November 1

THE NEW BIRTH

Read John 1-3.

"You must be born again" (Jn. 3:7).

It does not matter whether this is modern, popular or acceptable to your understanding.  What matters is that the incarnate Son of God said it.  "You much be born again."  When Nicodemas asked the Lord "How can a man be born when he is old" (3:4)?  Jesus answered "Unless you are born on water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God" (3:5)!  The only way one can enter into this world is to be born of a mother's womb; and the same is true of the Kingdom of God.  You must be born into it.  The Kingdom of God is a Kingdom of "righteous, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Rom. 14:17).  It is a Kingdom of God's Spirit that is eternally with Him.  And just how, are we born into it?  By faith in the atonement of Jesus Christ!  When born again one receives a new nature (2Pet. 1:4).  God's eternal life is resident in him (1Jn. 5:13).  When God's new nature enters, one becomes a new creature (2Cor. 5:17).  And as a new creature he has a new right standing with God (2Cor. 5:21).  His worship and prayers are received at the very throne of God.  In the same way that the man Jesus was the Father's Christ or anointed one so the one "born again" is Jesus' Christ.  He becomes a Christ-ian, one who is born again, anointed by the Lord Jesus Himself.

"Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (Jn. 3:3).  Having been born of God's Spirit, the Christian, for the first time, begins to see God's rule in life.  The Lord has been ruling all the time but now he can see and understand that it is so.  The world cannot understand and never will simply because the worldling has not the Spirit of God.  A Christian is both created and fathered by God.  The new life in Christ receives insights that were never there before.

"Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin because he has been born of God" (1Jn. 3:9).  The new creature in Christ does not sin!  Yes, there is yet the old nature in us that cries out in rebellion.  Being free moral agents, Christians like all men, can chose the old ways and lose all kinds of rewards.  Yet the Bible is emphatic, the child of God need not sin; he must not sin!  That New Creature in Christ is in union with the Spirit of God, in fellowship with God there can be no sin any more than there can be darkness in the presence of light.  The new right standing with God enables the Christian to be capable of a sinless life through obedience to the Spirit.  The seed of righteousness is there; he is a new creature in Christ.

Prayer: "O Lord God, by the power of the Holy Spirit I shall walk in the light of Your counsel.  Amen."

Evening Reading:   Ezekiel 1:1-3:15   Hebrews 3:1-19   Psalms 104:1-23   Proverbs 26:24-26