Wednesday, March 29, 2023

GOD’S CHILD? OR GRANDCHILD?

 

 David Du Plessis awoke early one morning hearing a voice loud and clear. It simply said “God has no grandsons”. David thought over the words and couldn’t really grasp what they meant. It was over a week later when he understood. In order for us to be God’s child, we must be born of His Spirit. We are not God’s child because our parents are. We are not part of His family through a natural lineage. We are only part of God’s family when we are personally born again of the Spirit into the kingdom of God.

It seems many in our churches today consider themselves Christians because they were raised in a Christian home. They were taught the Ten Commandments, agree with the tenants of faith and attend church. They are ‘second generation Christians’ who came up under born-again parents, but they themselves are unregenerate. That is why so many of our churches are spiritually weak and the attendees are sincere and active in the church, but without the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives. They have no power or freedom to walk in the Spirit because they have not personally been renewed in their hearts and minds. They have not been reborn in spirit or baptized in the Holy Spirit. They just adopted the habits and traditions of their parents. They adhere to the form of godliness their parents have, but are void of God’s Spirit within their own hearts.

The truth is if there has not been a rebirth in a person’s life that has brought about a life-changing experience, that person is not born again. When the Spirit of God enters a life, that life cannot remain the same. It is enlightened by God’s Spirit and the touch of God always brings spiritual light, driving out the darkness. It’s like being in a dark room and then turning on the light. Suddenly you can see and are aware of what is around you – things you didn’t see before. There is a spiritual world of which we are unaware until we are born of the spirit. We cannot see it. We cannot operate in it.

Are we sons and daughters of God, or are we simply carrying on a family tradition of ‘faith’? It is quite a burden to shoulder the weight of such a tradition in our own power.
Those who try to be grandchildren of God instead His children, will labor through life with no peace, no freedom, no joy, no love, and no power. The cause of those effects is that they are unregenerate. Jesus told Nicodemus, “except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” The Amplified Bible translates it this way: “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, unless a person is born again [reborn from above - spiritually transformed, renewed, sanctified], he cannot [ever] see and experience the kingdom of God.”

So what is the cure for this dry, burdensome religion so many inherit from their predecessors? If we change the cause, we will change the effects.”You must be born again.” The faith and rebirth of our parents can be a wonderful example for us to follow, but it cannot and will not carry us into the kingdom of God. If there has been no change in our hearts and minds, we are not born again and we cannot see or experience God’s kingdom in this life or the next, no matter how we try to copy the faith of those who have gone before us.

Jesus said in John 3:6, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh [the physical is merely physical], and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

Once we have been personally born again, we will begin to see the effects of that rebirth. We can begin to grow in the kingdom of God. We can experience the freedom, peace, love, joy and power of God living in us and through us. We can have life that goes beyond just the physical. Our spirits are renewed by the power of the Holy Spirit in us, the power of God Himself. Only then can we have wisdom and knowledge beyond anything we have ever known. We can begin to walk in that wisdom and knowledge. It is called living in the Spirit and walking in the Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives us the knowledge we need and the power to act on that knowledge. We can say what the Spirit tells us to say and do what the Spirit tells us to do because He is working through us on the inside. Galatians 5-:25-26 in the Amplified Bible says, “If we [claim to] live by the [Holy] Spirit, we must also walk by the Spirit [with personal integrity, godly character, and moral courage—our conduct empowered by the Holy Spirit].”

If we make the claim that the Holy Spirit is at work in us, it needs to be proven out in our words and actions. When God’s Spirit is in control, we will do the will of God instead of our own will. We learn to put others before ourselves and share the gospel with them. We learn to hear what the Spirit speaks to our hearts and then follow Him. That is being led by the Spirit.
How many so-called ‘grandchildren’ of God have been raised up who have neither the power of the Holy Spirit nor the inheritance of the saints? They only have a form of godliness without the Holy Spirit. They name the name of Christ but continue in their sins and the lifestyle of this world. They are enslaved to an empty religion of works and duty instead of life and freedom. They are deceived into believing they are living a Christian life. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Every person can be born again and walk in newness of life. ‘Whosoever will’ can become a child of God. John 1:10-13 says, He (Christ) was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him. He came to that which was His own [that which belonged to Him—His world, His creation, His possession], and those who were His own people [the Jewish nation] did not receive and welcome Him. But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the right [the authority, the privilege] to become children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name - who were born, not of blood [natural conception], nor of the will of the flesh [physical impulse], nor of the will of man [that of a natural father], but of God [that is, a divine and supernatural birth - they are born of God - spiritually transformed, renewed, sanctified].

If you are a ‘Christian’ only under the grandfather clause, you can change that right now. You can know what it really means to follow Christ. Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power.”

The unregenerate have none of that. They have no testimony, no cleansing by the blood of Jesus, no infilling of the Holy Spirit, no insight into spiritual things and no power to do God’s work. Their words and work lack power and meaning because there is no life. They have no lasting purpose. But every person can be born again. Every person can become a child of God. Jesus made it possible.

If you have realized that you are not a true child of God, don’t miss out on what God has for you. Don’t settle for less than you can have. Elijah told the people of Israel, “How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be Godfollow him: but if Baal, then follow him.” Likewise, we all have a decision to make. Follow Jesus Christ or follow a form of religion.

Let’s look at John 14:21-23. “Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” In other words, Jesus said His Spirit would live in us. Following a form of religion can be depressing and quite a tremendous burden, but having the Spirit of God living inside of us is refreshing and empowering. He is described as rivers of living water flowing out from us. Those living waters are very refreshing to us and to those we meet.

 

How good it is to be a true child of God!

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