THE NEW BIRTH (b)

"Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever." -- I Peter 1:23.

     This matter of the new birth is important, and its interest never fades. The grass withers, flowers fade, gold will tarnish, and the glory of man will pass away as the morning cloud, but he who is born of God shall abide forever; his holy joys are as the perennial flower, as the flowing spring, as the glorious sun which goeth forth from its chamber and rejoices as a strong man to run a race.

     His joys are as the gentle breezes which so gratefully fan the brow of the way-weary traveler, or as the mighty cyclone which sweeps all before it; they murmur as the babbling brooklet on its path through the meadowlands, or rush as the mountain torrent in its precipitous flight; they lie placid as the crystal, lily-fringed lake nestled among the hills, or surge as the mighty ocean against the rockbound shore.

     O God, may these joys of the ransomed be my stay through all my wilderness journey, and may I bask forever in the home of ceaseless and immortal bliss!

     There are a few characteristics of the new birth which distinguish it from every other possible transaction which may enter our lives.

     The new birth is extra-physical, it is beyond or above physical laws or methods. We have grown so accustomed to the laws of our physical beings that we seldom exclaim with the Psalmist, "I am fearfully and wonderfully made." But the very nature of the new birth makes it so mysterious and unexplainable that skeptics feel free to declare its impossibility.

     But those who have experienced it know its nature although they cannot fully describe it, for human language is not sufficient.

     Physical laws govern our physical natures, but this new nature, or renewed nature, is governed by laws peculiar to its own realm. Some of these laws are analogous with the laws of nature, but others are so exactly contrary as to bear no resemblance.

     Let us take Paul's list of paradoxes to illustrate this point. But how can these contradictory statements be reconciled? You can search your commentaries in vain for any clue to their inside meaning, but I suppose every Bible student knows how commentators will fail just where it seems they are needed most. Perhaps it is because human language fails to express the depths of divine things; with some it is doubtless true that the letter is more esteemed than the spirit. Oh, for that God-given power that will enable us to drink in of the deep things of God!

     "As deceivers, and yet true." Unregenerate men are governed by laws which, to them, are easy of comprehension. Under certain circumstances they will do and feel certain things, and under similar circumstances they expect others to do and feel the same. But true Christians are governed by other principles, and when sinners looking on expect their inflexible laws to operate, and they do not, they are surprised, and, because they cannot conceive of any other motives than their own, they consider that the Christian is a deceiver. Hence, although the saint of God is true to the very mar. row, yet he unwittingly becomes a deceiver, and men cannot understand him because he is governed by extra-physical, extra-natural laws.

     "As unknown, and yet well known." Paul comes to our rescue. "He that is spiritual judgeth (margin, discerneth) all things, yet he himself is judged (margin, discerned) of no man." How can sin-blinded men "know" a man who is governed by spiritual laws, for the things of the Spirit of God are spiritually discerned? And yet the an of the world does know the Christian, for his motives and actions are simple and artless-easy of comprehension; it is the Spirit which causes such simplicity that is the unknown quantity.

     "As dying, and behold we live." This has a partial parallel in the corn which dies to reproduce itself, but the parallel fails to encompass the whole matter. This man dies and lives at the same time, he does not die to produce another life, but dies and at the same time reproduces his own life. Paul to the rescue again: "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." "Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God." "I die daily." In our cleansing we die to sin, but the earth-clinging (not sin-clinging) still lingers with us; even this attachment to earth, to time, must continually die, even though that death is produced by persecutions, by bereavements, by losses, and in proportion as the earth-life dies the super-life, the heavenly life expands and grows, growing up into Christ in all things. Dead and alive, dying and living at the same time -- this is God's, not man's, law.

     "As chastened, and not killed." "Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth." God chastened, but did not destroy, the Jewish nation; He chastens us that we may be partakers of His holiness.

     "As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing." "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." One of the necessary characteristics of the new birth is a chastened, sorrowful heart. The child of God remembers the hole of the pit from whence he was digged, but a broken and contrite heart God -will not despise. But, thank God, this sorrow is not like the worldling's sorrow, without hope; this sorrow opens the fountains of eternal joy, and in the midst of manifold temptations we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

     "As poor, yet making many rich." Poor in spirit, poor in this world's goods, yet imparting heavenly riches to as many as will listen to our story. Blessed poverty Not monkish asceticism, but godly self-denial, holy self-abasement, perfect reliance upon God; such abandonment of earthly, sinful good (pardon the contradiction) will cause any man to be a blessing, to make many rich.

     "As having nothing, and yet possessing all things." God chooses the things which are not to bring to naught the things which are. The way into the riches of the Lord is down. Down, down, until the worldly, the carnal self-life is gone; until you can say,

     "I nothing have, I nothing am,

     My treasure's in the Bleeding Lamb

     Both now and evermore.

     Here at the feet of Jesus, with nothing to claim, with no strength to help yourself, with no goodness to plead, with a vision of your absolute nothingness without the Blood, here you possess all things, for you have Christ.