Rodney Howard Browne

There was a man of the Pharisees,

named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:

The same came to Jesus by night,

and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that

thou art a teacher come from God: for no

man can do these miracles that thou

doest, except God be with him.

 

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.

 

Nicodemus saith unto him, How

can a man be born when his is old? Can

he enter a second time into his mother’s

womb and be born?

John 3:1-4

 

People who try to understand the new birth

intellectually, are reasoning with their minds. Like

Nicodemus, they are trying to understand how we can be

born a second time. Some would say this born-again

experience is something new. No, it’s not. Jesus spoke

about it long ago.

 

Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I

say unto thee, Except a man be born of

water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter

into the kingdom of God.

 

That which is born of the flesh is

flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit

is spirit.

 

Marvel not that I said unto thee,

Ye must be born again.

 

The wind bloweth where it listeth,

and thou hearest the sound thereof, but

canst tell whence it cometh, and whither it

goeth: so is every one that is born of the

Spirit.

 

Nicodemus answered and said

unto him, How can these things be?

Jesus answered and said unto him,

Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest

not these things?

 

Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We

speak that we do know, and testify that

we have seen; and ye receive not our

witness.

 

If I have told you earthly things,

and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if

I tell you of heavenly things?

 

And no man hath ascended up to

heaven, but he that came down from

heaven, even the Son of man which is in

heaven.

 

And as Moses lifted up the serpent

in the wilderness, even so must the Son of

man be lifted up:

 

That whosoever believeth in him

should not perish, but have eternal life.

For God so loved the world, that

he gave his only begotten Son, that

whosoever believeth in him should not

perish, but have everlasting life.

For God sent not his Son into the

world to condemn the world; but that the

world through him might be saved.

 

He that believeth on him in not

condemned: but he that believeth not is

condemned already, because he hath not

believed in the name of the only begotten

Son of God.

 

And this is the condemnation, that

light is come into the world, and men

loved darkness rather than light, because

their deeds were evil.

 

For every one that doeth evil

hateth the light, neither cometh to the

light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

But he that doeth truth cometh to

the light, that his deeds may be made

manifest, that they are wrought in God.

John 3:5-21

 

When you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and

Savior, something takes place. There’s a literal change

made in you. That’s why I have difficulty believing that

some people are truly born again. I don’t see a change.

 

The scripture 1 Peter 1:23 says, “Being born again, not of

corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God,

which liveth and abideth for ever.”

 

When you come into contact with God, something

is going to happen in your life. There’s going to be a

radical change. Everyone will be able to look at you and

see the change, not because you wear a T-shirt saying,

“Honk if you love Jesus.” Not because you have a fish on

your forehead or you carry a big Bible. But they should

see, just by your presence, that something about you is

different. In other words, when you meet up with God, you

change. The new birth means change.

 

When you have an encounter with God your life is

going to change. Don’t tell me you’ve had an encounter

with God if you’re suing your Christian brother. I won’t

believe you. The Bible says that we know that we have

passed from death unto life because we love the brethren

(First Jon 3:14).

 

If someone is born again, you’re going to see it.

You’re going to hear it. Everything about that person will

be different. When they’re involved in sin, they’ll dress

like the world, they’ll talk like the world, they’ll hang out

with the world, they’ll mix with sinners and feel

comfortable there and the sinners will feel comfortable with

them too.

 

But when Jesus comes inside, He cleans the house

out. Your lifestyle will be affected. You start loving

people. Your marriage gets turned around. Your finances

get healed. Your sick bodies get healed. That’s what the

new birth does.

 

Was it just a mental prayer that you prayed and

said, “Jesus come into my life and forgive me of my sins”?

You did it because you didn’t want to go to hell. Or do you

know the time and the place when you had an encounter

with God and your life changed radically? Can you say, “I

was going in the wrong direction? I was heading for a lost

eternity and the Lord Jesus Christ came to me and I

accepted Him. I turned my back on sin in the world. I

repented and I chose to go the other way.”

 

If I stood on the interstate in the middle of the road

and a Mack truck came down the road at 65 miles an hour

and hit me head on, my friends and family would peel me

off the front grill of that truck. The first thing they’re going

to say to me is “Rodney, you’ve changed. You look

different, Rodney. You talk different. You walk different.

You’re not the same person we’ve known. What happened

to you?”

 

I had an encounter. I’m changed. I’m different.

Have you had a “Mack truck” experience that

revolutionized your life? Do you know the day the hour

that you crossed over from death unto life?

The Bible says we’ve been delivered out of the

kingdom of darkness and translated into the kingdom of

 

His dear Son (Colossians 1:13). There’s an actual

transition. Something takes place. And everyone can see

it. There’s something different about you.

But we have people in the church who say, “I’m a

born again bank robber, Brother Rodney. I rob banks part

time. Brother, I’m a born again Mafia hit man. I’m born

again and I deal cocaine on the side. I really feel I need to

support the church. I’m born again, Brother Rodney, and I

race horses on the side.”

 

I used to think every Christian had angels’ wings

and halos. One day I looked and saw the halo wasn’t there.

It was two little horns coming out of their head. Some

Christians have the symbol of the fish, but they should put

a shark on their car, not a fish. Just when you thought it

was safe to go back to church!

 

Christians are ripping each other off. Sometimes

I’d rather go to a sinner in business because at least I know

I can shout at him if he does a bad job. If you go to the

Christian and he does a bad job, you are expected to pay the

money and walk in love. At lease with the sinner you can

say, “You Philistine, thou hast not done the job correctly.”

 

When sinners can come to church and feel like it’s a

great place and sit there week after week and never give

their lives to Jesus, you know that church is a compromise.

When sinners walk in the door, they should be affected

immediately. They should sense the presence of God and

they should be convicted – not condemned – and should

want to repent.