A Sermon by Rev D A Macfarlane
John 3:3. 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.
Especially in the first portion of this chapter, that deals with Nicodemus, many of the outstanding truths of the Christian faith are set forth. What we are continually exposed to, in such a field of divine truth, is the danger of growing weary of meditating in it or of hearing about it with any degree of frequency. The successive truths as to the new birth, the kingdom – its mystery, yet its reality – and the death of Christ, and the love of the Father before that death and manifested in virtue of that death, all seem so unquestionable, so generally accepted, as to be beyond the shadow of a doubt. So, to a great extent, we hasten to agree that these great truths should receive due attention, and at once allow and encourage the mind to wander to fields congenial to our sadly disordered and diseased attitudes.
If the Spirit of truth is our guide and enables us in our time of need to receive the wisdom which is pure and peaceable, the Word before us will renew its youth in interest and freshness. It will be to us as a path loved because of its associations, in which we may walk and talk with our hearts, and come to know what is said of wisdom: “Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace”.
Let us note at the outset that, though we shall have especially before our minds this testimony of the Lord regarding the kingdom and admission to the presence of the King, we shall not restrict our remarks to this verse as such; but, as necessary, try to bring the substance of the record regarding the Saviour and Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, to bear on this central truth – a truth which continues to be proclaimed wherever the gospel is preached, and in all times of the Church’s history till He comes.
We will seek to deal with these main aspects of the subject: (1.) The necessity of being born again; (2.) What it means to be born again; and (3.) The result of a soul being born again: that soul sees the kingdom of God.
1. The necessity of being born again. It is evident that when we hear about being born again and its necessity, we are not to take the language of the Teacher come from God literally, any more than we are to look upon Him as a door or gate, when He says, “I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture”. Nicodemus apparently did not understand the Lord, and so most probably in unfeigned
1Reprinted with editing from The Free Presbyterian Magazine for April 1916, during World War I. This explains the reference to the repatriation of soldiers on page 331.
astonishment he proceeded to inquire into the meaning of these words from a literal point of view: “How can a man be born when he is old?” Yet, though one can be born into this world only once and have only one such birthday, there is another kind of birth into another world or state of being. We must have an actual, heavenly birth into it, and a birthday connected with it – be it known or unknown to the soul at the time. This must take place while we are in this world; otherwise “that which is born of the flesh” will remain “flesh”, not only in the world that now is, but also in that which is to come.
Why, the soul may ask, must one be born again? Why this unspeakably necessary change, so utterly beyond the power of a created being that it requires the exceeding greatness of the gracious power of God to perform it, so that the glory of this change will belong to Him for ever? It is because we are “born of the flesh”. And so we inquire briefly what this word flesh means for us. A twofold use of the word will suffice for our present purpose. First it has a good meaning; and second it is used in a bad sense, or to convey a meaning of an evil nature.
As to its good meaning, a passage or two may be found in this Gospel to serve as examples. There are the well-known portions: “The Word was made flesh”; “The bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” As used thus, the word obviously refers to the coming of the Lord into humanity and to the work of redemption in its full extent, which He undertook to accomplish. In this He was sinless, yet sin-laden. When therefore the word is used as above concerning Christ, it involves complete freedom from impurity and pollution. He took upon Him our nature, and made manifest to all ages that it is possible to have a body of flesh and blood, or flesh and bones, and yet be untainted with evil.
Before examining the word in its opposite meaning, we may here remark that it is very often used in what may be called a non-moral sense. This is especially common in the Old Testament. Adam said of Eve, when the Lord brought her to him, “This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh”. Many such instances might be given. The main meaning in such cases is what naturally belongs to rational being.
But the meaning which should be most closely attended to is, of course, moral evil – sin – involving the penalty of death, and that “filthiness of the flesh (literally) and spirit” which invariably accompanies it. It is not surprising that “flesh” should be employed to mean what is sinful, polluted in body and depraved in spirit. It is plain that, when lust first conceived and brought forth sin, the members of the body very effectually became instruments for evil of the perverse will and besotted mind. The lower passions and appetites
obtained dominion. Moral purity – native love of holiness – ceased on the entrance of sin, and the whole man now minded “the things of the flesh”. Self-satisfaction became the leading motive in action, the leading end in existence – even in matters otherwise quite lawful, not to mention what is forbidden. So, having been “sold under sin”, we desire to be independent of God, and if the depraved nature was permitted to do so, we would deprive Him of His eternal independence. “So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.”
This is true of all mankind since “sin entered into the world, and death by sin”. Adam, the first father and representative of the human race, “begat a son in his own likeness, after his image”. Ever since – with the exception of the last Adam, the Lord from heaven – “that which is born of the flesh is flesh”. Now to be a sinful creature, as Nicodemus was until washed with the washing of regeneration, involves two things.
The first is that the Christless person is under the curse of his Maker, the Judge of all. This is indeed a sad truth. Who can understand, in its unsearchable depths, what it implies for a soul to be separated from the God of holiness and love? “Who knows the power of Thy wrath?” Yet we are plainly told that such a soul is under the sway of sin – unholy, unhealthy. It continues disobedient to Him to whom all rational creatures, by necessity of nature, owe loving obedience and that soul will inevitably remain outside of His gracious kingdom unless it is born again. So it will be an object of that holy displeasure which for ever is “the wrath to come”.
The soul continuing alienated from the life of God in Christ is God’s prisoner – a prisoner of divine, unchangeable law. A prisoner is one who is not allowed to go free until the law is satisfied as to his innocence, or until the penalty of his misdeeds has been paid. The way whereby we, as His prisoners, may go free is amply set before us in this portion of the Word, and the time may be nigh, even at our doors, when the gospel will cease to be proclaimed to us any more. “But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear Him which, after He hath killed, hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear Him”.
The second truth is that the sinner is not only worthy of death but, in his moral nature, he is directly contrary to the nature of God. It is true that he is a rational being and continues to be so – accountable to the Creator. Sin does not deprive man of his rational faculties, but rather perverts him away from the God-honouring use of them. Without enlarging on our depravity in general and our lack of will to take any spiritual interest in God’s ways and works, house and kingdom, we may here rather seek to know that, while sin reigns in our mortal bodies, we remain unhealthy in soul and body. The
slave of sin is moribund; that is, full of death. The Psalmist recorded what is true, whether we are conscious of it or not: “There is no soundness in my flesh because of Thine anger: neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin. . . . I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart.”
Is not a change then necessary – one so great as to require new life, a new beginning, an entrance into a state of freedom which we do not enjoy, as “sold under sin”, and into a nature like that of God? Otherwise we shall die in our sins Christless, faithless, hopeless, lifeless.
2. What it means to be born again. To be born after a natural manner means that a being different from all others is brought into the world. New life is there, and a new beginning; there is a need of care and cherishing. So it is spiritually. There is new life, and also – as the Lord tells Nicodemus – a mystery connected with the work of the Holy Spirit; just as there is mystery in the blowing of the wind, which “goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirlleth about continually”. We do not see it nor grasp it, yet we do not deny its presence and power. The new life is real and spiritual, as its result duly shows, in a life and conversation becoming the gospel. But there must be something preceding the work of the Spirit of Christ in the soul in regenerating it and bringing it into the kingdom of God; otherwise there is no salvation. This preceding work is the specific work of the Redeemer, which He alone could perform, for all the ransomed are indebted to Him for redemption.
We may first of all direct attention to this work which the Father gave to the Son to carry out, and which the Son undertook to perform. We shall confine our remarks here to two essential things. First, that this Saviour is the Son of God; and second, that He is a Priest, in order to His being a Prophet and a King over the holy hill of Zion.
First, that He was, is and ever shall be the beloved Son of the Father, is a truth we do not thank God for as we ought. We have much reason for heart-grief to think how little we are amazed at the divine love, that it should please the Father to set apart the Son, the Ancient of Days, to be the Rock of salvation as well as the Rock that begat all things that exist. If we gradually realise how little we at most know – even though we may have reason to conclude that one has a saving knowledge of this theme of praise and thanksgiving, it surely becomes us to seek earnestly an increasing knowledge of Him who is God, with whom there is a fullness of grace and truth. He is the Saviour, born in the city of David, who is Christ the Lord, who became what He was not, but never ceased to be what He eternally is.
May the eyes of our understanding be opened to view the abounding
excellence of the Mediator of the better covenant. How changed we all would be if we were engrossed more in all that He is in Himself, and in what He became and accomplished in order that sinners might eventually be with Him where He is and behold His glory! What manner of persons we would then be in all holy conversation and godliness! May He grant us hearts to know Him, so that we too may be permitted to sit at His feet and, in spirit and in truth, drink in the doctrine that drops as the rain and the speech that distils as the dew!
Second, let us observe that Christ, the Son of God and Lord over all, blessed for evermore, became a Priest in order that He might be a Prophet and a King in a gracious way. If God has a kingdom of grace, mercy and peace, and the Son rules over this kingdom, wearing a crown that shall flourish for ever, it is because He, the Son of Man, was lifted up “even as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness”. It is because He was “given” as a surety, a sacrificial victim, a Lamb to take away the sin of the world. Hence the work of the Lord Jesus in offering Himself, without spot to God, comes first, that He might be a King, to subdue and hold sway – and be a Prophet, to bless His people with bread and advance them for evermore.
There is much that merits attention in meditating on such a subject as the Priesthood of the Lord. Such an Epistle as that to the Hebrews is taken up with it. Meantime, let us keep in view some of its main features. Foremost among these is the fact that the Lord was the called One, and the One consecrated by the Father, to do this foundation work of salvation. To that end He received the Holy Spirit without measure. In the human nature, the Son-servant acted on behalf of all for whom the Father, in His sovereign authority, delegated Him to act as surety, as near kinsman, as the heaven-chosen and heaven-qualified propitiation. This is a truth evidently set forth in the Word of truth. Secret things belong unto the Most High and, while this is rightly so, we are called to wait patiently on Him alone and to use the means which are set before us in His Word for our salvation.
Let us also bear in mind that Christ, the Priest of the Most High God, offered the sacrifice of sacrifices only once. His obedience began with His being made flesh, and it embraced His pouring out His soul unto death in bearing sin away by enduring the penalty due to it. It was an obedience unto death, and included His being buried and coming under the power of death for a time, so that He might abolish death and bring life and incorruptibility to light through the gospel. By one offering He has for ever perfected them that are sanctified, and has become the author of eternal salvation to all who believe on Him. For if any soul does not receive Christ as Saviour from the guilt, stain and being of sin, it is not due to the lack of worth in His infinitely
meritorious work – He being a Person of infinite dignity. But it is rather because that soul will not come to Him to have life. He offers Himself, whole and undivided, to every sinner to whom the tidings of great joy come. May He enable us to receive Him, that we may be made whole!
Such are some of the outstanding truths concerning this foundation work of the Son of God, who “shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon His throne, and He shall be a Priest upon His throne”.
What is it then to be born again, in view of the Lord of glory being lifted up on Calvary’s cross and dying without the gate, in the place of the unclean? The one who is born again comes as a guilty creature, morally unclean, to the Lord Jesus Christ, for salvation from death and for cleansing from all unrighteousness. He comes in order to be made whole by Him, that he may love, serve and obey Him who is the good Master, and able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God through Him. This coming is the exercise of that faith whereby we appropriate to ourselves, or receive, Him as all our salvation and all our desire; whereby we rest upon Him wholly, finally for salvation as He is offered to us in His revealed will.
In believing on the Lord Jesus, a change occurs in a moment. The sinner, hitherto a prisoner of God, is now made free for ever, and is accounted righteous with the righteousness of Christ. The sinner now stands upon Christ’s merits, and knows no other stand. The Judge will remember his sins and iniquities no more. May our entreaty be that many will be washed in the fountain opened for sin and uncleanness; that many, in view of such a gracious provision, may be espoused unto such a Bridegroom; that this man and that man there may be born in Zion and be enrolled among those who say, “I am the Lord’s”, and surname themselves by the name of Israel.
But not only is the soul brought into a state of freedom, in virtue of union to the Head of the Church, but he becomes partaker of the nature of the first-born among many brethren. Now Christ is the alone fountain of His people’s holiness as well as the source of their righteousness. He puts a new heart and a right spirit within them and gives them a heart of flesh. They become lovers of God, of moral purity and of His truth, and are taught by Him in many wonderful ways what sin is and what its dire effects are. They grow in the loathing of sin and its false pleasures, as they grow in their knowledge of Himself, their physician and source of health. Thus they are endowed with new life and begin to live unto God.
This life is holy life and deathless life. No person, no power, no thing opposed to God and His kingdom can reach those who have attained to this life to cause them irretrievable harm. Death has no power over this rich life. Just as there is progress in natural life and need of daily sustenance, so there
is progress in the spiritual sphere and daily need of the bread of life and of an appetite for it, and of being guided and preserved in all our goings, by the keeper of Israel, who slumbers not nor sleeps. As an instance of such development and fruit-bearing unto holiness, the case of Nicodemus himself may be cited. He is found, on the death of the Lord, with Joseph of Arimathea wrapping the body of the Saviour in the bundle of myrrh and aloes and laying the body in the new tomb in the garden. In this he was honoured in being permitted to do what he could. His work was a labour of love, and all like minded will likewise be heirs of the kingdom that does not fade away.
There is a truth that might again be adverted to and emphasised before passing on to the closing part of our subject. It is that while a soul, willingly and consciously, believes savingly in Christ and becomes a debtor to the grace of God for salvation, yet it is God by His Spirit, all unconsciously to the soul and most mysteriously, who prepares the heart to receive Christ. The heart of man is in His hand “as the rivers of water; He turneth it whithersoever He will”. By His almighty gracious power He disposes the man to seek, and empowers him to lay hold upon, Christ. To receive the Son is to receive the Father, for “he that receiveth Me receiveth Him that sent Me.”
No one of himself desires to forsake sin with its delusions and service. May we learn this and be diligent in the use of the appointed means, waiting for and expecting deliverance right early, for the Mediator’s sake – if we have no reason to conclude that we possess it now. “I love them that love Me; and those that seek Me early shall find Me.”
3. The result of a soul being born again: it sees the kingdom of God.
When a man is born again. He receives Christ through the Spirit, as his all-in-all. As Prophet, Christ lives for ever to show the soul the path of life. In His capacity as Priest, He opened up the new and living way into the holiest of all, with His blood, which cleanses from all sin. As King He leads sinners into that way and guides them in it, bringing them at last to the full enjoyment of the kingdom that cannot be moved. This part of the subject leads to a large sphere. A few chief truths about the kingdom may be noted here.
First, this kingdom of Christ is especially gracious and immovable. God is “in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them”. He rules over the chosen ones and causes all things here below to work for His glory and their good. Though it is an immovable kingdom, it is, in certain aspects, transitory – in as far as it is limited by present conditions. The world and the fashion thereof pass away, and when His kingdom in this world reaches the bounds which in God’s secret will are appointed to it, it will cease to exist in its present form. His children now enjoy an earnest in the abiding inheritance, but when He comes without sin unto salvation,
the gospel will cease to be proclaimed – as will the sacramental bread and wine eaten and drunk in His house. Yet in its main features, this kingdom is immovable. For as “the Lord shall reign for evermore,” so also “His kingdom hath none end at all; it doth through ages all remain”.
Second, in this world there is no personal perfection, though souls are brought into the number and have a right to all the privileges of the sons of God. We see in our day British prisoners freed from an enemy country, but sad to say, coming home broken down in health. They are free from imprisonment, yet sorely require restoration to health. So with the soul in the day of mercy: it is freed as a bird out of the snare, yet it is to a great extent in spiritual ill-health, and has repeated occasion to lament, “O wretched man that I am”. Yet the renewed man can, in gratitude and good hope, add, “I thank God”. The believer is being restored to health, is dying unto sin, is learning of the greatness of the great salvation and, in the day of Christ, will be without spot or blemish or any such thing.
In conclusion, let it be an encouragement to know that, whereas an earthly monarch cannot be expected to know more than a few of his subjects in a personal way, not to mention their needs and frailties and goodwill toward him; this King, eternal, immortal, invisible, having our nature in union with His glorious person – and the otherwise bridgeless gulf between Creator and creature so spanned – knows each one of His own: “I know them, and they follow Me”. Not one of them will be outside the kingdom in the day when He makes up His jewels. He knew them helpless, godless, willful, dead. He knew them when quickening them that they may call upon Him. He knows them in their frailty, despondency, and mourning their felt distance from the kingdom of God. He knows them in their repentance, love and new obedience, for they are indebted to Himself for all heavenly growth. And in the great day when the good work among men begun in Eden will be brought to completion, He will confess them before the Father and before the holy angels: “Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given Me”.
May we be among them in that day, and now obtain repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. “None perish that Him trust.”
God loves to shine upon His people when the world frowns most. Thomas Brooks
If you be more able to rely on mere free grace than you have been heretofore, then your faith is not less, but increased rather. If you be now more able to be contented with your condition than you were heretofore, if you can let God in Christ alone to use His own means about you, if you can leave the events and successes of things more unto God than you could heretofore, then your faith is not failed, but rather increased.
William Bridge