PT-2 "Becoming the New Self" (Eph. 4:23-24)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/4/2019 10:14 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus:  PT-2 “Become the New Self”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Eph. 4:23-24

 

            Message of the verses:  “23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.”

 

            John MacArthur writes “The renewed ‘spirit’ of the believer’s ‘mind’ is corollary (result or effect) to putting on the ‘new self,’ which is the new creation made in the very ‘likeness of God’ and ‘has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.’  That which was once darkened, ignorant, hardened, calloused, sensual, impure, and greedy is now enlightened, learned in the ‘truth,’ sensitive to sin, pure, and generous.  Whereas it was once characterized by wickedness and sin, it is now characterized by ‘righteous and holiness.’  In Colossians 3:12, Paul calls believers ‘the chosen of God, holy and beloved.’”

 

            Let us try and look a little deeper or to expand the concept of this new self, something that is essential for us to do.  MacArthur sates “the word ‘new’ (kaions) does not mean renovated but entirely new—new in species or character.  The new self is new because it ‘has been created in the likeness of God’ The Greek is literally, ‘according to what God is’—a staggering statement expressing the wondrous reality of salvation.  Those who confess Jesus Christ as Lord are made like God!  Peter says we become ‘partakers of the divine nature’ (2 Pet. 1:4).”

 

            I am going to switch authors for the rest of this SD and get some “Wisdom from Wiersbe” as I have taken the time to look at what the late Dr. Warren Wiersbe has to say on these verses that we are looking at.  Yes Warren Wiersbe is with His Lord and I have to believe that the Lord has already said to Warren Wiersbe “Well Done!”  Now we are talking about the new self and in his commentary on this Dr. Wiersbe writes “The simplest illustration of this great truth is given in John 11, the resurrection of Lazarus.  Our Lord’s friend, Lazarus, had been in the grave four days when Jesus and His disciples arrived at Bethany, and even Martha admitted that, by now, the decaying body would smell (John 11:39).  But Jesus spoke the word and Lazarus came forth alive, and illustration of John 5:24,” ("Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”)   “Notice our Lord’s next words, ‘Loose him, and let him go’ (John 11:44).  Take off the grave clothes!  Lazarus no longer belonged to the old dominion of death, for he was alive.  Why go about wearing grave clothes?  Take off the old and put on the new!

 

            “This was Paul’s argument—you no longer belong to the old corruption of sin; you belong to the new creation in Christ.  Take off the graveclothes!  How do we do this?  ‘Be renewed in the spirit of you mind’ (Eph. 4:23).  Conversion is a crisis that leads to a process.  Through Christ, once and for all, we have been given a new position in His new creation, but day by day, we must by faith appropriate what He has given us.  The Word of God renews the mind as we surrender our all to Him (Rom. 12:1-2).  ‘Sanctify them through Thy truth:  Thy Word is truth (John 17:17).  As the mind understands the truth of God’s Word, it is gradually transformed by the Spirit, and this renewal leads to a changed life.  Physically, you are what you eat, but spiritually, you are what you think.  ‘As he thinketh in his heart, so is he’ (Proverbs 23:7).  This is why it is important for us as Christians to spend time daily meditating of the Word, praying, and fellowshipping with Christ.”

 

            I have said many times that Warren Wiersbe puts the cookies on the shelf where you can reach time, and he certainly has done it with the above quotes.  I understand that when I was saved that I was given a new nature, something that was not a do over, but a completely new nature, and I remember that once I received that new nature that God took away my desire to swear, to use the Lord’s name in vain, something that I had been doing for probably 17 years before that day in January of 1974.  I knew that I was different, but I also knew that there would be a battle going inside of me spiritually and as Dr. Wiersbe writes I am to remember this truth of having a new self and continue to look into the Word of God each day to help me to grow up in the Lord and as Peter writes that if we resist the devil he will go away. 

 

                Spiritual meaning for my life today:  ““But we deny self when we surrender ourselves to Christ and determine to obey His will.  This once-for-all dedication is followed by a daily ‘dying to self’ as we take up the cross and follow Him.  From the human point of view, we are losing ourselves, but from the divine perspective, we are finding ourselves.  When we live for Christ, we become more like Him, and this brings out our own unique individuality.”  (Warren Wiersbe)

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Remember progressive growth, and a part of that is humility, and that begins in the mind.

 

Today’s quotation is from E. M. Bounds “God regards the personal purity of the man more than He regards any sacrifice or any ceremony.”

 

5/4/2019 11:06 AM