JOHN 3:1\u201321<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cDo not marvel that I said to you, \u2018You must be born again\u2019 \u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
(John 3:7)<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Like the dark expanse before creation that the Spirit hovered over, the soul of man is lost in darkness and ruled by chaos. Sin corrupted that which was once pure and robbed it of life and light. Only by the power of the Spirit can life once more be brought out of death and light out of the darkness. At creation, God said to the darkness, \u201clet there be light\u201d and today only He can summon light to shine forth from our stone-cold souls.<\/p>\n
This miraculous act is the work of God\u2019s Spirit who breathes life into man. This work is called regeneration. In regeneration, God, by His Spirit, creates new life in a dead soul. We don\u2019t know how He does this any more than we know the mysteries of creation, but we can witness the Spirit\u2019s work by its effects. Jesus compared the Spirit to the wind. You cannot see it, you don\u2019t know where it comes from or where it is going, but you can discern its presence by its effects, by the sway of the branches, by the dance of flowers in a field. Likewise, the effects of regeneration are visible. We can see faith and repentance in a person\u2019s life. We can be sure that this fruit of faith is present only because the Spirit has been at work. We could never love Christ, trust Him, and rely on Him for our salvation unless the Spirit renewed our hearts. We could never give up our sin unless the Spirit enabled us to overcome it, not just for a season, but forever; not just in part, but completely.<\/p>\n
We can only bear the fruit of the Spirit when we are made alive at the root. A dead tree cannot produce fruit. For us to enter the kingdom of heaven and to bear godly fruit, the Spirit must do a miraculous work in our souls. This work is not done by our own power. It is as Jesus said, \u201cThat which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.\u201d The Spirit is the efficient cause of regeneration, not the fallen will of man. Only those who are born of the Spirit are truly changed from within. Remember the words of John 6:63: \u201cIt is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.\u201d May you then be grateful to the Lord and humbled by His sovereign mercy and His glorious grace.<\/p>\n
CORAM DEO<\/b><\/p>\n
1 Kings 19\u201320<\/p>\n
John 2<\/p>\n
WEEKEND<\/b><\/p>\n
1 Kings 21\u20132 Kings 3<\/p>\n
John 3<\/p>\n
Read Galatians 5:16\u201326. What are the results of being born of the Spirit? What does it mean to \u201cwalk in the Spirit\u201d? Read the listed sins of the flesh and the fruits of the Spirit several times. Note those sins that you need to repent of and those fruits you need to bear. Ask God for the power to grow in Him.<\/p>\n
For further study: Ps. 51 \u2022 John 6:6\u201371 \u2022 Eph. 2:1\u201310<\/i><\/p>\n
WEEKEND<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
JOHN 3:1\u201321 \u201cDo not marvel that I said to you, \u2018You must be born again\u2019 \u201d (John 3:7). Like the dark expanse before creation that the Spirit hovered over, the soul of man is lost in darkness and ruled by chaos. Sin corrupted that which was once pure and robbed it of life and light. Only … Continue reading “CREATING NEW LIFE”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12974\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}