1. harvestisripe
   Member

   Without the NEW BIRTH one can not see the Kingdom of God. Jesus told Nicodemis, you must be born again., in order to receive eternal life in Jesus Christ.

   This NEW BIRTH comes when one hears the gospel, believes that Christ died and rose again and repents is baptised for remission of sins - receiving the Holy Spirit - and turns towards God, and putting their trust in Christ Jesus.

   REGENERATION the New Birth is a transition from a life of sin to a new life of loving obedience towards God.

   When one is truely born again, they are set free from the bondage of sin.

   John 8
   36If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

   Romans 6
   14 Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.

   15 Well then, since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not!

   16 Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living.

   17 Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you.

   18 Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living.

   Galations 6
   15 It doesn’t matter whether we have been circumcised or not. What counts is whether we have been transformed into a new creation.

   Ephesians 4
   23 Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. 24 Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.

   Colossians 3
   10 Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.

   2 Corinthians 5
   17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

   Romans 6
   1 Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace?

   2 Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?

   3 Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death?

   4 For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.

   5 Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was.

   6 We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin.

   7 For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin.

   8 And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him.

   9 We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him.

   10 When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God.

   11 So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.

   Those who expierance the New Life are set free from the bondage of sin thru their death and crucifiction with Christ in Baptism raised a Brand New Creature in Christ, Regenerated from the life of sin and given a new nature having received the sealing of the Holy Spirit.

   God Bless, Lynn

   Posted 1 year ago #

2. John Sutton
   Moderator

   Lynn, thanks for this very good compilation of Scripture. Well Done!

   Posted 1 year ago #

3. harvestisripe
   Member

   Thanks John It is scriptual truth, and it is a wonderful exortation to the body of Christ by Paul and I am always engerized by these scriptures, for if we abide in him and he in us, he truely has accomplished in us true freedom in him. Amen

   Posted 1 year ago #

4. Sheepkinz
   Member

   this was good food.... Lynn, as I read this, was reminded of scriptures, for the body is the Lords and the Lord for His body:)

   1Corinthians 6
   2All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.

   13Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both of them. Yet the BODY is not for immorality, but FOR THE LORD, and the LORD IS FOR HIS BODY.
   Praise Jesus!!!

   14Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through HIS POWER.

   15Do you not know that YOUR BODIES are MEMBERS OF CHRIST? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? MAY IT NEVER BE SO!

   17BUT THE ONE WHO JOINS HIMSELF TO THE LORD IS ONE SPIRIT WITH HIM.

   19Or do you not know that YOUR BODY is a TEMPLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WHO IS IN YOU , whom you HAVE FROM GOD, and that you are not your own? Oh Amen!! :)

   20For you have been BOUGHT WITH A PRICE: therefore GLORIFY GOD IN YOUR BODY.
   Hallelujah!!!!

   Posted 1 year ago #

5. harvestisripe
   Member

   Amen Sheepskinz, wonderful scriptures encouraging, Thanks for your partispation, Lynn

   Posted 1 year ago #

6. MikeG
   Member

   Yes this is an excellent description of the new birth.

   Posted 1 year ago #

7. 4Jesus
   Member

   Amen Lynn and all. That is a wonderful way of describing the new birth.

   Which is how we are able to enter into this kingdom that Jesus was speaking of there. I realize most believe He was speaking of our entering into Heaven in the end there. But if you read what is written in John 3:9-12, it is speaking of the earthly kingdom he has brought for us to enter into here mainly.

   John 3:
   5 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.[b]
   6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.[c]
   7 So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You[d] must be born again.’
   8 The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”

   Jesus of course said these things first. then secondly Nicodemus asks him the following question about what he had told him about in those verses. Not just about being born again, but also talks about entering into the kingdom of God there also.

   9 “How are these things possible?” Nicodemus asked.

   10 Jesus replied, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things? 11 I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony.

   12 But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things?

   Jesus saying there that all He told him to begin with was about the earthly things that would happen. Meaning we are to first see, then enter into this kingdom right here, since that was included in all the things He did tell Nicodemus. Right?

   And therefore Nicodemus last question about how what He had told him before, pertained to the heavenly thing.

   So what is it that we are to enter into right here?

   Well I believe the answer to that is written in Rm 14:17, which says the following:
   17 For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

   Or as the KJV puts that same scripture:

   17: For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy ghost.

   Meaning, if I am not mistaken, we are to enter into this kingdom he was speaking of in John 3:3 & 5 right here.

   But of course, only those that are born again according to what Lynn has written in her post will be able to do so. At least to my understanding, that is what Jesus is saying there in John 3:12.

   Posted 1 year ago #

8. John Sutton
   Moderator

   http://www.johnthebaptisttv.com/bbpress/topic/261

   Sanctified on the Cross

   by William Seymour

   (emphasis added (in CAPS)!)

   "I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through Thy truth, Thy word is truth." Jesus is still praying this prayer today for every believer to come and be sanctified. Glory to God! Sanctification makes us one with the Lord Jesus (Heb. 2:11).

   Sanctification makes us holy AS JESUS IS. Then the prayer of Jesus is answered, and WE BECOME ONE WITH HIM, even as He is one with the Father. Bless His holy name.

   He says again in 1 Thess. 4:3, "For this is the will of God even your sanctification." So it is His will for every soul to be saved from ALL SIN, actual and original. We get our actual sins cleansed away through the blood of Jesus Christ at the cross; but our original sin we got cleansed on the cross. It must be a real death to the old man. Romans 6:6, 7, "Knowing this that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin: for he that is dead is FREED from sin." So it takes the death of the old man in order that Christ might be sanctified in us. It is not sufficient to have the old man stunned or knocked down, for he will rise again.

   God is calling His people to true holiness in these days. We thank God for the blessed light that He is giving us. He says in 2 Tim. 2:21, "If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified and meet for the Master’s use." He means for us to be purged from uncleanness and ALL kinds of sin. Then we shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified and meet for the Master’s use, and prepared unto every good work. Sanctification makes us holy and destroys the breed of sin, the love of sin and carnality. It makes us pure and whiter than snow. Bless His holy name!

   The Lord Jesus says, "Blessed are the pure in heart." Sanctification makes us pure in heart. ANY man that is saved and sanctified can feel the fire burning in his heart, when he calls on the name of Jesus. O may God help men and women everywhere to lead a holy life, FREE FROM SIN, for the Holy Spirit seeks to lead you OUT OF SIN into the marvelous light of the Son of God.

   The Word says, "Follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord." So, beloved, when we get Jesus Christ our King of Peace in our hearts, we have the almighty Christ, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee, because He trusteth in Thee." We shall have wisdom, righteousness and power, for God is righteous in all His ways and holy in all His acts. This holiness means perfect love in our hearts, perfect love that casteth out fear.

   Brother Paul says in order to become holy and live a holy life, we should abstain from all appearance of evil. Then the apostle adds, "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly, and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thess. 5:23). "To the end He may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints" (1 Thess. 3:13). Bless His holy name. O beloved, after you have received the light, it is HOLINESS OR HELL. God is calling for men and women in these days that will live a holy life FREE FROM SIN. We should remain before God until His all cleansing blood makes us holy—body, soul and spirit.

   Posted 1 year ago #

9. 4Jesus
   Member

   Which is why Jesus said in the following written in Mt. 23:

   25Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.

   26Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.

   27Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.

   28Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

   and when was it Jesus described and where the kingdom of God would begin to come to the Pharisees written in
   Luke 17:
   20 One day the Pharisees asked Jesus, “When will the Kingdom of God come?”

   Jesus replied, “The Kingdom of God can’t be detected by visible signs.[d]

   21 You won’t be able to say, ‘Here it is!’ or ‘It’s over there!’ For the Kingdom of God is already among you.[e]”

   IMO it had begun to come back then to the earth.

   Which may be the kingdom we are to pray for to continue to come to this day according the instructions Jesus gave that most of us know as the Lords Prayer. At lest the one He spoke of written about in John chapter 3.

   But until one is born again, they cannot enter into what is written in Rm. 17:14.

   Which is why so many in the churches today cannot cease from sin. Often admitting it. Just like you said John in what you wrote.
   True we have to die out to self or flesh, this being a daily process just as Paul said in 1st Cor. 15:31. But since the kingdom had begun in Him, he was able to continue on doing so, because of now being that child of the promise. Because if you are within that kingdom, then you will do so whenever that flesh does arise to take over and tempt you, doing right away what it says we are to do in 1st John 1:7-10. Doing so because you are walking in the light, no longer in darkness anymore. which is why it also says about those that are in the light what it does say in 1st John chapter 3. Need to look those scriptures up in 1st John I gave. As IMO they are very important that we all get an understanding from the Lord regarding what John is saying there. Because once you do, then you will be able to over come all sin when tempted if you are born again, having entered into that kingdom of course.

   And if you are not in that place, then you will not be able to walk in this kingdom He brought for us to walk in here. And in that case, needing to find out what is wrong, rather than ignoring what the scriptures do say. Which many do unfortunately. As the Lord will keep you in that place as long as you do abide or live there, and of course, He abides or lives in you, just as it says in John chapter 15.

   Blessings,
   Sandy

   Posted 1 year ago #

10. John Sutton
    Moderator

    Thank You for posting Sandy!

    The sermon is written by William Seymour, during the Azusa Street Revivals.

    I messed up and didn't plug his name in there, I'll correct that.

    Glory to God!

    Posted 1 year ago #

11. 4Jesus
    Member

    Oh, yes he was one great preacher. It would have been something to be at those meetings during that revival.

    I thought you wrote it.

    But by the way, I need to say, when I say "you" or something along those lines, I don't mean anyone in particular. But just anybody. It is just a bad habit of mine. Those that know me, know it. But I have not been here long enough for people to know my bad habits like that yet. LOL

    Posted 1 year ago #

12. ChildofGod
    Moderator

    This is another article by our late brother Art Katz that fits perfectly into this thread.

    Blessings,
    Susan

    BORN FROM ABOVE

    I am reading an entry by Oswald Chambers about the birth of Christ:

    His birth in history. “Therefore also that holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” [That is the angel's announcement to Mary.] Jesus Christ was born into this world, not from it. He did not evolve out of history; He came into history from the outside. Jesus Christ is not the best human being; He is a Being who cannot be accounted for by the human race at all. He is not man becoming God, but God Incarnate, God coming into human flesh, coming into it from outside. His life is the Highest and Holiest entering in at the lowliest door. Our Lord’s birth was an advent.
    He was born in a stable, and it is a debatable question to ask if He will come and have an advent in any person, except in that same way. He will not enter through any other door but the lowliest door, coming in as the Highest. So if we try to open a door to Him from the level of our own superiority or self-esteem, as if we deserve a visitation, He simply will not come. He will only come into a stable, the lowliest place. His advent is a paradigm and a pattern. It is a statement, not just once but always. For every advent of Christ, every birthing, the Highest has got to come into the lowliest, and not just at the commencement of our spiritual life, but at every event and occasion of our spiritual life. If He is to be a participant and bring the Highest, we have got to open to Him the lowliest.

    I love the way Chambers writes; leave it to him to strike that great note: “His life is the Highest and the Holiest entering in at the lowliest door.” He will never enter into a proud place. His birth was remarkable-there was no room for Him at the inn, so they had to employ the expediency of a stable. Then He was laid in a manger. I do not know how many years I went on hearing that as a kid, and then even as a believer, not knowing what a manger was. A manger is a feeding trough for animals. The place where the animals slobbered over their food is where He was laid. It is exquisite if you can see it from the point of view of God’s design and the expression, not only of His wisdom, but necessarily of His nature. This is not expediency for the lack of something better; this was God’s divine intention from eternity, that His advent would come in such a way, in such lowliness, or it could not come at all. We need to continually be reminded that if we are not experiencing the Highest, then we are not providing the lowliest.

    Chambers goes on to ask,

    “Have I allowed my personal human life to become a ‘Bethlehem’ for the Son of God? I cannot enter into the realm of the Kingdom of God unless I am born from above by a birth totally unlike natural birth. ‘Ye must be born again.’ This is not a command; it is a foundation fact. The characteristic of the new birth is that I yield myself so completely to God that Christ is formed in me. Immediately when Christ is formed in me, His nature begins to work through me. God manifest in the flesh: that is what is made profoundly possible for you and me by the Redemption.”
    Compare this to the more mainline evangelism, which is more a decisional Christianity. The preacher makes an altar call, the person comes forward, makes a confession, recites a prayer, and he commences his Christian life. It is a good question whether an actual birth has taken place if it is initiated by man, however well-meaning his intention, however moved he is by the message, however much he now desires to be a Christian or to forsake sin. Can man initiate that birth that has got to be wholly given of God? It is clear that there are untold numbers, maybe millions of people, who have entered Christianity decisionally; it was their decision, but it was not His birthing. It is good to be reminded that this birthing is from above, and we cannot commence this life and obtain this nature, except that it is actually birthed in us. We need to insist upon this divine prerogative, and look for that, and believe for that, and wait for that, and trust in that, and not religiously process people into a kind of evangelical Christianity by virtue of their decision.

    I am taking note of Chambers’ conclusion here. If that birthing has taken place and is the birthing of the nature of God, the divine nature into an earthly vessel, the incarnation again, then there should be evidence. Such a phenomenon cannot take place without there being some expression, some outworking of that new nature, that divine thing. If one of these decisional Christians has gone on now for 10, 15, 20 or more years and is not showing evidence of the divine nature, notwithstanding the ongoing struggle between flesh and spirit, we need to ask if indeed the new nature has been imparted. If there is no evidence of a new nature, then it is not too extreme to raise the question of whether there has been a new birth. We should even encourage the one who is not evidencing that nature, and is acting contrary to it, to put that question to the Lord: Have I really ever been born from above? If not, Lord, I implore You that that birth might come.

    Posted 1 year ago #

13. 4Jesus
    Member

    ah yes, I have His Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers.

    Which I love to read. A brother and friend I met online about 12 years ago recommending I get that book. although I don't have anything else he wrote.

    Posted 1 year ago #

14. zadok
    Inactive

    Dear Child of God, Thank you for that excellent description of the New Birth by Oswald Chambers! What a beautiful picture....how could we exchange this beautiful supernatural birth for a "change of mind" "I believe and accept"?

    It almost sounds like "assembly line" industrialized "christianity" doesn't it?

    Posted 1 year ago #

15. ChildofGod
    Moderator

    Zadok,

    Yes, it is an excellant decscription and beautiful picture of the New Birth.

    Assembly line christianity...that is a an appropriate way to describe what we see in christendom today.

    Blessings,
    Susan

    Posted 1 year ago #

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