Adrian Rogers - Miracle Births
Would you take God’s precious Word and be finding, please, John chapter 3. Right away you remember that that is a very significant chapter in the Word of God, and one that, if you’ve been a Christian very long, you’re very, very familiar with; it’s one of the favorite chapters in all of the Bible. John chapter 3 and when you have it, leave it open there in your lap and let me tell you what happened to a friend of mine. He was in the waiting room about to hear the news about the birth of his firstborn.
Now you ladies don’t know what we men go through out there in that waiting room. It’s awful. And he was out there waiting, you know, for that news, when the doors burst open and the doctor came out with his hands up in the air, saying, «It’s a miracle! It’s a miracle»! He thought, «Oh, oh, oh, oh, what, what has happened? Have we had triplets? Are, are, what, what, what Doctor? What is a miracle? Tell me»! He said, «Human birth is a miracle»! You think about it. How a little baby is conceived in his mother’s womb and out of that tiny egg and sperm comes a beautiful baby. A miracle! I want to talk to you today about the miracle of birth. As a matter of fact, I want to talk to you about three miracle births. I want to talk to you about the sinner’s birth, that’s our birth. I want to talk to you about the Savior’s birth. And I want to talk to you about the second birth. All three of them are miracles.
Begin to read here in John chapter 3 verses 1 through 7, «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,'» and whenever Jesus says, «verily, verily,» that means pay attention. «'Verily, verily I say unto you, 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 into 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.“'»
Now, Nicodemus was a ruler of the Jews, his very name means superior. He was an educated man, he had risen above his fellows, he was a leader among leaders, and he had seen Jesus do miracles or at least had heard about the miracles that Jesus had done, and so he was concerned and intrigued about these miracles, and he came to Jesus at a nighttime episode and said, in John 3:2, «I know that You are a Teacher sent from God, for no man can do the miracles that you do unless God is with Him». Now, he wanted to talk about miracles, but Jesus talked to him about births. It’s a very interesting thing, because the truth of the matter is that a birth is a miracle; it is the greatest miracle.
Now, there are three births that are mentioned in the first three verses if you read carefully. First of all, there was a man of the Pharisees, that’s Nicodemus. He had a natural birth. Number two, the same came to Jesus by night, and wanted to talk to Jesus about births, and miracles, and that really is going to speak about the second birth, or, the birth of the Lord Jesus, «We know Thou art a Teacher come from God,» that’s the Savior’s birth, and then in verse 3, «except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God,» that is the second birth. So three wonderful births are mentioned here. Let’s talk a little bit about the sinner’s birth; your birth, my birth.
Here was a man in verse 1, he was born into the natural world. He speaks of it in verse 4, «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? '» Nicodemus said, «I’ve already been there and done that. I have come out of my mother’s womb. That is a once in a lifetime experience. No man is going to be born physically twice». He could not understand that. Well, Jesus says in John 3 verses 6 and 7, «Nicodemus, I’m not talking about a repetition of your first birth, I’m talking about a different kind altogether». «That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit».
Let me tell you three things about Nicodemus' birth. Number one, he was born into the natural world. «That which is born of the flesh is flesh». But number two; because he was born into the natural world, he was bound to the sinful world. Now why do you say that? Because when any man, woman, boy or girl is born into the natural world, they are born with a sinful nature. The Bible says in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 3, «We are by nature, by nature, the children of wrath». That precious little baby that’s born into your family, you may think that’s a little angel sent from Heaven, but you let that little angel grow up without discipline and he’ll black your eye. That little child was conceived with a sinful nature.
David said in Psalm 51 verse 5, «Behold, I was shapen in iniquity». That meant that sin was on the inside of me when I was born. And again, Jesus told Nicodemus, «That which is born of the flesh is flesh». This morning I was reading in the Scripture what the flesh is like. Now we’re talking about the flesh, we’re talking about what we got from our first parents, the natural inclinations from our first parents. Listen to Galatians 5 verses 19 through 21. If you want to know what the works of the flesh are like, if you want to know what’s in your heart, if you want to know what you’re capable of, here it is, «Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,» that means unbridled lust, «idolatry,» that means putting anything ahead of God, «witchcraft,» that means consorting with the occult, «hatred, variance, emulations,» that means the stirring up of distasteful things, «wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like».
That’s what Nicodemus got when he was born of the flesh. «That which is born of the flesh is flesh». You say, «Well, Pastor Rogers, I haven’t done all of those things». No, you probably haven’t, but you have the flesh on the inside. It’s not the amount of sin that condemns us, it’s the fact of sin. More people drown in nine feet of water than in ninety feet of water. If a man is a sinner, he’s a sinner. The Bible says in James 2:10, «If we keep the whole law and yet offend in one point we are guilty of all». But even though you may not have done these things, the problem is not what a man does, the problem is what a man is. A man is not a sinner because he sins, he sins because he’s a sinner. A man is not a liar because he tells lies, he tells lies because he’s a liar. The problem is the flesh. «That which is born of the flesh is flesh».
I heard of a missionary family that moved to a missionary house on the compound in a foreign country, they’d never been there, in very primitive conditions. And this woman who had been raised in very proper conditions looked at the floor in that missionary dwelling and it was absolutely filthy. First thing she decided she would do would be to scrub the floor, so she got her some soap suds and got a big bristle brush and got down on her hands and knees and began to scrub that floor. She would scrub it and rinse, it would still be dirty. She scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed and finally threw up her hands in desperation and decided she would never be able to get that floor clean. Somebody came in and explained to her why she could not get the floor clean: it was a dirt floor! And what she was doing was simply scrubbing a dirt floor, and the more she scrubbed, the more dirt came up. And that’s the way our nature is.
You know, we have the idea that we can clean up our nature, but folks, the problem is what we are, and there’s no way that you can clean up a sinful nature. Here was a man who was born into the natural world and therefore he was bound to the sinful world and therefore he was blind to the spiritual world. Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3:3, «Nicodemus, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of Heaven». And that’s true. Here was a man who was a master in Israel. He had many degrees, but he was blind to spiritual things. He couldn’t understand them. I may be speaking today to some PhD’s, I may be speaking today to some lawyers or doctors or school teachers or entrepreneurs or people who were tops in their class, and if you have education I’m grateful for it and you’re to be commended for it, and the Bible does not discourage study, but I want to say that all of that cannot help you to see spiritual things.
«Except a man be born again, he cannot see». Here’s the way the Bible describes a man born into the natural world. In Ephesians chapter 4 verse 18 it says he has the understanding darkened. «He is alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in him because of the blindness of his heart». His heart is blind. He may have 20/20 vision, he may have intelligence, but he’s ignorant of the things of God. Now there’s certain things that you can never know until God the Holy Spirit turns the light on in your soul. That’s the reason, folks, that when I preach, I try to pray as I did this morning. I get on my knees and pray before I walk out of that door and come out here, because I know this; I know that I can preach truth but only the Holy Spirit can impart truth.
Did you know that I can preach absolute truth and a person could sit out there and not understand one spiritual word of it? They may get the words, but they’ll never get the music unless the Holy Spirit of God turns the light on in their soul, unless the Holy Spirit of God enlightens them. You see, it takes more than light, it takes sight. And a person in a room full of light, if he’s blind, he still cannot see. And so, here was a man, he was born into the natural world, he was bound to the sinful world, he was blind to the spiritual world. That’s the sinner’s birth. This is Nicodemus.
Now he was a very fine man, he was a superior man, he was a ruler of the Jews, but he was only a natural man, and the Bible says in First Corinthians chapter 2 verse 14, «The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned». Now, let’s look at a second birth. He, Nicodemus comes to Jesus, look if you will in John 3 verse 2, «The same came to Jesus by night and said unto Him, 'Rabbi, we know that Thou art a Teacher come from God.'» Well, he was right, but he wasn’t completely right. Jesus was a Teacher come from God, but He was more than a Teacher come from God, He was God come to teach; He was God in human flesh. Now Nicodemus did not understand this at first, that the Lord Jesus was virgin born, and so Jesus begins to talk with him about His own birth. And I want you to see what He talks about, not only the problem of the sinner’s birth, but the purpose of the Savior’s birth.
What was the purpose of the Savior’s birth? Well begin to read in John 3 verse 14 through verse 18. Jesus is talking to Nicodemus and Jesus says, «As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish,» that is, die and go to Hell, «but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him,» that is, in God’s only begotten Son, «should not perish but have everlasting life, for God sent not His Son into the world,» now that’s the Savior’s birth, «for God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God».
Now, why did Jesus Christ come to this earth? Why the first Christmas? What is the purpose of the Savior’s birth? Well first of all, it was a ministry of redemption. The Bible says that we should be redeemed, that we should be saved, «That whosoever believes in Him should have everlasting life». You see, there were people like Nicodemus, born into the natural world, a sinner by nature, a sinner by birth, a sinner by practice, a sinner by choice, a sinner under condemnation, a sinner deserving judgment, a sinner on the way to Hell. But God sent His Son, not to condemn the world, but to save the world in a ministry of redemption. That’s the reason that Jesus was born of a virgin.
Why the virgin birth? Is that incidental? No! It’s fundamental. You take away the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, you take away the very foundation of Christianity. The whole house of Christianity collapses like a house of cards without the virgin birth. Why? You see, had Jesus been born like Nicodemus was born, He would have been born into the natural world, He would’ve been bound to the sinful world, He would’ve been blind to the spiritual world because He would’ve inherited the sin of Adam. And the Bible says in First Corinthians 15 verse 22, «In Adam all die». Jesus was God manifest in the flesh, and so Jesus came out of Heaven, into this world through the portals of a virgin’s womb. And Jesus did not have the nature of Adam, Jesus had the nature of His Father in Heaven, Almighty God.
Now, had Jesus been born of Adam, Jesus would have been a sinner. Had Jesus been a sinner, He could’ve been no sacrifice for sin; the only sin He could’ve died for was His own. He could not have died for mine, because He would not have been a substitute and an innocent sacrifice. He came as He did, born of a virgin, to be what He was, sinless. He was what He was, sinless, to do what He did, die on the cross. He died on the cross, to do what He did, and that is to save me. He became what He was, the Son of Man, that I might become, now, a Son of God. He was born of a virgin that I might be born again. He was born once that I might be born twice. He came to Earth that I might go to Heaven. He became a Son of Man that I might become a Son of God. That’s why Jesus was born of a virgin. He came to redeem us, and apart from the virgin birth, there’s no sinless sacrifice; no sinless sacrifice, no redemption; no redemption, no hope.
Thank God for the virgin birth. «God sent His Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved». John 3:17. And so, in the Savior’s birth, He came as a ministry of redemption, but not only did He come in a ministry of redemption, He came in a ministry of revelation, that we might know God. Look if you will in John 3 verses 19 to 21, «And this is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. Everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deed should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light».
You see, He came not only in a ministry of redemption, but a ministry of revelation. Jesus coming into the world was to give light, to help us to understand God. There’s no way that you can know God apart from Jesus Christ. In John 14:6, Jesus said, «I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes unto the Father but by Me». Through the Lord Jesus Christ. Helen Keller, if you’ve ever read the story of Helen Keller you know it’s a beautiful story. Helen Keller was a little girl who was born both blind and deaf. How would you like to have a baby both blind and deaf? A baby that you loved with all of your heart, but the baby could not see and the baby could not hear.
Can you imagine being a creature both blind and deaf? To be deaf, you could still see or to be blind, you could still hear. But to be both blind and deaf. Now, it was worse on the mother than the little baby, because this was the mother’s baby and the mother of Helen Keller said, «Oh, my precious child, my precious child, your mother loves you so much, but precious little thing, how can I let you know»? Well, you know there came that breakthrough when they learned how to communicate with Helen Keller and that’s a wonderful story. But folks, let me tell you this, God, in a sense, had the same kind of a problem. He said, «My precious child, I love you so much. How can I make you know how much I love you»?
Jesus is the answer to that problem. He came to reveal God, to reveal the heart of God, the mind of God, the love of God. You see, why the Savior’s birth? It was a ministry of redemption. Why the Savior’s birth? It was a ministry of revelation. Why the Savior’s birth? It was a ministry of restoration, that we might be born again, that we might be what God made us to be to begin with. Now here’s the third thing I want you to look at. We said the sinner’s birth, we’ve all had that. We’ve been there, we’ve done that. We were born into the natural world, we’re bound to the sinful world, we’re blind to the spiritual world. The Savior’s birth; He was born of a virgin to redeem us, to reveal God to us, to restore us back to where we ought to be.
Now let’s look finally, and with a little tighter focus, on the second birth. Remember what He says in John 3 verse 7, that we must be born again? Look at that, «Marvel not that I said unto thee, 'Ye must be born again.'» Sometimes we hear people talk about a bornagain Christian. You say, well I’m a born-again Christian. Well, I know why you say that, because we feel we have to qualify it because there’re many who call themselves Christians who say they are not born-again. I remember one wellknown politician who was vice president of the United States and he said, «Well I’m a Christian, but I certainly haven’t been born again».
Well that’s a contradiction. And I’ll tell you this much; if a man has not been born again, one day he will curse the day that he was born at all, because if you’re not born twice, you die twice. But if you’re born twice, you die but once. You say, «What do you mean, die twice»? Well, your first death is the physical death; the second death is eternal death. But we today have to qualify, we say, «What kind of a Christian are you»? A bornagain Christian, like there’re different categories and you can choose what kind you want to be. But to say bornagain is redundant. It’s like saying toothdentist or female-woman. It doesn’t make sense.
If you are a Christian, you have been born again. If you have been born again, you are a Christian, and if you’re not born again, you’re not a Christian. It’s just that plain, it’s just that clear. You have to be born again. Jesus said in John 3:7, «Marvel not that I saith unto thee, 'Ye must be born again.'» He didn’t say, «I venture to suggest that under certain extenuating circumstances it might be a nice idea». He said, «You must be born again».
Now listen to me carefully, if Nicodemus needed to be born again, everybody in this building who is not yet born again needs to be born again. I told you that this name, the very name of Nicodemus means superior, he was a Jew, a member of the chosen race, he was a Pharisee, a ruler in the Sanhedrin. Nicodemus was one of only seventyone of all of the nation. The cream had risen to the top. He was a religious man. He tried to keep the commandments, and yet Jesus said to this man that he needed to be born again.
Now let’s just talk about the new birth for a moment and then I’ll be finished. Let me tell you what happens when a person gets born again. Let me tell you what happened to me as a teenage boy when I got born again. Let me tell you some things that come with this third miracle birth. Remember, there’s the sinner’s birth, we’re born into sin. There’s the Savior’s birth, He was born without sin. And then there is the second birth where we, therefore, need to be born again. What happens when you are born again? The very first thing that happens, in order for you to be born again, there must be a conception; there can be no birth without conception. Nicodemus wanted to know how this could happen, so look in John 3 verses 4 and 5, «Nicodemus saith unto Him, 'How can a man be born when he is old? '»
Now that’s the question we’re addressing. How can you be born when you’re old, that is, how can you have the second birth? Look in verse 5, «Jesus answered, 'Verily, verily, '» He’s going to tell him now how to be born again, «Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God». Now, it takes two parents for you to be born. The two parents in the new birth are water and the Spirit. The two parents that bring us into this new birth, that cause this conception, are water and the Spirit. Now some people think that to be born of water is to be baptized. Now He’s not talking about baptism right now. Jesus is saying, «Aren’t you a master in Israel and you don’t know these things»?
Baptism was not something that a master in Israel ought to know. Jesus is not talking about baptism here, baptism is not a symbol of a birth, it’s a symbol of a death. We are buried with Him by baptism into death, and so when Jesus says, «Being born of water,» what’s He talking about? He’s talking about the Word of God. Over and over again in the Old Testament, a metaphor for the Word of God is water. Isaiah 55:10, «Is not My Word like the rain that cometh down from Heaven»? And God’s Word teaches that when we get saved there is the washing of regeneration in the book of Titus in chapter 3 and verse 5. The Bible speaks of the washing of water by the Word in Ephesians chapter 5 verse 26. It is the Word of God that is the seed that impregnates and gives the new birth. Peter makes it very, very clear, if you want to put this verse in your margin, First Peter 1 verse 23, «Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God».
So it takes the Word of God. Our first parent is the Word of God. And the Spirit of God, that’s the reason I said that I can preach truth, that’s the Word of God, but only the Spirit of God can impart truth, and these two come together. And when the Word of God and the Spirit of God come together in the womb of faith, then there’s a conception. Faith is the womb, that’s the reason He says in John 3:16, «For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish». And so when you take the Word of God and the Spirit of God and put those two in the womb of faith, there is a conception that takes place and there is a new birth.
Now, here’s the second thing. Not only is there a conception, but along with that conception comes a creation, something new is brought into being. The Bible says in Second Corinthians 5 verse 17, «If any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new creature». Christians are not just nice people, Christians are not just people who have done a good job of scrubbing the dirty floor. Christians are new people. Don’t get the idea that a Christian is somebody who has progressed through life and is doing better, like a tadpole who finally becomes a frog. No, a Christian is more like a frog who’s become a prince, I mean by the kiss of grace. It is something radical, dramatic; we are absolutely new when we are born again. There comes a new creation.
You see, when a baby is conceived, there’s the transference of life. John, the Gospel of John that we’re in, the theme of the Gospel of John is life; it’s mentioned thirtysix times. Jesus said in John 10 verse 10, «I’ve come that you might have life,» not existence, but life. People who are already existing, «I’ve come that you might have life and have it abundantly,» John 10 verse 10. So, what happens when this miracle birth takes place? Well, there’s a conception, and with that conception there comes a creation. We become absolutely new, and with that creation there comes character. First a conception, then a creation, and then character, because the child has the character of the parents.
Why do we do the things that we do? Because we are children of Adam. I’ve told you many times, don’t get the idea that you’re made in the image of God. You’re not in the image of God. Adam was in the image of God; that image was marred in Adam. And then in Genesis 5 verse 3, the Bible says that, «Adam brought forth a son after his likeness and in his image». We share now the character, the nature of Adam, before we’re saved. We are by nature children of wrath. We have inherited that sinful nature from our first parents; when we get saved, born again, we get a new nature from our new parent. You see, that’s the reason the Bible says there in Second Peter chapter 1 verse 4, «We become partakers of the divine nature». And without the new birth, you cannot be a partaker of the divine nature. When a birth takes place, a character is produced. You as a child of God, if you are born into God’s family, are going to have the character and the nature of God.
Now let me tell you something; I want to say this as plainly as I can say it, I want to say it as kindly as I can say it, but I want to say it as forcefully as I can say it; if your religion has not changed your life, you’d better change your religion; you have not been saved. When you get saved, you don’t just join a church and get baptized, a character is produced. You have the divine nature because you have been born into the family of God. And what are the marks of that divine nature? What are the traits of the twice born? May I mention four of them very quickly so you can see if you have that character, the characteristic of a person who has been born from above?
First of all, this will be true of any person who has truly been saved: there will be a deep love for Jesus and His Word. Do you love Jesus? Do you love the Word of God? If not, you have good reason to doubt that you’ve ever been born again, because if the nature of your heavenly Father is in you through the Spirit and His Word, you’re going to love what He loves and He loves His own dear Son. And you’re going to love the Son of God. Nicodemus, who came to Jesus by night, got born again, and you can find over there in John chapter 7 verse 47 when there was an argument about who Jesus was, Nicodemus, the ruler of the Jews, steps forth to stand up for Jesus. And any person who’s truly been saved, any person who’s truly been born again is going to love the Lord Jesus Christ. And you can sit in this church and love this church and love this music and love this tree and love this orchestra and love your friends and die and go straight to Hell. I want to know, do you love Jesus? Is Jesus real to you?
Number two, there will be the inner witness of the Spirit. Why? Because you are born of the Spirit. The Spirit of God comes into you. And the Bible says in Romans chapter 8 and verse 9, «If any man hath not the Spirit of Christ he is none of His». Romans 8:16, «The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God». What is that witness of the Spirit? What is it, is it an emotional experience? No, it’s not an emotional experience. It’s not getting liver shivers and goose bumps and getting wet around the eyes and warm around the heart, that’s not what the witness of the Spirit is. You may have all of those things, they are well and good, I’m not against emotion, emotion is fine, but the witness of the Spirit goes far beyond emotion.
Emotions are fickle, and if you depend upon your feeling for the assurance of your salvation, the assurance of your salvation will vary with the condition of your liver. I’m going to tell you something folks, the witness of the Spirit goes deeper than emotion. Your emotions are the shallowest part of your nature. Salvation is the deepest work of God, and God doesn’t do His deepest work in the shallowest part. The witness of the Spirit is that awareness that you belong to Him. You cannot explain it, but you know it and you know that you know it, because God’s Spirit bears witness with your spirit that you are a child of God. And I wonder; do you have that sweet assurance? Do you have that love for Jesus? Do you have that witness for the Spirit?
I’ll tell you a third thing that is going to be true about you if you’ve been born again. You’re going to have the nature of your Father, and what is the nature of your Father? He is holy, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of Hosts. And that Holy Spirit that comes into you when you are born of the Spirit, what kind of a Spirit is He? He is a Holy Spirit. What does that mean? It means that not only are you going to have a love for Jesus, you’re going to have a hatred for sin. You’re going to have a hatred for sin. Has that love of sin, that desire to sin, is that still there? You need to be saved.
You say, «Now wait a minute. Are you telling me that if I ever sin or if I am ever tempted that I’ve never been saved»? No, I’m not saying that. Jesus was tempted in all points like as we are, and it’s not a sin to be tempted. As a matter of fact, the faith that can’t be tested can’t be trusted. It’s not a sin to be tempted, and if you do sin it doesn’t mean that you’ve never been saved. Because the Bible says in First John chapter 1 verse 8, «If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us». But I’m going to tell you this much, folks, if you have been born again, you have gotten a new nature and that new nature is antithetical to sin.
Let me tell you how it was in my own life. Before I got saved I was running to sin; now I’m running from it. That’s the difference. Listen, when God saves you, He doesn’t fix you up where you can’t sin any more, but mister, He fixes you up where you can’t sin and enjoy it any more. And, if that love of sin has not died out in your life, if you do not have a desire to be like Him and to be holy, you need to ask yourself this question: «Have I been born again or am I just a church member? Am I just religious»?
Because, you see, in a birth there’s a conception, and when the conception comes, there is a character that is produced and that character is the nature of our Lord. And now I’ll tell you another mark of a person who’s truly been saved, born again. And it’s true of every Christian. There will be a desire to tell others about Jesus. Life wants to begat more life. It wants to reproduce and if you have been born again, if you have been saved, you’re going to want to share the Lord Jesus Christ with other people. Look in John chapter 3 and verse 21, «But he that doeth light cometh to the light that his deeds may be manifest that they’re wrought in God». A man who is saved, he comes to the light and then he wants to share the light.
I remember reading a story a long time ago about a little girl in George Truitt’s church, before Dr. Criswell became to be the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. That little girl came down the aisle like children do sometimes in our service, to give her heart to Christ, and she was a very young girl. And so they thought, «Well, before we let her be baptized, we’d better talk to her to make certain that she really understands what it is to be saved». So they brought this precious little girl, and took her back there, and some adults circled this little girl and began to ask her some questions. Well you know, that’s intimidating to a little child, we have to be so careful how we deal with little children.
Sometimes we get a little child and ask the little child a lot of adult questions, and if the little child can’t answer the adult questions, we say, «Well, they’re not ready». You know we get it backward, Jesus said, «The adult has to become like a little child». Sometimes these little children have more faith than we adults have. And that little child came and they wanted to be sure, and that’s fine, we want to be sure and we’re very careful with these precious little children. So they said to this little girl, said, «Sweetheart, we’re glad that you’ve come forward, but we want to wait a little while before we baptized you because we just want to be certain that you know what you’re doing». She puddled up and began to cry. They said, «Now sweetheart, that’s all right, we love you, don’t cry just because you can’t be baptized». Oh, she said, «I’m not crying because I can’t be baptized». She said, «I’m crying about my brother, he doesn’t know Jesus. I want him to be saved, too».
One of those old guys said, «I move we baptize her right away». Oh, friend, that’s what it is. It’s a love for Jesus and His Word. It’s a desire to be holy. There’s the inner witness of the Holy Spirit. There’s a desire for others to know Jesus. That’s a new birth. Has that happened to you? Do you know the Lord Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior? Then I want to say another word quickly about a birth. Not only is there this character, but a birth is a completion, I mean, once you’re born, that’s it. It’s a completion. It’s a onceinalifetime experience.
In Luke 10 verses 17 and 20, Jesus told His disciples when they went out, they said, «Look, the demons are subject to us in Your name». He said, «Don’t rejoice because the demons are subject, rejoice because your names are written in Heaven,» in Luke chapter 10 verse 20. And that word written means it is written and it stands written. You see, that’s what messed Nicodemus up to begin with. He said, «I can’t have a second birth». And Jesus is saying, «That’s right, Nicodemus. You cannot be born physically twice».
And friend, you can’t be born spiritually twice. There’s only one birth in every realm. I defy you to show me anywhere in the Bible where anybody was ever saved twice. You can’t find it any more than you could ever find in the physical realm where anybody had two physical births, you can never find where anybody’s had two spiritual births. A birth is a onceinalifetime experience. It is a completion and when you are born you are born into the family of God. Now, you may get out of fellowship in the natural realm and you may get out of fellowship in the spiritual realm, but, when I got out of fellowship with my father, I never ceased to be his child. You get out of fellowship with your heavenly Father, He will chastise you, but He will never disown you.
Again, what does a birth mean? Not only is a completion, but it is also a commencement at the same time. What do I mean by that? Once you’re born, you’re born, but you’re not born full grown. You have to learn how to walk, you have to learn how to talk. All of your sin is in the past, buried in the grave of God’s forgetfulness, you’ll never see policeman getting ready to arrest a newborn child for crimes he’s committed, because a newborn child has no yesterdays, he’s all tomorrows. And so it is in the new birth. We receive a brand new future, our past is in the grave of God’s forgetfulness.
And the Bible says in Psalm 103 verse 12, «As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us». But, then we begin to grow. We have a little grandbaby. That little baby, oh, you ought to have seen him, he took his first step. What a beautiful child, a masterpiece, that little guy is. Now, I watched him, and he took his first step there in the hallway toward me. It’s just beautiful to watch a little child discover the facilities that God built in him. But you see, you don’t take the child back to the hospital and say, «Now put on the legs, now put on the arms, now put in the eyes». When you’re born you get it all, and then you just develop it, you watch it develop. You learn how to walk, you learn how to talk, you learn all of these wonderful things. And when you get saved, you come down this aisle this morning and give your heart to Jesus, you’re not going to sprout wings and get a halo, you’re going to be a little baby Christian and then you’re going to have to discover all of these things.
Sometimes people ask me, «Oh, Pastor Rogers, you’re so excited about Jesus, you must have the second blessing»? I say, «Yes I do». They say, «Well tell me about it». I say, «The second blessing is discovering what I got in the first one. And the third blessing is discovering I didn’t discover it all in the second blessing». Friend, let me tell you something: when you get Jesus, you get everything. In Jesus is the fullness of the Godhead. You say, «Well you get Jesus and then you get the Holy Spirit».
Listen, friend, the Holy Spirit is Jesus in you. He says in John 14 verse 18, «'I will come to you, I will not leave you comfortless, ' I am in you». I’m not denigrating the message of the Holy Spirit, but again, the Bible says in Romans 8:9, «If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His». How does Jesus come into you? Not physically, He come in through His Spirit. But once the Holy Spirit of God comes into you, and in Him you are complete, then you begin to discover that completion. A little baby discovers his hands, he learns how to walk, he learns how to talk, he learns these words, and so will you. Listen! Don’t say, «I’ve got to grow up and then get born». That’s foolish.
Come just as you are and give your heart to the Lord Jesus, and then a commencement will begin. I’m a better Christian than I was forty years ago and I hope, if God tarries, I’ll be a better Christian in the years to come than I am today. I am growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus, and so will you. A little baby has to learn how to walk and talk and all of this. And so in a birth, there is a commencement. You’re all tomorrows. Your past is in the grave of God’s forgetfulness, and every sin, every foul thing, every lie, every dirty thing ever done, every misspoken word, all of that is gone. «As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us». And then He gives us a brand new start. The Bible calls that a new birth. Nicodemus was born into the natural world, bound to the sinful world, blind to the sinful world. Jesus was born of a virgin that Nicodemus might be born again. That’s what Christmas is all about.
Would you bow your heads in prayer? Heads are bowed and eyes are closed. «Pastor, would Jesus save me today»? Yes, He will. «Can I be born again today»? Yes you may, right now you can pray and ask Christ to come into your heart. You say, «Pastor, how can I do it»? Well, there’s the Word of God, I’ve just preached it, there’s the Spirit of God, He’s here. Your heart will become the womb where conception takes place. It must be the womb of willingness and it must be the womb of faith. When you say, «Lord, come into my heart, into my life right now». Now let me tell you how Jesus told Nicodemus. Listen to it, «For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever,» friend, that’s you, «that whosoever believes in Him should not perish,» that is, die and go to Hell, «but should have everlasting life». Would you pray this prayer?
Lord, Jesus, help me to trust You today. Help me to trust You enough never to be ashamed of You, Lord, to live for You all of my life. Lord, I need to be born again, I need to be saved. Come into my heart and begin now to make me the person You want me to be. In Your name I pray, Amen.