Hello Mike!

First timer.

I had a question about being born again. What does that mean? What happens to a person that is born again?

If you have any articles written on this subject, can you please direct me to them.

Thank You!

E____

Hi E____,

Thank you for your question.

Being ‘born again’ means that God in His sovereignty, has seen fit to reach down and strike a person down to his knees through the circumstances of life. It has nothing to do with you deciding to go down to the altar and say the sinner’s prayer because someone talked you into it. Here is the truth of how one is brought to God:

Rom 9:16 So then it [ being born again] is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Rom 9:18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

If it is God’s will to have mercy, He will bring us to Himself. If he hardens our hearts and makes us believe in the false doctrine of free will then either way “It is not of Him that wills but [ being born again is] of God that shows mercy.”

Christ taught the same thing Paul taught:

Joh 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw [ Greek- drag] him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

The proof that this has taken place is that a person gives up his mind for “the mind of Christ.”

Php 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

In scriptural terms, this is a dying process. Here is show Christ describes the process of being born again:

Joh 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except acorn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

This ‘fruit’ is defined as a life of good works which is the result of one’s conversion, not vice- versa.

Tit 3:14 And let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not un fruit ful.

It is of utmost importance to understand that this ‘dying’ is a process that take an entire life time. It is so easy to become discouraged when this is not comprehended. “A just man falls seven times” is not a promise that we will only make seven mistakes after our calling. It is rather the scriptural way of saying that God’s elect will be brought to see that “they can of themselves do nothing.”

Pro 24:16 For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.
Mat 10:22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
Joh 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

This is an impossible concept for the mind that cannot relinquish the doctrine of ‘free moral agency.’

We are ‘born again” now only in “down payment” form. The “fulness of our inheritance” come only “through death.” This means without “flesh and blood.”

1Jn 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
Eph 1:13 In whom [ Christ] ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom [ Christ] also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14 Which is the earnest [ down payment] of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

Believing that we will receive what we have been promised is now our down payment. This means about as much to most Christians as Esau’s birthright meant to him. But for those who have been given the faith to receive this promise, it is more precious than life itself in “the body of this death” (Rom. 7:24). This is a dying body. In Truth we have nothing to lose by giving it up. In Truth we have everything to gain.

Mat 10:39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

The channel through which this is all accomplished is “by grace through faith.”

Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

If we fail to see what either of these are, we do not know how we are saved. I have written e- mails on both subjects. Use the search engine on my site if you are so inclined. I cannot go into that just now.

I hope this has answered your question “what happens to a person that is born again?” He is “humbled” then he is “crushed to powder” then he is “tried with fire,” and if he “endures to the end he shall be saved.” God is looking for and producing a completed, mature cadre of leaders who can identify with the sufferings that must yet be endured by the multitude who are yet to be cast into His purifying ‘lake of fire.’ “If we suffer with Him… we shall reign with Him…”

Rom 8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint- heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together
2Ti 2:12 If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:

Being born again is not simply saying the sinners prayer. “It is through much tribulation that we must enter the kingdom of God”

Act 14:22 Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.

Being born again is a call and a promise of trials and rejection and tribulation. It is a life of hardship. Yet it is the greatest single honor that can possibly be given to any human being.

1Co 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
1Co 2:10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

Mike