The New Birth
By
Pastor C.O. Stadsklev
It is becoming more and more important each day that we all understand what is meant by the new birth. For while no man knoweth the day or the hour when the Son of man will return, it is very evident from prophetic Scripture and the signs the Lord Himself gave us that this age is very rapidly drawing to a close. A new birth or a new creation in any realm is practically the same. When a person is born again, which Jesus said we must be, the Spirit of God enters the heart and life of that person, and this union produces a new creation. This is what the Apostle Paul had in mind when he wrote: “If any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new creature:...behold, all things are become new.” The New Birth is a New Creation. With the new creation, there are always new desires, new likes and new dislikes. After a person has been born again, he will have a dislike for those things he once enjoyed, and enjoy those things he formerly disliked. In I John 3:14 we read, “We know that we have passed from death unto life (that is, been born again) because we love the brethren.” Individuals who have been born again love and desire to be with others who have been born again. This verse also says: “He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.” In the last verse of this chapter the Apostle John was inspired to write,”...and hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the spirit which he hath given us.”
Many sincere, but uninformed and unthoughtful people think it is presumptuous and arrogant for people to say they know they are saved. This all depends upon what basis or reason one has for being confident that he is saved and will enter heaven.
If this confidence is blamed on a person’s character or conduct, it is not only presumptuous, it is an insult to God and makes the Word of God a lie. On the other hand if this assurance of salvation is based upon the substitutionary suffering and death of the Christ and the promises of God, then to doubt one’s salvation is to make God a liar and the sacrifice of the Christ as inadequate to atone for sin. To prove this statement I shall read, “If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater (that is, if we believe one another, we surely ought to believe God) for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his son.” Verse 11 says, “And this is the record, that God hath(present tense) given to us eternal life, and this life is in his son.” Verse 13, “These things have I written unto you, that believe on the name of the Son of God.” In verse 10 of this chapter the Apostle John was inspired to write, “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave his Son.” Why in the world will you insist that we cannot know that we are saved and thus make God a liar and make it impossible for you to have assurance of eternal salvation? Jesus Himself said as recorded in John 5:24, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not (and shall not) come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” John 3:36 reads as follows, “He that believeth on the Son hath (present tense) everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.” In view of these and many other Scriptures you must do one of two things: You must either admit that people can know that they are saved while here on earth or else be guilty of making God a liar.
In the 23rd verse of the first chapter of I Peter we learn how we are born again. It says, “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.” In James 1:18 we read, “Of his own will begat he us by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” These and other Scriptures make it plain that it is the inspired word of God when received in a person’s heart that regenerates that person. You can be born again now as you read if you will receive the Christ as your personal Saviour. Listen to this verse in John 1:12, “But as many as received him (the Christ) to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” Perhaps some are asking, “How does a person receive the Christ?” The life or Spirit of Christ is in the inspired Word of God as the spirit of seed or corn is the kernel of corn. Therefore as the Apostles Peter and John wrote, we receive the Christ and are born again when we receive and trust the inspired words of Christ. If you will thus receive John 1:12 you will, as the Apostle John said, soon have the witness of the Spirit in your own heart that you are a child of God. Whatever you do, do not stop short of the witness of the Holy Spirit in your heart. You became the child of your parents, as the apostle stated, by corruptible seed. You became the child of God through incorruptible seed, the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. The Apostle Peter also tells us how we are born again in II Peter 1:4, “Wherefore are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature.” In other words, we are made partakers of Divine nature or born again by receiving the exceeding great and precious promises found in the Bible. One of these promises is John 1:12. Believe it, receive it for yourself and it will impart the nature of God into your heart and soul. The life you received from your parents is corruptible, that is, it is sinful by nature, and subject to disease and death. The life you receive through the life-giving promises of God is incorruptible life. It liveth and abideth forever.
We must never lose sight of the fact that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. This can be proven by astronomy, anthropology, biology, geology, and every other science known to man. However, the most satisfying and most convincing proof that the Bible is the inspired Word of God that any person can have is the change of heart and life a person experiences when he is born again by the inspired Word of God.
The new birth is a biological necessity, that is, our human life or nature makes it absolutely necessary for us to be born again, before we can enter or even enjoy heaven. While every person who has received Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour by receiving and believing the life giving Word of God as his very own has the seed of God abiding in him and will one day be transformed into the image of God’s own Son. Unfortunately, not all Christians shew forth the new nature, which is of God, sufficiently to cause others to see their need of regeneration. However, this does not excuse or justify any sinner, for anyone who will read the Scriptures will soon discover his need for regeneration. Often unregenerate people say, “I am just as good as that Christian.” Maybe you are and for various reasons, but the real difference between you and the weak Christian is that he, in spite of his faults, yea, perhaps because of his faults, is trusting in the blood of Christ for salvation: while you by comparing yourself with others make it plain that you are trusting in your own goodness which in the sight of God is an abomination and an insult. You may be able to keep the weeds plowed under in your potato patch but unless you plant potatoes, you will have no potato crop. Your neighbor who has planted potatoes but has allowed weeds to grow and almost hide the potato vines will at least have a few potatoes. As seed does not take root on hard surface ground, so the Word of God which is the seed of God does not take root in unrepentant and unbelieving hearts. As wheat while in the granary bin does not bring forth a golden harvest of wheat, just so a head full of Bible knowledge does not produce regeneration. It is faith and not mere knowledge that saves.
By
Pastor C.O. Stadsklev
It is becoming more and more important each day that we all understand what is meant by the new birth. For while no man knoweth the day or the hour when the Son of man will return, it is very evident from prophetic Scripture and the signs the Lord Himself gave us that this age is very rapidly drawing to a close. A new birth or a new creation in any realm is practically the same. When a person is born again, which Jesus said we must be, the Spirit of God enters the heart and life of that person, and this union produces a new creation. This is what the Apostle Paul had in mind when he wrote: “If any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new creature:...behold, all things are become new.” The New Birth is a New Creation. With the new creation, there are always new desires, new likes and new dislikes. After a person has been born again, he will have a dislike for those things he once enjoyed, and enjoy those things he formerly disliked. In I John 3:14 we read, “We know that we have passed from death unto life (that is, been born again) because we love the brethren.” Individuals who have been born again love and desire to be with others who have been born again. This verse also says: “He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.” In the last verse of this chapter the Apostle John was inspired to write,”...and hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the spirit which he hath given us.”
Many sincere, but uninformed and unthoughtful people think it is presumptuous and arrogant for people to say they know they are saved. This all depends upon what basis or reason one has for being confident that he is saved and will enter heaven.
If this confidence is blamed on a person’s character or conduct, it is not only presumptuous, it is an insult to God and makes the Word of God a lie. On the other hand if this assurance of salvation is based upon the substitutionary suffering and death of the Christ and the promises of God, then to doubt one’s salvation is to make God a liar and the sacrifice of the Christ as inadequate to atone for sin. To prove this statement I shall read, “If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater (that is, if we believe one another, we surely ought to believe God) for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his son.” Verse 11 says, “And this is the record, that God hath(present tense) given to us eternal life, and this life is in his son.” Verse 13, “These things have I written unto you, that believe on the name of the Son of God.” In verse 10 of this chapter the Apostle John was inspired to write, “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave his Son.” Why in the world will you insist that we cannot know that we are saved and thus make God a liar and make it impossible for you to have assurance of eternal salvation? Jesus Himself said as recorded in John 5:24, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not (and shall not) come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” John 3:36 reads as follows, “He that believeth on the Son hath (present tense) everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.” In view of these and many other Scriptures you must do one of two things: You must either admit that people can know that they are saved while here on earth or else be guilty of making God a liar.
In the 23rd verse of the first chapter of I Peter we learn how we are born again. It says, “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.” In James 1:18 we read, “Of his own will begat he us by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” These and other Scriptures make it plain that it is the inspired word of God when received in a person’s heart that regenerates that person. You can be born again now as you read if you will receive the Christ as your personal Saviour. Listen to this verse in John 1:12, “But as many as received him (the Christ) to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” Perhaps some are asking, “How does a person receive the Christ?” The life or Spirit of Christ is in the inspired Word of God as the spirit of seed or corn is the kernel of corn. Therefore as the Apostles Peter and John wrote, we receive the Christ and are born again when we receive and trust the inspired words of Christ. If you will thus receive John 1:12 you will, as the Apostle John said, soon have the witness of the Spirit in your own heart that you are a child of God. Whatever you do, do not stop short of the witness of the Holy Spirit in your heart. You became the child of your parents, as the apostle stated, by corruptible seed. You became the child of God through incorruptible seed, the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. The Apostle Peter also tells us how we are born again in II Peter 1:4, “Wherefore are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature.” In other words, we are made partakers of Divine nature or born again by receiving the exceeding great and precious promises found in the Bible. One of these promises is John 1:12. Believe it, receive it for yourself and it will impart the nature of God into your heart and soul. The life you received from your parents is corruptible, that is, it is sinful by nature, and subject to disease and death. The life you receive through the life-giving promises of God is incorruptible life. It liveth and abideth forever.
We must never lose sight of the fact that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. This can be proven by astronomy, anthropology, biology, geology, and every other science known to man. However, the most satisfying and most convincing proof that the Bible is the inspired Word of God that any person can have is the change of heart and life a person experiences when he is born again by the inspired Word of God.
The new birth is a biological necessity, that is, our human life or nature makes it absolutely necessary for us to be born again, before we can enter or even enjoy heaven. While every person who has received Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour by receiving and believing the life giving Word of God as his very own has the seed of God abiding in him and will one day be transformed into the image of God’s own Son. Unfortunately, not all Christians shew forth the new nature, which is of God, sufficiently to cause others to see their need of regeneration. However, this does not excuse or justify any sinner, for anyone who will read the Scriptures will soon discover his need for regeneration. Often unregenerate people say, “I am just as good as that Christian.” Maybe you are and for various reasons, but the real difference between you and the weak Christian is that he, in spite of his faults, yea, perhaps because of his faults, is trusting in the blood of Christ for salvation: while you by comparing yourself with others make it plain that you are trusting in your own goodness which in the sight of God is an abomination and an insult. You may be able to keep the weeds plowed under in your potato patch but unless you plant potatoes, you will have no potato crop. Your neighbor who has planted potatoes but has allowed weeds to grow and almost hide the potato vines will at least have a few potatoes. As seed does not take root on hard surface ground, so the Word of God which is the seed of God does not take root in unrepentant and unbelieving hearts. As wheat while in the granary bin does not bring forth a golden harvest of wheat, just so a head full of Bible knowledge does not produce regeneration. It is faith and not mere knowledge that saves.