THE NEW LIFE by Dcns Ashaolu (Digging Deep)

INTRODUCTION:

The Bible says that if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, II Corinthians 5:17.

1. What exactly does that mean?

2. What are the implications of being in Christ?

3. What does being born again implies?

These and other similar questions should be full settled by the time we finished this study in Jesus Name.

1. If you are truly in Jesus, then you are in God and God is in you through Christ. Consequently, you not only have redemption and righteousness of God but also sanctification and the wisdom of God become available to you. As a result of this, tremendous blessings from God can be yours through Christ. However, these blessings carry some responsibilities too: holiness, Purity and love. In short, we are expected to be saints. In other words, we are either sinners or saints since there is no such combination as half-sinner half – saint. And what we are will show through our fruits: our behaviour speech, habits, mode of dressing etc, John 14:20, John 15:5-8, I Corinthians 1:30, Ephesians 1:3-4, Philippians 4:21, Romans 8:1-9, Romans 16:7-11, Galatians 3:28-29, Galatians 5:6, Psalms 51:10, Ezekiel 18:31-32, John 17:23, Mathew 12:33.

2. In actual fact, being in Christ means we must become new babies, without a past record, starting completely afresh. We must become brand new creatures. Even our former “good works” must be forgotten too so that God can start His own good works in us. Any patch of our old self with the new will only make our life completely miserable. Therefore, the person we used to be must be dead and buried. An entirely new person must resurrect to whom sin must be a total stranger. Otherwise, we will not be able to fellowship with other true saints, join the household of God or be temple fit for God to occupy – John 3:3,5, Galatians 6:15, Ephesians 2:8-10, Isaiah 65:17-18, Mathew 9:16-17, Romans 6:4-7, Romans 8:19-14, Ephesians 2:18-22.

3. Therefore, our new life in Christ implies two things: (i) We must put off our old sinful self and (ii) We must put on a new righteous man who is truly holy. The things that I have to do are nothing but dung compared to the blessings in Jesus Christ anyway. Some of them are: fornication, uncleanness, covetousness, anger, wrath, malice, filthy communication and lying. And when you remember that your old self belongs to a fast perishing world and that new self will belong to a coming kingdom where there is no sorrow, death, pain or any evil, it should be easy to choose. I prefer the new life I Christ to the old life in sin. What of you? Ephesians 4:22-24, Philippians 3:7-10, Colossians 3:1-10, II Pet. 3:10-13, Revelation 21:1-5.