John chapter number 3, and we know we're dealing with a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus. And in verse number 3, Jesus says, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot believe the gospel. Now, I read that incorrectly on purpose because I need to bring out a doctrinal thought for us to understand. Obviously, the Bible doesn't say, except a man be born again, he cannot believe the gospel. It says he cannot see something. It says he cannot see the kingdom of God. Now, we were all dependent on our parents for our physical birth. We played no part in it. Likewise, we are all dependent on the Holy Spirit for our spiritual birth. And when you are born again, the new spiritual birth, that is what is called the doctrine of regeneration. You've been regenerated from above and now you are seated in heavenly places. God, by His Holy Spirit power, takes a dead sinner and He gives him life, spiritual life. Spiritual death, God gives us spiritual life. None of us decided to be born from our parents' womb. But can any of us decide to be born spiritually? We can't birth ourselves. We have no power to do that. We need the regenerative power of God's Holy Spirit. So look, while it is true that no one can cause their own birth, we have to understand what Jesus isn't teaching. to understand what he is teaching. Sometimes you have to go that route. And we're going to go that route this morning. Jesus is not teaching that no one can believe the gospel and no one can respond to the gospel before they've been regenerated. Now there's a teaching out there that puts the cart before the horse and it says this, God has to regenerate you and give you the new birth before you can actually believe. You have no ability to believe. So God has to regenerate you and once you've been saved, you don't know you're saved. You don't know that. But you are. and now you're able to believe the gospel. I want to see if that's true this morning. First thing I'd like to say is that Jesus is talking to Nicodemus and he is a ruler of who? The Jews. That's right. And as a ruler of the Jews, he has some preconceived notions about the kingdom of God. Mainly, that as a Jewish ruler, If there's anybody that should have a spot in the kingdom and deserve some recognition, Lord, it should be me. He's the Pharisee. He's the ruler. He's the man. This is Nicodemus' starting point in his head. So although we must presuppose that Nicodemus does need to be born again because of his sin depravity, because of his depraved sin nature, we know and can say for sure that he needs to be born again like all of us. But Nicodemus also presupposes that being a good Jew holds some merit with him. We go to, look, we're all sinners and dead and trespassers and sin, and that's great. Yet religion says, hey, I'm good enough. Religion doesn't see that you have a sin depravity. Religion says you can check some boxes off and you're better. You've earned a place of recognition. And so Nicodemus thinks his physical birth as a Jew, and now being brought up, now he's a ruler, he thinks his physical birth holds merit. And Jesus is trying to teach him, buddy, that means nothing. Your physical birth means nothing. Nicodemus has confidence in the wrong birth. May God help us to not put confidence in our first birth. People say, well, I was just brought up, this is the way I was brought up, and I was brought up this way, and this is how we're gonna do it. And people sitting in a church house their whole life, this is what I was taught, this is how I was taught, I like the people there, they're nice, they're sweet, they're loving, they're caring. That's called tradition, that's called loving and respecting persons rather than God's word. We must be careful of that. We have to sort everything through the Word of God, not our natural birth, what we were brought up with. So, I don't believe Jesus is referring to a total inability to respond to an invitation that's given. When Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus in John chapter 3 and there's a conversation going on, verse 4, Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter in 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 the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. A conversation is going on. Why would he be explaining this to Nicodemus if he didn't have the ability to respond in kind to the conversation. That's what a conversation is. If he couldn't believe, and if he couldn't understand, Jesus would have been misleading Nicodemus. Jesus also would have been wasting his time when he was talking to Nicodemus. if he had an inability to be able to believe and understand the truth that Jesus was speaking to him. Jesus isn't trying to confuse Nicodemus. He has a desire for Nicodemus to be born again, and he is explaining to Nicodemus the doctrine of regeneration. It's the origin of the spiritual birth, and it's the giver of the spiritual life. God regenerates the sinner. Man cannot regenerate and birth himself. God must do it. We all agree with the doctrine of regeneration, which is being spoken about here. But I want you to see in this chapter how man is not just condemned because of his sin. Believe me, that's enough. We're all condemned because of our sin. But watch how else a man is condemned. Verse number 18 of John 3. Bible says, 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. You're also condemned, and I'm also condemned, if I or you or we willingly choose not to believe. You think God created man with an inability to respond to a gospel invitation? That's odd. That's an odd belief. On one hand, you can't believe until God regenerates you. Yet regeneration only comes to those who believe. Folks, you know what we call that? A theological inaccuracy. It's a nice way of saying, that's just weird. God has an invitation that goes out. And when He makes an offer of salvation, it's not a disingenuous offer. Hey, you have to believe, but really you can't believe. That would be disingenuous. And that's not God's character. It is true and it is right and it is correct to say that God alone regenerates a man. A baby doesn't choose to be born. There's plenty of ladies here who have given birth to babies. I'm pretty certain that before the baby is birthed, the baby is participating. I'm pretty certain the baby is pushing, and the elbow is moving, and the foot is pressing, and there's contractions, and all of that. And you know what the mama says sometimes? I'm just on the baby's timetable. I'm telling you, before God births you and regenerates you, you are going through the birthing process. You're wrestling with God and the things of the Scripture. Someone came to you and they spoke to you, and I know I wrestled for almost two years about questions of religion and works, and what is grace, and what did God do for me, what can I do for God? I'm wrestling, I'm struggling, I'm up at night, there's anguish! And then there's a moment. where I received the truth that was ministered to me, and I trusted in what Christ did for me, and I couldn't birth myself. He had to do that. It's not me helping God save me. It's not me somehow not allowing God to save me because I didn't receive the invitation given. Look, when you redefine the character of God, you can make anything preach. God puts out an invitation and He asks you to receive Him. That wrestling and anguish, that's the birthing process. All mamas understand that. In John chapter 3, verse number 9, Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? He's having a conversation. And in verse 10, Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? It's like Jesus is suggesting that he should be able to receive this truth because, well, look, you're a ruler of the Jews. You don't know this stuff, man. There's nothing here about irresistible grace. Because grace isn't irresistible. Grace is invitational. There's an invite to you to receive the Savior. God is not going to force His will upon you. He will not do that. He will invite whosoever will. He will ask all to come. But He requires a genuine response of faith. Not because He can't save man without man's response. No! but because He chose to create man with an ability to respond rather than just overwhelming the sinner. Go to Ephesians 2. Ephesians chapter 2. The Bible says in verse number one, and you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. I am physically alive like all of you today. We are physically alive. Before you and I came to Christ, we were spiritually dead. At the same time, we were physically alive. Let's see if this death has anything to do with an inability to respond, or let's see if this death has to do with us as being separated from God, and now that relationship isn't what it should be. Let's see, where in time past you walked according to the course of this world, so you're making choices and you're walking with the world. According to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also we had our conversation in times past. And all of our conversations before we got saved had to do with the lust of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." We made clear choices to follow the devil. We didn't want God. Why? Because we were spiritually dead. But you were responding to stimuli. The death had nothing to do with you being unable to respond to stimuli. The death in the contacts has everything to do with a separation. We're spiritually dead, we're spiritually separated from God. Look what it says in verse number 5, "...having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved, the relationship has been restored, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace, wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure, which He hath purposed in Himself." Jesus Christ... Oh, I forgot a verse, 4. according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestinated us under the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself." Now, what has been predestined in this verse doesn't mention anybody going anywhere. It has to do with the doctrine of predestination is, before the foundation of the world, God the Father predestined that all that were in Christ the Son would be holy and would be without blemish, without blame. Now let me ask you, is that you right now? Because it ain't me. Because it's not going to be five minutes after the sermon's over and one of us is going to do something sinful. and that's not holy. I want to be holy like the Lord, but I haven't reached that full destination. So God, before the foundation of the world, predestined that all that would be in Him would be holy and without blame, and that would happen as the adoption of His Son, but it hasn't happened yet. Because you can find blame with me, and I can find blame with you. But guess what? That predestination, there's a destination you're going. If you're in the Lord, you're going the destination that He's taking you. And that is, someday you are going to be like Him. You will be 100% glorified in your body, and you will be conformed to the image of Christ. That's your destination. Are you in Him? That's what's predestined for your journey. But there's another road going this way. That's Satan's destination. He wants to take you to hell. You follow that road, you're not in Christ, He will take you exactly where He's going. God didn't create hell for anyone but the devil and his angels. When you follow the devil and the angels, and the devil's angels, you end up in a devil's hell. Don't go that way, get in Christ, and He will take care of your final, your final destination. I want to go back to Ephesians 2. Look at verse two, in time past you walked a certain way. Look at verse number five, here it is, here it is, here it is, I'm sorry. I found the verse. Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. The spiritual separation is over and now you're together with Christ. Praise the Lord for it. Praise the Lord for it. Go to Acts 2, if you would. Acts 2. Peter is preaching in Acts chapter 2, and he's preaching the death, the burial, and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Peter doesn't regenerate anybody. Peter doesn't have the ability to justify anybody, to sanctify anybody, and he sure doesn't have the ability to glorify anybody. Peter has no ability at all to do that. But he is preaching the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's called the gospel. The gospel is an invitation. And what Peter does is he simply invites everyone through a gospel invitation. And watch what it says in verse number 37. Now when they heard this, that's the gospel, they were pricked in their hearts and said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Who do you preach the gospel to? Unregenerate hardened sinners, right? Who are supposed to be dead and not able to respond to stimuli. But wait, they do. These lost people are being pricked in their hearts. Well, they're dead. They're not able to respond to a gospel invitation. Really? Well, that's a great system of theology, except when we run it through the Bible and we come across this verse, we see people who are dead in trespasses and sins, who are not saved, that will be saved. And when they're not saved, they're being pricked in their heart. There's something that is stimulating them. It's the power of the gospel. and they're able to respond to that stimuli. Are you really going to talk to dead people who are unresponsive? Ladies, what would you think of your husband if you see him outside in the front yard and he's talking to a tree? And the tree can't respond to him, the tree can't answer his questions, and the tree can't yell back. And he's standing there and he's having it out with this tree, and you think it's so comical, you're videoing it, because this is going to go down in viral history. Because you're thinking to yourself, why in the world would my husband be speaking to a dead tree that can't respond to him? It's silly. It's odd. Why would you invite a dead sinner who can't respond to respond? It would be a meaningless conversation. Unless death means you and I, before we came to Christ, were dead and spiritually separated from Christ. We were dead in trespasses and sins. We'll get to that in a minute. You wouldn't, it would be nonsensical if you would speak to someone who couldn't respond because they were in an unregenerate state. Go back to Deuteronomy 30. We've got a good bit of verses to cover here. In Deuteronomy chapter number 30, I want you to see something. Nobody had the new birth in the Old Testament. Christ hadn't come. Christ hadn't died. Blood hasn't been shed. He didn't rise from the dead. The new birth was not available. People were saved by faith, but they weren't saved... They were saved the same way we are, by faith. Through faith, by God's grace. That's the same. But they didn't believe the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. He hasn't came and died. They believed the truth that God dispensed to them, and by faith, by faith they believed that truth. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, not because he believed that Jesus rose again, but by faith he trusted God. And none of those Old Testament saints had access to heaven because blood hasn't been shed. They went to a holding place called Paradise and were in the care of Abraham's bosom. After Christ died and he rose again, that blood was on the mercy seat and now they were able to have access to the Father. Why? Because without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. But watch what happens in the Old Testament. Unregenerate sinners who don't have the Holy Spirit. Deuteronomy 30 verse 19. I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live." They're able to make choices and none of them are regenerated. Go to Joshua 24. Joshua 24. When a systematic is your final authority, you take that systematic, you take Scripture and you make it line up with your systematic. But when the Scriptures is your final authority, you have to run your systematic theology through the Scripture and make the Scripture be the final authority. The Scriptures change the systematics. The systematics don't change the Scripture. And we've got to get an understanding of that. But we're tied to our traditions. We're tied to our camps. We're tied to our favorite authors and the celebrity preachers that all come up on YouTube and all that. Look, we've got to get past all that stuff. Nobody's a celebrity. Jesus is the only celebrity. Joshua 24, look at verse number 15. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve, whether the gods which your father served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, and whose land ye dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. That's Joshua making a choice without the regenerative power of the Holy Spirit. How about that? Praise the Lord. Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55. Look at verse number 1. It starts off with an emphatic word. Ho! Everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And he that hath no money, come ye buy and eat. Yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price. It sounds like all are invited. to come." It doesn't matter if you're poor and needy. We're all poor and needy. Let's come to the Lord. He invites us. Why would He invite you if you can't respond? All those verses should just be taken out of the Bible. But they're in the Bible. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come, and let him that hear it say, Come, and let him that are thirsty say, Come, and whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely. That's what Revelation says. Come, it's free. The Scriptures all throughout appeal to human choice. These appeals would be meaningless if man lacks the ability to respond to the invitation that God gives. You send out an invitation, hey, come to my kid's birthday party. They're going to make a choice whether they're going to come or not. It's a lot different than all of a sudden, Saturday morning, you pull up in a van, barge into the house, and grab the kids and throw them in the van. The parents are like, what's going on? They're irresistibly called to come. That's not God. It's not God. Go to Colossians 2, if you would. Colossians 2. Let's see if Colossians 2 gives us any context concerning an inability to respond. Colossians 2 verse 13, And you, being dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to the cross." It sounds like this has to do with forgiveness of sins and a cancellation of debt that's owed. It sounds like we have a legal demand of the law that was standing against all of us. And when it says you were dead in trespasses, look, we're not just a general sinner. Well, hey, I'm a sinner just like you. No, a trespass, you and I have specific violations of God's law, and they're called trespasses. Those particular instances where you have crossed the boundary of God's law, that's a trespass. And these are these points in life where you have chosen, your behaviors were in direct violation of what God demands according to His law. This is why verse 14, if you look at it, says blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us. So what has happened is these trespasses have created a debt. And we all have a legal liability before God, and it has to be cancelled out. So we are dead in trespasses and sins. It doesn't sound like in the context that we're in a state of inability to respond to invitations and stimuli. It sounds like I am under the legitimate claim of the law, and I am guilty, and I can't pay my own sin debt. What does Christ do? He took it out of the way, nailing it to the cross. So Christ took care of the debt on his cross work at Calvary. The legal demand was met. Christ canceled the debt. And so this is about a legal and relational standing being restored. And because it's not restored, the sinner is in a state of deadness. He's separated from God. And regeneration isn't the same as justification. Regeneration is, God gives you life. He regenerates you. But what's happening here, there's a legal thing going on, and it's a process of what's called justification. You are declared legally right, in God's eyes, on the merit of what Christ did for you. has nothing to do with the ability to perceive or understand the gospel invitation. The invitation goes out. That doesn't mean you're justified. The invitation goes out. That doesn't mean that you're regenerated. It means the invitation goes out. Christ took it out of the way. We have an inability to birth ourselves. We can't born ourselves again through any good work. But God didn't overcome human ability to respond to stimuli. He created us like that. That in and of itself is a gift of divine grace. In Colossians 2.14, Christ is canceling a debt. He's removing an obstacle, the condemnation that we are all under the law. He took it all away. And now nothing stands in the way of my relationship and Christ's relationship, your relationship and Christ's relationship, because it was nailed to the cross. The relationship can now be restored. Remember when we were in John 1? Did John 1.12 say, "...but as many as did nothing, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name." No, it didn't say that. It says in John 1.12, "...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." If you couldn't respond to the gospel invitation, John 1, 12 would have said, but as many as could do nothing. But it doesn't say that. It says, to as many as received Him. The invitation is out, will you receive Him? Do you know after Adam and Eve sinned, in Genesis chapter 3, This is after they sinned. Adam heard the voice of the Lord twice, it's mentioned, after the fall. He's having a conversation and responding as an unregenerate sinner to the stimuli of God's conversation. Why? Because In the day thou eat thereof, thou shalt surely die. Except Adam didn't die. He was alive. He walked out of that garden alive. What died? Spiritual death entered in. And what happened? There was a separation between him and God. When we are dead in trespasses and sins, it refers to our separation from God. When a lost sinner ends up in hell, God forbid, what is that? It's death. It's spiritual separation. Nicodemus is a ruler of the Jews. And Nicodemus has no Scriptures dealing with the new birth. Because in the Old Testament there was no new birth. This is all new to him. You must be born again. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit came, the Holy Spirit went. You're saved now, you have the abiding Holy Spirit that's never going to leave you. But it wasn't like that in the Old Testament. Look, the nation of Israel, Ezekiel 36, 37, the nation of Israel will get a new heart, they will get a new spirit, that will happen, God will breathe life into them, but they don't have it now. Abraham, he responded to God in faith. David, he responded to God in faith. He's the one that said, create in me a clean heart, O God. It's an unregenerate sinner without the indwelt Holy Spirit that never leaves him. Came and went. Those 12 spies that were told to go into the land of Canaan, they were judged based on what? Their response. 2 obeyed God, 10 didn't obey God. But all of them were able to coherently understand without abiding sealed Holy Spirit power to respond to God. It would make God an unreasonable God if He asked you to do something that you can't do. I've got one more thought I want to give to you. Keep your finger in Colossians 1. Keep your finger there. I'd like you to get Luke, 17, and John 3, and then we'll wrap it up. But I got another thought, and we'll finish it out in Luke 17, John 3, and Colossians 1, and then we'll be done. In John chapter 3, there's two very interesting phrases in verse 3 and 5. In John chapter 3, verse number 3, Jesus says, "...verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Now look at John chapter 3 verse 5, 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. So Jesus tells him you can't see and you can't enter something. He's not teaching that you're born again before you can believe the gospel. He's teaching you have to be born again before you see the kingdom of God. He's not saying you can't, you must be born again before you can believe the gospel. He's saying a spiritual new birth comes before you can see a kingdom and before you can enter a kingdom. That's clear to me. Because someday in the future, you're going to see something that you can't see right now. And someday in the future, you're going to enter into something that will allow you to see something that you can't see now. Let's find out what that is. Luke 17, in verse number 20. The Bible says in Luke 17, verse 20, And when he was demanded of the Pharisees when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation, Nicodemus, you're going to be able to see something that cometh not with observation. Remember we talked about last week that whole lesson on faith, and if you can see it, it's not a faith. He has a kingdom for them, but right now he's not allowing them to see it because he wants them to believe by faith. and it's faith when you can't see it. The kingdom is a spiritual kingdom of God, it's within. That's what that kingdom is. Verse number 21, Neither shall they say, Lo, here! Lo, there! For behold, the kingdom of God is within you. So when you and I trust Christ, something enters within you that you can't see and I can't see in you and you can't see with me. That's why Romans 14 says, For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, it's something invisible, you can't see it. When Christ was present during His earthly ministry, He talked about two different kingdoms. And to the Jewish audience He said, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. That's an earthly physical kingdom. He promised them land. But they rejected Him. We talked about this in the Sunday school lesson. In the future, that millennial kingdom, they're going to get that. In the millennial kingdom, they're going to get the land promised to them. But at the same time, during Jesus' earthly ministry, He's saying, repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent ye and believe the gospel. Now, why didn't He say, the kingdom of heaven is at hand, repent ye and believe the gospel? Because the kingdom of heaven was a message to the Jews. The kingdom of God, believe that, repent ye and believe the gospel. Why? The kingdom of God is at hand. That's an invisible kingdom. That will come, that's within you. Two messages, two different audiences. One specifically Jewish, one for everybody else. But there's two kingdoms, a spiritual kingdom within and then a physical earthly kingdom. Right now, there's no kingdom of heaven on earth. And by the way, there's no kingdom of God on earth. It's within you and we are seated in heavenly places. When Christ comes back for His second coming, who's He going to bring with Him? Us. And when He comes back and He's going to set up His millennial reign for a thousand years, guess what's going to be at hand once again? The kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God, and they're going to merge as one. And you and I are going to come back with the Lord Jesus Christ to rule and reign with Him. And we are finally going to see a kingdom because they're going to be merged. Christ is there and both of them are at hand. We're going to see something that we can't see right now. But He wants us to believe by faith. That, you think Nicodemus was marveling when Jesus said unto him, you must be born again. We're going to be marveling when we see that. But right now, during the church age, you're going to enter, and I'm going to enter something you cannot see, the kingdom of God. Now, last verse and we'll be done. Go to Colossians 1. Go back here for a second. I got ahead of myself, I think, earlier, Colossians chapter 1 we'll be in. Earlier I mentioned justification. It's a legal declaration of righteousness. God legally declares you and I as sinners righteous on the basis of Christ's work. So your standing before God goes from guilty to now you have Christ's imputed righteousness. That's called justification. It's not the same as regeneration. This is all happening in theological milliseconds, if you will, but regeneration is what John 3 is talking about. Regeneration is the moment that you're born again, the moment that God births you. It's the miraculous spiritual new birth. That's John 3, that's regeneration. It's different than justification. Justification, you're declared right and then God births you. Sanctification also occurs, you're set apart. For his work, you don't live for yourself anymore. But there's something else that happens. And when we get to the kingdom, that future kingdom, guess what we're going to have by then? Not only are we going to be justified, not only are we going to experience regeneration, not only are we sanctified, but we are going to have glorification as well. sanctification, regeneration, justification, glorification. But there's one more thing. Look at this. I'll close with this verse, Colossians 1.13, "...who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son." When someone trusts Christ now, it's like zappo. It's like they've just been translated into a kingdom that's within that they can't see. We get so much with our salvation, we couldn't even begin to unpack it in one 40-minute session. But you and I, when we're saved, we are translated into the kingdom of God. as we live on earth, and it's within. And when we see Him, those kingdoms, when we come back to rule and reign with Him, those kingdoms are going to both be present at hand again. Because Christ, for the second time in history, will show up as a man, as God, on earth. He's going to come back. We're going to rule and reign with Him. Glorification, sanctification, justification, and translation. It's all in there in the Bible.