Saturday, September 11, 2010

September 11, 2010

This is part two of the directions of how to get to Heaven from where you are.

You’ve Got To Know Where You Are, Vv. 3-7

I remember the time I visited the Mall of America in suburban Minneapolis. That's a lot of shopping!

Obviously overwhelmed by the sheer size of the place we sought out one of those directories that dot the hallways of shopping malls. In a place that massive you really need a directory to help you find the directory. But, undaunted and being a male, I hunted one down. Of course, when I looked at it I immediately saw the arrow and read, "You are here!" That was helpful - EXCEPT I DIDN'T KNOW WHERE HERE WAS!

You have to know where you are before you can know where you need to go!



That is what Nicodemus understood and that is why he went to Jesus for directions. What did Nicodemus discover?

Why would a guy a good as and as religious as Nicodemus have to worry about how to get to Heaven, anyway?

"In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." "How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!" Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' John 3:3-7

What was Jesus saying? – Basically – “YOU’RE LOST!” "Lost" means spiritually separated from God. The reason for the spiritual separation is because God is holy and as a holy God He cannot have fellowship with sin. It is like darkness and light - they are incompatible.

Every human being born since Adam and Eve's moral failure has inherited their sinful fallen nature. That means we are naturally disoriented and spiritually unaware of where we are and where we need to be. We are literally born lost - spiritually separated from God. Spiritually speaking, we don't know where "here" is!

You are born lost and unless you do something about it you will die lost. That is REAL bad!

What you need to do is be “born again”………..that is the metaphor Jesus used to communicate to Nicodemus the moral and spiritual dilemma he found himself in. "Flesh gives birth to flesh" refers to the physical birth. We all have one of those. But due to the presence of sin in the human nature, we are born physically alive but spiritually dead -aka - "lost. So, a second birth needs to happen. That second birth is a spiritual birth which can only happen when we connect with the Holy Spirit of God. And we can only connect with the Holy Spirit through faith in Christ.
Before you can know where to go you need to know where you are. Nicodemus found out he was lost. He had felt that something was missing within his spirit. Now he knew why.
What would he do about it?
Are you lost? Have you discovered where "here" is?
Have you admitted it? What will you do about it?
If you want to get to Heaven you first have to know where you are.