TSC FOUNDATION CLASS PART 2
FOUNDATION CLASS PART 2
FAMILY OF GOD
It
is important to note that at each point in time we are either children of the
devil or children of God. The notion that everyone is a child of God is totally
erroneous and there is no midway. I re-iterate at each point in time we are
either children of the devil or children of God. The question then is what
determines this?
The
bible tells us in John 1:12 that as many as receive him to them He gave the
power to be called the child of God. This means that that is only one criterion
to become a child of God and that is to receive Him, give our lives to Christ
by following the steps highlighted in our foundation class 101 with regards to
receiving salvation.
A
few scriptures would be highlighted below to emphasize the fact that unless this
is done we would remain children of the devil. We would first take a look at
what the bible says in John 8:44 (NLT) – for you are the children of your
father the devil and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer
from the beginning. He has always hated the truth because there is no truth in
him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character for he is the father of
lies. Here the bible does not mince words in let us know in no uncertain times
that without giving our lives to Christ, without receiving salvation our father
is the devil, and his biddings would we do.
To
further, buttress the fact that was then for those that have received salvation
and after becoming believers this no longer holds we see in Ephesians 2:3-4 where the bible says - All of us also lived among them at one
time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its
desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of
wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy. We
also, see in Ephesians 2:12 where it says - remember that at that time you were
separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel, and foreigners to the
covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.
Both scriptures reflect the fact that we all at one
time were of the world being children of the devil gratified the cravings,
lusts, thoughts, and desires of the devil and were at that point separate from
Christ (spiritually dead) and excluded of all the promises, covenants and
blessing due to us as children of God.
The moment we receive the free gift of salvation the reverse then becomes
the case.
Now that we are born again, you have become a child of
God. It means that you have been born into the family of God. 1 John 3:2 Amp;
says - “Now are we the children of God.”
We will not become children of God. But we are children of God now that
we are born again. You are born into the family of God.
HOW DO WE KNOW WE ARE TRULY SAVED?
Many times the devil tries to use the only power he has, the singular skills he has been left with after Jesus Christ totally disarmed him as we see in Colossians 2:15. This power is the power of deception to try to mess with our minds causing us to doubt the fact that we actually saved. He inputs thought into our minds such as – are you sure you are saved with all the evil you have done? You even lied this morning. Do not deceive yourself.
When these thoughts or similar thoughts occur to us let us be rest assured that we are
saved. There are 3 basic reasons we are sure we are saved and these are shown
in the figure below:
BLESSED ASSURANCE OF THE WORD OF GOD
The
believer’s first assurance that he is saved the blessed assurance of the word
of God. The bible tells us that by two immutable things God cannot lie which
are his word and his oath. Even the unbelievers understand the impact or
significance of oath because if they understand the fact that it is binding. It
is also understood that when you take an oath or when you swear it is believed
that for it to be effective you have to swear upon or with something that has
the power to destroy if not it makes no sense. The example our man of God gives
us is a real-life situation in which a young man was almost lynched for
stealing by a mob in front of a market but once the guy opened the hood of a
car, placing his hand on the engine and swearing that if he actually stole he
should be crushed by a car the matter for resolved forever and he was let go.
This is the impact of an oath or swearing.
The
bible tells us that God swore by himself because there is no greater being that
God so nothing can destroy him. He swore by himself meaning that if the word is
not true let him implode i.e. He would destroy himself. With this in mind we
have no right to doubt his word in any way. If God says it is so then it is so,
if the bible which is the word of God says it is so then it is so. We must
understand that God does not play with words as such whatever he says is bound
to come to pass.
The
bible which is now known to be the truth without a shadow of doubt says in
Romans 10:9-10 Rom 10:9
say “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in
thy heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shall be saved.” Your
assurance then should be that if you have acted on the word of God, you are
saved, God himself witnesses that our salvation is assured by the belief in our
heart and the confession that our mouth has made.
The questions we should ask ourselves if these doubts
ever arise are:
1.
Is the bible the word of God?
2.
Can God lie?
3.
Have I done what is necessary
to be saved according to the word of God?
If
the answer to questions 1 and 3 is YES and the answer to question 2 is NO. Then
you have your answer right there. Whatever the situation you find yourself, whatever happens in your life you remain saved now and forever unless you
denounce God or proclaim/confess with your mouth that you no longer pledge your
allegiance to him. Barring this heaven is sure the only issue you should be
focused on now are the rewards due to you here on earth and in heaven as a
result of your actions.
WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT
The spirit witnesses to our salvation in two ways:
• Inward witness of the spirit
• Outward witness of the spirit.
*To witness – to give firsthand account*
INWARD WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT
The inward witness is the Holy Spirit bearing witness
with your spirit that you are now a child of God. You may not always feel saved
but the Holy Spirit bears witness with your spirit that you are saved. We
notice that we have an inner conviction in us after we become born again, a
peace that come upon us assuring us we are saved. This is the inward witness of
the spirit. That is our spirit or inner man giving us a firsthand account of
the fact that we are saved. Deep within us we are assured of this. This we see
in –
Romans 8:16 - The
Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
1 John 5:6 - This is the one who came by water and
blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And
it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.
OUTWARD WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT
Our changed life is the outward witness of our spirit
and also evidence that we are New Creations. The Believer is not the person he
used to be. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things has
passed away behold all things have become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17. Although
the believer looks like the person he used to be, an understanding of the fact
that he is a spirit and his spirit is no longer the same will help him see
himself the way God sees him.
We noted in foundation class 101 that when we become
saved our old spirit dies and we get a new one but the soul which is the source
of all our actions remains the same. We discovered that as we feed the soul with
the word of God the soul becomes renewed and our actions begin to change
because however we behave emanates from the soul. What we have to understand is that as we hear
the word of God in service, in cell meetings, by reading Reverends books and
listening to audio c.d our spirit is growing and our faith is increasing so
also does our behavior change. This can be likened to the fact that as we eat
physically and grow, we are not aware of the fact that we are growing until we
try out our clothes and they are too small for us then we realize we have
grown. This is the exact same thing with renewing our souls. The more we hear the
word of God in various forms the more we grow but we have no idea how much
we have grown till something happens and the way we react to such situations is
very different from the way we would have otherwise responded. This is the
outward witness of the spirit and this also assures us that we have been saved.
AUTHORITY AND DOMINION IN
THE LIFE OF A NEW CREATION
As a new creation, you’ve been called to operate in
Authority, you to exercise authority over the following:
- The world
- Life’s Circumstances
- Sin and death
AUTHORITY AND DOMINION OVER THE WORLD
The world, used here is derived from the word Cosmos
which represents the satanic Kingdom. As we know the devil of the king of this
world, the power which was handed to him by Adam after he disobeyed God and by
doing so pledged allegiance to the devil and relinquishing his rightful
ownership of this world.
However, the bible tells us that when we become born
again we regain our power of the world. We see in 1 John 5:4 which says - For
everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome
the world, even our faith. We learn't earlier on in the course of this study
that we are the children of God (the tecnon of God delivered or born of God)
therefore it is clear that this verse is referring to us letting us know that
since we are born of God we overcome the world which is the satanic kingdom. We
also see in 1 John 4:4 where it says - You, dear children, are from God and
have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who
is in the world. This lets us know that God in us is far greater than the ruler
of the world which is the devil hence we have dominion over the world.
These
are scriptures that should be burnt into our memory and released each time the
devil is trying to deceive and overwhelm us with seemingly insurmountable
problems we must remember that we are born of God and so we overcome the world.
We must also remember that greater is He that is in us than he that is in the
world. We have nothing to fear but the devil has everything to be afraid of as
it pertains to us. As our man of God says we are the terrorists not the devil.
AUTHORITY AND DOMINION OVER LIFE’S CIRCUMSTANCES
We
need to understand that the new creation is never a victim but a victor. We
have been given authority over all things and the moment we exercise this
authority we become victorious over life’s circumstances.
Romans 5:17 says - For
if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much
more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift
of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!
What
needs to be pointed out here is that through the gift of righteousness we have
been given the power to reign or rule over life through Jesus Christ. So whatever circumstance life throws in our
way let us be rest assured that we have the power to rule and reign over it in
Christ Jesus.
AUTHORITY AND DOMINION OVER SIN AND DEATH
We
need to understand that as new creations we have dominion over the law of sin
and death. The bible tells us sin shall no longer lord it over us or have power
over us. We are also told to resist sin steadfastly meaning we have the power
to overcome sin. The only powers the devil had over us was the law of sin and
death and with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ the bible tells us
Jesus to collect these keys from the devil as such the devil is now powerless over
us.
We
see in Rom 6:14 which
says - For sin shall no longer be your master,
because you are not under the law, but under grace. Romans 8:2 also says - because through Christ Jesus the law of the
Spirit who gives life has set you[a] free
from the law of sin and death. This is ample evidence that death has no power
over us; sin has no power over us because we are under the law of the spirit
which gives us eternal life.
We also see in 2 Timothy 1:10 - But it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Saviour, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
FORGIVENESS
The bible shows us a clear difference between the way an unbeliever receives forgiveness and the way a believer receives forgiveness. The figure below highlights the supporting scriptures to this.
FORGIVENESS FOR UNBELIEVERS
The
only way an unbeliever receives forgiveness is by becoming a born again
believer by following the steps highlighted in Romans 10:9-10 summarised as
·
Believe that someone (Jesus
Christ) died for you
·
That He was raised from the
dead by God
·
Confess Jesus to be your Lord
i.e. Pledge allegiance to Him with your mouth
Once
this is done as the bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:17 the old man/spirit
dies and we become a new creation with no past, no history and with a clean
slate. The new creation has no past and as such has no sin.
Acts
3:38 also tells us that for unbelievers to receive forgiveness they have to
receive Jesus Christ and be baptized.
When
the above is done the person is now a believer and if he sins as a believer the
steps he need so take would be described below.
FORGIVENESS FOR THE BELIEVER
For
a believer to receive forgiveness we are told in 1 John 1:9 that all he has to
do is to confess his sins and he would be cleansed of all unrighteousness. We
also see in 1 John 2:1-3 where the bible tells us that it is not Gods wish for
us to sin but knowing that as we grow spiritually we are bound to sin so when
we do we should not feel dejected or unsaved but to know that we have an
advocate with the Father (Jesus Christ).
Contrary
to common held believe this is not a passport for believers to begin to sin
endlessly knowing that they would receive forgiveness. In order to understand
this clearly, we would return to the analogy of the new creation being very
similar to a newborn baby with similar characteristics. We note that when a
baby wets his diapers or makes a mess he/she is forgiven by the parents. This
is not because they approve of what they did but because they understand that they
are babies and do not know better they are sure that as these babies grow they
would become mature and stop this behaviour. If we understand that as new
believers we are like newborn babies and as newborn babies we also make
mistakes and commit sin. We have been told that as we sin we are forgiven but
this in no way means that God approves of Sin it only tells us that he knows
that we are not perfect but are bound to make mistakes as we grow. What it is
important for us to get here is that you do not see adult wetting their diapers
or making a mess not because they were flogged as babies when they did it but
because they are now more mature and are able to behave better. So also is the
case with the new creation as we read, hear, and practice the word of God we
naturally become more mature, and the sins we commit reduce markedly.
GOD’S REASONS FOR OUR SALVATION
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