We Are Who God Says We Are
Text: II Cor. 5:17
Introduction:
Even though every believer, at times, lives, and acts according to the old self, we still are new persons—new in relationship to God and new within ourselves. The change that takes place in us when we come to Christ involves two dimensions.
First, we have a new Master. As mortals, we have no choice but to live under a spiritual power. Either we will live under the power of our heavenly Father, or under the power of the devil -- either wittingly or unwittingly. There are only two masters: God or the world. For the Christian, through the new birth, the believer changes masters – our master is now Jesus – our King and Lord.
Second, there is an actual change in the "nature" of believers, so that the direction of our lives and the desires of our hearts are now turned toward God, rather than toward self and sin. In the New Birth, the Holy Spirit takes us when we are dead in trespasses and sins and renews our natures so that we desire to practice holiness. New powers and new potential are placed in us by the Holy Spirit that cause us to think about spiritual things, turning our minds toward things of an eternal nature.
But the surest sign of regeneration is that our feelings toward the Lord Jesus Christ change. We may have believed in Him intellectually – that He was a real, historical person, and even did the things read of Him in the Bible, but now we feel differently about Him. He becomes personal to us. A love for, and a fascination with Jesus is awakened in us, and a desire to learn more about Him is aroused. Those who are born again become increasingly devoted to Him, have a greater desire to please Him, and are offended when others speak badly of Him.
I. Nowhere is this expressed more clearly than in Romans 6:5-7:
A. "If we have been united with Him . . . in His death, we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been freed from sin."
B. Again, we need to understand that this is a reality that has already taken place. Paul says, "…our old self was crucified" (past tense). We keep trying and trying to put the old man to death but can’t do it. Why not? Because he is already dead!
C. We cannot do for ourselves what Christ has already done for us. The reason so many Christians are not living the abundant life is because they are waiting for some “experience” to happen to them – some supernatural miracle, but that reasoning is WRONG!
II. The only thing that had to happen for that to be true already happened over two thousand years ago on the Cross of Calvary, and the only way we can enter that experience is by faith: by acting like who God says we really are. And the more we act by faith, the more we will become who He says we are!
A. It’s not what we do that determines who we are; that’s backward -- it is who we are that determines what we do. We are His children by adoption through Christ. “The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together” (Rom. 8:16, 17).
B. We don’t work, hoping God may love us someday if we can just act holy enough. NO. God loves us -- period and that’s why we labor for Him. Jesus says, “As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you: continue in my love: (Jhn. 15:9), and again: “For the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me…” (Jhn. 16:27).
C. We don’t serve God with the hope that He may someday accept us. We are already accepted in the Beloved; that is why we serve Him. If we try to make what God says is true through our experience and efforts, we will never get there.
III. Paul points out the uselessness of that thinking in Galatians 3:2:
A. He says to them: "I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?"
B. We are saved by faith, and we walk by faith. We have been sanctified by faith, and we are being sanctified by faith, and by faith alone. We are neither saved nor sanctified by how we behave or what we do, but by how we believe.
C. Salvation for the believer is in the past: “Who has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began…” (II Tim. 1:9).
D. It is Present: “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18)
E. And it is future: “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” (Rom. 5:9, 10).
F. In other words, we have been saved, we are being saved, and someday we shall fully be saved from the wrath that is to come. I believe though, that Scripture teaches that we can have the assurance of salvation now. John writes, "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life" (1 Jn. 5:13).
IV. Sanctification also occurs the same way:
A. Past: “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Cor. 6:19)
B. Present: “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (II Cor. 7:1)
C. And future: “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not have spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:25-27).
D. In other words, we have been sanctified, we are being sanctified, and someday we shall be finally and fully sanctified. The sanctifying process begins at the new birth and continues, right on, until we reach heaven.
E. If God says we are already “seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:6), why do some Christians keep on spending their lives and energy trying to have some “experience?”
F. We are not trying to become children of God; we are children of God. Progressive sanctification is the process of working out the salvation God has already worked in us. It is the process of becoming conformed to His image (Rom. 8:29).
G. But let’s not commit the serious error of believing in the concept of sinless perfectionism. This is nothing more than a denial of the reality of sin. "If we say we have (1st person, plural, present tense) no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us" (1 Jn. 1:8). But when John tells Christians we cannot say we HAVE no sin he doesn’t mean that we’re sinners by nature
H. We don’t “become sin” if we do sin. But if we do perchance sin, we are still children of our Heavenly Father who are acting against our nature. Remember, sinners sin ACCORDING TO their nature, Christians sin AGAINST THEIR NATURE. But with His help, we can live pleasing to our Lord.
Closing:
If someone asks, "Do you believe that the old man died at the New Birth?" the answer is “Yes.” We are no longer in Adam. We have been made spiritually alive in Christ. Likewise, if someone asks, "Do you believe that Christians can no longer sin or cannot walk or live according to the flesh?" The answer is “No.” The Christian retains the flesh, which the Bible interprets as the "old nature," and even at times, the "sin nature." This has created some problems of definition when discussing the nature or natures of a Christian.
If someone asks, "Do you believe that Christians have a new nature?" the answer is “Yes,” because God has given us a new heart and our inner person has been born-again and is oriented toward God. We have become “…partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet. 1:4), and as Paul writes, we "…joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man" (Rom. 7:22). Before the new birth, our minds were oriented to live independently of God. Though the influence of the sin-nature is still active in us after the new birth, God helps us through His Word and through His Spirit to realize that the desires of our flesh are in opposition to the Spirit of God, and He has given us the desire to please Him.
We must accept the truth that the flesh (the old nature) must be crucified BY THE BELIEVER, and this is something we must do daily. As Paul said, “But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection…” (I Cor. 9:27). That word, “subjection” is from the Greek, “dü-lä-go-ge'-o,” and means “to make a slave and to treat as a slave.” And again, he writes: “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace” (Rom. 6:12-14).
But praise God, as we claim the truth of His Word, the Lord strives with us and helps us to live like who He says we already are. Paul writes: “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ… (I Cor. 10:3-5). But there is no such thing as instant maturity. It will take those of us who are Christians the rest of our lives to renew our minds and become conformed to the image of God (Rom. 12: 2). But let’s begin acting like who God says we are.
For those of you hearing my words but not understanding them, it is for one of two reasons: (1) either you are truly a born-again Christian but have never yet realized the truth of the Scripture that says: “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage” (Gal. 5: 1). Or (2) because you are not a Christian and have never responded to Christ’s call: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink” (John 7: 37). Accept His invitation: “Come unto me all you who labor and are heavy-laden and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11: 28). If you fall in either category, my wish and prayer is that God may give you ears to hear, eyes to see, and hearts to understand His truth.
