WHEN AND HOW ARE WE BORN AGAIN?
All people are first born sinners, we are not born saved people, for this reason we must be born again:
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." 4 Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"5 Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
1Jonn 3:9 No one who has been born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in Him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.
At some point in life a person is born again when he comes to faith in Jesus and what He did on the Cross, while the person is still living a sinful life but reaches a grieving repentant state:
Romans 5:8 “ But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us”
John 7:38 If anyone believes in me, rivers of living water will flow out from their heart. That is what the Scriptures say." 39 Jesus was talking about the Spirit. The Spirit had not yet been given to people, because Jesus had not yet been raised to glory. But later, those who believed in Jesus would receive the Spirit.
Paul came to faith while he was still a sinner. Paul did not receive the Holy Spirit at the day of Pentecost that happened long before he went to Damascus. Confrontation brings transformation. In other words the man of sin must be exposed and confronted. This happened to Paul that day on his way to Damascus, when he had that personal encounter with Jesus. For a person to be born-again in the Spirit, he must first be convinced (convicted by the Holy Spirit) that he is a sinner by hearing and believing the word of God. The following Bile verses and parables remarkably refer to the new birth that must take place within a person:
Jesus in John 14:26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and will remind you of all things which I said to you.
John 16:7 “But what I am saying is true: my going is for your good: for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 And he, when he comes, will make the world conscious of sin, and of righteousness, and of being judged: 9 Of sin, because they have not faith in me;”
John 16:20 I tell you for certain that you will cry and be sad, but the world will be happy. You will be sad, but later you will be happy.21 When a woman is about to give birth, she is in great pain. But after it is all over, she forgets the pain and is happy, because she has brought a child into the world.
1John 3:24 And the one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, from the Spirit whom He gave us.
1John 2:3 Now by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.4 He who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.6 He who claims to abide in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
1John 3:6 Everyone who abides in Him does not sin; everyone who sins has not seen Him nor has he known Him 7 Little children, let no one deceive you. The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.8 He who practices sin is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. For this reason the Son of God appeared, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
1Jonn 3:9 No one who has been born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in Him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.
1John 3:10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Everyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.
1John 4:13 And His Spirit which He has given us is the witness that we are in Him and He is in us.
1John 5:1 Everyone who has faith that Jesus is the Christ is a child of God: and everyone who has love for the Father has love for his child.2 In this way, we are certain that we have love for the children of God, when we have love for God and keep his laws.
Ezekiel 36:27 I will put my Spirit inside you and change you so that you will obey my laws. You will carefully obey my commands.
Zechariah 4:6 He said, "This is the message from the LORD to Zerubbabel: 'Your help will not come from your own strength and power. No, your help will come from my Spirit.' This is what the LORD All-Powerful says.
Galatians 5:16 But I say, Go on in the Spirit, and you will not come under the rule of the evil desires of the flesh.17 For the flesh has desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; because these are opposite the one to the other; so that you may not do the things which you have a mind to do.
Galatians 5:24 And those who are Christ's have put to death on the cross the flesh with its passions and its evil desires. 25 If we are living by the Spirit, by the Spirit let us be guided.
Titus 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we did ourselves, but in the measure of His mercy, He gave us salvation, through the washing of the new birth and the giving of new life in the Holy Spirit,”
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, all things have become new.
Colossians 3:9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.