Tuesday, January 13, 2004 (71)
THE SHARING OF THE DIVINE NATURE. In Christ Jesus it was established that the Divine nature of the living Lord was and can be distributed to human kind. This becomes a challenge to the church of today. Will we be like Him? The scriptures establish the fact that it is His desire to fully extend to His church the privilege of being like Him. The exceeding great and precious promises of the Word call us to a participation with Him of that Divine nature, which is His essence and being. This is the solution to the imperfection of the body of Christ. We need not live with the weakness and failures of the flesh. That is not the will of the Lord. When we partake of the Divine nature we are liberated from the corruption and sin of his world of wickedness and all of its evil desires. 2 Pet. 1:4 The presentation of the church as seen in the New Testament is not that of a weak, puny group of half hearted saints. The Word relates to a conquering, victorious church which will become the bride of Christ. It is time for the Ministry to quit coddling the church and begin to preach a message of deliverance and victory over sin. His invitation to His people today is the same as always. There is a place in Christ where the petty elements of the world are no longer a part of the life of the church.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE BORN AGAIN? Everyone who receives Christ is delegated POWER to become a son of God, by believing on His Name. These are not born after the will of the flesh nor that of man but have been born of the Spirit of the Living God. The true new birth is a working of the Spirit of the Lord within the spirit nature of man. John 1:12-13 As it requires birth to become an inhabitant of this world, so birth is absolutely necessary for entrance into the kingdom of God. Jesus made it so very plain that if one has not been born of the spirit he cannot see or know that there is such a place as the kingdom of God. John 3:3 The only possibility of obtaining entrance into that grand and glorious eternal home is to be born of the water and the Spirit of the Lord. The natural is a type and symbol of the Spiritual. For natural birth there must be water and spirit [breath] for Spiritual the same must be in evidence. John 3:5-6 Faith and baptism are a necessary part of the process. Mark 16:16
THE AFTEREFFECT OF THE WORD IN THE NEW BIRTH. The New Birth is accomplished by the workings of the Word of the Lord in the spiritual nature of man. The Word is quick and powerful and will achieve a cleansing in the spiritual man. The Word separates from works of unrighteousness, by its very nature. As we read and study the Word it will perform in the believer a work of holiness. 1 Pet. 1:23 The Lord can only receive a Bride for Himself which has been through the cleansing force that is known as the Word of the Lord. The whole of the Christian experience must be a complete adherence to the Word. A total commitment to the precepts that are established by the Word. Eph. 5:26.