Born Again

            There are some groups that have their own lingo. That is, they have a lot of terms that are peculiar only to them. When I joined the U. S. Navy, I found that I had to learn a whole new basic vocabulary. A wall became a bulkhead, a floor became a deck, a ceiling became an overhead, right became starboard and left became port. Any mistake in the use of those words would cause an immediate ridicule with such names as a land lubber. Buoys were also important and had two basic colors, red and green. When you were returning to port in the night, the rule was, “red, right, returning.” You needed to keep the red lights on the starboard side of the ship while returning into the harbor. The three “r's” gave permission to use the word “right” instead of “starboard” in this saying. It was a mnemonic device that was important to getting to the dock in the middle of the night. I was a musician, but that didn't make any difference when I was teaching in my little cubicle which had four bulkheads, an overhead and a deck even while on land. John 3:3 says, “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.” 

            The term “born again” was stated by the Lord Jesus Christ some 2,000 years ago but it became very popular when Chuck Colson wrote a book with that title. Mr. Colson had come to know the Lord Jesus Christ when he was born again. Many believers doubted his conversions saying it was just an example of escape from reality when facing prison for his involvement in the Watergate affairs. There may be other groups who use the term but I don't know of any at the moment. The phrase, “born again” seems to apply only to a person who is convicted of their sin, repents and calls upon the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. The above interview with Nicodemus shows the vital importance of such an act. How important is this act? Well, the Lord Jesus Christ said that unless it took place in an individual's life, they would not be seeing heaven at all. There are those that frown at the teachings of fundamental evangelicals and the use of the term, but nevertheless, it makes no difference in the end. A person will not be admitted into heaven that has not been born again. That's a pretty brash statement but look at the words of the Savior in the above passage. “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” No matter what you think about evangelicals, fundamentalists, baptists or Holy Rollers, the truth is still there. You must be born again. The next question is how does that take place. One of the best examples was the Philippian Jailer in Acts 16:31. The Jailer asked the question and Paul answered it. He needed to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and he would be saved. The whole matter is summed up in John 3:16. The Son was given by the Father that the world was given the gift of salvation that whosoever believed in Him would have eternal life. That was what Paul said to the jailer.  A lot of people have trouble with the simplicity of salvation. The mass of people think that God is great therefore the process of salvation must be great also. Mankind goes on to think that one must prove himself worthy by attending catechism classes, religious education classes, be confirmed, join a church, sign a card, walk and aisle or clean up your life. God made it so simple that many miss it due to their own blindness. John 3 shows the simplicity of the gospel message, the good news about how to have eternal life.  I have also remarked in the past that the word “believe” is used about 78 times in the Gospel of John. For some, it must be very hard to simply believe. Praise God today for salvation. The door is still open.