The Spurgeon Series 1857 & 1858. Charles H. Spurgeon

“What!” one says, “do you mean to say that God absolutely interposes in the salvation of every man to make him regenerate?” I do indeed; in the salvation of every person there is an actual putting forth of divine power, by which the dead sinner is quickened, the unwilling sinner is made willing, the desperately hard sinner has his conscience made tender; and he who rejected God and despised Christ, is brought to cast himself down at the feet of Jesus. This is called fanatical doctrine maybe; that we cannot help; it is a scriptural doctrine, that is enough for us. “Unless a man is born of the Spirit he cannot see the kingdom of God; what is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.” If you do not like it, quarrel with my Master, not with me; I simply declaring his own revelation, that there must be in your heart something more than you can ever do there. There must be a divine operation, call it a miraculous operation if you please; it is in some sense so. There must be a divine interposition, a divine working, a divine influence, or else do what you may, without that you perish, and are undone — “For unless a man is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” The change is radical; it gives us new natures, makes us love what we hated and hate what we loved; sets us in a new road; makes our habits different, our thoughts different, makes us different in private, and different in public. So that being in Christ it is fulfilled — “If any man is in Christ he is a new creature; old things are passed away, behold all things are become new.”

      11. II. And now I must come to the second point. I trust I have explained regeneration so that all may see what it is. Now WHAT DOES THE EXPRESSION, “SEEING THE KINGDOM OF GOD,” MEAN? It means two things. To see the kingdom of God on earth is to be a member of the mystical church, — it is to enjoy the privileges and liberty of the child of God. To see the kingdom of heaven, means to have power in prayer, to have communion with Christ, to have fellowship with the Holy Spirit; and to bring forth and produce all those joyous and blessed fruits which are the effect of regeneration. In a higher sense, “to see the kingdom of God,” means to be admitted into heaven. “Unless a man is born again,” he cannot know about heavenly things on earth, and he cannot enjoy heavenly blessings for ever, “he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

      12. III. I think I may just pass over the second point without remark, and proceed to notice in the third place, WHY IT IS THAT “UNLESS A MAN IS BORN AGAIN, HE CANNOT SEE THE KINGDOM OF GOD.” And I will confine my remarks to the kingdom of God, in the world to come.

      13. Why, he cannot see the kingdom of God, because he would be out of place in heaven. A man that is not born again could not enjoy heaven. There is an actual impossibility in his nature, which prevents him from enjoying any of the bliss of paradise. You think, maybe, that heaven consists in those walls of jewels, in those pearly gates, and gates of gold; not so, that is the habitation of heaven. Heaven dwells there, but that is not heaven. Heaven is a state that is made here, that is made in the heart; made by God’s Spirit within us, and unless God the Spirit has renewed us, and caused us to be born again, we cannot enjoy the things of heaven. Why, it is a physical impossibility that a swine could ever deliver a lecture on astronomy; every man will clearly perceive that it must be impossible that a snail could build a city; — and there is just as much impossibility that a sinner unmended, could enjoy heaven. Why, there would be nothing there for him to enjoy; if he could be put into the place where heaven is, he would be miserable; he would cry, “Take me away, take me away; take me away from this miserable place!” I appeal to yourselves; a sermon is too long for you very often; the singing of God’s praises is dull dry work; you think that going up to God’s house is very tedious. What will you do where they praise God day without night. If just a short discourse here is very wearying, what will you think of the eternal discussions of the redeemed through all ages of the wonders of redeeming love? If the company of the righteous is very irksome to you, what will be their company throughout eternity? I think many of you are free to confess that psalm singing is not a bit to your taste, that you care nothing for spiritual things; give you your bottle of wine and set you down at your ease, that is heaven for you! Well, there is no such a heaven like that; and therefore there is no heaven for you. The only heaven there is, is the heaven of spiritual men, the heaven of praise, the heaven of delight in God, the heaven of acceptance in the beloved, the heaven of communion with Christ. Now, you do not understand anything about this; you could not enjoy it if you were to have it; you do not have the capability for doing so. You, yourselves, from the very fact of your not being born again, are your own barrier to heaven, and if God were to open the gate wide, and say, “Come in,” you could not enjoy heaven, if you were admitted: for unless a man is born again, there is an impossibility, a moral impossibility, of his seeing the kingdom of God. Suppose there are some people here who are entirely deaf, who have never heard sounds; well, I say they cannot hear singing. Do I, when I say it, say a cruel thing? It is their own disability that prevents them. So when God says you cannot see the kingdom of heaven, he means that it is your own disability for the enjoyment of heaven, that will prevent you ever entering there.

      14. But there are some other reasons; there are reasons why,

      Those holy gates for ever bar

      Pollution, sin, and shame.

      There are reasons, besides those in yourself, why you cannot see the kingdom of God, unless you are born again. Ask the spirits before the throne: “Angels, principalities, and powers, would you be willing that men who do not love God, who do not believe in Christ, who have not been born again, should dwell here?” I see them, as they look down upon us, and hear them answering, “No! Once we fought the dragon, and expelled him, because he tempted us to sin! we must not, and we will not, have the wicked here. These alabaster walls must not be soiled with black and lustful fingers, the white pavement of heaven must not be stained and rendered filthy by the unholy feet of ungodly men. No!” I see a thousand spears bristling, and the fiery faces of a myriad seraphs thrust over the walls of paradise. “No, while these arms have strength, and these wings have power, no sin shall ever enter here.” I address myself moreover to the saints in heaven, redeemed by sovereign grace: “Children of God, are you willing that the wicked should enter heaven as they are, without being born again? You love men, say, say, say, are you willing that they should be admitted as they are?” I see Lot rise up, and he cries, “Admit them into heaven! No! What! must I be vexed by the conduct of the homosexuals again, as I once was?” I see Abraham; and he comes forward, and he says, “No! I cannot have them here. I had enough of them while I was with them on earth — their jests and jeers, their silly talk, their vain conversation, vexed and grieved us. We do not want them here.” And, heavenly though they are, and loving as their spirits are, yet there is not a saint in heaven who would not resent, with the utmost indignation, the approach of anyone of you to the gates of paradise if you are still unholy, and have not been born again.

      15. But all that would be nothing. We might, perhaps, scale the ramparts of heaven, if they were only protected by angels, and burst the gates of paradise open, if only the saints defended them. But there is another reason than that — God has said it himself — “Unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” What, sinner! will you scale the battlements of paradise when God is ready to thrust you down to hell? Will you with impudent face brazen him out? God has said it, God has said it, with a voice of thunder, “You shall not see the kingdom of heaven.” Can you wrestle with the Almighty? Can you overthrow Omnipotence? Can you grapple with the Most High? Worm of the dust! can you overcome your Maker? Trembling insect of an hour, shaken by the lightnings when they flash far overhead across the sky, will you dare the hand of God? Will you dare to defy him to his face? Ah! he would laugh at you. As the snow melts before the sun, as wax runs at the fierceness of the fire, so would you, if his fury should once lay hold of you. Do not think that you can overcome him. He has sealed the gate of paradise against you, and there is no entrance. The God of justice says, “I will not reward the wicked with the righteous; I will not allow my goodly, godly paradise, to be stained by wicked ungodly men. If they turn I will have mercy upon them; but if they do not turn, as I live, I will rend them in pieces, and there shall be no one to deliver.” Now, sinner, can you brazen it out against him? Will you rush upon the thick bosses of Jehovah’s bucklers? Will you try to scale his heaven when his arrow is stringed upon the bow to reach your heart?