The Relation Of The New Birth, To Holiness and Heaven

The law of entering the Kingdom of God was settled forever by the great Master when, in conference with Nicodemus, he declared, "Ye must be born again." He enlarges the circle of his statement in the context to include all men. "Except a man (that is any man) be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." The "must" of this text is not based upon an arbitrary ruling by a sovereign God. Instead of this, it is the absolutely essential outgrowth of conditions and facts as they exist in the life of man in his natural state.

No one of us can occupy two places in space at the same time. I am standing in one position; and it is obviously true that if I desire to occupy another position, I must change from the place I occupy to the other point in space which I desire to occupy. I cannot fill space at two points at one time.

The condition of man in his natural, once-born state is such that he simply cannot see the Kingdom of God. There is an essential and fundamental change which must be experienced in order to be both conditioned and placed where we can see the spiritual realm of things involved in the Kingdom of God. It is like our occupying a room in a house with the doors to other rooms closed. We cannot see that which is in the adjoining room without opening the door and entering that room. Certain facts obtain in our natural state; and there are certain facts in a spiritual state which, in the nature of the case, must be entered by the door to those facts or they cannot be known.

Therefore we accept on the basis of logic, as well as on the basis of authority, the absolute necessity of the supernatural change in the heart of every man and all men in order for any man to see and know the realities involved in spiritual life or in the Kingdom of God.

Here is a "must" which leads to something larger and better by obedience to it. The new birth never results in narrowing or ensmalling the true life of the individual, but the exact opposite of this. Life is both enlarged and enriched by the facts brought into our possession by the experience of the new birth. These facts involve a very vital change in our relationship to God. The spirit department of our nature is made alive, and God comes within the range of our moral consciousness a reality. New life is imparted to our spirit nature.

This life is received directly into human consciousness by our personal embrace of and receiving Jesus Christ in his Saviourhood. There is also a vital change in our relation to the world order in which we live. Our bondage to the opinions of men and standards of a godless world about us is broken and a new loyalty is established in our lives. Instead of conforming to the standards of the world, we seek to know and be conformed to the will of God. We change masters in the experience of the new birth. We come to realize the fact that "one is our master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren." This experience introduces us into the fellowship of God and of his people, a reality in our inner life, of which we may be as certain as that we love or hate in our spirits, or as that we are hot or cold in our physical selfhood. The change effected by the new birth is such that no one can experience it without knowing it. The absence of our knowing that we are born again is a clear witness against its being a fact i n our lives. It is by the new birth that we become children of God. "And if children, then heirs; heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ."

The relation of the experience of the new birth to definite Christian holiness is a very vital relation. The conditions upon which we are born again involve an abhorrence of sin and the embrace of and love of righteousness. Sinning as the willful habit of our lives ceases when we are born again. The practice of righteousness in all our relationships and activities of life has a vital and real beginning as a result of this change. The new birth begets in us the hope which becomes the motivating urge for our seeking the blessing of holiness. "Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." The hope of seeing Christ and being as he is furnishes the believer the strongest motive for availing himself of the complete cleansing through the merit of Calvary's sacrifice, and the full renewing of his inner nature in righteousness and true holiness after the image of him that created him. When we are born of God, we are made heirs of that "holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." The second work of grace is the birthright of every believer. It is not only ours by virtue of the new birth; but it is expressly and repeatedly declared to be in the will of God, as our Father, for us.

It is related of the late Amanda Smith that two brethren on a camp ground were discussing the question of the personal experience of holiness as they were passing Amanda's tent. They were questioning with regard to this high standard of being sanctified wholly, whereupon Amanda stuck her head out of her tent and said: "Brethren, this am in Father's will for me, and I'm a-going to have that which is in his will or bust the will."

Instead of real children of God, if rightly instructed, objecting to, or shrinking from definite holiness of heart and life, there ought to be a glad embrace of this high privilege and holy calling of God. No doubt there always will be such an embrace unless ignorance or prejudice interferes with the normal outreach of the new life begotten in us as children of God. Enlightened ignorance will usually kill prejudice; and the enlightened subject will then either walk in the light; or, if for any reason his choice is otherwise, he will draw back unto darkness and death.

The new birth makes us heirs of glory; but on our way to the goal of glory, our inheritance includes a definite work of grace begetting in us Christian holiness, which is the qualifying of our selfhood for the possession of our final inheritance. The new birth makes us heirs of his eternal glory. The experience of Christian holiness prepares us for the possession of our inheritance.

There is an experience in holiness "without which no man shall see the Lord." This is the final test of our full preparation to meet God and enter his glory. It involves and clearly implies the fact of the new birth. We may have the first of these two works and need the second; but if we possess the second, it is an assured fact that we have all the reality and benefits of the first. Therefore, the final test required for entrance into his glory does not rest with the statement, "Ye must be born again," but upon the further fact to which this fact is so vitally related, "Without holiness no man shall see the Lord."