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"You Must Be Born Again"
"You must be Born Again ...of the Spirit" (John 3:5-7)
"The Promise of the Father:" (Acts 1:4-5)
Eternal Life or Salvation is Receiving the Holy Spirit
We are to be born again, not of the flesh, but of the Spirit. Jesus says "You must be Born Again" to "enter the Kingdom of God" (John 3:5-7) for "Eternal Life" which Jesus defined is “knowing” the Father and the Son, (John 17:3) . Jesus also warned those who did not "know" Him to "depart" from Him. (Matthew 7:21-23) To be born again of the Holy Spirit as Jesus proclaimed is "the Promise of the Father." (Luke 24:49 - Acts 1:4-5 - Acts 2:37-39)
Jesus said" “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent,” (Luke 4:43) and Paul revealed that "the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. " (Romans 14:17) Now when He (Jesus) was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:20-21)
Jesus went on to declare the “ Comforter, the Spirit of Truth” will be “inside” the “ one who has My commandments and keeps them, that is the one who loves Me: and the one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I shall love him and I shall reveal Myself to him,” and “if someone would continuously love Me, he will keep My Word, and My Father will love him and We will come to him and We will make a dwelling for Ourselves with him.” (John 14:15-24)
"You cannot be born a Christian. Jesus says 'you must be born again.'" (Greg Laurie)
Being “Born Again” is receiving the “Promise of the Father” is “the gift of God” upon repentance and publicly “confess with your mouth the Lord Y'shua and you would believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead,” and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 10:9-17 – Isaiah 28:16 – Acts 2:37-39)
And if the Spirit of the One Who raised Y’shua from the dead dwells in you, the One Who raised Messiah from the dead will also make alive your mortal bodies through His Spirit because He abides within you. (Romans 8:11)
Worldly Wisdom & Biblical Wisdom
"For it is God Who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure." (Philippians 2:13)
It is through the “Spirit of Truth” that the Lord reveals His wisdom which is “hidden in a mystery.” Jesus praised the Father for "hiding these things from the wise and prudent and revealing them to whomever the Son wishes to reveal, which pleased the Father." (Matthew 11:25-27)
As the Lord made clear, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My Ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My Ways higher than your ways and My thoughts higher than your thoughts.” Yet “Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, so that He cannot save. Neither is His ear heavy, so He cannot hear, but your iniquities have separated you from your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so He will not hear. (Isaiah 55:8-9, 59:1-2)
Just as no one knows “the things of a man except the spirit of the man that is in him? Thus then no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God,” and “the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God,” but does not teach “with words of human wisdom but in teachings of the Spirit. …But natural man does not take the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him and he is not able to know, because they are discerned spiritually.” (1 Corinthians 2:6-16)
It is the Spirit Who “reveals” the “things of God,” and discerned spiritually. (John 1:12-13, 3:5-7, 16:12-15 - Ephesians 1:17 - Jeremiah 31:33-34) As Jesus declared, “it is the spirit that quickens, the flesh profits nothing” and we “cannot bear” all the Lord would have us know apart from the “Teacher.” To the "natural man" the "things of God” are "foolishness." (John 6:63, 16:12-15 - 1 Corinthians 1:18-21)
We do not know and understand the "things of God" with our soul or intellect, we can only know the Father and Son through our spirit. It is through the "inspiration of the Almighty," the Holy Spirit, the "Spirit of Truth," the "Teacher," to the "spirit of man." We are “created in His image” a threefold being, “spirit, soul and body,” which the Holy Spirit edifies our spirit as Jesus proclaimed. (Genesis 1:26-27 - 1 Thessalonians 5:23 – John 4:24, 6:63, 16:12-15)
"God made mankind to be a spirit being in a natural body with a natural mind and a free will. At the time of man's creation, Spirit God breathed life into man."(Genesis 2:7) (Ron McGatlin)
“We do not know God with our flesh, with our hands or with our brains. We know God with our spirit." (John G. Lake - Spiritual Hunger, The God-Men)
“The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord searching all the inward parts of the heart” (Proverbs 20:27), and is also referred to as the "inner man" or "hidden man of the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7 – Romans 7:22 - Ephesians 3:15-19 – Colossians 3:9-10 - 1 Peter 3:4)
“But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty gives them
understanding. Great men are not always wise: neither do the aged understand
judgment. Therefore I say, Listen to me! I will also show my knowledge.” (Job
32:8-10) “Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? Or, who has given
understanding to the heart?” (Job 38:36)
Do you not know that you are a sanctuary of God and the
Spirit of God dwells in you? ...Do you not know that your bodies are members of
Messiah? ...But the one who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. ...Or do you
not know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit
in you, which you have from God, and you do not belong to yourselves? For you
were bought with a price: now you must glorify God with your body.
(1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:15-20 - Ephesians 2:21-22)
It is the Spirit of Truth that teaches, for as the Holy Spirit inspired the Word
of God, the same Holy Spirit Who reveals the Word of God, Who lives inside you,
as “ the inspiration of the Almighty gives them
understanding.”
(2 Peter 1:20-22 - Proverbs 2:6 – Psalm 51:6 - John 14:23-26 – Job 32:8-10)
Scripture implores us to “quench not the Spirit,” and “do not grieve the Holy
Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”
(1 Thessalonians 5:19 – Ephesians 4:30)
Jesus also stressed he magnitude and significance of the Holy Spirit warning,
“The one who is not with Me is against Me, and the one who does not gather with
Me is scattering. Because of this I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be
forgiven to mankind, but the blasphemy of the Spirit will not be forgiven. And
if someone would speak a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him:
but whoever would speak against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven to him
either in this age or in the one coming.” (Matthew 12:30-32)
Baptism or being filled with the Holy Spirit
