Regeneration

“Verily, verily, I say unto thee, ‘Except a man he horn again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God!” John 3 .*3.

I THINK there is no chapter in all the Bible with which we feel we are more familiar than the third chapter of St. John. It may be because we find in it the marvelous expression of God’s love in the sixteenth verse. Luther once said it was the Gospel in a nutshell. Another distinguished preacher has declared that if you should take away from him all of the Old Testament and all of the New Testament and leave him only this text, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life,” he would know enough of the heart of God, and he would know enough of the plan of salvation, to be saved.

Yet, to my mind, there is no chapter in all the Bible so difficult of explanation. It is in this chapter that we have the thought of regeneration presented, and if I should say to you, “Give me a definition of regeneration,” I question if many of my readers could give a definition that would be satisfactory or plain to the man or woman who is seeking Jesus Christ. On

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the other hand, If you should say, “Give me an illustration of regeneration,” I could do it easily. I could tell you the story of the man who came into one of our services bound with sin and who, for months, has been free. This is the result of regeneration. I could tell you the story of the woman who, at the beginning of one of our missions, was hopeless and helpless, and who now is giving her testimony to the marvelous saving and keeping power of Jesus Christ. I would ask you to listen to her friends, who say that she is a changed woman, changed in her expression, in her manner of speech, so changed that she has become a new creature. That is regeneration. You will notice that this text has a marginal reading, which says, “Verily, verily, I say unto you except a man be born from above.” So when you say you have resolved to give up sin, that is not enough. When you tell me that you have resolved never again to go in the way of iniquity, that is not enough, even if you could keep the resolution. If one is to become a new creathre, and overcome the power of old sin, and new temptation, he must be born from above, and that means to have implanted in his nature a new force from above. It is to have within himself a new life which is the life of God. It is to have a Saviour offered to and accepted by him. That is regeneration.

Major Whittle once said in my church in Philadelphia, that when Jesus was here He filed a bill of exceptions. One count of that bill you find in Matthew 18:3 — “Verily I say unto you, except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” There are those who say there is a distinction to be made between conversion and regeneration; they say that conversion is your part of the work, and regeneration is God’s part. Conversion is your putting yourself in the way. Regeneration is God’s doing the work in you. Conversion is saying, “I will.” Regeneration is God’s breathing into you the breath of His own life.

The second count in the bill is recorded in Matthew 5 :20 — “Except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” So there is very little hope for the one who puts away the Saviour, either to see God or to know Him. Indeed, there is no hope, and there is no open door. No man would dare to say that by his own efforts he could reach a standard of righteousness that would pass the judgment of an infinite God. Then how are you going to be saved? I know how you may be saved, and I tell it to the man, who, up to this moment is without hope, and to the woman who is in despair. I tell it to the rich and to the poor. I convey the message to the outcast and the respectable. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” For by faith, we are united to Christ, and His righteousness becomes our righteousness. That is the sure way to be saved.

Another count in the bill, the third, we find in the Gospel of St. Luke — 13 13, “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” What is repentance? There are people who say that repentance is sorrow for sin. Then all men repent, for there is surely not a man bound with a passion, nor a woman held with a sin, who has not had sorrow for sin. They may have ii3

said with heart* almost breaking, “O, that I might be saved!” but you must remember that that is not repentance. There are those who say that remorse is repentance. Then all the sinful people in the city have repented, because day after day walking the streets, and night after night tossing restlessly upon their beds, they have said, “My God, My sin! My sin!” But that is not repentance. Repentance is, in a sense, sorrow for sin; it is the crushing effect of remorse on account of sin; but in addition to this it is saying, “With God’s help, I will turn away from sin.” It is turning right-about-face, and looking unto Him.

Then the other count in the bill is the text above quoted, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

I hear somebody say, “I cannot come to Jesus.” Why? “Because I have no feeling.” But you never will have until you come. And another person says, “I cannot come to Jesus.” Why? And he answers, among other reasons, “Because the doctrine of the atonement seems to me to be so impossible. I cannot understand how Jesus Christ, dying upon Calvary nineteen hundred years ago and more, can ever set me free.” A man said once in my presence, that if he could explain the atonement, he would become a Christian. Then he will never come to Jesus, for not until we see God, can we begin to understand the atonement. Not an angel or saint in Heaven understands it. Eternity will not be long enough in which to comprehend it. If you are waiting for this, you are like a man in the university who might say, “I will never study astronomy until I can understand it. I will never enter a class in mathematics until I can solve every problem.” You must come by faith.

Here is another who says he cannot come. Why? And taking up the Bible he turns over its pages and says, “Too many contradictions.” But I am sure that there has never been a book in the world that has such harmony in it as this old Book, from Genesis to Revelation; if you wait to argue your way through your difficulties I fear you will never come. A man once came to Mr. Moody saying, “If you will answer this list of questions, I will become a Christian.” But Mr. Moody was too clever for him. He said, “If you will become a Christian, and start to-night, then come to me to-morrow morning, I will answer every question on your list.” That night he accepted Christ as his Saviour. The next morning he came back to Mr. Moody’s house, his face shining, and said, “Mr. Moody, I will not have to put you to the trouble of answering the questions. They have all been answered in the night and the way is clear.” That is the way to come. If men, the latchet of whose shoes you are not worthy to unloose, if women, in whom you have as perfect confidence as you have in your mother, if men like Gladstone, if men like our President McKinley, if men like General Booth, and if women like Catherine Booth can say, “We took the step by faith, and all the way became increasingly bright ahead of us,” then I think we may trust the Saviour. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” It is God’s word and you must yield.

But I turn t<9 the Scripture and find that the statement of Jesus makes it very plain. This is what Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Ye must be born again.” I can imagine some one saying, “I can quite understand how one deep in sin should be born again. I can appreciate the fact that a drunkard must be born again.” But Nicodemus was a moral man, yet Jesus said to him, “Ye must be born again.” Then if Nicodemus must, so must you. Jesus made it very plain. He said, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Then he said, “Except a man be born of water * * *” I think sometimes

we make all too little of baptism, for as I turn over the pages of the Scriptures, I find that again and again baptism is plainly presented to us as a duty, and closely connected with believing; but Jesus, I am sure, was not talking about water baptism here. He said, “Except a man be born of water,” and He was talking to a Jew. If you turn back to the Old Testament, you will see that the references to water are references to the Word. So this is what Jesus surely must have meant, “Except a man be born of the Word.” What does that mean? It means that you may take God’s promise of salvation and hold on to it by faith, and on the basis of His promise you may make your plea, and God will keep His word. That is the way to be saved. We have in our country a distinguished preacher who rose in a conference one day and said in my hearing, “I was raised in a Methodist family and every member of the household was a perfect battery of emotion. We never had a Methodist revival that they did not take me to ii6 the altar, and urge me to remain there until light came, but somehow I could not be saved.

“But one morning when a student, I was seated on the campus at college preparing for my Bible lesson, I came to John 3:16 — ‘For God so loved the world.’.... I stopped and said, ‘That is inclusive enough for me.’ ‘That He gave His only Son....’

‘That is provision enough for me.’ ‘That whosoever believeth in Him... ‘That is definite

enough for me.’ ‘Should not perish.’ I arose from my sitting position, and taking my little Testament in my hand, I held it up above my head and said, ‘O, God, here this morning I accept this statement of Thine as the truth, I will hold on to it while I live. I will carry it with me to the judgment, and if I am not saved, it will go hard with your book.’ And suddenly I found my eyes filled with tears, I found my lips trembling, I found my heart burning, and from that day to this I have been a perfect battery of emotion myself.” That is the way to be saved. Lay hold on God’s Word, and it will do its own work.

But Jesus makes it plainer. He says, “born of water (that is the Word); born of the spirit.” Surely this is the work of the Spirit; it is your minister’s preaching; it is the singing of a hymn which holds you; it is your mother’s pleading moving you. It is the tear-stained request that I once held in my hand signed by a broken-hearted mother which read, “Pray for my boy.” It is everything that can make you think. It is everything that can make you want to turn to God. It is the Spirit of God pleading. One evening at a service in New York City, I saw a very disn 7

tinguished-lookfng man rise and I heard him say, “I will accept Christ.” I went back to the hotel and told my wife that I believed I had been used to lead a great man to God. I thought I had, but the next day, which was the day of prayer, I saw this man come into the service carrying in his arms a little lame boy. He brought him forward and placing him on the platform, came over to me and placing his hand up to his mouth so that the child could not hear him, he said, “I want to introduce to you my little Joe. He is going to die.” He did not need to tell me that. The little fellow’s face was so white, and his hands were so thin, when I came over to meet his child he said with all the pride of a father, “This is my little Joe. He led me to Christ.”

When he said it I confess I was a bit disappointed, for I thought I had won him. Then he told me this story. He said, “When the mission started, Joe said to me, ‘Father, I cannot go to the meetings, but mother will take you. And all the time you are gone I will pray.’ I never came into the house at night that I did not hear the thud of his little crutch on the floor as he came to welcome me, the moment the door was opened. He would spring into my arms and say, ‘Did you come?’ But last night he did not ask me. I heard him come to the door and as it was opened, he sprang into my arms and buried his face on my shoulder, and I heard him say with a sob, ‘You have come, you have come; I know you have.’” and, “sir,” said he, “my little boy won me.” That is what I mean by the Spirit working. It is every holy influence. It is the prayer of your mother; it is the cry of the n8 preacher; it is the sob of your wife by your side; it is God calling when He says, “Turn ye, O turn ye, for why will ye die?”

May I say in conclusion that we come into the kingdom of God with different experiences. Some men sob their way to Christ. Other men shout their way into the kingdom. Some men come with all the calmness that is part of their nature. I like the story of the gentleman in Philadelphia who, after hearing his minister preach, turned to the man near him, and said, “Sir, when will the officers of this Church meet?” And the man said, “They will meet now, if you wish it.” And the gentleman said, “Call them together.” When the officers of the Church came together, this gentleman, who was one of the greatest manufacturers in America, rose before them to say, “Gentlemen, for a long time I have believed in Jesus Christ, but I have never acknowledged Him. To-day when the minister was preaching I thought the time had come, and before you this morning I acknowledge Him as my Saviour.” One of the officers moved that he be received into the Church. Another seconded it. And that gentleman walked out of the room a Christian, and kept on walking with Christ to the day of his death, a model Christian.

You may come in from the East; you may come in from the West; you may come in from the South; you may approach from the North. But come. Waiting will not save you. Weeping will not save you. Working will not save you. Come. The danger is this: You are very near the kingdom — so very near. An uplifted hand, with the will to rise to your feet, and your resolution not to yield would go in a flash. I once said to an American preacher in Oregon, “How did you come to Christ?” and he said, “I was raised in a Christian home; my mother was a saint; my father a Church officer, I was very near the kingdom, but I did not yield. One night I heard the minister use this illustration, and it won me: He said, ‘A

gentleman with consumption left home for the mountains, and, as is usual in our country with the people having this complaint who go to the mountains, his first days were days of real suffering. He became much discouraged, and said, T shall die if I stay here, and started home.

“He sent a telegram to his home in the country, saying that he would arrive by such a train. But a storm came on. The telegraph wires were down, and the train was delayed. His home was three miles from the country station. He reached the station at midnight. No one knew of his coming, as the telegram was never delivered. The station was closed, and the lights were out. His house was the nearest to the railroad. There was only one thing for him to do. He must fight his way through the storm. Dying though he was, he pushed his way through the ever increasing snowdrift until at last he saw a light in the window of his home. He passed through the gate and staggered up the walk. Just as he reached the step of the door, he fell upon his knees from faintness, and with his hand upon the step of the door, he died.” My friend told me that the minister turned to his congregation and said, “There is some young man in this building with his hand upon the step of the door. Some day the door will shut.” And my friend said. “I rose from my pew, and hurried home to my father, and dropping on my knees by his side, I said. ‘I will yield, I will yield. I accept Christ now.’” I urge you not to tarry, and plead with you not to be too late.

“Almost is but to fail.
Almost cannot avail,

Sad, sad that bitter wail.
Almost, but — lost!”