Men's Bible Study:Basic Training- Salvation

John 3:1–21 NKJV

1 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” 9 Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? 11 Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

1. The Lord Jesus teaches us that we must be born again!

Nicodemus struggles with the concept because he is looking with his natural mind into the things of the spirit.

1 Corinthians 1:18–19 NKJV

18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”

Men will often focus on practical, tangible, physical aspects of life while neglecting other aspects of life like the emotional side and the spiritual side. while it is true that at the end of the day bills have to be paid, the yard has to be mode, things have to be repaired and you need to get some rest at some point today because you have to go back to work tomorrow; you also have to spend some time developing your emotional life and spiritual life as well.

If you spend the rest of your life ignoring your emotional life it will directly impact the quality of the most important relationships in your life. Neglecting those relationships can have varying degrees of impact; the impact can range from as small as a relationship being distant and cold to as great as divorce as it relates to a spouse or estrangement as it relates to family or children.

To ignore ones life in the spirit of God, has eternal consequences. none of the priorities that pull on my life is as important as my spiritual life. If I allow something to become more important than my relationship with God then I have allowed the good things God has given me to become an idol or idols in my life. many people with no relationship with God or a church have the knowledge that having Idols is wrong. commandments two and three tell us we should have no other god’s before Him. Commandment three tells us not to erect idols before Him. Exodus 20:3-4.

Exodus 20:3–4 NKJV

3 “You shall have no other gods before Me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth;

here is a side note: I noticed that we create idols for ourselves. We do this mostly through wrong priorities more than our right worshiping of false god’s. Whatever we put in the place that was designated for God, that thing is an idol. Things that have been objects of worship for me are things that I placed in the first priority in my life.

what are somethings that become idols in the lives of men?

Pride-pride can manifest itself in many ways:

why do we have to be born again ?

because we where born into sin nature.