Born Again - Part 2

Spiritual Life Comes from Abiding in Christ

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. So yeah, there's a lot of people who consider themselves spiritual. They believe spirituality is important to not just focus on the physical, but to focus on the soul, how you feel, your emotions.

And I was looking into this. One psychologist put it this way. He or she said, spirituality is the boundary-less dimension of the human spirit. Let me read that again. Spirituality is the boundary-less dimension of the human spirit.

I have no idea what that means. But that's how some people are defining spirituality. Okay, fine. But how does Jesus define it? And of course, spirituality is not even a biblical term. But the idea is what?

The idea of a spiritual life. Spiritual life. And Jesus tells us how to have spiritual life. And he uses in chapter 15 the illustration of a vine.

A vine.

John 15, starting in verse 1. I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. In every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.

I am the vine.

You are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit. For without me, you can do a little something. You can do a little bit on your own. It's not what he says. Without me, you can do what?

You can do nothing.

Nothing.

So where does spiritual life come from? It comes from abiding in Christ. That's what he says. Believing in Christ. Following Christ. Obeying Christ. You say, well, I love Jesus. What does Jesus say? If you love me, do what?

Keep my commandments.

Well, that's legalism.

Obeying God is not legalism. I don't know where someone got that idea. But later on in this chapter, Jesus stresses the importance of obedience. In verses 9 and 10, he says, abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love.

Is there anything unclear about this?

Anything at all?

Verse 6, if anyone does not abide in me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered. And they gather them and throw them into the fire. This is not very good imagery. Throw them into the fire and they are burned.

So Jesus uses the illustration of a vine. And he says, I am the true vine. So to have spiritual life, what do we need to do? We need to abide in Christ. There's no other spiritual life to have, folks.

That's it.

Abide in Christ. I've noticed just this illustration of the vine. I've noticed around my house that vines are growing out of control. I don't know. I can't prove this. But I think somebody took some seeds or a plant from down south and brought it up here into this environment.

Because it wasn't like this when I moved in there 11 years ago. But now the vines, they're just taking over everything. Am I the only one? Or have you noticed this?

Okay.

So other people have noticed. We'll have to look into what happened. We'll look into that after. But the vine, it'll take over something unless you cut it back and get it off whatever tree or shrub. It'll take it over.

It'll kill it. And it seems the more I cut them back, the faster they grow. But when you go out and you cut off one of these branches, that's what they are, just branches growing everywhere. When you cut off the branch and leave it laying on the side of the lawn, in a few days, it's dead.

It's all brown.

It dries up. It dies.

Right?

There's no life in that thing. It only has life when it's abiding in the vine itself being fed by the roots. See, this is, I believe, one of the biggest problems people have with spirituality or spiritual life.

They're trying to do it themselves. They are rooted in themselves, their own works, their own thoughts, their own feelings, their own attempts to change this or to change that, to not do this, to not do that.

They're working very hard on their spiritual life, but they're not abiding in Christ. Listen, good works, meditation, acts of mercy, volunteering, being charitable with your money, helping out for a good cause.

All of that is good. It feels good to do it. And for some people, those things may be the result of abiding in Christ, but they are not necessarily the same thing as abiding in Christ. You can do all the good works in the world, have all the good intentions in the world.

And you know the saying that hell is paved, the road to hell is paved with what? Good intentions. If you're not abiding in Christ, the Bible says, Jesus says, there is no spiritual life in you. So how do you know the difference?

Someone who's just doing all these good things and then someone who's doing good things also, but they're abiding in Christ. I mean, how do you tell the difference? Look at verse seven. Jesus says, if you abide in me and my words in you notice the words of Christ must abide in you.

And Jesus says, you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you. And a Christian could read that. Yeah, but I've asked some things that Jesus hasn't done. You know, this is one of the things about being born again and having a new life in Christ.

Anyone who's ever been born again, you can testify that your desires change. First of all, you repent. Repentance is part of believing that you once loved your sin. Now you hate it. You look at it completely different and your desires change.

It's not to say that you're going to be perfect or close to it, but your desires change. And when you pray, you're not going to ask for those same things you would have prayed for before. Lord, give me a new, a new $60 million jet.

Some people pray. Actually, those guys, they have the jets.

Go figure.

That's another sermon for another day, though. But you see, the flesh wants one thing. The spirit wants something very different. So if you have this battle within you between your flesh and your spirit, that's pretty good sign.

You're born again because there's the battle. If there's no battle, that's a very bad sign. So let's go back to John. Well, let's a few more verses. Verse eight. But this, my father, or by this, my father is glorified that you bear much fruit.

So you will be my disciples. As the father loved me, I also have loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love. Just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love.

These things I have spoken to you that my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full. And I want you to remember that statement that your joy may be full. Okay, let's go back now to John chapter three.

So hopefully that gives you a little better idea of what Jesus is talking about. And in John chapter three, Jesus now is going to speak of the role of the Holy Spirit in the born again experience. And just as John 15 spoke of the vine and the branches that bear fruit.

What does the Bible tell us about the Holy Spirit and the fruit that he brings? What does Galatians 5 tell us? What is the fruit of the Spirit? Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

And that's of course contrasted. Remember that this is the battle with the Spirit and the flesh that's contrasted with the works of the flesh. Which I'm not going to read all of them, but they do include adultery, fornication, outbursts of wrath, heresies, envy, and drunkenness to name a few.

And again, that's not to say that a born-again Christian will never do some of the things listed in the works of the flesh. You know what, born-again Christians, have you ever known a born-again Christian who got mixed up in sin?

Well, yeah, you do. And what's the first thing that goes?

The joy. The joy.

And someone said, the church. And you can sort of see it. You sort of see the joy. It's not there. You notice something's wrong. It's not there. It's not there. And then you don't see them next week. And every week attendance goes to bi-weekly and once a month.

And they're just not happy. You pray for them. You feel bad. And then they're gone. But you get into sin and we all know what this is like to differing degrees. But if a born-again Christian gets into sin, the first thing that's gone is the joy.

Why?

Because you are now grieving the spirit of God within you. He's the one who gave you this life and you're grieving him day after day after day. That's the reason you feel so bad. Look at John chapter 3 verse 3 again.

Jesus answered and said to him, Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Verse 4, 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?

Now listen, Nicodemus is a learned man. He's very intelligent. He knows Jesus is speaking metaphorically. He's picking up on the analogy is what's going on in verse 5. Jesus answered, Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit.

He cannot see the kingdom of God. So this phrase must be born of water and the spirit. Verse 6, that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again.

The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the spirit. And look at Nicodemus is answer. How can these things be?

He's like, what? He doesn't know what Jesus is talking about. What does Jesus say? Are you the teacher of Israel? Some believe that Nicodemus was the preeminent teacher in Israel. If anyone should have known, Nicodemus should have known.

Are you the teacher of Israel and do not know these things? This is very significant. Nicodemus should have known.

Right?

You see that Nicodemus is expected to know this. And as a teacher of Israel, Nicodemus would have known the Old Testament scriptures. So go ahead and turn at this point to Ezekiel chapter 36. So what is this phrase?

You must be born. How do you get born again? You must be born of water and spirit. We need to know what Jesus is talking about.