"The New Birth and Assurance of Salvation" BACK HOME
Pre-Encounter Lesson #1
OBJECTIVES: Identify When and how one can obtain new birth, and identify advantages and results of new birth; Also, assure the new believer has experienced assurance of salvation through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary.
John 3:3 “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘ Most assuredly I say unto you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
“For who can say; I have cleansed myself of my sin, I am pure from my sin”? Prov. 20:9
Is it possible to be a Christian w/o being born again? Can we inherit Christianity through our families? Our nation? Our church? We must all come to a specific point, at a specific moment to the cross and be born again.
Not just Zaccheus, a thief, or Mary Magdalene, a prostitute, or the thief on the cross needed a savior, but Nicodemus (in John 3:3) who taught the law of God, prayed 2 hours a day, fasted twice a week and was zealous in the Mosiac Law needed to be born again. We come to the cross empty.
Destroyed all arguments that man can reform himself.
New birth not intellectual, but spiritually obtained.- a spiritual miracle.
Romans 3:10-12 says…”there is none righteous, no one seeking after God…”
Have you been born again? Have you experienced the new birth?
At our natural birth, all that concerns us has been established by God-our sex, skin pigmentation, height, weight, temperament, etc.
Being born again refers to our spiritual body and mind, that is the mind of Christ. We receive a brand new spiritual life—which affects all the rest of our being-body, mind, emotions, temperament, etc.
Social reformation does not accomplish what only God can do through a new heart, and spirit. John 3:6
2 Cor. 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, old things have passed away, behold all things have become new.”
In Ezekiel 36:26-27, The Lord says, “I will give you a new heart and a new spirit within you; I will take away the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and you will keep My judgments and do them.”
The new birth is produced directly through the Holy Spirit, who through faith, places the Spirit of life in the new believer.
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE THINGS THAT CHANGE ABOUT ME AND MY LIFE NOW THAT I AM BORN AGAIN?
Luke 10:20 Rejoice that your names are recorded in the Lamb’s book of life.
Colossians 1:13, 14 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the Kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sin.
I Peter 2:9 “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”
Ezek. 36:26-27 already covered
Romans 6:11 “Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus”
Psalms 103;11-12 “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”
I John 1:8,9 “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
II Peter 1:1-4 “To those who have received a faith of the same king as ours, by the righteousness of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ: grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His glory and excellence. For by these He has granted o us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.
Psalm 103;1-5
Romans 8:31, 32: “What shall we say to those things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?”
HOW DO I KNOW I’M SAVED?
1. Salvation is received by faith, (Eph 2:8,9)
2. Romans 8:15-16 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father.’ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
WHAT WILL MY SOUL DESIRE:
1. Hunger for God’s Word I Peter 2:2
2. Holy life (I Peter 1:15-16)
3. Love for brethren (I John 3:14)
4. Witness of Christ (Acts 4:20)
CONCLUSION: No matter what or who a man is he must look at the cross and decide for himself what all that Christ did means to him or her. And what he does with the cross determines his destiny and his eternity.
Homework
(Give one verse to back up each answer)
Write a brief testimony about your salvation experience on the back of this sheet.