In this section, dealing with the experience of the Born-Again Life, we will investigate two closely related aspects:
Part 1: The Born-Again Experience Begins with a Response
Part 2: The Born-Again Experience Delivers Divine Results
In the previous section, we investigated the two-fold aspects of the subject of “sin”: First, the problem of accumulated acts of sin, which resulted from willful choices of disobedience to God’s known laws and plans. Second, that original sinful nature with which we were born – that which prompted us to willfully accumulate those collected sins in the first place.
Part 1, and Part 2 of this section, will deal with God’s provision for the remedy of those past accumulated acts of sin.
The Born-Again Life is an “experience” – it is a “turning point.” Here, I refer to that turning point in an individual’s life, as a time when that individual completely changes direction and chooses one life-style over another. It is a positive experience. It is an experience that starts with an on-purpose response of the Holy Spirit in convicting and convincing the individual to get rid of the debilitating guilt and pressure of past sins and accept a new life in Jesus Christ. With that separation from the past comes a newness of spiritual life.
During Christ’s earthly ministry, a well-known religious leader approached him and entered into a conversation. In the course of the discussion that night, Jesus said something to Nicodemus that thoroughly baffled him. He very plainly and simply told Nicodemus, “Ye must be born again.”
What does it mean to be born again? Jesus made the statement to clarify, not confuse the situation. Certainly, Mr. Nicodemus you cannot enter a second time into your mother’s womb. Even if you could repeat that physical phenomenon once, ten times, or a hundred times, you would still enter this world the same – a human with a sin-nature. That is because the birth process which gave you the introduction to this world is inherently a physical function.
When Christ was talking about the Born-Again Life, he was talking not about physical function, but rather, about the heart or spirit function.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again. (John 3:6,7 KJV)
Your first birth is physical. Your second birth is spiritual. Your first birth makes you a member of the fallen race. Your second birth enters you into the redeemed race.
The physical birth is a marvelous process. The spiritual birth is likewise, a miraculous process which begins with the Holy Spirit convicting you of your sinful life and convincing you that there is a better way. You can carry your guilt no longer. You desire to rid yourself of your load of sin that is about to crush you. You realize that you must turn from your sinful way and trust Christ alone to save you. When you do, you are born anew spiritually.
Let's take a closer look at what is involved in that miraculous process. There are four essential factors that take place in the process leading up to the born-again experience:
1. DIVINE INIATIVE - God reaches out in love
2. AWARENESS OF NEED – God shows us that we need help
3. AWARENESS OF CHOICE – We are responsible to choose a better way
4. YOUR RESPONSE – Reject or Repent
DIVINE INITIATIVE:
God does not desire that you remain separated from Him. But, rather, He desires for you to be reconciled once again to Him in love. He communicates His desire to you as He reaches out to you by means of the ever-active presence of the Holy Spirit in the world.
God does not wait for you to make the first move. Rather, He reaches down to you in an act of love, with the purpose of reciliation and redemption:
. . . that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. (II Cor. 5:19 NIV)
Reconciliation simply means to adjust and settle differences and to cause to be harmonious again. He really wants you to come back to Him and has set into motion a plan whereby you can return.
Redemption means ransom, free or recused, by paying a price. God, by paying the price with the blood of His only son, Jesus Christ has satisfied the debt that must be paid for your sin. He has paid your penalty. You are now free to accept your freedom because of His gift -- and return to Him:
This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (I John 4:8-10 NIV)
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. (John3:16 NIV)
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8: KJV)
God initiates the born-again experience by reaching out to you even while you are still a sinner.
AWARENESS OF NEED:
Before you can find help you must first recognize your need for help. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to bring you to the awareness of your needy condition through guilt and the realization of personal responsibility. It is also the work of the Holy Spirit that helps erring humans know the difference between mistake and guilt: (mistake brings sorrow – sin brings guilt).
Guilt is the condemnation and feeling of alienation that follows the sin act. Along with that is the knowledge of personal responsibility for the act and the liability to punishment.
Only in light of the sinner’s enslavement to sin, does the plan of redemption make sense. For, if the sinner can solve his own problem without divine assistance, then God’s plan for redemption is rendered meaningless. It is the Holy Spirit that allows the sinner to experience guilt and personal responsibility for all the willful transgressions against God’s law.
The sinner must first become convinced that he is a sinner. There is no hope for the individual sinner as long as there is the presumption that they are “all right – just fine -- thank you.”
And He, when He comes (the Holy Spirit), will convict the world concerning sin, and righteousness and judgement. (John 16:8 NASB)
So -- just how does the Holy Spirit bring about your awareness of your own spiritual need? As you learned in the previous section, moral or spiritual issues are always determined by the Word of God. In convincing you of your sin, the Holy Spirit always works in conjunction with the Word of God, either written, declared, or Living:
The Written Word This is where the Holy Spirit deals with you as you read the printed page. This can include the Scripture itself, or written material based upon God’s Word.
The Declared Word The Holy Spirit can work through the declared word as it is proclaimed by a priest, a preacher, a prophet, a teacher, or simply shared by a friend. The declared word is not limited to the spoken word but also includes messages you receive by observing examples.
The Living Word (Christ in you) Conviction is the word which is used most often to describe the work of the Holy Spirit in making you aware of your need. This works on you from the inside and brings things to your attention at the most unexpected times. Conviction comes sometimes as the Holy Spirit uses the conscience as the vehicle to help you see your need.
AWARENESS OF MORAL CHOICE:
You must not only realize your need, but you must also realize that you have a moral responsibility to do something about it.
The Holy Spirit not only convicts you of your sin, but also convinces you of righteousness and judgement. (John 16:8) To convict you of your sin and then leave you without a better alternative, would be to increase your confusion and despair.
You are not only shown a “better way”, a way of salvation and righteousness, but also, the Holy Spirit is faithful to convince you that if you do not break away and turn from your wicked way, then you must face judgement. That brings you to a problem – you are now faced with a choice: either sin or righteousness, and you, and you alone, are responsible for that moral choice.
Perhaps, you would like for God to make that choice for you. But to do so would reduce you to a mere mechanical robot.
The power to choose, which is your greatest power, not only makes you privileged, but also, it puts upon you a great, eternal responsibility.
YOUR RESPONSE:
When faced with your moral choice, you really have only two alternatives:
1. Rejection, or
2. Repentance.
It is very possible for you to reject God’s Plan of Salvation for your life and remain in your lost condition. Even by procrastination you are still opting for rejection, since you never quite get around to the position of repentance and acceptance.
God paid an extremely high price for your salvation, anticipating that you will respond positively and repent:
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not parish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16 NASB)
The call to repentance is a theme that consistently runs throughout the Scriptures:
Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. (Mat. 3:2 KJV)
But unless you repent, you too will all parish. (Luke13:3 NIV)
Notice: When you repent you do not then continue on in your sinful life-style. The word repentance carries with it the idea of turning away from your old activities – or turning around and going in the other direction. It also implies having a spirit of brokenness:
It is a broken spirit you want – remorse and penitence. A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not ignore. (Ps. 51:17 TLB)
Repentance not only includes confessing and turning from, or forsaking your old sinful acts, but as you turn you must also trust. You must trust Christ alone as your Redeemer:
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (I John 1:9 NIV)
But if the wicked turns from their wickedness and does what is fair and just, he shall live.
(Ezek. 33:19 TLB)
For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith – counting on Christ alone. (Phil. 3:9 TLB)
Sometimes repentance also brings with it the necessity of restitution.
Restitution is where you, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, have to go back and make right some wrongs which you have committed. God wants you to totally rely on the Holy Spirit to show you what, if any, situations that you need to go back and correct. He will let you know what things you need to correct and what things you need to let go of and simply accept His Divine wisdom and grace of repentance.
Your response to God’s Plan of Salvation really begins as the Holy Spirit, through divine initiative, convicts you and you begin to realize your needy condition. As you are brought to a place of choice, you respond in repentance and turn and trust Christ alone to save you.
When you make that choice, something wonderful happens as God accepts that confession and trust.
In the next section we will continue our investigation by looking at the Divine Results that are experienced by the repentant individual who wishes to enter into the Born-Again Life.
Next Week: Part 2: The Born-Again Experience Delivers Divine Results