Continuous Effects

Review: Threshold and Immediate Effects of Regeneration

0:04 studies in the Word of God find us examining what I have called the cardinal blessings of God's salvation in Jesus Christ. Having concentrated our attention for some time upon the objects of God's salvation, and then the central figure in that salvation, even our Lord Jesus Christ,

0:31 we are now concerned to understand more clearly those specific blessings which come to these objects of salvation through the Redeemer on the basis of His work for them. In our previous studies in this broad area of concern, namely the cardinal blessings of salvation in Christ,

0:58 I have sought to underscore the fact that there is a common denominator to all these blessings, and that common denominator is union with the Savior. All of God's redemptive blessings come to the recipients of those blessings in the context of union with Christ. In the language of the Apostle Paul, we are blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ alone.

1:29 But there is also an order to those blessings, and I have suggested that we ought to understand them in broad, general, not airtight categories of those which meet us on the threshold of coming into the family of God, those that are ours immediately upon entering that family, and those that await us at the consummation of all things. Well, we come this morning to probably the last or second last study of the two great threshold blessings, namely calling and regeneration. And in our study of the latter of those two, regeneration, we have considered the major analogies of regeneration in the Old and the New Testaments, the essential elements of regeneration, and

2:25 the illumination of the mind, the redirecting of the affections and rectifying of the will, and now our concern to examine the inevitable effects of regeneration. In our previous study, we looked at the immediate effects of regeneration, and they are always repentance and faith. And we concluded from our study of the Word of God that none, none,

2:54 have any grounds to claim themselves regenerate unless they are penitent and believing sinners. We also deduce from our study that no one should doubt his regeneration if he is a penitent and a believing sinner. And it is none of our business to If God's dealings with us have been such that we cannot trace out His ways with great distinction and with great precision, the great issue is, are we manifesting that fruit that attends regeneration, namely repentance and faith? If so, our repentance and faith did not come from ourselves, but indeed are the evidence of God's regenerating grace.

3:45 And then the third deduction that we considered was that there is no ground to expect God's regenerating work where there is no proclamation of the gospel. What God may do with infants and idiots and imbeciles is His own unrevealed business. But since repentance and faith are always the immediate results of regeneration,

4:12 There can be no repentance in faith where there is no proclamation of the gospel. And therefore, the regenerating work of God occurs in the context of gospel proclamation. And if we believe that, then we will be most jealous to proclaim that message which becomes the content or the context, I am sorry, of God's regenerating work. Well, this morning...

4:38 we shall now examine what I am calling the subsequent or the continuous effects of regeneration. If repentance and faith are the immediate effects of regeneration, what are the subsequent or continuous effects of regeneration? Now granted, repentance and faith are not the acts of a moment. They are the acquisition of spiritual graces.

Robert Law's Three Continuous Effects: Doctrinal, Moral, Social

5:06 And they, as it were, are incorporated into the life of the regenerate man so that he is a continuing believer and a continuing penitent. Now, I fully understand that, and I trust you do as well. But the Scripture does clearly teach that those initial acts of repentance and faith find expression in the development of other characteristics and graces which mark the regenerate man or woman. And it is my concern this morning to examine with you from the Word of God those subsequent or continuous effects of regeneration. Now in dealing with this subject, we shall limit ourselves to the three major categories emphasized by the Apostle John in his epistles. Dr. John Stott, in his excellent commentary on 1 John in the Tyndale series of commentaries,

6:05 follows a line of thought suggested by a previous commentator by the name of Robert Law, who points out, and I believe very accurately, that there are three cardinal effects of regeneration underscored again and again by John in his epistles, particularly the first epistle, though not exclusively. According to John...

6:33 who writes under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the continuous, the subsequent effects of regeneration will always be, first of all, doctrinal or confessional, moral or ethical, and social. And what we want to do this morning, and I ask you to turn with me please to the book of 1 John, is to examine the key texts which clearly assert that whenever God regenerates a man or woman, boy or girl, bringing that person to repentance and faith, there will be the subsequent effects of His work of regeneration. The theological test, the moral test, and the social test. First of all, then, the theological or the confessional test. Test.

Doctrinal Test: Jesus as True God

7:32 According to the passages that we shall examine, this theological test focuses on the identity of the Savior, namely the identity of His person and His work. Who is He and why did He come? Now John asserts that the one who is born of God will both know, believe, and unreservedly confess certain things with respect to Christ. What are they?

8:02 Alright, number one. His identity as true God. Turn please to chapter 5 and follow as I read verses 4 and 5. For whatsoever is begotten of God. There's John's classic terminology for regeneration. Whatsoever is begotten of God overcometh the world.

8:32 And this is the victory that hath overcome the world, even our faith. And who is he that overcometh the world but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? Now do you see John's line of argument or the development of his thought? He asserts in the first place that whatsoever is begotten of God has inherent in that work of the divine begetting this ability to overcome. Whatsoever is begotten of God overcometh the world. Now what is the means by which that overcoming occurs? Well, he tells us it is faith. Verse 4, And this is the victory that hath overcome the world, even our faith.

9:22 So the divine begetting results in the faith which issues in the overcoming. But now what's the content of that faith? Well, verse 5 tells us, Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? So you see what John does? He draws a direct line between the divine begetting and the faith as to the identity of Jesus as the Son of God. Do you see that line that he draws as we read together verses 4 and 5? Do you see it? Alright, now the point for our study this morning is simply this. In the thinking of John, who thinks at this point and writes under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, there is no such thing...

10:17 as the activity of God in the divine begetting, and indifference to or ignorance of the fact that Jesus is to be identified as God the Son. Whatsoever is begotten of God overcometh the world. The divine begetting results in that faith which is the means of the overcoming, and the content of that faith is Jesus is the Son of God, which in biblical language means nothing less than God the Son. And that was demonstrated months ago in our study of that biblical phrase, Son of God. That John means that is very clear from his own letter when he says in chapter 5 and verse 20, And we know that the Son of God has come and hath given us an understanding of

11:15 that we know Him that is true and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son, Jesus Christ, this is the true God and eternal life. And here the one whom He identifies as the Son of God, He tells us in unmistakable language, this is the true God. And the same thought is underscored from the language of divine indwelling in chapter 4 and verse 15.

11:44 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God abideth in him and he in God. In the Joannine concept, the divine begetting results in the divine indwelling. If the begetting is the act, the indwelling is the resultant condition. And John says wherever there is the begetting and the indwelling, there is this theological confession.

Doctrinal Test: Jesus as True Man (the Incarnation)

12:13 that Jesus is the Son of God. But this theological test pertains not only to the identity of Jesus as true God, but secondly, his identity as true man. Chapter 4, verses 1 to 3. Beloved, believe not every spirit, but prove the spirits whether they are of God, because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

12:39 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God, where the Spirit of God is present, not some false spirit from the pit posing as the Spirit of God, giving impulse to some confessional language and religious terminology. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God, every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. And every spirit that confesseth not Jesus is not of God, and this is the spirit of the Antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it cometh, and now it is in the world already. Now again, bypassing many interesting and helpful matters pertaining to the particular heresies that John is uncovering and to which he is addressing himself, suffice it to say,

13:35 John's language here leads us to the very simple conclusion that where the Spirit of God is present, He testifies to the reality of the Incarnation. Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, that is, in a true or real, a bona fide humanity. There is no phantom or mere mirage of humanity. He is come in the flesh.

14:04 All that makes up man as man, Jesus Christ has assumed, barring sin, which is not a part of our humanity, but which is an ugly intrusion upon that humanity. Now then, when the Spirit has done His regenerating work, He will always bring with that work the conviction to the heart of the recipient of that work, that the Jesus Christ to whom faith is directed is not only to be understood as true God, but His identity is one of true man. There will be this confession that Jesus Christ is the enfleshment of God. Now you see, the first part of the test emphasizes that He is the enfleshment of God. Now John says...

15:02 Where the divine begetting has occurred, there is the confession with equal emphasis. It is the enfleshment of God. And so, if the divine begetting has occurred, John says, you can apply to it this theological, this confessional test. But it pertains not only to his identity as true God, his identity as true man, but his identity as Messiah. Look at chapter 5 and verse 1.

Doctrinal Test: Jesus as the Christ (Prophet, Priest, King)

15:34 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ has been begotten of God would be a better translation. Whosoever believeth that Jesus, that is, Jesus of Nazareth, the identity of that person born of Mary's virgin womb, lived in his early years There in Nazareth, man of God approved by signs and wonders, whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, which you see is not so much now the identity of His person as it is of His office. This one, John says, has been begotten of God. So then, the divine begetting

16:28 and the confession of the identity of Jesus as the Messiah are brought into this inseparable relationship by the Apostle John. Now, briefly, what does that mean? Well, of course, the Christ simply means the Anointed One, the long-promised Messiah, the One whom God would anoint to be His final and great prophet, the final and great priest.

16:57 the final and great King. And so John says, where the divine begetting has occurred, there is born in the heart of the One Begotten this conviction as to Jesus of Nazareth's identity as Messiah. Therefore, the One Begotten of God will not follow anyone else who claims to be a prophet. Be he Pope, be he Joe Smith, be he she, Mary Baker Eddy, no, no.

17:26 In the divine beginning, there is this attachment to Jesus as the Christ. Not one Christ. A Christ. You see, here it strikes at the heart of Muslim theology. Jesus Christ is a great prophet, a great anointed one. No, no, John says, whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, the anointed one, the great

17:54 prophet raised up like unto Moses. The Christ. No other priest to come. No confidence in a human priest's craft with its mumbo-jumbo that supposedly turns the wafer and the bread, the wine, into the very body of Christ and offers Him up in a bloodless sacrifice. No, no. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, the final and great

18:24 anointed of God to tread the winepress alone. And there will be the conviction that He is the Christ, the true and final King. And there will be rendered submission to no one else in the sense of the homage and obedience that is due to Christ. Now, isn't it interesting that amidst all the born-again terminology in our days,

18:54 there is a constant downplaying of the theological content of true and saving faith. Isn't that interesting? Whereas John brings it to the fore, and he says the divine begetting will always bring in its train this theological and confessional dimension.

19:19 And there's a beautiful parallel between John's teaching and the classic passage in Matthew 16. You remember Jesus asked the disciples, who do men say that I am? And Peter, speaking for the disciples, says, Thou art the Christ, the Christ, the one and only, the true Messiah, the one anointed as God's final prophet, priest and king.

19:46 And then he identifies his person, Son of the living God. And our Lord says, Blessed art thou, Simon, son of Jonah, flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. Then these very significant words. Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church. And of course the rock is not Peter in his person, but Peter in his confession. The confession that terminates upon what?

20:15 the identity of the person and mission of Jesus. So then when the Lord is incorporating living stones into His living temple, by the Holy Spirit's mighty regenerating work, He never incorporates a stone in that temple without implanting at least in principle this confession as to the identity of the person of Christ and the identity of the mission of Christ. He said, I will build my church, and I'll build it upon this rock. So wherever Christ is building His church, this theological, this confessional element is always there as the fruit of the work of regeneration. This is why John can say,

21:12 In his second epistle, verse 9, Whosoever goeth onward and abideth not in the teaching of Christ hath not God. He that abideth in the teaching the same hath both the Father and the Son. You see, the Spirit who regenerates is the Spirit of truth. And it is unthinkable that He would effect this mighty work of the new creation, the impartation of new life.

21:41 That he would effect this new birth and then do so in such a way that it leaves the recipient of that mighty work indifferent to truth. He is the spirit of truth. He must act consistent with himself. Let me ask you as you sit here this morning. Do you profess to have been born of God?

22:07 Sitting here this morning, do you believe yourself to be a recipient of this new birth? If so, my friend, let me ask you. Do you know and believe and unreservedly confess the identity of Jesus as true God, as true man, as Jesus Christ? If you are either ignorant of those things, or indifferent to them, or reluctant to embrace them, you have no grounds to claim that you have ever been born of God. None whatsoever. Ah, but I had this wonderful experience. So do pagans, dancing around a fire, beating their drums,

23:04 high on some kind of exotic root weed that they've been chewing for the past three hours. They have great experiences, but it has no connection with truth whatsoever. Let me ask another question. Do you grow restive? You know what restive means? Fidgety? Under doctrinal preaching?

23:33 that tries to teach you who Christ is theologically? Do you grow restless and shift about when your mind is being led into the glories and mysteries of who Christ is and the identity of His mission? My friend, that's a fatal sign.

23:59 Dangerous sign, if not fatal. I should change the word. It's a very dangerous, frightening sign. For the Spirit who regenerates and imparts new life is the Spirit of truth who comes to bear witness to Christ, not mystically, but theologically. And if He's come to you, then He has drawn from your heart and placed upon your lips The unreserved confession which is but the echo of your heart and the transcript of what your mind tells you. Jesus Christ is God the Son. Jesus Christ is true man. Jesus Christ is Messiah. Well, we move very quickly then to the second of these tests or evidences of the continuing nature with respect to regeneration and its

Moral and Ethical Test: Practice of Righteousness

24:57 the moral or the ethical test. According to the passages which we shall examine, the new birth never results in a mere change of views or a change of feelings. It always impinges powerfully upon the ethical and the moral, that is, upon what we do and do not do in all of life,

25:24 with respect to absolute standards that come from God. A thing is ethical and moral when it has relationship to action in the presence of divine standard. Now the teaching of John is that as surely as the divine begetting has a theological, a confessional element, it has a very profound moral or ethical element. And what is that ethical element? Well, John brings it to us in two major categories. One, the practice of righteousness. And two, the practice of obedience. Turn now to 1 John chapter 2. 1 John chapter 2. If ye know that he, that is, God, is righteous. And of course, every true believer knows that. Ye know that...

26:23 Ah, we're back to our divine begetting formula again. You see it? Here now John brings together these two things, and what he brings together we dare not separate. If ye know that he, God, is righteous, ye know or know ye the form of the verb, In the imperative or the indicative is the same, so it's a matter of judgment. Is John saying, if you know the one, you ought to know the other, or if you know the one, you do know the other? Well, I'm not sure. It's a moot question. But one thing is clear. Whether he's saying, know ye or ye know, the end result's the same. That everyone also that doeth, that is, that practices righteousness, has been begotten of him. In other words...

27:17 A righteous God never begets unrighteous children. That's what John's saying. He stamps upon them the family likeness. And a righteous God begets children who begin to practice righteousness. And so there is no such thing as the divine begetting without a moral and ethical issue.

27:46 Of course, the negative side of this is emphasized in chapter 3, namely the non-practice of sin. You see, the positive is given to us in verse 29, the practice of righteousness. But there's a negative side to that. That is the non-practice of sin. So look at verse 7. My little children, let no man lead you astray. He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.

28:15 He that doeth, that is, practices sin, is of the devil. For the devil sinneth from the beginning. To this end was the Son of God manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is begotten of God, now we're back to this divine beginning language again, does not sin. That is, he does not either participate in certain kinds of sin, or he yet does not make a practice, of sin in general, and again I'll not go into that moot question, this much is clear. The divine begetting has this moral implication. Whoever is begotten of God doeth no sin. Why? Because his seed abideth in him, he cannot sin because he is begotten of God. Now can language be plainer, dear friends? That the divine begetting

29:11 this inevitable moral and ethical issue. Now perhaps at this point I ought to pause and simply read the qualifying statement that is given to us in John Stott's commentary, in which he says, concerning this whole matter of the practice of righteousness and the non-practice of sin, that certainly he is not speaking that we keep the law of God

29:42 But he is speaking of those who form their life in obedience to God. In other words, the pattern of the life is the pattern of one in which the affections and the feet and the intention is set or are set in the direction of righteousness. That is conformity to God's holy law in all of its implications for life.

Moral and Ethical Test: Practice of Obedience

30:12 And then the other side of this, John says, is the practice of obedience. This moral or ethical test involves not only the practice of righteousness, but the practice of obedience. Chapter 2, verses 3 and 4. Hereby we know that we know Him if we keep His commandments. He that saith, O I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

30:43 Chapter 3 and verse 22. Whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight. Now, what are the commandments? Well, according to verse 5 of chapter 2, it's the revelation of His will in His word. Whoso keepeth His word, notice, keepeth His commandments is parallel to keeping His word.

31:11 Well, you say, does that mean the Ten Commandments? Well, certainly it includes them, but everything that Scripture gives us as the commentary upon the Ten Commandments, if they are the summary of God's moral standard, then the rest of the precepts, as they pertain to us, they are the exposition of that summary.

31:32 So the practice of obedience, that is a heart that can say with David, I will have respect unto all of thy statutes. A heart that says anything God commands with respect to my thought life, I want to embrace it. What He commands me with respect to my feet in the home, in the shop. on the ball field, in the schoolroom, whatever He commands me with respect to my relationship, to my wife, to my children, to my husband, to my father, to my mother, to my friends, wherever His commandments speak, at that point, He says, if the divine begetting has occurred, there is a commitment to obedience as the undergirding principle of life. That obedience, of course, then...

32:19 results in the practice of righteousness. And you have that teaching in Romans 5 and again in Romans 6, that obedience issues in righteousness. Now, we are not talking about that perfect righteousness that Christ Himself has wrought and is put to the account of believers. We're not talking here about imputed righteousness, which must be perfect if we are to have the acceptance of our persons before God.

32:49 but we're talking about that imparted righteousness, that inwrought righteousness that is the fruit of regeneration. It is imperfect in this state. It comes in varying degrees and with degrees of intensity in the life of any given believer. I'm qualifying it with all those realities.

33:34 is not recognized in the Scripture. Not according to the teaching of the apostle John. No such thing is a new birth that does not result in new patterns of life. The new birth is something more than someone speaking of wonderful mystical feelings. Or someone says, I got born again and now I got my act together.

34:03 And so I'm all well integrated now in terms of my own goals and ambitions. No, no, my friend. If the Holy Spirit has come, He has come, and He has brought you to that place where there's been a basic slaying of self-centeredness and self-will as the central pivots of your life. I'd be greatly surprised if there were not in this building this morning some men and women, boys and girls, who are going to be damned by presumption unless you begin to take this kind of teaching seriously. You've claimed some of you for years perhaps to be born again. My friend, put the test of John to your conscience this morning. We know that everyone who doeth righteousness is begotten of Him. Is the practice of righteousness, that is, seeking to have every area of your life conformed to the Word of God, is it the deep spirit

35:04 of which you are conscious sitting here this morning. If it isn't, what biblical grounds do you have to claim you've been born of God? We know that only that one who doeth righteousness is begotten of Him. He says, don't let anyone deceive you. Whosoever is begotten of God does not make a practice of sin.

35:33 Does he sin? Yes. And if he denies, he sins. John tells us in the first chapter, he's a liar and the truth is not in him. There's no such thing as sinless perfection, this side of glory. But neither is there any such thing as the indifference to sin in the heart and life of one who's truly born of God. That's an equally damnable heresy. Now what about the doubting?

36:00 who say, oh, but I see so little progress in holiness. I see so little strides being made, my friend, look. He is not speaking of a practice that is perfect. He is not speaking of an avoidance of sin that is absolute. He has already told us in chapter 2, verses 1 and 2, if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. But isn't it interesting how balanced He is?

36:28 He says, I write to you that you sin not. That should be your goal. In the heart of every true believer says, Lord, that is my goal. But if we sin, we have an advocate. But then he comes right back and says, if we say we know Him and do not keep His commandments. If sin and the willful abandonment to sin and indifference to divine precept in any area, if that's the pattern of your life, he says you're a liar when you say that you know Him. Isn't that what the Bible says?

36:56 Go out this morning in a hop saying, My friend, it isn't what this preacher says. What does this book say? What does this book say? Do you see it with your own eyes in Scripture? If we say that we know Him and keep not His commandments, we lie. Oh, but you say, I know I'm born again. I just feel it. My friend, I don't care about your feeler. I want to know about your feet. Do you feel

37:27 commandments. If not, then you forget your feeler and pray that God will do a work of grace that will alter your feet and put them in the way of His commandments. What a travesty. They tell us that in our own country right now there are no fewer than 40 million people who claim to be born again. And yet there's never been such a spate of blatant Sabbath-breaking

37:59 God says, remember the Sabbath? Who cares about what God says? So you've got your sports addicts who try to bend their theology of the Sabbath to fit their carnal itch. To go to church and sad their conscience in the morning and then indulge themselves in their sports all Sunday afternoon. Immorality. Immorality.

38:28 abortion, dishonesty, waste, greed. And yet all this talk about being born again. Talk shows, having actors who take part in lecherous plots, both in the theater and in the motion picture industry, and they talk very deliberately about being born again. Ball players, and I could name their names, who blatantly talk about being born again and are quoted on Monday using foul language.

38:58 In interviews with the reporters. My friend this is not the new birth that I read in my Bible. Whosoever doeth righteousness. Has been begotten of God. And only such. Then we move very quickly. And I shall touch but briefly on the third test. The third. Continuous evidence of regeneration. And it's.

Social Test: Love for the Brethren

39:27 the social test. According to the passage we shall examine, or the passages, the new birth not only results in powerful changes manifested in our judgment and thinking with regard to Christ, our walk with respect to sin and God's law, but it touches horizontal relationships to other people. Look at 1 John 4 and verse 7. Beloved,

39:56 Let us love one another, for love is of God. And everyone that loveth, here's the language again, has been begotten of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. John had emphasized something similar to this in different language. It's not the language of divine begetting.

40:22 But it's the language of being in the light. In chapter 2, verses 9 to 11, He that saith he is in the light and hates his brother is in the darkness. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light and there is no occasion of stumbling. He that hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness and knoweth not whither he goeth because the darkness hath blinded his eyes. Chapter 3 and verse 10,

40:46 He emphasizes the same thing. Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. Verse 14 of chapter 3, we know we've passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. Well, then what is John saying? Well, he's saying that where the divine begetting has occurred, there will not only be the theological effect,

41:12 Confession of Christ's identity as God and man and the Messiah. Not only the moral and ethical effect. Keeping His commandments, which involves the avoidance of sin. Practicing righteousness, which means avoiding unrighteousness. But there will be the social test, the social influence, the social effect. There will be love. Now notice the peculiar objects of this love according to John.

41:43 Chapter 5 and verse 1 gives us an explicit statement concerning the peculiar objects of this love. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is begotten of God, and whosoever loveth Him that begat, loveth Him also that is begotten of Him. So here the peculiar objects of this love are believers. In verses 13 and 14 in chapter 3, they are contrasted with the world. Marvel not, brethren, if the world hateth you.

42:12 We know we've passed out of death into life because we love the brethren. The brethren are set in opposition to the world. Now there is a love to all men which is one of the fruits of regeneration. But John is not focusing on that. He's speaking of that love that has as its peculiar object the people of God. And he says that's an evidence of the regenerating work of God. Why? Well, for the simple reason that it's a love of the brethren because of what they are as brethren.

42:42 They have something of the image of God reformed in them. They make the same confession concerning the Savior that we make. They are seeking to walk in the same ways of righteousness and obedience in which we seek to walk. And therefore there is drawn toward them a peculiar love of delight and complacence. Why? Because of what they are as having been begotten of God.

43:11 And John not only emphasizes the peculiar objects of this love, but the primary quality of this love. Chapter 3 and verse 16. And we know and have believed the love which God hath. I'm sorry, chapter 3 and verse 16. Hereby know we love because He laid down His life for us. The peculiar or primary quality of this love is that it's that self

43:40 quality that seeks the good of its object even at personal cost. Hereby know we love because He laid down His life for us. He trampled, as it were, upon His own interests in the pursuit of our best interests. And then the practical manifestation of that love, verses 17 and 18, says, of the same chapter, chapter 3, Whoso hath this world's good, and beholdeth his brother in need, shutteth up his compassion from him. How doth the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither with the tongue, but in deed and in truth. Hereby shall we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. You see, the practical manifestation of that love

44:33 is that it reaches out in the specific dimensions of responsible activity in the face of my brother's need. If it's worldly goods, then I trample underfoot my own selfish interest to minister to those needs. If it's the word of consolation, the word of understanding, the word of sympathy, whatever it is, love has that capacity to cause me to trample underfoot my own

45:03 in my own designs and my own pursuits in order to minister to its object. Now according to John, if we know nothing of this love, we are strangers to the new birth. Isn't that his clear teaching? Beloved, let us love one another, four of seven, for love is of God and everyone that loveth is begotten of God and knoweth Him. He that loveth not, knoweth not God. My friend, if you don't know anything of this love, You are a stranger to the new birth. Everyone begotten of God loveth Him also that is begotten of Him. Now if that's so, then that ought to cause some real searching of heart. It ought to cause searching of heart by those of you whose tendency is constantly to sit off in the shadows of

45:57 waiting for God's people to come to you to express their love, and when they don't, you complain about their unlovingness. What are you doing to trample underfoot your natural interests and inclinations to manifest outgoing love to your brethren?

46:23 You see, John says, He that loveth not knoweth not God. And love is an active grace. Herein is love that God gave. Love is not a passive grace alone. It is an active grace. God so loved that He gave. Some of you husbands ought to have your hearts deeply searched. What do you know of this love in relationship to your wives? She's a sister. And in that sense, comes within the orbit of this teaching. You are to love the brethren. What is there in your wife as a sister, as one in the family of God to which you are responding in constant manifestations of selflessness? Some of you have turned the existence of your wives into a living hell because your whole

47:23 You better take this seriously. You claim to be born of God? Your wife ought to be one of those who could most eloquently and powerfully present a case for that fact. I know my husband to be a man who constantly tramples underfoot his own selfish native interest in pursuit of ministering to my needs. Can your wife say that about you, man? Can she?

47:53 If she can't, you better take this teaching seriously, He that loveth not knoweth not God. And either the love that ought to be there is the fruit of the divine begetting, is being in great measures restrained by a grieved spirit, or you've never been born of the Spirit. What about you kids? Can you just constantly trample underfoot the sensitivities, the desires, the wishes of your parents, that are legitimate and right and good in pursuit of your own selfish, carnal ambitions. Well, if you claim to be a Christian, you better take a second look at your claim. And if you ever become a Christian, this is where it will manifest itself almost, probably, most dramatically in your new life in Christ. You'll have the capacity to think beyond the end of the nose of your own present itch to have fun.

48:54 Fun, fun, fun! At the expense of everyone else's feelings, sensitivities, God, His law, His Son, His Gospel. Oh, my friend, young or old, he that is born of God, love it. You see what this does to the ecumenical movement with all of its talk about let's love everybody. Well, remember, John joins to the test of love, the test of love.

49:24 theological confession, and the moral and the ethical. Can we join hands in a so-called love orgy with people who give money to support revolutionaries who go in with machine guns and cut down innocent people in cold blood? Not for my part. I don't regard those butchers as brethren.

49:49 with all of their crosses hung around their necks and all of their right reverend and all of their titles and the rest. And all these passages expose the shallow claims of ecumenism to be a loving community of Christians. You see what it does with respect to those who think that love is a mere sentimental gush with no principled self-sacrificing quality, it utterly exposes it.

Application: Exposing Shallow 'Born Again' Claims

50:19 Well, you see, if the new birth inevitably brings these three things that John underscores, you see what it does to a lot of the cheap talk about the so-called born-again movement in our day? If John says the divine beginning will always bring in its train this confessional element, this understanding and conviction concerning who Christ is and what He has come to be and to do,

50:49 There is no such thing as the divine begetting in a theological vacuum. The divine begetting always has moral and ethical implications. If there is no ethical and moral transformation, there is no divine begetting. If ye know that He is righteous, ye know that everyone who is begotten of Him doeth righteousness. Then there is always the social test.

51:18 Hereby do we know, he that is begotten of God loveth him that is begotten of him. Do you love the brethren because they are brethren? Not because you have naturally a good set of vibes with them in your personality sort of mesh. Do you love them because they are brethren? They make the same confession of your Lord that you make. And there's a confessional affinity.

51:45 They are seeking to put their feet in the same paths of righteousness and obedience in which you seek to put yours. So there is a moral and ethical affinity. Do you count it your privilege to be laid out in terms of energy and interest and money and time and concern for the well-being of your brethren? Whether that brother is your wife, your husband, your children, your brothers and sisters in this assembly. Well, if we've passed over the threshold and God has effectually called us by His grace, if He has truly regenerated us and brought us to repentance and faith, there will be evidence to some degree in our lives these three subsequent manifestations of regeneration. The doctrinal, the moral, the

52:45 And the social. Are they evident in you? If not my friend. Don't try to work them up. Don't try to go out and manufacture them. You go to God and ask him to do for you. What you cannot do for yourself. They are the fruit. They are the issue. They are the effects of regeneration. You must go to the God who alone can give you a new heart. Who can take out the heart of stone. And give you a heart of flesh.

53:14 who can place His Spirit within you, who can give you a saving sight of His Son that will make you confess Him to be true God and true man and only Messiah. He can give you a heart that will long to run in the way of His commandments and to keep His precepts. And then He'll give you love that's willing to spend and be spent for your brothers and sisters. That's what the grace of God does for me to say.

53:43 So if these things are not present, seek it from Him. And if you're a child of God, then surely just the enunciation of them causes you to say, Lord, they're there, but oh, how paltry is the measure of them. Cry to the Lord Jesus that He would grant you greater measures of all of these things, that by His own Spirit you may have clearer views of who He is, that you may with greater vigor and boldness confess him to be what you know him to be in the light of the word. Pray that he will give you more hunger to walk in holiness, a greater sensitivity to sin. Pray that he will increase your love for the brethren. May God be pleased to seal to our hearts these truths from his own word. Let us pray.

Closing Prayer

54:43 Our Father, how we thank you that we have the Scriptures as a lamp unto our feet and a light to our pathway. We confess to you this morning that our hearts are deeply pained, that a truth so glorious as that of your regenerating grace has been so diluted and in many cases downright prostituted by men in our own generation.

55:14 And, O Lord, we cry to you that we who name your name and profess to have been born of your Spirit may by our very lives expose the lie that there is any such thing as a regeneration that is doctrinally neutered, morally insensitive, and socially barren. Grant that our walk before you And our life together as a people who name your name may be a constant reminder that your work in begetting men to new life inevitably brings this confession of your Son, this transformation of life, this love one to another. Seal then your word to our heart.

56:07 and may its holy fruits be manifested in our lives. Be with us as we leave this place. Enable us further to sanctify this day to our prophet and above all to your praise through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.