How awesome is it that God adopts us into His family, adopt us as as sons and daughters through faith in Jesus Christ. There are so many reasons the New Testament is called New: Resurrection, Atonement, Adoption. What a loving Father we have!
Read Lex’s post here. This is magnificent stuff.
And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 16:15-18
In this chapter Torrey 1 arrives at that glorious topic of the new birth and the verse above, to me, is the best introduction. Add to this all those fabulous verses in the Old Testament where the Lord says things like, “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes.” (Ez. 36:27, compare Ez. 36:26, 37:14, Deut. 30:6, Ps. 51:10, Jer. 32:39, Joel 2:28). No wonder Jesus chides Nicodemus for being a Teacher in Israel and he doesn’t know of such things as the new birth. (John 3:10)
Torrey talks about the fact that this new birth involves a new creation. It comes not from the Law, comes not from circumcision, it is something new, we are new creatures. This involves passing from death to life. Once being dead in sin, now enjoying the newness of life. Actually, until this transition occurs one really doesn’t know enough to tell any difference between this death and life, living on Earth is just, well, life on Earth. A person never knows he is dead unless he get so sick and tired of the effects of the evil of sin he finally calls out to God for help and intercession. Like when disaster strikes, or life get out of control and you throw yourself on the mercy of God like Jairus to Jesus when his little little daughter was near death (Mark 5:22 ff). It’s usually at these points when you realize you really have no control over life you start to really evaluate your real needs of mind and spirit.
So with this new birth comes a renewing, a regenerating of the mind and spirit, and a new nature actually born of the Spirit of God. One’s eyes are open and you see reality as God intends we see it. We become a temple of the Lord because the Spirit of God dwells within us. “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God” (1 Cor. 6:19) And with His Spirit we have the power to fight temptations and live a life pleasing to God, “walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.” (Gal. 5:16) Such is the power of the new birth. We have now the power whereas before we were merely dead, slaves and powerless to do anything but sin. We will still sin occasionally but we will not now practice a sinful life. Our faith will show fruit, we will increasingly grow a devoted heart to our Lord.
In some denominations the term “born again” is not discussed favorably. I can only assume that is because people do not understand what the term means. They must be like Nicodemus. They must think that Heaven is an objective gained after a life well lived. If they are good enough, if they do enough good works, if they say enough prayers, if they donate enough money to their church or good causes. If they belong to the right denomination then they get in.
But Jesus says “You must be born again.” There is no maybe this or that. There are no other options. There are no other plans. There is only one way (John 14:6). You must be born again.
Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Nicodemus *said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?”
Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. John 3:3-6
Jesus uses the term “born again,” referring of course that man was born once from the womb (the water) and needed to be born the second time by the Spirit of God (revealed by “My Father who is in heaven”), as Nicodemus picked up on. He couldn’t crawl back into the womb, what is this “born again” business?
Jesus told him, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” Jesus explained elsewhere, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” (John 6:63) In other words the flesh can not inherit the kingdom of God. But to those to whom the Spirit gives life, who receives the second birth, they inherit the kingdom, and partake of eternal life, the power of life with which Jesus was raised from the dead.
This second birth was a puzzle to the people of Jesus’ day because up til then all the work was done by the individual. They performed the works of the Law every season and every year and their sins were covered by their sacrifices and offerings. But now all the work is done by God. Jesus’ sacrificial blood covers their sins for all time. The Father guides individuals to Jesus to be saved (John 6:65), the Father reveals the truth about who Jesus really is to the saved (Mat. 16:17), and the believer is given freely of the Holy Spirit to work in him (John 15:26). All the work is done by God, the believer just has to accept it, and bear the fruit of it. Of course, bearing fruit takes a bit of effort on the believers part. But all things are now possible by God. What are your possibilities with God?
[Scriptures taken from the New American Standard Bible © 1995]
1 This the 35th chapter of 52 in RA Torrey’s 1898 publication What The Bible Teaches. We are reviewing them hoping you’ll join the conversation. See all of Lex’s posts here. A PDF copy of the book can be downloaded here. You are welcome and encouraged to join the discussion in your comments to these posts.
He *said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.
Matthew 16:15-18
What is this rock upon which Jesus says He will build His church? Historically there are a few answers offered to this question. Many find textual support for the claim that the Apostle Peter is the rock, the simple reading points in this direction, as does the play upon the name, Petros, Greek for little rock. Admittedly, at first blush this does look promising.
But a closer examination of the verse will reveal that this can not be the case. However, if you are of the opinion that the rock is Peter, keep reading then make up your own mind.
Jesus first asks His disciples who people say they think He is, since for a while now He has been shaking the region with His preaching and miracles causing an immense stir from the very top of society to its lowest rungs. Then he asks them who do they believe Him to be. Peter is the first to respond, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” And Jesus tells him, “flesh and blood did not reveal this to you.” But Peter is flesh and blood. Jesus contrasts the weakness of flesh and blood as an entity that has no power to reveal such profound things of the spirit, that can’t pierce the veil revealing the things of God. And Peter, as well as the rest of the disciples, being flesh and blood, would not make a very solid rock on which to base the foundation of the church.
Along this line, look a few verses later to verse 22. Peter takes Jesus aside and tries to convince Him that He should not go up to Jerusalem. Jesus had just told them that the rulers were waiting for Him to capture Him, mistreat and kill Him, and that He’d be raised after three days. But Peter thought this should be avoided, as any normal human being would. However, Jesus had to rebuke Peter because he was not looking at the Plan from God’s perspective but from his own, from man’s. Again, Peter is not displaying the characteristics that would lend credence to being a foundation for the church.
And of course there was the issue of Jesus prophesying later to Peter that he would deny Him three times (Matt. 26:33-35) and though he vehemently denied he’d ever do such a thing, it certainly came to pass.
So it makes little sense that the rock that Jesus states He would use as the foundation for an important thing as His church would be such an imperfect flesh and blood human being. And by saying these things about Peter I really do not diminish his role in the history of the church, since our Lord did give him a primary place as every one knows. He preached the first sermon at Pentecost which ushered the Holy Spirit upon the thousands of listeners in Jerusalem, he brought the gospel to the gentiles, he was an important part of the church in Jerusalem.
But was Peter the rock Jesus refers to? No, that had to be something entirely different. Since it isn’t flesh and blood, let’s look at the next phrase in Jesus statement. “flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” Peter knew that Jesus was the Christ not because of anything that reason, or man, or rationality was able to bring to his understanding. It was that “My Father who is in heaven” revealed this to Peter. Does this sound like divine revelation? If it does I hope that doesn’t scare you. Because that is exactly what it means to be Born Again. And you know what Jesus says about being born again, right? There are only two places in the Bible where the term “born again” is used, two times in John 3 and two times in 1 Peter 1. “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3. Being born again is of utmost importance to the believer and thus to the church.
Now this sounds more like a foundation on which Jesus can build His church. God revealing the Son to whomever He will (At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants.” “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.” Matt. 11:25, 27)
So this then is the rock, the unshakable foundation, none other than God Himself revealing everything He needs us to know about Himself, His Son, and salvation, that gives His church the stability to weather any storm. And the church is being assailed by many storms these days and more storms are coming. But our Lord have promised to protect and defend her, and her victory in Christ is already assured. Just read the last chapter of the book of Revelation.
Just as is written in 2 Samuel 22 47:2 “The LORD lives, and blessed be my rock; And exalted be God, the rock of my salvation.”
Finally it is interesting that Peter is quite adamant that the rock of our salvation, the very cornerstone of our faith, is none other than our great God and Savior, the very one as defined by the Old Testament Scripture. See Peter’s description in his first epistle, the second chapter, verses 4-9. He knew exactly what Jesus was referring to in this statement when Peter reflected on this after Pentecost and the Holy Spirit brought all things to his memory and gave him insight. As he tells his readers, For this is contained in Scripture: “BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A CHOICE STONE, A PRECIOUS CORNER stone, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.” 1 Peter 2:6
[Scriptures taken from the New American Standard Bible © 1995]
Celebrate our Justification in standing before our great God and King as we read this week’s chapter in Torrey’s What the Bible Teaches. Lex summaries well this lengthy chapter of the Christian’s legal standing in Christ thanks to the substitution of Jesus’ death for ours. Now, in a narrow sense, it is as just if I’d never sinned, at least as far as God sees me from the perspective of a sinner. God now calls me son and has forgiven me and has cast all my sins away, past, present, and future. Far, far away, as far as the east is from the west! (Psalm 103:12)
We today are justified the same way they were in the Old Testament, justified by faith, by the shedding of blood. Only they needed to keep repeating the shedding of blood which covered their sins each year which looked forward to the fulfillment of the Messiah who would once for all shed His blood for all mankind, and be raised for our justification, and would send the Spirit to replace our heart of stone (Eze. 36:26) with the result that “the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Rom. 8:4) That is indeed Good News!
Read Lex’s post here.
This the 33rd chapter of 52 in RA Torrey’s 1898 publication What The Bible Teaches. We are reviewing them hoping you’ll join the conversation. See all of Lex’s posts here. A PDF copy of the book can be downloaded here. You are welcome and encouraged to join the discussion in your comments to these posts.
Destiny of Damnation to Reject Redemption
This is a subject most offensive and appalling to the unbeliever, to believe in such a thing in the 21st century. And to believers its a concept they should ponder deeply as well since the eternal destiny of their families and friends is no trivial matter.
Torrey brings out a huge array of Scripture to support the Biblical truth that without being born again, without taking advantage of God’s offer of redemption, rejecting the gift of faith that breaks the bond of death and creates the spark of life in the human soul, the end of man is only eternal damnation, eternal separation from the presence of God. I suppose it is because of the immensity of this reality that all these verses are marshaled in support. It is not a subject in which one should entertain ambiguity. After death one either spends eternity with God in His joy or apart from God in unspeakable agony. The verses in this chapter tell the whole story. They must be read and understood.
There are a lot of details, of course, that I’m leaving out in this summary. Important details. There is the whole topic of rewards, pretty nasty rewards for those who have been enjoying their evil nature in their lifetime. There is the first death and the second death. There’s the lake of fire that sounds like something out of a fairy tale. But for those who will experience it will certainly wish it was only imaginary since they will be sharing it with Death and the Beast and Satan. And those do not make good company!
Quite appropriately Torrey finishes the chapter by saying that the believer needs to understand that the damnation of the unbeliever is not something to be accepted lying down, Yes, Revelation does state “Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong; and the one who is filthy, still be filthy; and let the one who is righteous, still practice righteousness; and the one who is holy, still keep himself holy.” (Rev. 22:11 NASB) But we should be sensitive to His Spirit’s leading and bear in mind that while we are among the living we can influence others for good – for God. Most important, every moment, we should be living our lives conscious that our thoughts and words and actions, everything should reflect an example that can glorify God. We tend to live our lives in Spiritual neutral, with our Spirituality disengaged, not thinking about God impacting the world through us. But who knows how God is preparing the person He has coming in contact with us day by day. Be ready. Be conscious. Pray for your family and friends daily. The more you pray the more you are conscious of the daily battle and war we are waging resulting in the damned and the saved. Do you want to hear from our Lord, “Why didn’t you pray more for your families salvation, didn’t you love them?”
This is very real. That’s why Torrey writes so many pages with so much passion. There are fewer topics so crucial to the destiny of the soul of Man.
