How had the Jewish clergy of our Lord’s day drifted so far from what they should have known, so far that one of their more conciliatory leaders was astonished to hear about the new birth? We have the equivalent in our society in the Protestant churches. We have had the mighty Reformation, the reawakening of New Testament doctrine, and ever since things have been rolling away from that. In the early centuries, by the sixth century, the Roman Catholic church was drifting entirely away from the foundation of the Gospel and today it has lost it entirely. So now, if you say to the average Catholic priest today, ‘You need a new birth’, he replies, ‘Where do you get that from?’ A Nicodemus-style answer. ‘Where ever do you get these ideas, you Protestants? These things are astonishing and out of line and extraordinary.’ They have drifted, just as the Jews drifted years ago from their heritage and their doctrine.
Theological liberalism which took over most of the denominations in this country, is exactly the same. They are so far from these fundamentals taught throughout the Bible that now you talk to a theological liberal, they may have heard of your position but they do not recognise it as Biblical. Time goes by, and the way of salvation is pushed to one side and nonsense takes its place and other ideas that are completely contrary to it.