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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/norman-crawford/the-new-birth/
I'd like to read again in the Gospel of John, please. The Gospel of John, I'm reading in chapter 1, first of all. John's Gospel, chapter 1, and verse 11. He, that is the Lord Jesus, came unto his own.
That likely in the context means his own creation. Because if you look up this chapter, you'll discover all things were made by him. So he came unto his own creation. And his own, that is his own people, received him not.
But as many as received him, to them gave he power, the right, the authority, to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born. This is the new birth now. Not of blood, that's the natural birth, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 3, and I'm going to begin to read at verse 2. The saying, that is, this Pharisee Nicodemus came to Jesus by night, said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, it's true, it's true, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old?
Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Now notice this very clear, plain text. Marvel not, but I say unto thee, ye must be born again. Verse 16, I'd like to read perhaps the greatest verse in all the Bible.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. I'm going to try to speak to you about the new birth. It should be an easy subject to preach.
Actually, I've never found it easy. I'm going to tell you four things about it. They are very clearly from the Bible. The first is the newness of it. The first birth is an old birth. This is a new birth.
So it's distinct and separate from the natural birth. In fact, if we had read further in chapter 3, we would have read that very clearly. That whatever is born of man, what is born of the flesh is only flesh.
It can be nothing else. That which is born of the spirit is spirit. So it is new. It's a new beginning. The need for it is, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. The nature of it is to be born of God.
The neglect of it means to perish. John 3 .16, this grand 25 words that has the Lord Jesus right in the center of it. Those 25 words tell a sinner how he can be born again. I always remember a dear lady, you've heard about Mr. McVean already tonight.
Well, I remember a lady many years ago who was seeking, earnestly seeking. She was reading the Bible. She had read very carefully John 3. The day we visited her, she said, I know I have to be born again.
I don't know how. How can a person be born again? I'd never heard this before. I've used it many times since. Mr. McVean said to her, look at verse 16. And he read, for God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but be born again.
Oh, she said, it doesn't say that. She looked at the verse very carefully. He said, what does it say? She said, it says you'll have everlasting life. He said, what did you get when you were born the first time?
She said, I got life. He said, what do you think a person gets when they're born again? Oh, she said, is that it? Everlasting life. That dear woman trusted Christ that day. It's by believing in Him. Now, I want to be as plain and simple as I can.
This is why I say this is not easy. This is a difficult passage. The idea of the new birth has become quite, at least much better known than when I first started to preach. I can remember in January and February of the year 1946, Mr. McVean and I were preaching in a place that's only about 12 miles from here, and in the whole neighborhood, they said, where did this ever come from?
We never heard about this before. And the clergyman actually got up in the church and he said, it was only to Nicodemus that those words were ever spoken. That isn't for the rest of us. In fact, he made the statement, that's the only place in the Bible you read about that.
I don't know how carefully he was reading the Bible, because at least 14 times in the New Testament, at least 14 times, in 14 different locations, we are told about this new birth. It is called being born again.
As we read in John 3, it is called being born of God. As we read in John 1, it is called being born of the Spirit. It is called a new creation. It is actually called to be begotten of God. To come into new being through the mighty power of God.
And every person who is ever going to be in heaven, can I say it as plain as I know how, everyone who is ever going to be in heaven, has to have a time when they are born again. The Lord Jesus made it crystal clear, except the man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Can I speak to you for a few minutes about a time when a person is born again? There was a time when each one of us had a natural birth. An actual time. And for everyone who is going to be in heaven, there is a time when they are born again.
I went through the Bible lately. This was of great interest to me because I was having a number of discussions with a man who was telling me that maybe it's gradual. Maybe you grow into it. Maybe you learn more and more as you go along and finally you learn enough so that you can say, well, now I'm born again.
Maybe that's how it is. And I went through the New Testament and I found 14 expressions. Interesting that the new birth is found 14 times in the New Testament, but this particular kind of word is found 14 times.
And in every single case, there's an actual moment when a person is born again. An actual moment when they are saved. An actual moment when they receive everlasting life. And those 14 words, I'll give them to you very quickly.
Conversion. A conversion is 180 degrees about turn. And the Lord Jesus said, except you be converted and become as little children, you shall never, never enter into the kingdom of heaven. Of course, it's receiving a gift.
It's actually looking to the Savior. A look that brings life. A look of faith. It is believing in Him. 100 times in this Gospel of John, you read about believing in Him. In the language in which the New Testament was written, there is a very great preciseness and exactness in the language.
There are verbs in the Greek language that mean linear, a continuous action. There are verbs in the Greek language that mean it happens in a moment. They are called point-tense verbs. Point-tense. It happens in a moment.
Every time the word believe is found in the Gospel of John, it is a point-tense. It's not a process. It's not something you grow into. It happens in a moment. In a moment when a person is saved. Of course, the word come in the Bible is a word like that.
Actually, receiving Christ is a word like that. Turning from darkness to light is a word like that. Coming from a far-off place to be made nigh. Being guilty and then forgiven. Being in Adam and now being in Christ.
So, very clearly, the New Testament tells of a need for a time of salvation. I preached with a man many years ago who I had a great lot of respect for, and that's been true of all the men I've preached with.
But this man was a very wonderful soul winner. His name was Mr. Fred Watson. I learned from every one of the men I ever worked with, more from Mr. McVane than any or all of the others together, perhaps.
But this particular day, we went to a door, and a lady, a very nice lady, a gentle lady, talked to us very respectfully. And Mr. Watson said to her, and he was a true gentleman, he said to her, Do you believe that you have Christ?
Yes, she said, I do. He said to her, When did you receive Christ? Oh, she said, I can't tell you of an exact time. I thought, I wonder what he's going to say next. This is where I learned. I was learning.
You know what he said to her next? So, you don't actually know when you were saved? No, she said, I don't. Well, my dear lady, do you know when you were lost? Oh, boy. That's the big difficulty. You see, a person who doesn't know when they're saved is because they never have known they're lost.
They have never actually come to the place where they have nothing. Salvation is not an add-on. It's not something like a piece of software that you put into your computer and add on to what you have.
A person who gets salvation has nothing. They come with nothing. They do nothing. No works. No effort on their own part. By grace they are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
So there must be a time when a person is saved, and the Lord Jesus said, don't marvel. I said, you must be born again. And it's as plain as this. You must be born again because without it, you can never enter heaven.
The nature of this new birth. I read very especially verse 5 of John 3 because I wanted you to see something in it that is very important to us. It says, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
So actually then this means that a person gets baptized, and in that baptism they're born again. Is that what it means? Could I see it very loudly? No. That's not what it means. Dr. Brandt's great uncle was a preacher.
His name was Mr. Louis Brandt. He took me to preach with him in 1947. And as from many others with whom I worked, I learned a lot from Mr. Brandt. I remember one day very especially in a farmer's field talking with a man who had actually shut his tractor off to talk to us.
And Mr. Brandt began to speak very plainly to him as he always did and said, we're telling people how they can be saved and sure of heaven. And he said, you see, the Lord Jesus said you must be born again.
Are you born again, sir? The man said, oh yes, I am. Mr. Brandt said to him, when were you born again? He said, when I was baptized. Oh. So, when you were baptized, you believe, what did you get? He said, I got life.
I got life when I was baptized. Mr. Brandt said to him, that's very strange. Because that's not what the Bible says. I didn't know what he was going to do, but he turned to Romans chapter 6 and verse 3 and he read, we are buried with him by baptism into life.
No. We are buried with him by baptism into death. Baptism is not giving you life. Dear Lisa will be baptized here tonight according to God's will and word and obedience to him. This doesn't give her anything.
I'll tell you what it is. It's a public confession. It's a public admitting I'm a guilty sinner for whom Jesus died and I have trusted that Savior for myself. She won't get saved in that water that's behind me there.
She got saved in the month of April on a wonderful Tuesday afternoon. God saved her. Friend, do you have a time like that? I was going to actually do this in the baptismal tank tonight, but the water is a little bit cool.
Let me do it now. I'm sure Lisa won't mind me doing this. This is her conversion. I have been troubled about my soul for a few months now. I finally spoke to my mom and dad on Easter Sunday. I asked them how they got saved and told them I was concerned.
Mom gave me Mr. Crawford's e-mail address, and I wrote to him and told him what had been going on with me. I drove down this morning to talk with him. I seemed to be stuck on the believing part. I have always believed.
It's what we were taught from the time we were little. Mr. Crawford told me a story. It was a very bad bridge. The sign said that the weight limit was three tons and the truck and building weighed 11 tons.
So they spoke to the road commission who informed them that they had taken a 20-ton piece of equipment over the same bridge and that it was sure to hold. Mr. Crawford believed them, but not until he actually drove onto the bridge did he trust the bridge.
Now listen. Here's Lisa's testimony. I now trust in the Lord Jesus and all He did for me on the cross, and I know that it is enough to take me to heaven. And then she writes to the believers, thank you for all your prayers over the years.
I don't want to give away Lisa's age, but we prayed for her for 30 years. This is a good lesson for us, never to give up on anyone. I thought I was far beyond reach, but even after all these years of my turning my back on the Lord, He still saved me.
So baptism doesn't save. Baptism doesn't give life. You know what baptism actually is? It's to show publicly that the person who is baptized is linked to the Savior who went through the reality on Calvary.
You see, to baptize means to immerse. The word baptizo in the New Testament actually means to put down under, to immerse. The Lord Jesus was immersed. Where? In Jordan by John? No, that's not what He's talking about, because a year and a half later He said, I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I pressed in spirit till it be accomplished?
Know what He was talking about? The cross. What was He going to be immersed in? Water? God's judgment. The fiery judgment of God. And on the cross, the Lord Jesus, unseen by the eye of man, went down underneath the judgment, the wrath of Almighty God.
He was crushed underneath the weight of guilt and sin. It wasn't His own sin. He had none. It was my sins. It was the sinner who trusts Him. He took the guilty sinner's place. He suffered in His stead for mine.
Oh, miracle of grace! For mine, the Savior bled. What is this? What is this, the nature of this new birth? It means that a sinner, helpless to save himself, herself, trusts alone in the work that Christ has done.
You know, we read a verse in John 1 that's quite amazing. These people that trust Christ, receive Christ, they are born. Not of blood. That is, my parents were Christians. That doesn't make me a Christian.
Nor of the will of the flesh. That is, I can't suddenly make up my mind I'm going to do something and be a Christian. Not of the will of man. That is, no man can do anything to me. An ordinance, a ceremony, such as baptism.
Anything like it. No man can do anything to me to make me a Christian. It's not of the will of man. A clergyman told me one time that he was going to baptize a little child. And it turned out that the child was sick the day it was to be baptized.
This is just a little infant child he was baptizing. And the child was sick that day, so the child couldn't be baptized that day. So the parents said it would be all right and gave him another date. And it turned out he wasn't available for that date.
So finally they got together and made up their mind. Well, we can agree on this particular date. And on that date, the child was baptized. That man was an honest man. He was reading his Bible, his clergyman.
And he read in John 1, which were born. And he thought this was baptism. Which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Oh, he said. Wasn't that our will?
Wasn't that what we decided to do? It's not of the will of man. It's of God. It's God's work. It's a mighty work of the Holy Spirit. No wonder the Lord Jesus said, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit.
Well, what is the water? Isn't it baptism? No. You know what the water is? We already heard from 1 Peter 3 tonight. In 1 Peter 1, it says being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God that lives and abides forever.
I have a dear friend in Sarnia, Ontario. His name is Martin Prince. I never will forget the day that Martin came to tell us he got saved. It was 1948. And he forgot we couldn't speak Dutch. He gave us the first sentence in English and the rest of it in Holland.
But finally he got around to telling us in English. He'd been standing beside a big spout at a feed mill. And that verse came to him. And he took it for himself. God love me. I'm in this world. He gave his only begotten son to die for me.
And he kept telling us, I have everlasting life. He really did have it. A few days after he was saved, only a few weeks at the most, three men from the church came to visit him. And he told them what had happened to him.
Oh, Martin, they said, you've gone against all the religion of your fathers. Don't you know that you were born again when you were baptized as an infant? So Martin says, where's that in the Bible? Well, they said all theologians are agreed.
That circumcision in the Old Testament that was done to male children is a picture of baptism in the New Testament. Here's a boy saved a few weeks. I can hardly believe I'm telling this. But it happened like this.
Because dear Martin, he he turned to a very, very clear verse in the epistle to the Galatians. And this is what he read. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision, but a new birth.
He read it in the Dutch Bible like that, and that's exactly what it says. In Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth anything or uncircumcision, but a new birth. They put on their hats and left. People wore hats in those days.
Offerings, you have to be born again. You can be born again. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but be born again, have everlasting life.
Lisa's experience helps me a great deal. You see, that bridge didn't look trustworthy. It was hanging with rust. It was an old steel, what is called an engineer's bridge. It was over a river 120 feet above roaring white water.
The river is called the White River, and it's well named. And that bridge didn't look like it was worthy of our trust. And when it said three tons limit on the end, I was sure we couldn't trust it. I talked to men up and down the road.
This is a way in northern Canada, and there aren't many people who live there, but the few who live are always ready to visit with you. And I asked different ones about the bridge, and they shook their head.
Oh, no, no, no, that would never do. That would never work. So we went to the highway department, and the highway department said, you can use it. And we said, well, our truck and our mobile haul weigh 11 tons.
They said, that's all right. You can use it. John Kimbrough said to me, maybe they don't like us very well. But then they explained, we haul a 20-ton bulldozer over that bridge. Oh. See, when we heard that, we believed about the bridge.
We hadn't believed about it by looking at it. But when they gave us their word that they had hauled 20 tons over it, we now believed about it. Had we trusted it yet? No. We believed about it. Maybe there are people here tonight who believe about Christ like that.
He's God's son. He came from heaven. He died on the cross willingly. He shed his blood. He suffered for sinners. He rose from the dead the third day. He's living in heaven. He's a coming Lord. Do you believe all that about him?
Can I ask a question? When did you trust him? At 2 o 'clock on a Wednesday afternoon, we trusted the Kainuk Bridge. About a quarter to nine, on April 1st, in the year 1938, 64 years ago, I trusted the Savior.
Have you trusted him? Put your whole weight on him. Christ plus nothing. No works, no effort. Nothing of self. Not of the will of the flesh, but of God. What a wonderful thing it is to know. I have everlasting life.
That means more to me than ever. I well realize that the most of my life is past. I'll soon be in eternity. Oh, my friend, I know that I have eternal life. Because I'm worthy? No. I'm only a sinner saved by sovereign grace.
May God bless His Word to you.