2Corinthians 5:17 (Amplified) says, "Therefore if any person is (ingrafted) in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether) the old (previous moral and spiritual condition) has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come."
We've greatly discussed the new creation we've become, but still seem to mentally block and struggle to accept the full significance of what the Holy Spirit is saying to today's Church. For many years, religion has dictated what the world's ideas of what a Christian really is, to both us and the world. Even though, the teachers and preachers were doing the best they knew how, they taught from the world's viewpoint and not from the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit very plainly states that we are "No longer to know anyone after the flesh, but after the spirit," in 2Corinthians 5:16. We can still recognize someone after the flesh, but realize that the "real" person is the one (that spirit) that actually lives in his flesh and blood body. We even give our body greater recognition and rule, when saying we're a body, soul and spirit.
And, because we were taught this pattern, we placed our new creation spirit in a lower place than our bodies. Most of the Church's teachings were directed to the flesh and soul of the Christian, and not the new creature (the spirit man who was the true identity). We've learned certain thins about how to train our flesh, but most of them didn't work well. We've had a difficult time holding the flesh in tow, because we weren't feeding our spirit man.
Galatians 5:16 (Amplified) says, "But I say, walk and live (habitually) in the (Holy) Spirit (responsive to and controlled and guided by the Spirit); then you will certainly not gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh (of human nature without God)." This isn't saying that you are not born-again and the Spirit of God lives inside you, but that we've simply tried to tame the flesh, by the flesh. That makes it "human nature without God."
Satan has worked long and hard, to hold onto authority he gained from Adam. He held this world by a grip of sin and death, for thousands of years and he's not going to simply deliver that hold into another's hands without a fight. Satan's greatest fear is that the Church will get the revelation of who this new creation man is and then simply walk in that knowledge. When this happens (and it is now coming), then his days of ruling will come to a definitive end.
Imagine the panic that the Day of Pentecost must have brought satan. He fought a losing battle with this One Man (Jesus Christ), Who was a new creation Man. Jesus was a Man Who knew Who He was and walked in that knowledge. Satan had no control over this Man at all. He tried the usual tests and trials, but every one of them failed. He tried having Jesus killed, but this Man simply walked away. Satan tried killing Jesus with a storm, but this Man simply instructed the storm to, "Stop!" Then, he stirred the crowd up, in order to have Jesus killed, but death didn't stop Him. Jesus stripped satan of all authority that had been given by Adam and then received it back to Himself.
Satan listened attentively when Jesus told the people in Acts 1:8 (Amplified), "But you shall receive power (ability, efficiency, and might) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends (the very bounds) of the earth." Satan witnessed what a Single Man (Jesus) Who was filled with the Holy Spirit could do and now Jesus promised this power to many people. Acts 2:1-4 (Amplified) says, "And when the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all assembled together in one place When suddenly there came a sound from Heaven like the rushing of a violent tempest blast, and it filled the whole house in which they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues resembling fire; which were separated and distributed and which settled on each one of them. And they were all filled (diffused, throughout their souls) with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in (different, foreign) languages (tongues) as the Spirit kept giving them clear and loud expression (in each tongue in appropriate words)."
Satan knew what had happened, probably better than the ones who received the power from the Holy Spirit. Remember, satan had one time been with God, he knew the Holy Spirit, he knew the return of the blessing and the authority God had given mankind and he knew had had no defense for it. Satan watched while One Man rose from the Jordan River in this power and now one hundred and twenty more received this power too. Panic must have set in, while satan's diabolical and devious mind devised the only way he had of combating this power. Satan knew the only weapon in his arsenal was the ability to deceive mankind, the way he deceived Adam and Even in the Garden of Eden.
Initially, satan didn't have a great number of men to deal with, but that number was rapidly growing. He tried keeping them under the Law to control them, but once more a man came speaking Words of wisdom. Satan encountered a man, filled with the Holy Spirit, who had a new revelation in 2Corinthians 12:1-4. This man, Paul, taught that salvation didn't come about by the Law and wasn't only for just the Jews. Paul said that salvation came by grace and was for the entire world, if only they believed.
Satan must have been desperate to stop this man from preaching the revelation the Holy Spirit gave to him. He set out to try destroying and killing Paul, by the same standards he used against Jesus. This man wasn't only teaching that salvation came from the Law, but he was an entirely new creation from the Kingdom of Heaven itself. This man taught about authority, blessing, dominion and how God had began residing in man again, just like the Last Adam had said would happen. Satan's entire hold of mankind could be destroyed, if he didn't immediately stop this revelation.
By the Holy Spirit, Paul was now teaching people's spirits and showing them by the demonstration of the Holy Spirit, the same things Jesus had done. This preacher revealed to the people, how they were now sons and daughters of God Himself, by the new birth. He taught the people that they were created in God's Image and Likeness again and that the Presence of God Himself would indwell inside them. Paul taught them how the power, ability and might that had been in Jesus through the Holy Spirit, was available to them. Jesus said in Mark 16:17-20 (Amplified), "And these attesting signs will accompany those who believe; in My Name they will drive out demons, they will speak in new languages, they will pick up serpents; and (even) if they drink anything deadly, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will get well. So then the Lord Jesus, after He had spoken to them, was taken up into Heaven and He sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord kept working with them and confirming the message by the attesting signs and miracles that closely accompanied (it) Amen (so be it)."
The only thing satan could take comfort in, was that Jesus said, "These attesting signs will accompany those who believe." The deceiver must now make sure that he stopped them from preaching or stop what they preached. The Lord would confirm only His Word that they preached, so if satan could water down the message, then he could stop the power of this new creation. The attesting sign would only come for "those who believed it," so satan simply needed to make them believe something different. After all, if it worked in the Garden of Eden, then satan only needed to question, "Is that really what God said?"
The deceiver (satan) went about his routine, using the same lie and quietly denying God's Word before the eyes and hearts, saying, "God's Word doesn't work for anyone today." He never said that God's Word isn't true, because religious people would never accept that. So, we were once again deceived by the same liar, believing that "We're only forgiven sinners with no hold on Heaven and little hope for life here on earth." We were deceived into believing we'd go to Heaven when we die, but we didn't have God's ear here on earth. The lie continues.
The Church believes his lie still. They could believe that Jesus spoke the truth, but that truth was for a different time and people. As long as we thought it wasn't for now, we would never step into the place of the new creation. It's like trying to cage a lion. You'd better make sure that cage is locked, before trying to cage him. If you don't and he discovers that he's free, then that lion would be very dangerous. In order to satisfy both us and himself, satan needed to keep us "locked up" as non-believing believers. We'd believe portions, but not the parts dangerous to him. We could stll be born-again, but remain immature, babies in Christ.
Hebrews 5:13-14 (Amplified) says, "For everyone who continues to feed on milk is obviously inexperienced and unskilled in the doctrine of righteousness (of conformity to the divine will in purpose, thought, and action); for he is a mere infant (not able to talk yet) But solid food is for full-grown men, for those whose senses and mental faculties are trained by practice to distinguish between what is morally good and noble and what is evil and contrary either to divine or human law."
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