Rewarding Faith:

               “You Must Be Born Again”

 

 

Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Ezekiel 36:25-27.

 

Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ John 3:5-7.

 

Once again to the unbeliever, the one who has not received the Spirit of truth, these words are hard to comprehend, but to the one who has received regeneration, they are life and they are truth.

 

These few scriptures reveal to mankind the true purpose of the mystery hidden in God until the exact time in history when He alone chose to make this secret known to all who would receive His message brought forth by His only begotten Son, to the ones who would be witnesses of His glorification.

 

Case in point, when the Jewish leader, Nicodemus came to Jesus in secret he knew that there was something different and unusual about this man, who, through obvious divine intervention was speaking and performing things that he and his contemporaries could only dream of doing.  John 3:2.

 

I strongly believe that just as the disciples knew in their hearts, so too did Nicodemus come to realize, there was no one else before or after the appearance of Jesus of Nazareth who had the answers to all of their questions.

 

There was not one question or one problem presented to Him during His earthly ministry that He did not have the solution for, and we know for a fact that each and every member of the religious community was keeping a close eye on this One who proclaimed to be King of the Jews.

 

Why else then would a man of great renown, a leader of the Jews, such as Nicodemus come with awe and wonderment and seek an audience with this humble teacher from Galilee?

 

The Amplified Bible says that he, Nicodemus, was a certain man (a present individual) among the Pharisees, a ruler, leader and an authority among the Jews.  John 3:1.

 

So what are the first words out of his mouth?

 

Rabbi (Teacher) we know, we are certain, fully convinced that you are from God. And how do we know this? Because of the signs and wonders, the obvious miracles that You do.

 

We must realize that this was a man of very high stature within the religious community of his day. He was a man of the Pharisees, a ruler of the Jews. The Pharisees were one of three main factions of the Jewish community at the time. One of their strongest beliefs was that Moses was, and the Messiah will be, a rabbi.

 

Now, with this in mind I think it safe to assume that Nicodemus was thinking Messiah when he approached Jesus of Nazareth and addressed Him as Rabbi?  I for one believe it to be true.

 

So when Nicodemus said, “We know you are a teacher sent from God” what did Jesus begin to do? He began to teach.

 

And what did He begin to teach?

 

He began to teach the message of Noah, of Moses, of Abraham, of Israel, of Joseph, of the prophets, the message of faith in God and His word. Believe in God’s word and you will receive eternal life.

 

Did the word not become flesh and dwell among us? Was Nicodemus not talking directly to the word made flesh? Yes he was, but he had no spiritual revelation that this was the One; it was only after the day of Pentecost that believers began to get a glimpse of their Master in His truest form.

 

Look what Brother John wrote concerning the revelation that he had received following the resurrection and ascension of His Lord.

 

In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.  John 1:1-5.

 

We can understand it now, it wasn’t just His wisdom, His miracles, or all of His proclamations that astounded the Jews and the common folk alike, it was the light shining in the darkness that they had no comprehension of, no man had ever seen One such as this before.

 

Notice that He uses the analogy of the blowing wind, He was trying to impart a little spiritual wisdom to them, the wind appears, you know it is present but you can’t see it, you can hear it, you can feel it and then it is gone. Still you have no knowledge where it came from or where it is going.

 

This is exactly like the one who has received new life in their spirit man, the one who has been born again.

 

The unregerate man has no comprehension of the new life in Christ.

 

One minute he is a complete sinner full of death and darkness, he steps through the door of salvation (Christ), now he is a new creature born not of flesh and blood but of the Spirit, old things have passed away, behold all things have become new and now all things are of God.  2Corinthians 5:17-18.

 

Being born again or born anew by the Spirit of God is addressed today in the very same manner in which Nicodemus addressed it in his day. The unregerate man has no comprehension of spiritual things so his carnal mind immediately rushes off into confusion, “How can a man be born again? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

 

No, as Jesus has already explained, there are two births that are necessary for a person to make it to Heaven. First you must be born of water, a natural physical birth and then you must be born of the Spirit, a spiritual birth.  John 3: 6-7.

 

This my friends is the difference between religion and true Bible faith.

 

Religion will tell you that you must join our group, do all that we tell you to do, try to be as good as you can be and maybe some day God in all of His mercy will take you to Heaven. All man made religions, sects and cults will use their own carnal teachings coupled with fear, which is the opposite of faith, to persuade you that their way is the right way when all the time true Bible faith says, “And it shall be that whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord (Jesus Christ) shall be saved.”  Acts 2:21.

 

Why was Paul the apostle such a positive teacher? Why was he so sure that what he was sharing with the churches was the absolute truth?

 

Because he had experienced Christ first hand. Just as the disciples had spent time with the Master, so did Paul spend time with Him also.

And because he had this personal relationship with the Lord then he could speak these words with knowing faith, “We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.”  2 Corinthians 5:8.

 

Only a person who is fully persuaded in his spirit man could have the confidence that Paul the apostle had concerning the things of God.

 

Remember when he wrote to the Romans concerning the faith of Abraham you can tell that he also had experienced this same faith because of the words that he used to express the righteousness of God that can only be attained through real Bible faith.

 

Look at this, “Abraham became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old) and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced (persuaded) that what God had promised God was also able to perform. And therefore “it was accounted to Abraham for righteousness.”  Romans 4:18-22.

 

Now, since righteousness comes through faith in God’s word, we as sinful creatures living on earth have no hope in this life other than to call on the name that is above every name, and what does the word of God proclaim?

 

Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord (Jesus) shall be saved.

 

Which brings us back to our foundation scripture, it does not matter who you are, whether good or bad, black or white, rich or poor, professing religion or atheism, when Jesus spoke these words he spoke them concerning every person on the face of the earth, “You must be born again.”  John 3:7.

 

 

Written by: R W Nagle.