Reliable Truth Gospel of John Study: Part 3 - Richard E. Simmons III
Are you on a search for truth?
Today we are studying John 3:1-15. In this familiar conversation that Jesus has with Nicodemus, we’re introduced to this great truth about being born again. The idea of a new birth.
There is another word that Paul uses that means the same thing - regeneration. If you’ve ever read the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer, it uses the words regenerate and regeneration a good bit.
There are three definitions in Webster’s for regeneration:
- to generate and produce anew
- to change radically and for the better
- to be spiritually reborn
What do you think of when you hear the term “born-again" Christian?
Looking at our culture today, if you were to ask that same question to a random sampling of people, how do you think they would respond?
Author Tim Keller said that:
"The new birth means you are now able to sense the reality of things that before were nothing to you. You actually didn’t see the reality of them. The new birth is a new order of life in which you finally begin to sense the full reality of what’s out there in the Universe, and you can live and act in accordance with it."
In Ephesians 1:17-18, Paul’s prayer for the Christians in Ephesus was, "God, I pray that You would give them a spirit of wisdom and revelation, and that the eyes of their hearts would be enlightened." This is what God wants to give us through this new birth.