The three marks of one truly born again: faith, hope, and love. Not feelings, not opinions, but living realities shaped by the Holy Spirit and visible in fruit.
Sermon 18 of 44 · 1748 · John 3:8
The Marks of the New Birth
A passage from the sermon
The first of these, and the foundation of all the rest, is faith. This is no other than such 'a divine evidence or conviction of things not seen,' as enables every one that hath it to cry out, 'My Lord, and my God!' The second mark of the new birth is hope; even the hope of glory, in present possession.
The third scriptural mark of those who are born of God, and the greatest of all, is love; even the love of God shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto them. He that is born of God, is born for God: born of the Spirit, that he may live in the Spirit, by setting his whole affections on things above, not on things on the earth.
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