Sunday, December 21,
2014, 7:20 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song, “Unless You Are Born Again.” Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I
read Psalm 30 (NIV84).
A psalm. A song. For the dedication
of the temple. Of David
Out of the Depths
I will exalt you, O Lord,
for you lifted me out of the
depths
and did not let my enemies
gloat over me.
O Lord my God, I called to you for help
and you healed me.
O Lord, you brought me up from the grave;
you spared me from going down
into the pit. ~ vv. 1-3
When God created
man and woman they were sinless creatures who lived in perfect fellowship with
Almighty God in the Garden of Eden. Yet, they sinned against God by eating of a
forbidden tree. Ever since that time human beings have been born into sin with
a sin nature, separated from God, and destined to spend eternity in hell and in
eternal torment.
Yet God had a
plan for our salvation. He sent his Son Jesus Christ to die on a cross for our
sins so that we could go free of the punishment of sin, be free of the control
of sin over our lives, and be free to now walk in Christ’s righteousness and
holiness. By God’s grace through faith we can now be saved and have eternal
life with God in heaven. Amen!
When we come to
faith in Jesus Christ we die with Christ to our old lives of living for sin and
self, we are transformed of the Spirit of God in heart and mind away from sin
and to God, and we are given new lives in Christ to be lived in the power and
working of the Spirit of God within us – “created to be like God in true
righteousness and holiness” (See Eph. 4:17-24; cf. Ro. 6-8). This is awesome!
This is grace! This is freedom in Christ!
So, when Jesus
delivers us out of the bondage to sin and he sets us free to walk daily in his
righteousness and holiness, no longer controlled by sin but guided and directed
by the Spirit of God now living within us, we should shout praises to him from
the rooftops! We should be so excited that we have been set free, and that we are
no longer under the control of sin. Amen? It is a lot like being buried alive
in a sealed casket and someone comes along and opens the way so we can be
rescued from death, and so we can live. We should rejoice!
Sing Praises
Sing to the Lord, you saints of his;
praise his holy name.
For his anger lasts only a
moment,
but his favor lasts a lifetime;
weeping may remain for a night,
but rejoicing comes in the
morning. ~ vv. 4-5
You turned my wailing into
dancing;
you removed my sackcloth and
clothed me with joy,
that my heart may sing to you
and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever. ~ vv. 11-12
You know, the way
so many people today are preaching salvation they totally miss this. They short-circuit
God, his grace, his salvation and genuine faith in favor of a “get rich quick”
scheme which bypasses genuine sorrow over sin, repentance, and transformation
of the inner human’s mind, heart and soul away from darkness to light and from
the power of Satan to God. There is a reason that Jesus told Nicodemus that he
must be born again. We are not saved merely so we can escape hell and go to
heaven when we die. We are saved so our lives can be radically transformed while
we still walk the face of this earth. In fact, Jesus died so we would no longer
live for ourselves but for him who died for us (See: 2 Co. 5:15; cf. Tit.
2:11-14).
When we were born
the first time we were born of the flesh and we were born with a flesh nature.
When we are “born again,” we first of all die to our old lives of walking in
the flesh, and then we are born of the Spirit of God. When we were born the
first time we started from the beginning, learning to crawl, walk, talk, etc.
Every day was new – new adventures and new learning experiences. It is the same
when we are born spiritually. We don’t just clean up the old us. We start fresh
– the old has gone, the new has come. It is not that we become perfect all of a
sudden, but there should be an about face, i.e. we should begin walking
according to the Spirit now instead of walking according to the flesh. Then we
can truly rejoice in God’s favor, his grace, and that we are no longer walking
in darkness but we are walking in the light of Christ’s love. Amen! Hallelujah!
Praise Jesus! I am free!!
True Security
When I felt secure, I said,
“I will never be shaken.”
O Lord, when you favored me,
you made my mountain stand
firm;
but when you hid your face,
I was dismayed. ~ vv. 6-7
There are many people, though, who are arrogant and who rest
in their own security and self-will, and who have not truly put their hope and
trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of their lives. Many of these, though,
think they are saved because they prayed a prayer, and they were given
assurance of heaven, but they never truly humbled themselves before God in
repentance and in submission to the cross and in surrender to God and to his
will for their lives. In other words, they are not born again. They never truly
died with Christ to their old lives of living for sin and self, and thus they
were never transformed in heart and mind of the Spirit of God. They bought into
a lie that said that all they had to do was “believe,” although this belief is
absent of repentance, and is absent of the fear of the Lord, and is absent of
submission and surrender to God. So, that is not true belief.
These same people believe that because they “believed” that
they will never be shaken, i.e. that they have their ticket into heaven
guaranteed and that nothing bad will ever happen to them. There is no fear of
God in their hearts but only an arrogance that says because they said some
magic words that God is now pleased with them whatever they do, so it doesn’t really
matter what they do – sin doesn’t matter. Yet, that is not Biblical. We are
taught in scripture what to do to please God, and that we are to live lives
pleasing to God, so obviously God is not pleased with us all the time, especially
when we are sinning against him.
We are also taught that if we say we love God but we don’t
do what he says we are liars, and if we say we have fellowship with God, but we
continue in sinful lifestyles, we are liars.
One day you may stand before God and he may tell you to
depart from him because he never knew you. Make sure you know him. Make sure
you have truly been born again. Being born again means death to sin, turning
from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God so that you can
receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified and made
holy in Christ Jesus our Lord (See: Ac. 26:16-18; cf. Lu. 9:23-25). Then we can
truly stand secure in our faith in Jesus Christ and have the assurance and hope
of eternal life with God from this point on and forevermore, not because of
works of the flesh, but because of the grace of God, and because of the
transformation of the Spirit of God brought about in our lives via the shed
blood of Christ on the cross for our sins. Amen!
Unless You Are Born
Again
An Original Work / November 3, 2013
Based off John 3:1-21
Nicodemus came to
Jesus.
He acknowledged God
was with Him.
Jesus said, “You can’t
see heaven
Unless you are born
again.”
“How can a man be born
when he’s old?
Can he enter into his
mother’s womb?”
Jesus answered, “Flesh
is flesh,
So of the Spirit, you
must be.”
Jesus said to
Nicodemus,
“You’re a teacher, and
yet you don’t
Understand of what I
tell you,
Because you will not
believe.
“For God so loved the
world that He gave
His one and His only
Son for your sin.
So, whoever believes
in Him
Has eternal life in
heav’n.
“Light has come into
the world,
But human beings love
the darkness,
Because their deeds
are so evil,
So in truth, they
stand condemned.
“Everyone who
practices evil
Fears that the Light
will expose his sin.
Yet, whoever lives his
life by the Light
Does so through his
God.”
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