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HOW CAN YOU KNOW ONE WHO IS BORN AGAIN TODAY? EDUCATION
Take your time, please put 1.30 off close your door, turn off your Teflon, they can call later. If you sit down at the Master's feet, hear his words now.
Remember to read the sections the verses refer to
Now if you think. I've heard that many times, I know it well, why do I have to listen to it again, then you should just hear again what your own new birth basically means, and what it means not to be that, dear friend, maybe it's just just you who are not born of Spirit and Water?
Test yourself in the mirror of the Word dear friend!
What does it mean to be a born again Christian? The classic Bible verses to answer this question are found in John 3:1-21. Which we will get into further on. Jesus Christ is talking to Nicodemus, who was a prominent member of the Sanhedrin (he had spoken politically in the Jewish community). Nicodemus had come to Jesus in the middle of the night to ask him some questions.
When Jesus spoke to Nicodemus, he told him: Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him: How can a man be born when he is old? It cannot then enter its mother's womb a second time and be born. Jesus answered: Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and 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 be surprised that I said to you: You must be born again John 3:3-7.
The phrase born again literally means born from above. Nicodemus had a real need. He needed a change in his heart—a spiritual transformation. The new birth, being born again, happens by an act of God, where eternal life is brought over to the person who believes 2 Corinthians 5:17; Titus 3:5; 1 Peter 1:3; 1 John 2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1-4; 18. John 1:12,13 points to the fact that the expression born again also implies becoming children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. The Spirit of Faith is the Holy Spirit who comes in place of our dead spirit which was dead before, but is now new and alive in us.
In Ephesians 2:1, the apostle Paul writes: He also made you alive, you who were dead in your trespasses and sins. He also writes to the Romans in Romans 3:23 that: For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God ”. Therefore, a person must be born again to have their sins forgiven and start a relationship/communion with God.
And how does that happen in practical terms? In Ephesians 2:8-9 it says: For by grace you have been saved through faith. It is not your fault, the gift is God's. It is not due to works, so that no one has anything to be proud of. When someone is "saved, he/she has been born again, spiritually renewed, and has now become a child of God through the birthright of the new birth. By trusting in Jesus Christ, who paid the price of sin when He died on the cross, one is spiritually "born again." Therefore: if anyone is in Christ, he is a completely new creature. The old is gone, something new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17.
Can you say, yes, but this is exactly what I am and experience?
Not all who call themselves Christians have really experienced it, they know a lot but do not have the true new birth life in them. Again, as Jesus answered him: "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter." in the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." John's Gospel 3,3-6.
Clearly, Jesus is not talking about being physically born again. He speaks of a new urge – a spiritual transformation. Where God's true Spirit, the perfect spirit, moves into your interior. If you still understand what we are talking about, you should ask the Holy Spirit to come into you so that you see and hear the kingdom of God. Those of the flesh cannot understand the spiritual, or the gospel, they lack the revelation of the Holy Spirit inside so that they see, hear and easily understand, it could easily be that they are Christians but lack the Holy Spirit within them, also called for the baptism in The Holy Spirit maybe you?
That is. Before I am born again, I am guided by my own human inclinations, the desires of the flesh. Usually this is what guides my thought processes and decisions. But the lust of the flesh does not lead to the life of Christ to which I am called. Giving in to lusts such as pride, sloth, greed, envy, selfishness and many other types of evil lead to sin. Jesus describes the mind that is not born again like this: "Since you say, 'I am rich, I have gathered at home and lack nothing,' and you do not know that if anyone is wretched and pitiable and poor and blind and naked John's Revelation 3,17.
It is when I recognize that it is I who is described in this verse that I have come to the point where I am ready to be born "of water and spirit". None of what I har, as a result of being born of the flesh as a natural person, is able to serve God. When I recognize that I am not able to do good, then God can take over. I must surrender absolutely everything to be born of the spirit - it is a rebirth of the mind and heart. I become dead to the lusts of the flesh and alive to the promptings of the Spirit. I am crucified with Christ. I no longer live myself, but Christ lives in me, and my life here on earth I live in faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2,19-20.
Have you experienced dying on the cross from yourself?
DESPITE that, of course, I still have a flesh that demands that its desires be fulfilled, but now these desires are defeated and no longer affect me. Instead, I am alive to what the spirit leads me to, which is the truth. My old man, which Paul calls the mind that is not born again, must remain crucified with Christ, and the new life I have been born to is the life of Christ. The life of Jesus shall be visible in my mortal flesh Second Corinthians 4:11. It is precisely because I am born of the spirit and because the spirit lives in me that I have power to resist temptation, to remain crucified to the lust of the flesh and to live for Christ Romans 15,13.
The whole of Colossians 3 is a very good description of a born-again Christian, and begins with this: Now that you have been raised with Christ, seek what is in heaven, where Christ sits at the right hand of God. Set your mind on what is in heaven and not on earthly things. You are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, your life, is revealed, then you too shall be revealed together with him in glory.» Colossians 3,1-4.
I know that I am born again if I know in my heart that my longing is not for anything of this earth, but that I would rather serve God alone and let Him rule my life. A heartfelt desire to live forever rather than for anything in this world. A longing like Jesus, when he said: However, not my will, but yours be done. Luke's Gospel 22.42.
It is when I am willing to let go of my own strength, pride, stubbornness, trust in my human abilities and follow the leading of the spirit so that God's will can be done. Then I discover that everything is possible in the power of the spirit. I can move mountains in my life. What I thought was impossible, victory over sin, is accomplished. I become a changed person; a new creature. I let God bend and mold me into the person He wants me to be.
Then I can see the kingdom of God. My eyes are opened to see beyond what belongs to this earth; to see that which has true value. With the kingdom of God comes all that is truly good, both in this world and in eternity. Seeking God's kingdom is therefore the most rewarding thing a person can do.
I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, will give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation to know him, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, that you may understand to what hope he called you, how rich in glory his inheritance to the saints are, and how overwhelmingly great is his power with us who believe by virtue of his mighty strength. Ephesians 1:17-19. The training does not help. Born again means two things at the same time: born again and born from above, i.e. from Heaven, by God John 1,13.
It is impossible to grasp what belongs to the kingdom of God from a natural, human way of thinking. A spiritual man does not receive that which comes from the spirit of God; it is idiocy to such a man, and he cannot comprehend it 1 Corinthians 2,14. If any man had the prerequisite to understand the talk about the kingdom of God, it had to be a man like Nicodemus. Every morning he read e.g. Psalm 145, which is precisely a hymn about God's kingdom and its glory and honor. But despite his daily dealings with this word, Nicodemus stood outside of it all and owned none of it.
The same is true of all religious people today; all who are not born again. It does not help if one has decided to be a Christian; whether you pray, read the Bible, try to fight against your sin, take part in the work of God's kingdom or anything else. None of this makes a person a Christian. And if anyone thinks of himself that he is a Christian because of any of these things, that is the best evidence that he is not. Everything depends on whether you are born again!
There is no natural transition from being a natural man to becoming a Christian. A person who is not born again can try to behave like a Christian. But as little as an ape becomes a man by being trained to act like a man, so little does a man become a Christian by trying to act as if he were one.
It is offensive. Every time it is preached, people demand a more detailed explanation. The same was the case with Nicodemus. He cannot really accept Jesus' answer and asks for an explanation: "How can a man be born when he is old? That can't be the other way aroundng enter his mother's womb and be born?”
Jesus' speech about a new birth seems completely meaningless to Nicodemus. How will Jesus explain it?
That is exactly how it is today. When the word of God is preached truthfully, people ask: How is this to be understood? Explain to us in more detail what Christianity really is! Let's discuss it. And often, panel and round table discussions are arranged to discuss what Christianity is. But no such explanation exists. It is as impossible to explain to people what Christianity is as to explain colors to a blind person. If such an explanation had been possible, there would have been no need for a new birth. A "Christianity" that the natural man can understand is no Christianity. Jesus also does not try to give Nicodemus the explanation he asks for. He just repeats and clarifies what he has already said:
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever is not born of water and the Spirit cannot enter the kingdom of God.
Without a new birth, as I said, a person can neither see (experience) the kingdom of God nor enter it. With the kingdom of God, Jesus is primarily thinking of the kingdom that will be established at his return. No one will experience that kingdom who has not previously received this kingdom into his heart. In this day and age, a person can come to Jesus as he is and be saved. But when Jesus comes again, no one will enter the kingdom of God as he is by nature. Only those who are born of God can enter there. What happens in rebirth is precisely that the kingdom of God enters us (cf. Luke 17:21; Galatians 4:26).
Water and Spirit
So what does Jesus mean by being born of water and the Spirit?
Let's study it a little more than we were before Let it be said clearly and unequivocally: Jesus is not talking about baptism. He had not yet instituted it. It only happened after the salvation was completed and Jesus had risen from the grave again Matthew 28,16-20. Talking about baptism in this context is simply dangerous talk, from a pastoral point of view. It prevents many people from being born again. They put their trust in the fact that they were once baptized and are thus born again. Baptism does not save a single one, and it does not help the one who has strayed from God. He has lost the life he was given in the new birth, and in fact must again experience the brand new birth or a total renewal of the mind. To teach otherwise is contrary to the word of God and hinders the salvation of men.
To be born of water and Spirit means exactly what the words say. Jesus speaks of God's counsel for salvation through John the Baptist and through himself. At this point, John the Baptist is still in full activity, and he himself characterizes this with the following words: "I baptize you with water unto repentance" (Matthew 3:11). On the other hand, he characterizes Jesus as the one who "baptizes with the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 3:11, cf. John 1:33).
John baptized with water for repentance before Jesus came and baptizes with the Holy Spirit These are clear expressions of repentance with confession of sin Matthew 3,6 and faith in Jesus.
Nicodemus had exact knowledge of John the Baptist, he must have been among those who went out to where he baptized, to investigate and study what was going on (Matthew 3:7). But he himself had not bowed to God's advice for salvation and was therefore left outside the revival and the spiritual life that God created in Israel at that time. In the same way it is with anyone who does not bow to God's counsel for salvation. They continue to stand outside the kingdom of God and are unfamiliar with the spiritual life that God creates in those who believe.
This cannot be otherwise, we see that from what Jesus adds: That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. The flesh means the natural man with mind, feeling, will, thought, conscience, word and deed and everything else that can be mentioned about a man. It doesn't just mean - as some seem to think - open sins and a life full of vices. It includes not least the religiosity of the natural man with all that it brings with it.
The fruit becomes like the tree. Do you pick grapes from hawthorns or figs from thistles?” Jesus asks Matthew 7:16. What comes from the natural man is and remains the natural man. Not the children of the flesh are the children of God Romans 9,8. Only what is born of the Spirit is Spirit. Often a carnal Christian is mixed up, just like in one way a good person who does many good things but at the same time just the opposite. Such a person may well have grown up in a Christian family or church, but has never personally experienced his personal encounter with Jesus, and has been born again from above with the Holy Spirit within him.
Jesus continues: "Do not be surprised that I said to you: You must be born again. The wind blows where it wants, and you hear it whistling, but you don't know where it comes from and where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. People want to analyze others, they want to see how they react or track how they are feeling and how they coped based on what they are analyzing to do and say, it canthey do not know a born-again Christian.
Here Jesus uses imagery. In the original text, wind and spirit are actually the same word. When the wind blows, it is felt that it is there. But you can't point to it and say: There it comes and there it goes. We have reason to believe that it is the quiet whisper that Jesus is thinking of here in 1 Kings 19,11-12. In the quiet, soft hiss, God himself is present. In the quiet whisper, he performs his saving work in a human heart. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit, says Jesus. A Christian is an enigma to his fellow men. They understand that God has done something in him and with him. They realize that he has been given a new life, a life unknown to themselves. But how did it happen? How are you doing with that?
It also seems to have worked on Nicodemus. In any case, it is certain that Jesus' care for souls is not in vain. Nicodemus has become open to Jesus' speech and bows to it. Now he wants to know how this new birth that Jesus is talking about takes place: How can it happen?
Jesus initially responds with a mild reproach: You are a teacher in Israel and do not understand it? If there was anything Nicodemus should and should have known, it was precisely this! But he is not alone in this. There are many teachers in Israel” today who do not know how a person is born again and who are unable to lead a soul to repentance and salvation. The reproach that Nicodemus received applies to many pastors, preachers, preachers and counselors today. They have applied for a work for God, but do not themselves know what life in God is. They do not realize that there are two kinds of people in this world: those who are born of God and those who are not born of God - and that only those who are born of God can do the works of God.
Although Jesus also blames Nicodemus, he does not reject him. He just wants to help him and give him what he asks for. Jesus has the same urge today to help anyone who is in the same position as Nicodemus, as long as they admit the truth about themselves and ask for what Jesus has to give. The saving testimony First, Jesus says something that should help Nicodemus – and us – to have the right attitude towards his answer:
Verily, verily, I say unto you, We speak of that which we know, and we testify of that which we have seen, but ye receive not our testimony. If you do not believe when I have spoken to you of earthly things, how will you believe when I speak to you of heavenly things?” How important this is, we see from the fact that Jesus says for the third time: "Verily, verily, I say unto thee". "We talk about what we know," he says. Who are we"? It is John the Baptist and Jesus. They speak of what they know and testify of what they have seen. They are instruments of God's own word. It is only those who convey the word of God who can give answers on how to be born again.
We must not least be aware of this in our time. You cannot turn to any side or to anyone to learn how a person becomes a Christian. Only God can answer that. And no one can be a proper caregiver without the one who knows what he is talking about here. John the Baptist and Jesus - they truly know what they are talking about. John's words are not his own. He is just what he says he is: a voice; one who conveys the message he himself has received from God Johanes 1,23. And John presents himself as a witness with these words: "He who sent me to baptize with water, he said to me: It is he on whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining, who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. I have seen it, and I have borne witness that he is the Son of God Johanes 1,33-34.
Jesus stands in a special position and cannot be compared to anyone. He is the Word Himself. It is about him that it is said: The word became flesh John 1,14. Yet he also presents himself as a witness: I say what I have seen with the Father John 8,38. In John 3,32 it is said of him: What he has seen and heard, he testifies. Furthermore, Jesus says about himself in John 14:10: The words that I speak to you, I do not speak of myself; but the Father who abides in me does his works. "Works" here primarily means the preaching of Jesus.
Testimony is a fundamental word in Scripture when it comes to coming to life in God and continuing to live with Him. God has testified about his Son. This testimony is that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son (1 John 5:10-11) As we have seen, Jesus testifies about himself. In John 15,26 Jesus says that the Holy Spirit testifies about him. Therefore, it is absolutely crucial how a person stands up to this testimony. In Jesus' time, most people did not accept it - as Jesus says here to Nicodemus John 6,36. The same is unfortunately the case today. When Jesus says this to Nicodemus, it is to get him—and us—to accept it.
Jesus urges us: If you want to be born again, you must listen to those who appease God's own testimony to salvation.
Jesus answers
In versene 13-16, Jesus gives us the very answer to how it goes to be born again:
No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
First, Jesus says something about himself. He is the only man who can ascend to Heaven because he came from Heaven. The Word became flesh John 1,14. The Son of God became man. He didn't take up residence in a human, he became human. He who sees Jesus sees God. He says it himself: "He who has seen me has seen the Father John 14:9. I and the Father are one John 10:30." As a man, Jesus calls himself the Son of Man in God's own words in the Old Testament. It simply means Human - Human with a capital M, as we would say today. The Son of God has become the man who realizes God's plan and idea with man, see Psalms 8 and Hebrews 2.
This means that the Son of God has entered into your and my circumstances. He has done in your place and mine what we should have done, but cannot because of our sin. And he has become what we should have been according to God's holy law, but are not. As the Son of Man, he is our representative and deputy before God. He ascends to Heaven. But at the same time, he is also God's representative and deputy towards us. He comes from Heaven. And while he's sitting there talking to Nicodemus, he's in Heaven. This seems incomprehensible and cannot be grasped with our understanding. But it is just as full as Jesus says. And what our mind cannot grasp, we can accept with our heart.
This Son of Man has therefore borne the responsibility for all that we have transgressed and done against God. It was our sins that separated God and us. Jesus has taken them upon himself. This is what he goes on to talk about:
As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so shall the Son of Man be lifted up.
Exalt means to hang on a cross. Jesus uses vision teaching to show how to be born again. Israel had sinned against God, and as punishment they were bitten by poisonous snakes and lay dying in the desert. They were literally under the death sentence of the law. It is precisely a picture of our position before God in our sins. Then Moses is commanded by God to hang a copper snake on a pole - a cross. The people are told to look up for it. Those who did this were healed and kept alive. By looking at the copper serpent, they avoided the death sentence. Thus shall the Son of man be exalted, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him. The brazen serpent is a type of Jesus. What helped Israel in the desert and all who were saved in Old Testament times is that God has counted on the atoning sacrifice from the beginning, which in the fullness of time was to be fulfilled by his own Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus' death on the cross means that the judgment which God in his holy law passes on the one who sins was executed on a substitute, on his own Son, so that everyone who believes in him will be free from his responsibility for sin against for God. And just as surely as sin has brought death with it, Jesus Christ's atonement for our sins brings eternal life with it. What regenerates us humans is the reconciliation of Jesus Christ. It is through the finished work of Jesus Christ that we come to life in God. This is given to us in the Gospel. Rebirth therefore takes place through the gospel. The moment the gospel creates trust in Jesus in a human heart, rebirth has taken place.
This is indeed a word for you who strive in vain to become a Christian. You will get nowhere, neither with your repentance, your faith, your prayers, nor with what you must be and do as a Christian. You are stuck and you feel judged and accused by your sin. You may also feel judged and accused because you lack the experiences that you believe belong.
Then you must know one thing: You fit together with Jesus.
It is not your faith that you must put your trust in, but what God's word says about Jesus Christ's atonement for your sins. Whoever believes in him shall have eternal life. Anyone who believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life - this is the word that Jesus gave to Nicodemus as a soul healer. It is Jesus' own answer to the question of how rebirth takes place. You who know with yourself that your only comfort, your only hope, the only thing that can give you boldness before God, is Jesus and what He has done to save you from your sins, you must know that you already belong to Jesus and are born again. It has nothing to do with baptism, as many believe today. As it says, believe and then be baptized. It is the finished work of Jesus Christ that saves nothing else, not even baptism. Now, if baptism were to save, God would have no need at all to send his son Jesus to pay for all our transgressions, then the baptism of John the Baptist would be enough for all people tobecome children of God. But God's word the Bible does not say that. It says very clearly that we must be born again before we are God's children, logically enough, children do not become parents' children unless they are born into the family.
Then one grows up to the head Christ, in faith in Jesus, he lives in community with God. It's just so sad to think that many grow up believing in Jesus, but they don't live in what was given to them when they were born again. Then they have strayed from God and have lost their life in Him. Then they need to be born again or a total renewal of their fleshly minds/hearts. Everything they have learned, grown up in with a view to being a Christian, will be of no use to them as long as they do not believe.
All this happened to them that they should be warning examples, and it was written to guide us, on whom the end of the age has come. 1 Corinthians 10,11 . Warning examples – against what? And what reminder is it about? We see this at the beginning of the same chapter: They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink - for they drank from a spiritual rock that came with them, and that rock was Christ - and yet God was not pleased with justice many of them. After all, they were struck down in the wilderness 1 Corinthians 10,3-5. Here we are talking about people who had received everything that was given by God for salvation, but still were not saved. Why? Because they did not live by faith: They lived in the religious life of their flesh not in the life of the Holy Spirit. They did not benefit from hearing the word because they did not receive it in faith when they heard it Hebrews 4:2.
This is elaborated further in Romans 9:4. There we hear what God has bestowed and given to his people, and which therefore belongs to them: "the birthright and the glory [God's presence] and the covenants and the law and the temple service and the promises. All these belong to Israel, God's word says here. But Israel does not own it anyway, and they are not saved Romans 9,1-3; 10.1. In quite the same way it is with the one who is baptized but does not live in faith in Jesus. What God has bestowed and given him in baptism belongs to him, and God never takes it back. But he doesn't own it! In order to come to own what God has given him and be saved by it, he must turn around and receive Jesus and believe in him. But for the one who lives in faith in Jesus, baptism has a far greater meaning than we are able to grasp.
In the course of the conversation, Nicodemus quietly slipped out of the picture. We hear nothing more of him. Did Jesus' care for his soul work on him? We dare to confidently answer yes to that. We will see that on Good Friday. That day, God needed a few brave men to take Jesus' dead body down from the cross. None of the apostles were ready at that time. But there were two men: Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, who dared to defy both political and religious authorities and take down Jesus' dead body and give it an honorable burial. In this way, what was prophesied about him came true, that "they gave him a grave and a burial chamber with the rich". And in that tomb Jesus lay until he rose on Easter morning. Then the grave was empty again. This is a powerful testimony that Nicodemus understood Jesus and accepted his care for the soul. He had come to faith in Jesus as savior.
When Jesus came, he did not come to judge the world, but to save it: For God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world may be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is already condemned because he has not believed in the name of God's only begotten Son John 3,17-18. So Jesus did not come to judge, but to save. But one day he will come again to judge the living and the dead. Then it is no longer useful to come to him as you are. Therefore, it is important to listen and turn around in time. He who does so will be saved on the day of judgment. As the word says here: "Whoever believes in him is not condemned." Certainly he must be brought before the judge, but he is acquitted and recognized as a child of God because he believes in Jesus.
But those who do not believe in the name of God's only begotten Son are already condemned. And if they do not turn, they know what awaits them when Jesus comes again to judge.
Are you among those who believe in Jesus? Born of water and Spirit there?
Now, if you have never put your trust in Jesus Christ as your personal savior, will you consider responding to the Holy Spirit when He speaks to your heart? You need to be born again. Will you pray a prayer for repentance and become a new creature in Christ today? “But as many as received him, he gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in his name; they were born not of blood, not of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man, but of God” John 1:12-13. Jesus is clear when he says that a Christian must be born again if he is to see the kingdom of God.
Amen
