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1. There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
2. The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher comefrom God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
3. 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.
7. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. John 3:1-3,7. In this passage, Jesus had a discussion with a man called Nicodemus. Jesus was at home one night when Nicodemus came to him. Nicodemus was a very important person in town. He could have been a Member of Parliament or the Chairman of the Metropolitan Assembly. perhaps, he was a patron of the Methodist Church, the
Catholic Church or the Lighthouse Church. He was a very important person. The Bible says he was a ruler of the Jews, a master of Israel, a leader in the
synagogues. Nicodemus would not come to see Jesus during the day. He came at night, so that all the people who respected him would not see him.
This prominent Jewish leader said something to Jesus, which prompted Him to give an interesting reply.
When you look at the passage, you wonder why Jesus said all that he said to the man. After all, Nicodemus did not ask him, “How can I go to heaven?” He said to Jesus, “Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.” In other words, this man told Jesus that he recognizedHim as a great man of God. But Jesus saw right through him and replied, “You must be born again.”
Jesus saw right through him and replied; “You are a good person. I know you pay tithes and fast often. You are a Pharisee, and a ruler of the Jews, but you still need to be born again!” Now, the question we have to ask ourselves is this: Why did Jesus tell this man that he had to be born again? “Why did he launch out into this sermon?” There are lots of people doing all sorts of religious things. These things look ‘Christian’, but they are not. Such people are not born again. Being born again is one of the distinctive features of the Christian faith. There is no religion that requires you to be born again. All the other major religions instruct you to do this, do that; pray, read your Qur’an, read the book; kneel down, fast; don’t drink, don’t smoke; don’t chase men, don’t chase women…
There is however, no religion that claims to give an inner new birth. Christianity stands alone in this claim! The word ‘born’ means to be produced or created.
Therefore, to be born again means ‘to be produced or created again.’ To understand what it means to be born again, we can look at what being born again is not! To understand the Bible better, I often try to view the opposite of what is written. This can be very revealing. For example: ‘Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.’ The opposite of this is: “Seek ye not first the Kingdom of God, and all these things shall not be added unto you”. It’s as simple as that. If you don’t seek first the kingdom of God, you cannot expect God to give you the things you need. So, to understand the concept of being born again, we are going to look at twenty things that are NOT the same as being born again.
1. ADMIRING MIRACLES
Admiring miracles is not the same as being born again. Whenever there is a miracle worker, large crowds gather. These crowds are often not stable crowds, they only gather
for a reason – and for a season. When Jesus Himself organised miracle crusades, large
crowds gathered. But when He began teaching certain hard truths, He was deserted by all, except the twelve disciples(John 6).
Both good and bad people admire miracles.
my wife once told me of some friends in America. Though they
were not born again, they really enjoyed watching TV programmes which featured miracle working tele-evangelists. In my country Ghana today, there are crowds of miracleseeking people flocking the churches. But I’m sad to say that many of them are not born again. However deep your admiration for miracles is, it is not the same as being born again. Jesus says to the admirer of miracles, “Marvel not that
I say unto thee, ye must be born again.”
2. BEFRIENDING ‘MEN OF GOD’
Nicodemus got acquainted with Jesus and became His friend. In the same way, there are lots of people who have become friends of pastors and other men of God. You might have pastors as friends, but Jesus didn’t say, “Except a man has a pastor as his friend…”. He did say, “Except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdomn of God.” Jesus says to the man who befriends a man of God,
“ Marvel not that I say unto thee, ye must be born again.”
3. SENDING MONEY TO CHURCH
Sending money to church is not the same as being born again. I know people who for ages have given money to churches, but that is not a substitute for being born again. Other people also donate heavily towards special church projects such as harvests, (a type of fund-raising practiced in some churches in Ghana) in order to become ‘Harvest Kings’ and ‘Queens.’ No matter how much money you contribute to the church, you still need to be born again. It is good to give to God. However, if you give expecting to be given special treatment at the gates of Heaven, then you are mistaken. God is not a corrupt customs officer you can tip to let you into Heaven. Your money can’t buy you a ticket to Heaven. You must be born again!
The Bible gives an account of those who thought their good works could save them on the Judgement Day. They were certain that they were known by God. But on that
day, they had the shock of their lives when God told them, …I never knew you…
Matt 7:23. Jesus says to the Harvest King and Queen, “Marvelnot that I say unto thee, ye must be born again.”
4. JOINING A CHURCH
Joining a church is not the same as being born again.
You can join a church and still not be born again!
I have been in church all my life. But I did not get born again until I got to form three in Achimota Secondary School.
Everybody in my country, Ghana, has at one time or the other, associated himself with a church — especially as they get older and know they are about to die. In a ‘religious’ country such as Ghana, only a few people would say they do not want to belong to a church.
So you could easily be a member of a church, (because you want to be buried by that church) and not be born again. Jesus says to the church member; “Marvel not that I say unto thee, ye must be born again.”
5. PLAYING A ROLE IN CHURCH
Playing a role in church is not the same as being born again. There are several people who play various roles in church. For instance, the choristers sing to prepare the hearts of the congregation for the sermon. However, a chorister can dutifully play this role without being born again.
Once during an altar call in our church, some choristers responded to the call to give their lives to Christ. This means they were members of the choir, but were not
born again. So it is very possible to play a prominent role in church without being born again. A person who is not born again may join a church, get involved ichurch activities and even become a priest.
There are priests standing behind the ‘sacred desks’ in many churches who are not even born again! Jesus says to the priests and the choristers, “Marvel not that I say unto thee, ye must be born again.”
6. PRAYING EVERYDAY
Praying everyday is not the same as being born again. When I was a child, I once approached a priest and asked him, “Sir, how can I go to heaven?” And do you know what he told me? “My son, pray ‘Hail Mary’ three times a day, and ‘Our Father’ once a day, and you will go to Heaven.” I thanked him, and began to pray everyday, reciting The ‘Lord’s Prayer’ and ‘Hail Mary’. Oh, how I prayed! But, that was not the way to salvation. I diligently followed my priest’s instructions but I was still not born again.
A minister of God shared an experience he had when he was a teenager. He said he had been a religious person, but at a point in his life he became seriously sick and died on his bed. When he died, he saw himself going down. As he went deeper and deeper, he started protesting, “But I pray everyday, I go to church every Sunday.” But he heard a voice telling him, “YOU ARE NOT BORN AGAIN!”
Meanwhile his mother, a born again Christian was interceding for him. Finally, when he got to a part of hell, he saw a horrible looking creature that lifted its hand to receive him. However, God delivered him, and he came back to life.
Then, at another time, he fell sick and died again, but by then he had gotten born again. This time round, when he died he went up. And a voice told him to go back
because he had not finished his work on earth. He came back to life, and is now a man of God. You may be as religious as this man was, but if you are not born again, you will die and go to hell. Simply praying to God is not a substitute to being born again! Jesus says to the man who dutifully prays everyday, “Marvel not that I say unto thee, ye must be born again.”
7. READING THE BIBLE
Reading the Bible is not the same as being born again. Some of us can easily be deceived into thinking that a person is a born again Christian just because he quotes the scriptures. You may be able to quote the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.
This does not mean that you are born again. I notice that during election year in Nigeria, some politicians mount political platforms and quote scriptures to us. Why do they do this? They are trying to give us an impression that they are born again. They want the votes of the born again Christians. But you see, we know them by their fruits. We know that their quoting of Bible passages is no guarantee to us that they are born again.
There are even theologians who have doctorate degrees, but are not born again. Jesus says to the theologian, “Marvel not that I say unto thee, ye must be born again.”
8. BEING BAPTIZED
Baptism is not the same as being born again. Jesus himself commanded us to be baptized, but he said baptismshould follow salvation….Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved…Mark 16:15,16.
Now notice that baptism follows believing. You have to believe before you are baptized. It has become the tradition to baptize children when they are eight days old.
How can you believe when you are eight days old? Baptism is immersion in water – a sign to yourself and the people around that you are now born again.
The ‘old man’ of sin goes down and the ‘new man’ comes out. This is a sign of what has happened inside. That is why baptism is supposed to be done in public, after you are born again. We say baptism is a sign, because when you are born again, nothing actually happens physically for those around you to see. So being baptized becomes a physical sign of what happened inside. Sometimes you meet people who think baptism is the same as being born again. They think it is done in order to enable one to join a church. I once asked someone, “Are you born again?” His reply was, “No, I have not yet been baptized.”
He had it all wrong. He needed to be born again first. I was baptized after I got born again. But I was also baptised when I was an eight-day-old baby. My baptism as a baby did not do anything for me. I just became a wet baby. Jesus says to the baptized unbeliever, “Marvel not that I say unto thee, ye must be born again.”
9. BEING CONFIRMED
Being confirmed is not the same as being born again. In some churches a person is baptized when he is eight days-old. It is expected that when he grows up he will come back to church to confirm his Christianity. This is what is known as ‘Confirmation.’ I think that what really happened is this: At some point in the development of Christianity, people felt that they were big-shots — too big to be immersed publicly in water. It was humiliating for them to be put into water publicly. I believe it was arranged for people to be baptized as
children. Then, when they grew up, they were confirmed. The result of all this is a lot of confirmed unbelievers on their way to hell. Jesus says to the confirmed unbeliever, “Marvel not that I say unto thee, ye must be born again.”
10. TAKING HOLY COMMUNION
Taking Holy Communion is not the same as being born again. It does not matter how much of the communion wine you drink, or the bread you eat. IT IS NOT THE SAME
AS BEING BORN AGAIN. Communion is actually meant for born again Christians, who eat the bread and drink the wine in remembrance of Christ’s death. However, it is now common to find Reverend Ministers serving communion to die-hard sinners who are
approaching the gates of hell, on their death bed. What is communion going to do to a dying sinner? He needs to know that he should be born again! A whole crate of wine and a big loaf of bread which has been left in the Cathedral until it becomes ‘holy’ may be
served to a sinner. But it will not take him to Heaven. Jesus says to the man who takes Holy Communion regularly, “Marvel not that I say unto thee, ye must be born again.”
11. BEING IN A CHRISTIAN FAMILY
Being in a Christian family is not the same as being born again. I was brought up in a ‘Christian’ family. So when I was an eight-day-old baby, I was baptized, then confirmed later. I was also given a Bible and a hymn book by my godmother in England. But it just gathered dust on the shelf. Now, by this, you realise that I was in the church with
my family for years until I became born again. I was not brought up in a Muslim home, where they do not believe in Jesus. But there was still a definite point in my life when I got born again. I realise that for many people in the younger generation, the first genuine interaction they had with Christianity was one that challenged them to be born again.
But I find that those who are a bit older or more orthodox are surprised (like Nicodemus), when they are told they must be born again. They have been devoted ‘Christians’ all their lives, probably singing all the hymns, songs and doxologies they know. If after serving the Lord sincerely over the years, some young man comes along to tell them that they need to be born again, I can understand their surprise. But, Jesus still says to the man who had ‘Christian’ upbringing, “Marvel not that I say unto thee, ye must be born again.”
12. USING CHRISTIAN JARGON
Using Christian jargon is not the same as being born again. What do we mean by Christian jargon? There are some words and phrases you notice amongst Christians, such as: “Praise the Lord”, “Hallelujah”, “Glory”, “Be blessed”, “Amen, Brother!”, etc. I have worked with people in various Christian groups, sometimes with musicians. There are times I have felt that some of these people were not really born again. I doubted if they were really Christians, yet they were so rich in Christian jargon. When they met you, they knew
exactly what they were supposed to say. I remember once there was a Christian wedding. This wedding was being held on the university campus. Now, during the ceremony some vandals began screaming from their windows, “GLORY! GLORY! AMEN, BROTHER!” They virtually disrupted the wedding with their shouts of Christian jargon. This obviously cannot
mean that they were born again. Jesus says to the man rich in Christian jargon, “Marvel
not that I say unto thee, ye must be born again.”
15. BEING PRINCIPLED
Being principled is not the same as being born again.
Some people are very principled. They will not cheat
you, even if they have the opportunity to do so.
Sometimes in examination situations, people cheat. But
such principled people will not have anything to do with
it!
In school, there were some students who did not belong
to the Scripture Union. Yet, they lived such principled
lives. They wouldn’t even say anything negative about
SU members, but they just wouldn’t be born again.
I had a friend like that. A very principled guy, but
whenever I talked to him about Christ, he would just look
at me with an expressionless face.
I have never found it more difficult to bring to Christ,
someone who is principled, has good morals, but is not
born again!
Hard-core sinners are more aware that they need God. I
was once walking with a young man who told me, “Pastor,
I can’t live without prostitutes! I must visit the prostitutes
at least twice a day.”
Such a person is more likely to think that he needs to be
born again. On the other hand, a very principled person
sees no reason why he must be saved. Their excuse is
often, “Why? I am a good person, why should I
change?”
There are many doctors who will never involve themselves
in the practice of illegal abortion. These are principled
doctors who are not even born again. They simply
refuse to do it. To them, abortion is murder. Yet, even
such principled doctors need to be born again.
Jesus says to the principled man, “Marvel not that
I say unto thee, ye must be born again.”
16. BEING RESPECTABLE
Being respectable is not the same as being born again.
Indeed, you may have appeared respectable for years.
All your life you may have been singled out and given
leadership responsibilities, such as being the school prefect.
Perhaps, you are a person in authority now. You could
be the President of a country, a Parliamentarian, a Minister
of State, a King, a Chief, a headmaster or headmistress.
Such positions are held in high esteem.
Do not be deceived. That respect accorded you does
not mean you are born again.
Jesus says to the President, “Marvel not that I say unto
thee, ye must be born again.”
17. BEING POPULAR
Being popular or famous is not the same as being born
again.
I remember in Achimota Secondary School, there was
this particular boy who was extremely short. Whenever
he walked in or out of any school gathering, there was a
great uproar, as everybody cheered him on. He was a very
popular guy. But he still needed to be born again!
You may be popular. People may hail you everywhere
you go, but you still need to be born again! There are
some popular politicians. In spite of their popularity they
must still be born again!
People may like you. Everybody may be pleased with
you. Yet, being liked is not the same as being born again.
Jesus says to the popular man, “Marvel not that I say
unto thee, ye must be born again.”
18. OBEYING A NEW SET OF RULES
Being born again is not the same as obeying a new set
of rules.
When you join a club, you may be presented with a
new set of rules. An example of such a group is a Keep
Fit Club or an Old Boys Association.
Such associations often have mottos, or what is perceived
as their guiding principle. My wife’s former school, Wesley
Girls’ High School, a prominent Methodist Girls’ High
School in my country, has as its motto: ‘Live pure, speak
true, right wrong and follow the King’.
This set of rules may be your guiding principle.
Throughout your entire life you may be guided by these
nice sounding phrases. Dear ‘old boy’ and ‘old girl’, you
still have to be born again.
There are also lots of people with wise sayings.
In Ghana, one of our popular wise sayings can be translated
as, “The animal without a tail is protected by God.”
The deeper meaning of this is, “God takes care of the
fatherless”.
How wise and impressive this sounds!
But Jesus says to the man rich in wise sayings, “Marvel
not that I say unto thee, ye must be born again.”
19. BEING A GOOD SPOUSE
Being a good wife or a good husband does not mean
you are born again.
You may love your husband, look after him, submit to
him, support him and pray for him. But it doesn’t mean
you are born again. You may be living happily together,
but it does not mean you will go to Heaven.
Such people are often surprised when you tell them
to be born again. They will say, “Look at me! What is
wrong with me? I am a good person, and this is my
happy wife. We are living happily ever after.”
I must say that there are some good non-Christian husbands.
But whether you are a good spouse or not, you
have to be born again!
Jesus says to the good spouse, “Marvel not that I say
unto thee, ye must be born again.”
20. BEING RICH OR POOR
Being rich or poor is not the same as being born again.
If you are very rich and everything is going well, you may
think you don’t need to add anything to your life.
In Luke 16:19-31, we read about the rich fool. He was
a fool, not because he was rich, but because in his riches
he did not acknowledge God. Often, rich people forget
about God. Do not be a rich fool, be a wise and rich
person.
Riches do not make one a fool. Indeed, it is better to be
rich than to be poor. However, you still need to be born
again, otherwise you will perish with your riches! The
last that may be seen of you will be your grand funeral.
Your body may be left in the mortuary for a long time
(as is the custom for Chiefs in Ghana). Your relatives
may even insist on changing your funeral clothes
regularly as though you were a contestant in a beauty
contest.
Read about what the rich man said when he suddenly
found himself in hell- he became an evangelist, longing to
send a message to his brothers so they would not come to
hell!
Being poor in this life is all the more reason why you
must be born again. Your poverty and suffering in this life
should not deceive you into thinking that there will be peace
after death.
Jesus says to the rich and the poor alike, “Marvel not
that I say unto thee, ye must be born again.”
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