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Yes, my name is Charles.
I was calling with a question regarding the phrase, Born Again, that's in the Bible.
And I was wondering, does that phrase have anything to do with the body of Christ?
Or is it strictly something that's related to Jews and the children of Israel?
Or both?
Or how does it relate to either or?
Thanks again. I appreciate it. Thank you.
Many years ago, the term, Born Again, somehow worked its way into the church manual, the church how-to book.
But the church manual does not always match the Bible.
So let's press in and ask ourselves, how could we be, quote, Born again?
Considering that the first born wasn't us.
And right here is where someone may talk back to the radio and say, The first born is Jesus.
But that would be a wrong answer as well.
So far, I have found the Bible to be my best resource for answering Bible questions.
Kind of stands to reason, does it not?
But the Bible is the only book that people read other books to try and understand.
But here at Truth Time, we're kind of old fashioned and actually believe that we can go to the Bible to answer Bible questions.
So let's give it a try.
Exodus 4:22, here, God declares his first born son to be Israel.
I know this can be hard for some who are hearing this for the first time, but let's just read and believe the Bible.
Exodus chapter 4 verse 22, And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my first born.
Who did the Lord say was his first born?
Not your denomination.
Hang on now.
Let's put the denomination aside for just a moment, and let's dig in and get acquainted with some Bible truth.
According to the Bible, not the church lexicon, was Jesus Christ God's first born?
John chapter 3.
Let's go there.
Just searching the Scriptures to find answers.
Letting God's preserved word be our guide.
To find answers, we compare Scripture with Scripture, not preacher to preacher.
John chapter 3 verse 16.
Here's where some will say, See, Jesus is God's first born son.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.
Now think about that.
He gave his only begotten Son.
Where in the passage does it say Jesus is God's first born?
Listen, the only begotten Son has nothing to do with the birth of Jesus.
The term, only begotten Son, is not about baby Jesus in the manger.
Jesus Christ was not the first born.
Israel was.
We just read it.
Christ was the only begotten, not the first born.
In Psalm 2:7 we read, I will declare the decree, the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my son, this day I have begotten thee.
What day?
What day is the quote, This day, of the verse?
Is it a reference to the virgin birth?
No.
Turn please to Acts chapter 13.
Acts chapter 13 and look at verse 33.
This is Truth Time Radio, an evidence-based Bible talk broadcast.
Not persuaded by denominational interest.
We have no church headquarters.
We just turn on the mic, open the Bible, searching the scriptures and rightly dividing the word of truth.
What we're doing here today is comparing scripture with scripture.
Where was Jesus begotten?
The book of Acts chapter 13 verse 33.
Listen.
God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again. And it is also written in the second Psalm, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee.
Please note the part of the passage, quote, he hath raised up Jesus again.
There you go.
That is the quote this day of Psalm chapter 2 verse 7.
The begetting actually took place at the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's nice to walk in truth, in Bible truth and not tradition.
And here would be a good place to insert a bit of truth about John 3:16.
If you want to get John 3:16 right, and I presume you do, you should know that you can't get it right by reading a new translation.
The new Bible translations declare Christ to be God's one and only son.
That's a Bible error.
He is not the one and only son.
Again, remember, we just read it.
Exodus 4:22, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn.
So the new Bibles, Bibles other than the King James Bible, missed it, missed the mark.
They're incorrect.
Now that we know Israel is God's firstborn, we thereby know who the quote, Born again, will be.
Look in Acts chapter 3 verse 19.
Here Peter says, Repent and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.
Peter gave a timeline.
He is referring to a future event when the Lord returns to blot out Israel's sin at their rebirth.
This is when they will be born again.
This has never had anything to do with us today, the church, the body of Christ.
Today, tomorrow, and for each of your remaining days here on earth, you can tell everyone you see that you are a born again Christian.
You can shout it from the rooftop, but it won't make it so.
The Bible, God's word, is the only authority on the matter.
Paul states that if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.
Question.
If you're a new creature, now think about it, think with me.
If you're a new creature, just how does that fit with being born again?
How does new and again go together?
A new car is not new again, it's just new.
If I made some changes to my old car, that does not make it my new car.
It may look nicer, run better, but it's still my old car.
Born again would mean it was there previous, and who would that be?
Israel.
Israel, God's first born.
But right now, they are Romans 11:8, blind, and have verse 11 fallen.
But in the future, they will be born again.
What happens to you is not a rebirth.
Listen to God through the prophet Hosea, chapter 11, verse number 1, When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
Who was God's first born son?
Israel.
And it is Israel that will be born again.
You can't be born again and also be new.
Born again would be the old thing having been redone.
If you're saved, you're a new creature.
I've been crucified with Christ and have become a new creature.
Not born again, not redone.
I'm new.
The term, born again, only appears twice in the scriptures.
One time when Peter is addressing Israel, and one time when Christ is talking to, yeah, you guessed it, Israel.
This should be our first clue as to who the term born again applies to.
The likes of you and I, members of the church, the body of Christ, are not in the audience in neither instance.
Can a saved person refer to themselves as being, born again?
Yes. It's just bad terminology.
But it doesn't mean they're not saved.
If you're saved and use this term to describe yourself, so be it.
I did my part in pointing you to the word of God and away from the traditions of men.
But you're saved and that's a great thing.
My real concern is for those who not only use Israel's term, born again, in describing themselves, but also follow Israel's instructions on how to be saved.
That's who I'm most concerned with.
They're following after things written exclusively to Israel, and that could leave you with a false sense of salvation because Israel's doctrine is not the Ephesians 1:13 gospel of your salvation.
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