Am I alive?

The picture was taken in Ghana. I have on my shoulders, my nephew (Nii Noi aka Jason) and the lady in the picture is his mother (Jane - my sister-in-law).

by Kwame

Am I alive? Are you alive? Is this an important question?

Jesus said:
“Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” John 3:3
Jesus says again:
“Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” John 3:5

Therefore, being born again means to “be born of water and of the Spirit.” Paul calls this “the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost” (Titus 3:5).

Since Jesus expected Nicodemus, “a master of Israel”, to know of this truth, we can safely assume that there must have been an explanation of “born again” in the Old Testament scriptures that Nicodemus had access to.

Looking at Ezekiel 36, we see what Jesus is talking about.

Verses 25-28:
Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.

Jesus was referring to the cleansing from spiritual filthiness and the creating of a new creature - the new birth! A supernatural act by God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost, which causes man to be born again. It is God (not man) who first CLEANSES with water (we know we are not saved by baptism), and GIVES the new heart, and PUTS a new spirit within man and then TAKES AWAY the old lifeless and dead heart.

The sequence should be noted. He cleans and gives, before He takes. We are called to come to Christ as filthy and dead as we are. He will cleanse us through and through. The washing of regeneration can clean to the uttermost - "ye shall be clean"!! He will give the new and take away the old!! The born again Christian is justified and then transformed into the image of Christ.

Also, since it is only the Trinity who has no beginning and no end, and only the Trinity (God) was there in the beginning, being born again can only be “The Life of God in the Soul of Man.” After all, who else has life to give life?

So am I born again and are you born again? Should we be convinced of regeneration based on knowing what has been shared?

There was a teacher of scripture who acknowledged that Jesus was a man from God (John 3:2), but was not at the time, born again. Also, Judas was one of the disciples but he did not have saving faith. And Legion, the unclean spirit(s), knew of Jesus and called Him “son of the Most high God” but was not saved (Mark 5:7). Furthermore, Jesus speaks of persons who think they know Him but in actuality, do not know him (Matt 7:21-23).

So does this mean that familiarity, association, knowledge, and proclamation do not give new life? Do you mean that praying every morning and the fact that I go to church and cast out demons and teach Sunday school and do the church bulletin and blog and do good works, do not give entrance into the kingdom of God? The answer is - yes, they indeed DO NOT give entrance into the kingdom. Praise be to God, who “cannot lie” (Titus 1:2), “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God”.

Certainly, God chooses to be merciful, and the new birth is absolutely not man’s doing (Titus 3:5). When we do become born again, our lives should be living testimonies (2 Cor 3:2-3) and we are to be “zealous of good works” (Titus 2:14), the chief of which is treasuring Jesus Christ and sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with ourselves and others.

So the real question is “do you find in the Father's election, in the Son's atonement, and in the Spirit's quickening, all the grounds of your eternal hopes?” – Spurgeon

May we cherish the thought that “a holy fear of falling short, is a great means of perseverance.” – Matthew Henry

Soli deo Gloria

Kwame