Ye Must Be Born Again
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| In loving memory of my father Robert Louis (Bob) Padgett July 28, 1931-May 22, 2023 |
In our previous message we shared some thoughts about the topic of "Why did God make man." In essence, the Father is bringing many sons to glory so that His Son, Jesus, can have fellowship with a multitude of sons, all of whom have had the nature of Christ worked within them. In this message we want to share some things related to the topic of Ye Must Be Born Again. That is the first step but only the first step in the process of God making man into the image of Christ. The term "born again" is one of the most used phrases among present-day Christians. Yet, if asked what the term born again means, many church members could not give a clear explanation. Hopefully we will be able to see why we need to be born again, what it means to be born again, how we can be born again, the results of being born again, and how we can know that we have been born again.
In Genesis, Chapter 2, God told Adam (and Eve) that they could freely eat of every tree in the Garden of Eden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God told them that if they ate of that tree, they would surely die. Well, they disobeyed God and they ate of that tree. They did not die physically at that time, but that part of their spirit that communicates with God died. In addition, they were banished from the Garden of Eden (paradise).
Just as cats have kittens and dogs have puppies, so the children of man and woman are born with the sin-nature of the fallen Adam and Eve. Every human being after the fall of Adam and Eve is born a sinner, not because of anything they have said or done, but simply because they have been born in the image of their parents (i.e., with a sin-nature or the image of man, not the image of God). That part of our spirit which was designed by God to communicate with Him is dead. That is why Jesus said, "Ye must be born again."
The world teaches us that we should be self-sufficient, have self-confidence, and trust in our education and our logical reasoning. The Bible teaches us just the opposite. It is only when we come to an end of our self and cry out, "Lord help me," that we can discover the true meaning of life. Unfortunately, it takes a crisis in our life before most of us cry out to the Lord for help. As long as everything seems to be going along fine, we see no need for a Lord and Savior. Many folks become "saved" or "born again" at the death of a loved one, or when we contract an incurable disease, or have financial ruin, or similar catastrophes. Wise men still seek Jesus before such catastrophes occur. God so loves us that He allows unpleasant things to happen to us so that we might turn to Him and cry out, "Help, Lord."
God created every human being. Therefore we all have an innate, ingrained, spiritual DNA that can never experience fulfillment until we return to the Creator ... the Lord Jesus Christ. That is why power, money, possessions, fame are never enough. We are always thinking more will be the answer. But it never is. That is the love of God in action.
Every religion has a reasonable "code of ethics" or principles that espouse leading a morally good life. That is well and good, but that does not make one a Christian. The Scriptural definition of a Christian is someone who has been "born again." When any person accepts, believes, and receives that Jesus died on the cross for them personally, that person is born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. We are baptized or immersed by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ, or the church, at the moment of conversion. From
If we are born again, then we have the same Holy Spirit within us that Jesus had when He walked the face of the earth. We must make conscious decisions not to sin, and walk in the Spirit by the power of the Holy Ghost.
How is all of this possible? First of all, Jesus Christ made this possible.
Suppose I hold out my hand to you and say I give you this treasure that is in my hand. As far as I am concerned, I have given you that treasure, whatever it may be. But it is not really yours until you accept it. So it is with being born again. Jesus offers us everlasting life (being born again) if we simply accept, believe, and receive who He is and what He has done for us at Calvary and His resurrection.
Suppose a man was born blind and has never seen anything with his natural eyes. How could you explain to him what the color "red" is? It is not possible. That is no reflection on the blind man. He simply has never received sight. In like manner, it is impossible to explain to any human being the living reality of the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ unless their spirit has been quickened (made alive) by being born again. Christianity is therefore something which must be personally experienced by being born again. We can read all of the books on Christianity, go to church regularly, give money to the poor, read the Bible daily, and try to be a morally good person. But all of that plus two dollars gets us a cup of coffee in most places.
After I first obtained eye glasses I never knew things could look so clear and sharp. I had become accustomed to fuzzy eyesight and never knew that was not normal. So it is when we are born again. We can never know the reality of the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ until we are born again, by the power of His Holy Spirit.
Scripture teaches us that no man, except Jesus, could ever fulfill the law. But Jesus, as a man, fulfilled the law completely and perfectly. Likewise, no man can walk in and fulfill the Christian life except Christ and the Christ within the born-again believer. Therefore, being born again is only the first step in our walk as a Christian. We also must understand that in all things we are totally dependent upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Without the Lord we can do nothing of eternal value.
What is the result of being born again?
If we are born again, the Holy Spirit has transformed our hearts from indifference and hostility toward God to a love of God and a desire for His righteousness and holiness. The only way one can come to God and experience what it means to be "born again" is through repentance of sin and faith in Jesus Christ. We will have much more to say about repentance and faith in later messages.
In the natural or human realm there is the implantation of seed by the father, a delivery from the mother, and a family relationship subsequently enjoyed, with inheritance privileges. It is the same in the realm of the Spirit.
That is what happened when Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary. God the Father implanted the seed (the Holy Spirit) into Mary (who prophetically speaks of those called and chosen of God). The family is the Church or all those who have been born again. And the members of the Church, or the body of Christ, have an inheritance.
The importance of being born again is shown in the Gospel of John, Chapter 3. We will start reading at Verse 1.
Nicodemus came by night. Most likely he was afraid to go to Jesus during the daytime because the Pharisees had nothing to do with Jesus. But why did Nicodemus come privately to Jesus at all? Probably because he sensed a hunger in his heart that Judaism could not fulfill. In any event it is much better to come to Christ by night rather than not at all!
The word "see" means to "be aware of." Our eternal destiny depends on our decision as to whether we accept the marvelous grace of God extended to us. Jesus knew why Nicodemus had come to talk with Him. So Jesus began immediately to respond to the heart of Nicodemus.
We hope to answer that question during this session. For now, being born again is not a physical rebirth; it is a spiritual one.
So the three prerequisites, which are necessary but not sufficient, for entering the Kingdom of God are: be born again, be born of water, and be born of the Spirit. We will elaborate on those 3 prerequisites and the Kingdom of God later. For now, we will simply say that being born again or being saved is not the same as walking in the Kingdom of God.
There are many things that we all believe exist but aren't visible to the unaided human eye; for example, electricity, radio waves, television waves, air, oxygen, atoms, ultraviolet light, infrared, gravity, the mind, emotions, the entire universe, and God Himself. Why then should we doubt that there is a realm of the spirit? And why should we doubt that "in the beginning, God?"
Verse 13 is very remarkable! It says that Jesus is the only One who has ascended up to heaven; it also says that He came down from heaven; and at the SAME time when He came down from heaven He was also in heaven. That seems to indicate that heaven is not a natural, physical location but is in the realm of the Spirit. Of course Jesus spoke those words BEFORE Calvary! So He must have come down from heaven and ascended up to heaven at least one time before this. One of perhaps a number of instances of this must have been when Melchizedek appeared to Abraham in Genesis 14.
Note that God so loved the world that whosoever believes in His Son Jesus might have everlasting life. That says that God loves the Muslim as well as the Jew. Now Muslims believe that Jesus existed and that He was a prophet, but that is not sufficient to be born again.
Now, we need to explore the question,
What Must We "Do" to Be Born Again?
Cornelius was the first Gentile convert. Through Peter's ministry Cornelius was born again and was received into the fellowship of the Church. Likewise, in order to be born again, the answer does not consist simply in going to church every Sunday, trying to live a morally good life, reading the Bible so much every day, giving money to the church, praying every day, and fearing God. We are saved by grace, not by our good works. Reading from Acts, Chapter 16,
Note that when the father of a house is born again, Jesus promises that everyone in that man's household will also be saved. That is a precious promise which we can count on.
Christian ministers use various methods to attempt to "save" non-believers. But what is the alternative to being saved? eternal separation from the Lord in the lake of fire. That answers the question of why we must be born again. Some ministers pass out Christian tracts or knock on doors. Other ministers have an "altar call" after each Sunday worship service, pleading for anyone who does not yet know the Lord to come forth so someone can pray for them. Some ministers ask the potential new Christian to "repeat after me" something called a "sinner's prayer." Others ask those who show interest in the Lord Jesus Christ whether they believe what the verses in Romans 19:9-10 say.
I have difficulty with all of those methods to try to get someone "saved." First of all, Jesus never told us to "go out and get them saved." He said, "Go out and make disciples." Big difference! Only the Lord can save. If we want to see people "saved," the best thing we can "do" is to let people see the Christ within us by our example ... by walking in those same activities that the early church walked in as recorded in Acts 2:42-46: they "continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul: And they continued daily with one accord in the temple, and broke bread from house to house"
Then, in Verse 47,
From those verses in Ephesians 2, we are saved by the amazing grace of God. We will share much more later about the grace of God. But the verse says we are saved by (His) grace through faith and that is not even our faith ... it is His faith which He gives to us. Again, we will have much more to share about faith in a later message.
Now, we could ask, is being born again the same as being saved? yes and no. When a baby is born in the natural realm, it is birthed at a specific point in time. Even though the birthing process may take up to several hours, medical doctors list a specific point in time when the baby is born. That time should be the time when the baby has left its original, dark state (the mother's womb) and first enters a new world, full of light. It is the same spiritually when we are born again.
When we are born again, we are translated into the kingdom of His dear Son. That kingdom is the Church, which is His Body ... the body of Christ.
Scripture indicates that we have been saved (provided we have identified with the death and resurrection of Jesus, we are BEING saved (a process), and we will be saved at some point in the future, IF we hold fast unto the end. We will share more about that in a later message.
So being born again is coincident with the initial salvation experience. The word "salvation" frequently carries a meaning of deliverance from outward dangers or enemies. In other words, we are saved "from" something or someone. Indeed, we are saved from our sins. We are washed by the shed blood of Jesus from our sins and regenerated (born again). In the "renewing" we are made new creatures in Christ.
One more word pertaining to our initial salvation experience: not only does Jesus save us from our sins; He IS our Salvation.
Those verses in Romans 8 are certainly wonderfully true. BUT there is ONE thing missing from that list ... MY SELF!!! It is true that Jesus said that He would never leave us nor forsake us. But it takes TWO to make a covenant. Just because Jesus promised that He would never leave us nor forsake us is NO guarantee that WE can never leave or forsake Him! We still have free will. God is not looking for a bunch of robots which have no choices. He desires for us to always continue to look unto Jesus, the Author and the Finisher of our faith.
When we accept Christ as our Savior, we do so out of our free will; we make a conscious decision, an act of our will. AFTER we accept Christ as our Savior we do NOT lose our free will. We still can exercise our free will. We can choose, by our actions, to live a carnal life, as did most of the church at Corinth. We can choose to reject the gift of the Holy Spirit, as some church groups do today. We can ALSO choose to reject the gift of life through Christ Jesus. God gave man free will, and God respects that free will. Before man there stands an open choice. It HAS to be so! Without choice there can be no love; a forced love is no love at all. If men deliberately choose to turn their backs on God, not even God will do anything about it.
Now I ask you ... Have you been born again? The answer is either "yes" or "no." There is no other possible answer. An answer of "I hope so" or "I think I am" or "how can anyone know that?" is an indication that the answer is "no." Some people claim to have accepted Christ as their Savior, yet they live in the tragic uncertainty of doubting or not knowing for a certainty their personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a very wide range of actual beliefs concerning what Christianity is all about. Some, who have their name on the role of some denominational church, call themselves Christians. They may "go to church" every Sunday, give money to the church, and try to live morally good lives. But all of that does not necessarily mean they are true Christians. Others may go to no church but still consider themselves Christians because they try to live a morally good life. We must know for a certainty that we have been born again.
Can we know for a certainty, without the slightest doubt, whether we have been born again? If so, how can we know? Scripture teaches us that we can know with absolute confidence that we have the life of God within us. Paul said, in
The very first hymn that the Lord quickened to me after He sovereignly apprehended me was, "Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine; Oh what a foretaste of glory Divine." Christianity is the only religion in the world when God comes to live inside of the true born-again believer. How can that happen? Nobody knows, but with God all things are possible!
Now if Paul, John, Peter and many other believers throughout history have known for a certainty that they have been born of the Spirit of God, then you and I can know that same certainty, because God is no respecter of persons. What amazing grace!
In our next message we want to share with you the next step in the life of a Christian after being born again ... namely baptism in water. We believe water baptism is one of the many truths that the Lord is restoring today.
So until next time, may the Lord keep us and bless us. May the Lord be very gracious to us all. And may the Lord continue to open our eyes and our ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to us.
Amen.
In Genesis, Chapter 2, God told Adam (and Eve) that they could freely eat of every tree in the Garden of Eden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God told them that if they ate of that tree, they would surely die. Well, they disobeyed God and they ate of that tree. They did not die physically at that time, but that part of their spirit that communicates with God died. In addition, they were banished from the Garden of Eden (paradise).
Just as cats have kittens and dogs have puppies, so the children of man and woman are born with the sin-nature of the fallen Adam and Eve. Every human being after the fall of Adam and Eve is born a sinner, not because of anything they have said or done, but simply because they have been born in the image of their parents (i.e., with a sin-nature or the image of man, not the image of God). That part of our spirit which was designed by God to communicate with Him is dead. That is why Jesus said, "Ye must be born again."
The world teaches us that we should be self-sufficient, have self-confidence, and trust in our education and our logical reasoning. The Bible teaches us just the opposite. It is only when we come to an end of our self and cry out, "Lord help me," that we can discover the true meaning of life. Unfortunately, it takes a crisis in our life before most of us cry out to the Lord for help. As long as everything seems to be going along fine, we see no need for a Lord and Savior. Many folks become "saved" or "born again" at the death of a loved one, or when we contract an incurable disease, or have financial ruin, or similar catastrophes. Wise men still seek Jesus before such catastrophes occur. God so loves us that He allows unpleasant things to happen to us so that we might turn to Him and cry out, "Help, Lord."
God created every human being. Therefore we all have an innate, ingrained, spiritual DNA that can never experience fulfillment until we return to the Creator ... the Lord Jesus Christ. That is why power, money, possessions, fame are never enough. We are always thinking more will be the answer. But it never is. That is the love of God in action.
Every religion has a reasonable "code of ethics" or principles that espouse leading a morally good life. That is well and good, but that does not make one a Christian. The Scriptural definition of a Christian is someone who has been "born again." When any person accepts, believes, and receives that Jesus died on the cross for them personally, that person is born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. We are baptized or immersed by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ, or the church, at the moment of conversion. From
Ephesians 1:13-14, "In whom [that is, Christ] ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory."
2 Corinthians 4:7 - But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
If we are born again, then we have the same Holy Spirit within us that Jesus had when He walked the face of the earth. We must make conscious decisions not to sin, and walk in the Spirit by the power of the Holy Ghost.
How is all of this possible? First of all, Jesus Christ made this possible.
John 3:16 says, "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
So God sent His Son, Jesus, to earth in the form of a man, with the same type of body and soul that we humans have. However, Jesus was not born on earth through the seed of man, but through the power of the Holy Spirit. Therefore He never had the same sin nature that we have. Jesus died on the cross of Calvary for you and for me and for the whole world. Sin cannot be in the presence of God, Who is holy. When Jesus was crucified and died on the cross, sin was crucified on that cross. But God the Father through the power of the Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead on the third day and He is seated at the right hand of the Father. Many scriptures attest to that truth. One such example is in 1 Corinthians 15, Verses 3 and 4.
"For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures."
Suppose I hold out my hand to you and say I give you this treasure that is in my hand. As far as I am concerned, I have given you that treasure, whatever it may be. But it is not really yours until you accept it. So it is with being born again. Jesus offers us everlasting life (being born again) if we simply accept, believe, and receive who He is and what He has done for us at Calvary and His resurrection.
Suppose a man was born blind and has never seen anything with his natural eyes. How could you explain to him what the color "red" is? It is not possible. That is no reflection on the blind man. He simply has never received sight. In like manner, it is impossible to explain to any human being the living reality of the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ unless their spirit has been quickened (made alive) by being born again. Christianity is therefore something which must be personally experienced by being born again. We can read all of the books on Christianity, go to church regularly, give money to the poor, read the Bible daily, and try to be a morally good person. But all of that plus two dollars gets us a cup of coffee in most places.
After I first obtained eye glasses I never knew things could look so clear and sharp. I had become accustomed to fuzzy eyesight and never knew that was not normal. So it is when we are born again. We can never know the reality of the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ until we are born again, by the power of His Holy Spirit.
Scripture teaches us that no man, except Jesus, could ever fulfill the law. But Jesus, as a man, fulfilled the law completely and perfectly. Likewise, no man can walk in and fulfill the Christian life except Christ and the Christ within the born-again believer. Therefore, being born again is only the first step in our walk as a Christian. We also must understand that in all things we are totally dependent upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Without the Lord we can do nothing of eternal value.
What is the result of being born again?
If we are born again, the Holy Spirit has transformed our hearts from indifference and hostility toward God to a love of God and a desire for His righteousness and holiness. The only way one can come to God and experience what it means to be "born again" is through repentance of sin and faith in Jesus Christ. We will have much more to say about repentance and faith in later messages.
In the natural or human realm there is the implantation of seed by the father, a delivery from the mother, and a family relationship subsequently enjoyed, with inheritance privileges. It is the same in the realm of the Spirit.
That is what happened when Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary. God the Father implanted the seed (the Holy Spirit) into Mary (who prophetically speaks of those called and chosen of God). The family is the Church or all those who have been born again. And the members of the Church, or the body of Christ, have an inheritance.
From Ephesians 1:3-12 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace; Wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; Having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself: That in the dispensation of the fulness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him: In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will: That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ."
The importance of being born again is shown in the Gospel of John, Chapter 3. We will start reading at Verse 1.
1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:2 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.
Nicodemus came by night. Most likely he was afraid to go to Jesus during the daytime because the Pharisees had nothing to do with Jesus. But why did Nicodemus come privately to Jesus at all? Probably because he sensed a hunger in his heart that Judaism could not fulfill. In any event it is much better to come to Christ by night rather than not at all!
3 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.
The word "see" means to "be aware of." Our eternal destiny depends on our decision as to whether we accept the marvelous grace of God extended to us. Jesus knew why Nicodemus had come to talk with Him. So Jesus began immediately to respond to the heart of Nicodemus.
4 Nicodemus saith unto Him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
We hope to answer that question during this session. For now, being born again is not a physical rebirth; it is a spiritual one.
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.
So the three prerequisites, which are necessary but not sufficient, for entering the Kingdom of God are: be born again, be born of water, and be born of the Spirit. We will elaborate on those 3 prerequisites and the Kingdom of God later. For now, we will simply say that being born again or being saved is not the same as walking in the Kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
There are many things that we all believe exist but aren't visible to the unaided human eye; for example, electricity, radio waves, television waves, air, oxygen, atoms, ultraviolet light, infrared, gravity, the mind, emotions, the entire universe, and God Himself. Why then should we doubt that there is a realm of the spirit? And why should we doubt that "in the beginning, God?"
9 Nicodemus answered and said unto Him, How can these things be?10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
Verse 13 is very remarkable! It says that Jesus is the only One who has ascended up to heaven; it also says that He came down from heaven; and at the SAME time when He came down from heaven He was also in heaven. That seems to indicate that heaven is not a natural, physical location but is in the realm of the Spirit. Of course Jesus spoke those words BEFORE Calvary! So He must have come down from heaven and ascended up to heaven at least one time before this. One of perhaps a number of instances of this must have been when Melchizedek appeared to Abraham in Genesis 14.
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:15 That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.16 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.
Note that God so loved the world that whosoever believes in His Son Jesus might have everlasting life. That says that God loves the Muslim as well as the Jew. Now Muslims believe that Jesus existed and that He was a prophet, but that is not sufficient to be born again.
17 For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.18 He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in[to] the name of the only begotten Son of God.19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. John 3:1-21
Now, we need to explore the question,
What Must We "Do" to Be Born Again?
One example is recorded in Acts, Chapter 10.
1 There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band,2 A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway. Acts 10:1-2
Cornelius was the first Gentile convert. Through Peter's ministry Cornelius was born again and was received into the fellowship of the Church. Likewise, in order to be born again, the answer does not consist simply in going to church every Sunday, trying to live a morally good life, reading the Bible so much every day, giving money to the church, praying every day, and fearing God. We are saved by grace, not by our good works. Reading from Acts, Chapter 16,
25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.26 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed.
27 And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.29 Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas,30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. Acts 16:25-31
Note that when the father of a house is born again, Jesus promises that everyone in that man's household will also be saved. That is a precious promise which we can count on.
Christian ministers use various methods to attempt to "save" non-believers. But what is the alternative to being saved? eternal separation from the Lord in the lake of fire. That answers the question of why we must be born again. Some ministers pass out Christian tracts or knock on doors. Other ministers have an "altar call" after each Sunday worship service, pleading for anyone who does not yet know the Lord to come forth so someone can pray for them. Some ministers ask the potential new Christian to "repeat after me" something called a "sinner's prayer." Others ask those who show interest in the Lord Jesus Christ whether they believe what the verses in Romans 19:9-10 say.
9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Romans 10:9-10
I have difficulty with all of those methods to try to get someone "saved." First of all, Jesus never told us to "go out and get them saved." He said, "Go out and make disciples." Big difference! Only the Lord can save. If we want to see people "saved," the best thing we can "do" is to let people see the Christ within us by our example ... by walking in those same activities that the early church walked in as recorded in Acts 2:42-46: they "continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul: And they continued daily with one accord in the temple, and broke bread from house to house"
Then, in Verse 47,
"... the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved."
When we do that which the Lord tells us to do, then the Lord will do that which only He can do. Only the Holy Spirit can convict a man of sin, and without that conviction no man can be saved.
The Lord Jesus will always respond to a cry from our heart to Him for help. The most important step we can take if we want to be born again is to cry out, "Help, Lord!" There is nothing we can "do" to deserve being born again. A more commonly used phrase in the Bible is that of being saved.
The Lord Jesus will always respond to a cry from our heart to Him for help. The most important step we can take if we want to be born again is to cry out, "Help, Lord!" There is nothing we can "do" to deserve being born again. A more commonly used phrase in the Bible is that of being saved.
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2:8-9
From those verses in Ephesians 2, we are saved by the amazing grace of God. We will share much more later about the grace of God. But the verse says we are saved by (His) grace through faith and that is not even our faith ... it is His faith which He gives to us. Again, we will have much more to share about faith in a later message.
Now, we could ask, is being born again the same as being saved? yes and no. When a baby is born in the natural realm, it is birthed at a specific point in time. Even though the birthing process may take up to several hours, medical doctors list a specific point in time when the baby is born. That time should be the time when the baby has left its original, dark state (the mother's womb) and first enters a new world, full of light. It is the same spiritually when we are born again.
Who [the Father] hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son. Colossians 1:13
When we are born again, we are translated into the kingdom of His dear Son. That kingdom is the Church, which is His Body ... the body of Christ.
Scripture indicates that we have been saved (provided we have identified with the death and resurrection of Jesus, we are BEING saved (a process), and we will be saved at some point in the future, IF we hold fast unto the end. We will share more about that in a later message.
So being born again is coincident with the initial salvation experience. The word "salvation" frequently carries a meaning of deliverance from outward dangers or enemies. In other words, we are saved "from" something or someone. Indeed, we are saved from our sins. We are washed by the shed blood of Jesus from our sins and regenerated (born again). In the "renewing" we are made new creatures in Christ.
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, ALL things are become new. 2 Corinthians 5:171 Peter 1:23 "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever."
One more word pertaining to our initial salvation experience: not only does Jesus save us from our sins; He IS our Salvation.
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? Psalm 27:1
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:35, 38-39
Those verses in Romans 8 are certainly wonderfully true. BUT there is ONE thing missing from that list ... MY SELF!!! It is true that Jesus said that He would never leave us nor forsake us. But it takes TWO to make a covenant. Just because Jesus promised that He would never leave us nor forsake us is NO guarantee that WE can never leave or forsake Him! We still have free will. God is not looking for a bunch of robots which have no choices. He desires for us to always continue to look unto Jesus, the Author and the Finisher of our faith.
When we accept Christ as our Savior, we do so out of our free will; we make a conscious decision, an act of our will. AFTER we accept Christ as our Savior we do NOT lose our free will. We still can exercise our free will. We can choose, by our actions, to live a carnal life, as did most of the church at Corinth. We can choose to reject the gift of the Holy Spirit, as some church groups do today. We can ALSO choose to reject the gift of life through Christ Jesus. God gave man free will, and God respects that free will. Before man there stands an open choice. It HAS to be so! Without choice there can be no love; a forced love is no love at all. If men deliberately choose to turn their backs on God, not even God will do anything about it.
Now I ask you ... Have you been born again? The answer is either "yes" or "no." There is no other possible answer. An answer of "I hope so" or "I think I am" or "how can anyone know that?" is an indication that the answer is "no." Some people claim to have accepted Christ as their Savior, yet they live in the tragic uncertainty of doubting or not knowing for a certainty their personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a very wide range of actual beliefs concerning what Christianity is all about. Some, who have their name on the role of some denominational church, call themselves Christians. They may "go to church" every Sunday, give money to the church, and try to live morally good lives. But all of that does not necessarily mean they are true Christians. Others may go to no church but still consider themselves Christians because they try to live a morally good life. We must know for a certainty that we have been born again.
Can we know for a certainty, without the slightest doubt, whether we have been born again? If so, how can we know? Scripture teaches us that we can know with absolute confidence that we have the life of God within us. Paul said, in
Galatians 2:20: "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."
Paul also said, in
2 Timothy 1:12, "for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day."
What had Paul committed unto the Lord? his very life, his soul. What is "that day?" the day when the Lord returns to earth to rule and reign for 1000 years.
The Apostle John, the one who leaned on the breast of Jesus, uses the word "know" more times than any other writer of the Bible: 85 times in the Gospel of John and 32 times in the first epistle of John. For example, in
The Apostle John, the one who leaned on the breast of Jesus, uses the word "know" more times than any other writer of the Bible: 85 times in the Gospel of John and 32 times in the first epistle of John. For example, in
1 John 5:13 "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God."
(believe into the character, the nature of the risen Christ Jesus.)
This confidence is not based on inner feelings or outer signs. Rather, this assurance is founded upon the promises of a faithful God and His inspired Word. It does not depend upon the amount of our faith but on the object of our faith ... Christ Himself. By grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
Another set of verses that emphasize how we can know that we know him is 1 John 2, starting at Verse 3,
This confidence is not based on inner feelings or outer signs. Rather, this assurance is founded upon the promises of a faithful God and His inspired Word. It does not depend upon the amount of our faith but on the object of our faith ... Christ Himself. By grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
Another set of verses that emphasize how we can know that we know him is 1 John 2, starting at Verse 3,
3 And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.4 He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.5 But whoso keepeth His word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in Him.
6 He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked.
The very first hymn that the Lord quickened to me after He sovereignly apprehended me was, "Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine; Oh what a foretaste of glory Divine." Christianity is the only religion in the world when God comes to live inside of the true born-again believer. How can that happen? Nobody knows, but with God all things are possible!
Now if Paul, John, Peter and many other believers throughout history have known for a certainty that they have been born of the Spirit of God, then you and I can know that same certainty, because God is no respecter of persons. What amazing grace!
In our next message we want to share with you the next step in the life of a Christian after being born again ... namely baptism in water. We believe water baptism is one of the many truths that the Lord is restoring today.
So until next time, may the Lord keep us and bless us. May the Lord be very gracious to us all. And may the Lord continue to open our eyes and our ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to us.
Amen.
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