Theme: Experience the glory of God in your life
Text: Is. 6:1-8; Rom. 8:12-17; John 3:1-17
Today is Trinity Sunday, a day we affirm and celebrate the Triune God. Our revelations of God always comes from Him and He is the One who reveals Himself as the Holy Trinity, One God who is three persons, yet still only one God. Throughout the Scriptures reference is made to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Each person of the Trinity is equal is stature to the other. Each is fully divine, that is fully God, and each one is a fully distinct person. We should not confuse the Father with the Son or the Son with the Spirit. The Father is not the Son and the Son is not the Spirit. Just because the doctrine of the Trinity is difficult to understand does not mean we should ignore it. The story is told of a theologian struggling to understand the doctrine of the Trinity as he went for a walk on the beach. Suddenly he noticed a little boy filling a hole he had made in the sand with seawater he was fetching with a seashell. He asked the boy what he was doing and his reply was ‘putting the ocean into the hole’. The theologian immediately realised he had been doing the same thing trying to understand the Trinity instead of believing the truth of God’s Word. The Trinity is a revelation from God and how can those who have experienced His glory doubt His words. Your purpose in life is to experience the glory of God in your life and believe in Him.
The majesty and glory of God is evident all around us. It is revealed in His creation and in the Old Testament it was visibly revealed to Moses in the burning bush and on Mount Sinai. The glory of God was present in the Holy of Holies and on special occasions as at the dedication of the Temple by Solomon. Isaiah and other Old Testament prophets and saints witnessed the glory and majesty of God. In the New Testament Christ manifested the glory of God and today believers are to manifest His glory. You cannot witness the glory of God and not His holiness. The glory of God and the holiness of God are two sides of the same coin. When Isaiah saw the glory and holiness of God he realised how wretched he and the people around him were. How can a sinful person come before a Holy God? It is only possible because God is love. John 3:16-17 declares “For God so loved the world, that he gave His only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him”. Love met the need of Isaiah and love meets our need today.
The Word of God is about God’s relationship of love with man created in His own image and likeness. God is Spirit and man could only relate to Him in Spirit and in truth. Sin led to spiritual death and separation from God. Only God who is life and has life can give life to the spiritually dead and this He made possible through the new birth. God is love and He loves us with an exceedingly great love. He has gone to great lengths to deal with sin in our lives by making it possible to be born again. We must be born again.
The new Birth is the path to experience the glory of God in your life. The new birth leads to the salvation of the spirit and to spiritual life and reconciliation with God. The new birth begins a new life as the Holy Spirit comes to live in the believer’s recreated spirit. Since man is a spirit who possesses a soul and lives in a body, the believer is spiritually perfect and should be led by the spirit. The new birth perfects the spirit but not the soul or the body. It, however, enables one deal with sin and the tendency to sin that is inherent in every human being. The real you, your spirit, should renew your thinking and bring it to act according to the will of God. The renewed mind will affect the body and bring it to the point where it accepts what the Word says instead of what the senses say.
The only way to approach and know a righteous God is to be born from above, to be born again. Our real life is a life lived in the spirit and begins with being born again. It is coming into a new realm of life - the realm of the Spirit. An unborn baby has no knowledge or contact with the outside world. In the same way every individual who has not been born of the Spirit of God has no knowledge or contact with God, and with the things of heaven and eternity. Without normal birth a baby has no ability to use all the potentials of life within it. The unborn baby has ears but it cannot hear and a mouth but it cannot speak. It has the potential of hearing and speech before it is born but can only use it after birth to communicate. In the same way man has the ability to hear God and communicate with Him but can only do so after being born again and without spiritual birth a person will have no ability to understand the things of God. Being religious is not enough to get us to Heaven. It is not enough coming to Church on Sundays, neither is it enough when we do not lie, steal or drink? There is only one way to Heaven and that is God’s way – by being born again. Have you been born again?
The new birth makes the grace of God available to us so that we can manifest the glory of God. Grace is not only undeserved favour but also the enabling power of God. We are saved by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8) and we lead the new life by grace. Grace empowers us to live a life of obedience to God. A direct outcome of grace is the outworking of love. We cannot claim to be born again and yet hate our brother or fail to warn a neighbour about sin. Love leads us to take a stand against sin as it makes us accountable and responsible for everything that happens around us. To take a stand against sin is to witness about Christ. It is our responsibility to influence and make an impact on our society.
Today where most people are self-centred and concerned only about themselves, the world cannot fail to notice the changed life of a true believer. This life is described in the passage from Isaiah when God cleansed him and called him. Believers will be noticed by their transformation through the new birth and not because they go to church, give offerings, pray, and read the Bible. They will be noticed because of their righteousness and love for one another. They will be noticed by caring for those in need, encouraging those who have lost hope and warning and rescuing those who are lost and showing them the way to Christ. When Isaiah experienced the glory of God he no longer needed the false securities and riches of the world. He was only concerned about pleasing God. We too, when we confess with our unclean lips, are also purified, cleansed and forgiven. We are born again. The new birth deals with our sin and imputes to us the righteousness of Christ.
No one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born again. Whereas the first birth is physical and can be seen, the second birth is spiritual and cannot be seen. It is an inner transformation and although we cannot see it happen or control it we can see its effect. Just as the effects of the wind can be totally unexpected and blow where it will so are the effects of the Spirit. The new birth makes it possible for us to have access to heaven and it is the only way. Unfortunately many people do not want to accept this although the Bible makes it clear. God made this way possible because we are very valuable to Him - so valuable that Christ died for us to make all God’s blessings available to us as His children. Just as we are born into earthly families through physical birth we are also born into God’s family through spiritual birth. Unless we are born again we cannot enter the Kingdom of God. We did not have any say about being born physically and dying physically but we do have a say about being born again and living eternally. We make the choice whether to be born again and have eternal life or remain separated from God forever. Have you been born again? Heaven is so near and it is God’s desire that we all belong there “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life”. You can have this life today and experience God’s forgiveness, peace and lasting joy by accepting Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour and Lord. Amen!
