A Christian person is someone who has been made alive by the Holy Spirit. A lost sinner, who is “dead in trespasses and sins”, receives life from the Spirit, and, with this life comes light to his darkened eyes, and what these once darkened eyes see is the Lord Jesus Christ for who He truly is, viz. the Saviour of the world. Seeing this truth, the sinner then sees himself for who he really is, viz. a desperate sinner, an enemy of God, one who deserves the full wrath of God’s righteous punishment for breaking His law, and one who realizes that he needs a Saviour more than anything else in the universe. These words from John Newton’s famous hymn sum up this initial work of the Spirit in the Christians life, “I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see.”
How does this happen? It happens by God’s providence in the lives of the ‘elect’. And, God’s providence comes in the form of the gospel,
“For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance;”(1Thes.1:5) The apostle Paul in Romans 10, verses 13 through 17, describes how God brings the sinner to life,
“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
God uses the word of the gospel, preached by preachers, of whom He has chosen. And, then by the Holy Spirit, these words preached are made effectual in the hearer, and the sinner receives the Word with gladness.
“For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance;”(1Thes.1:5)
And, being quickened from the dead, the sinner then turns from trusting in the world to trusting in God. It is at this very point that the gospel gift of faith is given to the newborn Christian, and, it is via this gift of faith by which the Christian now receives “The fear of the Lord”, which is the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, who He is and what He has done. And, it is by this gospel gift of faith by which the new Christian believes who Christ is and what He’s done, not only in accenting to the facts of the Lord’s life death and resurrection, but, in embracing them with the heart as being entirely confident of the truth to the extent that the Christian person now has an entire trust in the Lord; a trust so deep that the Christian now confesses Christ as Lord, not with speech only, but with his entire life; this is the meaning of what the apostle Paul says in verses 8 through 10, “…The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
And, the author to the Hebrews, having spoken of the faith of the patriarchs, expresses this very same sentiment from Romans chapter 10 in this way, “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” The early saints like Abraham, Enoch, Noah, etc. not only believed in the promises of redemption and grace through the Christ to come, they “were persuaded of them, and embraced them”. These are very strong words of belief, they literally mean that they believed with all their heart; in the same way a young child would fall backwards from a table top knowing that his father was there to catch him; a complete trust, in other words. And, we also must notice what they confessed, “that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” They all lived their lives in this world as though they did not belong here, as though this was not their home, as verse 10 puts it, they “ looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”
These are but the beginnings of the many glorious facts about what, or rather who, a Christian is. It is the greatest thing that can ever happen to anyone, and it is something that we as Christian people desire to see happen to everyone. It happens by the word of the gospel being preached and God the Holy Spirit causing the words of the gospel to regenerate the hearers thereof. The gospel is Jesus Christ, the 2nd eternal person of the Godhead, the Son of God the Father; it is the truth about His person, His life, and His death and resurrection unto eternal life. And this one true gospel is the only hope for the world.
Scripture Alone 