How Can I Know I Have Experienced the New Birth?
1) Direct Answer
You know you have the new birth when the Holy Ghost (the Token) indwells you and bears witness in your heart, changing your nature to believe, love, and obey every Word of God. It is Christ revealed in you. Not a church membership, not a feeling, but the life of the Word living through you.
2) Scriptural Explanation
- Jesus said, “You must be born again… of water and of the Spirit” (John 3:3-8). That’s a birth from above.
- God promised, “A new heart… a new spirit… I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes” (Ezekiel 36:26-27).
- “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His” (Romans 8:9). “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God” (Romans 8:16). “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Romans 8:14).
- “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Old things pass away; a new life begins.
- The new birth comes by the Word: “Born again… by the Word of God” (1 Peter 1:23; James 1:18). The Spirit quickens the Seed of the Word in you.
- It produces obedience and victory: “Hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments” (1 John 2:3-5). “Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world” (1 John 5:4).
- It bears fruit: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace…” (Galatians 5:22-25).
- It confesses Christ rightly: “Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God” (1 John 4:2), and witnesses in the heart (1 John 5:10).
- The promise is for you: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost… the promise is unto you” (Acts 2:38-39). “By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body” (1 Corinthians 12:13). “After ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise” (Ephesians 1:13).
3) Simple Clarifying Logic
- New birth is not turning over a new leaf, joining a church, or a momentary emotion. Life proves itself by what it produces. The Seed brings forth after its kind. If the incorruptible Seed of the Word is in you, it will live out Christ’s life in you.
- Signs that follow the new birth:
- A clear witness of the Spirit within: assurance toward God (Romans 8:16).
- A new nature with new desires: you hate sin you once loved, and love righteousness you once avoided (2 Corinthians 5:17; 1 John 3:9).
- Obedience to the Word, not picking and choosing. You don’t argue against Scripture; you yield to it (1 John 2:3-5; John 14:23).
- Love for God and the brethren (1 John 3:14; 4:7).
- Victory over the world’s pull and a separated walk (1 John 5:4; Galatians 5:24).
- Ongoing leading and correction from the Spirit; you can’t live in willful sin without chastening (Hebrews 12:6-8).
- A hunger for the Word and prayer, and a confession that Jesus Christ is Lord come in the flesh (1 Peter 2:2; 1 John 4:2; Romans 10:9-10).
- If these fruits are absent and sin still rules you, don’t settle for a profession. Come God’s provided way: repent, be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ, and ask in faith for the Holy Ghost. He promised to fill the hungry heart (Acts 2:38-39; Luke 11:13; John 7:37-39).
4) Reinforcing statement
Now notice, the Bible makes it simple: the new birth is Christ in you by the Holy Ghost, producing a life that matches the Word. If the Life is there, the signs follow. If you’re unsure, don’t argue—come to Him sincerely, believe His promise, and stay before God until the Token is applied and the witness of the Spirit settles it in your heart.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
The resurrection of Jairus' daughter
54-0331 §47
Now, if I look down this line of, I believe, fifteen or twenty people... Are they all there? All right. I do not believe there's a person in that line that I know, 'less it be that little lady that come off the platform here just a few minutes ago. And I don't even know her name. I know she sings here (that's all I know her), or goes to your church, or something. I don't know her. And I think that's the only person that I know of down along that line. Now, being here at home it's kind of difficult. There's some of...
When their eyes were opened, they knew Him
64-0312 §62
...d. Now, if somebody thinks a gift is a great big knife---God gave you a gift, you can take it, and slice it, and do what---you got the wrong conception of a gift. A gift is knowing how to get yourself out of the way, and let God do what He wants to do, see. It's knowing how to relax yourself that God can use you in the way that He wants to. Just get yourself out of the way, see. Now, I don't know none of these people. Don't know this person here. Here's a lady standing here. She looks about like my precious one tha...
You must be born again
61-1231M §103
You know, I was reading the life of John the Baptist the other day, what he said, what did he call them? "You generation of vipers!" Why? He was raised in the wilderness. He knowed what they was. Stomp your foot and they take for cover. "You generation of vipers." Also, "The axe is laid to the root of the tree." Tree, vipers, axes, he talked on what he knowed. That's the way you learn God, by what you know. You see a pig and a lamb, there's nothing at all. You might wash that little old pig up and do everything you...
Fellowship
60-0611B §31
Now, the elements that came from the body of Jesus was water, blood, spirit. What come from His natural body is what constitutes the new birth. When a baby's born, what's the first thing happens? Excuse me, my sisters. What's the first thing happens? Water breaks. What's the next thing? Blood. What's the next thing? Life. Exactly right. What constitutes a natural birth is the type of the spiritual birth. What is the first thing? Water, the waters of separation, justification by faith. As brother read the Scripture...
You must be born again
61-1231M §90
False prophets have false words, creeds, denominations, sensations. "Oh, bless God! Only thing you have to do... You want to wear Elijah's garment? Glory to God! Only thing you have to do is just be blank in your mind, don't think of a thing, and say, 'Oh-h-h, fill me, fill me, fill me.'" The devil will sure do it. And then you rely upon that? "Ooooh, it ran all over me, Brother Branham. I felt it. Ooooh, glory to God, hallelujah (jumping up and down like that), oh, I got it!" And live like you live? "By their frui...