The birth of a child is usually associated with birth pangs where a woman labours in pain to bring forth a child into the world. The new born when safely delivered is ushered into a new experience where he or she must grow in knowledge to attain self consciousness or awareness. The Lord, Jesus Christ suffered on the cross of Calvary to give mankind a new birth experience which is not after the order of the flesh, but by the Spirit of God.
Isaiah 53:3 [NLT]:
He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care
Isaiah 53:4 [NLT]:
Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins!
Isaiah 53:5 [NLT]:
But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.
The pains and sufferings of Christ on the cross for mankind, paved way for the release of the Spirit of God to dwell inside human vessels [ believers in Christ], hence making them to become mobile carriers or tabernacles of God.
Romans 8:15 [NLT]:
So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”
This is a new experience for a believer who accepts Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, which also continues to be a renewed experience for believers who are already in Christ, for the depths of God cannot be exhausted. It is however imperative that believers in Christ are duty bound to grow in the knowledge of Christ through whom they were saved, just like little children at every stage of their development.
2 Peter 3:18 [AMP]:
but grow [spiritually mature] in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory (honor, majesty, splendor), both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
Moreover, the life of the new man in Jesus Christ begins with the awareness that he has been saved by God which is not as a result of his works or efforts, but a gift from God unto him.
Ephesians 2:8 [NLT]:
God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.
This awareness is very key to the believer in Christ because it helps to take away the consciousness of sin and condemnation, knowing fully well that the blood of Jesus Christ has washed away his sins completely, which makes him a new man in Christ, and a bonafide child of God.
2 Corinthians 5:17 [NLT]:
This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
THINGS TO NOTE:
1. Salvation is a free gift from God, and no one can take credit for it.
2. You don't maintain salvation because you can't take credit for it; you only increase in the knowledge of Christ.
3. The blood of Jesus Christ completely and sufficiently wipes away all sins, hence there is no room for the consciousness of sin and condemnation as it were during the era of the Mosaic law.
4. The blood of Jesus Christ is not offered more than once, unlike the era of the Mosaic law were the blood of bulls and calves were offered every year, for the blood of Jesus Christ is a one time sacrifice and offering that continually speaks.
.....TO BE CONTINUED.
Min. Awe Hilary
#TheMessenger
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