Loving God Under Trials: Part 3

Redeeming Grace Church

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here, in the book of James. And I have one text today, verse 18,

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I'd like for you to turn with me there please as we continue this wonderful study. I hope this has been a profitable study.

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It's interesting too that in the divine order, the Holy Spirit is, James is writing this.

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If you notice last week in verse 17, we looked at, well the past two weeks, we looked at every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, it comes from God, right?

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Not from us, not from below, it's not on this earth, it comes from God. God is the source of every good and every perfect gift, those are separate, and it comes from God, the

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Father of Lights. He is a Father of Lights, just not a

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God who is out there taking care of a universe that He created, which He is,

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He upholds by the word of His power, but He's concerned about the crown of His creation. And He blesses and He gives,

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He's a giving God, isn't He? He gave His only begotten son. And then scripture says, with whom there's no variation or shadow of attorney, meaning

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He's immutable, He doesn't change. And then it stops right there, and notice in verse 18, of His own will,

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He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruit of His creatures.

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You notice where the change must take place? It's in us. So we're going to look at that today, and as God would speak to us from this one verse of scripture that is really loaded up, again, all scriptures is loaded, you know, how can

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I say just this scripture, but it's all scripture. All scripture is by inspiration of God.

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Amen? Every verse, every jot, every tittle, all of it's divine. So every word of God's pure is, the psalmist says.

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So let's pray this morning as the Lord would have us to depend on Him as He would speak to us through His word.

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Father in heaven, we thank you for your blessed

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Holy Spirit. We must have the

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Spirit of the living God breathing upon us this morning. All would be vain unless your Spirit does the supernatural work.

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It is supernatural, it's not natural. We can do the natural, but only you can do the supernatural.

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We can move the stone away, but only you can raise the dead. Father, you are the one that does the great and mighty things, the impossible things that we cannot do.

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We are commanded to do the possible, but Lord, you do the impossible. You do the things we cannot do.

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So Father, we need the light of the truth this morning, as well as the heat, as the

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Puritans prayed. Father, we need the anointing oil of you to be poured out upon us in order for us to see with our eyes.

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You must open them. In order for us to understand with our minds, you must open our understanding.

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In order for us to hear with our ears, truly, spiritually, we must,

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Father, we must give this to you and know that only you can unstop them.

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All this we cannot do, Father, unless your Holy Spirit does the work. So Father, we do come in humility this morning and we ask you,

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Lord, to reveal to us who you truly are and who we truly are through your word.

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As your blessed word says, Lord, I cannot help but think of the apostle Paul's words by the

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Spirit, the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God. He does not receive them.

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Why? Because they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them. Why? Because they are spiritually discerned.

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So Father, help us to keep that before us. So Lord, it is only through your divine illumination of your word, your blessed

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Holy Spirit, that gives us the capacity to even discern divine truth, which the spiritually dead are unable to comprehend.

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So Father, I pray this morning, on this wonderful Lord's Day morning, that we look to you and your blessed

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Holy Spirit through your word to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Oh, that we would see

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Jesus and we ask this in his mighty name, amen. Well in this wonderful verse before us, the apostle

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James adds another piece of evidence in those verses previously from verse 13 through 17, that God is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for our temptation, much less our sin.

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Namely, proof from the nature of regeneration itself.

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And that's what he's speaking of. There is a divine order here, as I briefly mentioned a minute ago, that God is unchangeable, but the change must take place in us.

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Now what I love about scripture is, in verse 18, he specifically tells us, this is how it happens.

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This is how a change takes place. And it is God that does the changing.

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God is unchangeable in his nature, and he's immutable, but it is God that changes us, the sinful creatures.

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So that's what he's saying. And there's a lot here before us, and I've broken this up, but we also need to keep in mind that's the perspective in the context of everything that has been previously said.

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So regeneration is what happens. Our nature must be changed.

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Our spirit must be changed. There must be a serious transformation that takes place.

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In other words, new life must be imparted by the supernatural power of God.

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There's not reformation or turning a leaf over, even though in conversion, repentance takes place.

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We're going to look at the difference there. There's a difference between repentance. Even though repentance is a gift from God, no one can repent of their own power.

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It's granted. It must be granted from God. But it is us that does the repenting, that's conversion.

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But only regeneration is all of God. That's what God does.

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New life that is imparted, that gives to those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

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And is really, they become godly, they become holy, they become

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Christ -like. That's what happens. They are born unto holiness, will become partakers of his divine nature.

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That's what scripture says. Of his holiness. It is the very life of God in the soul of man.

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I like an illustration that James Boyce talked about, about the nature of a lion, versus the nature of a lamb.

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The nature of a lamb is really kind of, they're humble type of creatures in a sense.

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They don't have an aggressive nature, do they? They're vegetarians.

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They don't eat meat, even though, yes, they're fearful, and even though a goat could have a different nature.

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And I think that's why there's differences that's told about the nature of a goat versus the nature of a sheep.

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But take the nature of a lion, for instance. And Boyce talked about this, about how the supernatural impartation of the spirit of God that's given to us, and the spirit of God enters and resonates and resigns,

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I should say, within us, comes within us, a change takes place.

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Our nature is changed. But the nature of a lion, you cannot change that nature of a lion.

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Only God could do that, right? And one day, that's going to happen. Isn't that great?

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Wouldn't it be wonderful to see a lion sitting right beside a lamb? That lion looks at that lamb and says,

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I don't care about eating you, but right now, he'd be a good snack. Why?

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Because the nature of that lion is aggressive. The nature of that lion desires, he's a carnivore, he desires meat.

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But who can change the nature of that lion? If you look at nature in itself, it teaches us so much, doesn't it?

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About the fallenness of our creaturehood. It teaches us.

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But see, only by the new birth, a believer is recreated. That's what I'm talking about. Scripture says so much about this, so we're going to scratch the surface, and I don't want to take too long on this, but I want to just hit some highlights.

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But being recreated, it means that we're born from above, as James says, that every good and perfect gift comes from above.

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So we can honestly say that being born again is a gift from God, from above.

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It's not something that we can work up or do within ourselves. We cannot make ourselves born again.

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And we're going to look at that. Born from above by the Holy Spirit, by the

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Holy Spirit of God. And I want to emphasize that. That's what we're going to look at. It's by the

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Holy Spirit, given a completely new nature, that's what we need, right?

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A new nature that has no part of sin or evil. And that's what

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James is referring to. So what does he say in verse 15?

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Back it up. It is our own lust that begets, what? Death.

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It is the Spirit of God, but the gift of God in Jesus Christ that begets life.

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The right opposite. Because fallen man's problem is not external.

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His problem is internal. You notice the world about us.

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They look at the externals. You know, racism isn't to just skin color, is it?

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We know better. The core of racism, and racism technically is hate.

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So where does hate come from? It comes within. That's why the answers to society and people is not political or external.

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And you all know this. As children of the living God, the problem isn't a skin color, it is a heart problem.

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You see what I'm saying? It's not white, yellow, black, purple, yellow, whatever color

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God made people. It is the heart that's desperately wicked. That's why the gospel is the only solution and the answer.

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Fallen man's problem is internal. And the solution to this problem is internal.

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That's where we got to go, beloved. Anytime we present the gospel, Jesus always aimed for the heart.

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He took the truth to the heart. And He was a man full of the

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Holy Spirit, even though He was God. He did this in the power of the

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Holy Spirit. Let me go on and say this. There's no external ritual, no external ceremony, riot, profession, or even action that can change the basic evil nature of the wicked heart.

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He cannot become righteous by trying to get or act righteously or talk righteously.

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There's a lot of people who can talk the talk. They can give you the literature. They can give you the scriptures.

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I've known people that can quote this Bible much better than I can.

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And yet, their soul is just as lost as could be. They play church.

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They can talk the talk, but they do not walk the walk. The person needs an entirely new heart.

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That's what I'm talking about. A new nature, a new being must be recreated.

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Twice born, right? Twice born. He needs to be recreated and changed from within.

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And from His old nature of sin and death to a new nature of holiness and life.

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For without holiness, no man will see the Lord. I remember my uncle years ago, one of the first messages he preached.

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And he was very instrumental in bringing me to Christ. He didn't bring me to Christ. The Holy Spirit brought me to Christ, but he was instrumental.

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We are basically instruments. Vessels that God uses to give

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His word. And I never will forget, he preached on, you must be born again.

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And it was a time, I never will forget it. I was sitting by myself. I was about 17 years old.

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Went to this camp meeting. Went to hear him right after he was born again and saved. And he got up and preached from John chapter 3 about Nicodemus.

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We're going to look at that today. God got a hold of me. The Holy Spirit spoke to me and said,

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David, you must be born again. I wasn't looking at other people. God got a hold of me.

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You're the man. Yeah, amen. I'm the man. And before that, it's interesting that my uncle,

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I never will forget this. It was a dusky night, it was getting dark, and he was burning a heap of tires, a huge heap of tires.

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And I don't know if you've ever been around a tire fire. It is extremely hot. And he took the opportunity of a physical situation like that and told me about hellfire.

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And it was real to me. And that's what he, he knew what he was doing. And God helped him.

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As I was feeling the heat, and I felt like I was getting sunburned or heat burned from the fire, and it was from a far, far distance.

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And I could see the fire just rolling on the tires. And he was thinking about souls.

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He said this, right now, people are burning in hell with a heat that's more extreme than that.

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And I sit there and I thought, wow. And they can't get out? And he said, they can't get out.

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There's no second chances for them. He said, but you've got a chance, you can repent. That's what he told me.

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And I said, and then he said, even good people, he says, even good people go to hell. And I thought, what in the world is he talking about, good people?

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The Holy Spirit let me know that. There's none good, no, not one. And he took that opportunity and he witnessed to me, and then later on, he preached from John 3.

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And then I went home and read, out of all things, the book of Revelation. And I didn't understand most of everything

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I was reading until I got to chapter 20, I believe. Talked about the great white throne judgment.

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And there was a fear of God that came in me, and I fell on my face, and I fell on my knees.

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And I never will forget this, I had a walk -in closet. And I went into the walk -in closet, because I read somewhere that Jesus says, when you enter and you go to prayer, enter your closet.

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And so I went into my closet, and it was dark. And I fell on my knees and I prayed, but you know, internally,

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God brought the light on. I can't explain it, but something supernatural took place.

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And that's part of my testimony. But later on, my uncle preached other sermons like holiness or hell.

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And I never will forget this, and it's sad to say he later on got into some false prosperity teaching and stuff.

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But the Lord knows how to take care of all that. He's with the Lord now. I really believe he was converted.

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When people fall into error, God can straighten those things out. But he was changed.

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He was a changed man. I never will forget this, and there's another, just let me throw this in very quickly, another proof of his change.

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He collected for years upon years when he lived as a heathen, and I mean a heathen, with the

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Georgia Power Company, and he would brag about his heathen ways. He was so ashamed of those things when he came to Christ.

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And he had an outbuilding, and this is back before the internet, okay? And he had an outbuilding, and he collected

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Playboy and Penthouse books. I am not lying to you. He had literally hundreds, possibly thousands of them.

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And that big fire that he did, guess where he put those books? He burned every one of them, incinerated them.

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That tells me something about the change in that man's life. But he had battles, of course, later on, but that tells me, man,

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God changed him. And I thank God that God used him. He was my spiritual father to use him, but the

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Holy Spirit did the work, beloved. And that's what we're talking about. God uses people. And what

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I'm saying is, it's the Holy Spirit that takes the Word of God, and we're going to look a lot into this. So James answers four questions about regeneration.

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The new birth that sheds light on the proof that God is not responsible for our temptations or for the sins that result from succumbing to them.

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Rather, that God is responsible for something else. He's responsible for the good and the righteous things that happen, see.

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All the bad, we can say it's us, it's our sin. All the good is what

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God does. And this is what God does. Let's look at four points this morning, and I cannot take credit,

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I wished I could, of this outline, but this is Pastor John MacArthur. I read a lot of his commentary, and I said, this is a very good outline, so I'm going to use it.

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So if he was sitting in here today, which I would be very intimidated, but I'm glad he's not. Being a veteran preacher, you know, other preachers are harder on the preachers.

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But anyway, I would do what I could, anyway, by God, because it's unto the Lord, right? But if he was here,

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I'd give credit where credit's due, that's what I'm saying. This is his outline. First of all, who does it?

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It's of his own will. Second, what is it? He brought us forth.

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Third, how does it happen? By the word of truth. Fourth, why is it done that we might be a kind of first fruits of his creatures?

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So there's your outline. I said, I think that's good enough to preach from, so I'm going to do it.

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So when we look at some practical, and then we look at some practical applications, and I'll try my best not to keep you too long.

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James, verse 17, again, God's unchangeable. Verse 18, the change must be within us.

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We must be born again. So who does it? Who does it? Of his own will.

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Of his own will. Amen. It's God's will that we are born from above.

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The New American Standard version I like, it says, it adds a little word to it I like, and they say the

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New American Standard translation is a little closer to the original Hebrew and Greek, but it says, in the exercise of his will, the exercise of his will, of his own will, the

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New King James, but I like that word own. It is God's will, and it is his desire.

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Anytime you see where it's the will of God, you can always also put the word desire there, because the will is actually his desire.

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So regeneration is the act of God, right? It is holy, the act of God, the Father of lights.

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It's accomplished in the exercise of God's will. Through his sovereign will,

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God washes, what does he do? He washes away our sin. He grants to us eternal life.

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He grants forgiveness. He pardons us. He gives us an inheritance from above.

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But the beauty of the new birth is that he plants within us new life.

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He plants it like a seed, and the seed is the word of God.

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It germinates, and Jesus talked about this in the parable of the soils.

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I think there's some call it the parable of the sower or the parable of the soils.

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I think it would be proper to say of the soils, because it's really about the ground.

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The ground represents the heart, and you know what happens. Sometimes the seed falls, and it falls on hard ground.

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It's burned up by the sun, and it doesn't take root. But when it takes root in good ground,

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I don't know how many grounds there is, I think I'm going to say three. Three, I believe.

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But only one takes, four, okay, there's four. Only one takes into good ground.

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So look at that, you got three, that's not good, right? One takes. A complete different nature must take within each person to trust in the

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Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. He even takes, what

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I love about when you read Scripture, this is really incredible, but it happens.

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It's just not something, I would say, external. It is faith that's outside of us.

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But when God comes, we think a lot of times it's by our choosing.

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I like what A .W. Pink says, it's not by me giving my heart to God, it's by God giving.

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You see what I'm saying? Christianity is not something I do, it's something

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God has done and is doing. When we see that, we say, oh, he's the source.

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Salvation is of the Lord. And God takes up residence within us.

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It's Christ in you, the hope of glory. And that makes the difference.

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In other words, his Holy Spirit indwells within us. John 14, 17, this is not

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Pastor David, this is Jesus. He says, the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive.

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You get that? Again, they cannot receive.

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They're not capable of it. Because neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him.

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For he dwells within you. He dwells within you and will be in you.

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Isn't that beautiful? Because he's not only with us, he's in us. You notice you don't see this, really, in the

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Old Testament. God comes upon people in the Old Testament. You notice when

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Samson became powerfully strong, it said every time the spirit of the Lord came upon him.

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You see, it didn't say it came in him. We don't see the Holy Spirit coming within until after Jesus is risen from the dead.

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He goes to the Father. He sends the Spirit. He called it the promise of the

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Father. But it's Christ who sends the Spirit. You know what that tells us?

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It tells us that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are all three in one. You see that? The Godhead.

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But that's a wonderful verse. Paul the Apostle in Romans 8 and 9, but you are not in the flesh but the

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Spirit. If indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.

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And then he says this, now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, notice that the

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Spirit of Christ is the Holy Spirit, he is not his. How much black and white can you get?

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In other words, if the Spirit of God does not dwell within you, then you're not a child of God.

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That seems pretty simple, but that's the way the Scripture says it. Now, through the prophet

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Ezekiel, he gives us a promise of this. This is actually what we're going to in John chapter 3.

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This is what Jesus was referring to, to Nicodemus. You should know these things. Jesus was talking about Ezekiel and Jeremiah.

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Let's look at Ezekiel chapter 36 very quickly. Ezekiel 36 tells us a little bit about this, but it is the promise of the new covenant, but it's the promise of the new birth.

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Chapter 36, just a couple of verses. We're going to jump around here. Wonderful, wonderful verse of Scripture.

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Notice what he says. Verse 25. Let me back up a little bit.

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Let's look at verse 22. Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God. In other words, that authority,

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God's talking, okay? I do not do this for your sake.

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I love this. O house of Israel, but for my holy name's sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went.

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Wow, God is so merciful, isn't he? They profaned the name of the Lord, but notice what he says.

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Verse 23. I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst.

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And the nations shall know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God, when I am hallowed in you before their eyes.

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For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land.

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Verse 25. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you. Don't you love that analogy there, the clean water?

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You shall be clean. You shall be clean. I will cleanse you from all of your filthiness.

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This is what God does, folks. And from all your idols. He takes care of the idols too.

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Verse 26. I will give you. Notice who's doing the giving. I'm not giving my heart. God is doing something.

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I will give you a new heart. And notice what he says.

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And put a new spirit within you, and I will take the heart of stone.

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There's an operation going on here. He is the divine surgeon, beloved. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh, and I give you a heart of flesh.

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God does the giving. A heart of flesh is something supernatural. In other words, he melts it.

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He gives us a completely different heart. A heart that is broken and humble and contrite.

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Verse 27. I will put my spirit within you. Notice this. God puts his spirit.

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And notice how I love that word, calls. Don't you? And calls you to walk in my... In other words, you're not the one that's causing it.

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It is God that causes it. To walk in my statutes, and you will keep my judgments and do them.

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Even obedience. The Holy Spirit helps us in that. And then he goes on to say in verse 28.

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And then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers. You shall be my people, and I will be your

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God. I will deliver you from all of your uncleanness. So there you have it. There's the promise of the new birth, beloved.

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That's what Jesus is referring to. Nicodemus, you should know these things. New birth is solely an act of God.

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God is the one that does the choosing. He's the one that does the operating. By his own will, and the exercise of his will.

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This expresses the idea. I got this from a definition. Of the deliberate and specific exercise of volition.

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Not our volition. God's volition. God's will.

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God does the work. As we put our trust in him. And I always...

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I used to think... Okay, I put my trust in God. It's grace that gives us the power to put our trust in God.

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You know, I always look to the source. I used to think... Okay, it's my will that I'm choosing. But then

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I read scripture. You did not choose me. But I chose you. God shot me down every time.

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I would think... Okay, it's my faith. And then I read in scripture. Faith is a gift. You know, we'll be looking at that in Ephesians.

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It says, For by grace you are saved through faith and that not of yourselves. You know, you read that in context.

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Grace. It's not only the grace by divine favor. But what Paul is saying is...

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It's not only that, but it is faith that God gives to us. Repentance is a gift.

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And you start looking at it. There's nothing that we do here that makes salvation happen.

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It's God by His own will. It is wonderful, isn't it?

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So we can say all glory belongs to God. It's not something we do. It's something

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God has done. And He does. Supernaturally. We'll look at this in a minute, but Paul refers about the dead.

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The phrase is also in the emphatic position of the Greek. In other words, in the emphatic

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Greek means reinforcing the truth that God's sovereign and uninfluenced will is the divine source and basis of new life from above.

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That's the source. It's God. You know, you can't explain nothing else when you look at when

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Jesus was dying between two thieves. What was causing what was causing,

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I should say, that one thief to fear God. He even rebuked the other thief and said, don't you know, you don't even fear

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God. And then he cried out to Jesus and he said, Lord. He called

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Him Lord. No one can call Jesus Lord except by what? The Holy Spirit.

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That is the greatest example right there about Lordship. And J .C.

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Rowell says that this man right here that was repenting and in his last breathing was

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Christ's greatest trophy. What a wonderful thing. Study that.

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Study that. It was the sovereign power of God that was drawing that one thief on his last minutes to come to Christ.

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You see that? It was the power of the Holy Spirit upon him doing the work only by an act of God.

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So regeneration could only happen by the sovereign will and power of God. God is the source and God is the giver of spiritual life.

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People are dead in trespasses of their sins. They're walking like they're walking around.

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We know this, don't we? But they're like zombies. You ever wonder, you know, those popular shows and stuff.

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I didn't care about watching all this trash but all the walking zombies series and stuff.

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It's interesting that these zombies like these zombies, you know, because they're walking zombies. I guess they can resonate with zombies because they're dead.

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That's right. They're dead men walking, you know. So it became a popular thing. And I said, how could something like this become popular?

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Yeah, the dead watches the dead and the dead likes the dead. And I guess they want to be with the dead and stuff.

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It's sad, isn't it? But at the same time, we understand. That's why Miss Lillian is over here chuckling. Because we understand.

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We want to be in the land of the valley of the shadow of death, right? Remember the

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Demontiacs. Amen, that's right. The Demontiacs, a perfect, a perfect illustration.

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After Jesus even did a work there. You remember the story.

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Jesus cast all the legions of demons out and they went into the pigs, the herd of pigs. Then people got more upset about the pigs than this man being healed.

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You read that story. Walking dead. We live in the dead, where dead is.

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Dead bones everywhere, right? And we know the only thing that can bring dead bones to life, the

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Spirit of the living God through the Word of God. The Spirit of the living God through the Word of God. The Spirit of the living God through the

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Word of God. I have to keep saying that to myself a lot because a lot of times we get out there even witnessing.

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We're thinking, if I could just say the right word. If I could just do the right thing. Folks, if we can just put our faces on the ground and say,

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God, you do it. You see? It is God that does it. The sovereignty of God even in evangelism.

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Amen, that God would breathe on them. And then a lot of times a person will come back to you. And I had this happen.

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And let me give you, and this is not me, folks. I'm giving glory to God in this. And that one lady,

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Sherry and Linda saw, Jeanette, right there in the hospital. And I needed to get in contact with her because she lost her husband to suicide.

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But did you know when she was living in immorality, when I was first born again,

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I was memorizing Scripture. And I kept speaking out verbally.

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I didn't know she was paying that kind of close attention. She was living,

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I'm talking about with open immorality, going to church, raising her hands, saying amen.

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And then she was living in fornication with my cousin. Okay? And let me tell you what happened.

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I kept quoting Galatians 2 .20.

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I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, it's not me. I'm dead with Christ.

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Nevertheless, it's not me that lives, but it's Christ in me. And the life I live now in the flesh,

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I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. And I kept saying that, and I kept saying that.

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And I didn't know this until years down the road. And she came to me and she said, you know something? And she had tears in her eyes.

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She said, you know, you didn't know this, but when you were saying those words, I knew

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I was not crucified with Christ. I said, wow, I didn't know that.

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In other words, I mean, I didn't know that God was dealing with you like that. I was just saying the words.

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See what I'm saying? A lot of times God... I've had this happen. You might have had it happen to you.

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That's just one illustration. I'll be having a conversation with another

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Christian, and then somebody over here, we've got a watching world, folks, and a listening world that's listening to you.

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And I've had people come up to me and say, hey, I was hearing you out over there, what you were talking about.

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Yeah, and they were saying, you know, what you were talking about, about the new birth or God or who

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God is. Tell me about it. You see what I'm saying? We don't realize that people are watching us and listening to us.

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So that's why we walk circumspectly. We better watch our step. Lord, help us to be like Jesus.

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Well, getting back to it, the dead have no awareness of understanding sin, do they?

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They have no desire to turn from it. They have no power or resources to change if they wanted to.

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You know, that's what it says in John. Go with me very quickly to John 1. And then we'll go to John 3.

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But look at John 1. We're talking about His own will. Look at verse 12.

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You know where I'm going. But as many as received

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Him, who does the work here? Look at this. To them...

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There it is. He gave. See, God's the one that gives.

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He gave the right, or there's another word, the authority or the power to become children of God to those who believe in His name.

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Now, a lot of people stop right there and say, hold on now. They're doing the believing. How can a person believe?

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We're going to look at that in a minute. Verse 13. Who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

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You know, I read that, and I'm thinking, how much plainer can you make it? The divine side of salvation ultimately is not a man's will that produces salvation, but it's

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God's will. Period. God does the work. Jump with me to John chapter 3.

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Here it is. I tell you what, I would recommend anybody, and even to this day,

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I hear over and over and over, John 3. I can't get enough John 3. Yes.

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You know, John 3 teaches us so much. Jesus the Master here.

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Out of all people, he's witnessing to a Pharisee. Verse 1.

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There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus. That's his name. We're introduced to him.

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Interested that the word, the verse previous before that in verse 25 chapter 2. Notice what

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Jesus says. Look at the verse. But Jesus did not commit himself to them, to talk about men, because he knew all men. And had no need anyone should testify of man, for he knew what was in man.

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And here we are. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus. Now, isn't that interesting?

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Those verses... That's not accidental. He was the professor of theology of that day.

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He was supposedly the studious Jew that knew theology.

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Yes, he was a ruler of the Jews. He's just not a Jew. He's a ruler. This man comes to Jesus by night.

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He says to him, Rabbi, that means master, teacher. Notice what he's doing.

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He said, We know... He's talking to Jesus. We know that you are a teacher come from God.

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Boy, you made a mistake right there. For no one... Amen. No one could be...

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No one could do these signs. Notice he goes to signs. That's what the Jews like. They like these signs.

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That you do unless God is with him. He sounds smart, doesn't he?

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But you know something? Jesus didn't bat an eye. Jesus didn't take in flattery.

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Jesus answered and said to him, Most assuredly, or verily, verily. In other words, amen and amen. I say to you,

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Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Now, take notice.

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First, Jesus says he cannot see the kingdom of God. And then, he revisits this in a few minutes.

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Notice in verse 4, Nicodemus said to him. So now he's got questions. I think Nicodemus kind of knew.

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It was a rebuke. It was. Yeah, that's it. How can a man be born when he's old?

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He's thinking natural. It's really comical, isn't it? He's thinking, What in the world?

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How can he be born when he's old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb? Be born?

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It's ludicrous, really. Jesus answered. You know,

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Jesus could easily say, Nicodemus, you just don't get it, do you? But really, in essence, that's what it was being said.

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Nicodemus didn't get it. He's in the flesh. He's naturally speaking. Jesus says again,

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Most assuredly. When Jesus says that, it's important. Verily, verily. Amen, amen.

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I say to you, Unless one is born of water and of the

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Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

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First, Jesus says, See the kingdom of God. Then he says, Enter into it. Verse six.

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That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel.

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In other words, don't be surprised that I said to you, You must be born again.

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Isn't that beautiful? Must, must, must. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it goes.

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So is everyone who is born of the Spirit. You know, that says so much, doesn't it?

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MacArthur says, Of the born of the water and the Spirit, Jesus is referred not to literal water here, but of the need for cleansing.

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That's referred to, that we looked at in Ezekiel 36. So he goes on to say,

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When water is used figuratively in the Old Testament, he habitually refers to renewal or spiritual cleansing, especially when used in conjunction with the

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Spirit. Then he says this, and there's numerous scriptures he gives on this. Thus Jesus made, this is

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MacArthur, Jesus made reference to the spiritual washing or purification of the soul, accomplished only by the

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Holy Spirit through the Word of God at the moment of salvation, required for belonging to His kingdom.

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Isn't that wonderful what God does? Only God can do this? Inner cleansing.

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You know, there's so much I could go on to talk about here, but you know, no child has ever been born into the world by his own will.

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Did you know, we did not come into this world by our own will, physically. It had to be from a desire.

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Desire of mom and papa. Desire takes place. Then there's intimacy.

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Then there's seed. Then there's, see how it works, there's conception. Then there's gestation.

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Then there's birth. All completely out of its conscience and control, and not nothing we had to do with it.

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We had nothing to do with our birth. Nor do we have anything to do with our second birth.

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You see, that's what Jesus is saying. That's what He said, that which is born of the flesh is flesh.

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In other words, what He said, you look at your first birth, you had nothing to do with it. You didn't choose that.

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That which is born of the spirit is spirit. In other words, He's saying when you're twice born, you had nothing to do with your first born, being first born into the world, you don't have nothing to do with being twice born.

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That's what Jesus is saying. I doubt if Nicodemus got it, but he didn't. But if you go and read chapter 3,

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Nicodemus answered and said to Him, how can these things be? Jesus answered and said to him, are you a teacher of Israel and do not know these things?

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Most assuredly, I say to you, we speak that we know and we testify what we've seen and you do not receive our witness.

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And then He goes on to say, if I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

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Boy, Jesus knows how to really get right down to it, doesn't He? I mean, if I was physically walking alongside you,

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I'd just keep my mouth shut. I'd just be listening. And a lot of them did.

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You notice that Peter was the one always saying something. You notice Peter was always the one getting rebuked. Every time he opened his mouth, he got rebuked just about, except for maybe one time.

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And Jesus said that one time when He confessed that Jesus, who He really was, He said, flesh and blood didn't reveal that to you.

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My Father revealed that to you. So when He said something good, it was the Father.

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He did say one wise thing, though. That time when Jesus said, you're going to also go away, and Peter said, where are we going to go?

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Now, I will say, when He said something good there, you're the only one that has the words of eternal life.

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We're not going to go... In other words, we've counted the cost, we've forsaken all. Where else are we going to go?

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Well, praise God. What about Jeremiah 13, 23? Can the Ethiopian change his skin?

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Or can the leopard change his spots? Notice what the Word of God says. Then you also can do good who are accustomed to doing evil.

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In other words, that same prophet says something wonderful. Go to Jeremiah 31.

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I don't know if I'm going to be able to hit all these points. My goodness. I'm telling you.

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Here's the new covenant once again. Isn't it wonderful? You see one prophet, Ezekiel, talking about it, and then you've got another prophet talking about it.

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Guess why? Why? Because the same Holy Spirit that was breathing upon Ezekiel is the same Holy Spirit that was breathing upon Jeremiah.

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Yes. Yes, sir. The same God. Jeremiah 31, 31.

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This is one we all need to know by memory. Behold, the days are coming, says the

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Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand and led them out of the land of Egypt.

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My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord, but this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the

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Lord. I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts and I will be their

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God and they shall be my people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor and every man his brother, saying,

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Know the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the

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Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will remember no more.

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Isn't that wonderful? Now that's what it means to be a child of God. Right there. God does the work.

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It's all God's work. Well, you see this in Ephesians chapter...

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Jump to it with me in Ephesians. I don't want to jump to this. When I say jump, I'm not saying skip it.

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I'm saying go with me please. Ephesians chapter 1. Let's look at Ephesians chapter 1 very quickly.

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Then we're going to go to Ephesians 2. All that divine order. You know, it's all there placed perfectly.

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Just look very quickly at verses 4 and 5. These are the verses that should really... Look at verse 3.

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Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who is it? The source. Blessed God.

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Blessing God. Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

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In who? Christ. Verse 4. Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, set apart, and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Christ Jesus to Himself according to the good pleasure of...

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Whose will? His will. There you go. Tie that in with James.

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Of His own will. And who is it to? Verse 6. To the praise of the glory of His grace by which

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He made us accepted in the Beloved. Yeah, but Pastor, I did something.

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There was some cooperation I did. No, sir. I don't see that in Scripture. Yeah, but it says whosoever will.

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Right there I would say you're invited as a guest. That's it. An invitation is given to you.

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Many are called, but few are chosen. And right there you can take them that it is

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God that chooses. You see, God's not willing that any should perish, but that all comes to repentance.

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In other words, God takes no delight in the death of the wicked. He made a way. But everybody's invited.

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I don't have any problem with a whosoever will. You know what that tells us? God is desiring for people to come to repentance, and He commands all men,

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Paul said this, everywhere to repent. But does that mean everybody's going to repent? That's right.

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Amen. And then you can take them to Matthew chapter 7. There's two roads.

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There's two gates. There's only one way to heaven, and that's through Jesus Christ.

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You see, people get all mixed up. See what they do? They listen to these preachers, and they take in the interpretation of these preachers rather than studying the

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Word of God and saying it is the Word of God that does the work.

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Jeremiah 24 7, I will give them a heart to know Me, for I am the

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Lord, and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart.

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It's the Spirit of God that does the work. What about 2 Corinthians 5 17,

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Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature or a creation. Both works.

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Old things have passed away. And I love this word, behold.

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In other words, look. There's a new creation. Behold, all things have become new.

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All things. They said of D .L. Moody when he was born again, he said he didn't see the sun the same way he used to see it.

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He said when he started breathing air, he said, I didn't think of this, but even my breathing of my air and the sun, and when

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I looked at the stars, he said, everything became new. I said, amen. It's glorious, isn't it?

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It's glorious. Well, there's the power of regeneration. Conversion.

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There's one more scripture, and I'm going to leave my other points to next week, because this is so important, but look at Romans chapter 8.

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You know where I'm going with this? How about the golden chain of redemption? You've heard that?

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I know you have. The doctrines of grace, it's called the golden chain of redemption for a reason, because they're linked to one another, and this linkage is divine by God, and it is divine in order by God.

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I like to always tie in verse 28, because he says, we know.

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I love Paul, don't you? He didn't say, I know. Now, at times he did say,

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I know whom I believe in. I've got a quote about that in a few minutes, but he says, in this context, he is giving encouragement to God's people, and we know that all things work together for good, to God's good and to your good, to those who love

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God. You can stop right there and say, okay, who's it to? It's to those who love God. It's not to those outside of God, even though the rain falls on the good and the bad, but right here in the context, he's saying, it's to those who love

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God, to those who are the called. There's one right there, the called, according to his purpose.

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Now, he gave us kind of an introduction there to the called, and then he takes this up in verse 29.

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Now, he's talking about the called, he's talking about effectual calling. This effectual calling is

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God's specific, chosen, marked out ones, and he takes this in verse 29, for whom he foreknew.

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Now, I can stop right there. There's a lot of different interpretations of that word foreknew. It just simply means reference to God's own.

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It's not just a simple reference to God's omniscience, which most ministers and students of the word say.

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It's just God knowing all things. Oh, he knew you was going to get saved in the future. No, no, no, no.

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You read it. God already had you marked out way before this world was even spoken into existence.

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You start thinking about that a little bit, that should make you think, this is not me.

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This is God. And I like R .C., amen. I like R .C. Sproul, he said.

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And when God wrote your names in the Lamb's Book of Life, he doesn't have a racer hand either.

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In other words, it's there. Now, in eternity past, he knew who would come to Christ, that's what they say.

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No. Even though he does know that, but in context of what he's talking about here, he's talking about some rather, it speaks of the predetermined choice that God set his love on you.

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You can stop right there. And if I give a benediction, that's enough. Because if you start thinking about that, that brings you down and saying, you know why most people hate this doctrine?

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Or do not want to accept it, I should say. Because they have no control. It humbles the pride of man.

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That's it. So in other words, and I've dealt with people like this before. And they got mad at me.

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I said, don't get mad at me. I'm just a messenger. I'm just telling you what God's Word says.

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And when I first taught this to a lot of families that rejected this, lost a whole church on this, by the way.

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That's the truth. Tears. Yes, tears. They scolded me.

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They examined me. They invited me over. They were nice to me and gave hospitality. And then

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I had one lady, she got a pen and paper out, and she was just, you're a hyper -Calvinist, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

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You're a Calvinist. And I said, you know, I didn't mention John Calvin not one time. I did that on purpose too.

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I just preached the Word. John Calvin didn't invent this doctrine. This is

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God. He set His love on us and established an intimate relationship.

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In other words, He elected us. You are elected by God. The believer now.

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But before one believes, he's appointed to eternal life. Then he believes. That's in Acts.

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Acts 2 .23. Involuble rule there. But MacArthur calls this the

01:00:03

Granville Sharp Rule. Equates predestinated and foreknowledge.

01:00:10

That's what he refers to here. But the term must be interpreted in the same both verses.

01:00:17

You've got to go through this very carefully to get the right interpretation, but it's glorious. The word predestined just means to be marked out.

01:00:25

It's not a word we should be afraid of. Marked out, appointed, determined beforehand.

01:00:32

God did this. God did this. That humbles me.

01:00:37

I don't know about you, but that humbles me. And I'm going to stop right there because this is glorious.

01:00:44

And I'm going to pick up these points next week, but that right there is enough for us to chew on and worship God. It's glorious that God could do such a thing, that we're born again of the

01:00:55

Holy Spirit of God. And I'll pick up, Lord willing, next week how all this happens.

01:01:00

We'll pick up on the next point on what is it He brought us forth, that God brings us forth and gives birth and regeneration.

01:01:09

I'll pick up right there. But isn't it glorious that God does such a wonder? That God is

01:01:16

God. No one can thwart His will. No one can change His mind on that.

01:01:23

You've got different instances, of course, on Moses. But I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about what He has decreed, what

01:01:30

He's already chosen, what He's determined, what He's set forth in motion from eternity past.

01:01:38

He's going to make sure it takes place. And by the way, the Holy Spirit of God has applied that in redemption in Jesus Christ, in the blood of His cross.

01:01:48

Now, that's where we need to go because it all happens right there. Without the cross, we would not understand what this whole planet of redemption is about.

01:02:00

It's God, a holy God. And by the way, you and I know this before we came to God.

01:02:10

His holiness was a serious threat to us. It's threatening.

01:02:16

And you know, hey, you go out there and start... Why do you think people are trying to remove the

01:02:22

Ten Commandments from this land? It's a threat. They don't want to hear that.

01:02:29

It's threatening. They hate it. That's right. But it tells the truth and it tells you have broken

01:02:37

God's law. I want it out from me. That's what they're saying. I don't want to hear it.

01:02:43

I don't want it. No! That shows you right there the lostness of their state. Naturally.

01:02:50

Naturally. What do we do? We prevail. We continue to give the truth even if it costs us our very life.

01:02:57

And beloved, it's coming down to that. We've had the liberty for this many, many years in America.

01:03:04

But Brother Michael and Sister Lillian talked about this, about Voices of the

01:03:09

Martyrs and the persecuted church. Why do you think they're getting persecuted over there? And I'm telling you why.

01:03:16

It's real. It's very real. I've seen God's people.

01:03:22

I can't believe they put this, but there were some pictures of persecuted brothers and sisters being burned alive.

01:03:30

It's been on the Internet and on the media. Personally, I don't know if they should put those things on there. It's too horrifying.

01:03:38

It's heartbreaking to see somebody's life just taken like that. But these are our brothers and sisters.

01:03:44

And why did they do that? Because the truth! They will not deny Jesus! And they said, this is the truth!

01:03:52

And there's some people out there that they don't want to hear it. They'll kill you for it, because of the truth.

01:03:59

And Jesus said that. But we need to beware. It's coming our way.

01:04:05

We need to be prepared. So that's where we need to take comfort, right?

01:04:12

Not to fear man. Because God knows how to take care of all of it.

01:04:19

We should be like Paul. We bear in our body the marks of the

01:04:24

Lord Jesus Christ. We should be dead anyway to sin. Dead to ourselves.

01:04:30

Aren't you glad for the new birth? Supernaturally of God. Supernaturally. Let's pray. Father, we thank

01:04:36

You. I believe there's enough application here in worship and what we just looked at just briefly, just to give cause to worship.

01:04:45

Because it's not us that brings ourselves into the kingdom. We cannot do this. It is by Your Spirit and through the blood of Jesus and by the faith.

01:04:56

And even that faith is a gift from You. Even the repenting is granted to us.

01:05:03

To repent. Because we're not capable of turning away from our own sin. We don't have that power. Lord, it's all

01:05:10

You. And we're just taking pause right now just to worship You for who You are. Because it is

01:05:16

You that deserve the glory and honor and the praise and the thanksgiving for bringing us into the kingdom.

01:05:23

Father, to see the kingdom of God. I believe right now, Lord, we see it.

01:05:30

And in a sense, it's come to us in the gospel. And we've entered into it in a sense of by the

01:05:43

Spirit of the living God. But one day, physically, that will come to fruition.

01:05:52

It will be a reality that we will enter into the gate of pearl. And we will fall on our faces and bow to the

01:05:59

One that made it all possible, the Lord Jesus Christ. And to You, Father, that did the choosing before all this took place and before You even sent

01:06:09

Your Son and before the Holy Spirit even applied it to our hearts. It's all the three in one.

01:06:17

The Father, the Son, and the Spirit all working together. Just as You did in creation, You work together in redemption.

01:06:25

Nothing, not a one of the persons of the blessed Trinity, Father, was set aside.

01:06:34

Father, You sent the Son, and the Son came. He was obedient perfectly. And it all happened and applied by the

01:06:43

Holy Spirit. How wonderful, how glorious. So we thank You and we praise You in Jesus' name for our salvation.