Look at that remarkable man Job. He had not his equal in the earth. Satan could not get a point at him—had to give him up—the more he pressed, the more perfection came out. The lesson God taught that beloved servant of His, was, that though he had not his equal on earth, he could not endure the presence of God. After all those long chapters we come to the 38th and 39th, and God takes the object of His love in hand. Now, He says, you have been caviling about Me, and saying if you knew where to find Me (as though I were hiding), you would fill your mouth with argument, and knew you would be justified. Now, here I am, gird up yourself and answer Me like a man, and He goes on, question after question; Job is silent. In the 40th chapter, 4th verse, Job says, “Behold, I am vile.” Perhaps you think the end is reached when a man confesses himself vile. No; so God goes on again, 6th verse. “Who is he that hideth counsel without judgment (knowledge).” “Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak.” “I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear; but now, mine eye seeth Thee. Wherefore, I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” It is one thing to hear of God, and it is a blessed thing, but He does not stop there, but brings into His presence, and in God’s presence He has nothing to do but to abhor himself. That lesson of Job is wonderful.
Take Isaiah, he says, “Woe is me,” when? When his eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts, “for I am a man of unclean lips.”
Daniel, too, is brought into the presence of God, in the 10th chapter, “My comeliness was turned in me unto corruption.”
And so Nicodemus. He has to be born again, and so do I and every one else.
The next thing is, how is this new nature produced? How “born anew?” I don’t simply say “again” —born anew—source and origin.
How is it that man became such a corrupt creature in his nature? It is very simple. Back there in the garden of Eden, there were two words: The Word of God, and the word of Satan; and which word was received? God said, You do that, and the day you do it you shall die. Satan says, That is not so, and He knows it. You eat it, and you shall become as God. Which word was believed? O, dear friends, the word of Satan. There is the origin of being what we are in our nature.
How does God undo that? There are those two words today. I receive the Word of God, and I am born again by the Word of God. Suppose here I am in an unconverted state, and I hear a man say or preach, or I read it in a tract or in the chapter, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” I say, “That is true. That is the truth of God.” I am born again. Why? Because I believe the Word of God. “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.” James says, “Of His own will begat He us with the Word of truth.”
Our being born again does not take the old nature away, and henceforth there is conflict between the two.
In our chapter we have, “Born of water and of the Spirit.” Water, is the Word of God. “Not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God.” It does not say, “That which is born of water is water.” It is the instrument the Holy Spirit, or if you please, God, uses. “That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.”
A nature so bad it can’t be changed, and a nature so good it can’t be changed. “Born of God... cannot sin, because born of God.” That is a wonderful passage.
That passage is very blessed. It takes us back to the 1St of Genesis. In another translation we find the article, “The God.” That is, the God that said, back there in Genesis, “Let there be light,” and that same God has shined into the darkness of our hearts. He has dispelled the darkness.
Could we say that is why Nicodemus sought Him?
The very fact of his wanting to be taught of this Teacher—his need was such, if he could not go any other time, he did go at night. He is referred to on two other occasions, and in each case it is the one that came to Jesus by night.
“Water and of the Spirit.” Water is the Word of God. The Holy Spirit is the one who uses that Word, and when one receives the Word of God as the Word of God, he is born again. I am not talking about atonement for sin, or anything but this divine necessity of being born again. Being sealed does not make us children of God. “Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba Father.”
It is being born again that makes us children of God. Our having the Spirit gives us the intelligence of it, and leads us into the enjoyment of it. “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.... But we have the mind of Christ.”
It is the sinner that is converted—born again. It is the saint that is sealed.
Lazarus, in the 11Th of John, is raised from the dead. He came forth bound hand and foot. We find souls who have this new life, but bound hand and foot. We have to seek wisdom in loosing them—getting their grave clothes off—to give them liberty. You may have met one this morning, and one this afternoon, and God gives wisdom how to meet the need, and you can’t have a code. There must be discernment. “He wakeneth morning by morning, He wakeneth mine ear to hear as the instructed,” or as the learner. It is really receiving instruction that he may know how to give an answer to him that is weary. It is prophetic of the Lord as a dependent man. How often we lack wisdom to give a word in season to him that is weary!
Well, there is another thing. You have been hearing this afternoon, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see or enter the Kingdom of God.” Perhaps, you say, I wonder if I have been born again? Do you think you will find any evidence by looking within? You will find just the opposite. Tell me what you think about Christ? What do you know about your need of Christ? Have you learned your need of Christ as Savior? If Christ had not died for your sins, you never could have been saved. “As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God.” I know I am weak and feeble, but I do know I believe in Christ. Rest on the Word, and not what is going on within.
“How can these things be?” You must have a birth of a new kind; this corruptible nature separated you from God. A new creation was begun by the last Adam.
It is Christ and the church. The Father and the children. Scripture never speaks of Christ’s children— but God’s children.
Nicodemus and Joseph had charge of the burial of the Son of God. God did not allow the Roman executioners to do that. The Lord had gone to the last step in humiliation (John 19:3838And after this Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus. (John 19:38) to end). What a burial the Lord had! These two remarkable men are brought together there. Think of Joseph going to Pilate, and craving the body of Jesus. Pilate marveled if He were already dead. When he knew it of the centurion (he would not give his consent before), then he gave it.
They prepared Him a grave with the wicked, but He never filled it.
“Then there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred-pound weight.” That is intensely sweet and instructive! Very precious! Think of God working in that coward disciple.
How are we born again? By receiving the gospel. You hear one preaching the gospel, and I hear another, and we believe it, and we are born again. We may be like a little infant, just born, very feeble, but the life and nature are there, and will never cease. There is never such a thing as being born again twice. “His seed remaineth in him.” That seed is the nature of God.
(Continued from page 21)