John, Pt. 10 | John 1:1-3

The New Birth and the Need for Regeneration

If you will, at this time, please open your copy of the Scriptures to the Gospel of John 3, verses 1 -15. The Gospel of John 3, verses 1 -15. O God, the Creator of all things, you who have entered into creation, please, Lord, we gather together and beg you to teach us this day, from your Word, please, please, in Jesus' name, speak to us, we pray.

Amen. This is the 10th message so far in this Gospel, and our theme is the new birth, and this is part 1. Let's go ahead and read that portion of Scripture, John 3, verses 1 -15. Now, there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. Jesus answered him, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Nicodemus said to him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of the water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I say to you, You must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.

So it is with everyone who was born of the Spirit. Nicodemus said to him, How can these things be? Jesus answered him, You are the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and bear witness of what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony.

If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except He who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.

Again, our theme is the new birth. And my proposition is this. The new birth is something that's done to us, not something that we do to ourselves. This logical concept that I just stated comes from the doctrine of regeneration.

And I want you to notice throughout our worship today, our worship has been pointing us to regeneration. Even in our catechism, we do not talk about this. We do not try to line things up. Our worship, our singing to the Lord, our catechisms, our readings are pointing to regeneration.

The doctrine of regeneration, the new birth is this. Regeneration must precede faith, and faith must be followed by repentance. Regeneration, something has to happen before I believe and after I believe a change in my pattern has to occur.

It has to be in that order. In order for me to believe, I must first be born again, given faith. And through that giving of faith, my life changes. Not my life change, I'm given faith, then I'm born again.

But I'm born again, given faith, then my life changes. When you and I witness the gospel to someone, we call them to faith and repentance. We tell them to believe, to repent, to call upon the name of the Lord.

That's what we tell them to do. When we're witnessing, we do not call them to be born again. And yet, that has to come first. They must be born again in order for what we call them to do to take place.

Being born again means you must be the recipient of God's plan for salvation. You must be born from above. Something has to happen. And it's not something that I can make happen to you. As Dawson was talking earlier, people were asking him about the gospel.

Dawson can't birth them. He can't make them believe. He can't believe for them. He can't repent for them. All he can do is preach the gospel, call them to faith, and call them to repentance. The new birth is something that happens to you.

It's not something that you can cause to happen to you. In order to have a clear understanding of regeneration, we must first look at the doctrine of total depravity and unconditional election. Total depravity states the need for unconditional election.

If total depravity is true, and it is, then there must be an unconditional election. Though unconditional election takes place before the fall of man, yet total depravity is found as the result of the fall.

We all understand the fall, right? God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created them male and female. They were man created in the image of God, given the transcendent law, given the rule not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

They eat of this tree of which they were not supposed to eat of, and because of that, they fell. And not only did they fall, but they caused all humanity, creation itself, to fall, to feel the impact of the sin.

And you've heard me say this plenty of times. Take a rock, throw it in the pond, the way that rock causes the whole pond to ripple. The pond feels the effect of the rock. Creation, me and you, our children that have been born and will be born, feels the effect of Adam's sin.

Because of his sin, we are born in sin, and we prove that when we sin. If you have children, you know this. You don't teach your kids how to sin.

It's natural, right?

It's natural. They come out knowing how to sin. We do teach them how to not lie, because lying is natural. Do not steal. Stealing is natural. Don't eat the cookies. I didn't. They got cookie crumbs all over their face, right?

They did both of them right then. They're little liars and thieves, right?

It's true.

It's true. Romans 5 .12 is true. Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all man, because all sin. Romans 6 .23a, for the wages of sin is death.

1 John 3 .4, everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. Sin is breaking God's transcendent law. You do not have to be a Christian to know it's wrong to lie.

It's wrong to steal. You might not think it's wrong for you to lie, or for you to steal, or for you to commit adultery, but let someone do that to you, and you feel the result. You become angry. Notice how the unbeliever isn't angry with themselves for doing the very thing they would kill someone for doing to them.

It's the transcendent law. And when we break these, the Bible tells us we sin. And the wages of sin is death. We die because we are born into sin. And because we sin, death is our paycheck. When I die, I will be receiving my paycheck for my sins.

Paid in full. That's why we die. That's why infants can be born and minutes later die because of Adam's sin. They're born into sin. No one. No one is free from this. We are in sin. We are born in sin.

And we prove that when we sin. Collecting the labor that we will be paid for at our death. The Apostle Paul, in the book of Ephesians, says to the believer that they were dead in their trespasses and sins.

He's speaking to the believers that they were alive.

And he says you were dead.

In your trespasses and sins. That we are born, we're spiritually dead. Something has to happen to awaken the spirit that God has given us. For those that are in Christ, for those that are not in Christ, I want to quote a famous evangelist, Ray Comfort.

Death is the arresting officer that comes to take you to God's prison, which is hell. Death is the arresting officer and it's coming to take you to God's prison, which is hell. For the non-believer. For those that are not in Christ.

And I would say, therefore, since that is true, there must be an unconditional election. We're born spiritually dead. The soul that sins will die. For the wages of sin is death. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

That is every one of us. Our greatest work, our greatest work is a rag of blood,.

A rag of leprosy.

Imagine having someone fully clothed in leprosy and you wrapping him in a garment and leaving that garment on him to dry, to soak in his pores and his blood, and you're leaving that garment on him and then all of a sudden, as he's walking by, you yank that garment off of his body, ripping the sores, and you offer it to God.

That's your greatest work outside of Christ. Attempt to offer him something that's not in Christ. That's what you offer him. It's polluted. It's nasty. It's disgusting. Unconditional election is found in the covenant of redemption.

Dealing with the purpose of God.

God purposes.

He purposed to save a people despite, despite the fall. He purposed to save a people, and ladies and gentlemen, that is unconditional election. If God chose you, you will be his. That's what this states.

This speaks about God the Father choosing before the foundation of the world those who would be saved in Christ. And in Isaiah 46, we can see the sovereignty of God in all things. Turn there with me, please.

Isaiah 46. In Sunday school weeks ago, we weeks probably months ago, we read this verse several times beginning in verse 8, and we'll read to verse 11. Now listen carefully to what's been spoken here.

Remember this. What he's about to say, he wants us to remember. And stand firm. Listen, we can stand on these words.

Remember this.

Always call them to mind and stand on this. Recall to your mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old. For I am God, and there is no other. I am God, and there is none like me. Declaring the end from the beginning.

From ancient times, things not yet done, saying my counsel shall stand. I will accomplish my purpose. Calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from far countries.

I have spoken,.

I will bring it to pass. I have purposed, and I will do it. Look again at verse 10. But before I read verse 10, let's look at the very last part of 9, where it says, and there is none like me. Right here, he's supposed to tell you how there is none like him.

How is there none like him? Verse 10, declaring the end from the beginning. Only God can declare the end from the beginning. And if God has to find out what happens when it happens, that's not God. That's how we find out what happens.

God does not look in the tunnels of time to see what's going to happen. God causes all things that happens, even the fall. All things are ordained by him. Listen, declaring the end from the beginning.

Declaring the end from the beginning. From ancient times, things not yet done, saying my counsel shall stand. I will, not maybe, not might, not, let me think about it. I will accomplish my purpose. And we find out his purpose in Ephesians 1 3 -5.

You want to know the purpose of God? Ephesians 1 3 -5 says this. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Notice he identifies who he's praying to. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessings in the heavenly places even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him in love.

He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will. Directly pointing us to Isaiah 46. To the purpose of his will. The question is, what is the purpose of his will?

Answer, his predestination for us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will. Those that he has predestined in eternity past will in time through the preaching of the gospel be born again.

Given faith. Regenerated. Turning from sins.

That's what it says.

To be conformed into the image of his son. Adam and Eve created in the image of God. Sin. All mankind fell into sin. Therefore losing this perfect image. When Adam had seed,.

When Adam had a son,.

His son was created in Adam's image. That's what it says in the text. Adam's image is the broken image of God. We are now called to be conformed into the image of Jesus. If right now when we're born we're the perfect image of God, there's no need for anyone to be conformed into the image of Christ.

You who are in the image of God need to be formed into the image of God. Makes no sense. The fall breaks the image. What Christ has done, he is removing the effects of the fall in the believer. In the believer, Christ, what he has done, he is removing the effects of the fall.

This is a work of God. You cannot remove the effects of the fall. This is a work of God. God in regeneration gives them faith to believe and grants to them repentance from dead works. The things that we call them to do when we're witnessing.

Nicodemus, the Teacher of Israel, and the Signs of Jesus

Now in our outline, one point, the teacher that comes from the Pharisees versus the teacher that comes from God. Look with me at our chapter. Chapter 3 of John. Verse 1. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

Now we're only going to be looking.

At the first three verses.

And we'll probably be here, I'm not sure how long. There's a lot here. Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a ruler of Jews. Jesus, in verse 10, calls him the teacher of Israel. Look at verse 10. Jesus answered him, speaking of Nicodemus, you are the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things.

Nicodemus is the teacher. He's who other Pharisees look to. He's the teacher. He would have been the best of the best. He would have had the Torah, the Tanakh memorized, the 300 and something prophecies of the coming Messiah.

He'd be able to just give them to you.

No problem.

Book, chapter, and verse. Best of the best. He would have been held in high regards among his peers. And as a Pharisee, he would have held to the written word, but also to the oral interpretation, to the spiritual, meaning angels and demons, as well as the resurrection of the dead.

He would have held to the strictest obedience to the law. Jesus, in Matthew 23, 23, says of the Pharisees, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you tithe mint, dill, and cumin. This mint, dill, and cumin would have been the smallest herbs in a garden crop.

Imagine if they had mint, dill, and cumin on their plate. They had ten. They would move one aside for the Lord. They would only eat nine. What they would do with that one, I'm not sure. You would tithe mint, dill, and cumin.

They held to the strictest form of the law. Ten percent of everything. Of course, they were not taking care.

Of their parents.

They were giving it all to the Lord. In Matthew 23, Jesus calls them, speaking of the Pharisees, hypocrites, blind gods, blind fools, blind men, whitewashed tombs.

They were full of hypocrisy.

And lawlessness. Who held to the strictest form of the law. He said, then you break the law. He says, you serpents, you brood of vipers. He tells them they're nothing but a den of snakes. Jesus says to them, how shall you escape from hell?

Nicodemus was part of this group. Notice in verse one, and speaking about Nicodemus, it calls him a man. Now there was a man of the Pharisees. Our writer, John, does not say this about Jesus. He says this about John the Baptist.

Remember verse six of chapter one? There was a man sent from God whose name was John. Pointing out that this is just a man. This is not the son of man. This is not the son of God. This is not the word that becomes flesh.

This teacher of the Jews is a man. Look at verse 2a. And this man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, the Jewish day began at sundown. The daytime divisions divided into 12 seasonal hours. But the day division of hours were focused on the schedule of the Tammuz sacrifice.

The 12th hour was 6 p .m. through sundown. Sundown meaning night. And it marks the new day. Their daytime would have been filled with temple services and sacrifices. It would have almost been impossible to have a conversation with Jesus for any period of time during the daylight hours because of the temple services and sacrifices.

Coming to Jesus at night would have more likely been Nicodemus' only opportunity to approach Jesus for any length of time. Coming to Jesus by night meant that he came to him at the beginning of a new day.

It was more like their rest period. Now, there was times during this where there was certain prayers that had to be prayed. There was nothing sneaky going on here for Nicodemus. He's not sneaking away from the other Pharisees so he can creep up on Jesus by night.

It's just telling us that it was the beginning of a new day. When you open the Bible and you read in Genesis 1, it lines out the Jewish day for you. There was evening first, then morning, the first day.

Evening first, then morning, the second day. Evening first, then morning, the third day. So on and so forth. Even now, their days start in the evenings. Our one day, their one day would be like two days for us.

There's nothing sneaky going on here at all. This is actually just pointing us back to the days that they observe. Evening first, and then morning. Go back to verse 2. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher that comes from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.

Now, Nicodemus, a Pharisee, was a rabbi. And here we have a Pharisee rabbi calling Jesus rabbi. And so far, there seems to be no indication that we can read so far in the text, this is still early in Jesus' ministry, there seems to be no indication that he actually sat down and listened to him teach.

He more likely has heard Jesus say a few things, probably read scripture, but not actually like his disciples sit under him and teach. And yet he calls him rabbi, a teacher that comes from God. I try to be real careful on who I point out as a good teacher, right?

You can listen to one or two messages from someone.

And, you know, they might say,.

Okay, this is pretty good.

And then, you know,.

As you walk through and listen to them, you're like, okay. The veil has been opened, right? The curtain's open, I see the wizard. That sneaky little guy. He acknowledges that he was a rabbi and that he comes from God.

The question that needs to be answered is, why does he believe that Jesus comes from God? And it answers for us in verse 2. Verse 2c. Right there at the end, it says, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.

Now, we've seen this last week. Verse 23 of chapter 2. Look at verse 23 of chapter 2. Now, when Jesus was in Jerusalem at the Passover feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing.

After seeing the signs they believed, Nicodemus says, for no one can do these signs. Rabbi, let's go back a little bit. Rabbi, we know that you're our teacher from God. For no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.

They know that he comes from God because of the signs. Take notice that this generation of Jews would have never seen signs and wonders. This generation of Jews had not seen a prophet until the coming of John the Baptist.

Before John the Baptist, there was silence in Israel for 400 years. 400 years. No prophet. God stopped speaking to them in that way. After 400 years of silence, a prophet shows up in the wilderness. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Remember John's message. And then a teacher sent from God who is able to perform signs and wonders. They believe because of the signs, not because of the message. Go back to chapter 2, verse 23 again.

Now when he, speaking of Jesus, was in Jerusalem at the Passover feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus, on his part, did not entrust himself to them because he knew what was in all people.

Depravity, right? And needed no one to bear witness about him for he knew what was in them. Jesus came that we may have life in his name, but this life in his name is given through the message of what he has done, not through miracles, not through signs and wonders.

What you win them with is what you have to keep them with.

Right?

It's the message. Why are you here today? Why are you gathered here today to listen to me?

A nobody.

A nobody with a message. Not because I can pull rabbits out of hats. Not because I can make lame people walk or anything like that. We don't attempt to. Because that's not what keeps people. What keeps them is the message.

The gospel message. That although we be dead in our trespasses and sins, we were made alive because of what God has done reconciling the world to himself, sending his only begotten son who lived the life that we could not live and took the punishment that we deserve.

That he was buried. That he was crucified, buried and rose on the third day. And that right now, as we speak, he's in heaven on the throne of David, at the right hand of God, ruling and reigning on earth.

That's the message. That's what keeps them. That's what keeps you and I. That's why you're gathered here today. Not because I can perform a miracle. If you believe in Jesus because he performed a miracle, you're here for the wrong reasons.

We're here today to hear God speak through his word. And I believe churches in our day should take heed to this warning we see in Scripture. So many want Acts 2 .43 without Acts 2 .42. Turn with me to the book of Acts.

Don't read 2 .42. Let's read 2 .43. Acts 2 .43. And all came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. They were seeing wonders and signs being done through the apostles.

And that's what churches want today. They want to be somewhere where all has come and many wonders and signs are being performed. But they really don't care about Acts 2 .42. Look at this one. And they devoted themselves to the teachings of the apostles and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayer.

They devoted themselves to a man standing in front of them with a book explaining what the book says. They devoted themselves to one another in fellowship and prayer, to sitting around a table and having a meal with one another.

This is what they devoted themselves to. If you ask me, the all wonders and signs don't come unless Acts 2 .43 doesn't happen, unless Acts 2 .42 has taken place. Everyone wants to perform or see signs, but few want to devote themselves to the teaching.

Ladies and gentlemen, the word of God has something to say. And what the word of God says matters more than what we see with our eyes. Look back at our chapter, John 3. Jesus responds to Nicodemus in verse 3.

Jesus answered him, "'Truly, truly, I say to you.'". Who's he speaking to? The teacher of Israel. "'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.'". Now whatever this kingdom is, and we'll focus in on the kingdom next week, but whatever this kingdom of God may be, the text clearly is clear that unless one is born again, born from above, something happens to him, he cannot, whatever the kingdom is, he cannot see it.

Unless something supernatural happens to him, unless God in heaven intervenes in time, unless he has sprinkled you with clean water, unless he has removed your heart of stone and given you a heart of flesh, unless he has given you his spirit, unless he has put his spirit in you, you will not obey the word of God.

You cannot see with your eyes. Imagine, with your eyes, visually, you cannot see with your eyes what God is doing, the kingdom of God. Something has to happen first. Someone has to awaken the dead spirit within us.

Regeneration, Election, and the Sovereignty of God

1 Peter 3 .1 says this, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again. He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

It's through the message. What message? The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 1 Peter 1 .23. Since you have been born again, not by imperishable seed, but imperishable seed, through the living and abiding word of God.

How are we born again? Through the word of God, through the message. 1 John 5 .1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born again. Normally we stop there. And everyone who loves the Father loves everyone who has been born of him.

Oh, church, how we fell at that. If you believe that Jesus is the Christ, it says you have been born of God. Now, love those who are born of God. Titus 3 .5. He has saved us. Let me say that again. He has, past tense, he has saved us.

He's speaking to the believer. He has saved us.

How?

Not by works done by us in righteousness. You're not saved by your righteous works. He has saved us not by works done in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing and regeneration, the renewal of the Holy Spirit.

Our catechism that we read today, Catechism Question 8. It says, are we so corrupt that we're not at all able to do well? Are we prone to all vices? Answer, indeed. Yeah, indeed. We are, except we are regenerated by the Holy Spirit.

How's that happen?

Through the message. Through the message, the washing and regeneration, the renewal of the Holy Spirit.

If that don't happen,.

You are dead in your trespasses and sins. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Let's read that again. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is right now, is a new creation.

The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come.

What's regeneration?

Regeneration must precede faith and faith must be followed by repentance. The last one takes us back to the gospel that we're in. John chapter 1, verses 12 through 13. We walk through this. We expound on this, it says, but to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.

That's going to tell you how this happens. Who were born not of blood, not of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Unless God himself gives us faith to believe in him, we will not believe.

This is why unconditional election must be true. It must be true because we are born dead in our sins, deserving death, deserving the paycheck. My conclusion is this and I'll end with it. There was a famous theologian preacher by the name of George Whitefield.

He was approached by a woman one day who said to him, why do you keep on saying you must be born again? He responds to her, because you must be born again.

How profound.

You must be born again. And yet we don't call man to be born again because we can't perform this act. This is a sovereign hand of God act. Many preachers throughout church history have said these words, but very few explain what it means to be born again.

Now how can you be sure that you have been born again, right? That's the question. The answer is simple. Do you believe? If you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God, you have life in his name.

You've been born again. You went from not believing to believing. And therefore, if you have went from not believing to believing, you have life in his name, you have been born again. It's that simple.

It's that simple. If you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God, you have life in his name, and therefore you have been born again. You have been regenerated, given faith, and repentance is following your life.

And so I pray this day that every one of us believes. And we'll pick back up on this next week. I'm available to anyone who wants to talk. Pastor Cal as well. Let's pray. Glorious God in heaven, Lord.

It is always a joy to stand behind this pulpit and proclaim to this, to your people, your glorious word. Concerning this wonderful doctrine of regeneration. Lord, we just pray that you will give us understanding, a greater understanding, Lord, of why this must happen this way.

Lord, we do pray for your grace and for your mercy to be upon us and our understanding and the lives that we live. And Lord, that you protect us from evil, whether that be from Satan or from our own evil desires, Lord.

Help us to live for you. And we know that you have given us the supper as a way of growing us in holiness. That our meeting here today is for a purpose. It's to be under your word. And that under those that have been baptized, that are under your word and partake in this meal, that you use this in our lives to grow us closer to you.

And so I pray right now for the meal, this supper, Lord, that you bless it and that you use it in our lives. And I pray this in the name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.