Chapter
19
The New Birth
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What is the
natural condition of the human family?
"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Rom.
3:23. See Eph. 2:1-3.
Who alone will
be permitted to see God?
"Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." Matt.
5:8.
Can man by his
own exertions change his condition?
"Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then
may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil." Jer. 13:23.
How, then, can
one be brought to God?
"For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that
He might bring us to God." 1 Peter 3:18.
What progress
can one make in coming to God without the help of Christ?
"I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in Me, and I in
him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing."
John 15:5.
When one is
"in Christ," what has he become?
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old
things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." 2 Cor. 5:17.
What must take
place before one can become a "new creature?"
"For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came,
sin revived, and I died." Rom. 7:9.
Unto what had
Paul died?
"How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer
therein?" Rom. 6:2.
By what did sin
slay Paul?
"For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it
slew me." Rom. 7:11.
Then what gives
sin its strength to kill?
"The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law." 1
Cor. 15:56.
By what forcible
words did the Saviour show the importance of the new birth, or conversion?
"Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except
a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." John 3:3.
By what means is
the second birth effected?
"Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by
the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever." "Seeing ye have
purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love
of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently."
1 Peter 1:23, 22.
Can we fully
understand this process?
"The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof,
but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is everyone
that is born of the Spirit." John 3:8.
Can one be born
of the Spirit, and still do the works of the flesh?
"That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of
the Spirit is spirit." John 3:6 (Rom. 8:5).
Do these two
conditions harmonize?
"For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the
flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do
the things that ye would." Gal. 5:17.
What are the
works of the flesh?
"Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: Adultery,
fornication, uncleaness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance,
emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness,
revelings, and such like." Gal. 5:19-21.
What are the
works of the Spirit?
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." Gal. 5:22-23.
When a man has
been "born again," what will he do?
"If ye know that He is righteous, ye know that everyone that doeth
righteousness is born of Him." 1 John 2:29.
What is
righteousness?
"My tongue shall speak of Thy word: for all Thy commandments are
righteousness." Ps. 119:172.
How, then, will
he that is born of God regard sin?
"Whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is
death." (Rom. 6:21). "Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which
is good." (Rom. 12:9). "Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all
guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings. As newborn babes,
desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby." (1 Peter
2:1, 2). He that is born of God and that retains the wonderful change which has
been wrought in him, will conform to all such scriptures, earnestly striving to
advance in the way of holiness.
How did Paul
obtain deliverance from the law of sin at conversion?
"For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from
the law of sin and death." Rom. 8:2.
When thus made
free from the law of sin and death, in what condition is an individual?
"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ
Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Rom. 8:1.
To what kind of
life does the new birth raise one?
"Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but
alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 6:11.
If really born
of God, what will one manifest?
"Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and everyone
that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God." 1 John 4:7.
What victory is
gained by those who are born again?
"For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the
victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." 1 John 5:4.
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