index.gif

THE HOPE PRINCIPLE:
Thank God! It (the release from slavery) has been done by Jesus Christ our Lord. He has set us free. [Rom 7:25] We are saved by faith in Christ...[Rom 3:28] And...God who has begun the good work in us will keep right on helping us grow in his grace...[Phil 1:6]

THE HOPE PRINCIPLE:

Thank God! It (the release from slavery) has been done by Jesus Christ our Lord. He has set us free. [Rom 7:25] We are saved by faith in Christ...[Rom 3:28] And...God who has begun the good work in us will keep right on helping us grow in his grace...[Phil 1:6]

But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in righteousness and true holiness. (Eph 4: 20-24)

Our Hope Is Learning Christ

The hope of the believer is to be found in Jesus Christ. The continual defeat that was ours in the flesh if offset by the victory that we can know through the Savior.

The key to victory is that we have "learned Christ". The Ephesians had obviously not heard Christ teach. The word "if" in vs. 21 has the sense of "since". Though they had not heard Christ personally they had heard Him and have been taught by Him". How can this be?

Paul had given them His message and the Holy Spirit had made it real in their lives. Jesus said of the Holy Spirit, " He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is mine and declare it to you." (John 16:14) The Holy Spirit makes Jesus real to our hearts. God works through the Spirit to further our understanding of Him. Paul prays "that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him" (Eph. 1:17)

Truth is to be found in Jesus. We learn the truth about God; we learn the truth about ourselves. All other thinking about God's ways and about ourselves is warped. In Christ we discover straight thinking.

We have a choice

As the Holy Spirit makes Christ real in our lives, we have a choice. We can put off the old man and we can put on the new man. The old man is the part of our spiritual being, which has been twisted by the fall of Adam. It can do nothing to please God.

Now as the Holy Spirit ministers Christ to our lives we can choose to put on the new man, which is Christ in us. We can decide to yield to this new way of living, that we might walk in "righteousness and true holiness".

Why do Christians cling to the old crooked ways, when they can know straight truth through Jesus?

What evidences of the old man are present in nice people?

Remember:

Jesus Christ is our Hope for Change!