I wouldn't object tonight if
some of you wanted to take notes on this message. I think it's worthy of your consideration. I think the very fact that I've
been in the ministry the number of years that I have is worth something, and I think
the fact that I preached as many times as I have is worth something. And another thing is the fact
that we have no axe to grind here. I have no reason at all to mislead
you because God knows, for He knows all things, that we're
not even faintly interested in numbers, not even faintly. We keep no records of how many
people attend Sunday school, morning worship, evening worship,
or Wednesday night. In fact, to be quite honestly
with you, I don't have the faintest idea how many members we have
in this church. Not the faintest idea. We're
not interested in numbers at all. And I'm coming to the closing
days of my own personal ministry, so I have nothing to gain attracting
attention to myself. And we belong to no denomination.
We belong to no association. We have no reports to fill out.
We have no one to please but God. We have nothing to preach
but His Word. So the things I'm asking you
to consider tonight are not things that I learned in a denominational
school. In fact, I didn't learn them
at all there. when I was attending the school, they didn't teach
it, and I didn't learn it. And I know also that this subject
is a mystery. I know it has to be revealed.
When our Lord said to the Apostle Peter, Whom do you say that I,
the Son of Man, am? He said, Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. He said, Flesh and blood didn't
reveal that to you, but my Father which is in heaven. And the gospel
is called a mystery. When the Bible talks about our
Lord's relationship with his church, it says, Behold, I show
you a mystery concerning Christ and the church, a mystery concerning
Christ and the Gentiles. The judicial blindness of Israel,
a mystery. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh.
It can't be taught by human wisdom. It must be revealed by the Spirit
of God. It's a mystery. But yet, we can
at least, we can at least in such a way that men with these
ears and with these minds can understand what we're saying
the new birth is. They may not agree. They may
not be willing to receive it. They may not believe it. They
may fight it with all that's within them. But I can tell you,
and I will tell you, as plainly and simply as I can, what it
is. Now, most books I've read on
this subject don't even come close to defining the new birth.
I never found one. You say, Mr. Graham wrote one.
His doesn't even come close. I read it. Some of you did. And
let me tell you this. The new birth is not a profession
of religion. Now, these are the things that
we're mixed up on. Someone says, I'm a born-again
Christian. He means by that that when he
was a child or a teenager or something, he made a profession
of faith and joined a church. That's not the new birth. That
is not the new birth. And if you mean that you're born
again because you have walked before a congregation and took
a preacher by the hand and said, I believe Jesus died on the cross
and was buried and rose again, you're deceived. That's not the
new birth. And then the new birth is not a reformation of life.
I hear people in public life, entertainers and all these other
people who come before a microphone and say, I'm a born-again Christian.
They mean by that that they're not on drugs and not on alcohol. And that they're not doing this,
that, and the other, that they cleaned up their lives. That's
not the new birth. This man that our Lord was speaking
to here was one of the most moral men of his day. He wasn't born
again. This was a ruler of the Jews.
This was a chief among Israel. This man was a Pharisee who lived
by the law of God to the letter. A Pharisee who gave tithes of
all he possessed and kept the Sabbath day and fasted twice
a week. He was a moralist. This thing
of the new birth is, don't grab a microphone and say, I'm a born-again
Christian, because you don't drink, smoke, or gamble. That's not being born again.
And then the new birth is not being a fundamentalist. A lot
of people mean by the new birth, well, he's a born-again Christian,
meaning he's not a liberal, he's a fundamentalist. He's one who
believes in the blood, the book, and the blessed hope, you know.
One who believes in the virgin birth. and one who believes these
things which fundamentalists believe. And the second coming,
the premillennial return and all these things, that constitutes
being born again. I beg your pardon. I beg your
pardon. That's not the new birth. Now
let me show you something in John 3, and you listen closely.
I'm going to be as plain and honest as I can. The first thing
about this scripture is this. Who speaks? Who speaks? It carries the weight of deity. It's our Lord who speaks. Now,
if Paul was saying it or James or John, it would carry just
as much force and just as much weight because all scriptures
are given by inspiration of God. But to me, there's something
special about this. It is the Lord Jesus Christ who
is speaking. And then secondly, he's not talking
to a man of the world who doesn't understand religion. He's not
talking to a man of the world who does not know anything about
the scriptures. This is why it's so important,
this scripture, for you and me, is that we are like Nicodemus,
religionists. Oh yes, we are. If you pray today,
you're a religionist. If you carry a Bible, you've
got religion. That's right, we've got religion. It's not the world's
type of religion, but we are religious people. We're in church.
We're in church. So our Lord is saying this not
to a man out in the world, not to a fellow in the gutter, not
to a young lady down Skid Row. He's not saying, you've got to
be born again. He's saying this to one of the most religious
men of his day. You must be born again. And then
thirdly, the subject he deals with is absolutely essential.
He said, you must. You must. Nicodemus, you must
be born again. Now he doesn't use this word
too often. One time he said the Son of Man must go to Jerusalem
and must need suffering done. The Son of Man must be lifted
up that whosoever believeth in him. There's none other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. You
see how vital this is? Nicodemus, truly I say unto you,
you must. In fact, he said, And far as
I can tell, you only use that word about four times. Except
you repent, you'll perish. Except you be converted and become
as a little child, you'll never see the kingdom of God. And in
this here, he said, except a man be born again, he'll never enter
the kingdom of God. Now, here's the thing he says.
If you're not born again, you not only can't enter the kingdom
of God, but you can't see it. What does that mean? That means
to understand it. That means to understand you.
It's like when we're teaching someone to do something, we say,
now you see, this goes here, and this goes here. Do you see?
We mean, do you understand? We don't mean, do you see? Of
course he sees, he's standing there looking at it. But he can
see and not see. So our Lord said, unless a man
is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God, because the
kingdom of God is perceived by spiritual eyes. That's so. And whether I'm, you say, well,
I know what it is. Don't be too hasty. Well, I'm a professing
Christian. I'm a professing church member.
Well, I tell you, as I studied for this message, after all these
years of studying the Bible and preaching and all, this is an
area that you don't want to take for granted, because this is
a must. This is essential. And so let's
look at it carefully. It's one of the most misunderstood
subjects of the day, one of the most mysterious. Let me ask three
or four questions. Now, here's the first one. I'm
going to be candid and plain and go slowly and just answer
the questions that I'm asking. The first question is this, what
is the new birth? What is the new birth? Our Lord
said ye must be born again. Well, the first thing I say is
this, it's opposite from the first birth. It's opposite. Our Lord said, look down here
in the scripture in verse 6, he said, that which is born of
the flesh. What's he talking about? He's
talking about my first birth that occurred August the 19th,
1926. I was born of the flesh. That
which is born of the flesh is flesh. That's all it is. That's all it'll ever be. It's
F-L-E-S-H, flesh. In the flesh, there's no spiritual
life. There's no spiritual understanding.
And so this first birth is of the flesh. I was born the first
time of corruptible seed. Now turn, if you will, just hold
John 3. Don't leave there, but hold it and turn to 1 Peter 1.23.
1 Peter 1.23. Now this is so necessary that
I do this. It says here in 1 Peter 1.23,
being born again, not of corruptible seed. That's speaking of the
seed of man. And that's how we were born the
first time of corruptible seed. We were born sons of Adam. We
received from our father Adam the flesh. See it came from Adam
right on down to my father gave me flesh. Now that's the first
birth of the flesh. Even so we're born not of corruptible
seed but of incorruptible. Incorruptible is spiritual. It's
eternal, it's incorruptible, it's infallible seed. It has
not one stain or spot of sin in it. So this first birth is
from a mother's womb, the second birth is from God. The first
time I was born of natural parents, the second birth is born of God. Now turn to John 1. I'll show
you where that is written. It's written many times in the
book of 1 John. Whosoever is born of God overcometh
the world. Whosoever is born of God confesses
that Jesus is the Christ. Whosoever is born of God, he
says this, that, and the other. And here in John 1, verse 13,
he talks about those who received Christ were born, verse 13, not
of blood, that is, not of family inheritance, not of the will
of the flesh, not of the will of man, but they are born of
God. All right? Secondly, this first birth is
from the flesh. And it's a fleshly life. It's
nothing but a fleshly life. That's all my father could give
me, my mother and father. They came together and conceived
a child and after nine months the child was born. Here he is.
He's born of the flesh. He has a fleshly life. It can
be nothing but a fleshly life. The second birth is a spiritual
life. A spiritual life. It's not flesh
at all. It's of the Holy Spirit and it's
a spiritual life and it never dies. It never dies. Now the flesh is going to die.
Everything I got from my father is temporary. Everything he gave
me in that first birth, everything, every part of that first birth
will die. It will die. But that which is
born of the Spirit is eternal and will never die. Listen to
our Lord. Listen to him. You say, well,
preacher, you're going to die someday. Our Lord doesn't call
a believer leaving this earth deaf. Did you know that? He calls
it sleep, Charles. He never refers to one of his
children dying. He says, he that believeth on
me will never die. Never die. He'll sleep. Lazarus
is asleep. And we'll sleep, but we'll never,
you see, death hath no more dominion over us. Death hath no more dominion. The sting of death is sin, and
Christ took our sins away, and we'll never die. Now, my body
will sleep, and you'll put it in the grave, but I'm going to
be alive. You say, well, that's true of that. No, the unbeliever's
dead. He's twice dead. He's not only
dead physically, but he's dead spiritually. He has no relationship
with God. He does not come near God. He
is separated from God. When he leaves this earth, he
goes to eternal death. Not only physical death and spiritual
death, but eternal death. But the man who's born again
will never die. That's just so. He'll never die. Spiritual life cannot die. It's
the life of God. And that's the fourth thing I
want to say about it. This new birth is the life of God. It's
not religion. It's not just a profession of
faith. It's not a reformation. This
new birth, literally, is the very nature of God and the Spirit
of God which dwells in us. It's not a doctrine. It's not
a creed. It's not a religious form. It's
not a religious reformation. But in reality, a man who's born
again, born from above, born of the Holy Spirit, literally
and actually has the nature of God in him, the life of God.
Let me show you that in 1 John 5. I want you to understand what
I'm saying. I'm meaning exactly what I'm
saying. 1 John 3, verse 9. I'm saying that I was born the
first time of my natural, fleshly parents, and I received flesh,
a fleshly nature, a sinful nature, a corrupt nature, a nature that
knows not God. When I'm born the second time,
I'm given in that spiritual birth by God a new nature, the very
life and nature of God, Tom himself. Our Lord actually said, I and
my Father will come and take up our abode in him. He that
hath not the Spirit of God is none of his. We have spiritual
life. We have the life of God, the
nature of God, created in the image of God. We are created
in the image of Christ Jesus. It says here in 1 John 3 verse
9, whosoever is born of God does not commit sin. Now then, I know
all the different renditions. I know first of all that can't
possibly mean that whosoever is a Christian, a believer, never
commits a sin. It can't mean that. Our Lord
taught us to pray, forgive us our sins. That was the prayer
he gave to the apostles. Well, if whosoever is born of
God never commits sin, why in heaven's name did the Master
say for us to pray, forgive us our sin? And then John said in
1 John, these things I write unto you, little children, that
you sin not, but if any man sin, but whosoever is born of God
can't sin. Oh, yes, oh, yes, I can sin too, and do sin. I
do, I do. And I know people have changed
that word to mean practice. Whosoever is born of God does
not practice sin. Well, that's true. But it says
here, whosoever is born of God does not commit sin. Now turn
to 1 John 5. 1 John 5. 1 John 5.18. Listen to it. In 1 John 5.18,
we know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not. He keeps
saying that, doesn't he? But I'll tell you what he's saying
realistically. He's saying that that new nature,
that holy nature born of God does not sin. That's exactly
what he's saying. A believer has, I have two natures. Unfortunately, I still have the
nature with which I was born when I was born 57 years ago. But I have a new nature, the
life of God in me that cannot sin. And one of these days I'm
going to lay down and sleep, this old nature is going be eradicated,
this old flesh, this old body will be buried, and that life
of God, that new nature, that spiritual life is going to be
with God. It'll never sin here and it'll
never sin there, because it can't sin, it's born of God. That's
right. So that's what the new birth
is, according to the Word of God. That's what the new birth
is. It is opposite of the flesh. It is to be born of God. It is
to receive the very nature of God. It is to receive a spiritual
nature and a spiritual life that never dies. Never, never, never
dies. And can never be taken away.
That's the reason it's so useless and futile to sit around arguing
about eternal security or once saved always. Just stop the argument,
it's a waste of time. It's a waste of time because
whosoever is born of God will not die, cannot sin. He's born
of God. Like Paul put out there on the
bulletin board, whatsoever God do it, it will be forever. God
never does anything temporarily. He never starts anything and
doesn't finish it. If he gives life to a sinner,
the sinner's got life. You women don't take your children
back. They're born and that's it. They're
your children from now on. And there's no way of reneging.
They're there. And God doesn't renege. He's
no Indian giver. God gives eternal life. He never
takes it back. So that's what it is now. It's
opposite of the flesh. It's born of God. It is a divine
new nature that will never die. All right? Why is the new birth
necessary? Well, let's look back at John
3, John chapter 3. First of all, and you just hold
that then, John, but first of all, the Apostle Paul says, we're
dead in trespasses and sin. We're dead. We need to be made
alive. The flesh has no life in it. We're dead in trespasses
and sin. If we ever are to live, we've
got to be born again, because we have no life. Secondly, in
the flesh dwelleth no good thing. In the flesh no man can please
God. So if we ever please God or ever
do any good thing, we're going to have to do it by the power
of a new life. It'll never be done by this nature.
No man has ever done anything good in God's sight. Now, I've
said this so often, I repeat it, there are some commendable
deeds done by men. There's some commendable deeds
in the eyes of men. But there is no commendable deed
ever done by a human being in God's eyes because God can only
accept perfection. God, you and I can commend something
that's not perfect because we're not perfect. But Almighty God
can never receive anything, can never look upon anything, can
never associate with anything that has any lack of perfection
that's got sin in it. And I've never, and you've never
done anything perfect. Therefore, we've never done anything
G-O-O-D good. We have no goodness. Good. Let me illustrate that to you.
A man came to our Lord one day, and he said, Say, good master,
and the Lord said, Hold it. Why do you call me good? Isn't
that what he said? There's none good but God. Now,
you want to talk about your good works now? There's none good
but God. You God? No, I'm not God. Then
you've got no good. There's none good but God. I'm
talking about good. God's good. Not your good, but
God's good. And is not that what will judge
us? God's good? God's righteousness? So we have
no goodness in us. We've got to be born again. First,
we have no life, we're dead. We have no goodness. If we ever
have any goodness, we'll have to be born again. And then the
carnal mind is enmity. We're not friendly with God.
We're not on friendly terms with God. The man has never been on
friendly terms with God since he's sinned. The natural mind
is enmity. It doesn't say it's at enmity,
it is enmity. We're not on good terms with
God. Watch this in John 3, verse 10. Our Lord told this same thing
to Nicodemus. He said in verse 10, Are you
a master of Israel? And know not. Bob, that's our
trouble. We've got to be born again because
we don't know. We don't know God. We don't know
his son. We don't know his way of life.
We don't know his righteousness. We don't know. You don't know.
You can learn the facts of the Bible. You can learn the dates. You can learn the creeds. You
can learn some of the doctrines, but you don't know God. And eternal
life is to know God. And he hath come and given us
an understanding that we may know God, that we may know God. And then in verse 11, watch this,
and he said to Nicodemus, not only do you not know anything,
but he said, we speak that we do know and testify that we've
seen, and you receive us not. You won't receive. You don't
know God, but you won't receive the truth of God. You won't receive
it. You know, the strangest thing in the world is the natural man,
natural religionist too, will receive anything but truth. That's exactly it. You see, he'll
swallow anything. You can cut off on this generation
about the most ridiculous thing you want to except one thing,
and that's truth. That's what our Lord said. You
say, where do you get that? I'll show you where I get that. Turn
to John chapter 5 and listen to the Lord. In John 5, verse
43, John 5, verse 43, he said, I am come in my Father's name. No question about that. And you
receive me not, if another, if another, any, shall come in his
own name, him you receive." In his own name. Whatever his name
is, whatever his background, whatever he's representing, just
let him use a little religion with it, and men will swallow
it, they'll finance him, they'll support him, they'll make him
rich. All he's got to do is get him a guitar or a piano or a
string band and run up and down with a microphone in his hand,
hollering Jesus, and people will put him on easy street. They'll
swallow anything. But you let a man come talking
about who God is and what sin is and what salvation is, they'll
put him out of business. Like one lady wrote to me, she
said, you ought to be in jail. You ought to be in jail. For
what? Telling the truth. Paul said, am I your enemy because
I tell you the truth? You receive me not. Then verse
12, he said, I've told you earthly things and you believe not. You
don't even believe the earthly things I'm talking about. Then
how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? They could
not enter in because of unbelief. Now look at verse 13. And no
man hath ascended. Now let me tell you something. Brethren, in this thing of salvation, We're talking about going to
heaven. In this thing of salvation, we're
talking about ascending to heaven. You know what we're talking about?
We're talking about going into the presence of God. That's heaven,
isn't it? Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.
We're talking about ascending to heaven. Our Lord says here,
no man has ever ascended to heaven. No man. Except he who came down. and he who went back. And if
you go back, you're going in him. That's very simple. That's very plain. I tell you,
why is it necessary? And I tell you this, look at
it again. He said, verse 13, No man hath
ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even
the Son of Man which is in heaven, and that's your only way. That's the reason the new birth
is necessary. And you can do what you want to with that now.
But I'm telling you, you'll find everything in Christ. You'll
find every benefit, every blessing, every invitation, every favor,
every act of grace and mercy is in Christ Jesus. No man hath
ascended to heaven. And I mean your mommy and daddy,
my mommy and daddy, and your brother and sister, and you yourself,
and anybody else, not going to ascend to heaven, except in Christ. In Christ. The only one, he said,
I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the
Father but by me. I am the door, by me, if any
man enter in, he shall be saved. He said, you've been fanatical
and radical and narrow. I didn't say it, Christ said
it. I didn't say it, Herman, Christ said it. No man, no man
has ascended to heaven. And that's why the new birth's
necessary, and you can do what you will. You say, well, my religion's
good enough for me, but it's not good enough for God. And
you're not it, God is. Well, I'm satisfied, but God's
not. Well, my mama and daddy and brother
and sister lived by it and died by it, too. That's what's deadly. I'm not
going to die by some false religion because everybody else did. I
know the new birth is necessary. I know my Lord set it. My Lord
declared it. My Lord enforced it. My Lord
insisted upon it. Our Lord said, except you'll
never enter the kingdom of God. Because no man hath ascended
to heaven except he that came down." Who is in heaven? I thought
he was here. Yeah, he was here and there too.
Figure that one out. Talking about mysteries. That's
what he said, which is in heaven. All right, here's the third question.
This may be a little offensive, but it's true nevertheless. What
is the source of the new birth? What is the source of the new
birth? Well, let's look back at verse 8, John 3. What's the
source of the new birth? Our Lord said in verse 7, Marvel
not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again. Now the wind
bloweth where it listeth, where it pleases. Isn't that what they're
saying? The wind bloweth where it will. And you hear the sound
of the wind, but you can't tell whence it cometh, where it came
from, or where it's going. So is everyone that's born of
the Spirit. You know what Brother Mann's
saying? I'm saying that the new birth, if it's accomplished in
me, you, or anybody else, the source of it is the sovereign
will of Almighty God. Not your will, or your will,
or your will, but God's will. That's what the Bible says. It
says it's God's will. We were born not of the will
of man, not of the will of the flesh, but born of the will of
God. You know what's involved in the
salvation of a sinner? Man's free will? No, sir, God's
free will. And God's will is the only will
that's free. Ours is in bondage. Turn to Romans
chapter 9. Now, I know this is a point of
controversy, but who's afraid of controversy? In Romans chapter
9, verse 15, listen, he said to Moses, he said to Moses, Romans
9, verse 15, I will have mercy on whom I will. I will, I will. I know man's always saying, I
will, I will. Man can't will anything. He can't
will the healing of a toothache, let alone the willing the salvation
of his soul. God says, I will though, I'll
have mercy on whom I will have mercy. And I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then it's not of him that
will it. And it's not of him that run
it or is active. But of God that showeth mercy.
That's where salvation is. Let me show you another verse.
James chapter 1. James chapter 1. I wish you'd turn to this.
James 1 verse 18. Most of you know it by heart.
You don't need to turn. But in James 1 verse 18, listen. Of his own will. James 1.18, of his own will beget
he us. What's the word beget? It's to
conceive, it's to give birth, it's to bring forth. Of his own
will, of his own will beget he us. Now stay right there, don't
move. The new birth is of the will
of God, that's the source. But secondly, it's by the word
of God. See this same verse, James 1.18,
"...of his own will begat he us with the word of truth." You
remember that verse I read in 1 Peter 1.23 where it said, "...we
are born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible seed."
Our Lord said, "...a sower went forth to sow, and he sowed the
seed, and it fell different places." He said, "...the sower is the
Son of Man, and the seed is the word of God." So we are born
again of God's will by the seed, the Word of God. And not only
that, but by the Spirit of God. Now turn to John 3 again. John 3. Now it may be someone
will take issue with this, but I don't think it's a point of
issue at all. In John 3, verse 5, now listen. Verily I say unto you, except
a man be born of water and of the Spirit. Now, I know the reference
there is to Mark 16, 16, which said, He that believes and is
baptized shall be saved. But brethren, this can't be.
This can't be H2O. It just can't be. What is it? It's the Word of God. It has
to be the Word of God. We're not born of the Spirit
in baptism. Too many people that are baptized
are not born again. And this has got to mean the
water of the word. Wherewithal shall a young man
cleanse his way by taking heed to thy word. It's water that
cleanses. And so we're born of the water,
which is the word, and of the Spirit of God. Now turn with
me, if you will, to Luke 1.35. Now I believe we can say the
same thing of ourselves that the Lord said of Mary. Here was
Mary. never known a man, a young Jewish
maiden, unmarried, engaged to be married. And the Lord came
to her and said, you're going to have life in that dead womb,
you're going to conceive and bring forth a son. She said,
that can't be, no way, I don't know any man and no seed has
been planted there. And then the Holy Spirit said
this, and the angel said this, verse 35, Luke 1, and the angel
said unto her, answered and said unto her, the Holy Ghost shall
come upon thee. And the power of the high shall
overshadow thee, and therefore also that holy thing which shall
be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." Now, can I not
say the same thing about those that are born again? The Holy
Spirit comes upon a man, bringing the Word of God, and plants the
seed of the Word in the heart of a man, and he's born again
by the power of Spirit. And that holy life, that life
of God which is born in us, Are we not sons of God? Not in the
sense that he is, I know. But beloved, now are we sons
of God. That's what the Scripture says.
We are sons of God. And God begets his sons. I have a son sitting right there.
He was born from me. You see that? And God has some
sons here and every one of them were born from him. With no outside
help. They're born of God. Can't be
but one father. Can't be but one seed. That's
exactly right. And so we're born of God. We're born supernaturally by
the Spirit of God where there's no life, dead and sin. We're
born of the Word of God. Now wait a minute. And we're
born by faith. There's got to be faith. Alright,
turn to 1 John 4. 1 John 4. 1 John chapter 4. And you notice in John 3, our
Lord Jesus Christ talks about believing. As Moses lifted up
the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up, that whosoever believeth might have everlasting life.
There's no life without faith. Now, I don't know how to explain
this, and I know that some of our fatalistic, Reformed believers,
brethren, have taken this thing to the extreme. Well, if the
new birth is all of God, and all of the Spirit of God, then
why preach? Because you've got to have the Word of God. The
seed's the Word of God. How shall they call on him in
whom they've not believed, and how shall they believe in him
of whom they've not heard, and how shall they hear without the
Word? The Word is the seed. And the new birth is simultaneous
with hearing the Word. A person's not born and later
on hears the Word, any more than a person is born without seed,
fleshly. Now, that's so important, you
get in trouble if you start that foolishness. That a person's
born, he says, well, he has ears, but he doesn't hear until the
Word's preached. Ears are no good without noise. See what I'm saying? There's
no noise here, I'm not hearing anything. You've got to have light. Eyes
are no good without light. And there's no life without the
seed of the Word of God. In 1 John 4, listen, verse 13
and 15. These things have I written unto
you," in 1 John 4, verse 13, "...hereby know we that we dwell
in God, and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son
to be the Savior of the world. Whosoever shall confess that
Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God,
if he confesses." if he confesses, all right? 1 John 5, verse 1. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. Is born of God. Verse 11, this
is the record that God hath given us life, eternal life. This life
is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life.
He that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have
I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God,
that you may know that you have eternal life, and you may believe
on the name of the Son of God. So those are the vital things
in the new birth, the source. We're born of God, sovereign
act and will of God. We're born by the Word of God,
which is the seed of spiritual life. We're born by the Spirit
of God, who is the blessed agent in the new birth. And we're born
of faith. And there is no life where there
is no faith. He that seeth the Son, how do you see the Son?
By faith, and believeth on him hath everlasting life. He that
heareth my word and believeth on me hath everlasting life.
He that believeth not shall be damned. He that believeth not
the Son shall never see life, but the wrath of God abideth
on him." There'll be nobody in glory who hasn't consciously,
willingly, intelligently, lovingly believed on Christ. That's right. All right, here's the fourth
thing. What's the results of the new birth? Well, the scriptures
speak of spiritual life as having eyes. He that seeth the Son.
Now, we've never seen, Paul said, I know no man after the flesh.
I once knew Christ, but I know him that way no more. Please
don't ever fall for this awful religious flim-flam game of seeing visions. Don't get into that. God speaks
through his Word. God does not, I think I can boldly
say that God never gives visions in this day, dreams and visions.
Don't rest on that at all. He gives his word, his word is
complete. The revelation right here before
us. I'm always skeptical of anyone who talks about seeing Jesus
Christ. I don't believe it, don't leave
a word of it. If they speak not according to the word of God,
it's because there's no truth in them. But now this seeing
the Son is seeing, watch this now, I see him with spiritual
eyes, I see him in the Word, and I see him as my surety, I
see him as my representative, I see him as my righteousness,
I see him as my redeemer, my sacrifice, Charlie. I see him
as my scapegoat, I see him risen, I see him not physically, not
with some vision, but I see by the word that he's on the right
hand of God interceding for us. I see that he's coming again.
I see that, and I believe it. And don't ever talk about hearing
God speak. I hear preachers say, God told
me the other night to do this. He's a liar. Now, he is. It might have been the devil
talking to him, but God didn't talk to him. He might have heard
voices, but it wasn't the voice of God. This is the voice of
God. Now, I'm telling you the truth.
You say, Brother Manningham, you're just not spiritual enough.
Well, if that's spirituality, I don't want it. I don't want
it. I don't want demon spirits or
visions or dreams or voices. You can take certain drugs and
hear voices. I don't want to hear any voices.
I want to hear God speak through his Word. That's the way he speaks. And you run from that now. I'm
telling you, someday you'll wish you'd run from it. But we have
ears, we hear him speak through his Word, and having hearts,
having hearts to love him. And he says, I'll write my law
on your mind to think on it and on your heart to love it. And
we've been made willing by his power. We've been given understanding. We've been enlightened in the
scriptures now. And we're walking in the Spirit, not in the flesh.
We're new creatures in Christ Jesus. The new birth brings us
a new view of God. A new view of God. We see him
as he is. We love him as he is. We see
him as the sovereign, eternal, infinite, everlasting, immutable
God. It's a new view of God. The new
birth gives you a new view of God. It's not somebody up there
who likes me. It's not the good Lord or the
good man upstairs or somebody, all that stuff. It's the living
God revealed in his Word. Have a new view of God. We have
a new view of ourselves. A totally new view of ourselves.
And it's humbling. It's humbling, isn't it? It's
stripping that new view of ourselves. Did you know the black man never
knew he was a black man until he saw a white man? Think about
that a little bit. Never did, did he? And a sinner
never knows he's a sinner until he sees God. Guaranteed. And boy, when he sees God, like
old Isaiah, he'll fall on his face crying, I'm an unclean man
with unclean lips. That's right. Like Job, old righteous
Job, he'll put his hands over his mouth and say, I'll never
speak again. I hate myself. He saw God. So you black men
will never know you're black as long as you look at those
other black men. But if a white man walks in, I see God. I see God. I've changed my mind
about myself. And we'll have a new concept
of seeing. Concept of sin reveals our concept of God. I'm tired
of it. And I'm going to start shooting
it down everywhere I see it. We haven't commenced to begin
to get started to know what sin is yet. And if you're ever born
again, you'll get a right concept of sin. And sin is a principle,
it's a nature, it's a wickedness within. No sin in television. I hear these folks talking, a
preacher told me the other day, he said he used to preach, you
know, every house where the devil dwells is because his horns are
sticking through the roof. Boy, that's great preaching.
One preacher said, well, these preachers are preaching sermonettes
to Christianettes in their kitchenettes, smoking cigarettes, watching
TV sets, dressed like a majorette. Isn't that great preaching? Wish I'd have thought of that. But oh, my soul, my soul. I was raised on that stuff. I
was raised on that stuff. Every time they had a revival,
folks would sell their TVs, and when they'd cool off, they'd
buy another. If you're ever born again, you'll
get a right concept of sin. It has something to do with God. It has something to do with my
heart. It has something to do with my
attitude and spirit. It has something to do with those
things. So you see, sin's not in a thing, because here's a
man with cancer taking a drug, and here's a boy on the street
taking the same drug. Is there sin in the drug? Motive,
you see. Huh? I tell you this, it will give
you a new view of Christ if you're ever born again.