Look for
and also
Strange though it may seem, each morally responsible person
will experience two births or two deaths. One might still raise the same
question asked by a man named Nicodemus: "How can these things be?"
Jesus had just told him that "except a man be
born again, he cannot see the
Certainly few people would honestly say that there is not within the recesses
of their eternal abode. Since Christ unmistakably taught that there is no
entrance to the
Christ’s words immediately infer that what man receives by way of his natural
birth is not sufficient to qualify him for heaven. One may appear outwardly
moral in his life, being clean in his speech and honest in his dealings with
his fellowmen. Yet, if he is honest with himself, he knows that he is not
really what he ought to be. Deep down in the heart of each one there is or was
the blackness of sin, which is disobedience and rebellion against God.
Especially as we look at the standards and requirements for holiness in God’s
Word we all have to admit that we are helpless to justify ourselves before God
on our own merit. Truly each one had need of a new spirit, a new life, and a
New Birth, bringing one into conformity to the will of God.
Many times the New Birth is grossly misunderstood and misinterpreted. There are
substitutes and counterfeits that must be discerned. The New Birth is not a
reformation. Romans
and
now