TSC FOUNDATION CLASS PART 1

 FOUNDATION CLASS PART 1

You can either watch the video alone as it is the full class, read the text alone, or do both. 

SALVATION BY GRACE

It is important to realize that all men are born into sin and no matter what we do we still have the burden of sin on us. In Psalm 51:5 David said, “For I was born a sinner yes from the moment my mother conceived me”. These sentiments are also echoed in Romans 3:23 “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”.

We can lead a perfect life doing all that is right but are still considered a sinner s in the eyes of God for  Isaiah 64:6 shows us the total helplessness of all such good works. It states

“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness (good deeds) are like filthy rags” another rendition says “we are all infected and impure with sin. When we proudly display our righteous deeds, we find they are but filthy rags”. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall. And our sins, like the wind, sweep us away”.

This shows the utter helplessness of our situation and goes to show that those who feel all you have to do it be good and be morally right to make the kingdom of heaven is totally wrong.

So how did man end up in this sorry state of affairs they find themselves now. We all know the origin of sin in the story of Adam and Eve.  In the beginning, God created our great, great, great, great … Grandfather Adam in a perfect condition. Genesis 1:26 – 27 says “And God said let us make man in our image, after our likeness……..” verse 27 goes on to say so God created man in his own image, in the image of God, he created him.  Genesis 1:31 also says that “And God saw everything he had made, and behold it was very good”.  So from all these, we can be sure Adam was created without sin.

But when God created Adam he was put in the Garden of Eden with everything he needed available to him. God put many trees in that garden and commanded not to eat of one of them. The question at this point then is why God put the tree there if he did not want Adam to eat from it. As we know all Gods gave Adam the power of choice which would basically be useless if he had no choices. I.e. if there is nothing to choose why have the power of choice? Because God is not a dictator Adam was either to choose to obey God or the devil.

The next question would be if the tree was bad why did God create it? Again going back to Genesis 1:31 where it says that “And God saw everything he had made, and behold it was very good”.  It is clear that the tree was not bad but good so therefore, in essence, we know as the story goes that Adam through Eve ate of the fruit, and as such if the fruit was not bad what was Adams actual sin. It was a sin of disobedience which in essence can be seen as withdrawing his allegiance to God by obeying the Devil. That is the origin of man’s problems by consciously making the wrong choice and pledging allegiance to the wrong person. It was a deliberate act, done in the face of facts knowing the repercussions.

By pledging his alliance to the devil by obeying him, he became a sinner without God and without hope in the world.  Because of the actions of Adam, mankind as a whole are born into sin and as is seen in John 8:44 “it says ye are off your father the devil”. The devil imparted his nature to his new son Adam and everyman born from the loins of Adam received without choice the sin nature.

Adam was a sinner and he produced and gave birth to sinners – all of the human race.

Now we know how we came about to be sinners, what then is the repercussion of this sin nature? The bible says in Romans 6:23 that the wages of sin is death also in Genesis 2:17 in Gods instructions to Adam he said: “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die”.  So clearly the repercussion, punishment, wages of sin is death.

Some then ask but Adam didn’t die after eating from the tree? Does that mean God lied?

Death in this situation does not refer to the literal/physical meaning of death which is to cease to live but means a separation from God. It means spending eternity in hell.  When you understand that God is the source of life and everything that is good, and Death means separation from God therefore death means separation from everything that is good living sinners without life, without hope, and without God.

This separation is the root cause of all that is evil in the lives of man i.e. sickness, financial troubles poverty, and oppression e.t.c.  This is all the penalty of Adam renouncing his allegiance with God.  Death makes emptiness, loneliness, meaninglessness, and insecurity to rule in our lives and over us. And we must look for the way out of this and back into the bosom of God.

Fortunately for us, we do not have to continually live in separation from God and in death because the Lord is merciful and has provided a remedy.

Hebrews 2:9 (beck) says “….He suffered death in order by God’s love to taste death for everyone”, Romans 5:8 also says “But God demonstrates His own love towards us, in that while, we were yet sinners Christ died for us”.

This is the remedy for man’s sin problem.  He has taken full responsibility for the penalty of sin for man, Christ died in our place but physically and spiritually so the wages of sin would be taken away from us. Am sure we all know one of the most popular bible verses John 3:16 which says “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”. 

Because man could not redeem himself from the debt of death which he owed, He sent his only son to die on man’s behalf making His son man’s substitute.  The bible says he was made sin with man’s sin. “For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; so that in him we might become the righteousness or God”. 1 Cor. 5:21

He went to hell, the place due for man and there he suffered man’s sentence. In hell, he took the full vent of God’s wrath against the human race. There is no way we can fully understand the suffering he went thru in hell on our behalf. The most horrific thing we can think of, multiply that pain by 100 I am sure that is still the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what Christ took on our behalf.

Because of this we are free from the consequences of death – sickness, poverty, fear, torment e.t.c. and above all spending eternity in hell. He has paid the full price; there is nothing left for us to pay.

This can be likened to the analogy of us being condemned to death as criminals. Then someone steps in on our behalf to be executed so that we can be set free. And then, people that knew it happened came to tell us in the prison that someone has taken our place and died for us and that we are free to go home. I believe it would be utter foolishness to say no, you don’t believe that you must die. I am very sure you won’t do that. This is the exact same thing as Christ did and many are still saying no we want to remain in death and separated from God we don’t believe or the debt has been paid.

Once again man has a choice? Will we make the right choice this time and receive God’s remedy? It is up to us to take the second chance we have been offered to return in the fold of God and out of the hold of the devil For it is said in John 1;12 that “But as many, as received Him, to them He gave the right to become the children of God”.

Now we know our state i.e. we are born sinners without a choice, suffering the penalty of death which is separation from God, and suffering the attendant consequences of poverty, sickness, financial troubles, pain, and worst of all the fate of an eternity in hell.  We now also have been made aware of God’s Remedy to this problem which is the death of his son Jesus Christ to redeem us from the debt of death which there would have been no other way of paying.

Now we need to know the gift of God which he is offering to us. This gift is eternal life i.e. life without death both in this life and beyond. This is the life man would have been living had he not pledged his allegiance to the devil. It is now being offered to us free. We really don’t deserve it but Jesus's death and resurrection has qualified us for this. That is why it is a gift and we do not have to work for it anymore. When we receive it, it replaced the seen nature that we have and makes us new men, born again.

The fact salvation is a gift from God is further buttressed in Ephesians 2:8  and Romans 5:17 where it is clearly stated that salvation is a gift which implies there is nothing we do to get it because it is well known that we do not pay for gifts.

This gift of salvation is given to us by the Grace of God which is defined as unmerited favor.

So the question now is how do we receive this gift because am sure no right thinking person knowing all that we now know would want to remain  in the bosom of the devil separate from God and continue suffering the consequences of sin when a remedy has been provided to ensure us eternal life.

There is only one way to receive this gift from God and God in his infinite mercy did not make it difficult in any way.  Roman 10:9-10 tells us how to receive the gift of eternal life which is in Jesus Christ. It says “For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in you heart that God raided him from the dead, you would be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by Confessing with your mouth that you are saved”.

·         It is that simple – all you need to do

·         Is believe that someone (Jesus Christ) died for you

·         He was raised from the dead by God

·         Confess Jesus to be your Lord i.e. Pledge allegiance to Him with your mouth

The moment you do that you will receive Him into your like and you will be born again. That is all.

The word salvation is much broader than it ordinarily seems. It is a fivefold word derived from the Greek word Soteria which encompasses Deliverance, safety, preservation, soundness (completeness, totally whole with nothing missing and nothing broken), and healing. So when we receive salvation we receive all these things.

THE NEW CREATION

When we receive salvation, it replaces the seen nature that we have and makes us new men, born again.  2 Corinthians 5:17 says therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature: old things are passed away: behold all things are become new.

The scripture is not new to the bible as believe it or not it has always been there but many haven’t clearly understood what it meant. There is something our man of God refers to as accurate knowledge and not just knowledge. On the surface, you might think the statement just means the things of the past have been forgiven but it goes so much further than that.

We are also well aware that the bible does not use words lightly as such any word used is carefully selected by the Holy Spirit to depict the exact message to us. The bible says old things have passed away – when the words passed away is used for instance if when it is said that a man/woman has passed away it clearly means the person is dead. So also when the word says old thing has passed away it means the old us is dead and we are now totally new creations with no trace of the past.

We also need to focus on the first part of the verse which says he is a new creature (or new creation as said in some translations). This signifies that when we receive salvation i.e. become born again we are a totally new breed, a species that has never been in existence. It is important to note that we are not refurbished or cleaned up but totally new creations.   To emphasis this our man of God uses the analogy of comparing this to the fact that if you have a house for instance if you paint the house, change the roof, do some renovations the house would clearly be different afterward but it is still the same house that has just been refurbished but to make it a totally new creation we have to totally destroy the house and build a totally new structure not similar in any way to the old one. That is what the new creation is. The old man/spirit is totally destroyed and a totally new spirit is brought into existence.

So in summary, the features of the new creation which we are when we give our lives to Christ are as follows; The New Creation is

•      A new breed

•      A new species.

•      Someone that has never existed before.

•      He is not refurbished.

•      When someone gets born again, God doesn’t clear the person up.

The bible also tells us in John 1; 12 that “But as many, as received Him, to them He gave the right to become the child of God”. There are 5 Greek words that denote the word child in the bible which all have different meanings are used to depict different things.  They are tecnon, nepious, brefos, padeon, and huis. The word used here to signify child of God is Tecnon which is what in the English language can be said to mean offspring. Offspring in the sense that the child was conceived and delivered by the parents as we are aware some children can be adopted but when the word tecnon is used it means the child is not adopted but delivered directly by the parents. This, therefore, means as we receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior God conceived or was pregnant with the new spirit and delivered us.  Meaning as the old spirit dies the new spirit is delivered by God and we are totally new creatures.

We also need to understand that when we become new creations we are spiritual babies with the same characteristics of a natural-born human baby. When a baby is born he has no past as before he was born he did not exist so also does the new creation have no past. The newborn baby has only a future so also does the new creation have only a future. The newborn baby is a child/tecnon of their parents so also is the new creation a child/tecnon of God. Finally, the newborn baby is perfect i.e. born complete with everything he needs to survive as a human so also does the new creation complete, perfect with everything he needs to thrive.

It is also important we as new creations are perfect. The bible tells us in Ephesians 2:10 that we are God’s workmanship. Looking at various translations let take a look at exactly what that means:

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

AMP – For we are God’s [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time] that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live]

CEB – Instead, we are God’s accomplishment, created in Christ Jesus to do good things. God planned for these good things to be the way that we live our lives.

From the above we see the new creation is described as God’s workmanship, God’s own handiwork and God’s accomplishment. These words are not used lightly and signify the fact that we are a perfect masterpiece, God’s showpiece and his accomplishment meaning we are flawless, perfect, and complete.  Everything God has the new creation (us) has. We are further told in 1 John 4:17 that as he is so are we in this world so if we believe that God is perfect then we have no other choice but to believe we also are perfect. 

IMPLICATIONS OF BEING A NEW CREATION

First we should never forget that we are in no way related or like the old person we were before we became saved. That old person is dead, he has passed away and now we are totally new. If we understand this then we can understand that any sins, any covenant the old person has with the devil willingly (by himself) or indirectly (by his parents) no longer hold for this new person because they died with him. The new creation no longer has any need for deliverance of any kind and is not tied in any way whatsoever to any generational curse.

Though the bible notes that the sins of the father would be visited on the son to the third and fourth generation it is important we understand that the parents of the new creation is no longer their earthly parents but God the father.

We see this in 1 John 1:12-13 which says – But as many as received him,  to them he gave The power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name ( once we are saved we are now children of God) which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God (clearly this says our parents are no longer human but God so whatever covenant are due to their children are no longer due to us because the old man who is their heir is dead and the new man that exists has no relation to them)

TRIPARTITE NATURE OF MAN – 3 DIMENSIONS OF MAN

The word dimension is defined by the Merriam Webster dictionary as one of the elements or factors making up a complete personality or entity. It is in this regard that the three dimensions of man is seen in that each of the dimensions is necessary to make up the complete entity of man as he is known to exist on this earth.  These dimensions can also be described as the three parts of man.

The question then is how we know there are three dimensions or 3 parts to man. We know this the same way we know and are sure of everything else be believe as new creation. We believe because by two immutable things God cannot lie and if the Lord says in his word that it is so then we have no other option but to believe it is. 

The bible says 1 Thessalonian 5:23 - And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly, and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. This suggests that we are to be sanctified (set apart, purified) wholly i.e. completely. For the bible to suggest this it alludes to the fact that there are various parts to man. It further goes on to describe these parts as spirit, soul, and body fully identifying the various parts which make up the whole that was described at the onset of verse.

In addition to the above scripture, several others suggest that man is in three parts one of which is also seen in Hebrews 4:12 which says - For the word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Here the fact that man is in three parts is further supported giving us an inclination into the only way to separate these three parts which is the word of God.

Having agreed that there are uncontestably 3 parts to man, let us go a bit further by looking at each individual component of this 3-dimensional entity called man keeping in mind the saying MAN IS A SPIRIT, HE HAS A MIND AND HE LIVES IN A BODY.

MAN IS A SPIRIT

There are various evidence within the scripture to clearly support the fact that man i.e. the real man is a spirit. 

Beginning from Genesis, the word tells us that we are created in the image of God. The bible also tells us in John 4:24 that God is a spirit. Therefore if God is a spirit and we are created in the image of God it is only logical for us to conclude that we are spirits.

In addition to the above, we also see in 1 Peter 3:3-4 that where the bible describes the outward and inward man (real man) with special emphasis that we are to focus primarily on the adornment of the inner man and not the outward man. The inward man here is also known as the spirit man or the real man. This is further exhibited  in 2 Corinthians 4:16 where we are told that focussing on the outward man is useless as it is sure to perish but we should focus on the inward man and renew him day by day. 

The importance of noting the fact that man is a spirit if two-fold: the first being that once we understand the fact that man is a spirit the notion that when we become born again the old spirit dies and we become a brand new spirit (2

Corinthians 5:17) is no longer far-fetched as the external appearance remains the same coupled with the fact that our minds (soul) at the onset remains the same but transforms with the renewal by the word.  The second is that knowing we are in the class of God (as a spirit); we are way more powerful than we would ordinarily believe we are. Many people understand that there is power in the spiritual realm but never ever believed they had access to such power. This is because it was not completely understood that they were actually spirits and whatever spirits can do they also can do. Here again, the importance of knowledge comes into play. Not just knowledge but accurate knowledge.

MAN HAS A SOUL

At At the onset of this piece it was clearly shown that man is 3 dimensional with one of the dimensions being the soul. Having now known that the soul exists, it is important for us to understand the part it plays in the grand scheme of things. First, we have to understand that everything we do as people emanates from the soul which oftentimes is also referred to as the mind.

The soul is the thinker and controls all emotions and feelings. It is the bridge between the body and the spirit. It is the decision-maker.

When we become born-again believers as noted earlier on our old spirit dies and we receive a brand new spirit. This might prompt the question – what then happens to the soul? The simple answer to this is nothing. When we become new creations the soul remains exactly the same. This is why we still act and think the way we did before we became new creations. What happens next is totally dependent on us, what happens next is decided by what we do; our spiritual upliftment henceforth is in our hands. God has no business with the soul and the body. His only concern is with the spirit. As such by giving us a brand new spirit he has done his part. Maintenance so to speak has to be done by us.

Our soul remains the same but it is our duty to ensure it becomes the kind of soul our new spirit deserves and fortunately we have been given the sure way to ensure this is done.

Romans 12:2 says - And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Being new creations (new spirits) we are not to behave as we did before we were saved and the only way to do it is described in the above scripture. It says be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind (soul). The one and the only way this can be done i.e. the one and only way we can avoid conforming to the ways of the world is by renewing our souls. How then can this be done? We see the solution in James 1:21 which says - Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

Here we see the way to renew/transform/save your mind/soul is to receive with meekness the implanted word of God as is written in the bible and explained to us by our Man of God.

How is knowing this of benefit to us?

Again as noted earlier accurate knowledge is power. We need to understand that since our souls remain the same after we become saved we should not expect and overnight change in attitude or behavior but should understand that their actions are because their mind is not fully renewed. With this in mind instead of scolding themselves or feeling guilty, the solution is to take the actions necessary to ensure that this does not happen again. This is done by continually renewing the mind by listening to the word of God in the form of reading the bible regularly and not missing any gathering in the church.  Also with regards to other brethren, we are not to be unfairly harsh to them when we see them go wrong but as a child would be corrected with love encourage them to continually renew the soul/mind. 

MAN HAS A BODY

Man has a body – This statement many times looks over-simplistic and commonsensical. It seems so obvious; of course, man has a body. But do we really understand the need and implications of this? Before I go further I would like to paint some pictures in our minds.

Humans as a species have been known to survive even in the most inhabitable environments and habitats mainly because we have been able to provide ourselves with a protective covering to enable us to sustain life in such areas.

In the 1960s Neil Armstrong was the first man to set foot on the moon. The moon is such an inhabitable place that there was no recorded life form on the moon, but the only way he could protect himself and be able to walk on the moon was by wearing a specially designed spacesuit which protected him without which no matter what he did he would have dropped dead the first time he set foot on the moon without that protective gear.

Another scenario is the case of people working in areas of nuclear exposure that have to wear a special protective suit to prevent contamination and exposure to radiation. Even a small nick or hole in the suit can be disastrous hence if there is any problem with the protective suit or if they no longer feel comfortable in it they no longer make use of these suits.

This is the same situation with regards to man the spirit and his existence in this earthly world. The spirit cannot exist on earth without a protective suit to enable him function appropriately on earth. If also for any reason this suit becomes defective either by sickness, trauma/accidents or old age and can no longer satisfactorily protect the spirit on earth it departs from it i.e. separated from it which is a condition we have come to know as death. 

Up until this point, this may be seen as philosophical ramblings and it would remain so until it can be substantiated by the bible.

We see in Job 10:10-11 where Job himself clearly painted a picture of what has been described above. Job (the inner man) said - Hast thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese? Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and hast fenced me with bones and sinews.

Here Job the spirit man describes himself being clothed in the body (skin, flesh, skeleton) clearly depicting the fact that man is not a body but is a spirit wearing protective clothing that enables him to survive on earth. Even Jesus Christ has to inhabit a body to function on earth appropriately but it is important to note that though Jesus Christ had a body it made him no less God. He was just God wearing a protective and functional covering.

 

THINGS TO NOTE ABOUT THE BODY

•      The body expresses actions.

•      It is a slave and can never be a good master.

•      It should not control you.

•      It should be subject to the spirit which is the real man.

•      It should be pummeled (beat black and blue) and put under the leadership of the spirit. (See 1^st Corinthians 9:27)

FRUITS OF THE BORN AGAIN SPIRIT

As new creations, we are expected to manifest certain behaviors, which are known as the fruit of the spirit.

As human beings for instance we are supposed to be able to walk, talk, think, etc. but the thing is that though we have all these capabilities within us when we are first born as babies we manifest none of these. We only begin to manifest these as we begin to eat and grow then as we grow we begin to learn to walk, talk, and manifest other behaviors expected of human beings.

So it is with us as new creations. The Bible says in 1 Peter 2:2 that as newborn babes we should desire the sincere milk of the word so that we may grow thereby. We as new creations need to feed on the word of God to grow. As we grow we begin to manifest these behaviors or fruits expected of the born-again spirit. Remember that these fruits are already in us we just have to let them out and as we grow we begin to manifest them more.

They are listed for us in Galatians 5:22-23 - But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control. Against such things, there is no law.

The believer ought to exhibit love, joy, patience, temperance, faith, meekness. Goodness, gentleness.  It is the real man, the recreated human spirit that bears this fruit not the Holy Spirit. They are different from the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are resident in the Holy Spirit who gives them to every believer as He wills.