DEAR CHIMA:NEW BIRTH (II)

DEAR CHIMA:NEW BIRTH (II)

Dear Chima, let me begin by apologizing for not writing to you last Saturday, I am very sorry. This was due to an exigency. I believe you have forgiven me.


So today I want to go further by showing you some truths about your new life in Christ. But just before that it is necessary you understand who/what you really were before encountering Christ.

 


- You were dead:

You know, most times people are told to come and give their lives to Christ as if they even had one before. The simple truth is that before you received Christ you were dead, 100%. So you didn’t have any life to give in the first place. Instead, it was the life of christ you received and now you are alive.

 


Now you may be wondering how true this is because of all you have always known yourself to be alive. Let’s look at some scriptures.

 


Genesis 2:16-17

16 And the Lord God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." NIV

 


Genesis 3:1-7

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" 

2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'" 

4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." 

6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. NIV

 


When God created man, he-man- was just a pile of moulded dust without any form of life until God breathed the breath of life (Gen 2 vs 7)  into his nostrils. God instructed the man, Adam, not to it of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But, man disobeyed and he died. Not physically but spiritually. The very essence of his life which is the breath of God left him and this brought about death and separation from God.

 


This man, adam, went ahead to birth kids in this dead and fallen state of his;

 

Genesis 5:3

3 And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:

KJV

 


This was how the man kept on reproducing until you yourself were born. This was why the psalmist cried in Psalms 51:5 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.NIV

 


Let’s also look at other scriptures that point to the fact that we were dead and useless without Christ.

 


Ephesians 2:1-14

1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;


2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:


3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.


4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,


5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)


6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:


7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.


8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:


9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.


10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.


11 Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;


12 That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:


13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.


14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;

KJV

 


Colossians 2:1-16

For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh;


2 That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;


3 In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.


4 And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words.


5 For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ.


6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:


7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.


8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.


9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.


10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:


11 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:


12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.


13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;


14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;


15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.


16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:

KJV

 


Dear Chima, until I write to you again, think on these scriptures.


...to be continued.

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