Introduction : A wolf cannot be a lamb even if it wears the mask of a lamb. A pig cannot be a human being even though it wears a tie and the clothing of a human being. The root must be changed to make things different, but the change of formality is totally meaningless. To be changed by believing in Jesus is not external change; it is internal change.
1. The old, Adams descendents 1) Spiritually dead (Ge 2:17, Ge 3:19, La 3:39) 2) Morally corrupted (Isa 1:4, Eph 2:3) 3) Psychologically self-centered (Ps 14:1, Ro 8:7) 4) Physically suffering from a disease (Ps 107:10-11, Ecc 5:17, Dt 28:59) 5) Environmentally a person who is under a curse (Ge 3:17-18, Ps 127:2) 6) A person without hope of eternal life (Jn 3:36, Eph 2:12)
2. The new in Christ 1) Spiritually born again (Eph 2:1, 6, Gal 4:6) 2) Became holy by the grace of the Holy Spirit (1Co 6:11, Col 3:9-10) 3) Heaven comes to a person´s heart and he/she lives in a God-centered way (Gal 2:20) 4) A person who is healed and gained hope of resurrection (1Pe 2:24, 2Co 5:1) 5) A person who received the blessing of Abraham (Gal 3:13-14, 9) 6) A person who gained eternal heaven (Jn 10:28, 14:3)
3. By human effort or by faith? 1) A person of effort (1) Changed little by little (2) Done in the future (Isa 64:6) 2) A person who receives by faith * The grace God has given us by His sovereign will We should: (1) Understand (Eph 2:8-9, Ro 3:23-24, 27-28) (2) Accept into our heart (Gal 3:5-7) (3) Believe (Ro 1:17, Gal 3:26-27) (4) Confess through our lips (Pr 6:2, Mt 10:32-33, Ro 10:9-10, 1Jn 2:23) (5) Give thanks (Col 2:6-7, Ro 6:4)
Conclusion : Two thousand years ago, Jesus cried out on the Cross, "It is finished." To become a new creature means that Jesus already completed everything in the past. We became one with Jesus, died together, buried together, resurrected together, and the new has come. It won´t happen in the future and it isn´t happening now, either. Everything has been completed within Jesus already.
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