We’ve been looking at habits needed to ensure our salvation. This devotional reading looks at what it means to be in Christ – a new, regenerated creation.
Nuggets
- We can’t forget the deadly place from which we came.
- Paul wanted his reader to focus on what they have gained in their but now state.
- As new creations, we imitate Jesus.
- Regeneration occurs instantaneously at conversion.
Let’s dig a little deeper into taking up our crosses. When we give up our desires and lusts, we need to replace them with something.
We call that being in Christ. What habits do we need to form in order to do that?
Let's Put It into Context
To read devotions in the Habitual Holiness of Heart and Life theme, click the button below.
Here is a running list of nuggets for the theme.
Devotions in the The Surity of Our Salvation study
Here is a running list of nuggets for the study.
The foundation of this study is Beveridge’s sermon The Believer’s Safety
Resource
What Does “in Christ” Mean?
“Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called ‘the uncircumcision’ by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands — remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” Eph. 2: 11-13 ESV)
Paul wanted his reader to focus on what they have gained in their but now state.
The focus of Ephesians 2: 11-12 is to remember. Remember what used to be without Christ – without the restoration of that relationship.
That is easy to do right after conversion. It is harder when we have years into being a child of God’s.
Some may consider the “alienated … strangers … having no hope …” (Eph. 2: 12 ESV) the worst parts. Paul saw the worst was “… without God …” (Eph. 2: 12 ESV).
Paul’s point was we have nothing without God. We are not blessed without God.
Paul specifically wanted his readers to remember the time that they were without Christ. He wanted them — and us — to contrast without Christ to in Christ.
Paul said eight — maybe nine depending on how you read one of the in Him references — times that we are in Christ. The but now time is much better than the without Christ time.
- Before Christ, we were lost; after Christ, we are saved.
- Before Christ, we were dead; after Christ, we are alive.
- Before Christ, we were miserable; after Christ, we are joyful.
Being a creature of God isn’t enough to make us children of God. Nor is being made in His image.
Being made children of God occurs through regeneration and adoption. In order to become children of God, we have to come after Him – believe in Jesus.
Believing that Jesus is the Messiah isn’t enough. “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe — and shudder!” (Jas. 2: 19 ESV).
We have to be in Christ.
When I say I am into Pastor Steve, I mean that I get him. I understand who he is.
- Who he is as a person.
- His values.
- How his mind works.
- What he thinks about himself.
- What is important to him.
Understanding all that helps me to realize what Pastor Steve is looking for from me.
Now, apply that to Christ. We have to know all that about Jesus.
The focus should be on Christ. We are only saved because Jesus provided salvation from our sins.
The bottom line in all of this is God is looking for a change in us.
- We have to start loving God.
- We have to follow all His laws and commandments, not try to rewrite them.
- We have to stop doing things that He disapproves of — whether we agree with Him or not.
How is this done? God creates a new us.
What Does It Mean to be a New Creation?
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (II Cor. 5: 17 ESV)
As new creations, we imitates Jesus.
Once we are in Christ, we are made a new creation. Yes, we are still in our earthly bodies. We still have our sinful nature.
What new things are we supposed to welcome?
- New disposition
- New character
- New thoughts
- New habits
- New goals
- New motivations
- New preferences
- New opinions
- New boundaries
- New views
- New affections
Being a new creation is all about being unified with Christ. That unity happens the moment we choose to have faith.
The old is our old physical, sinful self. The new is all about conversion and regeneration.
This change has to be a complete change — heart, mind, body, and soul. It has to be all of us.
True, we can be with Jesus without imitating Him — without being in Christ. Well, we think we can because that isn’t real salvation “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Mt. 7: 21 ESV).
Our goal should be to imitate Jesus. Our heart has to be that of Jesus’. Our mind has to be His mind.
It has to be a growth process. God has to start with us where we are and work to get our character where we need to be. This is not starting from scratch. It isn’t an instantaneous overhaul. If He did that, free will would go out the window.
Besides, what did Jesus tell Nicodemus? God’s kingdom has a specific entrance requirement. That requirement is that we be born again.
The Holy Spirit works through us to make us new creations as we read God’s Word. He works individually with us — specifically with whatever issues we are dealing with at the time.
One of the jobs of the Holy Spirit is to interpret Scriptures. Only then can we understand what God is telling us as well as teach us things that aren’t in the Bible.
It is imperative that we read the Scriptures. When we diligently read the Scriptures, we leave less of an opening for sin to take hold. We have to approach reading the Scriptures with faith.
We can’t expect instant understanding when we read Scriptures. Instead, change has to come from our heart as God reveals His mysteries to us.
We have also talked about being crucified with Christ. “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, since a person who has died is freed from sin” (Rome 6: 6-7 CSB).
The bottom line is we are changed. We are no longer our sinful selves. We need to divest ourselves of what used to be.
We are sinners saved by grace.
Oh, yes. Every part of us will need to go under God’s microscope to make sure all sin has been cut out.
And oh, yeah. We will probably be our own worst enemy.
Don’t worry. That is a lifetime, progressive process called sanctification.
What Does Regeneration Mean?
“But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Ti. 3: 4-7 ESV)
Regeneration occurs instantaneously at conversion.
Really, what happens at conversion is the act of passing through the narrow gate. “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Mt. 7: 13-14 ESV).
On the other side of the gate is regeneration. It makes us clean because we are washed.
This washing allows the Holy Spirit to take up residence. One problem is, He has a lot of remodeling to do. We are still in our physical bodies, so we are still in our sinful bodies.
That is where regeneration comes into play.
Regeneration gives us a new character. However, during our lifetimes, we work on fusing that character with our physical character so that we imitate God. That part is called sanctification.
It is easy to get the two mixed up. We may think that regeneration is a three-parter like salvation is – having a past, a present, and future aspect. This is especially true since we will be having a new body once we get to Heaven.
I think the regeneration is just being changed from spiritually dead to spiritually alive. The rest of the changes under the resent aspect is sanctification.
For example, we receive a new character upon conversion. That is part of being changed from spiritually dead to spiritually alive.
But then we also have to build our character to be more like God’s when we navigate the Sanctification Road. This change can only take place through the workings of the Holy Spirit.
God alone regenerates us. Only He can change us. When we show we have faith and accept God’s Plan of Salvation, we are changed to be holy, as the Sovereign Lord is.
Our initial confession renews our relationship with God. God restores our relationship and makes us spiritually alive.
What we have to remember is regeneration begins instantaneously at conversion. It ushers in God’s grace when we put or faith and trust in Him and allows grace to reside in our hearts.
Regeneration is where we get our spiritual nature back. That spiritual nature is being righteous.
Let’s put those two concepts of righteousness and regeneration together. We only become righteous when we become holy.
Being righteous means we are free from sin because we are following God’s moral laws. We are only free from sin when we are set apart. We are only set apart when we have been given the internal new birth obtained through salvation.
That is why we cannot work our way into salvation. We ourselves cannot make those changes.
You see, it isn’t just about reconciliation. Oh, yes. We need forgiveness for our sins. We are separated from God and are disobeying His laws and commandments.
But regeneration is about restoration. Restoration is bringing our relationship with God back to what it was.
What God wants to bring us back to is what Adam and Eve had before the original sin. That can only be accomplished through grace. Grace leads to faith, which leads to salvation, which leads to regeneration.
God can do this.
How being born again is different than regeneration? Being born again is a principle of grace, something that is infused instead of acquired, due to the power of God, an inward change, and the birth of all of our graces.
Is maybe being born again the what and regeneration the how? Or is it like sanctification: navigating the Sanctification Road, working out our salvation, and growing from milk babies to steak adults? To me, those are all names of the same thing.
We have to be in Jesus to do this. Everything is built on Jesus because He is the only way we get reconciled with God.
Making the Connections
Regeneration, new creation, circumcision of the heart – it is all the same way to say that we are restored to being in Christ. “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Eph. 2: 13 ESV).
That restoration has been made because of the power “… by the blood of Christ” (Eph. 2: 13 ESV). His blood sealed the everlasting covenant.
But we have to more than just remember our sinful condition. We have to keep away from it.
“Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them.” (Col. 3: 5-7 CSB).
God doesn’t just raise us from the dead — forgive us of our sins — and let that be the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal is obtaining His character — becoming more like Him.
Becoming like God means we become pure like Him. Being pure means not having sin in our lives.
It is only through changing our character that we test our acceptance of and implementation of doctrine into our lives.
God is building our character as we navigate the Sanctification Road, but it is also proving that we are on the Road. We are following His Will.
We can’t put our belief in God down on our nightstand when we get up in the morning and may or may not look at it right before we go to sleep. We can’t go on sinning through the day while our beliefs are cozy at home.
They have to be a part of our lives. We must live out our beliefs.
What we sometimes don’t want to think about is that being in Christ means being forged by the fire. The Sanctification Road isn’t some beautiful country path loaded with flowers and butterflies.
It is the potters’ wheel and the kiln.
How Do We Apply This?
- Open our hearts and minds to accept Jesus as our Savior to become children of God.
Father God. We want to be in Christ. We not only want to be new creations, we also want to be creations that have Your character. Amen.
What do you think?
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