Why Men Reject Christ
(No. 2463)
A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, MAY 3, 1896.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, APRIL
11, 1886.
"And sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a
village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. But they did not receive
Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem." Luke 9:52,
53.
YOU hardly need that I should explain this action of the Samaritans.
Probably our Savior's nearest road to Jerusalem lay through Samaria and
He did not avoid that district, as many Jews did who went a long way
around rather than pass through that unfriendly country. The Lord Jesus
was so gentle, so meek and lowly, so much more a Man than a Jew, that
it is somewhat strange that the Samaritans did not make an exception in
His favor and treat Him courteously when He passed through their land.
He, Himself, was quite free from all bigotry and was glad to mingle
with all sorts of men, whatever their nationality. He sent His
messengers to the Samaritan village to say that Jesus of Nazareth was
passing through and wished to lodge there for a night–but they refused
Him because it appeared to be His intention to go up to Jerusalem to
keep the feast and it was their opinion that the feast ought to be kept
in their own temple on their own mountain, Gerizim. Therefore, because
the Christ was going up to the Jewish feast at Jerusalem, they would
not receive Him. They were guilty of gross inhospitality in thus
refusing to entertain a servant of God, for He was that in the esteem
of many of them. And they were also guilty of still greater
inhospitality which they did not understand, for they refused to
receive the Son of God who, in human flesh, had come down to bless the
sons of men!
I do not mean to say much about Samaritans in my discourse, for we have
little or nothing to do with them, but I am going to use the text with
reference to ourselves. I am sure that there is, here, a picture of
many to whom I am now speaking.
I. First, I would remind you that the LORD JESUS CHRIST STILL SENDS
MESSENGERS TO THE SONS OF MEN BEFORE HE COMES.
Before He comes, Himself, He sends His heralds. His own personal coming
to the earth was heralded by a long line of Prophets and especially by
John the Baptist. And when He had come into the world, He did not
usually enter a place without giving some kind of notice to the
inhabitants. He frequently sent before Him either evangelists, by two
and two, to go into every place where He, Himself, would come, or else
He commissioned certain messengers to give notice that the Christ of
God was on His way to pay a visit of mercy. I believe that, nowadays,
the Lord Jesus Christ comes to many men in a very surprising manner.
Before they are aware of it, His Grace steals into their hearts–He
says to many what He said to Zacchaeus, "Make haste and come down, for
today I must abide at your house." He speaks out of Heaven to some as
He did to Saul of Tarsus on his way to Damascus. He has differing ways
with different men, but often, and with the most of us, He sends His
messenger before Him before He comes Himself.
The message that we who are Christ's messengers have to bring is
this–we have to tell who He is that has come among the sons of men,
asking for entertainment in their hearts. Brothers and Sisters, it is
God, Himself, the Lord of Glory, who has appeared in human flesh and
has become bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. He has come in the
fashion of a Man. He has lived and loved and labored here below. He has
died, He has been buried, He has risen again, He has gone back into
Glory and now, spiritually, He is present among us! Here is His own
declaration, "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world."
We preach not to you, a merely human teacher–we preach One who is
certainly Human, but who is also Divine. We preach not, only a Teacher,
but a Savior who offered Himself without spot to God that He might put
away the sin of all who believe in Him. And now, in the message of the
Gospel, He comes again into our midst, even He whom angels worship, who
is His Father's joy, the delight of His people, the hope of all who
have a living hope, the pattern and the mirror of what His saints are
yet to be! It is He of whom we speak–Jesus of Nazareth, the King of
the Jews, who is also very God of very God!
As His messengers, we have further to say that He is willing to come
and dwell in men's hearts. The messengers who came to that Samaritan
village proclaimed the good tidings, "The Christ is coming! The Christ
is coming! He is willing to come and lodge with you." I think the
loungers at the gate were, at first, astonished that the great
Miracle-Worker should come to their village, to the Samaritans with
whom the Jews had no dealings! And they went in and said to the people,
"Jesus, who healed the sick, and raised the dead, is willing to come
and stay a night with us." We tell you, dear Friends, that the Lord
Jesus is willing to come to you, that He will be glad to find admission
at the door of your hearts! It were good news if we could tell you that
He would let you come to Him, but we tell you something better, that
is– that He is willing to come to you! It were good news if we said,
"If you entreat Him, if you beseech Him, if you constrain Him, He may,
perhaps, come and stay an hour with you." But instead, thereof, we can
come and say, "Our Master bids us tell you that He is willing to be
received by you and that to as many as receive Him, to them will He
give power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His
name!" Oh, what glad tidings for your sinful hearts that the pure
Christ is willing to come and live in you! Oh, what good news for you
guilty men that the pardoning Christ is willing to come and take a
lodging within your spirits! Tell it to one another wherever you dwell.
Tell the good news that Jesus comes, not to pass by, nor even to
sojourn merely for a night, but to come and take possession of the
heart forever!
These messengers of Christ were also to tell the people to make ready
for His coming. According to our text, Jesus sent "messengers before
His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans,
to prepare for Him." Make ready, then, for the coming of Christ into
your hearts. "But," you say, "we cannot entertain Him as such a King
should be entertained." It is true, Beloved, you cannot. But remember
that this royal Guest asks nothing of you but that you give Him room to
abide in your heart. The Master still says, as He did of old, "Where is
the guest chamber?" He does not ask you to provide the fare for the
feast, but only to prepare the guest chamber. He still says, "Behold, I
stand at the door and knock: if any man hears My voice and opens the
door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me."
Our great Melchizedek, when He comes to meet us, brings with Him the
bread and the wine–the bread, His body–and the wine, His blood. He
gives us food to eat that the world knows not. Whatever preparation you
have to make is not a matter that is beyond your power!
I will tell you what to do to make ready for Christ–give Him a room
that is empty. Drive out the sin that rules there, or rather, ask Him,
by His Grace, to come and drive out His enemy and yours. If you are
willing to have him driven out, Christ is both willing and able to
drive him out. Say to the Lord, "Here is my heart, such as it is. It is
all Yours." If you really say that from your heart, you are ready for
Him! Tell Him that you grieve over your sin, for repentance will make
you ready for Christ. Tell Him that you are a lost sinner and that your
sense of need has made you ready to be saved by Him. Tell Him that you
are willing to be renewed by His Grace. Tell Him that you desire to be
holy, that you wish to be cleansed in His precious blood–this is the
kind of readiness which Christ wants! The best preparation for a feast
is hunger–there is no sauce like it. Readiness for being clothed is to
take off your rags. Readiness to be washed is to see, and lament, and
abhor your filthiness! Readiness to receive alms is to take the place
of a beggar and to confess how poor you are. So, you see, I have asked
no hard thing of you when, as the messenger of my Lord, I tell you that
the King, Himself, draws near, even the Incarnate God, and that He is
willing to enter into your hearts–and that all the readiness that He
asks of you is that you open the door to let Him in!
But, my Brothers and Sisters, the messengers of God have come to some
of you a great many times. I wonder whether some of you can remember
the first sermon that ever made you weep? Do you remember the first
holy book that awakened your sleeping conscience? Can some of you
unconverted people call to mind your mother's tears and your father's
prayers for you? You will have, as it were, to swim through the river
of your mother's tears if you are resolved to go to Hell. Some of you
will have to ride roughshod over your father's entreaties before you
will be able to reach Hell! You have been called many times. You have
been invited again and again! Take heed lest, one day, even the Christ
should say, "Because I have called and you refused and I have stretched
out My hand and no man regarded, but you have set at nothing all My
counsel, and would have none of My reproof, I, also, will laugh at your
calamity. I will mock when your fear comes." The messengers of God and
the messages of God are not to be trifled with! Sickness, losses,
convictions of conscience and a thousand other things are messengers
from the Most High! Let us not trifle with them any longer, but even
now, as the Christ sends out His messengers, let us receive them gladly
and say to them, "Tell your Master that we shall be glad if He will
come to us."
II. Now, secondly, it appears from the test that although Christ sends
out messengers to announce His approach, THERE ARE SOME WHO WILL NOT
RECEIVE HIM.
These Samaritans would not receive Him and alas, the people who will
not receive Christ are still very many! One would be glad to preach
until midnight to sinners who would receive the Savior–no exhaustion
would we mind if we could but preach to people willing to welcome our
Master! We cannot make it out why some of you do not receive Christ as
your Savior. There is so much about you that is hopeful and good that
we cannot understand why you refuse Him. There are such blessings
attached to the reception of Christ–even eternal life hangs on
it–that it puzzles us how you can bar your door against this blessed
Friend of ours–yet so it is.
Let me put it to you, dear Friends–I would like to "buttonhole" you,
to take you by the hand and to say to you, "God has sent His Son to be
the Messiah, the Mediator between Himself and you–why do you
deliberately turn away from Him? He sent that dear Son of His into the
world to save sinners and, in order that He might save them, He died in
unutterable pangs upon the Cross! Do you really refuse to be saved by
the merits of that matchless death? Is it so that you will both tempt
the justice of God and reject the mercy of God?" The plan of salvation
cost God His darling Son! Do you mean, in indifference, to say that you
care not what it cost? Will you fling the Atonement to the winds and
have nothing to do with it? Well, then, what I ask of you is just
this–to really make this decision with deliberation if you are
resolved to be lost. But I am not half as much afraid of you who would
thus reject Christ as I am of the many who will not even think of
Him–who take up neither one position nor another–but who let the
whole subject slip by with a neglect that is a thousand times more
contemptuous towards Christ than even if they had thought it out and
had decided not to believe it. O Sirs, do not, I pray you, neglect the
Christ of God and refuse Him whom God has sent to save you!
But there are some who never think about Christ at all. The year rolls
on with scarcely a thought of Him. Look on the vast mass of London's
population never going to any House of Prayer to hear about Jesus.
There is but little reading of the blessed Book which tells us of Him!
One might imagine that they regarded it as all old wives' fables, or a
dream from the "Arabian Nights." Yet they do not go quite that length,
for they have not thought enough about it even to say as much as that!
What? Shall Christ die and yet you do not think His death worth a
thought? Shall He, with His pierced hands, open the Kingdom of Heaven
to all Believers and will you not even look to see what He has done?
Oh, how shall I plead with you? Would God that I had voice and heart
commensurate to so stern a labor as that of pleading with consciences
that go to sleep and hearts that lie dead in the Presence of a bleeding
Christ!
There are also, alas, many who, though they do think of Christ, yet
reject the plan of salvation by the great Substitute. They cannot see
it, they say–they mean that they will not have it! They do not care to
be saved by the atoning Sacrifice–they would sooner trust in something
else. Oh, dear Friends, I am sure that if you would work that problem
out with a little care, you would soon come to a different resolve! I
remember, when under deep conviction of my guilt, with a strong desire
to be better and to have peace with God, I tried prayer. I tried Bible
reading. I tried diligent attendance to the means of Grace. I tried a
change in my manner of life. I tried everything I could think of, but I
never could find peace and rest until I cast myself on Christ's atoning
work and trusted Him to save me! Then did I enter into the peace of God
and found a joy and rest of spirit which I would not barter for all the
crowns of all the kings who ever lived! I entreat you to think much of
the sufferings of our Lord and consider what they meant. And I should
not wonder that you will, at length, fall in love with the great plan
of redeeming mercy by which Christ was made to suffer in our place,
bearing our sins in His own body on the tree! At any rate, do give a
full and fair consideration to God's way of salvation. Make room for it
in your heart. Be ready to entertain the Savior, at least go as far as
this–weigh His claims, judge His doctrine, see whether there is not
about His atoning Sacrifice something of promise which is not offered
anywhere else.
Yet it would not be sufficient, even if I could bring you to think of
Christ and to judge somewhat more favorably concerning Him. I long–oh,
that I had power to work this miracle, but I have not–I long to open
some sinner's heart to let the Savior in! I know who will be the man
who will be the first to welcome Christ. He who has no righteousness of
his own! He who longs to escape from the wrath to come. I think I hear
him say, "Sir, you put a question to me and I will put one to you. You
say, 'Will you open your heart for Christ to enter?' O Sir, that is not
the question! My heart is ready enough to receive Him, but can I hope
that He will come in?" Soul, there was never a heart, yet, that was
willing to have Christ but Christ gave Himself to that heart! There is
no question about His will–the question is about your will. He has
said, "Him that comes to Me I will in no wise cast out." Now, if I were
struck dumb–if this throat were choked up, from which for so many
years has pealed forth as with the sound of a trumpet the Gospel of
Christ, I should like my last words to be, "Come to Christ just as you
are!" Never was a soul repulsed that came to Him, though black as
midnight, though guilty of enough crimes to condemn it to all eternity!
Only come to Jesus! Be willing and obedient, and you shall have Christ,
for it is written, "Whoever will, let him take the water of life
freely." The Lord make all of you willing this very hour!
III. But now, thirdly, CHRIST IS OFTEN REFUSED FOR THE MOST ABSURD
REASONS.
The Samaritans did not receive Him because He was going up to
Jerusalem–so that theirs was a sectarian reason. They were Samaritans
and He was siding with the Jews. I think that sectarianism anywhere is
an evil thing, but let no man ruin his soul for the sake of being a
sectarian! If I were the strictest Churchman, I would rather go to
Heaven through hearing the Gospel preached by a Dissenter than I would
be lost in order to remain a staunch member of the Established Church!
And if I were a Dissenter, I would sooner go hear the Gospel fully
preached in the Church of England and find Christ, there, than I would
go and sit down in my own conventicle and listen to a sort of
semi-Unitarianism of modern thought. The first and chief thing for my
soul's good is that I must have Christ and, for my part, I care not
where I find Him! Whether it is in a barn or in a cathedral, He is the
same Christ to me. I would meet Him on the mountain's brow if He bade
me go there, but I would also meet Him on the surface of the lake if He
said to me as He said to Peter, "Come." Anywhere with Jesus, all is
well! But away from Jesus, all is ill. Let nobody, then, refuse to
accept Jesus Christ because of sectarian bigotry.
Was it not also for a proud reason that the Samaritans rejected Jesus
Christ? What right had these Samaritans to dictate to the Messiah where
He should go? If He chose to go to Jerusalem, had He not a right to go
where He pleased? How often we, also, try to dictate to Christ! We
think that He ought to save us this way, or that way. O Sirs, be
willing to let the sinner's Savior save the sinner in His own way!
Never dictate to Him who is Lord of all, nor reject Him through foolish
or wicked pride!
It was a selfish reason, too, that made these Samaritans refuse to
receive Christ. Dog-in-the-manger-like, they would not accept Christ,
themselves, but they did not want Him to go to Jerusalem. I have
sometimes heard it said, "If this Gospel is preached to the scum of
society, to the outcast and the low, I am not going to hear it." Ah, my
fine gentleman, you will not have it, yourself, and you do not want
others to have it. I would be glad to come to Christ side by side with
the foulest harlot who ever rotted into infamy! I would be glad to come
to Christ with a criminal who was standing with the rope about his
neck, about to be hurled into eternity by the common hangman! I would
be glad enough to come to Christ with the poorest, meanest beggar who
ever picked foul crusts from off a dunghill! So long as I can but get
to Christ, who am I that I should find fault with my company? Come,
Sirs, away with your pride! Yes, My Lady, or My Lord, you must come to
Christ like anybody else! He cares nothing for earthly stars and
garters, or honors and titles. He died to save sinners, even the very
chief of them–and you are not in a fit state to be saved until you
come down to the level which you think, now, so much beneath you, but
which is, indeed, the true level upon which we must stand if we are to
close in with Christ. O pitiful Samaritan pride and selfishness,
unwilling that Christ should go to the despised Jews, for the proud
Samaritan thinks, "If He comes to me, He ought to go to nobody else."
I do not think there ever was a good reason for not believing in
Christ. I believe that the most unreasonable things in all the world
are doubt and unbelief–in fact, atheists and infidels are the most
gullible persons living! The modern scientist who does not believe in
the first chapter of the Book of Genesis and who pours scorn upon the
New Testament, believes things infinitely more incredible than he can
ever detect in Sacred Scripture! I do not hesitate to say that the
whole theory of evolution is more monstrously false and foolish than
any other ever conceived beneath high Heaven! It is a marvelous thing
that men should be able to squeeze their minds into the belief of an
absurdity which, in time to come, will be ridiculed to children in the
schoolroom as an instance of the credulity of their ancestors. As one
science, falsely so-called, has passed away, devoured by the next
notion that men have adopted, so shall it be to the end of the chapter.
He who will not believe God shall be the dupe of lies, but there is no
good and valid reason why men should not accept the Christ.
You dear people who believe your Bibles and listen to the Gospel from
week to week–yet who do not accept Christ as your Savior–are the most
unreasonable of all people! If this Gospel is true, why do you not
receive it? If Christ is the Savior of sinners, why do you not believe
in Him? I could understand your casting your Bibles behind your backs
and never coming to a House of Prayer again, however greatly I might
lament such conduct, but I cannot understand the diligent hearer of the
Word who commends and approves it all, yet never believes in Christ to
the salvation of his soul! These Samaritans would not receive Christ
and they gave as the silly reason for their rejection of Him that He
was going to Jerusalem–and many who do not receive Christ must give
equally unreasonable reasons for their unreasonable conduct!
IV. Now I must close by noticing that JESUS STILL ACTS VERY MUCH AS HE
DID THEN.
First, He does not send fire from Heaven to consume those who reject
Him. James and John came to their Master, when the Samaritans would not
receive Him, and said to Him, "Lord, will You that we command fire to
come down from Heaven and consume them, even as Elijah did?" Oh, dear!
Well might the Master rebuke them, and say, "You know not what manner
of spirit you are of." But have not I seen men so eager to convert
their fellow men that they would even bully them to Christ? There never
yet was a man bullied to the Savior! Men do not believe in Christ
through being threatened and coerced. Persecution is the devil's work
from beginning to end and it never succeeds and never will. The Savior
gives us no permission to put it in action! He abhors it, for it is not
at all according to His mind.
What, then, did the Master do? As He would not bring fire from Heaven
upon the people who rejected Him, so also He would not force Himself
upon them. Now, if you, my dear Hearer, do not accept Christ, you may
not at once drop down dead–you may not find your house on fire when
you get home or you may not become a beggar–that is not God's way of
dealing with those who reject Christ! I have heard of an impious man
who said, "If there is a God, let Him strike me dead." It was because
He is God that He did not take the wicked man at his word! Why should
He? It is not according to the nature of God to act after that fashion.
While you are in this world, listening to God's terms of mercy and
Grace, if you choose to receive Christ it shall be a blessed thing for
you. But if you refuse Him, there is not one of us who would lay a
finger upon you to harm you, or who would desire that you should suffer
in your mind, your person, or your estate! Our Lord and Master would
not treat you so and He will not force Himself upon you.
When these Samaritans would not receive Him, He did not say, "Come,
John, James and Peter, we will burst open the village gates–we will
enter their homes–we will claim the lodging to which we have a right."
Oh, no! That was not His way of working! The Lord Jesus Christ must be
served willingly if He is served at all. And He must be received
cheerfully if He is received at all. In many cases those who received
Christ when He was upon the earth received Him gladly, and that is the
only reception which He desires. Forced Christianity would be no
Christianity! One volunteer here is worth 10,000 pressed men! Indeed,
Christ will have no pressed men–all His soldiers must be volunteers.
There is a delightful pressure of His Grace, but that never violates
the will of man, though it sweetly inclines that will towards Christ.
What did the Master do when these Samaritans rejected Him? He went
elsewhere. We read that "they went to another village." I fancy that I
can see the Master and His little band of disciples waiting outside
that village gate as the sun is going down. The Samaritans ask, "Is He
going to Jerusalem?" Yes, He is. Then they tell Him that He cannot
enter, He may go away and they will not entertain Him. He says not a
word. He utters no complaint, but He just goes quietly down the hill,
the little band following at His heels, and He walks away until He
knocks at the gate of another village where they lodge Him for the
night. That is all that will happen if you reject Him–He will go
somewhere else.
But when I say that is all that will happen, it is a very great, "all."
It is a very dreadful, "all," for my Master never seems to me more
terrible than in His gentleness. You have refused Him, so He is going
away. No thunder peals to alarm you, no lightning dashes to destroy
you. Only He is going away! There is more terror in that going away
than there would be in the tempest! One day, my Hearer, if you continue
to reject Jesus Christ, when you shall be in another world, you will
have to read, written in letters of fire above your head, these words,
"He came to you and you would not receive Him, so He went to another."
In the parable of the wedding feast, they that were invited, with one
voice, began to make excuses and the Master of the house, being angry,
said to His servant, "Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the
city, and bring in the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the
blind." Is it not an amazing thing that, even when the
Master was angry, He only did a kind thing to show His anger? And, dear
Hearer, when Christ shall turn away from you because you refuse to
receive Him, it will be only that He may turn somewhere else.
When Dr. Hawker was preaching, once, a learned man from London, who had
listened to him, said, "I could not make heads or tails of the man's
talk." Someone told the doctor what had been said. "Ah," he remarked,
"I daresay the learned man could not understand the Truth of God I was
preaching, but there were scores of old women in the aisles who could."
So, if there are some who will not have Christ, there are plenty of
others who will! If you who are rich, or learned, or great, will not
have Him, He will give Himself away to the poorest, the lowest and the
meanest who will accept Him–and they shall be in the bosom of their
God at last, while you who were too proud to come to Him shall be cast
away forever. O my dear Hearers, He stands before the door of your
heart right now! He is gently knocking, not with a sledge hammer, but
with His own pierced hand! Admit Him, admit Him, I beseech you! Admit
Him at once! If not, it may be that He will never knock again. Probably
He never again asked those Samaritans to welcome Him, but some other
Samaritans did receive Him. He might reasonably have expected to be
received by these villagers, but inasmuch as they said no to Him, He
just turned His face from them and went away.
Shall He turn away from you like that, my Hearer? Shall He depart from
you thus? What is your answer? "Yes," or "No"? Before you go out of
this House, I beseech you to answer me, and I pray God to help you say,
"Come in, my Lord, come in." May He grant it, for His name's sake!
Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: JOHN3:1-24.
This is a very wonderful chapter because, while it teaches the doctrine
of regeneration and the necessity of a great moral and spiritual
change, it also reveals the doctrine of salvation by faith alone–a
very wonderful combination which puzzles many who read what is recorded
here. Many have been staggered by one or other of these great Truths of
God, yet they evidently agree, for they are taught by the same unerring
Teacher and they are preserved to us by the Spirit of God in the same
chapter!
Verses 1, 2. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler
of the Jews: the same came to Jesus by night, and said to Him, Rabbi,
we know that You are a Teacher come from God: for no man can do these
miracles that You do, except God be with him. Nicodemus was very
candid. He went as far as he could go. If he had not yet learned to
believe in Christ as his Savior, he did, at least admit that Christ,
upon the evidence of His miracles, was "a Teacher come from God." There
is always hope of a man who is willing to see all that he can and who
acknowledges what he can see. He will see "greater things than these"
if he is willing to use his eyes.
3. Jesus answered and said to him, Verily, verily, I say to you, Except
a man is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. Without a new
birth, "he cannot see," he cannot comprehend, he cannot understand, he
cannot know anything about "the Kingdom of God."
4. Nicodemus said to Him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he
enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? Ah, me! Our
blessed Master taught much by parables and parabolic teaching is the
best of teaching, but you see how readily it can be misunderstood–how
men can take the emblem in a carnal way and not understand its
spiritual meaning. This is how the false doctrine of transubstantiation
is taught. When Christ says of the bread, "This is My body," the
Romanists take His words literally, and so miss their spiritual
meaning. It was in the same way that Nicode-mus fell into error
concerning Christ's teaching.
5. Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say to you, Except a man is born
of water and of the Spirit, He cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. If
the water here signifies Baptism–mark you, if it does–then, observe,
that there is no entering into the Kingdom without it. I do not think
that Baptism is here intended at all, but the purifying influence of
the Word of God symbolized by water. We might read the verse, "Except a
man is born of water, even of the Spirit, He cannot enter into the
Kingdom of God." There is a great change of character necessary for
entrance into the Kingdom–seeing it is one thing, entering into it is
another matter–yet one cannot even see the Kingdom of God without
being born again, or born from above.
6. 7. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born
of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said to you, You must be
born again. Nicodemus was well born, no doubt. Probably he was a pure
Jew. Yet he must be born again.
And you may have descended from a long line of saints–your parents may
be in the Church of Christ and your parents' parents, too–but still
the Truth of God remains, "that which is born of the flesh is flesh."
At its very best, it cannot rise above that which gave it birth, it is
but flesh. "You must be born again." There is no hope for you apart
from the new birth from above! You cannot see and you cannot enter the
Kingdom of God merely by your first birth. Birthright-membership is a
great delusion, for, "that which is born of the flesh is flesh." And
only "that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."
8. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but
cannot tell from where it comes, and where it goes: so is everyone that
is born of the Spirit. It is a mystery. You can never fully understand
it, but you can enjoy it. If you are born again, you will know what it
is–but you can no more discover your second birth than your first
birth except by its results and effects. May God give you to know what
it is to be born again! There are many doctors of divinity and men of
great learning who know nothing about this new birth. And there are
many who are mere babes in Christ who nevertheless enjoy the fruit of
this blessed regeneration by the Holy Spirit.
9, 10. Nicodemus answered and said to Him, How can these things be?
Jesus answered and said to him, Are you a master of Israel, and know
not these things? These A B C Truths which are taught in the very first
schoolbook used by Christ's scholars–"Are you a master of Israel, and
know not these things?"
11. Verily, verily, I say to you, We speak that We do know, and testify
that We have seen and you receive not Our witness. This is true of all
faithful ministers of the Gospel! We do not preach theories, we preach
facts. We do not talk about speculations, we speak of a new birth
through which we have, ourselves, passed. If there is no such thing, we
are liars! But there is such a thing and this is our witness–"We speak
that we do know, and testify that we have seen." The fashion, nowadays,
is to make statements upon religious matters with great caution,
expecting to have them disputed. But we need exercise no caution when
we state what we know to be true! We will be positive, we will utter
our, "verily, verily," when we speak what is a matter of fact to our
own consciences–"We speak that we do know, and testify that we have
seen; and you receive not our witness."
12. If I have told you earthly things, and you believe not, how shall
you believe if I tell you of heavenly things? Regeneration is a work
that is worked here on earth and belongs to this present life. High as
the mystery is, it lies but at the very threshold of the temple of
Divine Truth–"If I have told you earthly things, and you believe not,
how shall you believe if I tell you of heavenly things?" No doubt
unbelief hides much of heavenly Truth from us, but if we begin to doubt
the very elementary doctrines of our holy faith, how shall the great
Master take us on and up to the higher science that He is ready to
teach us?
13. And no man has ascended up to Heaven, but He that came down from
Heaven, even the Son of Man which is in Heaven. This saying must have
puzzled Nicodemus! He had, doubtless, read a great many riddles, but
into the meaning of this riddle he could not enter. Yet, Beloved, any
child of God, though he was converted only yesterday, may know what
Jesus meant! Now observe that, as the first part of this chapter sets
forth the need of a great and supernatural change, the latter part of
the chapter shows us the door of mercy wide open and tells us that
faith in Christ will save us.
14,15. And, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so
must the Son of Man be lifted up: that whoever believes in Him should
not perish, but have eternal life. There is no contradiction here to
what we have been reading. He that believes in Christ receives the new
birth, receives eternal life and thus, by faith, gets that which is
essential to a sight and entrance into the Kingdom of God.
16-18. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting
life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but
that the world through Him might be saved. He that believes on Him is
not condemned. What a charming sentence! What comfort it ought to bring
to the mind of every sinner who will now believe in Christ!
18. But he that believes not is condemned already, because he has not
believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. "He that believes
not is condemned already." If you have heard of Christ's salvation and
you have not believed in Him, that is evidence enough of your
condemnation! There is no need to prove your evil works. No need to
fetch your diary and turn over the record of your life. If you have not
believed in Jesus Christ, it shows a natural lack of holiness, a lack
of love to the loving God and, by that evidence you are condemned,
already, because you have not believed in the name of the Son of God.
19. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world,
and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were
evil. The dislike of Christ is caused by a love of sin. If men did not
hug their sins, they would embrace the Savior.
20, 21. For everyone that does evil hates the light, neither comes to
the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that does truth
comes to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are
worked in God. If you do not like self-examination, you can be sure
that you are wrong. If you do not like reading heart-searching books,
or listening to a faithful Gospel ministry, you can be sure that you
are wrong. If you do not like that part of the Word of God which judges
you and makes you tremble, you can be sure that you are wrong! The man
in business who cannot bear to look at his books, most probably has
good reason to be afraid of his books. He shuts them up because they
would shut him up if he were to pay attention to them! O Sirs, there is
no more damning sign of human's condition than his endeavor to avoid
the light! Search and see, look and examine! Make sure work for
eternity–whatever you trifle with, trifle not with your souls! Take
other things on hearsay, if you please, but not your condition towards
God. Let that be searched into with all earnestness and sincerity–and
be not satisfied till the Truth of God has satisfied you.
22-24. After these things came Jesus and His disciples into the land of
Judea; and there He tarried with them, and baptized. And John also was
baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there: and
they came, and were baptized. For John was not yet cast into prison. We
ought to be thankful that God's ministers are not silenced in this age.
May the Lord raise up, in these evil days, many a John the Baptist who
shall faithfully declare his testimony concerning the Lamb of God!