WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BECOME A NEW PERSON WHEN YOU ACCEPT JESUS CHRIST?
It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me
Translated from Afrikaans: “Wat beteken dit om ‘n nuwe mens te word wanneer jy JESUS aanneem?”
Sakkie Parsons
Someone was talking to me about the fact that when you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, you are then a new person in your spirit/nature and ask what that entail. I share with you how I see it from the Word:
We read in this regard what Paul wrote, after he converted and accepted Jesus as his Lord and Saviour, and Saul, – the man he once was – was crucified, and is dead in such a way that he, Paul, is now a new man, who will live eternally with Jesus in heaven:
GAL 2:20 20I have been crucified with Christ [that is, in Him I have shared His crucifixion] (Saul was crucified for the world’s sinful way of life); it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body I live by faith [by adhering to, relying on, and completely trusting] in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. (How wonderful it would be if all Christians could manage this to ‘live the talk’ and not only ‘be all talk’)
I must have this certain knowledge, that the lifeless corpse of the ‘old me’ has been taken down and disposed from the cross on which I was crucified.
You find this confused state of mind of separation between the old and new man, without them usually being aware of it themselves, especially in people who still cling to the Mosaic law. Of course, to put it this way, they just cling to the parts they want to cling to and put the others aside – but we remember:
EPH 2:15-20
15by abolishing in His [own crucified] flesh the hostility caused by the Law with its commandments contained in ordinances [which He satisfied]; so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thereby establishing peace.
16And [that He] might reconcile them both [Jew and Gentile, united] in one body to God through the cross, thereby putting to death the hostility.
17AND HE CAME AND PREACHED THE GOOD NEWS OF PEACE TO YOU [Gentiles] WHO WERE FAR AWAY, (that is we who are not Jews) AND PEACE TO THOSE [Jews] WHO WERE NEAR (namely the Jews).
18For it is through Him that we both have a [direct] way of approach in one Spirit to the Father.
19So then you are no longer strangers and aliens [outsiders without rights of citizenship], but you are fellow citizens with the saints (God’s people), and are [members] of God’s household,
20having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the [chief] Cornerstone,
Many people don’t quite manage to kill the old man.
You can say, they have him on a IV drip there where he hang on the cross, and every now and then they open the drip a little and keep him alive like that – but our Lord says we must let go of that drip and then take the corpse off the cross and get rid of that old man’s corpse forever, so that we don’t have to live in confusion of who we really are now:
EPH 4:22-24
22that, regarding your previous way of life, you put off your old self [completely discard your former nature], (finally, once and for all) which is being corrupted through deceitful desires,
23and be continually renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh, untarnished mental and spiritual attitude],
24and put on (once and for all) the new self [the regenerated and renewed nature], created in God’s image, [godlike] in the righteousness and holiness of the truth [living in a way that expresses to God your gratitude for your salvation].
In the time in which we live, where people make all kinds of compromises in their Christian being, and take ‘this’ out of the Word, or change it in such and such a way, because it is believed that it no longer applies to us today, and then you find that people are sometimes very religious – but also very far from God.
Our LORD express this false way of Christian life as follow in His Word:
2TIM 4:3-4
3For the time will come (and in your life and mine, it is in the time we now live in) when people will not tolerate sound doctrine and accurate instruction [that challenges them with God’s truth]; but wanting to have their ears tickled [with something pleasing], they will accumulate for themselves [many] teachers [one after another, chosen] to satisfy their own desires and to support the errors they hold, 4and will turn their ears away from the truth and will wander off into myths and man-made fictions [and will accept the unacceptable].
But you and I must stand firm in what we read in the Word – and take carefully note what is recorded in Jesus’ New Testament for His followers regarding the Christian life, and not make compromises with the world by changing it, or taking out here or there in His Word:
ROM 13:14 14But clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for [nor even think about gratifying] the flesh in regard to its improper desires.
Let you and I strive to live all the time as you have just read.
How do we get it right after our conversion and accepting Jesus as our LORD and Saviour?
HEB 12:2-3 2[looking away from all that will distract us and] focusing our eyes on Jesus, who is the Author and Perfecter of faith [the first incentive for our belief and the One who brings our faith to maturity], who for the joy [of accomplishing the goal] set before Him endured the cross, disregarding the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God [revealing His deity, His authority, and the completion of His work].
3Just consider and meditate on Him who endured from sinners such bitter hostility against Himself [consider it all in comparison with your trials], so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (While we also remember, if we look at all the compromises made by people around us..) 4You have not yet struggled to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin;
Sakkie
Email: bediening@sakkieparsons.co.za
Website: www.sakkieparsons.co.za
Cell: 083 457 6669
Jude 1:24-25 To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy, to the only God our Saviour be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.
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