God desires for each of us to be born again in him and to live a new life as a person in relationship with him rather than seeking to be transformed by our outward and religious efforts. God doesn’t want to simply improve the old you. He wants to make an entirely new you. You are a new creation in Christ.
– Driscoll, Mark; Who Do You Think You Are? Finding Your True Identity in Christ; Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, copyright 2013; Page 148
Jesus is not just a theological concept. He is a risen, living person who reigns now and forever more. Your new Lord loves, forgiveness, serves, guests, here’s, powers, and indwells you. Your new Lord will never fail, leave, or forsake you. Your new Lord defeated Satan, your old Lord, so that you no longer have to believe his lies, succumb to his temptations, or serve his mission. Among the wondrous benefits of having Jesus as a new Lord is that other previous and false Lords used by Satan, such as an abusive boyfriend, parent, or spouse, are dethroned. You have a new Lord in Christ.
– Driscoll, Mark; Who Do You Think You Are? Finding Your True Identity in Christ; Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, copyright 2013; Page 145-146
First Peter 2:2 encourages born again people to, “as newborn babes, desire the pew or milk of the word, that you may grow thereby.” An indicator that we’ve experienced new birth is that we begin craving the nourishment of Scripture as newborn babies crave milk. Learning the Bible isn’t something you do as a duty, but rather something you, as a new person with a new mind, do as a delight. You have a new birth in Christ.
– Driscoll, Mark; Who Do You Think You Are? Finding Your True Identity in Christ; Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, copyright 2013; Page 145
Justification is something that happens externally from us. It is accomplished by the sinless life, substitutionary death, and bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ in our place, for our sins, as our savior. It is a legal transaction in the sight of God for those whose faith is in Christ. Practically, this means your righteous in Christ. God can’t love you anymore, and he will never love you any less. You do not have to be perfect, because Jesus is. You don’t have to pay God back, because Jesus ask. You don’t need to suffer for your sense, because Jesus did. You are free to stop working for your righteousness and start working from Jesus’s righteousness.
– Driscoll, Mark; Who Do You Think You Are? Finding Your True Identity in Christ; Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, copyright 2013; Page 143-144
Second Corinthians 5:21 describes this work of God: “for he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him.” Martin Luther rightly called this the great exchange. On the cross Jesus took our sinful on righteousness and gave us his sinless righteousness. In this, we have imputed righteousness and imparted righteousness. In the former, we are declared holy in the side of God. In the latter, we are empowered to live holy lives by the Spirit of God after being born again to live a new life in Christ. It is this truth that allows someone … to be free from the horror of [their] past from Christ, and to look with hope to her future with Christ.
– Driscoll, Mark; Who Do You Think You Are? Finding Your True Identity in Christ; Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, copyright 2013; Page 143
The question becomes, how do we put off our old self and put on our new self? The answer is found in the effects of Christ’s work on the cross for us: justification, regeneration, and glorification. Justification makes us externally new. Regeneration makes us internally new. Glorification makes us eternally new in Christ.
– Driscoll, Mark; Who Do You Think You Are? Finding Your True Identity in Christ; Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, copyright 2013; Page 142
For God’s glory to be revealed in the church, as Paul prayed, we must be satisfied in him individually and collectively, though we also along for the day we see Jesus face to face (Exodus 33:18; I Corinthians 13:2). This means enjoying him as our greatest treasure, knowing beyond knowing that he loves us, being captivated by and grasping his love, living in a maturing relationship with him, repenting as a person, growing to glorify him more and more by grace with joy, sharing his fame with others, humbly serving those in need as he has served us, singing of his love, and praying for his church. The life lived to reveal the glory of our Father God results in our joy and other’s good as we become more like Jesus by the Spirit’s power.
– Driscoll, Mark; Who Do You Think You Are? Finding Your True Identity in Christ; Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, copyright 2013; Page 120
