Guidance for the New Birth of a Believer in the Lord Jesus

What do Gospels Teach about the Lord Jesus?

The Bible presents us with a complete teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and about His mission on earth. For a comprehensive overview of the teachings of the Lord Jesus, please refer to our blog article, The Teachings of the Lord Jesus. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John complement each other, so we must read and meditate on the writings of all four Gospels to understand the work of salvation that God the Father has provided for us through His beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. As we study the Gospels, we discover at least eight essential truths about the Lord Jesus Christ.

1. The Lord Jesus is the Son of God and the Son of Man. In Luke 1:26-35, we find how the Lord Jesus was born from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary. Specifically, Luke 1:35 tells us, “And the angel answered and said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore, the being born will be called the Son of God.” This verse tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God through the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God the Father, and the Son of Man through Mary; therefore, we must believe that the Lord Jesus is both fully God and fully Man simultaneously.
2. The Lord Jesus came to earth to do the will of God the Father. The Son of God, the Lord Jesus, came to earth as a human to save all people, show us the way to get eternal life, and teach us how to become children of God. In John 10:10, the Lord Jesus states, “I came that they may have life and may have it more abundantly.” For those who have accepted the beloved Son of God as their Lord and put all their trust in His mercy, the beloved Son of God will receive them to be with Him, and they will have life for eternity with Him because it is for eternity, that is, “more abundantly.”
3. The Lord Jesus teaches us the way to be saved. The Lord teaches us how to live as believers through His Word, providing examples to follow in the Bible. In our Christian walk, we must believe in Him and follow Him in all aspects of His teachings. In Matthew 16:24, the Lord Jesus tells His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”
4. The Lord Jesus Christ is God in the Trinity of God. The Lord Jesus Christ is One with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. In John 10:30, the Lord Jesus Christ states, “I and the Father are One.” The Gospel of John presents a comprehensive and nuanced teaching about the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, the beloved Son of God. Therefore, faith in the Trinity of God—God the Father, God the Son, Jesus Christ, and God the Holy Spirit—must be the solid foundation of a true believer’s faith. To better understand the deity of the Lord Jesus, we suggest reading our article, The Trinity of God.
5. The Lord Jesus is the Kingdom of God. The Lord Jesus, through His Word, teaches us what the Kingdom of God is and how a person can become part of it through faith in Him. In Luke 17:20-21, the Lord Jesus tells us that “The kingdom of God comes not with observation, neither shall they say, Behold, here! or, There! for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” This essentially means that the Kingdom of God is present among the true believers in the Lord Jesus.
6. The Lord Jesus was crucified for the sins of the world. The Bible provides a detailed account of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus and emphasizes the significance of His sacrifice on the cross. As the sinless Lamb of God, His shed blood represents the path to forgiveness of sins for all humanity, enabling us to make peace with God the Father. The Scripture clearly states that no one can come to God the Father without faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and without receiving forgiveness of sins through His sacrifice. In John 14:5-6, we read, “Thomas says to Him, Lord, we do not know where Thou go; how are we able to know the way? Jesus says to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, if not by Me.”
7. The Lord Jesus rose from the dead. The Lord Jesus was crucified on Calvary’s cross and laid in the tomb; after three days, He rose from the dead in His body; the same body that was put in the tomb has risen in the palm of God the Father Himself. The belief in the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus is fundamental for true believers in the Lord Jesus. Moreover, after His resurrection, the Lord Jesus appeared to His disciples and many others before ascending to heaven in body, where He is now seated at the right hand of God the Father. In Acts 2:32-33, we read, “This Jesus God has raised up, whereof we all are witnesses; therefore, having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured out this, which you also are seeing and hearing.”
8. The Lord Jesus is coming again. The Lord Jesus talked many times to His disciples about His coming again, and He will come again as He promised (Read more on this in the Gospel of Matthew: Matthew 24). The Lord has warned all believers before that time comes, what will happen to the world and about His return, but the rest of the world needs to read the Bible by themselves and learn to pray. Yet, the Lord Jesus is telling us in His Word not to be troubled. He is the way, the truth, and the life, and there are many mansions in heaven prepared for us, and the Lord Jesus said that He is coming again to take us to Himself, not to destroy us. “Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, also believe in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; and if not, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again, and will receive you to Myself; that where I am, you may be also. And where I go, you know the way.” — John 14:1-4.

The New Birth

This article will briefly explain how a person can be born again, drawing from a well-known passage in the Gospel of John, chapter 3. In John 3:5-7, the Lord Jesus responds to Nicodemus, saying, “Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, Except anyone is born of water and of Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That having been born of the flesh, flesh is, and that having been born of the Spirit, spirit is. Marvel not that I said to you, It behooves you to be born from above.” This Scripture indicates that in order to experience a new birth of the soul, a person must be baptized in water and the Holy Spirit; this truth comes directly from the words of the Lord Jesus Himself.
To be born again, a person must first acknowledge their sinful state and publicly declare their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Trinity of God. The person must seek forgiveness for their sins from God the Father, asking in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, based on the blood He shed on the cross. Additionally, they must be baptized in water in the name of God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ), and God the Holy Spirit. The Bible teaches us that the Lord Jesus Christ is the only human who is without sin. However, He chose to be baptized in water to set an example for us to follow. Each Gospel describes this event, including how the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, descended upon Him after His water baptism.
We specifically find the water baptism of the Lord Jesus, performed by John the Baptist, in several Bible passages: Matthew 3:13-17, Mark 1:9-11, Luke 3:21-22, and John 1:29-34. In Matthew 3:15, when the Lord Jesus responds to John the Baptist, He says, “Permit just now; for thus it is proper to us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he permits Him.” This saying of the Lord Jesus indicates that every Christian is called to fulfill this step. Additionally, in Matthew 28:19, before ascending to heaven, the Lord Jesus entrusted His disciples with the mission to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ), and God the Holy Spirit. In John 1:33-34, John the Baptist testifies about the Son of God, stating, “But I knew Him not; but the One having sent me to baptize with water, He said to me, Upon whom you will perceive the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, He is the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. But I have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.”
Furthermore, by following the teachings of the Lord Jesus, we understand that the practice of infant water baptism in some Christian churches is merely a tradition and not the type of water baptism referenced in John 3:5-6. Therefore, any faithful Christian who desires to experience the new birth of the soul, as described in this passage of Scripture, must be baptized in water through complete body immersion under the water, following the example set by the Lord Jesus Christ.

In this article, we will not cover all aspects of the water baptism of a believer; however, you can refer to our article titled Water Baptism for a Christian for more information on this topic. Instead, this article will explain a step that anyone seeking the Lord can take to establish a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. Once this relationship is formed, the Holy Spirit will guide that person in all aspects of life, provided they pray, read, and meditate regularly on the Word of God.
The Bible teaches us that anyone, regardless of their religious background—whether they have been baptized in water by immersion or not—can establish a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus through the Holy Spirit. Through this relationship, individuals can experience the Holy Spirit at work in their hearts and Him testifying to them about the Lord Jesus. To help establish this personal relationship, we can draw upon the teaching from John 15:26, which states, “When the Intercessor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness concerning Me.” Therefore, when we invite the Holy Spirit, in the name of the Lord Jesus, into our hearts, He will guide us and teach us in all matters related to becoming true children of God. He will instill in us love for the Lord Jesus, a passion for the Word of God, and a desire to follow God’s commandments, helping us become more and more like our Lord and Master, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The question is, how can we have the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Christ living in our hearts? To understand this, we can refer to John 14:22-23, which tells us, “Judas (not the Iscariot) says to Him, Lord, and what has occurred that Thou are about to declare Thyself to us, and not to the world? Jesus answered and said to him, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and will make a home with him.” To experience the presence of the Trinity of God in our hearts, we must genuinely love the Lord Jesus, keep His Word, and invite Him into our lives. When we are ready to accept the Lord into our hearts, we should pray to God the Father with sincerity, perhaps in the following way: “Holy Father, who is in heaven, have mercy on me, a sinner. Forgive all my sins in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and wash me clean with His blood shed on the cross of Calvary. I believe that the Lord Jesus is Your Holy Son, the only begotten from the Father and the Virgin Mary. I believe You sent Him to show us the way to heaven and to grant us eternal life through faith in the Trinity of God: God the Father, God the Son, Jesus Christ, and God the Holy Spirit. Therefore, Father, Lord Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit, I give my heart to You and ask You to come and live within me, teaching me Your Word.” This prayer serves as a template for what we need to believe in order to cultivate the right faith, so that the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Christ can touch our hearts and live in us. We can also enrich this prayer with our personal expressions of love for the Lord.

After extending this invitation, our next step is to read and meditate on the Word of God on a daily basis. We should pray for the Holy Spirit to guide us in understanding everything about our Lord and Master, the Lord Jesus Christ. As stated in John 6:63, “It is the Spirit that gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I speak to you are Spirit and are life.” This means that the words in the Bible provide spiritual nourishment for our souls. Therefore, it is essential to read and meditate on the Word of God daily so that we can feed our spirits and foster growth and maturity in our spiritual lives.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we must consider the distinction between being born again and having the Lord touch a person’s heart and live within them without undergoing water baptism by immersion. According to the Bible, being born again involves both water baptism by immersion and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. In contrast, for the Lord to touch a person’s heart and live inside them, they simply need to invite Him to be the leader of their life.
The distinction is clear: when a person is born again, their body and soul are cleansed by the blood of the Lord Jesus through water baptism by immersion, and in the spiritual world, a new person is born. However, when someone invites the Lord Jesus to live inside them but has not gone through water baptism yet, it is only their body that is cleansed from sin, allowing the Lord to reside in them by touching their heart. It is important to understand that sins of the body and sins of the soul are different.

Read our other articles on this topic, Making Peace with God, Water Baptism for a Christian, and Holy Spirit Baptism for a Christian.