Preface: The following post is less than a month old....but I still need to bring it back:
There are a number of different types of viewers to these posts....mostly Christians....but also inquisitive viewers who either saw my bumper sticker or picked up one of my bookmarks. So I have to vary the themes. If I'm on a college campus I generally try to reach younger people. Other times I try to address a story in the news....but most of time I'm trying to give my take....a different take....on biblical passages. Also....I have to come back to the same topics because if I do not....a post might within a couple of weeks be buried where no one new will ever read it. So for today....one of the most important....and in everyday language as if we were sitting across a table.
The term....born again Christian....is redundant. A Christian must have been born again....and if one is born again....they are a Christian....but in evangelicalism....and in just about every church anywhere....there are members or visitors who believe that they are Christian....but that in fact is not the case.
Bill Clinton and Al Gore were....and possibly still are....members of the Southern Baptist Convention. If asked they will tell you that they were born again. Hillary is Methodist. Donald Trump just the other day spoke at a Christian summit. He gave that famous closed mouth smile and said.... .."I love you Christians.....I'm a Christian!" It's near-impossible to describe the inflection in his voice other than to say he sounded like he was talking to toddlers. He hasn't a clue and never has.
So what exactly is being born again. Fair question....for Jesus said...."You must be born again" (John 3:7) Look around in the room that you are in....provided it's not Grand Central Station or a bowling alley. That room could probably be filled with books on that question....'what is being born again.' I can only address one part of a comprehensive answer that I think you may need to know.
The heart is regenerated. In other words it begins to spiritually beat. Before this a person cannot believe the gospel and come to Christ. We have no idea when this happens....but after it happens....we feel things that we never felt before. Notice that I said 'feel' and not 'see'....for we can think that we see ourselves as rebels due a just punishment....even attest to it....but not really feel it.....for there is no real guilt or mortification....and no genuine sorrow. We can tell ourselves that we have turned to belief in Jesus....but if in 'turning to Him' we do not as if collapse under His holiness and our sin....then it was not He to whom we turned.
Our name is written in the Lambs Book of Life. We are adopted as children. The angels rejoice. The devil is angry. The Holy Spirit resides in us....and we understand things we had no clue on before! When reading the Bible it is as if we never read it before! We feel a burden fall off of our back. There is now real hope. We know that we have been given a new beginning and we cry out thanksgivings for it! In short....something.....happened! Something real happened! In my case it took over a decade to see how fortunate I was....but I can be a slow learner at times. Hopefully it will take you only ten days....or even ten minutes!
I'm sitting in our living room right now....but if I were to go outside and walk into town....and pass someone on the sidewalk....I would somewhere in my mind wonder if they were a fellow follower of Jesus? I can't help it....for I know that salvation is real....and hell is real....and one must be born again! Fifteen minutes ago my wife told me about a sales clerk today who for some reason told her how depressed she had been....hoping she can even get through the day. I already tried to formulate some kind of something....no success yet....to point her to trusting in Christ. Today's offering from John Piper's desiringgod.org was an article titled....Your Pain Has An End Date....this written by a woman. Is there some way I can get that into her hands? I will probably fail....for these situations happen every day....at times many times throughout the day. My point is that if one is born again....they should naturally look at everyone....family or friends or passers-by....and wonder if they still need that great salvation that was given to us?
Complicating all of this today is that politics and the culture and the future of America has entered into it. What happens all too often is that people are vexed at what is happening....and angry. The Democrats are the ones turning America into San Francisco....we really had no part in what we have become! We may not be perfect but we are not like the Democrats! So if we are in a church....which we probably are....we make sure that it is a strong conservative church. The next thing you know....we are Christians....obviously! We attest to everything that has to be attested to. If you ask us we will tell you...we are Christian! What more could anyone want?
Well....God's Word describes something totally apart from just being a church-going....faith attesting.....conservative....and that begins with being....born again! So I have taken too much of your time already....and I will now do what I really want to do....what I feel that I am called to do....and that is point you to men who can preach to you what you need to know. If you are interested you will do the work....Google up either John Piper or Charles Spurgeon or Martyn Lloyd-Jones or R. C. Sproul along with the words....what is being born again.
There is a caveat here so that you do not waste your time. You will eventually be called to take up your cross and follow. It is hard....and it is very difficult at times....and it will only get worse....but I promise you this....the joy....oh the joy of knowing that He has saved you from wrath....the joy of hearing His glories preached.....the joy of owning that great gift of His Word to us....that is all ahead!
