SALVATION UNTO BEING BORN AGAIN

SALVATION UNTO BEING BORN AGAIN

I believe there should be more preaching on the progression from just “being saved/salvation” (cleansed of sin) to being “born again”. The body of Christ needs more meat and preaching on the spiritual life in Christ Jesus. It’s as if this is totally omitted and not being preached by some. You you must be born again to see the Kingdom of Heaven and to be delivered out of the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. Then you are in this world but not of this world. There must be more preached and desired than just being saved by grace and being white washed tombs. Salvation should lead us to seek and desire to be born again with the indwelling Holy Spirit. Salvation and being “born again” are meant to be together.  Without a new heart and new spirit of being born again the old rebellious nature is still within you.

Ezekiel 37:1–28 (NKJV)

The Dry Bones Live

37 The hand of the LORD came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. 2 Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry. 3 And He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”
So I answered, “O Lord GOD, You know.”
4 Again He said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! 5 Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: “Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. 6 I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the LORD.” ’ ”
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them.
9 Also He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” ’ ” 10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.
11 Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, ‘Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. 13 Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves. 14 I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken it and performed it,” says the LORD.’ ”

One Kingdom, One King

15 Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 16 “As for you, son of man, take a stick for yourself and write on it: ‘For Judah and for the children of Israel, his companions.’ Then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel, his companions.’ 17 Then join them one to another for yourself into one stick, and they will become one in your hand.
18 “And when the children of your people speak to you, saying, ‘Will you not show us what you mean by these?’—19 say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Surely I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will join them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand.” ’ 20 And the sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes.
21 “Then say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; 22 and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all; they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again. 23 They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. Then they shall be My people, and I will be their God.
24 “David My servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments and observe My statutes, and do them. 25 Then they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob My servant, where your fathers dwelt; and they shall dwell there, they, their children, and their children’s children, forever; and My servant David shall be their prince forever. 26 Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore. 27 My tabernacle also shall be with them; indeed I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 28 The nations also will know that I, the LORD, sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.” ’ ”

To really begin to know the Lord and grow in Christ you must be born again. I have said this many times and I will continue to say it time and again. The devil does not care if you read the bible, go to church, have bible classes and fellowship. He doesn’t care if you are filled with HEAD knowledge the devil doesn’t want you filled with the HEART of God by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. What the devil does NOT want is for you to be “Born Again” in Spirit and Truth. When that happens when you are born again you have a NEW FATHER IN HEAVEN and the devil is NO longer your father.

You have been delivered from the kingdom of darkness and born again into the Kingdom of heaven! This is why the Apostle John gives us these scriptures because the devil doesn’t want you to be born again and if the devil can obscure the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus there it will inhibit your ability to be “born again” in true saving belief. All three must be preached the life of Christ unto the death/propitiation of sin, the resurrection and the ascension of Christ Jesus. Paul writes this in Acts.

Acts 19:1–6 (NKJV)

Paul at Ephesus

19 And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples (this means followers/believers)² he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”

So they said to him, “We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.”

³ And he said to them, “Into what then were you baptized?”

So they said, “Into John’s baptism.”

⁴ Then Paul said, “John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.”

⁵ When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. ⁶ And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.

This makes me think of the statement Jesus says at the judgment seat.

Matthew 7:21–23 (NKJV)

True Way into the Kingdom

Luke 6:46

²¹ “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. ²² Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ ²³ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

Ask yourself, could it be they didn’t have the Holy Spirit so they were not led by the Holy Spirit? Could it also be they were building up their ministry and not building the Kingdom of God? I heard a testimony once of Howard Pittman’s death experience where he was taken up to heaven but not allowed to enter heaven. In this experience Pittman spoke to the Lord and said Lord have I not done all things in your name for your glory. The Lord said to him you have done nothing for me as all your works were for your ministry. In Pittman’s testimony he said he had preached for over 30 years “believing” he was serving the Lord.

Jesus said that He only did and spoke what the Father told Him, we are to do the same only by and through the Holy Spirit which leads us? After all, the sons of God are led by the Spirit of God. This is something to consider.

Okay, lets get back to why we must be baptized of the Spirit of God.

This is why Jesus makes the statement about if there be any darkness in you because the whole world is in darkness which is of the devil. There is no darkness in Christ Jesus. So then if there be any darkness in you HOW great is that darkness?

1 John 1:6–7 (NKJV)

⁶ If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. ⁷ But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

Please notice line seven. We only have fellowship with those who walk in the light as Jesus is light. This requires the indwelling Holy Spirit for the Light of God must be in us.

Matthew 5:14–16 (NKJV)

¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. ¹⁶ Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

This directly connects to Jesus saying if the love of the world (darkness) is in you the love of the Father is not. Jesus is referring to being born again and delivered from the kingdom of darkness.

We know that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. So is the indwelling Holy Spirit. This is why we must have the Holy Spirit to truly worship and love Jesus. Just as Jesus asked Peter three times if Peter loved Him we also must go from brotherly love to Agape love and by the indwelling Holy Spirit this is possible. Also remember after each time Jesus asked Peter if Peter loved Him Jesus said “feed my sheep”. The only way to truly feed the Lord’s sheep is by Agape love and Spirit and Truth which is provided to us by the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Jesus doesn’t use a different word than Peter because agapaō has a special meaning; rather, He wants to emphasize the extent to which Peter must love Him in order for him to follow through on God’s plan for his life. Peter must love Jesus as Jesus has loved him: He must be willing to die for God’s mission of bringing salvation to the entire world (13:34; 21:18). Also, he must be willing to die for others.¹

We praise what Jesus has done/does for us, but we worship Him for who he is, God Almighty the One True God. What type of offering are you giving the Lord in worship?

Doesn’t this remind us of Cane and Able, what are you offering up to the Lord in worship? Able offered a blood sacrifice the first of his flock. Are you offering Jesus the Holy Spirit in you from Christ our all sufficient “blood sacrifice”? Doesn’t Paul refer to Jesus as the “first fruit”. If you want to grow deeper in love with Christ Jesus then reciprocate that love he placed in us which is the Holy Spirit. Worship Jesus in Spirit and Truth. Just as the Father loved the Son, we worship the Son Jesus through the Holy Spirit the very Love of God. This is essential to truly love the Lord with all of your heart. Without a new heart and a new spirit it will not be so. A wicked heart cannot worship in holiness!

Jeremiah 17:9–10 (NKJV)

⁹ “The heart is deceitful above all things,

And desperately wicked;

Who can know it?

¹⁰ I, the Lord, search the heart,

I test the mind,

Even to give every man according to his ways,

According to the fruit of his doings.

Matthew 22:37–40 (NKJV)

³⁷ Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and great commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

This is why salvation without the Holy Spirit falls short. They are meant to be together even though they are different. That is why my believe is that water baptism is an outer declaration of an inner transformation by receiving a new heart and new spirit. It is the Power of The Holy Spirit that begins the process of sanctification unto holiness. While salvation by grace through faith is imputed by believing, sanctification and holiness is not imputed, it is a work of progress by the indwelling Holy Spirit. It takes the Spirit of God to crucify our flesh by receiving a NEW HEART AND NEW SPIRIT.

Ezekiel 36:26–38 (NKJV)

²⁶ I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. ²⁸ Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God. ²⁹ I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. I will call for the grain and multiply it, and bring no famine upon you. ³⁰ And I will multiply the fruit of your trees and the increase of your fields, so that you need never again bear the reproach of famine among the nations. ³¹ Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good; and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities and your abominations. ³² Not for your sake do I do this,” says the Lord God, “let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel!”

³³ ‘Thus says the Lord God: “On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will also enable you to dwell in the cities, and the ruins shall be rebuilt. ³⁴ The desolate land shall be tilled instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass by. ³⁵ So they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden; and the wasted, desolate, and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.’ ³⁶ Then the nations which are left all around you shall know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted what was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken it, and I will do it.”

³⁷ ‘Thus says the Lord God: “I will also let the house of Israel inquire of Me to do this for them: I will increase their men like a flock. ³⁸ Like a flock offered as holy sacrifices, like the flock at Jerusalem on its feast days, so shall the ruined cities be filled with flocks of men. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.” ’ ”

This is also why Jesus told the woman at the well that the day was coming and was here now that HIS people would worship in Spirit and Truth. To worship in Spirit and Truth you must be born again. That is what the Lord desires. Adam was created by Spirit and had the Spirit but when Adam denied the TRUTH by partaking of the forbidden fruit the result was the fall of humanity. Jesus came as the second Adam. By the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in a born again Christian we are now able to worship in Spirit and Truth once again. Ask yourself this question and bring it to the Lord, knowing that whom we worship we follow and submit to. So whom did Adam follow and thus chose to worship? I hope this sheds light and revelation to you.

Matthew 23:27 (NKJV)
27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.

John 3:3–6 (NKJV)

³ Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

⁴ Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

⁵ Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ⁶ That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

I hope this post has inspired those people to earnestly seek the Holy Spirit verses just being saved. Let us also bear in mind in Galatians 5 the works of the flesh and the works of the Holy Spirit. Someone without the Holy Spirit cannot produce the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said we will know them by their fruit. May you be blessed and encouraged to continue pursuing all that the Lord has for you, an abundant spiritual life in Christ Jesus!

Galatians 2:20–21 (NKJV)

²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. ²¹ I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”

Galatians 6:14 (NKJV)

¹⁴ But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

A final scripture to really bring this message to conclusion and fulfillment of the need to be born again and FILLED with the Holy Spirit!

Matthew 12:43–45 (NKJV)

⁴³ “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. ⁴⁴ Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. ⁴⁵ Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.”