Well my friends we have traveled a little way down the road of understanding our old and new nature, and the meaning of our born again experience. Its now time to pull into a place of contemplation of just where this road is leading.
For many years after my initial founding faith I struggled along the way, and I know this has been the path many of you have taken or are now upon. We all seek acceptance in our faith commitment, and sometimes in the midst of life's difficulty's the road is not clearly seen. Put there is here a principal at work ,as God will use all our life experience to bring us into the knowledge of His Ways.
When we were children we wanted to be all grown up and sometimes we acted how we thought we could or should as adults ,only to discover we have a long ways to go. It is the same for our spiritual development. The main reason for this is ,as we have learned, our Father has allowed our old sinful Adam nature to remain within co-existent with our new righteous nature, found in our position/identification by faith in Christ. We, simply put, live a duality of being,but thank God our Adam flesh is occupied in our mind by the Spirit of Christ which conforms our new nature in our mind, to become like Him. We have a constant choice, to abide in our old nature and be Adam like or to abide in our new nature and become like Christ.
We now in these studies are learning that, in our old Adam self, there is nothing pleasing God and we now can recognize it,as totally self centered, a enemy of God. This, by knowledge ,of the two natures within us opens the door of choice to serve Him in growing maturity or remain in Adam a permanent self centered child. We may sometimes wonder ,due to our sin if we will ever grow and if we are even Christians. But you can be sure my friends that the sacrifice on the Cross was eternal, and you have received acceptance by His Grace.
"Having predestined us into adoption of sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will to the praise and glory of His Grace, through which, He has made us ACCEPTED in the Beloved[Christ]". Eph 1:5-6 There are know words that could express better the complete truth of this acceptance. And the good news is it is not dependent on your performance in your earthly Adam nature! But upon who we are to Him in His Son, our new nature.
This all leads us to consider our Position in Christ verses our condition in our Adamic self. We just cannot judge Gods attitude toward us or who we are to Him by day-to-day condition. If so when thing go well or when we are fully involved in good works we might think ,well God really loves me look what He is doing in and with me. On the other hand when we sin or fail or are going through a trial we might think we must have displease Him. But NO may it never be for with God Position and your Identification with Christ is everything!!! God is surly concerned with your present state ,good or bad. But your acceptance is grounded in His son not in you, this is a true truth, a Biblical fact, which we must learn to live our live in by accepting this gift in the knowledge of our mind by the Holy Spirit." For you Life is hidden with Christ in God". Col 3:3
God has positioned you and identified you with Christ As the Holy Spirit enveloped Christ life within you .you will be increasingly conformed to His image and nothing, your Adam self, Satan , or the world can stop that. " But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror are changed into the same image[as Christ] from glory to glory , even as by the Spirit of the Lord". Next we will look at the Biblical assurance of these things . Stay with me please.
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