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VOL. IV. RICHMON1
The Condition i
(Thig address was delivered some years asro at. the
Northfleld Bible Conference by Rev. John McDowell
and published in The Record of Christian Work. It is
forwarded to ub by Mr. W. S. McClanahan. We are
pleased to have it appear in th? columns of The
Presbyterian of The South.)
''Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily,
verily, 1 say unto thee, except a man be born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of Qod."
John iii. 3:
1 want to consider to-night with you the
condition for entering the kingdom of God as
stated by Jesus Christ, the King of the King
doin. 1 begin by saying that the sovereign
power of a kingdom has the right to state the
condition upon which a man may become a
member of that kingdom. Thus, the United
States government, for instance, says to every
foreigner who wishes to become a citizen of
this great country, "You must be naturalized."
And it also defines what this process of
naturalization shall be.
Organizations follow the same plan. Secret
societies exercise the right to say what the condition
of membership shall be. They apply
what they call an initiation. They do not ask
whether you like the process or not; they state
the condition and you must be initiated if you
are to become a member*.
Now, it is manifestly fair that if we recognize
this right in government and in human
organization we should recognize it also in
the kingdom of God. The only question, there
lore, which ought to concern us is this, Has
tiie King of the kingdom, Jesus Christ, stated
the condition for membership in the kingdom
of God? 1 believe He has plainly and definitely
in the words of our text, "Verily, verily, I
say unto thee, Except a man be born again, x
he cannot see the kingdom of God." Then:?
I. REGENERATION IS THE CONDITION FOR MEMBERSHIP
IN THE KINGDOM OP GOD.
This great doctrine was fundamental in the
teachings of Jesus Christ. We cannot overestimate
its importance. We cannot afford to
minimize it, for to minimize it is to lose the vitality
of the gospel of Christ. Christ emphasizes
its importance by the words He used in
this remarkable interview with Nicodemus.
Each time He stated the condition it was with
the emphatic expression, "Verily, verily." The
use of this form .of expression indicates that
1 hrist regardedthis doctrine as vital. Regeneration
was not presented to Nicodemus as a
uatter of choice, but as a necessity. This is the
hrst demand that the gospel of Christ makes
upon men. It; starts here, and always has started
here, and as long as the gospel is true to
Christ it always will start here in dealing with*
^>/
D. NEW ORLEANS. ATLANTA. AUGU
For Entering the Ki
By REV. JOHN McDOWELL
a lost soul. The periods in the life of the
Church when it has been most alive and most
concerned with spiritual life have been the periods
when this great doctrine has been emphasized;
and the periods when the Church has
felt the hands of death upon it have been the
periods when this doctrine has been forgotten
or ignored. If this is true that this doctrine
held a high place in the teachings of Christ
and of His apostles, and in the Christian church
when it has been most powerful, we cannot afford
ill t.hpsP mITrl?rn timps tn minimi/u it. xaa
cannot afford to substitute anything else for
it. It behooves us as Christian workers, as followers
of Jesus Christ to recognize its importance,
to understand it, and to teach it as the
condition upon which men enter the kingdom
of God. But before we can teach it effectually
we must know what regeneration is.
? II. WHAT IS REGENERATION ?
If it is the condition upon which I become
a member of the kingdom of God, 1 ought to
know what it is. My eternal destiny is at
stake, and 1 cannot afford to be in doubt; 1
cannot afford to misunderstand this doctrine.
If written over the door of the kingdom of God
are these words, "Ye must be born again,"
then 1 want to be born again, and I want my
f..l 1 A- U- 1 IT . .
lciiuvv 111(711 to ue uorn again, ana 1 want to
know what it means to be born again. What,
then, is regeneration?
(1) Let me begin by stating what regeneration
is not. Religion is not regeneration. A
man may have religion and yet be an unregenerated
man. The world is full of religion today.
It was full of religion in Jesus Christ's
time. Everybody has a religion now; everybody
had a religion then. The man who came to
Jesus by night was a man deeply religious
yet it was to this very religious man
Jesus Christ said, "Nicodemus, you cannot see
the kingdom of God." Religion is not necessarily
regeneration, but regeneration always
results in vital religion.
Church membership is not regeneration, but
regeneration ought to result in church membership.
Nicodemus was a church member,
but it was to this church member, this rabbi,
that Jesus gave this imperative command.
Ananias and Sapphira were church members
at .Jerusalem. They were not regenerated.
Morality is not regeneration. Oh! that I might
burn this fact into your minds tonight! My
friends, let us understand very clearly that
morality has a high value. Jesus Christ never
minimized it. But a man may be a moral, man
and yet not be a regenerated man. The rich
young ruler was an attractive man, and from
the world's point of view a moral man. He
could say, "All these commandments have I
kept from my youth up;" and yet he was conscious
that something of vital importance was
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ST 21, 1912. NO. 34.
ingdom of God
lacking. Mbrality is good as far as it goes, but
it does not go far enough.
Culture is not regeneration. Some of you
here to-night are college women. You have
been identifying your culture with religion and
substituting it for the real thing in life. Qod
forbid that I should say a word that would
in any way depreciate the importance, the
value of this God-given power. Yet after all,
culture is not regeneration. I dare say that
Nieodemus would compare very favorably with
our modern educators, and 1 dare say from the
standpoint of culture he would take his place
in the first rank with our men, and yet it was
to this man of culture and literary ability that
Jesus said. "Ye must be born again."
(2) What Regeneration is. It is a word that
needs to be defined. You will do well to recognize
the Bible as the standard authority in
your definition. It is only when your definition
will square with its teachings that you can
call your definition a scriptural definition. You
will sec that the word used in the chapter from
which we take our text is the little word,
"born" or "birth." "Verily, verily, I say unto
you, Except a man be born again he cannot
see the kingdom of God." "Marvel not that I
said unto thee, Ye must be born again." This
word born is the heart and the essence of regeneration.
Into those four letters Christ has
packed the dynamic thought which is to revolutionize
this life. Do you catch the suggestion
from the word born? It is this: Birth
is always the condition of life, whether in the
physical or spiritual realm. There is no life without
birth. It is just as true in the spiritual
realm as in the physical. Birth is the root idea
of regeneration, and hence it is that the word
regeneration means an act and not a process,
an act of God not of man, an act of God
through the Holy-Spirit by which the divine
nature of the living God is implanted in man.
That is what it means It io ?
.v ?u wmu liii^
in the life of man the life of God. It is that act
by which "we are made partakers of the divine
nature." How simple it ought to be!
Birth?the condition of life. Regeneration is
to spiritual life what generation is to physical
life. We come into possession of physical
life through generation. We come into possession
of spiritual life through regeneration.
You have no more right to expect spiritual life
wit^iah4* 4V. ? ? ?1 1 ,"1
uiiui man pnysicai lire without birth.
One is as possible as the other. Thousands and
thousands are trying to live the spiritual life
who have never experienced spiritual hirth.
It is a weary struggle, a hopeless effort. Let
us by faith open our hearts to the divine Regenerator,
the IToly Spirit.
(3) Now, some one says, "If this is what
regeneration is, is it not very mysterious?"
Yes, it is, and yet not more so than other
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