Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God.
John 3:3
If you could have an honest conversation with most people who live in the USA, I believe the majority of them would say that they realize we all sin and fail even our own ideals, but that we only need a little “help” from God and some “understanding” from Him and we will get into heaven. Most people believe they are “good” and although not perfect, worthy to get into God’s heavenly kingdom for eternity. Although I also once believed this about myself, I now realize I could not have been more wrong. The Bible reveals that people like myself think this way because we are “lost” and “blind” to the real devastation our sin brings to us and others. Sin has a way of numbing us to the reality of how much we are offending God and hurting ourselves and others. Even God’s Word is meaningless to a person given over to sin; it is God’s Spirit that awakens us and brings conviction of sin (John 16:8).
In the John 3:3 verse above, Nicodemus comes to speak with Jesus at night. Nicodemus is a very religious, respected and educated man, who, from what we can tell, is also very sincere and humble. If ever a man only needed a little “help” to get into God’s Kingdom, it would be Nicodemus. How does Jesus respond to this man? He tells him he needs to be “reborn” or “totally made-over” into a new person by the work of God’s Holy Spirit. This is what all of us need to ever hope to enter Heaven! We don’t just need a little “touch up”, we need a total transformation; this is what brings anger and resentment from “religious” people who don’t know the Lord like the Pharisees were in Jesus’ day. They believe their religiosity, good works, intellect, being pious, etc. are enough; this is a deception. Our efforts on our part are simply not enough because they alone cannot change our heart and atone for all the sins we have committed in our life. We need the Holy Spirit in us to give us a rebirth and to make us a “new creation” in Christ. This can only be found when we accept what Jesus did on the cross for us as payment for our sins and they trust/surrender to Him for salvation. As you work your way through 2024, please be sure you have been “born again” in Christ and have found eternal life in Him; if you are hoping in anything else to get you to Heaven, you will find to your utter despair on judgment day that Jesus will say “Be gone from Me, I never knew you!” (see Matthew 7:23) Be sure you have the most important relationship in life right; be His! Blessings!
Love in Christ,
Pastor Gary Houdek