Sermons 17 | We Must Be Born Again of Water and the Spirit
- The NLM
- May 15
- 4 min read
All humanity on this earth was born as created beings made by God, and by nature, they are destined to face the judgment of the Lord at the crossroads of Heaven and Hell after death. In accordance with the Word of God — which clearly states that those who have sin will be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, and those without sin will enter eternal Heaven — all people must be born again according to God’s law of salvation. Only by being born again according to God’s law of salvation can one enter eternal Heaven — instead of going to Hell.
The message we are sharing today is an excerpt from Volume 1 of Pastor Paul C. Jong’s sermon series, “Have You Truly Been Born Again of Water and the Spirit?”
If you would like to discover more messages on various spiritual topics — explained clearly and accessibly based on the Bible — please visit The New Life Mission website, where you can freely download eBooks, audiobooks, and bilingual books in many different languages around the world.
God, when He created the sky and the earth at the beginning of time, also created the eternal worlds, heaven and hell. He also created man in His own image. However, since the first man, Adam, sinned before God, all people have to die once.
“And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).
The death of our flesh is the passageway to eternal life.
Those who are without sin shall enter the eternal world of heaven and enjoy forever the joy of being a child of God, while sinners will be thrown into “the lake of fire and brimstone” (Revelation 20:10) and be tormented day and night for all eternity.
Therefore, all of humankind must be born again.
We have to be born again through our faith, be redeemed and become righteous. For only then can we enter the eternal kingdom of heaven. The Bible says, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). “To be born again of water and the Spirit” is the only way we can enter the eternal kingdom of heaven.
What then is this ‘water’ and ‘the Spirit’ that allows us to be born again?
The ‘water’ in the Bible is ‘the baptism of Jesus.’
Why was Jesus, who is God, baptized by John the Baptist?
Was it to show His humility? Was it to proclaim Himself the Messiah? No, it wasn’t.
When Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist by means of ‘the laying on of hands’ (Leviticus 16:21), it was ‘one Man’s righteous act’ (Romans 5:18), which took away all the sins of humankind.
In the Old Testament, God gave Israel the merciful law of redemption. This was so that on the Day of Atonement, all the sins of Israel for that year could be expiated through the high priest Aaron by laying his hands on the head of the ‘scapegoat’ and passing all the sins onto that scapegoat.
This was the word of revelation which foretold the sacrifice of eternal atonement to come in the future. It revealed the truth that all the sins of humanity would be passed on, once for all, to Jesus who came in the flesh of a man according to the will of the Father. He was baptized by John the Baptist who was the descendant of Aaron and the representative of all humankind.
When Jesus was baptized, He said, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15).
Here, “For thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness,” has the same meaning as the ‘laying on of hands’ in the Old Testament. It is how all the sins of the world were transferred onto Jesus and it blots out the sins of all who believe. The meaning of ‘the righteousness of God’ is ‘most fair’ or ‘most appropriate’.
Jesus had fulfilled righteousness for all people through His baptism in a just and fitting manner. Because Jesus took on all the sins of people through His baptism, the next day John the Baptist testified,
“Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)
With all the sins of humankind on His shoulders, Jesus walked towards the Cross. And He took the judgment for all the sins He had taken on Himself through His baptism. He died on the Cross, saying, “It is finished” (John 19:30). He took all our sins onto Himself and received the complete judgment for them in our place.
According to the sacrificial law of the Old Testament, ‘baptism,’ which is identical to the ‘laying on of hands’ for transferring sin, is testified more certainly than anything else through the Bible as the ‘baptism’ through which Jesus received all the sins of the world, including all past, present, and future sins of humanity, not merely a ceremony performed for humility.
Then what is the only way for us to enter eternal Heaven instead of going to Hell?
It is through Jesus having all sins of humanity — including your sins and mine — transferred to Him from John the Baptist, the representative of mankind, through baptism, and through the blood of the Cross where He bore judgment in our place for those sins, that we receive the blotting out of our sins by faith and are wholly born again.
“Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” (Isaiah 1:18)
Dear friends, may you become one who believes in the Word of the Bible just as it is written, and gains the hope of eternal Heaven with a clean heart, free of sin.
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