Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God…. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:3-5).
“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:14-16).
In these two Scriptures, there are no commands given to the sinner man; just a simple statement of truth from the Word of God as to what is required for anyone to be saved and enter God’s kingdom: “You must be born again,” and that happens when you believe in Jesus Christ.
Since the days of Adam’s fall, the human race is born into this world spiritually dead; man is born with a sinful nature. God’s intent in making man was to make him in His image and likeness; that is, a oneness in relationship and fellowship with Him. This was God’s desire, plan, and purpose for making man. But, in his sinful state, there can be no oneness with his holy and righteous Maker.
Man, in his natural state, is spiritually dead. But God loved His creation, and so loved it that He was willing to pay the ultimate price to righteously and justly create a new man, a spiritual man, in His own image and likeness; to bring man into perfect oneness with Him, both in relationship and fellowship. And He fully and completely accomplished this through His Son, Jesus Christ: in His death, burial, and resurrection.
Man cannot make himself to be born again any more than he can make himself be born the first time. Man’s birth takes place when a husband and wife make a decision to have a child; the child has no say in it. And so it is with a sinner when they are born again:
“…As many as received Christ, to them God gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13).
Into this reality comes two great truths: the sovereignty of God and man’s free will. Concerning God’s sovereignty in the new birth, we have this:
“All that the father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out…. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day…. No one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father” (John 6:37, 44, 65).
Concerning man’s free will, we have this:
“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).
The Lord Jesus abounds in riches for all who call on Him, “…for whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13).
The Calvinists and the Armenians have argued for centuries over the doctrine of the eternal security of the believer. Their first grave error is labeling themselves as followers of a man: Calvin and Arminius. Paul condemned this kind of divisive thinking in the first chapter of 1 Corinthians. Their second grave error was to try to apply human understanding to God’s divine design. That is, only God Himself can reconcile two spiritual truths: His sovereignty and man’s free will.
When men determine to use their wisdom to establish doctrine, they write things that go way beyond what the Scriptures say. In drawing men to follow them, they must write volumes of books to try to explain their teachings. In order to follow them, men must abandon the Scriptures and study their books, which has been the way of false teaching and apostasy since the days following the apostles. The wonder of the new birth gets buried underneath the thinking of proud men.
The new birth brings forth a new creature in Christ; old things are passed away, all things become new. A born-again one realizes they have life, a life they never had before. Their thinking, attitudes, and desires change, some immediately and others little by little. The new birth is not an experience but a reality. However, when I was born again, I experienced a love, peace, and joy like I had never known.
I was born again on a Saturday night. On Sunday morning, I walked into a small Pentecostal church that numbered about 75-80 people. My wife was raised up in that church; I had been attending there for about 6 years, mainly just Sunday School. Three couples had made friends with us, and I liked them and the pastor, but I didn’t like anyone else: I thought they were weird and funny-looking.
As I stepped into the auditorium, I was taken by surprise: I just loved everybody—they all, without exception, looked different. My next surprise came on Monday morning. I walked into my workplace of 11 years, a new person. I had left my fellow workers Friday unsaved and had gotten into a cuss fight with one of the senior men just before leaving. Now, I entered in born again.
The first thing I wanted to do was tell my best friend I had accepted Jesus, knowing he would do it also. I found Denny and began to tell him what had happened. He was red-headed and white complexioned. Before I could finish, his face turned red, and he said: “All preachers are liars, and church folks are nothing but hypocrites!” And he turned abruptly and walked away. (Denny was born again 20 years later.)
Very disappointed with that, I went to the man I had fought with and apologized for what I had shouted at him on Friday. I then told him what had taken place in my life, and he was very gracious and forgiving. Then about 10:30 came Al to my workstation. He worked in a different department, but every Monday morning, he would make his way to me to either tell me a dirty joke or see if I had one.
On that morning, Al came up all smiles and said, “Bill, wait’ll you hear the latest.” Without even thinking, I said, “I don’t want to hear it.” He said, “Well, you’ve told me some a lot worse than this.” I told him I was sure I had, but I had accepted Jesus and wasn’t going to do it anymore. He got mad, stormed off, and never spoke to me again.
My next surprise came on Tuesday. I am ashamed to tell this one and always have been. I had worked in that plant for 11 years; I was a machinist. But I was probably the sorriest worker they had. They should have fired me several times. If the supervisor wasn’t looking or wasn’t there, I wasn’t working. My work was second-rate.
Sometime Tuesday, the Holy Spirit spoke to me, not audibly, but caught me by surprise, and told me I was stealing from the company by the way I was working. I immediately made the decision to turn it around, which I did. I became one of their best and most efficient workers and became a supervisor. There are more stories of the Lord working in my new life throughout the years, but I will suffice it to say, He’s still working on me.
Being born again is real, and the effects are real. Jesus put it this way:
“The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it’s going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit” (John 3:8).
“As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world… the only thing that matters is a new creature” (Galatians 6:14-15).
Jesus said it: “…You must be born again” (John 3:7).
Brother Bill Oldham
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