Lenox Federated Church - Firm Foundations, Creation to Christ

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Firm Foundations

Creation to Christ

Lesson 36 - You Must be Born Again

Questions for the LFC Firm Foundations Coordinator may be emailed to firmfoundations@lenoxchurch.org

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REVIEW QUESTIONS:

1. Why didn’t the Pharisees and other religious leaders accept John’s teaching? Because they were proud and thought that they were good enough for God to accept them.

2. What did Jesus tell the people that they must do? Jesus said that they must change their attitude, agreeing with God that they were helpless sinners, and believe the Good News which Jesus had come to tell them.

3. What is the only way a person can please God? By believing His Word.

4. What was the occupation of some of the men whom Jesus called to follow Him? Some of them were fishermen.

5. What was the difference between the way Jesus taught and the way the scribes taught? Jesus taught as one who was sure of what God meant in His Word. But the scribes just gave their opinion as to what they thought God meant or what others said God meant.

6. What were demons originally? They were the angels of God until they followed Satan in rebellion against God.

7. Why were the demons afraid of Jesus? They knew that He was their Creator and their judge and that, one day, He would throw them into the everlasting fire to be punished.

8. How does leprosy remind you of sin? Just as no ordinary person was able to cure leprosy, so no one but God can deliver us from the power of sin.

How many times have you made New Year’s resolutions—and failed to keep them?

How many times have you tried to make a fresh start in your life—and failed?

Are you still trying—and failing?

Do you know that God doesn’t expect you to change your own life?

As a matter of fact, He says you can’t do it yourself. We’re about to read one of the best known and most loved passages of Scripture. Like all of the Bible, this was given by God so that we might learn. This message is for you, and it is for me and for everyone in the whole world.

Please read carefully.

Nicodemus was sure that Jesus had been sent by God. He knew that the great miracles which Jesus had done could only be accomplished by the power of God.

- Most of the other Pharisees hated Jesus and were saying that He did His miracles by the power of Satan.

- Nicodemus probably came to speak to Jesus at night so that the other Jewish leaders would not see him.

The Jews, and especially the Pharisees, were very proud that they were the descendants of Abraham.

- They thought that they were in God’s family because they were Abraham’s children.

- The Pharisees did not realize that every person born into this world has been born under Satan’s rule (into Satan’s kingdom) and is therefore Satan’s child.

- Recall:

When God created Adam and Eve, He made them in His own image. God gave them minds so they could know and understand Him. God made them so they could love Him. God also gave them the ability to obey His will, to do what He wanted them to do. But, when Adam and Eve sinned, they died to God. They were separated from Him. They were no longer in oneness (in fellowship) with God. They were no longer His friends as they were when He created them. They still had minds, but, because of their sin, they were unable to know God and understand His words. Neither were they able to love or obey Him. Therefore, they were no longer able to please God. Their minds, hearts, and wills were now under the control of Satan.

Cain and Abel, and all people born into the world since that time, have been born unable to know, understand, love, or obey God. No person born into this world can please God. Every person in every place, regardless of nationality, color, or language, has been born under Satan’s authority.

Jesus told Nicodemus that the only way a person can escape Satan’s power and rule and be able to know, love, and obey God is to be born again.

- Jesus was telling Nicodemus that he must receive a new mind and heart which would be able to know and understand God, as Adam and Eve could when God created them.

- We, too, must be made new so that we can love and obey God.

- Note:

Sometimes people use the words “born again” to describe things other than what Jesus was telling Nicodemus. But when we talk about being born again, we are referring to what God tells us in the Bible.

How is it possible for a person to be born again? How can someone be changed so that he can be under the rule of God and no longer under the rule of Satan? Can we change ourselves? No, we cannot.

Was it something you did that caused you to be born into this world under Satan’s authority? No, of course not; Adam sinned, and everyone who was born after Adam inherited his sin.

- We didn’t do anything to cause ourselves to be born under Satan’s control.

- Neither can we do anything to escape Satan and change our lives so we will be pleasing to God.

- Our good works can’t bring us out of Satan’s kingdom and into God’s kingdom.

- When we were born into this world, we were all born separated from, or dead to, God.

- It is impossible for us to bring ourselves back into oneness with God. Only God can do that.

- He is almighty.

- Nothing is impossible to Him.

- By His power, He causes people to be born again—a new birth into God’s family.

Nicodemus was very surprised when Jesus said that a person must be born again before he can understand or come under the rule of God (enter God’s kingdom). Until he talked with Jesus, Nicodemus probably felt that his first birth was quite sufficient to put him in a right relationship with God.

- He was a descendant of Abraham.

- He was a Pharisee.

- He was a ruler of the Jews.

Nicodemus thought that Jesus meant that people’s bodies have to be born a second time as a baby.

The water of which Jesus spoke is not baptism.

- Baptism cannot make us children of God nor can it wash away our sin.

- When Jesus said that every person who comes under God’s rule must first be born by water, Jesus meant that the only way a person can receive a new mind, be able to love and obey God, and be given new life is by hearing, understanding, and believing the Word of God.

- They will be changed by the Holy Spirit so that they can:

Know God

Understand His words

Be able to love Him

Be able to live under His rule or authority

And enter the kingdom of God

Jesus told Nicodemus not to be surprised that he must be born again. God says that there are only two categories of people in the world as far as He is concerned—

. . . Not rich and poor

. . . Not good and bad

. . . Not young and old

Here are the two categories:

- All those born only once are in Satan’s family.

- All those who have been born a second time are in God’s family.

Nicodemus still could not understand how he could be born into God’s family.

Jesus explained to Nicodemus by reminding him of what happened to his Jewish forefathers in the wilderness.

- Recall:

The Israelites had sinned against God, so God sent poisonous snakes to bite them, and they began to die. When they repented, that is, changed their attitude and admitted their sin, God told Moses to make a brass snake and put it on a pole. God promised that whoever was bitten and looked at the brass snake would be healed.

- Consider:

Nicodemus had been trying to observe God’s laws. He hadn’t realized that, in his own efforts, he was totally unacceptable to God. He needed to do what the Israelites had done and simply put his faith in the Lord.

- Consider:

Our situation, too, is like that of the Israelites in the wilderness. Satan, who is called the old serpent, guided Adam away from God. When Adam sinned against God, he died. Now all of Adam’s descendants are separated from God and are dying because they are sinners. The payment for sin is death. The Israelites could not save themselves from the snakes, and we cannot save ourselves from death. God delivered the Israelites, and only God can deliver us.

Jesus said there is only one way we can be delivered from Satan, sin, and death and be born again into God’s family.

- Jesus said that He must be lifted up, just as the brass snake was in the wilderness, so that whoever trusts in Him will be born into the family of God and come once again under His authority.

- All those who put their trust in Jesus will be given eternal life by God.

Jesus said, “For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son....”

Because God doesn’t want any human being to go with Satan to everlasting destruction, God sent Jesus, the Savior, into the world.

Whom did God give to be the Savior?

- “His only begotten Son”

- Jesus was God’s only Son.

- There is none other like Him.

What did Jesus say a sinner has to do to be delivered from Satan’s power? “that whoever believes in Him”

- When a man, woman, or child believes God’s words and trusts in Jesus as his Savior, God gives that person a new life.

- That person will no longer be Satan’s child or under his rule.

- That person will become a child of God.

- That is why Jesus told people to change their minds and believe God’s good news.

Jesus said that all who believe on Him “should not perish.” Those who trust in the Savior whom God sent will not go to everlasting punishment for their sins.

What will all who believe on Jesus as their Savior receive? They will “have everlasting life.”

This is God’s promise.

- Can God be trusted?

- Yes! We have read how He has always done exactly what He has promised.

- We’ve read through thousands of years of God’s good promises, and not one of them has failed.

No one needs to wait until he dies to know if he will be accepted or rejected by God. Those who refuse the Savior are condemned and rejected by God right now.

- Those who agree with God and trust in the Savior, Jesus Christ, are not condemned.

- There is only one Savior who has been given by God for sinners, and that Savior is Jesus.

The reason people do not agree with God’s Word and trust in Him is that they love their own sinful ways.

- They don’t want to admit that they are wrong.

- They don’t want God to change them.

- They try to keep away from God’s truth so that their sinfulness will not be uncovered.

- God already knows everything about everyone, so it is foolish to think that sins are hidden.

Zacharias said that the Deliverer would “...give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death...” (Luke 1:79). Jesus came to bring light and life to all who would believe in Him.

Every one of us needs to consider which category we are in. The Bible tells us that God desires for every person to be part of His family. That’s why He sent His Son, Jesus Christ.

QUESTIONS:

1. Why did Nicodemus believe that Jesus was sent by God?

2. In what were the Pharisees and others trusting to get them to Heaven?

a.

b.

3. What did Jesus mean when He said that we must be born of water?

4. Who uses God’s Word to cause us to be born into God’s family?

5. How does the brass serpent which Moses put on the pole remind us of Jesus the Deliverer?

a.

b.

6. Why did God send Jesus to this world?

7. Why don’t people want to listen to God’s Word?

Suggested Daily Bible Readings:

Day 176: John, Chapters 1 and 2

Day 177: John, Chapters 3 and 4

Day 178: John, Chapters 5 and 6

Day 179: John, Chapters 7 and 8

Day 180: John, Chapters 9 and 10