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Summary

In this conversation, Hiram Kemp explores the biblical themes of creation, the image of God, the significance of companionship, the introduction of sin, and the promise of salvation through Jesus Christ. He emphasizes the necessity of being ‘born again’ and the importance of understanding the new birth in the context of evangelism. Kemp discusses the role of Nicodemus, the significance of water and spirit in spiritual rebirth, and the clarity needed in teaching these concepts. He highlights Jesus’ preeminence and authority, the nature of condemnation, and God’s unconditional love for humanity.

Chapters

00:00 Truth FM and Global Evangelism
00:12 Teaching the New Birth in Evangelism
08:54 The Necessity of Being Born Again
13:58 Understanding Spiritual Birth
19:06 Condemnation and Salvation
25:58 The Preeminence of Jesus
30:26 Coming Under Jesus’ Authority

Transcript *This transcript was automatically generated and may contain errors.*

Hiram Kemp (00:12)
It’s interesting to open up the Bible and see how the Bible begins. In Genesis chapter 1, the Bible begins with God creating the world. He made everything very good, Genesis 1.31.

He made man in his image, Genesis 1, 26 and 27. And it’s interesting to flip over to John chapter one and see those same similarities. John chapter one opens by telling us that in the beginning was the word, the word was with God, the word was God. All things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made. And whereas in Genesis 1, 26 and 27, we’re made in the image of God. In John one and verse 14, we’re told that God came down into the world and was made in the image of man.

In Genesis chapter two, Moses zeroes in on the human relationship. And he tells us that God blessed humanity with the gift of marriage, Genesis 2, 18 through 25, so man wouldn’t be alone, that he would know the joy and the blessing of companionship. You get over to John chapter two, and Jesus is at a wedding, and he turns water into wine in order that the celebration might continue, and that those uniting in marriage might know the joy of companionship.

Genesis chapter three gives us the introduction of sin into the world and death, an enmity between God and humanity. And then you get over to John chapter three and John tells us about salvation and really the introduction of eternal life as Jesus enters into the world, takes humanity’s place and is willing to offer up himself for our salvation. Manny Lee Lynn said, I hate death. In fact, I could live forever without it.

Keller said, death invades humanity. It’s a thief and a robber that comes to ultimately destroy us. And then you turn into the Bible, especially in the Gospel of John, and you see Jesus bringing life. That phrase, eternal life, appears some 32 times in John’s Gospel in 16 verses. Eternal life in John’s Gospel has two different meanings. Sometimes it means living forever, duration of life. That’s what it means in John 11, 25, and 26 when Jesus says, I’m the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, though they were dead,

yet shall they live. Those who believe in me will never really die. But there are other times in John’s gospel where the same phrase eternal life means quality of life, something that we can possess right now if we belong to Jesus Christ. And that’s what the phrase means in John 10 and verse 10, where Jesus says, I’ve come that they might have life and that they might have it in abundance. If you have your Bible tonight, turn it to John chapter three.

In these seven o’clock sessions, there’s been this discussion about teaching individuals the plan of salvation. And we often talk about what it takes to become a Christian from heaven’s vantage point. And it starts with the grace of God, sending Christ in our place to die for our sins. But then it involves humans cooperating with that grace through faith, submitting to what God has said and obey, hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ, Romans 10, 17, believing it with all of our hearts. John three in verse 16.

Turning from sin and repentance, Acts 17 and verse 30, confessing with the mouth what the heart believes, Romans 10, nine and 10. And then what we’re gonna talk about tonight, it all culminates in the new birth. John 3 might be called one of the hall of fame chapters in the New Testament. There are so many verses in this chapter that are familiar to you. Just let your eyes scan over the page. John 3 and verse three, you must be born again. John 3 and verse five, you must be born of the water and also of the spirit.

John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him might not perish but instead have everlasting life. Even John 3 and verse 30, speaking of John the Baptist, where he says concerning his relationship to Jesus, he must increase, but I must decrease. And yet for all of the richness in this chapter, it’s more than the chapter filled with billboard verses. Tucked in this chapter in these 36 verses is really a way for us to teach people.

about the new birth as it relates to evangelism and that’s what we’re gonna do tonight. Walk through this chapter and see what we need to do in order to teach this properly. Here’s number one, correctly teach the concept.

John 3 in verse 1, we’re introduced to a man by the name of Nicodemus. John tells us there’s a ruler of the Pharisees named Nicodemus. He’s a Pharisee. He comes to Jesus by night and he pays Jesus a compliment. He says, Rabbi, we know you’re a teacher come from God. No man can do these miracles you do unless God be with him. And Jesus says in verse 3, truly I say to you, unless you’re born again, you can’t see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus says, how can this be? How can a man be born when he’s old? Can a man enter into his mother’s womb a second time and be born? Jesus says in verse 5, truly, truly I say to you,

unless you’re born of water and the Spirit you can’t enter the kingdom of God that which is born of the flesh is flesh that which is born of the Spirit is spirit don’t marvel that I say to you you must be born again

Jesus in this first section in verse 8 and then in verse 8 he talks about the wind blowing wherever it wishes you hear it sound but you can’t tell where it comes from so it is with everyone that’s born of the spirit teaching the new birth and evangelism involves correctly teaching the concept we’re introduced to this man by the name of Nicodemus he’s a ruler of the Jews and a Pharisee it’s interesting we introduced him with his credentials in verse 1 right after John’s concluded chapter 2 by telling us Jesus doesn’t care about any man’s credentials or his face John 2 24 and 25 the last verses in John 2

We’re told Jesus didn’t commit himself to anybody, nor did he go along with men, because he knew all man and he knew what was in man. Nicodemus comes.

He comes to Jesus in verse two, he pays him a compliment. Rabbi, we know you’re a teacher come from God. No man can do these miracles you do unless God is with him. And maybe this goes back to John two in verse 11, where Jesus turns the water into wine. And John tells us in chapter two in verse 11, this is the beginning of his signs that he did in Cana of Galilee. His disciples believed in him and he began to be glorified. But notice verse three, Jesus ignores the compliment and gets right to Nicodemus’s need in verse three. He says, you must be born again.

teach the new birth in evangelism. We first have to correctly teach the concept and what’s involved. Nicodemus doesn’t understand and so in verse four he says, a man into it to his mother’s womb a second time and be born? And Jesus further elaborates in verse five by saying you must be born of the water and of the spirit.

Jesus mentions both of those components. And as we teach people the gospel plan of salvation, we must mention the same to be born of the spirit is to be born anew based on the spirit’s teaching. The spirit gives way to this new life, and it ultimately culminates and being born of water, which is a reference to being baptized. It’s not just here that this is taught. It’s taught throughout the New Testament. Think about the passages that emphasize this idea of being born of the water and its connection to salvation through baptism. Mark 16 and verse 16.

He

that believes and is baptized will be saved. Matthew 28 in verse 19, go and disciple the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things, whatever I’ve commanded you. And lo, I’m with you always to the end of the age. It’s Acts 2 in verse 38, repent and be immersed, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you’ll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. It’s Titus 3 in verse 5, where Titus is told by Paul through inspiration.

It’s the washing of the regeneration, the renewal of the Holy Spirit based on God’s mercy. Peter says, seeing you’ve been born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which lives and abides forever. First Peter 1, 22 and 23, two chapters later in first Peter 3, 21, he says, the like figure wherein to just like Moses and his family were saved through water, baptism does also now save you.

If we’re gonna be able to teach the new birth and evangelism, we’ve gotta understand this concept. What does it mean? It means to be born anew, literally born from above based on the water and on the Spirit. The Spirit makes a person a new creature as we hear the Spirit’s message and we’re propelled and compelled to respond and the culminating act is in the waters of baptism. And this was astounding and scandalous when Jesus said it then and it’s the same to us now.

Maybe we read these verses and we think to ourselves, no trouble with me, I understand this, until life challenges us.

Notice Jesus’s words of absolute in verse three and verse five, you must be born again. And then he doubles down in verse five, you must be born of the water and of the spirit. And maybe we think to ourselves, surely Jesus would make an exception for a man that’s educated and intelligent and from the right family lineage and tribe. It’s not by accident that John introduces us to Nicodemus with all of the credentials a Jew would have expected to have in order to be fully accepted. But Jesus says your physical birth through Abraham won’t save you here.

Nicodemus, you must be born again. But if you’re tracking with John, you already know this. Go back to John chapter one and notice verses 10 through 12. Jesus came into the world, the world was made by him, and the world didn’t know him. But to those who did believe in him, to those he gave the right to become sons of God. Those born not of the will of man or of the blood and flesh, but those that are born of God. Nicodemus doesn’t get a pass because he’s got Jewish blood running through his veins or he’s a Pharisee. He must be born again.

But maybe God makes exceptions for educated and good and upright moral people. People that really don’t do any of the big and bad sins that make the news and maybe they get an exception. And Cornelius comes to the stand from Acts 10, one through six. He’s a good and upright man, fears God, turns away from evil, and he says, no, you must be born again.

And maybe God makes exceptions for people that are almost close. I mean, they did something similar to the new birth. And Jesus isn’t the type of savior that would obsess over the details. And so maybe they believe and maybe they were even baptized, fully immersed in water. And 12 men from Ephesus would stand up here tonight from Acts 19, one through six saying, we received John’s baptism after it was no longer effective. We were fully immersed and John’s baptism was for the remission of sins, but its power had expired when great commission baptism was introduced. And they would say to us, no,

you must be born again. Teaching new birth and evangelism means that we understand this concept and we’re able to communicate it and teach it to other people correctly. Kanye West had a line in the song one time, he said, I had a dream, I could buy my way to heaven and that’s all it was, was a dream. Because you really can’t buy your way there. When Jesus says I am the way, he’s serious. John 14 in verse six, but it’s not just Kanye that needs this thinking rewired.

Former mayor of New York City, Mike Bloomberg, once said, based on some of the work he did in laws with gun control, he says, if there is a God, when I get to heaven, I’m going straight in. I don’t want to be interviewed. I don’t want to be asked any questions. I most assuredly have earned my way there. Make what you want of his policy. His plan of salvation is pitiful.

Nobody’s going to be saved by good works just because they did enough or because they came from a great family that has a long lineage in churches of Christ or because they went to a Christian college or to the right preaching school. You must be born again. Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, Paul says, for by grace have you been saved through faith. It’s not your own doing.

It’s the gift of God. Not of words, lest any man should boast. Correctly teaching this concept means we have to understand it. Notice verse six. Jesus says, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.

Don’t be surprised that I’m telling you, you must be born again. In order to enter into a physical family, you have to have a natural birth. And Jesus is saying, it makes sense if you want to enter into a spiritual family, you have a what? A spiritual birth. In Galatians 3, 26 through 29, Paul says, you’re all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of us as have been baptized into Christ have put them on. There’s neither Jew nor Greek.

male nor female, bond nor free, you’re all one in Christ. And if you belong to Christ, then are you Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise. You must be born again. Sometimes we get to this concept in this context and we skip verse eight, but we shouldn’t.

Commentators and scholars make a big deal on what spirit means here, newmo, wind or breath, but I think Jesus’ teaching here is simple and yet challenging. He says the spirit is just like the wind. You’ve never seen it. You hear it sound and you hear its power. And it’s the same way with people that are born of the spirit. What does this mean? It means when a person comes up out of the waters of baptism, how do you know that their life has changed? How do you know that they’ve really been born from above and born anew? Just give it some time and over time, the gospel seed,

that’s been planted in their heart and accepted as they begin to produce its fruit, Galatians 5, 22 and 23. Then you’ll know.

This must mean it’s possible to go down in that water, do the five steps, and if you really haven’t changed and had your mind renewed, you just simply got wet. You’re really not born anew and born again. People do it all the time because all their friends are doing it. Or she wouldn’t marry him unless he was baptized. Jesus says you really must be born again. You’ve gotta be different. This helps bring the whole Bible full circle really.

You read throughout the Old Testament and for strange reasons in Genesis, God has always taken the second son. Have you ever noticed that?

I want Isaac and not Ishmael. I want Ephraim and not Manasseh. He says, I want Tamar’s second son and not the first. And you start asking yourself, well, what’s the difference? Why does it matter? And God’s always taken not the first life, but the second. And then you get all the way to the New Testament and Jesus says, you must be born again because one day you’ll stand before God and the God who’s always been taking the second life will say to you and you’ll be glad that he does. I don’t want your first life. I want the second. You must be born again. It must be a new

Only your second life will justify you because of what Jesus has done. Here’s number two.

clarity concerning this spiritual truth is needed to teach it to people. We’ve got to be clear on what’s going on here. In verse nine, Nicodemus is confused and Jesus says to him, are you a teacher in Israel? And is it the case that you don’t understand these things? If I’ve told you earthly things and you don’t understand, how would you believe if I told you heavenly things? Go back up to verse one, Nicodemus is a ruler of the Jews and a Pharisee and Jesus is saying, I would have thought you understood this. Surely Nicodemus has studied his Bible and he knows Genesis chapter six.

through Genesis chapter eight, how God saved Noah and his family through water. Surely he’s a scholar and a scribe and he’s familiar with Exodus 14, 11 and following where God saved the Israelites through the Red Sea, through water. And there’s no doubt in Jesus’ mind he had to be familiar with second Kings five, 11 through 14 where Naaman dipped those seven times in the Jordan and he was saved through water. You’re a teacher in Israel and Jesus says, you don’t know these things.

If we’re gonna teach the truth about the new birth and evangelism, we need to make sure people have a clear understanding of spiritual truth. And that’s exactly what he tries to give Nicodemus here. It’s probably at this point, as Nicodemus is confused, that Nicodemus, he wants an experience. Jesus doesn’t give him one. He doesn’t give us one. Instead, he gives an explanation.

Look at verse 13. He says, nobody’s ascended up to heaven except the same son of man who’s come down from heaven. Jesus says, you didn’t go up to God. God came down to you wrapped up in flesh and blood. So you know what he wants you to do in response to his salvation and so that you could be saved. Let me by the name of Kerry Clegg, taught English for 20 years in England.

She saw a video online of a man who’s 51 years old and he couldn’t read. She says, I’ve got to do something. She went to the most illiterate part of England where she lived. And the average reading capacity from people 16 years old all the way up to their 70s was about the reading average or ability of a nine to an 11-year-old. She says she found a man in that town who she knew who was so illiterate that all he could do was order fish and chips every time he went to a restaurant because that’s the only two words he knew. Children in this town, they can’t read.

by the hand and if they want something then they just simply point because they can’t say words they are literate and she has given our life to going over there and helping people learn how to read. John chapter 3 Jesus shows up he’s face to face with the scholar a scribe Nicodemus and he says I’ve shown up to show all of Israel how to actually read their Bibles. Before Jesus came all they could do is point maybe this passage means this and maybe it means that and in Luke 24 27 Jesus says I’ve come to expound to you concerning all of the things in the scriptures that relate to

me. John 5 39 through 40 Jesus says you search the scriptures because in them you think you have eternal life and it’s those same passages which testify about me. Unless Jesus comes down from heaven that’s his point in verse 13 and reveals to us who God is we wouldn’t know otherwise so that we could be born again. And then in verse 14 he gives an illustration.

Look at verse 14. He says, like Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up. That’s John 12 32. We sometimes sing a song. Jesus says, if I be lifted up, I’ll do what? Draw all men unto me. He says, just like happened with Moses in the wilderness, must the Son of Man be lifted up that whoever believes in him would have everlasting life.

Now maybe your Bible has a cross reference near verse 14. If it doesn’t just make your own. This goes all the way back to Numbers 21, an Old Testament account where Israel is in the wilderness with Moses and they’re complaining about food and water and the provisions that God had given them and they didn’t like them. God in his wrath and impatience, tired of Israel’s constant complaining, sent poisonous snakes to bite Israel and those that were bitten were killed. Moses intercedes Numbers 21, 8, 9, praise on their behalf and God says, OK, we’ll provide a remedy.

snake on a pole and lift it up and everybody that looks to that snake will be healed and be saved and Jesus says just like ancient Israel had to look at that snake on a pole I’m gonna be lifted up and everybody that looks to me is ultimately gonna be saved as well. Teaching the new birth and salvation means clarity concerning spiritual truth. It means realizing what Jesus came down to do for us that no amount of good works on our own can save us. We need somebody else to do it.

In Acts 13, Paul goes into Antioch of Pisidia, preaches his first recorded sermon, and at the end of the sermon, in Acts 13, 38 and 39, he says, through this man has preached to you the forgiveness of sins, and everybody that believes in him is justified from everything you never could be under the law of Moses.

It’s God’s way saying to us, we’ve been bit by a far worse snake than those people in the wilderness. We’ve been bitten by the snake from the garden through sin and rebellion. Unless we look to the sun, just like those people in ancient Israel walking through the desert of the ancient Near East, we too will perish. But in a far worse way than they did, Jesus says, you’ve got to look to me or you won’t be saved. And this looking means that we ultimately have to obey. That clarifies what he means in verse 15. Just like Israel couldn’t just mentally ascend to the snake, they had to turn and look.

It’s just mentally a sense of the son. We’ve got to turn and look, obey and do what he says. Here’s number three. Comprehend what condemnation is really all about. Look at John 3 in verse 16. Jesus says, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.

Whoever believes in him might not perish but have everlasting life. God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved. He who believes on the son is not condemned but the one who doesn’t is condemned already because he hasn’t believed in the name of the only begotten son of God. This is the condemnation. Light is coming to the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil and those that do evil don’t come to the light lest their deeds be exposed. But everyone that does right comes to the light that his works might be manifest that they’re being

done in God. Comprehend condemnation. Just ask anybody in the world, why do people go to hell and you’ll get a variety of answers. The Calvinist says your fate was sealed before you were ever born. You just can’t help it. If you’re in the condemned group, you’re condemned. If you’re in the salvation group, the elect group, you’re saved. But that couldn’t be true because the Bible says in second Peter three and verse nine, God would have all men to be saved and come to repentance. First Timothy two and verse four, God would have all people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.

The atheist says people might go to hell because God just likes to condemn. That’s who he is. He gets this sort of pleasure out of condemning people. Try as you might, you can’t please them. Ezekiel 33 in verse 11, God says concerning himself, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but instead that he turn from his wicked way and live.

ask a Christian and a Christian might say, well, people go to hell because they don’t obey the gospel. And that’s partially true. But if you’re gonna teach the new birth to people, look at what Jesus says in these verses in John 3, 16 and 17. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him might not perish but have everlasting life. In verses 19 through 21, he says condemnation ultimately comes why? Because people love darkness rather than light.

We can talk about evangelism all we want, evangelism involves at least two components. It involves the saved person seeking the lost, but it also involves the lost person desiring to be saved and also being a seeker of truth and of light. And if that doesn’t happen, there can be no salvation no matter how many methods, no matter how many attempts, no matter how zealous we might be. First Corinthians two in verse 14 says, the carnal man can’t receive these spiritual truths because they’re foolishness to him.

Romans 8, 6 through 8 says, it’s impossible for carnal minded, fleshly minded people to receive the truths of God. Indeed, they cannot. It’s not that God has barred their minds from receiving these truths, but it’s the reality that as long as they’re in the darkness, as long as they want to live away from God, it’s impossible for the truths to penetrate. And teaching the new birth always involves letting people know you’ll be condemned if you choose to turn away from a God who desperately wants to save you. Maybe this has happened to you before.

You’ve sung a song your whole life?

sung the lyrics, know it by heart. And then one day, maybe you grow up and you can hear it clearer, or maybe you actually read the lyrics and you find out, I made up my own version. That’s not what that song says. And you’ve been singing it and you’re the only person in the world singing it that way because the lyrics don’t actually say that. I think that happens with John 3 16. I think in our minds, we think this verse says God was so angry at the world because of sin. He sent Jesus into the world to change his mind so that once Jesus died, he can start loving us again and save us. But this verse says God

wasn’t prompted by his wrath. He was prompted by his love.

God’s anger throughout the Old Testament when the Israelites disobeyed time and time again, it says they provoked the Lord to anger. He didn’t want to, but he had to. But not once in the Bible has God ever provoked to love. He didn’t have to be pushed and prodded to love. He just loves because that’s who he is. It’s not God so hated the world that he sent his only begotten son. It’s God so loved the world. Jesus didn’t come into the world to change God’s mind about you. He came into the world because God’s mind couldn’t be changed. He was deeply in love with humanity and he came down to us so that he might

Reconcile us to Himself, 2 Corinthians 5, 18 through 21. These passages remind us you would have never made your way to God. He had to make his way down to you. That’s what Jesus is saying in verse 13. Nobody’s ever ascended into heaven, but He, the only begotten, He’s the one that came down. Condemnation will come because people turn away and rebel, but God won’t take any delight in it. You must be born again. But realize that condemnation comes not because God’s trigger happy, but it comes because people turn away.

I don’t know. Sometimes we think about this terminology of born again and some people think it refers to people that have done really bad things and have had a change of life. Or maybe it’s a word denominational people use to refer to themselves as saved. It’s biblical terminology. And of all the ways, the myriad of ways the New Testament talks about us being saved, I think this idea of born again is one we need to reintroduce into our vocabulary. You’ve been born again, not only because it’s in the Bible, but it’s one of the expressions in the Bible that reminds us concerning our salvation. Yes, we had a part to play.

But we literally have been born again and born of above initiated by God and it takes the focus off of us thinking I’m saved because I connected all the dots and got everything right. No, we’re ultimately saved because God loved us so much that he came to fix everything we ultimately got wrong Here’s number four

consider Jesus’s preeminence and his role that he plays. In this section in John chapter three near the end, John the Baptist’s disciples, they’re worried. John 3.27, they tell him Jesus is baptizing more people than you. Jesus isn’t interested in that. It doesn’t matter to him. He knows, John knows his place. John knows he’s playing second fiddle to Jesus and he’s glad that he is. Teaching a new birth to people means we have to teach them Jesus’s preeminent role, meaning Jesus’s exalted role as the son of God.

Few people in the history of the world know their place or knew their place like John the Baptist. John the Baptist knew exactly who he was and what he came to do. He spent his whole ministry just pointing at Jesus. Behold the lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. John 1.29.

John 1 36 behold the lamb of God. John 3 and verse 30 he must increase but I must what I must decrease John’s whole life was about the idea that Jesus is ahead of me. He’s preeminent. You want to talk to people about being born again. Don’t stop at verse five and argue about baptism. People need to know that and experience the truth of that reality and submit to it. But keep reading and see that if you really appreciate that Jesus is preeminent that he must increase and you must decrease you’ll do what he says. You’ll submit your life

to him and you’ll bow before his throne and he would have you to do.

Jesus’ disciples are often arguing about who’s the greatest. And in Mark 10, 43 down through 45, Jesus says, Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. Jesus knew his role as Savior and John knew his role as the forerunner. And teaching a new birth to people means we teach him the role that Jesus has as the exalted Son of God. Think about all the New Testament passages that show Jesus exalted. He’s the only invisible God who created everything and sustains it by his power. Colossians 1, 15.

through 17. Everything was made by him and he’s seated at the right hand of God. Hebrews 1, 1 through 3. Even John’s introduction says all things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made. That’s in the first creation but that’s also true as we become new creatures. Second Corinthians 5 and verse 17. See Jesus’s role as preeminent. In April of 2024 there were these three runners from Africa out in front in a half marathon.

And as they got near the finish line, they slowed up. And they waved a runner in from Beijing and allowed him to cross the finish line first. The athletic association started to investigate that maybe somehow this is a setup. Why would they wave him in ahead of them? You run the race in order to do what? You run the race so that you can win. Why would you let somebody cross the finish line ahead of you?

Cases still being investigated, but for Christians we know exactly what this is like. Our whole life is about putting somebody out in front of us and that somebody is Jesus Christ. It’s about knowing our role, knowing our place, and as we teach the new birth to others, making sure they understand the same thing. And here’s the fifth thing, come under Jesus’ authority.

John 3, verses 31 through 36, stress Jesus’ role, his authority. Verse 34 says, God didn’t give the Spirit by measure to him. And verse 35 and 36, it talks about Jesus being the one that you must obey. And if you believe in him, you have eternal life. If you disobey the son, God’s eternal wrath abides on you.

Teaching a new birth means coming under Jesus’ authority. What does Jesus say in Matthew 28 and verse 18? All authority is given to me in heaven and on earth, then go out and disciple the nations. Colossians 3.17, whatever you do in word or in deed, do all in the name of our Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father through Him.

It’s interesting in verse 35, it talks about those that believe on the name of the Son, not you’ll get eternal life. That’s not what John says. John says you already have it. To believe on the Son now is to have eternal life in the present and to ultimately enjoy it forevermore in the future. 1 John 5 13 says, John ends this chapter right where he began.

This chapter begins by showing us who Jesus is, his authority, his power, his majesty, but then in verse 36 he says, it’s up to you with what you do with them. If you believe in name of the son, you’ll have eternal life. And you would think the next verse in verse 36, the next line would be parallel if you disbelieve, but John doesn’t put that. John said, if you do what? If you disobey.

Because the word translated belief throughout our New Testament isn’t about mental assent. It’s a word that means to give one’s allegiance, to trust in, to give one’s life over to. Not long ago in our country, there was a lot of controversy about, you remember saying the Pledge of Allegiance.

People have said that their whole lives and some people it just sort of rolls off their tongue They don’t even think about it. They just simply say the words But do you know what it means to literally pledge your allegiance is saying I pledge my whole self to this cause or this country or to this movement and Throughout the New Testament when it’s saying you must believe on the name of the Sun It means don’t make that same mistake. Don’t just memorize and rehearse I believe Jesus is the Son of God those who believe on the name of the Son who actually pledged their allegiance in their life to him

They’ll enjoy everlasting and eternal life. And those that disobey, the wrath of God is abiding on them. This isn’t about simply going through the motions, learning the five steps so you can get dunked in water. You need to know those things. But the new birth is saying, I’m a completely new person. So much so that my whole mind has been rewired and it’s different. Paul calls it in Ephesians 4.23, the renewing of your mind. You’re a completely new person. Romans 12 and verse two. And now you don’t live for yourself. You ultimately live for him.

Evangelism involves introducing people to who Jesus is. Knowing what the concept is all about. What does it mean to be born of the water and of the spirit? A physical birth gets you in a physical family. Spiritual birth puts you in a spiritual family. God always takes the second life. It means understanding the clarity of spiritual truths. What does this mean? God’s been saving this way a long time. Go back and read the Old Testament. It means seeing Jesus for exactly who he is and what our response is to him.

and then submitting to that preeminence and saying, as I’ve obeyed Jesus this day in being baptized, I plan to obey the rest of my life. My baptism is a microcosm for my whole life. As I’ve been immersed into Jesus and baptism, I plan to immerse my whole life in him and follow him all the way until I see him face to face. The good news is salvation is for everybody in the world, John 3.16. But the reality is no exception’s allowed. You must be born again.

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