Dale Partridge - Real Christianity #86： How Can I Know I Am Born Again？

00:00:00.000 So we're going to go through John chapter 3 verses 1 through 8. So I'm going to just read

00:00:04.240 the passage of scripture I'm reading in the New King James, and then we'll go through just as a

00:00:10.060 regular sermon. I'd love to share this concept with you. I think it's incredibly important

00:00:14.300 for the Christian to understand. So John chapter 3 verses 1 through 8, I'm reading in the New King

00:00:19.240 James. It says, now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

00:00:24.920 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him,

00:00:28.260 Rabbi, we know that you're a teacher that has come from God,

00:00:31.160 for no one can do these things that you do unless God is with him.

00:00:35.500 Jesus answered him,

00:00:36.720 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

00:00:42.620 Nicodemus said to him,

00:00:43.620 How can a man be born when he is old?

00:00:45.640 Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?

00:00:49.160 Jesus answered,

00:00:49.800 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit,

00:00:53.840 he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is

00:00:59.340 born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind

00:01:05.200 blows where it wishes, and you hear it sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it

00:01:10.320 goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. So I want to open up with a quote. I think

00:01:17.940 that there's an 18th century, or not 18th century, a 19th century theologian named J.C. Ryle. He gives

00:01:23.560 a really great quote that I think gives you a little bit of the fear of the Lord in regards

00:01:28.460 to this conversation of being born again. He says, if a man is not born again, there

00:01:34.260 will come a time where he wishes that he was never born at all. And so today we're talking

00:01:40.320 about spiritual regeneration or the doctrine of regeneration, the spiritual requirement

00:01:45.720 for salvation that's produced by God. This is a sovereign act of God. That's something

00:01:50.780 that we can't manufacture or generate. And it's something that we're actually left out of in terms

00:01:55.800 of the spiritual rebirth process. Some call it conversion. Most call it being born again.

00:02:03.440 But in five times in this text, when you read it, it talks about the idea of being born again,

00:02:08.680 born again, you must be born again. And so I have a question for you. I think this is a great way

00:02:13.580 to start. How much say or input did you have on your first birth? Like, were you an advisor on

00:02:23.720 your first birth? Did you, were you asked, you know, to give counsel on how your birth should

00:02:28.420 go or if you should be eternally created or if your parents should conceive you or be birthed

00:02:32.680 by your mother? Of course not. You had no say in being involved with the decision of your first

00:02:40.360 birth. And the same is exactly true of your second birth, your spiritual birth. You don't

00:02:46.020 have any input on that process. Jesus tells us that we must be born again to enter into the

00:02:53.300 kingdom of God. And the kingdom of God is this idea of the realm of salvation. To enter into

00:02:59.140 the realm of salvation, we must be born again. Can you manufacture spiritual rebirth? Can you

00:03:06.060 deliver yourself into this spiritual state? Can you actually cause the rebirth in someone else's

00:03:14.040 life? Again, of course not. You can't do that. You can lead them to the gospel. You can preach

00:03:20.780 the truth of the word of God. You can pray for people, but you can't actually produce

00:03:26.380 the new spirit, the new heart, the regeneration process that is the evidence of salvation

00:03:33.380 for the Christian. 1 Corinthians 3, 6 through 7 says, I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave

00:03:42.240 the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything nor he who waters, but God gives the

00:03:48.000 increase. It is God that brings the increase of this spiritual regeneration that we call conversion

00:03:55.360 or born again. Nowhere in the text does it say, do we hear Jesus say, hey, you should do this to

00:04:02.920 be born again or pray this to be born again. You should say these things to be born again. You

00:04:08.800 should walk in these steps of obedience to be born again. There's no instructive principles

00:04:13.680 that he's actually giving in the process of actually generating rebirth. There's no how-to

00:04:20.520 steps of that. We might think that confession or repentance or belief automatically leads to

00:04:30.260 rebirth. But sadly, I think historical experience leads us to understand that it's not as linear as

00:04:38.480 we'd like to believe. We know that belief in Christ doesn't necessarily make you a born-again

00:04:43.840 Christian because even the demons believe and tremble. So there's a difference between believing

00:04:50.160 in Christ as the king of the world and then believing in him as Lord of your life. And so

00:04:57.920 the demons believe that he's king of the world, but that's a very different thing than him being

00:05:03.020 in a saving belief to make him Lord over your life. We know that confession of Christ doesn't

00:05:10.680 necessarily make you born again. Jesus talks about the idea of these people confess me with their

00:05:17.360 lips, but their heart is far from me. And so confession doesn't necessarily mean regeneration.

00:05:24.240 We know that a repentant moment in time doesn't necessarily mean regeneration.

00:05:32.540 There's a scripture, 2 Corinthians 2.7, that says,

00:05:36.520 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret,

00:05:43.080 whereas worldly grief produces a false repentance that leads to death.

00:05:47.040 And so there's a type of repentance that many partake in the church today that actually leads to death.

00:05:55.380 It's a false repentance where a true godly repentance, it puts away this regret.

00:06:05.840 There's no regret. There's no turning back going, oh, you know what?

00:06:09.360 I've repented, but man, I want to look back.

00:06:11.320 you think about Lot's wife, right? She's walking out of Sodom and Gomorrah and she's looking back

00:06:16.940 to her old life. That's not repentance. That's a false repentance. And actually many people in 0.88

00:06:23.140 the church today are guilty of that false repentance. They actually haven't turned away

00:06:28.020 from their sin and turned to God. We know that service in the church or spiritual gifts or

00:06:36.060 callings or even miracles or wonders aren't necessarily evidences of rebirth in the

00:06:42.440 Christian. The passage that we know about says, Lord, Lord, we did all these spiritual things in

00:06:48.300 your name. And Jesus responds with, away from me, I never knew you, you who practice lawlessness.

00:06:57.940 And so outwardly, it may look like we've done the right things, but ultimately it's God who can do

00:07:05.540 that spiritual rebirth activity, the putting in of the new heart and the new spirit inside the

00:07:13.240 Christian. And if you still don't believe that you're left out, that you can actually choose

00:07:17.700 regeneration, ask any Christian parent who has a child who doesn't believe. There's a letter that

00:07:29.260 I found from a lady to her grown son. Her name is Mary Winslow. She's the mother of the renowned

00:07:37.960 English preacher Octavius Winslow. This is in the 1800s. And she writes her son, her grown son,

00:07:44.720 a letter. And she says, Godly parents cannot convert their children. God alone can do this.

00:07:52.900 But they can lead them to Jesus and bring them up in the fear of the Lord. And when they have

00:07:57.380 done this, they have done all they can do, for the Holy Spirit alone can change the heart.

00:08:02.480 They must be born again. Christ has said it. It is not just a change of sentiment,

00:08:07.340 nor an outward reformation of life. It is a new heart implanted by the Holy Spirit.

00:08:15.280 Now, I'm not saying these things to you guys that it would bring confusion or doubt to the assurance

00:08:21.180 of your own salvation. That's not my hope. I don't want you to walk away going,

00:08:26.180 oh my gosh, I'm doubting my salvation.

00:08:28.840 If you're a believer, I don't want you to do that.

00:08:32.220 However, today will be a time of healthy self-examination,

00:08:36.800 which is a biblical concept of self-examination.

00:08:39.820 And many churches and many Christians

00:08:43.180 have confused moralism for regeneration.

00:08:48.540 So we look at someone's activity

00:08:50.380 and behavior modification and prove,

00:08:52.060 and we actually confuse moralism for what's really missing is the regeneration

00:08:58.180 that is required to be a born-again believer.

00:09:03.960 And to understand this properly, we've got to understand

00:09:07.440 what the Bible says about these matters.

00:09:13.500 So my hope is not to remove hope, but I would like to remove false hope.

00:09:21.260 I don't want to remove assurance, but it would be of the Lord to remove false assurance.

00:09:30.440 And this message can easily be a knife instead of a scalpel.

00:09:33.860 And I want to say this, I want to be careful how it's done,

00:09:37.640 because a knife can cut out the assurance that actually is godly, and I don't want that to happen.

00:09:43.560 A scalpel is to take out that false hope or that false assurance and cut that out,

00:09:50.140 or that false confidence and put that back in to Christ. And if any of you have concerns regarding

00:09:59.840 your own heart on the matter of regeneration, am I reborn? I'm going to give several examples at

00:10:06.720 the end of the sermon about what it means to be reborn. And you can evaluate yourself against

00:10:11.860 those passages and go, oh, okay, I can rest in these scriptures that yes, I do bear the marks

00:10:19.940 of a born again Christian. And so again, we're talking about the doctrine of regeneration. So

00:10:25.540 if you want to put a theological term on it, not everybody needs to know that it's the doctrine

00:10:30.500 of regeneration, but that's the doctrine that we're talking about today. And in order to

00:10:34.480 understand that properly, we have to understand what the Bible says about our current state,

00:10:39.340 because apparently we need to be regenerated from something. It implies that the state that

00:10:44.400 we're currently in is gravely wrong. It's profoundly wrong. Our natural human status

00:10:53.960 is insufficient. Therefore, there needs to be a doctrine of regeneration. Therefore,

00:11:00.520 Jesus says we need to be born again because we weren't born right. We weren't born correctly,

00:11:06.180 that we need to be born again. And so I want to talk about that for a second. This is the

00:11:13.760 idea of depravity, right? That we are born broken, born sinners. And the Bible tells us that you and

00:11:22.000 I are sinners. And I would say literally from your feet to the top of your head, you're a sinner. 0.58

00:11:26.800 You're a born sinner. You're polluted and corrupted with sins. And not just that, 1.00

00:11:34.100 but you're also deserving of hell. This is something that we really need to permeate in 0.94

00:11:39.320 the church because there's such a high view of self in the church that it prohibits the heart

00:11:46.740 posture required for repentance. And when you recognize how gross you are, how broken and

00:11:54.940 polluted you are, and how low you are, it really helps magnify the grace of God in your life.

00:12:02.260 There's a quote, I forgot who said it, but the kingdom of self is heavily defended territory.

00:12:09.320 Um, and so, uh, you know, this idea of, of self, um, you know, how do we deal with that?

00:12:17.420 What are the scriptures that talk about and identify the, the true identity of a natural

00:12:23.340 carnal human being that doesn't know the Lord?

00:12:26.660 Psalm 51, five says, behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and in, in sin, my mother

00:12:33.300 conceived me again, implying that it's from the very beginning that we are sinners.

00:12:37.580 were saturated with sin. 0.99

00:12:41.440 You and I are depraved. 0.75

00:12:43.180 We cannot in our natural state 0.99

00:12:45.460 inherit the kingdom of God.

00:12:47.360 And this is what Jesus is talking about to Nicodemus.

00:12:49.780 And we're going to get there

00:12:50.600 to the verse by verse exposition of this,

00:12:52.260 but we cannot in our current status

00:12:55.260 inherit the kingdom of God.

00:12:57.540 We must be born again.

00:12:59.320 This is why Jesus says,

00:13:00.620 what is born of flesh is of flesh.

00:13:02.200 And we know that Galatians gives us

00:13:03.800 the list of the evidence,

00:13:06.320 The works of the flesh are evident, as it says, and it lists off all these terrible things.

00:13:10.620 The flesh cannot inherit the kingdom of God.

00:13:14.180 Think about two running tracks.

00:13:16.480 You have one track that is running side by side with another track.

00:13:20.200 One is flesh and the other is spirit.

00:13:23.980 One leads to hell and the other leads to heaven.

00:13:28.560 And you and I can't jump onto the other track.

00:13:32.200 We need the Lord to regenerate us and birth us over to this other track.

00:13:38.680 But it's really God that does that process.

00:13:42.040 So again, I want to be clear that the flesh cannot inherit the kingdom of God.

00:13:45.480 Therefore, the need for rebirth.

00:13:48.340 This is a really important foundational understanding

00:13:52.360 before we get into the details of what we're talking about today.

00:13:57.000 The section of Scripture, John 3, 1 through 8,

00:13:59.600 It's going to teach us some vital doctrine.

00:14:03.480 Not only is this a concept that Jesus gives himself,

00:14:08.120 this isn't something that is kind of peripheral,

00:14:10.880 that Paul kind of develops off of the gospel.

00:14:15.520 This is something directly given by Christ.

00:14:18.200 It's also given early on in his ministry, which I find fascinating,

00:14:22.780 that it's pretty early on.

00:14:24.060 It's chapter 3, he's talking about being born again.

00:14:27.580 And again, the main idea of the text is that rebirth must occur to receive salvation.

00:14:32.000 You must be a born again Christian in order to receive salvation.

00:14:36.660 And it's something that cannot be generated by man.

00:14:39.560 And for some of you, that happened as a child.

00:14:42.980 And it might be difficult to identify when that happened in your life.

00:14:46.060 And you might be examining yourself and you go, oh man, I don't know if I was born again then.

00:14:49.880 And what does it really look like?

00:14:51.360 I want you to rest.

00:14:52.780 We're going to talk about this.

00:14:53.660 And again, I'm going to give you those passages of assurance.

00:14:56.960 For another group, it might be that you had a dramatic rebirth experience

00:15:00.920 and everybody sometimes sees someone's dramatic rebirth experience

00:15:05.160 and they wonder if they actually were reborn

00:15:06.840 because this person's rebirth was just so crazy and mine's not.

00:15:10.760 I want you to put that aside as well.

00:15:13.880 For others, it's been a slow process where you came to know the Lord.

00:15:18.340 You sat under the preaching of God's Word

00:15:20.240 and all of a sudden your heart starts changing

00:15:23.280 and your affections start changing.

00:15:26.340 and all of a sudden your life starts looking more fruitful.

00:15:30.540 And so there's a variety of ways

00:15:32.760 that I've seen this happen in people's lives.

00:15:34.520 So don't try to put yourself in a box

00:15:36.360 on how this must work.

00:15:38.840 I was referencing some commentaries on this passage

00:15:40.980 and actually I really appreciated

00:15:42.460 how John MacArthur put, I guess,

00:15:45.720 a breakdown or an outline to these verses,

00:15:48.220 one through eight.

00:15:49.140 So I broke it down into three sections

00:15:50.820 and I'm gonna use just this simple structure.

00:15:54.220 He says there's really three parts.

00:15:55.660 there's the worry of man. That's kind of part one, which we'll talk about Nicodemus' worry.

00:16:00.500 There's the word of Christ. This is like the command of what you need to do about it. That's

00:16:04.780 the second section. And then the third section is the work of the Spirit and what the Spirit does,

00:16:10.940 right? So we have the worry of man, the word of Christ, and the work of the Holy Spirit. So just

00:16:15.820 follow along with me, and I think you're going to see that theme trail through the text here.

00:16:20.400 So verses 1 through 4, it says, this is the worry of man.

00:16:24.280 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

00:16:29.480 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him,

00:16:32.240 Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God,

00:16:35.860 for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.

00:16:40.940 Jesus said to him, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again,

00:16:46.160 he cannot see the kingdom of God.

00:16:49.520 So I want you to understand a little bit about Nicodemus and who he was. 0.51

00:16:53.400 He's a Pharisee.

00:16:55.320 This man knew the Old Testament scriptures at a level that most of us have never even experienced. 0.92

00:17:02.220 He probably had giant swaths of these scriptures memorized.

00:17:06.180 He was probably trained up in the Torah and the law, in the prophets from a young child.

00:17:12.080 And he had a robust understanding of the Old Testament scriptures.

00:17:19.520 He probably knew them more than almost anyone alive at the time, and so just remember that

00:17:25.200 level of intellect. He's also incredibly loyal to the law. As a Pharisee, this man is walking

00:17:30.180 in intricate step with the law. I mean, this guy is following every detail of the law.

00:17:38.340 They're actually, many people say that they're isolationists, a group of these Jews that's

00:17:43.340 almost like a Hebrew monk. They're separating themselves because they, you know, there's a bit

00:17:47.960 of a prideful posture of like, I want to be away. They're not actually concerned about the

00:17:53.340 spiritual well-being of others. They're more concerned about their own spiritual well-being.

00:17:57.620 This is why Jesus calls them to say, you hypocrites, right? You whitewashed tombs. 0.99

00:18:02.140 This is where it comes from these people that were, again, this high and mighty posture of pride

00:18:07.600 that is deeply ingrained into the way that they held themselves. He's also a member of the Sanhedrin,

00:18:15.120 as we find out in the book of John, and every Jewish town had a Sanhedrin. So think of a Sanhedrin

00:18:21.160 as a court, a gathering for people to hold their civilians against the biblical law because they 0.91

00:18:29.900 were a theocracy, right? And so every town had a little Sanhedrin, right? There was the great 0.69

00:18:35.180 Sanhedrin that was in Jerusalem, and Nicodemus was a part of that Sanhedrin. That's the 70 elders

00:18:41.480 over Jerusalem. This is kind of like the Supreme Court of the United States. So this is a big deal. 0.50

00:18:47.720 Nicodemus is very wealthy. He was very influential. He knew the word. He had lots of relationships

00:18:53.820 with everybody that was of power. So this is a big position that he sits in. And I want to

00:19:01.480 illustrate just the heart posture of a Pharisee just to remind you what we're dealing with here.

00:19:05.860 and Jesus shares a parable in Luke 18, 9 through 14. It says,

00:19:14.260 also, he spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves. So pay attention to that trust in

00:19:19.440 themselves, that they were righteous and despised others. Two men, he's telling the story, verse 10,

00:19:26.960 two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

00:19:32.540 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself,

00:19:35.160 God, I thank you that I'm not like other men, extortioners, unjust, or even like this tax collector.

00:19:42.340 Okay, so first he's got an improper view of self.

00:19:45.960 He's got an elevation of self, right?

00:19:49.360 He's got a pride.

00:19:50.520 He trusted in himself.

00:19:52.000 This is what Jesus is illuminating here.

00:19:53.860 He says, I'm not like these other people.

00:19:56.020 I'm above them.

00:19:58.100 And then verse 12, I fast twice a week.

00:20:01.200 I give tithes of all that I possess.

00:20:03.540 And the tax collector standing off afar

00:20:06.160 would not even so much raise his eyes to heaven,

00:20:10.120 but beat his breath saying,

00:20:12.320 God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

00:20:16.380 Jesus says, I tell you,

00:20:18.440 this man went down to his house justified

00:20:20.200 rather than the other.

00:20:21.820 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled

00:20:24.080 and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

00:20:27.580 Okay, the tax collector's got an improper view of self.

00:20:30.340 He thinks he's better. He's not depraved. And then you see the, sorry, the Pharisee, and then the tax

00:20:35.880 collector has a proper view of self. He understands that he's not worthy, that he can't stand upon his

00:20:42.560 own works, that he needs a savior. And this is the posture, right? So Jesus is talking to a man that

00:20:48.700 holds this posture of that self-righteous posture in comparison to a proper view of self, that we

00:20:56.000 are depraved. We are in need of God. We need God to rescue us. We cannot save ourselves. Regeneration

00:21:01.720 comes by the Lord, okay? Nicodemus, I think, started to recognize this. He comes to Jesus by

00:21:16.460 night. This is an evidence that he wants to know more, and he's afraid to be seen. He comes by

00:21:24.860 night, and he's trying to express this. He has a concern in his heart. He knew something was

00:21:33.100 wrong. He knew that Jesus might have that answer. And how did he know? How did he know that he might

00:21:40.060 have the answer? Well, it says in the text that Nicodemus knows that he's of God because he sees

00:21:44.860 the divine works that he's doing. And we know, if you look back just in chapter two, right after

00:21:50.280 Jesus throws everybody out of the money changers and people doing sacrifices out of the temple, 0.86

00:21:56.060 the Jews come up to him and they say, hey, what sign do you show us for doing these things? 0.88

00:22:01.240 They want to see a sign because that's the historical nature of God's relationship with

00:22:06.400 them. Moses, you'd give them signs. The prophets would give them signs. This was the validation

00:22:11.620 of the divinity. And so this is the same reason 1 Corinthians, I forgot what it is, maybe chapter

00:22:18.100 two, Paul says that the Jews demand a sign and the Greeks seek for wisdom. This is common, right?

00:22:24.220 But Nicodemus saw this. He saw the divinity. He saw the power of Christ in the signs that he was

00:22:29.660 doing, and it gave him confidence to go to him and reveal this heart matter that he's, I'm struggling,

00:22:34.980 Jesus. I don't know what it is, but I'm going to come to you by night, and I'm going to tell you

00:22:39.260 in some way that I know that you're from God.

00:22:45.860 But you look at the text and it's fascinating

00:22:48.160 because Nicodemus doesn't ask a question.

00:22:52.480 He comes to him by night.

00:22:53.880 He says, hey, I know that you're divine.

00:22:55.260 But Jesus responds to him as if Nicodemus asked him,

00:23:00.560 hey, you talk about this kingdom.

00:23:02.740 How do you get to be a part of the kingdom?

00:23:04.740 But that's not what happened.

00:23:07.560 Nicodemus didn't ask that question,

00:23:08.740 But Jesus responded as if there was a question asked.

00:23:12.720 And Jesus answered him, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

00:23:20.340 What a fascinating response, a different response.

00:23:24.820 And what's really happening here?

00:23:28.060 What's really happening here?

00:23:30.120 If you turn back to John 2, 24 to 25, I'll just read it for you right now.

00:23:35.880 It gives us a little bit of an insight of Jesus' capability.

00:23:41.040 It says,

00:23:41.860 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them,

00:23:44.180 because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man,

00:23:49.200 for he himself knew what was in man.

00:23:53.940 Jesus knew what was in Nicodemus before it even came out of his mouth.

00:23:58.500 He didn't need to ask,

00:24:00.860 Hey, why are you here?

00:24:02.060 Can you fill me in with why you're coming to me by night?

00:24:06.300 No, Jesus answered the heart question without Nicodemus even revealing that to him.

00:24:14.240 And so we know that Nicodemus' heart is going, how do I enter this kingdom of God that you talk about?

00:24:21.120 And Jesus knew what Nicodemus was looking for before it came out of his mouth.

00:24:27.920 He's looking for the solution for the anguish of his soul.

00:24:32.060 And basically, I think Nicodemus is saying, I've done everything.

00:24:36.460 I still don't have peace.

00:24:37.940 I still don't understand Jesus.

00:24:39.480 Tell me what I can do.

00:24:41.240 I need to know what can I do.

00:24:44.660 And that's the catch, right?

00:24:46.400 This is the catch.

00:24:48.140 There's nothing that you can do.

00:24:51.280 This is what Jesus says.

00:24:52.300 He uses birth, something that you have nothing to do with.

00:24:57.180 It's an analogy that leaves you out.

00:24:59.560 and he says you can't do anything you need to be born again right this this is the grace of God on

00:25:08.000 display this is the central part of grace going oh I can't do anything there's nothing that I can

00:25:15.640 do stop working Nicodemus stop it's not working you can't do anything Nicodemus it's not good

00:25:22.580 enough. It's something that Nicodemus had to have been greatly frustrated with. A statement that

00:25:35.860 just greatly frustrated with. There's nothing that you can do but accept that you in your own works

00:25:44.460 are hopeless and helpless and you must cast yourself on the floor before the Lord. I can't

00:25:50.460 do anything. There's no good works in me. There's nothing that I can do here, Father. I am ready

00:25:57.140 to lay down in front of you and let you do the thing that you need to do in me.

00:26:03.080 That is the exact opposite posture of a Pharisee. This is the posture of the tax collector.

00:26:11.440 Then he moves into verses four through six, which again is this second section, the word of Christ.

00:26:15.840 Nicodemus said to him

00:26:18.280 how can a man be born

00:26:20.340 when he's old?

00:26:22.720 Can he enter into his

00:26:23.980 mother's womb for a second time

00:26:26.320 and be born?

00:26:27.940 Jesus answered truly truly I say to you

00:26:29.620 unless one is born of water

00:26:31.480 and the spirit he cannot enter

00:26:34.140 the kingdom of God

00:26:35.020 that which is born of flesh is flesh

00:26:38.240 and that which is born of spirit

00:26:40.040 is spirit

00:26:41.020 so I'm expecting

00:26:44.180 that Nicodemus was incredibly confused. I mean, he obviously, he can't even understand the spiritual

00:26:50.280 language right now. He's still in the literal track going, hey, all right, so you're telling

00:26:56.540 me that I got to go jump back into my mom's womb. My mom's passed away, so how's this going to

00:26:59.980 happen here? You know, he's in the literal track. He's not even understanding and discerning the

00:27:05.160 spiritual language. But again, Jesus didn't answer him directly. He doesn't tell him. He

00:27:15.040 shows him. He guides him along with this. He does this by offering two statements of truth

00:27:21.920 that a man, again, with his biblical intellect should fully understand. Okay, so he's giving

00:27:29.520 him some clues, and follow along with me here. He's giving Nicodemus some clues because he

00:27:34.020 Expects that Nicodemus is, he's part of the Sanhedrin. 0.80

00:27:37.380 This guy knows the Bible. 0.59

00:27:38.920 He knows what he's talking about.

00:27:41.020 He knows the scripture that he's going to reference,

00:27:42.980 the memorized scripture in his heart.

00:27:44.520 He knows it.

00:27:45.980 And we're going to find out as he leads him along

00:27:50.160 what the solution that he's talking about is.

00:27:52.820 These two pieces of truth.

00:27:53.860 So the first one that Nicodemus needs to grasp is Jesus says,

00:27:58.480 unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. And the second

00:28:07.100 is this truth that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is

00:28:12.600 spirit. And so let's talk about this first one. Jesus brings some more clarity to his teaching.

00:28:21.320 He doesn't only say that we need to be born again. He says that we need to be born of

00:28:27.500 water and of spirit. And he's going, Nicodemus, you're biblically intelligent. Where in the Bible,

00:28:36.280 where in the Old Testament, the law and the prophets that you know so well,

00:28:40.160 where does it talk about being born of water and of spirit? Where does that language appear?

00:28:45.540 Pull that out, Nicodemus. Come on, I'm guiding you here. And Ezekiel 36, 24 through 27,

00:28:54.660 which is a passage that he was absolutely familiar with.

00:28:58.420 This is incredibly important New Covenant language.

00:29:01.940 Almost all the prophets prophesy and predict the New Covenant.

00:29:06.960 But Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Isaiah bring ultra clarity on this stuff.

00:29:12.440 But Ezekiel 36, 24 through 27 gives some clarity of what we're talking about.

00:29:17.880 This idea of being born of the water and of the Spirit.

00:29:20.620 You need to be born of these two things.

00:29:22.040 What do you mean here?

00:29:23.480 He gives us the answer.

00:29:25.560 And I want you to pay attention to the I wills and the things that God will produce in people.

00:29:32.140 Okay, that this again shows that this is a sovereign work of God.

00:29:35.700 You're not going to go regenerate yourself.

00:29:38.120 This is not what the Old Testament predicts.

00:29:40.200 And this is a beautiful illustration of how this process happens.

00:29:45.020 So I'm reading again, Ezekiel 36, 24 through 27.

00:29:48.060 It says,

00:29:48.320 For I will take you from among the nations, gather you of all countries, and bring you 0.97

00:29:57.120 into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean. I will 0.99

00:30:03.680 cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart

00:30:09.240 and put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give

00:30:14.740 you a new heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes

00:30:20.400 and you will keep my judgments and do them. There's this pattern of, I will, I will, I will,

00:30:27.400 I will, I will. And then as a result of all that, you will, right? This is beautiful sovereignty,

00:30:35.740 sovereignty language that God is going to do this, this work in you. And then as a result of the work

00:30:42.360 that the Lord does in you, you will keep the commandments. You will walk in those statutes

00:30:49.980 and walk in my judgments there. So the water and the spirit, the water is this idea of cleansing,

00:30:59.900 right? We need to be clean. We're filthy. We need to be clean and we're clean and washed by the

00:31:05.880 blood. We're washed by this idea of cleansing. And if you're a Jew, especially a Pharisee,

00:31:11.660 you are absolutely familiar with the idea of ceremonial washing. 0.86

00:31:15.400 So the idea that you need to be born of the water, cleansed, and of the Spirit.

00:31:22.240 Again, this idea of God's Spirit being put in you.

00:31:25.500 It's not something that you can do.

00:31:27.220 It's the jump to the other track.

00:31:28.660 It's a really important process.

00:31:30.480 Without it, you don't have salvation.

00:31:32.800 Jeremiah 31, 33 echoes the same language again.

00:31:36.560 It says,

00:31:37.340 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,

00:31:40.900 declares the Lord. I will put my law within them and I will write it on their hearts and I will be

00:31:47.740 their God and they shall be my people. A lot of people have thought that this term here is

00:31:56.400 baptism. It means that you need to be born of the baptism waters and the spirit, the Holy Spirit.

00:32:03.800 I just don't think that's the case. It doesn't line up with the historical, theological,

00:32:08.500 and prophetic context there.

00:32:11.540 Baptism is something that you do post being saved,

00:32:17.020 post regeneration as a way to identify yourself

00:32:20.500 with the Lord, to identify yourself

00:32:24.660 as a member of the church.

00:32:27.060 I don't think that baptism has any role

00:32:29.460 in saving a person.

00:32:31.140 We know that there's the thief on the cross

00:32:32.920 who gets salvation and he's not baptized

00:32:36.360 in this capacity, but at this moment, his belief in regeneration could have happened on that

00:32:41.860 crucifix. So I don't believe it's talking about baptism and being born of the Spirit. I think

00:32:48.160 baptism is the first act of obedience that you do after you've been regenerated as a Christian.

00:32:55.220 And so we must be cleansed of our sin. We must be given a new spirit is what Jesus is saying.

00:33:00.200 And these are two things that can only be done by Christ. Then he moves into this other

00:33:05.480 kind of metaphor or analogy that this explanation of how this works and the truths about these

00:33:14.480 things. He says, that which is born of flesh is flesh. And that which is born of the spirit

00:33:20.860 is spirit. And so again, he's saying, Nicodemus, the natural man cannot see the spiritual truths

00:33:27.400 of God. He's corrupt. He's blind. He's deaf. This is all the terms that Jesus uses on a regular 0.84

00:33:33.200 basis. He's in need of a new heart. 1 Corinthians 2.14 says this idea that you can't hear or discern

00:33:40.680 spiritual truths before you're born again. This is probably why Nicodemus is lost about the

00:33:46.280 spiritual language, and he thinks it's literal language about jumping back into his mother's

00:33:50.100 womb. It says in 1 Corinthians 2.14, but the natural man does not receive the things of the

00:33:56.360 Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them because they are spiritually

00:34:02.640 discerned. Okay. So again, this idea in order to enter into the kingdom of God, we must be able

00:34:09.100 to see the kingdom of God. You're not going to be able to go to the kingdom of God until you

00:34:13.500 actually see the kingdom of God. And that's an important distinction to make. And that's,

00:34:18.020 you see in the text, the first thing he says, there is most assuredly I say to you, unless

00:34:22.860 one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. The next time he says it, it's unless one

00:34:28.000 is born again of the water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. You got to see

00:34:31.980 it before you can even enter it. And you can't even see it when you're blind. You need this

00:34:37.180 regeneration to happen in your heart and in your spirit. And this had to make Nicodemus someone who

00:34:48.260 works incredibly hard, incredibly hard to be righteous. He's worked incredibly hard to get

00:34:57.460 into the kingdom of God. He spends his whole life, all of his work, all of his efforts,

00:35:02.460 all of his thoughts to enter in the kingdom of God. And then Jesus tells him this, that's got

00:35:09.040 to give him this great inability of going, I can't do anything. Like I can't do anything.

00:35:18.120 nothing this is this has got to be a theological breakdown crash moment for Nicodemus

00:35:30.280 and I think we actually see that we're not there to watch this but I see that in the next verse

00:35:37.100 Jesus says do not marvel that I said to you you must be born again

00:35:42.320 obviously Nicodemus is marveling right now right he's going wait what what I have to be

00:35:52.360 all the work I'm doing has nothing and all I have to do is be born again and I can't do that

00:36:00.080 Jesus is watching to marvel at this and this is actually the point where Jesus finally points

00:36:10.680 this distinction to Nicodemus. He actually says, do not marvel that I said this to you.

00:36:19.480 You must be born again. So it's the first one is you got to see it. You got to be born again to

00:36:25.080 even see it. Then you got to be born again to even enter it. And then Nicodemus, I'm moving

00:36:29.200 out of the third person and it's about you now, brother. You need to be born again. You need to

00:36:34.760 be born again. And again, Jesus is going, you're in the Sanhedrin, my friend. How do you not know

00:36:46.000 this? How do you not know this, right? This is in the Old Testament. You guys have been waiting for

00:36:51.420 this. This is Old Testament language. How are you shocked by these truths? And so he closes this

00:36:59.120 section of scripture with another analogy to help Nicodemus

00:37:02.940 understand the inability to get involved

00:37:07.280 with the regeneration process, which is the requirement

00:37:10.900 of salvation, the conversion moment. And he uses a really

00:37:15.200 fascinating analogy. So the first analogy he uses is birth.

00:37:19.080 How much involvement do you have in your birth?

00:37:23.200 Zero. And then he uses another analogy that we're going to

00:37:27.120 hear right now that, again, you have nothing to do with and you can't control. He says in verse 8,

00:37:32.700 the wind blows where it wishes and you hear it sound, but you do not know where it comes from

00:37:38.760 or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. So Jesus uses a wind or uses

00:37:47.620 the wind as an example to illustrate the uncontrollable nature of rebirth. Just like

00:37:56.440 you can't see the plan of the wind, like where the wind's going or where it came from. You can't

00:38:04.020 know or direct the Spirit of God. You can't have the Spirit redirected toward you in this capacity

00:38:11.740 or toward your children. And you can intercessory prayer, of course, these things that we have as

00:38:16.760 tools from Scripture, but you can't control it like a Pharisee especially was trying to control

00:38:23.360 it. This is not something that is controllable. This is God's sovereignty. Regeneration is a

00:38:32.080 sovereign work, and anyone who tries to control regeneration is like a man who's trying to

00:38:38.980 control the wind. It's impossible. It's not something that you get to control. It's the

00:38:46.460 Lord's work of regeneration. And so I want to ask you, looking at this journey, looking at your

00:38:56.520 works, looking at your life, looking at your own Christian experience, when you hear this process,

00:39:04.980 maybe many of you guys prayed a prayer at a time. Maybe you were born in a Christian family and

00:39:12.640 you don't even remember a time that you weren't Christian, have you experienced this rebirth

00:39:19.980 process? Like has God cleansed you with his washing of you? And has he given you a new heart?

00:39:33.180 Have you experienced Christianity in a, not just in a behavior way, but in a heart way? 0.81

00:39:40.580 Has he taken out that heart of stone and given you a heart of flesh, as he says he would?

00:39:47.640 Dr. Stephen Lawson once said a quote.

00:39:49.620 He said,

00:39:51.940 The only thing worse than not having the assurance of salvation is having the false assurance of salvation.

00:39:59.460 And again, I don't want to create doubt in somebody that has salvation.

00:40:06.120 That's not what I'm trying to do.

00:40:07.160 I want to remove any false hope or false salvation or false assurance or false confidence.

00:40:19.700 But how can you really know?

00:40:21.880 How can you know if the Lord has actually done this rebirthing, regenerating experience in your heart?

00:40:27.320 How can you know that thing?

00:40:28.500 There's articles all over the internet trying to answer that question.

00:40:31.440 I want to look at scripture.

00:40:33.000 I think scripture gives us, so I'm going to give you a handful of these.

00:40:36.420 and you get to evaluate yourself.

00:40:38.240 Have I been born again?

00:40:39.880 Has the Lord done that sovereign work in me

00:40:42.440 and birthed me with a new heart

00:40:45.540 and put his spirit within me?

00:40:48.960 So if you're a born again Christian,

00:40:51.820 this is what will be true. 1.00

00:40:54.640 One is you will understand your utter insufficiency

00:40:57.980 and need for a savior.

00:40:59.880 You will know that deep in your soul.

00:41:02.920 You will not be resting on your own works.

00:41:04.720 you will understand and feel your utter insufficiency and guilty nature before the Lord and your need

00:41:11.080 for a Savior. That's a huge evidence there. You know that you were deserving of hell

00:41:18.820 and outside of Christ that you were helpless and hopeless. That is a very critical,

00:41:26.300 that's the very beginning heart posture of someone who is saved. 1 Corinthians 1.18 says,

00:41:34.240 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing,

00:41:38.000 but to us who are being saved by it, it's the power of God. 0.95

00:41:40.800 Is the message of the cross foolish to you?

00:41:45.280 If it's not, then you're someone that's born again.

00:41:50.440 Because you understand that it's not foolish, that it's actually the thing that saved your life.

00:41:56.440 Number two, you're deeply repentant and broken over your sin.

00:42:02.460 you're concerned about being right with God at all times there's there's repentance is kind of

00:42:12.440 broken up into two categories right you got capital R repentance that's the repentance that

00:42:15.820 like you you come to Christ and you repent and you turn away from your own desires and your own

00:42:21.080 flesh and you turn to Christ and this is just a I need you save your repentance and then there's

00:42:26.400 the little r repentance, which is the daily repentance of you just want to be right with

00:42:32.280 God all the time. You don't love your sin. And while sin still remains in the Christian,

00:42:38.680 sin doesn't reign in the Christian, right? It's not just about the one-time repentance of the 0.96

00:42:45.680 prayer that was said, but you're actually regretting it. You're going back into your old

00:42:49.440 ways. You're going back into drinking on the weekends. You're going back to that pornography

00:42:52.360 fixation. You're going back into the cussing and the foul language and the disgusting talk. 0.98

00:42:57.720 If that's going on, then yeah, you have doubt, my friend. But if you're repentant and you have

00:43:04.880 a concern of a heart posture that's pursuing cleanness, it's not just the behavior modification,

00:43:10.380 but it's actually at the heart level, then again, this is a sign of someone that's saved.

00:43:15.460 number three you're set free from the bondage of sin

00:43:20.260 you have no hidden repetitive habitual sin you're not in something that you're fixated and you

00:43:29.080 continue to do over and over and over again as if you're a slave to it that it's your master

00:43:34.440 it's your lord you're not walking in that uh you know i think about someone who's an aa

00:43:40.640 AA and when someone's an AA and they say, oh my goodness, I've been clean for 10 years. I go,

00:43:46.840 well, hey, you know what? That's great. But the reality is, is you're still an alcoholic.

00:43:54.040 You've just had a really strong discipline there. When Jesus comes in, you're no longer an

00:43:58.760 alcoholic. He changes your affections. He changes your identity. You're a new creation. You're not

00:44:04.360 an alcoholic. You don't even want alcohol anymore. He changes that. There's a quote that said often,

00:44:08.880 that's that God doesn't just change what you do,

00:44:11.760 he changes what you want to do.

00:44:15.420 And that's the evidence of someone that's born again,

00:44:18.160 their affections change, they're set free.

00:44:20.900 If you have a habitual pornography problem,

00:44:23.220 man, you need to sit before the Lord and find out.

00:44:26.720 Some self-examination on this matter.

00:44:31.320 1 John 3, 4-10 says,

00:44:34.020 everyone who makes a practice of sinning

00:44:35.500 also practices lawlessness.

00:44:37.520 Sin is lawlessness.

00:44:38.880 you know that he appeared in order to take away sins,

00:44:41.120 and in him there is no sin.

00:44:43.080 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning.

00:44:45.620 That means habitually.

00:44:46.820 No one keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him,

00:44:49.080 meaning that if you keep doing that, you don't even know God.

00:44:52.160 Little children, let no one deceive you.

00:44:54.980 Whoever practices righteousness is righteous as he is righteous.

00:44:57.760 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil.

00:45:02.060 For the devil's been sinning from the beginning.

00:45:04.720 The reason the Son of God appeared is to destroy the works of the devil.

00:45:08.320 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning.

00:45:12.060 For God's seed abides in him and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.

00:45:17.860 This it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil.

00:45:23.800 We all sin as Christians.

00:45:25.780 As I said, Christians, we have sin that remains, but we don't have sin that reigns.

00:45:30.320 We don't want sin. We hate sin. It's our enemy. We get it out of our life.

00:45:35.220 That's the sign of a believer who's regenerated.

00:45:39.740 Number four, you seek God.

00:45:42.780 You're hungry and you're thirsty for God.

00:45:44.500 You want to get on your face and worship God.

00:45:46.720 You love God.

00:45:47.480 You just want to talk to God all the time.

00:45:49.440 That is because his spirit dwells in you and he wants to be unified.

00:45:52.640 This is a mark of a born-again believer.

00:45:56.880 You cherish his word.

00:45:58.100 You want to study his word.

00:45:59.200 You wish you had more time to study.

00:46:01.280 You wish you had more time to worship.

00:46:03.000 but the heart is that you want God.

00:46:06.180 Romans 3.10 through 11 says,

00:46:07.800 as it is written, none is righteous, no, not one,

00:46:11.440 no one understands, no one seeks for God.

00:46:13.780 So if you're seeking for God

00:46:14.940 and the scriptures say that a carnal man

00:46:17.060 does not seek for God,

00:46:18.040 then that's evidence that you are born again.

00:46:21.280 Romans 8.7, for the mind that is set on the flesh

00:46:23.220 is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law.

00:46:26.220 Indeed, it cannot.

00:46:27.240 If you're not hostile to God, you love God,

00:46:29.700 you love God's law, you want to be obedient to him,

00:46:31.740 then you're the opposite of the carnal man.

00:46:35.400 You're a born-again believer.

00:46:38.020 Number five, you're being sanctified.

00:46:41.660 That is, you're bearing the fruit of the Spirit.

00:46:45.280 This is evidence overflowing in your life.

00:46:48.640 This is something that you're becoming more like Christ.

00:46:51.180 He's sanctifying you in His truth.

00:46:54.860 There's evidence you're being disciplined.

00:46:58.460 You're being grown.

00:47:00.160 you're being molded into your Savior. This isn't self-fueled behavior modification,

00:47:08.380 I'm getting better discipline. This is beautiful pruning development of your spirit,

00:47:14.500 making you more mature, making you more fruitful. 2 Corinthians says, therefore,

00:47:19.620 if anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation. The old has passed away, behold, the new has come.

00:47:24.580 Philippians says, I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to

00:47:28.400 completion of the day of Jesus Christ. Is the Lord completing you? Is he making you more like Christ?

00:47:33.840 Can you look back two years ago? Man, I know the Lord and I'm more like Christ today than I was

00:47:38.500 two years ago. Or are you stagnant? Hebrews 12 talks about the idea of if you are left without

00:47:48.120 discipline, then you're an illegitimate son and daughter. Does the Lord discipline you? He

00:47:53.980 disciplines those he loves. Does he discipline you? These are marks. Can you discern spiritual

00:47:59.040 truths? Can you see the spiritual warfare in your world? This is number six. Does the morality of

00:48:05.140 God's word reign true in you? Or do you cherish it and love that? Do you kind of have a prophetic

00:48:10.120 ear? You can see what's going on. You can see the spiritual warfare around you.

00:48:14.840 A couple other things I'm going to say is, these are just really quick. Do you have a spiritual

00:48:19.720 gift? Do you edify others and you see fruit come in their lives because of the words that you spoke

00:48:24.600 through a spiritual gift and the edification of the saints? Do you see that? Is the Lord

00:48:30.320 answering your prayers? This is a great way to tell if you're having a regular occurrence of

00:48:36.620 the Lord answering prayers for you, this is a great evidence that you're saved. And so if this

00:48:43.280 as you rest in that salvation. You can relax. You can rest in Christ. Rest in the power of the Holy

00:48:50.740 Spirit to keep you until that day of salvation. Abide in his word. Seek Christ. Be in that

00:48:57.940 relationship. But if you're not having that sense and you're concerned that maybe this isn't me,

00:49:06.480 2 Corinthians tells us what to do. It says, examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith.

00:49:12.060 Test yourselves.

00:49:12.940 Do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you?

00:49:16.420 Unless indeed you are disqualified.

00:49:19.060 And many in the lower case C church,

00:49:21.980 like the actual church buildings

00:49:24.340 versus the actual universal church,

00:49:26.540 many in the church are deceived about this.

00:49:28.680 They're sitting in the pews, dead in the pews.

00:49:31.140 Someone's told them that they prayed the prayer

00:49:32.940 and that they came forward that one day

00:49:35.500 and that they prayed the prayer and that they're saved

00:49:37.620 and they've turned it into moralism,

00:49:39.340 but they actually haven't had a heart regenerated by God

00:49:41.420 and they're confused.

00:49:43.160 They think that they're actually being sanctified,

00:49:45.560 but when in reality,

00:49:46.360 they're having more and more morality in their life

00:49:48.900 and they don't actually have these marks

00:49:51.380 that I talked about.

00:49:52.440 And so you've got to evaluate yourself.

00:49:54.080 Is there actually a regeneration in my life?

00:49:58.020 Is my heart new?

00:50:01.940 Do I seek God in Christ?

00:50:03.620 Do I love him?

00:50:05.160 Do I keep his commands?

00:50:06.080 ends. Because again, they've confused moralism for regeneration.

00:50:17.360 And I'm going to close. I'm going to share a story. A long time, even up until about eight

00:50:23.800 weeks ago, I would share my story, my testimony that I was saved at 20. And that was my testimony

00:50:37.820 that I shared. I was saved at 20 years old. That was what I would say. And I was at dinner with a

00:50:42.480 friend who's a pastor a couple of weeks ago, maybe about four or five weeks ago. And he

00:50:47.680 asking me, hey, Dale, how's life? Catch me up. How's the last several years been?

00:50:54.700 And I told him about my life and about how when we moved up here to Oregon and how I met

00:50:59.120 Matt Jacobson and the guy who pastored me for several years and how that moment was the time

00:51:05.780 that I had a huge inflection point in my spiritual walk and then how I was actually being set free

00:51:11.720 from sin and the sanctification all started coming in and fruit in my life. And I started

00:51:17.640 getting into the word more. And he goes, oh, so that was when you were saved. I mean, it like

00:51:24.160 knocked me out of my chair because I was going, wait, wait, what? He's like, yeah, that was like,

00:51:30.600 that was when you converted. That was when you were born again. And I had to go home

00:51:36.080 that night and start evaluating my life

00:51:41.440 between the ages of 20 and 28.

00:51:45.840 I'll be 35 here soon.

00:51:47.700 And I'm going, wow.

00:51:50.800 All those things that I talked about,

00:51:52.420 I did not have any of those assurances

00:51:54.040 in my life between 20 and 28.

00:51:56.340 I was the guy that his life was

00:51:58.660 Jesus is Lord but not Lord of my life. 0.99

00:52:01.580 I was the guy that professed him

00:52:02.880 with his lips and my heart was far from him.

00:52:04.460 I was actually the same way.

00:52:06.200 I was a moralist.

00:52:07.240 I've confused moralism for regeneration.

00:52:09.380 I was a religious zealot.

00:52:11.260 I was doing these things, but I had no fruit in my life.

00:52:16.020 I wasn't even saved.

00:52:17.400 I was under the impression that I was, but I was actually not regenerated.

00:52:20.780 I was confused about this.

00:52:22.680 I was deceived about this.

00:52:25.340 I went to church.

00:52:26.260 I did the different things.

00:52:27.360 But at the end of the day, I was still in bondage to sin.

00:52:30.040 I still didn't have a love and a desire for Christ. 0.89

00:52:33.640 I was still a liar and a cheater and all the things. 0.99

00:52:37.640 I was gross. 0.99

00:52:38.940 I was gross in this process. 0.53

00:52:41.860 I didn't have real repentance.

00:52:43.480 I was apologetic over my sin, but I loved my sin.

00:52:46.020 I wasn't repentant of my sin.

00:52:51.140 I called Matt and I said, hey, you know, you shared the gospel with me six years ago, seven years ago.

00:53:00.660 And I think I became a Christian then.

00:53:03.640 He gave me the fear of the Lord.

00:53:05.080 He gave me the real magnitude of the gospel,

00:53:11.440 the understanding, the posture of how much we need Christ.

00:53:15.320 I remember hearing the biblical gospel.

00:53:17.320 I remember the weight of my sin falling on me.

00:53:20.020 I remember having a repentant heart.

00:53:21.560 I remember apologizing to my wife in tears.

00:53:24.520 And I confused that moment with sanctification

00:53:29.040 when in reality it was actually when I was born again.

00:53:33.640 It was actually when I was born again.

00:53:37.980 And that process woke me up.

00:53:44.940 It really did.

00:53:47.380 And I want you to think about that.

00:53:53.620 I want you to think about that process in your life.

00:53:57.980 Could you be deceived?

00:54:00.100 I don't want to remove assurance.

00:54:02.120 I want to remove false assurance.

00:54:03.640 Could you be deceived?

00:54:06.660 I'll close with one last element here.

00:54:12.440 A week after I had made that discovery

00:54:14.800 that my conversion had only happened seven years ago

00:54:17.300 or six years ago,

00:54:18.580 I started thinking about my baptism.

00:54:24.420 I got baptized shortly after my false conversion

00:54:27.680 when I was 20.

00:54:28.480 and I was baptized with a girl that I was dating at the time.

00:54:38.360 I was sleeping with the girl before I was baptized.

00:54:40.760 I was sleeping with her after I was baptized

00:54:42.220 and I was sleeping with girls after I broke up with that girl.

00:54:48.300 And I was walking in unrepentant sin

00:54:51.560 and the Lord came and convicted me deeply

00:54:56.640 and said, you've never been baptized as a believer.

00:55:04.300 And try taking that conviction as a pastor

00:55:08.440 that I need to be baptized again.

00:55:13.520 And so that was incredibly humbling.

00:55:19.400 And so I called Matt, again, the guy that discipled me,

00:55:24.420 and I said, brother, what do you think of this?

00:55:26.640 and first he said, well, hey, this is evidence that you don't need to be baptized to be saved,

00:55:33.920 but he said, I think that this is, I think this is right. I think you need to be baptized,

00:55:44.420 and yesterday, when I'm delivering this message to just yesterday,

00:55:48.900 in front of our little house church,

00:55:52.860 I had Matt come over and baptize me.

00:55:57.880 And so sometimes the Lord,

00:56:02.980 out of our obedience to him, 0.97

00:56:04.300 will make us seem like we're actually made fools for him.

00:56:09.140 But it was a humbling experience to get clear

00:56:11.640 on the fact that I was deceived for a long time.

00:56:16.760 and regeneration is critical and so I want you to evaluate yourselves in this process

00:56:25.660 evaluate yourselves against scripture I'll close in prayer father we thank you for

00:56:33.300 your truth father we thank you that you do not give up on us father that you're faithful

00:56:37.580 lord we we we thank you for every single person that's listening or watching this

00:56:43.720 message right now. Lord, we pray that your spirit is going and convicting and bringing clarity and

00:56:49.500 understanding, Father, removing false hope, but Father, also giving assurance to those who need

00:56:54.160 it. Father, we pray and we thank you for your love and just your desire to save, Father.

00:57:02.120 We pray that there would be a clarity on if people need to get baptized again because they were

00:57:07.900 not baptized as believers, but they need to be baptized again since they've been reborn.

00:57:13.640 Father, we pray for just conviction and understanding of this whole process of regeneration.

00:57:17.660 Lord, we pray for clarity.

00:57:19.460 Father, but I pray that it goes forth in a way that is faithful to your word.

00:57:24.840 Lord, that you use it for your kingdom and the edification of your saints, Father.

00:57:28.460 In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Dale Partridge - February 26, 2020

Real Christianity #86： How Can I Know I Am Born Again？

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