Salvation: You Must Be Born Again (BFM pt. 5)
Text: John 3:1-18
By: Ken McKinley
(Read Text)
Well we are on article 4 of the BFM, the article of salvation. Now we are going to spend some time on this because this is one of the most important points in the entire BFM, it may take me several Sunday’s to cover what we need to look at. Today we are just beginning and we are going to just kind of go over
So let me read to you quickly what the BFM says about salvation (Read article 4 Salvation from the BFM).
Now you notice the part there where it says, “Regeneration, or the new birth is the work of God’s grace…” Regeneration is not a word that is used too often today. Instead we often just say “saved.” I remember before I was a Christian a well meaning Christian approached me once and asked me, “Are you saved?” And I looked at him and said, “Saved from what?” I also vaguely remember former President Jimmy Carter stating that he was a “born again” Christian. Then we can look at statistics like the following: “Only 9% of evangelical Christians tithe regularly,” or “out of the 12,000 teenagers who were the first to take the “Love Waits” pledge, to wait until marriage, 80% broke their pledge by the time they were seniors in High School,” or “30% of born again Christians do not believe in the inerrancy of the Bible.” I could go on and on with these kinds of statistics. And what they all say is that basically the church in America is not any different than the world.
I think the problem stems from a wrong usage of the words “Saved,” “born again” or “evangelical” or even “Christian.” We are not using those words or terms in the Biblical sense. Sure we think we are, but in reality we aren’t. I would even go so far to say that most of the people who would say that they are “born again,” or “saved,” or “evangelical” or even “Christian” say this because at some point in their life, they stood before a group of people, maybe at church, maybe at youth camp, maybe at a revival meeting or a Billy Graham crusade and they made a public profession of faith. So they’ve made a public profession and then associate themselves with Christianity. But Jesus said in Matthew 7:21, “Not everyone who says to Me; Lord, Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven…” The New Testament however does give us another way to look at it, it gives us the proper definition and the proper view of what a Christian is.
1st John 2:29, “If you know that He is righteous, then you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him”
1st John 3:9, “Whoever has been born of God does not practice sin, for His seed remains in Him; and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.”
1st John 5:4, “For whoever has been born of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that overcomes the world – our faith.”
1st John 5:18, “We know that whoever has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him.”
What these Scriptures tell us and there are plenty of other Scriptures that we could use, but they tell us that Christians should not be like the world… they tell us that there is a distinction between the true Christian and the rest of the world. The Bible clearly teaches that Christians are not full of worldliness. So what the facts from George Barna and other groups that state things like Christians are just as worldly as anyone else, show us that the Church is full of people who aren’t born again.
So what does it mean to be “Born Again?” Well turn with me to 1st Peter 1:23-25 (read). When a person is born again it is done through the Word of God. The gospel that is preached.
In vs. 3 of our text Jesus said to Nicodemus that, “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Now that applies to everyone. If you want to be saved, you must be born again. If you have family members that you want to be saved, then they must be born again. And this happens through the word of God. Your lost friends and family members, and my lost friends and family members are not going to be saved by osmosis… they are not going to be saved by wishful thinking. They aren’t even going to be saved by a good example. The Bible is clear that a person is only saved when they are born again through the word of God. We are saved by grace, through faith… faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
When Jesus spoke to Nicodemus, He didn’t answer the question Nicodemus asked… Jesus immediately confronted Nicodemus with his condition. Nicodemus was lost. He was spiritually and morally bankrupt. He, just like everyone else before they come to Christ, was spiritually dead; and he was a guilty sinner before God. And so Jesus cut to the chase. He said, “Nicodemus; your present condition is hopeless, corrupt and guilty, and apart from God’s grace you are lost and will never see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus asked, “How can I be born when I’m old?” Look at Jesus’ answer in vss. 5 & 6 (read). Now turn with me to John 1:13 (read). Jesus is saying, “You’re thinking of a natural birth, I’m talking about a spiritual birth. I’m talking about being born from above.” He’s talking about a new life, not a new religion.
John tells us in our text that Nicodemus was a Pharisee. The Pharisees were strict legalists, they did their very best to keep the Old Testament Law of Moses. So all of Nicodemus’ religion, all of his law keeping and discipline couldn’t take the place of being born again. Nicodemus didn’t need more religion, he needed a new life.
I want you to notice also that Nicodemus realized that Jesus was from God. He says in verse 3, “Rabbi; we know that you are a teacher from God; for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him.” In other words, Nicodemus realized and recognized the divine activity. He saw the miracles, he saw the sings and wonders and even right said that they were from God, but that didn’t save him. Turn with me to 1st Corinthians 14:22 (read). Signs and wonders can point an unbeliever to God, the mature believer doesn’t need signs and wonders, at least we shouldn’t. We should be firmly rooted and grounded in our faith. We should not have to see a miracle ever so often to keep our faith strong, for we know in whom we have believed. So… the miracles peaked Nicodemus’ attention, but they did not save him. Nicodemus said, “I see these miracles, and they have to be from God…” and Jesus replies to him, “Nicodemus you might see the miracles, and you might affirm that they are from God, but you need to be born again, because no amount of seeing miracles is going to get you to see the kingdom… No, you have to be born again to see that.” And this new birth, this regeneration is not from the natural world. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but this is a spiritual birth. It’s a heavenly birth. That phrase “born again” literally is the phrase, “born from above.”
We are born again by the Spirit of God. Being born again is a supernatural work by the Holy Spirit; and it brings spiritual life.
In John 6:63 Jesus says, “It is the Spirit Who gives life, the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life.” So again; right there we see that this isn’t a natural birth, and we see that it is the Word of God that is used to bring about this new life in Christ. Paul said it this way, “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.” The Gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation.
So to be born again, one must hear the Gospel of Christ. Not just any old good news, but THE Good News about Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Turn with me to Acts 20:31 (read).
What all this means is that there can be no new birth, no regeneration except through faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Spiritual life and faith in Jesus come into being together. The new birth makes the faith possible. Turn with me quickly to 1st John 5:4 (read), The key to victory is being born of God and the victory that overcomes is faith; because faith is the way we experience being born of God.
Now like I said at the beginning of this sermon, we are going to be looking at this point of the BFM for the next few Sundays. Because it is so important that we understand it… it’s a matter of eternity. So I want to encourage you all this morning, that if you have any friends or family members that you are not sure about their eternal destination, I want to encourage you to invite them the next few Sundays so that they might hear about this new birth that is offered through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
And what about you this morning? Do you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?
Closing.
