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.
Turning Northward
61-0129 §20
Now, these twin revivals. One brings forth a man that wants to be intellectual, wants to build schools. They're trying to dodge that issue of new birth. The church is trying to dodge it. Today we take the people in for water baptism, put them in the church by water baptism. You might put them in the church by water baptism, but you'll never put them into Christ by water baptism. You got to be born again by the Spirit. That's right. As I've often said, I say again. I don't care what kind of a birth it is, any birth...
Why some people can't keep the victory
57-0324 §50
Yes. That's what we need today, is experiences of the new birth. Now, I want you to watch the order that Ezekiel brought it in. He said, "I will give you a new heart, and I will give you a new spirit, and I will put My Spirit in you." I want you to watch; there's three of it. A new heart. "I'll take the old stony heart away." That's that old different heart you have. "And I'll give you a new spirit." Now, many times (it's been a terrible mistake), the people has thought sometimes that that new spirit was the Holy S...
Why?
61-0128 §49
They dodge the new birth. Like I said the other day, the birth is a mess. I don't care where you go. If it's in a pigpen, it's a mess. If it's in the haystack, it's a mess. Or if it's in a pink decorated hospital room, it's still a mess, any kind of a birth. And the new birth is a mess, too. And it'll make a mess out of you. But you'll certainly get new life and be a new creature when you receive it. It'll make you do things that you wouldn't think you'd do. Yes, sir. It'll make you get down there on the altar, baw...
Why?
61-0128 §45
...ask you something." Said, "Here's So-and-so," and went on talking. He said, "And you got hooked up now with the holy-rollers." And said, "Now I hear you talking here of the new birth." Said, "Don't you think we have the new birth?" They believe they have the new birth when they believe. "Well," I said, "how much different that is from Paul's teaching." And Paul said in Galatians 1:8, "If an angel from heaven taught anything else, let him be accursed." And Paul asked them in Acts 19, "Have you received the Holy Ghos...
Ye must be born again
58-0619B §14
...an that we... I believe in shouting, and all the manifestations and demonstrations of the Spirit, but yet that's not it yet, see. It's something different from that. It's a new creature, something in the heart. And I wonder if we ministers, both men and women, if many times we don't just say the word, "You must be born again," and take it over the head of the people like that. When we've got to come back to the spot and let them know what a birth means, see. It has got to come back to something more than words; it...