You Must Be Born Again

Introduction: The Unrighteous Shall Not Inherit

I'd like to read today from 1 Corinthians chapter 6, from verse 9 down to verse 11:

"Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." -- 1 Corinthians 6:9-11

You cannot be saved if you want to continue in your sin. That is just a fact.

The Prodigal Son: A Picture of True Repentance

When the prodigal son was feeding pigs, he was far away from his father. But then suddenly he comes to himself and he says, "I will arise, and I will go home to my father, and I will say: I have sinned against you and against God. I am not worthy to be called your son — but just make me like one of the hired servants, because I want to come home."

He wanted to separate himself completely from that life of the world. He had made a big mistake, and now he was coming home, turning his back on all of that.

Now, repentance is not saying "I'm sorry." There are many people in prison who are sorry for what they've done, but if they were allowed to come out, they would just go and do exactly the same things as before — because they are slaves to that sin, captivated by that sin. Even though they're sorry, they are not repentant.

Repentance is having a complete change of mentality, a complete change of mind. You're saying, "I'm finished with all of that old life. I'm finished with that. I can't stand it anymore." The trouble is that you are a slave to it — you are a slave to that sin, and you cannot set yourself free.

So you have to come to Christ saying, "I cannot free myself, but I'm finished with all of that. I want Christ in my life." And that is how you come to know the salvation of the Lord and to be set completely free.

Such Were Some of You — But You Are Washed

This scripture says there will be no fornicators, no idolaters, no adulterers, no homosexuals, no thieves, no covetous, no drunkards, no revilers, no extortioners — none of this will be in heaven. But remember those wonderful words: "Such were some of you: but ye are washed."

This is the beautiful thing — that now is the day of salvation. Now you can be set free from your sin. Now you can be completely washed so that you are clean, justified in the sight of God, able to stand in the presence of God and be completely justified — if you are willing to turn completely away from your sin.

There are people who say you can continue in sin and still get saved. No, you cannot. You cannot be a thief or a liar or any of these things and be saved. You turn your back on all of that. You can't free yourself from that sin, but you turn your back from it and say, "I want Christ in my life" — and He will set you free. You don't set yourself free. It's Jesus who sets you free. But you've got to come to Him, and you've got to turn from it.

You can make a decision for Christ. You can ask the Lord Jesus to come into your life. You can say, "I want to receive the Lord Jesus as my Lord and Saviour." But that alone does not save you. You will still go to a lost eternity unless you are truly born again.

"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." -- John 3:3

This is a work of the Holy Spirit — something you cannot do yourself. All you can do is say, "I'm finished with the world, and I want Jesus in my life. I want to live for Jesus."

The Glorious Message of the Cross

It doesn't matter if you've been involved in all of these things. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, is able to cleanse you of all sin. You can be set free from that sin. You can be washed — washed in the blood of Jesus. You can receive new life in Him.

Jesus died on the cross so that you can have eternal life. He took your sin upon Himself on the cross. The Bible says that though He was without sin, yet He became sin for us. Oh, this is the wonderful message! This is why the Gospel means "good news" — the good news that Jesus has paid the price for you and me on the cross.

He died on the cross so that I can say, "I am crucified with Christ." That old life, all of that sin — it's nailed to His cross, buried with Christ. And Jesus arose on the third day so that I can have new life in me. That new life sets me completely free from all of the old sin that held me back and held me captive.

Be Holy, for I Am Holy

"Be ye holy; for I am holy." -- 1 Peter 1:16

You cannot do that in your own strength. But when you are born again of the Spirit of God, Christ is living in you, and then you learn to walk in that new life. It's a wonderful new life! By reading the Scriptures and growing in the Word of God, we become more like Jesus. All of the old things fall off, and you begin to walk in love and according to the Word of God, and you become holy as you walk in new life.

The Father's Loving Discipline

Sometimes Christians fall. Sometimes they go back and do things they did in the world. But the Bible says that if we do these things, the Lord chastises us. Now, that isn't a curse — that's a wonderful blessing — because God is our Father, our heavenly Father. He loves those that are His, and He cares for those that are His. If we go on a wrong path, He will chastise us so that we come back.

Oh, it's wonderful. It hurts to be chastised, but when we are chastised we can rejoice — because we're children of God! God doesn't chastise the world; He judges the world. There will be a last judgement when God will judge the ungodly. But He chastises those that are His, so that we become more like Jesus, so that we can get up again and walk in holiness and truth.

You cannot continue in sin and live for Jesus, because He will correct us. The Holy Spirit will lead us and guide us. He chastises us because He loves us.

The Call to Repent and Come Home

This is the message of the Gospel. Those who continue in unrighteousness will not inherit the kingdom of God. But then that wonderful verse — verse 11:

"And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." -- 1 Corinthians 6:11

It doesn't matter if you've been involved in all of these things. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, is able to cleanse you of all sin. You can be set free. You can be washed in the blood of Jesus. You can receive new life in Him. You can have that assurance in your heart that one day soon we will see Jesus, and we will be caught up in the clouds to meet Him in the air, and we shall be forever with the Lord.

I urge you, because the time is short. One day soon you're either going to meet the Lord as your Saviour or as your Judge. Oh, I am so glad that many years ago I gave my heart and life to Jesus — that Jesus came into my life and changed me. I was born again of the Spirit of God, made completely new. And I know this: from that day until the day when Jesus comes, I'm ready to meet Him.

I've made a lot of mistakes along the way, but the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses from all sin. And I know this: when I stand before God, I stand not in my righteousness but in the righteousness of Christ — because He loved me, and He died for me, and He gave His life for me so that I can have eternal life, so that I can become like Him, and so that I can grow in holiness until the day when I see Jesus. And what a wonderful day that's going to be.

So I urge you — if you're in a relationship you shouldn't be in, if you're living in sin — turn to Christ and say, "I'm finished with that. Lord Jesus, come and set me free. I want Jesus." And I promise you this: He has said, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." He will never cast you away. But you need to turn from your sin, to truly repent — have a complete change of mentality — and like the prodigal son say, "I'm finished with all that. I'm coming home."

God bless you. Hallelujah. Amen.