'You Must Be Born Again'







By Charles E. Spurgeon







'Ye 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 fancy 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



be something more added to it. Being 'born again,' is a matter so



mysterious, that human words cannot describe it.







    'The wind bloweth where it listen, and thou hearest the sound thereof,



but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one



that is born of the Spirit.' Nevertheless, it is a change which is known



and felt: 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: 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 Lord Jesus, the everlasting Father, Thou art my spiritual Parent; unless



Thy Spirit had breathed into me the breath of a new, holy, and spiritual life,



I had been to this day 'dead in trespasses and sins.' My heavenly life is



wholly derived from Thee, to Thee I ascribe it. 'My life is hid with Christ in



God.' It is no longer I who live, but Christ who liveth 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.

Yours in Christ,



Paul N. F.