THE NEW BIRTH IS A SUPERNATURAL HAPPENING THAT HAPPENS TO US

^
part nine

(click "labels" on Born Again for the total posts on this series)

Nicodemus knew Jesus was an authentic divine person, but that doesn’t save anyone. You can be amazed by all the Binny Hinn, you can have an old heart and be amazed by what you see happen in some of these signs and wonders. It’s possible to be lost and believe miracles are from God. The devil knew that. Jesus said to him, "Ye must still be born again."

The key is not saying you agree with what Jesus does, but by experiencing the supernatural reality in your own life. Can I say, the new birth, salvation, is not natural, but the supernatural. "That which is born of the flesh, is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." The Spirit is not a part of this earthly world. What happens in the new birth doesn’t happen in the natural realm, but in the supernatural realm. God is God and He is the instantaneous cause of the new birth

• The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. God the Holy Spirit must come upon you and transport new life into existence.

Here is the first point of the New Birth. There is a supernatural work by the Holy Spirit to bring spiritual life into being where it did not exist. As Jesus said in John 6:63, "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all."

You know Jesus is that life that the Holy Spirit gives. If God gives you spiritual life, that life is Jesus Christ the Lord. Jesus said in John 14:6 "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 6:35, "I am the bread of life." And Acts 20:31 "These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name."

Therefore until there is a blending or union, connection with Jesus and a belief, a faith in Him there is no eternal life, no spiritual life. And it’s the Holy Spirt that brings us into indispensable relationship with Christ who is the way, the truth and the life.

• From our viewpoint, the way you and I experience this new life is that faith in Jesus Christ is inflamed in our hearts. Thus spiritual life and faith in Jesus Christ comes into being at the same time. This new life makes the faith possible, and since spiritual life always inflames faith and expresses itself in faith, there is no life without faith in Jesus. And from God’s side, we are united to Christ in the new birth. That’s what the Holy Spirit does. From our side, we experience this union by faith in Jesus.

A young lady said to me this week. "You say one needs to be elected unto salvation. What if I ask Jesus into my heart, and I am not elected?" Which I thought was a good question.

In John 3:6 Jesus said to Nicodemus, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." The flesh, i.e. the person does have a kind of life. Every human person is living flesh. But at the same time every living person does have a spirit, but to be a living spirit, or to have spiritual life, Jesus said, we must be "born of the Spirit." When one is born of the flesh, he has fleshly life, when one is born again by the Spirit he has a second kind of life, one that becomes a spiritual life in Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is the new life that is put in us at salvation.

• Jesus said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life, no man comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6. "I am the bread of life." John 6:35. Then Acts 20:31 "These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name."

Here is what happens at the time of the entrance of the New Birth, or eternal life, there is a relationship with Jesus and a belief in Jesus. But for now I want to say: The New Birth incorporates us to Christ in a living union (Romans 6) Christ is life. We were dead in the spiritual sense. Christ gave us life. John 15 Christ is the vine where life flows. We are the branches. Thus, at the New Birth there is a transcendental or supernatural creation, birth of a new spiritual life, and it is created through a joint connection with Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit brings us into an essential attachment with Christ who is the way, the truth and the life.

Having been saved, means you have been given new life, and that life is Jesus Christ. And Jesus said, "It is the Spirit who gives life." John 6:63. So the work of the Holy Spirit in us is known as "regeneration". The Spirit is to impart new life to us by joining us to Christ.

How does this happen? We made the connection by faith. John 20:31 "These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name." In other words faith connects us with Christ.

.

Charles E. Whisnant, and proof read by Charity Whisnant. To be continued.