New Life in Christ Jesus: Everything We Need for Life and Godliness

Copyright © 2012 Bret Griffin

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

ISBN: 978-1-4497-6843-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-6844-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-6842-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012917709

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Scripture taken from the New King James Version®.

Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission.

WestBow Press rev. date: 11/9/2012

Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1   LOOKING PAST JESUS TO THE LAW IS A SERIOUS MISTAKE

CHAPTER 2   WE NEED TO KNOW… THAT GOD HAS GIVEN US HIS DIVINE NATURE (HIS DNA)

CHAPTER 3   WE NEED TO KNOW… THAT GOD HAS MADE US RIGHT WITH HIM

CHAPTER 4   WE NEED TO KNOW… THAT GOD PERSONALLY ILLUMINATES OUR UNDERSTANDING

CHAPTER 5   WE NEED TO KNOW… THAT GOD FORGIVES OUR SINS COMPLETELY AND FOREVER

CHAPTER 6   WE MUST WALK ONE WITH HIM IN THE NEWNESS OF LIFE

CHAPTER 7   WE MUST STAND FIRM IN OUR LIBERTY AND RESIST FALSE DOCTRINE

AFTERWORD

NOTES

Acknowledgements

Up front, I want to acknowledge God’s role in the creation of this book. He taught me the things I have written here. He motivated me to write them down. He strengthened and encouraged me with glimpses of His glory. And He gave me the knowledge of His will every step of the way. This book has value only to the extent that I have been faithful to Him.

I want to thank Tonga Griffin, my wife, and Amy Griffin, my daughter. They lived this book with me. They read it as I wrote it. They listened as I explained it. They asked questions and gave advice. They were candid when my words did not make sense. They helped me understand when more explanation was needed and when fewer words would be better.

I also want to thank the rest of my family and friends who helped me with this book. I received many helpful comments and suggestions from Lydia Griffin, my mom, from Tisa Truett, my sister, and from my friends, Hollis Hart, Tom Kearns, Jerry Kotyuk, Jim Myers, and Jan and Stan Timbrook.

I especially want to thank Vic Robertson, my brother-in-law. He spent countless hours reading and marking up my manuscript. We talked on the phone and in person for hours on end discussing theology and the Holy Spirit’s role in our lives. We had many long e-mail conversations, some extending over several months. He brought to my attention many books, articles, and web pages on the subject matter of this book. Vic helped me refine my positions and helped me choose my words more carefully.

Finally, I want to thank my niece, Karen Weiner, for the lovely drawing she did for the sixth chapter of the book. She did a great job of artfully putting on paper the concepts that I wanted the illustration to convey. And she was patient with me every time I changed my mind.

About the Cover

Composition:

The larger than life cross is centered on Jerusalem, the place where the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified approximately 2000 years ago. This view of the cross on earth from space, with a very small sampling of the stars and galaxies He created in the background, gives us a good perspective on the greatness of our salvation.

The same great God who thought up and created everything is the one who died for our sins and rose from the dead. He is the one who has forgiven our sins. He is the one who has taken up residence in our hearts. He is the one who has given us new lives in Christ Jesus. And He is the one who has given us everything we need for life and godliness.

Galaxy Cluster Background:

Hubble Heritage News Release Number STScI-2007–08:

February 5, 2007: This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image shows the diverse collection of galaxies in a galaxy cluster called Abell S0740 located more than 450 million light-years away in the constellation Centaurus. The giant elliptical galaxy ESO 325–G004 [shown on the back cover of this book] looms large at the cluster’s center. This galaxy is as massive as 100 billion suns. Hubble resolves thousands of globular star clusters orbiting ESO 325–G004. Globular clusters are compact groups of hundreds of thousands of stars that are gravitationally bound together. At the galaxy’s distance, they appear as pinpoints of light contained within the diffuse halo. Other elliptical and spiral galaxies appear in the image. The photo was made from images taken using Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys in January 2005 and February 2006.

Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

The Galaxy Cluster image, its description, and credits are from HubbleSite (http://hubblesite.org/). As of this writing, they may be found here:

http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/galaxy/2007/08/results/100/

The Blue Marble (2002 Edition) Foreground:

Description:

This spectacular blue marble image is the most detailed true-color image of the entire Earth to date. Using a collection of satellite-based observations, scientists, and visualizers stitched together months of observations of the land surface, oceans, sea ice, and clouds into a seamless, true-color mosaic of every square kilometer (.386 square mile) of our planet.

Credit:

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Image by Reto Stöckli (land surface, shallow water, clouds). Enhancements by Robert Simmon (ocean color, compositing, 3D globes, animation). Data and technical support: MODIS Land Group; MODIS Science Data Support Team; MODIS Atmosphere Group; MODIS Ocean Group Additional data: USGS EROS Data Center (topography); USGS Terrestrial Remote Sensing Flagstaff Field Center (Antarctica); Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (city lights).

The Blue Marble image, its description, and credits are from the Visible Earth Team’s web site (http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/). As of this writing, they may be found here:

http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view.php?id=57723

Cross Image:

Credit: Created by Bret Griffin with Trimble SketchUp®, a 3D modeling tool.

Introduction

The most significant thing about being a Christian is that Jesus lives in our hearts. It is what defines us. If He is not in us, then we are not Christians. Scripture makes this point emphatically. It says, Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His (Rom. 8:9), and, 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 (1 John 5:11–12).

Before Jesus came to live in our hearts, we were lost. Adam’s sin in the Garden of Eden ruined man’s nature and made us sinners. Because of Adam, we were sold under sin. Because of Adam, we were aligned with Satan and were at odds with God. Because of Adam, we were by nature children of wrath, without God, and had no hope in the world (Eph. 2:3, 12).

But, because of His mercy, when we had no strength to save ourselves (because we were dead in trespasses and sins), while we were His enemies (Rom. 5:6–8), God sent His Son "to be sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Cor. 5:21). Now, because Jesus is in our hearts, we are no longer enemies but sons of the living God. We are born again. We have eternal life.

Because Jesus is in us, the conflict between God and us has been resolved. We were at war, but now we are at peace. We were children of darkness, but now we are children of light. Because He’s in us, we have passed from death to life. Because He’s in us, we will not come into condemnation. Because He’s in us, the righteous requirements of the law are satisfied in us. Because He’s in us, we delight in the law of God. Because Christ is in us, nothing will be able to separate us from God’s love.

Having Jesus in us is the reason we enjoy a close relationship with God. From the close proximity of our hearts, He reveals wonderful things to us that are impossible to know otherwise. He pours out His love on us. He shows us His glory. He calls us, challenges us, inspires us, leads us, guides us, teaches us, and encourages us. He convicts us, corrects us, and comforts us. He empowers us, satisfies us, sustains us, and gives us hope.

Christ means everything to us, and without Him, we can do nothing. He is the good shepherd. We hear His voice and do not follow any others. He is the vine, and we are the branches. We are wholly dependent on the sustenance He provides. Without Him, we would shrivel up and die. Jesus is the center of our universe, our Hero, our Master, our Father (Isa. 9:6), our Brother, our Comforter, our King, our Redeemer, and our Savior.

The eventuality of Christ living in us was a mystery that God kept hidden from the beginning of the world until He made it known in Jesus (Col. 1:24–26). And while we do see some writings about this mystery in the Old Testament (e.g., Isa. 44:3; Jer. 31:31–34; Ezek. 36:26–27; and Joel 2:28–29), the prophets who wrote those things did not fully understand what they were writing.

They inquired of God and searched carefully to find out what God meant by the things that He inspired them to write. They wanted to know more about the sufferings of Christ and the glorious things that would follow. And they wanted to know when the things they wrote about were going to happen. But God did not explain it to them. He only told them that the things they wrote were not for them but were for future generations (1 Peter 1:10–12).

Their lack of understanding of what God would do for us was not their only limitation. Their bigger limitation was that they did not experience the things they foretold. Chapter 11 of Hebrews lists many of our heroes of faith who believed in Jesus before He was born. They trusted in God (and their actions proved it), and they foresaw Christ’s coming, but what they saw through faith, they never experienced first-hand (Heb. 11:13, 39–40).

They did not experience what we experience—the Savior of the world living in our hearts. God reserved that blessing exclusively for us (Heb. 11:40). Paul identified and extolled the riches of the glory of this mystery when he declared it to be: Christ in you, the hope of glory (Col. 1:27).

My sister used a phrase so frequently that it became an inside joke. When something amazed her, she would say, Absolutely unbelievable! So, when we noticed that she used the phrase a lot, we would poke fun at her whenever she used it. Absolutely? we’d ask, inquiring into whether or not there were, in fact, no caveats to her amazement. Absolutely, she’d reply. Unbelievable? we’d ask, inquiring into whether or not she actually found it impossible to believe. Unbelievable, she’d reply.

The curious outcome of our inquiries was the extension of her platform. She would always have a second chance to explain the things that amazed her. The extension of her platform was so attractive that many of us adopted her saying for ourselves. For a good long while you would hear one of us say, Absolutely unbelievable! Each time we’d all get a laugh out of it.

But I’ll use the phrase here in a serious manner. Given the enormity of our dependence on Christ and given the enormity of what God did for us when He came to live in us, it is absolutely unbelievable that some Christians would actually turn their backs on the Spirit of God and try to live their lives without Him.

Instead of walking in-step with the God who actively supervises us from within our hearts, many Christians question whether He speaks to us at all. And because they have not learned to look to Him for what pleases Him, they look to the law instead. And because they don’t understand what it means to walk with Him in the newness of life, they seek to please Him by submitting themselves to the law to obey it.

As a result, instead of experiencing the glorious liberty of the children of God, and instead of experiencing the greatest blessing of salvation (which is to know Him), they experience the curses of the law. To think that they choose to live as slaves when they could be free is absolutely unbelievable!

Obviously, no one chooses to be a slave on purpose. But that many of us have made that choice is a matter of observation. We can see it in our lack of understanding of the righteousness we possess in Christ. We can see it in the guilt we carry around for our sins. We can see it in the rules and regulations we have amassed to obey. We can see it in our criticism of those who are less disciplined than we are. We can see it in our fear that living free of the law will lead us deep into sin. And we can see it in our fear that listening to God’s voice will turn us into raving lunatics.

The fact that these symptoms are widespread and spreading should give us pause. This is especially true in light of Romans 11:19–23, which warns us that if we do not continue in the goodness of God, then God might take His kingdom away from us. Adding urgency to this concern is the fact that our symptoms are nearly identical to those of Israel just before God took His kingdom away from them.

To stave off disaster, we need to throw off our self-imposed slavery to the law, embrace the liberty we have as children of God, and appreciate and walk with the God who lives in our hearts. If we do, our individual lives will be more fulfilling, we will serve God more effectively, and we will be the healthy, vibrant church God wants us to be.

Chapter 1

Looking Past Jesus to the Law

Is a Serious Mistake

   Acts 10:14   

Submitting to the Law

Is Camouflage for Ignoring the Lord

The next day, as they went on their journey and drew near the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray, about the sixth hour. Then he became very hungry and wanted to eat; but while they made ready, he fell into a trance and saw heaven opened and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners, descending to him and let down to the earth. In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. And a voice came to him, Rise, Peter; kill and eat.

But Peter said, Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.

And a voice spoke to him again the second time, What God has cleansed you must not call common. This was done three times. And the object was taken up into heaven again. (Acts 10:9–16)

When Peter protested to the Lord that he had never eaten anything common or unclean (Acts 10:14), he illustrated our preference for submitting to the rule of law over hearkening to the sound of God’s voice. The Lord’s response to Peter is interesting. He said, What God has cleansed you must not call common (Acts 10:15). In part, His response pointed Peter to what was to come, namely, that God had accepted Gentiles into His family, and Peter should not question His decision. But concerning the dream, God’s response to Peter was not so much a direct reply to Peter’s refusal to obey; it was a direct reply to Peter’s rationale for not obeying.

Peter’s claim to the Lord was that he had never eaten anything unclean. He was properly applying the law’s restrictions on eating certain foods to the animals in the big sheet (see Leviticus 20:25, for example). But he thought the law’s restrictions trumped God’s command: Rise, Peter; kill and eat (Acts 10:13). The Lord corrected Peter’s false assumption and made it clear that He is superior to the law and rules over it.

Whatever God wants a person to do is by definition righteous, even if it conflicts with that person’s sensibilities about the demands of the law. In this passage, the Lord upheld the principle that in every communication from God to man, man’s responsibility is to align himself with God’s expressed will. Challenging God’s authority is always out of line.

The principle that God Himself is superior to everything, including the requirements of the law, is not unique to this passage but is demonstrated throughout man’s history in the Old and New Testaments. God, for instance, acted completely within His authority when He told Abraham to sacrifice his son’s life (Gen. 22:2), even though human sacrifice is an abomination to God (Deut. 12:29–31), and God does not change (Mal. 3:6). He was also within His rights when He told Saul to utterly destroy the Amalekites and everything they had, including their men, women, children, oxen, sheep, camels, and donkeys (1 Sam. 15:3), though this offends our moral sensibilities, which are grounded in the law (Ex. 20:13). He was also within His rights when He told Hosea to marry a prostitute as an object lesson of Israel’s spiritual adultery (Hos. 1:2), though marrying a prostitute is not allowed for priests (Lev. 21:7) and presumably not for prophets either.

In addition, Jesus told the Pharisees that David was guiltless, though he broke the law when he ate the showbread, because God’s compassion on David’s hunger was superior to God’s restrictions on the eating of showbread (Matt. 12:3–8; James 2:13). Jesus also exerted His own authority over the law when He excused His disciples’ unlawful work on the Sabbath on the basis that the Son of Man is also the Lord of the Sabbath (Matt. 12:8; Mark 2:28; Luke 6:5).

What Jesus told Peter in his dream is perfectly in line with the position God has always taken concerning Himself. He is supreme over everything. It should not be difficult for us to grasp this concept, for it is written, "For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God" (Heb. 3:3–4). The law commands our respect because it is inspired by God, but regardless of our opinion of the law, God is still greater than the law and rules over it.

Today, we look at Peter’s response to the Lord and poke fun at him by pointing out the internal inconsistencies in his statement, Not so, Lord (Acts 10:14). It is easy to see that the Lord is not Lord in a person’s life if he is resisting His will. But in Peter’s defense, his experience was just a dream. Our conduct, on the other hand, is while wide-awake.

Instead of laying down the law as a gauntlet to resist God’s will, as Peter did in his dream, we have fully donned the camouflage of law to screen ourselves from the sound of His voice. We don’t just claim the law is superior to His voice; we actually believe and teach that His voice cannot be trusted. Some even go as far as to say that in the current dispensation, His written Word, the Bible, has replaced Him as the full and final authority on all matters of faith and practice. The former point of view is tantamount to rejecting God. But the latter point of view is not just tantamount to rejecting God; it is a flat-out denial of God’s presence in our lives and of His authority to tell us what to do.

Those who preach these points of view probably would not agree that their doctrine separates us from God. On the contrary, they probably think that obeying the law is the same thing as following the Lord. And they probably think they are performing an invaluable service in steering us away from evil spirits and from the deceitfulness of our own fleshly minds. But the practical end of their advice,