Sunday, March 19, 2017, 10:09 p.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song “Unless You Are Born Again.” Speak,
Lord, your words to my heart. I read Isaiah
9 (Select vv. NASB).
Light and Darkness (vv. 2-7)
The people who walked in darkness
have seen a
great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has
light shone.
You have multiplied the nation;
you have
increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
as with joy
at the harvest,
as they are
glad when they divide the spoil.
For the yoke of his burden,
and the
staff for his shoulder,
the rod of
his oppressor,
you have
broken as on the day of Midian…
For to us a child is born,
to us a son
is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name
shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting
Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will
be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish
it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this
time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
When we are born into this
world, we are born with sin natures, separate from God, and without hope, due
to the fall of Adam in the garden (See: Ro. 3:23; 5:12-19; 1 Co. 15:21-22,
42-49). We are under a curse, and the law says we must pay the penalty of death
(for eternity) for our sin. Yet, in our flesh we can do nothing to earn or to
deserve our own salvation. We will never be good enough. The law is powerless
to save us. So, God the Father sent his Son Jesus Christ in the likeness of
sinful flesh to be our blood sacrifice to take away the sins of the world.
Through Jesus’ death on the cross, God “condemned
sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be
fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the
Spirit” (See: Ro. 8:1-14).
Jesus Christ is the Great
Light which has shone and is still shining in the darkness. He died on the
cross, not just to take our punishment for sin, and to free us from the
punishment of sin, but to deliver us out of slavery to sin, i.e. to lift (break)
that burden (yoke) of sin from our shoulders. He freed us from the control of
Satan over our lives, and he freed us to now walk in his holiness and
righteousness. Jesus died that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.
For those who have believed in Jesus with God-given faith, who have died with
Christ to sin, and who have been resurrected with Christ to newness of life,
they rejoice in their newfound freedom. God has delivered them out of darkness,
and he has brought them into his wonderful light.
Pride Before a Fall (vv. 8-12)
The Lord has sent a word against Jacob,
and it will
fall on Israel;
and all the people will know,
Ephraim and
the inhabitants of Samaria,
who say in
pride and in arrogance of heart:
“The bricks have fallen,
but we will
build with dressed stones;
the sycamores have been cut down,
but we will
put cedars in their place.”
But the Lord raises the adversaries of Rezin against
him,
and stirs up
his enemies.
The Syrians on the east and the Philistines on the
west
devour
Israel with open mouth.
For all this his anger has not turned away,
and his hand
is stretched out still.
Not everyone takes God and
his Word seriously, though. Not everyone believes the truth of the gospel of
our salvation. Many do not revere God and so they take matters into their own
hands. If God disciplines them, for the purpose that they will turn from their
sin, they, in pride, plot how they will go right back to what they were doing
before. Maybe this time, though, they will do it a different way, thinking they
will not get caught this time. They ignore all the warnings God gives them, and
they act as though God does not see their wickedness, or as though he will do
nothing about it. But, just because he hasn’t so far does not mean he won’t. He
has held off, in many cases, because he is patient, not willing that any should
perish, but that all should come to repentance. But, his Word will be
fulfilled!
False Guides
(vv. 13-17)
The people did not turn to him who struck them,
nor inquire
of the Lord of hosts.
So the Lord cut off from Israel head and tail,
palm branch
and reed in one day—
the elder and honored man is the head,
and the
prophet who teaches lies is the tail;
for those who guide this people have been leading them
astray,
and those
who are guided by them are swallowed up.
Therefore the Lord does not rejoice over their young
men,
and has no
compassion on their fatherless and widows;
for everyone is godless and an evildoer,
and every
mouth speaks folly.
For all this his anger has not turned away,
and his hand
is stretched out still.
There are many false guides
of the people, many of whom profess to know God and who claim to be preachers
of the Word of God. Yet, they have not been born again of the Spirit of God.
They are still operating in the flesh, and they are leading others to follow the
flesh of man, too, and to buy into the lies of Satan. They have not repented of
their sins because they believe they don’t have to. They see God’s grace as a
free license to continue in sin without guilt, without remorse, and absent of
punishment. Yet, they don’t do this out of ignorance, or at least most of them
don’t, I believe. They don’t ignore the truth because they don’t know the
truth, but because the truth does not fit with their lifestyles, and with the lifestyles
of the people they are hoping to gain as their followers. And, so they alter
the truth to fit the flesh.
Thus we have many popular
preachers today preaching a diluted half-truth gospel which appeals to the
flesh, but which does not put sin to death in sinful human beings, but rather it
entertains it. Some of them come close to preaching the truth, but they still
make light of God’s gift of grace and mock the very reason for which Christ
died, which is that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. Still others
are preaching a “gospel” which is hardly even recognizable as the gospel of
Jesus at all. When a preacher tells you that Jesus died merely to take your
punishment for sin, but he doesn’t tell you that he died that we might become
the righteousness of God, then he is lying to you. If he sells God’s grace as “life
insurance” against all sin, but he doesn’t tell you that the righteous
requirement of the law is fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh,
but according to the Spirit, he is lying.
God’s grace, which brings
salvation, is not a get-out-of-jail-free card to anyone who merely “receives”
his grace, whatever that is supposed to mean, but who thinks his grace is a
free license to continue in sin without punishment. God’s grace teaches us to
say “NO!” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled,
upright and godly lives while we wait for his return. His Word teaches us that
is we walk according to the flesh, even after we say we have believed in Jesus
or have received his grace, we will die in our sins. But, if by the Spirit we
are putting to death the deeds of the flesh, we will live with Christ for
eternity. Some people call this works-based salvation, but it is what Jesus,
Paul and the other apostles taught (See: Lu. 9:23-25; Eph. 4:17-24; Ro. 6:1-23;
Ro. 8:1-14; 1 Jn. 1:6).
One day we will all have to
appear before God and to give an account of what we did with Jesus Christ and
his gift of grace to us. If we think God’s grace gives us liberty to live
however we want and still claim heaven as our eternal destiny, then we need to
think again. If we claim to have fellowship with God, but we walk (in
lifestyle) in darkness (sin), we are liars (1 Jn. 1:6). Yet, we can’t please
God in our own flesh. Grace is his gift to us, as is the faith to believe in
Jesus, and thus faith is God’s divine persuasion to us of his will for our
lives. It is spiritual, not fleshly. So, true faith turns from wickedness and
turns to follow our Lord in obedience, because the faith comes from God and not
from our own flesh. Even repentance is granted to us, and we are empowered of
God to obey him.
When Paul (Saul) was called
of Jesus to be his servant-witness, his commission was to open blinded eyes and
to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that
they might receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are
sanctified by faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 26:16-18). This is the essence of the
gospel of our salvation. Believing in Jesus Christ involves surrendering our
lives to him, yielding to the cross of Christ, dying with Christ to sin, and
living with Christ to his righteousness – all in the power and working of God’s
Holy Spirit now living within those of us who have been born again from above.
So, if you have not done so, please give your hearts to Jesus today, and truly
make him your Savior and your Lord (owner-master).
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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