We Have Received a New Life

Introduction

The first marvelous thing that happened to us when we believed in Jesus Christ was that we received a new life. We will cover nine separate points concerning the new life that we have received.

1. The Life of God

According to the Bible, before we were born again we were "dead." Ephesians 2:1 says that we were "dead in our offenses and sins." Of course, we may have thought that we were very much alive. But from God's point of view we were dead, because we did not have His divine, eternal life. The life of God is the life that is "really life" (1 Tim. 6:19). Our human life is temporary, but the life of God is eternal. Our human life is fallen and sinful, but the life of God is divine and incorruptible. Our human life is weak and frail, but the life of God is indestructible. When we were born again, we received the life of God Himself. We were previously dead in all our offenses and sins, but then we were born again. We received a new life, the divine and eternal life of God. Now we are truly alive!

"But once we are born again, we can say, "My spirit is living!"

2. A New Heart

In the moment we were born again and received a new life, we also received a new heart. "I will also give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take away the heart of stone out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh" (Ezek. 36:26). We must realize that before we were saved our heart was a heart of stone. But after we were born again we received a new heart. This new heart is called a "heart of flesh." It is a heart that is tender and sensitive, and it is filled with feeling towards God.

3. A New Spirit

This same verse from Ezekiel says that when we were born again, a new spirit was given to us. Before we believed in the Lord Jesus our human spirit was dead. But now we have a new spirit, which is a living spirit. When God first created man, He created him with a human spirit to contact God. But after the fall of man, and after man's continuous degradation, the human spirit within man became deadened. Every human being who has not believed in the Lord Jesus has a dead spirit. But once we are born again, we can say, "My spirit is living!" We have received a new spirit, a spirit filled with life.

4. The Light of Life

John 1:4 tells us, concerning the Lord Jesus, "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men." When we were born again, we also received the light of life. This indicates that before we were born again, we were in darkness. We know this from our own experience. Before we believed in the Lord we didn't know who God was, or if He even existed. We didn't know the meaning or the purpose of our own human life. We didn't even know right from wrong, and we didn't really care. But after being born again we received the light of life. The new life we received enlightened us.

5. The Law of Life

When we were born again we also received the law of life. "For the law of the Spirit of life has freed me in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death" (Rom. 8:2). What is the law of life? Every kind of life - whether it be vegetable life, animal life, or human life - has its law. Now that we are born again, we have the life of God. That means that within us there is also another law, the law of the divine life. Under that law something strange happens. We find out that we are limited and restricted by a law that is deep within us.

"When we are born again, we received Him as the life-giving Spirit."

6. Sealed with the Holy Spirit

Ephesians 1:13 says, "In whom you also, having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, in Him also believing, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of the promise." We were sealed with the Holy Spirit. For us to be sealed means that from now on we belong to someone else. Of course, that "someone else" is the Lord.

7. The Spirit as a Pledge

Not only were we sealed, but we also received the pledge of the Spirit. Ephesians 1:14 says that the Holy Spirit is "the pledge of our inheritance unto the redemption of the acquired possession, to the praise of His glory." What is the difference between being sealed with the Holy Spirit and having the Spirit as a pledge? For us to be sealed means that we belong to God. For us to receive the Spirit as a pledge means that God belongs to us.

8. The Anointing

When we were born again we received what the Bible calls "the anointing": "And as for you, the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone teach you; but as His anointing teaches you concerning all things and is true and is not a lie, and even as it has taught you, abide in Him" (1 John 2:27). The word "anointing" is a gerund, a verbal noun. It is something active. After we were born again, something within us is active. The life of God that we received actually moves within us all the time. The moving of God's life within us is the anointing.

9. The Life-giving Spirit

Finally, when we were born again we received the life-giving Spirit. Actually this point is the same as the first one, receiving God Himself as life. But it is as the life-giving Spirit that God comes into us and brings us into all the reality of His life within us. There are several verses which testify of this. "So also it is written, 'The first man, Adam, became a living soul'; the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit" (1 Cor. 15:45)." Christ, the last Adam, became "a life-giving Spirit" in resurrection. When we were born again, we received Him as the life-giving Spirit.

Conclusion

Isn't it surprising how much we received the moment we were born again? When we first opened to the Lord and received Him as our Savior we actually received a new life, with so many wonderful items.

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