Knowledge of Jesus Christ doesn't come from the flesh. You won't be
able to reason your way into His Kingdom because it's not a flesh-
based thing. God is spirit, and those who come to Him will do so
from a different source than flesh-based reasoning. It's why the
gateway is through an inner drive/desire to seek the truth. It's not
even something we can find on our own (because it's spirit, and we do
not possess faculties to discern spiritual things). God has to reach
into our core and make changes to our inner being so that we are then
enabled to discern spiritual things. Only when that happens can a
person come to faith, and only then are they able to see His Kingdom,
place significance and priority on His Kingdom ahead of the things in
this world, and so on.
If you want to come to Jesus Christ, you have to set your sights on
the truth. You may not even know what you'll find, what it will be
like, how you will feel when you get there, etc. That's expected.
It is the truth-pursuit that God is seeking in each of us, and for
all of those who seek the truth with full-on vehemence, to those He
opens up our ability to receive it, and be saved.
http://biblehub.com/kjv/john/6-44.htm
44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me
draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
http://biblehub.com/kjv/john/6-63.htm
63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing:
the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are
life.
http://biblehub.com/kjv/john/3.htm
5 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.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born
of the Spirit is spirit.
You must be born again, and that's not something you can reason your
way into as by the flesh. Only when God makes that change within you
can you then see it. And all you have to do is seek the truth.
Some things to consider:
(1) Do you have sin? (Ever told a lie, stolen something, used
God's name as a cuss word, lusted after someone who was not
your spouse)
(2) When a person goes before a righteous judge, will the good
deeds of that person in their life outweigh their crime, such
as they won't be convicted of the murder because they've been
a good citizen, helping people, being kind, loving, generous?
(3) God is truth, and His court is perfect. When we stand before
Him, can we expect Him to honor the Laws of His Kingdom? Or
will He be as a corrupt judge taking bribes to allow the
guilty to pass through into His Holy Righteous Kingdom?
(4) We are taught in scripture (Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23) that
all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We are
taught that "the wages of sin is death," meaning when you sin
you receive your wages for that activity: death, and the
death the Bible speaks of is not our physical death, but it
is the death of our soul in Hell forever, because all people
will die physically in their body, but that is just a door to
what comes after, it is not the end.
(5) Because of sin there was no way out for mankind. We were lost
forever. But God was not prepared to lose all of us, because
even here in this wretched hate-filled warring fallen world,
there are some people who will seek the truth, and do desire
love and compassion, who do want to help people without trying
to take advantage of them. So God sent His Son to make a way
out, a way out of now way because we could not save ourselves.
(6) If you are a sinner, then you need a savior. For this cause
Jesus entered the world ... to bring the lost into salvation,
to bring the guilty into a right standing with God. But, He
will only do this for those who seek the truth, and desire
from their inner core to be a part of that Kingdom, knowing
that their sin is wretched and filthy and evil and harmful,
and only for those desiring to then also cease their sin, and
follow after Him in this world in pursuit of truth, love, and
all manner of right and uplifting/helping things.
(7) We can do none of this on our own. We can only head in that
direction. God then reaches in and does the rest for us,
which is what makes the transformation possible. I, Rick,
cannot save myself. I can't make myself desire to be holy
and then do it. Only Christ living in me makes it possible,
because all Rick's flesh wants to do is pursue its lusts.
(8) It takes the spirit to overcome the flesh, and that is what
Jesus brings to us when He takes our sin away. We are born
again spiritually, which augments our existence so we are
then both flesh and spirit. But as we press in and pursue
the spirit with effort and discipline, we are able to in all
ways overcome the flesh and its lusts, its draws and pulls
on us in this world.
Jesus brings life to the lifeless. Hope to the hopeless. He makes
all things new, and sets our course once again on eternity, rather
than on the shiny trinkets of this dying world.