ANB 73, getting married (3-30-06)

Hallelujah, yes after 3 1/2 years Shannon Elsey and I are getting married. I know you were expecting
Born Again Part 2 this week, but we have to go with the Holy Spirit's leading. These subjects are not
totally unrelated, however.

When two people get married the two of them become one flesh in God's eyes. This is according to
Genesis 2:24. Everything I have Will belong to Shannon, and everything Shannon has will belong to me.
Praise the Lord, she just got a new car. Ha Ha.

But seriously:

Our relationship to the Lord after we are born again is very similar. You see, no one who has not
accepted Jesus Christ is righteous in the eyes of God. Every person is born with a sin nature and only by
accepting Jesus' sacrifice for sin on our behalf can we be born again.&n! bsp; When Jesus Christ was on
the cross He died, and I believe He died both spiritually and physically (if physically only He would have
gone right to Heaven). No, He had to go to hell as a sinner and suffer there the full penalty that would
ever have to be paid for all of sin.

Praise the Lord, after Jesus Christ had suffered God raised Him from the dead. So we know that Jesus
Christ was the only righteous human being to ever live. Before Jesus died, but while He was on the
cross, He exchanged His perfection for our sin, because He did this we can take on His perfection, or His
righteousness. Now that we are perfect and righteous in the eyes of God, God can have the type of
relationship with us that He wants to. We, in fact, follow the path that Jesus set before us. We die in sin
and are reborn to righteousness. Let's look to some Scripture.

"Therefore we are buri! ed with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead
by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." Romans 6:4.

"For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His
resurrection." Romans 6:5

"Wherefore my brethren, you also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that you should be
married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto
God." Romans 7:4

Let's go through these powerful Words of our New Birth reality. First of all we see in the last verse, and
the preceding verses in Romans 7, that we were married to the law, the law of sin and death. This was
the first law we were married to. God tells us then that this law had been killed so that we can be married
to another, to Christ. "For the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the of sin
and death." Romans 8:2

Because of the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus we are now able to be married to Christ. It was this
Spirit of Life, Eternal Life, that dwelt in Jesus. It was this Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead after He
had gone to Hell and gave Him the power to get the victory over death, hell and the grave. (Romans
8:11) It is now this same Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus that sets us free from the law of sin and death.

When Jesus died He became subject to the law of sin and death. "For He hath made Him to be sin for
us, Who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Corinthians 5:21)
Jesus Christ was made sin so that we could be made righteousness. Praise the Lord. He was freed from
this marriage to death so that He could be married to another. So are we.

Now let's look again, why would He do this? "You also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ;
that you should be married to another . . . that we should bring forth fruit unto God." Romans 7:4.

Christ died for us so that we could be recreated in Righteousness. The classic premarital verse: "Be you
not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: For what fellowship hath righteousness with
unrighteousness? And what Communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with
Belial? (2 Corinthians 6:14-15). Christ could not be married to us when we were unrighteous, but now
that we are righteous we can be married to Him. We can be married to Him so we can bring forth fruit
unto God.

"I am the vine, you are the branches: h! e that abides in Me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit,
but without Me you can do nothing." (John 15:4).

So we see in these last few verses why Christ died for us, why we are born again, what we are to do as
born again believers, and how to do it. That is powerful. Christ died for us so He could be married to us.
We know from Genesis 2:24 and 1 Corinthians 6:17 that two who get married become one. Jesus then
tells us in John 15 that if we become one with Him we will bring forth the fruit that was the whole purpose
of Him getting married to us.

So now a good question, how do I abide in Christ Jesus? Much of John 15 talks about just how we can
do this. He tells us that if we "keep His commandments, we will abide in His love." Keeping His
commandments is the best way to abide in Him. When we read and meditate on God's Word we are allo!
wing Jesus Christ to come in and abide in us. Remember that John 1:12 says that Jesus Christ is the
embodiment of the entire Word of God. Jesus knew this, and so "His Commandments" could refer to all
of God's Commandments, or all of God's Word. By abiding in God's Word we are abiding in Jesus
Christ. Also, by putting God's Word continually into us we are allowing Jesus Christ to abide in us
continually.

I believe it is this process of becoming married to God's Word, of becoming one with God's Word, that is
so vital to living a successful Christian life. But this is how it works folks. We must walk the Word, talk the
Word, live the Word. If we will do this we will see every manifestation of the Word manifested in our
lives. What follows from that, that the very life of Jesus Christ (the manifested Word of God) will be
manifested in our lives.

"He that has my commandments, and keeps them, he it is that loves Me: and he that loves Me shall be
loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to Him." John 14:21
Judas, not Iscariot, asking the question we all would ask, "Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself
unto us, and not unto the world." "If a man love Me, he will keep My Words: and My Father will love him,
and We will come unto him, and make our abode with Him." John 14:23

Well GLORY HALLELUJAH. I feel like revelation iss coming here. We have come full circle. We were
born again to be married to Christ, to be one with Him. We are to be one with Him so we will bear fruit.
Being one with Him means He is in us an we are in Him, we are one being with Jesus Christ. We
become one with Jesus Christ by abiding in His commandments. We abide in God's Word and allow it to
abide in us. When we keep God's commandments then we abide in Jesus and God and Jesus come
and abide within us.

With this relationship we will bear fruit. The idea of being fruitful is absolutely crucial in the Bible. What
did God tell Adam in Genesis chapter 1, "be fruitful and multiply." What did God tell Noah in Genesis 9,
"be fruitful and multiply." God to Jacob in Genesis 35, "be fruitful and multiply." This is the most important
blessing of all time (apart from the blessings to be righteous again). But we should never have fallen, we
should never have lost our righteousness. So for a now-righteous Christian, this is the most important
blessing, the one God gave Adam. The one that emodies God's original intention for man. This is
God blessing us and e! mpowering us to do everything He has for us to do.

The fruit is of course the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and gentleness, but really there
is more fruit. Those are only the fruits of the Spirit. There are other types of fruit. How many types of
fruit are there, well how many different holy things in existence are there. In Mark 4 Jesus tells us that
God's Word is the seed for every kind of good fruit. God's Word provides for salvation, God's Word
provides for health, God's word provides for prosperity, wisdom, long life, good lands, good business,
good houses, good children, good everything Praise the Lord. Isaiah 1:19 says if we are willing and
obedient we will eat the good of the land. We can have every type of Biblically good fruit because we
now know the seed. "The sower sows the Word." (Mark 4:14).

We are the branches, together with Jesus we are a fruit producing plant. With the seeds of God's Word,
Jesus and I can grow to produce anything. We already live together, and every seed is already inside of
Me in the Form of Christ Jesus, God's Word made flesh. This union is the most powerful marriage that
will ever take place. This union can produce anything.

Being fruitful, I believe, is walking out the fullness of God's power and plan and provision for your life.
If you will abide in God's Word, and allow His Word to abide in you, you will bear every holy fruit that
exists. Glory to God.