A New Life in Christ

 Temple Baptist Church - 8-6-2023

Psalm 16

 

Introduction:

 

A.  The beginning of the Psalm says “Michtam of David”.  These words are found in the headings of 6 Psalms: 16, 56. 57. 58. 59, 60.  There is a lot of discussion about the word “Michtam”.  From this name, many refer to Psalm 16 as “The Golden Psalm”.

 

B.  “Michtam” means to carve or to engrave, thus giving its meaning as a Psalm to be set up as a monument because of its monumental nature.  Thus, making these Psalms of great importance.  Not just write these psalms but engrave them!

 

C.  Verses 1-4 – David’s Praise of God.

 

D.  Verses 5-9 – David’s Perception of God.

 

1.  Verse 5 – The Lord is my Portion.

 

2.  Verse 7 – The Lord is my Counselor.

 

3.  Verse 8 – The Lord is my Anchor.

 

4.  Verse 9 – The Lord is my Gladness, Glory, and Grace.

 

E.  Verses 10-11 – David’s Pleasing with God.

 

F.  Psalm 16, as many other Psalms in your Bible, is Messianic: relating or referring to the coming Messiah.  In the last two verses of the Psalm, we find the gospel: the death, burial, and resurrection.  

 

Psalms 16:10-11  For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. (11)  Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

 

G.  This is prophetic of the new birth of the believer found in Romans, chapter 6.

 

Romans 6:1-5  What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?  (2)  God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?  (3)  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?  (4)  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.  (5)  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

 

H.  The likeness of His resurrection is found in both the physical and spiritual realms.

 

1.  The physical realm as our bodies will one day be changed when Jesus comes for His church.  “Ain’t no grave gonna keep my body down.”

 

2.  The spiritual realm as our spiritual resurrection changes the life of the believer and is described here in verse 11.

 

J.  Tonight, I want to look at three aspects of the new life in Christ Jesus that is available to each of us in this life.

 

1.  His Path – “Thou wilt show me the path of life.”

 

a.  An Individual Path - Hebrews 12:1  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

 

b.  A Biblical Path - Psalms 119:105  NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

 

c.  A Plain Path - Psalms 27:11  Teach me thy way, O LORD, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.

 

d.  A Proven Path - Jeremiah 6:16  Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.

 

e.  A Providential Path - Psalms 77:19  Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known.

 

2.  His Presence.  “in thy presence is fulness of joy”

 

a.  A Place of Great Privilege - Hebrews 13:5  Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

 

b.  A Place of Great Protection - Isaiah 43:1-2  But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.  (2)  When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.

 

c.  A Place of Great Joy - Psalms 28:7  The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.

 

3.  His Pleasure – “at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.”

 

a.  A Pleasure In This Life – Isaiah 12:2-3  Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.  (3)  Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.

 

b.  A Pleasure In The Life to Come – Jude 24  Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,

The New Birth

 Temple Baptist Church - 10-12-2022

John 3:1-16

 

Introduction:

 

A.  Tonight, I want to look at one of the most read and quoted of all verses in the Bible, John 3:16.  One of the problems with the interpretation of this verse that it has been taught as a “stand alone” verse.  It has often been called “The Gospel in a Nutshell.”

 

B.  As a standalone verse, you can interpret it in the manner that you like or in the manner that agrees with your philosophy.  A verse taken out of context can become a pretext.  One of the basic hermeneutical principles of Bible interpretation is the Context Principle where verses are interpretated within the context.

 

C.  In these verses, we find a great man in Israel.  John 3:1  There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:

 

1.  Nicodemus was a respected ruler of the Jews of the Pharisee Sect who upheld the Oral Law.

 

2.  Nicodemus was a fearful man and came to Jesus by night (“he same came to Jesus by night,”) so that other Pharisees would not know.

 

3.  Nicodemus was an honest man looking for an honest answer to his question concerning who Jesus was.  “Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. “

 

4.  Nicodemus became a saved man who was a “silent believer” who became a “vocal believer” who became an “out of the closet believer” after the cross of Christ.

 

D.  Jesus knew what Nicodemus needed, the new birth mentioned 3 times in the first 7 verses (3,5,7) of this chapter. He was a religious man but not yet a saved man.  Because of his honesty, our Lord witnessed to him, and he believed.

 

1.  The earthly birth brought about sin and death.  Romans 5:12  Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

 

Romans 3:10-12  As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:  (11)  There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.  (12)  They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

 

Romans 3:23  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

 

 

 

 

2.  The New Birth or heavenly birth brings about holiness and eternal life.

 

Romans 6:23  For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

1 Peter 1:23  Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

 

E.  What stands out in this portion of Scripture is that it is the first record of our Lord Jesus Christ witnessing to someone.  He is telling a religious but lost man how to be saved or born again.  It is not about one verse but about the entire context of His message.

 

F.  He explained the necessity of the new birth in the first 13 verses and the explanation of how to be born again in verses 14-16. 

 

G.  The first word of John 3:16 is “For.”  “For” can be used either as preposition or a conjunction.  In this case, it is a conjunction.  A word used to connect clauses or sentences.  In this case, it ties verses 14 and 15, an Old Testament example that Nicodemus was familiar with, to verse 16, a New Testament reality that he should have known as a Master if Israel.

 

H.  John 3:14.  “as Moses … even so”

 

1.  The Old Testament Example: the cause of sin; the recognition of sin; the solution for sin.

 

a.  A knowledge of sinfulness and the judgment of God.  (John 3:14-15)

 

Numbers 21:4-9  And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way.  (5)  And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.  (6)  And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.  (7)  Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.  (8)  And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.  (9)  And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived. 

 

b.  The knowledge of the solution for sinfulness and eternal death.  Look to the cause of the problem and look upon the solution to the problem and Live!

 

2.  John 3:15.  “that whosoever believeth in him”

 

a.  As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, we must lift up the Son of God!

 

b.  Salvation is always a sinfulness, a repentance, and a singular faith.

 

3.  John 3:16.

 

a.  There must be the knowledge of need.  We have certainly been bitten by the Serpent.

 

b.  There must be the knowledge of a solution.  We certainly know that Christ is the only propitiation for our sinfulness.

 

c.  There must be a coming to Christ by looking upon His finished work.

 

4.  Whosoever will! 

 

a.  Calvinism is dead at the foot of the cross in the word “whosoever.”  Not the elect but the lost.

 

b.  It is whosoever will, or it is whosoever won’t.   Either we do or we don’t!

 

Conclusion:  Is this simple enough?  It is!  John 3:16 is not a “stand alone” verse as it is tied to both the preceding 2 verses and the context.