Understanding New Birth - Part Three
SCRIPTUREJohn 3:1-15
Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to 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, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel yand yet you do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
LESSON
We read in the book of job, "How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman? Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight. How much less man, that is a worm?" (Job 25:4-6).
Man must be brought to realize the truth of the statement of the Lord Jesus, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh." (See John 3:6.) What the individual heart needs today is to realize the vast distance that separates us from God and to know that that distance has been bridged only in one place, at the cross of Calvary where the Lord Jesus Christ took our place and paid the price of our redemption that we might have eternal life through His blood.
It does not suffice merely that a man should say that God is his Father. There is no more dangerous lie in existence today than that which is being so widely circulated under the phrase "the universal fatherhood of God." There is not one verse in the Bible that could teach for a moment that God is the Father of all men. The sheer presumption of those who claim sonship with God without any regard for His permission, or His holy claims, is unparalleled in the history of man's rebellion against God.
The man who lies about his social position or his financial connections in order to gain money is sent away to prison or obtaining money under false pretenses. He is not half so guilty as the one who would stand before men and say that all men are brothers and that God is the Father of all.
If you were walking down some important street in the midst of great crowds, and should see a dirty beggar child holding out his hand toward you, your heart would be moved to pity. But if the child kept running after you and called out to you, "Mother," or "Father," when you had never seen the child before, you would be stirred to a righteous indignation.
What right would that child have to attract attention to you and turn the gaze of all the passers-by from the child's filth to you? The desire of a child can not create a parental relationship. The choice of the parents must bring this relationship.
If you go to the child in the street and lead him to your home, give him new cleanliness and new clothing, and adopt him into your family, then he has the right to call you father, and the law will recognize that right. But the right and authority must be given by you.
In the divine relationship God has made full provision for sonship. If we are to become sons of God, the first step is realizing that we are not sons of God, and cannot be except through the channel which He Himself has opened up to us through Christ. We must not forget what He said to those who claimed, "We have one father, even God." That was a false claim. His answer to it was, "I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.... If God were your Father, ye would love me" (John 8:38,42).
The touchstone of sonship is the love of the individual heart for the Lord Jesus Christ. Men must not claim that they love Him unless they accept His claims. How can a man claim that he loves Christ and at the same time seek to pull Him down to the level of a common humanity, attempting to prove Him a liar as to His claims to deity?
STUDY QUESTIONS
- What is the cost of a false doctrine like universalism infiltrating the church today ?
- Where in scripture do we God telling us that salvation is exclusive to those who trust in Christ? How does this then build our theology of salvation?
