Ye Must Be Born Again
John 3:7, “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.”
There is probably not another text in the Bible that is more agreed— and disagreed— upon than this text. It would be hard to find an evangelical Christian who would say, “I do not believe in the necessity of the new birth.” I believe that is a safe enough statement, don’t you?
By evangelical I mean anyone whose religion is focused more on the preaching of the gospel than it is on ceremony and ritual. Roman Catholics, and Greek Orthodox are more focused on ritual and ceremony. Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians are more focused on the preaching of the gospel.
Among most of my acquaintances, and I suppose most of yours, it would be difficult to find anybody who would say, “I do not believe in the necessity of being born again.”
And yet, while most everybody agrees on that simple statement, it is difficult to find any agreement on what it means to be born again.
Being born again is a miraculous experience. There is a world of difference between that person who is born again, and the person who has never been again. It is a difference more profound than anything we have ever seen in nature.
It is that failure to realize what a profound change takes place in being born again that produces much of the confusion in religion. Far too many people see little change in being born again, other than the accepting as true certain principles the person had not believed before. They see being born again as a change of attitude more than anything else.
Paul said, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he a new creature, old things are passed away; behold all things are made new,” 2 Cor. 5:17.
That verse is quoted often enough, but it seems that few people realize it means exactly what it says. When a person is in Christ, when he is born again, he is literally a new creature— a new creation. He has a new nature he did not have before, and while there are some things in nature that resemble it, there is nothing in nature quite like that new spiritual nature that comes with being born again. In this little booklet we will look at several of those differences. We will notice that while those differences cannot be seen with the eyes, they are more profound than we will ever be able to fully explain.
For one thing, there are senses, spiritual senses, the child of God has that the dead alien sinner does not have. The wicked have senses that resemble those spiritual senses, but they are far from being the same.
By the same token, an animal has senses that resemble those senses you and I have. An animal can see; he can hear; he can feel. He can touch. He can love; he can hate; he can hold a grudge. If you don’t believe an animal can hold a grudge, you forget that you have been tormenting your neighbor’s Rottweiler, and you get within the length of his chain, and he will teach you that he can hold a grudge.
There are some senses an animal has that are better than yours and mine. A dog can hear things, like whistles, that you and I cannot hear. I have been told that bloodhounds have a sense of smell six hundred times better than ours. I suppose that is right; I would not know how to disprove it. They tell me a bat has a kind of sonar that allows him to virtually see in the dark. A hawk flying over a field has eyesight that enables him to see a little field mouse way down below him in the grass.
As keen as those animal senses are, they are far different from yours and mine. Sometimes somebody has a favorite dog, and he will say, “That dog thinks he’s a person.” You can be sure that dogs do have personality, but that does not mean they are almost human. I never saw a dog that could read a book, or write a poem, They have senses, but they are different kinds of senses from ours.
The dead alien sinner has senses, but they are very different to the spiritual senses the child of God has, and no amount of religion, no amount of teaching is able to duplicate those spiritual senses. “Ye must be born again.”
One difference between the wicked person, the person who has never been born again, and the born again child of God is the difference between life and death. Before a person is born again, he is spiritually dead.
Paul said to the Ephesians, “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins,” Eph. 2:1. We were, by nature, dead in trespasses and sins; we are, by spiritual birth, made alive in Christ Jesus.
Sometimes, when we explain what we mean by the dead alien sinner being dead in trespasses and sins, somebody will respond that “sinners are not as dead as you Primitive Baptists say they are.” I did not know there were any degrees in death. I did not know there was any such thing as dead, deader, and deadest. If I were to bring you the sad news that old Uncle Hezekiah is dead, I wonder how many of you would ask me, “Brother Hunt, how dead is he?”
Until a person is born of the Spirit, he is dead— dead to the things of the Spirit. He is fully alive to things in nature. He may be the most brilliant person you would ever expect to meet; but he is as dead to spiritual things as if he were stone cold dead in his grave. Being dead to the things of the spirit, there is no way you can communicate with him on a spiritual level. There is no way you can teach him spiritual principles. He is incapable of learning what you are trying to teach. We will see more about what that means as we go along.
When a person is born again, God sovereignly, irresistibly, sends his Spirit into the heart of the sinner, and he is made alive in Christ Jesus. He has a new life, a spiritual life, which he did not have before. And just as he received natural senses when he was born naturally, he now receives spiritual senses by being born spiritually. Before he was born again, he could see, hear, feel, touch and taste natural things. Now he can see, hear, feel, touch, and taste spiritual things. He can now understand things he could not understand before. He still has that natural life he has always had, but now he is alive in an entirely new way, and that new life opens up an entirely new world.
John 3:5, “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and the spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
In this text we are told that, except a person is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. He cannot see the things of the Spirit.
In John, chapter eight, the Lord challenged some people that he knew had never been born again. You and I cannot know; I cannot look at somebody and tell whether he has been born again. But the Lord knew. And the Lord said to those folks, “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.”
He also said in the same text, “Why can ye not understand my speech, even because ye cannot hear my word.”
So, the one who is dead in trespasses and sins cannot see spiritual things; cannot hear spiritual things, cannot understand spiritual things. He is as oblivious to things spiritual as one corporeally dead is oblivious to things natural.
Peter said, “If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious,” 1 Pet. 2:3.
The dead alien sinner cannot see; he cannot hear; he cannot understand spiritual things. More than that, the dead alien sinner is not able to taste that the Lord is gracious. Let me use this illustration. Sometimes we can teach better by illustration than we can by abstract reasoning. Suppose you were to meet somebody, who in all his life has never had anything to eat but corn bread and molasses. I am not sure they go together. I don’t have anything against corn bread or molasses. I can just think about nice hot crusty corn bread, baked right thin, and with plenty of butter in between, and it makes me hungry.
I used to think I just loved sorghum molasses, with plenty of butter, and hot biscuits, but a few years ago, my doctor told me I don’t like that any more. I thought I did, but he says I don’t, and since I pay him money to tell me things like that, I figured I might as well quit eating sorghum molasses, with all that butter, and hot biscuits.
Anyway, suppose you were to meet somebody who in all his life has never had anything to eat but corn bread and molasses. I don’t have any idea there is anybody like that, but bear with me, I have a point to make. Now this person has never had anything to eat but corn bread and molasses, and you have been down to the Cracker Barrel and you have just finished off a big plate of roast beef with brown gravy, and mashed potatoes, the kind where they mash up the skins with the potatoes. That gives them a lot more flavor. And some green beans, and fresh corn, and a big wedge of corn bread, and a big slice of apple pie, with vanilla ice cream on top, and two big glasses of cold milk. You have just finished that off, and you are as content as a hog sleeping in the sun.
Now you run into your friend, who has never had anything to eat but corn bread and molasses, and you explain to him, so that he knows exactly what you know about what that meal tasted like.
I am not talking about taking your word for it. He has confidence in you. He thinks you are a right good fellow, and he will believe anything you tell him. I am not talking about his taking your word for it. I am talking about his knowing what you know. Do you believe you could teach him to know what you know about what that meal tasted like?
You cannot do it to save your life. There are some things you will never know until you experience them; they cannot be taught.
You can teach the dead alien sinner to acknowledge the truth of the gospel with his lips. That is, you can teach him to give lip-service to the gospel; but you cannot teach him to believe it in his heart.
In his heart he does not believe it; he cannot believe it; you cannot make him believe it. There is nothing more repugnant to the dead alien sinner than the gospel message. You cannot teach him to believe from his heart that he is a lost, ruined sinner and in need of a savior.
Let me illustrate that. There are some things I don’t believe, some things I don’t intend to believe. You cannot make me believe it.
For instance, the French like to think of themselves as connoisseurs of good food. They have a dish they call escargot. In case there is anybody who does not know, escargot is French for snails. They think escargot is mighty good eating. I don’t believe that. I don’t intend to believe it. And you cannot make me believe it. I admit that if I were forced to eat snails, I would rather have them pan fried than stewed, but I don’t believe snails were made to eat, and you cannot make me believe they were.
You might get me down and choke me and force them down me, but I will just keep them down until you turn me loose, and I assure you, I know how to bring them back up. You cannot make me believe they were made to eat.
And there is no way you can make the dead alien sinner believe his sins are such that he deserves eternal damnation, and his only hope of escape is in the imputed righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. You cannot teach him to love the Lord.
To tell the dead alien sinner that he is a hell deserving sinner, and unless something is done for him, he is going to burn, is more repugnant to him than it is to me to think I am going to have to eat snails. He does not believe it. He does not want to believe it. He does not intend to believe it. And you cannot make him believe it.
The wicked (not born again) person can hear the gospel message audibly; he can recognize the logic of it, but he cannot accept it in any spiritual manner. He is incapable of receiving the spiritual impact of it. Paul stated it very plainly.
1 Cor. 2:14, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
He cannot receive spiritual things. And I believe it is by divine providence that the King James Translators chose exactly that word—receive.
It is difficult for most of us to recognize there is such a difference between one dead in trespasses and sins and one made alive in Christ Jesus. It is difficult to realize there are some things the heaven born soul can see, can hear, can taste, can feel, and understand, that someone sitting right next to him in the same service cannot see, cannot hear, cannot feel, cannot understand.
I used this illustration the last time I preached on this subject. I said, if I were to tell you that, at this very moment, this building is literally reverberating with all kinds of music; the walls are shaking with country and western, rock and roll, jazz, folk tunes, all kinds of instrumental and vocal music— that this building is just rocking— at the very least, you would think, “The preacher is being a little bit silly.” Would you not think that?
Well, I am going to tell you this building is literally rocking with every kind of music imaginable, but you and I cannot hear a note of it.
But if you had a radio, perhaps a little transistor radio, or better still, a nice Bose radio, you could turn it on, and tune it in, and you could receive and listen to all the music I am talking about.
Let me ask you; did that transistor radio put all that music in this room. Did it put all the country and western, the rock and roll, and the jazz in this room? No, that music is already in this room, but at this moment you and I do not have a receiver to hear it. I don’t think you do anyway, not unless somebody has an earpiece, and you are tuning me out. But that music is here. I can’t hear it, and you can’t hear it. We are not able to receive it.
I did say it was providential that the King James translators used the word receive. In our language receiver is a common word for describing a radio. We talk about a radio receiver. The radio allows us to receive the radio signal.
1 Cor. 2:14, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit, because they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
Having made that point, you might not be quite as surprised if I were to tell you that there are all kinds of pictures, moving pictures, passing through this room—every kind of scene imaginable, and we cannot see them; but if we have a television receiver, we can bring in all those pictures. That television set does not produce any of the pictures, but it does receive the pictures that are already there.
The dead alien sinner is as incapable of receiving spiritual things as my ears and yours are of receiving radio signals. That person who is not born again can sit right next to somebody, who is really enjoying the service, and not have the slightest idea why the other person seems so happy.
Sometimes I am in a meeting, and somebody will have invited a friend, maybe a relative who is visiting, to come to the meeting.
“Come and go to church with me.”
“I don’t want to go.”
“Oh, come on, you will enjoy it.”
“I just don’t want to go.”
“Ah, come on; I really want you to go with me.”
Then, very reluctantly, he is dragged to church. He did not want to go, but he did not want to be rude and say, “Leave me alone; I am not going to go.” So he goes, but he has no intention of enjoying himself.
Other people are obviously enjoying the service. Their faces reflect their satisfaction.
Somebody’s face takes on color. Here and there eyes begin to fill and run over. A chin begins to tremble, and the effect of the Lord’s Spirit is reflected in their countenance.
But I look out over the congregation, and see our friend. He is sitting there, all swelled up like a bullfrog. He has his arms folded; he is leaning back; his chin is a little higher than it needs to be, and he is enduring the service. You cannot reach him to save your life.
If you come over a wisecrack, you will get a reaction. He can relate to that. But other than that, you cannot reach his case. He cannot hear; he cannot see, he cannot feel, what other people are enjoying. He is not enjoying himself, and nobody can make him enjoy it.
Do you see? He does not have a receiver, that spiritual nature, and those spiritual senses, that come with being born again. He is spiritually dead— dead to the things of the Spirit. And without that spiritual receiver in his heart, he is as deaf to the things of the Spirit, as you and I are to radio signals, if we do not have a radio receiver.
He is totally unable to understand and appreciate the things that are so precious to others sitting right next to him.
You can put together an order of worship that is entertaining to the carnal nature, and you can build a crowd. We are seeing a lot of that nowadays, and there are good, humble children of God who are being caught up in it. We are living in an age in which true and pure religion is very much on the decline at the same time we see churches building huge meeting houses.
They pave over pasture fields; they fill them with cars, and they fill their meeting houses with people, but most of it has very little to do with true religion.
Generally, from what little I have seen of it, the focus of their operation is more on entertainment than it is on religion. I don’t see as much of it as a lot of people do, and I don’t want to. I don’t want to sound offensive, but I don’t really want to see a lot more than I already have.
What you see going on in religion today is that people have learned to do for religion what Sam Walton did for merchandising. Sam Walton learned how to sell merchandise. He knew how to do business. And religious people have learned how to sell religion. If you want a counselor, rather than go to the local psychiatrist, and pay a hundred dollars an hour, you can go to one of these new mega-churches, and get counseling on the cheap. Anything you want, they have— and especially they have entertainment.
They have a beat; they have got rhythm. I rarely go to the shopping mall. I used to go once a year at Christmas time. My wife took care of all the other presents, and I would take care of hers, until after awhile, she gave up on that arrangement. Now, along about Christmas time, she tells me what I bought her.
But, anyway, until she finally gave up on me, I would always make that one obligatory trip every year to the shopping mall. Once, a few years ago, I went to the mall, and one of our local wannabe mega-churches was putting on a musical extravaganza. They had a huge crowd; it entirely blocked my way. You could squeeze past, but it was difficult, and I thought maybe I would stay for a moment and listen.
I have a tin ear. Music does very nearly nothing for me. But I stood there and listened to them sing, and they were good at it. They had a beautiful young choir director, and she was really good at her job. She had enough energy for two or three, and she was all over the place. She kept that crowd stirred up.
Before long, I found myself rocking to the beat. I didn’t know I was capable of that. But there I stood, rocking to the beat. I don’t care a thing about that sort of music; but it was having an effect on me. Do you see? If you can produce that sort of entertainment, and if you can provide it on the cheap, you can raise a crowd. Instead of paying $40 for a concert ticket, you can go to church and get the same thing. I have heard that some concert tickets sell for more than $40. I would not know. So instead of paying $40 or more, you can go to church, enjoy the concert, and just kick in whatever you want to.
Religious people have learned to do for religion what Sam Walton did for merchandising, and they are filling their meeting houses to the full. But the fact that a person rocks to the beat, the fact that he is affected by the music, does not mean a thing, spiritually.
The wicked simply cannot appreciate spiritual things. It occurs to me— I believe you will agree with me— that if a dead alien sinner could sneak into heaven (he cannot, but suppose he could), if a dead alien sinner could sneak into heaven, he would not be there all day, until he would try to sneak back out again. He would not like the company. He would not like the conversation. He would not like the atmosphere. He would not like anything about it. He would rather be anywhere but there. He would want to be in the company of people like himself. He would want to be around people with the same values, the same interests he has.
That person that is born of the Spirit has different interests than the wicked. He is able to see, to hear, to feel, to taste spiritual things the dead alien sinner cannot see, hear, feel, and taste. And to some extent, because we enjoy those experiences for so long, we have difficulty realizing that there are others who are totally blind and deaf, and unfeeling to those things.
The Pharisees and the Sadducees were religious, but some of them were very wicked. I know they were. I quoted a text a moment ago, where the Lord told some of them, “Ye are of your father, the devil,” and that does not mean they were mighty good people. So some of those people, who were very wicked, saw the Lord physically, but all they could see was a threat to their authority, a threat to their power, a threat to their income, and they wanted to do away with him.
Isaiah said, “He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid as it were our faces from him,” Isa 53:3.
To that one who sees himself as a sinner, and sees himself in need of a savior, the Lord is precious to his soul. We see him as the Savior of sinners, and he is precious to our souls. But there is nothing attractive about the Lord to the natural man; there is no way you can present the Lord Jesus to the dead alien sinner so that he is appealing to him. If you preach Christ in such manner that he is appealing to the wicked, you have found one of those other Jesuses, one of those other would be saviors.
2 Cor. 11:14, “For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.”
There is no thought more repugnant to the wicked than the sovereignty of God, and the notion that we are dependent on him. He is convinced he deserves a chance, and God is unfair if he does not give it to him. The meanest man in town can say Amen to that. He is convinced he is as good as the next man; he is fully capable of saving himself, and given the chance he will do just that. He loves all this talk about a chance of salvation.
Let me tell you, if you and I stood before God judged on our own track record, we would not stand a chance. Do you know why so many people dread the thought of standing before God? And I mean this without intending any offense toward those precious children of God, who believe the contrary system. I have learned, or, at least, I am trying to learn to be more considerate, to be more courteous, than I have been in the past toward those precious children of God, who have never come to understand and to appreciate some of the doctrines that are so precious to you and me.
We Primitive Baptists do ourselves a disservice when we imply that we, somehow, have a corner on sincerity, perhaps that we are more sincere than others. Let me tell you, there are children of God, precious children of God, in the contrary system, who oppose our doctrine, because they do not understand it. They are just as honest, just as humble, just as God-fearing, just as sincere in what they believe, as any Primitive Baptist ever was. And we do ourselves a disservice, when we imply anything to the contrary.
I believe the majority of them are honest and sincere people, trying to serve the Lord. Having said that, the reason so many people are fearful of standing before God in judgment is that they have been taught that on that day we will be judged based on our works. Our track record, they tell us, will determine whether we live in eternal heaven or not. But, deep down, every one of us knows that if we are judged on our track record, we are lost world without end.
Based on our works, there is not a person living who could be saved.
One of the earliest experiences I ever had was when I was a tiny little fellow, barely old enough to understand conversation. My grandmother picked my up and set me on her lap, and began to explain to me that there is a day coming, when, I will stand before God in judgment, and she explained that all the good things I have ever done will be put on the right side of a mighty pair of scales, and all the bad things I have ever done will be put on the other side of the scales. And she said, whichever outweighs the other will determine where I spend eternity.
She was convinced our salvation is based our track record, and she was trying to get me headed out in the right direction. She wanted me to be sure to have a good supply of good deeds on the right side of the scales.
She scared the living daylights out of me.
I spent years terrified that I would have forty nine percent on the good side, and fifty one percent the bad side, and I would burn forever for that two per cent. It is no wonder people are terrified at the thought of standing before God in judgment.
My grandmother meant well. She was afraid I would burn someday, and she was trying to see to it that I would escape that terrible place. So she wanted me to get a good start. She was a good and honest person, and she wanted me to get started on a record of good works.
But, after many years, I finally realized my grandmother was not saying what she thought she was saying at all. Sometimes people do that, especially in religious matters. They think they are saying one thing, when they are actually saying something entirely different.
It is kind of like the preacher who says, “Salvation is by grace; salvation is not by works; you can never work your way to a home in heaven. What you do does not have a thing in the world to do with it. The only thing you have to do is….,” and he does not realize he just contradicted himself.
It is strange that a person can come over a statement like that and not realize he has contradicted himself; but if he has heard that all his life, he becomes numb to the contradiction. My grandmother meant well. But my grandmother did not realize that what she was saying was that all God requires to get into heaven is a good average.
Her formula of fifty one percent good will get you into heaven, is the same as saying that all it takes is a good average. If you tell the truth more often than you tell a lie, you will be alright. On that basis, most any motor-mouth has a mighty good chance.
I have known some mighty experienced liars in my time. I have heard it said that a liar cannot look you in the eye. Have you ever heard that? Don’t you believe it. I have known some liars who could look you straight in the eye, lie through their teeth, and never crack a smile. This not being able to look you in the eye only has to do with amateur liars. It does not apply to liars who have mastered their craft. My grandmother was as honest as she could be, but based on what she said, if you tell the truth twice, it gaves you the right to tell a lie once, and still get into heaven based on honesty. That won’t work.
The laws of the state of Tennessee won’t allow that. The laws of the state of Tennessee require absolute perfection. You may tell me, we don’t have any perfect people in Tennessee. That is right; we don’t; but the laws of the state of Tennessee still require perfection. Let me illustrate that, and I believe you will agree with me.
I try to stay close to the legal speed limit. I generally fudge about 3 or 4 miles an hour, because I have learned I can get by with it. I have learned that I can pass right by the man going about four miles over the limit, and he won’t pay any attention. I imagine the unofficial speed limit is four miles above the posted limit.
But suppose I am on a trip, and I drive for hours just barely under the limit. If the limit says 70 mph, I make a point of going 68. If it says 75 miles an hour, I go 73. But as I begin to get closer to my destination, I realize I am going to be late. So I pop it up to about 80 miles an hour for a few miles. Then I pass the man. He sees me before I see him, and he pulls out. It is too late to slow down now; I am already caught. He pulls in behind me, with his light flashing.
“Sir, do you know how fast you were going?”
“Yes, sir, I was doing 80 miles an hour.”
“Do you know what the speed limit is along here?”
“Yes, sir, it is 70 miles an hour.”
“And how fast were you going?”
“I was doing 80.”
“I hate to tell you, but I am going to have to write you a ticket.”
“But sir, I perceive that you are not aware of the principle of a good average.”
Do you think he is going to give me a ticket? I believe that is a safe assumption. He does not care how fast I have been driving all day; he is just concerned that I was doing 80 miles an hour when he saw me.
The laws of Tennessee will not settle for a good average, and a good average will never get you into heaven. The man won’t take that. He does not care if I have driven 68 miles an hour for a thousand miles. What he is concerned with is that I was doing 80 miles an hour when he saw me.
If you are arrested for robbing a bank, you cannot go into court, and talk about all the banks you did not rob. This business about a good average won’t cut it. It won’t keep you out of jail, and it sure won’t get you into heaven.
What does it take? It takes absolute perfection, and the only source of absolute perfection is the imputed righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ.
When we see the Lord as our one and only hope of eternal heaven, we see ourselves lost and undone. We are able to see him in a way the wicked are not able to see him. The child of God is capable; the dead alien sinner is not capable.
“Verily, verily, I say unto thee, ye must be born again.”
The dead alien sinner cannot be taught spiritual things. If his mind is taught the logic of the truth, his heart still rejects it. It is not within his capacity to accept and believe the truth of the gospel.
In a natural sense, there are some things you and I cannot be taught. You and I cannot be taught to receive a radio signal. You cannot be taught to receive a television signal. You have to have a receiver.
The dead alien sinner cannot be taught to receive the things of the Spirit of God, and he is incapable of enjoying the presence of the Lord’s Spirit. He may attend your meeting and enjoy the music. He may enjoy the company. He may enjoy being around the people. He has known them all his life. He likes them. He enjoys their company, and he enjoys being there. But he cannot enjoy the things of the Spirit. Peter said, “If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” The dead alien sinner cannot taste the things of the Spirit.
If you find one who does believe, you have found one who is already born again. The wicked do not believe the gospel in order to be born again; it is the born again person who believes, because he is born again.
“Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.”
THE END