Becoming a Believer........What Actually Changes?
There is much unnecessary controversy related to Christian conversion which we need to address from time to time. This is probably due to the fact that although many churches preach the gospel, not all of them spend the necessary time discipling new believers. New believers need to know the essentials of doctrine that actually defines them and at the same time equips them for the life they have been given by God.
A few months ago I addressed this issue from a different perspective, but it’s one that needs to be revisited often. Each of us, as believers in Jesus Christ, need constant reminders of the things that became reality once we believed. Let me share a few of those things today, and the rest will follow in two subsequent blogs.
The first and greatest change which takes place for the Christian is the reception of a new nature.
2 Cor 5:17 says,
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. the old has passed away; behold the new has come.
One of the few things I remember in my early Christian life was how people responded to me as a new believer. Most of them I don't think really understood what had happened to me, they just knew I had gotten religious or something. But what some of them didn't realize was that the ultimate change in me was internal not external. I wasn't just playing around with religion per se. I had a new nature inside of me that was not previously there. This new nature is resultant from two unmistakable Biblical facts. The first is that my human spirit which was previously dead in sin was made alive because all my sin has been permanently forgiven and cleansed. Secondly, I was indwelt by the Spirit of God. He now just as permanently lived within me. Eph 1:13-14 clearly states,
In Him, you also, when you heard the Word of Truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee (down payment) of our inheritance (our future blessings) until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of His glory.
In other words, the Holy Spirit living in me was God's down payment in my life assuring me of His constant presence as well as His intention to finish what He had started. Paul confirmed this same truth to the Philippian church when he said in Phil 1:6,
...I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
However, that new nature in me was also evident because of the new power living in me; the Holy Spirit. This new power was evident immediately in my life. One of the ways I knew something was different was the fact that I immediately became aware of sin. What I once enjoyed and desired daily was now distasteful and dirty to me. I clearly didn't see my actions or any other's actions through this kind of lense before. This is usually what unbelievers see as "getting religion.” All they see is us stopping our patterns of sin and chalking it up to trying to turn over a new leaf. Salvation is much more, eternally more than that. Listen to what the Apostle Paul says in Rom 6:1,4
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?.........just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father we too might walk in newness of life.
Do you know why that's true? Because we have been raised up to new life by the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the grave!
When we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, we are given a new nature greater than the old nature which causes us to sin. But with that new nature, we also have a new power, the Holy Spirit who dwells inside of us to empower us to live victoriously over sin. If you are a genuine believer in Christ these things are true for you. We'll share three more in our next blog. Stay tuned!
A few months ago I addressed this issue from a different perspective, but it’s one that needs to be revisited often. Each of us, as believers in Jesus Christ, need constant reminders of the things that became reality once we believed. Let me share a few of those things today, and the rest will follow in two subsequent blogs.
The first and greatest change which takes place for the Christian is the reception of a new nature.
2 Cor 5:17 says,
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. the old has passed away; behold the new has come.
One of the few things I remember in my early Christian life was how people responded to me as a new believer. Most of them I don't think really understood what had happened to me, they just knew I had gotten religious or something. But what some of them didn't realize was that the ultimate change in me was internal not external. I wasn't just playing around with religion per se. I had a new nature inside of me that was not previously there. This new nature is resultant from two unmistakable Biblical facts. The first is that my human spirit which was previously dead in sin was made alive because all my sin has been permanently forgiven and cleansed. Secondly, I was indwelt by the Spirit of God. He now just as permanently lived within me. Eph 1:13-14 clearly states,
In Him, you also, when you heard the Word of Truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee (down payment) of our inheritance (our future blessings) until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of His glory.
In other words, the Holy Spirit living in me was God's down payment in my life assuring me of His constant presence as well as His intention to finish what He had started. Paul confirmed this same truth to the Philippian church when he said in Phil 1:6,
...I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
However, that new nature in me was also evident because of the new power living in me; the Holy Spirit. This new power was evident immediately in my life. One of the ways I knew something was different was the fact that I immediately became aware of sin. What I once enjoyed and desired daily was now distasteful and dirty to me. I clearly didn't see my actions or any other's actions through this kind of lense before. This is usually what unbelievers see as "getting religion.” All they see is us stopping our patterns of sin and chalking it up to trying to turn over a new leaf. Salvation is much more, eternally more than that. Listen to what the Apostle Paul says in Rom 6:1,4
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?.........just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father we too might walk in newness of life.
Do you know why that's true? Because we have been raised up to new life by the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the grave!
When we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, we are given a new nature greater than the old nature which causes us to sin. But with that new nature, we also have a new power, the Holy Spirit who dwells inside of us to empower us to live victoriously over sin. If you are a genuine believer in Christ these things are true for you. We'll share three more in our next blog. Stay tuned!
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