Steven J. Lawson - New Life in Christ: What Really Happens When Youre Born Again and Why It Matters

S ometimes a brief conversation can change the whole course of your life. It may begin casually with a nod or a smile to someone you sit down beside, and two years later (or even earlier) you are working for themor are even married to themor perhaps you simply receive new light on your situation that changes your whole perspective on things.

For the rest of your life, you look back on that conversation and realize it was a game changer. Even if it began in the same way a thousand conversations did, with a few polite words, by its end you know that your life may never be the same again.

Dr. Steven Lawsons book New Life in Christ could prove to be just such a conversation partner in your life. I hope it will.

Sometimes reading a book can feel like having a conversation with its author. You, the reader, are listening to what the author is sayingand you are responding, talking back to him or her, even if it is silently. You may be saying, Thats interesting, or Really, tell me more, or even I dont see that; explain it to me.

You may well find yourself having a conversation just like that as you read these pages. But what you are about to discover is that, intriguingly, this book contains not one but two conversations!

The first is a conversation Steve Lawson wants to have with you. He is eager to talk to youand, in fact, he has plenty to say, so expect him to do most of the talking (and if you have ever heard him speak you will probably be able to hear his voice as you read). In New Life in Christ , Steve has a very direct conversational style. He is talking to you so much so that perhaps you will find yourself talking back to him, at least inwardly!

But then, after a few pages, this first conversation is mainly about another conversationone of the most important in all human history, and one that gives us perhaps the best-known words in the New Testament.

This conversation is between Jesus and Nicodemus, a contemporary of Jesus and a man of great distinction in Jerusalem. He was a Pharisee, a member of the Jewish Ruling Council, the Sanhedrin, andaccording to Jesus Himselfthe great theologian of his day in Israel. Interestingly, it was Nicodemus who sought out Jesus, not the other way around. But we never learn exactly why. And soon he found that Jesus was seeking him. Fascinating!

So, you are about to overhear a historic conversation. And in the background Steve Lawson, like a knowledgeable commentator at some major event, will help you to understand what is going on and will discuss the different moves the two men make in the chess-like conversation they have with each other.

It is time to make yourself comfortable, turn the page, and read the first chapter. And in your minds eye, see Nicodemus making his way under the darkening night sky, his robes blowing around him as the evening wind begins to freshen, and arriving at the house where Jesus is. The two men are about to meet. How long their conversation stretched out we dont know. What we do know is that Nicodemus never forgot it. Nor will you.

But now, like a TV continuity announcer, I have filled my three-minute slot; the real dialogue will soon begin. For further conversation, I am glad to leave you in the reliable hands of your expert commentator Steve Lawson. You are in for a significant hour or two in his company!

Sinclair B. Ferguson
Chancellors Professor, Reformed Theological Seminary
Teaching Fellow, Ligonier Ministries