When a person receives Jesus Christ in their life, several things take place that you should be aware of. Receiving Jesus Christ means that He becomes your Lord and Saviour, and the only one you believe in as the way to the Father, our God in heaven, John 14:6 KJV. This is what happens when a born-again individual becomes a Christian.
Receiving Jesus Christ is commonly known as being born again and the individual becomes a believer or Christian who lives like and follows Jesus Christ.
When a person receives Jesus Christ, they are changed into a different person, and by becoming a Christian, there are about seven things that happen to that born-again individual, as automatic rewards for becoming a believer in Jesus Christ.
A born-again individual is what is called a Christian before God. Here are the things that happen to the new creation in Christ, when they receive their salvation from God.
1. A born-again individual is a new creation in Christ2. A born-again individual is redeemed through Christ3. A born-again individual is justified through Christ4. A born-again individual receives eternal life when they are in Christ5. A born-again individual receives the Holy Spirit, a mark and seal from God6. A born-again individual is in Christ and is glorified before God7. A born-again individual is completely saved in Christ
1. A born-again individual is a new creation in Christ
Firstly, in the Bible, we see that the life of someone who is born-again is a new life which is completely different to the life they lived before receiving Jesus Christ.
“Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things have become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV
This means that a born-again individual is an entirely new being. They are not the same person they were before and never will be. They are changed and transformed from the old person. God views them in a new fashion, and not in the fashion of the old person and the old deeds.
2. A born-again individual is redeemed through Christ
Jesus Christ died for the sins of the world, a demonstration of God’s love and grace towards all humanity, John 3:16. In His death, Jesus shed His blood so that, our sins could be forgiven. The life one lives before they receive Jesus Christ is a life of condemnation. It is life judged and headed to perdition, where one cannot enjoy the benefits of God now and after they die.
For this reason, the individual must be redeemed from this judgement and be made ready for the life God originally intended. When born-again they are redeemed from a life of eternal condemnation, into a life of full eternal blessings. The new creature in Christ receives redemption, 1 Peter 1:18-19. Jesus paid the price so that the born-again individual did not have to pay any price.
When they are a born-again individual they are redeemed once and for all, for the bible says, “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.” Ephesians 1:7 KJV
3. A born-again individual is justified through Christ
To be justified in Christ is to have no blame. A life of no blame or guilt is a righteous life. God considers anyone who comes to Him righteous, having no sin, guilt, condemnation or charge. Although before this God considered all mankind as sinners, when you are born again, the new creature is free of the guilt that came through the sin of Adam, because Jesus Christ died for them.
The Bible says, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:1 NIV
When God declares us His righteousness, we become like Him, having a blameless life, in which we are in right standing with God always and forever, this time. Why this time? Because when God created man and gave the Garden of Eden to Adam and Eve, man was blameless before God until Adam sinned. So when you are born into this world you are born with Sin, and not worthy to be counted as one fit for the presence of God.
Romans 3:22-24 NIV, says “This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”
Upon redemption, a Christian is justified before God. This allows a born-again individual to be counted worthy to dwell in the presence of God (similar to when Adama was in the Garden of Eden), without any blame laid upon them, because they are now righteous before God. That is why we can communicate to God in prayer because we are just like Christ and God is our Father.
4. A born-again individual receives eternal life when they are in Christ
When born again the individual is forever in the presence of God. Whether they are on the earth or have died. Their life becomes a life that does not die or end, but a life that is fully presented in the presence of God, not subject to the elements of condemnation, death and the like.
Eternal life is a life where one fully knows God, Jesus Christ and that they never die but live forever. That is why in one of Jesus’ most important prayers, he prayed that everyone who came to Him would know God, himself, and know that they have eternal life. In His prayer, Jesus said, “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” John 17:3 NIV
God sacrificed His son Jesus Christ for all people. He wanted them to have eternal life, and not be subject to evil and death here on earth and beyond. God loved humanity so much that, for them to have eternal life, Jesus died for them. John 3:16 NIV, the bible shows us plainly why God did this.
It says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
5. A born-again individual receives the Holy Spirit, a mark and seal from God
The Holy Spirit is the one Jesus promised that we would have in our lives after He died and was resurrected. But why? Because without God humanity is helpless. So God made sure that we would always have a helper in the new life we receive in Christ. This Helper is the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. ” John 14:16.
The Holy Spirit is what God identifies a born-again individual with Himself. When the born-again individual has the Holy Spirit, they will not be helpless or stranded. Rather they will have counsel, guidance, a teacher, someone to rely on, strength from God and a relationship with God.
Jesus said, “All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”, John 14:25-26 NIV.
It is by the Holy Spirit through which God seals lives totally unto Him, and everyone becomes dependent and reliant on Him alone. This means that the devil cannot have a single lace in born-again individuals, although He might try to, it won’t work.
A born-again individual’s new life in Christ is sealed by God, as a mark that they now belong to Him, and all that God has in store for them.
“You also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory”, Ephesians 1:13-14.
6. A born-again individual is in Christ and is glorified before God
Jesus prayed specifically about this in John 17:5, saying “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” Because a born again believer is in Christ they too are deserving of a glorified life, which you will now automatically qualify for, when Jesus comes again for His church, at rapture. When Jesus died we died with Him, when He was buried we were buried with Him, and when He resurrected, we resurrected with Him, and He sat at the right hand of God in glory, we too are seated together with Him at the right hand of the father. Read Romans 6:4, Romans 6:8, Ephesians 2:6.
As a born-again believer, they begin to live a spiritual life of glory, in Christ. Though the body may not be completely glorified, the nature they now have received is the nature of a life of glory, because anyone who is in Christ and Christ is in them, is seated together with Christ in the heavenly places, and this is a spiritual mystery.
The Bible says, “For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified.”, Romans 8:29-30
It was part of God’s plan for born-again individuals to live a life of glory. And in eternity, after the end of all things, the born-again individual’s body will enjoy the same glorified life that jesus was glorified with when he resurrected. This body knowno pain, sickness, disease, or other things that came as a result of a fallen nature. The glory of God is the presence of God that is pure and holy. The only reason you get sick is because the body is under subjection to this earth, and its elements, however, the human spirit is recreated and one day, the body will also enjoy the full benefits of glorification, which Christ has.
This is why Jesus said to Mary at the tomb when He appeared to her, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ”, John 20:17 NIV. Jesus had not yet been glorified. He was yet to ascend to heaven and complete all things in glory. If Mary touched Him, that purity, holiness, and sanctity His body had attained, would have been defiled, because Mary in body, was still subject to the earth.
That is why Romans 8:30 says, “Those he predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified”.
7. A born-again individual is completely saved in Christ
We were bought at a price, this cannot be reversed. Our salvation in Christ, is one in which even God himself cannot turn back on. Otherwise, what Jesus Christ did at the cross would all have to be reversed. Imagine all the above things would have to be reversed so that the completion of salvation, would be changed.
The born-again individual would not be a new creation, not be redeemed by the blood of Jesus, not be justified and declared righteous by God, not even have the mark of God by the seal of the Holy Spirit, not be promised of the glory of God, and not be completely saved.
If a born-again individual is not completely saved, then that would make God a liar, and all that God has given us in His word in the bible, total lies. It is not so, however, the born-again person, who is a believer in Jesus Christ, a Christian who has come to God through Him, is completely saved. Jesus taught about this when He mentioned that the life of the one born-again, is a spiritual life and not physical.
Though they once lived a physical life in the flesh and were condemned to die, when they become born again, they are no longer subject to the physical life only nor death. They are now living a spiritual life, completely in God.
In John 3:3-6, “Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.”
This is why a Christian is completely saved, they have received the seven things above automatically upon accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour.
God Bless
Now that you know what happens to a born-again individual, Can a Christian lose their salvation?
