John 3:1-16
There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; the same came to Jesus by night, and 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." (John 3: 1, 2) It is well when those who have the truth of God have such power with them that men cannot fail to see that God is with them. God has promised that it shall be so, and that means that He expects it to be so. He says to His people, concerning the men of earth: "They shall fall down unto thee, and make supplication unto thee, saying, Surely, God is in thee; and there is none else, there is no God." (Isa. 45:14) When the Jewish Sanhedrin talked with Peter and John, they gave the credit of their boldness to the Lord. (Acts 4:13) So when a great miracle was wrought by the agency of Peter, "all that lived at Lydda and Saron saw him and turned to the Lord." (Acts 9:35, 42) The true servant of Jehovah, no matter how great the work he does, always leads the people to think of his Master. "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father, which is in heaven." (Matt. 5:16)
In the address of Nicodemus, however we can see an intended compliment to the Man Jesus, such as most people feel it their duty to give to the minister. "I liked that sermon; it expressed just what I have always believed." "There is no doubt but that you are doing a grand work here; your preaching is having a great influence on the people." Now while it is always right to encourage a man, the best way in the world to encourage a servant of Christ is to give personal heed to what he says, and let the fruits be seen in the life. Too many think that their duty is fully discharged if they assent to what is said, having no thought that it means that they must make any change in their lives. How often this Scripture is fulfilled: "And as for thee, son of man, the children of thy people talk of thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, everyone to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the Lord. And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as My people, and they hear thy words, but they do them not: for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goeth after their gain. And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not." (Eze. 33:30-32) They praise the singer and the song, but they do not have any thought that it is more than a thing merely to listen to.
Jesus cut short the compliment of Nicodemus. All that Nicodemus said was true, and we may believe that he was sincere in saying it; but Jesus did not care to talk about Himself or His work. Very abrupt and ungracious His words doubtless seemed to Nicodemus, in response to his polite greeting. The ruler had praised Jesus, and had not the slightest idea but that Jesus would feel gratified on account of his attention, for he had no thought that he was anything but a model; but Jesus instantly responded: "Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."
What! a Pharisee, a ruler of the to preserve a conscience void of offence toward men and toward God; must such an one be wholly made new before he can be saved? "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus knew that the Lord meant him, and he knew that the sentence meant a complete transformation of life, and the implied rebuke nettled him, so that he affected not to understand it, and began to quibble. Notice that Jesus did not pay any attention to his question, "How can a man be born when he is old?" except to repeat the statement. He did not attempt any explanation in answer to the question, "How can these things be?" but simply assured him of the fact. No one can explain the mystery of the natural birth; why then should anyone stumble over the mystery of the new birth?
The statement is sweeping: Nobody can enter the kingdom of heaven except by a new birth. The birth that brings us into the kingdom of men, does not introduce us into the kingdom of God. Nobody is born a Christian. No matter how godly a person's ancestry may have been, nor into how pious a home he may be born, he must be born again, or he cannot be saved. Pious parents are a blessing, and a wonderful help in the way of life; but there is a work that must be accomplished in every individual soul by the Holy Spirit alone. The child who has truly God-fearing parents must grow up to be a Christian, and should become one very young; but nobody is born a Christian. He may have learned Scripture language as a matter of course, from hearing so much, and may never have heard words of scoffing or profanity. He may have been trained from earliest infancy to read the Bible and to engage in family and public religious exercises. All this is good, but nothing that anybody can get from human beings from first to last, no matter how closely related or how good, can take the place of the personal work of the Holy Spirit in the heart. As great a blessing as pious training is, if it is depended on as being sufficient, the individual is in a worse condition than the one who has never known religious associations, and who knows that he is a worthless sinner.
"That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit." "Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again," or "from above." "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh nor whither it goeth; so is every one that is born of the Spirit." The wind bloweth where it will, and yet it has no will of itself; it comes from God and returns to God, according to His will; so in everyone that is born of the Spirit. He maketh His angels winds. In these words of Christ we have not merely the mystery of the process of new birth set forth, but we have a suggestion of the wondrous power to be manifested in those born of the Spirit. Don't try to explain, and don't reason from your own past experience, nor even from anything that you have seen. Do you not know that by trying to understand how these things can be, before we accept them, we limit the amount of blessing that we are to receive, to our own comprehension; whereas God wishes to do for us "exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think?" "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." (1 Cor. 2:9, 10) Yield to God's will, and you will know things that no human language can tell you.
Nothing is plainer in the Scriptures than that all the disabilities which we inherit by birth from our parents are counteracted and overcome by the birth from the Spirit. We inherit sinful dispositions. It is not the specific acts of sin that a man has committed, that will cause his everlasting destruction, so much as it is the evil nature that is in him, even if it has not manifested itself in any way that is noticeable by men. We have the evil in us, and always with us, and again and again we have said, "It's no use; I cannot possibly overcome this sin; it is a part of my very being," and have felt almost in despair, or else we have apologized for the hateful thing by saying, "Oh, it's only my way; I don't mean anything bad by it; but I simply can't help it; and God will not hold me responsible for what I am not to blame for. I had this way from birth." Now read: "As by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of One the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One shall many be made righteous." (Rom. 5:18, 19) We are not responsible for having been born sinners. Since all our ancestors were sinners, it was inevitable that we should be born sinners if born at all; and we had no voice in the matter of our birth; therefore God does not hold us responsible. But that does not mean that He excuses the sin, and holds our being sinners as a light thing. No; He does not hold us responsible for the sin; for "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." (2 Cor. 5:19) And this reconciliation is effected by undoing all the evil that was entailed on us by our first birth. Because God does not hold us responsible for the sin that is born in us, He provides for a new birth, direct from Himself, which will make us strong where we were weak by nature. We are "heirs of God," of His Person and character, of all that He is and has. We cannot understand it, but the knowledge and belief of the fact makes us "strengthened with all might according to His glorious power."
Jesus spoke of Himself as "the Son of Man, which is in heaven," yet He was at that very moment talking to Nicodemus. He was always "in the bosom of the Father," so that we may know that He is with us now that He has ascended to heaven; and more, that we may see the possibility of dwelling in the secret place of God. He who abides in God can speak of heavenly things as of that which he knows and understands. There is no uncertainty in his testimony.
Everybody who is saved must believe many things that he cannot explain to anybody, not even to himself. How often the Bible teacher is met with the challenge or request to "harmonize" two statements in the Bible. "How can these things be?" is asked again and again. Now if he sets about trying to explain every seeming contradiction, and should refuse to accept a truth or take a step forward until he can reconcile it with everything else, he will land in total darkness. "By faith we understand." "He that believeth hath the witness in himself." Faith is not contrary to reason, but the things with which it deals are so infinitely above and beyond the range of human thought that one must have the mind of God in order to comprehend them. So it is useless to spend time arguing with an unbeliever or a questioner. Such time is wasted. Tell him the truth with all authority, and with such positiveness as can come only from close, personal knowledge, and which must carry conviction. If the man once believes, he will know for himself why you could not explain everything to him. If he will not believe, it makes no difference what he thinks of you or your ability.
--January 12, 1899