Bible Study - Knowing God:The New You

Hi All

Notes are below.  Audio is here: Click to download it to your computer!

You can also access the whole load of Friday Night Bible Study audio files.

Blessings!

Chris 

The New You

This requires imagination. Let’s take a journey together to picture a few things.

1. Made in God’s Image…

Genesis 1:26a Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; (NKJV)

Do you think God looks like you?

I believe Jesus looked fairly ordinary. Already, His birth was lower than ordinary

Isaiah 53:2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him. (NKJV)

[Thanks Lois for highlighting this!]

2. It was a Spiritual Likeness.

John 4:24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (NKJV)

God is Spirit.  Our association with Him is in the Spirit realm.  Those who have no spirit, who are not born again, cannot have any association with Him.

This flesh we have is dying, corrupted and corrupting.

Romans 8:13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. (NKJV)

When the sense that is the basis of judgment is changed, suddenly, the criteria of judgment are also changed.

Miss Universe judged by a panel of blind judges would result in VERY different winners.

Sometimes hard to tell my daughters apart on the phone!  

Try to imagine what the person looks like by hearing a voice on the phone.

The dissociation between spirit and flesh discernment is even more extreme. Spirit and flesh have nothing to do with each other.

Galatians 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? (NKJV)

3. This Spiritual likeness was Lost

Before the fall, Adam and Eve were really in the likeness of God.

Genesis 2:16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (NKJV)

We know that he did not die when he ate the fruit.  It was a spiritual death first, followed by a physical one eventually.

Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— (NKJV)

4. This Spiritual Likeness was Restored by Jesus

Jesus came to restore, to bring us back to our original state. In this state, God had a perfect relationship with Man.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (NKJV)

Colossians 1:13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, (NKJV)

1 Corinthians 15:54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” (NKJV)

5. He has put His Glory is in Us

John 17:22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: (NKJV)

Colossians 1:27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (NKJV)

This is a promise for the New Testament saint.  His WILL is to make known the riches of His glory, which is in us, manifested by the presence of Christ.

6. We Cannot See it with Physical Eyes (5 senses)

Everything the world tries to change is in the realm of the 5 senses.

Galatians 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? (NKJV)

Walk by faith not by sight

2 Corinthians 5:7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. (NKJV)

7. Seeing in the Spirit

We need to do this

John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. (NKJV)

Only the words of the Bible are life.  This is our sense into the reality of the Spirit world.  We will be blind to the degree we don’t know the Word.

Romans  10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (NKJV)

This sense of faith gets increasingly sharp with our knowledge of the Word.

Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (NKJV)

Ephesians 4: 17 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; 19 who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. 20 But you have not so learned Christ, 21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: 22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. (NKJV)

8. Observe the Mirror, Become Like the Image

You are who the word says you are. You become what you believe in the Word.

2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. (NKJV)

What you see described about you in the Word is much more accurate than what you perceive with your five senses.  What that says is the REAL you.

9. Don’t Trust What You See

Including yourself – MUST see yourself in the spirit!

2 Corinthians 5:16a Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. 

Get familiar and used to who you really are in the spirit.

10. This is Who You Are

If you are born again, you are made in His image for real!

Colossians 1:21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight— (NKJV)

2 Corinthians 5:21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (NKJV)

We are righteous, holy and blameless! Ridiculous? It’s called love.

It’s called the Gospel, the Good news!

As we begin to take these in, renewing our minds with it, we will start to live more and more victorious Christian lives.

11. The Take Away

• Our spirits were made in God’s Image the day we accepted Jesus and got saved.
• We cannot see this renewed image in our 5 senses as it is in the spiritual realm
• The spirit realm is more important than the physical realm
• We access this realm through the Word of God
• When we focus on the Word of God’s grace, we believe and we receive the victory 

Bible Study - Knowing God:God has given Himself to Redeem Me, to make Me His Child

Hi All

Notes are below.  Click here to download the audio file to your computer!

You can also access the whole load of Friday Night Bible Study audio files.

Blessings!

Chris 

Forget religiosity - Talk to Him

Believe His Word. Adopt an attitude of belief, not an attitude that believes in what your five senses tell you.

We walk by faith, not by sight.

1. God Yearns for All Men to Be Saved

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. (NKJV)

2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. (NKJV)

I John 2:2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. (NKJV)

1 Timothy 2:3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, (NKJV)

1 Timothy 4:10 For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe. (NKJV)

2. God Sees You As Worthy

God yearns for each and every one of us to be in fellowship with Him.

From the beginning of time, God has seen each of us as worthy to be saved.  Not just barely worthy, but worthy of the very best.  That is called GRACE.

If it wasn't for that, no amount of effort from any of us would have made a difference.  Truly it has nothing to do with how good we are – we cannot earn righteousness.

I John 4:9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (NKJV)

Matthew 18:11 For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost. 12 “What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying? 13 And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. 14 Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. (NKJV)

3. He Went to Great Lengths to Save You!

You must be worth it.  He did not do it trivially.

We sometimes receive it trivially.

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (NKJV)

Not when we started to show signs of repentance.  Salvation was a blank cheque.

Galatians 3:13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), 14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. (NKJV)

2 Corinthians 5:21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (NKJV)

He didn't just die for your sins.  It was a total exchange – he BECAME sin, in exchange, we who believe BECAME the righteousness of God in Him.

Hebrews 9:12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. (NKJV)

Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. (NKJV)

4. New Creations, Redeemed as God’s Children

Your identity was changed the moment you came to know Him as your Lord and Saviour. We need to understand the change of identity.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (NKJV)

This New Creation is in the Spirit.  It cannot be perceived by your 5 senses.

Old things have passed away, like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly.

John 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: (NKJV)

Galatians 3: 26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. (NKJV)

We have become children of God.  It is not a change of behaviour but a change of state.  I can dress like a prince, put on a crown even, but that doesn't make me one! However, many princes and princesses in the Kingdom haven’t realised this and are living on Skid Row.

Galatians 4:4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. (NKJV)

The change in our identity is marked by His Spirit in our hearts.  As much as I cannot “unbecome” a son, the Spirit will never leave me.

I became an heir – this means that I have an inheritance in Christ!

God want us to grow up as sons, to become like Him, restored into His image

Romans 8:15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. (NKJV)

5. He Wants to Make you Like Christ

God loves you so much that He saved you as you were.

He loves you so much that He won’t leave you as you are.

Matthew 9:36 But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. (NKJV)

Has given us His Glory, wants us to be transformed by it.

2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. (NKJV)

As we behold His goodness in His Word, we are changed to become more and more like Him.  We press on in this to lay hold of that which Christ laid hold of us for.

James 1:23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. (NKJV)

John 6:29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” (NKJV)