YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN    

The most well known truth of the Christian faith is being born again. The culture has picked on that term and people use it in many ways. Jesus is the one who said you must be born again and unless we are born again we will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Jesus first used this term in a conversation with Nicodemus, a Pharisee who came to Jesus one night in private looking for spiritual answers. It's easy to accept that others need to be born again, but not us when we feel like we have it all together. But to the down and out and to the up and coming, to the rich and to the poor, to the religious and the non-religious, to the moral and the immoral, to the educated and to the uneducated, Jesus says "you must be born again" (John 3:7). The term born again can also be translated "born from above" which means the new birth is God's work in us, not our work. The new birth means a divine impartation of spiritual life in contrast to spiritual death (Eph 2:1-5), a new state of existence in contrast to the old (2 Cor 5:17) and a new nature in contrast to the old nature (2 Pt 1:4).

When Jesus told Nicodemus that he had to born again he replied, how can this be? Their conversation begin with theology, but Jesus knew it had to lead to an experience. Knowledge can't save us. The Gnostics pursued knowledge. Buddha pursued enlightenment. But we have to experience the grace of God in Christ. It is in trusting Christ as Savior, not trying, that we are born again. There are three things necessary to experience the new birth.

First, the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, "the wind blows where it will...so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." The Hebrew word for wind is ruach and is translated "breath, life, wind and spirit" in the Old Testament (Gen 2:7; Titus 3:5). It is the Holy Spirit who convicts of sin, reveals Jesus to us, convinces us of the need of Christ and makes us a new creation when we receive Jesus as our Savior. He does the work of the birth, not us. Second, the Word of God. James 1:18 says, "he chose to give us birth through the word of truth." "Faith comes by hearing...the word of Christ" (Rom 10:17). We are born again "by the living and enduring word of God" (1 Pt 1:23). Third, we need faith in the person (he is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God and Lord of All), the passion (he died for our sins and rose again for our salvation) and the power of Jesus Christ which means he has the power to both save us and to keep us for all eternity (see John 3:14-16; Heb 7:25; Jude 24; 2 Tim 1:12).

An artist wanted to paint a portrait of the prodigal son at the low of point of his rebellion, destitute, having lost everything. He walked the streets of the town and found a destitute man. He said I will pay you if I can paint your portrait. He said meet me tomorrow at my studio. When he arrived the next day at the studio the artist didn't even recognized the man. He cleaned himself up, got some clothes. The artist dismissed him and said, "I wanted you just like you were."

We come to Jesus just as we are, and He does the miraculous work of the new birth when we put our faith in Him.

P.S. Come celebrate World Missions Festival and the homecoming of our missionaries from the field this Sunday!