Regeneration with John Piper, “What Happens in the New Birth, part 1,” 5

The New Birth as Life and Eternal Urgency

We have begun a series now on the new birth. Verse 3 chapter 3 of John. Truly truly. Jesus says I say to you unless one is born again He cannot see the kingdom of God. So he's speaking to all of us. Not just Nicodemus.

Nicodemus is not a special case here. You and I have to be born again if we're going to see the kingdom of God. That is if we're going to enter into the kingdom of God. It's going to be saved if we're going to not go to hell.

He makes clear that we understand that Nicodemus is a Pharisee. He said some things to Pharisees about hell. So I mentioned hell. He said Woe to you scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte and When he becomes a proselyte you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

And he said you serpents you brood of vipers. How will you escape being sentenced to hell. So he knows what he's dealing with with Nicodemus? This is life and death this is eternity. This is heaven and hell.

When he says unless you're born again Nicodemus you won't see the kingdom of God. He means you'll perish forever where there's eternal darkness and flames and gnashing of teeth and Christ is wooing him in.

To life.

And that's what I'm doing. This is not marginal. This is central. Eternity hangs in the balance week after week now for some weeks. Unless you are born again You cannot see the kingdom of God. Now in the first message last time we focused on why are we preaching this series?

What is the point and Where are you going in this series that was what we did last time today and Next Sunday Lord willing the focus will be on What happens in new birth? What is it? But before we attempt to answer that question in its First two answers in this service.

Why the New Birth Feels Unsettling

I want to raise a concern that I have in the preaching of this series. I Have a very earnest concern about the way these messages will be heard. There aren't many topics that Raise this issue for me more than this one Does as a preacher?

I am aware that preaching on the new birth is for many.

Very.

Unsettling. I Feel it as I speak. I feel it in my bones and And I feel it when I talk to you after the services and others make comments to me about it and I want to make clear that I'm aware of that and give you some reasons why I think it's the case and Then tell you what my prayer is and summon your prayer.

So all this is introductory about the challenge that I feel in Speaking to thousands of people all over the spiritual map about the new birth. Here are the three reasons. I think it's so unsettling to address this issue.

One.

Jesus teaching about the new birth confronts us with our.

Hopeless.

Spiritual moral and legal condition apart from regenerating grace. Few topics confront us as directly with our spiritual moral and legal Hopelessness apart from this happening. Spiritually apart from regeneration.

We're dead. Morally, we are selfish and rebellious apart from the new birth and Legally, we are guilty before the law of God and under his wrath. So when Jesus tells us you must be born again He means that if if you're not You will be hopelessly Unresponsive to the truth and you will be corrupt in your selfishness and and your sin and you will be guilty Before God.

Apart from the amazing grace of God in our lives causing us to be born again We simply will perish and we will be Dead Selfish and guilty. That's unsettling. Is to me just to hear it makes me shake that there is an experience.

I must have or I stay in that condition and perish Righteously. God is doing me no wrong when he condemns me. The second reason I think it's unsettling is.

That.

Jesus is teaching us that The new birth is not something we do but something that is done to us. Chapter 1 verse 13 of John. He emphasizes it like this. He says that the children of God Are those who quote?

Were born of God born of God not of blood. Nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God. This is something done by God to us. Not what our will does. Peter stresses the same thing in his first letter chapter 1 verse 3.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ According to his great mercy. He caused us to be born again unto a living. Hope Caused us to be. We do not cause the new birth. God causes the new birth.

That's.

Unsettling we feel. You mean. You mean I don't make this happen.

God just. Does it any good thing that we do is a result of the new birth not a cause of the new birth? This means that the new birth is taken out of our hands. It's not in our control. And so it confronts us with our absolute and total.

Dependence on God like very few other.

Bible teachings do. That's the second reason it is so Unsettling to us we feel. Unsettled we Americans especially I.

I.

Control my life. I'm the captain of my soul. Don't tell me I'm totally dependent on the Almighty. I Don't even know how to function in such a mode and most people don't. The third reason it is so unsettling is Following from the second one namely that it confronts us this teaching about the new birth confronts us with the absolute Freedom of God.

Apart from God, we're spiritually dead. We're selfish. We're rebellious. We're by nature Paul says children of wrath. Our rebellion is so deep we cannot detect or Desire let alone delight in the glory of God revealed in the gospel Second Corinthians 4 for we are blind so morally selfish and corrupt and Self-reliant.

I looked up that essay by Emerson this week called Self-reliance written in the heyday of the 19th century before it was all blown out of the water by the most wicked evil murderous century in the history of the world the 20th century and that and I looked up that poem by Henley called.

Convictus I.

Am the cup. That's who we are by nature. I'm tempted to speculate about why we enjoy Jason Bourne here.

And.

The likes of.

007 and Superman and the old Trinity films from back in the 60s and 70s. Why do we like these things. There may be a good reason and there may be a bad reason.

I'll leave it with you.

The bad reason would be We want to be like that it resides in here a triumph over everything. I am the captain of myself. Don't tell me I am absolutely Dependent on anything or anybody. It's what we are by nature, especially modern Americans and so when we are told by Jesus you must be born again.

By God. By God or you perish.

Inside we're saying we're very unsettled for those three reasons and more. I Feel that I am taking into my hands in these days eternal souls. And I feel very very nervous about this. Except for God. I feel like I've got people in my hands.

Of two kinds there are many kinds, but the one kind is I am so so solicitous of the tender soul so prone to doubt. He or she just kind of hangs on by their fingernails. Week after week in life, and they're gonna sit under these messages.

With these words, and I know the threat to their soul just to preach about the new birth. It's gonna be like I don't know if I am and then there's this other kind of person so absolutely cavalier about spiritual things.

You're here, and you're thinking I would really Get out of here because there's just it is of zero interest. Eternity is a blank Jesus is boring and a New computer game would be heaven. I mean, that's that's the other kind of person, and I'm so jealous that that person not Believe they're born again.

How do you do that? How do you preach this message so that this person doesn't go under and? This person doesn't oh sure. Everybody's born again because we're all imperfect. So I'm simply saying as I approach these messages.

I feel helpless. I feel like how do you do this, and I'm I invited you last time, and I invite you again. Would you please pray? This is very important series in the life of our church, and I cannot handle this on my own.

I cannot Manage these the the bigness of these realities. With this little mouth and this little brain God has to move on these services to protect the babies the little lambs the little little sheep and And to just walk the other guy so that they know I Am NOT there.

How do you how do you do that God can do that? God can take five loaves and two fish and feed 5 ,000 people he can take this mouth and and caress the lambs and what the. The presumptuous. So that's what I'm asking you to do is pray.

The New Birth as God's Work, Not Ours

Here's my confidence. I'll tell you why I feel emboldened to press on. I Believe that God in his heart is really prone to do. Ephesians 2 3 to 5 goes like this 4 and 5. God being rich in mercy. Because of the great love with which he loved us.

Made us alive together in Christ. By grace you have been saved and seated us with him in the heavenly places. Because of the great love with which he loved us. He made us alive. I hold on to that and I say.

You love to do this.

You have great love and it does this for people and then I think I Also realized that the Holy Spirit is sent into the world according to John 16 to glorify the Son and therefore if I am faithful and we are faithful in the kinds of songs we sing the prayers we pray the Sermons we preach the conversations we have to lift up Jesus where I am lifted up I would draw men to myself when Christ is lifted up.

The Holy Spirit really makes a beeline to high to eyes. Why would he want people to be blind where Christ is being lifted up if he was sent into the world to glorify Christ. So if I do my part namely lifting him up Faithfully in his word and you do your part praying earnestly that eyes would be opened.

Isn't it likely that God in his freedom? Would do this so all that by way of introduction. Here's today's question and next week's Lord willing What happens in the new birth? What happens? What is it?

We can start with the why question or the what question or the how question or the result question. But I'm starting with the what question. What is it? I'm going to sum it up in Three statements and deal with two of them in this message and one of them Lord willing next time.

Here are the two. I'll give you all three of them. Number one what happens in the new birth is not getting a new religion, but getting a new life.

That's number one.

Not getting a new religion, but getting a new life. We'll come back to these. Number two. What happens in the new birth is not merely affirming the supernatural in Jesus But experiencing the supernatural in me.

Yet that the new birth is not simply Affirming that you see the supernatural in Jesus. The new birth is Experiencing the supernatural in me. Third statement. What happens in the new birth is not the improvement of your old human nature?

But the creation of a new human nature a nature that is really you and Forgiven and cleansed and really new being formed By the presence of the indwelling Spirit of God. So number three the entire sermon next time.

Nicodemus Needs Life, Not Religion

One and two we do here. So let's take them one at a time. Number one what happens in the new birth is Not the getting of a new religion, but the getting of a new life. Let's read verses 1 to 3. I'm getting all these from John 3 1 to 10 and then we'll go elsewhere later.

But I want to deal with this text for a couple of weeks. John chapter 3 verses 1 through 3. 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 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.

Jesus answered him.

Truly truly I say to you Unless one is born again. He cannot see the kingdom of God. Wouldn't just love to be like Jesus. It's out of the blue. This man makes a nice statement about Jesus and Jesus just looks at him and says You got to be born again.

Now he makes sure John makes sure that we know Nicodemus is a Pharisee. He did not need to tell us that this text would make perfectly good sense. If he said a man came to Jesus by night Said I know you've been doing some great things and you're from God and Jesus say you need to be born again.

Perfect. Not. No problem. Why does he tell us he's a Pharisee and a ruler of the Jews? Answer. A new religion will do you no good at all. These are the most religious people on the planet. They're the most religious Jewish people so you may be a perfectly good Baptist Lutheran Methodist Episcopal Catholic.

Religious to the core and lost.

That's what he's saying. John wanted us to get this that here's the Pharisee the paragon of disciplines the paragon of prayer the paragon of moral Uprightness and keeping his nose clean and showing up at all the meetings.

And he's lost he's dead. So the reason I think that John points out he was a Pharisee It was a ruler of the Jews is to make crystal clear in spite of all that Religiosity he needs to be born again. He doesn't need religion.

He needs life. He needs life. Now, of course in one sense, he's quite alive.

Right, I.

Mean if he would if Nicodemus were here and he heard me just say what I just said he would say excuse me.

I'm alive.

Because that's this that's the way he is here. He's blind. He doesn't get it at all. He's saying that he is kind of crawled into my mother's womb. Be born again. Uh-huh, and and he would say to me you say I'm dead.

I'm alive. Excuse me. I'm alive. I am alive. Now Jesus apparently had a category for living dead. Can you think of any texts. Remember the man Luke 9 60 Who came to Jesus. And Jesus said follow me and he said can I go please bury my father.

And he says.

Let the dead bury their dead.

Hmm.

So there are dead who need burying and there are dead who bury them. He's got that category. He knows what he's talking about. When he says you need to be born you need life. He knows he's talking to a dead man who's alive.

Prodigal of the parable son. The parable of the prodigal son. Parable of the prodigal son. The father got his boy home. What did he say to the older the older brother? Who's been out of shape about this party?

He says My son was dead. And he's alive. This is not surprising for Jesus to talk like this to say to a living Man in front of him the blood is coursing through his veins thoughts are coming out of his head.

Mouth is working eyes are working ears are working. Everything's working and he's dead. He needs to live. He needs life. He needs a birth so first meaning of What happens in the new birth is not you you get a new religion like become a Baptist that saves nobody or Lutheran or Catholic.

It's life.

The New Birth as Supernatural Experience in Us

Number two. What happens in the new birth is not merely affirming the supernatural in Jesus? But experiencing the supernatural in yourself. Verse 2. Rabbi We know that you are a teacher. Come from God.

For no one can do these signs that you're doing Unless God is with him. I see genuine divine activity in you. I Honor your miracle working power to which Jesus did not say. I Wish everybody in Palestine could see like you see.

Instead he said if you're not born again, you can't even see the kingdom from which I infer recognizing miracles and miracle workers even if it's Jesus. It's not the key to entering the kingdom looking at Jesus and saying oh, yes Son of God I'm going beyond Nicodemus here.

I'm going beyond Nicodemus to satanic theology. You know, I'm getting that.

The.

Demons came to him and said we know who you are son of the Most High God. Demons know he's the son of the Most High God. They're not saved. They know he's working miracles. It's getting them in real big.

What are we gonna do? He's here before the time and he's delivering people that we've taken captive and They're not saved. They know it all they know it all and they're not saved. They're not born of God.

The demons aren't born of God. They don't you don't need Merely to recognize in Jesus a miracle worker even to recognize him as the Son of God. That saves nobody. What you need is for the miracle working God to do the miracle in you.

Truly truly I say to you Unless one is born again He cannot see The kingdom of God now this birth new birth is Supernatural that's why I said it's miracle. It's supernatural. Why do I think that because of verse?

6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh. So that's all of us born of our mothers. She's flesh. We're flesh. That's just human nature apart from any Supernatural intervention at all that which is born of the flesh is flesh.

That which is born of the spirit. Is spirit in other words? We're born not of any resources that are in this Universe. No natural resources. Nothing here can do this. This is the work of the spirit.

Spirit.

God spirit Does it in us which is why?

Our.

Seeing Jesus as Miracle worker or Son of God doesn't necessarily save us. Has the spirit come? Has the spirit quickened. Has the spirit caused life to come. Has he done the miracle in us to change us?

So that we Have spiritual life. Or it's said again in verse 8 The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it. But you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the spirit.

So don't think that new birth is some kind of culturally induced Religious awakening. Like I got scared in the middle of the night I Cried out to my crystals and total peace engulfed me. I'm born again.

This is a concrete reality. The Holy Spirit of the Living God moves in and awakens people Brings them from death to life and gives them a.

New.

Nature, which is where we're going to go next time. So Here's what I want to do in the last few minutes. What we've seen so far is that what happens in the new birth is first that it isn't getting a new religion.

It's getting a new life. And now we've seen that that's a supernatural Gift, it's a miracle in us. So that just seeing Jesus is supernatural isn't isn't the key to the kingdom. Being wrought upon by the Spirit so that this new spiritual life is in us is the key to the kingdom.

And here's my closing question. What's that got to do with? Jesus what's that got to do with? Faith in Jesus as the Son of God and the one who dies for our sins and the one whose righteousness covers our sin.

That's what I want to close with we will talk a lot more about the relationship between the new birth and faith when we get way down the line to the effects of the new birth, but I Think I would do the Lord a dishonor if I didn't close by asking.

Okay, you've said That what has to happen in here for me to see the kingdom someday is for there to be new life worked Supernaturally by the Holy Spirit. That's what you said. Yep. That's what I think Jesus is saying.

He says it again in John 663 just to make sure we don't isolate this text like doesn't belong in the big picture of John. John 663 it is the Spirit who gives life the flesh is of no avail. That's John 663.

It is the Spirit who gives life. The flesh is of no avail but. And you know this this is this is now first grade John theology, you know that the gospel of John makes something else crystal clear namely that Jesus is the way the truth and the.

Hmm.

So Jesus is the life Jesus is the vine and.

We are the branches.

Into which life courses like living fruit-bearing sap and. You've just told us that the Spirit gives life.

So oh.

I love the gospel of John. I love the Bible. Bible takes you so far and then it says now do it do it.

Think it figure it Put it together.

And then you start putting it together and you see confirmations here and there. Jesus said John 14 6. I'm the way the truth and the life. Jesus said John 635. I am the bread of life John said chapter 20 verse 31.

These things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and believing have life in his name. Believing have life believing have life. So everybody knows. Because of John 3 16 that the way you have life is.

Believing.

There is no spiritual life. There is no eternal life apart from connection with Jesus. That's crystal clear in John. There is no eternal life. There is no genuine saving Spiritual life apart from connection with Jesus.

Or you could use the word.

Union with Jesus.

Christ is life Christ is divine. We are the branches. What happens in the new birth? Therefore I would say is The supernatural creation of new spiritual life by the spirits uniting us to Jesus.

That's what he does.

Isn't operate in some kind of sphere and Jesus way over there and he did the life here and then. Jesus looks at well like that and I'll show up and Be be part of that. It's not the way you can't make sense out of the gospel of John that way.

He is life. Union with him is the source of life. When it says the Spirit does it he means he's the agent and the one who does. The uniting just brings us into the life of Christ. So that's the objective reality of what happens.

The Holy Spirit moves on you and Unites you brings you into connection with the coursing life of Jesus Christ. Now from our side. We experience that as faith in Jesus awakened. Spiritual life and faith in Jesus come into being together.

Spiritual life and faith in Jesus Come into being together. The new life makes the faith.

Possible.

If you're dead you can't believe. But since spiritual life always Awakens and expresses itself in faith. There's no life.

Without faith.

Don't ever ever contemplate someone born again and unbelieving. Don't separate these two the work of the Spirit uniting to Christ bringing life that's eternal and.

The.

Faith.

The receiving. The embrace the treasuring the trusting of Jesus over here. Don't ever separate those two. Bring those two always together. From our side we experience union with Christ.

Through faith.

Listen to how John puts it in his letter. Oh. How the letter illumines the gospel. First John 5 for goes like this. Everyone who has been born of God. So there it is new birth. Everyone who's been born of God Overcomes the world.

This is the victory that overcomes the world our faith. The key to triumph over the world is new birth. The key to triumph over the world is faith in Jesus. Because they're never separated. One is God's work.

The other is our expression and experience of that work as it happens in our conscious being. We believe him we trust him embrace him. We enjoy him. We know him because we're now in him and our life Is flowing from him.

Here's another there's another word from 1st. John. 1st. John 5 11 and 12. This is the testimony That God.

Gave us.

Eternal life and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son Has life. Whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. So if you take that whoever has the Son has life. Whoever does not have the Son does not have life.

And then you say it is the Spirit who gives life. John 6 63. You must be born again by the Spirit into new life. You got to put these together. Who has the Son has life. To be born of the Spirit you have life and I put them together by saying the Spirit is the power and work and person of God bringing our hearts together with the Living Christ so that we're united with him.

And there's this Exploding faith out of our hearts that we embrace him for who he is and all the fruits of faith flow from that. Jesus is our life. Don't separate the new birth. Don't separate the new birth from Jesus or closing statement.

Never separate two sayings from John 3 Saying number one verse three unless one is born again. He cannot see the kingdom of God. Verse 36. Whoever believes in the Son Has eternal life. Never separate those two.

If you are born again You'll see the kingdom. If you believe in Jesus you'll have eternal life. Because the new birth Brings with it and is expressed in.

Faith.

Those who genuinely believe are born again. Those who are born again.

Genuinely.

Believe.