the new
birth: SCRIPTURAL EVIDENCE (Part I)
The
new birth in Christ is much more than a momentary decision or a singular
experience. It requires a continuing
process of commitment, dedication, diligence, sanctification, obedience and
faith to nurture and sustain that which has been brought to life in us by the
operations of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is
more than our Savior. JESUS IS LORD! Let’s allow the Word to speak for itself. Ultimately, all personal opinions about what
is right and what is wrong must come into alignment with the eternal and
immutable Word of God.
John 3:1-18
(The Message Bible)
1-2 There was a man of the Pharisee
sect, Nicodemus, a prominent leader among the Jews. Late one night he visited
Jesus and said, “Rabbi, we all know you’re a teacher straight from God. No one
could do all the God-pointing, God-revealing acts you do if GOD weren’t in on
it.”
3 Jesus said, “You’re absolutely
right. Take it from me: Unless a person is born from above, it’s not possible
to see what I’m pointing to—to God’s kingdom.”
4 “How can anyone,” said Nicodemus,
“be born who has already been born and grown up? You can’t re-enter your
mother’s womb and be born again. What are you saying with this
‘born-from-above’ talk?”
5-6 Jesus said, “You’re not listening.
Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation—the
‘wind-hovering-over-the-water’ creation, the invisible moving the visible, a
baptism into a new life—it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom. When you look
at a baby, it’s just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who
takes shape within is formed by something you can’t see and touch—the
Spirit—and becomes a living spirit.
7-8 “So don’t be so surprised when I
tell you that you have to be ‘born-from-above’ —out of this world, so to speak.
You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling
through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it’s headed
next. That’s the way it is with everyone ‘born-from-above’ by the ‘the Spirit
of God.”
9 Nicodemus asked, “What do you mean
by this? How does this happen?”
10-12 Jesus said, “You’re a respected
teacher of Israel and you don’t know these basics? Listen carefully. I’m
speaking sober truth to you. I speak only of what I know by experience; I give
witness only to what I have seen with my own eyes. There is nothing secondhand
here, no hearsay. Yet instead of facing the evidence and accepting it, you
procrastinate with questions. If I tell you things that are plain as the hand
before your face and you don’t believe me, what use is there in telling you of
things you can’t see, the things of God?
13-15 “No one has ever gone up into the
presence of God except the One who came down from that Presence, the Son of
Man. In the same way that Moses lifted the serpent in the desert so people
could have something to see and then believe, it is necessary for the Son of
Man to be lifted up—and everyone who looks up to him, trusting and expectant,
will gain a real life, eternal life.
16-18 “This is how much God loved the
world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one
need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.
God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing
finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world
right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust
him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why?
Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God
when introduced to him.
I John 3:1-24
1 Behold
what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called
children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because
it did not know Him. 2 Beloved,
now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be,
but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see
Him as He is. 3 And
everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. 4 Whoever
commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. 5 And
you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no
sin. 6 Whoever
abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. 7 Little
children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous,
just as He is righteous. 8 He
who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this
purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the
devil. 9 Whoever
has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot
sin, because he has been born of God. 10 In this the children
of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice
righteousness is not of God, nor is he
who does not love his brother. 11 For this is the
message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one
another, 12 not
as Cain who was of
the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his
works were evil and his brother’s righteous. 13 Do not marvel, my
brethren, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have
passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides
in death. 15 Whoever
hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life
abiding in him. 16 By
this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to
lay down our lives
for the brethren. 17 But
whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his
heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? 18 My
little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in
truth. 19 And
by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure
our hearts before Him. 20 For
if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all
things. 21 Beloved,
if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. 22 And
whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do
those things that are pleasing in His sight. 23 And
this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus
Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment. 24 Now
he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know
that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.
I John 5:4
For whatever is
born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the
world—our faith.
Stay tuned...more
to come tomorrow!
No comments:
Post a Comment