(Ver 1.3)  This is Part 1 in an essential basic Bible study series on the subject of Savlation and the Spiritual New Birth of God..  So many bloggers on the internet want to ignore the real important eternal spiritual things of God and want to only focus on the temporary natural things that mean very little.  Because they think carnally they have been blinded spiritually to the things that God wants to teach them.  I hope that I am not talking about you.  Today I want to discuss a Bible Basic Truth that every Christian should already know a little bit about.  This is the subject of the New Birth, a subject that totally revolves around spiritual actions of God and not the natural thoughts of men.  What you should see when you study the Bible is that God gives us natural things as patterns for us to understand the hidden spiritual things.  Of course if you do not understand these natural things, you will not understand the spiritual things either.  Here is the challenge that God throws down to us in 1 Corinthians:

1Co 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

How natural are you?  We are all a little bit natural and many are more natural than they are spiritual.   God is very clear when He states the problem we are faced with in the church today.  We have many people teaching spiritual things and many people that are just not able to grasp it because they are not able to understand it without getting the knowledge past their flesh and minds and into their spirits.   People want to figure out God using only their natural human minds and reasoning and God says your mind is incapable of understanding anything about His spiritual things.  The more natural thinking you are the more difficulty you will have with understanding anything that is spiritual.

1Co 3:1  And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.

Every new Christian starts as a spiritual baby in Christ.   Just as natural babies cannot eat steak and the food that grownups eat, baby Christians have trouble digesting anything that has great substance and meaning to it.  Have you ever noticed that kids and children often times think they know more than they do?   They like to pretend that they are highly intelligent, even teenagers tend to think they know more than their parents.

Joh 3:3  Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

This is why many people even in churches today are unable to understand anything about the spiritual things that other people teach.  Jesus made a definite requirement to enter into the Kingdom of God.  What does it mean to be born again?

Joh 3:4  Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?

This is a classic example of a spiritual teacher trying to teach something to a natural thinking man.  Jesus is attempting to discuss spiritual things and this man in John 3 wants to ask a natural question.  Nicodemus asks Jesus how a man when he is old can enter back into the stomach of his mother.   To Nicodemus it was a good question, but to Jesus it was just a clear indication that this man did not understand what he said.

Joh 3:5  Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Jesus tries with another statement to explain the process.  I would doubt that you fully understand this scripture either.  Jesus is not speaking of Water Baptism in this verse and I would bet that most people think that is what He is talking about.   Jesus is comparing two different births, one natural and one spiritual.  When you are in your mother’s womb, you are surrounded by water.  When her water breaks, she knows it is time to deliver.  Jesus is comparing this natural event to the spiritual birth process.  Again Jesus tells us that unless a man is born naturally and spiritually you will never make it into the Kingdom of God.

Joh 3:6  That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

We can again see the comparison being confirmed in this next verse in John.  Jesus tells us very clearly that being born again has nothing to do with the flesh.  To be born again is a spiritual birth process and something that happens inside of you.  No one can observe it when it happens, but they can observe the changes that it makes in you externally.  This verse represents a spiritual law being revealed to us.  Whoever is born of the flesh is just that, flesh!   But, whoever is born of the Spirit, they are now a new spirit. 

1Pe 1:23  Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

You see the spiritual birth process dramatically resembles the natural birth process, but yet it is completely different at the same time.    Both birth processes were initiated by planting seed.  The natural seed of a man is called sperm and it impregnates a woman and a natural child is born.  This natural seed is called corruptible seed and this is directly compared to the incorruptible seed of the Word of God.  Everyone that becomes a Christian does so as a result of hearing God’s Word.

1Co 3:6  I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.

You see these people in Corinth were disputing among themselves, again thinking naturally and carnally and missing the spiritual things of God that Paul was trying to get them to see.  This is the same chapter that Paul said earlier that he could not talk to them about spiritual things because they were still baby Christians.  Paul reveals a part of the spiritual birth process in this verse.  Paul planted the incorruptible seed of the Word of God into the hearts of the people and Apollos came along and watered it to get it to grow.  If the people understood any of it, it would eventually begin to grow and produce fruit unto God.

Rom 10:14  How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?

You may not fully understand the process of being born again, but yet you can still participate in it and learn about the process later.   God designed a specific plan and a specific process for getting men and women born again.  This process is actually outlined in this verse in Romans.  It seems to start with a preacher being sent to the people.  The preacher tells the people about Jesus, what He has done for them and the people can choose to believe it and to accept Jesus as their Savior.  It is not a long or complicated process, but yet it is also very profound.   Salvation is a system based upon Words and Faith.  If you have ever read any of my other blogs you know that I say some pretty new things about these two subjects from the verses found in Bible.  God’s Word System of Salvation is vastly criticized and ridiculed by those who think naturally and do not understand it.

2Co 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become  new.

This verse found in 2 Corinthians speaks about the new birth.  God informs us that we have become a new creation.  This of course is a creation within the spiritual realm of God.   The term “new creation”, means we are now something that has never existed before.  We are something “fresh” and “brand new”.  Being born again spiritually, gives us a new start, a new beginning as this verse says.  The old things, the old ways, the old behavior and the things we use to do have now passed away or vanished.  You could say the old you was buried and the new you has been raised to life.  The Old Man was natural and carnal with a self centered focus.  The New Man is a person that sees things differently and has a new spiritual perspective on life and others around them.

When God says “All” things have become new, you have to understand what the term “All” means in this context.  It does not mean everything as in an all inclusive new you.  While the inside spirit part of you is new, the outside physical parts of you are still the same.  The body still wants the same foods you ate before you were born again.  The flesh still wants to do the same things that it has always done.   Then there is the mind and you have the same mind that you always had.  You still have the same memories, the same experiences, the same way of thinking and all of these things are part of a spiritual growth process that begins when you are “Born Again”.  God tells us in Romans 12:2 that “we should not conform to this world’s ways”.  He then tells us “to be transformed by the renewing of our minds”.   To renew your mind is a lengthy process that involves you learning spiritual things that will allow you to grow and mature in Christ.  Just as children take many years to mature physically, so it is with spiritual babies.  They need time to learn and understand the new spiritual things that God wants them to learn.

1Pe 2:2  As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:

What we learn by reading the Bible is that there is a growth process.  It starts with the Word of God and will end with the Word of God.  The milk of the Word represents the basic concepts, ideas, facts and information that provide you with the foundation for your spiritual beliefs.   Most of the time, these concepts are not as simple as you would like them to be, however you keep drinking them in until you grow enough to mature.  As you mature you will be able to grasp more complex and advanced topics in the Bible.  These are not always easy to digest either, but yet if God gave them to us, then they have a purpose for us to know and to understand. 

This has been a comprehensive overview of the New Birth process.   This is a spiritual reality that occurs when you accept Jesus as your Savior.   What God has done in the natural is a direct pattern for what God has done in the spiritual realm.  If you can learn and understand this process, it might help you to share it with others.

If you would like to contiue reading in this series of lessons you may go directly to “Part 2“.

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If you want to know how to get saved and know that you are with confidence you can go to: How to know that I am saved?