It Is Radical, Revolutionary, Lasting!

                                                   
In the new birth, God exerts a quickening influence or power upon His own elect. 

Regeneration is very, very much more than simply shedding a few tears because of some temporary remorse over sin. 

It is far more than changing our course of life, the leaving off of bad habits and the substituting of good ones. 

It is something different from the mere cherishing and practicing of noble ideals. 

It goes infinitely deeper than coming forward to take some popular evangelist by the hand, signing a pledge-card, or "joining the church." 

The new birth is no mere turning over a new leaf, but is the inception and reception of a new life! 

It is no mere reformation, but a radical transformation. 

In short, the new birth is a miracle, the result of the supernatural operation of God.  

It is Radical, Revolutionary, Lasting!

In the new birth:

God lays hold of one who is spiritually dead, and quickens him into newness of life!

God takes up one who was shaped in iniquity and conceived in sin, and conforms him to the image of His Son!

God seizes a drudge of the Devil, and makes him a member of His holy family!

God picks up a destitute beggar, and makes him joint-heir with Christ!

God comes to one who is full of enmity against Him, and gives him a new heart that is full of love for Him!

God stoops to one who by nature is a rebel, and works in him both to will and to do of His good pleasure!

By His irresistible power, God transforms... A sinner-into a saint;

An enemy-into His friend; A drudge of the Devil-into His beloved child!

~Arthur Pink

You Were Running Well - Who Hindered You From Obeying The Truth?

Gal 5:7  Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?

Something had Broken In and Interrupted their running in the Spiritual race. 

This was Extremely serious and disturbed Paul to the depths of his being. 

It seems that in the case of the Galatians it was again the natural man, but this time in the realm of natural emotions. 

They seem to have been of that temperamental constitution which corresponds to Christ's words in the parable about seed falling into shallow soil. 

The seed was received quickly and earnestly, but did not go on to produce a harvest. 

There are some people who make an enthusiastic start in this way and make quite a stir about it, but then do not go steadily on. 

These Galatians were like that...

They made a tremendous response...

They loudly protested their devotion...

And then they were Very Quick to Drop Out Of The Race. 

Why? 

Because they lived on their emotions, on their feelings, and these were changeable. 

This may well be a matter of temperament, but in fact something of such a characteristic can be found in most of us. 

We respond to an appeal, come under the power of a great emotion, and then slack off. 

In the words of the Lord Jesus: "When tribulation or persecution ariseth... he is offended"

Mat 13:21  Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.

Clearly, then, if you and I are going to persevere to the end we must have a Greater Power than that of our natural emotional life. 

The only hope is that it may be true of us, as of Paul: "The love of Christ constraineth".

2Co 5:14  For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:

There is all the difference between the natural and the spiritual in this matter of the energy of love. 

So it is that the love of Christ should hold or grip us, conquering our natural emotions by the mighty power of the Spirit. 

Our feelings come and go. 

They may be strong at times but they can also grow very weak. 

If we do not know something of the Mighty Grip of Christ's love, we will never go right through to the end of this strenuous race. 

After all it is the love of Christ which makes for the fullness of Christ. 

If we finally come to that fullness it can only be by the constraint and holding power of His love. 

Ye were running well: who did hinder you?

The answer is, You ran in the strength of your own emotions...

You ran as your enthusiastic response to God's call because it affected your feelings for the time.

The letter to the Galatians is devoted to emphasizing the place of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer...

For He alone can supply the necessary energy of love for us to go on running well.

~T. Austin Sparks

Where There's A Will There's a Way

Luke 19:2  And, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich. 

Luke 19:3  And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature. 

Luke 19:4  And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycomore tree to see him: for he was to pass that way. 

Jesus was at the height of His popularity. 

Wherever He moved the narrow streets were crowded. 

It would have taken a Saul to have seen Him well...

There seemed no hope for a small man like Zacchaeus...

And had Zacchaeus had a small heart in his bosom, he would have gone home and said it was impossible. 

But Zacchaeus had had a great will to grow rich, and he had found there was a way to that...

And now he had a great will to see Jesus, and he was not the sort of person to be stopped. 

He quite forgot himself, says Matthew Henry. 

He climbed the sycamore like a schoolboy. 

Perhaps he had heard that except we become as children we cannot see the kingdom of heaven-or the King. 

At any rate he was earnestly bent on seeing Jesus, and as a result he saw Him and was seen. 

All of which has been written down to teach us that the whole-hearted search for God is always crowned. 

What texts lay stress on that? 

Mat 7:7  Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

Pro 8:17  I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.

~George H. Morrison