Your New Identity (Victory Series Book #2): A Transforming Union with God by Neil T. Anderson Page A
Authors: Neil T. Anderson
Tags: REL012120
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birth does not have its origin in the will of humankind but in the sovereign power of God. It is a birth that is not of the flesh, nor of blood, but of the Spirit.
In regeneration, the Holy Spirit indwells every believer. His coming produces a radical change from pollution and death to holiness and life. The coming of the Holy Spirit produces a new creation in Christ. The newly “born from above” believer is exhorted to “put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:24). Even as newborn children cannot orchestrate their own conception and birth, neither can believers take any credit for the transformation of their lives. The power to change comes from above.
Unregenerate people are like dry sponges wrapped in plastic. In that state, they serve no useful purpose. Then one day, God strips away the plastic wrapping, puts the squeeze on them, and plunges them into a pool of His living water. While they are submerged God loosens His grip, and every pore of their being is filled with His presence. Now they are complete in Christ and able to fulfill the purpose for which they were created. Should these sponges decide to pull away from the water, they would soon dryout and fail again to fulfill their purpose, even though they are forever free from that which originally bound them.
Born-again believers are Holy Spirit possessed—the Holy Spirit has taken up residence in their bodies and made them temples of God.
How did Jesus distinguish natural birth from spiritual birth? What did He mean when He told Nicodemus he must be “born again”?
What does “regeneration” mean?
How are unregenerate people like “dry sponges wrapped in plastic”? What happens when they are born again?
What does it mean to you that your body is a temple of God and a dwelling place for the Almighty?
What is keeping you from taking in God’s goodness like a dry sponge?
What is Paul trying to prove when he says that we are not our own? He wants to secure us against sin and against following the improper desires of the mind. We have many improper desires, but we must constrain them, and we can do so. If we could not, there would be no point in exhorting us like this. Paul does not say that we are under compulsion but that we have been bought—and bought with a great price, reminding us of the way in which our salvation was obtained.
John Chrysostom (AD 347–407)
Praying for the Lost
In Jonah 1, God told the prophet Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach, but he refused. Jonah knew that God would spare the Ninevites if they repented, and he did not want these enemies of Israel to be spared. Because of his disobedience, he found himself in the belly of a fish praying for his own salvation (see Jonah 2). Jonah did go to Nineveh, and to his disappointment the people repented and God relented (see Jonah 3).
Sensing his anger at the outcome, God gave Jonah an object lesson through a leafy plant that withered and died (see Jonah 4). If Jonah was justified in being upset about the loss of a plant to whose existence he had contributed nothing, was not God justified in showing love and concern for the people of Nineveh, whom He created?
The story of Jonah forces us to examine our hearts. Do we want the judgment of God to fall on all the lost people of this world, or do we want them to repent and believe? If the lost are our enemies, the question becomes a test of our character. Do we have a heart like Jonah, or do we have a heart like God? We are not all called to be full-time missionaries or evangelists, but we are called to share our faith and pray. There are two principles that we need to know in order to effectively pray for the lost.
First, Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field” (Matthew 9:37–38). If you have a burden to pray for someone
In regeneration, the Holy Spirit indwells every believer. His coming produces a radical change from pollution and death to holiness and life. The coming of the Holy Spirit produces a new creation in Christ. The newly “born from above” believer is exhorted to “put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:24). Even as newborn children cannot orchestrate their own conception and birth, neither can believers take any credit for the transformation of their lives. The power to change comes from above.
Unregenerate people are like dry sponges wrapped in plastic. In that state, they serve no useful purpose. Then one day, God strips away the plastic wrapping, puts the squeeze on them, and plunges them into a pool of His living water. While they are submerged God loosens His grip, and every pore of their being is filled with His presence. Now they are complete in Christ and able to fulfill the purpose for which they were created. Should these sponges decide to pull away from the water, they would soon dryout and fail again to fulfill their purpose, even though they are forever free from that which originally bound them.
Born-again believers are Holy Spirit possessed—the Holy Spirit has taken up residence in their bodies and made them temples of God.
How did Jesus distinguish natural birth from spiritual birth? What did He mean when He told Nicodemus he must be “born again”?
What does “regeneration” mean?
How are unregenerate people like “dry sponges wrapped in plastic”? What happens when they are born again?
What does it mean to you that your body is a temple of God and a dwelling place for the Almighty?
What is keeping you from taking in God’s goodness like a dry sponge?
What is Paul trying to prove when he says that we are not our own? He wants to secure us against sin and against following the improper desires of the mind. We have many improper desires, but we must constrain them, and we can do so. If we could not, there would be no point in exhorting us like this. Paul does not say that we are under compulsion but that we have been bought—and bought with a great price, reminding us of the way in which our salvation was obtained.
John Chrysostom (AD 347–407)
Praying for the Lost
In Jonah 1, God told the prophet Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach, but he refused. Jonah knew that God would spare the Ninevites if they repented, and he did not want these enemies of Israel to be spared. Because of his disobedience, he found himself in the belly of a fish praying for his own salvation (see Jonah 2). Jonah did go to Nineveh, and to his disappointment the people repented and God relented (see Jonah 3).
Sensing his anger at the outcome, God gave Jonah an object lesson through a leafy plant that withered and died (see Jonah 4). If Jonah was justified in being upset about the loss of a plant to whose existence he had contributed nothing, was not God justified in showing love and concern for the people of Nineveh, whom He created?
The story of Jonah forces us to examine our hearts. Do we want the judgment of God to fall on all the lost people of this world, or do we want them to repent and believe? If the lost are our enemies, the question becomes a test of our character. Do we have a heart like Jonah, or do we have a heart like God? We are not all called to be full-time missionaries or evangelists, but we are called to share our faith and pray. There are two principles that we need to know in order to effectively pray for the lost.
First, Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field” (Matthew 9:37–38). If you have a burden to pray for someone
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