As we saw last week, salvation is surely the most important word in our vocabulary. When a person is “saved,” that person’s sins are not only forgiven, but he is also cleansed from all unrighteousness. But that’s just the beginning, because the one who is “saved” is also “changed,” and that change comes from the inside out. And that change does not come by effort or striving, as it is produced by the Holy Spirit who enters a person’s life at the moment of salvation.

I suppose you remember the story of the religious leader named Nicodemus who came to Jesus one evening because he wanted Him to know that he was aware that God must be with Him because of all the signs that He was doing. Jesus responded to his unspoken question, 

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (Jn. 3:3).

Puzzled, Nicodemus asked if he had to enter again into his mother’s womb and be born again, to which Jesus replied,

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (Jn. 3:5-6).

Being “born again” is not a “physical thing,” but a “spiritual thing.” It is a “spiritual rebirth.” And, the theological term for this “spiritual rebirth” is “regeneration,” our word for this week. The Bible says that we are “spiritually dead,” and that Christ can make us “spiritually alive.” Here is what Paul says,

“You were once dead in your trespasses and sins…but God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love for us, made us alive together with Christ…” (Eph. 2:1, 4-5).

One of my favorite verses in Scripture is a verse that I learned as a young boy in Vacation Bible School, 

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be ‘born again’ to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you” (1 Pet. 1:3-4).

Being “born again” causes us to hear, see, and seek after the “things of God,” rather than the “things of the world.” And this is the way the Apostle Paul put it,

“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things have passed away, and behold, all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17).

If you are tired of the same “ole stuff” dragging you down, then maybe it’s time for you to find “new life” in Christ. Salvation results in a new birth, indeed, a whole new life. Regeneration does not come by religious ritual or good works, but only by repentance and faith in Christ. That’s the pathway to a whole new life. Why not jump on this path and see what God does in and through your life. You will be amazed!