Scripture teaches that it is the goodness of
God that leads to repentance (see Rom. 2: 4) and that faith “is
God’s gift” (Eph. 2: 8). Despite this, faith and repentance do at
least
seem to be within the
range of human capacity—both speak of that which men might
reasonably think they are able to do. When man considers the
necessity of new birth for salvation, however, he falls back
helplessly in the presence of the sovereignty of God. To admit one’s
wrongs, and to believe and to trust, are all concepts that man can
conceive as being within his ability, but to give himself birth is
so utterly outside his power as to be incomprehensible. This then is
the Holy Spirit’s work alone. Strange to say, sinners are constantly
being told by preachers that “it is needful that
ye should be born anew”
(John 3: 7), without any apparent realisation that it is not
something the sinner can do! Yet this is precisely the value of the
doctrine of new birth in connection with the gospel—it is to
convince man that salvation is impossible as far as human effort is
concerned, and thus to cast man
wholly upon God.
He who preaches the Spirit’s work without
regard to the condition of his hearers is like a medical
practitioner who, because one patient has been cured by a certain
remedy, administers it promiscuously to all. “Ye should be born anew” was addressed to Nicodemus, but not to the
Samaritan woman at the well, or to the multitude around the pool of
Bethesda. Certainly it was true for all, but it was not the special
truth all needed. Indeed, the more the Lord’s words are weighed and
studied, the more we shall be struck by the wisdom with which He
ministered the truth. In John 4, we are brought face to face with a
sinner living in open immorality but without any sense of sin—and we
are surrounded by multitudes of such persons, where a sinful course
is not so much the result of a depraved heart or an abandoned will,
as of a conscience near enough dead. The Lord thus seeks first to
interest her, then to awaken her, and finally He declares Himself.
But with Nicodemus we have a man who is ostensibly in the right
path—his coming to Christ is in itself a proof that he is a seeker
after God. But he comes claiming a position that ousts divine grace
altogether, and the Saviour must make him see the true reality of
his position before He can be a Saviour to him. Supposing himself to
already have a place in the kingdom, Nicodemus comes to the Lord
seeking instruction from the teacher come from God (see John 3: 2),
but the Lord answers him at once by declaring his need of the
Spirit’s work. Had the Lord exposed sin in Nicodemus, no doubt he
would earnestly have repented of it. Had He unfolded to him a higher
morality than he had ever learned before, then he would surely have
eagerly pursued it. But to be told that “Except any one be born anew
he cannot see the kingdom of God” (v3), not only put him outside
that of which he claimed a place, but seemed to shut the door
against him forever. It is now no longer now “the teacher of Israel”
(v10) seeking wisdom from the teacher come from God, but the sinner
in the presence of his Saviour, seeking pardon and life. The
declaration of the love of God (see v16) and of the lifting up of
Christ (see vs. 14–15), are not the answer to the difficulty, “How
can these things be?” (v9) but rather the answer to the need of a
Saviour which Christ had awakened in the heart of Nicodemus.
It was thus the Master preached. With the
profligate Samaritan, He probed with matchless grace and wisdom the
festering but hidden wound of sin. For the ignorant and needy
multitude, He flung the door of mercy open wide, so that all might
enter. But with the Pharisee, who did not see his need for grace, He
seemed to change His purpose, and to close the door against him. Yet
no sooner did Nicodemus take the sinner’s place (and we know he
did), then he found the way as free and open as the power and love
of God could make it. Here then, is the value of the Spirit’s work.
For the sinner with no claim on righteousness, the Spirit speaks of
a Saviour God who has drawn close to us in all our need, such that
He must even have ‘dealings’ with an immoral outcast of Samaria (see
John 4: 9). For the Pharisee lacking any true knowledge of his
fallen state, the Spirit testifies that that the gulf between Him
and His God is impassable. To the one it testifies of sovereign
grace, to the other it testifies that grace is sovereign,
but the objective for both is salvation.
Faith and repentance are but effects of the
Spirit’s work, and failure to see this inevitably leads to wrong
ideas about the Gospel, such that turning to God is viewed as an act
of the human will. This can take many subtle forms. Thus exercised
souls are sometimes told that if they will only pray a certain
prayer (usually presented to them in written form) then they will be
‘saved’. Anything to help with prayer is of course to be welcomed,
but both faith and repentance can also be false, and the delusion
may be reinforced by such aids. In the parable of the sower, both
the seed that fell upon the rock and the seed that fell among the
thorns ‘responded’ to the Gospel as an act of the human will.
Indeed, in the one, the advancement in spiritual things was
seemingly rapid (not always a good sign—compare Luke 8: 15: “bring
forth fruit with patience”), while in the other the ‘growth’ was
longstanding. In both cases, however, no fruit was brought to
maturity. Fruit is the key—just because I have ‘come forward’ at an
evangelical rally or read out a pre–prepared prayer of repentance in
the quietness of my own home does not, of itself, make me a
believer. Far too much weight is placed on these actions of the
individual when what really matters is evidence that
God is working in me.
How could Paul say to the Thessalonians “knowing
… your election” (1 Thess. 1: 4, my emphasis)? Because he could
recall their “work of faith, and labour of love, and enduring
constancy of hope” (v3). The same was true of Nicodemus as we track
his spiritual progress through John’s Gospel (see John 3: 1–21; 7:
50, 51; 19: 39, 40). Truly in his case the seed had fallen on good
ground, “and yielded fruit, growing up and increasing” (Mark 4: 8)!
Thus: “he who has begun in you a good work will complete it unto
Jesus Christ’s day” (Phil. 1: 6). Such is the value of the Spirit’s
work.
