JOH 3That was a deeply solemn midnight hour when the Jewish leader, with his uneasy heart and troubled conscience, sought the Lord. The courtly Jew let out a secret when he said, "Rabbi, we know that Thou art a Teacher come from God." Unwittingly he expressed the intellectual faith of the Jewish rulers in the mission of the Lord Jesus.
But what is intellectual assent worth in the things of God? Absolutely nothing. The Great Physician at once goes to the root of troubled consciences and unhappy hearts, and in one short, sweeping sentence of only five words, lays bare the condition and state of man: "Ye must be born again." Once more the Lord, in the urgency of His own love, sounds the depths of man's moral being and history, and "Ye must be born again" falls a second time on the ears of the astonished master of Israel.
The new birth here so strongly insisted upon is an absolute necessity. God must have it. Observe that it is not an amended life, or improvement, moral, religious or intellectual that the Lord speaks of. Had these words been uttered in the plains of Samaria (John 4), or on the cross to the expiring malefactor (Luke 23), or had been addressed to the guilty adulteress (John 8), we would all have heartily agreed, for truly such sinners need the new birth. But it seems so strange that religious people of that class represented by Nicodemus equally need the new birth.
That brief but all-comprehensive statement sweeps creation clean and clear of human merit. God won't have it. He can't accept the least fruit from sinful Adamic life. He cuts down the Adamic tree, root, fruit and branches. "Ye must be born again."
What is the nature of the new birth? Is it the gradual sanctification of the old Adamic nature? Does it consist of an improved life? Of a new leaf turned over in my life's history? Most emphatically does Scripture answer, NO. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." John 3:66That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (John 3:6).
The flesh may be cultivated to the highest point of moral excellence and is capable of any amount of devotion, but nevertheless, it remains "flesh," and it will never change.
Jesus Christ did not come from heaven to improve man, or to sanctify his nature, or to better him religiously. He came into the world to save sinners. He died on the cross for sins, root and fruit. God condemned sin in the cross of Christ. God has stamped with eternal condemnation that principle of life in man which is ever opposed to Him and His beloved Son.
A new life is imparted, not the old one bettered. I do not get this new life by doing, working or feeling. That would be God accepting the fruit of the flesh which He has condemned. The Spirit and the Word of God are the agents in effecting the new birth. This new life, which is Christ Himself (Col. 3:44When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:4)), is obtained through "believing" the record God has given concerning His Son.
As the serpent-bitten Israelites in the wilderness of old were instantly cured in looking at the up-lifted, brazen serpent, "even so must the Son of Man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." John 3:14,1514And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:14‑15).