BY THE LATE REV. JOHN SINCLAIR, BRUAN, CAITHNESS.
(Continued from Vol. VI., p. 308).
‘Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’—JOHN iii. 3.
THE marks that have been given of those who have been born again are:—1. They do not commit sin. 2. They have a new principle of life and new strength. There can be no good thought without this. They have a new rule! there is no peace without this. They are made fools in themselves. A Christian without the Word is the greatest fool ever you met; he knows not what to do in spirituals or temporals; he is a man without eyes. They have a new end. The divine glory lies near their heart. They are not satisfied with self-praise if God is not glorified in word, or relation, or ordinance. Self is the burden of their soul, instead of being their god. 3. They overcome the world. They are soldiers; Christ is their captain of salvation. Their armour is spiritual—the Word and the Spirit. They are more than conquerors, they are spoilers, they trample the enemy under foot. Their Captain holds their hand; He teaches them to war; to break bows of steel in pieces, and to overlap a wall.
1. They overcome the wicked one.
They overcome the wicked one. Satan’s armour is taken away. (1) The Lord takes away the lying spirit that is in their hearts, and makes them to believe and receive the love of the truth that they may be saved. (2) He takes away a guilty conscience by the blood of Christ. (3) He takes off Satan’s shoes. These are of iron, to tread on the blood of Christ. He puts on the preparation of the gospel of peace in faith and practice. He takes away a prayerless spirit and puts on concern, never to be put off. The sinner is a concerned, preparing man now. (4) The Lord takes away unbelief of law and gospel. The unbelief of the former tended to ease; that of the latter, to despair. The threatening is urging on the sinner, the promise is drawing him. (5) The Lord takes away the “no hope” of those who are fearful. This is a powerful piece of Satan’s armour. “There is no hope: no; for I have loved strangers, and after them I will go” (Jerem. ii. 25). “There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every man do the imagination of his evil heart” (Jerem. xviii. 12). When this hopelessness comes in, it is one of Satan’s masterpieces, whether the person be under concern or not. Satan tries to keep the person in ease, or to drive him to despair. Now, the Lord gives hope, though it may be hardly seen; He keeps up an expectation in the soul, a peradventure, a “Who can tell?” which keeps the soul seeking. O, how poor the creature is when this is for a moment out of sight! (6) The Lord takes away blank deism. He sends the Word, and teaches them to use it. It is the sword of the Spirit. In short, he takes away the stony heart, and then Satan’s armoury is spoiled to him.
When Satan’s armour is spoiled, his power as a prince is gone. He had nothing in Christ, and by that he loses his power in believers. They now disobey his commandments, refuse his tribute-money, and renounce his service and army. They have another Captain now. And then as a god he loses his worship. They do not call on his name. Formerly they would be swearing by his name, and by the name of God at his order. They do not worship the golden image he has set up, the world which he calls his. They need a Saviour for their souls. Their eyes are now so open that the whole world cannot fill them. (1) Has he had his captivity in you overcome? Does he run away with you in morning and at night? Does he run away with you on the Sabbath from the Church? And does he take you away from the people of God? (2) Has his armour been taken from him? Have you ceased lying, or is there a lie in your right hand? Have you got on the breastplate of righteousness, faith, and love? Have your feet been shod with the active preparation of the gospel? Have you the shield of faith, the shield of promises and threatenings? Have you for a helmet the hope of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit? Can you work without the latter? (3) Is Satan, as a friend, cast out of you? Are his law, tribute, service, war abandoned? Or are you on his pension list? (4) Have you given up his worship as a god? Do you pray to him, and can he say, “I am thy god”? Oh, horrible!
2. They overcome the men of the world.
They overcome the men of the world. They overcome them in their doctrine. If you are in a religious family, you will be feeling it hard to keep up with them; if in an irreligious family, you will be examining their views. “Try the spirits whether they are of God.” Many children are in danger of being ruined by the doctrine of their parents, and the world, their neighbours. Happy they who are not. They overcome the world in their company. “I have not sat with vain persons; neither will I go in with dissemblers. I have hated the congregation of evil-doers, and will not sit with the wicked” (Psalm xxvi. 4, 5). God is dishonoured, and their souls are hurt. They overcome the world in their fashions. “Be not conformed to this world.” They do not dress for fashion’s sake, but only are not quite singular. They will not conform a hair of their head to please a person who is after the fashions; when in part they do so they will suffer in soul, and often in body. They overcome the world in their threats. So did Daniel and the three children. This is not easy. They overcome them in their favours. Balaam cannot go beyond his commission, but willingly would to gain the favour of the world; but David says, “The law of Thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.”
3. They overcome what is in themselves.
They overcome what is in themselves. “The lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (John iii. 16).
Sept. 8th.—We have mentioned three marks of the new birth.
- They do not commit sin. 2. They do righteousness. 3. They overcome the world.
In speaking of the last—the overcoming of the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—we made a distinction between sin crucified and sin mortified. “They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.” Not shall, but have crucified. They are commanded also to mortify sin, to put it to death. This is the evidence of having crucified it. “Mortify, therefore, your members.” “If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.” This shows that if sin is not being mortified, there is no evidence of its having been crucified by faith in Christ; and that unless sin be mortified, it will mortify us.
Now, if sin has been mortified several things are true:—(1) It has been discovered to be a traitor, a malefactor. Many acknowledge, but do not believe they are sinners. But when the Spirit comes He convinces, proves, demonstrates sin to be exceeding sinful. He shows not only that great sins will condemn us, but that all sin is hateful in its very nature. “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” (2) Sin has been tried as in a court of justice. The guilty person has been tried by the holy law. The commandment comes; he is found guilty and condemned. The sentence must be executed; either sin must be crucified, or the man must suffer. (3) Sin is given up. It is given up with the whole heart and soul. Now, “Of Thy mercy, slay my foes.” Then all sin is put on the Cross: sins of omission as well as sins of commission. “One thing thou lackest.” All sins now are burdens. Now, the great aim is to get sin dead, mortified. If it is not slain by the Cross, it will be a mark of reprobation. Temptation will return, but sin is now horrible. It is like a ghost returning which is more dreadful than when the person was alive. Questions: Has sin been found? Has it been tried? Has it been condemned? Has it been crucified? Is it now mortifying? Is it horrible? Is it terrible to us?
4. The fourth mark is love.
The fourth mark is love. “Everyone that loveth is born of God” (1 John, 4-7). We are told at verse 8 and 16 that “God is love.” It is His very nature to love, as if there was nothing in Him but love. Indeed, He loves in heaven, because all there are holy; He loves on earth what is holy; He loves in hell His justice. He loved from eternity the Son and the Spirit. He hates nothing but sin. He loves holiness and holy persons. They that are born again have the nature of their Father. This love belongs equally to the three Persons of the Godhead. The Father’s love appears in giving the Son to be a propitiation for sins; the Son’s love in dying to take away sins; the Spirit’s love in applying for such a purpose the precious blood of the Son. This love is full of mystery, God giving up His Son for loathsome creatures lying in their blood in the open field of nature.
None have love to God until it is put in them. “Hateful, and hating one another” is the character of all by nature. “And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live” (Deut. xx. 6). Thus, the possession of this love is a sure evidence of the new birth, as none have it but from the Lord. He is one flame of love, and out of that all true love comes. It is in order to bring sinners back to His image that Christ came to save, more than merely to save them from punishment.
(1) Those who are born again love the Father. They are said to “love God and keep His commandments.” Now, in this particular, it is very difficult to attain to proof and to satisfy conscience. God is so exalted. No man hath seen Him at any time. But faith brings a report of Him from the Word, and in this way they come to love Him. Keeping His commandments is loving His commandments, when it proceeds from love to their holiness as reflecting His image. This is, therefore, an evidence of love to Himself, as if we had seen Him. Examine yourself then on the ten commandments in their spirituality, and see whether you love God or not. The Holy Ghost writes the commandments on every newborn soul, and then the soul begins to love God and keep His commandments. (2) They love the Son, “Whom, having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory” (1 Peter i. 8). They can get nearer the Son in human nature, yet their apparently greater love to the Son will not offend the Father, for He speaks as if He Himself had additional love to Him in His humanity—”Therefore doth the Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.” (3) They love the Spirit. They show this in weariness of their own spirit, and in grieving for having grieved the Holy Spirit. (4) They love the Lord’s Day, And this, because it is the most holy day. They call the Sabbath a delight. Why do they not do so always? Because of the lack of holiness. Yet they have drops of grief for their weariness of the Sabbath. Would you love the Sabbath if you got sin, mortified, your case cleared, more life in your soul, and the world cast out? (5) They love the Word. “O, how I love Thy law!” It is the most holy book; therefore, they love it. Do you love the places in the Bible which reprove sin? They read it oftener than other books, for they find life in it. Those who prefer profane books have no mark unless it is that they are of the devil. (6) They love the people of God. They love them because they are a holy people. They love them according to the proportion of holiness that is seen in them. They love them even when they reprove, when they smite, and when they seem to give no credit to themselves. Notice Paul’s spirit in connection with some of his converts—“And I will very gladly spend, and be spent, for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved” (2 Cor. xii. 15). They lament that the people of God are so few in their own time. They do good to the household of faith, because they belong to Christ. (7) They have love to all. They cry with the woman of Samaria, “Come, see a man which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?” Would you not wish to see sinners brought to holiness, and then to heaven? Do you like to see grace in others more than in yourself? And do you take shame to yourself for the want of it? Do you warn sinners out of love, praying for a blessing? Or do you curse them to death? Would you be willing to part with anything to save them, or to take any trouble for saving them? This love includes a hatred to everything unholy in self and in others. Are you thinking about your own family, your neighbours, people passing on the road? Are you thinking about the nation? If we profess to love God, do we keep His commandments? If we profess to love Christ, what hatred have we of sin and of self? If we profess to love the Holy Spirit, what about our own spirit? If we profess to love the Sabbath, what of our hearts on that day? If the Bible, what do we think of our breaking the word? If the people of God, what of ourselves beside them? If we profess to love all men, what do we pray for on their behalf?
5. The last mark of the new birth we intend to give is, believing Jesus to be Christ.
The last mark of the new birth we intend to give is, believing Jesus to be Christ. “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God” (1 John, v. 1). Also, “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God” (1 John, iv. 15). This was the first doctrine Paul preached after Christ appeared to him with power, and was revealed in him—“And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogue, that He is the Son of God” (Acts ix. 20). This was the confession of Peter’s faith, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. xvi. 16). This was also the confession of Martha, the Ethiopian eunuch, Andrew, and Nathaniel. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Anointed One is born of God. He said, “If ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins;” and also, “If the Son make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”
It was usual in Old Testament times to anoint prophets, priests, and kings with very precious oil. Elisha, Aaron, David, Solomon, Joash, and others were thus anointed. Christ was never anointed with material oil; He was anointed with the Holy Ghost (Acts x. 38). This is a most precious anointing, showing that He was fully qualified for His great work. The eternal God the Spirit rests on the Mediator. As such, He made a day of Pentecost; and He is still the maker of all true revivals. Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God, equal with the Father, the express image of His person, the brightness of His glory, having all the attributes of God, and therefore able to save to the uttermost.