In my previous post I shared the quote:
“No wonder the world has passed by the church. We don’t need reforming; we need to be regenerated. We need to be born again.”
–J. Vernon McGee
(click here to see the previous post)
But aren’t most of us pretty decent people? Aren’t we pretty good? Do we really need to say such negative things about people in general? No. No we are not. And yes we do. Here is why we must say we need to be regenerated:
We need a new nature because we naturally have a sinful nature, and that sinful nature is not going to make it into heaven. Therefore you have to get rid of your sinful nature. But you can’t do it on your own. You don’t have the ability. If you go to heaven and enter the presence of Holy God, it will only be because you trusted the One who died for you – Jesus.
Your only way to come to God is through Jesus.
Now some will want to argue with this statement and say “That is so narrow-minded. There must be another way. God wouldn’t make forming a relationship with Him that narrow.”
But such ideas go directly against the words of the Bible. Specifically they go against the very words of Jesus who said “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by Me.” That is pretty narrow. But who should I believe? Who do I trust? Jesus? Or someone who is “not Jesus” but who insists to me that there must be another way?
Hmmmm…. I think my best option is to believe Jesus.
I imagine He has a better handle on the situation than Uncle Jim, my neighbor Bob, or even myself.
If I were a betting man, I think it will be a much better “bet” for me to to take Jesus at His Word than for me to hope that my unbiblical guesses about God are right and that He’ll let me into His presence anyway. Can you imagine saying to God: “Oh. Ummm. You mean, God, that you were serious about all those words in the Bible? Such as the fact that I had to choose Jesus during my lifetime on earth? I was kind of hoping that some of those words were wrong. I was figuring that whoever wrote down Jesus’ words didn’t write them down correctly. So is it OK that I didn’t believe them? You’ll let me slide on it, right?”
It would not be wise to end this life with your hopes set with that type of mentality.
God is big enough to preserve His words the way He wanted them recorded. I mean, He’s God. And the words that God has recorded for us in the Bible make it very clear: Your one and only way to be in the presence of Holy God for all eternity is through a relationship with Jesus.
Yes, that is narrow.
But it is very clear.
God Himself tells us: To be with Me for eternity, you need to be regenerated. You need to be born again.