"Ye must be born again."
-- John 3:7

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 fancy they are, who are not. Be assured
that the name of a Christian is not the nature of a Christian; and that
being born in a Christian land, and being recognized as professing the
Christian religion is of no avail whatever, unless there be something
more added to it-the being "born again," is a matter so mysterious,
that human words cannot describe it. "The wind bloweth where it
listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence
it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the
Spirit." Nevertheless, it is a change which is known and felt: known by
works of holiness, and felt by a gracious experience. This great work
is supernatural. It is not an operation which a man performs for
himself: a new principle is infused, which works in the heart, renews
the soul, and affects the entire man. It is not a change of my name,
but a renewal of my nature, so that I am not the man I used to be, but
a new man in Christ Jesus. To wash and dress a corpse 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, thou art my spiritual
Parent; unless thy 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 thee, to thee 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.

Charles Spurgeon