Changed

If television shows, news reports, or the movies are correct ... then everyone goes to Heaven.  No one needs to worry, God is so loving and kind, so understanding ... after all, He made us like we are; therefore He's obligated to take us to Heaven when we die.

Sorry ... that's not what Jesus said.  Jesus said in John 3:3 ... "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

I want to take a new look at this scripture for a moment.  The first word, "Except" is a conditional word meaning ... unless.

Next we have "born again."  Even though they are two separate words, they need to stay together to truly understand what Jesus is saying.  Yes, "born" means birth, but here the birth Jesus is speaking of is ... a spiritual regeneration.    Add to that the original meaning of "again," which is ... from above or anew.  Both are correct.

The last word I want to address in this scripture is ... "see."  It's first meaning is literally correct as used.  It means ... to see.  But by implication, how it's used, it should mean ... to know, be aware of, perceive, or understand.

If I were to edit this scripture using these new meanings it would read ...

"Unless a man has a spiritual regeneration from above, he is un-aware of and unable to perceive or understand the kingdom of God."    

Let's consider what this scripture is now saying.  I see two things in this statement by Jesus. 

First ... until you are born again, you really can't see or perceive that there is a spiritual realm presently all around you.  It's unseen to the physical eye.  It can only be felt with the heart, the soul of man ... although many times it seems as though you can physically feel the Lord's presence and even His touch.

Second ... to most people, the common understanding is, if you want to go to Heaven when you breathe your last breath, you must be born again, which involves repentance from sin, and having your soul regenerated anew by the Holy Spirit ... commonly spoken of as being "saved," or becoming a Christian, a believer in Jesus.

If you are like me ... just a saved sinner, a believer trying to follow Jesus ... you must have the Holy Spirit operating in your heart, mind, and soul, or you won't be aware of how God is operating and directing the "affairs of life" for your good.

When you are born again your life should be ... "changed." 

Some people may ask ... why is that? 

The Apostle Paul answers this question in 2nd Corinthians 5: 17 ... "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."

"All things?" ... well, it sometimes takes a while.  With God's help, our affections, our motives, and our thoughts should become a little less carnal or fleshly.  That's why I say we are "changed."  We are no longer an un-regenerated fallen man.  We have been made into a new creature ... spiritually.  That's what is new.

The word "creature" in this scripture, in the original translates as ... "formation."  We are just like Adam, who was made out of a lump of clay, molded on the outside by God's hands.  But when we are "born again," God makes us into a new formation on the inside, changing who we are by depositing the Holy Spirit in our hearts.

Once again I turn to one of the old teachers of the faith, John Gill and his mastery of words far beyond mine, as he speaks to the phrase, "... if any man be in Christ ..."

"When a man believes in Christ, and gives up himself to Him; faith does not put a man into Christ, but makes him appear to be in Him.  Such an one is a new creature, or as some read it ... 'let him be a new creature.'

This phrase is applied by the Apostle Paul to converted persons; and points not to an outward reformation of life and manners, but an inward principle of grace, a creation work ... and not man's, but God's.  And this new creature, because it is something anew implanted in the soul, which never was there before ... it is not an improvement of the old principles of nature, but an implantation of new principles of grace and holiness.

Here then is a new heart, and a new spirit, and in them new light and life, new affections and desires, here are new eyes to see with, new ears to hear with, new feet to walk, and new hands to work and act with ... old things are passed away."   

I think that pretty much covers why we are changed and how we are changed.

Forty years ago I heard a preacher say ... "If you sin everyday, you had better get saved."  That was his way of saying, there should be a visible, outward change in your life.  Sin should be the exception in a believers life.

I don't know what else needs to be said concerning what happens to us when we are born again, and changed from above.  And it will happen ... as John Gill said, when one ... "gives up himself to Him."
 
Changed.