We Praise, We Pray, We Preach
Understanding the new birth - Part 1
Before you can talk of the new birth, you must have an understanding of why man needs the new birth.
So we will begin with the fall of man.Without a clear faith in the original fall of man there can be no clear faith in the redemption of man (new birth) through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Adam was the first man God created.
Gen 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Adam was created a perfect man without sin. He was complete in every physical, mental and spiritual endowment. After he was formed, God did four things:
1. God blessed him.
Gen 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Gen 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Gen 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
2. God put him in a garden called the Garden of Eden.
Gen 2:8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
Gen 2:9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Gen 2:10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.
Gen 2:11 The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;
Gen 2:12 And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.
Gen 2:13 And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.
Gen 2:14 And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.
Gen 2:15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
3. God gave Adam a command.
Gen 2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
Gen 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
GOD created man a free moral agent (the power to choose).
Adam had to be proved and to prove whether he would be faithful and obedient to God or not.
4. God gave him a wife.
Gen.2:18-25
Disobedience of Adam.
Gen.3:1-20: Adam ate the fruit of the tree God commanded him not to eat.
(Why is man always prone to doing just what he is asked not to do?)
The consequence of the disobedience of Adam:
He forfeited God’s favor and attracted His well deserved displeasure.
He became liable to sin, disease and death
He lost the holy and moral image of God
He lost communion and fellowship with God.
Slavery to satan. Col.1:13; 11Tim.2:26Loss of dominion over all the works of God’s hand.
He became subject not only to physical death but also to God eternal wrath and curse which is eternal death.
Loss of freedom from diseases, sorrow, hardship and suffering. Gen.3:16-19
A curse was pronounced on him. Not only on him but on all his posterity.
How did this affect the human race?
Adam was the first man God created and from him proceeded the human race so we were all practically in him when he fell.
Act 17:26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
(AMP) And He made from one [common origin, one source, one blood] all nations of men to settle on the face of the earth, having definitely determined [their] allotted periods of time and the fixed boundaries of their habitation (their settlements, lands, and abodes),
(CEV) From one person God made all nations who live on earth, and he decided when and where every nation would be.
(GNB) From one human being he created all races of people and made them live throughout the whole earth. He himself fixed beforehand the exact times and the limits of the places where they would live.
(GW) From one man he has made every nation of humanity to live all over the earth. He has given them the seasons of the year and the boundaries within which to live.
(ISV) From one man he made every nation of humanity to live all over the earth, fixing the seasons of the year and the boundaries they live in,
(NLT) From one man He created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and He determined their boundaries.
1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
Rom 5:19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
Rom 5:19 Clearly, through one person's disobedience humanity became sinful, and through one person's obedience humanity will receive God's approval.
(GW)Rom 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
(NLT) For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard.
Rom 5:16 And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.
Rom 5:16 There is also no comparison between God's gift and the one who sinned. The verdict which followed one person's failure condemned everyone. But, even after many failures, the gift brought God's approval. (GW)
Conclusion:
The fall of man after the first birth necessitated a new birth that will reconcile us to God again and bring us into favour with Him so that His original intent in creating us will be fulfilled.