Semper Ubi Sub Ubi

The "Cannot" of John 3:3

In his treatise on Holiness, Thomas Brooks comments on the "cannot" in the words of Christ to Nicodemus in John 3:3, "Verily, verily I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God". The words here quoted struck me as so clear and God-glorifying that I decided I had to share them:

'He cannot see the kingdom of God'. The Scripture speaks of several cannots.

First, there is a natural cannot. Now, every son and daughter of Adam is by nature born under a cannot. They are all born under a cannot believe, a cannot repent, a cannot love God, a cannot walk with God, a cannot see God, a cannot enjoy God: 1 Cor. ii.14, 'The natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.' A blind man cannot see colors, nor a natural man discern spiritual things. They are too high, they are too sublime for him; they are mysteries that he cannot understand, that he cannot unriddle. The natural man can ascend no higher than nature, as teh water can rise no higher than the spring from whence it comes.... Take nature civilised and moralised, refined and raised, sublimated, strengthened, and improved to the utmost, and it cannot enable a man to do a supernatural action; nature cannot act ultra sphoeram, above itself.

Secondly, there is a contracted and an habituated cannot; and of this cannot the prophet speaks in Jer. vi. 10,'To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? behold their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach: they have no delight in it.' They had by their carnality, impiety, sensuality, security, and obstiacy, contracted upon their poor souls such deafness, wretchedness, unteachableness, and untractableness, that they could neither love the word nor like it; they could neither take pleasure nor delight in it; nay, they could neither hear it nor bear it, though it never so nearly concerned the internal and eternal welfare of their souls. And of this cannot the apostle speaks in 2 Pet. ii.14, 'Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children.' By their riot and excess, by their lasciviousness and wantonness, by their looseness and uncleanness which they had habituated and accustomed themselves unto, they brought upon themselves a cursed necessity of sinning, so that they could not cease from sin. They mourn over sin, and yet they cannot cease from sin; they resolve against sin, yet they cannot cease to sin; they pray against sin, yet they cannot cease to sin; they make many promises, vows, and covenants against sin, yet they cannot cease from sin, their souls being habituated and accustomated thereunto...Custom in sin takes away all conscience of sin...by custom the sin hath bespotted not only the sin, the life, the outside of a poor sinner, but also the very heart and soul of a poor sinner, so that he is never able to wash off these spots...

Thirdly, as there is a contracted cannot, an habituated cannot, so there is a judicial cannot. The Lord inflicts a judicial cannot upon many persons in judgment: they cannot return from their sins, they cannot withstand temptation, they cannot lay hold on eternal life, they cannot make sure work for their souls, they cannot leave their bosom-lusts, they cannot prefer Christ above all the world, they cannot make provision for eternity, they cannot see the things that belong to their peace, &c.; and this cannot the Lord in wrath hath brought upon them: Isa. vi. 9,10, 'And he said, Go and tell this people, Hear ye inded, but understand not; and ye see indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert and be healed.' They would not see, they shall not see; they would not hear, they shall not hear; they would not understand, they shall not understand; they would not convert, they shall not convert; they would not be healed, they shall not be healed. When men are stiffly and desperately resolved upon their sinful courses, when men grow stubborn, rebellious, licentious, and will wilfully wink and shut their eyes against the light, and stop their ears against the truth, God in his just judgment gives them up to dulness, stupidness, blindness, darkness: Isa. xliv.18, 'They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes that they cannot see, and their hearts that they cannot understand.' God in his righteous judgment casts a judicial cannot upon them; he hath daubed up their eyes that they cannot see, and hath shut up their hearts that they cannot understand the great concernment of their souls. Now whilst men lie under these sad cannots, they can never see the kingdom of God. These three cannots, like a threefold cord, bind poor sinners, so as that they can never come to a sight or fruition of God in grace or glory, till they are delivered from these cannots by a new birth, by being born again.

People cannot see because they WILL not see. It isn't for lack of logical argumentation - or lack of evidence... but for lack of will. God MUST first act - or we shall never come to him. How glorious is this truth - for all of salvation rests on GOD's capable shoulders - not on the fickle will and heart of man. Amen, and amen.