The Necessity of Rebirth

"Jesus answered and said to him, "most assuredly, I say to you, unless obe is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God"

                                                                                      JOHN 3:3

When the Philippian jailer asked Paul and Silas, "What must I do to be saved?'"he was asking how he could be delivered from his sins and dwell in the kingdom of God. The missionaries replied that he must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. But Jesus pointed to another crucial event that had to take place in the jailer's life, an event by which he would be enabled to believe. Jesus said, '"unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God,'"

     "Born again. "This popular Christian term gained currency in the 1970s, when presidential candidate Jimmy Carter identified himself as a "born-again" Christian, and Charles Colson, a former counsel to President Nixon, made the same claim and erote a book titled Born Again. In actuality, Carter, Colson, and others who have used the term were being redundant, for the New Testament makes clear that "born again" and "Christian" are simply two way of saying the same thing. Simply put, a Christian is one who has undergone spiritual rebirth. To become a christian, one must  be born again, he is a Christian. This is as true for us as it was for the Philippian jailer, so we will spend the next days few days studying this concept using Dr. R.C Sproul's tape series Born Again

      Nicodemus, a Pharisee member of the supreme Jewish council, the Sanhedrin comes to Jesus at night, apparently not wanting to be seen with Him. But he comes with words of flattery. '"Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.'" He is acknowledging that Jesus is a genuine teacher of the word of God and is saying that he has recognized that God is authenyicating Jesus' message. But Jesus refuses to bask in his flattery and says, '"Truly, I say to you unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God'" (NASB). He emphasizes His point by repeating "Truly" and even by reoeating the entire statement (see vv.3and 5). And what does zhe mean? Simply that spiritual rebirth or regeneration is an absolute necessary condition for entrance into God's kingdom. No one gets into the kingdom apart from regeneration. Only those who are reborn nd enter the kingdom can truly bear the title "Christian."