“…Except a man (woman) be born again, he (she) cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).
“…Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5).
“…Except you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:3).
“…except you repent, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3,5).
The New Birth is a necessity to being saved. Through the New Birth you come into the right relationship to God. The New Birth is necessary before you can claim any of the benefits of the Bible.
The New Birth is not: confirmation, church membership, water baptism, the taking of sacraments, observing religious duties, and intellectual reception of Christianity, orthodoxy of faith, going to church, saying prayers, reading the Bible, being moral, being cultured or refined, doing good deed, doing your best, nor any of the many other things some men and woman are trusting in to save them.
Nicodemus, whom Jesus addressed concerning the New Birth, possessed most of the qualities we just listed, but Jesus said to him, “You must be born again” (John 3:7).
The thief on the cross, and others Jesus forgave while on earth, were saved without these things. They simply did the one necessary thing – they accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior by repenting and turning to God with the whole heart as a little child.
Good Works Will Not Save You
One who is born again will automatically have the external evidences of a good life by virtue of the New Birth. But there are millions, it is sad to say, who are trusting in good works to save them. And millions will die and be lost without the New Birth because they have been misled concerning this experience of being born again.
It is “all important” that we pay personal attention to our eternal welfare and that we not trust the best of men in the matter. If we permit men to mislead us in eternal matters and are lost – it will be too late to personally see after our welfare. Do something about it now!
Don’t Be Deceived
Don’t take the attitude that you cannot be deceived. Don’t take the attitude that your church is the only right one and that it cannot mislead you. Your church may be right in its teaching concerning the New Birth. But make certain by going to the Bible yourself, and seeing with your own eyes, and knowing with your own heart, that you are right with God, that you have the real New Birth and that you are living right with God every day.
There is no purpose served in fooling yourself. You are either born again or you are not! You are either really saved or you are being deceived into thinking you are, and you are lost. You know your own life and your true relationship to God. So get the facts settled that you are a genuinely saved person, and in present contact with God. For culture, refinement, and outward correctness of life in the organized church or out of it’ cannot take the place of the New Birth.
For the trouble, you see, is in the heart:
Jesus said, “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, and evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man” (Mark 7:21-23).
The trouble is in the heart, the inward man, the spirit. Merely to reform the outward man or the outward life will not save you. An artist could put a beautifully colored coating of wax on the outside of a rotten apple, but the apple would still be rotten at heart. One bite into it would be a bite into decay.
Out of Him (out of Christ), every man is rotten in the heart. And mere outward correctness of life, apart from Christ, is artificial and the practice of hypocrites. And Jesus said of those He called hypocrites, “…for you are like unto white sepulchers, with indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness” (Matt. 23:27).
From Death Unto Life
The Bible is a mystery book until we find the key that opens it. Then it ceases to be a mystery and becomes a message. There are two words which open up the Bible to our understanding and those words are life and death. Death has been a mystery in all ages. Science stands utterly mute in its presence, unable to explain it. Philosophy turns poetical when it meets this dread enemy of man. And theology has dealt only in generalities when attempting to explain it.
Death, that bloodhound-like foe, began its work at the cradle of the human race, and has followed the human race down through the stream of the centuries until the present hour. Death was not a part of the creation, nor a part of God’s original plan. Even physical death is an enemy of God and an enemy of man. The Bible says in First Corinthians 15:26 that physical death is the last enemy that shall be put under foot.
Before we can understand the nature of death, however, we must understand the nature of man. Man is not a physical being. Man (Woman) is a spirit being. In fact man is a spirit, who possesses a soul, and lives in a body! (1 Cor. 5:23).
When Jesus told Nicodemus, “You must be born again” (John 3:7), Nicodemus was thinking naturally and he asked, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?” And Jesus explained, “That which is born of flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:4,6).
The New Birth is the rebirth of the human spirit…
The real man is spirit. The spirit operates through the soul (man’s intellect, emotions, and will). And the soul in turn operates through the physical body. Now the man (who is spirit) and his soul lives in a physical body. At physical death, the man and his soul leave the physical body and go to their eternal home.
Receive Jesus as Savior, Pray this prayer:
Dear heavenly Father, I come to You in the Name of Jesus. Your Word says, “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out”, so I know You won’t cast me out, but You take me in and I thank You for it.
You said in Your Word: “If you shalt confess with my mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in my heart that God has raised Him from the dead, I Shall Be Saved! For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
I believe in my heart that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and believe He was raised from the dead for my justification. I am calling upon His Name – the Name of Jesus! So I know, Father, that You save me now. Your Word says: “With the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
I do believe with my heart, and I confess Jesus now as my Lord and savior. Therefore I am saved! Thank You, Thank You, Father!
(John 6:37), (Rom. 10:9,13) (Rom. 10:10)
Source: The New Birth by Kenneth Hagin
Excerpt permission granted by Faith Library Publications
