Born Again

How can you become the kind of person who's character deepens during hardship?

“The Apostle Peter tells us it's a supernatural work of God that reshapes the heart.”

Today Tim Keller shows us how only a reborn, renewed heart can love others well and face suffering with hope, courage and joy.

First Peter chapter 1, verses 13 to 20, one, and today we're moving on to the next passage.

The next section is printed in your bulletin. Please read along with me. It's first Peter chapter 1, verse 22, reading over to verse 3 of chapter 2. So 1, 22, to 2, 3, and tonight we're going to start looking for two weeks tonight and next week at the meaning of this passage as well. Listen to God's word.

Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brethren, love one another deeply from the heart. 4, you have been born again, not a perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God, for all men are like grass and all their glories like the flowers of the field, the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.

And this is the word that was preached to you. Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all the seed hypocrisy, envy, and slanderer, every kind, like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. This is God's word. All men are like grass and all their glories like the flowers of the field.

Many women have said that. When I first met my wife, she had been claiming when we were just dating, she had been claiming this great verse where it says, "Men are a vain hope." That was in Psalm whatever. But where is that? Man are all a vain hope. She changed her mind. But the generic, the generic term here is referring to something more penetrating even than that trueism. Everybody needs to be born again because we are all like grass.

We're all fading. We're all made of perishable seed. Now let's remind ourselves. Every time we move from one passage to the next passage, if we're really trying to get a grip of a book of the

“Bible, you've got to always remember the context. A text without a context is a pretext.”

Somebody wants to say it, I don't know who. So we always have to remember what the context is.

The book of Peter, first Peter, is all about this subject that you can face suffering and troubles in life in such a way that it refines you and purifies you and strengthens you instead of crushing you and breaking you and hardening you. You can. That's the thesis of the book. That's the main point. You can face suffering and trials and troubles in such a way that it makes you greater rather than lesser. There's a saying that the same son that Harden's Clay melts wax.

Why? Now we've seen this and it's a good thing to remind ourselves every time we move because this is really what Peter's all about. The same son that Harden's Clay also melts wax. Why? You know, everybody knows this. Everyone has this experience. Here's two people and they both go through the same suffering and the same trauma. And one person gets more compassionate through the trouble and the other person gets less compassionate. One person gets more helpful to other people. The other person

gets less helpful. One person gets morose and bitter. And the other person gets kinder and sweeter.

Why? Well, the person who's getting morose and bitter and cynical will always say it was the trouble.

“The trouble that did it. That's what made me the way I am now. It's because of the persecution”

it's because of the abuse it's because of what happened to me. The real problem with that theory is then how do you account for the other person who went through the very same thing? You see, if you have Clay and you have wax and they're under the same son, what makes the difference? Why is one getting harder when he's getting softer? It's not the son. The son is the same. It's the internal chemical structure of the each substance. It's how the son is processed

that determines whether or not that son, that circumstance, is going to make you harder or softer. And Peter says it's the same thing here. How you deal with suffering? How you deal with trouble?

it makes you harder and lesser. And so he's saying there is a way to process suffering and

trouble in such a way that it benefits. And don't you see how challenging and at the same time hopeful it is? I mean, that's good in bad news. It comforts you and challenges you at once because

“on the one hand, it says there's hope. No matter how bad your life is, you don't have to let it do this”

or that to you. That's hope. You can overcome it. But on the other hand, it's a challenge. It says watch out. Passivity is so seductive. How easy it is to say. The reason I am the way it is, the way I am is I can't help it. It happened to me. It did it to me. So on the one hand, it challenges you and the other hand, it gives you tremendous hope. There is a way of processing the suffering.

Now, in verses one to twelve of chapter one, Peter explained that. He told us about it. He said it's

that's the fact. It's the case. And we looked at that. Then in verses 13 to 21, he explained how or what kind of person processes suffering in such a way. He begins to talk about, all right, what is that internal structure? What is that internal processing? And what he does tell us is it's holy people. It's people characterized by holiness that we'll be able to face those troubles and we'll be able to face that suffering and process suffering in such a way that it just denobles them.

And we were looking at that for four weeks. Right in the center of the passage, be holy for I am holy. And that's what it's all about. And as a result, we we spent four weeks on it. And here's Peter trying to say, you want to know how you can process suffering in such a way. You've got to be holy. You've got to be holy. And we talked about it for four weeks and there's really no reason to go back into it. But now as Peter keeps moving, Peter, like all the biblical writers, is not just

bowting theological concepts and he's not just, you know, he's just not rambling. He is a shepherd and a communicator. And so he now moves on to tell us how we can become holy. You see, the first passage we looked at, you can be the kind of person, he says, that process is suffering in such a way

“that makes you noble. Then secondly, the kind of person you have to be is a holy person. That's what you've”

got to be. But he doesn't stop there. And verse 22 and following, he starts to tell us how we can become holy. You see, as great as it is to talk about holiness, as breathtaking and as an attractive as holiness is, it's also intimidating because as we've been looking at it, surely some of you have have felt, well, if that's what it takes to handle life, if that's what it takes holiness, as you

have been describing it, well, I'll never get there. How can I be holy? That's what Peter deals with here.

Because the passage, as we read, you can see what he starts off with. In verse 22 and 23, is a real description of how a person can be holy. See, he's actually trying to exhort them to live in a holy way. He's getting to the exhortation inch in verse 1. He says, therefore, rid yourself of all malice and deceit hypocrisy, envy slander. We're going to get to that, not tonight, not now. We'll get to it. But what he's doing is he's exhorting them to live in a holy way. But, like a good communicator,

in verse 22 and 23, just 25, he explains how you can get into that condition. And in verse 22, he summarizes what they're regularly supposed to be doing in order to grow into holiness, which we won't look at now, but next week, having purified yourself by obeying the truth, so you're sincere love for your brethren. Love one another deeply. There's a process in there. There's a dynamic. There's a motor. There's a process that if you and I adhere to it, we'll grow into that holiness

that he's been talking about. But what I want to talk about tonight is the basis even for the process, which is seen in verse 23, four because, see, how can you grow in holiness? How can you purify yourself by obeying the truth? So you have sincere love for your brethren and so on. How can you grow in holiness? Because you've been born again. Peter is showing us, in a sense,

“the secret to the whole thing, or maybe he should say he's working his way back logically to the first”

cause. You're suffering, but you know what? He says, you don't have to let that suffering crush you. Well, how? By being coming holy. Well, how? By purifying yourself, by obeying the truth. We'll get to that. But how? Because you've been born again. It's all possible. See, it all is based on this. Nothing Peter says, will apply to you unless you're born again. Now, one of the things he says, hopefully, not one of his offers, not one of his invitations, not one of his promises,

none of it will apply to you unless you're born again because it's all based on it. See,

and enduring word of God. Now, what I want to do tonight, it's kind of brief, but I'm going to

“try to do it, is show you that in these three little verses, there is a tremendous amount of material”

on what the new birth is. Right in here, and I'm at least going to mention all six of these points, believe it or not, the other six. I got at least mentioned them all. The new birth, being born again, is central to Christianity. It's central. Secondly, but it's very close. It's necessary. Thirdly, it's definite. It's supernatural. It's complete, and it's coherent. It's a definite, supernatural, complete, coherent experience. We'll just run on through, so you have an overview

of what the Bible teaches about the new birth. It's so critical on every, you know, every so many

months you've got to pull the thing out. Why? Because let's start. It's central. One of the things it's so interesting about this little passage is it's so brief. He says, because you've been born again, and he mentions that he goes on, the very brevity of this reference proves that the people that Peter was writing to knew about the new birth. And the point I'm trying to make is this. Today, the average person, in fact, the average member of a church in this country, thinks of being born again as an

option of the type of Christianity, as a party within Christianity. And that goes utterly against what the scripture teaches. The new birth is not an option. It is central. The new birth is not

something for some people. It's just a given. It's just essential. It's central and essential

“to what a Christian is. I think if people are, when people talk about born again Christians today,”

or when people, in fact, I've been hearing it, it's really getting shorter and shorter. People are now talking about the born again, or she was a born again, or we had a couple of born again in class last year, and that sort of thing. Now, when people talk about born again Christians, they almost always are thinking about a party, as I just mentioned. If they're in a very charitable, they're very charitable people, what they mean is, born again people are emotional types

who need drama. They need catharsis. They're the kind of people that need that sort of thing.

That's the nicest. That's the nicest sort of thing. On the other hand, a lot of people think of the

born again as a group of Christians, a type of Christian who are narrow and bigoted, and are right now trying to grab political power, and ram their religion and their values down everybody's throat. But in a way, it doesn't make any difference. In all cases, and sure there's some other ways that people define it, a born again Christian is a kind of Christian. A born again Christian is a party. Therefore, it's an option. It's something for certain people. Some folks say it's a good thing

if you are that kind. Other people say it's a bad thing and nobody should do it, but everybody

“seems to agree that it's an option. No. Not at all. How can a person be holy? You have to be born”

again. Having been born again. In the average Protestant Church in this city. In the average Protestant Church in this city, they stay away from the idea of being born again. What do they say? They say, well, God forgives us. That's salvation. God forgives us. He's a forgiving God. If we go to him and tell about our falsies for giving and he's very loving. So salvation is reduced to a kind of loving acceptance period. And then we also are told that Jesus Christ not only forgives us, but he's our model.

He shows us how we're supposed to live just in compassionate lives. And we all then, if you're Christian, what it means is you know you're forgiven, you go for forgiveness, and then you try your very best to live according to the example and model of Jesus life. And that's the Christianity that's given to you. And you see being born again, the born again kind of Christianity is considered narrow. Let me tell you something. If that's Christianity, just forgiveness. And then you're on your

own to try your very best to live the way Jesus lived. If that's Christianity, there's no hope. If that's Christianity, I'm in despair, and I would like to say that almost anything person should be in despair too. Christianity is reduced to a kind of general part and then you're on your own. Try your best to live according to Jesus when I see Jesus forgiving people. When I see Jesus loving people who persecute him, when I say people healing, when Jesus healing

people, when I see him serving people, when I see him pouring his life out for people, when I see his utter integrity and his honesty, when I see his self-denial, when I see his humility,

it condemns you with every word out of his mouth. He condemns you with every good deed.

You'll never be like that. You know that. He's horribly intimidating. If you really read him,

“if you really get to know most of the people who say, well, that's what Christianity is. God”

pardones everybody, then we try our best to live according to Christ's example. Anybody who says that in a kind of breezy way and a kind of hopeful way has never looked at Christ's example. They are not really reading about them. They don't know who he is. He loved the Lord as God with all his heart-stolen strength in mind, and he loved his neighbor as himself, and there's nobody else that can do that. In fact, the harder we try to be like Jesus, the farther we see, we fall short,

the more aware we are ever since. The new birth promises that God does not just give us pardon. He gives us new life. He gives us new power. He gives us new energy. You say he puts his very life in us and the Bible, thankfully, at every point says that the salvation of Jesus Christ is not just a naked part, not just a legal thing, not just an abstract thing, but it's an actual thing. There's power that comes into your life. You're forgiven and you're born again. They go together. You're

forgiven up here and you're rejuvenated and renewed and restored in here. Thank God for a complete salvation. You know, it says he's able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him. Thank God that we have a complete kind of salvation, the new birth, and every place in the Bible that you read about salvation, you read about the new birth in John chapter 1. It says, as many as received him, who believed on his name, he gave power and authority to become children of God,

and then it says, "Who were born? Not of blood, nor of the will of man, but of God." What does it mean to be a Christian, to receive Jesus Christ, to become children of God, to be born again? All the same thing, don't you see? Let me just let me run through it. I mean, you know, the evidence is so compelling. You go to John chapter 3. Nick Ademis says, you know, teacher, you got a lot of great teaching and I don't quite understand you, and Jesus says,

“you must be born again. John chapter 4, if you look carefully, even when the words not used,”

in John chapter 4, he talks to the woman at the well, and what does he say to her? He says,

whoever drinks the water I give will never thirst again, but the water I shall give shall be in him,

as a well of water, springing up into eternal life. You know, he doesn't use the word, but it's the same thing. He doesn't just say, "I'm going to give you forgiveness. I'm just going to give you pardon. I'm going to kind of accept you in a general way." He says, "I'm going to give you something that will come into you." It's eternal life. It's the water that I give you that will never, ever. You'll never thirst again. And when it comes into you, it will turn you into a well.

It will spring up in you. You see, new life will come into you. You can go to John chapter 10. He says, "I am come that they might have life and have it more abundantly." You can go over this first second Corinthians, where Paul says, "If anyone has in Christ, the oldest passed away, behold, the newest come." In Christ, Paul says, "We are a new creation, a new creature." Let me just go on. James chapter 1, verse 18, "He chose to give us birth through the word of

truth that we might be the first fruits of his creation, or second Peter 1, 4 through his great and precious promises. We participate in the divine nature and so escape the corruption that's

in the world." Peter, James, John, Paul, Jesus, everybody talks about it. And here's what it means.

Here's what it means. Anybody that tries to sell you a kind of Christianity, without the new birth as the synachonon, without the new birth as a central, is trying to pass you counterfeit money. Don't take it. Any church where it's not preached. Any church where the people don't testify that it's happened to them. Any place where people run a back away from it and say, "Oh,

“that kind of thing." That's for a certain kind of person. What do you mean for a certain kind of person?”

Yes, it's for a certain kind of person. The Bible says, "It's for all the persons who have received Jesus Christ who believe in Him, who have become children of Him." The same thing. And therefore, it's absolutely central. And let's go secondly, the new birth is central. It's essential to being a Christian. There's not such thing as a Christian who's not born again. There's not such the issue to me. To say that you're born again Christian is an exercise in redundancy. Okay?

To the same thing. Why is there so much pain and suffering in the world? And how do we handle it

All month long on gospel and life, Tim Keller is teaching from the book of First Peter,

and looking at how Peter encouraged early believers who were facing intense suffering in pain. In his book Walking With God Through Pain and Suffering, Dr. Keller takes a deeper look at how, with God's help, we can face life's most intense challenges and confront the hard questions on suffering. Through deep pastoral insight and real-life stories, Dr. Keller explores how we can face pain and suffering in our own lives. This month, Walking With God Through Pain and Suffering

is our thank you for your gift to help gospel and life share the message of Christ's love and compassion with people all over the world. So request your copy today at gospel and life.com/give. That's gospel and life.com/give. Now here's Dr. Keller with the remainder of today's teaching. Now secondly, and he's a very closely tied. We see it so central because it's necessary. Well, it's almost the same thing. Not quite. You see, as we read before, all men are like grass and all

their glorious as the flower of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever. Now what's the same? The reason it's central is because all of us are grass. Put it this way. I'm sure that Jesus Christ talked to many people about the new birth, but the only person that John, the gospel writer, records talking to Jesus about the new birth,

“is Nicodemus. Why? Now I think John had a reason. And here's my guess why. Nicodemus had it all,”

had it all together. You know, first of all, Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a Pharisee is someone who knew

the Bible insight out and was morally scrupulous and a very, very, very conscientious person. Oh, somebody says yes, but the Pharisees were narrow-minded and bigoted and Jesus didn't like them. Of course, that's true, but not this one. Here's a guy who knew Jesus, who loved Jesus, who was concerned, was open to him. Here's a man who had risked his entire reputation and his job to talk with him. So you see, combined with his biblical knowledge and with his, his,

his moral scrupulousity, you have an openness and a flexibility of spirit and a willingness to listen to Jesus. And of course, he was also a civic leader because he's a member of San Heatard. He had it all. And what does Jesus say to Nicodemus? See, this is what's so good. He says,

Nicodemus, you Nicodemus, you, you master Bible student, you morally scrupulous person,

“you civic leader, you compassionate and open person, you fan of Jesus Christ, you need to be born”

again, which means none of these things counts for anything with regard to getting into the kingdom of God. Do you want to get into the kingdom of God, Nicodemus? These things count zero. You're in the very same spot as Mary Magdalene, the street prostitute. They count zero. Well, somebody says, how can that be? How can that be? In fact, that's what Nicodemus said. Okay, that be. Why do I need to be born again? Maybe this person or that person, why don't

need to be born again? And Jesus says, Marvel not. Are you a teacher and Israel? You don't know these things? Look, a person at sea level looks at a person standing on a hundred foot hill and feels that person's up pretty high. And the person on the hundred foot hill looks down at the person in sea level and thinks that person is down pretty low. But the person on the top of Mount Everest, you know, 29, 30,000 feet high, looking down on these two people know that they are virtually

the same distance from the summit. I mean, the distance is virtually no. And anybody who thinks the person on the hundred foot hill is way high up has the limited perspective, you know, it has a limited horizon. In the same way, God looks down at us. And we're all ravaged with sin. What is sin? Well, sin, the Bible tells us, is playing God. You know what that means? It means you're your own savior. It means you're your own judge and you're living for your own glory. Your own savior. That

means you think you know how you can become an acceptable person. You've found ways to earn your salvation to see. You define your salvation, you get to your own judge. You call the shots. What is right and wrong in your life? You live for your own glory. For your own happiness. What are you doing? Your own God. Now, I know the last 80 years almost, you know, all your professors and all of our colleges and universities that said that's a mature modern 20 century individual. But the Bible says

“it's the essence of sin. Because what you're in the reason your life is going so poorly is because”

you have taken on a job that you're unqualified for. And all of us know what it's like to be in a job you're under qualified. You're under qualified for you. You can't handle. Now, here's Nicodemus and here's Mary Magdalene and they're both doing the same thing. They're just spinning out. They're living to be their own God. They're living to be their own savior. They're living to be their own judge. They're just spinning out this in a different way. You know,

she says she's in pain. And here's another person over here, calmly asleep with a smile on her face.

Which one's more sick? Don't judge too quickly. Maybe this person has just got a raving fever and it's about to break. And maybe this person is dying of a tumor on the inside and doesn't have long to live. Don't you see? Which one's more of a sinner? Mary Magdalene? Huh? With a raving fever or Nicodemus, with a silent self-righteousness, deeting away at his entrails spiritually. All the Bible's penetration sweeps away all of the world's superficial distinctions between

good and bad. It doesn't talk about good and bad the same way we do. A hundred feet down, you know, up, and down on sea level. From God's point of view, there is no difference. All our grass, all our fading, none are righteous, no not one. Every one of us, some in morally, respectable ways, some are using morality and using religion and using the church as a way to be their own Savior. And other people are killing and murdering and raping as a way of being your own

Savior. And God looks at them and says, "All our grass." Nicodemus, all of your accomplishments,

“all of your abilities, they count zero. You must be born again. Now, that's good news.”

That's the reason why some new birth is central because it's necessary for everybody no matter who you are. By the way, that's good news, isn't it? If any of you have been in New York for a while, you know it's good news. You know why? Because if you live in New York, you know there's a lot of people who for years and years have said to you, you know, explore your desires, try things out, don't limit your options. And so you've experimented with a lot of things.

Yes, you've experimented and you've tried a lot of things and, you know, some of your concoctions have eaten their way right through your test tube and down into your knee, right through your clothes. You've really made a mess of things with all of your experimenting and you've done some things that you can't forget and you've done some things that make you feel awful and dirty. Here's the good news. You're not behind. You look at these other people who've made

who seem to have got it together more or less. They seem to have got it together vocationally and look at yourself and look where you are. This is the good news. You Nicodemus, you Mary Maglin, you're in the same spot. Don't you see, friends no matter what you've done with your life, you're not behind. You're not behind the Nicodemus's. You must be born again. That's good news.

“And it's bad news. Don't you see, it's hope and it's challenge you must be born again. Why?”

All our grass. All our grass. Thirdly, we said the new birth of central, secondly, we said the new birth is necessary, but now we can actually move more quickly and just say, what is it? It is

a definite, supernatural, complete, and coherent event. First of all, when it says you have been

born again, that is, in the Greek, it's a past perfect. Now, a past perfect means an event that happened and is over, but it's a facts continue. A past perfect is an event that's over and it's done with, but it's a facts continue. So, for example, in English, it's like, in this case, it's not much different than our English language. If you say, I was accepted at Harvard. Well, you were accepted at Harvard. That's a past thing that happened. You were accepted at Harvard two years ago and

it's over. The acceptance is over, but now, of course, the effects, the fact that you have access to the educational resources of the institution, the effects continue. But it's over.

“When the Bible says, you must be born again. When it says you have been born again, it's talking”

about a definite action in the past. You know what it means to be a Christian? A Christian is not somebody who's sort of endlessly hoping to, trying to be a good person. Oh, no, something is happened to you. There is a definite event. There is a definite moment. Now, having said that, be careful. People, just, let me just give you an illustration or people feel that, in order to ensure they're born again, or in order to be sure somebody else's born again, that you've

got to be conscious of when that moment was. Not always. Oh, no. Think of real births. Oh,

the varieties. Some babies take forever to come. Endless contractions, right? Mother's endless contractions. Three days, you go to the doctor. Only two centimeters dilated. How can one be two centimeters dilated? On and on and on and on and on and on it goes. And some babies, two contractions and wham in the taxi cab, right there on the back seat, in the elevator. Some babies come forever. Takes forever. In enormous number of contractions, others just come like that.

I felt a little bit pressure. Good night. What happened? Some births are full of pain. Other

other babies come out almost dead and they rush them into the intensive care unit and maybe

“days before they even become conscious. Are any of these babies more born than any other ones?”

Do we talk about all that one wasn't born as much as that one was? No. We don't talk about that. They were all born because there was a moment in which they passed from death to life. The moment in which they passed actually in their case, from darkness into light. And in the same way,

what does it mean to be born again spiritually? It means that though there may be incredible

varieties of ways in which people come. Each one of us is born again as the next. There's a moment. But you may not be conscious of where that moment is. See Everett Koop tells the story of his conversion. He was a surgeon at Children's Hospital in Philadelphia and one night, a nurse, a lady that he knew, took him to 10th Presbyterian Church and he sat in the balcony and he listened to the sermon and he thought this is interesting and he says, I was the person, I was an observer. I thought

it was interesting. I thought I'd come back. I didn't really get it. I didn't really know. He says, one year later, he had not missed a service and he says, I suddenly realized about a year later that I wasn't an observer anymore. I was a participant. I wasn't a secret anymore. I was a worshiper.

“He says, I suddenly realized that the same things that were being taught, I believe. He says,”

I wasn't sure where it happened. I realized I was born again, but I'm not sure where.

You see? On the other hand, you have Martin Luther. He's sitting there and he doesn't understand. He doesn't understand. He's reading Romans 17 and he says, suddenly, I realized that there's a righteousness that comes from God and is received by faith in the moment. I received it. I begin to live in He says at that moment, I thought I was ushered through open gates into paradise. You see? Some people, all the contractions of the world, they take forever. Some people,

two contractions and in the back of the taxicab. But they're all born again. There's a definite event. There's a definite moment in which it happens. So it's definite, okay? Be very careful, though. You know what? From what I can tell, a mother who's had one child likes to talk to an expected mother who's had no children in tell or all about it. Oh, this is how it'll be. You know, once you've had eight or nine children, you stop giving advice. They say,

not just because you're tired because you realize there is no way that they all come. They all come differently, except they all come. They're all born, but one is not more born than the next. It's a definite event. It's something happens to you, but secondly, it's a supernatural event. Because it says, you're born of imperishable seed, not of perishable. Now what that means is something fairly simple, but extremely important. The Greek word for born again here is a little

unusual. The normal word for born is Geneo, from which we get a word generation, you know, to generate something, you know, that makes sense. But this word is on a Geneo, which actually is the word not for the mother's role in birth, but the Father's role. Insemination, it's actually a word for planting a seed. And it tells us about that seed. It says, we've been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable. Through the living and during word of God, not doesn't say that the word of God

is the seed. It says, it comes, and I'll mention that in one second. But what is that imperishable seed? You're a built of perishable seed. This is the reason why the older I get, the more I start to fall apart. I'm made of perishable seed. This is the reason why you and I find no matter how hard we try. We say, I'm going to be a new person. You know, you have a new year's resolutions. I'm turning

over new leaf and you never can do it. You're made of perishable. But this tells us that the imperishable

seed can be planted. And what does that seed? It's second Peter one four. We become part takers of the divine nature. It's laid into us. It's put into us. Okay. It's pressed into us. And that is what you

“need. And that's what comes. It's supernatural. Oh, but not only. Okay. It's a definite event.”

It's a supernatural event. It comes from imperishable seed. Okay. But then look, it's a complete change. The word born again. Why would Peter talk about it this way? Why would he talk about it? Why did Jesus use the term? Why did they all use the term? Because it's so radical. They wouldn't talk about being born again unless they were trying to say this is as radical a change is possible. And somebody says, all right, well, tell me what exactly this means. When I get this imperishable

seed, what happens? You get a totally new outlook. You become totally new because you see things differently and you desire things differently. And I don't have really any time to go too much into this. But just consider this. A plant is a lower order of life than an animal. And human beings are higher orders of life than an animal. An animal is lower order of life than a human being. Why? The plant has sensation. It can sense some things. But there's a lot of things that it can't

The animal can see a lot of things that the plant can't see. But it can't see a lot of things that the human beings can see because it doesn't have rational sight. For example, it can't tell the difference between tragedy and cruelty and justice and compassion. We see it. Is there such a thing as cruelty? Yes, but an animal can't see it. And so you see in a sense, there are different orders of

“life. And to the next lower order of life, the next higher order of life is incomprehensible.”

And to the higher order of life, the next lower order of life is a form of living death. If a person becomes a vegetable, we call them. They're still alive. But they've gone down. Now the Bible tells us that when the perish in perishable seed comes into your life, you are brought to the highest order of life of all eternal life. Oh, what does that mean? What it means is, as Jesus says to Nicodemus, you must see the kingdom of God.

You have to be born again to see it. He didn't just say to enter it, though he said that, to see it. You won't get it. You won't understand it. Before you're born again, you may believe in a general way that God is holy. You may believe in a general way that Jesus died for you. But when you're born again, here it is. Here it is. You see it. It becomes real. Heaven, hell. Jesus dying on the cross. All these things. Before you're born again, you may either think they're nonsense or you

“make believe in them in a general way. But you don't see them when you're born again. You see them. Why?”

Because the perishable seed, imperishable seed comes through the word of God. It always comes through the truth.

It is a coherent experience. When, look, when William Holland was one of the Wesley's friends, you know how you got converted? This is in the 1740s. He said, Mr. Charles Wesley was reading the preface to Martin Luther's commentary on the Galatians out loud. And I heard these words, "What? Have we then nothing to do? No nothing, but only accept of him who of God is made unto us to be wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption." And when I heard those words,

he said, "There came such a power over me as I cannot well describe. My great burden finally fell off at an instant. My heart was so filled with peace and love that I burst into tears. My friends perceiving me so affected, fell on the knees around me and prayed. And when afterwards I went out into the street, I could scarcely feel the ground I was walking on. What happened? He had heard the gospel.

He had heard it before, but he never saw it. He had heard that Jesus died for him that he couldn't

be saved by his good deeds, but only by the grace of Jesus Christ, but he finally saw it. The imperishable seed came in through the Word of God. I tell you, when people say the new birth is for emotional types, that is the silliest thing in the world. It doesn't say that the imperishable seed comes in through the emotions that comes in through the understanding. I get it. And the way you can tell your born again is, in many cases, the same truths that you may have heard in Sunday

school being raised up in it. Or the same truths that make no sense to you after having gone to college and you've got rid of all of it all of a sudden, you actually see them. They become coherent. They become real. They become affecting. They comfort you now. You live off them. They throw you. Or they disturb you, but they affect you. Because you've moved up one more notch. You're not just a plant. You're not just an animal. You're not just a human being.

You're a child of God. You don't just have animal life, physical life. You don't just have even rational life. You've got spiritual life. Has that happened to you? Look at the baby rolling around on the ground. She can't tell you too much about herself. She can't tell you too much about what it means to be born, but you can see she's there. She's got an appetite. She can sense things. Are you born again? If you're born again, there's life. There's activities or vitality.

Truth are dawning on you and ways you never saw before. Has that ever happened to you? If not,

you're not born again. Has there been a definite time? You may not be able to put your finger on the moment, but you can see something happened in this time frame. Has that happened? Has something supernatural happened to you? Have you been changed in such a way that you can't account for those changes? They must be supernatural. They can't be naturally explained. Do you understand this necessity and the centrality of the new birth? Without it, you can't be

holy and without that. You will never be able to process the suffering and troubles of this life

“in such a way that it turns you into a great heart. You must be born again. Marvel not.”

That I say unto you, you must be born again. Let's pray. Our Father, we ask now that you would enable us to rejoice if we are born again and be convicted and aware of it if we are not.

would rejoice in their recognition and realization of it and that also those in this room who

“begin to realize that they have not experienced this, they might be convicted, they might be drawn,”

they might be attracted and they might not stop until they find out what it is. And I pray

these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

“Thanks for listening to today's teaching. It's our prayer that you were encouraged by it”

and that it helps you apply the gospel to your life and share it with others. For more helpful

resources from Tim Keller, visit gospelandlife.com. There, you can subscribe to the

“life in the gospel quarterly journal. When you do, you will also receive free articles,”

sermons, devotionals, and other great gospel-centered resources. Again, it's all at gospelandlife.com. You can also stay connected with us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and X. Today's sermon was recorded in 1993. The sermon's in talks you hear on the gospel and like podcast were recorded between 1989 and 2017, while Dr. Keller was senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church.