Eric Hutchings Preaching at Bingley Hall, Birmingham, Uk in 1960 — Eric Hutchings

The Necessity of the New Birth

Jesus said, ye must be born again. He said, except a man be born again, he cannot see or enter the kingdom of heaven. I hope, ladies and gentlemen, you understand that this was not a threat. The Lord Jesus was explaining the position to Nicodemus, a religious man who thought that he was all right because he had some religious knowledge.

Jesus said to him, you can neither see nor enter the kingdom of heaven unless you are born again. This was a scientific statement of spiritual fact, indicating to him and to all of us that it is absolutely and utterly impossible for anyone to see or enter the kingdom of heaven unless born spiritually, unless having the life of God.

Humanity's Bondage to Sin

Now, every one of us here tonight knows that there's something wrong inside. We have a tendency within us that disturbs us. We long for victory over sin, sins of thought and word and deed. And the Bible reveals that we are born radically wrong.

We are members of a human race that has turned its back upon God. And this manifests itself in the little baby who soon decides that the will of father or mother is unacceptable and is revoked. Later on, the teenager discovers there's something inside that makes it easier to go wrong than to go right.

And some deep evil seems to sack the human race. There's a bias in the bowl that takes it off course. There's a gravity that pulls us down when we want to rise high in spiritual attainment. And the secret is that something within us has died.

The spiritual part of our being that God gave us has died because of sin. This is the reason why we can neither see nor enter the kingdom of heaven unless there is a radical change. To put this wrong right, ladies and gentlemen, you need a radical change, a change that goes down to the roots.

The Need for Radical Spiritual Transformation

What's the use of putting the watch fingers right if your works are all wrong inside the watch? What's the use of repainting a car if the engine doesn't go? A vital change inside is absolutely necessary.

And here is a great revelation from Holy Scripture, and we also know it in our own experience, that we cannot make this radical change ourselves any more than we can lift ourselves up with our own shoelaces.

Have you ever tried that experiment? You know you can't do it. No more can you make this change within yourself that God says you must have, you must know, you must experience if you're ever to see or enter the kingdom of heaven.

So, ladies and gentlemen, we come to this great conclusion tonight, that unless God is willing to do something about it, we are sunk, and there is no hope of us ever entering or seeing the kingdom of heaven.

God's Love and the Cross of Christ

But here is the Christian gospel, ladies and gentlemen. Here is the good news, that God loves us. Because he loves us, he's willing, he's yearning to undertake this great change for us if only we are willing.

But you may say, how can I? How can I know this experience myself? I've often wondered how to be sure of being in the kingdom of heaven, and I would like to be sure, I would like to know. Well, like Nicodemus, we must ask you to look away to the cross of Christ.

Jesus pointed him there in prospect. He spoke about the cross when he said that he'd have to be lifted up, that whosoever believeth on me, said Jesus, should not perish, but have everlasting life. Why the cross?

Because on the cross, the Lord Jesus Christ was made sin for you. He bore your sin, sir, in his body on the tree. He was the only man who ever went through hell on earth, and he did it for you to cleanse you from the stain of sin, to deliver you from the power of sin, to clear you from the penalty of sin so that there could be nothing between you and God.

Before you could know this great transformation of the new birth, the spiritual birth, you need to be cleansed and made a new creature in Christ. And the cross was indispensable. Christ Jesus bore your sin in his body on the tree.

Repentance as the First Response to the Gospel

And because Christ has died and risen again, I have wonderful news for you here tonight. Hundreds of you here yearn to know what it is to be in the kingdom of God. Hundreds of you want to know the victory that God gives to those that belong to Christ.

So let me explain. The Bible declares there are three things that you have to do, and then God does the rest. When you comply with God's condition, everything else is done for you by the living God. First of all, the Bible says you must repent.

Repent doesn't mean just be sorry or remorseful. Repent means you make a great change. You turn right around. You're reconciled to God. You're willing to be released from sin, from things that trouble you.

You're willing to have a right relationship with your neighbors and friends. You turn right around and leave the old way of life and look toward God. That's repentance. Then secondly, the Bible says you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Personal Faith in Jesus Christ

That's much more than just giving mental assent to Christianity. More even than believing the Bible is true. It is a personal belief in the Savior, a personal rolling of yourself upon Him, an acceptance of Christ, believing in Him so that you trust Him and hand yourself over to Him.

I beg of hundreds of you tonight in this great Bingley Hall crowd to step out at the act of witness and say, I believe in thee, Lord Jesus. Take me as I am and He will do if you come tonight. But the third thing the Bible says you must do is confess Christ.

Confessing Christ Before Others

Whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I confess before my Father which is in heaven. If you will repent, if you will believe, if you will confess Christ, and in this crusade we confess Christ by leaving our seats, walking the aisles and standing at the front in a silent act of witness.

If you will repent, believe and confess, God will do the rest. He will come into your cleansed being that He now possesses and He will live His life in you. He will give you eternal life, divine life.

Right now you will enter the kingdom of heaven and you will live in the kingdom of heaven whilst you're on earth. And when death comes, it won't be death. You'll be with Christ and you'll go into the glories of eternal heaven.

That is what God will do for you tonight. If you will repent and believe and confess Him, in a moment the choir's going to sing about coming to Christ. And as hundreds already have come, I beg of you, hundreds of you, from the gallery, from the area, we're at the back there, you near the front.

God has spoken to you, madam, there. And you, girlie, God's spoken to you. And now He wants you to repent and believe and confess Him. Turn your life over to Him. Let Him work the miracle in your experience.

He'll do it if you come. So I ask you to come. Choir's going to sing, just as I am, I come. And from all over the hall, as they've done every night in this great crusade, you come. And standing right here, say, Lord, you know, this is my night.

I repent and believe and confess you. Now take me and make me a new creature. And He'll do it. He'll do it for you tonight, if you come. Yes, you come, don't hesitate. And God bless you as you come. Let us pray that at this moment, by faith in Christ, they're entering the kingdom of heaven now and for eternity.

We ask this for the glory of thy name and for the blessing of all these people. And we ask it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Decisions Made and the Great Commission

What a joy it was for us to see some of our friends and contacts respond to the Savior.

For many hundreds in this vast congregation, this was a moment of truth. They had to make their choice. We were unable to help even the friends sitting beside us apart from silently praying for them. They were on their own now.

They had to make their own decision. Thank God, many of them made the right decision. There you have it. The story of Bill and Jane. Just two Christians in the Midlands here who got right with God, who were filled with the Holy Spirit, who had a burden for the lost and sought to win them to Christ.

Why don't you seek in the same way to fulfill our Lord's commission to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature? Some of you watching this film have never yet received Christ as your own Savior.

The Urgency of Salvation

You know you can't come just whenever you want. You can only come when he calls, when the Holy Spirit draws you and time's running out. In the words of the old hymn that I wish we sang more often nowadays, life at best is very brief.

Like the fading of a leaf, like the binding of a sheaf, be in time. Fleeting days are telling fast that the die will soon be cast and the fatal line be passed. Be in time. Oh, I pray you, count the cost.

Ere the fatal line be crossed and your soul in hell be lost, be in time. Accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior and yield your life to him as Lord. Hundreds have been doing it. Thousands have been doing it.

Don't let this opportunity slip through your fingers. Accept the Lord Jesus Christ now. Now is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation. Make your salvation sure by accepting Christ.