Chpt 10 – Fullness Received
Ephesians 4:24 (NKJV) “And that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”
Our spirit was created in righteousness and true holiness when we were born again. Our spirit was created in true righteousness! We are a brand new person, as righteous and holy as Jesus! Wow! Then, the Holy Spirit sealed this purity into our brand-new spirit (Eph. 1:13). Our spirit has been sanctified and perfected forever (Heb. 10:10, 14; Heb. 12:23). Our born-again spirit cannot sin (1 John 3:9)!
You are righteous and holy, so let’s act like it. Let’s believe how God truly sees us! Then we can be who we truly are in Christ. To put on the new man is to be renewed in the spirit of your mind. It is choosing to walk in the new way of the spirit instead of the old ways of the flesh. We don’t put off and put on to become spiritual; we do this because we are spiritual. Everyone who is born again is born of the spirit (John 3:7-8). Since we are already in the spirit, let us walk after the spirit (Gal. 5:25).
Jesus was made to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21). Jesus was not made sin because He was a sinner and we were not made righteous because we acted righteously. God did it all! The moment we put our faith in Jesus, we were stamped righteous for all eternity. At one time we were unrighteous, but we were washed, sanctified, and declared righteous in the name of the Lord (1 Cor. 6:9-11).
What does it mean to be righteous? It means we have had a complete renovation, a Holy Spirit renewal, an entire rebuild. We have been straightened out. While in Adam we had inclinations that led us towards sin no matter how hard we tried to avoid it, in Christ we are inclined to walk straight and true. Our desire is to please the Lord. It’s not that we are incapable of sinning. It’s just that sinning no longer appeals. When we sin, or miss the mark, it bothers us—“I wish I hadn’t done that”—testifying that this sort of behavior is not true to our new nature.
We have received eternal redemption (Heb 9:12). This gives us stability in our life and relationship with God. We live holy because we want to. If we don’t, we know we’ll give Satan and other people an opportunity against us (Rom. 6:16). Living holy is definitely more beneficial than living in sin!
God is pleased with us because of who we are in the spirit (Jn. 4:24). When we do fall short, sin doesn’t have dominion over us because we know now that God has ALREADY forgiven us completely – past, present and future sins (Rom. 6:14).
Our relationship with the Lord is constant. He’s always loving us. He’s always pleased with us! – the real us, the born-again us, our spirit (Eph. 1:6). That’s the part of us that God loves! That’s the part of us we’ve come to love. There’s a new us with a new nature! In our spirit, we thrilled with what Jesus has done, and we place our full confidence in that. We walk by the spirit – not the flesh – and experience God’s peace, joy and life on a daily basis.
We actively and aggressively continue renewing our mind to His Word, as instructed in Romans 12:2.
Fruit Unto Holiness
1 John 1:9 has traditionally taught that every time you sin, you have to confess your sins in order to receive forgiveness! Wrong!! What a tremendous burden that would put on anyone to deal with every sin! Some sins you realize, most others you don’t.
1 John 1:9 refers to when you first come to the Lord. It instructs the unbeliever to be born again; not the believer to confess every sin all the tie. It’s how you first come to the Lord. You acknowledge your sin nature and separation from God in order to bow your knee and receive salvation. You confess that you’re a sinner in need of forgiveness and are cleaned from ALL unrighteousness by receiving your brand new, born again spirit.
1 John 1:9 can also mean cleansing the effects of sin from a believer’s soul and body. Sin doesn’t affect your spirit, but it affects your soul and body. (Rom. 6:16). How to repent? “God, I was wrong and You were right. I sinned and gave Satan this opportunity. I repent!” By confessing, you take the salvation, the forgiveness, the holiness and the righteousness that ALERADY a reality in your spirit and draw it out into your body and soul! This LITERALLY drives the devil out and takes his place away.
The sole condition for receiving God’s forgiveness and grace is to admit your need for it. Ask and you shall receive.
Remember, John is speaking about people who are disconnected from God. They have no fellowship with the Father or the Son (1 John 1:3).They have not received the free gift of forgiveness because they don’t believe they need it (1 John 1:8). Having told them the bad news—“you are deceiving yourselves”—he now tells them the good news: “Admit your need for forgiveness and you shall have it!” And how many times do we need to do this? Once is enough. The moment we confess our need for Jesus we are cleansed from all unrighteousness.
Forgiveness is not something we earn through our acts of confession; it is a gift we receive by faith (Acts 13:38). In Christ, we have the forgiveness of sins (Col. 1:14). In Him, we are completely and eternally forgiven according to the riches of His grace (Eph. 1:7).
Eternal redemption causes us to declare “What a GREAT God You are!” You’ll want to spend even more time with Him and to live holy!
Romans 6:22 (NKJV) But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.
You should have “fruit unto holiness.” Notice, how it’s a fruit, not a root, of salvation. “Holiness” doesn’t produce God moving in your life, but your external actions of holiness are a result of understanding the righteous nature of your born-again spirit.
Never Separated From His Love!
This can change your life! This can give you a deep abiding security in my relationship with God because you know He loves you! In fact, He loves you infinitely more than we will ever perceive!
Our born-again spirit is righteous and holy. God looks at me Spirit to spirit, and He loves the born-again part of me!
I’m His workmanship, “created in Christ Jesus unto good works”
Ephesians 2:10 (NKJV) For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Romans 8:35, 38-39 (NKJV) “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?…For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In our spirit, God has ALREADY given us His full measure of love. “And of His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace (John 1:16).” We’re full of God. One-third of us is wall-to-wall Holy Spirit! And if you’re born again, all these things are true of you, too!
This knowledge will impact our life and make us feel so pure. We’ll be so appreciative of what God has done! We’ll live holier in our actions accidentally than we’ve ever lived on purpose!
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