There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus.
“Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.”
Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
“What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”
Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”
“How are these things possible?” Nicodemus asked.
Jesus replied, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things? I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony. But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven. And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life. ”
“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. ”
“There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.”
John 3:1-21 (NLT)
Did Jesus say the only way to heaven was to be born again by the Holy Spirit? Then how can a person be born again? How does a person believe?
John the Baptist explains what believing is, in the same chapter of John. He states, “And anyone who believes in God’s Son has eternal life. Anyone who doesn’t obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remains under God’s angry judgment.” John 3:36 (NLT)
Would you now agree that believing is more than accepting facts about Jesus dying in your place and also means to act upon these facts by obeying Jesus as your new boss and LORD?
The apostle Peter preached the first sermon of the church at Pentecost, and he explains how to believe. First he pointed out the terrible sin of the Jews. They murdered their own Messiah.
“’So let everyone in Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, to be both Lord and Messiah!’”
“Peter’s words pierced their hearts, and they said to him and to the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what should we do?’”
“Peter replied, ‘Each of you must repent of your sins, turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ to show that you have received forgiveness for your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is to you, and to your children, and even to the Gentiles—all who have been called by the Lord our God.’”
“Then Peter continued preaching for a long time, strongly urging all his listeners, ‘Save yourselves from this crooked generation!’” Acts 2:36-40 (NLT)
So we must all repent of our spiritual crimes. How do we repent? Just like Peter pointed out the sin of the Jews that crucified their Messiah Jesus, we must take these steps.
1/ THE LAW OF GOD MUST BE EXAMINED AND FACED JUST LIKE YOU WOULD IN A COURTROOM [Exodus 20, Matthew 5-7, Galatians 5, Ephesians 2]- Why? because the law of God creates guilt
“Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God.” [Romans 3:19 (NLT)]
“When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.” [Gal 5:19-21 (NLT)]
2/ RESPOND TO THE GUILTY VERDICT WITH FULL ADMISSION OF YOUR SPECIFIC CRIMES, FOLLOWED WITH DEEP SADNESS – Why? because guilt creates godly sorrow
“Come close to God and he will come close to you. Realize that you have sinned and get your hands clean again. Realize that you have been disloyal and get your hearts made true once more. As you come close to God you should be deeply sorry, you should be grieved, you should even be in tears. Your laughter will have to become mourning, your high spirits will have to become heartfelt dejection. You will have to feel very small in the sight of God before he will set you on your feet once more.” James 4:8 (Phillips NT)
3/ FULLY REPENT AND FOLLOW [LIKE A SLAVE] JESUS, YOUR NEW LORD – Why? because only deep godly sorrow creates true repentance
“For godly grief and the pain God is permitted to direct, produce a repentance that leads and contributes to salvation and deliverance from evil, and it never brings regret; but worldly grief (the hopeless sorrow that is characteristic of the pagan world) is deadly [breeding and ending in death].“ [2 Cor 7:10 (AMP)]
“Let the thief steal no more, but rather let him be industrious, making an honest living with his own hands, so that he may be able to give to those in need.” [Ephesians 4:28 (AMP)]
True repentance means to first stop your crime (sin), and in our example of a thief that is only the first step because this is only partial repentance. Next, the thief must get a job and earn his money. But this is still partial repentance because it does not deal with the heart of the sin, GREED. A greedy person steals and cheats, but a fearful or careful greedy person just works hard to stuff his own pockets. Here the Bible explains that true and full repentance is only proven when the ex-thief makes a 180 and joyfully gives some of his hard earned money to needy people.
Next, Peter said in Acts 2, ‘Each of you must repent of your sins, turn to God…” Full “repentance” is turning from sin and then turning to God. Remember what John the Baptist explained, “Anyone who doesn’t obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remains under God’s angry judgment.” Turning to God means following the commands of Jesus, and following His example of life. We must all follow the narrow way of the counter cultural path of Jesus. Here is how we can repent and start following Jesus.
AN EXAMPLE PRAYER WOULD BE LIKE THIS
Dear God,
I realize you are my Almighty Creator and the only one who is good and fair. Because of this you have the right to establish the law of the world and I now bow to your authority. I have broken your law _________ [fill in the blanks], and I am sick with sadness in how I have acted. Please forgive me! I accept your offer of forgiveness through Jesus dying in the place of my judgment. I turn from all the crimes I am practicing, I have no excuses, And I now am grateful for your mercy. I choose to follow my Lord Jesus by obedience to His commands all my days.
Finally Peter in Acts 2 gives every new follower of Christ the first step of obedience to prove to others they followed Jesus. “Each of you must repent of your sins, turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ to show that you have received forgiveness for your sins.” If you prayed and now follow Jesus contact our pastor immediately and ask to be baptized. Welcome to the family!
