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  THE NEW BIRTH, DO WE UNDERSTAND IT
  by Fred Tomlinson
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Summary: This sermon emphasizes the transformative power of the new
birth experience, highlighting how it brings sight where there was
blindness, life where there was death, and purity where there was
corruption. The speaker delves into the profound impact of being born
again, stressing that it is an act of God that breaks chains, frees
hearts, and opens doors to new life. The message calls for a deep
understanding and personal response to the authentic gospel, urging
listeners to rise up, walk in newness of life, and follow Christ.

Topics: "New Birth", "Transformation in Christ"
Scripture References: John 3:3, Ephesians 2:4, Titus 3:5

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DESCRIPTION
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This sermon emphasizes the transformative power of the new birth
experience, highlighting how it brings sight where there was blindness,
life where there was death, and purity where there was corruption. The
speaker delves into the profound impact of being born again, stressing
that it is an act of God that breaks chains, frees hearts, and opens
doors to new life. The message calls for a deep understanding and
personal response to the authentic gospel, urging listeners to rise up,
walk in newness of life, and follow Christ.

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CONTENT
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I had an unforgettable and very humbling experience just over 60 years
ago that's still very clear and real in my memory. I was riding my first
motorcycle which for those who may be interested it was a James 150cc
two-stroke motorcycle I was very pleased with up until this point. My
new girlfriend was riding pillion and I wanted to take her to a
particular area that I liked very much, a large hill and with a lovely
view and outlook.

So off we set but when we got close to the hill and started making the
climb, I only had three gears to choose from in those days but I was
back down in the first gear and the engine stalled and it wasn't because
either myself or my girlfriend were overweight but my girlfriend had to
get off the motorcycle and walk the rest of the distance while I chugged
alongside in first gear. That motorcycle didn't last very long after
that but I married the girl and that was 57 years ago and without
getting into technicalities and causes the lesson that I want to draw
from that event is that if your motor, quote-unquote, if your motor
tends to stall it will definitely ruin the journey. To stall spiritually
is something entirely different, it's on a different level altogether
and as with a motor vehicle there can be many causes for it but during
these decades of my own involvement in pastoral care I've had the
opportunity to talk with very many people and many of them in talking
about themselves and perhaps they'd come to me to talk about themselves.

I would hear this this story that they were having trouble keeping their
engine running if you follow what I'm trying to say. They were
continually stalling, they weren't making the progress that they knew
they should or ought to be making and I think and believe that even
today there are very many people who are in this category and for some
of them they just find a different route for their lives and ignore the
things that they also have been following and pursuing and there are
others who are searching and if you like they keep searching for some,
what can I call it, some additive that will boost their power, boost
their ability to actually live this Christian life the way God intends
it to be lived and it's very possible that there are those who are
listening to me today who can identify with this, people who are in this
same category. On occasions where I have been in conversation with
people who've come for this reason I'm describing it's not been unusual
for me to say to them just tell me a little bit of how you first became
a Christian, what happened and the answer to that question can be very
enlightening and can very often provide a key for the way forward.

It's essential at times to come back to where we started because this
I've discovered if we start wrong we will never get it right and there's
such a need, someone else has said and I think it's been said probably
by many many times over the years the real way forward is always by
going backward. There's a tendency to be always looking for that next
thing, that next experience, that next something when in actual fact
it's very likely and I believe very common that the real need is to go
back and let's see how we started. I know that we've got one master
builder, it used to be two builders here in the meeting this morning and
it's very obvious to every one of us but certainly to those men that if
you don't get the foundation straight and right the building will never
be right and this is certainly true in a spiritual sense as well and
that's what I want to do this morning for a little while is to sort of
turn our attention back to things that belong to the to the very
beginning.

Risking coming across in some kind of harsh way which is not my
intention, I do believe that in many many cases the real problem lies in
the fact that the true and the authentic gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ
is not being preached for different reasons and if the message that
people are exposed to is not the clear authentic biblical message then
of course faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God it's so
important that we hear the authentic biblical truth. Why would it be
that something less than that would be being preached and presented? Of
course there are different answers that we can give to that. One thing
that we can't ignore today is that we live in a context of society and
culture which is a consumerist culture even in my relatively short
lifetime we've seen this developing and evolving over the years and over
the decades but today probably as probably as in no time in history
people are shopping for a product that's what it's all about another
product a better product a more efficient product we just want another
product and it's sort of built into the way we think and and that's one
thing out there in the world at large but the real tragedy is that that
mindset has made its way into the Christian Church even into the
evangelical portion of the church I believe and as the result it's
become necessary and it's done either deliberately or without realizing
what people are actually doing wittingly or unwittingly in order to make
the the product that more appealing to people there has to be some
modifications made to the product that is the way people are thinking
and what this means is that the gospel this authentic true biblical
gospel ends up becoming adjusted or manipulated and again I'm not
throwing out accusations because I think it's like things in these
realms tend to move very slowly almost imperceivably until somewhere we
wake up and realize that we're not where we should be or where we once
were perhaps and so on I suppose the need for a Christian ministry to
undertake these alterations modifications adjustments or whatever they
are the truth will inevitably become and even the ministry you could
argue could become sidelined it will not be efficient because we've
learned ways to present the product in such a way that it's attractive
and it's appealing and this is certainly where the the seeker friendly
ethos has really developed greatly in these days and it's not that the
gospel has been deliberately abandoned or indeed abandoned at all but I
would suggest that what is taking place is that the the truth the
message emphases are being refocused in other words the there are
features of the gospel which are more attractive and more appealing
there are features of the gospel that are deeply and profoundly
challenging as I say that I'm thinking of the opening words of to treat
Bonhoeffer's book on discipleship and the very opening words that the
call of discipleship is a call to come and die now that's not a popular
message that's not a seeker friendly message and so these aspects of the
gospel which are very very real and far more plentiful than many of us
have really come to believe or recognize I mean to say they've been
moved over into the margin they are not the main thing they are not the
main message and I could I'd be wasting my time but I could I could
suggest to you a variety of features which are highlighted today made
much of in terms of the presentation because they're appealing to people
by and large and so on but when we do this we embrace what I personally
have chosen to think of as a minimalist gospel in other words we've
reduced the the truths that are plain and clear here in Scripture to the
irreducible minimum and as I say we've screened out things that are not
as attractive and appealing but in doing that inevitably there's a loss
of the of the dynamic there's a loss of the cutting edge of the gospel
which is essential for it to be the gospel you remember how the Apostle
Paul deals with this in Galatians chapter 1 the issue there was was
somewhat different it was a context of legalism and so on but
nevertheless he was deeply exercised because the message which he
discovered was being preached among the people was not the message that
he preached when he had gone there originally and the church had been
founded and he referred to what they were teaching as another gospel
which he hastened to say is not another in other words if it's not what
I have preached and then he qualifies even that by saying that which I
preach was not I'm paraphrasing wasn't my idea my ideas I didn't even
learn it from anybody else he said I received it from God and that gave
him a tremendously solid rock-like foundation he knew what he preached
had come from God himself and on that basis he also knew that what God
had given to him that he'd preached produced a certain quality in the
lives of men and women and when that message is manipulated or altered
for any reason and in any way it loses that cutting edge and in losing
its cutting edge what we're really saying is it's lost the anointing of
the Holy Spirit because he is the one it's not that brings about the
changes in people's lives it's not merely that we hear some words and
concepts that are different to what we've ever known so well that's
wonderful I know this happens commonly but that's not that's not the
true preaching of the gospel Paul would say again on another occasion he
said writings of Thessalonians he said you you know you received the
words that we preached he's referring back to his personal presence
there years earlier and he said you you knew that it wasn't it wasn't
just words of men but you received it as being the Word of God which in
fact it was in truth he said and so there we are and I think I might
just add to that that in in losing this edge losing this this this
dynamic this power this aspect of the Holy Spirit's ministry we may make
the message more relevant but we've lost the most important thing of all
I think in trying to garner maximum response we've actually lowered that
high bar that the scriptures set for the message of the gospel we've
lowered it down to a lower place and without without wanting to come
across in any sort of careless of facetious way I do believe and I think
I must say this that in many cases the way in which that which is being
considered to be that the gospel is presented it's presented in such a
way in terms of for response from people that you are required you make
these are these are phrases that are common you make a decision for
Christ now that's a common expression and we add to that well if you
pray this simple prayer just repeat these words after me and then we
wouldn't say the next thing but it amounts to this then we would be told
that's it you're in all these adjustments are made in heaven and you're
in and as I was thinking about this the other day I thought if that's
true and I do believe it is and I've got some personal experience about
it that that's making salvation easier than getting the library tickets
because if you want a library ticket you at least have to take your
driver's license and show it we're saying this is easy just you make the
decision you pray this little prayer and that's it and once again I'm
not being foolish in making that comment but I'm asking you to consider
whether quite possibly there's something wrong with this is there an
adjustment that's been made because we I would say at that point is it
any wonder then that people who come in that way stall quickly I'll find
it's just not running properly it's not working and once again this is
where I was a few minutes ago this is what's causes some people to come
seeking and asking questions there's something wrong with me or with my
experience somewhere can you help me and I say well let's go back to ask
these questions because I think in so many cases when person comes in
through this doorway that I'm suggesting there ends up being no
discernible difference between their lives or our lives if you like and
the lives of people who were not believers there's no no discernible
difference at all there's no evidence of of that dynamic holy life that
the Bible presents as being such an a vital component of the Christian
message years ago there would be those who are sincere followers of
truth who use the expression quorum di living quorum di which is
combination of two languages there but they are essentially meant this
living to live your life before the face of God this is the normal
Christian life but I think the all-too-common minimalist message that's
very superficial that doesn't impose any deep personal challenges to us
at all fails to bring us into a real experience of God where holiness is
the concept we know is in the Bible somewhere and things of fellowship
with God is somewhere in the Bible but it's not our personal experience
we just can't get there and and that of course is a serious serious
problem it may it may be true that in these days in which we live right
now there are fewer and fewer people who are actually privileged to be
hearing the authentic message of the gospel and this this statement I
know someone might want to turn around and want to imagine that I am
boasting in some way I am not boasting I am deeply humbled but there is
such a thing as the authentic truth of the gospel it's right here before
us and all we're calling for in these days is to as a reevaluation of
these things I'm thinking I'm thinking of the younger people today who
through no fault of their own have found themselves swept up in this
minimalist movement of that's it's got its excitement it's got its fun
together it's got a lot of things and a lot of well-meaning people who
are not being criticized right now they were involved but it this is
we're talking about the truth of God and the power of the Holy Spirit
who wants to accomplish something in men and women's lives that is
dynamic that changes that the deepest core of our being and alters our
lives and alters our lifestyle and alters everything so that we're a
different people we're the people of God and for many years now I know
I've been saying that I I think that one of the greatest needs within
the Christian Church movement today is in fact a redefinition a
redefinition of the biblical truths that we claim to believe because
sadly familiarity breeds contempt we sort of take things for granted we
and we're in this very visual culture as well where it's far more easy
to watch things that and particularly those that are entertaining and
and to get to come aside to be alone really alone and for not five
minutes but to get alone not just reading your daily reading but to be
alone with God and and think but I'm not giving more credit to our
brains than I ought I'm just saying to pause long enough in God's
presence where where these words are not just words of a hymn or a
chorus that we've learned speak Lord for thy servant heareth and of such
a biblical phrase as you would know it's so important may God exercise
your hearts to reconsider these things we're not looking for some from
some clever new twist on the gospel some gimmicky approach not at all
we're looking we're coming back to the old paths as they're called in
the Old Testament the old paths the original way the truth of God and
I'm asking you as I ask myself freshly again are we prepared to come
aside in the presence of God and say speak to me Lord show me what I
need to hear and so far as this gospel is concerned show me what it
really is that is in your heart to accomplish in men and women's lives
in this day and age the New Testament contains many references to the
act of becoming a Christian I don't I don't know better ways to say that
but the actual experience the moment and and it's referred to in
different ways and what I want to do this morning is perhaps just take
four maybe five references that I'll draw your attention to and we won't
have covered the whole issue by any means who knows maybe we'll carry on
next time but we'll see about that but I'm asking you first of all to
turn to John's gospel if you have your Bible and where else could I be
turning then to the third chapter John chapter 3 this this is that
passage of Scripture as you will know already but you'll be reminded in
a moment well we find that text that is famous famously quoted and re-
quoted that uses the phrase born again so I'm in chapter 3 of John verse
1 now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus a ruler of the
Jews this man came to Jesus by night and said to him rabbi we know that
you have come from God as a teacher for no one can do these signs that
you do unless God is with him Jesus answered and said to him truly truly
I say to you let me pause there because some of your translations will
say verily but one of the unique things about the language in which the
scriptures were written is that this is a way by repeating words it's a
way of emphasizing something when I want to emphasize something if I'm
writing it then I may use block capital letters for a word I've done
that right in front of me because I want to emphasize that particular
word or maybe I'll do what I've also done here and that is I've
highlighted that word it's in block capitals I've highlighted it you can
underline this and why do we do that because this is something very very
important we must not miss that's exactly what's going on here in this
passage when Jesus repeats this word truly or amen or verily verily as
the different translations put it truly truly I say to you verse 3
unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God Nicodemus said
to him how can a man be born when he is old he cannot enter a second
time into his mother's womb can he and be born Jesus said truly truly I
say to you unless one is born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter
into the kingdom of God that which is born of the flesh is flesh and
that which is born of the Spirit is spirit do not be amazed that I say
unto you you must be born again just to remind ourselves because I think
it's also relevant that Jesus here is talking to a very significant man
he's referred to in verse 1 as a ruler of the Jews in verse 10 as a
master he is the teacher clearly clearly this man was a member of the
Sanhedrin that was made up of 70 men they were they were the supreme
cause if you will of Judaism these were the men that determined how
things were to be interpreted and and all things pertaining to life for
the people of the of the scriptures and so on they were the ruling body
the elite men and the way that these words are placed together here in
this text it would suggest to us that very likely this man Nicodemus was
the leader of that group a very significant man in Israel no wonder he
came to Jesus by night he dare not come in daylight and be seen coming
to Jesus but he'd been paying attention to Jesus he knew about the deeds
that Jesus was performing the miracles that he was performing and so on
and it's to this man I'm wondering how this applies to us who call
ourselves Christians today there's a kind of a parallel we can find here
this was to one of the elite men who knew the text he could quote the
passages he was an expert on the first five books of the Bible the
Pentateuch and that memorized most of them because they were required to
do that imagine that and yet it's to him that Jesus says listen to me
Nicodemus there's something that you must really pay attention to verily
verily truly truly you must be born again you must be born again his
knowledge of theology was not sufficient you must be born again and
Jesus said he says here in verse 3 that unless someone is born again
they cannot see the kingdom of God and and I think this is quite likely
at least two ways that you could think of that but the way in which I'm
looking at it just now is you know the way we may use the word see when
we say well I just don't see that I don't guess it I don't understand
this and I believe that is in fact what Jesus is saying on this occasion
it's as though he's saying you will never be able to make sense of any
of this that you know in your brain until the Spirit of God does
something in your heart and in the terms of his analogy here until a man
or a woman is born again you'll never see it until then and of course he
goes on further in verse 5 to say that and unless the same experience is
had no one will be able to enter into the blessing and into the benefit
of the kingdom of God and so really what Jesus is doing here he is in as
many words he's telling this theological expert that at this point in
time Nicodemus you are blind you can't see you can't see this truth and
for this reason you must be born again this experience whatever it was
whatever being born again is and however it's to be understood it would
make this transformation where he would see things where the light would
come on and he would begin to understand and what does that say to us
today I believe we could make a long list but until a person is truly
authentically born again of the Spirit of God they cannot see the King
of glory they may know a lot of texts of Scripture about him but they
can't see him in this sense of understanding this sense of true
fellowship they cannot see the benefits of the gospel kingdom the
kingdom that is made available through the gospel frankly I don't until
this happens I don't think a person see their own need that the
imperative need of them actually having the experience they just don't
get it and by the same token they clearly can't see how to enter it this
is quite something when we follow these thoughts through to start with
it it makes it poignantly clear that we cannot talk someone into this we
can't convince someone even our nearest and dearest we can't convince
them by our words and by our descriptions and so on but one thing we've
learned without any doubt from this passage and there's more to be found
that we're not searching out this morning is that whatever this born
again or this new birth experience is it is imperative to us if we're
ever going to be the people that God ordained us to be if we're going to
be real Christians let me turn you to two of the Scriptures quickly just
a page back in my Bible anyway John chapter 1 and while you're going
turning your pages maybe you want to keep your finger there and turn
into book of James for a verse there also in chapter 1 let me read them
both to you this is John writing John the Apostle and he says speaking
about Jesus he came to his own verse 11 and his own did not receive him
but as many as received him to them he gave the right or the authority
to become the children of God even to those who believe in his name note
this verse who were born not of blood not of the will of the flesh nor
of the will of man but of God clearly when John says I'm not talking
about those who are born according to the blood he's referring to our
natural first birth but then he moves on talking about a man's will and
he's saying here what it's as though he puts it this way I'm putting his
words this way perhaps I should say he's saying when for someone to be
born again it's not going to happen because they make a decision for it
to happen this is of God it's not of the will of man that that cuts
right across so much that we've been brought up to believe but it says
here not of the will of man but of God and the verse in James I wanted
is in the 18th verse of James chapter 1 let me just lead into it I read
in verse 17 every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above
coming down from the father of lights with whom there is no variation or
shifting shadow in the exercise of his will he brought us forth let me
just pause there the old King James which I'm more familiar with than
this New American Standard Version I've got here but it uses the word
begat which is not a common word we can understand why maybe translators
decided maybe we won't use that word but the fact is the original word
carries through that very thought that the original word brings through
this this idea of being brought forth being brought forth into this
world being born into this world except that of course all this is in a
spiritual context so here we're thinking about this this new birth this
second birth being born of God and he said in the exercise of his
capital H his God's will God's will he brought us forth by the word of
truth that we would be a kind of firstfruits among his creatures clearly
there's more in that than we're able to look at just now but I would
suggest to you that both of these texts the one from John chapter 1 and
this one from James chapter 1 they both thunder through a particular
truth that I'm wanting to emphasize this morning and that is that the
new birth is is not an act of man it is an act of God this is something
that God does which which then leads us it's as though that is a doorway
into truth and that leads us to recognize that again I'm choosing to use
this word whatever this is because we've not really fully defined what
it is yet but whatever this new birth is it is it's crucial we started
there didn't we with John chapter 3 but whatever it is it's it's an act
of God it's not it's not something I decide about it's something God
decides about and I'm because of that that which is accomplished you
know the carrying out of or the fulfilling of this that is being
discussed here will be a miracle because if it wasn't a miracle we'd be
able to do it but we can't do it we haven't we have no ability to do it
we'll see that even more clearly as we go forward the the new birth is
an act of God which is supernatural which is a miracle in fact it would
be true to say that that for a man or a woman to become truly or
authentically born again they're born again of the Spirit of God it's an
act of God which is supernatural and is indeed beyond question the
greatest miracle that God is able to perform he could create universes
without going to a cross but he had to become a man and go to a cross
with all that that means in order to make this possible no one was born
again until that was accomplished and the Holy Spirit would be sent to
to to to communicate what Jesus Christ did on the cross into the
individual lives of men and women like you and me that's why Jesus would
say to Nicodemus you must be born again but you know what he couldn't
get born again yet because Jesus had to go to the cross first and but
what Jesus said was emphatically accurate and true of course which
reminds us just to give a perspective to that to what Jesus is saying in
John chapter 7 when he's talking about coming to him and drinking do you
remember that passage but then John adds a parenthesis which links in
here to what I'm just saying he said but but this spake he that Jesus
this is what Jesus was talking about he was talking about the Holy
Spirit who was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified you see
how critical or crucial it was that Christ be crucified in and his
bloodshed and accepted by his father in the holiest of all before ever
there could be redemption for men and women and and so on but coming
back here to this I think I think it's very easy for people to give a
sort of a nod of approval to these things and we say yeah this is the
new birth is of God yeah I believe that but do we really do we really
understand this do we is our life being built on this fact that we use a
word commonly in our Christian conversations we talk about conversion
conversion now in actual fact the word and concept of conversion is not
truly a New Testament or a new covenant concept believe it or not it the
word conversion it appears numerous times in the Old Testament and in
the Gospels which are prior to the cross it the word is used on two
occasions in the book of Acts that you will find but on both of those
occasions it is used as in the come in context of a quote from the Old
Testament so you won't find Paul using the word conversion for example
and so on and I would add to what I've said this statement it's not that
there's anything fundamentally wrong with the word conversion but it is
a wholly inadequate word to describe what the new birth is and that's
the important thing and probably the saddest thing is that that in our
modern you know dare I say evangelical church we've we're virtually
making the word conversion a synonym for the new birth and that is
serious because if that's what we believe that the new birth is merely a
conversion we've missed the authentic truth of the gospel and this is
the kind of thing I was referring to right at my at the outset this
morning where things are missed out conveniently because it makes it
more acceptable and easy to relate to and so on and so the word
conversion has become almost a cliche it's but I I'm saying to you and I
hope we remember this we if we're not careful we're making this a
central feature of the minimalist gospel you know we're in a different
age now so my illustration is coming from one step back from the present
because now we have electric automobiles but you know we used to talk in
terms of especially American cars gas guzzlers we can get a gas guzzling
autumn the automobile and a conversion note the word a conversion can be
made so that it will run on natural gas but it's still an automobile it
doesn't become it doesn't become an outdoor swimming pool it's it's it's
something that exists that has been manipulated and converted to suit
the particular present need and so on now is that the Christian gospel
no it's not no it's not the gospel presents something completely
different the true new birth experience is not merely a conversion it is
a recreation if any man is in Christ he is a new creature and it's
entirely different do we really get that we say yeah I believe it do we
really believe it that to be born again according to the Bible will
involve such a radical transformation of the man I once was of the man
you once were a woman you once were it's something radical Oswald
Chambers people like to read Oswald Chambers morning by morning but do
they really watch what he's saying listen to this one of his statements
he said the new birth is a cataclysmic and distinct and emphatic crisis
now that that's not like okay will you make a decision for Christ before
I leave and you know I pray this little you can see can't you just how
different and contrasting this is this is our beloved Oswald Chambers
the new birth is a cataclysmic event and distinct emphatic crisis and
then some of us are familiar with the Anabaptists of years ago one of
their statements reads like this in Anabaptist experience it was in
reference to new birth it was a cataclysmic radical personal experience
something to be personally experienced and objectively recognized as a
unique event in one's own relationship with God and we read earlier
having noted that the true new birth is an act of God he is the one who
initiates it he initiates something I hope I'll make that even plainer
in a moment but I wanted before pressing by too quickly to remind us
that because he is the initiator he he is the one who chooses the moment
that he is going to make this known to an individual in many cases where
in such a hurry to get it all done we will sell the the product of
minimalist gospel pray the prayer you're all done someone walks away
with another sort of feather in their cap or another notch on their gun
or whatever you do you know so many souls today well because someone
seemed to make a response and seemed to pray a prayer but what really
happened or did anything really happen that's the big question and can
you see how far this is perhaps this is the most important thing to go
home with today and I'm not ready to go home quite yet but but I think
we want to really get this this is this is this is light years away from
this concept I almost need to ask forgiveness for even making these
statements it's miles away from this concept of poor Jesus standing
outside in the cold at the door knocking on the door and he's saying
please let me in that is not the message of the New Testament it's not
it's not Jesus saying please please make a decision for me that is not
what we're reading here we're reading about an almighty God who by his
redeeming work the cost God more than we'll ever be able to begin to
understand and by the giving of his Holy Holy Spirit to men and women he
performs an act of God that reaches us in the very epicenter of our
being in the core of who we are and transforms us so that Paul could
write if any man any man is in Christ he she is a new creation all
things the old life has passed away behold all things have become new
the Apostle Paul he he preached this message we don't need me to tell
you that let me turn you to some of his words I'm going to the book of
Ephesians if you want to go with me you can and for some of us we're on
very familiar territory I'm reading from chapter 2 and you were dead
what I'm saying here perhaps before I read any further I'm saying that
Paul preached the same theme but he in a sense he he opens that he opens
the truth can I say this he opens it a little wider for us by because
he's sharing with us something that clearly the Holy Spirit had taught
him and he's able then to say and you who were dead in trespasses and in
sins in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world
according to the prince of the power of the air the spirit that is now
working in the sons of disobedience among them we too all formerly lived
in the lusts of our flesh indulging the desires of the flesh and of the
mind and whereby nature the children of wrath even as the rest but God
being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us
even when we were dead in our transgressions made us alive together with
Christ by grace you have been saved and raised us up with him and seated
us with him in heavenly places in Christ and then he talks in verse 7
about showing us off in the ages which are to come the Apostle Paul in
this section he's illuminating or he's opening up this great truth that
we've been thinking about here and I think he's highlighting the sheer
magnitude of this this experience this that God has made available and
ordained for men and women and we're well aware that Paul because we
could go elsewhere to find this but we're aware that he he understood
the distant past didn't he he he understood what took place in the
garden of Eden he was aware how that God formed that first man from the
dust of the earth he was all too well aware of the text that said and
God breathed into him into this clay into this form that it created he
breathed into him the breath of life and he became a living soul Paul
knew all too well how that God gave instructions to Adam instructions
that was a green light for him to enjoy all of the benefits of this
creation this context in which he was existing but also it carried
through this this prohibition which we're aware of and I don't need to
explain it in detail this morning and God told him that if in fact you
partake of the fruit of that tree you will surely die and Paul would
know all of this he would know about how the serpent came how that the
very devil himself was speaking to Adam and to Eve back in that time
basically said this is all wrong God didn't mean that you'll die and so
on but the fact of the matter is to hasten on here they partook of that
which was forbidden by God and they died immediately they died
immediately not physically but they died immediately Paul knew this he
knew that what took place then was not a physical death but it was a
spiritual death in that instant of that disobedience these two creatures
who had lived and existed in fellowship with God himself in Eden were
alienated from him separated from him physical death did come and became
the new reality for men and women and indeed for all of creation Paul
would all I know these things as I've read them but Paul certainly knew
them because he'd really read these things because he was a Pharisee
remember he knew the Old Testament he would also be well aware of that
passage that some of us have looked at many times where we recall
Ezekiel being conducted by God into that barren place a valley full of
dry bones you remember and they're all dislocated and bleached in the
Sun and so on until this this divine being that was conducting him said
to Ezekiel Ezekiel can these bones live and you remember of course
Ezekiel's response which which is classic he said O Lord God thou
knowest in other words I haven't got the faintest glue there's no way in
which I can see that no way can these bones live Jesus came in the
fullness of time and he said I am come that you might have life and have
it more abundantly and think of him that made that statement think of
course you know who I'm speaking about speaking about the Lord Jesus
himself he made the statement but think about his reputation because
we're told that everything that is created was created by him and we're
told in the ancient scriptures I've been referring to that somewhere was
it a moment in time I don't understand time and when time began I don't
understand but we're told that father in my little pea-sized brain I
hear being put this way that there came a moment in time when Jesus
himself although he didn't take that hadn't taken that name Jesus at
that point but he he cast his words out into the the darkness that
existed and he said let there be light and the whole universe lit up
there was light wasn't the Sun not yet but it lit up and illuminated
what he was going to be doing wonderful so when when he says that he has
come to bring life to men and women we should be standing up or lying on
our faces I don't know but we need to we should be arrested we're
talking about an act of God that brings new birth and brings these
transformations and Paul recognized this and he knew that that which
Christ had accomplished on the cross now made personal by the Holy
Spirit's coming into a man or woman's life it could be somehow parallel
to what happened back then he brings he speaks life it's by the word of
an act of God by the word of the logos of God and that was the water
that Jesus referred was referred to in John chapter 3 it's the Word of
God not water baptism like some people believe I'm not diminishing it
but that's not what Jesus was talking about on that occasion amen we
need to see the new birth spoken of in Scripture is something by and
through the personal action of the Holy Spirit it brings new life to men
and women and isn't that what Paul's been saying he said I'm right into
you who all once dead alienated from God in your trespasses and in sins
that's where we were earlier unfortunately we're not looking at all the
detail right now until he comes to verse 4 and he says but God but God
by this divine act by this redemptive life-transforming act but God
being rich in mercy and his great lover with his loved us even when we
were dead he made us alive together with him and at that point at that
point the alienation ceases to exist and were brought into fellowship
with God that's what the new birth does it brings men and women into
fellowship with God and you know just think back for a moment can these
bones live I mean this is foolishness but to make my point we could say
this those dry bones that are described in Ezekiel 37 they didn't need a
seeker friendly preacher they didn't need a gifted exposition of a text
they didn't need gifted musicians they needed life they needed divine
life they needed eternal life and this is what the gospel offers let's
get our priorities all sorted out we need we need to highlight the most
important things this this really is the message that we are to preach
and proclaim because this is where I started if we get this wrong we'll
miss everything let me just take one further step with you if you if
you're still with me I'm in Titus this time Paul writes after the two
Timothy letters to Titus and in chapter 3 Titus chapter 3 I'd love to
read more here it's a wonderful wonderful chapter but it comes down like
this for we also once were foolish ourselves disobedient deceived
enslaved to various lusts and pleasures spending our life in malice and
envy hateful hating one another but when the kindness of God our Savior
and his love for mankind appeared he saved us not on the basis of deeds
which we have done in righteousness but according to his mercy by the
washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy whom he poured out
upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior and of course verse 7 so
important as it follows on there regeneration regeneration is is another
word for being born again it's made up of two Greek words palingenesia
and it means again born that's what the meaning literally the meaning of
regeneration is again born so while Paul didn't preach the message just
in quite the same way that Jesus was presenting it he preached the same
message and he's talking about it here and just a couple of things to
note very quickly here he has said notice the word saved in verse 5 he
saved us we talk about being saved often I wonder whether we know what
we're really saved from what we are supposed to mean but that's for
another occasion but he's talking about saved and he's talking about
washing here and what's he talking about and he's talking about it being
the work of the Holy Spirit of God in other words he's saying that this
new birth which really it's it's a salvation message most assuredly and
he said it's for those who experience it by the power of the Holy Spirit
it's it's a cleansing thing it restores us into fellowship with God it
destroys the alienation and it makes us alive inwardly by his indwelling
Holy Spirit and he washes us he washes us from our stains of
condemnation from our guilt and power of sin as John Wesley said it amen
for those for those who deep in their hearts would pray what sometimes
we sing here oh make me clean oh make me clean and then we sing I hate
the sin that grieves your loving heart oh make me clear please make me
clean and I've got another next line goes I hate the sin that grieves
your loving heart amen the the phrase new birth is not a meaningless tag
it's not a novel cliche it is not a teaser that gives us false hope it
is referring to a creative work an act of God it gives sight where there
was blindness it gives life where there was death it creates purity
where there was corruption and Charles Wesley he viewed new birth as the
first and primary outcome of a true response to the gospel and he said
as many of us here know very well long my imprisoned spirit lay fast
bound in sin and nature's night thine eye diffused a quickening gray do
you see just pausing there do you see he's made he's made a reference
when we were all dead as Paul has been putting it in trespasses in his
sins and then but God he's taking that line and we've emphasized how
this is not an act of man it's an act of God so keep that in mind as I
reread this long my imprisoned spirit lay fast bound in sin and nature's
night thine eye this is an act of God thine eye diffused a quickening
gray I woke the dungeon flamed with light Jesus said you can't see it
until I give you the ability the dungeon flamed with light my chains
fell off my heart was free note this I rose went forth and followed thee
you know I believe as I close this message that a proper understanding
and a proper experience of the authentic new birth is God's solution to
all of our stalling attempts to live the Christian life the authentic
Christian life and I'd like to say to you if you sense in your heart
that God is speaking to you this morning if you sense that it's as
though he's calling your name is speaking to you personally from my own
experience and I've heard others say this over the years in that
particular meeting I felt as though I was the only person there I felt
that that preacher was preaching exactly and directly to me that's what
happens when the Holy Spirit's calling your name speaking to you if
that's happening to you this is your day of visitation this is your day
when God is giving you an opportunity and based on that because he's
addressing you personally I can say to you with the authority of
Scripture your chains have already been broken and I can tell you
something else that the door of your dungeon cell of your former life is
open now you must do and this is all we ever are called upon to do you
must do what Charles Wesley says in the last line of that hymn he said
my chains fell off my heart was free why because light came in even
doing anything he was dead in this dungeon God sovereignly uniquely
powerfully visits him the place lights up he sees what he couldn't see
before he hears what he couldn't hear before his chains have fallen off
his heart is free and then I rose went forth and followed thee and
that's what we need to do God doesn't need to undo your chains he's if
he's speaking to you he's done it for you you need to rise up this is
the act of faith say I have heard the Word of God this new birth is is
the Spirit of God working with his Word and through his Word to us and
he awakens us inwardly we God speaking to us the doors open I need to
get up and walk out or in Paul's terms to walk in newness of life it
should it's your day it's your moment it's your privilege let's pray my
father we thank you from the depths of our hearts that this this gospel
this gospel of God this gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is no
small thing our minds cannot get around its greatness but Lord we praise
you that you have made something possible and you're affecting it in the
lives of men and women today by your Holy Spirit and we do pray together
this morning that insofar as a heart has heard you speaking to them
plainly and clearly today that you will impart faith to that soul to get
a hold of your word to get a hold of your truth who will stand upon it
and will begin to walk on the basis of it in newness of life walking
away Lord not in not with the stench of grave clothes still clinging but
Lord in the sheer cleansing purity of the righteousness of Christ that
we can go forth and begin to live a new life by the grace and power of
God we thank you in Jesus name Amen

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Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/t2iTc6Fenws.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/fred-tomlinson/the-new-birth-do-we-understand-it/
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