First: Things to Particularly Avoid

          I am putting this study up on Sunday, April 16, 2006 which just happens to be one of the big church world high days, Easter; if you are going to get anywhere with God, you will avoid Easter as though it is a plague; you will avoid Christmas as though it is a plague; you will not have ANYTHING to do with these days in ANY way; you will not watch their activities on these day, you will not listen to them, buy any of their paraphernalia, or participate in any of their activities in ANY way; if you do you will DIE with them.  Of course, you cannot avoid seeing it because they are in your face with it, but you do not have to participate in any way.

___________

Where we Begin

          Here is where we must begin to set the tenor of this study: you must take the position that you do not know a thing, NOT ONE THING; you are babes at best if you have given your hearts to God, but here is where we begin:

¹In that hour came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who then is great in the kingdom of heaven? And he called to him a little child, and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye turn, and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.'  (Mt.18.1-4)

Unless you are willing to humble yourself, stop right here and go fishing, because you shall proceed no farther with God.  I did not make the rules; I am simply telling you what they are.  If you are offended because you suppose you are ALREADY saved, sanctified, and full of the Holy Ghost, please do not do yourself more harm by continuing...go back to your comfortable place in the church world where you will eventually die with them, or you ARE going to humble yourself to the Word of God...to EVERY WORD.

          I will tell you up front that I am not going to mess with foolish and unlearned questions such as some believe that the Old Testament has been done away, or that Jesus was speaking just to the Jews in the Gospels; I don't have time to undo such ignorance; there simply is no hope for those who hang onto those definitions, but if you have received me so far then let's go here:

¹And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, as unto babes in Christ. I fed you with milk, not with meat; for ye were not yet able to bear it: nay, not even now are ye able; for ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you jealousy and strife, are ye not carnal, and do you not walk after the manner of men.  (1 Cor.3.1ff)

Here must be your attitude.  If you have given your heart to God, then you must realize that you are nothing but a babe in Christ; you cannot even walk at this point in time, whereas the church world has told you that you have all the promises that you are mature, full-grown, that you know it all, just keep on going to their church, and giving your tithe.  If you are mature and grown up, then you would not be carnal, as Paul says, you would not have envy and strife in you; you would have control of your thoughts, your appetite, and your emotions.  Do you possess these attributes?  I don't think so, especially if you are fresh out of the church world, or if you have just recently turned to God.

          When Paul says you are carnal that simply means that you still are doing fleshly things, still being driven by ignorance and childish lusts; you see things on the surface; you see only superficially; you can count the number of pages in your Bible; you can admire the gold edges; you can count the words and contemplate even the vocabulary of the inspired writers, but the fact is you do not understand anything beyond that because, and until, you have given your heart to God, He will NOT open His Word to you, here:

¹²Having therefore such a hope, we use great boldness of speech, and are not as Moses, who put a veil upon his face, that the children of Israel should not look stedfastly on the end of that which was passing away: but their minds were hardened: for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains, it not being revealed to them that it is done away in Christ. But unto this day, whensoever Moses is read, a veil lies upon their heart.  But whensoever it shall turn to the Lord, the veil is taken away.  (2 Cor.3.12-16)

You see, a veil lies upon your heart until you turn your heart to God, THEN the veil is removed so that you can begin to understand it, but until you do indeed, not just in pretense, turn your heart to God, there is no way you will be able to understand the Word of God.  If this were not true, then Bible schools would be turning out men equal to the apostles by the truck load, but that is NOT the way it is; they are turning out a bunch of antichrists who don't know God in any way; this is a very private and intimate relationship you are going to have with God, and you will find this relationship very, very enlightening, encouraging, and comforting.

Getting your Heart Right with God   

          So, let's go over this again: 

1 In that hour came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who then is great in the kingdom of heaven?  2 And he called to him a little child, and set him in the midst of them, 3 and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye turn, and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven.  4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is the great in the kingdom of heaven.  (Mt.18.1-4) 

Unless you humble yourself, you SHALL NOT ENTER THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.  It is a matter of the heart; you MUST humble yourself to the Word of God, to become obedient to it or you shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  We have to enter in God's way; we cannot take it by force as some try, and as Jesus said, they would indeed take the Kingdom of Heaven by force (Mt.11.12), but Jesus said, you are a thief if you enter in another way than through the truth (Jn.10.1ff).

        Defining Sin

            Now, if you are ready, here we go: the church world has no Bible definition for sin, because to define it contradicts their thesis, that sin is relative, or sin is, as some Bible dictionaries say, missing the mark, but the problem is, they do not define the mark.  So, let's find a Bible definition:

⁴Whosoever commits sin transgresses also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.'  (1 Jn.3.4 KJV)

Sin is the transgression of the law?!  What law?  That is the next question, because you have been taught that the Law, that is, the Ten Commandments has been done away so that you are no longer subject to it, but I do not want to take the time here to undo such ignorance, but simply to say, God did not write nine Commandments, but that again is what you have been taught because you will reject the fourth Command, which is to keep the Sabbath, and you surely do not want to keep the Sabbath and bring the ire of all your religious friends down upon yourself, so why don't you stop right here and go fishing, rather than to go on making life even more miserable for yourself?  If you want to learn more about the Sabbath, I have a web site where there are articles about it; email me and ask me for information about keeping the Sabbath.

          But see: here is a definition of what sin is...it is breaking God's law, the Ten Commandments; even the very idea that you have to keep these is anathema to all you have learned in the church world, so you must make a choice right here as to whether you are going to go on with God or drag your feet...but I know what you will do: you will go on to see what the rest of this is, as you think you will THEN decide what you will do, but this will bring you into another problem, as here:

⁴For as touching those who were once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come, and then fell away, it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.  For the land which hath drunk the rain that comes oft upon it, and brings forth herbs meet for them for whose sake it is also tilled, receives blessing from God: but if it bears thorns and thistles, it is rejected and nigh unto a curse; whose end is to be burned.'   (Heb.6.4ff)

See; once you have learned the truth and then turn away, you enter into a very dubious place where you cannot be forgiven, it is as Jesus said:

³⁰ He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathers not with me scatters. Therefore I say unto you, every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever shall speak against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in that which is to come.  (Mt.12.30ff)

So, you will say, How do I speak against the Holy Spirit?  Here:

The same applies here, the word hearken (again from shama) implies obedience, and consider the promise!

          Therefore, what is the essence of all this, except that we gain FAITH in Christ by our obedience to what he says; it, that is faith, comes through our obedience, not simply a head knowledge of Christ.  So, let's go back to Eph.2:

⁷that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus: for by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, that no man should glory. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them.'  (v 7-10)

NOW you can begin to understand how far and away the church world is with their erroneous interpretation of the Scriptures, but seeing that Grace is power, and that faith comes through our obedience to the truth, and how the works resolves the conflict between the two, but now, to resolve the conflict of Rom.2.13 and 3.20.

Confusion Reigns!

          In the first place, he says:

¹²For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without the law: and as many as have sinned under the law shall be judged by the law; for not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified...' (Rom.2.12,13)

The he says,

²⁰because by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight...' (Rom.3.20a)

Don't you see: in the first place he is speaking of the Ten Commandments, to wit, that if we keep them we will be justified (that is, if they cannot find sin in us); in the second he is speaking of the works of the Law of Moses whereby we cannot be justified.

___________

Being Born Again

          You hear evangelicals setting forth their position, 'I am born again', just as though they know what they are talking about, because of what they read here:

1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: 2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that you do, except God be with him. 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.'  (Jn.3.1-3 KJV)

But, before I comment, let's read this same text from a couple other versions:

1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: 2 the same came unto him by night, and said to him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that thou doest, except God be with him. 3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.' (ASV)

And here:

And there was a man of the Pharisees, Nicodemus his name, a ruler of the Jews, this one came unto him by night, and said to him, Rabbi, we have known that you have come from God, a teacher, for no one is able to do these signs that you do, if God may not be with him.  Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, If any one may not be born from above, he is not able to see the reign of God.' (Young's Literal Translation)

Of these three translations, Young is the only one that translates the phrase correctly; the phrase comes from the Greek gennao anothen which means 'born from above'.  It does NOT mean 'born again'.  The ASV also has a marginal note to that effect but the point is, to be REBORN is exactly what REGENERATION means as Jesus said above.  This word is used only two times in the New Testament, above and here:

4 But when the kindness of God our Saviour, and his love toward man, appeared, 5 not by works done in righteousness, which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy he saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit .'  (Tit.3.4,5)

In this context, we receive more information WASHING and RENEWING which brings about a re-birth.  Regeneration comes from the Greek word, pali-gennesia which is a compound word two words connected: palin-gennesia; (see page 801 in your concordance, top of center column) palin mean 'again' (see page 19, bottom of the center column) and gennesia means 'to be born' (see page 105, at the bottom of the third column, and page 106 top of the first column, and in the Index pg.71, sixth column). 

          So, how about the WASHING?  Let's try this:

25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself up for it; 26 that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word, 27 that he might present the church to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.'  (Eph.5.25ff)

Being washed by the Word of God!  Here is how you become born again! 

          Fact is, we are talking about a PROCESS, not a quick fix, as everyone assumes it is.

So now, let's return to John 3 where all this began and review it again:

1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: 2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. 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. 4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mothers womb, and be born? 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. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, You must be born from above. 8 The wind blows where it will, and you hear the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it comes, and where it goes: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. 9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? 10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Are you a teacher of Israel, and know not these things? 11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things, and you believe not, how shall you believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?'  (Jn.3.1-12 KJV) 

So now, I have quoted the whole statement; let me go over it for you.

          Since we know what it says about being born again; first notice that he says unless you be born from above you cannot see the kingdom of God, then he says in verse 5 neither can you enter into the kingdom of God.  He then explains: except we are born of water and spirit we can neither see nor enter into the Kingdom of God, and thus folks assume to be born of water means to be born in the body of our flesh because of what Jesus said, that which is born of flesh is flesh; and that which is born of Spirit is spirit, but he is NOT speaking of our bodies of flesh being born when he speaks of being born of water.  The water, the blood, the Word, and the Spirit are all one (cf. 1 Jn.5.7 ASV).  You have to wash your body and cleanse your spirit, as here:

11 And every priest indeed stands day by day ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, the which can never take away sins: 12 but he, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; 13 henceforth expecting till his enemies be made the footstool of his feet. 14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. 15 And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after he hath said, 16 This is the covenant that I will make with them.  After those days, saith the Lord: I will put my laws on their heart, And upon their mind also will I write them, 17 And their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.

18 Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.

19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the way which he dedicated for us, a new and living way, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; 21 and having a great priest over the house of God; 22 let us draw near with a true heart in fullness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience: and having our body washed with pure water, 23 let us hold fast the confession of our hope that it waver not; for he is faithful that promised...'  (Heb.10.11ff)

What does he say here?!  The new and living way?!  He mentions two things that must be washed and cleansed, your BODY and your CONSCIENCE; accomplishing this is what Jesus meant when he said you would be born of the water and spirit.  He is talking about the New Covenant whereby God writes His laws in our hearts, and where we wash our bodies with the pure water which is, of course, the Word of God.  The word 'wash' comes from the Greek word, louo and is the same word as used here:

4 John, to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from him who is and who was and who is to come; and from the seven Spirits that are before his throne; 5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loves us, and washed us from our sins by his blood.'  (Rev.1.4,5)

          This sprinkling comes from the Greek word, rhantizo (rhantismos) which simply means 'to cleanse' or 'purify' something which we will get more into in the study of Baptism when you get to the Foundation of God.  But these two things, your mind and body, must be washed and cleansed so that you can see AND enter into the Kingdom of God.  This is the new and living way as we obey the Word of God in the cleansing of our minds and bodies.

          Further, when he says, renewing of the Holy Spirit he is speaking of you getting into the Word of God DAILY to be renewed in mind and body as you read the Word, understand the Word, and do the Word; this is being renewed and you need it every day or every time you have opportunity; your spiritual growth depends on your studying and having time with the Word.  But, as to the water, the blood, the Word, all being one, here:

7 And it is the Spirit that bears witness, because the Spirit is the truth. 8 For there are three who bear witness, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and the three agree in one.'  (1 Jn.5.7,8)

And since he says, the Spirit is the truth, there are four things, which agree in one; the application is easy: as we become obedient to the truth of the Word of God, we are cleansed and purified and washed, which is HIS FLESH, which is the Word of God.

          See: I told you, you must have a spiritual mind because the PLACE he entered through the veil, was the Holy of Holies, the holiest place of all where the Ark was, containing the Ten Commandments among other things, where the GLORY OF GOD WAS!  Need I rehearse what the glory of God is?  You should recall, since I have shown it in at least three other web sites: the Glory of God is the wisdom and knowledge of God, and in verse 23 above,

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope... 

What is that?!  It is our Hope in obtaining the wisdom and knowledge of God, which is that Anchor for our soul, as here:

17 Wherein God, willing to shew more abundantly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of his purpose, intervened by an oath, 18 that by two unchangeable things, in which [it was] impossible that God should lie, we might have a strong encouragement, who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us, 19 which we have as anchor of the soul, both secure and firm, and entering into that within the veil, 20 where Jesus is entered as forerunner for us...'  (Heb.6.17ff JND)

          But now, I want to go back again to John 3:

8 The wind blows where it will, and you hear the voice thereof, but know not whence it comes, and whither it goes: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. 9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? 10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Are you the teacher of Israel, and understand not these things? 11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that which we know, and bear witness of that which we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. 12 If I told you earthly things and you believe not, how shall you believe if I tell you heavenly things?'  (Jn.3.8ff ASV)

We could ask today's preachers this same question--You teach God's Bible and do not understand these things?  And indeed they do NOT understand these things; Nicodemus had an excuse since he did not have the Spirit of God, but these 'teachers' and preachers you hear on radio and watch on television don't know God in the least detail, any more than Nicodemus did, and they claim to have the Holy Ghost.  Fact is, they have so little of the Spirit they don't know the first thing in the process of how to be born of the Spirit.  And Jesus continued:

12 If I told you earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you heavenly things?'  

He says to Nicodemus, 'If I have told you about superficial things, that is, fleshly outward things, how will you understand if I talk to you about spiritual things?'  God's ministers today know NOTHING as they aught to know because their hearts are not right with God, and for any of you to understand what I have written here you must be born of the Spirit.

          I told you that study was the ultimate in understanding; this will be over the top of your heads for a long time until you become born of the Spirit, and again I say that there is a particular protocol for being born of the Spirit.  They all say that they are born again whereas they do not know whereof they speak, and how much farther are they from understanding what is means to follow Jesus in the Regeneration, or to explain the new and living way Paul speaks of in the above text from Hebrews 10.

          Paul quotes from Jeremiah 31.31ff where God speaks of the New Covenant He will make with Israel, writing His laws on their hearts which is what God does to all those who turn to Him with all their hearts; He teaches them in the way in which they should go:

1    Unto thee, O LORD, do I lift up my soul.

2    O my God, in you have I trusted,

      Let me not be put to shame;

      Let not mine enemies triumph over me.

3    Yea, none that wait for you shall be put to shame:

      They shall be put to shame that deal treacherously without cause.

4    Show me thy ways, O LORD;

      Teach me your paths.

5    Guide me in your truth, and teach me;

      For thou are the God of my salvation;

      For you do I wait all the day.

6    Remember, O LORD, your tender mercies and thy lovingkindness;

      For they have been ever of old.

7   Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions:

      According to your loving kindness remember you me,

      For thy goodness sake, O LORD.

8    Good and upright is the LORD:

      Therefore will he instruct sinners in the way.

9    The meek will he guide in justice;

      And the meek will he teach his way.'

The meek will he guide.  Meekness is a total willingness to obey the truth without argument or debate, even in the face of chiding and ridicule and persecution for doing what is right...some call this walking by faith, which it is, except few are willing to do it.

          But look and see who He teaches His way, the meek.  Can you be instructed in the Way?  Will you follow in Jesus footsteps?  

          However, Paul is not through revealing this thing, this New and Living way, as he continues here:

26 For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which shall devour the adversaries. 28 A man that has set at nought Moses law dies without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses: 29 of how much sorer punishment, think you, shall he be judged worthy, who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unclean thing, and has disdained the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him that said, Vengeance belongs unto me, I will recompense. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.  32 But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings; 33 partly, being made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, becoming partakers with them that were so used. 34 For you both had compassion on them that were in bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of you possessions, knowing that ye have for yourselves a better possession and an abiding one. 35 Cast not away therefore your boldness, which hath great recompense of reward. 36 For you have need of patience, that, having done the will of God, you may receive the promise.  37 For yet a very little while, He that comes shall come, and shall not tarry.  38 But my righteous one shall live by faith: And if he shrink back, my soul has no pleasure in him.

39 But we are not of them that shrink back unto perdition; but of them that have faith unto the saving of the soul.'  (Heb.10.26-39)

He admonishes us, who would become washed in the Blood; that is, the Word of God, not to shrink back, but to stand fast even though we will suffer; because after all, the Way is where Jesus went to the stauros to be put to death for us after going all his life resisting sin and temptation, that he might become our example.  But we are talking about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the sufferings of Christ, which those of you who have believed the Scripture have entered into, who are now also suffering the same things from your brethren in persecutions and reproaches and afflictions.

          The Way is not that broad gate that leads to destruction, but is that straightened way, the hard way which leads to life.

Amen