It’s a spiritual law which the Creator designed. In its
original natural state, every tree produces seeds and fruits after their own
specific kind, (Genesis 1:12). Apple
trees produce apples. Lemon trees produce lemons. Fig trees produce figs. If
you want corn you plant corn seeds. If your goal is corn, you do not plant
carrot seeds. If trees could talk, and you encountered a lemon tree who
insisted that he was really a banana tree, but all that he regularly produced
was lemons, then you can be certain that
one of two things were happening. Either this lemon tree was having a huge
identity crisis, and he had no true knowledge of what he really was, or this
lemon tree which was claiming to be a banana tree would be lying, wouldn’t he?
Messiah said it this way, “A good tree CANNOT produce bad
fruit, and a BAD tree CANNOT produce GOOD fruit… And you shall recognize them,
by their fruit.” (See Matthew 7:15-20).
So according to Messiah, we should be able to recognize a true prophet from a false
one according to the fruit of their lives.
The New Birth is NOT a New Testament concept
When we
discussed the concept of being a born again believer in the Messiah, many
people automatically assume that the New Birth is exclusively a New Testament idea.
It’s not. Remember this critical biblical principle:
As it is written:
Certainly the sovereign Lord
does nothing without first revealing his plan to his servants the prophets”
(Amos 3:7, NET).
This means
that if the Almighty is going to require that people be Born Again in order to
enter the Kingdom of God, then the concept of the New Birth must have been
recorded by the prophets of the Creator, somewhere in Scripture, because
otherwise YHWH Almighty would not do it.
What I am
saying is further proved by the discussion that Messiah had with Nicodemus in
John chapter 3. Nicodemus, (a Pharisee and ruler of the Hebrew people in
Messiah’s day), comes to see Messiah by night. In the course of the
conversation, Messiah clearly states that people are required to be Born Again,
and that if they are not born again, then they will not enter the Kingdom of
Heaven, (John 3:1-4).
Nicodemus,
(thinking in his natural mind), asks Messiah, how is it possible for a person
to be born twice. After all, a person cannot return to infancy, reenter the
physical mother’s womb and come out again, so how is it possible to be born
again, he asks, (see John 3:4).
Messiah
restates the premise that a person must be born again. In order to enter the
Kingdom of Heaven, a person must be physically born of water, by coming through
the water of the womb, and then by being born again, by receiving a renewed
spirit (see John 3:5-8).
Nicodemus is
thoroughly confused and asked, “How can this be?” (John 3:9).
Please notice
Messiah’s reaction to Nicodemus’ bewilderment and confusion. Messiah’s reaction
to Nicodemus is perhaps the most telling thing of all in this whole passage.
As it is
written:
Jesus
answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand
these things?” (John 3:10, NASB95)
Messiah
clearly expected Nicodemus to understand the concept of the New Birth. The only
Bible that Nicodemus had available to him was what we call the Old Testament,
(Genesis - Malachi). So the crucial concepts of the New Birth had to have been
discussed in the prophecies of the Old Testament, otherwise Messiah would not
have rebuked Nicodemus for not understanding the idea that we need to be Born
Again. So then, WHERE is the concept of the New Birth discussed in the Old
Testament?
The New Birth is discussed in the Old Testament
·
The natural
wicked inclination of the human being, (Genesis 6:5; Genesis 8:21; Psalm
14:1-3; Proverbs 6:18; Jeremiah 17:9-10).
·
YHWH promises to
change and to convert His people into righteous people, (Deuteronomy 30:6, 16;
Ezekiel 11:19-20; Ezekiel 36:25-27).
·
YHWH Almighty God
promises to accept and deliver those who repent. The soul that sins shall die
(Ezekiel 18:4; cf. Romans 6:23; Romans 8:6). The righteous person will live,
(Ezekiel 18:6-9). If a wicked man repents, if he turns away from wickedness and
walks in righteousness, he will be completely forgiven and his past sins will
not be held against him, (Ezekiel 18:21-23; Ezekiel 33:13-16). Sidebar: The opposite concept is also
true however. The righteous person who turns away from righteousness and walks
and wickedness; then his righteous deeds will not be counted to his credit
either, (Ezekiel 18:24; cf. Ezekiel 3:20; Ezekiel 13:12, 13). This concept is
critical because it completely refutes the heresy of, “Once saved always
saved.”
Messiah was not promoting a new religion at all. He was calling people
back to the Ancient Paths of YHWH, (Jeremiah 6:16).
So the concept of the New Birth is clearly discussed in the Old
Testament, the only Bible that Nicodemus would have had, and this is why
Messiah expected Nicodemus to understand what He meant when He spoke that a
person must be Born Again in order to enter the Kingdom.
What kind of ‘FRUIT’ does the New Birth produce?
To review, we
know that every tree produces fruit after its own specific kind, (Genesis
1:12). We know that Messiah said we would be able to recognize a true prophet
from a false one by the kind of FRUIT that their life produces, (Matthew
7:15-20). So by extension, we should also be able to tell a truly Born Again
Christian from a false Christian by the fruit which his life produces. So the
natural question then becomes what is the fruit of the New Birth? What is the
physical tangible fruit; (the evidence); that the Holy Spirit of YHWH has truly
come into a person and taken up residence in that person? Does the Bible answer
those types of questions? You better believe it. Absolutely it does. When you
look at the Scripture carefully though, the fruit that it describes as the
evidence that the Holy Spirit has taken up residence inside a human being may
very well surprise you. Let’s take a look.
As it is
written:
Then I will
sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from
all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and
put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh
and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to
walk in My Statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.” (Ezekiel 36:25-27, NKJV)
Scripture
clearly describes the work that God will do inside a human being:
·
The Holy Spirit of
YHWH coming to live inside a person will cleanse us and make us truly clean, (Ezekiel 36:25a).
·
The Holy Spirit of
YHWH will separate us from all forms of filthiness and all forms of idolatry.
(Therefore anything PROMOTING idolatry CANNOT be the working of the Holy
Spirit, (Ezekiel 36:25b).
·
YHWH Almighty God will
give us a new heart that is more receptive and compliant to His Instructions.
Therefore, by definition, anything that tells us to resist or reject what God
has instructed in Scripture cannot be the working of the Holy Spirit, (Ezekiel 36:26).
·
YHWH promises to put His
Holy Spirit within us. Now, when YHWH gives us a new heart, and He puts His
Spirit within us, that is the definition and description of being Born Again,
if there ever was one. At the same time, He also tells us what will be the RESULT,
what will be the effect of the Holy Spirit coming to take up residents inside
of a believer, and it’s very specific (Ezekiel
36:27):
o
When the Holy Spirit
comes to take up residence in a believer, His Spirit in us will CAUSE us to
WALK IN God's Statutes.
o
When the Holy Spirit
comes to take up residence inside a believer, God's spirit working in us will
CAUSE us to KEEP God's Judgments.
o
When the Holy Spirit
comes to live inside a person, God's Spirit working in us will CAUSE us TO DO
God's Judgments. The same concept is stated again, (Ezekiel 11:19-20).
So, the first KEY part of the
Fruit; the evidence that the Holy Spirit of YHWH has truly come to take up
residence inside a believer is that the Holy Spirit living inside them will cause
the believer to WALK by YAHWEH’S Statutes; to KEEP
YAHWEH’S Judgments; and to DO YAHWEH’s Judgments.
According to the Almighty, this is the RESULT; this is what will happen when
the Holy Spirit comes to live inside a believer. This is a critical concept
because it highlights three crucial things.
First,
good works are NOT the CAUSE of salvation, but they are the result of the New
Birth. Obeying YHWH’s Commandments is NOT the CAUSE of a person being saved.
YHWH Almighty saves us by His Grace transforming us from the inside by the
renewing of our being, even the so-called Old Testament teaches this.
Second,
on the other hand, OBEYING the Father’s Commandments is the RESULT that will
take place when the Holy Spirit comes to take up residence inside a believer.
Obeying YAHWEH’S Commandments is the stated result; it’s the FRUIT that
demonstrates that the Holy Spirit is truly living inside of us, because that is
the result which Almighty God said would happen when He puts His Holy Spirit in
us.
Third,
The person who believes and teaches that being under the Grace of the Almighty
supposedly means that we should no longer walk in Yahweh’s Statutes; that we
should no longer keep Yahweh’s Judgments; the one who teaches that under God’s
Grace, we should no longer do Yahweh’s judgments; such a believer, and such a
teacher CANNOT POSSIBLY be speaking by the Holy Spirit of the Almighty Creator,
because they are speaking against the explicit result of what Almighty God said
the Holy Spirit would accomplish inside of people, when He comes to live inside of
a person. One cannot be speaking contrary to the Holy Spirit’s stated function
and be speaking by the Holy Spirit at the same time. That’s delusional and
extremely dangerous.
It is with this clear
understanding of the New Birth from the Scriptures that John the apostle was
inspired by the Holy Spirit to write as he did. John the apostle understood
that the Holy Spirit could not teach a believer to go contrary to the
commandments of YHWH, that’s why he wrote as he did:
As it is written:
If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet
walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in
the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another,
and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:6–7, NASB95)
As it is
written:
By this we
know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who
says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar,
and the truth is not in him;” (1 John
2:3–4, NASB95)
Based on what
Almighty God clearly said would happen when the Holy Spirit comes to take up
residence inside a person, if someone claims to know YHWH as their Father; if
they claim to know Messiah as their Lord and Savior, but they have little or no
regard for learning and for keeping His Commandments, then biblically I have to
question the truth of that person’s statement. They are much like our
proverbial lemon tree which claims and espouses to be a banana tree, but they
continually produce lemons. Such a believer has either completely deceived
himself, or they are purposely lying. In any case, they are anything but
healthy and sound as Christians.
If and when the Holy Spirit truly comes to take residence
inside of us, we will have the growing desire and the growing ability to walk
in Yahweh’s Statutes, to keep, and to do Yahweh’s Judgments. If that is not
happening, that either the person is not truly born-again, or they are not
allowing the Holy Spirit to truly take charge of them. They are deceiving
themselves, and they do not see themselves as they truly are, or they are
outright purposely lying. Whatever the case, it is extremely unhealthy and
dangerous. Remember, how we respond to the Commandments of the Creator, reveals
a lot about the true condition of our hearts, and where we truly are as
believers, (Deuteronomy 8:3; 1 John 5:3).
As it is
written:
For this is
the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not
burdensome.” (1 John 5:3, NKJV)
As it is written:
Examine
yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know
yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.” (2 Corinthians 13:5, NKJV)
So test
yourself. Examine yourself carefully. Are you truly Born-Again? Do you have the
growing desire and the growing ability to learn and to walk in Yahweh’s
Statutes, to keep, and to do Yahweh’s Judgments? If so, are those desires and
abilities growing and increasing inside of you, or are they stagnating or
decreasing?
If those desires and abilities are not truly there, or if they are
not growing and not increasing, then I strongly exhort you in the Love and
admonition of YHWH to earnestly seek the Father, and to do something about it,
(Matthew 7:7-11; Matthew 19:16-17;
Colossians 1:9-10).
As it is
written:
For this
reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to
ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and
spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing
Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience
and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to
be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.” (Colossians 1:9–12, NKJV)
Don't take your position in His Kingdom for granted. Make certain of it. Be diligent to grow in it and to persevere in it.
Brother R
Michel Lankford
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