The New Birth: Source and Character

Introduction: The Paramount Importance of the New Birth

0:06 The words of our Lord Jesus, spoken in the context of his dealings with a man named Nicodemus, words which give us the most thorough treatment in all of Scripture on the subject of the new birth, that spiritual experience, and I use the terms carefully but purposefully, that spiritual experience without which no person within the sound of my voice this morning shall ever miss hell and attain to heaven.

0:39 When you're dealing with something that is so important that without it you cannot know the joy and the consummate bliss of the presence of God in the world to come, but must be shut up to the agony and the terrors of the damned, we're not dealing with peripheral issues. We're touching those things which lie at the very heart of hearts in the concerns to which Scripture addresses itself. This morning I would direct your attention, to that aspect of our Lord's teaching here in the third chapter of John, which underscores the necessity of this new birth.

The Unchangeable Necessity of the New Birth

1:20 The Lord willing, in our subsequent study, or two or three, I'm not sure just how extensive it will be, we shall consider the nature of this new birth without which we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. First of all, then, the necessity of the new birth as it is stated, is stated by our Lord in His dealings with Nicodemus. Listen as I read again verses 3, 5, and 7. Jesus answered and said unto him, that is, to Nicodemus, Truly, truly, I say unto thee, except one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

2:02 Verse 5. Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say unto thee, except one be born of water and the spring, and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Verse 7. Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born anew.

2:21 Now, the necessity of the new birth cannot be stated in more explicit categorical terms than we find that necessity stated in these three verses which I have read in your hearing. Now, consider with me under the general heading of the necessity of the new birth, three things that are here in the text. First of all, it is an inescapable or an unchangeable necessity. Then, secondly, we shall see that it is a universal necessity, and thirdly, a consequential necessity.

2:59 The necessity of the new birth is unchangeable, universal, and consequential. And I'll explain what I mean by each of those words, since the words of the text are their own explanation. First of all, it is an unchangeable necessity because of the one who states it. And will you notice, in each of these statements of the necessity of the new birth, the Lord Jesus is careful to underscore who is speaking.

3:31 Verse 3. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you. Now, in a discourse, I don't need to say to someone, I say. I just need to say, and they say it, and they know that I'm saying it.

3:44 And we find our Lord saying in verse 3, I say unto thee. Verse 5, I say unto thee. Verse 7, I said unto thee. In other words, this unchangeable necessity rests upon the unchangeable person who speaks those very words.

4:07 Who is he? He is the one whom God calls His final prophet. Moses said, The Lord God shall raise unto you a prophet like unto me. To him shall ye hearken in all things.

4:23 Hebrews 1 identifies that prophet as the Lord Jesus. God, who at sundry times in divers manners spake unto the fathers and the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us in a son. And the Lord Jesus is God's final word to mankind. God's final prophet.

4:45 And the words of apostles and New Testament prophets are simply words interpreting the message of Jesus in deed and in word. Applying, working out the significance. And in that sense, the apostolic word is simply the concluding of the word of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so for Nicodemus and for us, it is essential to recognize when we come to us, the study of these words, that they are spoken by the unchangeable Christ, the one who said in his own lifetime, the word that I have spoken unto you shall judge you in the last days.

5:28 And so it is an unchangeable necessity because of the one who states it. It is the Lord Jesus, God's final word to man. And if these words, underscoring the necessity of the new birth, are to be changed, then Jesus Christ in person must be changed. And this is impossible.

5:50 For the scripture says, He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. But they are not only an unchangeable necessity because of the one who states the necessity, or it is an unchangeable necessity, but the way it is stated. Everything the Lord Jesus says is true. But when He would take, as it were, a red pencil and underscore His own, He uses these verilies.

6:17 The verilies of the Bible are like God Himself taking a red pencil to underscore His own word. Now it doesn't make it any more His own word. It's His word whether you underscore it or not. You're reading a book, and you come across a passage you want to remember.

6:32 You take a red pencil and you underscore it. Well, your underscoring of it doesn't make it the word of the author. It is the word of the author there in the book. But your underscoring it is to give emphasis to it in your own mind.

6:44 Now, when Jesus speaks, all that He says is true. But when He adds the verily, verily, it is the Son of God, as it were, taking a red pencil. And in this case, the red pencil is part of the author's own product. And this verily, verily means Amen, Amen, so be it.

7:06 It's a word of affirmation, a word of confirmation. And therefore, the necessity of the new birth is unchangeable, not only because the unchangeable, who Christ speaks of that necessity, but the very way in which He speaks of it. Verse 3, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, 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 the kingdom of God.

7:36 In other words, our Lord could not use more emphatic language to express the unchangeable necessity of the new birth than He uses here. The form in which He states it exhausts the tools of current language to underscore inescapable, unchangeable necessity. Now, why did the Lord do this? For the simple reason that He knows the people to whom He is speaking.

8:06 He knew Nicodemus. We read in the previous words of the last part of chapter 2, He knew what was in man. And He knew that Nicodemus, and every single person to whom the Word of God comes, will try somehow to escape the necessity of a spiritual experience that God calls the new birth, and will be content with something less in our hopes to attain unto eternal life. God knows that the human heart will constantly avoid the implications of its deep and desperate plight.

8:45 And because it underestimates how bad it is, it will be content with a lesser remedy than God's remedy.

8:55 And so our Lord boxes us up with these two sets of barely. My friend, listen. If you will ever see and enter the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God without the new birth, Jesus Christ will have to come from heaven and erase His red underscoring from His own Word. And then when He's done that, He'll have to blot out the Word itself.

9:20 Is there any here so foolish as to think He's going to do that? If not, then you and I are confronting in this text an unchangeable necessity because of the one who states it, secondly, because of the way it is stated, and thirdly, because of the great issues at stake. Is Jesus dealing with temporal issues? Is He dealing with a matter that simply affects the measure of a man's rewards when he enters the eternal state?

The Great Issues at Stake: Seeing and Entering the Kingdom of God

9:51 No, no. What are the issues? It's dangerous. Look at our Lord's words again in verses 3 and 5.

9:57 The issues at stake are the kingdom of God, verse 3, except one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Verse 5, except one be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. The issue at stake is nothing less than this,

10:17 and entering the kingdom of God. Now what does the word see mean in this context? Well, the word see here means precisely to perceive. You're sitting down with your child working on a homework problem, and you say to him, now, do you see it?

10:35 Make it sense that he says, Dad, I don't see it. Well, he sees all the figures you've put on paper, but he doesn't what? He doesn't see it. He sees it, but he doesn't see it.

10:47 What's his problem? He's using the word see in precisely the same sense. I do not perceive. I have no insight.

10:53 I see a four, a six, a five, a two. I see either a division sign or a multiplication sign. I see either a division sign or a multiplication sign or some other kind of mathematical sign. My eyes perceive all of the numerical symbols, and I see them in their right relationship, but I have no insight as to the significance of the relationship to one to the other.

11:15 I don't perceive it. I don't understand it. I don't savvy it. May I say, without being irreverent, Jesus is saying, except one be born from above, born anew, he cannot savvy the kingdom of God.

11:29 He knows how to do it. He knows how to do it. He knows how to do it. He knows how to do it.

11:31 He knows how to do it. I hear your words. That's exactly what Jesus is saying in the Nicodemus. He says, you know savvy the kingdom of God.

11:38 You don't savvy the kingdom of God unless you're born anew, and then he says you cannot enter. That is to be admitted to all the privileges, blessings, and responsibilities of the kingdom of God in its present realities and in its future prospects. You cannot understand it. You can't savvy it.

12:05 You can't enter in to possess its blessings present and future. Now, what's the kingdom of God in the context? Well, the kingdom of God basically, and you'll just have to take my word for it here, I can't spend a whole morning comparing Scripture with Scripture, but the kingdom of God here in the context is obviously a present reality. It is the kingdom of grace and of gracious government.

12:30 It is the sphere where God imparts His forgiveness and His mercy and brings rebel sinners into loving subjection to His rule and His authority. And there are only two kingdoms existent under heaven. The kingdom of God, the kingdom of Satan. And all moral creatures are in one kingdom or the other.

12:54 So the Scripture speaks of a Christian as one who's been translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son. The kingdom of God, Paul says, is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. It is a kingdom that has present realities, present experiences, and wonderful and future prospects for all who are within it. And outside that kingdom there is no salvation.

13:21 If you're not in that kingdom, you're not a Christian. If you're not in that kingdom, there's no forgiveness. If you're not in that kingdom, there's no heaven in the heart now and no heaven to come. Well, what's the only other alternative?

13:35 It's to be a member of the kingdom of Satan in darkness now and for eternity. Now do you see why I called it an unchangeable necessity? Not only because of the one who speaks the words I say unto you, not only because of the manner in which he speaks them, verily, verily, verily, verily, because of the issues at stake. Certainly these issues are matters of concern to you or you would not be here in a place set apart for the worship of God this morning.

14:07 Am I right in assuming that I'm not speaking to pure materialists? People who've said, look, this life is all there is. Eat, drink, have a good time. Die, you die.

14:17 When you die, you die. Die like a dog. I believe, I have reason to believe I'm talking to men and women, boys and girls who have some sensitivity of the realm of the spiritual, who have some concern about their relationship to God, some at least vague interest in the world to come, heaven and hell. And oh, my friend, if that's the sphere of your interest, listen to the words of Jesus.

14:43 Apart from the new birth, you'll never savvy the kingdom of God and you'll never understand enter that kingdom now or enjoy the bliss of that kingdom in the world to come. So the issue before us is an issue of unchangeable necessity. But then in the second place, it is a universal necessity. Will you look again at the words of our Lord?

The Universal Necessity of the New Birth

15:09 He's speaking to an individual called Nicodemus. The whole setting of the passage seems to indicate it's a private interview. This man came to Jesus by night. And I'm always amazed that preachers, rather than spending their time expounding what the new birth is, give us all their theories as to why he came at night.

15:29 Well, listen, your theory is as good as any preacher's because the text doesn't give us a clue as to why he came at night. Not a clue. Not one clue whatsoever. It simply says he came by night.

15:41 And God knows why he came and maybe John did, but neither God nor John has told us. So he came by night. But the indication is that it was a private interview. The Lord said, our Jesus was doing some pastoral counseling, if we may use a current term.

15:56 And Jesus, speaking to one individual, says, verse 3, Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee. Now, he could have used the form of the verb which would have been translated this way. Except you, Nicodemus, are born anew, you cannot enter the kingdom of God. But he didn't do that.

16:15 He says, except one be born. That's the way it's translated accurately. In the ASV, and I don't know about the new ASV, except one be born anew. And I think the King James is except a man.

16:29 It generalizes. In other words, whatever our Lord is saying to Nicodemus as an individual, he can say to this specific individual only because it is true of all individuals. True of Nicodemus because it's true of all men and because it's true of all men, it's true of Nicodemus as an individual. And therefore, our Lord in verse 3 and in verse 5 indicates that the new birth is a universal necessity.

17:00 In other words, there was not some peculiar collection of spiritual commodities present in Nicodemus that made him some kind of an exception. He was either so bad or so constructed or so influenced by various factors that nothing left than a new birth would help him to savvy and to enter the kingdom. But though it may be true of Nicodemus, it's true of Nicodemus but it's not necessarily true of us. No, no.

17:24 Our Lord is careful to avoid any such impression. He generalizes and says, Nicodemus, you need what all men need if you are to savvy or to enter the kingdom. Now in verse 7, he then zeros in with personal application. Marble math that I set unto the Nicodemus.

17:44 He must be born again. You see? It's beautiful how our Lord teaches us how to preach. He takes the broad general principles and announces them but then he says, sends an arrow right to the conscience of the individual.

17:56 He says, I'm talking to you, Nicodemus. Lest you think in my generalization I'm just talking about all men in general, Nicodemus, don't be amazed that I said unto you, you, Nicodemus, must be born again. And so there is this necessity that is not only unchangeable but it is universal. It is applicable to all men in all circumstances in all times.

18:21 John Owen, the great Puritan preacher and the theologian said that the two great undoing errors of men are, number one, to think they may attain heaven without the new birth. It is to contradict this very passage and the second great undoing error to think that they are born again though they still live in sin which is to contradict the whole teaching of 1 John chapter 3 in particular and the entire teaching of the Word of God. Now that's a wise old pastor speaking. What are the two great undoing mistakes of men?

18:57 Now we're not dealing, you see, with the pagan who has no interest in God and heaven and the world to come. We're dealing with people who come to places of worship such as this. What two great errors undo men for eternity? Error number one is to think they may attain to heaven without the new birth.

19:16 They are content with a religious experience of the new birth and then there are those who glibly say, I've been born again who do not evidence the transforming power of the new birth. And both of those errors are damnable, soul-destructive errors from which I pray God will keep us. Well, we've seen that this is an unchangeable necessity. Unchangeable because of the one who speaks of it the way in which he speaks of it the issues it states.

The Consequential Necessity: Man's Fallen 'Flesh' Nature

19:49 It's a universal necessity but now in the third place it's what I'm calling a consequential necessity. In other words, why must every man, woman, boy, or girl be born anew if he's so savvy if he's to see and if he's to enter the kingdom of heaven? Well, Jesus said it's a result of a certain condition that obtains in all humanity. The necessity of the new birth is a consequence of a problem described in verse 6 in these words.

20:23 That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Don't be amazed that I said unto thee you must be born anew. In other words, our Lord says the necessity of the new birth is a consequence of man's being born of flesh. Now, what does it mean?

20:47 Well, let's clear the deck of what it doesn't mean. It does not mean that because he's a man, he's a woman, he's a fellow, he's a girl, he's a human being, he is therefore as a human being automatically disqualified from seeing and entering the kingdom. One of the cursed teachings of modern theology is that man's problem is that he's human. That is not his problem.

21:09 God made him human in his own image. And God beheld the work of his hands and said it's good. All of it is very good.

21:17 When Adam picked a melon in the garden and licked his chops and cut off a piece for Eve and said, isn't that good, honey? She smacked her lips. God smiled and said, that's good.

21:29 When Adam took Eve into his arms and embraced her, God smiled and said, that's good. When he picked up his hoe and went out and dug around in the garden and rearranged the plants and flowers and called Eve over and said, honey, look at this beautiful, isn't that lovely? And he had a sense of accomplishment. God smiled and said, that's good.

21:45 So when the scripture says that which is born of the flesh, it does not mean flesh in terms of human experience, human existence, existence as a human being. No, no. That is not the problem. When the Bible uses the word flesh in this context and in many others, it's speaking of human nature in its totality under the dominion of sin.

22:09 In other words, it's human nature after the fall in Eden. It is human nature defiled and polluted and marred and crippled by sin. And it is what has happened because of the entrance of sin that makes this transformation so radical, so perversive that God calls it a birth. It makes that transformation absolutely necessary.

22:36 That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of human nature under the dominion of sin is characterized by being human nature under the dominion of sin. And therefore, the new birth is a necessity as a consequence of the terrible condition of man's fleshiness. Now remember to whom our Lord is speaking.

Nicodemus: An Example of 'Flesh' Despite Religious Piety

23:04 Who is He talking to? Some bum that He just dragged in off the streets of Jerusalem, half-drunk, sobered him up with a few cups of black coffee and then began to witness to Him? Who is He talking to? Is He talking to some harlot who's been pulled in off the street and He's trying to rectify her ways?

23:20 No, no. Who is He talking to? Well, the text is careful to tell us. A man of the Pharisees,

23:27 that super-sanctified sect in the Jewish religious life, the separated ones, the ones who were so meticulous about the world, about being pure. They'd go to the market for something to eat, buy something, come home, they wouldn't dare touch anyone or anything until they bathed and washed. Our Lord says, why? Why, some Gentile dog might have sneezed and a little bit of what comes out when you sneeze might have been floating in the air.

23:57 And I'm defiled. Scripture says they wash not, they eat not unless they wash their hands and they wash their pots and their cooking utensils. They were the separated ones. They even looked upon their fellow Jews just a little bit.

24:09 Defiled. Gentile. Man, no hope for those. Even their fellow Jews.

24:15 We're the separated ones, not only from the Gentile dogs who wallow in their pollution, but even our fellow Jews, we are the separated ones. Now, Jesus says to this man who has all the benefits of the revealed religion of the Old Testament, for he was not only a teacher in Israel, Jesus said, art thou the teacher in Israel? He puts the article in there in verse 10. Art thou the teacher?

24:41 The teacher of Israel? In other words,

24:45 Nicodemus apparently had a great reputation as being a very able, confident teacher. He had a knowledge of the Old Testament Scriptures. Our Lord guides him. Because of having that knowledge, he says, don't you understand this?

25:00 You ought to understand this in the light of your position as the teacher in Israel. Here he was then, surrounded with the Old Testament Scriptures, upheld from an open life of immorality and profligacy, and lechery and all other forms of external sin because of his position as a separated one, a Pharisee. Here's a man involved in great religious activity. He is a teacher of others.

25:26 He's what we would call a full-time Christian worker. Cursed phrase, but it's upon us and with us and we'll have to live with it. And he would have been called a full-time Christian worker.

25:38 He has even seen Christ perform miracles and unlike some of the Jews who turn away in anger and unbelief, he's even accepting the miracles as indicating something about Christ. He says in this passage, no man can do these signs that you do except God be with him. Now, we look at that fellow and say he's not bad. He believes the Bible.

25:59 He teaches the Bible. He lives a very strict, outwardly religious life. When Jesus is in town, he goes to hear him preach. And furthermore, he even sets up a private counseling appointment with Jesus.

26:14 You'd rate him pretty high, wouldn't you? And Jesus says, Nicodemus, let's not have any palaver now about the matter of whether I'm come from God or I am God and all the rest. Nicodemus, look. The kingdom of God has come among you in the person of the King, the Lord Jesus.

26:30 I, the King of Israel, stand among you. And these miracles that I do are attestations of who I am. For Jesus said, if I by the finger of God cast out demons, perform miracles, then the kingdom of God has come among you. Jesus said, the kingdom has come in the person of God.

26:49 And the person of God is the person of God. And the person of God is the person of the King. And Nicodemus, you'll never understand who I am nor the kingdom I have come to establish until you, Nicodemus, separated one, religious one, knowledgeable one, until you, Nicodemus, have a spiritual experience so basic, so pervasive, so transforming that the only way I know to describe it is to call it a new birth.

27:15 A new birth. And Nicodemus, the reason why you need that new birth is you are born of flesh. Now, Nicodemus, you've taken that flesh that is human nature under the dominion of sin and you've educated it. You've surrounded it with many props and supports to keep it from outward propane sin.

27:36 But, Nicodemus, it's flesh still. And it's only been your flesh that's been working on your flesh to make you a Pharisee. And, Nicodemus, you need to be born anew because that which is born of the flesh is flesh. And, Nicodemus, and no amount of knowledge, Nicodemus, no amount of activity, no amount of character building, and listen, no amount of external contact with Jesus Christ, His people and His works will suffice.

28:08 Nicodemus, you've been close to me. You've seen my miracles. You've heard my teaching. And you've come even to discuss the significance of those miracles.

28:16 But, Nicodemus, none of these things will suffice. All that you have by virtue of being a Pharisee, all that you now have by virtue of coming in contact with me, it will profit you nothing unless you're born anew. You cannot savvy. You cannot enter the kingdom.

The Pollution of Inbred Corruption

28:34 Now, why did Jesus speak in such strong language to Nicodemus? And why does He generalize from Nicodemus to all men? For the simple reason that what we are as born of the flesh is so polluted, so defiled, so hopelessly given over to sin that we are not nothing short of the radical intervention of Almighty God in the power of a new birth can ever fit us to see and to enter the kingdom of light, of holiness, and of purity. Nicodemus, our Lord, is saying in essence to him, that which is born of the flesh, your flesh, Nicodemus, born of the flesh of your own mother and father with the roots of that generation going back to Adam, Nicodemus,

29:18 that which is born of the flesh partakes of the pollution, of inbred corruption. Now those are not pleasant words to Nicodemus nor to us. To face the fact that you and I as a consequence of being born of the flesh, that is, partaking of fallen human nature under the dominion of sin, we are born with the pollution of inbred corruption. And I'm using my words carefully.

29:48 We're talking about a corruption that is inbred. It is not absorbed from without. We've said so-and-so corrupted that fellow. He was a good man until so-and-so corrupted him.

29:59 That's perfectly legitimate language. A corruption that comes to character from without. But our Lord is dealing with something far deeper, far more profound. He's talking about an inbred corruption.

30:11 He's talking about that which David confessed in Psalm 51 in verse 5 when he said, Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin. Did my mother conceive me? David is acknowledging in the confession of his sin as a man probably in his early fifties that the sinful act of a fifty-year-old man had its roots all the way back to the moment of his conception. When, he says, conception occurred, that which was conceived was a sinner.

30:47 That's inbred corruption. Our Lord stated it so clearly in Mark chapter 7. When dealing with these very Pharisees who got upset, you see, his disciples would come right in from the marketplace, sit down, and spread their little lunch. One of them probably offered a word of thanks and they'd dig right in.

31:04 And the Pharisees looking in, you know, they saw that and they were horrified. They were horrified. They said, How is it that your disciples eat with unclean, that is, unclean hands? And Jesus turns and says, You fool.

31:19 You think that men are defiled by what they touch. He says, No, no. Men are defiled by what comes out. From the inbred corruption of their own nature.

31:28 For from within, Jesus said, out of the heart of man proceed adultery, murder, pride, lasciviousness. And he mentions all of those sins and then he underscores it. These things come from without and they defile. Oh, how Nicodemus needed to realize that all of the cleansing of the external man, all of the withholding of the external conduct from external, external sin could never touch the real problem of inbred corruption.

32:02 He needed a birth from above that would give him what David says God desires. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward part.

32:15 Now, is that true of Nicodemus alone? No. It's true of every single one of us. For remember, this is a universal necessity.

32:22 Except you and I are born of water and of the Spirit, we cannot enter the kingdom. Why? It's a consequence. It's a consequence of our being born of the flesh and being born of the flesh we are born with the pollution of inbred corruption.

32:38 And perhaps there are a few things that distinguish between a true Christian and a false pseudo-Christian more accurately than this. What kind of an assessment do you have of what you are by nature? Most people admit they haven't done all they should in their external practice. I've met few people who would claim perfection in God.

33:00 Conduct. But oh, how many live with the lie that man is basically good. That's the lie that pervades our whole society. That's why there's optimism, a crumbling of all standards of honesty and decency and morality on every hand.

33:18 You find intelligent people saying, but it's all going to turn out all right. Now, they're not whistling in the dark in the sense that they're just, they really believe otherwise. They really believe that. Man is intrinsically good and he's just going through some growing pains.

33:33 My friend, the problems of our society are not the growing pains of an evolutionary process moving upward and upward.

33:42 The sense of man's death coming out from his own heart.

33:50 And that's true of you. It's true of you. It's true of me. Have you ever been brought to own that from the heart?

The Enmity of Inbred Rebellion

33:58 Oh, Lord, born of flesh. I have been flesh and I shall ever be flesh unless you do something to change that inbred corruption. So Nicodemus needed to be born again as a consequence of his being born of the flesh and as such characterized by the pollution of inbred corruption. But secondly, that being born of flesh involves being possessed of the enmity of inbred rebellion.

34:29 Nicodemus, you've come to me very politely and I appreciate that. Unlike some of your fellow Jews who even now are plotting to twist my words. Nicodemus, you've come to me politely. You've come with some degree of respect.

34:41 But Nicodemus, you don't know it now. But I know that in the deepest recesses of your heart where there sits a throne, where there is placed a throne, you sit upon that throne and I, your creator, belong there. And Nicodemus, you don't want me there. Being born of flesh, you not only have an inbred pollution and corruption, Nicodemus, you have an inbred rebellion against my government.

35:07 I'm the king and anyone who comes into my kingdom, welcomes me to that throne in the deepest recesses. One of the most stupid as well as destructive lies that's ever been spawned on evangelical Christians is that one can enter the kingdom and not bow before the king. We need to be born again to see that as we enter, we say, Lord Jesus, take the place of enthronement. That's why we don't give him the place of enthronement.

35:44 We don't see any glory in him. We don't savvy the kingdom.

35:49 The beauty and the glory and the wonder and the grace of the king. I think he's going to be out to clobber into some kind of servile subjection. We think he's out to track down every joy in life and grind it to powder. That's the assessment we have of the king.

36:05 But oh, when God gives his eyes to see the kingdom, he sees a king of grace. His yoke is easy. His burdens light. His commandments do not grieve us.

36:15 And as we enter the kingdom, we enter bent as subjects of the king. So he says to Nicodemus, look, Nicodemus, I appreciate, I appreciate, but you think my miracles show that I've come from God. But Nicodemus, look, you don't understand who I am. I did not come from God as other prophets to be recognized as one more fellow human being, perhaps elevated a little above others by my station as a prophet.

36:43 Nicodemus, I'm God. I'm God. And as God, I have rights to the throne of your heart. And I will accept no lesser place than absolute salvation.

36:56 And Nicodemus, I know what your heart is by nature. And you won't welcome me because, and I quote now Paul's statement in Romans 8, 7, the carnal mind, the fleshy mind is enmity against God, be it God the Father, Son, or Holy Ghost. And it is not subject to the law of God. Neither indeed can it be.

37:17 Nicodemus,

37:20 you don't know your own heart. It's a heart characterized by the enmity of inbred rebellion. And unless you have a spiritual heart, a spiritual birth that causes you to welcome me to the throne of your heart, you'll never enter the kingdom of God. My friend, Nicodemus was no different from what we are.

37:42 In the deepest recesses of your heart by nature, there is an inbred rebellion to the authority of King Jesus.

37:51 Now that authority is defied as a basic principle of nature. Now, it will come to light when you in terms of specifics. And those specifics are not the same with every individual. That's why it's so stupid.

38:06 I mean, just plain stupid. To say, well, a man must be a Christian if he doesn't smoke, doesn't go to the theater. Some of us never did smoke. So what's that prove that we don't smoke?

38:18 Some of you never did go to the theater. So what's that prove you don't go to the theater? This proves you never went to the theater.

38:23 You see, the ridiculousness of setting up a checklist and saying, if you don't do this and you do this, that's an evidence that you've been born again. No, no. No, no, my friend. Listen, listen.

38:35 The evidence you've been born again is that at the point where the will of King Jesus crosses your carnal desires, you capitulate.

38:47 And sometimes those carnal desires are very silly, very inconsequential. Here's a person who says, I will never forgive that individual for what they did to me. My friend, if you're not prepared to forgive them in obedience to the command of Jesus who said, as your father forgives, so do ye forgive, you'll perish and go to hell.

39:07 Because that unwillingness to forgive is an evidence of the inbred million.

39:13 And King Jesus says, I've come to set up a rule of love in the hearts of my people. He said, love to everyone, Lord, pagan, black, yellow, green, pink, and any color in the spectrum.

39:26 But not that person. And Jesus says, until that person knows. You see?

39:33 Some of you, it's a relationship with another person.

39:37 It's an ambition for a certain occupation.

39:40 Wherever it is, whatever it is, if it's the point at which your will crosses the will of Christ, it's at that point that the inbred rebellion manifests itself and it's at that point that the scepter of King Jesus will show its gracious power.

40:03 At that point, it will show its power. With Nicodemus, in all probability, the inbred rebellion would manifest itself most clearly in his pride that he was no Gentile dog. And now, what is Jesus saying? He's saying, Nicodemus, you're as defiled and polluted as the Gentile dog.

The Bondage of Inbred Servitude to Sin

40:24 That's God's assessment of you. Will you bow to that assessment? You must be born again, Nicodemus. He had the pollution of inbred corruption.

40:33 That which is born of the flesh is flesh. He had the enmity of inbred rebellion. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. And he was under the bondage of inbred servitude to sin.

40:47 Jesus said, whosoever committed sin is the bondservant of sin. He didn't say, whosoever commits sin becomes as though the commission of sin establishes the relationship. No, no. The practice of sin reveals the relationship.

41:08 Just as it said, whosoever loves his brother is begotten of God. It does not mean that by loving my brother I become a Christian. No, no. My loving my brother reveals I am a Christian.

41:19 When Jesus said, whosoever commits sin is the bondservant, he says, the practice of sin is a revelation of the condition of servitude.

41:31 Nicodemus, you think you're a servant of God. You serve him so well by your Pharisaic rules and regulations and by your teaching in Israel. Nicodemus, no, you're born of flesh and all who are born of flesh are the slaves of sin. That's the explicit teaching of the whole sixth chapter of the book of Romans.

41:53 And again, my friend, that's humbly. I'm free. Oh, yes, you're free. Free to go as far as the chains of your own blindness and your own lust will let you.

42:04 No further. Are you free to love God? Then start loving him right now. Put God above everything else in your life right now.

42:10 Start loving the world of the Spirit, the world of heaven and the glory of Christ and the blood of the everlasting covenant. No, no, your appetites and desires rise no higher than your belly and your home and your furnace. And money and things and people. Why?

The Blindness of Inbred Spiritual Death

42:28 Because you're a slave to sin. A miserable, helpless, serf of the devil and of sin. Furthermore, Nicodemus, that which is born of the flesh is not only characterized by the pollution of inbred corruption, the enmity of inbred rebellion, the bondage of inbred servitude, but the blindness of inbred spiritual death. The natural man receives the natural man.

42:56 He is not the things of the Spirit of God. Why? Because they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them.

43:02 Nicodemus, you're looking upon me, the king. You're looking upon my credentials, my miracles. But, Nicodemus, you're looking as a blind man looking upon a Rembrandt. You see nothing as it really is.

43:19 Now, that's humble. But that's our problem, dear ones. And anyone who tells you your problem is any less than that is contradicting the word of Jesus. You see, the new birth is a necessity.

Conclusion: Pressing the Necessity of the New Birth

43:30 A consequential. A consequence of this terrible state in which we find ourselves. As we summarize and bring our study this morning to a close, let me press upon your conscience as did the Lord Jesus upon the conscience of Nicodemus. Have you ever been brought to feel and to own the necessity of the new birth?

43:52 Bowing before the words of Jesus, you've seen that they are a necessity that is unchangeable. He speaks them. He is God. He speaks them with his own underscoring verily, verily.

44:06 He speaks of the issues of the kingdom of God. These are an unchangeable necessity. I see they're a universal necessity except one be born of the spirit he cannot enter. I see they are a consequential necessity, a consequence of what I am by nature.

44:22 My friend, has that ever been brought home to your heart with power? I'm not asking can you point to the day, the hour, the means God used? No, I would not torture anyone's conscience with such teaching. But I'm asking as you sit here this morning and the word has been expounded, has there been an answer of your own heart to that word saying, oh God, it's true, it's true.

44:46 And what the preacher is expounding finds an amen and an echo in my own heart and in my own experience.

44:55 Or have you sat there saying, what in God's name is that man getting all worked up about? I've gone to church all my life. I believe in Jesus. That's what you're, you're born again didn't you, my friend?

45:05 If that's been the language of your mind though not your tongue. It seems to me you're in very relevant company because isn't that precisely how Nicodemus responds? How can these things be? If only you'd talk to me about a few more washing chapters in the Old Testament to read.

45:23 A few more religious duties. I'd study that. You're talking about birth? A radical transformation so pervasive.

45:31 Lord, I'm the Pharisee. I've been reared in the Christian home. I've been in the Christian church all my life. My friend, it matters not.

45:39 May the words of Jesus ring in the deepest inner chambers of your heart this morning. Except you be born again you'll never savvy. You'll never enter the kingdom of God. Oh, my friend, the necessity of the new birth cannot be stated in clearer terms than it is stated by our blessed Lord.

46:00 And why does he state it so clearly? Because his words the scripture tells us are full of grace. And it's grace that tells us how desperate our plight is that we might be prepared for God's gracious answer to that problem. You say, well, I like preachers who just, who just, you know, give me a verse and a little promise and make me feel that they're so loving.

46:25 My friend, listen. If I knew that this congregation gathered here upstairs and down in the overflow room, if I knew and believed that all of you had been infected with some dread disease that would kill you, that would kill you, that would kill you, that would kill you, that would kill you, that would kill you, in a matter of a week,

46:41 and I did nothing to persuade you that that was your case and then provide the remedy, but I said, well, I just love them so much. I'll tell them nothing's really too much wrong that a little hiding in sea and a little exercise won't help and a little extra rest and talk in sweet, loving, gooey, drippy tones. Would that be love?

47:04 You shake your head and say, no. It would be vicious, brutal cruelty. My friend, your soul's at stake, not your body. Jesus Christ said, by nature, you're in so bad a shape that nothing short of the new birth will ever fit you to see and enter the kingdom.

47:20 You better take his word seriously.

47:23 And if you need to spend the rest of your life finding out what it means to be born again and how you may be born again, you better do it. Because Jesus said, it is a necessity.

47:35 It is an unchanging, universal, consequential necessity.

The Means of New Birth: Christ Lifted Up

47:42 And I may not address some of you on this side of the world to come, but I would not close without sending you to the last two verses of the passage we read. There are two great musts in the passage. You must be born again. The Son of Man must be lifted up.

47:56 And men are born again always in conjunction with the preaching of the gospel. They are born again of the Spirit in the context of the preaching of Christ crucified on behalf of sinners. And they're not born again because they believe that message. No.

48:14 No. They are born again that they may believe that message. But they are never born again apart from that message. And so I close where John closes.

48:25 As Moses lifted up the serpent, so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whosoever believeth may in him have eternal life. Oh, my friend, look to Jesus Christ who died for sinners such as you, who lives to take sinners such as you in hand.