The Evidence of the New Birth

[Jim Watt]

"*TWO ARE BETTER THAN ONE" MINISTRIES*

*Jim & Marie Watt*

*PO Box 25116 -- Federal Way WA 98093-2116*

*Tel: 253.874.4265 -- Email: jmbetter at gmail.com*

*Web: www.2rbetter.org*


  *2008.08.15 - The Evidence of the New Birth *

*(From "My Utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers)*

"*You must be born again" (John 3:7).*

The answer to Nicodemus' question, "How can a man be born when he is old?
is: Only when he is willing to die to every thing in his life, including his
rights, his virtues, and his religion, and become willing to receive into
himself a new life that he has never before experienced (3:4). This new life
exhibits itself in our conscious repentance and through our unconscious
holiness.

"But as many as received Him ..." (John 1:12). Is my knowledge of Jesus the
result of my own internal spiritual perception, or is it only what I have
learned through listening to others? Is there something in my life that
unites me with the Lord Jesus as my personal Savior? My spiritual history
must have as it underlying foundation a personal knowledge of Jesus Christ.
To be born again means that I see Jesus.

"...unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3).
Am I seeking only for the evidence of God's kingdom, or am I actually
recognizing His absolute sovereign control? The new birth gives me a new
power of vision by which I begin to discern God's control. His sovereignty
was there all the time, but with God being true to His nature, I could not
see it until I received His very nature myself.

"Whoever has been born of God does not sin ..." (1 John 3d:9). Am I seeking
to stop sinning or have I actually stopped? To be born of God means that I
have His supernatural power to stop sinning. The Bible never asks, "Should a
Christian sin?" The Bible emphatically states that *a Christian must not
sin.* The work of the new birth is being effective in us when we do not
commit sin. It is not merely that we have the power not to sin, but that we
have actually stopped sinning. Yet 1 John 3:9 does not mean that we
*cannot*sin - it simply means that if we will obey the life of God in
us, that we
*do not have to sin.*


 *NOTE:* Here is the nature of the New Birth - from a new perspective or
vantage point. For 5 years until 1915 Oswald Chambers taught a group of
missionaries, missionaries in preparation, and serious students of the Bible
at the "Bible Training College" in London.

It had a most important effect, though small in numbers. Chambers at the
same time lectured on weekends throughout England and Scotland, and during
the week at nights, many extra students attended. Those during the day were
boarding students. The lectures during these 5 years served as the basis for
the majority of his 50 books, all but three of which his wife Biddy
published post-posthumously.

Again and again, challenges such as appear in the above selection made by
his wife Biddy following his premature death at 43 in 1917, caused students
to vigorously contend with Chambers. He was delighted to receive such
challenges. Sometimes when his answers were not received he would reply,
"Let it simmer - it will become clear after a while!

Now 100 years later approximately - the c hallenges of OC in his over 50
published books continue to intrigue 21st Century readers. Should you like
his students of 100 years ago desire to know more about this outstanding man
- by all means purchase his 3rd biography, "Oswald Chambers, Abandoned to
God" - The Life Story of the Author of My Utmost For His Highest by David
McCasland. Or, if you purchase the Collected Writings of Oswald Chambers,
edited by the same author, his biography is contained in a free DVD which is
part of the package.

Blessings on us all as we let the challenges of such men as Oswald Chambers
sink deep into our hearts. And we need to remember - that it is not only
Oswald we are listening to, but the Lord Himself through His Spirit. For the
"Personal, Passionate Devotion" of Chambers to Jesus enabled His Lord to
speak through him. Though it is not on the same level of importance as the
33 writers of the 66 Bible books - yet it is definitely on the next
concentric circle after the Canon of Scripture - as contained in Important
Writers on the things of God.

Your friend - Jim Watt

PS. On my last mailing I spoke on the Divine Inspiration of the whole Bible,
66 books. This actually means that God so inspired the 33 + writers of the
Bible, that what *He* wanted written and recorded, indeed took place,
whether He was speaking, men like Job's 3 friends, or Satan to Eve in the
Garden of Eden. God oversaw that the recording was according to His design,
apart from any speaker.

However, in the 21 New Testament Epistles, the 4 Gospels, the Book of Acts
and the Book of Revelation -- the words especially in the 21 epistles are
the words of God, *not* the words of man. So many people today tend to say -
even Evangelical believers - "O - that's just what Paul or Peter or John
thought and said!" *Not so!* Paul categorically corrects this most erroneous
view by giving 1 Corinthians 14:37, and Pater states the equivalent for *all
* Bible writers in 2 Peter 1:21.

I believe few readers would have misunderstood the intent of this in the
previous mailing. It was especially to correct those who fail to understand
that the epistles are God's word to man, *not* man's word to man. JW




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