YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN – PART ONE
Welcome back, friends. Today, we are going to take our text from the familiar scripture: John 3.
John 3:1-7
1There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 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?” 5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’
PRAYER:
Thank You again, Father. The entrance of Your Word will always give light, wisdom and life. May it be so now for all my friends in radioland, in Jesus Name. Amen!
The title of my message is what we do not hear much of these days: You must be Born Again!
You must be Born Again.
The expression, born again, is fashionable in our day. There was a time when people who claimed to be born again were objects of ridicule. If I ask those of you in radioland how many of you are born again so many hands, I know, will go up. Such self-identification of new birth is part of the problem we have in Christianity today. It is the evidence of the new birth that should identify those who are born again, not the showing of hands. There are five gospels, Gypsy Smith said, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The fifth gospel is, the Christian. Five gospels! So many people will not read the first four gospels but the fifth one. Some people claim to be born again but live as though they were born in hell. And they cause confusion in the mind of people regarding this indispensable plan and provision of God, the new birth. What is the new birth?
John 3:3&6
3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Let me begin by saying that the translation born again seems to be inaccurate. What does it mean: born again? In all the places John used the same Greek word that is translated again in John 3 is a different translation. And I don’t know why the translators did that.
In John 3:31
31 He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.
He who comes from above. The phrase, ‘from above’, is the same word in the Greek that is translated born again.
John 8:23
23 And He said to them, “You are from beneath; I am from above.
The same word that is translated born again or again in John 3 is translated from above.
John 19:11
11 Jesus answered, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above.
The same word. So John uses this word, the Greek word…I don’t know if it is necessary that you know the Greek word but the Greek word is anaten. This word is the word that Jesus used in John 3 where we read. But it is translated: again. So I think that what Jesus was actually saying is this, unless one is born from above. And that makes good sense. That is, unless one is born from heaven; that is, unless one is born of God, he cannot see the kingdom of God. You came into the human family by birth. You were begotten of your father – natural father, earthly father. You will come into the family of God by birth, begotten of God – from above.
Have you been born from above, friend? Are you born of God? If not may I lovingly tell you that you must be born from above. You must be born again.
John 1:11-13
11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Children born not of natural descent, not of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. That’s what Jesus was telling Nicodemus. You must be born of God is a spiritual birth. The new birth is the activity of the triune God in the the human heart. The triune God: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit said at the beginning of time, let us make man in our image according to our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air and over the cattle – over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. Let us, the triune God, make man in our image – in our likeness. Two different words there. Image. That indicates God’s ownership of you, friend. Likeness that indicates likeness of God, the nature of God, the character of God. And this is what happens when the triune God works in your life and you are born from above or born again.
When man fell into sin the triune God pursued him, offering salvation.
O I love the song we used to sing in those days: meaningful songs we used to sing in those days. And today we have increased numbers of meaningless songs. Pardon me.
Oh, the love that drew salvation’s plan!
Oh, the grace that brought it down to man!
Oh, the mighty gulf that God span
At Calvary!
Mercy was there, and grace was free;
Pardon there was multiplied to me;
There my burdened soul found liberty
At Calvary
That is the activity of the triune God. God the Father, out of love, drew salvation plan – drew the plan of salvation. God the Son, out of love, paid the price for salvation. And God the Spirit, out of love, executed and still executes the plan salvation paid for by the son of God.
John 3:16
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
When you hear the gospel message, the Holy Spirit convicts you of sin, makes you feel bad and sorry for your sin, and enables you to believe that indeed Jesus Christ died in your place. And this brings about your union with Christ. This union, this salvation is not brought about by keeping the Ten Commandments or by your personal efforts at pleasing God. It is not brought about by water baptism or being a member of a particular congregation. It is brought about by the gracious act of God, as we see in
Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
Friend, have you been born from above? Remember that Jesus said without that you cannot see the kingdom of God. In other words you cannot appreciate the kingdom of God. If you are not appreciating the things of God, you are consumed by the things of this world. It’s an indication that you do not have the light of God in you. You are not born from above. And He said without this new birth you cannot enter into the kingdom of God, either. That’s serious. Give your life to Jesus today – and you will be born from above, by the power of the Holy Spirit as you come in repentance.
PRAYER:
Father, I want to commit into Your hands now all who will come receiving the Savior, repenting from their sins. I pray for then that you will recreate them through and through, and make them new indeed, in Jesus Name. Amen!