The GraceLife Pulpit

The Divine Word, the New Creation, and False Faith:

A Recap of John 1–2

John 1:1–2:25

Introduction

At long last, it is time for us to return to our series in the Gospel of John. But because it’s been such a long time, and we’ve sort of lost the flow of thought, I didn’t want to just parachute back into chapter 3. So this morning I’ve decided to do a recap of the first two chapters of the Book of John—just so we can get back into the flow of how the Apostle John is setting the Lord Jesus Christ before us, so that as we come, over the next several weeks, to Jesus’ interaction with Nicodemus, we’ll be able to see that interaction in all of its glory, because we are once again familiar with the context in which that confrontation comes.

Now, when we began studying the Gospel of John, I told you that the reason I chose to preach through this Book of the Bible is because what we need most deeply—at this time and in this place—is to fix the eyes of our faith upon the glory of our risen and reigning Lord. The answer to the sluggishness and backwardness of my own sinful heart as a believer is the glory of Jesus. The strength to stand against the persecution from a world hell-bent on the destruction of the church is the glory of Jesus. Suffering faithfully in a world marred by sin and decay depends on seeing the glory of Jesus. The sin-subduing, soul-conquering, unbelief-banishing power for battle-weary saints and for self-deceived church members is the glory of Jesus.

And we have turned to the Gospel of John to behold that glory, because the point of John’s Gospel is to display the glory of our precious Savior. Chapter 1 verse 14 says, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Chapter 2 verse 11: “This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.” The signs of Jesus’ works manifest His glory, and that glory becomes the ground of the faith by which we live.

And Chapter 20 verse 31 gives the purpose statement for the whole book: John is recording these signs, which display Christ’s glory, “so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.” John is on a mission to display the glory of Jesus by showcasing His identity as eternal God, His incarnation as the true God-man, His perfect life of law-fulfilling righteousness, His sacrificial death as a full atonement for sins, and His death-conquering resurrection that overcomes the world. He wants you to believe, and he wants you to keep on believing, and so he shows you glory. So we turn to the Gospel of John to look unto Jesus, and to have the sight of His glory strengthen us for everything we could ever need.

Now, as we undertake to recap where we’ve been in these first two chapters of the Gospel of John, we find that chapters 1 and 2 break down into three main sections. The first section is the Prologue of John’s Gospel: chapter 1 verses 1 to 18. This is where John backs up to before the beginning of creation, and gives a theological introduction to Jesus of Nazareth: that the One who was born to Joseph and Mary, and ministered in Judea and Samaria and Galilee, and suffered under Pontius Pilate, and was crucified, dead, and buried, and who rose from the grave on the third day—that One is none other than God the Son, the eternal Second Person of the Trinity.

The second section is more of a historical introduction to Jesus and His ministry, laid out over the span of seven days, which we read about starting from chapter 1 verse 19 all the way through to chapter 2 verse 11.

The third section begins in chapter 2 verse 12, and one could make the argument that it continues all the way through to the end of chapter four—encompassing not only the cleansing of the temple and the comments on Jesus’ general distrust of people, but also the two following discourses: with Nicodemus in chapter 3, and with the Samaritan woman in chapter 4. But of course, since we’ve only gotten to the end of chapter 2, we’ll cut this section at chapter 2 verse 25.

So, that will be our outline for our recap. Section one: the Divine Word become flesh—chapter 1, verses 1 to 18. Section two: what I’ve called New Creation Week—chapter 1 verse 19 to chapter 2 verse 11. And section three: False Worship and False Faith—chapter 2, verses 12 to 25.

I. The Divine Word Become Flesh (1:1–18)

Let’s begin with a brief review of what might be the greatest paragraph ever written. Section one: the Divine Word become flesh, in chapter 1, verses 1 to 18.

John begins by introducing Jesus as “the Word.” “In the beginning was the Word.” And we spoke about how that term, the Logos, is meant to identify Jesus as the One who is the eternal generation and the supreme revelation of God the Father. Eternal generation is that mysterious truth that is the foundation of the doctrine of the Trinity: that God the Son is the eternally uttered Word from the Father—of the same nature as the Father—even as the Word of God is to be identified with God. But then also from the Father—even as God’s Word “goes forth from [His] mouth” (Isa 55:11). And these twin truths of “sameness of nature” and “fromness”—inherent in the term Word—form the substance of the truth of eternal generation: that the Father eternally communicated the fullness of the whole divine essence to the Son, in this incomprehensible, inexpressible act, internal to the life of the Triune God Himself.

But then, Jesus is also called the Word of the Father because He is the supreme revelation of the Father. A person’s word is the means by which he reveals his thoughts, his intentions, his preferences, his loves—everything about him. By calling Jesus the Word, John is telling us that He is the pinnacle self-expression of God to man. He is, Colossians 1:15, “the image of the invisible God.” Jesus makes the mind and character of God known to mankind! And just as Scripture teaches that God’s Word creates, that God’s Word sustains, and that God’s Word saves, so also is Jesus the Creator, the Sustainer, and the Savior of the world. He is, once again, the pinnacle self-expression of God to man—God’s own Word to the world.

Well then, in the rest of these 18 verses, John introduces us to this Word. In the first five verses, He displays Him as the divine Word. He is, in the first place, eternal. “In the beginning was the Word.” Before the beginning began, this Word already was. And so all of the glory that belongs to a God who never began to be but just always was—that glory belongs to Jesus Christ the Word of God. Secondly, the Word is distinct from the Father: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God.” If you are with someone, you are not that someone! And so we find that Jesus—God the Son—is a genuinely distinct person from God the Father.

But then, third, we find that the Word is consubstantial—a big word that you ought to know, that just means “of the same substance” or “of the same nature.” “…the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Though the Word is with God and therefore distinct from the Father, He also is God Himself, by nature, eternally subsisting in the full and undivided divine essence, and is therefore in no way less than or unlike the Father (Cyril, 12). The theological way to say this is: He is a distinct personal subsistence in the identical divine essence as the Father. Two divine whos who subsist in the same divine what.

And then John turns from the Word’s relationship to Father to the Word’s relationship to the creation. He is, in the fourth place, the Creator. Verse 3: “All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” This Word is not a creature. He is the eternal, uncreated Creator, and so He is the proper recipient of and is worthy of all your worship. Verse 4 calls Him, fifth, the Fountain of Life: “In Him was life.” Creatures derive their existence from a principle of life that exists before they do. But this Word derives His life from nothing and no one. He Himself is the principle of all life. He depends on nothing outside of Himself to be what He is. He is the being in which everything else has its being. His existence is the ground of the existence of everything that exists.

And He is also, number six, the Light of men. Verse 4 again: “In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.” As the manifestation of the divine life, the Word is the Light of men: the Light of truth over and against all lies and falsehood; and the Light of holiness, over and against sin and wickedness. And then, number seven, this Word is the Victor over the darkness. Verse 5: “The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.” The darkness did everything it could to extinguish this Light of men. But through death He rendered powerless him who had the power of death, and freed those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives (Heb 2:14–15) He rose the third day, and ascended into heaven, where He rules the world at the Father’s right hand. And He will soon come again to set up His reign on the earth.

And then, as if John couldn’t bear to speak of the glory of this divine Word without introducing us to the one who would proclaim that glory, in verses 6 to 8, John introduces us to the Word and His witness. And John the Baptist serves as something of a prototype for all of Christ’s people who are tasked with proclaiming His glory throughout the earth, testifying to the truths of His person and work on behalf of sinners.

In His infinite wisdom, God has ordained that the Gospel of His Son—the news about this glorious divine Word that we met in verses 1 to 5—will be heralded through the testimony of human witnesses, who themselves have seen and tasted and proven the glory of this Savior. Though we are not eyewitnesses of His resurrection, we are firsthand witnesses of His resurrection power at work in our lives. By that power, He raised us from death to life. He forgave us all our sins. And every day He works in us to put to death what remains of sin and to cultivate and grow in righteousness. Our entire lives are monuments to the power of His grace. We are to speak of what we have seen and heard and tasted of the power of Christ, so that, verse 7, “all might believe through Him.”

And then, verses 9 to 13 speak about the Word in His World. John declares that the true Light has come into the world. And he tells us that the world has responded in one of two ways: blindness or belief—as the blind world, or as the believing children. Verse 10 says, “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.” The Lord of all glory was in the world that He had made, and yet He was unknown among the people of that world. They look directly at the glory of Christ, and see nothing of value. And worse, verse 11: “He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.” The One most worthy of reception, and acclaim, and adoration, and worship, was rejected by the very people, Israel, who knew so many of His singular blessings. But the unbelieving, blind world loves darkness, rather than the Light, and flees from the Light, lest that Light expose the evil deeds (John 3:19–21) that they cannot bring themselves to surrender because they are enslaved to their corruption.

But on the other hand, “as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” Upon a remnant of the blind world, God shines spiritual light and life into their hearts, raises them from spiritual death in the new birth, and grants them the gift of saving faith in the Word! And to those who receive Him by faith, this Word Himself sovereignly grants the right for them to become the adopted sons and daughters of God, and so may be called the believing children.

And then, in the majestic mountain peak of verse 14, John displays the glory of the Incarnate Word. He tells us that the divine Word “became flesh”—that the eternal Second person of the Trinity took on a full and true human nature into personal union with the unchanging divine nature. John tells us that in Jesus, the eternal, infinite God tabernacles among sinners, and is the nexus of God’s fellowship with man. The eternally-begotten Son—the only begotten from the Father—is the One by whom spiritual orphans are adopted as sons of the Most High God, because they are made to see His glory. And He is “full of grace and truth”: saving us by His grace, and leading us by His truth.

And then, in verses 15 to 18, we find the Excellent Word. John closes his prologue by speaking of how this eternal Word made flesh excels and surpasses all others, even the greatest and most significant figures of redemptive history. Verse 15 tells us that this Word surpasses the greatest man who ever lived. Jesus says in Matthew 11:11 that “among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist.” But here in verse 15 John the Baptist says, “He who comes after me has become before me, for He was before me.” “He has excelled me in every way! If He says I’m the greatest up until now, He is greater than the greatest!”

And then, verse 16: He supplies the grace sufficient for every sinner: “For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.” He is more full of grace than we are of sin. He is Bread for the hungry, water for the thirsty, light for the blind, healing for the sick, and life for the dead! And when we fly to Him for fresh grace, we glorify Him as the One whose grace is so sufficient that it supplies our every need.

A third excellency comes in verse 17: Jesus supersedes the glorious mediator of the Old Covenant: “For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.” Moses was a faithful servant, but Christ was a faithful Son, Hebrews chapter 3. The glory of the only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth—the one in whom grace and truth are realized—His glory supersedes and far outshines even the glory of Moses and the Old Covenant. The glory of the law revealed in the face of Moses is no match for the glory of God revealed in the face of Jesus Christ!

And then, finally, Jesus shows the glory of the unseen Father. Verse 18: “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.” He is the perfect, visible exposition of the invisible Father. If you want to know what the unseen Father is like, you look at Jesus. You see Him turning water into wine, and you know God is the Sovereign Lord of creation. You see Him flipping tables in the temple, and you know that God is holy. You see Him healing, and feeding, and grieving over suffering, and you know that God is compassionate. You see Him betrayed (18:3), and disowned (18:25–27), and mocked (19:3), and slapped (19:3), and whipped, and crucified (19:18), and you can know that God loves sinners with a love that surpasses knowledge. And when you see Him risen from the grave (20:16), and ascending into heaven (20:17), and seated in the heavenly places, you can know that God has conquered sin and death, and rules the world in uncontested majesty and sovereign blessedness.

We could spend our lives in those 18 verses! The prologue of John’s Gospel is an inexhaustible fountain of blessedness. But we must move on.

II. New Creation Week (1:19–2:11)

Section one: the Divine Word become flesh. That brings us to section two: New Creation Week. And we find that in chapter 1 verse 19, through to chapter 2 verse 11.

Now, this first section of the narrative proper of John’s Gospel recounts the events of a single week of Jesus’ early ministry. John is more subtle than overt in the way he narrates these seven days, but he does give these time markers. Verse 35, “Again the next day.” Verse 43: “The next day He purposed to go into Galilee.” It’s very unique for the Gospels to give an account of consecutive days like this. They do it with Passion Week, but with little else.

The first day comes in verses 19 to 28, where messengers from the Sanhedrin come to ask John the Baptist who he is and why he’s baptizing. And it’s there that John teaches us what John MacArthur has called the first law of ministry: the constant deflection of glory away from ourselves, and the ascription of glory to Jesus alone. “Not me, but Him!”

Then, verse 29 begins with the phrase, “The next day [John the Baptist] saw Jesus.” And we find a second day unfolded in verses 29 to 34, where John testifies to Jesus (1) as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”; (2) as the Superior King of glory, who is greater than the greatest men who have ever lived; (3) as the Anointed Messiah, filled with the Holy Spirit without measure, who baptizes in the Spirit, so that we are enriched with His fullness; and (4) as the Son of God Himself—the eternal God in human flesh, who is worthy of all your trust, all your worship, and all your devotion.

Verse 35 tells us of the move to a third day, in which two of John the Baptist’s disciples follow after Jesus—whom we later discover to be Andrew, the brother of Peter, and the Apostle John himself. Verse 39 says those men “stayed with [Jesus] that day,” because by that time “it was about the tenth hour.” So Day Three ends in verse 39. In verses 40–42, we read of Andrew and Simon Peter coming to follow Jesus, which would then be Day Four, and then verse 43 begins with, “The next day.” So, the fifth day unfolds throughout verses 43 to 51, and they recount Philip and Nathanael’s following after Jesus.

And the point of verses 35 to 51 isn’t so much to focus on the disciples who came to follow Christ; it’s to focus on the Christ these men are following after. In these interactions with Jesus’ first disciples, John fastens us upon the glory and the beauty of the One we follow, presenting Him to us as the One worth following, the One worth devoting all of our lives to. From verses 29 to 51, Jesus is called “Lamb of God,” “Son of God,” Son of Man,” “Messiah,” “the King of Israel,” “Rabbi,” and “Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote.” He is worth following!

And the narrative shows Him to be (1) the telos or the goal of all faithful ministry. All faithful ministers exist to point people to follow this One! He is (2) the accessible Savior, who notices Andrew and John sheepishly following Him, and turns around and engages them, and urges them to come with Him. He is (3) the substance of our proclamation—the One whom Andrew and John go and tell Peter about immediately: “We have found the Messiah”! He is (4) the Lord of our identity, who changes our name, who transforms our identity, and makes us to be what He calls us to be. He is (5) the seeker of our souls, who purposed to go into Galilee, and found Philip, and said to him, “Follow Me.” He is (6) the fulfillment of the Scriptures: “Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote.” He is (7) the knower of our hearts, who reads Nathanael’s mind, and discerns the true content of his character. He is (8) the revealer of divine glory, who displays greater signs than seeing Nathanael under the fig tree. And He is (9) the Mediator between heaven and earth, the fulfillment of Jacob’s ladder—the only way in which sinful men and women may climb from the wretchedness of this curséd earth up to the blessedness of heaven. O dear people: He is the One worth following!

And then, in chapter 2 verse 1, we read, “On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee.” Now, remember what the Jews meant by “the third day.” Jesus was raised on “the third day,” right? But He was crucified on Good Friday and raised on Easter Sunday. By their counting, Sunday was “the third day” from Friday. They counted any portion of a day as one day. So, if the wedding in Cana took place on “the third day” relative to the fifth day of this first week of Jesus’ ministry, then it would have taken place on (1) the fifth day, (2) the sixth day, (3) the seventh day. The sixth day would have been the day they traveled the 20 miles from Bethsaida to Cana (which was about a day’s journey), and so the miracle of turning water into wine in John 2:1–11 would have occurred on the seventh day in this series.

And so John has gone out of his way to begin his Gospel account of the Lord Jesus in precisely the same way as the Book of Genesis began the account of God’s creation of the world! (a) “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” and (b) “In the beginning was the Word” who created all things. Genesis says, “In the beginning,” and then outlines seven days of creation. Well, John says, “In the beginning,” and then he outlines seven days of Jesus’ early ministry. Which was what? The work of new creation! New birth, through the redemption accomplished by His blood! Second Corinthians 5:17: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation”! Revelation 21:5: “Behold, I am making all things new”!

And in verses 1 to 11, we see that the wine of the Gospel is superior to the water of Mosaic ceremonialism. The stone waterpots at the wedding in Cana were not the drinking supply; that water was used for Jewish ritual purification. And in the symbolism of this miracle, Jesus demonstrates: “I am the end of Jewish ritual purification! If you want to be cleansed of the defilement of your sins, you must turn away from the works of your religious ceremonies and be washed in My blood through faith alone!” The transformation of the water of Jewish ceremonialism into the wine of the Gospel of Christ signifies the transformation from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant, from the old creation to the new creation. And verse 11 says, “This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.” Dear people, so you also: behold His glory, and believe in Him.

III. False Worship and False Faith (2:12–25)

And that brings us to the third section in our recap of these first two chapters of John’s Gospel. Section one: the Divine Word become flesh. Section two: New Creation Week. Now we come to section three, which I’ve entitled false worship and false faith. And that runs from verses 12 to 25 in chapter 2.

In verses 12 to 22, the Lord Jesus, at the very beginning of His public ministry, comes to His temple—to His own Father’s house—and cleanses the temple of the defilement and desecration that He finds there. He is so incensed by the false worship—by the irreverence—that the worship of His Father’s house has been replaced with the buzz of the marketplace—that He makes a whip, and starts slinging it throughout the temple courts, forcefully driving out the merchants and their animals! He picks up the coin-coffers and turns them upside down. He even flips over the tables of the money changers. The faithful Son cannot bear to see His Father dishonored in His own house! Genuine affection for His beloved Father causes His zeal to be stirred up within Him, like a consuming fire that’s just eating Him up. And, verse 17, “His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for Your house will consume Me.’”

And then the Jews ask for a sign that shows His authority for doing such things. Jesus answers them, verse 19, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” And of course, they think He’s talking about the temple they were standing in, but verse 21 tells us that “He was speaking of the temple of His body.” He is speaking about His death and resurrection! He is pointing to His own body as the fulfillment of all the temple prefigured and symbolized! Under the Old Covenant, fellowship and communion between God and man happened in the temple. In the era of the new creation, Jesus Himself is where God meets man, and where man worships God. It’s as if He’s saying, “When you destroy this temple, by putting Me to death, you will unwittingly accomplish the will of My Father: that a perfectly sufficient, substitutionary sacrifice for sin will have been offered in the place of sinners. But I will raise this temple up again in three days. You want a sign for My authority? John 10:18: ‘I have authority to lay [My life] down, and I have authority to take it up again.’ I will raise Myself from the dead! I Myself am the resurrection and the life!”

Then, from the theme of false worship, the Apostle John moves to confront the reality of false faith, in verses 23 to 25. Verse 13 set the cleansing of the temple at the time when the Passover was approaching. John says, “The Passover of the Jews was near.” Verse 23 picks up where verse 13 left us: “Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing. But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.”

Because God the Son is said to have full knowledge of the hearts of people—because He knew all men, and because He knew what was in man—even these who professed to believe in His name—He didn’t trust anything about them. They believed in Him, in some sense, but because He knew them, He didn’t believe in them! Back in chapter 1 verse 12, we learned that as many as believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God. But here is a text that says many believed in His name, and Jesus doesn’t believe in them. That is positively disturbing! There is a kind of “believing” that Jesus doesn’t believe in—a kind of believing that isn’t the true faith that results in spiritual adoption and eternal life!

There is such a thing as false faith. And the problem here is that these people’s faith is grounded upon signs. And in one sense, it’s a bit surprising that that’s a problem. because Jesus says things like John 10:38: “…though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.” The whole reason Jesus is doing these signs is to reveal His glory and birth faith in those who observe them.

But in another sense, this comment fits with Jesus’ attitude toward sign-driven faith. In John 4:48, Jesus says, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe.” He laments—and frankly seems annoyed by the fact—that there’s a kind of faith that comes only from seeing signs. We definitely see that in Mark 8:11: “Sighing deeply in His spirit, He said, ‘Why does this generation seek for a sign? Truly I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.’” And in Matthew 12:39 and Matthew 16:4, Jesus says, “An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign.” What’s the issue?

It’s that sign-driven faith is fundamentally a me-centered faith. What can the miracle worker do for me? “I want to hang around the guy who can make wine out of water; it’ll be a party all the time!” “I’ll follow the one who can feed 5,000 people with five loaves and two fish; we’ll never go hungry!” “I’m throwing my lot in with the man who raises the dead; that’s the best life insurance policy there is!” At the very least, “The miracle worker draws a crowd, and maybe I can parley my association with Him into some spinoff gig of my own.” Do you see? “I’ll ‘believe’ in Jesus, depending on what He can give me!”

But what is a sign? It’s something that points to some truth that you are to understand by means of the sign. A sign points to what it signifies—to the significance. If your response to seeing signs is to fall in love with the sign, you miss the significance they’re pointing to.

When my twins were babies, I learned that, before 9 to 12 months, children will not look at the thing you point to. “Hey, look at that!” And they just look my finger. Sign-driven faith is like that. It’s preoccupation with the finger, and missing what the finger is pointing to. You were never designed to look to the sign; you were designed to look through the sign to what it was pointing to—namely, to the glory of the One who saves from sin. You’re supposed to look beyond the wine that saved the family embarrassment at the wedding of Cana, through to the One who sweetens the soul and makes the heart glad! You’re supposed to look beyond the bread that fed 5,000 people lunch, through to the One who is Himself the bread of life come down from heaven, and if you feast upon Him by faith, you will never be hungry again! Sign-driven faith wants bread for lunch and wine for drink. True and saving faith wants the bread of life and the fountain of living waters.

Look back at verse 25: “He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.” And remember that the chapter and verse divisions aren’t in the original text, and read on into chapter 3 verse 1: “Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, ‘Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.’” It’s no accident that chapter 3 verses 1 and 2 follow chapter 2 verses 23 to 25. We have a man who believes true things about Jesus on the basis of signs. And he sounds great! Nicodemus acknowledges Jesus is a Rabbi, a worthy teacher, and that God is with Him. You’d think Jesus would be thrilled!

But what does He say? Verse 3: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” “You think you can see these miracles, Nicodemus? The spiritual sight you need to look through the signs and not merely to the signs—you can’t have that kind of sight unless you’re born all over again!” GraceLife: True and saving faith is not merely a fascination with the spectacular. It’s not mere attraction to the showy and the flashy. It’s not just intellectual admiration of Jesus’ power. Saving faith is beholding, with the eyes of your heart, the loveliness, and sufficiency, and worthiness of Jesus to be everything for you that you lack: forgiveness, and wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and joy. Saving faith is the act not just of the mind, but of the mind that assents, the heart that happily embraces, and the will that subjects and entrusts all that you are to all that He is.

Conclusion

Dear sinner, if you look upon Jesus, and all you see is someone who can meet your physical needs and fleshly desires for comfort, happiness, and ease; or some kind of meal ticket whose coattails you can ride to make a name for yourself, you need to be born all over again. Something is so wrong with the way you were born the first time, that you have to be re-created—re-generated, by the power of the Holy Spirit of God. If you don’t see in Him rescue, not only from the penalty and punishment of your sin, but also rescue from the power of sin as you live day by day, you need to be born again. If you don’t see in Him the end of all your sin, the only plea for your righteousness, someone whose beauty makes sin look ridiculous and disgusting, you need to be born from above.

Cry out to God, and ask Him to grant you the new birth. Look through the signs to the glory of the Person they point to: to the living, and dying, and rising Savior from sin, who offers you forgiveness by faith alone this morning, simply repudiating everything about yourself that would commend you to God, turning from your love of sin, and trusting entirely upon His righteous life, and His substitutionary death, to justify you in the courtroom of heaven.

You say, “I want to hear more about that ‘new birth’ that you started talking about. You didn’t quite fill that out; elaborate!” Well, now we’re caught up and ready for chapter 3. Come back next week.