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HOW
DO I
ENTER THE
KINGDOM OF
GOD? HOW
CAN I
KNOW I’M GOING
TO HEAVEN? Nicodemus,
a ruler of the Jews, came to Jesus one day with unanswered questions in
his heart (John
3:1-21) . . . “Rabbi,
we know You are a teacher sent from God because no one can do the
miracles that You do unless God is with him.”
To this statement Jesus replied, “You’re absolutely
right. Unless a person
is born again they cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus
struggled with the reply Jesus gave him . . . “How can anyone who
has already been born be born again?
We can’t re-enter our mother’s womb and be born again!”
Jesus said, “Unless you are born of water and of the
Spirit, you cannot see or enter God’s kingdom.” So,
what is required to be born again?
Firstly, with God’s help, we need to live a new life.
Birth is the beginning of life; to be born again is to begin
anew. We cannot patch up
our old lifestyle because we begin again from a new foundation, and that
foundation is Jesus Christ, the Messiah.
Secondly, we need a new nature, new principles, new affections
and new aims. Through our
first birth (from our mother’s womb) we are prone to sin and iniquity,
therefore comes the necessity to undergo a second birth, a spiritual
birth. We must be born from
above: born by the Spirit of God into His kingdom to partake of heavenly
things. We cannot possibly
understand righteous and holy matters pertaining to the kingdom of God
unless we are re-modelled and moulded into His image.
So we need to be born into His kingdom by calling on the name of
Jesus; by asking Him to become our Lord and Saviour; and then by living
for Him in the light of what His Word, the Bible, teaches us.
God
is truly an amazing Lord who freely gives to us all things.
He came into this world in the form of Jesus Christ to live among
us so He could truly identify Himself with the human race.
He took our place on the cross at Calvary, a tortuous death,
dying in our place because “God so loved the world (the people)
that He gave His only Son Jesus, so that everyone who believes in Him
will not perish (be sent to hell) but shall have eternal life
(in heaven)” (John 3:16).
Yes, Jesus died for us that we might live for Him.
But He did not remain in the grave; death and the grave had no
power over the Son of God. Once
He had died for OUR sins and sicknesses, He rose again from the dead. Who,
in any other religious system, can testify to the fact that their god
died then arose from the dead again to give them eternal life?
When we accept Jesus Christ as our Messiah, Lord and Saviour, He
tells us we have passed from death (a death sentence) to life –
eternal life. And, eternal
life includes the reward of heaven . . . “Truly,
truly, I say to you, he that hears My (Jesus,
God the Son) word and believes on Him (God the Father) who
sent Me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation (judgment)
but has passed out of death into life” (John 5:24). Don’t
allow religion to hold you hostage!
Jesus Christ is not a religion!
He is a Person in whom we can have a personal relationship.
If you are not following Jesus Christ, no matter what belief
system you were born into or adhere to, don’t allow the devil to keep
you bound into it because of fear: fear of the unknown, fear of
persecution. Call on the
name of JESUS, right now. He
is more than a prophet. He
is God . . . “You
should all know . . . that this man (the
man who had been healed) stands here before you completely well
through the power of the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth – whom you
crucified and whom God raised from death.
Jesus is the One of whom the scripture says, ‘The stone that
you the builders despised turned out to be the most important of all.’
Salvation is to be found through Him alone; in all the world
there is no one else whom God has given who can save us” (Acts 4:10-12).
This will be the most important and rewarding step you will ever take in your whole life! ~Joan
Emery
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