Well, we welcome you back this morning now for session two of Legacy Conference at Twin City Bible Church. Last night, we began with a wonderful start with a message focusing on the glory of the Holy Spirit, helping us understand the person of the Spirit and all of His glory and of all of His wonder. And now this morning, from here on in Legacy Conference, we're gonna continue to focus on the glory of the Spirit, but especially in relation to his ministry and applying salvation in the hearts of every true Christian. And we especially will be helped in that. It's then our distinct privilege here at Twin City Bible Church to welcome for the first time Dr. Conrad Mbewe. Dr. Mbewe is a well-known preacher and author. He has served as pastor at Cubwata Baptist Church for 37 years. in Zambia. Praise the Lord for that long standing ministry. In addition to that he is founding chancellor of African Christian University which is seeking to bring about the same gospel teaching and equipping there in Zambia. And of course behind every faithful pastor strengthening and enabling that ministry is a faithful pastor's wife. And we're delighted to welcome you as well for list us. So Dr. Bayley will you please come and open God's word to us. Well, brethren, if we could turn in our Bibles to John and chapter three. As you do so, I realize that I've already been in this pulpit about three to four times this weekend, but speaking to a different group altogether. So let me use the opportunity to just speak in terms of how delighted We are, my wife and myself, to be acquainted to this congregation. We did not know what to expect as we made our way here. We've been in your country now for six weeks handling six different conferences, one after the other. You are on the tail end, hopefully it's like the wine that came out of Jesus' miracle. That surprised even his own mother and more so the people that were at the wedding. Well, that's what we are finding at least in terms of the time that we have spent thus far here. As we turn to John chapter three, I will read the first 10 verses and then we can proceed to look at that passage. So John chapter three, beginning with verse one. Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. Jesus answered him, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and 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. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the spirit. Nicodemus said to him, how can these things be? Jesus answered him, are you the teacher of Israel? and yet you do not understand these things? We'll end our reading there. Let's pause for a brief word of prayer. Great God of heaven, we thank you that even in learning about the spirit, we are utterly dependent upon him. And so we pray, blessed spirit, dwell among us, and help us each one as you see fit. We plead for Jesus' sake. Amen. In studying the topic of the glory of the spirit, I'm sure you noticed yesterday when our preacher dealt with it, those of you who were here, that it's quite a wide subject. It's one that you cannot exhaust over just a weekend. In fact, some of you would have noted that we have limited ourselves to the work of the Spirit with respect to applying the work of Christ in redemption. There is a lot that one can look at in terms of the glory of the Spirit beginning from creation, seeing how He worked in the nation of Israel in the Old Testament, guiding the prophets in terms of showing them not just what they ought to say, but what is yet to come, and also in terms of guiding the writing of the scriptures so that you and I can have the actual words of God before us. And even in the coming of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, in His birth, in His life, in all the miracles that He did, and all the way to even His resurrection, because it was by the Spirit, the eternal Spirit, that He was declared to be the Son of God, by his resurrection from the dead. I mean, when you bring even all those into this topic, you begin to realize you are dealing with a truly glorious person. But then, as we have said, we are concentrating on his application of the work of redemption in our lives. And even there, you can't miss the fact that you are dealing with a glorious being. The narrative that is before us here in John and chapter three follows really the coming in of our Lord Jesus Christ having been announced by John the Baptist. That's what chapter one is essentially all about. John is the one who comes before the Lord and speaks in those words that we all treasure and it is the fact that here is the one who is basically the redeemer of the world, and therefore the world ought to welcome him, but in the process it doesn't. And it is on that basis that the rest of the book of John is written. There is a growing enmity, chapter after chapter, against our Lord. And it gets to the point where it is so bad that our Lord now calls his disciples together in a private room and is basically saying, look, I need to prepare you. Because the moment we leave this room, that will be the end. The enmity on the outside is at its darkest level. And it is in the beginning of this that John quickly brings in this topic of the new birth. Between John the Baptist and the new birth, all you have in between is the miracle that Jesus performed in the wedding in Cana that I have just referred to a few moments ago in a rather humorous way. And then also the appointment of the disciples. Now that really shows you how before John, this was such a fundamental topic. that as soon as he's finished with his basic introductions, he comes into a story. And as is often the case with respect to the stories in the gospels, it begins like a once upon a time story for children. In this particular case, now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler. of the Jews and he comes to Jesus by night. That's the way John begins and in doing so there are two fundamental lessons that he is seeking to convey to the readers of his gospel. The first is the necessity of the new birth, and the second is the nature of the new birth. And it is those two points that I would want us to consider together, and the way in which John crafts this is by dealing with Nicodemus first of all coming before Jesus saying something and then Jesus responding and again Nicodemus comes back with a further query Jesus responds and then you have the final conclusion when again he comes with a further query and then you have a more prolonged answer of our Lord. We are really concentrating on the first two. And the first one, as we've already noted, Nicodemus arrives and doesn't really ask a question as such, although Jesus perceives that although this is not a question, really, this man is perplexed about Jesus, and behind it, he is really saying, what's going on? It says there, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. The point there is the fact that Nicodemus, by qualification, has reached the highest position that he could be in in the context of this religious nation. He was a ruler of the Jews. He was part of the Sanhedrin. He was a Pharisee. In other words, in the competing voices and philosophies and positions within the context of the leaders of Israel, he would have been among the conservatives, among those that we would view as being closer to the biblical truth than the Sadducees. He was in that context, and yet, being in that context, Jesus still says to him that there is something that is still missing. And it is the biggest issue that is missing in your life. And what is that? The new birth. Jesus, perceiving that this is a question, answers him, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And what a punch between the eyes. That here is somebody who we really should be admiring. religiously speaking and yet he who is the savior of the world looks at him and still sees that this man is still in desperate need of an act of God. you need to be born again ultimately, is what he is saying. He repeats that later on when he continues this conversation with him. And when he says there that unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God, it's really the same as he later on goes to say that he cannot enter the kingdom of God. But here the emphasis is on perception. The ability to genuinely, experientially know the kingdom of God. Without the new birth, you cannot. Now why is that? Well as we heard yesterday, it is because all human beings since Genesis 3 are born spiritually dead, spiritually dead. We see that from Ephesians chapter two. We'll go back to Ephesians a few times, but for now, let me just quickly read those verses to you. Verse one, and you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among them. or among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. Like the rest of mankind. We were spiritually dead. And the apostle Paul, writing to the Romans, mentions the fact that one aspect of this spiritual death is simply the fact that we were stubbornly rebellious against God. Stubbornly rebellious. He says there in Romans eight, verse six to verse eight, for to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law. Indeed, it cannot submit to God's law. It's not just that it doesn't, it can't do that. Those who are in the flesh, in other words, those that do not have the spirit, cannot please God. Now that's something that we too need to be mindful of as we live in this world, that we don't have individuals who are lost and they are somehow half alive. and all we are doing is helping them along to finally be that which we want them to be. We need to recognize that when we take the gospel to the world, we are taking it to people who are dead. Dead. Spiritually dead. And hence the Savior makes the point that unless there's a new birth, you cannot perceive, you cannot see, you cannot experientially know the kingdom of God. But let me spend the rest of my time in the second point, which is the nature of the new birth, because that's where our savior, the Lord Jesus, spends a little more time. So when we finish this first statement and the Lord's answer, Nicodemus is even more perplexed. And hence he asks the question in verse four, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? Basically, at that point, you can see that there is a fundamental problem with Nicodemus that is often a fundamental problem with all of us. And it is this, that somehow we always think that salvation is the act of the individual. It's him doing something. And even when Jesus is coaching his words in terms of a birth, Nicodemus is still thinking, okay, so you mean I need to jump back into mom's womb? When I'm already an adult like this? And then jump out again? And often that's our problem, isn't it? When we are sharing about salvation, we almost make it look like everything is dependent on the individual, who in actual fact is dead. And that's something we need to get out of. If we are truly biblically taught, we need to realize that the first actor with respect to salvation is God, not man. And not just in election, not just in the redemption that took place 2,000 years ago, but also in the individual becoming a Christian. In today's world, God, by his spirit, must act first. And we see it from Jesus' answer. Let's go back to the text. So, Nicodemus is saying, Can he enter a second time? Is this something he needs to do? Jesus answers, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. And I want you to notice there that he goes right back again to the issue of birth. the issue of birth. But this time it speaks in terms of that birth being of water and the spirit. Those of you who were here yesterday will recall that we're told about this water being reference to Ezekiel and chapter 36. So let me just quickly read that and then I want to show you from two passages. that really that's what we are dealing with in the New Testament. So Ezekiel chapter 36 and I begin reading from verse 25. In fact we could even go a little further back but I'll begin from there. I will sprinkle clean water on you. And you shall be clean from all your uncleanness. And from all your idols, I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you. So you notice the water there. and you also notice the spirit. And Jesus is essentially referring to this saying that this is the way in which the Lord himself, the Lord God, saves you. There is a cleansing effect and then there is the spirit himself giving life. and I will remove from you the heart of stone from you and give you a heart of flesh. Now we see precisely the same in Titus and chapter 3. Titus chapter three, you'll notice there that the apostle, first of all, speaks in verse three about the terrible state of death that we are in before grace visits us. Notice what he puts there in verse three. Titus chapter three and verse three. For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, and notice, slaves. to various passions and pleasures, slaves. That's the state in which we were. But notice in verse four what changes. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us. Notice it's not us doing something, it is God. swooping down into the situation because he's a loving God, he's a kind God, he's a merciful God. And thus he saves us. Paul is very quick to make sure that this thing in our minds about us doing something is also knocked out when he says, not because of works done by us in righteousness. In fact, in the original, that phrase comes before he saved us. In other words, to knock that out completely and then say he has come to save. But notice after that the way he puts it. In accordance to his own mercy, by the washing, there it is, the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit. The person who acts is God by his spirit. And in acting, he washes us. He renews us from the inside out. And it is that which is being referred to. This new birth breaks the power of sin in our lives. Makes us a new people. in 1st John and chapter 3, the apostle John uses this to argue for the fact that a person who has been born again in this way does not continue in sin, cannot continue in sin because of what God has done in him, and that is 1 John 3 and verse 9. No one, he says, born of God, makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him. And he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. Let's allow that to sink in, because Jesus here does not simply say, that those who are born of the spirit, rather not born of the spirit, cannot enter the kingdom of God, he's adding this aspect of water, cleansing, washing. In other words, if you're sitting here today and you are saying to yourself that you're a Christian, then you are saying that you have been born again. And if you are saying you have been born again, a change must have happened in you. A change that is moral, a change that is ethical, a change from deep within that makes you hate sin. Genuinely so, from the inside out. But let's quickly go on and look at three aspects, especially of the work of the Spirit, since that's our major topic, the glory of the Spirit in regeneration. Let's quickly look at three aspects there to help us see this. First of all, that this spiritual life can only come from the Holy Spirit. Can only come from the Holy Spirit. Back to our text. John 3. The Bible says there, Jesus answered, truly, truly, I said to you, unless one is born of water and 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. The point of our Lord there is the fact that We as human beings can only bring about the birth of fellow human beings. We cannot bring about spiritual birth. It's not in our realm. It is totally out of our orbit. Only the spirit himself can give birth to that which is spirit. Now that must be obvious. If only we can come to terms with this reality. First of all, as we said, we are spiritually dead. It's only he who at the beginning in Genesis gave life to all that God was making that can now come afresh to give life to that which has now spiritually died. And that's the reason why in the New Testament, in a number of passages, being born again or born from above or regenerate is spoken of as the new birth and a new creation. A new creation. To borrow the words of the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 17, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. The old is gone and the new has come. Only the Spirit of God is able to do that. Let's make it practical. Here is an evangelist who really wants to have a lot of converts. today. And what he does is he puts together that kind of salmon that can knock you out of your socks. He's got all the illustrations with grandmothers who are crying and so on, you know, that really move you in your emotions. He's got stories about the flames of hell that will make even children have nightmares in those pews while they're still sitting there. He's prepared all that. And at the end of his message, he He's got, where's our brother who was handing that piece of instrument? Ah, there he is. But now, someone who can play even better, to the point where, as he's playing the keyboard, even the walls begin to shed tears. I mean, it's that bad. And then, of course, he's got his nice trick. While everybody's eyes are closed. Don't want to embarrass anybody here. Just raise your hands wherever you are. I can see that hand, but there are no hands. I can see that hand. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? This is the last moment. This is it. And of course, people then begin to slip up their hands. After all, I'm not the first one. Someone else has already done it. Okay. I don't want to embarrass you now. You can come forward. You can come forward. And all the cameras come out. And these days with cell phones being cameras, they take the pictures and yeah, at least 50 converts. Well, there may be your converts. They're not the Lord's. They're not. Because you cannot give life to the dead, the spiritually dead. You can't. You can't engineer it. All you are doing is manipulating people. That's all you're doing. Flesh can only give birth to flesh. Which part of that statement don't you understand? Flesh can only give birth to flesh. It's the spirit who gives birth to the spirit. It is supernatural. It is a miraculous act of God. It's possible that at the back of the mind of our savior, he wasn't just thinking about Ezekiel chapter 36, but also Ezekiel chapter 37, where Ezekiel speaks about being in the valley of dry bones. We read there, the hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the middle of the valley. It was full of bones, and he laid me around among them. And behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley. And behold, they were very dry. And he said to me, son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, you know. This is beyond me. You know. Then he said to me, prophesy over these bones and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones. Behold, I will cause breath to enter you and you shall live. The Lord God is the one saying, I will do this. It's not Ezekiel. He has absolutely no capacity. In fact, we can be sure as he looked at all these dry bones in the valley, he knew he had an impossible task on his hands, totally impossible. Only God could do it. And then we are told, I will lay sinews upon you and will cause flesh to come upon you and cover you with skin and put breath in you and you shall live. Notice that last part. And put breath in you and you shall live and you shall know that I am the Lord. I'll leave it there for now. We'll come later to see the role of the word that is spoken. But brethren, therein lies the glory of the Spirit in regeneration. He alone can do this. Every true Christian is a product of the Spirit. Every true Christian. He gave new life to the dead. Secondly, in this matter, the spirit is sovereign. Let's go back to John. The spirit is sovereign. Verse eight, the wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." Jesus is making the point there that the work of the Spirit in this particular case is not predictable. You cannot say that yes, when I preach on this occasion, I'm going to have 50, 100, 200 converts. Because the spirit himself alone determines who he is going to give life to. Two individuals can come to church. Born from the same family, raised up in exactly the same way, and perhaps they've come to church already wanting to be a nuisance during the service. And at the end of that service, as they are leaving, one goes back still dead, and the other one completely renewed, completely. The Spirit of God is sovereign in this matter. Jesus uses the picture of the wind and those of you who are here in the US will appreciate this a little more than we are in Zambia with respect to hurricanes. We can't control. We just have to either experience the effects, and often negative effects, or if we are spared, we watch at a distance the devastating effect over there and move in to try and help. Well, what is negative, let's turn it into the positive now. With respect to salvation, We cannot control where the Spirit of God is going to work, in which heart is going to work. We can't. We can only either experience it or see the fruit in somebody's life. The Spirit of God is absolutely sovereign in this matter. The Apostle Paul, writing to the Corinthians, puts it this way. in 1 Corinthians and chapter 1, his major issue with the church in Corinth was that they were fighting with one another about their preachers. Paul is the great preacher and someone, nah, doesn't even know how to string words together, Apollos, he is the great preacher, and so on. It must be Peter. Jesus said on this rock, I will build my church. Paul is coming in saying that's all a load of nonsense, because ultimately spiritual fruit is something the Spirit of God brings about. We are simply instruments in his hands. But before we even get to chapter three where he opens that up a lot more, In chapter one, he speaks in terms of this new birth in its working alongside the effectual call, the call that gives life to the dead. I'll deal with that in a moment. But what I want you to notice is the way in which he is saying to the Corinthians, ultimately, that look at the way in which God sovereignly chose you. Look at the way he did it. Verse 26. For consider your calling brothers, chapter 1 verse 26. Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth, but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not to bring to nothing things that are." Listen, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of Him, you are in Christ Jesus. Because of Him, it is a sovereign work that He has done. And there in comes yet another aspect of the glory of the spirit. It is the fact that he is absolutely sovereign in this matter. Absolutely sovereign. And you go, wow. I spoke about two people that are exactly the same upbringing, from the same home coming into church. But often the surprise is when the most hardened sinners, notorious for their wickedness, get converted. And we all say, how? I mean, this guy, we wrote him off. He even wrote himself off. And there he is now. Not just come in the house of the Lord, but even answering God's call to the work of missions. You say, how can that be? The Spirit of God is sovereign in this matter. He chose him and moved in and brought about this new birth. so that we ultimately should just be amazed at what God can do. Well, let me quickly hurry on to the third aspect and then go on to close. And this third aspect is not in the actual text, but the New Testament deals with this quite often, and it is in connecting this new birth, this regenerating work of the spirit, with the word of God, the gospel, and its spread. And that's where those of us who are preachers and who are already Christians come alongside God in playing our role. And so we read, for instance, in James chapter one, and there's also first Peter and chapter one, but let me begin with James. James chapter one and verse 18. James puts it this way. Of his own will, referring here to God, he brought us forth. In other words, gave us birth. Notice how by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. And then secondly, in 1 Peter, I think the point is made even clearer. 1 Peter chapter one and verse 23. The Apostle Peter begin with verse 22. Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth from a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart. And here it is. Since you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable through the living and abiding word of God. In other words, this new birth is linked with God's Word. And that's how in 1 Corinthians 1, that's what the Apostle Paul was saying just prior to that passage we read. He spoke about Jews demanding miraculous signs, Greeks looking for wisdom, and he said, but we preach Christ crucified. A stumbling block to this side, foolishness to the other, but to those whom God has called. Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God. He brings about this change. Or, as we noted from Ezekiel 37, we have Ezekiel standing in the midst of these dry bones, lifeless bones, but in obedience to God, he prophesies. and the bones begin to get attached to one another and before long sinews come in, flesh come in, and he ultimately has a great army that only God can produce. Well brethren, that's really the picture that the Bible continues to give. It is the fact that God in sovereignty determined that there would be this new birth, this regeneration, and that it would be connected with an effectual call, an effectual call. So everybody else, they just hear the preacher talking, and they're even arguing in their seats. Ah, foolish man, what is he talking about? When is he finishing? We need to get out of here, and so on. But that same word in the hands of the Spirit becomes the life-giving word. And others sitting there, that word comes not only in word but also in power with deep conviction by the Holy Spirit. That's the biblical position. So finally, Nicodemus obviously still nothing has really registered. Because he finally says, how can these things be? And the Lord Jesus says to him, now come on Nicodemus, with all your credentials surely, Are you a teacher, the teacher of Israel, and yet you don't understand these things? Those of us who are truly Christians, we should not just understand, but rejoice in these truths. We should stand amazed at the glory of God the Spirit in bringing dead sinners to life. in redoing what he did in creation, in human lives that we see around who are now walking with God. Two quick points. First of all, those of us who are recipients of this work of God by his spirit should be filled with genuine humility, genuine humility. Because our becoming Christians is not because of something dependent on us ultimately. No. If the spirit of God had not worked in us, this regenerating work of the spirit, we would not have repented, we would not have believed, would not have. We would still be dead in our sins, in unbelief, we would still be in utter rebellion against him. So of all people, we must have genuine humility, gratitude to God for the fact that in the midst of the millions and millions and millions of people God the Father chose us in eternity. God the Son died for us on the cross and the Spirit of God came in the midst of so many people and handpicked us and gave us life. And then secondly, let us have confidence therefore as we preach the gospel because it's not dependent on us and dimming lights and playing the keyboard in such a way that even rocks can weep and shed tears and use tricks and so forth. No. God has chosen a people for himself and has chosen to use the gospel as that instrument in his hands by which he will call the dead to life. Let us therefore take this message knowing that my only role here is simply like a fisherman to place that hook under the lip of the fish, that's all. The Spirit of God is the one who does this. That's it. It doesn't matter how big that fish is, how stubborn it is in that water, it will soon be out of those waters because he's the almighty spirit giving life. That's the confidence of missionaries going across the world to people who know absolutely nothing concerning the Bible, concerning Jesus and beginning from scratch. It is because they know that even among those they are a people. chosen from eternity. Christ has died for them and the Spirit wants to use this gospel to bring them to life. Let's have that confidence even today in Winston, Salem and everywhere else in the world. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, thank you for the truths concerning the glory of the Spirit with respect to regeneration. Thank you for that conversation of our Savior with Nicodemus. May we, oh God, be a people who really believe it. As Jesus himself kept saying, truly, truly, amen, amen. May that be so with us. That as we live our lives, we may do so with gratitude and humility and with confidence as we share this blessed news to a dead world. For Jesus' sake, amen.