What Do You Mean Born Again?

      This is the most controversial subject that exists today among Bible scholars and teachers. It is also the most important. When most people are asked this question there eyes glaze over and they completely dismiss the question. I happen to believe it is the most important thing a person can do. Jesus said we must be Born Again or we can't enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.****

----Jn. 3:3-16 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be BORN AGAIN, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? 5 Jesus answered, 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. 6 That which is born of the FLESH is FLESH; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 8 The WIND BLOWETH where it LISTITH, and thou HEAREST the SOUND thereof, but canst not tell whence it COMETH, and whither it GOETH: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. 9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? 10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? 11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? 13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever BELIEVETH in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.-----

*****The entire plan of salvation is summed up right here. I could stop with this passage and preach revival, but for your sake I'm going to use all the scripture. I'm going to talk about the false believes and in the end you will see for yourself exactly how to be Born Again. Someone said "I got saved when I was a kid". I normally don't have to ask anymore questions because I know what that means. This person was brought up in a false church, but I'll go ahead and ask "How did you get saved?" They normally say because they prayed a prayer to Jesus to except him for their sins and that's it. If that's it then we can throw this whole study away, but I can assure you that's not it. Ok, lets take a look.*****

----Jn. 3:5 Jesus said we must be born of "water" and spirit.
----Most beliefs teach this water is the water of the womb when you are born.
----This can not be because Jesus goes on to say Flesh is born of flesh.
----He knew this false belief would arise and told us before hand.
----The water he is referring to is the water of baptism.
----We must be baptized in order to have a spiritual rebirth.

----Jn 3:8 This verse is a parable that unlocks our understanding to this fascinating fact. Jesus is comparing the wind to the spirit. You can hear the wind, but you can't see it come or go. Everyone Born Again will be like this, meaning everyone born again will have a SOUND. That's right, you can HEAR the Holy Ghost when it comes into a person life. Later on in the study we will find out what this SOUND is.

----Jn. 3:16 says whoever believes will have everlasting life.
----This is true. We must realize that there is not a contradiction here, if there were we'd have a big problem. So do we just have to believe or do we have to be born of water baptism and spiritual rebirth? The answer is YES and YES. There is more to believing than just something that happens in the heart. Being born again is believing, but we must believe a CERTAIN way. That's right belief must first start in the heart, but isn't quite complete until we become Born Again.

----Jn. 7:38 He that believeth on me, AS THE SCRIPTURE HATH SAID, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
----There it is, we must believe a certain way. We must believe how the scriptures tell us to. It is very clear!!

----Mk. 1:15 :the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye and believe the Gospel.
----Now Jesus says we must believe the Gospel.
----2Co. 4:3 if our gospel be hid: it is hid to them that are lost.
----What is the Gospel?
----It is simply the "good news" of Jesus life, death, burial and resurrection.
----How do we obey the Gospel?
----By dying, being buried, then Born Again.
----There are three steps to the plan of salvation.
----Death, burial and resurrection.
----Mk 16:16 He that BELIEVETH and is BAPTIZED shall be SAVED.
----Acts 2:38 REPENT and be BAPTIZED for the remission of sins and you shall recieve the gift of the HOLY GHOST
----When we repent, we die to self and turn back towards God
----Ro. 6:4 we are BURIED with him in BAPTISM.
----Col 2:12 says we are buried with him in baptism

----So you see Christ died, was buried and rose again. We also must die, be buried and rise again. Of course this is symbolic. We must Repent, be baptized and be filled with the Holy Ghost with the evidence that follows. Remember the SOUND Jesus was talking about in Jn. 3:8? This sound and evidence of the Holy Ghost is when the believer speaks with other tongues as the spirit gives the utterance. Yes that is right ever person who got saved in the Bible spoke in tongues and so must we also. Lets keep going.

----Acts 10:44-47 Peter was teaching at Cornelius's house and all of a sudden the Holy Ghost fell on all them in the house. QUESTION: How did they know the Holy Ghost fell on them? Verse 46 tells us how: for they HEARD them speak in tongues. That is right, they heard the SOUND that Jesus spoke about. Peter goes on to command them to be baptized because they received the Holy Ghost just like everyone else did.

----Acts 8:5-18 The people of Samaria, by the preaching and works of Phillip had unclean spirits cast out, palsies and lame healed. There was great joy in the city, but in vs 16 the Holy Ghost had not fallen on any of them. Question: If all you had to do is call on the name of the Lord to be saved, wouldn't these people who had all this done have received the Holy Ghost? How did they know that the Holy Ghost hadn't fell on any of them? It was because they knew they hadn't spoke in tongues yet. Vs 17 said they laid hands on them and they received the Holy Ghost. QUESTION: How did they know the Holy Ghost fell on them one verse later. The next verse says Simon saw the Holy Ghost was given. He saw them speaking in tongues.

----Acts 19:2-6 Paul asked the people of Ephesus: Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed? They said no. The first thing Paul thought was wrong was the baptism and asked, How were you baptized? They said be John. He realized that was a wrong way of baptizing and rebaptized them in Jesus name and they spoke in tongues.

----Baptism is absolutely essential for salvation and must be done a certain way. It must be done in Jesus name.

----Mt 28:19 ;baptizing them in the name of the father, and of the son and of the Holy Ghost. They knew by Jesus teachings that the name of the father is Jesus. The name of the son is Jesus. The name of the Holy Ghost is Jesus. (see The Godhead). They baptized every time in the name of Jesus and so should we.

*****Conclusion****

----There are thousands of converts in the Bible and everyone of them got saved the same way. They all repented, was baptized and was filled with the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. We also must be saved the same way. Calling on the name of the Lord is term use as (in general) for all how call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. This term was given to the Roman church who already had salvation Ro 10. Do you honestly think that all you have to do is call Jesus name? I hope not because anyone can get saved then without repentance.

----Some mistakes and misconceptions----

----We're saved by faith. Yes, that is right, but what people don't understand is that faith produces action on the part of the believer. James said "faith without works is dead" Ja. 2:14-22 James goes onto say that Abraham was justified by his works when he offered Issac on the stone. So, are we saved by works? No, but our faith is not complete without works. We are saved by the grace of God. Ep. 2:8-9

----What about the thief on the cross? He didn't have to be baptized and he was saved. Yes, that is true, but what people don't realize is that Jesus is the firstborn of the dead. Col. 1:18 By this, we can understand that the thief on the cross didn't have to born again like we today, for he found paradise that day. Remember that was three days before Jesus was resurrected and the birthday of the church didn't come until after Jesus ascended 50 days later. So, how did the thief on the cross find paradise? The same way Abraham, Isaac and Jacob did...repentance. By the Old Testament law. The new covenant didn't take place until Jesus rose from the dead.

By Russell Howe