New Life
Isaiah 53 MSG
Who believes what we’ve heard and seen? Who would have thought GOD’s
saving power would look like this? The servant grew up before God—a
scrawny seedling, a scrubby plant in a parched field. There was nothing
attractive about him, nothing to cause us to take a second look. He was
looked down on and passed over, a man who suffered, who knew pain
firsthand. One look at him and people turned away. We looked down on him,
thought he was scum. But the fact is, it was our pains he carried—our
disfigurements, all the things wrong with us. We thought he brought it on
himself, that God was punishing him for his own failures. But it was our sins
that did that to him, that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins! He took
the punishment, and that made us whole. Through his bruises we get
healed. We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost. We’ve all
done our own thing, gone our own way. And GOD has piled all our sins,
everything we’ve done wrong, on him, on him. He was beaten, he was
tortured, but he didn’t say a word. Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered and
like a sheep being sheared, he took it all in silence. Justice miscarried, and
he was led off—and did anyone really know what was happening? He died
without a thought for his own welfare, beaten bloody for the sins of my
people. They buried him with the wicked, threw him in a grave with a rich
man, even though he’d never hurt a soul or said one word that wasn’t true.
Still, it’s what GOD had in mind all along, to crush him with pain. The plan
was that he give himself as an offering for sin so that he’d see life come from
it—life, life, and more life. And GOD’s plan will deeply prosper through him.
Out of that terrible travail of soul, he’ll see that it’s worth it and be glad he did
it. Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant, will make
many “righteous ones,” as he himself carries the burden of their sins.
Therefore I’ll reward him extravagantly—the best of everything, the highest
honors—because he looked death in the face and didn’t flinch, because he
embraced the company of the lowest. He took on his own shoulders the sin
of the many, he took up the cause of all the black sheep.
John 14:19 MSG
“In just a little while the world will no longer see me, but you’re going to see
me because I am alive and you’re about to come alive.”
1 Peter 1:3-4 MSG
…Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we’ve been given a BRANDNEW LIFE and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and
the future starts now!
2 Corinthians 5:15 MSG
He included everyone in his death so that everyone could also be included in
his life, a resurrection life, a far better life than people ever lived on their
own.
What Does a New Life Look Like?
- NEW START
John 3:3-8 NLT
Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see
the Kingdom of God.” “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How
can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?” Jesus
replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being
born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the
Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You
must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can
hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you
can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”
2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT
This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person.
The old life is gone; a new life has begun! - NEW FREEDOM
John 8:31-36 NLT
Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if
you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the
truth will set you free.” “But we are descendants of Abraham,” they said. “We
have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean, ‘You will be set
free’?” Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin.
A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the
family forever. So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free. “
Ephesians 1:7-8 MSG
Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of
the Cross, we’re a FREE PEOPLE—free of penalties and punishments
chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either.
ABUNDANTLY FREE! - NEW LOVE
1 John 4:7-8 CEV
My dear friends, we must love each other. Love comes from God, and when
we love each other, it shows that we have been given NEW LIFE. We are
now God’s children, and we know him. God is love, and anyone who doesn’t
love others has never known him. - NEW PURPOSE
Ephesians 1:11-12 MSG
It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long
before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us,
had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall PURPOSE he is
working out in everything and everyone.
John 10:10 NIV
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they
may have life, AND HAVE IT TO THE FULL.”