The BIBLE states in John 3:3-7: Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, You must be born again.”
In the same chapter, John 3:13-16, Jesus explains that He is God the Son, the Word in flesh, the Creator who has come from heaven (see John 1:1-4,14), and how one becomes BORN AGAIN: “No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
In John 3:17-18 Jesus also explains that He is the Savior of the world: “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
The Apostle Peter states in 1 Peter 1:3: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…,”
Again Peter says in 1 Peter 1:23: “For you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.”
Summarizing what we have just read, we are BORN the first time physically of the “flesh,” from the “womb,” when the “water” breaks. We then become our parents’ child (Water baptism has absolutely nothing to do with either birth). We are BORN AGAIN spiritually, becoming adopted children of God, when we believe God’s word which states that we have sinned (broken God’s laws), deserve to “perish” - suffer in Hades (hell) and the lake of fire forever, and that we desperately need a savior. Looking at the cross, we see that God loved us so much that he became a man, was beaten, and hung on nails in excruciating pain to pay for our sins. After that horrible suffering He spent three days and nights in the flames of Hades, suffering and paying our final penalty. He then resurrected from that agony, and is alive today!
Luke states in Acts 2:24, 31-32: “But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. … He looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay. This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses.”
Peter states in 1 Peter 3:18: “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;…”
Jesus’ suffering paid for all your sins. But this doesn’t apply to you until you “believe” or have “faith” in these facts. We saw earlier that “whoever believes has ETERNAL life.” This is salvation, not “probation.” It cannot be sinned away or rejected! You cannot be “unborn” physically once you have been born, nor can you be “unborn” spiritually once you have been BORN AGAIN! It is ETERNAL! When you know that ALL your sins are paid for, then you know that you will be in heaven when you die. Is it because you are good and deserve heaven? Of course not! You, like everyone else, deserve to be in hell. Believing that Jesus paid for ALL your sins is the ONLY reason anyone goes to heaven! Praise the LORD, salvation is a free eternal gift! You can never be lost!
The Apostle Paul states in Ephesians 2:8-9: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
The above verse also makes it clear that our salvation from Hades -- being BORN AGAIN -- is not achieved by keeping the Ten Commandments or participating in sacraments such as Baptism or the Lord’s Table (Communion). Although these may be good things to do, the Bible makes it clear that doing them does not save us or keep us saved. In fact, believing that any of these have any part in our salvation at all, keeps us from salvation according to Galatians 5:4: “You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.”
We are saved by our faith in the grace and mercy of God alone! The Bible also confirms this in Titus 3:5: “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit.”
Don’t be deceived! Hades (hell) is a real place. Jesus suffered there three days and nights for you. In Luke 16:19-31 Jesus tells of a man who did not believe in the flames of Hades until he died. Verse 24 states: “And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’ In verses 27-28, the man in Hades continues on: “And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father’s house. For I have five brothers, in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’
Jesus warned that many who think they are Christians, (some even thinking they are BORN AGAIN), will be shocked at what He will say to them on judgment day because they were never BORN AGAIN. In Matt. 7:22-23 Jesus says: “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’”
In John 10:27-29 Jesus knows those who are BORN AGAIN: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”
JESUS SAID, “YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN!”