Topic: In Christ (Part 11)
Helping You Increase Your
Revelation Knowledge Of Christ!
Text Of Interest:
“But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto
the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable
company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which
are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just
men made perfect, And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the
blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.”
Heb 12:22 – 24 (KJV)
The step an unbeliever takes to
accept the message of Christ turns him into a believer because he has just
believed in what Christ has done in His death, burial, resurrection and
ascension and such brings the unbeliever into the fold of Christ. However, this
is not an ordinary process as it seems at the surface; the reality is that
before that unbeliever would have accepted the message of Christ, there must be
this interplay of the work of the Holy Ghost in the heart of the unbeliever. As
the word is coming, the Holy Ghost through the spoken word is convicting him of
his sinful nature and bringing into reality the true nature of God that he
supposed to possess. This statement highlights the fact that in the process of salvation
Holy Ghost has important roles to play and surely Jesus Christ mentioned and
outlined His roles in this direction. “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is
expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not
come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come,
he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment Of sin,
because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father,
and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is
judged.” (Jn 16:7-11).
This implies that for any
message to be able to have what it takes to ignite faith in the heart of an
individual, the message must be spirit filled. And here, the only message that
is authenticated by the Holy Ghost is the message that is of Christ. It is
called that incorruptible seed or the engrafted word of God, “Wherefore lay
apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness
the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.” (Jas 1:21). Apostle
Peter puts it this way, “Being born
again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which
liveth and abideth for ever.” Therefore,
overtly through the word’s Spirit the Holy Ghost penetrates the heart of the
man and convicts him of his existing nature which is outside God’s nature and
as a result he yields his heart to Him. Once this is done the word ignites
faith in him to believe what has been said to him. This takes place because the
word that enters the heart of the man is spiritual or sourced out of the Spirit
as the Bible says “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth
nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are
life.”(Jn 6:63). The method of
conversion here is the same from the beginning, in the old order and now in the
new order, God’s system or method has not changed, is all about word. So the
Word that came to the unbeliever initiates the faith that quickens him or her
to accept what has been said to him or her. This faith is not the faith of the
believer because before this time his heart is void of the word and therefore,
the only Word that has entered into his heart is this Word that unfolds and
establishes the faith to believe.
By this faith which is
generated in the heart of the unbeliever and makes him to accept the word and
believe in it, the unbeliever is now sealed by Holy Ghost as a property of God.
This is to say that it is the work of the Holy Ghost to authenticate who comes
into Christ, as the Bible says “Now he
which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath
also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.” (2 Cor
1:21-22). Every believer who is established
in Christ is sealed by the Holy Ghost and without which that person no matter
what his outward appearance and verbal claims indicates he is not of Christ.
The function of the Holy Ghost, is to convict, convert and established one in
Christ, by establishing I mean sealing or stamping someone with His seal and
making him or her to legally belong to God. This process is not something that
takes place in phases or face by face but instantly as the unbeliever accepts
Christ in his or her life. It is not something that can be guaranteed by
observation of someone else or by someone’s feeling but it is established by
one’s knowing. So identification with what has taken place in his or her life
begins the full manifestation of his or her establishment in this new realm.
On this note, it is possible
that someone can be sealed by the Holy Ghost inasmuch as he or she lacks the
knowledge of what has fully been done in him or her;the manifestation of what
has happened will be rarely seen in his or her life though he or she has been
sealed. So knowledge of what has happened to someone becomes the key for the
manifestation of the effects of what took place in his or her life, therefore,
for one to be knowledgeable he or she has to inclined on the directives of the
Holy Ghost and by so doing his or her identify is confirmed even by outsiders.
To be continued…..
Till I come your way again,
keep on basking in the Arena of Indubitable Truth!
Chukwuemeka C. Asiegbu
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