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! all things are made new. But all things are from God, Who through Jesus Christ has 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)."
We have been created anew in Christ Jesus, when we received Him as our Lord and Savior. 1Corinthians 1:30 (Amplified) says, "It is from Him that you have your Life in Christ Jesus, Whom God made our Wisdom from God; revealed to us a knowledge of the Divine plan of salvation previously hidden, manifesting itself as our Righteousness thus making us upright and putting us in right standing with God, and our Consecration, making us pure and holy and our Redemption providing our Ransom from eternal penalty for sin."
Being created new in Christ Jesus, means that what He is, we are. This new creation family of God has been created to live and stand in His Presence, just like Jesus Himself. Religion has failed to see the great difference between the old covenant people and the new creation family of God. The old covenant people had only a partial righteousness, which was brought about by their obedience to the Law. Our righteousness is an act of creation, because we were created righteous in Christ Jesus.
This right standing, justification and consecration have nothing to do with our own works or ability, but it is a Gift of God. We received this Gift, through the faith and Grace which brought about the new creation. 1Corinthians 1:30 (Amplified) tells us that, "All who are in Christ Jesus, are born or created in righteousness." Thus, it says, "But it is from Him that you have your Life in Christ Jesus, Whom God made our Wisdom from God, revealing to us a knowledge of the Divine plan of salvation previously hidden, manifesting itself as our Righteousness." This plan was "previously hidden, and has now been revealed by the Wisdom from God." Even with revelation from the Holy Spirit, those who were created in righteousness continue to struggle and work to obtain righteousness, to no avail.
The righteousness we now enjoy, is actually God's Own righteousness that is granted to us, by our union with Jesus, according to 1Corinthians 2:16 (Amplified) which says, "For who has known or understood the mind, the counsels and purposes of the Lord so as to guide and instruct Him and give Him knowledge? But we have the mind of Christ (the Messiah) and do hold the thoughts and feelings and purposes of His heart."
We've accepted the teachings of religious mind's of carnal minded men as being Truth, because we've been taught these things for two-thousand years. Much of what we've learned has only become intellectual understanding, instead of Revelation. As Christian people, we've found ourselves in the same place of the early Church in Romans 10:2-3 (Amplified), where Paul writes, "I bear them witness that they have a certain zeal and enthusiasm for God, but it is not enlightened according to correct and vital knowledge. For being ignorant of the righteousness of God ascribes which makes one acceptable to Him in word, thought and deed, and seeking to establish as righteousness, a means of salvation of their own, they did not obey or submit themselves to God's righteousness."
It's difficult for even today's Church, to understand and submit to righteousness simply by faith in God's Word and not in our own works. This is called, "Grace." Grace is righteousness through faith in Jesus' Sacrifice, without doing anything to deserve or merit it on our own. Romans 10:2 (Amplified) says, "I bear them witness that they have a certain zeal and enthusiasm for God, but it is not enlightened and according to correct and vital knowledge."
Paul was preaching to Christian people in the above scriptures. These people had a zeal for God, but not according to correct knowledge. They followed after the old covenant people concerning righteousness, instead of grace and faith in the new covenant. These people honored God and were trying to be in right standing with Him, but they were doing it through their own understanding and merit by works. These people created rules for how they could approach God by their own standards, instead of faith and grace.
Paul also spoke about this very thing, to the Church in Galatia, saying in Galatians 3:1-3 (Amplified), "O you poor and silly and thoughtless and unreflecting and senseless Galatians! Who has fascinated or bewitched or cast a spell over you, unto Whom right before your eyes, Jesus Christ (the Messiah) was openly and graphically set forth and portrayed as crucified? Let me ask you this one question; Did you receive the Holy Spirit as the results of obeying the Law and doing it's works, or was it by hearing the Message of the Gospel and believing it? Was it from observing a Law of rituals or from a Message of faith? Are you so foolish and so silly and senseless? Having begun your new life spiritually with the Holy Spirit, are you now reaching perfection by dependence on the flesh?"
Many in today's Church, remain under the influence and the same "fascination, bewitching, or spell," that attracted the Galatians to their own righteousness. Satan's used this strategy against the Church, for nearly two-thousand. Man's idea of what makes us righteous, is in direct opposition to the righteousness that God ascribes. This has been a constant source of condemnation and guilt, holding the Church in bondage to the old man of sin even now. We set about our own way of earning righteousness by rituals and works, because we're ignorant of God's righteousness.
We always fall short in our own works and conscience, so we're always aware of our own failings to enter in by faith. This plan of satan's, has worked well for him for too long. When we don't measure up to God's righteousness in our own minds, we hold ourselves back from His Presence. Notice, Paul describes this lack of faith in God's righteousness in the above scripture, saying, "Who has fascinated or bewitched or cast a spell over you." Paul is clearly speaking about a demonic influence over the carnal minded Christians, which held them in satan's bondage and under his influence.
This isn't demon possession, but it the same demonic influence that held them before by guilt and condemnation. Paul says in Ephesians 6:12 (Amplified), "For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood, contending only with physical opponents, but against the despotisms, against the powers, against the master spirits who are the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the Heavenly super-natural sphere."
These same strategies have held man in bondage for centuries and continues working on the new creation people of God, today. One of satan's leading strategies is, teaching that "None are righteous, not one." This reading of the partial Truth, has kept God's family from entering into and partaking of the fullness of God's Grace. We have more faith in "who we once were," instead of "who He has made us to be now." The old carnal, unrenewed mind of the new creation, has never been developed by faith in the Finished Work of Jesus Christ.
If you won't believe you're in right standing (righteous) before God, then you'll never enter into God's Presence and fellowship, until you "feel" like you deserve His mercy and attention. This is an impossible task and can never be done. We don't and never will "deserve" the right to come into the Presence of a Holy God, on our own. This might be the greatest act of your faith in Jesus and His Sacrifice, that you might ever need to face. Satan had perpetuated his lie that, "Every bad thing that happens to us, is God's judgment for unrighteousness. When we fail to receive God's Own righteousness, then we accept satan's lie too.
We've always felt like we deserve God's punishment for our sins, because of unrighteousness. This leaves an opening for satan to bring sickness, disease, heartbreak and despair on God's people, because we feel like we deserve it for not being righteous in God's eyes. We are a new creation and are not under the Law, so we don't need to depend on our works or sacrifice,in order to stay in God's good standing. We were created righteous and pure, holy, sanctified and perfect, when we were created in Christ Jesus. Nothing was left out of what Jesus' Sacrifice did. God left nothing to chance or unfinished in Jesus. There's nothing for us to do, except put our faith in Jesus and grow in our faith in Him.
If we could have done it under the Law, then Jesus would not have had to die and be our own Sacrifice Lamb unto God, for us. This is so different from what we've been taught and believed, that we can only receive it by the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:1-3 (Amplified) says, "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." We must allow the Holy Spirit to dictate the Truth to us, not the dictates of man's religion. Paul goes on in Verses 2-3, saying, "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 overall who accept that Sacrifice."
Have you ever accepted that Sacrifice? If you have, then your flesh (body) is dead in God's eyes and the sin of that flesh has died, 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 behave in the newness of Life."
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