Have You Been Born Again?

WE MUST BE BORN AGAIN

Have you been born again? The question is not "Have you joined a church?" Nor is it, "Are you trying to do your best?" Nor is it, “Do you have religion?" The correct answer means one will go to Heaven when they die. John 3:3 in the New Testament states, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" We enter the physical world by birth. Likewise, spiritual life begins with a new birth. There is no other way to become part of God's family. Neither education, nor cultivation, nor reformation, nor "turning over a new leaf," will accomplish this. What is needed is not a new "leaf" but a new "life"! "Ye must be born again" (John 3:7). A New Nature Needed By physical birth we become partakers of the human nature; by being born again we become "partakers of the divine nature", it says in 2 Peter 1:4. A Christian is the product of a divine "begetting", says James 1:18. The second birth is not an improvement of the old nature; it is the imparting of an entirely new nature. The old nature is hopelessly corrupt and incapable of ever being made fit for His presence, says Romans 3:9-20 and 8:7. The new birth requires a creative act of the Holy Spirit. "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature," says 2 Corinthians 5:17 and repeated in Ephesians 2:10. Not Trying But Trusting Trying to follow Christ" is not Christianity. Christianity is not an imitation of Christ; it is the indwelling of Christ.

Christianity is not trying to do anything. It is trusting Christ who has done it all. He has "finished the work" and there is nothing left to do but simply to receive and trust Him. He shed His precious blood on the cross and the work is all done once and forever! Cease trying and begin trusting! What Must I Do To Be Saved? To get “saved”, we must simply "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ", according to Acts 16:31. "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God", says 1 John 5:1. "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," says John 1:12,13. We are born again and become a Christian by trusting a Person, receiving a Person. The very moment we do this, the Lord Jesus Christ comes in and life begins! What Is Meant By "Believe"? To "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ" means more than simply believing the historic facts concerning Him. Intellectual belief about Christ is not sufficient. The belief that brings salvation must be with the heart, with the whole being, states Romans 10:10. This belief also includes repentance: "Repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ," says Acts 20:21. "God ... now commandeth all men everywhere to repent," says Acts 17:30. The faith which saves includes the necessity to repent, and to receive Christ as Savior and Lord, to rest upon Him alone for salvation. It means we are to trust Him so utterly and completely that, if He should fail, there would be no hope at all! May I Know That I Am Born Again? This is an important point. We know that we are born again by the testimony of God's Word. God says in John 54, "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." Have you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ as explained by God's Word? If so you are saved, you are "born again," you have "passed from death unto life." God says so! Take God at His Word, and go on your way rejoicing! One Final Word You may belong to a church, you may be trying to do the best you can, and you may be striving to live right. Your outward life may be the model of moral correctness, and you may be looked up to, honored, revered and respected. You may teach in the Sunday school, read the Bible, sing, shout, feel happy, and all the rest. But if you have never been born again, you are still in your sins and a stranger the Lord Jesus Christ. If you have not been born again, you are just as lost as if you had never heard of Christ.