Regenration - Easter Sunday

Scripture Reading - John 3:1-21

HBI - Jesus resurrection means that we have access to the Kingdom of God and our response is to come to Jesus and be born again.

Intro

I want to start out with an Easter video, It is a funny video on a kids take on Easter Sunday. https://youtu.be/wdn1R90kX9A

Last week we went through the significance of Palm Sunday and why Jesus did what He did. I want to take the same approach to Easter Sunday. We remember what Jesus did for us on the cross, we celebrate it specifically every year. But why did Jesus do what he did that day and how should it affect our lives. I want to focus specifically on a conversation Jesus had with the Pharisee Nicodemus. Jesus response to the Mans questions was that our response to the death and resurrection of Jesus is to be that we are supposed to be born again.

Jesus was the sacrificial Passover lamb, and If he would have stayed dead, then we would still have to sacrifice animals and we would still be awaiting for the messiah. But The resurrection that we celebrate today has great significance for our lives today. We have direct access to God because of what Jesus did. And the gift that we have access to is eternal life with God, but first there is a response that is called for on our part and that is to be born again. . We are going to look into what this means and how it should affect our lives today.

The Resurrection

Though we are going to focus on John 3 in a bit, there is a message leading up to it that helps it all make sense. In John 3 Jesus is talking to the Pharisee Nicodemus and telling him of the future event where He was going to have to give His life for the punishment of Sin so that all who believe on Him, who turn their eyes to him will be saved. We have the benefit of going right to there first.

It all starts when Jesus cried “it is finished” on the cross and gave up His life. He truly was dead in spit of what rumors where spread later. One thing that happened that is important for us to remember is that the temple curtain that separated the holy of Holies (dwelling place of God) was torn from top to bottom. Mark 15:38

Mark 15:38 (CSB)

Then the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

There is some argument about what Curtain exactly was torn in the temple, but the significance behind the act was clear and follows into the later part of my message as well. It was not done by human hands for one. The curtains where too thick and tall for any human to do it. It signified, as we can read in Hebrews 9, That Jesus blood that was shed on the cross fulfilled the sacrificial system that was put in place by God. He entered the most holy place through His own blood which is how we are saved. No longer do we need the priests but Jesus alone. His blood that was shed was for the sin of all people, for all time who would believe on His name.

But what this calls for is a response from us. Jesus gave Nicodemus the answer, eternity is at stake and in order to spend eternity with God Jesus said that we must be born again. John 3:3

John 3:3 (CSB)

Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

What it all comes down to then is entrance into the Kingdom of God.Jesus died and rose again so that we could have a way to enter the Kingdom of God. This is why we celebrate the Easter Sunday.

Born Again

What it comes down to though is How do we gain entrance into the Kingdom of God. Many people think that as long as they are good enough then that will gain us entrance into God’s eternal Kingdom. But what the bible says is that our own righteous acts are like menstrual rags to God. Though Good acts are important, and God calls for our faith to be seen in our actions. But what the bible says is that good acts on there own are useless. Some people don't care whether they make it into the K of G, but what they fail to realize is that Hell is not some eternal party with their friends, they wont be with any friends that make it there. The seeker sensitive movement has done a major disservice in replacing the gospel with some watered down clone of the true gospel. Spurgeon used an illustration that I want to borrow to help illustrate the idea.

suppose that in Canada, at all the airports and any entrance into the country whether by land, Sea or air Entrance could only be made by people who where born in Canada to Canadians. Suppose that any privilege we have here could only be obtained by the same way, being born in Canada by Canadian parents. You can not enjoy any offices or anything like that unless you where born in Canada. Suppose then that some man should come to the country then and ask to obtain the privileges of citizenship in Canada knowing the rules are absolute and cannot be altered, you must be a born citizen to enter. The man then says, I will change my name, I will take up the name of a Canadian and give up my name to be a Canadian subject, will that admit Him. He will come to the governing authorities and say, look, I have changed my name to a good christian (Christian in name) Canadian name will that now gain me entrance into your country. No that will not they will answer. You must be shut out. But I am prepared to become an Canadian in fashion (Christian in deed church, doing good things), I will give up my native dress and dress like you guys to enter your country. I renounce my native garments, I am a Canadian in dress as well as name. He will come to the gates but they are still shut, He can not enter for He was not born here. Well, says the man, I will not only adopt the dress but I will learn the language(Christian in the way you talk and the way you act sometimes but are without a Christian heart, rotten within though clean looking without). I will give up my accent and my mother language but I will speak as you speak and act as you act. I will adopt your language. May I then not enter in? No the gate keeper will say, you may not be admitted.

Entrance into the Kingdom of God it says belongs to those who have been born again. Jesus elaborated on this in John 3:5

John 3:5 (CSB)

Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

Being born of the Spirit of God, we will get into what this means in a bit. Like this illustration though we think sometimes that all we need to do is call ourselves Christian in name and that is good enough. It is to the point where the word Christian has been spoiled and turned into something that it was never meant to be. But calling yourself one is not good enough. Going to church and doing good deeds does not make you born again. You may even learn to speak Christanese and say all of the right language and act the right way. But the facts remain the same, we are all originally lost in sin helpless to get out of it on our own. Our hearts are rotten before they have been changed by God. We may look like it on the outside but like whitewashed tombs, rotten on the inside though it may look nice on the outside.

Jesus resurrection from the dead means we can be born again into a new kingdom but what does this mean for us? There is a word the theology books use to describe what this is and that is regeneration. It is defined as an act of God in which He imparts new spiritual life onto us. The First part of regeneration that we look into is that it is an act of God, beyond anything that we can do on our own. John 3:8

John 3:8 (CSB)

The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

In Jesus response to Nicodemus on being regenerated and It will come from His death and Resurrection He told Him that it is a mystery how it works. How can one be born again? Exactly how it works is a mystery only God knows. Like the metaphor of the wind, no one knows where it comes from or where it goes but yet it is still there. It is a mystery. As someone who likes to know how things work this bugs me a little bit. But it is something we need to take by faith and know that we have no part in changing our own lives. Being born again/regeneration. We know that it is undeniable, we can not deny that God works and God changes people. I have seen the work of regeneration in peoples lives changing them to be the person God wants them to be. And also it shows us that it originates from God.

The only part we have to play then when it comes to being born again is turning from our sin and turning to God. This is what we call repentance. Turning away from sin to the living God. Regeneration itself is an act of God, a mystery that is undeniable. We do not get to chose when we are born, it happens to us it is similar when we are born again/regenerated by God. It is something that happens to us after our repentance.

those who are born again, it says a little earlier, are born of water and spirit. I know I am jumping around, but bear with me here. What this means is that regeneration is not a thing of the flesh. John 3:5-6

John 3:5–6 (CSB)

5 Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit.

There are a few cross references that we can go to to help shed light on what this means. We can look to Ezekiel 36:26-27

Ezekiel 36:26–27 (CSB)

26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will place my Spirit within you and cause you to follow my statutes and carefully observe my ordinances.

I will put a new heart in you we are told. We are made new in Christ through being born again. We are given new spiritual life. The heart of fin, that sinful nature is taken out and we are given a new heart. Though we still struggle with sin, we are forgiven and can ask for forgiveness when we sin. Though that is not an excuse to remain in sin. to be born of water and spirit means that we are given new life in Christ.

Titus 3:5 (CSB)

5 he saved us—not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy—through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit.

It also refers to the act of being ceremonially cleansed and made pure. This is something that they used to have to do to go into the presence of God in the temple but it is now something that is done through the death and resurrection of Jesus, through repentance of our sin and turning to Jesus. Not by anything that we have done but by what Jesus has done for us. We are purified and made new. We are given the spirit of God and made into a new creation.

1 Peter 1:3 “3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” reminds us that again that do to the mercy of God (not something that we deserve) we are born again into a living hope. The hope that we have is alive and causes us to turn to Jesus even in the hardest of circumstances. what Great hope that we have that we can be born again into the Kingdom of God, Not by anything that we have done but by what Jesus does through us. We become part of a different Kingdom, we are made new.

So What?

This is what it means when we are told that we can be born again, that we can become part of a new Kingdom, the Kingdom of God. I could keep going on but I will try and sum it up here for you, thew basics of what this means. It starts out with the question what does this have to do with Easter Sunday? This is a different type of Easter message.

Jesus resurrection tells us that we need to born again which starts with us turning from our sin.

We looked into Jesus death for us on the cross on Good Friday and Now His rising from the dead for sin so that all who call on His name could be saved. I just focuysed on a few verses from this passage in the book of John but I want to draw our attention to a well known verse a little later on. John 3:16-17

John 3:16–17 (CSB)

16 For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

we read in the bible and hear in songs that God, like a shepherd and the sheep, will leave the heard to find the one lost one that wandered away. Well I have news for you, He has already done this now the ball is in our court to tell people this message and for us to turn to Jesus. The only role we play in being born again is to turn to Jesus. The first thing that the Easter message tells us is that we need to repent from our sins and turn to Jesus. He died for sin so that you could be set free.

To Be born again means that God has given us a new life in the Kingdom of God

Inst it amazing that we can have access to the Kingdom of God even now? It is based not on our own righteousness or none of us would make it into the heavenly kingdom. It is a mystery as to how it works but we can trust in faith that God will do what He says He is going to do. God has promised to create a new heart in us (not literally) to cleanse us and make us pure. We have been given an opportunity to be made new, and to tell other people what it means to be made new. This is our passport into the Kingdom of God. To turn to Him, to call on His name, to accept Him as Lord of your life. Jesus died for sin because he wanted to give the world a chance to choose life, to choose to be a part of His Kingdom. New life in Christ is offered to you.

We are made pure as children of God but need to keep our way pure.

It does not end when we take that step to turn from our sin. When Jesus puts that new heart within us and makes us new we can still fall to sin. The bible is clear that it does not end here that we need to keep our way pure. We need to live our lives for Jesus, we need to follow His way. We need to be in the word of God if we want to remain pure. A life that is truly changed by Jesus will seek to show that in the way they live their lives. It is not just words but actions as well.

You have been given offered your ticket to an eternal Kingdom with God, will you become a citizen of the K of G today?