"YE MUST BE BORN AGAIN"

In order for you to do anything acceptable to God, you must be born again. If you are not born again, your best works are only good-looking sins. Though the action itself might be commendable, it is very defective in its performance.

Without regeneration (new birth) there is no faith, and “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb 11:6). Faith is a vital act of the newborn soul. The apostle John showed the different reception the Lord Jesus had from different people: some received Him, some rejected Him. Regenerating grace was the true cause of that difference. Without this no one would have received Him. John tells us that those who “received him,” were those “which were born of God” (Joh 1:11-13). Unregenerate men may presume, but they cannot have true faith. Faith is a flower that does not grow in the field of nature. As the tree cannot grow without a root, neither can a man believe without the new nature, of which faith is a part. Without regeneration a man’s works are only dead works. As is the root, so must the branches be. If the lungs are rotten, the breath will stink; and he who at best is dead in sin, his works at best will be but dead works. “Unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure…being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate” (Tit 1:15-16). We may say of a man that he is more blameless in his life than anyone else in the world, that he reduces his body with fasting and has made his knees calloused with continual praying. However, if he is not born again, that exception would mar all the rest. This is like saying, “There is a wellproportioned body, but the soul is gone; it is but a dead lump of flesh.” This is an overwhelming thought! You do many good things outwardly; but God says, “All these things avail not, as long as I see the old nature reigning in you.” “For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature” (Gal 6:15).

If you are not born again: (1) All your reformation is worthless in the sight of God. You have shut the door, but the thief is still in the house. It may be you are not what you once were; yet you are not what you must be, if you wish to see heaven; for “except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (Joh 3:3).

(2) Your prayers are an “abomination to the LORD” (Prov 15:8). It may be others admire your seriousness. You cry as for your life, but God considers the opening of your mouth as one would consider the opening of a grave full of rottenness. “Their throat is an open sepulchre” (Rom 3:13). Others are affected with your prayers, which seem to them as if they would rend the heavens; but God considers them but as the howling of a dog. “They have not cried unto me with their hearts, when they howled upon their beds” (Hos 7:14). Why?—because you are yet “in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity” (Act 8:23)! All your struggles against sin in your own heart and life are worthless. The proud Pharisee afflicted his body with fasting, and God struck his soul in the meantime with a sentence of condemnation (Luk 18). Balaam struggled with his covetous temper. Though he loved the wages of unrighteousness, yet he would not win them by cursing Israel; but he died the death of the wicked (Num 31:8). All you do, while in an unregenerate state, is for yourself; therefore it will fare with you as with a king’s soldier, who having defeated the rebels, puts the crown on his own head, and loses all his good service and his head too.

Be convinced, then, that you must be born again. The Scripture says that the Word is the seed from which the new creature is formed; therefore take heed to it, and receive it, as it is your life. Apply yourself to the reading of the Scripture. Attend diligently to the preaching of the Word, as by God’s plan it is the special means of conversion; for “it pleased God, by the foolishness of preaching, to save them that believe” (1Co 1:21).

Receive the testimony of the Word of God concerning the misery of an unregenerate state, the sinfulness thereof, and the absolute necessity of regeneration. Receive its testimony concerning God, what a holy and just One He is. Examine your ways by the Word; namely, the thoughts of your heart, the expressions of your lips, and the whole course of your life. Look back through the various periods of your life. See your sins from the commandments in the Word; and learn, from its threatening, what you are liable to on account of these sins.

By the help of the same Word of God, view the corruption of your nature. Were these things deeply rooted in the heart, they might be the seed of that fear and sorrow, on account of your soul’s state, which are necessary to prepare and stir you up to look for a Savior. Fix your thoughts upon Him offered to you in the gospel, as fully suited to your condition. By His obedience unto death, Jesus perfectly satisfied the justice of God, and brought in everlasting righteousness. This may prove the seed of humiliation, desire, hope, and faith, and move you to stretch out the withered hand to Him at His own command (Luk 6:6-10).

Let these things sink deeply into your hearts, and diligently think about them. Remember, whoever you are, you must be born again; or else, it had been better for you if you had never been born. Therefore, if any of you shall live and die in an unregenerate state, you will be inexcusable, having been fully warned of your danger

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