Born Again (Part 2)

Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author, Dr. Mike Abendroth.

Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the scriptures, verse by verse, with No Compromise.

When we say to people, you must be born again, we're not telling them, do something about it morally, do something about it religiously, do something about it externally.

You need a new you. That's a fact. Listen, you need a new you. It's like Luke 14 when

Jesus says, you've got to hate your mother, father, brother, and yes, even your own self. Tell somebody to hate your own self.

How can they do it on their own? We need Jesus. We need the sovereign spirit.

Number four. White lie number four about regeneration. God votes for people's salvation,

Satan votes against, and you cast the deciding vote. God votes for,

Satan votes against, you cast the deciding vote. In other words, there are three wills in salvation.

God's will, Satan's will, man's will. Who's going to win out? Of course Satan doesn't want us saved.

Of course God wants us saved. Now you cast the final ballot, and that's why we've got to get out the vote, y 'all. Get the vote out.

Who will win? Who will be the victor? God has done everything, and he's almost done everything he could without kind of impinging on your will, so he does almost everything, and now you have to do the final part.

As one man said, and I think I've quoted him before, we're not even registered voters in this. We're dead.

Who's going to win? Theologically, is regeneration monergistic or synergistic?

Is regeneration God alone working, monoerg, or is it we work with him, syn,

S -Y -N, together with, symphony, along with God? My favorite

Puritan writer, because he's easy to understand, I kid you not, and he's vividly biblical.

God rides forth conquering in the chariot of his gospel. He conquers the pride of the heart and makes the will which stood out as a fort against him to yield and to stoop to his grace.

God makes the stony heart bleed. Oh, it is a mighty call. Why then do some men seem to speak of moral persuasion, that God in the conversion of a sinner is only morally persuasive and no more?

Now, listen, if God in conversion should only morally persuade and no more, then he does not put so much power in saving men as the devil does in destroying them.

If you're only going to persuade, the devil does more than that. Look at verse 8.

This all gets back to the sovereignty of the spirit in salvation, doesn't it? Why are some people saved and other people not?

It's not because of strict justice, because no one deserves to go to heaven, but God is a savior by nature.

He gets glory out of saving people. He picks Israel to show his glory and no other nations.

He picks some angels and no others to show his glory. And same thing here. Look at verse 8.

The wind blows where it wishes. He can't control it. It's independent. You can see its effects, but you can't see it.

You hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. And he ties in the real wind with the spirit of God.

So it is with everyone who is born of the spirit. Now, when we were at Universal Studios, we went on a ride.

They gave us free tickets, and I was super thankful that the Lord gave us this. And they said, you know, we want you to speak a few times on Saturday and go back to the church that you're at on Sunday, and we'll bring your wife down because you guys probably need like a date together.

And I'm like, who are these people? You get to the hotel room, there's this big basket of stuff and a little $100

Visa gift card for incidentals. They're two free tickets to Universal Studios.

I'm thinking, I'm glad they gave me a Chevy Impala, but it should have been a Corvette or something.

I mean, got to have a theme here. Anyway, so I get to Universal Studios. I go there.

I don't know the kind of rides to go on. Sam Ferrer's long gone, and he knows these rides and stuff.

And so I ask a young person, hey, what's the best ride to go on? What's the most exciting ride? And the mom's like, get away from that madman.

She did. She looked at me like, who are you? And he said, oh, go down there to this one.

And the rides are only five -minute waits and stuff. And so go down there. And so Kim and I go down there, and we get locked in.

You know, they put the thing up and over, and then they lock it in, and the seat belt goes here. And I thought, you know,

I don't want to fall out, so I'm just going to push it one more time just so it's nice and snug.

And I kid you not. Takes off. It's zooming around. Within 30 seconds, screeching halt.

All the lights go on, and the lady says, sorry, the power's out. We'll extract you when we can. I'm sitting there.

At least I wasn't like this. I was sitting there like this, locked in. And I go, I'm going to, when they put the thing down,

I go, I'm going to panic. I'm in like an MRI tube or something, and I need Valium. I don't know what I need, but this is bad, and I'm locked in.

And I'm just like, OK, be a good leader in front of my wife. I'm seriously,

I started at minute five thinking, I'm never going to get out. I cannot extract myself.

I can't find any buttons. I can't do anything. I could yell. I could cry. I could beg. I'm already doing that in my heart.

And so literally, I start saying, trust in the Lord with all your heart. I'm not kidding.

Lean out on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him. And I should have gone to the bathroom before I got on this ride.

That's what I was thinking. I'm like, I'm so stupid. I'm never doing this again. I can't get out. I'm stuck.

I'm enslaved. Someone has to help me get out. Now, that's only a little mini picture.

I think at minute eight, we got out. I wasn't counting. That's a mini picture of man's enslaved to sin.

His mind is blinded by Satan. We can't extract ourselves. I'm a goat.

I can't make myself a sheep. I can't give myself new life. And you know what?

God doesn't owe me new life. Orlando Universal duty was to get me out.

They had to get me out sooner or later. But God owes no one grace.

Friends, repeat that in your mind. Grace is unmerited. Grace is undeserved.

And grace is like the wind. You only see its effects. Why does a tornado hit 50 houses in a row and jump over two and then destroy the rest of the city?

Why does God save some in the family and not all? Why does God save everyone in the family? Why does

God save no one in the family? It's the sovereignty of regeneration. God is sovereign.

He, the Spirit, is sovereign. Romans 9, 15, for He says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom

I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. That's right from, that's what

John is talking about as he quotes Jesus here about the sovereign Spirit and the wind blowing. So is everyone who is born of the

Spirit. Who is wrong when God judges sinful man? Who is wrong when

God withholds grace? Who is wrong when God doesn't regenerate sinners?

But who is really happy when He does? Who is thankful that God says, I know your sins.

I know everything about you. And I still have determined in eternity past to love you. And I've shown you my love in the cross.

God is sovereign. The wind is sovereign. God is sovereign. Regeneration comes from the sovereign

Spirit alone. There are no musts or oughts with grace.

And if I really wanted to push it, and I'll do it just to push it. If you say, well, what about babies?

Kim and I lost one between Luke and Haley. And I sure I hope I see that baby in heaven. Be awesome.

But if that baby's in heaven, it's not because that baby deserved to be in heaven.

Nobody deserves heaven, not even a baby. No one deserves grace. Now, maybe that baby will be in heaven.

But I'll tell you what, if that baby isn't, I'm going to praise God from whom all blessings flow anyway. I'm not even supposed to know.

I'm supposed to think, will not the judge of the universe do right? Can I entrust my babies with the

Lord God? The answer is yes. But if you think because somebody's cute and precious and cuddly, and I love children, that baby deserves to go to heaven because they're a baby, you don't understand grace.

Well, this is hard. Grace is undeserved. Grace is unmerited.

I think I am going to see that baby there, but not because that baby deserved it. Because I think God in his goodness and his kindness bypasses faith.

But that's just a hope. It might be true. God doesn't owe me an answer for his sovereign grace.

Because when Adam sinned, God credited that first sin of Adam's, not Eve's sins, not the subsequent sins of Adam, that first sin to every single person by federal representation.

And I love federal representation because that means there can be another federal head to save me. The sovereignty of God in regeneration.

Two religions in the world. One religion, God seeks after men. The other, men seek after God.

It does not depend on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy. And God has mercy. God is a merciful

God, our Savior. God's vote counts.

The Father, Son, and the Spirit always vote the same. Regeneration is an act of God solely.

If you're a Christian, God made you one. True or false, God caused you to be born again if you're a Christian. You have to say true, 1

Peter 1 .3. God alone regenerates. And he does it without the work, help, or even my consent.

Now once he regenerates me and I have new life, now I love him. Now my instantaneous response is, thank you,

I praise you, you're wonderful. Now I hate evolution for lots of reasons.

But one of the reasons I hate Darwinian evolution is it takes the glory away from the Creator, right?

But now we as evangelicals are tempted to believe that we can evolve ourselves into something that's pleasing to God.

I hate that kind of evolution more than I hate Darwinian evolution from unbelievers, children's catechism.

What is effectual calling? It is the work of God's Spirit whereby convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds and knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, he doth persuade and enable us to embrace

Jesus Christ freely offered to us in the gospel. Question 31.

I am what I am by the grace of God. I am not a self -made man. The gospel isn't do something, it's something that's already been done for us.

And you believe through non -meritorious instrument of faith. Speaking of which, number five.

Number five. I don't know how much longer we have, but we'll just go for a while. Faith precedes regeneration.

Faith precedes regeneration. That's a myth. That's a lie. That's not true. Faith doesn't precede regeneration.

It's the other way around. Let's go to 1 John 5 .1. We've gone to this passage before. I could have taken you to James 1, where he chose to give us birth.

1 .18. But I'm trying to highlight man's inability and God's sovereignty.

I'm trying to diminish man's sovereignty. I want you to see in 1

John 5 .1, it's all about God. That's why, by the way, if you've got a friend who's not a

Christian, there's hope because it's not in your talking them into it. But God saves people. God grants them regeneration.

And then they believe. Baby comes out, cries out after they hit the cold air. Jesus saves people.

They cry out. And they say, I love you after they're born. Everyone, 1

John 5 .1, believes that Jesus, who believes that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, has been born of God.

He's already been. If you're looking for chronological, temporal, logical order, it is regeneration, then faith.

Because dead people don't believe. Dead people don't repent. Regeneration precedes faith.

Look at it one more time. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God.

See, God is the cause. God is the one that did it. That's why when we praise him for our salvation, he gets all the praise.

James talks about how good he is in the middle of all this to do it. White line number six.

If you're not awake yet, you will be right now. White line number six about regeneration.

Sinners, prayers, save. Sinners, prayers, save. I could say altar calls save.

I could say decisional regeneration saves. And those are all myths.

Sinners, prayers, and altar calls. By the way, friends, does repentance manifest itself in prayer?

God grants you new life and you respond with repentance. Will that repentance express itself in prayer? I think it will.

Lord, have mercy upon me. What? The sinner. I like prayer.

It's good to pray. But here's what I'm after. I want you to run from any idea that makes you think that once you pray, now

God has to save you. Once you pray, that unlocks God's goodness so he can save you.

You were saveable. Now you can be saved because of your prayer. Anything that we do can't be the cause.

The cause is eternal love. The God who's rich in mercy. People can be saved without praying.

And people can pray and not be saved. Prayer isn't the switch. You walk into a room and you go, it's dark in here.

Light switch on. Prayer is not that that activates salvation.

Here's how it fleshes itself out in Christianity. Okay, pray after me. Dear Lord, I know

I'm a sinner. No, I'm a sinner. I know Jesus is the only Savior. I know that you died on the cross for me.

I know you were raised from the dead. I hate my sin. I believe in you.

In Jesus' name, amen. And here's where the problem comes. I don't mind if you say, why don't you pray this with me?

Why don't you pray this after me? But sinner's prayer, it goes all wrong when I now say, welcome to the kingdom.

You're in. Because they don't know. I don't know. Luke 8, right? It says, verse 13, that some receive the word with joy and then they fall away.

Trials and temptations and difficulties peck away at the false foundation and then the person's exposed.

I don't have any problem with saying, why don't we just pray together? There's a guy that came to my house 4 o 'clock in the morning,

Los Angeles, knocking on the door super hard. He had been at my Bible study two days earlier. And my first thought is, sadly, somebody's knocking my door down.

I'm like, I want to get the gun. That's what I want to get. If you're not into guns, then

I wanted to get the bat. If you're a man, you want to defend your house. OK, use your fists.

But I'm not tough enough. People say, oh, you should be pacifistic if you're a pastor. Well, if you mess with my wife and kids, we'll see.

That should be the attitude of every husband. I remember when Luke was little, school would always tell him, never hit a kid.

Never hit anybody. What kind of advice is that? Never hit.

Luke, if somebody's hurting your mom or your sisters, you whack them. Did I just say that?

Anyway, I went outside.

Kim was inside. I didn't want to have him come in the house because he was acting crazy. And so he said,

I prayed the sinner's prayer 20 times. And I'm still not born again. And I've got to go to heaven. I'm thinking about suicide.

I need to go to heaven. And all these kind of things, just crazy. Quoting Bible verses like, I've never met a demon -possessed man that I know of.

But if this was ever one, this was the guy. And I said, well, who saves? He said,

God saves. I said, you save? Can you save yourself? I've been trying. And I said, well, let me pray to God that he would save you.

And it's like Matthew 8, where the leper says, if you're willing, I know you can.

I'm not saying, God, you have to. I'm saying, I beg you, please. I'm pleading. But like the leper, you've got the power,

God, to save. I just don't know if you're willing. And you're sovereign. So we submit to your sovereignty, whether it's the leper or here.

And so I bowed my head to pray. And I kept my eyes open because I thought he mentioned suicide. That means he could maybe hurt me, too.

So I thought, you know what? Just keep my eyes open. I'm praying. God can still hear me if I'm opening my eyes and praying.

And God, grant this man salvation. Lord, have mercy upon him. Is there anything wrong with calling out for the mercy of God?

No. Is there anything saying, I hate my sin? Forgive me the guilt and the trespasses and the condemnation.

I need to be rescued. I'm sick of myself. I'm sick of everything. Help me, God. All those are good and right.

And I like them. But not one of them forces God to bestow grace.

So when we say you come up to the front and now you're a Christian, Robert Dabney said, that's a cruel trick.

Because then when it doesn't work, it doesn't stick, who do they blame?

Spurgeon said, here's how you invite men to Christ, not to an altar. Before you leave this place,

I say this to you if you're not a Christian. Breathe an earnest prayer to God saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

Lord, I need to be saved. Save me. I call upon thy name. Lord, I am guilty. I deserve thy wrath.

Lord, I can't save myself. Lord, I would have a new heart and a right spirit. But what can I do?

Lord, I can do nothing. Come and do in me the work at thy good pleasure.

God, you're sovereign. Just as I am, that hymn written by Charlotte Elliott, 1836.

Without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me. And that thou biddest me come to thee,

O Lamb of God, I come. I, does that really mean play it 18 times?

Have all the doors closed and have the organ for the mood music afterwards? Especially when she writes that for infirm people in a hymnal, especially prepared for those who couldn't walk.

True story. All that the Father shall give me shall come to me.

And him that comes to me, I will in no wise cast out. Regeneration is

God's sovereign prerogative. And the offer is free. I won't deny it.

If any man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture said, from his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.

Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. The spirit and the bride say, come.

I'm with Spurgeon. Little faith will bring your souls to heaven, but great faith will bring heaven to your soul. Number eight, and I've got to do this super fast.

We're gonna, we're past time, but that's all right. Number eight, and lastly, here's the lie.

Here's the white lie, that if you're regenerated, you live the exact same way you used to before you were saved. The white lie is regenerated people live exactly the same as they used to.

In other words, if there's no change in your life, is there a change in your status? I'm not asking for perfectionism.

I'm saying, if you're regenerated and you're renewed, your heart is different, your mind is different, then you will act according to your nature.

Non -lordship, people say, no, that's not true. Turn your Bibles to 1 John. Let's just see just a few quick verses about what born again people do.

And we'll leave it here. This is how born again people act.

Now, certainly when we get saved, we realize how many sins we used to sin, but we didn't even know were sins.

So sometimes when people get saved, they say, I sin more now than I did before I was saved. I don't think that's true if you're really saved.

I think you just notice the sins more often. That's actually a good sign, hypersensitive about my sin.

So I just want to read a few verses in 1 John to show you what born again people do with words in these passages that talk about born of God, right from John the writer who wrote

Gospel of John as well. 1 John 1 29.

If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.

When you have righteous behavior in your life, it is a sign that you're a Christian. It's evidence, it's fruit.

It's fruit that shows I've got the right root. Look at chapter three, verse nine of the same epistle, 1

John. I'm not asking for perfectionism and neither is God because he's already written 1

John 1 8 -9. We say we have any sin, we're liars, and the truth isn't in us.

But it's the lifestyle, it's the habit. No one who is born of God will continue to sin because God's seed remains in him.

Or as it says in the ESV, no one born of God makes a practice of sinning for God's seed abides in him and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.

I get here 1997. There's a guy who's been baptized just before I got here. A lady comes up to me, she's 80.

She says, Pastor Mike, did you know that guy who got baptized still living with his girlfriend? I said, I didn't know that.

So I went to the guy's house and I said, well, I don't wanna make any assumptions and I'm just here for your soul. And are you living with your girlfriend?

Yes. Are you sleeping in the same bed? Yes. Are you sleeping together? Of course we are. Okay, well, now that I know that,

I just want you to know that you ought not to call yourself a Christian. One. Two, you ought to get married if she's a believer.

But you can't keep on living the way you're living and still think you're going to heaven. Because if there's no change in your life,

I've got other verses for you. Do not be deceived. Fornicators will not inherit the kingdom of God.

I'm not saying if you've fornicated once, you're going to hell. But when you act the exact same way you did before you're a

Christian, I wonder about these verses. I don't think he ever came back to church.

First John 5 .18 says essentially the same thing. First John 5 .18,

we know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning. But he who was born of God protects him and the evil one does not touch him.

And we love other people too. Look at First John 4 .7. You just read First John, it talks about bearing, bearing, born, born, born.

First John 4 .7, Dear friends, let us love one another for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows

God. If you're a Christian, you're different because God has made you a new creature in Christ Jesus.

So I ask you the question, are you born again? I didn't ask you, did you get baptized either as a child or as an adult?

I didn't ask you, are you a member? I didn't ask you if you have a Bible. I didn't ask you if you've been coming to church for a long time.

Are you born again? Because you must be born again. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life transforming power of God's word through verse by verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 8 .30 and 11 a .m and Sunday evenings at 6 p .m.

We're located on Route 110 in West Boylston, Massachusetts. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org

or by phone at 508 -835 -3400. The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.