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BORN AGAIN
by Richard St.James
BORN AGAIN
Old Paths Bible Ministries © 2007
John 3:1 “There was a man of the Pharisees,
named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him,
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.
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.
4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he
is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's
womb, and be born?
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.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that
which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the
sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and
whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the
Spirit.”
THE HOPE
Nicodemus, no doubt, is a righteous man. He is “a
ruler of the Jews” … a Pharisee.
Nicodemus wants to see Jesus Christ because he has some
questions. He comes “to Jesus by night”,
so as not to be seen by his peers. [Some of us have done
the same thing.] The important thing is that we come to
Jesus Christ. Nicodemus knew there was HOPE in Jesus and
believed that Jesus Christ had all the answers to the
questions that were building up inside of him. Nicodemus
was about to burst! Lets pause here a moment. This truth
[HOPE in Jesus Christ] is also found in
the true Christian [the hope that is in you]. This basic
truth is found in [1 Peter 3:15]: “But
sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always
to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason
of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.”
The believer in Jesus Christ is an ambassador of Jesus
Christ. “Now then we are ambassadors for
Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you
in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.”
In verse three: “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.”
BORN OF THE FLESH
It’s all about an [EXCEPTION]
… an exception against the natural. First let’s
talk of our natural birth. If we are in the world, then
we must have come into the world. And if we have come
into the world it is because we were “born
of a woman”. This birth is a historic event
to a life that is bound to time, [TIME]
and consists “of few days”.
What is more, these few days are “full of
trouble”.
[Job 14:1] “Man that is born of a woman is
of few days and full of trouble.” Our
mothers bore us … [carried and nourished us in the
womb for nine months] to bring us into a sinned cursed
world. The SON of GOD
uses the natural to explain the supernatural. Our natural
birth [Born of the Flesh] leaves us dead spiritually,
without any ability to worship GOD.
EXCEPT
“Except a man be born again, he cannot
see the kingdom of God.” [Born of the
Spirit] “Nicodemus [in verse four] saith
unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he
enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?”
Nicodemus does not understand. Nicodemus does not
understand, because Nicodemus is a dead man. [SPIRITUALLY]
The worship of GOD is ONLY for those that have been “raised”
up, yea, who were “dead” in sins. “Even
when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together
with Christ, (by grace ye are saved.” [Ephesians
2:5] GOD said in Genesis 2:17: “But of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not
eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou
shalt surely die.” The [CLOCK OF
TIME] which is the [CLOCK OF DEATH]
began ticking literally when man disobeyed God. The “aging”
of the whole creation began the moment that Adam sinned. “For
we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth
in pain together until now.” [Romans 8:22]
The whole creation was to “groan”
for DEATH had come into the world. “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.” [Romans 5:12] By Adam, we died in
another way. We died SPIRITUALLY. That
means we are totally UNABLE to worship
God. Why? Why? Why? Here is the answer! Here is the
foundation or “bedrock” truth
that we all face as sinners. It is found in John 4:24. “God
is a Spirit: and they who worship him must worship him in
spirit and in truth.”
Born Again … the Supernatural Birth!
We must worship “in spirit”
if we are to worship God who is Spirit. Therefore, we
must be RAISED. Someone who has been RAISED
is someone who has been [QUICKENED]. “And
you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and
sins.” [Ephesians 2:1] To be “quickened”
is to be “born again.” This is
the very same thing that Jesus told the Nicodemus in
verse three: that he needed to be BORN AGAIN [The Second
Birth] in order to see the kingdom of God. “Jesus
answered, verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man
be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Someone who has been RAISED is someone
who has been QUICKENED, and someone that
has been QUICKENED is someone that has
been BORN AGAIN. To be BORN
AGAIN is to be made alive SPIRITUALLY
and ABLE to WORSHIP God
who is SPIRIT. “So is every one that is born
of the Spirit.” Amen!
Have you been born again? My friend, “Except a
man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
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