LESSON

Here is our question...What must I believe to be a Christian? These are not the words that Nicodemus used when he approached Jesus one night, but Jesus knew his heart and his thoughts.

Nicodemus is a very interesting character. He possessed wealth, religious stature in his community, and, in fact, he was a highly respected leader in his religious circles. He held a position on the Sanhedrin which was a court of seventy members which served as the Supreme Court for the Jewish nation. And, according to historical records, it seems that Nicodemus belonged to one of the most distinguished families in Jerusalem. It is amazing that Nicodemus, the Jewish aristocrat, should come to this homeless prophet who had been the carpenter of Nazareth, and want to talk about His soul! Jesus immediately brought the conversation right to the main point with this statement: "You must be born again." When Jesus said that, Nicodemus misunderstood Him, and the misunderstanding came from the fact that the word which was translated in the Authorized Version translated AGAIN has three different meanings. It can mean FROM THE BEGINNING, COMPLETELY, RADICALLY. Or, it can mean FOR THE SECOND TIME, or it can mean FROM ABOVE, FROM GOD. It is not possible for us to get all these meanings into any English word; and yet all three of them are in the phrase BORN AGAIN! To be born again is to undergo such a radical change that it is like a new birth; it is to have something happen to the soul which can only be described as being born all over again; and the whole process is not a human achievement because it comes from the grace and the power of God Almighty, Creator and Sustainer of the universe. When we read the story and the words of Nicodemus, it looks at first sight as if he took the word AGAIN in only the second sense, and as if he took it with crude literalism. How can man, he said, enter again into his mother’s womb and be born the second time when he is already an old man?

But there is more to Nicodemus’ answer than that. In the heart of Nicodemus there was a great unsatisfied longing. It is as if Nicodemus said with infinite yearning: "You talk about being born again; you talk about this radical, fundamental change which is so necessary. I know that it is necessary; but in my experience it is so impossible. There is nothing I would like more; but you might as well tell me, a full grown man, to enter into my mother’s womb and to be

(Page Two)

born all over again."

It is not the DESIRABILITY of this change that Nicodemus questioned; that he knew only too well; it is the POSSIBILITY of the man who wants to be changed, who cannot change himself! Nicodemus revealed in his conversation with Christ the ultimate yearning in the heart and soul of every human being. WHAT MUST I DO TO GET THE MOST OUT OF LIFE? WHERE CAN I FIND PEACE FOR MY TROUBLED HEART? HOW CAN I GET STARTED ALL OVER WITH A FRESH BEGINNING? So when Jesus revealed the necessity of the new birth to Nicodemus, He exposed mankind’s ultimate hope. The Bible says: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Note that the above verse uses the phrase IN CHRIST. What does it mean to be IN CHRIST? "Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveys us into the kingdom of the Son of His love." (Colossians 1:12-13)

Paul uses the phrase IN CHRIST to describe a person who has placed their faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, thus removing him from bondage of sin and bringing him into the family of God. This transformation results in a new relationship with God in becoming a child of God, he has a new life-style based in the righteousness of Christ, and he becomes a citizen of heaven with the promise of life eternal in the presence of God.

Now here is the question...What must I believe that brings about this transformation that results in a radical change in my life that brings me into the IN CHRIST experience in my spiritual life?

Let’s begin with an open Bible in our hands. My spiritual journey begins with an acceptance of the Bible as the Word of God. Everything we know about Christianity has been revealed to us by God in the Scriptures. If we wish to know Him in truth, we must rely on what He tells us about Himself. Nobody would know the truth about God, or be able to relate to Him in a personal way, had not God first acted to make Himself known. The Bible is God’s final revelation to man. His complete will for man and for the ages are unfolded therein, and if one appears with the claim that he has received a new revelation, he can be classed as an imposter. Thus, we must reject other religious writings claiming to be authoritative or final. "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16-17). "And we have the prophetic word [made] firmer still. You will do well to pay close attention to it as a lamp shining in a dismal (squalid and dark) place, until the day breaks through [the gloom] and the Morning Star rises (comes into being) in your hearts. [Yet] first [you must] understand this, that no prophecy of Scripture is special interpretation (loosening, solving). For no prophecy ever originated because some man willed it [to do so—it never came by human impulse], but men spoke from God who were borne along (moved and impelled) by the Holy Spirit." (2 Peter 1:19-21)

The Bible is called the Word of God because of its claim, believed by the church, that the human writers did not merely write their own opinions, but that their words were inspired by God. The passage which we have just quoted above states that "all Scripture is given by INSPIRATION of God." The word INSPIRATION is a translation from the Greek word meaning "God-breathed." God breathed out

(Page Three)

the Bible. Although Scripture came to us from the pens of human authors, the ultimate source of Scripture is God. The Holy Spirit guided the human authors so that their words would be nothing less than the Word of God. Christians affirm the infallibility and inerrancy of the Bible because God is ultimately the author of the Bible. And because God is incapable of inspiring falsehood, His Word is altogether true and trustworthy.

Any normally prepared human literary product is liable to error. But the Bible is not a normal human project. God is its author! All the words in Scripture are God’s words in such a way that to disbelieve or disobey any word of Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God.

So my journey of Christian faith must begin with a genuine belief that the Bible is God’s divine revelation to us and all the truths contained within it are God’s words.

Now the next step in faith has to do with my belief in the God of the Bible. "But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him [out]." (Hebrews 11:6) It is imperative to believe that God is, and that the Bible is His Word, before we can approach its teaching on any other doctrine. The existence of God must be a settled matter before we can consider whether He has revealed Himself in Christ. Our concept of God determines our views of the world, sin, life, duty and conduct. Distorted ideas or unscriptural notions of God as to His divine character, inevitably lead to perverted concepts of every other Biblical truth.

~The Atheist asserts there is no God. ~The Agnostic says he cannot tell whether there is a God or not. ~The Materialist boasts that he does not require a God. ~The Worldly Fool wishes there were no God. ~The Christian answers that he cannot do without God!

The God of the Bible can be defined as...the uncreated source and end of all things; one; incomparably alive; insurmountable in presence, knowledge, and power; personal, eternal spirit, who in holy love freely creates, sustains, and governs all things.

The Westminster Larger Catechism, gives us this definition of God: "God is a Spirit in and of Himself infinite in being, glory, blessedness and perfection; all-sufficient, eternal unchangeable, incomprehensible, everywhere present, almighty, all-knowing, most wise, most holy, most just, most merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth. Christian teaching does not view God as one among the class of objects called gods, for there is "none like Him." "For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me" (Isaiah 46:9).

In the Old Testament when Moses asked God to reveal Himself so that he could tell the people of Israel who had sent him to deliver them from their Egyptian slavery, God replied: "And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And He said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I AM has sent me to you (Exodus 3:14). One named I AM BECAUSE I AM suggests that there is no external cause for God’s existence outside Himself. Another name used in Scripture to describe God is ELOHIM which refers to the unspeakably powerful One whose awesome presence instantly inspires reverential awe, or the fullness or glory of all the powers of divine nature. The word GOD as used in Christian worship is the name of the One worthy of true and personal worship.

(Page Four)

My next step in the experience of faith is to believe that this God has revealed Himself in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the self-revelation of God in human form. Thus far, we have stated that Christian faith is established in the belief that the Bible is the Divine Word of God and the God of the Bible has self-revealed Himself here on earth in the person of Jesus Christ. Now, what must I believe about Jesus Christ? Coeternal with the Father, and with the Holy Spirit, the beginning of the revelation of Christ goes back beyond the beginning of creation and of man. "In the beginning — a beginning before Genesis 1:1 — was the Word." Claiming for Himself powers and attributes belonging only to God, Christ asserted His PRE-EXISTENCE. When among men, He could claim, "Before Abraham was, I Am." (John 8:58) John also reminds us that Jesus dwelt in the bosom of the Father" (1:18), which strange though it may seem, He, Himself lived before He was born!

Faith in the deity of Christ is necessary to being a Christian. It is an essential part of the New Testament gospel of Christ. The confession of the deity of Christ is drawn from the manifold witness of the New Testament. Christ is revealed as being not only pre-existent to creation, but eternal. He is said to be in the beginning with God and also that He is God (John 1:1-3).

Paul declares that the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ bodily (Colossians 1:9), and that Jesus is higher than angels, a theme reiterated in the Book of Hebrews. That God the Son took upon Himself a real human nature is a crucial doctrine of historic Christianity. Christians believe that Jesus was truly man and truly God and that the two natures of Christ are so united as to be without mixture, confusion, separation, or division, each nature retaining its own attributes.

Christ was without sin! The sinlessness of Christ does not merely serve as an example to us. It is fundamental and necessary for our salvation. Had Christ not been the "lamb without blemish," He not only could not have secured anyone’s salvation, but would have needed a savior Himself. The multiple sins Christ bore on the cross required a perfect sacrifice. That sacrifice had to be made by the One who was sinless.

When we consider the place of Jesus Christ in our Christian faith, the fact of His wondrous birth is at the heart of one of the pillars of belief. Christ is the only babe the world has ever known who did not have a human father. He was divinely conceived. The INCARNATION (God taking on human form) is the most stupendous miracle comprehending and involving all other miracles, and because it is a theme both deep and delicate, infinite and incomprehensible, we must take just a moment for contemplation. One writer expressed it — "I will seek to believe rather than to reason, to adore rather than to explain; to give thanks rather than to penetrate; to love rather than to know; to humble myself rather than to speak.

Doctrinally it must be repeated that the belief in the virgin birth of Christ is of the highest value for the right apprehension of Christ’s unique and sinless personality. Here is One, as Paul brings out in Romans 5:12, who, free from sin Himself, and not involved in the Adamic liabilities of the race, reverses the curse of sin and death brought in by the first Adam, and established the reign of righteousness and life. Had Christ been naturally born, not one of these things could be affirmed of Him. As one of Adam’s race, not an entrant from a higher sphere, He would have shared in Adam’s corruption and doom—would Himself have required to be redeemed.

(Page Five)

Through God’s infinite mercy, He came from above, inherited no guilt, needed no regeneration or sanctification, but became Himself the Redeemer, Regenerator, Sanctifier for all who receive Him as Savior. By the virgin birth we are to understand that, contrary to the course of nature, Jesus was divinely conceived in the womb of Mary, the Holy Spirit becoming the love-knot between our Lord’s two natures. In such a conception, deity and humanity were fused together and Jesus came forth as the God-Man.

Born with a supernatural birth, and who lived a life that was sinless, Christ came to this world with a divinely assigned mission. "For God so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16).

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem two thousand years ago, the angels of heaven made this proclamation: "Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you, He is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:11) "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost (Luke 19:10). "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him." (John 3:17)

But why did man need a Savior? Because we are sinners, and, as sinners, we have no fellowship with the God who created us. "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23). But what is sin? "To him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin." (James 4:17). Sin is a rejection of God and His Word, it is living life without God’s authority over our life. One of the words used in the Bible suggests that sin is "missing the mark" or actions in word and deed that violate God’s law. Sin is also viewed in the Bible as falling away from uprightness. The Apostle Paul defines sin very clearly: "Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbreaks of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God." (Galatians 5:19-21) Paul continues in this same passage to draw the comparison between a life of sin and a life lived that brings joy and peace with God. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23) The Bible tells us that the wages of sin is death. In Genesis 3:1-6, we have God’s account of the temptation of man and the entrance of sin into the human race. Adam and Eve were clearly instructed by God not to eat the fruit from one particular tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Man was confronted with a choice; obedience or disobedience to God’s directions. He also knew the consequences of his choice would be either life or death. He made the choice to disobey God and thus the entrance of death into the human experience, spiritual death and physical death. "It is appointed unto man once to die, and after that the judgment." (Hebrews 9:27) Now we have come to the heart of the Gospel. Man, as a sinner, could not save himself. Left in his sin, he would die, not only physically, but spiritually. To die without a Savior results in spending all of eternity in hell, apart from the presence of God.

(Page Six)

All other world religions are built upon the teachings of their founders, who are dead, or will die. Christianity alone is built upon the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, its founder. It was necessary that Christ die, for God cannot pardon sinners unless sin is dealt with. In order for God to pardon the sinner and remain consistent with His holiness, Christ must pay sin’s penalty which we have noted is death! Holiness hates sin, and deals with it. God is love and loves the sinner, and thus died for him. God could not manifest His love at the expense of holiness, nor save the sinner without judging sin. Thus, because of the uniqueness of Christ’s death it makes His death incomparable with all death of mankind. But the thrilling truth of our Christian faith is the fact that Jesus Christ rose from the dead...He is our living Savior!

Because Jesus Christ was the holy and sinless One, and death really had no power over Him, it was not possible that death should hold Him (Acts 2:24). God’s Holy One would not see corruption which is always the result of sin. He voluntarily laid down His life; it was not taken from Him. "Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down my life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself." The resurrection of Christ was God’s justification of His Son. "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness; God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory." (1 Timothy 3:16) Jesus foretold His own resurrection. "Now while they were staying in Galilee, Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him, and the third day He will be raised up." (Matthew 17:22-23) "On the next day, which followed the Day of Preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate, saying, "Sir, we remember while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, "After three days I will rise." (Matthew 27:63)

The resurrection of Christ was absolutely necessary in order to complete the redemptive work of Christ. "And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most pitiable. But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection from the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive." (1 Corinthians 15:17-22)

In summary, we asked the question...WHAT MUST I BELIEVE TO BE A CHRISTIAN? I must believe that the Bible is the authoritative Word of God and that everything it says are the words of Almighty God, Creator of the universe. I must believe that there is a God who is in charge of this universe and to Whom every human being is accountable. I must believe that I am a sinner needing God’s forgiveness which can only be obtained by placing my trust and faith in Jesus Christ, God’s Son, who came to this world and died on a cross. In doing so, He paid the penalty for my sin. I must believe that Christ rose from the dead and that He lives as my Savior and God!