The Heavenly Birth and its Earthly Counterfeits 2
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V. But in speaking of these "sons of God," the apostle describes them negatively as well as positively; he tells us what they are not, and he tells us what they are. And it is by contrasting what they are not with what they are, that we may arrive at some spiritual knowledge of their real character and position.
1. Those then that have "received Christ," and by receiving Christ have "become the sons of God" manifestively, are said "not to have been born of blood." The Jews, we know, laid great stress upon their lineal descent from Abraham. "We be Abraham's seed," they said to the Lord on one occasion, "and were never in bondage to any man; how say You, You shall be made free?" "Are You greater," asked they, "than our father Abraham?" (John 8:33, 53). Their lineal descent from Abraham was the ground of their hope; and they believed that, being his children, they were interested in all the promises which were made to him. They saw no distinction between the children of Abraham literally and the children of Abraham spiritually; and those promises which were made to the spiritual seed of Abraham, as "the father of all those who believe" (Rom. 4:11), they appropriated to themselves as his lineal and literal descendants. Now the apostle in the text demolishes that false idea, cuts from under their feet the ground on which their vain hopes rested, and declares that those who are so highly favored as to "become the sons of God" had something more than being "born of blood."
If you look at the word "born," it implies some change. Birth is a transition from a state of almost non-existence into existence--a coming from darkness to light. When the apostle then says of them, that they were "born not of blood," he implies that a change of some kind might take place, analogous to the natural birth, and yet not be such a change as makes a man become a child of God. Is there not such a false birth frequently now? Are there not what are called "pious children of pious parents?" And could you trace their religion to the very source and run it up to its first origin, you would find that it had no better beginning than parental piety; that the religious father taught religion to his child, and by dint of admonition and instruction made him just as religious as himself. So that a change may have taken place; seriousness may have taken the place of trifling, religious books may have been taken up instead of novels, and hymns be sung instead of songs; but after all, the change is a mere birth "of blood." There has been no spiritual change, no almighty work of the Holy Spirit in the soul; but the religion has been handed down from parent to child, and stands upon no better footing than a mother's instruction or a father's tuition. Those who were "born of God" had something better than this to stand upon.
2. But the apostle, in tracing out the character of those who were "the sons of God," brings forward another imitation of a spiritual birth; he says they were not born "of the will of theflesh." Has "the flesh," then, a will to be religious? Aye, surely; we have a religious "old man," as well as an irreligious "old man." Nature is not confined to one garb; she wears many masks, and can put on various appearances. Thus there is a will in man--at least in many men--to be religious, and, if possible, save themselves. But those who were "born of God," and had "power given to them to become the sons of God," had experienced a deeper, higher, because a spiritual and supernatural work upon their consciences, than any such birth "after the will of the flesh."
The flesh, however high it may rise, can never rise above itself. It begins in hypocrisy, it goes on in hypocrisy, and it never can end but in hypocrisy. Whatever various shapes it puts on--and it may wear the highest Calvinistic garb, as well as assume the lowest Arminian dress--a fleshly religion never can rise above itself. There is no brokenness of heart, no contrition of spirit, no godly sorrow, no genuine humility, no living faith, no spiritual hope, no heavenly love, "shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Spirit," in those that are "born after the will of the flesh." No abasing views of self, no tender feelings of reverence towards God, no filial fear of His great name, no melting of heart, no softening of spirit, no deadness to the world, no sweet communion with the Lord of life and glory, ever dwelt in their breasts. The flesh, with all its workings, and all its subtle deceit and hypocrisy, never sank so low as self-abhorrence and godly sorrow, and never mounted so high as into communion with the Three-One God. The depth of the one is too deep, and the height of the other too high for any but those who are "born of God."
3. We read, however, in the text, of another birth still, which is, "of the will of man." Man then it appears has a will to become religious; and as the birth according to "the will of the flesh" pointed out a religion taken up by ourselves, so the birth after "the will of man" shadows forth a religion put upon us by others. And to what does the great mass of the religion of the present day amount? If we gauge it by the scriptural standard, if we look at it with a spiritual eye, if we examine it in its beatings Godward, what must we say of the vast bulk of religion current in this professing day? Must we not say that it is according to "the will of man?"
Eloquent exhortations to "flee from the wrath to come," thundering denunciations of God's vengeance against the world, working upon the natural feelings, wooing men into a profession of religion, drawing into churches boys and girls just out of the Sunday school, and persuading all from infancy to grey-hairs to become religious--this is the way in which is brought about the birth after "the will of man." And what is the end of it all? It leaves the soul under "the wrath to come." There is in all this religion no deliverance from the law, no pardon of sin, no separation from the world, no salvation from death and hell. These various births, be they "of blood, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man," leave a man just where they found him--dead in sin, destitute of the fear of God, and utterly ignorant of that divine teaching, which alone can save his soul from eternal wrath.
But those who were so highly privileged and so spiritually blessed as to "receive Christ," and by receiving Christ to "become the sons of God," were partakers of another birth than these false ones, and had received another teaching, another gospel, and another Jesus. And these, and these only, were "born of God." The Lord Himself had quickened their souls, and brought them out of nature's darkness into His own marvelous light; the Lord Himself, by His secret work upon their consciences, had cast them down and lifted them up, had brought them to the birth and had also brought them forth; and thus they were "born of God," and had received the kingdom of God with power into their hearts, so as to become "new creatures," and to "pass from death unto life."
We see then the steps that the Spirit of God has here been pleased to trace out. We see that He has drawn a separating line between those who had nothing but nature, and those who had something more than nature--even the grace and Spirit of God; and we see that the Lord with decisive hand sets aside every profession but that which springs out of His own divine teaching; and will have no subjects of His scepter and no inhabitants of His kingdom but those in whose hearts He Himself has begun, and is carrying on His own "work of faith with power."
Now I believe that for the most part, those who have nothing else but a birth "of blood, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man," have no doubts nor fears, no strong exercises nor sharp trials as to their eternal state before God--while, on the other hand, those whom the Lord is teaching by the blessed Spirit, are often tried and exercised in their minds whether the feelings which they from time to time inwardly experience spring from a real work of God upon their souls, or whether they are mere counterfeits and imitations of a work of grace.
Thus, in God's mysterious providence, those who have every reason to fear have for the most part no fear at all, and those who have no reason whatever to fear; but stand complete in Christ, the objects of God's eternal love, and the sheep for whom Jesus died, are the only persons who are plagued and pestered with the fears that spring from their own unbelieving hearts, and the temptations with which Satan is continually distressing their minds. It is the object of Satan to keep those secure who are safe in his hands; nor does God see fit to disturb their quiet. He has no purpose of mercy towards them; they are not subjects of His kingdom--they are not objects of His love. He therefore leaves them carnally secure; in a dream, from which they will not awake until God "despises their image" (Ps. 73:20).
But on the other hand, where Satan perceives a work of grace going on; where he sees the eyes sometimes filled with tears, where he hears the sobs heaving from the contrite heart, where he observes the knees often bent in secret prayer, where his listening ear often hears the poor penitent confess his sins, weaknesses, and backslidings before God (for by these observations, we have reason to believe, Satan gains his intelligence), wherever he sees this secret work going on in the soul, mad with wrath and filled with malice, he vents his hellish spleen against the objects of God's love. Sometimes he tries to ensnare them into sin, sometimes to harass them with temptation, sometimes to stir up their wicked heart into desperate rebellion, sometimes to work upon their natural infidelity, and sometimes to plague them with many groundless doubts and fears as to their reality and sincerity before a heart-searching God.
So that while those who have no work of grace upon their hearts at all are left secure, and free from doubt and fear; those in whom God is at work are exercised and troubled in their minds, and often cannot really believe that they are the people in whom God takes delight. The depths of human hypocrisy, the dreadful lengths to which profession may go, the deceit of the carnal heart, the snares spread for the unwary feet, the fearful danger of being deceived at the last--these traps and pitfalls are not objects of anxiety to those dead in sin. As long as they can pacify natural conscience, and do something to soothe any transient conviction, they are glad to be deceived.
But, on the other hand, he that has a conscience tender in God's fear knows what a dreadful thing it is to be a hypocrite before God, to have "a lie in his right hand," and be deluded by the prince of darkness; and therefore, until God Himself assures him with His own blessed lips, speaks with power to his conscience, and establishes him in a blessed assurance of his interest in Christ by "shedding abroad His love in his heart," he must be exercised and tried in his mind, he must have these various tossings to and fro, for this simple reason--because he cannot rest satisfied except in the personal manifestations of the mercy of God.
In this congregation, doubtless, there are living souls who are thus exercised. When you feel how carnal you have been--and how often are you carnal!--how your mind has been buried in the things of time and sense, how little prayer has been flowing out of your heart, how eternal things have been hidden from your view--when you awake as out of a dream, and find all your evidences beclouded, and all your past experience covered with a thick veil of darkness, then these painful fears begin to rise in your mind--lest with all your profession you should be deceived at the last.
But what do you under such circumstances? Do you fly to man? No; for you are taught to see that "miserable comforters are you all" (Job 6:2). Do you fly back to past experiences? As you endeavor to pursue them, they more and more recede from your view. Do you endeavor to gather up your former comforts? They slip out of your fingers, and you have no solid grasp of them. Do you go to ministers, that they may speak a flattering word? If they do speak to you words of encouragement, you cannot receive it. And thus, driven out of all creature hopes, your whole refuge and sole resource is the Lord Himself. To Him you go with a contrite heart, with a troubled mind, with an exercised soul; at His feet you bend with holy reverence, and cast yourself as a poor guilty wretch at His footstool. And when, in sweet and blessed answer to the cry of your soul, He drops in a word to raise up your drooping spirit, then you receive that which no human hand could minister; you have a balm which no human physician could give; and your soul for a time feels satisfied with a sense and testimony of the Lord's goodness.
Shall we quarrel, then, with these doubts and exercises, these temptations and trials, these assaults from Satan, these workings up of inward corruption, when they are, in God's mercy and in God's providence, such blessed helpers? If they drive us to a throne of grace to receive answers of mercy there; if by them we are brought out of lying refuges; if by them all false hopes are stripped off from us; if by them we are made honest and sincere before God; if by them we turn away from all human help, and come wholly and solely to the Lord that He alone may speak peace to us, and bless us; shall we quarrel with these things, which are--if I may use the expression--such friendly enemies, that are so changed from curses into blessings, that in God's overruling providence are made so mysteriously to work for our good?
Shall we not rather bless God for every exercise that brings us to His footstool? for every temptation that has stripped away creature-righteousness; for every blow that has cut us off from the world; for every affliction that has embittered the things of time and sense; for everything, however painful to the flesh, which has brought us nearer to Himself, and made us feel more love towards Him, and more desire after Him? Sure I am, that when we sum up God's mercies, we must include in the number, things painful to the flesh, and which at one time we could only look upon as miseries; no, in summing up the rich total, we must catalogue in the list every pang of guilt, every stroke of conviction, every agonizing doubt, every painful fear, every secret temptation, everything that has most disturbed us.
And could we among God's mercies assign a more prominent place to one than to another, we should give the most distinguished to the deepest trial. We should say--"Of all mercies, next to manifested mercies (for we must put them at the head of the list), the greatest have been troubles, trials, exercises, and temptations; for we now see that their blessed effect has been to cut us clean out of fleshly religion, and out of those delusions which, had we continued in them, would have been our destruction, and thus eventually to bring us into nearer union, and to more sweet and special communion with God Himself."
God leads all His people "forth by the right way;" but the right way is to them as God leads them, a mysterious one, for He "brings the blind by a way that they knew not" (Isa. 42:16). Could you and I, by the eye of faith, retrace the whole path that God has been pleased to lead us in, from the time He was pleased to quicken our souls; or I might go further back than that--from the time that we came into existence; could we accurately and believingly trace out all the path, we should come to this sweet conclusion in our minds--It has all been a path of undeserved and unmingled mercy; His dealings with us, however painful they may have been, yet have all guided us "by the right way, that we might go to a city of habitation" (Ps. 107:7).
And what is our present condition? Some of us perhaps are passing through severe trials, walking in "darkness that may be felt," laboring under heavy burdens, and not seeing the sun behind the cloud. But may we not judge from the past, what is the use of the present, and what will be the outcome of the future? Has the Lord ever disappointed your expectations? Has He ever been to you less than you have hoped, or other than you wished? Oh that the Lord would enable each of us to trust Him even now! However dark the path He may call us to walk in, may the Lord give us this blessed confidence, that He is still leading us, still guiding us, and will lead us and guide us, until He brings us to "see Him as He is," to enjoy His presence, and to sit down in His glorious and eternal kingdom.
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