YOU MUST BE BORN-AGAIN!
Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” —John 3:3-8
It was a marvel seeing my children born. They broke free from the womb and greeted the world around them with a hearty cry. You knew they were born. You knew they were alive. Now it is to have a second grandchild born, Jordyn Faith. It is also amazing when your own child has a child. Then there are those whose child’s child has a child and sometime those whose child’s child has a child also has a child—5 generations!
But life is more than physical birth as stated in the passage above. To enter the Kingdom of God, that is, the Kingdom where His servants submit to His rule— a person must also have a spiritual birth.
John 3:16 tells us how this happens without using the same terminology— “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Entering God’s Kingdom, having eternal life, occurs when a person truly believes in the Lord Jesus Christ. That is when he is born-again. Again, not in the same terminology we are told in John 3:18— “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” To believe in Jesus is not to ever be condemned because Jesus took our condemnation at the cross. This shows they have been born-again. To reject His finished work at the cross is to already have the sentence of condemnation upon us. John 3:36 tells us the same thing— “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.”
God’s Word is very clear— we need to be born-again and that happens by sincerely trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ. Then we are in the Kingdom of God and have eternal life— never to be condemned! Oh, may that truly be our case!
I was talking with a man recently after I shared the gospel at a prison chapel. I invited anyone who wanted to talk further to meet me in the hall just outside the door of the chapel. Not long after I went out in the hall Ben came out. He said that he had been just going through the motions—coming to chapel and being involved in other ways, but that He had never truly trusted the Lord Jesus… well, Ben trusted Jesus last night! So it is quite possible, even most likely that there are people attending our churches and small groups that are just going through the motions and have never truly trusted the Lord Jesus Christ. May we clearly be sharing the gospel and be sensitive to those who may be around us, but may not have truly trusted Jesus.
Dear Father, please help preachers in Your church to proclaim Your gospel clearly that those who do not know You may hear and respond. Oh, Lord, may many people be touched even today. Then, Lord, help us to be faithful in proclaiming Your gospel wherever we go each and every day. Please help us to have a concern for the lost.