WWUTT 783 Born of God?

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Have you decided to follow Jesus? Have you received Jesus? Do you believe in Jesus?

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Wonderful! And if so, that wasn't because of your will, but God's will, when we understand the text.

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This is when we understand the text studying God's word to reach all the riches of full assurance in Christ.

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Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study in the Gospel of John, Chapter 1, this week our reading in verses 6 -13.

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The Apostle John wrote, There was a man sent from God whose name was John.

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He came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him.

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He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

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He was in the world, and the world was made through him. Yet the world did not know him.

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He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

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And it's those last two verses, verses 12 and 13, that we'll focus on primarily today.

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But first, coming back to what we read yesterday in verse 9, Jesus is described as the true light, which gives light to everyone.

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I was reminded earlier today of Psalm 97, which begins, The Lord reigns.

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Let the earth rejoice. Let the many coastlands be glad. Clouds and thick darkness are all around him.

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Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. So remember I said, part of the curse, because of our sin and rebellion against God, and he separated himself from mankind, part of the curse is that we would lose sight of him.

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He would be more difficult to see. Now not that we can't see him at all, for even

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Romans 1, 19 through 20 speaks of God's eternal power and divine nature, which are clearly seen in all that has been made.

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Yet he is still invisible to us because of our darkened hearts. Colossians 1 .15

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describes God as invisible. Paul also says it in 1 Timothy 1 .17, to the king of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only

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God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. So indeed, he surrounds himself with darkness and with mystery that we cannot see.

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We cannot fathom what he is doing. And that is part of our the result of our rebellion against God, that we have broken fellowship with God.

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But Jesus shows us God. We know the father, we know the son, we know the

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Holy Spirit, the Godhead three in one has been shown to us by the light of Jesus Christ.

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And we rejoice to know him and his mercy and his grace and his love, which has rescued us out of the darkness that we were in and transferred us into his kingdom of light.

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As Peter talks about going on with the psalmist in Psalm 97, he goes on to write, you who love the

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Lord hate evil. He preserves the lives of his saints. He delivers them from the hand of the wicked.

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Light is sown for the righteous and joy for the upright in heart.

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Rejoice in the Lord. Oh, you righteous and give thanks to his holy name.

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So we have been brought to a place where we might give praise and offerings and thanksgivings to God because of the person and work of Christ, the light that he has shown into our darkened hearts.

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And we have come to a knowledge of God. I mentioned Colossians 115 a moment ago. It's there that Paul says he is the image.

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Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God. So everything that we can know about God, we see in the person and work of Christ.

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And we have been brought to salvation the same way that Jesus brought all things into existence.

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How did he bring all things into existence by his spoken word? He said it and it was let there be light.

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And there was light. Let let there be. And there was. And so our salvation has happened just like this.

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We have been brought from death to life by the very word of God. In Second Corinthians four, six, we read for God who said, let light shine out of darkness has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

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When we heard the gospel proclaimed to us, when we came to a knowledge of our sin and we repented of our sin and worshiped

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Jesus Christ, we were brought to salvation by the word of God. Romans 10, 17.

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Faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. So the word was spoken to us.

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We repented of our sin and we believed. And all of this in light of Jesus Christ, his light, which was shown into our hearts.

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He was in the world and the world was made through him. Yet the world did not know him.

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He came to his own and his own people did not receive him.

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Now, as we go into verses 12 and 13 today, that's very important there. John 1 11. He came to his own and his own people did not receive him, but to all who did receive him.

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So let's focus on that word receive here for just a moment. Now, sometimes we can be a little leery about this word because who

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Jesus is has nothing to do with whether or not we receive him. You know, you might hear it say, well, you need to make

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Jesus the Lord of your life. No, he is the Lord of your life. Whether or not you acknowledge him,

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Jesus is going to use you for his glory. And it's either going to be by making you an object of his mercy or making you an object of his wrath.

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So he is Lord over. Your life, whether or not you make him Lord of your life, you don't make him anything.

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He is Lord. So are receiving him or are rejecting him has nothing to do with who he is.

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Nevertheless, Jesus is a gift who was sent to us from God.

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You know, John 3 16, for God so loved the world he gave his only son and whoever believes in him will not perish, but will have everlasting life.

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So as a gift who is given to us, we must receive this gift.

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We must be grateful for it. We must have a relationship with Jesus Christ who is given to us.

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It's not simply enough to have a certain intellectual understanding of who Jesus is or accept certain facts about him.

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But we actually have fellowship with God through Christ. And this is what is meant by receiving him.

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Yet the people he was born to did not receive him into their fellowship. It was prophesied that he was going to come from the line of Abraham into the house of David.

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Yet to these very people, the Jews who were promised would would be given this

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Messiah. They did not receive him. Then we go on into verse 12 to read, but to all who did receive him.

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So now it's not just to the Jews, it's to everyone who would receive him, who believed in his name.

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And it's that statement right there that qualifies for us what is meant when we read about receiving

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Jesus. His own people did not receive him. They did not believe in him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name.

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So not just in the words he said, but also who he is, the name that is above all names is talked about in Philippians chapter two.

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So the Bible uses this name reverently. And so should we. Every time the

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Bible refers to Jesus Christ is referring to everything that is encompassed by that name, everything that is true about him, the totality of his person and what he has done.

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There are plenty of people out there who will refer to the name of Christ, but they refer to it in vain. They don't refer to it with reverence.

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They don't care about what that name is referring to when it is used in the scripture.

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Rather, they use the name for their own purposes. And when it comes down to finding out what they mean when they use the name of Jesus, you'll find out that they're actually taking this name and ascribing it to someone or something that is totally different than the person that we have described in the

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Bible. For example, the Mormons believe that Jesus Christ is the literal offspring of God, the father and one they refer to as Heavenly Mother, and that he is the spirit brother of Satan himself.

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And in fact, we are all spirit siblings of Jesus Christ and that Jesus was created, not that he was eternal, not that he was from everlasting to everlasting, but he has a definite beginning.

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And so the Mormons have created a Jesus that is completely different than the

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Jesus Christ of the Bible. Therefore, they believe in a different atonement and a belief in the

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Mormon Jesus will not lead you to salvation because it is a completely different Christ.

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There may be some some various aspects that look similar to the Jesus that we read about in the

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Bible, but it is a totally different person that was described by Joseph Smith, a false prophet, not a true prophet of God and not one of his apostles,

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Charles Taze Russell, who was the founder of the Jehovah's Witnesses. He taught that Jesus was the archangel

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Michael and that he wasn't God when he came in the flesh, but it was only after he was baptized and the

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Holy Spirit came upon him that he took on this divine nature and that Jesus wasn't crucified on a cross, but rather he was crucified on a stake and he didn't rise bodily from the grave, but rather he was just transferred out of the tomb and reformed and repurposed outside of the tomb.

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So so this is Charles Taze Russell's version of Jesus Christ, which changes the person and work of Jesus, and it is not the

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Christ of the Bible. When we use this name, we need to be talking about the true person of Christ.

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And again, using this name with reverence, I had an opportunity just yesterday to share the gospel with about two dozen high school students, and I taught to them from the

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Lord's prayer. I shared the gospel with him, but I was using the Lord's prayer in in the teaching that I gave to them.

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And at the very beginning of the prayer, as Jesus taught us to pray, he says, our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

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And so there is a recognition there as Jesus taught us to pray, there is a recognition that God's name is holy and his is the greatest name.

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And we do not take this name in vain, but rather it is a delight and a privilege that we get to utter his name from our lips.

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And despite being sinful people, he doesn't just strike us dead on the spot because we are not worthy to utter this name.

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So we need to use the name with reverence, people who pray to be seen or be heard, not to have relationship with God, but so they would get recognition from other people.

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These people speak the name of God in vain, and this is breaking one of the commandments. The Lord said, you will not take the name of the

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Lord, your God, in vain, which is the third commandment. And so we need to use this name with reverence.

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Here in John 1, 12, we are told all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.

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So receiving him, we are in fellowship with God. The apostle Paul wrote to the

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Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 1, 9, God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of his son,

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Jesus Christ, our Lord. So we come to an understanding that our receiving of Jesus is not because we willed it or we purposed it, but because God called us into this fellowship and we receive the gift of his son that he was given because God changed our hearts to receive it.

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Rather than being dark and sinners who are who are rebellious against God, we were shown the light of his truth, repented of our sins because the light exposed our sins to us.

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We repented of those sins and we came into fellowship with his son, Jesus Christ, because of a work that God did because of his will, not because of our will.

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Everyone who received him, who believed in his name, God gave the right to become the children of God.

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And so one of the things this indicates to us here is that faith precedes adoption.

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We repent of our sins. We believe in Jesus Christ. And it is our belief in Christ that brings us to adoption into the family of God by the blood of Christ.

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It is by his blood that we have received this adoption. And now we are sons and daughters of God to all who accepted

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Jesus Christ, who fellowshiped with him, who believed in him, believed not just that he was a real person, not just believing in the

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Jesus Christ of the Bible, but we believe the words that he said. Jesus would confront the

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Jews in John chapter eight, verses thirty nine and forty seven. They answered him,

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Abraham is our father. And Jesus said to them, if you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works that Abraham did.

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But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God.

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This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works your father did.

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They said to him, we were not born of sexual immorality. We have one father, even God.

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And that was kind of a jab at Jesus because he was virgin born of Mary. The people knew that Mary got pregnant before she got married to Joseph.

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Therefore, Jesus didn't actually know who his father was. We don't know who his father is. Jesus doesn't know who his father is.

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He was born of sexual immorality. So that was why they made that statement as they're arguing here with Jesus.

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And they said, we have one father, even God. And Jesus said to them, if God were your father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here.

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I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what

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I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father, the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires.

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He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him.

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When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

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But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin?

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If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God.

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The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God. So there we have an understanding that our coming to faith in Jesus Christ by the hearing of his word was by the will of God, that we would hear his word and know it and repent from our sin and believe it.

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It's not just enough to believe in Jesus, but that we believe his word.

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Luke 9, 26, Jesus said, whoever is ashamed of me and my words of him will the son of man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the father and of the holy angels.

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The culture would love to tell you about who they believe Jesus is, but they don't believe his words.

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And so whoever has rejected the word of Christ has certainly rejected

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Christ himself. So believing in Jesus means we also believe his word.

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And it is through Christ that we have become children of God, born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

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Now, there is a certain direct context here that is contrasting Jews and Gentiles, because, remember,

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Jesus came to his own and his own did not receive him. But anyone who did receive him and believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, born not of blood.

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Now, there is a double meaning here. In one sense, we are born of blood. We're born of the blood of Jesus Christ.

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But that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about how we are not born into the family of God.

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We do not become children of God because we were born blood descendants in the line of Abraham.

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Also, we're not talking about something physical here. But we're talking about something spiritual.

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Children of God is is a spiritual context. It is not a physical or not a literal context.

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So remember, I just quoted to you from John chapter eight, where Jesus basically said you're either a child of God or you're a child of Satan.

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Whoever believes in the word of Christ is a child of God. Whoever rejects the word of Christ refuses to hear it, does not listen to him, does not receive him, does not believe in him.

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This is a person who is a child of Satan. The reason why you cannot bear to hear his word is because you are of your father, the devil.

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So we're talking about something spiritual, not something physical here. We are born into God's family, not because of a blood relationship or not because of something physical, not because we belong to a certain race or ethnicity or belong to a certain sex, but rather we are born again of God.

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That's what we get to at the end of this particular statement. We're born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh.

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So it is not our desire that we would become born again into the family of God.

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We couldn't do that because we were stumbling around walking in darkness. There was nothing that we could do walking around blind to get us out of the dark place that we were in.

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It was Christ shining his light that led us out of that darkness. We could not do anything in our sinful flesh, having inherited the sin of Adam because of the work of the devil.

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And so as part of the curse, Romans 311, no one seeks for God. God instead sought after us and brought us out of darkness and into his light, not because we willed it, but because God willed it.

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It is not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man. It is not something that anyone else can do or will for you.

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Someone else can't decide that you're going to be saved. It is according to God's will.

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We were born. We who were followers of Christ, who have been adopted into the family of God, who are his children, we are born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

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Let us conclude with prayer. God, our heavenly father, you are good and you are loving and you have sought out your children and you have brought us into your family, adopted through the righteous sacrifice of Christ and his shed blood on the cross for our sins.

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You have called us to yourself and we have answered because of the spirit that you put in our hearts to transform our hearts from someone who is rebellious against you to someone who longed for you, who grieved over our sin and desired your holiness.

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And now we have become your children by your will. We praise you for this,

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God. And we ask that you would continue to grow us in an understanding of your will and that we would give praise and thanks to you daily for the many blessings that you have shown to us in Jesus Christ, who has given us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

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Keep us steadfast. Keep us praising you no matter, no matter our circumstances.

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We know that you are our father who looks after us and will bring us into your kingdom on that day of the

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Lord. It's in the name of Christ we pray. Amen. You've been listening to When We Understand the

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Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, Gabe will be going through a New Testament study.

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Then on Thursday, we look at an Old Testament book. On Friday, we take questions from the listeners and viewers.