Thank you for that if I could I might jump up and down so good deeper than the stain If you would open your Bibles with me to Psalm 51 Psalm 51 You probably already noticed the sign-up sheet in the vestibule We're gonna have a zero birthday dinner and it as it turns out. It's from from all year long Partially that's because when I was going through radiation at I just couldn't get it together. But I found out even after I was going through those treatments, I still haven't been able to get my act together. So we finally got this done here in a few weeks. We'll enjoy doing that together. All right, Psalm 51. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness, according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies. Blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sins. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee. Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. O Lord, open thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth thy praise. For thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it. Thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Do good in thy good pleasure and design. Build thou the walls of Jerusalem. Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness. With burnt offering and whole burnt offering, then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar. All right, let's stand together as John leads us in singing our call to worship. Great Father of glory, how rich is Thy grace! What wonderful love is displayed in Thy face! In Jesus thy image with brightness we view, With hope to be formed in that likeness anew. O wanderer of wonders, astonished I gaze to see in a manger the Ancient of Days. My God, my Creator, a woman was born. My Lord bowed His head, For unworthy sinners He suffered and bled. My spirit rejoices, the work is all done. My soul is redeemed, my salvation is won. Great Father of glory, how rich is Thy grace! What wonderful love is displayed in Thy face! Okay, if you would, now turn in your hymnal to song number 75, Abide With Me. Abide with me, fast falls the eventide. The darkness deepens, Lord with me abide. When other helpers fail and comforts flee, Help of the helpless, O abide with me. Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day. Earth's joys grow dim, its glories pass away. Change and decay in all around I see. O Thou who changest not, abide with me. I need Thy presence every passing hour. What but Thy grace can foil the tempter's power? Who, like Thyself, my guide and stake can be? Through cloud and sunshine abide with me. Hold Thou Thy Word before my closing eyes. Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies. Heaven's morning breaks and earth's vain shadows flee. All right, if you would turn your Bibles to the Gospel of John, chapter three. We'll read verses 1 through 17. There was 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, he 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. Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but cannot tell whence it cometh. and whither it goeth, so is every one 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 the master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily I say unto thee, We speak that we 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 heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the son of man which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the 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. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you this morning. It's a blessing to us. To read these words and understand that in which we read, you have given us the true knowledge and the wisdom of the gospel in which we have preached to us. To know this passage and understand what is said. Understand true grace and understand the mercies, the true mercies that lie in your grace that you have saved us by. And to know that those mercies are only in through and by our Lord and our savior. the Lord Jesus Christ. We must know him, know the one in whom you have exalted. We must look to him and look to him alone for grace. Grace only through faith only and in Christ only is our means in which we're taught by the passage in which we just now read. We pray, Lord, you bless our pastor this morning as he brings us another message as you did is the first. Bless the words in which you have laid on his heart. Let him bring him to us, Lord, in a way of power, in a way of spirit. Make these words effectual to our hearts, Lord. Let us hear him in an effectual way, a way in which only you can bring forth. Now we pray, Lord, for those in whom you have brought into these trials and tribulations, those in whom are suffering, as the pastor told us this morning, those whom are suffering the sins of this flesh. We pray, Lord, a blessing. Give them the blessings of knowing that these things didn't happen by chance. These things, as in all things, is coming to pass in the perfect order in which you have ordered them that they must come. So we pray that, Lord. We thank you, Lord, for your grace. We thank you for your redemption of your son and the calling of the spirit. All these things we pray in Christ's name for his sake only. The Bible's open to the text Brother Gary just read for us, the passage. It'll serve as our text this morning. I've titled the message, Can a man be born when he's old? That's the question Nicodemus asks in verse four. How can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? Now quite obviously, Nicodemus is very concerned, or concerned, confused about the new birth. And there's still a whole lot of confusion in the world today about the new birth. And I thought it would be very good, very profitable for us to look at what God's word has to say about the new birth. We're going to turn to a number of scriptures this morning. I want you to use your Bibles so that you see what God has to say about this matter of the new birth, because it's vitally important. And my prayer that not only would the Lord teach us what the new birth is, but that he would cause us this morning to be born again. I don't want to just have a head knowledge of this, but experience it by being born again. And you'll find as we go through the passage that this, I believe how I closed with the, with the lesson this morning, that if you've experienced the new birth, there really isn't a whole lot of confusion about it. is there. Most of the confusion comes from a person not being born again. So I want to show you the three, four things about this. Number one is this. The new birth is necessary for salvation. In verse seven of John three, the Lord says, marvel not that I said unto you, you must be born again. Now no one can possibly not understand what the Lord just said there. You must be born again. It's not optional. You must be. And here's why. When Adam fell, all of us died in Adam. When Adam sinned, he died spiritually instantly. So that the only seed that he had to pass on to his children was a spiritually dead seed. And that came down all the way to you and me. You know, all life comes from a seed. And the nature of the life depends upon the nature of the seed, doesn't it? An apple tree produces apples because that's the nature of the seed, to grow an apple tree. When it came time for you and me to be conceived, we were just like David. We were conceived in sin. We're born spiritually dead. We are conceived spiritually dead because that's the nature of our father's seed. That's the only thing our fathers had to pass on to us is what Adam passed on to them, a spiritually dead nature. That nature is dead and it can never live again. Never. It's dead in trespasses and sins and it will always be dead. Always. You can't give light and life and understanding to this dead nature. It's dead and that's the way it's going to stay. And this flesh, the body of flesh, eventually has to die because it's full of sin. It's full of sin from this spiritually dead nature. The flesh has to die because it's already spiritually dead. What naturally follows from being spiritually dead is you die physically. So the only way any of us can have spiritual life, we can't give life to this old nature. So if we're going to have spiritual life, we've got to be born again. We've got to be born from above or else we'll never have life. In verse three, Jesus answered and said unto him, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he be born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Now that word see there means to perceive or to know. It means to understand. You know, if I would explain something to you and then say, now, do you see what I'm saying? Do you see? What I'm asking is, do you understand? That's what the Lord is saying here. No one can understand the kingdom of God unless they've been born again. You can't understand what the kingdom of God is. You can't understand how somebody gets into it. You can't understand who the king of it is unless you've been born again because dead people don't understand anything because they're dead. I don't care how long you explain something to a man laying in a casket, he's never gonna understand it because he's dead. And you see that in the world today. I guess it's always been there, but the only point of reference I have is the world in which I live. So many people think that the kingdom of God is political. They think, well, one day Christ is gonna return, and there's gonna be this millennial reign on earth, and believers are gonna reign with Christ, and boy, you just wait, because I'm gonna get you then. We're gonna lord it over all these unbelievers. It's been so mean to us all our life long, And they think it's a political thing, you know. I'll tell you why they think that. It's because they don't understand the kingdom of God. They can't understand it because they're dead. Other people think that the kingdom of God is an earthly thing. It's a thing that will give them more money, better jobs, better health, more friends, and make them happier here on earth. They think that is what the kingdom of God is. It's just something to make you happier here on earth. I'll tell you why they think that. It's because they're spiritually dead. They don't understand what the kingdom of God is. In Romans 14, verse 7, the apostle said, the kingdom of God, it's not meat and drink. It's not the stuff of this life. But it's righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. Now look over 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Now the only way you can see that and understand and have joy in that, what Paul just said, is the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but it's righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. The only way you can believe that, see that, and have joy in that is if you've been born again. If you've not been born again, you cannot understand it. 1 Corinthians 2, verse 12. Or let's just look at verse 14. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them. Why can't he know them? Because they're spiritually discerned. And he can't understand anything spiritually because he's dead spiritually. So here's why we must be born again. We can't have spiritual life unless we're born again. We can't understand anything that spiritual, we can't understand anything that God says unless we've been born again. And we can't be in God's presence unless we've been born again. Look at verse five back in our text. Jesus answered, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Now all of us died in Adam. And when we died in Adam, we were separated from God in Adam. When God thrust Adam out of the garden, out of his presence, you and I were thrust out of God's presence too. And we can't come back to God and be in his presence as we are. Not in our sin. The holy God is not going to allow sinful, dead, stinking corpses to be in his presence and to pollute his kingdom. He's not going to do it. God's kingdom is a kingdom of righteousness. So if you and I would enter the kingdom of God, we would be in his presence. We have to be righteous. But our problem is that since we're sinners, we can't make ourselves righteous. We can't earn our way into the kingdom of God. So if we would enter the kingdom of God, We've got to be born again with a new righteous nature. That's the only way we can be made righteous, is if we're born again with a righteous, holy nature that God will accept into his presence. So that's why we must be born again. All right, number two. Now, the new birth, it sounds very confusing to the natural man. Well, what is it? What is the new birth? Well, the new birth, it's not fleshly. In verse six, the Lord says, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. That which is born of the flesh will always be flesh, and that which is born of the spirit will always be spirit, and the two will never mix. So the new birth has got nothing to do with the flesh, does it? Suppose you could be born again in a fleshly way. Like Nicodemus is wondering, well, how can I enter back into my mother's womb the second time, be born the second time, Well, suppose you could do that. Wouldn't do you any good, would it? You'd just be born the same way you were born the first time. You'd be born dead, sinful flesh. That's all we would be, because that which is born of the flesh is flesh. You can't go back into your mother's womb and be born again a spiritual person. You can only be born dead, sinful flesh. Even the new birth does not improve the flesh. If you've been born again, you know that. Even the new birth does not improve the flesh. The flesh remains dead, sinful flesh. I'm jumping ahead of myself, but that war's against the new man. Even the new birth does not improve our sinful flesh. The new birth is not fleshly, not at all. Look back a page or two at John chapter one. We've got to be born a different way than a fleshly way if we would be born again. John 1 verse 10. He was in the world and the world was made by him and the world knew him not. He came into his own and his own received him not. Now why didn't his own receive him not? The Jews that had all the pictures, all the types, all the ceremony, had the law, had the prophets. Why didn't the world of flesh, receive Christ when he came? Because they're dead. Because they're dead, they can't receive him. The only thing that they can do is hate him. Why did they reject Christ as the savior? Because they're dead. They couldn't see him. They couldn't see that he's king. They couldn't see that he's the savior. They couldn't understand who he is because he's dead. So they could not believe on him. But thank God somebody believed on him. Verse 12. But as many as received him, to them gave he power. He gave the right or the privilege to become sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. Somebody believed, didn't they? Peter did. The other 10 of the 11 did. They believed. Mary Magdalene believed. Martha and Mary believed. Lazarus believed. There are many people who believed on him, aren't there? There are people here. You believed on Christ. Other people, they hear the message and they don't like it, they leave, they go somewhere else. But you believed. But you believed. Why? Why do you believe when somebody else doesn't believe? Because you've been born again. Why are you a son or daughter of God? Because you've been born that way. Verse 13, which we're born. Not of blood, not of fleshly blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but they're born of God. People who are born again are not born again because of anything to do with the flesh. We're not born again by the will of the flesh, or by the power of the flesh, or by the teaching of the flesh. You cannot be born again because your parents and grandparents were born again. Can't do it. Now they'll pray for you. They'll point you to Christ, they'll bring you to the services, but you cannot be born again because you're related in a fleshly way to somebody who believes Christ. We can only be born again by the will and power of God. Now that's spiritual, not fleshly, isn't it? So the new birth doesn't come from anything about the flesh, who we're related to because we're born some way in the flesh. The new birth also cannot come by human morality, by human works, by things that we do or don't do in the flesh. That's Nicodemus. Now think about who it is that came to the Lord here. This is the Pharisee. He's a ruler of the Jews. He's a religious leader. I mean, this man was serious about religion. He was serious about the Old Testament scriptures. This man fasted twice in the week. Not once, but twice. He gave tithes of everything he possessed. Boy, on Friday night, when he's counting out his tithe, he gets that little thing that holds all your mints, all your herbs, and gets it down. He counts out his little flakes of all the different herbs. He even tithes of his herbs, stuff from his herb garden. Nicodemus, boy, when he went out, he wore the broad phylacteries. The scriptures, you know, written out in these broad phylacteries. This man didn't go bribe and pray. He went out in the street corner and prayed. Boy, everybody knew. Boy, Nicodemus, he's a man of prayer. He's a man of the scriptures. Nicodemus, now he's a Pharisee. He's one of the rulers of the, he's not just some low-level Pharisee. This guy's high up. He was as morally and doctrinally straight as any Jew could be. But he's still dead. He still couldn't see. He still couldn't understand because he hadn't been born again. Brother Henry described folks like that this way, they're straight as a gun barrel and twice as empty. That's Nicodemus. Nicodemus, no matter all the things that he did or didn't do, could not be born again by the flesh, by something that the flesh did. And if Nicodemus couldn't do it, I promise you, you and me can't do it. Can't be done. Look at Titus chapter three. Titus chapter three, verse five. Not by works of righteousness that we've done, not by works that we've done in the flesh, but according to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration, the washing of the new birth and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior. So we can't be born again by anything that the flesh does, It's got to be by the power of God. Here's the third thing. The new birth, it's not a head knowledge. It's not a head knowledge of true, right things. Look back in our text, verse one. There's 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. Now I'm sure Nicodemus came to the Lord by night. There's been a lot made of this, right? Nicodemus came to the Lord by night. I'm pretty sure Nicodemus didn't want any of his Pharisee cronies seeing him going and talking to their archenemy, this Jesus of Nazareth. I'm sure Nicodemus didn't want other people in society, publicans and sinners. Those publicans and sinners that he looked down on, they were so comfortable. with the Lord Jesus. He didn't want them seeing him with the Savior either, because that would ruin his good, pious, self-righteous reputation. That would just ruin him. But Nicodemus coming to the Lord by night is also a picture of him coming to the Lord in his spiritual darkness, in the deadness not being born again. Nicodemus came to the Lord in his deadness, and nothing can be darker than spiritual deadness, can it? And that's the way Nicodemus was. But he did come to the Lord and he had some knowledge of some true things. Now remember who Nicodemus is now. This man is a Pharisee and his business is the Old Testament scriptures. Those Old Testament scriptures prophesied of the Messiah. They understood that that was prophesying of the Messiah. That's why they were looking for him. Now they were looking for an earthly king, but they understood something of what they were saying. They were looking for a king. But when Jesus of Nazareth came and he fulfilled every prophecy of the Old Testament scriptures that Nicodemus was in every single day, Nicodemus still couldn't see him. Now he knew a lot of facts and figures. He could quote you a lot of scriptures, but he couldn't see that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah. The only thing that, as far as Nicodemus could tell, this man is a teacher sent from God. You're not the Messiah. You're not the Savior. You're just an ordinary man sent from God. Nicodemus thought that because he hadn't been born again. He was still dead. The new birth, It's not some new idea that the Lord just came up with. It's not like nobody had ever heard of the new birth before when Christ came on the scene. The new birth is prophesied throughout all the Old Testament scriptures. I look back at Ezekiel chapter 36. There are many Old Testament scriptures that prophesy and tell us of the new birth. If you want to see them all, This afternoon, get you an Aves topical Bible, look up regeneration. There's all kinds of prophecies of the new birth in the Old Testament, but let me give you this very, very plain one. Ezekiel 36 verse 24. For I will take you from among the heathen and gather you out of all countries and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and you should be clean. From all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart, a brand new heart, a heart that never existed before, a new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you. I'm not gonna teach that old dead spirit, I'm gonna put a new spirit within you. And I'll take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I'll put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you should keep my judgments and do them." Now that is a clear prophecy of the new birth. God's gonna put a new spirit in the hearts of his people. And then in the next chapter, the Lord gives Ezekiel a picture of what he's gonna do in the new birth in the Valley of the Dry Bones. God told him what he's gonna do, then he gave him a picture of it. That can only be talking about the new birth. Now Nicodemus was, intimately familiar with those scriptures. But he still didn't know what they meant. He would read the scriptures and he wouldn't see Christ in them, because he hadn't been born again. Look back in our text in verse 10. It sounds like the Lord's saying this in amazement, but you know he's not, but it is a shocking picture, truth about our nature. that a person can read the scriptures and read them and read them and read them and read them and still not see Christ. In verse 10, Jesus answered and said unto him, art thou a master of Israel? You're a master of the scriptures, a master, you're supposed to be a ruler of the people. You're supposed to be able to rule well because you know the scriptures. You're a master in Israel, and no, it's not these things. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, we speak that we do know, and testify that we've seen, and you receive not our witness. If I've 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 read those scriptures and read them and read them and read them, but he still didn't know who they were talking about. That Ethiopian eunuch. The first times, as far as we know, that he was exposed to the Old Testament scriptures, he's reading Isaiah 53, and the Lord gave him enough light to ask the preacher, who's the prophet talking about? Himself or some other man? And Philip said, oh, let me tell you. Let me tell you who he's talking about. Nicodemus didn't see it because he hadn't been born again. Nicodemus, look at John chapter five. He's the kind of man that our Lord talks about here in John chapter five, verse 39. Search the scriptures. And what the Lord is saying, you do search the scriptures. Boy, the Pharisees did. You do that, for in them you think you have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me. Now eternal life can't come by searching and studying and memorizing scriptures with our dead spiritual mind. These men were in the scriptures every day and they had no idea those scriptures were talking about Jesus of Nazareth being the Christ. They didn't see it because they hadn't been born again and the proof of it is in verse 40. You will not come unto me that you might have life. So the new birth, It can't come from just memorizing scriptures with our natural mind. The new birth also cannot come from fantastic religious experiences. Look back in our text, John 3 at the end of verse 2. Nicodemus says, now no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Nicodemus had seen quite a few miracles. I mean, you think this man saw the Lord turn the water into wine. He's seen him heal people. He's seen him raise the dead. He's seen miracles. But seeing miracles never makes anybody be born again. Never does. You know, we would love to see the gift of healing on our loved ones who are sick. We'd love to, you know, what all the different miracles are. But now listen, that ain't going to do us any good. Seeing miracles never makes anybody be born again and see Christ. Nicodemus saw all the miracles that the Lord performed, and the best thing he had come up with is your man sent from God. Just like any other prophet, he couldn't see him as the Christ because he'd not been born again. Well, all right, here's what we've got so far. The new birth is necessary for salvation, and we can't have life without it. The new birth doesn't have anything to do with the flesh. The new birth doesn't have anything to do with the motions of religion. It's not a head knowledge of religious facts. That's what the new birth is not. All right then preacher, what is the new birth? You told me what it's not. Can you tell me what it is? I can tell you. The new birth is spiritual. The new birth is not fleshly. The new birth is the birth of a brand new spiritual man. a brand new spiritual nature that God, the Holy Spirit, causes to be born in our hearts. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter five. The new birth is the birth of a new nature, a new creature who has never existed before. 2 Corinthians five, verse 17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. The same word translated creature there is usually translated creation. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creation, or a new creature. Old things are passed away, and behold, all things are become new. Now, you don't have to be right bright to understand what that's saying. If any man's in Christ, he's there because he's a new creature. A man was arguing with me about that one time, and I said, That's the new birth, you're a new creature. And he said, well, it doesn't mean that. I said, what does it mean? He said, well, I don't know, but it doesn't mean that. Yeah, the Bible means what it says. If any man's in Christ, I'll tell you why he's there, he's a new creature. He's a brand new creation that's been born of God. And I'll show you that in 1 Peter 1. I know we're turning to a lot of scriptures here, but I want you to see this. I feel like it's so important we understand what God says the new birth is. You don't have to understand it, but just believe what God says. 1st Corinthians or 1st Peter 1 verse 23, being born again. Now here's how somebody is born again, not of corruptible seed, not of corruptible, dead, dying seed of the flesh, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. When a person is born again, were conceived by the word of God. Much like the first time we were born, the first time all of us were born, we were conceived in our mother's womb by seed, the sinful seed of our father. Now that seed produced a sinner. That's the only thing it can produce. It can only produce a sinner who can only sin, because that's the nature of the seed that conceived us. That's why we're all sinners. It's so easy to see. When the new birth, were conceived by seed, too, but not by corruptible, by incorruptible seed, by the Word of God. And that birth, anybody that's conceived by the Word of God, when they're born, they can only be born with a righteous nature that cannot sin, because that's the kind of seed, that's the nature of the seed. It's incorruptible, holy, righteous seed, and that new man can never sin. Now, my old man, He's unchanged. He's never going to do anything but sin. The new man is never going to sin. If you've been born again, you understand that. You understand that because you feel the warfare going on between those two, don't you? It's impossible for that new man to sin because he was conceived by sinless sin. Let me show you that in 1 John chapter 3. I'm not just making this up now. This is not just the doctrine that we've decided to adopt. This is what God's word teaches. 1 John 3. Verse 9. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. Now, I'm sure you're like me and you've heard people say, well, now that just means a person who's born again won't practice sin. Now, you know good and well that's not true. You know good and well that's not true. If that's true, that what John's saying here is that someone's been born again doesn't practice sin, then no son of Adam's ever been born again. Because even after we're born again, everything we do is sinful. Now, you know it doesn't mean that. Our Lord taught us to pray, forgive us our sins. Now, why would he tell us to pray that way if we don't practice sin? That's not what John means. What he means is this. The new man, born of God the Holy Spirit, does not sin, because he cannot sin, because he's been conceived by holy seed. And that's the way we've got to be born. The holy God cannot accept us into his presence as we are. We've got to be made holy and righteous. But we can't do anything holy or righteous, can we? We can't do anything to make ourselves holy. We can't do anything to make ourselves righteous. That ship sailed a long time ago. It's too late for that. So God the Holy Spirit causes a new nature to be born in the hearts of his elect, a nature that God will accept. And it's that man that will go straight into the presence of God when the flesh dies. When the body of a believer finally dies, instantly, you know what happens? The flesh dies. The nature of the flesh has finally died. And that nature that's been trapped inside him for all this time goes straight into the presence of God. Doesn't have to be cleaned up, washed up, changed. He goes straight into the presence of God because he was born righteous. He was born holy. And that's why he can go straight into the presence of God. All of that means that a believer has to live with two opposite natures in one body, always warring against each other. Those two natures will war against each other with all they've got until the flesh finally dies. Neither one of them will ever quit. That old man will never quit trying to get you to trust in your own works. Never. He'll always be trying to convince you, trust in something that you do. God will bless you if you do this. God's not blessing you because you've done that. The old man will never shut up about it. But the new man will never quit trusting Christ. The new man will never change sides and finally start trusting in the works of the flesh. He'll always war against trusting the works of the flesh. And neither one of them will ever quit, which leaves the believer the happiest, most miserable person on earth, doesn't it? You're so happy you've been born again, but you're miserable, you're living in this civil war. And it's miserable, I understand. I mean, I know. But here's something that will encourage you and comfort you. You know, most times, to us, to the believer, what it feels like is the new man's prevailing. I mean, I don't want to sin, but I do. Isn't that what Paul was talking about in Romans 7? I don't want to sin, but I do. What I don't want to do, that's what I find myself doing. What I want to do, I don't seem to be able to do it. It feels like the old man's winning. I mean, why do I sin so much if the new man, you know, if the new man would just prevail, I wouldn't sin so much. Well, the new man will prevail. I promise you he'll prevail. The new man will prevail. Now he's not gonna prevail by stopping you from sinning or making you sin less than you used to. The new man will prevail in this way. He will always make you look to Christ. He'll always make you trust Christ. He'll always make you run to Christ asking for mercy. Yes, you see your sin. But it's only the new man that can see the sin of the old man, isn't it? Before you were born again, you didn't see yourself as all that sinful at all. He said, well, I mean, you know, I'm not perfect. I do some things wrong. I'm not that bad. Now you see yourself as totally depraved. Why do you see that? Because only the new man can see the sin of the old man. And when the new man sees the sin of the old man, what does he do? He makes you run to Christ to beg for forgiveness. He makes you one more time hear the gospel of that bloody sacrifice of Christ and know your blood's been put away by the blood of Christ. He constantly keeps bringing you to Christ. and he'll never quit trusting Christ. So that if you have been born again, get ahold of your seats here. If you have been born again, your name is gonna be listed right alongside Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in Hebrews chapter 11. You think, oh, I'd like to be like, oh, what those men did. I'd like to see what they, I'd like to serve God like they did. These all died in faith. you're gonna be listed right along beside him if you've been born again. The new man will prevail. All right, that's what the new birth is. How's it happen? How does the new birth happen? Look back in our text, John 3. The new birth is the birth of a spiritual man. So God, the Holy Spirit, has to birth him. He's gonna be a holy man, spiritual man. He's got to be born of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is gonna birth God's people sovereignly. Verse eight. 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's born of the Spirit. Now the wind blows where it wants to. It just blows where God sends it. We can't direct it, we can't stop it, we can't change it. The same thing is true about the Holy Spirit of God. The Spirit moves where He will. He gives life to whom He will. Spiritual, eternal life is all up to the will of God. It's all up to Him giving it to whom He will. And I'm telling you this, if we're born again, it's because God willed it. Not because we decided to accept it, not because we decided to be born again, it's because Almighty God willed it. James chapter one. Now, how is it that a sinner is born again? It's by the will of God, the Holy Spirit. James 1, verse 18. Of his own will begat he, birthed he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. How'd that happen? Of his own will, using the word of God as the seed. God, the Holy Spirit, Sovereignly gives life to whom he will because God is gracious to dead sinners. So if Christ died for you, you must live. And the Holy Spirit is the one that's going to give you life. You must live because Christ already died the death that you deserve. So the Holy Spirit comes and gives you the life that Christ earned, that Christ deserves as a man made under the law. Now do you see that? Do you see? Do you understand? Do you believe that? Do you love that? If you do, it's because you've been born again. You've been given the mind of Christ. That's what the new birth is. That's how the new birth happens. Now I want to give you this in conclusion. How can I be born again? How can you be born again? How can I be born again? I can't decide to be born again. I can't decide to get saved. How can I be born again then? You can ask God to cause you to be born again. That's what you can do. Now look back to Psalm 51. This is the Psalm that we read to open the surface. David wrote it. David, the man after God's own heart. And you know what David asked God to do? Make me be born again. We can do the same thing David did. Psalm 51 verse nine. Hide thy face from my sins and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. We can ask God to cause me to be born again. I don't have a clean heart, but God, would you create one? I don't have a clean, righteous, holy nature. but would you cause one to be born in me? We can't decide to get born again, but we sure can beg God to do it for us, can't we? And I pray that's what each of us will leave here doing this morning. All right, let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, how we thank you, the plain, obvious teaching of what the new birth is, how and why you birth your people again to spiritual, eternal life that can never die. And Father, I pray that you would be our teacher this morning, that you would apply your word to each heart here, that you would make us see, that you would make us understand, because by the power of your spirit, you cause us to be born again. The word, the seed, the word of God has been preached. Father, I pray and beg of you, beseech you, that you would plant it in each heart here this morning. And we ask, Father, that you do it to the praise and glory of your person, your grace, that you do it so that Christ our Savior would be praised and magnified for his great work that he's done for his people. Father, it's in Christ's name, for his sake we pray, amen. All right, Sean, come lead us in our closing song. If you would, turn in your hymnals to song number 323. 323, and stand as we sing, More Love to Thee. More love to Thee, O Christ, more love to Thee. Hear Thou the prayer I make, unbended knee. This is my earnest plea, more love, O Christ, to Thee. More love to Thee, More love to Thee, Once earthly joy I craved, sought peace and rest. Now the alone I seek, give what is best. This all my prayer shall be, more love, O Christ, to Thee. More love to thee, more love to thee. Let sorrow do its work, send grief and pain. Sweet are thy messengers, sweet their refrain. when they can sing with me, more love, O Christ, to Thee, more love to Thee, more love to Thee. Then shall my latest breath whisper Thy praise, This be the parting cry my heart shall raise, This still its prayer shall be, More love, O Christ, to Thee, More love to Thee, More love to Thee. Oh, God.