Welcome back to the second part of our series on how Jesus has conquered your sin. Last week we saw how sin is not primary a behavior or an action, but that sin actually goes much deeper; sin is an identity.
The basic understanding of identity is crucial to comprehending what sin is, and how to conquer it. This is something that I’m quite familiar with, as I lived on both sides of the spiritual isle. I struggled against sin for many years, going as far as to keep a daily log and diary of my sin and failure.
In this series, we are looking at a different perspective, and another way of conquering sin; a way not based on our efforts, but based on the finished work of Jesus Christ.
A Change of Nature
As we discussed last week, it’s very easy to allow sin-consciousness to creep in. The deceptive idea of trying to work and use great effort to eradicate our sin seems noble and righteous, but in practice it produces the opposite effect.
As I shared last week, I had lived in tremendous sin-consciousness, even to the point of keeping a daily record of my sin. I was living in an endless cycle of sin, guilt, condemnation, resolution, and then more sin which repeated the cycle. And I know that I’m not alone in that experience, because others have shared similar stories with me.
The main conclusion that we reached last week was that sin goes deeper than actions, and is rooted in our nature; to truly stamp-out sin, this nature must be changed. This, my dear friends, is precisely what Jesus did.
Understanding what Jesus accomplished is essential to understanding the gospel message and salvation itself. It is equally important to understand how Jesus has changed our nature, because comprehending this will prevent us from falling into the trap of trying to eradicate our own sin and essentially trying to fight a battle that has already been won.
Your Rebirth in Christ
There’s been a lot of confusion over the years regarding the term “born again.” The term has even become somewhat of a cliché. We need to know what being born again actually means though, because it is vital to our new nature in Christ.
To begin, let’s take a look at John 3:3-7:
“ 3Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
4Nicodemus said to him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?
5Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7Marvel not that I said to you, You must be born again.”
There are numerous fascinating and informative details in these verses for us to explore. In verse 3, Jesus says Truly, truly— a double-affirmation— I say to you, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Jesus says with absolute certainty that a person must be born again to see the kingdom of God. So being born again is what enables the visibility and comprehension of God’s kingdom.
So what is being born again, and how does it happen? In verse 4, Nicodemus asked a similar question, wondering about the nature of divine rebirth. And in verse 5, Jesus gives an intriguing answer:
Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
Notice the details of this verse; a man must be born of water and of the Spirit. We need to understand what this means, because it goes to the heart of Jesus’ explanation of being born again.
Water and the Spirit
Most assume that being born of water means to be baptized in physical water, and it seems like an obvious answer. As we examine the context of the surrounding verses, as well as other scriptures, it becomes clear that something greater is being spoken of than physical water.
As an example, let’s examine Ezekiel 36:23-28:
“ 23And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which you have profaned in the middle of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, said the Lord GOD, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.
24For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.
25Then will I sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
26A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
27And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my judgments, and do them.
28And you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.”
These verses are a prophecy by God spoken through Ezekiel, and take special notice of verses 23 through 25. God says that He will set apart His great name, and that He is the one who sprinkles the cleansing water on His people.
Verses 26 and 27 then continue on to make it absolutely clear regarding what this prophetic time is referring to— salvation.
So, since we know, that God is the one who sprinkles the cleansing water, how does it happen?
The Water of Jesus Christ
Consider Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well, in John 4:5-14:
“ 5Then comes he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
6Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.
7There comes a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus said to her, Give me to drink.
8(For his disciples were gone away to the city to buy meat.)
9Then said the woman of Samaria to him, How is it that you, being a Jew, ask drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
10Jesus answered and said to her, If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that said to you, Give me to drink; you would have asked of him, and he would have given you living water.
11The woman said to him, Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from where then have you that living water?
12Are you greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?
13Jesus answered and said to her, Whoever drinks of this water shall thirst again:
14But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”
In these verses, Jesus makes a clear distinction between physical water (the water drawn from the well in this case) versus the water which He gives. Verses 13 and 14 record Jesus saying that whoever drinks of His water will never thirst again, and that it will be an internal wellspring that rises to everlasting life.
To receive our answer, there is one more section of scripture for us to go to today, 1st Peter 3:18-22:
“ 18For Christ also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
19By which also he went and preached to the spirits in prison;
20Which sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
21The like figure whereunto even baptism does also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
22Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject to him.”
Verse 21 tells us that there is a saving baptism, but it is not a baptism of physical water. As the verse says, it is not a water that removes filth from the fleshly body, but it is the the answer of a good conscience toward God.
The water of Jesus Christ that causes us to never thirst again, is not a physical water, but it is a spiritual water that refreshes and restores our inner-spirit, and cleanses our conscience from the old, dead works of self-effort, and looks exclusively at the finished work of Christ, and His resurrection.
Join Me Again Next Week…
I encourage you to meditate on this truth about Christ. Drink His living water and allow Him to cleanse your conscience. Next week we will be exploring more about this clean conscience which God has given us through Christ.
Be blessed.