A Permanent Birth

Coming up next on Renewing Your Mind... ... .. .... .. .. It would not be for God and truly God.

Thank you. ... .. .... And salvation is not just getting man out of hell and into heaven, it's getting the life of heaven out of heaven and into man right now. We have come to be indwelt by this life of the ages to come. It speaks of heavenly life. It speaks of divine life. It speaks of the very life that is in Christ and in God. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life, this very life.

Not a life like His, but the very life of Christ is ours. We're in union with Christ. We are in communion with Christ. His life is flowing into us. He says, I am the vine, you are the branches. Abide in me and I in you. And His very life that's in the vine is flowing into us right now.

It's just dripping down out of heaven and flowing into us. It's a life like nothing this world has to offer. You can't go to an NBA game and get this life. You can't go to a concert and get this life.

You can't go to the mall and buy this life. It's a life like nothing this world has to give or to offer. It is eternal life. It is a quality of life unlike anything that originates in this world. This world is a fallen world. It is the life of God in the soul of a man. That speaks to the quality of it.

It's a supernatural quality. Jesus said, I've come that they might have life and have it abundantly. John 10, verse 10.

It's just overflowing. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. It's a life of fullness of joy and peace and the knowledge of God, all of these blessings. But there's also the duration of life, eternal life.

Now, let me reason with you just for a moment. If you receive eternal life, it's settled for eternity. If you could have supernatural life for five years and then lose it, you didn't have eternal life. You just bought a policy of five-year life. If you could be saved for ten years and then no longer be saved, you didn't have eternal life.

You had ten-year life. But we have eternal life. What is settled for eternity cannot be undone in time. We already have eternal life. I told you before that there is a present possession of eternal life right now. I used to think as a young man growing up when I thought I could lose whatever kind of life it was I thought I could lose, I really thought if I could just make it to the end and be saved and then walk through the little gate and enter into heaven, then God would give me eternal life. That once I reached eternity, I would have eternal life. But this says, in fact in verse 36, and we've already discussed this, but it's really worth re-emphasizing again, He who believes in the Son, please note the verb tense, has.

You know that's present tense, not will have, future, but has present tense and not had past tense. No matter when you read this verse, it's always in the present tense that we who have believed in the Son have eternal life. He who believes in the Son has eternal life. It is everlasting life. It is life that endures throughout the ages to come. It is permanent life. It is irrevocable life. That is what we have received.

A. A. Hodge, who was a great theologian at Princeton in the nineteenth century, son of Charles Hodge, has said, regeneration is a single act, complete in itself, never repeated. Never repeated. We're only regenerated once, and it endures throughout all of the ages to come. And this is another way of saying no one is ever born and then unborn and then born and then unborn and back and forth like a tennis match. The new birth is never rescinded. It is never reversed. It is never revoked. It is never repealed.

It is never negated. It is never annulled. It is never nullified. It is never voided. It is never invalidated. It is never abolished. It is the life which God gives and it endures throughout all of the ages to come.

Let me put it this way. No one is ever born again again. You're only born again once. You're never born again again. To be born again again means you would have to be unborn from being born again in order to be born again again. It's impossible.

It will never happen. No one who is born again ever returns to spiritual death. You have left the land of the dead forever. You now live in the land of the living, and you are kept there by God's grace.

There's no going back. In John 5, verse 24, another one of these statements in which Jesus begins by saying, Truly, truly, I say to you, which should flag our attention, which should capture our focus, which we should retain as imperative, important truth. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word.

You remember we spoke earlier that every new birth is a scriptural birth. You must have the Word of God. No one is born again who has never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, who has never heard the Word of God, where that seed has never been sown into their heart. No, you must hear the Word of God before you can be born again. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes Him who sent me.

There must be a response to what we hear. It's not enough just to hear it and to have it in our head. It's not enough to know about God and about the Lord Jesus Christ. We must come to a place of decision, to be decisive in the commitment of our life to Jesus Christ. Saving faith has three elements.

There is the mind, there is the heart, and there is the will. With the mind, we must know the truth. No one can be saved without knowing the truth. You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. And then second, in the heart, we must be persuaded of its truthfulness. Many atheists know the truth. They're just not persuaded of the veracity and the validity of what they hear. There must be an inner convincing, an inner persuasion that the truth that we hear is God's truth. This is the absolute truth.

And then with the will, there must be a response. Again, earlier we talked in our break that the demons believe and they tremble. They have it in their head, and they're persuaded that Jesus is exactly who He is.

But there's never been the commitment of their life. Many people have demon faith. They know the truth in the head. They're persuaded that this is God's Word, but they never act upon it. They never come to the place, to the fork in the road where they have to decide which way they will go.

They just keep going the wrong path. That's why Jesus says, He who hears My Word and believes Him who sent Me. You come to the point of surrender and commitment and submission and entrusting of your life to Jesus Christ. You who hears My Word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life.

Do you see the present tense there again? Has eternal life and does not come into judgment but is passed out of death into life. That's the permanency of this birth. We have passed out of death into life.

R.C. Sproul has said regarding the permanency of this birth, When God brings about our spiritual rebirth, He does not let anything extinguish that life. Rather, those whom He makes alive, He preserves and keeps alive that they might one day reach the goal for which He regenerated them.

Regeneration, Dr. Sproul says, is permanent. If it were up to us, we would find every possible way to lose our regeneration. We wouldn't have waited until the one-yard line to fumble the ball. We would have fumbled the ball. On the other one-yard line.

We would have fumbled it all along the way. So if it were up to us, he says, we would find every possible way to lose our regeneration. But God will not allow that to happen. He will bring us to the fullness of our redemption. When God regenerates someone through the Spirit, He gives the Spirit to be with that person permanently. When God the Holy Spirit quickens you, you can be sure that your salvation is permanent.

Someone may say, well, that's just Dr. Sproul. I want to hear God. Well, Dr. Sproul is only repeating the Word of God. Let me give you a verse. John 14, verse 16. Dr. Sproul just said that the Holy Spirit, when He quickens you, He gives the Spirit to that person permanently. John 14, that's exactly what Jesus said in the upper room to His disciples that the Spirit will be given to them permanently. Now, implied in that is you will never fall from grace. You will never lose your salvation. You think you could go to hell with the Holy Spirit inside of you? That's a bizarre doctrine. Listen to John 14, verse 16.

This is a slam duck. This is it. I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper. Now, who is that other Helper?

That's a capital H. That is the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit of God. He will give you another Helper. Now, listen to these words, that He may be with you for how long? Forever.

Forever is forever. That's how long we have the Holy Spirit. We are sealed, Ephesians 1, 13 and 14, by the Spirit in Christ until the day of redemption.

And no one can break that seal. The Holy Spirit is omnipotent and He is sovereign, and He seals us in Christ. Now, our salvation is permanent. Our new birth is permanent. There are not enough demons in hell or out of hell to undo the permanency of our new birth. And there is nothing that we can do, there is nothing that no one else can do, but we would never want to do it anyway, because we've been given a new heart that now loves God and follows Christ. And it is Christ who has come to take permanent residence in us by His Spirit. John 4, verse 14. Jesus said, whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst.

Spurgeon preached a sermon on this once. He called it the sip that satisfies forever. One sip, you're satisfied forever.

You don't have to keep coming back to the well. One sip and you'll never thirst again. John 6, verse 35, he says, he who believes in me will never thirst. John 6, verse 58, he who eats this bread will live forever. John 11, 25, I'm the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even if he dies. You'll never be any more alive than five seconds after your death. You will graduate to glory. You will be in the very presence of the Lord Jesus Christ because you have eternal life. This is the permanent birth that we have in Christ. Enjoy being in the family of God.

Enjoy your sonship and your daughtership. He is our eternal Father. I hope that message encourages you. I hope it provides you with the assurance that you're looking for. Many theological systems place the burden of keeping our salvation on us. I heard a pastor say once, if I could lose my salvation, I would. That's why this glorious truth that we've heard today is so precious to us as believers.

God keeps us, and He guarantees our salvation. We have been pleased to bring you another message from Dr. Stephen Lawson's series The New Birth. I'm Lee Webb, and I'm glad you could be with us for the Friday edition of Renewing Your Mind.

Dr. Lawson's series helps us distinguish between a man-centered version of the new birth and a biblical view, and we'd like to help you continue your study of this important topic. Just request the 12-part series on two DVDs. Call us today with a donation of any amount. I will be glad to send it your way. In addition to the teaching series, we'll also provide you with a digital copy of the study guide. Our number is 800-435-4343.

Or if you prefer, you can go online to make your request at renewingyourmind.org. The series we've heard this week has helped us through so many foundational biblical truths, and if you'd like to share the messages with your social media friends, just look for the Share button in the middle of the page at renewingyourmind.org. And let me remind you that when you do support Ligonier Ministries, you sustain our efforts to proclaim the gospel through teaching series like this one. We are thankful for your gifts. Well, we realize that eternal security is a big issue for many Christians.

That's why we're going to feature R.C. Sproul's series, The Assurance of Salvation. How can you know for certain that you're a Christian? I hope you'll join us beginning Monday for Renewing Your Mind.