New Creation by Lorri Frandsen - HTML preview

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Copyright 2017 by Lorri Frandsen.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means, without prior permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations in articles and reviews.

Bible - New International Version

Published by Grace Life Ministries, Box 3583, Courtenay, BC, Canada

 

 

 

Butterfly Symbol

The butterfly has been called a winged flower or flying gem because of its ethereal beauty. But a butterfly doesn’t start out beautiful. A butterfly’s life begins as an ugly caterpillar that hatches from an egg. These caterpillars have ravenous appetites and eat almost constantly, sometimes completely destroying crops and damaging trees and shrubs. After going through this destructive phase, the caterpillar is next wrapped in a cocoon which looks like a tomb or coffin. This phase lasts for several weeks during which it appears lifeless and dead. The third and final stage is when the cocoon breaks open and the beautiful butterfly emerges, spreading its wings to fly off into the heavens. It is a new creature, transformed and changed by the mystical process of metamorphosis.

 

The butterfly is a wonderful analogy of the Christian who, although beginning life as a condemned sinner who was dead in spirit and at enmity with God, subsequently becomes a new creation, with a new heart and mind that is alive and perfect with the divine nature of Christ Himself.

 

We therefore were buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may walk in newness of life…Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (Romans 6:4, 2 Corinthians 5:17)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Grace Gospel

 

It is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no heart has imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him.” (1Corinthians 2:9)

The word 'grace' comes from the Greek word 'charis' which means kindness or favor. When applied to God, it refers to His kindness to those who do not deserve it. God’s salvation comes to us because of His grace, or kindness.

“For by grace are you saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves.” (Ephesians 2:8)

God's grace can be traced all the way back to the Garden of Eden to the very first humans, Adam and Eve, who represented their entire species. When they rebelled against God, after being tempted by the devil, they died spiritually and physically and that sentence of death passed on to all of mankind. There was a change inside their souls that filled them with guilt and fear. They could not even look at one another without shame. Their minds became filled with wicked thoughts and ideas and they ran to cover themselves, sewing fig leaves to hide their nakedness from one another. Their souls were now poisoned and they were destroyed spiritually. Before this, they had walked with God in the garden and enjoyed friendship with Him. Now they were afraid of God.

God is all knowing so one might wonder why God permitted Adam and Eve to be tempted in the first place. Why did He allow His human creation to make a decision that would separate them from the God who loved them and wanted to have a relationship with them? The answer is that God could not do otherwise. If God wanted a true love relationship with Adam and Eve, it was absolutely necessary that they be given the choice to obey Him or not. Without choice they would have been without personality, individuality, or freedom.

They would have resembled robots that can only function as programmed, unable to feel or express love. Nevertheless God had no intention of casting away humanity, so He did a strange thing. He made clothes from animal skins for Adam and Eve in order to cover their nakedness. He would have had to kill an animal in order to do that. It would have been the first animal sacrifice to cover the guilt of sin.

Very likely, since later animal sacrifices were most often lambs, and because the coming Savior would be described as a Lamb of God, the animal that God killed was a lamb.

And just as the divine Lamb would one day shed His blood and clothe humankind with His own righteousness, the earthly lamb sacrificed for Adam and Eve provided covering for their guilt and shame. Adam and Eve would likely have realized that God was showing mercy to them through this mysterious act. Perhaps they saw that God was, in effect, promising to cover mankind with righteousness and make him pure again sometime in the future. It’s not certain how much Adam and Eve understood about God’s plan for mankind, but His act of providing animal skins as covering clearly pointed to the greatest Sacrifice of all Who would one day do away with sin forever and bring great joy to His people. However, until the Savior arrived, Adam and Eve, including all their descendants, were cut off from God and placed under a death sentence.

The Holy God could no longer commune with them because their spirits were dead and their corrupted, mortal bodies were now unfit for heaven. This was how MAN BECAME A SINNER.

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)

 

Sin is transgressing God's law and includes such things as lying, lust, cheating, deceit, anger, evil thoughts, immoral behavior and more. The Bible states that those who sin will be judged according to the light they have from their conscience, and how they respond to it. The conscience is God's moral law written on the heart. Where people resist their conscience, they will receive condemnation. Where they obey it, they will be excused. But the Bible also says: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away; they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good; not even one. Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes." (Romans 3:10-18)

 

In order for humans to have a relationship with a perfectly holy God, they have to be as holy as He is, but as the scriptures say, man is a sinner and is not able to meet that standard.

 

Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect. (Matthew 5:48)

 

Besides our conscience, God gave the 10 commandments to Moses to further explain what is required of mankind in order to be accepted by God.

These commandments comprise the Law, which must be obeyed in its entirety. Even one transgression nullifies the whole.

 

For whoever keeps the whole Law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. (James 2:10)

Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God's sight by the works of the Law; rather, through the Law we become conscious of our sin. (Romans 3:20)

The Law silences every mouth and holds the entire world accountable to God. The Law will never declare anyone righteous in God’s sight because everyone breaks the Law. This is a dilemma for humankind because GOD IS JUST and therefore MUST PUNISH SIN.

(God says) “I will by no means clear the guilty (Exodus 34:7) 
The soul who sins shall die. “ (Ezekiel 18:4)

Therefore we have a problem; we have all sinned. The penalty for sin is death. We need forgiveness so that we can have a right relationship with God. Fortunately there is another side to God. He is also LOVE. So, even though man cannot save himself,

GOD IS MERCIFUL and DOES NOT WANT TO PUNISH US.

This is because GOD IS LOVE. (I John 4:8)

He says, 
”I have loved you with an everlasting love”. (Jeremiah 31:3)

 

Clearly, from all the scriptures in both Old and New Testaments, we can see that

God has always desired His people to be in a close, intimate relationship with

Himself. He loved Adam and Eve and He loves us as well. He had a plan to rescue

us right from the beginning. After Adam and Eve plunged humanity into

destruction, God mercifully instituted animal sacrifices to be carried out in the

Temple, to signify that judgment had been carried out against sin, albeit only on

a temporary basis. Animal sacrifices did not do away with sin. They only covered sin until a better Sacrifice came along that would do away with sin forever. This Supreme Sacrifice for sin had been promised for millennia, beginning with the lamb’s blood shed in Eden which foreshadowed the death that would one day come to the Redeemer of mankind. He would take sin away forever and offer salvation as a free gift of grace. This Redeemer was JESUS CHRIST.

Who exactly is Jesus Christ? 
The Bible tells us clearly that He is the infinite


GOD-MAN.

 


In the beginning was the Word (Jesus) ... and the Word (Jesus) was with God ... and the

Word (Jesus) became flesh and dwelt among us. (John 1:1,14)




Jesus Christ came to earth and lived a sinless life, but while on earth. He died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins and rose from the grave to purchase a place for us in heaven.

 

All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned, every one, to his own way, and the

Lord has laid on Him (Jesus) the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)


 

For a short time, Jesus Christ was on earth like one of us. He was in the likeness of sinful flesh, although He never sinned and didn't have the dead sin nature of Adam. The curse of death did not apply to Him but Jesus willingly volunteered to represent sinful mankind, becoming the Second Adam. Being human was essential if the Second Adam was to take on Himself the penalty for sin. Being sinless was essential if the Second Adam was to escape death and resurrect into new life. This is what Jesus did for us. He became the New Creation, a new humanity that had never existed before. To become a part of this New Creation, it was necessary to be ‘reborn’ with Christ’s life formed within us.

 

Rebirth (also called regeneration) is moving from a dead spiritual state to one that is alive and eternal - from the old humanity (old man in Adam) to the new one (new man in Christ).

 

For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:3- 4)

 

The new creation did not inherit the sin disposition of Adam. It is an entirely new entity fashioned in the likeness of Jesus Christ, having His divine, eternal nature. As such, it is without sin.

 

For by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.(Hebrews 10:14)

 

The Law could rightfully condemn the old humanity because it was guilty of sin, but the Law can find nothing to condemn in the New Creation.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set youfree from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:1)

 

You were taught to stop your old way of life. Your old way was full of deceitful desires. Now you are to be made new in the attitude of your minds. (Ephesians 4: 20-23)

Christ’s righteousness is now our own. We have His nature, His heart, and His mind and are in complete unity with Him. It is impossible for us to be condemned for sin anymore. We have passed out of death into eternal life. We have come out of the Old Man and into the New, released out of bondage into freedom. We are no longer separated from God, but have been brought into close intimacy with Him. What Jesus has accomplished for us is truly beyond what we could ever have thought or imagined! This was the great gift Jesus came to bring to all of us, and it does not depend on human effort. Only God’s gracious kindness can rescue humanity. God offers salvation as a gift, not as something earned by His creatures.

HEAVEN (Eternal Life with God) IS A FREE GIFT.

 

The Bible says: the GIFT of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

 

And because heaven is a gift, like any other genuine gift, IT IS NOT EARNED or DESERVED. Therefore, no personal effort, no good works, no religious deeds can get you to heaven.

 

By grace you have been saved through faith, and that NOT OF YOURSELVES. It is the gift of God, NOT OF WORKS, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8.9)

 

SO HOW DO WE BECOME PART OF THE NEW CREATION?

The key is FAITH

Faith is the key that opens the door to heaven.

Many people mistake two things for saving faith:

1. Just believing certain historical facts. The Bible says the devil believes in God, but that is not saving faith.

2.       Just trusting God for temporary crises such as financial, family, or physical needs.

These are good, and we should trust Christ for these, but they are not saving faith!

SAVING FAITH is trusting in Jesus Christ alone for salvation.

 

Believe (trust) on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved . . . (Acts 16:31 )

 

Faith is like a beggar getting a gift from a King. We don't deserve the gift of eternal life. But we can have it, if we have faith. It is our faith that causes us to know that the One who raised the Lord from the dead also raises us to live forever in His presence.

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.

 

 But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions… For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:1-9)

 

God has reconciled us to Himself through Christ, no longer counting people’s sins against them. Faith is simply taking God at His word, believing what He has said and done.

 

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)

 

We are saved by faith and we walk by faith. The only works that have any eternal value are those born of faith. But this faith is not something we conjure up within ourselves or something we earn. It is given to us by God.

 

… it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

 

This is the message of the gospel that God wants the world to know.

Right at this present time God is making His appeal, asking people today:

WOULD YOU LIKE TO RECEIVE THE GIFT OF ETERNAL LIFE?

If the answer is ‘yes’, God is saying:

TRUST in what Jesus Christ has done for you on the cross, that He has died for YOU. If you are willing to be placed spiritually into Christ, it will mean that your old life (who you were before) will lie dead in the grave, and you will become a part of the New Creation, or New Humanity in Christ. Listen to what Jesus is saying….

 

Behold, I stand at the door and knock at the door of your life. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him. (Revelation 3:20)

 

RECEIVE JESUS CHRIST INTO YOUR LIFE AS LORD

 

...with the heart one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to salvation, for whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Romans 10:10, 13)

 

 


He comes as Master and King. He made you. He bought you and He wants to take His rightful place in your life. Turn from your sins. Call on Him, asking Him for this gift right now. It is essential that as new believers, we follow Him only. God hates idolatry and has plainly told us that we are to worship no other gods, goddesses, nature spirits, nor any other creature or natural force. Those must be renounced and forsaken if we are to take Jesus Christ as Saviour. He wants to have our hearts entirely for Himself.

 

THOU SHALT HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME. (Exodus 20:3-6)

 

The miracle transformation of new birth is not something you can see, because it is spiritual, but you will not be able to mistake the difference in your mind and heart once you have become born again. Like the amazing transformation of the caterpillar into a butterfly, you are now entirely new and different.

 

To show outwardly, in a symbolic way, what God has done on the inside, Christians are baptized with water. Baptism is an enactment of dying with Christ on the cross, and being resurrected to new life in Him.

It testifies to the world that we have been placed into Christ’s Body (also called the Church or Bride). Quite often a believer also takes on a new name to signify that he/she is now a new creation with a new identity. As a new creature in Christ, you will now want to know more about your new life.

 

The first thing to realize is that you are….

 

DEAD TO THE LAW

 

The Bible describes Christians as having been baptized into the death of Christ Jesus, buried with Him, and then as Jesus was raised from the dead, we also were raised with Him so that we might live a new life.

Our old self was crucified with Jesus (i.e. put to death) so that it cannot now control our body (the flesh), although the body’s fleshly urges still exist to trouble us at times. When our physical body dies, the flesh will then be eradicated. But even now we are to consider ourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. That’s why it’s ridiculous for us to let sin reign in our physical body so that we obey its evil desires.

 Permitting sin to reign in our body is ‘living in the flesh’ and before we were saved, we could live in no other way. Our sin nature enslaved us.

However now, as born again believers, we surrender every part of our being to Jesus. Sin is no longer our master.

Also, we are not under the Law anymore, which is where sin gets its power. No Law. No condemnation. No shame. And no enslavement to sin.

The Law only has authority over someone for as long as that person lives. Take for example how a married woman is bound to her husband by law as long as he is alive. However if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him. If she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress, but if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man. That's similar to what happens to us when we die to the Law through Christ's death on the cross. Using the analogy of the married woman, we were released from our former husband (the old man) and are now free to be married to another (Jesus, the New Man).

By dying to what once enslaved us, we have been released from the Law so that we now live in the new way of the Spirit, instead of the old way of the written code (Law).

This doesn't mean that the Law is sinful, though. The Law points us in the right direction (Christ as Savior) and that makes it important and useful.

Before this faith came, we were held in custody under the Law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the Law became our guardian to lead us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. (Galatians 3:23-25)

Without the Law, we would not have known what sin was. How would we know what coveting is if the Law's 10th commandment had not said, “You shall not covet.”

As long as we didn’t know it was wrong to covet, we felt no guilt when we did so, but when the commandment came, we found it impossible to keep from coveting. We realized how weak and sinful we were and we felt condemned by the Law. It stirred up guilt whenever we coveted and we had no power to stop doing it, even when we wanted to live differently. In fact, often we ended up doing the very things we wanted to get away from.

It was like a force living inside us, waging war against our mind and making us a prisoner of sin working inside us.  What a wretched existence that was!! But thanks be to God, He rescued and delivered us through Jesus Christ our Lord! And because He did, we are absolutely free from any condemnation from God’s Law.

NOT IN THE FLESH

 

Even though our old life (old man, old nature) was crucified with Jesus Christ on the cross and is no longer who we are, as long as we are still in our physical body, we will still have the sinful urges that used to operate in our old nature. These urges continue to work through our physical bodies - if allowed. However as Christians, we do NOT have a sin nature, and we are not IN the flesh. We have a NEW nature and we walk by the Spirit, not the flesh. The fleshly urges that still operate through the body can be overcome by our faith in who we are in Jesus. Our new identification with Christ (having His righteous nature) will provide the confidence and power to say ’no’ to fleshly urges. This is why it is so important to realize by faith that we cannot be condemned because we are perfect in Christ and are free to live righteously (as all true believers desire to do).

 

We have the life and divine nature of Christ and that perfect life cannot be condemned by the Law. Our will, mind, and conscience have been set free to follow the Holy Spirit so that we can live righteously without hindrance. We are now at peace with God. It is amazing what God has done for us! Once we were weak and sinful, but Jesus died for us, giving us the power to overcome sin and to live victoriously and righteously for Him.

 

INSEPARABLE FROM THE LOVE OF CHRIST

Before we became born again, we lived in the flesh, according to bodily appetites, with minds set on fleshly desires. Our minds were hostile to God, resulting in death, and we could not please God.

Now, as Christians, we have minds governed by the Spirit, so we have life and peace. God is well pleased with us, and even though our physical bodies will die like everyone else's because of sin's effect, the Holy Spirit inside us has given us resurrection life and made us immortal. So since we are alive because of the Spirit, our only obligation is to live by the Spirit. As children of God, we can live without fear of condemnation or death. God is our loving 'Papa' and we are His heirs, even co-heirs with Jesus Christ. Whatever Jesus receives in glory, we do too.

Even though we will share in Christ's sufferings, they are nothing compared with the glory we have in Christ. We have the Spirit, who guarantees our redemption and divine adoption.Everything that happens to us in the meantime is used by God to work out for our best.

It is important to realize that our new reborn spirit is being conformed to the image of God’s Son. As God’s children, we bear a resemblance to our older Brother, Jesus. God predestined us to this, and those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified. Knowing all this, how can we doubt that God is for us? And if God is for us, who can be against us?  He didn't spare his own Son, but gave Him up for us all. Since He did that, how can we ever doubt that He will not also graciously give us all things? Who can possibly accuse those whom God has chosen? Since He has justified us, who can condemn us? Absolutely no one. Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can trouble, or hardship, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword do it? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors throu