There are some basic questions in life that need to be addressed.
Who Am I?
Am I a product of space + time + chance from an evolutionary perspective, without definition, purpose, or meaning? Am I a cosmic swamp creature in an accidental universe? Or, Am I made in the image of God, and destined for dignity, greatness, and eternal glory?
Observe.
“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Gen. 1:26, 27).
Question.
If you are a person made in the image of God, and not an evolutionary accident, what kind of person are you? What kind of an individual do you want to be? Be specific. How then, should you live?
Why Am I Here?
Am I here on earth to eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die, as the Hedonist and Secular Humanist teach? Solomon pursued this philosophy and found that such a life is empty. “Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity” (Eccl. 1:2).
Or,
Is the chief end of man to know God, and enjoy Him forever? The Bible says, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say, rejoice” (Phil. 4:4).
Question.
Are you here on earth for a reason beyond selfish pleasure? If so, what are you doing in order to have a personal relationship with the living God?
Where Am I Going?
Evolutionary thought, and the Secular Humanist, teach that the grave is the final resting place for human existence. This position is taken because individuals do not want to acknowledge a Creator to whom they are accountable and will be judged by. The easiest solution is to say, “There is no God.” However, that may or may not be true. Christian theology agrees that “it is appointed unto men once to die” (Hebrews 9:27), but death is not the cessation of life for man is more than a body. He is spirit. Once created, man is immortal with an eternal destiny.
Question.
Where are you going, not just in life, but in eternity? How do you plan to get there? “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 3:16). To believe in Christ is to be born again, a spiritual renewal which is needed by all.
A New Birth is needed because individuals have sinned. “As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one” (Rom. 3:10).
A New Birth is needed because sin separates a person from God, and the wages of sin is death, not just physical death, but spiritual death. The Bible says, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:23).
A New Birth is needed because no one can change themselves. A person might try to change. There are many self-help books for that purpose. But putting lipstick on a pig does not make it a beautiful woman, nor do better manners, or efforts at moral reformation, make a person fundamentally different. The Bible says, “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil” (Jer. 13:23).
Individuals learn how to do evil, or that which is injurious to self and others, by trial and error, by observing others, and by being instructed by the world, the flesh, and the devil. Prior to the Noahic Flood, God saw “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen. 6:5). Individuals became mentally and emotionally enslaved to sin.
Sin is addictive, says the alcoholic. Sin is addictive, says the drug abuser. Sin is addictive, says the rapist. Sin is addictive, says the pedophile. Sin is addictive, says the fornicator. Sin is addictive, says the homosexual. Sin is addictive, says the person enamored with pornography. Sin is addictive, says the adulterous person who cannot give up the paramour. Sin is addictive, says the profane person who cannot stop using vulgarity. Sin is addictive, says the debater who must always be right. Sin is addictive, says the person who finds pleasure in the verbal and physical abuse of others.
A New Birth is needed because no matter how good a person sees themselves to be, they must be born again. One night a very “good” man, a religious man, a Pharisee, went to see Jesus at night. His name was Nicodemus. He was an intelligent man. He was an important man for he was a ruler. Nicodemus had a question for Jesus. “How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?” (John 3:4). “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” (John 3:5).
Are you a rich man, a good man, an important man, a ruler over others? Then you need to be born again.
A New Birth is needed because God is not going to let just anyone into heaven. Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people. There are several lists of the damned in Scripture. In 1 Corinthians 6: 9, 1,0 it is clearly stated that people will die and go to hell. They shall not inherit the kingdom of God. The Unrighteous are: Fornicators. Idolaters, Adulterers, Effeminate, Abusers of themselves with mankind, Thieves, Covetousness, Drunkard, Revilers, Extortioners.
Consider Galatians 5:19-21. This passage says that those who practice certain things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. The works of the flesh are:
- Adultery
- Fornication
- Uncleanness
- Lasciviousness (wantonness, sensuality)
- Idolatry
- Witchcraft (drug use)
- Hatred
- Variance (quarrelsome, contentious)
- Emulations (envy, jealousy)
- Wrath
- Strife
- Seditions (dissension, division)
- Heresies
- Envying
- Murders
- Drunkenness
- Revellings (partying, rioting)
- And such like
Consider Ephesians 5:5. “For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.”
Consider Revelation 21:8. “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”
Question.
Upon self-analysis, are you on the list of the damned, apart from repentance and faith in Christ? If so, take hope.
The Bible says, “And such some of you were; but you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:11).
A New Birth is needed because shame and guilt are a heavy burden to bear. How precious it is to be forgiven, and to start a new life.
Observe.
The Bible says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity” (1 John 1:9).
The Bible says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Cor. 5:17).