Laying the Foundation

by James Lee Beall

D. We begin to hear God and to respond wi...

A circumcised ear is not possible without a circumcised heart. As long as we are resisting the Holy Spirit, we will fight ...

Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathe...

E. God can write in the fleshly tables of our hearts. It is no longer necessary for God to thunder His commandments from outside. He does not need to chisel them into stone. He can so plant the...

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a ...

F. We become receptive to the Holy Spirit.

It is much easier to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit when we are no longer fighting God

inside. We can be comfortable to have Him m...

A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do th...

(Note: other results could be added to this list by studying a concordance and tracing all the related passages. We can see by these already listed that circumcision of heart is an absolu...

5. What Is God’s Main Purpose in Circumcis...

Love must have response if fellowship is to result.

Man could not love God without a deep inner change, a radical operation upon his heart.

By changing man’s heart toward ...

has now made the possession of His peo...

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).

Covenant loyalty to God and His people is only possible from a re-created heart.

As we have already mentioned, the term “salvation” is a comprehensive one. It describes the entire package of reconciliation between man and God, the whole process from justification to glorification.

A. Water baptism results in a good, clean conscience toward God.

B. Faith for salvation always expresses itself in commitment through obedience.

It is never enough merely to say that we believe; we must act upon that faith.

The gospel is not only to be believe...

We enter this kingdom by submitting to the king himself; by doing what...

2. Do We Believe in “Baptismal Regeneration”?

No. We do not believe that water baptism itself is the cause of grace or of salvation. God himself is the initiating source of all salvation.

A. Through baptism we identify with the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.

We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) (2 Corinthians 6:1, 2).

B. Baptism is of no profit if we are not prepared by repentance and faith.

Baptism works hand in hand with repentance and faith on the one hand, and leads to the Baptism in the Holy Spirit on the other hand.

The teaching of God’s Word usually produces the repentance and faith needed to participate in baptism meaningfully.

And with many other words did he [Peter] testify and exhort, saying. Save yourselves from this untoward generation. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were adde...

3. What Does the Bible Mean by “The Washing o...

A. Salvation is something God does for us, not something we can do ourselves.

B. Inner washing requires the working of the Word within us.

We only hear and receive a word from God by faith, but that faith is then expressed in obedience to the word.

Any experience with God works this same way: the Holy Spirit applies the word of truth to us here and now, creating faith in us to relate us to the benef...

continual inner changing and cleansing which happens as we submit to God’s Word.

Through obedience, we make it possible for God to come to us inside where we need Him.

C. The New Testament contains no symbols or types, o...

All New Covenant obediences are in themselves points of contact with the living God. Symbols have been done away.

4. What Is Necessary to Effect Regeneration or the New Birth?

Regeneration and the new birth are the same thing.

Either term refers to the spiritual change within believers which transfers them from death and sin into Christ and...

The Greek word for regeneration is palingenesza (pah-lin-ge-ne-see-ah). It is a combination of two word...

When we study this work of regeneration as a whole in the Bible, we find several agents:

A. The living Word of God.

B. Water baptism.

C. The Holy Spirit imparting new life.

D. Knowledge of God in Christ.

E. Total renewing of the person.