You Must Be Born Again A woman once asked this great preacher George Whitefield, why he so often preach from the text (You must be born again) (Madam he said) because you must be born again. This is the root of the gospel; it is a great gospel theme. The story is in John 3 this story gives us the fact; the statement in (John 1) gives us the formula. Taken together the mystery is plain. John 1:11-13 {even, in his own land and among his own people, the Jews, he was not accepted. Only a few would welcome and receive him. But to all who received him, he gave the right to become children of God. All they needed to do was to trust him to save them. All those who believe this are reborn!--not a physical rebirth resulting from human passion or plan--but from the will of God.} John 3:1-13 {after dark one night a Jewish religious leader named Nicodemus, a member of the sect of the Pharisees, came for an interview with Jesus. ``Sir,'' he said, ``we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miracles are proof enough of this.'' Jesus replied, ``with all the earnestness I possess I tell you this: Unless you are born again, you can never get into the Kingdom of God.'' ``Born again!'' exclaimed Nicodemus. ``What do you mean? How can an old man go back into his mother's womb and be born again? ''Jesus replied, ``what I am telling you so earnestly is this: Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. Men can only reproduce human life, but the Holy Spirit gives new life from heaven; so don't be surprised at my statement that you must be born again! Just as you can hear the wind but can't tell where it comes from or where it will go next, so it is with the Spirit. We do not know on whom he will next bestow this life from heaven ``what do you mean?'' Nicodemus asked. Jesus replied, ``you, a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don't understand these things? I am telling you what I know and have seen--and yet you won't believe me. But if you don't even believe me when I tell you about such things as these that happen here among men, how can you possibly believe if I tell you what is going on in heaven? For only I, the Messiah, have come to earth and will return to heaven again.} Hear is a teacher of the law and he did not recognized the time of the Messiah visitation. Necodemus was lost, even though he was a Jew and of the strictest sect, which was at that time was the Fharisees. (A) he was politically a member of the Sanhedrin. (B) Socially, a master in Israel and (C) Religiosity, model of a Priest, yet in all this he needed to be born again, of the Spirit. He needed a new birth if he was to go to Heaven, as all of us do! See flesh and blood cannot enter into heaven but the spirit can? Let me elaborate about the Spirit of Jesus. When you ask Jesus to save you and to come into your life; He does He sends you His Spirit which is Holy and it is that Spirit that quickens your body to heaven. The Father in all His holiness cannot look upon sin, and the only thing we got going for us is the righteousness of the Spirit of Christ. You see it was all foretold in the Old Testament. At first the people needed to kill an animal with no defect to transfer their sins into it, that just cover their sins it didn’t take them away. When John the Baptist saw Jesus he said behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. So for God to accept you-- you must be Holy. So when He sees the blood as the ultimate sacrifice for your sins He will let you into his presence. And for this you must be born again. Zechariah 4:6 {So he answered and said to me: "This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: `Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the Lord of hosts.} Yes and only by the Spirit you can be save. So why don’t you ask Him to come into your life and save you today. This is the nature of the New birth. That which is born of the flesh is flesh but that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. Three negatives (a) Not of human descent. ( Not of Blood.) (b) Not of human desire. ( Not… of the will of the flesh.) (c) Not of human design. ( Not… of the will of man.) Three positives. (a) Man must believe on His name. ( Jesus-Yeshua the Savior) (b) Man must receive. (c) God works the regenerating miracle. (Become one with Him) You are like a cocoon in the natural, but once you been born again you become a beautiful butterfly. You must believe and be Baptized of the water and of the word. I dedicate this letter to all who are not born again. Hoping to make you understand more plainly the simplicity of salvation.
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