“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.” (John 5:24 NKJV)
The sinful and corrupt nature we inherited through physical birth cannot be reformed, rehabilitated, repaired, or refined by religious rites, regulations, or institutions. A new and holy nature must replace it through a new or spiritual birth.
In Part 1, we began examining the new or spiritual birth.
First, the new or spiritual birth is spiritual regeneration or recreation.
The new birth is not a gradual reformation, refinement, or improvement of your sinful and corrupt self or nature but an instant transformation of your nature. It is spiritual regeneration or recreation of your heart (2 Cor. 5:17)
Second, the new birth or spiritual birth is deliverance from the power of Sin and Satan.
The new or spiritual birth is a spiritual deliverance from the power of darkness (the dominion of Sin and Satan). It is a spiritual relocation or translation from Satan’s kingdom into God’s Kingdom (Col. 1:12-14).
In Part 2, we shall continue to consider what the Scripture teaches about the New Birth Experience.
Third, the new birth or spiritual birth is deliverance from spiritual death.
Being born again is being quickened or made alive by the Holy Spirit. It is receiving the very life of God—eternal life into your heart. It is becoming a partaker of the divine life and nature of God. It is simply passing or crossing over from death to life (Eph. 2:1).
John 5:24 – NKJV
24 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.
1 John 5:11-12 – NKJV
11 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
Fourth, the new or spiritual birth is baptism into Christ by the Holy Spirit.
Being born again is being baptized or immersed into the Body of Christ by the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 12:13 – NKJV
13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body–whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free–and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.
Romans 6:3-4 – NKJV
3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
It is a spiritual union with Christ. It is becoming one spirit with Christ.
The Scripture states, “But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.” (1 Cor. 6:17 NKJV).
To be born again is to be spiritually plucked out of Adam and engrafted into Christ by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 11:24).
Lastly, the product of the new birth is not a better, refined, polished, or improved old self, but an entirely new creation in Christ.
Being born again is not becoming a more religious or a better person but becoming an entirely new person in Christ, “created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph. 4:24 RSV).
Beloved, being born again is not the same thing as working for God, but it is God working in you, recreating you, or implanting a new heart within you (Eze. 36:25-28, Jer. 32:38-40, Heb. 8:10, 10:16).
The new birth is not a physical or religious experience. It is not the same thing as church confirmation or ordination. Neither is it equivalent to joining a religious group, organization, or denomination.
Spiritual birth is not a spiritual heritage or legacy to be bequeathed to your children. It is not hereditary or transferable. You cannot experience the new birth for someone else; neither can someone else experience it for you.
Spiritual birth is God changing your spiritual state, status, condition, and position. It is God transforming you from a sinner to a saint, from a slave to a son, and translating you from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of the Son of His love, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Friend, you can have this transformative experience today by believing and confessing that Christ Jesus is your Lord and Savior.
Prayer:
Thank You, Lord, for transforming me today from a sinner to a saint and translating me from the kingdom of darkness into Your Kingdom, in Jesus’ name. Amen.