Saturday, July 26, 2008

Ye Must Be Born Again!

John 3:3 “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.”

This is the question everyone who attends church services knows, do I need to be born again? And the answer, almost all Pastors will give you is yes! The problem is, how? How does one become a true born again Christian? Well this is the problem, you ask ten different Pastors and you may very well get ten different answers. Some Pastors are as dumb as Nicodemus was on this subject. The only way to understand God’s plan of salvation is to read and study His word. However some men seem to follow customs and traditions rather than God’s word to arrive at an answer. If we search the true meaning of words it really gets pretty simple. The two words “born again” come from two Greek words that mean “to be delivered of” and “from above” so therefore if you put these two words together “born again” they simply means to be delivered from above and folks it is truly that simple. While there is a lot that goes into it from man on earth i.e. the planting and watering of the seed (the gospel) the actual new birth comes from above and that is from God. Jesus goes on to tell Nicodemus in 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.” The water here refers to the natural birth process and this is proven in verse 6 “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” And to be born of the Spirit is the Holy Spirit. Anyone who makes it mean anything else is simply misunderstood of God’s word and has not properly studied God’s word. We want to go back to verse five to where Jesus said you must be born of the Spirit. Now add this statement with the statement in verse 3 to be delivered from above and here is your answer you must be born from above by the Holy Spirit of God and the conclusion is that God saves sinners. The only thing man has to do with salvation is we plant and water the seed there is no way possible we can breath life into the seed. Life in any form comes from God, He breathed life into Adam and He breathed life into every born again believer who has ever or will ever be saved.

Jesus goes on to say in verse 15 “That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” There are a lot of men confused about this subject also. Paul tells us in Romans 10:10 “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” While Jesus tells us to believe, Paul goes on to tell us that believing is in our heart and our heart is the inner-man which is the inner-spirit that resides in us all. This is why it takes God to breath life in our spirit before we can believe Ephesians 2:1 “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;” Folks man can create all various way for you to be saved however there is only one way and that is God’s way. All of their various ways will not produce one single believer, only non-believers and they are convinced they are believers, but their faith is only a false hope. If you have not been born from above by the Holy Spirit then you are not saved no matter how much faith you have. Folks, now is the time for a faith check, do not trust your salvation to the hands of man but to the word of God. John 5:39 “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” Remember what Jesus told Nicodemus “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” Have you been born of the Spirit of God or has someone told you that you have? Your answer will let you know whether or not you pass the faith check.

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Pleasing God or Man?

Galatians 1:10-11 "For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. [11.] But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man."

Beloved this week we would like to draw your attention to an area so many today have failed in, they are seeking to please man rather than God. I often wonder why there are so many Preachers and Christians that have fallen away from the truth of God’s word. There has to be a reason why, doesn’t there? I believe the answer is simple, God’s word tells us; in fact God said it is not a matter of "if", but "when". 2 Timothy 4:3-4 "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; [4.] And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." Paul said they "shall be turned unto fables." That is myths or fiction or non-existent teachings. Non-existent as in there is no truth in their teachings. They teach about a mythical salvation, a mythical church, a mythical Jesus, and etc. It is not that these teachings do not exist, oh no they all do, however not in the way they teach them. They teach mythical teachings because truth no longer appeals to the people they preach too. These men are simply teaching to please men rather then God. Paul has a very strong warning to the men teaching mythical doctrine "for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ." Vs. 10b Paul just said these men are not servants of Christ which means they are not being used by the Lord.
People tend to measure a Minister on his ability to collect hears and on his ability to collect money. I must admit both of these are wonderful but not a measuring stick in which to measure a servant of Christ. The true measuring stick to measure a servant of Christ is how much truth he teaches. 1 Timothy 5:17-18 "Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine. [18.] For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward." The word honor means money, and the Lord said he is worth double money. This is fact my beloved brethren a man that teaches truth is a man that teaches to small assemblies and small assemblies have small bank accounts and that equals small pay checks. However with all that math being done it does not eliminate the churches responsibility to give their pastor all the support they can. If you have a Pastor that speaks truth after the Lord Jesus Christ then you are indeed a blessed church.
Paul goes on to say in Vs. 11b "that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man." Paul is saying, what I preach is not from man but from God. I do not seek to please man nor did my education come from man but rather the Holy Spirit. This is why Paul said "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn." Vs. 18 of 1 Tim. The ox is used here for his strength to tread down the corn and the reason they were not muzzled is so they could eat while they worked and they would work harder and longer. So Paul went on to say in Vs. 18 of 1 Tim. "The labourer is worthy of his reward." The powerful ox did such a wonderful job he was worth all that he can eat and it was never too much. Folks the man that preaches truth is worthy of all a church can afford to give him. In order for this man to be so strong in teaching truth countless hours goes into study time and as Paul compared him to an ox, please do not under feed you ox. Just as a Pastor must continually ask himself "am I pleasing God or man" a church must also ask themselves the same question when they pay their Pastor.