{"id":870878,"date":"2012-06-11T06:00:44","date_gmt":"2012-06-11T06:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/?p=870878"},"modified":"2012-04-11T18:22:02","modified_gmt":"2012-04-11T18:22:02","slug":"870878","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/?p=870878","title":{"rendered":"Our Predicament"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>In the last post, I closed by asking some questions. What did Nicodemus need? and what do all spiritually dead people need which Jesus said must come from above?<\/p>\n

Have you thought about what Nicodemus needed that he didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have? Have you thought about what all spiritually dead people need which Jesus said must come from above? The answer is spiritual regeneration\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 which is another word for new birth.<\/p>\n

But this is our predicament. We can’t give birth to ourselves. It must come from outside of us and be done for us and to us.<\/p>\n

When Nicodemus asked Jesus, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s womb and be born?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that was a reference to natural birth.<\/p>\n

Nicodemus didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t need to be urged to be physically born. He had done that.<\/p>\n

But \u00e2\u20ac\u0153born of water\u00e2\u20ac\u009d we saw in verse 5 was something that an OT teacher like Nicodemus was expected to know. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an OT reference to cleansing.<\/p>\n

It likely referred to the passage in Ezekiel 36:25-27 about the inner cleansing from sin that comes with a new heart and a new spirit.<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an OT reference to being born again through spiritual regeneration. But Nicodemus was spiritually blind to the meaning of this OT passage despite the fact that he was called the<\/em> teacher of Israel!<\/p>\n

Jesus says that being born of water and the Spirit (which isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t two separate events, but one act that God performs at regeneration) is necessary for entrance into the kingdom of God.<\/p>\n

Then in verse 6 Jesus says, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

If all you have is a natural birth, then all you are is natural and nothing more. No spiritual birth comes as a result of being born of the flesh.\u00c2\u00a0 But, that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. So there is a spiritual birth that must come after<\/em> physical birth<\/p>\n

The only way to enter heaven is to be born of the Spirit. As the old couplet says, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Born once, die twice; born twice, die once.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

The way God has arranged for people to be saved from sin and judgment and hell is by hearing the true gospel and believing it. God enables His sheep, like Nicodemus, to savingly hear His voice in the gospel call and to respond with obedience.<\/p>\n

In the next blog, we’ll go further by considering how Christ’s sheep hear His voice in a way that leads to new life in Him.<\/p>\n

Until then,
\nPastor Kevin<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the last post, I closed by asking some questions. What did Nicodemus need? and what do all spiritually dead people need which Jesus said must come from above? Have you thought about what Nicodemus needed that he didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have? Have you thought about what all spiritually dead people need which Jesus said must come … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Our Predicament”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870878"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=870878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870878\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=870878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=870878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=870878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}