Ho na le Bakreste, who wonder if they are born again and have become a son of God (sena se sebetsa ho banna le basali). They doubt their salvation and wonder if they have received the baptism with the Holy Spirit. How do you know if you are born again and have become a son of God? What are the characteristics of a son of God according to the Bible?
A change of kingdom
Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son: In Whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins (Bakolose 1:12-14)
Hobane molao wa Moya wa bophelo o ho Kreste Jesu, o nkgolotse molaong wa sebe le lefu (Baroma 8:2)
When you repent, by faith in Jesus Christ and His work of salvation and be baptized in water and receive the baptism with the Holy Spirit, you are born again and have become a son of God.
A change has taken place in the spiritual realm. When you died to the flesh and your spirit was raised from the dead, you were transferred from the power of darkness into the Kingdom of God. This change of kingdom means a change of (tsa moya) citizenship and a change of Law.
Through regeneration you have become a new creation; a new man and your nature has changed.
A son of God experiences a change of nature
But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His Name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (Johanne 1:13-14)
Bonang, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not (1 Johanne 3:1)
The nature of the father of fallen man (diabolose) has died with your flesh. Through the resurrection of the spirit from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit, the nature of the Father of the new man (Modimo) came to life.
Once you have received the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit abides in you. Therefore you don’t have to call upon the Holy Spirit and invite Him over and over again. Because once the Holy Spirit comes in you, He will abide in you and be forever with you (Oh. Johanne 14:17).
At least, as long as you decide to stay in Christ, live after God’s will and not depart from Christ. How do you depart from Christ? By walking after the will of the flesh, in which the devil reigns, le ho phela joalo ka lefatše.
God replaces the heart of stone by a heart of flesh
And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh: That they may walk in My statutes, and keep Mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be My people, and I will be their God (Ezekiel 11:19-20)
Selekaneng sa Kgale, God made His will known to the monnamoholo, by giving the Law to Moses. God gave the Law 50 days after Passover.
In the New Covenant, God made His will known to the new man by giving His Holy Spirit. God gave His Holy Spirit 50 days after Passover. (Bala hape: What happened 50 days after Passover?).
The evil heart of stone, in which the will of the devil was written and always exalts itself above God and resists the will of God and His commandments was replaced by a living heart of flesh, in which the will of God was written. (Bala hape: What is an evil heart?).
Through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the Law of God, which represents His will, is written in your new heart.
The Holy Spirit represents, joalo ka Jesu, the will of the Father and His righteousness and holiness. He reproves the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment.
A son of God will experience a change of behavior
Why do ye not understand My speech? even because ye cannot hear My word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe Me not. Which of you convinceth Me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe Me? He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God (Johanne 8:43-47)
I speak that which I have seen with My Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father (Johanne 8:38)
The change of kingdom and the change of nature will cause a change of behavior. You shall no longer walk as the old man in pride after the carnal wisdom, knowledge, thato, and the unsatisfied lusts and desires of the flesh. You shall no longer live like the world in unrighteousness and sin.
Due to the change of heart and nature, you shall walk as the new man after the Spirit in righteousness. You shall live after the will of God and keep the commandments of Jesus Christ.
Because you’ve received His nature and His will abides in you and you love Jesus, you shall do what He commands you to do. (Bala hape: The commandments of God and the commandments of Jesus).
A son of God does by nature the things contained in the law
For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;) In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel (Baroma 2:12-16)
Bakeng sa seo molao o neng o ke ke oa se etsa, ka hore e ne e fokola ka nama, Molimo o ile a romela Mora oa hae ka sebōpeho sa nama ea boetsalibe, le bakeng sa sebe, a ahlotse sebe nameng: Hore ho loka ha molao ho tle ho phethehe ho rona, ba sa tsamayeng ka nama, empa kamora Moya (Baroma 8:3-4)
When you have become a son of God, you shall do the moral part of the law by nature. Since the law is the will of God. You shall be a law unto yourself and fulfill the law, joalo ka Jesu. (Bala hape: Is man able to fulfill the law?).
Ke litšobotsi life tsa mora oa Molimo?
What are the most important characteristics of a son of God? The most important characteristics of a son of God are not charity works and humanitarian works. The characteristics of a son of God are not signs and wonders either. Because Jesus said, there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, who shall do great signs and wonders. They shall be so great that if it were possible, they’ll deceive the very elect (Oh. Mattheu 24:24, Tšoaea 13:22).
The words of Jesus show that you don’t have to be born again to walk in the supernatural and do signs and wonders. Signs and wonders don’t proof that you are a son of God. (Bala hape: Na u tlameha ho tsoaloa hape ho tsamaea ka matla a phahametseng tlhaho?).
A son of God shall love and fear the Lord and walk in righteousness
By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil (Liproverbia 16:6)
But the characteristics of a son of God are that a son of God loves God with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength and fears the Lord. Therefore the son shall depart from evil (sin and iniquity) and shall no longer walk in unrighteousness. But the son shall walk in obedience to God in righteousness. (Bala hape: Do you love God with all your heart?).
A son of God shall never compromise with sin and shall never tolerate and accept the works of the kingdom of darkness. But a son of God exposes the works of darkness and destroys and removes them.
When someone has become a son of God and the Holy Spirit abides in the person, the person shall do the thato ya Modimo. Since the person is born of God and has the nature of God.
The righteous works, which originate from God’s nature, prove that the person is a son of God. Because it proves that the person has the same nature as his Father.
A son of God shall never approve the works of the devil. Let alone to walk in it.
Because they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts (Bagalata 5:24)
A son of God is led by the Spirit
Hobane ha le phela ka nama, le tla shwa: empa ha le bolaya diketso tsa mmele ka Moya, le tla phela. Hobane bohle ba tsamaiswang ke Moya wa Modimo, ke bara ba Modimo (Baroma 8:13-14)
A son of God shall walk after the Spirit in the truth of God. Therefore a son of God shall walk in the will of God.
A son of God shall speak the truth of God. He shall expose and destroy the lies and works of the devil through the Word in the authority of Jesus (the Name of Jesus) and the power of the Holy Spirit.
A son of God bears the fruit of the Spirit
A son of God walks after the Spirit and shall bear the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is righteous, lerato (love for God and out of that love, the love for your neighbor), thabo, kgotso, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. (Bala hape: Tholwana tsa Moya)
Jesu o boletse, that you shall recognize the tree by its fruit and that is still the case.
The sons of God do the will of their Father
For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is My brother, and My sister, and mother (Tšoaea 3:35)
A son shall listen to his father and obey his father and shall do the will of his father. Because a son has the nature of his father.
Therefore the sons of God, who have the nature of God shall walk after the Spirit in obedience to His Word. They shall do the will of their Father. Just like the sons of the devil, who have the nature of the devil, shall listen to their father. They shall walk after the flesh in obedience to his words and do the will of their father.
‘E be letsoai la lefatše’
