There are no TWO ways about it--
"You Must Be Born Again"by D. L. Moody
I was twenty years old before I ever heard a
sermon on regeneration. I was always told to be
good, but you might as well tell a black man to be
a good white man as tell him to be good without
telling him how. You might tell a slave to be free,
but that would not make him free. Christ not only
tells us to be free, but He frees us.
We are a bad lot, all of us, by nature. It is
astonishing how the devil blinds us and makes us
think we are naturally so good. Don't talk to me
about people's being naturally good and angelic.
We are naturally bad, all of us. The first man
born of a woman was a murderer. Sin leaped into
the world full grown, and the whole race has been
bad all the way down. Man is naturally bad.
Man has lost the image of God. Take just one
description that Christ gives of the human heart:
"[O]ut of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders,
adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness,
blasphemies: These are the things which defile a
man" (Matt. 15:19-20). Now, I want to ask you,
How in the world can you get a pure stream when
you have such an impure fountain? It isn't patch-
ing up the old man that is needed, but it is hew-
ing down that tree and putting a new graft in. It
is an entire change--a new creation.
I have heard of reform, reform, until I am
sick and tired of the whole thing. It is regenera-
tion by the power of the Holy Ghost that we
need. You may whitewash a pesthouse, but it will
still be a pesthouse.
The new birth isn't making good resolutions,
having good intentions, turning over a new leaf,
or making promises or vows. That isn't the new
birth at all.
Perhaps some of you say, "What is it?" Well,
listen: "He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (John 1:11-13)
To become a partaker of the divine nature is the greatest blessing that can come to any man this side of heaven. God has been very, very good to me. He has given me blessing upon blessing.
But there is one blessing that towers high above them all. It came to me one night. I remember the night. It was in a shoe store in Boston. I never go to Boston without going around and taking a look at that place where God met me and imparted to me a new nature.
Old things passed away that night; a new life dawned upon me, and that is the greatest blessing that has ever come to me this side of heaven.
I received God's nature, a NEW nature, distinct and separate from the old nature. I would doubt my existence as easily as I would doubt that fact.
If you are not sure that you have become a partaker of the divine nature, don't eat, drink, or sleep until you get that new nature. When you get that new nature, it is easy to serve God. He isn't a hard master.In India the swan is considered a sacred bird.
There is a legend there that one day an old crane was out on the beach looking for snails, and down came a big white swan. The crane stretched its great long neck and said to the swan, "Where do you come from?"
The swan said, "From heaven."
"Heaven," said the crane. "I've never heard of that place. Is it far away?"
"Oh, yes, it is."
"Is it a good country?"
"Oh, yes, it is."
"Is it better than this?"
"Oh far better." And the swan went on ex-
claiming about heaven, about its lakes and its rivers, its fountains and its climate.
The old crane stood there listening, and when the swan was through, he said, "Have they any snails there?"
The swan drew itself up and said, "No, the vile things! They wouldn't have them in heaven."
"Well, then," said the crane, "you can have your heaven. I don't want it. I want snails!"
Don't you see a mighty truth wrapped up in that legend? I just as much believe that man has to be born from above before he wants to go to Heaven, as I believe that I exist. Take an unregenerated man and put him under the shadow of the tree of life, and it would be hell to him. Take the carnal man, the natural man, and put him on the crystal pavements of Heaven, and it would be hell to him.
Man has to have a divine nature before he will want to go to Heaven. If he has this low nature, he doesn't want to go there. He would be out of his element; he would be out of his atmosphere if he got there. What men want is to be born from above, born again, born of the Spirit, and then they will live for Heaven. You will never get a person to live for Heaven until he is born from above, until he gets the divine life.
How solemn these words are "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God[,]" much less inherit it. See (John 3:3). If this thing is true, it is a most solemn thing, and you and I cannot afford to be deceived. Let us each put the question to ourselves: Have I really been born of the Spirit?
When I was born of my mother, I received a nature from her, and also life from her; but in Boston, seventeen years afterward, I was born from above; I received life from God--a new life, distinct and separate from the natural life. I obtained a life that is as everlasting as God's life, a life that has no end, eternal life. How did I get it?
By receiving the Word of God into my heart.
Christ says, "[T]he words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." (John 6:63) There is life in His Word. You may take the Word of God into your heart, and there is the germ, there is the life. If I should take my watch and plant it, I wouldn't get any little watches, would I? Why not? Because the germ of life is not there.
If I should plant a bushel of gravel, I would not get any more gravel, would I? But let me plant a bushel of corn at the proper time, let me get the seed and put it into the ground in the month of May, let the dews of heaven come upon the land, and the rain and the sun, and out of the death of that corn will come a new life. "[T]he words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." Then the Bible speaks in another place of the "incorruptible seed," which is the Word of God.
Oh, man or woman, you may be deceived about ten thousand things, but do not be deceived about this one thing! Make sure you have the divine nature, that you have been born from above, that you have been born of God, that you have a life that comes from God, a life distinct and separate from the natural life, a new life, a new creation.A ruler once came to Jesus by night,
To ask Him the way of salvation and light;
The Master made answer in words true and plain,
"Ye must be born again, again."
"Ye must be born again, again,
Ye must be born again, again;
I verily, verily say unto thee,
Ye must be born again, again."
Ye children of men, attend to the Word
So solemnly uttered by Jesus, the Lord;
And let not this message to you be in vain,
"Ye must be born again, again."
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