Sunday March 5, 2017
“you were once in darkness”
For you were once darkness, but now
you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light – Ephesians 5:8
Born Again – The Doctrine of Regeneration
Why is regeneration important?
1. Man is flesh
2. Man
cannot see – (cont.)
Today we
continue our discussion on the importance of regeneration. The inability of man
to see the things of God is why regeneration is needed.
But men are
not only blind. They are shrouded in darkness. Later in the same chapter it is
emphasized that men are in dark, love the darkness, and hide from the light.
They are darkness, says Paul (Ephesians 5:8) and do the deeds of darkness
(Ephesians 5:11). They belong to the kingdom of darkness and are under its sway
(Colossians 1:13). But it is the glory of the gospel that God shines his light
into the darkness, and it is the function of divine calling to summon us out of
it (1 Peter 2:9).
But as yet
Nicodemus had only the healthiest idea of this. Indeed he seems to have shared
with his fellow Pharisees and their many successors the delusion that instead
of being a blind man in the dark, he was a sighted man in the light. He sits in
darkness before the light of the world and as yet no hint of recognition
crosses his face. He comes under our loads later warning: adjustment I came
into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may
become blind (John 9:39). The greatest tragedy is to think that the darkness in
which we sit is in fact light, and the light of Christ is really a dark shadow
for which we should turn. Yet nothing is more characteristic of men’s idea of the
kingdom of God and of God himself.
Challenge:
“Walk in the
light.” In the light, we shall see light. As you go about your day today,
reflect on God’s light (His Word) and praise Him for bringing you out of
darkness (sin) into His marvelous light!
This Day in Christian History:
March 5, 1558 - THOMAS VON IMBROEK was beheaded for his faith. He was a printer at Cologne on the Rhine.
He was also an Anabaptist—not of the revolutionary kind, such as John of Leiden
had been, but a man of a peaceable, Christian spirit. He founded congregations
of believers outside of the established church and wrote a confession of faith
for them.
His failure
to baptize his children, however, seems to be what brought him to the attention
of authorities. After his arrest, a pair of priests questioned him closely on
his rejection of infant baptism. When he insisted that only believers should be
baptized, they pronounced him a heretic. He was brought to the rack, but was
not tortured on it since the city’s magistrates disagreed on how to deal with
him. Days passed in which he was cruelly tortured by other means and pressured
to convert to Catholicism.
Memory Verse:
13 ‘a ‘ene
‘Afio na‘a ne hamusi kitautolu mei he pule ‘a Po‘uli, mo ne hiki kitautolu ki
he pule‘anga ‘o hono ‘Alo ‘Ofa‘anga: 14 pea ‘i he‘etau tu‘u ‘iate ia kuo tau
ma‘u ‘a e huhu‘i, ko e fakamolemole ‘etau ngaahi angahala; – Kolose 1:13-14
13 He has
delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the
Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the
forgiveness of sins. – Colossians
1:13-14
Bible Reading Plan: (52 weeks; 5 days a week)
Week
10 – Numbers 8-11; Colossians 1
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