The New Birth: Pattern and Instrumental Means

Review: Necessity, Nature, and Results of the New Birth

0:04 Those of you who are here this morning will know that we will focus our attention again this evening upon the third chapter of the Gospel according to St. John. In this, the fourth and concluding brief series of studies in this passage of Holy Scripture in which John records for us some of the details of a conversation which our Lord had with a Jewish leader named Nicodemus. In the contemporary jargon of evangelicalism, this is an example of our Lord doing personal work.

0:42 But oh, how many things were different about our Lord's personal work, both in the content of His message and in the method by which He worked as He did personal work. Thus far in our studies together, we have seen what our Lord has stated concerning the necessity of the new birth. In verses 3, 5, and 7, our Lord states in terms that are explicit, in terms that are unmistakable as to their import, the absolute necessity of the new birth if we would perceive, if we would see, if we would savvy, and if we would enter the kingdom of God. And therefore this matter of the new birth is not a matter. spiritual luxury. It is not a spiritual option. It is a matter of life and death. It is a

1:39 matter of heaven and hell. It is a matter of eternally being in the presence of God in consummate bliss or being banned from His presence in the unspeakable torments of the lake of fire. And so the necessity of the new birth is stated by our Lord as an unchangeable universal necessity, a necessity that arises as a consequence of man's sinfulness, verse 6. And then we have been studying together as the second major category of thought the essential elements or the nature of the new birth. Not only does our Lord set before us the absolute necessity of the new birth, but He tells us something about that new birth, that spiritual rebirth. We cannot see or enter the kingdom of God. And we have seen together that our Lord tells us something about the source of that birth. It is a birth of the Spirit of God. God Himself

2:45 is the author. We have seen something about the character of that spiritual rebirth. It is a birth of water and of the Spirit. And paralleling this in the Old Testament with Ezekiel 36 and in the New with Titus 3.

3:01 In Ezekiel 36 and in the New with Titus 3, we have come to the conclusion that that birth of water and of the Spirit is a birth of spiritual cleansing and of spiritual renewal. It is the purging away of sin and pollution. It is the impartation of life and power unto holiness. And then this morning we considered together the results of the new birth, having seen its source in God Himself, God alone.

3:30 The characters of it, a spiritual cleansing, a spiritual renewal. We then considered the results of that new birth. The implied results, verses 3 and 5. If one cannot see or enter the kingdom without the new birth, the implication is that if we are born again, we will both see and enter the kingdom of God. There will be spiritual sight as to the nature of the kingdom. a spiritual kingdom. Our need of entering that kingdom, that we are unfit for it by nature. There will be perception as to the glory of the king by whose virtue and merit alone we can enter. And then there will be an actual entering the kingdom by the legs

4:17 of repentance and faith without which there is no entrance into the kingdom. And then we concluded our study this morning by looking at the results that are explicitly stated. Having seen the results that are implied, the results that are explicitly stated, verse 6, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, that which is born of the spirit is spirit. And by going to John as he speaks to us in 1 John, the first epistle of John, we saw those six statements in John's first epistle where he says, He says concerning everyone that is born of God that certain things are the inevitable result of that new birth. Chapter 2 and verse 29, he that is born of God will practice righteousness. Chapter 3 and verse 9, he that is born of God will not practice sin. Chapter 4 and verse 7, he that is born of God will love the brethren. Chapter 5 and verse 1, he that is born of

5:22 God will have a living faith. In Jesus Christ as the anointed prophet, priest, and king of God. Chapter 5 and verse 4, he that is born of God will overcome the world. Chapter 5 and verse 18, he that is born of God will keep himself from sin and from the devil.

Introduction to the Pattern and Instrumental Means of the New Birth

5:45 This then concludes our brief review concerning this matter of the source, the character, and the results. Let us now look at the two other elements that are here in the passage, at least as dominant thoughts, though there are many sub-dominant notes and strands of thought. We want to consider our Lord's teaching concerning the pattern of the new birth and, last of all, the context or the instrumental means of the new birth. Verse 8 of John, chapter 3, Verse 8 of John, chapter 3, And thou knowest where it will, and thou hearest the voice thereof? But knowest not whence it cometh and whither it goeth? So is every one that is born of the Spirit.

The Pattern of the New Birth: Like the Wind (John 3:8)

6:43 Now in this verse our Lord is carrying on the same basic theme in his discussion with Nicodemus, namely, this spiritual rebirth without which a man cannot see or enter the kingdom. And in verse 8 he gives to us what we may legitimately call the pattern of the new birth. Our Lord says there is an analogy, a likeness, a similarity between the activity of the wind and the activity of the Spirit in begetting men and women unto newness of life in Jesus Christ. Now let me assure you that I am not ignorant of the problem of exegesis.

7:27 We're very sensitive to these things in these days with Mr. Clark giving us some very helpful and very instructive material in the adult Sunday school class. There are some who would say the verse is wrongly translated. When the translators said the wind blows where it wills, they ought to have said the Spirit blows where He wills.

7:52 Because in the Greek the word for wind and Spirit is exactly the same word as it is in the Hebrew. And therefore some say our Lord is not talking about wind, He's talking about the Spirit. And there are some very able men who, if given their liberty, would have translated the verse that way. When taking their liberty and writing commentaries, they are very emphatic that this is not an analogy between the work of the Spirit and the manner of the wind's operation.

8:23 It is explicitly referring to the operation. However, I cast in my lot with those translators and those exegetes, that is, men who give themselves to opening up the meaning of Scripture, and say that I believe the translation in our English Bibles, the 1901 edition, the King James Version, and almost every standard translation, is a proper one. And the main reason for saying this is because our Lord is obviously making a comparison. And that comparison does not come through.

8:57 If you translate it as the Spirit. Notice. The wind blows where it wills, thou hearest the voice, but knowest not whence it cometh, and whither it goeth, so is every one that is born of the Spirit. In other words, our Lord in explaining this spiritual rebirth is using an illustration, an analogy, a comparison, to illustrate the great truth of the new birth to this man Nicodemus, who is utterly baffled by such talk.

9:29 If only the Lord had talked about more washings, more ministries, more services, more ceremonies, more religious duties, he would have said to him, Right on, Lord, I get you, I understand. But when he talked about inward cleansing, inward renewal, the poor man was baffled. How can these things be? Can I get into my mother's womb a second time and be born?

9:51 You are just confusing me, Lord. And so the Lord, in his patience, and it's a beautiful example, of what you need in personal work, dealing with spiritually blind, spiritually dead people, you need great patience. And you need to be willing to take illustrations from the simplest areas of life to try to make plain spiritual truth. For although only the Spirit can give spiritual perception, we're responsible to try to reduce it to its simplest elements, to illustrate it, to clarify it.

10:21 And so in this instance, our Lord then is giving an analogy. Now remember, analogy is not a density. When we say that this is like that, we do not mean it is exactly like this, one for one, two for two, three for three, in every detail. There are some broad similarities.

10:41 And the pattern of the new birth, if you ask a man, this birth of which God is the author, this birth that brings cleansing from sin and pollution and newness of life, this birth that will bring those inevitable results, of love for righteousness, love for the brethren, hatred of sin, overcoming the world, faith in Christ. Is there any pattern? Can we see any way in which this birth is effected in the hearts of men? Our Lord says yes.

11:12 The pattern of the Spirit's work in the new birth is like unto the operations of the wind. And there are four elements in the operation of the wind in which there is a parallel. And there is a parallel to the work of the Spirit. Notice our Lord's words.

Element 1: Certainty in the Spirit's Work

11:29 First of all, the wind bloweth. And this speaks of the certainty of the operations of the Spirit in the new birth. The wind bloweth. There is certainty.

11:45 There is factuality of activity. And some of us have seen the devastating effects of the wind blowing. When the winds reach gale force, and objects are in their way, the wind will carry the objects before it. If you happen to be out sailing and a strong dust comes up, it can snap the sails upon a ship.

12:08 It can, if it doesn't snap the sails, it can snap a mast. The wind bloweth. Though you cannot see the wind, though you cannot with the eye perceive the presence of the wind in itself, you are conscious of its force against your body. You are conscious of its activity as it moves the trees, as it shakes a house.

12:29 The wind bloweth. Underscoring, first of all, the certainty of the activity of the wind, which is analogous to the operation of the Spirit. And so the pattern of the Spirit's work in the new birth is characterized by certainty. Whenever and wherever the Spirit operates in regeneration, He goes forth with creation, great is power and efficacy begetting new life.

13:00 This is no spiritual fantasy. This is not something you imagine. No, no. When the Spirit is worked, it is like the wind.

13:10 When the wind is in operation, it blows. There is a powerful effect. There is the putting forth of energy. And so when the Spirit moves upon the heart of the sinner, He blows.

13:21 There is efficacy. There is power. There is His own...

13:26 His own mighty work. So much that the Apostle can say, when He has worked, if any man be in Christ, He is a new creation. The Spirit leaves in His wake nothing less than a new creation wherever He blows.

13:42 And if the wind of the Spirit of God has touched you as a fallen son or daughter of Adam, then He has left you a new creation. There is certainty in His work. But secondly, there is...

Element 2: Sovereignty in the Spirit's Work

13:57 sovereignty in His work. Look at the text. The pattern of the Spirit's work is like the wind. The wind bloweth.

14:04 Certainty. The wind bloweth where it wills. There is sovereignty. Oh, how many of us on a hot day wish we could just go like this.

14:16 Wind! Come from the four corners of the earth and blow upon me. Some of us have known what it is in very hot climates to sit on a porch, get out in the open air, away from any obstructions where you really, where you put yourself in the most vulnerable place to get the slightest little zephyr. And you just wait.

14:36 And you wait. And you wait. And then finally, as it seems out of nowhere, comes a little bit of a breeze across your cheek and you just...

14:46 I remember what we used to do when I was doing construction work in this kind of weather. Nothing but my work boots and a pair of leaves, set of Levi's, and working in the hot sun eight, nine hours a day mixing concrete and hauling block and brick in a...

15:02 hot on my back and the rest. And some of those August days in Connecticut were so oppressive. No wind, no stirring and you'd work up a lather and be working soaked all day and then a little breeze and you'd drop whatever you were doing unless you had a load of bricks on your back or something else and you'd just drop everything. You'd hold out your arms and get as much, as much exposed as you could to catch as much of that little bit of a breeze as you could.

15:29 But it was never possible to say, oh, it's coffee break time. Well, it's wind break time. Let's have wind. Come on, wind!

15:35 No, no. The wind blows where it wills. There is an element of sovereign unpredictableness about the activity of the wind. The wind blows where it wills.

15:48 So is everyone born of the Spirit. And our Lord is underscoring the absolute sovereignty of the work of the Spirit in regeneration. Only God controls the wind. That's why they knew our Lord was something more than man when He said to the winds and the waves, peace, be still.

16:09 He turned around and said, what manner of man is this that even the winds obey His voice? We can bark at the wind all day and if it wants to blow, it blows. We can call for the wind all day and if it doesn't feel like winding, it isn't going to. It doesn't come.

16:26 But this man, he speaks and the winds obey His voice. What manner of man are we dealing with? You see, even in the realm of the natural, people acknowledge that the activity of the wind is sovereign. Now, we make a little artificial wind with a fan and we try to pull a little across you with some fans out there, granted.

16:45 But we're not speaking of that kind of artificial wind. That other wind, that true wind, its operations are sovereign. Now, if that's true of the natural wind, how much more of the wind of heaven by which alone men are begotten unto newness of life. He goes forth with creative power certainly, yes, but always sovereignly.

17:10 And the sovereignty of the work of the Spirit in regeneration is underscored very, very carefully by the Apostle John. For it is John who states in his own gospel record, chapter 1, verses 12 and 13, this same truth. He came unto his own and his own received him not. But to as many as received him, to them, to them, to them gave he the right to become the children of God, even to them that believe on his name who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

17:53 And as we saw last week in a brief passing comment, John puts in antithesis, that is, as opposites, a new birth that is rooted in the sovereign activity of God and the sovereign activity of God. And a supposed new birth that is rooted in the active activity of the will of the flesh or the will of man. Now, it can't be both. There is no synergism.

18:19 There is pure biblical monergism. The wind blows where it wills. So is everyone born of the Spirit. And perhaps this is nowhere seen more clearly than in two areas of the Spirit's operations.

18:36 When he regenerates, man, when he begets them to newness of life, when he works, and upon whom he works. Oh, how the Lord surprises us. We see someone who shows great promise as a child, sensitivity to spiritual things. And we'd say, oh, what a wonderful Christian that person is going to be.

18:58 And what happens? That person turns out either to be blandly indifferent to the things of God in maturity or openly hostile to the truths of God. And the truth is, that person turns out to be a child of the truth. And there's that person from a totally non-Christian background who was hell-bent on his own destruction, as we'd say.

19:20 Determined to damn himself and to make his earth a hell in preparation for the hell to come. And lo and behold, when they both reach maturity, what's happening? The wind is blown where it wills. And the sovereign Spirit is laid hold of that one that we would have shaken our heads and say, that's the last person in the world I'd ever think to be a Christian.

19:42 I've often wished we could turn back the time clock and go back to the first century for a number of reasons, but this is one of the things I'd love to do. I'd love to go back and conduct a poll amongst all the believers in Judea concerning who they thought was the least likely person to become a Christian in the next two years prior to Acts 9.

20:10 Here was Saul breathing out threatenings and slaughters against the church. His pocket stuffed with letters from the chief priest to track down those Christians and get rid of them. And I'm sure if we took a poll, who do you think is the least likely to become a Christian in the next two years? Paul would have won it hands down.

20:32 And we've just been reading in our family worship the book of Acts and how thrilling it's been to read that record. The sheer sovereignty of God is a letter stuffed and I'm sure he dug the sides of that poor horse until they were gone. The way to Damascus.

20:51 Forget those Christians who follow this imposter, this rabbi out of Nazareth who's leading people astray. And God says, enough blinding light and the voice out of heaven and he grovels in the dust. God shrouds him in physical darkness for three days while he's bringing him into the world of spiritual light. And he comes up the other side with all of those birthmarks of 1 John indelibly and stamped upon his heart and mind.

21:23 The wind, the wind blows where it's sovereignty. And that sovereignty is seen with reference to the when and to the whom. And there are many of you here tonight that are living monuments of that. Oh, what blessed surprises God has.

21:39 Now someone says, well, isn't that a discouraging doctrine? If the pattern of the work of the spirit in the new birth is not only certainty but absolute sovereignty, isn't that a discouraging thing? Discouraging for whom?

21:55 Discouraging for religious faith who promote religious systems that are nothing but help yourself, do-it-yourself, little mind cults to pack their pockets full of money and have a crowd of people following them in this personality cult. Now that's discouraging. When religion is degenerated to nothing but humanism dressed up with a few words of the Bible and a few religious ceremonies. But my friend, it's not discouraging to true religion.

22:27 It's not discouraging to true religion. To tell any sinner in this place tonight, we can't help you. Your hope is in God. Discouraging?

22:37 My friend, who'd want to seek help from us when the mighty God is present to help?

22:44 I turn to weaklings when the mighty one is amongst us. That's not discouraging to a needy sinner. Let a sinner begin to discover how bad he is and he wants help that's higher than man. Tell him to look to himself to his own will?

22:59 Look to himself to his own efforts? That's to mock a man who's begun to see how bad he is. But you tell him to look to the God who raises the dead. I say that's a wonderful gospel.

23:10 That's not discouraging to the convicted sinner. Well, what about Christians? You say, that's discouraging. If only God can create life in my unsaved loved ones and in my neighbors and I can't do anything to create the life.

23:23 Isn't that discouraging? Yeah, it is discouraging if you look upon conversion as a confidence trick where if you can just push the right buttons at the right time and the right time and the right way you'll get somebody to pray the sinner's prayer and make a decision and they're fixed up. Oh yeah, that is discouraging. And for evangelistic techniques that pander to the flesh and to carnal pride, that's very discouraging.

23:44 Oh, but my friend, if you understand that salvation's with the Lord, that's not discouraging if you're a prayerful person because that gives you hope when you pray. If the work of the Spirit is like the wind and it's sovereign, who knows? But what God may sovereignly sovereignly tomorrow when I least expect it, when my loved ones least expect it, when my children, when my neighbors least expect it, God may seize upon their hearts with the word, maybe just a phrase they heard, maybe the truths they've heard day after day at family worship year in and year out. Who knows?

24:22 When God may take that word and drive it home with power and bring forth life. My friend, that's not discouraging. I find that's the most encouraging thing in all the world. That's what keeps me from getting sour as a preacher.

24:35 Now, some of you don't know it, but I'm not sour, really. That may be news to you when I say it keeps me from getting sour, but really, what keeps a man full of expectancy, full of joy when he preaches? He doesn't know what God's going to do because it's God's work. He doesn't have it all planned out and mapped out.

24:53 Three converts this week, Lord. Six next week. Here's our...

24:56 No, no. Who knows what God will do? The ways of the Spirit are like the wind. He blows.

25:01 He blows where He wills. And then it is also a most humbling concept. It is not discouraging. I hope I've cleared away that objection.

25:12 But it is indeed humbling. It's humbling for me to realize that I cannot beget men unto newness of life. It's humbling that when men are begotten, I have to say with the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 3, one sows, another waters, but God giveth the increase. And so then, neither is He that planteth anything nor He that watereth, but God that giveth the increase.

25:42 Now, could anything be clearer? You know what God says the evangelist is who reaps? He says he's nothing. You know what God says about the man who's faithfully sown for 20 years and seen little reaping?

25:53 God says he's nothing. Well, if he's nothing and he's nothing, zero plus zero when I went to school, new math notwithstanding, I think it still ends up zero. He that planteth anything nor he that giveth nor he that watereth anything but God that giveth the increase. He is everything.

26:16 Now, wonder of wonders, though it's all His work, and in terms of the ultimate cause of the new birth, I am nothing and the man who's planted and reaped is nothing. Yet in that same passage we read, each man shall receive a reward according to his own vapors. Isn't that an amazing thing? It's all God's work and yet He'll graciously reward me.

Element 3: Observability in the Spirit's Work

26:39 For whatever part I had in His sovereign purpose in sharing the Word of God. What's the pattern of the Spirit's work? My friend, it's not the pattern that's found in your little books on personal work or how to have a successful revival campaign or ten easy steps to soul winning. No, no.

26:58 Here's the pattern. There is certainty. The wind blows. There is sovereignty.

27:03 The wind blows where it wills. Thirdly, there is observability. Look at it. The wind blows.

27:11 The wind blows where it wills. Thou hearest the voice thereof.

27:18 Thou hearest the voice thereof.

27:25 If we were all sitting in a room with nothing but an open top and a mighty wind was blowing all around us, a deaf man would not be aware of the presence of the wind. Those of us who hear could discern its blowing. We hear it through the trees. We hear it whistling over the top of the wall.

27:49 There is an observability to the senses with reference to the wind. Thou hearest the voice or the sound thereof. And we reason back from the effect to the cause. And when you hear that whishing sound, and when you hear the whistling of the wind through the trees, you reason from the sound to the presence of the wind.

28:18 Now, if you happen to be out there and you're being caught with the wind, you're being caught with the wind. You're being caught with the wind. You're being caught with the wind. Along with the trees, you reason from your feeling, the effect of the wind upon the nerve endings of your body, upon pressure on your muscles.

28:29 But there is, you see, with the physical senses, the ability to perceive the presence of the wind. It is an observable phenomenon. So, Jesus said, is everyone that is born of the Spirit. The pattern of the Spirit's work is characterized by observability.

28:48 That is, though His work is inward. And we emphasized that last week. This is a spiritual cleansing, not a Pharisaic external cleansing. And those who make verse 5 to speak of baptism err at this very point.

29:04 Our Lord would not say to a Pharisee all wrapped up with external cleansings, you need some more external cleansings. No! He says, Nicodemus, you need that which external cleansing signifies. And you need it to be wrought by the power of the Spirit.

29:19 It's an inward cleansing. It is an inward renewing. But, my friends, if it's inward in fact, it will never remain inward exclusively.

29:33 To be a new creature in Christ is an inward spiritual reality. But the Scripture says, the old will pass and all becomes new. And that includes the outward.

29:43 The wind blows and thou hearest the voice. Observability. And as we saw this morning, if we are born of the Spirit, of God, there will be the observable reflections of that birth. There will be these indications that God has begotten us by His own power.

30:08 And I will not repeat what we covered this morning. I will simply point you back to it again. 1 John is a description of the observability of the wind of the regenerating Spirit. Whosoever is begotten of God, this will be true.

Element 4: Mystery in the Spirit's Work

30:24 That will be true. This will be true. That will be true. And then, in the fourth place, the pattern of the Spirit's work, according to our Lord, is that there is mystery.

30:35 The wind bloweth. Certainty. Where it will. Sovereignty.

30:41 Thou hearest the voice thereof. Observability. But, knowest not whence it cometh and whither it goeth.

30:50 Where is the womb of the wind? Now, you find it. Mark it. Mark it with an X.

30:57 Where is the grave of the wind? Will you find it and mark it with a cross or a gravestone? Thou canst not tell whence it cometh, whither it goeth. And unless there's been some significant breakthrough in the past couple of years of which I'm not aware, I'm not a meteorologist, but I think I'm enough acquainted with the general field of knowledge to know that, in spite of all the advances made with our satellites circling, checking, the cloud formations and all the rest, able to predict weather patterns weeks or months ahead with some degree of accuracy, when it comes right down to it, where is the beginning of this storehouse of the winds?

31:40 Where is its graveyard? Find its womb. Find its burial place. There's still the element of mystery.

31:48 Inscrutability. Oh, yes, you can observe it. It's not a fantasy. It's not a phantom.

31:55 There's the wind. You observe it. You hear the voice. You don't know where it comes, whether it goes.

32:00 So is everyone born of the Spirit. There's an element of pure mystery in the new birth. How can a pure, infinite, holy, divine spirit so move upon a finite, sinful, creaturely spirit as to make that spirit utterly new?

32:28 And yet that Holy Spirit never defiled Him. He never defiled Himself by such close and intimate contact with that which is nothing but defilement and pollution. Now you explain that to me, will you?

32:40 There's mystery. How can the Holy Spirit who is infinite actually indwell and make this body, this personality, this total, integrated, psychosomatic entity called a human being? How can He actually make this His dwelling place? And yet the Scripture says that's what's happened.

33:02 Know ye not that your bodies are a temple of the Holy Ghost? Which ye have of God? Can you explain that? How can I sit here?

33:12 How can you sit there tonight? How can I stand here tonight conscious that I'm exercising all of my God-given mental faculties of thought, of reason, the choice of words? You sit there trying to listen to my words, comparing them with the Scripture to see if I'm accurately expounding them. You're conscious of the full exercise, the full employment of all of your human faculties and yet wonder of wonders.

33:38 If God is indeed present in the ministry of the Word, there's another Spirit operating with and upon and through our own human spirits. Can you explain that?

33:50 I can.

33:52 Jesus said the pattern of the Spirit's work is characterized by mystery. Thou canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth. And dear people, this was the great stumbling block it seems to me to Nicodemus. For even after our Lord says this, his response is verse 9.

34:13 How can these things be? I'm from Missouri. Show me. How can this be?

34:23 Our Lord doesn't even cavil with it.

34:27 It is so. Are you content with the element of mystery in your Christian experience? If not, you've got pretty poor, shriveled Christian experience. A man who can put all that he has tasted and felt and known of biblical religion in the little teacup of his own mind.

34:46 His own rational faculties has got a pretty paltry measure of religion.

34:55 No, no. As Spurgeon once said, faith may swim where reason and understanding may only wait. No, that's Watson. Spurgeon said, faith is reason at rest in God.

35:12 Now you see, we're not talking about irrationality. Saying we're going to have some kind of a Jesus experience and ooh, I've got it, I've got it, don't ask me to explain it. It's all mysterious, but oh, it's wonderful. No, no, we're not talking about that.

35:22 That's foolishness.

35:25 That's damnable heresy.

35:28 No, no. We're talking about a spiritual birth in the context of everything we dealt with this morning. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, we're talking about history. And the man Jesus who came in history, the incarnate God, who was anointed of the Father, who died in space and time and rose again, we're not talking about some subjective, indefinable, no, no.

35:54 But dear ones, listen. After we've come to this thing with all of the elevated, sanctified rationality of biblical faith, there is the element of mystery.

36:08 The wind blows. We can't tell where it comes, whither it goes. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit. Is there anything mysterious about your understanding of the Christian faith, of your own experience, as a believer?

36:26 You see, a true Christian is a man, a woman, who is a constant source of amazement and puzzlement to himself. Galatians 2.20 is the classic statement. Paul says, I have been crucified with Christ.

36:39 Oh, he's dead. Wonderful. Let's leave him there. But he says, nevertheless, I live.

36:44 Well, is he dead or is he alive? All right. He said he was dead. Well, he's canceled out.

36:50 Now he says he's alive. Good. All right. So he's alive.

36:55 He says, hang in there a little bit. I'll confuse you further. I have been crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I.

37:00 Now, wait a minute, Paul. First you said you were dead. Now you say you're alive. And just when I begin to understand what you mean, you're alive, you say it's not you.

37:06 All right. I'll follow you the next day. It's not you. Nevertheless, not I.

37:10 But Christ liveth in me. All right. I've got it now. You've been blotted out.

37:14 Christ is taking your place. He says, no, I haven't finished yet. And the life which I now live in the flesh. Oh, now you're back to you living it.

37:21 Well, I thought you were dead. Well, I thought you were dead. Well, I thought you were dead. Then alive.

37:29 Then it wasn't you, but it was Christ. And now you say the life which you live in the flesh. I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Now, isn't that a mess of contradictions?

37:39 No, no, dear ones. That's a beautiful synthesis of true Christian experience. I have been crucified with Christ by the mighty work of the Spirit. I have been brought to a living faith in him who died on a Roman gibbet in my room instead.

37:57 And by union with him, I share in that which was done on my behalf. I have been crucified with Christ. The legal debt against me is satisfied. And now I live.

38:09 I'm a man alive with spiritual life. And yet my new life does not come from me, the old natural Paul. It comes from Christ. But it comes in such a way that it doesn't bypass me.

38:20 I still have to get up in the morning. I still have to shave or comb my beard and trim it. I still have to wash and use my deodorant and put my sandals on. I live.

38:33 But he said, my whole life is lived now in a living relationship with the one who died and rose again. Oh, Galatians 2.20 isn't a hopeless mess of contradictions. It's a beautiful synthesis of what a true Christian is.

38:47 Are you a mystery to yourself? There are times when one of the greatest measures of assurance that ever comes to my heart comes when I'm sitting on airplanes flying back from a ministry and I say, can it be that I have gone to preach to people and I found joy in praying and preaching and ministering to people? Or on a Sunday night when I reflect back on the Lord's day, have I actually found delight three, four hours in the house of God with the people of God, with the word of God and the songs of Zion? Can this be me who was once born stiff with three minutes in the house and who found sermons intolerably long and tedious? Some of them were at least tedious if not intolerably long. Can it be that I'm not just meserized by the sound of my own voice but I delight to sit where you people sit and hear the word expounded by my fellow elders and those aspiring to the work of ministry and find joy I have to say, Lord, the wind has brought sovereignly, certainly divine efficacy, but Lord, I cannot understand the element of mystery. What a wonderful thing

40:17 to be lost in wonder, love and praise. Oh, may God have mercy upon us if we ever get to the place where we cease to bow before the veil of the mysterious, lost in wonder, love and praise. When the element of breathless wonder goes from our religious experience, we cease to be true Christians in the full orb sense of the word. That is why I am suspicious of services that just can be cranked out by the prepared liturgy week after week and month after month and never a blessed disruption, never a blessed breakthrough, never a blessed pause in awesome wonder before that veil of holy mystery. Well, I must hurry to conclude because I did promise this would be the last in our studies here. Will you look carefully at our Lord's words? I am going to skip over what our Lord says in verses 10 through 13, not because it is irrelevant but simply because my purpose is not to give a detailed exposition of every verse but I want to come to the main thrust of our Lord's conclusion of His discourse.

Transition to the Instrumental Means: Christ Lifted Up

41:33 I shall read the other verses just to catch the thread of thought. Nicodemus responds to this statement about the pattern of the Spirit's work. Nicodemus replies, Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou the Teacher of Israel, and understandest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that which we know, and bear witness of that which we have seen.

41:57 And ye receive not our witness, if I told you earthly things, and ye believe not how shall ye believe if I tell you heavenly things. And no one hath ascended into heaven, but he that descended out of heaven, and hath gone into the kingdom of heaven. Now the Holy Spirit is saying, What is the Son of Man? He is not the Son of Man yet He is in heaven.

42:24 How do you explain that? There is no explanation. Our Lord is talking double talk unless the Son of Man title is more than what people have told us it is. Merely a reference to the humanity of Jesus, and he used of himself when brought before his accusers.

42:46 They said, what further need of witnesses have we? He's committed blasphemy. He took this title to himself. Nevertheless, you shall see the Son of Man coming.

42:55 The high priest rent his garments and said, what further need have we of witnesses? Here's one of our Lord's clearest attestations of his own self-consciousness, of his own divinity. Even the Son of Man, who as to his union with the Father in the divine essence, is in heaven, even while as the theanthropic person, the God-man, he's here upon earth. For as God, he filled heaven and earth while he was the God-man amongst us.

43:24 He never ceased to be what he always was, though he became something he never had been. And as God, essential God, he filled heaven and earth from eternity to eternity. And here is our Lord's assertion of it. But then he moves to these words.

The Instrumental Means: Faith in the Crucified Savior (John 3:14-16)

43:39 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth may in him have eternal life. Our Lord closes his discourse with Nicodemus by setting forth himself as the crucified Savior of sinners.

44:01 And so I would call this the context or the instrumental means of the new birth. In other words, you ask the question, if this birth is from God, if he gives it sovereignly, if he gives it to whom he will, what shall we do then? Shall we sit back and say, let's hope God will give us this life, this spiritual birth? No, no, my friends.

44:31 That birth is always effected as far as what is revealed. If God has another way for any other class of humanity, be it idiots or infants or anyone else, he's not revealed it. But as far as his revealed will, it's concerned that spiritual rebirth is always effected by God in the context of the preaching of the gospel of a crucified Savior.

44:58 Notice that connection in chapter 1. Look at it. Verse 12. As many as received him, that is the Lord Jesus, who stood before men and laid out his claims and spoke of the work he was to accomplish on behalf of sinners, as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become the children of God, even to them that believe on his name, who were born of God.

45:25 You see, the birth of God and the reception of Jesus Christ in faith are attendant realities. Now we know that the cause of a man's believing is the divine begetting. Until he sees, he'll never embrace. But the moment he sees, he does embrace.

45:45 And therefore, it's in the context of the preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ lifted up as Moses lifted up the serpent, the only remedy, Numbers 21, the only remedy for the serpent-bitten Israelites was that serpent that was put upon a pole and held up in the camp of Israel. And the cry went out, Look, and as many as, look, the Scripture says, were healed, Jesus says to Nicodemus, and this to me is one of the most beautiful examples, of unfettered, free gospel preaching. Nicodemus is just indicated, he is blind, he's dumb, he's inarticulate, he's in a fog about the whole thing. And yet Jesus preaches himself to him as the crucified Savior.

46:31 He doesn't wait until Nicodemus becomes, quote, a more deeply awakened sinner, a more deeply convicted sinner. He says, As Moses lifted up the serpent, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him, or believeth, may in him, have eternal life. In other words, our Lord is teaching us that though the new birth is brought about by God's activity, God's sovereign activity, the new birth is brought about in the context of the preaching of the gospel. And so I would close where our Lord closes.

Application: Believe in Christ and Feed Upon Him

47:10 Have you sat here tonight and in these previous expositions and like Nicodemus felt like crying out, How do you need? How can these things be? What's the preacher talking about? I've gone to church all my life and I believe the confession and the creed and the catechism and I've done this and I go to the ladies' circle and I shout once in a while and I pray once in a while and I read my Bible.

47:35 But what in the world is he talking about? The new birth!

47:40 Have you found yourself echoing Nicodemus' words? How can these things be? My friend, you know what the way out of your hopeless confusion is? Begin to pray.

47:50 Begin to focus the gaze of your soul upon the only appointed remedy for needy sinners such as yourself. And that remedy appointed by God is the Son of Man come down from heaven who is God incarnate, who in the gospel stands before you and bids you come. The Son of Man must be lifted up. And that lifting up was the lifting up upon the cross.

48:14 John 12 is a parallel passage in which we have the interpretation given this spake, he signifying by what death he should die. If I be lifted up from the earth, I shall draw all men unto myself. This spake he signifying by what death he should die. And it is the proclamation of Jesus Christ, the innocent victim, taking the place of the guilty polluted sinner, dying in the room instead of the guilty.

48:43 The Father's wrath poured upon him until it crushed him and broke him and wrung from his agonized soul. That frightening cry, My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? As Moses lifted up the serpent, so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whosoever believeth, whosoever believeth, whosoever cast himself in the self-abandonment of true faith, whosoever believeth may, in union with this Son of God, have life. Oh, my friend, you'll never be born again until you begin to take seriously the Word of God concerning your son.

49:24 It is not likely that the work of the Spirit will ever be wrought in you if you are indifferent to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And therefore I plead with you, take seriously the message of God concerning His Son. He says of His Son, this is my beloved Son, hear Him. He is the only Savior of sinners.

49:46 Believe in Him. And He says to us who are Christians, feed upon Him. If divine life is imparted in the context of the centrality of Christ crucified, the life imparted is sustained in that same context. That's why Jesus said, He that eateth, present tense, my flesh, and drinketh my blood, abideth in me.

50:12 My friend, the context of the beginning of life is the context of the sustaining of life. You never move on from Christ crucified. If you do, you've moved too far. You've moved too far.

50:25 And you've moved where you ought not. Oh, that we may feed our hearts upon Him. If that divine life has been begotten in us, if we've been able as we went through 1 John this morning to say, Lord, I see so little of some of those evidences, results of the divine begetting, but oh Lord, the little bit I do see, I acknowledge is from You. And oh Lord, I want more.

50:48 I'm not content with little. But my friend, don't you look for your comfort upon, the results of the new birth, because your comfort will turn to bitter discouragement. You look for your comfort to Jesus Christ and to Christ alone. Thank Him if there's any evidence of grace, but look from the evidences to Him and feed upon Him in the living, constant communion.

51:16 And it's in that way that the wheels of obedience will turn more quickly and more smoothly. And the springs of devotion, will be strengthened and broadened. And then your evidences will be increased. There's the blessed side benefit that you weren't even looking for.

51:33 If you look upon your evidences, you're going to see holes in them. They're going to be moth-eaten. Then you're going to get so discouraged, you wonder what's the use. And now you've got blinders and you can't see Christ if you try.

51:45 Then you're really in bad shape. And I could call out some of you by name, who could say amen to what I'm preaching right now. Oh, my friend, listen. No.

51:56 Divine life is given and sustained in the context, the instrumental means, of Christ and Him as crucified. May we feed upon Him to our own present strength and blessing and to His everlasting glory. We often laugh at the person that we say comes up to people and buttonholes them. And the first question he asks them is, are you born again?

52:26 We have a dear brother, a friend from the South. Some of you know him. Once in a while he shows up here. And the first thing you'll do if you're a total stranger, he'll meet you and say, I'm so and so.

52:35 Are you born again? Well, you know, though we may laugh and say that's a bit crude, my friend, is there a more pointed question I could ask any one of you tonight? Are you born again? Are you born again?

52:56 So you can answer that question in the affirmative, in the full light of the teaching of the Word of God. Give yourself no rest. Give God no rest. Until you can say, yes, by sovereign grace, moving upon me as in the pattern of the wind, I have been begotten again unto a living hope by the grace of my gracious God.

53:24 Let us pray.