BORN AGAIN because one has been BORN OF GOD
-A little study in how God is Sovereign in CAUSING a person to become BORN AGAIN.
By Mr. Tuese Ahkiong Jan 2012
1) 1 Peter 1:3-4 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy HAS CAUSED US TO BE BORN AGAIN to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
*Who causes one to be born again?
2) John 3:3-8 In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." 4"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!" 5Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' 8The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." 9 Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?
*What is required to see the kingdom of God? What is required to enter the kingdom of God? Does not flesh give birth to flesh mean that one’s birth had nothing to do with a person’s choice but because mom and dad got together and had fun? And so, too, does not one’s spiritual birth have nothing to do with one’s choice but rather The Sovereign choice of God, The Holy Spirit to blow upon whosoever He chooses? Is not Jesus scolding Nicodemus for not knowing the Scripture (i.e., Ezekiel 36:25-27) where God in His Sovereignty would give people a new heart?
3) Ez 36:25-27 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
*Does not this passage declare God doing all the work of giving a clean heart, removing the heart of stone and putting His Spirit within a person and thus causing them to walk in His ways?
4) 1 John 3:9 No one BORN OF GOD makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been BORN OF GOD.
*If someone makes a practice of sinning are they born of God? Does not the Christian hate the sin within and around?
5) 1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been BORN OF GOD and knows God.
*Is not John saying that those who love other Christians have been born of God?
6) 1 John 5:1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been BORN OF GOD, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been BORN OF HIM.
*Is not a person’s belief in Jesus the result of being born of God? Does not a person who loves God, The Father, love other Christians born of Him? Is everyone in the world born of God in this sense that John is speaking of ?
7) John 1:12-13 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
*How does one become a child of God?
Is it because of blood? The will of the flesh? The (FREE) will of man? Or is it because of God?
8) John 5:21. "For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.
*Is not life, eternal life, in the hands of Jesus, The Son?
9) John 6:28-29 Therefore they said to Him, "What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?" 29Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent."
*Is not work of God enabling a person to believe in Jesus?
10) John 6:37-39 ALL THAT THE FATHER GIVES ME WILL COME TO ME, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.
*Has not God given a group of people to The Son that shall not be lost?
11) John 6:44 "NO ONE CAN COME TO ME UNLESS THE FATHER WHO SENT ME DRAWS HIM, and I will raise him up at the last day.
Does not Jesus say that no one has the ability to come to Him unless the Father draws that person? If a person comes to Jesus, is it not because the Father has drawn that person to Jesus? If a person never comes to Jesus, did The Father draw that person?
12) John 6:64-65 Yet there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. 65He went on to say, "This is why I told you that NO ONE CAN COME TO ME UNLESS THE FATHER HAS ENABLED HIM."
*If a person does not believe in Jesus, is it not because The Father has not enabled that person to?
13) John 10:11 "I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep."
*Is not Jesus declaring He is laying down His life for “the sheep?”
14) John 10:24-29 The Jews gathered around him, saying, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly." 25Jesus answered, "I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me, 26BUT YOU DO NOT BELIEVE BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT MY SHEEP. 27My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. 29My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. 30I and the Father are one."
*Does not Jesus say that the Jews gathered around Him, did not believe because they were not His sheep? Is Jesus inferring that His sheep WILL believe upon Him? Does everyone in the world listen and follow Jesus? Does everyone in the world receive eternal life? Will some people in the world perish as oppose to never perish? Is every person in the world Jesus’ sheep? Are the “my sheep” spoken of here, the same as “the sheep” that He lays down His life for in v10:11? So, does Jesus die for everyone in the world or just His sheep?
15) John 12:37-41 But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, 38that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: "Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?"39Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again: 40"He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, Lest they should see with their eyes, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them." 41These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him
*Though Jesus performed many signs before them, why do you believe “they” did not believe in Him? What does Isaiah say that God has done to their eyes and hearts? And what was the purpose that God did this?
16) John 17:2-3 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life TO ALL THOSE YOU HAVE GIVEN HIM. 3"This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
*Who gets eternal life? Does everyone in the world get eternal life? Does everyone in the world know God and Jesus Christ?
17) John 17:6 "I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.
*Does Jesus reveal God, The Father to everyone?
18) John 17:9 I pray for them. I AM NOT PRAYING FOR THE WORLD, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.
*If Jesus wants to save every single individual without exception in the world, why does He not pray for the world here? Why does Jesus say that He is praying for the ones The Father has given Him which were The Father’s?
19) 1 John 4:10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
*Who is the “us” that John is speaking of here? Is not John writing to Christians?
20) 1John 4:19 We love Him, because HE FIRST LOVED US”
*Though God is benevolent and loves everyone in general sense, if a person never loves God, is it not because God did not love that person first in a saving sense?
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