Regeneration with John Piper, “Born Again Through the Living and Abiding Word”, 9

The Uncontrollable Miracle of the New Birth

One of the unsettling things about the new birth is that It's not in our control to make happen. We don't control it. We don't decide To make it happen Anymore than a baby Decides to be conceived or Decides to be born.

Or to be more accurate We don't anymore decide to be born again Than a dead man decides to come to life. That's very unsettling for people. It's unsettling for me the very reason that We need to be born again.

Is that we can't make ourselves be born again? That's the reason we need to be born again. If we could make ourselves new We'd be alive. We wouldn't need to be born again. The reason we need the new birth is because we're dead In our trespasses and sins.

Our condition. Apart from the new birth is that if you're not born again test yourself. See if this is not the case and if you are born again think back and test yourself to see if this was not the case.

Our condition before we were born again was that we treasured sin and self Exaltation so much. We could not treasure Christ supremely. Could not in other words. We were so rebellious at the root of our fallen human Nature that we couldn't find it within ourselves to humbly see him and Savor him as the infinite treasure that he is.

We couldn't we just loved other things more and we were guilty for this. It was and it is a real evil in us. This inability is blameworthy. We were so hard and so dead that we couldn't see him for who he is.

Love him for who he is. Trust him for who he is. Embrace him for who he is. We had all kinds of names for him and all kinds of Feelings about him, but they were not of him as our supremely valuable Savior and Lord treasure our consciences.

Did not excuse us in that condition. We knew we were guilty. We felt it late at night or early in the morning or after the hangover. We knew we were guilty in our resistance to Christ as our supreme treasure.

Our hardness was not an excusing hardness it was a Convicting hardness in our best moments. We knew we were rejecting and pushing and resisting and walking away. And we felt guilty for it because we were guilty for it.

So this kind of deadness and inability is not an excusing one, it's a Heightening of our guilt not a lessening of our guilt. Something had to happen to us. And The Bible has many names for it. We just happen to be talking about one of them namely The new birth.

We needed to be born again. The Holy Spirit has to work in our hearts to give us new Spiritual life. We were dead we needed to be made alive. But 220 of our teenagers are away right now and perhaps Not sure the timing of it, but within the next hour, so we'll probably sitting under the preaching of the word by Kempton Turner.

One of those kids was stone drunk on her parents kitchen floor last weekend. One of those kids hates his dad and will say it to his face. One of those kids doesn't want to be in this church because his parents recently came here and drug him for another church.

The needs at that meeting right now are Extraordinary, so while I'm preaching and through the rest of this evening Asked that God would show up. God would show up and these teenagers come back a flame for God.

In other words There's dozens of them that need to be born again. The church kids have grown up lots of them in this church. They need to be born again. Going to church doesn't make anybody a Christian.

The Holy Spirit has to come down and take a heart and break it and heal it and open it and give it eyes and Give it ears. So the spiritual things are precious now and not boring like they have been all these kids lives the way This happens.

New Birth Through Faith, Union with Christ, and the Gospel

We saw in the last seven messages on the new birth was that the Spirit of God Supernaturally gives us new spiritual life by connecting us to the living Christ through faith the Spirit of God gives us new life.

By connecting us with the source of life Jesus Christ through faith. There is no separating New birth and Christ and new birth and faith. Where there is new birth there is faith. Where there is new birth there is union with Jesus.

There is no temporal Distinction. When you light a match and fire happens heat is there. Heat doesn't wait a few seconds and then show up. Neither does faith wait a few seconds and then show up in new life.

The way we experience new life is I believe that's the sign God's done something. Before I wasn't believing I wasn't treasuring. I wasn't loving. I wasn't embracing. I wasn't receiving and now I am something happened and it was God that happened.

God showed up. God changed something and now, you know It's of him. One of the evidences of new birth is that you give him glory. That you're a believer. You don't have any final explanation for it in yourself all those years.

He meant little or nothing to you. And then one day Might be very slowly that you discovered it might be instantaneous that you discovered it. He's true and he's real and he's precious and he's necessary and we're on our faces thanking God that we've been Born again.

We have spent seven weeks posing two questions. Number one. What is it? And number two. Why is it so needed now? We're coming as I said, we would last week to the third question. We'll be here this and then we're gonna take a break to do Martin Luther King weekend and sanctity of life weekend.

And then we'll come back to this but we're starting the question How does it happen? How what's the way that it comes about this miracle of the new birth? And if you think about it, there are there two questions in that question one is How does it happen from God's side that is what's the way God Acts in doing it and the other is how does it happen from my side?

What's the way I do it? Those are the two questions We're going to to pose. You might think Having heard me say that we don't Control this thing God does and we're dead and we can't make it happen. We're absolutely dependent on his free and Sovereign mercy and grace and love.

You might think I wouldn't ask that second question. What is the way I do it or? How am I involved in my New birth, but I am going to ask that question. And I'll give you a heads up it's not the focus in this message, but it will be in three weeks I Pose that question because even though I don't make it happen It happens to me and I act in it.

Let me give you an example of what I mean Lazarus was dead. How many days? Before Jesus came. Four days before Jesus showed up that's intentional. Jesus waited a couple of days to make sure he was manifestly clearly dead and buried and impossible to save and So he's in the grave.

He's dead four days and Jesus according to John 11 43 says this Lazarus Come out. That's ridiculous, right. Until you see Lazarus come out and he came out now what happened. Lazarus did not decide to make himself alive.

The word spoken by Jesus created what it commanded it Commanded come out and in the speaking. This is the way God works in the speaking. God Makes what he commands which is why I prayed for some of you as I began.

If there is any not born again here as you walk by their grave. In this service, would you pause and say? Yeah, so he said that to Lazarus live and he lived however Lazarus got up. Jesus didn't get up for Lazarus.

Jesus didn't walk for Lazarus. Jesus didn't breathe for Lazarus. He just said live. And he lived and after that it's Lazarus walking living breathing acting. So the way to say it I think is that Christ causes it and Lazarus does it.

Christ brings it about Lazarus acts it out. Christ doesn't take our place in believing loving treasuring delighting living leaping. He just awakens from the dead. Gives us everything it takes to do that.

The instant Christ commands Lazarus to rise. Lazarus does the rising. The instant God gives life. We do the living. So we've got questions before us. This question in this service is what's God do? How does God do this.

And then three weeks? Will take up. What do I do? So in this text first Peter 1 I'm gonna go back to verse 3 and include that I See three answers to the question. How does God do this? What does he do?

To cause us to be born again, and if you're not born again, you should listen to this because This is the way God makes it happen. Listening to the gospel. We'll hear this in just a few minutes. Listening to the gospel listening to this message is The way God causes people to be born again.

So it says in verse 23 You're born again through the living and abiding Word of God. This is the gospel which we preach that's clears bail. There are people who tonight today for those Hearing this and watching it.

Will be born again. God will. And those of you who already born again you listen to. Because my my deep concern for this series of messages is that Christians? Awaken to what has happened to you and who you are.

Because the level of life in Christ will rise remarkably if this church could See and hear and know at the roots of our beings what has happened to us. What God has done in history and in our hearts to bring us to the point where we are in the new birth.

The Resurrection of Jesus as the Ground of New Birth

So here are the three things that I see and then we'll take them one at a time. Number one verse three God caused us to be born again through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. That's number one.

Number two verse 23 God caused us to be born again Through the living and abiding Word of God. Or as verse 15 says God called us John Piper live. Number three verse 18 God ransomed us. From the futile ways inherited from our Forefathers by The blood of Jesus.

So those are the three ways that I see. And before we look at them in some detail Let me show you why I think they're linked together. Because you may wonder why I would include that third one because the new birth isn't mentioned.

Why are you including ransom here? So let me show you how these three things are linked start with verses 3 4 Blessed Be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ according to his great mercy. He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that is Imperishable, I'm gonna stop right there and just fasten on to that word imperishable.

The point of these two verses is that the Effect of the new birth is a living hope and so what you get Mentioned in the verses then is a is a support for living hope and one support is the resurrection of Jesus and another support is this Imperishable inheritance.

If it were perishable We wouldn't have a living hope. We'd have a hope that's gonna run out Gonna perish so it's not living. Hope it's gonna perish gonna leave us high and dry someday. And so he's underlining you're getting started with the resurrection of Jesus life Indomitable conquering death and the hope the inheritance that you have out there will never perish.

That's what you are born again to enjoy. It's like saying the life we receive in the new birth is not just new life. It's forever life. It's eternal life. That's what we get in the new birth. If you're born again, you have a life and an inheritance imperishable Should make you the most bold courageous risk-taking people on the planet.

So that's number one and I'm drawing attention to the imperishable word and Hope and eternal life as the fruit of the new birth. Now, let's go to verses 18 and 19. Knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways Inherited from your forefathers.

Something's changed here. Something's happened. He doesn't call it the new birth, but he's talking about the new birth in verse 3 he's talking about the new birth in verse 23 and here something happened and all my old ways that I got from my Tradition they're gone and I'm different.

Let's start over again knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways Inherited from your forefathers. Now, here's how it happened not with Perishable now, I'm fastened on to that word again. Because it's showing up three times in this chapter and it's not an accident not with perishable things.

Such as silver and gold, you know mere silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ. Like that of a lamb without spot so the ransom price That Is paid for what happened to liberate you from the old ways?

Was the blood of Jesus and it's way more valuable than gold and way more valuable than silver. They can be burned up you get a fire hot enough. They're gone. But the blood of Jesus so infinitely valuable way better than gold way better than silver.

They will never perish and therefore what do they guarantee life forever this change that has happened. Never goes bad. Never goes bad. It'll always be there and you will live forever in him because of the ransom that was paid for you.

So now we got resurrection of Jesus in verse 3. Underneath this living hope that we get by the new birth and here we've got Ransom by the blood of Jesus underneath this change that frees us from all these old destructive ways.

The Living and Abiding Word of God and the Imperishable Seed

Now number three verse 23 since you have been born again not of Perishable third time you got it. Now. That's what in my mind. That's what's holding. That's why this sermon is structured the way it is.

That's why I picked these three things. Verse 3 verse 18 verse 23 all have this parent not perishable idea. He just keeps coming back to it. Why. Because we're born again to a living. Hope we're born again by resurrection.

We're born again with with blood. That's so valuable. It'll never let us down and here now in verse 23 we're born again, not of perishable seed. In his mind, I think is the sexual act and the seed deposited and a Conception happens and a new being comes into existence new creature in Christ.

No. No, what is that? What's this seed? How is it put in us? Through the living and abiding Word of God. Through the living and abiding Word of God. Then he quotes Isaiah 40 verses 6 and 8 verses 24 and 25 in first Peter 1.

For all flesh is like grass all this glory like the flower of grass the grass withers and the flower falls. So he's drawing the contrast between What you don't want I? Don't want to be born to a life.

That's gonna be like a flower. Flowers are pretty and they die. I Don't want that. Beauty, that's the beauty everybody in the world is after. Thank you very much. I Don't want it. I want to live with him forever.

Have you got news for me Peter? So he's drawing a contrast between all the beauties and the glories of the world and he's saying they're just like flowers they fall. But verse 25, but the Word of God the Word of the Lord remains Forever.

And remember he just said it was through that that you were born again. So we got the same point in verse 3 the same point in verse 18 the same point in verses 23 and 25. Namely the new birth is undergirded by realities that don't let you down ever ever.

Resurrection of Jesus. Ransom blood infinitely valuable Word of God that never falls. These are the foundations. Through which the new birth came to us. So if you ask the question, how did God do this?

Now you got three answers. So let's go back now. All that was just to show you why'd you choose these three and the answer was because they're all this imperishable idea. That's just holding these three together.

That's just holding this chapter together. The gifts God has for us in the new birth are Irrevocable gifts, they will not let you down. It's not like your first birth. I'm so thankful I'm getting old.

I can't hear as well. I can't see as well. My hair is falling out my back aches. I am getting old. But my new life in Christ is being renewed every day. I am ripening to be plucked and put in heaven for infinite and ever-increasing Joy, and I feel so bad.

People in my neighborhood and the people who come to this church who are also getting old and they have no hope. They're trying to cover their age in every possible way and find the fountain of youth to just stretch it out another decade and I'm saying Let it go.

Don't bring me back, please.