How Do You Know You are Truly Born Again?

The sevenfold evidence of being born again
By Brother Michel Lankford 
 

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This Blog Will Discuss:

• You can tell that a tree is healthy by the fruit it produces (Matthew 7:15-20)
• What Messiah's disciples believe
• Why Messiah's disciples believe 
• The  Sevenfold fruits and byproducts of being truly born-again

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How do you know when an apple tree is truly prospering? Well, you know that an apple tree is successful and prospering, when the tree is healthy, and it produces a healthy and abundant crop of apples on  a regular basis. How do you know when a Christian is truly healthy and prospering? You will know the believer and Messiah is healthy and prospering when he or she is noticeably and progressively thinking, desiring, believing, speaking and doing those things that agree with Jesus, the Christ and Messiah sent by Almighty God. This is how we recognize the true prophet, the true teachers, and the true disciples of Messiah (See Matthew 7:15-20).
As up-and-coming disciples and followers of God through Jesus Christ, it is good to periodically review the fundamentals so that we become more strongly established in Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul believed and practiced this principle of review with the people that he was serving. He did so because it was additional security for them (Philippians 3:1).

 

 

What Do we believe?

The basic precept of Christianity is that as Christians we believe that Jesus of Nazareth who is born of the Virgin Mary is in fact the Son of God. He is the Messiah promised to the Jewish people. He lived a sinless life. He died on the cross to take the punishment that our own specific and particular sins deserve. Through the power of the Holy Spirit God resurrected Him from the dead. Now there are Scriptures which attest to all these things. Some are veiled inferences in the Hebrew Scriptures while others are clearly unfolded for us in the fulfillment Scriptures also known as the New Testament. I have mentioned many of the Scripture references in other studies, so I will not detail them again, but the collection of these beliefs which I have just mentioned are known as The Gospel, (The Good News). Biblically, one must believe the gospel of who Jesus is and what Jesus accomplished through His death and resurrection in order to be saved and go to heaven. (John 3:36; 1 Corinthians 15:1-8; Colossians 1:21-23; 2 Timothy 2:8).

 

Why do we believe it?

The gospel life is a life of faith, but it is not blind faith. So then on what basis do we believe the gospel? Disciples and God followers believe the gospel because the prophets foretold it, the Hebrew Scriptures foreshadowed it, Jesus fulfilled it, the apostles and others personally witnessed it and proclaimed it, we received and obeyed it, and we have seen our lives transformed by it. That is why we believe it.

 

Why do we study and practice Christ's commands?

If we are saved by grace through faith, and not by our own works (Ephesians 2:8-9), then why do we need to learn and practice Christ's commands? Aren't we just saved by believing in Jesus Christ? The answer is both yes and no.
Here is why I say this. You see, it is an aberration of modern-day psychology that we could "believe" a certain way, and then practice life in an opposite way. In biblical terminology, if one truly believes something, then one will live in agreement with that belief. In biblical terms, if you truly believe Jesus Christ, then you will think in agreement with Jesus Christ and progressively live in agreement with Jesus Christ. When a genuine believer encounter something in their character or lifestyle that disagrees or come short of what Christ desires, they are deliberate about bringing it to Christ and they are committed to thoroughly correcting the situation. So from the biblical perspective the proof that we truly believe Jesus is established when we obey Jesus. From the biblical point of view, if you do not live a lifestyle of obedience to Jesus Christ, then you don't really believe Him.

 

 

The Fruits of Being Born Again

Jesus said that we must be born again in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven (John 3:3,7). In the same chapter we see that Jesus expected the religious leaders to understand the concept of spiritual rebirth (John 3:10), because even though the term is not specifically mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures, the idea is described in the Hebrew Scriptures (Deuteronomy 30:6; Psalm 51:15-17; Ezekiel 36:25-27). The Hebrew Scriptures give a specific description of what will happen inside a person if they are genuinely regenerated by God (a.k.a. born-again).
Here is what the Scriptures say will occur inside a person if they are truly regenerated by God and born-again:
1. God will clean us up from every form of uncleanness (Ezekiel 36:25).
2. God will cleanse us from all forms of idolatry; meaning that we will be devoted to serving and worshiping Almighty God alone. We will not accept any false worship and we will refuse to worship anything other than God (Ezekiel 36:25).
3. God will give us a brand-new heart, and a brand-new spirit. He will remove the old hard heart of stone and put in a soft heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26; cf. Deuteronomy 30:6).
4. He will take out the old human spirit, and give us His Spirit in its place (Ezekiel 36:25). So how do we know that the Holy Spirit is really living inside a person? Scripture answers that very clearly.

a. When the Holy Spirit is truly living and working inside a person they will be convicted (convinced and agree with God concerning what God considers sin and righteousness, and they will agree with His Judgments (John 16:8-11).

b. When the Holy Spirit is truly living inside a person, He will guide you into all truth (John 16:13). So they will highly value and esteem Truth. They will love the light As part of this, the Holy Spirit will lead people to Jesus Christ Who Is the truth (John 14:6; John 15:26).

c. When the Holy Spirit is truly living inside a person, He will remind us of everything that Jesus said, taught, and commanded (John 14:26).

d. Scripture tells us that when the Holy Spirit comes upon us, we will receive power to become His Witnesses (Acts 1:8). The New Testament Greek word for witnesses in this verse more accurately translates as martyrs. So what it is really saying is that when the Holy Spirit is really living inside a person they will have the power both to live and if necessary to die for the truth and their testimony of God and Jesus Christ.

e. When the Holy Spirit is honestly living inside of a person the fruit and character of the Holy Spirit will become more and more increasingly evident in the person's character. In other words their character, attitude and way of life will agree more and more with the fruit and character of the Holy Spirit; which is Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23 (ESV).

Jesus Christ Himself said that it is by the fruit of love that we would recognize who and what is true by its fruit (see Matthew 7:15-20; John 13:35).
So now we know what the evidence is that the Holy Spirit is really living inside of a person according to Jesus. What is the ultimate byproduct of this renewal? Does Scripture tell us what the ultimate result that this internal transformation will cause? Sure it does. Ezekiel 36:25-27 described what being born again would actually look like in the life of a believer and it also described what would happen once the transformation rightly took place.
5. The largest fruit and evidence of being really born again is that we obey God (Ezekiel 36:27).

The Conclusion
There is perhaps no more critical question to ask oneself then, "Am I truly born-again?" You might think to yourself, am I being unfaithful to God and Jesus Christ by even asking the question? The answer to that is no. Scripture expressly requires us to scrutinize and examine ourselves and make certain that we are in the faith. That is our responsibility, (2 Corinthians 13:5). Jesus said that we would be able to recognize who and what people are by the fruit of the character and behavior that comes out of their lives (See Matthew 7:15-20). That doesn't mean that the Christian will never fall short of God's best and highest standards for our lives, but it does mean that the genuine believer treats missing the mark of God's standards extremely seriously. Their sin bothers them. They are eager to cooperate with God and to get rid of it. As surely as the healthy apple tree produces a regular supply of apples, as surely as banana trees produce bananas, so too does the Christian who is reborn of the Holy Spirit, and who has been planted by the River of the living water of God's Word.
1. The truly born-again person will have a growing appetite for the word of God (Psalm 1:1-3; 1 Peter 2:2)
2.  The truly born-again person will have a growing hunger and thirst for righteousness, and what pleases God (Matthew 6:5; Matthew 6:33)
3.  The truly born-again person will notice that God is actively cleaning them up from all that God considers unclean (Ezekiel 36:25)
4.  The truly born-again person will notice that they have an ever-increasing desire to separate themselves from everything that God considers idolatry (Ezekiel 36:25)
5.  The truly born-again person will notice that they have a brand-new heart and new desires (Ezekiel 36:26; Deuteronomy 30:6).
6.  The truly born-again person will receive the Holy Spirit as a gift from God (Ezekiel 36:27), with the following evidences:They will be convicted and agree with God concerning sin and righteousness and judgment (John 16:8-11). They will be led into the truth of Jesus Christ who is the truth (John 14:6; John 14:26; John 15:26). They will know God and His Son Jesus Christ (John 17:3). The Holy Spirit produces the fruit and byproduct of his presence in their lives (Galatians 5:22-23). They will be given God's power to live by, to proclaim, and if necessary even die for the faith of God and Jesus Christ (Acts 1:8; Revelation 12:11).
7. The truly born-again person will notice that they have an increasing ability and desire to obey God, and keep His ordinances (Ezekiel 36:27; Philippians 2:13).
Beloved, if you have believed and accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and if you are seeing this sevenfold change in your life happening and increasing on a regular basis, then you can be absolutely secure in the fact that you are born again and saved and healthy in Jesus Christ. If on the other hand you are not seeing this kind of growth in the tree of your life on a regular basis, then you are either not born-again, or you are certainly not healthy. In either case, whether you are not truly born-again, not healthy or not growing in your salvation, this is a serious spiritual crisis which you must address. You must prayerfully seek and pursue God's healing until you are certain of your salvation, and you are seeing the fruit thereof.

Closing Prayer

Almighty God, I come to you through Your Son the Messiah, Jesus Christ. I long to be your child. I beseech You to make me truly born-again by Your Holy Spirit. Save me by Your unfailing love, through the compassion and sacrifice of Jesus Christ Your Son, who died to take the punishment my own sins deserve. Graciously work within me and produce in me the sevenfold evidence of being born again. Mercifully produce the fruit of the Holy Spirit within me in great abundance, and help me to more completely submit to You and cooperate with You, so that I will not hinder or resist Your work of grace in my life. Transform me completely into a genuine child of Yours, who always brings joy and delight to the heart of God. Grant that I will not be ashamed, but that You will be able to gladly receive me into Your kingdom on the last day. Amen.