2Cor. 5:17 (Amp) 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 away. Behold, all things have become fresh and new."
Many in today's Church have had a more difficult time believing the above scripture, than any other Promise in God's Word. If we could believe that our "old previous and moral Spiritual condition has passed away" and "all things have become new," then it would be easier to set our faith to believe the rest of God's Promises. Getting pas the memory of who we used to be and accepting who Jesus has made us to be, is probably the highest hurdle we face. The greatest miracle the Father has done, is what He's done for us through Jesus.
An unrenewed, carnal mind cannot accept the Promise of His Word through Jesus. 2Cor. 5:21 tells us that, "He has made us to be the righteousness of God, through and in Christ Jesus." We continue seeing our old natural selves and try perfecting the flesh, in order to believe this Promise. We do need to discipline the flesh to meet that which has come into our spirit, but we don't need to reach perfection in order to accept what has already been done in the spirit. The Father sees us the way the new creation has made us to be, despite how the flesh looks.
God is Righteous and does nothing outside of His Righteousness. We keep trying to become righteous enough to get our prayers answered. This is because we're looking at the flesh and not the Word. As new creation people, we're to govern and live our lives by what Jesus has done and not by what we've done. We must move past looking at our flesh the way we see it and begin seeing it as God sees it, in order to develop our new creation person into the mature child of God.
Paul got hold of this Revelation and lived his life in that manner. He writes in Gal.2:20 (Amp), "I have been crucified with Christ, (in Him I have shared His crucifixion); it is no longer I who live, but Christ (the Messiah) lives in me; and the life I now live in the body I live by faith in (adherence to and reliance on, and complete trust in) the Son of God Who Loved me and gave Himself up for me."
We read that, "I have been crucified with Christ," but fail to realize that in God, this body is already dead. The only Life God sees in us, is the Life that has raised us from the dead in Jesus. This doesn't mean we allow the flesh to rule our lives, but that we develop the new creation man/woman to rule over the flesh, by faith in God's Word. We've been waiting until we get home in the Kingdom, to abolish all of our natural impulses. We're already home in God's eyes and are "seated together with Christ Jesus in Heavenly places", according to Eph. 2:6 (Amp) which says, "And He (God) raised us up together with Him (Jesus) and made us to sit down together, giving us joint seating with Him in the Heavenly sphere, by virtue of our being in Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One)."
God sees the new creation person as already raised and seated with Him, in Jesus. This is far more than the carnal mind can comprehend or imagine. This is why we must develop the new creation person after God's Word and His Spirit, instead of man's carnal ideas and customs. Should Jesus tarry in His return, this natural body will die and be buried, because of the sin nature which is still in the flesh. Rom. 5:12 (Amp) says, "Therefore, as sin came into the world through one man (Adam), and death as the result of sin, so death spread to all men, no one being able to stop it, or to escape it's power, because all men sinned. The wages of sin is death.
The sin that was inherited by Adam, came into every person born by his seed. We've been born-again and are new creations, according to 1Peter 1:23 (Amp) which says, "But you have been regenerated (born-again), not from a mortal origin (seed, sperm), but from One that is Immortal by the Ever Living and Lasting Word of God."
The natural man/woman is born of Adam and has the seed of sin and death in it,but the new man/woman born of God's Word, is "one spirit with the Lord." We are righteous and without sin, by the new birth of the Seed, Word of God. We're still in this flesh, which is still under sin and death. It's the work of the Word, Holy Spirit and the new creation person to hold this sin nature under dominion of the Word and the Holy Spirit and develop the new creation person.
Rom. 8:1 (Amp) says, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus; who lives and walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit." If we allow the flesh to dictate and describe us by our old sin nature, then we won't be able to accept what the Spirit says about us. The flesh will keep us bound by the memory of who we were in the world before being born of God. This is why Paul tells us to renew our minds by God's Word and His Spirit. The flesh can dictate the sins of our old man/woman, but if we keep the flesh crucified, then IT IS DEAD. Jesus told us to, "Take up your cross daily." This means we're to continue keeping the flesh dead by crucifixion and keep our spirit alive by the Word of God.
Many still think with our carnal minds, which keeps us under condemnation and unbelief. When we renew our mind, we're training ourselves to think the thoughts of the Spirit of God, by His Word. Thinking of ourselves with a carnal mind, is in direct opposition to what God has done for us in Christ Jesus. If we don't renew our minds,then we will continue thinking of ourselves as being unrighteous and unworthy before God, which could lead to our opposing God's Promises and living "as mere men and women." Rom. 8:7 (Amp) says, "That is because the mind of the flesh with it's carnal thoughts and purposes, is hostile to God for it does not submit itself to God's Laws: indeed it cannot."
We will never see ourselves as being new creations in Christ Jesus, without renewing our carnal and flesh mind. If we're "yet in sin," then we're forgiven and not new creations. If we're only forgiven, then God must forgive us on a daily basis. There is no more sacrifice for sin. If we believe we need to offer works and sacrifices in order to receive God's forgiveness, then what was the cross for? We're not just forgiven sinners, but we're new creations and if we're new creations, then we don't have a past filled with sin. Jesus wiped our sins away. We can't be sinners and the righteousness of God, at the same time. One is the thought of a carnal mind, while the other is the thought of the mind of Christ. The carnal mind has no faith in God. If we don't renew our minds, then we can't walk in faith of God's Promises and receive answered prayer.
If we don't renew our minds, then we will oppose the Promise of being "made righteous in Jesus," along with the other Promises made for the righteous children of God. Our faith in God's Power to keep His Promises and having Rest in Him, comes from thinking and living by the Word and God's Spirit. We can't be carnally minded and ruled by our senses. We must begin walking by the dictates of the Spirit, in order to walk above the condemnation of the flesh. If we live under such condemnation of the flesh, we'll never develop faith in God's Promises for us, because His ears are always open to the cries of the righteous. If we don't know we're righteous in Him, then we won't develop faith or hope that God will answer our prayers. It becomes more wishing, than believing.
We're not righteous, because we feel righteous. We're righteous, because we've been made new creations, who are righteous with Jesus' Righteousness. We must humbly submit ourselves to this Truth, by faith in the Grace that created us in this manner. This Grace comes from God's Love for us. Remember, "For God so Loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him might have everlasting Life."
No comments:
Post a Comment