Answer: According to 2 Corinthians 5:17, �If anyone is in Christ, he is a New Creation; the old has gone, the New has come!� There are two Greek words which are translated �new� in the Bible. The first, neos, refers to something that has just been made, but there are already many others in existence just like it. The word translated �new� in this verse is the word kainos, which means �something just made which is unlike anything else in existence.� In Christ Jesus, we are made an Entirely New Creation, just as God created the heavens and the earth originally�He made them out of nothing, and so He does with us.
He does not merely Clean up our Old Selves; He makes an Entirely New Self. When we are in Christ, we are �Partakers of the Divine Nature� (2 Peter 1:4 KJV). God Himself, in the person of His Holy Spirit, takes up Residence in our Hearts. We are in Christ and He is in us.
In Christ, we are Regenerated, Renewed, and Born Again, and this New Creation is Spiritually Minded, whereas the Old nature is Carnally Minded. The new nature fellowships with God, obeys His will, and is devoted to His service. These are actions the old nature is incapable of doing or even desiring to do. The old nature is dead to the things of the spirit and cannot revive itself. It is �dead in trespasses and sins� (Ephesians 2:1) and can only be made alive by a Supernatural Awakening, which happens when we come to Christ and are indwelt by Him. Christ Jesus gives us a completely New and Holy nature and an incorruptible life. Our old life, previously dead to God because of sin, is buried, and we are raised �to walk in newness of life� with Him (Romans 6:4).
When we belong to Christ, we are United to Him and no longer slaves to sin (Romans 6:5-6); we are made Alive with Him (Ephesians 2:5); we are conformed to His image (Romans 8:29); we are Free from Condemnation and walking not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit (Romans 8:1); and we are Part of the body of Christ with other Believers (Romans 12:5). The believer now possesses a new heart (Ezekiel 11:19) and has been blessed �with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus� (Ephesians 1:3).
We might wonder why we so often do not live in the manner described, even though we have given our lives to Christ and are sure of our salvation. This is because our new natures are residing in our old fleshly bodies, and these two are at war with one another. The old nature is dead, but the new nature still has to battle the old �tent� in which it dwells. Evil and sin are still present, but the believer now sees them in a new perspective and they no longer control him as they once did. In Christ Jesus, we can now Choose to Resist sin, whereas the Old nature could not. Now we have the Choice to either Feed the New nature through the Word, Prayer, and Obedience, or to feed the flesh by neglecting those things.
When we are in Christ, �we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us� (Romans 8:37) and can rejoice in our Savior, who makes all things possible (Philippians 4:13). In Christ we are loved, forgiven, and secure. In Christ we are adopted, justified, redeemed, reconciled, and chosen. In Christ we are Victorious, filled with Joy and Peace, and Granted True Meaning in Life. What a wonderful Savior is Christ Jesus. All Praise, Thanksgiving and Glory to the Most High and Name above All names�JESUS !!! Amen ! AMEN !!!�xo
JESUS COMMANDS, �LOVE ONE ANOTHER JUST AS I HAVE LOVED YOU!�
Jesus commanded his disciples many times to obey the OT command �To **LOVE** your neighbor as yourself� and on the day before his atonement Jesus added a NEW command �To **LOVE** one another as I have **LOVED** you� and this was just one day before he laid down His life for His friends.
John 13:34: Jesus says, �A **NEW** command I give you: **LOVE** one another as I have **LOVED** you so you MUST **LOVE** one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples!!�
John 15:9-14: �As the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you. Now remain in My **LOVE**. **IF** you obey My commands, you will remain in My **LOVE**,,, My command is this:**LOVE** each other **AS I HAVE LOVED YOU**!!. Greater **LOVE** has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends **IF** you do what I command!
Ephesians 3:16-19: �I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in **LOVE**, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the **LOVE** of Christ, and to know this **LOVE** that surpasses knowledge�that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God!!�
I Peter 1:22,23: "Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the Truth so that you have sincere **LOVE** for your brothers, **LOVE** one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again through the living and enduring Word of God.�
God's Word further explains what this new **LOVE** is like in I Corinthians 13:2,4-8: If I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not **LOVE** I am nothing...**LOVE** is patient, **LOVE** is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. **LOVE** does not delight in evil but rejoices with the Truth. It always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. **LOVE** never fails!!"
John 14:23: Jesus says, �If anyone **LOVES** Me, he will obey My teaching, My Father will **LOVE** him, and We will make Our home with him.� He who does not **LOVE** Me will not obey My teaching.�
I John 2:3-5: �We know that we have come to know Him {Jesus} **IF** we obey His commands. The man who says, �I know Him,� but does not do what He commands is a liar, and the Truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys His Word, God's **LOVE** is truly made complete in him!!�
Matthew 28:19.20� Jesus commands, �Go and make disciples of all nations... teaching them to *OBEY EVERYTHING* I have commanded you!� {See I John 2:3-5}
EVERYTHING would also include all the other commands in God's inspired Word from Acts to Revelation as per 2 Timothy 3:16: 4:2: "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work...Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction.
Ephesians 4:15,16: �Speaking the Truth **IN LOVE**, we will in all things grow up into Him who is the Head, that is, Christ! From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up ***IN LOVE***, as each part does its work!�
If we really **LOVE** our brothers and sisters in Christ we will lovingly teach them to obey all the approximately 400 commands of the NT with **LOVE** in the hope of countless eternal rewards when Jesus comes with great power with all His angels.
Revelation 22:112: Jesus says,"Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with Me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done!?
Matthew 16:27: Jesus says, For the Son of Man is going to come in His **FATHER'S GLORY WITH HIS ANGELS**{See Matt 24:30,31; 25:31-40 & 2 Thess 1:6-10}, and **THEN** He will reward each person according to what he has done."
Daniel 12:3: "Those who impart wisdom will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever!"
Jesus says in Rev 2:17; 3:4, 5, 21: �To him who overcomes...I will give a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it.....He will walk with Me for he is worthy... I will acknowledge his name before My Father and His angels.... I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem.....I will write on him my New Name... and I will give him the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.�
esus says in Rev 2:17; 3:4, 5, 21: �To him who overcomes...I will give a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it.....He will walk with Me for he is worthy... I will acknowledge his name before My Father and His angels.... I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem.....I will write on him my New Name... and I will give him the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.�
Romans 8:28-39: "We know that all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who:rolleyes: have been called according to His purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those He predestined, He also called; those He called He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified!!
What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us:rolleyes:, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all--how will He not also , along with him, graciously give us all things?Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? Christ Jesus, who died--more than that who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?...No in all these things we are more then conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels or demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.":applause:
John 6:39,44: Jesus says, "This is the will of Him who sent Me, that I shall ****LOSE NONE**** of all that He has given Me, but raise them up:rolleyes: on the Last Day...No one can come to Me **UNLESS* the Father who sent Me draws him:rolleyes:, and I will raise him up at the Last Day!"
John 1:13,14: To all who received Him {Jesus}..He gave the right to became children of God--children born not of natural descent, nor of *HUMAN DECISION** or of a husband's will, but BORN OF GOD!"
Ephesians 2:6-10: And God {The Father} raised us up with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is be *GRACE* {Unmerited favor} you have been saved, through faith--and this **NOT FROM YOURSELVES**, it is the {100%} *GIFT* of God--**NOT BY WORKS**, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do!"
There will be two comings of Jesus on the same Last Day. The first will be **FOR** His saints and the second will be **WITH** His saints just after the Marriage Feast of the Lamb as per Revelation 19:8-20 and Revelation 17:14 "They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because He is Lord of lords and King of kings-- and **WITH HIM*:rolleyes: will be His **CALLED **, **CHOSEN** and **FAITHFUL** followers!!":applause:
God only *CALLS** and CHOOSES** those He knows will be **FAITHFUL**.
Matthew 13:18-23: Jesus says, "Listen to what the parable of the sower means: When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it {Such as all Roman Catholics}, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the Word and at once receives it with joy: But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution {See Matt 24:9-13} comes because of the Word, he quickly falls away. the one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the Word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth {The Prosperity Gospel} choke it making it unfruitful. But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the Word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown!"
He is one of the **CALLED**, **CHOSEN** and **FAITHFUL**!!:angel:
Arch shared ~ God is Smiling at us and is Pleased that we...of our own Free Will...not "Forced", but FREELY...chose to Love Him!
*** As Jesus said and it is written...Matthew 26:39~ And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as [ I will, ] but [ as thou wilt.]"
Father GOD did not and would not Force HIM...even though He [Jesus] is Predistend and Ordianed from the Foundations of the World... Christ Jesus could have at any moment turned Against Father GOD...BUT...He is a True and Faithful Servent of the Most High LORD Thy GOD...
