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SERMON II.

NATURE AND NECESSITY OF REGENERATION.

JOHN, iii. 7.

Marvel not, that I said unto Thee, Ye must be born again.

THE truth contained in these words is one of the most weighty in Scripture: one which concerns us all, and requires the deepest attention. May God dispose our hearts to attend to it with seriousness, humility and impartiality! The way in which we receive the doctrine of the New Birth is one of the clearest tests of the pride, or the humility of our heart; of its teachable, or unteachable, of its prejudiced, or unprejudiced state. For the better understanding of the subject, let us shortly review the cir cumstances which stand connected with the text.

Nicodemus, a Pharisee, and ruler of the Jews; a person of the strictest sect, and highest authority among them, having heard of the miracles which Jesus wrought, and

being convinced that He could work them. only through the power of God, was desirous of being acquainted with the doctrines which He taught. He accordingly came to Him, and from fear either of discovery or of interruption, came to Him by night. Addressing Him in terms of great respect, he professed his conviction that He was a teacher come from God: "for no man," added he, “can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him." Jesus, without any delay, proceeded to put his profession to the test. He proceeded to try, whether he was so convinced of His divine mission, as implicitly. to receive the doctrines which He taught, however opposed they might be to human prejudice and human pride. In a most solemn and decisive manner, He said to Nicodemus, 66 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." This declaration astonished the Pharisee, who, taking the new birth of which our Lord spoke, in a literal sense, asked with surprise, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?" But the birth, to which Christ referred, as He went on to show, was not a literal, but a spiritual birth. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water, and of the Spirit, he

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cannot enter the kingdom of God." The birth which He meant was a birth, of which the application of water was the figurative emblem, or sign, but which was really to be effected by the agency of the Spirit of God. It was, in short, an inward and a spiritual change, a change of heart and nature, by the influence of the Holy Spirit; the reason and necessity for which our Lord immediately adduces, "That which is born of the flesh, is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit, is spirit."-This statement so clearly pointed out the nature and necessity of the new birth, to which he alluded, that He directly adds in the text, "Marvel not, that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.' As if he had said, Be not surprised at my assertion. That new birth, which, as a • teacher sent from God, I declare to be so indispensably necessary to salvation, that without it, no man can see or enter the kingdom of God, contains nothing in itself impossible; nothing contradictory; nothing, in fact, but what is perfectly agreeable to reason, to Scripture, and to experience; nothing but what you, as a master in Israel, might easily have known, ⚫ and ought to understand.' In discoursing further on the text thus explained, I shall enter more fully,

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I. On the Doctrine contained in it.

II. On the Agreement of this Doctrine with Scripture, Reason, and Facts.

I. The Doctrine contained in the text is comprehended in these words, "Ye must be born again."

It has been already observed, that the expression of being "born again," or of undergoing a "new birth," is not to be taken in a literal sense. The meaning is figurative; and the change intended by it is a spiritual change, of which the Spirit of God is the efficient author and cause. At the same time we cannot but suppose that the Holy Ghost, in making choice of this figurative language to convey His meaning, has selected that which was best adapted to His purpose, and consequently that, though the birth spoken of is not a literal birth, yet the change figured by it, in some particular respects, resembles a "new birth;" and the person so spiritually changed, may, with a peculiar propriety, be said to have been "born again." In explaining the nature of this change we should not altogether lose sight of the image by which it is represented; nor, from the fear of overstraining the figurative language, abstain from a proper and legitimate use of it.

Birth implies previous life, though the beginning of it may have been small, and imperceptible; while the person, who is born,

enters on a new stage and scene of action, suited to the life which he has received, to the faculties bestowed on him, and to the place, and the station which he is designed to fill. This idea will serve to illustrate and explain the nature of that change of which we are speaking.

The new, or spiritual birth, pre-supposes the existence of a new, or spiritual life. He who is born of the Spirit has received of the Spirit a new principle of life; though at what time, or in what manner, this principle may have been communicated to the soul, we may be utterly ignorant. "The wind," says our Lord, in the verse following the text, "the wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, nor whither, it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit." The beginning of spiritual lifehow or when the Spirit may have quickened the soul, we pretend not to define; but this we assert, that every one who is born of the Spirit has been quickened by the Spirit; and is partaker of a spiritual life, (for " that which is born of the Spirit is spirit;") and now, entering on a new stage and scene of action, he gives evident proof of the spiritual change which has taken place within. Like the new-born babe, he now seeks for spiritual sustenance, even the sincere milk of the

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