As we seek to answer this question; I’d like to begin by sharing a few verses of scripture.

( Ephesians 4:11-14 )

And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; ( 12 ) For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: ( 13 ) Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the statue of the fulness of Christ: ( 14 ) That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive:

So, in all reality, the security of a believer, once the ( born again ) experience has taken place is never in question. From the very moment we ask Christ to be our savior, we all are ( secure under his blood ) from that very moment until we actually stand in his presence.

The problem is; getting each believer to the place that we have confidence in the finshed work of Christ, understanding what salvation is. Therefore, let’s see what it takes to be born into the family of God. Look at this verse:

( John 3:7 )

Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

If you will read here; you will notice that there is a man called Nicodemus. He was a ruler of the Jews and, he is now speaking with Jesus Christ. Jesus has just explained to him this:

( verse 3 )

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Now, notice what Nicodemus said to him:

( verse 4 )

Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?

You can continue to read how Jesus answered that question. As a matter of fact I would encourage you to do so. However, looking back at what we see in ( Ephesians ) we see that it becomes the responsibility of people that God has given the ability to teach even beyond what you might read within the next few verses. As you read in ( Ephesians ) you will notice that all men will not do what we are speaking of. If you will look at:

( verse 14 ) he says this:

That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine.

Those that are actually called by God to teach, to bring you to the place of security in Christ can and, will help you to understand what actually being ( born again ) is all about. Once you have actually been ( born again ) then, the same ( God called men ) will teach you to see the complete security that is within that ( born again ) experience.

Now, let’s look at the rest of the verse:

( verse 14 ) the last part.

by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

The Apostle Paul writng this understood that all men or people were not people you could trust to bring you to a perfect understanding of the security we see in Christ. There are many that have all kinds of different motives as they pastor a church or, appear to be doing the work of God. One of the most common is ( the love of money ). They speak with kind words and, seek to make you happy, content so you will supply their finanical needs.

However, a man that is truly called by God will always be completely honest with you, causing you to look deep within yourself and, help you understand exactly what you need spiritually.

Therefore, let’s simply be honest.Although I’m actually writing this to ( two specific ) people that I have on my mind and heart; the fact is that every one of us are ( hell deserving sinners ) no exceptions! That means that; although Jesus Christ was speaking to ( Nicodemus ) ( a ruler ) of Israel. A man that basically was teaching Biblical things to people; that didn’t matter. He was just as ( hell deserving ) as any person he might have been teaching.

Sunday morning, when I go to Church, as I sit in the pew, looking, listening to the pastor. Guess what? He is a hell deserving sinner. As you read what I write here, it’s being written by a man that completely deserves to go the hell when I die. I want you to understand this: although I ask Christ to come into my heart in ( November, 1975 ) I am no less sinner today than I was all those years ago. I still deseve hell!

If you attend Church, as you sit there looking at all those people, consider; everyone of them deserve hell, that without a doubt. This is what Jesus Christ was desiring for Nicodemus to see. It didn’t matter what his role in life was, his education, his popularity with people, his bank account. All these things are completely worthless unless you are ( born again ).

Now, what brings about being born again? Do you remember the verse in ( Ephesians ) speaking of ( cunning craftiness, by the sleight of men )? There are those that teach us that ( believing in ) Jesus Christ is salvation; that is being born again. In most cases the people, members of Churches say they believe in Christ, get baptized and join Church. That is considered salvation, However, most of these people are not secure in what they say they believe.

Why would that be? It’s because being truly born again takes a spiritual process. That process begins with a man being willing to preach truth to you. Let’s say I, as your pastor am preaching. My first responsibility to you is to bring you to a spiritual undertanding that, just as you are, you will never please God. There is nothing about you, in your flesh that will ever be pleasing to God. My responsibility to you is to bring you to the place that you see yourself as a ( hell deserving sinner ) one ( without hope ) in your present condition.

My friends, consider this: you were born into this world by no choice of you own. The world we were born into was ( sin cursed ) when we were born into it. In our natural state, we are sinners, every one of us. While that is the absolute truth, the sin we live in has to be paid for. Look at this verse:

( Romans 3:23 )

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.

( Roman 6: 23 )

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Someone has got to help you see that ( you are a sinner ). The fact that you are a sinner means, that just like you are; death is coming. So, let’s consider ( death ). I often try to make people see this. We look at what we have in our present condition ( as life ) and, we consider ( death ) as the day we draw our last breathe. However, God doesn’t see it that way at all. We can prove that in scripture.

When we come to the ( knowledge of sin ) in other words, we know we are sinners, at that moment, God sees us as dead! Although we say we are alive and, people see us as alive, God sees us as dead already.

( Ephesians 2:1 )

And you hath he quickened, who were dead in your trespasses and sins; ( 2 ) Wherein in times passed ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

In this verse we see the picture I’m speaking of. This verse is written to people that have already been ( born again ). The word ( quickened ) means to be ( made alive ). Before they were ( made alive ) they were ( dead in their trespasses and sins ).

Just to make my point a little more clear, look at Adam in Genesis. God told him the day you partake of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, ( ye shall surely die ). We know that on that day he did not physically die but, spiritually he did die. You can read about that in ( Genesis 2:16-17 ) ( Genesis 3:6-7 ).

That is the very same picture of you when you gain the knowledge that you are a sinner and, that you cannot help yourself. Yor need someone to help you. Another way to say it is ( you just came to yourself ). Now you know, you deserve hell. That being something you cannot fix without someone helping you.

When Jesus Christ said: ( ye must be born again ). He is referring to a person that has gained this knowledge of himself or herself. Now, they began to seek help. You might say; Lord, I know what I am, I see well myself as a sinner but, Lord I don’t want to die in my sin and spend eternity in hell!

Jesus Christ fixed that problem. If you remember in ( Romans 6:23 ) he said what the wage of sin was but, he also said: ( but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

You see, Jesus Christ love me so much that he willingly became my sacrifice. He paid the price I could not pay. He loves every person the very same way.

( John 3:16 )

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

( Acts 16:30-31 )

And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? ( 31 ) And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

Do you remember a while back I stated that many people ( believe in ) Jesus Christ but, still didn’t have security in that belief? So, we must understand what it means to say ( you believe ). I’m going to make a statement here that some might disagree with but, I truly believe it’s very important to see. There are many people that look at themselves as good people. They have always live good lives, paid their debts, treated their neighbors right, they go to Church, been baptized, give money and so on.

They have a problem seeing themselves as a sinner. However, a man like me, I can clearly see what I am. what I have done. I can see what kind of mess I’ve made, all my failures and sinful deeds. Therefore, I had no problem saying this. ( Lord, I’m a hell deserving sinner, I clearly see that. I also completely see that you loved me ( Just as I am ). Lord, I need you to help me! I ask you to move into my heart, my very being and, I ask you to guide me from this day foward. I’ve made a mess of my life, therefore I willingly yield my life to your Spirit to guide and teach me.

I’m going to share something that happened to me once to take this a step further. I went to a man’s house one night to share Jesus Christ with him and his wife. I had my Bible with me. As I opened it to share scripture, the man stopped me and said. That’s just a book, why should I believe anything in it?

That caught me off guard. I paused for a little, asking God for direction. Then I said, all right and I just pitched my Bible on the coffee table in front of me.

Then I asked him; do you mind if I just share a story with you? He and his wife both said it would be fine.

Then I began to share a story with them about the fact that we are all sinners, we deserve hell, I even asked them if they knew they were sinners. I shared Jesus Christ and how he loved them, giving his life for their sin.

After I finished, I asked them this question. As I shared your sinful nature, the penalty thereof and, the love of Christ, did you feel the Spirit of God churning within your heart?

I can ask you the same thing, as you read this, about you being a hell deserving sinner and Jesus dying for you because he loved you that much; can feel something churning in your heart?

There answer was ( yes they did )! I told them that was the Holy Spirit of God trying to convince them that they needed Christ Jesus. I also reached and pick up my Bible, telling them that all I did was reveal God’s word to them in story form. In reality, it actually takes God’s Spirit working within your heart to reveal the truth about yourself and, also God’s word to each of us. The Holy Spirit of God is what causes God’s word to come alive within our hearts. If you feel that Spirit then, God’s dealing with you as well. He desires to move into your heart but he will never force himself upon you, you must invite him in at your own will! As I stated; he proved his love for you by dying on the cross, you prove your love for him by yielding to his Spirit, asking him into your heart.

Now, you have to asked yourself, has that transformation taken place in your heart, am I born again? I spent all that time trying to help you see what actually has to take place for any person to truly be born again. The reason for that is because ( security in Christ ) has to have its foundation built upon the Holy Spirit being present in your heart. He, and he alone is the way we find security in Christ. He is our only true teacher. Look at this verses:

( Romans 8:16-17 )

The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: ( 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.

As you sit and ask yourself ( am I born again )? Just from self experience; You might say that, I realize I’m ( hell deserving ) I know ( I’m a sinner ) and, to the best of my ability I’ve asked ( Jesus Christ ) to be my savior. I’ve asked him to ( allow his Spirit ) to live in my heart. However, I still doubt my salvation. Therefore, let’s now see if we can create ( the security part ) of the salvation experience.

Jesus said ( ye must be born again ). Now let’s consider somethings about you physical birth. I’ll use myself as an example. I was born ( March 21, 1951 ) Somewhere about nine months before that date my mom became pregnant, When she was first pregnant, even she didn’t know that fact, as the next three or four weeks went by, she began to wonder and at some point, she gained the knowledge that she was with child. Now she begins to share that fact with my dad and other people. However, I still didn’t know I exisited. Even the day I was born, I had no idea. As time moved foward, on day I became aware that I’m a person and, I began to learn beyond the things I had already learned; walk, talk and so on.

When we are born again spiritually, it’s the very same picture. God’s Spirit is birthed within us. Just as it took physical food and, the tender love of our parents to bring about our physical maturity, it takes our spiritual food and the loving kindness, teaching and nourishing from spiritual people to bring about our spiritual groweth.

Before we were even old enough to know we existed, we knew how to find a bottle with the milk in it we needed, that even without any teaching. One true way you can tell you are ( born of the spirit ) is you become hungry for ( spiritual truth ) just as you were hungry for the nourishment in the milk bottle. Even before we understand ( the security ) of our spiritual birth, we have a hunger for God’s word, for the truth, we have a desire to understand Jesus Christ, to know him and yield to his will.

You can almost assuredly count on this fact; not only will you have to face the doubts within your own self but, the flesh of others will doubt you as well. As a new believer in Christ, I doubted my salvation, also others would tell me I wasn’t born again.

As we begin to grow spiritually, people seek to keep us just as they are. That is the true struggle of the Born again experience. We read those verses in ( Romans 8:16-17 ) within those verses it says this: ( if so be that we suffer with him ). Just as people doubted Jesus Christ was the Son Of God, they will also doubt that you have changed. That is part of the suffering we face as we walk with him.

As we study God’s word, learn spiritual lessons, gain spiritual strength and, begin to change, the way we talk, the things we talk about, show forth what is most important in our lives; people will begin to see the spiritual effects in our lives and, we ourselves become more and more confident in our own personal born again experience.

Our salvation is just as secure the day we ask Jesus Christ into our hearts as it ever will be but, we simply have to be convinced of that fact by spiritual growth. We have to be willing to partake of the spiritual food we need to make us spiritually strong. We can’t always drink ( the milk of the word ) but we must begin to eat ( the meat of the word ). When that happens God’s Spirit begins to purge us of our old sins and, to create himself within us.

Salvation is a ( free gift ). Your only part in that is that you have to be willing to receive that free gift. Even after you become willing to receive that free gift, then if becomes intirely up to you what you actually do with the gift that you received. Salvation as defined is ( God’s Spirit ) being placed within you freely. That Spirit can teach you all you desire to know concerning God’s word. He can cause you to become the most powerful voice for Jesus Christ in your community, you just have to be willing to study and learn who he is and, what he desires of you.

If I place a one hundred dollar bill on a table in front of you and, then tell you ( it’s yours ). That free gift will never help you at all until you pick it up and apply all it is to what you need. The free gift of salvation is the same way, it’s yours, pick it up and apply it to your very being, unlease all it’s potential within your very being! You allow yourself to become to salvation that someone else needs!

Let me share this with you and, I’ll close. If you are sitting right where you are and, you are willing to say that you have asked Jesus Christ to be your savior, then, you be willing to share that fact with someone close to you even to a whiole Church. Let me show you these verses:

( Romans 1:16 )

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth, to the Jew first , and also to the Gentile.

If you have trusted him for your salvation, don’t ashamed to share it.

( Romans 10:9-10 )

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. ( 10 ) For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

If you will consider these verses, this is what we see. Once you believe in your heart, salvation is real to you. However, when you stand and publically make that statement then you become accountable to the statement you just made. Also, the people that heard you make that statement will also expect to see a change in you, they will help you be accountabe unto the Lord you now serve. These things are meant to help you gain the knowledge of the ( spiritual security ) you already have.

Allow God’s spirit to remake and mold you into all he desires for you to be. As your spiritual life unfolds and, at some point our lives come to a close on this earth, we will be very thankful for our spiritual growth.

May God add his blessings to this teaching.

Marshall Clayton

2 Timothy 1:7