What New Converts To Christianity Should Know About Themselves

“My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge”, wrote the prophet (Hosea 4. 6). Ignorance can destroy a person. Many things go for the true Christian faith today, and many also, out of ignorance accept them. There is need to know the truth. That’s the only thing that will set a person free. New believers in Christ especially need this. As a young convert to the Faith you need to know that
when you believed in the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour He came into your life in fulfillment of His promise in Revelation 3. 20. By this the Bible reckons that:

1.       You are a child of God. 

To all those who receive Him, to those who believe in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.                                                    John 1. 12.   

All who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. Now we call Him, “Abba Father.” For His Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.                                                                                         Romans 8. 14 – 16.

You are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.              Galatians 3. 26.

See how very much our Father loves us, for He calls us His children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know Him.                                                1^st John 3. 1.

2.       You are saved. 

              Everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved.          Acts 2. 21.

             Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.                      Acts 16. 31                                        

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved. As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in Him will never be disgraced.” Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect. They have the same Lord, who gives generously to all who call on Him. For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved.”                                                                     Romans 10. 9 – 13.   

 It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved! God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.                                                                                                 Ephesians 2. 8

3.       You are born again.                                       

He choose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all He created.                                                                               James 1. 18.

… children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.                                                                                     John 1. 13.

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.    1^st John 5. 1.   

You have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.                                                     1^st Peter 1. 23.

4.       You are redeemed.                                       

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.                                                                                                                                    Galatians 3. 13  

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.                                                                                                                                                                      Ephesians 1. 7;            Colossians 1. 14.

  

It was not with perishable things like silver and gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without  blemish or defect.                                                                                                                                             1^st Peter 1. 18 – 19.

5.       You have eternal life and can never again be lost. God has not given His regenerated child probationary life but eternal life, and if you’ve got eternal life, it is eternal.

Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.                                                                  John 3. 14 – 16.

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.                                     John 3. 36.

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand.                                                                                         John 10. 27 – 28.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.                                                                                                                                                                              1^st Peter 1. 3 – 5.

For God knew His people in advance, and He chose them to become like His Son, so that His Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And having chosen them, He called them to come to Him. And having called them, He gave them right standing with Himself. And having given them right standing, He gave them His glory. What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since He did not spare even His own Son but gave Him up for us all, won’t He also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for His own? No one – for God Himself has given us right standing with Himself. Who then will condemn us? No one – for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and He is sitting in the place of honour at God’s right hand, pleading for us. Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love… I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow – not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.                                                                                                                                              Romans 8. 29 – 38.

God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.                                                                                                  1^st John 5. 11 – 13.

6.       You have assurance.

Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.                                  Philippians 1. 6

 

I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day.                                                             2^nd Timothy 1. 12

Now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.                                                                 1st John 3.2                                                          

7.       You are no longer condemned.

God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned  already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.                                                                     John 3. 17 – 18.

  

I tell you the truth, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.                                                                        John 5. 24                                                           

There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.   Romans 8.1                                                                                                                                                    

8.       You are forgiven ALL sins.                           

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.                                     Ephesians 1. 7                                                                                         

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins.  Colossians 2. 13.

 

If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.                                                                                                                             1^st John 1. 7 – 9.

9.       You are washed and cleansed.                 

You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.  John 15.3                                                                                                                                                                 

  

You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.                                             1^st Corinth. 6. 11.

10.   You are justified, that is, declared ‘Not guilty’ by God, and made righteous in His sight.

Through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through Him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses.                                                                                                    Acts 13. 38 – 39.

God has shown us a way to be made right with Him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed His life, shedding His blood.                                                  Romans 3. 21 – 25.

To the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.”  Romans 4. 5 - 8 

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.                                                                   Romans 5. 1.

Christ Jesus has become for us wisdom from God – that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.                                                                        1^st Corinth. 1. 30.

God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.                                                                             2^nd Corinth. 5. 21.

11.   You are sanctified, that is, set apart from the world by God for Himself. You are no longer your own. You no longer belong to the world or the Devil. By this sanctification, God declares you holy and perfect.

All beautiful you are, my darling; there is no flaw in you.            Song of Songs 4. 7

You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.                                             1^st Corinth. 6. 11.

We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all, because by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.                                                                                                  Hebrews 10. 10, 14.

Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God. You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your body.                                                                   1^st Corinth. 6. 19 – 20.

12.   You are a new creation, that is, God has re-created you in Christ Jesus. You are made completely new in your inner person. There is a radical change in your inside affecting your thought, attitude, perspective and behavior, all of which are now directed toward God.

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

 2^nd Corinth. 5. 17

We are God’s  workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.                                                              Ephesians 2. 10

Be made new in the attitude of your mind. Put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.                                     Ephesians 4. 23 – 24.

It doesn’t matter whether we have been circumcised or not. What counts is whether we have been transformed into a new creation.            Galatians 6. 15.

13.   You have received and have been baptized in the Holy Spirit. He now dwells in you.

You received the Spirit of sonship.                                                           Romans 8. 15

We have the firstfruits of the Spirit.                                                        Romans 8. 23

You are God’s temple and God’s Spirit lives in you.         1^st Corinth. 3. 16; 6. 19

We were all baptized by one Spirit into one body. We were all given the one Spirit to drink.                                                                                                       1^st Corinth. 12. 13

It is God who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

2^nd Corinth. 5. 5

Because we are His children, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba Father.”                                 Galatians 4. 6

Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you – guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.                                                                          2^nd Timothy 1. 14.

He has given us of His Spirit.                                                                      1^st John 4. 13

14.   You are anointed and sealed with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the One who empowers you and gives you spiritual illumination. He is the Anointing. The Holy Spirit is also your security for peaceful eternity with God.      

It is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set His seal of ownership on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.                                                                       2^nd  Corinth. 1. 21- 22.

Having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise  of His glory.            Ephesians 1. 13 – 14.

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.                                                                                                   Ephesians 4. 30

You have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. As for you, the anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit – just as it has taught you, remain in Him.                                                                                                            1^st John 2. 20, 27

15.   You have been given gifts of the Holy Spirit. This is to enable you serve in the church effectively. The gifts are to be used for the benefit of others, not so much of yourself.

We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

                                                                                                                Romans 12. 6 – 8.

A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. The same Spirit gives great faith to another,  and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gifts each person should have.                                                      1^st Corinth. 12. 7 – 11.

To each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. It was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.                                                                            Ephesians 4. 7, 11-13.

16.   You are given power to obey God.

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.                                                                      2^nd Peter 1. 3 – 4.

17.   You are both protected from and given authority over evil powers.

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, “He is my Refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Surely He will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.                                                                                                              Psalm 91. 1 – 7.

 No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of Me, says the LORD.                                                                                                              Isaiah 54. 17.

Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power or the enemy; and nothing shall by any means hurt you.                                                                                                                      Luke 10. 19.

Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good?                           1^st Peter 3. 13.

The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.              Romans 16. 20.

They (believers in Christ) overcame him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.                                                                                                     Revelation 12. 11.

18.   You have victory over trials and temptations.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.                              Romans 8. 35 – 37.

The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, He will show you a way out so that you can endure.                                                                                                     1^st Corinth. 10. 13.

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.                                                                                                                 1^st John 4. 4.

Everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.                                                         1^st John 5. 4 – 5.