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The lyrics to an old Christian song go like this: “’Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, just to take Him at His word, just to rest upon His promise, just to say thus saith the Lord.” This world is experiencing very uncertain and troubling times, and as the end approaches, it will become exceedingly worse. Jesus gives this account of the end in Matthew 24:21-22:
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect''s sake those days shall be shortened.
In the troubled times that approach, the born-again can say, “’tis so sweet to trust in Jesus;” what a solid Rock He is! Have you been born again—born a second time, this time of the Spirit of God?
Today, all your sin and shame can be washed away. Today, all of Satan’s bondages—every single one—will be vanquished. Today, your feet will be planted on the Solid Rock. Follow me in this simple prompt and today, everything will change for you—EVERYTHING! Are you ready to begin the most exciting and glorious journey of all time? Here we go! Click onto “Further with Jesus” for childlike instructions and immediate entry into the Kingdom of God. NOW FOR TODAY’S SUBJECT.
GOD SAID, John 3:1-8:
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 mother''s 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, Ye must be born again.
8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
GOD SAID, Romans 12:1-2:
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
GOD SAID, II Corinthians 5:17:
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
MAN SAID: I don’t need to be “saved.” I’m a good person. Now, I might lie, cheat, fornicate; I might indulge in a little booze and dope—but God knows my heart. He’ll weigh my good against my bad.
Now THE RECORD: Welcome to GodSaidManSaid feature 1008 that will once again certify the full, supernatural inerrancy of God’s Holy Word. All of these faith-building features are archived here in text and streaming audio as bait for the fishers of men, and as edification for the blood-bought. Every Thursday eve, God willing, they grow by one.
Thank you for coming today. May God’s face shine upon you with Light and Truth.
The greatest mystery that can be known by man is the immutable, incorruptible truth Jesus Christ calls BORN AGAIN and it is real—eternally real. If you are unredeemed and are looking for proof, read on. It’s a mystery, it’s a plan, it’s God’s way of escape that cannot be truly known intellectually—only family can know it. BORN AGAIN, that’s where it all begins: the journey to eternal life. In this feature, concepts will be laid down. These concepts can only scratch the surface of this amazing mystery, but the scratching will be glorious.
Romans 16:25-27 speaks of this greatest of all mysteries:
25 Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,
26 But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith:
27 To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen.
Colossians 1:25-27:
25 Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;
26 Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
The first time in the Scriptures the mystery was revealed unto man was in John 3:1-8:
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 mother''s 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, Ye must be born again.
8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
The phrase BORN AGAIN is so simple, perfect, and childlike; its meaning is just as it reads: born a second time. When one is born of the flesh, they become a son or daughter of Mr. and Mrs. So-and-So. When one is born of the Spirit—and God is the Spirit—they become a son or daughter of God. This second birth, like natural birth, also comes with a birth certificate, which is recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
It only follows that if the BORN-AGAIN cannot be carnally certified—because this second birth is not of this world—then the born-again require Spiritual certification, and they certainly have it. Romans 8:15-16:
15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
BORN AGAIN is not the product of joining a religious organization—no! no! no! BORN AGAIN is literally being born into the family and house of God.
Why is it necessary to have this second birth? Why must a person be born again to enter the Kingdom of God? A spiritual transaction took place just over 6,000 years ago between Adam, Eve, and Satan. Satan deceived Eve by adding one word and a question mark to the Word of God, introducing her to doubt. In an act of unbelief and disobedience, Eve ate of the forbidden fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and Adam followed her pernicious ways. At this place, their immortality was lost, Paradise was forfeited, and they themselves, along with their future progeny, were sold in sin unto the devil. Adam delivers his birthright unto the devil in this transaction (Luke 4:6), and Satan becomes the little-g-od of this world (II Corinthians 4:4). As a result of this transaction between man and the devil, all of Adam and Eve’s children were spiritually stillborn. Colossians 2:13:
And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
Ephesians 2:1:
And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins:
Imagine: Could such a thing be true?! Yes, of course! A plethora of supporting discoveries in the fields of:
🡂 Microbiology;
🡂 Archaeology;
🡂 Ancient, non-Biblical societal accounts; and
🡂 Mythology, which often has a kernel of truth—all say yes!
One good example: Today’s science has come to the conclusion that all humans on the earth today are descended from one common mother and one common father they have dubbed mtDNA Eve and Y-Chromosome Adam. There surely was a beginning, and there surely was a fall.
As a result of unbelief and disobedience, the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2) began to reign, and that law must be satisfied. God is a God of absolutes and His laws cannot be abrogated. Romans 8:2:
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
In order to satisfy the curse of the law, one must die to self. In the BORN-AGAIN experience, this is magnificently accomplished.
The mystery of redemption and development in Christ employs three concepts in particular, which are basically one and the same, which, in unison, shout BORN AGAIN! Keep in mind, satisfying the curse of the law of sin and death requires the death of the sinner. The three concepts follow:
1. Water Baptism by Immersion: An event that a believer participates in after they have repented of their sins and surrendered their life to Christ. Romans 6:4:
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
The sinner disappears under the watery grave and remains buried. The new creature in Christ Jesus arises, satisfying the legal demands of the curse of the law.
2. Take Up Your Cross Daily:
Luke 9:23:And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
A cross is a place to suffer and die, and it’s my individual cross that I must take up daily. This daily denial of life’s carnal desires goes on satisfying the legal demands of the curse of the law.
3. Mortify Ungodly Desires:
Colossians 3:5-7:5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
6 For which things'' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.
The mortification process—mortify, as in mortician—is where we as children of God put to death worldly desires that are contrary to righteousness. This satisfies the demands of the curse of the law.
These three—water baptism, taking up one’s cross daily, and mortifying ungodly desires—are direct fruits of BORN AGAIN.
A true death takes place and a new life begins at the place Jesus calls BORN AGAIN. Romans 7:1-4:
1 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?
2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
3 So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
The curse of the law of sin and death can only be satisfied in Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son. God made a way of escape for us, and Jesus is that way (John 14:6). In order to escape the curse of the law—which is death, the dreadful White Throne Judgment, and eternity in the Lake of Fire—one must be BORN AGAIN. At this place, BORN AGAIN, carnal man dies, satisfying the letter of the law.
Probably all are shocked when they discover there are no sons of God born of men found in the Old Testament. There are angelic-like beings called Sons of God in Genesis 6 and Job 1 and 2, for example, but none born of women. Until Christ and the Cross, Adam stands alone in mankind as a son of God. Luke 3:38:
Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.
Abraham is called the friend of God; Moses, the servant of God; and the children of Israel are the children of Israel. The handful of references that suggest sonship or family of God are basically prophetic. But something truly shocking happens at the place Jesus calls BORN AGAIN, and it is written in John 1:12:
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
The BORN-AGAIN literally become sons and daughters of God. This is the ultimate birthday and it is of eternal and glorious consequence.
II Corinthians 5:17:
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
That verse is so absolutely true. It is not accurate to call the BORN-AGAIN “human,” as that term is known naturally. As new creatures, new creations of God, everything becomes new. The old, carnal things that once dominated our lives are buried in a watery grave, nailed to a wooden cross, and mortified.
It is not accurate to call the BORN-AGAIN “human,” as that term is defined naturally.
🞉 First, the redeemed have been born a second time, this time of the Spirit of God. They are new creatures.
🞉 The BORN-AGAIN go onto the mighty baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire.
🞉 The saved actually communicate with God, lips to ear.
🞉 The redeemed learn to hear God’s voice.
🞉 The steps of the redeemed are ordered by God, and the angel of the Lord encamps about them.
More examples will follow.
The changes that take place beginning at BORN AGAIN are not cosmetic, but deep and everlasting transformations. In neuroscience, it has been discovered that those given to deep, spiritual meditations experience actual physical changes in the brain structure that science has titled “neuroplasticity.” The following excerpts are from the GodSaidManSaid feature “Meditation Rebuilds Grey Matter in 8 Weeks:”
Today’s neuroscientists have arrived at the Book. God’s Word speaks of the brain and the renewing of the mind that transforms or causes the changing of form—a concept neuroscience now knows as neuroplasticity. Dr. Andrew Newberg, whose list of accreditations is long, and M.R. Waldman, co-author of the book How God Changes Your Brain, write about the amazing phenomenon that occurs when one meditates and focuses thought on God:
Contemplating God will change your brain, but I want to point out that meditating on other grand themes will also change your brain. If you contemplate the Big Bang or immerse yourself in the study of evolution—or choose to play a musical instrument, for that matter—you’ll change the neural circuitry in ways that enhance your cognitive health. But religious and spiritual contemplation changes your brain in a profoundly different way because it strengthens a unique neural circuit that specifically enhances social awareness and empathy while subduing destructive feelings and emotions. This is precisely the kind of neural change we need to make if we want to solve the conflicts that currently afflict our world. And the underlying mechanism that allows these changes to occur relates to a unique quality known as neuroplasticity: the ability of the human brain to structurally rearrange itself in response to a wide variety of positive and negative events. [End of quote]
Today’s concept of neuroplasticity confirms perfectly Romans 12:1-2:
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Notice that the mind is renewed, transformed, which means to change forms. James 1:18:
Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
The BORN-AGAIN have been changed.
Proofs of the BORN-AGAIN experience are on display in the instantaneous and continuous changes that take place. We are not talking about turning over a new leaf, nay, but a new life. BORN AGAIN will dramatically change a life. Consider a few examples:
1. The new birth is so real, it begins with a new Father (God), and a new name (Revelations 2:17; 3:12). The Father gives His name to His children. We are His namesake and consequently, all God’s children are brothers and sisters; we often address one another this way.
2. The physical man eats food; the spiritual man eats words. Job 12:11:
Doth not the ear try words? and the mouth taste his meat?
Jesus is the bread that came down from heaven (John 6:31-35). Signs of redemption would include a hunger to read and hear God’s Word, a hunger to fellowship with likeminded brothers and sisters, and a hunger to attend a Bible-believing church.
3. New entertainment will be sought. When I first gave my life to Christ, a young, unsaved lady asked me what I did for fun. I told her I read the Bible, went to Church several times a week, sang praises unto God, fellowshipped with the saints, and witnessed to the lost sons and daughters of Adam. She looked at me incredulously. I gave her this example:
If you went to the funeral parlor and placed a beautifully prepared pot-roast dinner under the nose of the deceased, you would get no response. However, if you placed that same dinner under the nose of a construction worker who stopped to pay his respects on his way home, he would dig right in.
This lady was not BORN-AGAIN; she was dead in trespasses and sins. The joys of the saved are 180° out from the pleasures of sin.
4. The Bible becomes the BORN-AGAIN’s entire authority on living. It will direct:
🞽 How I talk; my vocabulary changes.
🞽 How I spend my money.
🞽 How I work.
🞽 The spouse I choose.
🞽 The friends I keep.
🞽 The career I choose.
🞽 How I rear my children.
🞽 Even how and what I eat and drink.The Words of our Father become the final authority.
5. A believer’s love for God and His Kingdom will grow and bloom into a beautiful bouquet.
6. The ministry of reconciliation (II Corinthians 5:19) is delivered unto the BORN-AGAIN, where they seek out the lost souls of men to bring them unto redemption and usher them into the Kingdom of God.
“Show me a miracle,” the skeptics shout! Miracles do abound in the faith, but the greatest miracle a human can experience—a miracle even greater than God’s creation of the earth and its universe—is the BORN-AGAIN experience. God created all you see in six, literal, 24-hour days, but soon it will end and He will fold it up like a hanky and put it in his hip pocket. When that happens, be assured that the BORN-AGAIN will dwell one with the Father through Christ Jesus for all eternity (John 17:20-26).
Hebrews 1:10-12:
10 And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands:
11 They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment;
12 And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.
II Peter 3:10:
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
Everybody that Jesus healed died. Everybody that Jesus raised from the dead died. But, everybody that Jesus saves lives forever. To mankind, there is no greater miracle than the marvelous mystery revealed in BORN AGAIN. A blood-bought soul is more valuable than the aggregate wealth of the entire universe. A parting, and sobering, passage to consider is Hebrews 2:3-4:
3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;
4 God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?
If you have yet to be BORN-AGAIN or you have your doubts concerning your salvation, click onto “Further with Jesus” now and you’ll be born a second time, this time as a son or daughter of the living God. Be a miracle and participate in the greatest mystery man can know.
GOD SAID, John 3:1-8:
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 mother''s 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, Ye must be born again.
8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
GOD SAID, Romans 12:1-2:
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
GOD SAID, II Corinthians 5:17:
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
MAN SAID: I don’t need to be “saved.” I’m a good person. Now, I might lie, cheat, fornicate; I might indulge in a little booze and dope—but God knows my heart. He’ll weigh my good against my bad.
Now you have THE RECORD.
References:
Authorized King James Version
GodSaidManSaid, “Meditation Rebuilds Grey Matter in 8 Weeks”
