Two chief obstacles lie in the way of the salvation of any of Adam s fallen descendants:

bondage to the guilt and penalty of sin, bondage to the power and presence of sin; or, in

other words, their being bound for Hell and their being unfit for Heaven. These obstacles

are, so far as man is concerned, entirely insurmountable. This fact was unequivocally

established by Christ, when, in answer to His disciples question, "Who then can be

saved?", He answered, "with men this is impossible." A lost sinner might more easily

create a world than save his own soul. But (forever be His name praised), the Lord Jesus

went on to say, "with God all things are possible" (Matt. 19:25, 26). Yes, problems which

completely baffle human wisdom, are solvable by Omniscience; tasks which defy the

utmost efforts of man, are easily accomplished by Omnipotence. Nowhere is this fact

more strikingly exemplified than in God s saving of the sinner.

As intimated above, two things are absolutely essential in order to salvation: deliverance

from the guilt and penalty of sin, deliverance from the power and presence of sin. The

one is secured by the meditorial work of Christ, the other is accomplished by the effectual

operations of the Holy Spirit. The one is the blessed result of what the Lord Jesus did for

God s people; the other is the glorious consequence of what the Holy Spirit does in God s

people. The one takes place when, having been brought to lie in the dust as an emptyhanded

beggar, faith is enabled to lay hold of Christ, God now justifies from all things,

and the trembling, penitent, but believing sinner receives a free and full pardon. The other

takes place gradually, in distinct stages, under the Divine blessings of regeneration,

sanctification, and glorification. In regeneration, indwelling sin receives its death-wound,

though not its death. In sanctification, the regenerated soul is shown the sink of

corruption that dwells within, and is taught to loathe and hate himself. At glorification

both soul and body will be forever delivered from every vestige and effect of sin.

Now a vital and saving knowledge of these Divine truths can not be acquired by a mere

study of them. No amount of pouring over the Scriptures, no painstaking examination of

the soundest doctrinal treatises, no exercise of the intellect, is able to secure the slightest

spiritual insight into them. True, the diligent seeker may attain a natural knowledge, an

intellectual apprehension of them, just as one born blind may obtain a notional

knowledge of the colorings of the flowers or of the beauties of a sunset, but the natural

man can no more arrive at a spiritual knowledge of spiritual things, than a blind man can

a true knowledge of natural things, yea, than a man in his grave can know what is going

on in the world he has left. Nor can anything short of Divine power bring the proud heart

to a felt realization of this humbling fact; only as God supernaturally enlightens, is any

soul made conscious of the awful spiritual darkness in which it naturally dwells.

The truth of what has just been said is established by the plain and solemn declaration of

1 Corinthians 2:14, "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for

they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually

discerned." Alas that so many evade the sharp point of this verse by imagining that it

applies not to them, mistaking an intellectual assent to spiritual things for an experimental

acquaintance of them. An external knowledge of Divine truth, as revealed in Scripture,

may charm the mind and form ground for speculation and conversation, but unless there

is a Divine application of them to the conscience and heart, such knowledge will be of no

more avail in the hour of death than the pleasing images of our dreams are of any

satisfaction when we awake. How awful to think that multitudes of professing Christians

will awaken in Hell to discover that their knowledge of Divine truth was no more

substantial than a dream!

While it be true that no man by searching can find out God (Job 11:7), and that the

mysteries of His kingdom are sealed secrets until He deigns to reveal them to the soul

(Matt. 13:11), nevertheless, it is also true that God is pleased to use means in the

conveyance of heavenly light to our sin-darkened understandings. It is for this reason that

He commissions His- servants to preach the Word, and, by voice and pen, expound the

Scriptures; nevertheless, their labors will produce no eternal fruits unless He condescends

to bless the seed they sow and give it an increase. Thus, no matter how faithfully, simply,

helpfully a sermon be preached or an article written, unless the Spirit applies it to the

heart, the hearer or reader is no spiritual gainer. Then will you not humbly entreat God to

open your heart to receive whatever is according to His holy Word in this booklet?

In what follows, we shall, as God enables, seek to direct attention to what we have

referred to at the beginning of this booklet as the second of those two humanly

insurmountable obstacles which lies in the way of a sinner s salvation, and that is, the

fitting of him for Heaven, by the delivering of him from the power and presence of sin.

Such a work is a Divine one, and therefore it is miraculous. Regeneration is no mere

outward reformation, no mere turning over a new leaf and endeavoring to live a better

life. The new birth is very much more than going forward and taking the preacher s hand:

it is a supernatural operation of God upon man s spirit, a transcendent wonder. All of

God s works are wonderful. The world in which we live is filled with things which amaze

us. Physical birth is a marvel, but, from several standpoints, the new birth is more

remarkable. It is a marvel of Divine grace, Divine wisdom, Divine power, and Divine

beauty. It is a miracle performed upon and within ourselves, of which we may be

personally cognizant; it will prove an eternal marvel.

Because regeneration is the work of God, it is a mysterious thing. All God s works are

shrouded in impenetrable mystery. Life, natural life, in its origin, in its nature, its

processes, baffles the most careful investigator. Much more is this the case with spiritual

life. The Existence and Being of God transcends the finite grasp; how then can we expect

to understand the process by which we become His children? Our Lord Himself declared

that the new birth is a thing of mystery: "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou

hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth, so is

every one that is born of the Spirit" (John 3:8). The wind is something about which the

most learned scientist knows next to nothing. Its nature, the laws which govern it, the

causation, all lie beyond the purview of human inquiry. So it is with the new birth: it is

profoundly mysterious.

Regeneration is an intensely solemn thing. The new birth is the dividing line between

Heaven and Hell. In God s sight there are but two classes of people on this earth: those

who are dead in sins, and those who are walking in newness of life. In the physical realm

there is no such thing as being between life and death. A man is either dead or alive. The

vital spark may be very dim, but while it exists, life is present. Let that spark go out

altogether, and. though you may dress the body in beautiful clothes, nevertheless, it is

nothing more than a corpse. So it is in the spiritual realm. We are either saints or sinners,

spiritually alive or spiritually dead. children of God or children of the Devil. In view of

this solemn fact, how momentous is the question, Have I been born again? If not, and

you die in your present state, you will wish you had never been born at all.

1. The need for regeneration lies in our natural degeneration. In consequence of the fall

of our first parents, all of us were born alienated from the Divine life and holiness,

despoiled of all those perfections wherewith man s nature was at first endowed. Ezekiel

16:4, 5 gives a graphic picture of our terrible spiritual plight at our entrance into this

world: cast out to the loathing of our persons, rolling ourselves in our own filth, impotent

to help ourselves. That "likeness" of God (Gen. 1:26) which was at first stamped on man

s soul, has been effaced, aversion from God and an inordinate love of the creature having

displaced it. The very fountain of our beings is polluted, continually sending forth bitter

springs, and though those streams take several courses and wander in various channels,

yet are they all brackish. Therefore is the "sacrifice" of the wicked an abomination to the

Lord (Prov. 15:8), and his very ploughing "sin" (Prov. 21:4).

There are but two states, and all men are included therein: the one a state of spiritual life,

the other a state of spiritual death; the one a state of righteousness, the other a state of sin:

the one saving. the other damning; the one a state of enmity, wherein men have their

inclinations contrary to God, the other a state of friendship and fellowship, wherein men

walk obediently unto God, and would not willingly have an inward notion opposed to His

will. The one state is called darkness, the other light: "For ye were (in your unregenerate

days, not only in the dark, but) darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord" (Eph. 5:6).

There is no medium between these conditions; all are in one of them. Each man and

woman now on earth is either an object of God s delight or of His abomination. The most

benevolent and imposing works of the flesh cannot please Him. but the faintest sparks

proceeding from that which grace hath kindled are acceptable in His sight.

By the fall man contracted an unfitness to that which is good. Shapen in iniquity and

conceived in sin (Ps. 51: 5), man is a "transgressor from the womb" (Isa. 48:8): "they go

astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies" (Ps. 58:3), and "the imagination of man s

heart is evil from his youth" (Gen. 8:21). He may be civilized, educated, refined, and

even religious, but at heart he is "desperately wicked" (Jer. 17:9), and all that he does is

vile in the sight of God, for nothing is done from love to Him, and with a view to His

glory. "A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth

good fruit" (Matt. 7:18). Until they are born again, all men are "unto every good work

reprobate" (Titus 1:16).

By the fall man contracted an unwillingness to that which is good. All motions of the will

in its fallen estate, through defect of a right principle from whence they flow and a right

end to which they tend, are only evil and sinful. Leave man to himself, remove from him

all the restraints which law and order impose, and he will swiftly degenerate to a lower

level than the beasts, as almost any missionary will testify. And is human nature any

better in civilized lands? Not a whit. Wash off the artificial veneer and it will be found

that "as in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man" (Prov. 27:19). The

world over, it remains solemnly true that "the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is

not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" (Rom. 8:7). Christ will prefer the

same charge in a coming day as when He was here on earth: "Men loved darkness rather

than light" (John 3:19). Men will not come to Him that they might have "life."

By the fall man contracted an inability to that which is good. He is not only unfitted and

unwilling, but unable to do that which is good. Where is the man that can truthfully say

he has measured up to his own ideals? All have to acknowledge there is a strange force

within dragging them downward, inclining them to evil, which, notwithstanding their

utmost endeavors against it, in some form or other, more or less, conquers them. Despite

the kindly exhortations of friends, the faithful warnings of God s servants, the solemn

examples of suffering and sorrow, disease and death on every side, and the vote of their

own conscience, yet they yield. "They that are in the flesh (in their natural condition)

cannot please God" (Rom. 8:18).

Thus it is evident that the need is imperative for a radical and revolutionary change to be

wrought in fallen man before he can have any fellowship with the thrice holy God. Since

the earth must be completely changed, because of the curse now resting on it, before it

can ever again bring forth fruit as it did when man was in a state of innocency; so must

man, since a general defilement from Adam has seized upon him, be renewed, before he

can "bring forth fruit unto God" (Rom. 7:4). He must be grafted upon another stock,

united to Christ, partake of the power of His resurrection: without this he may bring forth

fruit, but not "unto God." How can any one turn to God without a principle of spiritual

motion? How can he live to God who has no spiritual life? Row can he be fit for the

kingdom of God who is of a brutish and diabolical nature?

2. The need for regeneration lies in man s total depravity. Every member of Adam s race

is a fallen creature, and every part of his complex being has been corrupted by sin. Man s

heart is "deceitful above all things and desperately wicked" (Jer. 17:9). His mind is

blinded by Satan (2 Cor. 4:4) and darkened by sin (Eph. 4:18), so that his thoughts are

only evil continually (Gen. 6:5). His affections are prostituted, so that he loves what God

hates, and hates what God loves. His will is enslaved from good (Rom. 6:20) and

opposed to God (Rom. 8:7). He is without righteousness (Rom. 3:10), under the curse of

the law (Gal. 3:10) and is the captive of the Devil. His condition is truly deplorable, and

his case desperate. He cannot better himself, for he is "without strength" (Rom. 5:6). He

cannot work out his salvation, for there dwelleth no good thing in him (Rom. 7:18). He

needs, then, to be born of God, "for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth

anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation" (Gal. 6:15).

Man is a fallen creature. It is not that a few leaves have faded, but that the entire tree has

become rotten, root and branch. There is in every one that which is radically wrong. The

word "radical" comes from a Latin one which means "the root," so that when we say a

man is radically wrong, we mean that there is in him, in the very foundation and fiber of

his being, that which is intrinsically corrupt and essentially evil. Sins are merely the fruit,

there must of necessity be a root from which they spring. It follows, then, as an inevitable

consequence that man needs the aid of a Higher Power to effect a radical change in him.

There is only One who can effect that change: God created man, and God alone can recreate

him. Hence the imperative demand, "Ye must be born again" (John 3:7). Man is

spiritually dead and naught but all-mighty power can make him alive.

"By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all

men" (Rom. 5:12). In the day that Adam ate of the forbidden fruit, he died spiritually, and

a person who is spiritually dead cannot beget a child who possesses spiritual life.

Therefore, all by natural descent enter this world "alienated from the life of God" (Eph.

4:18), "dead in trespasses and sins" (Eph. 2:1). This is no mere figure of speech, but a

solemn fact. Every child is born entirely destitute of a single spark of spiritual life, and

therefore if ever it is to enter the kingdom of God, which is the realm of spiritual life

(Rom. 14:17), it must be born into it.

The more clearly we are enabled to discern the imperative need of regeneration and the

various reasons why it is absolutely essential in order to a fallen creature being fitted for

the presence of the thrice holy God, the less difficulty are we likely to encounter when we

endeavor to arrive at an understanding of the nature of regeneration, what it is which

takes place within a person when the Holy Spirit renews him. For this reason particularly,

and also because such a cloud of error has been cast upon this vital truth, we feel that a

further consideration of this particular aspect of our subject is needed.

Jesus Christ came into this world to glorify God and to glorify Himself by redeeming a

people unto Himself. But what glory can we conceive that God has, and what glory

would accrue to Christ, if there be not a vital and fundamental difference between His

people and the world? And what difference can there be between those two companies

but in a change of heart, out of which are the issues of life (Prov. 4:23): a change of

nature or disposition, as the fountain from which all other differences must proceed

sheep and goats differ in nature. The whole mediatorial work of Christ has this one end in

view. His priestly office is to reconcile and bring His people unto God; His prophetic, to

teach them the way; His kingly, to work in them those qualifications and bestow upon

them that comeliness which is necessary to fit them for the holy converse and

communion with the thrice holy God. Thus does He "purify unto Himself a peculiar

people zealous of good works" (Titus 2:14).

"Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not

deceived" (1 Cor. 6:9). But multitudes are deceived, and deceived at this very point, and

on this most momentous matter. God has warned men that "the heart is deceitful above

all things, and desperately wicked" (Jer. 17:9), but few will believe that this is true of

them. Instead, tens of thousands of professing Christians are filled with a vain and

presumptuous confidence that all is well with them. They delude themselves with hopes

of mercy while continuing to live in a course of self-will and self-pleasing. They fancy

they are fitted for Heaven, while every day that passes finds them the more prepared for

Hell. It is written of the Lord Jesus that "He shall save His people from their sins" (Matt.

1:21), and not in their sins: save them not only from the penalty, but also from the power

and pollution of sin.

To how many in Christendom do these solemn words apply, "For he flattereth himself in

his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful" (Ps. 36:2). The principal device of

Satan is to deceive people into imagining that they can successfully combine the world

with God, allow the flesh while pretending to the Spirit, and thus "make the best of both

worlds." But Christ has emphatically declared that "no man can serve two masters" (Matt.

6:24). Many mistake the force of those searching words: the true emphasis is not upon

"two," but upon "serve" none can serve two masters. And God requires to be

"served" feared, submitted unto, obeyed; His will regulating the life in all its details, see

1 Samuel 12:24, 25. "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou

serve" (Matt. 4:10).

3. The need for regeneration lies in man s unsuitedness to God. When Nicodemus, a

respectable and religious Pharisee, yea, a "master in Israel," came to Christ, He told him

plainly that "except a man be born again" he could neither see nor enter the "kingdom of

God" (John 3:3, 5 ) either the Gospel-state on earth or the Glory-state in Heaven. None

can enter the spiritual realm unless he has a spiritual nature, which alone gives him an

appetite for and capacity to enjoy the things pertaining to it; and this, the natural man has

not. So far from it, he cannot so much as "discern" them (1 Cor. 2:14). He has no love for

them, nor desire after them (John 3:19). Nor can he desire them, for his will is enslaved

by the lusts of the flesh (Eph. 2:2, 3). Therefore, before a man can enter the spiritual

kingdom, his understanding must be supernaturally enlightened, his heart renewed, and

his will emancipated.

There can be no point of contact between God and His Christ with a sinful man until he is

regenerated. There can be no lawful union between two parties who have nothing vital in

common. A superior and an inferior nature may be united together, but never contrary

natures. Can fire and water be united, a beast and a man, a good angel and vile devil? Can

Heaven and Hell ever meet on friendly terms? In all friendship there must be a similarity

of disposition; before there can be communion there must be some agreement or oneness.

Beasts and men agree not in a life of reason, and therefore cannot converse together. God

and men agree not in a life of holiness, and therefore can have no communion together

(Condensed from S. Charnock).

We are united to the "first Adam" by a likeness of nature; how then can we be united to

the "last Adam" without a likeness to Him from a new nature or principle? We were

united to the first Adam by a living soul, we must be united to the last Adam by a

quickening Spirit. We have nothing to do with the heavenly Adam without bearing an

heavenly image (1 Cor. 15:48, 49). If we are His members, we must have the same nature

which was communicated to Him, the Head, by the Spirit of God, which is holiness

(Luke 1:35). There must be one "spirit" in both: thus it is written, "he that is joined to the

Lord is one spirit" (1 Cor. 6:17). And again God tells us, "If any man have not the Spirit

of Christ he is none of His" (Rom. 8:9). Nor can anything be vitally united to another

without life. A living head and a dead body is inconceivable.

There can be no communion with God without a renewed soul. God is unable on His part,

with honour to His law and holiness, to have fellowship with such a creature as fallen

man. Man is incapable on his part, because of the aversion rooted in his fallen nature.

Then how is it possible for God and man to be brought together without the latter

experiencing a thorough change of nature? What communion can there be between Light

and darkness, between the living God and a dead heart? "Can two walk together, except

they be agreed? (Amos 3:3). God loathes sin, man loves it; God loves holiness, man

loathes it. How then could such contrary affections meet together in an amicable

friendship? Sin has alienated from the life of God (Eph. 4:18), and therefore from His

fellowship; life, then, must be restored to us before we can be instated in communion

with Him. Old things must pass away, and all things become new (2 Cor. 5:17).

Gospel-duties cannot be performed without regeneration. The first requirement of Christ

from His followers is that they shall deny self. But that is impossible to fallen human

nature, for men are "lovers of their own selves" (2 Tim. 3:2). Not until the soul is

renewed, will self be repudiated. Therefore is the new-covenant promise, "I will take the

stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh" (Ezek. 11:19). All

Gospel duties require a pliableness and tenderness of heart. Pride was the condemnation

of the Devil (1 Tim. 3:6), and our first parents fell through swelling designs to be like

unto God (Gen. 3:5). Ever since then, man has been too aspiring and too well opinionated

of himself to perform duties in an evangelical strain, with that nothingness in himself

which the Gospel requires. The chief design of the Gospel is to beat down all glorying in

ourselves, that we should glory only in the Lord (1 Cor. 1:29-31); but this is not possible

till grace renews the heart, melts it before God, and moulds it to His requirements.

Without a new nature we cannot perform Gospel-duties constantly. "They that are after

the flesh do mind the things of the flesh" (Rom. 8:5). Such a mind cannot long be

employed upon spiritual things. Prickings of conscience, terrors of Hell, fears of death,

may exert a temporary influence, but they do not last. Stony-ground may bring forth

blades, yet for lack of root they quickly wither away (Matt. 13). A stone may be flung

high into the air, but ultimately it falls back to the earth; so the natural man may for a

time mount high in religious fervor, but sooner or later it shall be said of him, as it was of

Israel, "their heart was not right with Him, neither were they stedfast in His covenant"

(Ps. 78:37). Many seem to begin in the Spirit, but end in the flesh. Only where God has

wrought in the soul, will the work last forever (Eccl. 3:14: Phil. 1:6).

As regeneration is indispensably necessary to a Gospel-state, so it is to a state of heavenly

glory. It seems to be typified by the strength and freshness of the Israelites when they

entered into Canaan. Not a decrepit and infirm person set foot in the promised land: none

of those that came out of Egypt with an Egyptian nature, and desires for the garlic and

onions thereof, with a suffering their old bondage, but dropped their carcasses in the

wilderness; only the two spies who had encouraged them against the seeming difficulties.

None that retain only the old man, born in the house of bondage; but only a new

regenerate creature, shall enter into the heavenly Canaan. Heaven is the inheritance of the

sanctified, not of the filthy: that they may receive an inheritance among them which are

sanctified through faith that is in Me (Acts 26:18). Upon Adam s expulsion from

paradise, a flaming sword was set to stop his reentering into that place of happiness. As

Adam, in his forlorn state, could not possess it, we also, by what we have received from

Adam, cannot expect a greater privilege than our root. The priest under the law could not

enter into the sanctuary till he was purified, nor the people into the congregation: neither

can any man have access into the Holiest till he be sprinkled by the blood of Jesus:

Hebrews 10:22" (S. Charnock).

Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people. Said Christ, "I go to prepare a place for

you" (John 14:2). For whom? For those who have, in heart, "forsaken all" to follow Him

(Matt. 19:27). For those who love God (1 Cor. 2:9) love the things of God: they perceive

the inestimable value and beauty of spiritual things. And they who really love spiritual

things, deem no sacrifice too great to win them (Phil. 3:8). But in order to love spiritual

things, the man himself must be made spiritual. The natural man may hear about them

and have a correct idea of the doctrine of them, but he receives them not spiritually in the

love of them (2 Thess. 2:10), and finds not his joy and happiness in them. But the

renewed soul longs after them, not by constraint, but because God has won his heart. His

confession is "Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I

desire beside Thee" (Ps. 73:25). God has become his chief good, His will his only rule,

His glory his chief end. In such an one, the very inclinations of the soul have been

changed.

The man himself must be changed before he is prepared for Heaven. Of the regenerate it

is written, "giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the

inheritance of the saints in light" (Col. 1:12). None are "made meet" while they are

unholy, for it is the inheritance of the saints; none are fitted for it while they are under the

power of darkness, for it is an inheritance in light. Christ Himself ascended not to Heaven

to take possession of His glory till after His resurrection from the dead, nor can we enter

Heaven unless we have been resurrected from sin. "He that hath wrought (polished) us

for the self-same thing (to be clothed with our Heavenly house) is God," and the proof

that He has done this is, the giving unto us "the earnest of the Spirit" (2 Cor. 5:5); and

where the Spirit of the Lord is "there is liberty" (2 Cor. 3:17), liberty from the power of

indwelling sin, as the verse which follows clearly shows.

"Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God" (Matt. 5:8). To "see" God is to be

introduced into the most intimate intercourse with Him. It is to have that "thick cloud" of

our transgressions blotted out (Isa. 44:22), for it was our iniquities which separated

between us and our God (Isa. 58:2). To "see" God, here has the force of enjoy, as in John

3:36. But for this enjoyment a "pure heart" is indispensable. Now the heart is purified by

faith (Acts 15:9). for faith has to do with God. Thus, a "pure heart" is one that has its

affections set upon things above, being attracted by "the beauty of holiness" (Ps. 17:15).

But how could he enjoy God who cannot now endure the imperfect holiness of His

children, but rails against it as unnecessary "strictness" or puritanical fanaticism? God s

face is only to be beheld in righteousness.

"Follow peace with all, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord" (Heb.

12:14). None can dwell with God and be eternally happy in His presence unless a radical

change has been wrought in him, a change from sin to holiness. This change must be, like

that introduced by the fail, one which reaches to the very roots of our beings, affecting

the entire man: removing the darkness of our minds, awakening and then pacifying the

conscience, spiritualizing our affections,, converting the will, reforming our whole life.

And this great change must take place here on earth. The removal of the soul to Heaven is

no substitute for regeneration. It is not the place which conveys likeness to God. When

the angels fell. they were in Heaven, but the glory of God s dwelling place did not restore

them. Satan entered Heaven (Job 2:1), but he left it still unchanged. There must be a

likeness to God wrought in the soul by the Spirit before it is fitted to enjoy Heaven.

"Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Cor. 15:50). If the body must be

changed ere it can enter Heaven, how much more so the soul, for "there shall in no wise

enter into it anything that defileth" (Rev. 21:27). And what is the supreme glory of

Heaven? Is it freedom from toil and worry, sickness and sorrow, suffering and death? No:

it is, that Heaven is the place where there is the full manifestation of Him who is

"glorious in holiness" that holiness which the wicked, while presumptuously hoping to

go to Heaven, despise and hate here on earth. The inhabitants of Heaven are given a clear

sight of the ineffable purity of God and are granted the most intimate communion with

Him. But none are fitted for this unless their inner being (as well as outer lives) have

undergone a radical, revolutionizing, supernatural change.

Can it be thought that Christ will prepare mansions of glory for those who refuse to

receive Him into their hearts and give Him the first place in their lives down here? No,

indeed; rather will He "laugh at their calamity and mock when their fear cometh" (Prov.

1:26). The instrument of the heart must be tuned here on earth to fit it to produce the

melody of praise in Heaven. God has so linked together holiness and happiness (as He

has sin and wretchedness) that they cannot be separated. Were it possible for an

unregenerate soul to enter Heaven, it would find there no sanctuary from the lashings of

conscience and the tormenting fire of God s holiness. Many suppose that nothing but the

merits of Christ are needed to qualify them for Heaven. But this is a great mistake. None

receive remission of sins through the blood of Christ, who are not first "turned from the

power of Satan unto God" (Acts 26:18). God subdues their iniquities whose sin He casts

into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19). Pardoning sins and purifying the heart are as

inseparable as the blood and water which flowed from the Saviour s side (John 19:34).

Our being renewed in the spirit of our mind and our putting on of the new man "which

after God is created in righteousness and true holiness" (Eph. 4:23, 24), is as

indispensable to a meetness for Heaven, as an having the righteousness of Christ imputed

to us is for a title thereto. "A malefactor, by pardon, is in a capacity to come into the

presence of a prince and serve him at his table, but he is not in the fitness till his noisome

garments, full of vermin be taken off" (S. Charnock). It is both a fatal delusion and

wicked presumption for one who is living to please self to imagine that his sins have been

forgiven by God. It is "the washing of regeneration" which gives evidence of our being

justified by grace (Titus 3:5-7). When Christ saves, He indwells (Gal. 2:20), and it is

impossible for Him to reside in a heart which yet remains spiritually cold, hard, and

lifeless. The supreme pattern of holiness cannot be a Patron of licentiousness.

Justification and sanctification are inseparable: where one is absolved from the guilt of

sin, he is also delivered from the dominion of sin, but neither the one nor the other can be

until the soul is regenerated. Just as Christ s being made in the likeness of sin s flesh was

indispensable for God to impute to Him His people s sins (Rom. 8:3), so it is equally

necessary for us to be made new creatures in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17) before we can be,

legally. made the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21). The need of our being made

"partakers of the Divine nature" (2 Pet. 1:4) is as real and as great as Christ s taking part

in human nature, ere He could save us (Heb. 2:14-17). "Except God be born, He cannot

come into the kingdom of sin. Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of

righteousness. And Divine power the power of the Holy Spirit, the plenipotentiary and

executant of all the will of Godhead achieves the incarnation of God and the

regeneration of man. that the Son of God may be made sin, and the sons of God made

righteous" (H. Martin).

How could one possibly enter a world of ineffable holiness who has spent all his time in

sin, i.e., pleasing self? How could he possibly sing the song of the Lamb if his heart has

never been tuned unto it? How could be endure to behold the awful majesty of God face

to face, who never before so much as saw Him "through a glass darkly" by the eye of

faith? And as it is excruciating torture for the eyes that have been long confined to dismal

darkness, to suddenly gaze upon the bright -beams of the midday sun, so it will be when

the unregenerate behold Him who is Light. Instead of welcoming such a sight "all

kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him" (Rev. 1:7); yea, so overwhelming will be

their anguish, they will call to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us. and hide us from the

face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb" (Rev. 6:17). And,

my reader, that will be your experience, unless God regenerates you!

When the Lord Jesus said "That which is born of the flesh is flesh" (John 3:6) He not

only intimated that every man born into this world inherits a corrupt and fallen nature,

and therefore is unfit for the kingdom of God; but also that this corrupt nature can never

be anything else but corrupt, so that no culture can fit it for the kingdom of God. Its

tendencies may be restricted, its manifestations modified by education and circumstances,

but its sinful tendencies and affections are still there. A corrupt tree cannot bring forth

good fruit, prune and trim it as you may. For good fruit, you must have a good tree or

graft from one. Therefore did our Lord go on to say, "And that which is born of the Spirit

is spirit." This brings us to consider.

We have now arrived at the most difficult part of our subject. Necessarily so, for we are

about to contemplate the workings of God. These are ever mysterious, and nothing

whatever can be really known about them, save what He Himself has revealed thereon in

His Word. In endeavoring to ponder what He has said on His work of regeneration two

dangers need to be guarded against: first. limiting our thoughts to any isolated statement

thereon or any single figure the Spirit has employed to describe it. Second, reasoning

from what He has said by carnalizing the figures He has employed. When referring to

spiritual things. God has used terms which were originally intended (by man) to express

material objects, hence we need to be constantly on our guard against transferring to the

former erroneous ideas carried over from the latter. From this we shall be preserved if we

diligently compare all that has been said on each subject.

In treating of the nature of regeneration, much damage has been wrought, especially in

recent years, by men confining their attention to a single figure, namely, that of the "new

birth," which is only one out of many expressions used in the Scriptures to denote that

mighty and miraculous work of God within His people which fits them for communion

with Him. Thus, in Colossians 1:12, 13 the same vital experience is spoken of as God s

having "made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: who hath

delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His

dear Son." Regeneration is the commencement of a new experience, which is so real and

revolutionizing that the one who is the subject of this Divine begetting is spoken of as a

"new creature"; "old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new" (2 Cor.

5:17). A new spiritual life has been imparted to the soul by God, so that the one receiving

it is vitally implanted into Christ.

The nature of regeneration can, perhaps, be best perceived by comparing and contrasting

it with what took place at the fall, for though the person who is renewed by the Spirit

receives more than what Adam lost by his rebellion, yet, the one is, really, God s answer

to the former. Now it is most important that we should clearly recognize that no faculty

was lost by man when he fell. When man was created, God gave unto him a spirit and

soul and body, Thus, man was a tri-partite being When man fell, the Divine threat "In the

day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die" was duly executed, and man died

spiritually. But that does not mean that either his Spirit or soul, or any part thereof,

ceased to be, for in Scripture "death" never signifies annihilation, but is a state of

separation. The prodigal son was "dead" while he was in the far country (Luke 15:24),

because he was separated from his father. "Alienated from the life of God" (Eph. 4:18)

describes the fearful state of one who is unregenerated, so does "she that liveth in

pleasure is dead while she liveth" (1 Tim 5:6), that which is dead spiritually is dead

Godwards, while alive in sin the spirit and soul and body, each being active against God.

That which took place at the fall was not the destruction of either portion of man s

threefold being, but the vitiating or corrupting of them. And that, by the introduction of a

new principle within him, namely, sin, which is more of a quality than a substance. But

let it be stated very emphatically that a "nature" is not a concrete entity but rather that

which characterizes and impels an entity or creature. It is the nature of gravitation to

attract, it is the nature of the wind to blow, it is the nature of fire to burn. A "nature" is

not a tangible thing, but a principle of operation, a power impelling to action. Thus, when

we say that fallen man possesses a "sinful nature," it must not be understood that

something as substantial as his soul or spirit was added to his being, but instead, that the

principle of evil entered into him, which polluted and defiled every part of his

constitution, as frost entering fruit spoils it.

At the fall, man lost none of the faculties with which the Creator had originally endowed

him, but he lost the power to use his faculties Godwards. All desire Godwards, all love

for his Maker, and real knowledge of Him, was lost. Sin possessed him: sin as a principle

of evil, as a power of operation, as a defiling influence, took complete charge of his spirit

and soul and body, so that he became the "servant" or slave "of sin" (John 8:34). As such,

man is no more capable of producing that which is good, spiritual, and acceptable to God,

than frost can burn or fire freeze: "they that are in the flesh (remain in their natural and

fallen condition) cannot please God" (Rom. 8:8). They have no power to do so, for all

their faculties, every part of their being, is completely under the dominion of sin. So

completely is fallen man beneath the power of sin and spiritual death, that the things of

the Spirit of God are "foolishness" unto him, "neither can he know them" (1 Cor. 2:14).

Now that which takes place at regeneration is the reversing of what happened at the fall..

The one born again is, through Christ, and by the Spirit s operation, restored to union and

communion with God; the one who before was spiritually dead, is now spiritually alive:

John 5:24. Just as spiritual death was brought about by the entrance into man s, being of

the principle of evil, so spiritual life is the introduction of a principle of holiness. God

communicates a new principle, as real and as potent as sin, Divine grace is now imparted.

A holy disposition is wrought in the soul. A new temper of spirit is bestowed upon the

inner man. But no new faculties are created within him, rather are his original faculties

enriched, ennobled, and empowered. Just as man did not become less than a threefold

being when he fell, so he does not become more than a threefold being when he is

renewed. Nor will he in Heaven itself: his spirit and soul and body will simply be

glorified, i.e., completely delivered from every taint of sin, and perfectly conformed to

the image of God s Son.

At regeneration a new nature is imparted by God. But again we need to be closely on our

guard lest we carnalize our conception of what is denoted by that expression. Much

confusion has been caused through failure to recognize that it is a person, and not merely

a "nature" which is born of the Spirit: "ye must be born again" (John 3:7), not merely

something in you must be; "he which is born of God" (1 John 3:9). The same person who

was spiritually dead his whole being alienated from God is now made spiritually

alive: his whole being reconciled to God. This must be so, or otherwise there would be no

preservation of the identity of the individual. It is the person, and not simply a nature

which is born of God: "Of His own will begat He us" (James 1:18). It is a new birth of

the individual himself, and not of something in him. The nature is never changed, but the

person is relatively, not absolutely.

The person of the regenerate man is essentially the same as the person of the

unregenerate: each having a spirit, and soul and body. But just as in fallen man there is

also a principle of evil which has corrupted every part of his threefold being, which

"principle" is his "sinful nature" (so-called because it expresses his evil disposition and

character as it is the "nature" of swine to be filthy), so when a person is born again

another and new "principle" is introduced into his being, a new "nature" or disposition, a

disposition which propels him Godwards. Thus, in both cases, "nature" is a quality rather

than a substance. "That which is born of the Spirit is spirit" must not be conceived of as

something substantial, distinct from the soul of the regenerate, like one portion of matter

added to another; rather is it that which spiritualizes all his inward faculties, as the "flesh"

had carnalized them.

Again; "that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" is to be carefully distinguished from that

"spirit" which every man has in addition to his soul and body: (see Num. 16:22; Eccl.

12:7; Zech. 12:1). That which is born of the Spirit is not something tangible, but that

which is spiritual and holy, and that is a quality rather than a substance. In proof of this

compare the usage of the word "spirit" in these passages: in James 4:5 the inclination and

disposition to envy is called "the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy." In Luke 9:55

Christ said to His disciples, "ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of," thereby

signifying, ye are ignorant of what a fiery disposition is in your hearts. See also Numbers

5:14; Hosea 4:12, 2 Timothy 1:7. That which is born of the Spirit is a principle of

spiritual life, which renovates all the faculties of the soul.

Some help upon this mysterious part of our subject is to be obtained by noting that in

such passages as John 3:6, etc., "spirit" is contrasted from the "flesh." Now it should

scarcely need saying that "the flesh" is not a concrete entity, being quite distinct from the

body. When the term "flesh" is used in a moral sense the reference is always to the

corruption of fallen man s nature. In Galatians 5:19-21 the "works of the flesh" are

described, among them being "hatred" and "envying," in connection with which the body

(as distinguished from the mind) is not implicated clear proof that the "flesh" and the

"body" are not synonymous terms. In Galatians 5 the "flesh" is used to designate those

evil tendencies and affections which result in the sins there mentioned. Thus, the "flesh"

refers to the degenerate state of man s spirit and soul and body, as the "spirit" refers to

the regenerate state of the spirit and soul the regeneration of the body being yet future.

The privative (darkness is the privative of light) or negative side of regeneration, is that

Divine grace gives a mortal wound to indwelling sin. Sin is not then eradicated nor totally

slain in the believer, but it is divested of its reigning power over his faculties. The

Christian is no longer the helpless slave of sin, for he resists it, fights against it, and to

speak of a helpless victim "fighting," is a contradiction in terms. At the new birth sin

receives its death-blow, though its dying struggles within us are yet powerful and acutely

felt. Proof of what we have said is found in the fact that while sin s solicitations were

once agreeable to us, they are now hated. This aspect of regeneration is presented in

Scripture under a variety of figures, such as the taking away of the heart of stone (Ezek.

36:26), the binding of the strong man (Matt. 12:29), etc. The absolute dominion of sin

over us is destroyed by God (Rom. 6:14).

The positive side of regeneration is that Divine grace effects a complete change in the

state of the soul, by infusing a principle of spiritual life, which renovates all its faculties.

It is this which constitutes its subject a "new creature," not in respect of his essence, but

of his views, his desires, his aspirations, his habits. Regeneration or the new birth is the

Divine communication of a powerful and revolutionizing principle in the soul and spirit,

under the influence of which all their native faculties are exercised in a different manner

from that in which they were formerly employed, and in this sense "old things are passed

away; behold, all things are become new" (2 Cor. 5:17). His thoughts are "new," the

objects of his choice are "new," his aims and motives are "new," and thereby the whole of

his external deportment is changed.

"By the grace of God I am what I am" (1 Cor. 15:10). The reference here is to subjective

grace. There is an objective grace, inherent in God, which is His love, favour, goodwill

for His elect. There is also a subjective grace which terminates on them, whereby a

change is wrought in them. This is by the infusion of a principle of spiritual life, which is

the spring of the Christian s actions. This "principle" is called "a new heart" and a "new

spirit" (Ezek. 36:26). It is a supernatural habit, residing in every faculty and power of the

soul, as a principle of holy and spiritual operation. Some have spoken of this supernatural

experience as a "change of heart." If by this expression be meant that there is a change

wrought in the fallen nature itself, as though that which is natural is transformed into that

which is spiritual, as though that which was born of the flesh ceased to be "flesh," and

became that which is born of the Spirit, then, the term is to be rejected. But if by this

expression be meant, an acknowledgement of the reality of the Divine work, which is

wrought in those whom God regenerates, it is quite permissible.

When treating of regeneration under the figure of the new birth, some writers have

introduced analogies from natural birth which Scripture by no means warrants, in fact

disallows. Physical birth is the bringing forth into this world of a creature, a complete

personality, which before conception had no existence whatsoever. But the one who is

regenerated had a complete personality before he was born again. To this statement it

may be objected, Not a spiritual personality What is meant by this? Spirit and matter are

opposites, and we only create confusion if we speak or think of that which is spiritual as

being something concrete. Regeneration is not the creating of a person which hitherto had

no existence, but the renewing and restoring of a person whom sin had unfitted for

communion with God, and this by the communication of a nature or principle of life,

which gives a new and different bias to all his old faculties. It is altogether an erroneous

view to regard a Christian as made up of two distinct personalities.

As "justification" describes the change in the Christian s objective relationship to God, so

"regeneration" denotes that intrinsic subjective change which is wrought in the

inclinations and tendencies of their souls Godwards. This saving work of God within His

people is likened unto a "birth" because it is the gateway into a new world, the beginning

of an entirely new experience, and also because as the natural birth is an issuing from a

place of darkness and confinement (the womb) into a state of light and liberty, so is the

experience of the soul when the Spirit quickens us. But the very fact that this

revolutionizing experience is also likened unto a resurrection (1 John 3:14) should

deliver us from forming a one-sided conception of what is meant by the "new birth" and

the "new creature," for resurrection is not the absolute creation of a new body, but the

restoration and glorification of the old body. Regeneration is also called a Divine

"begetting" (1 Pet. 1:3), because the image or likeness of the Begetter is conveyed and

stamped upon the soul. As the first Adam begat a son in his own image and likeness

(Gen. 5:3), so the last Adam has an "image" (Rom. 8:29) to convey to His sons (Eph.

4:24; Col. 3:10).

It has often been said that in the Christian there are two distinct and diverse "natures,"

namely, the "flesh" and the "spirit" (Gal. 5:17). This is true, yet care must be taken to

avoid regarding these two "natures" as anything more than two principles of action. Thus

in Romans 7:23 the two "natures" or "principles" in the Christian are spoken of as "I see

another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind." The flesh and the

spirit in the believer must be conceived of as something very different from the "two

natures" in the blessed person of our Redeemer, the God-man. Both the Deity and

humanity were substantial entities in Him. Moreover, the "two natures" in the saint result

in a necessary conflict (Gal. 5:17), whereas in Christ there was not only complete

harmony, but one Lord."

The faculties of the Christian s soul remain the same in their essence, substance, and

natural powers as before he was "renewed," but these faculties are changed in their

properties, qualities and inclinations. It may help us to obtain a clearer conception of this

if we illustrate by a reference to the waters at Marah (Ex. 15:25, 26). Those "waters" were

the same waters still, both before and after their cure. Of themselves in their own nature,

they were "bitter," so as the people could not drink of them; but in the casting of a tree

into them, they were made sweet and useful. So too with the waters at Jericho (2 Kings

19:20, 21), which were cured by the casting of salt (emblem of grace, Col. 4:6) into them.

In like manner the Christian s affections continue the same as they were in their nature

and essence, but they are cured or healed by grace, so that their properties, qualities and

inclinations are "renewed" (Titus 3:5), the love of God now being shed abroad in the

heart by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5).

What man lost by the, fall was his original relation to God, which kept all his faculties

and affections within proper exercise of that relation. At regeneration the Christian

received a new life, which gave a new direction to his faculties, presenting new objects

before them. Yet, let it be said emphatically, it is not merely the restoration of the life

which Adam lost, but one of unspeakably higher relations: he received the life which the

Son of God has in Himself, even "eternal life." But the old personality still remains. This

is clear from Romans 6:13, "but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from

the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God." The members of

the same individual are now to serve a new Master.

Regeneration is that which alone fits a fallen creature to fulfill his one great and chief

duty, namely, to glorify his Maker. This is to be the aim and the end in view in all that we

do: "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God"

(1 Cor. 10:31). It is the motive actuating us and the purpose before us which gives value

to each action: "When thine eye (figure of the soul looking outward) is single (having

only one object in view the glory of God), the whole body is full of light; but when

thine eye is evil, the body is full of darkness" (Luke 11:34). If the intention be evil, as it

certainly is when the glory of God is not before us, there is nothing but "darkness," sin, in

the whole service.

Now fallen man has altogether departed from what ought to be his chief end, aim, or

object, for instead of having before him the honour of God, himself is his chief concern;

and instead of seeking to please God in all things, he lives only to please himself or his

fellow-creatures. Even when, through religious training, the claims of God have been

brought to his notice and pressed upon his attention, at best he only parcels out one part

of his time, strength and substance to the One who gave him being and daily loadeth him

with benefits, and another part for himself and the world. The natural man is utterly

incapable of giving supreme respect unto God, until he becomes the recipient of a

spiritual life. None will truly aim at the glory of God until they have an affection for Him.

None will honour Him supremely whom they do not supremely love. And for this, the

love of God must be shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5), and this only

takes places at regeneration. Then it is, and not till then, that self is dethroned and God

enthroned; then it is that the renewed creature is enabled to comply with God s

imperative call, "My son, give Me thine heart" (Prov. 23:26).

The salient elements which comprise the nature of regeneration may, perhaps, be

summed up in these three words: impartation, renovation, subjugation. God

communicates something to the one who is born again, namely, a principle of faith and

obedience, a holy nature, eternal life. This though real, palpable, and potent, is nothing

material or tangible, nothing added to our essence, substance or person. Again: God

renews every faculty of the soul and spirit of the one born again, not perfectly and finally,

for we are "renewed day by day" (2 Cor. 4:16). hut so as to enable those faculties to be

exercised upon spiritual objects. Again; God subdues the power of sin indwelling the one

born again. He does not eradicate it, but He dethrones it, so that it no longer has dominion

over the heart. Instead of sin ruling the Christian, and that by his own willing subjection,

it is resisted and hated.

Regeneration is not the improvement or purification of the "flesh," which is that principle

of evil still with the believer. The appetites and tendencies of the "flesh" are precisely the

same after the new birth as they were before, only they no longer reign over him. For a

time it may seem that the "flesh" is dead, yet in reality it is not so. Often its very stillness

(as an army in ambush) is only awaiting its opportunity or a gathering up of its strength

for a further attack. It is not long ere the renewed soul discovers that the "flesh" is yet

very much alive, desiring to have its way. But grace will not suffer it to have its sway. On

the one hand the Christian has to say, "For to will is present with me, but how to perform

that which is good I find not" (Rom. 7:18). On the other hand, he is able to declare,

"Christ liveth in me, and the life which 1 now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the

Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself "for me" (Gal. 2:20).

Some people find it very difficult to conceive of the same person bringing forth good

works who before brought forth nothing but evil works, the more so when it be insisted

upon that no new faculty is added to his being, that nothing substantial is either imparted

or taken from his person. But if we rightly introduce the factor of God s mighty power

into the equation, then the difficulty disappears. We may not be able to explain, in fact

we are not, how God s power acts upon us, how He cleanses the unclean (Acts 10:15) and

subdues the wolf so that it dwells with the lamb (Isa. 11:6), any more than we can

thoroughly understand His working upon and within us without destroying our own

personal agency; nevertheless, both Scripture and experience testify to each of these facts

It may help us a little at this point if we contemplate the working of God s power in the

natural realm.

In the natural realm every creature is not only entirely dependent upon its Maker for its

continued existence, but also for the exercise of all its faculties, for "in Him we live, and

move (Greek, are moved ) and have our being" (Acts 17:28) Again; as the various parts

of creation are linked together, and afford each other mutual support as the heavens

fertilize the earth, the earth supplies its inhabitants with food, its inhabitants propagate

their kind, rear their offspring, and cooperate for the purpose of society so also the

whole system is supported, sustained and governed by the directing providence of God.

The influences of providence, the manner in which they operate on the creature, are

profoundly mysterious: on the one hand, they are not destructive of our rational nature,

reducing us to mere irresponsible automatons: on the other hand they are all made

completely subservient to the Divine purpose.

Now the operation of God s power in regeneration is to be regarded as of the same kind

with its operation in providence, although it be exercised with a different design. God s

energy is one, though it is distinguished by the objects on which, and the ends for which,

it is exerted. It is the same power that creates as upholds in existence: the same power

that forms a stone, and a sunbeam, the same power that gives vegetable life to a tree,

animal life to a brute, and rational life to a man. In like manner, it is the same power that

assists us in the natural exercise of our faculties, as it is which enables us to exercise

those faculties in a spiritual manner. Hence "grace" as a principle of Divine operation in

the spiritual realm, is the same power of God as "nature" is His process of operation in

the natural world.

The grace of God in the application of redemption to the hearts of His people is indeed

mighty as is evident from the effects produced. It is a change of the whole man: of his

views, motives, inclinations and pursuits. Such a change no human means are able to

accomplish. When the thoughtless are made to think, and to think with a seriousness and

intensity which they never formerly did; when the careless are, in a moment, affected

with a deep sense of their most important interests: when lips which are accustomed to

blaspheme, learn to pray; when the proud are brought to assume the lowly attitude and

language of the penitent; when those who were devoted to the world give evidence that

the object of their desires and aims is a heavenly inheritance: and when this revolution. so

wonderful has been affected by the simple Word of God, and by the very Word which the

subject of this radical change had often heard unmoved, it is proof positive that a mighty

influence has been exerted, and that that influence is nothing less than Divine God s

people have been made willing in the day of His power (Ps. 110:3).

Many figures are used in Scripture, various expressions are employed by the Spirit, to

describe the saving work of God within His people. In 2 Peter 1:4 the regenerated are

said to be "partakers of the Divine nature," which does not mean of the very essence or

being of God, for that can neither be divided nor communicated in Heaven itself there

will still be an immeasurable distance between the Creator and the creature, otherwise the

finite would become infinite. No, to be "partakers of the Divine nature" is to be made the

recipients of inherent grace, to have the lineaments of the Divine image stamped upon the

soul: as the remainder of that verse shows. being "partakers of the Divine nature" is the

antithesis of "the corruption that is in the world through lust."

In 2 Corinthians 3:18 this transforming miracle of God s grace in His people is declared

to be a "changing" into the image of Christ. The Greek word there for "change" is the one

rendered "transfigured" in Matthew 17:2. At Christ s transfiguration no new features

were added to the Saviour s face, but His whole countenance was irradiated by a new

light; so in 2 Corinthians 4:6 regeneration is likened unto a "light" which God commands

to shine in us note the whole context of 2 Corinthians 3:18 is treating of the Spirit s

work by the Gospel. In Ephesians 2:10 this product of God s grace is spoken of as His

"workmanship," and is said to be "created," to show that He, and not roan, is the Author

of it. In Galatians 4:19 this same work of God in the soul is termed Christ s being

"formed" in us as the parents seed is formed or molded in the mother s womb, the

"likeness" of the parent being stamped upon it.

We cannot here attempt a full list of the numerous figures and expressions which the

Holy Spirit has employed to set forth this saving work of God in the soul. In John 6:44 it

is spoken of as a being "drawn" to Christ. In Acts 16:14 as the heart being "opened" by

the Lord to receive His Truth. In Acts 26:18 as the opening of our eyes, a turning us from

darkness unto light, and the power of Satan unto God. In 2 Corinthians 10:5 as the

"casting down imaginations. and every high thing that exalteth itself against the

know1edge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ."

In Ephesians 5:8 as being "light in the Lord." In 2 Thessalonians 2:13 it is designated the

"sanctification of the Spirit." In Hebrews 8:10 as God s putting His laws into our mind

and writing them on our heart contrast the figure in Jeremiah 17:1! Thus it should be

most apparent that we lose much by limiting our attention to one figure of it. All we have

given, and still others not mentioned, need to be taken into consideration if we are to

obtain anything approaching an adequate conception of the nature of that miracle of grace

which is wrought in the soul and spirit of the elect, enabling them to henceforth live unto

God.

As man was changed in Adam from what he was by a state of creation, so man must be

changed in Christ from what he is by a state of corruption. This change which fits him for

communion with God, is a Divine work wrought in the inclinations of the soul. It is a

being renewed in the spirit of our minds (Eph. 4:23). It is the infusion of a principle of

holiness into all the faculties of our inner being. It is the spiritual renovation of our very

persons, which will yet be consummated by the regeneration of our bodies. The whole

soul is renewed, according to the image of God in knowledge, holiness and righteousness.

A new light shines into the mind, a new power moves the will, a new object attracts the

affections. The individual Is the same, and yet not the same. How different the landscape

when the sun is shining, than when the darkness of a moonless night is upon it the same

landscape, and yet not the same. How different the condition of him who is restored to

health and vigor after having been brought very low by sickness; yet it is the same

person.

The very fact that the Holy Spirit has employed the figures of "begetting" and "birth" to

the saving work of God in the soul, intimates that the reference is only to the initial

experience of Divine grace: "He which hath begun a good work in you" (Phil. 1:6). As an

infant has all the parts of a man, yet none of them come to maturity, so regeneration gives

a perfection of parts, which yet have need to be developed. A new life has been received,

but there needs to be growth of it: "grow in grace" (2 Pet. 3:18). As God was the Giver of

this life, He only can feed and strengthen it. Thus, Titus 3:5 speaks of "the renewing" and

not the "renewal" of the Holy Spirit. But it is our responsibility and bounden duty to use

the Divinely-appointed means of grace which promote spiritual growth: "desire the

sincere milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby" (1 Pet. 2:2); as it is our obligation to

constantly avoid everything which would hinder our spiritual prosperity: "Make not

provision for the flesh to the lusts" (Rom. 13:14), and cf. Matthew 5:29, 30; 2 Corinthians

7:1.

God s consummating of the initial work which we experience at the new birth, and which

He renews throughout the course of our earthly lives, only takes place at the second

coming of our Saviour, when we shall be perfectly and eternally conformed to His image,

both inwardly and outwardly. First, regeneration; then our gradual sanctification; finally

our glorification. But between the new birth and glorification, while we are left down

here, the Christian has both the "flesh" and the "spirit," both a principle of sin and a

principle of holiness, operating within him, the one opposing the other: see Galatians

5:16, 17. Hence his inward experience is such as that which is described in Romans 7:7-

25. As life is opposed to death, purity to impurity, spirituality to carnality, so is now felt

and experienced within the soul a severe conflict between sin and grace. This conflict is

perpetual, as the "flesh" and "spirit" strive for mastery. From hence proceeds the absolute

necessity of the Christian being sober, and to "watch unto prayer."

Finally, let it be pointed out that the principle of life and obedience (the "new nature")

which is received at regeneration, is not able to preserve the soul from sins, nevertheless,

there is full provision for continual supplies of grace made for it and all its wants in the

Lord Jesus Christ. There are treasures of relief in Him, whereunto the soul may at any

time repair and find necessary succour against every incursion of sin. This new principle

of holiness may say to the believer s soul, as David did unto Abiathar when he fled from

Doeg: "Abide thou with me, fear not; for he that seeketh my life seeketh thy life; but with

me thou shalt be in safeguard" (1 Sam. 22:23). Sin is the enemy of the new nature as truly

as it is of the Christian s soul, and his only safety lies in heeding the requests of that new

nature, and calling upon Christ for enablement. Thus we are exhorted in Hebrews 4:16,

"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and

find grace to help in time of need."

If it ever be a time of need with the soul, it is so when it is under the assaults of

provoking sins, when the "flesh" is lusting against the "spirit." But at that very time there

is suitable and seasonable help in Christ for succour and relief. The new nature begs, with

sighs and groans, for the believer to apply to Christ. To neglect Him, with all His

provision of grace, whilst He stands calling on us, "Open to Me . . . for My head is filled

with dew and My locks with the drops of the night" (Song of Sol. 5:2), is to despise the

sighing of the poor prisoner, the new nature, which sin is seeking to destroy, and cannot

but be a high provocation against the Lord.

At the beginning, God entrusted Adam and Eve with a stock of grace in themselves, but

they cast it away, and themselves into the utmost misery thereby. That His children might

not perish a second time, God, instead of imparting to them personally the power to

overcome s-in and Satan, has laid up their portion in Another, a safe Treasurer; in Christ

are their lives and comforts secured (Col. 3:3). And how must Christ regard us, if instead

of applying to Him for relief, we allow sin to distress our conscience, destroy our peace,

and mar our communion? Such is not a sin of infirmity which cannot be avoided, but a

grievous affront of Christ. The means of preservation from it is to hand. Christ is always

accessible. He is ever ready to "succour them that are tempted" (Heb. 2: 18). O to betake

ourselves to Him more and more, day by day, for everything. Then shall each one find "I

can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Phil. 4:13).

All men are by nature the children of wrath, and do belong unto the world, which is the

kingdom of Satan (1 John 5:19), and are under the power of darkness. In this state men

are not the subjects of Christ s kingdom, and have no meetness for Heaven. From this

terrible state they are unable to deliver themselves, being "without strength" (Rom. 5:6).

Out of this state God s elect are supernaturally "called" (1 Pet. 2:9), which call effectually

delivers them from the power of Satan and translates them into the kingdom of God s

dear Son (Col. 1:13). This Divine "call," or work of grace. is variously denominated in

Scripture: sometimes by "regeneration" (Titus 3:5), or the new birth, sometimes by

illumination (2 Cor. 4:6), by transformation (2 Cor. 3:18), by spiritual resurrection (John

5:24). This inward and invincible call is attended with justification and adoption (Rom.

8:30; Eph. 1:5), and is carried on by sanctification in holiness. This leads us to consider:

"The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell

whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit" (John

3:8). Though the wind be imperious in its action, man being unable to regulate it; though

it be mysterious in its nature man knowing nothing of the cause which controls it; yet its

presence is unmistakable, its effects are plainly evidenced: so it is with every one that is

born of the Spirit. His secret but powerful operations lie beyond the reach of our

understanding. Why God has ordained that the Spirit should quicken this person and not

that, we know not, but the transforming results of His working are plain and palpable.

What there are, we shall now endeavor to describe.

1. The illumination of the understanding. As it was in the old creation, so it is in

connection with the new. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" (Gen.

1:1). That was the original creation. Then came degeneration: "And the earth became

without form and void (a desolate waste) and darkness was upon the face of the deep."

Next came restoration: "And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, and

God said, Let there be light: and there was light." So it is when God begins to restore

fallen man: "For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in

our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus

Christ" (2 Cor. 4:6).

The Divine illumination which the mind receives at the new birth is not by means of

dreams or visions, nor does it consist in the revelation of things to the soul which have

not been made known in the Scriptures. Not so, the only means or instrument which the

Holy Spirit employs is the written Word: "