Born Again (1)

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The moment you open your heart and pray, "Jesus, I'm a sinner. Save me Jesus. I receive you!" you have received a new life. You are no longer earthly; you are heavenly. Finally, you are brought to another kind of living, as a member in the Body of Christ. </I></div> <bR> <div> <I><B>A Common Misconception </B></I></div> <bR> <div> What does it mean to be "born again"? Basically, many people have a wrong concept about being born again. Generally Christians have been taught that being born again is merely to repent, to be saved, and to wait to go to heaven someday. According to the bible, it is true that our born-again experience begins with our repentance and salvation, but nowhere in the Bible is there a statement saying that the hope of being born again is "to go to heaven." Two verses, I Thessalonians 4:17 and Revelation 21:2, are the basis of this concept, but they have been misunderstood by many Christians.  1 Thessalonians 4:17 speaks of being raptured to meet the Lord in the air, but this is not going to heaven. Revelation 21:2 states that the New Jerusalem comes down to the new earth; not that we go to the heavenly New Jerusalem. Therefore, it is false to think that after you are saved you will die and go to heaven. </div> <bR> <div> <I><B>Then What is the Purpose of Being Born Again? </B></I></div> <bR> <div> Is being born again to go to the church of your choice and offer "$5.00" every Sunday? No! However, this kind of degraded practice is prevalent among many Christians. Many vain practices like these totally bribe the conscience of Christians and take them away from having a desire for Christ. After being born again, many believers say in their heart, "I don't have to worry anymore because I'm saved; I'm going to heaven someday. Therefore, I will go to the church of my choice and do whatever I want with my life." This is a wrong concept and it corrupts the genuine faith of the believers. </div> <bR> <div> <I><B>To Be Born Again: Christ is Now in You </B></I></div> <bR> <div> However, some Christians do realize that being born again is more than going to heaven. They realize it means that the Holy Spirit has come into them. But even this realization is short of the full significance of being born again.  They feel that the Holy Spirit is a representative of Christ in us. This is not true! Colossians 1:27 states, "<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#BF0000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><B>Christ in you, the hope of glory</B></FONT>." Second Corinthians 13:5 also affirms this: "<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#BF0000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><B>Do you not know that Jesus Christ is in you?</B></FONT>" </div> <bR> <div> The moment you are born again, three major changes occur within you: first, a change of life; second, a change of position; third, a desire for a new living and a new environment. </div> <bR> <div> These changes could never have happened during the time of the Old Testament, but now they can be our reality. In the Old Testament the Lord spoke of many great forefathers, prophets, kings, and scribes. The Lord spoke to them, spoke through them, used them, and appeared to them, but none of them had the experience of receiving a new life. At that time, none of them had a change of life, a change of position, or a new living. Our experience would be the same as theirs if we tried to follow the Lord without the subjective experience of being born again. In the Old Testament age their experience of the Lord was objective, but in the New Testament age our experience of the Lord can be very subjective. </div> <bR> <div> <I><B>Being Born Again is Receiving a New Life</B></I><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I> </I></FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being born again is not any kind of outward improvement; neither is it merely an outward change or conversion to a religion. Being born again is a rebirth, which brings in a new life, the divine life of God. It is not a matter of doing something, but of receiving Someone. It is not a matter of human behavior, but of divine life infused and mingled into man. It is to be born a second time, with a life other than the life we already have. We received human life from our parents; now we need to receive the divine life from God. To be born again is to be born of God (John 1:13). </div> <bR> <div> <I><B>Being Born Again Changes Your Position from Earthly to Heavenly </B></I></div> <bR> <div> When we are born again, we are transferred out of the kingdom of darkness, into the kingdom of the Son of God's love (Col. 1:13). Before this new birth, we were living on this earth under the influence of Satan, being dead in our sins (Eph. 2:1-3). But then God made us alive together with Christ and raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenlies in Christ (Eph. 2:4-7). Our position has been changed - from darkness to light, from death to life, from earth to heaven. </div> <bR> <div> <I><B>Being Born Again Issues in a New Kind of Living </B></I></div> <bR> <div> After being born again, the new life you have received necessitates a new living. This new living must be subjective, because it is so involved with the life which you are now living on the earth. If you do not have the subjective experience of the new living, you have lost the reality of being born again. Every life demands a kind of living. Once you have the life of God, this very life demands God's living. Being born again issues in the necessity of a new living because we have been born into the Body of Christ. Therefore, the new living which we must have is that of "the Body-life." (1 Corinthians 12:13, 27; Acts 2:44-47; Rom. 12:4-5). In the Body-life we have the proper environment to grow in life and be built together with other believers into a habitation of God in spirit (Ephesians 2:22). </div> <bR> <div> Being born again is not a small thing. All you have to do is open your heart and pray, "Jesus, I'm a sinner. Save me Jesus. I receive you!" At this moment you receive a new life. Now, the Triune God is in your heart. Also, your position is changed: you are no longer earthly; you are heavenly. Finally, you are brought to another kind of living, a living according to God's life. You are living as a member in the Body of Christ. </div> <bR> <div> <I><B>The Experience of Being Born Again is Wonderful! </B></I></div> <bR> <div> In January 1953, I knelt down and began to pray, saying, "Jesus, I'm a sinner. Save me!"  At that time, I did not realize that my life had changed, my position had changed, and my living had changed. At that moment I was so thankful that my sins were forgiven and that I was not going to hell. But this was only the start of God's full salvation for me. Praise the Lord! Now even today my whole life is different in life, in position, and in living. My whole being is different! This is the wonderful experience of being born again!</div> <bR> <div> <I>[This article was taken from messages given by Titus Chu of Cleveland, Ohio in 1977]</I></div> <bR> <bR> <div> Return to:</div> <div> <A HREF="id149.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Harvest"><U><B>The Harvest</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id150.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Testimonies"><U><B>Testimonies</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id154.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Gospel Tracts"><U><B>Gospel Tracts</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id633.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Gospel Tracts by CTR"><U><B>Gospel Tracts by CTR</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id765.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Streams In The Desert"><U><B>Streams In The Desert</B></U></A></div> <div> see also:  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#BF0000" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="http://www.gospelgreeting.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.gospelgreeting.com"><U>www.gospelgreeting.com</U></A></FONT></div> </td> </tr></table></body>