When you believed the gospel of Christ, you were saved. You received the holy spirit, you received forgiveness of sins, you were made right with God. That was your salvation experience, that very moment.
Ephesians 1:13
[13]And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago.
God identified you as his own, you are Gods. In salvation you became God’s own, meaning your old man wasn’t, your old man was subject to the God of this world (satan).
You became God’s own, so we can say those who believe the gospel are Gods own. You are like God cause you carry his nature, the relationship you have is not in any way formal, its a father-son relationship.
Galatians 4:6
[6]And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.”
God made a family, a church, by Christ. He built a family, in his son Jesus. In the family he made, every member would have to be like him; holy, would have his nature, would have to be perfect as he his. The very amazing thing about this family is that individual members would never be independent of the father as he would live in them. See how he made this family, the church:
Jesus before his death, was called the only begotten son. He was the only person with the nature of the father, which is the indwelling of the holy spirit. But in his resurrection he was called the first born son of God.
Romans 8:29
29) For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
“Among many brethren (brothers). So by his resurrection the family was already born.
The family was built in his death and resurrection; By this we could receive God’s nature because Christ had with him crucified the nature of sin which was what barred man from relating with God. Finally God could live in man, God could relate with man. Then was this family built. In Jesus’s death, burial and resurrection.
When you believed the gospel, you received the spirit of God by which you became part of this long planned family of God.
You were saved into a family
Ephesians 2:18-19
[18]Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.
[19]So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family.
We are members by the spirit of God, the spirit of God is the proof that we are of this family.
John 14:16-17
[16]And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you.
[17]He is the Holy Spirit…
He will leave us, this tells us that we are in this family forever. We may not feel it, sense it. Yes we may not, because it is by the spirit not the senses.
Ephesians 2
[22]In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
We are Gods habitation Gods dwelling place. He lives inside of us, directs us, keeps, leads and instructs us. Every individual member carries the father
1 Corinthians 3:16-17
[16]Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?
[17]God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.
In the family that he built through his son, members of the family are his temples, And he has made them holy and perfect.
Hebrews 10:14
[14]For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy.
Lets see how the family works. Jesus was teaching his disciples before his arrest.
John 15:1
1]I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
The father is the husbandman (vine dresser), he takes care of the family. He trims our excesses, does what’s best for our growth, he is always out on the look for our growth. That’s his priority. He waters us, nurtures and nourishes us.
No wonder the psalmist in psalm 23 says “the lord is my shepherd, i shall not want”. He takes good care of us, we just need to trust the father.
In this family, love is the order of the day. Our father is love, and we are born of him. So inadvertently we born of love.
God sent his son which was his love demonstrated to us (Romans 5:8, John 3:16).
1 John 3:23-24
[23]And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us.
[24]Those who obey God’s commandments remain in fellowship with him, and he with them. And we know he lives in us because the Spirit he gave us lives in us.
Glory to God, you have become part of this family by your faith in the gospel.
Clarion concept 