ARE YOU BORN AGAIN? This is one of the most important questions in religion. Jesus Christ says, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” – (John 3:3). Are you born again? It is not enough to reply, “I belong to the church; and I suppose I am.” Thousands of nominal Christians have none of the marks and signs of being born again which the scripture has given us. Would you like to know the marks and signs of being born again? Give me your attention, and I will show them to you out of the first epistle of John. First of all, John says, “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin;” and again, “Whosoever is born of God sinneth not.” – (1 John 3:9; 5:18). A man born again, or regenerate, does not commit sin as a habit. He no longer sins with his heart and will and whole inclination, as an unregenerate man does. There was probably a time when he did not think whether his actions were sinful or not, and never felt grieved after doing evil. There was no quarrel between him and sin; they were friends. Now he hates sin, flees from it, fights against it, counts it his greatest plague, groans under the burden of its presence, mourns when he falls under its influence, and longs to be delivered from it altogether. In one word, sin no longer pleases him, nor is even a matter of indifference; it has become the abominable thing which he hates. He cannot prevent its dwelling within him. If he said he had no sin, there would be no truth in him, 1 John 1:8. But he can say that he cordially abhors it, and the great desire of his soul is not to commit sin at all. He cannot prevent bad thoughts arising within him, and shortcomings, omissions and defects appearing, both in his words and actions. He knew, as James says, that “In many things we offend all,” James 3:2. But he can say truly, and as in the sight of God, that these things are a daily grief and sorrow to him, and that his whole nature does not consent unto them. I place this mark before you. What would the Apostle say about you? Are you born again? Secondly, John says, “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God.” – (1 John 5:1). A man born again, or regenerate, then, believes that Jesus Christ is the only Saviour by whom his soul can be pardoned; that He is the divine person appointed by God the Father for this very purpose, and that beside Him there is no Saviour at all. In himself he sees nothing but unworthiness, but in Christ he sees ground for the fullest confidence, and trusting in Him he believes that his sins are all forgiven. He believes for the sake of Christ’s finished work and death upon the cross, he is reckoned righteous in God’s sight, and may look forward to death and judgment without alarm. He may have his fears and doubts. He may sometimes tell you he feels as if he had no faith at all. But ask him whether he is willing to trust anything instead of Christ and see what he will say. Ask him whether he will rest his hopes of eternal life on his own goodness, his own amendments, his prayers, his minister, or his church, and see what he will reply. Ask him whether he will give up Christ, and place his confidence in any other way of salvation. Depend upon it, he would say that though he does feel weak and bad, he would not give up Christ for all the world. Depend upon it, he would say he found a preciousness in Christ, and that he found nowhere else, and that he must cling to Him. I place this mark also before you. What would the Apostle say about you? Are you born again? Friends we need to assess ourselves to see if we have these two marks of being born again in our lives. We need to be honest to admit our sinfulness. We have broken God’s commandments, even since we were born into this world. We cannot deny that hitherto, we have been best friends to sinful habits, evil desires and immoral passions of our bodies. We are all sinners (“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” – Romans 3:23) with a penalty of death and eternal condemnation and separation from God hanging over us(“For the wages of sin is death…” – Romans 6:23). Friends, a honest admission of this inglorious state of our lives is the first step to our having this new birth and regeneration. The next step is for us to believe that it was for our sins that Jesus Christ died on the cross. It is for us to believe that this is the only payment for sin that is acceptable to God to which we might be pardoned, forgiven and made anew. Our self-righteousness is as filthy rags before God (Isaiah 64:6), and therefore we could never be saved by our own merits but by the mercy of God. When we accept these facts and put our faith in Jesus Christ and cry out to God for mercy and for pardon and forgiveness of our sins, then He forgives us and gives us a new life and we become born again, showing forth the marks we have enumerated. My friend, this is your day to be born again and experience a spiritual rebirth, pray to God now and admit you are a guilty sinner in need of His mercy and forgiveness through your faith in Jesus Christ. Pray this prayer with all fervency and contrition, until the Holy Spirit testifies with your spirit that you are now born again and a child of God. I also took this step and today I encourage you to settle this matter with your God. Thank you for giving attention to read this and much more thanks for taking steps to get these marks of being born again.
Posted on: Fri, 19 Jul 2013 07:05:22 +0000