Spurgeon on that most serious of subjects...
'For many are called, but few are chosen' - Matthew 22:14
(This video is pt. III of a four part series titled "Christ crucified": here)
Very important to have a correct understanding of this most important truth, i.e. the issue of being 'born twice', or 'again'. The word 'again', in the original Greek, is 'anothen' (an'-o-then), meaning literally 'from above'. To speak of being 'born twice', or 'again', then, is to speak of a second birth experience which comes 'from above', or even more specifically, an altogether new experience which is nothing less than to actually be 'born...of God' (John 1:12-13). Truly, a man can have nothing more to do with taking credit for his natural birth, then to take any credit for a second 'supernatural' birth. If a man is truly born 'again', God, and God alone, has brought forth that new life, with no help whatsoever from one who has yet to even be conceived. This is the starting point in understanding God's great plan of salvation. "Except a man be born again", which is the first thing that must happen, he, according to the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, will be absolutely unable to even 'see' the Kingdom of God (John 3:3). Nevertheless, this doctrine, called 'election', has for the most part been completely set aside by that sad parody of what passes for the Christian church in these Laodicean days in which we live, replaced with a little magic formula called the 'sinner's prayer'. Say the magic words, and you're in....saved forever and ever...and you don't even have to understand it...just say the words. That's all there is to it...welcome to the club. Is it really any wonder, then, to find the outwardly-visible professing-christian church, across the board, being seduced into the global interfaith movement as well as throwing open the doors to the homosexual agenda? No, there is no wonder, for it is a thoroughly leavened mass of unregenerate self-called self-willed flesh (Matt. 13:33). And no wonder there either, for that is the exact condition one should expect to find the outwardly-visible professing 'christian' church in towards the close of this present dispensation (which is exactly where things are), as foretold by the Word of God (Rev. 3:16-17). Do not be spued with them. Rev. 18:4
***
see also: A.W. Pink: A Few Truths About 'The New Birth'
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John 3:6 'That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.'
'For many are called, but few are chosen' - Matthew 22:14
(This video is pt. III of a four part series titled "Christ crucified": here)
Very important to have a correct understanding of this most important truth, i.e. the issue of being 'born twice', or 'again'. The word 'again', in the original Greek, is 'anothen' (an'-o-then), meaning literally 'from above'. To speak of being 'born twice', or 'again', then, is to speak of a second birth experience which comes 'from above', or even more specifically, an altogether new experience which is nothing less than to actually be 'born...of God' (John 1:12-13). Truly, a man can have nothing more to do with taking credit for his natural birth, then to take any credit for a second 'supernatural' birth. If a man is truly born 'again', God, and God alone, has brought forth that new life, with no help whatsoever from one who has yet to even be conceived. This is the starting point in understanding God's great plan of salvation. "Except a man be born again", which is the first thing that must happen, he, according to the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, will be absolutely unable to even 'see' the Kingdom of God (John 3:3). Nevertheless, this doctrine, called 'election', has for the most part been completely set aside by that sad parody of what passes for the Christian church in these Laodicean days in which we live, replaced with a little magic formula called the 'sinner's prayer'. Say the magic words, and you're in....saved forever and ever...and you don't even have to understand it...just say the words. That's all there is to it...welcome to the club. Is it really any wonder, then, to find the outwardly-visible professing-christian church, across the board, being seduced into the global interfaith movement as well as throwing open the doors to the homosexual agenda? No, there is no wonder, for it is a thoroughly leavened mass of unregenerate self-called self-willed flesh (Matt. 13:33). And no wonder there either, for that is the exact condition one should expect to find the outwardly-visible professing 'christian' church in towards the close of this present dispensation (which is exactly where things are), as foretold by the Word of God (Rev. 3:16-17). Do not be spued with them. Rev. 18:4
***
see also: A.W. Pink: A Few Truths About 'The New Birth'
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
John 3:6 'That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.'
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