ANB 72, Born Again part 1 (3-16-06)

This week we should talk about just what it means to be 'born again.' The fact is that
unless we are born again we can never go to heaven. That's right, only 'born again'
Christians will go to heaven. I know that sounds a bit harsh, but I didn' t say it first, Jesus
did. "Verily, Verily, I say unto you, except a man be born again, he cannot see the
kingdom of God.' (John 3:3). As far as every other person on earth is concerned, they
will either come to see that Christ is the only Messiah, the only 'Lamb of God who takes
away the sins of the world,' or they will not enter heaven. Their sins have condemned
them already. Some people don't accept Christ now, but will later. I pray that everyone
does, but for our purposes we must understand, "Marvel not I said unto thee, you must be
born again." (John 3:7).

Now one could say much on the reality of 'born again' status, but today I want to focus
on issue: that our sinful nature has been destroyed from off of us. We will focus on
Roman 6, 7 and 8 today for our gaining of wisdom. Praise God.

You should understand that man is born into sin, tainted by original sin, and with a
sin nature. Even if you never committed any sin (show me that person), you have this sin
nature and so your heart is sinful (Genesis 8:21). Without perfection, absolute perfection,
you cannot see God. Who can say they have kept all the commandments their entire life,
no one can. There is none righteous, no not one. (See Romans 3:10, 19 and 20). But
Jesus was not factored in to that statement, He was and is the only One Righteous. God
made Jesus, Who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that w! e might be made the
Righteousness of God in Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:21). So on the cross, before Jesus went
to hell, yes Jesus went to hell and suffered there for 3 days or so, Jesus became sin. He
exchanged His perfection, His righteous nature, for our sin nature, and so He took our
place in hell. He paid the penalty for every sin that would ever be committed, so we
never have to pay a single penalty for our sin. Glory to God.

Now, when we are born again we follow Christ in what He did in many ways. This
happens to you in an instant, when you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth
that Jesus was raised from the dead and is Lord in today, you are born again (See Romans
10). When you are born again, you die and are reborn. You don't die physically (you
would have noticed) but you die spiritually. You are reborn spiritually, glory to God.
Instead of having a black sp! irit, a sinful spirit, you have a perfect and righteous heart
before God. There is a blood covering over your spirit, and it can never be black
again. So let us talk about this reality and look at some scripture.

"How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Don't you know that all of
us that were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? . . . Knowing this,
that our old man is crucified with Christ, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that
henceforth we should not serve sin. Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth
no more; death has no more dominion over Him. For in that He died, He died unto sin
once: but in that He lives, He lives unto God. Likewise reckon you also yourselves to be
dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans
6:2,3,6,9,10,11.

What a wonderful passage, we are buried with Him and we should also live as He lives
now. Christ was freed from sin (vs. 7), so He was once joined to it (just before He died,
after He exchanged His perfect nature with ours). Similarly, we were joined to sin once,
but now we are freed from it, that we may be joined to Christ Jesus and His
righteousness. "Wherefore my brethren, you also are become dead to the law by the body
of Christ; that you should be married to another, even to Him Who is raised from the
dead, that you should bring forth fruit unto God."

We are now to be married to Christ, and 1 Corinthians 6 tells us that He who is joined to
the Lord is one Spirit with Him. We have been freed from sin over us.

I believe the most powerful verse is the one that tells us to reckon ourselves dead unto
sin. Any! time you hear a Christian say something like, I'm just an old sinner, you need
to think about this. Those words should never come out of your mouth. That Christian
doesn't understand that God no longer sees this person as a sinner, He sees this person as
"The Righteousness of God in Christ Jesus." You should forget sin in every way. We
are to forget the past. We are to focus on the now and the future. The now and the future
is righteousness, the dead and gone is sin. Yes, you may sin again in the future, but that
doesn't change your status as righteous before God. The impenetrable wall of Jesus'
blood covers all your sins. Praise God.

If we will realize that sin has no more dominion over us, that we are dead to it, then we
will realize how God sees us, as perfect because of Jesus' perfection bestowed on
us. Glory to God. Sin is destroyed over you, you should no! more serve it (see Romans
6:13-23). You must forget the presence of sin in your life, forget that you were a
sinner and that you liked to sin. Realize you are righteous and moreover you are
empowered to live righteously. You need no more serve sin. By faith, we can now stay
connected to Christ and fulfill God's perfect will for our lives (Romans 12:2).

The battle is over, the war is won. You don't need to struggle with sin anymore. What
you do have to do is allow the Holy Spirit to lead you out of sinful behavior and into
righteous behavior. You must begin yielding yourself to God, yield yourself to
goodness. (Read all of Romans 6) When you do this, you will walk out the victory over
sin that Jesus has already obtained. He obtained it for us, it's time that we live it. Glory
to God. Amen.