Evangelical White Lies - [John 3:1-8]

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I have a question for you this morning. Are you born again? Are you born again?
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George Whitefield preached the sermon entitled, You Must Be Born Again, hundreds and hundreds of times.
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Why? He said, because you must be born again. There are two kinds of people in this world, those who are born again and those who are not.
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Those who are regenerated and those who are dead in their trespasses and sins. Those who are justified and those who are condemned.
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As I tell my kids, you're either a saint or you're an ain't. That's right. And these days, it seems like gospel preaching is so watered down, so lukewarm, so kind of mushy, gruely, that some of the non -elect don't even have enough sense to say no to the message.
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Because the message sounds so good that even unbelievers say, yeah, I like that.
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Are you born again? 36 % of people in the
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United States, according to one poll, said that they were born again. I don't think so many say it in New England, but the last couple of days
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I've been in Florida and pretty much in the South, everybody says they're born again. What do you mean by born again?
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What is it? It's important you must be born again, but what is it? And so let's turn our
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Bibles to John chapter 3 this morning and talk about the doctrine of regeneration because it is super important.
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And I think there's a dearth or a lack or a famine of preaching what the Bible really teaches about the new birth.
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When grace is cheap and when the gospel is watered down, then regeneration isn't so necessary.
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So what I'd like to do this morning is give you some white lies about regeneration. Some white lies about regeneration.
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What is a white lie? I looked it up and it says it's often trivial, diplomatic or a well -intentioned untruth.
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Minor or unimportant lie. One uttered in the interest of tact or politeness.
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How do I look in this suit? Do I look pretty in this dress? Kind of a harmless thing.
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But the issue when it comes to the doctrine of regeneration, it's anything but harmless.
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I think the opposite of a white lie would be a black prevarication, something deadly, satanic delusion.
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No particular order. John 3 is our text. Let me read John 3 first before we get into the white lies about regeneration.
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I know you know the passage well, but I'm going to read John 3, verses 1 through 15.
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Now, there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.
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Jesus answered him, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
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Nicodemus said to Him, How can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?
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Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
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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.
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The wind blows wherever it wishes, and you hear it sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.
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So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus said to Him, How can these things be?
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Jesus answered him, Are you the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? Truly, truly,
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I say to you, we speak of what we know and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony.
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If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
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No one has ascended into heaven except He who descended from heaven, the
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Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the
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Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.
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This is a super important doctrine. My guess is most of you were born again.
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But as someone told me after the first service, he said, thanks a lot for preaching. You must be born again because my children need to hear that.
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They need to be born again. Certainly there are people in this room that need to be born again. And so the message is directed to you, but it's also directed to Christians because I think this will help you in your evangelism.
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And I think it will help you when you realize that your new birth is completely, totally from God.
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You're a Christian because God made you a Christian. How about that? Anybody here make themselves a sheep?
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Who turned themselves from a goat to a sheep? Anyone? At the church that I was at yesterday, preached four times there, this conference, they kind of yelled back at me.
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Kind of, I was kind of just waiting for you guys to all yell because yesterday they were yelling and back and forth.
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So if I kind of lean over, that means respond out loud. Make me feel like I'm in Orlando again.
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Number one, evangelical white lie about regeneration. Some Christians are born again.
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That's the white lie, that's the lie. Born again Christians, all
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Christians are born again. It's theological stuttering, I'm a born again Christian. We say that because what we mean is,
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I'm not a dead Christian, I'm not a mainline Christian, I'm not this, that or the other. But born again people are
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Christians. We even saw that in John chapter three. Unless you're born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God.
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Now born again is very common in our language, in our culture. In the 70s, we heard about a man who's gonna be president and he was a born again.
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People write love songs and they're so in love, they feel like they had kind of a new experience and they're in love and they're born again.
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Maybe if you're a rock star or you're a musician and you need to jumpstart your career, so you kind of got a born again start.
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But where we live, where we exist, here's what born again means. I accepted
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Jesus in my heart, therefore I'm born again. I prayed the sinner's prayer, therefore
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I'm born again. I go to church and I serve and I sing and I study my Bible, I'm born again.
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I went to the front of the church for an altar call, therefore I'm born again. Justification is an external declaration, not guilty based on the work of Christ Jesus, His life,
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His death confirmed by the resurrection. We were condemned, rightly so, but because of Christ, we're now justified.
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It's an external proclamation. Everybody's justified the exact same way and to the exact same degree.
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That's the external judgment and verdict of God acquitted.
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Regeneration is the inward work of the Spirit and it happens the same way to everyone by the sovereign work of the
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Holy Spirit. To give you a definition of regeneration, J .I. Packer said, "'Regeneration is an inner recreating "'of fallen human nature by the
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Holy Spirit.'" I love the effects by the way. He said, "'It changes the disposition from lawless, "'godless, self -seeking into one of trust and love, "'of repentance for past rebelliousness and unbelief "'and loving compliance with God's law henceforth.
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"'It enlightens the blinded mind "'to discern spiritual realities "'and liberates and energizes the enslaved will "'for free obedience to God.'"
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When you hear people say, well, I think born again means like Hindus think, reincarnation.
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We know that's not right. When you hear people say, well, it's like New Year's Day, I have some new resolutions and moral reformation.
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We know biblical regeneration isn't that. John Owen said, a man may beat down the bitter fruit from an evil tree until he's weary.
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That doesn't mean you're saved. It doesn't mean we keep the law, the Ten Commandments. It doesn't mean we're little gods.
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Kenneth Copeland said, dogs beget dogs, cats beget cats, and gods beget little gods.
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And it doesn't mean that when you die, you become born again like the Worldwide Church of Christ. Closer to home, it doesn't mean like the
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Catholics and the Episcopalians and me as a Lutheran growing up, that when water is sprinkled on your head, you're regenerated.
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That's not what the Bible teaches. It doesn't mean like the liberal mainline so -called
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Christian churches that we're just looking for reformation. We're looking for moral improvement.
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We're looking for people who stop acting like animals and act like humans. Fundamentalists and evangelicals sadly often teach that regeneration is solely the work of man, solely the work of a man or a woman's will.
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Is that what the Bible teaches? How can Christians who have such a high view of Scripture read
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Scripture and say, regeneration is something I do. I finally let God save me.
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I did my part because God did almost everything and I have to kind of close the deal. Regeneration means to be get again, to be born again.
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We sang the song earlier today and I love the line because it describes regeneration. It describes the divine act by which we have new life.
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Long my imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound in sin and nature's night.
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Thine eye diffused a quickening ray. I woke the dungeon flamed with light. My chains fell off, my heart was free.
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I rose, went forth and followed Thee. White lie number two.
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White lie number one was some Christians are born again. We know born again people are Christians, vice versa.
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White lie number two, regeneration is merely an external change. It's merely an external change.
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That's what's happening in John chapter three. The Pharisees had turned Judaism into manmade rules.
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Do this, don't do that. Accomplish this, don't do the other.
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Clean the outside, forget about the inside. And if you look at verse three again, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, literally born from above to be born by heaven, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
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If I say you'll never see the inside of my house, it means you'll never come in my house. This is language like Jesus uses in John six.
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No one can come to me unless the father who sent me, what? Draws him.
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It's that kind of language. And the Pharisees air was externalized religion.
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Ask a person today, are you a Christian? And what's their default? Often, sadly, it's, well,
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I was baptized. I had communion, catechized, confirmed. I go to this church.
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I got picked up at the airport last night to go to long -term parking. And Kim was staying at the airport.
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I was gonna go get the car, come back, because when you leave 85 degree Orlando, and then you come here, you have your shorts on, you're like, hmm.
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Actually, I got here and I thought, this is better weather. If it just doesn't get any colder,
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I'd be happy. But this is better, hot, muggy Orlando. And so I got in the car, the guy pulled right up, and I got in the little van, nobody else was there, and K -Love was on.
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So I said, oh, you listen to K -Love? Yeah. I said, are you a Christian? He's like, yeah,
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I listen to K -Love. That's essentially what he said. And so how do you know you're a
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Christian? Well, I listen to Christian music. I said, I just got back from a
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Bible conference and I was telling everybody, behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. That when you look to Jesus Christ as representative and substitute for your sins,
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He was raised from the dead. When you look to Him as a sin bearer by faith alone in Christ alone, you have forgiveness.
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You believe. And he said, yeah, I believe that. Plus K -Love. I mean,
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I was being positive and encouraging. I know. Actually, afterwards I had some snacks, some seeds and M &Ms and stuff, and so I gave him some snacks.
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So I didn't wanna just say be warm, be filled. Rightly did
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Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, Jesus said in Mark 7. As it is written, this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
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You can do the externals. And you know what? Externals are required for the Christian.
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But from an inward disposition, from a motivation on the inside to honor
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God with your heart and with your attitudes. I can play the Christian game and so can you.
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But the question is, are you born again? Because you can't play the game on the inside. You might fake everybody else out.
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And when Jesus answered him, look at verse three. What do you mean answered him? We talked about this several weeks ago.
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There was no question asked out loud, but he had a question in his mind and Jesus reads his mind and Jesus gives him the answer to the question he never asked out loud, but asked in his mind.
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He answered not his words, but his thoughts. Westcott says. Truly, truly.
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Amen, amen. When you back load, front load that amen, amen, it's important, it's emphatic. I say to you, stop looking at me as a religious teacher, as an instructor, you need to see me as a savior.
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High and lifted up and that's why he goes on to talk about Moses lifted up the serpent and then he goes on to say,
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John 3 .16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Those believing in him should not perish.
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You need new life from God. Can you imagine the teacher in Israel comes to Jesus by night and Jesus says, you've got to be born again.
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You need to see yourself Nicodemus as a sinner who needs something more than external observances, moral improvement, religiosity, that means nothing.
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Nicodemus, everything you stand for is completely worthless actually accounts for demerits and you need to be remade by the power of God.
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Nicodemus didn't really get it, but he did say verse four, how can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?
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Jesus says, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and of spirit, that is
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Ezekiel 36 language for cleansing, spiritual cleansing, you've got to be cleansed.
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Nicodemus, you're an old Testament teacher and you should know Exodus, Ezekiel 34 talks about this. You need to be cleansed from the inside.
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He cannot enter the kingdom of God. When I first got married, I wasn't saved and six months into the marriage, as many of you know, when you don't really realize how bad of a sinner you are until you get married and then you start studying the
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Bible and realize you're even a worse sinner than what you thought and everything starts caving in and I remember slamming down dressers and stuff and just in little pitiful fits of rage and anger and if you've got an anger problem, as I've said many times, you go to counseling and fix your anger problem.
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But if you are the problem, who do I go to? I need a new me, I'm broken.
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All the religion in the world isn't gonna fix me. No one's born a
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Christian, no one can make themselves a Christian. John six goes on to say through Jesus, it is the spirit who gives life and the flesh profits nothing.
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And I love the way how Luther was always so tactful. The flesh profits nothing and that nothing is not a little something.
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Verse six, flesh gives birth to flesh, spirit gives birth to spirit.
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Capital S, small s. You should not be surprised at my saying, you must be born again. I ask you the question, are you born again?
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Number three, white lie number three about regeneration. White lie number three, since you're required to be born again, you must have the ability to make yourself born again.
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This is a lie of regeneration. Since you're responsible to be born again, you must have the ability to make yourself born again.
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Command applies ability or does it? That's the lie. Just because you're commanded to do something doesn't mean you can do it because think back a little ways, all the way to the beginning of the
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Bible in Genesis chapter two and three and there's something called the fall. Before the fall, Adam able to obey?
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Yes. Responsible to obey? Yes. After the fall, did God say, now you know what, you don't have to do this anymore.
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I'll relax my holy standards, therefore my holy laws and so I know you plunge yourself into sin so I'll change the hurdle instead of a high hurdle, now it's a low hurdle.
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No, God doesn't change his responsibilities for Adam and to worship him but Adam's no longer able to obey.
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Is he after the fall? And here Jesus says, do not be amazed that I said to you, ye all must be born again.
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You all, plural, maybe he's talking about all the religious leaders but it says here, you must be born again.
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Now it's a trick question but I'll ask it anyway. You must be born again. True or false, it's an imperative.
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Is you must be born again imperative? See, it's a trick question, you don't want to say anything.
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It sounds like it's an imperative. You must do something to yourself. You must be born again.
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But I did tell you it was a trick question and this is interpreted wrongly often. This does not mean you've got a moral duty to do this but it's of divine decree.
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Something has to happen to you or you're not going to go to heaven. William Hendrickson said, when Jesus says you must be born again,
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He does not mean, by all means, see to it that you are born again. On the contrary,
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He means something has to happen to you. The Holy Spirit must plant in your hearts the life from above.
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The sovereign regeneration of the Holy Spirit alone. Responsibility doesn't imply ability.
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Inability does not negate responsibility. Pelagius said to Augustine, if I ought, I can.
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Now man got himself into this predicament and God hasn't changed His standards because He hasn't changed His nature.
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How about this from Arthur Pink? Inability to pay a debt does not excuse a debtor who has recklessly squandered his estate.
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Nor does drunkenness excuse the mad and violent actions of a drunkard, but rather it aggravates his crime.
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God has not lost His right to command even though man through his wickedness has lost his power to obey.
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Heidelberg Catechism, question 9. Is not God unjust in requiring of man in His law what he cannot do?
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Answer, no. For God so created man that He could do it, but man upon the instigation of the devil by deliberate disobedience has cheated himself and all his descendants out of these gifts.
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In other words, the inability is self -imposed. God still requires this, but we can't do it.
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Therefore, something has to be done to us. Can you imagine the unbeliever?
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If you are telling me correct, Pastor, that I'm a sinner, my sin's against a holy
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God, I deserve hell and there's nothing I can do about it.
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I cannot make myself right with God. I cannot bear myself again. I can't be born again. I can't do anything except plead for sovereign mercy.
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The answer is, that's right. That's the only thing you can do. And even the pleading doesn't force
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God to save you. The peril's recognized. But man as fallen creature can't save himself.
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Someone has to save God. A man who doesn't seek God, a man who's spiritually dead, a man who can't repent, needs help, needs
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God. That's why when I read a sermon like this, it either has to be a crazy Tuesday guy, opposite day thing, or it has to be from Charles Finney.
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You make your choice. Sinners bound to change their own hearts. That was a real sermon.
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And it wasn't irony or satire, John Owen, to say that we are able by our own efforts to think good thoughts or give
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God spiritual obedience before we are spiritually regenerate, is to overthrow the gospel.
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Or as one man said, you might persuade someone not to commit suicide, but you can't convince a dead person.
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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.
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You need a new you, that's a fact. Listen, you need a new you. It's like Luke 14 when
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Jesus says, you got to hate your mother, father, brother, and yes, even your own self. Tell somebody to hate your own self.
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How can they do it on their own? We need Jesus. We need the sovereign spirit, number four, white line number four about regeneration.
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God votes for people's salvation, Satan votes against, and you cast the deciding vote.
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God votes for, Satan votes against, you cast the deciding vote. In other words, there are three wills in salvation,
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God's will, Satan's will, man's will. Who's going to win out? Of course, Satan doesn't want to save.
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Of course, God wants to save. Now, you cast the final ballot, and that's why we got to get out the vote, y 'all. Get the vote out.
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Who will win? Who will be the victor? God has done everything, and He's almost done everything
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He could without kind of impinging on your will, so He does almost everything, and now you have to do the final part.
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As one man said, and I think I've quoted him before, we're not even registered voters in this. We're dead.
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Who's going to win? Theologically, is regeneration monergistic or synergistic?
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Is regeneration God alone working, monoerg, or is it we work with Him, syn,
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S -Y -N, together with, symphony along with God? My favorite
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Puritan writer, because he's easy to understand. I kid you not. And he's vividly biblical.
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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.
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God makes the stony heart bleed. Oh, it is a mighty call. Why then do some men seem to speak of moral persuasion?
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That God in the conversion of a sinner is only morally persuasive and no more.
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Now, but listen. If God in conversion should only morally persuade and no more, then
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He does not put so much power in saving men as the devil does in destroying them.
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If you're only going to persuade, the devil does more than that. Look at verse eight.
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This all gets back to the sovereignty of the Spirit in salvation, doesn't it? Why are some people saved and other people not?
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It's not because of strict justice because no one deserves to go to heaven, but God is a
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Savior by nature. He gets glory out of saving people. He picks
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Israel to show His glory and no other nations. He picks some angels and no others to show
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His glory. And same thing here. Look at verse eight. The wind blows where it wishes. He can't control it.
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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.
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And He ties in the real wind with the Spirit of God. So it is with everyone who is born of the
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Spirit. Now, when we were at Universal Studios, we went on a ride.
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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.
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And we'll bring your wife down because you guys probably need like a date together. And I'm like, who are these people?
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You get to the hotel room, there's this big basket of stuff and a little $100 Visa gift card for incidentals.
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They're two free tickets to Universal Studios. I'm thinking, I'm glad they gave me a
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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.
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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.
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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.
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She did. She looked at me like, who are you? And he said, oh, go down there to this one.
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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.
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You know, they put the thing up and over and then they lock it in and the seatbelt goes here. And I thought, you know,
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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.
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And I kid you not. Takes off, it's zooming around. Within 30 seconds, screeching halt, all the lights go on.
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And the lady says, sorry, the power's out. We'll extract you when we can. I'm sitting there.
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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,
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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.
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And I'm locked in. And I'm just like, okay, be a good leader in front of my wife.
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I'm seriously, I started at minute five thinking, I'm never going to get out. I cannot extract myself.
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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.
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And so literally I start saying, trust in the Lord with all your heart. I'm not kidding.
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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.
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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.
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I'm enslaved. Someone has to help me get out. Now that's only a little mini picture.
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I think at minute eight, we got out. I wasn't counting. That's a mini picture of man's enslaved to sin.
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His mind is blinded by Satan. We can't extract ourself. I'm a goat.
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I can't make myself a sheep. I can't give myself new life. And you know what?
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God doesn't owe me new life. Orlando Universal duty was to get me out.
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They had to get me out sooner or later. But God owes no one grace.
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Friends, repeat that in your mind. Grace is unmerited. Grace is undeserved.
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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?
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Why does God save some in the family and not all? Why does God save everyone in the family?
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Why does God save no one in the family? It's the sovereignty of regeneration. God is sovereign.
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He, the Spirit, is sovereign. Romans 9 .15, He says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom
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I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. That's what
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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
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Spirit. Who is wrong when God judges sinful man? Who is wrong when
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God withholds grace? Who is wrong when God doesn't regenerate sinners?
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But who is really happy when He does? Who is thankful that God says, I know your sins,
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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.
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God is sovereign. The wind is sovereign. God is sovereign. Regeneration comes from the sovereign
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Spirit alone. There are no musts or oughts with grace.
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Now, I really wanted to push it, and I'll do it just to push it. If you say, well, what about babies?
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Kim and I lost one between Luke and Haley, and I sure hope I see that baby in heaven. It'd be awesome.
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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.
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No one deserves grace. Now, maybe that baby will be in heaven, but I'll tell you what, if that baby isn't,
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I'm gonna praise God from whom all blessings flow anyway. I'm not even supposed to know.
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I'm supposed to think, will not the judge of the universe do right? Can I entrust my babies with the
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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.
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You go, well, this is hard. Grace is undeserved.
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Grace is unmerited. I think I am gonna see that baby there, but not because that baby deserved it, because I think
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God in His goodness and His kindness bypasses faith, but that's just hope.
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It might be true. God doesn't owe me an answer for His sovereign grace because when
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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.
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And I love federal representation because that means there can be another federal head to save me. The sovereignty of God in regeneration.
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Two religions in the world. One religion, God seeks after men. The other, men seek after God.
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It does not depend on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy, and God has mercy.
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God is a merciful God, our Savior. God's vote counts.
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The Father, Son, and the Spirit always vote the same. Regeneration is an act of God solely.
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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
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Peter 1 .3. God alone regenerates, and He does it without the work, help, or even my consent.
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Now once He regenerates me and I have new life, now I love Him. Now my instantaneous response is, thank you,
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I praise you, you're wonderful. Now I hate evolution for lots of reasons.
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But one of the reasons I hate Darwinian evolution is it takes the glory away from the
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Creator, right? But now we as evangelicals are tempted to believe that we can evolve ourselves into something that's pleasing to God.
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I hate that kind of evolution more than I hate Darwinian evolution from unbelievers. Children's catechism.
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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 will
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He doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered to us in the
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Gospel. Question 31. I am what I am by the grace of God. I am not a self -made man.
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The Gospel isn't do something, it's something that's already been done for us.
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And you believe through non -meritorious instrument of faith. Speaking of which, number five.
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Number five. I don't know how much longer we have, but we'll just go for a while. Faith precedes regeneration.
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Faith precedes regeneration. That's a myth, that's a lie, that's not true. Faith doesn't precede regeneration.
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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.
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1 .18, but I'm trying to highlight man's inability and God's sovereignty.
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I'm trying to diminish man's sovereignty. I want you to see in 1
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John 5 .1, it's all about God. That's why, by the way, if you've got a friend who's not a
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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.
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Baby comes out, cries out after they hit the cold air. Jesus saves people, they cry out, and they say,
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I love you after they're born. Everyone, 1 John 5 .1, believes that Jesus, who believes that Jesus is the
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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.
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Dead people don't repent. Regeneration precedes faith. Look at it one more time. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the
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Christ has been born of God. See, God is the cause.
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God is the one that did it. That's why when we praise him for our salvation, he gets all the praise.
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James talks about how good he is in the middle of all this to do it. White line number six.
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If you're not awake yet, you will be right now. White line number six about regeneration.
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Sinners' prayers save. Sinners' prayers save. I could say altar calls save.
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I could say decisional regeneration saves, and those are all myths.
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Sinners' prayers and altar calls. By the way, friends, does repentance manifest itself in prayer?
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God grants you new life, and you respond with repentance. Will that repentance express itself in prayer?
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I think it will. Lord, have mercy upon me, what? The sinner. I like prayer.
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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
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God has to save you. Once you pray, that unlocks God's goodness so he can save you.
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You were savable, now you can be saved because of your prayer. Anything that we do can't be the cause.
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The cause is eternal love. The God who's rich in mercy. People can be saved without praying.
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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.
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Light switch on. Prayer is not that that activates salvation.
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Here's how it fleshes itself out in Christianity. Okay, pray after me. Dear Lord, I know
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I'm a sinner. I know I'm a sinner. I know Jesus is the only Savior. I know that You died on the cross for me.
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I know You were raised from the dead. I hate my sin. I believe in You.
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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?
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Why don't you pray this after me? But sinner's prayer, it goes all wrong when I now say, welcome to the kingdom.
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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.
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Trials and temptations and difficulties peck away at the false foundation and then the person's exposed.
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I don't have any problem with saying, why don't we just pray together? There was a guy that came to my house four o 'clock in the morning,
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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.
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And I'm like, I want to get the gun. That's what I want to get. If you're not into guns, then
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I wanted to get the bat. If you're a man, you want to defend your house. Okay, use your fists.
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But I'm not tough enough. People say, oh, you should be pacifistic if you're a pastor.
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Well, if you mess with my wife and kids, we'll see. That should be the attitude of every husband. I remember when
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Luke was little, school would always tell him, never hit a kid. Never hit anybody.
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What kind of advice is that? Never hit. Luke, if somebody's hurting your mom or your sisters, you whack them.
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Did I just say that? Take that out of the... Anyway, I went outside.
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Kim was inside. I didn't want to have him come in the house because he was acting crazy. And so he said,
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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.
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I need to go to heaven. And all these kinds 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.
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And I said, well, who saves? He said, God saves. I said, you save? Can you save yourself?
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I've been trying. And I said, well, let me pray to God that He would save you.
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And it's like Matthew 8, where the leper says, if you're willing, I know you can.
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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,
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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.
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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.
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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.
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And God, grant this man salvation. Lord, have mercy upon him. Is there anything wrong with calling out for the mercy of God?
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No. Is there anything saying, I hate my sin. Forgive me the guilt and the trespasses and the condemnation.
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I need to be rescued. I'm sick of myself. I'm sick of everything. Help me, God. All those are good and right.
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And I like them. But not one of them forces God to bestow grace.
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So when we say you come up to the front and now you're a Christian, Robert Dabney said, that's a cruel trick.
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Because then when it doesn't work, it doesn't stick, who do they blame?
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Spurgeon said, here's how you invite men to Christ, not to an altar. Before you leave this place,
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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.
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Lord, I need to be saved. Save me. I call upon thy name. Lord, I am guilty. I deserve thy wrath.
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Lord, I can't save myself. Lord, I would have a new heart and a right spirit, but what can I do?
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Lord, I can do nothing. Come and do in me the work at thy good pleasure.
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God, you're sovereign. Just as I am, that hymn written by Charlotte Elliot, 1836, without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me and that thou biddest me come to thee,
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O Lamb of God, I come, I come. 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?
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True story. All that the Father shall give me shall come to me and him that comes to me,
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I will in no wise cast out. Regeneration is
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God's sovereign prerogative and the offer is free.
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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.
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Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. The spirit and the bride say, come,
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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.
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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.
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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?
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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.
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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.
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And we'll leave it here. This is how born -again people act.
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Now, certainly when we get saved, we realize how many sins we used to sin, we didn't even know were sins.
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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.
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I think you just notice the sins more often. That's actually a good sign, hypersensitive about my sin.
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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.
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Right from John the writer who wrote Gospel of John as well. 1
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John 1 .29, If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.
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When you have righteous behavior in your life, it is a sign that you're a Christian. It's evidence, it's fruit.
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It's fruit that shows I've got the right root. Look at chapter 3 verse 9 of the same epistle, 1
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John. I'm not asking for perfectionism and neither is God because he's already written 1
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John 1 verses 8 and 9. We say we have any sin, we're liars and the truth isn't in us.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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She says, Pastor Mike, did you know that guy who got baptized is still living with his girlfriend? I said, I didn't know that.
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So I went to the guy's house and I said, well, I don't want to make any assumptions and I'm just here for your soul. And are you living with your girlfriend?
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Yes. Are you sleeping in the same bed? Yes. Are you sleeping together? Of course we are. Okay, well, now that I know that,
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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.
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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,
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I've got other verses for you. Do not be deceived, fornicators will not inherit the kingdom of God.
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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 were a
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Christian, I wonder about these verses. I don't think he ever came back to church.
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1 John 5 .18 says essentially the same thing. 1 John 5 .18,
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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.
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And we love other people too. Look at 1 John 4 .7. You just read 1 John, it talks about bearing, bearing, born, born, born.
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1 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
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God. If you're a Christian, you're different because God has made you a new creature in Christ Jesus.
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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?
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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.
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Are you born again? Because you must be born again. Let's pray.
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Father in heaven, if you're left to ourselves, we would never be anything except objects of your displeasure.
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To think about Gehenna, rubbish bin, throw carcasses, throw trash, throw refuse.
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And to think you've made us to worship you and there are some that will not bow the knee to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
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Their end is the rubbish heap, the lake of fire forever. I pray that you'd rescue them from that.
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Save them in spite of themselves, convict them of their sin, grant them repentance, grant them saving faith.
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Father, regenerate them by your spirit sovereign power. And Father, for those of us who are
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Christians, we would acknowledge this morning that we are Christians because of you alone and your son's work alone and your spirit's work alone.
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Salvation is from the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. And we wanna praise you. Would you give us lips to proclaim this gospel that Jesus Christ saves sinners?
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Would you help us to, when we meet people who have no intention of following Christ Jesus, who want justification without sanctification, who want the benefits of regeneration without turning from their sin, would you help us in love to confront that demonic delusion?