Why You Must Be Born Again (Part 4)

Decision Time

A poll taken of the American people by Marker Facts Telenation for US News & World Report appeared in the June 20, 1997 edition of USA TODAY. It stated that eighty-eight percent of the adults in the U.S. who believe there is a Heaven also believe they will go to Heaven.

Why do so many believe they will go to Heaven? Are they basing their belief on what they hope is true rather than what they really know? In my opinion one reason people don’t want to think they are not going to Heaven is because this is such an important issue. It is for eternity! Deep within they know there is a possibility it will either be Heaven or Hell.

Like it or not, each of us makes a decision that will determine our eternal state of being, even if it is by our silence. That may sound harsh, but it is the truth. All of us must pass over to that other side of the grave. To talk about death is not being morbid; it is rational, because death is inescapable. The Bible says there is coming a final Judgment Day and every person will stand before God. Those who are not believers in the Gospel of Jesus Christ are condemned. “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son” (John 3:18).

That is actually a fearful thought! Every person should consider it seriously while the opportunity lingers. I am not playing on your emotions. I am addressing your intelligence, conscience, and free will. Death has a way of striking unexpectedly, and when it does, your final chance is gone. There are no extra opportunities. If you are an individual who has not done so, receive the risen Savior Jesus into your heart now. God loves every person, and His plan of salvation is available to everyone, regardless of what they may have done up to this point in their life. Few are worse than the Apostle Paul before he learned the truth of Jesus Christ. He hated the Gospel and was even a leader in killing Christians, but God transformed him.

Repent and accept Jesus Christ into your heart as Savior and Lord. That is what Paul did on the road to Damascus, and it is what millions of others have done. It is the only way to know for sure that you are going to Heaven. If you sincerely mean it, you will experience a spiritual rebirth into the Kingdom of Heaven. You will know that it happened, and you will be in the Kingdom of God and will inherit Heaven as well as many blessings in this life, which come from such a relationship that you now do not understand. God knows you intimately, and He is not as concerned with your words as He is with the attitude of your heart. The following is a suggested prayer:

“Lord Jesus, I want to know You personally. Thank You for sacrificing Your life on the cross for my sins and making it possible for me to spend eternal life in Heaven. I open the door of my heart and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Take control of the throne of my life, and make me the kind of person You want me to be.”

If these words express the desire of your heart, pray this prayer right now. Christ will come into your life as He promised. It is then important that you locate a church that believes in and follows true biblical Christianity, so that you can be grounded in the Word of God and become active as salt and light in the world.

I have reviewed the basic plan of salvation and what we must do to be rescued from the kingdom of the world and be made a member of the Kingdom of God. “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life” (I John 5:11-13).

WATCH FOR MY NEXT BLOG “The Two Spiritual Kingdoms” on March 29^th, 2010

Why You Must Be Born Again (Part 3)

The earthly ministry of Jesus only lasted about three and a half years, yet the impact of His life on the history of mankind has been far greater than that of anyone else who ever lived. Why did Jesus have such an influence? He was God come to Earth in the form of a human being.

One of the problems people have in becoming a genuine Christian is they don’t believe they can possibly be good enough. And they’re right! No one ever is. We are all sinners, born into the kingdom of the world. We can’t pile up good deeds and hope they will make us acceptable in God’s sight. That is not the way to gain favor with God. Our salvation is not based on our being good enough, but on the righteousness of Jesus Christ. This is why “salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

Jesus is the only one who was ever good enough to qualify for Heaven. He lived a sinless life! It is through Him that people like you and me are made right with God—that is where we get the righteousness we need to be saved. That is why “salvation is found in no one else” as the verse states. The righteousness of Jesus Christ is credited to our account in the eyes of God when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

“But now a righteousness from God, apart from law (our keeping all of God’s commandments and never sinning) has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe [accept Him as Lord and Savior; emphasis added]. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace [our salvation is a free gift] through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood” (Romans 3:21-25).

God can’t pretend sin doesn’t exist. Yet because of His love for mankind, He sent His Son to break sin’s condemning power over us and redeem us from the kingdom of the world. When Jesus shed His blood on the cross to pay the price for man’s sins, He became the Savior of mankind and allowed us to escape from Satan’s spiritual kingdom of the world. If we accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, God will apply the righteousness of Jesus Christ to our own record. That is how our relationship with God is changed. It is how we fit His standards and qualify for spiritual rebirth into the Kingdom of Heaven. It is not because of our goodness, but because of Jesus Christ’s sinless life, death and resurrection. “Know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ … because by observing the law [never sinning but keeping all of God’s commandments] no one will be justified” (Galatians 2:16).

Do we deserve this? No, it is because of God’s grace. His great love for mankind made this marvelous provision of salvation from the world’s kingdom and Hell available to us. It is a free gift from God. And best of all, it assures us of an eternity in Heaven. We should respond to such a gift by receiving it thankfully and with a repentant heart.

For all of those who know Jesus as their Savior, the grave has been transformed from a foe to a friend. With the backing of the Bible we can say, “We need to have no fear of death.” Our last breath here will result in instantaneous, complete healing and exquisite joy on the other side in a better world. Jesus and Heaven are ours! In a word, sunset here is sunrise there! As Paul said, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).

To the natural person, death is the final pauperizing blow; to die is loss. Nothing bankrupts humans so completely as death. What a contrast is Paul’s statement, “To die is gain.” Only a Christian like Paul could say this with confidence based on certified guarantees. He knew, as we can know, how soundly factual the basis of the Christian faith really is.

What Heaven represents is unmistakable. To be there will be the highest fulfillment of all hopes. Gone forever will be the burdens of mortal flesh. There will be no more weakness, pain, temptation, grief, limitations or frustrations. Heaven is a place where there is no unholy thought, desire, fear, doubt or anxiety. No more hungering and thirsting; every tear wiped away; drinking “living waters” of immortality. Peter describes it as “an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade” (1 Peter 1:4).

All around us will be those “clouds of witnesses”—the redeemed of all the centuries. The saints of the Old and New Testament will gather. Added to that will be a reunion with our departed loved ones. Every blemish, every disfigurement, every mark of age or weakness will be gone forever. There will be no fading of identity nor blurring of personality. You will always be you. I shall always be me.

No words can properly communicate all the riches God has in store for those who put their faith in His Son. We all have to choose between Heaven and Hell. Whichever one we decide on will be for eternity. Many people do not want to hear such a statement, or they ignore the reality that they ultimately have to make a choice. But if there is even a possibility of a Heaven and a Hell, it is far too critical a decision for anyone to pass off lightly, or to not try to find out all that it involves. That is poor judgment.

You do not want to miss Heaven.

God does not want you to miss Heaven.

I do not want you to miss Heaven.

You do not have to miss Heaven.

 

Is God’s plan fair? It is more than fair! It required a great sacrifice on the part of both God the Father and the Son. Remember that it is mankind who turned his back on God; God never turned against mankind. We are the guilty party. God didn’t have to save us! We should be thankful that He loved us enough to provide a plan so we might be saved from spending eternity in Hell, despite the fact that we often live contrary to His standards. The reason God’s plan of salvation is a just one is that He took the burden upon Himself through His Son Jesus. Who can argue with that? What authority does mankind have to alter God’s plan with one that is humanly-developed or created?

A portion of Scripture I find meaningful is in Romans 5:12-20. In essence what God’s Word is saying is that because of one man, Adam’s sin, all mankind inherited a sinful nature and therefore spiritual death or separation from God. The Bible also says therefore it is a right and just plan that mankind can be saved, reunited with God, by one man’s righteousness, which was accomplished by Jesus Christ. “Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:18-19).

A common question is what happens to children who die. Although all are born sin-infected and into the kingdom of the world, young children are not guilty. There is no such thing as inherited guilt. Those who die as children are not saved by their innocence but because of it. I believe the Bible teaches that we are not accountable for our transgressions until we reach a responsible age where we knowingly commit wrong. That, and only that, makes us transgressors and consequently guilty.

WATCH FOR PART 4 of “Why You Must Be Born Again” on March 15th, 2010

Why You Must Be Born Again (Part 2)

We all need to be freed from the spiritual kingdom of the world, which we were born into at birth. The Bible teaches there is only one way this can happen. As Jesus told Nicodemus, we must be born again spiritually. We must be convicted of sin and spiritually born again to enter the spiritual Kingdom of God.

How are we born again? The Word of God states that this spiritual rebirth takes place when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. “Before anything else existed, there was Christ, with God. He has always been alive and is Himself God. He created everything there is—nothing exists that He didn’t make. Eternal life is in Him, and this life gives light to all mankind. … But although He made the world, the world didn’t recognize Him when He came. 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 1:1-4, 10-13, The Living Bible).

When we are spiritually born again, the Holy Spirit literally takes up residence in our being, just as He is in the being of Jesus. This is what the Apostle Peter was referring to when he preached on the day of Pentecost. He told the crowd that all who received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior would “receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off” (Acts 2:38-39).

Praise be to God who has given us a way to escape from the world’s kingdom by being born again spiritually into the Kingdom of Heaven. This is what the Gospel of Jesus Christ is all about. “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13). “If you believe that Jesus is the Christ—that He is God’s Son and your Savior—then you are a child of God. … He has given us eternal life, and … this life is in His Son. So whoever has God’s Son has life; whoever does not have his Son, does not have life” (1 John 5:1, 11-12, The Living Bible). “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son” (John 3:16-19).

Why Jesus Is the Only Truth That Leads to Heaven

We serve a loving and just God, whom the Bible says “wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). In today’s world, there are many religions, including groups falsely calling themselves Christians. We need to know the difference, because only one leads to Heaven. The “knowledge of the truth” the Bible speaks of in 1 Timothy 2:4 is given in the next verse. It states, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” True Christianity is based on the teachings of the Bible—and more specifically the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is to experience a personal encounter—a personal relationship—with Him as Savior and Lord. This is the only truth that will take you to Heaven.

Though we may not understand all that happens in the spiritual world, it is when we accept God’s Son, Jesus Christ, as our personal Lord and Savior that the power of God is released in our lives. We experience a spiritual rebirth, or new beginning, brought about by the Holy Spirit. We also become members of the Kingdom of God and Heaven. Scripture tells us that only those in the Kingdom of God will spend eternity with Him in that special heavenly place He has prepared.

There is in the world what I call “the religion of Christianity.” Many people practice “the religion of Christianity,” but it is not based upon the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. It directs our faith toward manmade concepts, just like the Pharisees and Sadducees did when Jesus was here on Earth. Our commitment for salvation cannot be to such things as religious doctrines, ordinances, traditions, structures, and personalities. It cannot be to anything other than Jesus Christ and His teachings as found in the Scriptures. This non-biblical pseudo-Christianity has brought about a great deal of confusion. More tragically, it has caused many people to miss being born again into the Kingdom of God, and therefore, to miss Heaven.

I would never point you in the direction of shallow Christianity that is not the true way. Heaven is far too valuable for that. Unfortunately, in today’s religious environment it is easy for people to get involved in what may be called Christianity but does not actually involve a commitment to Jesus Christ and His teachings. There is a difference. Involvement only requires activity!

The Apostle Paul was involved full-time in the religion of his day, but he said, “Whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law [being able to keep all of the commandments] but that which is through faith in Christ” (Philippians 3:7-9).

Jesus Christ is the true and living God who created all things, including you and me. When the Virgin Mary gave birth to Jesus, an angel said to the shepherds living out in the fields near His birthplace of Bethlehem, “‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.’ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests’” (Luke 2:10-14). Jesus is the Savior for all who come to Him. He will save their souls from Hell. The angels knew how important this was for mankind; it was news of great joy!

WATCH FOR PART 3 of “Why You Must Be Born Again” on March 1, 2010