behalf of men. He represents men to God. The prophet represents God to
men. He brings God's Word. The priest represents men to
God with a sacrifice. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ is
God's great high priest. And not only is he the priest,
he's the sacrifice. And not only is he the sacrifice,
he's the altar upon which the sacrifice is offered. He is God's great high priest. Now, would you turn with me to
Daniel chapter nine for a moment? Daniel chapter 9, right after Ezekiel. This is Daniel's prayer. And
in this prayer, the Lord tells about the Messiah. Look in verse
25. Now therefore, know therefore
and understand that from the going forth of the commandment
to restore to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah, the Prince,
shall be seven weeks. So we see Christ is the New Testament
Greek word for the Hebrew word Messiah, same word. So this is
about the Messiah. And look in verse 24, 70 weeks
are determined upon thy people. and upon by holy city." Now,
a week represented seven years. That's what was meant by that. 490 years. And the fact is that
the wise men, the Magi, they were men from Babylon. They read
this, they did the math, they knew it was time for the Messiah
to come. They said, where is he that's
born King of the Jews? They knew it was time for the
Messiah to come. From this, you can do the math and it comes
right out. But at any rate, here's what the Messiah would do. As
a priest, 70 weeks are determined upon thy people, and upon thy
holy city, and he gives us six things that the Messiah will
do to finish the transgression. It's gone. To make an end of
sins. And that's what he did on Calvary's
tree. To make reconciliation for iniquity. To bring in everlasting
righteousness. That's talking about His righteousness.
That's talking about my righteousness. My righteousness is His righteousness. And He brings it in to seal up
the vision and prophecy to make it sure and to anoint the Most
Holy. And that's exactly what Christ
as priest did. He made an end to sin. He made
reconciliation of iniquity. He finished transgressions. Those
are our three big problems, aren't they? Iniquity, transgression,
and sin. How many times do you find those
together in the Old Testament? He put them all away. Somebody
once said iniquity or transgression is our bad stuff. Sin is our
nature. Iniquity is the good things we
do. We read of the iniquity of the holy things. He took care
of it all. And he brought in everlasting
righteousness as our great high priest. He's successful. He's successful. He can't fail in what he's doing.
He shall not fail nor be discouraged. Isaiah 42, 1 says. Now, the king. The third office was that of
the king. The king is the one who rules. Now, somebody said this to me
in the last probably six months. It was somebody who was arguing
for what they call the millennial reign and Christ will come back
and then there'll be a thousand year reign upon the earth and
things will be a lot better. There'll be no corruption. Everybody will get along. Sin
will be put down and everybody's just going to get together. And
he said, don't you want to see Christ when he reigns? I said,
he's reigning now. He's reigning right now. He's
reigning over me. He's reigning over you. He's
in control of everything and everybody. You see, the reason
being is he's king. He's the one who rules right
now. He's the one who reigns. He's
in absolute sovereign control. His kingship is his sovereignty. Now, I need him as my prophet
to bring me God's word. I believe he's that prophet.
I need him as my priest to represent me before God. I can't get there. He has to bring me. He has to
represent me. I need his sacrifice. I need
his righteousness. I need what he did. But I also
need his kingship. I need him to cause me as an
act of his will to believe the gospel. I need for him to give
me a new heart. Just will it to happen and it
takes place. I need him to control providence. I need his kingship. Now, I believe that He is prophet,
priest, and king. Do you? Do you really believe
that? If you do, you are born of God. God has done something for you.
You are born of God. And you know, I think this this
whosoever is better than the whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. And here's why it's better. Whosoever
believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. It's something that's already
taken place. And do you know that this is
the rock upon which the church is built? Whom say men that I,
the Son of Man am? Well, they say pretty good things.
Some say you're Jeremiah or one of the prophets. Whom say ye
that I am? Peter answers again. Thou art
the Christ. God's prophet, God's priest,
God's king. the Son of the Living God. And the Lord said to Peter, Bless
art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, flesh and blood didn't reveal that
to thee, but my Father which is in heaven. and thou art Peter,
and upon this rock will I build my church." The Lord's the builder
of the church. And he says, the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it. Now, what are the gates of hell
doing? Trying to keep her members in. Christ, through this message
of him being the Christ, will beat the gates down and save
his people from their sins. Now, this is the message of the
church. Back to our text. Let me close
with this. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. I believe that Jesus is the Christ.
I am born of God. and everyone that loveth him
that begat." You know everyone he begets?
You know what they do? They love him that begat. Every single
one of them. This is what all of those who
are begotten do, that are born of God. They love him that begat. Aren't you thankful the Lord
begat you? Did he birthed you? And the evidence, the evidence
of this birthing, this being born of God is believing that
Jesus is the Christ. That is the evidence. It's not
seeing something that you think enables you to think, well, I
must be saved because I, whatever you think. but it's believing
that Jesus is the Christ. And everyone that loveth him
that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him. If you're
begotten of God, you love everybody he's begot. You just do. You got something in common with
him that you don't have with anybody else. These are your true brothers
and sisters. He's your true father. And this
family is much closer than any earthly family. Being begotten
of God. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
Christ, the prophet, the priest, the
king. Lord, I ask in Christ's name
that for his sake everyone in this
room would be born of you and that everyone in this room might
be enabled to believe that Jesus is the Christ and that you would
cause us to be born of God and to love him that begat and to
love him that's begotten of him. Bless this message for your glory
and for our good. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.
Matt Gunn leaves in closing hand. Please, sir.