Introduction
We have looked at the three critical steps to our
relationship with God through Jesus Christ: repentance and faith and baptism. But that is by no means the end of the
story. Jesus himself promised three
things to those who fully trusted him for their right relationship with God:
forgiveness of sins, adoption as sons of his Father God and the gift of the
Holy Spirit. The first apostles
continued the same line after Jesus left in around 33 A.D. Some of this can be seen in the two verses I
referred to earlier: Acts 2:38 and Acts 20:21.
1.
The whole of chapter
14 of John’s gospel is Jesus talking to his disciples about what they can
expect from him when he leaves. He
promised he would not leave them as orphans, he would send them One like
himself who would be in each of them all throughout their days on earth. Jesus calls this One the Holy Spirit.
2.
In Matthew chapter 9,
Jesus explains that he “has authority on earth to forgive sins.” The Jewish
religious leaders mostly refused to accept that Jesus could forgive sins
because if he could, then he had the authority and imprimatur of God, which
they refused to believe.
3.
Then in John chapter
1, apostle John records the faithful testimony of John the Baptist – who was
actually Jesus’ cousin – concerning Jesus:
“He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world
did not know him. He came to his kin and
those who were his kin did not welcome him; but as many as did welcome him, to
them he gave the right to become children
of God; to those who trust in him completely.”
If repentance, faith and baptism are the three steps
to right relationship with God, what is that relationship like? And what does God do for those who turn to
trust His Son Jesus fully for their salvation?
He forgives their sins and their sin; as they have welcomed him, he
welcomes them into the family of God and into the presence of God; he gives
them the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Apostle Paul once wrote: “For who
among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In
the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.” And what Jesus and the apostles promise to
those who turn in repentance, faith and baptism to Jesus is the Spirit of God
as a gift to them – because they are now children of God.
But we need to understand that the Spirit of
God is not a ghost as some over many years have said and taught. A far better way to understand the idea of
the Holy Spirit or the Spirit of God is to think of DNA. The Spirit of God is the DNA of God implanted
in us by God our Father Himself, just as every child born has his father’s DNA
within him. Apostle Paul refers to the
Holy Spirit as both the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Jesus Christ. That makes sense because if God is our
Father, Jesus is our elder brother and we all share the Father’s DNA.
The apostle who wrote the book of Hebrews
said this: “For both He who sanctifies [Jesus] and those who are sanctified are
all from one Father; for which reason He [Jesus] is not ashamed to call them brothers.”
The three things we discuss now are the gifts
God gives to those who turn to trust Jesus fully for their right relationship
with God: forgiveness, adoption and the Holy Spirit. In a sense, Jesus brings each person to the
Father and presents them to Him saying: ‘You have another son and here he
is. He welcomed me, I welcome him and I
ask You to welcome him on my behalf into the family and its inheritance.’ FORGIVENESS; ADOPTION; HOLY SPIRIT
Cheers,
Kevin.
Cheers,
Kevin.
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