2Corinthians 5:17 (Amplified) says, "Therefore, if any person is (ingrafted) in Christ Jesus (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether) the old (previous moral and spiritual condition) is passed. Behold, the fresh and new has come."
The above scripture has been overlooked by much of today's Church. Even though we read it, we continue seeing ourselves as we were and not as God has made us to be. Ignoring this scripture is saying we don't believe Jesus was enough to actually make us new. We've allowed the enemy to keep us looking at who we were, instead of seeing what the Sacrifice of Jesus has cleansed us from. This id dangerous for the believer, because as long as we walk in that "sense knowledge," we never will enter into the "faith knowledge" of God's Word.
It's true that "All have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God." This is why God sent Jesus. However, when you receive Jesus as your Sin-Bearer, you've become a new creation. God didn't leave us as sinners, but He created a brand new creature, by the power of the Lamb. We've been schooled to believe we are still sinner and are always holding back from what God has created us to be. With a sin conscience, we can never approach God with faith needed to receive what He created us to be.
The new creation being has been made completely sinless and holy, by the Blood of God's Own Son, Who was slain on our behalf. God's Lamb didn't simply "cover" the sin like in the old covenant, but completely removed it from us. God sees us without sin or blemish, because He Himself has faith in the Sacrifice to create a "new creature altogether." When you accept Jesus, in God's eyes you are created new, like Jesus was when He was raised from the dead. He is the "First Born of many brethren."
Through Him, we were created brand new and a people who never existed before on the earth. We read about the blood of animals covering the sins of the old covenant people and then identify with them. In this new covenant, God doesn't look at a "covering," but a new creation, according to Hebrews 9:14 (Amplified) which says, "How much more surely shall the Blood of Christ, Who by virtue of (His) eternal Spirit (His Own pre-existent, divine personality) has offered Himself as an unblemished Sacrifice to God, purify our consciences from dead works and lifeless observances to serve the (Ever) Living God."
We've spent so much time trying to make ourselves pure, instead of believing (by faith) that Jesus made us pure. Our natural man still wishes to condemn us for our past sins, even though Jesus' Blood completely removed them from both our past and future. This isn't saying it doesn't matter if we sin now, but if we do sin, then the Blood of Jesus is still speaking on our behalf from the Mercy Seat at the Throne of Grace. Even if we sin, and we will, His Blood doesn't need be renewed every year, but still speaks on our behalf. We can come before our Father, in the very Body of Christ and repent (or change our minds), turn from whatever we did wrong, and continue where God has called us to be.
As long as we remain sin conscious, we cannot be in faith to receive what God has for us. This sounds almost like boasting, to the religious mind, but to God's ears it sounds like faith in His Son's Sacrifice. This is what God was speaking about in the above scripture. Jesus' Blood is to purify our conscience from "dead works and lifeless observances." Our trying to cleanse ourselves is dead works and our works to cleanse ourselves are "lifeless observances." There is no Life, outside of god and this is why it is "lifeless observances."
God could have continued with the old covenant and covering the sin, but this always left the people aware of their sin. God wanted a people who were more aware of His Goodness, rather than His punishment. If you are always fearful of doing something wrong, then you cannot focus on doing right. You were never truly clean enough and the only way to stay clean, was by your own works of keeping the Law. This sort of cleanness was based on their own works, instead of God's grace.
We are to acknowledge His grace, even when we know that within ourselves that we don't deserve it. This is faith in Jesus,not ourselves. Hebrews 11:6 (Amplified) says, "But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must (necessarily) believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly seek Him (out)."
If we come to Him in our own efforts to declare ourselves clean by our own works, then He is not pleased and doesn't find our own efforts satisfactory. We would be telling God that we made ourselves clean by our own works, rather than having faith in His works of righteousness. Hebrews 4:11 (Amplified) says, "Let us therefore be zealous and exert ourselves and strive diligently to enter that rest (of God, to know and experience it for ourselves) that no one may fall or perish by the same kind of unbelief and disobedience (into which those in the wilderness fell)."
Those in the wilderness fell, because they wouldn't trust in God, but looked to their own strength instead. Laboring to enter into rest of forgiveness, is one of the greatest measure of our faith in God. This one sin has held back God's people for millennia. We say that we have faith to believe we're saved and going to heaven, but fail to acknowledge that we cannot get to heaven with sin in our lives. The only way to accept this, is by believing in the new creation.
The Word tells us, "Without faith, it is impossible to please God." He's not pleased with our efforts to remove sin from our lives, but He is pleased when we believe that Jesus has removed sin from our lives. It's good for Christians to pray and fast, but not to do so in order to cleanse us from sin. This isn't faith in God's Son, but in ourselves. The instruction of "Labor to enter into His rest" sounds like an oxymoron to the natural man. It takes faith in God, to keep your mind and heart on Jesus in the middle of walking in this world.
1John 1:7-8 (Amplified) tells us, "But if we (really) are living and walking in the Light; as He (Himself) is in the Light, we have (true, unbroken) fellowship with one another, and the Blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses (removes) us from all sin and guilt (keeps us cleansed from sin in all its forms and manifestations)." Verse 8 says, "If we say we have no sin (refusing to admit that we are sinners) we delude and lead ourselves astray) and the Truth (which the Gospel presents) is not in us (does not dwell in our hearts)." Verse 7 speaks to the Christian, while Verse 8 speaks to non-Christians who say, "I am a good person and I am not living in sin." There are those who look to their own lives and way of thinking, without seeing the need to accept Jesus, because they feel like they're alright already. John says these people are "deceiving themselves." He tells the Christian, who by faith in Jesus, have their sins removed forever, not to dwell on the past life, but on their relationship with God.
It is God we have sinned against and He has declared us "clean." Who are we to say it's not so? Paul writes in Romans 3:23-24 (Amplified), "Since all have sinner and are falling short of the honor and glory which God bestows and received. (All) are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His grace (Hi unmerited favor and mercy) through the redemption which is (provided) in Christ Jesus." The first Adam brought the sin, and the Last Adam (Jesus) removed it. Now, this new creation man has become what the Father intended from the beginning, a family in His house with whom He can have fellowship with, without needing to deal with sin instead of love and family. The sin separating man from God, has been removed and there are no longer barriers between God and man, in Jesus Christ.
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