We now come to the second question, closely related to the first, and
it will help us to understand even more clearly what the New Birth is.
_What are the results that follow when one is born again?_ They are
numerous.
1. The first of these results is found in 1 Cor. 6:19, where we read:
+"Know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Ghost which
is in you, which ye have from God?"+ These words were spoken to
believers, to regenerated men, and they plainly tell us that _when one
is born again, the Holy Spirit comes to take up His permanent dwelling
in the man and that the man who is born again thus becomes a temple of
the Holy Spirit_. It is true that we may not always be conscious of
this indwelling of the Holy Spirit, nevertheless He dwells in us.
2. The second result of the New Birth is found in Rom. 8:2-4, where we
read: +"For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me
free from the law of sin and of death. For what the law could not do,
in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, condemned sin in
the flesh: that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who
walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."+ In the 7th chapter
of Romans, we have a picture of the man who is awakened by the law of
God which he approves after the inward man, which he sees "is holy and
just and good," which he tries to keep in his own strength, but utterly
fails to keep, until at last he comes to an end of himself and is
filled with despair of ever being able to keep the law of God outside
of him, because of the law of sin and death inside him, which law of
sin and death says, "the good which you would do you cannot do, and the
evil which you hate and would not do, you must keep on doing." When a
man is thus brought to a consciousness of his own utter helplessness
and turns to God and accepts Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus
Christ gives to him who dwells in him, sets him free from this law
of sin and death so that by the power of the indwelling Spirit he is
enabled to obey the law of God and to get the victory over the evil
things that he would not do and to do the things which he would do.
Whereas in a man merely awakened by the law of God, "the law of sin and
death" gets a perpetual victory, in a regenerate man, the "law of the
Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" gets the perpetual victory. Doubtless
many of you here to-day are still struggling to keep the law of God and
utterly failing in your attempt to do so. What you need is to be born
again, and thus have the Holy Spirit come to dwell in you, and then to
walk by the Spirit, and by the power of this indwelling Spirit to get
victory every day and hour over the law of sin and death that wars in
your members against the law of God.
3. The third result of the New Birth is found in Rom. 12:2, where we
read, +"And be not fashioned according to this world: but be ye
transformed by the renewing of your mind."+ From this it appears
that _the third result of the New Birth is in outward transformation
of our lives by the inward renewing of our minds so that we no longer
are fashioned according to this world_. Of course the regenerated man
does not at once manifest perfectly that of which he has the germ in
himself. He begins the new life just as we begin our natural lives,
as a babe, and he must grow. As Peter puts it in 1 Pet. 2:2, we must
+"As new born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that we
may grow thereby."+ This new life must be fed and developed. It is
irrational, and unwarranted by the Word of God, to expect one who has
just been born again, and who is consequently a babe in Christ, to
be as perfect in character as one who was born years ago and who has
grown to maturity. But the moment we are born again we receive in germ
all the moral perfection that is to be ours when this germ is fully
developed within us and comes to its perfect manifestation.
4. The fourth result of the New Birth we find in 1 John 5:1,
+"Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is begotten of
God."+ _The fourth result of being born again is that the
regenerated man believes that Jesus is the Christ._ Of course this
faith that comes from the New Birth is a _real faith_. The faith that
John here speaks of is not a faith that is a mere opinion, but that
real faith that Jesus is the anointed of God that leads us to enthrone
Jesus as King in our lives. If you are not making Jesus King in your
heart and life you have not been born again. But if you are making
Jesus King in your heart and life and absolute ruler of your thoughts
and conduct, then you are born again, for +"Whosoever believeth that
Jesus is Christ is begotten of God."+
5. The fifth result of being born again we find three verses further
down in this same chapter, 1 John 5:4: +"For whatsoever is begotten
of God overcometh the world."+ The _fifth result of being born of
God is that the one thus born again overcomes the world_. The world is
at variance with God, +"The whole world lieth in the Evil One"+
(1 John 5:19). It is under the dominion of the Evil One, ruled by
his ambitions and ideas. The world is at variance with God in its
commercial life, social life, domestic life, and all the phases of
intellectual life and educational life, and is constantly exercising a
power over each of us to draw us into disobedience to God (see 1 John
5:3); but the one born of God by the power of the faith that comes
through being born again, gets the victory over the world. He gets the
victory over the world's ideas, purposes, plans, ambitions. He gets the
victory over the world in his personal life, domestic life, commercial
life, political life, intellectual life every day.
6. The sixth result of being born of God is found in 1 John 3:9, R.
V., +"Whosoever is begotten of God doeth no sin; because his+
(i.e., God's) +seed abideth in him: and he cannot sin+ (rather,
cannot be sinning), +because he is begotten of God."+ _The sixth
result, then, of being born of God is that in the one born of God the
seed of God remains; and, therefore, the one born of God is not making
a practice of sin._ Some one will ask, just what does this mean? It
means exactly what it says, if we look carefully at the exact force of
the words used and give due emphasis to the tense of the verbs used.
First of all, let us look at the exact force of the word translated
"Sin." What does sin mean? John himself has been careful to define it
in the verse itself and in the context in which our verse is found.
The first thing that is evident from 1 John 3:9 is that sin is _a
something done_, not merely a something left undone, and not merely
sinful thoughts and desires. What kind of a something done it is
defined five verses back in verse 4. +"Everyone that doeth sin doeth
also lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness."+ Sin here by John's own
definition (and we have no right to bring the definition of any one
else into the verse we are studying) is "_lawlessness_," i.e., such
acts as reveal conscious disregard for the will of God as revealed
in His word. So we see that _sin, as used here, means, a conscious
intentional violation of the law of God. The regenerate man will not be
doing that which he knows to be contrary to the will of God._ He may do
that which is contrary to God's will, but which he does not know to be
contrary to God's will. It is not therefore "lawlessness." Perhaps he
ought to have known that it was contrary to God's will and when he is
led to see that it is, he will confess his guilt to God. Furthermore,
we should note the tense of the verb used in this verse. It is the
_present tense which denotes progressive or continuous action_. A
literal translation of the passage would be, "Everyone begotten out of
God, _sin is not doing_, because His (God's) seed in him is remaining;
and he cannot be sinning, because out of God he is begotten." It is
not taught here that one born of God never sins in a single act, but
it is taught that he is not going on sinning, not making a practice of
sin. Of what he is making a practice appears in 1 John 2:29, +"If
ye know that he is righteous, ye know that everyone also that doeth
righteousness is begotten of him."+ _The result, then, of being born
again is that the one begotten again does not go on consciously day
after day doing that which he knows to be contrary to the will of God,
but he does make a practice of "doing righteousness," i.e., doing that
which is conformed to the will of God as revealed in His Word._ The new
nature imparted in regeneration renders the continuous practice of sin
impossible and renders the practice of righteousness inevitable.
7. The seventh result of the New Birth is found in 1 John 3:14, R.
V., +"We know that we have passed out of death into life, because
we love the brethren. He that loveth not abideth in death."+ _The
seventh result of being born again is that we love the brethren._ We
should note carefully what the thought of "love" is as brought out in
the context. It is not love as a mere sentiment. It is love in that
higher and deeper sense of a desire for and delight in the welfare of
others, the sort of love that leads us to make sacrifices for those we
love, or as we read further down in this same chapter, verses 16-18,
+"Hereby know we the love of God, because he laid down his life for
us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath
this world's goods, and behold his brother in need, and shutteth up his
compassion from him, how doth the love of God abide in him? My little
children, let us not love in word neither with the tongue; but in deed
and truth."+ This makes it very evident that what the Holy Spirit
here means by love is not a mere affection or fondness for others,
not a mere delight in their society; it means that deep and genuine
interest in their welfare that leads us to go down into our pockets
when they are in need and supply their need; it leads us to sacrifice
our own interest for the sake of their interests even to the point of
laying down our lives for them. _The objects of this love are "the
brethren,"_ i.e., all those who are begotten of God, as we read in 1
John 5:1, +"Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is begotten
of God: and whosoever loveth him that begat loveth him also that is
begotten of him."+ _Any man who is born again will love every other
man who is begotten of God._ The other one who is begotten of God
may be an American or a German, or an Englishman, or a negro, or a
Chinaman, or an Indian. He may be educated or uneducated; but he is a
child of God and a brother, and as such if you are born of God, he will
be the object of your love. This is a searching test of whether or not
one is born of God.
8. The final result of being born of God that we will consider this
morning is found in 2 Cor. 5:17, R. V., +"Wherefore if any man is
in Christ, he is a new creature (creation): the old things are passed
away, behold, they are become new."+ _The ninth result of being born
again_, including all the other results that we have been considering,
_is that in the regenerate man, old things are passed away, they are
become new. In the place of the old ideas, old affection, old purposes,
old choices, are new ideas, new affections, new purposes, new choices._