You must be born again.

John 3:1-21 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; ² this man came to Jesus at night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” ³ Jesus responded and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

⁴ Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a person be born when he is old? He cannot enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born, can he?” ⁵ Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ⁶ That which has been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ ⁸ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it is coming from and where it is going; so is everyone who has been born of the Spirit.”

⁹ Nicodemus responded and said to Him, “How can these things be?” ¹⁰ Jesus answered and said to him, “You are the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? ¹¹ Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you people do not accept our testimony. ¹² If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ascended into heaven, except He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man. ¹⁴ And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ so that everyone who believes will have eternal life in Him.

¹⁶ “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him. ¹⁸ The one who believes in Him is not judged; the one who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. ¹⁹ And this is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the Light; for their deeds were evil. ²⁰ For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light, so that his deeds will not be exposed. ²¹ But the one who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds will be revealed as having been performed in God.”

2 Timothy 3:16 says:All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness.  John 3:16: For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life, is perhaps the single most familiar verse in all of scripture. In today’s text we see that even this verse with its assurance of eternal life to everyone who believes, should not be taken without the context of what else Jesus says. Our believing must be more than an acknowledgement that Jesus came and lived. It must be more than that He was a good teacher.  In verse 3, Jesus says: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” We cannot say that we believe unto eternal life, if that believing doesn’t also change us in this life. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says: If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. If we believe in Christ, we must believe that He gave His life to redeem us from sin.

Some people wrongly believe that because of the cross, sin no longer matters, that because our sins are forgiven, we can continue to sin without consequence.  Romans 6:23 says: The wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Either we believe that Jesus paid the wage for our sin and we live as redeemed by Him and in Him, or we will pay the wage for our own sin. The cross does not make sin acceptable to God. It cleanses us and redeems us from sin to make us acceptable to Him.  In the text Jesus says: “God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him. The one who believes in Him is not judged; the one who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the Light; for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light, so that his deeds will not be exposed. But the one who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds will be revealed as having been performed in God.”  1 John 1:5-10 says: God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. We cannot say that we believe in Christ yet continue to walk in and embrace the darkness of the world. We can lie to and deceive others, saying we believe in and follow Jesus, but we cannot deceive God. He knows our hearts. In Matthew 7:17-20 Jesus says: “Every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.” Those who love and embrace the darkness, immorality, unrighteousness and lawlessness in our society and culture should not be deceived. They will be known by their fruit. In Isaiah 5:20 God says: Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

 “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God… For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.”  Amen. Thank You heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit. Amen.