Good morning, saints.
I want to share just some verses with you. We will get into more in the message, but the theme verse—I do not want you to forget it as we are talking about this matter—comes from Hebrews 2:10:
For it became Him, for Whom are all things, and by Whom are all things,
in bringing many sons to glory,
to make the Author of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
Then from John’s Gospel—I think you all know this section. It is about Nicodemus: John 3:1-12. I will read these.
Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
the same came unto Him by night, and said to Him, Rabbi, we know that Thou art come a teacher from God;
for no one can do these signs that Thou doest, except God be with him.Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus saith unto Him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born anew.
The wind bloweth where it will, and thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.Nicodemus answered and said unto Him, How can these things be?
Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou the teacher of Israel, and understandest not these things?
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that which We know, and bear witness of that which We have seen; and ye receive not Our witness.
If I told you earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you heavenly things?
And in John 1, we will just look at a few verses—John 1:11-13.
He came unto His own, and they that were His own received Him not.
But as many as received Him, to them gave He the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on His name:
who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Let us just have a word of prayer.
Lord, we are so grateful for Your Word. We again look to You as we come to You in regard to Your Word, that the Holy Spirit would make it alive. Without that, they will just be empty words.
And we tell You, as we appeal to You, that Your words are spirit and life. And You are the only One we can turn to in this moment. You are the only One Who can open Your Word and breathe upon it, and make it live before our very eyes—and make it live, even more importantly, in our hearts.
So we commit this time to You. We pray You would bless it. You would give us ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches. You would even, as our brother John said, negate all the interference and the noise. How often that keeps us from hearing what the Lord is saying.
Would You be exalted this morning as we come to You in the name of Jesus? Amen.
The burden that is on my heart—and will be on my heart for a while, at least a few more times—comes from a single phrase in a single verse: Hebrews 2:10.
It is that phrase I told you to pay careful attention to: “bringing many sons to glory.”
I think that is quite an important phrase—not just to the Epistle to the Hebrews, but to the whole Bible—because it opens to us what is in God’s heart for man, what He is doing for man, and what His purpose was in all that He did.
In the end, it was not only, if you can imagine, to exalt that one and only Son Who stands apart from everyone, but in addition to that, to bring many sons to glory, to be with that one and only Son forever. That is an incredible thought. We can hardly take it in. It is so large, when you think of it. It goes beyond human comprehension, but nevertheless, it is true.
You know, when you look at this matter of sonship, it is very important in the Word of God. I like what our brother Kong said some years ago when he was speaking on this matter. He said it is related closely to the eternal purpose of God.
We talk about that very often here, and I do not think we should ever shy away from it, because if we do, why do we gather? But if you think about it, our brother made it very plain and very clear that this one thing is very close to the eternal purpose of God.
His divine intention in the end is to bring many sons to glory. This has been God’s heart from the very beginning. When He said, “Let Us make man in Our image,” it was His predetermined will for man.
We are called to sonship. If you want to know what your calling really is, it is not just to be a missionary, or a teacher, or a wife, or one of these other things. In the end, the overarching calling of every saint of God is to be a son.
That explains much of the Bible. It explains many of the difficult verses in the Bible, by the way, about God’s discipline. He is training us. He is making us into sons.
So this is where the burden comes in. It is the right of the one and only Son, we said last time. It is only His right.
Now hear me very clearly about this. This is a phenomenal thought. This should change your appreciation for what the Lord did and keep your heart bowed in worship.
It was the single right of the one and only Son. Yet, in God’s mercy and His grace, that single right was extended to you. And now, in His heart of hearts, He is looking for many sons to be brought to glory.
This we call the ultimate privilege. You cannot imagine a greater privilege. It was all the Son. His whole heart was around the Son. Yet, in His kind intention, in His eternal thought, in His determined will, He said, “I want many sons.”
And to the flawed ones, to the ones who turned away from Him, to those alone, He extended this ultimate privilege. Now, do you understand that? You should really consider it. You should meditate on it and think about it.
We saw something even more magnificent. This was His ultimate right, and it became our ultimate privilege. It was made our exclusive privilege. Think about that.
When you read Hebrews, it says He did not take hold of angels. It says it very clearly in Hebrews 2. But He took hold of the seed of Abraham. It is amazing. It is an exclusive privilege.
Again, it was only the Son. If you can imagine the fellowship in eternity past, it was the Father, it was the Son, and it was the Holy Spirit. And that exclusive fellowship—and I want to say that word as strongly as I can—was extended to you and me.
Not only the ultimate privilege, but the exclusive privilege. What a fellowship we have been called unto. Again, it was His exclusive right, but in God’s mercy He has extended this exclusive right to us.
It is the highest fellowship that has ever been known or even imagined. If you can imagine God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, can there be a more exclusive fellowship than that?
I know we like to use the word relationship. Bear with me for a moment. I do not like that word as much. Matter of fact, that word is not in the Bible. I know we say it over and over. The word that is in the Bible is fellowship.
We have been brought into this exclusive fellowship, if you can imagine. I do not think we can hardly take it in, but how wonderful it is.
First Corinthians 1:9 says:
God is faithful, through Whom ye were called into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
This is that exclusive privilege that has been extended to us.
And this is the highest purpose we talked about last time. Can you imagine a greater purpose?
Some people think salvation is a great purpose. It is indeed a great purpose. But if you can imagine what it says in Romans 8:29:
For whom He foreknew, He also foreordained to be conformed to the image of His Son,
that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
That was the first message in total. I hope you have seen this ultimate privilege. I hope you have seen this exclusive privilege. I hope you have seen this highest purpose. If you have, your life will be forever changed. You will not be the same if you have seen that.
Now today we are going to look at this matter of sonship in a developing way. We look at the birth of sons.
Now, you know how I like alliteration. That means words that always start with the same letter. It is not just to punish you, by the way, as some might think. It is actually to help you remember.
So I discovered a new word when I was seeking the Lord about this: the parturition of sons. Now, parturition—I can even spell it if you want me to, but I will not put you through that—the parturition of sons means the birth of sons.
And the first thing God is after is that we are to be born again. You cannot be a son unless you are born from above. That is the whole story of Nicodemus.
We will look today at just three things:
The necessity of new birth is not an option, by the way. Linda let me buy a new truck, and I bought a truck with every option I could get on it because, at my age, I am thinking this might be my last vehicle. But this is not an option, by the way. This happens to be a necessity.
And the one thing that the Lord reinforced to Nicodemus in that nocturnal meeting was to say, “Nicodemus, if you are going to be a son, you have to be born again.” It is a necessity.
Then we will look at the response of newborn sons. How do you know you are a son? If you do not have the right response, you are not a son. The Bible is very clear about what that response is. We will get into that.
And then, thirdly, the condition of newborn sons. We might have a little fun with that, okay? Because the condition of newborn sons is not the greatest, all right?
But the end of new sons, according to Hebrews 2:10, is that they are brought to glory. So we have to keep our eyes, in this development of sons, on the end when we think about it. I hope that helps.
Let us begin with this matter. Sonship begins with new birth. It continues through preparation and the maturing of sons. And it ends in mature sons who are brought to glory, who are conformed to the image of the Lord.
If you do not understand this deliberate process of God’s working, you will never quite get what He is doing in your life. You will always question, “Lord, why did You do this? Lord, why did You allow this?”
All that He is doing is for preparing sons for glory.
So, back to this first point: the necessity of new birth.
You know, since we are dealing with spiritual life, it is a lot like natural life. Spiritual life begins with birth. Now, I happen to be one who believes life begins with conception. You can argue with me if you want to, but when it comes to pro-life, I am dead set on that, okay?
But the actual manifestation of sonship begins at new birth. It is the same in natural life as it is in spiritual life. Sonship begins with new birth.
We have looked in John 1:11-13 at these verses. We just read them. These are comprehensive verses about new birth. They are speaking of the Jews. The Jews are the ones who did not receive Him, okay?
But then he goes on further. It says—and I will read it again because I do not want you to forget it:
He came unto His own, and they that were His own received Him not.
But as many as received Him, to them gave He the right to become children of God,
even to them that believe on His name:
who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
The thing that distinguished those that received Him is that they were born. They were reborn. And to become a child of God, or to become a son of God, you have to be born again.
I think this is very clear. It talks about believing in the Lord Jesus as the way to be born again. And it talks about being born of the Spirit—not of the flesh’s will, not of man’s will, not of blood, but by the Spirit.
I think this is so very important. This is the beginning of sonship.
Childbirth is a miracle. I think you all would agree with me. It is a miracle. Maybe you consider it just a natural miracle. I do not. I think it is a divine miracle: the birth of a child.
Now Linda and I—and I will tell you a story; I have her permission, so do not all look at her with teary eyes and think I am punishing her this morning. She is prepared for this, okay?—we could not have children. We could not. It was impossible.
I remember going to the mall, and I will never forget the tears in her eyes when she would see a new mother carrying a child. She would see a baby in a stroller, and it was everything I could do to move away and give her that moment.
I will never forget the pain in her heart of not being able to have children.
So, what does a man do? Not much. But I went and we bought a dog. What is the next best thing to a child? A dog.
And we bought this obnoxious little dog, like some obnoxious little children. He was one of those dachshund hounds—sausage things, you know, that are longer than they are tall.
He would bite the brothers and sisters. That is terrible. He bit Stella. I am sorry, Stella, to this day. He did, Stella. I do not know what it was about Stella.
His name was Sir Lucas Snobs, because of the German. Sir Lucas did not like people, and he would bite people. He bit Lance, so you are in good company. For some reason, you and Lance turned poor Sir Lucas off. I never got it.
But there was nothing we could do, and we went for years with fertility drugs, trying to no avail.
Then, I do not know how many of you know the story, but Linda nearly died. She was very close to death and went to the hospital. Then the Lord saved her life. She is a walking miracle—not because she has stuck with me these years. Gunther, I know what you are thinking. Not because of that. She is a walking miracle.
And then, when we got out of the hospital and the Lord saved her life, it returned in our hearts: would the Lord do this miracle and allow for childbirth?
You know, something happened. We went and got the new prescribed fertility drugs, and nothing happened. We got the fertility drugs and never took them—never took them. We were waiting for the time to be able to take them. We had a set cycle to take them, and we could not take them.
We thought, “Could she be pregnant?” She had just nearly died. We went to the doctor and said, “We have not been able to take the pills you gave us.” They checked her, and she was pregnant.
New birth is a miracle.
Spiritual birth is a divine miracle. Brothers and sisters, how wonderful. I will never forget the day Jonathan was born. He was our firstborn. We named him Jonathan because it means “gift of God.”
And then, Stella, we got rid of Sir Lucas, so you would never have to put up with him again, okay?
I only say that for one reason: new birth is precious. New birth is the beginning of life. New birth is essential for sons. And if we are going to be those sons that are brought to glory, we have to have new birth.
When it says in this verse that He gave them the right to be sons of God, you remember I made such a big deal last time about the difference between rights and privileges. You remember that.
We often like to boast of our rights, but when it comes to God, we need to boast of our privileges because we had no rights.
As a matter of fact, Darby, in his explanation of this, says this word should be power. Young’s Literal Translation says this word should be authority. It is like when those disciples were given power over the spirits, you remember, and in healing every manner of disease. They were given power. That is the right word.
What we were given is power to become a son of God through new birth.
Then you look at the story of Nicodemus. I think this is an amazing story. I love the story of Nicodemus. It is full of wonder, but it is a very great lesson in the story of Nicodemus when it comes to sonship.
I have already mentioned the absolute necessity of new birth. Now it starts with that phrase, “There was a man.” You remember, I like that phrase personally: “There was a man.”
But you remember the problem with this man: he was not a son of God. He was not a child of God.
He was quite a remarkable man. When you read about Nicodemus, it says he was a man from among the Pharisees. This was the highest sect in all of Judaism. It was the highest spiritual order. He was quite the man.
It goes further than that. It says he was a ruler of the Jews. Now, that means he sat upon the Sanhedrin. He was one of the Sanhedrin, which ruled all of the life—both civic and religious life—of all Judaism. It was only seventy people and one president.
He was a ruler of the Jews, the Word says. Then, in John 3:10, the Lord said, “Art thou the teacher of Israel, and understandest not these things?”
Remember, Nicodemus was saying, “What do You mean, ‘Be born again’? Can I enter my mother’s womb and come out again when I am old?” He was puzzled.
The Lord said, “Art thou the teacher of Israel, and understandest not these things?”
Now, that “the” is the definite article in Greek. It has an emphasis to it. It is like “the Son.” You know, when He is spoken of as the Son, it is the definite article.
It means, “Nicodemus, you are the main teacher of Israel, and you do not know these things.”
Quite a remarkable man when you think about it. Think of his spiritual pedigree. Think of his résumé, if he could write one. I do not suppose they did that. Now, we are all into human-resources guys writing résumés. How many résumés do you look at a week?
Well, you are unemployed. Sorry, I should not have done that to you. Just one—you look at yours, right? Forgive me, brother. We are still praying for you. You know that, do you not?
What a man Nicodemus was. What a man. But yet, he was not a child of God. He was not a son of God.
Now why do you think the Lord chose Nicodemus for this lesson, which takes so many verses, to make this point abundantly clear? I will tell you why. You may have your own opinion, but I will give you my thought.
My thought is this: this one represents the best of Israel’s sons, okay? The best of Israel’s sons. This one represents the best thing Judaism can produce. This is the absolute most religious man that existed at that point, you could say.
Yet, this one was not a son of God. This one was not a child of God. And so the Lord began to teach him this remarkable lesson: the best of you, the best that exists, the most experienced, the most proven one, has no hope unless he or she is born again.
You remember, he came to the Lord at night. I will tell you some more words about that. Not only that, he was a seeker.
People give Nicodemus a bad rap, and I do not buy into it at all. They say Nicodemus sort of snuck in at night. Remember, this is what I called a nocturnal meeting—at night. He came in because he was afraid of the Jews.
I do not believe for a moment this ruler of Israel, this teacher of Israel, was afraid of the Jews. I think he came to that moment, in that nocturnal meeting, to be alone with Jesus when the crowd was not pressing Him. I believe that is the whole truth.
He had these burning questions. He said, “We know Thou art a teacher come from God. No one could do these signs except God be with him.”
And you know, the Lord did not let him finish his thought. I think it is marvelous. The Lord knew exactly what his need was. He cut him off. He cut him right off.
Sometimes I do that to Linda. She says, “You cut me off.”
The Lord cut him off. He said, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, unless you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God.”
You remember, He said it three times. He did not just stop there. “Unless you are born of water and the Spirit, you cannot enter the kingdom of God.” Then He said again, “It is necessary that you be born again.”
Brothers and sisters, I believe this is an important lesson. If you are going to be a child of God, if you are going to be transformed into a son of God or daughter of God, you have to begin with this matter of new birth.
I will never forget the day I was born again. I will never forget it. It was February 4, 1972, and the God of glory met me in that moment. The God of glory. I will never forget it. It was transformational.
I had no religious upbringing. I was invited by my fellow hippies—my daughter knows I am one of the former hippies—to a meeting.
There, in this little revival meeting, when God was moving by His Spirit down at VCU, invited by friends who had become born again and become sons of the Most High, the God of glory met me.
Life was never the same.
The conviction of sin was so real. It was so oppressive. Equally, at the time, the peace of God, when I confessed, flowed into my being, and the love of the Lord transformed me.
It was so dramatic that the next day I went to start my last semester of college. I was the class clown to begin with. I know you find that hard to believe.
But when I carried my Bible and my big orange pen that said, “Jesus Saves,” my buddies thought I had lost my mind.
I did not lose my mind. The God of glory found me.
Now, your salvation experience might not be the same way. Linda and I often talk about this. She quietly learned of the Lord growing up, and she knows in her heart she is the Lord’s, and she knows she is born again.
Your experience may be different than mine. Thank God that He does not work just one way or the other. How precious that is.
But that night, everything changed, brothers and sisters. This, to me, is the necessity of new birth.
Unless you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God. Unless you are born of water and the Spirit, you cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
And the Lord would not stop. The third time He said, “Nicodemus”—it is like He is saying, “Nicodemus, are you getting the point?”—“It is needful that you be born again.”
Now, are you born again?
You may be Nicodemus. You may be the best of the best. You may be the most religious person anyone has ever known. By all measures, you have a pedigree and a résumé that is outstanding.
But in God’s eyes, there is only one thing that counts. The one thing that counts is: Are you born again?
I really have to tell people, especially in our circles, where we have ones who have grown up in our midst and do not really have that assurance about being born again: we need to know this.
It is the beginning of sonship. Until you take this first step in sonship, you will never come into the fullness of sonship. This is the burden that is on my heart.
Now, brothers and sisters, this best of Israel’s sons tells us something. When you look at the condition in the Word of God, you find out what man’s true condition is.
When you look in Romans 3, it says:
There is none righteous, no, not one;
there is none that understandeth,
there is none that seeketh after God.
There is not one, without this experience, that can become a son of God.
Our condition is worse than that, by the way. If you look at Ephesians 2:1, it says we are dead in our trespasses and sins.
Now, I get people who argue with me all the time and say, “I am not dead. I am walking and talking and breathing. How do you call me dead?”
Well, I love the illustration. You remember, I have used it before. It is that prison term, “dead man walking.” You may know what that means. It was a movie made not that long ago. I did not see the movie, by the way. I just know there was a movie. But I do know the history of it.
That is what we are. We are the living dead without being born again. That is our true condition. We are lost and without hope in this world—Ephesians says, without God.
This appeal to be born again needs to come to all of us so that we know that we are born again.
I remember the first time I learned about this matter of “dead man walking.” I learned it applies to those that are on death row. That is every human being. We are all on death row, waiting for judgment without the Lord, okay? You understand that?
That is where we all reside. Then, when they go from death row to the death house, there is a march, and they are bound as a prisoner. This march is called the death march.
That is what life is for those who are not born again. It is a death march. It is not a life march.
As he walks down, the other prisoners observe their fellow prisoner and begin to say, in the most ominous and sober tone, repeating the words again and again, “Dead man walking. Dead man walking. Dead man walking.”
Over and over, until he goes to the death house and receives his final sentence. That is what we are. That is where you may think you are Nicodemus, but Nicodemus is in the same boat.
May the Lord show us all the absolute necessity of new birth. I think this is so important. I do not want to leave without stressing how important this is.
God intentionally used this best man to show us our absolute need. That is the burden on this first matter about the birth of sons.
Are you born again? Do you know you are born again?
The thing I love about 1 John, the epistle, is that he says this phrase—and if you know 1 John, you will know the phrase—“we know.” He says it over and over. You need to notice things like that in the Word of God.
It says, “We know.” And there is another phrase equally important: “Hereby we know.”
Everyone can know they are born again. They should know. If it is the assurance of the Holy Spirit in the heart, that is enough. Then you are a son of God. You may be a newborn son, but you are nevertheless a son.
The second thing I want us to think about is the response of newborn sons. If you are a newborn son, what should your response be? Think about it. There ought to be a response.
I know the time when Jonathan and Jessica could finally communicate to us—other than just crying—there was a response. Every parent is waiting for that moment when they say, “Father. Mother.”
I believe the Scriptures make it very plain what the response of newborn sons is about.
There is a phrase that has to do with the Lord Jesus. There is a verse. If you turn with me to Mark 14:36, this is an incredible moment.
This is in the Garden of Gethsemane. This is in the Lord’s darkest hour before the cross. If you could imagine, it says when He was praying, when He was agonizing before the Father, His sweat was like great drops of blood.
Now, you medical people are going to have to explain that to me. I have not heard a sufficient explanation of that. But, brothers and sisters, this was His moment.
What a night this was, when you think about it.
In that night, He says to Him:
Abba, Father, all things are possible unto Thee;
remove this cup from Me:
howbeit not what I will, but what Thou wilt.
Think about it. This was the response of the one and only Son in His darkest moment: “Abba, Father.”
Think about that. I think that is so remarkable.
Abba is a translation from Aramaic, which was the language of the Lord Jesus in the time of the disciples. It simply means Father. “Father” is the English translation of the Greek, and it literally means Father.
So He is saying, in His moment of deepest agony, His single response to God is, “Abba, Father.” I think that is important.
That is how you know you are a son. That is how you know. There is no clearer proof than this: “Father.”
Father was the cry of the one and only Son. Should it not be the cry of all the sons?
Now, I know there are those—and if I step on your toes, I know I have done it before, so I will ask forgiveness to begin—I do not like people who use that common phrase and say, “Daddy.” I honestly do not like that.
Now, if you do it, I am not going to wrestle you to the ground and fight and yell and scream at you. But I think this is so filled with reverence.
He said, in His heart of hearts, at this moment of deepest agony, “Father. Father. Can this cup be taken from Me? But nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt.”
I believe this is the biblical response for sons. This is the evidence of sons.
Look at Romans 8. I think you will begin to understand. Romans 8 has much to do with sonship, in case you did not know it. We have already read one verse in Romans 8:29.
I may have had the wrong verse. Yes, I wrote—I cannot read my own writing. You have to forgive me.
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
For ye received not the spirit of bondage again unto fear;
but ye received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
It was not just the response of the one and only Son, but every one of us who are children of God, who have been born again and adopted. The cry of sonship is, “Abba, Father.”
This is the proof. This is the proof.
Paul said to the Corinthian believers, “I have begotten you.” This was the proof. The proof in their words was this single phrase: “Abba, Father.”
Something wonderful is in this phrase. Something absolutely tremendous is in this phrase.
Do you remember Mary Magdalene after the resurrection? The Lord Jesus appeared to her. You remember the scene. I think it is quite a remarkable scene, and the words of the Lord to Mary Magdalene are even more remarkable.
He said to her in John 20:17:
Touch Me not; for I am not yet ascended unto the Father:
but go unto My brethren, and say to them,
I ascend unto My Father and your Father,
and My God and your God.
How wonderful. What a fellowship has been opened to us, brothers and sisters. What a tremendous fellowship.
Before, He could only call Him “My Father.” Before, He could only call Him “My God.” But when He was raised from the dead, the good news came forth in full force.
He said, “I go to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God.” What a magnificent assurance that is.
Even when He was teaching the disciples to pray, He was looking forward to this moment. He said, “Pray like this: Our Father Who art in heaven.”
But until the Lord died for our sins and made the provision that we could be born anew by the Spirit, we were not included in this great fellowship of “My Father” and “My God,” becoming our Father and our God.
Brothers and sisters, I think this response is very important. It is not just some obscure doctrine in the Word of God, but it is the very basis for our fellowship.
The third place, if you will turn to Galatians 4:4-7, where this response is talked about:
But when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
that He might redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
And because ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
So that thou art no longer a bondservant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.
I think this is tremendous. If you have been born again, this will not only be the Lord’s heart cry; this will begin to be your heart cry. Without this response, there is no evidence that you are born again.
I think that is very clear in the Word. They make it clear it was the Lord’s cry. They make it clear it is our cry. And they make it clear that in this desire to bring many sons, it must be their cry as well.
I have told this story before. I will tell it again and ask forgiveness if you do not like me repeating it.
When I got my master’s degree in engineering, by the way, that was not my favorite subject. My favorite course—they allowed me to take two electives—the first elective I chose was the aesthetics and history of jazz.
Now, you may think less of me because of that, but I actually enjoyed that course very much. We had this keyboard professor who could play all the jazz and give all the history, and I quite liked it, by the way.
He would play these phenomenal songs and explain what was behind them. Now, I have forgotten everything he said. We do that, especially as we get old.
But one thing he said I will never forget. He said jazz began with the African influence, and the whole thing had to do with call and response.
A call goes out in jazz. Those playing the instruments respond, and then somebody solos, and the whole thing is responding to that call.
I believe, in the divine world, a call has gone out from God: “You must be born again.” And He is looking for a response from the people. That response is, “Abba, Father.”
There is a call—the call to sonship. There has to be a response for it to be complete, and that response is, “Abba, Father.”
I think this is the response of newborn sons. Now, the last thing: what is the condition of newborn sons?
This might startle you a little bit. The true condition of newborn sons is that they are infants. That should not startle you. They are babes.
Peter made it very clear: as babes, desire the pure milk of God’s Word. The way you grow as a son is by being nurtured on the Word of God. You will not only be born a son; you will mature as a son.
To me, this condition of newborn sons—think of the natural realm for a minute—they are quite lovely things. I think most everybody sees a baby and they go, “Oh.” You know, it is kind of the same for puppies, by the way. They say, “Puppy.”
If you are upset with me comparing your little Johnny or Mary to a puppy, please forgive me. But, brothers and sisters, they are cute things. They are cuddly things—not dogs now; I am talking about sons again.
But these cute and cuddly things are selfish things. I want to tell you, the true condition is that it is all about little Johnny or little Mary.
For all of you who have endured being a parent, you know what it is like. The alarm sounds off in their mouth, and they begin to cry at the top of their lungs until you take care of their need.
I think that is the true condition. They are infants. They are babes. This is understandable. They are in their parents’ care. But thank God they grow out of it, or we would all be celibate.
I mean, can you imagine? I will never forget our middle son—and I have left Jessica alone today; she appreciates it very much—but our middle son, Justin. I nicknamed him Fussy Jess because he was so fussy.
We could not—I could not—do anything right. I will tell you, you know that head thing going around, where people are throwing things? It sounds like that to me at this point. I could not do anything right with him.
He was so fussy. I remember one time in our former house, I could not comfort him. I tried in every way to comfort him. I do not know why Linda left me in that position.
But I finally gave up. I took Justin and laid him in the middle of the family-room floor. I said, “That is it. That is it.” I walked out of the room and shut the door.
I believe that is like us as Christians, newborn sons. It is all about us: “Meet my need, and meet it now.” That is how we think.
The interest of newborn sons is not what the Father’s will is. It is not even joining with Him and doing the Father’s business. It is all about me. Me is the center of the universe.
I believe this is the true condition of sons.
Mark Twain said, “The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog.”
Our condition.
Harry Truman, that straightforward spokesman, said, “You want a friend in Washington, D.C.? Get a dog.”
Our condition as newborn sons is all about us. It is me, the center of the universe. They are innocent. They are selfish.
Thank God it only lasts for a little while, and hopefully they begin to mature as sons. They grow up, and they begin to be conformed to the image of the one and only Son. They begin to respond to His love and respond to His discipline. As they do that, they are made sons.
You see, I think we are born as children, but we are made sons. The Bible makes this very clear. There is a progression.
We begin as newborns. We mature a little bit, and we do not remain totally self-centered children. Then it goes further and shows that the full spiritual progression is that we become mature sons who care about the Father’s business.
They care about the things in His heart. They give themselves to Him that His will may be done. I think this is very clear.
Unfortunately, the English words that say “children” do not translate well what the Greek words were. There are a number of words in the Bible that show the true condition of sons.
First of all—and I will not read Greek because you will not remember Greek any more than you remember my stories—there is a word that means an infant: darlings, little children.
You remember when John wrote his epistle? They even added an extra word in the English translation so you would get that the meaning was deeper. That phrase is “little children.” These are little children.
There is another Greek word. It means a childling, okay? They are still not mature. They are a half-grown boy or girl.
Then there is a third Greek word, and it means a child, a daughter, or a son. All these Greek words give us the full picture of the development of childhood. They give us first the condition of sons, and then they show the development process.
I will give you an example. John said, “My little children, these things I write unto you.” That is the infant. That is the littlest one.
Then later, when he said, “I write unto you, little children,” that is the immature young childling.
But the Word of God goes further. There is a separate word for son. Again, I do not want to tell you the Greek word because you will never remember it. But that word is quite particular.
That is the word that occurs in Hebrews 2:10: “In bringing many sons to glory.” That is what is in Romans 8:19 when it talks about sonship.
There is a maturing process. We go from being totally newborn, self-serving, selfish human beings, asking, “When is God going to meet my need?” to those who begin to mature and grow up, become transformed, and become useful for the Master.
That is the end, brothers and sisters. That is the progression.
I will never forget our brother Kong said years ago, speaking of these youngest of the group—the infants—“The Adamic nature is naked in the child.”
I will never forget telling my own kids, and telling them about their kids, and telling other parents—they may still be mad at me, by the way—that when little Johnny was having a total fit and turned upside down, I would say, “There is the best of Adam right there.”
Brothers and sisters, thank God He does not leave us in that condition. Thank God we have had that condition, but that progressive growth to full maturity is what He is after.
May the Lord bring us into an experience of that full-grown son.
I remember Brother Sparks—it was an article, a message; I am not exactly sure—he quoted Hebrews 6:1 and used that biblical phrase which really explains the whole book of Hebrews: “unto full growth.”
That is what this is about: sonship.
Sonship begins with being a newborn infant. It goes from there to being a childling, still mostly self-centered, still completely dependent upon its parents. It goes from there to being an older child.
But then it is supposed to go far further than that. It is supposed to go all the way to maturity. That is the full-grown and mature son.
Brothers and sisters, this is the burden the Lord has laid on my heart. The parturition of sons is the beginning only.
So often I find Christians, even myself at times, stuck in one of those phases. My condition still is not the condition God is looking for in His full-grown sons.
You might be twenty years old. You might be forty years old. You might be sixty years old. You might be eighty years old. God forbid, you might be a hundred years old and still in the same condition.
But that is not what God is after. That is not what God is after at all. What He is looking for is for us to grow up, to become fully mature, to be conformed to His image.
These are the sons that He is bringing to glory.
Let us just have a word of prayer.
Lord, we thank You for Your great purpose. We can hardly imagine a higher privilege, a more exclusive privilege. We can hardly imagine a greater plan: that what was intended for the one and only Son has been extended to us.
You are looking for those that can be born of the Spirit. You are looking for those who can receive sonship. You are looking for those who can grow and mature as sons.
You are looking for ones that, when they see us, they see the Lord Jesus. Lord, do this work. We want to offer ourselves to You.
I believe most in this room are already born again. But I believe many of us have not gone on and progressed and become those full-grown sons that You are looking for.
We offer ourselves to You in this moment, as we are with our brothers and sisters and in Your presence, that You would bring us into that full maturity.
That we would go on unto full stature. That in the end, You would have many sons that You bring to glory.
We ask these things in Your precious name. Amen.