“BORN ONCE IS NOT ENOUGH”
John 3:3; 1 Peter 1:23-25; 1 John 3:9
FBCF – 1/7/24
Jon Daniels
INTRO – Funny bumper stickers:
- “The closer you get the slower I drive.”
- “Do you follow Jesus this close?”
- “Free airbag test for tailgaters”
- How many of you resonate w/ these???
Some are sad:
- “God is just pretend.”
- “The Bible: A Grim Fairy Tale”
- “What an imaginary friend we have in Jesus.”
Here’s the one that I believe got my attention the most when I saw it & made my heart break for the person who was driving the car it was on:
- “Born OK the first time”
- This person has been deceived & deluded by Satan & maybe damaged by someone, possibly in the church.
- May be someone who is deconstructing their faith.
- Sad truth is that, if this person truly believes this & stays in this condition, they will die in their sins & go to hell.
o Born once – Die twice
o Born twice – Die once
Starting new series today – “Don’t Stop!” – The importance of discipleship from the moment of new birth to the moment of death. Focusing on our church’s mission statement: “Making Much of Jesus.”
EXPLANATION – John 3:3; 1 Peter 1:23-25; 1 John 3:9
Let’s do some studying! There’s a theological term that is synonymous w/ being born again. That word is REGENERATION. It’s the first stage of the process or order of salvation.
- Regeneration/Justification
- Sanctification
- Glorification
These are important terms for us to know as Christ-followers. Let’s define them.
- Regeneration – This is what the Bible calls “born again” or “born of God” & the one we will focus on the most today.
o Some of you remember when Jimmy Carter was elected President in 1976 – Made headlines as the President who was “born again”, terminology that most journalists knew nothing about.
o John 1:12-13 – “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” (NIV)
o 1 Peter 1:3 – “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…”
o Author, Whitney Capps: “Regeneration happens when the Holy Spirit makes us a new creation, resurrecting us from being dead in sin and making us alive in Christ. This process is completely the work of the Holy Spirit, and not dependent on our works at all.” (https://www.lifeway.com/en/articles/what-is-regeneration-justification-sanctification)
o Grudem – “Regeneration is a secret act of God in which He imparts new spiritual life to us.” (Systematic Theology, p. 699)
- Justification – Happens at same time as regeneration. At the moment you are born again, you are justified.
o Declared free & righteous before the Father for all eternity.
o We don’t earn our justification. It was made fully possible by Jesus & His finished work on the cross.
o “It is finished.” – Our justification was included in that proclamation from the cross before He breathed His last breath.
o Joe Shelton – “Just if I’d never sinned.”
- Sanctification – This is the ongoing, lifelong process of becoming more & more like Jesus. It’s the part of the process that every Christ-follower is in today.
o 1 Thessalonians 5:23 – “May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through & through.”
o And we cooperate & participate w/ Him in this process continuously throughout our Christian lives until we die.
- Glorification – The final step happens after we physically die. It’s that moment when Jesus returns & raises our bodies from the dead at the Rapture, changing them into perfect resurrection that He has promised us.
o This stage will happen at the same time for all of us who are Christ-followers.
o 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 – “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.”
Our focus for this message is on the regeneration stage – the “born again” stage because…
APPLICATION – To make much of Jesus, you need to be born again.
BORN AGAIN TO SEE THE KINGDOM OF GOD – John 3:3
The eye is an amazing organ in our body which shows the wonder of the intricacies of God’s creative power. According to the National Eye Institute, this is how the eye works:
- First, light passes through the cornea (the clear front layer of the eye). The cornea is shaped like a dome and bends light to help the eye focus. Some of this light enters the eye through an opening called the pupil (PYOO-pul). The iris (the colored part of the eye) controls how much light the pupil lets in.
- Next, light passes through the lens (a clear inner part of the eye). The lens works together with the cornea to focus light correctly on the retina. When light hits the retina (a light-sensitive layer of tissue at the back of the eye), special cells called photoreceptors turn the light into electrical signals.
- These electrical signals travel from the retina through the optic nerve to the brain. Then the brain turns the signals into the images you see. (https://www.nei.nih.gov/learn-about-eye-health/healthy-vision/how-eyes-work#:~:text=When%20light%20hits%20the%20retina,into%20the%20images%20you%20see.)
God’s creation is stunning! But there’s one basic thing about your ability to see: You must be alive in order to be able to see.
As that is true physically, it’s also true spiritually. You must be spiritually alive in order to see the Kingdom of God.
- Paul praying for Ephesians – “…having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints…” (Ephesians 1:18)
- “I ask—ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory—to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for his followers, oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him—endless energy, boundless strength!” (MSG)
When we are born again, we are able to see the Kingdom of God.
- Able to see & understand the amazing gift of eternal life & salvation.
- Able to see the hand of God at work all around us.
- Able to see the glorious power that the Holy Spirit brings to us.
- Able to see the life-changing blessings that God gives to us – as Paul said, “the riches of His glorious inheritance” – “the utter extravagance of His work in us who trust Him.”
- One day, able to see the beauty of our eternal home in heaven!
If you want to make much of Jesus w/ your life & SEE the K’dom of God, you must be born again!
- “Jesus didn’t die to make bad people good, but to make dead people alive!” (Adrian Rogers)
BORN AGAIN BY HEARING THE WORD OF GOD – 1 Peter 1:23-25
NLT – “For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God. 24 As the Scriptures say, ‘People are like grass; their beauty is like a flower in the field. The grass withers and the flower fades. But the word of the Lord remains forever.’ And that word is the Good News that was preached to you.”
We are born again by hearing the Word of God – “the good news that is preached to you” - & responding in faith to receive Jesus Christ into our lives.
- Romans 10:17 – “So faith comes by hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.” (NLT)
- God speaks to us, convicts us, & leads us to repent of our sins & turn to Him.
- It may happen when we are reading the Bible alone, or pondering & contemplating God, or listening to Christian music, or hearing a preacher proclaiming God’s Word.
- It doesn’t matter when or how it happens. What matter is that it happens! And when it does, the eternal, incorruptible Word of God is planted in our hearts.
- We will live forever b/c the Word of God will last forever.
- We will live eternally b/c the Good News is all about eternal life.
- We will never die b/c the Gospel will never die.
Read article just this week that an 8-person mission team from FL went to Cuba. Divided up into 2-person teams & preached the Gospel for 8 days in 45 different churches, resulting in over 4,800 people giving their lives to Christ!
- “Making Much of Jesus!” means that we will be born again by the Word of God.
- And it means that we will proclaim the Word of God so that MANY others will give their lives to Christ & be born again!
BORN AGAIN TO LIVE FOR GOD – 1 John 3:9
This verse is not talking about achieving a state of sinless perfection in this life. Not possible.
- All of us are still going to sin.
- Still have to battle against Satan & the pull of our flesh.
- Still going to stumble & all sometimes.
This verse talks about people who make a practice of sin – who live a life of sin – who keep on sinning as a lifestyle – & look for ways to justify it.
- 1 John 5:18 – “We know that everyone who has been born of God does not KEEP ON SINNING…”
We are born again, not just so we won’t go to hell. We are born again so that we might live for God & serve Him for the rest of our lives.
- In fact, if you said a prayer at some point in your life just b/c you didn’t want to go to hell, but your life never changed after that prayer, then I would submit to you that you have never truly been born again & you’re still on your way to hell.
- You’re not born again just to get your “fire insurance” paid up so you can keep on living any way you want to live.
- We are born again to live for God!
- To make much of Jesus w/ our lives!
- To serve the Lord wholeheartedly.
- To glorify Him in all we say, do, & think.
- To obey Him in every way & in every area of our lives:
o In our marriages & families
o In our work
o In our relationships w/ other believers
o In our finances
CONCLUSION – “Don’t Stop!” – discipleship from moment of spiritual birth to your last breath. That’s what “Making Much of Jesus” is all about.
