"Behold, the Bridegroom."

 •  25 min. read  •  grade level: 6
 
THERE is an immense difference between profession and possession, just as much as there is between current and counterfeit coin. A mere professor is like a bad filbert nut, all shell and no kernel; whilst the possessor is like the good filbert nut, kernel as well as shell are there, the shell of profession surrounds and has within it the kernel of possession. Which are you, my reader? A mere professor of Christianity, or a possessor of Christ?
Religion is earthborn, and occupies its deluded votaries with themselves and the earth; Christianity is heaven-born, and occupies the truly saved with Christ and heaven.
In the chapter given at the head of this paper Christ is looked at in four different characters;. first, as Bridegroom, hope and object of His people’s hearts; second, as Lord of His servants, who will reckon with them when He cometh; thirdly, as the Son of man, who will as surely “come in His glory” as once He came in humiliation; and lastly, as King who has gone to receive the kingdom from His Father, and who will then return and reign over this demoralized world during the millennium or thousand years. (Luke 19:1212He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. (Luke 19:12); Rev. 20:44And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (Revelation 20:4).)
But it is the first thirteen verses of Matt. 25 that I want to say a little to you about.
“Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the Bridegroom.”
The only place where the words “the kingdom of heaven” occur is in Matthew’s gospel, and there they occur about thirty-two times. It is called the kingdom of heaven, because the King is in heaven, having been crucified and rejected from the earth.
The ten virgins are a picture of professing Christians, the lamps mean profession, and they all went forth from Judaism or heathendom, professedly to meet the Bridegroom. Mark you well, it was not death and judgment, the common lot of man, that they were expecting, but the Bridegroom who, as their Substitute, had borne death and judgment for them, so that there might be no hindrance to their constantly and joyfully looking for His return. “Five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them.”
These verses prove that half the profession of the day is false and half real; five of the ten were wise, and five were foolish. Now the folly of the foolish consisted in this, that they took their lamps, and took no oil with them; that is, they rested in a mere profession; they had no heart for Christ, and they had not the Holy Spirit, of which oil is the standing type in Scripture.
“But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.”
The wisdom of the wise is seen in their not resting in a mere Christ-less profession; they were not content with having put on Christ in baptism; they sought and found Him as their portion. There is nothing said about the foolish having “vessels;” but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. The wise had hearts for Christ; their bodies were the temples of the Holy Ghost, and thus their profession was a reality. Having believed with the heart unto righteousness, they were enabled to make confession with the mouth unto salvation. (1 Cor. 6:1919What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? (1 Corinthians 6:19); Rom. 10:1010For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:10).) Which are you, a wise or a foolish virgin?
“While the Bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.”
This verse is a vivid and painful description of the condition of spiritual stupor and supineness that the professing church fell into during what is called “the dark ages,” when the hope of the Bridegroom’s return was entirely lost sight of.
“And at midnight there was a cry made, BEHOLD, THE BRIDEGROOM; go ye out to meet Him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.”
These verses show very solemnly the worldly and selfish ways into which the professing church fell; it gave up seeking Christ’s things, and sought its own things only; but the cry, “Behold, the Bridegroom,” startled them from their slumbers, and produced a genuine revival.
Revival refers to sleepy Christians, and to such the word is, “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.” (Eph. 5:1414Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. (Ephesians 5:14).) Dead sinners don’t want reviving; such need to hear the life-giving voice of the Son of God. (John 5:2525Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. (John 5:25).) When the fire has been lighted, and allowed through carelessness to get low, it needs reviving; but when it has never been lighted, it is not reviving that is required then, but to be lighted; and this was the effect of the midnight cry, it manifested where there was life, and where there was none.
“And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out” (or are going out).
The foolish awake to the discovery that they had “NO OIL.” They may trim their beautiful lamps by going to morning and evening prayers, by constant sacramental commemorations, by giving to religious causes, by visiting and helping the sick; but, having no oil, when they thus light their lamps it is only to see them flare up and blaze away for a few moments, and then go out in smoke and leave their unhappy owners in greater darkness than ever—the sure end of mere profession.
The foolish say to the wise, “Give us of your oil. But the wise answered, saying, Not so: lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.”
The terms on which God sells and man buys the Holy Ghost are, “without money and without price.” (Isa. 55:11Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. (Isaiah 55:1).) God is too rich to sell and man too poor to buy on any other terms. Paul said to the Galatians, “Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” (Gal. 3:22This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? (Galatians 3:2).) The wise virgins got the Holy Ghost by the bearing of faith; the foolish tried to get it at the religious law workshops, but were unsuccessful, as all must be who go there for it.
“And while they went to buy the Bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with Him to the marriage: and THE DOOR WAS SHUT.” The coming of the Bridegroom will prove who are His and who are not; and that time is very near. Christians have nothing to do with fixing dates, but ought to be always expecting the return of their beloved Bridegroom.
“They that were READY went in with Him.” Who made them ready? “Giving thanks unto the Father, which HATH made us meet” (or fit or ready) “to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.” (Col. 1:1212Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: (Colossians 1:12).) It is the Father’s work to make His children ready for His own holy presence; and He has done it, and they are entitled to know it, and to praise Him for it.
“The door was shut” and separated the wise and the foolish forever; the wise are inside with the Bridegroom, and the foolish forever shut outside from the Bridegroom and the marriage feast. And now, what an awful scene takes place on the outside of that shut door! “Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But He answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I KNOW YOU NOT. Watch therefore; for ye know neither the day nor the hour.”
Then eyes that never wept will weep, and lips that never prayed will pray, and hearts that never felt will feel, and knees that never knelt will kneel; but it will be all outside the closed. door! And these were not backsliders. Two things prove it; first, they had “no oil;” and, secondly, Christ says, “I know you not,” and “I never knew you.” Now, what characterizes Christians is that they have the Holy Ghost, and that the Lord knows them. (1 Cor. 6:1919What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? (1 Corinthians 6:19); 2 Tim. 2:1919Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. (2 Timothy 2:19).)
The Christless religionist may plead, “I have been baptized, confirmed, and regularly taken the sacrament.” “I never knew you,” is His answer. “But I have wept, prayed, and done my best.” Again He repeats, “I NEVER knew you.” “But I have been regularly to church, chapel, or meeting.” “I NEVER knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity,” is the final word. (Matt. 7:22, 2322Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Matthew 7:22‑23).)
Oh ye who are clutching tenaciously as with deathless grip the oil-less lamp of a Christ-less profession, know ye if ye continue as ye are that your lamp will soon go out in the blackness of darkness forever! but now, ere it is TOO LATE, come to Jesus for life, for the Holy Ghost, and for fitness for His return, and join the wise virgins in the midnight cry, “BEHOLD, THE BRIDEGROOM.” “ONE LEAK WILL SINK A SHIP.”
“ONE leak will sink a ship, and one sin will destroy a sinner.” So said Bunyan; and he said right, for he drew his conclusions from the word of God.
There is an idea, I find, held by a large number of persons, that unless a man has committed some great crime, such as murder or theft, he is not a sinner. But that is what man thinks; and God has said, “My thoughts are not your thoughts.” (Isa. 55:88For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. (Isaiah 55:8).)
Man judges of sin by the way it touches or affects his fellow-man. God judges of it by His holiness, and by the way it dishonors Him; hence He has said, “The thought of foolishness is sin.” (Prov. 24:99The thought of foolishness is sin: and the scorner is an abomination to men. (Proverbs 24:9).)
Suppose a man takes away the life of his fellowman: if he is caught, and found guilty, he is hanged. But suppose another man is found guilty of having taken away the lives of several of his fellow-creatures, the law of the land can do no more and no less than hang him, the same as it did the one who only took one human life. And ONE SIN will EXPOSE a man to the ETERNAL JUDGMENT of God as much as one million of sins!
How many sins did Adam and Eve commit before God drove them out of the garden of Eden? One, and only one; and for that one act of disobedience they were, by the holiness of God, righteously excluded forever from the earthly paradise.
Again, “The wages of sin is death.” (Rom. 6:2323For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23).) Observe, again, God does not say the wages of a hundred or a million of sins is death, but, “The wages of SIN is death.” “And be sure your SIN will find you out.” (Num. 32:2323But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the Lord: and be sure your sin will find you out. (Numbers 32:23).)
The holiness of God has weighed the world in the equal balances of the cross of Christ, and the verdict is, “Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.” (Dan. 5:2727TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. (Daniel 5:27).)
The holiness of God has measured man.by the just measure of the cross of Christ, and the sentence is, “THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE: for ALL have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” (Rom. 3:22, 2322Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 23For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:22‑23).)
Why has God thus weighed and measured man? In order “that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become GUILTY before God.” (Rom. 3:1010As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: (Romans 3:10).)
SIN, DEATH, and JUDGMENT are the lot of men because, as we have seen, “all have sinned,” and “all the world” is guilty. But is there no open door of escape? Blessed be God, there is; for Christ has died, and shed His precious blood. He has borne sin, death, and judgment on the cross; and now all who trust Him get forgiveness, eternal life, divine righteousness, the Holy Ghost, and everlasting glory.
Sin must be measured by the holiness of God, and by the cross of Christ. At the cross of Christ I learn that the holiness of God required the death and blood-shedding of Christ for one sin, just as much as for one million of sins. Nothing less than the death and blood-shedding of Christ would do to put away one sin, and nothing more was necessary to put away one million of sins. “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)); and whether you have sinned few or many sins, forgiveness and justification are to be had alone “through faith in His blood.” (Rom. 3:24, 2524Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; (Romans 3:24‑25).)
“Believe in Him who died for thee,
And, sure as He has died,
Thy debt is paid, thy soul is saved, thou art justified.”
“OH, JOY, JOY!”
“Oh, joy, joy! The glorious work is done. I am passed from death unto life, from the power of Satan unto God. ‘Tis like a miracle—so sudden; I know it now. I am saved, and safe forever. I have peace, perfect peace; ‘I have a peace, and ‘tis calm as a river.” ‘Twas like a door in my soul suddenly opened; I instantly saw, I knew, I believed. I was blind, now I see. I praise God for His great mercy in letting me see; me as I am, and He as He is, and Christ, the Savior of sinners, such as I; and for bringing me out of darkness into light, out of such agony of soul, which felt as if it would really kill me. I did not know that I should ever be out of it, and I am brought out suddenly of this into such glorious light and peace. A peace that passeth all understanding, so safe in Christ. A peace and rest forever. What you have said to me, what you have written to me, has done it all. If I had been told the way and suddenness of it, as of any other person, I don’t know how I could have believed it. I must tell you how it was.
“In the morning, after reading your last letter again, I had walked out into the flower garden; but I saw nothing there. I looked up to the sky, and that awful solemnity came over me, stronger, than ever. I stood still—why I know not—my mind was turned inward to thoughts of God. I must have looked down again, from what followed. The next instant will ever be stamped upon my heart. All I know is, I looked up—that is, I lifted up my eyelids—so I must have been looking down. The instant I lifted up my eyelids, just as quick, like a door in my soul was suddenly opened, an instantaneous light came over me, I saw, I knew I was saved! I was at peace! Oh, such a peace! such a peace I never knew before! And, most strange, at the next instant words seemed put in my mouth. I know not where they are from. I said, ‘How safe, how calm, how satisfied the soul that clings to thee!’ Those words expressed it. I immediately walked into the house, wondering what had been done to me. I kept repeating those words, ‘So safe, so calm, so satisfied, the soul that clings to thee.’ And now I can say
“‘Accepted I am,
In the once offered Lamb;
It is God who Himself had devised the plan.’
“Am I saved? I could not have thought anyone could now be saved so suddenly. Are you not surprised at what I say, after all the agonies of my soul I have been troubling you with? Was there ever such a sudden change from darkness to light, taking Jesus instantly to my soul, knowing that He died on the cross for my sins? Your words and your letters have been blessed to me. I read them again now. You have done it; God has done it.
“I have now, as you told me, ‘let go every twig.’ Your ‘Prayer’ has been answered. I have read it so often—many, many times a day. It was a feeling also when I lifted up my eyes; I felt I was saved, as well as knew it. Your last papers with your note—so beautifully clear it is to me, so suited to my need—this note, both your notes have done it.
“What you wrote about faith has done me good. Was that wrong when I felt I was saved, as well as knew it? But I trust to no feeling now; I know it; I have the ‘receipt.’ That tract, Faith, or Feeling—which? Can’t it be both? I care for nothing now but the knowledge of Christ. I never can thank you sufficiently, or give you but a faint idea of my gratitude for all your teaching and advice. It is all your doing, through God, from first to last. You have been the means of saving my soul and bringing me to perfect peace, ‘so safe, so calm, so satisfied.’ I am—I am a changed being indeed. What you have said to me in your addresses, and what you have written to me, have done it all; and the books have been a great help also. I do nothing all day but read them; many thanks for them. Am I saved? is one. You said prayer would be answered, it is answered for me?
“Your eternally obliged and grateful friend,
“M. F. H.”
The writer of the above letter is absent from the body, and at home with the Lord. I therefore feel perfectly free in publishing it, and my object in doing so is, first, to encourage those who, like the writer of the remarkable letter that they have read, may have known what it is to be long troubled about their condition as lost sinners in the presence of a holy God. “Sorrow may endure for a night; but joy cometh in the morning.” You may and must have your night of sorrow—that is, repentance towards God—but joy shall be yours on the morning of your faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ. “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power: of the Holy Ghost.” (Rom. 15:1313Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. (Romans 15:13).)
My second object in giving publicity to this letter is, that the reader may see that salvation is sudden. How long was the Lord in saving the penitent thief? the three thousand at Pentecost? or Saul of Tarsus? In the Acts of the Apostles thousands of conversions are recorded, and all instantaneous. Salvation is God’s work. It is immediate, and it is eternal: “I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever: nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before Him.” (Eccles. 3:1414I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him. (Ecclesiastes 3:14).)
My third and last reason for printing my late friend’s letter is, that the reader may see that God wishes His children to know that they are saved, to thank Him for it, and to tell others about it. God says, “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life” (1 John 5:1313These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. (1 John 5:13)); and those who have received and believed this letter can humbly but confidently say, “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.” (1 John 3:1414We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. (1 John 3:14).)
I pray God greatly to bless this letter to anxious souls, and give them by His grace to say with the writer of it, “Oh, joy! joy the glorious work is done! I am passed from death unto life, from the power of Satan unto God.”
ONE stone thrown through a pane of glass breaks it into pieces, and you may mend it with putty, or paste a piece of paper on either side to keep it together, and to keep the wind out; but it is broken for all that, and some day, when the rain and wind are beating against it, away will go your putty and your paper.
Now, what is to be done in such a case? It is clear that all the glass manufacturers and glaziers in the world put together could not make that pane of glass as it was before it was broken. What is the remedy then? Why, a new pane of glass, and nothing else.
God says, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Then that proves that every man’s Dane of glass is broken. Many there are who do not believe this, but such will find out it is true when it is too late, if they do not believe it soon. But there are others who do believe it, and what are they doing? Why, instead of owning that their pane of glass is hopelessly ruined, and getting it remedied with a new one, they are having recourse to the putty of reformation, and the paper plaster of mere religious performances; but ere long death and judgment will remove these things in which they are foolishly trusting, and they will stand naked and exposed to the holy eyes of a heart-searching God.
Christ said, in John 3, to a most moral and amiable teacher among the Jews, “Ye must be born again.” He also added, that unless he was born again he would not be allowed either to enter or see the kingdom of God.
Man is fallen, lost, and guilty, and what he needs is, not reformation nor teaching, but a new nature, and this God alone can communicate to him.
Born once dies twice, but born twice never dies. That is, if a man has only one birth—his natural birth—two deaths stare him in the face; first, physical death, which is the separation of the soul and body from each other; and secondly, “the second death,” which is the “lake of fire.” (Rev. 21:88But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. (Revelation 21:8).) Whereas if a man has two births—the natural and the spiritual—he has imparted to him in the second, or new birth, “the divine nature,” which is “eternal life,” and therefore death cannot touch it; so that Jesus could say to the unbelieving Jews of His day, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.” (John 8:5151Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. (John 8:51).)
Your pane of glass is broken, whoever you are, rich or poor, learned or unlearned, religious or irreligious, old or young, and you cannot mend it, and God will not mend it for you. What you need, and cannot do without, is the new birth. May you hear the words of Jesus ringing in your ears, “YE MUST BE BORN AGAIN.”
There is the same nature in the lion in the menagerie as in the lion in the jungle of South Africa, and this would soon be seen if you were to remove all restraints from it. And Scripture declares that “that which is born of the flesh is flesh” (John 3:66That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (John 3:6)), and will never be anything else. You may surround it with the restraints of education and religion, but they no more change the nature that we are born in than keeping a lion in a cage changes its nature. No; the new birth is an indispensable necessity. God affirms, in Romans 8:88So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:8) that they that are in the flesh cannot please Him; that is, that man in his natural and unregenerate state is positively unable to do anything to please God.
Man by nature is like a defiled spring of water in a well. You may clean out the well as often and as much as you please, but the water remains bad because the spring of the well is defiled, and nothing will remedy the difficulty but sinking a new well and refusing the old one.
After the fall of man, in the garden of Eden, God left man to his conscience for nearly two thousand years, and the world got so bad that God was obliged to send a deluge of water upon it, and to destroy the guilty cities of the plain and their inhabitants by fire.
Then God tried man under the law, and he broke it by making a golden calf and worshipping it; He tried him under the kings, and they led the people astray; He tried him under the priesthood, and the priests offered strange fire and were killed of the Lord; He tried him under the prophets, but he refused to be called back to Jehovah; lastly, He sent His one only-beloved Son, and they said, “This is the heir, let us kill Him, and the inheritance shall be ours,” and the world headed up its guilt in the crucifixion of its Creator in the person of the man Christ Jesus. The world’s trial and probation ended at the cross of Christ; it is a judged world now, and men can only be saved out of this judged scene and from the awful judgment that is coming upon it by receiving God’s Son as their Savior; and be it known to all, that “neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:1212Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4:12).)
Your pane of glass is broken, therefore you must be born again. God cannot accept you in your old fallen nature, and until you are born again, you have no nature that can either love, worship, enjoy, or serve God.
But not only is there a needs-be for you to be born again, but the Son of God as Son of man must be lifted up on the cross for God’s glory, and to bear the judgment or punishment due to us. And this has been done. Christ has been lifted up, and said, when He was lifted up, “It is finished.” Christ has died, has been buried, and has risen again, and now all who believe in Him can say, “I died in Him as my substitute when he died; I was buried in Him, and now I am risen in Him, and He is in me, my new and eternal life; and by His Spirit in me I know His Father is my Father, and His God is my God, and I have a life and power now to love, worship, enjoy, and serve God.”
But how is this new birth produced? Jesus answers that question in John 3:55Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. (John 3:5): “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” Water in this verse has no reference whatever to baptism, but to the word of God. Baptism puts a man on Christian ground; puts him in the place of privilege and of responsibility; but he is not thereby born again. How, then, is it communicated? By an ordinance? No. By a religious walk? No. By prayer? No; but by the reception of God’s word revealing Christ.
Look at a few Scriptures, and you will by God’s Spirit instructing you, see it clearly. “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to thy WORD.” (Ps. 119:9); “Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you” (John 15:33Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. (John 15:3)); “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word” (Eph. 5:25, 2625Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, (Ephesians 5:25‑26)); “Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth” (James 1:1818Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. (James 1:18)); “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God” (1 Peter 1:2323Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. (1 Peter 1:23)); “It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing.” (John 6:6363It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. (John 6:63).) The new birth, therefore, is produced or communicated by the word of God revealing Christ lifted up on the cross for us, and applied to the believing soul by the Holy Ghost.
There must be reception of Christ by faith for the new birth to take place. “As many as received Him, to them gave He power (or the right) 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” (John 1:12, 1312But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12‑13)); “for ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” (Gal. 3:2626For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:26).)
And not only does the Spirit use the word of God to produce the new birth, but it is by the Spirit that we know we are children of God when we have received Christ by faith, and are by Him enabled to call God “Father.”
“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.” (Rom. 8:15, 1615For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 16The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: (Romans 8:15‑16).) “And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.” (Gal. 4:66And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. (Galatians 4:6).)
And just as we had to be born naturally to get the place of a child to our earthly father before we could do anything to please him, so we muss, be born again to have the sweet and holy relationship of a child to our Father in heaven, and to enable us to do aught that is acceptable to Him.
Come at once then to the same Jesus that Nicodemus came to, and learn from Him your guilty state, the necessity of the new birth, and how it is produced, that you may henceforth be a divinely happy person, though YOUR PANE OF GLASS IS BROKEN.