Jesus answered . . . “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’” – John 3:5, 7
Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” – John 3:3
Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” – John 3:3
Jesus tells Nicodemus (a prominent Pharisee) that one must be born of water and spirit. Yet he does not understand. One clue is found in Ezekiel 36:25-27:
“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”Piper says, “Jesus sees all of humanity divided into two parts: those who are merely born once – ‘born of the flesh,’ ‘the (spiritually) dead’ – and those who are ‘born again’ by the Spirit of God – those who are alive to God and see his kingdom as true and supremely desirable.” (p. 39)
Piper tells us that we do not need a moral improvement from the old. New life is what the WHOLE world needs. The dead cannot help themselves. WE cannot help ourselves. And until we remove the log of pride from our unbelieving eyes this truth will never penetrate our hearts. The gospel will never penetrate our hearts. And it is when we let this truth overcome us that our hearts will turn from ourselves to God and to others.
We are living in a cemetery. And there is new life in Christ. We are His tools. God uses us to raise the dead!
"What Jesus Demands from the World," by John Piper
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