John 3:3 “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Jesus made the above statement to a very religious man named Nicodemus. This man was one of the leaders of a religious group in Israel called the Pharisees.
The Pharisees were well-known as being very zealous in keeping the laws of Moses. Most likely, this man even memorized the five books of Moses in the Bible and tried to keep them.
But when this man came to Jesus that night, Jesus immediately brushed aside this man’s deeds and character – and got right to the point: Nicodemus, you must be born again to go to Heaven!
Nicodemus understood the importance of being “born again,” but he did not know how. It was something that seemed impossible for an old man. He never heard of such a thing.
What Jesus was saying shocked him. His words implied that works – even religious ones – had nothing to do with salvation. It did not matter what someone did or had become in the way of righteousness or unrighteousness. No one can go to Heaven without being “born again.”
When explaining what He meant, Jesus later said that only the Holy Spirit can produce the new birth. Flesh and blood are incapable of bringing it about.
When a sinner calls on God in faith to save him or her based on what Christ did on the cross to pay for our sins, the Holy Spirit produces the new birth in the individual. It is He alone that creates the new birth. And when He does, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (II Corinthians 5:17). God changes the life.
Have you turned from sin and called on the Lord to save you? Remember what Jesus said: “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Why not do it today?