The Slide (The Children’s Sin)?? A Word from THE WORD!!! #403

“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.”  John 3:1-3

I love this third chapter of the Gospel of John; it is so plain yet profound; we have a teacher/Pharisee coming to Jesus to find out who He was!  While he came by night (possibly due to fear of the other Jewish leaders) he clearly wanted to understand more about Jesus; and while Nicodemus seemed to start off with flattery, Jesus cut right to the chase, as he told this religious leader that “except a man be born again” he couldn’t even “see the kingdom of God”!  Now this seems kind of redundant to us, who have heard this phrase for years, Nicodemus was taken aback and asked the most basic of questions.

“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.”  John 3:4-8

When we go back to John chapter 1, we can understand what Jesus is saying about the Spirit—it’s essential.

“He came unto his own,

and his own received him not.

12 But as many as received him,

to them gave he power

to become the sons of God,

even to them that believe on his name:

13 Which were born,

not of blood,

nor of the will of the flesh,

nor of the will of man,

but of God.”  John 1:11-13

The Apostle John is telling us that this “Word” who came from God came to save us—to give us this new birth!  And what does John do but tell us what the new birth is!  It is being “born… of God”; even as Jesus clarifies in John chapter 3 three times in verses 5-8.  We are born of the flesh of our parents, while to be born again is to be born “of God”—being “born of the Spirit”!  My thoughts for today call us to examine our choices; especially as parents and as children of God.  When we are born “of the Spirit” we are born into the family of God, and we are, as Paul describes “new creatures” in Jesus; and as “new creatures” we are called to walk in God’s ways not the world’s!  But the thing I want us to especially consider, is, when we fail to teach and lead our children in the ways of God, and they choose the sin of the world, what will we do!  Are we going to placate them and accept their sin, condoning their sin, or are we going to hold the truth in high regard, no matter who may disagree—even our family and others whom we love?

“Therefore if any man be in Christ,

he is a new creature:

old things are passed away;

behold, all things are become new.

18 And all things are of God,

who hath reconciled us to himself

by Jesus Christ,

and hath given to us the ministry

of reconciliation;

19 To wit,

that God was in Christ,

reconciling the world unto himself,

not imputing their trespasses unto them;

and hath committed unto us

the word of reconciliation.

20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ,

as though God did beseech you by us:

we pray you in Christ’s stead,

be ye reconciled to God.

21 For he hath made him to be sin for us,

who knew no sin;

that we might be made the righteousness of God

in him.”  2 Corinthians 5:17-21

When we are “born again” we become new creatures (creations) “in Christ”, we are to see things from God’s perspective, His Word’s truth and “withstand in the evil day”; yet so often we seem to be doing ok, until the slide comes!  What do I mean? Well, I mean much like the slide we used to help our children play on when they were small, we are now purporting the same mentality for our grown children who choose ways, life choices and behaviors that have gone down the slide of immorality, ungodliness, and deviance!  Yet, we won’t take a stand and call them to repentance, we just seem to “go along, to get along”!  We are called to be holy before our God, and the world—and that includes our children who get caught up in the worldliness of sin!  I have seen this time and time again, parents don’t want to “lose” the relationship, yet they are willing to take the chance that their approval will bring about change—or some just don’t care anymore!  They just want to be in “good graces” regardless of what they have to accept to do that!  My question is, if we are willing to accept any sin, to maintain the “connection” what kind of good are we doing?  Are we sending our loved ones to hell with our “approval”, or are we willing to call them to repentance and life-changing salvation that is only in Jesus?  The world may sell them a bill-of-goods but are we doing the same thing when we fail to call them to repent unto salvation—life-transforming, saving faith in Jesus!  As Paul tells us above, Jesus exchanges our sin (by His blood) for His righteousness; what an amazing exchange!  Let’s go back to John and see what else Jesus told Nicodemus about salvation—the most important subject we can ever discuss.

“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.”  John 3:10-16

Jesus goes on to tell Nicodemus that he ought to understand the spiritual things that Jesus was sharing with Him; then He went on to reveal to Nicodemus that He came to be the deliverer of salvation to all who would believe in Him (and know that His lifting up was referring to Calvary’s payment for sin—His blood shed when he would be lifted up on the cross!).

And while that is all part of God’s amazing grace, there is more that I want us to see in the following verses in John 6.

“For God sent not his Son into the world

to condemn the world;

but that the world through him

might be saved.

18 He that believeth on him

is not condemned:

but he that believeth not

is condemned already,

          because he hath not believed

in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

19 And this is the condemnation,

that light is come into the world,

and men loved darkness rather than light,

because their deeds were evil.

20 For every one that doeth evil

hateth the light,

neither cometh to the light,

lest his deeds should be reproved.

21 But he that doeth truth

cometh to the light,

that his deeds may be made manifest,

that they are wrought in God.”  John 3:17-21

Are your loved ones walking in sin and refusing to repent—Jesus makes it clear that there is a delineation between right and wrong, between sin and righteousness, between a broken and contrite heart and a heart full of pride and confidence in sin rather than God!  A perfect picture of that is found at the cross!  Two thieves worthy of the death sentence they had earned, and Jesus the pure and sinless Lamb of God all nailed to their respective crosses.  One thief continued to rail on Jesus to take them down supernaturally, the other came to realize that Jesus was the not guilty one, and he called on Jesus in repentance and faith in who this One on this middle cross was and asked to be with Him in His kingdom.

“And one of the malefactors which were hanged

railed on him, saying,

If thou be Christ,

save thyself and us.

40 But the other answering rebuked him, saying,

Dost not thou fear God,

seeing thou art in the same condemnation?

41 And we indeed justly;

for we receive the due reward of our deeds:

but this man hath done nothing amiss.

42 And he said unto Jesus,

Lord, remember me

when thou comest into thy kingdom.

43 And Jesus said unto him,

Verily I say unto thee,

To day shalt thou be with me

in paradise.”  Luke 23:39-43

One man who only wanted deliverance from his just penalty, the other one who repented of his rejection of Jesus and asked to be with Jesus in salvation!  And Jesus assured him that salvation was his!  So, friends, my question is especially for we parents; are we willing to hold our children to the truth of God’s Word, or will we cave to keep them close to us?  Always we need to cover it all in prayer and speaking the truth in love—God’s truth in God’s love.  The Gospel is the only hope that our children have, or any one, either in or out of our circle of loved ones?

Are we willing to place God’s standard at the head of our lives?  Or are we too fearful of standing fast and the cost of taking a stand with the ones we love?  Are we willing to give them the Gospel from a heart of love and assurance.

“For this cause we also, since the day we heard it,

do not cease to pray for you,

and to desire that ye might be filled

with the knowledge of his will

in all wisdom

and spiritual understanding;

10 That ye might walk worthy of the Lord

unto all pleasing,

being fruitful in every good work,

and increasing in the knowledge of God;

11 Strengthened with all might,

according to his glorious power,

unto all patience and longsuffering

with joyfulness;

12 Giving thanks unto the Father,

which hath made us meet

to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints

in light:

13 Who hath delivered us

from the power of darkness,

and hath translated us

into the kingdom of his dear Son:

14 In whom we have redemption

through his blood,

even the forgiveness of sins:”   Colossians 1:9-14

If we belong to Jesus, the prayer and desire of our heart ought to be the salvation of all those whom we know and love; and that includes calling them to repent of sin and come to Jesus in abandon of sin and faith in His saving grace.  Paul gives us an amazing picture which I call “the gospel in a nutshell”!  I pray that we will share it boldly and with a heart of compassion.

“For I delivered unto you first of all

that which I also received,

how that Christ died for our sins

according to the scriptures;

4 And that he was buried,

and that he rose again the third day

according to the scriptures:

5 And that he was seen of Cephas,

then of the twelve:” 1 Corinthians 15:3-5

And one last declaration of Jesus.

“3 I tell you, Nay:

but, except ye repent,

ye shall all likewise perish…

5 I tell you, Nay:

but, except ye repent,

ye shall all likewise perish.”  Luke 13:3 & 5

Amen and Amen!!!