notes

 

Just a word of warning to those who believe that one must keep the Law to be saved.

The Scriptures say: Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. ( Galatians 2:16) For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. ( Galatians 3:10)

notes

Do You Know the Truth About Being Born Again?

 

<B><I>Biblical View of Regeneration</I></B>

(4) “But of God.” John categorically declares that regeneration is of God alone. Man plays no part at all in regeneration. God alone, through his Holy Spirit, is the agent of regeneration. This fact is humbling to human pride; as a result, this teaching is repugnant to the unconverted man whose eyes have not been supernaturally opened to the truth of God’s word. It is not a popular truth in our day; however, truth is not determined by popularity but by Scripture.

John’s statement defines the relationship between the new birth and faith. Contrary to widely-held opinion, being born again precedes faith. John writes that they that believe on Christ were born of God (Jn. 1:13); he does not write that they that believe in Christ are on the basis of that faith born of God. In other words, being born again results in faith; faith does not result in the new birth. Faith is not the precondition but the result of the new birth. This is the consistent teaching of the Scriptures.

The Apostle James wrote, “Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures” (Jas. 1:18). The expression is intensive: it is of God’s own will, not of the will of man or the shared will of man and God together, that the spiritually-dead person is begotten of God.

John fully concurs: “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him” (1 Jn. 5:1). The Greek term “begotten” is in the perfect tense, referring to an action begun in the past with continuing results in the present. The perfect tense is often rendered in the King James Version by the English present tense. What John is saying is that the person believing that Jesus is the Christ has been and continues to be begotten of God. George Ricker Berry’s classic work, Interlinear Literal Translation of the Greek New Testament (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1958), renders this verse, “Everyone that believes that Jesus is the Christ, of God has been begotten.” This passage does not teach that the person believing that Jesus is the Christ is begotten of God as the result of believing; rather it teaches that the person believing on Jesus has already been begotten of God, which is the consistent teaching of the Bible. Regeneration is indispensable to faith; the unregenerate sinner can neither see nor enter the kingdom of God by faith apart from the new birth (Jn. 3:3, 5).

Regeneration reverses the sinner’s natural blindness, enabling him to understand his need of a Savior and put his faith in Jesus Christ. Paul wrote, “The god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2 Cor. 4:4). But God has sovereignly intervened in the case of his elect! “God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6). All glory to God!

Here are some other Scriptures which confirm the truth that regeneration is alone the work of God: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.... Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever” (1 Pet. 1:3, 23). “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost” (Tit. 3:5). “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing” (Jn. 6:63).

The uniform message of the Bible is that man is entirely passive in regeneration. This truth drives men to their knees to plead on behalf of their loved ones who are without hope and without God in this world, if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; for the Bible-believer realizes that it is utterly impossible for any person to be saved without the intervening power of Almighty God. Millions of people are going to hell, thinking they are born again because their parents were Christians, they made a “decision” or they were baptized. If you personally have never repented of your sins and trusted in the perfect righteousness of Christ alone for your salvation, then cry out to God for mercy today.

Do you know the truth about being born again? The truth is vital, for your eternal well-being, and that of your family members, is at stake. If you attend a church that teaches a false view of regeneration, by all means do everything within your power to influence it to bring its teaching into conformity with Scripture. If change is impossible, then seek out a church that correctly teaches the Bible truth that being born again is entirely “of God.”

Do You Know the Truth About Being Born Again?

Sermon 9/17/06: Be Transformed by the Renewing of Your Mind

 

If we have Christ in the heart, we have Christ in only part of life, and life doesn't change like it must. Only when Christ is in the mind, can we be transformed. Otherwise, we seek only the comfort and sustaining power of faith. In such a situation we know there is something missing.

If the head isn't changed, then we will appropriate only those dimensions of scripture and tradition that confirm our prior values and commitments. That makes us susceptible to false teaching, or, at the least, generates in us a sense of complacency in which the ideas formed in early life are never challenged or deepened. How did that popular book put it, "Everything I need to know I learned in Kindergarten" Yeah, and we learned a whole lot more that was destructive. Yeah, we become anxious consumers of whatever the world, or for that matter, our peers tell us we ought to be doing.

Without transformation Christians expect the church to reflect the values they learned elsewhere. Christians can't pay attention only to those Christian ideas and scriptures that agree with their views. That prevents transformation. On PBS a couple of years ago, I was watching the program on the Eisenhower presidency. He didn't want to send those troops to Little Rock. But he did. Why? He said that he could not simply support the court when it only agreed with his views. Christians are called to deal with scripture in its totality, not just to its tones that echo our own convictions. Scripture speaks over against and beyond our experience as well. It offers fresh and fuller understanding; it tests our personal experience; it offers transformation. If we hear only what we want to hear how will we be transformed by the renewing of our minds? If only our needs define what we expect from church and life, doesn't that bless the identity we have formed elsewhere? That allows us to stay the same and not go through the process of transformation. Being born again does not guarantee personal happiness, inner peace, and worldly success, nor does it enhance the emotional life. No, it's about transformation in the head! And that's risky as it can be.

Sermon 9/17/06: Be Transformed by the Renewing of Your Mind

 My Family

Alive Through Christ’s Death (80-137) (Romans 6:1-11) - Grace to You

 

But this is the point I want you to understand a Christian is not simply a person who gets forgiveness, a Christian is not simply a person who gets to go to heaven, not simply a person who receives the Holy Spirit.  He is a person who has become someone he was not.  He is a Saint, a child of God, a divine masterpiece, a child of light.  A born son, a citizen of heaven.  Not only positionally, not only judicially, but actually.  Becoming a Christian is becoming a new creation.  That’s what we are.  And that’s what we see as we look at our lives.  I don’t see my own life as perfect by any stretch of the imagination.  I see sin in my life, but I hate it.  That’s the evidence of my new nature.  John Newton who was a dissolutant, dissipated debotched sinner of the worst ilk was converted by amazing grace.  And wrote so many hymns like that.  One thing that he wrote that is not in his hymnology sums up what Paul is saying here.

     This is what John Newton said.  “I am not what I ought to be.  I am not what I wish to be.  I am not what I hope to be.  But by the cross of Jesus Christ, I am not what I was.”  That’s it.  That’s a new creation.  What a gift.  Let’s bow in prayer.  Our Lord we have just touched the surface of this so much could be said and I pray that your Holy Spirit would make these things clear through all our hearts.  We thank you that you’ve shaped us and made us into new creations.  And we’re not what we ought to be and we’re not what we want to be and we’re not what we’re going to be, and neither are we what we used to be. 

     Father, how glorious a gift is this to have all things passed away and be made new.  To be granted love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self control the fruit of the spirit.  To be given the knowledge of the truth, the power of the spirit, oh Father, how rich we are.  We thank you for the miracle of transformation.  That accompanies justification.  We pray that this sanctification, this transformation which was begun at that moment of our faith will progress and continue along the path towards Christ’s likeness.  Ever increasing until Jesus we see.  We pray in his great name, Amen.  We pray in his great name, Amen.

Alive Through Christ’s Death (80-137) (Romans 6:1-11) - Grace to You

A Devotion

 

God's Word Will Make You Free

Many people are afraid that God's Word will put them in bondage. But Jesus said God's Word would make you free.

JOHN 8:31-32 NKJ
31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.
32 "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

Abide means to live, to continue, or to spend time somewhere.

If you continue to spend time in Jesus' Word -- you will know the truth.

When you know the truth, you will act on that knowledge, and acting on the truth will make you free!

The Bible, especially the message of Jesus Christ in the New Testament, will set you free if you continue in it.

We are not guaranteed instant results, although they sometimes do happen. Freedom is certain, however, if you stick with God's Word. Jesus gave His guarantee!

If you are not enjoying freedom in any area of your life, you have not continued in God's Word enough in that area.

God's Word has the information that, when acted upon, will make you free!

SAY THIS: I will continue in God's Word and it will make me free.

A Devotion

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