The New Birth: Results

Driving home: Someone has very cryptically said that all men must either be born twice and die once, or, having only been born once, they must die twice.

The cryptic saying 'all men must either be born twice and die once, or, having only been born once, they must die twice' illustrates the absolute necessity of the new birth for eternal life.

Someone has very cryptically said that all men must either be born twice and die once, or, having only been born once, they must die twice. And it is precisely that truth which our Lord Himself underscores in this discourse between Himself and Nicodemus. And I shall read the first eight verses of the third chapter of the Gospel of John. Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

0:03 - 0:45 Read in full sermon

Driving home: This passage, which teaches the doctrine of the new birth as to its source and character, also tells us how we may know if we have been born of the Spirit because it sets forth the results of that spiritual birth, result…

A person claiming to be born again because they have a date written in their Bible's flyleaf is used to show that external markers or mere memory are insufficient proof of regeneration.

The first, the implied results, and then the explicitly stated, the stated results of the new birth. How can you tell if you've been born anew? Oh, you say, I know, I've got the day written down in the flyleaf of my Bible. Very well, if you've got a date written in the flyleaf of your Bible.

7:04 - 7:22 Read in full sermon

Driving home: This passage, which teaches the doctrine of the new birth as to its source and character, also tells us how we may know if we have been born of the Spirit because it sets forth the results of that spiritual birth, result…

A person claiming to be born again due to a 'feeling' is used to illustrate that emotional experiences alone do not prove the new birth.

But that may prove only one thing, that you've got a Bible with a flyleaf and that you know the difference between dates and can write. It may prove nothing more than that. Oh, well, I know I must be born again because I had such a feeling. My friend, that only proves that you have a memory and that you have feelings.

7:22 - 7:39 Read in full sermon

Driving home: This passage, which teaches the doctrine of the new birth as to its source and character, also tells us how we may know if we have been born of the Spirit because it sets forth the results of that spiritual birth, result…

The idea that 'twenty people who say' one is born again is used to show that external validation from others is not a reliable basis for assurance of regeneration.

It proves nothing more. Oh, yes, but there are twenty people who...

7:39 - 7:43 Read in full sermon

The point: Examine if you have truly 'seen' the kingdom, understanding your native detachment and the glory of the King.

The metaphor of 'hobbling into the kingdom' on one leg (either repentance without faith, or faith without repudiating sin) illustrates that true entry requires both genuine repentance and living faith.

NO PIRATE CAPIATE senhor이! He is the Lord below! movie. Actions with one leg, hobbling into the kingdom just with repentance.

16:40 - 16:45 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He then focuses on the explicit result from John 3:6: 'That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.' Martin explains that flesh…

The phrase 'you could have 20, 80 visions and only have half an eye operating' is a vivid way to say that the evidence of depraved human nature ('flesh') is so obvious that even with impaired vision, one can see it everywhere.

That which is born of the flesh is flesh. The apostle says the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, witchcraft, hatred, variance, enmity, strife, seditions, and such like Galatians 5, 19 to 21. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. And my friend, you could have 20, 80 visions and only have half an eye operating and you can see enough to believe the first part of verse 6.

22:17 - 22:50 Read in full sermon

Driving home: To say there is a Christian who nothing can be seen but flesh and carnality is to change the words of Jesus. To mean that which is born of the spirit is still flesh.

Martin recounts a conversation with his neighbor who asked why people can't just live by moral standards to avoid societal problems. This illustrates the biblical answer that man lives as he lives because 'that which is born of the flesh is flesh,' highlighting the root cause of sin.

I had an opportunity to speak with my neighbor this past week about spiritual things. He asked me the question. He says, Al, why is it? Why can't people just live by nice standards of morality and ethics and we wouldn't have Watergate and all the rest?

23:29 - 23:43 Read in full sermon

Driving home: To say there is a Christian who nothing can be seen but flesh and carnality is to change the words of Jesus. To mean that which is born of the spirit is still flesh.

The analogy that people believe the flesh can effectually influence those born of the flesh, but the Spirit cannot effectually influence those born of Him, exposes the inconsistency in the concept of 'carnal Christians' who live like the devil.

Yet you see what people say? It's possible that the flesh will effectually influence those who are born of the flesh, but the spirit will not. The spirit can't effectually influence those who are born of him. So you've got all these people supposedly born again who live like the devil, who still have their hearts wedded to the world and to sin, and they're called carnal Christians.

24:20 - 24:40 Read in full sermon

The point: Examine if you truly love the brethren, even those who are difficult or different, choosing their well-being at personal cost.

Examples of people in a country club or a ghetto group loving 'each other' are used to illustrate that natural affection for those like oneself is not the divine love for the brethren that marks a true believer.

Do not even the Gentiles the same? And we should have joined the local country cub and admire one another and take each other's picture and put it in the section under parties and social entertainment in the Newark Evening News or in the Star Ledger and that's their circle! They love each other! Sure they do!

41:22 - 41:44 Read in full sermon

The point: Examine if you truly love the brethren, even those who are difficult or different, choosing their well-being at personal cost.

The statement 'How can love bear all things unless there's something to be born with?' is a rhetorical question that highlights how tensions and differences in a congregation provide opportunities for divine love to manifest its enduring nature.

Now, how incongruous, you see, says in chapter 2, if a righteous God is begetting children, they're going to be like their father. He is righteous, everyone born of Him will practice righteousness. He is love, everyone born of Him will manifest love. Not a gooey, gushy feeling, but the principle that says, for Jesus Christ's sake, I'll seek your well-being no matter what it costs me. I'll seek your well-being no matter what it costs me. So that means in a congregation. Instead of tensions and differences being the occasion of schism and division and reproach to Christ, they become the occasion...

43:36 - 44:34 Read in full sermon

The point: Examine if you believe right now, in present actings of faith, that Jesus is your prophet, priest, and king, submitting to Him in all these offices.

The metaphor of the Holy Spirit turning 'the floodlights all on Jesus' illustrates that the Spirit's ministry is to reveal Christ in His full glory and majesty, not as a 'dim little three-watt light on some vague figure.'

so we want to run for the nearest guitar. I want to pluck a little ditty about the man from Galilee. That's not the work of the Holy Ghost, to shed some dim little three-watt light on some vague figure who paddled along the shores of Galilee. He turns the spotlight on the Lord of glory, who wonder of wonders became enfleshed as a man humbled himself, went into the abyss in the agony and the abandonment of death, swallowed up in the hell of my sins.

47:36 - 48:16 Read in full sermon

The point: Examine if you believe right now, in present actings of faith, that Jesus is your prophet, priest, and king, submitting to Him in all these offices.

Martin uses the example of guitars and tambourines in worship to illustrate that while instruments themselves are not inherently bad, the praise they accompany must reflect the glory and majesty of Christ, not cheap or tawdry sentiments.

He was raised in triumph and power and went back to heaven, bringing all the spoils of his suffering with him. And he sits in power and in glory. And I believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ. And believing that, I give myself to him. And if I compose hymns about him, and if I use my guitar and there's nothing to say, I can't praise him with my guitar. My friend, my hymn of praise will reflect. But I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the anointed Messiah, in all the glory and the majesty of his person, not a cheap, tawdry, dim, indistinct figure who paddles the shores of Galilee. You see,...

48:17 - 49:16 Read in full sermon