Last week we began a short study on the phrase “born again.” We saw where the meaning had been changed by many because the phrase had been used in pop culture and had come to mean other things than that which we find in the Bible. It still remains that we must look at what is really meant by this phrase.
Maybe you have given little thought to this phrase, but the first person that heard it was very puzzled and didn’t know what it meant. Nicodemus was speaking to Jesus and when Jesus said..
“Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
This comes from John chapter 3 verse 3.
It could be that you have read this passage many times before. But have you ever wondered why Jesus replies to Nicodemus as He does? Look at the preceding verse where Nicodemus says...
“Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.”
This is when Jesus answers..
“I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
The first thing I want you to notice is the necessity of this task. The word “except” makes this task imperative. Imperative to do what? It’s imperative to be born again in order to see the kingdom of God. In fact this is such an imperative that Jesus says this three times in just a few verses.
Notice in verse 5 Jesus words this a bit different, but the necessity remains.
5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Also in verse 7 Jesus says this again
7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
George Whitfield, an English preacher, loved verse 7 so much that he preached on it more then any other verse. Someone once asked him, “why do you preach on “Ye must be born again” so much. Whitfield said, “because ye MUST be born again”.
Being that this is an imperative in order to see the Kingdom of God, we must consider what if we are not born again.
If one is not born again, then all our deeds that we consider good are nothing in the sight of God. If not, we have allowed the door to remain closed to the things of God. Perhaps we’re not as bad as the others we know, but we are still not what we must be, if ever one wishes to talk to God; for "except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God".
Our prayers are an "abomination to the Lord" (Proverbs 15:8). Prayers? Are they not to God one may ask? Does that not show I am thinking of God? Our prayers mean nothing if one is not born again. It may be others admire our seriousness; and the fact we go to church, but God looks at such actions as worthless, if one has not the new birth. Maybe we pray and others are impressed with our prayers, as if they hear words from Heaven; but God accounts them but as the howling of a dog, "They have not cried unto me with their hearts, when they howled upon their beds" (Hosea 7:14).
Others may take us for a prayer warriors with God; but He can take no delight in us nor our prayers if we are not born from above. Why, because we are yet "in bitterness, and bond of iniquity!"
All we have done for charities of men, and great causes in the world, though it may be followed with temporal rewards, yet it is lost and seen as nothing in the halls of Heaven. Maybe one gives to the poor, and helps the flood victims and are praised by the mayor for such actions, but God is not impressed if we have not given our lives to Him. God looks to the heart, and though the outward appearance be fairer than that of many others, the hidden man of thy heart is despicable. We look well before men, but God sees nothing of these good deeds. We as all men must be born again to see God.
God has a Kingdom. Through the years God has been bringing men and woman into this Kingdom to serve the King. Jesus Christ is the King of this Kingdom. This can only happen by being born into the family of the King. Colossions tells us more about this.
Colossions 1:13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated [us] into the kingdom of his dear Son:
Notice back in John Chapter 3 verse 3 has the word “see” the Kingdom and verse 5 has the word “enter” the Kingdom. Now do these mean diifferent things or are they the same. I feel it is a double entendre, meaning it has two meanings.
You may have said to someone far away, you will never see the inside of my house. You mean, you will never enter and see my house. So it is easy to understand these two words as meaning the same. The other way to understand this wording is the word “see” means know. This too, is a true statement and is linked back to verse 2 where Nicodemus says:
Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God.
Notice the words “we know” and now look at Jesus’ reply again.
“I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see (know or understand) the kingdom of God.”
Jesus’ reply becomes more clear when we look at it in that light. Jesus was saying Nicodemus, you say you know me, but you cannot know me till you have been born again.
Another double entendre, can be found in these same verses. The text again says..”Except a man be born again” The word “again” has two meanings. Now this is hard to see in the English, but in the Greek it’s meaning is clear. It means again as in a second time and also it means born from above. Some debate which is the best word to use, but I feel both meanings apply in this context.
So one needs to be born again, in only one sense. All have been born once in the natural sense, but this second birth must be from above. Clearly both meanings apply. The Book of James gives us more insight to this.
James 1:17
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
This leads to the last point I would like to make this week. This new birth is not physical but rather spiritual birth. This was where Nicodemus got very confused. How could he, being a grown adult go back into his mother’s womb and be born a second time? Well, he could not, because this new birth has nothing to do within the physical realm.
This is a major point to remember for if not remembered, we may think we are making God take us to Heaven because of our good deeds. So here is the point I want to leave you with.
Nothing physical can render anything spiritual.
The long list of good deeds above will not make us born again. We cannot go to church and be born again. We cannot give to the church and be born again. The new birth does not come from our bodies nor by the actions our bodies make. The new birth comes from above.
One may say, “well this is an over statement, because we are called to work in the Kingdom.” This is true. But God still looks at the heart as to why we are doing what we do even after we are saved by His grace. God knows just why we do what we do.
Ye must be born again…so how does this come about?
Next week we will see how.