You recently made the most important decision of your life when you repented, changed your mind about your life as it then was. Changed your mind about living with no hope when you came to understand that you like the rest of us, you were a sinner and now have been declared righteous being washed in the Blood of the Lamb of God on the Cross of Mt. Calvary. The Bible says to be SAVED we must Repent. To Repent has to do with a complete change of mind.
You came to repent or change your mind about the fact that Yes you are just like the rest of us, a sinner. Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” You changed your mind that the life you were living needed to be changed. You changed your mind and came to realize that Jesus Christ is both, the Son of God, and also God Himself in the Flesh and He was in the flesh a man, human as we are with all of the temptations common to man yet without sin.
Here is how you are now described as a new believer from God’s Word. “Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away and all things are become new.” 11 Corinthians 5:17 You now are a child of God, your sins past, present and future were all paid for on the cross by the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. In this life has anyone ever died for you? In most cases the answer is no. But that is exactly what Jesus Christ has done for those who repented, changed their mind, understood the consequences of living and dying without God, and called upon the name of the Lord for forgiveness of their sins and the acceptance of His free gift of Salvation for the believer.
What you received, the forgiveness of your sins was given as a gift to you. It was not something that you gained by doing good works. No man can justify himself in the sight of God by attempting to please God by doing good works. The Bible says, “Not by works of righteous which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us. Titus 3:5 and Ephesians 2:8 – 9 “For by Grace are ye saved through faith, and not that of yourselves, it is the gift of God, Not of works, lest any man boast.” If a person could be saved by doing good works then God the Father made a huge mistake in sending His Son, the Lord Jesus, the Lamb of God to the cross to suffer the most horrible death of an individual. True, after we are saved and we experience this new life in Christ we will do good works. We will do good works not to be saved but we will do good works because we are a new creature in Christ and we want to live and serve Him and show others the way of salvation.
As a new believer God wants a very personal relationship with his son/daughter and we can obtain that through the study of God’s Word the Bible. We must get to know Him better if we want to please Him as a new member of the family. Do you have a Bible? It will be the most important possession that you will own. It is the book that brought about your knowledge of sin and of a Savior who died for you and offered you the forgiveness of your sins and eternal life.
Today there are many translations of the Bible. Some are better than others as they are translations of the Hebrew and Greek language which was the original language of the Bible. I personally use a King James Scofield Reference Bible as it was the words from that edition that put me under deep conviction and allowed me to turn to Christ Jesus for Salvation. A Christian will advance only as far as he/she studies the word of God. Neglect the Word of God and you will be a Christian unable to live a victorious life and you will be a defeated individual.
You will find the will of God for your life in His Word, The Bible. The Bible is actually 66 different books not just one book. There are 39 books in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament. When we read a Book we normally start with page one and read it through. However a New Christian should go to the library of the Bible and of the 66 books, pull out the Book of the Gospel of John, the fourth book in the New Testament and read it. After reading the Book of John I would go to the Book of Acts in the New Testament which is the History of the Church. Then go to Matthew and read the New Testament all the way through.
The Bible is like a Gold Mine with some precious nuggets. It is not always easy to understand like Mary had a little lamb. In that children’s tale once you read it you had it for life. Never needed to read it again. God’s Word needs to be read daily. I read 3 to 5 chapters first thing when I get up of a morning. As you read the Word you will find some Golden nuggets. By all means UNDERLINE these nuggets as you find them. Why, because there will be times in life when you will need to find them again and if underlined the task will be much easier. As you read the Word over the months and years God will reveal to you more Golden nuggets for you to underline and to incorporate into your walk with Him. Thus in God’s Gold Mine each time that you read a book over and over you will be enlightened to “nuggets” that you missed the first time you entered the mine.
Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible and the story of God’s creation will be found in the first book, the book of Genesis. It would be good to read the Book of Genesis and then as you progress in your spiritual walk you should read the entire Bible Through. The Old Testament is how God chose a people for Himself to one day bring the Messiah, Jesus Christ to earth to pay the penalty for our sin. God began that with the call of Abraham who had a son Isaac who had a son Jacob whom God changed his name to Israel. It was of course through the nation of Israel that God the Father sent His son Jesus to earth through the miracle of the Virgin Birth.
In the New Testament in the book of 2nd Peter we read concerning the scriptures in the last verses of chapter one. “Knowing this first that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost”. An example, In the Book of Isaiah which was written 700 years before the birth of Christ, God used Isaiah to announce to the world of that time, the miraculous birth of Jesus Christ the Lord when he wrote. “Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign; Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” Thus God used and spoke through the prophet Isaiah the future birth of Christ by a virgin who conceived without male intercourse. He said his name will be called Immanuel meaning God With Us. Can you imagine someone living 700 years before you were born, announcing that you would be born of your mother and father?
The Christian as he/she moves through life will find that there is an enemy that will try to discourage and defeat the new Believer from following after the Lord. We are told in the Word of God that our enemy is Satan, the Devil, the Old Serpent which beguiled Eve in the Garden of Eden. He will most certainly try to make you doubt your salvation. Remember we are human beings in the flesh, we are susceptible to sin. No one is perfect. We do have a perfect salvation in Jesus Christ but our walk here on earth will at times be flawed. If we a new believer should commit a sin, the Holy Spirit will prompt our conscience that we have sinned and the remedy is found in 1 John chapter 1 verse 9. We go to our Heavenly Father in prayer and “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” A simple example would be a father who tells his son to empty the trash today as he goes off to work. The son engaged in the activities of his youth forgets and the father comes home and the trash is not emptied. The son is reminded of his failure and confesses to the father that he is so sorry that he forgot and then does as he is asked.
But if a Believer does sin, the Holy Spirit lovingly prompts he/she but the devil jumps all over the Believer. “See you are not saved, how could you be a Christian when you have said or done this? This salvation thing is a bunch of malarkey.” And so we begin to feel bad, the devil is on our case and trying to get the believer to turn back to the old life. Do not be discouraged my friend. Like a young toddler who is learning to walk. He/She pulls themselves up to the couch, lets go and takes a step and falls down. But he/she does not stay down. Refusing to let their first failure discourage the child he/she continues and eventually learns to walk without falling down. So it is in the Christian life. Do not be discouraged in a moment of failure. Spiritually rise from your fall, pray, confess your sin to the Lord and receive the promise of the Fathers forgiveness and move on. You will rejoice that you are walking and living in victory in your walk with the Lord.
Well again Welcome to your new life in Christ. Remember He will never leave us nor forsake us and as we mature and grow in His Word we will rejoice in knowing that death has no sting for the Christian. Our Lord has forgiven our sins, past, present and future and we have eternal life with Him in the place He has prepared for those who Love Him. HEAVEN!