Born Again

 

 

How many times, I ask,

Can one be born again?

Once, twice, three times, maybe four?

What is your truth claim?

 

Can anyone know for sure

That his or her name is written

In the Lamb’s book of life

Which is held in heaven?

 

What assurance is there

That we are born again

If this event occurs over and over

Again, and again?

 

 

“Rejoice,” stated Jesus,

“Your names are written in heaven,”

By implication meaning

You are also forgiven.

 

Chosen in Christ Jesus

Before the foundation of the world,

Go to Ephesians 1 and verse 4

In case you haven’t heard.

 

Can it be scratched out?

I am referring to a name

And be re-entered into the book

Again, and again?

 

Whether yes or no

Show me from the Word

For if yes is the stated answer

We ought to be disturbed.

 

Jesus knows who are his

And his should know him too

For they bear the Spirit’s seal;

Tell me, do you?

 

Is my name written there

On the page bright and fair?

The question of a beautiful hymn,

Is my name written there?

 

 

One must be born again

Not of physical rebirth

But born again of the Holy Spirit;

Of heaven, not of earth.

 

It is a work of grace,

God’s grace I need to add

And it continues in the Holy Spirit

Minus all manmade fads.

 

Plain and straightforward

As told to teacher, Nicodemus,

“Ye must be born again,”

The very words of Jesus.

 

How many times, I ask,

Can one be born again?

Once, twice, three times, maybe four?

What is your truth claim?

 

 

Once, it appears to me,

Not what Nicodemus thought

And so, as in the natural,

It is only once wrought.

 

I know it is puzzling

Re the saving claim of people

That live somewhat differently

From kingdom principles.

 

But leave it to the Lord,

He knows who belong to him,

Just know if you’ve been born again

You’ve been saved from sin.

 

Stewart Russell © June 14, 2024

 

The Word

 

 

What comes to your mind

When you hear “The Word”?

No doubt you’d say the Holy Bible

And I would concur.

 

Not the word on the street

Or someone’s word

But the oracles of Scripture:

The Holy Word.

 

There has been much debate

On the deity of Christ

But the mere fact that he is the Word

Should adequately suffice.

 

 

In the beginning was the Word

And the Word was with God,

Introduced at Genesis 1 and verse 3,

Even before the fall.

 

And God said,

“Let there be light.”

The first words attributed to God

What an insight!

 

Herein is a chronology

That’s particularly interesting

And it is revealed to mankind

From the very beginning.

 

“In the beginning God”

Established from verse 1,

This is critically important to us

Even as creation dawned.

 

Next, notice the progression:

“And the Spirit of God moved”

And you are so absolutely right!

After verse 1 comes verse 2.

 

Finally, “And God said”

Ushered in at verse number 3,

In the first three verses of the Word

We have the Trinity.

 

“And God said”

An introduction of the Word,

Right there in the beginning

And not to be deferred.

 

 

In the beginning was the Word

And the Word was with God

Introduced at Genesis 1 and verse 3,

Even before the fall.

 

And the Word was God

Co-eternal and co-existence,

But also, the Word was co-essential

Meaning of the same essence.

 

In the beginning was God

And the Word was with Him,

He was the light that lit up the world

When human eyes were dim.

 

 

The people who walked in darkness

Have seen a great light;

The light that lights up every man,

What wonderful insight!

 

This light was in the beginning

And is actually the Word

That opened the eyes of the blind,

I am sure you have heard.

 

The chronology I speak of

Is not of the hierarchal kind

For God, the Spirit and the Word

Were before time.

 

All three are first cause

As is shown in the Word

And to believe anything different

Is to be more than absurd.

 

Isn’t it extremely enlightening

That the Creator of the whole world

Was not only moved by His Spirit

But created by His Word?

 

Three actual personal beings

That are in fact only one

Present before the beginning of time

Or creation’s dawn.

 

 

God, the Spirit and the Word,

These three!

Not bounded by but transcending time

And one with eternity.

 

In the beginning was the Word

And the Word was with God

Introduced at Genesis 1 and verse 3,

Even before the fall.

 

Even as God and the Spirit are,

So also, is the Word,

Co-eternal, co-existence, co-essential,

Aren’t you glad you’ve heard?

 

 

This same word who dwelt among us

Now fills the believer’s heart,

Of course, I am referring to the believer

That had that born-again start.

 

“You must be born again,”

The Word said to Nicodemus

And it is not any different today;

It is still a must.

 

Faith comes by hearing

And hearing by the Word

And if you have not yet accepted this

Then your vision is blurred.

 

Take corrective steps

And let the Word apply the cure,

Then you would surely make your calling

And election sure.

 

Stewart Russell © June 10, 2024

 

The How of Salvation

 

 

Can anyone tell me

How salvation works?

Spare me all your credentials

Or that you’re an expert.

 

If you can tell me

Just put your hand up,

I’d love to wait on you but I can’t

You are out of luck.

 

Some do behave

Like they have the answer

But I believe they don’t:

Neither Madam nor Sir.

 

Let me hasten to add

That neither do I,

If at some time I told you I did

That was a lie.

 

So, why this topic

When they’re so many more?

Well, because some believers

Seem rather sure.

 

They argue about it

And sometimes cause division

Trying to explain

The “how of salvation”.

 

It’s like you’d better know

If you truly want to be saved

So, they go to great extent

In their rant and rave.

 

They would dig a hole

And deeper they would get

Pulling in the mold over them

To everybody’s regret.

 

 

Calvinists and Armenians

In the ages long debate

Trying hard to convince the other

Of their mistake.

 

Pitting God’s sovereignty

Against man’s free will

And at the end of every debate

Both confused still.

 

Trying to be God

Which they can never be

Plunging headlong into depths

Deeper than the sea.

 

What does it matter

Whether or not God saves all

Or, on the other hand,

Saves none at all?

 

Unlike as with ethnic Israel

Salvation is personal,

And what is even more critical

Salvation is eternal.

 

 

To teacher Nicodemus

Jesus would only say,

“Ye must be born again!”

It’s the only way.

 

This is not about how,

It is about the what,

It is not about who gets saved

And who does not.

 

“What must I do

To be saved?” asked another,

Believe on the Lord Jesus!

Is that a bother?

 

Fact number 1:

Almighty God is sovereign!

Fact number 2:

Man has his freedom!

 

That is freedom to decide

Whether yes or no,

Saying yes to Jesus Christ

Or with the devil go.

 

Whichever he chooses

Does not thwart God,

God delivers on all his promises,

He is never a fraud.

 

I cannot say the same

For you know who,

Satan will promise the world

But that he can’t do.

 

 

He tried it with Jesus

Though it was not his to give

But that is how con-artists work

And their adherents live.

 

Let’s forget the how

Which is not our concern,

Instead, let us be more like Jesus-

This we should learn.

 

The how is what God did

In sending us His Son,

The other how is the born again

And what the Spirit has done.

 

Go and tell, is our mandate

Tell them to come,

It’s an invitation to God’s kingdom

And that of His Son.

 

It’s one kingdom

Most definitely not two,

There’s not one for the Gentile

And one for the Jew.

 

 

 

The “how of salvation”?

Not our concern,

Calvinists and Armenians

Have a lot to learn.

 

Better to spend time

Conforming to Christ

For knowing the “how of salvation”

Can never suffice.

 

Stewart Russell © April 20, 2024

Another Version

  

 

 

Death is treatable

Both spiritual and physical,

Different from my first version

And far more reasonable.

 

The first was physical

And seemed void of sense,

This one is spiritual and physical

And needs no defense.

 

Technology is premise #1

Re medical exploration,

The Holy Spirit is premise #2

Re spiritual evaluation.

 

“If a man die,” asked Job,

“Shall he live again?”

John 11 supplies the answer

It’s yes, in Jesus’ name.

 

Jesus is the resurrection

And Jesus is the life

And though I die, yet shall I live,

Based on my belief in Christ.

 

 

So yes, death is treatable

If one dies in Christ,

Jesus Christ gives the guarantee

That one has eternal life.

 

As a matter of fact

The born-again never dies

And though I do not grasp it all,

Whom am I to deny?

 

All who were dead

In their trespasses and sins

Hath the Lord Jesus quickened

To forever live with him.

 

These are the born-again

That believe in Christ Jesus,

Having come to him in simple faith

As was told to Nicodemus.

 

Such a vast difference

From version # 1

In which skepticism is rife

And all hope is gone.

 

 

Not so with Christ

Who rose from the dead

And ever lives in the heavenlies

As our righteous head.

 

For Christ died once

That we may live forever,

For he is the way and the life

And there is not another.

 

Compare then, if you will,

If compare is applicable,

These two versions of treating death-

Which one is reasonable?

 

Clearly version #2

In which one is our hope,

For surely a promise after this life

Gives every reason to cope.

 

If this life were all

We would be most miserable,

But not so for the born-again

Who are God’s people.

 

 

In Revelation 21 we read,

“And they shall be his people”

And so, for me version #2

Is far more delightful.

 

Death is treatable

Says the Lord Jesus Christ,

From afar Job saw the answer

In Christ’s sacrifice.

 

“My redeemer lives,”

Of this he had no doubt,

And Job knew he too would live

Even if death took him out.

 

Job 19:25-27

For I know

That my redeemer lives,

And that he shall stand at the latter day

Upon the earth:

And though after my skin

Worms destroy this body,

Yet in my flesh shall I see God:

Whom I shall see for myself,

And mine eyes shall behold,

And not another.

 

Stewart Russell © October 10, 2023

 

Reformed Theology

 

 

Reformed Theology

What is it?

Let me state up front

I have my limit.

 

I am not too sure

How salvation works

Since I am neither a Calvinist

Nor Arminian expert.

 

What I do know

Is that salvation works,

I have the witness of the Spirit

Thus, I need no expert.

 

This is not a boast;

Certainly not in myself,

I am totally dependent on Christ

For my spiritual health.

 

It is he that assures

Through the Holy Ghost

That one is saved by grace

With no grounds to boast.

 

If any is in doubt

About God’s saving grace

Just remember troubled one,

Christ took our place.

 

If you have the witness

Of the faithful Holy Spirit

Then the saved life will show

As a daily habit.

 

 

A transformed life

Not of reformed theology

And not of Calvin or Arminius-

Sorry, no apology.

 

It may be healthy

To debate between the two

But both had to be born again

Like me and you.

 

The Nicodemus-lesson

Is relevant to all,

It is a God-given privilege

To receive God’s call.

 

You must be born again

Is the command given,

By faith one accepts Jesus Christ

And that one is forgiven.

 

One is not reformed

Rather, one is transformed

And to the image of the Christ

That one is conformed.

 

Romans 8:29

 

For whom he did foreknow,

He also did predestinate

To be conformed to the image of his Son,

That he might be the firstborn

Among many brethren.

 

“Among many brethren”

Here the elect is the focus;

The first born among the many

Being the resurrected Jesus.

 

The model, if you please,

Not that he was born again

But that we should be like him

And function in his name.

 

If this is reformed theology

I don’t even know,

These days it’s not to theologians

But to the Word I go.

 

Jesus is the Living Word

And the focus of the written,

God’s elect comprises all them

Whose sins are forgiven.

 

 

Neither Calvin nor Aminius

Matters much to me,

My desire is to be like Jesus

Whose face I shall see.

 

And when that time come

I shall see him just as he is,

Now, I see through a glass darkly

But in him I move and live.

 

Stewart Russell © May 16, 2024

 

 

Being and Doing

 

 

No cart before the horse

Let us get it right,

The chicken before the egg

Was God’s delight.

 

He created the chicken

Then all the eggs followed,

In my limited understanding

This is easy to swallow.

 

No cart before the horse

Let’s also get this right,

Being what God wants of us

Is not by our might.

 

It is critically pertinent

That we understand this,

Not to fathom this injunction

Is to take undue risks.

 

 

The born-again believer

Does because he be,

Having the indwelling Christ

Is his reality.

 

A born-again believer is

And because he is he does,

It’s not the other way around

As some misjudge.

 

Plum trees bear plums

For only one reason,

It’s because they are plum trees

Whatever the season.

 

 

Known by their fruit

Just like any other fruit tree

But not based on what they bear

But what they be.

 

Source before produce

The tree before the fruit,

Jesus Christ is the spiritual vine-

All in Christ are shoots.

 

Lord, Lord, some will plea

Their many good works

But lacking the "being in Christ"

Will bring eternal hurt.

 

We do not do to be

But we be to do what we do,

It is possessor or professor!

Which one are you?

 

I sought to present this

In a discussion recently,

Doing looks better than being

But it is far better to be.

 

 

Some set store by doing

And by their religiosity,

One biblical example of such

Was the Pharisee.

 

We cannot do a Christian

We can only be one

Hence, Jesus told Nicodemus

He must be reborn.

 

None of us is worthy,

For sure, not by what we do

But our worth is in Jesus Christ,

That’s who!

 

Stewart Russell © January 14, 2024