2Corinthians 5:17-18 (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) has passed. Behold, the fresh and new has come. But all things are from God, Who through Jesus Christ reconciled us to Himself (received us into favor, brought us into harmony with Himself) and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation (that by word and deed we might aim to bring others into harmony with Him)."
As new creations, we've not only been forgiven of our sins, but the price was paid in full for those sins (by Jesus), when we received Him as our Lord. Romans 6:23 (Amplified) says, "That the wages of sin is death." Thus, it says, "For the wages which sin pays is death, but the (bountiful) free Gift of God is eternal life through (in union with) Jesus Christ our Lord." When we think of death, we usually think about our natural bodies giving up our spirit and dying. When God thinks of death, He thinks about our spirits that have been now made alive in Jesus. Jesus dies for our sin, but that's not all He died for, according to Romans 6:3-4 (Amplified) which says, "Are you ignorant of the fact that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were buried therefore with Him by the Baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious (power) of the Father, so we too might (habitually) live and believe in newness of life."
We've never considered ourselves "dead," because of the unrenewed mind and the habit of the senses that we lived by, before being born-again. This is the powerful Truth about the new creation. We died with Christ as payment for sin and this new creation was raised with Him in newness of Life. We not to intimidated any longer, by what our unrenewed mind tells us about the old man and his shameful way of living. We are to live with Christ in the newness of life.
We knew Jesus died for our sins on the cross, so we only focused on our sins being forgiven. We never realized that we also, in Him, died too. When Jesus died, everyone who would receive Him, died too. And, when Jesus was raised, everyone who would receive Him, was raised as well. When God declared Jesus "righteous," after becoming sin with our sin, everyone who received Him, was also declared righteous.
Paul writes about the entrance of Light (Jesus) into our spirit man, in order to set us free from condemnation, in Romans 8:1-3 (Amplified) saying, "Therefore, (there is) now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live (and) walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit. For the Law of the Spirit of Life (which is) in Christ Jesus (the Law of our new being) has freed me from the Law of sin and of death For God has done what the Law could not do (it's power) being weakened by the flesh (the entire nature of man without the Holy Spirit) sending His Own Son in the guise of sinful flesh and as an Offering for sin, (God) condemned sin in the flesh (subdued, overcame, deprived it of its power over all who accept that Sacrifice)."
The awesome thing about this new creation, is that the wages of sin (which is death) has already been paid for, for all who are crucified with Him (have accepted Him as their Lord and Savior). Hebrews 12:1 (Amplified) says, "Therefore then, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses (who have borne testimony to the Truth) let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance (unnecessary weight) and that sin which so readily (deftly and cleverly) clings to and entangles us, and let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us."
The King James Version of the above scripture, says "the sin." The Amplified Bible says, "that sin," speaking about a particular sin. I believe "that sin" is the sin of unbelief, which prevents our running this race properly. As long as we continue feeling "unrighteous" by sin in our lives, we can never enter boldly into the place where God created us to be. This was the same sin that held the Israelites in the Wilderness and caused God to be displeased with them. Hebrews 3:12 (Amplified) says, "(Therefore beware) brethren [notice he is talking to brethren], take care, lest there be in any one of you a wicked unbelieving heart (which refuses to cleave to, trust in, and rely on Him) leading you to turn away and desert or stand aloof from the Living God."
God was displeased, because they wouldn't believe in His complete Grace and mercy and "rest in Him." As new creation people, we have to choose whether to believe the Gospel or only believe in what we've been taught and feel. The above scripture says that the Gospel was preached to them, but it didn't benefit them, because they didn't mix faith with what they heard. We've had the very same Gospel preached to us and we should mix faith with it.
If we fail to mix faith in what the Word tells us about our dying, raised and forgiven with Christ, then we will not receive the benefits of the Gospel (just like the Israelites in the Wilderness). The "rest" that the Holy Spirit speaks about is destroyed by our feelings of condemnation and guilt, that the world and unrenewed mind places on those who haven't heard or received the Good News of the Gospel.
It's ironic that the only sin God holds us accountable for (after we're born-again) is the sin of unbelief, that comes from our not mixing faith with the Gospel we've heard. Paul writes in 1Corinthians 4:3-4 (Amplified), "But (as for me personally) it matters very little to me that I should be put on trial by you (on this point), and that you or any other human tribunal should investigate and question and cross-question me. I do not even put myself on trial and judge myself. I am not conscious of anything against myself and I feel blameless; but I am not vindicated and acquitted before God on that account. It is the Lord (Himself) Who examines and judges me."
Paul wasn't saying that he never made mistakes or that he didn't attempt to walk in the Spirit. What it does means, is Paul accepted himself crucified with Christ and wouldn't let his or the ideas of men to remove him from his faith in being completely cleansed of sin, by Jesus. Paul didn't allow his past of killing and imprisoning Christians, to prevent his entering into revelation and the constant fellowship with the Lord Jesus.
In the natural unrenewed mind of man, seeing himself clean and pure in God's eyes, is more than he could hope for. Entering into God's rest, requires faith in the Gospel and trust in God. No one can walk with God, in the natural man, but only in the new creation. God has done a new thing with the new creation. He has removed even the thought of sin in our lives, by the renewing of our minds with the Word and bringing every thought "into captivity to the obedience of Christ." This is perhaps, the greatest hurdle the Church has before it. Hebrews 10:2 speaks about how accepting the Perfect Sacrifice (Jesus) would result in our "No longer having any guilt or consciousness of sin."
Now, we can "come boldly, into God's Throne of Grace and we can receive grace and mercy from Him, with boldness of faith and without sin in our consciousness." This boldness of faith is needed for the new creation people to ever receive the advanced teachings of Christ, according to Hebrews 6:1-3. The enemy has tried everything, in order to stop the revelation of the Fullness of Christ, to the Church. He knows that, when the Fullness of the Truth comes into our spirits, nothing can stop the progress of the advancing Kingdom of God.
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