Born from Above

Would you take your Bibles, please, and turn to Romans chapter 8? If there is a chapter in the Bible that's about the Holy Spirit, the gift of God, the Spirit, it's chapter 8 of Romans. One famous Bible commentator says this whole chapter is about life in the Spirit. This is a chapter about what theologians called the Ordo, sounds like order, that's what it means. Ordo salutus, the order of salvation, or in English what we might call the way of salvation. Ordo means a list of things in order, one thing after another in a series, and the word salutus doesn't mean salvation in the Latin, it means blessing or wellness or health or welfare. So the order of blessings in salvation come in a certain logical, even chronological order, and that's what theologians call the Ordo salutus. It's not an everyday word that you would use, you wouldn't sit out lunch and say, hey, how's your Ordo salutus today? They might think you were talking about some organ in your body, but it is something that we think about, and we pray about, and we worry about in loved ones all the time. And theologian Louis Berkoff, who wrote a systematic theology that most men in reformed seminary study, has said that the Ordo salutus describes the process by which the work of salvation wrought in Christ is subjectively realized in the hearts and lives of sinners. It aims at describing in their logical order and also in their relationship the various movements of the Holy Spirit and the applying of redemption to the believer. The emphasis is not on what man does to appropriate the grace of God, but on what God does in applying it to man. So we have here kind of a subset of what we call the doctrines of salvation. Another foreign word, so tear in Greek means savior. And the study of the savior and his work, salvation is called so-teriology, and from our perspective, so-teriology is experienced, salvation is experienced in the order of God's divine blessing that leads us from death to life and from sin to salvation. It's not so much about what we're doing to appropriate these things, although some of it does involve our repentance and our faith and our obedience. It's more an emphasis on what God is doing and has done through Jesus Christ to bring us to salvation. Now people may say, well, pastor, is this a man-made concept or is this in the Bible? Well, it's actually both. If you look in this chapter 8 of Romans, down in verse 28, you see kind of a summary, ordo salutus, a summary of the order of events, and things that the Holy Spirit does for us to bring us to repentance and faith. We know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose, for those who mefore knew He also predestined, to be conformed to the image of the Son in order that we might be the first born among many brothers. And those who me predestined, He also called. And those who me called, He also justified. And those who me justified, He also glorified. So here in these three or four little verses, Paul talks about being called, being predestined, having a new life, being a first born, being regeneration. He talks about justification, and He talks about sanctification, and He talks about glorification in this passage. It's part of His great work, this Holy Spirit, who is the gift of God to bring us sequentially phased by phased into a new humanity. We Americans like things that happen instantly, and we like microwave salvation. We believe at a certain moment of time, perhaps on a retreat, that Jesus Christ died for his sins. You put your faith on Him, and instantly you are saved. But in reality, salvation is a much more prolonged, a process, and much more intricate. If you turn to Titus, chapter three, you'll see another example of the order of salvation. In the goodness and loving kindness of God, our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of works done in righteousness, but according to His own mercy by the washing of regeneration, and the renewal of the Holy Spirit, who me poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, so that being justified by His grace, we might become errors according to the hope of eternal life. Now, there's these same works of the Holy Spirit laid out in a different format, this time in a trinitarian form. He talks about God the Father, God the Holy Spirit, and God the Son, Jesus Christ, so that we say that our salvation is authored by God. It is God the Father who comes up with the idea of saving us and how to do it. It is Jesus Christ, God the Son who accomplishes it. He does the saving, so that we are right to say that we are saved by Jesus Christ and His work on the cross. But what happens in these thousands years between Jesus Christ finished work of redemption and your life? What happened between 30 A.D. when Jesus died for Microsis sins in 1949 when He was born? The Holy Spirit was waiting to apply what the Father had authored, what He had decreed, what He had determined, what He had predestined, and what Jesus Christ had accomplished. And that application of the Father's plan and the Son's work is called the order of salvation, the way of redemption, so that the Father authored salvation, the Son accomplishes it, and the Holy Spirit applies it. We could go to other passages, many times in Paul's testimony, before governors and kings and others in the last part of the book of Acts. He talks about how God had called him, He said, to preach to those that they might turn from darkness to light and from sin to God and believe in Jesus Christ that they might be glorified in heaven. He talks very succinctly about a process that God takes a person through. And that process is again the order of salvation. It involves these ten things. God's predestination, his effectual calling of us, regeneration that we'll talk about tonight, conversion made up of repentance and faith, justification, adoption, assurance, sanctification, perseverance of the saints and our glorification in heaven. It is a process by which the good and loving kindness of God through Jesus Christ is applied to us by the workhorse of the Trinity, who is the Holy Spirit. And it means that in a real sense, we are in three tenses of salvation. There are times in the Bible when the Bible talks about those who have been saved. So when the grace of God appeared, bringing salvation to all mankind, he saved us, the Bible says, for by grace you have been saved. There's the past tense. God is determined to save us. In fact, it can be said that my salvation was guaranteed the moment and eternity passed that God predestined me or you to become a Christian. The done deal. God's plans always come to their fruition. And it was sealed when the Son of God on the cross said, it is finished. I have redeemed. I have purchased these believers from my Father. So we have been saved. But there's also verses in the Bible that says we are being saved. In fact, on Pentecost, Peter was preaching. He said to the people, now you be saved from this wicked and perverse generation. In five verses later, the text says, for seven verses later, it says that the Lord was adding day-lute to the number of those who were being saved. And there are also verses that talk about being saved in the future, that we will be saved. We quoted one of those this morning in our sermon where Jesus Christ says those who endure to the end will be saved. Paul says in another place in Corinthians, for we are a Roma of Christ, God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing and who will come to eternal life. In fact, the Bible says that there will come a time when all of Israel will be saved, speaking of things in the future tense. The point is that when we talk about salvation, we're talking about one grand work of God. It is not the moment you believed. It is not the time in which you were predestined. It's not the moment you step into eternity, sinless. It's the whole umbrella. It is quite frankly, folks, like a huge rainbow going from one end of the horizon to another. In fact, the rainbow is one of the earliest symbols of the Christian religion because it speaks of God's gracious salvation. Remember in the book of Genesis, God made what he called an everlasting covenant with the mankind, not just with Israel, but with all mankind, that he would not destroy life, but he would preserve it. Why? So that men might have an opportunity to be saved. And that rainbow, we know scientifically what a rainbow is. It is a refraction of one beam of light. A rainbow is just one beam of light. It's when the sun entering into the moisture of our atmosphere is viewed at a certain angle that one ray of light is refracted into a blended sequence of distinctive colors. You can't tell where one color ends and the other begins, but you can tell one after another. If you look at one, you can say, oh, there's some yellow and there's some blue and there's some green. You can see it. Well, that's what salvation is. It's the one beam of God's grace sent into the world through the one who calls himself the light of the world, refracted in our own human experience to show a rainbow of all of the various works of the Holy Spirit to bring us from death to life and from sin to salvation. Sometimes we can't tell when one work ends and the next begins, but as we step back and look at the whole process, each one of these aspects of the order of blessings in salvation are clearly distinct. I borrowed the phrase for this sermon series, Salvation and Full Color, from a friend of mine who's written a book about this. It's a book written by Richard Owen Roberts about 20 sermons that were preached in the great awakenings, the first and second great awakenings of our nation, and the title of the book is Salvation and Full Color. Listen to what he says, Salvation can be wisely thought of as an umbrella turn. In the Bible, a splendid host of other doctrines are arrayed under this umbrella. While none of these other doctrines are minor in consequence, they are all lesser doctrines in the sense that they fall under the astonishingly large and beautiful full color term Salvation. Justification is not an equivalent term to salvation, but a part of this glorious and greater truth. The expressions to be converted or to be saved are not speaking of the same thing, but rather conversion is part of a whole scheme of salvation. The atonement is not a doctrine that stands alone, but rather is a very intricate aspect of salvation, adoption infrequently considered as it is, nonetheless falls under the some magnificent heading called Salvation. Thank God the Bible portrays salvation in full color. There are being saved by Christ, there is much for us to do in working out this salvation with fear and trembling because God is at work in us. In fact, the Bible says that God is causing all things to work for our good, all these things in this order of salvation. What could be clearer or more splendid than that God, the Holy Spirit, is justifying whom he predestined and saving those who he's chosen. We cannot lean back on our religious elbows and act as if we are floating into heaven on the cloud of glory, we are being saved. Full color Salvation is of God, full hollered response is from us. You say, Pastor, why do we need these sermons? Ah, me tell you why. Is it because I feel that you don't get tortured enough with systematic theology, so that I lay it on you on Sunday nights and try to put you all to sleep? No, let me tell you why. That book, Salvation and Full Color, talked about sermons that were preached in the first great awakening and the second great awakening, and they all had to do with the ordo salutis. Pastor Decker mentioned a few minutes ago on his prayer that we've been praying for, long time, revival in America and in our church, in our denomination, we need it. And we've been studying it this summer, so I figured, you know, as long as we're studying it in the Sunday school hour and the morning, why don't we preach these doctrines on Sunday night because here's how great awakenings and revivals always come. And preachers decide to preach the grace of God's saving, magnificent plan. The ordo salutis, wonderful things begin to happen. Let me tell you what these 20 sermons were, just let me give you the titles very quickly, or the subject matter. They were the character of God, the law of God, total depravity, the heinousness of sin, dead works, divine love, the atonement, regeneration, effectual calling, the work of the Holy Spirit, seeking the Lord, repentance, justification by faith, adoption, conversion, love for God, perseverance of the saints, sanctification, divine judgment, and one final warning. There is the ordo salutis from predestination to glory in heaven in resurrection. One truth after another. And this great chapter, the Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones called the greatest chapter in the Bible, as it comes in Romans, the greatest book of the Bible, and is the apex of Romans, which is the climax of the Scripture. This great doctrine of the work of the Spirit and his ordo salutis, John Stott says, Romans 8 is without a doubt one of the best known and most loved chapters in the Bible. If Romans 7 was all about the preoccupation of the law, then Romans 8 is about preoccupation in the work of the Spirit. The Christian life is essentially life in the Spirit. That is to say a life which is animated, sustained, directed, and enriched by the Holy Spirit. In handling the topic of the Holy Spirit, the apostle relates it to his other overarching theme in this chapter, namely the absolute security of the children of God. Now we've begun this chapter. Pastor Sylvia launched us into looking at God's plan and eternity past his four ordination, his predestination, his election. That's the beginning, that when we fell as mankind into a state of lostness and alienation and into spiritual death, God chose before that happened to redeem a specific number of people for himself, the elect, the believers, the church. And then Bernie Lawrence, Pastor Lawrence came along and talked about how God through the Bible effectively calls these people out of fallen humanity, out of the world, out of sin and death, into the light and the life of Jesus Christ in the church and in salvation. And tonight we look at this doctrine called regeneration, how we are born from above, born of the Spirit, born again, how we become spiritually alive to understand what God is calling us to and calling us from as we respond to the Word of God and begin to live under it. We're going to look at verses 9 and 10 and 11, three verses that have three very simple truths. Things I'm going to tell you folks, you already know, but things that we often forget or sometimes seek to avoid because they might be a bit unsettling at times. Romans 8, verses 9, 10 and 11. You however are not in the flesh but in the Spirit. If in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you, anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him, but if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through the Spirit who dwells in you. Now Romans 8 is all about the Holy Spirit's work in this order of soluteus however, Romans 8 does not flow in a logical order, Paul covers all of these 10 aspects of the order of salvation, but not in the order that we understand them logically or chronologically. He's writing to give the people an assurance of salvation and he comes to verses 9, 10 and 11 and he assures them that the ceiling proof that they are alive to God and dead to sin, that they are new creatures in Christ is this indwelling Holy Spirit and the new life, the regeneration, the born again dimension that he's brought to them. Now there are three verses and there are three things he tells us. He tells us in verse 9 that there are only two kinds of people in our world, people in the flesh, people in the Spirit, no other categories according to God. Look again at verse 9, you however are not in the flesh, meaning that you used to be, but you're not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you anyone who does not have, we can say, the indwelling Spirit of God does not belong to God, not saved, not part of his new humanity, not born again. Paul always contrasts two kinds of people in the Bible. Usually he calls them the natural man as opposed to the spiritual man, but he says they are dominated, these two men by two different powers. One, the natural man is dominated by something in Greek called Sarks, S-A-R-X, it means the flesh. Not this that I can touch, that is a different word in Greek, it means Soma, it's the body as opposed to the soul. The material part of man is opposed to the spiritual or invisible side of man. The Sark's flesh is a power. It's one word that Paul uses for depravity and sin and rebellion, a fallen nature, a weird and kinky inclination, all those things that make up total depravity. The other people he talks about are people in the Spirit, in the Numa. The reigning power in them is the indwelling Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit moves into a person's life, he subdues the Sarks, he doesn't eliminate it, he brings it under the dominion of Jesus Christ so that people walk in the Spirit as he says in Galatians 5 and they do not carry out the desires of the flesh. When Paul says you are not of the flesh, he's not saying that of course we're invisible people without a body like angel, but rather we are no longer fallen men under this, this domineering power against which we were hopeless until the Holy Spirit came into our life. He says no, you have been born again, born of the Spirit, born from above. Look over if you will in Romans chapter 6 where Paul says we know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. He says this body of sin, this sinful nature has not been totally eradicated but rather he says it has been brought to nothing. Look again at Romans 6 verse 6, we know that our old self, that old fleshly man, that fleshly nature was crucified with Christ in order that the body of sin, this dominating power within us, to always rebel against God, to never please God, to never do what is of grace and goodness and godliness has been brought to nothing. It would probably be better translated rendered impotent. Why? How? Because the Holy Spirit has come into our life and that by the gift of God's grace we have a power of raining within us now that is greater than our sin. That is the Holy Spirit. We are new creatures and therefore by reason of being new creatures we have new natures. If any man being Christ he is a new creature or a new creation. The old things, the flesh, are passing away and the new things of the Spirit are coming. It is a process. It doesn't happen all at once but it does have a definitive beginning when we are regenerated, born again and we begin to turn from the flesh to the Spirit away from the world to the Word of God out of darkness and death to light in life in Jesus Christ. Paul says, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now Jesus was the one who told us this would happen. He said to Nicodemus, I tell you truly unless a man is born again he will not see the kingdom of God and truly I tell you unless a man is born of a water in the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is flesh is flesh and that which is spirit is of the spirit. Do not marvel that I say you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes and you hear its sound but you do not know from where it is coming. So it is with everyone who has been born of the Spirit. Jesus said we shouldn't be surprised that we have to be born again, that we have to receive a new life, a new nature, a new humanity because the old one has been wrecked. How does this happen? Well Pastor Lawrence kind of began talking about this last week because effectual calling and regeneration are two of those things that are so inextricably linked folks that you really can't tell whether one comes before the other. They both come at seems at the same time. Most reformed theologians put effectual calling first because in our experience the person who is dead in this sin first hears the preaching of the Word that begins to awaken him. Others like myself prefer to put regeneration first because the Word of God can pound away in a man's mind and soul all of his earthly existence and make no impact until he's been regenerated and all of a sudden he's able to understand what's going on. Who knows which comes first? They work in tandem. The Word of God goes out and what we call the external calling. I'm giving you an external calling tonight. I do that every Sunday morning. I call people to repentance and faith in Christ. I don't know who's going to respond. I know that in that building every single morning that we gather here in this sanctuary I know that there are some people who will never respond to the invitation to come to Christ and be saved. Never. They are not elect. They will never be able to understand nor even want what I'm offering them. There are others who have already done that and are being affirmed and encouraged by the fact that yes I was called I need to work out my salvation of fear and trembling because God is already at work in me and there are some who are saying what? What is this? As they said to Jesus we'll come and hear more about this later and they do. And over the weeks and months and years that they hear this thing becomes more and more clear into the Holy Spirit makes it clear enough that they say oh oh oh oh I'm the one headed to hell that he's talking about. I am convicted of my sin and I'm convinced that what he says about Jesus Christ is true and now I will turn from my sin and be a follower of Jesus Christ they have been converted. And that is a process that happens through the power of the effectual calling of the Holy Spirit and the regenerating work of the Spirit as well. Regeneration is that act of God by which the principle of new life is implanted in the soul of a person and the governing disposition of the soul is made holy. Let me show you what I'm talking about so that you don't think this is just a theologian's idea. Turn if you will please to 1 Corinthians chapter 2 just for a couple minutes 1 Corinthians chapter refined on time to worry about that. I don't worry about it. That's the problem I should but I'm unrepentant. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 beginning in verse 6. Yet among the mature we do in part wisdom although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age who are doomed to pass away. We impart a secret hidden wisdom of God which God decreed before the ages to our glory. For none of the rulers of this age understood this. For if they had they would have not have crucified the Lord of glory but as it is written what no eye has seen nor ear heard know the heart of man imagined what God has prepared for those who love him. These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything even the depths of God. For who knows a person's thoughts except the Spirit of that person which is in him. So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the Spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God that we might understand things the things freely given to us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by this Spirit interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. Listen carefully. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit for their folly or foolishness to him and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges or discerns all things but is himself to be judged by no one. For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him but we have the mind of Christ. The Paul makes an amazing statement here. In the first five verse of that we didn't read he talks about how he's come to preach Jesus Christ and the great mysteries of God for our salvation. He says they impart a wisdom not from below the earth but from God from above. Things which I has not seen and ears not heard has not entered the heart of man all that God is prepared for those who love him. These divine mysteries and great truths of grace and salvation. And the power of the living word to bring men to new life is implied in this thing. These spiritual truths have an effectual calling and a regenerating work on the mind and hearts of people. That's why Paul said he's not ashamed of the gospel. It's the power of God for salvation. The author Fieber said it's the living word that cuts down into the very heart and has a judging discerning interpretive effect upon our life. And here he says we impart this word of salvation not taught by human wisdom but taught by the spirit. Look at the phrase in verse 13 interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. You wonder how that reads literally in Paul's letter in the Greek in comparing spiritual with spiritual meaning comparing spiritual truths to spiritual people but not to natural people. Look at verse 14 they don't accept the things of the spirit of God. Why? Well from their mind it looks foolish and in their will they're unable to respond to it. Why? Because they've not been given the regenerating life giving, effectual calling of the Holy Spirit. They remain in their natural state in the flesh darkened and confused and even irritated by these things but the difference between them and us is not that we were smart her or that we were more godly or that we somehow wanted salvation more not true. No, the truth is we were chosen by God to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit when he came to live inside of us. He gave us the mind of Christ to understand the Bible. If you went to people in Columbus, Ohio who grew up around Kelsal Road went to the Immaculate Conception Elementary School and you said did you know the five Ross kids and Mike Merjo Steve and Jane they'd say oh yeah we knew them. Nice family except for one of them and if you said well tell me about the kids they'd have wonderful things to say about my brother and sisters they'd have very little good to say about me. Now the ones who liked me to say well he was kind of they'd use these Southern expressions he's kind of full of himself you know a little bit ornery. He'd get up on his hind legs every once in a while. What they were saying was he was the bad boy of the five and that's true he was the first to be redeemed that's true the first to be born again that's true the first to understand the gift of God that's right why I don't know but it was because the gift of God was given to me I think perhaps so that I could share it with the others kind of like the Apostle Paul who said that I'm the chief of sinners if God can save me by cracky he can save anybody including you. Now what's all this what's all this doctrine about let me tell you two things two very serious applications listen carefully number one we have to understand that we are not born again the moment we receive Jesus Christ we are born again before we receive Jesus Christ we'll say that to a person why don't you pray this sinners prayer and you can be born again well if they don't want to pray that prayer it's because they're not born again you're talking to a spiritual cadaver and if you tell it to get up to stand up and live in God's name and it doesn't it's not because they don't want to it's because they can't they're dead they can't hear they can't see they can't respond they are born again first when the life of the spirit goes into and then they stand up and things in the Bible begin to make sense and then they repent of their sins and put their faith in Christ and begin to follow him the second truth I want you to understand is this if there's any doctrine in the Bible that should make us humble and tender towards sinners it is this truth why was the worst child in one family born again first well it couldn't event because he was smarter because he wasn't or because he was more religious because he wasn't or because he was a better person because he wasn't it was because of God's grace and therefore we ought to be listen to me the opposite of the way we are we tend in the church to be hard on people who were unconverted and go easy on the saints that's what makes me such an obnoxious pastor because I do the reverse I think we ought to have high standards for those who say they are born again in following Christ and we ought to cut some leash for the people who are dead they're dead they can't respond it's not their fault they're dead and they'll never respond until we pray for God the Holy Spirit to enter them and give them new life impatient harsh sensorious attitudes and actions towards unregenerate symbol people is a symbol of our pride that deep down we think we're better because we responded in faith but that's not true it could very well be that God saved the worst first because they were the worst cases he ever saw and he gets the better ones later because they're relatively easy it could be that God saved you first because he wanted to make you a trophy of grace and like the people in my circle of friends Mike Ross a real Christian well then by golly it's probably going to happen to the whole world that's exactly what God wants us to think only two kinds of people and none of them are good until the Holy Spirit enters into them second truth very quickly that means there's only two ways of living in our world two ways of living look at verse 10 but if Christ isn't you although the body is dead because of sin the spirit is life because of righteousness now I'll be honest with you that verse is kind of awkward kind of awkward anyway we translate it but if Christ is in you although the body is dead because of sin we're thinking that the next thing would be the spirit is alive because of righteousness this was the way the new American standard translated but this English standard version is a literal translation the spirit is Zoe Zoe where we get the woman's name Zoe it means life because our body of sin is dead the spirit of life and the righteousness of Christ comes into us here's what Paul is saying listen even though Christ is alive in your soul you still have this body of sin it is tainted and twisted by your depravity but your new spirit empowered by the indwelling life of the Holy Spirit is alive to God and alive to grace and alive to the word and because of the righteousness of Jesus Christ imparted to you through the sanctification process and imputed to you in justification you are able to live a more righteous life because of the life of the spirit in you and this is exactly what he's talking about the when the Holy Spirit comes in as our confession of faith says and enters our life he enlightens our minds he takes away a heart of stone he renews our wills he empowers our spirits he determines them that that which is good draws us to Christ so we most freely and willfully obey him this is a marvelous statement here that what God does in bringing you and I to new life is to bring us to a new lifestyle the fleshly man the natural man lives according to his nature he lives according to the way of the world that's why Paul calls him in different places a man of the earth a man of the flesh a natural man a man of the world but the born again man he lives according to a different lifestyle because he has a different life it's the life of God it's the kingdom of heaven it's determined by the spirit it's a life in scripture and his lifestyle proves his condition now this isn't something that Paul came up with or even the Jesus invented the Old Testament prophet spoke about this Jeremiah talked about a time under the new covenant he called it when the Holy Spirit would write his law not on the pages of scripture on tablets of stone would write them on the hearts of those who love God his Ezekiel talked about God taking away a heart of stone cold and dead unable to respond and giving us a heart of flesh so that my people will love me and will follow me as Ezekiel said and that is what the Holy Spirit is done now the indication here and the application is pretty straightforward natural men naturally live in the flesh and spiritual people should naturally live in the spirit and and what we say about our condition is not as important as how we live how do you prove to yourself and others that you have the mind of Christ the life of God in your soul that you've been born from above not in your head knowledge not in what's in here and not what's on your mouth knowing how to say all the right things but in how you live now people can take my statement and take it out absurdum they can take it to the the realm of the ridiculous and they could say well then pastor you're saying that we're not supposed to sin anymore I didn't say that Paul didn't say that although we're supposed to know everything in the Bible and understand it perfectly I didn't say that either or that we're supposed to to divorce ourselves or everything that's in the world I didn't say that we wouldn't be able to witness to people in the world or that if we don't like the preaching of the church or the reformed faith or what's going on in the PCA we're not going to hide and say that either let me let someone else say it James Montgomery voice I would suggest the following is an excellent test of whether a person is a Christian whether you are born again first is God real to you I do not mean do you understand everything about God and God's ways of course you won't for you will never understand God completely I simply mean is God real to you when you pray do you know that you are really praying to someone who is really listening to you and will really answer when you worship him in church this is a real God you are worshiping secondly is the Bible meaningful and attractive to you I do not mean do you understand everything you read there and obviously no one ever does but that's a seem to be right when you read it are you attracted to it do you want to know more do you want to do what it says thirdly and finally are you drawn to other Christians do you want to be with them do you enjoy their fellowship do you sense how much you and they have in common if God is not real to you if the Bible is not attractive to you if you are not drawn to other believers in the church then why would you think that you are a Christian probably you are not on the other hand if these things are true of you you should be encouraged by them and press on and following after Jesus Christ for more than likely the spirit of God is alive and at work in you you know sometimes we see people who are no longer interested in the church and they don't attend much and they don't read their Bible much and then pretty soon they become critical of the pastors of the church and the elders and the policies and the budget and way we're doing things and they kind of roam from place to place and you know they were fired up when they were 21 years old they'd come to Christ on campus they were going to change the world for the Lord they were just they worked with the youth they were going to do everything and you know you you get hit him around the age of 55 and they've kind of stalled let me ask you a question that I'm not going to answer how can the Holy Spirit be alive in someone and do nothing how can the Holy Spirit bring them to new life only to let that life slowly but surely die that's what Paul is pointing at in verse 10 if the spirit of Christ raised Jesus from the dead that same power that raised Christ from the dead will work in your mortal bodies he says that is this final verse that he talks about here in verse 11 the third truth there are two destinies for people in our world there are two kinds of people with two kinds of natures and two kinds of lifestyles and two kinds of destinies if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you here he's talking clearly about regeneration the Holy Spirit comes in first spiritually resurrects you from spiritual death and then when the second coming of Christ occurs he will come again and resurrect you physically to eternal life so that you have a new nature with a new body a spiritual life with a spiritual body and you will be united and you will live with God forever in heaven that's Paul's great message in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 that there are earthly bodies and spiritual bodies there are those with their perishable and those with their imperishable those that are mortal and those that are immortal those of Adam and those of Christ those who are destined to eternal destruction those that will live forever two complete different destinies and Paul wants us to make no mistake about this our loved ones and friends who do not have the indwelling Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ who live like natural men who show no life no love no interest in spiritual things are not alive in Christ therefore they will not receive a glorified body on resurrection day they will not live with Jesus Christ for heaven heaven they will be punished forever in an unimaginable torment in hell and that is the unpleasant truth there is no hope for them unless they are regenerated by the Holy Spirit and brought to his gracious work of salvation our confession of faith says other people who are not elect although they may be called by the ministry of the word they may have some common operation by the Holy Spirit yet they never truly come unto Christ and therefore cannot be saved much less can men not professing the Christian religion be saved in any other way whatsoever be they ever so diligent to frame their lives according to the light of nature and the laws of that religion that they do profess and to assert and maintain that they may be is a very pernicious and detestable thing

I think folks that the evangelical that is the gospel church in America is slowly but surely backing away from this truth of being born again I think it's for two reasons I think that there are a lot of people in our churches who are not born again and they're putting pressure on the pulpit to not say the things that I'm saying to you tonight the other dimension is there's more people coming into our country than ever before who are Hindus who are Muslims who are Jews and Buddhists and animus from Africa and Shintoist from Japan and they don't want to hear these things they don't want to be told that they are dead in their sins and they're only through Jesus Christ only to becoming a Western Christian as they perceive it they go to heaven but perhaps the reason why we most back away from this is because what it demands for us and our loved ones you know I have to confess this is true just the fact and if I told you otherwise I'd be lying and when I first became a Christian in 1976 I didn't think much about this I just thought it was great and I'd been born again and God had led me to repentance and faith but then about six months into this thing something dawned on me one day reading John chapter three where Jesus Christ says unless a man is born again he will not enter the kingdom of heaven I began to say well Jesus what about my dad who's dying of cancer what about my mom and my little brother and my three sisters what about them and I went through three different stages of struggling with this doctor and then I'm preaching tonight I mean I loved it from myself but but I first went through the stage where I denied it was true I didn't just say that Bible's false I wouldn't that stupid to say that publicly in Memphis, Tennessee but I I tried to make excuses for why my Roman Catholic loved ones really were better than most people then there was fear I realized that I had to tell them that they must be born again I couldn't get away from Jesus statement do not marvel that I say to you you must be born again I was afraid to tell them you know what they'd say to me you listen you're the run to the litter you are the bad boy the family and you're coming to preach to us but then I felt an overwhelming love for them and I wanted them to be with me forever in heaven all my fears came true everyone I talked to got mad at me in fact one of them said oh so now that you're a Protestant you've come upon this new doctor and this new invention of yours called being born again and I said to my sibling well no let me show you something in John chapter 3 it was Jesus who said you must be born again and they said what in the world does that mean that was the opportunity slowly but surely not because I was a brilliant faithful and courageous witness because I wasn't but slowly but surely as I gave them copies of the new American standard Bible the new Bible out in those days I sent them books to read in devotional guides and articles they began to open this book up they opened in red and I had a conspiracy theory with the Holy Spirit I'd pray them into the kingdom one by one they were born again one by one first my father on his deathbed and then others one by one they came to the point where they knelt down they confessed their sins they received Christ and I'm happy to say that all but one continue to walk in the Spirit because they've been born from above that's how important this doctrine is in fact I don't think there's any doctrine in the Bible more important than this one because of all the things that Jesus said there's nothing as seminal and as as essential to eternal life than this statement do not be surprised that I say to you you must be born again pray for your loved ones that they will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit that's what Jesus said if you being able to get good gifts to your children how much more will the father get the Holy Spirit to those who ask him they're dead in their sins they can't ask for anything you asked for them and when you have an opportunity share with them how you came to Christ share with them simple truths of the Bible call them again through their anger and their disdain and they're ready to call them again and again to be born again to from their perspective repent of their sins and put their faith in Jesus Christ leave the rebirth to God leave the evangelism to yourself call them to repentance and faith and you will be in time amazed what God will do for God wishes for none to perish but all to come to repentance and faith and to life in the Spirit amen let me pray for you and your loved ones father it is a great truth that we can do nothing from our end and this this rainbow of grace to bring ourselves to return life you must cause us to be regenerated you must cause us as Peter says to be born again to a living hope you must give us the Spirit and with him the new life and so we pray tonight for the gift of God the Spirit what we have sung about and preached about that he might begin his effectual calling and his regenerating work and his redeeming process and the lies of our dearest loved ones and friends give us courage give us a faithful witness give us the mind of Christ to listen to what they object and how they argue and what they ask us that we might remember when we were in that condition and someone lovingly and humbly and patiently walked us into the truth of eternal life most of all give them the Spirit that he might give them the mind of Christ that they might understand the gospel the Bible that they might come to the point of conviction of sin and convincing about Jesus Christ that they might turn from the one and turn to the other in repentance and faith and might receive the gift of eternal life do your new work and those whom you've chosen to be your new creatures and help us to be your faithful instruments in working alongside the Holy Spirit to accomplish these things save us by your grace and our loved ones too and we will praise you forever and ever through Jesus Christ who has accomplished these great things for us and we thank you now in the name of the Holy Spirit in the name of Christ and in your holy name Father for causing us to be born again amen