"Be assured also that it does not belong to you to change your own hearts. 'Ye must be born again;' 'except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.' But that second birth comes not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 'Ye must be born again, but ye must be born of the Spirit.' Notice that the word _saved_ is in the passive voice. Sinners do not save themselves; they must be saved by another; they must be saved by one able to save, by one almighty to save, from the wrath of God and from sin, by one able to do for those who trust in him all that they need to have done in order to make their salvation complete and glorious. Christ is able to do this. The crucified and risen Christ is exalted a Prince and Saviour, to give repentance and remission of sins. The word of God says, 'To give,' and he rejoices to give. "On one point we must pause and dwell with special clearness. Every anxious sinner must not only feel his guilty and lost condition, but he should also thoroughly understand what he means when he asks what he must do to be saved. He should see to it that he wants that salvation which Jesus gives. "In the Scriptures the sinner who would be saved is called upon to return to God. He has gone astray. He must retrace his steps. What is meant by this? I mean that man's sin consisted at first and consists to-day in saying, 'I will,' and 'I will not,' in opposition to the will and command of God. God said, 'Thou shalt not;' man said, 'I will.' God says, 'Thou shalt;' sinners say, 'I will not.' If a sinner is to be saved from sin, this opposition must cease. When God says, 'Thou shalt not,' the sinner must reply, 'I will not,' and when God says, 'Thou shalt,' the sinner must answer, 'I will.' The sinner's 'will' and 'will not' must agree with God's 'shall' and 'shall not.' In place of your self-will you must put God's will; that is, repentance, a turning about, a returning to God. But remember, salvation, if it be real and thorough, is not submission for an hour, a day, or a year, but submission for ever and ever. It is submission without condition and without limits. "The sinner says, 'This is a hard saying,' this utter and boundless denial of self-will and selfishness. But is it hard that the creature should yield to the Creator, that ignorance should yield to wisdom, that selfishness should yield to love, that sin should yield to holiness, that poor, lost, wretched, fallen man should yield to the eternal and ever-blessed God? It is only by yielding that his will is brought into sweet harmony with the will of God, and that he can be a sharer of the divine blessedness.