The second step to our receiving birth from above was God dealing with the penalty of our sin, that which killed our spirits and severed us from God in the first place. The Bible teaches us about the wages of sin: "The wages of sin is death." (Romans 6:23). Paul explains what the Bible means by death in 2 Thessalonians 1:9, "And these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power." Death means to be devoid of spirit, separated from God and without the ability to have relationship with God.

Even though our problem is primarily self, God still has to judge our sins if we are to be able to receive birth from above and be recreated in His image, and come back into relationship with God. Our sin is what separated us from God in the first place. It is what destroyed His image in us. Therefore the penalty of our sins has to be paid for first before we can be recreated back into God’s image and thus be able to have relationship with Him again. Therefore, the second step to receiving birth from above is God in the person of Jesus Christ paying sin’s penalty of death for us on the cross. The Apostle Paul tells us about Jesus’ death for our sins:

"He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Cor 5:21)

"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him." (Rom 5:8-9)

Therefore, the second step of our receiving birth from above is to repent of our sins (Luke 24:46-47) and then abandoning all efforts and works of the flesh to save us from the penalty of sin, death, and putting our trust in God paying sin’s penalty for us through Jesus Christ’s death and shed blood on the Cross. The Apostle Paul writes, "By the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin." (Rom 3:20). Nothing of the flesh can appease God or please God because it is of the flesh, not of His Spirit. Only what is initiated by the Holy Spirit will please God. Works for salvation are works of the flesh. Paul writes about the works of the flesh in Romans 8:6-8

"For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so; and those who are in the flesh cannot please God."

To be in the flesh simply means to look to self-effort to bring about salvation and solution to our problems and needs. God’s order for us is by His Spirit. "‘Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says Yehovah of hosts." (Malachi 4:6). Paul tells us plainly that anything which originates from the flesh cannot please or appease God. It doesn’t appease God for a second reason: The soul and flesh have no ability to create life. No matter what we try to endure to pay for our sins it will not bring our human spirit back to life or create our soul and flesh anew from a sinful propensity to complete submission to God’s Holy Spirit through the human spirit.

God by His initiative sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sins and the only thing that will turn His wrath away from our sins is our accepting only His remedy and work of salvation for our sins: His Son’s death and shed blood on the cross. It means we must come naked, meaning no reliance on any works of ours, before the cross and rely only on the work of the cross alone: God’s work. We must say to God:

We then by faith, not feelings (an organ of the soul), must accept God’s forgiveness and that He does forgive us because He gave us His proof that He does when He brought Jesus back from the dead. This is what Paul means when he says in Romans 10:9-10

"That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation."

Paul explains in Romans 4:25 what it means to believe that God raised Jesus from the dead: "He who was delivered up because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification." How do we know that God accepts Jesus’ death for our sins in our place? Because He gave us absolute proof that He does by bringing Jesus back from the dead. That is the significance of the resurrection: God proving to us He accepts Jesus’ death in our place. This is what it means when you say "God I believe You raised Jesus from the dead." You are telling God that by His bringing Jesus back from the dead you know He accepts Jesus’ death for Your sins in your place.

The third step to receiving birth from above is to then enter back into relationship with God by receiving His Son Jesus Christ into our hearts as Savior from our sins and as Lord of our lives by faith. Jesus said in Revelation 3:20, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with Me."

By Faith, I do not mean blind faith, meaning faith without proof or verification, I mean knowing that once we ask Jesus to come into our heart as Savior from our sins and as Lord of our life, that He does come in and save us, not as a feeling, but because He gave us absolute proof that He will do what He promised when He came back physically from the dead. And what did Jesus’ promise? That He will come into your heart when you ask Him to. The Apostle John and Luke the Physician record about the significance of Jesus’ Physical Resurrection,

"When therefore He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture, and the word which Jesus had spoken." (John 2:22)

"To these He also presented Himself alive, after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days, and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God." (Acts 1:3)