believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. Romans 10:9-10
In this verse we learn that belief comes first and with belief comes justification through faith. We also learn through other studies that many of the patriots were accredited as righteous through faith.
Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." Romans 4:3
Our faith is accredited to us as righteousness and it is through this righteousness that we are justified before God. When we believed that God raised Jesus from the dead our belief becomes the reason God marks you in Christ Jesus with the promised Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:14). This leads to the next step of our salvation, the confession of Jesus as Lord.
Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus be cursed," and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:3
To complete our salvation and to become a member of God's household, a child of God and fellow citizens with God's people we have to pledge our allegiance to Christ Jesus. Saying the words Jesus is Lord with truth can only be said under the influence of the Holy Spirit. To review this process according to Romans 10:9-10 when we believe we are marked in Christ with the seal of the Spirit who in turn enables us to pledge our life with then words Jesus Is Lord.
Throughout your lifetime you will see many come to the altar to give their lives to Christ. Of those who fall back into a life of sin how many of them can you remember hearing them committing their lives to Jesus Christ as their Lord? This confession is not demanded from the person repenting. Each person must pledge their allegiance to Jesus Christ of their free will. On the other hand, lets understand many give the appearance of being saved when they are not willing to commit their life to God.
The Bible tells us that those who are led by the spirit are sons of God. Allegiance to Christ Jesus is the first step towards committing our lives to follow Christ. At the same time committing your life to Christ is a cooperative effort of the Holy Spirit that leads you to utter your beliefs in words of truth, and commits your life to God.
Being led by the Spirit will take us through the temptations and trials every Christian face. The Christian life is similar to the Israelite's in the desert, as they were just passing through a foreign land on their way to the promise land. The customs and laws of the country we are passing through are familiar to us, but living according to our own laws is not easy either, as they call for a higher standard of morals than the land we are passing through.
The people of the world are very deceptive and having good intentions ask us to join in their way of life. However, their way of life involves sin, which is easy to get entangled with. The Holy Spirit was given to help us to avoid the traps of sin and will guide us as long as we allow him to lead our life.
Christian life calls for a focus on the things above making every effort to avoid the traps of earth. We have to remember that we are just passing through on our way home. Our goal is to get home safely without the baggage or souvenirs of this world. We must consider that the Holy Spirit was given to us to serve as a counselor, as one who was called to our side to advise the sons of God.
Paul tells us in Romans 8:14 that those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. Keeping this in mind as we look at the words of Ezekiel.
And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Ezekiel 36:27
The Holy Spirit inspires us to obey the word of God and our obedience helps us to avoid the sin that harms our spirit.
Blessed is the man whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. Job 5:17
Following the lead of the spirit with obedience produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it (Hebrews 12:11). When we think about this leading of the Spirit we can see a picture of a Father with a concern for the well being of his child. He is taking an active role in training his child the proper way to conduct themselves among other people. At the same time his teaching helps his child develop the respect of others with the dignity of living right.
The characteristics of love and respect help God’s child to propagate the gospel specially when other people see the difference God makes in your life and want the same. Regardless how you say it the Holy Spirit gives you an advantage over those in the world and helps you to focus our eyes on our heavenly father and the more important qualities of life. His leading will take you across the finish line of life and into the welcoming arms of our Lord, Jesus Christ. God's gift of the Holy Spirit is not a free ride, but an assurance of eternal life if you obey him.
2. Why a renewal through the Holy Spirit?
But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:4-7
Without the mercy of God and the renewal of the Holy Spirit we would still be in our sins and subject to God’s wrath. Still these words need to be understood within the text where it was placed. Keeping things in context makes a difference how the words were expressed and intended to be understood.
Those of us who have been a Christian for any length of time know that God has a plan of salvation for his creation. This plan was drawn up before the creation of mankind and then implemented through sending Jesus Christ into the world. Jesus ministered for three and a half years demonstrating the love of God and then completed his ministry by giving his life as the payment and penalty for your sin. Because the penalty of your sin has been paid you have been reconciled to God. Those who accept this plan must submit themselves to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
To explain this Jesus told us that we must be born again.
Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. John 3:6
Jesus was confirming that men could not be born into the kingdom of God through the human birth process. Jesus was saying that the flesh born of the earthly realm belongs to the earth realm and will remain there. Men may have relations with their spouse and produce offspring through that choice. However, their body will remain on earth and be buried upon death. On the other hand, those born of the spirit were born through a choice made by God. The spirit born of God belongs to the spirit realm and will belong to the family of God with citizenship in Heaven.
When God made man the body he formed out of the dust of the earth but that body was not a living being until God infused man with the breath of life. The body is nothing more than a house for the spirit God inspired man with. The human spirit is God given, but when the body dies this spirit will return to God to be judged and rewarded according to the deeds done in the flesh.
However, birth into the kingdom of God is a choice that belongs to our heavenly father alone. The born again experience involves a change of heart where God removes a heart of stone and replaces it with a heart of flesh. God plays an important part in the birth and growth process of his children as this change of heart allows you to see things from God’s viewpoint. This role is on going and kept current throughout our spiritual life, God through his spirit molds and shapes the hearts of men to become the image of Christ.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17
Something dramatic happens to our outlook on life once we accept Jesus into our lives. Our world doesn’t change, but due to the change of heart performed by God we see life as God does. God performs the greatest miracle that the Christian will ever experience. The interest in the earthly things that we formally desired fade away and our desires turn toward the creator. It’s a life-changing event that effects our life to come because the deeds of our former life suddenly became detestable.
Those detestable things are now things we regret and a lifestyle that we have determined to put behind us. Our viewpoint has changed and now