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Tag Archives: born again

TWO MEN HANGING

02 Monday Nov 2020

Posted by Ron Thomas in Uncategorized

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born again, repentance, thief on cross

Two men hanging on their respective crosses. Both hurling insults at Jesus. As their energy drained and life slipped away, they heard people on the ground talking aloud about the One between them. After much listening, one of the thieves had a change of heart; he tired and felt guilty about insulting the One between them whom, he gathered, was guilty of no wrong. More than that, he heard people assign divinity to him. He heard that himself when he walked freely. Now he is beside Him; he had seen and heard enough that his regrets came rushing to him like a tidal wave. The other thief kept hurling insults, but the one with a change of heart had heard enough nonsense. He forthrightly declares, “But the other answered, and rebuking him said, Dost thou not even fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss” (Luke 23:40-41, ASV).

LESSON: Extraordinary circumstances on that occasion do not warrant our approach to follow the same pattern. The Lord’s pattern is in John 3:3-5 (Acts 2:37-38), follow that pattern. RT

BORN OF WATER

27 Wednesday Apr 2016

Posted by Ron Thomas in Uncategorized

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

baptism, born again, water

When Nicodemus came to the Lord in the evening hours, the Lord “cut to the quick” and addressed, presumably, what was on Nicodemus’ mind. He told him that one must be born again (John 3:3). Nicodemus found this perplexing, so he inquired further. Jesus explained there are two “components” to man’s new birth; there is the human response and then the heavenly response. “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:, ESV). Thus, to be born again is to be born from above. This passage clearly teaches that one must be born of water (baptized) in order to see (enter) the kingdom of God. One Greek scholar said as much, “…it is clear that John intended his readers to understand the expression as a reference to Christian baptism and the resulting gift of the Holy Spirit” (Mounce 396, italics his). The only reason people refuse to accept the obvious meaning and application of the passage is because of a predisposition against the necessity of baptism in relation to salvation—something the Lord put in place when He said, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:15-16, ESV). RT

 

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