New Men for the Messiah

December 22, 2024 Pastor Chris Oswald

Thesis Jesus came not simply to relocate people from one family to another, but to create a fundamentally new kind of human being — people born of God with a transformed nature who live as children of the Father.

Series

The Gospel of John

Type

Expository

Tone

—

Method

—

What's in this sermon

The shape of the argument

28 units across exposition, application, illustration, theological claim, and conclusion. The pastor's argument is built from these moving parts.

Pastoral correction · unit #16

"Paints a concrete portrait of the new humanity Christ produces — a catalog of specific virtues, freedoms, and capacities that flow from the new nature, grounding the theological claim in observable life transformation."

Doctrinal loci· 15 surfaced

Soteriology · 16 Christology · 8 Hamartiology · 5 Providence / Sovereignty · 5 Sanctification · 5 Anthropology · 4 Ecclesiology · 4 Pneumatology · 4 Theology Proper · 3 Doxology / Worship · 2 Bibliology · 1 Eschatology · 1 Ethics / Moral Theology · 1 Pastoral Theology · 1 Spiritual Warfare · 1

Bible citations· 26

Illustrations· 1

personal story · unit #19 — A personal anecdote illustrates the humbling reality of election — God chose not the special or wise, but the foolish, cutting off all grounds for boasting.

Theological claims· 2

Single events with compressed power can reshape the world for generations, and this is most profoundly true of Christ's coming. unit #5
The church's primary contribution to the community is not programs or social services, but the production of people who live out the new nature Christ has given them. unit #14

Quotations· 6

"unlimited cosmic powers, itty bitty living space" — Aladdin (Genie) (unit #1)

"in our world too, a stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world" — Queen Lucy (unit #1)

"Everything that Christ taught, everything that makes the New Testament new and better than the Old, everything that is distinctively Christian as opposed to merely Jewish, is summed up in the knowledge of the fatherhood of God. Father is the Christian name for God. Our understanding of Christianity cannot be better than our grasp of adoption in Christ. If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much they make of being God's child and having God as their father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls their worship, prayers and whole outlook on life, they do not understand Christianity very well at all." — J.I. Packer (unit #7)

"God became man to turn creatures into sons, not simply to produce better men of the old kind, but to produce a new kind of man." — C.S. Lewis (unit #10)

"Again, religion can be thought of as a way of life because it is an internal, free and self motivated force. Those who have made progress in it are not just driven by external pressures, threatened by consequences or bribed by rewards. They are strongly drawn to what is good and take pleasure in doing it. The love that a devout person has for God and goodness is not just because of a command telling them to do so, but because of a new nature that guides and encourages them. They don't just offer their devotion as a way to appease divine justice or to quiet their conscience. Rather, these religious practices are the result of the divine life, the natural activities of a reborn soul. He prays, gives thanks and repents, not only because it is expected of him, but because he is aware of his needs, the divine goodness and the foolishness and suffering that comes with a sinful life. His charity is not forced, nor is his giving coerced. His love makes him willing to give. Even if there were no external obligation, his heart would still be generous." — Henry Scougal (unit #13)

"We shall have cause again in the course of the Gospel to observe John's recognition of the complexity and mystery of a salvation which is both willed by man and worked by God. While both sides of the equation are asserted here, as they are throughout the gospel, the stress falls on this point. At this point, on the sovereign action of God. Christians become such by being born again, by being born of God. This birth is to be radically distinguished from human birth with all of its human initiatives. All these are irrelevant in the case of spiritual rebirth. It is not something we can take into our own hands. We are born of God." — unnamed commentator (unit #18)

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0 · The opening prayer asks God to enlighten the congregation's hearts to understand the immeasurable greatness of his power at work in believers, establishing the sermon's dependence on divine illumination

You're listening to a sermon recorded at Providence Community Church, Truth and Beauty in Community. If you are in the Kansas City area, please consider joining us in person. Next Sunday. We meet in Lenexa, Kansas at 10:00am every Lord's Day. Until then, we pray that as you open your Bibles, the Lord will open your heart to receive his word through Paul's words to the Ephesians, his prayer for the ephesians in chapter 1, verses 15 through 23. Let's pray this prayer together before we open his word. Lord, we ask that you, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, would give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, that you would have the eyes of our hearts enlightened so that we can know what is the hope to which you've called us and what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints and what is the immeasurable greatness of your power toward us who believe according to the working of his great might, the same power that you worked in Christ when you raised him from the dead and seated him at the right hand in the heavenly places, who is far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named not only in this age, but also in the one to come. Lord, we are about to open your word. And we'll do my best to teach it. But as we see here in the prayer of Paul, there are things that need to happen to us that only begin with the hearing of the Word. So, Lord, would you open the eyes of our heart? Would you give us strength to perceive, to understand the immeasurable greatness, the immeasurable greatness of your power at work in us through Christ. Would you open our eyes, Lord, and help us to see? We pray these things in Jesus Christ's name. Amen.

1 · Introduces the sermon's central metaphor: the cosmic Christ who created the universe compressed himself into human flesh, setting up the incarnation as an explosion of divine power into the world

Well, dismiss our kids to children's ministry. The rest of you can be seated. And if you'll open your Bibles to the Book of John. John Chapter one, the Gospel of John, Chapter one. We're beginning our series in John this week. That series will take 21 weeks, and we jump right in with the first chapter. I think you could say that one of the most important ideas presented in the first section of this Gospel is that the cosmic Christ has took on flesh and dwelt among us. There's an emphasis on the bigness of Jesus in this passage that you don't necessarily find so clearly spelled out in the other accounts of his coming. For instance, in chapter one, verse one, we see in the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God. And the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything that was made. You know, back then there was no light pollution and you could look up and see a kind of sky that honestly just brings awe to the heart as soon as you see it. I read somewhere that in the perceivable universe, in the observable universe, I think is the correct term, there are more stars in the observable universe than there are grains of sand on the entire planet Earth. John is telling us that the one who spoke all of those stars into existence and maintains their combustion in a perfect way throughout all of the universe. The one who spoke all of those stars into existence has come into the world. That's continued in John 1, verse 9. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. And then in verse 14, we see that all this cosmic power is compressed into one creature, Jesus of Nazareth. This reminds me. Sorry to be a little crude. This reminds me of a quote from the great Aladdin. As I was reading John this week, I didn't expect to think of Aladdin, but the phrase unlimited cosmic powers, itty bitty living space came to mind when I contemplated what the Bible teaches about the incarnation. Queen Lucy, Louis writes, Queen Lucy in the Last Battle, says it perhaps a little bit more appropriately where she says, in our world too, a stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world.

2 · Develops the compression metaphor by arguing that the incarnation functioned like a compressed energy release, producing an explosive expansion of Christianity across history

Now it's interesting, this idea of compression, this idea of a bunch in a small thing, when that happens in the natural world, what you get as a result is a kind of explosion. When highly compressed amount of energy is released out into the world, you typically get some kind of an explosion. And I think that you might actually say that that's an appropriate metaphor for the coming of Christ. What started out as a baby in a manger in Bethlehem ended up in three short centuries, converting half of the Roman Empire to Christianity. Today, There are around 2.6 billion people in the world that claim to be Christians. And that number is expected to be north of 3 billion by 2050. So I think maybe the idea of unlimited cosmic powers, itty bitty living space, the stable containing something that can't actually hold the whole world. This idea of the cosmic power of Christ contained in one man. I think maybe the term explosion is appropriate

3 · Establishes John's stated purpose for writing — that readers would believe Jesus is the Christ and have life — and raises the question of what John meant by saying the world could not contain the books of Jesus's accomplishments

now because this is the introduction to John. I Do want to give you a little bit of a heads up. We. We are told explicitly in John 20 what the purpose of this book is. So I want to make sure as we start this series that we know this as John waits all the way till chapter 20 to tell us his purpose. But in John 20, verse 30, it says, Now Jesus did many other signs, the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. So there's the purpose of the book. These things are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. We'll deal with that aspect of belief in a moment. But I want to draw your attention to this idea that John says in 2030 and then again in 21, that Jesus did many other things. The very last verse of the book of John says this. This is John 21:25. Now, there were also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. That's interesting. He did many other things. And if every one of those things were to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

4 · Uses Jonathan Edwards's exegesis to argue that John 21:25 refers not just to Jesus's visible actions but to all that he accomplished through those actions — the cascading effects of redemption that continue to unfold

Now, there's two possibilities with a statement like that. It's obviously poetic in some sense, so maybe we shouldn't take it literally. But the question immediately comes when you encounter a text like this with the desire to do honor to the text and a desire to take as much literally as possible. Is there a way in which this is true, that if you were to record everything Jesus did, it wouldn't fit into the whole world? Well, Jonathan Edwards thought that the word did ought to be translated as accomplished. He thought that that was a better use of the Greek and definitely a truer statement. Now, there are many other things that Jesus accomplished. That's what Jonathan Edwards thinks we should have here. And he writes this. If here, by the things that Jesus did, be not only the actions of Christ, but the things done or accomplished by those actions, we may suppose it to be literally true that if they were written, every one, the world itself would not be large enough to contain the books that should be written. There are other things that belong to what Christ did, besides merely the external action that was immediately visible to the eye, or the words that might be heard by the ear, which we must suppose are included in what the evangelist means by the things that he did. Edwards continues. The Apostle John in this history mentions some of them. But to mention all would be to write a declaration of all the glorious wise purposes and designs of God's wisdom and grace and the love of Christ, and all that belongs to that manifold wisdom of God and those unsearchable riches of wisdom and knowledge in the work of redemption that we read of in the Scripture, which if they should all be written, tis probable the universe could not contain the books. The point being is that you have this event. The Creator becomes a creature, unlimited cosmic power, itty bitty living space. And what you have as a result of this compression, if you will, is some kind of explosion out into the world that is changing the world to this day.

5 · Uses historical examples of single explosive events with cascading global consequences (Krakatoa, the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand) to illustrate the far greater explosive impact of the incarnation

This got my mind earlier this week thinking about Krakatoa. The largest sound to have ever occurred in the history of the world was the explosion of this volcano called Krakatoa. It was four times more powerful than the largest thermonuclear bomb we've ever detonated. People 3,000 miles away heard the explosion and thought that someone had shot off a cannon, by the way, 3,000 miles away. It would have taken them four hours to hear the explosion. And it was loud enough even 3,000 miles away for them to think that someone had shot off a cannon. The acoustic shockwave of Krakatoa traveled around the earth three full times. It created multiple tsunamis that were 100, that had 100 foot waves. And the explosion started a volcanic winter in the Northern Hemisphere. During the years following the explosion of Krakatoa, California had record rainfall and the sky was darker for many years afterward. As a result of this one explosion, there were vibrant red sunsets all over the world. Did you know that the jet stream was actually discovered because of Krakatoa? People could look up into the sky and see a channel of ash moving through the sky. The sky was so strange, in fact, that in 2004, an astronomer suggested that Edward Monk's painting the Scream, you know that painting? Well, that was painted in Norway ten years after Krakatoa. And the astronomer said, that sky, that crazy red streaky weirdness, that's actually what the sky was like 10 years after the explosion of this volcano. I started thinking about Krakatoa because I was looking for instances where one thing happens and then there's this consequential carryover over and over and over and over again, and it's usually some kind of an explosion. The other instance I thought of was the Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria. That one bullet, one explosion, one compression released out into the world, took down this Archduke, the presumptive heir of Austria, and really not only set in motion World War I, but as a consequence, World War II. And our whole world is different because of one explosion that happened, headed toward one poor archduke. So this notion of incredible power built up into something confined and then being released out into the whole world having massive consequences for years to come. Well, that notion is most true of the coming of Christ. What we see in Krakatoa, or the assassination of an archduke that set off two wars and rewrote our maps, is small in comparison to what has happened as a consequence of Jesus coming.

6 · Pivots from the broad claim about Christ's explosive impact to the specific question of what his central accomplishment was

Now, he obviously did many things. And so how do you kind of narrow it down and say, this is the main thing that changed the world? I think that the text does that for us.

7 · Identifies the central accomplishment of Christ's coming: the creation of a new people born of God and adopted as his children — the theological reality that has reshaped world history

In verse 12 we read, look at verse 12 of John, chapter 1. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God who were not born. Who were born, sorry, not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. I believe that this is the main thing that has gone into changing the world as we know it and is changing the world to this day. The creation of a new people who were once not a people, people who are now sons and daughters of God. This is, of course, the theme theologically is called adoption, the adoption of the saints. And in his book Knowing God, J.I. packer says it this way. Everything that Christ taught, everything that makes the New Testament new and better than the Old, everything that is distinctively Christian as opposed to merely Jewish, is summed up in the knowledge of the fatherhood of God. Father is the Christian name for God. Our understanding of Christianity cannot be better than our grasp of adoption in Christ. If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much they make of being God's child and having God as their father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls their worship, prayers and whole outlook on life, they do not understand Christianity very well at all. So for Packer, and I think this is absolutely spot on, the central achievement of the life of Jesus Christ is the production or the bringing of many sons and daughters to glory. That is the central achievement. He did many things. The thing that made the most difference and the thing that continues to make the most difference in the world is found in verse 12. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, He Gave the right. The word there, I think, would be better as power. It's Exousius in the Greek. He gave the right or the power to become children of God who were born not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

8 · Clarifies that while adoption is a biblical term describing relocation and legal status, the word 'born' in John 1:12-13 emphasizes a more fundamental reality — a change of nature, not just family transfer

Now, let's lock in on that word born for a minute. There's something we need to make note of in relation to this concept of adoption. That's how Packer talks about it. That's how most theologians talk about it. Adoption. And that's definitely a biblical word. A biblical word that is used to describe what happens to a person when they are made a child of God. That's. That's the word adoption. But, you know, that word doesn't give us all of the meaning we need. Adoption does a good job of talking about or suggesting the transfer from one family to another. Adoption. Adoption is a good term to indicate the legal status we have when we become Christians. It's a good way of indicating that God did all the action, that he took it upon himself and delivered us into his family. But there's one thing the word adoption doesn't get us. That's true, and that is it doesn't really communicate a fundamental change of nature. You get that. See, you can adopt a child and bring them into your home, but the child they were before they were brought into your home is the child you'll be bringing into your home. Adoption works to describe much of what God has done in converting people, but it doesn't work entirely sufficiently. And so that's why we have in John not so much the term adoption, but the term born. Because at the centerpiece of that term is the idea of a fundamental change, a fundamental change in nature.

9 · Reinforces the theme of new birth by pointing to Jesus's teaching to Nicodemus and Paul's language of new creation — all emphasizing fundamental transformation, not mere relocation

We see that repeated not only in this chapter, but at the peak of John 3, when Jesus looks Nicodemus in the eye and repeatedly tells him, you must be born again. Keep that in mind. The word adoption covers many glories of the conversion experience, but it doesn't cover all of them. And frankly, guys, no one term covers all the glories of the Christian gift, right? And so, in addition to the word adoption, we need this word born, that is communicating this central idea of a change of nature. That's what Jesus came to do. He didn't simply come to relocate us out of one family and into another family. He came to give us new life. Behold, Jesus says, I am making all things new. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old is past and the new has come.

10 · Uses Lewis's formulation to crystallize the sermon's central claim: Christ came to produce a new kind of human being, and this new humanity is the reason the world has been reshaped by Christianity

And this is why CS Lewis, when talking about these very principles, these very truths, he said it this way. In mere Christianity, God became man to turn creatures into sons, not simply to produce better men of the old kind, but to produce a new kind of man. And I want to suggest to you that that's why the world is so different after the coming of Christ, because a new kind of person is walking the earth. And there aren't just a few of us, by God's grace, working through church history over the last 2,000 years, nation after nation has heard the gospel. The Krakatoan shockwave circled the earth three times. The gospel continues to circle the earth over and over and over again.

11 · The pastor interrupts the sermon to address an urgent prayer request for Christians in Pakistan, demonstrating the sermon's theme in action — the gospel continues to circle the globe, producing new people in hostile environments

That reminds me, let me do something weird right real quick. I got a text this morning from our friends in Pakistan and something bad is happening. There were no details, just that something bad is happening and they needed us to pray. So why don't we take a moment here and pray? Just to give you a little background if you're visiting. We walk with a group of men who are caring for a lot of Christians in the roughest part of Pakistan, and they do most of their work in secret. And we've had this relationship with them for a long time. So why don't we do this? Why don't we just take a moment and just pray for them? Let's bow our heads and let's pray. Well, Father, we celebrate the fact that 2000 years after your coming, the gospel keeps circling the globe and resurrecting people out of death and into newness of life. We celebrate the fact that you are making all things new and that people everywhere are hearing your gospel even today, and believing. And their nature, their fundamental nature, is being transformed. But your word also says that through many persecutions and tribulations, we will enter the kingdom of God. We don't know what's happening this morning in that country. We don't know what threat level this is. We don't. We don't know if this is a personal tragedy or something bigger. But we lift them up to you, knowing God, that we are so far away, but you are so very near. And that by the same power you work to save them, Lord, you will care for them and tend to them and that you are able to keep, establish them and present them before your throne. And we ask, would you just bless them? We pray especially for the leaders. We ask God that you give them energy, insight, wisdom, skill, discernment. Help them, Lord, respond to whatever the situation is in a way that is manifestly. Of you. We pray for your power upon them. Lord, may you care for these folks. We know you do. In Jesus name, amen.

12 · Ties together the sermon's movement from the cosmic scope of Christ to the specific mechanism of transformation — the gospel creating new people as it circles the globe

So the gospel message is circling and circling and circling the earth. And what it's doing when it hits the ears of those who are chosen to be saved is it is making them into new people. And I think that's, if we listen to Jonathan Edwards take that when we consider all that Jesus accomplished, I think that's how, yeah, we couldn't fit the world, we couldn't fit all of the accomplishments of Jesus in that respect into the known world.

13 · Establishes new life as the dominant theme of John's Gospel and uses Henry Scougal's description of new birth to show what internal transformation looks like — a self-motivated love for God and goodness flowing from a new nature

Just so you know, as we enter into the Book of John, the central theme is new life. It is in almost every story, almost on every page. Next week you'll be hearing about water being turned to wine. And among the many meanings of that is the idea of conversion of the individual being made from a vessel of judgment into a vessel of joy. In John chapter 7, Jesus stood up and said, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. That's what God has done to those whom he saved his put life in them. In the 17th century, there was a young Scottish minister named Henry Skougall and he heard that one of his friends had lost the faith and become disillusioned with Christian living. And so Skougal wrote him a letter which was later published entitled the Life of God in the Soul of Man. That's what John's talking about in our text, the Life of God in the Soul of Man. Listen to how he describes the reality of being a new creation. Again, religion. And by religion he means a vital relationship with Christ. Again, religion can be thought of as a way of life because it is an internal, free and self motivated force. Those who have made progress in it are not just driven by external pressures, threatened by consequences or bribed by rewards. They are strongly drawn to what is good and take pleasure in doing it. The love that a devout person has for God and goodness is not just because of a command telling them to do so, but because of a new nature that guides and encourages them. They don't just offer their devotion as a way to appease divine justice or to quiet their conscience. Rather, these religious practices are the result of the divine life, the natural activities of a reborn soul. He prays, gives thanks and repents, not only because it is expected of him, but because he is aware of his needs, the divine goodness and the foolishness and suffering that comes with a sinful life. His charity is not forced, nor is his giving coerced. His love makes him willing to give. Even if there were no external obligation, his heart would still be generous.

14 · Applies the doctrine of new creation to the church's mission — the primary contribution the church makes to the community is producing and equipping people who walk in the new nature Christ gives them

So the central miracle of the Incarnation, insofar as it affects us and the rest of the world, is that God, as Lewis said, became a man to turn creatures into sons, not simply to produce better men of the old kind, but to produce a new kind of man. People often ask, not often, but sometimes comes up, what does this church do for the community? What does this church do for the community? And it's kind of held in this sort of journey, generic kind of open ended question. I would tell you the primary thing that we do for the community is we build people who honor and serve the Lord Jesus Christ in every area of their life. That's the primary thing we do for the community. We've put people into the community who are living out this new nature. And that has untold effects on the nature of this city, the state, the nation, and so on and so forth. Our primary contribution to the good of this city is to enable, encourage, equip people to walk in this new life in every realm the Lord has placed them in. So we help dads love Jesus in their fathering, we help husbands love Jesus in their husbanding, we help wives love Jesus. You understand? Like, the primary blessing we can give to the world is to help each one of you walk in the newness of life that Jesus has purchased for you and made possible. We kind of exist to help you get in touch with this new nature and to let this new nature be the new default in your life.

15 · Uses Galatians 5's contrast between the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit to illustrate the before-and-after transformation Christ produces — moving people from one default nature to another

Galatians 5 is a place I like to turn to show, like, kind of the miracle of the church and the miracle of conversion. And let me just read a couple verses to you. I think we've got them up on the screen. Galatians 5. Now, the works of the flesh are evident. Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warned you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. Against such things there is no law. What effect has Jesus coming fundamentally had? I think in one sense you could say he has moved a whole group of people from living in the default of column A to living into the default of Column B. And if our local church can help people to move out of column A and into column B, I think we've done quite well for the community. Thank you very much.

16 · Paints a concrete portrait of the new humanity Christ produces — a catalog of specific virtues, freedoms, and capacities that flow from the new nature, grounding the theological claim in observable life transformation

The truth is, is that because Jesus has come and offered Himself up for us, a new kind of human being is in the world. A partaker of the divine nature and dwelt with the Spirit of God. He is the temple of the Holy Spirit. He loves God. He forgives those who sin against him. He he is generous. He is patient. He blesses his enemies. He loves his wife with sacrificial love. He raises his children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. He offers his work to his employer as unto the Lord. He invests his time and energy into positive life building things that promote human flourishing. He's a man of prayer. He meditates on God's word. He honors his father and mother. His belief in objective reality makes him capable of doing science. His belief in objective morality makes him capable of establishing and keeping just laws. He is able to admonish the idol, help the weak, encourage the faint hearted and be patient with them all. He starts to get real freedom over all of the vampirical vices that rob human beings of their life. There are all these vices that the book of Proverbs talks about that are nothing but vampires. They simply come to suck whatever potential you've got out of you. And Jesus through the cross makes people new and free from sin, so that they are free from sexual sin and careless speech and various addictions and the need to keep bad company. He gives these people with a new nature, a kind of divine discernment. And he teaches them how to discern the difference between the truth and the lie. These new people see Jesus as both their Savior and their model for their behavior. And they walk around this earth with a kind of hope that is independent of mere circumstances, knowing that one day they will be brought into his presence where pleasures are forevermore. A new kind of person is living on the earth. That is the miracle that has made the most difference in the world. That he came and he gave those who believed and received him the right to become children of God who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

17 · Anticipates the objection that transformation could produce pride, and deflects it by returning to John 1:12-13's insistence that new birth comes not from human will but from God's sovereign action

Now with all of these super duper new Jesus powers, you might think, well, what's to prevent a person from getting puffed up when they recognize it in very real ways? They've moved out of column A and into column B. What's to keep a person from getting puffed up. Well, the text itself excludes boasting, you see, that we aren't born due our own will. We aren't born due to our own logic, due to our own reasonableness. We are born not by the will of man, not even our own will, but by the will of God.

18 · Uses commentary to reinforce that while human response is real, John emphasizes the sovereign action of God as the primary agent in new birth, distinguishing spiritual rebirth from natural birth entirely

One commentator puts it, we shall have cause again in the course of the Gospel to observe John's recognition of the complexity and mystery of a salvation which is both willed by man and worked by God. While both sides of the equation are asserted here, as they are throughout the gospel, the stress falls on this point. At this point, on the sovereign action of God. Christians become such by being born again, by being born of God. This birth is to be radically distinguished from human birth with all of its human initiatives. All these are irrelevant in the case of spiritual rebirth. It is not something we can take into our own hands. We are born of God.

19 · A personal anecdote illustrates the humbling reality of election — God chose not the special or wise, but the foolish, cutting off all grounds for boasting

So, yeah, it's an incredible thing to be transferred out of darkness and into light and to see the manifestation of God at work in your life. But this text precludes any kind of boasting. This wasn't done because we were special. Many, many years ago, one of my daughters came up to me while I was studying and said, so why does God choose? Why did God choose to save me? I said, well, the only answer that I can find in the Bible is that God chose the foolish things of this world to confound the wise. That's the only explanation we're given as to who and why is that God chose the foolish things in this world to confound the wise. I don't remember which girl it was. They weren't impressed with that answer.

20 · Catalogs the privileges of new birth — the Holy Spirit, access to the Father, inheritance with Christ, God's compassion, protection, provision, freedom, discipline, and steadfast love — grounding the theological claim in concrete biblical promises

This new nature, friends, comes with tremendous privileges. You are given the Holy Spirit. Galatians 4. 6 says, because you are sons, God has sent the spirit of his Son into our hearts. You're given access to the heavenly Father. Hebrews 4:16. Let us then with confidence, draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Think about just this one thing, friends. We're all going to have times of need. Where do you get to go in your time of need? The one who has been born again gets to go right to the root of it all, right to the king over all creation, the sovereign Lord, who runs everything according to his own perfect will. In our time of need, we have the incredible privilege of boldly approaching the throne of grace. When you become born again, you become an Heir with Christ, and you will inherit all of his riches. Romans 8:17 says, the Spirit himself bears witness with our Spirit, that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs. Heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with Him. One of my favorite texts that I want to show this morning is that when you become a new creation, you have God's ongoing sympathy and compassion. Listen to Malachi 3 17. They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession. And I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. You have his protection. 2nd Thessalonians 3, 3. The Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one. You have his provision. In Matthew 6:31, Jesus says, Don't be anxious, saying, what shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Your heavenly Father knows that you need these things. We have a kind of freedom that you did not have before you were born again. Galatians 4:7. You are no longer a slave, but a son. And you have the discipline of the Lord, so that when you get off track, Hebrews 12:6 7. The Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son whom he receives. Friends, we all know that it is actually a great blessing to have a parent who will discipline us as we see the ones who don't and didn't. And you have God's promise, God's steadfast love, promised to you. Psalm 94, 14. For the Lord will not forsake his people. He will not abandon his heritage.

21 · Summarizes the sermon's central claim before pivoting to address why some reject this offer

This is the main reason that Jesus came into the world. To give all who believe in him and receive him the right, the power to become new people, people living with all the rights, privileges of those in the family of God.

22 · Raises the urgent question of how anyone could reject such glorious promises, pointing to John 1:11's statement that Jesus's own people rejected him

Now look back at our text, John, chapter one, and look at verse 11. I didn't read that one. Chapter one, verse 11. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. How is it possible, with all of the promises issued in this text and throughout the Scriptures, with this glorious promise of becoming the human being you were ultimately designed to be, this glorious promise of all of these rights and privileges associated with him. How is it possible that some, maybe even in this room, will not receive what is being offered? How is it possible that the Jews in that day saw him and did not believe in Him?

23 · Diagnoses the reason people reject Christ — they locate their problems outside themselves rather than inside, playing the victim and refusing to see their need for a transformed nature, not just better circumstances

Well, the way that they missed it and the way that you may miss it is simply this. They saw all of their main problems as coming outside. They saw all of their main issues as things that were happening to them, not things that were happening in them. You want to miss Jesus? Walk through life assuming that all of your sadness and difficulties and setbacks are due mainly to problems outside of you. The Jews wanted a new nation, not a new nature. And so long as they or anyone else continues to play the victim card, embracing a sort of us against them identity, their path to Christ will remain cut off and so will yours. Victimhood isn't simply annoying. It isn't simply false. It's destructive to the soul. It encourages a kind of pride that will allow you to look at the glorious offers of Jesus Christ, God in flesh, and say, well, that's not the stuff I need.

24 · Direct pastoral appeal warning the congregation not to miss Jesus by misdiagnosing their condition, insisting that being born again is the best and most necessary thing that could happen to them

But those who did believe and receive that he had come to give them new natures. He gave them new natures. I sure hope nobody in this room misses Jesus because they think that the inside of them is okay and that most of the setbacks and difficulties is all in the outside of them. You will miss Christ if that is your view and that is the wrong view. The truth is, is that all of these glories that I said are true of the new creation. These are things you need and these are the things once had will change your life. You need. Let me be clear to those in this room and to those listening at home. You need to be born again. It's the best thing that could happen to you. No other event happening outside the world could possibly touch the difference that is made. When Jesus gives you a new nature and fills you with His Holy Spirit. Everything changes when Jesus changes you.

25 · Transitions to communion by raising the question of what theme dominates worship in Revelation

Now for communion, I want to introduce what is the resounding central theme of worship in the Book of Revelation?

26 · Uses Revelation 5 to show that even in the perfection of heaven, with all problems resolved, the central theme of worship is Christ's ransoming of souls and giving them new life — the same gift being celebrated at the table

In Revelation, chapter 5, verse 9, we see and they sang a new song saying, worthy are you to take the scroll to open its seals, for you were slain and by your blood. You ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth. I want you to understand that they are in perfection and that there are indeed pleasures forevermore and that all of the injustices of the world have stopped right. All of the things that are unfair, all of the things that are inopportune, all of the problems, they're all gone. And what is the one thing they celebrate? What is the one thing that makes them happy? That Jesus bought their souls and gave them new life in him. Then I looked and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders, the voice of many angels numbering myriads and myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea and all that is in them, saying to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever. And the four living creatures said, amen. And the elders fell down to worship.

27 · Invites believers to communion with a reminder of the central gift — being born of God and made new — and calls those not yet transformed to believe and receive Christ

A dear friend who is in Christ. Would you come and celebrate this table today, understanding the central gift? That central gift being that through his power he caused you to be born of God and that you now, if you're in Christ, are a new creation. The old is past and the new has come. For those of you who have not been transformed in this way, I want to encourage you to remain seated and to contemplate what it is that is left to do other than for you to do what John 1:12 says. Believe and receive this tremendous gift of transformation that he has paid for with his own blood. Saints, come and participate in the table today.

Where this fits

Recent preaching context

The three sermons immediately preceding this one in the preaching schedule.

Dec 10, 2024

What to Do When You Disappoint Yourself

God graciously orchestrates seasons of spiritual distress and self-disappointment not to abandon us but to wean us from self-dependence and deepen our attachment to Christ as the only true hope and lover of our souls.

Dec 12, 2024

How to Commune with God

Believers should establish a daily practice of communing with God through Scripture and prayer—not to earn acceptance, but because they are already accepted in Christ—and this practice, when approached through the gospel with practical structure and flexibility, becomes the primary means by which God strengthens, corrects, and guides His people.

Dec 15, 2024

The Messiah's Gift

The church, as the Father's gift to the Son, exists to display God's glory through the unified assembly of diverse believers who enter through Christ and together form a dwelling place for God's presence.

December 22 · This sermon

New Men for the Messiah

Jesus came not simply to relocate people from one family to another, but to create a fundamentally new kind of human being — people born of God with a transformed nature who live as children of the Father.

Take it further

Discuss · apply · pray

Small groups

6 discussion questions

In John 1:9-14, we see that the Word came to His own people, yet His own did not receive Him. What does this passage reveal about why people…

Daily readings

5-day reading plan

This week we trace how Christ's coming reshapes human nature from the inside out—from the foundational power of His incarnation, through the Spirit's work in us, to the concrete virtues that mark His new creation.

Prayer

Prayer for New Men and Women in Christ

Father, we adore You for the immeasurable grace displayed in sending Your Son into the world—not to condemn it, but to remake it through the…

Family table

Born Again Into a New Nature

Chris emphasized that being born again isn't about changed circumstances—it's about a changed nature that produces concrete virtues like lov…

Couples

Born Again Together

What did you hear about being 'born again' in this sermon that stirred something in your own heart — either conviction, gratitude, or longin…

Memorize

John 1:12-13

This verse captures the sermon's central claim that Christ's coming produces 'new men for the Messiah' through spiritual rebirth rather than external circumstance—a transformation that happens when we receive Him and are born of God. It directly addresses the sermon's application that people must be born again, as nothing external can compare to the changed nature Christ alone provides.

Memory verse this week

John 1:12-13

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Why this verse: This verse captures the sermon's central claim that Christ's coming produces 'new men for the Messiah' through spiritual rebirth rather than external circumstance—a transformation that happens when we receive Him and are born of God. It directly addresses the sermon's application that people must be born again, as nothing external can compare to the changed nature Christ alone provides.

Draft · pending review

Small-group discussion

6 questions for your group this week

In John 1:9-14, we see that the Word came to His own people, yet His own did not receive Him. What does this passage reveal about why people fail to recognize Jesus, and what does it suggest about the nature of the problem we face?

John 1:9-14

→ Can you think of a time when you wanted Jesus to solve an external problem in your life rather than transform your internal nature? What shifted your perspective?
According to John 1:12-13, receiving Jesus and being born again is not something we accomplish through human effort or desire, but something God does. What does this tell us about the source and certainty of our new nature in Christ?

John 1:12-13
The sermon claims that 'single events with compressed power can reshape the world for generations,' and that this is most profoundly true of Christ's coming. How does the incarnation and work of Christ accomplish something that no amount of external circumstance-changing could ever achieve?

John 1:1-3, John 1:14

→ What would be different about your witness to others if you truly believed this — that Christ's coming has greater power to reshape the world than any social program or political change?
Looking at Galatians 5:19-23, we see that our old nature produces enslaving vices, while the Spirit produces virtues like love, patience, and generosity. How does understanding this contrast help explain why being 'born again' matters more than getting what we want externally?

Galatians 5:19-23
The sermon states that 'the church's primary contribution to the community is not programs or social services, but the production of people who live out the new nature Christ has given them.' What would it look like for our small group, and our church, to prioritize the cultivation of this new nature over other good activities?

→ Who is one person in our church or community whose transformed character has most powerfully pointed you toward Jesus, and what specific virtues did you observe in them?
In light of 2 Corinthians 5:17 — 'if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation' — what are you currently trusting in to change, and how might the gospel be inviting you to release that trust and instead embrace the transformation Christ is already working in you?

2 Corinthians 5:17

Draft · pending review

Daily readings · Monday–Friday

5-day reading plan

Monday John 20:30-31

John reminds us that the miracles recorded in his Gospel were written so that we might believe Jesus is the Messiah and have life through His name. This is the compressed power: one life, one death, one resurrection—yet it became the hinge upon which all human history turns. We see that the incarnation was not incidental history, but the central redemptive act that gives meaning to everything.

Tuesday 2 Corinthians 5:17

When we are in Christ, we become new creations; the old has passed away, and behold, the new has come. This is the substance of what the church offers the world—not programs or strategies, but transformed people whose very nature has been remade. As we live out this new nature together, we become a visible witness to Christ's power to remake human hearts.

Wednesday Galatians 5:19-23

Paul contrasts the works of the flesh—hatred, envy, drunkenness, jealousy—with the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. These are not abstract ideals but tangible realities that mark those born again in Christ. When we see these virtues flowering in our own hearts and in one another, we are witnessing the evidence of Christ's transforming grace at work.

Thursday Ephesians 1:15-23

Paul prays that we might know the surpassing greatness of Christ's power—the same power that raised Him from the dead and seated Him at the right hand of God, far above all rule and authority. This is the energy by which He reshapes us from within: not human willpower, but the very power that governs creation itself. We can trust in His ability to complete the transformation He has begun in us because He reigns over all things.

Friday John 3

Nicodemus comes seeking Jesus for signs and earthly power, but Jesus tells him he must be born again—a transformation so radical that it requires death and resurrection. Until we grasp that our deepest problem is not our circumstances but our nature, we will seek false saviors and temporary remedies. The invitation of this week is clear: you need to be born again, for nothing external can compare to the transformation Christ brings to those who receive Him.

Draft · pending review

Pray together this week

Prayer for New Men and Women in Christ

Father, we adore You for the immeasurable grace displayed in sending Your Son into the world—not to condemn it, but to remake it through the power of His coming. We stand in awe of Christ's authority to give us a new nature, to make us truly His own children, born not of our own will or effort, but of Your sovereign work in us (John 1:12–13). In the gospel, we behold the One through whom all things were made, now made flesh, dwelling among us full of grace and truth (John 1:3, 14).

We confess that we often seek transformation in the wrong places—looking for changed circumstances when what we desperately need is a changed heart. We miss Jesus when we treat our deepest problems as merely external, when we hope that new programs, new positions, or new possessions will remake us. Forgive us for our slow faith, for our reluctance to acknowledge that we need to be born again, that nothing we can manufacture or achieve compares to the transformation only You can bring (John 3).

Yet in the gospel we have comfort: Christ has come, accomplished our redemption, and through faith in Him we are made new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17). He has given us His own Spirit to dwell within us, crying "Abba, Father," and securing us as co-heirs with Himself (Galatians 4:6; Romans 8:17). The power that reshapes the world for generations flows from His resurrection and is now at work in all who believe.

Grant us, we pray, the grace to live out the new nature Christ has given us—that our love would grow deeper, our patience more genuine, our generosity more glad, our discernment sharper, and our hearts increasingly freed from the vices that once enslaved us (Galatians 5:19–23). Make us, together, the kind of people whose transformed lives become the church's most powerful witness to our communities. Guard our hearts from seeking first the external things the nations crave; help us instead to hunger first for the kingdom and His righteousness, trusting that You know our needs and will supply them (Matthew 6:31–32). To You, the all-glorious, triune God, be all glory and praise forever.

Draft · pending review

Sunday-evening family table

Born Again Into a New Nature

For the parent

Chris emphasized that being born again isn't about changed circumstances—it's about a changed nature that produces concrete virtues like love, patience, and generosity. Use this prompt to help your family see that transformation from the inside out is what Jesus offers, not just solving external problems.

If Jesus came to give us a brand-new nature instead of just fixing our problems, what's one thing about you that you'd want Him to change from the inside? It could be how you feel, how you treat someone, or something you struggle with.

Works for ages 7+ — younger children may need help naming internal struggles, but the question itself is concrete enough for early elementary

Draft · pending review

Couples · three questions over coffee

Born Again Together

What did you hear about being 'born again' in this sermon that stirred something in your own heart — either conviction, gratitude, or longing?
How do we tend to look for solutions to our deepest struggles in changed circumstances rather than in Christ's power to change us from within? Where might we be doing this together as a couple?
What new nature — what specific virtue or freedom from vice — do you sense Christ is inviting each of us to grow into right now, and how can we pray for one another in that?

Draft · pending review

Where this was preached

About the church

Providence Community Church

Lenexa, KS
Sundays · 10:00 AM
About us · What we believe

Plan a visit →

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# Providence Community Church

A church preaching expository sermons through the books of the Bible.

## Sermons
- [What to Do When You Disappoint Yourself (2024-12-10)](/ProvidenceLenexa/sermons/2024/12/what-to-do-when-you-disappoint-yourself)
- [How to Commune with God (2024-12-12)](/ProvidenceLenexa/sermons/2024/12/how-to-commune-with-god)
- [The Messiah's Gift (2024-12-15)](/ProvidenceLenexa/sermons/2024/12/the-messiah-s-gift)
- [New Men for the Messiah (2024-12-22)](/ProvidenceLenexa/sermons/2024/12/new-men-for-the-messiah)

## About
- [About the church](/about)
- [Plan a visit](/visit)

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