New birth is an event and not a process. It is a cleansing from our sin, that God gives to all who believe in His son (Jesus Christ and him crucified and risen). Salvation belongs to the Lord and regeneration is an action that only He can do.
In Ezekiel 36, God declares that He will wash us clean, give us a new heart and put His spirit within us. Our response is that we would love Him as fulfilled in Christ our saviour.
As Jesus explained to Nicodemus (the Jewish religious teacher of the day), “truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).
The moment that we trust in, believe in and have faith in the blood atonement and finished work of Christ on the cross (in that act of repentance), we are ‘born again’.
In 1972, in a little church outside of Nashville, Tennessee, a pastor gave a gospel invitation.
A man named Johnny Cash got up, walked down the aisle and knelt at the altar.
Cash was a man whose life had been affected by grief, loss and hurt.
Cash was born again of the spirit of God that day and his soul and life was transformed for eternity.
Cash later said he dreaded to wake up in the morning as there was no joy, peace or happiness in his life. Now, he could not wait to get up and study his Bible.
Three years after his salvation, in 1975, Cash recorded The Old Rugged Cross for the album Precious Memories. Connecting with the lyrics of the original hymn (reflecting on the crucifixion of Christ), Cash sang “I will cherish the Old Rugged Cross, the emblem of suffering and shame”.
Johnny Cash was not saved because he raised his hand or walked an aisle.
He was born again because he “received Christ” and believed the gospel.
Nicodemus (who eventually came to believe in Christ) was not saved by his religious effort or tradition. He was born from above and regenerated for the kingdom of God, because he ‘trusted in Jesus as his lord and saviour’.
The cross stands on the horizon of our lives, calling us to believe the gospel message of God’s love. And when we do, our hearts are transformed by His power, mercy and grace.
For today is the day of salvation.
David Czech,
Evangelical Uniting Church, Kyabram, chaplain
