13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1:13
Introduction
As we narrow in on verse 13 this afternoon, I want us to consider how God’s children are born. Now, on the one hand it is a bit of a spiritual mystery, and we will see more about the new birth when we get to chapter 3. But in regard to how God’s children are born, verse 13 tells how by telling us 3 ways God’s children are not born, and then simply stating the source of their birth. We will consider those today.
God’s Children are Born Not by Blood
This I take the evangelist to mean that one is not made a child of God merely by being born an ethnic Jew. There is one way of salvation and it is through the Lord Jesus Christ. Many Jews rejected Christ thus proving their ethnicity not enough to make them born a child of God. Of course, there is no ethnic person who is a child of God by virtue of their ethnicity, whatever it may be.
Nor by the Will of the Flesh
The desire to be a Christian is not a natural desire within man, nor does man have the natural ability to make himself a child of God.
There is an insane obsession with free will among many today. The problem with most of the conversation surrounding this issue is that the term free will is not defined biblically and it is primarily concerned with man’s free will over God’s free will. No one seems to care about God’s free will. Why is that? So often in seeking to preserve and elevate the perceived free will of man, we end up trampling over God’s free will. We do not honor God when we limit His freedom by preserving man’s freedom. Have we forgotten that He is the Creator, and we are but mere creatures? Have we forgotten that He is the Potter and we are the clay?
Biblically, the human will is free to act according to its nature. The nature of man is dead in trespasses and sins. Therefore the will is free to sin – but it is powerless to be Spiritual or godly – we need new natures for that. Which is what we are made in Christ – new creatures (See Ephesians 2:1-3, 4-10 and 2 Corinthians 5:17-18).
Being born of God is an act of sovereign grace according to God’s free will to save. Man’s free will will not will to save him – God’s free will is the only will that wills to save.
Consider the language of being “born of God.” No one chooses or wills to be born – it just happens to them. Or a better way to put it: no one can will themselves to be born – it just happens to them. Now, being born of God doesn’t just happen to us, it is willed by God, and we express repentance of sin and faith in Christ – but the point is that we can’t and don’t want to will that into existence according to our flesh. It takes God. This verse could not be more clear that we do not become Christians by our own will. Now, this is not to be viewed as a negative thing – but a wonderful thing. If it were up to my free will to be saved, I would never be saved. But since God wills my salvation, I know it will happen! Praise God! If we’re honest with ourselves and we look at the blackness in the depths of our hearts apart from the sovereign grace of God, then these verses ought to leap off the pages with joy to our eyes – it’s not dependent on me and my will but God’s! Amen!
Nor by the Will of Man
During the time of the middle ages, the practice of indulgences by the Roman Catholic church radically developed. In short, the practice of indulgences at that time was the practice of paying the Roman Catholic church for forgiveness of sins, if you showed true penitence. By the time of Martin Luther the practice had so developed that you could purchase indulgences for dead relatives who were said to may have been suffering in purgatory, purgatory of course being a staple of Roman Catholicism, especially at that time. So it was said you could purchase indulgences to free your relatives from purgatory. Before Martin Luther was converted, he actually did this for his dead grandfather who he feared was experiencing great sorrows in purgatory. Obviously, as you can see, this was a money machine for the Roman Catholic church, and it absolutely kept people in bondage. After Martin Luther’s conversion, and when he began writing against Rome, this is one of the main topics that he confronted. In fact, there was a particular person, who sold indulgences that Luther confronted, named Johannes Tetzel. Tetzel is attributed as saying “As soon as a coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs.” He would go around saying this jingle, if you will, while selling indulgences. It likely wasn’t original to him, many others probably said similar things – but it just shows the abusive practice of the day.
But we are born, not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God! Another man can’t do it for you – only the God-man. The price has been paid and the price was His blood and righteousness.
Only by being born of God is one made a child of God
It is an act of Sovereign Grace. When a person is born of God, it is not merely a human event, it is not a human decision or a work of the flesh – it is a miraculous divine act. It is the activity of God! It is a thing that is brought about by God! Not only is it a divine act of God, it is a divine act of grace. When God makes us alive together with Christ it is not something that we earned, it is not something that is owed to us, it is not something that we were asking for, but it is a free gift of God’s grace that He freely bestows upon undeserving sinners. Why in the world would we want to remove the sovereign grace of God from the equation, and make conversion a man-made event. I don’t want to do that – I know my heart! It’s a work of God alone – let’s attribute praise, honor, and glory where it is due, and quit thieving the credit that is God’s. It is such good news that it is God and God alone who saves. We are born of God, not of man. If I had to preach that man could be born again by the will of the flesh, I’d have nothing to preach, I’d go off and do something else. But I get to preach the work of God – and the work of His Sovereign Grace! Now that is something to preach! That is something to gather every Sunday around and celebrate! That is something bigger than us! I love the simple truth that God is God and we are not! He has condescended to sinners like us, and HE saves us.
The fact of the matter is that as sinners we need someone outside of ourselves to do what we cannot do ourselves – namely give us the new birth. And the good news of the gospel is that the only one who is able to do that for us, does! The Lord Jesus Christ – God in flesh – the only suitable Savior does for us what we could not do for ourselves.
In John 3 Jesus says that if we would enter the Kingdom of Heaven we must be born again. Well how do we do that? That’s not something we can do to ourselves. That’s where the good news of the gospel comes in – we are born of God! God does it! God demands the new birth? God gives the new birth! What a reason to celebrate! What a reason to sing! What a reason to preach the gospel!
Being born of God is an act that glorifies God alone and removes human boasting
Again, Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
It gives confidence in evangelism and in the discipling of our children – we don’t have to be the perfect parent and always say and do the perfect thing, or else it’s our fault if our kids fall away – no, God will do it. Do you ever worry about saying and doing the right thing for your kids – does fear of making mistakes paralyze your discipling of your children? Let it be no more. The sovereign grace of God frees us to go forth and obey boldly, without fear of messing up. God can overcome our parental mess ups. Isn’t that good news?
Martin Luther said that we ought to “sin boldly.” Now, he wasn’t saying that we ought to just go out headlong into sin and be abusers of the grace of God. He was saying that we ought to go forth and act for God and obey God with boldness, without fear of sinning, in fact knowing we are going to mess up and sin in our strivings toward obedience, but that the sovereign grace of God covers us.
If our children’s salvation depended upon our perfect gospel presentation, and perfect guidance and perfect parenting, then that would paralyze us. We wouldn’t do it because we’d be afraid to mess us – we know we would. But you see, it’s not dependent on man, but it is dependent on God who gives mercy. Therefore, that actually frees us to boldly obey knowing full well we are going to mess up.
Conclusion
Being born of God is just that – an act of God. How do you know you are born of God? Verse 12 shows us the main way: You will receive the Lord Jesus Christ and believe in His name. That’s why we say “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.” That’s why we go out and preach the gospel and call sinners to repent and look to Christ for forgiveness – because God works through the means of the preaching of the gospel to give the new birth and convert sinners – and the sinner expresses that in repentance and faith in Christ.
So I ask you today: have you been born of God? Do you believe in the name of Jesus Christ?
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