Gary Sullivan
Member
The blessings in understanding God in HIS WORD are infinite.Only those that make the effort to get into the WORD and seek to keep the word will be recipients of HIS unique self-revelation, according to John 14:21-23.We can only know God through HIS WORD and then we can know our everyday experiences are of Him, or not.The Holy Spirit wrote the WORD, inspiring godly, believing men to write to us that which is infallible and inerrant.
Too many believers think otherwise but in the great confrontation between YESHUA in HIS humanity, and Satan in Luke 4, The LORD stated: " Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of GOD."If this is true of the ONE WHO could not sin how much more is it true of sinful believers.
In John 3 there is the meeting between Nicodemus, a Pharisee and one of the religious council of 71 in Israel known as the Sanhedrin, and YESHUA and the issue is raised of the term BORN AGAIN. This term if essentially only found in John 3 and the meaning is a new birth.The reason this term is mentioned by JESUS is found in the context in which it is raised.From the first century Jewish frame of reference, It is easy to understand.The problem is that most of the believing Church try to understand from a twenty-second Gentile mindset and because of this faulty foundation they cannot help but make a faulty conclusion.By doing this they teach error.
In the context of John 3, it must be understood that Jesus was dealing with an issue raised by a man who was an extremely religious unbelieving Jew and thus HE spoke of issues that Nicodemus understood. In the situation of the first century Israel a theology had developed that there were 6 different ways a person could be BORN AGAIN. Nicodemus himself, in his own mindset, had been born again 4 times, the maximum that he possibly could. The problem was that the Jewish concept of being BORN AGAIN was exclusively in the physical realm and did not enable a spiritual salvation. This concept among the Jewish religious men of that day that what we do in the flesh can avail in the spirit is an error even more evident in this age of great apostasy throughout the visible church.
Notice in John 3:4 that Nicodemus asks Jesus. "How can a man be born when he is old".By this question, he reveals that his query is not the issue of being BORN AGAIN but being BORN at his old age. He knew the term BORN AGAIN ( the Greek word can also be translated BORN anew or from above).By this time Nicodemus was over 50 and according to his understanding, he had run out of any options of being BORN AGAIN. Jesus deliberately opened this issue up to Nicodemus because HE wanted him saved, and indeed Nicodemus comes to saving faith before Jesus went to the Cross. Jesus revealed to the leading Pharisee that there is only one valid New birth acceptable to God and that is a spiritual birth as seen in John 3:6. In John 3:13-20 HE tells Nicodemus that the new birth comes through faith in the very PERSON that he went to for information!
I must recommend you purchase the 4 books on the Life of the Messiah from Ariel Ministries for an in-depth teaching on this and many other issues. The Life of the Messiah series takes us into a verse by verse study of all the gospels in chronological order. If you do buy the books please note that the full Jewish rabbinical background is provided. For some that is great but I would recommend that initially you stick to Arnold s own teaching and at a later date go through some of the background provided. The website is www.ariel.org. If you want me to go through John 3 In detail then I will.
Relating to the new birth I want to help explain a few things with the background being our natural birth. When we are born physically we entered into a relationship with our parents and any siblings immediately we were born. Then over a period of time, we built on that initial relationship and this meant fellowship with one another. No matter how good or bad, close or distant the relationship it always exists while we live.However, our fellowship with our family can be broken either temporarily or permanently. The same is true for believers in Christ Jesus.
The moment we believed in HIM we were born spiritually ie our human spirit which had been dead/ separated from God was quickened by the Holy Spirit and made alive in Christ for all future eternity. Now I want to make some contrasts between our relationship and fellowship with God.
1. Our relationship came once and for all the moment we believed. Like our natural birth, it is irreversible. However, this relationship does not guarantee fellowship. God has provided HIS WORD and all the ministries of HIS HOLY SPIRIT, detailed in the Word.The problem is that most do not seek an intimate fellowship with God. The more we put into a relationship the more it results in quality fellowship.In the human realm, this requires commitment from all persons. In the realm of GOD and us, HE has already provided for us and always will. It is our obligation to respond as God desires and had instructed in His Word. The LORD only needs the slightest flicker of interest from us to bless us.
2 We came into the relationship at a one-off , crisis point of time but our fellowship with Him is a lifetime matter.
3 We came into relationship through His death but have fellowship through His life. Catholicism and many other false religions in Christendom want The LORD either to stay in a manger or on the cross, but these were historical facts that are past and we need to realise and apply the truth so that we have fellowship with the TRUE and LIVING GOD. Our relationship, of course, was based on the perfect sacrifice of the only righteous man ever to live, and then die for us, but the Bible reveals infinitely more about our God than this. When we preach the word to unbelievers, of course, we teach the gospel of 1 Corinthians 15:2-4 but you cannot grow up without accepting all that He teaches us.
4. There is nothing as secure as our relationship with GOD. There is nothing as fragile as our fellowship with GOD. The reality is that our relationship was based on His grace only and can never be broken by us. However, we can, and do, resist the grace of God as family members and by rebelling against HIM we fracture our fellowship. The remedy is to apply 1John 1:9 ie to confess our sins to HIM each day. A problem here is that if one does not understand GOD's viewpoint on sin he will not confess! I will give 2 very simple examples. The word makes it clear that sexual intercourse outside of a marriage between a man and a woman is a sin. It is called fornication.Incredibly today often even the believing Church does not teach this. There are believers who practice fornication. All of us can sin sexually but we need to confess and forsake as seen in Proverbs 28:13.
Another very simple area of unconfessed sin today is in most local churches.The Bible clearly teaches several things concerning biblical headship.From God's viewpoint, women are positionally and functionality subordinate to men and yet men allow women to exercise authority over either by teaching or incredibly as pastors.This is total rebellion. The point is that the Church has not evangelised the world but has been evangelised BY the world. The issues of equality and authority are separate but have now been marred.
It is pathetic that we as sinners, who are equal to one another, cannot obey biblical authority when the PERFECT ONE HIMSELF submitted to the authority of those infinitely inferior to HIM as seen in Luke 2:51.
The issue is not just the sin but the fact it remains unconfessed thus separating those guilty from many blessings.
Too many believers think otherwise but in the great confrontation between YESHUA in HIS humanity, and Satan in Luke 4, The LORD stated: " Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of GOD."If this is true of the ONE WHO could not sin how much more is it true of sinful believers.
In John 3 there is the meeting between Nicodemus, a Pharisee and one of the religious council of 71 in Israel known as the Sanhedrin, and YESHUA and the issue is raised of the term BORN AGAIN. This term if essentially only found in John 3 and the meaning is a new birth.The reason this term is mentioned by JESUS is found in the context in which it is raised.From the first century Jewish frame of reference, It is easy to understand.The problem is that most of the believing Church try to understand from a twenty-second Gentile mindset and because of this faulty foundation they cannot help but make a faulty conclusion.By doing this they teach error.
In the context of John 3, it must be understood that Jesus was dealing with an issue raised by a man who was an extremely religious unbelieving Jew and thus HE spoke of issues that Nicodemus understood. In the situation of the first century Israel a theology had developed that there were 6 different ways a person could be BORN AGAIN. Nicodemus himself, in his own mindset, had been born again 4 times, the maximum that he possibly could. The problem was that the Jewish concept of being BORN AGAIN was exclusively in the physical realm and did not enable a spiritual salvation. This concept among the Jewish religious men of that day that what we do in the flesh can avail in the spirit is an error even more evident in this age of great apostasy throughout the visible church.
Notice in John 3:4 that Nicodemus asks Jesus. "How can a man be born when he is old".By this question, he reveals that his query is not the issue of being BORN AGAIN but being BORN at his old age. He knew the term BORN AGAIN ( the Greek word can also be translated BORN anew or from above).By this time Nicodemus was over 50 and according to his understanding, he had run out of any options of being BORN AGAIN. Jesus deliberately opened this issue up to Nicodemus because HE wanted him saved, and indeed Nicodemus comes to saving faith before Jesus went to the Cross. Jesus revealed to the leading Pharisee that there is only one valid New birth acceptable to God and that is a spiritual birth as seen in John 3:6. In John 3:13-20 HE tells Nicodemus that the new birth comes through faith in the very PERSON that he went to for information!
I must recommend you purchase the 4 books on the Life of the Messiah from Ariel Ministries for an in-depth teaching on this and many other issues. The Life of the Messiah series takes us into a verse by verse study of all the gospels in chronological order. If you do buy the books please note that the full Jewish rabbinical background is provided. For some that is great but I would recommend that initially you stick to Arnold s own teaching and at a later date go through some of the background provided. The website is www.ariel.org. If you want me to go through John 3 In detail then I will.
Relating to the new birth I want to help explain a few things with the background being our natural birth. When we are born physically we entered into a relationship with our parents and any siblings immediately we were born. Then over a period of time, we built on that initial relationship and this meant fellowship with one another. No matter how good or bad, close or distant the relationship it always exists while we live.However, our fellowship with our family can be broken either temporarily or permanently. The same is true for believers in Christ Jesus.
The moment we believed in HIM we were born spiritually ie our human spirit which had been dead/ separated from God was quickened by the Holy Spirit and made alive in Christ for all future eternity. Now I want to make some contrasts between our relationship and fellowship with God.
1. Our relationship came once and for all the moment we believed. Like our natural birth, it is irreversible. However, this relationship does not guarantee fellowship. God has provided HIS WORD and all the ministries of HIS HOLY SPIRIT, detailed in the Word.The problem is that most do not seek an intimate fellowship with God. The more we put into a relationship the more it results in quality fellowship.In the human realm, this requires commitment from all persons. In the realm of GOD and us, HE has already provided for us and always will. It is our obligation to respond as God desires and had instructed in His Word. The LORD only needs the slightest flicker of interest from us to bless us.
2 We came into the relationship at a one-off , crisis point of time but our fellowship with Him is a lifetime matter.
3 We came into relationship through His death but have fellowship through His life. Catholicism and many other false religions in Christendom want The LORD either to stay in a manger or on the cross, but these were historical facts that are past and we need to realise and apply the truth so that we have fellowship with the TRUE and LIVING GOD. Our relationship, of course, was based on the perfect sacrifice of the only righteous man ever to live, and then die for us, but the Bible reveals infinitely more about our God than this. When we preach the word to unbelievers, of course, we teach the gospel of 1 Corinthians 15:2-4 but you cannot grow up without accepting all that He teaches us.
4. There is nothing as secure as our relationship with GOD. There is nothing as fragile as our fellowship with GOD. The reality is that our relationship was based on His grace only and can never be broken by us. However, we can, and do, resist the grace of God as family members and by rebelling against HIM we fracture our fellowship. The remedy is to apply 1John 1:9 ie to confess our sins to HIM each day. A problem here is that if one does not understand GOD's viewpoint on sin he will not confess! I will give 2 very simple examples. The word makes it clear that sexual intercourse outside of a marriage between a man and a woman is a sin. It is called fornication.Incredibly today often even the believing Church does not teach this. There are believers who practice fornication. All of us can sin sexually but we need to confess and forsake as seen in Proverbs 28:13.
Another very simple area of unconfessed sin today is in most local churches.The Bible clearly teaches several things concerning biblical headship.From God's viewpoint, women are positionally and functionality subordinate to men and yet men allow women to exercise authority over either by teaching or incredibly as pastors.This is total rebellion. The point is that the Church has not evangelised the world but has been evangelised BY the world. The issues of equality and authority are separate but have now been marred.
It is pathetic that we as sinners, who are equal to one another, cannot obey biblical authority when the PERFECT ONE HIMSELF submitted to the authority of those infinitely inferior to HIM as seen in Luke 2:51.
The issue is not just the sin but the fact it remains unconfessed thus separating those guilty from many blessings.