John 3:5-6 (NLT) “Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. ⁶ Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.”

How important is the Holy Spirit to one’s life?  Very if one wants to be born again from above.  Jesus tells in the text, that no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.  The apostle Paul picks up on this by saying in Titus 3:4-7 (NLT) “But—When God our Savior revealed His kindness and love, ⁵ He saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. ⁶ He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. ⁷ Because of His grace He made us right in His sight and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life.”

It is interesting to note that Jesus sent us the Holy Spirit after He died on the cross and was resurrected.  He says in John 7:37-39 (NLT) “On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to Me! ³⁸ Anyone who believes in Me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’” ³⁹ (When He said “living water,” He was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in Him. But the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet entered into His glory.)”  

Also, there is no spiritual life without the Holy Spirit.  People may act spiritual, talk spiritual, and even hang around people who are spiritual, but just because a person lives in a garage does not make them a car.  1 Corinthians 2:11-14 (NLT) says, “No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. ¹² And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.

¹³ When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths. ¹⁴ But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means.”

Since it is the Holy Spirit within a person who can help them understand God, then people who are not spiritual rely on something else.  So what makes a person spiritual as defined by God?  It is having the Holy Spirit living within them.  Romans 8:9-11 (NLT) says, “But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to Him at all.) ¹⁰ And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. ¹¹ The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, He will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.”  Just because a person says that they are born again, does not make it so.  Just because a person says that they know Jesus Christ does not make it so.  One must possess the Spirit of Christ to be in the Kingdom of God.  This is why it says in Matthew 7:13-14 (NLT) “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. ¹⁴ But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.”

I conclude with 1 John 4:9-13 (NLT) “God showed how much He loved us by sending His One and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through Him. ¹⁰ This is real love—not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. ¹¹ Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. ¹² No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and His love is brought to full expression in us. ¹³ And God has given us His Spirit as proof that we live in Him and He in us.”