The Doctrine of New Birth

Good morning and welcome to Living Faith Church. I am so excited to be able to worship Jesus Christ with you on this amazing Sunday. If we have never met before, my name is Aaron. My wife Stella and I are honored to be able to serve on the Pastoral team at LFC. Today we are in week number eight of this series we are calling, “We Are Pillars”.

1 Timothy 3:15 (NASB95)

15 but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.

As the Apostle Paul is sharing this thought, “the church of the living God, the pillar and support of truth”; there is more in his mind that what we see on the surface. To understand this, we should look more closely at the context of this letter. The letter of 1 Timothy is written to the young pastor Timothy who was pastoring, possibly, the largest church in the known world. The church of Ephesus was around 20-40 thousand people strong. Ephesus, after Acts 19:1-10, the church of Ephesus exploded and the Gospel spread from there to all of Asia. But there is a unique element of Ephesus that lead Paul to use this illustration of pillars. The city of Ephesus was known for its worship of false gods, Diana was the main goddess, she had a temple in Ephesus. All throughout the streets of Ephesus marble columns were errected. The columns were immaculate, and decorated in honor of these many gods. Behind me you can see some of these. So, when Paul used the illustration of the church being a pillar, to the church of Ephesus, made a lot of sense. But when he said, a pillar and support of truth, this became a revelation. Because, the pillars they knew, were errected and designed to support the worship of false gods, not truth!

My hope and prayer for you today is this. As we look at this next doctrine of our faith, that every false theory, every false doctrine, every lie that you have believed will be torn down, and that you will become a pillar of truth! The entire city of Ephesus was filled with these pillars, you could no go anywhere without seeing these pillars erected to false worship. What if we as a church were like this. What if the Greater Hermiston area was so full of believers from Living Faith Church, that Gospel was inescapable?

One of the most important doctrines of the church is the doctrine of Atonement. And over the last many weeks, we have been looking at various aspects of this work. The work of atonement comprises the redemptive work of Christ, whereby a person can transformed from one life and nature into another, in Christ. We have looked at the forgiveness of sin, the work of justification, the work of sanctification; and today I want us to look just a little bit deeper by looking at what Jesus meant when He said,

John 3:3 (NASB95)

3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

There is a restaurant in town that I have a unique relationship with. Not in the fact that I own it, but in the fact that I bought the owners house. Back in 2010, Stella and I bought this house over on 5th and Oregon. We both fell in love with it the moment that we saw it. Little did we know the amount of work that it would take to make it livable. Not exaggerating one bit, the gentleman who painted the inside of the house, before we moved in, required that we remove the carpets before he would come, and still he wore face mask during prior to his painting. There were knife marks in the walls, bullet holes in the walls. I found gun clips - full loaded - In hidden places through out the house. The carpet completely soaked in animal urine. The place was a royal disaster, even the gutters to the house were packed full of random stuff, socks included.

After I found out that owner of this home owned a restaurant, knowing the condition of the home, I made sure that I found out the name of that restaurant, I was sure to never visit. And, the truth is, I never did. Now, years later this restaurant shut down for reasons that will go unmentioned, and a new restaurant opened in the same building. Everyone told me how good the food was but guess what? I couldn’t bring myself to go inside; because I had the old restaurant image in my head. Another restaurant moved in, my friends wanted me to go, I told them the story; “I can’t go in there” is said.

The end of this story goes like this. In 2024, I finally visited this building, after multiple new owners and undeniable evidence that the food was not lethal. But, as long as that building remains, I will never get some of those images out of my mind.

In the Christian world we have a lot of different ways of talking about our faith in Jesus. Some people use the term, convert to imply a transfer from living for themselves to living for God. Some people use the work Christian, a biblical term that, literally translated, means “little Christs”. Other terms would be “disciple”, or “believer”. A term that has recently become less and less popular is “Born Again”. Whatever the reason is for it’s decrease in popularity, I believer that the phrase is critical to understanding the work of Christ in our life so vital that I want to dedicate todays message to this one simple phrase.

So, what is New Birth? What does it mean to be Born Again?

Jesus, in John chapter three, while speaking with Nicodemus, hit on a major issue of faith that is a great source of misunderstanding for many. Look at these words from Nicodemus.

John 3:1–2 NASB95

1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; 2 this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”

Now, let’s stop right here for a moment. Most people today, if there were listening to Nicodemus, would say, this man is a Christian. He goes to church, He prays, He believes Jesus is of God, he has faith in God. He’s got it all! But the truth of the matter is this. Belief in God is not the same as faith in God, because faith in God produces works that proceed from us resulting in evidence of a transformed life. And that is why, even though this man of exceptional character, someone everyone of us in this room would want to be a part of this church, someone that you would probably desire to disciple you in your walk with God, Jesus looked at him and said.

John 3:3 (NASB95)

3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

What I love about Jesus, is that He was not concerned with “winning the lost”. He was concerned with harvesting the crops. The Dictionary of Oxford Languages defines the word win as “to be successful or victorious in a competition”. Jesus was never in a competition against Satan,

1 Peter 1:19–20 (NASB95)

19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.

20 For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you

This means that what Jesus did, on the cross, was not in a race to see who could win you. Rather it was an exercise of Gods forbearance, His patiences, His longsuffering with you. And at just the right time, Christ executed His omnipotence and declared death to death; and redeemed you with the cross and blood by His great grace.

So, Jesus wasn’t concerned with the dangers of Christianeese, or churchy language; He said it the way it was to be. Unless you are born again you cannot see God. Most of us would try and make this more palatable. “Just invite Jesus into your heart. But I have a question for you, what does that mean? Let me ask you a serious question. Is the work of salvation truly about inviting Jesus into our hearts, or is it about laying our life down at the feet of Jesus and saying; “take it all, I am nothing without you”?

I have this feeling that the language of inviting Jesus into our heart is born out of an Americanized need to remain in control. The truth of the matter is, that what Jesus is telling Nicodemus is much deeper than most of us have realized until now. What Jesus is really saying to Nicodemus is this. All you must do is believe in me. But what I am going to do is so much more than that.

I will remove your sins from you

I will add righteousness back into your life

I will end this whole process with a life long journey of working out the elements of your faith in Christ

But in between, I will cary you through a process of death and rebirth. You will literally be born again.

This means that in Christ, the person that Satan is coming after to pay the price that sin demands has died and no longer exists. Satan will always be calling on the soul of the sinner to pay his price of death, this is why you must be born again. And this is also why after you have been born again, Satan tempts you with doubt of your new life, because if he can’t destroy the old you, he’ll try and deceive the new you.

6 “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

New Birth Means -Living A New Life

I am here to suggest to you today that too many people, believers in God, regular church attenders, are living a Nicodemus life. They have a belief in God without new birth.We want our belief to save us, when in reality it is our faith that saves us. Look at James 2.

James 2:19 (NASB95)

19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.

When there is no new life as a result the belifes you claim, the only logical conclusion is that you have not been changed. James 2:14 tells us

James 2:14 (NASB95)

14 What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him?

James 2:17 (ESV)

17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

So, what is the logical conclusion to this? It’s found a few verses later in James 2:24.

James 2:24 (NASB95)

24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.

When Jesus wrapped up His conversation with Nicodemus, He said this:

John 3:21 NASB95

21 “But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”

That word wrought means “summed up”, to be identical to, to exist in. In other words, Jesus is telling us that a true Christian, one who is saved by Grace through faith is one whose works are consistent with Gods. Truly, they are a person who has been, reborn, born with a new nature. Upon conception, you were born of a sinful nature, and therefore you, in this state, were completely incapable of producing Godly works. The born again person, while still physically living in the fleshly body that you were conceived with, becomes born into a new Spirit, which means, new thoughts, new desires, new actions, new beliefs, new law, languages and liberties. You truly are Born Again!

New Birth Means- Born of the Spirit

To be born again means that you are no longer living life out of the flesh, but out of the spirit of God that now dwells within you.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NASB95)

17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

And we can see this work in action as new behaviors begin to show.

Galatians 5:22–23 (NASB95)

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Just as new born children reveal signs of life, heartbeat, screaming, among other things, so we to begin to immediately show signs of life. But a born again person has a whole new set of vital signs. These vital signs are not of the flesh but of the spirit.

Born of the Spirit Born of the Flesh

love ——————————————-—-—-Hate

joy ————————————————-—- Sorrow

peace ———————————————— Anxiety

forbearance ————————————— Intolerance

kindness ——————————————- Callousness

goodness —————————————— Evil

faithfulness ————————————— Unfaithfulness

gentleness ———————————-——- Cruelty

self-control ————————————— Self-inulgence

The be born of the Spirit means that there is a new leader, a new commander and chief in your life and it is not you. Every person is made up of three parts; A body, a Soul and a Spirit. A few weeks ago I dove into this a bit more, but to refresh we say it this way.

Spirit = the God-conscious part of you - it talks to God

Soul= the conscious part of you - it talks to your mind, will and emotions

Body= the other-conscious part of you- it talks to the outside word with your Sight, Smell, Taste, Touch and Hearing

Most people live life by the self-consciousness, their soul. We do what we feel like doing. And this is primarily how culture tells us to live. But we are also limited by our body. But when we are born again, something supernatural happens. There is a transition of power and all of a sudden we are now living by the Spirit. This accounts for two things.

A sudden discomfort and rise in conviction and internal battles. Many new believers encounter a great relief as the weight of sin is lifted. But this can be followed by a series of battles as now they suddenly feel conviction when living life the way they used to live. This is because there is a new leader in your life, and the Holy Spirit is telling you to do things differently.

The second thing this accounts for is your inability to be called upon for your prior accounts of sin. Listen, your new life in Jesus is not “a new slate” as some would say. Jesus did not erase the evidence of your sins and give you a clean start. No! This would mean the the old you is still alive and all Christ did was clean you up, wash you off and put you back in motion. But Romans 6 gives me a whole new story.

Romans 6:4 (NASB95)

4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

New Birth In Action

Why is this truth vital to your life? Because each of us live life by how we see ourselves. There are way too many Christians out here acting like they are cleaned up druggies, cleaned up adulterers, cleaned up alcoholics, cleaned up cheats and liars. You need to know that this is not who you are!

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NASB95)

17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

You are a new creation, you have been born again. You may ask, why doesn’t God remove the memories, they thoughts, the images and feelings connected to my past? We can explain this by reading Revelation 12. This passage tells us that day and night Satan stands before God and is accusing you of your sins to God. But in verse 11 we get a truth revealed to us that becomes the weapon of our warfare.

Revelation 12:11 (NASB95)

11 “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.

Now that word “testimony” is “Martyria” it means, testimony, evidence, or to serve with a subpoena. So literally what this passage is telling us, is the reason God doesn’t wipe your memory of the past, the reason you still remember the old you even thought you are a new you, is because those memories are your testimony and when you call to remembrance who you used to be, along side of who you are now in Christ, you bring to evidence the vile works of the devil and he must stand before God. Look at this passage in it’s context.

Revelation 12:10–11 (NASB95)

10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night.

11 “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.

The take home for the believer in this room today is this: Tell Your Story! When satan tempts you with your old life, tell your story, when you are doubting your new walk with Jesus, tell your story. When you are feeling like it is too hard - tell your story. When your spouse or kids make fun of you, tell your story. From Genesis to Revelation we hear over and over that the testimony is the weapon, the word of our testimony rings out- the gavel is down, and judgement is executed.

Salvation Response

What if God brought you here today because He wants to offer you a new life? We know that the penalty of sin is death.

Romans 6:23 (NASB95)

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

You’ve already felt this. The sting and pain of the guilt and shame for past actions. The way you’ve hurt others, yourself, and betrayed the ones you love. You can pay for that with your death, or you accept Christs new life- meaning you the death penalty has already been paid by Him. Of course, this means- He is now the chief officer in your life. But this is the best news ever, because my guess is, you need that anyway. If you want Jesus to save you of your sins, become the Lord of your life, so that you can serve Him in obedience and love, I want to pray with you before we end. Simply raise your hand so I know who I am praying for.

“Heavenly Father, I trust You to save me through Your Son, Jesus.  Forgive me for all of my sins.  Make me brand new.  Because You died for me, I want to live for You.  Fill me with Your Spirit, so I could follow You.  Jesus, You’re now my Lord and the Savior of my life.  Take my life.  It is Yours.  In Jesus’ name, I pray.”