Address—Josh Costron
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Just ask the Lord's help.
Our loving God and Father, we are so thankful to be here tonight. We thank Thee for the beautiful day that we've had before us and that we could enjoy Thy creation in a little way. We do thank Thee for the fellowship that we can enjoy one with another as fellow believers in Christ. And all thy many mercies to us are God and Father. We are so thankful.
And we thank thee for our Lord Jesus.
Our blessed Savior.
We owe everything to Thee, Lord Jesus, for without Thee we are nothing.
And we have nothing. And so we are so thankful to be Christians, to be saved by grace, and to be recipients of Thy grace. And we long to see the Lord Jesus, and long for that day when we will be with and like Thee for all eternity, and our one object will be thyself. Blessed Lord, we just thank Thee for the bright prospect of Thy soon return.
That is before us tonight.
But as we look to this hour, if not us, leave us here, we ask Thee that they'll help us as we open up Thy word. We pray that they'll help the speaker and the audience, and pray that the message would be clear and concise, and that there might be something for each one here tonight. So we look to Thee for guidance and orderly thoughts.
And we ask thee for a blessing, and we do so in the worthy name of our Lord Jesus, we pray.
Amen.
Yes, by way of introduction, um.
On the subject that's sitting on my heart tonight, I'd like to read a couple verses. Perhaps we'll start in first Peter chapter one.
Yeah.
First Peter chapter one and verse 20.
Being verified, your soul saying the truth through the Spirit, unto unfeigned love of the brethren.
See that ye love one another with a pure heart, fervently being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.
And then over to James.
Chapter One.
James chapter one and verse 18.
Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. And then one more verse in the Gospel of John, chapter one.
John One and 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 not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
The subject that for me tonight is new birth.
And I would like to look at this.
And turn to various scriptures and to see what the scripture has to say about the subject.
And I think it goes without saying that this subject is largely confused amongst many believers today.
And I feel that it's something that is very important to clearly define.
Because God defines it in His Word. Often you run across some who will say to you, are you a born again Christian?
And I certainly don't take issue with the question or the phrase necessarily. And if you are a Christian, then absolutely you would say, well yes, I am, I am a born again Christian. But you know, within that phrase there is 2 lines of doctrine that I believe we need to define and.
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I think that will show later on perhaps, that the Lord's help why it's so important that we define these things. Is there a difference between being born again and being saved?
That's the question at hand tonight, and hopefully with the Lord's help, we'll define that and and answer it. And the question, or the answer rather, is yes, there is a difference.
In fact, there's a big difference.
So if I was to say this to you.
That every Christian is born again.
But every born again person isn't a Christian necessarily. Does that surprise you?
Well that is the case and with the Lords help I'd like to take a look at a few of those things. First off we need to define and again I realize there's a a wide variety of people here from young kids to older ones and we want to keep this as simple as possible.
But what is new birth? What is it?
Well.
I want to look at at least 4 distinct passages within scripture.
And hopefully this will help us to define this a little bit and give some context to what we're Speaking of.
And it strikes me that it's presented in three distinct ways, One, from a typical standpoint, which we'll look at, 2, from an instructional standpoint, which we'll look at, and three, from a practical standpoint, which we'll look at as well.
The first portion of scripture I'd like to turn to is Genesis 1.
Genesis chapter one.
And before we read this chapter, I should mention before I forget, that as we go through the scripture, we hear a born again and we also hear of being quickened.
They're both the same thing.
And I suppose for different reasons the these two phrases are are used that the Jew is often spoken to is needing to be born again. You remember Israel clung to their national heritage as being those who are by nature in a position of blessing.
And we'll find later on that the Lord Jesus.
Says to Nicodemus that no, you cannot cling to being Abraham's of Abraham's descent, but you need a new birth.
You need to be born anew. You need to be born again.
But with respect to the Gentiles, it seems as though quickened is used.
Again, both meaning the same thing, but the Gentile didn't have a national heritage.
And ancestry that they could cling to and say that my nation was naturally blessed of God and we have been pulled out and and blessed of God. No, that was designated for Israel.
And so they're spoken of as being dead and sins equally true of the Jew. But they needed to be given life, and that's what to be quickened means.
Well, in Genesis chapter one, this is a fan, just an incredible chapter when we consider it, obviously from the standpoint point of creation. And it's not my purpose tonight to take up the subject of creation, but I want to see in Genesis chapter one the typical teaching of what we're going to.
Get into tonight as to the subject of new birth and salvation.
And it's fascinating to see.
That as creation had a beginning.
God creates a new origin in man as well, so let's read it. In Genesis 11 it says in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, let there be light, and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good. And God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light day, and the darkness he called night.
In the evening, in the morning were the first day. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament.
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And it was so, and God called the firmament heaven, and the evening in the morning were the second day.
And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear, And it was so. And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering together of the waters called the seas. And God saw that it was good. And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass and herb, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit, after his kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth. And it was so.
And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself after his kind.
And God saw that it was good.
In the evening, in the morning were the first day. And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night, And let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven, to give light upon the earth. And it was so. And God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also.
And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth.
And to rule over the day, and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw there was good in the evening. In the morning were the 4th day. And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creatures that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of the heaven. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly.
After their kind, and every wing fell after his kind, and God saw that it was good.
And God bless them, saying, be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let the fowl multiply in the earth. In the evening. In the morning were the 5th day.
And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind. And it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind. And God saw that it was good.
And God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created in his own image, in the image of God created him, male and female created he them, and God bless them. And God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue it.
And have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed to you it shall be for me. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and everything that creepeth upon the earth wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat. And it was so. God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.
In the evening, In the morning for the day.
In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.
You know.
When God created man on this earth.
He didn't create him in a waste and desolate condition as we find in verse 2.
You'll notice in the new translation it says the earth became waste and empty.
The King James says the earth was without form and void.
You know Adam when they created were created in innocence.
And as it says in Isaiah 45 verse 18 that God created didn't create this world as waste.
Something happened.
He didn't create it in.
A condition of being dark and without void and in a state of waste and emptiness. He didn't create it that way. Isaiah 4518 tells us that clearly. So we take from that verse that something happened and it's not my.
Exercise tonight to take that up. There are scriptures that we can point to to give us some insight into what had happened.
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Judgment happened, but nevertheless we know that man was not created that way.
But we know man fell.
Men into a state of moral depravity and spiritual death.
And man today is in that condition.
He sinned.
And it says in Scripture, Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world and death.
And so death passed upon all men, for that all of sin.
Of sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Well.
We read here that darkness was upon the face of the deep.
Is man in darkness? Yes, he is.
Naturally speaking, man is in a state.
Of more.
I'm thinking of Ephesians chapter 2, if we could just read that here briefly.
Ephesians chapter 2 and I alluded to it at the start of the meeting.
As to where man in his natural condition is today.
He is dead.
We live in a world of dead men walking.
It says in Ephesians chapter 2, and he's talking to Christians now he's talking about something that has happened. And he says, And you hath he quickened? There's that word who were dead in trespasses and sins, where in time past he walked according to the course of this world, according to the Prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.
And so on.
Says in verse three that we were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
And so it seems to me that in this first portion here that we have a little bit of a picture, don't we?
Of how man, as we can see it here in type, fell into a state of darkness and spiritual death.
He wasn't created that way, but he fell into that condition.
You'll notice here in verse in the end of verse two that the Spirit of God is singled out.
It says in the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, and notice this, and it says and God said.
Let there be light.
We'll develop this a little bit later, but take note of that God's Word and the Spirit of God are brought together here.
And God said, let there be light, and there was light.
You know there was a time for each one of us as Christians when God said let there be light.
And there was light.
He called us out of darkness.
Into his marvelous light.
Think about it. You and I were.
Were in this state of depravity. We were without hope and without God in the world.
And we were moral darkness, no light.
And God in his own sovereign action.
Stepped in and he said let there be light.
And he imparts light.
To our Dark Souls.
That's the way it happens.
You and I don't have any light within us.
It says in John chapter 5 that the hour is coming and now is.
When the Son of Man. Well, let me I'm not right. Let's turn to it. John 5.
I think it's verse 24.
Verse 25.
Actually, you know what? Let's read verse 21 first. For as the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them, Even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.
And in verse 25, verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live.
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By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the hosts of them by the breath of his mouth.
This natural creation came into being by the Word of God.
Everything that you see around you, God spake it into existence.
His eternal power and Godhead, His divinity, is clearly seen in the things that are made, Romans, one tells us.
And so we just lookout these four walls into this beautiful creation.
And we see something of his power.
Think about it. He spoke it into existence. It's a miracle.
And God is creating. He is performing miracles today in the lives of boys and girls and men and women.
And he's creating a new origin within them, a new beginning.
And he speaks, and he imparts light and life into the soul.
So in verses one to five we have the first day.
We have an allusion to judgment.
We have darkness and a state and condition of being waste and empty, a picture of moral darkness and spiritual death, and then we have the Spirit of God and the word of God that come in that impart life and light.
Versus.
Verse five tells us too. We'll notice this in verse four, that God divided the light from the darkness. Now there is something that is going on within a soul.
Battle that ensues.
We read about it in Romans 7, and I know this is familiar ground for some, and again, we're not going to be able to comment on Romans 7, but there is a person who has a new nature and an old nature.
But is lacking the Spirit of God.
You might say the person in Romans 7 is in this incredible battle.
And it reminds me of verses four and five. There is this division of light and darkness now within the soul.
Romans 7 is not normal Christian experience.
That, properly speaking, is not a believer in Christ, although I'm not suggesting for a minute that a believer could not fall back into that experience. But it is not proper Christian experience.
This is the first day.
Verses 6-7 and eight give us the second day, and you'll notice here that it is God dividing the firmament, the expanse, the atmosphere.
And the waters, he's separating them.
But there's no foundation, no stability.
Again, this is a picture of a soul who is in this condition where now they have a new nature.
Light has been imparted, new life has been imparted, and they have so struggle now between a new one, a new nature, that all it can do is good, It cannot sin first, John tells us.
But then an old nature and all that it can do with violence is sinful and is corrupt.
And their butting heads.
What's so striking about this is that this is the only day that God doesn't pronounce as being good.
And it's a little picture to us is that God does not like to see his child in that position of being in stable and not on solid thing.
And yes, I did say children.
Somebody who has a new nature.
Is a child of God.
And we'll notice it later. Here. We'll move along.
That to be a child of God and to be a Christian.
Both are true. Both are children. But a child of God isn't necessarily always a Christian. A child of God is one who has a new nature, a new life. What is that life? Well, it's the very life of Christ.
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It's a divine life. It's a life that God has imparted to us.
It's not something that you and I sought out and got and clung on to and claimed it as our own. No, he gave it to us.
By his own sovereign action we had no pardon.
And you'll notice though, move on to the third day.
Times going.
And it says, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together under one place.
How often do we read this verse?
On Lord's Day morning.
And we read of it in reference to the Lord Jesus. Where were the waters gathered? All the waters of under heaven gathered together unto one place. Where was that?
It was of the cross.
The waters of judgment the Lord Jesus could say, All thy waves and thy billows are passed over me.
It's a place where God's unmitigated wrath was poured out in his full.
Upon the head of his beloved son.
And we see in type here a picture of that.
Regard called all his judgment.
Concentrated all at that one place.
Where his son took upon himself the sins of many.
And all those come to know him as Savior, and all the children of God from Adam.
To the end.
He answered for sins and sin.
And he vindicated God as to the question of sin.
God calls all the waters under the heaven unto that one place.
And at the end of it all, when the Lord Jesus said it is finished and it was shed.
And the veil of the temple was rent and twain from the top to the bottom, and free access was now open.
So that sinners could come.
And receive the gift of God, which is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
It was at that time then that the solid foundation of salvation was established and that the believer now could rest on something outside of themselves, an object on Christ, on a work that was committed that was was done on their behalf.
And if it trusted in peace?
And deliverance is brought to a soul.
The dry land appears.
That's the stability of salvation that in type dear ones is being saved, is resting your feet on the solid foundation of the work of Christ, and God says it was good.
God saw that it was good. Verse 10.
Well, you can move along.
To verse.
9 to 13 brings before us the third day and I'll notice this too.
Notice that fruitfulness is now produced.
Verses 1112 and 13 you see the picture.
Christ dies for our sins, lays the groundwork for salvation that salvation is trusted in, and now, wouldn't you know it, there's fruit.
The herb yielding seed, the fruit tree yielding fruit, the earth bringing forth grass, and the trees bringing forth fruit whose seed was in itself after his kind. And God saw that it was good.
That's our place now as believers, just to bear fruit for God and.
And as saved and sealed with the Spirit of God, we can produce for God and for his glory what is fruit.
If you turn to John's gospel fruit is that which is produced in our life.
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That are the the moral features and representations of Christ in our life being produced in our life.
And it's those things that remind the father of his son.
Did you know that if you're walking with the Lord, you're producing for God and for His glory? It's true. And He's seeing in you those things, as we were commenting on earlier in our reading, those things, those features of His Son being produced in your life.
And he says that's fruit.
Now reminds me of my son.
And each one of us has that privilege to bear witness and testimony for Christ and to represent Him in this world.
Verses 14 to 19 we have the 4th day and now God brings out two great lights, the lesser light.
To rule the night, the greater light to rule the day. Now God sets before the believer heavenly objects that he might rest in and take pleasure in and to look to.
God has set before everyone of us as believers heavenly blessings in Christ.
And we see we receive heavenly light to guide our course on this earth. That's the proper Christian perspective is looking to Christ and enjoying those things that are ours in him. And he has set before us heavenly objects, you might say, as we have in verses 14 to 19.
Verse verses 20 to 25. Now we have another form of life being brought forth.
And we have the fowls of the heaven.
That fly above the earth we have.
Whales and every leaving creature that moveth that moves within the waters.
We have various forms of life, but in a higher state, some more, some less.
And it goes to show that within the creation itself, and in particular within.
The intelligent creation, and I'm Speaking of mankind now.
That there are those with higher privileges that are not known by others.
You think of the fowl flies in the heaven.
Enjoys heavenly things, you might say.
We as Christians, brethren, have something higher and a greater privilege.
Than all the Old Testament Saints, and all the ages that went before the day of grace, this Christian dispensation.
We are a special people.
And to bring us down, if you will, and to aggregate all the Saints of all ages into one group and say, well, we are all the same.
Is to not really appreciate, I believe, the blessings that God has given the bride of Christ, the Church.
We are a unique.
Creation, if you will, we are unique in the sight of God.
And I hope to develop that perhaps a little bit more.
But that the church is different.
It stands unique and set apart, and it will remain distinct from all in the eternal ages, from all the Saints that will be there too, from Adam to Abraham to David to all the Old Testament worthies. They'll be in heaven, but they won't enjoy the position that the Church enjoys.
And so we find these, these higher forms of life, some earthly, some heavenly.
And then?
In verses 24 to 26.
We find.
Rather, I'm going to go to verses 27 here where we find that God creates man in his own image.
As this the 6th day and we find that God now brings man into an intelligent position of affection and intelligence with himself.
And that is?
What I was saying before that we now occupy this place of nearness.
Of intelligence a privilege and we can enjoy a common thoughts with God.
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So this here in Genesis chapter one gives us a complete picture of man coming out of his depraved moral state of moral death and spiritual darkness all the way to being saved and sealed. But excuse me, by the Spirit of God, and then brought into a position of being able to produce fruit for God and into a position of being.
Intelligent in.
Our relationship with him.
This wonderful work of God, and what is so striking is that there is.
A division, you might say, between somebody who receives light and then who comes into that solid footing of standing on the solid ground of salvation. There's a day that separates the two.
And so when it comes to being born again, I'll mention this that it could happen where somebody gets new life.
And they might be in that place and position. You might say it's not a great word, but in that state of having life but not security yet, and the person and work of Christ and being saved and sealed with the Spirit of God, they might remain in that position for years. It might be just for a few moments. But what the Bible shows us is that there is.
A time.
Where the two are separated.
One follows the other.
And it could be minutes, it could be years, and that we leave to God and His operations in the soul. I'll look quickly. Leviticus chapter 8. This is the other typical passage that I'd like to notice.
I won't give we can't read this whole thing, but in Leviticus chapter 8 we find this order again.
In Leviticus 8, and you find in verse, in verse six, we have Aaron, the sons of Aaron and Aaron himself, a picture of what we're Speaking of. And Aaron's sons here are washed with water, the water of the word.
It is a picture of new birth.
And then if you go down to verses 22 to 24, we have a sacrifice, and this ram is slain, and the blood of it is put upon the tip of Aaron's right ear, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot, and he brought it Aaron's sons, and Moses does the same to them.
That's the application of the blood of Christ that is coming into the understanding, the appreciation and the peace of resting in the finished work of Christ, and the blood is appropriated to the soul.
And then you'll notice what follows in verse.
And Moses took of the anointing oil, and of the blood which was upon the altar, and sprinkled it upon Aaron, upon his garments, and upon his sons, and upon his sons garments with him, and sanctified Aaron and his garments, and his sons, and his sons garments with him. The application of the oil is a picture of the Spirit of God.
When somebody rests in the finished work of Christ.
They are then sealed with the Spirit of God.
And that is when they become a Christian.
That is what defines you and me as believers.
As being saved. It's a Christian term if you will, and the stamp of that is the Spirit of God sealing a believer once they believe and repent on the finished work of Christ.
And God seals that person with the Spirit of God.
Well, you might say, well, that's all fine and good, Josh. I see what you're bringing out and the typical sense, but where else does it point to this doctrine? Well, I believe the obvious one is in John 3.
And this here is the instruction that the Lord Jesus gives to Nicodemus.
It says in verse, and we'll read just a few verses here. We won't read the whole chapter. There is a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus by night and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man, be born again.
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You cannot see the Kingdom of God, Nicodemus saith unto him. How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born?
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.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. Spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth? So is everyone that is born of the Spirit.
Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, we speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen, and you receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and you believe not, how shall you believe if I tell you of heavenly things? No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man.
Which is in heaven.
Nicodemus, you might say that this man is an example to us.
Of one of the most cultured and refined people of the day he was a teacher, he was a master in Israel, he was one that.
Had, or at least should have had an understanding of the Scriptures. And so here's a teacher who comes to the teachers of all teachers, the Lord Jesus himself.
And I find this so striking because it's not just anybody that comes to him. It wasn't a poor beggar off the street or a drunkard or a harlot or something like that. It was a man of high standard, of high character who was cultured, who had the word of God before him, who no doubt was an elite person in that day.
And what is said to him? The Lord Jesus says, you and Nicodemus.
You need a new life.
This shows us that you put the best before God in terms of what man can produce.
And he is just as lost.
And he cannot come on his own merits, and he cannot come to God and his position and all the things that might be attributed to him that might be desirable. God says it's worthless. You see, God looks at our old life and he says there's nothing good in it.
God cannot do anything with that life, that old nature, the flesh, but condemn it.
There is nothing good in US.
The Apostle Paul says. He said that I know that within me, that is, within my flesh dwelleth no good thing, nothing.
And a lot of believers today unfortunately think.
That there is something good within this heart.
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.
Brethren, there's nothing good in us by nature.
And so as I said earlier.
Or at least I alluded to this is This is why we need to divide the word of truth and understand what does it mean to be born again. Because some say that you have to believe to be born again and that type of thing leads into something called free will doctrine.
And it's rampant out there.
Where people suggest Christians suggest that you and I have the power to choose.
That you chose God.
You decided to come to Christ.
Is that so?
No, it's not.
We get a few of these cannots in this channel. Excuse me in this chapter.
Let's just notice them.
In verse three, the Lord Jesus says that he cannot see the Kingdom of God.
Man's natural discernment is blindness.
When it comes to the things of God.
It says in verse five that he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.
Man in his own power cannot come. Romans tells us that we were without strength.
And so to suggest that we have some strength is to defy scripture.
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And what it tells us, because God says you cannot come. I'm thinking right now of portion in, I believe it's in. Well, it's somewhere in the Gospels where you have coupled together a man who is sick with the palsy and then it speaks of a leopard and a palsy man. Just he cannot move. He's got no strength of his. And the leper is one who is a picture of sin.
Within.
And nothing good within him. It's a picture of the sinful.
Sinful humanity, no strength, and nothing good within them.
We read in the 27th verse that a man can receive nothing. He cannot receive anything.
That is, he won't receive the testimony of God.
It says in that in verse 32 and no man receiveth his testimony.
If we.
Turn over here to.
Chapter 6. It says in verse 44 that no man can come to me.
Except the Father which hath sent me draw him.
That drawing is new birth.
Where God compels you and I to come.
No man can come.
Says that also in verse 65 of the same chapter.
In John chapter 8 it says in verse 14 at the end of the verse you cannot tell whence I come and whether I go.
So now man cannot tell.
And verse 43 it says that ye cannot hear my word.
This destroys.
The idea that man has a free will. Man's free will was lost in the Garden of Eden when he chose to sin and he fell.
And now man in his natural condition can only choose evil. Now you might say, well then that absolves man of his responsibility to God. No, it does not.
Don't ask me to try to explain that, but it's clear in Scripture that these two truths of the sovereignty of God.
And the responsibility of man run, and it is only God.
Reconcile it.
Man chooses the evil, he chooses to turn his back on God, and there will be no Sinner in the lost eternity who is there who did not choose to be there.
Sad to say.
Man cannot come.
And so God has to impart life.
And that's why the Lord Jesus said to Nicodemus, you must be born again and justice quickly. I read that verse in John one.
It says in which were born. He's speaking in verse 12 of those who become the children of God.
And it says and then it references in verse 13 a work that took place, which were and something that happened before that.
Not of blood. So you and I cannot enter into this new birth by natural ancestry which we commented on earlier.
Can I come to us by blood, nor of the will of the flesh? You cannot choose to be born again.
And nor of the will of man. Nobody's will acting outside of your own and seeking to enforce their will upon you could bring about new birth in you or me.
It's a sovereign action of God.
We believe in the gospel.
Because we are born again.
We do not believe and receive Christ to get born again because to suggest such a thing.
Would mean that you and I chose.
And Can you imagine how that robs God of His glory?
Can you imagine in a coming day when you're sitting in your corner, you might say in glory, and there you're holding on to something that you did that I did?
And say, well, if John Doe only had believed, only if he would have chose.
He would be here with me, with the Lord. But no, I chose.
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To suggest such a thing rob's God of his glory.
And I don't think any of us would want to do that.
We cannot come on our own.
Merits are our own power.
And the Lord Jesus says, that which is born of flesh is flesh, that which is born of the Spirit of his Spirit, these things.
The Spirit begins, the flesh begets, and what it begets partakes of the same nature and character that it is begotten from. And you notice this, He says You must be born again. Verse seven and verse eight, it shows us how now how a man is born again, how a woman is born again, how a child is born again. Says The wind blows where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit.
You know, many Christians can point to the day in the hour and say I was born on such and such a day, at such and such a time I receive Christ. Some can't, and that's fine.
But when it comes to the new birth.
You and I cannot put our finger on that.
That sovereign action of God was wrought in you, your soul, and mine, at a time when we didn't know it.
And you'll notice what he uses.
He uses the Word of God and the Spirit of God.
Says.
In verse eight of hearing the sound thereof, and in verse 10 a rather.
Yeah, at the end of verse 8, so is everyone that is born of the Spirit. The Spirit of God is the word of God. This is done.
And he uses the Spirit of God as the agent. He uses the word of God, which is the meant, and he had his own sovereign choice and time.
Imparts life to you and me to a soul.
And that word in the power of the Spirit acts on our faculties, on our conscience, and something happens, a miracle happens, and God puts life, new life into the soul.
The Lord was amazed at this, that Nicodemus didn't know about this.
I don't have time to touch on it, but in Ezekiel 36, that's just one portion of the Old Testament where new birth was spoken of. It was an earthly thing, you might say. And these heavenly things are, are things that we're Speaking of now of being saved.
And the Lord says if you can't understand what new birth is, how can you enter into heavenly things? Keep in mind the Gospels is the seed plot for the New Testament.
Christian truth is developed in the epistles. The Lord hadn't died yet and the work of salvation hasn't been hadn't been accomplished at this time. But in especially in John's gospel, he gives Christian truth.
In its infancy, you might say, and it's later developed and you'll notice the order. New birth. He speaks a new birth. And then what does he speak of in verses 1415 and 16? He speaks about eternal life. He speaks about receiving.
Christ as Savior and putting your faith and your trust in Him, believing in Him, and that you might have everlasting life.
Is everlasting life and new birth the same life? Yes, it is.
But new birth, as it's been explained, is like life in its embryo form. An eternal life is life in its fullness. The Lord Jesus said in John 1010 that I am come that they might have life and might have it abundantly. That abundant life is what we enjoy now as Christians. And what we enjoy is receiving Christ as Savior. And being sealed with the Spirit of God is now something called eternal life.
And that is a Christian blessing.
And that is to know the Father in Jesus Christ whom he hath saved. And it is a life of Christ, but a life enjoying a relationship with God as our Father.
And that is specifically for the Christian.
I must move on. We're losing time. I think I have 5 minutes.
But in Acts chapter 10, again 10 and 11, this now is moving on to the practical.
Truth as to what I'm trying to bring out tonight in the difference between being born again and being saved and sealed with the Spirit of God.
Acts chapter 10, you'll notice what characterizes this man Cornelius. He's a Gentile. And we'll notice that it says that in verse one. There is a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, a devout man and one that feareth God with all his house, which gave much arms to the people and prayed to God always.
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I'm going to stop there.
Isn't this interesting?
Here's a man who feared God, and he was praying to God.
Well, most Christians today would say that man is saved.
Is that what the scripture says?
We know this story well. Peter has sent.
Peter gets a vision and a few men are sent to call Peter from Cornelius's house. He rounds Peter, they round Peter up, they bring Peter back to Cornelius, and Cornelius receives the gospel from Peter in verses 34 on to the end. And then you'll notice and read it in your own.
That Peter then, or the Cornelius?
Peter gives the gospel, speaks of Christ dying, being raised again, and then.
Cornelius receives it and then it says that he is sealed with the Holy Spirit.
Now he's a Christian.
Prior to that, and this for me was a chapter that cleared this truth up for me. And when it dawned on my soul this this truth of being born again and being saved and the difference between.
Really answered a lot of questions in my own life and my own experience, but you'll notice in the 11Th chapter Peter who was telling the apostles and brethren in Judea that the Gentiles had received the word of God and what had happened with Cornelius.
And.
It says here in verse 12, I'll just start there. And the Spirit bade me go with them, nothing doubting. Moreover, moreover, these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered into the man's house. And he showed us how he had seen an Angel in his house, which stood and said unto him, Send me Manda Joppa, and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter.
Who shall tell thee words whereby thou and all thy house?
Shall be saved.
He needed to hear words whereby he would be saved.
So this man who feared God and was praying to God.
Was an expression of the life God had imparted to him, the born again soul.
And you know, you look at it in the chapter, I think 9th chapter, the Apostle Paul experienced the very same thing, three days, he bowed without sight.
When he was struck down on the road to Emmaus, he was born again. He was given life.
But not until the third day, when he received his sight again, was he filled with the Holy Spirit. And it's at that moment he became a Christian.
Well, I don't know if I've done justice to the subject. I know we've gone through a lot of material and we've rushed through much of it.
But there is a difference between being born again and being saved.
David, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Adam, Eve, Rahab, all these Old Testament worthies.
They were born again. They were given a new life.
But they weren't saved.
They didn't have eternal life. They had life, but they didn't have life that the Christian enjoys in a higher character.
They weren't saved, technically speaking.
But to be saved is something that is Christian truth.
To be saved is to be sealed with the Spirit of God and resting in the finished work of Christ. And God brings us into a position of sunshine.
And gives us to know what life eternal is, to enjoy relationship with God as our Father.
And to enjoy all the blessings in heavenly places that Christ has wrought for us.
Maybe we'll just close and sing.
Hymn #44 Verses one and two. Verses one and two of #44 If somebody could raise the tomb.
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Make her a birth and heaven.
S are in love full screen.
And.
Pray.
We praise the power that.
Make us we can praise the love that Blessed One every day.
Without falls away, thy grave shall scare out of the fat.
Let's just pray. Our God and Father, we just thank Thee for this little time over Thy word.
We took up this subject of what it means to be born again.
What it means to be saved, and we think of thy operations.
Of sovereign mercy and grace in the souls of mankind.
To bring them out of darkness into thy marvelous light, and to complete thy work. Thy work.
By bringing us to the Lord Jesus and causing us to see beauty in himself.
And to save us, and then to seal us with thy spirit.
Then to give us everything in terms of blessings in Christ.
Our God and Father, of this magnifies thy grace and thy glory.
And we reflect on these things and admit.
We are nothing, and then all glory belongs to thee.
We thank you so much for what thou hast done in saving us and bringing us to the Savior. We thank thee now. In the name of the only Savior of sinners, our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.