About 33 A.D. there lived in the City of Jerusalem a gentleman of the name of Nicodemus. He was a ruler of the Jewish nation, and a member of their Sanhedrin. He was religiously connected with a respectable denomination called the Pharisees, a people zealous of the Law and most attentive in keeping all the fasts and feasts.
During the Passover week, when a great many strangers from all quarters were in the city, there was a considerable stir concerning one, Jesus of Nazareth, who was at that time in Jerusalem. He had been working miracles, and had turned out of the Temple a number of men who had been making a market of it.
This caused a great sensation among the more religious of the people, and the denomination to which Nicodemus belonged was against Him almost to a man. Notwithstanding all this, Nicodemus was unsatisfied he would not be led by public opinion, but was determined to go and hear for himself. So after it was dark one night he set off alone to have an interview with Jesus. What passed between them is most interesting to us all, and the interview resulted in this religious gentleman’s eventual conversion. Previous to that night he had been a follower of the religious customs of that day, but afterward he became a possessor of salvation, and a confessor and disciple of Christ. Let us see how all this came about.
This startled Nicodemus; it was entirely new to him. He believed in men being religious, and keeping the feasts; of being “born again” he knew nothing. Before he had time to be puzzled over the new doctrine, Jesus told him something else more startling still. It was this: “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.” Not only wicked men like drunkards and thieves need to be born again, but you your own self.
This cuts at the root of all human religion. It matters not how “good” people are, or “what church” they belong to, or how often they “take the sacrament.” Jesus says they must be born again, or never enter God’s kingdom. It doesn’t matter even if they “say their prayers and read their Bibles,” and “do the best they can”; if they are not born again they cannot see the kingdom of God they must be in hell for all eternity. It’s a “must be,” you see.
Perhaps you don’t believe this. A gentleman told us some time ago that he did not think he needed to be born again because he had been brought up religiously, and had always been a Christian. Now, if any man could have gone to heaven without it, that man was Nicodemus, and yet to him the Savior said, “Ye must be born again.”
You must be born again.
Not because you are worse than your
neighbors,
Not because you sometimes lose your
temper,
Not because you are a very wicked
person,
But because you are a sinner a sinner—root and branch. You were born a sinner; you grew up a sinner; and you are a sinner still, with a sinner’s nature. “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one.” “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?” No. Why? Because they were so born. So with man. He cannot be reformed so as to please God; he cannot be improved so as to gain heaven. He needs to be made a new creature. He cannot bear the fruit of the Spirit so long as he is in the flesh, any more than a bramble bush could bear apples, or a thorn bear cherries. It is not a little help he needs to make him all right—it is not a good religious education—it is a new life. And this new life must come from somewhere outside himself; he cannot find it within him—he cannot earn it by his works.
A blacksmith once said: “I have often tried to be good; I have often made resolutions to live better; but this being born again is beyond me: I have never tried that.” It was something he could have no hand in; it is God’s workmanship.
Reader, have you found this out for yourself?
What does being born again mean?
It is not being baptized with water.
It is not being made a temperance man.
It is not becoming religious, or making
a new start.
It is not turning over a new leaf, or
joining a society.
None of these things, or all of them put together, is being born again.
Some people think that when they reform it is the same thing as being born again, but that’s a great mistake. A young man once told us he was “quite sure he would be in heaven, because he didn’t drink now.” “Very good, sir; glad to hear it; but are you born again?” He knew nothing about that. He was reformed, but not a child of God; he was as unfit for heaven as he had ever been.
A minister of the Gospel once told us that he had preached to others for seven years before he knew God’s salvation for himself.
Terrible work! It’s time that some other religious men and women were asking themselves this question: Amos 1 born again? or, do I just go to church and keep up a profession because it is a fashionable and respectable thing?
Have you been born again? Consider. Remember that nothing else will do instead, and that nothing but this will fit you for being in heaven.
What must I do to be born again?
Nicodemus asked almost the same question: “How can a man be born when he is old?... How can these things be?”
Listen to God’s answers to his questions: “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,” and “as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” “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.”
Notice, He did not say “as many as are sorry for their sins,” or “as many as weep and repent, or go to the penitent bench to be prayed for” but “as many as received Him... even... them that believe on His name.” When a man enlists he becomes a soldier. When a man receives Jesus Christ he becomes a Christian or, in other words, he has become God’s child—he has been born of God.
Reader, have you received Jesus as your Savior? Can you say, “Jesus is mine—my Savior; He has saved me”? If you have received Jesus, then God has received you—you have become a child of God, and a joint-heir with Christ.
But must I not feel a change?
Certainly you shall. But what kind of change do you expect and when do you expect to feel it? When the doctor puts the medicine at your side, do you expect to feel better before you take it or after? When your friend brought you that gift, did you feel it was yours before or after you received it? Surely not before, but after. And just so with salvation; you cannot expect to feel saved when you are not. You cannot expect to know that Jesus has saved you until you have received Him.
Many people are “waiting for a change.”
They want to feel a burden roll off; then they think that they will feel “nice” and “happy.” God’s way is: Receive Christ first, and the change will come all right afterwards; but on no account wait till you feel a change before you accept God’s remedy, or you may die in your guilt and perish eternally.
Dear anxious soul, try no longer to do anything; wait no longer to feel anything; but rest where God rests in Christ, who has so glorified Him that He can send a message of love to you and say, “God is satisfied.” Now, are you?