The New Birth: Pattern and Instrumental Means

The point: Be patient and use simple illustrations when doing personal work with spiritually blind people.

Nicodemus's confusion about inward cleansing and renewal, contrasting it with his understanding of external religious duties, illustrates the spiritual blindness of those who do not understand the new birth.

If only the Lord had talked about more washings, more ministries, more services, more ceremonies, more religious duties, he would have said to him, Right on, Lord, I get you, I understand. But when he talked about inward cleansing, inward renewal, the poor man was baffled. How can these things be? Can I get into my mother's womb a second time and be born?

9:29 - 9:51 Read in full sermon

The point: Be patient and use simple illustrations when doing personal work with spiritually blind people.

Jesus' patience with Nicodemus serves as an example for personal evangelism, showing the need for great patience and simple illustrations when dealing with spiritually blind people.

You are just confusing me, Lord. And so the Lord, in his patience, and it's a beautiful example, of what you need in personal work, dealing with spiritually blind, spiritually dead people, you need great patience. And you need to be willing to take illustrations from the simplest areas of life to try to make plain spiritual truth. For although only the Spirit can give spiritual perception, we're responsible to try to reduce it to its simplest elements, to illustrate it, to clarify it.

9:51 - 10:21 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The first element of the wind's operation, 'the wind bloweth,' illustrates the certainty and efficacy of the Spirit's work in regeneration, which always results in a new creation.

The destructive power of gale-force winds, snapping sails and masts, illustrates the certainty and powerful efficacy of the Spirit's work in regeneration.

There is factuality of activity. And some of us have seen the devastating effects of the wind blowing. When the winds reach gale force, and objects are in their way, the wind will carry the objects before it. If you happen to be out sailing and a strong dust comes up, it can snap the sails upon a ship.

11:45 - 12:08 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The second element, 'the wind bloweth where it wills,' highlights the absolute sovereignty of the Spirit in regeneration, determining when and upon whom He works, as seen in John…

The common experience of wishing for wind on a hot day, and the inability to command it, illustrates the sovereign and unpredictable nature of the wind, paralleling the Spirit's work.

Certainty. The wind bloweth where it wills. There is sovereignty. Oh, how many of us on a hot day wish we could just go like this.

14:04 - 14:15 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The second element, 'the wind bloweth where it wills,' highlights the absolute sovereignty of the Spirit in regeneration, determining when and upon whom He works, as seen in John…

Martin's personal anecdote of working in oppressive August heat and dropping everything for a slight breeze further emphasizes the uncontrollable and sovereign nature of the wind.

I remember what we used to do when I was doing construction work in this kind of weather. Nothing but my work boots and a pair of leaves, set of Levi's, and working in the hot sun eight, nine hours a day mixing concrete and hauling block and brick in a...

14:46 - 15:02 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Now, it can't be both. There is no synergism. There is pure biblical monergism.

The contrast between a child showing spiritual promise who later becomes indifferent or hostile, and a 'hell-bent' individual from a non-Christian background who is converted, illustrates the sovereign unpredictability of the Spirit's work.

When he regenerates, man, when he begets them to newness of life, when he works, and upon whom he works. Oh, how the Lord surprises us. We see someone who shows great promise as a child, sensitivity to spiritual things. And we'd say, oh, what a wonderful Christian that person is going to be.

18:36 - 18:58 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Now, it can't be both. There is no synergism. There is pure biblical monergism.

A hypothetical poll among first-century believers about the least likely person to become a Christian, with Saul of Tarsus as the clear winner, vividly illustrates God's surprising and absolute sovereignty in regeneration.

I've often wished we could turn back the time clock and go back to the first century for a number of reasons, but this is one of the things I'd love to do. I'd love to go back and conduct a poll amongst all the believers in Judea concerning who they thought was the least likely person to become a Christian in the next two years prior to Acts 9.

19:42 - 20:06 Read in full sermon

The point: If you are a needy sinner, look to God for help, not to weak human efforts.

The dramatic account of Saul's conversion on the road to Damascus, with blinding light and a voice from heaven, serves as a powerful example of the Spirit's sovereign and efficacious work.

And we've just been reading in our family worship the book of Acts and how thrilling it's been to read that record. The sheer sovereignty of God is a letter stuffed and I'm sure he dug the sides of that poor horse until they were gone. The way to Damascus.

20:32 - 20:50 Read in full sermon

The point: If you are a needy sinner, look to God for help, not to weak human efforts.

The doctrine of God's sovereignty is discouraging for 'help yourself, do-it-yourself' religious systems and personality cults, highlighting their human-centered nature.

Discouraging for religious faith who promote religious systems that are nothing but help yourself, do-it-yourself, little mind cults to pack their pockets full of money and have a crowd of people following them in this personality cult. Now that's discouraging. When religion is degenerated to nothing but humanism dressed up with a few words of the Bible and a few religious ceremonies. But my friend, it's not discouraging to true religion.

21:55 - 22:26 Read in full sermon

The point: If you are a prayerful person, the sovereignty of God in salvation should give you hope when you pray for loved ones.

Viewing conversion as merely 'pushing the right buttons' to get someone to pray a sinner's prayer is presented as a discouraging and flesh-pandering approach, contrasting with reliance on God's sovereign work.

Isn't that discouraging? Yeah, it is discouraging if you look upon conversion as a confidence trick where if you can just push the right buttons at the right time and the right time and the right way you'll get somebody to pray the sinner's prayer and make a decision and they're fixed up. Oh yeah, that is discouraging. And for evangelistic techniques that pander to the flesh and to carnal pride, that's very discouraging.

23:23 - 23:44 Read in full sermon

The point: If you are a prayerful person, the sovereignty of God in salvation should give you hope when you pray for loved ones.

A preacher's joy and expectancy come from knowing that God's work is sovereign and unpredictable, not from having a planned number of converts, illustrating the encouraging aspect of divine sovereignty.

Now, some of you don't know it, but I'm not sour, really. That may be news to you when I say it keeps me from getting sour, but really, what keeps a man full of expectancy, full of joy when he preaches? He doesn't know what God's going to do because it's God's work. He doesn't have it all planned out and mapped out.

24:35 - 24:53 Read in full sermon

Driving home: He that planteth anything nor he that giveth nor he that watereth anything but God that giveth the increase. He is everything.

The mathematical analogy 'zero plus zero still ends up zero' is used to emphasize that human efforts in planting and watering are 'nothing' compared to God who gives the increase, highlighting the humbling nature of His sovereignty.

God says he's nothing. Well, if he's nothing and he's nothing, zero plus zero when I went to school, new math notwithstanding, I think it still ends up zero. He that planteth anything nor he that giveth nor he that watereth anything but God that giveth the increase. He is everything.

25:53 - 26:15 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The third element, 'thou hearest the voice thereof,' demonstrates the observability of the Spirit's work. Though inward, the new birth inevitably produces outward, observable…

The ability of a hearing person to discern the wind's presence through its sound, even if unseen, illustrates the observability of the Spirit's work through its effects.

If we were all sitting in a room with nothing but an open top and a mighty wind was blowing all around us, a deaf man would not be aware of the presence of the wind. Those of us who hear could discern its blowing. We hear it through the trees. We hear it whistling over the top of the wall.

27:25 - 27:49 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The third element, 'thou hearest the voice thereof,' demonstrates the observability of the Spirit's work. Though inward, the new birth inevitably produces outward, observable…

Feeling the wind's effect on one's body, like the trees, further illustrates the physical observability of the wind, paralleling the observable results of the new birth.

Now, if you happen to be out there and you're being caught with the wind, you're being caught with the wind. You're being caught with the wind. You're being caught with the wind. Along with the trees, you reason from your feeling, the effect of the wind upon the nerve endings of your body, upon pressure on your muscles.

28:18 - 28:28 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The fourth element, 'knowest not whence it cometh and whither it goeth,' underscores the profound mystery inherent in the new birth. Martin argues that true Christian experience…

The rhetorical questions about finding the 'womb' or 'grave' of the wind emphasize the enduring mystery and inscrutability of its origins and destinations, paralleling the mystery of the Spirit's work.

Where is the womb of the wind? Now, you find it. Mark it. Mark it with an X.

30:50 - 30:55 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The fourth element, 'knowest not whence it cometh and whither it goeth,' underscores the profound mystery inherent in the new birth. Martin argues that true Christian experience…

Despite advances in meteorology and weather prediction, the ultimate origin and destination of the wind remain mysterious, reinforcing the idea of inscrutability in the Spirit's work.

Where is the grave of the wind? Will you find it and mark it with a cross or a gravestone? Thou canst not tell whence it cometh, whither it goeth. And unless there's been some significant breakthrough in the past couple of years of which I'm not aware, I'm not a meteorologist, but I think I'm enough acquainted with the general field of knowledge to know that, in spite of all the advances made with our satellites circling, checking, the cloud formations and all the rest, able to predict weather patterns weeks or months ahead with some degree of accuracy, when it comes right down to it, where is...

30:57 - 31:40 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The fourth element, 'knowest not whence it cometh and whither it goeth,' underscores the profound mystery inherent in the new birth. Martin argues that true Christian experience…

The mystery of how a pure, infinite Spirit can indwell a finite, sinful human spirit without being defiled, yet making it new, highlights the inscrutable nature of regeneration.

So is everyone born of the Spirit. There's an element of pure mystery in the new birth. How can a pure, infinite, holy, divine spirit so move upon a finite, sinful, creaturely spirit as to make that spirit utterly new?

32:00 - 32:27 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The fourth element, 'knowest not whence it cometh and whither it goeth,' underscores the profound mystery inherent in the new birth. Martin argues that true Christian experience…

The mystery of exercising one's own mental faculties while simultaneously having another Spirit operating with and upon one's human spirit in the ministry of the Word, illustrates the mysterious co-working of God and man.

Know ye not that your bodies are a temple of the Holy Ghost? Which ye have of God? Can you explain that? How can I sit here?

33:02 - 33:11 Read in full sermon

The point: Be content with the element of mystery in your Christian experience; do not try to fit all of God into your own rational faculties.

A man who can contain all his religious experience within the 'little teacup of his own mind' is said to have a 'pretty paltry measure of religion,' emphasizing the need for mystery in faith.

It is so. Are you content with the element of mystery in your Christian experience? If not, you've got pretty poor, shriveled Christian experience. A man who can put all that he has tasted and felt and known of biblical religion in the little teacup of his own mind.

34:27 - 34:46 Read in full sermon

The point: Be content with the element of mystery in your Christian experience; do not try to fit all of God into your own rational faculties.

Quotes from Watson ('faith may swim where reason and understanding may only wait') and Spurgeon ('faith is reason at rest in God') are used to explain that embracing mystery is not irrationality but a deeper form of faith.

No, no. As Spurgeon once said, faith may swim where reason and understanding may only wait. No, that's Watson. Spurgeon said, faith is reason at rest in God.

34:55 - 35:11 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not let the element of breathless wonder leave your religious experience; bow before the veil of holy mystery.

Martin's personal reflection on finding joy in preaching, praying, and spending hours in God's house, contrasting with his past aversion to such things, illustrates how a true Christian is a 'mystery to himself' and a living testament to the Spirit's work.

Are you a mystery to yourself? There are times when one of the greatest measures of assurance that ever comes to my heart comes when I'm sitting on airplanes flying back from a ministry and I say, can it be that I have gone to preach to people and I found joy in praying and preaching and ministering to people? Or on a Sunday night when I reflect back on the Lord's day, have I actually found delight three, four hours in the house of God with the people of God, with the word of God and the songs of Zion? Can this be me who was once born stiff with three minutes in the house and who found sermons...

38:47 - 40:17 Read in full sermon

Driving home: He doesn't wait until Nicodemus becomes, quote, a more deeply awakened sinner, a more deeply convicted sinner. He says, As Moses lifted up the serpent, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him…

The story of Moses lifting the bronze serpent in Numbers 21, as the only remedy for serpent-bitten Israelites, is used as a direct analogy for Jesus being lifted up on the cross as the only remedy for sinners.

And therefore, it's in the context of the preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ lifted up as Moses lifted up the serpent, the only remedy, Numbers 21, the only remedy for the serpent-bitten Israelites was that serpent that was put upon a pole and held up in the camp of Israel. And the cry went out, Look, and as many as, look, the Scripture says, were healed, Jesus says to Nicodemus, and this to me is one of the most beautiful examples, of unfettered, free gospel preaching. Nicodemus is just indicated, he is blind, he's dumb, he's inarticulate, he's in a fog about the whole thing. And yet Jesus pr...

45:45 - 46:30 Read in full sermon