BORN AGAIN?
SCRIPTURE: I Peter 1:23 “Being born again, not of
corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and
abideth for ever.”
INTRODUCTION:
Billy Graham tells of a time
early in his ministry when he arrived in a small town to preach at a meeting.
He had arrived a little bit early to finish writing a letter for back home. As
he finished the letter, he asked a young boy standing on the sidewalk of the
location of the town post office. When the boy had given him the directions,
Mr. Graham thanked him and said, “If you will come to the Baptist church this
evening, you can hear me tell everyone how to get to heaven.” “I don’t think I
will be there.” The little boy replied, “You don’t even know your way to the
post office, let alone how to get to heaven.”
What does “being born again”
mean? Are you born again? Can you understand or explain how to be born
again?
If someone should ask you,
“What must I do to get to heaven?” what would you tell them? Would you tell them to stop lying, to stop
drinking, to stop smoking, to stop stealing, to stop cursing?
Jesus told Nicodemus, “You
must be born again.” John 3:7
Many people speak of a new
birth without any definite idea of just what the new birth is. As a result, they are never sure whether
they themselves have been born again or not.
R.A. Torrey The Answer
p 59
I. PHYSICAL vs. SPIRITUAL
A. Physical,
Non-living objects:
1. I
can disassemble a car engine such as a V6 or V8. I can understand and explain basically how it works. I can
put it back together, but it may not work.
2. I
can disassemble a personal computer. I
can understand and explain basically how it works. I can put it
back
together, hopefully it will work.
These are non-living, physical machines
which man has made. They are composed of
many parts that function together to perform a
function.
B. Physical,
Non-living organisms:
1.
Biology students can dissect an organism and describe the structure and
function of the various organs that make
up that organism.
2.
Doctors, medical students, forensic scientists, etc. dissect non-living,
human bodies in the process of study or
investigation.
C. Physical,
Living Humans
Doctors, nurses, and medical students do
surgical procedures on living, human bodies with hope of solving a medical
problem or curing an illness affecting a living body. They want the human body to continue to live.
D. Spiritual
Aspects of a Physical Body
1.
However, when they remove the brain of a man, whether non-living or
living, they do not find the mind inside. We know that humans reason, but how? It’s just three pounds of flesh.
2.
When they take out the internal organs of a man they do not find the
soul of man.
3.
When the organ called the heart is removed, the emotional part of man
that we refer to as the “heart” is not found.
4.
They can separate every muscle, bone, internal organ, etc. and they will
not find the spirit of man. Why? It is
spiritual in nature.
James 2:26 “For as the body without the spirit is
dead,”
5.
Man is a physical being; man is a spiritual being.
E. Flesh vs.
Spirit
1.
“That which is born of the flesh is flesh;” John 3:6
2.
“That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” John 3:6
3.
There is:
(a) the flesh of man and
(b) the spirit of man and
(c) the Spirit of God.
4.
Man’s spirit, though fully functioning in the natural sense, is “dead”
as far as the Spirit of God is concerned.
Ephesians 2:1 “And you hath he
quickened [made alive], who were dead in trespasses and sins;”
5.
Sin, from the fall of man, has separated us from God. We are born with a corrupted nature.
Romans 5:12 “Wherefore, as by one
man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed
upon all men, for that all have sinned:”
6. We
are carnal --> fleshly, of the human nature.
Romans 8:7 “Because the carnal mind is enmity against
God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”
7. To
experience the spiritual aspects of God, man’s spirit must be born again,
through and by the Spirit of God.
John 3:3 “Jesus answered and said
unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
8.
With a corrupt nature and a carnal mind, we cannot “see” the kingdom of
heaven.
II Corinthians 4:4 “In whom the God of this world hath blinded
the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious
gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”
In
the natural, we cannot partake of the kingdom of God by way of understanding it
or by way of experiencing it, not in this world,
nor in the world to come. Why?
Ye must be born again!!!!!!!
“And it becomes every man, as in
the presence of a holy God before whom he must soon appear, to ask himself whether he has
experienced this change, and if he has not, to give no rest to his eyes until he has sought the mercy of God, and implored
the aid of his Spirit that his heart may be renewed.” Albert
Barnes
II. RELIGION vs. SALVATION
A. The Value of:
1.
Religion can be good or it can be evil as determined by the definers and
the subscribers.
Religion may cause a man to strap
a bomb on himself, walk into a crowd of people, and blow himself into
an eternal hell.
Salvation is inherently good,
because the recipients thereof are “looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith;” (Hebrews
12:2). Salvation will cause you to love
your enemies, bless them that curse
you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use
you, and persecute you;
(Matt 5:44)
2. By
religion, man tries to make his way to God.
By salvation, God makes His way to man.
3. By
religion, man works to be righteous.
Romans 10:3 “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness,
and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted
themselves unto the righteousness of God.”
By salvation, righteousness is
imputed to those who “believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the
dead;” (Romans 4:24)
B. The Morality
of:
1.
Religion is when a sinner regulates, or eliminates from his or her
lifestyle, that which he or she determines to be
sin. When they fail, they start the
life of works over. Salvation is when a saint is lead by the Spirit of God to shun the very appearance of
evil. When a saint fails, they have an
advocate with the Father, Jesus
Christ the righteous. (I John 2:1)
C. The Results
of:
1.
Religion
a. A sinner continues to struggle with sin. (Niles
Lloyd from sermoncentral.com)
(1)
A gambler will continue to gamble even though his credit card is maxed and his
checking account
overdrawn.
(2) A drunkard will continue to drink, even though
he knows his family has no food on the table
at home.
(3)
A drug addict will continue to stick a dirty needle in his veins knowing he
might get AIDS or
hepatitis.
(4)
A thief will continue to steal knowing he will get caught someday and face
prison.
b. A sinner is overcome by the trials and temptations of the world.
2.
Salvation
a. A born again Christian has victory over the power of sin.
Romans 6:18 “Being then made free from sin, ye became
the servants of righteousness.”
I John 3:9 “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit
sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he
cannot sin, because he is born of God.”
b. Victory will replace vices.
Ephesians 4:28 “Let him that stole steal no more: but
rather let him labor, working with his hands
the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.”
William P. Barker tells of a machinist at
Ford Motor Company in Detroit who became a Christian. He responded to the invitation and was
baptized. As the Holy Spirit began renewing this man he became convicted of his need to make restitution
for some parts and tools he had stolen from the company prior to becoming
a Christian. So the next morning he brought all the tools and parts back to his
employer. He explained
how he had just been baptized and asked for his foreman’s forgiveness. This was such an amazing turn
of events that Mr. Ford, who was visiting a plant in Europe at the time, was
cabled with the details of the matter and asked his response. Mr.
Ford immediately returned a cable with his decision: “Dam up the Detroit River,
and baptize the entire city.”
c. The born again Christian overcomes the world.
I John 5:4 “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh
the world: and this is the victory that overcometh
the world, even our faith. 5:5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son
of God?”
D. The
Acquisition of:
1.
Religion requires you to:
a. Turn over a new leaf.
b. Make a New Year’s resolution.
c. Join a church.
d. Be baptized.
e. Go to a Christian college and study for the
ministry.
f. Pray, fast, tithe, adopt a holy lifestyle.
Luke 18:9 - 14 READ
2.
Salvation requires you to:
a. Fall down on your knees and admit that you are a worthless
sinner.
b. Repent: Admit, confess,
and forsake your sins.
c. Accept the work that Christ has done on Calvary.
d. Believe that Jesus Christ, is the Son of God, who
(1) died in your place
(2) arose from the grave and presented himself
to God the Father as the sinless sacrifice to substitute
for you sins
(3) will impute
righteousness to you
Ye must be born again!!!!!!!
John 1:12 “But as many as received him, to them gave
he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 1:13
Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of
man, but of God.”
I John 2:29 “If ye know that he is righteous, ye know
that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.”
I John 4:7 “Beloved, let us love one another: for love
is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 4:8 He
that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.”
I John 5:1 “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the
Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also
that is begotten of him.”
I John 5:18 “We know that whosoever is born of God
sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked
one toucheth him not.”