Born Again — Listen and Understand
A note on the audio: This message has a Korean audio recording. The notes below are in English, but pressing play will play Korean speech.
1. Jesus' Conversation with Nicodemus
The speaker begins by recounting how Jesus told Nicodemus that no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born again of water and the Spirit, and how Nicodemus did not understand what Jesus meant. The speaker asks the audience the same question — whether they understand new birth — and calls it the foundation of Christian faith. They say that those who have truly been born again are all the more concerned with this subject.
The speaker shares the sorrow that, although many people attend church, few believers are actually born again, receive life, then bear fruit and grow. They see the reason as a lack of biblical knowledge — an incomplete understanding of what new birth is and what true faith is. This is recorded as the speaker's ministry observation.
The speaker then explains Jesus' answer after Nicodemus' bewilderment, comparing it to Korean expressions for an unexpectedly puzzling remark, and turns to John 3:6-7. What is born of the flesh is physical birth, they say, and what is born of the Spirit is the birth of the spirit through the Holy Spirit. They say that people are already cut off from God from birth, citing Ephesians 2:1.
The speaker acknowledges that some may object to the claim that human beings are sinners from the beginning. Still, they point to things such as lying and stubbornness that appear in children without being taught as evidence for the corruption of human nature. They explain that the “death” Scripture speaks of is not senseless extinction, but being cut off from God. They compare this to a plant whose roots have been cut: even if it does not wither at once when placed in water, it is already as good as dead. In this condition, they say, teaching even the finest ethics or religion — giving Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity as examples — cannot solve the fundamental problem. This is recorded as a theological claim made by the speaker.
At this point, the speaker introduces a Buddhist monastic who practiced lifelong asceticism and discipline but is said to have left behind a poem near the end of their life confessing the greatness of their own sin, interpreting this to mean that a person cannot help but face their own sin in the face of death.
The speaker says that the words, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, they cannot enter the kingdom of God,” apply not only to people of a particular religion but to everyone alike. They compare new birth with miracles such as healing from terminal cancer or the raising of the dead, and call it a still greater miracle. They mention John 5:29 and Romans 2:16 as warnings of judgment and say that a person's essential being does not disappear when the body dies. They also say that one denomination teaches extinction after death; this is an explanation offered by the speaker, and these notes do not verify that denomination's actual doctrine. They speak both of the fear of hidden things being exposed at judgment and of inner anguish found in people from many different circumstances during ministry. This is recorded as the speaker's personal ministry experience.
The speaker explains that humanity's deepest thirst is not a lack of material things, but “a spiritual famine of not hearing the word of God,” citing Amos 8:11, and suggests reading Matthew 4:4 together. They go on to say that people have a spirit, whose food is the word of God, and cite John 4:14. They explain that when people repent, have their sins washed by Jesus' blood, and are born again, heavenly food and joy are given to the soul. They say that religion exists universally because people have a spirit, but that spirit can be filled only when the Lord becomes the master of its place. This is recorded as a theological claim made by the speaker.
2. The Three Elements of New Birth (Look Up the Bible Verses and Write Them Down.)
The speaker introduces three elements that are important to new birth.
The first element is the work of the Holy Spirit. The speaker says that just as wind cannot be seen but its movement can be felt, the Holy Spirit also works invisibly, citing John 3:8 and the descent of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2. They explain that when the Holy Spirit is at work, a person develops a spiritual thirst that they cannot account for, and even someone who once had no interest in church may find their heart gradually drawn toward it. They interpret this as an “invitation to salvation” given by the Holy Spirit, while emphasizing that receiving this invitation does not mean everyone is immediately saved.
The second element is the word. Citing 1 Peter 1:23, the speaker explains that new birth comes through the imperishable seed, the living word of God. They give the example of a tree in a national park in the United States, about 100 meters tall, with a trunk so wide that several people must join hands to measure around it. They explain that just as this giant tree grew from a small seed, the word of God likewise carries the life and power to bring a person to salvation, while contrasting those who change quickly on hearing the same word with those who show no change even after hearing it for a long time.
The third element is the heart of the person receiving that word. Drawing on the parable of the sower, the speaker explains that, just as the same good seed bears differently according to the condition of the soil — rocky ground or thorns, for example — people respond differently to the same word according to the condition of their hearts. They say God does not forcibly change human free will; the outcome differs according to whether a person receives or resists the stirring they have received. They explain even Paul's conversion not as a one-sided event, but as Paul himself confessing before King Agrippa that he did not reject but received the stirring of that light. They warn that continually resisting such stirring may eventually cause it to cease and may lead a person away from God. Citing 1 Thessalonians 2:13, they emphasize the importance of a receptive posture that receives the word not as human words but as the word of God.
At this point, the speaker introduces the testimony video of an actor. The person in the testimony says that, after praying for a long time without receiving an answer, they were struck by a friend's words: “Believing what you can see is not faith; it is confirmation. True faith is believing what you cannot see.” After finding a verse in Scripture with the same point, Hebrews 11:1, they say they gave up the attitude of trying to confirm everything, began studying the Bible, and found that time joyful. This is the person's individual experience; these notes do not treat it as a fixed pattern of conversion for everyone.
The speaker emphasizes that this posture — opening the heart and deciding to believe — is important. They say that the human heart has grown hard through years of living by its own strength, with an idol of the self at its center rather than God. Unless this heart is plowed up, they explain, the word is quickly pushed away no matter how much one hears it. This is why, they say, the poor in spirit are saved. They explain that after a business failure or a great hardship in life, someone may realize that the idol of self at the center is nothing; if the gospel is heard there, it may be received at once. This is recorded as a theological interpretation offered by the speaker.
3. What Should Those Who Think They Have Already Been Born Again Watch Out For?
The speaker says that when the idol of self at the heart's center loses its strength and the gospel is received, new birth takes place at once. They give an example of a prayer that acknowledges repentance and Jesus' lordship. They then say that when people who say they have been born again are asked why they think so, they often point to a past emotional experience, such as having wept. They say that experience itself is not the true standard of new birth. They ask, “Who is the master?” and say that each person already knows the answer. This is recorded as a theological claim made by the speaker; these notes do not decide whether this view of what counts as the true evidence of new birth is the only theological position.
The speaker says that even someone who once appeared to have been born again may see the word “grow and then be uprooted” if the self again becomes the master of life, referring again to the parable of the sower. They say that salvation is not completed as a single unusual event in the past, but involves continually keeping faith in a pure condition, and that assurance of salvation is shown not by an experience but by fruit. They suggest reading John 15:6 together and explain that “abiding in the Lord” means that he is the master of one's life. They say that pushing the Lord aside again results in cooled passion and distance from prayer and the word.
The speaker cites Galatians 5:17, saying that the life of faith includes a struggle between the desires of the flesh and the Holy Spirit, and encourages listeners to keep submitting themselves before God in that struggle. Finally, they encourage people who do not yet feel that they have been born again: the fact that their hearts are pierced while hearing the word is itself evidence, they say, that the Holy Spirit is at work. They recognize that the more stubbornly self-centered a person is, the more difficult the path toward new birth may be, and urge listeners to seek God with all their heart just as they are. They challenge them to ask themselves what would happen if they left the world today, and close the recording by saying that if they cry out to God even now, read Scripture, and come with spiritual thirst, salvation will be given as a gift.