Bomberger, Phil: Ministry From John 01 ~ John 1;10

You know, we could sing when we've been there ten million years, as well as ten thousand, it could still be the same, because eternity never ends. That's something we can't really comprehend, but it's truth. We're going to work out of John chapter one, John chapter three, and Revelation chapter four tonight. John chapter one. beginning at verse ten. Certainly has been a good day. I certainly enjoyed sitting with you tonight in the remembrance of the Lord. There's nothing quite like the remembrance feast. We can say with a hymn writer, sweet feast of love divine, 'tis grace that makes us free to feed upon the bread and wine in memory, Lord of thee. John chapter one verse ten, where we read, He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Chapter three, verse one. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus by night and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again. Revelation chapter four, verse nine. Revelation four, verse nine, we read, and when those living creatures, those beasts, give glory and honor and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth forever and ever, the four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne and worship him that liveth forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. May the Lord bless the reading of his word. Let's pray together. Father, it's a delight to read your word. We thank you for eyes to see. We thank you for the spirit of God, who is pleased to bless the word to the edification of your people. And we pray that tonight we shall again behold the glory of the Lord in the word and rejoice together as one who finds great spoil and will thank you for the privilege of opening it in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. This morning, it was our privilege to examine Isaiah chapter one and Proverbs chapter one, And we were looking at the subject of the call of the gospel, knowing that whoever God calls, he justifies. They who are effectually called by God are justified, they're converted, they're saved. And by conversion, beloved, I mean the change that occurs when a person believes on the Lord Jesus, because God has given that person a new heart in regenerating grace. In John chapter three, that's what is called the new birth. It is called the new birth also in John chapter one, where he says they who believed on his name in verse twelve, to whom he gives the power to become the sons of God. They who believe on his name are they who were born not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but by God. Now, Nicodemus was a very religious man, yet the Lord told Nicodemus in John chapter three and verse seven that it was absolutely necessary. Now we want to ask the question tonight and seek to answer it, why? Why did our Lord say the new birth is absolutely necessary? We're talking tonight about the necessity for conversion. We must be born again. We begin by saying this, number one, apart from conversion, our existence is vain. We just read from Revelation chapter four verse eleven that God, the Lord Jesus, created all things, and they were created for the pleasure of God. God created us for himself. I'm a human being, you're a human being, and because you are, you possess the ability to reason things out. You have the ability to think, and thinking you can reason things out. Therefore, we have to ask the question that has been asked by the philosophers down through the years. Why do I exist? Where did I come from? You see, I look at my body, and I behold God's workmanship. Now, you may not think he did a good job. Uh, see, I beat you to it. Uh, and uh, you may be right, but I tell you what, he made me exactly the way he wanted me. And no matter what I might think about you, he made you the way he wanted you too. For in the hundred thirty ninth Psalm, we read very definitely that all in his book, all our members were written when there wasn't as much as one of them in existence. Now you talk about divine providence and the overruling power of God. When I consider the noble faculties of my heaven-born soul, to what end did God create these? For Ephesians two verse ten says, we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Emphasis on two words in that passage, his and created. So important. You see, verily I was created in vain, except I'm for God, for I was created for his pleasure. It would be better not to have any being than not to be for God. So I thank God for the new birth. Would be better not to have any being at all than not to be for God. And apart from the new birth, beloved, apart from being converted to God, man has no true purpose in life. You see, the unconverted, the great philosophers of the ages, they have no answer to the real mysteries of life. A person may be very intelligent, but it is given to the sons of the kingdom to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. Remember what our Lord said in Matthew thirteen, uh a passage I never heard any preacher preach on. Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. Matthew thirteen verse eleven. uh The person who has never been given a new heart by the grace of God is ignorant of those things that thrill the soul of the believer. John Newton, who wrote that hymn that we sang a cappella, he was a involved in the slave trade between Africa, England, and the United States. And when he died, beloved, Parliament shut down. They ordered straw while he was sick to be placed on the streets around his house, that the wagons and the horses going up and down the streets would not make too much noise and disturb him. That is the glory, beloved, of a transformed life. And that's what God does in regenerating grace in the new birth. Now, second, apart from conversion, all our religious activities are vain. Why are they vain? Why are they worthless? Because the scripture says in Romans eight verse seven that the carnal mind is enmity against God. It is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be. In First Corinthians three verse fourteen, he says, the natural man, the man who has never been born of God, the natural man cannot understand the things of God, they're foolishness unto him, neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. Now, our services may be ever so nice, but God has no pleasure in them. We learn that from Isaiah chapter one. God says, put them away from me, I'm tired of your offerings, for you offer vain oblations to me. Under conviction of sin, beloved, many people seek to mend their ways. They try to give some money to the church. They try to say a few prayers and attend a few meetings, and they think everything is right. And then they make the statement, I have changed. I've changed my ways. But beloved, if the heart has never been renewed by the grace of God, if the heart is still the same, they are still lost and still bring no pleasure to God. How blameless was Saul of Tarsus in his unconverted days. He was religious in his activity, even killing Christians because he was thought he was doing God a favor. But when God struck him down on the Damascus road, and he learned that the one he was fighting against was none other than the one who died for him, his life was changed forever. Beloved, apart from the new birth, our existence is vain. Apart from the new birth, our religious activity is vain, and apart from the new birth, all our hopes are vain. Bildad said to Job in his discourse, the hope of the hypocrite shall perish. The hope of the hypocrite, the hope of the play actor, the one who's going through the motions but has no reality, his hope shall perish. Through Jeremiah the prophet, in chapter two and verse thirty seven, God announced that the Lord hath rejected thy confidences. The things that people put their confidences in apart from God, God rejects. Without hope, a person knows no peace. Isaiah chapter fifty nine verse eight. Without the fear of the Lord, a person does not have the comfort of the Holy Spirit. Acts chapter nine and verse thirty one. So we see that apart from a new heart, apart from conversion, all hopes are in vain. God speaks only to his people, only to his saints. Psalm 85, verse 8. Sin, beloved, is a terrible disease. Sin is terrible. It will take you further than you want to go. It will keep you longer than you want to stay. It will cost you more than you have to pay. Sin soils the soul, it saturates the mind, it stings the conscience, it saddens the heart, it sickens the body, it sours the spirit and it silences the lips. That's what sin does. You see, sin is a terrible disease. Sin is the worst wickedness that anybody can ever have. The Bible speaks of it. Isaiah chapter one, he says, the whole heart is sick, and the body is full of bruises and wounds and putrefying sores that have not been mollified nor bound up with ointment. That's how God views man in sin. For sin, according to Leviticus thirteen forty four, is a leprosy in the head. Sin is a plague of the heart. First Kings eight thirty eight. It is a brokenness of the bones. Psalm fifty one verse eight. where David says, in his distress, his bones were out of joint. It's awful. Sin is an awful thing. But beloved, on the other side of the coin, for those who have experienced the regenerating grace of God in the new birth, the psalmist could say in the hundred nineteenth Psalm, great peace have they which gav thy ro. And this morning in the Sunday school, it was wonderful to hear that verse read. It always does you good, being justified by faith. We have peace with God. Great peace have they who gav thy ro, and nothing shall offend them. You see, in Proverbs three verse seventeen tell- tells us that the ways of wisdom afford pleasure and peace. There are two kinds of peace, beloved, that we who know the Lord should run away from. We should dread them more than all the troubles in the world. Two kinds of peace. Peace with sin, or peace with sin. There are a lot of people that make peace with sin. You can't do it. There are a lot of unconverted people who have heard the gospel and have made peace with sin. I'm thinking of the troubled life of a woman who has three children. Before she married, I was against her marriage, her parents were against it. But she was determined to do it anyway. She wanted to get married. And she said to me in a very arrogant way, she says, is marrying a divorced man an unforgivable sin? She thought she was putting me right over a barrel. I said, now you know better than that. You know that there's only one sin that's the Spirit of God speaks of in the Word as being unpardonable. It is the sin of attributing the work of Christ to Satan. Matthew chapter twelve. But I have a question for you, I said to her. And my question is very simple. While it's not unforgivable, is it presumptuous? And she had to admit it was. I said, well, the psalmist says in the nineteenth Psalm, the psalm that begins, the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork. At the close of the psalm, the psalmist says, keep back thy servant from presumptuous sin, for then I shall be free of the great transgression. Beloved, if you could see and meet with that woman tonight, she's paying the price in a most serious way. For what she did. Great peace of they which love thy law. She made peace with sin. And when we find peace in sin, when we can just move along sweetly and live in sin and not have any problems, there's something wrong. And beloved, we need to face the issue of sin. What a blessing to know that when we walk with the Lord, as we sang this morning, in the light of his word, what a glory he sheds on our way. While we do his good will, he abides with us still, and with all who will trust and obey. Now, there are many who have the idea that because Christ died for sinners, to know this is all that's necessary. They bypass a genuine relationship with Christ. It's easy to bypass a genuine relationship with Christ. Be oh so near and know so much, and yet not be born again, again. Christ never died, beloved, to save impenitent and unconverted sinners who remain such and in whose life repentance is never manifested. Christ never died for them. Matthew one verse twenty one says, Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from. If a person has made peace with sin and is living in sin, then we can, we cannot say they're the people of God, even though they know that Christ died for sinners. We cannot say they're born of God. They are not. You see, the mediator, our Lord Jesus, is a servant of the Father. It is from the Father that he received his commission. It is from the Father that he received his name. Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. And you can only tell that you're one of his people when you have the right view of sin and you've been saved from them. Beloved, we must be born again. God entrusted to Christ the glory and the salvation of his people, and as to this trust, our blessed Lord gave an account in John chapter seventeen. In John seventeen, he could say to the Father, I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And beloved, God's order of salvation is given to us in second Thessalonians chapter two and verse thirteen, a great passage, a great passage, and let me read it to you. For he says, but we are bound to give thanks always to God for you. And this is in contrast to the verses immediately before it, where it speaks of those who follow the Antichrist, the man of sin. They follow him, and we read in verse eleven, for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie, that they might all be damned, who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. And in contrast to that, he says, but we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. God brings sinners to himself by the means of his sanctifying work. To save men in their sins would do violence to all God's attributes. When you think of the attributes of God, and when you think of the flimsy way that men speak of the salvation of God today. They do violence to the attributes of God. Think of his justice. They do violence to the justice of God, for the righteousness of God's justice lies in rendering to all according to their works. And man cannot sow to the flesh and reap everlasting life. It's impossible. You must be born again. Furthermore, it does injustice to his holiness to save sinners in their sins would do violence to God's pure and strict holiness. Men would conclude that God is just like they are, and that's what God tells man in the fiftieth Psalm. In Psalm fifty, he says, you thought I was one just like yourselves, but God reminds them in that passage that he owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and if he were hungry, he wouldn't ask any of them. It would do injustice and violence to God's holiness. More than that, if God saved sinners in their sins rather than from their sins, it would do injustice and violence to his veracity. God has declared from heaven that if any shall say he have peace, though he should go on in the imagination of his heart, his wrath would smoke ag- against him. And you'll find that in Deuteronomy chapter twenty nine, verses nineteen and twenty. But to save a man in his sins would do violence to his wisdom. In other words, this would be to throw away the choicest of his mercy on them who would not value it. And everyone who has experienced the regenerating grace of God, we value the mercy of God. One of the verses upper read this morning in the Sunday School. Therefore, let us come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. We value the mercy of God. The unconverted beloved put little value upon God's great salvation. Little value. But then, were God to save sinners in their sins, it would violate his immutability. By that we mean what God says in Malachi three, I am the Lord, I change not. God doesn't change. I like what Arthur Pink says concerning that verse. He said, God cannot change. He cannot change for the better. God cannot change for the better. He's already perfect. He cannot change for the worse, for he's holy. Think of it, the immutability of God. Now, were God to take to heaven an unconverted person apart from the no- the Father's knowledge, where would his omniscience be? And he, if the Lord Jesus took one to heaven apart from the will of the Father, where would his omnipotence be? I am the Lord. I change not. That's his immutability. You see, to save people in their sins would be against the word of Christ. How willful will be the destruction of those who harden their hearts in a sinful state. All we need to do is examine carefully Romans chapter nine, where God speaks of Pharaoh, who hardened his heart, who said, who is Lord that I should obey him? And as he hardened his heart, God said, for this cause have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and my name be declared throughout all the earth. Who is the Lord that I should obey him? Beloved, the eighteenth Psalm is a very important Psalm. As we appear to God, God can appear to us. To the froward, he shows himself froward. To the pure, he shows himself pure. And you go, you can go through the psalm. It's a rather lengthy psalm, but you may go through it and find it for yourself. So we come to our application tonight. In answer to the question why, God made us for himself, and therefore, what is our relationship to him? Do we rejoice in the new birth? Do we rejoice in the knowledge of sins forgiven? You know, we don't need to apologize when we have the word of God for anything, but we can tell men and women everywhere, today's the day of salvation. Today's the day when you may turn in repentance and faith to our Lord Jesus and know the great forgiveness that we find in him. Turn to Christ in genuine repentance and faith. What a privilege, what a joy to examine what our Lord Jesus said. You must be born from above. In the first time it's mentioned in John chapter one, First time in the New Testament, there are three negatives. It's not a blood. It's not because you're related to some Christian. It's not a blood. You can't stand on the merits of your parents. We stand alone before God. It's not a blood. Furthermore, it's not of the will of the flesh. No matter how much I want my children to be saved, I cannot will them to be saved. They stand on their own before God. And it's not of the will of man, no matter how persuasive I may be in an argument. That will never change things as far as an individual is concerned. They must turn in repentance and faith to God. And that verse in Revelation three that I quoted this morning, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him and will sup with him, and he with me. When we invite people to believe on the Lord Jesus, beloved, you must believe. It's quite evident God doesn't have to, but I do. I'm justified by faith. I believed the record. Why did I believe it? Well, because God had worked in my heart in regenerating grace, enabling me to respond to the invitation of the gospel. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. When we put those two things together, it's quite evident the Lord Jesus didn't say you must be justified. But he did say you must be born again. For everyone who's regenerated by the grace of God will be justified. What a portion is the word of God, the necessity for conversion and how we should preach the gospel. This is what man needs, and this is what has been provided by our Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary. Let's pray. And now, our Father, we commend to thee the word of God. We may be frail and fragile in our preaching thereof, but O God, may it bless thy people. May it cause them to think and to realize what has been done for them in divine grace through the work of redemption wrought out on Calvary's cross. We thank you for a savior who truly saves, for a redemption that truly redeems, for a reconciliation that truly reconciles. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, amen.