The Mystery and Miracle of New Birth

“Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again”  John 3:7

There are many mysteries and miracles recorded in the Bible. The most important to our salvation is new birth, a spiritual birth through Jesus Christ. The importance of new birth cannot be overstated.

Jesus said, “…except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God”  John 3:3, and  “…Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” John 3:5

New birth is a mystery to those who have not experienced it. Nicodemus, a learned member of the Jewish Sanhedrin asked Jesus, “…How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?”  John 3:4. Likewise, in our fallen state, we considered new birth a mystery.

We may have asked in our hearts, “How would it be possible for such a wayward and self-willed person as I am to be so favored by God as to experience new birth?”  We may have even seen and wondered how other hardhearted men had been miraculously broken and converted to Christ.

New birth is a miracle to those of us who, by the grace of God, have experienced it.  We have felt the calling of the Holy Spirit, convicting us of our sinfulness and felt the burden of sin on our conscience. We have cried out with broken heart, confessing and asking forgiveness and hearing a servant of God assuring us that our sins are forgiven in Jesus’ Name and shed blood. WE have then felt a miraculous release and a cleansing of the soul. Thus, while in our fallen state we pondered the mystery of this new birth, we now marvel at the miracle.

The need for new birth is a subject which is avoided by most people. It is most difficult for man to confront and confess his sinfulness.  Some view new birth as a gradual transition or as a learning experience.  Others think that it can come about without repentance, confession, and remission of sins.

The Bible teaches otherwise. It clearly states that there must be a repentance or Godly sorrow for sin. Jesus said, “…except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” Luke 13:3

Confession of sin is also vital. “If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”, 1 John 1:9

Also, “Confess your faults one to another, and pray for one another, that ye may be healed” James 5:16.   Remission of sins must be received and believed. Jesus said to his followers, “Whose soever sins ye remit, that are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, that are retained” John 20:23.

In Romans we read “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” Romans 10:10

We have been given this great miracle of new birth and salvation by our loving God who did not spare His only Son from the death penalty for sin on our behalf. So then if we believe in Him we need not perish, but have everlasting life.

May we thank and praise Him for this great personal gift and remain faithful and obedient unto His Holy Word.

God’s Peace!  Al Wuori

The Awakening Call

Dear Weekly Readers!

This week our dinner article is a little different. This is actually a tract for hand out! This was written by one of our pastors some years back. I thought I would share it with you. Perhaps you may want to print it off and hand it out to people you see in your villages. As we know, the acceptable day of grace is today! O that all sinners would repent and believe during the time of grace, rather than wait until the Lord comes again when it will be too late! May God Bless your week!
John R.

The Awakening Call

Everyone of us has at one time or another experienced some type of awakening call during the course of our lifetime. A Typical awakening for everyone each day is the awakening from sleep. Some hear the call of a parent or loved one informing them f the time to get up. Many must be reminded or called several times before getting up. Others jump up at the first call and are ready to start the day. Those who have no one call them must depend on alarm clocks, or perhaps by a telephone call when lodging at some inn while traveling. Even this type of call has its problems. People just hate to get up, so they will shut the alarm off or press a doze button to delay getting up.

There are, of course, other ways by which we are awakened to a need or some situation. Our automobiles at times will catch our attention when the engine begins to sputter and our glance at the fuel gauge reveals that we are out of gas. How about the siren and blinking lights of a traffic patrol reminding us of our speed? What about the past due notices we receive in the mail? They sure get our attention, don’t they? Well, we could go on and on, and I’m sure you get my point. This happens all too often in our secular lives. But what about our spiritual lives? Is there such a thing as an ”awakening call” from God?

If so, how does it come about and what purpose does it serve, you may ask? I suppose to one who has never heard the story of the creation or has just refused to give it his or her attention, it has no meaning. In spite of this, there really is such a call for His Word tells us that He doesn’t want any of us to perish (2ndPeter 3:9). The purpose of this call is to awaken you to the solemn fact that it is appointed for men once to die but after this the judgment (Heb 9:27), and in so doing get your attention. God wants you to know that we are sinners and that the wages of sin is death.

It is true that everyone must meet with a physical death because of the inherited sin of Adam and Eve. To the one who has forgotten the natural man’s destiny, it has a grim reminder. Once God has your attention and reveals to you your sinful condition, He also wants to let your know that there is hope for you to change your situation. The hope is in His Son, Jesus Christ. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16). Isn’t this Good News to the one who has been awakened from this horrible nightmare of a condemned sinner? The life in store for this sinner who ignores God’s call or scoffs at this call is by no means desirable for it entails eternity with the devil and his angels in the lake of fire. The fearful and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, ad whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death ((Rev 21:8).

The mechanism that trips the alarm of God’s awakening call in a man’s heart and mind if theWORD OF GOD. He wants to be heard with this message delivered to the Hebrews: The word of god is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit , and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart (Heb 4:12). Where and when does one get stricken by this word? This is a mystery that has no ready answer.

There are many factors which govern this answer. Some have been on the verge of suicide, and by picking up and reading a tract have been smitten by the “sword of the spirit,” which is the Word of God. One departed preacher told of his mother’s convicting words coming to him during a card game which led him to repentance. Others have heard the witness of a child of God or disciple of Christ. Perhaps some tragedy has taken away a loved one and at the funeral service the message delivered God’s convicting sword. God works in mysterious ways.

Whichever way God chooses to awaken you, dear friend, take heed. This is the first step in God’s plan of salvation. In other words, God is placing the conviction of sin into your heart to test your reaction. Is His word going to pierce your hard heart? The two-edged sword wants to break your heart to provide good ground in order that God’s Word would find a lodging place. This is a desirable condition for now the “Sower of the seed” (Matt 13) may be able to plant the seed of hope into your troubled heart. It is now that you need the absolving word of reconciliation to be preached to your listening ears and troubled heart. You need to find the “Keeper of the keys” of the kingdom of God.

These are the members of the royal priesthood who have received the keys of binding and loosing and the authority to use them (Matt 16:19). You see, they too, have heard the Good News, and have had their troubled and evil consciences cleansed with the blood of Christ contained in the Gospel message declared unto them. Jesus spoke these words to His disciples after His resurrection: whosoever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them: and whosoever sins ye retain, they are retained(until such time they repent) (John 20:23). In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus instructed His disciples that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem (Luke 24:47).

May God, our Heavenly Father, awaken those sinners receiving His call to their needs of a savior in these latter and crucial times. Have you received God’s awakening call? If God is calling you, why not answer the call by seeking the Lord while He can be found. Are you aware of the time on God’s time clock? In the days of Apostle Paul, He gave the Romans this warning. Now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof (Rom. 13:11-14). May He speak to your heart.

Pastor Rueben O Peterson

The Weekly Diner

Dear Weekly Readers! God’s Peace!

I am happy to report that the group of missionaries that the Foreign Mission of the ALC sent to Russia has safely returned home yesterday!

All such trips take much overcoming of obstacles! Still we desire to be obedient to our Lord when He said, “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.”

Furthermore, we know what our Lord has saved us from, and we from His great Love, desire to share with others around the world!

The following very short article by Charles Spurgeon is an encouragement for all, both the missionaries and the ones whose needs are being addressed!

Please enjoy, and may God Bless your week!

"And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay."
Mark 2:4

Faith is full of inventions. The house was full, a crowd blocked up the door, but faith found a way of getting at the Lord and placing the palsied man before him. If we cannot get sinners where Jesus is by ordinary methods we must use extraordinary ones.

It seems, according to Luke 5:19, that a tiling had to be removed, which would make dust and cause a measure of danger to those below, but where the case is very urgent we must not mind running some risks and shocking some proprieties.

Jesus was there to heal, and therefore fall what might, faith ventured all so that her poor paralysed charge might have his sins forgiven. O that we had more daring faith among us! Cannot we, dear reader, seek it this morning for ourselves and for our fellow-workers, and will we not try today to perform some gallant act for the love of souls and the glory of the Lord.

The world is constantly inventing; genius serves all the purposes of human desire: cannot faith invent too, and reach by some new means the outcasts who lie perishing around us? It was the presence of Jesus which excited victorious courage in the four bearers of the palsied man: is not the Lord among us now? Have we seen his face for ourselves this morning? Have we felt his healing power in our own souls?

If so, then through door, through window, or through roof, let us, breaking through all impediments, labour to bring poor souls to Jesus. All means are good and decorous when faith and love are truly set on winning souls. If hunger for bread can break through stone walls, surely hunger for souls is not to be hindered in its efforts.

O Lord, make us quick to suggest methods of reaching thy poor sin-sick ones, and bold to carry them out at all hazards.

Charles Spurgeon