The Second Greatest Miracle

But the first greatest miracle is God dwelling in man but this is only possible when man repents of sin and place faith in Christ alone. Then the Holy Spirit washes and regenerates us (see Titus 3:4-6) so the Lord can inhabit us by His Holy Spirit.

The Lord justifies us by faith when we realize that we've sinned against God and we understand that the only way to be redeemed is by the shedding of blood.

Hebrews 9:22 (NKJV)

"And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission."

Without the shedding of the sinless blood of Jesus, there can be no remission or releasing us from the eternal debt that we owe.

Now every man still has to die because the Lord will perform another miracle.

The resurrection of our bodies.

When Adam and Eve were still in the Garden after Adam sinned against God, they had to be removed from the Garden because along with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the tree of life was still there (see Genesis 3:22-24).

Had they ate of the Tree of Life, they would have remained in their sinful condition forever.

I know, weird. But it is what it is.

Death is the penalty of judgment imposed on every man that would be born after Adam and Eve.

This is a hard lesson for everyone that the Lord teaches. Sin is very serious in the eyes of God, but He made provision to release man from the judgment of death, imposed upon every man.

Galatians 3:22 (NKJV)

"But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe."

What's the promise by faith in Jesus Christ?

Eternal life. To live forever. Because through Christ, death has been abolished. BUt you may ask "If death has been abolished, why must we still die?"

1 Corinthians chapter 15 answers that question completely.

Romans 5:9-12 (NKJV) "Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son,

much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

"Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned..."

Reconciled and reconciliation is the ability to be brought back into favor with God through the substitutionary sacrifice of His Son.

When we're still in sin, we're out of favor with God. When the Lord Jesus was sent, it was for the purpose of getting man back into favor with God. The Lord Jesus lived a sinless life. After He was raised from the dead, when we turn or repent of sin and place faith on Christ alone, we're brought back into favor with God as if we haven't sin.

That's why it's called justification by faith. This is how His righteousness comes to us and comes upon us (see Romans 3:21-25). Therefore, Ephesians 2:8-10 describes our wonderful miracle of salvation which leads to the resurrection of the dead in Christ.

This is further described in....

Romans 5:8 (NKJV)

"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

The Lord did the work on the cross to satisfy the debt of sin that must be paid in full by His sinless blood. Then the Lord gives us His Holy Spirit to do two things. One, He washes and regenerate us, the renewing of the Holy Spirit, and two, then He dwells in us.

To regenerate simply means to bring us back to life again.

Romans 6:4-5 (NKJV) "Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection..."

The blood of Jesus cleanses us (see 1 John 1:9) and the washing of water through the Word (see Ephesians 5:26-27) cleanses us.

Initially, this is the first act of God that's called being born again.

John 3:5 (NKJV)

"Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God."

In actuality, 1 John 1:5-10 is the true believer's continual process of keeping the filth of sin off of our lives. This isn't permission to sin. To egregiously assume that we have permission to sin, you haven't read the entire book of 1 John.

Just to give you a taste....

1 John 2:3-5 (NKJV) "Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him."

Hyper grace is false doctrine. What's hyper grace? It's grace beyond the Biblical boundaries and definition of grace. Hyper grace proponents assumes that you're covered no matter how many sins you commit as a Christian (see Revelation chapters 2 and 3).

There's no such thing as "OSAS" or Once Saved Always Saved.

If you're once saved always saved, then why would Christ warn all believers to repent in the 5 churches of Asia Minor in Revelation chapters 2 and 3?

To be constantly aware of your walk in the Lord we need 2 Corinthians 7:1, James 1:21, and Hebrews 12:1.

So the Lord gives us a downpayment by giving us the Holy Spirit, then when we're raised from the dead, or taken up in glory by the Lord (see 1 Corinthians 15 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, He'll make good on His promise.

1 John 3:2-3 (NKJV)

"Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be,

but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure."

2 Corinthians 1:21-22 (NKJV)

"Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee."

Ephesians 1:13-14 (NKJV)

"In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,

who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory."

As long as we remain obedient to His commandments, the guarantee of eternal life is fulfilled when our bodies are resurrected from the dead.

Romans 8:20-23 (NKJV) "For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope;

because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.

Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body."

The redemption of our bodies is what we're all waiting for.

And this is the second miracle.