What Happens in the New Birth? Part 2

father the new birth is a miracle it's supernatural that's something we make happen it happens to us we experience it in faith and so I am again so needy I'm laying my kindling down I'm trying to lay it straight I'd like to lay it in such a way that lots of air from the Spirit could flow blow through it but if you don't send the fire nobody will feel the heat nobody will get the light nobody will be purified so God I asked that you would come and make my sticks burn I pray in Jesus

name Amen so today we complete last Sunday's message and the topic is what happens in the new birth so we're on this series on the new birth and the question is what is it before we ask why is it needed or what does it produce or how can you experience it or how does it relate to other doctrines we're asking what is it verse 7 chapter 3 of John do not marvel that I said to you you must be born again verse 3 truly truly I say to you unless one is born again he cannot

see the kingdom of God in other words we're not on the edges of things here at the center because seeing the kingdom of God is at stake going to heaven is at stake the doctrine of the new birth is not marginal or optional or cosmetic it's not like those cosmetics that what are they called name just goes right on my mind people who embalm others whatever you know I'm talking about funeral home directors it's not like to commit us to the cosmetics they use to help dead people look more like they're alive the new birth

is not like that it is creation of life not imitation of life okay so that's that's from last week and that's clear we began with two answers to the question what happens one what happens in a new birth is not getting a new religion but getting a new life second what happens in the new birth is not affirming not affirming the presence of the supernatural in Jesus but rather experiencing the supernatural in your self Nicodemus had lots of religion right he was a Pharisee and he affirmed the supernatural in Jesus and Jesus said unless he

was born again he wouldn't see the kingdom he needed new spiritual life imparted supernaturally by the Holy Spirit we called it spiritual life we called it supernatural life and the reason we called it spiritual and supernatural is because it is quickened awakened created by the Holy Spirit that's what spiritual means in the New Testament work by the Holy Spirit so that's kind of a vague ethereal feeling of something above the normal spiritual has a concrete focus on God the spirit and he awakens and what he awakens is spiritual and it is super natural verse 6

that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit so you need to be born of the Spirit if you have spiritual life you're dead if you don't have the spirit doing this now everybody that flesh has a kind of life everybody in this room everybody on the planet who's breathing is alive that's what the flesh can produce it's that kind of life and that's not the kind of life obviously then that he's talking about we need a second birth with a new kind of breathing that

is spiritual and supernatural and above what the resources of the universe as they are naturally can can produce and then we related this conclusion to two things the spirit must quicken us and give us spiritual supernatural life that's what happens in the new birth and and how does it relate to Jesus and how does it relate to faith that's the way the sermon ended last time here's the answer with regard to Jesus Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life John said God has given us eternal life and this life is in

his son whoever has the son has life whoever does not have the son does not have life and therefore if there if new birth by the Spirit produces life then we concluded the work of the Spirit must be to bring us into connection with Jesus John 6:63 it is the spirit who gives life and over and over again he says the life is in the son life isn't in the spirit merely we have life because we're connected with Jesus but the Spirit is the one who gives the life so he must do it by bringing

us to and uniting us to Christ and so we said the work of the Spirit in regeneration is to impart new life by connecting us with Christ now that's the that's the really oh Jesus what's the relationship with faith we'll talk more about this later but I don't want to leave you behind now John 20:31 these things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and believing have life in his name believing have life in his name first John 5 for everyone who has been born of God everyone

who has been born of God overcomes the world this is the victory that overcomes the world our faith born of God victory over the world faith victory over the world because our conclusion from last time the way we experience the new birth is consciously by believing that's what the Holy Spirit does in us we believe so here's my summary from last week and then we move forward in the new birth the Holy Spirit supernaturally gives us new spiritual life by connecting us to the Son of God through faith that's last week's message I said there

were three things that I wanted to use to describe what happens in the new birth and we've now talked about two of them not new religion but in life not just seeing and acknowledging supernatural out there but experiencing supernatural in here and then here's the the third one what happens in the new birth is not the improvement of your old human nature but rather the creation of a new human nature that is really you cleanse didn't forgive and really new being shaped by the Holy Spirit's presence in your life that's number three and everything I

also have to say is to unpack that I promised you we would look at verse five that's where I'm getting all of this verse five pointed me to a text where I got that idea I didn't I didn't come to this these two sermons with some systematic idea oh there are three things that are you readin all books that that this is I didn't have any idea what I would say and I hope that I have found these three things here in John and where John points me so here we are verse five truly truly

I say to you Jesus talking to Nicodemus unless one is born of water and the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God no what does Jesus mean by those two things born of water and born of the Spirit and of course if you ask most Minnesotans they will tell you baptism because Minnesota is mainly Lutheran and Catholic I went to the a website well I won't tell you where this comes from because I want you to think generically here I don't you think merely about denominations that talk this way I wish you think generically

so that wherever you run into this you won't believe it here's what I found Holy Baptism it's a quote now from a major representative not you know not by a person who doesn't like somebody telling you what they think but rather what those people say they think Holy Baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life the Gateway to life in the spirit and the door which gives access to the other sacraments through baptism we are freed from sin and reborn sons of God we become members of Christ are incorporated into the church and are

made sharers in her mission baptism is the sacrament of regeneration through water in the word close quote now millions of people have been taught that their baptism causes them to be born again millions of people around the world have been taught that their baptism causes them to be born again and if it's true then I don't understand this text and if it's not true it is a global tragedy which it is great tragedy so what does he mean if born of water doesn't mean baptismal regeneration born again by the baby being sprinkled or the adult

being immersed or poured over or sprinkled if that's not what this means water what do you think it means there are first four reasons why I don't think it means baptism Christian baptism and the the last to lead me to the text where I find what I think it does mean so I'll give you these four reasons you can ponder you must decide this for yourself you you have grown up most of you in a milieu where you're surrounded by people who believe that their baptism was the point at which they were born-again first if

if this were a reference to Christian baptism and it were as essential as Jesus says this is you won't enter the kingdom without it and as essential as those who teach baptismal regeneration say it is it really is strange that after you pass this verse it disappears as far as how you get into the kingdom in this chapter verse 15 whoever believes in Him will have eternal life 416 whoever believes in Him will not perish verse 18 whoever believes in Him is not condemned it just so odd to me that if it's that essential alongside

faith that it would be mentioned instead of just boring in right on faith faith faith number two second reason I stumble at this suggestion verse eight would seem strange to me the wind analogy which seemed strange to me if baptism and new birth are locked when the baby is sprinkled new birth happens there it is it's right there this analogy of the wind just doesn't seem to work anymore if that's the case it says the wind blows where it wishes you hear its sound but you do not know where it comes from or where it

goes and so is everyone who is born of the Spirit now what that sounds like to me is that God is radically free where and when he causes anybody to get born again like the wind just kind of whoa and if you lock it down and say I say the words I put the water on it happens that's not a lot of freedom for the wind that's my second reason number three verse 10 if it's referring to Christian baptism which is going to be unfolded and and explained by Jesus and the cross and the blood

and how it all works then this this criticism of Nicodemus seems to miss the mark are you a teacher in Israel and you don't understand these things it just seems like Nicodemus would have a legitimate beef here and say baptism sprinkling Father Son and Holy Spirit I'm I'm supposed to know what that is because of my old testament it doesn't sound like that's what Jesus would say if he's trying to help us see Christian baptism in the word water in verse five number four and this one will take me to where I see an alternative

and I think more contextually helpful fitting interpretation he says in verse 10 are you a teacher in Israel and you do not understand these things now that seems to send us back to what teachers in Israel studied namely the Old Testament you've been reading your Old Testament you memorize your Old Testament and you don't understand what I'm talking about here so I feel by that verse I feel pushed to go look for water and spirit in the Old Testament born of water board of the Spirit we're in the Old Testament might something like that show

up so that Jesus could say to him you don't get that why don't you get zapped and and the clearest illustration there are others the clearest illustration is Ezekiel 36 and I invite you to turn there with me Ezekiel 36 and we'll read verses 24 to 28 Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel three big prophets and so open your Bible by halfway through and you you'll bump into one of them and just keep going till you run into Ezekiel Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel I guess I left our limitations there ezekiel 36:24 228 I will I will take you now

he's this is Jesus this is Ezekiel telling the people on God's behalf what God will do after the exile in Babylon and it's much bigger than that it's part of the new covenant promise and Jesus said this cup is the new covenant in my blood and so Jesus considered his own death to be a purchase of new tough New Covenant promises for all those who are in him we are the true Israel we are in Christ and therefore these new covenant promises applied to Christians verse 24 of Ezekiel 36 I will take you from the

nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land I will sprinkle clean water on you here's water I will sprinkle clean water on you and you should be clean from all your uncleanness is and from all your idols I will bless you and I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you then I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my

statutes and be careful to obey my rules you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers and you shall be my people and I will be your God I think that's the passage to which Jesus would have pointed Nicodemus when he scratched his head about water and spirit unless one is born of water in the spirit he can't enter the kingdom to whom to whom in verse in verses 26 to 28 of Ezekiel 36 to whom does God say you will be my people and I will be your God because that salvation

if you're not his people and he's not your God you're lost you you're not in the kingdom who does he say that - he says it to those who I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness 'as it's the water washed forgiven cleanse people it's the people to whom he says I'll put a new spirit within you and my your flesh your heart of stone I will take out and I'll put in the heart of flesh so why does he refer to both water and spirit here and

why does Jesus feel obliged to pick him up what what's the difference between the expression of you need to be forgiven symbolized by water making the cleanness go uncleanness go off of you and you need a new spirit let me try to put the two together for you the reason both are necessary is this when we say that a new spirit or a new heart is given to us we don't mean that we cease to be the human being that we were before the new birth the human being the morally accountable responsible self of John

Piper before I was born again is the same human being the same morally accountable human self as after I was born again that's why the imagery of water and cleansing is necessary because if we conceived of the newness of the new creation or the newness of the new life to obliterated being that was before there'd be nothing there to forgive there'd be nothing there to cleanse the whole concept of you need cleansing means you're there you're not gone and you're always gonna be there it's you you and me bring to this thing our record and

we don't just need to fixed-up made new we need some cleanup and some forgiveness now I know that Paul says things like our old self was crucified we have died with Christ consider yourselves dead to sin put off the old self but there's no reason to take that in some kind of philosophical stretch to mean the human being who was there that just God born again is not that human being anymore we have an old character that needs changing an old principal that needs abolishing old nature that needs renewing an old bent that needs to

be pushed in another direction but as far as obliterating that the John Piper who was born of the flesh he doesn't you could just go back and look at the pictures so I think the way to think about the new heart and the new spirit and the new nature is that it's still you and you need to be cleansed and forgiven for all the stuff you did when you were 410 you need forgiveness for that that's why I died they didn't disappear out of existence well we don't have to deal with that anymore that's gone

nothing needs to be forgiven there that's poof its annihilated no way we desperately need that forgiven today I need to walk in the consciousness that everything I brought to this humanity and everything I'm performing this humanity is forgiven cleansed Jeremiah 33 eight clarifies I think what what is going on here in the water thing it's I will cleanse them from all the guilt of their sin against me and I will forgive all the guilt of their sin and rebellion against me that assumes right now I'm dealing with a person with a record as I put

my new spirit within I've got a deal with the record and I'm dealing with it with this imagery of water I'm cleaning him up I'm cancelling it out I'm gonna have my son die for these sins but forgiveness and cleansing are not enough it's why both water and spirit water and spirit they're not enough we need a new way of seeing a new way of thinking a new way of valuing if we're gonna we're gonna end up in heaven and want to be there we need to be new not just forgiving forgiving people who hate

spiritual things won't be happy in heaven and therefore they won't be there now we're at verses 26 and 27 in ezekiel 36 so important I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you so now he's moved away from the water thing of forgiveness and cleansing and all of that imagery now he's got another kind of imagery heart transplant heart of stone coming out heart of flesh going in you see that I will remove the heart of stone verse 26 at the end I will remove the heart of stone

from me from your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules here's how I understand this heart transplant the hardest stone in verse 26 the hardest stone means John Piper was dead spiritually stone means you touch it it doesn't feel anything bang on it resist break your knife stone cold hard unresponsive unreceptive to spiritual reality this stone very strange stone that I was could feel many things no did it have desires

food sex popularity so this stone has desires it's just stone when it comes to Jesus he's boring he's uninteresting he is not beautiful he certainly isn't my treasure thank you very much money popularity what you name it whatever your treasure is with Jesus that's signal signal signal in you've got this stone for art everybody has desires but only people who have that heart taken out and another heart put in feel that now why does he call it a heart of flesh I mean that mixes us up right because flesh is love what I mean in

in John 3 that which is born of the flesh is flesh the word flesh there means what you are by human nature apart from any divine intervention that's not the meaning here the meaning here is contrasted with stone and what is the contrast with stone soft alive easily pricked the heart of this imagery of I'm gonna put in you a heart of flesh simply means a heart that's now responsive recept feel spiritual reality when Christ is lifted up it says yes it can feel the worth of Jesus once Jesus was not worthy now he's everything

that's different too in stone and flesh that's what happens in the new birth we need more than forgiveness we need more than cleansing we need to be new new thinking and new feeling and new valuing and new treasuring and that's what the new birth is designed to do here then he says in verse twenty twenty seven and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and give you a new heart and a new spirit little s and I'm gonna move in myself coming in my spirits coming in hey

how're we supposed to think about that let me try a picture on you is my best shot of how my newness relates to his presence okay cuz they're both there hey I figure this out is it just him or am i new well clearly I'm new I got a new heart but he's there so that's important how did how does the presence of the Spirit relate to my new spirit here's my here's my my best shot I was going to use a lava lamp but I figured nobody would know what they were so I'm just

gonna say you've got this big big ball of soft warm clay and you can do like this with it's no particular shape or it might be shaped like a dollar bill that's your heart and the new heart is soft it's not hard and the Holy Spirit like like take my fist he's pushing himself up into this clay like this going like this okay and in there he's starting to flex his character he's got things he loves and things he hates and things he does he starts to just kind of form himself and you this this

clay is starting to take on the form of what's forming in you oh that Christ would be formed in you Paul said and it's you who need to be formed not just Christ Christ doesn't want to get in there and be himself and have you stay old he's being himself in you so that as he as he stretches out his love finger and his his I didn't think of all the details you add the details he's just sketching out his character in all these wonderful ways that's you you're shaped that way that's who you are

that's your heart and and it can happen to your heart because it is soft and flesh it's it's not a stone anymore that was keeping him out I'm saying no thank you to Jesus so let me try to sum it all up I'm finished we'll try to put the closing touches on it here and in with an exhortation the last two weeks I think can be summed up like this what happens in the new birth the Holy Spirit supernaturally gives us new spiritual life by connecting us with Jesus Christ through faith now let's say that

with all that we've just heard in this message say it another way the Spirit unites us to Christ where there is cleansing and cleansing is understood as forgiveness according to Jeremiah 33 8 there is cleansing and he replaces our card unresponsive heart with a soft heart that treasures Jesus above all things and is being formed I hope this gives you hope don't be an all-or-nothing person here you'll go crazy you'll bail on Christianity if you're an all-or-nothing person if you say the new birth has to produce that entire form immediately you will die you kill

yourself or you'll bail on the faith it is it is being the Spirit is in you and he's being formed in use he's taking that brand-new soft responsive touchable sensitive heart and he's giving it form you know we'll have lots to say about the battles there when we talk about how did the new born people live eventually and thus picking up now in the last phrase in verse 28 of Ezekiel 36 and thus he is shaping us into the kind of people who love to do the will of God I will cause you to walk

in my statutes that doesn't mean ticketed screaming that's not the way the Holy Spirit does that's where your law does the law land on you without doing this well you may do it and become Nicodemus to the core Classic Pharisee but when the new birth happens he causes us to walk in his statutes from the inside shaping we start to think well not committing adultery is a beautiful thing not stealing is a beautiful thing not killing is a beautiful thing not lying is a beautiful thing loving my neighbor and inconveniencing myself and dying is a

beautiful thing because he's that way and he's in me and he's taking shape he's stretching himself out and forming himself within so concluding exhortation since the way that that you experience all of this is through faith since the way that you experience all of this is through faith I invite you now in the name of Jesus and by the power of the Holy Spirit to receive him another word for faith according to John 1:12 to receive him as thus in forgiving transforming treasure of your life say that again now so the actual closing exhortation will

I hope be clear since the way all these wonderful glorious divinely initiated things are experienced by us is through faith therefore I invite you in the name of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit to receive him as your sin forgiving transforming treasure let's pray Oh Lord God grant the gift of repentance and faith so that it grows in those of us who have been born again and so that it is awakened and experienced in those who would be born again I pray this in Jesus name you