You need to be saved John 3:7
We have begun a series of meetings on the theme "The need
of the hour" There are many things that are the need of the
hour.that we are going to deal with in this week There is need
for zeal amongst the people of God, there is a need for God's
people to be filled with the Holy Ghost. There is a need for believing
prayer and for revival and for a burden for souls but if you are
not saved there is one thing you really need above all other things
and that is that you need to be Born Again; you need to be saved.
That is what the Lord Jesus told Rabbi Nicodemus when he came
to him by night to speak to Him. Nicodemus was a very religious
man and a very important man. He was a member of the Sanhedrin
which was the religious council of the Jews and he was of the
sect of the Pharisees which was a very strict sect of the Jewish
religion and he would have fasted twice in the week and gave tithes
and observed the law in a very strict manner indeed. Not only
that but Nicodemus would have been a lawyer, an interpreter of
the laws of Moses and a man of learning. The name Nicodemus was
a Greek name and the fact that he preferred to be known in Jerusalem
by a Greek name rather than by his hebrew name would indicate
that he was a man who had a leaning to Greek learning and culture
And he had been obviously thinking about what the Saviour was
doing. Do you notice that statement "We know that thou
art a teacher come from God." That shows us that Nicodemus
had been discussing this with other members of the Sanhedrin.
He does not say "I know that thou art a teacher come from
God." but, "We know that thou art a teacher come
from God." He seemed to be speaking is some kind of a
capacity for the Sanhedrin. And when he says, "We know
that thou art a teacher come from God, that particular word
"know" that he uses is a word which speaks of an absolute
knowledge. It was a knowledge that was beyond question and beyond
doubt. So here Nicodemus was placing on record that not only he,
but at least some of the Sanhedrin, who later put Jesus to death,
were without doubt that the Lord Jesus was a true teacher come
from God. He had a certain knowledge about Christ. But we are
building up the picture of Nicodemus here as a cultured, authoritative
religious man who had been interested enough in Christ to make
investigations about him and who knew beyond a shadow of a doubt
that the Lord Jesus was a teacher come from God. But with all
that, with so much to commend him and so much for people to look
up to and admire in this man the Lord Jesus still had to say,
"Ye must be born again."
It is that word "must " that I want to focus our attention on for a few minutes today. The Lord here lays down the absolute necessity of Being born again of the Spirit of God. When the Lord Jesus said that, this cultured , intellectual and religious man could not understand it. Many cultured intellectual and religious people today still cannot understand it. That is why I say Ye must be born again. I say that the greatest need of your life if you are not saved is that you be born Again of the Spirit of God and I want to give you some reasons why that is so.
I Because of the Condition of your soul
The first reason why you need to be born Again then is because
of the condition of your soul.
You need to be born again first of all because you are DEAD. Birth
is often equated with the beginning of life. You need to be born
again because though in your first birth you had physical life
you were born spiritually dead. The Bible makes this very plain.
Romans 6:23 reminds us the The wages of sin is death In
Ephesians 2:1 he says And you hath he quickened who were dead
in trespasses and sin. You are dead as far as spiritual things
are concerned Now it is absolutely vital that you understand
this because a whole lot of the difficulty that some people find
about the matter of salvation is that they do not understand themselves
and see themselves and their sin as God sees them. What is God's
estimate of the sinner outside of Christ. He is dead! The text
that we just quoted from Ephesians 2:1 has a number of words in
italics that shows us that they were added by the translators
in order to enable us to read it more smoothly. It could be translated
"And you who were dead because of sin." He goes on to
describe them as walking according to the course of this world
so they were not physically dead but what he was trying to teach
them is that life for the non-christian is a living death. You
notice how strong a term it is there is no term that expresses
corruption and inability so adequately so much as the term dead"
- and you are dead without Christ. In fact life in the Bible is
always described and defined in terms of our relationship to God.
God is the Author of life and the giver of life and so since you
have no relationship with God you are dead spiritually. You do
not know the One who said I am the Life. So you are dead!.
You are without God and you do not know God. And if that is your
state you need life! If that is your condition you need to be
Born Again. The Word "Again" there is a word that also
can be translated "from above". You need to be Born
"from above". Y ou need spiritual life and the only
place to get it is the source. You need to go to the one who quickened
the Ephesians. You need to be born Again because the condition
of your soul is that it is dead
But secondly I want you to see that you need to be born again
because the condition of your soul is DARK It is black with sin.
That which has never been born can do nothing and sin has left
your heart that it can do nothing. Do you see how the verse says
that unless a man is born again there is something he cannot do.
He cannot enter into the kingdom of God. There are actually seven
things that the Bible says that an unregenerate man cannot do.
In Matthew 7:18 it says that he cannot bring forth good fruit.
John 6:44 and 65 says that he cannot come to the Father. John
14:17 says that he cannot receive the Spirit of Truth. John 15:
4-5 says that cannot bear fruit of himself and Romans 8:7-8 says
that he cannot submit to the law of God or please God. But I want
you to go through the Word of God sometime and look at the things
the Bible says that the sinner cannot do. He is unable to do them.
He cannot choose God or submit to the law of God in and of himself.
Some people teach that man can choose, that somewhere down in
the heart there is that which enables man to choose. But the Bible
tells us that He is dead. The Bible shows us that mans heart is
dark and filthy and carnally minded. And unless you are born Again,
unless you are regenerated you will never choose God. The Bible
tells us indeed that The carnal mind is enmity against God,
it is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be. There
is nothing that you can do in and of yourself. There is no work
that you can perform that will merit anything. There is nothing
in you that can make you acceptable to God Your heart is
dark and sinful. That is why you need to be born Again You need
to be born Again because you're heart is dark. You can do nothing
acceptable to God as you are. You need to be born Again.
II Because of the Call of the Lord
But not only do you need to be Born Again because of the condition
of your soul but because of the Call of the lord. The text here
presents us with an imperative. It is a command Ye must be
born Again
And if the God of heaven and the God who made us says that
Ye must then there ought not to be an argument about it.
There are many of us who go to the doctor and he often has to
prescribe something that is a little bit unpleasant. There may
be a medicine that doesn't taste too nice or there may be a course
of treatment that will involve an operation or a bit of pain or
discomfort but we do not say no. We take the authority of the
doctor. Or if there is a person who says no he has to realise
that he must bear the consequences of that in that he is not going
to be cured of whatever illness or ailment he has. But we do things
we might not normally want to do because it is the doctor and
we know that in the end it is for our good. Well look with me
at the call of God here
Notice that it is a COMMAND. There is no room for debate here.
The Lord says, "Ye must " I would counsel you
now not to argue with God. I would urge you not to debate with
God. The trouble with many people is that they have felt that
they know as well as God how they should run their lives. There
are those who feel that their standards are every bit as good
as the standards of Scripture. But you cannot debate with God.
You cannot hope to negotiate with God. The God who knows all things
and knows about you commands you to be Born Again
But then not only is the call a command but it is COMPASSIONATE.
The Lord is one who wants the best for you. He calls on you to
be born again because He loves sinners. He urges you to be born
Again because He knows it is the only way that yon can have your
sins forgiven and you can enter the Kingdom of heaven and find
eternal life. when the Lord created man He had a purpose in mind
for man and man will never fulfil that purpose out of the will
of God. The Lord's will for man was that he should enjoy him forever.
The Lord's purpose for man was that He should have enjoyed the
presence of God and have lived in peace and joy with His maker.
It was the sin that entered in when Adam ate of the forbidden
fruit and fell that has marred that purpose. All the evil and
sin and heartache that there is in the world is because of that
sin. All the ills that you experience at the moment whether they
be ill health or burdens that are weighing you down are to do
with the sin that entered at the fall. The Lord's call then is
a compassionate call. His is a call of love and it is for our
good that he wants us to be born again. How could we doubt the
love of God and the love of Christ. After all did not God love
the world so much that He gave His only begotten son. You think
of how much the Lord loved you and what he did for you. You think
of the Son in His love coming from Heave's glory to die on a cruel
cross and when you think of that you can see how much God loves
and how when He calls men to repent and be born again it is certainly
a compassionate call
But then it is also COMMODIOUS. All are included in this call.
The Lord was speaking to Nicodemus here but the word Ye there
is in the plural in the original so when the Lord said to Nicodemus
Ye must be born again he was not just talking to Nicodemus
but he was talking to everybody. There is a need for everybody
to be born Again. There are no exceptions to this. "for
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God."
There are people who like to think that they do not need to be
saved, but you do! Has there ever been a time in your life when
you repented of your sin and trusted the Lord as your Saviour?
I am glad however that this call here does include everyone because
it assures me that all who wish to be born again can. there are
none that are going to be excluded from salvation if they want
to be saved . There are none that are going to be kept out of
glory who wish to be there. There is room at the cross for you
if you will come! This is a commodious call
It is also a CONCILLIATING call. It is a call for you to be reconciled
with God. To be born again is to have your sins dealt with and
washed in the precious blood. But it is not impossible for that
to happen. If God had been calling us to do something that we
could not do it would be a thing of frustration and despair. And
indeed it is impossible for us to be born Again in some ways.
Nicodemus expressed that when he said. " How can a man
be born when he is old." But this new birth has been
made possible by the death of the Saviour on the cross. He died
and offered a propitiatory sacrifice that the wrath of God might
be satisfied and that men and women might be able to come to Him.
There is a way back to God from the dark paths of sin. God has
provided a way! There is nothing more that needs to be done now.
All has been done now in order for you to be saved. How glad we
are that the call for you to be born Again is something that is
possible. . An old preacher said on this text that "Must
without May would bring us into despair." If the Lord had
called on us to be Born Again and it was not possible to be Born
Again it would bring us into despair. But the Lord has made it
possible. It is possible for you to be reconciled with God. You
can be reconciled with your maker. That is a wonderful thing.
So this is a wonderful call. But you need to be born Again because
it is the call of God. God calls on you to be saved.
III Because of the Change to your life
But then there is another reason why you need to be born again
and that is because of the change it will bring to your life.
The conception of being Born Again is that of having a complete
change in your life. In 2 Corinthians 5:17 he describes regeneration
as being, "A new creature". In Colossians 2:13
it describes it like this, "And you, being dead in your
sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together
with him, having forgiven you all trespass." The word,
"quickened" is a word which means 'make alive".
So when a person comes to Christ he is born again, he is a new
creature, a person who is quickened, a person who has been made
alive. The call to be born again then, is a call to a change of
life. It is a call to be transformed. The work of regeneration
is a divine work whereby the sinner is re-created and brought
to newness of life. He has the defilement washed away. He is enabled
to see and to enter into the kingdom of God be faith. This is
a call to a change of life. In many places today there is a doctrine
of easy believism that is preached as the gospel. People are told
that if you make a decision for Christ that you are saved but
true salvation involves repentance and involves a change of life.
If I see someone who professes to be saved and yet there is no
hunger after God and there is no real change in their lifestyle
and the way they conduct themselves and the interests they have
then I would have to doubt whether they are truly Born Again or
not. Now we are not to judge others and I have to leave the state
of the heart to God but the Lord did day By their fruits shall
ye know them Are there fruits in your life those of you who
profess salvation? Have you been changed since you have been saved.
Have you come to love things that you once hated and hate things
that you once loved because if there has been no real change and
if there is no real hunger after God you ought to consider whether
you are really saved or not.
But what I want to show you is that this call to be born again,
this call to be saved is a call to a change of life. Now that
ought to be a thing that is precious to those who are thinking
rightly. Many people are content with their lives of sin. Many
people are content that they are on the road that is leading them
to Hell but anyone who has any sense will never be content with
that. Are you content with yourself? Are you content with the
kind of life you are living. It is a life of guilt and a life
of failure and a life of dissatisfaction outside of Christ. When
a person begins to see themselves as they really are they can
never be content with living a life of sin. Here then is hope.
The call of God brings hope! You can be born again! You can have
a new life. You can have the guilt of sin removed. You can turn
around and start on the road that leads to heaven instead of being
on the road that leads to Hell. You need to be born again because
it will bring you a change in your life.
IV Because of the Consequences of neglect
But there is one more reason why it is necessary that you be born
again and that is because of the consequence of neglect. John
3:3 says, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the
kingdom of God.". Now that is something that is definite
and something that is sure. It is something that the word of God
tells us and is therefore something which we cannot contradict.
He cannot see the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God was the new
order of things that the Lord JEsus was going to set up. There
is also reference to heaven itself. And when the Lord spoke of
not being able to enter into the kingdom of God he meant both
those things because the kingdom of God is holy. Nothing that
defileth can enter there. Nothing that has the defilement and
taint of sin about it will be able to enter there.
Therefore we have got to say that if a man is not born again he
is doomed. If there never comes a time in your life when you repent
of your sin and come by faith in Christ and are born of the Spirit
oof God then you are doomed to perish outside the kingdom of God.
You will have no hope for eternity, You will have no comfort in
your soul on this earth and you will suffer for all eternity in
a lost sinners hell. And remember this that you have only a limited
time to be saved. The more you put it off and the more you reject
the Lord the harder it becomes for you to be saved. You need to
seek the Saviour today. You need to call upon the name of the
Lord. You need your sins forgiven. Without that you perish! Without
that you have no hope. And that is certainly a reason to be born
again and that is certainly a reason to hear this call and heed
it. Man or woman. This is a well known text but i make no apology
for preaching from it and pressing upon your soul the necessity
of being Born Again. George Whitefield used to preach from this
text time and time again. In fact someone once asked him why he
preached on this text so often. He said. "The answer to that
is simple." Because 'Ye must be born Again." And so
you must. Have you ever thought of it unsaved person? Have you
ever considered the welfare of your soul. Ye must be born again