Become Born Again
How to be Born Again
We miss the mark or requirements of God:
The first thing to recognize is that we are sinners by nature and by choice. We are sinners by nature because we were born that way and since we are by nature sinners, we naturally sin. Sin means to miss the mark. The Holy Bible defines missing the mark in this way, Romans 3:23 states, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”
We were born as people who are bent in missing the mark:
Sin entered humanity because of the first man, Adam, disobedience to God in the Garden of Eden. You can read more about that in Genesis Chapter 3 in the Bible. For the sake of explaining your need to be free from sin and the consequence of sin, this is kept simple. Romans 5:12 states, “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way, death came to all people, because all sinned.”
People everywhere have responsibility to God for their sins:
The Book of Acts said that at the time that we did not know what God requires, God winks or blinks at, but now He has commanded all people to turn from their sins because God appointed a time that He will judge sin and has raised Jesus Christ from the dead as proof of what He requires and escape from the consequence of sin. Acts 17:30-31” In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
Sin only has one outcome and that is death:
The Bible says that the wages, results, or payment for sin is death. Romans 6:23 states, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” There is no good we can do to appease the consequence of sin in our own effort. Even on our best day, our greatest effort is like a dirty rag when compared to God’s perfect holiness. Look at what the Bible says about our effort for goodness. Isaiah 64:6 says, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.” We can only be approved and accepted by God’s very own standard, purity, and right way of doing things in life. It is like trading our wrong ways of living, our sinful nature, and the consequences for sin by embracing what God offers us through faith or belief in Jesus Christ and what he has done on our behalf. The Bible explains it this wea, Philippians 3:8-9 “What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.”
The remedy for sin is the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus Christ by faith or in Him.
Faith simply means to believe. We receive the blessings or benefits of God’s divine nature in exchange for our sinful nature, when we become born again, born from above, or born of God through belief or faith in Jesus Christ. The result of this is explained this way, Ephesians 2:1-3 “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.” The exchange for our nature of wrath or condemnation is to have the divine nature of God. 2 Peter 1:2-3 says, “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”
How to become saved or born again:
We must be born again. Jesus declares that for us to enter and see the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven, we must be born again. Speaking to a Rabi who sought , Jesus told him how a spiritual requirement, John 3:3, Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” This transaction is done in two steps. Firstly. we believe in our hearts and then confess with our words of our mouth and the result of that God takes care of by transforming our inner being into a new creation in Him, a child of God by our belief or faith in Jesus Christ. Romans 10:9-10, explains it this way, “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”
Why only Jesus Christ?
We can only receive the divine nature through the divine person of God. Jesus came to earth as God in the flesh. The major difference between Jesus Christ and every other single person who has walked this Earth is that He has never sinned. Therefore, He was the only one who could destroy sin by fulfilling the payment for sin which is death. He was also God in the flesh and the only one who could give us the divine nature and take away the nature of wrath as mentioned above. Jesus is our only ticket out of condemnation from sin, escape from hell’s eternal separation from God’s goodness, life from eternal death, health from sickness and diseases, prosperity from poverty, and peace from chaos. Jesus says it this manner, John 8:31-32, “To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Another important point to make here is that we cannot create our own path to God. 1 Timothy 2:5-6, indicates, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time.” Jesus Christ himself declares to his disciples that he is the way to God and these words are true for us today. He states, John 14:6, “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
A Prayer of Salvation or to become Saved:
Lord Jesus Christ, I am a sinner by nature and by my own faults, I have sinned and unable to meet the holy standards of God. I believe that you are the Son of God who was born of the virgin Mary, lived a perfect and blameless life, you gave your life to die for my sins, and on the third day God raised you up from the dead through His power. I ask you Lord Jesus Christ forgiveness for my sins and purifying from everything ungodly. I invite you to come into my life, change my heart, and become my Lord and my Savior. I ask you to make me into a child of God, fill me with your Holy Spirit, enable me to learn about you, and empower me to live a life that is pleasing to God. From this point on help me to do as your word teaches,
What’s next:
From here on, your encouraged to find a Bible believing Church. You can look at the statement of faith on HOPEFM website and find a church that has those tenets of faith. We encourage you to live according to the words of Romans 12:1-2, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Please send us a message to let us know about your decision to follow Jesus Christ, so that we can pray for you.
Heaven is rejoicing over you:
Jesus says in Luke 15:7, “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”