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The History of the De-Emphasis Of The New Birth

Compiled By Robert Wurtz II (used with permission)

Section XV - The “Glory Departed”

ICHABOD

And the man said unto Eli, I am he that came out of the army, and I fled to day out of the army. And he said, What is there done, my son? And the messenger answered and said, Israel is fled before the Philistines, and there hath been also a great slaughter among the people, and thy two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God is taken. And it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, that he fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck brake, and he died: for he was an old man, and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years. And his daughter in law, Phinehas’ wife, was with child, near to be delivered: and when she heard the tidings that the ark of God was taken, and that her father in law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and travailed; for her pains came upon her. And about the time of her death the women that stood by her said unto her, Fear not; for thou hast born a son. But she answered not, neither did she regard it. And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father in law and her husband. And she said, The glory is departed from Israel: for the ark of God is taken.

There are times in reading the scriptures that the words take hold upon the heart in such a way that the immediate response it to weep bitterly. This passage is one of those. I should suppose to say that among all the pages of the sacred book, that this one is among the more tear stained.
Unlike the days of Lot who was worn down afflicted and tormented at the filthy conversation of the wicked, we have a heightened sense of alarm and terror, the likes of which should strike fear in every man.

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The History of the De-Emphasis Of The New Birth

Compiled By Robert Wurtz II (used with permission)

Section XIV - THE VOICE OF WICKEDNESS

In this entry, I wish to glean some wisdom on the subject from the Psalmist. It is nothing new for those who seek the Lord to look around and try to diagnose why folk seem to live so slapdash, haphazard, and approximate in their obedience. (para. A. Katz) Even with death itself at the door, many seem to keep on in their carelessness.

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The History of the De-Emphasis Of The New Birth

Compiled By Robert Wurtz II (used with permission)

Section XIII - EARLY LESSONS AND A SIMPLE DEFINITION OF SIN

Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

James 4:17

Sin is disobedience to the revealed will of God. Our text says, “To him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not.” When one knows His Lords will and does not do it, it is sin. The question is one of ‘knowing’.

And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.

Luke 12:47

I used to have a friend that had a habit of saying that “ignorance is bliss.” A.W. Tozer once pointed out the folly of this saying by reminding us that if you were ill and did something that endangered your life unknowingly you could die because of your ignorance. Ignorance is not bliss, it is dangerous. Not only that, there are things that we are responsible to know if there is a means by which we could know them.

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The History of the De-Emphasis Of The New Birth

Compiled By Robert Wurtz II (used with permission)

Section XII - WITHOUT FAITH IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO PLEASE THE LORD

We walk by faith and not by sight (II Corinthians 5:7). Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. When God says we can, we can and we must. Here we read;

And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible
Luke 1:36, 37

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The History of the De-Emphasis Of The New Birth

Compiled By Robert Wurtz II (used with permission)

Section XI - SPIRITUAL GUIDANCE

There is a great difference between ‘figuring something out’ with your own reasoning skills and discerning the mind of God through Divine revelation.
The reasoning faculty of man is resident in the soul. When man operates on this ‘level’ he/she does things that ‘make sense’ to the natural man.

Man has a mind with the ability to take into account known facts and make judgments based upon the information available. This is man using his/her ability to decide apart from God. This is in complete contrast to the leading of the Spirit. Yet, many believers direct their lives based upon their own understanding. They say they are trusting in God, but their whole life is directed by their own natural logic of what seems best.

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The History of the De-Emphasis Of The New Birth

Compiled By Robert Wurtz II (used with permission)

Section X - From Glory Unto Glory

We have a wonderful picture of what it means to be changed into His image from glory to glory again with Moses in the wilderness. In Exodus 24:1-4 God called Moses up unto Himself to give to him a covenant that according to Paul in II Corinthians 3:13 had a fading glory. Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy of the elders of Israel; were to come up with Moses, but were to worship ‘afar off’.

Moses alone was allowed to come near. Why? We know later that Aaron would assist the people in the making of a golden calf (Exodus 32) and Nadab and Abihu would offer strange fire to the Lord (Leviticus 10:1). Moses had long since forsaken the trappings of Egypt, but it still dwelled in the hearts of these other men. We know with certainty that none of that generation save Joshua and Caleb entered the promised land.

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The History of the De-Emphasis Of The New Birth

Compiled By Robert Wurtz II (used with permission)

Section IX - IN THE GARDEN

I come to the garden alone

While the dew is still on the roses

And the voice I hear, falling on my ear

The Son of God discloses

Chorus

And he walks with me

And he talks with me

And he tells me I am His own

And the joy we share as we tarry there

None other has ever known

He speaks and the sound of His voice

Is so sweet the birds hush their singing

And the melody that He gave to me

Within my heart is ringing

chorus

And he walks with me

And he talks with me

And he tells me I am His own

And the joy we share as we tarry there

None other has ever known

I’d stay in the garden with Him

‘Tho the night around me be falling

But He bids me go; through the voice of woe

His voice to me is calling

chorus

And He walks with me

And He talks with me

And He tells me I am His own

And the joy we share as we tarry there

None other has ever known

The History of the De-Emphasis Of The New Birth

Compiled By Robert Wurtz II (used with permission)

Section IIX - BRINGING MANY SONS UNTO GLORY

But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
II Corinthians 3:18

The great objective of God in creating man was that He might bring many sons unto glory (Hebrews 2:10). He desired that man would be a living manifestation of the nature and character of God. This does not mean that man was created as Deity, but was created upright or righteous in harmony with the personality of God. When God created man from the dust of the earth, it is said that in His image and in His likeness created He him. God is a spirit without a definite shape, as we would know it.
God exists as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Man was created as Spirit, Soul, and Body. Man was created ‘upright’ and in the image of God, but Sin has marred that image. Because Sin has entered (Romans 5:12), man has sought out many ‘inventions’ (Ecclesiastes 7:29) Sin came into man and ruled the heart of man in place of God (Romans 5:21). God formed man’s physical parts in a moment of time, but desired a different process for shaping the inner man. God had given man a free will and any shaping of the inner man would require mans cooperation. God was the Potter and man was the clay.

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The History of the De-Emphasis Of The New Birth

Compiled By Robert Wurtz II (used with permission)

Section VII The Unnatural Love

The Outpouring of God’s Love Into the Hearts of Men (Part 1)

Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
Romans 5:1-5

Our passage begins with our justification, a foundational truth that makes the rest of the passage possible. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Where once we were lost and without hope and God in this world, doomed to everlasting destruction and perdition, now we have been justified by faith and have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

There is a love that when perfected in us casts out all fear. Many people struggle with unnatural fears, but as we will learn God’s unnatural love with cast our ALL fear. In times of trouble we need prespective. And that begins when we realize that no crisis can rival the condition we were in before we were saved. Nothing is remotely as fearful and troubling as to know that we were once without Christ and at enmity with God.

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The History of the De-Emphasis Of The New Birth

Compiled By Robert Wurtz II (used with permission)

Section VI (cont…)

‘Reckoning’ Yourself Dead In Christ (Part 14)

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried 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 6:1-4

Throughout the scriptures there are many types and shadows of the One baptism that is referred to in Ephesians 4:1-6. This ‘one baptism’ is the supreme baptism that all others point to. Our text reminds us that we are not to continue in sin so that grace may abound. Why? Because as many as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death. Christ took Sin upon Himself and took it down into death destroying its power over us.

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