Will you turn with me, please,
to the third chapter of the Gospel according to John, John chapter
3. And I shall read the first 14
verses, and I'm reading from the 1901 edition, commonly called
the American Standard Version, John chapter 3, verses 1 through
14. May I ask you to make a conscious
effort to listen and follow this passage as though you had never
heard it previous to this hour? Now, it's impossible to do that,
I know, but make an honest effort to do so, will you? Try to imagine
what it would sound to hear words of this nature for the first
time. Now there was a man of the Pharisees
named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same came unto him,
that is, unto Jesus, by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we
know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no one can
do these signs that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus
answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except
one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus
saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he
enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus
answered, Barely, barely, I say unto thee, except one be born
of water and the He cannot enter into the kingdom 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 anew. The wind bloweth where it will,
and thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh. and whither it goeth, so is every
one that is born of the Spirit." Nicodemus answered and said unto
him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto
him, Art thou the teacher in Israel, and understandest not
these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
We speak that which we know, and bear witness of that which
we have seen, and ye receive not our witness. I told you earthly
things, and ye believe not. How shall ye believe if I tell
you heavenly things? And no one hath ascended into
heaven, but he that descended out of heaven, even the Son of
Man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whosoever believeth may in him have eternal life. The little New England town was
called Newburyport, Massachusetts. The date historic day was September
30, 1770. And there in that little New
England town, on that historic date, one of the most mighty
voices in the cause of God's truth was forever silenced as
far as this world was concerned. The voice to which I refer, of
course, was the voice of that mighty preacher, George Whitfield. While Whitfield lived and preached
for approximately some thirty years, it is estimated that between
three and four hundred times he preached upon this text, except
a man be born again or born anew, he cannot see, he cannot enter
the kingdom of God. It is said, though I've not been
able to trace down with historical accuracy the validity of it,
But it is commonly reported, and I trust it is a valid report,
that upon one occasion Whitfield was asked by one of his hearers,
who apparently had heard him in more than one place, Mr. Whitfield,
why is it that wherever you go, you're always preaching on the
text, he must be born again? Why is it? And he answered, for
the very simple reason, that he must be born again. And so, though this theme is
perhaps to many of us an old theme, an oft-repeated theme,
any treatment on the work of the Holy Spirit would be incomplete
did it not focus upon it. For in a very real sense, every
other ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of a child of God depends upon the reality and
the validity of his first of all having experienced this work
of the Holy Spirit. For until we are born of the
Spirit, We can know nothing of the sanctifying work of the Spirit,
the illuminating ministry of the Spirit, the comforting, the
empowering, and all of His other many-faceted ministries to the
life and heart of the believer and to the Church. This, I say,
is fundamental and foundational to all of them. He must be born
of the Spirit. And so, the Lord willing, tonight
and tomorrow night, I want to direct your attention to this
passage and what it says concerning this grace of regeneration, the
work of God in begetting men by His Spirit unto a living hope. And we will be focusing particularly
upon this passage, a discipline which I feel much more at home
in than the kind of topical preaching that I've done the past couple
of nights. And as we think our way through
the passage, we shall consider in the first place what our Lord
teaches concerning the necessity of the new birth. And then in
the second place, and I think we'll probably just get to point
one under the second main division tonight, the essential elements
of the new birth. And then, God willing, tomorrow
night we'll finish up that point and move to the third, the necessary
fruits and consequences of the new birth. So we have, then,
the necessity of the new birth, the essential elements of the
new birth, and the necessary fruits and consequences of the
new birth. First of all, then, the necessity
of the new birth. And our Lord states it in no
uncertain terms in verses three, five, and seven. Verily, verily,
I say unto thee, Except one be born anew, he cannot see the
kingdom of God." Verse 5, "'Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except
one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into
the kingdom of God.'" Verse 7, "'Marvel not that I said unto
thee, He must be born anew.'" And in these words, our Lord
sets before us three perspectives on the necessity of the new birth. And the first thing we understand
about this necessity is that it is an emphatic necessity. And why do I say emphatic? Well,
for the simple reason that our Lord uses a combination of words
that come through with tremendous emphasis. He is not merely stating
necessity in any form, but he is stating this necessity in
a very emphatic form. You say, where do you see that?
Well, first of all, by virtue of the one who states the necessity. Notice how our Lord introduces
these statements. Verse 3, Jesus answered and said
unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, and for you youngsters,
who are wrestling with English, you'll someday maybe be wrestling
with Greek. And one of the wonderful little things with the Greek
language, among other things, is that many times the subject
is included in the verb, and that's the only place you find
it. So that if you were to say, I am speaking, you would say
the Greek word with a certain ending that would include the
I. I am speaking. But when you want to emphasize
it, like you're saying, I, even I am speaking, you can put another
little word in front. And that's what Jesus does here.
And so if we were reading it with the emphasis that's there
in the original, it would come through like this. Verily, verily,
I, even I, say unto you. So that this is an emphatic necessity
by virtue of the one who states it. Who is stating these words?
He is God's last word to men, the one spoken of in Hebrews
chapter 1. God, who in times past spoke
unto the fathers in many different forms and ways, hath in these
last days spoken unto us in his Son. This is that prophet spoken
of in Deuteronomy 18, 15 to 19, a passage quoted in Acts 3, 22
and 23, in which Peter says, The Lord God shall raise up a
prophet like unto me, quoting from Moses, To him shall ye hearken
in all things, and it shall come to pass that whosoever shall
not hearken unto that prophet shall be cut off. It's a serious
thing to open this black-covered book we call the Bible and confront
the words of our Lord Himself. For He speaks to us in this book
with all the authority of God's final prophet to men. This is
God's word to men, and Jesus was very conscious of this. He
said in the twelfth chapter of John, verses 48 and 49, He that
receiveth not my word have one that judgeth him the
word that I have spoken unto you shall judge you in the last
day." Oh, may God help us, you children, you teenagers, all
of us as adults, to listen to the words of Jesus in this passage,
not against the backdrop of some spray-painted driftwood that
is pretty to the eye, or against the backdrop of the lovely time
we've had today and anticipate in the rest of our days. But
may God Himself bring near to us the awesomeness of that final
day, when He whose eyes are as a flame of fire sits upon His
throne and summons the nations before Him and separates the
sheep from the goats, and you stand in that day alone. You children, You know something
of the horror of being alone. You don't even want to let Mommy
and Daddy's hand go in a crowded city street, in a strange environment. But in that day you'll be alone.
Mommy and Daddy can't sidle up to you and hold your arm and
pat your head and snuggle you and reassure you that all will
be well. You children are going to be
alone when you stand before the Lord Jesus as your judge. will
feel the aloneness of that hour. Thank God those who are in Christ
will have one to stand beside them, to plead their cause as
their surety and the covenant head of his people, and they
shall not be condemned. All others will stand utterly
alone. And so I say when we confront
the words of Jesus, we must confront them against that backdrop. I say unto you. So it is an emphatic necessity
by virtue of the one who states it. But secondly, it is an emphatic
necessity because of the form in which he states it. And look
at that form. Verse 3. Verily, verily, If we
transliterate, that is, just bring it over into the English
language, we have our word, amen. Amen, amen, I say unto you. Two verses later, he says it
again. Verily, verily, I say unto you. Now, when these verilies appear,
they are what I like to consider the red underscorings of God. Now, if you're an intelligent,
Bible-instructed Christian, you believe that every word of God
comes with equal authority. That's why you don't like red-letter
editions of the Bible, as though the words of Jesus had a little
more special authority than the words of Paul. I hope last night's
study forever cleared that out of your minds. But what you do
if you're an earnest Christian in one form or another, you seek
to have certain words that in a particular situation have meant
something special to you, you will underscore those words in
your Bible. And when you do that, what are
you doing? You're not saying they hold more authority than
other words, but you're doing that for emphasis for your own
understanding and your own experience. May I say it reverently? When
Jesus Christ speaks, and then prefaces what he speaks with
these words, verily, verily, it's as though truth incarnate,
who can speak nothing but truth, takes his own red pencil and
underscores his words and says, if you miss anything, don't miss
this. And so it is an emphatic necessity,
not only because of the one who states it, I say unto you, but
the way in which he states it, verily, Verily, I say unto you,
and then thirdly it is an emphatic necessity because of the great
issues at stake. This is not a matter of temporal
significance, such as wealth as opposed to poverty, health
as opposed to weakness and sickness. It is not a matter even of greater
or lesser rewards for faithfulness, few crowns or many crowns, no
cities or many cities. Look at the issues at stake.
Verse 3, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except one be born
anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Verse 5, except one be
born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of
God. What are the issues at stake
in this matter of the new birth? Nothing less than seeing and
entering the kingdom of God. Now what do those words mean?
Well, to see in this context means to have an intelligent
appreciation and understanding of the kingdom of God. Let me
illustrate. Here two people are sitting outside
on the porch, and they're entering into a discussion on a debated
point. And so one fellow's leaning on
the edge of his chair, and his brow is all wrinkled up, arguing
away and debating away, he's got a good spirit about it now,
he's not carnal in this, he's just taken up in it, and he's
given out all of his reasons, and the other fellow after he's
all done shakes his head and says, now my dear brother, I
just don't see what you're driving at. Now what does he mean? He
doesn't mean that he's using vocabulary he can't understand.
He doesn't mean that he's mixing up his sentence structure so
that he can't find his verbs from his subjects and his modifiers. No, no. What he means is, though
I understand the words in their individual meaning, though I
can follow your sentence structure and your line of argument, I
cannot intelligently appreciate and understand the argument that
is coming through those adjectives and verbs and adverbs in those
structures of nouns and pronouns and subject and object. I have
no intelligent perception of what you're saying. I understand
your words. If you ask me to define them,
I could do it. I follow you in terms of your... but I don't
see what you're driving at. No intelligent appreciation.
That's what Jesus is saying. This is the issue at stake. Unless
Almighty God does something for you and for me, as radical as
to be called a new birth, a birth from above, you will not have
one iota of true, intelligent appreciation and understanding
of the kingdom of God. Let me illustrate again. If I
were to take one of these toads you kids have been tracking down
around here with great delight. Everybody's become a toad catcher,
except some of you little girls that toads are just yuckies. Couldn't pick one up if your
life depended on it, could you? But I've seen a lot of you become
toad catchers. Now suppose we took one of those
toads and we said to him, now little Johnny Toad, excuse me,
it might be Sally Toad, no male preference here, Johnny or Sally,
whatever you are, we're going to take you to the nearest art
museum. And so you find that there's
a beautiful art museum somewhere down in Washington or up in New
York City. And you go in before that masterpiece for which that
art museum is known, and people come from all over the world
to see that great masterpiece. the beautiful shading, the almost
lifelike expression in the eyes, and the almost warm expression
upon the lips. You're almost expecting to open
and to speak. You feel if you got close enough
to that work of art, you'd feel the breath of that figure on
your own cheek. And you set the little toad down
right in front of it. And you watch him as his eyes
scan over, and he looks up, and he sees the work of art. His
eyes can see That beautiful picture. It registers on his retina, and
in his little toe brain, he knows there's something out there.
He'd have more sense if he wanted to make some motion than to try
to go through it. He'd know enough to come up to
it, walk around. He could see the work of art, but my friend,
he could never see that work of art. He could see it, but
he couldn't see it. You see what I'm driving at?
He could have no intelligent appreciation and understanding
of that work of art. Why? Because the toad has no
capacity to receive and to drink in the aesthetic and artistic
beauty of that which is before him. That's what Jesus is saying.
Now you see why it's an emphatic necessity? We're dealing with
something that is so vital as it relates to the kingdom of
God, the only thing that will last to eternity. For all the
kingdoms of men shall come crumbling down to nothing, and the kingdoms
of this world shall become the kingdoms of our God and of his
Christ. And in its present reality and
power, and on to its full development and final manifestation, the
kingdom of God is the only thing that is going to outlast time. And Jesus said, unless you are
born anew, you'll never have any intelligent perception and
understanding of that kingdom. That's a pretty serious issue.
Then he goes on to say, in verse 5, you cannot enter the kingdom
of heaven. What's it mean to enter? It means
to be admitted to all the privileges, blessings, and responsibilities
of the kingdom of God. all of the privileges, blessings,
and responsibilities of the kingdom. And Jesus said, unless you're
born anew, you cannot enter. You'll never enter if you don't
see. If there is no intelligent perception, there will be no
entrance. So you are barred from seeing
and from entering unless you're born anew. Now listen to me.
The Scripture teaches us that the only alternative to the kingdom
of God is the kingdom of darkness, of sin, and of hell. There's
no middle one, no neutral kingdom. Paul says in Colossians chapter
1, he had translated us out of the kingdom of darkness into
the kingdom of his dear Son. Only two. And the Bible says
there's no salvation out of the kingdom of God. Outside the kingdom
of God, no salvation. So the tremendous issue at stake,
children, young people, adults, all who hear my voice tonight,
the issue at stake is this. Unless you would look wide-eyed
into hell and hear the groans of the dead, and say by virtue
of such a spiritual blindness and demented sense of values,
oh hell with all your horrors, I welcome you unless you be such
a fool. You better take these words of
Jesus seriously. The only alternative to hell
in all of its gruesome, if I may use that term in this context,
all of its gruesome and ugly reality. The only alternative
to that is a spiritual birth, an intrusion of God upon the
human soul and spirit, so radical, so powerful, so all-embracing
in its influence, that Jesus said, it's a birth. A totally new thing is brought
into being. So then I lay before you in the
first place tonight. The necessity of the new birth
is an emphatic necessity. By virtue of the one who states
it, I say unto you. By virtue of the way in which
he states it, verily, verily, by virtue of the great issues
at stake, you cannot seek, you cannot enter. But now then consider
in the second place The necessity of the new birth is not only
an emphatic necessity, it is a universal necessity. And here again, this is one of
the reasons why I'm so prejudiced to the 1901 edition. It brings
out many things from the original that are not found in the authorized
version. I say that with all due respect,
and this is no slap at the authorized version, but knowing that few
people have access to a working knowledge of the original languages,
We ought to want the translation that is most accurate in terms
of that original. And you'll notice when I read
from the American Standard, several things were very glaringly different,
not only from the King James, the authorized, but from the
way you usually think of these texts. Listen, as I read verse
three, Jesus answered and said unto him, Nicodemus, except not
except you, but except one be born anew, he cannot see the
kingdom of God. Verse 5, Jesus answered, I say
unto thee, except one be born, I believe the King James says,
except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot
enter the kingdom of God. Verse 7, marvel not that I said
unto thee, ye must be born anew. Now get the picture. Jesus is
in a one-to-one dialogue situation. Dialogue that became authoritative
proclamation. Nicodemus comes to Jesus, nobody
else as far as we know is around. He turns to Nicodemus and he
says, I say to you, and he uses that personal pronoun, I say
to you, second person, except one be born anew. And he doesn't
say except you are born anew, but he generalizes. In other
words, he lets Nicodemus know this very simple fact. Nicodemus,
whatever I say to you, I'm not saying something unique to you
because of some unique problem you have. No, no, Nicodemus. Whatever I say to you about the
new birth, I say to you as but one individual of the whole mass
of humanity, and what is true of you is true of you because
it's true of all men. Except one be born anew, he cannot
see. Except one be born of water and
of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven." Now,
why did Jesus say that? And lay out the universal necessity
of the new birth for the simple reason that whatever makes us
different as human beings, all of the things that make us different,
if you could pile them all up in one place, They would be but
as a speck of dust compared to the things in which we are essentially
the same. Take all of the differences rooted
in racial distinctions, rank, education, language, culture,
all of these things, stack them all up, and they are as but a
speck of dust compared to the things in which all men are essentially
one and the same. Read the seventeenth chapter
of Acts if you have any question about that. He has made of one
blood all nations of men for to dwell upon the face of the
earth. We are made in his image. We
fell in Adam. We are helpless and hopelessly
lost unless God intervenes, and we shall all stand before him
in judgment. These are the great levelers
of all humanity. Whatever differences men talk
about and write about and fight about, Whatever things are the
occasion of prejudice and pride and suspicion, I say, they are
as nothing in the eye of God. Hence Jesus says, this necessity
of the new birth is not only an emphatic necessity, it is
a universal necessity. Except anyone be born of the
Spirit, he cannot see, he cannot enter. Now there's a lot I don't
know about a lot of you. I've been trying to get acquainted
with a number of you whom I have not previously met. And our fellowship
together has been sweet in the things of God. But what a wonderful
thing to stand here tonight as a preacher of the word and look
every one of you straight in the eye right back to the retinas
and say to you youngsters sitting here, some of you over there
and some there. To the oldest here, one thing
I know is absolutely certain about you, unless you are born
from above, you'll never see, you'll never enter the kingdom
of God. And I can make that statement
of every single one of you, and it cannot be contradicted. It's
a universal necessity. Do you remember when Jesus dealt
with people, how differently he dealt with them? He said to
one man, go sell all that thou hast, give it to the poor, come
follow me, thou shalt have treasures in heaven. He only said that
to one man. He never said, except everyone sells all that he has
and gives it to the poor, he cannot be my disciple. He did
say, if you do not renounce, that is, give up the independent,
playing God with what you have and are, you cannot be my disciple.
But only once did he tell a man, you must actually sell and give
before you can be my disciple. He only said that to one. Only
to one person whom he was in the process of drawing to himself
did he say, go call your husband. He doesn't say, except you call
your husband, you cannot be saved. You cannot see the kingdom of
God. He dealt in great diversity with men and women. And may I
say in a little parenthetical way, this is one of the reasons
why some of us abominate all canned concepts of the gospel.
It is untrue to the pattern of the word of God. Was Jesus doing
it right in John 3 when he said, you must be born again? Or was
he doing it right in John 4 when he said, fetch me a drink of
water? Which is the right way to witness? Well, neither and both. So you
see this great diversity. Jesus nowhere said, except you
do this or that. But he does say here, except
one be born of the Spirit, he cannot enter. This is a universal
and an inescapable necessity. Let me quote from John Owen,
that great master of true experimental theology. careful exegete of
the Word of God, John Owen, said that the two great undoing errors
of men with reference to the new birth are these. Number one,
there are those who think they may attain heaven without the
new birth, which is in contradiction to John 3, 3, 5, and 7. And secondly, They think that they have been
born again, though they still live under the dominion of sin,
which is a contradiction of 1 John 3.9. And Owen, as a godly, burdened
pastor, said the two great undoing mistakes that he encountered
again and again in men in his day were these, people entertaining
hopes that they would make it to heaven, though whatever their
spiritual experience may have been, it fell short of that which
fits the description, a new birth from above. daring to confess themselves
subjects of the new birth, while they yet lived in the practice
and under the dominion of sin, when God says, Whosoever is born
of God cannot make a practice of sin, because his seed remaineth
in him, and he cannot practice sin because he is born of God. And if I could believe the devil
went out of the business of deluding and seeking to damn men's souls,
if I could believe that the spirit of error was somehow lost as
our forefathers came over in the Mayflower and was buried
in the depths of the sea, I would pass over those remarks of John
Owen. But I believe if John Owen stood
amongst us today, lived in our midst, sat in our churches, walked
through our streets, and entered our homes, We were to call him
up to this platform tonight and say, esteemed and revered Father
in Israel, Mr. Owen, you've lived amongst us.
You've seen our young people. You've seen our teenagers. You've
seen our adults. Tell me, what do you think are
the great errors amongst our people? I believe Mr. Owen would
say, as he said these hundreds of years ago, here are the two
great undoing errors. I see people amongst you, fellows,
girls, men and women, who talk glibly that they are on their
way to heaven, who evidently have never experienced such a
radical transformation of grace as to call it a new birth. Many
says I have heard many others who claim to have that experience,
but who obviously live with their affections wedded to the world,
to fashion, to style, to human opinion. and to all the other
things that are the objects and delights of ungodly men. I believe
John Owen would speak today as he spoke that. Oh, my dear people
in this place, this is not only an emphatic necessity, it is
a universal necessity. Now, in the third place, consider
with me, it is what I am calling a consequential That is, a necessity
which arises as a consequence of certain conditions in men.
Verse 6. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. That which is born of the spirit
is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee,
He must be born anew. Nicodemus, you know why you're
standing there scratching your scraggly head? and stroking your
beard and wondering, what in the world are you talking about,
Jesus? Nicodemus, if you understood
this little phrase, that which is born of the flesh is flesh,
you would not be amazed that I said to you, unless a man experiences
a spiritual upheaval called a birth from above, he'll never see an
enter. Nicodemus, you know what your problem is? You, the teacher
in Israel, and again, the American standard is very accurate. The
article is there in the original. Art thou the teacher in Israel? Apparently he had risen to a
place of unusual prominence, just as anyone in the 1900s would
say, Charles Spurgeon, the preacher of London. And he would have
been accurate. The outstanding preacher of London. So the Lord
says to this man, the teacher in Israel, Nicodemus, there's
one thing of which you're totally ignorant. If you understood this,
all my talk about the new birth would not seem so mysterious
and obtuse and confusing. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. The necessity of the new birth,
Nicodemus, is a consequential necessity. It is the consequence
of your being born of the flesh. Now, what does our Lord mean
by that phrase? Well, let me try to, as it were, paraphrase
it. Nicodemus, what you are by virtue of your first and natural
birth, that which is born of the flesh, your parents, Nicodemus,
being natural men, part of the fallen race of Adam, Those who
came into the world with a corrupt nature, Nicodemus, that which
is born of the flesh, what you are by virtue of your first birth
of those parents, is of such a condition as to require a second
birth, a birth from heaven without which you'll never see and never
enter the kingdom of God. The word flesh here refers to
the totality of human nature under the control of sin. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. A stream can never rise higher
than its source. Depraved human nature can never
produce anything more than depraved human nature. Now, this has special
significance when you remember to whom the Lord was speaking. And the Holy Ghost is careful
to record it. He doesn't say, now there came
a man. He said, there came a man of
the Pharisees, the teacher in Israel. Why does the Holy Ghost
record that in this context? Because he wants us to see what
this phrase means, that which is born of the flesh, his flesh. Here's a man who had all the
benefits of the revealed religion of God himself. He had knowledge
of the Old Testament scriptures, the teacher in Israel. He was
in day in the work of the visible church, if we may use that term
in that context. In his character, he was the
separated one. He was a Pharisee, not content
with just the regulations God had given, but oh, many more
that they had set up in order to assure their separateness
and their undefiled state. And now he says to Nicodemus,
That which is born of the flesh is flesh. Nicodemus, with all
the benefits of a revealed religion, your knowledge, your activity,
your external correctness of character, what you are is so
hopelessly and helplessly defiled and polluted at its source that
it cannot be worked over. It must be imposed upon from
above, or you'll never see you'll never enter the kingdom of God. Job understood this truth well
when he said, and I quote now from Job 14 and verse 4, that
which is born of the flesh is flesh. Job said it this way,
who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one. Now, why is that so? Because
the influence, the power of flesh, that is, human nature under the
control of sin, is so devastating in all of its many effects that
men cannot see and enter the kingdom of heaven unless God
intrudes. with life from above. Let me
break that down in a few lines of thought, and no doubt Dr.
DeWitt tomorrow will give us a more extensive commentary on
this. Nicodemus, listen to me. What you are as flesh means,
first of all, you are presently in a state of pollution. You have the pollution of your
native corruption, which necessitates the new birth. Where is that
taught? Oh, it's taught so clearly in
many passages, but the classic passages, one in the Old Testament,
one in the New, Psalm 51 and verse 5. Behold, I was shapen
in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive. That text, appearing
where it did, puzzled me for many years. I almost thought,
well, The Holy Spirit must have anticipated that somewhere in
a theology class in the 20th century, some young seminarian
was going to need to have a good proof text for the doctrine of
original sin. And so David sort of became the
instrument to slip it in. I could never see the connection
between that statement and the whole drift of the passage. You
remember, this passage, we are given to believe, though there
is no infallible indication of it, the circumstances seem to
indicate that this psalm was penned shortly after the visit
of Nathan to this king of Israel who had been engaged in the complex
sins of adultery and murder by proxy and hypocrisy and the relinquishment
of true responsibility as the spiritual leader of Israel. And
when his heart is pierced and he draws aside to cry out to
God, he speaks in those opening words, have mercy upon me, O
God. The one attribute of God that
gives a guilty convicted sinner hope is mercy. There are times
when David prays and pleads his integrity. He pleads God's righteousness. But I tell you, you fall as foully
as David fell, and God's holiness and justice and righteousness
are terrible attributes. But, oh, what a door of hope
is his mercy. And so he pleads mercy Have mercy
upon me. He cries out that he may not
only be forgiven, but that he may be washed. He feels the defilement
of sin. Wash me thoroughly from mine
iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions
and my sin is ever before thee, against thee, and thee only have
I sinned. And on that which is evil in
thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest,
and clear when thou judgest. Behold, I was brought forth in
iniquity, and since sin did my mother concede me." How does
that fit into the drift of a penitent, praying David, conscious now
by a conscience awakened through the ministry of Nathan, that
he's offended God? I believe this is the connection.
As David contemplates the heinousness of his sin, pleads for mercy,
cries for washing and for cleansing, vindicates God's justice and
righteousness in verse 4. It's as though he pauses and
says, now where did this sin get its beginning? Could it have
been when I violated the direct commandment of Deuteronomy 17,
17? The king shall not multiply unto
himself. Why? Could it be that my moral
fiber began to be eroded when, instead of living with one wife,
I took unto me a half a dozen wives? No, no, he says that,
though it may have contributed, could not be the genesis of it.
Could it go back to those early days when I allowed some kind
of subtle drinking in of the adulation of the young women
who came out at the dance and said, Saul, at Slane is thousands,
but David is ten thousands. Could it be that I cherish some
little seeds of those admiring glances which began to erode
the foundations? And he says, no, no, no, no,
that could never have brought this. And so he traces it back
where these poor Pharisees who mistook the source of defilement
and pollution. They thought it came from without.
So when you went to the market to buy your peas and carrots
and your taters, who knows, some Gentile might have been in the
market and sneezed. If he sneezed, some of his germs
might be floating in the air and land on the back of your
hand. So when you come home, what do you do before you touch
anything? You watch. Why? You don't want to be defiled. Gentile germs might be in the
air. Jesus talks about this in the
seventh chapter of Mark. All the washings, all the ablutions. Jesus speaking to this says in
verse 14, And he called the multitude again and said unto them, Hear
me, all of you, and understand there is nothing from without
the man that going into him can defile him. Now that must be
taken in its context. You look at lecherous pornographic
literature and you will be defiled. Why the psalmist prayed, why
Job said, I made a covenant with my eyes. Jesus is not talking
in any other sense than the context. He said there is nothing from
without that entering in defiles the man. You can't be defiled
because you're free from germs from the sneeze of a Gentile
dog. You can't be defiled because
you touch a dead body. You can't be defiled by physical
objects from without that you happen to touch. No, no, he says,
defilement does not come without, within. How does it come? Well,
he goes on to expound the saying as he goes into the house to
his own disciples, and he describes it in very earthy language. Verse
18, They saith unto them, Are you without understanding? Don't
you perceive that whatsoever from without goeth into the man,
it cannot defile him, because it goeth not into his heart,
but into his belly, and goeth out into the draft. So you ate
a potato that some Gentile sneezed on. So what? It goes down in
your stomach, and it uses work on it, and the body assimilates
it, and the rest of it, it casts off his waist. It hasn't entered
the heart? That's not pollution! No defilement! Where then does defilement come
from? He tells us, verse 20. That which proceedeth out of
the man, that defileth the man, for from within, out of the heart
of men, evil thoughts proceed, fornications, thefts, murders,
adulteries, covetings, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness and evil
eye, Railing pride, foolishness, all these things proceed from
within and defile the man that which is born of the flesh is
flesh. What an ugly picture of the human
heart. Oh, my little Johnny, he's basically
a good boy at heart, is he? Oh, my little daughter, she's
basically a good girl at heart, is she? Is she? Is he? Jesus describes the human
heart not merely as a stagnant pool of foul and iniquitous concoctions
giving forth its stench in all of these directions. No! He says
the human heart, with all of the ugliness of a foul, stagnant
pool, has the pressure and power of an artesian well. from within,
out of the heart, proceed. There is an inherent energy in
the sin of the human heart. Though some of these sins, as
they break out of the heart, may cut channels through religious
exercises and religious forms, and though some of them, as it
were, may be encased of blind conduits of morality and standards
of society so that they don't look so ugly. If you could somehow
break open that conduit and smell the stench, you'd smell what
God smells. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. Now you can imagine how this
fell on Nicodemus' ears. If only he were saying this to
some Gentile dog. Ten times. They need to be born
anew. Their flesh, sure, needs something
to happen before they'll enter the eye of a separated one. The
Pharisee, Peter in Israel, Nicodemus. Except you're born anew. You'll
never see, you'll never enter. Why? That which is born of the
flesh is flesh and is flesh. It is found in the pollution
of its native corruption. What's true of Nicodemus is true
of every one of you. I shall never forget the occasion
when it was my privilege to hear Dr. Tozer preach, as it was on
several occasions before God took him. I remember him saying
these words in my lifetime, and then he was about 60. He said,
I've seen many ugly sights, many things from which I would recoil
in horror. He said, the ugliest sight I've
ever seen is the heart my mother gave me. My friend, if you cannot echo
that confession, I doubt you've ever been born of the Spirit.
But one of the first things the Holy Ghost does when He begins
to enable you to see the Kingdom of God, is to show you how much
you need the King, not only in His grace of forgiveness, but
in His grace of cleansing and sanctification. But not only is there the pollution
of our native corruption as part of this fleshiness there is in
the second place, the enmity of our inbred rebellion. It's
bad enough that there is this pollution of our native corruption,
but when you add to that the enmity of our inbred rebellion,
look at Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. The Apostle Paul, dealing in
these contrasting spheres of spiritual existence in which
all men are cast to the realm of the flesh, the realm of the
spirit, one leading to death, the other to life. Listen to
his description of men in that realm of the flesh. Verse 7.
Because the mind of the flesh is enmity against God, For it
is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be. So then they that are in the
flesh cannot please God. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh, and what is the characteristic of that flesh? Under the control
and dominion of sin, not only is it pollution, but it's terrible
enmity and rebellion. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. It is not subject to the law
of God. Now notice the connection. How
does man's enmity to God show itself? In some people it shows
itself in vocal atheism. And you have the Madeline Murrays,
who are evangelistically committed. to blot out every last semblance
of true theism, there is no God. And her enmity is patent, obvious
to all, but not always. That enmity may show itself in
the person who confesses the name of God, and even talks about
the blessings and the goodness and the salvation of God. But
here's the point at which the enmity shows itself. Follow closely.
The current mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to
the law of God, that is, to the authority of God expressed in
His precepts. So there are in this very building
tonight men, women, fellows, and girls Still in a final stage,
you've never been born of the Spirit. And God says, your mind,
the governing principle, is enmity itself in its very essence. And
how does it show itself? Here's how it shows itself. You
say, I believe the promise, whosoever believes shall be saved. I believe
I am saved. I'll do it again. I'll do this. Listen, at every single point,
where the precepts of God cross your own desires and inclinations,
you go on doing what you want to do. Let God say to you as a child,
honor thy father and thy mother. Children, obey your parents. You'd rather memorize a hundred
scripture verses than do what you're told to do. Why, your
carnal mind is enmity against God, and it is not subject to
His law. Some of you win. You put on your pretty dresses
and hats, and off to church you go and sing the hymns. But God
knows, and you know, that you've never embraced from the heart
your God-appointed place of submission to your husband. God says, wives,
be subject to your husbands in everything, and he doesn't say
parenthesis. If they are really loving you
as Christ loved the church, if they are worthy, if God says,
wives, be subject, you'll go to hell, certainly in your state
of impenitence on that command, if it is obdurate and persistent. As if you disobey the command,
thou shalt not commit adultery and start living willfully and
perpetually and unrepentantly with your neighbor's husband. And there are some of you men,
you'll do anything, teach a Sunday school class, you'll give 10,
20, 30 percent to the work of God, but let God begin to impinge
upon your domestic life. Fathers, rear your children,
not mothers. Fathers, be the administrative
head in the home. You don't want to be. It'll cut
into your golf game. It'll cut into your fishing plans.
It'll cut into your ballgames on the television, and your enmity
to God comes to focus on that command that impinges upon your
leisure, your desires, your inclination. God says to all of us, let your
conversation, your general manner of life be as we come at the
gospel. Adorn the doctrine of God your Savior in all things.
It gets pretty close to home. dress in modest apparel, some
of you women running around these beaches and you girls with less
than you have on when you have your underwear on, you're living
in defiance of that commandment of God. You are bearing more
of your body than should be bared to anyone but your own husband
in the privacy of your own bedroom. Oh, but you wouldn't forget that
style is micro-bikinis and micro-mitties! And I dare not be unstylish! Oh, yes, I must defy God! But rather defy God than have
people look at me and say, oh, look at her, she got a 1940 Pagan
suit. Carnal mind is enmity against
God. It is not subject to the law
of God. In some of you, these areas of enmity may not be evidence
of reigning sin. Granted, they may be evidence
of remaining sin, which doesn't act any different. When sin is
deposed as sovereign and is left, as it were, in the place of a
resident principle within, its actings are no different. They
cannot take ascendancy and complete control, but there's a pain.
So I must say, And don't anyone say the preacher said, if you
wear a bikini, you're going to hell. All I am saying is, if
it's at the point of solemn instruction that you refuse to be subject
to God, you'll perish as much as the person who says, I won't
be subject to God at the point of my moral conduct. For the
scripture says, He that doeth the will of God applied it forever. Carnal mind is enmity against
God. And how does the enmity show?
It won't be subject to God's law at the point of impingement. That's the whole meaning of our
Lord dealing with the rich young ruler. Why did he say to that
man, Go, sell that you have. Come, follow me. Give to the
poor. I'll tell you why. Had the Lord
Jesus given him any other commandment, he would have gladly obeyed.
And he never would have seen his own heart. The point of his
rebellion was this. Almighty God says to every one
of these creatures, I'm the Lord of heaven and earth. The cattle
are piles and hills are mine. The earth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof. Young man, you have some of my
gifts and you're claiming they're your own. I am God and I tell
you to own them according to my will. And at that point the
Lord Jesus Christ and the enmity of his heart showed it. And just as suddenly as the scripture
says he went away sorrowful, we may read Romans 8, 7 into
the passage and say, he went away in the stubborn enmity of
his heart. I ask you tonight in the presence
of God against the backdrop of the day of judgment, Where is
the will of God impinging upon your carnal lusts and desires?
Come on now, where? Where? Where is it impinging?
Come on! Be honest! The judgment day is
coming! When honesty alone will prevail. Where does the will of God impinge? Where can you say, thank God?
I remember those places where when the law of God came, my
retaliants persisted, and I reared from my hind legs the word, and
said, who is the fool that I should obey him? But you can say thank
God. In this area where once I said
no, I now say yes. What will thou have me do? That's why you need to be born
again, Nicodemus. That which is born of the flesh is flesh,
marked not only by the pollution of its native corruption, but
by the enmity of its inbred rebellion, and thirdly marked by the blindness
of its spiritual perception. What a horrible thing is blindness. To know that out there, there's
a world of tangible, visible objects, ever to the ages. 1 Corinthians 2.14 says, now
the natural man, that is a man who has everything that his mother
and father could give him. The natural man, he has everything
he could inherit by his genes and chromosomes and his education
and everything else, but there's never been an inclusion of the
Spirit of God into his life. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God. Why? Because they are foolishness
unto him neither can he know them, because they are pure as
he is. His non-reception is rooted in
his non-perfection. Can you illustrate? Some of you are aware of this,
that one of the beautiful things that one sees, particularly in
Scotland and parts of Wales, is to see a sheepdog work. It's
a beautiful thing. See that? corralled all those
sheep and done with just whistling. But now there are times when
the sheepdog is so far away that the ordinary whistle would never
reach it. The farmer will take out an object, looks like a pencil,
and he blows on it, and you and I don't hear a thing. The dogs
that may be running a mile away will suddenly stop in his tracks
and turn, and turn to the master. He has a faculty of picking up
frequencies that you and I don't have. The sound is there. When you see a dog stacked dead
in his tracks a mile away, you know something real has reached
him. But you, because of the construction of your ear, have
no faculty to receive the vibrations that go out from that list. That's
what this text says. There are some of you sitting
here tonight who say, what in the world is that fellow working?
I never can understand these preachers. They get all excited
and then they almost holler at you and then they bellow at you
and then they look angry and then they look happy. I don't
know. My friend, listen. Listen. If you heard what I hear
as I stand here tonight, you'd understand. For by faith in the book of God,
to which my spiritual ears have been opened, I hear the sighs
and the groans of the deaf. I hear the glory of the blissful
chorus of the redeemed. I hear the words of Jesus saying,
except a man that born anew he cannot see, he cannot enter.
That's the tragedy of being in a state of flesh. That which
is born of the flesh is trapped in all the pollution of its native
corruption, the enmity of its inbred rebellion, and the blindness
of spiritual perception. 2 Corinthians 4, for the God
of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not,
lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is
the image of God, should shine upon them. Oh, what glory beams
from Christ! Some of us were privileged, as
it were, to walk up and down in front of Christ displayed
in the gospel year after year. I speak for myself personally.
I was part of the Savior from my infancy, taken to church,
instructed in the things of God, Christ and Him crucified, though
presented in a defective theological framework, nonetheless it was
the true Christ presented who was God and man. It was presented
that He, by His death, could alone help needy sinners. And I never once doubted anything
that Mom and Dad taught me. that the priesthood priest never
had a conscious doubt of the veracity of all that was said
of plague. One thing was left. I saw nothing
in it to ravish my heart and make me fall prostrate at his
feet, saying, My Lord and my God. What was the consequence
of that? Well, I was religious, gave little
talks in the young people's meetings, but I was plague still. and fled from me. But God in
his great mercy did something to my eyes. And though it was
the same Christ and the same cross and the same gospel, I
saw in Christ crucified and risen, that which so took hold of my
giddy, fun-loving teenage heart, that suddenly a football and
a baseball and a basketball which were my God, were seen to be
what they were, pieces of leather which would perish with wear.
And I saw who Christ was, not word upon my mom's and dad's
lips, not the theme of the preacher. He was the son of a living God
who had every right to demand that I be His. who graciously
invited me and lovingly embraced me, so that from henceforth nothing
mattered but Christ and Him crucified. So that now I could say of this
Christ, for to me to live is Christ. Oh, the terrible blindness
of spiritual perception in a fleshy heart. And I add one thing to
close tonight. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh, not only pollution, not only enmity, not only blindness,
but the impotence of spiritual death. That which is born of
the flesh is flesh, marked by the pollution, by the enmity
and the blindness, but worst of all, the capstone of it all,
by the impotence of spiritual death, you have been made alive
who were dead in your trespasses and sins. Ephesians 2.1, Colossians
2.13, dead in the flesh. No wonder Paul says, when we
were without drink. May I say that a failure to set
this truth forth has in great measure opened the floodgates
of the man-centered views of salvation in our day? For listen
carefully, if you regard man simply as guilty, all your attenuity
will be upon the objective work of Christ by which guilt is removed. But man's problem is not just
that he is guilty, and in a state of guilt, under condemnation,
he is polluted and defiled, and in a state of spiritual wrath,
he needs not only justification, but spiritual resurrection. It's interesting that in the
third chapter of John Jesus, having dealt with spiritual resurrection,
regeneration, that's why I read verse 14 moves right on to what?
Justification. Whosoever believeth shall have
a title to everlasting life. Shall not perish, but he joineth
them together. That's why this new verse is
a necessity, a consequence of what we are in a state of flesh,
so that Paul says they that are in the flesh cannot please God. That's not been a pretty picture,
has it, dear ones? But I ask you one question, and I ask it
again, against the backdrop of the judgment and interpretation.
Have I mishandled the Word of God? Have I overstated the case
as found in the Scriptures? Or is this God's assessment of
what you are by nature? If it is, You better cry to this
God that he break in upon your helplessness with power and in
mercy, for you'll never see, you'll never enter the kingdom
of God. God willing, tomorrow night we'll
take up the subject, the essential elements of the new birth, and
we'll see its author, God himself. We'll see the essence of it,
a birth of cleansing and renewal, We'll see the fruits and the
effects of it. But oh, may the Spirit sober
us tonight with this one great basic wisdom, the absolute necessity
of the new birth. Jesus stated it as an emphatic
necessity. He stated it as a universal necessity. He stated it as a consequential
necessity. May we hear his words. If we
refuse, we'll meet that word in the day of judgment. Let us
pray.