‘That which is born of the Spirit is spirit’ (John 3:6)
We now come to the question of the proofs of the New Birth. If, as we have seen, being born again is the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit and if without such a birth, no-one will see or enter the Kingdom of God then surely the most important question we can ask ourselves is, “What evidence can I find that the Spirit has wrought new life in me? How can I be assured that I am truly a child of God?” We must be very careful here; if anyone is relying on feelings or on supposed spiritual gifts (Matt. 7:21ff), or on his good deeds (Isaiah 64:6) as proof that he is a child of God, he is very likely deceiving himself. The only true ground for assurance of salvation is trust that the blood of Christ shed on the cross was shed for you and that the penalty for your sin has been paid already. Nevertheless, Scripture tells us that there are certain tests that can be applied to be sure that one’s conversion is genuine; “Examine yourselves”, says Paul (2Cor.13:5), “As to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know that Jesus Christ is in you?- unless indeed you do not stand the test” (NKJV margin). These proofs or evidences divide themselves into two types: subjective, where the witness is within ourselves, and objective, where the evidence is either external and visible to all or where there is a test which we can apply to ourselves.
We will look first at four subjective evidences, though the reader may well find more:-
1: Consciousness of two competing natures within us. Galatians 5:17 says, ‘For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.’ As we have seen, the born-again Christian is a new creation with a new principle of righteousness within him. However, we still live in our old bodies and a relic of our old, sinful nature remains, not in our essential nature that has been renewed in Christ, but in those physical bodies (Rom 7:19-20; 2Cor. 4:7). When the Lord returns, we shall be raised with glorified, resurrection bodies (1Cor. 15:42ff) and sin will be a thing of the past. Until then, we have this constant battle with our old natures as we strive to live a life pleasing to God (Rom. 6:12). Now this should not be confused with merely having a conscience; unredeemed people often set themselves high standards and their consciences will sometimes afflict them when they fail to live up to them. With the Christian there is a genuine struggle between two natures going on. We shall have more to say on this later, but suffice it to say here that conflict with sin is actually a sign of spiritual life; a life lived without spiritual warfare is unlikely to be a Christian one.
2: Experimental Knowledge of God as Father. Romans 8:15 says, ‘For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry, “Abba, Father.”‘ The Moslems have ninety-nine names for their god, but none of them is ‘Father’. To be sure, there is a sense in which God is the Father of all Mankind inasmuch as He created all people (Acts 17:28), but it is only the Christian who is encouraged to address his Lord and God as his Heavenly Father (Matt.6v9; 23v9. cf. John 8v44). The Aramaic word, Abba, was the word little children in Israel used to call their fathers (Abba should not really be identified with our word, Dad, as no Israelite child would be as familiar towards its parents as children are today); it is a word denoting a simple trust and dependence. When a Christian comes before his Lord in simple, child-like faith (Luke 18:17) and instinctively addresses Him as ‘Father’, it is a sign both of reverence and intimacy, and an indication that he is truly born of God.
3: The Feeling of not Belonging to the World. “If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:19; cf. 1John 2:15ff). The Christian is no longer a citizen of this present, fallen world; he is a citizen of Heaven (Phil. 3v20) and merely a temporary resident down here as he journeys through it (1Peter 2:11). New Christians soon find that they lose their former pleasure in many of the things they used to enjoy; wild parties, lewd jokes, gossip, violent T.V. programmes and so forth. Instead they find that they prefer the company of God’s people, which, after all, is that which they will enjoy throughout eternity. This will very often make them unpopular with their non-Christian friends, work-mates and even family, and is sometimes a cause of sadness and loneliness. This is one reason why it is so important for all Christians, but especially new ones, to have a loving and supportive Church family. Let us be quite sure however that if we are rejected by our non-Christian friends, it is not because we have become sanctimonious kill-joys, or aggressive and bullying in our witnessing. There are innocent pleasures that both believers and non-believers may join in together.
4: The direct witness of the Spirit. ‘The Spirit Himself bears witness with our Spirit that we are children of God’ (Rom. 8v16). The suggestion here is that when we are engaged in prayer or worship and we feel in ourselves the truth that God has loved us with an everlasting love, at that moment, the Holy Spirit comes alongside us and we feel another witness outside ourselves telling us of God’s favour towards us. Many great men of God have spoken of this experience; Dr. Lloyd-Jones claimed (1) that it is the highest possible form of assurance. That may be so, but it is certainly possible to be deceived by one’s feelings, especially in the highly charged atmosphere of some modern church meetings. In the absence of other, more material evidences, it is dangerous to rely upon what may be no more than emotion.
Next we come to the more objective proofs. Many of them are found in the First Letter of John. It appears that John set out to write this letter to distinguish between true and false assurance and to encourage those to whom he was writing in their assurance. He wrote (1John 5:13), ‘These things have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.’ There are a great many of these proofs elsewhere in the Bible also, and we shall only look at some of the most important of them:-
1: An evangelical obedience to our Lord’s commands. The Lord Jesus told His disciples; “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15; cf.1John 2:3-4). Now I have never met anyone who claimed to be a Christian who did not also claim to love Jesus, so here’s a very simple test: do you make it your first principle in life to obey the commands of Christ and His Apostles as laid down in the Bible? Does it grieve you whenever you fail to do so? If not, how can you claim to love Jesus? We have already seen that Christians are not under the law in the sense that they stand or fall by their minute observation of it, but if we believe that Christ shed His blood for us on the cross, then surely we shall seek to live lives that are pleasing to Him and bring glory to Him?
We now come to the question of the proofs of the New Birth. If, as we have seen, being born again is the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit and if without such a birth, no-one will see or enter the Kingdom of God then surely the most important question we can ask ourselves is, “What evidence can I find that the Spirit has wrought new life in me? How can I be assured that I am truly a child of God?” We must be very careful here; if anyone is relying on feelings or on supposed spiritual gifts (Matt. 7:21ff), or on his good deeds (Isaiah 64:6) as proof that he is a child of God, he is very likely deceiving himself. The only true ground for assurance of salvation is trust that the blood of Christ shed on the cross was shed for you and that the penalty for your sin has been paid already. Nevertheless, Scripture tells us that there are certain tests that can be applied to be sure that one’s conversion is genuine; “Examine yourselves”, says Paul (2Cor.13:5), “As to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know that Jesus Christ is in you?- unless indeed you do not stand the test” (NKJV margin). These proofs or evidences divide themselves into two types: subjective, where the witness is within ourselves, and objective, where the evidence is either external and visible to all or where there is a test which we can apply to ourselves.
We will look first at four subjective evidences, though the reader may well find more:-
1: Consciousness of two competing natures within us. Galatians 5:17 says, ‘For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.’ As we have seen, the born-again Christian is a new creation with a new principle of righteousness within him. However, we still live in our old bodies and a relic of our old, sinful nature remains, not in our essential nature that has been renewed in Christ, but in those physical bodies (Rom 7:19-20; 2Cor. 4:7). When the Lord returns, we shall be raised with glorified, resurrection bodies (1Cor. 15:42ff) and sin will be a thing of the past. Until then, we have this constant battle with our old natures as we strive to live a life pleasing to God (Rom. 6:12). Now this should not be confused with merely having a conscience; unredeemed people often set themselves high standards and their consciences will sometimes afflict them when they fail to live up to them. With the Christian there is a genuine struggle between two natures going on. We shall have more to say on this later, but suffice it to say here that conflict with sin is actually a sign of spiritual life; a life lived without spiritual warfare is unlikely to be a Christian one.
2: Experimental Knowledge of God as Father. Romans 8:15 says, ‘For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry, “Abba, Father.”‘ The Moslems have ninety-nine names for their god, but none of them is ‘Father’. To be sure, there is a sense in which God is the Father of all Mankind inasmuch as He created all people (Acts 17:28), but it is only the Christian who is encouraged to address his Lord and God as his Heavenly Father (Matt.6v9; 23v9. cf. John 8v44). The Aramaic word, Abba, was the word little children in Israel used to call their fathers (Abba should not really be identified with our word, Dad, as no Israelite child would be as familiar towards its parents as children are today); it is a word denoting a simple trust and dependence. When a Christian comes before his Lord in simple, child-like faith (Luke 18:17) and instinctively addresses Him as ‘Father’, it is a sign both of reverence and intimacy, and an indication that he is truly born of God.
3: The Feeling of not Belonging to the World. “If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:19; cf. 1John 2:15ff). The Christian is no longer a citizen of this present, fallen world; he is a citizen of Heaven (Phil. 3v20) and merely a temporary resident down here as he journeys through it (1Peter 2:11). New Christians soon find that they lose their former pleasure in many of the things they used to enjoy; wild parties, lewd jokes, gossip, violent T.V. programmes and so forth. Instead they find that they prefer the company of God’s people, which, after all, is that which they will enjoy throughout eternity. This will very often make them unpopular with their non-Christian friends, work-mates and even family, and is sometimes a cause of sadness and loneliness. This is one reason why it is so important for all Christians, but especially new ones, to have a loving and supportive Church family. Let us be quite sure however that if we are rejected by our non-Christian friends, it is not because we have become sanctimonious kill-joys, or aggressive and bullying in our witnessing. There are innocent pleasures that both believers and non-believers may join in together.
4: The direct witness of the Spirit. ‘The Spirit Himself bears witness with our Spirit that we are children of God’ (Rom. 8v16). The suggestion here is that when we are engaged in prayer or worship and we feel in ourselves the truth that God has loved us with an everlasting love, at that moment, the Holy Spirit comes alongside us and we feel another witness outside ourselves telling us of God’s favour towards us. Many great men of God have spoken of this experience; Dr. Lloyd-Jones claimed (1) that it is the highest possible form of assurance. That may be so, but it is certainly possible to be deceived by one’s feelings, especially in the highly charged atmosphere of some modern church meetings. In the absence of other, more material evidences, it is dangerous to rely upon what may be no more than emotion.
Next we come to the more objective proofs. Many of them are found in the First Letter of John. It appears that John set out to write this letter to distinguish between true and false assurance and to encourage those to whom he was writing in their assurance. He wrote (1John 5:13), ‘These things have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.’ There are a great many of these proofs elsewhere in the Bible also, and we shall only look at some of the most important of them:-
1: An evangelical obedience to our Lord’s commands. The Lord Jesus told His disciples; “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15; cf.1John 2:3-4). Now I have never met anyone who claimed to be a Christian who did not also claim to love Jesus, so here’s a very simple test: do you make it your first principle in life to obey the commands of Christ and His Apostles as laid down in the Bible? Does it grieve you whenever you fail to do so? If not, how can you claim to love Jesus? We have already seen that Christians are not under the law in the sense that they stand or fall by their minute observation of it, but if we believe that Christ shed His blood for us on the cross, then surely we shall seek to live lives that are pleasing to Him and bring glory to Him?
