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WHAT IS NOT THE NEW BIRTH? NO VI.

By George W. Sinquefield

John 1:12 through John 1:13 (KJV)
¹² But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: ¹³ Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

        In four sermons I am discussing what is not the new birth. Satan has blinded many so that they do not know the truth.

2 Corinthians 4:4 (KJV)
⁴ In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

        Satan has led many to believe they're saved when they are not. He lies and says do this and that and you'll be all right.

John 8:44 (KJV)
⁴⁴ Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

        Let us examine some of his lies and learn the truth from the Word of God.

I.   The New Birth Is Not Inherited From Christian Parents.

        Barry Goldwater was once speaking in Dallas and was asked, "Are you a Christian?" He answered, "My parents were active members of the Episcopal church. I was born a Christian and baptized a baby. I don't remember it. I am a Christian."

        He said:

               1.   "I was born a Christian."

              2.   "I don't remember it."

        Let us turn to the Bible and see what it says. The King James version puts it like this.

John 1:11 through John 1:13 (KJV)
¹¹ He came unto his own, and his own received him not. ¹² But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: ¹³ Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

        Good News for Modern man says, "He came to His own country but His own people did not receive Him. Some, however, did receive Him and believed in Him; so He gave them the right to become God's children. They did not become God's children by natural means, by being born as the children of a human father; God himself was their Father."

        The "living Gospels" say, "Even in His own land and among His own people, the Jews, He was not accepted. Only a few would welcome and receive Him. But to all who received Him, He gave the right to become children of God. All they needed to do was believe He would save them. All those who believed this were reborn -- not a physical birth, resulting from human passion or plan -- but from the will of God."

        Nicodemus was thinking only of the physical birth. "Good News for Modern Man" puts it this way. "How can a grown man be born again? He certainly cannot enter his mother's womb and be born a second time." "I tell you the truth" replied Jesus, "that no one can enter the Kingdom of God unless he is born of water and of the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, and spirit gives birth to spirit."

        Living Gospels -- "Born again!" exclaimed Nicodemus. "What do you mean? How can an old man go back into his mother's womb and be born again?" Jesus replied, "What I am telling you so earnestly is this: Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. Men can only reproduce human life, but the Holy Spirit gives you new life from heaven."

        Dr. H. A. Ironside tells an experience of his: I remember a few years ago my wife and I and our children were on our way West. We were passing through Colorado. My eldest son, who was just a little boy at the time, was fond of going through the train, playing that he was the news agent. He said, "Father, have you any tracts I could give out?" I had some, and so handed them to him. They sometimes stop me when I go though the train giving out tracts, but I thought they would not stop the little fellow. He handed everybody one of these gospel tracts, and soon most of the people were reading them. A little later I was passing through the car and a lady occupying one of the sections stopped me and said, "I beg you pardon, sir, but I think it was your child who gave me this tract, was it not?"

        "Yes," I said, "it was." "Won't you sit down a moment?" she asked. So I introduced my wife, and we sat down.

        "You cannot imagine." she said, "how pleased I am to know that there are other religious people on this train." "You are interested in these things?" I inquired. "yes, indeed," she said, "I have been religious all my life" "When were you born again?" I asked. "Oh," she replied, "my father was a class leader, and an uncle and two brothers of mine are all clergymen.

        "That is very interesting," I said, "and may I ask again, have you been converted yourself?" "Why, you don't seem to understand; my father was a class leader, and my uncle and two brothers are earnest clergymen."

        "But you don't expect to go to heaven hanging on their coattails, even if they are born again, do you? Have you been truly converted to God yourself?" I asked. "Not at all," she replied, "but I thought if I put it that way you would understand that religion runs in our family."

        "Religion may run in your family, but religion and Christianity are two different things," I said. "There are a great many people who are intensely religious, but they are not saved. Our blessed Lord was speaking to a very religious man when he said, "Ye must be born again.""

        I had great difficulty getting that lady to see that salvation is not of blood. She could scarcely understand how a family such as hers needed regeneration. Perhaps you have rather prided yourself in the fact that you, too, came from a line of Christian progenitors, and have taken it for granted that because your parents were Christians, you are. "Which were born, not of blood." You are not a Christian simply because you were born into a Christian family.

        We are all sinners and need the salvation which only Jesus can give.

Romans 3:23 (KJV)
²³For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Romans 6:23 (KJV)
²³ For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

        Salvation is God's gift to man and the invitation to come and receive it is extended to all men.

John 3:16 (KJV)
¹⁶ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Romans 10:13 (KJV)
¹³ For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Revelation 22:17 (KJV)
¹⁷ And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

        "Whosoever" is inclusive of all and at the same time it is individualistic. Each one must repent of sin and accept Jesus as Savior for himself. No one else can eat, drink, sleep, think or breath for us and no one else can experience the new birth for us.

II.   The New Birth Is Not The Result Of Education.

        Many people foolishly think that head knowledge will take the place of heart transformation. They tell us that education is man's greatest need and if he is educated he'll find God. Education, as important as it is is no substitute for the new birth. Someone has said, "You can educate a fool and you make him a sillier fool than ever. You educate a rascal and you make him a more dangerous rascal than ever." "Education gives power; hence it is a blessing or a curse, according to how we use it." -- W. J. Westlake

        Many people in our culture seem to think that education is the solution to virtually every problem. I am a college professor, and I obviously value wisdom and education. Still, I am aware that people do all kinds of things with the knowledge that what they are doing will harm them. We all have known smokers who lamented that one day they would die from cancer and who kept smoking until they did. Knowledge does not guarantee correct behavior. Indeed, if we educate a crook without converting him, we merely get a smarter crook. "Education without regeneration will produce a world of educated fools."

        No one would deny the importance of education but one thing is certain and that is that education does not lessen evil in our society, but in many cases increases it. I read that we have more college graduates today than elementary school graduates 50 to 75 years ago. We still have wars, crime, murder, divorce, and all kinds of evil and it is all on the increase. Evil abounds the world over The difference between an educated man and an uneducated man is this. The uneducated man will go down to the depot and steal a watermelon out of a box car. The educated man will steal the railroad. Education often makes a fool out of a man. Makes him feel self sufficient. The educated man often rejects Jesus while the ignorant accept Him. This is plainly stated in Paul's letter to the church at Corinth.

1 Corinthians 1:18 through 1 Corinthians 1:25 (KJV)
¹⁸ For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. ¹⁹ For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. ²⁰ Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? ²¹ For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. ²² For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: ²³ But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; ²⁴ But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. ²⁵ Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

        Charles Haddin Spurgeon once said, "A good doctor used to say, "Lo, these simpletons have entered into the kingdom while we learned men have been fumbling for the latch."

        Knowing a lot about Jesus won't save one. D. L. Moody said, "Many persons flatter themselves that they are going to be saved because they know a great amount about Jesus Christ. But mere knowledge about Him will not save. Noah's carpenters probably knew as much about the ark as Noah did and perhaps more. They knew that the ark was strong, they knew that it was built to stand the deluge, they knew that it was made to float upon the waters, they had helped build it. Yet they were just as helpless when the flood came as men who lived a thousand miles away."

        Bill Sunday said, "Theology (study of God and religious ideas) changes but Christianity abides. Nobody is kept out of heaven because he does not understand theology. It is not theology that saves but Christ. I don't know any more about theology than a jack rabbit does about ping-pong but I'm on my way to glory."

        Dr. Luther Little, for many years pastor of the First Baptist Church, Charlotte, NC tells of holding a revival in a certain place and one day in the lobby of his hotel he invited a man to the services. This man said, "Dr. I will come to church if you will answer three questions for me. Where did Cain get his wife? Who was Melchizedek? What is the immaculate conception? Dr. Little looked him straight in the eye and said, "You will be in hell ten thousand years before you find the answer to those questions." The man saw the folly of his thinking, began to go to church and was soon converted.

        A certain lawyer said, "Before I was saved I used to think that if I ever became a Christian it would have to be in some great center of learning where all of my questions could be answered. But instead, I was saved in a rescue mission as I knelt at the front with human derelicts all around me. When I knelt I had all my questions, When I arose they were gone. God didn't answer them , He removed them."

        A passenger who had been watching with fascinating interest the man at the wheel as he was piloting the steamboat through the windings of the intricate channel replied, "You are the pilot on this boat?' "Yes" he replied, "I have been a pilot on theses waters for over 30 years." "Well, you must know every rock and bar and shoal on the whole route." "No, I don't by a long ways." "You don't?" said the passenger in surprise. "What then do you know?" "I know" answered the pilot, "where the deep water is."

        How much education does one have to have to become a Christian? Spurgeon gave the best answer I've ever heard. "If you know these two things -- yourself a sinner and Christ the Savior -- you are scholar enough to go to heaven."

        There is one degree a person must have to go to heaven and that is the B. A. degree -- the "Born Again" degree. Do you have it?

        Does someone say, "I want to believe on Jesus, but I am sure that my condition is too bad at present. I must somehow try to improve myself first? Such a way of reasoning is a tangle of contradiction. It is even less sensible than saying, "I really am critically ill; I am too ill for the doctor at present; but I will make myself better a bit; and then send round for him." The bigger sinner we are, the greater is our need to come to Jesus for salvation at once, and the biggest reason we have for coming, and the bigger glory it is to the grace of God for saving us!