born again

The Seed – Part I

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Jesus talked a lot about seeds, and in this article, we will look at seeds, especially The Seed.

Jesus tells all humanity what their priority in this life should be. Jesus says, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness.” Matthew 6:33. That should be the priority of every human being on the face of this earth, an earth that has been in turmoil and trouble for 6,000 years, because of sin.

Setting Priorities

Jesus said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness.” We must have both. We must have His righteousness in order to some day enter into His kingdom.

God says, Put that at the top of the list every day, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness.” It is the priority that God wants for us. We make out lists all the time. My wife is well known for lists. She will make lists, and the first thing on a list is the priority. She works herself down the list, and if the last things do not happen, it is all right.

I want to look with you at the first thing, the top of the list. That is what Jesus is saying: I want you to put this on the top of the list, Seek ye first the kingdom of God. It is a wonderful thing to be able to study the Word of God and see harmony coming through. That harmony is the result of divine Providence guiding in producing the Holy Bible. It is a tremendous work of God. The Pharisees in Jesus’ day were seeking the kingdom of God. “And when He was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, He answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo, here! Or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” Luke 17:20, 21.

Seeking the Kingdom of God

The Children of Israel in Jesus’ day, even in the midst of their apostasy, were seeking the kingdom of God, but they were looking in a direction other than God would have them look. They wanted something they could see, something they could feel, something with substance. They were looking for a physical kingdom on this earth. Jesus told them the kingdom of God was within them, and they did not want to hear that. It was totally opposite of the theology of the day.

Have you ever heard theology that is totally contrary to the Word of God? It is all around us in Christendom today. It was all around them in Jesus’ day also. God was revealing His kingdom in their midst, but they did not see it.

In John, we find an interview that Jesus had with one of the leaders of Israel. His name, we are told, was Nicodemus. He came to Jesus by night, because he did not want his peers to see him with Jesus. Jesus was not a popular figure, and interestingly enough, Jesus has never been a popular figure, even though it appears that He is, because He makes known the truth to people. Jesus spoke these words to Nicodemus, words that reveal what is necessary in regard to the kingdom of God.

“Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3.

Jesus now said, Unless you are born again, you cannot even see the kingdom of God, let alone be in it. What did Jesus mean when He said be “born again?” What is the inference? Here is a mature man standing before Him, a man who was already born.

Putting on a New Nature

What is He telling Nicodemus? He is saying, You must have a whole new nature, before you are able to see the kingdom of God. Why is that necessary? God makes it very clear.

God uses Paul the apostle to tell us why it is necessary, and He is not just talking to the Jews. He is telling the Jews and the Gentiles—all humanity—why it is necessary to be born again.

“You hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.” Ephesians 2:1–3.

You and I come into this world as every human being has since the fall of Adam, with a fallen nature, a nature that is not in harmony with God’s kingdom. It is totally out of harmony with His righteousness, and if we choose to retain that nature, God has left on record the consequence: “The wages of sin is death.” Romans 6:23. That is not merely physical death; it is not being physically laid out in a cemetery because you died.

No, God is making it clear that there is a second death, a total extinction of life where you will never again be, and you will be as though you never were. So God says, in His mercy and in His compassion to all of us, You need to be born again. You need to have a new nature before you are able to even see My kingdom.

God says it even more clearly in 1 Corinthians 6:9, 10. He tells us why this nature, that is based on the flesh and not on the Spirit of God, cannot inherit the kingdom of God. He uses Paul again to make the issues clear to us. “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?”

What does it mean to be unrighteous? Paul defines unrighteousness: “Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” It is just not going to happen. God does not want us in that context, but He does want us in His kingdom. For God is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9.

Being Born Again

Let us go back to Nicodemus’ response. He said, Wait a minute! How can a man that is old, be born again? And that is the question that we need to ask. How is it that we can be born again?

There is a lot of theology in Christendom today that will give you an answer, but it is not in harmony with God’s Word. They are dealing with being born again on an outward basis—what they can see, what they can feel, what they can do. What did Jesus tell the Pharisees when they demanded to know when the kingdom of God should come?

He pointed them to within themselves. If it happens at all, it is going to happen within you. To understand what it means to be born again, look at the first parable regarding seeds. When Jesus was growing up, before He left home to begin His ministry at the age of 30, He spent time in a garden. He planted seeds just like we do. He learned lessons from His experience in the garden, and that is why He shares with us these parables.

The Seed—The Power

“He said, Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what comparison shall we compare it?” He looked around in the society of men, in the nations, and in the kingdoms of men and He could find no comparison whatsoever. He could only find a comparison in the garden. “It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth: But when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it.” Mark 4:30–32. How small God’s kingdom has appeared to men in 6,000 years.

God tells us, in His Word, there will only be one kingdom. (See Daniel 2.) So this small beginning is going to eventually encompass the whole world with people who have been born again. With what does He compare the kingdom of God? A little seed that looks like nothing could ever grow from it.

“There is life in the seed, there is power in the soil; but unless an infinite power is exercised day and night, the seed will yield no returns. The showers of rain must be sent to give moisture to the thirsty fields, the sun must impart heat, the electricity must be conveyed to the buried seed. The life, which the Creator has implanted, He alone can call forth. Every seed grows, every plant develops, by the power of God.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 63.

This does not happen apart from God in the physical world. When you plant that cucumber seed and the plant eventually emerges out of the ground and produces cucumbers, it is the direct result of God’s work.

Directly From God

Let us look at the parable in verses 26, 27 of Mark 4: “And He said, ‘So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.’” So what power produces the germination of that seed? It is God’s power.

Notice: “The germ in the seed grows by the unfolding of the life-principle which God has implanted. Its development depends upon no human power.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 77. If it grows, it grows as a result of God and of His power and of His intercession. It is His sun that shines warmth down. It is His water or rain that waters that plant. It is His air, that He has created for life, that gives life to that seed. All the three essentials are directly from God.

Are we talking about growing seeds in the garden, or are we talking about being born again? Are they synonymous?

“So it is with the kingdom of Christ. It is a new creation.” Ibid. This was not something hidden, before the days of Christ, from the Children of Israel. This was known to Nicodemus; it was not anything new. “Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.” Zechariah 4:6.

It is My Spirit, My power that gives life, God says. It is only His power that can bring a new nature out of a fallen nature.

The Blessing of the Seed

Jesus tells us clearly that the seed is able to produce a new creation, acceptable in the kingdom of God. “Now the parable is this: [Jesus says] The seed is the word of God.” Luke 8:11. We hold the seed each time we hold our Bibles. God’s seed catalog describes the seed, describes what it will do, and also contains the seeds! The whole package is there. No mail order is necessary. He sent it to us. It was not even C.O.D.!

I want you to notice something very interesting. The seed that God has given to us, in this natural world, is most powerful. It has various abilities:

  1. A seed can produce a living thing. That little, dormant seed looks dead, but it can produce a living thing. It can produce a new creation. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17.
  2. Every seed that germinates, eventually grows up, and it also grows down. There is a balance in everything that God does. Working the kingdom of God in us, He works a balance. It will be inside first, within us, but it will eventually be seen outside in what we do, in the kind of person we are. Some drunk, in the gutter, who found a piece of the Word of God, or was invited to a mission to hear the Word of God, was changed completely. Were you to see that man a month later, you would not recognize that he was the same man. Why? Because he had allowed God to do something on the inside that eventually was revealed on the outside. Do you see that? The seed germinates down, puts its roots down, and the plant goes up. It is an inside/outside work that God wants to do, a balanced work.
  3. This seed can reproduce its own kind. It can produce a new life, but more than that, it can reproduce itself. A cucumber seed will reproduce itself. And interestingly enough, it will not reproduce anything else but its own kind.
  4. It can grow thousands of times its size in its lifetime. It is going to germinate. It is going to bear; it is going to bring up a blade, then the ear and then the full corn in the ear. It continues to grow and develop. Have you ever heard of indeterminate plants, especially among tomatoes? They just keep growing. This seed can actually reproduce itself thousands of times its size. A redwood tree seed is small, yet it produces a tree hundreds of feet in the air and many times around in diameter. Tremendous growth! God tells us our potential character development is limitless in regard to becoming more and more like Him. If we choose to receive the kingdom of God within us, by receiving the seed, which is the Word of God, our potential character development is limitless. We can grow and grow and never stop.
  5. The seed can produce roots that are actually powerful enough to break through rock, granite, anything. In the natural world, it is true. Brothers and sisters, it is also true in the spiritual world. This Word, allowed to have good ground, can make us more powerful than sin. It can give us power over sin, power over the great deceiver, and power over everything that is contrary to God. This seed has the power to do that!

I want you to notice that as it is in the physical, so it is in the spiritual. The three essential ingredients for a physical seed to grow, and which come only from God, are sunlight, water, and air.

You have sunshine—the righteousness of Christ, in the spiritual. You have water—the Spirit of God. Water is the latter rain, the former rain, the Spirit of God. And you have air—the grace of God. In Steps to Christ, 68, we are told that His grace encircles this earth just as much as the air we breathe.

What Can I Contribute?

They all come from God, in regards to the physical and to the spiritual. Those are necessary items for the growth of the seed. There is one more thing that is necessary however, if the seed is going to germinate, grow, and develop into a plant that bears fruit. God has not yet told us about this, and it has to do with you and me.

Jesus talks about seeds again in another parable. (See Matthew 13.) It is about a sower who went out and cast seed here and there. As he was sowing, some of the seed fell by the wayside. The wayside was a path that was trampled upon; people walked on it all the time. Seed fell there, and the birds came and took it away before it had time to do anything.

The second place the seed fell was on stony ground, on the rocks. The seed had enough soil to be able to germinate, to root down, to pop up, but when it got hot, the roots were not deep enough; the plant fell over and withered. It needed water, and it needed removal of stones to get the heat away from it.

The third place that the seed fell was into a bunch of thorns. You never want to plant a garden where there is a bunch of weeds. You want to take the weeds out and then plant the garden. But here you have seed falling in the midst of thorns, or weeds, and eventually being choked out. Even though two or three seeds germinated and grew, none of them lived. That should alarm us.

Another thing that should alarm us is where this is taking place. Where do people go to hear the Word of God spoken? In the church. This is not being spoken of in the world. Jesus is referring to those who would hear the Word of God, as His professed people, in His house. That should alarm us, because if it is true, if you took this literally, the percentage of those who respond correctly to the Word of God and have the kingdom of God growing within them is only 25 percent. That means that 75 percent reject it.

Should that alarm me sitting in a church? Oh, yes, it should cause me to examine myself, whether I am receiving the Word of God or whether I am just hearing it.

There is one thing the seed needs, which God does not give. If it does not have this, the seed will not germinate; it will not grow. “But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the Word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.” Luke 8:15. Jesus does not speak, in this parable, about the sunshine, the water, and the air. Why? Because He knows that His heavenly Father will supply that to the seed. But for us to grow, it is necessary to have good ground. Having good ground is up to us. God has nothing to do with producing good ground or bad ground, thorny ground or stony ground. We have everything to do with the kind of ground into which God’s Word falls.

Jesus Gives the Answer

God wants to be practical. God wants us to understand what good ground is so we can produce good ground for the seed to grow and develop. Jesus gives us a clear representation of what it means to have good ground.

Revelation 3:20, helps us see what good ground means and what God is asking of us in regard to having good ground. “Behold,” Jesus says, “I stand at the door, and knock.” Where is He in regard to the door? When you are standing at a door and knocking, you are on the outside.

He is on the outside, but He is knocking, knocking that He might come inside. Remember, the kingdom of God begins within you, and the heavenly Gardener needs to be where the seed is, to allow that seed to develop and grow. So He is knocking, and He says, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.” Jesus is saying, the good ground is the person who hears His voice and responds to the point of opening their heart to Him.

Faith Opens the Door

Here is where we get real practical. How do we open our hearts to God? If we ever have that experience, we should know that we have to exercise faith to open our heart to God, and faith is something that God gives as a gift to every man who comes into this world. (See Romans 12:3.)

Jesus said, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him [God]: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6. So faith opens the door! If we are going to be a consistent good-ground hearer, the door must remain open.

To be continued . . .

Life Sketches – Be Born Again

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There are many people in the world today who, though they have an intellectual knowledge of the truth, are lacking the moral character that will fit them for eternal life.

While Apollos was teaching and preaching in Corinth, the apostle Paul went to the city of Ephesus. (See Acts 19.) At that time, Ephesus was one of the leading commercial cities of the world. It was a harbor city, a center of trade and shipping from all parts of the civilized world. Its streets were filled with people from many lands. Thus the city of Ephesus, like the city of Corinth, presented a favorable missionary field, from which the gospel could be taken to all parts of the world.

Within 20 to 30 years after Jesus ascended to heaven, the gospel had been preached to every creature under heaven. Part of the reason for this success was Paul’s concentrated effort in the large commercial cities where the gospel would be dispersed to all parts of the world.  The Jews had been widely dispersed in all civilized lands and were generally expecting the speedy advent of the Messiah, for while they attended their annual feasts at Jerusalem, some of them had gone to hear John the Baptist preach by the Jordan and heard from him that the time of the Messiah was at hand. On return to their homes they had talked about it and the knowledge of the Messiah was widely dispersed throughout the world at that time.

Jesus had made many promises to His disciples that those who accepted and followed Him would receive the Holy Spirit. He had promised, “John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:5, 8).

While Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost, in the audience were some who had clamored for the crucifixion of Christ. Coming to the conviction of what they had done, they said to Peter, “ ‘What shall we do?’ Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent [change your mind], and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission [forgiveness] of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’ ” (Acts 2:37, last part, 38).

Many were baptized and did receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

In Ephesus, Paul met twelve brethren who had listened to the preaching of John the Baptist, but didn’t fully understand the gospel perfectly or the gift of the promised Holy Spirit. Paul asked 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.’ And he said to them, ‘Into what then were you baptized?’ ” So they said, ‘Into John’s baptism.’

“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’ ” (Acts 19:1, last part–4).  Paul explained to them about Jesus’ mission in this world and how He had suffered a cruel and shameful death. He told how the Lord of life had broken the barriers of the tomb and had arisen on the third day, triumphant over death. This same triumph was promised to all those who believe and follow Him and they would receive the Holy Spirit.

Paul repeated to the twelve the commission that Jesus had given to His disciples: “ ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age’ ” (Matthew 28:19, 20).

By faith these twelve brethren grasped what Paul was teaching them. The Bible says, “When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues [other languages] and prophesied” (Acts 19:5).

One of the most interesting things in this story is that these twelve men, by cherishing a humble and teachable spirit, gained precious knowledge and a new religious experience they had never had before. Their example presents a lesson of great value to Christians in our age also. There are many claiming to be Christians who make but little progress in their spiritual life because they are too self-sufficient to be learners. They are content with their present knowledge of God’s word, which may be very meager, and make no effort to obtain greater light. Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Luke 11:9).

Are you a seeker? Are you asking? Are you seeking the Lord and asking for more spiritual truth or do you think you know enough already? Give yourself to God and He will guide you by His divine hand just as Moses was.

You may think of yourself as lowly and ungifted, but if with a loving, trusting heart you obey every intimation of God’s will, then He will give you more and more truth and knowledge. It is not enough to be content with an intellectual knowledge of religious truth. Jesus longs to send His Spirit to work upon the hearts of those who seek Him. Many talk about salvation, but they are not experiencing it. The Bible is so clear about this point. Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Unless you are born of water and of the spirit, there is no chance that you can enter the kingdom of heaven” (John 3:3, 5). Or simply, only those who are born again will see the kingdom of God.

The Holy Spirit works upon the heart creating new emotions, new thoughts, and new feelings. Jesus spoke of it as a new birth. The life giving power of the Holy Spirit, proceeding from Christ and imparted to every disciple, pervades the soul and changes the motives and the affections. This affects even the most secret thoughts and brings forth fruit in holy deeds. Referring to the Holy Spirit, Jesus told Nicodemus that it is like the wind. You see the results, but you can’t actually see the wind itself (verse 8).

In the same way, the operations of the Holy Spirit upon the heart cannot be seen with human eye, but the results can be seen. We are sustained both physically and spiritually through the blessings that God places within our reach as we take and receive them. Are you watching? Are you praying? Are you studying God’s word and giving heed to the instructions that you see there or just stumbling along without seeking for an experience in the Holy Spirit that would result in a holy life? The Holy Spirit brings to each believer an experience in “… holiness, without which no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14).

God’s children who are living just before the close of the age (world KJV) are described as those who have the testimony of Jesus Christ and keep God’s commandments. Revelation 14:12 says, “Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” There are many who believe they can be saved while in transgression of God’s law but John specifically says in Revelation that the saints will be keeping the commandments of God.

In His sermon on the mount, Jesus said, “Not everyone that says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 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’ ” (Matthew 7:21, 22)?

These people are not atheists or unbelievers. They claim to be Christians who call Jesus Lord. They tell Him that they have made a mistake. They believe that they are saved because they have prophesied in His name and cast out demons in His name, and have done many miracles in His name. They know that they are saved.

Every time I read this Scripture it causes a tremor to go through my mind and sometimes through my whole body as I realize the terrible shock that these people are going to have.

Jesus says, “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness’ ” (Matthew 7:23)! Can you imagine? They believe they are saved. They had the spirit, but it wasn’t the right spirit. The Holy Spirit never leads a person to “practice lawlessness” by breaking the law of God.

Paul says, “The mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved” (2 Thessalonians 2:7–10).

These “protesters” are deceived because they did not receive the love of the truth. It is not enough to have an intellectual knowledge of the truth. You must also love it and choose to follow and obey it so you can receive the Holy Spirit and be changed in character. Those who do not love the truth enough to obey it will be sent a strong delusion so that they will believe the lie that you can be saved in sin. They believe that you can go ahead and keep breaking God’s law and God will still save you. The New Testament does not teach that. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 7:19, “Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God is what matters.”

God’s children in the last days will be keeping His commandments. In Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians, he speaks of a condemnation on those “who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thessalonians 2:12). The Bible says that all unrighteousness is sin (1 John 5:17). “Sin is the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4 KJV). So in other words, those who find pleasure in sin have pleasure in breaking the law of God.

All must choose their own destiny. There are many people today who have unwittingly violated one of the precepts of God’s law. Look again at Exodus 20:3–17 and ask yourself the question, “Am I keeping God’s commandments or not?” When the understanding is enlightened and the claims of the 4th commandment are urged upon the conscience, then a person sees himself or herself as a sinner in the sight of God. Notice that James 2:10 says that whoever offends in one point of the law is guilty of all. Keeping only 90% of the law is not enough.

We are bidden to search the Scriptures and all who are honest seekers after truth will not plead ignorance of the law as an excuse for transgression. Light is within the reach of all. God’s word is plain, His law is holy, just and good (Romans 7:12). Earnest seekers after truth will repent of their transgression and plead that the atoning blood of Christ may pardon their sins so that they may be converted and live in harmony with all of God’s commandments.

When the Holy Spirit works on the heart, that person will be led to be in harmony with everything that Christ and His apostles have taught.

There’s no promise in the Bible for salvation in sin. The promise of salvation is salvation from sin. The angel said to Joseph, “You shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). [Emphasis supplied.] God is going to have a people at the end of the world who are obedient to all His commandments (Revelation 14:12). Revelation 22:14 says, “Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city.” But then notice what it says in the next verse: “But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral (see the seventh commandment) and murderers (see the sixth commandment) and idolaters (see the first and second commandment), and whoever loves and practices a lie (see the ninth commandment)” (verse 15).

When Jesus returns, the whole world is going to be separated into two classes—the saved and the lost. In Matthew 25:31–33, Jesus said, “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.”

The world population will be separated, some to the right hand and some to the left hand. Those on the right will receive the benediction of Christ, the gift of eternal life and will enter into the kingdom. Jesus said, “Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world’ ” (verse 34). But to those on the left, He will say, “ ‘Depart … into eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels’ ” (verse 41, literal translation).

Waste no time in choosing life, for soon God will ask, “Has this person been obedient to My law or not?” The decisions that you make day by day are going to determine your eternal destiny. Yield yourself to the work of the Holy Spirit that will transform your character so that your life will come into harmony with God’s word and with His law.

 

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Bible Study Guides – Justification by Faith – Born of God

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November 25, 2018 – December 1, 2018

Key Text

“We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not” (1 John 5:18).

Study Help: The Desire of Ages, 167–177.

Introduction

“Those who know not what it is to have an experience in the things of God, who know not what it is to be justified by faith, who have not the witness of the Spirit that they are accepted of Jesus Christ, are in need of being born again.” Lift Him Up, 124.

Sunday

THE INVITATION

  • What invitation does Jesus give to all? Matthew 11:28–30.

Note: “It is a mistake to think that you must come to repentance before you can come to Jesus. Come to Christ just as you are, and contemplate His love until your hard heart is broken.” The Review and Herald, September 3, 1901.

  • What was Nicodemus impressed to do and why? John 3:1, 2

Note: “Nicodemus had heard the preaching of John the Baptist concerning repentance and baptism, and pointing the people to One who should baptize with the Holy Spirit. He himself had felt that there was a lack of spirituality among the Jews, that, to a great degree, they were controlled by bigotry and worldly ambition. He had hoped for a better state of things at the Messiah’s coming. Yet the heart-searching message of the Baptist had failed to work in him conviction of sin. He was a strict Pharisee, and prided himself on his good works. He was widely esteemed for his benevolence and his liberality in sustaining the temple service, and he felt secure of the favor of God.” The Desire of Ages, 171.

Monday

YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN

  • According to Jesus, what must a person do before they can see the kingdom of heaven and why? John 3:3.

Note: “He [Nicodemus] was startled at the thought of a kingdom too pure for him to see in his present state.” The Desire of Ages, 171.

“No man can of himself understand his errors. ‘The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?’ (Jeremiah 17:9). The lips may express a poverty of soul that the heart does not acknowledge. While speaking to God of poverty of spirit, the heart may be swelling with the conceit of its own superior humility and exalted righteousness. In one way only can a true knowledge of self be obtained. We must behold Christ. It is ignorance of Him that makes men so uplifted in their own righteousness. When we contemplate His purity and excellence, we shall see our own weakness and poverty and defects as they really are. We shall see ourselves lost and hopeless, clad in garments of self-righteousness, like every other sinner. We shall see that if we are ever saved, it will not be through our own goodness, but through God’s infinite grace.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 159.

  • How did Jesus explain this truth further to Nicodemus, and what did He mean by it? John 3:4–6.

Note: “Jesus continued: ‘That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6). By nature the heart is evil, and ‘who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one’ (Job 14:4). No human invention can find a remedy for the sinning soul. ‘The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.’ ‘Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies’ (Romans 8:7; Matthew 15:19). The fountain of the heart must be purified before the streams can become pure. He who is trying to reach heaven by his own works in keeping the law is attempting an impossibility. There is no safety for one who has merely a legal religion, a form of godliness. The Christian’s life is not a modification or improvement of the old, but a transformation of nature. There is a death to self and sin, and a new life altogether. This change can be brought about only by the effectual working of the Holy Spirit.” The Desire of Ages, 172.

Tuesday

TURNING AROUND

  • What is promised to those who accept the gospel? Galatians 3:14.
  • Why is it impossible of ourselves to turn from a sinful life? Romans 8:7.

Note: “It is impossible for us, of ourselves, to escape from the pit of sin in which we are sunken. Our hearts are evil, and we cannot change them. ‘Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.’ ‘The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be’ (Job 14:4; Romans 8:7). Education, culture, the exercise of the will, human effort, all have their proper sphere, but here they are powerless. They may produce an outward correctness of behavior, but they cannot change the heart; they cannot purify the springs of life. There must be a power working from within, a new life from above, before men can be changed from sin to holiness. That power is Christ. His grace alone can quicken the lifeless faculties of the soul, and attract it to God, to holiness.

“The Saviour said, ‘Except a man be born from above,’ unless he shall receive a new heart, new desires, purposes, and motives, leading to a new life, ‘he cannot see the kingdom of God’ (John 3:3, margin).” Steps to Christ, 18.

  • While we cannot of ourselves change our sinful heart, what can we do? Joshua 24:15.

Note: “What you need to understand is the true force of the will. This is the governing power in the nature of man, the power of decision, or of choice. Everything depends on the right action of the will. The power of choice God has given to men; it is theirs to exercise. You cannot change your heart, you cannot of yourself give to God its affections; but you can choose to serve Him. You can give Him your will; He will then work in you to will and to do according to His good pleasure. Thus your whole nature will be brought under the control of the Spirit of Christ; your affections will be centered upon Him, your thoughts will be in harmony with Him.” Steps to Christ, 47. [Emphasis author’s.]

Wednesday

HOW CAN THESE THINGS BE?

  • Who creates in us a new heart? John 3:7, 8.

Note: “The wind is heard among the branches of the trees, rustling the leaves and flowers; yet it is invisible, and no man knows whence it comes or whither it goes. So with the work of the Holy Spirit upon the heart. It can no more be explained than can the movements of the wind. A person may not be able to tell the exact time or place, or to trace all the circumstances in the process of conversion; but this does not prove him to be unconverted. By an agency as unseen as the wind, Christ is constantly working upon the heart. Little by little, perhaps unconsciously to the receiver, impressions are made that tend to draw the soul to Christ. These may be received through meditating upon Him, through reading the Scriptures, or through hearing the word from the living preacher. Suddenly, as the Spirit comes with more direct appeal, the soul gladly surrenders itself to Jesus. By many this is called sudden conversion; but it is the result of long wooing by the Spirit of God—a patient, protracted process.” The Desire of Ages, 172.

“The sinner may resist this love, may refuse to be drawn to Christ; but if he does not resist he will be drawn to Jesus; a knowledge of the plan of salvation will lead him to the foot of the cross in repentance for his sins, which have caused the sufferings of God’s dear Son.” Steps to Christ, 27.

  • To be created or “born again” is to receive a new heart—new desires, purposes, and motives. What must we feed upon to be born again? 1 Peter 1:23; 2:2.

Note: “When truth becomes an abiding principle in the life, the soul is ‘born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever’ (1 Peter 1:23). This new birth is the result of receiving Christ as the word of God. When by the Holy Spirit divine truths are impressed upon the heart, new conceptions are awakened, and the energies hitherto dormant are aroused to co-operate with God.” The Acts of the Apostles, 520.

  • What knowledge does God use to transform the mind of the believer? 2 Corinthians 4:6.

Thursday

BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD

  • What must we realize for ourselves about Jesus in order to be changed? John 3:14, 15; 1:29.

Note: “Christ must be revealed to the sinner as the Saviour dying for the sins of the world; and as we behold the Lamb of God upon the cross of Calvary, the mystery of redemption begins to unfold to our minds and the goodness of God leads us to repentance. In dying for sinners, Christ manifested a love that is incomprehensible; and as the sinner beholds this love, it softens the heart, impresses the mind, and inspires contrition in the soul.” Steps to Christ, 26, 27.

  • When we surrender ourselves to Christ, what will take place? Ezekiel 36:26, 27.

Note: “As the sinner, drawn by the power of Christ, approaches the uplifted cross and prostrates himself before it, there is a new creation. A new heart is given him. He becomes a new creature in Christ Jesus. Holiness finds that it has nothing more to require. God Himself is ‘the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus’ (Romans 3:26). And ‘whom He justified, them He also glorified’ (Romans 8:30).” Christ’s Object Lessons, 163.

  • When we are born again, in what alone will we glory? Galatians 6:14.

Friday

PERSONAL REVIEW QUESTIONS

1     What essential experience will Christ give all who come to Him?

2    What must you realize about yourself if you are to be born again?

3    Why do we find it so hard to do the right thing?

4    What must you feed upon if you are to experience the new birth?

5    What does God promise to do when we surrender all to Christ?

Ye Must Be Born Again

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As God’s people standing at the border of the Promised Land, God wants to give us a very special experience. We are all longing for Jesus to come, but do we realize that if we want to go home with Him, we need the experience Jesus told Nicodemus about in John 3:3: “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

If you and I want to see His kingdom and be ready when He comes, we must be born again. When Israel was at the border of the Promised Land something very special happened. God permitted twelve of the leaders, one from each tribe, to go into the Promised Land to find out if the Lord’s promises were true.

The Lord tested these leaders to see whether or not they were prepared to enter the Promised Land. As they came back with the report, all the people gathered to listen. They told them that it was a good land, and they had substantial evidence to prove their claims. They brought back such a large cluster of grapes that it required two men to carry it. Others came laden with many other types of fruit. The people could see that it was a good land—truly a land flowing with milk and honey.

The multitude was ready to go in immediately upon hearing the reports, but then something happened. Suddenly ten of the twelve spies, who had seen the land, seemed to become confused. Everything the Lord had done for them was forgotten. They no longer trusted Him or His promises. All they could think of was their fear of the people that they had seen in Canaan. They said, “There we saw the giants . . . and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.” Numbers 13:33. They were so afraid that they told the people that there was no way they could take the land. Only two of the twelve said, “The Lord is with us, we can go in.”

But the majority of these men managed to brainwash the multitude. The ten spies said, “We cannot be victorious; the enemy is bigger than the Lord.” And the people believed them.

When I read that story, I wondered why the children of Israel, did not accept what the two faithful spies said. But they did not. They should have prayed to the Lord and said, “Lord, help us. Give us wisdom to do the right thing.” The Holy Spirit would have reminded them of all the miracles the Lord had wrought for them, and of all the past promises He had given that they had seen fulfilled. He would have reminded them of the plagues in Egypt and of the crossing of the Red Sea. Of how Moses hit the rock and water flowed forth for them to drink. How the bitter water at Mara had been made sweet. He would have reminded them of the battle with Amalek when they were victorious as long as Moses had his arms raised toward heaven. And the pillar of cloud, cooling them by day and giving them light and warmth by night, was a continual testimony of God’s protective care.

They could have said to the ten negative spies, “We do not believe you. We remember how the Lord led us in the past. We trust Him because He has been with us in the past, and He will be with us when we enter the Promised Land.” But these people had the mentality of slaves.

For at least four generations they had been slaves. They were accustomed to listening to and obeying the slave master. So when the spies said, “The enemy is stronger than the Lord, you cannot have victory,” all the people believed them instead of realizing they could have asked the Lord for guidance.

God’s people stand at the border of the Promised Land today. The devil is still using exactly the same method with just as much success. The good news is that we can choose for ourselves. We can read the Word and have an experience with the Lord. We do not have to go along with the majority.

The Israelites then decided to elect new leaders, who believed that they could live as slaves and still be God’s people. Then they wanted to kill that minority who believed that God could give victory. Finally the Lord Himself came down to settle the dispute and to show which ideology He stood for. He said, “Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice; Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it.” Numbers 14:22, 23. Because they would not believe God’s promises, they would get their wish to stay in the wilderness and wander there for forty more years, until all who had seen the mighty works of God bringing them out of Egypt, were dead.

The Lord has led the Advent Movement to the border of the Promised Land before. I believe we are there now for the last time. This time the Lord will take His people home. There will be a minority who will accept the fact that the Lord is stronger than the enemy and victory can be ours.

 

A Night Visit

 

In John 3 we have a little parallel. You are familiar with the story of Nicodemus’ night visit with Jesus. Nicodemus was a Pharisee. He was a member of the Sanhedrin. As an educated man, he had the answers and was influential with the people. He belonged to the elite class in Israel. As he had observed Jesus and listened to His words, he came to the conclusion, in his own heart, that Jesus had something special, something that he needed.

Nicodemus’ education gave him an advantage and he realized that in the past God had permitted difficulties and trials to come to the children of Israel because the leaders lacked faith. He realized that they had been in captivity because the leaders led the people astray. He did not want to be part of that. One day he decided to find out the truth about Jesus and His kingdom for himself.

Despite all of Nicodemus’ earthly advantages, he was in a state of spiritual darkness. Nicodemus lacked the experience of being born of the Spirit. Jesus saw this and He wanted to guide him into a deeper experience with Him.

Nicodemus came to Jesus with flattery, according to the Jewish custom. He said, “Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.” John 3:2. But Jesus did not answer Nicodemus’ flattery. He pointed immediately to what this man needed to hear.

Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3. Nicodemus had not asked about that at all, but that is what he needed so he could take his next step in spiritual growth. Jesus “knew what was in man.” John 2:25. He knew the attitudes, feelings, thinking and experience that Nicodemus had.

Jesus looked at the Pharisee sitting beside Him, and He felt a longing to lead him all the way. He went right on to tell him that unless he gained this experience he would not see the kingdom of God. His physical circumcision was meaningless without a circumcision of the heart. To be born of the Spirit means to be made into a new person. If you do not have that experience as part of your Christian life, you will not enter the kingdom of God.

Nicodemus was not ignorant of the expression “born again.” The Jews used it to refer to a Gentile becoming a Jewish convert—leaving one set of beliefs and doctrines and accepting another set. It was impossible for him to imagine that Jesus was telling him that he needed a different religion. After all He was a Pharisee—he had the truth.

Nicodemus asked, a little incredulously, “How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?” John 3:4. To answer his question, Jesus led him step by step through the process of the new birth. In verse 8, Jesus said, “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”

The word used here for wind is exactly the same word as Spirit. And the word for blowing is the same as to lead. The word for sound is the same word as voice. So, the Spirit leads where He wants and you hear His voice. You do not know where He will take you. You do not know the future, but you trust, obey and accept. If the Lord wants me to go this way or do that, I reply, “OK, Lord, this is what I want to do.” This is what Jesus is telling us.

Nicodemus did not have that experience, and neither did the children of Israel as they stood at the border of the Promised Land. But that is the experience you and I need if we want to enter God’s kingdom. We have to be born again.

When Jesus said, “You must be born again,” He used the Greek word, anothen, meaning born from above, the movement from a high place towards a low. When Nicodemus countered with how can a man be born again? He used the word, deuteron, meaning, “How can I change my mind and start again with a new set of doctrines?”

Nicodemus referred to the horizontal plane while Jesus is trying to tell him that the born again experience comes from God, that is from the vertical plane. Many Seventh-day Adventists and many Christians in other denominations think that to be a Christian is to believe a set of doctrines. That is not enough! We need to be born again. We need to have an experience where we are totally committed to the Lord. We say, “Lord, whatever is right, whatever You want to do in my life, through me and with me, I want it to happen.” This is an experience where self is dead, crucified on the cross and the Lord is Master in our lives.

There is only one way the everlasting gospel can be a personal experience for every one of us, and that is through the experience of being born again. When a child is born, it is a miracle. It is a new being. There are no old parts. This is the expression that the Bible uses to explain what God wants to do with us. He wants us to be made of all new parts.

Without this experience we cannot enter His kingdom. If we are standing at the border of the Promised Land and this experience is not ours, then this is the message from the Lord for us. “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 36:26. He wants to give us a heart that will do what the minority did when the children of Israel stood at the border saying, “We trust Him. We have had experiences with Him in our lives. Whatever He says, we will trust Him.”

 

One Important Thing

 

“Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.” 1 Corinthians 7:19. It means obedience. It means doing what the Lord wants us to do. In the Greek text it says that there is only one thing that is important, and that is to keep the law of God. There is one thing that matters, and that is to be obedient to God’s commands.

If we ask the Lord how we can become obedient, He will answer, “You must be born again.” We all have evil minds and hearts that are at war with God’s principles. The carnal mind alone cannot be obedient. (Romans 8:7.) We can behave decently because we are afraid of the consequences, but that is not what Jesus was talking about. He was talking about an inner experience that wherever we are we will live according to the Lord’s will, because His law is in our minds and when we would not want to do anything that would grieve Him.

The Bible makes this experience an absolute prerequisite for heaven. Nothing could be more important than for you and me to find out what our part of the work is, while He is doing His work in the Most Holy Place. Our part is to permit Him to cleanse all sin from our lives and ask the Holy Spirit to show us anything that is not according to His will. If you dare to pray that prayer, the Lord will answer. He is gracious and patient with you. He will not show you all the bad things at once, because that would discourage you. But, He will point out some things in answer to your prayer. Then go to the Bible and find the promises.

If I am a man who has a quick temper, becomes jealous or hurt easily, or has unclean thoughts, I must go to the Bible and say, “Lord, I claim Your promises.” And every time the devil tempts, say, “Lord, help me,” and repeat the promises. Resist the devil and victory will be won. That is the only way to live in a born again relationship.

I have met many Seventh-day Adventists who have heard and read about the new birth. They have a vague idea of what it means to be born again. But they do not know how to experience it. They long for it and want it, but how do they obtain it? We must know now. We stand at the border of the Promised Land. The Lord wants to invite us in. But we must be born again from above. There is no other way to find enterance.

The apostle John said, “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world. And this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” 1 John 5:4. First we are told that those who are born again will be victorious over the world. When you are tempted, you will be victorious. It also says that the secret, the tool that makes this experience ours, is faith. I have met Seventh-day Adventists who believe that faith does not involve gaining victories, but the Bible tells us that it is faith that gives us the victory as we claim His promises.

“We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.” Verse 18. This experience makes it possible for us to live without breaking God’s law. “Sinneth not,” means not breaking God’s law, since sin is the breaking of God’s law. (1 John 3:4.) The devil can tempt, but the temptations can be resisted through God’s power.

The Bible reveals how this victory, this born again experience, takes place in our lives. 1 John 3:9 tells us that he who is born again does not sin. It does not say it only once but twice, “He cannot sin.”

Some theologians have made a big issue over this verse, promoting the idea that you can be born again and still sin sometimes, but not habitually. If that is true, then 1 John 5 simply means that the person who is born again will be kept and protected by God most of the time but not all the time. And the devil will successfully tempt you sometimes, but not all the time, and you are still born again. This is a false gospel that does not belong to the everlasting gospel of salvation from sin. I have a problem with this interpretation. If the Lord can only keep me sometimes and the devil can get to me once in a while, I need to know when it is that the Lord cannot keep me. In truth, if I let go of His hand and I say to the Lord, “In this situation I want to be master of my own life. I want to stand at the steering wheel; get away, Lord, I want to take over.” It is then I will fall.

Some of our Christian friends say that if you fall like that, you are still born again. In answer I use this illustration. While traveling, you realize that you brought too little money. Suddenly you see a woman leave her purse on a seat in the restaurant you are in. After the person leaves, you pick up the purse, open it and find lots of money. You stick the money in your pocket and leave. You are tempted and you fall. Are you in a born again relationship with the Lord as long as that money is in your pocket? You stole the money and used it. You are not now in a born again relationship with the Lord. Only when you make restitution and seek forgiveness from the woman and the Lord are you right with God again.

Some of the preachers I hear in Norway give us the impression that all Adventists, as soon as they recognize they have done something wrong, fall on their knees and ask forgiveness. That is why they can say that you can sin from time to time and still be born again. That is not right. There are many Adventists that live with known, willful sin in their lives. The standard has been lowered and this is happening all the time. They still believe they have their names written in the Book of Life; they still believe that they are born again.

When Jesus comes and they stand at the border of the Promised Land, with this kind of experience, they will be disappointed. The Lord will say to them, “I do not know you. You did not trust and obey Me. You trusted self. You produced a different gospel.” Then they will weep.

 

Many are Seeking

 

Frequently we meet people from other churches and we find that many of them are tired of listening to this New Theology, which says sin and live. They are seeking the gospel we preach. They come to our churches, and there is no everlasting gospel presented. So they leave.

A Catholic priest in Oslo sent us a letter telling us that he studied with a group of members in his church. They all realized that they belonged to the wrong church. The church they belonged to was the harlot, Babylon and the antichrist. He said, “Keep on warning the people about my church, but be very careful.”

Then in another letter he wrote: “Many years ago we heard people telling people in Norway that the Catholic Church is the harlot of Revelation. But we have not heard those words for many years.” It is so sad in my country that Adventists have been reading in our church paper that we should not tell anyone who the Catholic Church is. All the members seem to listen to the leaders, as Israel did as they stood on the border of the Promised Land. We have a whole generation of Adventists growing up that do not know the real Adventist message. They have never been to an evangelistic campaign. They know nothing, but they are going to continue the work of this church! Impossible! We have to get back to the everlasting gospel.

This Catholic priest went to Germany to attend some meetings. Other Catholic priests were there as well as some bishops. Some of them had been very concerned about what is happening within the Catholic Church. Several of the people attending those meetings had questions and realized that something was wrong. In those theological meetings this priest stood up and gave a testimony. He told everyone the conclusion he had come to. He was a bold man. He said, “I believe that the church I have served all my life is the false church described in Revelation.” He told them everything. Three days later he died in his hotel room. The only information we have been able to get is that the German police are investigating his death.

The time will soon come when you and I will have to do the same. We will have to stand up and tell everyone who wants to listen what the Bible says is right and wrong. We have to take our stand now and accept God’s prohibitions and His remedy and plan for our lives. If we do not, we will end up with the great majority.

Revelation 12, 13 and 14 tell us that the whole world will follow the beast except for a little group. When Daniel’s three friends stood before the image and everyone fell down, only these three young men stood among thousands.

Very soon every faithful Seventh-day Adventist will stand, and everyone else in the world will fall down to worship. If we do not have the born-again experience at that time, we do not have a chance. When we are brought to the point that we have to choose between sinning or dying, we will have to have this born again experience if we are going to be faithful.

We need to know that all our sins have been cleansed from our lives. We need to know that we are forgiven. We need to know that Jesus Christ is our Lord. If there is something in your life that you have not committed to the Lord, ask Him to give you victory over that thing. We have no time to waste. Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you, to change your life. Pray to the Lord and ask Him for the born again experience in your life. May the Lord help us to stand among those who will say, “Here is our Lord, we have waited for Him and He will save us.”

 

The Excellency of Christ

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But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.” Philippians 3:7 NKJV. The life and teachings of the apostle Paul reflect a relationship with Jesus Christ that is so deep and so profound, so all encompassing, that it is a thrill to read the inspired words.

What things do we count to be gained in this life? There are the obvious things that people feel are a gain to them, perhaps their reputation, or even church position. What was Paul referring to in his own experience? To find out, we need to turn back to earlier verses in this chapter.

“Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation! For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh, though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel [generations of Seventh-day Adventists going back], of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee [one of the conservative branch]; concerning zeal, persecuting the church [attacking the independents]; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless [or so he thought]. But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ.” Philippians 3:1-8 NKJV

Paul is saying that in comparison, to possessing Christ, to having Him as his Saviour, his Lord and King, all else fades into oblivion. And the things that he once put confidence in, that he thought were gain, these he now counts but loss.

“Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.” Philippians 3:8. [All emphasis supplied.] He says not only that he counts all things which he once considered gain to him as loss for Christ, but moving on now to a greater arena, Paul points us to the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus.

Because of the impact of rationalism, modernism, relativism and all of the other philosophies upon our society, we live in a world where people are starving in their hearts. They are turning to the occult and to spiritualism. They are turning inwardly to self to try to find something beyond, but the genius of Christianity is that all things are promised to the believer. There is a greater life, a holier existence, a higher, more elevated plain upon which life can be lived, and an invincible, overwhelming power made available to men through Jesus Christ.

“Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things.” Philippians 3:8. It will be those who have experienced this by faith who will successfully negotiate the perils of the last days, standing for the law of God at the cost of liberty, property and even of life.

Because of the conviction that struck him as Stephen was being stoned, Paul took up the cross where Stephen had laid it down. The wonder and the beauty of Christ transfixed and transformed his heart. This vision never left Paul. When he was shipwrecked, when he was set upon by robbers, when the Jews worked to undermine his work, one look at the cross of Calvary reconsecrated and reinvigorated him, empowe

ring him to continue carrying on the message of Jesus Christ, even to Rome.
Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, as Paul pondered the cross, he saw that Christ was the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. As Paul saw Him to be the foundation of the Jewish economy and that all the promises of God are found in Him, suddenly all of his supposedly bright future vanished in the face of the glory of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord. The Sanhedrin no longer held the interest for him that it once did. The driving force within him to take this knowledge of Christ to every person in the known world drove him on and on. Hated, reviled and persecuted, he pressed on. Finally, standing alone before Nero, when all men forsook him, he had something which was beyond anything that this world could offer; and in the wonder, the glory and the beauty of that, all else faded into insignificance.

Therefore Paul says, “I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.” Philippians 3:8

What a statement! In the Greek, the word used for dung means human excrement. Paul did not want anything to interfere; and anything that came close to interfering with the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord he counted as but refuse, that he might win Christ.

What does it mean to “win Christ”? It means everything. It means eternity. It means fellowship with the saved, fellowship with those who have never fallen, fellowship with God Himself. It means to be able to sit on His throne and to commune with Him, to understand the deep things of God. Jesus Christ is the pearl of great price. Everything else has to go, for in finding Him, we find everything else. He must be supreme, and nothing must jeopardize that relationship. All of the life is then negotiated and mediated through Him.

“And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.” Philippians 3:9 NKJV

The thing that transfixed Paul was the realization that the very righteousness of God Himself could be his by faith.

He then goes on to say, “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed unto His death.” Philippians 3:10 NKJV

Christianity is a religion not only of love but of power. Paul wanted to know the power of Christ’s resurrection. Inspiration tells us that when Jesus came forth from the grave, it was by his own power. This power of the resurrection may be ours, for we are told that we will come forth from the grave, should we die before Christ returns, by virtue of the indwelling Christ.

Paul could never forget the part that he played in the stoning of Stephen and in the persecution of the church of Christ. Paul had persecuted the church of Christ, the body of his Lord, and he felt that he was the chief of sinners. Now he could not covet enough to know what the fellowship of His sufferings was. He wanted to be made conformable to the death of Christ, which is why he said, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20

“If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:11, 12

A very interesting construction. Christ Jesus had apprehended him for something and he wanted to apprehend that himself. So he and Christ were working together to apprehend the same thing.

“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13, 14

This work, forming a union with Christ, is a very, very interesting one. As Jesus left the upper room with His disciples, knowing that He was facing the hour of supreme crisis in His life on this earth, with eternity at stake, He sought to explain His mission to the world and the spiritual relationship His disciples were to sustain with Him. The moon was shining, revealing a flourishing grape vine beside them. Jesus drew the attention of the disciples to this grape vine and said to them, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me.” John 15:1-4

One of the most precious concepts in all of the Scripture is that of abiding in Christ. Ellen White commented on this with these words, “A union with Christ by living faith is enduring; every other union must perish. Christ first chose us, paying an infinite price for our redemption; and the true believer chooses Christ as first and last and best in everything. But this union costs us something. It is a union of utter dependence, to be entered into by a proud being. All who form this union must feel their need of the atoning blood of Christ. They must have a change of heart. They must submit their own will to the will of God. There will be a struggle with outward and internal obstacles. There must be a painful work of detachment as well as a work of attachment.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 231

Salvation is a gift which we must receive, but it costs us everything. It is the pearl of great price, and so it is with the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord; it is a gift that can only come to us by the agency of the Holy Spirit, but it costs us everything. We must count all things but loss in order to receive this gift.

Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, a good man from all outward appearances and one of the wealthiest men in Palestine, came to Jesus by night. He came by night because he did not want to have people see him identified with this lowly Teacher who, as yet, did not have recognition from the Sanhedrin. Approaching Jesus, he said, “Rabbi, we know that art a Teacher come from God.” John 3:2. He did not recognize Him as his Lord and Saviour and Master but only as a teacher.

Ellen White tells us that Jesus knew that what this man needed was not the discussion of a theory but a new birth. He needed this work of detachment and attachment to Him as the Saviour of the world and an attachment to Him as the Saviour of the world. Jesus said to him, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto Him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?” John 3:3, 4

Nicodemus took it literally, but Jesus was talking about a spiritual birth. A struggle is involved in birth, which is why it is referred to a labor. In ancient times, giving birth would often take the mother’s life. It is a struggle for the baby to be born. Even so in spiritual things, the spiritual new birth is a painful work.

Ellen White says of detachment and a work of attachment, “There must be a painful work of detachment as well as a work of attachment. Pride, selfishness, vanity, worldliness—sin in all its forms—must be overcome if we would enter into a union with Christ. The reason why many find the Christian life so deplorably hard, why they are so fickle, so variable, is that they try to attach themselves to Christ without first detaching themselves from these cherished idols.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 231

This is why people whom we thought would be faithful to the very end, suddenly flip and are no longer walking in the narrow way. They have not been born again; the painful work of detachment has not taken place in their heart as the Word of God is applied. That is why Jesus said to His disciples, “Ye are clean through My word; ye have been purged.” The grape vine’s tendrils, as it grows, can have a tendency to go down toward this earth; but those tendrils have to be pruned off so that it can reach up toward heaven, toward the light. The pruning is a painful process, but it must take place because no man can serve two masters. There cannot be a divided heart. Christ will not co-exist with sin and with this world. There must be a detaching from the cherished idols and the formation of this attachment with the union with which Christ’s believers become one in Christ. But one branch cannot be sustained by another, the nourishment must be obtained through vital connection with the Vine. We must feel our utter dependence upon Christ. We must live by faith in the Son of God. That is the meaning of the injunction ‘‘abide in Me.”

A mere assent to this union while the affections are not detached from the world, the pleasures and dissipation, only emboldens the heart in disobedience. “God makes no compromise. Until the heart is surrendered unconditionally to God, the human agent is not abiding in the True Vine and cannot flourish in the Vine, and bear rich clusters of fruit. God will not make the slightest compromise with sin. If He could have done this, Christ need not have come to our world to suffer and die. No conversion is genuine which does not change both the character and the conduct of those who accept the truth. The truth works by love and purifieth the soul.” Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 5, 1144

Ellen White draws on this concept of Paul in Philippians, chapter 3, in the book The Great Controversy. In describing the day of the Lord, she speaks of a mighty earthquake that shakes the entire earth. God’s people, hidden in the forest and solitary retreats in the mountains, are being threatened with utter destruction by a universal death decree. Throngs of evil men are about to rush upon them when suddenly, from the throne of God, a rainbow spans the heavens and seems to encircle each praying company. The murderous throngs are arrested. Though it is midnight, the sun appears, shining in its strength. Signs and wonders follow. Everything in nature is turned out of its course; streams cease to flow. Hail stones the weight of a talent are pulverizing the cities of the earth. Graves are opened and a special resurrection takes place. All who have died in the faith of the three angel’s messages come forth from the tomb glorified. Lightnings envelope the earth. Above the terrific roar of thunder, voices, mysterious and awful, declare the doom of the wicked. The day of the Lord has come, and through a rift in the clouds there beams a star whose brilliance is increased fourfold in contrast with the darkness. The star speaks hope and joy to the faithful but severity and wrath to the transgressors of God’s law. And now this statement, where it all comes together, “Those who have sacrificed all for Christ are now secure.” The Great Controversy, 638

They knew what it was to count all things but loss. They knew the voice of their Redeemer when conviction came and the Holy Spirit said the time has come to speak and no longer be silent. The time has come to move with the message. They sacrificed all for Christ and now they are secure, hidden, as in the secret of the Lord’s pavilion. Yes, the message of Paul comes down to us, a message glorious and wondrous in its beauty. Only those who understand what it means to behold Christ and to be transformed into the image of His glory, having been detached from everything in this world, will be secure when the day of the Lord comes. Their voices are raised in triumphant song, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.” Psalm 46:1-3

Holiness is what binds the faithful as one together with their Lord and with one another—wholeness for God, complete surrender to Him. In the greatest hour of earth’s history, as Jesus comes in the clouds of heaven, those who have made that supreme surrender, who know what it has meant to count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus their Lord, can now look up at the Lord and say, “Lo, this is our God. We have waited for Him and He will save us.” Isaiah 25:9

The End