The Power of the New Birth

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” Romans 8:15

D.L. MOODY
I want to say very emphatically that I have no sympathy with the doctrine of universal brotherhood and universal fatherhood; I don’t believe one word of it. If a man lives in the flesh and serves the flesh, he is a child of the devil. That is pretty strong language, but it is what Christ said. It brought down a hornet’s nest on His head, and helped to hasten Him to the cross, but nevertheless it is true. Show me a man that will lie and steal and get drunk and ruin a woman—do you tell me he is my brother? Not a bit of it. He must be born into the household of faith before he becomes my brother in Christ. He is an alien, he is a stranger to the grace of God, he is an enemy to God, he is not a friend. Before a man can cry, “Abba, Father,” he must be born from above, born of the Spirit.

ERWIN LUTZER
God loves to remake spoiled vessels. His grace outweighs our sins, and He loves to remake people as it pleases Him. In Christ, “the old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Remaking us isn’t easy; the transformation comes only when our love for Christ is greater than our love of sin. God is the divine Potter: He puts the vessels into a kiln and turns up the heat. There are some sins and past values we won’t give up except by the conviction of the Holy Spirit and seeing the consequences of our actions.
No matter where you find yourself, submit to the Potter; do not resist the divine hand upon your life; He is in the process of remaking us for His honor and glory and our good. God, our loving Father, is shaping us. As Moody said, we cannot cry, “Abba, Father” unless we have been born from above.

PRAYER
Father, thank you for working in my life to make me look more like Jesus. Thank you for difficult circumstances which remake me toward your eternal purpose for me. Cause me, Father, to submit gladly to you.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS
How are you resisting being remade by the Lord?

Why do you think God’s glory and our good are connected?