Born Again

It’s the Lord’s Day. Good morning.

We have mentioned sin yesterday. The Bible says “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus (Romans 3:23).”

Are you one with Jesus? He said in John 14:21, 23: “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him. 23 If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”

There is so much Jesus taught and we must test ourselves whether we obey it, but we need to start at the beginning. According to the Gospel of John the very first actual teaching of Jesus was when he declared to Nicodemus in John 3:3-7: “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”

“How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"

Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.”

You must be born again. As a teen I went to church regularly. Our church didn’t preach salvation, so I knew nothing about it, but I knew something was lacking. Every Sunday I heard about my sins and felt guilty, but did not know the solution. A teacher at school asked me if I knew Jesus and told me I must be born again. Being religious was not enough and being accepted by the church was not sufficient. Because of Adam’s sin my spirit was dead to God and the Holy Spirit needed to give new birth to my spirit (John 3:6). It was up to me to give permission for that to happen.

I wanted it above all and confessed my sins to Jesus. I told Him he is welcome to come and live in me. It was wonderful. All that doubt and those questions left me and I understood the Bible clearly. I was a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come (Corinthians 5:17).

I don’t know where you stand. You may have been brought up with religion or may not have had much contact with Christianity or the Bible. Either way you must be born again, Jesus said. This is the first commandment of Jesus you need to obey to be one with Him.

He said: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me (Revelations 3:20).” Is Jesus knocking at your door? Why don’t you invite Him in?

Lord Jesus, I’m sorry that I have sinned. Please come in and live with me. Be my guide and Master for I can’t live without you.

Have you prayed this and meant it? Now you’re born again. Tell us about it. Ask any questions. Leave either a comment or send us a message at discipleliving@gmail.com.

Tomorrow we’ll give some more guidance.