Made Perfect Through the Spirit.

Gal 3:3  Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?

It is by the SPIRIT we are born again and isn't that our beginning as Christians, our true beginning?

Joh 3:1  There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: 

Joh 3:2  The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. 

Joh 3:3  Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 

Joh 3:4  Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? 

Joh 3:5  Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 

Joh 3:6  That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 

Joh 3:7  Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 

Joh 3:8  The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. 

Joh 3:9  Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? 

Joh 3:10  Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? 

Joh 3:11  Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. 

Joh 3:12  If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? 

Joh 3:13  And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. 

Joh 3:14  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 

Joh 3:15  That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 

Joh 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 

Joh 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 

Joh 3:18  He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 

Joh 3:19  And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 

Joh 3:20  For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 

Joh 3:21  But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

We MUST be born again.

There isn't any other option.

Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 

So, how…

How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? 

We KNOW that’s impossible, NO ONE can go back into their mother's womb. Totally impossible!

So, how…

Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. 

We have to be BORN of WATER and the SPIRIT.

We are to BELIEVE to be born of the Water and the SPIRIT.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 

That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 

We cannot see the kingdom of God unless we are born again by water and the Spirit… AND whoever believes in JESUS will not perish, but have eternal life.

They go together!

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 

Unless we have eternal life we will NOT see the kingdom of heaven, it's impossible.

Our new birth into the Spirit come when we BELIEVE.

Mar 1:6  And John was clothed with camel's hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey; 

Mar 1:7  And preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose. 

Mar 1:8  I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost. 

Rom 6:3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 

Rom 6:4  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. 

Rom 6:5  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: 

Rom 6:6  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 

Rom 6:7  For he that is dead is freed from sin. 

Rom 6:8  Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: 

Rom 6:9  Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. 

Rom 6:10  For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. 

Rom 6:11  Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Rom 6:12  Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 

Rom 6:13  Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 

Rom 6:14  For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. 

Born of WATER - baptized, and born of the Spirit- raised from the water into the Spirit - new life- born again.

And that leads us back to this--

Gal 3:3  Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?

If we begin with BELIEF in CHRIST and HIS power to save us through His sacrifice we must CONTINUE with that BELIEF ALWAYS. Like it was mentioned a few days ago….

Salvation is a gift, and keeping the commandments make that gift more and more precious to us. Keeping the commandments isn't a way to earn salvation, it's a way to love and live the salvation given to us.

We love and live the gift of eternal life by keeping the commandments, but we can't earn or keep salvation by keeping the commandments.  If we spend our lives thinking we are being good enough for salvation, we are doing it all wrong. We are trying to use our flesh to be saved, and it will never save us, never.

Lord, help us. Father, keep us in YOU. Holy Spirit live in us bringing us a newness of life endlessly all through the gift of our Savior, Jesus Christ!