Salvation

You Must Be Born Again

lightPerhaps you are reading this website but have not given your life to Jesus and asked Him to be your Lord. Here are Four Steps to New Life. Jesus said, You must be born again. (John 3:7) Jesus said this when he was explaining to Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews who came to Jesus at night asking Him about the signs that He had been performing. Nicodemus said to Jesus, No one can do these signs unless God is with Him.”  

Jesus replied, “Truly, truly I say unto you, unless one is born from above he cannot see the Kingdom of God.

This puzzled Nicodemus and he asked Jesus, “How can a man be born when he is old? A man cannot enter into his mother’s womb a second time and be born, can he?

Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say unto you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit, is spirit.(John 3:3-7)

Jesus was explaining that we must be born spiritually if we are to enter the Kingdom of God. John says earlier in his gospel, “As many as received Jesus, to them He would give the right to become children of God, to those who would believe in His Name, who would be born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.(John 1:12&13)

STEP 1 - God’s Love

Jesus told Nicodemus, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.(John 3:16)

When man is born naturally he is already separated from God because of the sin of Adam which brought separation from God to all mankind. So it is that man cannot truly know or experience God’s love unless he enter into the new life Jesus came to bring.

Jesus said, “I have come that you might have new life and have it abundantly.(John 10:10) So we must be willing to come to Him that we might receive this newness of life.

You too can receive this new life if you come to Him.

STEP 2 - Man’s Problem Is Separation

God created man to fellowship with Himself. Adam, the first of God’s creation walked with God but because of his self-will he rebelled against God’s command and so separated himself from God. The result was spiritual death. Although Adam was still alive physically he could no longer walk with God and all mankind inherited this same separation. We therefore sin because we desire to please ourselves rather than God, just as Adam did.

For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.(Romans 3:23)

The wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus.(Romans 6:23)

STEP 3 - Jesus Is The Answer

But God shows His love for us, in that whilst we were still sinners, Christ died for us.(Romans 5:8) Jesus is the only way to be saved because, “There is only one Mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ.(1 Timothy 2:5) Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No man comes to the Father except by Me.(John 14:6)

The good news is that we can be saved by grace, through faith, and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God.(Ephesians 2:8)

Receiving Jesus, however, means that we must turn to God by faith and ask Jesus to be Lord. Receiving Jesus is allowing Him to be Lord of our life.

If you wish, you can come to Jesus today and ask Him to be Lord. You can ask Him to come and give you new life, that you might live your life for Him and no longer for yourself. You can ask Jesus to be your Lord, your Shepherd and your Saviour. It only requires that this be the sincere desire of your heart for Jesus has made the way by dying on the cross for the sin of the whole world. Jesus has paid the price to redeem us.

STEP 4 - How To Receive Christ and Make Him Lord.

As many as received Him, to them He gave power to become sons of God, even to those who believe in His Name.(John 1:12)

Before we are born again we are lord of our own lives and Jesus is outside of our life. Anything we wish to do we can because Jesus is not our Lord, we are. We must, therefore, make Jesus Lord of our lives and desire to do that which is the will of the Heavenly Father. Jesus must become our one and only Master - our King.

Jesus said, “Whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it.” (Matthew 16:25)This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only one true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” (John 17:3)

So we can come to Jesus and ask Him to be Lord of our lives; to take away that which separates us from God, and to give us new life - abundant life.

This is possible because Jesus died for the sin of the whole world and was raised to give us new life. (see 1 John 2:2 and Romans 6:4) We can then come to know the love of God that passes all understanding and to have Jesus care for us as our Shepherd. We can have eternal life.

A Prayer

If you confess with your mouth, Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.(Romans 10:9)

Lord Jesus, I come to you that you might take my life and forgive all my sin and give me Your life. Thank you that you died on the cross to pay the price for my sin so that I might be forgiven. Thank you Father that you raised Jesus from the dead that I might receive new life in Him.

Please forgive me for all my sins and for all that I have done wrong. I ask you Lord Jesus to take my life and I give you my heart and ask you to come into my life as my Lord and Saviour.

Lord Jesus, I receive you now. Please come into my life and change me.

Amen

A Confession

Jesus, I believe that you were raised from the dead and are alive. I come to you now and confess with my mouth that you are my Lord.

It is good to tell someone that you have given your life to Jesus, confessing Him also before men.

The next step is the Lord’s. It is He who gives us new life. Wait on Him.

Assurance

Whoever believes in the Son of God has this witness in his heart… This is the witness that God has given us eternal life, and this life is ours in His Son… Whoever has the Son has life… I write this so that you might know you have eternal life.(see 1 John 3:10-13)

New Life And A New Walk With God

Therefore as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.(Colossians 2:6)

When we are born again God puts a new heart and a new spirit in us and He removes our heart of stone from our flesh and gives us a heart of flesh. He then puts His Spirit within us to cause us to walk in His ways and to be careful to carry out His commandments. (see Ezekiel 36:26&27)

I will put My laws into their inner parts and I will write them on their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be My people… for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, for I shall be merciful to their iniquities and I will remember them no more.(Hebrews 8:10-12)

When we are born again, not only are we given a new spirit but the Holy Spirit Himself comes into us to be our Helper and our Teacher. We can ask Him whatever we will and He will teach us and lead us into all Truth. Expect Him to bring you the answers to those questions that you have in your heart. Let Him teach you. Christ, by His Spirit is also in you to lead you as a newborn son of God.

Know that you have received an anointing within that now abides in you and that this anointing will teach you about all things and is true and not a lie. So Abide in Him. (see 1 John 2:27) Learn to listen to the still small voice of God in your inner man.

Learn To Pray

You can now pray every day in a new way, “Father in heaven, hallowed be Your Name, Your Kingdom come, on earth, and in my life, as it is in heaven. Give me this day my daily bread, both natural and spiritual food, and forgive me my sins as I forgive those who sin against me. Lead me away from temptation and deliver me from the evil one. For Yours is the Kingdom, and the power and the glory. Amen.(see Luke 11:2-4)

Know that talking with the Lord in your heart is prayer. If you do anything wrong, ask the Lord to forgive you straight away. Keep a short account. And walk in the newness of life that you have received.

Available as a download :-

Download “Four Steps To New Life” (142k)

Download “Four Steps To New Life” in Urdu (1.4Meg)

How To Receive - Salvation and the Holy Spirit
- C T Studd’s Way - By Faith

C.T.Studd, was born in 1860. He became renowned throughout the UK as an all round cricketer whilst at Cambridge University. But after receiving Christ, in 1885 he left all to go to China with the Inland China Mission. At the Lord’s call he later went to the Belgian Congo and pioneered a missionary work that would have as its goal to take the gospel to all the unevangelised areas of the world. 

C.T.Studd  was known for his plain speaking. Taken from the story of his life is a letter he wrote home explaining how he would lead people to Christ. It is an example of his plain speaking but straightforward faith.

C.T. Studd wrote, “God has made things so plain to me and enables me to put it plainly to others. Here is the gist of what I tell them, ‘Assurance of salvation depends on the fact that Jesus paid the penalty for your sin, not on any feelings of yours. As Christ died for you, you belong by rights to Him.’ 

After further explanation I say, ‘Will you not in a practical business way on your knees yield yourself and all to Jesus?’ 

‘Yes’ Then he or she does it and I ask if Jesus has accepted them. If they do not know I simply ask if God is a liar, which at once produces the required assurance, as it is impossible for God to have lied.

Then I tell the inquirer to ask in one sentence for the Holy Ghost and he does it.

Then I ask, ‘Has He been given?’ By the same method the answer comes back, ‘Yes.’

Then I tell them to thank God for 1) having accepted him and 2) having given the Holy Ghost.

Then I say, ‘Don’t worry or fret, or try, but just be careful for nothing, only trust and obey His voice. Rejoice and be glad in Jesus always. The feeling will come in due course, but it is a fact that God has given the Holy Ghost. Do not hinder God by helping Him, but quit hindering Him.

They come long faced and go away sparkling and beaming.”

So You Think You Are A Christian?

There is a challenge to all who would consider themselves to be a Christian. Paul tells us, "Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you— unless indeed you fail the test?” (1Corinthins 13:5) Paul also says, "However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.”

We see that it is the reality of knowing that Christ is in us is so important.

Here is a download that brings a modern day challenge :-

Download “So You Think You Are A Christian?” (48k)

His Invitation For His Kingdom

As we consider the nature of salvation we find this is the entrance into the Kingdom of God. We have already considered the words of Jesus, “Truly, truly I say unto you, unless one is born from above he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” Jesus began His ministry "preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God,” (Matthew 4:23, Mark 1:14) and Jesus declared, “I must preach the Kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.” (Luke 4:43) 

Jesus sent out His twelve disciples to “proclaim the Kingdom of God, and to heal the sick.” (Luke 9:2) Jesus then sent out the ‘seventy’ disciples telling them to tell those they ministered to that “the Kingdom of God has come near you.” (Luke 10:9) We see from the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry to the very close of the story of the Acts of the Apostles that it is the Kingdom of God that was preached and taught along with all  "concerning the Lord Jesus Christ,” (Acts 28:31) and it will be the gospel of the Kingdom that "shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end of the age shall come.” (Matthew 24:14)

A half gospel, that of salvation only, has been preached that did not call any to repentance or the necessity for the exchange of life that Jesus came to give us by accepting Him as our Lord and King. 

So it is this invitation for the Kingdom is not only for those who do not yet know the Lord Jesus Christ but for those who have been born again of His Spirit but have yet to walk in newness of life by counting themselves as having died with Jesus on the cross. This is an invitation for all to come to Jesus that they might receive of the fulness His Kingdom reality in their lives.

Download “His Invitation For His Kingdom " here (835k) 

Seeking God Within

Frances Howgill was a Christian who died in Appleby gaol in 1669, in what is now Cumbria in the north west of England. He had been sentenced to life imprisonment because he would not swear by oath, an allegiance to the King in contradiction to the command of Jesus to let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ be ‘No’. Jesus said, “Anything beyond this is from the evil one.” (Matthew 5:37) This tactic was used widely in the 17th century to imprison many innocent Christians in an endeavour to silence the word of God being preached. After several years in gaol Frances Howgill's health failed. But before he died Francis Howgill wrote to his youngest daughter, Abigail, that she might find Jesus Christ. 

In his letter to his youngest daughter Frances Howgill pointed her to the movings of the Spirit of God in all men’s hearts. It is advice that any who do not yet know God would do well to heed. Here is what he wrote to her in modern English :-



A Letter To His Youngest Daughter Telling Her How To Find Christ - Frances Howgill (1618-1669)

My counsel to you is that you remember your Creator in the days of your youth and fear the Lord in your youth; learn to know Him all your days. First, seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness thereof. It is not far from you, it is within you; it consists in life and power and it stands in righteousness, truth, equity, justice, mercy, long suffering, patience, love, light and holiness: this is the being and centre of it. Therefore do not seek lo here or lo there outside of yourself, in this or that outward observation; for many seek there and never find it; but seek and you will find; wait and you will receive.

If you inquire into what you must wait in and how you must seek: I can tell you that you must silence all your own thoughts and you must turn your mind to that which is pure, holy and good, within yourself, and seek and wait in that, in the Light of Jesus Christ wherewith you are enlightened; which shows you when you do evil, and checks and reproves. Take heed to that and it will show the evil actions and thoughts; and as you love the Light it will subdue them and preserve you from the time to come, out of evil; for, although you are born into the world a reasonable creature, yet you must be born again, and be made a new creature; or else you cannot enter the Kingdom of God.

You must know the seed of the Kingdom in yourself, of which you must be born, and formed again into God’s image.

I have told you that God has sown it in you, a grain of it, a portion of it, a measure of Light and Truth, of righteousness and holiness. Keep in your mind to that, and love it, and you will feel the Heavenly Father working in you, and creating you to life through Jesus Christ who has enlightened you; and you will feel the power of the Lord strengthening you in your smallness, and making you to grow in the immortal seed of His Kingdom, and to outgrow and overgrow all evil; that you will daily die to that and have no pleasure in it. But in the Lord and His goodness and virtue shed abroad in your heart, which you will taste and feel within, have joy and comfort therein. 

Love the Lord with your heart and soul, in Him who made you a being and gave you all things in heaven and earth; so wait for the knowledge of Him in yourself. He is not far from you, but near to you and unto all who call on Him with an upright heart. 

God is Spirit, a pure Spirit of life, light and power. He it is who searches the heart and shows you when you do evil, think evil or speak evil, and shows unto men and women their evil thoughts; that which falsely shows the evil to be good and that which falsely shows the lie is truth. This Light is within, take heed of it. This is called God’s Spirit in the Scriptures; believe in it, love it and it will quicken your heart to good and it will bring evil into subjection. 

Here is your Teacher who is near you; love it. If you act contrary to it, it will condemn you; therefore take heed of the Spirit of Truth and it will enlighten and enliven you and it will open your understanding and give you to know what God is and to do what is good and acceptable in His sight. This Spirit never errs, but leads out of all error into all Truth.

O Abigail, believe my words! They are the words of God and Truth. Do not be without care, but be sober minded and wait on the Lord within; listen to Him. God is Light immortal, Life immortal, Truth immortal, an everlasting Eternal Spirit. He speaks spiritually and invisibly within the hearts and consciences of men and women. Hear what He speaks and obey His voice and you shall live. Fear to offend Him, or sin against Him, for the wages of sin is death. Therefore prize His love. 

Read the Scriptures and that which He will lead you to read, and take heed to obey that which you then read as far as your understanding goes, praying often to the Lord, asking Him that He will give you knowledge and open up the things of His Kingdom. 

Search and examine your heart regularly with the Light of Christ that is in you; manifest and bring your deeds to it that they might be tried; examine yourself how you stand with the Lord and if you see that you are wrong in any way, humble yourself and be sorry and turn to Him and He will show you mercy. Then take heed that in future you do not do the same again. Keep your heart clean. Watch against the evil in yourself. In that which shows it, therein is power and by it you have power to overcome evil. 

Frances Howgill - 1666