DAY 8: NEW CREATION REALITIES I

 PHRONESIS DEVOTIONAL

30 DAYS DEVOTIONAL WITH PREACHER SAM

September 8, 2023.

Topic: NEW CREATION REALITIES I

Bible Reading: 1 John 5:1-13

Verse for Meditation: 2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

   How do men get saved? By grace through faith (Eph. 2:8). So the moment you believe the gospel and confess Christ as your Lord, you got saved (Rom. 10:9-10). Apostle Emmanuel Iren wrote in his book, Saving Grace, that people never got saved by praying; they got saved by believing. A person stands a better chance of getting saved if they are properly taught the gospel instead of merely making them repeat words after you, as it’s been done during altar call. And “altar call” is not a New Testament practice. Altars referred to that platform on which lambs were sacrificed under the Law of Moses. But that mode of worship is long retired. What preachers often stand on is simply a platform and not an altar.

   I totally agree with him that people got saved by believing and not by praying. For example, the thief on the cross believed that Jesus was certainly the Christ and he confessed him as Lord (Lk. 23:39-43). There is no record in the four gospels where any of the 12 apostles of Jesus Christ said the salvation’s prayer. Even when you read through the Acts of the Apostles, it was by believing that the people got saved.

   In Acts 2 after peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost, the people asked, “What shall we do?” And Peter told them to repent and be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ (vv. 37-38). To repent and be baptised in Christ’s name as originally written in the Greek is to have a change of mind (repent) and being immersed or buried, deeply involved in Christ’s authority (baptise); that is being joined with Christ and not water baptism necessarily (Rom. 6:3-6; 1Cor. 12:13; Gal. 3:26-28). And this happens by faith!

   “Then those who gladly received his word were baptised…” (Acts 2:41). That means the moment they believed the gospel, they were saved and joined with Christ by His Spirit!

   In Acts 9, there was no record of Paul saying any salvation’s prayer, but the moment he encountered Jesus on his way to Damascus he believed Him and called Him Lord (vs. 9; cf. 1Cor. 12:3).

   In Acts 10 while peter was still preaching, Cornelius and his household received the Holy Spirit, that is to say that they got saved (vs. 44). There was no record of saying the salvation’s prayer or an altar call was made!

   Also in Acts 16, the jailer asked Paul and Silas, “What must I do to be saved?” And their response was this; “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” (Vv. 30-33).

PRAYER:

FATHER I THANK YOU FOR THE GIFT OF YOUR SON, AND THE PRESENCE OF YOUR HOLY SPIRIT IN ME. AMEN!

DECLARATION:

I BELIEVE THE GOSPEL. AND I CONFESS CHRIST AS MY LORD THIS DAY.

Bible Reading Plan: John 7:1-39; Romans 8; Proverbs 8