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Fred R. Coulter—October 24, 2009
Recently it was brought to my attention that there is again another dispute concerning when someone is born again or born of God. So, unfortunately, this time it comes from a source that I never would have expected it to come from and I feel very badly about it, but it does need to be answered. That came from John Rittenbaugh of the Church of the Great God, saying that we are born again when we are baptized and receive the Holy Spirit and we are also in the Kingdom of God. Well, I gave part one last week, so what I want to do is give part two this week. Born Again—When? and Born of God—How?
So let's go to John 3 and let's review that again. This is where we ended up last time. As we go through here we'll ask certain questions as we read it, and then this will pretty well answer the question of when are you born again.
John 3:1: "Now there was a man of the Pharisees, Nicodemus by name, a ruler of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to Him, 'Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher Who has come from God; because no one is able to do the miracles that You are doing unless God is with him'" (vs 1-2). Now Jesus didn't answer the question, He told him something entirely different. Please note: John is the only one who wrote 'born again' or 'born anew' or 'born of God.' None of the other apostles mentioned it in that particular way.
So here's how Jesus answered the question. He gave him the overall goal of why He was there. In other words, since we know You're a man sent from God, Jesus didn't say, 'Well, thank you. I'm glad you understand that. You're a nice man, I'll pat you on the head.' No, instead He told him since he was a ruler of the Jews, the whole purpose of why He was here.
"Jesus answered and said to him, 'Truly, truly I say to you, unless anyone is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God'" (v 3). Now let's understand that the words cannot in the Greek is 'adunati'meaning the impossibility of seeing the Kingdom of God. So, if a person is born again now, they should have seen the Kingdom of God—correct? If you're born again when you are baptized and receive the Holy Spirit, you should see the Kingdom of God—wouldn't that be true? But if you are baptized and receive the Holy Spirit of God and do not see the Kingdom of God, you have not been born again.
Now in 1-Cor. 15, as we covered last time, Paul said, 'Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.' So we can't be in the Kingdom of God now. Let's see how Nicodemus asked Him another question, and then how Jesus answered him again. John 3:4: "Nicodemus said to Him, 'How can a man who is old be born? Can he enter his mother's womb a second time and be born?'…. [That's an impossibility, too.] …Jesus answered, 'Truly, truly I say to you, unless anyone has been born of water and of Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God'" (vs 4-5). A lot of people look at that and read that and they think, 'Oh, born of water. That's baptism.' Incorrect, because if it referred to baptism and you came out of that watery grave, had hands laid on you and received the Holy Spirit, you have entered the Kingdom of God—correct? But since flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, and after baptism and receipt of the Holy Spirit you're still flesh and blood, that means you're not in the Kingdom of God—correct? Yes!
Now here's what born of water means: it's a parallelism in the Greek. You have v 5 which says 'born of water and of Spirit.' Here's the answer, v 6: "'That which has been born of the flesh is flesh… [That's being born of water, because your first nine months is in your mother's womb and you are surrounded by amniotic fluid, which is called water. When a woman is ready to give birth, what is said of it? The water has broken. Then all the contractions of birth would be totally futile unless there was the water that was there to literally push the baby out. So you're born of water, that's your fleshly birth. That's the parallelism.] …that which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit'" (v 6).
Now, do you become spirit after you're baptized? No, you do not! When do you become spirit? At the resurrection. Phil. 3: Christ is going to change our bodies to be conformed to His glorious body. Let's go on. This is just a summary of what we covered in the first sermon.
Verse 7, "'Do not be amazed that I said to you, "It is necessary… [Now necessary means it is obligatory.] …for you to be born again.… [In order to what? To see the Kingdom of God and to enter into the Kingdom of God. So you can't have that any time that you're still in the flesh, but it's necessary for you to be born again.] (Now here's another very profound test, v 8): …The wind blows where it wills, and you hear its sounds, but you do not know the place from which it comes and the place to which it goes…"'"
You can see the effects of the wind, but you can never really see the wind. Now in here we have air. We can see each other, but unless there were some smoke in here, we would have no idea what's happening to the air—correct? So you can't see air, meaning that the one who is born again is invisible and it has the power, just like Jesus did after He was resurrected. What happened? He met the two disciples on the way to Emmaus and He appeared to them in a form like a human being and also He clouded their vision enough that they didn't recognize that it was Jesus. So they were explaining to Jesus all the things that happened and they were very disappointed because it was already past three days that these event occurred, and 'we don't know what happened to the Lord.' So, as they were on their way down to Emmaus, He began to tell them about the prophets and the Psalms about what would happen to the Christ, and they still didn't recognize Him until they got into the inn, they sat down to eat, and Jesus broke the bread and then they immediately recognized that it was Jesus and what happened? He disappeared, just like it says here.
"'"…the wind blows where it wills, and you hear its sound, but you do not know the place from which it comes and the place to which it goes; so also is everyone who has been born of the Spirit"'" (v 8).
So the third answer is: if you are born again now, you must be spirit and be able to go wherever you want without any obstructions of walls or doors or things like that. That's what Jesus did when He appeared to the disciples—right? He all of a sudden appeared in the middle of the room. How did He get there? He walked through the wall. How did Jesus get out of the tomb? Though the stone wasn't removed, He didn't need it removed to get out of the tomb. He just walked out. Now the stone had to be removed so the women coming to the tomb could see He wasn't there. This in summary, if you would read it and ask those questions, will pretty well answer these things.
Let's read a couple more verses here, v 9: "Nicodemus answered and said to Him, 'How can these things be?' Jesus answered and said to him, 'You are a teacher of Israel, and you do not know these things?'" (vs 9-10). He should have known it, because Daniel talked of the resurrection—didn't he? That those who are 'righteous will shine like the stars of heaven.' That's showing glorified spirit form. He should have known from the account of angels, that angels can come and go at will, and unless they manifest themselves to you, you can't see them. So He's saying, 'You don't even know that.' Think about how many times Jesus said to the scribes and Pharisees, 'Have you never read? Did you not know the Scripture?' That tells us about born again now.
What about born of God? What does that mean? Let's come to 1-John 3 and here is the verse that is used, and even some people look at this and say, 'Well, we're born of God now.' Are we really? We certainly are not born again, so let's look at 1-John 3:9 in the King James. This has caused no untold problems among Protestants. "Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin, for his seed remains in him and he cannot sin, because he is born of God."
Now I even had a man say, 'Well, since I've been converted, I have no consciousness of sin.' I said, 'What?' I said, 'How can that be?' He said, 'Yes, I'm born again and I have no more consciousness of sin. As a matter of fact, I can't sin.' It does mean in the Greek 'oudunamai'—cannot. So how do you answer this one?
Let's examine in the book of 1-John here certain Scriptures which are important for us to understand, because if you were truly born of God, the way this implies in the King James‑‑and we'll see that this is not a correct translation—then you could not sin. But is it talking about that, or is it talking about something else? Let's ask the question: If you have been converted, can you still sin?
Let's come back here to the 1-John 1 and let's read some verses here which show us some rather strange sayings by John, but if that really means that you have been born of God and you can no longer sin, why then does he write this in the first chapter of 1-John? 1-John 1:6: "If we proclaim that we have fellowship with Him, but we are walking in the darkness, we are lying to ourselves, and we are not practicing the Truth." Very interesting—isn't it? 'Practice the Truth.'
Hold your place here and come to John 8 and let's see something else that Jesus said. He said this to those who supposedly believed in Him and yet they didn't want to follow what He said. So let's read it here, John 8:31: "Therefore, Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in Him, 'If you continue in My Word, you are truly My disciples. And you shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall set you free.'" (vs 31-32). Now what do you mean set you free? The Truth will set you free from what?
Verse 33: "They answered Him, 'We are Abraham's seed, and have never been in bondage to anyone. What do You mean by saying, "You shall become free"?'…. [So here's the answer.] …Jesus answered them, 'Truly, truly I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a servant of sin…. [Now the Greek word there in the King James is 'doeth'—which comes from the Greek 'poieo'—and it means to do on a continuous basis, to be committing on a continuous basis or to practice.] …everyone who practices sin is a servant of sin'" (vs 33-34). So we're going to keep this in mind when we come back to understand 1-John 3, because this becomes important for us to realize.
Let's come to Romans 6 where it talks about baptism and this also gives us some very important understanding concerning how we can be behave, how we live, whether we sin or don't sin, and so forth. Romans 6:1: "What then shall we say? Shall we continue in sin, so that grace may abound?.... [Now wait a minute. What is Paul talking about here? Who is he writing to? He's writing to people who are supposed to be converted—right? Because he's going to be talking about the purpose of baptism—correct? Yes! So he says:] …MAY IT NEVER BE! We… [Including himself.] …who died to sin… [How do you die to sin?] …how shall we live any longer therein?" (vs 1-2).
Well, how did you die to sin? You died in the watery grave of being a servant of sin. Doesn't say you won't sin again, but you're not a servant of sin—very important to grasp. "Or are you ignorant that we, as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus, were baptized into His death?.... [So he's not talking about people in the world, he's talking about those in the Church.] …Therefore, we were buried with Him though the baptism into the death… [That's literal from the Greek. The baptism is a covenant baptism, and the death is into the death of Christ and our covenant death in baptism conjoined to Christ.] …so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, in the same way, we also should walk in newness of life" (vs 3-4).
Now walking in newness of life is a change of the way you were living as a human being—correct? Instead of practicing sin, what do you do? You keep the commandments of God—right? We're going to see that even John admits that we can sin. Let's see what Paul says here:
"For if we have been conjoined together in the likeness of His death, so also shall we be in the likeness of His resurrection…. [Shall means a future time. We are not now in the likeness of His resurrection—are we? No.] …Knowing this, that our old man was co-crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be destroyed… [Showing that it's a process.] …so that we might no longer be enslaved to sin… [And what did Jesus say? If you practice sin, you're a servant of sin—right? Yes!] …Because the one who has died to sin has been justified from sin. Now if we died together with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him" (vs 5-8). That's in the future and other Scriptures show that it's the resurrection.
"Knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has any dominion over Him. For when He died, He died unto sin once for all; but in that He lives, He lives unto God. In the same way also, you should indeed reckon yourselves to be dead to sin… [And that means as a way of life, as a way of living.] …dead to sin, but alive to God through Christ Jesus our Lord…. [This is what we have to choose to do. This is how we overcome. This is the battle that we have to fight.]: …Therefore, do not let sin rule in your mortal body by obeying it in the lusts thereof" (vs 9-12). Showing what? We're still going to sin. We're going to have to overcome the lusts.
"Likewise, do not yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin; rather, yield yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not rule over you because you are not under law, but under grace…. [But if you come out from underneath that grace, sin can rule over you. So lets read a couple more verses here to answer the question.] …What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law, but under grace? MAY IT NEVER BE!.... [So again showing Christians can sin—correct? Yes!] …Don't you realize that to whom you yield yourselves as servants to obey, you are servants of the one you obey, whether it is of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" (vs 13-16). So he says don't yield yourselves as servants of sin.
Let's come back to 1-John 1 and let's see what John wrote and let's see how he wrote it, in what way he wrote it, so that we can answer the question: did he really say that those who are born of God cannot sin? If so, then John had a, how shall we say, was double-minded in what he wrote. Let's read it here. We just finished v 6, practicing the truth. 1-John 1:7: "However, if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His own Son, cleanses us from all sin…. [It doesn't say has cleansed us from all sin, it says cleanses us—present tense participle.] …cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we do not have sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (vs 7-8).
Now let's examine this again a little bit more. Who is he referring to as we? Himself and the brethren—correct? Just like Paul when he says 'we'; He's including himself. Is John saying that he's capable of sin? Yes, he's admitting here. "If we say that we do not have sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the Truth is not in us" (v 8).
Yet the King James says, 'Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin, for His seed remains in him and he cannot sin,' because he is born of God. Well, this is almost schizophrenic then—isn't it? Let's read on and see:
Verse 9: "If we confess our own sins… [Why would you have to confess sins if you couldn't sin?] …He is faithful and righteous, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness…. [Now here's the kicker]: …If we say that we have not sinned… [Or as the King James has it: cannot sin.] ….we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us" (vs 9-10). So what is John talking about here? How do we answer this question and problem? It becomes quite an enigma—doesn't it? But how many Christians in 'worldly Christianity' think that they cannot sin? I've talked to several.
Let's come back to 1-John 5:16 and let's see something else. "If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin that is not unto death… [A brother means what? Someone who's converted, and he's sinning a sin that is not unto death. What is a sin not unto death? A sin not unto death is any sin that can be repented of. A sin unto death has to be the unpardonable sin which is not repented of; nor is there any desire to repent of it.] …If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin that is not unto death, he shall ask, and He [God] shall give him life for those who do not sin unto death…. [So if you see someone sin, pray for them. Let God work with them, bring it to their attention, so they can repent.] …There is a sin unto death; concerning that sin, I do not say that he should make any supplication to God." So there are sins. He includes brethren and himself in that—correct? Yes!
Now let's go on a little bit more here. "All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not unto death" (v 17). How do you answer the question then here in 1-John 3? Let's come back here to 1-John 3:4. The key is the Greek word 'poieo' and in this case it is a present tense participle—practices. Let's read it: "Everyone who practices sin is also practicing lawlessness, for sin is lawlessness."
Now that's a broader definition than the King James, which is 'whoso transgresses the law sins, for sin is the transgression of the law.' Lawlessness is broader. Lawlessness includes everything against the laws of God including the traditions of men. And part of the lawlessness that human beings have, that's very dangerous is this: they like to add to or take away from what God has said. When did that begin? Clear back in the Garden of Eden and also with the offspring Cain—right? That's lawlessness. Lawlessness also is taking human law and replacing that for God's law. That is lawlessness.
Another example is this: you hear in the political realm about people and there needs to be in the political realm people who have moral values. But really the truth is you must have the Truth of God and you must have all of God's commandments, not just moral values which agree with some of the principles in the Word of God. Because you can't take part of God's law and say, 'I agree with this and I like this and I'm going to form my values around these commandments, but I still have to have my idols and I still have to have my Sunday.'
So what have you done, people who do that? What do they do, what have they violated? And this is the greatest lawlessness of all. In the first instance, you have excluded those two commandments. You have taken away. What did God say? 'You shall not add to or take away'—right? Old Testament, New Testament—correct? Yes! So in the first instance you take away, because you take seven of the Ten Commandments and you leave off the first three. Or maybe you take eight and leave off two; or maybe you take nine and leave off one. But then what do you do after you've taken away? You add on Sunday-keeping—right? Or you add on idols—correct? That is lawlessness, because you are determining—whoever does that—you are determining that God's law is not good enough, so you have to take away from it, and you have to add your own thoughts to it. So that's far greater than just transgressing the law—correct? And the original Greek here is lawlessness.
Now let's continue on and you will see why I translated 1-John 3 the way that it is translated in the Original Bible from this point of view: It has to do with the meaning of these verses and the word 'poieo' and practice. So let's read it, 1-John 3:4: "Everyone who practices sin… [participle form of 'poieo'] …is also practicing lawlessness, for sin is lawlessness. And you know that He appeared in order that He might take away our sins; and in Him is no sin…. [Doesn't say in us—'in Him.' We're talking about practicing, and this is the thought that comes down through the Greek.] …Everyone who dwells in Him does not practice sin… [That thought is carried through from v 4.] …anyone who practices sin has not seen Him, nor has known Him. Little children, do not allow anyone to deceive you; the one who practices righteousness… [And 'poieo' is there in this particular sense. In the two instances in v 6 I provided the word in italics because that's the meaning and the sense of it from the verses before and the verse that follows.] …the one who practices righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous. The one who practices sin… ['poieo' is there in the Greek.] …is of the devil because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God appeared that He might destroy the works of the devil" (vs 4-8).
Verse 9 becomes the key verse and has to do with another Greek verb 'gennao'—which means to beget or to have been born. It depends on the circumstances how it is translated. Here we are not talking about being born; we are talking about being begotten. Begotten is an entirely different thing. So let's read v 9 the way we have it in the Original Order Bible: "Everyone who has been begotten by God does not practice sin…"
Let me ask you a question: Do you practice sin, that is live in sin, or are you overcoming sin? When you sin, most of the sin is up here—isn't it? And most of the sin in your mind is your duty then to get rid of that temptation, 'bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ'—correct? There are other sins which will manifest themselves in real action sins. Either way you need forgiveness.
Come back to 1-John 2:1: "My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin….[Now the way that's phrased in the subjunctive here means that you can sin, but 'I'm writing this so you may not sin.'] …And yet if anyone does sin… [He's writing to Christians—correct? Yes!] …we have an Advocate with the Father; Jesus Christ the Righteous; and He is the propitiation [mercy seat.] for our sins… [himself and all those he's writing to] …and not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world" ( vs 1-2). And, of course, you can't understand that part of the verse unless you know the plan of God, how God is going to take care of it in time.
So we do sin, but we don't practice sin. Why? Let's come back to 1-John 3:9 and we'll get the answer: "Everyone who has been begotten… [Not born.] …begotten by God… [And we'll see why it has to be begotten, rather than born.] …does not practice sin because [why.] His seed of begettal… [I put of begettal, because the seed comes from the Father—correct? Yes! We will see that that insertion of begettal is quite correct when we put some other Scriptures together.] …the seed of begettal is dwelling within him… [Do you have the Spirit of God dwelling within you? Yes!] …and he is not able to practice sin because he has been begotten by God."
Now what happens when you sin, because John says we're going to sin—what happens? You get a guilty conscience—right? You see you've done something wrong. You repent—isn't that correct? Yes! Did you practice sin or did you sin? You sinned! Practice sin means to practice and live it as a way of life. You can't do that, because you have the Holy Spirit in you, and the Holy Spirit is going to convict you of that sin so you cannot be practicing sin. It doesn't mean the impossibility of ever sinning. Do you understand the difference there? No one is convinced that they're sinless. I'm not, you're not, no man is, and that won't happen until Christ returns.
What happens when we receive the Holy Spirit of God?—which is referred to here as a begettal. We'll see that in just a minute, but let's finish v 10: "By this standard are manifest the children of God and the children of the devil…. [The children of the devil practice sin and lawlessness—right? The children of God!] …Everyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, and neither is the one who does not love his brother." There it is right there. We have been begotten by God so we can't practice and live in sin, but we do sin and we need those sins forgiven. That's what John is writing here.
Since we're right here 1-John, let's come to 1-Peter 1:1, and it talks about being begotten again: "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the elect strangers scattered in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia; Who have been chosen according to the predetermined knowledge of God the Father, by sanctification through the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied to you. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who, according to His abundant mercy, has begotten us again… [And even the King James has it that way. The reason they couldn't put there born again was because you can't be born again with that Greek word. It's 'anagennao'—which means begotten again.] …unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (vs 1-3).
Now when are you begotten of the Holy Spirit?
(go to the next track)
The answer: When we receive the Holy Spirit, that's when we're begotten. And that is called the earnest of our salvation. So when you repent and are baptized, have hands laid on you for the receipt of the Holy Spirit, when the Holy Spirit comes into your mind, you have been begotten again. We have seen it's impossible for you to have been born again, because of all of the requirements necessary to meet that status.
So let's come back here to John 14 and let's see when this takes place. Let's see who it comes from. Let's see how the Holy Spirit comes. John 14:13: "'And whatever you shall ask in My name, this will I do that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. If you love Me, keep the commandments—namely, My commandments'" (vs 13-15).
Now notice that is necessary that when you come to repentance you're initial repentance even before you are baptized, what do you resolve to do when you're out here in the world and you come to the knowledge that sin is sin and God is working with you and you get convicted in heart and mind. What do you do? You repent right then—don't you? Baptism may follow later, but you repent right then. What do you start to do? What is your desire to do? You start keeping the commandments of God—right? You find out about the Sabbath. You say, 'Oh, I've got to keep the Sabbath.' You find out about clean and unclean meats and say, 'Oh, I've got to quit all that pork and shrimp and all that other stuff.' What they eat in China is awesome and what they eat in Southeast Asia is even more stomach-turning. You stop all of those unclean foods.
Then you find out you've got to be baptized. You need to be forgiven, so then you try and find someone who's going to baptize you, someone who knows the Truth, someone who understands about the Sabbath and then you begin learning about the Holy Days, and say, 'Oh, yeah, I want to keep those. What a fool I was to keep Sunday and Christmas and Easter and all this stuff out there.' Yet, it's a big lie; yet they did it in the name of God, and everyone who does that. Everyone who keeps Sunday and Christmas and Easter and all those things are doing what? They are practicing sin, though they may consider themselves righteous—isn't that correct?
So your desire is that you don't want to do those things and so it's right here. Jesus said, "If you love Me, keep the commandments—namely, My commandments" (v 15). And you find out that He was the Lord God of the Old Testament. 'Oh, that means all the commandments there.' So now you find you have some idols in your house—your crosses, crucifixes, maybe big fat Buddha, or maybe some serpents, not the real live ones but some of the carved ones. So you get rid of all of those.
Now notice what Jesus does. Here's how the Holy Spirit comes. When you repent, are baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, have hands laid on to receive the Holy Spirit, Jesus causes the Spirit to come to you from the Father. Let's read it and we will also see that it is a joint spiritual operation with the Father and with the Son.
Verse 16: "'And I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that it may be with you throughout the age… [If you don't understand why I translated it this way, read the Appendix K about the exegesis of John 14, 15, and 16.] …Even the Spirit of the Truth… [Now what does the Spirit of the Truth do when you receive it? It gives you a desire to practice the Truth—correct? It gives you the desire to seek the Truth—correct? It is the Spirit of God in your mind, which helps draw you to the Truth on a continuous basis. That's why you cannot practice sin.] …Even the Spirit of the Truth, which the world cannot receive because it perceives it not, not knows it… [Nor do they obey, so they can't receive it.] …but you know it because it dwells with you, and shall be within you'" (vs 16-17). Uniting with the very spirit of your mind as we know from other Scriptures. And isn't that something? Think about it. The greatest thing that could happen to a human being in the flesh is to receive the Spirit of God dwelling within you. That's amazing!
Let's come down here to Verse 21. He clarifies it even more. "'The one who has My commandments… [There are a lot of people who have the commandments, everybody who has a Bible has the commandments of God—don't they?] …and is keeping them… [or practicing them] …that is the one who loves Me… [and didn't John write in 1-John 5:3 that 'this is the love of God that we keep His commandments and His commandments are not burdensome'? Yes!] …and the one who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will manifest Myself to him.'"
Now Judas, who wasn't Iscariot, couldn't figure that out and he says, 'Lord, how are you going to do it, to reveal yourself to us and not to the world?' Then He answers. It's a spiritual interaction between you and God and the world cannot understand this manifestation, because it's not to the world, it's to you. What is that manifestation? The desire within to love God and serve God and keep His commandments.
Now notice how He answers it, v 23: "Jesus answered and said to him, 'If anyone loves Me, he will keep My Word… [Now let me just explain something here. Where you see Word singular, that can mean His whole message. Where you read words plural, that means the words that He just spoke.] …and My Father will love him… [So now the Father is involved.] …and We… [Look at that—we, the Father and I.] …will come to him and make Our abode with him.'"
Now we are going to see that there are two aspects of the Holy Spirit:
- the begettal from the Father
- the Spirit of Christ for the mind of Christ
Since the two are one, it is the one Spirit of God.
Now notice, v 24: "'The one who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word that you hear is not Mine, but the Father's… [Now let's see who sends it.] …I have spoken these things to you while I am yet present with you. But when the Comforter comes, even the Holy Spirit, which the Father will send in My name… [so the Father sends it] …that One shall teach you all things, and shall bring to your remembrance everything that I have told you'" (vs 25-26).
Now let's come to John 15:26. So now we find the joint operation of Christ and the Father involved in the Holy Spirit, because we're talking about what does it mean to be begotten of God and receive the Spirit of God. Now notice we saw that the Father was going to send it.
John 15:26 and read it again: "But when the Comforter has come, which I will send to you from the Father… [So Christ is also involved in it—right? Yes!] …even the Spirit of the truth, which proceeds from the Father, that one shall bear witness of Me." Now what does this do for us? The Spirit of Truth.
Let's see what Paul calls it. Come back here to Ephesians 1:13: "In Whom… [That is, in Christ.] …you also trusted after hearing the Word of the Truth… [Notice how these Scriptures fit together so closely: Spirit of Truth, Word of Truth, practice the Truth, Your Word is the Truth.] …hearing the Word of the Truth, the Gospel of your salvation; in Whom also, after believing, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise… [Here is another physical analogy that we can draw: What happens when the sperm impregnates the egg of the mother? It immediately seals—correct? When you receive the Holy Spirit, the same thing happens to you. You are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest.] …Which is the earnest [down payment] of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory" (vs 13-14). So that's something—isn't it? Yes!
Let's come to 2-Corinthians 1:21 where it talks about being sealed with the Holy Spirit of God: "But He Who establishes us with you in Christ, and Who has anointed us, is God, Who has also sealed us and has given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts" (vs 21-22). There it is, the earnest of the Spirit. If we have the earnest of the Spirit uniting with the spirit of our minds, we are still in the flesh, we are still in the world, we have not been born again, we have not seen the Kingdom of God, we have not entered the Kingdom of God, we don't go around like invisible spirit beings. But when we are converted, and that's what receiving the Holy Spirit is all about—be converted!Let's see what that does.
Come here to Romans 8 and we'll end here. We will see both aspects of the Spirit of God from Christ, from the Father.
from the Father for the begettal
from Christ for the mind of Christ
—where Paul wrote, 'Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,' Phil. 2, Col.1:27: 'Christ in you, the hope of glory.' All of those tie together.
Romans 8:9: "However, you are not in the flesh… [Now we are still in the flesh, but he's referring to it that you are not carnal, because he talks about 'the carnal mind being enmity against God,' but to be 'spiritually minded is life and peace.'] …you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God is indeed dwelling within you…. [Now that's how God views you. Let's understand something else about God. When He looks down here and looks at us, He knows what we have to overcome in the flesh. He knows the difficulties that we have and everything, but what is His mind on but the goal of having you in the Kingdom of God. So He's looking upon you in the way that you're going to be there. That's what's implied by this.] …But if Christ be within you, the body is indeed dead because of sin…" (vs 9-10). You've repented of sin. You have God's Spirit to overcome sin. You confess your sins every day.
Every day we are to pray, 'God forgive us and God forgive those that we have anything against.' If there's any one thing we need to get straight before God and to help us really have our relationship with God, and it's also critical and healing which is this: forgive, forgive, forgive, forgive! Because we cannot go before God and say, 'Oh, God, forgive me my sins,' get up off our knees and say, 'Boy, I hate that guy over there.' What you're doing is saying, 'God, forgive me my sins, but let me have this one in the back of my mind, here. I don't want to ever forgive this person.' Well, forgive them.
And to give you an example that God hears, how many saw on the news where this young black man came in with a gun and he was going to hold up this store, I think it was a fast food restaurant, or something like that. The girl, she started crying and she said, 'You're too young to ruin your life.' She started praying and a miracle happened. The twenty-three year old man came behind the counter and got down on his knees and was praying with her. Then he started fumbling with the gun and she thought she was going to get shot, but what he was doing, he was taking the bullets out of the gun, and he left all of the bullets there and he got up and left. Now did God hear that prayer? Yes, indeed! Can God hear the prayer of anyone who is sincere? Yes, indeed! That doesn't mean salvation necessarily, but God heard. What a witness to have that on all the news for all the atheists to see whose stomach turns whenever they hear anybody pray. That was quite a thing.
Then what happened was, the grandmother saw and recognized the boy, the twenty-three year old, so we can't call him a boy, and she got a hold of him and he turned himself in to the police. Now I hope, I don't know, but I hope there is a judge who makes a right decision that though this started out to be violent, this young man got on his knees and repented and forsook that action. So that I would hope that he would consider that in whatever sentence that he would get and put him on a very strict probation, and say, 'Young man, I want to see you in church.' Probably every Sunday, because they're Sunday-keepers. You can learn something.
So the Spirit of Christ is dwelling in us. Let's continue here, v 10: "But if Christ be within you, the body is indeed dead because of sin; however, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. Now if the Spirit of Him Who raised Jesus from the dead is dwelling within you… [Now notice—two, the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of the Father Who raised Jesus from the dead—correct? Two parts to the Holy Spirit.
- the begettal from the Father
- Christ to have the mind of Christ
There we go!] …will also quicken your mortal bodies because of His Spirit that dwells within you. So then, brethren, we are not debtors to the flesh, to live according to the flesh; because if you are living according to the flesh, you shall die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God" (vs 10-14).
So that's why you cannot practice sin. You do sin, it's not impossible for you to live without sin, but when we do sin we come to Christ, and we confess our sins and He will forgive them. The phrase in the King James to be born of God does not mean born in the sense that you are already a spirit being. It means you have been begotten by God and because of the Spirit of God, you cannot practice sin.
Scriptural References:
- John 3:1-10
- 1-John 3:9
- 1-John 1:6
- John 8:31-34
- Romans 6:1-16
- 1-John 1:7-10
- 1-John 5:16-17
- 1-John 3:4-9
- 1-John 2:1-2
- 1-John 3:9-10
- 1-Peter 1:1-3
- John 14:13-17, 21, 23-26
- John 15:26
- Ephesians 1:13-14
- 2-Corinthians 1:21-22
- Romans 8:9-14
Scriptures referenced, not quoted:
- 1-Corinthians 15
- Philippians 3
- Romans 5:6
- 1-John 5:3
- Philippians 2
- Colossians 1:27
FRC:lp
Transcribed: 11-19-09
Formatted: 11-23-09
