In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of being born again in order to go to heaven. He uses the analogy of three men, all born as sons of Adam, to illustrate the concept. One man, who attends a liberal church and does not hear the gospel, remains in his old nature and does not experience salvation. The preacher highlights the conflict between the old nature and the new nature in a believer's life, showing that even after being born again, the old nature still exists. He emphasizes the need to choose the new nature and live according to God's will.

And in Christ, a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. Now the additions by the translators do no injustice whatsoever to the scriptures if we understand what it means. But I'm going to show you this morning some teaching about this passage that will help you, I think, in many areas of the Christian life. Let us bow our heads please for a moment of prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we come now to the preaching of the Word of God. We pray that you'll help us to do it in power and may there be enlightenment to our hearts and conviction to our souls. In Jesus' name, amen. I just don't understand what's happened to him. I just can't figure out what's happened to my husband. He's a strange person these days. These are words that come to me from ladies. My wife, would somebody, brother, have somebody stay out there and take care of those problems. I'd like him to come in and out if you would please. Just have someone stay out there. And a brother ushers back in the back. If you'd just use some judgment now, you'd seat the folks that come in first down in the first empty chairs there. You see you put them in the back empty chairs. Folks have to come in front of those that just came in. So as the folks come in, seat them as far up as you can in those empty chairs, you see, and that way you won't have to bother later on. If the folks back there now were in those chairs up here, it'd save some bother. So let's keep the interruptions as few as possible. Now, these are statements. But now, wait a minute. Somebody says, my wife got converted. I can't understand my wife anymore. I just can't figure, or my, a little girl came to our church, a teenager, and she came to me last week and said, my dad says that I'm not the same. He wants me to wear short dresses and mini skirts and I don't do it anymore. And he said, he can't figure me out. But you know, the same thing is true when it comes to some Christian people. There are some Christians who can't figure out, fellas, either come in or come out. Don't stand around back while I'm preaching. Well, bring them in. But don't you stand, either bring them in or let them out. But bring them on in. Now, I don't want you coming in and out and just standing around back there. That's good. I just got through making the announcement to seat them in the front seats. Oh boy. Okay. As quickly as possible. Right quickly. Now then, I want someone to stand out. Brother Shelby, listen, no, no one else coming in now. No one else coming in. Let's have the preaching service. We only have 30 minutes and let's do it. All right. Now then, the fact that people can't understand someone that just got saved is only a part of it. Did you know there are some Christians that can't understand other Christians? Have you ever heard anybody say, well, I'm a Christian, but I just can't understand that. Well, I don't mind folks going to church, but they're just going to cede over religion. I can understand that. Now, that's true. It is entirely possible for a person who is not a Christian not to understand the person that's become a Christian. Why? Because he's become a new creature. And it's hard for one creature to understand another creature. Did you ever hear anybody say, I just can't understand women. Have you heard anybody say that? Come think of it. I never heard anybody say they could. But I just can't understand women. Did any of you husbands ever say, I just can't understand my wife. I just can't understand women. Anybody ever say that? Any of you ladies ever hear anybody say that? All right. You know why? Because we're not your kind of creature. Any of you ladies ever say, I just can't understand man. I know that. You're not a man. Some of you look like it, but you're not a man. And you can't. You know why? One creature can't understand another. And so to think, when a person becomes a Christian, folks can't understand him. A person that's not a Christian can't understand the person that is a Christian. Why? He's a new creature. He's been born again. He's a new creature. But on the other hand, there are people who are Christians who become better Christians, and they become new creatures again. That's right. New creatures again. Let me tell you what this verse really means. If any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. That means a person that's saved is a new creature. But let me tell you, paraphrase. If any man be in Christ, be a new creature, is also one translation. Now, when a person is saved, he becomes a new creature. But it doesn't lose the old creature. He's two people. And so the Lord is saying, if you're in Christ, be a new creature. So it is possible for a person to be in Christ, having become a new creature, then to come to the place where he gives everything to Christ, and he becomes still a new creature again. You see, actually what it says is, if any man be in Christ, let him be being a new creature all the time. Let him be being a new creature. So as a person grows in grace, let's suppose that Dr. Billings gets saved a year before I do. And for that one year, I just can't understand Billings. Somebody says, of course you can't. He's a new creature. But I get saved a year later. But by the time I get saved, Billings decides to give a little more to God. And so I'm saved, but I still can't understand Billings. Why? Because he has become, he is being a new creature. He is becoming all the time a new creature. And so I never can understand Billings. Truth is, I can't. But it isn't because he's a better Christian than I am. But the farther a person goes in the Lord, he has be being a new creature. He is becoming constantly a new creature. He is becoming a new creature and a new creature and a new creature. It does not mean that a person gets saved, he becomes a new creature, and that's the last time he ever becomes a new creature. It means that the right kind of Christian is always becoming a new Christian. College students, you wait until some of you get home for Christmas. You're going to go home for Christmas, and your mom and dad or one of them is going to say, what has happened to you? Huh? And you're going to go home and you're going to go soul winning while you're home, if you're worth a whip. You're going to go soul winning while you're home, and you're going to bring some folks down the aisle, and your pastor is going to say, what has happened? We sent him off to get education, he's come back a fanatic. What has happened? You know what's happened? You are be being a new creature. You are constantly becoming a new creature, and the more of a new creature you become, or the more new creatures you become, the more obnoxious you're going to become to the people who are not new creatures. Now let's look at that for a minute. First place, of course it means salvation. If any man be saved, he's a new creature. If any man be in Christ, he's born again, he's a new creature. Old things are passed away, behold all things are becoming. What makes a man who laid in bed all his life on Sunday morning? Gets up about 10 o'clock, scratches his pot belly, goes out and gets the newspaper, comes back in, lays down, big fat ox, and lays in bed, reads the newspaper, and then gets up about 12 noon, watches the ball game, and then he goes out and gets drunk on Sunday night, and comes back in and has a brown taste in his mouth on Monday morning. What happens to a fellow? That same fellow, all of a sudden he gets up at 7 o'clock on Sunday morning. Same fellow, used to lie in bed, and he goes out when it's below zero to the bus center and gets the bus, and drives that crazy bus all the way to Waxahatchee, Texas, to pick up a load of people. And same fellow, used to lie in bed, now he's out trying to go up and down the street picking up kids and adults and bringing them to Sunday school, and he gets to church, and he sits out there, and the preacher preaches, and he says, Amen! What in the world has happened to that fellow? And people say, My, my, my, he's not the same fellow. I know he's not. He's a new creature. He's been born again. Don't you see? What makes a fellow who used to read Playboy magazine, all of a sudden he gets a black book without a picture in it, and reads the Bible all the time. What's happened to him? He's a new creature. He's been born again. What happened to a fellow that used to drink his liquor, and now he drinks carrot juice? What's happened to him? He's gotten some sense. That's what's happened to him. He's, he's got two things, been born again and sanctified, both those things. What's happened to a fellow? I mean, he used to have beer in the icebox, and he used to curse and profane the name of God, and now he has a sweet disposition and loves God, and reads the Bible, and goes to church. What's happened to a fellow that used to say, I wouldn't give a darn to those money-grabbing preachers? All of a sudden he comes and gives 10% of everything he makes to God. What's happened to a fellow like that? He's become a new creature. He's been born again. Now follow me carefully, and I'll show you what happens. Let's have these three fellows to stand up here, and just from where you are, these three fellows represent a man. Man was made a threefold creature. Now follow me carefully, and I'll show you what being born again means. Man was made a threefold creature. A body, that's Brother Fisk, not much of one, but a body, and a soul, that's Brother Helton, and a spirit. Now they call that the tricotinous theory for you professors. I want you to know I know what that is. And that man was made a threefold creature, a body, a soul, and a spirit. Now the body is that which you see. The soul is that which communicates with other individuals. And the spirit is that which communicates with God. Now man was made that way. So here's Adam. All these three fellows make up one man. I think that's about accurate. Probably enough men in this, all these three fellows, to make one good man. And so we have what? You tell me. A body, a soul, and a spirit. The body is that which we see, and the soul is that which communicates with other men, and the spirit is that which communicates with God. All right, now, here's Adam in the Garden of Eden. Adam, if you sin, you're going to die. You see, what does that mean? He's going to die spiritually. Did Adam sin? Yes, he did. By the way, it was Eve that brought the sin to him. And so Adam sinned. What happened? He died spiritually. Now then, what is Adam? He has a living body. He has a living soul. But he has a dead spirit, right? All right, now, can Adam fellowship with Abel? Can Adam fellowship with Cain? Can Adam fellowship with Eve? Can Adam fellowship with God? Oh. Well, let's suppose, though, he takes Charles Atlas lessons, and he gets a strong body with muscles, and his body is clean. He doesn't drink any of that, he doesn't get any corn out of the Garden of Eden and make some corn liquor out of it, and he doesn't get any grape juice and let it ferment, and he doesn't ever say a bad word. He gets a clean, good body. Now can he fellowship with God if his spirit is dead? Oh. Well, let's suppose he joins the First Baptist Church of Eden. Now can he fellowship with God? No. Well, let's suppose he gets baptized in the River of Life. Now can he fellowship with God? Oh. Why? He's a good man, but his spirit's dead. You see? All right, he's got a body and a soul. Well, let's suppose he works on his soul. He becomes the nicest person to other people. He bows when he passes a lady. Now can he fellowship with God? Oh, wait a minute, now, he's got a clean body and a good soul. Can he fellowship with God? Why? His spirit's dead. Okay, listen, that's why you can't go to Heaven, because you're a good person. Let's suppose this spirit here never gets mad, smiles. Look at that good spirit. Boy, he's the friendliest fellow in town. Now can he fellowship with God? Why? His spirit's dead. Well, let's suppose that he gets to a place where he's generous, but just always hands it out. Oh, give everything he's got. He feeds the poor, and he gives the red feather, muted chest, and United Agencies. What a tremendous fellow. Look at him, clean as a whistle. Never drinks, never curses, never lives in dirty sin, has a good personality, a warm spirit, a gracious fellow. If there's a good fellow in the world, it's Adam. He's the only fellow in the world. Okay, now, can he fellowship with God? Well, I'll declare. Why? His spirit is dead. Now listen to me, listen to me. Here is a man. You and I were born with a living body, a living soul, but by nature a dead spirit. Man by nature cannot fellowship with God because that part of him which fellowships with God is dead. That's why you can't join the church and go to heaven. You've got a dead spirit. That's why you can't live a good life and go to heaven. You've got a dead spirit. The only way in this world that man can ever go to heaven is get that spirit back alive before the body and the soul die. Now watch this. Here's the best man in all the world right here. Here's a good guy. Boy, this fellow is nice, but he dies. Body and soul dies. Now, does he have anything left to go to heaven? Why? His spirit's dead. You better listen to this. You're going to go to hell or heaven according to what you do with this kind of message. You better, if I were you, I'd sit up and I'd have my eyes open and my ears open. I'd sit on the edge of my seat and say, I've got in my breath the living soul that's got to die. And I'm going to know for sure I'm going to heaven when I die. You've got any sense you will. All right, now stand up again here, fellas. All right, here comes the soul winner. And that soul winner comes and says, now, I'm a person. Now, what do I talk to? His body or his soul or his spirit? Tell me. Take off your hat, little lady. Don't wear that hat and jerk. All right? I woke up and I say, look, did you know that Jesus Christ went to the cross and died for you on the cross? And he paid the penalty for your sin? Did you know that you will receive him as your Savior and trust him as your sacrifice for sin? Did you know what God will do for you? God will make your spirit come back to life. Would you be willing right now to trust the Savior? All right, let's pray. Say, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. And save my soul. And save my soul. I do now receive Jesus. I do now receive Jesus. As my personal Savior. As my personal Savior. And I trust him. And I trust him. To take me to heaven. To take me to heaven. When I die. When I die. If you meant that, would you take my hand? Are you receiving Christ as your Savior? Yes, I am. Do you believe that Jesus died for you on the cross? Yes, I do. Are you giving your heart to him in faith? Yes, I do. Wonderful. Now, look what happened. Your spirit's back alive. You see? Now then, now he has a what? He has a body, he has a soul, but he has what else? A spirit. Now someday, the body and soul are going to die. Hey, the spirit is alive. Now then, he can fellowship with God again. Is that right? Now then, he can go to heaven when he dies. Why? Because the soul has received Christ and the spirit is alive. And now he can go to heaven. Now wait a minute. Stand up again, fellow. Let's suppose this fellow here with the spirit is not very nice. Growl a little bit. Now, let me ask you a question. Where is he going to go when he dies? Heaven. Why? He's got a what? Living spirit. You see? And he can fellowship with God. That means a person might be a better person who's not been born again, but he can't go to heaven because he has nothing with which he can fellowship with God. Well, thank you, fellow. Now you listen to me and you hear me well. Listen to me. I don't care how good you are, you've got to get born again to go to heaven. I don't care how many churches you join, you've got to get born again to go to heaven. Jesus said to Nicodemus, Young folks, you listen to me while I'm preaching. The girl cutting up and laughing in the wall beside her. Roger, you listen to me. You'd better face one thing forever. And that is you're not saved because you belong to some church. You don't have a living spirit because you've been baptized. You don't have a living spirit because you live a good life. You don't have a living spirit because you've been spanked. You don't have a living spirit because you've been confirmed. You don't have a living spirit because you've been dedicated. You don't have a living spirit because you've been the priest. You only have a living spirit when you say, Yes, I will receive Jesus Christ as the Savior of my soul. And that moment God brings your spirit to life. And then and then only can you fellowship with the God who made you. That's what Jesus meant when He thundered through the ages. Marvel not that I say unto you, ye must be born again. Now you've got to get born again. Now let's not eat something else. When a man is born, let me show you something. Here is a man with a fist stand up. Watch this now. Here's a man who's born in this world. He's born a son of Adam. Now Brother Hilton, here's another fella. He's born a son of Adam. Now Dr. Billings, another man is born a son of Adam. Now I'm going to teach you something. Each of these fellas is a son of Adam. Now, this fella, first fella with a fist goes to church one Sunday. And he says, you know I ought to be religious. He goes to a liberal church. Doesn't hear the gospel. Doesn't hear how to get born again. And what happens? He becomes religious. He gets religious. He, are you listening? He is born again. But not into the family of God. He is born into the family of the devil. That's, he was a son of Adam. But now he gets religious. Believes in a God, but not in the true God revealed in Jesus Christ. And so he is born into the family of the devil. He was a son of Adam. Now what is he? A son of the devil. Jesus said in John 8, 44. Ye are of your father the devil. Now listen to this. Don't you recall when Jesus said, when you proselyte and make someone a Pharisee, you make him a two-fold child of hell. Remember that? A two-fold child of hell. A son of Adam is going to hell. A son of the devil who gets religious but denies Jesus, has been born in the family of the devil. And he is two-fold a child of hell. And his hell will be hotter than the atheist's hell. His hell will be, a man who belongs to a church that hasn't been born again, will suffer twice as much in hell as an atheist will. All right, but here is a fellow. He is a son of Adam. He goes to First Baptist Church, Hammond, or some of the good Bible preaching church. And the preacher gets up and says, You can't go to heaven unless you get born again. What happens? He receives Jesus Christ. He is born again. Now, both of them born again? They both were sons of whom? Tell me. Adam. Now, he has got religion without Christ. He is now a child of whom? Seth, the devil. But the next fellow trusted Jesus, and he is a child of whom? God. How about this fellow? He just never goes to church. He doesn't believe in religion. He doesn't believe in God. Now, you have three different families represented on this platform. A child of Adam. A child of Adam. Son of Adam. He is going to hell. A son of God. He has been born again into the family of God. A son of the devil. He has been born again into the family of the devil. So, he is of his father, Adam. He is of his father, God. He is of his father, the devil. Now, that is why it is dangerous for a person to stand up and preach from this book and not say that Jesus is the virgin-born son of God. That is why it is dangerous to stand up and preach anything other than you must be born again because you do more harm than good. The liberal preacher does more harm than the bartender does. Thank you. That is why I don't belong to the ministerial association. I just as soon belong to the bar association. I mean the liquor bar. I had rather join a group association with the bartenders than with the liberal preachers. Why? Because the bartender is a son of Adam. But the liberal preacher is of his father, the devil. And I have got more. Say amen. I have got more respect for a bartender or a bookie or a pimp than I do for a man to stand up and claim to be God's man and deny the very book that gives us the story of grace and the grace that book gives and the Son of God that brought that grace and the deity of that Son of God and the necessity of the new birth. You have got to get born again to go to heaven in the family of God by faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. You may not like this kind of preaching, but you are going to face God over it. You may not agree with this kind of preaching, but you are going to agree one of these days when you stand before the God that made you and say, God, I was a Baptist. The Lord will say, you have nothing with which you can communicate with me. But I was a good man. The Lord says, but you have no living spirit that can communicate with me. But you say, Lord, I belong. I was baptized. I was confirmed. I took the Eucharist. And the Lord will say, it does not matter. You have no spirit. I am a spirit. And they that worship me must worship me in spirit and in truth. And you have no living spirit. Depart from me into everlasting torment. Now that is what the new creature business is. But wait a minute. Let's go a step further. There is still something else for the new creature. The person, the new creature in Christ. But once a person has been born again. Let me use you fellows again. There are two people. Brother Fisk is going to represent the old nature. And Brother Hilton, the new nature. All right. Come here, fellas. Now watch this carefully. This is one man here. Is he saved? Yes or no? All right. You are the old nature. He is the new nature. If any man be in Christ, he is the new creature. But he still has the old creature, doesn't he? Now what happens? Old creature, you want to go to Sunday school on Sunday? No. You want to go to Sunday school on Sunday? You do. Old creature, you want to get drunk on Saturday night? Love to. New creature, would you want to get drunk on Saturday night? No, sir. We find out a lot of things about you here. Okay. Old creature, do you want to come to church and get mad at the preacher? Yes, sir. You want to say when you go home, I didn't like him. What do you want to say about that? I want to say he's a good guy. He preaches the Bible. I see. Old creature, you want to fuss and fight and argue all the time? All the time. All the time. New creature, how about you? No. I see. Well, any man in Christ, he has a new creature. Because he still has the old creature. Okay. Now then, what am I going to say to you? Okay. I came to you. Here's the old nature. I came and said, you need to be saved. And it became a new nature. The old nature is still there. There's going to be a constant fight. Okay. It's 7 o'clock on Sunday morning. The alarm went off. You fellas take it over here. I was up late last night, out getting drunk, and I want to stay in bed this morning. I'm not going to church. But there's a lot of folks that need us, and we need to be there. I'm going to go today. No, I'm going to sleep. Now, that's a good question. Can one of them go and the other stay home? No, it's two natures. It's the same fella. So what's going to happen? Well, let's get in a fight here over this thing, but I'm not going to go. I mean, I'm going to get the victory. Okay, guess what I'm going to do? Come here. I got some pills I want to give you for the fight. Here, take these. Those are pills. Take those. You can't get beat at all. Now go. I just took some spiritual food, and I'm going to win. We're going to church. All right, where are we going to go? Well, hey! Okay, now watch this. Watch this. I'm going to be the devil this time. You want to go to church? No, sir. You want to go to church? Yes, I do. Okay, I'm going to feed you a little bit, and I've got a Playboy magazine I want you to read. I want you to watch Johnny Carson, too, and stuff like that. Okay, and all right. Now, going to go to church? No, sir. Going to go? Yes, I am. Who wins? One-eyed fed. Thank you. One-eyed fed. Indian said, Hup! Two dogs inside. Big white dogs. Say, won't do good. Big black dogs. Say, won't do bad. Hup! Hup! White dog, white black dog, all the time. One Indian said, Hey, brave! Who wins? He said, Hup! One-eyed feed most. That's why you ought to come to church. Feed the white dogs. That's why you ought to read your Bible. Feed the white dogs. Jesus said to the apostle, He said, If any man be in Christ, he has a new creature, but he still has the old. So he comes back and paraphrases it by saying, If any man be in Christ, be a new creature. If any man be in Christ, feed the new creature. Come to church on Sunday night. Come to church on Wednesday night. And feed the new creature. If any man be in Christ, feed him. Let him be being a new creature. Now, by the way, you've seen people who came to church, and they were saved, but they never really meant deadness for God. I'm thinking right now of a little lady. She lived less than a mile from where I'm standing. I think less than a mile. Maybe less than two miles. A lovely little lady. I went by her house. I visited her, I guess, twenty times. No, maybe not that many. But she said this morning. And she couldn't understand being saved. She said, I've got my religion. I know, but that won't get you to heaven. I know, but she said, I was confirmed. But that won't get you to heaven. But I was dedicated as a baby. But that won't get you to heaven. But I believe in my religion. But religion won't get you to heaven. And I told her how to be saved. And finally one day she received Christ. But she wouldn't get baptized. She just wouldn't do it. And she wouldn't join the church. And finally, one night in the Civic Center, she decided she was going to get baptized and going to join the church. And then she became a soul winner and a spiritual Christian. Do you know what? There is as much difference in that lady now and what she was shortly after she got saved as there was before she got saved and after she got saved. What happened? She is being a new creature. She became a new creature when she got saved. But she also became a new creature when she surrendered her all to Jesus. And just as the unsaved man can't understand the saved man, the man who is saved and that's all can't understand the man who gives everything to the Lord Jesus Christ. This morning we ask you a question. Are you a new creature in Christ? All right. Then surrender your life to Christ and be another new creature. Be being a new creature. By the way, here is why folks go back. I think the biggest heartbreak of my ministry is when people go back. People get saved and they go back. I was looking last night at my preacher boys on the wall praying. I was praying. Maybe you don't know it, but I have pictures of my preacher boys on the south wall of my study. And every Saturday night before I leave the study I go over and look at every one of them and say, Oh God, bless him tomorrow and bless this one. And he is having a church problem. Bless him. And some folks are fighting him. Bless him. And I pray through all my preacher boys every Saturday night before I leave my study. And last night I got to thinking. There are some other pictures I guess ought to have up here. Those who turned back. Those who didn't stick. Those who didn't stay. Those who didn't stick it. Why didn't they? I'll tell you why they didn't. Because they thought becoming a new creature was enough. Oh no. New creatures ought to become new creatures. There ought to be a day when a new creature in Christ says, I'm going to give everything to God. I'm going to let Him have it all. All of it is His. All to Jesus I surrender. All to Him I freely give. I'm simply saying, dear beloved members of First Baptist Church who become new creatures in Christ there is another step for you to take. God wants you new creatures to become new creatures. When you die to self and you don't get mad anymore because people offend you and you don't fight back anymore and you don't let people offend you and hurt you anymore and you don't retaliate anymore you don't have vengeance anymore you don't want for yourself you want for somebody else. You'd rather somebody else have it than you to have it. You want to serve God. It doesn't matter about the comforts of life. It doesn't matter about the pleasures of life. It doesn't matter a great deal about what you get as long as you can serve God and serve others. And you live from day to day in such a self-forgetful way that even when you kneel to pray your prayer shall be for others and you surrender everything to God and you become a new creature. I look around this building this morning and I can see people who I think have sold out to God. And I recall one day when you weren't and all of a sudden something happened to you. Oh, let's see. Oh, yes, last night. I don't mean to embarrass anybody. I don't think I am. Won't be but two people in this room know what I'm talking about, I think. But one of our school teachers came last night. I recall when she first came to work here as a school teacher on our Christian school. I used to look at her in the service and I'd say, I wonder if she's mad at me. She'd come to my office and I'd say, I wonder if she likes me. She hardly ever smiled. And I got to thinking, do you reckon she likes this church? And after now two or three years she came to my office last night and talked and she said, Brother Howell, I'm getting with this soul winning bit. And she smiled and I said, you know, you're just like a new person. She is. She is. What's happened? The new creature has become a new creature. Don't you see? She is be-beating a new creature. That's what America needs. America needs some new creatures to become new creatures. God doesn't say, okay, you're saved. You're a new creature. That's all. No, there's an imperative here. If any man be in Christ, he should be being all the time a new creature. And then, of course, there's another. And that is this matter of soul winning. Last night, oh, about nine o'clock, on the door of my study, oh, sometimes I'll take that door off. About the time I'm praying, or just about to get a good form for the Scripture. And so somebody knocked and I went to the door and a couple of our teenage girls, over the house, we just had to tell you we had an answer to prayer tonight about soul winning. And we just wanted to tell you, and praise the Lord about this one, and praise the Lord about this one. Now, those girls may go home and their mama will say, where you been? I just want to tell you, praise the, well, I don't care. What's wrong with you? Going to seed over religion. And, you know, if you go to seed, you can always raise a new crop. Do you know that? And going to seed over religion. And if you don't go to seed, you can't make it, raise any fruit. And what happens? I can't understand you anymore. You've always been religious, but I can't understand. I know you can't. She's become a new creature, isn't she? All the other girls were out painting the town red and on pot. By the way, you moms and dads will do a whole lot better than to worry because your kids get too wrapped up in Jesus. A kid that gets too wrapped up in soul winning, one thing for dead sure, he's not going to be smoking pot on Saturday night. He's not going to be causing revolution in America all week long if he gets too wrapped up in Jesus. It's an amazing thing to me. A kid in Cherreville can ask some youngster to pray and a bunch of unwise, ridiculous people get wrapped up because you're trying to get somebody to talk to God. Whereas a bunch of hippies can drive by our college and make obscene words and dirty words and obscene gestures to our girls on campus and nobody writes them letters about that. You listen to me and you listen to me well. I hope every teenage kid in this church becomes a fanatic for Jesus Christ. We adults ought to follow suit. Down in Texas, we had a deacon, fine man, now millionaire. Some of you folks heard me tell this. He came to me one day and he was on his way up the ladder and he said, Pastor, we've got a fellow in our church that's just bothering me to death. I saw the fellow the other day. He wore a white sport coat. It was a tuxedo coat, a formal. He didn't know what a formal was. He picked it up somewhere at a used shop. A formal. He wore it to church every Sunday in a red tie and the gravy on the tie didn't match the trousers that he wore. The egg on the trousers didn't go with the gravy on the tie. And every time, I say, let's have a testimony meeting. And this fellow stands up and says, I want to thank the Lord. He take my foot, lift me out of my clay and set my foot on a solid rock and established my going. And next time I'd have a testimony meeting. Anybody want to say a word for Jesus? I do. Same old white coat, same old red tie, same old gravy, same old egg. I want to thank the Lord. He take my foot, lift me out of my clay and set my foot on a solid rock and established my going. Next Wednesday night we have a testimony meeting. Anybody want to say a word for the Lord? Same fellow. I just want to, I want to say a word for the Lord. I want to thank the Lord and save my, same coat, same tie, same gravy, same egg. I want to thank the Lord and save my foot, lift me out of my clay and set my foot on a solid rock and established my going. And this rich deacon came to me one day and he said, Pastor, could I talk with you? I'm so worried about our church. He said, every time we have a testimony meeting, the same fellow gets up and he says, same thing. I want to thank the Lord and save my foot, lift me out of my clay and put my foot on a solid rock and established my going. He said, Preacher, I bring culture, refined visitors, and they don't mind your preaching, a little loud, but they don't mind your preaching, but, but, but, but you say, Testimony! And right in front of my college-trained visitors and my well-to-do visitors, the same guy gets up, same white coat, same red tie, same gravy, same egg. I want to thank the Lord and lift me out of my clay and save my foot, lift me out of my clay and set my foot on a solid rock and established my going. He said, I'm sick of it up to here. Up to here, I'm sick of it. He said, I, what can be done? And I said, I agree with you. He said, you do? I said, yes, I'm sick of it too. Well, he said, I'll be honest with you, I didn't think you would. I thought you wouldn't like my complaints. I said, I agree with you. I said, I've been thinking about this thing and I figured some way to stop him from doing it. He said, you mean that he won't be the person to get up and say, I just want to thank the Lord and save my soul and lift my foot out of my clay and set me on a solid rock and established my going? I said, that's right, I've got a plan where he won't do it. Well, praise the Lord, he said, what is your plan? I said, next time you beat him up. We need some people who become new creatures to become new creatures. This morning, if you're not a new creature in Christ, you can be. One of our ladies is out soul winning. A week ago yesterday, she went to a place, she went to somebody and the man, she turned to the man and said, are you saved? Do you know if you die did you go to heaven? He said, no ma'am, I'm an atheist. I'm an atheist, I don't believe all that stuff. She said, is that right? Well, why don't you just come to our church sometime? No, I'm an atheist, I wouldn't come, I'm an atheist. And so, he said, I'll tell you, the only creature I ever heard of like was Billy Graham. And she said, oh, if you like Billy Graham, I'll tell you somebody you'll like, you'll like our pastor. I said, you'll like our pastor. I feel the loneliest I've ever felt in all of my life. And so, she said, why don't you come in here, our pastor? Nope. Oh, come on. Okay, I will. And last Sunday morning he was here, and last Sunday morning he walked down this aisle and received Jesus Christ as his personal Savior. And now, he's a new creature. But that isn't all. The Lord comes to that new creature and says, I want you to surrender your life to me completely. I want you to feed the new man. I want you to feed the new nature. I want you to feed the new creature. And I want you as a new creature to become a new creature. And so, he gives everything to God, but the Lord comes back and says, that isn't all. Now, I want you to become a soul winner. And it's a strange thing. Every time he becomes a new creature, the people right behind him think he's lost his mind. When he got saved, the unsaved said, he sure is acting peculiar. When he surrendered everything, the saved, who hadn't given everything, said, he's gone to seed over religion. And then when he became a soul winner, the surrendered folks that weren't soul winners yet said, I just don't believe in that kind of Christianity. Let me ask you a question this morning. Don't you wish you could become a new creature all the time? You know, I was thinking, as I've grown and I don't, I've not apprehended yet, I've not arrived yet at sanctification, I wish I could. But you know, I was thinking, every time I've taken a step forward for Jesus Christ, the people that are where I used to be think I've gone crazy, think I've lost my mind. When I was ready to preach, I had an aunt that was so proud of me. She's in heaven now. She was so proud of me. Oh, we're going to have a preacher in our family. But she didn't have the same kind of preacher in mind the Lord did. We're going to have a minister in our family. We've always wanted to have a minister, a lawyer, a doctor, and a minister. She came to hear me preach and she wished I'd been a doctor or a lawyer. You know why? Because she didn't want a new creature preacher. She wanted a preacher to appeal to old creatures. She said, I don't like this church. I have to stay too late. I know. The Bible said you wouldn't. The natural man understandeth not the things of the Spirit. That's why you don't. But you could if you'd get born again. Well, yes, I can understand it. My mom, my dad, my son, my daughter, my husband, my wife, absolutely, they're at that church all the time. I can't understand that. A little religion is all right. But this Sunday night, Wednesday night, Monday night, Tuesday night, Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday night, I can't understand it. I know you can't. You're a new creature but you'll never become a new creature that's a new creature. And you can't understand it. I know. But God comes to you this morning and says, as a child of God, you're to be being a new creature all the time. All the time. Let me ask you a question this morning. Don't you wish you could? A fellow walked down this aisle. One Sunday night after the service, I'd come back in the auditorium. He walked up to me and he said, I just want you to know I don't agree with you at all. And I said, that's all right. He said, all this pie-in-the-sky kind of stuff, all this go to heaven when you die, walk on golden streets, and go through gates of pearl, and never have no sorrow, no sickness, a beautiful heavenly city where you'll live forever. I just don't believe all that stuff. And I stood right here and looked at him and I said, I know you don't. But don't you wish you could? Don't you wish you could? Don't you wish that maybe there were a place like that where you could live forever with no pain or suffering or sickness? And a great big old tear rolled down his cheek and he said, I wish I did believe like you believe. I can't, but I wish I did. Well, you can. This morning you can walk out that door by a new creature in Christ Jesus. How do you do it? You look to God and say, Dear God, I know I'm a sinner. And I know Jesus died for me. This morning I'd like to receive him as my Savior and my Lord. If you'll mean that in your heart of hearts, God will make you a new creature. And then people will look at you like you've been looking at us and say, I just can't understand what's happened to him. My pastor last Sunday was here and I'm going to close with this. One day he and his dad when he was a young preacher went out to hear a man preach. And the man stood up and he said, There's nothing to this new birth stuff. Preacher. Said, There's nothing to being born again. There's nothing to this regeneration. There's nothing to this being saved. And on the way home Brother Sizemore looked at his dad and said, Dad, did you agree with him? He said, Yep. Sure did. And Brother Sizemore said, Dad, he preaches nothing to being born again. Did you agree with him? Yep. Yep, if you just added five words. Five words. What five words? As far as I know. As far as I know. There's nothing to it, you say, but that's as far as you know. The liberal says, There's no heaven. That's as far as he knows. He says, There's no living Christ can change a person. That's as far as he knows. But we know further. There is a Christ. And this Bible is true. And salvation is real. And Christ can change your life. He can make you a new creature this morning. If you're not saved, He can make you a new creature. If you are saved, He can still make you a new creature. As you be being a new creature. Would you bow your heads, please? Our Heavenly Father, show the unsaved what it means to become a new creature. Show the saved what it means to become a new creature. And may those of us who are not saved become new creatures by being saved. May those who are saved become new creatures by surrendering everything to God. Our heads are bowed in prayer. Our eyes are closed. You never heard a more loving fellow in your life. Really. You say, well, you preach bigotry. You preach a hard message. I preach it in love hoping that you'll get the idea that your church can't save you. Your priest can't save you. The preacher can't save you. The communion can't. Young girls, back in the back, you bow your heads and close your eyes. I want to see both of you after the service in my office. The two girls with long hair next to the cave in. Folks behind you need to hear the message of God. This morning you say, Pastor, I want to be a new creature. I want to be a new creature. God knows I'd love... I may not understand it all, but I wish I did. Tell you what, all you've got to do to understand what I'm preaching is sit right up here on this platform and look at your faces. The people that do not believe what I preached this morning, it shows on your face. You've been miserable during the sermon. You've been hoping it'd end. You didn't like the... You didn't like the hollering. You know why? It's the fact that you don't know. You don't know. I'm not mad at you. I'm trying to help you. There's something you don't know about and that something is being born again. Letting the Spirit come to life. I wonder how many would say, Brother Hiles, I want a fellowship with God. I want to go to heaven, but I don't know that I am. Would you pray for me that I might be saved? Lift your hand on the lower floor, would you please? You want to know that you're a new preacher in Christ. You want to know that you've been born again. Would you lift your hand on the lower floor? God bless you, fella. God bless you. Who else? Yes, God bless you, lady. That's the wisest thing you ever did. Who else would say, include me in the prayer? I want to know that I'm born again. Pray for me. Would you lift your hand? God bless you, fella. God bless you, and God bless you. Oh, you say, I'm too intelligent for that. You may be an intelligent person in hell, too. A lot of folks in hell have PhDs. Old Sam Jones used to say, I do the study of my ABCs in heaven, in Greek and Hebrew, in hell. God bless you, little lady. I see your hand next to the aisle. God bless you, fella, back in the back. God bless you over here on my left. God bless you here. God bless that man. God bless you, sir. Who else would say, on the lower floor, pray for me. I want to be born again. I want to be a new preacher. I want the Spirit to live so I can commune with my God. Would you raise your hand and say, pray for me. God bless you, little lady. I see you, lady. God bless you, young lady. God bless you. Who else? On the lower floor, pray for me. I want to be saved. I want to be a new preacher. God bless you back down there. Yes, you know why folks raise their hand like this? Because they know how sick they are of the old nature.