Christian Essentials: You Must Be Born Again

The following notes are taken by myself from a sermon preached by Rev Paul Dowling of Whiteabbey Congregational (Reformed) on October 18/15 upon his return to preaching after a serious illness.

Christian Essentials:  You Must Be Born Again

John 3:1-8 "There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:  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.  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.  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? 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.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.  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."
 
Everything that is in the bible is important. Everything.  Church practice is important or it wouldn't be in the scriptures.  Some things are more than important, they are absolutely essential.  What brings the essential things home is when we are unwell.  When I was unwell, after I was unwell I thought much about the essential things in the bible that we must be clear on.  The first night when I was taken in the ambulance to the hospital to intensive care, that night when the doctor said that I was seriously ill, and then when the pain came and my blood pressure went down to 50/20,  it just came into my mind, "maybe this is it".  And immediately following that thought, was the thought "are you ready to meet God?" and immediately following that was this "all I know is I am trusting in Jesus Christ alone and if that is not good enough there is no salvation".  The one thing that matters is this, are you trusting in Jesus Christ, nothing else counts for anything.  There is nothing in me or you, there is nothing in any one of us that will commend us to God except being in God's way of salvation, Jesus Christ, and that is the essential thing.