The New Birth
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
The story of Nicodemus is common to us all, and yet there is, perhaps, much in it which needs to be emphasized, and there may be some things hidden away that we may not yet have discovered.
In the message of Nicodemus, which confronts us now, we can readily discern how Nicodemus is a representative of national Israel, and how as such, he was altogether ignorant of the deeper spiritual meanings of salvation and regeneration,
1. An ignorant nation. To Nicodemus Jesus said in John 3:10, "Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?" Twice Nicodemus had expressed his lack of knowledge: first, when he said, "How can a man be born when he is old?" (John 3:4), and again, when he said, "How can these things be?" (John 3:9).
The Children of Israel failed utterly to discern the Old Testament in its testimony to the Lord Jesus Christ. In Acts 13:1-52 Paul, in the Holy Ghost, makes this statement: "For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew Him not, nor yet the voices of the Prophets which are read every Sabbath Day, they have fulfilled them in condemning Him." Is it not strange that Israel should have read the Prophets in their synagogues and day by day fulfilled the things which were written therein, and yet never know it?
However, in religious circles today, much the same condition prevails. They were ignorant of Christ's first coming. Many believers now are ignorant concerning Christ's Second Coming. Prophecy was being fulfilled by them step by step, and they knew it not. Prophecy is being fulfilled before the eyes of the Church today, and she knows it not.
2. A trembling nation. Nicodemus came unto Jesus by night. This is stated in verse. 2. Some three times after this Nicodemus is mentioned in the Bible, and each time it is stated that he came by night. It is commonly supposed that he came by night because he was afraid to come openly. He believed that Christ was a teacher come from God, and yet he trembled lest he should be found consorting to Christ. The nation as a whole was against Christ. This was especially true of the Sanhedrin, and Nicodemus, no doubt, was a member of that group. He certainly was a teacher in Israel. This only made him the more afraid. Somehow, or other, to us there is, in all of this another tremendous meaning. Israel's darkest night is still before her. That night is scripturally known as "the day of Jacob's trouble." Luring its course, Israel will be persecuted and hated by the dragon, the antichrist, and the false prophet. Many of the Gentiles will set themselves against the Jews. It is then, however, in the night of their greatest sorrow, that they will begin to turn their faces toward the Lord, and cry unto God that the "Branch" might be sent forth to their rescue.
I. A WARNING ABOUT THE MIRACULOUS (John 3:2)
When Nicodemus came to Jesus by night he said unto Him, "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."
Nicodemus, like most Jews of that day, was confounded by the miracles of Jesus Christ. He went so far as to say, "No man can do these miracles that Thou doest, except God be with him." This statement by Nicodemus brings three things before us.
1. Are miracles a true sign that a man is sent of God? In the days of Moses and Aaron when they two stood before Pharaoh, they wrought successfully four distinct miracles which in turn were re-wrought by the magicians of Egypt. We ask, could then the people by those miracles attest that Moses was sent of God?
To be sure, the Egyptians could not go all the way with Moses. Moses wrought miracles which no Satan-energized man could work. We have been forewarned that in the days of the Great Tribulation, the wicked one will come after the working of Satan with all power, signs, lying wonders, and with all the deceivableness of unrighteousness. Through these very miraculous deeds God will send unto those who receive not the love of the Truth a strong delusion, that they should believe a lie. The Book of Revelation gives abundant proof of the Satanic miraculous which will come during the tribulation.
2. How then may we judge whether miracles are of God or of Satan? Whether miracles are wrought by Spirit-filled, or Satan-energized men? May we call your attention to the healing of the lame man at the gate of the temple as he sat there asking for alms? Peter and John passed by. Immediately he sought alms of them, but Peter said, "Silver and gold have I none." Then he commanded the lame man, in the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, to arise and walk.
Peter later said, "If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole; be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by Him doth this man stand here before you whole." Then Peter added, "Neither is there salvation in any other." Mark two things:
Peter gave Christ all the glory, and claimed none for himself. Then, he immediately turned the minds of the people away from the miracle to salvation. Divinely wrought miracles always glorify Christ and emphasize salvation and not the miraculous.
Nicodemus came to discuss miracles with Christ. Christ bluntly said, "Ye must be born again."
II. THE NEW BIRTH (John 3:3)
"Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God."
There are four things that we wish to emphazise, but which we will leave you to develop.
1. A religion cannot save. Nicodemus was religious.
2. Ethics cannot save. The morals of Nicodemus, beyond a doubt, were unimpeachable.
3. A mere desire to know Christ cannot save. Nicodemus sought Jesus by night.
4. Position, honor, and accomplishment cannot save. Nicodemus had all of these.
Alas, alas, that so many are trying to enter into glory by what they are, or what they do, failing to remember that all the deeds of the flesh stand before God as filthy rags. "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God."
III. THE NEW BIRTH EXPLAINED (John 3:4-6)
1. The question asked. "How can a man be born when he is old?" This was what Nicodemus asked. We, too, stand before the new birth with a great question mark. We know more about it than Nicodemus knew, to be sure, and yet we cannot humanly explain it. We cannot explain the birth of a flower. How much less can we explain the birth of a soul.
2. The question answered. Jesus Christ, in reply to Nicodemus, told him "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God."
(1) To be born of water is to be born of the Word of God. In Titus 3:5 is this statement: "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost." In Ephesians we read "that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word." I Peter speaks thus: "Being born again * * by the Word of God." James said, "Of His own will begat He us by the Word of Truth."
(2) Being born of the Spirit speaks of regeneration by the power of the Holy Ghost. The Word of God is the seed implanted in the heart. The Spirit is the One who germinates and brings into fruitage of life the implanted Word. Christ added these remarkable words in order to contrast the physical and the spiritual birth. In John 3:6, He said. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." Let no man, therefore, vainly imagine that the flesh has any power to beget the Spirit. Kind begets only its kind. Flesh begets flesh; spirit begets spirit. The one is begotten no more truly than the other.
We are born of physical parents; we are, also, born of the Holy Ghost of God when we are born again. The one birth is just as actual a birth, as the other. We are just as much the sons of God, as we are the sons of our natural parents. It was spoken concerning Mary, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, * * therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." Of every regenerate believer, it may be just as truly said: The Spirit of God comes upon such an one, and such an one was born in righteousness and in true holiness because he is the son of God.
IV. THE "MUST" OF REGENERATION (John 3:7)
This is the shortest verse in this study, and perhaps the most profound. It may not have the width or the breadth of some of the other verses, but it has tremendous depth. "Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again." Christ places on the new birth, the eternal "must" of Heaven. He makes the new birth absolutely necessary.
1. The must of the new birth shows the utter inability of the flesh to inherit eternal life. The flesh is corrupt according to deceitful lusts.
There is not a just man on the earth that doeth good, and sinneth not. Corruption cannot inherit incorruption. They that live after the flesh cannot see God.
2. The must of the new birth shows the utter inability of the flesh to produce the new life. The righteousness of the Law of God cannot be fulfilled by the flesh, therefore the flesh cannot save. If the flesh cannot impart a new birth, we must be born from above. "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou nearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit."
The new birth is full of mysteries just as the first birth is mysterious. A colored man who was operating a sailboat most successfully against adverse winds was thus questioned: "Mose, you must understand the philosophy of the wind?" He replied, "It is not necessary to know the philosophy of the wind. All you need to do is to know how to handle the sail." So, also, we do not understand how the Spirit may come or go, but we know how to throw up the sails of our faith, and catch the breath of the Spirit; then, God doeth the rest.
V. THE GREATEST MUST OF ALL (John 3:14)
"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up." Christ had told Nicodemus, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness."
He then outlined to Nicodemus how that He had come down from Heaven, and how that He was in Heaven. After that He told him, perhaps, the supreme must of the Bible. He told it by simile. He reached back into the Old Testament Scriptures and brought from the story of Moses and the uplifted serpent His illustration. Then He said, "Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up."
There was only one way that the serpent-bitten Israelites could be saved, and that was through the up-lifted serpent. There is only one way by which the sin-bitten Nicodemus could be saved, and that was by the look of faith at the uplifted Saviour.
1. The "must" of the Cross emphasizes man's hopelessness in sin. A substitute must be provided. Sin's penalty must be paid. Every legal obstacle must be removed. This was accomplished as it only can be accomplished through the Cross of Christ.
2. The "must" of the Cross was based upon God's promises. How many there are who would teach that Christ was crucified against His will, and that He was helpless to avoid the Cross because He was forced to it even as a martyr is forced to die.
However, my dear readers, the "must" of the Cross was not the must of a mob, whose fury could not be checked. The "must" of the Cross was the "must" of a holy God, fulfilling the pledge which He had made that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head. Christ was crucified because Christ could not, and would not break His promise. All hell united as one man, under the headship of Satan; yea, all hell united under Satan, and joined by all the power of men could not have forced Jesus Christ to the Cross against His will. He was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. He died because undying love forced Him on His way to pay the debt of sin.
VI. THE MUST OF FAITH (John 3:15)
In John 3:7 we read, "Ye must be born again." In John 3:14 we read, "The Son of Man must be lifted up." In John 3:15 we read, "That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." In Hebrews 11:6 it is put this way: "He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." Not only must Christ die, but we must believe. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ is potent of its saving grace, only to those who believe on the Name of the Son of God. Let us then examine the meaning of the word, "believe."
1. There must be an assent of the mind. We must have heard of the Son of God. We must know intelligently that Christ died, the Just for the unjust.
2. There must be the affiance of the heart. The faith that saves is not the mere assent of the mind. That is a part of saving faith, but it is only its beginning. The faith that saves is the faith of the heart, that is, of the affections. Romans 10:10 puts it this way: "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness." The word "faith" therefore includes affiance. It means trust and confidence.
3. There is the obedience of the life. The faith that saves is an active, obedient faith. We believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore we follow Him. We believe, and therefore we obey. James said, "Shew me thy faith without thy works and I will shew thee my faith by my works. * * Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only." The works, however, which justify a sinner are not the works, by any means, that precede faith. They are the works of faith. They are the works, according to James, by which we see the man's faith. They are the works which make faith perfect. In other words, a perfect faith is a faith that works.
VII. THE NEW BIRTH IN ITS MARVELOUS RICHES (John 3:15)
Once more we will read John 3:15. "Whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." In answer to the question of Nicodemus as to how a man should be born, and over against the must of the new birth, Jesus Christ placed the must of the death of Christ. Then the necessity of faith as completing the act of regeneration is definitely set forth. Following the statement that "whosoever believeth" are two great truths which we will now consider.
1. Shall not perish. Here is a wonderful verse on security. If we have everlasting life, we cannot come into condemnation. When we are born again, we have life, and we cannot perish. How happy is he who knows that in Christ he is secure. How happy is he who is assured that there will be no children of God in hell. God gives unto us eternal life, and we shall never perish, neither shall anyone pluck us out of His hand.
2. Have eternal life. Eternal life, everlasting life, is life forevermore. For "this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only True God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent." "He that hath the Son hath life." Jesus Christ, in speaking of this, said, "Because I live, ye shall live also." The life of a believer is a begotten life, but it is also a "partaking" life.
The child born after the flesh lives a life distinct from, and separate from the life of his father. He who is born of the Spirit of God does not live a separate life from God, but he lives the life of God. That is why we read in Colossians, "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear." That is the reason that the Apostle Paul, in the Spirit, wrote, "For to me to live is Christ."
Jesus Christ likened the new life to the vine and the branches. The one reaches out into the other. The branch is twined and intertwined in the vine, and the vine also in the branch. The life of the branch is the life of the vine. There is no distinction between the one and the other, for they are of the same life. Eternal life! How wonderful it is. Not only are we to be with the Lord, but we are to be with Him forever and for aye!
AN ILLUSTRATION
Speaking of the New Birth and the value of a soul we are reminded of Wilbur Chapman's story:
A bone button ran a race with medical skill. The purse was high, Ten thousand dollars was offered to defeat the button. But, though five doctors worked with might and main, the button came in winner, and a human life was sacrificed to a simple nursery accident.
The mother was in an adjoining room when a choking sound caught her ear. She ran into the nursery, and saw the child writhing on the floor, black in the face. A big bone button which she had taken into her mouth, baby-like, had lodged in her windpipe. The mother's cries rang through the house.
Soon a doctor came, and then two more They worked over the little sufferer, striving by every means to dislodge the bone disk which was slowly choking the child to death. The frantic mother ran about the room, wringing her hands and crying to them to save her child.
"Madam," said one of the physicians, "I fear------"
"Oh, don't say that! I can't bear it! Send for more doctors. She must be saved!"
Two more physicians of the neighborhood were soon in the room. But, though heroic remedies were tried, and methods almost barbarous in their severity, they could not dislodge the button. Life was ebbing fast.
The mother saw her child's death-sentence in their faces.
"I'll give you a thousand dollars to save her I'll give you five I'll give you ten! My husband has money, plenty. I will see that you are paid as I promise. Only do not let my little Annie die!"
The doctors turned away. Accustomed as they were to death-room scenes, they were shaken by this mother's" awful anguish.
"Too late," said one of the doctors. She caught the words and fainted away.