Good morning to everyone. Let us pray together. Lord, thank you for this time. Thank you for your goodness. Thank you for who you are and that you've revealed yourself to us. Thank you that you've worked faith in us. that we can believe. We know it's your grace, and therefore we thank you, Lord, and therefore we need you to continue with us that we may know how to live. Please, Lord, be with us. Speak also to us through your word, that your word will be alive to us through your spirit. In Jesus' name, Amen. Let us read from John chapter 3. John chapter 3 from verse 1. John chapter 3 verse 1. Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and he said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher that comes from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. And Jesus answered him, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? And Jesus answered, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Now, I just want to point your attention to this. Jesus is explaining now to be born again. And he's using the same language, but he's using different images. So first of all, he's saying, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Now, born of water, it's not baptism. Sorry for those of you that think your baptism will save you. It's not that. Born of water refers to the natural birth. In the womb, you are in water. So born of water. You must be a human to be saved. So you must be born first from water. And then secondly, you must be born by the Spirit. So you must have two births. Now the one we all share, we all have because we are here. We are all born of water. We are here. The second one. Are you born by the Spirit? But look now, the Lord Jesus is saying that which is born of the flesh is flesh. So he's referring to the first birth, the one out of water. And he's saying that one out of water, that is from the flesh. That's flesh. And that what is born of the Spirit is spirit. So if you have been born by the Spirit, that one is Spirit, that is to be born again. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from, or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." So your first birth, your mother will be able to tell you, listen, it happened in that town, or in a hospital, or in that house, or whatever. But when the Spirit comes, the Spirit works in a miraculous way that we can only see the result because we don't know where the wind is coming and going. And Ugedemus said to him, How can these things be? And Jesus answered him, Are you the teacher of Israel? And yet you do not understand these things. Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and bear witness to what we've seen. But you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe when I tell you are heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except He who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the Son of Man will be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life." Yeah, it does reach so far. This is God's Word. Now, the last time I spoke to you about what? So I've tried to bring over the message that you are supposed to set in relation with the Spirit. And I've used that image of Eliezer that was taking the bride And he opened the gifts, he convinced the family and the girl she must go with them. And then on the way he was now teaching her, showing her the things that's important about the bridegroom she's about to meet. And she could ask questions. She could ask questions and tell me that you apply that message in your life. Were you in a relation with the Spirit this, I think it's about three weeks ago? You're getting there. No, but the relation starts not getting there, it starts. Although in the beginning the relationship can be The relationship can be, you know, not so strong, but I mean, from the beginning there's a relation. I have a relation with you, but I mean, for some it's not so strong. I did not speak so much, but I try to speak. And at least if you're trying, Enoch, then I'm glad that we walk with the Spirit, that we ask questions, about Jesus, about our Savior, because He's the one that's guiding us. He's the one that is with us on the way. Now today, I just want to come back on that and just refresh your minds again on the start, the rebirth, and on the way, the indwelling of the Spirit. Like in Ezra, in the beginning, he's opening his gifts, he's convincing this family and this girl, man, this is what you must do. And then, later, he accompanied her on the way. Now, first of all, if we look at the rebirth. Now, it's when Jesus is coming to us through His Spirit, and He's working in us, And he's recreating this sin-ruined man, because that's what we all were, or are still, sin-ruined. And he's coming through his Spirit and he's working in us. A new person, like Corinthians 5.17 is saying, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation. The old has passed away and behold, the new has come. John 6.63 is saying, it is the spirit who gives life. The flesh is no help at all. The words that I've spoken to you are spirit and life. So it's the Spirit working in us, applying the gifts of Jesus into our lives. The forgiveness, the salvation, the sacrifice that Jesus brought for us, he applied into our lives, he's changing us, making us new. Jesus is saying in John 3 verse 3, the passage that we've read, if someone is not born again, he will not see the kingdom of God. So if you are not born again, you will not see the kingdom of God. If you've not been born by the Spirit, not been made a new person, you will not see the kingdom of God. And as we've seen, it's something that we can't explain. It's like the wind. I mean, we don't know where it's coming from, where it's going. We just see the effects, the result of the wind. And that's what is with the rebirth. It is we can only see the result in our own life. It's not something that we could work out. It's something the Spirit worked in us. But the result must be clear in our lives. 1 John 3.9 is saying, no one born of God makes a practice of sinning. For God abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. So there's the test. There's the test. If we make a practice of sinning, we're not born again. Because he is saying, we cannot make a practice of sin if God has made us new. We cannot keep on sinning. Now, the question is, therefore, does a reborn person not sin anymore? Yeah, Linda? We do sin. Sure, that's a pity. But I agree, I agree, a reborn person can sin. But now, let me just tell you a story to illustrate it. There is a woman standing on a balcony with a baby in her arms. And in the street, another person is passing by. And he is saying to the woman, throw down the child. And she answer, I cannot. I cannot. But she can. It's not true. She can throw the child. But she says, I cannot. Why? Because of her love for the child. So she's saying, I cannot do it. I cannot throw the child. Because of my love for the child. But she can. And that must be. We must not give ourselves an excuse to say, well, all reborn people are sinning, so I can sin. I can just go and sin. That's not what it is. Yes, we can sin, but we can't because of our love for our Savior, because for our love for what He's done for us. Therefore, we cannot sin. Yes, we can, but we cannot. You know, first of all, we've hated sin. We've loved sin. Now we hate sin. I told you a story of the girl that they ask her, listen, what is the difference in your life from the time before you were saved to now? Is there a difference? She said, yes, there's a great difference. She said, before I was saved, I was chasing sin. But after I was saved, now sin is chasing me and sometimes it's overtaking me. Is that true in your life? Why are you still chasing sin? If you are still chasing sin, you have not been born again. But if you are running away from sin, yes, sometimes it overtakes you. Sometimes it trips you, yes. But then also a reborn person is standing up and continuing again in this relation with the Holy Spirit, continuing to go on. I can illustrate it with the well-known example of the pig and the cat. You know a pig? It loves mud. It loves it. It loves to dig in the mud. It loves to roll in the mud. It loves to lie in the mud. You can wash it now. If you leave it, what will it do? It will straight go back to the mud. It loves it. That's the unreborn person. But a cat, those of you that know a cat, a cat does not like mud. And if you wash a cat now, what will the cat do? Huh? It will wash itself again. It will go and sit there and it will start, you know, and it will wash itself again. And if you observe a cat, if it walk and if by accident, it will not go through the mud. It will go around or jump over. But if by accident, it slip in the mud, what will the cat immediately do? Yeah, it will shake that porn, it will go and sit there, you can see immediately it starts to clean itself. That's the picture of a reborn person. That's a picture of a person in the Spirit, walking with the Spirit. The person is not loving the sin. So if you are loving sin and you are lying in it, you must ask yourself a serious question, whether you are saved or not. But, you know, it's true, when we are born again, the problem is that that old nature is not totally destroyed in us. There is a new heart, there's a new attitude, there is new intentions, but there's still that corrupt things, like an evil snake that you put in a cage and you close it. That snake always tries to come out. Always. It feels it way. Where can I find a way? Always busy. And that is what we must realize for us. And that's why it's important for us to walk with the Spirit. Because we cannot do it on our own because of those remnants of that old nature that's in us that always try to come out. We must be guided by the Spirit. We must allow the Spirit to control us. Galatians 5.17 is saying, For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh. For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do. It's that battle that's on. So it can be Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 3, speaking of the Christian as controlled by the Spirit, so the flesh has not that great influence. It's speaking of the worldly one, the one that allowed the old nature to rule him completely. And it also speaks of that one that is not controlled by the Spirit, but is controlled by the flesh. Where are you? Where are you in this? And therefore, the Spirit worked a new life, but the Spirit is also likely with us on the way to meet with the Bridegroom. the indwelling of the spirit. And therefore, you know, to walk God's way must not be for us like drinking bitter medicine. You know, if the medicine is sometimes very crispen, the medicine is sometimes very bitter. It's very bad. It's very bad. But you drink it. Why? Perhaps it will heal me. Perhaps it will help me. No, that's not how we must serve God. Yes, I must drink this medicine, I must now serve God. No, then there's also something wrong. It must be the joy. It must be the joy. The battle is on, yes. Kiyoski, is that true? The battle is on. The battle is on, man. It's a battle to not sleep in the devotion. And therefore, you know, the canons of Dort, Article 3 is saying, therefore all people are conceived in sin and born children of wrath, unfit of any saving good, inclined to evil, dead in their sins, slaves to sin, without the grace of the regenerating Holy Spirit. They are neither willing nor able to turn to God to reform their distorted natures or even to dispose themselves to such reforms. Therefore, we need the Spirit. But now, saying all that, it does not take away our responsibility. We still have a responsibility. It's not that we can say, okay, I'm bad news, so now I'm living in my bad news. I'm living in my sin. No, that's not right. God is saying, we have a responsibility. We must accept the spirits, what he's giving to me. I must turn from evil. I must turn from evil. When Jesus is speaking on being born again, he's coming to the point where he's saying, like Moses lifted the snake up, and everyone that looked and believed, they were healed. So you, I will be lifted up and everyone that look and believe will be saved. So it's not taking away our responsibility. We have a responsibility to believe. We have a responsibility to turn away. So faith and obedience are coupled together. I cannot just say, yes, I believe. Yes, the Spirit will guide me. I must obey. John 3, 36 is saying, whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life. But the wrath of God remains on him. 1 John 1.6. If we say we have fellowship with Him while walking in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. Verse 9. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We are on the way. We still have that old nature. We've been made new by the Spirit. Our desires are good. We want to serve God, but the old is still there. It wants to come out. Therefore, we must turn away. We must believe. We must speak to the Spirit that He can guide us in the way. repent and believe. Not in our own power, Galatians 5, verse 16 is saying, walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. Walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. So if I, if you, are sinning, if we are gratifying the flesh, it means one thing. We did not walk with the Spirit. We walked on our own. We put the Spirit aside, I can almost say, and do our thing. But if we walk by the Spirit in all those situations, we will not sin. But it's because we go there by ourselves. So we must constantly depend on the Spirit. Second Timothy is saying, therefore, if anyone cleans himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. So, our responsibility. Yes, the Spirit is working, the Spirit is doing everything for us, but it's not taking away our responsibility. Here He is saying, cleanse yourself. Cleanse yourself from sin. If you're still sitting with sin, perhaps you're planning it, perhaps it's in your diary already, where you plan to sin. Take it out. Cleanse yourself from it. It's your responsibility to walk with the Spirit, not to feed the old nature. It's there, but we must not feed it. Ready for every good work. So the Holy Spirit is there to guide us, but it's not taking away our responsibilities. Yes, he lives in us. And if we think of it, it's the Spirit of Jesus. It's the Spirit of God. Last time I've said it's a person, but it's God. So He's all-powerful. He can guide us. He can lead us. He can show us the way. And in what is He showing us the way? First of all, He gives us strength to live the new life. He gives us strength to live the new life. Romans 8 is saying, for all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. So he's giving us strength. His strength in us, he that is in us, is greater than he that is in the world. But he is the one that convict us of sin. When last were you convicted of sin? I hope it's not too long ago. Because perhaps your conscience has been sealed. If you're not convicted sometimes of sin, if you're not convicted, then the Spirit is not, you're not walking with the Spirit, because the Spirit is very, very, that's His task, I can say, to convict us. To say, no, no, no, no, what you did there, that's not right, that's not right. He's convicting us, because He's our helper. He wants to take us deeper into the truths of God. John 16 is saying, when the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you in all truth. He will not speak of his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak. He will declare to you the things that are to come. So the spirit will not tell you about other things. It will show you to Christ. So if you have a spirit that's telling you about many other things, that's a wrong spirit. Perhaps that's the Amatlozi or Abba Fiele. It's not the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit will show you to Christ. That's what we must realize. So don't confuse these things. The Spirit is the one that's leading us deeper to know Christ, because He's most likely taking us on our way to the bridegroom. And that's what the Spirit is doing, taking us, we are on our way to be with Christ in heaven as the bride of Christ. So he is the one that ends the work of the flesh in us. Romans 8 is saying, for if you live according to the flesh, you'll die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you'll live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. So through the Spirit, we must kill those things in our lives that is not from Him. He is the one that is doing that in us. But He's also praying. with us. Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know what to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words." It's the Spirit that's helping us to pray. So if you walk in relation with the Spirit, he will help you to pray. He's our comforter, our advocate. He's the one that gives us strength to witness. Jesus is saying, wait for the Spirit because He will give you power to witness. So if you say, I don't have power to witness, then you must walk with the Spirit. You must walk in that relation saying, Lord, give me that power to witness. And perhaps it will just be small for a start, but you will start to witness. Perhaps it's just one person or two persons, but you'll do it. He guides us. He directs us. Think of Eliezer. He's on his way with Rebecca. He's guiding her on the way because he knows the way. She doesn't know the way. He guides her. The Spirit guides us. Now in many things, the Bible and the Spirit is giving us guidelines. For example, the Bible is not saying who you must marry. He's not saying, no, it's Sibongile, you know. He must take Sibongile. No, it's not that. But he's giving us guidelines. He's saying, first of all, don't marry an unbeliever. OK. Oh, good. There is some guidelines. But then the Spirit is also giving us a mind to think. No, that one is a lazy one. I can't marry her. So the Spirit is also giving us a mind to think. We must think as well. But the Spirit is guiding us and we must pray. And then He can lead us. So He's leading us through His Word. The Word is the Word of God breathed by the Spirit. So the word is giving us guidelines. Sometimes the spirit lead by strong impulse. I read about a pastor that was passing in a town and he felt a real urge to go into a house and he knocked on the door and he knocked and he knocked. And after a while the woman opened and she was in a car. And when he started to speak to her, he found that she was on the verge to kill herself and the children. So the Spirit can also work in that. That's not to say it's always the way. The most common way for the Spirit to work is through His Word, giving us the guidelines and guiding us. But He can guide us in many ways. In Acts, we read how He guides Paul by closing doors. Paul wanted to go north, and the Spirit stopped there. And he wanted to go there, and the Spirit stopped there. And then he saw the man of Macedonia. So all I'm trying to encourage you, I'm trying to encourage you to walk by the Spirit, to be in a relation with the Spirit. Because the Spirit wants to guide us. The Spirit wants to intercede for us. The Spirit wants to be with us to kill that sin in our lives. So it's not that we can then do nothing and be a passenger on a big boat. No, it's a warship. We are involved. We must obey. But with the Spirit, we can conquer. Let us pray. Lord, thank you for your word and thank you for your spirit that you've given to us to be with us. And I pray, Lord, work in us and that each one of us have a desire to walk with you daily. Thank you for the new nature that you've given to us. But Lord, we know that old nature always try to come out and to do some nonsense things. And I pray, Lord, that through your Spirit you will warn us and guide us and that you will show us that we will serve you and love you above everything else. Please, Lord, be with each one of us.