John 3:7-15 “Do
not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows
where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes
from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the
Spirit.” Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things
be?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel,
and do not know these things? Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what
We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our
witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how
will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended to
heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of
Man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes
in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Pastor Nolte continues that the
path to eternal life is not a difference of desire but a completely different
beginning, entering a new existence (born again) with the potential to live in
this new environment. Ezekiel 36:25-27 tells us, “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall
be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your
idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I
will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of
flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My
statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.” Just as the
Word of God tells us, the Almighty changes us from the inside out in
transformation to a new creation which comes with the godly desire and ability
to follow. No one can see; no one can enter the Kingdom of God unless they are
“born again”, born anew, born from above, converted in metamorphosis by an act
of God.
Matthew 19:26 Jesus
looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible,
but with God all things are possible.”
That new beginning (new
birth) is not human or physical, but is divine and spiritual. The natural man with
the sinful desires of the flesh has the quality of disobedience, grumbling, and
the inability to save themselves/ Sin is a deadly poison that separates
everyone from God, with no antidote. Jesus tells us the way: “as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness (Numbers 21:4-9), even so must the Son of Man be lifted
up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have
eternal life.” We really want that and everyone is invited to look up to
Jesus, repent and admit that we fall below the line then by faith believe. Forgiveness
and salvation cannot be purchased by us, cannot be earned by us and is not
deserved by us. The Son of God must be lifted up.
Romans 6:23 “For the
wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal
life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Accept God’s gift and you
shall be “born again” with forgiveness of sin, adoption into God’s family as a
citizen of heaven in the Kingdom of God. The relationship with our heavenly Father
is restored with the regeneration of the spirit and our new heart. The Lord
gives us eternal and ever-lasting life. But, God is not going to do it unless
we look up, repent and ask for forgiveness, believing in the redemptive and atoning
blood of Jesus Christ to change us as He took our place on that Cross. That is what is important!
In Christ, Brian
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