Born Again

But behavior is never a good excuse to reject Christ. That is self righteousness.However, once being regenerated, I totally agree, that is not an end in itself. And that I also learned right out of the same Bible.The only thing deader than faith without works is works used to replace the need for faith. That is really dead. Now if we are finished "summing up" I will look for some other posts by others to which I might respond. Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

Without quotation let me explain. The nature of God after the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus, is that He is RECEIVABLE. He is ENTERABLE. He can come into our being. He can indwell our being.God, from the resurrection of Jesus, can come and make an abode with us. That is to compound His life with our life. That is to mingle His life with our life.That is to cause man to begin, and this is a profound but true concept, to LIVE GOD.Now I didn't say just live FOR God. I said LIVE GOD. God becomes a sphere and a realm of life in which man may live out the God who indwells him.From our standpoint, to be born again is like coming into an intimate friendship with an unusual invisible Person. Being regenerated and born again, from the human standpoint, is like suddenly being aware of Someone living within your life.This is unique. There is no sense in denying it. This is a very unique experience.The beginning of this relationship is discribed in the New Testament as a second birth. It is the beginning of your new life. Before you lived apart from God. Whether you consider yourself good or bad, it doesn't matter. You were apart from and alienated from the life of God (Eph. 4:18) The termination of the alienation is not cheap. It cost God a tremendous price. We can be born again only because Christ has paid a tremendous price on His cross to redeem us out from under the righteous penalty of the law of God for our sins.Because we can be justified in Christ's redemptive death we can be enlivened by His resurrection. We receive Christ who is receivable, and we, being justified from sins, can be reborn in the very kernel of our spiritual being.The nucleus of man, the innermost part of man's spiritual being become united with God through Christ, and in the power of the Holy Spirit.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

I thought you were off having a good yawn.

Some people think that we need to be born again because we are sinful. Actually, even if we were not sinful, we would still need to receive the divine life of God in order to fulfill His eternal purpose.Adam was placed before "the tree of life". Adam was not created sinful. He was very good. He was innocent, at least for a season.This good man was placed before the tree of life. This means that even a good creation should receive the divine life of God for God's purpose. And that purpose is to unite with man and be mingled with man.Again, we need regeneration because God's eternal plan to live in man requires us to receive Him into our being as life.As it stands, when Adam sinned, the way to the tree of life was cut off to him. And it is not opened again until the redemptive death of Jesus. Then the divine life of God can be received.At the fall of Adam, the way to the life of God was protected by the angel with the flaming sword. Officially, that was the beginning of mankind being "alienated from the life of God" (Eph. 4:18) Christ, in His redemptive death and resurrection, opened again the way for man to receive the Divine Life in addition to his created human life.I am a little reluctant to say that if Adam had taken of the tree of life he would have been born again. But perhaps it is not wrong to say that. He had a very good life, before he sinned. And this very good man needed to receive in addition to his natural life, the divine and uncreated life of God embodied in the tree of life.Today, this tree of life, is Jesus Christ - virtually. Jesus is the tree of life today. And His death on Calvary has re-opened the previously excluded way to receive God into us as eternal life.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

You may think that you are the only one who has ever seen hypocrisy among those professing to be Christians.Now I have found that people easily think they are the ONLY ones who noticed "hypocrits in the church".You can spend only so much time licking your wounds and convincing yourself "At least I am not THAT bad as those guys."It's fun for a while to consider that, at least, you're are better than this or that fundy who may have hurt your feelings or stole your bike or openly behaved badly giving the Christian faith a bad name.After a while, you should come to the realization that just because you can point out the hypocrisy of others doesn't mean that you are better.This attitude is what I call "the knowledge of good and evil". That is something we are very proud of.If the moment has not come in your life when you notice no one else but YOU and JESUS with a circle around you, you have not come into much divine life flowing through you. I didn't once mention "going to heaven". Read your Bible more carefully rather than just pick up traditional cliches.As for people who receive eternal life? I fully expect to be surprised. There is no need to warn me of ironic surprise. From reading the New Testament I learned that I should expect to be surprised.I am most surprised that I have been blessed to be saved. It is this astounding sense of undeserved blessing which is the fuel of the evangelists.Others, Lord Jesus, simply MUST receive what I have so undeservedly received. This is the fire of the Gospel preacher.Why me Lord ??? Others simply HAVE to meet Jesus too. At least they must be given their chance to hear about Jesus.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

It is implicit in this kind of attitude: You're passing judgment on those who have put their faith in Christ.It is a mock. And it is another way of saying you'd sooner keep company with better people like these.Vintage self righteousness.

You know something ? I think we are going around in circles.We had this round of question and answer before. Didn't we ?I mean, I am pretty sure that I already went through passages showing the Christian's active participation in this matter of God working Himself into man after the new birth.I am pretty sure that this round of discussion was already traversed. We're right back where we started.Excuse me then. I meant to start a fresh new approach to aspects perhaps not yet talked about. I should not have flagged you because I think we have already had this round of talking.There is plenty, plenty, plenty in the New Testament showing that the regenerated believer actively cooperates in opening up more of his soul to allow the Spirit of Christ to move into more chambers of his mind, emotion, and will.There is simply NO shortage of evidence that being born of God is only the beginning of a life long cooperation to mature in the life in which the believer was born this second time spiritually.Sorry I pulled your chain again. Obviously, your position remains the same. And there is no doubt on my part that the second birth is only a beginning of the process of sanctification and transformation which absolutely requires man's continued cooperation.Must be time for me to leave this subject unless I see some new faces here on it. I've danced with you and Ringo and jar now.Tried to help you some on this. Little need to repeat things on the same people.Have a great day jon. Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

You may notice that there is a re-occuring attitude in many of these posts the runs like this:" I have to DO something. I cannot be passive. I need to be DOING something. Jesus is asking us to DO the work of being born again. I have to work. I cannot simply passively sit."In this chapter I cannot find Jesus commanding us to do anything before verse 15 where He desires us to believe into Him. "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that everyone who believes into Him may have eternal life." Now lifting up the Son of Man refers to His enemies lifting Him up on the cross. So that does not count as a command from Jesus to His believers. But "that everyone who believes into Him" may be considered His desire that we DO the action of BELIEVING into Him.Before that verse 15 it is hard for me to see Jesus asking us to do anything.Some may say that He asks us to be born again. But that is really a word on what the Spirit of God is going to do - " ... that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." (v.6) Okay, there is possibly something that He asks us to do in verse 7. And that is to nor marvel but believe His word: "Do not marvel that I said to you You must be born anew." (v.7) Here is something we can do in chapter 3. We can believe His word and not marvel or argue against His word. This He told Nicodemus. This is a directive. But it is still a directive like that in verse 15, to believe into Him - "That everyone who believes into Him may have eternal life." Do you see Jesus commanding us to do something beside believe into Him before verse 7 or perhaps 15?As I look lower I see this: This might be considered as a word in chapter three for the believer to DO something. That is to come to Himself as the light that his works may be manifested to be wrought in God.To the readers of John chaper 3 anxious to know what they can DO, perhaps this is the verse for them. Come to the light that your works may be manifested that they are wrought in God.I can see how some would say "You see? We have to be doing works wrought in God FIRST and then come to Jesus the Light."Maybe that case could be made. However, I would point out that in this chapter the works are not the cause to receive eternal life, but the believing, which is the coming to Him in belief: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone who believes into Him may not perish but have eternal life." (v.16) In the book of Acts we have a man named Cornelius. He gave alms to the poor. He believed in God apparently. And his good works were said to go up before God as a memorial: Cornelius may be a good example of one who was willing to come to Christ for salvation because he had a soft heart towards God. And with the knowledge that he had of God he tried to be pleasing to God. He came to the light.And Peter preached salvation to Cornelius the Gentile and to those gathered in his house: The result of Peter's message was that the Holy Spirit came upon the Gentiles in the house of Cornelius.Here may be an example of what Jesus was saying in John 3:21 - I am thankful for this example. Notice Cornelius did not refuse to hear the gospel message of Peter. Cornelius did not respond like this: "Listen Peter. I am here doing good works and giving alms to the poor. I even pray to God. Why do I need to hear about forgiveness of sins ? Can't you see how godly and good I am? I don't need to hear about Jesus the Judge of the living and the dead. What Jesus is and did has nothing to do with me. I am fine here just doing good deeds as I have been doing for a long time.

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Do not expect me to stop my alms giving and just passively sit here being happy about being forgiven. " Cornelius was so willing to come to Jesus, to come to Jesus the light of the world. He had some previous experience with a soft conscience toward God and of trying his best to be charitable. And God remembered his alms giving.But God sent the Apostle Peter to complete his knowledge. Cornelius needed to hear the Gospel of Jesus the crucified and resurrected One who was to be Judge of the living and the dead. And Cornelius needed to hear about the forgiveness of his sins through believing into THIS One - Jesus of Nazareth.I do not discourage the good doing of anyone. But it does not exempt us from having to believe into Christ as God commanded Peter to inform Cornelius.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

You need the whole book of John to see that the new birth is a matter of RECEIVING a divine life giving Person - the Son of God. "As many as RECEIVED Him, to them He gave the authority to become children of God ... Who were begotten ... of God" ( John 1:12,13) I have highlighted the key words above. The receiving of Christ leads to being born, begotten of God.Do you think this prologue has nothing to do with John chapter 3?How is man begotten of God? How is man born of God? How is man born again ? It is by receiving Christ the Son of God. To those who receive Him, who believe into His name, authority is granted to become children of the begetting Divine Father - God.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

He makes mention of the believers being justified by comparing Himself to the brass serpent lifted up in the wilderness by Moses.To be healed of the poison injected into man by the venomous serpent has damaged man, killing man. This is believing in Christ who was judged by God on the cross. He was lifted up as the bronze serpent was. He took up our sins in His body. He appeared to the judging God as the totality of the Satanic poisoned human race. If we look upon this lifted up One, believing in His redemptive death, we receive eternal life.Eternal life has to BEGIN sometime for the beleiver. It begins at the moment of being born from above, born again. And this is by God's agency who is the Holy Spirit.So our believing into Christ the Redeemer, Who was lifted up on the cross in the form of the total Satan poisoned human race, causes us to be justified by God.Being justified, eternal life can be imparted into our being. That there is a moment of its beginning should not be hard to understand.Other chapters speak of our ABIDING in this life that He may ABIDE in us. Namely in chapter 15 we see Christ as the true vine of life and the believers as the abiding branches drawing their life and supply by abiding in Him and loving one another.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

To commune with Christ first you should receive Christ.First you should undergod the new birth by receiving Christ as your Lord and Savior.This would be the first step. You begin your communion by going to God in prayer and confessing that you are a sinner, even a helpless sinful person. You agree with God that you stand before Him a condemned sinner, guilty, and only good to be damned.This seems a step very hard for some people to bring themselves to do. Even over an entire lifetime they may never be able to humble themselves to admit to God that they are sinful and guilty.So I would say that the first step is to come to Christ for the purpose to be receive Him as the Lord or your life and the Savior that you cannot live without for another day.If one cannot have a good start in turning over the steering wheel of their life to the Lord Jesus, I do not know what sense there is to go on to tell him about communing with Christ.In short, if you cannot humble yourself to confess to Christ that you desire Him to be your Lord, it is useless to go on to inquire how to commune with Christ.This might be like a person asking how do you have a good strong opening in a chess game, but the asker refuses to touch a chess board and its pieces.Let's say the sinner humbles himself to ask Jesus to come into his life to be his Lord, his Savior. How then can he go on to built up the habbit of enjoying Christ, communing with Christ, abiding in Christ, and fellowshipping with Christ ?I'll leave that for a subsequent post judging by your response to this post. Is your reaction still "Good Grief" ? Is your reaction to "communing with Christ" still one of sneering cynicism as if this is an absurd idea that no intelligent person would ever entertain ?Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

Did you notice these words that I wrote above explaining something about receiving Christ ? Christ is risen. Christ is alive. And Jesus Christ is quite willing to be the believer's Lord and Savior.Spending some time having a good talk with the Lord Jesus, confessing your sins and thanking Him for coming into you according to His promise, is a good start.He is faithful. It is not just a matter of our faith. That is only one half of the equation. The other half is the Christ is faithful. John 6:37 - "All that the Father gives to Me will come to Me, and him who comes to Me I shall by no means cast out." This is good verse to take to God directly in prayer, encouraging one's heart to be bold to step forward to receive the Lord.It is very effective to pray God's words in the Bible back to God with praises and thanksgivings, standing on His promises.Another good passage about receiving Christ is in Romans 10: I would emphasize the "mouth" here. It is good for you to hear yourself confess "Jesus is Lord ". It is good to hear yourself confess "I confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. I DO believe in my heart that God has raised Him from the dead." This is not a time to argue over "saved". This is not a time to argue that there are other passages in the Bible. We all know that. This is not a time to argue about the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25.Even difficult problems in the bible can wait. This fellowship is simply about your question of how to receive the Lord. I would encourage the speaking with the mouth to be definite. And I would emphasize the surrendering to the lordship of Jesus Christ agreeing with God that you cannot go on without the Savior Christ.I also would encourage not looking to feelings. But first giving thanks in faith. Fact - Faith - Experience. In that order.When you do receive the Lord Jesus Christ Who is the life giving Spirit of the God-man on the throne in heaven, it is inevitable that it will hit you that something has changed in your heart.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

Jar, this is a different question.By the way, I do not know that you have not already received Christ at some past time in your life. I simply gave some reply to "How do you receive Christ?"I don't know that you have not. Okay? Some of your posts sound funny to me for a person who has. But I am not God and do not know your life's experience. I only know what you asked and get some indications about what you believe by some things you write.But I did reply well to your question of How to receive Christ.I do not expect everyone to have the identical same experience. But not expecting everyone to have the identical same experience does not stop me from giving you some reasonably reliable help on HOW to receive Christ, which I have done.Now is your request "Solve all my problems with Christianity!" or was it simply "How does one receive Christ?" ?Don't morph this simple and hopefully honest question into something more like "Solve all my problems in Christian theology in a post please." Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

Well, I will not argue about this if you despise what I wrote.But you don't know unless you do it. You see you can spend your whole life in a sneer "This is crap about receiving Jesus."Or you can try it. Actually God is not on trial. But for politeness sake I will put it that way ... you don't know if you don't "try" it.I found it effective to go out somewhere where I can speak out loud and not be self conscious. A nice walk in a field where I can raise my voice as I talk to the Lord Jesus.But if not, the privacy of your room is good. Anywhere is good.Just calling on His name "O Lord Jesus. Lord Jesus. O Lord I confess I need you as my Savior, my Lord and Savior. Lord Jesus."Now it is funny that I have seen people be cynical like yourself, concerning speaking to the Lord Jesus. But their hands get kind of sweaty when it comes down to actually calling on the Lord Jesus.There is an event horizon it seems, like the edge of a black hole. Only this is a glorious golden hole not a destructive black hole. You get close to that edge and you will likely sense the pull.What pull? What happens when you confess that you are a sinner in need of the salvation of Jesus. And you open, open, open your heart and open your mouth in faith to receive the Lord. " Lord Jesus, I just receive You. Lord Jesus I just open my heart right now and receive You as my Lord. I put my trust in your promise. He who comes to you you will not cast out. I am that sinner, Lord, I am coming to You. I am coming just as I am. Your redemption is what I need. Your death for my sins is what I need. and I trust that you are risen from the dead. And I just open to receive You Lord Jesus." Or any honest prayer from the heart. And the FAITHFUL Christ will come into your heart. Inivitably it will hit you that something has changed and it is very very POSITIVE toward God.The Peace. The sense of the closure of your past and a love of the Father now puts the receiver at peace in the universe. It is a new beginning.These are trustworthy words you are reading. Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

Thank God for His marvelous faithfulness. " For the Scripture says, Everyone who believes on Him shall not be put to shame." (Romans 10:11) Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.