New Birth, New Creation and New Life

Introduction: So Great Salvation

0:02 So great salvation. These are the words by which the writer to the Hebrews describes God's gracious work of rescuing sinners when in the second chapter of that particular letter of the New Testament he is exhorting believers to spiritual carefulness. So great salvation. And surely salvation.

0:29 These words are no overstatement when we meditate upon the grandeur and the magnitude of that which God does for ill-deserving sinners in the salvation conferred upon them through Jesus Christ. Now it is this so great salvation that is the focal point of our studies these Lord's Day mornings, As we continue in this series of doctrinal studies under the general heading, Here We Stand, and are presently concerned with understanding the broad categories of biblical teaching with respect to the salvation which we as the people of God receive and which we as the people of God seek to proclaim to others. Having examined the teaching of the Word of God with reference to the objects of this salvation,

Review and Transition to New Creation and New Life

1:25 the central figure of this salvation, we are now concerned with examining the teaching of the Word of God with reference to the cardinal blessings of this salvation. We have seen in our study of the Scriptures that all of these blessings come within the orbit or framework of union with Christ, and they come to us in an order that is at least conveniently considered in terms of time,

1:55 certain blessings which are given to us on the threshold of our being brought into vital union with Christ, other blessings which come to us immediately upon our union with Him, others that await the future dimensions of God's gracious saving activity in the Lord Jesus Christ. We've directed your attention to these two threshold blessings which the Scriptures designate as calling and and which in a broad sense they designate as regeneration. Having expounded the major biblical passages touching on the gracious work of God in calling, we are now concerned with understanding the witness of Scripture to the gracious work of God in regeneration. We considered a broad historical overview of the use of the term regeneration. Unlike calling, the doctrine is not

2:54 bound up in the Word itself, and we cannot be indifferent nor insensitive to the accumulated insights of the people of God with reference to hammering out the teaching of Scripture. And so we're using the term regeneration, not limiting ourselves to its significance in the only two passages in which it occurs in the New Testament, Matthew's Gospel and in Titus chapter 3,

3:23 but rather considering it within the broad framework of that definition, the working definition given to us by Dr. Packer, the inner recreating of fallen human nature by the gracious, sovereign action of the Holy Spirit. Then we turn to the Old Testament analogies and saw that when our Lord reproved Nicodemus for being ignorant of the doctrine of regeneration, that reproof was well-grounded. Art thou the teacher in Israel, and understandest not these things? And we examine the major analogies in the Old Testament which point to this inner recreating of fallen human nature by the gracious sovereign activity of the Holy Spirit. Then last, Lord's Day, we began to examine the major New Testament analogies of regeneration. Regeneration.

4:18 And I suggested to you, or I more than suggested, I announced that the dominant New Testament analogy is that of a new birth. Regeneration is most frequently brought before us in the New Testament under the figure of a new birth. John 3, all of John's first epistle, James 1.18, 1 Peter 1.3, and 1 Peter 1.23, verse.

4:45 all of which very beautifully parallel the teaching of the Old Testament analogies and the teaching of Titus 3, that regeneration is this mighty work of God that involves both spiritual cleansing and spiritual renewal. Now we come this morning to consider briefly the other two dominant New Testament analogies for God's gracious work of regeneration.

Analogy 2a: New Creation in 2 Corinthians 5

5:14 Having examined the predominant analogy, new birth, we come now to examine two other dominant analogies, namely a new creation and a new or resurrected life. And when we have completed our study, we will then have focused our attention upon the three dominant analogies of the New Testament and that point in the direction of this mighty and gracious, recreated work of God, new birth, new creation, and new life. Now, there are three pivotal texts in the New Testament which point in the direction of regeneration under the figure of a new creation. The first one to which I direct your attention is found in 2 Corinthians chapter 5.

6:12 In 2 Corinthians chapter 5, the Apostle Paul, for reasons we will not go into now, is vindicating the purity of his motives as a servant of Christ. Verse 12 of 2 Corinthians 5. We are not again commending ourselves unto you, but speak as giving you occasion of glorying on our behalf that ye may have wherewith to answer them that glory in appearance and not in heart. As his ministry was being undermined, the apostle is vindicating the validity of that ministry here with reference to his motives. And he says, verse 13, For whether we are beside ourselves, it is unto God, or whether we are of sober mind, it is unto you. For the love of Christ

7:06 constraineth us. He indicates that his motives in Christian work are nothing less than that of seeking to be approved unto God, to be of service to people, and all of this under the constraint of the love of Christ. For the love of Christ constrains us. Now what is the origin of that love?

7:32 That love which constrains the apostle, he describes in the following verses. For we thus judge. In other words, the love of Christ constrains us in the light of an intelligent apprehension of certain facts. The love of Christ constrains us because we thus judge. In other words, it was not a constraint of the love of Christ that came to him mystically,

8:00 It was a constraint that came in the intelligent, believing, apprehension of certain spiritual realities. And here they are. Because we thus judge that one died for all, therefore all died. And he died for all that they that live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto him who for their sakes died and rose again.

8:27 And the apostle indicates that in his believing apprehension of the love of Christ manifested in the great work of substitution, he has embraced the end for which that work was performed on his behalf. Christ loved his people. The one died for the all, that all who appropriate that gracious work on their behalf should no longer live centered in themselves, but centered in Him. And in that sense, you see, He is constrained to live this selfless, serving life. The love of Christ to Him in dying as His substitute constrains Him. It lays hold of Him.

9:12 It holds him in its gracious, vice-like grip. And that is, as it were, the driving motivation of the apostle's life and ministry. Well, that then has some very practical consequences. Verse 16, Wherefore, see the deduction now is drawn, Wherefore, we henceforth know no man after the flesh, even though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now we know him so no more. We have a totally new basis of evaluating people. Unlike my old basis, which was simply to discover whether or not a man had genetic connections with Abraham, now, he says, we no longer regard men on that basis of external, earthly, physical connections.

9:59 That's the first great deduction or outworking of this new motivation that has come to him as a man constrained by the love of Christ. But then he goes on and gives us another wherefore in verse 17. Wherefore, if any man is in Christ, a new creation, the old things are passed away. Behold, they are become new, but all things are of God.

10:27 So you see, as the apostle contemplates this second great deduction from what has happened, he views himself as a man in Christ. And as a man in Christ, he is a new creation. And this, you see, explains why it is that he no longer lives unto himself. Why it is that he is constrained by the love of Christ.

10:50 And he says in essence that my experience is not qualitatively different from the experience of any true Christian, if any, is in Christ a new creation. So then the apostle brings to the fore in this passage a description of the transforming power of the grace of God under the figure of a new creation.

11:17 Now let's pick up three or four of the major lines of thought without going into any extensive exegesis or exposition of the passage. The heart of this analogy is in the words new creation. Now the word new is a word of contrast. Something is new with respect to that which is old, with respect to that which it replaces or renders obsolete.

11:45 When God speaks of the new covenant, He is giving a designation of a new administration of His grace which makes the old framework or the former framework old. And the word creation has bound up in it the idea of that which has existence as the result of a creative act of another. When an inventor makes something, He will say in a loose sense, that is my creation. But in a real sense, it is not His creation. He simply took materials already at hand and put them together in such a way as to constitute His invention. But when the Scriptures use the term creation, they are speaking of that which owes its very existence to the formative act of God.

12:41 And so the key to this analogy of regeneration is bound up in the words new and creation. The second thing that's significant in the text is this, that the sphere of the new creation is union with Christ. Look at it. Wherefore, if any man or any in Christ a new creation...

13:07 So you see, we're right back where we began many weeks ago, that the orbit, the sphere in which every blessing of grace is brought to us is union with Christ. And whatever this new creation is, the sphere of the operation of God's creative work is union with Christ. And then thirdly, the text underscores the reality of the new creation. Notice, if any in Christ, The old things are passed away once and for all and decisively. Behold, they are and remain new. So that whatever it is to be made a new creation in union with Christ, it is not some kind of fantasy. It is not a mere subjective religious experience that can be registered only at the level of the feelings. No, no.

14:06 He says whenever there is this new creation, the old is past, the new has come and remains. And then the fourth thing in our text with reference to this matter is that God is the author and all things are of God. When the old things pass and the new have come, it is because God Himself has brought this transformation to pass. Now it would be a very interesting study to go back into the Old Testament, particularly into Isaiah 65 and 66, to see the origin of this concept of the new creation or the fuller development of it in the prophets, and then to trace it right out to Revelation 21, when the new Jerusalem descends from God, or in the

15:00 of Peter, their usher is ushered in the new heavens and the new earth. But suffice it to say that here in this passage there is a very individualistic focus of the concept of the new creation. Now that biblical concept does not stop with individual salvation. It opens up until it breaks upon us in that beautiful vision of the book of the Revelation in which the God who makes all things new constitutes the new heavens and the new earth wherein dwells righteousness. But, my friend, as broad and as cosmic as the biblical concept of the new creation is, no one will be ushered into it in all of its consummate glory and breadth, but the individual who has experienced the new creation in his own life.

15:58 If any, as an individual, is in Christ a new creation. And every single individual who will be ushered in to the new creation in its glorious, consummate reality is an individual who has experienced the new creation individually, powerfully, efficaciously in his own heart and in his own life.

Analogy 2b: New Creation in Ephesians 2:10

16:24 Well, there is another text in which this analogy of the new creation is set before us in the New Testament. It's Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2. We're simply trying to lay out now the biblical materials. In Ephesians 2, 1 to 10, we have what I called, when I preached through this passage, a compendium of salvation by grace.

16:52 In the first three verses, the apostle describes what the Ephesians were. Then the great transition in verse 4, the intervention of God in grace and in power. And then he summarizes all of this in verses 8 to 10. For by grace have ye been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works that no man should glory for. And here's the summary statement, for.

17:23 We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for or unto good works which God aforeprepared that we should walk in them. Now, whatever it means to be saved by grace through faith, not on the basis of our own works or human merit, it is obvious, according to verse 10, that no one, is ever saved by grace through faith apart from being constituted a new creation. Look at verse 10. For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works. Everyone then who is truly saved by grace through faith is God's workmanship newly created

18:21 In Christ Jesus. And then the second thing we need to see in this passage is not only the inseparable relationship, you see, between being saved by grace through faith and being made a new creature, is that the sphere, the sphere of this work, again, union with Christ, we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus. You see, you can't escape it. This gracious work of the new creation occurs in this intimate connection with the Lord Jesus Christ. And then the third thing we need to note in the passage is the same emphasis that we had in 2 Corinthians 5. The new creation is manifested in the ethical and practical realms of our deeds. Notice, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,

19:18 which God aforeprepared that we should walk in them. So the new creation, according to Paul in this passage, is not a mystical, undefined and undefinable and non-discernable experience apart from someone's feelings. No, no. It is the mighty work of the work of Almighty God in connection with His own dear Son,

Analogy 2c: New Creation in Galatians 6

19:43 working in the heart and life of an individual which will manifest itself in the ethical and the practical realms of his works. And then the third reference to which I direct your attention is Galatians chapter 6. Now you will remember, many of you, the great problem which elicited the letter to the churches of Galatia.

20:10 You had these people called Judaizers running around telling people Christ is not enough. You need Christ plus circumcision and not circumcision alone, but everything to which it would bind you. The keeping of the Mosaic law as a means to becoming a full-blown Christian. Well, the apostle has dealt very powerfully with that heresy, beginning with his strong language in which he calls it another gospel in all who propagate it,

20:40 as being under the anathema of God. Now he comes around full circle in this last chapter and says, verse 12, chapter 6, As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. You see, there was an offense in Satan. That Jesus Christ in His death and in His work on behalf of sinners has fulfilled all the demands of the law. We are saved by faith in Christ alone. That was offensive. It was saying in essence to the Jew that His circumcision accounted as nothing. All of His keeping of fast days and feast days was accounted as nothing before God. This was very offensive. The cross undercut.

21:30 all grounds of boasting apart from boasting in Christ. So he goes on to say, For not even they who receive circumcision do themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may glory in your flesh. They want to claim another conquest. We brought another one over to our circumcision party. But now Paul, by contrast, says, But far be it from me to glory.

21:58 save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified unto me and I unto the world. For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision but, and here you have the same linguistic structure as in 2 Corinthians 5, 17, a new creation. Now you see what he's doing. He is telling us in this passage, that all that matters before God is the reality of His work constituting us new creatures in Christ. And in the light of this, he says, it is of no account whether a man has or has not the external signs and privileges of attachment to the ancient people of God. The great issue is this.

22:56 Not do you have a sign of identification with God's ancient people, but do you have the present sign of God's gracious work, namely a new creation? Has He constituted you new creature in union with His Son? God is building the new Israel, not by adding this or that ritual, but by the mighty work of His grace. And so he goes on to say in verse 16, And as many as shall walk by this canon, this standard, peace be upon them and mercy and upon the Israel of God. There are God's true people, not those who've taken a mark of external identity to God's ancient people, but those who are living monuments of God's mighty work

Summary of the New-Creation Analogy

23:51 making them new creatures. Well, then, in summarizing the teaching of these three texts, what do we see with respect to this second major analogy of regeneration? Well, we ought to see that regeneration is nothing less than a work of God's creative power and grace. The very concept of creation is

24:18 binds to its very word, binds to that word, power. When you read through the Psalms, whenever the psalmist is celebrating creation, most frequently creation is celebrated as the monumental witness to the power of God. He spake and it was done. Now granted, it's also a monument to His loving kindness, to His faithfulness, but predominant in the whole concept of creation is the naked power of the Almighty. He speaks, and it is done. God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness. 2 Corinthians 4, this God hath shined in our hearts. And so we are to understand then,

25:07 If the mighty work of regeneration is likened to that of a new creation, we are to know then that it is a work of God's creative power and grace. Secondly, regeneration is a work performed in conjunction with union with Christ. If any in Christ, a new creation. Ephesians 2.10, we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus.

25:37 And though we cannot plumb the depths and search out, as it were, all the strands of the implications of that truth, it stands stamped upon the face of two of the three texts that you've been directed to this morning. And I could have directed you to Ephesians 4.24 as another, but time does not permit that. The third thing we are to understand is that regeneration has no necessary connection to

26:07 or dependence upon outward privileges or religious rituals. In this mighty work, circumcision, uncircumcision avail nothing. And those who would teach then, you see, that regeneration is inseparably bound up with baptism, either infant or adult, passive or active participation in that ordinance, have no grounds to stand upon in the light of these passages.

26:38 Circumcision avails nothing. And we may rightly say, baptism avails nothing in and of itself, but the making of a new creation. And the fourth thing these texts teach us is that regeneration always issues indiscernible transformation of character and of deeds. If any in Christ, new creation. If new creation, the old is past, The new has come. It does not say in one third of the cases the old passes and the new comes. In the other two thirds we've got to tolerate something less than this mighty, this pervasive, ethical, moral, religious transformation. We've got to be content that they're saved but not surrendered. We've got to be content that they're in Christ but they're not spiritual. No such teaching is anywhere suggested in these passages. If any in Christ...

27:37 New creation, the old is past, the new is come. Isn't that what you read in your own Bible? We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. And God never creates us in Christ apart from imparting the grace which issues in good works. And so the dominant emphasis of these three passages is...

Analogy 3: New Life / Spiritual Resurrection

28:02 That regeneration always issues in discernible transformation of character and of deeds. Well then, we could hasten on. And in the light of the time, let me just make an allusion to the third major analogy. That of new life or resurrection from the dead. The two key texts in the New Testament are Ephesians 2.5 and Colossians 2.13.

28:31 And in the interest of time, I will not turn you to these passages, because I don't like to just extract passages out without giving a sense of the flow of the context, as you know. But in these two passages, a compound verb is used, which means to make alive together with. That would be a literal translation. And the Apostle says in these two texts that we have been quickened and made alive together with Christ.

29:01 And in the Ephesians 2 passage, the very word for resurrection, to be raised up, is the second of the two words that is used. So keep in mind then this second, this third dominant analogy for regenerating grace, that of the impartation of new life, a spiritual resurrection. Now when we bring all three of them together, And that's the great concern I have this morning in trying to pull these analogies together. When we bring together the concept of a new birth, the concept of a new creation, and the concept of a new life, and ask the question, what are the common denominators, what answer do we get?

Common Denominator 1: The Exclusiveness of the Divine Agency

29:50 What is God saying to us by conveying under these three dominant figures that gracious work that He performs upon the threshold without which we cannot see nor enter the kingdom of God, but with which we actually are constituted new creatures in union with Christ Jesus? Well, let me suggest, first of all, that common denominator number one is this. The exclusiveness of the divine agency. The exclusiveness of the divine agency. In birth, creation, and resurrection, the agency which effects these things lies outside the thing itself. Now, you kids, much of this has gone clear over your heads, and I'm sorry for that, but I knew no other way to deal with the basic biblical materials. Now, you hang in there and listen to Pastor for a minute, will you?

30:48 How many of you children had anything to do with your birth? Will you tell me? Raise your hand if you had anything to do with your birth. I'm not saying if you've done anything since you were born. You've done lots of things. Some things you wish mom and dad didn't know. You got spankings for them. And some things maybe you think they don't know, but they do know. And other things maybe you've lied about. But now, how many of you had anything to do with your birth? No, none of us did. We were conceived...

31:17 And we were brought forth by our mothers. We were conceived and we were born. And you see in the whole concept of birth is the emphasis upon the agency of another other than the thing or the person that is born. Now the same way with creation. How much did Adam cooperate in his creation? Did he work with God?

31:46 Halfway along, say, God, I don't like the shape of that arm there. Let's change that a little bit. No, no, He was created. How much did this world and the universe cooperate with God in coming into being? No, not at all. He spoke and out of nothing came something. That's the whole concept of creation. Well, what about resurrection? This ought to be fresh in your mind. We've just read about Lazarus. When the Lord said, Lazarus, come forth.

32:16 Did Lazarus sit there picking a daisy saying, shall I or shall I not? Shall I or shall I not? No, no. Lazarus was dead. And we dressed up the translation in the 1901 in modern versions. Behold, by now he decayeth. The old authorized is much better. Behold, by now he stinketh. Just as the reporter said when they landed down in Jonestown, the stench was of bodies dead for three or four days in that warm climate, was sickening and made them want to wretch. That's the situation. When Jesus came to Lazarus' tomb, dead four days, there in that warm climate, by now He stinketh, He decayed. But Jesus said, Lazarus, come forth! And the voice that spoke penetrated the realm of death and imparted life. But you see, in resurrection,

33:12 There is no cooperation between the Resurrector and the Resurrected. Now is God getting something through to us? Birth, creation, resurrection. What's He saying concerning this work of regeneration? He is saying that the divine agency is the exclusive agency. It is God who begets us. It is God who recreates us in Christ.

33:42 It is God who raises us from spiritual death to spiritual life. Here then in the language of systematic theology is the strictest monergism as opposed to any form of synergism. God working, God alone at work as opposed to God plus the creature. Now you see it is not splitting theological hairs to ask the question, Do I owe my new birth, my new creation, my spiritual resurrection, my new life? Do I owe these realities to my repentance and faith and my turning from sin to righteousness? Do I owe my new birth to my repentance and faith? Or do I owe my repentance and faith to my new birth?

34:41 Is it because I was born of God that I repented and believed? Is it because I was created anew in Christ that I was unable to turn freely in faith to Christ? Is it because I was quickened and raised from spiritual death that as a man who received life, I was unable to act in the power of that life? To rise, to go forth, and to follow Him? Do I owe my conversion with its repentance and faith to my regeneration? Or do I owe my regeneration to my repentance and faith? Can't be both. These passages make clear what the answer to that question is. If I have been enabled rightly to see the kingdom, that is, rightly to perceive the claims of God over me,

35:36 Rightly to perceive the glory of the King who came and died for sinners. Rightly to perceive what it means Christ died for me. Rightly to understand what it means that He who knew no sin became sin. That I might be the righteousness of God in Him if I have come to see the Kingdom of God. If I have come to perceive the glory of God in the face of Christ.

36:05 freely to embrace Him, turning from my sin and self-will. I owe that to God's mighty work of recreation. I owe that to that work of constituting me a new creature in His own dear Son. Well, you see, if there is no seeing nor entering the kingdom apart from this work, you see how utterly dependent we are upon God.

36:35 Why, if we have entered the kingdom by virtue of this birth, this creation, this resurrection, we owe all our praise to God, whatever the human instruments were who were used of God in the process. 1 Corinthians 3 is very plain on this point. The apostle mentions the various ministers who had preached at Corinth, Apollos, Cephas himself. And he says, who are they? Simply ministers by whom ye believed and...

Common Denominator 2: The Efficacy of the Divine Power

37:05 Each as the Lord gave to him, one sows another waters, God giveth the increase. So then neither is he that soweth anything zero, neither he that watereth anything zero, but God who giveth the increase, one hundred percent of the credit goes to him. So we see underscored in these three analogies of the New Testament, the exclusiveness of the divine agency. But then secondly, we see underscored the efficacy of the divine power. In all three analogies, necessary and real results follow God's activity. When God begets, He begets nothing stillborn. God has no stillborn children. None. None.

38:06 He that is begotten of God, John says, keepeth himself. He that is born of God cannot make a practice of sin because his seed remaineth in him. And he cannot sin because he is born of God, 1 John 3.9. He that is born of God overcometh the world. Not some, not 80%, 90%, 99%. He that is born of God.

38:35 overcometh the world. Any in Christ, new creation. There is never the new creation without the introduction into the new world of righteousness, the new world of being constrained by the love of Christ, the new world of no longer living to self, but living to Him who died. In that context, the apostle makes it plain. There is never the one without the other. And so the efficacy of the divine power is manifested.

39:04 in the concept of birth, in the concept of creation, and surely in the concept of resurrection. There would have been no resurrection in that John 11 passage had a dead man simply been trussed up and put on some kind of a mechanical frame and come out like some half-alive Frankenstein out of the tomb. We know there was resurrection because life pulsed through the once dead body of Lazarus. And the eyes that were glassy

39:32 and dilated in death were now warm and vibrant with life. The flesh that stank of death now had the fragrance of life upon it again. And so when God raises sinners from the dead, there is real life imparted. There is not just a legal adjustment of the records of heaven. There is a powerful and almighty infusion of life. The efficacy of the divine power

40:02 Well then, you see, if this is so, if this work of God has been done in us, it will be seen and known in a realm other than the subjective feelings. I am not despising feelings, but I am saying that if you have been begotten of God, created anew, raised from the dead, the evidence will be found in a realm other than or in addition to

40:32 Just what you feel and what you think or what you can remember of what you once did. There will be the throbbing evidences of your birth of God. There will be the indisputable evidences that you've entered upon the new creation, living by the new standard of righteousness, constrained by the love of Christ, not as some advanced stage of spiritual attainment, but as the indisputable birthmark. of new life. And I would press upon the conscience of every listener this morning who claims to be born of God, who claims to be a new creature, who claims to be raised from the dead. Is your life a monument of the efficacy of divine power? Is your life an indisputable monument that when God begets, He begets no stillborn children?

41:32 Is your life an evidence that you've been ushered into the new creation? Beginning to live by those perspectives and goals and motives that will mark the new creation when it comes to its perfection. And you see, the perfection is not qualitatively different from what we now have. God calls it first fruits. It's of the same kind. Not the same amount. Not the same degree. But of the same kind. Even we ourselves, Paul says, grown within ourselves. Why? We have the first fruit.

42:04 And no one's going to be in the new heavens and the new earth in that full cosmic new creation dimension who is not here and now fit for such a new creation. Are you constrained by the love of Christ? Does the thought of Christ's love hold you in this grip in which it held the apostle not to the same degree but the same in kind? Can you say that you thus judge You have a calm, rational, intelligent apprehension of this fact that if one died for all, therefore all died in him. And surely if sin is so terrible as to demand the bloodletting of the Son of God and the judgment of the innocent one on behalf of the guilty, having entered into the benefits of that substitution, what else can I do but live to him who loved me and died for me? The rationale of that is inescapable.

43:01 That He died for all that they who live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto Him who died for them and rose again. And if you're not aware of it, I'm simply quoting 2 Corinthians 5.15. If any in Christ's new creation, as you see in the consummation of the new creation, the description of the people of God is eloquently simple. They shall follow the Lamb withersoever He died.

43:30 That's it. People often ask silly questions. What are we going to do in heaven? What can't we do? What are we going to do? They follow the Lamb with us, whoever He goes. He doesn't say the Lamb drags them. He doesn't say the Lamb beats them on the head. They follow the Lamb. It's their delight to know and do the will of the Lamb. And they don't have any terms in their contracts. They follow the Lamb with us, whoever He goes to be with Him.

44:00 To know Him, to do His will, that's their heaven. Would that be heaven to you? That'd be hell to many of you. That's why you're not Christians today. The worst hell you can think of is giving up the government of your life to the one who alone has a right to it. Well, my friend, if that hell does not become heaven, you never end up in heaven. If what to you now is hell, the thought that you would give up the government of your life the one whom you've never seen, you've never heard His voice directly, you've never touched you, the thought that you'd give up your life to one who would govern you by the Word of Scripture. If that's hell to you, my friend, you'll know nothing of the heaven of which the Bible speaks. For everyone who's going to that heaven finds doing the will of God is his heaven now. And never is the child of God more blissful than when he's most obedient, because then he is most consistent with what he is.

45:01 He's a new creature with a whole new set of motivations, a new standard of existence. You see, in all of these analogies, there is underscored the efficacy of the divine power. Now, my friend, has that power been efficacious in your life? Has it made you a new creature? Has it caused you to be raised from the death of sin described in Ephesians 2, 1-3, in which you live by the lust of your flesh?

45:29 You live by the prince of the power of the air. Has it brought you out of that tomb of death into the life in which Christ and His Word and His will and His glory are the dominant and the ever-present realities of your life? If not, don't you talk about being born again. My friend, you don't know the first thing about being born again. But then I must close with this note that comes through in all of these analogies.

Common Denominator 3: The Graciousness of the Divine Motive

45:57 We have not only the exclusiveness of the divine energy, the efficacy of the divine power, but in all three of these analogies, there is underscored the graciousness of the divine motive. The graciousness of the divine motive. What would ever move God to put forth such power to effect so great a change in the likes of us? We didn't want the change. We thought our hell was heaven. We thought our bondage was liberty. We thought our chains were flowers. We thought our poison was food and meat and drink. Why in the world would God ever bother with the likes of us? Well, you have the clue to it right in that Ephesians passage. Look at it for a moment. Ephesians chapter 2. Having described what we were in the first three verses, he says in verse 4, but God.

46:55 But God being, now notice how he piles up the terminology, God being rich in mercy for His great love wherewith He loved us. Even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. For by grace have ye been saved. Verse 7, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace.

47:23 in kindness toward us. For by grace, if you've been saved, you see what He's doing. He's piling up one term upon another. He says, but God, rich in mercy, great love wherewith He loved us, grace has come into operation. Exceeding riches of grace and kindness have been revealed to us in Christ.

47:48 You see, the graciousness of the divine motive is underscored in the very context of the efficacy of the divine power and the exclusiveness of the divine agency. And the same thing is found in parallel passages such as Titus 3, 5. Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us. By the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified in His grace. Do you see how He piles up the terminology? Beginning with verse 4 of Titus 3, kindness of God our Savior. From kindness He moves to mercy. From mercy He moves to grace. What does He say?

48:44 He is saying that behind this mighty efficacious work of God in begetting men to newness of life is the graciousness of the divine motive. Grace that is conveyed to us in Christ and in Christ alone. But grace that has its origin in the infinite love of God and in focusing upon Him Christ as the Redeemer, we must never lose sight of the fact that it is surely as it was His love for us that moved Him to die. It was the Father's love that moved the sending of the Son. And so if we would have a biblical understanding of the doctrine of regeneration, we must not only

49:34 focus our attention upon the exclusiveness of the divine agency, and acknowledge without reservation that if we are begotten of God, it's because He begot us. If we are created anew, it's because He created. And if we've been raised from the dead, it's because He raised us. We must move on to contemplate the efficacy of that power and render praise to Him for the transformation that has already occurred,

50:03 and for the best that is yet to come. But then we must not stop until we fall before Him lost in wonder, love, and praise, admiring and praising the graciousness of the divine motive. Why would Almighty God, who stands to gain nothing from me, why would He deign when He was the last I wanted in myself, why would He deign to create me anew in Christ Jesus, to give me life, to bring me to spiritual birth, that I might see and enter the kingdom now and enjoy the glories of the kingdom in the world to come? But God being rich in mercy, my friend, there is no other answer than His free, sovereign, unfathomable love. And oh, how negligent we are to

50:56 Praise Him for His grace and His love. How we can live through days partakers of all the wonderful fruits of regeneration without pausing to reflect upon the graciousness of the divine motive that was operative to bring us into that state. And my friend, if you are here this morning and you are not born of God,

Appeal to the Unconverted: Isaiah 55 and Active Seeking

51:20 Where would we point you? To what would we point you this morning? Well, we don't point you to this church. We don't point you to any ritual. Whether the ritual is baptism, whether the ritual is confirmation, whether the ritual is raising a hand, bowing your head, walking an aisle, we point you to no ritual whatsoever. But we point you to the God who is yet rich in mercy, who still delights to show mercy to needy sinners.

51:50 You say, but Pastor Martin, this is fatalistic teaching. My friend, I want to hold your objection in abeyance for a moment as I close, but let me ask you a question. Is it biblical teaching? Have I twisted one passage of the Word of God to which we've referred this morning? Have I read into the concept of birth and creation and resurrection something that's not there? If not, then either it's biblical teaching or it's not. Oh, but you say...

52:19 My friend, no, no. The issue is, is it biblical teaching? Is it the teaching of the Word of God? Well, you see, if it's the teaching of the Word of God, then it's true. And it's being true in no way is affected by whether or not you judge it to be fatalistic. Or whether you judge it to be practical. Or whether you judge it to be good or wise. The issue is, is this the truth of God?

52:48 Those who are born, are they indeed born of the will of the flesh or of the will of man? Or are they born of God? Is the Scripture accurate when he said, It is not of him that runneth, nor of him that willeth, but of God that showeth mercy? Well, if it is, my friend, you better embrace it because it's the truth of God. But it's not fatalistic.

53:13 You see, the most wonderful, safe place for a helpless, needy sinner to be is in the posture of feeling his need and his helplessness. Any other place is disastrous. For the Scripture says, The Lord is nigh unto them that be of a broken heart, and save it such as be of a contrite spirit. And no little part of spiritual brokenness and contrition is the felt awareness of your spiritual barrenness.

53:44 To say like that poor blind beggar, Son of David, have mercy upon me. And my friend, that birth apart from which you cannot see nor enter the kingdom, that new creation, that spiritual resurrection, it is not in your power to effect it, but it is in the mighty power of God. Go to Him. Cry to Him. Seek mercy from His hand. You have many things to encourage you as you go to Him.

54:14 You do not come in blind hope that mercy will be shown, but you have abundant encouragements in the Scripture, not the least of which is Isaiah 55, which says, Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord. for He will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. O my friend, don't sit there stewing in your carnal pride and reasonings and cogitations about the unreasonableness. O humble yourself and go to the living God with His own word of promise and plead it before Him.

55:06 And ask that for the sake of His dear Son, He would give you what you cannot give yourself. That He would grant you what no fellow human being can impart. Don't sit back and say, since God must do it and it must be given, I'll wait until it's given. There is no promise for people who passively wait. God calls that unbelief.

55:33 He says it's the wicked who do not seek God. That's the mark of wickedness. Don't sit and wait. That's wickedness. Go to a throne of grace and cry. And you can cry with the confidence that He will hear and He will answer. Let us pray.

Closing Prayer

56:05 O God, our Heavenly Father, we thank you for the great reality of the new birth, that with all of the cheap and tawdry talk about born-again floating around in our current society, we thank you that under all of that there is a substantial and glorious biblical reality. We thank you for your mighty work in begetting

56:35 true children unto spiritual life, for creating anew in Christ Jesus, for raising up sinners together with Christ. We praise You. We worship You this day. We thank You and ascribe all praise to You. Those of us who have reason to believe we have been born of Your Spirit, we praise You this day.

57:03 O God, for those who are yet strangers to the new birth, shake them from their lethargy, and O that they may cry to You for mercy. Gracious God, seal Your Word to our hearts. Grant that we may all profit from that which we have considered this day. And may Your name be praised through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.