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| HE subject of our study is The New Birth. The Doc trine of the New Birth is one of the most fundamen-
except they be born from above. In verse 7 our Lord says, “Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again (or, from above).” The emphasis is upon the “thee” and the “ye.” Nicodemus would not have been at all amazed or surprised if the Lord Jesus had taught that a Gentile needed to be born again; what surprised him was that the Lord should have said it to him, and that he, and other men of his class, must be born again. Our Lord’s words, when taken in their connection, set forth in the most' forcible manner possible that there is not one single man on earth who can see the kingdom of God except .he have a personal experience of the new birth. If any man could get to heaven without being born again Nicodemus was the man. He seemed to have pretty much everything that would entitle one to an entrance into the kingdom of God. He was a man of most scrupulous morality, he was a man of lofty aspirations, he was a man who longed to know the truth and was willing to make sacrifices in order to know it, he was a man who was endeavoring to live up to the truth as far as he did know it, he was a generous man, giving a tithe of all that he got as a starting point in his giving, and added to that generous free will offerings;
3~S^===g^ i] tal and vital doctrines of Christianity. If men are wrong here they are likely to be wrong everywhere, and if they are right and clear in regard to this doctrine, they are pretty sure to be right on every doctrine. We shall study the doc trine of the new birth as it is set forth in the third chapter of John, the 1st to 21st verses. In this chapter our Lord Jesus tells us first of the necessity of the new birth; second, the nature of the new birth; and third, the method of the new birth. I. T he Necessity of the New Birth. 1. The first thing that our Lord Jesus teaches us in the third chapter of John in regard to the Necessity of the New Birth iS that that necessity is UNIVER SAL. In the third verse He says, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Literally translated, these words would read, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except any one be born» again (or* from above), he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Not one single man or woman or child will be able to see the kingdom of God
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