How Must I be Born Again?
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| Sound Doctrine leads to Sound Living |
A doctrinal study of "Born Again"
requires a preliminary sketch of the sin problem—the reason for the need to he
born again. Lucifer, son of the morning (Isaiah 14:12), the anointed cherub of
Eden, after falling from perfection, was found with iniquity (Ezekiel
28:12-15). By that iniquity, he changed the truth of God into a lie, deceiving
Adam and Eve, Their disobedience and death resulted in a change of their
nature—known as the "adamic nature." It is
that sin nature that is inbred in all mankind,
"Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in
sin did my mother conceive me" (Psalm 51:5)
This passage does not imply that the act of
marriage (sex) is sin, but that the adamic or sin nature is passed from the
father to the child through the bloodline. This is why Jesus had to be born of
a virgin, by the Holy Ghost.
"Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into
the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all
have sinned… and come short of the glory of God" (Rom, 5:12; 3:23), the
devil goes after the head (the man, father, husband) because he knows like a
boxer if you hit the head everything underneath the head will fall too,
It is impossible to give a simple, complete
definition of "sin," It does include the setting and fulfilling of
one's desires on "earthly" (Colossians 3:2), "things of the
world" (1John 2:15), The Bible literally expresses sin as being:
"All unrighteousness" (Romans 1:29).
"Transgression of the Law" (1John 3:4)
"Whatsoever is not of faith" (Romans
14:23), "Knowing to do good and doing it not" (James 4:17).
Sin's penalty is absolute; therefore, "to
obey [God] is better than sacrifice" (1 Sam, 15:22), hearing the Word
only, is a deceiving of oneself (James 1:22), ".,,If ye live after the
flesh, ye shall die... " (Rom, 8:13),
"The soul that sinneth, it shall die"
(Ezek. 18:4 ),
Man and his inherent sin-nature + sinful living
= death. Christ, incarnate, and His inherent nature of "holiness"
(Romans 1:4) + holy living= life! The equations are supported by the Word. To
be made righteous is to be born again the direct result of repentance,
justification, and regeneration, To be born again is to have passed from death
to life.
"For as by one man's disobedience many were
made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many he made righteous"
(Rom, 5:19).
"He that heareth my word, and believeth on
him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation;
but is passed from death unto life" (John 5:24).
A. REPENTANCE
"Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise
perish" (Luke 13:5). Repentance is the only means of escape from sin, and
sin's penalty,
"And at the times of this ignorance God
winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent" (Acts 17:30),
"Repent ye therefore, and be converted,
that your sins may he blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from
the presence of the Lord" (Acts 3:19),
Repentance is the message of John the Baptist,
Jesus, the disciples, and the church today. To repent is to change one's sinful
life style to the righteous life style that is based upon the written and
Living Word, Jesus Christ! Repentance requires faith in the shed blood of
Christ, without which there is no remission for sin. True repentance comes by
conviction and godly sorrow.
1. Conviction (Read Acts 2:14-38; 6:8-15;
7:1-60,)
After Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost,
the Holy Ghost convicted the multitude, Their hearts were pierced with a
consciousness of guilt and awareness that Jehovah's judgment condemned them to
the penalty of being put to death,
2. Godly Sorrow A positive reaction to the
spirit of conviction is revealed in the following verses:
"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit:
a broken and a contrite heart, 0 God, thou wilt not despise" (Psa, 51:17),
When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring
all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my
moisture is turned into the drought of summer Selah. I acknowledged my sin
unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my
transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah
(Ps 32:3-5).
"For godly sorrow worketh repentance to
salvation not to be repented of but the sorrow of the world worketh death"
(2 Cor, 7:10),
Negative responses to conviction include
resisting the truth and quenching the Spirit, which result in hardening of the
heart, This is followed by rebellion and sinful conduct until the guilt complex
eases with time, More preaching brings more conviction, Continued negative
response hardens the heart and may result in a reprobate mind, Yielding to the
spirit of conviction leads to godly sorrow, followed by repentance,
Experiencing godly sorrow, Peter's multitude
asked, "What shall we do?" Stephen's council resisted the spirit of
conviction to the extreme, and stoned the messenger of God to death, The
negative reaction to conviction did result in sinful conduct.
3. Act of Repentance
Repentance is the act of repenting—being born
again. To repent is to: 1, Call upon the name of the Lord (Acts 2:21), 2. Make
confession of sins (Psalm 32:5; Luke 18:13); 3. Ask God for forgiveness of sins
committed (1John 1:9); 4, Forsake/turn from sin (Acts 26:18); 5, Turn to
righteousness (1 Timothy 6:11),
All of the above are essential to repentance,
Substitution of any of these steps " is a way which seemeth right unto a
man" ends up being the ways of death (Proverbs 14:12), "He that
believeth on me, as the scripture hath said,,." (John 7:38), is the only
means by which the new birth, (born again) becomes a reality.
B. JUSTIFICATION
Death's penalty must be paid, It takes more than
just words—asking for forgiveness and promising to sin no more does not pay it,
The sinner is not set free until he accepts the mercy of the Judge, Behold the
Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world, The risen Christ is
interceding at the Judge's right hand,
"..,A man is not justified by the works of
the law, but… If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness"(Gal. 2:16; 1 John 1:9),
"Let the wicked forsake his way, and the
unrighteous man his thoughts: and… return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy
upon him… for he will abundantly pardon" (Isa, 55:7), "In whom we
have… forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace" (Eph,
1:7),
"Therefore being justified by faith, we
have peace with God... justified by his blood" and "by his
grace" (Rom, 5:1, 9; 3:24),
The experience of justification, (being forgiven
and cleansed of every transgression, set free from guilt and sin's penalty) is
instantly followed by regeneration,
C. REGENERATION
"And you, being dead in your sins hath he
quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses" (Col,
2:13),
"If any man be in Christ, he is a new
creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new"
(2 Cor, 5:17),
You who were dead in sins have been quickened,
made alive, regenerated! The regeneration of man (not the world) is a singular
act of God by the power of the Holy Ghost. Regeneration is the experience of
the rebirth of the inner man into a new creature. It is also expressed as
putting on Christ (Romans 13:14), and being born of God (I Peter 1:23),
D. BORN AGAIN
"But as many as received him, to them gave
he power to become the sons of God, even to them. that believe on his name:
Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of
man, but of God" (John 1:12-13).
Except a man he born of water and of the Spirit,
he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which it born of the flesh is flesh;
and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (John 3:5-6),
"Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must
be born again" (John 3:7).
The observations are:
1. The "Born Again" are the sons of
God, "for the Spirit bears witness with our spirit, that we are the
children of God" (Romans 8:16),
2. It is the spirit that is born again; not the
flesh,
3. You must he born again, to enter the kingdom
of heaven.
The born-again experience (a series of
experiences enabling one to pass from spiritual death to spiritual life),
embodies all the requirements prescribed by the Word of God. It is also
expressed as "getting saved," becoming a "believer," a
"Christian," or a "disciple," A true disciple not only is
born into the family of God, but follows Christ.
Being born again means that, following Holy
Ghost conviction and godly sorrow, the sinner asks forgiveness and turns from
sin to righteousness. This brings about the peace of God that passes all
understanding, and regeneration whereby one becomes a new creature in Christ,
The old life style is "passed away," and "all things are become
new" (2 Corinthians 5:17)!
If you have never accepted Jesus Christ here are three steps you need to take to be saved:
You must admit you are a sinner, confess your sin to Jesus, repent (turn from all you know is wrong), ask Jesus to come in your heart, and begin to follow Jesus by reading and obeying his word and go to a bible believing church that teaches his word. May God through Christ bless you!
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