Daily Bread - Oct 31 2006
1 Peter 2:11 - "Beloved I exhort you as strangers and sojourners stay away from the lust of the flesh which war against the soul."
The lust of the flesh wars against the soul of the redeemed - it does not rule it. To believe that the lust of the flesh rules the soul is to be defeated before the battle begins. The lust of the flesh, which is the realm of the spirit of disobedience, wars against the soul of the redeemed to subvert and ultimately overthrow the faith of God's people (Ephesians 2:2-3). Satan and demon spirits lost their right to control and rule the appetites of the redeemed child of God. Yet they seek to regain control by tempting the sons and daughters of God even as they did Adam and Eve in the beginning (Genesis 3:1-6).
The noted scholars Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, explain this war as follows: "As Samson in the lap of Delilah, the believer, the moment that he gives way to fleshly lusts, has the locks of his strength shorn and ceases to maintain that spiritual separation from the world and the flesh of which the Nazarite vow was the type."
The believer must not allow himself to be lured into any form of subjugation to those things which we have been completely delivered from.
Blessings,
Pastor Mark Spitsbergen
www.abidingplace.org
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Monday, October 30, 2006
Daily Bread - Oct 30 2006
John 3:5 - "Jesus answered, with absolute certainty I assure you, without being begotten of water and of Spirit no one is able to enter into the kingdom of God."
To be born of water is more difficult to understand than being born of the Spirit but one thing is for certain they both speak of a spiritual new birth. Nicodemus was not surprised by the expression of being born of water for it had been a practice of the Jews to receive Gentiles as proselytes through water baptism. What did take Nicodemus by surprise was the idea of actually being born from above. God demands a thorough spiritual purification and new creation, which may only be accomplished by the operation of the Holy Ghost.
These two agencies of water and of the Spirit are brought together in the prophecies of Ezekiel "Then I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean. I will cleanse you from all of your defilement and from all your idols. And I will also give you a new heart and I will put a new spirit within you. And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give to you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes; and you shall keep my judgments and do them" (Ezekiel 36:25-27). There are two other applications of water: - one being water baptism a symbol of being baptized into Christ, His body and His death; and the other an allegorical representation of the Word of God (Isa. 55:10-11; Eph. 5:26).
Blessings,
Pastor Mark Spitsbergen
www.abidingplace.org
John 3:5 - "Jesus answered, with absolute certainty I assure you, without being begotten of water and of Spirit no one is able to enter into the kingdom of God."
To be born of water is more difficult to understand than being born of the Spirit but one thing is for certain they both speak of a spiritual new birth. Nicodemus was not surprised by the expression of being born of water for it had been a practice of the Jews to receive Gentiles as proselytes through water baptism. What did take Nicodemus by surprise was the idea of actually being born from above. God demands a thorough spiritual purification and new creation, which may only be accomplished by the operation of the Holy Ghost.
These two agencies of water and of the Spirit are brought together in the prophecies of Ezekiel "Then I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean. I will cleanse you from all of your defilement and from all your idols. And I will also give you a new heart and I will put a new spirit within you. And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give to you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes; and you shall keep my judgments and do them" (Ezekiel 36:25-27). There are two other applications of water: - one being water baptism a symbol of being baptized into Christ, His body and His death; and the other an allegorical representation of the Word of God (Isa. 55:10-11; Eph. 5:26).
Blessings,
Pastor Mark Spitsbergen
www.abidingplace.org
Daily Bread - Oct 28 2006
John 3:3 - "Jesus answered and said to him, with absolute certainty I assure you, without being begotten from above no one is able to see the kingdom of God."
To be born from above is to have a miracle birth by the Holy Spirit. Paul calls it the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5). Ezekiel described it as a new heart and a new spirit along with the Spirit of God given to the redeemed (Ezek. 36:26). But the most radical description of all is the one given by Jesus when He described the miracle of the new birth as being born all over again.
The only detailed description given to us in the New Testament of someone being born of the Spirit is that of the Birth of Jesus. Matthew says, that Mary "was found with child of the Holy Ghost" (Mt 1:18, 20). Luke records the testimony of the angel Gabriel who said, " The Holy Spirit shall come upon you and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you; therefore, that Holy thing which shall be born of you shall be called the son of God" (Luke 1:35).
Now the birth of Jesus was the literal and physical incarnation of the Word into flesh, whereas, He is spiritual born into the heart of the believer. Paul refers to the new creation as "Christ in you the hope of glory" (Col 1:27). John says that He "dwells in us by the Spirit which he has given us" and that, as a result, "greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world" (1 John 3:24, 4:4). Peter says that "we have been born of the incorruptible seed by the Word of God which lives and abides for ever" and that through the activity of God's Grace we were made "partakers of the divine nature" (1 Peter 1:23; 2 Peter 1:5).
Paul also compares this radical transformation of nature to being crucified, buried, and resurrected along with Jesus. Thus the former person or old man is totally destroyed and a new man is raised up with Christ (Romans 6:4, 6; Galatians 2:20; Colossians 2:12; Ephesians 2:5, 6; Philippians 1:21).
The Greek 'anothen' means both 'again' and 'from above.' There is no Hebrew or Aramaic word of similar meaning with such ambiguity. Although in verse 4 Nicodemus takes Jesus to have meant "again," Jesus' primary meaning in verse 3 is "from above." This is indicated from the parallel in 3:31 as well as from the two other Johannine uses of 'anothen' (19:11,23), (Dean Raymond E. Brown, The Gospel According to John 1-12, page 130).
Blessings,
Pastor Mark Spitsbergen
www.abidingplace.org
John 3:3 - "Jesus answered and said to him, with absolute certainty I assure you, without being begotten from above no one is able to see the kingdom of God."
To be born from above is to have a miracle birth by the Holy Spirit. Paul calls it the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5). Ezekiel described it as a new heart and a new spirit along with the Spirit of God given to the redeemed (Ezek. 36:26). But the most radical description of all is the one given by Jesus when He described the miracle of the new birth as being born all over again.
The only detailed description given to us in the New Testament of someone being born of the Spirit is that of the Birth of Jesus. Matthew says, that Mary "was found with child of the Holy Ghost" (Mt 1:18, 20). Luke records the testimony of the angel Gabriel who said, " The Holy Spirit shall come upon you and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you; therefore, that Holy thing which shall be born of you shall be called the son of God" (Luke 1:35).
Now the birth of Jesus was the literal and physical incarnation of the Word into flesh, whereas, He is spiritual born into the heart of the believer. Paul refers to the new creation as "Christ in you the hope of glory" (Col 1:27). John says that He "dwells in us by the Spirit which he has given us" and that, as a result, "greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world" (1 John 3:24, 4:4). Peter says that "we have been born of the incorruptible seed by the Word of God which lives and abides for ever" and that through the activity of God's Grace we were made "partakers of the divine nature" (1 Peter 1:23; 2 Peter 1:5).
Paul also compares this radical transformation of nature to being crucified, buried, and resurrected along with Jesus. Thus the former person or old man is totally destroyed and a new man is raised up with Christ (Romans 6:4, 6; Galatians 2:20; Colossians 2:12; Ephesians 2:5, 6; Philippians 1:21).
The Greek 'anothen' means both 'again' and 'from above.' There is no Hebrew or Aramaic word of similar meaning with such ambiguity. Although in verse 4 Nicodemus takes Jesus to have meant "again," Jesus' primary meaning in verse 3 is "from above." This is indicated from the parallel in 3:31 as well as from the two other Johannine uses of 'anothen' (19:11,23), (Dean Raymond E. Brown, The Gospel According to John 1-12, page 130).
Blessings,
Pastor Mark Spitsbergen
www.abidingplace.org
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