An encounter with Jesus will bring about a new life. Last week we saw how the old covenant gave way to a new covenant because of the price Jesus paid so you could become part of His family of disciples. When you accept Jesus as Messiah, the old life you used to lead gives way to a new life because you are changed into a new creature, a new kind of being because of the cleansing power of the blood of Jesus. That new life has some special qualities to it.
First, you have been given the gracious gift of eternal life with Jesus because you place your everlasting spirit that has been born again into His hands. Secondly, you no longer have to yield your life to the control of your old sinful nature that used to be controlled by sinful desires. When you encounter Jesus, you can choose to accept the gift of eternal life, and you can choose to stop living the old life of sinful thoughts, words and actions. Let’s consider these two aspects of your new life for a few minutes.
Listen to this advice the apostle Paul wrote to the followers of Jesus in
Romans 6:1-11 NLT. [1] Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? [2] Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? [3] Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? [4] For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. [5] Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. [6] We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. [7] For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. [8] And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. [9] We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. [10] When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. [11] So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.
When Jesus rose from the dead, He conquered the power of sin, which is death. There are two types of death—physical death and spiritual death. Jesus overcame both types of death. He rose to take on a glorified body that would never die again. And He took back His spirit from the grips of separation from God to live in the spiritual realm with the Father and the Holy Spirit forever, too.
Jesus paid the price on the cross for you to be forgiven and have your spirit reconnected to God in a right relationship with Him. That’s why that event is called being born again. Because He did that, when you encounter Jesus, you can decide to do that, too. You can decide to choose Jesus as Savior, and, when you do that, your spirit is reborn and you end the separation from God that existed in your old life because of your original sin nature. By choosing Jesus, you ensure that you will be raised to take on a glorified body like His, and you ensure that your spirit will live forever in the presence of God, instead of having to experience eternal separation from God, which is what spiritual death is.
The Bible is clear that Jesus was the first one to be raised from the dead to become eternally alive. It is also clear that all who place their trust in Jesus will one day experience that same resurrecting power and transformation. You can take comfort in knowing that trusting in Jesus will make you part of the final harvest of souls at the resurrection of the dead when Jesus returns to receive His believers to be with Him forever.
Between now and that moment of time, you can choose to live according to the teachings of Jesus because His redeeming power has cleansed you from your sins, and you no longer have to be controlled by the sin nature that is at war with your spirit that was cleansed and made new when you asked God to forgive you.
The devil doesn’t want you to maintain that right relationship, so he uses your flesh, your natural, physical self, to try to break that relationship. Before you were cleansed of your sins, your flesh was under the absolute control of satan. He could take you captive by any number of sins, and there wasn’t much you could do about it.
You might not commit murder, but he could lead you into greed. You might not be temped by lust, but he could deceive you into lying. You might not steal from your neighbor, but he could get you to hate him because of some offense. Your flesh was completely under his sway and schemes.
And the verses that I read to you from Romans make it clear that you can choose not to be a slave to sin anymore. You can choose to be cleansed and to allow God to break the control sin has over your life. You can choose to become a free person who lives in righteousness before God.
Allow me to interject some advice here. You cannot control the old sinful nature by yourself. Your efforts will never defeat the devil. You have to have the help of the Holy Spirit working in your life to overcome your tendency to do wrong.
Remember, if you have been born again, the devil used to control you, and he knows how to tempt you. If you haven’t been born again, he still does control you. And it isn’t wise to fool yourself into thinking he doesn’t. You have to have God’s help to break that control.
If you have been forgiven, every day you wake up ask God to help you live as a person who is free from the control of sin. If you mess up and think, do or say something you know is outside the will of God, ask Him to forgive you and to help you have spiritual control over that sin. Jesus redeemed your spirit from satan’s control. You are no longer a slave to sin.
Ask the Holy Spirit to help you live in holiness, instead of evil. Remind satan you don’t belong to him anymore. Give the temptation to do wrong to God, and then leave it on the altar. Having an encounter with Jesus will give you a new life. It’s a life with the promise of eternal life in heaven and a life with the freedom from control by evil. If you haven’t already done so, choose a new life—choose Jesus today.
