New Birth
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New Birth Through the Resurrection
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 1 Peter 1:3-5 NIV
The resurrection of Jesus has made it possible for us to be born-again! Jesus shed His sinless Blood on the cross as payment for our sins and rose again three days later. Through our faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection, we have been brought out of death into eternal life!
Born Again of the Spirit
“I am telling you the truth,” replied Jesus, “that no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. A person is born physically of human parents, but is born spiritually of the Spirit. Do not be surprised because I tell you that you must all be born again. The wind blows wherever it wishes; you hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. It is like that with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” John 3:5-8 GNT
The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, raised us out of our spiritual graves and made us new!
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV
A New Father & A New Purpose
When we put our faith in Jesus, our sentence of death is gone. The curse of sin is broken off our lives and the Holy Spirit makes us a child of God. Through Jesus death and resurrection, we are seated with our Father who loves us and has great plans for us! (Jeremiah 29:11-13)
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. Ephesians 2:10 NASB
God, our Father, gave us new birth. He created us in Christ Jesus for a purpose. Our Father in heaven is not imperfect like earthly fathers. His love is faithful. Our Father doesn’t abandon us or want to hurt us– ever. He is the perfect Father and we have been made right in His eyes through Jesus. Therefore, we can sit with Him at His Table and find out what He has in store for our lives. We get to glorify Jesus in this life by the power of the Holy Spirit.
It’s Time To Grow Up
Our sinful past is gone– forgiven and erased as far as God is concerned! Hallelujah! But our minds have been misinformed so that we do not always understand God’s truth. Just like a baby must grow up, we too must grow up in the Lord.
So get rid of all evil and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. And yearn like newborn infants for pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up to salvation, if you have experienced the Lord’s kindness. 1 Peter 2:1-3 NET
Giving in to sins of the heart such as jealousy, offense and gossip can stunt our spiritual growth. It can even lead us to a dark place. Trials and temptations are going to come. But they can actually help us grow if we stay close to God’s heart and drink only of Him. That is why God urges us to live from the heavenly realms where we are seated with God.
And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus… Ephesians 2:6 NIV
If we live from the earthly realm, we’ll act just like the world acts. We’ll believe the lies of the devil and fall into temptation. That is not who we are in Christ. But if we live from God’s Spirit we can grow up and become strong in the Lord. Regardless of how dark the world gets, we can walk in the light. We have been born again and live from a different Kingdom! We must remember where we have been seated in Christ and pay attention to the Holy Spirit!
Baptized & Cleansed
A New Conscience
There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him. 1 Peter 3:21-22 NKJV
Peter was writing about Noah and the ark (boat) that saved his family during the great flood. The flood was a picture of the spiritual baptism that cleanses us because of the resurrection of Jesus. Baptism in water represents a spiritual reality that is taking place in the believer’s life. They have died with Christ to themselves and are raised with Christ to new life in the Spirit. Their conscience has been cleansed from sin by the power of God’s Spirit to live a new way!
A New Nature
When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature. For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead. Colossians 2:11-12 NLT
All the sin of the world was placed on Jesus Christ when He suffered and died on the cross. Because of His death, our debt is paid in full! But His resurrection means it is possible for us to be born again by the Spirit and receive eternal life.
When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. John 14:20 NLT
Because Jesus is alive, we are in Christ and He in us. And because Jesus lives, He is able to bring us to the Father, making us one with God. Hallelujah!
New Birth by the Word
The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life. John 6:63 NIV
The Word of God is alive and active because of the Holy Spirit! (Hebrews 4:12) Our faith is like a seed planted in the soil of our hearts. (Matthew 13:18-33) We hear the Word of God, and if our hearts are ready to receive what God is saying, the Word produces faith in us. (Romans 10:17) So, God’s living Word is like a seed that is full of potential life, but our hearts have to desire the Lord above all the trials the enemy brings our way. If the seed grows in us we will eventually produce the fruit of God’s Spirit in our lives. Jesus is the Word, so when we embrace the Word, we embrace Jesus who brings us life! (John 14:6)
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14 NKJV
Those who truly embrace Jesus and His Word are full of the Spirit and eternal life. They will obey the Word, not because it is a rule to follow but because it is alive in them– that is who they are. They are sons and daughters of the living God– the living Word!
New Birth & New Life by the Spirit
But when the kindness and love of God our Savior was revealed, he saved us. It was not because of any good deeds that we ourselves had done, but because of his own mercy that he saved us, through the Holy Spirit, who gives us new birth and new life by washing us. God poured out the Holy Spirit abundantly on us through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that by his grace we might be put right with God and come into possession of the eternal life we hope for. Titus 3:4-7 GNT
This new birth we have been given is supernatural. It is all because of the indescribable love, mercy and grace of God! Now it is up to us to live this new life in Christ paying close attention to the Holy Spirit and the Word Himself– Jesus! God has not held back, but has poured out His Spirit generously to all who believe. (John 3:31-36) We must simply come to God in faith and humility like a little child. God gives eternal life through His Son, Jesus Christ, the Messiah, and that life begins right now!
If you have never met God’s Son through His Spirit I invite you to know Him today. Click the link below for more about Jesus.
