The Hard Truth

Life is like vapour but no one knows when it will vanish. A right decision NOW is a GUARANTEE to eternal life in HEAVEN when you leave this earth. Because you don't know when MR. DEATH will knock on your door, THIS IS THE ACCEPTABLE TIME to ACCEPT JESUS INTO YOUR LIFE. Take time to read this article and decide to live for CHRIST TODAY!

FLESH GIVES BIRTH TO FLESH

Nicodemus is like many of us. He likes his nation and his race. He feels very special because of his parents and famous forefathers.

Nicodemus may even feel better than most of us. He is born of the noble blood of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Like most Jews of his time, Nicodemus thinks that the Messiah will rule over Israel as a nation. Birth has already placed him in that nation. Therefore, by birthright, he ought to be a citizen of the Messiah's kingdom.

What a shock, then, to hear John the Baptizer. Far from praising leaders of Abraham's family, John calls them a family of snakes! He warns that their birth as Jews will not save them from punishment.

"You brood of vipers! . Do not think you can say to
yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell
you that out of these stones God can raise up
children for Abraham" (Matthew 3:7-9).

Jesus adds another surprise. Anyone seeking to enter God's kingdom must be born again! Nicodemus thinks only of another fleshly birth. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!" (John 3:4). Jesus is requiring spiritual re-birth. He explains,

"Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives
birth to spirit" (John 3:6).

Nicodemus comes from the best fleshly line in the world. He belongs to the chosen race. He seems to be a natural heir of the kingdom promised to Israel. If another birth is needed, what does that say about his fleshly birth? Why is fleshly birth not enough?

WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT?

Dear friend, it is time to make a decision about life's true nature. Jesus wants us to choose spiritual life. He assures us, "The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing" (John 6:63). What is the most important thing in your life? What is even more important than food, drink, clothes and a place to stay? What is more important than education and a job? Most of us value these highly. Yet they help life only during our stay in this fleshly body - which is all too brief!

"Show me, O LORD, my life's end and the number of
my days; let me know how fleeting is my life. You
have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span
of my years is as nothing before you. Each man's
life is but a breath" (Psalm 39:4-5)

"Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we
will go to this or that city, spend a year there,
carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not
even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your
life? You are a mist that appears for a little
while and then vanishes" (James 4:13-14).

ALL FLESH IS LIKE GRASS

Beside the eternity of God's life, our years are "as nothing," like steam from a boiling pot. Compared with the total years of earth's history, how long is your one life? The prophet Isaiah draws this picture of the flesh:

"All men (literally, all flesh) are like grass, and
all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The
grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath
of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass"
(Isaiah 40:6-7).

See the flower in full bloom: how delicate are its petals! How bright its colors! Yet the flower quickly fades and withers away. See the young woman: she is like a flower, so fresh and so attractive. Yet that kind of beauty never lasts. All too soon, she is wrinkled and worn, like her aged mother. See the young man: How strong and handsome! He hopes to escape the way his father looks. He tries to be more healthy and fit. Yet his youth passes. Before long, he too looks old. He too grows frail. Then he dies. He is buried in the same soil as all his forefathers.

No flesh, no matter how young or healthy, is strong enough to escape the cycle of aging and death. As much as we love and respect parents, we must realize that "flesh gives birth to flesh." From our fleshly parents we receive fleshly life, which lasts a few short years, and then is lost.

HIDE OR DECIDE

Many are so busy that they forget their most pressing appointment - death. They never see that life can end at any moment.

Others are aware, but death seems too horrible. They hide in many places: parties and movies that help them pretend; jobs that seem important; friends that avoid serious thought; even drink and drugs that twist reality.

Hiding changes nothing. You are flesh and so is your friend. One of you will stand at a funeral; the other will be laid in the ground. If you both pretend, neither will be prepared for such reality. The living one will be heartbroken at the loss. The dead will be gone forever.

"The dust returns to the ground it came from, and the
spirit returns to God who gave it" (Ecclesiastes 12:7).

The spirit goes to its most important meeting.

"For God will bring every deed into judgment"
(Ecclesiastes 12:14).

"Man is destined to die once, and after that to
face judgment" (Hebrews 9:27).

"So then, each of us will give an account of himself to
God" (Romans 14:12).

That is why Ecclesiastes 7:2 urges us to be wise before our turn comes.

"It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go
to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of
every man; the living should take this to heart."

Before you are two choices: You can hide from death's reality. (How foolish, since it will catch you anyway. How damaging, since it will catch you in the worst way - unprepared.) Or you can decide to be honest. "Take to heart" the truth that flesh is like grass. Your brief life is but one heartbeat from its end.

Why not get ready? We prepare for many things in life: education and exams, business and taxes, weddings and careers, old age and retirement. How much more important to prepare for the one event that is most certain - death.

A BETTER ANSWER

So again we ask, "What is the most important thing in life?"

Any answer based on this passing world is shortsighted. "Flesh gives birth to flesh." "All flesh is like grass." The flesh will fail you. There is a better answer, a better hope.

"The world and its desires pass away, but the man who
does the will of God lives forever" (1 John 2:17).

Fleshly life is brief and fading. God's life is the opposite - always bright, always whole, always fresh, and never ending. Fleshly birth, by its very nature, can never be good enough for God's kingdom.

"Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God,
nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable"
(1 Corinthians 15:50).

In John 3 Jesus announces His priceless gift, "eternal life." Such a prize, though, cannot come through fleshly birth, no matter how noble. It comes only from God's Spirit, and only through rebirth. This is the most important kind of life: life with God, which is richer, fuller and more secure. To be born once is to die. To be born twice is to live forever (even when flesh fails).

"He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies;
and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die"
(John 11:25-26).

What others hopelessly call "death" becomes our doorway into eternal happiness. The One who welcomes us home is our Creator, and much more. He is "our Father!" For He invites you and me to become:

"...children of God - children born not of natural
descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will,
but born of God" (John 1:12-13)

SPIRIT GIVES BIRTH TO SPIRIT

Nicodemus is like many of us. He thinks of himself as a person who is not too bad. He is a family man. He is a good citizen of his nation. He keeps the Law of God. He may do better than most people, for he is a Pharisee. The roots of his party reach back nearly two hundred years, to the Hasidim (Holy Ones). These devout Jews gave up their lives rather than worship the idols of Antiochus Epiphanes. Their great tradition of fighting sin continues in men like Nicodemus. Even the name Pharisee suggests separation from evil.

According to the preaching of John and Jesus, God is soon to open His promised kingdom. Surely godly Pharisees will be among the first to enter. They have looked forward to the kingdom. They should be thanked for keeping Jews pure and ready for the kingdom.

But Jesus is very firm with Nicodemus: one enters the kingdom only when his spirit is re-born. Nicodemus, as he is, is not good enough. Yet he is one of Israel's best. Why does Jesus insist on re-birth, as if he must become a new person?

AN URGENT LESSON

The verse before the Nicodemus story says that Jesus knew what was in a man (John 2:25).

Dear friend, we must learn from Jesus about our human `goodness.' We hear many people say, "God accepts me because I obey the rules. I help others. I'm not perfect; but I'm not so bad either." Jesus draws an opposite picture for Nicodemus:

"Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness
instead of light because their deeds were evil"
(John 3:19).

To another Jewish ruler Jesus says, "No one is good - except God alone" (Mark 10:18). This ruler thinks he keeps every commandment. Jesus proves that he breaks the first command, for he has an idol. He loves money more than God and the poor. Hearing this, "the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth" (Mark 10:22).

Dear friend, do you have idols that push God aside? Some idols are of stone and wood. Others are of sexual immorality and worldly pleasures, selfishness, pride, success, and greed (Colossians 3:5). Do you ever walk away from God? Do you ever feel the sadness of sin? None of us can say, "Not guilty."

Jesus describes the Spirit's work: "He will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin" (John 16:8). The Spirit charges us all:

"...Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. As it
is written: ‘There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.
All have turned away, they have together become
worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one’"
(Romans 3:9-12).

THE MEANING OF SIN

As a father loves his children and guides them, so God loves us. He knows what is best for us, and gives us wise directions. Both spirit and flesh do well when we follow God's will.

However, you see in your own life that all is not well. The human spirit hurts. The human body suffers. Sooner or later we all feel like Job. "My spirit is broken, my days are cut short" (Job 17:1). Satan has brought sin and suffering into our world.

Sin is, first of all, directed against God. Whether planned or not, it challenges His rule. "Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness" (1 John 3:4). Sin rejects God as King. Sin insults God by denying His vast knowledge and wisdom. Sin dishonors God by turning elsewhere to meet needs. As God says in Jeremiah 2:13,

"My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken
Me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own
cisterns [water storage pits], broken cisterns that
cannot hold water."

Sin turns against us, ruining our lives and families. Conflict and crime spread. "Sin is a disgrace to any people" (Proverbs 14:34). Newspapers are full of reports about sin's harm. Yet news tells only part of the story. Reporters cannot see inside the human spirit. There, evil eats away secretly at our minds, darkening our hearts with guilt and shame.

"The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond
cure. Who can understand it?" (Jeremiah 17:9).

"The hearts of men, moreover, are full of evil and
there is madness in their hearts while they live"
(Ecclesiastes 9:3).

Jesus is "the Light." He exposes those who claim to be good children of Abraham and of God. He charges,

"You belong to your father, the devil, and you want
to carry out your father's desire" (John 8:44).

"He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because
the devil has been sinning from the beginning"
(I John 3:8).

We learn sin from Satan. By joining his rebellion we become "children of the devil" (I John 3:10). All who sin are in the wrong family - which belong to that ancient serpent (Revelation 20:2).

Jesus is right. We need to be born into a better family!

DEAD IN SIN

Ephesians 2:1-2 describes those who follow their own thoughts and desires. They actually follow "the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient." To disobey God is to enter Satan's kingdom.

* There you are "dead in your transgressions and
sins" (Ephesians 2:1).

* You are one of the "objects of wrath" - literally,
children of anger" (Ephesians 2:3).

* You are "separate from Christ. . . without hope
and without God in the world" (Ephesians 2:12).

As sinners we are in the kingdom that stirs up God's anger. We cannot move ourselves up to the better kingdom. For our spirits are "dead" in sin, and "separated" from divine help. How urgently we need God's Spirit to give life to our dead spirits! Yes, we need a second birth. Thank God for the promise that "the Spirit gives birth to spirit!" (John 3:6).

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Many of us never realize how sinful and dead we are. Satan helps us to cover up with lies.

"When he lies, he speaks his native language, for
he is a liar and the father of lies" (John 8:44).

Nicodemus at first sees no need for a new birth. Other Pharisees are proud to "sit in Moses' seat." They fail to see that they are "hypocrites" fighting God's kingdom (Matthew 23). They think themselves closest to God, yet rush first to kill His Son (John 7; 8).

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Are we also trapped in lies?

* We are "not so bad." Yet how often we fail in
our duties and choices. "Anyone, then, who knows
the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins"
(James 4:17).

* We are "better than others." Yet what happens
when we are alone, where others cannot see? "`Can
anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see
him?' declares the LORD" (Jeremiah 23:24).

* We only do "small sins." Yet how do we react
when exposed or asked to change?

The question is not the `size' of the sin, but its mastery over us. Jesus shows us reality:

"I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave
to sin" (John 8:34).

Any sin gives Satan all the hold he wants. Satan can make anything seem `small' and `justified,' even as he helps it to grow worse.

"The world...hates Me because I testify that what it
does is evil" (John 7:7).

This explains how Bible `believers' come to lead in murdering the Son of God. Jesus warns Nicodemus:

"Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not
come into the light for fear that his deeds will be
exposed" (John 3:20).

THE PAIN OF DARKNESS

Do we hate the Light that shows up our faults and failures? We like to keep our pride. We fear loss of respect, position and control. What will others think or say? Being honest can be painful!

God demands that we go through the pain of being honest. First, God's own truthfulness rejects all lies. Second, God loves us deeply. He knows that darkness holds for us far, far greater pain. For all who join the rebels must receive their sentence for treason. Look at Satan's end:

"The devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the
lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false
prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented
day and night for ever and ever" (Revelation 20:10).

Now look at the sinner's end:

"He, too, will drink of the wine of God's fury, which
has been poured full strength...He will be tormented
with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy
angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their
torment rises for ever and ever. There is no rest
day or night for those who worship the beast..."
(Revelation 14:10-11).

"But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the
murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice
the magic arts, the idolaters and all liars - their
place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur.
This is the second death" (Revelation 21:8).

All humans face the first death - fleshly death. All in Satan's kingdom then face the "second death" eternal death. Spiritual beings cannot be buried in soil. If their burial is in fire, it must be "the eternal fire." Injury by fire is the most painful thing we know. Thus God often pictures the rebel's punishment as fire. You do not want to hear this sentence from Jesus:

"Depart from me you who are cursed, into the eternal
fire prepared for the devil and his angels"
(Matthew 25:41).

HOPE

Jesus never softens the truth, nor should we. Yet He who warns most about "hell" also offers hope. Notice that "the eternal fire" is meant for rebellious angels, not humans. Jesus tells Nicodemus of God's care for us, and His plan for us:

"For God so loved the world that He gave His one
and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall
not perish but have eternal life. For God did not
send His Son into the world to condemn the world,
but to save the world through Him" (John 3:16-17).

Final judgment is coming (John 5; Matthew 13; 25). But for now the door is open to sinners.

"Now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of
salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:2).

Look into heaven and hell. See those born once who die twice in their sins. See those born twice who never die. (Their departure is too wonderful to be called death, John 8:51; 11:25-26.) When you see all this, you realize how much your spirit needs new birth from God's Spirit. "But," you may say, "I've never seen these spiritual things." Dear friend, you can see - by faith! For Jesus shares with you His own direct knowledge. He assures Nicodemus, and us, "I tell you the truth, We speak of what We know, and We testify to what We have seen" (John 3:11). He knows heaven's happiness. He sees all hell's horror. He knows what
is in your spirit.