Take your Bibles from John chapter 3. We're going to look at the command to be born again. I'm always fascinated. There's still stuff to learn about commands that you think you know so well. Hopefully we'll experience that today. John chapter 3. John chapter 3, of course, is a familiar passage to us. And it starts out, says, Jesus answered and said unto him. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot save the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? How can he enter a 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. Marvel not that I say unto you, You must be born again. It's fascinating that born-again has kind of become known in our society as a derogatory form of, you know, like, oh, those are some of those born-again Christians, you know. And there's a differentiation in the fact that you will hear some people tell you, I'm a Christian that's not one of those born-again Christians. Well, I've got news for you. Jesus said, Marvel not that I say to you, you must be born again. So being born again is not an optional thing. It's absolutely mandatory. The word born again comes from two Greek words. There's the word gena, which means to procreate. It's the word specifically used when you're giving genealogies about how someone descended from their father rather than their mother. So it means to be born of your father. And then the word anathin can mean again, but it can also mean above. So this word born again could accurately be translated to be born from your father above. That would be another meaning of that term. And I think that's a significant term. Now, Nicodemus was a little confused by all this, and he said, how can these things be? And Jesus answered and said, I'm art thou master of Israel, and knowest not these things. And hey, this is a fascinating thing to me, that Jesus is about to answer a question with a story that seems completely and totally unrelated. He's going to say, not explaining how all this born again stuff works, but he's going to use a story he thinks Nicodemus will understand. He says, And as Moses lifted up a serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." So he explains to Moses things using the brazen serpent. Now, why the brazen serpent? What does that have to do with being born again? You know, you would think that Jesus would have turned to Isaiah 53 and talked about the suffering servants, or surely Nicodemus would have understood that. And that would have been a good explanation. But it goes back to this particular story about the brazen serpent in the Old Testament. And I think it's because there's some similarities. Nicodemus and the Jews no doubt probably grumbled about being under Roman rule, Roman authority. The Pharisees in particular did not like that. Nicodemus was a Pharisee, and so they were kind of a group that established as part of their leadership an opposition to the Roman government. The Roman government kind of kept a close eye on these people. And, you know, when you're under someone's authority and you don't like it, you kind of grumble. How many of you have ever gone to work and heard people grumbling about the boss, or the boss's bad decisions, or the work conditions, or the fact that there's not enough help and that too many people, or too few people are trying to do too much work? We just kind of have a natural tendency to grumble against authority. And particularly when you're under authority that doesn't understand you, this is a real issue. And so they had forgotten the mighty works of God and the history of the nation of Israel and looked only at their present circumstances. I don't know how often you do that, but I'm pretty much this way. When I face a problem, I tend to look at my present circumstances and forget all the cool things that God's done for me over the last 30 years and all the miracles He's worked in my life. And God gave me a wife to remind me of those things very frequently so that I don't get so stressed out in the present. But this parallels the experience of Israel in the desert. What happened to them? Well, when they sent their twelve spies into the promised lands we talked about last Sunday morning, and ten of them came back and said, oh, we're like grasshoppers in their eyes. We're like little tiny bugs that can squash blood easily in their eyes. Well, the whole nation of Israel began to murmur and complain. Now, what's amazing is that this is a fairly short time frame. in which they forgot stuff. For example, it hadn't been that long ago since the Lord brought upon Egypt the ten plagues. Do you think they would remember how maybe the plague of darkness came upon Egypt and none of the Egyptians could see, but the children of Israel could see and do what they needed to do to conduct their normal business? You'd think they'd remember the frogs enveloping the land. You'd think they'd remember everything turning to blood, and yet the Jews still had water. You'd think that they would remember all those things, and you'd think they'd remember the death of the firstborn, and how Egypt said, please leave and take our stuff with you. And then they left, they got to the Red Sea, immediately get to the Red Sea, they already forget stuff. Once they get there and they begin to forget stuff, well, and complain and murmur, why did you bring us here today? Let's go back. God put, talk to Moses, God put the Shekinah cloud of glory between Pharaoh's army and between the Israelites. He parted the waters of the Red Sea as Moses stretched his rod over the waters, and God held off Pharaoh's army long enough for three million people to march across the sea, which would have taken about three days' worth of time. And so they marched across the sea, taking three days. Then God lets the Shekinah cloud of glory go, and the Egyptians rush into the sea just in time for God to say, oh yeah, let me put the waters back where they came from. and he drowned Pharaoh's army. And this hasn't been that long ago, and yet they very quickly forget. You know, one thing you need to learn about humans is that we forget quickly. We've already forgotten in many respects why we had to do what we did after 9-11 because we've forgotten the tragedy on this nation and now we're looking at it as we're the bullies over in the rest of the world. We've forgotten that. We've forgotten the values that made this country great 60 years ago. a little more than 60 years ago now, when America's greatest generation, as they're called by some, went in and fought the battles of World War II. We've forgotten that there was a moral foundation of this nation. But we forget things quickly. Now, they murmured and they complained, and as a result, two things happened. One is that they didn't get to go into the Promised Land right away. The other thing is that they had to wonder for 40 years and a desert filled with a Najahaj, which is the fiery serpent, also known as the Egyptian cobra. And it was only when these snakes began biting people and people began dying rather quickly, in fact, that they realized that God's judgment was upon them, and they cried out to Moses, For deliverance, Numbers 21 says, they journeyed from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea to encompass the land of Edom, and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. In other words, it wasn't easy. We get discouraged if things aren't easy. It says, And the people spake against God and against Moses, Wherefore have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, neither is there any water, and our soul loatheth this light bread. And he said, You know, there's nothing to eat, nothing to drink, and we've got this light stuff, and we're kind of tired of it. And it says, And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, and much people of Israel died. Now, that does have one effect, though. When your biggest concern is stepping on a snake, all of a sudden, you know, what's on the daily media doesn't bother you quite so bad. And so, this was the problem of the complaint and the fiery serpent's pain. And now the people realize they've done something to offend God. Therefore, the people came to Moses and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against thee. Pray unto the Lord that he may take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. He was a great intercessor. And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole, and it shall come to pass that every one that is bitten when he look upon it shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it on a pole, and it came to pass that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived." So he had to look up in faith, believing that seeing the fiery serpent was somehow or other going to save him. Now, so to be delivered from the serpent's bite, you had to look up to this pole with the fiery serpent on it, believe he was going to save you. You know, maybe some people, when Moses first did that, remember there's three million people, so there's plenty of room for differing opinions, plenty of room for dissent. And they probably said, oh, you don't really think some brass serpent's going to save you, do you? And some of them probably were stubborn. Maybe they got bit by a snake. In fact, as we know, some were stubborn because the Bible tells us that some were bitten by the snake and they didn't look to the fiery serpent on the pole, they didn't look to the brazen serpent, and so they died in the wilderness. In fact, as they were in the wilderness long enough for an entire generation of people, except for two from the previous generation, to die out. And so everybody over the age of 20 basically died and didn't get to go into the promised land. So maybe some were mocked, and you know, the followers of Jesus were mocked for being followers of his during Jesus' ministry. The fact is, Nicodemus, when he came to see Christ, it reports in the Gospel of John, they came to see him at night. He didn't want to come during the daytime, because after all, you might be associated with this kind of crazy rabbi that was wandering around. Well, the brazen serpent, though, was a symbol. It had to be placed on a pole. The brass, of course, represents judgment. It was put on a pole so it could be lifted up so that people could be reminded that God was going to judge sin. Now, when I say brass is made of judgment, if you even look in a lot of the prophecies of both the Old Testament and in the book of Revelation, it pictures the feet of brass, meaning that it was God's judgment on something. And so a lot of the tabernacle articles were made of brass for that same reason. So Nicodemus was going to soon have to look up to one who'd be lifted up on a pole, that is, a cross. They have to look up to Jesus who was nailed on a cross. And the Bible says that Jesus became sin for us. Now, that's a fascinating scripture in and of itself. It doesn't just mean that he atoned for our sins. He became sin. In other words, he took all the sins of all the world and were put on him symbolically. And God the Father says, now I've got to judge him. I had to judge him, I had to turn my back on him because of sin. This is why Jesus cried out on the cross of Calvary, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Because God the Father turned his back on God the Son because he cannot stand to look upon evil. Now that was quite an amazing sacrifice, the only time the fellowship between the Father and the Son was ever broken. Now, Moses told us a whole lot of things about Jesus. We just appeared to listen. When Jesus was on the road to Emmaus with his two disciples, it says in Luke 24, At the beginning, at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them all the scriptures, and all the scriptures, the things concerning himself. So he says, let me start at Moses. And he went back and he talked about the Passover lamb, he talked about the a symbol of the rock that construct and the water flowed freely out of that rock. And then he went into the prophets, and he went into the Psalms, and he went into the writings, and he was able to point time and time again how all the Old Testament was pointing forward to the day that Jesus would come and be our sacrifice. I'm sure he spent some time about the suffering servant in Isaiah 53. So he explained from everything, but Moses was where it kind of gets its start. In Luke chapter 16, verses 19 through 31, where Jesus is telling the story. And by the way, I read today a book that referred to it as a parable. I don't think it's a parable. A parable was when Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven was likened to, and he used the words likened to to say, listen, I'm going to tell you a little story, and this story is a parable. It's a story, it's a fictional story, but it's a story that illustrates the truth. When Jesus tells the story of the rich man and Lazarus, he simply begins by saying, there was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid in stakes full of swords. Moreover, desiring to be fed with crumbs which fell from the rich man's table, the dogs came and licked the soil, and it came to pass that the beggar died." So Jesus is telling us this as a historical account, not as a parable. I don't like the fact that some scholars and preachers call this a parable. I don't think it is. I think it's a real story. And Jesus has the inside track on stories like this. He knows what goes on in the spiritual realm. And so, in that story, he first of all says, you know, he says, Father Abraham, send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame. He wanted some relief, even if it was just a single drop of water on his tongue. And Abraham said, you know, son, remember that thou of night and time thou receivest thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things, but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you, there's a great guilt fix. So that they which would pass from hence to you can not, neither can they pass to us that would come from thence." He said, there's an inseparable barrier, or a barrier that nobody can cross, an un-crossable barrier, and no one can come from one side to the other. And so the rich man's next request, he said, well, therefore, Father Abraham, send ladders to my house. to my father's house, for I have five brothers, lest they also come into this place of torment." His next thing was, send him to go witness to the loss back at my house. Since he can't pull my tongue, send him to go witness to the loss at my house, so they don't wind up here too. It's an amazing thing that hell has a concern for the lost, and some of us don't. And so, Abraham's response, though, is this. He says, If they hear not Moses, the prophets neither will they be persuaded that one rose from the dead. And wasn't that the truth? Jesus rose from the dead and the Jews still weren't persuaded. And that was the truth. Paul said about the law, which would include the books of Moses, that the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. So the whole purpose of stories in the Old Testament and the Ten Commandments, I mean, when you read the Ten Commandments, it says, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. You need to say, Have I ever lied? Have you ever told a lie? If so, that makes you a liar. Did you know that? Have you ever looked at pornography? Well, that makes you an adulterer in the eyes of Scripture. Have you ever stolen something that didn't belong to you? That makes you a thief. You've done those three things, you're a lying, thieving adulterer. The only cure then is for Jesus Christ to come into your heart and forgive you of your sins and save you. But to do that, you've got to do what they did in the days of Moses. You have to look up with belief and you have to cry out to Him. And you have to ask Him to save you. Now, why does Jesus make such a big deal about this being born again? Why does He say you must be born again? Why did He just say you must be faithful to worship the Father? You must be faithful to warm a few. Because a lot of people today get the idea, if I want to be a Christian, all I have to do is give up a bunch of stuff and go to church regularly and I'll be a Christian. And that's what they think Christianity is all about. The thing is, when we were born, we got things from our parents. We inherited our nature. We've been studying in our homeschooling this month about genetics. And so we've discovered some people have attached ear lobes and some people don't have attached ear lobes. And everybody's licking each other's ears now, I can tell. Some people have black brown eyes, others have blue eyes. Some people can curl their tongue, others can't. Some can roll their tongue, others can't. There's a lot of things that are genetic characteristics and it depends on whether you got dominant genes or recessive genes from your parents and what combination of genes you got from the two parents. One of the things that we inherited from our Father, which is we inherited our sin nature, comes to the Father. Scripture tells us that in 1 Timothy, that the sin nature comes to the Father. Paul said in Romans 5.12 this word, Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. So here's the way it was. Adam and Eve were in the garden alone. They are like your great-great-great-great. How many of your greats do you want to stick in there? Grandfather and grandmother, okay? And if Eve had died before she ever got pregnant, where would we be? We wouldn't be anywhere around, right? Simply because, genetically speaking, we were in Adam and Eve's genetic material. Now, when they became sinners, everyone that was ever born after them got passed on a sin nature. And so you got it from your daddy, and he got it from his daddy, and he got it from his daddy, and so forth and so on. So we've all been born with a sin nature. The only human that's ever been born without a sin nature was Jesus Christ, because he didn't have a human what? Father. He had a human stepfather, basically, but he did not have a human father. He was born of a virgin, so he didn't have a sin nature. We all do. And so that's a pretty amazing thing. So our first birth gave us our sin nature. When we're born again, we're given a new nature. Paul says it this way in 2 Corinthians 5 21. For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. I have a new nature. And here's an amazing concept. I don't know if you've ever thought about this. When I got saved and God gave me a new nature, my new nature is incapable of sin. My new nature is incapable of sinning. But, the problem is, the old nature is still hanging around. And it's very capable of it. The fact is, that's all it wants to do. And I'll show you some scriptures to support that again in just a minute. So, but when Nicodemus hears the whole thing about second birth, he's like, whoa, that isn't going to work. There is no way. I'm going to fit back inside Mama's tummy so I can do this whole thing again. That dog's not going to hunt. So, you know, what do you do? How can you go back in a second time? And Jesus explained to him that the first birth is physical. Therefore, the second birth must be spiritual. Jesus answered verily, verily, I say to you, except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Let's pause for those words. If you have not experienced a second birth, You just won't be there. And there's no way, aside from, he doesn't say, you know, unless you're very religious, or unless you're a member of a church, or unless you bow to the east seven times a day and pray to Allah, or whatever. He simply says that if you don't have a spiritual birth, you will not be in the Kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not, but I said, you must be born again. Now, when a baby's born, and I've gotten to watch this eight times, all eight times, sometimes more dramatically than others, when the baby was born and it took that first gulp of air to hear this cry. Now, newborn baby cries are cool. By the time they get three months old, baby cries don't sound so sweet anymore. I don't know if you've noticed that. At first, they usually are this soft little gentle cry and think, oh, how cute. But I remember, you know, Melody was born, Richard was born, all the ones that were born. As soon as they kind of took that at first, and they might not have cried long, but they cried. It was a, you know, came out, and it's kind of like, ooh, I don't like this new place. You know, I was fine in the jacuzzi, and you brought me out into the cold air here, and I'm not happy, and I'm going to let you know about it. But it's a cry. Usually not for long, but still it starts with a cry. Well, in the same sense, the new spiritual birth has to start with a cry. we've got to cry out loud to God. Of course, you know Romans chapter 10, I know it says that with a mouth you may confession of salvation, with a heart to believe unto righteousness. But then he says that whosoever will call, the Hebrew word korah, which was called in the Old has that same meaning in the New Testament. Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. So one of the things you have to do is you've got to cry out loud. I think you need to say it out loud when you pray, rather than maybe just a silent prayer, because faith comes by hearing. I think it's a good idea for us to cry out loud and say, God's saved me. And by the way, I don't think that we necessarily have to pray a specific centered prayer. I know that we tend to lead people, and I know I do this when I tend to lead people to the Lord. I'm kind of a one-verse kind of guy. He's Romans 6.23, because everything I need is packed into one verse. And I told him, hey, the wages. That's what you earn of sin, which is you doing anything that displaces God, is death. And then there's the opposite over here, but the gift, the gift you don't earn. You can't do anything to earn it. God gives it to you. Of God, which is opposite of sin. Sin is unrighteousness. It's what is antithetic to God. And then is eternal life, which means that the death over here, since these are opposites, must be eternal death. And so we have two sets of opposites. This is through I didn't get from one side to the other through Jesus Christ our Lord. It was Jesus dying on the cross that provided the payment for your sins. He's your Lord. You have to acknowledge that He is going to be the Lord of your life. You're saying, I want you to come in and save me and run my life? That's part of what it means to invite Jesus Christ into your heart. And then he says, if whosoever will call or cry out upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. So I tend to lead people through what I call the sinner's prayer. And because I want to make sure that they pray, you know, Jesus, I know you died for me to forgive me of my sins. I know you rose again from the dead because that's an important element of belief. And I'm inviting you to come to my heart to be my Lord and Savior. But I honestly believe that God doesn't hear that we have the precise words, but does He hear the attitude of our hearts? Does He hear our opinion and attitude? I think that somebody that doesn't have a complete and full understanding of theology can just simply cry out to God when they realize they're a sinner and they need the mercy of God, and they know Jesus died for their sins, they can say, Oh God, save me, and that'll be enough. But it's got to be the cry of their heart. A number of scriptures there. I won't take time to go into all of these. But why should a baby cry anyway? Do you notice that even after that first cry, which is kind of like a hello world cry, that after that they keep crying? Why is it that babies don't just look at us and say, you know, it's time for my milk. You know, feed me. Or, you know, this is an uncomfortable way of sensation I'm experiencing now. Would you please do something about it? Why don't they do that? Because they can't talk yet. And so the cry is just the baby's way of saying, I need you. And you've got to know that you need Jesus Christ to cry out to Him. That's what it means to call upon the name of the Lord. So the New Birth starts with a cry. What kind of cry I say is what Jesus illustrated. In Luke chapter 18, when he illustrated two people praying, and one is just two men went to the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee, the other a publican. The Pharisee stood up, and I love this, you miss this if you don't pay attention, and prayed thus with himself. In other words, his prayer never made it out of the temple walls, never made it into the throne room of heaven. He prayed thus for himself, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican, I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all I possess. In other words, God, you should be impressed with how much better I am than everybody else. And I didn't make it. Some people think that if they're better than other people, they're going to make it to heaven. But no, that's not good enough. You've got to be born again. So what does work? And the public is standing apart, but not so much as lift up his eyes into heaven, but smote upon his breast saying, God, be merciful to be a sinner. And right there is a great example of a sinner's prayer. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified. And notice, he didn't pray all the things we normally lead people to when we're leading them to salvation. He just says, God be merciful to these sinners. He cried out because he says, I'm a sinner. He'd been confronted with the Word of God and he was bending his chest and said, I'm a sinner. He says, I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other for everyone that exhausts themselves would be abased. He then humbled himself to be exalted. So we have to humble ourselves. as well, and then pray for God to give us what we need. Romans 10 says, What saith it, the word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart? That is the word of faith which we preach, that thou shalt confess with the mouth of the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thy heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart men believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believes on him shall not be ashamed." So we have to confess, we have to cry out, we have to believe that Jesus is alive, otherwise we have a dead God and it would do us no good. Now I've got to add something here though, because I remember listening to a sermon one time when I was in seminary, and one of mine, and we had real thin walls at the seminary, and I could often hear what was going on in the next department. And we had a fellow that lived next to us that was pretty well deaf and wore a hearing aid. So he always had things turned up loud when he was listening to them. So every time he listened to a cassette tape, he was blessing us as well. And so he's listening to this Baptist preacher from Arkansas who was saying, the only thing you need to do to be saved is just believe. You don't have to do anything else. Just believe in Jesus. That's all it takes is just believe. And instantly I thought, that's not right. But as Jesus said twice, in the span of three verses, He says, Accept your repentance, you will all likewise perish. If you don't recognize the fact that you're a sinner and say, God, I see my sins, I know they're ugly, and I know the penalty for sin is death. See, if you don't repent, And there are people that go through the motions, right? They don't really repent of their sins, but you know, their buddy went up to the front of the church during the invitation, and maybe they just came back from youth camp together, so they're going up with other people. So they go through the motions, so, well, I'm here to ask Jesus for my heart, and I pray the prayer. And yet, you never see the fruit of it in their lives. There's a darkness to their spirit. There's a darkness to their actions. They don't ever have a love for other Christians. They don't ever have a love for God's Word. We're going to talk more about the evidence in just a second. But if you don't repent, you'll perish. And Jesus was very clear about that. He said exactly the same words twice, in fact. Now, it's interesting, Jesus says you must be born both of water and of the Spirit. And I think when he says water, he's probably talking about the first birth, you know, because you know, the baby comes out in his water sack, the amniotic fluid and all that that takes care of it, protects it, nourishes it. But there's also a sense in the Bible, Ephesians 5.26, where it says that husbands are to wash their wives with the water of the Word. And he uses the word woman there. If you're married, one of your jobs as a guy is you're supposed to get insights from from your reading the Bible and your study, things that are important to you, and maybe it's only one verse out of three chapters you read, but you think, wow, that's cool. That's for me. When you share that with your wife, it does two things. One is it says it washes her, so it makes her more pure. It helps her grow in her relationship with the Lord. The other thing it does is you may have started out the day right here, but when you share spiritual insight, you'll go to right here, because every woman secretly wants a man who's a spiritual leader. Every woman wants great thing. So for a new spiritual birth to occur, the water of God's Word is going to be present. It says, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. So just kind of like the babies in the amniotic sac, a new life is born when the water of God's Word is there, ministering to the child. Of course, after you're born, Peter continues the analogy and says, after you're born, by the way, desire the sincere milk of the Word. Just like a new baby wants milk, we ought to be wanting the Word of God after we're So how does the new birth occur? Well, you're here because you have two physical parents. Now maybe you grew up without one of them, maybe one of them died, maybe one of them left you, but the fact is, genetically, you all have two parents. That's the way it works. We have to have two parents in order for a spiritual birth to occur as well. We have to have two things. That is the Word of God and the Spirit of God. It says in the book of James, of His own will beget He of us that we should be a kind of first fruits of His creatures. So how are we to be God? How do we be born? You have to have the Word of God. Now that doesn't mean that when you ask Jesus Christ in your heart, somebody had to be there thumping a Bible at you. But it does mean that you had to at least apprehend some truths that were in the Word of God. All the sin that comes toward the glory of God. It means I'm a sinner. It means you're one too, right? You had to understand that truth. For the wages of sin is death and the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ the Lord. You had to understand that your sin separates you from God for all eternity unless you accept Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior. You've got to know that. So that Word of God had to be there. But the other thing is the Spirit of God had to be there. Jesus says, no man comes to the Father except the Spirit of God draws him. You can't come to know God's Father unless the Spirit of God is working in your life. Now I want to encourage you, if you're sharing your faith with somebody, or God moves on your heart to share your faith with somebody, don't do it until after you pray. and said, God, would you, in your Spirit, work on their heart? I have seen and know how to do this myself because I've studied it. There are ways to make people more receptive to God's Word, but there's also ways you can manipulate people. I can get a response to the front of the church any Sunday if I manipulate people. But what we need to do is have the Spirit of God draw people. Because if you come up and you respond because I'm an equal aid, it probably won't last. It's not going to last. But if the Spirit of God draws you, then you can truly come. The Spirit of God, 1 Corinthians 12, 3, Paul said, acknowledge Jesus' Lord unless the Holy Spirit is working on your life. Jesus said in John 16.8 that the Spirit was He who would convict you of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. So we get the conviction that tells us that we need Jesus. And Paul also said in Romans 8.16 that the Spirit indwelling us gave proof that we were the children of God. That's how we know that. So what actually happens in the second birth? Well, you change. You're transformed. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5.17, Therefore, any man being Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things become new. Now, the word become, there's an interesting word. It's what's called a passive, excuse me, a perfect indicative tense. Now, I know you all know the tenses. You went to school and you learned grammar. In English, we have past, present, and future. That pretty well covers it. But in Greek, there's a whole lot more tenses. And the tenses in Greek don't so much tell you when something happened as what kind of action it was. So, a perfect indicative means that the action happened in the past, but it has a continuing result. In other words, he's saying, when all things become new, he's saying there was a point in my life when I had invited Jesus Christ in my heart to be my Lord and Savior. That was a one-time deal. It was in my past. It was in Palo Verde Canyon, in Canyon, Texas, that it happened. But it has had a continuing result that it lasted 38 years since then. And it is a continuing result. Now, the thing we have to face, though, is there's a difference between position and experience. We read that passage just a moment ago where Paul said we are made the righteousness of God. Now, I am made the righteousness of God when I invite Jesus Christ into my heart. And so I have a new nature that doesn't sin. But there's a difference between my position and my practice, or between my position and my experience. Why is that? Because in my experience, I still have that old sin nature too, and my sin nature battles against the nature that's in me through God. And that's why in Scripture, even though we're already made righteous in Jesus Christ, Paul tells us we're to be perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Peter says, he quotes from the Old Testament, the book of Leviticus, where God says, Be holy, even as I am holy. We're to be holy, we're to be perfecting holiness, we're to be perfecting righteousness, which we don't have yet. By the way, why does God think I'm righteous? Because the Father sees me in Christ, and Christ is righteous. Every time God looks at me, He looks at me for Christ's sake. And that's the only reason that I even appear to be righteous to the Father. So there are these opposing natures. Now, look at 1 John 3.9, because some of you looked at me a little strange while ago when I said, The new nature that we get at the moment of our salvation does not sin and cannot sin. Look at 1 John 3 now. Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin. Wow. For his seed remaineth in him, he cannot sin, but is informed of God. My new nature from God the Father is incapable of sin. However, my old nature still fouls up a lot. By the way, the word commit here is also a present tense verb, which in Greek indicates that as a continual rule I don't sin, but I can still fail occasionally. Why? Because I have this other nature that lives in me. What about the other nature? If you read Agromis 7, And we don't have time or I spend the whole time on Romans 7. But Paul says in Romans 7 is that there is a law of sin that wars in his members. And then he goes on to say that is in my flesh. He even goes so far in Romans 7 is to say that in my flesh there dwelleth no good thing. So it's his members or his flesh where sin dwells. And somebody, Richard, get ready to read Romans 7 verse 25. And then he says, but in my mind, that's not really part of your body. Your brain is part of your body, but not your mind. Your mind is that kind of ethereal thing you think with. He says, but in my mind, I serve the law of God. So read that last verse of Romans 7. So here's the deal. Doctors tell us that every time you make a new memory, it puts a wrinkle on the surface of your brain. So the more memories you have, the more things you've done, the more wrinkled your brain is. You start out smooth, as you get older, you get more wrinkled. Now what happens, unfortunately, is that seems to surface on the outside too, doesn't it? Okay, but we get these little wrinkles. Now, when you sin, maybe you go watch a movie that, in your heart, the Holy Spirit said you ought not to be watching that. But when you did that, you created a wrinkle about that. Next time you go watch another movie, guess what happens? That wrinkle gets a little wider. The little dirt road turns into a two-lane paved asphalt street. Next time you go watch something like that, the Holy Spirit convicts you again. Then you go from a two-lane paved asphalt street to a six-lane divided highway. And what happens is the more you sin, the more pathways or roadways you have that makes it easier to sin the next time. The more you do it, the easier it gets. Guess what though? The opposite is also true. The more we practice righteousness, the more we do righteousness, the easier righteousness becomes, because it can become a way of life or become a habit. What we need to do is be building six-lane highways through holiness, and let those other roads fall apart and go back to the weeds. That's what we need to be doing. So there's these two natures that they work within us, and we need to be laying the right kind of roads. Now, next to the last slide, I've just got one more after this, I think. The Father keeps his children. John 10, 28, verse 29. Now, I'm amazed that every time I really have a discussion with somebody doubting the doctrine of eternal security, it's always because they've experienced something or there's been someone in their family or there's been a Sunday school teacher that committed adultery and fell away from church. And people say, well, look, they lost their salvation. We need to be very careful never to take doctrine from experience. It should always come from the Word of God. So let's just say Jesus stated it rather simply. I give unto them eternal life. They shall never perish. How often will they perish? Once they've been given eternal life? Never. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them to me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. So once I'm in God's hand, Nobody can take me out, including me, because I would be one of those men and God's greater. The only way you can get out of the keeping power of God is for a greater power to come along. That's not going to happen. It says in 1 Peter 1, 3-5 that we're kept by the power of God. The only way I can lose my salvation is to be kept. unkept by a greater power. If there's no greater power, I can't lose my salvation. It says in Ecclesiastes 3.14, whatever God does, He does forever. It says in Hebrews 10.14, that I am sanctified forever by the death of Jesus Christ. So, that's the good news. Now, what are the evidences? I actually did a few. Let me just give you five evidences real quick. There's the love for God's Word. Desire that's so similar to the Word that may grow thereby. If you don't enjoy reading your Bible, questioning your salvation, When you were born, again, you should have had a love for God's Word, at least to memorize it. And maybe that grows cold over time, because guess what? Our love does grow cold. How many of you have ever known somebody that got married, they're really excited when they first get married, but you look at their relationship 3, 4, 5, 10, 14 years later, And they're just kind of in a rut in their relationship. A rut is a grave where the ends talk, right? And they're just kind of in a rut where they're not really being romantic with one another and passionate with one another and investing in one another's lives. And by the way, the way to keep that from happening in marriage is keep investing. Keep investing. A new awareness of sin. The more time you spend in God's Word, the more aware you'll be of sin. The Hebrews said it this way. He says, for everyone that uses milk, and when you're born again, you first start on the milk of the Word, which is the basics of the Gospel. He says, it's unskillful in the Word of righteousness for each to obey it, but strong meat belongs to them that are full-aged. In other words, as you grow into Christian life, you study the Bible more and more, and you get deeper and deeper, and look what happens. Even those who, by reason of use, have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. So as you grow in the Lord, you should be more exercised to know the difference between good and evil. What else? A new love for God. This is called the first love. It's that romantic ooey gooey love. There's plenty of that around here right now. You get that romantic ooey gooey love, but later on it's maybe more of a comfortable love. What you've got to do though is keep working at it or the love just grows cold. Jesus told the church at Ephesus, He says, you know, I know you've got all these really great things and this great witness and testimony you have, but I have somewhat to say against you because thou hast left thy first love. And so He chided them to that. We should also have a love for other believers, saying, You purify your souls, obey the truth of the Spirit, unto unfeigned love of the brethren, seeing that you love one another with a pure heart and perfect righteousness. Love each other. You're members of the family. By the way, sometimes the members of the family don't seem to be very loving. That's what God wants of us. A desire to tell others. This is the last one. If you're living in the light, you should want to tell those in darkness. I still remember. When Melody was saved at the age of five, the first thing she wanted to do was make sure that all her grandparents were saved and all of her other relatives were saved. She got on the phone and she called and she asked him about it. She wanted him to know that the other kids in the apartment complex were saved. She went out and talked to them, witnessed to them. She came back one day and she had witnessed to a little Muslim boy and the Muslim boy believed in Jesus but didn't believe he was the Son of God. Melody was devastated. I still remember that. But there was great evidence of her salvation. She was instantly concerned that others would know about. You know, the thing is, our witness has to be more than talk. A lot of times when you share some of your new faith, people kind of nod and be nice to you because they kind of feel guilty doing anything else. But what is really a strong witness is when your talk is matched up by your walk. That's why it says in Ephesians 2.10, for we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God has foreordained that we should walk in them. Jesus said don't let your Your witness be under a bushel, but let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Obviously, we have to have faith to believe that Jesus died for us and rose again and that he can forgive us of our sin. So just some questions to think about. What do you say to somebody who says, I'm a Christian but not one of those born-again Christians? Well, you have to tell them when you're not a Christian. Jesus said you must be born again. Have you cried out to God for your salvation? What age can they do that? I think it's an age where they can understand the elements of the gospel. Many years ago I would have told you a kid had to be at least 8 or 9. And Melody blew that away when she was five. And Richard was saved three weeks before his fourth birthday. But he understood. We still have a tape recording of Richard at the age of three explaining how he invited Christ into his heart and it was real. Evidence has been there ever since. How will you know if you're truly born again? Do you love God's Word? Do you love God's people? Do you feel guilty when you do wrong or can you sin with impunity? That would be some questions to ask yourself. If you can't remember exactly when it happened, because some people said, you need to know the day. I didn't know the day, but I remember inviting Christ in my heart, and I remember one time I was in Palo Verde Canyon during the revival, and Brother Bobby Myers was preaching a message, and I remember just saying, Jesus, I've always believed in you that I can remember. I know that you're my Savior. I know you died for my sins, but if I've never done before, I want to nail it down today. Would you please be my Lord and Savior? And I think that's what you did. Do you have the evidences of inborn guilt? In other words, it's for free. Father, I started a little late this morning and while I thought this was a simple subject, it's by far the most important of all the commands Christ has given us thus far. Because without the new birth, none of the other commands are capable of giving. Without the new birth, it wouldn't matter what else we did, we would not spend eternity with you. There's probably some here this morning that have never really experienced a new birth, that have gone through the motions, and yet there's no proof or evidence in their lives that they truly are born again. Father, convict them by the power of your Holy Spirit and by the packaging of your Word that they may heal and be healed. Father, help us be diligent to tell others about you as we pray in Christ's name. Amen. Thank you.