Before I confessed my sin and asked Jesus to be Lord of my life I was a dead man walking. What I mean by this is that I did not give much thought to how I was living my life in relation to God. I was brought up Lutheran and knew about the stories in the Bible, but I did not think much about it as I grew older. I made my first communion and did everything religious that I was taught. However, I had no real relationship with God and I did not realize this until much later in life. My concept of God and what it meant to be one of His children was horribly misguided. My sense of goodness compared to my sinful state was a deep deception, and as for my religion, it was non-existent. I was doing my own thing and expected that it would be good enough for God. I could not have been more wrong.
So, how about you? Are you dead or alive spiritually? The answer is eternally important! You may not even quite understand what I mean by this. It is important to understand that everyone is born spiritually dead. We are all born with the fallen nature of Adam. God warned that if they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they would surely die. God is a God of His word and when they ate their eyes were opened and the consequences were immediate. In that moment, they became spiritually dead. They had chosen to disobey the command God had given them. God had no choice but to issue judgement upon them and all who would be born after them. Sin had entered mankind and all of creation was ruined. There was only one who could make a way back from this spiritual death. Almighty God had a plan and God the Father made a way out for all who would believe in the way He made. John 3:16 “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.” This is where each of us must recognize that a choice must now be made. Jesus Christ made a way for all to have life once again. Paul shares this same reality in his letter to the Corinthian church. “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.”
1 Corinthians 15:22
Will You Believe Jesus?
I just shared the well-known verse John 3:16 with you. In the first half of John chapter 3 we have the conversation Jesus had with a religious leader named Nicodemus. I encourage you to read it for yourself. What Jesus told Nicodemus so long ago is the same for each one of us today.
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” John 3:3
“Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.” John 3:6
Here Jesus is stating clearly that what He is talking about is spiritual not natural. Jesus is the only way we can come alive spiritually. There is a great deception in our day that we can make our own way to heaven. This teaching is referred to as Universalism. The main premise is that somehow all pathways lead back to God and His heaven. It does not matter much how or what you believe about God and heaven. We have many religious leaders today that have been teaching a false gospel. A gospel that is man centered, cheapens grace, and is opposite of what Jesus teaches us here. The apostle Paul declares what the pathway of salvation is when he wrote to the Ephesian Church. When you read this please read it as though it was written to you because it was.
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9
Can you see the contrast here? There is nothing you or I could ever do (works) that would save us. There is no amount of good that someone can accomplish to outweigh the sinful deeds committed. Faith is all about placing our hope in what Jesus accomplished through His death and resurrection. Being “Born Again” is a spiritual transformation accomplished only through confession of sin and repentance (turning away from) a life selfishly lived. The world we live in follows the way of Satan who is the ruler of the kingdom of the air. We are born with his prideful self-centered spirit, and it is his spirit that is at work in each one of us until we come to believe what Jesus said, and what Paul writes to us just a few verses earlier. In Ephesians 2:1-7 Paul speaks about our condition before this spiritual transformation takes place. “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” It is only God who can give life, and He gives us His Spirit when we confess we are sinners, repent of our wicked ways, and ask Jesus to be Lord of our life. This is when we come alive spiritually and realize what Jesus meant in John 6:63 “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.” Jesus gives us life and He is the only One who can do this for you. This is what it means to be born again.
So, Which Spirit Lives In You?
Listen again to what Paul writes to the Corinthian Church in regards to the difference between the person who has the Spirit of God and the one who does not.
12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. 14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 1 Corinthians 2:12-14
Did you see the contrast here in these verses? When we are born again of the Spirit of God we come alive spiritually. In Paul’s second letter to the Corinthian church he declares this contrast once again.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 2 Corinthians 5:17
So, like Paul, I do not make a case with logic, but with God’s Word and a personal revelation of Jesus Christ. I will leave you with this from the book of Jude.
17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18 They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” 19 These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. Jude 1:17-19 So are you Dead or Alive? The answer is eternally important.
If you need prayer or have questions, please don’t hesitate to leave me a message in the comment section. I will respond with an answer and pray for your need.
So, how about you? Are you dead or alive spiritually? The answer is eternally important! You may not even quite understand what I mean by this. It is important to understand that everyone is born spiritually dead. We are all born with the fallen nature of Adam. God warned that if they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they would surely die. God is a God of His word and when they ate their eyes were opened and the consequences were immediate. In that moment, they became spiritually dead. They had chosen to disobey the command God had given them. God had no choice but to issue judgement upon them and all who would be born after them. Sin had entered mankind and all of creation was ruined. There was only one who could make a way back from this spiritual death. Almighty God had a plan and God the Father made a way out for all who would believe in the way He made. John 3:16 “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.” This is where each of us must recognize that a choice must now be made. Jesus Christ made a way for all to have life once again. Paul shares this same reality in his letter to the Corinthian church. “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.”
1 Corinthians 15:22
Will You Believe Jesus?
I just shared the well-known verse John 3:16 with you. In the first half of John chapter 3 we have the conversation Jesus had with a religious leader named Nicodemus. I encourage you to read it for yourself. What Jesus told Nicodemus so long ago is the same for each one of us today.
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” John 3:3
“Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.” John 3:6
Here Jesus is stating clearly that what He is talking about is spiritual not natural. Jesus is the only way we can come alive spiritually. There is a great deception in our day that we can make our own way to heaven. This teaching is referred to as Universalism. The main premise is that somehow all pathways lead back to God and His heaven. It does not matter much how or what you believe about God and heaven. We have many religious leaders today that have been teaching a false gospel. A gospel that is man centered, cheapens grace, and is opposite of what Jesus teaches us here. The apostle Paul declares what the pathway of salvation is when he wrote to the Ephesian Church. When you read this please read it as though it was written to you because it was.
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9
Can you see the contrast here? There is nothing you or I could ever do (works) that would save us. There is no amount of good that someone can accomplish to outweigh the sinful deeds committed. Faith is all about placing our hope in what Jesus accomplished through His death and resurrection. Being “Born Again” is a spiritual transformation accomplished only through confession of sin and repentance (turning away from) a life selfishly lived. The world we live in follows the way of Satan who is the ruler of the kingdom of the air. We are born with his prideful self-centered spirit, and it is his spirit that is at work in each one of us until we come to believe what Jesus said, and what Paul writes to us just a few verses earlier. In Ephesians 2:1-7 Paul speaks about our condition before this spiritual transformation takes place. “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” It is only God who can give life, and He gives us His Spirit when we confess we are sinners, repent of our wicked ways, and ask Jesus to be Lord of our life. This is when we come alive spiritually and realize what Jesus meant in John 6:63 “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.” Jesus gives us life and He is the only One who can do this for you. This is what it means to be born again.
So, Which Spirit Lives In You?
Listen again to what Paul writes to the Corinthian Church in regards to the difference between the person who has the Spirit of God and the one who does not.
12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. 14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 1 Corinthians 2:12-14
Did you see the contrast here in these verses? When we are born again of the Spirit of God we come alive spiritually. In Paul’s second letter to the Corinthian church he declares this contrast once again.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 2 Corinthians 5:17
So, like Paul, I do not make a case with logic, but with God’s Word and a personal revelation of Jesus Christ. I will leave you with this from the book of Jude.
17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18 They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” 19 These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. Jude 1:17-19 So are you Dead or Alive? The answer is eternally important.
If you need prayer or have questions, please don’t hesitate to leave me a message in the comment section. I will respond with an answer and pray for your need.
RSS Feed