You Must Be Born Again - Re-Gene-Ration

“You must be Born Again”

“Re-GENE-ration”

By

District Elder M.L. Maughmer, Jr.

John 3:1-8

Opening: - Today I want to take you to hear a conversation between Jesus and a man by the name of Nicodemus.

On the other week we went on a journey to hell. We learned that hell is a real place. Hell is a place of torment, fire, gnashing of teeth, an eternal existence in an abhorrent hideous form. Constantly burning and in agony, on fire but never being burned up. We tried to impress upon you that hell is not a party place where you and your friends will gather and just hang after this life is over, but a dark, lonely place of unquenchable fire and torment where the wrath of God abideth on you forever and ever.

In going through the scriptures on hell I told you that the way to stay out of hell was to repent, be baptized in Jesus name, and receive the Holy Ghost. This is the only way to stay out of hell. You can’t stay out of hell just because you go to church, treat people nice, or live a morally clean life.

Isaiah 64:6 says “But we are all as an unclean [thing], and all our righteousnesses [are] as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away”

Hell is going to be full of people with good intentions.

Ephesians 2:8-9 says “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast”.

Now we have something called the Romans road to Salvation people use this and it is a good witnessing approach; however, they fail to use it properly and leave out some very important information.

Romans 10:9-13 says “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved”.

**They get on the 13th verse and say see all you have to do is call on him and you are saved, that’s all there is to it. But I just want to tell you that, that is only part of the truth and a part truth is a whole lie. The very next verse says Romans 10:14 “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher”. See you must believe “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation”. See you must believe, belief is an inward thing it’s in your heart. Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him”. Matthew 15:8 says “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with [their] lips; but their heart is far from me” See a lot of people are gonna go to hell that spoke a lot of good words. They said Lord Lord, but in their heart they did not believe, so all their righteousness, all their going to church, all their tithes, all their singing, all their testimonies is nothing more than lip service and their hearts are far from God.

The 16th verse of Romans 10 is it. “But they have not all obeyed the gospel”. I want to take a little time with this one right here. Don’t get the gospels confused with the Gospel. The Gospel is the “Good News” of Jesus. The gospels are the accounts of what he did and said according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Matthew, Mark , Luke, and John these are called the gospels, they tell what Jesus did and said. Acts gives the history of the church and tells of the actions of the apostles. Romans through Jude are called Epistles which simply means letter to different groups of people. They are letters of instructions and corrections. Revelation is the revealing of Jesus Christ in all glory.

Matthew, Mark, and Luke are called Synoptic gospels because they all have the same view point, they all deal with the humanity and natural things Jesus did. However, John is called a Theological gospel because he brings out the deity and Spiritual aspects of Jesus.