Have you been born again? This is a most important question anyone is asked, and requires a specific yes or no answer. The necessity to be born again is a result of the incapacity of the natural person (the way we were born) to enter the kingdom of God. It doesn’t matter how morally upright a person may be, that person is absolutely helpless and powerless to either enter God’s heaven or to please God in any way.
To be born again doesn’t mean reformation of the old corrupt nature every human being is born with. The Bible says, “Behold I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalm 51:5). Being born again means a person becomes a member of God’s family—the kingdom of God, and heaven—will be his or her eternal home.
The Bible tells us that Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, came to Jesus 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. Jesus answered 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? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb 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 marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again’” (John 3:2-7).
Unfortunately, Nicodemus was taking Jesus’s response quite literally when he said, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” But Jesus replied, “unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”
This means the one and only way a person can enter the kingdom of God is by being born again. And this is further substantiated by Jesus when He said, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
If we could go to heaven the way we were born, there would be no necessity to be born again. The “new birth” required Jesus Christ to shed His blood and die on the Cross to save us from our sins. And this was what God’s justice demanded for sinful man to be reconciled to Him.
“Now the Lord informed Nicodemus” writes William MacDonald, “that in order to enter this kingdom, a man must be born again. Just the first birth is necessary for physical life, so a second birth is necessary for divine life. In other words, Christ’s kingdom can only be entered by those whose lives have been changed. Since His reign will be a righteous one, His subjects must be righteous also. He could not reign over people who were going on in their sins” (Believer’s Bible Commentary, Thomas Nelson Publishers, p. 1477).
Jesus also told Nicodemus “Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again” (John 3:7). Man has not got the required remedy for his own sinful state. Remember, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh.” And it remains that way.
Being born again or the “new birth” brings a person immediately into the family of God, and a partaker of the “divine nature,” which is the life of Jesus Christ Himself. Galatians 2:20 says, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
To be born again means having faith in Jesus Christ that “whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:15,16).
Wouldn’t you rather be born again, to be assured of eternal life rather than miss this opportunity? There’s no time like the present. Tomorrow is never guaranteed.
Here’s how. The Bible says, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved (Romans 10:9,10).
May Jesus Christ give you the courage and the faith to do, and be assured of spending eternity in heaven. God bless you. Amen.
May the Lord bless you.