Spurgeon: March AM
* 03/06/AM
"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--the being "born again," is a matter so mysterious , that
human words cannot describe it. "The wind bloweth where it
listeth, 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.