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INTO THE FAMILY OF GOD

The key which unlocks all the promises of God is this — Jesus taught that a man must be born again. The following statements came from the lips of Jesus:

“Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).

“Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit ,he cannot enter into the kingdom of God”

(John 3:5).

“Except. ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:3).

“Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3, 5).

The new birth is a necessity to being saved. Through the new birth you come into the right relationship to God. The new birth is necessary before you can claim any of the benefits of the Bible.

The new birth is not: confirmation—church mem­bership—water baptism—the taking of sacraments— observing religious duties—an intellectual reception of Christianity—orthodoxy of faith—going to church—saying prayers—reading the Bible—being moral— being cultured or refined—doing good deeds—doing your best—nor any of the many other things some men are trusting in to save them.

Nicodemus, whom Jesus addressed concerning the new birth, possessed most of the qualities we just listed, but Jesus said to him, “Ye must be born again” (John 3:7).

The thief on the cross, and others Jesus forgave while on earth, were saved without these things. They simply did the one necessary thing—they ac­cepted Jesus Christ as personal Saviour by repenting and turning to God with the whole heart as a little child.

One who is born again will automatically have the external evidences of a good life by virtue of the new birth. But there are millions, it is sad to say, who are trusting these things to save them. And millions will die and be lost without the new birth because they have been misled concerning the ex­perience of being born again. It is all important that we pay personal attention to our eternal welfare—and that we not trust the best of men in the matter. If we permit men to mislead us in eternal matters and are lost—it will be too late to personally see after our welfare. Do something about it now.

Don’t take the attitude that you cannot be de­ceived. Don’t take the attitude that your church is the only right one and cannot mislead you. Your church may be right in its teaching concerning the new birth. But make certain by going to the Bible yourself, and seeing with your own eyes, and know­ing with your own heart—that you are right with God—that you have the real new birth—and that you are living right with God every day.

There is no purpose served in foaling yourself. You are either born again—or you are not. You are either really saved—or you are being deceived into thinking you are, and you are lost.

You know your own life and your true relation­ship to God. So get the facts settled that you are a genuinely saved person, and in present contact with God

Out of Christ, every man is rotten in the heart. And mere outward correctness of life, apart from Christ, is artificial and the practice of hypocrites. And Jesus said of those He called hypocrites, “for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed ap­pear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness” (Matt. 23:27).

Culture, refinement, and outward correctness of life—in the organised church or out of it—cannot take the place of the new birth. For the trouble, you see, is in the heart.

Jesus said, “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornication:, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, las­civiousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolish­ness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man” (Mark 7:21-23).

The trouble is in the heart, the inward man, the spirit. Merely to reform the outward man or the outward life will nor save you.

An artist could put a beautifully coloured coating of wax on the outside of a rotten apple-but the apple would still be rotten at heart. One bite into it would be a bite into decay.

 

CHAPTER II

FROM DEATH UNTO LIFE

TheBible is a mystery book until we find the key that opens it. Then it ceases tobe a mystery and becomes a message. There are two words which open theBible-and those words are life and death.

Deathhas been a mystery in all ages. Science stands utterly mute in its presence,unable to ex­plain it. Philosophy turns poetical when it meets this dread enemyof man. And theology has dealt only in generalities when attempting to explainit.

Death,that bloodhound-like foe, began its work at the cradle of the human race, andhas followed it down through the stream of the centuries until the presenthour. It was not a part of the Creation, nor a part of God’s original plan.Even physical death is an enemy of God and an enemy of man. The Bible says in ICorinthians 15:26 that physical death is the last enemy that shall be put underfoot.

Beforewe can understand the nature of death, however, we must understand the natureof man. Man is not a physical being. Man is a spirit. In fact, man is a spirit, who possesses a soul, and lives in a body. (I Thess. 5:23.)

WhenJesus told Nicodemus, ‘Ye must be bornagain,” Nicodemus was thinking naturally and he asked, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second timeinto his mother’s womb, and be born?” And Jesus explained, ‘That which is horn of the flesh is flesh;and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (John 3:4, 6).

The new birth is the rebirthof the human spirit.

Thereal man is spirit. The spirit operates through the soul (man’s intellect,sensibilities, and will). And the soul in turn operates through the physicalbody.

Nowthe man (who is spirit) and his soul live in a physical body. At physicaldeath, the man and his soul leave the physical body and go to their home.

Christgave us in Luke 16:19-24 the experience of the rich man and Lazarus: ‘There was a certain rich man, which wasclothed in purple and fine linen; and fared sumptuously every day: And therewas a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table:moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggardied (physically), and was carried bythe angels into Abraham’s bosom:

(Noticethat the angels carried him—not his body— but him, spirit and soul, toAbraham’s bosom.) the rich man also died,and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abra-ham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, FatherAbraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of hisfinger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tor­mented in this flame.”

Lazarusand the rich man were still conscious. Man is not dead like an animal as somefolks would have you to believe. And there is no such thing as soul sleep.

Severalkinds of deaths are spoken of in the Bible, but there are three kinds withwhich we need to familiarise ourselves: 1) Spiritual Death, 2) Physical Death,3) Eternal Death, or the second death, which is being cast into the lake whichburneth with fire and brimstone.

Thereal death is that which lays hold of our spirits rather than our bodies.Physical death is but a manifestation of the parent, spiritual death. Thesecond death is the ultimate finality of death, or the home of the spirituallydead.

Spiritualdeath came to the earth first, then mani­fested itself in the physical bydestroying it. Physical death is buta manifestation of the law which is at work within, called by Paul, “the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2).When God said to Adam, “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surelydie,” He did not refer to physical death, but to spiritual death. If man hadnever died spiritually, he would not have died physically.

Spiritual death meansseparation from God.

Themoment Adam sinned, he was separated from God. And when God came down in thecool of the day, as was His custom, to walk and talk with Adam, and called,“Adam, where art thou?”, Adam said, “I hid myself.” He was separated from God.

Spiritualdeath also means something more than separation from God. Jesus said to thePharisees, “Ye are of your father, thedevil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from thebeginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenhe speaketh a lie, he

speaketh of his own: for heis a liar, and the father of it” (John 8:44). The Pharisees were very re­ligious.They went to church on the Sabbath, they prayed, they paid their tithes, theyfasted, and they did a lot of other fine and good things—but they lied aboutChrist and murdered Him. Jesus said they were children of the devil—they hadthe characteristics of the devil. Spiritual death means having Satan’snature—just as receiving Eternal Life means we have the nature of God in us.

WhenAdam and Eve listened to the devil, the devil became their spiritual father andthey had the devil’s nature in their spirits. That is spiritual death. And thatnature began to manifest itself in the human family. The firstborn son murderedthe second-born.

Manis now united with the devil. He is an outcast, an outlaw, driven from thegarden with no legal ground of approach to God. He no longer responds to thecall of God. He responds only to his new nature, or his new master. Man is morethan trans­gressor. He is more than a law-breaker and a sinner. Man isspiritually a child of the devil and he partakes of his father’s nature.

Thisexplains why man cannot be saved by con­duct. He has to be born again. If manwere not a child of the devil, then he could just begin to put on the rightkind of conduct, and he’d be all right. But even if he puts on right conduct,he’s still a child of the devil, and will go to hell when he dies—to the lakewhich burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

Mancannot stand in the presence of God as he is—because he has the nature of hisfather, the devil, in him. If man is ever saved, he has to be saved bysomeone’s paying the penalty for his sins, and someone’s giving him a newnature.

You might take a flop-eared mule and try to make a racehorseof him. You could file his teeth and polish his hooves. You could feed him thefinest food, run him around the track every day, and house him in the fineststable. But on the day of the race when the gun sounds, all he’ll do is lopeoff down the track—because he’s a mule. It’s just not in him. Yet you can takea racehorse, and not give him as good care, but when you put him on thestarting line, and the gun sounds—he’s gone! It’s his nature. He’s born and bred that way.In order for that old mule to make a racehorse, he would have to be re-born—andthat’s impossible.

Man,however, who is a spirit living in a body, can be re-born. His nature can bechanged. He can become a new creature in Christ Jesus.

Itdoesn’t matter how well-educated man becomes, how many degrees he has at theend of his name, how many dollars he has, how good a social worker he is, norhow religious he is—man cannot stand in the presence of God. His nature iswrong. Man is lost today, not because of what he does—but be-cause of what heis. (What he does is the result of what he is.) Man needs life from God, because he is spiritually dead. Thanks be to God, Christ has redeemed us from spiritualdeath.

JOHN5:26

26For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given tothe Son to have life in himself;

Thenew Man, Jesus Christ, had no death in Him. He was not born as we are born, andHe didn’t have the spiritual nature of death—the devil—in Him. Yet the Biblesays in Hebrews 2:9 that He tasted death for every man.

Hetook upon himself our sin nature. Hebrews 9:26 says he, ..... put away sin (not sins) by the sacrifice of himself.” He tookupon himself our sin nature, the nature of spiritual death, that we might haveEternal Life.

Jesussaid, “The thief (the devil) cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill,and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might haveit more abundantly” (John 10:10).

Healso said, “I say unto you, He thatheareth my word, and believeth on him that rent me, hath ever­lasting life, andshall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John5:24).

Jesuscame to redeem us from spiritual death! Adam was banished from the Tree of Lifethrough rejecting God’s Word. According to Revelation 2:7, all who now acceptand obey the Word of God are brought back to the Tree of Life.

TheNew Birth does not take place gradually. It is instantaneous! It is a gift ofGod received the mo­ment we believe. In Ephesians 2:1 it says that you who weredead in trespasses and sins—that’s spiritual death—He has quickened, madealive. And verses 8 and 9 tell you how it came about:

EPHESIANS2:8-9

8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is thegift of God:

9Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Notof works! That punctures the balloon of the ego. Man wants to do something tosave himself. He wants to have a part in it. But you can’t. You have to simplyadmit your helplessness—and your hopelessness. You have to admit that you arejust what the Bible says—a lost sinner. Then you come and accept what Christhas wrought for you—a gift!

Haveyou passed from spiritual death unto spirit­ual life?

IsGod your Father? Can you look up to heaven and say, “Father God”? Is His Spiritwithin your spirit bearing witness that you are a child of God? Do you have theHoly Spirit in your spirit crying, “Abba Father”? You do if you are born again.If you are not— accept Christ as your Saviour today!

ROMANS8:14-16

14For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

15For ye have not received the spirit of bond­age again to fear; but ye have receivedthe Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

16The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children ofGod.

 

CHAPTER III

THE NEW BIRTH

IICORINTHIANS 5:17

17Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature (i.e., creation): oldthings are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Thenew birth is a new creation fromabove—the direct operation of the Word of God and the Spirit of God upon yourlife—changing your spirit com­pletely when you truly repent and turn to God.This new creation is brought about inthe following manner:

• Recognise that you are a sinner, lost, without God, and without hope.(Romans 3:23.)
• Admit that Jesus Christ died on the cross to save you from sin by Hisown precious blood.
• Come to God, repenting of your sins and turn­ing away from sin,pleading the merits of the blood of Christ in the Name of Christ—and you shall be born again. (The HolySpirit will then make  you a newcreature—a new creation—cleansing you from all sin by the authority of the Wordof God and by the blood of Christ which was shed to atone for your sin.)
• Believe from your heart and confess with yourmouth that God does forgive you of your sins and that He does cleanse you fromall unrighte­ousness.

BELIEVE AND CONFESS

Hereare some scriptures which show you what you have in your authority to believeand confess.

ROMANS10:9-10

9That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe inthine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

10For with the heart man believeth unto right­eousness; and with the mouthconfession is made unto salvation.

JOHN1:12-13

12But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God,even to them that believe on his name:

13Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will ofman, but of

God

JOHN6:37

37. . . and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

Oh,what a basis for faith! There is no such thing as a person coming to Him andbeing cast out! Jesus said, “. .. him that cometh to me, I will in no wise castout.

JOHN3:14-21

14And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son ofman be lifted up:

15That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoeverbelieveth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

17For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that theworld through him might be saved.

18He that believeth on him is not condemned:

buthe that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in thename of the only begotten Son of God.

19And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loveddarkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

20For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light,lest his deeds should be reproved.

21But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be mademanifest, that they are wrought in God.

JOHN3:36

36He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth notthe Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

JOHN5:24

24Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that hear­eth my word, and believeth on himthat sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into con­demnation; butis passed from death unto life.

ACTS3:19

19Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, whenthe times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;

EPHESIANS2:8-9

8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God:

9Not of works, lest any man should boast.

IJOHN 1:9

9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and tocleanse us from all

unrighteousness.You have the intelligence to see what the Bible says for yourself. Again wewarn—do not listen to the interpretations of men who will tear apart the simplescriptures and leave you confused.

Theydo not care for your soul or they would not seek to rob you of your trueChristian experiences. If they had a love for you at all, they would at leastpermit you to believe the Bible just as it is. And they would encourage you toget the Bible experi­ences.

Whenthey fight so hard to rob you of these bene­fits, you would be a fool not towake up and see that they are agents of the devil in sending men to hell. Itmatters not that they are the most refined and wonderful religious men you haveever met— they are not ministers of God if they are robbing you of God’sblessing.

TheBible says, “And no marvel; for Satanhimself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thingif his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whoseend shall be according to their works” (II Cor. 11:14-15).

CHAPTER IV

THE WATER OF THE NEW BIRTH

Weread that Jesus said, “Marvel not that Isaid lento thee, Ye must be born again” (John 3:7). Just before He said that,He had said, “Verily, verily, J say untothee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into thekingdom of God” (John 3:5).

Whatis the water of the new birth? Whatdoes this water of the new birth mean?

Doesit refer to being baptised in water? Does that save you? No, that is not whatJesus is talking about.

TheWord of God is the water referred to in John 3:5. Let’s prove that by looking through a number of scriptures.

EPHESIANS5:26

26That he might sanctify and cleanse it (thechurch) with the washing of water by the word,

JOHN6:63

63It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profit­eth nothing: the words thatI speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

JOHN15:3

3Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

JOHN17:17

17Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

IPETER 1:23

23Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word ofGod, which liveth and abideth for ever.

JAMES1:18

18Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind offirstfruits of his creatures.

Whenone believes what the Word of God says, that he is a sinner, that Christ diedto save him from all sin—and if he confesses his sins to God and turns from sinwith a whole heart and believes the gospel —he is conforming to the Word.

TheHoly Spirit will then transform his life by the power of the Word of God and bythe blood of Christ. That moment—he is born again!

Thisnew creation man, this newly born child of God, is then to believe it and walkaccordingly. He is to begin reading the Bible and praying to God. He is to walkand live in the spirit and conform to the Word of God as he receives light.

Being born again—becoming the child of God— is of foremostimportance. It is the key that unlocks all the promises of God to you. For whenyou become a child of God—then God’s promises be­come yours.

CHAPTER V

NEW CREATIONFACTS

BelieversChristians . . . here are some Bible facts about the new creation you are in Christ:

1.You Are A Child Of God.

Notruth in all the Bible is as far reaching as the blessed fact that when we areborn again into the family of God — Godthe Father is our Father. He cares for us! He is interested in us. Each ofus in­dividually. Not just as a group, or a body, or a church. He is interestedin each of His children and loves each one of us with the same love.

Muchis heard about the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, but Jesus saidto some very religious people, “You are of your father the devil” (John. 8:44).God is the Creator of all man-kind, but a man must be born again to become Hischild. He is God to the world. But Father only to the new creation man.

Godis your very own Father. You are His very own child. And if He is your Father,you can be assured He will take a father’s place and perform a father’s part.You can be certain that as your Father He loves you, and will take care of you.(See John 14:23; John 16:23, 27; Matt. 6:8-9, 26, 30-34; Matt. 7:11.)

Getacquainted with your Father through the Word. In fact, you were born into Hisfamily as a baby. Babies in the natural must eat natural food to develop andgrow. The Bible instructs the children of God, “As new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye maygrow thereby . . .“ (I Peter2:2). It is in the Word we find out about our Father, about His love, Hisnature, how He cares for us, how He loves us. He is everything the Word says Heis. He will do everything the Word says He will do.

2.You Are A New Creature—A New Creation— A New Species.

I’mglad I am a new creature. I was only 15, but I was there when it happened.Something took place inside me. It seemed as if a two-ton load rolled off mychest. Not only did something depart from me —but something came into me. I wasnot the same person. There was a change inside. Our spirits, at new birth, arerecreated. (Our bod­ies are not. It is in our spirit that all things havebecome new. We still have the same bodies we always had.) There is a man wholives inside the body. Paul calls him the inwardman. (He calls the body the outwardman.)

IICORINTHIANS 4:16

but though our outward manperish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

Petercalls this inner man the hidden man ofthe heart. (I Peter 3:4.) This man is hidden to the physi­cal eye. No onecan see you. They may think they do but they only see the house you live in.You are on the inside looking out through the windows. As well as you may knowsome loved one, you’ve never seen him. You don’t know what he looks like. Youhave only seen the house he lives in. When a man’s house is decayed, the realman still lives. The real man never dies. It is this inward man who becomes anew man in Christ. A new creation. It is he who is born into the family of God— is God’s own child — and is in perfect union with the Master.

3.You Are One With the Master.

ICORINTHIANS 6:17

But he that is joined untothe Lord is one spirit.

TheBeliever and Jesus are one. Jesus said, “Iam the 1-’ine, you are the branches.” When you look at a tree you don’tthink of the branches as one part, and the rest of the tree as another. You seeit as one —as a unity. We are one with Christ. Our spirits are one with Him.Jesus is the head — we are the body.

4.All Things Are Possible To You.

Noone argues with the scriptures which say, “withGod all things are possible.” Yet the same New Testament also says, “all things are possible to him thatbelieveth” (Mark 9:23).

Arethese scriptures equally true? Could one be a statement of fact and the other amisconception? A falsehood? No! Both statements are fact.

Allthings are possible to him thatbelieveth. It helps me as I drive down the road to say that. It helps me when Iface a seemingly impossible situa­tion to say aloud, “All things are possibleto him that believeth. And I believe!”

5. The Greater One Is In You.

IJOHN 4:4

Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them:because greater is he that is in you, than be that is in the world.

“Ye are of God..

Thisis another way of saying you are born of God. It says the same thing IICorinthians 5:17 says: that if any man be in Christ he is a new creation. Johnis telling us we are born of God, that we have been born again, that our spirits have been recreated, that weare of God.

Sadly,many Christians don’t know they are. born of God — and have received EternalLife (the Life and Nature of God). They think Eternal Life is something theyare “going to have” when they get to heaven. Many think they have simplyreceived for­giveness of sins.

Ifwe have been taught just that our sins are for­given and that we will remainjustified only if we walk carefully before God — and have never been taughtthat the Nature and Substance of God is within our spirits — then sin and Satanwill con­tinue to reign over us.

Butwhen we know that the man on the inside, the real man, has been born again and is a new self in Christ Jesus — then we will rule and reign over Satan.

“... and have overcome them: because greateris he that is in you, than he that is in the world.”

Hethat is in the world is the god of this world, Satan. (II Cor. 4:4.) But thankGod! Greater is He who is in us than the god of this world! Greater is He thatis in us than Satan. He is Greater than demons. Greater than evil spirits.Greater than sick­ness. Greater than disease. He is the Greater One! And Helives in me! He lives in you! He that is “in you” is greater than any force youmay come against.

II         CORINTHIANS 6:16

for ye are the temple of theliving God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and Iwill be their God, and they shall be my people.

Howmany Christians are conscious of the fact God is dwelling in them? It soundsfar-fetched. But what does this scripture mean if it does not mean what it says?It is time for the church to become “God-inside” minded. Too long it has beenweakness-minded, sickness-minded, inferiority-complex-minded, trouble ­and,poverty-minded. That’s all we’ve talked and thought about until a seriouscondition of doubt, un­belief, and spiritual failure has been created in thechurch. This psychology of unbelief has robbed us of vibrant Christian faithand living. And of the abun­dant life Jesus intended we should have.

JOHN10:10

I am come that they might have life, and that they mighthave it more abundantly.

Whenwe know that the Life-Giver indwells us —that the Author of all life everywherehas conde­scended in the Person of His Son, through the Power of the HolySpirit, to come down and live within us then our very beings shall radiate Life!

“Greater is He that is inyou than he that is in the world.” Grasp that. You are of God. You are born from above.The same mighty Spirit who raised Christ from the dead dwells in you. It’s nowonder the Bible says, “All things arepossible to him that believeth.” It is because the God with whom all thingsare possible lives within us!

A Sinner’s Prayer To ReceiveJesus As Saviour

DearHeavenly Father...

Icome to you in the name of Jesus.

YourWord says, ‘. . . him that cometh to me lwill in no wise cost out” (John 6:37),

SoI know you won’t cast me out, but you take me in,

AndI thank you for it.

Yousaid in your Word, ‘Whosoever shall callupon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Rom.10:13).

I am calling on your name, So I know you have saved menow.

You also said, ‘if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believein thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Forwith the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confessionis made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9-10).

Ibelieve in my heart Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I believe that He wasraised from the dead for my justification.

AndI confess Him now as my Lord, Because your Word says, “...with the heart man believeth unto righteousness   and I do believe with my heart, I havenow become the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Cor. 5:21)... And lam saved!Thank you, Lord!

Signed

Date