Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1921-08-10

born again?'
l. Because flesh and blood cannot
inherit the kingdom Of heaven"
Il Cor. 1850; "becuuse the mind Of
the flesh Is enmity against God: for it
Is not subject to the law of God nell
ther indeed can be: and they that nre
III the flesh (not in the Spirit) cannot
please God" Utom. ST, 81; because
the natural man recciveth not the
things Of the Spirit Of God: for they
are foolishncSS unto him; and he cam
not know them, because they are splr-
i;ually judgcd' Or. vi Cor. = I'D.
l. The natural man has no taste for
heavenly things. Have YOU heard the
legend Of the swan? The swan came
from the skies and invited the heron
10 soar upward. He pictured the beauty
of the clouds, the glories of the stars,
charming landscapes, flowing streams.
The heron asked, "Arc there any snails
therc?' Not for all these pure glorics
would he leave the mud and snails. lie
had no taste for them. The natural
man asks, Are there any picture
shows up there? Any football games
up thcrc?"
2. The natural man canot enter tho
kingdom Of heaven. "Ye must be born
again." This sole condition Is the
hinge upon which the door Into the
kingdom opens and closes. What would
person do In heaven with an unre-
newed nature? He could not possibly
enjoy 1t. In the brightness Of light
proceeding from the throne the dead
70 I'm
renewed, unchanged, there could be no
fellowship with holy spiritual beings.
and indeed no love for their society.
In every way one would feel out Of
place there. as at wedding feast with
out wedding garment.
Il You do not enjoy the pra}sing Of
God here, how could you there? If you
nave nothing In common with the
saints mere and do not enjoy spiritual
things, neither VIII you in that upper
world. But it is quite useless to speak
of these things; for unless you be born
again you cannot see the kingdom Of
God-even here and now "Ye must"
There are no exceptions.
II. Because mere morality Is not suf-
ficient. We can understand why n m,lr-
dercr would be excluded, hut why
respected man like Nicodcmls? Nico.
demus was a moral man. But morality
has to do only with conduct. 1t applies
only to the outer life. 1t has to do only
with our relations to our fellows, while
religion concerns, primarily, our rela-
tion to God, though it also embraces
our relations to our fellows.
III. The new birth Is universal
necessity.
l. Scientists now we'll know that
only life can produce life. Nothing be.
comes alive, unless life Is impaired to
1t. Furthermore, no subject can rise
into the kingdom above 1t save by
means Of a new life impaired to it by
that higher life. e., except by being
born from above.
The dead soil cannot Of itself grow
into beautiful, stately pine tree. But
the life Of the tree may lay hold Of the
soil and assimilate it into itself. there.
by giving it higher life The vege>
table kingdom cannot enter the ami.
nal kingdom except through animal,
life impaired to it.
2. The same holds true If we ascend
life. Life from above must be impart.
ed to our natural life before we can
enter or even see the spiritual king,
dom. The Kingdom Of God Is not en-.
tered by natural men, but by spiritual.
Hence the necessity OF n spiritual BIRTH
A great, great change Is necessary for
every man before he is ready to enter
the kingdom Of God. Some power must
make us over into something different
from what we are by nature. AS the
natural birth was necessary to produce
the life Of the body with all it's fncul.
ties so the spiritual birth Is necessary
to the life Of the soul.
Christ Is the only man who has come
down out Of heaven, and who has
again ascended Into heaven. II any
other is to enter, 1t must be through
him. "And rs Moses lifted up the ser.
pent In the wilderness, even so must
the Son of man be lifted up: that who.
soevcr believeth In him should not per.
ish but have eternal life."
BY faith in Christ we are united to
Christ and thus His own life Is i'm.
parted to us. We may not fully under.
stand the mystery, yet we know what
1t Is. The fact has been fully demon.
strated. AS we derived our old-the
human-nature from Adam by natural
birth, so it Is by the new birth that we
receive new nature from the Second
Adam, the man Christ Jesus.