Posted on 12/30/2013 8:58:13 AM PST by virgil283
"Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life." -Jn. 5:39 -40
You can study and know the scriptures but not recognize Jesus Christ. The Pharisees did this .
Nicodemus was a Pharisee, and Jesus said you must be born again.
Brothers and sisters please make sure you are born again.. All the doctrines and the commandments of men. are vain without receiving the promise from GOD. Being born again is to receive the new spirit God will give you. It is not a physical change but a spiritual change. It will effect your behavior if you let it but it is spiritual, inside you.
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“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. “ Act 2:39
“Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again“.-Jn 3:7
“Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever “-1 Pet 1:23
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”- Jn 14:6
5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is the important part here -- water and the spirit.
Readers and interpreters of the Sacred Scriptures especially miss Christ when they use the texts to make Him out as merely a good man, a new teacher, or one who makes rules for right living. The sacred Scriptures are the means whereby the Creator comes down to take us to Himself, first by revealing His holiness and righteousness by way of the Law, and then by becoming our Righteousness in the flesh of Christ. These sacred Scriptures are ultimately published widely for no other reason than to make us wise unto salvation, and there is salvation in no other Name than that of Christ Jesus. “O LORD, grant that your Word may have free course, and be preached to the joy and edifying of all people, for without Your Light we cannot but stumble in darkness.”
Ephesians 2 1-10
2 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[a] 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. 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. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
When presented this way, it appears as an order instead of an offer.
It is a collective offer of salvation but the decision to accept the offer must be individual.
I highly recommend accepting the offer.
The "offer" of salvation I spoke of is the New Testament Covenant.
The New Testament Covenant is not a revised or amended version of the Old Testament Covenant the Jews are bound to follow. The New Testament Covenant contains but a single commandment; love.
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