#CHURCHTALK 28: How you can be born again or saved
Being saved or born again is a central and foundational theme in Christianity. It is the starting point of Christianity, and every other thing afterwards revolves around it.
So, how can a person be born again?
Well, we can't answer this question without first talking about the reason for Christianity in the first place. When we understand the event or purpose which brought about Christianity, then we can answer the question of how to be born again.
What brought about Christianity?
Christianity came about because of a man called Jesus Christ, a citizen of Nazareth in Israel. He is the word of God in human flesh, who was sent to reconcile man back to God by destroying the power of sin and death over man.
Matthew 1:20-21 [KJV]
20. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
21. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
1 John 3:8 [KJV]
He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
Jesus Christ lived on earth for a total of 33 years, out of which the last three (3) were the most significant for His purpose on earth.
During those last three years, he went around Israel preaching about repentance from sin, and urged men to believe in Him and what he came to do for them, in order for them to be saved from their sins and the power of death. But men didn't believe Him.
The men and authorities of those days condemned Him to death, and nailed Him to a cross which they lifted up as a cricifix until Jesus gave up the ghost and died while nailed to it.
But He was no heretic! It turned out to be that He was actually telling the truth about who He was and what He came to do for man. We know this to be true because He rose from the dead and walked out of His tomb on the third day (as He had said He would before He was killed) after He had died and been buried.
It turned out that His death as a sinner was symbolic. By coming into the world as a human being, He had carried on Himself the sinful nature of man and its curse of death. And when He hung on that cross and died, He died as a man—profane and full of sin—for all men, as all men.
But, when He rose on the third day, He rose as a new person—having gone to hell, victorious over the power of sin, judgment and death. He had no more payment to make for the nature of sin which He carried in His body. He had paid in full and triumphed over sin and death—and He had done it for all men.
He did all these for man, as man: so that man too could be free if only he believes in what Jesus Christ did. He did all of that so that by simply believing, man could become saved from sin and death.
How can a person be saved or born again?
Romans 10:8-10 [NLT]
8. But what does it say? The Word (God’s message in Christ) is near you, on your lips and in your heart; that is, the Word (the message, the basis and object) of faith which we preach,
9. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.
If you will believe that Jesus Christ is God, and accept/confess His Lordship over all (especially over you), and if you will believe that it was God that put Him through all those sufferings and death (for your sake) because of sin, and later raised Him up from the dead, and confess these, the Bible says you will be saved.
Chukwubuikem Paul Anunaso is a CNBC Africa opinion writer and civil/structural engineer in Lagos, Nigeria. He is also the editor of The Paul Anunaso Blog, and can be reached at anunaso.cp@gmail.com
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