May 14
10
“You must be born again.” — John 3:7
Regeneration is a subject which lies at the very basis of salvation, and we should be very diligent to take heed that we really are “born again,” for there are many who imagine they are, who are not. Be assured that the name of a Christian—is not the nature of a Christian; and that being born in a Christian land, and being recognized as professing the Christian religion—is of no avail whatever, unless there is something more added to it — the being “born again,” by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Regeneration is a matter so mysterious, that human words cannot describe it. “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
Nevertheless, it is a change which is known and felt. It is known by works of holiness—and felt by a gracious experience.
This great work is supernatural. It is not an operation which a man performs for himself. It is a new principle is infused, which works in the heart, renews the soul, and affects the entire man. It is not a change of my name—but a renewal of my nature, so that I am not the man I used to be—but a new man in Christ Jesus. To wash and dress a corpse is a far different thing from making it alive! Man can do the one—God alone can do the other.
If you have then, been “born again,” your acknowledgment will be, “O everlasting Father, You are my spiritual Parent; unless Your Spirit had breathed into me the breath of a new, holy, and spiritual life—I would have been to this day, ‘dead in trespasses and sins.’ My heavenly life is wholly derived from You—to You I ascribe it. ‘My life is hid with Christ in God.’ It is no longer I who live—but Christ who lives in me.” May the Lord enable us to be well assured on this vital point, for to be unregenerate is to be unsaved, unpardoned, without God, and without hope! Charles Spurgeon.