Every Sunday when I walk out of Grace Church St. Louis, I thank God for the solid Biblical teaching that is delivered weekend after weekend by Pastor Ron Tucker. His message this past weekend was “The New Creation”, and it was the nuts and bolts of who we are in Christ. Wow! How refreshing to bask in the glow of that reality. But after all, it’s called The Good News…and for a very good reason. Regardless of who we are, or what we have done, or whatever tribulation we are facing, there is only one answer, as revealed in Ephesians 1: 4: “Long ago, even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.” And Romans 5:6 repeats that message: “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.” In other words His plan always was to provide a redeemer, Jesus Christ, to do for us what He knew we would not be able to do for ourselves.
For the past three weeks I have written about the importance of knowing what we believe, and the importance of standing firm in our faith. When we look at the assault on Christianity from within our culture today, as well as the Christian Holocaust that is evident in other parts of the world, I believe a time is coming when our faith may be all we’ll have to sustain us. Therefore, today I want to shift the focus from the ever-present challenges to our faith, to rejoicing in God’s unfathomable Gift of Grace and his plan for our victory.
But first let’s define the term “Christian”. A Christian is one who has made the decision to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Period! That’s it. That may seem so obvious that mentioning it might appear to be redundant, but I have talked to many Christians who are wishy-washy as to whether they have actually made that decision. They know they are good people and they know they’re involved in the church. but unfortunately such actions as regular church attendance, directing the choir, teaching Sunday school, tithing regularly, or serving on church committees do not figure into the definition of a Christian. God’s unfathomable love for us can only be understood by his Gift of Grace and how we get it. And it’s not through our work or because we deserve it; its because God chose to save us.
I know there is a popular notion in our culture that there is more than one way to God. There are many ways to refute that error, but 1Peter 1:16 is very specific: “For he himself said, ‘You must be holy because I am holy.” (Holy means to be sin-free; to be set aside for sacred use.) In other words we cannot come into the presence of God if we are stained with sin. So our choices are to live a perfect life through our own effort, or to accept the ransom paid for our salvation by Jesus Christ on the cross. Jesus provided the exclamation point to that question with this answer. “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me!” (John 14:6)
Sin entered the world when Adam and Eve chose to disobey God in the Garden. From then until today, man’s sin-nature (meaning our inborn inclination to live our life with the focus on our self rather than on God) has kept man separated from God. But because God is a God of love and one who wants a relationship with us – an eternal relationship, he was willing to sacrifice his Son to pay the ransom for our sin. Romans 3:22 tells us, “We are made right in God’s sight when we trust in Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, no matter who we are or what we have done.”
When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we experience the miracle of the “Great Exchange”. 2 Corinthians 5:17 explains that transformation: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old is gone; the new is here.” In other words our sin-nature is replaced by the life-giving Spirit, the Holy Spirit. This is evidence that we are now in Christ. We are set free from slavery to our old self because the Holy Spirit can empower us to live the new life we are called to live as Christ-followers. (I underlined “can” because even though we have that power, we still must call on the Holy Spirit to give us wisdom, courage, strength, patience, perseverance, whatever we need to overcome our challenge.) But when our request is in line with God’s will, we can have confident assurance he hears our request.
This is the difference between a Christ-follower and any other product resulting from a “religious effort.” The Holy Spirit is our teacher, our guide, our comforter who will lead us into all truth. Jesus spoke of this when he told his disciples in John 14:17: “…The world at large cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you do, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.” The underlined part is of utmost importance because Jesus knew that his Disciples drew their wisdom, strength and courage from him, and he wanted them (and us) to know that he is “in” us in the form of the Holy Spirit. That is why we can stand firm on the promise found in 1John 4:4: “…the Spirit that is in me (the Holy Spirit) is greater than the Spirit in this world.” (Satan.)
Jesus tells us in John 6:63: “The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 1Corinthians 2-14 expands that statement: “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. They are foolishness to him and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” In other words, unless you have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the life changing Word of God will not come alive to you. Why? Because only the Spirit can reveal spiritual concepts.
As Christ followers, not only do we inherit forgiveness of sin and eternal life, but we are grafted into God’s family. We are his child; we are worthy and acceptable in his eyes; we are heir to all the spiritual blessings in the heavenly realm and all the promises in the bible. And the icing on the cake is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. This is how we can rise above the trials and tribulations of this world to become the masterpiece referenced in Ephesians 2:4: “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”
So my question to you today is, “Do you have the Holy Spirit in you?” Do you rely on him?
Please feel free to respond to this posting, and please “like” and share this with your social media friends.
Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)
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