We need to rehearse some simple foundational truths. Most of us already know them well. Yet I have learned it is good to hear these things again. When revelation has become real to us, we never tire of hearing them. I want to suggest to you one of the challenges in the church today. One of the reasons people get bound up in sin, in habits, in all kinds of weird and wonderful things, and get blown about by every wind of doctrine, is that we get removed from the power of the gospel. We stop preaching the power of the cross.
It is the cross that will save you if you are not yet a Christian. It is the cross that keeps you saved. We believe in healing in this house, and I love seeing God heal people. Healing is wonderful. If you are sick in your body today, let us pray for you. Let us see what Jesus will do. But can I tell you something? The key to healing is not in some man of God or woman of God. The key is in the cross. He took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses, and by His stripes we were healed. It is the cross that gets your body healed. It is the cross that sets you free.
I am not condemning anybody, but if you are bound today — whether by depression, alcoholism, anger, lust, or any of the normal junk Satan throws at people — the Son sets free is free indeed. Jesus wants you free. He does not just want you to mumble a prayer and believe you have a ticket to heaven one day. He wants you to live out the life of heaven here on the earth. He wants you free. Am I saying you will be perfect and never fall? No. But I am telling you, you can be free. Satan is a liar and the father of lies. He will tell you that you have been bound for years and you will never get free. One word from God can break the chains off your life.
Whatever you are struggling with, Jesus took it on the cross. He paid the price. I think one of the greatest messages we have not preached enough is this: I was a Christian about twenty years before I really heard it, and it revolutionized my life. I had always heard that at the cross Jesus paid for our sins — all the sins of the world, lying, adultery, this sin and that sin. But more than that, Jesus took sin on the cross. SIN. More than all our misdeeds. He took the very nature of sin, and it was nailed to Him on the cross. And more than that, when Jesus died, you died. Jesus took what the Bible calls the old man — or the old woman — our old nature, our fallen nature.
So many evangelicals put their faith in Jesus as Savior and then try to be good Christians. Can I tell you, God’s answer is not that you try to be a good Christian. God’s answer is the cross. Jesus took that old man, that old nature, that dark passenger, that old you that does not want to do right, and He nailed him to the cross of Calvary. The apostle Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” Would you say those words today? Christ lives in me. Christ lives in me. Hallelujah.
If we would get up every morning, look in the mirror and declare, Christ lives in me. If we would drive to work saying, Christ lives in me. Suddenly it is not hard to be a Christian. It is impossible to be a Christian in our own strength. God is not looking for good Christians. He is looking for resurrected Christians — people in whom Christ lives.
We were at the rehab center yesterday in Southbridge, preaching to a wonderful bunch of people there. I said something I have said many times: Jesus did not come to turn bad people into good people. Jesus came to turn dead people into alive people. That is the message of Easter. It is not about improving your life. You were a dead person, and Jesus came like He came to the tomb of Lazarus and said, “Dead man, dead woman, arise.” Hallelujah.
On that first Easter Sunday, when Jesus died, we died. As it is written in Colossians 3:3, “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Romans 6:6 tells us to reckon ourselves dead, crucified with Christ, dead to sin, and alive to God. God looks at you and says you are a new creation. You are a free man. You are a free woman. What we need to do is not try to redo every day what Jesus already did two thousand years ago. At the end of His passion on the cross, the very last words He spoke were three words: “It is finished.” Everything you will ever need was done on that day. It is finished. It is signed, it is sealed, it is delivered. And Jesus rose from the dead.
The Living Word
As it is written in 2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God.” This is not just a book about God. God and His Word are one. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. Jesus said in John 6:63, “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” God did not just write us a book like an operating manual for life. He sent His Word. Jesus is the living Word. This is the written Word, but when your faith comes upon the written Word, the written Word becomes the proceeding Word. Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Hallelujah.
If you open the Bible for history, you will find it. If you open the Bible for good moral lessons, you will find them. If you open the Bible for doctrine, you will find it. But if you open the Bible to hear the voice of God — people climb mountains to hear God speak — can I tell you, if you would like to hear the voice of God, open your Bible and read it out loud. That is the voice of God. I do not care if two hundred angels appeared to you with a prophet and a jar of oil. I do not believe in anything like I believe in this. This is the Word of God.
Proclaiming Jesus Is Alive
I am convinced that every time anybody proclaims Jesus is alive, there is a mini outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit cannot stand it. He wants the world to know that Jesus is alive. Once about twenty-five years ago I was preaching in India in a town called Travandrum on the south coast — beautiful palm trees, coconuts everywhere. I was preaching in a little shanty slum area with thousands of people living under tents and cardboard boxes. One Sunday evening I was preaching with a translator to three or four thousand people. I said the words “Jesus is alive,” and my interpreter started translating. Suddenly I saw this invisible wave go through the crowd. I said it again, and the same thing happened. I turned to my interpreter and asked if he saw that. He said yes, and it happened even before he translated. The two of us started saying it together: Jesus is alive. Later that evening I asked the Lord what happened. He said every time anybody proclaims Jesus is alive, there is a mini outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
There is a true story about a missionary about five hundred years ago from Spain. He traveled to Afghanistan — the first known missionary there — and preached the gospel. Eventually he was captured and burned at the stake. His last words were something like, “God forgive these guys. Lord, I want my blood to soak into the ground of this village and testify Jesus is alive.” Five hundred years later, one night every man in the whole village had the same dream. Jesus appeared to them and said, “I am Jesus. I am alive.” Every man woke up speaking in tongues. That morning they all got together and realized Jesus is alive.
I like to tell people, I do not believe in the God you do not believe in. I do not believe in the God Christopher Hitchens did not believe in. But when you proclaim Jesus rose from the dead, Jesus is alive, watch what happens. The Holy Spirit will jump on that person. I am absolutely convinced of that. It is not about an argument. The Holy Spirit will begin showing them that Jesus is alive. Hallelujah.
You Must Be Born Again
As it is written in John 3:3, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Jesus answered and said to Nicodemus, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’” You must be born again. There has to be a moment in all of our lives where there is a before and an after, where we meet Jesus. Religion is not enough. Whether you are Protestant, Catholic, or Orthodox, God bless you, but you must be born again. Hallelujah.
Years ago in France I was invited to preach in a French cathedral to about two thousand Catholics. A bishop tapped me on the shoulder and said the Lord wanted me to speak about Mary. I stood up and said today I am going to preach from the gospel of Mary. Everybody cheered. The bishop looked at me because there is no gospel of Mary. I had discovered the gospel of Mary. I asked how many would obey the words of Mary if we could find them in Scripture. They all said yes. So we went to John chapter two, the wedding at Cana. What does Mary say? “Whatever Jesus says to you, do it.” Then we flipped to John three. Jesus said you must be born again. If Mary said do it, then you must be born again. People started turning to their neighbors saying I need to do that today.
We need not only to get born again. We need to learn to live born again. We need to live born from above. There are many people who have said a sinner’s prayer, but it is not just saying the words. It is meaning the words and then living the words. As a pastor I have married hundreds of people. I love the vows when two people proclaim them before the Lord and the community. But there are many who have said the vows but do not live them. It is one thing to say the words. It is another to live them every day. We must be born again, but we need to live born again. We need to realize our citizenship is in heaven. We have been born from above.
Jesus was talking to Nicodemus, and I think Nicodemus was one of the good guys. He was trying to work Jesus out. Jesus said you cannot get this with your head any more than a baby can understand being born. It is not an intellectual thing you work out. You have got to experience it first before the understanding comes. They say in Scotland it is better felt than telt. I think God’s message is still the same. You must be born again.
I think one of the biggest failings of the church is that we get distracted into all sorts of weird, wacky, and wonderful bizarre peripheral ideas instead of the cross. We need to keep preaching the gospel to ourselves and keep realizing there is power in the gospel. Look at yourself every day in the mirror and say you have been born again. You have been born from above. You are a new person. It is not about trying to be a Christian.
Legally I am an American. I have a nice blue passport. But I do not sound like one all the time. I am learning to be an American. It is a process. But I was not born here. If you take somebody and put them in the kingdom of God, doing kingdom things will not make you a Christian. You need to be born in the kingdom. The second you are born in God’s kingdom, you are a citizen of that kingdom. You are a member of His family. It does not matter where you are from or what your background is. This gospel will work any place, anywhere, anytime.
I think Jesus likes showing up in really weird places that Christians often will not go. Years ago I was preaching in Belgium in a little town called Verviers. The church is right in a Muslim part of town, surrounded by mosques and halal butchers. One day I arrived early with a young man who was training with me. The church was closed, so we sat in the car in the pouring rain. We saw Muslim men going into a bar opposite the church. I looked at my friend Sebastian and said, do you want to have some fun? It is one of my ambitions in life to make my friends nervous. We went into the bar. We did not get a warm welcome. We were the only non-Muslims there. We ordered coffee. When the lady asked if we wanted anything else, I said I would like a glass. She brought a glass. I took a spoon and went ding ding ding on the glass until the whole bar stopped. I announced in French that I was a pastor speaking at the church opposite and invited them all to come and hear the gospel of Jesus Christ that night.
Then a big guy, about six foot four with a big beard, came over, poked me in the chest and said, “We are Muslims.” The answer just popped out: “Brilliant. Jesus loves Muslims.” It disarmed him. Right then I felt a pain in my knee and knew it was God speaking. I asked if he had pain in his knee. He said yes. We prayed for him right there, and he was instantly healed. He was so happy he bought us both a beer. Then he announced to the whole bar that anybody with anything wrong should come over because these guys would pray and Jesus would heal them. We spent an hour praying for people in that bar. That night about six or seven Muslim guys came to the church and got born again.
Living Born Again
If you are not born again, get born again. If you are born again, live born again. Develop a lifestyle of being born again. Live who you are. Keep reminding yourself. Learn to renew your mind. Get some born-again friends and learn to talk born again. Get friends who will not call you out on where you are wrong but will call you up to who you are. They will say remember who you are. You are a conqueror. You are a child of the King. Find a community of people. Learn and grow. Find some people to have crazy Jesus adventures with. Even if you fail at times, have a go.
We need to give our faith away. We need to tell this world that Jesus is alive. Jesus is the answer. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. Hallelujah. Develop an identity with God. You are not an old sinner saved by grace. You were an old sinner. You got saved by grace, and you are now a new creation. All things have passed away. All things have become new. If Satan comes and talks to you about things you did yesterday or yesteryear, he is a liar. God says your lawless deeds I will remember no more. They have been nailed to that cross and you have been raised a brand new person. The key to changing your behavior is to renew your mind to your identity.
Every day put on that royal robe of righteousness. Put the ring back on your finger. Feast and live as a son or daughter in the Father’s house. You have been born again. You are a brand new person.
Selah
Scriptures for Study: John 3:3, John 3:5-8, John 1:1, John 1:14, John 6:63, 2 Timothy 3:16, Galatians 2:20, Romans 6:6, Colossians 3:3, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Isaiah 53:5, John 8:36, Romans 6:11, 1 Corinthians 15:14, Romans 10:13, 2 Corinthians 5:21
10 Questions for Reflection:
- When was the last time the truth “you must be born again” felt fresh and powerful to you?
- Are you still trying to be a “good Christian,” or are you learning to live as one in whom Christ lives?
- What area of bondage have you believed Satan’s lie that you will never be free from?
- How often do you declare out loud, “Christ lives in me”?
- In what ways have you reduced the gospel to information instead of living power?
- Are you hearing the voice of God regularly by opening the Bible and reading it aloud?
- Who in your life calls you up to who you are in Christ rather than pointing out your failures?
- When was the last time you proclaimed “Jesus is alive” to someone who does not yet know Him?
- Do you live with the confidence that your old man was crucified with Christ?
- What would it look like this week to live born again in your daily routines?
