Born Again Christian Part 1
Scriptures: Matt. 7:21-23; John 3:3, 7; 1 Pet. 1:23; Luke 3:23, 38
The ninth message in the Christian Stronghold Belief Series was the message titled “What It Means To Be Born Again.” The focus of that message was twofold: (1) to gain a better understanding of what it means to be born again, and (2) to understand why we must believe and know that we are in order to make it actionable in our lives. As I shared in that message, we only “act” on things that we truly believe. If we know and truly understand what it means to be born again, and we believe that we are, we would act on those beliefs and it will be evident in how we live. In that message I could not cover everything that I desired to share with you so I am doing this short series to answer some of the questions that I could not get to in that message. While this series will not be a repeat of that message, I will review, very briefly, some of the key points from that message.
Before we go into the heart of this message, I want to share with you something that Jesus said that was recorded in the seventh chapter of the book of Matthew. In Matthew 7:21-23 Jesus says, “Not everyone that says unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name and in Your name have cast out demons? And in Your name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, you that work iniquity.” Before I say anything else I want to make it clear that not everyone who claims to be a Christian is one. Not everyone who claims to be “born again” is actually born again. And please understand that this applies to those who might be doing “great” things in Christ’s name. This is important because the world will tell you if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck then it is a duck. That may be so for ducks, but that is not so with being a born again Christian. Just because we act like a born again Christian does not make us one. Only God knows who has truly given their hearts to Him. We make our best guess about someone being saved based on how they “act,” but God knows for sure. I want all of us to keep this in mind because this series on being born again is about a heart change, which is accompanied by genuine actions motivated by and grounded in a true love and submission to God. While we will cover what born again looks like through actions, I want to make it clear now that there are many people who “act” saved but are not saved. So we too must also look for the heart change, which will become clearer as we get into the series. So let’s start with a quick refresher.
Before Jesus put the words “born” and “again” together in John 3, the term “born again” had not been used anywhere else in the Bible. As we discussed in my previous message, the term “born again” means “to be born from above,” or “to be born of the Spirit of God.” It means the sin nature we received from “father Adam,” and every person on planet earth is his descendant, is replaced with a sinless nature when God becomes our Father. We’re not going to read the entire passage in John 3:1-7, but I do want to call out verses 3 and 7 which contain the term “born again.” “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.…Do not be amazed that I said you, you must be born again.’” Jesus makes it clear that no one will enter heaven, will “see the kingdom of God,” unless he or she is born again. In He Still Moves Mountains, Max Lucado says “The meeting between Jesus and Nicodemus was a collision between opposing views on salvation. Nicodemus thought the person did the work; Jesus says God does the work.…All the world religions can be placed in one or two camps: legalism or grace.” (Page 128) Jesus says spirituality doesn’t come from church attendance or good deeds, but from heaven itself. So, what would motivate God to offer such a gift? New Light, Jesus tells Nicodemus something that he could never imagine. He tells him in verse 16 “For God so loved …” Jesus made it very clear: whatever this new birth was, it couldn’t be earned, but it could be received!
I want to share a little history about the Pharisees that will add some clarity to this interaction between Jesus and Nicodemus and establish the foundation for the rest of this series. Nicodemus was a historically proven person as was most of the Pharisee. This is important because the Pharisees held to a very pivotal point of doctrine. Isaiah 60:21 says, “Then all your people will be righteous; they will possess the land forever, the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, that I may be glorified.” After studying Isaiah 60:21, the Jewish rabbis came to the conclusion that to be born a Jew meant you had automatic entrance into the Kingdom, in other words, all Jews went to heaven. This was a belief that Nicodemus held and taught as a Pharisee until he chatted with Jesus. When Nicodemus comes to Him, Jesus immediately speaks to Nicodemus’ unspoken need. Although Nicodemus might have been preoccupied with the Kingdom of God, he was probably struggling with the rabbinic theology of all Jews going to heaven after hearing the teachings of Jesus and witnessing the miracles He performed. So he came to Jesus by night to get a final answer. I believe that Nicodemus might have had doubts about the Jewish teaching that he qualified to enter into the Kingdom of God just because he was born a Jew. Even though he had taught these doctrines all his life I believe that he was unsure.
Pharisees understood being born again, but not as Jesus taught it. They taught that there are eight ways to be born again after the natural birth (born of water): proselyte conversion, crowned King, baptism, repentance, bar mitzvah, marriage, rabbinic ordination, and head of a rabbinic academy, all of which stress the physical element. Following the natural birth, Nicodemus qualified for six of the eight other ways of being born again as he was Pharisee - a teacher of the Law. When you think about it, Nicodemus had gone through the experience of being “born again” in every way that he knew how and was qualified to be considered born again. So when Jesus mentions he must be born again his mind goes back to the natural birth (being born of water) because he has already completed all the others that he was qualified to do (he wasn’t a Gentile so he could not do the proselyte conversion and he was not a member of the house of David – crowned king.) However, as it relates to the other six, he had all of them covered. When he asks Jesus how a man can be born again of his mother when he is old (which obviously must be what Jesus was talking about), Jesus explains about being born of the Spirit. He has to be born again in the spiritual realm. He has to start a brand new life with God which can happen at any age. Jesus is talking about spiritual salvation. He was not talking about being born of water; He was talking about being born of the Spirit which is much different. Being born of water, being born physically, is being born of the flesh; but being born of the Spirit is being born from above. There is a fleshly physical birth and a spiritual rebirth and Jesus was emphasizing the distinction between the two.
Nicodemus was struggling with this whole idea. He had taught all of his life that he is automatically qualified to enter the Kingdom just by virtue of being Jewish. Jesus is now saying that being born a Jew was not enough. Physically being born a Jew was not enough to see the kingdom of God. Jesus tells him that unlike the physical birth, which is under man’s control, the “new birth” is under divine control. The new birth, He says, can be experienced by mankind but it can never be controlled by man - it is like the wind. So Jesus explains to Nicodemus (and to us) that to see the kingdom of God (make it into heaven) a person must be born of the Spirit – born again!
The Apostle Peter clarifies this point when he uses the words in 1 Peter 1:23. “For you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.” I want you to hear how the Amplified Bible translates this verse. “For you have been born again [that is, reborn from above – spiritually transformed, renewed, and set apart for His purpose] not of seed which is perishable but [from that which is] imperishable and immortal, that is, through the living and everlasting word of God.” The reason we will be able to “see the kingdom of God” is because the seed inside of us – the nature inside of us – is immortal because it contains the life of God. The nature that we are born with, that we receive from “father Adam,” does not contain the life of God. This distinction is important.
With this very brief review, the remainder of this series will focus on questions that are critical to understanding the depth and magnitude of what it means to be born again. The first question we’re going to address this morning is “Why does a person need to be born again?” God created man in “Our image, according to Our likeness,” according to Genesis 1:26. He created man as a non-deified replication of Himself. In Genesis, God formed and made man without sin and without a sin nature. But Adam had the capacity to choose to commit sin because he had free will. God clearly explained what would happen if sinless, non-sin nature Adam chose to turn his back on Him and commit sin – “you will surely die.” (Genesis 2:17) Adam made his choice.
Freedom is one of God’s greatest gifts. The ability to choose to love and obey God or not to love and obey Him rests with each of us. No where in the Bible does God remove from man the ability to exercise free will and choice. In fact, Jesus died for us to have this freedom – to decide if we want to remain in a lost state or to be born again and live eternally with the Father. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God in Genesis 3, they lost their real life – the spirit of God. Therefore, all their offspring could only be lifeless and bound by a sin nature and separated from God. Fellowship with God was lost because God is holy, and natural man innately cringes with inferiority in His presence. Adam’s sin cost him, and all of his descendants, the “life nature” God had originally given to him. It separated man from God. As I said earlier, Adam passed his sin nature down to us. So, what is it then that the natural man needs? He needs eternal life, the nature of God, and he can’t get this by any effort of his own. He cannot change his nature. This is the reason why a person needs to be born again. Without it, the nature that he or she received at birth, if left intact, will condemn them to the lake of fire for all eternity.
After Adam and Eve sinned, God immediately set in motion a plan that would one day give each man and woman an opportunity to once again have a relationship with Him. And the only thing that could restore this relationship was a change of nature. The sin nature had to be removed and replaced with the nature God intended. Man had to have the same nature that Adam and Jesus had as sons of God. And we see Adam and Jesus in Luke 3:23 and 38. “When He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age, being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph, the son of Eli……the son of Enoch, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.” But something or someone had to die to pay the price for our sin. Throughout the Old Testament, a temporary atonement for sins had been available with the yearly sacrifice of animals by the high priest. He was the only one allowed into the Holy of Holies, which symbolized the very heart of God’s presence. Hebrews 10:3 and 4 say, “But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”
By God’s grace the blood of animals covered the people’s sins for a year, but it did nothing about their sin nature. God allowed the death and blood of animals to be offered as a substitute for the death and blood of the people. The acts of sin were no longer held against people, but the sin nature that produced the acts still remained. For God to accomplish His ultimate goal of making available His divine nature to man, the shedding of man’s blood was required. To fully do the job, though, this man would have to be a perfect sacrifice. He would have to live a sinless life. That’s why Hebrews 9:11-14 says, “But Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once and for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”
New Light, the Bible says that through Jesus’ one time only sacrifice, we have the opportunity to be redeemed. The word “redemption” means “deliverance from some evil by payment of a price.” It’s more than simple deliverance. It carries with it the idea of complete freedom! When Jesus died for us, it wasn’t simply to cancel, atone for or remove our sinful acts. This provision existed through the death and blood of animals. Spiritually, we had no “life” because the sin nature is spiritual death. Anyone who does not have God’s life is spiritually dead and doomed to the lake of fire. Without accepting the redemptive work of Christ, the eternal death sentence will be carried out. But we don’t have to die, New Light. Jesus paid the price. He died in our place. When we accepted His free gift, the sinner was released – the condemned was set free! That’s why we need to be born again. That’s why we need to say “Yes” to Jesus!
Now let’s close with answering the question “How does a person get born again?” 1 Timothy 2:4 says “Who (referring of God) desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” New Light, I am so thankful for this verse. It says “God desires.” For our Heavenly Father there is nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, that He wants more than for every man, woman, boy and girl to spend an eternity with Him in heaven. That’s what He’s desires. And because that is His desire, His heart, God has made the process of receiving salvation s-o-o-o simple! I mean, simple! That’s why I’m so thankful for this verse.
Turn with me to Romans 10. We’re going to read verses eight through eleven. “But what does it say? ‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’ – that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, ‘Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.”
Based on this passage, we see that we must do two things to spend an eternity with God, and they are not difficult to do. New Light, salvation is a two-step process. Or, you can say that God has two requirements. The first requirement: the person has to believe in his or her heart that God raised Jesus from the dead in order to receive righteousness – to receive the new life God is offering. And, New Light, that means the person must take a leap of faith and believe that what God is saying is true. And that is exactly what Jesus told Thomas in John 20:29. “Jesus said to him, ‘Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.’” Jesus was talking about those of us who would believe having never seen Him! What else do you call that other than faith? Now the second requirement is to confess with your mouth what you believe in your heart – that God raised Jesus from the dead. When you do that, you are letting the world know and confirming to the world – and to yourself – that Jesus is now the Lord of your life! Do you see how simple God has made it for a person to spend an eternity with Him? You don’t have to do anything to earn heaven. All you have to do is believe Jesus lived, died and was raised again and then tell it to the world! New Light, we have a reason to praise our God and to praise our Lord and Savior!
Nicodemus went to Jesus believing, and teaching others, that he was going to heaven simply because he was born a Jew. Jesus told him very clearly that being born a Jew was not enough, that he had to be born of the Spirit. We are faced with a very similar situation today. There are many people who believe that because they were “baptized” with water that they are going to heaven. There are many that believe because they were baptized as a baby, they are going to heaven. Many believe that because they have been baptized and are now under grace that they are going to heaven. What we are hearing taught from many pulpits today is similar to what the Pharisees taught, that you can get into heaven simply by doing “something” that does not require a change in your spiritual nature. Jesus said we must have a change in the spiritual – a change in our nature – in order to see the kingdom of God. If that has not happen, then it (seeing the kingdom of God) will not happen. I hope through this series you will see through Scripture that being born again is so much more than just taking on the title. We will continue next week with part 2.
Until next time, “The Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
(If you are ever in the Kansas City, KS area, please come and worship with us at New Light Christian Fellowship, 15 N. 14th Street, Kansas City, KS 66102. Our service Sunday worship starts at 9 a.m. and Thursday night Bible study at 7 p.m. Also, for use of our social media, you can find us at newlightchristianfellowship on FB. To get our live stream services, please make sure you “like” and turn on notifications for our page so you can be notified when we are live streaming. We also have a church website and New Light Christian Fellowship YouTube channel for more of our content. We are developing more social media streams so please stand by and we will notify you once those channels are up and running. We look forward to you worshipping with us. May God bless and keep you.)
