Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

Regeneration is a subject which lies at the very basis of salvation, and we should be very diligent to take heed that we really are "born again," for there are many who think they are, who are not. Be assured that the name of a Christian is not the nature of a Christian; and that being born to Christian parents or in a Christian land, and being recognized as professing the Christian religion is useless, unless there be something more added to it-the being "born again," is a matter so mysterious, that human words cannot describe it.
This great work is supernatural. It is not an operation which a person performs for himself: a new principle is infused, which works in the heart, renews the soul, and affects the entire person. It is not a change of my name, but a renewal of my nature, so that I am not the person I used to be, but a new person in Christ Jesus.

To wash and dress a dead body is a far different thing from making it alive: man can do the one, God alone can do the other. If you have then, been "born again," your acknowledgment will be, "O Lord Jesus, the everlasting Father, you are my spiritual Parent; unless your Spirit had breathed into me the breath of a new, holy, and spiritual life, I had been to this day 'dead in trespasses and sins.' My heavenly life is wholly derived from you, to you I ascribe it. 'My life is hid with Christ in God.' It is no longer I who live, but Christ who liveth in me."

May the Lord enable us to be well assured on this vital point, for to be unregenerate is to be unsaved, unpardoned, without God, and without hope.

May the Lord grant us assurance on this vital point, for to be unregenerate is to be unsaved, unpardoned, without God, and without hope.

C.S. Spurgeon Morning and Evening (6 March)