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Regeneration, according to the Word of God, is a time at which the
regenerative power of the Spirit of God comes into a person's heart and
gives new birth to their spirit with the seed of the Word of God.
1 Peter 1:23, “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of
incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.”
In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve walked with God. They had communion with
God until their fall. God said that in the day they ate of the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil, they would die.
Genesis 2:17, “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou
shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt
surely die.” Yet, in their natural lives, they lived on for
several hundred years. The Bible indicates it was a spiritual death.
Genesis 3:7,
“And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that
they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves
aprons.”
When the spirit of man died, it cut off communion with God. John
4:24, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship
him in spirit and in truth.” They were judged by God and
driven out of the garden.
Genesis, Chapter 3 As a result, spiritual death passed
unto all mankind. Romans 5:12,
“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by
sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”
God said in that same chapter of Genesis that the seed of the woman would
bruise the serpent's head. Genesis 3:15,
“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy
seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his
heel.” The serpent being Satan, deceived man to fall. The
seed of the woman is a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Galatians 3:16, “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made.
He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed,
which is Christ.” Jesus Christ is the last
Adam. 1 Corinthians 15:45, “And so it is written, The
first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening
spirit.” He was sent from God the Father.
John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life.” He came to the earth to give His life a ransom for the
sins of the world and reverse the Adamic curse. Romans 5:17,
“For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which
receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in
life by one, Jesus Christ,” and
1 Timothy 2:6, “Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in
due time.” He bridged the gap between God and man.
“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ
Jesus.” 1 Timothy 2:5.
The
regenerative power of the Holy Spirit consummates the born again experience
when one accepts Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. When an
individual believes in their heart that God raised Jesus from the dead and
confesses with their mouth that He is The Lord, Romans 10:9-10,
“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe
in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation,” they are acknowledging the
fact that Jesus paid the death penalty for their sins. “For the
wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus
Christ our Lord,”
Romans
6:23.
When one has accepted the shed blood of Christ for their sins and has put
their faith or trust in the blood, Romans 3:25,
“Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to
declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through
the forbearance of God,” they are made clean and whole, washed
completely of all sin. If we come to the light and expose ourselves
and allow God to bring resurrection life to us then we can become the new
creature that God has made us, on the inside. Scriptures teach that life is
in the blood, and in the blood of Christ is His very life. This is a
scientific fact as well, when we consider that ones make-up and everything
they are in the natural is contained in the DNA of their blood cells.
John 6:53, “Then Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink
his blood, ye have no life in you,” and
1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to
forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
This makes a way for God to come into a
person’s heart and regenerate their spirit. For God is a Holy God and
cannot dwell in sin. Therefore, Jesus Christ makes a way for the sinner
to become born again.
In
John, Chapter 3, Jesus is talking to Nicodemus and says in verse
7, “Marvel not that I say unto thee, ye must be born
again.” If Jesus said that we must be born again, then we must
be born again. Jesus said to Nicodemus that a man cannot see the Kingdom
of God,
verse 3, “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say
unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God,”
or enter into the Kingdom of God, verse 5, “Jesus answered,
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the
Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God,” unless he is
born again. The phrase born again comes from two Greek words,
gennao and anothen, meaning born from above.
When a man or woman accepts the shed blood of Christ and the fact that Jesus
Christ gave His life for their life and they believe that He saved them, the
moment they release their faith in this fact, the Spirit of God comes into
their heart and makes them born from above. Old things are passed away
and all things become new. * 2
Corinthians
5:17,
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new
creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” Once one has been regenerated, by the incorruptible seed of the Word of God through the operation of the Holy Spirit, they become a new creation in Christ and as we have indicated, “old things are passed away and all things have become new.” The tense of that scripture says it all – have become new. It is up to us to begin to have a good confession of faith in the fact that we are now new creations in Christ and not be moved by that which we see in our lives that would contradict what we would think would be Christ-like. Peter wrote about divine nature. The result of being born again is the fact that we no longer have to try to become Christ-like through outward rules of the old law, but through a new covenant with God, Philemon 1:6, “That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus,” we have been made partakers of the divine nature. 2 Peter 1:4, “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” And even as we were sinners by nature or that is to say, failures, missing the mark, and no one had to teach us how to sin, even so, by a new and living way, we can walk in the newness of life as natural and simple as one would breathe the air.
We are commanded by Christ to be baptized in water. Mark 16:16, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” Water baptism is an outward profession of faith. 1 Peter 3:21, “The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” So you see in this scripture it is a confession of your inward death, burial and resurrection in Christ. In it, we are portraying the fact that Jesus Christ took our sins upon Him and in Him we were crucified. In Him we died and in Him we are resurrected to walk in the newness of life. Romans 6:4, “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” It is through this sacrament that our faith is fortified and completely released. It has no other significance other than that it portrays the actual experience of being born again and baptized by the Spirit of God into the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, 1 Corinthians 12:13, “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit,” with an operation not made by human hands, Colossians 2:11-15, “In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ :Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” The word baptism in the New Testament comes from the Greek word baptizo and it means to dip or immerse.
Jesus said that we must be born of water and of spirit. John 3:5, “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” In other words, once you've been born naturally by water, then you must be born spiritually in order to see and enter into the Kingdom of God. At the end of this natural life, every human being will face life or death in eternity. Eternal life or eternal death! If you are born twice, you will die once, meaning you will have natural death and then eternal life. If you are born once, you will die twice. You experience natural death and then have to face eternal death. Revelation 20:13-15, “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”
If you have not accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior by asking Him into your heart through the person of the Holy Spirit, it would be wisdom on your part to do so upon the reading of this lesson. * This is done by confessing with your mouth that He is the Lord and believing in your heart that He was raised from the dead. Romans 10:9-10, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Simply pray from your heart:
Father in heaven, I know that I have sinned and need to be born again. I offer you my life and ask for cleansing through the blood of Jesus Christ. I confess Jesus Christ as Lord and I believe in my heart that He willingly died for my sins and was raised from the dead on the third day. Holy Spirit, I ask you to come into my heart and make me born anew. Thank you Father for doing it through the person of the Holy Spirit, In Jesus' name. Amen.
If one were to purchase a new automobile, you would find within the confines of the automobile's handbook, a maintenance plan designed to keep the vehicle at an optimum performance level. Likewise, there is a simple maintenance plan that can be found within the handbook of life (God's word)! The maintenance plan of which I am referring to is a plan that has been designed to maintain your right relationship with God and the body of Christ. It is also designed to keep you at a level of clear awareness to produce a steady supply of hope, joy, peace and prosperity that the world cannot give, nor take away. John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
THE MAINTENANCE PLAN
(A)
Get into a local, Spirit-filled, Word church Acts 2:1-4, “And
when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one
place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing
mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And
there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each
of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to
speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
It doesn't have to be glorious in
the external sense. It does not have to have a large number of members,
but it should be a place where, within your heart, you sense God would have you
to be. You could even be meeting with believers in someone’s home. A place
wherein its members have a heart and longing for the return of the Lord Jesus
Christ and display fervency of spirit in prayer and the study of the Word of
God.
There are so many influences today by peers in the world to
entice and meeting with a good fellowship of believers on a regular weekly
basis will counter the influence of people around us who would rather serve
this world's system.
James 4:4, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship
of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of
the world is the enemy of God.” Consider, as an example, a cluster
of charcoals. When lit and packed closely, they burn with fervent heat.
If you were to separate one from the rest, all alone, its fire would soon
diminish and die. The fire of the believer is likewise. Matthew
18:20, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I
in the midst of them.” Consider also a flock of sheep
grazing. The wolf (devil) coyly observes from the hillside, waiting
to see which one will separate itself from the rest of the flock and make
his job easy. If none do through self will and self assurance, he is
likely to attempt to divide and separate the sheep (scatter them) so as to
capture one of them! Remember well the admonition of the Apostle Paul
not to forsake the assembling of yourselves together.
Hebrews 10:25, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the
manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye
see the day approaching.” (B) A daily devotional time It is also imperative that the Christian be armed with prayer on a daily basis. Ephesians 6:18, “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.” He or she must learn to begin their day with a time of prayer, meditative thought and scripture reading. This helps to awaken the spirit and set straight the day's path. It does not have to be a long, ritualistic procedure with the thought of pleasing God in doing so, but rather consistency is the key, accompanied by the awareness that one is keeping themselves in tune with the Holy Spirit.
(C)
Speaking and thinking good things
Witnessing or sharing your faith should never be rooted in guilt, but rather in joy, a fervency of the great experience that you have had. It is simple and easy and the Spirit of the Lord will give you the words to say even though, in your logical mind, you do not think that you would know what to say. Remember, the scriptures say, the person that wins souls is wise. Proverbs 11:30, “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.”
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