The question, therefore, confronts each one of you, Have you been born again? There is no more important question that you could possibly face. Face it in these pages and don't dodge it. And that brings us to the immediately practical question, How are men born again, or what must any one here to-day, who is not born again, do in order to be born again right here this morning? This question also is plainly answered in the Word of God; and I can give you the answer in a very few minutes and give it so that any one here can understand it. There are three parts to the answer.
1. The first part of the answer you will find in Titus 3:4, +"Not by works done in righteousness, which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy, he+ (i.e., God) +saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost."+ These words tell us very plainly that _it is God who regenerates and that He does it through the power of His Holy Spirit_. The same thought is found in our text, John 3:5, 6: +"Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit."+ _Regeneration is God's work; wrought by Him by the power of His Holy Spirit working in the mind, feelings and will of the one born again_, in your heart and mine.
2. Some one might infer from the fact that regeneration is God's work, which He works in our hearts by His Holy Spirit, that all we have to do is to wait until God sees fit to work; but we see plainly from other passages in the Word that this is not true. We are taught the second thing about how regeneration is wrought in James 1:18, +"Of His own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of His creatures."+ _Here we are taught that the Word of Truth, the Word of God, is the instrument that God uses in regeneration._ The same thought is found in 1 Pet. 1:23, +"Having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which liveth and abideth."+ And Paul gives voice to the same great thought in 1 Cor. 4:15, where he says: +"For though ye should have ten thousand tutors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I begat you through the gospel."+ From these passages it is evident that _the New Birth is wrought by God through the instrumentality of His Word_. It is God who works it through the power of His Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit works through the Word, and thus God begets men anew by "The Word of Truth," or the "Word of God," i.e., the Word which is preached by "the Gospel." So then, if you or I wish to be born again we should get in contact with the Word of God by studying the Bible and asking God that the Holy Spirit may make that Word which we are studying a living thing in our own hearts. We should get in contact especially with that part of God's Word which is found in the Gospel of John, for John tells us in John 20:31 that +"These+ (i.e., these things in the Gospel of John) +are written, that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God; and that believing ye may have life in his name."+ If we wish to see others born again we should bring the Word of God to bear upon their minds and hearts either by preaching the Word, or by teaching it, or in personal work; and we should look to the Holy Spirit to quicken that Word in the hearts of men as we sow it in their hearts, and in this way the New Birth will result.