The New Birth

Introduction: Where Sin Abounded, Grace Abounded More

0:03 The Word of God declares to us in Romans 5.20 that where sin abounded, grace did abound more exceedingly. Now the sight of abounding human sin is an ugly thing. It's as ugly as the cover picture on Time Magazine this week that showed the bloated bodies of some of those poor dukes who followed Mr. Jones, and showed the table on which sat the large vat with the purple Kool-Aid laced with cyanide and tranquilizers. Human sin is as ugly as that. But the text says where sin abounded,

0:58 Grace did abound more exceedingly. And it is the complexity and predicament of sin which has formed the backdrop for the immensity and the glory of God's grace in Jesus Christ. Sin is a complex problem. It has resulted in guilt, in bondage, in alienation, condemnation, blindness, and spiritual death.

1:27 But you see, it's just the ugliness of sin's complexity which forms the backdrop of the glory and the immensity of grace. Where sin abounded, grace did abound more exceedingly. In our Sunday morning meditations in the Word of God, we're attempting to understand more fully and accurately how it is that grace has abounded in answering to every single need which arises because of human sin. And so we are considering together the salvation which we as the people of God receive from the Lord and which we seek to proclaim to others. Having contemplated the objects of that salvation, the central figure, even the Lord Jesus,

2:16 We are now concerned with examining the cardinal blessings of that salvation. And I've suggested that we must view all of those blessings as coming exclusively within the orbit of union with Christ, Ephesians 1-3, and that those blessings come to us at least in a rough outline of sequence. In other words, the blessings of grace and salvation are like light.

2:45 If we may liken salvation to light, when white light passes through a prism, it is broken up into the full spectrum of color with the violet on the one end and the red on the other. Now, if you've ever seen light broken up that way or as you see it in a rainbow, you know that the distinction between the violet and the indigo and the indigo and the blue is is never the distinction that can be marked with a sharp line. One, as it were, blends and flows into the other. But anyone who would say that the violet on one end of the spectrum and the red on the other are one and the same is colorblind. And so it is with God's salvation in Christ. If salvation is the white light of the gracious provisions of God,

Review: Regeneration as a Threshold Blessing

3:37 then we must understand that involved in that salvation is this spectrum of divine blessing. Now the categories are not so rigid that you can logically tie them all up and put them in a neat package. But there is, in the Word of God, a rough outline, a spectrum in which that blessing comes to us, and I have suggested that it is helpful to view that spectrum in terms of time.

4:05 the blessings of grace and salvation that meet us on the threshold of entering into the kingdom of God. Those that come to us immediately upon that entrance, and then those that await us at the consummation. Now the two threshold blessings that we are examining are what the scriptures call calling, or what the scriptures designate would be a better word, as calling and calling.

4:33 those blessings which have come to be understood under the term regeneration. Now last Lord's Day I sought to demonstrate the relationship between calling and regeneration in a very real sense. Regeneration being a division or an aspect of God's work involved in our calling, and hence the Westminster Confession and Catechisms have no separate meaning

5:00 on regeneration, but all of the reality of that work of God is subsumed under the heading of calling. Then I gave you a brief survey of the use of the word in Scripture and in the history of God's usage of it. And then I tried to give you a working definition of regeneration using the one given by Packer. It is that inner recreating of fallen human nature and by the gracious, sovereign action of the Holy Spirit. Then we began to consider the biblical teaching, and we looked at the major Old Testament analogies concerning this mighty, inner, recreative work of God the Holy Spirit, and we discovered that it comes to us in the Old Testament under the figure of the circumcision of the heart in Deuteronomy 30, the new heart and spirit of Ezekiel 11.

5:57 a cleansing and the impartation of the Holy Spirit in Ezekiel 36, and then according to Jeremiah 31, all of these blessings come within the framework and context of the new covenant. Well, so much for that brief review. We begin this morning to look at the New Testament analogies of regeneration. The New Testament analogies of regeneration.

Transition to the New Testament Analogies

6:24 And as we proceed to the witness of the New Testament, it is right to expect that since this spiritual transformation is promised as a blessing that will be diffused under the new covenant, that when the mediator of that covenant comes, and when the blood of that covenant is shed, and when the terms of that covenant are opened up by inspired apostles,

6:50 that the blessings of that covenant should be more specifically delineated. So if regeneration is a blessing of the new covenant, or a blessing, to be more accurate, more diffusively manifested and applied under the new covenant, then we should indeed expect that in the New Testament there would be a richer, a fuller, a more ample treatment of the subject of regeneration. And what we expect to find, we do indeed find.

7:21 For as we saw in the Titus 3, 5 and following passage, the blessing of regeneration and renewing, or the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, are shed out abundantly upon us through Jesus Christ our Lord. What then are the analogies for this mighty inner recreative work of God that we call regeneration? Regeneration. Well, the predominant New Testament analogy is the new birth. It is not the exclusive. For our purposes this morning, we shall examine only that dominant New Testament analogy, the new birth. God willing, next week we'll examine two or three other major New Testament analogies, namely the new creation, the new life or spiritual resurrection, and perhaps one other. I'm not decided...

8:18 yet whether it is indeed an analogy that points towards the work of regeneration. Well then, as we consider the matter of the new birth, you are already anticipating that we will be locked in for much of our time to John's Gospel in chapter 3. And I will not disappoint that expectation. Turn, please, to John's Gospel, chapter 3.

John 3: The Necessity of the New Birth

8:48 And in this passage familiar to many of us, I do not purpose to give a detailed, careful, phrase-by-phrase exegesis, but to note with you the major strands of truth expounded by our Lord with reference to this subject of regeneration. And roughly our Lord's teaching breaks down into two categories. that which he says concerning the necessity of regeneration under the figure of a new birth, and that which he says concerning the nature of regeneration as a new birth. Speaking to Nicodemus, our Lord first of all points in the direction of the necessity of regeneration in verses 3 and 5, and again by inference in verse 6. Jesus answered and said unto him,

9:43 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except one be born anew, born again, born from above. The Greek word here is difficult to translate. In the rest of John, it is almost invariably translated from above. And just from the standpoint of etymology, that would be its more restricted meaning. But it can mean anew or again. So our Lord is emphasizing...

10:13 Not so much the direction, but the fact that it is a new birth, a recreative activity of God. Except one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Verse 5, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except one 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, That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born anew. Now notice what our Lord says under the general category of the necessity of regeneration conceived of as a new birth. He says first of all in verse 3 that without this birth there is no true understanding of the kingdom of God.

11:08 Except one be born anew, he cannot see. And that word see could be translated he cannot perceive. He cannot gain true spiritual insight to the kingdom of God. In other words, sin has so blinded the mind of every fallen son and daughter of Adam,

11:34 that the great realities of the kingdom of God are not perceived in their own inherent worth and reality apart from a divine begetting. The language is plain. Without this work of God in regeneration, one cannot perceive the kingdom of God. He may, as in the case of Nicodemus, be in the closest physical proximity to the king himself.

12:04 He may see, as did Nicodemus, the credentials of the king. He came and said, No one can do these miracles that thou doest except God be with him. But as far as understanding the nature of the kingdom of God that is there in the person of Christ, a kingdom in which the king imparts forgiveness and cleansing and new life to all of his subjects, Nicodemus is as blind as a bat. And Jesus says to him, Unless you are born anew, Nicodemus, you can never perceive the kingdom of God. The king can be in your physical presence. His credentials can be manifested. And all of the realities of that kingdom, as it were, can be almost the native air that you breathe, Nicodemus. But apart from being born anew, you will never perceive. You will not see the kingdom of God.

13:03 And so spiritual illumination is a vital accompaniment of the new birth. There must be saving light before there can be saving experience. Then the second thing our Lord says under this general category of the necessity of regeneration is in verse 5. And here He tells us, without this birth there is no entering the kingdom of God.

13:32 Marvel not that I say unto you, I'm sorry, verily, verily, I say unto you, except one be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. A man or woman is natively in another kingdom. All of us sitting here this morning is a member of a kingdom. Oh, you say, no, I live in a democratic society or in a representative government. No, no.

14:03 You're in a kingdom, and you belong to a king. And the teaching of the word of God is that by virtue of our union with Adam, we are all natively sons and daughters of the kingdom of darkness. We belong in that sense to our prince who is called the God of this world. And in the language of 2 Timothy, we are taken captive by him unto his will. Or in the language of Ephesians 2, he is the spirit that now actively, energetically worketh in the sons of disobedience. Or in the language of 2 Corinthians chapter 4, the God of this world has blinded the minds of those that believe not. And now our Lord said,

14:51 that there is only one way to be brought out of that kingdom of guilt and darkness and bondage and death, and into the kingdom of light and liberty and life. And he says there is but one way. Except one is born of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That is, that kingdom as it exists now,

15:19 And as it will come to its full expression at the return of the Lord Jesus. So it is heaven in the heart now. And heaven in the world to come. And Jesus says apart from this work of regeneration. Under the figure of a new birth. There is no entering now.

15:41 The kingdom of God. So you see, none of us can afford the luxury of sitting here this morning and listening drowsily to what is being preached. What will the foolish preacher say this morning? My friend, listen. Listen, you will never see, you will never perceive rightly the great issues of the kingdom of God unless you are born anew. And you will never enter the kingdom of God unless you are born anew.

16:11 And if you do not enter the kingdom of God, then you will be forever shut up in the kingdom of darkness, of bondage, of sin, and of guilt. And poured into that is all the frightening language of the Scriptures with respect to weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, the company of the devil and his angels. So you see the matter of the new birth. The matter of regeneration under the figure of a new birth, this inner recreated work of God, is not a matter that we can view drowsily or that we can afford to view skeptically. Our Lord says to Nicodemus that which he would say to all of us, apart from the new birth we cannot see, we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.

John 3: The Nature — The Spirit Is the Special Agent

17:04 But then with respect to the general category, the nature of the new birth, our Lord says three things in this passage. Look at them, please, with me. First of all, He tells us that the Holy Spirit is the special agent who effects this new birth. Verse 5, except one be born of water and of the Spirit. And if this is all we had, we would say, well...

17:30 The emphasis is distributed equally between water, whatever that is, and the Spirit. Ah, but that's not all our Lord says. He goes on in verse 6 and says, "...that which is born of the flesh is flesh." Now notice he does not say, "...that which is born of water and of the Spirit is Spirit." He omits the water in verse 6, and the emphasis falls upon the Spirit. "...that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit."

17:59 And then the latter part of verse 8, so is everyone that is born of the Spirit. So putting aside the water for a moment, one thing is clear. That our Lord focuses the primary element of agency upon God the Holy Spirit. Not upon the water, not upon the activity of the sinner, not upon the activity of the Godhead in general, but upon the activity of God the Holy Spirit specifically.

John 3: The Nature — Spiritual Cleansing Is Inseparable

18:30 regeneration conceived of as a new birth or a rebirth is the peculiar agency of God the Holy Spirit. And this little phrase, born of the Spirit, has in it a preposition which points to origin or cause. And it becomes the very technical language of John, not only in this passage, but then in the epistle, the first epistle of John, to open up before us, as it were, this fundamental aspect of the nature of the new birth. It is by the special agency of the Holy Spirit that this birth is wrought. The second thing our Lord tells us with respect to the general nature is this. It is, though, a birth of water as well as of the Spirit. So we learn from this that spiritual cleansing is,

19:26 is an inseparable part of this new birth. Whatever the new birth is, it is intimately connected with a spiritual cleansing that comes to us under the figure of water. Now you remember last week, those who were here, at least I would like to flatter myself that you remember, that when we were looking at the Ezekiel 36 passage, I intimated, that it was this passage among others which Nicodemus should have known very well. And his ignorance, therefore, of the new birth was inexcusable. Jesus said, Art thou the teacher in Israel, and knowest not these things? For Ezekiel had prophesied, Ezekiel chapter 36, that in conjunction with the giving of a new heart and the implantation of a new spirit,

20:18 God would do a work of spiritual cleansing. Verse 25 of Ezekiel 36, And I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean. From all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you. Then again, verse 31, Then shall ye remember your evil ways and your doings that were not good, and ye shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. So Ezekiel had prophesied that whatever this work of regeneration was, it would involve with this taking out of the heart of stone and the implantation of a new heart and a new spirit, a radical work of cleansing that would touch the essence of sin, which is idolatry, self-love.

21:13 The worshipping of something other than the living and the true God. So to the mind of Nicodemus, steeped in the Old Testament Scriptures, and as a Pharisee, one who lived with the water of purification day and night, our Lord is pointing in this figurative way to a regenerating work of God that will involve not only the impartation of new life,

21:42 the cleansing of the life of the one in whom that occurs. And so he says, except one be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. So we may say in a real sense, the negative of regeneration is the purification of the heart. The positive is the implantation of life and the impartation of grace and ability to walk in the ways of

22:13 Now it's interesting, is it not, that in the one passage in the New Testament where the word regeneration proper is used, it is used in this closest connection with cleansing as well as renewal. Titus 3, I refer to that passage again just briefly and notice how the two lines of thought are brought together together.

John 3: The Nature — Sovereignty, Mystery, Efficacy Like the Wind

22:37 Not by works in righteousness which we did ourselves, but according to His mercy He saved us. How? Through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. So the renewing of the Spirit is brought into the closest proximity to the washing of regeneration. And so our Lord not only tells us that the Holy Spirit is the special agent of the new births, He tells us that spiritual cleansing is an inseparable part of this new birth. And then thirdly, he tells us in verse 9 that the elements of sovereignty, mystery, and efficacy permeate the new birth. Look at the language. Verse 8, I'm sorry, not 9. The wind blows where it will.

23:33 We know that the wind operates under the control of God, but considered as an entity, it is not under our control. There is an element of sovereignty in the activity of the wind. It blows where it wills. But there is not only sovereignty, there is an element of efficacy. Thou hearest the voice thereof. The wind makes its presence known. Where the wind is, its voice is.

24:01 But then there is an element of mystery. Notice the language of our Lord. Thou hearest the voice, but knowest not whence it cometh and whither it goeth. You children, did you ever try to chase the wind to its home? Did you? See where the wind goes to bed at night? Well, you don't know where it comes from. You don't know its address. You can't track it down to its home.

24:27 So these elements, our Lord says, notice the language, so, here's the analogy, even as in the wind there is the element of sovereignty, of efficacy, and of mystery, so is everyone that is born of the Spirit. And so whatever the new birth is, as a gracious work of regenerating grace, these elements are permeate the entirety of that mighty work of God, the element of unbounded sovereignty. The wind blows where it will, so is everyone born of the Spirit. If any man receives the grace and blessing of regeneration, it is not because of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but because God has been pleased to effect that mighty work.

25:20 But there is also the element of efficacy. Where the wind is, its voice is heard. So Jesus says in verse 6, as surely as there is efficacy, when flesh begets flesh, that which is born of the flesh is flesh. Each of us is a living monument of the reality of fleshiness. It's not an abstract notion to be born of the flesh. All of the sins that arise from our depraved nature are witness to what our Lord says, that which is born of flesh partakes of the predominant characteristic of flesh. But he says that which is born of the Spirit becomes spirit. That is, the Holy Spirit never begets a man and his own life.

26:03 remains dormant in that man. That which is born of the Spirit partakes of the predominant characteristic of the Spirit. He becomes a spiritual man or woman. He begins to live in the Spirit and walk in the Spirit so that the Scripture says those that are led of the Spirit, they are the sons of God, and only they, Romans 8 and verse 14. So our Lord then underscores in His teaching, These three simple but fundamental aspects of regeneration conceived of as a new birth. The Holy Spirit is the special agent of this birth. Spiritual cleansing is an inseparable part of this spiritual birth. And the elements of sovereignty, mystery, and efficacy permeate this new birth. Now that ought to tell you something very serious this morning.

Application: Dependence on the Spirit; Shams of the Born-Again Movement

26:59 It ought to tell you as you sit here, if you cannot see nor enter the kingdom without the new birth, then you are utterly dependent upon the activity of God the Spirit, if ever you are to know and experience the new birth. The new birth is not something that can come by having good bloodlines. It cannot come by the manipulations of the reverence. or of the priest by applying water in a little mumbo-jumble that is mixed up with religious terminology. The new birth cannot be imparted in baptism, either infant or adult baptism. And surely the new birth cannot be imparted because someone has psychologically manipulated another human being into raising a hand or walking an aisle or praying the sinner's prayer. It is a birth of the Spirit of God.

27:51 There is the direct almighty agency of God the Holy Ghost. And unless that agency has been operative, there is no regeneration. Born ek, tu, seu, born out of the agency of God is the technical language of the Word of God.

28:17 We should understand if we claim to be partakers of the new birth and all we've got is some wonderful religious healings and there's been no purging from our idols, no cleansing from our sin. What we claim is the new birth is a sham. And my dear friends, it is at this point that the sham of the so-called born-again movement in our day reveals itself most clearly. Everybody talking about being born again, born again.

28:47 and born-again profaners of the Sabbath, born-again athletes who still chase their women as we saw last week, born-again entertainers who tell dirty jokes, born-again businessmen who still operate on the basis of dog-eat-dog unethical practices, and yet they're born-again. They've had this wonderful experience, my friend.

29:18 are united in the mighty work of God. And wherever the Spirit comes vivifying, the Spirit comes purging. He is called the Spirit of judgment and of burning. And He gives inwardly and powerfully that which the water gives symbolically.

29:40 I will sprinkle clean water upon you. Ye shall be clean from all your filthiness and all your idols. A new spirit will I put within you. He never does one without the other. Never, never, never, never. They're always joined. So if you profess to be born of the Spirit, and there is in your heart this morning an idol shrine, and at that shrine you bow,

30:06 And that shrine may be in the figure of your own plans, your own ambitions. It may be a fellow, a girl. It may be an appetite. It may be a lust. It may be an ambition. But whatever it is, unless God in grace has come like a mighty flood, sweeping the idols out of your heart, you're a stranger to the new birth. And then, of course, according to the teaching of our Lord, There is always that efficacy as well as the sovereignty and the mystery of his working. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. And you see, the indwelling Spirit then becomes the regulative power in the life without which there is no valid claim to the new birth. Well, so much for our Lord's witness to the new birth. Now, let's hurry very quickly to the book of 1 John.

1 John: Begotten of God — Nine Passive Uses

31:03 All we're doing this morning now is taking the predominant New Testament analogy of regeneration, which is new birth. We've looked at the key passage, which is John 3. And most of our time has been spent there. Now we will very quickly look at three other passages to demonstrate that this is not peculiar to this one section in the New Testament.

31:29 We shall have occasion to come back to the book of 1 John in a subsequent study and examine in greater detail what it tells us about the efficacy of the new birth, the inevitable accompaniments of the new birth. But suffice it to say this morning that 1 John 3, 9 is a clue to the teaching of this epistle with respect to the new birth. 1 John 3 and verse 9.

31:58 Whosoever is begotten of God. Now that phrase, begotten of God, is used nine times in John's Gospel. It is a key phrase, begotten of God. And in all of the forms in which it appears, I should say in most of the forms, I think all but one of them, you have a perfect...

32:29 Passive form of the verb. Either a participle or an indicative, and then you have one aorist passive. Now, what does all that mean? Well, simply this. As you've been told many times from this pulpit, a passive verb is a verb in which the agent that acts is outside of the thing or the one that is acted upon.

32:52 I walk from the right side to the left side of the pulpit. That's an indicative. I am the actor. I perform the action. I walk from the right to the left of the pulpit. But my handkerchief is placed from the right side to the left. Is placed. A passive verb. It doesn't jump up and float over there of itself. I don't look at it and give it the whammy and it crawls over by itself. It is placed.

33:20 I am the placer. It is not the placer. It is the placed. Alright? Well, all the way through John's epistle, whenever he gives this technical description of regeneration, he's very careful to use passive forms of the verb. He that is or has been begotten. A begetting has occurred that lies outside of his own agency. Someone has done something to him.

33:49 And in seven of the nine instances, he uses the term begotten of God. And in the two others, it is begotten of him with the name God assumed. Well then, what does that tell us? And that's all we're going to consider, is that there's a wealth of testimony to regeneration and the implications of it in the book of 1 John. But it tells us two things on the very surface. Number one,

34:15 That regeneration is an act of divine origin and causation. When you're done listening to John's epistle, you say one message has come through loud and clear. If anyone is regenerated, he has been begotten of God. God has done something.

34:35 And then secondly, it is an act resulting in radical transformation of character as we shall see in a subsequent study. He that is begotten of God, and he says this will be the necessary, the inevitable accompaniment as we read in 1 John 3, 9. He that is begotten of God does not make a practice of sin because his seed abideth in him and he cannot make a practice of sin because...

35:01 He is begotten of God. You see, the divine begetting is not something that just makes him feel good and feel wonderful and have peace. It touches the deepest realms of the ethical and the moral. He that is begotten of God cannot make a practice of sin because the influence of the divine begetting touches him at the point when he's

35:29 and his appetites and his lust cry to be gratified, when the bewitching world seeks to seduce him, when a powerful devil seeks to overcome him, he cannot give himself to any of those influences as the course of his life. He may lose a battle or a specific battle here or there, but he doesn't lose the war.

35:53 There may be a skirmish and an ambush, and he comes away bloodied and well-nighed dead. But wonder of wonders, because of the terms of the covenant of grace, the Lord Jesus nurtures him, succors him, and brings him back into the way of holiness and obedience. Now, you children, suppose there was someone in your school that every time the teacher referred to him, he didn't call him, say his name was Henry.

36:21 Suppose his name was Henry. The teacher didn't call him Henry, but she always called him John Smith's son. John Smith's son, will you do this? John Smith's son, will you do that? Never called him Henry. Well, what would happen after a while? Well, after a while, you could never think of Henry, just as plain Henry, but you'd always think of Henry in terms of who his dad was. His dad is John Smith.

36:47 You're never allowed to forget that. Every time the teacher goes to speak to him, she addresses him, John Smith's son. Well, you see, that's what John does in his epistle. He doesn't say, you who are believers. He says, you who are begotten of God. Begotten of God. Begotten of God. So that after a while, you begin to think, wait a minute, I can never think of a true Christian apart from what? The divine beginning. The divine beginning. The divine beginning. The divine beginning. And that's why he does that. Nine

37:18 in this brief epistle of some five chapters. And so we must think as John thought under the inspiration of the Spirit and realize that this matter of the new birth is a spiritual work that has God as the author, not the church, not the preacher, not our own decision. And it is a transforming reality. It is not something that just makes us feel good and get our act together or anything else.

James 1:18: Begotten by the Word of Truth for Consecration

37:46 It is that which will touch the deepest springs of the moral and the ethical. While we hurry on to one of the couple remaining passages, James chapter 1. Remember now, all we're doing is looking at the New Testament witness to the predominant analogy of regeneration, which is a new birth. We've seen our Lord's witness. We've seen the witness of John the Apostle. Now the witness of James. The witness of James.

38:18 And in James chapter 1, James has asserted that no one is to say when he's tempted, that is, induced to sin, not tried. The word tempted is used with varying degrees of emphasis, even in this one chapter. But verse 13, let no man say when he's tempted, I'm tempted of God. When anyone is induced to evil, don't blame that on God. He says that all comes from yourself.

38:44 He says, God cannot be tempted with evil, and He tempts no man. But each man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. The lust, when it hath conceived, beareth sin. The sin, when it is full grown, bringeth forth death. Don't be deceived, my beloved brethren. And oh, I'd love to pause and expound that, but it's not in the interest of our study this morning, so I'll resist the temptations.

39:08 Having asserted that your temptation which results in sin does not come from God, but it comes from your own heart, he says, we must conceive of God as giving nothing but good gifts. Verse 17, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. Not your temptation in the sense of inducement to sin. No, no. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation nor shadow that is caused by turning. And then he mentions his greatest gift that has come to us from above. Of his own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. Now, a different word for the new birth or regeneration is used here, but it is a word which points together

40:03 indisputably to the concept of birth in terms of bringing forth the child. It's the very word used in verse 15. Lust when it hath conceived. You see the birth concept? There is conception. Lust when it is conceived beareth sin. Beareth sin. Lust brings forth sin.

40:31 And the sin when it is full grown brings forth death. There's the actual birth. Now he uses that word of his own will. He brought us to the birth by the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. Well what does James tell us then very briefly about the new birth? Well the first thing he tells us is it's an act of gracious sovereignty. Look at the text. Oh!

41:01 And he places that word at the front of the statement for emphasis. Whatever is done in the way of begetting to life, it is an act of gracious sovereignty that comes from the Father of lights, who is the author of every good and perfect gift. Second thing he tells us is this. It's an act performed in conjunction with the word of truth. Of his own will he brought us forth.

41:36 As far as the revealed method is concerned. What God does with infants are imbeciles. And the rest is not our concern this morning. But with respect to those to whom the word of God comes. This act is performed in conjunction with the word of truth. He brought us forth by the word of truth. So it's an act of gracious sovereignty. Secondly. An act performed in conjunction with the word of truth. But thirdly.

42:05 It is an act resulting in consecration of the whole person to God. Look at the language. Why did He by His own will bring us to birth by the word of truth? That we should be a kind of first fruits of His creatures. And there's a beautiful analogy. It so whetted my appetite studying the text that I'm just bursting to expound the whole text. And I've just got to exercise young men the discipline of exclusion this morning.

42:33 But you go back to the Old Testament for the concept of the first fruits. And the Israelite was to bring the first measure of his crop in before the Lord. And he was, as he presented that, to confess what he had been by nature. I was this and that, and yet in love and mercy, O God, you laid hold of me and my forefathers in grace. And he presented his first fruits as an act of consecration of himself and all he possessed unto God.

43:04 Now why has He brought us to the birth? That we should run around telling people about our exotic experiences? No! That we should be a kind of first fruits of His creatures. The divine begetting has as its end the consecration of the whole person to God unto a life of holiness and obedience as the Lord's property.

43:33 You see, there is in this teaching of James a beautiful fusion with different language of all the lines of truth that we saw in John 3. You see how there's no contradiction? And may I say to you young theologians, beware of people that talk about the theology of Paul as though it were qualitatively different from the theology of James or Peter. Don't ever allow your biblical theology to erode the beauty of your systematic theology. The systematic theology is the whole witness of Scripture.

44:02 the truth of God as the truth is in Jesus Christ. And there's one author. And so there's a beautiful synthesis of these truths. Some of you wonder what I'm saying to these fellows, but they need to hear this. It is no magical, mystical work. It is done in conjunction with the word of truth. You see why you're urged, young people, to take the Scripture seriously?

1 Peter 1: Divine Begetting Through the Resurrection and the Preached Word

44:26 You see why you children, mom and dad, teach you the Scriptures and why pastor tries to preach to you some sermons more than others? Why I don't forget you're there? Why we press the Word of God upon you? If you're ever to be born of God, it will be in conjunction with the Word of Truth. And it's never with the Word of Truth magically influential, but with the Word of Truth as you begin to take seriously what it says about God, about your heart, about sin, about the world to come, about Christ, about repentance and faith, and all of these great truths. Well, then, the final witness of the New Testament to which we look this morning is in Peter's epistle, 1 Peter chapter 1. 1 Peter chapter 1. What are we doing? One thing. The major analogy of regeneration in the New Testament is new birth.

45:24 Our Lord's testimony we've considered, John 3. John's testimony, 1 John. James' testimony, James 1.18. Now Peter's testimony, 1 Peter 1.3 and 1.23. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy begat us again. Here we are. Different word.

45:51 but one that points again. It literally means a begetting again. According to His great mercy has begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead unto an inheritance incorruptible undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you. Well, again, the richness screams and cries for more detailed exposition But again, we just look at the dominant ideas. What are they? Well, Peter's going to write suffering saints. And he wants to cheer them up. So he starts with a hymn of praise. Blessed be the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now what should we bless Him for? Well, he says, let us bless Him for all the gifts that abundant mercy has brought to ill-deserving sinners who accord

46:47 to His great mercy. And what does He put at the top of the list of those blessings? He begat us again. He puts the new birth at the very pinnacle of the blessings. And He says it is a divine begetting, notice, that results in what? It is a begetting for which God is to be praised. And it is a begetting that comes inseparably joined to the redemptive work of Christ.

47:16 It is by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead that this divine begetting has somehow occurred. And then it is a divine begetting that can never fail of its end. We are begotten unto a living hope, to an inheritance uncorruptible and undefiled, and that fades not away. So Peter tells us, it is God who effects the begetting.

47:42 It is a begetting inseparably related to the redemptive activity of Christ. It is a begetting which imparts and introduces us to a salvation that culminates in glory. And then in verse 23, he adds this additional thought. Verses 22 and 3, seeing ye purified your souls in your obedience to the truth unto unfamed love of the brethren, love one another from the heart fervently, having faith, Same word as in verse 3. Begotten again. Not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible through the word of God which liveth and abideth forever. Well, we pass over very quickly. Just notice the emphasis. He says there was a purification of the soul in conjunction with their divine begetting. You see the beautiful agreement and synthesis? John 3. Born of water and of the Spirit.

48:41 clean water upon you, I will give you a new heart. Washing of regeneration, renewing of the Holy Ghost. And here we are, Peter gives it to us. Seeing you purified your souls in your obedience to the truth, having been begotten again, there was no divine begetting without the purifying of the soul. No purifying of the soul without divine begetting.

49:09 Peter brings them together in this text and then he underscores, as James did, that the divine begetting occurs in conjunction with the truth, not of corruptible, but of incorruptible seed, which is even the Word of God. And what is that Word? It is not Christ in the abstract. He tells us at the end of the chapter, and this is the Word of good tidings which was preached unto you.

49:36 That word was just plain old meat and taters gospel preaching. And he said it was in conjunction with that word preached that the divine begetting occurred. Not psychological manipulation to get people to make professions. Not some kind of mystical, undefinable, ethereal,

50:04 the gospel and preaching? No, no. He says the divine begetting that was inseparably joined to the purifying of the soul came in the context of the incorruptible seed of the Word of God, but not the Word of God generally, but the Word of God specifically in the gospel and more definitively

Closing Application and Appeal to Cry for a New Heart

50:34 Well, you see why it's so hard to pass over these passages. They're so pregnant with glorious truth and with vital implications. Well, we've got to close now. And I had the temerity to give a lecture to the men on Friday on the conclusion of a sermon. And I said they'd be hawkeying me this morning. See how I concluded my sermon. Well, I'm going to show them how not to do it because I don't have time to give the conclusion that I'd composed in my study today.

51:03 But let me finish this morning by simply trying to press home upon your conscience this very simple but glorious impression that I trust has been gained. Have you found this wearisome? To me it's been one of the most thrilling studies to examine these passages. And I hope you've not found it tedious. Frankly, I find it hard how a Christian could say, Oh, this doctrinal study, this bores me. My friend, it got Peter shouting.

51:34 Blessed be the God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who according to His mercy begat us again. And He had a clear idea of what the divine beginning was. And so for the people of God, if there is any life within us, surely our hearts must leap with joy to think that Almighty God has put forth a sovereign and yet gracious arm of power. That He has begun us again. Surely if we look at the verses in John or in Peter, we realize that the new birth is indeed that by which we are ushered into the kingdom. And once ushered in, we will never be ushered out. Having been ushered in, that kingdom will culminate in glory. And the God who brought us in will keep us by His own power through faith until the kingdom in all its

52:31 glory at the return of the King burst upon our view. And if you are a stranger to this gracious work of God, you say to me, Pastor Martin, what can I do? You've emphasized from these passages, and it's obvious to me, I'm not stupid. I can see that if the new birth, as a figure, an analogy of God's regenerating work, is holy of God, and And the power is not in me, and it's not in you, the preacher, and it's not in any form or ritual. What can I do? You've shut me up to despair, my friend. No. No, I hope you've been shut up by the Word of God to seek grace from Him who is the fountain of all grace. You go to the Lord Jesus who died and rose again for sinners.

53:24 And you cry to him as did the blind beggar, son of David, have mercy upon me. Come to him saying, Lord, I know by my own witness to my own conscience that which is born of the flesh is flesh. Oh, Lord, I am a fleshy sinner. I can sin without effort. I can sin and add sin upon sin without any conscious work. But, Lord, I can't reverse the tender.

53:54 Oh God, you must do something. And God says, I will give them a heart of flesh. And after all those promises in Ezekiel, he says, Moreover, for this will I be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them. You'll have people say you shouldn't direct people to pray to God for a new heart. You ought to just tell them repent and believe. Well, we do tell sinners to repent and believe quite frequently in this place. But as long as God directs people to ask Him for a new heart, it's not beneath me to do it.

54:23 I'll be no more fastidious than God. God says, I'll be inquired of to do it for them. My friend, if the new birth is of no more worth to you than to set you to play, that God would give you a new heart. Not sit there hoping He'll do something. But go to God. The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, says our Lord. And the violent, take it by force. Take the kingdom by the force of earnest entreating.

54:52 Go to the living God in the person of His Son and cry to Him to give you a new heart. Plead with Him for the sake of Christ to give you that life which you cannot give yourself and without which you'll never see the kingdom of God. Let us pray.

Closing Prayer

55:24 Oh, our Father, how we rejoice this morning, how we bless and praise you this morning, that there is such a reality as that which comes to us in the analogy of a new birth. We bless you that many of us in this building this morning know experimentally, inwardly, and with much gratitude in your presence, what it is to have had the heart of stone removed and a fleshy heart imparted. We thank you for the cleansing of the filth of our hearts, giving us a desire to love you and pursue your ways. O mighty God, for the sake of your Son, be gracious to many who may sit here absolute strangers to this transformation.

56:21 Grant them a longing, a hunger, a thirst that will set them to seeking your face. Grant them, we pray, not because of what they are, nor because of their seeking, but for the praise of the glory of your grace and your abundant mercy. Grant them the blessing they seek from your hand. And we who have by your grace been born from above, O God, grant that we may live

56:51 as those who are indeed indwelt by the very life of heaven. Hear our prayer and seal to us the word preached this day. Bless that word wherever it has been preached, in this community, through our country and to the ends of the earth. Oh, this day may many be begotten again, not of corruptible but of incorruptible seed, even by that word which lives and abides forever.

57:20 Hear our prayer, we plead, in Jesus' name, Amen.