YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN

 YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN

 

INTRO What is so special about Christianity? Many would say that it is just one of many belief systems and they are all basically the same. After all, we all worship the same God and are all going to the same place. Nothing could be farther from the truth!

 

Christianity is unique among all religions. The thing that sets Christianity apart from every other world view is the possibility of change. Man was created in the image of God, but he is fallen. Sin has marred the visage of God in our lives. The eternal good news of the Gospel is that we can be redeemed; we can be made new! We can be restored to the way God created us. 

 

This is the fourth tenet in our statement of faith here at Restoration Fellowship. Let’s read it together. 

 

We believe that lost and sinful men and women must be regenerated by the Holy Spirit in the new birth in order to be at peace with God and become members of His Church.

 

The best explanation of this belief is the words of Jesus Himself. Let’s look at John chapter 3.

 

John 3:1–17 (NKJV) There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”

 

3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

 

4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

 

5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

 

9 Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?”

 

10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? 11 Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

 

Many years ago, a man named Bill Bright of  Campus Crusade for Christ,  condensed these truths into a pamphlet he called “The Four Spiritual Laws”. Billy Graham has a similar pamphlet called “Steps to Peace with God”. 

 

Just as there are physical laws that govern the physical universe, so there are spiritual laws that govern your relationship with God. 

 

Law #1: God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. 

God's Love God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

God's Plan I come that you might have life, and might have it more abundantly.  (John 10:10)

Why is it that most people are not experiencing that abundant life? Because...

 

Law #2: Man is sinful and separated from God. Therefore, he cannot know and experience God's love and plan for his life. 

Man is Sinful All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23) 

Man was created to have fellowship with God; but, because of his own stubborn self-will, he chose to go his own independent way and fellowship with God was broken. This self-will, characterized by an attitude of active rebellion or passive indifference, is an evidence of what the Bible calls sin. 

Man Is Separated from God The wages of sin is death. (Romans 6:23)

 

A great gulf exists between man and God. The third law explains the only way to bridge this gulf. 

 

Law #3: Jesus Christ is God's only provision for man's sin. Through Him you can know and experience God's love and plan for your life. 

He Died In Our Place God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8) 

He Rose from the Dead Christ died for our sins... He was buried... He was raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures... He appeared to Peter, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred... (1 Corinthians 15:3-6)

Jesus is the Only Way to God Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father but through Me.” (John 14:6)

 

The Cross of Jesus bridges the gap that exists between man and God and allows us to come to Him by faith. 

 

Law #4: We must individually receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; then we can know and experience God's love and plan for our lives. 

We Must Receive Christ As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name. (John 1:12) 

We Receive Christ Through Faith By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as result of works that no one should boast. (Ephesians 2:8,9)

When We Receive Christ, We Experience a New Birth We read this earlier in John 3. 

We Receive Christ Through Personal Invitation Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him. (Revelation 3:20)

Receiving Christ involves turning to God from self (repentance) and trusting Christ to come into our lives to forgive our sins and to make us what He wants us to be. 

 

Just to intellectually say that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He died on the cross is not enough. Nor is it just an emotional connection. We receive Jesus Christ by faith, as an act of the will. Jesus said it was a spiritual miracle! The Apostle Paul explains it this way. 

 

1 Corinthians 2:9–16 (NKJV) But as it is written:

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”



10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.

 

13 These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. 16 For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

 

You can receive Christ right now by faith. 

If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9-10)

 

For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Romans 10:13)

Just pray with me. 

 

MINISTRY TIME