Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1922-01-04

WWSya g@a But why the ne
49, cessity for being
born again?"
|. Because flesh and blood cannot
inherit the kingdom OF heaven"
Il Cor. 15:5O); because the mind Of
the flesh is enmity against God; for 1t
is not subject to the law of God. nei-
ther indeed can be: and they that are
in the flesh (not in the SpiritD cannot
please God" (Rom. ST, 81; because
1.-THE natural man receiveth not the
things of the Spirit of God: for they
are foolishness unto him; and he cam
not know them, because they are spir-
iiually judged" Or. VI Cor. 2:14).
|. The natural man Las no taste for
heavenly things. Have you heard the
legend of the swan? The swan came
from the skies ard invited the heron
to soar upward. He pictured the beauty
Of the clouds, the glories Of the stars,
charming landscapes, flowing streams.
The heron asked, Are there any snails
there?" Not for all these pure glories
would he leave the mud and snails. He
had no taste for them. The natural
man asks; "Are there any picture
shows up there? Any football games
up ttcre?"
2. The natural man canot enter the
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
a person do in heaven with an unre-
newed nature? He could not possibly
enjoy it. In the brightness of light
proceeding from the throne the dead
ened conscience would leap to life. Un-
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.
l. you do not enjoy the praisinG Of
God here, how could you there? If you
have nothing in common with the
saints here and do not enjoy spiritual
things, neither will 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.
IL Because mere morality is not suf-
fcient. We can understand why mur-
derer would be excluded, but why a
respected man like Nicodemus? Nico-
demus was 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.
1. Scientists now we'll know that
only life can produce life. Nothing be-
comes alive, unless life is impaired TO
it. Furthermore, no subject can rise
into the kingdom above it save By
means of a new life impaired to it by
that higher life--i. e., except by being
born from above.
The dead soil cannot of itself grow
into u beautiful, stately pine tree. But
the life of the tree'm 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 1t.
2. The same holds true if we ascend
from the human life into the divine
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 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 its facul-
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 las
again ascended into heaven. II any
other is to enter, it must be through
him. "And as Moses lifted up the SER
pent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of man he lifted up: that who
soever 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 IT,
liarted 10 us. We may not fully under
stand the mystery. yet we know what
|, ~. The fact has been fully demon-
strated. As we derived our old-the
human---natule from Adam by natural
birth. so it IS by rhe new birth tnat we
receive n nrw nature from the s;econd
Adam, the man Christ Jesus.