Want to be Born Again? Repent!

How important is it for a Christian to be born again? And what does ‘born again’ really mean anyway? Obviously, every person is born into this world, also called by Jesus the ‘kingdom of the world’ (AKA the kingdom of self or the kingdom of satan). We enter life through the birth canal of our mother, as the result of her egg being fertilized by our father’s sperm or ‘seed’.

To be ‘born again’ means being born from another ‘Seed’ into a new life – life in the Kingdom of God. Jesus tells us in John 3: 6, “Flesh (our earthly father’s ‘seed’) gives birth to flesh (our life in the kingdom of the world), but the Spirit (the Seed, who is Jesus) gives birth to spirit (our spiritual life in the Kingdom of God, which is our real life).

I have written extensively about the ‘Seed’ in this blog. Look in Articles to read my sermon on the Parable of the Sower. Or, you can look up all the posts in this blog that deal with the Parable of the Sower found in Matthew 13, Mark 4, and Luke 8. As I demonstrate in these posts using Scripture, Jesus is the Seed (see Galatians 3: 16 for one place in Scripture where Jesus is identified as the Seed). In this parable, Jesus is sowing Himself into human hearts, metaphorically referred to by Jesus, as soil. Only in the “noble and good heart” (Luke 8: 15) or “good soil” does the Seed germinate, sprout, and grow into a plant or tree signifying new life, producing fruit.

The fruit this parable refers to is the fruit of the Spirit: “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5: 22, 23). Fruit also points to the ‘work' we do for Jesus and His Kingdom, flowing out of a heart of gratitude and love.

This is a heart that has been ‘born again’ by the Spirit.

So, how important is it to be born again from the Seed, Jesus? Jesus plainly answers this question. “I tell you the truth, no one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again” (John 3: 3); and, “No one can enter the Kingdom of God unless he is born again of water and the Spirit” (John 3: 5).

OK. So why do I want to live in the Kingdom of God? Do you want to be saved?

The whole point and purpose of the Christian walk is to:

1) Worship and praise the King of kings

2) Enter into and intimately live with Jesus in the Kingdom of God, here, now, on earth, not just when we die and go to heaven, and for eternity. This is the life lived in Christ, with Jesus, the Father, and the Holy Spirit dwelling within the believer!

3) To release and advance the Kingdom of God on earth, pushing back the darkness by being and releasing light, taking back the territory satan claims, and defeating the power of evil, all by partnering with and being led by the Holy Spirit.

This state of being or life in the Kingdom of God is also known as ‘salvation’. All Christians want (or should want) to be saved – that is one of the principal blessings of the gospel.

We see the connection between salvation and the Kingdom of God in the story of the Rich Young Man (Ruler) in Mark 10. In His encounter with this rich young man, he asks Jesus, “What must I do to be saved?” Jesus tells him to sell everything he owns, give it to the poor, and “Come, follow Me”. That was too much for the young man. He walked away from Jesus.

Jesus turned to His disciples and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God” (Mark 10: 23). Then the disciples say, “Who then can be saved” (Sozo in Greek)?” (Mark 10: 26).

Salvation is equivalent to entering the Kingdom of God!

How do we enter the Kingdom of God? The answer to this question has several parts.

We begin the process of entering the Kingdom of God when the Seed is planted in our heart. As I mentioned above, this is also called ‘being born again’. How do we know this? Peter tells us, “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring Word of God” (1 Peter 1: 23 NIV). I like the Message translation: “Your new life (Kingdom life) is not like your old life (life in the kingdom of the world). Your old birth came from mortal sperm; your new birth (born again) comes from God’s living Word. Just think: a life conceived by God Himself” (1 Peter 1: 23 MSG).

We are ‘born again’ from the Seed, who is the living and enduring Word of God – not referring to Scripture, but to Jesus! J.B Phillips captures this meaning in his translation of 1 Peter 1: 23, “For you are the sons of God now; the live, permanent Word of the living God has given you His own indestructible heredity”. Jesus Christ, living in us, transforming us into a new creation. Not a better, improved ‘you’. Not ‘you' 2.0. “You were dead in your sins and transgressions” before Christ. A dead 2.0 is still dead. No. Christ makes you a new creation. A new person. No longer dead; but alive in Him. That is good news. That is the gospel of the Kingdom of God.

To be born again by the Seed means that the DNA of Jesus is now in us, as He grows in us into a Tree of Life or an “Oak of righteousness, a planting for the display of His glory” (Isaiah 61: 3). He is in us, we in Him. “Christ in us, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1: 27). This profound truth means that we now contain in these earthen vessels Jesus and His hope, joy, peace, faith, love, and power. We have within us the same power that God used to raise Jesus from the dead (Ephesians 1: 19). That is amazing and almost unbelievable, but true!

To thrive and produce fruit, the Seed needs to be planted in the soil of a noble and good heart. In other words, the heart needs to be noble and good before the Seed is planted. Think of your heart as the spiritual womb prepared to receive the Seed. But Paul tells us that, “There is no one righteous, not even one . . . There is no one who does good, not even one” (Romans 3: 11, 12 NIV). “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure” (Jeremiah 17: 9).

If there is no one good, then there are no good hearts – all are deceitful. How can there be noble and good soil in human’s hearts for the Seed to be planted into if no heart is good?

Paul is describing the fallen human race. Jesus came to redeem men and women, to rescue hearts from the dominion of darkness, bringing them into the Kingdom of the Son He loves. How does this happen? How does a person go from a no-good heart to a noble and good heart?

Enter John the Baptist, who came to prepare the way for Jesus. John the Baptist, who descended from the priestly lineage of Aaron, was a prophet (Matthew 11: 9 – 11).

John came before Jesus preaching in the Judean wilderness/desert of Judea. The setting is significant. Why not in the green Galilean hills or outside the Temple? Because the desert is a metaphor for a life in the kingdom of the world. Jeremiah writes:

“Cursed is the man who trusts in man (self), who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the Lord. He will be like a bush in the wastelands; he will not see prosperity when it comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives” (Jeremiah 17: 5 – 6 NIV).

This is a picture, a metaphor, of the life lived in the kingdom of the world, where self is the focus of one’s existence. John came preaching in the wastelands of the kingdom of the world, or the emptiness of the human heart. This is the heart Paul wrote about in Romans 3; a heart that cannot produce fruit.

But John came to prepare dead hearts to receive life; clear obstacles out of the way so that Jesus can enter the hearts of those who will accept and follow Him. What was the principal obstacle? A hard, evil heart focused on self.

‘In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near. This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: A voice calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for Him’ . . . Produce fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matthew 3: 1 – 3; 8).

In Mark we read similar words about John, “I will send my messenger ahead of You, who will prepare Your way – a voice of one calling in the desert (speaking or calling into the dry, lifeless human heart), prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for Him” (Mark 1: 3) and “So John came, baptizing in the desert region an preaching a baptism of repentance and the forgiveness of sins” (Mark 1: 4).

“Prepare the way”. The Greek word for ‘prepare’ is Kataskeuazo. It means, “to furnish, equip, prepare, make ready”. It describes one who, “makes anything ready for a person or thing” (from Thayer’s Greek Concordance) – like your heart.

“People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River” (Matthew 3: 5, 6).

John’s purposes were to point to the coming Messiah and to prepare their hearts to receive Jesus – the Seed. “John’s baptism represented a change of heart, which includes sorrow for sin and a determination to lead a holy life . . . Preparation for the Messiah was made in a moral and spiritual way by the ministry of John, which focused on repentance, the forgiveness of sin, and need for a savior” (notes in NIV study Bible).

John’s ministry was to prepare the hearts of the people to receive the Seed. The hearts that Paul described in Romans – hearts that were bad, not one of them good – were turned into ‘noble and good hearts’ or ‘good soil’ if they accepted the baptism of John and repented. When the Seed was sowed into these hearts along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, they could, “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance” (Luke 3: 8).

The central idea in John’s ministry was, “Repent”.

John cries out, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven in near (Matthew 3: 2). After He was baptized by John, Jesus repeats this command, “From that time on Jesus began to preach, Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near” Matthew 4: 17).

The first word of the Gospel is “Kingdom”. The first command of the Gospel is “Repent” (Mark 1: 15).

Tying this all together, Jesus sows a seed into the hearts of men and women. But it is only in the heart that is prepared to receive the seed – the good and noble heart, the heart with good soil – does the seed sprout, grow, and produce fruit. In other words, Jesus only grows and lives in the repentant heart. This is what it means to be ‘born again’ – a new life in Christ beginning with the Seed planted in the good soil and a noble and good heart. Where Jesus the King is present, His Kingdom is there also.

The noble and good heart forms in the person who confesses their sins and repents of those sins. For the followers of Jesus, this is not a one-time thing; we repent and we are repentant.

In this way, their heart is prepared to receive the seed. This is how John the Baptist showed us how to “prepare the way for the King’.

Repentance is the key. But what does it mean to repent?

Repentance in Greek is metanoia, which translates as “change your mind”, involves turning from sin and evil and turning toward God with a contrite heart. Paul describes this in Acts as he is witnessing to King Agrippa, describing Paul’s encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus:

“I am Jesus whom you are persecuting . . . I am rescuing you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in Me” (Acts 26: 13, 17, 18 NIV).

A few verses later we read in Acts, “First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds” (Acts 26: 20 NIV).

Repentance is turning from darkness to light, from satan to God. The act of repentance involves turning from an action or way of thinking that is opposed to God’s plan for your life and turning to God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. The act of repentance involves your decision, but it is accomplished through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.

Repentance is the way a no-good heart is made noble and good, is made into ‘good soil’ so that when the Seed is sown into this heart, it germinates, takes root, grows, and produces good fruit. As Peter tells us in 1 Peter 1: 23 this is synonymous with being born again from imperishable seed – entering and living with Jesus in the Kingdom of God – this is what it means to be ‘born again’; this is what salvation looks like.

Apart from repentance you cannot be born again, you cannot enter the Kingdom of God, you cannot be saved. Repentance is necessary and sufficient.

How do I repent? Do I pray and confess a sin, tell Jesus I repent, and then believe it is done? Perhaps, depending upon your heart and the sorrow you experience because of that sin. In my ministry I call Healing and Repentance Prayer (H.A.R.P,), repentance looks like this:

If I am repenting of anger, frustration, or hatred toward another person I renounce the negative emotion, I forgive and bless the person, then I tell Jesus, “I choose today to give this anger to You”. I close my eyes and imagine myself giving the anger to Him. I have seen this done thousands of times and in the great majority of these times the person has an encounter with Jesus and the anger is gone.

If I am repenting of sins like fear, sexual sin or other sins like jealousy, addictions, suicidal thoughts or attempts, or occult practices or participation I tell Jesus, “I renounce (name the sin), Lord, forgive me and I forgive myself”. Then I tell Jesus, “Lord I choose today to give this sin to you. Please set me free from this sin and its effects in my life”. Most of the time Jesus shows up and sets the person free from this sin.

Abuse and trauma are a separate category. Abuse and trauma are not generally what you have done but what has been done to you. You don’t repent of abuse, but you need to repent of the negative emotions you have toward the abuser. This repentance involves forgiving and blessing the person who abused you. For some this is difficult or even impossible. I always ask the Holy Spirit to help. Even then the hurt and the pain can be so overwhelming that forgiveness is not possible. In that case, I will try spiritual deliverance. But that is a topic for another post.

The Parable of the Sower is the first revelational parable taught by Jesus. Jesus, the Sower, sows Seed. Jesus compares the hearts of human beings to different types of soils. Only the good soil – the noble and good heart – provides the environment for the Seed to grow into a plant, tree, or bush that produces fruit. Jesus is the Seed. He sows Himself into this soil. We prepare our hearts to receive the Seed by repenting and being repentant. When the repentant heart receives the Seed, that heart is born again, enters the Kingdom of God, and is saved.

How important is it to be born again? It is everything. There is no justification apart from this new birth. The journey of sanctification cannot begin until we are born again. The Christian life is Kingdom life – a life of power, joy, confidence, love, and peace. “The Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14: 17 NIV). At least it is supposed to be. All of this flows out of our new life in Christ when we are born again. New birth only comes through Jesus; we cannot rescue ourselves But, we cannot be born again apart from repentance. I have heard it said by some preachers that salvation depends on Jesus, His atoning death, and nothing more. In other words, you have no role to play in your salvation. It is true, we are saved by grace through faith or trust. But as the Bible points out, the catalyst for this transformation is repentance. I have a role to play in repentance. Once I make the decision to repent, I need the Holy Spirit to complete the process. God is merciful. He will meet that need, but generally when I am ready to turn from my sin to Jesus.