How to Become a Christian
O one can be saved unless he is born
again by the power of God’s Holy Spirit. “Ye must be born again” (John 3: 3, 7), says Jesus. The necessity is absolute, not merely ye may be born again — though that is true — but ye must be born again. Nothing will take the place of the new birth. Baptism will not take the place of the new birth. Confirmation will not take the place of the new birth. Simon Magus (Acts 8: 13) was baptized; but when Peter and John came down and perceived his character, Peter said unto him, “Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter, for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Thou art in the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity” — a baptized, lost sinner.
No performance of religious rites will take the place of the new birth. A great many people are depending upon the fact that they say their prayers, read their Bibles, go to church, partake of the sacrament, and perform other duties, but all that How to Become a Christian.
will not take the place of the new birth. Orthodoxy of faith will not take the place of the new birth. A great many people are saying, “I believe the Apostles’ Creed, I believe in the Athanasian Creed, I believe in the Nicene Creed, I say the Catechism; I am orthodox; I hold right views about Christ, right views about the Bible, right views about the Atonement.” You can be orthodox upon every doctrine, and be lost for ever.
Culture, and refinement, and outward correctness of life will not take the place of the new birth. The trouble with us is not merely with our outward life; the trouble is in the heart, in the very deepest depths of our inward life, and merely to reform your outward life will not save you. Suppose I had a rotten apple. I could take that apple to an artist, have him put a coating of wax on its surface, and then paint it till it was the most beautiful looking apple you ever saw, but it would be just as rotten at heart as ever, and one bite into it would be a bite into decay. The trouble is that out of Christ you are rotten in the heart, and mere culture, mere refinement, mere respectability, How to Become a Christian.
mere morality, is simply putting a coating of wax on the outside and painting it up. You must be changed, down to the deepest depths of your being. “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
Are you born again? Now, I think a good many of you will say, “No, I am not. Can you tell me just what I must do right now to be born again?” I can. You will find it in John 1:12: “As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His Name.” We are born again by God’s Holy Spirit ,through His Word, the moment we receive Christ. When you take Christ into your heart, Christ transforms you through and through, in a moment. I care not how worldly you are, I care not how sinful you are, I care not how hard you are — any one to-day that will throw his heart open and let Jesus come in to rule and reign, God will make that one a new creature in a moment.