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I will direct your attention to the third chapter of John and the third verse: “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” … If there are a thousand people here tonight who want to know what love God has for them, let them read the third chapter of John, and they will find it there, and find eternal life. They need not go out of this hall tonight to find eternal life. They will find it here in this chapter, and find eternal life before these services close.…

Now, let me say what regeneration is not. It is not going to church. Very often I see people and ask them if they are Christians. “Yes, of course I am, at least I think I am; I go to church every Sunday.” Why, I could say to them, the very Devil goes to church every Sunday, and no one goes more regularly to church than he does.… Why if going to church was regeneration—being born again—there is hope even for Satan himself. But there never was a church erected but that the Devil was the first to enter and the last to leave.

But still there is another class of Christians, or who think they are Christians. They say, “I am trying to do what is right—am I not a Christian? Is not that a new birth?” No; I tell you, no. What has that to do with being born again?

There is yet another class those who have turned over a new leaf and think they are regenerated. No; forming a new resolution is not being born again. That will not do you any good…

But another man comes and says, “I say my prayers regular.” Still, I say, that that is not being born again. That is not being born of the Spirit.

It is a very solemn question, then, that comes up before us, and would that every one should ask himself earnestly and faithfully: “Have I been born again? Have I been born of the Spirit? Have I passed from death unto life?”

Now there is another class of men who say that these meetings are very good for a certain class of people. That they would be very good if you could get the drunkard here, or get the gambler here, or get other vicious people here—that would do a great deal of good. There are certain men that need to be converted, who say: “Who did Christ say this to? Who was Nicodemus? Was he a drunkard, a gambler, or a thief?” He was one of the very best men of Jerusalem; no doubt about that He was an honorable councillor; he belonged to the Sanhedrim [sic]; he held a very high position; he was one of the best men in the state; he was an orthodox man; he was one of the very soundest men. Why, if he were here today, he would be made a president of one of our colleges; he would be put at once into one of our seminaries and have the “Reverend” put before his name, “Reverend Nicodemus, D.D.,” or even “LL.D.” And yet, what did Christ say to him? “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

See Nicodemus. He, with Joseph of Arimathea, took down the body of Jesus and brought it away, and stayed by Jesus to the last. I never knew a man that had a personal interview with Jesus that did not stay by him. Oh, make up your mind that you will seek him and follow him until you have an interview with him; for never man spake as that man spake. He is just the man that everyone wants.

But I can imagine someone say, “If that is to have a new birth, what am I to do? I can’t create life. I certainly can’t save myself.” You certainly can’t, and we don’t preach that you can. We tell you it is utterly impossible to make a man better without Christ, and that is what men are trying to do. They are trying to patch up this old Adam’s nature. There must be a new creation. Regeneration is a new creation, and if it is a new creation it must be the work of God. In the first chapter of Genesis man don’t appear. There is no one there but God. Man is not there to help or take part. When God created the earth, he was alone. When God redeemed the world he was alone. “That which was born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.” … A man might just as well try to leap over the moon as to serve God in the flesh. Therefore that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. Now God tells us in this chapter how we are to get into his kingdom. We are not to work our way in, not but that salvation is worth working for. We admit all that. If there were rivers and mountains in the way, it would be worth swimming those rivers and climbing those mountains. There is no doubt that salvation is worth all that, but we don’t get it by our works. It is to him that worketh not, but believeth. We work because we are saved; we don’t work to be saved. We work from the cross but not towards it. Now it is written, “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” Why you must have your salvation before you can work it out. Suppose I say to my little boy, “Go and work out that garden,” I must furnish him the garden before he can work it out. Suppose I say to him, “I want you to spend that $100 carefully.” “Well,” he says, “let me have the $100 and I will be careful how I spend it.” I remember when I first left home and went to Boston, I had spent all my money, and I went to the post-office three times a day. I knew there was only one mail a day from home, but I thought by some possibility there might be a letter for me. At last I got a letter from my little sister, and I was awful glad to get it. She had heard that there were a great many pickpockets in Boston, and a large part of that letter was to have me be very careful not to let anybody pick my pocket. Now I had got to have something in my pocket in order to have it picked. So you have got to have salvation before you can work it out.

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