Chapter 13.21
Still Born Spirit
DOA; Dead on Arrival –
Womb to the Tomb – Necessary
Condition
Dead
Dry Bones – Dead Lazarus – The Elect – Da Judge
Still
Born Signs - New Birth Signs - Holy Spirit – Half Lit
First Word
When I attend the Men’s Bible study, I always take my BS with me; my Belief System and
at this particular meeting the “PRESENTER” said that when we are born, our spirit is “STILL
BORN”; it’s there, but it’s just DEAD.
However we are not physical or morally
lifelessly, we are still walking and following after the world with passions of
the flesh complete with the desires of the body and mind.
My Belief
System said our spirits are alive and
kicking, but just separated from God until by our Free
Will, we accepted the Gospel of Jesus Christ and then we would
became “one” with God again.
God told Adam that if he ate of the TREE OF KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL that he would surely die.
Well Adam, rebelled by eating of the tree, but he actually physically lived several hundred more years, but to the Lord, a day
is like a thousand years, SO he actually died physically before
one of the Lord’s Days was completed.
But that very day Adam
DID DIE spiritually; he became spiritually DEAD, unable to desire or seek the things
of God. The condition
of Adam’s heart as well as unredeemed man’s heart is that of spiritually
depravity, devoid
of the ability to make the choice
that God commands us to make in order to be saved. No matter how many times you command a dead
body to respond, it will not respond because of its nature; it’s DEAD.
I have read “THE BONDAGE OF THE WILL” by Martin Luther who takes the position that Free Will is the dreams of men
that are MAD; it is a POISON
poured forth into the world by a wonderful malice of the Devil himself,
the prince of demons. Free Will under its own power can’t do anything but fail,
nor avail unto anything but to sin. By its
nature it
can only go downward, fall back and grow worse and worse. Free Will is
nothing but the servant of sin, of death and of Satan. (Martin Luther)
In my younger years I had always heard about the
three “S’s”; the SIN SICK SOUL and I thought that my being saved was like I was gravely SICK and just needed to be made well
again, or like if I was in the ocean drowning and there was a life preserver
nearby; all I needed to do was reach out and grab it and I would be saved.
But it’s much WORSE than that; I am not sick on
my bed, I am in the grave; DEAD, I am not
bobbing in the ocean reaching for a life preserver; I
don’t have the ability to reach out, I’m floating face down on the
ocean DEAD.
We are ALL born spiritually DEAD and soon we
will be physically DEAD. As they would say in the South; we are “DaYead”, that’s plumb dead, deader than a
door nail. The word DIE is from the Hebrew word “MUT” which means to be
executed; DEAD.
The KJV translation of the Bible changed
one word from the original manuscripts; here it is; “but of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall NOT eat, for in the
day that you eat of it YOU SHALL SURELY DIE. NOPE, it actually
reads you shall DIE,
DIE… God said DIE twice.
Did
you see it?
You shall DIE TWICE; both Physically and Spiritually.
Genesis 2:17 - You shall DIE DIE; Physically and
Spiritually
17 but of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it YOU SHALL SURELY (DIE) DIE.
DaYead
When we speak of Original Sin, it is not referring to the sin of Adam
and Eve; but refers to the CONSEQUENCES of that sin,[1]
which the corrupt nature was transmitted to the entire human race.[2] When Adam sinned, sin entered into the world
and spread death to everyone.
By our very nature, our mind’s imagination is set on
wickedness, things of the world and things of the flesh.[3] We are
born spiritually DaYead and being
spiritually DaYead we cannot receive
spiritual truths, we just simply cannot understand it.[4]
For that reason we became subjects of
God’s anger and wrath.[5]
Our hearts are desperately wicked and deceitful
and cannot approach God, so He must give us a new heart.[6] Once
we believe,
repent and accept Jesus Christ, our debt becomes paid;
our sincere hearts and guilty consciences become sprinkled with His Blood that
clears our conscience, and all our senses of guilt are removed.[7] It’s in the Book
Because of our new heart, Jesus as our
High Priest confronts Satan’s accusations and defends us.
Still Born Signs
Signs of REMAINING spiritually dead
ü NO
Aspiration for a better future; I’m good, you’re
good.
ü NO
Repentance for sins in your life. To repent is to turn and go in the other
direction.
ü NO
Desire to be fed on the
Word of God; virtually no prayer life.
ü NO
Desire for holiness and
Godliness; no spiritual hunger
ü NO
Growth in their
spiritual life; unable to accept the deeper things of God.
ü NO
Active involvement in
the growth of the Church.
ü NO
Compassion for others who are suffering or in
need.
ü NO
Sounds of thanksgiving
and Praise.
Someone who is spiritually dead is
incapable of seeing the Kingdom of God because
it is invisible to them, they are spiritually blind therefore the kingdom itself
is invisible. There is therefore;
NO thanksgiving,
NO
desire for God, NO growth and NO
good works; just DaYead.
James 2:26 – The Spirit is dead without
good works
26 Just as the body is dead
without breath, so also
FAITH IS DEAD
WITHOUT GOOD WORKS. (NLT)
Psalm 115:17 – The dead have no ability to
praise God
17 THE
DEAD CANNOT SING PRAISES TO THE LORD,
for they have
gone into the silence of the grave. (NLT)
New Birth Signs
There are THREE virtues of those
empowered by the
Spirit; Prayer, Faith and Obedience.[8]
Through these virtues the Holy Spirit glorifies
Jesus Christ through us.
There are NINE
qualities that
characterizes the person on whom the Holy Spirit rest:
Wisdom – Understanding – Counsel – Power &
Strength – Knowledge
Fear of the Lord – Righteousness – Justice & Fairness – Faithfulness[9]
Dead Dry Bones
God led Ezekiel into a valley of dry bones and asked him could these dry bones live again and Ezekiel said YOU alone know. God said speak unto
the bones and prophesy that God would make breath come into them with tendons,
flesh and skin and they would live again.
He did and they did.[10]
By their very nature these dry bones could not
respond; there was no internal ability that would let them respond. It required a NECESSARY
CONDITION TO EXIST, an external force;
a miracle of the Holy Spirit.
Notice the
Book DOES NOT say that the unsaved, the un-regenerated man WILL NOT respond to spiritual
things, it says he CANNOT respond because
his spirit is
DEAD. Therefore if our
spirit is DOA, DEAD ON ARRIVAL, our spiritual nature must be changed like
the bones in the valley of bones; our spirit must be born again. Being Born Again is NOT because of us, it’s NOT something we do, it is something that is DONE to us…
The Holy
Spirit is the NECESSARY
CONDITION that brings our STILL BORN spirit back to life
again and changes our dead nature
so that we CAN respond to spiritual things.
So in order for us to CHOOSE Jesus Christ, our still born dead spirit
must be regenerated by the Holy Spirit so that we might have the ABILITY to respond to spiritual
things.
Being Born Again is NOT
something we do, it is something that is DONE to us.
Dead
Lazarus
Lazarus was DEAD in the grave and could not do anything to obtain life, it was only when A
NECESSARY CONDITION EXISTED that changed things;
it was only when Jesus commanded him to come out of the grave did he receive
that ABILITY.[11]
Picture yourself in the grave dead when
you hear Jesus’ command; “COME FORTH” just like He called Lazarus and BAM you
become BORN
AGAIN as
His adopted child into a new spiritual life.
Notice that Jesus was specific
when he said “Lazarus” come forth,
otherwise everyone in ALL the graves
would have come forth. The call to be born again from our Lord is specific, LIMITED to just those that go by “His name”, Christians that
believe, repent and accept.
Our physical body is mortal, perishable; it will die,
but we can rest assured that we have the hope of the promise that we will be
raised immortal; imperishable; never to die again. When we are raised from the grave, death will
finally be swallowed up in victory. The Book says
Death is just another name for Satan; Satan will be
swallowed up in victory.[12]
Holy Spirit
Because
our spirit is STILL BORN,
a NECESSARY CONDITION MUST EXIST
to have the ability to seek spiritual things.
God knowing that, sent the Comforter, the Holy Spirit to re-new our spirit so as to give us that
ability.
The activity of choosing Jesus Christ is always preceded by the previous
activity of God through the Holy Spirit; no man comes to the Father
unless He draws them. On our own, we are incapable of doing anything
to accept Christ. It is the seed of “truth”
sown by the Holy
Spirit that “enables us” to desire to receive
Him.
The Holy Spirit sows the seed of
“truth”
in man’s life… Some hearts are fertile
ground for the seed to grow, other hearts are hard and full of thorns and the
seed is choked out.
The
“Who-so-ever”
that comes to God is included in The
Elect and become predestined by God to receive the gift of eternal life with
Him. It is the internal calling that man
becomes conscious that God is working a conversion in him, it happens through a
work of God’s strength, NOT the works of
the Believer’s own strength.
Where ever there is true faith there will be true repentance; a
turning away from sin into the direction of God. Strictly speaking, saving FAITH is not an act of man, but rather an act of God.
There
are two kinds of grace that is dispensed by God.
1) Common Grace is “communal”;
given by the Holy
Spirit to ALL men, sufficient to ENABLE THEM to repent of
their sins and believe in Jesus Christ, however this common
grace is resistible and more or
less IT USUALLY IS. This is because “Common Grace” leaves the heart
unchanged. It works only on the natural and not on the spiritual. Common Grace
operates only in the moral and rational ways of men, making them RECEPTIVE
to the truth. Common Grace
never removes the guilt and pollution of sin, nor does it renew the
human nature, nor does it affect the salvation of the sinner; BUT if the
human heart COOPERATES with the Holy Spirit they can be saved. - (My BS calls this Free Will)
2) Special Grace is given by the Holy Spirit to SOME; to the Elect and it cannot be resisted; although they are not
compelled, it makes the desire so great that THEY WANT God. It is a renewing of the whole nature of man,
not only ENABLING THEM to repent of
their sins, but causes them to be WILLING. It is the
operation of God to remove the guilt, penalty, condemnation and punishment of
Sin, and gradually cleanses the person of the pollution of sin and ultimately
provides the person Salvation through the operation of the Holy Spirit. (My BS calls
this Pre-destination.)
The Book seems to bear
out that Judas had (1) Common
Grace (a Make Believer). The other eleven Disciples had (2) Special Grace. (Believers) Ponder the difference between someone who is
called a “Christian”
and someone who is called a “FOLLOWER” of Jesus
Christ.
Revelation
22:17- The who-so-ever are the Elect.
17 The Spirit and the bride say,
"Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" WHOEVER is
thirsty, let him come; and WHOEVER wishes, let him
take THE FREE GIFT of the water of
life.
NIV
Deuteronomy
30:19 – We have a FREE
WILL
Choice
19 Today I have given you THE
CHOICE between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call
on heaven and earth to WITNESS THE
CHOICE you make. Oh, that you
would CHOOSE life, so that you and your
descendants might live!
(NLT)
Half
Lit
Picture the whole world as a Giant
Electrical Sign with billions of light bulbs… None of them with a sign of life.
Picture the manufacturer; The HOLY SPIRIT showing up and
repairing their filaments giving them “THE ABILITY” to light up.
Picture an electrician with his WORD glove on, screwing ALL the light bulbs in tighter
making the corroded connection possible. Some light up bright, some are half lit,
some very dim and most others don’t light up at all; why is that? Ponder the results; ALL had encountered the Spirit and the Word,
becoming repaired and connected; the ability to
produce light was present; so what is the
difference?
Jesus explains this condition with the
parable of the sower; the farmer (the Holy Spirit)
sows the word. Some people are like seed along the
path, [13] where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes
away the word that was sown in them. Others
are like seed
sown on rocky places,[14]
they hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But
since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of
the word that was sown, they quickly fall away.
Still others are like seed sown among thorns,[15]
they hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth
and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it
unfruitful. Others are like seed sown on good soil,[16] hear
the word, accept it, and
PRODUCE a CROP-THIRTY,
SIXTY or
even a
HUNDRED TIMES what was
sown."
The Holy Spirit is the NECESSARY CONDITION that gives man’s dead spirit the ability
to become born again and live.[17]
Necessary Condition
BORN in the Strong's
Concordance (#1080)
is
the Greek term “gennao”
meaning; to father - to beget - to bring forth - to procreate - to conceive
- to regenerate - to bear - to make - to
be born.
There is something called a NECESSARY CONDITION that is an absolute prerequisite for a
desired result to occur. To start a fire
we must have A
NECESSARY CONDITION to exist; it needs oxygen to combust.
ü Jesus
told Nicodemus, UNLESS he was born again he could not enter into the kingdom of God. There was A NECESSARY CONDITION that was
required for him to enter into the Kingdom of God, his DEAD spirit must be BORN AGAIN.[18]
ü The
Prodigal Son had reached A
NECESSARY CONDITION of understanding that he was lost; his spirit was
dead, and in repentance he sought out
his Father and was received
back into the family; or to say it another way; he was symbolically Born Again.[19]
ü The
Blind Beggar was born blind at birth and could do NOTHING about it… But that all changed when A NECESSARY CONDITION was met; that
condition was the Touch of the Master’s hands and the beggar said; all I know is, once I was blind and now I SEE.[20]
The Elect
This will be hard to digest, but there
seems to be two parallel lines of “The Elect”
taught in scripture both which calumniate with God somewhere in eternity; you cannot
deny one or the other. You cannot look at just one line, but the both of them
at the same time.
1)
There are those that God chose before
the foundations of the earth; “The Elect” and then
2)
Those who would be drawn by the Holy Spirit through the hearing of the word of God.[21]
So some folks are PREDESTINED to come to Christ while others come by FREE WILL; both PREDESTINATION and FREE WILL are taught in the Book,
you don’t have to choose, they are both compatible with each other. (I
am a COMPATIBILIST) [22]
If you can just
grasp the fact that God CHOSE THE NATION OF ISRAEL to be His chosen
people and then made a way for the Gentiles through “FREE WILL” to come to
Him; to be grafted into the vine, then you can understand it. Jesus flat out told His Disciples that He had
other sheep that were not of this sheep pen.[23] Without this understanding, we are without
reason to preach the Gospel[24]
if we are WITHOUT the FREEWILL to accept it, and just left to be PREDESTINED to either
heaven or hell.
Did you see it? Most
of Israel; THE JEWS, God’s “CHOSEN PEOPLE”,
DID NOT “CHOOSE” to accept Jesus Christ as their Messiah
and most of the GENTILES (the Greeks; everybody else) DID NOT CHOOSE Him either.
John
3:16 – Whosoever believes will be saved
16 For God so loved the world
that he gave his one and only Son, that WHOEVER
BELIEVES IN HIM SHALL NOT PERISH
BUT HAVE ETERNAL LIFE. NIV
J. Vernon McGee says that THE ELECT are the Whosoever Wills and the non-elect
are the Whosoever Won’t. Life is choice driven
Here come
da Judge
We certainly look to our Judges to judge us
rightly; we wouldn’t want the wicked to be judged the same as the
righteous. The
Book says the Judge of the earth
will do what is right.[25] God has overlooked our ignorance of sin in
the past, but now COMMANDS everyone to repent.[26]
God has been holding back His anger,[27]
and when He returns, it will be in full force, He will separate the Goats from
the Sheep,[28] the
Evil from the Good. To the Un-Believer and the Make Believer he
will say; away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal
fire prepared for the devil and his demons.[29]
The
Take Away
The Latin words sola scriptura means
“SCRIPTURE ALONE” and sola fide “FAITH ALONE”, the phrase sola
gratia means our salvation rests on the GRACE OF GOD ALONE.
I don’t think our trouble with the Bible is its lack of clarity; our trouble is our lack of understanding
what the
Bible teaches. A NECESSARY CONDITION must exist in order
for us to understand spiritual things. We
all have a STILL
BORN SPIRIT that must be BORN AGAIN to
gain this understanding.[30] A relationship is established to whom we
willing give our obedience. The one that
we have a relationship
with, serve and OBEY is our
FATHER.[31]
The Holy Spirit has made it
possible for a STILL BORN spirit that was DEAD ON ARRIVAL to be REBORN.[32] However it is THE HEART of man; it is what’s in his soul that will determine if he lights
up bright, half lit, DIM or dark;[33] a
Believer, Make-Believer or Un-Believer.
The Book says that all our flesh can yield is more flesh, it does not
have the ability to yield an ounce of Spirit… Unless regeneration
takes place first, there is no possibility of faith. [34]
ü Angels were
created with Free Will, immortal and with much power, but they do not
possess a soul and CANNOT be redeemed if they fall into sin; some
have already fallen.
ü Man was created
with Free Will, but mortal
and with little power. All men when they are born are “STILL BORN”, they are spiritually dead on arrival,
however they DO possess a soul
and CAN be redeemed.
Both Angels and man, will live somewhere for eternity. Fallen Angels and un-regenerated man’s spirit
will be separated
from God for eternity. The faithful
angels and the regenerated man’s spirit will be in the presence of God and Jesus Christ His Son for eternity.[35]
The Holy Spirit was present and working in
the life of Jesus Christ; how much more do we also need the Spirit in our
lives, from “the
Womb to the Tomb”. The Spirit
works differently in each one of us; not all are called to be out front
preaching or teaching, some serve un-noticed in the background parking cars,
cooking, serving, cleaning and “pointing to Jesus.”
The Apostle Andrew was noticeably quiet and in the background
as; Peter, James and John seem to dominate the inner circle, however he is
credited for bringing many to meet Christ.
Andrew’s heart did not resent being a supporting actor, living in the
shadow of his brother Peter. He saw
great value in serving quietly in the background. Andrew delighted in pointing everyone and
anyone to Jesus. Because of the fact
that he brought his brother Peter to Christ, another 3000 received eternal
life. Andrew just “pointed” people to
Jesus.
Such is the Holy Spirit, rarely taking center stage, but pointing us to
the other members of the Trinity. He is
like the wind, invisible, powerful, uncontrollable and unpredictable, you
cannot see Him nor tell where He comes or goes, but you can hear and feel His
presence.
The
Spirit’s work will always point to
our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ. He alone is the source of empowerment that God
uses to accomplish His will. WE raise the sails
of our boat; the breath of THE HOLY SPIRIT powers our sails and GOD steers… Just raise
your sails.[36]
All your STILLBORN SPIRIT needs to be made alive again is for a NECESSARY CONDITION to exist and God has already sent the Holy Spirit to you; JUST seek and you will find Him.[37]
It’s in the Book
[1] Romans 8:5 – Those who live according
to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh
[2] Romans 5:12 – When Adam sinned, sin entered the world,
so death spread to everyone
[3] Genesis 6:5 – The natural man’s mind is consistently on evil
[4] 1 Corinthians 2:14 – People who aren’t spiritual can’t understand spiritual
things; it all sounds
foolish
[5] Ephesians 2:1-3 – The Spiritually dead by their very nature are subject
to God’s anger
[6] John 3:3 – I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God
[7] Romans 5:6-18 - While we were still
sinners, our Spirit was utterly helpless to save us
John 3:6-7 – The Holy Spirit gives birth to
Spiritual Life, so don’t be surprised when I say, ‘you must be born again
-- John 1:12 – To all who believed him and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of god
-- 1
Corinthians 15:22 – Everyone who belongs to Christ
will be given new life
[8] 1 Corinthians 12:4-7 –
There are different ways to serve God with different kinds of gifts, different service,
different kinds of working
[9] Isaiah 11:2-5 – Nine qualities of the Spirit; Wisdom – Understanding – Counsel – Power & Strength –
Knowledge – Fear of the Lord – Righteousness – Justice & Fairness –
Faithfulness
[10] Ezekiel 37:1-14 – Valley of dry dead bones; prophesy LIFE;
breathe into these dead bodies so they may live
again; they all came to life and stood up on their feet
[11] John 11:43-44 – Lazarus received his life at Jesus’ command “LAZARUS, COME OUT!”
[12] 1 Corinthians 15:54 – Satan; Death is swallowed up in victory.
[13] Mark
[14] Mark 4:16-17 - Some
hearts are LIKE SEED SOWN ON ROCKY PLACES they have no root, they
last only a short time
[15] Mark 4:8-19 - Some hearts
are LIKE SEED SOWN AMONG THORNS fertile others rocky but worries of life,
deceitfulness of wealth, and desires for other things choke the word, making it
unfruitful
[16] Mark 4:20 - Some hearts
are LIKE SEED SOWN ON GOOD SOIL and produce a harvest of
thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted
[17] John
[18] John 6:65 – Necessary condition; no one can come to me unless the father has enabled him
-- John 3:3-8 – Necessary Condition – To see the Kingdom – You must be born again
[19] Luke 15:32 – Necessary Condition repentance; for your brother was dead and has come back
to life, he was lost, but now he is found!
[20] John 9:8-9 – Necessary Condition; A touch
from the master -- John 9:25 – All I know is that I was once Blind and now I
see
[21] John 6:44 – No one can come to me unless the Holy Spirit draws them unto me
[22] Matthew
[23] John 10:16 – I have other
sheep that are not of this pen: they shall hear my voice; and there SHALL BE ONE
FOLD -- John 1:12-13 – To all WHO BELIEVED HIM and ACCEPTED HIM, HE
GAVE THE RIGHT TO BECOME CHILDREN OF GOD
[24] Mark 16:15 – Go into ALL the world and PREACH THE GOOD NEWS to
everyone.
[25] Genesis 18:24-25 – The judge of the earth will do what is right
[26] Acts 17:30-31 – God commands everyone to repent; turn to Him
[27] Isaiah 48:9 – God is giving mankind TIME
to repent; no excuses
[28] Matthew 25:31-46 – When Jesus returns in His glory, He will separate the sheep from the Goats for
judgment
[29] 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10 – When the Lord Jesus appears He will bring judgment on those who don’t know God, those who refuse to obey the good news of our Lord
Jesus
[30] Psalm 51:5 – We are ALL born sinners yes, from the moment my mother conceived me
[31] John 8:44 – Your father is the one you follow and DO his will
[32] Deuteronomy 4:29 – Seek God and you will find Him
[33] Jeremiah 17:9 – The heart is most DECEITFUL
and desperately Wicked
[34] John 3:5-6 - Humans
can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life -- Romans 4:17 – Jesus brings life to the dead -- Ephesians 2:8-9 – Salvation is not a
reward, it is a GIFT of His Grace to the
Believer
[35] John 3:16 – Everyone who BELIEVES,
ACCEPTS and OBEYS has eternal life and WILL NOT PERISH
[36] Ephesians 2:5 – While we were DEAD
He RAISED us to LIFE
[37] Joshua 24:15 – Life is
choice driven - CHOOSE FOR YOURSELVES THIS DAY WHOM YOU WILL SERVE,
AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSEHOLD, WE WILL SERVE THE LORD
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