And this is Leslie Curran saying hello and welcome in the Saviour's name to our Gospel broadcast. I'm glad you're joining us today and here to let the Bible speak is the Reverend John Greer. Thank you Mr Curran, it is my great joy to come again with God's Word on this another Gospel programme and I pray that the Lord will graciously meet with us as we come to his Word today.

In Galatians 6 and verse 15 we read, For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor on circumcision, but a new creature. This text is obviously connected with the previous verse in which the Apostle speaks of glorying or boasting only in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. That verse says, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world.

The Apostle is saying in verse 14 that through the power of the finished work of the cross he became a new creature. He was a changed man and therefore here in verse 15 he proceeds to speak of that subject and he uses these words a new creature or a new creation. He's talking about the experience of the new birth and in this verse there are two facts on the surface that we can note easily.

First of all the new birth is an inward experience. Notice how Paul states that circumcision does not avail anything in relation to a true saving experience. Circumcision was an outward ritual upon which the Jews placed the utmost emphasis and reliance believing that the observance of it along with the rest of the ceremonial law would bring them into a right relationship with God.

But Paul's response is that it is not an outward ritual that avails to the saving of the soul but the inward experience of the new birth. The new birth is the sovereign miracle of the Holy Spirit whereby he creates within the heart of man a new principle of spiritual life resulting in faith in Jesus Christ and repentance toward God in order to be saved from one's sins and the consequence of those sins. The Bible shows that the new birth is from above.

That is the sense of John 3 where it says except a man be born again it means born from above. So it is divine and heavenly in origin the new birth. It is willed by God the Father according to James 1 verse 18 of his own will begat he us.

James says it's affected by the Holy Spirit directly and immediately within the soul. John 3 verse 8 refers to being born of the Spirit. So the new birth is truly an inward experience and no outward religious ritual whatever it may be can bring about the miracle that occurs in the new birth.

The new birth is not only an inward experience it is also an indispensable experience. Notice carefully Paul's words for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision. Notice that the apostle refers to both the observance and the non-observance of the outward religious ritual whether it may be circumcision or any other ritual and we may insert even at this point the New Testament ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper.

In the first instance Paul's point is that the observance of these ordinances contributes nothing to the saving of the soul but in the second instance he underlines that the non-observance of the religious ritual will not jeopardize the soul's salvation. So he is teaching that with regard to the saving of the soul we may dispense with religious ritual but we cannot dispense with a new birth. It is an indispensable experience.

For example the thief on the cross who was a Jew would have been circumcised but it availed nothing for him. At the same time he had no opportunity to be baptized or to partake of the Lord's Supper that had been instituted by the Lord Jesus Christ already yet that did not place his soul in jeopardy. What the man needed was the new birth that alone was going to avail for him as he found himself suspended between time and eternity over the very precipice of hell and thank God he was born again as he hung on that wooden tree on that stake and it was evidenced by his cry for mercy and his faith in Jesus Christ when he uttered that great cry, Lord remember me.

The new birth therefore is indispensable. It is the one thing necessary and this is the main point that Paul is making in this text. What Paul teaches here is that what the Lord taught Nicodemus in John 3, the absolute necessity of the new birth, its indispensability in that without this experience a sinner can neither see nor enter the kingdom of God and therefore in John 3 7 there's presented the Lord's great summary of this matter, marvel not that I said unto you ye must be born again.

With the true sense of this text let us consider some reasons why the new birth is indispensable. First, only by the new birth is a sinner united with the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice the opening words of this text, for in Christ Jesus.

This term is the standard New Testament

“In this Gospel message, Leslie Curran introduces Reverend John Greer, who emphasizes the vital Christian doctrine of the new birth, drawn from Galatians 6:15. Reverend Greer explains that outward religious rituals like circumcision, baptism, or the Lord’s Supper hold no saving power; rather, what truly matters is becoming a “new creature” through the inward, sovereign work of the Holy Spirit. He outlines that the new birth is both an inward and indispensable experience, necessary for salvation and union with Jesus Christ. Using biblical examples, including the thief on the cross and theological truths about union with Adam and Christ, he underscores that only through being born again can a person be spiritually united with Christ and adopted into God’s family. The message concludes with a heartfelt appeal to seek Christ through faith and experience this essential spiritual transformation.”

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term along with many similar terms that denotes the truth of union with the Lord and the particular point under scrutiny is that with regard to the issue of being in Christ or united with Christ it is the new birth alone wrought by the Holy Spirit that secures it. By the new birth only is an actual union with Christ formed. A true Christian is a person who is actually or truly united with the Lord Jesus Christ.

To be in a person is an actual or real union, a fact that's proved in scripture in various ways. For example, the Bible teaches that the entire human race is in union with Adam. It's taught in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 22, for example, in the words in Adam all die.

Now in Adam denotes union with Adam as the head and the representative of the entire human race. All of humanity was physically in the loins of Adam and was also legally represented by Adam in Eden. Therefore when Adam sinned and come under the penalty of death, so did the entire race.

All humanity is under that same original penalty, proving this fact of union with Adam. Romans 5.12, by one man, and that one man is Adam, sin entered into the death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. In Hebrews 7 verses 9 and 10, we have a further proof and illustration of this matter of being in union with another person.

In that chapter it says in verse 9, Levi paid tithes in Abraham, for he was yet in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him. Now Levi was the great-grandson of Abraham. He was not even born at the time when Abraham lived, obviously, and yet we're told here that he was in the loins of his father, that is Abraham, his great-grandfather when Melchizedek met him.

You may know the story in Genesis 14 how Melchizedek met Abraham and blessed him, and Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek. And we're told here by the Holy Spirit that Levi was in Abraham's loins, which means that he was physically in the loins of his great-grandfather, in that Abraham was his progenitor, but he was also represented by Abraham because we're told here he paid tithes in Abraham. So notice this, this is a remarkable statement, and it shows to us that Levi, the great-grandson, was physically and legally represented by Abraham at that point when Abraham and Melchizedek met and the tithes were paid.

So these examples show us that union with Christ is real and actual, just as much as union with Adam is real, and the union between Abraham and Levi is a real union, so believers are in Jesus Christ. Now that union with Christ comes about only by the new birth. It is a result of the mighty transaction of the Holy Spirit, whereby he baptizes, in a spiritual sense of course, sinners into Jesus Christ.

This is what's taught in Romans 6, 3, baptized into Jesus Christ, and that is not water baptism, that is the action of the Holy Spirit symbolized by water baptism. And in 1 Corinthians 12, 13, that is verified where Paul says, by one Spirit are you all baptized into one body, that is into the body of Christ, and therefore into union with the Lord Jesus himself. So you're not in union as a result of your ritual, your ceremony.

You may be baptized, whenever it is, by water, but it does not unite you with Christ. You may go to the Lord's table, you may partake of communion regularly, but it does not unite you with Christ. It won't save your soul, it won't contribute anything to a right standing with God.

The only issue here is that you need to be born again, because it's through the new birth that you will come into Jesus Christ, into union with him, to know him as your saviour. By the new birth therefore, there not only is a real union, but a personal union with Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 5, 17 talks about a new creation, a new creature, the new birth therefore, and it says literally, so that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

So the point is made that union with Christ is not on a collective basis, but on a personal basis, and therefore there must be a personal experience of the new birth. There can be no union or inclusion within an earthly family, except by being personally born into that family, and so it is with the family of God. If you take an earthly family, there are certain marks that prove that people belong to it.

For example, there is the language of the family. In other words, they speak a certain language and a way of conversing, and that would prove that they belong to that family, and the same is true in the Lord's family, and the language there is the language of prayer. The new birth brings about the Holy Spirit dwelling in the heart, and the cry goes up, Abba, Father.

The person knows the Lord, the person loves the Lord, the person prays to the Lord. It's a personal union as a result of the new birth. Seek Christ.

You need to be united with him. May you come by faith today and trust him as your saviour.