By Ronald E. George Jr. at the Fayetteville
Baptist Church
An
old lady now in her hundred and fourth year lives in a one-room cottage at
Croydon. When she was a hundred years old she was visited by a city missionary
who explained John 3:16 to her. "How wonderful," she said, "and
how good the Lord has been in sparing me these hundred years that I might
learn the way of life!" This conversion is described in a London City
Mission Magazine and ends with these words: "Born 1825; born again
1925." Surely "the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation."
--Sunday School Times
Scripture Text:
John 3:1 (KJS) There was
a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: 2 The same
came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a
teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest,
except God be with him. 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. 4 Nicodemus saith unto
him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into
his mother's womb, and be born? 5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto
thee, Except a man be born of water and [of] the Spirit, he cannot enter
into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and
that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto
thee, Ye must be born again. 8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou
hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither
it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. 9 Nicodemus answered
and said unto him, How can these things be? 10 Jesus answered and said unto
him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? 11 Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have
seen; and ye receive not our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things,
and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you [of] heavenly
things? 13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from
heaven, [even] the Son of man which is in heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up
the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
What you must have before you can go to heaven?
1. You
must know the way? John 14:6
Is there more than one way? Do
you know the way? Is it the right
way? Many times in my life I have
wondered if I was going the right way? We
have looked at the map, asked for directions, and tried to make it on our own.
Sometimes I have made it and sometimes I haven’t.
Sometimes I get lost in Wal-mart.
It is a anxious time for me when I don’t if I am on the right road.
I am afraid that I may end up in a place that I don’t want to be.
Many times I am unsure of my direction.
But, I am sure of the direction of my life.
I know where I am going to end up.
How can I know? How can
you know? You must know the way? Nicodemus
came to right place to find out the way to heaven.
He asked someone who had been there.
His name is Jesus. He tells us in John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the
life, no one comes to the Father but by me.”
Jesus said that he is the way. If
you know Jesus then you know the way. Many know of Him such as Nicodemus, but few know the way,
because they have not believed in Him. Believe
in Him and go with Him so that when you come to the end of your life you will
end up in the place that you want to go.
Heaven is the place of God and all those that know Him and go with Him.
You can go with Him today.
2. You
must have the right birth? You
must be born again before you can see the kingdom of God/ Heaven. Is it possible to be born twice?
Born twice then die only once. Born
once then die twice. The second
death is spiritual. Jesus told
Nicodemus, “You must be born again.”
To be allowed into God’s dwelling you must become a member of His
family. God gives all who will
follow Him the right to become his children.
In God’s view if we have not followed Him we are not his children
because we have rejected Him and His desire for our lives.
When we decide that we want Him in our lives He comes into us and gives
us new life. This is what Jesus
called being born from above or born again.
We have been given a new life and a new hope.
There is a birth that comes from the Father in heaven.
This spiritual birth is the birth that we all must have before we can
see the Father and His home. There
is a fleshly birth and a spiritual birth.
Have you had both? Don’t
be confused about the spiritual birth. There
is an unseen side to this world. This
is the spiritual. We can see the
effects of the wind and hear it blowing but we can’t see it physically
swirling around. So is the Spirit
that blows on people. He comes in
and you can’t see His presence but you can see the effects He has on their
lives.
3. You
must be prepared. Heaven is a
prepared place for a prepared people. “Be prepared.”
The time will come that we will all arrive at the destination to which
we have been traveling. Where
will you end up? Will you be
happy when you get there?
When I worked in the Coalmines you had to be prepared for the shift
before the time came to go to work. When
the time came, the man trip pulled out to go into the mines if you were ready
or not. We had to go to the mines
early and get ready to go. Then
we were always ready for the shift to begin.
Heaven is a lot like that. You
have to be ready to go when the time comes.
You can’t wait until the time has come to get prepared.
Are you prepared? The
final trip will pull out one day. Are
you ready?
4.
You must have a Savior. Do you know that you need a savior?
Do you know that Jesus is the only one?
Would you ask Him to become your Savior?
Only Jesus has defeated the final enemy.
Death is the one
enemy that no one has conquered and that we all must face.
With the exception of Jesus all have sinned and come short of the glory
of God. We are all sinful by
nature and by choice. Because the
result of sin is death, and since we are all sinful then we know that all must
die. Death is a separation from
all that is known. When we die
without God then we must face death alone and eternity without God. The result of facing death alone is disastrous.
If we ask Jesus to be our Savior then we have a substitute for our
sins. He has paid our price for
sin. He has paid the cost of our
debt. Then we have a way through
death. He overcame death for us
all when He died on the cross for our sin.
He rose from the dead on the third day to assure us of a life after
death for all those who would believe in Him.
5.
Would you receive Christ as your Savior and ask to come into
your heart and life? He will give
you eternal life and a life on earth that is abundant and satisfying.
I was
down in this country during the Civil War. Across on the other side yonder
there were hundreds of tents where our soldiers were encamped. Measles broke
out and many of our brave lads died. The epidemic got so bad we stretched some
tents farther down the valley and moved all the measles patients into these
tents. This, of course, was done to protect as far as possible the health of
the well soldiers. I was wardmaster in charge of the tents where the measles
were located.
One
night while I was on the ward I passed a bunk where there was a very sick
soldier lad not more than seventeen years of age. The boy looked at me with a
pathetic expression and said, "Wardmaster, I believe I am going to die. I
am not a Christian. My mother isn't a Christian. My father isn't a Christian.
I never had any Christian training. I never did attend church. I did go with a
boy friend to Sunday School just once. A woman taught the Sunday School class.
She seemed to be such a good woman. She read us something out of the Bible
about a man--I think his name was Nicodemus. Anyway, it was about a man who
went to see Jesus one night. Jesus told this man he must be born again in
order to go to heaven when he dies. I have never been born again, and I don't
want to die like this. Won't you please get the chaplain so he can tell me how
to be born again?"
In
those days I was an agnostic--at least, that is what I called myself. As a
matter of fact, I wasn't anything but an old sinner. So I told the boy,
"You don't need a chaplain. Just be quiet now. Don't worry, you'll be all
right." I went on around the ward, and in about an hour I came back to
the boy's bed. He looked at me out of such sad staring eyes as he said, "Wardmaster,
if you won't get me the chaplain, please get me the doctor, I am choking to
death."
"All
right, my son, I'll get you the doctor," I said. So I went off and found
the doctor and he came, mopped out the throat of the lad so he could breathe
just a little easier. I knew the boy was going to die. I had seen many other
cases just Like his. The boy was so sweet he literally climbed into my heart.
He thanked me for my kindness. He thanked the doctor for being so good to him.
The doctor and I went away from the bed.
In about an hour I came back expecting to find the boy dead, but he was
still struggling. He looked up out of his eyes of death and said, "There
is no use, Wardmaster. I have got to die, and I haven't been born again.
Whether you believe in it or not, won't you find the chaplain and let him tell
me how to be born again?" I looked at him for a moment and thought about
how helpless he was in the grip of death. So I said, "All right, my son,
I will get you the chaplain." I walked away a few paces and then turned
and went back to the boy's bedside.
I
said, "My boy, I am not going to get you the chaplain. I am going to tell
you what to do myself. Now, understand, I am an agnostic. I don't know whether
there is any God. I don't know whether there is any heaven. I do not know
whether there is any hell. I don't know anything. Yes, I do. I know one thing.
I know my mother was a good woman. I know, if there is a God, my mother knew
Him. If there is a heaven I know she is there. So, I will tell you what my
mother told me. You can try it and see if it works. Now I am going to teach
you a verse of Scripture. The verse is John 3:16, 'For God so loved the world,
that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not
perish, but have everlasting life.' My mother said that I can not save myself,
but if I will believe in Jesus He will save me."
I
asked the boy to say the verse with me. I started and he followed with a weak
and trembling voice. I referred the lad to another verse my mother taught me,
but he closed his eyes, stretched his hands across his breast and in a whisper
he quoted slowly, repeating some of the words of John 3:16 several times:
"For God so loved the world... He gave His only begotten Son... that
whosoever, whosoever... whosoever believeth, believeth in Him, believeth in
Him."
Then,
he stopped and said with a dear voice, "Praise God, Wardmaster, it works!
I believe in Him! I shall not perish! I have everlasting life! I have been
born again! Wardmaster, your mother was right. Why don't you try it? Do what
your mother said. It works, Wardmaster! This thing works! Wardmaster, before I
go, I want to ask you to do something for me. Take a kiss to my mother and
tell her what you told me, and tell her that her dying son said, 'It
works.'"
I
leaned over and kissed him and, then as he drew his last breath he said,
"It works."
[The
old man, wiping tears out of his eyes and tears out of the wrinkles of his
face, said, "The lad was right. It does work. Whosoever believeth in Him
shall not perish but has now everlasting life. It works! I know it
works!"] --Bob Jones